The report was drawn up by the Birmingham-based Catholic Office for the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults (COPCA).
The figures relate to the whole of England and Wales. The office will not publicly release diocese-by-diocese figures.
The body was set up three years ago by The Most Reverend Vincent Nichols, the Archbishop of Birmingham, after a series of child-sex scandals engulfed the archdiocese. He vowed that there would be a hard-hitting crusade against paedophiles within the Catholic church.
But despite the whirlwind nature of COPCA's probe, one Midland victim of the Father Hudson's Home scandal in the 1950s and 1960s said he believes many other victims of abuse have not yet come forward.
The plight of orphans at Father Hudson's came to light when Father Eric Taylor was jailed in 1998 for seven years after a catalogue of abuse at the home in Coleshill, north Warwickshire.
Boys who confided in nuns about the sex abuse were told: "Pray to God." Taylor died in prison in 2001, aged 82.
The abuse victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said: "These complaints are undoubtedly the tip of a much larger iceberg.
"COPCA's board contains no former victims of abuse at all, unlike its equivalent organisation in America. Until that happens I, and many other victims, will have no confidence in it whatsoever." #
• Mission to defrock sex abuser [Rapson, Fox, Klep, Murphy, Ayers, Aulsebrook, Sweeney]
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The Age, www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/07/18/1090089040217.html?oneclick=true , By Martin Daly, page 1 (cont. p 4), July 19, 2004
AUSTRALIA : The Pope has defrocked a Salesian priest described as "an offender of the worst kind" following an extraordinary mission to Rome by the Melbourne head of the order, Father Ian Murdoch. The Salesians' former Australian head Fox, plus Fathers Klep and Ayers were moved overseas, ahead of sex abuse action; there are 25-27 substantial cases, but present leader Father Murdoch claims there is no "ring of pedophiles". [Read newsitem below]
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AUSTRALIA: The Pope has defrocked a Salesian priest described as "an offender of the worst kind" following an extraordinary mission to Rome by the Melbourne head of the order, Father Ian Murdoch. In his first interview since allegations against the Salesians surfaced worldwide, Father Murdoch revealed that he made two trips to Rome to persuade the Vatican to expel David Rapson, who had been sentenced to two years' jail in 1992 for sex abuse of a 15-year-old student at the Salesian school Rupertswood, near Sunbury. Father Murdoch also revealed that he had prevented a former head of the order, Father Julian Fox, from returning from Rome to Australia unless he agreed to face his accusers in a case of alleged sexual assault. The Salesians also paid $35,600 compensation following sex abuse allegations against Father Fox. Father Murdoch sent the papers to Rapson at his last known address in Sydney for his signature, which is necessary to complete his expulsion. But he has not signed them and, Father Murdoch says, probably never will. "He has disappeared. He is no longer a Salesian and no longer a priest." After his sentencing, Rapson made veiled threats from Pentridge to the then head of the order, Julian Fox, that he had stories to tell that could implicate others in the order. Father Murdoch flew to Fiji to interview Father Fox after allegations against him by two Victorians. "Each time he made complete denials and maintained his innocence," Father Murdoch said. The father of one alleged victim wanted to pursue the case, but the victim did not. In the other case, the alleged victim was disbelieved when he lodged a complaint, with tragic consequences for him and his family, according to Father Murdoch. The victim became addicted to drugs and spent time in jail. Father Murdoch insisted that Father Fox undergo a comprehensive, five-day psychological test. He said the assessment was not definitive. "But it asked a lot of serious questions and, on that basis, he would need to present for an intensive program to address these questions in more depth and for treatment." Father Fox was allowed to undergo this program in Rome, but once there he took a second assessment instead of the intensive program. "The second cast doubt on the allegations," Father Murdoch said. "On one of my trips to Rome I put it to him that if he wanted to return to Australia, he would have to inform the Archbishop of Fiji (where he worked) that there were two allegations against him and he had to be prepared to face his accusers. He declined." Father Murdoch will not allow Father Fox to return to Australia as a priest unless he complies. Father Murdoch insisted that if Father Fox was to remain in Rome, he could work only in administration and have nothing to do with minors. The Salesian order became engulfed in a sex abuse scandal after it was revealed recently that it had sent priest Frank Klep to Samoa in 1998, despite him being investigated by Victorian police for sex crimes. This was two years before Father Murdoch became head of the order. Klep was given the job in Samoa on condition that he had nothing to do with children. But a Melbourne woman spotted him with children and informed Father Murdoch, who immediately contacted Klep. Klep returned to Melbourne ahead of a deportation order by Samoan authorities and is now facing further abuse charges from his time at Rupertswood. The Samoans are also investigating whether to deport the head of the order in Samoa, Father John M. Murphy, who signed Klep's visa application that he was of good character and had no criminal convictions. Father Murphy says he did so in good faith and without reading all of the document. The Samoan Government is also considering deporting Father Jack Ayers, who has been in the country since 1992 and who allegedly committed sex crimes in Victoria. He is said to be seriously ill. Father Michael Aulsebrook, a former vice-principal at Rupertswood in the early 1990s, recently agreed with Father Murdoch that he should step down as principal of Salesian-run St Mark's College in Port Pirie, South Australia, until a so far undocumented allegation against him has been resolved. Father Murdoch says that, far from the order hiding abusers, he has visited Fiji, Samoa and Rome to unravel the extent of abuse, bring abusers to account and prevent abuse happening again. On one occasion he went to the deathbed of a Salesian brother, Laurence Sweeney, to ask if he was guilty of allegations of sex against a boy and his sister in 1975 at a Salesian club in South Oakleigh. Sweeney admitted abusing the girl, but denied abusing her brother. The order paid compensation in both cases. Father Murdoch says the spirit in which the order was founded will survive and the Salesians will continue doing what they have always done best: caring for and educating some of the most deprived children in society. While the Salesians continue to struggle with what has happened, there is comfort, Father Murdoch says, that there are those, including some among abuse victims and their families, "who are still prepared to pray for us". In all, Father Murdoch said about 30 complaints of abuse going back several decades had been made since he became head of the order in 2000. Fifteen of those complaints had been found to have some substance, costing the order possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation. About 15 priests and brothers were allegedly involved in those incidents and 10 to 12 other cases dealt with by the order before Father Murdoch took over. Father Murdoch expressed sincere regret to victims, their families and the many innocent members of his order tarnished by the widely publicised abuse. "We're sorry," said Father Murdoch, who described dealing with the abuse as "a bit like dealing with death". Despite the abuse cases, there was no evidence that a ring of pedophiles had been operating in the Salesian order, he said. But he said he was so sickened by the details of the Rapson abuse and the devastating effect it had on one victim and his family that he resolved that Rapson had to be removed from the priesthood as fast as possible. In gathering evidence, Father Murdoch went to Melbourne Magistrates Court and pored over documents on Rapson's sentencing for the sexual assault as Rupertswood. He did the same in the Supreme Court on alleged incidents involving Rapson in Tasmania. "There is no doubt in my mind that David Rapson is an offender of the worst kind," he said. The complex Vatican bureaucracy meant Father Murdoch was restricted to telephone calls, emails and faxes in pressing for the case to be resolved. He does not speak Italian, and feared the process would drag on too long for the good of both the order and abuse victims, who had a right to remedial action. He decided to press personally in the corridors of power for a speedy resolution and went to Rome, first in 2002 and again last December, to open diplomatic channels in the Vatican and the influential Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The result was that in February the Pope signed a document removing Rapson from the priesthood. [PICTURE: Rupertswood, the ornate Victorian mansion in Sunbury which has been at the center of a sex abuse scandal] Those who stand accused (with head and shoulders pictures) FATHER DAVID RAPSON: Sentenced in 1992 to two years jail for abuse at Rupertswood. Defrocked by the Pope at the request of the head of the Salesians, Father Ian Murdoch. FATHER JACK AYERS: Accused of sexual abuse of students. Now reported to be mentally and physically ill in Samoa, where has been based since 1992. May be deported to Australia. FATHER JULIAN FOX: Former head of the order, who has been banned from returning to Australia as a priest unless he complies with certain conditions, including facing his accusers, is now on restricted duties in Rome. FATHER FRANK KLEP: Sent to Samoa despite police investigations. Returned to Australia and is now facing further abuse charges in Melbourne. FATHER MICHAEL AULSEBROOK: Former vice-principal at Rupertswood, Sunbury. Has stood aside at request of Father Murdoch as principal of St Mark's College, Port Pirie, South Australia, until an unspecified allegation against him is examined. [Bolding added] continued as "Priest tells of his mission to defrock a sex abuser," p 4 www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/07/18/1090089040217.html?oneclick=true See also: www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont89.htm#salesian (2 pages) |
New York Post, http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/27423.htm By MICHAEL WHITE and CYNTHIA R. FAGEN, July 18, 2004
NEW YORK: The scandal-scarred monsignor accused of bilking an elderly woman out of a small fortune to bankroll his high-flying lifestyle often flashed signs of his riches during services, according to some parishioners of the Upper East Side Roman Catholic church.
"The parishioners complained that he was giving out communion with a Rolex on," said the Rev. Joseph Baker, who took over the duties of celebrating midday Mass yesterday at St. John the Martyr Church after his embattled boss, Monsignor John Woolsey, stepped down as parish head.
"There's nothing wrong with that from a church standpoint, but it's imprudent," Baker said.
Woolsey and the New York Archdiocese were sued in Manhattan state Supreme Court on Monday.
He is accused of swindling kindly spinster Rose Cale, 88, out of $500,000 over the past seven years to feed his lavish lifestyle of jewelry and cars.
• Diocese pulls priest over FBI investigation [2004 Arceneaux]
Opelousas Daily World, by Alain de la Villesbret, Posted on July 18, 2004
ARNAUDVILLE (LA): The Rev. Jules Arceneaux of St. Francis Regis Catholic Church has been placed on administrative leave pending a federal investigation into pornography discovered on a church computer.
Officials with the Diocese of Lafayette confirmed Saturday that the computer was seized on Tuesday from the church rectory on Pine Street by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Although charges have not been filed against Arceneaux, the Diocese of Lafayette moved swiftly to protect the flock from the possibility of inappropriate behavior, in keeping in line with Diocese policy established by Bishop Michael Jarrell.
Rev. Russell Harrington, a vicar with the Diocese of Lafayette, addressed the St. Francis Regis Catholic Church congregation before a 4 p.m. Mass on Saturday.
"I regret to inform you that Father Jules Arceneaux has been placed on administrative leave by the Diocese of Lafayette," Harrington told the congregation. "On Tuesday, July 15, law enforcement agents removed a computer from St. Francis Regis rectory in response to a report of questionable material."
• A greater sin is the molesting of the money [2004 Arceneaux]
Newsday, by Jimmy Breslin. July 18, 2004
NEW YORK: The priest, Joseph Baker, said they were having a tough time. He was standing outside the church of St. John the Martyr's rectory, which is on 71st Street, around the corner from the church.
"It's not as tough as the other," I said. By that, I meant the molesting charges that persist and that are all over the church, from Manhattan to Portland, Ore.
The anguish this time was caused by St. John the Martyr's pastor, Msgr. John G. Woolsey, 66, who is accused of taking an 88-year-old parish woman, Rose Cale, for a half million dollars before she died last year. While at first it seemed, as we said, much less distressing than sexual charges, this thought changed when a second look showed that money rules as always.
What is unchanged is the woman with a walker coming out of the church on Friday after saying her prayers. She would not give her name. She said she loved her pastor and religion. It is an indescribable burden to assist in her eternal hopes. To fail her by design is to risk your soul.
People want the sex scandals hidden behind the thickest drapes and all involved moved away. But when somebody steals cash money, that ancient cry rings forth: "Stop thief!"
• Settlement fund tops $11 million -- taxpayer pays 70%
Anglican Journal, STAFF, July 7, 2004
CANADA: The Indian Residential Schools Settlement Fund, formed last year to pay the Anglican Church of Canada's portion of proven abuse claims stemming from a national boarding school system for native children, has collected $11.6 million as of June 30, 2004 - close to half its $25 million target.
According to General Synod's financial office, $3.1 million has been paid out in settlement claims.
In March, 2003, the church reached an agreement with the federal government that limited the church's liability to $25 million in lawsuits concerning the schools. The accord averted bankruptcy for the national church and several dioceses, although the diocese of Cariboo in central British Columbia in 2001 closed its diocesan office under financial pressure from lawsuits concerning the schools.
The fund, called the Anglican Church of Canada Resolution Corp., is paying 30 per cent of settlements (with the federal government paying 70 per cent) awarded plaintiffs proving sexual or physical abuse in Anglican-run schools.
Of the 80 native residential schools that existed for more than century into the 1970s, the Anglican church operated 26.
• Diocese earnings decrease [$C 806,536]
Observer-Dispatch, By MEGHAN RUBADO, Sun, Jul 18, 2004
SYRACUSE (NY): For the second year in a row, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse reported significantly decreased earnings in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2003.
An $88.98 million investment portfolio brought in $646,729 in earnings for the 2002-03 fiscal year, according to the diocese's financial summary. Last year's report showed earnings of $4.02 million and the year before that the figure was $7.19 million.
The report identifies falling interest rates and declining stock values as major causes for the drop in earnings. The audit was performed by Dermody, Burke & Brown.
Since 1993, the diocese has payed [paid] out a total of $806,536 in counseling expenses and settlements for victims of sexual abuse. The report also confirmed that the diocese is named in nine sexual abuse lawsuits against current and former diocesan priests, who were not named.
The two-year pattern of decline in investment earnings created financial strain, said Debra Sochan, chief financial officer for the diocese that covers seven counties, including Oneida and Madison.
