• Some Charges Dismissed Against Md. Priest [1989-1992 Blackwell] - Roman Catholic Church.
BALTIMORE (MD):
Mercury News,
www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/breaking_news/8249404.htm ,
Associated Press
Misdemeanor assault charges were dismissed Monday against a priest who was shot by a former parishioner who claimed he had been sexually assaulted years earlier.
The Rev. Maurice Blackwell was charged with four counts of assault and four felony counts of sexual child abuse stemming from the allegations of abuse beginning in 1989 and ending in 1992.
However, Baltimore Circuit Court Judge John M. Glynn ruled that the statute of limitations had expired on the misdemeanor assault charges. He said he would rule on a motion to dismiss the remaining counts in the next few weeks. Blackwell's trial is set for June 3.
Posted by Kathy Shaw at 02:59 PM
(This is the first of the Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker,
www.ncrnews.org/abuse ,
for Monday March 22, 2004.)
INCOMPLETE LINKS: Refer back to "References 61" for methods of obtaining the URLs.
• Diocese to hear misconduct claims ALBANY (NY):
Albany Times Union,
www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=230106&category=ALBANY&BCCode=&newsdate=3/22/2004 ,
By JORDAN CARLEO- EVANGELIST, Staff reports,
Friday, March 19, 2004
Correction: A spokesman for the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, Del., said officials there have not decided to interview people who claim they have information about sexual abuse by the Rev. Louis Douglas.
• Victims in church cases also robbed of their faith
[1964-1984]
FREMONT (CA):
Tri-Valley Herald,
www.trivalleyherald.com/Stories/0,1413,86~10671~2033872,00.html ,
By Melissa Evans, Monday, March 22, 2004
If thy hand betrays thee, cut it off.
A man who says he was sexually abused by a priest when he was a child quoted that biblical passage -- then severed part of his left hand with a serrated knife, family members say.
He is one of three men suing the Diocese of Oakland, among others, for the alleged actions of the late Rev. James Clark, a priest who served at Corpus Christi Catholic Church in Niles from 1964 to 1984.
Others who say they were abused by priests have been severed in other ways. The trauma, they say, has cut away their ability to believe in God.
"What is religion? What is God?" said Terrie Light, who said she was raped by a priest at St. Bede Parish in Hayward and later received a financial settlement from the diocese. "All of that is tainted. ... It has impacted everything."
Light said her world was once framed by the church. The center of that world was the priest -- a pastor, father figure and counselor who held the keys to heaven.
But when she was 7, Light says, her priest grabbed her by the neck, raped her and told her she would burn in hell if she told anyone about it.
"I couldn't make sense of it," she said.
Victims of priest abuse suffer a two-pronged blow, psychologists say. They are traumatized by the event itself -- as well as the role the perpetrator plays in their life, said Paul Abramson, a psychology professor at University of California, Los Angeles.
The abuse leads to confusion, guilt and profound depression, said Abramson, who has interviewed dozens of priest abuse victims, including the three men who have accused Clark.
• Napa priest strikes back with libel suit [1967-70]
CALIFORNIA:
The Press Democrat,
www.pressdemocrat.com/local/news/21priest_b1empireb.html ,
By GUY KOVNER, March 21, 2004
A Napa priest accused in a lawsuit of molesting a grade-school girl more than 30 years ago in Southern California has launched a legal counterattack, filing a libel suit against his accuser, her attorney and a national advocacy group for priest sex abuse victims.
Monsignor Joseph F. Alzugaray, pastor of St. Apollinaris Church since 2002, hired Los Angeles celebrity lawyer Neil Papiano to file the suit last month in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
The suit alleges that Erin Brady, 44, her Los Angeles attorney, Raymond Boucher, and the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP, defamed Alzugaray by falsely accusing him of child molestation.
"We're defending his honor," said Papiano, whose clients have included Elizabeth Taylor, the late Oakland A's owner Charles Finley and Los Angeles city officials.
But the defendants contend Alzugaray's intent is to silence them and other victims of priestly abuse, a move they say contradicts U.S. bishops' invitation to victims to come forward and to heal old wounds.
"It's clearly an intimidation tactic," said David Clohessy, national director of SNAP, which claims 4,700 members in 56 chapters across the country.
Alzugaray's lawsuit, which faults SNAP for promoting claims against him, is the first time the organization has been sued in 15 years, Clohessy said. [...]
Alzugaray, 62, who has served in the Santa Rosa diocese since 1995, was absolved of wrongdoing by local church officials that year and again in 2002, both times in response to informal complaints by Brady, said diocese attorney Dan Galvin. [...]
That lawsuit, filed by Boucher and his colleagues, alleges that Alzugaray, during his tenure at Immaculate Conception Church in Monrovia, "sexually molested" Brady from 1967-70, while she attended the church school.
The suit also alleges that when Alzugaray transferred to the Santa Rosa Diocese his personnel file was "purged of any record of complaints."
Galvin disputed that claim, saying that Los Angeles officials sent their file on Alzugaray to Santa Rosa in 1995. A review of those records, and a subsequent investigation by Santa Rosa officials in 2002, concluded there was "no basis" for Brady's allegations against Alzugaray, Galvin said.
• Comiskey due to give evidence at sex abuse inquiry IRELAND:
One in Four,
http://oneinfour.org/news/news2004/comiskeyferns ,
By Brendan Furlong, Irish Examiner Former Bishop of Ferns, Dr Brendan Comiskey, who resigned over his handling of sex abuse allegations against the late Fr Sean Fortune, is expected to give evidence to the inquiry into sex abuse in the diocese later this month.
Dr Comiskey resigned in disgrace, on April 1, 2002, and is understood to be in New York undertaking an addiction counselling course.
The diocese sold his luxury bungalow on the Curracloe road outside the town, which was purchased as a retirement home.
It is expected that an interim report of the Ferns non-statutory inquiry into clerical sex abuse is to be given to Health Minister Micheál Martin by the end of the month.
The inquiry has now shifted to St Peter’s College in Wexford town, which trained many of the priests involved in the allegations.
Complaints from parishioners in Monageer, Poulfur, Co Wexford, and other areas will continue to be heard. [...]
It had originally been thought that the inquiry, which is examining allegations of clerical sex abuse over several decades, would have the bulk of its work completed by March.
However, the inquiry, which has now been up and running for the past five months after several delayed starts, was extended by several weeks due to the numbers giving evidence.
The compilation of information for the interim report has been ongoing and once Mr Martin reads it, he will then decide whether its findings to date should be published.
The Church has agreed to pay compensation to six victims of Fr Fortune. The most recent settlements involve two men who were abused by the priest during the 1980s. It is understood that both men are to receive close to €300,000.
• Rochester priest acquitted on charges of groping undercover officer [2003]
ST. PAUL (MN) (AP):
KSTP TV,
www.kstp.com/article/view/132681 , Updated 08:04:06 AM, 03-19-2004
A Rochester priest accused of sexual misconduct was found not guilty Thursday in Ramsey County District Court.
The Rev. Edward Francis McGrath was accused of fondling an undercover officer in a St. Paul park last May.
McGrath was charged with fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct, which involves nonconsensual sexual contact.
He waived his right to a jury trial, leaving it up to a judge to make the decision.
On Thursday morning, Judge Joanne Smith filed her "not guilty" ruling.
McGrath has maintained his innocence. He was put on a leave of absence from his duties as pastor of Pax Christi church in Rochester after being charged.
• Repeat offender says he's sorry; Abbey says they will shelter him until his housing problem is solved.
OAKLAND (CA):
San Francisco Chronicle,
"Ex-con talks, says he's sorry; Sex predator promises to lead a Christian life",
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/03/15/BAG615KNBB1.DTL ,
Monday March 15 2004
Convicted sex predator Cary Verse emerged Sunday in Oakland from weeks of silence to publicly apologize for his violent crimes and ask for a chance to prove that he is not a menace to society.
"I can't hide forever," Verse said Sunday near the entrance of St. Patrick's Abbey in Oakland's Fruitvale neighborhood, where he was invited to stay by the church's pastor, Rev. Donald Weeks.
"I promise that I will live a good life. I want to live a Christian life. I will never commit a crime again," Verse said.
Wearing a necktie, vest, slacks and dress shoes, the somewhat nervous Verse said he decided to come forward to take pressure off Weeks, whose abbey is not affiliated with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland. The pastor has been sharply criticized by Oakland city and public school officials for allowing Verse to temporarily reside at the abbey, in light of its being across the street from Ascend Elementary School. [...]
Verse is a four-time convicted sex offender with a history of sexual violence starting at 17, when he assaulted a 14-year-old teammate on his high school track team. A sentence of three years and eight months in prison followed after he sexually assaulted a 17-year-old at a detention camp in Alameda County.
After his parole in Feb. 1992, Verse sexually assaulted a man at a homeless shelter near Richmond, resulting in a new sentence of 12 years in prison. He was paroled in 1998 and sent to Atascadero State Hospital, where he won praise for his progress in therapy. He agreed to be chemically castrated and now wears an electronic monitoring bracelet.
• Grand jury continues to hear evidence for Irene Garza case [1960]
EDINBURG (TX):
The Brownsville Herald,
www.brownsvilleherald.com/ts_comments.php?id=58347_0_10_0_C ,
By SARAH OVASKA, March 18, 2004
A grand jury met for the second time Wednesday to hear evidence in the 1960 killing of Irene Garza, a McAllen second-grade teacher and former beauty queen.
All grand jury testimony and questioning is done in secret.
Elena Sanchez, the secretary of Sacred Heart Catholic Church in downtown McAllen, was the only person other than prosecutors to enter the grand jury room.
The last place Garza was seen was Sacred Heart, where she gave confession on April 16, 1960, the night before Easter. Garza’s body was found in a McAllen canal five days later, with evidence that she had been raped while in a coma and died from a blow to her head, according to Garza’s death certificate.
The priest that heard her confession, John B. Feit, was questioned extensively by police at the time of Garza’s death. He has never been charged in relation to Garza’s death. No longer a priest, Feit is living in the Phoenix area.
In an incident less than a month prior to Garza’s death, Feit was charged with attempting to rape a female college student, according to court documents
A woman was attacked by a man on March 23, 1960, while she was inside St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Edinburg, according to court records. Feit, who was identified by witnesses as fleeing the area, was charged and that trial was moved to Austin because of intense publicity from both the attempted rape charge and Garza’s death, according to court records.
The trial ended in a mistrial because of a hung jury. Feit pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of aggravated assault and paid a $500 fine, according to the March 28, 1962, final judgment.
Feit’s defense attorney called Sanchez as a witness, according to a list of 1961 court subpoenas.
The investigation of Garza’s death was reopened in the summer 2002 by a Texas Ranger specializing in cold cases and the McAllen Police Department. Last fall, McAllen Police Chief Victor Rodriguez announced his department had forwarded the case to Rene Guerra, the Hidalgo County District Attorney, for a grand jury.
