References cont. (68) — Clergy Child Molesters

• Catholics react. Second accuser; says Bishop paid him for sex [Hubbard] - Roman Catholic Church.

   Capital News, www.capitalnews9.com/content/your_news/capital_region/default.asp?ArID=58762 , By Capital News 9 web staff, 12:27 PM , Feb 8, 2004.
   ALBANY (NY): Many Catholics headed to Sunday mass this morning with the new allegations against Bishop Howard Hubbard laying [lying] heavily on their minds.
   On Wednesday, Andy Zalay came forward with allegations that his brother Tom, who committed suicide in 1978, had a sexual relationship with Bishop Hubbard. On Friday, 42-year-old Anthony Bonneau said he was paid for sex by Hubbard.
   Some church-goers were angry, and others were shocked.
   Catholic Agnes Bopp said, "It's terrible. The bishop is the most wonderful person in the world. He is the best bishop we've ever had."
   Posted by Kathy Shaw at 08:02 PM (This is the first of the Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse , for Sunday, February 08, 2004.)

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INTENTION: A challenge to RELIGIONS to PROTECT CHILDREN
Series starts: www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethicscontents.htm Visit http://www.ncrnews.org/abuse    INCOMPLETE LINKS: Refer back to "References 61" for methods of obtaining the URLs. • Orlando, Florida, Diocese Pays $4.2m to Sex Victims [1968-2002] -- RCC.
   Newsday, "Fla. Diocese Pays Millions to Sex Victims," www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-brf-church-abuse-florida,0,5457119.story?coll=sns-ap-nation-headlines , February 8, 2004
   ORLANDO (FL): The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orlando has paid $4.2 million to three dozen victims who accused 12 priests of sexual misconduct with children.
   The payments, all covered by insurance, were for claims of abuse from 1968 to 2002, said a letter from Bishop Norbert Dorsey published in the Feb. 5 edition of The Florida Catholic. All 12 priests were removed from the ministry, he said. The largest settlements, totaling $3.4 million, were paid in 1985, he said.
   The public revelation is part of a national survey, to be released Feb. 27, that was commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to determine the extent of sexual abuse within the church since 1950. The study is being conducted by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
• Bishop O'Brien likely to take stand in own defense
   The Arizona Republic, www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0208obrien08.html , by Joseph A. Reaves, Feb. 8, 2004
   PHOENIX (AZ): Bishop Thomas J. O'Brien likely will take the witness stand as early as Monday in a dramatic climax to his hit-and-run trial.
   Attorneys for the defense refuse to discuss whether O'Brien will testify, and prosecutors insist they still haven't been told.
   But the complexities of the charges and the way the case has evolved apparently will compel the bishop to tell his side of the story.
   The defense has said it will call two more expert witnesses when the third week of testimony begins Monday.
   First up is William Uttal, a lighting expert, who will discuss conditions at the accident scene. The other is Dr. Charles Hatsell, an expert in biomechanics, whose job will be to convince jurors that the bishop had little chance to see the pedestrian he hit.
   O'Brien could take the stand after Uttal on Monday or follow Hatsell as the trial's witness Tuesday.
   Either way, the bishop's testimony would be a defining moment, the moment jurors would get to judge for themselves what the bishop knew or, at least, what he should have known.
   And that is the crux of the case.
• Uncertain if Bishop will testify
   Casa Grande Valley Newspapers, www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=10923545&BRD=1817&PAG=461&dept_id=222076&rfi=6 , Wire Services, Associated Press, February 05, 2004
   PHOENIX (AZ) (AP): The hit-and-run trial of Catholic Bishop Thomas O'Brien could go to the jury as early as next Tuesday.
   Defense attorneys are still deciding whether O'Brien will take the witness stand. Tom Henze, lead defense counsel, announced his indecision about O'Brien's testimony and his schedule for the remaining witnesses Tuesday during a hearing at which he failed to persuade the judge to order a directed verdict of acquittal.
   Henze claimed prosecutors, who rested their case Monday in a trial that began Jan. 20, fell short of providing "substantial evidence" that O'Brien knew or should have known he hit a man.
   O'Brien, 68, is charged with leaving the scene of a serious injury or fatal accident in which 43-year-old pedestrian Jim Reed died.
   The bishop insists he is innocent because he didn't know until at least 24 hours after the June 14 accident that he had hit a person.
• A victim of hit-run, even while in his grave
   The Arizona Republic, www.azcentral.com/news/columns/articles/0208montini08.html , by E.J. Montini, Republic columnist, Feb. 8, 2004
   PHOENIX (AZ): It was as if they removed Jim L. Reed from his grave, dragged him back to Phoenix and ran over him all over again.
   Last week, the lawyers defending Bishop Thomas J. O'Brien against charges that he left the scene of a fatal accident spent a day bad-mouthing the memory of a dead man.
   They brought out one witness who testified that on the night Reed was struck and killed by O'Brien's car as he crossed Glendale Avenue, a drunken Reed had stumbled into her apartment and asked her for bus fare.
   They brought out another witness who testified that although Reed was 6 feet, 2 inches tall and weighed 250 pounds, his blood alcohol level indicated that he probably would have been too intoxicated to walk a straight line on the night he was killed.
• Ex-priest faces new abuse claim
   Flint Journal, www.mlive.com/news/fljournal/index.ssf?/base/news-19/1076250031138480.xml , By Ron Fonger, Sunday, February 08, 2004
   FLUSHING TOWNSHIP (MI): Township police are investigating a new allegation of sexual abuse by resigned priest Vincent DeLorenzo and expect to turn the case over to Genesee County prosecutors within days.
   Detective Sgt. Don Gansen confirmed the investigation Thursday and said it was sparked by a sexual abuse complaint filed by a 22-year-old Columbus, Ohio, man in November. The man was 5 years old when the alleged abuse happened.
   Police have conducted "numerous" interviews in the investigation of the once popular area priest, Gansen said.
   Turning the case over to prosecutors could lead to an arrest warrant, a decision not to charge DeLorenzo or a request from prosecutors that police gather more information.
• Sex abuse has cost diocese millions $4.2m [1968-2002]
   Orlando Sentinel, www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orange/orl-asecabuse08020804feb08,1,4335789.story?coll=orl-dp-weekend-2-main , By Linda Shrieves and Loraine O'Connell | Sentinel Staff Writers, Posted February 8, 2004
   ORLANDO (FL): In the first public accounting by the Catholic Diocese of Orlando, Bishop Norbert Dorsey announced that 12 priests were accused of sexual misconduct with children between 1968 and 2002, and the diocese has paid $4.2 million to victims.
   A letter from the bishop published in the Feb. 5 edition of The Florida Catholic says all of the money was paid by the diocese's insurance.
   The diocese was founded in 1968, and Dorsey says the largest settlements, totaling $3,408,913, were paid in 1985.
   Thirty-six victims "courageously have come forward for help while 12 priests were credibly accused of some type of sexual misconduct with a minor and removed from ministry," Dorsey wrote.
   The public revelation is part of a national survey to be released Feb. 27. The survey was commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to determine the extent of sexual abuse within the Church between 1950 and 2002. Participation in the study is voluntary, and only six of the nation's 195 dioceses have refused to submit information to the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, which is conducting the study.
• A bishop accused
   ALBANY (NY): Albany Times Union http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=216874&category=OPINION&BCCode=&newsdate=2/8/2004 , Sunday, February 8, 2004
   The clergy sex scandal that has rocked the Roman Catholic Church for the last two years has now reached the highest level of the Albany diocese. Bishop Howard Hubbard has been accused by a California man who claims his brother once had a homosexual relationship with the bishop and was driven to suicide by setting fire to his bedroom in the family's Albany home in 1978. On Wednesday, he produced pages from a charred notebook which refer to the alleged relationship.
   Bishop Hubbard, who cut short a vacation in Florida to meet with reporters in Albany on Thursday, has denied the allegations or ever knowing the victim. He has refused to step aside while the charges are investigated, saying that would dignify baseless accusations, and he has asked Albany County District Attorney Paul Clyne to investigate.
   Yet no formal charges of sexual abuse have been leveled, and no specific allegation of a crime -- only a sibling's claim that unraveling events in his brother's life allegedly drove him to suicide. Unless matters change, it would be inappropriate for Mr. Clyne to use his public office to investigate what is essentially a civil matter.
• Ex-priest Romero admits to sexual misconduct
   NAPLES (FL): Naples Daily News, www.naplesnews.com/npdn/news/article/0,2071,NPDN_14940_2638249,00.html , By ALAN SCHER ZAGIER, aszagier@naplesnews.com , February 8, 2004
   A former Naples priest facing three sex abuse lawsuits after resigning from the clergy last year has admitted to sexual misconduct with a Port St. Lucie teenager - behavior he labels as "spontaneous moments of intimacy" intended to improve the troubled teen's mental health.
   In a rambling, seven-page narrative filed late last year in response to one of the suits, William Romero acknowledges "a half dozen" incidents of mutual masturbation with one of three siblings he met while assigned to St. Christopher's Parish in Hobe Sound, a town on the Palm Beach-Martin County border.
   Romero, who now lives in LaBelle, said the sexual encounters took place soon after he was transferred in 1982 to St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church in Moore Haven, a farming town on the banks of Lake Okeechobee.
   The 66-year-old Romero, a former youth director and catechism teacher at St. Ann School in Naples in the 1975-76 school year, also details a three-year affair with the boy's mother. The divorced woman and the priest jointly purchased a timeshare in the Florida Keys for annual family vacations, Romero wrote in an Oct. 7, 2003, answer to a lawsuit filed in Miami.
• Priest's abuse left family shattered [$CAN 1.3m]

   Toronto Star, www.thestar.com/ NASApp/cs/ContentServer? pagename=thestar/Layout/ Article_Type1&c=Article&cid= 1076195408678&call_pageid= 968332188492&col= 968793972154 ; by ROBERT CRIBB
   LONDON, ONT., CANADA: The deep scars and tattoos etched on John Swales' face and arms remain from hard years lost in a haze of drugs, alcohol and male prostitution.
   But their hidden origins date back much further, to a childhood when Swales and two of his brothers were sexually abused hundreds of times by a priest they saw as "God on earth."
   Swales and his family have been fighting a legal battle for five years, alleging their lives were forever changed by the sexual abuse they suffered at the hands of an uncaring Roman Catholic church and a pedophile priest.
   Not just a priest, they argued, but a respected family friend who used his trusted position to sexually exploit John and his two brothers, Guy and Edward, luring them as young boys into a world of masturbation and oral sex.
   Last week, Swales, his brothers, their sister and parents won that battle in a sweeping legal decision that awarded them more than $1.3 million in damages.
   Posted by Kathy Shaw at 04:23 AM
//////////////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Sunday, February 08, 2004

Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Monday, February 09, 2004 edition follows:-
• Bishop Says He Didn't See Man He Ran Over
   Dayton Daily News, www.daytondailynews.com/news/content/news/ap/ap_story.html , By ANABELLE GARAY, Associated Press Writer
   PHOENIX (AZ) (AP): Catholic Bishop Thomas O'Brien testified at his hit-and-run trial Monday that he heard a loud crash on the night he struck and killed a jaywalking pedestrian but never saw anyone in the road.
   Because he didn't realize he'd struck someone, "it never entered my mind" to stop, O'Brien said, making his first public comments about the accident that ended his 21-year career as head of the Phoenix Diocese.
   O'Brien said he winced and put up his right hand upon hearing the noise on the passenger side of his car. He said he saw his windshield had been damaged but did not see anyone. The accident caused a spider-web crack over much of the passenger side of the windshield.
   Had he seen the pedestrian, "I would have stopped because that's the human thing to do," O'Brien said. "I couldn't imagine not stopping."
   Under questioning from a defense attorney, O'Brien said that he drove on without figuring out what had happened. He said he thought more about the windshield after arriving home.
   Posted by Kathy Shaw at 10:33 PM
• Ex-bishop defends actions in accident
   CNN, http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/02/09/bishop.trial , Posted: 10:34 PM EST (0334 GMT), Monday, February 9, 2004
   PHOENIX, Arizona (CNN): The former Roman Catholic bishop of Phoenix, on trial for a fatal hit-and-run accident, testified Monday it never occurred to him that he had struck a person.
   "I wish it had," the Rev. Thomas O'Brien told the jury. "Jim Reed would probably be alive, could be alive, today."
   Reed, a 43-year-old jaywalking pedestrian, was killed in the June 14 accident.
   Police found O'Brien through a witness who saw the incident and wrote down the license plate number of the bishop's tan Buick sedan.
   O'Brien, 68, stepped down as leader of the 500,000-member Roman Catholic community in Phoenix after his arrest. He had held that post for nearly 22 years.
   He pleaded not guilty and has been free on $45,000 bail while awaiting trial. If convicted, O'Brien faces possible sentences ranging from probation to nearly four years in prison.
• Former child victim testifies in priest abuse case [1990-95]
   LOS ANGELES (CA): Mercury News, www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/7914967.htm , Associated Press
   A 24-year-old man testified Monday that a retired Roman Catholic priest who once served as the chaplain at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center fondled him on several occasions from 1990 to 1995.
   The testimony against the Rev. Michael Wempe, 63, was part of hearing to determine if the case should be sent to trial. He faces three counts of a lewd act on a child and one count of oral copulation of a person under 16.
   Wempe was charged last June with molesting five boys, ages 7 to 15, between 1977 and 1986 in Los Angeles, Ventura and San Diego counties.
   Wempe never had to stand trial for those alleged crimes when the nation's high court struck down a California law that erased the statute of limitations on sexual abuses cases from 1988 and earlier.
• Expert: Bishop may not have seen pedestrian due to dim street lighting, dark clothes
   NJ.com ; www.nj.com/newsflash/national/index.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?a0677_BC_Bishop'sTrial , By ANABELLE GARAY, The Associated Press, 3:31 PM, Feb/9/04
   PHOENIX (AZ) (AP): Dim street lighting combined with glare from headlights and the victim's dark clothes would have made it difficult for a Roman Catholic bishop to see the night he struck a pedestrian with his car, an expert testified Monday.
   Attorneys for Bishop Thomas O'Brien have argued that he did not know he struck jaywalker Jim Reed and instead thought his windshield had been cracked by a rock or a dog. O'Brien is on trial on hit-and-run charges.
   William Uttal, a lighting expert and retired professor from the University of Michigan, testified that Reed would not have been easily visible because of his dark clothing.
   Uttal also said the closest light pole to the accident was 64 feet away.
   "For a driver not to see a pedestrian under these lighting conditions is consistent with everything I know," Uttal said.
• Oakland Diocese reports on priest sexual abuse [72 victims, 24 molesters]
   Mercury News, www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/7913683.htm , By Brandon Bailey
   OAKLAND (CA): The Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland reported today that 72 children were sexually abused by 24 of its priests over the last half-century, according to records compiled for a national study on the subject of clergy sexual abuse.
   Most of the abuse took place during the 1960s and 1970s, Bishop Allen Vigneron said in a letter to parishioners that was published in this week's issue of the diocese newspaper. In his letter, Vignernon apologized to the victims and "to all the communities where the abuse took place."
   The diocese compiled the figures in response to a national survey commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, in its first effort to measure the extent of the clergy sex abuse problem. The national figures are expected to be released later this month.
   Vigneron also noted that more than 2,550 priests have served in the Oakland diocese since it was created in 1962. None of the 24 priests who have been the subject of what Vignernon called "valid claims of abuse" are still in ministry: 14 are dead, one has been defrocked and nine more have been barred from performing any functions of a priest.
• SNAP rallies at churches to warn of abuse suspects
   San Gabriel Valley Tribune, www.sgvtribune.com/Stories/0,1413,205%7E12220%7E1944554,00.html , By Gema Duarte and Emanuel Parker
   CALIFORNIA: Hostility, indifference and polite interest greeted sexual-abuse victims who handed out leaflets Sunday at a Catholic church in Walnut, telling parishioners some priests accused of child molestation remain in the ministry.
   Members of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests pointed their finger at the Rev. Michael Carroll, who was accused in December of sexually abusing a teenager 37 years ago and disagree with his active ministry at St. Lorenzo Ruiz Catholic Church.
   Carroll refused to comment.
   Officials with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles have justified their action by citing a lack of evidence supporting the allegations and, in some instances, their inability to interview the victims.
• Boyle Heights Cleric Latest Accused Of Sexual Abuse [1970s-80s, Mateos still officiating]
   NBC 4, www.nbc4.tv/news/2833219/detail.html , POSTED: 9:33 AM PST February 9, 2004
   LOS ANGELES (CA): Officials with the Los Angeles Archdiocese said a 70-year-old priest at a Boyle Heights church has been accused of sexual abuse.
   Church officials told Francisco Mateos' congregation that he was accused in a civil lawsuit of abuse dating back more than 20 years.
   Mateos denied the charges. He is among 11 clerics still working as the cases against them are pending.
• Church must not tolerate those who enable molesters
   Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests [SNAP], http://snapnetwork.org/op_ed_essays/church_must_not_tolerate.htm , BY DAVID CLOHESSY AND BARBARA BLAINE, February 7, 2004
   CHICAGO (IL): Because of child molesting charges, Father John Calicott of Holy Angels parish was twice removed from ministry, by two different bishops. He admitted "sexual misconduct" with two boys. Yet he's been teaching classes, including sex education, back at the very same parish where he abused youngsters.
   In interviews with the Sun-Times and WMAQ-TV, both the current Holy Angels pastor and Calicott himself admitted this. Calicott, it turns out, has been at the parish "almost daily," despite the nationwide "zero tolerance" policy that bishops adopted and continually crow about.
   Imagine an admitted abusive priest dealing with kids nearly every day, even after nearly two years of constant nationwide allegations, removals, civil lawsuits, criminal prosecutions, media exposes and admissions.
   Still, Father Calicott is not the issue. The issue is twofold: the parish's current pastor and Cardinal Francis George.
   How can the current pastor, the Rev. Robert Miller, justify allowing Calicott daily access to innocent, vulnerable youngsters? More important, how can George allow Miller to elude responsibility for this deliberately dangerous and disrespectful behavior?
• Bishop's records at issue again
   Republican, http://masslive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1076316553322070.xml?nntn , By Bill Zajac, wzajac@repub.com , Feb/09/2004
   SPRINGFIELD (MA): An accusation of sexual abuse against the deceased executor of a former bishop's estate has raised questions about what documents the executor may have discarded.
   William V. Derian, a 65-year-old Florida resident who grew up in Northampton, has filed a claim with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield accusing Monsignor David P. Welch of sexually abusing him as a minor. A diocesan statement said Welch was "a highly respected priest and editor of our Catholic newspaper for 36 years with absolutely no other complaints."
   Derian, a successful businessman who was appointed to an administrative position by former President Ronald Reagan, said he was abused multiple times when he was between 12 and 15 years old. The incidents occurred when Welch was assigned to St. Mary's Parish in Northampton in the early 1950s and was in charge of now defunct St. Michael's High School, he said.
   The possible destruction of "personal and personnel" documents possessed by former Bishop Christopher J. Weldon has been at the center of a recent controversy in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield.
• More Revelations Coming On Clergy Sex Abuse, Panelists Warn [49 accused in Connecticut]
   The Day, www.theday.com/eng/web/newstand/re.aspx?reIDx=f4e2135c-5e44-456e-a802-83f8c58d7e79 , By ALLISON FRANK. East Lyme/Salem, Feb/9/2004
   EAST LYME (CT): Most people who flocked to the Days Inn here Sunday for a panel discussion on clergy sexual abuse had, until then, heard only second-hand about victims' stories.
   But on Sunday the local chapter of a national church reform group put a face on the issue by bringing in victims of clergy sexual abuse - an issue that experts say is going to explode again on Feb. 27. That is the scheduled released date for the results of a nationwide survey on the number of known or suspected abusers since 1950. The John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City surveyed all American Catholic dioceses to prepare the report, which will be released by the U.S. Catholic bishops.
   The five members on Sunday's panel, organized by the Voice of the Faithful of Eastern Connecticut, predict the numbers will be staggering. And this time, said Anne Barrett-Doyle, a member of VOTF's national voting council, Connecticut residents should brace for the scandal to hit the state full force.
   "You're about to learn that hundreds of priests have found safe harbor" in Connecticut, said Barrett-Doyle, who has worked with victims through an advocacy group she helped found called Coalition of Catholics and Survivors.
   Over the past decade in Connecticut, 47 priests, one nun and one seminarian have been accused of sexual abuse charges, according to a national VOTF database.
• Catholics React to Allegations against Bishop Hubbard
   Fox 23, www.fox23news.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=F826C6D0-10F2-463D-AE29-041D5D29D015
   ALBANY (NY): Catholics attending Sunday Mass this morning are coming to grips with the allegations now swirling around their church and bishop.
   Martha Arenas said, "It's very hard for me as a Christian to understand."
   Parishioners like Martha Arenas of Albany trying to understand why someone would make such bold allegations against Bishop Howard Hubbard -- a bishop she has grown to love and respect.
   Arenas said, "It upsets me in that it happened and people are taking it and extending it, but I one-hundred percent believe in Bishop Howard."
   Priests at Saint Catherine of Siena Church and churches all around the diocese reading this letter from Bishop Hubbard -- the first of it's kind speaking directly to his fellow Catholics.
   Anne Marie Peterson said, "It's a word from him directly and I believe every word he said."
• Catholics display their faith in bishop by wearing purple ribbons
   ALBANY (NY): Albany Times Union, www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=217041&category=REGION&BCCode=HOME&newsdate=2/9/2004 , By LEIGH HORNBECK, Monday, February 9, 2004
   Parishioners at St. Vincent de Paul Church are wearing purple ribbons to show support for Albany Bishop Howard Hubbard as he fights allegations of sexual misconduct.
   Roman Catholics at several area parishes rallied around the bishop over the weekend after he was accused of having sexual relations in the 1970s with a young man who later committed suicide. Saturday worshippers at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception placed about 50 votive candles around the bishop's chair. Sunday, parishioners at St. Vincent's donned purple ribbons.
   Kathy Menard of Albany hopes the wearing of purple ribbons will spread throughout the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany.
   "It is important that the bishop and the world know many, many, many of his community members support him," Menard said. "He has stood in solidarity many times with people when they were troubled, it's important we do so now. We feel an injustice has been done."
• Catholic Church struggling with sex abuse allegations, people losing faith
   NEW YORK: News 10 Now, http://news10now.com/content/all_news/?ArID=9570&SecID=83 , By News 10 Now Staff, Updated 8:02 AM Feb/9/2004
   Religious leaders across the country said people are losing faith, and that's costing the church. The revelation of sexual improprieties amongst some priests, is not only hurting Catholics. The sex scandals are adding to the financial difficulty facing churches of all denominations in Watertown.
   As accusations of sexual misconduct continue to surface, the number of devoted church goers is going down.
   "There is no question that trust is denied. That relationship of pastoral care is fractured, and there's no doubt in my mind that people could feel the injury to the point where at least for a time, they would absent themselves from the corporate body of the church," said Father Don Turner of the Trinity Episcopal Church.
   Sex abuse allegations in the Catholic Church continue to surface and the number of devoted church members is going down.
• District attorney, archdiocese defend actions in abuse case [1976-80]
   Milwauke Journal Sentinel, www.jsonline.com/news/racine/feb04/206132.asp , By TOM KERTSCHER, tkertscher@journalsentinel.com , Feb. 8, 2004
   RACINE (WI): A top prosecutor says the Racine County district attorney's office and the Archdiocese of Milwaukee acted promptly, and not because of pressure, in investigating a Catholic priest who was relieved of his duties after admitting he sexually abused a boy in Racine some 25 years ago.
   Racine County Deputy District Attorney Michael Nieskes was responding to statements made by Peter Isely, a leader of an organization that helps victims of priest sexual abuse, in connection with the allegations against Father Michael Benham.
   Members of St. Patrick's Parish in Elkhorn were informed Jan. 31 that Benham had been relieved of his duties as pastor because of substantiated allegations that he had sexually abused a boy between 1976 and 1980 when he was a priest at St. John Nepomuk in Racine.
   Isely had charged that the archdiocese "dragged its feet" in telling the district attorney's office about the allegations, and did so in January only after being pressured by an influential friend of the victim.
• Petition urges Geneva church to stop 'cover-up' [Campobello accused]
   ILLINOIS: Chicago Daily Herald, www.dailyherald.com/kane/main_story.asp?intID=3802629 , By Garrett Ordower, Posted February 09, 2004
   It has been two years since the Catholic Church's widespread shuffling of priests accused of sexual abuse came to light.
   A year and a half ago, Catholic bishops signed the first sweeping reforms into place, pledging an end to secrecy and a commitment to healing.
   But a victim's advocacy group passed out several hundred fliers to parishioners at St. Peter Catholic Church in Geneva Sunday because it believes that those promises have not translated into actions.
   Specifically, the Chicago-based Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests [SNAP] takes issue with the Rockford Diocese's continued refusal to hand over internal documents to Kane County authorities related to former priest Mark Campobello, who faces numerous charges of criminal sexual abuse.
• Former priest admits sexual misconduct [1982-91, Romero]
   WJXX, www.firstcoastnews.com/news/florida/news-article.aspx?storyid=14546
   NAPLES, FL (AP): Court documents say a former priest facing three sex abuse lawsuits has acknowledged sexual misconduct with a troubled teen in Port St. Lucie.