• Backfire possible in bankruptcy declaration
Statesman Journal, By SARAH LINN, The Associated Press, July 18, 2004
PORTLAND (OR): By filing for bankruptcy, the Archdiocese of Portland has begun a complicated legal process that could backfire - perhaps forcing church officials to reveal documents they'd rather not disclose, and lose assets they'd rather keep - legal experts say.
Archbishop John Vlazny has said Chapter 11 bankruptcy is the best way to sort out the nonprofit organization's struggling finances and settle more than 60 clergy sexual abuse cases pending against the Roman Catholic archdiocese.
Saturday evening, he was in Keizer to say Mass at St. Edward Catholic Church. Vlazny was visiting the parish, sitting in for the church's pastor, the Rev. Phil Sopke, who has been severely ill in the hospital for the past month.
Near the end of Mass, Vlazny asked parishioners to pray for their sick pastor and "to pray for our archdiocese in its mounting troubles."
The July 6 bankruptcy filing, the first by an American diocese, has a lot of potential pitfalls in the courts, experts said.
"Portland has taken a huge gamble," said Patrick Schiltz, a law professor at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis. "If the gamble pays off, it will extinguish their legal liabilities, and they'll get back on the right financial track."
Otherwise, Schiltz said, the church could be forced to sell off parishes and reveal information that could propel future litigation, potentially hurting thousands of parishioners.
• Archdiocese filing bears high price
The Oregonian, By HELEN JUNG and ASHBEL S. GREEN, Sunday, July 18, 2004
PORTLAND (OR): Archbishop John G. Vlazny's decision to put the Portland Archdiocese in bankruptcy may be the last major independent business decision he makes for years to come.
The bankruptcy filing gives Vlazny the time and the process to deal with dozens of priest-abuse lawsuits at once. If successful, it likely will put years of litigation and liability behind the church once and for all.
But a fresh start comes at a high price -- and not just financial.
If he wants to build a new church or sell a piece of property, Vlazny will need permission from a bankruptcy judge.
And perhaps most humbling, Vlazny may no longer be able to stand behind a pledge he made in a letter to parishioners in February. At that time, he wrote that their donations would not be used to fund settlements with victims of priest abuse.
"It would be a violation of canon law to seize parish property or use trust funds," he wrote. "I do not intend to violate canon law."
• Catholic bishops back abuse laws
Tri-Valley Herald, By Associated Press, Sunday, July 18, 2004
SAN FRANCISCO (CA): California's Roman Catholic bishops are endorsing a legal challenge to a state law that lets alleged victims of sexually abusive priests sue the church, even when the claims date back decades.
The bishops on Friday announced their support for a case in San Diego federal court that asserts California's law is unconstitutional because it singles out the church and revives litigation that has been settled.
The law gave a one-year window for alleged victims to file abuse claims against churches, schools and other institutions. More than 700 suits were filed during 2003, some dating back 70 years.
Under the law, the Diocese of Davenport, Iowa was sued because one of its priests allegedly abused a parishioner while on vacation in California more than 30 years ago. The Iowa diocese filed a counterclaim, asserting the original law was unconstitutional. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 07:00 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Sun July 18, 2004
Religions' sex abuse Chronology, visit: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont89.htm
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Mon July 19, 2004 edition follows:-
• Priest Abuse Lawsuit [1961-63 MacArthur]
Keloland.com , www.keloland.com/NewsDetail2817.cfm?Id=22,33412 July/20/2004
SOUTH DAKOTA: The five women grew up in and around Yankton and Platte about forty years ago. They say a priest they allowed into their homes hurt them and that the church knew better.
Now they're suing the Sioux Falls Catholic Diocese and Father Bruce MacArthur, who retired in 1992, accusing them of fraud, conspiracy and sexual assault.
From 1961 to 1963, five women say, Father Bruce MacArthur prayed with them, became part of their family and then sexually abused them.
Anderson says, "His abuse was always on the heels of building a trusting relationship with the parents. Once he did that, as a priest he was given unfettered access to the youth."
Five women, who do not want their names used, filed the lawsuit against the Sioux Falls Catholic Diocese and MacArthur. Four of them belonged to a Yankton parish and Edith Doe attended one in Platte. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 10:06 PM]
• Indiana bishop wants gays barred from priesthood
Daily News, July 20, 2004
BOSTON (MA): Bishop John M. D'Arcy of the Fort Wayne-South Bend diocese in Indiana says the church must improve its screening process for accepting seminarians to keep gay men from being ordained into the priesthood. "We must be very careful of who we accept in the seminary and who we ordain as priests," D'Arcy, a former auxiliary bishop of Boston, said Sunday. "It's time to ordain men of quality, not to just look for numbers." D'Arcy, who was in Boston to attend Mass at Our Lady of the Presentation Church, the parish where he grew up, said he hopes the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops will discuss screening policies for the seminary when it meets this fall and will take a firm stance against homosexual men serving as priests.
The Reverend Christopher J. Coyne, spokesman for the Boston archdiocese, said that although there has been some discussion among members of the archdiocese and the Vatican about the possibility of barring homosexuals from the priesthood, no decisions have been made. "The main issue is celibacy," Coyne said, adding that D'Arcy's concerns about gay priests are not necessarily shared by others. Coyne said that only 20% of the applicants for priesthood in the archdiocese of Boston are accepted by the church. "I don't see the need here in Boston," he said of a possible overhaul of the screening process. "I can say the process in Boston is a good one."
In an interview with The Boston Globe after the morning Mass, D'Arcy said that while only heterosexual men should be allowed to become priests, they must embrace celibacy. D'Arcy, who in private letters to other church officials as early as 1978 questioned the reassignment of Boston archdiocese priests accused of sexual misconduct, said that to put a gay man in the mostly male environment of the priesthood is unfair. "We don't put these [heterosexual] men in with attractive women," he said, referring to seminarians. "You're putting him in with men. It's not fair to him, it's not fair to them, it's not fair to the church." D'Arcy said priests with the right temperament for the job will attract more good men to work for the church. "If we ordain men with pathologies and difficulties, they will draw the same kind," he said. "Don't just pray for priests, pray for priests of good quality."
• Parishioner: 'The Devil is trying to attack Arnaudville' [2004 Arceneaux]
KATC 3 (Acadiana's news channel), July 19, 2004
LOUISIANA: A Saint Landry Parish priest has been removed from his parish, allegedly for putting pornographic images on a church computer.
Father Jules Arceneaux is no longer the pastor of Saint Francis Regis church in Arnaudville.
Federal officials and representatives from the Diocese of Lafayette found pornography on a computer in the church's rectory.
• Priest removed during investigation [2004 Arceneaux]
Gainesville Sun, The Associated Press, July 19, 2004
LAFAYETTE, La.: The Diocese of Lafayette has removed a priest from his duties in an Arnaudville church pending a federal investigation concerning internet pornography.
Father Jules Arceneaux, the pastor of St. Francis Regis Church, has not been charged or arrested. Only a computer from the church rectory has been seized.
Parishioners, informed of Arceneaux's removal in a letter read at Mass over the weekend, were dubious of the investigation.
"That's not Father Jules," said Kenneth Wyatt, among many who suspected the priest has been set up by someone who used Arceneaux's computer to download pornographic images. "Catholic priests are sitting ducks. They are guilty until proven innocent. They're never treated fairly and this is turning into a circus."
• Church `still fails' victims [Mountford] -- Anglican
The Advertiser (Adelaide, S. Australia), By MILES KEMP, Jul 20, 2004
AUSTRALIA: The Anglican Church still cared too much about its reputation at the expense of the victims of child sex abuse, a leading expert has warned.
University of SA Professor Freda Briggs made the damning comments after being asked by the church to review its new rules to tackle child sex abuse.
"The draft protocols suggested that the church was still self focused not focused on the victims," she said. Professor Briggs criticised the rules because they:
DEPENDED on internal investigation and were not independent.
FAILED to distinguish between child sex abuse and sexual misconduct between adults.
WARNED abusers of an investigation before police were told.
USED language which could not be understood by ordinary people.
Professor Briggs was given the opportunity to comment of the rules by a member of the church's governing body, the Synod.
She slammed the lack of provisions to immediately report sex abuse to police, rather than superiors at the church.
A similar policy allowed St Peter's College pedophile, John Mountford, to escape justice when confronted with allegations against him of child sex abuse and leave the country, she said.
"That is absolutely contrary to mandatory notification legislation requirements that pertain to church schools," she said. "Teachers are not required to report to their line managers.
"If the perpetrator is forewarned, he or she has the time to concoct an alibi and threaten the victim with dire consequence if they do not not withdraw the complaint.
"Child sex offenders are notoriously manipulative and should not be challenged by amateur investigators."
Professor Briggs said the church had also made a mistake by including child sex abuse, child sexual abuse reported by victims who are now adults and sexual harassment or sexual misbehaviour involving two adults in the same document.
"Although it has been such a problem, child sex abuse was scarcely mentioned and only appeared half way down page two of the document," she said.
"By emphasising internal investigation processes and bureaucratic issues, there was a danger that child sexual abuse would be investigated yet again by church-goers, not police."
One of two priests who brought about a damning independent inquiry into abuse within the church, the Rev Don Owers, said he agreed with Professor Briggs' criticisms but expected it to be significantly amended by debate at Synod.
"The ordinance should require separate protocols for complaints of child abuse made by or on behalf of children, for complaints of child abuse made by adult survivors and for complaints of misconduct involving only adults," he said.
Anglican Church Administrator John Collas said the church did involve external experts in investigations of matters.
"We are currently arranging for every one of our processes that relate to any form of abuse and the disciplinary processes of the church to be audited by appropriate persons external to the church," he said.
"Some of our processes already include external attention, for instance all investigations are . . . by independent investigators." # [Emphasis added]
• Pastor Cleared Of Molestation Charges [Barker]
NBC 13, POSTED: 4:43 pm CDT, July 19, 2004
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- All charges are dismissed on Monday against a former pastor accused of molesting a 15-year-old girl.
Richard Drew Barker, 44, was charged with sexual abuse and sodomy of a teenage relative.
On Monday, both the prosecution and defense filed motions to dismiss the indictment against Barker.
The motions cited inconsistencies in the plaintiff's account of the alleged abuse, which called her credibility as a witness into question. In addition, without physical evidence, the accuser's questionable statements were not enough to move forward with a trial.
• Salesians ponder big picture
The Age (Melbourne), By Martin Daly, July 20, 2004
AUSTRALIA: The head of the Salesian Catholic order in Australia is pushing for change to the organisation that years ago would have been considered heresy.
Father Ian Murdoch wants his priests and religious brothers to consider their own development and happiness, rather than spend all their lives with the deprived children they are committed to serve.
He also wants more talk among his fellow clergy about the celibate world in which they live, to help them cope with the pressure of abstinence.
As the Salesians cope with a series of sex abuse cases in Australia going back decades, Father Murdoch believes sticking so firmly in 2004 to the "old Salesianity of 100 years ago" might not always be the way to go.
"It would have been considered un-Salesian and probably un-Christian in the past to question the sexual aspects of your life as a celibate priest or brother," says Father Murdoch.
• Five Sisters Claim Priest Abused Them Decades Ago [Lammers]
WLKY News Channel 32, TheLouisvilleChannel.com , www.thelouisvillechannel.com/news/3547693/detail.html Reporter: Natasha Collins, probably July 19, 2004
[Click URL for link to short movie newsclip with sound, and 10 still photographs]
LOUISVILLE (KY): After living in a Louisville orphanage, five sisters were reunited years later, only to share stories of sexual and physical abuse they allegedly suffered at the hands of a priest.
Now, the sisters are part of a lawsuit against the St. Thomas-St. Vincent orphanage, which alleges they were abused decades ago by the Rev. Herman J. Lammers, WLKY NewsChannel 32's Natasha Collins reported Monday.
The orphanage closed in 1983, and Lammers died three years later, but the alleged victims claim he went to his grave with a horrible secret they can no longer keep.
"It was pure hell," Ann Wilson said.
Added her sister, Helen Edwards: "Father Lammers took our innocence. He took us from our parents. He took my sisters and my brother. I believe that was his whole plan from the start."
The oldest of the five sisters, Edwards said the alleged abuse began when she and her siblings entered the facility in 1952, Collins reported. She was nine, and the youngest of her sisters were 5-month-old twins. They said not even the nuns could have saved them from Lammers.
"People don't believe it, but let me tell you, it happened," Wilson said. "He wanted you to play as a doll with him, like you're undressing a doll."
Wilson's sister, Carol Gilbert, offered even more specific details.
"He'd say, 'Get up here; let's ride the pony,'" she said. "We'd straddle his legs facing towards him."
Now filing a lawsuit against Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, who operated the orphanage, the sisters and at least two others claim Lammers used force to sexually molest, abuse, batter, assault and even impregnate one of them, Collins reported.
Almost as bad as the alleged abuse by Lammers was the treatment by nuns, according to the sisters.
"(A nun) smacked me and told me I was a child of the devil and to stop lying on him," Gilbert said. "I feel dirty all the time, still, and I'm 59 years old. I've never felt good about anything in my life." ...
• Priest departs Merced parish [2004 Lastiri]
Modesto Bee, By ADAM ASHTON, MERCED SUN-STAR, July 19, 2004
MERCED (CA): The Rev. Jean-Michael Lastiri did not take the pulpit Sunday to say his goodbyes to St. Patrick's Catholic Church.
Instead, Lastiri -- accused last week of posting messages on a homosexual dating Web site -- offered a letter addressed to his Merced congregation of 11 years.
"This is not the way I wanted to depart from you," Lastiri wrote in the letter read at Mass by church Deacon Joe Smith. "I have to face my human challenges, but I am looking forward to it."