• Controversial Rally in Sioux City SIOUX CITY (IA):
KTIV,
www.ktiv.com/News/NewsDetail64.cfm?Id=26,7281 ,
March/21/2004
A controversial rally was held in Sioux City Saturday, to help victims abused by Catholic priests.
Representatives from various organizations were at the event, including SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests).
Barbara Blaine, founder and president of SNAP, and also a survivor spoke at the rally and hope to bring a SNAP organization to Sioux City.
"I believe that what we're offering is a gift to the church and because it's not easy for us to come forward, and when we do, we are actually exposing an evil that has festered for decades," said Blaine.
It was indeed a controversial occasion.
Event organizer James Goff made headlines after suing Sanford Center Director George Boykin for attempting to back out of a contract to hold the event at the center.
Boykin eventually decided to allow the rally to take place.
• Catholic forum to look at sex-abuse crisis FORT WORTH (TX):
Star-Telegram,
www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/8243870.htm , Posted on Sun, Mar. 21, 2004
A recent report on the scope and cost of the sexual-abuse crisis in the Roman Catholic Church will be discussed Tuesday at a forum in Fort Worth.
A panel including priests, an abuse survivor, a social worker and others will discuss the national report, which found that 4 percent of U.S. priests have been accused of sexual abuse since 1950. The total number of victims is 10,000.
The forum will begin at 7 p.m. in the Catholic Renewal Center, 4503 Bridge St. For information, call (817) 589-7607.
Posted by Kathy Shaw at 05:43 AM
Religions' sex abuse Chronology, visit: http:www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont74.htm
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker
www.ncrnews.org/abuse ,
Monday March 22, 2004
Religions' sex abuse Chronology, visit: http:www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont74.htm
##### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker,
www.ncrnews.org/abuse,
Tuesday, March 23, 2004 edition follows:- • Church seeks dismissal of sex-abuse suit Casper Star-Tribune,
www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2004/03/23/news/wyoming/e1143b0e47e1759087256e6000572043.txt ,
By The Associated Press Tuesday, March 23, 2004
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Lawyers for the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph are seeking the dismissal of a sexual-abuse lawsuit against the diocese, a retired Wyoming bishop, a retired priest and a former priest.
Among those named in the lawsuit is Joseph Hart, who was a priest in Kansas City before he became a bishop in Wyoming, a job from which he is now retired. The other defendants are Thomas J. O'Brien, a retired priest who served for a time as principal of St. Pius X High School and later became diocesan superintendent of schools, and Thomas M. Reardon, who served five area parishes and was administrator of a youth camp before leaving the priesthood in 1989.
Nine men, six of them anonymous, are plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which alleges a series of abuses at a lake home north of Kansas City or in church facilities, often after liquor was given to the minors. The suit alleges that most of the abuse took place from the 1960s through the 1980s.
Diocesan lawyers filed for dismissal in Jackson County Circuit Court on Monday, saying charges in the 210-page lawsuit are vague and do not specify dates of the abuse.
The lawsuit is in "blatant violation" of civil procedures that require more detail, Jonathan Haden and other lawyers wrote.
Nine men filed suit but one of them, Mike Hunter, is seeking damages in the alleged abuse of his late brother, Kevin Hunter.
The diocesan lawyers said the petition does not make clear which plaintiffs are making which allegations and when they occurred.
Posted by Kathy Shaw at 06:21 PM
• Dallas bishop takes over New Jersey diocese DALLAS (TX):
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/state/8258555.htm ,
By Anna Macias Aguayo,
Special to the Star-Telegram, Posted on Tue, Mar. 23, 2004
The Most Rev. Joseph Galante, who served as coadjutor bishop of Dallas for nearly five years, was appointed Tuesday by Pope John Paul II as bishop of the Diocese of Camden, N.J.
"While this is a joyful moment for me, it is also a sad one," Galante said in a statement issued Tuesday in Dallas while he was at a news conference in Camden. "In the more than four years that I have served here in Dallas, I have been privileged to come to know so many of the laity as well as religious and clergy."
Galante, 66, was assigned to help lead the Dallas Diocese in 1999 after Bishop Charles Grahmann had asked the Vatican for assistance in managing the growing diocese. As coadjutor bishop, Galante was in line to take over the Dallas Diocese upon Grahmann's retirement. ...
A rift became evident in the way Grahmann and Galante responded to the sexual-abuse scandals that have plagued the church in recent years, observers said. Galante serves on the sexual-abuse and communications committees of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. More than a year ago, Galante publicly disagreed with Grahmann after Grahmann
• Dallas coadjutor bishop named bishop in Camden, N.J. DALLAS (TX):
Denton Record-Chronicle,
www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D81G79EG0.html ,
Associated Press, March/23/2004
The Most Rev. Joseph Galante, coadjutor bishop of Dallas and a former Vatican official, was appointed by the pope Tuesday as bishop of the Camden Diocese.
The post has been vacant since September, when Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio left to become bishop of Brooklyn, N.Y.
Galante, 65, a native of Philadelphia, served for five years as undersecretary of the Vatican office in charge of religious orders worldwide.
Galante served as Dallas coadjutor, or designated successor, for four years. Some parishioners critical of Dallas Bishop Charles Grahmann claim Grahmann reached a secret deal to quit before Galante's arrival but later reneged. Grahmann isn't required to submit his resignation to the Vatican until he turns 75, about two years away.
More than a year ago, Galante publicly disagreed with Grahmann after he refused to remove a priest who allegedly groped and propositioned a parishioner in 1991. Such an open rift is a rarity in the church hierarchy, suggesting Galante's dissatisfaction with his position in Dallas. Galante had suggested last summer that he might transferred to another diocese.
• Data takes the guesswork out of the crisis UNITED STATES:
Our Sunday Visitor,
www.osvpublishing.com/periodicals/show-article.asp?pid=931 ,
by By William Bole, a senior correspondent, March/14/2004
There were undoubtedly some Catholics who had clung to the hope that the Church’s sexual abuse crisis might, in the end, involve only a negligible number of priests. For them, a new study conducted by criminologists in New York must come as a bitter awakening.
At the same time, others who contend that child sexual abuse remains rampant in the Church will have to reckon with data amassed by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
The report, issued Feb. 27, provided the first comprehensive accounting ever of such abuse in the Catholic Church. It was commissioned by the National Review Board, a lay panel formed by the bishops in the wake of the scandals that broke two years ago.
Along with John Jay’s quantitative study, the review board issued its own 145-page report, which was surprisingly scathing. The theologically operative word was "sinfulness," referring to the acts of priests as well as the failure of many bishops to "protect their people from predators."
But the immediate story was the scope of the crisis as probed by John Jay.
"There were hypotheses, there were myths out there, that we were all throwing around, because we didn’t have any data," said Jesuit Father Thomas Reese, editor of America magazine. "And the great advance from this study is that we now have some data, so we can talk about truth rather than talk about guesses." [And what continues is the rest of this long thoughtful article]
• New allegations by attorney; Hubbard was caught in park, but authorities corrupt ALBANY (NY)
Capital News 9,
"New allegations by attorney,"
www.capitalnews9.com/content/your_news/capital_region/default.asp?ArID=65292 ,
By Jessica Schneider
8:14 PM, March/22/2004
Attorney John Aretakis said, "The Albany County politicians find it in their own self interests to protect priests whether they're pedophiles or predatory or not, and Bishop Hubbard."
Scathing remarks from attorney John Aretakis, who is most known for representing victims of clergy sex abuse. Now, he's coming out attacking Albany law enforcement, saying people like Police Commissioner John Nielsen and District Attorney Paul Clyne are defying law and order to protect Bishop Hubbard and other priests affiliated with the Albany Catholic Diocese.
Aretakis said, "Where I'm alleging there has been corruption is with the upper echelons of the police department and the Albany district attorney's office."
Aretakis points directly to an affidavit written and signed by the wife of a now-deceased Albany police sergeant. Ms. Judy Berben approached Aretakis when claims came up earlier this year concerning possible homosexual relationships by Bishop Howard Hubbard. In this statement, Berben states her husband discovered Hubbard in Washington Park soliciting male and children prostitutes. But when her husband and other police officers discovered him, she said Bishop Hubbard was not arrested because of his position in the clergy.
Speaking on behalf of Commissioner Nielsen, Detective James Miller said the claims by Aretakis are baseless and false. He would not speak on camera, saying he didn't want to even justify the remarks. He said as of now, there are no criminal investigations into Bishop Hubbard, and no reason Albany police would ever be involved, much less look to protect Hubbard.
• Stop Abuse Before It Starts UNITED STATES:
Washington Post,
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16410-2004Mar22.html ,
By Fran Henry and Mark L. Rosenberg
Page A19, Tuesday, March 23, 2004
Appearing on "Meet the Press" last month, Robert Bennett, one of the chief authors of a report on the child sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church, said that "child sexual abuse is a national health problem -- it is a national crisis." The report noted that since 1950, 4,392 Catholic priests had sexually abused 10,667 children.
But, as Bennett noted, these numbers are just a small part of the problem, because child sexual abuse is perpetrated not only by fathers in the church but by fathers and other people in families across the United States. If we as a nation are serious about protecting our children, we need a strategy for prevention. We need to stop child sexual abuse before it happens.
Punishment for the abuser and treatment for the victim are necessary, but they aren't enough. We ought to learn from what has been done in the area of drinking and driving. Public health scientists, working with advocates, fostered a new social norm: that drunk driving, far from being something to joke about, is unacceptable.
People stopped looking the other way when someone started to get behind the wheel under the influence of alcohol. They insisted on designated drivers and on taking the keys away. As a society, we lowered our threshold for destructive behavior of that sort and moved more quickly to help people with drinking problems -- if possible before they got into trouble from drinking and driving.
• Lawsuits allege abuse; Complaints target Jehovah's Witnesses congregations.
MONTEREY (CA):
Monterey Herald,
www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/local/8255112.htm ,
By DAN LAIDMAN,
dlaidman@montereyherald.com , Posted on Tue, Mar. 23, 2004
A woman who has sued Jehovah's Witnesses leaders alleging sexual abuse at a Pacific Grove congregation encouraged others to come forward at a meeting in Monterey on Monday.
"It was a huge betrayal," the woman said. "If it could happen to me, it could happen to other children."
The local case is one of a slew of lawsuits being filed nationwide against Jehovah's Witnesses institutions accusing them of covering up the sexual abuse of children. Lawyers from the two firms pursuing the bulk of the cases have been gathering alleged abuse survivors throughout California for a series of meetings to draw out more potential victims and witnesses.
"This organization has a problem with child molestation," said Kimberlee Norris, a Texas-based attorney with the firm Love & Norris.
While cautioning that there are many "upstanding" churchgoers, Norris said that she has detected a disturbing pattern of religious institutions covering up molestation. The lawyer has spent several years handling abuse cases stemming from Jehovah's Witnesses congregations.
She and fellow attorney Bill Brelsford of the Sacramento firm Nolen Saul Brelsford brought four alleged abuse survivors to speak in Monterey on Monday. Several local residents came to the meeting to share their experiences with the attorneys.