   The admission comes from William Romero, in a rambling, seven-page narrative filed late last year. In it, Romero says he had "a half dozen" sexual encounters with one of three siblings he met while assigned to St. Christopher's Parish in Hobe Sound.
   Romero says the relationship with the teen lasted about a decade. He says it began soon after he was transferred in 1982 to St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church in Moore Haven, a farming town on the banks of Lake Okeechobee.
• Panel: new report will show more Conn. priests caught up in sex abuse scandal
   Newday, www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ct--churchabuse0209feb08,0,1535089.story?coll=ny-ap-regional-wire , 1:17 AM EST, February 9, 2004
   EAST LYME, Conn.: The audience at a panel discussion on sexual abuse by clergy were told Sunday that the scandal in Connecticut and the country will expand vastly when a new national survey is released later this month.
   The John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City is releasing the results of a survey Feb. 27 on the number of known or suspected sex abusers since 1950. The college surveyed all American Roman Catholic dioceses for the report, which will be released by U.S. Catholic bishops.
   The eastern Connecticut chapter of Voice of the Faithful, a national church reform group that organized Sunday's panel discussion at the Days Inn, predicted the new numbers will be shocking, The Day of New London reported.
   "You're about to learn that hundreds of priests have found safe harbor" in Connecticut, said Anne Barrett-Doyle, a member of Voice of the Faithful's national voting council. She has worked with abuse victims through an advocacy group she helped found called Coalition of Catholics and Survivors.
• List of Sued L.A. Priests Grows [Mateos civil case, 1970s-80s]
   LOS ANGELES (CA): Los Angeles Times, www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-catholic9feb09,1,3534421.story?coll=la-headlines-california , By Jia-Rui Chong and Jean Merl, Times Staff Writers
   The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles announced Sunday to a somber congregation that another one of its priests has been accused of sexual abuse, this time in a civil suit filed Dec. 31.
   Msgr. Gabriel Gonzales read a statement from the archdiocese to parishioners at Our Lady of the Rosary of Talpa Church in Boyle Heights during a Mass. It said the pastor, Father Francisco Mateos, had allegedly abused someone more than 20 years ago at another church. After Mateos denied the allegation, the congregation broke into applause.
   Several miles away, in San Marino, parishioners were closing ranks around their embattled pastor, Msgr. Richard A. Loomis. The congregation of SS. Felicitas and Perpetua Church was among those at several parishes informed last week about lawsuits against their priests.
• Anti-abuse activists protest at church [Dober civil case]
   Press-Telegram, www.presstelegram.com/Stories/0,1413,204%7E21474%7E1944142,00.html , By Chad Greene
   PARAMOUNT (CA): Armida Price and Sue Griffith were dressed for church, but they weren't going inside.
   As parishioners gathered on the steps of Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Church in Paramount for the 12:30 p.m. Mass, the two members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests [SNAP] passed out yellow leaflets informing them that their priest, the Rev. Edward Dober, had been named in a civil lawsuit alleging sexual abuse of a minor. Our Lady of the Rosary was one of six churches in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles targeted by SNAP over the weekend.
   The SNAP activists said they were alarmed that the archdiocese had allowed Dober to remain in service despite the allegations against him.
   "I am outraged that the church, at this late date, is still placing priority on protecting priests,' said Price. "If any error is to be made, it should be on the side of protecting children, not the reputation of the church or of an accused priest.'
   Tod Tamberg, media relations director for the archdiocese, said that the lawsuit naming Dober was filed in late December, only days before the statute of limitations ran out on such cases. The archdiocese's 13-member Clergy Misconduct Oversight Board dismissed the case against Dober in January.
• Catholic laymen aim to fix church issues, One Catholic Voice For Action
   MIAMI (FL): Miami Herald, www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/7908528.htm , BY JENNIFER MOONEY, jmooney@herald.com
   Concerned with the increasing number of problems facing the Catholic Church, a group of devout South Floridians want to make changes -- and they are seeking help from churchgoers.
   Close to 40 Catholics gathered in Pinecrest Sunday to learn about One Catholic Voice For Action [ www.ocvfa.org/ ], a newly formed grass-roots organization aimed at confronting issues in the local archdiocese.
   Their concerns range from the priest sexual abuse scandal to alleged mismanagement of money within individual parishes and clerics allegedly abusing their power.
Many of these problems, attendees and organizers said, stem from the Archdiocese of Miami's disregard for its parishioners.
   "We have been ignored, alienated and neglected by the clerical leadership for too long," said John Barmmer, a founding member of the group. "They have violated our trust."
• Put Out Into the Deep: The New Evangelization
   Catholic Online, www.catholic.org/featured/print_news.php?ID=695 , by Deacon Keith Fournier
   The Gospel text of the Divine Liturgy on this Fifth Sunday in Ordinary time (in the Western Church Calendar) reminded me of the wonderful insights concerning those words written by Pope John Paul II in the letter that he wrote at the close of the Great Jubilee year of 2000 and the beginning of the new millennium. They are a call to every Christian, no matter what their state in life, to take up the missionary mandate of the Church. ...
   The Catholic Church is reeling under a season of purification, brought on (at least in part) by the sin of some of her members, including her clergy. Our Church needs conversion at every level. As members of Christ's Body, we are called to grieve, repent and work for the healing and authentic conversion and renewal of this Church that we love. We must also be honest about the reality we face. There is serious need for clergy reform. There is a desperate need for a new evangelization and solid catechesis within the Church and among all the faithful.
   Many Catholic Christians do not know what the Church actually teaches and have instead embraced what some have called a "cafeteria Catholicism"- choosing what parts of their faith they will follow. Finally, in the worst cases, a practical atheism is abounding wherein those bearing the title Christian are professing the Creed but confining its influence only to Sunday.
[Background: Deacon Keith Fournier is a married Roman Catholic Deacon, who also serves the Melkite Greek Catholic Church with approval. He is a human rights lawyer and a graduate of the John Paul II Institute of the Lateran University, Franciscan University of Steubenville and the University Of Pittsburgh School Of Law. He is a co-founder of the Your Catholic Voice Movement and also the founder of Common Good.
Contact: Catholic Online, http://www.catholic.org , VA, US Deacon Keith Fournier - Editor, 757-546-9580 Background ENDS.]
   [COMMENT: His attempt to put the standard "spin" on the clergy abuse crisis is in the words, "The Catholic Church is reeling under a season of purification, ..." as if somehow the RCs were being cleaned. In reality, without lawsuits and demands by the winners of court cases that the dioceses apologise and institute zero tolerance, the RC leadership would probably have gone on transferring serial enemies of Christianity. In fact, with the promotion of an ex-Boston cleric to a bishopric, it looks as if the anti-Christian forces still have a strong hold on the higher echelons of that Church. COMMENT ENDS.]
• Church keeps meeting ban on lay group
   FALL RIVER (MA): Cape Cod Times, www.capecodonline.com/cctimes/churchkeeps9.htm , By CONOR BERRY
   A ban imposed by the Roman Catholic Church prohibiting a lay group from meeting on church-owned property or publishing announcements in parish bulletins remains in effect.
   A meeting last week between the bishop of the Fall River Diocese and a delegation from Voice of the Faithful [VOTF], the Newton-based group formed two years ago this month in response to the clergy sex-abuse scandal, didn't go the way members of the Catholic lay organization had hoped.
   "It was disappointing," Voice of the Faithful member Christopher Boyd of Mashpee said of the group's first-ever meeting with Bishop George W. Coleman.
   For months, the group had sought a face-to-face meeting with Coleman, who in July became the leader of a diocese ministering to 350,000 Catholics in 101 parishes across Southeastern Massachusetts, including the Cape and islands.
   Posted by Kathy Shaw at 07:09 AM
//////////////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Monday, February 09, 2004

Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Tuesday, February 10, 2004 edition follows:-
• Abuse survivors attack 'whitewash'
   IRELAND: The Guardian, http://oneinfour.org/news/news2004/abuseinq , Angelique Chrisafis, Ireland correspondent of The Guardian, Monday February 9, 2004
   For decades, they were Ireland's dirty secret: children locked away, starved, beaten, sexually abused and forced to slave without pay in hundreds of orphanages and industrial schools. Now survivors' groups have turned on the Irish government after a report found that a national child abuse inquiry - set up to uncover the truth behind 60 years of state denial - is being obstructed by the Department of Education and Science and the Catholic orders who ran the notorious institutions.
   About 150,000 children were interned in such institutions between the 1920s and 1980s. They ranged from orphans to boys caught begging and girls regarded as "sexually aware". More than half of them eventually fled Ireland, most to Britain, and hundreds of UK residents are now seeking compensation from the Irish state. When the Irish prime minister, Bertie Ahern, made a public apology to the survivors in 1999, he offered the hope of closure by setting up an inquiry run by the child abuse commission.
   The clamour for justice was accelerated by the international success of Peter Mullan's award-winning film, The Magdalene Sisters, which showed how girls were incarcerated for decades in the Magdalene laundries.
   But survivors' groups in Ireland and the UK have condemned the inquiry as a whitewash. Even the commission's former chairwoman, Ms Justice Laffoy, denounced it as "devoid" of independence. She resigned last year, complaining of delays and a lack of resources and cooperation from the government.
   In a recent report, she found that the Department of Education, which was responsible for the institutions, had not adopted a "constructive approach" to the inquiry, which it controls. She also criticised many of the Catholic orders which ran the institutions for contesting every point. Opposition politicians have called for the inquiry to be removed from the Department of Education, but the education minister has refused.
   Posted by Kathy Shaw at 11:23 PM
• Mexican priest sentenced for fondling girl during confession [2003]
   Mercury News, http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/7923248.htm Associated Press (CSAT of Feb 10, 2004)
   LOS ANGELES (CA): A visiting priest from Mexico was sentenced to a year in jail Tuesday for sexually abusing a 15-year-old girl whose confession he was hearing.
   Avdon Serratos, 31, also was ordered to register as a sex offender and given five years' probation.
   Serratos normally ministers at a Catholic church in Colima, Mexico and comes to the Los Angeles area in summer to minister to Mexicans living here, authorities said.
   He was arrested last August when the victim reported to police that Serratos had kissed and fondled her during a confessional in the bedroom of a family friend's home in Los Angeles.
   Prosecutors said the girl told her mother about the abuse as soon as she got home.
• Convicted priest gets wish - go back to prison [1979 +]
   ARIZONA: The Arizona Republic, http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0210giandelone10-ON.html , Michael Kiefer, 03:55 PM, Feb. 10, 2004
   The defense attorney asked the judge to send his client back to prison. The prosecutor asked that the defendant be kept on probation.
   It was a backwards day, of sorts, in Maricopa County Superior Court Tuesday as a judge revoked probation for John Giandelone, the former priest and convicted child molester, and sentenced him to 22 months in prison - which is what Giandelone wanted.
   Giandelone will be eligible for parole after serving 11 months of his sentence and will be able to return to his family in Florida. Staying on probation would have required him to spend the next three years in Arizona with no chance of seeing his son.
   "Your honor," Giandelone said when asked his intentions by Judge Jonathan Schwartz, "with all due respects, I do not believe that I am able to comply with probation, and I ask you to please send me to prison."
   Giandelone, 56, was released from prison in mid-December after serving half of an 11-month sentence for molesting an altar boy at a church where he was a priest in 1979. [...]
   As terms of his probation, Giandelone was ordered not to have contact with any minors, including his 12-year-old son.
   On Jan. 29, he admitted to a probation officer that he had sent a Valentine's Day card to his son, and he was taken into custody. He was also charged with violating probation for having contact with a female minor, whom his attorney says was just someone in the same waiting room as Giandelone while he was waiting to meet with a probation officer.
   "That's the nonsense he's been living with," said the attorney, Michael Terribile.
   "Give him prison time," Terribile told the judge. "Let's get it over with."
Contact the reporter at michael.kiefer@arizonarepublic.com , or at 602-444-8994.
• Survey: More clergy abuse cases than previously thought [1,341]
   UNITED STATES: USA Today, http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-02-10-priests-abuse_x.htm By Cathy Lynn Grossman, Feb 10 2004
   Allegations of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church appear to have involved hundreds more priests than previous estimates suggest.
   A survey of U.S. Catholic dioceses conducted by the Associated Press and released Tuesday found that 1,341 clergy members have been accused of molesting children since the 1950s. (Related graphic: Scope of accusations broadens)
   But the survey found that reports have been released to date by only 80 of the 195 Catholic dioceses in the USA. Among those that have yet to release numbers are large dioceses faced with scores of allegations, including Boston, Los Angeles and Chicago.
   "The numbers speak of a very sad story," said Sister Mary Ann Walsh, spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
   Previous estimates by news media and victims' groups have suggested that as many as 1,200 priests nationwide had been accused of sex abuse over 50 years.
   But now the church is producing its own unprecedented, nationwide accounting of abuse claims, to be released Feb. 27. It will not report numbers for individual dioceses. Los Angeles and 59 other dioceses told AP they will release their numbers this month.
• Man testifies that he was abused by priest at LA hospital [1990]
   Mercury News, www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/7922360.htm , Associated Press
   LOS ANGELES (CA): A 24-year-old man testified that a retired Roman Catholic priest who had once served as chaplain at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center molested him in his office at the hospital.
   The man testified Monday during a preliminary hearing that he was 11 when Michael Wempe put him on his lap and fondled him while he played on a computer in 1990.
   "I didn't know why he would be doing something that was wrong," the man testified. He also said the priest abused him in his car. "I knew what happened was wrong," he said. "I was sick to my stomach."
   The man's name was withheld because he was an alleged victim of sexual abuse.
• Letter to Albany Bishop Hubbard
   ALBANY (NY): Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests [SNAP], http://snapnetwork.org/snap_letters/020904_bishop_hubbard.htm
   Today's pep-rally in your support is simply not something Jesus would do, sanction or tolerate. The same is true of last week's carefully orchestrated press conference at which scores of priests, including Bishop Matthew Clark of Rochester, cheered and applauded wildly -- even booing reporters who asked solid questions.
We know the news conference was painful for many of our members. We fear that today's rally will also be painful for them.
   Even worse, we worry that events like this may intimidate other victims of clergy abuse into remaining silent. It is already very difficult for adults who were sodomized and raped as children to speak up. It is even more difficult when church leaders are organizing rallies on behalf of an accused cleric.
   We certainly understand that recent allegations against you have been traumatic for you and the many of Albany area Catholics. We also appreciate that your supporters want to offer you comfort. But it's best for all parties if they do so privately. Otherwise, they risk scaring already suffering victims of sex crimes, and reducing the likelihood that other crimes will be reported to law enforcement.
• Car crash sound effect airs during station's coverage of bishop trial
   KESQ, www.kesq.com/Global/story.asp?S=1638797
   MESA, Arizona (AP): A T-V station in Phoenix is apologizing to its viewers -- for airing a car-crash sound effect at the worst possible time.
   Viewers heard the crash sound as the station showed Bishop Thomas O'Brien testifying about a June collision in which his car struck and killed a pedestrian.
   According to the general manager of station K-P-N-X, it was a mistake. An employee accidentally allowed the sound to be heard from a commercial that would have aired at that time, had it not been for the special coverage of the trial.
   And the commercial was for a chiropractic clinic. Viewers heard the sound of tires squealing, and then a car crashing -- followed by a cartoonish "boing!" sound.
• Bishop Testifies in Hit-And-Run Trial
   Guardian, www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-3732959,00.html By ANABELLE GARAY Associated Press Writer Tuesday February 10, 2004
   PHOENIX (AZ) (AP): Bishop Thomas O'Brien conceded during his hit-and-run trial Tuesday that he asked about getting his windshield fixed even though he knew police were investigating whether the car had been involved in a deadly accident.
   "I was interested in getting the windshield fixed at some time," the Roman Catholic clergyman said in his second day on the witness stand. "There is no way I would have gotten that windshield fixed that day."
   A diocesan secretary testified earlier that O'Brien called her about the windshield, which was smashed when O'Brien's car hit a pedestrian, the Monday after the weekend accident. She said she thought O'Brien wanted it fixed the same day.
   But O'Brien said the secretary might have misunderstood him.
   The bishop has said he initially thought has car had been hit by a rock or a dog. Prosecutors have argued that O'Brien knew or should have known that he hit a pedestrian on the night of June 14.
• Options narrowing for abuse plaintiffs' lawyer to see documents
   iobserve, www.iobserve.org/rn0210b.html , By Father Bill Pomerleau, Observer staff, Feb 10, 2004
   SPRINGFIELD (MA): The likelihood that Greenfield attorney John Stobierski will be able to prove that the Diocese of Springfield knew about Richard Lavigne's sexual crimes before 1986 further diminished Jan. 22 when a Superior Court Judge said that he will probably not allow him to see any files kept by diocesan attorneys.
   " Frankly, I see no documents that should be provided to the plaintiffs," said Judge John A. Agostini, who is hearing all pre-trial motions in approximately 30 consolidated misconduct cases against the Dioceses of Springfield and Worcester, and various priests.
   During the public hearing, Judge Agostini did not directly reveal the details of 5,000 pages of documents handed over to the court by the diocese last year.
   However, the judge's inventory of the three boxes of papers, which was made publicly available, does refute the theory that diocesan attorney John Egan improperly took custody of materials that should have been kept by the diocese.
   The diocese has already provided most of the records about Lavigne held in the chancery, including the laicized priest's personnel file, to Stobierski.
• Sin of the Fathers: Docudrama Recounts Cardinal Law's Scandal Testimony, Starting March 1 in Chicago
   Playbill, www.playbill.com/news/article/print/84310.html , By Kenneth Jones, February 10, 2004
   UNITED STATES: The sexual abuse scandal that has jolted the foundation of the Catholic church in America comes under new scrutiny with the world premiere of "Sin: A Cardinal Deposed," using public-record testimony of Cardinal Bernard F. Law. Michael Murphy's work, drawing on court records and other accounts, begins March 1 at Bailiwick Repertory in Chicago. Bailiwick's founding artistic director David Zak directs.
   The piece is billed as "a collage of testimonies of, by and surrounding Cardinal Bernard F. Law, the Catholic leader whose governance of his diocese was questioned and scrutinized when years of sexual abuse by diocesan priests finally came to light."
   The work attempts to examine "our dedication to religion, our faith in our legal system and the strength of our own convictions in the words of Cardinal Law himself."
   James Sherman plays Cardinal Bernard Law. Patrick Rybarczyk plays attorney Roderick MacLeish, Jr. and Mark A. Steel plays attorney Mitchell Garabedian.
   Oher cast members - Naomi Landman, Patrick Gannon and Steve Best - play a variety of participants. Sin continues to April 11.
• Bishop O'Brien testifies about his actions after fatal accident [2003]
   Catholic News Service, www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/20040210.htm , By Catholic News Service, Feb 10 2004
   PHOENIX (AZ) (CNS): Testifying on the witness stand at his hit-and-run trial, retired Bishop Thomas J. O'Brien of Phoenix explained that, even after he heard police were looking for him, he did not think he had really hit and killed a pedestrian.
   In more than five hours of testimony Feb. 9 and 10, Bishop O'Brien described his actions after his car struck 42-year-old Jim Reed as Reed was crossing a dark street in midblock June 14.
   In response to repeated questions from both defense and prosecuting attorneys, he said he didn't see Reed either before or after the collision, and that he had no idea what had hit his windshield, causing a loud crash and leaving a clearly visible dent in it.
   Seeing no obvious cause for the broken windshield, Bishop O'Brien said he drove on to his house, five minutes away, and parked the car in his garage. There, he looked at the damage, but didn't study it closely, he said. It wasn't until later that night that he considered what might have caused the damage, the bishop said, and concluded it might have been a rock or perhaps a dog.
• '50s priest accused of abuse [1957-61, Blackwell]
   INDIANA: Palladium-Item, www.pal-item.com/news/stories/20040210/localnews/389707.html , By Don Fasnacht, Feb 10, 2004
   A second Catholic priest who served the St. Mary parish here in the 1950s is being accused of sexually abusing altar boys.
   The Rev. William Blackwell has been named in a civil suit filed by a 57-year-old man against the Archdiocese of Indianapolis and Richmond's St. Mary School and Parish.
   The man, identified as Robert M., accuses Blackwell of multiple sexual assaults between 1957 and 1961.
   Blackwell was assistant pastor at St. Mary Church from February 1958 until May 1961.
   Two brothers filed suit in October 2003 accusing the Rev. William O'Brien of repeated sexual abuse when they were altar boys at St. Mary from 1951 to 1957.
   Blackwell replaced O'Brien in the parish. Both priests are now dead.
   The suit naming Blackwell was filed in Marion County Superior Court in Indianapolis. The suit naming O'Brien was filed in Wayne Superior Court 1 here.
• Pope names new bishop for Portland, Maine, from tainted Boston diocese
   Maine Today, news.mainetoday.com/apwire/D80KJ6BO0-40.shtml , By JERRY HARKAVY
   PORTLAND, Maine: An auxiliary bishop from the Boston archdiocese who specializes in religious education was tapped by Pope John Paul II on Tuesday to succeed Bishop Joseph Gerry as spiritual leader of Maine´s 234,000 Roman Catholics.
   "I am delighted to be here," Bishop Richard Malone, 57, of Salem, Mass., told reporters as he appeared beside Gerry at the Catholic Chancery just hours after being notified of his selection. ...
   A Beverly, Mass., native, Malone was ordained as a priest in 1972 and spent his entire career in and around Boston, where he was elevated to auxiliary bishop in 2000. He served in a parish in Stoneham, Mass., before beginning a long ministry in education that included teaching in high schools and colleges, serving as a college chaplain, and overseeing education policies and programs within the archdiocese.
   That work, he told reporters, shielded him from the personnel decisions that came under close scrutiny as the archdiocese was embroiled in the sex abuse scandal that led to the departure of Cardinal Bernard Law.
   "Boston is, as everyone of you knows, a hurting church, and a church that is slowly coming out of a horrific phase in its history," Malone said. "I was as shocked and as saddened as anyone was by the tragic story of the sexual abuse of children by some priests and also at the fact that oftentimes those cases seemed to have been handled poorly."
• Support group for victims of abuse by clergy members [1970s, $250,000]
   AUSTIN (TX): American-Statesman, www.statesman.com/metrostate/content/auto/epaper/editions/saturday/metro_state_0442c9275580c13c00e5.html , By Eileen E. Flynn, Saturday, February 7, 2004
   Texas organizers with a national support group for victims of sexual abuse by clergy members will start a chapter next week in Austin.
   Recent allegations of abuse by priests in the Catholic Diocese of Austin have stirred an interest in forming a local Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests [SNAP], said Robert Scamardo, a Houston lawyer who is helping coordinate the chapter.
   Scamardo, who said a former Austin priest abused him in the 1970s, reached a $250,000 settlement last year with the diocese. Until last year, he worked as general counsel to the Galveston-Houston diocese, fighting lawsuits by people who said they had been sexually abused by church leaders.
   "Wherever we know there are victims/survivors present, we try to support them," Scamardo said.
• Clergy abuse victims gather together
   AUSTIN (TX): News 8, www.news8austin.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=97539 , By Doug Shupe, 8:27 AM, Feb/10/2004
   Barbara Garcia Boehland said clergy abuse led her son down a path that ended in suicide. Victims of clergy abuse gathered in Austin on Monday night for the first local meeting of the Survivor Network of those Abused by Priests [SNAP].
   SNAP is the nation's oldest [sic] and largest self help group that offers support to those who've been abused by clergy.
   The group's organizers say by sharing their stories, victim's of abuse are healing themselves.
   "What we are able to provide for each other is, 'You're not responsible for this. You were abused. You were a child. There's no way you could have stopped this,'" said SNAP member Rob Scamardo.
   At 15, Scamardo said a priest sexually abused him in a San Antonio hotel room.
   He shared his story at the meeting. "We're not professionals. We don't provide any sort of professional services. We're simply here to share our experiences and our hopes for healing because that's what we all seek," Scamardo said.
• SNAP: What are dozens of complicit bishops doing?
   UNITED STATES: Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests [SNAP], "Statement Regarding Estimates of Clergy Abuse," http://snapnetwork.org/snap_statements/021004_abuse_estimates.htm
   Statement by David Cerulli of New York City, SNAP Board Member (917 757 1791)
   "Our experience has led us to believe that sex crimes by clergy have always been more widespread than any church leader acknowledged.
   Time and time again, we've seen bishops minimize the extent of abuse by clergy. So we're not particularly surprised by these numbers. We hope, however, that those who are surprised will be motivated to take concrete action to protect children in the church today.
   The real issue is not what hundreds of abusive clergy have done, but rather what dozens of complicit bishops are doing. They remain focused, even now, largely on damage control rather than genuine outreach, healing and prevention.
   We hope these numbers prompt more victims to come forward and more Catholics to stay vigilant.
   These numbers suggest that there are still hundreds of people who have been moelsted by clergy yet remained trapped in shame and self-blame. The question now is how to best help them heal and enable them to report these horrible crimes.