Bishop John Steinbock of the Fresno Roman Catholic Diocese removed Lastiri from his position as St. Patrick's pastor on Thursday after a conservative Catholic organization posted on its Web site illicit computer messages it claimed Lastiri wrote.
A group of parishioners that has disagreed with Lastiri's often liberal preaching style in the past found the computer messages printed on the back of St. Patrick's letterhead paper a few weeks ago in a garbage bin at the church.
• Mystery Of Pastor At Martyr [2004 Woolsey] -- funds
Post, By LORENA MONGELLI, July 19, 2004
NEW YORK: Congregants of St. John the Martyr said they were confused yesterday over who's in charge of the Upper East Side parish after popular pastor John Woolsey was accused of embezzling church funds.
"As far as I know, as of right now, he's still pastor," Rev. Joseph Baker, a priest at the East 71st Street church, insisted on Saturday, adding that he had advised the monsignor to stay away over the weekend for "the good of the parish."
"The monsignor left on Friday. He will be returning," Baker said. But that's not the understanding of the Archdiocese of New York, where the concern is Woolsey may have scammed a parishioner out of several hundred thousand dollars.
"I can't speak for Father Baker," said Joe Zwilling, a spokesman for the archdiocese yesterday.
"All I can tell you is what the situation is: Monsignor Woolsey has accepted the archdiocese's request that he voluntarily step aside. He is not serving as pastor there."
Baker tried to clear up the uncertainty after Mass yesterday afternoon, but the parishioners remained uncertain.
• Opens bank book at scandal church [Woolsey] -- $US 1m missing
Daily News, BY AMY SACKS and NICOLE BODE
NEW YORK: In hopes of restoring his parishioners' trust, a priest at a scandal-rocked upper East Side church laid open the Good Book - and the ledger book - yesterday at Mass.
Standing in for the ousted Msgr. John Woolsey, who is under investigation for $1million in missing church funds, the associate pastor set a new tone for St. John the Martyr by giving a play-by-play of the parish's financial transactions.
"These are the accounts," the Rev. Joseph Baker told dozens of churchgoers, holding up bank statements from the church's checking and savings accounts after Communion. "This is your parish, you make it up ... not the priests, we're just the employees."
"I want to be able to say, I'm not hiding anything from you. I want to tell them, it's not my money. It's your money," Baker told reporters after Mass. "You should never be afraid of the truth."
Woolsey, 66, stepped down last week after an audit by the Archdiocese of New York found about $1 million in church funds went missing during his eight years at St. John's.
• Former seminary leader in Austria vows to clear his name in child porn affair [2003-04 Rothe, Krenn]
CBC (Canada), www.cbc.ca/cp/world/040719/w071928.html , 09:10 AM EDT, Jul 19 2004
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - The former deputy director of a Roman Catholic seminary where officials discovered a huge cache of child pornography vowed Monday to fight for "truth, justice and honour" and clear his name.
Wolfgang Rothe, who resigned along with the seminary's director after authorities found up to 40,000 pornographic photographs and numerous videos at the facility, contended in a message posted on a diocese website that he was the victim of an "unimaginable" smear campaign.
"The confidence and encouragement of numerous people who know me have given me the strength after days of deepest despair and darkness to fight for truth, justice and honour," Rothe said.
His statement came as church officials awaited a report by the state prosecutor, who launched an investigation into the child pornography aspects of the discovery at the seminary in St. Poelten, about 80 kilometres west of Vienna.
Bishop Kurt Krenn, in charge of the diocese, has been under intense pressure to resign since the discovery of the photos and videos on seminary computers. The material also included images of candidates for the priesthood kissing and fondling each other and their older instructors.
• Restricted priest returns to pulpit [Collova] -- new religion
GMToday, By JAMES KOGUTGIEWICZ, July 19, 2004
DOUSMAN (WI): A former Roman Catholic priest accused of sexual abuse has joined a new religion which denounced the allegations and welcomed him to start a parish near the western Waukesha County border.
The Rev. Joseph Collova, 55, of Dousman, is one of seven priests nationwide in the Independent Evangelical Catholic Church and has started his own parish, The Church of St. Edith Stein in the town of Sullivan, said Bishop James Wilkowski of the IECC.
The Milwaukee Archdiocese recently revealed Collova is among 43 Roman Catholic priests restricted from ministry after investigations into sexual abuses. Collova was accused by an alleged victim of sexually abusing the man while he was a child.
• Internet child porn growing [2004 Fr. Ingalls]
Buffalo News, By DAN HERBECK, July/19/2004
NEW YORK: One suspect was a Varysburg priest who had served for three decades without a hint of scandal. Another was a Hamburg cop, married with two kids.
The other was a popular art teacher in the Kenmore-Tonawanda school system.
In addition to being liked and respected in their communities, the Rev. Fred D. Ingalls, Hamburg Officer George Adymy and Jeffrey Hart had something else in common - a secret, dangerous fascination with child pornography.
They are three of seven local men arrested this year on federal charges of possessing or distributing child pornography on the Internet. A comparable number - including a retired judge in Orleans County, a teacher at a Catholic school in Niagara Falls and Wellsville's former town supervisor - have been arrested on similar state charges.
"I think the public is surprised by these arrests," said Peter J. Smith, a federal agent who oversees a cybercrime laboratory in Cheektowaga. "But we're not. We've seen involvement by people from all walks of life."
• Farewell Mass For Lastiri
ABC 30, July 19, 2004
MERCED (CA): St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Merced held a farewell mass Sunday for outgoing Father Jean-Michael Lastiri.
Supporters of the priest are collecting signatures on petitions and hope to present the names of 2,000 supporters to the Fresno Diocese.
The priest is facing allegations of using the internet to solicit sex with men.
Although the priest was not at Sunday's mass, he did leave a statement to the parish vowing he will return.
• Goodkind Labaton Announces That the Estate of Rose Cale Has Filed a Formal Complaint Against the Archdiocese of New York and Priest [Woolsey]
Business Wire, July 12, 2004
NEW YORK -- (BUSINESS WIRE)--The Estate of Rose Cale has filed a formal complaint in the Supreme Court of the State of New York against the Archdiocese of New York and Monsignor John G. Woolsey, pastor of Saint John the Martyr Church in Manhattan.
The complaint alleges that Monsignor Woolsey used undue influence in his capacity as a trusted and respected spiritual leader, to induce Miss Cale, then in her eighties, to give him over $490,000 in cash and stock. In addition, the complaint alleges that Monsignor Woolsey misappropriated charitable contributions that Miss Cale made directly to the Church.
As a devout Catholic, Miss Cale attended church almost every day for the twenty-year period prior to her death in 2003 at the age of 88. A parishioner of St. John the Martyr Church from 1997-2003, she interacted on a daily basis with Monsignor Woolsey, who heard her confessions and gave her holy communion.
The complaint charges that Monsignor Woolsey (i) purchased a condominium at the Jersey Shore with $100,000 given to him by Miss Cale and (ii) convinced Miss Cale to move her stock portfolio from her own broker of 20 years to the Monsignor's personal broker, which ultimately resulted in Miss Cale transferring hundreds of thousands of dollars of stock into his personal account.
• Churches need to practice good governance too
SRi Media (Corporate Governance News), www.srimedia.com/artman/publish/article_856.shtml , Posted by New York 23:23 on Jul 12, 2004
NEW YORK: It's been a bad year for the Catholic Church. Members of the flck are reeling from allegations of abuse of young boys by priests, embarrassing bankruptcy filings and even claims of money-laundering by the Vatican Bank on behalf of the Nazi Party.
In the latest affront to decency, lawyers are suing a Monsignor Woolsey and the Archdiocese of New York for inducing one elderly parishioner to give a sizeable amount of money directly to her clergyman.
The story goes as follows. The Estate of one Miss Rose Cale has filed a formal complaint in the Supreme Court of the State of New York against the Archdiocese of New York and Monsignor John G. Woolsey, pastor of Saint John the Martyr Church in Manhattan.
As a devout Catholic, Miss Cale attended church almost every day for the twenty-year period prior to her death in 2003 at the age of 88. A parishioner of St. John the Martyr Church from 1997-2003, she interacted on a daily basis with Monsignor Woolsey, who heard her confessions and gave her holy communion.
The complaint alleges that Monsignor Woolsey used "undue influence" in his capacity as a "trusted and respected" spiritual leader, to induce Miss Cale, then in her eighties, to give him over $490,000 in cash and stock. Monsignor Woolsey pocketed these monies directly.
Not satisfied with pocketing close to half a million dollars, the complaint alleges that Monsignor Woolsey helped himself, along the way, to charitable contributions that Miss Cale made to his Church.
Of course, making a donation to a church, synagogue or mosque is a fundamental right of any individual. These deductions are often the lifeblood for institutions that do fine and noble work. However, some distinction needs to be drawn between donating money to a holy institution, as opposed to a direct gift to one of its members.
Principles or guidelines need to be established by religious institutions regarding donations by members, particularly when in large amounts and by the elderly, to individual members of the institution.
Condo at the Jersey Shore
The complaint claims the good Father judiciously used Miss Cale's money to buy, of all things, a condo at the Jersey shore, not to mention beefing up his share portfolio by a few hundred grand.
The lawsuit also alleges that the Archdiocese not only knew of the Monsignor's chicanery, but was also aware of actions by other clergy in the Diocese.
To add insult to injury, an executor of Miss Cale's estate was told the Archdiocese had no responsibility for the Monsignor's action, for he "is an independent contractor." Is the Church using free-lance priests these days? Maybe it's time to re-read those scam e-mails offering ordination.
Attorney Brian Caplan , who represents the Estate of Rose Cale said that this was the first lawsuit he was aware of in New York State "for a very long time."
Mr. Caplan didn't indicate if his firm had served the Archdiocese, as of yet, with the lawsuit.
Maybe he should pin it to their cathedral door. # [Emphasis added]
• Archdiocese's funding more stable [$US 25.7 m wasted last year] -- Louisville
The Courier-Journal, By Peter Smith, psmith@courier-journal.com , July 19, 2004
LOUISVILLE (KY): The Roman Catholic diocese in Portland, Ore., has filed for bankruptcy, and dioceses from Tucson, Ariz., to Covington, Ky., haven't ruled it out.
But the Archdiocese of Louisville - which paid $25.7 million last year in one of the largest sexual-abuse settlements in history - says its financial picture is stabilizing after a period of cutbacks.
"It's been a hard year," said Steve Bogus, executive director of Catholic Charities, one of the agencies whose budget was reduced after the settlement.
But the archdiocese says it never seriously considered bankruptcy, Brian Reynolds, its chancellor and chief administrative officer, has said. And in the fiscal year that began July 1, it has managed to avoid further cuts and even provide a 3 percent raise to employees who took a salary freeze the year before.
• Bishop urges gay ban in clergy
The Boston Globe, By Meredith Goldstein, July 19, 2004
BRIGHTON (MA): Bishop John M. D'Arcy, who in private letters to other church officials as early as 1978 questioned the reassignment of priests accused of sexual misconduct, said yesterday that the church must improve its screening process for accepting seminarians and that homosexuals should be prohibited from being ordained as priests.
"We must be very careful of who we accept in the seminary and who we ordain as priests," D'Arcy told parishioners at Our Lady of the Presentation Church, the Brighton parish in which he grew up. "It's time to ordain men of quality, not to just look for numbers."
During yesterday's 10 a.m. Mass, D'Arcy, now bishop of the Fort Wayne-South Bend Diocese in Indiana, said the church must look for men whom children can respect -- "men who would be good husbands, men who would be good fathers," he said.
In an interview after the service, D'Arcy acknowledged that his reference to "good husbands . . . good fathers" conveyed his belief that only heterosexual men should be allowed to become priests. He said men in the priesthood must embrace celibacy.
To put a gay man in the priesthood, in a mostly male environment, is unfair, given the potential attractions, D'Arcy said. "We don't put these [heterosexual] men in with attractive women," he said, referring to seminarians. "You're putting him in with men. It's not fair to him, it's not fair to them, it's not fair to the church."
• KC priests could face criminal charges [1970s] -- sodomy
The Kansas City Star, www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/9186404.htm?1c , By KEVIN MURPHY
KANSAS CITY (MO): Hoping to overcome statute-of-limitations obstacles, families of alleged victims of sexual abuse will ask prosecutors to consider criminal charges against Kansas City priests.
A meeting is planned to review evidence and witnesses, said Jenni Vincent of the Jackson County prosecutor's sex crimes and child abuse unit.
The Eastern District of the Missouri Court of Appeals recently ruled that a St. Louis priest can be charged in a forced-sodomy case from the 1970s because at that time there was no statute of limitations on the crime.
Vincent said she agreed with the ruling and that her office had always held that there was no statute of limitations in sodomy and rape cases before the law changed in 1979. Even cases after 1979 carry no statute of limitations under certain conditions, she said.
"In our minds, the court did the right thing," Vincent said. She said the ruling, if upheld on the expected appeal, would deter defendants from trying to block future cases based on statute-of-limitation arguments.
• Hato Paora sex offender charged [1984]
TVNZ, Jul 19, 2004
NEW ZEALAND: Police have arrested and charged a former Catholic brother with the historical sexual abuse of a student at Hato Paora College in Fielding.
The alleged abuse on a male student dates back to 1984 when the former Catholic brother was working at the college.
The 67-year-old man will appear in Upper Hutt District Court later this week.
Detective Constable John Fagan says police would like to hear from anyone who was at Hato Paora in the 1980s and who may have any information which could help the investigation.
• Clergy abuse victims seek out some peace at The Farm in Ky. [1960s]
The Boston Globe, By Amy Green, Globe Correspondent, July 19, 2004
CRESTWOOD, Ky. -- Tom Weiter is a straight-talking truck driver with a sarcastic streak, a former altar boy, and the nephew of two nuns. He said he was sexually abused by a Catholic priest four decades ago.