• St. Patrick's Abbey fears eviction, seeks time to correct code violations OAKLAND (CA):
Contra Costa Times,
www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/8249711.htm ,
By Guy Ashley, Posted on Mon, Mar. 22, 2004
A transitional home under fire for housing sex offender Cary Verse for four days earlier this month has been offered the use of a nearby apartment building should it be forced to relocate by Oakland city officials.
But the Rev. Donald Weeks, pastor at St. Patrick's Abbey in East Oakland, said the building offered by a supporter is too small to serve all the needs of the abbey -- home to 30, many of whom have substance abuse problems and have served time in prison. The abbey also has a chapel, office space, kitchen and eating area.
Weeks said he will meet with City of Oakland building officials this afternoon to ask for at least a month to perform repairs to bring the abbey up to code, during which time he may seek to have its residents relocate to the building on 39th Avenue that was offered up by a supporter.
"Maybe we could provide a temporary place for the men while we bring our building up to code," he said.
The abbey drew heat from the surrounding community earlier this month when it was discovered that Verse, a state-designated sexual predator who was released from a locked state facility last month, had been invited to live there.
• Brothers Reveal Years Of Abuse [1970s]
TheWMURChannel.com ;
"Brothers Reveal Years Of Abuse; Victims Hope Others Come Forward;"
www.thewmurchannel.com/news/2941492/detail.html ,
POSTED 6:09 pm EST, March 22, 2004
ROCHESTER, N.H. -- For more than 25 years, Randy Metivier never told his parents and older brother that he was being molested by their parish priest.
What he didn't know was that his older brother, Ryan, was also a victim of the Rev. Joseph Maguire. Now, after Maguire pleaded guilty to sexual assault and was found guilty of additional charges, the brothers are telling their story, in the hope that other victims come forward.
Maguire, former pastor of St. Joseph's Church in Dover, N.H., pleaded guilty to eight counts of sexual assault Feb. 26. He was also found guilty of 28 additional charges involving three victims.
"It was tough," Randy Metivier said. "You dealt with it every day. You felt embarrassed about it, ashamed, guilty."
Randy Metivier didn't know that his brother was also racked with shame and guilt. They never told anyone that Maguire, their family priest, was molesting them. The story didn't come out until two years ago, when the family was contacted by the Attorney General's Office, which was looking into allegations against Maguire.
"I was about 9, and it ended when I was about 14," Randy Metivier said.
"When you are 9, 10, 12 years old, you are easily manipulated. You keep secrets better," Ryan Metivier said.
The brothers said the abuse lasted for years.
[Video on the original webpage. "Brothers Unaware Other Was Victimized."]
• Diocese urges throwing out lawsuit alleging abuse by priests [1960s-80s]
Sun Herald,
www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/nation/8252027.htm ,
BY KEVIN MURPHY,
Knight Ridder Newspapers, Posted on Mon, Mar. 22, 2004
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KRT) - The Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph filed for dismissal Monday of a Jan. 21 sexual abuse lawsuit against the diocese and three priests.
Diocesan lawyers said charges made by nine plaintiffs in the 210-page lawsuit are vague and do not specify dates of the abuse. The lawsuit is in "blatant violation" of civil procedures that require more detail, Jonathan Haden and other lawyers wrote.
Eight men in the lawsuit alleged that former Kansas City priests Thomas Reardon, Thomas O'Brien or Joseph Hart abused them as boys during the 1960s to 1980s at a lake home, church facilities or other locations.
Six of the men remained anonymous in the lawsuit. Although nine men filed suit, one of them, Mike Hunter, is seeking damages in the alleged abuse of his late brother, Kevin Hunter.
The diocesan lawyers said the petition does not make clear which plaintiffs are making which allegations and when they occurred.
• A No-Nonsense Mission of Saving Drug Addicts The New York Times,
www.nytimes.com/2004/03/23/nyregion/23profile.html ,
By CHRIS HEDGES,
Published: March 23, 2004
MENDHAM, N.J.: Some people become priests because they are called by God. The Rev. Joseph H. Hennen wanted to get off the farm.
"I wish I had a more pious reason," he says, "but I hated farming."
It soon becomes clear, however, that Father Hennen's distaste for farming is outdone only by his distaste for religious piety, or what he calls "the churchy life." He is a man at war with convention, with religious self-indulgence and blind obedience to the Catholic hierarchy; a man at war, finally, with himself.
He wrestles, Job-like, with it all. And he says that it is in the questions, not the answers, that he finds meaning; that he is defined not by what he knows but by what he seeks. And what he seeks is the moral life. ...
The sexual abuse of youths by priests angers him, "but I am even angrier with the bishops for covering it up," he says. But he says he believes that the scandal, along with the steep decline in religious vocations and the financial woes of the Catholic Church, is part of a process.
"All this may not be a bad thing," he says. "The old is dying. The church will one day not look like this, but it will still be here, maybe with married priests, maybe even with women priests. I do not know. I only know that out of death comes new life."
• Repercussions of `Sin' CHICAGO (IL):
Boston Globe,
www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2004/03/23/repercussions_of_sin ,
By Ed Siegel, March/23/2004
The lights go up on Cardinal Bernard Law, his back to the audience, kneeling in prayer. It almost seems as if the cardinal himself is onstage until he turns around and it's actor Jim Sherman.
What happens during the next two hours in the play "Sin: A Cardinal Deposed," taken primarily from Law's depositions in the sexual-abuse cases concerning priests John Geoghan and Paul Shanley, is an emotional roller coaster.
Actors playing lawyers Mitchell Garabedian in the Geoghan case and Roderick MacLeish Jr. in the Shanley case grill the cardinal, and his denials of any culpability elicit frequent gasps from the audience. The readings from depositions and interviews, which detail the stories of victims and the lack of a response from Church officials, leave some people in tears.
Even the actors themselves are spent at the play's end, which is regularly followed by a discussion between them and the audience. Last Wednesday, when asked if he tried to identify with Law, Sherman said he tries to find more than one dimension to the cardinal but noted how difficult it is to identify with him.
"I've raised seven children," he said, "and I think I would want to kill someone who did something like this to them. I'm playing the guy who has the responsibility for letting this go on." He then began to choke up before adding, "And it's tough. And I've had a lot of sleepless nights about it."
When the Bailiwick Repertory production of Michael Murphy's "Sin: A Cardinal Deposed" comes to Wellesley College May 15-22, there will be debates about how good a play it is. There will be cavils about Cardinal Law speaking with a Chicago accent. And it may not play nearly as well in Wellesley's 1,300-seat auditorium as it does in Bailiwick's 60-seat house.
Still, it is hard to imagine that most people won't be moved by what they see. This may seem strange, given that Law's words and those of the lawyers are taken almost entirely from the public record, which can be rather dry. During the first act, in particular, Garabedian spends a fair amount of time laying the groundwork for later questions.
• Ploy may pay off for priest victims DETROIT (MI):
The Detroit News,
"Ploy may pay off for priest victims; Two attorneys claim fraud law may pave way for compensation;"
www.detnews.com/2004/religion/0403/23/c01-100266.htm ,
By Kim Kozlowski, Tuesday, March 23, 2004
Michigan’s statute of limitations has left no recourse for most victims of sexually abusive Catholic priests, but two local attorneys believe they have found a legal strategy that could offer justice.
The legal arguments are rooted in a consumer protection law typically used in lawsuits against businesses with shady practices.
Attorneys Elmer Roller of Bloomfield Hills and David Steinberg of Bingham Farms say the strategy could open floodgates of lawsuits here and across the country. Legal experts, however, are split on whether the maneuver will pass muster.
The law, known as fraudulent concealment, is the primary argument in a $10 million suit filed on behalf of the father and late mother of an alleged victim of the Rev. Alfred Miller.
Miller served at St. Francis Cabrini school and parish in Allen Park during the 1970s, and allegedly molested the victim while he attended Cabrini High School. Additionally, Archdiocese of Detroit bishops were aware Miller allegedly sexually abused young boys at Erie Mason High School while he was a priest at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Erie before he was moved to Cabrini, according to the lawsuit.
The legal theory is that the church was aware of Miller’s sexually abusive past and represented something contrary in allowing him to continue to serve in the church, thereby allowing the abuse to continue and causing damage to the victim. The victim did not disclose to his parents until last summer that he was abused, which fits into the two-year time frame when a party can file a suit under this law.
• Attorneys turn to consumer law in lawsuit against Detroit Archdiocese Detroit Free Press,
www.freep.com/news/statewire/sw94938_20040323.htm ,
1:33 AM, March 23, 2004
DETROIT (MI) (AP) -- Attorneys for a man allegedly abused by a Detroit area priest are suing the Archdiocese of Detroit using a legal strategy usually applied in consumer protection litigation.
Elmer Roller of Bloomfield Hills and David Steinberg of Bingham Farms filed a $10 million lawsuit on behalf of the father and late mother of an alleged victim of the Rev. Alfred Miller. They are using a law known as fraudulent concealment as the basis of their case.
The strategy is unusual, but one they say could open the doors for lawsuits by abuse victims previously unable to pursue legal action because of the expiry of the statute of limitations in such cases. But legal scholars are divided on whether the strategy will succeed.
"If we're right, we have a way for parents to seek compensation for the sexual abuse of their children," Steinberg told The Detroit News for a Tuesday story.
The lawsuit says the church was aware of Miller's sexually abusive past and represented something contrary in allowing him to continue to serve in the church and, as a result, allowed the abuse to continue. The victim did not disclose the alleged abuse to his parents until last summer, but was still within the two-year period when a party can file a suit under this law.
( Information from: The Detroit News, http://www.detnews.com )
• Priest's estate won't cover legal fees Miami Herald,
www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/8252647.htm ,
BY JAY WEAVER,
jweaver@herald.com , Posted on Tue, Mar. 23, 2004
The Archdiocese of Miami tries to tap a deceased priest's estate to pay his legal bills in four sex-abuse complaints, but church leaders eventually back off. MIAMI (FL): After the unexpected death of a prominent Catholic priest, the Archdiocese of Miami filed a claim to recover about $36,000 from his estate -- for legal fees to defend him against allegations of sexually abusing three boys and a homeless man at St. Brendan's Church.
The representative for the late Rev. Jose Nickse's estate objected to the claim because the archdiocese provided "no evidence whatsoever" that the priest agreed to reimburse his legal fees and expenses.
Members of Nickse's Westchester parish said they were upset the archdiocese tried to collect money from Nickse's estate to pay his private attorney to defend him against four lawsuits and possible criminal charges.
"In my own opinion, I don't think it's right and I don't think it's moral after all the years Father Nickse gave to the archdiocese," Jose Losa of Westchester, a longtime parishioner, said Monday. "It's like you work for a company for so many years and you have to pay back a car allowance."
Mary Ross Agosta, the archdiocese spokeswoman, said church attorneys filed the $35,943.69 claim against Nickse's estate last May because they had to meet a court deadline and wanted to know how much money he had in his estate.