• More than 1,300 priests accused of abuse since 1950, records indicate
   UNITED STATES: Boston Globe www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/02/10/more_than_1300_priests_accused_of_abuse_since_1950_records_indicate , By Rachel Zoll, Associated Press, Feb 10, 2004
   The scope of sex abuse accusations against Roman Catholic clergy since 1950 appears to be much greater than previously estimated by victims' groups and the media, an Associated Press review of reports from dioceses has found.
   The U.S. church will make an unprecedented, nationwide accounting of abuse claims and costs later this month, and some bishops already have started releasing local figures. The AP contacted dioceses across the country and found that 1,341 clergy members have been accused of molesting minors, with more than half the dioceses yet to report.
   "What it's really doing is showing us in black and white that the problem is much worse than any of us thought," said Sue Archibald, president of The Linkup, a Kentucky-based victim advocacy group.
   Statistics have yet to be released by some archdioceses that have faced hundreds of allegations, including Boston and Los Angeles.
   A January 2003 review by The New York Times counted 1,205 accused priests nationwide over five decades. Survivors First, an advocacy group compiling its own list from media reports and lawsuits, has counted 1,800.
• Oakland Diocese says 72 abused in 50 years
   OAKLAND (CA) San Francisco Chronicle, http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/02/10/BAGI94T6CA1.DTL , by Steve Rubenstein, Tuesday, February 10, 2004
   There were 24 priests in the Diocese of Oakland charged with child abuse and 72 confirmed victims over the past five decades, authorities of the Catholic Church in the East Bay reported on Monday.
   Victims have been paid about $5.5 million in settlements, and an additional $600,000 to cover the cost of counseling, according to Oakland Bishop Allen Vigneron.
   Vigneron's report, commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, is an internal attempt by the church to attach hard figures to the child-abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic clergy in recent years.
   In an open letter to parishioners that accompanied the statistics, Vigneron called clerical sexual abuse a "heavy burden ... most intensely, a burden on the men and women whose childhood innocence was taken by the reprehensible acts of sexual abuse by their parish priests."
• Ex-priest in sex-abuse plea deal relocates; looks like "deal" with authorities
   WELLESLEY (MA): Boston Herald, http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/localRegional.bg?articleid=1829 , By Robin Washington, Tuesday, February 10, 2004
   An ex-priest negotiating with the Norfolk District Attorney on a plea deal for decades-old child sexual abuse claims has recently moved from the region, though his lawyer says he isn't on the lam.
   Leo P. Landry, 74, a former Stigmatine Father in Wellesley and priest in the Diocese of Manchester, N.H., before leaving the clergy 32 years ago, has been the subject of discussions with prosecutors, his lawyer, Robert McDaniel, said yesterday. "They haven't progressed to a decision," he said.
   While a DA spokesman declined comment, John Vellante, one of his alleged victims, said terms were to have included Landry's guilty plea in exchange for lifetime probation.
• O'Brien takes the stand, contradicts statements
   PHOENIX (AZ): The Arizona Republic, www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0210obrien10.html , Feb. 10, 2004
   Bishop Thomas J. O'Brien swore under oath on Monday that he would have stopped if he had known he hit a pedestrian on a Phoenix street last June but that "the thought never occurred" to him.
   "I would have stopped. That's the human thing to do," O'Brien told a packed courtroom in Maricopa County Superior Court.
   "I couldn't imagine not stopping. The thought never occurred to me. I wish it had."
   The bishop took the stand in his own defense during the 13th day of testimony in his hit-and-run trial. He underwent 83 minutes of questioning from his lead defense attorney, Tom Henze, before facing cross-examination.
   At least three times, O'Brien's testimony contradicted statements he made to police in a recorded conversation the day he was arrested. At other times, he said he simply was unable to explain his behavior in the hours after the accident.
• Showing support for their bishop [1970s]
   ALBANY (NY): Capital News, www.capitalnews9.com/content/your_news/capital_region/default.asp?ArID=59013 , By Chris Hamilton, Feb/9/2004
   Local Catholics are showing their support for Bishop Howard Hubbard.
   Purple ribbons were given to parishioners of St.Vincent De Paul Catholic Church, and members hope other parishes in the Albany Diocese will follow their example of outpouring support.
   Bishop Hubbard was accused last week of having a homosexual relationship with a man, and of soliciting sex in Washington Park from a teenage boy -- both in the 1970s.
   Richard McDevitt of Albany said, "Never had a question about his integrity or a question about his veracity."
   Michael Burgess of Albany said, "We felt it was important to have a public show of support for the bishop because these are very serious charges, and we know the man and we feel he is honest and credible."
• Diocese plans to hire investigator [1970s]
   Troy Record, www.troyrecord.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=10943012&BRD=1170&PAG=461&dept_id=7021&rfi=6 , By James V. Franco, Feb/10/2004
   ALBANY (NY): The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany is prepared to hire an independent firm to conduct an investigation into two allegations of inappropriate sexual conduct by Bishop Howard Hubbard some 30 years ago.
   Chancellor of Public Information Rev. Kenneth Doyle said if Albany County District Attorney Paul Clyne does not investigate, the diocese will hire a "high-profile, independent investigator who would have the resources to conduct a full and comprehensive investigation, and the background and the reputation to ensure people that the investigation would be thorough and fair."
   He said either investigation will include Hubbard taking a polygraph test. Clyne has said he would look into the allegations, but has not yet said if he will be conducting an investigation since there are no allegations a crime was committed in either case. He did not return phone calls Monday.
   Meanwhile, Doyle said the diocese's pastoral center has received 79 phone calls, 280 e-mails, 411 cards and letters and 10 floral arrangements supporting the bishop since the first allegation was made on Feb. 4. The second allegation came a day later.
• Salvation Army case goes to jury
   Anchorage Daily News. www.adn.com/alaska/story/4726853p-4675799c.html , By NICOLE TSONG, February 10, 2004
   KENAI (AK): What is the responsibility of the Salvation Army when one of its ministers sexually abuses girls at one of its churches?
   A Kenai Superior Court jury will take up that question starting today and will deliberate on whether the former minister, Cleland Troy Trickel, and his wife, Debbie, should pay additional damages for what the girls say happened to them.
   Three sisters, now ages 19, 16 and 13, and another 13-year-old say Trickel molested them at the Kenai church. Trickel, 48, pleaded no contest to a single count of second-degree sexual abuse of a minor in 2001 and was sentenced to 31/2 years in prison. Soon after, the families of eight children sued Trickel, his wife and the Salvation Army Western Territory in December 2001. The rest of the plaintiffs, except for the four girls and one mother, have since settled out of court, attorneys said.
   The Daily News is not naming the plaintiffs because it does not identify victims of sexual abuse.
• Diocese abuse adviser resigns
   The Washington Times, http://washingtontimes.com/metro/20040209-105846-1721r.htm , By Julia Duin, Feb 09, 2004
   ARLINGTON (VA): The official in charge of implementing a program to protect children from sexual abuse within the Catholic Diocese of Arlington resigned Friday after barely six months on the job.
   Catherine Nolan, the former victim-assistance coordinator and child-protection safety director for the diocese, had been targeted by many Catholic parents for backing "Good Touch, Bad Touch," an anti-sexual-abuse program for children.
   Miss Nolan, who was hired last August for a one-year period, said she was not pushed out.
   "I chose to leave," she said yesterday. "I requested permission to step down. It was my request to resign. They really wanted me to stay on, but I really felt my work was done, and I really accomplished a lot in the six months I was there."
• Accused ex-priest moves from N.H.
   MetroWest Daily News, http://www3.metrowestdailynews.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=60014 , Tuesday, February 10, 2004
   WELLESLEY (MA): An ex-priest negotiating with the Norfolk District Attorney on a plea deal for decades-old child sexual abuse claims has recently moved from the region, though his lawyer says he isn't on the lam.
   Leo P. Landry, 74, a former Stigmatine Father in Wellesely and priest in the Diocese of Manchester, N.H., before leaving the clergy 32 years ago, has been the subject of discussions with prosecutors, his lawyer, Robert McDaniel, said yesterday.
   While a DA spokesman declined comment, John Vellante, one of his alleged victims, said terms were to have included Landry's guilty plea in exchange for lifetime probation. But Vellante said he was surprised to learn Landry -- a married, longtime resident of Rochester, N.H. -- had abruptly moved to Colorado.
• Sex Education: Rocked by scandal, the Diocese of Cleveland responds with new policy , teachers to blame too
   The Morning Journal, www.morningjournal.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=10943030&BRD=1699&PAG=461&dept_id=46371&rfi=6 , Feb/10/2004
   OHIO: Many educators want to know why the problem of predatory teachers has received far less public attention than the issue of Roman Catholic clergymen who sexually abuse children, according to a review last year by Education Week.
   "Everybody is all up in arms about the priests, but there's no difference from what priests and teachers have been doing to kids for decades," said Terri L. Miller, the president of the advocacy network Stop Educator Sexual Abuse, Misconduct and Exploitation, or SESAME [ http://www.ncweb.com/org/rapecrisis/sesamehome.html ].
   "Where is the outrage?" she said in the Education Week review. "Why aren't people protesting in Washington, demanding safe education? Why aren't people in an uproar?"
   At the height of the pedophile priest scandal in June 2002, America's Roman Catholic bishops adopted reforms that included putting child-protection programs in place, establishing codes of conduct and carrying out background checks on diocesan workers. [...]
   The Cleveland diocese's program is called the Virtus (Latin word for courage and character) Program or Protecting God's Children, said diocese spokesman Bob Tayek.
   A 52-page "Policy for the Safety of Children in Matters of Sexual Abuse" was distributed last year to all employees and volunteers in the diocese, and it contained a statement of acknowledgment that each person had to sign and return after reading the policy.
   As a follow-up, all employees and volunteers are being required to attend a three-hour education and awareness session, according to letters sent to employees and volunteers in each parish. [...]
• Man Tells Court of Sex Abuse in medical centre
   LOS ANGELES (CA): Los Angeles Times, www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-wempe10feb10,1,5083006.story?coll=la-home-local , By Anna Gorman, Feb 10, 2004
   A former Roman Catholic priest whom Cardinal Roger M. Mahony said he erred in transferring after allegations of sexual abuse faced his newest accuser Monday in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
   The 24-year-old man testified that Michael Wempe molested him as a child in the priest's car and in his office at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Wiping his eyes and sighing deeply, he said he was confused and disgusted.
As Wempe fondled him, he testified, the priest and close family friend told him how much he loved him and cared about him.
   "I didn't know why he would be doing something that was wrong," he testified.
   Wempe, 64, sat quietly in his orange jail jumpsuit as he listened to the testimony in his preliminary hearing, which will determine if there is enough evidence for a trial. His attorney said Wempe faces at least 20 years in prison if convicted.
   Posted by Kathy Shaw at 06:34 AM
//////////////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Tuesday, February 10, 2004

Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Wednesday, February 11, 2004 edition follows:-
• S.A. Archdiocese To Release Cost For Sexual Abuse Cases [$US 76m for 3 areas]
   SAN ANTONIO (TX): WOAI; www.woai.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=53037C9B-7EE5-46FC-8730-577E357C9B91
   The payouts are staggering. Catholic Diocese across the nation are revealing the cost for sexual abuse cases, including the San Antonio Archdiocese who [which]is also releasing its settlement figures.
   Sexual abuse cases in Dallas cost $47.7 million dollars. In Manchester $18.1 million dollars, and in San Francisco $10.3 million dollars.
   News 4 WOAI has learned the San Antonio Catholic Archdiocese is also releasing its payout total.
   "We plan to have a report out by the 27th of February," said Archdiocese Spokesperson Pat Rodgers.
   Locally the price tag could be high.
   Recent sex scandals involving priests include Father Xavier Ortiz-Dietz, who's serving a 20-year prison sentence for molesting altar boys.
   Posted by Kathy Shaw at 08:07 PM
• Iowa Supreme Court says diocese can't appeal
   IOWA: Quad-City Times, www.qctimes.com/internal.php?story_id=1024102&t=Local+News&c=2,1024102 , By Todd Ruger
   The Iowa Supreme Court has denied a request from the Diocese of Davenport to appeal a district judge's order that it provide records of sexual abuse allegations against Catholic priests for the past 50 years.
   The denial means 10 men who have filed civil lawsuits against the diocese can get information on how it treated priests accused of sexual abuse, attorney Craig Levien of Davenport said.
   "It's just an agreement that the court order is correct," added Levien, who represents those men in 10 lawsuits filed in Scott and Clinton counties.
   Diocese attorneys say they plan to ask Clinton County District Judge C.H. Pelton to reconsider his Nov. 26 civil court order.
• Washington Notebook: What if accused priest is falsely accused?
   National Catholic Reporter, "Washington Notebook," www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/washington/wnb021104.htm , By Joe Feuerherd, Feb 11, 2004
   WASHINGTON (DC): Among the many unpleasant questions raised by the clergy sex abuse scandal, not least is this: What if the priest is falsely accused?
   Given the history of cover-up and subterfuge that has marked the church's response to clerical molesters, the guilt or innocence of a single priest is not a concern that resonates much beyond the clergy itself. To even raise the question, it seems, is to risk the perception of being soft on abusers.
   But it's not a theoretical issue, if even a handful of the many priests currently contesting the "credible accusations" against them are found to be truthful.
   But how to determine innocence?
• Clergy abuse monument inscription stirs debate [Fr Hanley ?]
   NEW JERSEY: National Catholic Reporter, http://natcath.org/NCR_Online/archives2/2004a/021304/021304m.php , By JEFF DIAMANT, Religion News Service, for Feb 13, 2004
   No one knows whether James Kelly's suicide last October in front of a New Jersey Transit train in Morristown, N.J., stemmed from the childhood sexual abuse by a Mendham, N.J., priest or from other personal problems.
   Still, while gathered after his funeral on the grounds of St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church in Mendham -- where the abuse occurred more than two decades ago -- people who were abused by the same priest discussed naming their support group chapter after Kelly, a 37-year-old telecommunications salesman from Morristown who had recently been laid off.
   "We were just kind of having an open table discussion," recalled Bill Crane, who, like Kelly, was sexually abused by the former Fr. James Hanley. "And it dawned on me that something really needs to take place that is tangible, to bring to light the seriousness of what we endured as children, so it won't be forgotten."
• Statement Regarding Allegations [Dupre]
   Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests [SNAP], "Statement Regarding Allegations Against MA Bishop; Sex Abuse Victims Responds To Allegations Of Child Abuse Against Springfield Diocese Bishop," http://snapnetwork.org/snap_statements/021004_Springfield_bishop_allegations.htm , Wednesday, February 10, 2004
   SPRINGFIELD (MA): STATEMENT by Barbara Blaine of Chicago, President and Founder of SNAP, the Survivors Network or those Abused by Priests
   "We hope that Dupre's retirement provides at least some degree of closure and healing for the dozens of innocent Catholic children whose lives were devastated during his watch and because of his complicity.
   It's troubling and sad that Dupre's duplicitous behavior has continued until the very end of his tenure.
   We ache for these boys and their families and commend them for their courage in speaking up. When victims remain silent, nothing changes. We hope that others who experienced, witnessed or suspected abuse in the Springfield Diocese are inspired by their brave example and break their silence. When they find the courage and strength to come forward, sometimes justice can be done and other kids can be protected.
• Prosecutor: Bishop Deceptive After Crash [2003]
   PHOENIX (AZ): phillyburbs.com; www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/1-02112004-244901.html , By ANABELLE GARAY, The Associated Press, Feb 11, 2004
   Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas O'Brien was deceptive and appeared to be in denial in the days after he was involved in a fatal hit-and-run accident, the prosecutor said Wednesday in closing arguments at the prelate's trial.
   "There are a lot of ways to act deceptive," Prosecutor Anthony Novitsky said. "One of them ... is to act innocent."
   Novitsky suggested O'Brien did just that on the day after the June 14 accident, continuing to drive the car even though it had a large spider web-shaped crack on the windshield. Novitsky said O'Brien wanted to avoid questions that would arise if he wasn't using the car.
   "He tells no one and he goes about his business as though nothing happened," Novitsky said.
   The prosecutor also reminded jurors of testimony that suggested O'Brien had taken his foot off the accelerator and had tapped on his brakes before the accident that killed pedestrian Jim Reed, who was jaywalking when hit. [...]
   O'Brien admitted on the stand Tuesday that he didn't call police after learning officers were investigating a fatal accident in the same area where he hit something.
   He said he was told by a diocesan official that officers would arrive at his home to investigate and believed police would seek him out. But he did not answer his phone the night after the accident or immediately answer his door for police the following day.
   His arrest ended the bishop's 21-year career as head of the Phoenix Diocese. The accident happened less than two weeks after prosecutors announced O'Brien had struck a deal to avoid indictment on obstruction charges for protecting child-molesting priests.
• DA won't investigate allegations against bishop Hubbard
   ALBANY (NY): Capital News, www.capitalnews9.com/content/headlines/?ArID=59264&SecID=33 , By Capital News 9 web staff, Updated 3:43 PM, Feb/11/2004
   Albany County's DA said he won't investigate allegations against Bishop Howard Hubbard. In a statement released today District Attorney Paul Clyne said he doesn't believe there's any offense which could be the subject of a criminal investigation.
   Last week Andrew Zalay came forward claiming Bishop Hubbard had a relationship with his brother Thomas Zalay who committed suicide in 1978.
   Clyne said the only alleged item of evidence linking the two men is a typewritten note, purportedly written by Thomas Zalay sometime before he committed suicide. Albany County's DA said he won't investigate allegations against Bishop Howard Hubbard.
   He said such a written document is hearsay and not admissible in any court proceeding when offered to prove the truth of the matters asserted in the document.
   Clyne also said since the alleged relationship occurred 25-years ago, it's beyond the statute of limitations
• Correction: Church abuse story, Connecticut refuge to 'only' 100 priests
   Newsday, www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ct--churchabuse0211feb11,0,6520413.story?coll=ny-ap-regional-wire , 6:35 PM EST, February 11, 2004
   EAST LYME, Conn. (AP): In a Feb. 9 story about a panel discussion of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy, The Associated Press quoted Anne Barrett-Doyle, a member of Voice of the Faithful's national voting council, as saying "hundreds of priests have found safe harbor" in Connecticut.
   Barrett-Doyle now says that figure was inaccurate. She estimates about 100 priests accused of sexual abuse found refuge in Connecticut over the last 50 years.
• Abuse alleged at Krol Center; archdiocese says peer-on-peer incidents were not reported
   The Daily Times, http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1675&dept_id=18171&newsid=10948781&PAG=461&rfi=9 , By REBECCA CORCORAN , rcorcoran@delcotimes.com , Feb/11/2004
   MARPLE (PA): The Cardinal Krol Center, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia-run facility for developmentally disabled men, failed to properly report incidents of sexual abuse among residents over a 19-month period, according to an investigation by the state Health Department.
   The investigation, which is detailed in a report that will be released later this week, uncovered numerous violations at the Marple center, which provides residential and rehabilitative services to 131 men ages 21-60.
   "One of the things we are looking into is incident-reporting to the state. Incident-reporting is important to us," said Health Department spokesman Richard McGarvey.
   State-licensed facilities like the Cardinal Krol Center must report all "unusual events" from kitchen fires to theft and abuse to "something dealing with patient care," McGarvey said.
• Support group forms for victims of clergy sex abuse
   Newsday, www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ct--priests-sexabuse0211feb11,0,7971477.story?coll=ny-ap-regional-wire , By DIANE SCARPONI, Associated Press Writer, 5:57 PM EST, February 11, 2004,
   HAMDEN, Conn.: Connecticut victims of sexual abuse by clergy are forming a state chapter of a national support group to help victims cope and to advocate for ways to end future abuse.
   The state chapter of Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP, is led by Landa Mauriello-Vernon, a 30-year-old Hamden resident who alleges a nun sexually assaulted her when she was a student at a Roman Catholic school.
   "I believe we can all heal by sharing our experiences and working to promote change," Mauriello-Vernon said at a news conference Wednesday to announce the group's formation.
   The Connecticut SNAP chapter plans to hold its first meeting Feb. 23. Abuse victims who are interested in attending the meetings may contact Mauriello-Vernon through the national group's Web site, www.snapnetwork.org.
• Local Church Leaders Strive To Ensure Children's Protection
   WRAL; www.wral.com/news/2840781/detail.html
   RALEIGH, N.C.: The sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church could be worse than previously thought.
   John Pendergrass' mission is make sure all 76 churches in the eastern half of North Carolina are safe for children.
   Earlier reports suggested that as many as 1,200 priests have been accused of sex abuse since the 1950s. A new report compiled by the Associated Press suggests that number could be closer to 1,300.
   The number could climb even higher because more than 100 dioceses in the United States have not yet submitted their statistics.
   As the Catholic Church prepares to release its own report later this month, local church leaders are taking steps to make sure children are protected.
   Every diocese across the country has to enact a program to ensure the safety of children. It involves screening and training church staff members and volunteers.
   The Raleigh Diocese hired John Pendergrass, the director of Youth Protection, following the recent sex-abuse crisis that rocked the Catholic Church. Pendergrass' mission is make sure all 76 churches in the eastern half of North Carolina are safe for children.
• Bishops' abuse officers to look into Knoxville showing pictures of admitted abuser O'Connell
   KNOXVILLE (TN): National Catholic Reporter http://ncronline.org/NCR_Online/archives2/2004a/021304/021304i.htm , By DENNIS CODAY, for Feb 13, 2004
   The U.S. bishops' office for child protection told NCR that it knows that images of Bishop Anthony J. O'Connell, who admitted to sexually abusing minors, are on display in church facilities in the Knoxville, Tenn., diocese and will be contacting the diocese soon about them.
   "It's my intention to call the diocese," Shelia Horan, deputy director of the Office of Child and Youth Protection of the U.S. Catholic bishops' conference, told NCR Feb. 2. "I want to find out the details. I'm curious about the details," she said.
   Horan was contacted late last month about the photographs and bust of O'Connell on display in Knoxville (NCR, Feb. 6). She said that part of the role the youth and child protection office plays is as an ombudsman between complainants and church leadership.
   "I have one side of the story and I will look at the other side," Horan said. She declined to say whether or not she would advise the Knoxville diocese about displaying images. O'Connell was the founding bishop of the diocese in 1988. Two of his photos hang in Knoxville Catholic High School and a bronze bust is displayed in a hallway in the Knoxville chancery. He resigned as bishop of Palm Beach, Fla., in 2002 after admitting to sexual abuse of minors.
• Springfield bishop resigns from western Mass. diocese, Thomas Dupre goes
   Providence Journal, www.projo.com/ap/ma/1076536190.htm , By TRUDY TYNAN, Associated Press Writer
   SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP): Bishop Thomas Dupre resigned Wednesday as head of the Roman Catholic diocese of Springfield because of health problems that officials say were magnified by his dealing with the clergy sexual abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic church.
   Dupre's departure comes about five years before the usual retirement age of 75. Dupre, who turned 70 in November, has headed the diocese of about 260,000 Catholics, which encompasses the state's four western counties, since May, 1995.
   Dupre's resignation, which was accepted Wednesday morning by Pope John Paul II, comes a few weeks after the Vatican approved his petition to defrock Richard Lavigne, a convicted pedophile priest who is also a suspect in the murder of an altar boy.
• Bishop Thomas L. Dupré resigns as 7th Bishop of Springfield
   iobserve ; www.iobserve.org/rn0211a.html
   SPRINGFIELD, MA: In November 2003, Bishop Thomas L. Dupré submitted his resignation to the Holy See, citing declining health and his age.
   His request was granted yesterday.
   In the interim, Msgr. Richard S. Sniezyk, Co-Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Diocese until the Diocesan Board of Consultors convenes and chooses an Administrator for the Diocese.
• Dupre accused of abuse, by newspaper, resigns next day
   The Republican, http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf?/news/stories/021104dupre.html , By Bill Zajac, wzajac@repub.com , Feb/11/2004
   SPRINGFIELD (MA): The Most Rev. Thomas L. Dupre resigned as bishop of the Springfield Roman Catholic Diocese today, a day after The Republican confronted him with accusations that he sexually abused two minor boys three decades ago when he was a priest.
   The bishop cited health reasons for his departure at age 70 and did not address the allegations first brought by the mother of one of the boys in a letter to the bishop last year. The mother, a longtime diocesan school worker, said her letter arrived at the bishop's residence weeks before he told The Republican last year he might retire earlier than the mandatory retirement age of 75 because of heart and other health problems.
   The diocese did not respond to the allegations yesterday. Spokesman Mark Dupont said he delivered them in a confidential message to the bishop Tuesday; the bishop was hospitalized hours later. Dupont has asked The Republican to send the allegations again to the diocese.
   The Republican first received an anonymous tip on the allegations over a year ago and has spent months conducting interviews in an attempt to corroborate the allegations. The mother's name is being withheld because her son does not want to press charges.
   The Rev. James J. Scahill, who has publicly criticized Dupre's handling of clergy sexual abuse issues, said he has counseled the woman and that he has tried to help her son.
• Pope Accepts Bishop's Resignation
   TheBostonChannel.com; www.thebostonchannel.com/news/2838699/detail.html
   SPRINGFIELD, Mass.: Bishop Thomas Dupre has resigned as head of the Roman Catholic diocese of Springfield because of declining health.