Weiter said that he has dealt with drug and alcohol problems stemming from the abuse, and that he has healed a rift within his family that the abuse caused. But he said it was not until he came to The Farm to meet with other abuse victims and spend contemplative time in its garden that he really began to confront how the abuse affected him.
"Maybe, psychologically, it feels like I'm being nurtured," said Weiter, taking a cigarette break from tending the flower beds and looking out over acres of corn. "Maybe someday I'll bear fruit."
Weiter, 51, of Germantown, Ky., said he has found peace through the first treatment center for victims of clergy sex abuse to win the support of US leaders in the Roman Catholic Church, a place on 1,300 acres outside Louisville where victims can come together and help one another heal.
The Farm grew out of a desire to cut through the animosity between church leaders and victims and provide victims a quiet place to reflect on their experiences while gardening, hiking, and attending seminars, said Susan Archibald, a 13-year Air Force veteran and an alleged clergy sex-abuse victim who organized The Farm.
• Polish Student Charged in Porn Case [2004; 1995 Groer, 2003-04 Krenn]
Times Leader, www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/news/9189451.htm , By WILLIAM J. KOLE, Associated Press, Posted on Mon, Jul. 19, 2004
VIENNA, Austria: - A 27-year-old Polish seminary student has been charged with possession and distribution of child pornography, a prosecutor said Monday as an investigation widened into Austria's worst church sex scandal in nearly a decade.
State prosecutor Walter Nemec said in a statement that the student, whose name was not released, downloaded "numerous" lurid photos from a Web site based in his native Poland.
Authorities say up to 40,000 photos and numerous videos, including child pornography and pictures of candidates for the priesthood kissing and fondling each other and their older instructors, were found at the Roman Catholic seminary in St. Poelten, 50 miles west of Vienna.
The affair, which has outraged many people in this overwhelmingly Catholic nation, is reminiscent of a 1995 pedophilia scandal that forced then-Cardinal Hermann Groer to resign. Groer, who died last year, had been accused of molesting students at an all-male Catholic boarding school in the mid-1970s.
Nemec said the Polish student was charged with distribution as well as possession because the images of children in sexual situations were stored on computers that were readily available to other students at the seminary.
Bishop Kurt Krenn, in charge of the diocese, has been under intense pressure to resign since the discovery of the material. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 05:50 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Mon July 19, 2004
Religions' sex abuse Chronology, visit: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont89.htm
• Christian Churches' losing credibility, funds, due to sex abuse.
Letter to RC Archbishop of Perth, Sunday, July 18, 2004
PERTH: July 18, 2004
The Archbishop of Perth [B.J.Hickey], Catholic Church Office,
Victoria Square, Perth WA 6000
Your Grace,
Thank you for your June 15 positive response to my letter disassociating myself from the Vatican's actions in promoting the former archbishop of Boston, Bernard Cardinal Law, to be in charge of St Mary Major Basilica in Rome. You are not alone in finding it hard to understand.
According to The National Catholic Reporter, a US independent newspaper, the replacement Archbishop of Boston, Sean O'Malley, said that the nomination "couldn't have come at a worse time," and that "people in Boston didn't really understand the appointment." (July 6, 2004)
In The West Australian of July 8, p. 22, it was reported that the Portland Diocese, in the State of Oregon, was seeking protection under Part 11 of the U.S. bankruptcy system, because of claims for $160m by two plaintiffs, and 60 more claims were coming. The move put a trial "on hold" indefinitely. The diocese had settled more than 100 claims in four years, paying $US21 million from its funds in the past year. (In the U.S., most sex abuse cases are settled out of court.) The newspaper reports that of the seven cases that have gone to trial around the nation since 1986, juries' awards ranged from $US1.1million to $US120 million.
Church officials in Boston (Massachusetts) and Santa Fe (New Mexico) are also considering bankruptcy. Officials in Tucson (Arizona) will decide in September. The Portland bishop was reported as not knowing if other dioceses were seeking bankruptcy protection. This is puzzling, because bishops ought to be acting as a college, conferring with each other. On a mundane level, the Boston "fire sale" of parish properties and the archbishop's mansion, plus the dismissal of employees, has been a national newsitem on and off for months. The problems of Tucson could also have been widely reported -- a look at the Internet and Catholic newsagencies was needed.
Besides the warnings against pederasty dating back to the beginning of Christianity, the Church hierarchy had been warned by several reports over the years, one being the U.S. 1985 report of Father Tom Doyle and two others. Books have been written about this serious sin. Alas, these warnings did not lead to reform in the U.S., Ireland, U.K., Canada, Malta, Nicaragua, Australia, etc.
This past year or so, U.S. insurance companies are saying they will not pay, and they will probably win the threatened court cases, because the Church leaders knew they had serial predators, but transferred them to unwarned congregations. When in 2002 the U.S. bishops started defrocking action, the Vatican system became clogged, and an outspoken monsignor complains his case has not been heard yet he is prevented from resuming his vocation.
Here in Australia both the Anglican (so celibacy is not the whole cause) and Catholic Churches are in serious trouble in Hobart, for example, and the scandals keep coming back into the news. There was a classic case of the Catholic priest who confessed face-to-face to other priests that he was abusing juniors, and was "forgiven" about 1500 times, which is hard to reconcile with "Go and sin no more." Nine arrests, including Salvation Army personnel, were made recently.
The Salesians of Don Bosco are accused of transferring a paedophile priest from Australia to Samoa. See The Dallas Morning News (Texas, USA), "Convicted sexual abuser and fugitive works with kids under his religious order's wing," www.dallasnews.com/ sharedcontent/dws/ dn/religion/stories/ 062004dnproklep.275b904e1.html , By Reese Dunklin, Monday, June 21, 2004. For 18 months that paper has been inquiring. The Christian Brothers are to leave teaching and go to the missions!
In Europe the head of a seminary for trainee priests at St Poelten, 50 kilometres west of Vienna (Austria) resigned on July 5 over child pornography and teachers having homosexual sex with seminarians. Ulrich Kuechl and his deputy submitted their resignations to St Poelten Diocese Bishop Kurt Krenn, but denied any wrongdoing, as does Bishop Krenn! The Church leaders had known for about a year of the pornography, including bestiality, on the seminary's computers. Only after Profil published photos did resignations occur. Is it possible some elements of the Church have misunderstood the Jesus message?
Yours faithfully,
[Name supplied]
DisassociateLawPromotion 18Jul04.doc (Word 2000)
Enclosures: 4 [Priest abuse trial on hold ... July 6 04, Law's appointment 'poorly timed' July 6 04, Baptists in shock after leader accused July 8 04 + 5 other items, The Catholic Church's Abu Ghraib July 16 04] [Jul 18, 04]
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Tue July 20, 2004 edition follows:-
• SNAP Warns Visitors to Santa Barbara Mission [Chumik]
KCOY, www.kcoy.com/ news/local/story. aspx?content_id= 4F382FD5-E886-4BE2-AF14- FE238CE97034
CALIFORNIA: Members of SNAP, the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, handed out leaflets to tourists and neighbors near the Santa Barbara Mission on Monday. They want the Catholic Church to turn over a Friar to his native Canada, where he faces child molestation charges.
Brother Gerald Chumik, an admitted sex offender, is accused of victimizing a 15 year old boy decades ago.
"Our lives could have been spared the devastation and we're very very concerned that innocent children and families visiting the mission are needlessly being put at risk", said Mary Grant of SNAP.
Some visitors refused the fliers, but many lent a sympathetic ear. Some parishioners stand by their church, saying the pastor spoke about this during Sunday mass.
The Franciscans say brother Chumik is essentially kept under house arrest behind these walls of the old mission. Still, they say they may have to relocate him due to the publicity. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 09:19 PM]
• Vatican to Investigate Pornography Accusations [2003-04]
The New York Times, By RICHARD BERNSTEIN, Published July 21, 2004
AUSTRIA: July 20 - Pope John Paul II announced Tuesday that he would appoint a special investigator to look into accusations of homosexual behavior and of downloading child pornography at a Roman Catholic seminary in Austria.
A statement released at the Vatican on behalf of the pope identified the investigator as Klaus Küng, bishop of the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
The announcement followed a statement on Monday by an Austrian prosecutor that at least one person at the seminary, St. Pölten, which is about 40 miles west of Vienna, would be charged in the case.
Several months ago, the police took away computers and hard drives to try to identify the person or people who downloaded pornographic material that is illegal in most countries, including Austria.
• Blessed are the bankrupt
The Tablet (Britain), www.thetablet.co.uk/cgi-bin/register.cgi/tablet-00917 , by Richard Major
PORTLAND (OR): Facing sex-abuse claims worth seven times its assets, the diocese of Portland's insolvency is a world first. But it may have found the road to financial salvation
In the age of Gilbert and Sullivan - in the age of Defoe, or Firbank - an excellent farce might have been written on the following premise: the Church has gone broke, and has to be run by municipal authorities.
Here is a dry accountant smacking his lips over canon law; here is an agnostic judge gingerly handing down an excommunication; here is a comedy policeman, Rituale Romanorum in hand, bursting in on an experimental liturgy and asking, "Wot's all this then?"
Something like this has, in fact, come to pass. Last week Portland in Oregon became the first Catholic diocese in the world to declare itself bankrupt. It no longer owns itself. It is in the hands of the United States' Ninth Circuit judges. And no one quite knows what happens next.
• Bishop refuses to quit over Austria sex scandal [2003-04 Krenn]
The Tablet, www.thetablet.co.uk/cgi-bin/register.cgi
AUSTRIA: Police have begun an investigation after several thousand pornographic images were found on computers at a seminary near Vienna. There was a public outcry after pictures were published incriminating the seminarians and the situation was downplayed by the Bishop of St Pölten, Kurt Krenn.
He is now resisting mounting calls for his resignation. Bishop Krenn, who was described on Tuesday by the Vienna daily Die Press as "the Austrian Church's biggest unsolved problem", has long been a thorn in the side of the Austrian bishops' conference.
A church panel in the St Pölten diocese, west of the capital, agreed to the police inquiry after the news magazine Profil last weekend published photographs showing priests at the seminary fondling and kissing seminarians. Profil said police had also found at least 40,000 mostly pornographic photographs, many involving children and animals, on the computers of eight seminarians.
On Tuesday police said they had found material "punishable by law". On Wednesday they were interrogating a 33-year-old Polish seminarian in relation to child pornographic material downloaded from the internet and to homosexual acts photographed in the seminary.
Both the rector of the seminary and his deputy at first denied the existence of the photos, then denied that they were guilty of homosexual acts. They have since resigned from their posts.
• Former Youth Pastor Admits Raping Girl [Fenwick]
KOIN, www.koin.com/webnews/20042/20040715_veneta.shtml
VENETA, Oregon -- A former youth pastor admits that he raped a 14-year-old girl in his congregation.
Charles Fenwick was an associate pastor at the New Hope Christian Center in Veneta.
Fenwick raped the girl over two years, according to prosecutors. They will ask for a five-year prison sentence as part of the plea arrangement, but Fenwick's attorney wants probation for his client.
• Guti's case postponed -- Assemblies of God
The Herald, July 15, 2004
ZIMBABWE: A CHITUNGWIZA magistrate yesterday postponed the case of Nelson Guti (70), a pastor with the Zimbabwe Assemblies of God Africa (ZAOGA) Church in the town, who is appealing against the 12-year jail term he was slapped with for raping two girls aged six and seven years.
The magistrate postponed the case to today.
Guti's lawyer, Mr Godfrey Mamvura of Scanlen and Holderness, said his client's advanced age merited a reduced sentence.
"The court should take into consideration the accused's age and that he is a first offender who should attract a light sentence," he said.
Magistrate Mr Taurai Chigwedu found that Guti drove the two little girls to a secluded place just outside Chitungwiza where he raped them.
• It's A Porn Day [2003-04]
Story Hunters, www.storyhunters. com/skintalk/ archives/ 001162.html
AUSTRIA: Last week we had a day when marriage seemed to be in the news. This week, it's happened again- only with porn. Yes, it's a banner news week for porn, people. To start out: they've arrested someone in connection with the Austrian seminary sex scandal (see this post.)
On Monday, prosecutors charged a 27-year-old Polish seminary student (whose name has not been released) with downloading the porn that stuffed the computer that started the Austran seminary sex scandal. (Every time I write about this, the story sounds more and more like Dr. Seuss. It's not intentional, I promise.)
The suspect, who has been expelled from the seminary, was charged under a tough new federal child pornography law that came into effect in May, increasing the maximum penalty from six months in prison to two years and a fine.
Investigators who seized and examined the computers' hard drives suspect that eight other seminarians may have been involved, but proving it may not be possible because the computers were shared and individual students were not assigned user IDs, Nemec said.
• Fired fund-raiser pleads guilty to embezzling $80,000 [Cahill] -- Catholic school fund-raiser
Boston Herald, By Associated Press, Tuesday, July 20, 2004
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - A fired fund-raiser for Holyoke Catholic High School has been sentenced to five years probation after pleading guilty to embezzling about $80,000 from the school.
Raymond G. Cahill, 72, of South Hadley, was also ordered to pay $100 a month in restitution at Monday's sentencing in Hampden Superior Court.
Cahill pleaded guilty in June to larceny, embezzlement, and forgery.
His actions cost the 500-student high school about $80,000 over a five-year period between 1997 and 2002, according to prosecutors.
Cahill was fired after an audit commissioned by the Diocese of Springfield found, among other things, that he used school funds for private loans to himself and his daughter, and put his wife on the payroll.