• Church seeks dismissal of sex-abuse suit Kansas City Star,
www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/8254240.htm?ERIGHTS=2993959783915787194kansascity::kashaw@peoplepc.com&KRD_RM=9ppppvquvyvyxpsysyqqpppppp|Kathleen|Y ,
Associated Press, Posted on Tue, Mar. 23, 2004
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Lawyers for the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph are seeking the dismissal of a sexual-abuse lawsuit against the diocese, a retired bishop, a retired priest and a former priest.
Among those named in the lawsuit is Joseph Hart, who was a priest in Kansas City before he became a bishop in Wyoming, a job from which he is now retired. The other defendants are Thomas J. O'Brien, a retired priest who served for a time as principal of St. Pius X High School and later became diocesan superintendent of schools, and Thomas M. Reardon, who served five area parishes and was administrator of a youth camp before leaving the priesthood in 1989.
Nine men, six of them anonymous, are plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which alleges a series of abuses at a lake home north of Kansas City or in church facilities, often after liquor was given to the minors. The suit alleges that most of the abuse took place from the 1960s through the 1980s.
Diocesan lawyers filed for dismissal in Jackson County Circuit Court on Monday, saying charges in the 210-page lawsuit are vague and do not specify dates of the abuse. [...]
Reardon and Hart have denied the abuse allegations. O'Brien, who is retired, has not commented.
Matthew O'Connor, attorney for Reardon, filed motions similar to those of the diocese on Monday. Reardon said he does not recall the plaintiffs, and he asked that they list the dates of the alleged abuses.
"Because he does not remember any of the plaintiffs, Mr. Reardon cannot adequately respond to plaintiffs' assertions without a definite time frame in which to place the alleged occurrences," O'Connor wrote.
• Priest gains a victory in court BALTIMORE (MD):
Baltimore Sun,
www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.blackwell23mar23,0,3917346.story?coll=bal-local-headlines ,
By Allison Klein,
Sun Staff,
Originally published March 23, 2004
The Rev. Maurice Blackwell won a significant victory in his sexual assault case yesterday when half of the counts against him were thrown out by a Baltimore judge, who will soon decide whether to dismiss the entire case against the priest or proceed with part of it.
Circuit Judge John M. Glynn said he would issue a decision within two weeks, either voiding Blackwell's remaining charges or going forward with one or more remaining counts of sexual child abuse.
Blackwell is accused of fondling and sodomizing Dontee Stokes more than 15 years ago.
Stokes, Blackwell's former parishioner, shot and wounded the clergyman in May 2002 after confronting him about the alleged abuse.
Stokes, 28, was acquitted of attempted murder at his trial later that year, which was highly publicized because of the sex scandal in the Roman Catholic church.
• Accused priest cleared WHEATON (IL):
Chicago Daily Herald,
www.dailyherald.com/dupage/main_story.asp?intID=3806934 ,
By Susan Stevens,
Posted Tuesday, March 23, 2004
A Wheaton priest accused in a lawsuit of sexual abuse was exonerated Monday when his accuser recanted the story.
The Rev. Thomas White returned as pastor of St. Daniel the Prophet Catholic Church after five months of administrative leave during the investigation.
White said he was elated at the news and has forgiven his accuser. On Monday evening, he celebrated a thanksgiving Mass, his first at St. Daniel's since October.
"I thank God for all my people and all their prayers," White said. "I know that somewhere, at sometime along the line, I will be able to recognize how this all fits into my life."
James Tibor, 35, of Aurora withdrew his lawsuit in Will County circuit court, saying he never had any physical contact with White and never was alone with him.
In October, Tibor accused the priest of sexually abusing him 24 years ago at St. Luke's parish in Carol Stream. At the time, Tibor said reports of priests abusing children had brought suppressed memories to the surface.
Posted by Kathy Shaw at 06:16 AM
Religions' sex abuse Chronology, visit: http:www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont74.htm
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker
www.ncrnews.org/abuse ,
Tuesday, March 23, 2004
Religions' sex abuse Chronology, visit: http:www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont74.htm
##### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker,
www.ncrnews.org/abuse,
Wednesday, March 24, 2004 edition follows:- • Uncovering sex abuse in schools mirrors church experience UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter,
http://natcath.org/NCR_Online/archives2/2004a/032604/032604j.htm ,
By DENNIS CODAY, for March 26 2004
After studying the prevalence of sexual misconduct against students by school employees, Charol Shakeshaft found that the issue "is woefully understudied," but she learned enough to say that the problem "is at least equal to if not more serious in schools than in the Catholic church."
From 1991 to 2000, about 315,000 students per year experienced some sort of physical sexual abuse by a public school employee -- mainly teachers, estimates Shakeshaft, a professor of educational policies at Hofstra University in Huntington, N.Y. There are about 47.7 million students age 6 to 18 enrolled in U.S. public schools.
Shakeshaft told NCR that research has shown that only about 6 percent of victims report their abuse, so school authorities likely knew of fewer than 19,000 of these incidents.
She estimates that 9.6 percent of all students in grades 8-11 reported sexual harassment by teachers, coaches, or other school employees. That included sexual remarks, jokes or gestures. About 6.7 percent of students reported harassment involving physical contact. About 56 percent of victims were girls.
In 57 percent of cases, teachers were the reported perpetrators. Other cases involved other employees such as bus drivers and teachers’ aides. About 57 percent of offenders were males.
According to the U.S. bishops, 10,667 children were abused by 4,392 clerics over the last 50 years.
Posted by Kathy Shaw at 05:58 PM
• Former Danville pastor charged with sexual abuse DANVILLE (IA)
The Hawk Eye
By DOROTHY de SOUZA GUEDES
dotdsg@thehawkeye.com
A former Danville pastor is facing a felony sexual abuse charge after a woman who sought him out for marriage and personal counseling accused him of using their months-long relationship for sexual purposes.
Harry Frederick Hollingsworth Sr., 57, was arrested at 9 a.m. Tuesday at the Des Moines County Sheriff's office on a warrant for Class D felony sexual abuse by a counselor or therapist. He appeared in Des Moines County District court Tuesday morning and was released on his own recognizance.
Court documents indicate he "engaged in multiple acts of sexual conduct" with a female parishioner who sought marriage and personal counseling from Hollingsworth between July or August 2002 and April 30, 2003, while Hollingsworth was the pastor of First Baptist Church in Danville.
Hollingsworth ministered at the church until some time last year when he resigned and left town, said Pastor Larry Dyson, interim pastor since September. He said Hollingsworth left without having a church, but has since taken a church in Hubbard, Texas.
Hollingsworth indicated in an application for a public defender filed Tuesday that he was self-employed as a pastor with a salary of $500 per week, but did not list his current church. He listed his current address as Hubbard, a town of about 1,600 people south of Dallas.
• Priest suspended following sexual abuse allegation Times-Picayune,
www.nola.com/newsflash/louisiana/index.ssf?/base/news-8/1080151442267631.xml ,
By ALAN SAYRE, The Associated Press, March/24/2004
NEW ORLEANS (LA) (AP) - An allegation of sex abuse dating back to the early 1970s has led to the suspension of a priest in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans, an archdiocese spokesman said Wednesday.
The Rev. Gerard P. Kinane, who until Tuesday was performing limited services in residence at St. Luke's Catholic Church in Slidell, was placed on administrative leave by Archbishop Alfred C. Hughes, the archdiocese announced.
The action came less than a week after a man came in on March 18 and filed a complaint, said the Rev. William Maestri, a spokesman for the archdiocese.
The complaint alleged that Kinane engaged in "inappropriate sexual conduct" with the complainant while Kinane was associate pastor at St. Mark's Catholic Church in Chalmette - when the complainant was a child - in the early 1970s, Maestri said.
After an initial investigation, Kinane was suspended. Maestri said a formal investigation will be conducted and "if there is deemed a semblance of truth to the case," it will be turned over to the Vatican.
• Clergy victims invited to event SPRINGFIELD (MA):
Republican,
http://masslive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-4/108012157377595.xml?nnae ,
By MICHAEL McAULIFFE,
mmcauliffe@repub.com , March/24/2004
Twenty people who have accused clergy of sex abuse are among the 1,400 people invited to the April 1 installation of Bishop Timothy A. McDonnell as prelate of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield.
The reactions yesterday of three of the accusers were as mixed as they could be: One said he will attend, one rejected the invitation and one is undecided.
McDonnell is the diocese's eighth bishop, replacing the Most Rev. Thomas L. Dupre, who resigned abruptly last month after being confronted by The Republican with allegations he abused two boys beginning more than 25 years ago.
Although Laura F. Reilly, the diocese's victim advocate, said McDonnell made the invitations as a gesture to reach out to abuse victims, neither of Dupre's accusers were invited.
Among those who will attend the ceremony at St. Michael's Cathedral are Cardinal Edward Egan, archbishop of New York; Archbishop Sean O'Malley of Boston; Archbishop Henry Mansell of Hartford, and Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, representative of Pope John Paul II in the United States.
Among the alleged victims invited were Stephen J. Block of Springfield, Andre P. Tessier of West Hartford, Conn., and Thomas M. Martin of Springfield. All say they were abused by the Rev. Richard R. Lavigne, who has since been defrocked.
• Alleged abuse victims invited to bishop's installation Providence Journal,
www.projo.com/ap/ma/1080071204.htm ,
By ADAM GORLICK, Associated Press Writer, March.23.2004
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) - Along with the 1,300 friends, family and fellow clergymen expected to attend his installation as head of the Springfield Diocese, Bishop Timothy McDonnell has also invited alleged victims of clergy sex abuse to the ceremony.
The invitations to the April 1 ceremony were mailed last week and received with anger, indifference and curiosity by some of those who say they were molested by diocesan priests.
Marty Bono, one of dozens who are suing the diocese and the priests they say molested them, said he feels the church is trying to trot him out like a "trophy fish" in front of the new bishop.
"How dare they try to put me up like a poster child," he said. "I'm a victim."
Church officials say the invitations were meant as an offer of good will to the alleged victims. Invitations were sent to every priest in the diocese except those who have been accused of abuse.
• Single judge named to hear pending suits against Worcester diocese Providence Journal,
www.projo.com/ap/ma/1080137543.htm ,
The Associated Press, March.24.2004
WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) - A single judge has been assigned to hear the 20 pending civil lawsuits alleging clergy sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester.
Superior Court Judge Jeffrey A. Locke has scheduled a meeting with lawyers for Tuesday afternoon.
Lawyers representing the victims had sought the assignment of a single judge in January. Superior Court Judge Constance Sweeney was assigned to hear more than 500 clergy abuse suits in the Archdiocese of Boston and Superior Court Judge John Agostini is presiding over about 30 lawsuits against the Diocese of Springfield.
Locke, who was appointed a Superior Court judge in 2001, has also served as state commissioner of social services and Norfolk County district attorney.
• Accuser to get reports on priests SCRANTON (PA)
Times-Leader,
www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/news/local/8259237.htm ,
By TERRIE MORGAN-BESECKER,
tmorgan@leader.net , Posted on Wed, Mar. 24, 2004
A federal judge has ordered psychological reports of two priests within the Diocese of Scranton to be turned over to an attorney representing a man who claims he was sexually abused by the men.