   Dupre's departure comes about five years before the usual retirement age of 75. Dupre turned 70 in November. He has headed the diocese of about 260,000 Catholics, which encompasses the state's four western counties, since May 1995.
   The Vatican announced Wednesday that Pope John Paul II had accepted Dupre's resignation, but didn't release other details. ...
   Last month, he announced the Vatican had approved his petition to defrock a convicted pedophile priest who is also a suspect in the murder of an altar boy.
   The former priest, Richard Lavigne, pleaded guilty in 1992 to molesting two altar boys, and was suspected by authorities but never charged with killing another one -- Danny Croteau -- in 1972. Croteau's family believes Lavigne abused their son, and killed the boy to stop him from reporting it.
   Lavigne was sentenced to a treatment facility and 10 years of probation. He was barred from serving as a priest, but still received a monthly stipend and health insurance totaling more than $20,000 a year.
• Court may act on '72 slaying files
   The Republican, http://masslive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1076489128187570.xml?nntn , By Bill Zajac, Staff writer, wzajac@repub.com , Feb/11/2004
   BOSTON (MA): A state Supreme Judicial Court justice has asked the full seven-justice bench to consider an effort to unseal files in the investigation into the 1972 slaying of Springfield altar boy Daniel Croteau.
   After listening last month to arguments regarding the public's right to gain access to the files, Justice Robert J. Cordy yesterday notified lawyers involved in the case that he will not issue a ruling. Instead, he wants the case to be considered by the full court.
   It means that a final ruling regarding this case is likely to be rendered within about six months.
   The Republican and a lawyer representing about 20 plaintiffs in current clergy sexual abuse suits are attempting to unseal the files.
   "We welcome the review of the full court on this matter," said Republican Executive Editor Wayne E. Phaneuf. "This will help speed the process and clear the air on an issue that has taken over a generation to resolve."
• Bishop sought car repairs despite probe
   Arizona Daily Sun, www.azdailysun.com/non_sec/nav_includes/story.cfm?storyID=81894 , By ANNABELLE GARAY, The Associated Press, Feb/11/2004
   PHOENIX (AZ): Bishop Thomas O'Brien conceded during his hit-and-run trial Tuesday that he asked about getting his windshield fixed even though he knew police were investigating whether the car had been involved in a deadly accident.
   "I was interested in getting the windshield fixed at some time," the Roman Catholic clergyman said in his second day on the witness stand. "There is no way I would have gotten that windshield fixed that day."
   A diocesan secretary testified earlier that O'Brien called her about the windshield, which was smashed when O'Brien's car hit a pedestrian, the Monday after the weekend accident.
   The bishop has said he initially thought has car had been hit by a rock or a dog. Prosecutors have argued that O'Brien knew or should have known that he hit a pedestrian on the night of June 14.
   The 68-year-old bishop is accused of leaving the scene of an accident that killed Jim Reed. If convicted, O'Brien could get nearly four years in prison.
• Kenai pedophile case goes to jury; Salvation Army "paradise"
   Fairbanks News-Miner, www.news-miner.com/Stories/0,1413,113~7244~1949148,00.html , The Associated Press
   KENAI (AK): The Salvation Army Church in Kenai was a pedophile's paradise, and the actions of a former member illustrate the charity's disregard for the safety of children, an attorney said during closing arguments.
   Attorneys presented their closing arguments Monday in Kenai Superior Court in the case against The Salvation Army and a former Salvation Army minister convicted of sexually abusing minors while assigned to Kenai in the late 1990s.
   A jury was expected to begin deliberations in the civil case on Tuesday.
   Former Salvation Army Capt. Troy Trickel was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison after being convicted in 2001 on one consolidated charge of second-degree sexual abuse of a minor.
   Three sisters and another girl say they were fondled by Trickel at the Kenai church on separate occasions in 1999. The girls and one of the mothers have sued Trickel, his wife, Debbie, and The Salvation Army.
• Editor's Desk: Providing Context
   Arlington Catholic Herald, www.catholicherald.com/eddesk/04ed/ed040212.htm , By Michael F. Flach, Herald Editor, (From the issue of Feb/12/04)
   ARLINGTON (VA): The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights has issued a special report this week entitled "Sexual Abuse in Social Context: Catholic Clergy and Other Professionals."
   The purpose of this report "is to put the recent scandal in the Catholic Church in perspective," said William A. Donohue, Catholic League president. "It does not seek to exculpate anyone who had anything to do with priestly sexual misconduct, but it does seek to challenge those who continue to treat this issue in isolation."
   A national study on the extent of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests since 1950 will be released on Feb. 27 by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City.
   Donohue said is it "grossly unfair" to discuss the incidence of sexual abuse committed by Catholic priests without reference to the level of offense found among the clergy of other religions, or to that of other professionals.
• Bishop: No Need to Talk to Police
   Washington Post, www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30741-2004Feb10.html , By T.R. Reid, Washington Post Staff Writer, Page A13, Wednesday, February 11, 2004;
   PHOENIX (AZ) Feb. 10: A jury could decide later this week whether to convict Arizona's ranking Roman Catholic cleric, Bishop Thomas O'Brien, on a felony charge of leaving the scene of a fatal auto accident. Defense testimony ended Tuesday. O'Brien, 68, who stepped down as head of Arizona's largest Roman Catholic diocese after his arrest in the case last June, faced two hours of cross-examination Tuesday from prosecutor Mitch Rand. Rand showed no deference to O'Brien's stature as a religious leader, repeatedly accusing the bishop of trying to avoid police investigating the accident.
   The bishop testified that he wished he had stopped after the collision in June that shattered the passenger side of his car's windshield. But the cleric did not express remorse about the fate of Jim L. Reed, the pedestrian who died that night. The defense maintains that Reed was not killed by the priest's car, but rather by another car that ran over his prone body after O'Brien drove away.
   Rand was relentless in questioning the bishop about his failure to report the accident. "You didn't call the police, did you?" he growled.
   "You didn't answer the phone, did you? The police rang your doorbell, and you didn't answer the door, did you?"
   O'Brien, growing testy under this barrage, replied curtly that he did not see any need to talk to police because he thought his car had been hit by a large rock, or that he may have hit a dog.
• Scope Of Priest Abuse Expanding [1,341 for half the dioceses]
   Hartford Courant, www.ctnow.com/news/local/hc-priests0211.artfeb11,1,1264862.story?coll=hc-headlines-local , By FRANCES GRANDY TAYLOR, Courant Staff Writer, February 11, 2004
   UNITED STATES: The number of Roman Catholic clergy accused of sexual misconduct since 1950 could be nearly twice the estimates previously reported, several priest sex abuse watchdog groups say.
   The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops will announce the results of its first-ever survey on priest abuse on Feb. 27, but preliminary results from individual dioceses already are being released.
   The Associated Press reported Tuesday that it contacted 80 dioceses around the country that have submitted their figures to the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and found that 1,341 clergy members have been accused of molesting minors, with more than half the dioceses yet to be heard from.
   "Generally, the number is running twice as large as previously thought," said Anne Barrett Doyle, a member of the national voting council of Voice of the Faithful, a lay group formed in the wake of the sex abuse scandal.
   In Connecticut, sexual abuse claims have been lodged against 47 priests, one nun and one seminarian. Doyle, who is also a co-director of an online database of clergy abuse claims called BishopAccountability.org, said she believes there may be as many as 100 accused priests in Connecticut, if the trend in other states holds here.
• Priest Under Investigation For Sex Charges [2004]
   NewsNet5; www.newsnet5.com/news/2838569/detail.html
   AKRON, Ohio: A priest charged with growing marijuana in his church residence is under investigation for alleged child abuse, a prosecutor said.
   Assistant Summit County Prosecutor Mary Ann Kovach said Tuesday that she plans to meet with police to determine if sex charges should be brought against Rev. Richard Arko, 40.
   The allegation surfaced during a court appearance by Andrew J. Smith, 25, of nearby Barberton, who tipped police last month to marijuana plants allegedly grown by Arko inside the rectory of Prince of Peace Roman Catholic Church.
   Smith, in court Tuesday for violating probation in an unrelated case, claimed Arko began a sexual relationship with him when he was 15.
   He told his attorney that the relationship continued through January, when the priest posted Smith's bond after his arrest on charges stemming from a theft at Prince of Peace, where Arko served as pastor.
   Over the years, Smith said in court, Arko showered him with gifts, money and drugs in exchange for sex.
   Smith, whose credibility could be an issue in the marijuana investigation, has a history of drug abuse and is under a 10-count indictment on charges of forgery and receiving stolen property.
   The charges stem from the theft of checks [cheques] and a credit card from Prince of Peace. The credit card belonged to Arko and the checks belonged to the church.
• Diocese details number of sex abuse cases [1970s+, 24 accused, $5.5m so far]
   OAKLAND (CA): Oakland Tribune, www.oaklandtribune.com/Stories/0,1413,82~1726~1949224,00.html , By Laura Casey
   The scope of sex abuse in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland was spelled out in hard numbers by Oakland Bishop Allen H. Vigneron in a letter to his congregation printed this week in the diocesan newspaper, The Catholic Voice.
   Vigneron's report, part of a nationwide accounting of abuse claims and costs to be released Feb. 27, says 24 priests in the Oakland diocese -- which includes Roman Catholic churches in Alameda and Contra Costa counties -- were charged with child abuse during the past five decades. Most of the abuse, the report says, occurred in the 1970s.
   In addition, 72 confirmed victims have come forward locally to report abuse, althoughabuse survivors say the number of victims could be significantly higher.
   The scope of sex abuse accusations against Roman Catholic clergy since 1950 appears to be much greater than previously estimated by victim groups and the media, an Associated Press review of reports from dioceses has found. The AP contacted dioceses across the country and found that 1,341 clergy members have been accused of molesting minors, with more than half the dioceses yet to report.
   "What it's really doing is showing us in black and white that the problem is much worse than any of us thought," said Sue Archibald, president of The Linkup, a Kentucky-based victim advocacy group.
   Since 1962, the Oakland Diocese has paid nearly $5.5 million in sex abuse settlements and about $600,000 to pay for counseling for victims, Vigneron's report said. Some $3 million of that settlement money went to a woman who was sexually assaulted by her pastor when she was a child St. Bede Parish in Hayward. The settlement was decided Jan. 23.
• Bishop's move: With no criminal charges or suit filed against him, Bishop Howard Hubbard takes his case to court - of public opinion
   Troy Record, www.troyrecord.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=10948602&BRD=1170&PAG=461&dept_id=7021&rfi=6 , By James V. Franco, Feb/11/2004
   TROY (NY): Bishop Howard J. Hubbard vigorously reiterated his innocence following claims last week by two men that he engaged in sexual relations with them sometime between 1976 and 1979.
   "I have no way in which to defend myself in a lot of respects. There is no lawsuit filed and there is no crime alleged. So the only court I have is the court of public opinion," Hubbard told The Record's editorial board on Tuesday.
   "I am going to clear my name. There is absolutely no truth to these allegations and I am looking for every opportunity I can find to tell my story and make it clear these charges are completely false."
   Hubbard is making the rounds of Capital District newspaper editorial boards and will make himself available to television outlets later in the week to tout the same basic message.
   The first stunning allegation against Hubbard came on Feb. 5 from Andrew Zalay, a 54-year-old engineer from California. Zalay claims Hubbard engaged in sexual relations with his brother, Thomas, who committed suicide in 1978 at the age of 25 by setting himself on fire.
   Andrew Zalay produced a suicide note allegedly written by his brother that said the homosexual relationship drove him to suicide.
• Bishop puts faith in public
   ALBANY (NY): Albany Times Union, www.timesunion.com/aspstories/story.asp?storyID=217814 , By BRIAN NEARING, Wednesday, February 11, 2004
   Bishop Howard Hubbard said accusations that he had sex with men have left him embarrassed and humiliated but determined to restore his reputation.
   Saying he can't afford to wait for vindication in a protracted legal battle, the spiritual leader of the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese declared his innocence Tuesday and said he seeks to prevail in the court of public opinion.
   In his first meeting with the Times Union editorial board since the nationwide clergy sex abuse scandal erupted two years ago, Hubbard repeated his emphatic denial that he had ever broken his priestly vow of celibacy and asserted that an independent investigation would ultimately lift the cloud that descended on him last week.
   "It's like I'm in the middle of a nightmare, and I don't know how I got here," said the 64-year-old clergyman. "I feel like I am in a surreal world. The only thing I have is my own denials." [...]
   Some advocates for sexual abuse victims have criticized Hubbard for opposing the "zero tolerance" policy adopted in 2002 by the U.S. Conference of Bishops. That policy requires that any priest found to have sexual contact with a child be removed from ministry immediately and permanently.
   Hubbard said he initially opposed that step because he wanted "restorative justice ... compassion and forgiveness" for priests who had a single sexual encounter as opposed to serial pedophiles, but he ultimately accepted that the rule was needed to help restore public confidence and voted for it.
   During an hourlong interview accompanied by the Rev. Kenneth Doyle, the diocese's chancellor of information, Hubbard also fielded questions about the Catholic ban on allowing priests to marry.
   The bishop said church leaders should reconsider the ban, although he said there are no links between the celibacy rule and pedophilia by priests.
   Hubbard said the requirement that new priests be celibate is discouraging recruits to the priesthood, which limits the church's essential mission of delivering the Eucharist to Catholics.
• St. Peter Church breaks silence, Rockford Diocese trying secrecy [1999-2000]
   CHICAGO (IL): Chicago Daily Herald, www.dailyherald.com/kane/main_story.asp?intID=3802873 , By Garrett Ordower, Posted February 11, 2004
   St. Peter Catholic Church is no small institution. It numbers about 2,600 families. Its ministries affect thousands more.
   Recently, the parish has become embroiled in a controversy over a legal precedent the Rockford Diocese is trying to set by not turning over documents related to a local priest accused of sexual abuse.
Some parishioners have rushed to defend the parish and the diocese. Some have offered criticism. Some still have questions.
   But one aspect remains constant through all the differing reactions.
   "Emotions run very high in this type of case," said Rama Canney, spokeswoman for St. Peter in Geneva.
   Until Tuesday, the church had not commented publicly on the increased scrutiny it has been the focus of since a Nov. 16 letter to the Daily Herald.
   But in the wake of continued news reports fueled by information from those outside the church, Canney offered some comments on the situation.
   "We'd like to have the trial proceed and justice to be done and healing to occur for any hurts that are out there," Canney said. "We want that to come to a conclusion just as anyone else does."
   She acknowledged that there are reasons to be focusing on St. Peter, but said the decision to withhold documents related to former priest Mark Campobello rests with the diocese, not with the church.
   Campobello is accused of abusing two girls during 1999 and 2000 while he was living at St. Peter and working as an assistant principal at Aurora Central Catholic High School.
   "It's very much about a parishioner of ours (who wrote the letter), it is about a priest who lived on our campus," Canney said. "But it is not about documents that we're not turning over."
   Canney said that while she asked members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests group to leave parish grounds Sunday morning, it was because of the unexpected disruption, not because anyone disagrees with their message or goals. [...]
• SJC To Review Altar Boy Murder Case; might uncover secret files
   TheBostonChannel.com; www.thebostonchannel.com/news/2838493/detail.html
   BOSTON (MA): A justice of the state's highest court has asked the full seven-member court to review a motion to unseal the investigation records in the three-decade old unsolved slaying of a Springfield altar boy.
   Supreme Judicial Court Justice Robert J. Cordy, who listened to arguments from both sides on the motion last month, notified lawyers in the case on Tuesday that he would not issue a ruling, but will instead submit the case to the full court.
   The Republican newspaper of Springfield and a lawyer representing about 20 people who claim they were abused by priests want the files in the case of Daniel Croteau opened. The 13-year-old Springfield boy's bludgeoned body was found on the banks of the Chicopee River in 1972.
   "We welcome the review of the full court on this matter," said Republican executive editor Wayne E. Phaneuf. "This will help speed the process and clear the air on an issue that has taken over a generation to resolve."
   Croteau's father filed affidavits supporting the release of most of the documents, and the Boston Herald also filed papers in support of the documents' release.
   The Hampden district attorney's office and the lawyer representing defrocked priest Richard R. Lavigne, the only publicly identified suspect, want the files to remain sealed.
   "It is not unusual for a justice to ask the full bench to review a case if it is unusual enough or there are novel issues or it is significant enough," said Jonathan M. Albano, a lawyer for The Republican.
• Catholics get a new bishop; he's from Boston
   PORTLAND (ME): Portland Press Herald, www.pressherald.com/news/state/040211bishop.shtml , By JOHN RICHARDSON, Feb 11, 2004
   A 57-year-old Massachusetts native and auxiliary bishop in the Boston Archdiocese is the next leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Maine.
   Clergyman Richard J. Malone will be installed March 31 as the bishop of Portland, church leaders announced Tuesday. He will replace Bishop Joseph Gerry, who reached the church's retirement age of 75 last September and plans to return to a New Hampshire monastery after nearly 15 years as leader of the state's 234,000 Catholics. ...
   Malone has not been directly involved in the sexual abuse scandal that erupted in the Boston Archdiocese in 2002 before spreading nationwide.
   Massachusetts advocates for victims of sexual abuse by priests said they don't know Malone and had never dealt with him on complaints. As auxiliary bishop, however, Malone did visit a few parishes to talk to church members about past allegations of abuse that led to the removal of their priests.
   In February 2002, for example, he told the parishioners at St. Nicholas in Abington, Mass., that he understood their confusion, sadness and anger over allegations against their parish priest. He also urged parents to talk to their children.
   "Ask if they have anything they want to relate to you that they're carrying inside," Malone said.
   Malone addressed the sexual abuse crisis in his remarks Tuesday morning in Portland.
• Local diocese paid $1.3M; "miniscule", he says
   CORPUS CHRISTI (TX): Caller-Times, www.caller.com/ccct/local_news/article/0,1641,CCCT_811_2646057,00.html , From staff and wire reports, February 11, 2004
   Corpus Christi is one of 32 Catholic dioceses in the United States to report paying out more than $1 million to sexual abuse victims, according to a survey reviewed by the Associated Press.
   Two other Texas dioceses also reported paying out large amounts including Houston at $3.6 million and Dallas at $47.7 million.
   Bishop Edmond Carmody said late Tuesday that the $1.3 million paid out by the Diocese of Corpus Christi went to several different cases in the early 1990s.
   "Overall we did not have any big hits. The amount was minuscule compared to what other dioceses had to pay," said Carmody, adding that even one case can dramatically impact the amount of money dioceses have to pay.
   Carmody said the large amount of money that the Diocese of Dallas had to pay was because of one case.
• Catholic sex abuse details scandal outlined [10 accused]
   Tri-Valley Herald, www.trivalleyherald.com/Stories/0,1413,86~10669~1949002,00.html By Ken McNeill and Laura Casey
   STOCKTON (CA): The scope of sex abuse accusations against Roman Catholic clergy since 1950 appears to be much greater than previously estimated by victim groups and the media, an Associated Press review of reports from dioceses has found.
   In January, the Stockton Roman Catholic Diocese issued an apology saying that from 1962 to December 2003, there have been 10 priests accused of sexual abuse of minors.
   The Stockton Catholic Diocese is made up of 33 churches and 12 mission churches covering San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties and parts of the eastern Sierra south to Mammoth Lakes.
   The report from the Stockton Diocese is part of a nationwide accounting of abuse claims and costs scheduled for release Feb. 27.
   In a written statement, Stockton Diocese leaders said, "With sadness and profound regret, the Diocese of Stockton apologizes to the victims and their families for the pain and hurt caused them."
   Posted by Kathy Shaw at 06:50 AM
//////////////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Wednesday, February 11, 2004
• Children's online sex shame; Charity's report warns internet sales and abuse could worsen with new technology. [Non-clergy]
   The West Australian, Press Association, p 21, Wednesday February 11 2004
   LONDON, England: Children are being sold for sex on the internet and then rated out of 10 by paedophiles, a British report warns.
   Some ... sold by relatives and friends ... advertise ... online ... Pre-pubescent boys and girls ... live sex shows ... web ... perverts pay to watch.
   ... published by ... Barnardo's [ www.barnardos.org.uk ] in London ... new GPRS and 3G mobile phone technology could lead to many more children being abused through the internet.
   ... Barnardo's identified 83 ... one 14-year-old girl ... groomed for prostitution.
   "She knew nothing about the site or ... her photograph had appeared ... site was closed by police but started up again within days.
   ... being abused in this way by ... family members, friends of the family and trusted adults such as teachers or youth leaders." ...
• New Zealand prostitution starts at 10 years: study [Non-clergy]
   The West Australian, Australian Associated Press, p 21, Wednesday February 11 2004
   AUCKLAND, New Zealand:
   Children as young as 10 are prostituting themselves in New Zealand, with most lured into the trade by other people, a new study has found.
   Young people who had been victims of sexual abuse and were living away from their parents were more susceptible ...
   Indigenous young people appeared to be the most vulnerable ... according to research released by the ECPAT (End Child Prostitution, Pornography and Trafficking) New Zealand [ www.ecpat.org.nz ].
   ... found 195 known cases ... 145 ... under 16. Ten per cent were aged 12 or younger. ...
   Under New Zealand law it is illegal for anyone under the age of 18 to be a prostitute.
   ...In December, an Australian man ... jailed for three years ... first person in New Zealand convicted ... underage prostitute.
• 2-i-c of Boston's denial a lie, says advocate; Asks Catholics to forgo donations to diocese
   Newsday.com; "Advocate Calls Bishop a ‘Liar'; Asks Catholics to forgo donations to diocese," http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-licath0212,0,2636550.story?coll=ny-linews-headlines , By Rita Ciolli, February 11, 2004
   UNITED STATES:
   Bishop William Murphy lied when he denied any direct involvement in the cover-up of priest abuse scandal in Boston and shouldn't be trusted to protect the children in the church's care on Long Island, a local child abuse advocate said today.
   Laura Ahearn, executive director of Parents for Megan's law www.parentsformeganslaw.com/, said her review of thousands of documents of abusive priests which are on file in a Boston court reveal that Murphy was an active participant in the cover-up.
   "Don't allow Bishop Murphy to remain at the helm of this diocese," said Ahearn, calling upon local Catholics to stop donating money until Murphy steps aside.
   Murphy was second in command in Boston from 1993 to 2001 when he was named head of the Diocese of Rockville Centre. He testified before a Massachusetts grand jury that investigated the church scandal there and has insisted he did nothing wrong.
   In response this afternoon the diocese released a statement: "Even after a lengthy inquiry by the Attorney General in Boston no one has ever established that Bishop Murphy has engaged in any wrongful conduct during his tenure as Vicar General in Boston."
• Child sex man jailed [Non-clergy, prima facie]
   The West Australian, "Child sex man jailed," p 11, Thursday February 12 2004
   PERTH, W. Australia:
   A recidivist child sex offender has been sentenced to 20 months jail after a District Court judge said he appeared to have been "grooming" a young boy he molested while working at a Fremantle lolly shop.
   Judge Mary Ann Yeats sentenced 43-year-old Ross Hailstones to a 20-month jail term with eligibility for parole after a jury found him guilty of seven counts of indecently dealing with a child under 13 years.
February 12 2004

Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Thursday, February 12, 2004 edition follows:-
• O'Brien case in jury's hands [2003]
   PHOENIX (AZ): The Arizona Republic, www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0212Bishop12-ON.html , Republic staff, wire reports, Feb. 12, 2004
   Jurors who began deliberating Thursday afternoon in the hit-and-run trial of Bishop Thomas O'Brien have retired for the day. They will resume deliberations at 9 a.m. Friday. O'Brien's arrest on a charge of hitting a pedestrian last summer led to his resignation as head of the Phoenix diocese.
   The eight jurors who will decide the case heard closing arguments and a rebuttal in the morning and then received instructions from the judge before beginning their discussions.
   During his closing arguments, defense attorney Tom Henze said prosecutors used gross speculation to try to prove O'Brien knew he hit a pedestrian.
   "They don't have enough evidence to convince you that he had seen anyone before or after (the accident)," Henze told jurors. "In fact, the evidence shows otherwise."
   Posted by Kathy Shaw at 07:17 PM
• Bishop's defense: Prosecutors presenting speculation, not evidence
   PHOENIX (AZ): Tucson Citizen, www.tucsoncitizen.com/breaking/021204bishoptrial.html , The Associated Press, Feb 12, 2004
   Prosecutors used gross speculation to try to prove Catholic Bishop Thomas O'Brien knew he hit a pedestrian last summer, a defense attorney said during closing arguments in the clergyman's hit-and-run trial Thursday.
   "They don't have enough evidence to convince you that he had seen anyone before or after (the accident)," Tom Henze, the bishop's attorney, told jurors. "In fact, the evidence shows otherwise."
   Henze suggested that it was easy to say the bishop should have known he hit someone but that the evidence doesn't support that.
   Henze also argued that O'Brien's actions during the 36 hours following the accident - a period prosecutors have focused on - don't prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he knew he hit someone.
   "This case is really about approximately 10 seconds - the 10 seconds or so that surrounded the accident," Henze said.
   But prosecutor Anthony Novitsky urged jurors during his rebuttal to the defense's closing arguments to look at all of O'Brien's actions. He said O'Brien's attorneys were breaking down the events in an effort to make them look innocent.