• Bishop awaits word from Vatican, police on two E.V. priests [Cunningham] -- joint ceremony
East Valley Tribune, www.aztrib.com/ index.php?sty= 25053 , By Lawn Griffiths
ARIZONA: Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted is awaiting reports from the Vatican and the Mesa Police Department before he determines what action to take with two East Valley priests.
On April 30, he suspended the Rev. John Cunningham, founding pastor of St. Mary Magdalene Catholic Church in Gilbert, for allegedly celebrating Mass at a wedding with a non-Catholic priest.
Olmsted said it was "inconsistent with Catholic teaching" for a clergyman of another tradition and not grounded in Catholic doctrine to participate in the Eucharist. Named as interim pastor of the parish with more than 770 registered families was the Rev. Donald Kline.
The bishop said a diocesan investigation into the Mass at St. Anne's Catholic Church in Gilbert was "inconclusive," requiring him to refer the matter, in May, to Rome.
"The case of Father Cunningham was referred to the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, as required by the Holy See," the Rev. Michael Diskin, assistant chancellor, said Monday. "Bishop Olmsted requested that they expedite the case, but we are still waiting for direction on how the congregation will instruct Bishop Olmsted to proceed."
• Parishioners question allegations [Arceneaux]
The Advertiser, http://ncrnews.org/cgi-bin/mt.cgi?__mode=view&_type=entry&blog_id=4 , The Associated Press, July 20, 2004
ARNAUDVILLE (LA): While the Rev. Jules Arceneaux may not be at the pulpit today, the community is standing behind him.
"He was a very-liked person. As far as I'm concerned, you are innocent until proven guilty," said Town Clerk Dolores Quebedeaux, who regularly attends church at Arnaudville's St. Francis Regis Catholic Church.
Arceneaux, who has been pastor at St. Francis Regis for two years, was placed on administrative leave last week pending the outcome of a federal investigation into allegations that pornography was discovered on a church computer.
Monsignor Richard Greene, spokesman for Bishop Michael Jarrel of the Diocese of Lafayette, said parishioners should withhold judgment.
"Father Jules Arceneaux has not been charged or arrested. Only a computer from the church rectory has been seized," said Greene, who added that Arceneaux's suspension from pastoral duties "is standard procedure in matters like this."
• St. Pölten and Gomorrah? [2003-04 Krenn] -- harassment also alleged.
Wiener Zeitung, www.wienerzeitung.at/frameless/eng_news.htm?ID=Eng&Menu=7501
AUSTRIA: Only some high-rank members of the Catholic Church have so far commented on the porn-affair and the charges of sexual harassment in St. Pölten. No comment on the situation has as yet come from the Vatican. Many of the critics, however, demanded Bishop Krenn's resignation.
Kurt Krenn himself stressed that this was only an affair of the diocese in St. Pölten and refused to tolerate intervention from the Council of Bishops. Apart from the investigations by the Public Prosecution office, a church commission was formed to look into the allegations.
Various downloads showing child pornography had been found on computers in the seminary. The public prosecutor, Walter Nemec, told the media yesterday that a 27-year-old senior student at the seminary will be charged with obtaining and owning child pornography.
There are also charges of sexual harassment against some teachers at the seminary. These will be investigated as well, Nemec said. However, if there were homosexual contacts consented to by two grown-ups in the seminary, then this was no case for the courts, Nemec stressed.
• Vatican investigates Austrian child porn scandal [2003-04 Krenn]
MSNBC, http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5465334 , The Associated Press, Updated: 8:31 a.m. ET, July 20, 2004
VATICAN CITY: Facing rising protests in Austria, the Vatican named a special inspector Tuesday for an Austrian seminary implicated in a child pornography scandal.
Pope John Paul II designated Bishop Klaus Kueng of Feldkirch, Austria, as an "apostolic visitor" for the diocese of St. Poelten and its seminary.
After an investigation of the situation, he will report back to the Vatican.
The move came amid demands in Austria that the bishop in charge of the seminary, Kurt Krenn, resign after authorities uncovered some 40,000 pornographic photos and numerous videos at the seminary.
The Vatican issued a one-line announcement but made no comment on a case that has become highly embarrassing for the Vatican and the church in overwhelmingly Roman Catholic Austria.
• Nix nups by priest in scandal [Woolsey] -- $US 1 m missing
Daily News, www.nydailynews.com/news/local/story/213885p-184170c.html , BY ALISON GENDAR
NEW YORK: A big, fat Manhattan wedding won't be the same this Sunday because the couple's favorite priest, Msgr. John Woolsey, will not be performing the ceremony.
The scandal-scarred cleric bowed out of the nuptials because he feared his presence would turn the private event into a public circus, one of the bridegroom's sisters said yesterday.
Anthony Santorelli - son of wealthy, self-made businessman Leonard Santorelli - planned his wedding to Noelle Turini for more than a year.
Woolsey, the charismatic pastor of St. John the Martyr Catholic Church on the upper East Side, was asked to step down while prosecutors investigate allegations that $1 million in church funds went missing on his watch. He's also accused in a lawsuit of swindling an elderly parishioner out of $500,000.
• Sex-offender advise for prisons
The Australian, www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,10193635%255E1702,00.html , By Mariza Fiamengo, July 20, 2004
AUSTRALIA: FRESH from advising the Pope, a world-renowned expert on the treatment of sexual deviant behaviour has arrived in Victoria to work with the state's correction workers.
Australian-born Professor Bill Marshall, now based in Canada, hit the spotlight in the 1970s when he advocated the revolutionary idea that money should be spent to rehabilitate sex offenders in prison.
Since then he has advised 20 countries on the treatment of sexual offenders and recently helped the Vatican develop a policy to address sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.
He is in Melbourne this week to brief Corrections Victoria staff and therapists on the latest international developments in the treatment of sex offenders.
• Sex abuse charges dropped against Vestavia minister [Bahakel]
The Birmingham News (Alabama), www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1090314909247210.xml , By CHANDA TEMPLE, Tuesday, July 20, 2004
ALABAMA: A Jefferson County judge Monday dismissed sex abuse charges against a former Vestavia Hills minister after the prosecutor cited major credibility problems with the accuser.
Circuit Judge Gloria Bahakel granted the prosecutor's request to dismiss the case against the Rev. Richard Drew Barker, who was to face trial this week on two counts of sodomy and one count of sexual abuse.
A 16-year-old relative told authorities that Barker, 45, molested her last October when she was 15. However, the girl recanted earlier this year four times to four different people, including the prosecutor. She also told her psychologist she thought the accusations were just a dream.
But later, the girl told an official the accusations were true. She also maintained in court Monday during a pre-trial hearing that she was being truthful but stood firm that she did not want to testify.
Concerned about the inconsistencies and that the girl said she did not want to testify, prosecutor Danny Carr asked Bahakel Monday to dismiss the case without prejudice, which means his office can revisit the charges later.
• In my opinion; John G. Vlazny - RCC. $US53m gone so far.
The Oregonian, www.oregonlive. com/commentary/ oregonian/index. ssf?/base/ editorial/ 10903250 88208900. xml , Tuesday, July 20, 2004
PORTLAND (OR): The decision of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland to file for Chapter 11 reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court on July 6 has troubled many people. You can include the Catholics of western Oregon and me in that category.
The goal of our Catholic community in dealing with child sexual abuse has been to assure the protection of our children for the future and also to provide healing and reconciliation for victims of the past. I am still hopeful that bankruptcy will help us accomplish that goal.
It's understandable that most people don't understand Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The Catholics of this state want to compensate victims justly and to continue the mission of the church. Bankruptcy offers a way out of our current conundrum. In the long run, it can prove positive for victims and the church. Filing for bankruptcy has been described as a "desperate" act. In some ways that is true.
The archdiocese of Portland has settled more than 130 claims involving sexual abuse of children over a number of years. We have spent more than $53 million in settlements. Half of that money came from insurance companies, and the other half from archdiocesan funds. Last year alone the archdiocese spent $21 million of its funds to satisfy claimants. Clearly, we are trying to do the right thing.
• Louisville archdiocese reports stable finances after settlement
Cincinnati Enquirer, www.enquirer. com/editions/ 2004/07/20/loc_ loc2rocath.html , The Associated Press
LOUISVILLE (KY): Despite paying millions to settle a slew of sex-abuse lawsuits last year, officials with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville say finances are steady.
"It's been a hard year," said Steve Bogus, executive director of Catholic Charities, one of the agencies whose budget was reduced after the June 2003 settlement.
But Brian Reynolds, its chancellor and chief administrative officer, said the archdiocese never seriously considered filing for bankruptcy after the $25.7 million settlement.
Since the fiscal year began on July 1, officials have managed to avoid cuts - and employees even received a 3 percent raise.
"Agencies overall were able to continue their work with reduced budgets and reduced staffs," Reynolds said.
• Diocese warns it could go bankrupt
The Press-Democrat, www.pressdemocrat.com/local/news/20diocese_a1a01_a1_mainstreeta.html , By GUY KOVNER, July 20, 2004
SANTA ROSA (CA): The Santa Rosa Catholic Diocese has been unable to settle 10 sexual abuse lawsuits and could be forced into bankruptcy by "adverse verdicts" if some of the cases go to trial, the diocese attorney said Monday.
"The amounts are staggering," attorney Dan Galvin said, referring to claims by alleged child sex abuse victims in the range of $2 million to $4 million a case statewide.
Santa Rosa, which already has paid $8.6 million in settlements to victims, has 10 remaining cases among about 115 lawsuits consolidated in Oakland.
Pretrial motion hearings in the consolidated Northern California case started last week and continue today before Alameda County Superior Court Judge Ronald Sabraw, but none involves Santa Rosa lawsuits, Galvin said.
• Pope Names Investigator for Austrian Sex Scandal
Wired News, http://wireservice.wired.com/wired/story.asp? section=Breaking&storyId=895635&tw=wn_wire_story ; By Philip Pullella, Reuters, 8:43 a.m. ET, Tuesday, July 20, 2004
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope John Paul, reacting unusually swiftly to a sex and child pornography scandal that has rocked the Austrian Roman Catholic Church, named a special investigator on Tuesday to probe the affair.
A brief statement said the Pope had named Bishop Klaus Kung of the Austrian city of Feldkirch to look into the problems of the Austrian diocese of St Poelten and "in particular" a seminary at the center of the scandal.
Predominantly Catholic Austria has been shocked by its worst clerical scandal in a decade, another blow for the Roman Catholic Church which has been shaken by a series of sexual abuse cases across the world.
Vienna Archbishop Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn said the Pope had acted quickly and called it an "extraordinary measure."
• Fliers distributed at Santa Barbara's Old Mission [Chumik] -- wanted in Canada
KSBY, www.ksby.com/home/headlines/888137.html , By Matt Cota
CALIFORNIA: Victims of sexual abuse spent the day handing out leaflets about an admitted child molester living on the grounds of Santa Barbara's Old Mission for the past two years.
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) spent Monday morning handing out leaflets at the mission, drawing attention to the fact that Gerald Chumik is among the retired priests living on the grounds of the Santa Barbara Mission.
The Franciscan friar is wanted by the authorities in his native Canada for engaging in sexual acts with a 15-year old boy. However, church officials say Chumik is no longer a threat to society and is unable to leave his living quarters at the mission without supervision.
"He is not a danger to children, he is not attracted to children," says Father Alberic Smith, of the Santa Barbara Old Mission. "One time he did sexually abuse an older minor 30 years ago, but because of this he is under these constraints."
Mary Grant of SNAP disagrees, saying church officials cannot be trusted with monitoring criminals.
• Lawsuit alleges abuse by retired priest [1960s MacArthur]
Aberdeen News, www.aberdeennews.com/mld/aberdeennews/news/9196879.htm , THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SIOUX FALLS (SD): Five women have filed a lawsuit against the Sioux Falls Catholic Diocese and a retired priest who they say sexually abused them 40 years ago.
The women, who are not identified in the lawsuit, said the abuse occurred from 1961 to 1963 when they were growing up in the Yankton and Platte areas.
Named as defendants are the Sioux Falls diocese and the Rev. Bruce MacArthur, who has not served a parish in South Dakota since 1973 and retired in 1992. His last known residence was in the Texas-New Mexico area.
"The diocese of Sioux Falls knew or should have known that children who were raised in the Roman Catholic church would be obedient to MacArthur's demands because reverence and obedience to the parish priest is a requirement of that religion," the lawsuit says.
• Siblings Sisters share accusations against priest and others [1950s]
TheCourier-Journal, www.courier-journal.com/localnews/2004/07/20ky/B1-abuse0720-6328.html , By Peter Smith, psmith@courier-journal.com , July 20, 2004
LOUISVILLE (KY): Recently reunited after 50 years, five sisters clasped hands and choked back tears yesterday while recounting what they allege was a childhood of physical and sexual abuse at a Roman Catholic orphanage in eastern Jefferson County.
They told of a widely admired priest who they said raped and molested them after telling them their parents didn't want them and that only he thought they were "special."
They told of nuns who they said beat and molested them, and locked them in dark rooms and deprived them of food.
They alleged incidents so intense they said they still had not told each other the full details, which emerged in a lawsuit they filed last week against the order of nuns that ran the St. Thomas-St. Vincent Orphanage in Anchorage.
• Court Ruling Could Allow More Child-Sex Abuse Charges
TheKansasCityChannel.com ; www.thekansascitychannel.com/news/3548886/detail.html , July 19, 2004
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Victims of child-sex abuse applauded a St. Louis judge's recent ruling that would allow older cases to be brought to trial.
Supporters of the judge's ruling gathered on the lawn of the Jackson County Courthouse Monday. Many said they had survived abuse or knew of someone who had.
Advocates for victims and their families believe the ruling could result in many new filings against Kansas City-area priests, KMBC's Bev Chapman reported.