An attorney for the Rev. Eric Ensey and the Rev. Carlos Urrutigoity had argued the reports were protected by doctor/patient and attorney/client privilege. But U.S. District Judge John E. Jones on Tuesday ruled the priests waived that protection by releasing information in the reports to an outside party, then-Bishop James Timlin.
Jones' order allows James Bendell, who represents the alleged victim in a federal lawsuit, to review the reports as part of his pretrial information gathering. Jones held off on ruling whether that information could be used at a trial.
Ensey and Urrutigoity were priests within the Society of St. John, a religious community founded in 1997 by Urrutigoity in Shohola, Pike County. They were removed from duty in the Scranton Diocese in January 2002, after the molestation allegations emerged.
• Rabbis’ Tact Puts Sex Victims First CALIFORNIA:
The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles,
www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=11988 ,
by Julie Gruenbaum Fax, Religion Editor, March 19 2004
David Schwartz, who pleaded no contest last year to charges associated with child molestation at an Orthodox summer camp, has been released from a yearlong stay at a residential treatment facility and is now living in the Pico-Robertson area. Rabbinic and mental health professionals are taking steps to help the victims and their families, as well as the community at large, feel safe and protected from a man who allegedly sexually brutalized and psychologically tormented 4-year-old boys at a Culver City camp for the arts in summer 2002.
Despite his plea, outside of courtroom proceedings Schwartz has maintained his innocence. His wife Nitzah, a preschool teacher at Yeshivat Yavneh in Hancock Park (where Schwartz himself used to teach), has stood by him throughout, saying to rabbis and others that there is no way the father of her children could have committed the lewd acts attributed to him.
While some rabbis who know the family have quietly supported Schwartz and his family, many prominent rabbis and community leaders have been strident and outspoken in their support for the victims - an indication that the Orthodox community has overcome its historic hush-hush approach to abuse. Taking its lead from Jewish Family Service’s Aleinu Family Resource Center, a group of rabbis has attended hearings, counseled the victims and inserted itself into the case.
Several high-profile cases in recent years - both locally and nationally - have helped foster a newfound willingness among rabbis to work with mental health professionals not only to handle crises, but to take proactive measures as well.
• Woman sues again; offender sent overseas with diplomatic immunity! Dayton Daily News,
"Woman sues Catholic church again,"
www.daytondailynews.com/localnews/content/localnews/daily/0324priest.html ,
By Tom Beyerlein, 225-2264 or tbeyerlein@DaytonDailyNews.com
DAYTON, OHIO: A woman who settled a lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati in 1995 filed a new lawsuit Tuesday, contending Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk violated the settlement's terms by assigning a sexually abusive priest to foreign diplomatic posts with the Vatican where he could again abuse children.
The woman, filing as Jane Doe No. 1, was joined by another woman in claiming she was molested by the Rev. Daniel Pater in the 1980s, when both women were minors in the St. Charles Borromeo parish of Kettering and Pater was assistant pastor there. The lawsuit, which names Pilarczyk, the archdiocese and Pater as defendants, seeks $8 million in damages for alleged fraud, breach of contract and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Attached to the lawsuit are two settlement agreements dated June 13, 1995 - one between the woman and Pater, the other between the woman and the archdiocese. The original lawsuit was formally closed in court two days later. The woman had brought the lawsuit in 1993 and a judge dismissed the archdiocese and Pilarczyk as defendants in 1994.
Both of the settlement agreements require confidentiality as to the terms and negotiations leading to them. As part of her agreement with Pater, the woman agreed not to "initiate or precipitate any criminal prosecution" against Pater. That agreement also allowed the woman to see a letter from Pilarczyk to Pater "which contains the precepts (directives) he is required to abide by in the future . . . but no copies of said letter shall be made" for the woman.
Her lawyer, Konrad Kircher of Mason, on Tuesday said, "Her understanding, based on that letter and the settlement, was Pater was not going to be in a position where he could abuse children. That has not happened. As a diplomat, he has immunity. He was in a position where he could have committed terrible abuses."
In his work with the Vatican, Pater was assigned to India, Australia and Zaire, according to the lawsuit. Kircher said he is not aware of any allegations against Pater stemming from his overseas work.
• One judge to hear clergy sex-abuse cases WORCESTER (MA):
Telegram & Gazette,
www.telegram.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040324/NEWS/403240433/1007/NEWSLETTERS05 ,
Kathleen A. Shaw, T&G STAFF, kshaw@telegram.com , March 24 2004
The 20 pending civil lawsuits against the Catholic Diocese of Worcester involving clergy sexual abuse cases are being assigned to Judge Jeffrey A. Locke, a former commissioner of the state Department of Social Services.
Judge Locke has scheduled a meeting for 2 p.m. Tuesday in Worcester Superior Court with lawyers representing alleged victims in these cases and the lawyers for the diocese.
The assignment was made last month by Judge Suzanne V. DelVecchio, chief justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court. She ordered that all pending cases and any future cases that are filed involving the diocese be referred to Judge Locke.
James Gavin Reardon Jr., lawyer for the diocese, said he believes having one judge act on the cases will streamline the process. "The judges rotate every few months and one judge may hear one part of a case and another judge may hear another part of the case. Sometimes there are conflicting decisions," he said.
Mr. Reardon, who said he will be at Tuesday's hearing to hear what Judge Locke has to say, said one judge also will know the history of all the cases.
Lawyers representing alleged victims said yesterday they are pleased cases are being assigned to one judge. Lawyers representing the alleged victims met in January and decided to ask that one judge handle all the cases, the lawyers said.
Michael P. Ascher of Springfield, who is representing Springfield-area resident Jane Martin in her lawsuit against the diocese and the Rev. Robert E. Kelley, said all Boston archdiocese cases are before Judge Constance M. Sweeney and all the Springfield diocese cases are before Judge John A. Agostini.
Carmen L. Durso of Boston, who is representing alleged victims of the Rev. Raymond Messier and the Rev. Henry S. Banach, said he is pleased one judge will handle the cases but said he hopes the incoming bishop, Robert J. McManus, will act as Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley of Boston has in going for a quick settlement of all the cases. "He can clean it up now or have it all be sitting around here five years from now," he said.
Daniel J. Shea of Houston, who is representing alleged victims of the Rev. Jean-Paul Gagnon, the Rev. Robert E. Kelley and the Rev. Lee F. Bartlett, said he wants settlement but not at the expense of fair compensation for the alleged victims. He said he is pleased one judge will be acting on all the cases because decisions should be more consistent. With multiple judges hearing the motions to date, the lawyers sometimes hear conflicting opinions, he said.
• Archdiocese sued over priest CINCINNATI (OH)
The Cincinnati Enquirer,
www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/03/24/loc_priestabuse24.html ,
By Dan Horn, dhorn@enquirer.com , March 24 2004
Two women accused Catholic church leaders Tuesday of failing to protect children overseas from an abusive Vatican priest with ties to the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.
In a lawsuit filed in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court, the two unidentified women complained that the priest, Daniel Pater, traveled the world with little or no oversight while working for the Vatican in the 1980s and 1990s.
They claim church officials failed to keep Pater away from children despite promises they would and despite previous allegations of abuse against him.
"(Pater) has been in numerous third world countries, including but not limited to Australia, Zaire and India ... in situations where he could abuse children with impunity," the lawsuit states.
Church officials said they did not mislead anyone about Pater's past. They said they were aware of only one allegation against him, and it involved one of the two women who sued the archdiocese Tuesday.
In that case, the archdiocese settled out of court in 1995 and paid the woman an undisclosed amount.
A separate settlement between the woman and Pater included a promise that she would not "initiate" a criminal prosecution of the priest. The settlement with the church included no such language, although church officials did not notify authorities of the complaint. [...]
Pater returned from Rome two years ago and has been suspended from ministry.
• Oakland monastery won't move without help SAN JOSE (CA):
Contra Costa Times,
www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/8262985.htm ,
By Guy Ashley, Posted on Wed, Mar. 24, 2004
As the San Jose City Council prepared to vote Tuesday night on a resolution opposing the placement of sex offender Cary Verse in their city, an Oakland monastery that gave him refuge continued to fight to stay open.
The saga over St. Patrick's Abbey, the East Oakland monastery and halfway house that sheltered Verse for four days earlier this month, took on the dynamics of a landlord-tenant dispute as its pastor said he was prepared to defy landlord orders to vacate immediately.
"I have to look after the men who live here," said Father Donald Weeks.
Meanwhile, Oakland city officials said they are prepared to declare the abbey a "substandard public nuisance" and could begin assessing penalties of $1,000 per day as soon as today against the landlords.
• Few students taught good touch, bad touch The Detroit News,
www.detnews.com/2004/schools/0403/24/a01-101686.htm ,
By Kim Kozlowski, March 24 2004
STERLING HEIGHTS, MICHIGAN - Look both ways before crossing the street. Don’t play with matches. Never talk to strangers.
These were some of the safety lessons a group of Willow Woods second-graders recently reviewed before learning another lesson that often goes untaught: What to do if someone touches them in areas their bathing suit covers.
"Say no. Get away. Tell someone," said Rosemary Spatafora, a teacher who presented the program to about 50 public school students with a character known as Safety Bear. "Probably nothing like this will ever happen to you ... but we think this is so important to learn."
In Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Detroit and in many Michigan public schools, lessons about good and bad touch are not taught. Experts say the lessons could help children ward off sexual predators.
In the wake of the Catholic church’s sexual abuse crisis that led to the assault of at least 10,000 children in the past 50 years, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops required sex abuse prevention lessons in Catholic schools as part of an effort to create safe environment programs.
But Archdiocese of Detroit students receive no such education, and there is no concrete time frame yet in which to provide it because the diocese is first addressing some of the other requirements, such as training adults and background checks of employees.
• New bishop welcomed by Diocese of Camden CAMDEN (NJ)
Today's Sunbeam,
www.nj.com/news/sunbeam/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1080112802197615.xml ,
By LAURA TULL, Wednesday, March 24, 2004
Church officials welcomed "with great hope and anticipation" Most Reverend Joseph A. Galante, who was appointed the seventh Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese in Camden Tuesday.
The Vatican made the announcement of the bishop's appointment by Pope John Paul II just after 6 a.m. EST Tuesday. The official date of the bishop's installation has not yet been announced.
Galante, 65, a Philadelphia native, has served as coadjutor, or assisting bishop, of the Diocese of Dallas since 2000. He had been in line to succeed Dallas Bishop Charles V. Grahmann.
"This is truly a return home for me. I was born, raised and educated in the Delaware Valley -- albeit on the other side of the river," said Galante. "For me, South Jersey is truly home."
He succeeds Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, who was installed as Bishop of the Diocese of Brooklyn on October 3, 2003. Monsignor Thomas J. Morgan, pastor of St. Thomas More, in Cherry Hill, served as Apostolic Administrator during the interim.