• Jury Deliberates Phoenix Bishop Case
   PHOENIX (AZ): Bradenton.com ; www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/7940742.htm , by ANANDA SHOREY, Associated Press
   A jury ended deliberations without a verdict Thursday in the hit-and-run trial of Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas O'Brien, whose arrest in the death of a pedestrian last summer ended his 21-year career as head of the Phoenix Diocese.
   O'Brien, 68, could get up to 3 3/4 years in prison if convicted of leaving the scene of the accident that killed pedestrian Jim Reed, who was jaywalking when he was hit.
   The jury is scheduled to resume deliberations Friday morning.
   The bishop said he thought he hit a dog or that his car had been struck by a rock. Prosecutors argued that O'Brien knew or should have known that he hit someone because of the loud noise and the big spider-web crack in the windshield of his Buick.
   Defense attorney Tom Henze told the jury the prosecution's case was based on speculation.
   "They don't have enough evidence to convince you that he had seen anyone before or after" the accident, Henze said. "In fact, the evidence shows otherwise." He added: "This case is really about approximately 10 seconds - the 10 seconds or so that surrounded the accident."
• Hubbard strikes back at allegations
   ALBANY (NY): Capital News, www.capitalnews9.com/content/headlines/?ArID=59475&SecID=33 , By Deborah Garcia, 6:09 PM Feb/12/2004
   Bishop Howard Hubbard is striking back against allegations that he had sex with Tom Zalay and a young male prostitute back in the 1970's before he was a bishop.
   "I am an innocent man. I never sexually abused anyone of any age," said Hubbard.
   But according to Attorney John Aretakis, who represents several victims who said they've been sexually abused by the clergy, Bishop Hubbard is lying.
   "I stand 100-percent behind the brave people who have already come forward. And I urge other victims and other witnesses to continue to come forward to SNAP, to the media, or to me so ultimately the truth will be known," said Aretakis.
• Lutheran cleric resigns in sex abuse case [1980s ?]
   MARILLA (NY): Buffalo News, www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20040212/1057759.asp , By JAY TOKASZ, Feb/12/2004
   A longtime Lutheran minister in Marilla has resigned from ministry after admitting to church officials that he had inappropriate sexual contact with two boys in his congregation.
   Douglas D. Thore, who had served as pastor of St. Nicodemus Lutheran Church on Liberia Road for about 20 years, admitted the abuse during a meeting in January with Bishop Marie C. Jerge, the head of the Upstate Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
   Jerge requested and received Thore's resignation. He no longer will function as a minister in the Evangelical Church in America.
   His admissions were referred to the Erie County district attorney's office and the Erie County Sheriff's Department, which is investigating. Thore could not be reached to comment. The incidents occurred more than a decade ago.
• Lutheran minister resigns over improper contact with boys [1980s]
   Newsday, www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ny--churchabuse0212feb12,0,7817348.story?coll=ny-ap-regional-wire , 1:14 PM EST, February 12, 2004,
   MARILLA, N.Y.: A Lutheran minister resigned after admitting he had inappropriate sexual contact with two boys in his congregation more than a decade ago, as well as other boys outside the area.
   Douglas Thore, who served as pastor of St. Nicodemus Lutheran Church in suburban Buffalo for about 20 years, admitted the abuse during a meeting in January with the head of the Upstate Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Bishop Marie Jerge requested and received Thore's resignation.
   Thore's admissions were referred to the Erie County district attorney's office and the Erie County Sheriff's Department, which is investigating, The Buffalo News reported.
   One of the victims was 11 to 13 years old at the time of the abuse; the other was at least 17, the age of consent, according to authorities.
• Lutheran Pastor Resigns
   WIVB, www.wivb.com/Global/story.asp?S=1643013&nav=0RapKnGa , February, 12, 2004
   MARILLA (NY): A local Lutheran pastor has given up his pulpit after admitting he had inappropriate sexual contact with two boys from his congregation in Marilla. But News 4's Lorey Schultz reports the district attorney may be powerless to prosecute the case.
   The Rev. Douglas Thore has been the pastor of St. Nicodemus Lutheran Church in Marilla for 20 years, but Thursday there's word he resigned, after admitting to church leaders in recent weeks that he sexually abused two adolescent boys in the congregation.
   Erie County District Attorney Frank Clark said, "The fact that a clergyman would take advantage of a young parishioner is something all too sadly familiar to us."
• Report details diocese's handling of claims [41 accused, $2.6 m spent]
   WMTW, www.wmtw.com/Global/story.asp?S=1642735&nav=7k6rKn4w
   PORTLAND (ME) (AP): Four percent of Maine's Catholic priests had allegations of abuse made against them from 1950 to 2001.
   That's according to a report released Thursday as part of the Catholic Church's accounting of sexual abuse claims and costs nationwide.
   The report sheds new light on the Portland Diocese's handling of those claims.
   The report says 86 victims in Maine made abuse allegations against 41 priests since 1950, and $2.6 million was spent on claims since the diocese began keeping detailed financial records in 1976.
• New report details Portland Diocese´s handling of claims [86 victims, $2.6m]
   Maine Today, http://news.mainetoday.com/apwire/D80LTOK01-42.shtml , By DAVID SHARP
   PORTLAND, Maine: A report prepared as part of a nationwide accounting of sexual abuse claims and costs by the Roman Catholic Church shed new light Thursday on the Portland Diocese´s handling of those claims.
   Abuse claims were made by 86 victims since 1950 -- the period covered by the report -- and $2.6 million was spent on claims since the diocese began keeping detailed financial records in 1976, according to the report.
   All told, $1.35 million was spent to settle abuse claims, and another $1.25 million was spent for victims´ assistance and counseling and legal expenses. All but $200,000 of that was paid by insurance, the report said.
   The report said there had been allegations against 41 priests during a 52-year review from 1950 to the end of 2001. Six of those allegations were unfounded; the others were either founded or undetermined.
   Earlier, a state prosecutor announced there were 51 priests accused of abuse in a review of church records dating back 75 years in Maine.
   Outgoing Bishop Joseph Gerry told the state´s 234,000 Catholics that there had been no substantiated case of abuse of a minor since 1989.
• Records: 14 credible abuse claims against Miss. priests in past [14 priests]
   Sun Herald, www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/politics/7940064.htm , by MATT VOLZ, Associated Press
   JACKSON, Miss.: Credible accusations have been made against 14 priests of sexual misconduct with children in Mississippi's two Catholic dioceses from 1950-2002, according to information provided by the dioceses for a nationwide survey.
   Ten priests were from the Diocese of Jackson, four from the Diocese of Biloxi. None is currently in active ministry.
   The dioceses prepared the information for a survey commissioned by the national church from the John Jay College of Justice. It is a nationwide accounting of abuse claims and costs to the country's 195 dioceses.
   The report is scheduled for release Feb. 27.
   The Jackson diocese, in a prepared statement to The Associated Press, said a number of other accusations have been made against clergy working in the diocese. Two allegations were found to be "incredulous" and one was inconclusive, the statement said.
   A total number of accusations - credible, not credible and inconclusive - has not been calculated, said Steve Carmody, a diocesan lawyer.
• Catholic Bishops Prepare to Release Statement [1963-1984 and on]
   UTAH: KSL, http://tv.ksl.com/index.php?nid=5&sid=75124 , Carole Mikita Reporting
   Catholic bishops around the country are about to release a statement on priests and sexual abuse of children.
   Bishop George Niederauer says the national study will be released at the end of this month, but he wants to tell Utah Catholics and the wider community about what's happened here in the past and what's been done about it.
   Bishop George Niederauer, Diocese of Salt Lake City: "I'm happy to say, we've taken the steps we need to take, at least we feel we have. But we have to be constantly vigilant. We have to continue, and this is the most important thing of all, to reach out to victims and their families, to help them toward healing."
   The Conference of Catholic Bishops commissioned a study nationwide about the nature and scope of clergy abuse of children. In Utah over a 53-year period the diocese says there were 18 credible allegations made against 13 priests. None of them is serving in the ministry now.
   15 of those offenses were reported between 1963 and 1984 and three reported since then.
• Youngstown Diocese admits 19 offenders, about $500,000 spent
   YOUNGSTOWN (OH): WYTV, Youngstown, "Diocese Issues Report," www.wytv.com/news/headlines/631337.html , by Gerry Ricciutti
   The Youngstown Roman Catholic Diocese Thursday issued a report on sex abuse allegations against priests over the past half-century.
   Bishop Thomas Tobin says 19 priests were accused of sexually abusing children over the past 50 years. But none of the allegations have came in the last 13 years and none involved priests currently working in the priesthood.
   The information was part of a report due out in two weeks from the nation's Catholic bishops.
   The Youngstown diocese paid about a half million dollars from insurance over the past half-century for counseling and to settle claims.
   However, the bishop claims other figures are more important, saying over the last ten years, 12,400 cases of sexual abuse have been filed in the six counties that make up the diocese with none involving local priests.
• Bishop apologizes for clergy sex abuse
   KALAMAZOO (MI): Kalamazoo Gazette, www.mlive.com/news/kzgazette/index.ssf?/base/news-8/107660286144860.xml , cmeehan@kalamazoogazette.com , 388-8412, Thursday, February 12, 2004
   In a letter released this week, the bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Kalamazoo has issued a wide-ranging apology to clergy-sex-abuse survivors and members of their families.
   Bishop James Murray, also apologized in the letter to all church members in the nine-county diocese for "the embarrassment and pain" caused by the national scandal involving abusive priests.
   Finally, the bishop details in his letter the extent of clergy sex abuse in the Kalamazoo diocese since it was formed in 1971 and encourages survivors to come forward.
   "I am deeply sorry for, and ashamed of, what has been done to you," Murray said in his apology to victim survivors and their families.
• Youngstown diocese reports 19 abuse allegations, none in last 13 years [19 accused, ~2%, $500,000]
   Akron Beacon Journal, www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/7937684.htm , Associated Press
   YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio: Nineteen Roman Catholic priests in the Youngstown diocese have been accused of sexually abusing children since 1950, none in the last 13 years and none currently working in ministry, the bishop said Thursday.
   The allegations involved about 2 percent of the 862 priests who have worked in the diocese over the past half century, Bishop Thomas J. Tobin said in releasing details as part of a national report due Feb. 27 from Catholic bishops.
   "As I have in the past, I wish to express our sincere regrets and apologies to any member of the church who has been harmed," said Tobin, who became bishop in 1996.
   Tobin said four accused priests have died, four have left the priesthood, two have retired since leaving for other dioceses that had been alerted to the allegations and eight, including one religious order priest assigned to the diocese, retired. One allegation was unsubstantiated.
   The diocese paid about $200,000 from 1950-2003 for counseling for victims and their families and paid about $300,000 from 1950-1994 to settle claims, Tobin said. The diocese began a policy in 1994 of not offering settlements.
• Ex-Cambridge clerics named in abuse suit [1979]
   CAMBRIDGE (MA): Cambridge Chronicle, www.townonline.com/cambridge/news/local_regional/cam_newccpriestsms02122004.htm , By Robin Washington, Thursday, February 12, 2004
   Two priests who served at Cambridge's St. Paul's parish were named in a sexual abuse suit filed in Suffolk Superior Court last Thursday.
   The Revs. Joseph Fratic, currently of Arlington's St. Jerome's Parish, and Paul W. Hurley, who is awaiting trial in Middlesex Court on child rape charges at another Cambridge church, were named by a 38-year-old man who claims that in 1979 Hurley lured him to his home, where Fratic molested him.
   "Father Hurley provided alcohol and pornography to plaintiff," states the suit filed by attorney Mitchell Garabedian. "At [Hurley's] house, [Fratic] engaged in explicit sexual behavior."
• Diocese Reports 18 Cases of Abuse In Last 53 Years [13 = 2.7% accused]
   UTAH: ABC 4, www.4utah.com/local_news/local_headlines/story.aspx?content_id=C204485E-4AA7-483C-8FD5-5A7E762134A4 , 3:59:03 PM , Feb/12/2004
   There have been 18 credible allegations made against Catholic priests in Utah since 1950, the Diocese of Salt Lake City reported Thursday.
   Those allegations were made against 13 priests, who are no longer active in the ministry in Utah or anywhere else in the United States, Bishop George Niederauer said when releasing the findings of its internal audit on the number of reported child sexual abuse cases by priests since 1950.
   "They are not allowed to present themselves as priests," said diocese spokeswoman Monica Howa-Johnson.
   The 13 represent 2.7 percent of the 476 priests ministering in Utah during the last 53 years, Niederauer said.
• Priest says he told attorney general of abuse allegations against bishop
   Providence Journal, www.projo.com/ap/ma/1076629035.htm , By ADAM GORLICK, Associated Press Writer
   SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP): Hampden County prosecutors said Thursday they are investigating sex abuse claims against Bishop Thomas Dupre, months after a local priest told Attorney General Thomas Reilly about the allegations.
   Dupre resigned Wednesday, citing declining health, and was hospitalized. The announcement came one day after The Republican newspaper of Springfield submitted to Dupre a series of questions concerning allegations he molested two boys when he was a parish priest in the 1970s.
   Monsignor Richard Sniezyk, who is running the daily operations of the diocese until a successor can be named, said Thursday he has turned over the questions and the names of the alleged victims to the Hampden District Attorney's office. Sniezyk also said he will issue a report on the situation to Boston Archbishop Sean O'Malley.
   "We are going to review all the information," District Attorney William Bennett said. "We have to determine the truth of the allegations. If they're true, we have to decide whether they're criminal, and if so, whether they can be prosecuted."
• Ex-Priest Admits Guilt in Sex Case [1980s ?]
   SANTA PAULA (CA): Los Angeles Times, www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-vnpriest12feb12,1,1472930.story?coll=la-headlines-california , By Holly J. Wolcott, Feb 12. 2004
   A former Roman Catholic priest pleaded guilty Wednesday to molesting two teenage boys he met while serving at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Santa Paula more than a decade ago.
   Carlos Rene Rodriguez, 48, will face up to 10 years and eight months in prison at his sentencing next month. He remained jailed Wednesday night in lieu of $150,000 bail.
   "It was the right thing to do," defense attorney James Farley said of his client's decision to plead guilty. "He felt he wanted to put an end to all of this and spare the victims from testifying."
   Farley said his client regularly reads and prays in his jail cell but has had no visitors, including members of his family who reside in the Los Angeles area. Rodriquez was relieved of his clerical duties in 1993.
   The former priest narrowly avoided prosecution last year for similar sex crime allegations in Los Angeles when charges were dismissed because of a federal court ruling on a state statute of limitations.
• Ex-priest pleads guilty to abusing two boys [1989 on]
   CALIFORNIA: Ventura County Star, www.venturacountystar.com/vcs/sp/article/0,1375,VCS_170_2648910,00.html , By Jessica Keating, jkeating@VenturaCountyStar.com , and Tom Kisken, tkisken@VenturaCountyStar.com , February 12, 2004
   A former Catholic priest admitted in court Wednesday that he sexually abused two boys he met 15 years ago in Santa Paula.
   Carlos Rene Rodriguez joined a list of former priests who have pleaded guilty or no contest to child molestations, including at least two from California in the last month.
   Rodriguez, 48, pleaded guilty in Ventura County Superior Court to three counts of molestation involving two boys in Santa Paula. The acts took place between 1988 and 1993, when the then-priest was living at a Catholic retreat in Santa Barbara and working for about two years as a regional consultant with an Archdiocese of Los Angeles family life office. Rodriguez reportedly met the boys' parents through a marriage encounter program.
   Rodriguez originally denied the charges against him. As part of a plea agreement with prosecutors, two additional sex abuse charges against him will be dropped. Rodriguez, whose sentencing is set for March 12, faces up to 10 years and eight months in prison. He remains in county jail on $150,000 bail.
• 13 N.C. priests accused [13 = 1.3% accused]
   RALEIGH (NC): News Observer, http://newsobserver.com/news/nc/story/3324999p-2964008c.html , By YONAT SHIMRON, Staff Writer
   In a new report, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Raleigh says that since 1950, credible allegations of sexual misconduct were made against 13 of its priests.
   The disclosure, made in the Feb. 8 issue of N.C. Catholic, forms part of a national report by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York. That report, which is to be released Feb. 27, is expected to provide an unprecedented nationwide accounting of abuse claims and costs from 1950 to 2002.
   The 13 priests identified by the diocese either have died, are retired or are no longer working in the diocese, according to the diocese. All the cases of sexual misconduct took place before 1988.
   Fifteen priests had allegations of sexual abuse made against them, but two of those were "completely exonerated," the paper said. The Raleigh diocese covered the entire state until 1972, so some of those priests may never have worked in the 54 counties now part of the diocese -- from Chatham to Dare.
   The 13 priests made up 1.3 percent of the 940 priests who served the diocese from 1950 to 2002.
• Tensions at Geneva church reach boiling point [1999]
   GENEVA (IL): Chicago Suburban Newspapers, http://republican.chicagosuburbannews.com/articles/2004/02/12/news/news01.txt , By Rita Hoover/Staff writer, Feb 12, 2004
   Three victims of clergy sexual abuse sparked a variety of emotions among parishioners Feb. 8 when they attempted to hand out fliers after Mass at St. Peter Catholic Church in Geneva.
   Two victims held posters bearing childhood photos of themselves at the age at which their abuse occurred. A Hickory Hills resident, identified as "Dennis," and Ken Kaczmarz, a LaGrange Park resident, stood silently as parishioners walked passed them after the morning Mass. Barbara Blaine, who in 1989 founded the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests [SNAP], handed out fliers.
   Blaine, a Chicago resident, recently wrote a letter to Bishop Thomas Doran of the Catholic Diocese of Rockford, asking the diocese to cooperate with prosecutors in the case against Mark Campobello, 38, of Belvidere. Campobello was indicted last year on charges of aggravated criminal sexual abuse for allegedly abusing an eighth-grade student at St. Peter Catholic School between January and May 1999.
   He was a priest in residence at St. Peter Catholic Church at the time. His trial begins Monday, May 24, at the Kane County Judicial Center in St. Charles. If found guilty, Campobello could serve three to seven years with probation for the sexual abuse charges, and between four and 15 years without probation for the sexual assault charges.
• Victims' group claims the Catholic Church is pushing to overturn law
   KMOV, www.kmov.com/localnews/stories/kmov_localnews_040211_snaprotests.fef08b0.html , 10:47 PM CST, Wednesday, February 11, 2004
   ST. LOUIS (MO) (KMOV): The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) holding protests this Sunday at Catholic churches in Collinsville, Edwardsville, Springfield, and the Chicago area.
   The group claims bishops are using church money to try to overturn a new Illinois law which makes it easier to punish child abusers years after the crimes.
   The church denies the accusation. The Joliet diocese says it uses money from investments and the sale of land to pay its legal fees in sex abuse cases.
   News 4 did not get a response from the diocese of Springfield, which includes Collinsville and Edwardsville.
• Priest or Pedophile? Renegade? [1970s ?]
   TEXAS: WOAI, "Priest or Pedophile?," www.woai.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=40B144C3-DDB5-482F-9689-1900FE2620F7
   The Catholic Church says he's a renegade priest. The Archdiocese recently warned followers to stay away from Father Alfredo Prado. He is accused of molesting young boys. Prado now belongs to a violent doomsday cult in Costa Rica. Trouble Shooter Brian Collister and his photographer risked their lives, traveling to Central America to track down and confront Prado about the allegations.
   More than 30 years ago when Ricardo was just 14 he and his family went to St. Timothy's Church on the Westside. He turned to Father Prado after an argument with his father. "When I was growing up, I thought the world of Father Prado," Ricardo recalls.
   But Ricardo says instead of helping him, Prado gave him a glass of brandy then seduced and raped him. "He had his hands all over me down the front of my pants, he was unbuttoning my shirt."
   Ricardo says he told his parents but they didn't believe him, because priests don't do that. He says after Prado raped him, his life spiraled out of control, including several suicide attempts, and years of therapy. Ricardo says his emotional scars have not heeled, "The extent of the damage this did to me, I still feel to this day".
• Court: Davenport diocese must provide priest sex abuse allegation records
   Courier, www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2004/02/12/news/breaking_news/4b47bc9e9527990a86256e38003ea1f2.txt , By The Associated Press, Feb 12, 2004
   DES MOINES (IA): The Iowa Supreme Court has told the Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport it must provide records of sexual abuse allegations against priests for the past 50 years to the lawyer for 10 men who are suing the diocese.
   The state's high court on Wednesday denied a request from the diocese to overturn a district judge's order that the records must be provided.
   "It's just an agreement that the court order is correct," said attorney Craig Levien of Davenport, who represents the men in 10 lawsuits filed in Scott and Clinton counties.
• Bishop quits after abuse query
   Republican, www.masslive.com/news/republican/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1076575736215070.xml , By Bill Zajac, wzajac@repub.com , Feb/12/2004
   SPRINGFIELD (MA): A day after The Republican confronted the Most Rev. Thomas L. Dupre with accusations that he sexually assaulted two boys about three decades ago, he abruptly resigned yesterday as bishop of the Springfield Roman Catholic Diocese, citing health reasons.
   The bishop's departure at age 70 left unanswered the series of questions posed to him about the accusations, which the newspaper has been investigating for months. The accusations were first brought to the bishop in a letter last year by the mother of one of the two alleged victims, one of whom was about 13 and the other a pre-teen when the alleged abuse began.
   The woman, a longtime diocesan school worker, said her letter arrived at the bishop's residence weeks before he told The Republican last year he might retire earlier than the mandatory retirement age of 75 because of heart and other health problems.
   The woman tried unsuccessfully for months to persuade her now adult son to publicly press charges. Her name is not being used in accordance with the newspaper's policy of protecting alleged sexual abuse victims.
   Roderick MacLeish, a Boston lawyer who has handled hundreds of abuse claims in the Boston Archdiocese, said he has been retained by the woman's son strictly to try to protect his anonymity. MacLeish said he is representing the other alleged victim, who is also trying to protect his anonymity as he explores legal options.
• Pope accepts Bishop Dupré's resignation [1970s]
   iobserve ; www.iobserve.org/rn0211a.html , By Father Bill Pomerleau, Observer staff, Feb 11, 2004
   SPRINGFIELD (MA): Pope John Paul II has accepted the resignation of Springfield Bishop Thomas L. Dupré. It became effective on Feb. 11 at 10 a.m. local time.
   A few hours later, The Republican newspaper of Springfield reported on an on-line preview of its Feb. 12 edition that it had "confronted" the bishop early the previous day "with accusations that he had sexually abused two minor boys three decades ago when he was a priest."
   Diocesan spokesman Mark Dupont told The Catholic Observer that he forwarded questions about the accusations from the newspaper to the bishop's office shortly before 10 a.m. on Feb [??]. Dupont said that shortly thereafter, the bishop attended a funeral, had lunch, then attended a regular meeting of the diocesan consultors. He said he did not know if Bishop Dupre ever saw the written inquiry from The Republican.
   Bishop Dupré learned of the pope's acceptance of his retirement late in the afternoon of Feb. 10, when he took a phone call from Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, papal nuncio to the United States. The call came at the end of the consultors meeting, according the Msgr. Leo LeClerc, until recently a co-vicar general of the diocese.
• Bishop appointment could take months
   Republican, http://masslive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-4/1076575845215070.xml?nnae , By BEA O'QUINN DEWBERRY, bdewberry@repub.com , Feb/12/2004
   SPRINGFIELD (MA): It could be as long as nine months before Pope John Paul II appoints a successor to the Most Rev. Thomas L. Dupre, who cited poor health in resigning yesterday as bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield.
   Dupre's resignation was announced one day after The Republican submitted to the diocese written questions about allegations of sexual abuse made against the bishop.
   Dupre served as cleric in the diocese for 45 years. He has been bishop of the 260,000 member diocese for eight years.
   The Rev. Richard S. Sniezyk, co-vicar general and moderator of the diocese, will handle the day-to-day operations of the diocese until an acting administrator is appointed.
• Closing arguments resume in bishop hit-and-run case
   CNN, www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/02/12/bishop.trial.ap , Posted 7:43 AM EST (1243 GMT), Thursday, February 12, 2004
   PHOENIX Arizona (AP): In the days after he was involved in a deadly hit-and-run accident, Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas O'Brien demonstrated wishful thinking -- not criminal intent, his attorney said.
   "Isn't it human and natural to say 'Well, what happened in that intersection ... didn't involve me,"' attorney Tom Henze said during closing arguments at the bishop's trial Wednesday.
   When police spoke with O'Brien, it had been two days after the June 14 collision that killed pedestrian Jim Reed, who was jaywalking when hit. By then, the bishop had begun to convince himself his car had nothing to do with the accident, Henze said.
   O'Brien, 68, is charged with leaving the scene of a fatal accident. If convicted, he could receive probation to 3 3/4 years in prison. The defense was scheduled to resume its closing arguments Thursday.
• Former pastor charged with abuse
   News 14, www.news14charlotte.com/content/local_news/?ArID=54451&SecID=2 , By News 14 Carolina, 10:30 PM Feb/11/2004
   GASTONIA, N.C.: Gaston County police arrested a man Tuesday on accusations that he had sexual relations with his adopted child over a six-year period.