"It just takes years for people to get the courage to come forward, or even realize what's happened," said Michael Hunter, a member of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
• Straight Guy with the Catholic Eye: Another accusation against Father Carlos [Urrutigoity]
RenewAmerica, www.renewamerica.us/columns/abbott/040719 , by Matt C. Abbott, July 19, 2004
SCRANTON (PA): In a previous column, I mentioned the controversy surrounding the Society of St. John ( www.ssjohn.org ), a religious community canonically established in 1997 by then-Bishop James Timlin of the Diocese of Scranton, PA.
(For background of the controversy, see the following article by Catholic journalist Rod Dreher: www.national review.com/ dreher/dreher 020702.shtml .)
I received the following e-letter update on the controversy, from Dr. Jeffrey M. Bond, president of the College of St. Justin Martyr ( www.saintjustinmartyr.org ), which used to be associated with the Society of St. John:
Dear Friends,
Another graduate of St. Gregory's Academy, who then joined the Society of St. John, has come forward to accuse Fr. Carlos Urrutigoity of homosexually molesting him. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 08:27 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Tue July 20, 2004
Religions' sex abuse Chronology, visit: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont89.htm
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Wed July 21, 2004 edition follows:-
• Bishop begins Austria abuse probe [2003-04]
BBC News, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3915371.stm , Wednesday, 21 July, 2004,
AUSTRIA: A Vatican-appointed bishop has begun investigating alleged sexual impropriety at an Austrian seminary.
Bishop Klaus Kueng of the Austrian city of Feldkirch arrived at the seminary in St Poelten, near Vienna, saying he would move "thoroughly and swiftly".
His appointment by Pope John Paul II came a day after a Polish student was charged with the possession and distribution of child pornography.
The affair has shocked Austria and embarrassed the Catholic Church.
Bishop Kueng said his purpose was to "create new trust" in the Church, which has been rocked by a series of scandals. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 08:05 PM]
• Austria Grateful for Papal Action for Sankt Poelten [2003-04]
Zenit, www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=57162 , JULY 21, 2004
VIENNA, Austria, (Zenit.org).- Austrians seem pleased with John Paul II's quick decision to send a special inspector to the Sankt Poelten Diocese, where the major seminary is linked to a child-pornography scandal.
The Vatican press office announced Tuesday that the Pope asked Austrian Bishop Klaus Küng of Feldkirch to investigate the situation.
"The Holy Father's decision was received with great satisfaction, both by public opinion in the country, as well as by the Church in Austria, especially because of the speed of the Pope's decision, who has just returned from Valle d'Aosta," said Erich Leitenberger, director of the Austrian Catholic agency Kathpress.
"This means that both the Holy See as well as the Holy Father in person realize that a very serious situation has been verified in Sankt Poelten which has repercussions for the whole country," he explained on Vatican Radio.
[COMMENT: How can a bishop, part of the Austrian RC leadership that had been led by a Cardinal sex abuser until recent years, possibly be described as a "special inspector"? And please spare us the obsequious gratitude! COMMENT ENDS.]
• Survey finds Catholics skeptical of bishops' handling of sex abuse and covering up.
Catholic News Service, www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0404015.htm , By Jerry Filteau, ~ July 21, 2004
WASHINGTON (DC) (CNS) -- U.S. Catholics regard the clerical sexual abuse scandal and the bishops' handling of it as two of the most serious problems facing the church, according to a study by two leading sociologists.
They found that most Catholics questioned in a nationwide telephone survey think bishops are covering up the facts about sexual abuse. Older and more active Catholics tended to have more confidence in bishops than did younger Catholics or those less involved in church activities, they reported. Nearly three-fourths of the respondents said the failure of bishops to stop the abuse was a bigger problem than the abuse itself.
Sociologists Dean R. Hoge of The Catholic University of America and James D. Davidson of Purdue University designed the survey, sponsored by the University of Notre Dame as part of a larger initiative to serve clergy and lay leaders in the church. Princeton Survey Research Associates conducted the survey, polling 1,119 self-identified adult Catholics in October 2003. The survey had a 3.5 percent margin of error.
• Speedy response to Austrian sex scandal reflects seriousness [2003-04]
Catholic News, www.cathnews.com/news/407/121.php , ~ July 21, 2004
AUSTRIA: An official has revealed that the seriousness of the circumstances are reflected in the unusual haste with which the Vatican appointed an apostolic visitor (or investigator) to go to the Austrian seminary where prosecutors charged a 27-year-old Polish seminarian with possession and distribution of child pornography.
Catholic News Service quotes an unnamed official who said the seized photographs "show widespread corruption within the seminary," and that "the Holy Father must have been horrified."
The agency reports that the appointment of the apostolic visitor came less than a week after Bishop Krenn announced he had established a commission to investigate what had occurred at the seminary and only one day after Austrian prosecutors charged a 27-year-old Polish seminarian with possession and distribution of child pornography.
Pope John Paul II's speed in ordering a special investigation into an Austrian diocese and its seminary reflects the seriousness of the allegations of sexual misconduct there as well as the formal request of the Austrian bishops' conference, Vatican officials said.
"There was an internal investigation, and both the investigator appointed by the local bishop and the Austrian bishops' conference requested the nomination of an apostolic visitor," said Passionist Fr Ciro Benedettini, Vatican spokesman.
• European Press Review: The Vatican Cleans House
Deutsche Welle radio, www.dw-world.de/english/0,3367,7549_A_1273154_1_A,00.html?mpb=en , ~ July 21, 2004
AUSTRIA: European papers took aim at a variety of issues including the church sex scandal in Austria, the debate over longer working hours and the political dilemma facing Yasser Arafat.
The predominately Catholic Austria is reeling from a child sex and pornography scandal involving priests and their students. Pope John Paul II has named a special investigator to probe the affair.
The Salzburger Nachrichten in Austria said the fact that the priests at a seminary outside Vienna enjoyed the sexual exploitation of children via the Internet awakens memories of a whole set of scandals involving the Catholic Church worldwide.
It commented that thousands of pupils -- mostly boys -- have become victims of sexual abuse by priests, from Boston to Ireland and now in Austria.
The Church’s usual reaction is to look away and clandestinely move the culprits to different posts.
The Salzburger newspaper noted that the recent decision by the Vatican indicates the Church might be starting to move away from its usual practice in such cases.
The Neue Züricher Zeitung in Switzerland agreed. It applauded the quick move by the Pope John Paul II to replace the arch-conservative bishop of St. Pölten, Kurt Krenn, and make room for a thorough investigation into the case.
• Former principal sentenced to five years probation [Kuhn, Schoettmer]
Cincinnati Enquirer, www.enquirer.com/midday/07/07222004_News_m-daykuhn22_Late.html , By Sherry Coolidge, July 22, 2004
DAYTON (OH): A former Elder High School principal was sentenced today to serve five years probation for providing alcohol to minors and engaging in public indecency at his home in suburban Dayton.
Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Mary Katherine Huffman ordered Thomas Kuhn, 63, to be intensively supervised by his probation officer during the next five years. She also ordered Kuhn to stay out of all establishments that serve alcohol or where patrons can gamble. He was also ordered to have no contact with the victims or any one under the age of 21.
Kuhn pleaded no contest to misdemeanor charges last month and could have faced up to 18 months in prison. The sentencing ends a case that began about two years ago with complaints from some parents about the amount of time Kuhn spent with their children.
Prosecutors also had investigated dozens of explicit images found on Kuhn's church computers, but they were unable to identify the young men in those images and could not determine whether the material violated child-porn laws.
Court documents show that the computers had been used more than 100 times to access Web sites with names such as boyforboy, boyzparty and cityboyz.
Kuhn is the second priest in nearly a decade to be convicted of misconduct involving a child. The other, Ken Schoettmer, was sentenced to probation after admitting he molested a 17-year-old boy in Cincinnati.
• Divided parish at heart of priest removal [Lastiri] -- sex computer messages.
Sun-Star, www.mercedsun-star.com/local/story/8878146p-9767861c.html , By Adam Ashton, aashton@mercedsun-star.com , July 21, 2004
MERCED (CA): A frayed relationship and insufficient communication. That's what appears to have prevented the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno and a conservative Catholic group from quietly handling a matter that has left a priest in spiritual counseling, a church of 5,000 members without a leader and many parishioners feeling angry and misunderstood.
St. Patrick's parishioners who took their investigations into the Rev. Jean-Michael Lastiri's online sexual activity to the Roman Catholic Faithful group say they did so because they got no help from the diocese.
They complained to their bishop about Lastiri's liberal teaching style. They didn't like Lastiri giving communion to Congressman Dennis Cardoza, who consistently votes in favor of abortion rights. They said they always suspected Lastiri was less than chaste, especially after he started a support group for gays and lesbians.
The parishioners wrote to Bishop John Steinbock, but said he dismissed their concerns, prompting them to go public with Internet personal ads and sexually oriented computer messages related to Lastiri.
"Publicly exposing a scandal of this magnitude was entirely avoidable had Bishop Steinbock not privately and internally dismissed earlier documented concerns," said Brian Kravec, one of the St. Patrick's parishioners who signed letters to the bishop last year.
• Church abuse victims group starts LI chapter -- Oblates of Mary Immaculate
Newsday, www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-lisnap213900883jul21,0,235779.story?coll=ny- linews-headlines By Rita Ciolli, July 21, 2004
ROCKVILLE CENTRE (NY): After keeping silent for more than four decades, Beth McCabe stood confidently outside the headquarters of the Diocese of Rockville Centre yesterday as she described how a victims' support group is helping her cope with the lifelong anguish that she said began when a Catholic priest sexually molested her as a girl.
McCabe told her story publicly as the National Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests [SNAP] announced the formation of a Long Island chapter, to hold its first confidential support group meeting this weekend.
David Cerulli, a SNAP board member and head of the New York City chapter, said members held the brief sidewalk news conference because Bishop William Murphy "has steadfastly refused" to allow notices of SNAP meetings to be printed in parish bulletins or to allow the group to purchase advertisements in the Long Island Catholic, the diocesan newspaper.
In a written response, Sean P. Dolan, the diocese's director of communication, said the church's support of victims is "unwavering and includes counseling and support as well as the prayerful support of the Catholic people of Long Island."
However, the written statement, without naming SNAP, said the diocese "cannot stand as partners with groups of individuals who seek to divide and further the pain of victims."
McCabe, 55, said she was 11 when her parents invited to dinner a priest, now deceased, who was serving in the Oblates of Mary Immaculate order. As he taught her how to use his camera, she said, he began fondling her. The inappropriate touching continued for two years.
McCabe never told her parents or anyone else until news accounts of the scandal two years ago. She contacted the Long Island diocese, which began paying for counseling, a cost now picked up by the priest's order, she said.
• New spokesman 'passionate' about faith -- 24 abusers, diocese covered up
Newsday, www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-lirock143900884jul21,0,7383804.story? coll=ny-linews-headlines BY RITA CIOLLI, July 21, 2004
LONG ISLAND (NY): Sean P. Dolan was committed to his own public relations business, but when he saw an employment ad in the Long Island Catholic this spring, he thought it could be the perfect job, one he could do with fervor.
Now Dolan is the new spokesman for the Diocese of Rockville Centre, and the former reporter for the diocese's weekly paper is now its associate publisher as well. "I am very passionate about my faith," he said recently. "And want to use the expertise I have to promote the mission of the diocese and the Long Island Catholic."
Though Dolan is stepping into a difficult job dealing with the media at a pivotal point for the local church, he said, "In challenge there is also opportunity."
For the past two years, Bishop William Murphy has had to deal with revelations that almost two dozen Long Island priests sexually abused children over the past 30 years, as well as a scathing Suffolk County grand jury report that found the diocese tried to cover up the problem.
Dolan said recently that despite the controversies, "I think there are a lot of good works out there that are taking place in the diocese. I want to make sure that the message of those good works are effectively communicated to Catholics out there on Long Island."
• Springfield diocese settles abuse suit [1973-80 $US1.2m Weerts]
Chicago Tribune, www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-040721priests,1,7038756.story?coll=chi-news-hed ; The Associated Press, July 21, 2004
SPRINGFIELD (IL): The Catholic Diocese of Springfield recently settled a lawsuit brought by eight men who said they were sexually abused by a former priest in the 1970s.
Diocese spokeswoman Kathie Sass said Wednesday the men will share $1.2 million.
Five of the men filed suit against the diocese in Madison County in September 2003. The lawsuit alleged abuse by former priest Walter Weerts between 1973 and 1980 when he was pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Villa Grove. Three other men were added during the mediation process.
Weerts pleaded guilty in 1986 to three counts of sexual abuse in a case brought against him in Adams County. He served six years in prison and was removed from the priesthood in March 1989.
Bishop George Lucas said the agreement is part of an effort by the diocese to help heal the wounds caused by clergy sexual abuse.
• 'Face the music' [1970s Chumik] -- 200 avoid courts by crossing borders
Edmonton Sun, www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/EdmontonSun/News/2004/07/14/pf-538825.html , By DOUG BEAZLEY, July 14, 2004
CANADA: The federal government has no right to allow an accused child molester to hide from Canadian law in a California monastery, says federal Conservative justice critic Vic Toews.
Gerald Chumik, an ex-Albertan Catholic friar charged in 1990 with two child sex offences in Newfoundland dating from the 1970s, will be arrested should he ever attempt to cross back into Canada, federal authorities say.
But Chumik isn't going anywhere. The 69-year-old, who suffers from cancer and diabetes, has taken shelter with the Franciscan monastic order in a picturesque, 200-year-old mission complex overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Santa Barbara, California.
Toews said Ottawa owes it to all victims of child sexual abuse to extradite Chumik back to Canada to face the charges.
'SERIOUS CRIMES'
"These are serious crimes he's accused with," he said. "Maybe he's remorseful, but the key to remorse is owning up to the responsibility.