"It is a historic day," said Morgan, who called the bishop "heroic" in his promotion of pro-life issues and issues related to African-American Catholics.
Galante serves on the sexual abuse and communications committees of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. As the sexual abuse crisis erupted within the Catholic Church two years ago, Galante became one of the most public spokesmen on the issue.
• Sexual abuse prevention classes lacking in Michigan's Catholic, public schools Detroit Free Press,
www.freep.com/news/statewire/sw95009_20040324.htm ,
March 24, 2004
STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. (AP) -- Rosemary Spatafora hopes this is one lesson her students will take to heart, but never have to apply.
After teaching a group of about 50 Willow Woods second-graders in Sterling Heights not to play with matches, Spatafora turned her attention to the subject of abuse -- specifically, what to do if someone touches them inappropriately.
"Say no. Get away. Tell someone," Spatafora was quoted as saying by The Detroit News in a Wednesday story. "Probably nothing like this will ever happen to you...but we think this is so important to learn."
In the wake of the Catholic church's sexual abuse crisis, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops required sexual abuse prevention lessons in Catholic schools to help foster a safer environment.
But experts say such programs have not been implemented at Detroit area Catholic schools under the purview of the Archdiocese of Detroit. Additionally, the message is not passed on in many of the state's public schools, even though it's one that can help children ward off sexual predators.
• Rome Blinks, Bishop Grahmann wins over Rudy Kos disgrace DALLAS (TX)
The Dallas Morning News,
"Rome Blinks"
www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/editorials/stories/032404dnedigalante.950a7.html ,
Wednesday, March 24, 2004
The Vatican has now settled the long-simmering conflict between Charles Grahmann, the Roman Catholic bishop of Dallas, and coadjutor Bishop Joseph Galante. Bishop Grahmann has won.
That's the meaning of Bishop Galante's transfer to Camden, N.J. At the start of 2000, Rome sent Bishop Galante to help administer the Dallas diocese in the wake of the catastrophic Rudy Kos trial, which revealed a scandalous leadership deficit in the Dallas diocese.
The Vatican's dispatch of a coadjutor bishop was a signal to the sitting bishop to wrap up his affairs. Whatever the pope's will for Dallas, Bishop Grahmann had other plans. He immediately said he had no intention of retiring until forced to by church law.
That icy welcome was a sign of things to come. The behind-the-scenes clash between the two became public in late 2002, when Bishop Galante openly criticized Bishop Grahmann for refusing to remove a priest accused of sexual misconduct. Months later, Bishop Galante took the extraordinary step of speaking to The Dallas Morning News about his frustration. Because Catholic bishops rarely break ranks like this, Bishop Galante's candor was interpreted as a sign of near-desperation.
Though not without his critics - who say his geniality belies intense ambition, and that he hasn't been as tough on priests guilty of sex-related misconduct as he ought to have been - Bishop Galante had real accomplishments locally. He became a gentler public face for the Catholic Church, and was seen by some alienated priests and laity as a more understanding leader than Bishop Grahmann. Meanwhile, he became familiar to national television audiences as a top spokesman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops during the church's scandal year of 2002. He served in that capacity with a thoughtfulness and openness not typical of his colleagues.
• Church seeks dismissal of sex-abuse suit Casper Star Tribune,
www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2004/03/24/news/wyoming/e1143b0e47e1759087256e6000572043.txt ,
By The Associated Press Wednesday, March 24, 2004
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Lawyers for the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph are seeking the dismissal of a sexual-abuse lawsuit against the diocese, a retired Wyoming bishop, a retired priest and a former priest.
Among those named in the lawsuit is Joseph Hart, who was a priest in Kansas City before he became a bishop in Wyoming, a job from which he is now retired. The other defendants are Thomas J. O'Brien, a retired priest who served for a time as principal of St. Pius X High School and later became diocesan superintendent of schools, and Thomas M. Reardon, who served five area parishes and was administrator of a youth camp before leaving the priesthood in 1989.
Nine men, six of them anonymous, are plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which alleges a series of abuses at a lake home north of Kansas City or in church facilities, often after liquor was given to the minors. The suit alleges that most of the abuse took place from the 1960s through the 1980s.
Diocesan lawyers filed for dismissal in Jackson County Circuit Court on Monday, saying charges in the 210-page lawsuit are vague and do not specify dates of the abuse.
• Dallas bishop, a longtime Birds' fan, is back; Joseph Galante Philadelphia Daily News,
"Dallas bishop, a longtime Birds' fan, is back; Joseph Galante named to head Camden diocese;"
www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/local/8261872.htm?1c ,
By RON GOLDWYN,
goldwyr@phillynews.com , Posted on Wed, Mar. 24, 2004
CAMDEN (NJ): Bishop Joseph Galante is coming home - to da Iggles and da shore.
It's all part of becoming the new bishop of Camden.
Galante, 65, a Philadelphia native who earned a reputation for candor and exuberance as bishop coadjutor of Dallas, was appointed yesterday by Pope John Paul II to head the 445,000-member Diocese of Camden.
Galante has been out front on the Catholic Church's sexual-abuse crisis, even criticizing the Dallas bishop he was once expected to succeed when the bishop refused to remove a prominent priest who allegedly had groped an adult male parishioner.
Galante arrived in Camden for a news conference and a round of meetings yesterday with his characteristic broad smile and humor.
Drawing laughs with a homeboy pronunciation, Galante told reporters he began attending "Iggles" games with his dad in 1944 and stayed loyal even while stationed in Dallas.
• Diocese gets new bishop Bridgeton News,
www.nj.com/news/bridgeton/local/index.ssf?/base/news-7/1080123683237890.xml ,
Wednesday, March 24, 2004
CAMDEN (NJ) (AP) -- The Most Rev. Joseph Galante, coadjutor bishop of Dallas and a former Vatican official, was appointed by the pope Tuesday as bishop of the Camden Diocese.
The post has been vacant since September, when Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio left last year to become bishop of Brooklyn.
Galante, 65, a native of Philadelphia, served as Dallas coadjutor, or designated successor, for four years. Usually someone in that role is made bishop within a year. But in Dallas, Bishop Charles Grahmann refused to retire.
More than a year ago, Galante publicly disagreed with Grahmann after Grahmann refused to remove a priest who allegedly groped and propositioned a parishioner in 1991. Such an open rift is a rarity in the church hierarchy, suggesting Galante's dissatisfaction with his position in Dallas. Galante had suggested last summer that he might transferred to another diocese.
Church observers believed Galante was a candidate for several bishop positions that have opened over the past few years.
• Catholics speak out on abuse FORT WORTH (TX)
Star-Telegram,
www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/local/8263671.htm ,
By Darren Barbee, Posted on Wed, Mar. 24, 2004
In tears and with raised voices, local Roman Catholics met Tuesday night at a forum in Fort Worth to try to make sense of a national sex-abuse scandal that they said has wounded them and their church.
Panelists meant to discuss a report released last month by U.S. bishops detailing the scope and the cost of the abuse, but they often listened as audience members expressed revulsion, bafflement and anger at church leaders.
"I've avoided it, I've avoided talking about it, I've avoided listening to people talking about it," said Christina Wildermann, 53, of Arlington, one of about three dozen Tarrant and Dallas county Catholics who attended the forum at the Catholic Renewal Center in Fort Worth.
"I still can't believe it," she said.
The forum, titled Our Agony in the Garden and sponsored by the Fort Worth chapter of the Voice of the Faithful, brought together a panel that included two priests, an abuse survivor and a woman whose son was molested by convicted Dallas priest Rudolph "Rudy" Kos. Voice of the Faithful is a national organization whose goal is to support victims and priests who have done nothing wrong.
• Wheaton church gets its priest back WHEATON (IL)
Chicago Tribune,
www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/west/chi-0403240251mar24,1,7875688.story?coll=chi-newslocalwest-hed ,
By Angela Rozas, Published March 24, 2004
A Wheaton church has its pastor back after an Aurora man dropped a sexual abuse lawsuit against the priest, acknowledging the clergyman did not abuse him 25 years ago.
Rev. Thomas White of St. Daniel the Prophet Catholic Church was reinstated Monday after James Tibor, 35, of Aurora withdrew the suit from Will County Court.
"After further recollection, I started to have my doubts about what happened and I agreed to dismiss the case," Tibor said Tuesday.
In a lawsuit filed in October, Tibor had accused White of abusing him in 1979 and 1980 when he was a parishioner at St. Luke's Parish in Carol Stream, and accused Joliet diocese Bishop Joseph Imesch of covering up the incident.
But in a statement filed in Will County Court on Monday, Tibor said his only contact with White was as a part of the general congregation when he and his family occasionally attended services. Tibor said he was never alone with White and was never abused by him, according to the statement.
"Tibor herein recants any allegation of sexual or physical contact with Rev. White or any wrongdoing of any kind by Rev. White toward him," the statement reads.
In the past, Tibor had alleged that he had "repressed" memories of the abuses, but he said in the statement that conferences with therapists and psychologists in recent years turned up no evidence of such memories.
"Father White is a very popular pastor here, and [Tibor's] accusation was never believed by people who knew him," said John Cullen, spokesman for the Joliet diocese.
• Former St. John priest center of sex abuse investigation WATERFORD (OH):
The Marietta Times,
www.mariettatimes.com/news/story/0324202004_new02fiorm.asp
By Justin McIntosh, jmcintosh@mariettatimes.com , Wednesday, March 24, 2004
A former priest at St. John's Catholic Church in Churchtown, who still lives at a Waterford monastery, is the subject of an ongoing sex abuse investigation in Wyoming and last year was disciplined by the Steubenville diocese.
Anthony Jablonowski left St. John's Church in 2002 to devote more time to the Carmelite Missionaries of Mary Immaculate, a religious community he established in Waterford.
Since then, accusations of sex abuse stemming from Jablonowski's time as a priest in Wyoming surfaced, and the Steubenville diocese has ordered Jablonowski to no longer affiliate himself with the group or serve as a priest in any way.
Jablonowski is accused of inappropriate sex acts during the 1980s. He was disciplined by the diocese last year but has not been criminally charged. A prosecutor in the case said this week the investigation continues, however.
The discipline orders from Steubenville Diocese Bishop R. Daniel Conlon directed Jablonowski to no longer engage in public ministry or to identify himself as a priest.
But Jablonowski answered the telephone at the monastery Tuesday, raising the question of whether he is complying with the diocese's order. He denies any wrongdoing.
• Accused priest resigns from post as St. Mary's pastor [1970s]
BILLERICA (MA):
Billerica Minuteman,
www.townonline.com/billerica/news/local_regional/bil_newbinyhan03222004.htm ,
By Margaret Smith, Monday, March 22, 2004
Tom and Dottie Burlamachi remember Rev. James Nyhan as the priest whose first duties as pastor at St. Mary's included funeral services for their daughter, Ellen Lutz, killed in an automobile accident in 1999.
"He comforted me a lot. I'm not over it yet," said Dottie, a homemaker. "I could talk to him [Nyhan] all the time. I miss him terrible."