   Wayne Hall, a former Bessemer City pastor, is charged with 34 counts of statutory rape, 32 counts of crimes against nature, and 27 counts of sex offense by a person in a parental role.
   The accuser, who is now 21, said the abuse started when she was 13. Hall has cared for 25 foster children in all. The accuser said she came forward because she is worried about the other children in Hall's care.
   "There may have been concern that it might have occurred to others or it may occur to children who are in his care at this time," said Sgt. J.D. Ramey of the Gaston County Police.
• Diocese replaces program on sex
   The Washington Times, http://washingtontimes.com/metro/20040211-102139-3073r.htm , By Julia Duin, Feb 11, 2004
   ARLINGTON (VA): The Catholic bishop of Arlington has replaced a widely criticized sex-education curriculum for children, Good Touch/Bad Touch, with a less controversial program for adults, Protecting God's Children.
   In a column today in the Arlington Catholic Herald, Bishop Paul S. Loverde announced that he would consider only Catholic programs, which excludes the secular Good Touch/Bad Touch curriculum.
   "Cooperation with parents in addressing this sensitive issue is crucial," Bishop Loverde wrote.
• DA won't investigate abuse claims against Hubbard
   Troy Record, www.troyrecord.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=10956414&BRD=1170&PAG=461&dept_id=7021&rfi=6 , By Shawn Charniga, Feb/12/2004
   ALBANY (NY): Albany County District Attorney Paul Clyne will not pursue an investigation of non-criminal sexual abuse allegations against Bishop Howard Hubbard of the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese, as no solid evidence has been presented on which to base a prosecution, he announced Wednesday.
   Meanwhile, the diocese announced its own pending investigation will be led by an independent investigator, who will be hired by a review board the diocese created in 1993 for the purpose of investigating allegations of sexual abuse against priests.
   Clyne was asked by the diocese Feb. 4 to investigate allegations that an improper sexual relationship between Hubbard and a 24-year-old man had led to the man's April 19, 1978, suicide.
   The claim stemmed from an apparent suicide note found last year by the alleged victim's brother, who brought it to light with the aid of John Aretakis, an attorney who has pursued similar claims against Capital District priests.
   According to police reports in Clyne's statement, Thomas Zalay had been released from Spring Lake Ranch, a Vermont mental hospital, five days before he committed suicide by setting himself on fire.
• Priests in South Dakota give part of their pay to abuse victims fund, ; Lazarus Fund
   North County Times, www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/02/12/special_reports/religion/2_11_0421_48_09.txt , By ANDREA DOMASKIN, Associated Press, Feb 11, 2004
   RAPID CITY, S.D.: Six months after waves of sex abuse allegations against Roman Catholic priests began hitting dioceses across the country, clergymen in South Dakota decided to do something to help heal both victims and the church.
   Their solution: Creating the nonprofit Lazarus Fund. Now, about 30 active and retired priests in the Rapid City Diocese are donating 5 percent of their monthly salaries to the fund, which picks up therapy costs for victims of sexual abuse and for abusers.
   "The name of (the fund) is very revealing," said Bishop Blase Cupich of the Rapid City Diocese, noting it refers to the Gospel story of Jesus bringing a dead man named Lazarus back to life.
   In addition to their monetary contributions, the priests fast one day a week and hold weekly Masses to pray for healing the pain that sexual abuse has caused.
   "In a way, it's for them to be able to leave behind the darkness of collective shame and guilt by association," Cupich said.
   Since January 2002, when the scandal erupted, four U.S. bishops have resigned over sex-abuse issues and hundreds of priests have been removed from public ministry because of abuse allegations.
• James V. Franco: Lawsuits are built on some shaky ground
   ALBANY (NY): Troy Record, www.troyrecord.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1170&dept_id=7018&newsid=10956429&PAG=461&rfi=9
   Bishop Howard Hubbard is fighting his case in the court of public opinion. What other choice does he have?
   The Albany Roman Catholic Diocese is hiring an independent investigator to look into two allegations of sexual misconduct against the bishop, but they allegedly happened so long ago and the details are so sketchy at this point that any result will be open to debate.
   So, Hubbard is vigorously and categorically denying the charges to every media willing to listen.
   Last week, a California man, Andrew Zalay, came forward with attorney John Aretakis by his side to say he found an unsigned, undated letter type-written by his brother Thomas stating that a sexual relationship with Hubbard drove Thomas to commit suicide by setting himself on fire in 1978 at the age of 25.
   A day later, Anthony Bonneau, with Aretakis by his side, said Hubbard twice paid him for sex acts when Bonneau was a runaway teen working as a male prostitute in Albany's Washington Park in the 1970s.
• State claims to have solid case against nun [1970]
   The Virginian-Pilot, http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=66051&ran=237151 , By KATE WILTROUT AND JON FRANK, February 12, 2004
   VIRGINIA BEACH (VA): Commonwealth's Attorney Harvey L. Bryant III said he would have been hesitant to prosecute a former nun for sex crimes if the only evidence in the 34-year-old case came from her accuser.
   But Bryant said Wednesday that multiple witnesses attest to seeing Eileen Rhoads molest an elementary school student, a 10-year-old boy, years ago.
   The abuse allegedly occurred during the 1969-70 school year at St. Gregory the Great Catholic School on Virginia Beach Boulevard.
   Rhoads, now 64, would have been 30 or 31 years old at the time, and was known then as Sister Francis Therese, Bryant said.
   Rhoads was arrested Tuesday in a Philadelphia suburb and released on $20,000 bond. A judge there ordered her to surrender to Beach authorities by Friday.
• 2 state dioceses tally 15 accused
   COLORADO: Denver Post, www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~11741~1950712,00.html , By Eric Gorski, Denver Post Religion Writer
   Fifteen Roman Catholic priests in southern and central Colorado have been accused of sexual misconduct over the past five decades, according to data from two of the state's three Catholic dioceses.
   The list is expected to grow later this month when the Denver Archdiocese makes public its figures as part of an unprecedented national survey meant to fully measure the scope of clergy abuse reports that have rattled the U.S. church in the past two years.
   The nation's 195 dioceses scoured their records for information dating to 1950 about allegations, size of settlements and status of the accused priests.
   The national picture will become clear Feb. 27, when the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York reveals totals.
• Bishop resigns following claims [1979]
   Boston Globe, www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2004/02/12/bishop_resigns_following_claims , By Kevin Cullen, Feb/12/2004
   SPRINGFIELD (MA): Bishop Thomas L. Dupre, the leader of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield who has been under fire for his handling of sexual abuse cases involving priests, resigned yesterday, a day after he was confronted with allegations that he had sexually abused two boys more than two decades ago.
   In a press release and a press conference, the diocese said that Dupre had resigned because of failing health and that he had requested permission to resign last November and was only informed of the pope's decision yesterday.
   But in a series of interviews late yesterday, a diocesan spokesman and Monsignor Richard S. Sniezyk, who was named yesterday as the diocese's interim administrator, confirmed that Dupre had been made aware Tuesday of allegations made against him by the mother of one of two men who say Dupre abused them about 25 years ago when he was a priest and they were boys in Holyoke.
   The allegations were contained in a series of questions submitted to the bishop Tuesday by The Republican newspaper in Springfield. The newspaper reported last night that the mother of one alleged victim, who it described as a longtime diocesan school worker, had written to the bishop about the allegations last year. The newspaper reported that weeks after the woman said she wrote to the bishop, Dupre told the newspaper last spring he was considering early retirement because of a heart condition and other health problems.
• Clyne steps away from Hubbard case
   Albany Times Union, www.timesunion.com/ AspStories/story.asp? storyID=218207&category= REGIONOTHER&BCCode= HOME&newsdate= 2/12/2004 ; By CAROL DeMARE, Staff writer, Thursday, February 12, 2004
   ALBANY (NY): Albany County District Attorney Paul Clyne declined Wednesday to investigate allegations that Bishop Howard Hubbard had a homosexual affair with a young man who committed suicide more than 25 years ago.
   Clyne said he based his decision in part on a determination that there were no allegations of criminal activity, and the only evidence offered to date linking the bishop and the man was an undated typewritten note, which he labeled "hearsay."
   The diocese asked Clyne to conduct an independent review after the brother of the suicide victim disclosed the contents of the note at a news conference last week.
   Andrew Zalay, a California electrical engineer represented by attorney John Aretakis, said he found two notes in the dresser drawer of his younger brother, Thomas Zalay, while cleaning out the family home in Albany last summer.
• Prosecutor Ridicules Bishop's Explanation
   Washington Post, www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34457-2004Feb11.html , By T.R. Reid, Page A02, Thursday, February 12, 2004
   PHOENIX, (AZ) Feb. 11: Bishop Thomas O'Brien's explanation of a fatal traffic accident was "inconsistent," "evasive" and "nonsense," a prosecutor argued Wednesday as closing arguments began in the felony trial charging Arizona 's senior Roman Catholic cleric with leaving the scene after his Buick struck a pedestrian in Phoenix last June.
   Relating the bishop's conduct after the accident -- when O'Brien, with his windshield shattered, drove on without slowing down and then failed to report the crash to police -- Assistant District Attorney Anthony Novitsky argued, "I would submit to you that a man who was innocent would have acted differently."
   But O'Brien's attorney, Tom Henze, said the bishop was guilty only of "wishful thinking" because he "hoped," when he learned the next day of the death of pedestrian Jim Reed, that he was not the driver responsible. "Isn't it human, isn't it natural to want to say 'Well, whatever it was at the intersection did not involve me'?" Henze asked the jury.
   The jury is expected to begin deliberations Thursday on the single felony charge of leaving the scene of a serious injury or fatal accident.
• State urges privacy in priest cases
   Portland Press Herald www.pressherald.com/news/state/040212priests.shtml , By JOSHUA L. WEINSTEIN, Feb 12, 2004
   MAINE: Lawyers for the state continue to argue against releasing records related to now-deceased Roman Catholic priests who were accused of sexually molesting children.
   In papers filed with the Maine Supreme Judicial Court this week, Assistant Attorney General Leanne Robbin wrote that releasing the documents would "constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy" of both the deceased priests and their victims.
   Public interest in the disclosure, she wrote, does not outweigh the privacy interests.
   Robbin filed the papers in response to a lawsuit filed by lawyers for the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram.
• Bishop Dupre resigns
   Berkshire Eagle, www.berkshireeagle.com/Stories/0,1413,101~7516~1950996,00.html , By Jack Dew
   SPRINGFIELD (MA): Bishop Thomas Dupre has resigned as head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, which includes Berkshire County, an unanticipated decision that was attributed to health problems.
   Dupre is stepping aside at 70, five years before the usual retirement age of 75. He has headed the diocese of 260,000 Catholics since 1995, presiding at a time of intense controversy driven by the child molestation scandal that gripped the church.
   According to The Associated Press, the bishop's resignation came a day after The Republican newspaper of Springfield confronted him with allegations he molested two boys in the 1970s, when he was a parish priest.
• Bishop Resigns From Western Mass. Diocese
   The New York Times, www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Springfield-Bishop.html , By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, Filed at 11:53 p.m. ET, Published: February 11, 2004
   SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP): Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Dupre resigned Wednesday, citing health problems. The move coincided with a newspaper story containing allegations the cleric molested two boys.
   The Springfield newspaper, The Republican, quoted a woman as saying her son and another boy were sexually abused by Dupre when he was a parish priest in the 1970s. The newspaper did not identify the woman or the alleged victims.
   The story was posted on the newspaper's Web site Wednesday; the paper had confronted Dupre about the allegations Tuesday.
   Monsignor Richard Sniezyk issued a statement saying he was unaware of allegations against Dupre, who he said was hospitalized.
   "I can assure you that if any individual brought forth a complaint against any member of the diocesan community, including the bishop, it would be thoroughly investigated," the statement said.
   Attorney Roderick MacLeish Jr., who represents the second alleged victim and said he's been contacted by the woman's son, told The Associated Press that his client does not want to be identified and is "going through a difficult time."
   Posted by Kathy Shaw at 06:13 AM
//////////////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Thursday, February 12, 2004

Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Friday, February 13, 2004 edition follows:-
• Bishop Murphy denies involvement in the handling of accused priests
   ROCKVILLE CENTRE (NY) News 12
   (Feb/13/04) ROCKVILLE CENTRE - Bishop William Murphy said Friday that he did nothing "legally or ethically wrong," while second in command of the Archdiocese of Boston. He said another priest named William Murphy handled the priests accused in the abuse of minors.
   Laura Ahearn recently accused Murphy of not being truthful in explaining his role as an aide to former Cardinal Bernard Law during the sex scandal. Ahearn, the executive director of Parents for Megan's Law, briefly served as an adviser to Bishop Murphy two years ago.
   Ahearn has called for the resignation of Bishop Murphy. She adds that donations to the church should be stopped until there is a change in church leadership.
   A Massachusetts attorney general's grand jury report says it was Bishop Murphy, not a different priest with the same name, who supervised the response to several sexual abuse cases.
   Posted by Kathy Shaw at 07:37 PM
• Cardinal disgrace gets sympathy from Romans
   ROME National Catholic Reporter, "The Word From Rome," http://nationalcatholicreporter.org/word/word021304.htm , By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
   * * *
   Cardinal Bernard Law, the former archbishop of Boston, has been spending a fair bit of time in Rome. I last saw him at the Centre Pro Unione, where he quietly slipped in as a member of the audience for a lecture and liturgy to mark the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in late January. I suspect that Rome is in some ways a more comfortable environment for Law than the States; he is not stalked by TV cameras here, and, rightly or wrongly, many Roman observers regard him with sympathy, believing Law was unfairly made the scapegoat of the American sex abuse crisis.
   Because he's been spotted so often around town, rumors have circulated that Law is on the brink of being named to some major Vatican post. I spoke with a senior Vatican official on Feb. 12, however, who said that Law will not be named to run an office of the Roman Curia. In part, the senior official said, this is a reflection of the controversy surrounding the cardinal, but it also reflects the fact that Law is already 72, and hence couldn't put in a normal five-year term before he would have to submit his resignation at 75.
   This senior official did not rule out that Law might receive some other position with a lower profile, such as arch-priest of one of the major patriarchal basilicas in Rome. Even in that case, however, the senior official said that no such move is imminent.
• The Sacrifice of Father Thomas Doyle
   NEW ORLEANS (LA) The Best of New Orleans
   Vows of Silence: The Abuse of Power in the Papacy of John Paul II, by Jason Berry and Gerald Renner, explores the current crisis in the Catholic Church through the lives of two priests. Marciel Maciel Degollado, the founder of the Legion of Christ, is a powerful priest in Rome and an accused pedophile. The other man is Thomas P. Doyle, an American member of the Dominican order who sacrificed a rising career at the Vatican Embassy to become an advocate for abuse victims.
   Doyle was born in Wisconsin in 1944 and raised in upstate New York and Canada. "His natural disposition toward authority might have sent him toward an FBI career," the authors write. "As a boy he hunted with his dad and at eleven he joined the National Rifle Association; he remains a member to this day."
   In 1986, Doyle joined the U.S. Air Force as a chaplain, eventually attaining the position of Lieutenant Colonel; he was in Iraq last year ministering to U.S. troops. He also has testified against the church in many legal proceedings, while remaining a priest. The following excerpts from Vows of Silence follow major turns in Doyle's life, beginning with his seminary studies in Dubuque, Iowa.
• Abuse survivors attack 'whitewash'
   IRELAND One in Four by Angelique Chrisafis, Ireland correspondent Monday February 9, 2004 The Guardian
   For decades, they were Ireland's dirty secret: children locked away, starved, beaten, sexually abused and forced to slave without pay in hundreds of orphanages and industrial schools. Now survivors' groups have turned on the Irish government after a report found that a national child abuse inquiry - set up to uncover the truth behind 60 years of state denial - is being obstructed by the department of education and science and the Catholic orders who ran the notorious institutions.
   About 150,000 children were interned in such institutions between the 1920s and 1980s. They ranged from orphans to boys caught begging and girls regarded as "sexually aware". More than half of them eventually fled Ireland, most to Britain, and hundreds of UK residents are now seeking compensation from the Irish state. When the Irish prime minister, Bertie Ahern, made a public apology to the survivors in 1999, he offered the hope of closure by setting up an inquiry run by the child abuse commission.
   The clamour for justice was accelerated by the international success of Peter Mullan's award-winning film, The Magdalene Sisters, which showed how girls were incarcerated for decades in the Magdalene laundries.
• Group to fight false child abuse allegations
   IRELAND One in Four By Caroline O'Doherty. Irish Examiner
   A controversial organisation representing people wrongly accused of child abuse is to visit Ireland next week to advise on the prevention and detection of false allegations.
   The British False Memory Society is coming to Dublin in association with Let Our Voices Emerge (LOVE), an Irish group set up last year by former children's home residents sceptical about claims of abuse in religious-run institutions where they personally had happy experiences.
   The society was set up ten years ago in support of parents wrongly accused by children who claimed to have recalled abuse from recovered memory following therapy, but it has since widened its remit to campaign for greater scrutiny of abuse allegations, particularly involving mass accusations involving childcare institutions. It has successfully supported a number of falsely accused childcare workers in Britain and highlighted flaws in some inquiries into allegations of abuse concentrated in given geographical areas or childcare facilities.
• DIOCESE STATEMENT
   SPRINGFIELD (MA) Republican Feb/13/2004
   This statement was released by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield yesterday. "It is with great sadness that I write this statement. I can only imagine how difficult the news of the last 24 hours has been for everyone. Those of us who work for the diocese are experiencing feelings of confusion, anger, doubt, outrage, and disbelief, to name just a few. We know that the priests and the good people out in the parishes must be feeling these things, and more.
   "We share their shock over the allegations. However, the allegations have not yet been investigated, because the victims are requesting anonymity and do not want to come to the diocese. Thus, we are caught between the need to protect the victims' desire for anonymity and the desire to investigate the allegations. Nonetheless, we remain concerned about the victims and will attempt to minister to them as best as we can.
   "We have worked very hard over the past two years to restore people's trust in the Church, so it is especially difficult to realize that people are now being pushed back towards distrust and despair. We are praying for God's guidance to help us to do the right thing.
• Labour demands action on abuse inquiry in Dublin
   IRELAND Politics.ie
   The Labour Party Spokesperson on Justice, Deputy Joe Costello, has accused the Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell of utter hypocrisy by trying to transfer to the opposition parties responsibility for the continued delay in the establishment of the promised Inquiry into clerical sexual abuse in the Dublin Diocese.
   "Minister McDowell is quoted as saying today that he hopes that the Inquiry will be up and running by next September provided that the opposition cooperate with the passage of the promised Bill through the Oireachtas.
   "It is typical of Minister McDowell to try to transfer responsibility for his own failures to other parties. Michael McDowell has been Minister since June 2002. He gave a commitment in October of that year that this inquiry would be established. He published legislation last July that provided for the establishment of a number of forms of inquiry but has done nothing to advance it since. In fact the Minister has shown little interest in his job as a legislator and has guillotined virtually every piece of legislation he has brought into the Dail and there is a backlog of over 30 Bills in the Justice area.
   "He is now effectively placing a gun to the head of the opposition and saying that if Labour and the other parties do their job and subject this Bill to the sort of careful scrutiny it requires, we will be blamed for any delays in the establishment of the promised inquiry.
• Diocese of Toledo Sexual Abuse Report Released
   TOLEDO (OH) ABC 13
   Toledo's Catholic Bishop, Leonard Blair, has been on the job for only three months, but he's wasting little time tackling one of the biggest issues facing the church. Today, the bishop released results of a study on allegations of abuse of minors. A lot of numbers were released today, including how many clergy members have been accused of abuse and the number of victims who have come forward.
   Bishop Leonard Blair offered what he called a humble apology to the heinous crimes. The bishop released specifics of a study that looked back 54 years. In that time, he says 69 people have made allegations against 36 Toledo clerics. Of those, 28 were priests, seven religious orders, and one deacon. Claudia Verselotti of "the survivor's network of those abused by priests" says the diocese's numbers are low. She believes the church knows there are more than 69 people who have been abused. The Toledo study coincides with a national church abuse study to be released in two weeks. Bishops at a conference in Dallas commissioned the study two years ago.
   Bishop Blair says he wants Toledo area Catholics to be concerned about the local numbers. He also outlined numerous steps, including a review board, education, and removal policies the diocese has taken since 2002 to create a safe environment for children in Toledo.
• Monsignor named interim administrator for Springfield diocese
   SPRINGFIELD (MA) Boston.com By Adam Gorlick, Associated Press Writer, Feb/13/2004
   SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- Monsignor Richard Sniezyk was elected Friday to temporarily lead the Springfield Diocese, which has been shaken by allegations that outgoing Bishop Thomas Dupre molested two boys about 30 years ago when he was a parish priest. Sniezyk, 66, has served in a number of positions in the diocese, including vicar general, and had been appointed to oversee the day-to-day management of the diocese since Bishop Dupre's resignation earlier this week.
   Dupre resigned Wednesday, citing declining health, and has been in an undisclosed medical facility since. The announcement came one day after The Republican newspaper of Springfield submitted to Dupre a series of questions concerning allegations he molested two boys in the 1970s.
   The allegations were brought by a woman who says she is the mother of one of the alleged victims.
• Former priest pleads guilty to molestations
   SANTA PAULA (CA) Santa Paula Times By Peggy Kelly
   A former Santa Paula priest pled guilty to three counts of child molestation of teenage brothers a decade ago while he was serving at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church.
   Carlos Rene Rodriguez, 48, will face up to 10 yeas and eight months in prison at his sentencing next month. He remained jailed Wednesday night in lieu of $150,000 bail.
   According to his attorney James Farley, Rodriguez entered the plea to spare his victims - between the ages of 13 and 17 during the molestations - from testifying.
   The molestations occurred between 1987 and 1993, according to Deputy District Attorney Anthony Wold.
• Reno-Las Vegas dioceses have paid $2.5 million in abuse cases
   NEVADA KRNV
   The Catholic Church in Nevada has paid approximately two and one-half million dollars in costs connected with clergy sexual abuses cases filed since 1950.
   The Diocese of Reno says that of the 521 priests who served in the state from 1950 to 1995, eight were accused of sexual abuse of a minor. Three of the priests were from the Reno diocese. The diocese of Reno-Las Vegas was divided into separate entities in 1995.
   Since then there have been no allegations of sexual abuse of a minor lodged against any priest serving in the 12-county diocese of Reno. Its report was compiled for the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.
• Mexican man claims sex abuse by priest
   DALLAS (TX) Dallas Voice, By David Webb
   Jaime Huerta Lopez, 27, of Chihuahua, Mexico, says he fled his native country late last year to avoid persecution by Catholic officials who were enraged by his allegations that a priest engaged in a nine-year sexual relationship with him.
   "I came here because of the situation," Lopez said. "They are angry." Numerous newspaper stories have recounted Lopez's tale of widespread sexual improprieties and other corruption within the church in Chihuahua. El Heraldo de Chihuahua reported Lopez's accusations, resulting in a storm of controversy, the Mexican native said.
   The Mexican newspaper provided Dallas Voice with copies of more than a dozen stories about Lopez's allegations, along with several photographs, including one with the accused priest posing in an embrace with Lopez. Lopez is now living on a tourist visa with friends in a Dallas suburb.
   Lopez said he is afraid to return to Mexico. He also said he is suffering from AIDS, with a T-cell count of 70 - a normal count is between 500 and 1,000 - and desperately needs medical attention.
   "People [threatened] me," Lopez said.
• What of the innocent priests? and Abuse coordinator resigns
   Washington Notebook, by Joe Feuerherd National Catholic Reporter
   What of the innocent priests? Among the many unpleasant questions raised by the clergy sex abuse scandal, not least is this: What if the priest is falsely accused?
   Given the history of cover-up and subterfuge that has marked the church's response to clerical molesters, the guilt or innocence of a single priest is not a concern that resonates much beyond the clergy itself. To even raise the question, it seems, is to risk the perception of being soft on abusers.
   But it's not a theoretical issue, if even a handful of the many priests currently contesting the "credible accusations" against them are found to be truthful. ...
   Abuse coordinator resigns The bishops' policies for dealing with sexual abuse in the church call on them to "designate a competent person to coordinate assistance for the immediate pastoral care of persons who claim to have been sexually abused when they were minor by priests or deacons."
   Catherine M. Nolan fit the bill. ... Earlier this week, just six months into the job, Nolan quit.
   Posted by Dennis Coday, NCR staff writer at 03:28 PM
• Crisis of conscience, question of quality [### CHECK to source for full story]
   WORCESTER (MA) Worcester Magazine By Chris Kanaracus Worcester Magazine
   For two years, Telegram & Gazette reporters Richard Nangle and Kathy Shaw led the paper's coverage of the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church and the Worcester Diocese. That reporting was so voluminous that it remains archived on its own page on the T&G's Web site, titled "Crisis in the Church."
   Check the dates on that page and you'll see that while there are still stories being produced, local coverage has slowed dramatically. Nangle and Shaw's bylines disappear after Dec. 5, 2003. On that date, Nangle filed his last piece on the subject. It detailed Superior Court Judge John Connor's order that lawyers involved in one sexual abuse-related civil lawsuit against a priest speak "in a normal tone" during depositions.