"This looks like a way of avoiding the consequences. He should come back and face the music."
Chumik was named this week by The Dallas Morning News as one of 200 priests, brothers and other religious workers who've avoided sex abuse allegations by leaving their home countries.
• Former seminary student skips town on indecency charge [1990s Patino-Arango]
KHOU, www.khou.com/news/local/stories/khou040721_cn_sexassault.fb7c2a6.html , By Jeff McShan / 11 News, July 21, 2004
HOUSTON (TX): A man charged with indecency with a child just before he was ordained as a priest is on the run. Now the families of his alleged Houston victims are outraged.
A former seminary student who was assigned to St. Francis De Sales Catholic Church in the mid-1990s is currently being sought by law enforcement.
The Harris County District Attorney's Office says Juan Carlos Patino-Arango was indicted on a felony criminal charge of indecency with a child in May. But it says he took off before a warrant could be served and he is still on the run.
Investigators believe Patino-Arango has fled the state and may be living in Tampa. The police department there is checking out several leads.
The alleged victim and another man have also filed a civil lawsuit against Patino-Arango, claiming he sexually molested them when they were in the 8th grade at St. Francis.
• Sins of Omission? [1996 Patino-Arango] -- allowed to flee to Colombia, now an apology.
Houston Press, www.houstonpress.com/issues/2004-07-22/news.html , BY CRAIG MALISOW, craig.malisow@houstonpress.com , July 22, 2004
HOUSTON (TX): The bishop's letter to the victim begins with a harrowing apology: I want to express my profound apology for any sexual abuse you suffered from Juan Carlos Patino.
Although Bishop Joseph Fiorenza of the Galveston-Houston Diocese wrote the letter last November, he was referring back to 1996. That's when, Fiorenza says in the letter, a 28-year-old seminarian molested a 15-year-old altar boy in the rectory of St. Francis de Sales Church.
In the letter, Fiorenza stresses that Patino-Arango "is not a priest and was not a priest at the time your parents reported the incident; he was a student for the priesthood, but as soon as the allegation was made by your parents, he was immediately dismissed from the seminary and he returned to Colombia, his native country."
Not so, says the victim's attorney, who has filed a lawsuit against Patino-Arango as well as Fiorenza and the Galveston-Houston Diocese. It accuses Fiorenza and the diocese of conspiring to cover up Patino-Arango's crimes and quietly shuttling him out of Houston.
"The co-conspirators facilitated Patino-Arango's flight from Texas; although they knew he was an important witness and potential target in Harris County," the suit states.
• Prosecutions urged [1970s]
Kansas City Star, www.kansascity.com/ mld/kansascity/news/ local/9194216.htm? ERIGHTS=- 670447 416726 6821428 kansascity:: kashaw@peoplepc.com&KRD_RM= 9ppppvquvyvyx psysyqqpppppp| Kathleen|Y , ~ July 21, 2004
KANSAS CITY (MO): The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests [SNAP] called on local prosecutors Monday to consider pressing charges against priests accused of years-old sexual abuses.
A news conference on Monday was spurred by a recent Missouri appeals court ruling that allowed charges to stand against a Catholic priest accused of sodomizing a boy in the 1970s. The court ruled that the case could proceed because there was no statute of limitations on forced sodomy at the time.
On Monday, outside the Jackson County Courthouse, members of Kansas City group urged local prosecutors to use the ruling to bring charges in any applicable cases.
Also, the group appealed to any victims of priests to come forward.
• Catholic Group Blasts Austrian Bishop [2003-04 Krenn]
KFMB, www.kfmb.com/topstory27413.html , July-20-2004
AUSTRIA: An influential Roman Catholic lay organization issued a fresh call Tuesday for the ouster of a bishop in charge of a seminary where officials found a large stash of pornography, including child porn, saying the scandal was damaging the church.
Also Tuesday, Pope John Paul II named a special inspector to investigate the allegations at the diocese of St. Poelten and its seminary.
"We Are the Church" [IMWAC], a lay group that claims to have more than 500,000 members and played a key role in revealing allegations of pedophilia against a former Austrian cardinal in 1995, again demanded the resignation of Bishop Kurt Krenn.
Krenn and "all others who are responsible for this unacceptable situation" must resign immediately, the organization said in a statement warning the affair was undermining confidence in the priesthood and church.
• Bishop Calls For Gay Priest Ban
GayWired.com ; www.gaywired.com/article.cfm?section=9&id=3597 , By Margo Williams, July.21.04
BOSTON, Massachusetts: Gays should be banned from serving as priests in the Roman Catholic Church, an Indiana bishop says.
Bishop John D'Arcy of Fort Wayne and South Bend was in Boston to attend Mass at Our Lady of the Presentation Church, in the Brighton neighborhood where he grew up.
In an interview with the Boston Globe, Bishop John D'Arcy said that the church must improve its screening process for accepting seminarians to keep gays from being ordained into the priesthood.
"It's time to ordain men of quality, not to just look for numbers," D'Arcy said, adding he hopes that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops will discuss screening policies for the seminary when it meets this fall, and will take a firm stance against homosexuals.
• Cardinal not in contempt, judge says [2004 Mahony, 1970s O'Grady]
Monterey Herald, www.montereyherald.com/mld/mcherald/news/state/9205783.htm , By GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press, ~ July 21, 2004
LOS ANGELES (CA): A judge declined Tuesday to hold Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony in contempt of court and deferred a decision on whether to compel the cardinal's testimony about alleged child molestation by a priest he supervised as bishop of Stockton.
Mahony, 68, now heads the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the largest in the nation.
The contempt motion targeting Mahony was filed June 29 in Alameda County Superior Court by attorneys representing seven plaintiffs. The plaintiffs claim they were abused by Oliver O'Grady, a former priest who worked in the Stockton diocese where Mahony was bishop from 1980 to 1985.
O'Grady was convicted in 1993 of child molestation for his abuse of two brothers. The Stockton diocese also paid the brothers $7.5 million in damages after a 1998 jury trial in which Mahony testified.
Attorneys want to depose Mahony in the latest lawsuits because they believe he knew O'Grady was a pedophile but still transferred and promoted him. Mahony has repeatedly said he has no knowledge of the Stockton cases in question because they occurred in the 1970s, years before he took over as bishop.
• Minister investigated in the past [1958-72 Peckham] -- Methodist, then Jubilee Christian Fellowship
Joplin Globe, www.joplinglobe.com/story.php?story_id=122398 , by Jeff Wells, Jul 21, 04
MISSOURI: United Methodist Church leaders in Kansas say they investigated allegations three years ago that Sarcoxie pastor Donald Peckham sexually abused children while ministering at four churches in that state from 1958 to 1972.
Peckham, 71, pastor of the Jubilee Christian Fellowship in Sarcoxie, remained in custody Tuesday at the Jasper County Jail in Carthage on a charge of second-degree statutory sodomy.
Prosecutors allege in the charge filed last Wednesday that Peckham molested a 14-year-old boy in 1996. He is being held on $15,000 bond.
When church officials in Kansas were told by an adult that Peckham had abused him as a child, they launched an internal investigation of the allegation.
The church held a series of congregational meetings in each of the communities where Peckham served.
"We were very concerned about the congregations where he served and this individual," said Lisa Diehl, spokeswoman for the churches.
• Two more allege sex abuse by priest [Urrutigoity, Ensey] -- Founders of Society of St. John. Homo tendencies of some seminaries known to bishop.
Times Leader, www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/9202097.htm , By MARK GUYDISH, markg@leader.net , ~ July 21, 2004
SCRANTON (PA): New court documents reveal two more witnesses who say they were molested by the Rev. Carlos Urrutigoity, one of two priests at the center of a lawsuit alleging sexual misconduct by the priests and negligence by the Scranton Diocese, former Bishop James Timlin and others.
Also, the records reveal the former bishop showed a rarely seen flare of temper during a deposition in the civil suit. And he admitted some seminaries have reputations for alleged homosexual activity.
The new details were made public in a flood of paperwork filed by James Bendell, the attorney for a man identified only as John Doe. Doe says he was sexually assaulted by Urrutigoity and the Rev. Eric Ensey, founding members of the Society of St. John in Shohola, Pike County.
In opposing a legal effort to remove Timlin and the diocese from the case, Bendell filed more than 150 pages of Timlin's deposition, taken shortly after the bishop retired in October. Among other things, Bendell was trying to prove that Timlin made no effort to investigate the two priests' backgrounds before letting them set up in the diocese.
Timlin's temper spiked when asked about a letter he had written to Jeffrey Bond, a relentless critic of the Society of St. John. Timlin said Bendell had taken part of that letter "out of context ... to support this erroneous and inaccurate betrayal." He then asked Bendell for an apology.
• Sinners in Priests' Clothing
Deutsche Welle radio, www.dw-world. de/english/0,33 67,1433_A_1272 883_1_A,00. html?mpb=en , July 21, 2004
GERMANY: Sexual abuse allegations of minors by clerics surface regularly. Experts say that the problem is not specifically church-related, but disagree whether church leaders deal with the issue appropriately.
Whether in Austria, Australia, England or the US: Sexual abuse of children seems to be on the rise in church settings. It doesn't only happen there, but as societal role models and upkeepers of moral values, church leaders struggle to deal with the problem. As a result, many cases don't become public until state prosecutors start investigating.
Still, the question remains why sexual abuse of children seems to happen so frequently in church settings.
"Some are simply sick," says Wunibald Müller, who heads a counselling center for priests in distress in the northern Bavarian town of Münsterschwarzach. Müller adds that some clerics also just misinterpret celibacy and never came to terms with their own sexuality.
"They've fallen behind in the psycho-sexual development," he says. "And as a result, 30-year old men are still looking for contacts with 14-year-olds."
Fleeing into celibacy
Some clerics even realize that they have pedophile tendencies and believe that a celibate life will be the safest way for them to combat the desire.
"But you cannot solve such problems by suppressing them," says Tim Schmidt, the Protestant spokesman of an ecumenical initiative called "Church from Below."
Neither Müller nor Schmidt argue that celibacy should be abandoned in the Catholic Church.
"Celibacy isn't the cause of the problem," Müller maintains. Schmidt adds that Protestant churches also have a problem with sexual abuse even though their clerics are not required to abstain from sex. ...
• Bishop Investigates Austrian Sex Scandal [2003-04]
Deutsche Welle radio, www.dw-world.de/english/0,3367,1433_A_1272938,00.html , AFP, Jul 21, 2004
AUSTRIA: A bishop apppointed by the pope to probe a sex scandal rocking the Roman Catholic church in Austria said Wednesday he had begun investigating allegations of pornography and sex acts at a seminary outside Vienna.
"We will begin now," Bishop Klaus Küng told reporters after arriving in St. Pölten, where priests at the local seminary stand accused of having sex with students.
Küng, the bishop of Feldkirchen in eastern Austria, was appointed by Pope John Paul II to lead the probe on Tuesday.
The Vatican intervened a day after a 27-year-old Polish student priest was charged with possessing some 10,000 pornographic photographs.
Prosecutor Walter Nemec said many of the photographs showed sex with minors and the suspect faced up to six months in jail if convicted.
He said an inquiry would be held into two anonymous complaints of sexual harassment of minors targeting some priests at St. Pölten, where the director of the seminary and his deputy have already resigned. [...]
The arch-conservative bishop of St. Pölten, Kurt Krenn, initially dismissed these activities as "pranks."
However when Profil also reported that police had found up to 40,000 pornographic images, including scenes of sex with children and animals, calls mounted for the bishop's dismissal.
On Tuesday Krenn, who is also notorious for slamming Islam, welcomed the Pope's decision to order an investigation before leaving St. Pölten to go on holiday, the local news agency APA reported.
The scandal is the most sordid to hit the Catholic Church here since Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer was forced to resign from his Vienna archbishopric in 1995 over allegations he had molested young boys.
APA on Wednesday said the first whiff of scandal from St. Pölten came in October last year when a student at the seminary was found drowned in the Danube canal. The police at the time said they could not exclude foul play. #
• In my opinion: Donn Christiansen, Peter F. Carlich
The Oregonian, www.oregonlive.com/commentary/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/editorial/109041127334340.xml , ~ July 21, 2004
PORTLAND (OR): When the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland became the first diocese in American history to seek bankruptcy protection, many things were put in motion. One was the formation of our committee. We are members of the Tort Claimant Creditors' Committee, appointed by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. We are victims of sexual abuse.
Each of us was sexually abused by a different archdiocese priest. Now we have come together as members of this committee to work on behalf of all victims of abuse by archdiocese priests. Our function and goal is to contribute to this process being fair, open and equitable.
To that end, we call on Archbishop John G. Vlazny, his attorneys, professional advisers and staff to do the following:
First and foremost, make good on your often-stated intention to help in the healing of all of the victims who were sexually abused by priests of your diocese. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 08:12 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Wed July 21, 2004
Religions' sex abuse Chronology, visit: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont89.htm
• Pope names bishop to look into scandal at Austrian seminary. [2003-04]
Catholic News, http://www.cathnews.com/news/407/113.php , Jul 21, 2004
VATICAN CITY: Pope John Paul II has appointed a special investigator to gather information on the pornography and sex scandal in an Austrian seminary.
In a one-line statement, the Vatican announced on Tuesday that the Holy Father is sending Austrian Bishop Klaus Kung of Feldkirch, a member of Opus Dei, as apostolic visitor to the Diocese of Sankt Polten and the seminary there.
An apostolic visitation is a formal Vatican investigation into a particular, usually serious, problem in a local church, diocese or religious order. The visitor's mandate generally involves investigating and evaluating facts and reporting back to the Holy See, possibly with recommendations for a course of action.