For the Burlamachis, both 67 and members of St. Mary's for 40 years, the news of Nyhans' resignation last week came as an additional blow.
"My wife and myself were both very disappointed. We had liked Father Nyhan. We had thought he would return," said Tom, a retired truck driver, who said one daughter had hoped Nyhan would preside over her wedding.
Parishioners learned of Nyhan's resignation at the church's noon Mass on Sunday.
Nyhan's resignation comes almost two years after the Archdiocese of Boston suspended him while investigating an accusation of child molestation stemming from his tenure at another parish in the 1970s.
• Wheaton Priest Cleared Of Sex Abuse [1970s]
WHEATON (IL):
WBBM, www.wbbm780.com/asp/ViewMoreDetails.asp?ID=36126 ,
4:38 p.m., Tuesday, March 23, 2004
A Wheaton priest is back serving his congregation now that he's been cleared of an allegation of sexual abuse.
34-year-old James Tibor of Naperville had accused Father Thomas White of molesting him 25 years ago at a parish in Carol Stream.
Now, in Will County court, Tibor's admitted he's not sure of his recollections.
Father White was immediately re-instated as pastor of St. Daniel the Prophet Church in Wheaton.
He says his case should serve as a lesson that not every accusation is necessarily true. Father White says he's relieved this is behind him and has found it in his heart to forgive the man who accused him.
Father White says he's not worried this will always be a cloud over him. He says those who know him never believed the allegation in the first place.
• SoCal pastor arrested for investigation of alleged child abuse [CURRENT]
Contra Costa Times,
www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/8260506.htm ,
Associated Press, Posted on Tue, Mar. 23, 2004
SANTA ANA, Calif. - The self-proclaimed pastor of a garage-based church was arrested Tuesday for investigation of molesting two young boys, police said.
Oscar Mendez, 37, pastor of the Church of the Golden Candlestick, was arrested Sunday after officers responded to a phone call from a relative of one of the two boys. Mendez was being held on $100,000 bail, police said.
The boys, ages 9 and 10, accused Mendez of possessing child pornography and of molesting them.
Police spokesman Sgt. Carlos Rojas said investigators had evidence that corroborated the boy's accusations about sexual abuse.
"The investigation is ongoing," Rojas said. "There may be other victims."
• Charges filed against Bussmann MINNESOTA:
Star News,
www.erstarnews.com/2004/March/23busseman.html ,
by Susan M.A. Larson, Posted March/23/04
One year after leaving the priesthood, John J. Bussmann, former pastor of Mary Queen of Peace congregations in Rogers and Fletcher, has been charged with sexual abuse.
Bussmann, 50, was charged with third-, fourth- and fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct (all felonies) and a misdemeanor count of indecent exposure. He was also charged with felony theft for allegedly taking money from one of his victims. He is being held in the Hennepin County Jail.
Bussmann served at St. Martin Parish, Rogers, and St. Walburga Parish, Fletcher, from June 15, 2001, to March 2003, when he was asked by the archdiocese to resign.
Hennepin County Attorney Amy Klobuchar is asking other possible victims to come forward and call the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Department, 612-348-3744.
According to the complaint filed in Hennepin County District Court:
•One woman, a church employee, stated that around November 2000, she was working in the church when Bussmann allegedly exposed himself. He exposed himself to her approximately six times over a period of several weeks, according to the complaint. In April 2001, the same woman, according to the complaint, said Bussmann groped her when she went to his office to thank him for a gift.
• Alaska Native panel addresses sex abuse issues ALASKA:
News-Miner,
www.news-miner.com/Stories/0,1413,113~7244~2036015,00.html ,
By DIANA CAMPBELL, Tuesday, March 23, 2004
A group of concerned Alaska Natives formed a committee to address recent allegations about child sexual abuse by Catholic priests and a legal deposition from a Jesuit supervisor that characterized Native culture as sexually "loose."
The group supports victims of child abuse and wants to rectify false assumptions about Athabascan culture.
"Right now we want to be a catalyst for people to come forward and express their hurt," said Miranda Wright, one of the committee's co-chairs.
The committee issued a statement Friday at the Doyon Ltd. annual meeting in Fairbanks. About 14 people are members so far, Wright said.
Eight Alaska Native men have filed separate lawsuits against the Fairbanks Catholic Diocese for abuse they claim occurred when they were boys. They said the late Rev. Jules Convert fondled them when they slept, or in one case, while watching a movie.
In another lawsuit against the Fairbanks Diocese, a young Native woman claimed to have been molested by Father Jim Poole, the founder of KNOM, an award-winning Catholic radio station in Nome. The woman said that Poole began sexually abusing her when she was 10 years old and continued until she was 16.
"We support them in their statements and recognize that, in so doing, they have given us all an opportunity to pause and consider the past, present and our future, and to question all aspects of society--religion, education, jurisprudence and politics, as well as imposition of healing through Western models," the committee statement read.
• Spokesman in Abuse Scandal Is Named Bishop of Camden [$US 5.7 million ]
CAMDEN (NJ)
The New York Times,
www.nytimes.com/2004/03/24/nyregion/24camden.html?ex=1080709200&en=dc3d4e11696b0f4a&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE ,
By MATTHEW C. McCUE, Published: March 24, 2004
Bishop Joseph A. Galante, who served as the national spokesman in the Roman Catholic Church's effort to deal with sexual abuse by priests, was appointed yesterday as bishop of the Camden Diocese, which has its own history of costly settlements for sexual abuse. A native of Philadelphia, Bishop Galante, 65, was appointed by the pope after serving as coadjutor bishop of Dallas since 2000.
Bishop Galante was the national spokesman for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops that set guidelines in 2002 for dealing with claims of sexual abuse by priests. The guidelines included a "one-strike" rule that removed clergymen who committed sexual abuse.
In Camden, Bishop Galante will lead a diocese of 450,000 that was significantly affected by the priest abuse scandal. The diocese paid $5.7 million in legal settlements for sexual abuse cases mostly occurring from the 1960's through the 80's.
"I'm sure his background played a role in the decision," said Barbara Polesir, director of the South Jersey chapter of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests.
Ms. Polesir said that while individuals in her group were wary of the appointment, they decided as a group that they would take a diplomatic approach, welcoming the bishop. She specifically cited as troubling Bishop Galante's statement to a newspaper in 2002 that a Dallas church, and not the diocese, was at fault in a case in which two men pleaded guilty to sexually abusing young girls.
• Sin: A Cardinal Deposed Is a Hit Docu-Drama in Chicago, Poised for a Wide Regional Life CHICAGO (IL):
Playbill,
www.playbill.com/news/article/85134.html ,
By Kenneth Jones, 24 Mar 2004
Bailiwick Repertory's production of Michael Murphy's Sin: A Cardinal Deposed, a staging of public record information about Cardinal Bernard Law's hand in the Catholic church sex-abuse scandal, has been extended to May 12 in Chicago.
Rave reviews and an article in the New York Times have prompted overflow business, and a wide life in regional theatres - to say nothing of conferences, abuse-survivor meetings, and elsewhere - is expected. The production has been invited to play in Boston, Cardinal Law's turf, May 15-22.
Director and Bailiwick founder David Zak said there is talk of keeping a sitdown run in Chicago during the summer even as the script is being sent to theatres and directors around the country. As is the case with many world premieres at tiny Bailiwick, Zak won't necessarily be attached to future stagings once the property becomes licensed.
The Jeff Recommended production continues on with its original cast, with designs by Jared Moore (lights), Christopher Behrens (costumes), and Tom Burch (set).
Performances play Wednesdays at 8 PM, Saturdays at 6 PM and Sundays at 2 PM. There will be no performance on Easter Sunday April 11.
• Abuse victim compiles report on accused priests MINNESOTA:
Star Tribune,
www.startribune.com/stories/587/4681775.html , March 24, 2004
A woman who was sexually abused by two priests in the Twin Cities Tuesday released a report listing the names of all Minnesota priests charged with sexual abuse in the last 30 years, along with the parishes they served and their criminal history.
Belinda Martinez, a founder of the Twin Cities chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), said that the work took her seven months to complete and is based on newspaper accounts. Unlike reports already issued by Catholic bishops, she said, this one includes names and places that can be easily checked by victims "to help them heal."
Dennis McGrath, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, said that the report contains names of some priests who are dead and against whom false accusations were made. People who want information on charges against a particular priest may contact their diocesan office or, in the Twin Cities, the archdiocese's independent victims' consultant, he said.
Martinez said the report should be available soon online at www.survivorsnetworkmn.org .
Posted by Kathy Shaw at 12:03 AM
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker
www.ncrnews.org/abuse ,
Wednesday, March 24, 2004
Religions' sex abuse Chronology, visit: http:www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont74.htm
##### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker,
www.ncrnews.org/abuse,
Thursday, March 25, 2004 edition follows:- • Ex-priest sentenced for soliciting sex [2001]
Boston.com ; www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2004/03/25/ex_priest_sentenced_for_soliciting_sex ,
March/25/2004
NASHUA, N.H. -- A former priest has been sentenced to three months in jail for soliciting sex with a police officer who was posing online as a 15-year-old boy.
Frederick Guthrie, 67, of Newbury, Mass., who had pleaded guilty to misuse of computer services, still faces child pornography possession charges in Massachusetts as a result of the investigation.
Guthrie had served as a priest for 40 years before he resigned and went on leave as pastor of St. Ann Parish in Gloucester, Mass., on July 1, 2001.
Testifying before he was sentenced, Guthrie denied that he meant to seduce the "boy," saying he planned only to counsel him on his sexuality.
But after reading transcripts of the chat sessions between Guthrie and the detective, Hillsborough County Superior Court Judge William Groff said Wednesday he didn't believe Guthrie.
"That's not what those e-mails show me," Groff said.
Guthrie had been drinking and chatting online with Nashua Police Detective John Fisher and the two agreed to meet on Nov. 2, 2001, but Guthrie thought better of it after he sobered up, and didn't show, said his lawyer, Paul Twomey.
Posted by Kathy Shaw at 03:08 PM
• Late audit could land diocese, state in court CONCORD (NH):
Concord Monitor,
http://bgm3.globe.com/tgmail/kshaw.nsf/38d46bf5e8f08834852564b500129b2c/ee243e0affea19d385256e620060fe87?OpenDocument ,
By ANNMARIE TIMMINS, March 25. 2004
A Concord lawyer is considering intervening with legal action if the state attorney general's office does not soon begin its overdue review of the Catholic Church. An annual audit, which the church agreed to in order to avoid criminal prosecution, was to begin in January.
"If pressure is what is needed, we are willing to do whatever is necessary to see to it that an audit occurs," said attorney David Braiterman, who represents about 50 individuals and a Catholic lay group as well as doctors and child advocacy organizations.
Braiterman has requested meetings with the Diocese of Manchester and the attorney general's office to ask what has stalled the review. (Officials from both sides have said little since January except that they are discussing the scope of the review and who will pay its estimated $200,000 cost.) Braiterman said his hope is to help the conversation along with something short of legal action, although he couldn't predict what that would be.