   Every church scandal story since then has been written either by other T&G personnel, pulled off wire services such as the Associated Press, culled from The Boston Globe, or simply not covered at all.
   As it turns out, late last year Nangle and Shaw quit the church scandal beat after reported run-ins with management ...
   Posted by Dennis Coday, NCR staff writer at 03:21 PM
• A Pastoral Letter from Bishop Reilly
   WORCESTER (MA) The Catholic Free Press
   My dear friends in Christ,
   These are the opening words of a Prayer for Victims which has been on our diocesanWeb site since the spring of 2002. For many years, but most especially these past two years, we have been meeting with victims of child sexual abuse and sharing with them the pain and suffering of their life stories. During these difficult times, our focus was on each person, as we sought to bring healing and justice to those in need to the best of our ability. Now it's time to step back and look at what we have learned over these recent years, as we seek to restore a trust that has been seriously broken by this tragedy.
   As I make this report, however, I am conscious of how heavy my heart and yours have become in dealing with this terrible reality. Yet we are, and must be, a people of hope, and this report and the work of our various healing ministries offer assurance that we are on the road, albeit the beginning, towards recovery and peace. We cannot change history, but we are doing all we can to make certain that it will not be repeated. I invite you to learn more by reviewing this report as well as the charter audits and other reports from the diocese on this issue.
   I am grateful for the report that has been issued by the District Attorney's office regarding this issue. The nature and scope of his report varies somewhat from that of the more specific focus of the U.S. Bishops' Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People and their associated studies. The national and local analysis by the Church has been focused specifically on the abuse of minors over the years. However, many similar trends are apparent which I will discuss further in this report. You will see that our numbers vary somewhat from the District Attorney's report, but every allegation we have ever received has been shared with his office.
• ‘We are on road to recovery'
   WORCESTER (MA) The Catholic Free Press By Kevin Luperchio
   WORCESTER - Following more than two years of self-scrutiny on the issue of clergy sexual abuse of minors, Bishop Reilly has released a report detailing what the diocese has learned and steps it has taken to "restore the trust that has been seriously broken by the tragedy."
   The report includes a pastoral letter from the bishop, published in today's edition of The Catholic Free Press, and information on the number of priests in the diocese, the number and type of abuse allegations made by year and action taken against accused priests.
   It shows that 45 priests have been accused of sexual abuse of a minor in the 53-year history of the diocese. (Forty-three were diocesan priests and two belonged to other dioceses.)
   The number of accused priests comes from a total of 1,506 priests, including 755 diocesan priests and 751 religious order priests or priests from other dioceses, who ministered in the diocese between 1950 and 2003.
• Diocese reacts to abuse accusations
   SPRINGFIELD (MA) iobserve By Father Bill Pomerleau Observer staff
   SPRINGFIELD - The Diocese of Springfield reacted Feb. 12 to accusations of sexual misconduct made against Springfield Bishop Thomas L. Dupré with reports to law enforcement and higher church officials.
   Officials of the Diocese of Springfield received word that Pope John Paul II had accepted Bishop Dupré's resignation as Seventh Bishop of Springfield late in the afternoon of Feb. 10. The request for early retirement, which had been made some months earlier, became effective on Feb. 11 at 10 a.m. local time.
   A few hours later, The Republican newspaper of Springfield reported in an on-line preview of its Feb. 12 edition that it had ""confronted" the bishop early the previous day "with accusations that he had sexually abused two minor boys three decades ago when he was a priest."
• Gerry issues statistics on abuse cases
   PORTLAND (ME) Portland Press Herald By GREGORY D. KESICH, Feb 13, 2004
   Bishop Joseph Gerry has released statistics about sexual abuse by priests in Maine in a letter mailed to 82,000 homes around the state.
   The numbers of abusers and victims, Gerry wrote, are "most disheartening."
   But a full accounting, the bishop said, "will help shape solutions to the sexual abuse problem in our Church, and may also serve as a guide for addressing this problem in society."
   The statistics were compiled as part of a national survey of the abuse scandal, commissioned by the nation's bishops and conducted by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
   The bishops hope to restore trust in their leadership by opening themselves to greater scrutiny. The national report is due out Feb. 27.
• DA probes abuse allegations against Springfield bishop
   SPRINGFIELD (MA) Boston Herald By Eric Convey Friday, February 13, 2004
   The Hampden district attorney is probing sexual abuse accusations made against Bishop Thomas Dupre - who resigned his post this week - months after Attorney General Thomas Reilly was informed of the allegations. Monsignor Richard Sniezyk, who is running theDiocese of Springfield daily operations, yesterday said he gave prosecutors the names of the men who were allegedly abused in the 1970s as young boys when Dupre was a parish priest. He also said he will issue a report on the situation to Boston Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley. "We are going to review all the information," District Attorney William Bennett said. "We have to determine the truth of the allegations. If they're true, we have to decide whether they're criminal, and if so, whether they can be prosecuted." The Rev. James J. Scahill of East Longmeadow, whose St. Michael parish is in the second year of withholding contributions to the diocese, said he briefed Reilly on the accusations, but was told the age of the alleged victims prevented criminal prosecution of Dupre without their consent. Ann Donlan, a spokeswoman for Reilly, confirmed the attorney general met with Scahill. "The identity of the victim was not passed on," Donlan said. "The attorney general made it clear that the matter would be referred to the district attorney's office if the victim came forward."
• Sex allegations disturb faithful
   SPRINGFIELD (MA) Republican Feb/13/2004
   By BEA O'QUINN DEWBERRY, bdewberry@repub.com
   SPRINGFIELD - Local Catholics reacted with anger, disbelief and frustration yesterday after the bishop's abrupt resignation following allegations of sexual abuse.
   Bernice "Bunny" Croteau, mother of slain altar boy Daniel Croteau, said the news of the allegations was upsetting.
   "It's getting to the point where nothing surprises us anymore," Croteau said. "I can see why things haven't been done the way they should. They were not handled too well at all."
   The prime suspect in the 1972 death of her son was Richard R. Lavigne, a convicted child molester and former priest who was defrocked this year. The Rev. Thomas L. Dupre, who has not answered the allegations or been charged with any crime, has been accused by plaintiffs in clergy sexual abuse cases of acting too slowly to strip Lavigne of his collar.
• DA to investigate bishop
   Republican, By BILL ZAJAC, wzajac@repub.com , Feb/13/2004
   SPRINGFIELD (MA): The Hampden County District Attorney's Office has begun taking steps to investigate allegations that the recently retired bishop of the Springfield diocese sexually abused two minors beginning more than two decades ago.
   As local diocesan leaders sought to ease the shock of thousands of Catholics in Western Massachusetts, they were also preparing a report on the allegations that will be sent to the archbishop of Boston.
   The Rev. Thomas L. Dupre, whose retirement was announced Wednesday, has yet to respond to the allegations first reported yesterday in The Republican. He checked himself into an undisclosed medical facility Tuesday night for an undisclosed, non-life-threatening illness after The Republican confronted him with a detailed list of questions regarding the alleged abuse.
   The Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield said Dupre first applied to the Vatican for retirement in November 2003 and he was notified that it was accepted on Tuesday. Dupre, who has a recent history of heart problems, cited health reasons for his retirement.
• Abuse lawyer asks AG to act
   SPRINGFIELD (MA) Boston Globe By Kevin Cullen, Feb/13/2004
   Victims of sexual abuse by priests and their advocates called on Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly yesterday to launch an investigation of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield similar to the sweeping probe Reilly carried out in the Archdiocese of Boston. The victims asked for a state investigation one day after Bishop Thomas L. Dupre resigned as bishop of Springfield after being confronted with allegations that he had sexually abused two boys more than two decades ago. Victims and their advocates assert that Dupre coddled abusive priests, dragged his feet on settling lawsuits, and put a priest who had been removed from ministry in charge of diocesan archives, part of a coverup that they say rivals anything Cardinal Bernard F. Law did in Boston.
   "Victims in Western Massachusetts deserve the same amount of attention from the attorney general's office as victims in Eastern Massachusetts," said John J. Stobierski, the lawyer who represents 40 people in 21 cases against the Springfield diocese. Yesterday he sent a formal request to Reilly calling for a state investigation.
   Ann Donlan, a spokeswoman for Reilly, said he would review the request. She confirmed that he met in November with the Rev. James J. Scahill at St. Michael's Parish in East Longmeadow, to discuss allegations against Dupre.
   The Hampden district attorney's office said yesterday that it is investigating the allegations.
   Scahill said he called Reilly on Nov. 14, moments after he had called Boston Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley, in both instances to report that he had learned of allegations that Dupre had sexually abused minors. Under church rules, Scahill was supposed to report allegations against a bishop to O'Malley, the metropolitan, or leading bishop in the region.
• Priest says he told archdiocese about Dupre abuse allegations
   SPRINGFIELD (MA) Berkshire Eagle By Adam Gorlick Associated Press
   SPRINGFIELD -- Hampden County prosecutors said yesterday they are investigating sex abuse claims against Bishop Thomas Dupre, months after a local priest told Attorney General Thomas Reilly about the allegations.
   Dupre resigned Wednesday, citing declining health, and was hospitalized. The announcement came one day after The Republican newspaper of Springfield submitted to Dupre a series of questions concerning allegations he molested two boys when he was a parish priest in the 1970s.
   Monsignor Richard Sniezyk, who is running the daily operations of the diocese until a successor can be named, said yesterday he has turned over the questions and the names of the alleged victims to the Hampden district attorney's office. Sniezyk also said he will issue a report on the situation to Boston Archbishop Sean O'Malley.
   "We are going to review all the information," District Attorney William Bennett said. "We have to determine the truth of the allegations. If they're true, we have to decide whether they're criminal, and if so, whether they can be prosecuted."
   The statute of limitations for sexual abuse cases is generally 10 to 15 years, he said.
   The Rev. James Scahill, a longtime critic of Dupre and his handling of the clergy sex abuse scandal, counseled the mother of one of the boys. He said he spoke with Reilly after he left an urgent message for O'Malley in November.
• Jury in Ariz. Ponders Verdict in Trial of Bishop
   Washington Post By T.R. Reid, Page A12, Friday, February 13, 2004
   PHOENIX (AZ) Feb. 12: A jury of five women and three men began deliberating Thursday over the felony charge against Arizona's senior Roman Catholic cleric, Bishop Thomas J. O'Brien, after a defense attorney argued that the bishop "might have panicked" when he left the scene of a fatal accident last June. Maricopa County Judge Stephen A. Gerst urged jurors to listen to the tape of the bishop's interview with police in the jury room as they began debating their verdict in a case that has transfixed this state since the trial began four weeks ago. The jury will continue deliberating Friday.
   Jim Reed, a 43-year-old Navajo, was struck by the bishop's car and left lying in the road. Another car then ran over his body, police concluded. That car did not stop either. Reed was dead when passersby reached him.
• Bishop's Lawyer Asks Jury for Leniency
   Los Angeles Times, www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-bishop13feb13,1,1812287.story?coll=la-headlines-nation , By David Kelly, Feb 13, 2004
   PHOENIX (AZ): Jurors in the trial of Bishop Thomas J. O'Brien began deliberating Thursday after the defense made a final attempt to show he was not a cold-hearted cleric who killed a pedestrian and sped off without a second thought.
   Instead, lawyer Tom Henze said in his closing arguments, O'Brien was a frail man who, exhausted after a long day's work, drove into something heavy the night of June 14, 2003 - not knowing it was 43-year-old Jim Reed. "You might feel better about Bishop Thomas O'Brien if he had pulled over and looked at his car," Henze said. "You might like him more, but that's not what this case is about. This is not a popularity contest."
   If convicted on charges of leaving the scene of a fatal accident, O'Brien, 68, could get up to 3 3/4 years in prison.
   O'Brien, the former head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix, was driving his Buick Park Avenue down Glendale Avenue about 8:30 p.m. when he hit Reed, who was walking in the middle of the road.
• O'Brien jury starts deliberations
   PHOENIX (AZ) The Arizona Republic by Joseph A. Reaves, Feb. 13, 2004
   A jury of five women and three men who will decide the fate of Bishop Thomas J. O'Brien began deliberations Thursday with piles of notebooks in hand and a surprising warning from defense attorneys ringing in their ears.
   The jurors spent about 3½ hours behind closed doors, adjourned for the night and agreed to resume deliberations at 9 a.m. today.
   Judge Stephen A. Gerst of Maricopa County Superior Court is allowing the jurors to go home at night, and during the coming holiday weekend if necessary. But he instructed them to avoid media accounts of the case and refrain from discussing the trial with anyone.
   Gerst told the jurors they essentially became his boss from the moment they got the case at 1:02 p.m. Thursday. Within reason, Gerst said, the jurors would tell him when they wanted to come and go until they reached a verdict.
• Jury deliberates on fate of Ariz. bishop
   Albany Times Union By ANANDA SHOREY, Associated Press Last updated: 5:45 a.m., Friday, February 13, 2004
   PHOENIX (AZ): Jurors must decide whether Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas O'Brien fled the scene of an accident knowing his car struck and killed a pedestrian.
   The jury ended deliberations without a verdict Thursday and was scheduled to resume its work Friday morning.
   O'Brien, 68, could get up to 3 3/4 years in prison if convicted of leaving the scene of the accident that killed Jim Reed, who was jaywalking when he was hit.
   The bishop, whose arrest last summer ended his 21-year career as head of the Phoenix Diocese, said he thought he hit a dog or that his car had been struck by a rock. Prosecutors argued that O'Brien knew or should have known that he hit someone because of the loud noise and the big spider-web crack in the windshield of his Buick.
   Defense attorney Tom Henze told the jury the prosecution's case was based on speculation.
• Sex Abuse Case Halts Service At Prayer Stop
   MARYLAND Washington Post By Darragh Johnson Washington Post Staff Writer, Page B01, Friday, February 13, 2004;
   The founder of a popular prayer stop in Montgomery County has been asked to take a hiatus from working with people there after he acknowledged to church leaders and members this week that he was convicted of child molestation four years ago. After an article about the prayer stop on New Hampshire Avenue appeared in The Washington Post, the church received phone calls from people familiar with Dennis McConaty's past, including one from a Montgomery County police detective in the sex offender registry unit.
   McConaty, 62, said he was guilty of fondling a young relative. In October 1999, he pleaded guilty to sexual child abuse. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, but the sentence was suspended, so he served six months of home detention, was ordered to attend sexual offender therapy and received four years' probation, which ended last fall.
   He is registered on the Montgomery County child sex offender list. The case, which involved one victim, was the only one against him, police said.
• No Faith in Church's System
   LONG ISLAND (NY) Newday by Ed Lowe February 13, 2004
   The Long Island Catholic newspaper arrived in the mail at my mother's house yesterday morning, so I tried to read it, although, previously, I had been warned by an old friend - a cleric, by the way, though not a monsignor - that reading The Long Island Catholic could bore a person to death.
   A one-column feature on the right-hand side of the front page titled "This Week" began with the following sentence: "The best way for the Catholic Church to deal with clerical sex abuse is to ensure that its priests understand and embrace the chaste lifestyle the Church requires of them, Pope John Paul II said." Oh. I see. The best way to do good and avoid evil is to do good and avoid evil.
   It went on like that, at first, literally trying to bore me to death, then, trying to infuriate me to death.
   "The Pope," it read, "called on the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to work with other Vatican offices to ensure seminary and post-ordination programs are effective in guaranteeing that those who minister in the Church's name will not sexually abuse anyone." Bold, hands-on leadership, I'd say.
• Judge rejects records access
   CINCINNATI (OH) The Cincinnati Post By Kimball Perry
   A Hamilton County judge refused Wednesday to inject himself into the debate over the $3 million sex abuse victims pool established by the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.
   The judge's help was requested by Janet Abaray, an attorney who blasted Prosecutor Mike Allen's involvement in civil cases filed by those claiming church employees molested them.
   Abaray, who represents plaintiffs who accuse priests of sexually abusing them, asked Common Pleas Court Judge Richard Niehaus to allow her access to documents that led to the resolution of a criminal investigation last year that culminated in the archdiocese being convicted of failing to report crimes.
   Allen's office and archdiocesan attorneys cut a "side deal," she said, that violated civil law and effectively limited the archdiocese's liability to clients she -- not Allen -- represents.
• Grand jury indictment awaits former nun
   VIRGINIA The Daily Times By ROSE QUINN , rquinn@delcotimes.com Feb/12/2004
   Citing "concerns about the defendant's stability and mental health," authorities in Virginia last week sealed a grand jury indictment against a former nun who lives in Delaware County until her arrest on charges of sexually assaulting a male student more than 30 years ago.
   "During the course of the investigation the defendant had to be involuntarily committed as a threat to herself," according to the document released by the Circuit Court of the City of Virginia Beach following Eileen Rhoads' arrest at her Upper Darby home Tuesday morning.
   Commonwealth's attorney Harvey L. Bryant III told the Virginian-Pilot he would have been hesitant to prosecute the former nun once known as Sr. Francis Therese for sex crimes if the only evidence in the case came from her accuser.
   Bryant said Wednesday "that multiple witnesses attest to seeing Eileen Rhoads molest an elementary school student years ago," according to the Virginia newspaper. "I don't mind saying that we have a strong case."
• Krol center faulted for abuse of 3 men
   PENNSYLVANIA Philadelphia Inquirer By Don Sapatkin
   A residential facility in Delaware County failed to protect three mentally retarded adult men from sexual abuse by a fourth, the state Health Department said yesterday in a report that also suggested there had been lax oversight of residents' personal finances and confidential information.
   The state said it had approved a plan of correction submitted by the Cardinal Krol Center on Sproul Road and would make periodic surprise inspections to ensure that it is followed.
   The state investigation was prompted by a tip alleging continuing sexual abuse at the center, a long-term home and treatment facility for 131 severely to profoundly retarded men. The "intermediate-care" facility is operated by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia at Don Guanella Village opposite SS. Peter and Paul Cemetery in Marple Township.
   Health Department workers inspected the Krol Center Jan. 21 through 23, interviewing staff and going through files, department spokesman Richard McGarvey said. They found numerous references to occasions when one resident imposed himself sexually on others between July 2002 and when inspectors arrived, he said.
• Ex-teacher sentenced on abuse charges
   KENTUCKY The Courier-Journal By JASON RILEY jriley@courier-journal.com
   A former Catholic schoolteacher who pleaded guilty last month to sexually abusing three boys in the 1970s and 1980s will serve one year in prison and pay the victims $93,000.
   Joseph Ben Greene III was sentenced yesterday in Jefferson Circuit Court to 20 years in prison for sexually abusing the victims; however, all but one year of that was probated. As part of his plea, Greene will pay $25,000 to each victim now and after serving his sentence, he will make monthly payments of $100 to each for five years.
   Greene pleaded guilty last month to 17 sodomy charges and one charge of unlawful transaction with a minor. He did not address his victims or speak during yesterday's hearing. Greene saluted a group of people sitting behind him in the courtroom before being led away after the short hearing.
   Once he is released from prison, Greene will have to register as a sex offender, may have no contact with children and must surrender his license as a certified teacher. Greene was teaching at Our Lady of Lourdes School in 2002 when he was arrested.
• Tabling News For a Change
   NEW YORK Newsday by Jimmy Breslin, February 12, 2004
   I have nothing to say today. This is different from all those in the other public prints who have nothing to say and say it in 850 long words. And there are those who have nothing to say and they say it in three and four minutes and even across an hour on the air.
   I heard early on that the people from Parents for Megan's Law on Long Island were squalling about Mansion Murphy, the bishop of Long Island, and his record of promoting and protecting pedophiles when he was in Boston. After writing about John Powis of Bushwick on Tuesday, I could hardly drop so far down to address Mansion Murphy. One thing about him, he can't be embarrassed. Time rushed by without me noticing that I was leaving him alone all through the holidays while he lived in splendor, in the house he threw nuns out of. His 40 bottles of wine right at hand.
   That is over. I await the first warmth to help organize the faithful to take to the streets in front of the mansion and run Mansion Murphy out of town. Already, many priests are on the verge of closing the doors and having no services until Mansion Murphy is gone. And I've said before, anybody who gives as much as $2 to the bishop's collections is a supporter of pedophiles.
• Bishop Rebuts ‘Faulty' Charges
   LONG ISLAND (NY): Newsday By Rita Ciolli and Joseph Mallia, February 13, 2004
   Issuing a detailed rebuttal to the latest challenge to his leadership, Bishop William Murphy said Thursday that he had done nothing "legally or ethically wrong" during his tenure as the second in command of the Archdiocese of Boston.
   In a point-by-point response to Laura Ahearn, the executive director of Parents for Megan's Law, Murphy said her "false and faulty allegation" was distracting from the church's work of preaching the gospel.In his defense, Murphy said Ahearn's "indiscriminate confusion" of him with another priest named William Murphy, who had day-to-day responsibility for dealing with accused priests, "is the most glaring but not the only example of her incomplete, faulty and mistaken research."
   Ahearn responded Wednesday night at a Voice of the Faithful meeting in Manhasset where she was repeating her presentation to more than 300 people about his involvement in Boston. "The facts and the documents speak for themselves," Ahearn said just before the meeting started.
• Former priest indicted on sex charge
   TEXAS Denton Record-Chronicle Associated Press Feb/13/2004
   A former Texas Panhandle priest is under indictment on a charge involving unwanted sexual contact with a teenage college student at a North Texas motel.
   The Rev. John Anthony Salazar, through his attorney, has denied that any crime occurred between him and the 18-year-old man. The two had known each other for several years.
   A Dallas County grand jury returned the indictment on Thursday. Authorities contend that the sexual encounter occurred at an Irving motel in September.
   Salazar was thought to be living with friends in Kress, a few miles south of Tulia, and it was uncertain late Thursday whether the ex-priest was in custody.
   The 48-year-old former cleric has two convictions for child molestation in California. Under state law, Dallas County District Attorney Bill Hill said, prosecutors could seek a life sentence if Salazar is convicted on the new charge.
• Niederauer says abuse long past
   SALT LAKE CITY (UT) Deseret News, By Carrie A. Moore, Deseret Morning News
   The leader of the Salt Lake Diocese, who first released that information nearly two years ago, said he knows of one living outside the country, but "there is no reason to believe" he is serving as a priest.
   "The reason I say that," he said, "is if a priest comes from somewhere else and belongs to another diocese, almost the first thing done is to write the bishop of a previous diocese and ask about him."
   Of the 18 "credible allegations" of sexual abuse by priests in Utah during the past 53 years, 15 offenses occurred from 1963 to 1984, and the other three have been reported in the past 20 years - two of them since 2000. The last known alleged incident, he said, occurred in 1994. Though all of the alleged incidents in Utah occurred before Bishop Niederauer arrived here in 1995, some of the reports were made after his arrival.
• Bishop releases his own records
   Troy Record Record staff report, Feb/13/2004
   ALBANY (NY): After a hectic week of defending himself against charges that he broke his vow of celibacy in the 1970s, Bishop Howard J. Hubbard Thursday released his personnel files to The Record in another effort to clear his name.
   The contents of the 3-inch-thick, 641-page file, of which several pages were written in Latin, reveal little about Hubbard that Capital District residents don't already know. The file includes resumes through the years, correspondence to and from the bishop, photos, details about pastoral visits and a variety of newspaper clippings.
   One of those clippings refers to the priest scandal that has plagued the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese: A Daily Gazette of Schenectady article with the headline "Hubbard not IDing accused priests."
   Hubbard released the file as part of a public relations campaign to clear his name of two allegations of sexual improprieties. He has met or will meet with three area newspaper editorial boards and held a press conference for television outlets Thursday.
• Bishop says sex abuse worse in other areas [19 accused]
   YOUNGSTOWN (OH) Beacon Journal By Colette M. Jenkins, Beacon Journal religion writer
   Bishop Thomas J. Tobin says the incidence of sex abuse in the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown "is not as severe as it is in some other places."
   Tobin's statement was contained in a letter released Thursday along with "An Update on the Status of the Child Protection Policy" in the diocese. The document included statistics that will be the focus of a national study on the extent of sexual abuse of minors by priests since 1950, which will be released Feb. 27 by John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City.
   The study will include a nationwide accounting of abuse claims and costs but will not break down statistics by individual dioceses. Bishops, however, are free to release local figures.
   According to the Associated Press, more than 80 of the 195 dioceses -- including Youngstown -- have released their reports. At least 60, including the Diocese of Cleveland, plan to release their statistics by the end of the month.
   The Youngstown report showed that none of the 19 priests accused of abusing children over the past 50 years is in active ministry. Of the 19, four are dead, four have left the ministry, eight have retired and two left to serve other dioceses that had been informed of the allegations. One allegation was unsubstantiated.
• Catholic church accepts Swales ruling [$1.4m to be paid; Fr Barry Glendinning]
   London Free Press by PETER GEIGEN-MILLER, Free Press Reporter, Feb 13 2004
   CANADA: Catholic officials are content to accept the court decision awarding nearly $1.4 million to members of a London family devastated by a priest's sexual abuse, says the bishop of London. In a statement to the people of the Diocese of London, Bishop Ronald Fabbro said church officials aren't completely satisfied with the interpretation of facts and arguments by Superior Court Justice John Kerr in his decision awarding damages to the Swales family.