The seminary in Sankt Polten, 80 kilometres west of Vienna, was the subject of international media attention last week when Austrian media published pictures of priests and students engaged in sexual acts. Austrian authorities said the images had been found along with more than 40,000 photos and videos, which included child pornography, on seminary computers.
On Monday state prosecutors charged a 27-year-old Polish seminarian with possession and distribution of child pornography, which under a new law in Austria carries a maximum two-year prison sentence and a fine.
Though Austrian authorities are continuing their investigation into those responsible for the downloading and storage of child pornography, the Vatican has responded with its own inquiry.
Passionist Fr Ciro Benedettini, a Vatican spokesman, said an apostolic visitation is "a pastoral visit, not a juridical one."
"It's to understand what has happened; it's done when things are not clear," he told Catholic News Service.
Once enough information has been gathered, the apostolic visitor will draw up a report "to give to the Vatican and from that the pope will then make a decision" on how to act, Fr Benedettini explained.
SOURCE: Pope names bishop to look into scandal at Austrian seminary (Catholic News Service 20/7/04)
LINKS:
Other Pontifical Acts (Vatican Information Service 20/7/04)
Vatican sends investigator to Austrian diocese (Catholic World News 20/7/04)
Pope Names Investigator for Austrian Sex Scandal (Reuters 20/7/04)
Vatican Enters Austria Seminary Dispute (The Guardian/Associated Press 20/7/04)
Austrian chancellor incensed by priest sex scandal (Reuters 17/7/04)
Austrian bishops await Vatican move on scandal (Catholic World News 16/7/04)
St. Pölten and Gomorrah? (Weinerzeitung.at 20/7/04)
Vatican investigates Austrian child porn scandal (Associated Press/MSNBC 20/7/04)
Austria probes seminary sex claims (CathNews 13/7/04)
Priests 'In Orgy' at Seminary (The Scotsman 12/7/04)
Reporting from Peru; Clergy sex abuse reports rock Europe (National Catholic Reporter 16/7/04)
California's Catholic bishops endorse challenge to abuse claims law (Associated Press/Sacramento Bee 17/7/04)
Blessed are the bankrupt (The Tablet 17/7/04)
Bishops back constitutional challenge to California sex abuse law (Catholic News Service 15/7/04)
HAVE YOUR SAY Click here [Jul 21, 04]
• Another top Salesian speaks to The Age.
Catholic News, http://www.cathnews.com/news/407/114.php , Jul 21, 2004
ROME: Former Salesian Provincial Fr Julian Fox has spoken to The Age newspaper from Rome, denying wrongdoing and saying he could not remember the former students who compained about his alleged actions.
Fr Fox, a linguist now working at the Salesians' headquarters in Rome, has been accused by two Melbourne complainants of sex abuse at the Catholic order's Rupertswood College at Sunbury.
In one case, which was settled in 2000 with an express denial of liability and to avoid litigation, $35,600 was paid to a man who alleged he had been sexually and/or physically assaulted by Fr Fox between 1978 and 1979.
But Fr Fox, who for six years was Provincial of the 115-member Salesian order in Australia and the Pacific, told The Age from Rome: "I have never, ever abused a young person in those sorts of ways."
He also said he could not now recall the names of his accusers and could not remember them when first told of the allegations.
"You teach thousands of kids, sure, some stick in your mind for things they have done . . ."
Fr Ian Murdoch, the Melbourne-based head of the Salesians, said the case was "tragic" because the accuser was not believed at first and went on to a life of drugs and jail.
Fr Murdoch has also revealed a second allegation involving Fr Fox, where the father of an alleged victim wanted to pursue a case but his son did not.
Fr Murdoch flew to Fiji, where Fr Fox was the Salesian rector from 1999 until earlier this year, to confront him with the claims. He said Fr Fox agreed to psychological tests, the results of which were not conclusive but raised serious questions about Fr Fox.
Fr Fox said the tests were to determine if he was of sound body and mind, not to determine truth or the lack of it, as he had not committed an offence.
However, he agreed to go to Rome where he took the test again and was cleared.
Fr Fox accused the media of "inventing" when reporting the allegations against him. "We are in a climate where people can certainly make allegations . . . Being a priest in today's climate, I guess it is always a possibility.
"I have steadfastly maintained that it is not an accurate accusation," Fr Fox said.
Asked why the Salesians paid tens of thousands of dollars to the alleged victim, Fr Fox said: "The process of the church is that the circumstances of the person making allegations are taken into account . . . and the church bends over backwards to give them assistance."
He said he had not taken legal action to clear his name because he did not want to embroil his order or the alleged victim in such an ordeal.
SOURCE: Accused priest likens case to Christ (The Age 21/7/04)
LINKS
Salesians ponder big picture (The Age 20/7/04)
Salesian provincial speaks on sex-abuse scandal (Catholic World News 19/7/04)
Mission to defrock sex abuser (The Age 19/7/04)
Salesian Provincial breaks silence on sex abuse (CathNews 19/7/04)
Salesian principal faces abuse claim (CathNews 15/7/04)
Allegation causes principal to stand aside (ABC North & West SA 14/7/04)
Salesian priest leaves Samoa (CathNews 9/7/04)
Salesian Works in Samoa: Moamoa Theological College
Convicted priest continues direct contact with children (Samoa News/Tala Nei News)
Shelter for the shamed? (The Australian 6/7/04)
Abuser 'not moved to avoid police' (CathNews 1/7/04)
Priest warned students of perils ahead (The Age 1/7/04)
Probe into sex abuse of wards (Daily Telegraph 1/7/04)
Samoa considers deporting priests (The Age 30/6/04)
Salesians 'knew of Klep allegations' (CathNews 29/6/04)
Salesian arrested at Melbourne Airport (CathNews 28/6/04)
Counting the cost of a priest's bad faith (The Age 26/6/04)
Father Klep refused bail (ABC Radio PM 25/6/04)
Father Klep back in Australia (ABC Radio The World Today 25/6/04)
Priest charged with sex offences (AAP/The Age 25/6/04)
Paedophile priest refused bail (Herald-Sun 25/6/04)
Paedophile priest arrested in Melbourne (ABC Lateline 25/6/04)
Catholic Priest Arrested in Australia (The Guardian/Associated Press 25/6/04)
Accused child sex priest in jail (The Australian 26/6/04)
Customs lets wanted priest pass (The Age 25/6/04)
Catholic Priest Arrested in Australia (Associated Press/Bucks County Courier-Times)
Fr Klep being deported from Samoa (CathNews 25/6/04)
Sex priest to return to Melbourne (The Age 25/6/04)
Priest given 48 hours to flee (The Australian 25/6/04)
Church accused of hiding pedophile priest (Sydney Morning Herald 25/6/04)
The Salesian Congregation rejects the accusations in "The Dallas Morning News": we condemn every kind of child abuse (ANS Salesian News Agency 21/6/04)
Samoa's pedophile anger (The Australian 23/6/04)
Church compounds the sins of the fathers (The Age 23/6/04)
Pedophile priest stays out of reach (The Age 22/6/04)
Australian Salesians
Austrian chancellor incensed by priest sex scandal (Reuters 17/7/04)
Reporting from Peru; Clergy sex abuse reports rock Europe (National Catholic Reporter 16/7/04)
California's Catholic bishops endorse challenge to abuse claims law (Associated Press/Sacramento Bee 17/7/04)
Blessed are the bankrupt (The Tablet 17/7/04)
Bishops back constitutional challenge to California sex abuse law (Catholic News Service 15/7/04)
Austrian bishops await Vatican move on scandal (Catholic World News 16/7/04)
Bishop urges gay ban in clergy (Boston Globe 19/7/04)
Don't Ordain Homosexuals, Says Indiana Bishop (Zenit 19/7/04)
Anti-Homophobia Legislation Could Stifle Free Speech, Warn Bishops (Zenit 19/7/04)
HAVE YOUR SAY Click here [Jul 21, 04]
• Accused priest likens case to Christ. [1978-79 Fox]
The Age (Melbourne, Australia), http://www.theage.com.au/text/articles/2004/07/20/1090089157176.html , By Martin Daly, page 6, July 21 2004
ROME: A former top-ranking Salesian priest, Father Julian Fox, who has been banished from the Australian province over sex abuse allegations, has denied any wrongdoing and has compared his case to that of an unjustly accused Jesus Christ.
Father Fox, a linguist now working at the Salesians' headquarters in Rome, has been accused by two Melbourne complainants of sex abuse at the Catholic order's Rupertswood College at Sunbury.
In one case, which was settled in 2000 with an express denial of liability and to avoid litigation, $35,600 was paid to a man who alleged he had been sexually and/or physically assaulted by Father Fox between 1978 and 1979.
But Father Fox, who for six years was provincial of the 115-member Salesian order in Australia and the Pacific, told The Age from Rome: "I have never, ever abused a young person in those sorts of ways."
He also said he could not now recall the names of his accusers and could not remember them when first told of the allegations. "You teach thousands of kids, sure, some stick in your mind for things they have done . . ." But the alleged victims did not come to mind.
Asked why he would have become the target of false accusations, Father Fox said Jesus was probably asking himself the same question on the cross. "It is the same situation . . . to be falsely accused," he said.
The mother of the man who received the settlement told The Age: "He's a liar . . . he has ruined my son's life."
Father Ian Murdoch, the Melbourne-based head of the Salesians, said the case was "tragic" because the accuser was not believed at first and went on to a life of drugs and jail.
Father Murdoch has also revealed a second allegation involving Father Fox, where the father of an alleged victim wanted to pursue a case but his son did not.
Father Murdoch flew to Fiji, where Father Fox was the Salesian rector from 1999 until earlier this year, to confront him with the claims. He said Father Fox agreed to psychological tests, the results of which were not conclusive but raised serious questions about Father Fox.
Father Fox said the tests were to determine if he was of sound body and mind, not to determine truth or the lack of it, as he had not committed an offence.
However, he agreed to go to Rome where he took the test again and was cleared.
Father Fox accused the media of "inventing" when reporting the allegations against him. "We are in a climate where people can certainly make allegations . . . Being a priest in today's climate, I guess it is lways a possibility.
"I have steadfastly maintained that it is not an accurate accusation," Father Fox said.
Asked why the Salesians paid tens of thousands of dollars to the alleged victim, Father Fox said:
"The process of the church is that the circumstances of the person making allegations are taken into account . . . and the church bends over backwards to give them assistance."
He said he had not taken legal action to clear his name because he did not want to embroil his order or the alleged victim in such an ordeal.
"To me the whole thing has been a spiritual saga," he said. (By courtesy of Broken Rites, Australia) [July 21 2004]
• Bishop denies claim of sex abuse cover-up.
The Australian, by Daniel Hoare, Rory Callinan, Michael Davis, Pg. 5 in NSW & Vic editions, Wednesday, July 21, 2004
MELBOURNE, (Victoria) Australia: A high-profile Victorian Catholic bishop has denied he covered up allegations of sexual abuse against a Melbourne Salesian priest. The mother of an alleged abuse victim has accused Ballarat bishop Peter Connors of failing to properly investigate claims of abuse at the Salesian College at Rupertswood.
The woman, who did not want to be named, said she and her husband had contacted Bishop Connors -- then the vicar-general of the Melbourne archdiocese -- in 1986 after her son complained he had been abused by priests at the all-boys boarding school at Sunbury, north of Melbourne.
She said Bishop Connors "didn't give them much of a hearing" after she and her husband drove 250km to Melbourne from their home in Wagga Wagga, southern NSW.
"We met him in his office near the cathedral and he said he had nephews or relatives at the school and would check it out," she said. "We explained as much as we knew. He said he didn't think there could be too much wrong with the school because it was one of the better ones."
Bishop Connors told The Australian yesterday he had no recollection of the alleged meeting.
The alleged victim's mother said she waited several weeks after her meeting with Bishop Connors, heard nothing further and then contacted the then bishop of Wagga Wagga, William Brennan, who moved "very quickly" and had the priest at the centre of her son's allegations removed.
The mother said her son left for Rupertswood in the late 1970s as a bright and happy boy, only to come back aggressive and unhappy.
"It was only after I spoke to his brother that we realised what may have happened and we contacted the church," she said. (By courtesy of Broken Rites, Australia) [Jul 21, 04]
ANCHOR LIST (After reading an article, use Browser's "Back" button to return to Anchor List)
* Innocence = "Innocence Lost," Philadelphia Weekly, http://philadelphiaweekly.com/cover . PENNSYLVANIA: An early summer sun seeps into the visitors' room at Norristown State Hospital, a sprawling 124-year-old psychiatric institution in Montgomery County. Brian McDonnell and a trio of visitors sit around a long wooden table. [CSAT Id 005034] By Mike Newall, [approx. July 14, 2004]
* Poelten = Sankt Poelten seminary record of homosexual actions between priest leaders and student priests in Austria -- "The Catholic Church's Abu Ghraib," Cruxnews, www.cruxnews.com/rose/rose-16july04.html . [CSAT Id 005047] UNITED STATES: By author Michael S. Rose, 16 July 2004
* Salesian = Salesian leader's "Mission to defrock sex abuser," The Age, www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/07/18/1090089040217.html?oneclick=true , By Martin Daly, page 1, July 19, 2004. AUSTRALIA : The Pope has defrocked a Salesian priest described as "an offender of the worst kind" following an extraordinary mission to Rome by the Melbourne head of the order, Father Ian Murdoch.
or click Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse for current on-line
The Boston Globe Spotlight http://www.boston.com/globe/spotlight/abuse
The Needle periodically, and books: pbpress@iinet.net.au W. Australia
References at: www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethicscontents.htm
Overview at: www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/minilist.htm
Books: www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/carnalbooks.htm
Buy Fidelity magazine www.j23.com.au Australia
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