"Nothing has been ruled out, but no decision has been made to initiate legal action," he said yesterday.
Braiterman said a diocesan lawyer has assured him that the diocese will respond. Diane Murphy Quinlan, spokeswoman for the diocese, declined comment yesterday, saying she does not discuss Bishop John McCormack's personal correspondence.
• SNAP wants Webster to fire adjunct [1980s]
MISSOURI:
The Webster Journal,
http://websterjournal.collegepublisher.com/news/2004/03/24/News/Snap-Wants.Webster.To.Fire.Adjunct-639666.shtml ,
By Leslie Cantu, Published: Wednesday, March 24, 2004
The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) is demanding that Webster University fire an adjunct instructor in the religious studies department whose psychology license was suspended in the 1980s due to allegations of sexual relationships with female clients.
Mordecai Magencey, who teaches "Psychology of Religion" and "Christianity: From Jewish Sect to World Religion," signed an agreement with the State Committee of Psychologists in 1987 stipulating that his license would be suspended for three years, at which time he could appeal for reinstatement.
In the agreement, Magencey did not admit any guilt. It was not clear at press time if he ever appealed to have his license reinstated.
"I can say that teaching at Webster and Washington universities is NOT a violation of any agreement with a state board," Magencey wrote in a statement to The Journal.
SNAP alleges that by teaching, Magencey is in violation of the agreement. The agreement states that Magencey "shall not engage in any counseling, guidance, psychotherapy or act which falls within the definition of the term psychology...whether a license is required for such acts or not."
David Wilson, the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, said he first found out about the allegations of sexual misconduct and the suspended license a few weeks ago, though he would not say who brought the matter to his attention.
• Survey shows more consultation with laity among bishops Catholic News Service,
www.Catholicnews.com/data/briefs/cns/20040324.htm#head2 , Mar 24 2004
WASHINGTON (DC) (CNS) -- U.S. Catholic bishops are making greater use of consultative bodies that include laity and are more supportive of diocesan pastoral councils and parish councils than they were six years ago, according to a new survey of bishops. The bishops' Committee on the Laity released its "Report on Diocesan and Parish Pastoral Councils" March 23 in Washington, based on a survey conducted in December among the 195 heads of U.S. dioceses or eparchies. The response rate was 57 percent, with 107 responses from Latin-rite dioceses and five from Eastern-rite eparchies.
Results showed that 60 percent of dioceses or eparchies have a diocesan pastoral council, up from the 44 percent reported in a 1997 study conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate and co-sponsored by the laity committee and the bishops' Committee on Pastoral Practices. Several other dioceses said they were "actively considering" setting up a diocesan council, according to an executive summary of the report.
Other respondents "reported that prior attempts at such bodies had proven ineffective, were difficult to conduct given large or rural geographic areas nonconducive to travel, or had temporarily lapsed because of a change in episcopal leadership," the summary said.
• Priest, seminarian arrested in murder of cleric BRAZIL:
Spirit Daily,
http://spiritdaily.com/seminarianarrested.htm , Mar. 24 2004
Rio de Janeiro (CWNews.com) - A Brazil priest and a seminarian were arrested in the city Goiania on Tuesday and charged with poisoning another priest who threatened to reveal their homosexual relationship and financial misdeeds. Father Moacir Bernardino da Silva, 60, and seminarian Dairan Pinto de Freitas, 23, were charged with murdering Father Adriano Moreira Curado, who was 28 when he was killed in 2002.
Police said that had evidence that Father Curado threatened to expose the relationship between da Silva and de Freitas and da Silva's mismanagement of the parish at which they were stationed together and that the two men planned to kill Curado. A police official said the police found pornographic magazines and videos where da Silva appeared in the company of young men, including de Freitas, on a beach. Police said they also had taped telephone conversations showing the church phone had been used to set up dates between the priest and homosexual men.
• Drexel Hill man charges he was molested by two priests PENNSYLVANIA:
The Daily Times,
www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1675&dept_id=18171&newsid=11174681&PAG=461&rfi=9 ,
By KRISTIN SMITH , Ksmith@delcotimes.com , March/25/2004
A Drexel Hill man also filed a lawsuit Wednesday alleging the Archdiocese of Philadelphia covered up his repeated sexual assault by two priests when he was a student at Roman Catholic High School in Philadelphia.
The man, who is known only by the initials C.T.G., filed the civil suit against the archdiocese and the former Archbishop of Philadelphia, Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua.
The Rev. John P. Schmeer, one of the priests named in the suit, is the pastor of St. Martin of Tours Church and Elementary School in New Hope, Bucks County.
Officials at St. Martin said Schmeer was not at the parish Wednesday and declined comment, referring questions to the archdiocese.
• Priest, former nun targets of sex-abuse suits [1970s]
PHILADELPHIA (PA):
Philadelphia Daily News,
www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/local/8273350.htm?ERIGHTS=-6386357941204261541philly::kashaw@peoplepc.com&KRD_RM=1impqpknppohhhhhhhhhholjmp|Kathleen|Y ,
By RON GOLDWYN, goldwyr@phillynews.com , Posted on Thu, Mar. 25, 2004
Sensational sexual-abuse allegations from decades ago against a former nun and a still-active priest are contained in six lawsuits filed against the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in city courts yesterday.
Two suits citing Eileen Rhoads, of Drexel Hill, who taught for two decades at Holy Cross School in Springfield, Delaware County, are believed to be the first such cases filed locally against a former nun.
John J. Neila, 38, of West Chester, and Christopher D. Nolan, 39, of Springfield, allege that as sixth-graders at Holy Cross School in the 1970s, Rhoads had them sit beneath her desk, in view of classmates, and required them "to digitally penetrate her vagina and masturbate her."
Rhoads, 64, was charged last month in Virginia Beach, Va., with molesting a 10-year-old boy in 1969 and 1970 when, as a nun, she taught at a parish school.
Rhoads, whose attorney did not return a phone call yesterday, left her religious order in 1972 and returned to the Philadelphia area. The archdiocese said she was a teacher at Holy Cross until 1994.
• Women risk excommunication for Dublin service IRELAND:
Irish Examiner,
www.twelvehorses.com/en_US/newsfeed/story.jhtml?s=54911615&r=362&i=566492961&d=38143681 ,
By Mary Dundon
OVER 30 Catholics will risk excommunication tonight by attending the first Eucharistic service performed by two women in Dublin.
The ceremonial breaking of the bread, known as an agate [? agape] celebration, will be held to mark the International Day for the Ordination of Women to the Roman Catholic Church.
The ceremony dates back to the early Church when Christians gathered for a meal with the Eucharist.
As Soline Vatinel and Joan Tracey gather tonight to preside over a Eucharistic celebration in All Hallows College, they know they risk the Church's wrath.
The Vatican has banned women priests. Cardinal Ratzinger decreed anyone who thinks it is possible to ordain women priests and will be excommunicated.
"I am no longer afraid of being excommunicated and I will continue to celebrate the Eucharist because I want to live my vocation to the priesthood," Soline Vatinel said.
The 30 other members of BASIC Brothers and Sisters in Christ the group campaigning for women priests here, also risk excommunication by attending the service.
They have lobbied on March 25 every year for the past 10 years for the ordination of women.
Both Ms Vatinel and Ms Tracey insist there is nothing in the scripture to stop women being ordained priests. "There are pictures in the catacombs in Rome of women presiding over the Eucharist in the early church it is only the human prejudice of the Catholic Church that has now decreed that only celibate men can be priests," Ms Vatinel said.
The mother-of-two believes Irish Catholics are afraid to voice their support for women priests and many women who work as chaplains in hospitals and prisons are afraid of publicly supporting them because they will lose their posts.
BASIC spokeswoman Catherine Gibson said they are prepared to put their heads over the parapet and risk excommunication.
"It is time for the Church leadership to wake up and get in touch with public opinion we handed in 20,000 signatures to former Cardinal Cathal Daly supporting women priests," Ms Gibson said.
• Renewed passion for faith UNITED STATES:
USA Today,
www.usatoday.com/life/lifestyle/2004-03-24-passion-church_x.htm ,
By Janet Kornblum, USA TODAY, Posted March/24/2004 9:25 PM, Updated March/25/2004 1:58 AM
Michele Mohan was raised Catholic and has always considered herself religious. But in the past few years she stopped going to church.
At first it was personal. She started drifting away after her mother died and painful family disputes ensued. "I couldn't figure out why God would let this happen to me," says Mohan, 41, a homemaker and mother of two teenage sons in Canton, Mich.
Then came the church's child sexual abuse scandal. "That was the turning point, where I said, 'I'm right in not going - I'm done.' "
But seeing Mel Gibson's film The Passion of the Christ changed all that.
Mohan says the movie, which focuses on the last 12 hours of Jesus' life, gave her a sense of forgiveness and patience that she didn't have before. It gave her a view of the bigger picture - and a reason to start attending church again.
In just four weeks, The Passion has become a box office sensation, making $295.5 million and becoming the top-grossing R-rated film of all time. It's the 18th-highest-grossing film ever.
• Jehovah's Witnesses abuse case argued [1988 Kelley] - Jehovah's Witnesses.
AMARILLO (TX):
The Amarillo Globe-News,
"Abuse case argued",
www.amarillonet.com/stories/032504/new_abusecase.shtml ,
By JIM McBRIDE, jim.mcbride@amarillo.com , Web-posted Thursday, March 25, 2004
An Amarillo judge heard legal arguments Wednesday in a civil lawsuit over whether Jehovah's Witnesses organizations can be held responsible for sexual abuse a church member allegedly committed against a young girl.
An Amarillo woman, Amy B., filed a lawsuit last year against Larry Kelley and several Jehovah's Witnesses organizations, claiming Kelley sexually abused her and church officials took no action to halt the abuse.
According to the suit:
Kelley used his position as Dumas church elder to sexually abuse children.
While Kelley was a Dumas elder, church officials learned he was sexually abusing children of the congregation, but they did not report the abuse to authorities or warn church members.
In 1988, Kelley transferred to the Amarillo congregation and sexually abused the plaintiff, who was 8 years old at the time. In 1992, Kelley was convicted of indecency with a child/sexual contact.
• Banned NJ Catholic Lay Group Finds Home 1010 Wins,
http://1010wins.com/topstories/winstopstories_story_085073949.html ,
Mar 25, 2004 7:08 am US/Eastern
JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY (1010 WINS) -- A New Jersey college operated by Jesuit priests will allow a banned lay reform group to meet in one of its building next month.
Voice of the Faithful [VOTF] -- formed in the wake of the clergy sexual abuse scandal -- recently got permission to meet at Saint Peter's College in Jersey City. The approval came even though its been banned by the Newark Roman Catholic Archdiocese, which won't allow the group on church property.
The school is in the archdiocese's boundaries but operates independently. And a college staffer who helped the group secure the meeting site says its message deserves to be heard.
• Suits say archdiocese enabled abuse PHILADELPHIA (PA):
Philadelphia Inquirer,
ww