   "Nonetheless, we are not unhappy with the final decision," Fabbro said in the statement.
   He added: "It was always our hope to put a reasonable amount of money into the hands of the Swales family to help them rebuild their lives and we are content with the order of the court."
   John, Guy and Ed Swales, their sister Melody and parents Bob and Donna Swales sued the diocese and Rev. Barry Glendinning for damages inflicted on the family when Glendinning taught at St. Peter's Seminary in the early 1970s.
   Glendinning pleaded guilty in 1974 to sexual abuse of six children and was placed on probation for three years.
   The 72-page decision was delivered Feb. 2 by Kerr.
• Diocese reports 4 priest abuse claims since '78
   BILOXI (MS) Sun Herald STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
   The Biloxi Diocese says there have been four credible accusations of sexual misconduct by priests in its 26-year history, according to information provided by the diocese for a nationwide survey.
   From 1950 to 2002, credible accusations of sexual misconduct have been made against 14 priests in Mississippi. Ten priests were from the Jackson Diocese, and four were from the Biloxi Diocese. None is currently in the active ministry.
   The dioceses prepared the information for a survey commissioned by the national church from the John Jay College of Justice. It is a nationwide accounting of abuse claims and costs to the country's 195 dioceses.
• SLC diocese: 18 abuse cases in 53 years
   Daily Herald, by Mark Thiessen, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
   SALT LAKE CITY (UT): There have been 18 credible allegations made against Catholic priests in Utah since 1950, the Diocese of Salt Lake City reported Thursday.
   Those allegations were made against 13 priests, who are no longer active in the ministry in Utah or anywhere else in the United States, Bishop George Niederauer said when releasing the findings of its internal audit on the number of reported child sexual abuse cases by priests since 1950.
   "They are not allowed to present themselves as priests," said diocese spokeswoman Monica Howa-Johnson.
   The 13 represent 2.7 percent of the 476 priests ministering in Utah during the last 53 years, Niederauer said.
   His comments came ahead of the Feb. 27 release of a national tally of clerical sexual abuse cases in the Roman Catholic Church.
   Fifteen of the 18 reported Utah offenses occurred between 1963 to 1984, and there were three reported in the last 20 years.
   "One is one too many, but compared to other dioceses, our numbers are small," Howa-Johnson said.
   Only one case has made it to the court system.
   A judge in August dismissed an $80 million sex-abuse lawsuit against the diocese, saying Utah brothers Ralph and Charles Colosimo waited too long and failed to show there was any compelling legal reason to bring their case to trial. They claimed a Roman Catholic priest abused them in the 1970s.
• Survey cites Miss. abuse complaints [14 accused]
   JACKSON (MS) The Clarion-Ledger By Matt Volz, The Associated Press
   Credible accusations have been made against 14 priests of sexual misconduct with children in Mississippi's two Catholic dioceses from 1950-2002, according to information provided by the dioceses for a nationwide survey.
   Ten priests were from the Diocese of Jackson, and four were from the Diocese of Biloxi. None is currently in active ministry.
   The dioceses prepared the information for a survey commissioned by the national church from the John Jay College of Justice. It is a nationwide accounting of abuse claims and costs to the country's 195 dioceses.
   The report is scheduled for release Feb. 27.
• Sex crime case brings indictment for priest [involved 18-y-o]
   TEXAS The Dallas Morning News, By STEVE McGONIGLE, Thursday, February 12, 2004
   In what may be the first case of its kind, a Dallas County grand jury indicted a Catholic priest Thursday on a charge involving sexual contact with another adult male.
   The Rev. John Anthony Salazar, a popular former church pastor in the small Panhandle town of Tulia, is accused of having unwanted sexual contact with an 18-year-old college student in an Irving motel last September.
   The priest, through his attorney, has previously denied that any crime occurred between him and the 18-year-old. The two had known each other for several years.
   As of late Thursday, it could not be determined whether Father Salazar had been arrested. He is thought to be living with friends in Kress, a few miles south of Tulia.
   Posted by Kathy Shaw at 04:58 AM
//////////////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Friday, February 13, 2004

Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Saturday, February 14, 2004 edition follows:-
• Report finds credible sexual [25 accused, $343,000 paid, but orphanage claims not included. The heading is as on the source's webpage]
   Providence Journal The Associated Press
   BURLINGTON (VT) (AP): A review has found credible allegations of sexual abuse against 25 Vermont priests, according to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington.
   The results were part of a nationwide study, ordered by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Vermont Public Radio reported Friday.
   The report found 32 victims of sexual abuse, the diocese said.
   According to the diocese newspaper, the Vermont Catholic Tribune, all of the alleged incidents took place before 1989. The study covers a 53-year period between 1950 and 2002.
   About 400 priests served in Vermont over that time.
   Of the priests accused, all but five are now retired or deceased, the church [said]. Four were removed from the priesthood. One, the Reverend John Milanese of Randolph, was cleared in a review by the Vermont attorney general and returned to the ministry.
   The diocese reports it has paid $343,000 in victim's compensation. More than one-third of that money has been in settlements reached in the past year.
   The report does not include allegations and settlements involving the former Saint Joseph's Orphanage in Burlington. More than 100 former residents of the orphanage claimed they were abused by nuns and employees before it closed in 1974.
   The Attorney General's office says it has received allegations against nearly 40 priests. None have resulted in criminal charges, in many cases due to Vermont's statute of limitations. There are currently two sexual abuse lawsuits pending against the diocese.
   Posted by Kathy Shaw at 07:23 PM
• Three more dioceses report abuse by 26 priests
   MLive.com ; www.mlive.com/newsflash/michigan/index.ssf?/base/news-11/1076771641247552.xml , By MIKE RAMSEY, The Associated Press, 10:47 a.m. ET, Feb/14/2004,
   DETROIT (MI) (AP) - Three more Michigan Roman Catholic dioceses, representing 210 parishes and more than 330,000 registered Catholics, have released reports of known sexual abuse by clergy against minors. The reports from individual dioceses have trickled out - starting with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit - ahead of a national report of abuse planned to be released on Feb. 27.
   The most recent releases from the dioceses of Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo and Marquette cover western Michigan and the Upper Peninsula. The Lansing and Saginaw dioceses are expected to release their reports to the public prior the national report, but the Gaylord Diocese and Eparchy of St. Thomas the Apostle are waiting for the main disclosure.
   A total of 26 priests from the three dioceses abused more than 70 minors from 1950 to present, according to the releases. The level of detail from each diocese varied in these early releases, some did not say how many minors were abused, others didn't say how much money was paid out to victims.
   Those details, however, should be available in the national report.
• Moral authority missing ["Hypocrisy, thy name is Dupre"]
   Boston Herald, http://news.bostonherald.com/opinion/opinion.bg?articleid=297 , By Boston Herald editorial staff, Friday, February 13, 2004
   SPRINGFIELD (MA): Hypocrisy, thy name is Dupre. Bishop Thomas L. Dupre to be exact. The leader of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield resigned Wednesday, just a day after Springfield's leading newspaper submitted questions to the diocese about allegations Dupre had sexually abused two boys in the 1970s.
   It's horrible that Dupre may have betrayed the trust of the boys and their families as a parish priest 30 years ago. And it's even worse that Dupre more recently has mishandled abuse allegations against other diocesan priests - and has been roundly criticized for protecting predators over victims.
   But the gall of the man to have spent the past several weeks going from parish to parish in Western Massachusetts to garner opposition amongst the Catholic faithful to any recognition of gay relationships.
   "When the family is sick, the nation suffers as well," Dupre told a congregation in Hadley. Referring to the breakdown of the institution of marriage, Dupre said, "We have also experienced the disastrous consequences on family life and on children."
   As opposed to the disastrous consequences of sexual abuse committed by priests, Bishop?
• A battered faith [Austere caverns for assembly, and hypocrisy bastion in unending sex scandal]
   The Kansas City Star, "A battered faith," www.kansascity.com/ mld/kansascitystar/news/ opinion/7950525.htm?ERIGHTS=- 1735261806786549081 kansascity::kashaw@ peoplepc.com&KRD_RM=9 ppppvquvyvyxpsysyq qpppppp|Kathleen|Y , by CONNIE LYNNE CARRILLO
   KANSAS CITY (MO): Once a millennium, an overpowering urge beckons me to clean out our closets and drawers and cart bloated bags of clothes to local charities. This millennium's purging struck a bittersweet note. I stumbled across a small, blue Catholic prayer book - worn, frayed, forgotten and exiled to the bottom of a jam-packed drawer.
   As I began rummaging through it, bygone memories came flooding back and suddenly, overwhelmingly, a realization swept over me. Just like my old clothes, this church of my memories was gone. What happened? Where did it all go?
   I am an alien in the neo-modern, mega-Catholic Church; lost in austere, cavernous, unruly monstrosities, where I may no longer worship, venerate and reflect, but now must raucously "assemble" in the din of an irreverent "gathering space."
   And now, my church has become a bastion of hypocrisy, mired for two nightmarish years in a monumental, devastating, unending sex abuse scandal. When our saintly, beloved pope speaks, the world snickers, his moral authority undermined, his own house in disarray.
• Church details emerge
   ANCHORAGE (AK) Anchorage Daily News, www.adn.com/front/story/4741112p-4688467c.html , By NICOLE TSONG and RICHARD MAUER
   A new report from the Archdiocese of Anchorage has revealed more details about sexual misconduct allegations against priests who served here, many of whom came to Anchorage during the tenure of retired Archbishop Francis Hurley.
   Two priests, one in Alaska and one prior to his arrival, have fathered children. Another was involved with a 17-year-old girl and some accused priests were prevented from returning to the ministry even after lengthy treatment, according to the report.
   The report names two priests whose abuse of children has been made public over the past year: Monsignor Francis Murphy, who left Alaska in 1985, and the Rev. Timothy Crowley, who abused a boy in Michigan for several years while serving the Diocese of Lansing.
   The report also names Archbishop Robert Sanchez, who resigned as archbishop of Santa Fe after relationships with women became public, and Beno Oostermann , a priest who visited Alaska in 1979 and 1980. Sanchez still travels to Anchorage during Lent and Advent to serve the Hispanic community on a limited basis, said the Very Rev. Donald Bramble, vicar general for Anchorage.
   Brother John McMuldren, who belonged to The Brothers of the Holy Cross, was the only nonpriest identified in the report. McMuldren came to Alaska to run the archdiocese's Catholic camp in Soldotna, St. Theresa's, in 1979. In 1995, three brothers who attended the camp said they were sexually abused there 10 years earlier. McMuldren denied any wrongdoing, and in 1996, Hurley declared him innocent. McMuldren is now a high school counselor in Tyler, Texas.
   Bramble refused to name the priests involved in the 11 remaining anonymous cases.
   "In some cases, we were asked by victims not to," he said. "We've got to follow what the victims ask us."
• 36 clerics accused of child abuses
   TOLEDO (OH) Toledo Blade, www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040214/NEWS10/102140160/-1/NEWS , By ROBIN ERB, Feb 14, 2004
   With the Toledo diocesan crest behind him, a solemn Bishop Leonard Blair yesterday acknowledged that three dozen clerics have faced allegations of sexually assaulting minors since 1950.
   No names of the accused clerics were released.
   As he faced a dozen reporters, the bishop offered his "humble apology" to victims of the assaults.
   "It is particularly heinous that a minister use his position of trust as a spiritual father to take advantage of any person, much less a minor," he said.
   Yesterday's news conference was scheduled two weeks before the release of the so-called "John Jay Report."
• Diocese must 'come clean'
   SPRINGFIELD (MA) Republican, http://masslive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1076748540122370.xml?nntn , Feb/14/2004 By BEA O'QUINN DEWBERRY, bdewberry@repub.com
   The newly-elected leader of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield said yesterday the church must "come clean," admitting that an "old boy network" years ago protected priests suspected of sexual abuse.
   Monsignor Richard S. Sniezyk, who will lead the diocese until a bishop is appointed by the Vatican, said church leaders and members are shaken by an allegation this week that outgoing Bishop Thomas L. Dupre molested two boys more than 20 years ago when he was a parish priest. Dupre resigned Wednesday, citing health reasons.
   In referring to the ongoing sex abuse crisis in the church, Sniezyk said church officials must acknowledge a culture that protected abusive priests existed years ago.
   "We have to come clean," said Sniezyk, recalling how as a young priest he heard rumors of "cliques of priests" who molested young churchgoers, yet were protected by church and legal officials. Sniezyk, who was ordained in 1962, said he never witnessed any abuse.
   "I think truly an old boy network existed. We have to admit that no one did anything with it in those days," Sniezyk said, adding that priests are now being held accountable.
• Sniezyk Administrator
   SPRINGFIELD (MA) iobserve ; www.iobserve.org/rn0213c.html , By Father Bill Pomerleau, Observer staff, Feb 13, 2004
   The diocesan Board of Consultors elected Msgr. Richard S. Sniezyk administrator of the Diocese of Springfield Feb. 13.
   The appointment is effective immediately. Under church law, he is only required to notify the Vatican of his election.
   Msgr. Sniezyk' election occurred only two days after the Feb. 11 early retirement of Bishop Thomas L. Dupré. He will manage the affairs of the diocese until Pope John Paul II names a new Bishop of Springfield.
   The election of Msgr. Sniezyk by the consultors, a group of priests chosen from the larger presbyteral council of the diocese, was widely expected within the diocese, since he had served as the vicar general, or second-highest ranking priest in the diocese prior to Bishop Dupré retirement.
   Under canon law, a diocese's consultors are required to meet within eight days if their diocese is without a bishop due to the death, retirement, transfer or resignation of their bishop.
• Juror excused in bishop's hit-and-run trial
   MSNBC, http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4265970 , The Associated Press, 7:40 p.m. ET, Feb. 13, 2004
   PHOENIX (AZ): A juror in the trial of Bishop Thomas O'Brien was excused Friday and the jury, deliberating the hit-and-run case all over again with a substitute juror, ended the day without a verdict.
   Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Stephen Gerst gave no specific reason for the substitution except to say the departing juror was excused for "personal reasons."
   He told the jurors "not to speculate, to guess or to discuss what you think may be the reasons for the substitution."
   The jury had deliberated about 3 ½ hours on Thursday. An alternate juror, a man, replaced the departing juror, also a man, on the eight-member panel.
• Bishop Trial Jury Ends Day With No Verdict
   PHOENIX (AZ): phillyburbs.com ; .phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/1-02142004-246361.html , By ANANDA SHOREY, The Associated Press, Feb 14, 2004
   A juror in the trial of Bishop Thomas O'Brien was excused Friday and the jury, deliberating the hit-and-run case all over again with a substitute juror, ended the day without a verdict.
   Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Stephen Gerst gave no specific reason for the substitution except to say the departing juror was excused for "personal reasons."
   He told the jurors "not to speculate, to guess or to discuss what you think may be the reasons for the substitution."
   The jury had deliberated about 3 1/2 hours on Thursday. An alternate juror, a man, replaced the departing juror, also a man, on the eight-member panel.
   O'Brien, 68, could get anything from probation to 3 3/4 years in prison if convicted of leaving the scene of the accident that killed pedestrian Jim Reed, who was jaywalking when he was hit June 14. Prosecutors argued that he knew, or should have known, that he hit someone.
• Defense bill could reach $300,000
   PHOENIX (AZ) The Arizona Star, www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0214obrien-costs14.html , by Michael Clancy, The Arizona Republic, Feb. 14, 2004
   Bishop Thomas J. O'Brien's legal defense could cost as much as $300,000 now that the hit-and-run trial has gone to a jury.
   The Catholic Diocese of Phoenix's insurance company is paying the bill, not church donations, a diocesan spokeswoman said.
   O'Brien is standing trial in Maricopa County Superior Court on a charge of leaving the scene of a fatal or serious accident. Prosecutors say he knowingly left to die a pedestrian that his car hit. His defense contends O'Brien didn't know he'd hit a person until his arrest a few days after the June 14 accident.
   The trial took another twist Friday with the judge calling a special court session to announce he had replaced one of eight jurors and ordered deliberations to begin again.
   Judge Stephen A. Gerst said a male juror was excused for "personal reasons that should be of no concern" to anyone else on the jury. He refused to give further details. Jurors resume deliberations at 9 a.m. Tuesday after the President's Day holiday.
• Archdiocese reveals details of sex-abuse allegations
   ANCHORAGE (AK): Anchorage Daily News, www.adn.com/front/story/4737823p-4685440c.html
   The Archdiocese of Anchorage released a report Friday morning with details of allegations of sexual abuse by priests and a religious brother in anticipation of a national study on abuse in the Roman Catholic Church set for release in two weeks.
   The report released Friday revealed that some accused priests were not allowed to return to the ministry even after lengthy treatment, two fathered children and another was involved with a 17-year-old girl.
   A three-person commission formed by Archbishop Roger Schwietz last year went through records of 84 priests and revealed in October that 16 priests had allegations against them, seven of them against children. Archdiocesan officials have since gone through records of more than 200 additional priests but found no new allegations, according to the new report.
   Schwietz said in a written statement that the archdiocese has sent the names of three priests accused of sexually abusing children in Alaska to the national survey. The other four accused of child molestation were visiting Anchorage and are being reported by their home dioceses, said the Rev. Donald Bramble, Anchorage's vicar general.
   Only a few, including Monsignor Francis Murphy, the Rev. Timothy Crowley and the former archbishop of Santa Fe, were named in the report.
• Church abuse reviews show 3 Anchorage priests accused
   Fairbanks News-Miner, www.news-miner.com/Stories/0,1413,113~26794~1955236,00.html , By RACHEL D'ORO , Associated Press Writer
   ANCHORAGE (AK): Three Roman Catholic priests assigned to the Archdiocese of Anchorage have been the subjects of credible accusations of child sexual abuse since the archdiocese was founded in 1966, according to results of a national abuse survey released by Anchorage church leaders Friday.
   The findings of the confidential study include fewer than half of the seven priests mentioned in an independent review commissioned last year by Schwietz.
   Four of the priests counted in the earlier report did not meet the criteria for the national survey because the allegations against them could not be substantiated, the alleged abuse occurred before they were assigned to Alaska or, in one case, the priest was actually a religious brother.
   Altogether, 301 priests have served in the archdiocese since its establishment.
   "We continue to deal with what has happened and put in place programs to deter its happening again," Anchorage Archbishop Roger Schwietz, who was out of town, said in a written statement. "Within this archdiocese we have done much, yet more needs to be done."
• Priest accused of sexual assault is arrested in Arlington
   TEXAS: The Dallas Morning News, www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/021404dnmetsalazar.c9d4.html , By STEVE McGONIGLE, 08:53 PM CST, Friday, February 13, 2004
   A Panhandle priest accused of sexually assaulting an 18-year-old college student in Irving last year was arrested Friday morning in Arlington, police said.
   The Rev. John Anthony Salazar, 48, was taken into custody after he answered the door at a home in south Arlington and confirmed his identity to officers, said Christy Gilfour, a spokeswoman for the Arlington Police Department.
   After several hours in the Arlington jail, Father Salazar was transferred by Dallas County sheriff's deputies to Lew Sterrett Justice Center, said a sheriff's spokesman, Sgt. Don Peritz. He is being held on $500,000 bail, Sgt. Peritz said.
   Father Salazar, who was removed as pastor of a Catholic church in Tulia in 2002 and barred from all ministerial duties, was indicted by a Dallas County jury Thursday on a charge of sexually assaulting a teenage friend after a wedding last fall.
• Bishop meets with Vosen [1970s]
   BARABOO (MI): News Republic, http://baraboo.scwn.com/articles/2004/02/13/news/news5.txt , Feb 13, 2004
   Father Gerald Vosen, the St. Joseph's Church priest accused of sexual misconduct last fall, met with Bishop Robert Morlino of the Madison Diocese on Friday. Madison Diocese director of the office of communications Bill Brophy confirmed the meeting, but Bishop Morlino's office did not return phone calls Friday afternoon.
   Vosen, 69, was removed from his duties in September after a Sun Prairie woman told a legislative committee Vosen had sexually abused her brother more than 25 years ago. The alleged victim, James Dresang, denied any abuse.
   Vosen denied the allegations, and has since been on leave from St. Joseph, staying at the Bishop O'Connor Catholic Center in Madison.
   In December, responding to rising criticism of his handling of the situation, Morlino wrote a letter to members of the St. Joseph parish, hinting at more allegations against Vosen, and pleading for more time to conduct his inquiry.
• Second man claims past abuse by retired priest [1970s]
   The Mercury News, www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/7951776.htm , Associated Press
   LOS ANGELES (CA): A second witness has accused a now-retired Catholic priest from Simi Valley of touching him inappropriately in the 1970s.
   The witness, a 42-year old man who was a former altar boy at retired priest Michael Wempe's church, testified at a preliminary hearing Friday that he was groped numerous times on several occasions by the priest, including once during a water-skiing trip to Missouri when he was about 14.
   "I spent quite a few years of my life being appalled and disgusted by the things that happened to me," the man testified.
   On Monday, a 24-year-old man testified that Wempe, while serving as chaplain at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, molested him in his office at the hospital.
   That man said he was 11 when Wempe put him on his lap and fondled him while he played on a computer in 1990.
• Richmond diocese reports abuse involving 19 priests
   RICHMOND (VA): Roanoke Times, www.roanoke.com/roatimes/news/story162633.html , By Cody Lowe, cody.lowe@roanoke.com , 981-3425
   After researching 52 years' worth of records, the Catholic Diocese of Richmond discovered "plausible reports of sexual abuse of minors" involving 19 priests and 24 victims, it reported Friday.
   The research was carried out as part of a nationwide survey gathering statistics on sexually abusive Roman Catholic clergy and their victims. It was conducted by John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. The combined national results of the survey are to be released later this month, said the Rev. Pat Apuzzo, secretary to the bishop emeritus.
   In a news release, Apuzzo said the information, compiled last spring, avoided duplicating any allegations that might be reported in the Diocese of Arlington, which split off from the Richmond diocese in 1974.
   Apuzzo said the report found allegations of abuse against 15 diocesan priests and against four other priests who were members of religious orders headquartered outside the diocese but working here.
• Abuse victims group to sponsor lecture [Doyle, Berry, Blaine, Scarmado, Troy and Thorp to speak]
   NEW ORLEANS (LA) The Times-Picayune, www.nola.com/news/t-p/index.ssf?/base/news-0/10767418204960.xml
   The local chapter of SNAP, Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, will sponsor a lecture and panel discussion Monday at Loyola University on clerical sexual abuse and the Catholic Church's response, with the Rev. Thomas Doyle, a Dominican priest and early critic of the church's handling of sex-abuse complaints; author Jason Berry; SNAP founder Barbara Blaine; Robert Scarmado, former church lawyer and sex-abuse victim; and Susan Troy and Peggy Thorp, founders of Voice of the Faithful, a grass-roots organization seeking change in the Catholic church. The lecture will be at 7 p.m. in Nunemaker Hall. [### Find DATE of lectures]
• Local Results Of Church Sex Abuse Study [9 accused, $4m + paid]
   NEVADA: News 3, www.kvbc.com/Global/story.asp?S=1645395&nav=15MVKpQK
   We're learning more about allegations of sexual abuse against local leaders in the Catholic church. News 3 received a copy of a release that outlines the local results of a nationwide study surrounding clergy sexual abuse of minors. As News 3's Kori Chambers tells us, some believe even more can be done.
   "The priest is the father, the father figure, a man to be trusted, and here he sexually abused you." Tom Bara does not need a report to tell him that there are a number of clergy sexual abuse victims living here in Nevada. "This is the age, back in 1967."
   Bara is treasurer of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests [SNAP]. He says he's also a victim himself. The Reno and Las Vegas Catholic Dioceses say they've released this report in an effort to acknowledge their mistakes and accept responsibility for keeping their churches safe. It's shows Nevada has had nine priests accused of sexual abuse in a 52 year span, with 13 victims.
   The report also shows that the Las Vegas Diocese has paid more than four million dollars in settlements, legal fees and therapy for alleged victims. "Just this week I met with two new members of our group." Some say this report is a step in the right direction, but believe even more needs to be done.
• Diocese review finds 24 "plausible" cases of sex abuse
   RICHMOND (VA) The Virginian-Pilot, http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=66129&ran=177423 , By BILL BURKE, February 14, 2004
   The Diocese of Richmond revealed Friday that it had found 19 "plausible" cases of child sexual abuse by priests in a review of records from 1950 to 2002. The cases involved 24 victims.
   The research was part of a nationwide survey commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to determine the extent of child molestation by the church's clergy. A 2-year-old sex-abuse scandal has turned up hundreds of cases of abuse nationwide, prompting outrage from within and outside of the Catholic church.
   In a statement released Friday, the Richmond diocese said it had assessed expenses related to the abuse cases "as far as it could be determined," but it did not provide a dollar figure for those expenses. The diocese also did not include the names of the abusive priests, identify the parishes in which they served or state whether any continue to serve. Diocesan officials were unavailable for comment Friday.
   At least five Richmond diocesan priests have been forced out or have resigned because of abuse allegations in the past two years.
   The founder of a local victims rights group said she was skeptical about the numbers.
   Posted by Kathy Shaw at 03:38 AM
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