Clergy Child Molesters (91) — References/Chronology

• Quincy canon lawyer tackles defrock duty -- Roman Catholic Church. U.S.A. flag; Mooney's MiniFlags  Vatican City flag; Mooney's MiniFlags 
   Boston Herald, http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=38066 , By Eric Convey, Sunday, August 1, 2004
   QUINCY (MA): The popular pastor of St. Ann's parish in Quincy is headed to Rome to take part in one of the Roman Catholic Church's most delicate tasks.
   Monsignor Robert P. Deeley, a canon lawyer, is being loaned to the Vatican agency that will handle the defrocking of priests. Deeley's specific job at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith over the next year will be helping to work through a backlog of cases involving allegations of clergy sexual abuse.
   "I've been asked to do a task by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Archbishop O'Malley and I'm doing it," Deeley said.
   Asked if he considered the assignment a weighty one, Deeley said: "When asked to do something in the service of the church, it's always important."
   He said he was leaving a "wonderful" assignment at St. Ann's.
   Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley noted his decision to send Deeley to the Vatican in an interview in this week's edition of the archdiocese's newspaper, The Pilot. (This is the first of the Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse , for Sunday, August 01, 2004. )
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INTENTION: A challenge to RELIGIONS to PROTECT CHILDREN
Series starts: www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethicscontents.htm   Visit http://www.ncrnews.org/abuse
Sources JavaScript Kit and www.aftinet.org.au/campaigns/signonconfirm.html
   INCOMPLETE LINKS: Refer back to "References 61" for methods of obtaining the URLs.
• Inspired by a priest's plea: 'I'm in trouble' -- RCC
   Portland Press Herald, http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/audience/stories/040801booksq&a.shtml , By RAY ROUTHIER, Sunday, August 1, 2004
   MAINE: Peter Mars got a call one day from a Catholic priest in Boston. The priest asked Mars to meet with him, saying, "I'm in trouble."
   The priest and Mars had worked together on the Maine Irish Children's Program, which brought Catholic and Protestant children from Northern Ireland to Maine for summer vacation. The priest had been a chaplain with the Boston Police.
   The priest was in a Boston pub, drunk, when Mars met him. He told Mars about his affair with a married woman, and about the woman's tragic death.
   The priest knew Mars had written books based on real events, and he wanted Mars to write his story, as a form of penance and as a warning to other priests.
   So Mars wrote the book "The Chaplain" (Commonwealth Publishing, $19.95), which came out in June. The book tells the story in great detail, but Mars said he has changed all the names. He calls the priest "Father Mike."
   Mars, 61, worked in law enforcement for 34 years, including jobs with the Metro Police in Massachusetts and the Kennebec County Sheriff's Department in Maine. He's written eight books, including three other "true crime" books. He lives in North Monmouth.
   Q: What did Father Mike tell you when you met him in that pub?
   A: I went up to him and he was drunk and I said to myself, "Gee whiz this has got to be bad." So I said, "Mike, one question, does this have anything to do with kids."
   He said "Kids? Oh no, no, nothing to do with kids."
   Then he told me how he had an affair with a married woman, about 18 years his junior. Mike was savvy to a lot of things, but for a guy in his 40s (at the time of the affair) he was not very savvy to affairs of the heart.
   The woman was being brutally beaten by her husband, so Mike started out counseling her. The husband, who had been arrested several times, started suspecting something. So he started stalking his wife.
   He (the husband) ended up killing her. This just about killed Mike.
   Q: Why did Father Mike want you to write this?
   A: Two reasons. He was so destroyed by it, he thought God was getting back at him for breaking his vows. So this was a form of penance. Second, he wanted to warn other priests not to do this. But he didn't want to embarrass anybody, the senior priests he served, the people he worked with, the people who came to him with their problems.
   Q: What sort of reaction have you gotten from people who read the book?
   A: Almost everyone who has read the book has loved it. More people say they understand where he's coming from, how naive he was. But there's an attorney in Augusta, who reads all my books. He hated it. He said he hated what the priest did to the church.  ... ( Staff Writer Ray Routhier can be contacted at 791-6454 or at: rrouthier@pressherald.com ) [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 09:45 AM]
• Polygamists defend lifestyle: Commune and town of Creston co-exist in a delicate economic balance -- Polygamy sect. Canada flag; Mooney's MiniFlags 
   Calgary Sun, www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/CalgarySun/News/2004/08/01/565065.html , By MIKE D'AMOUR, Sun, August 1, 2004
   CRESTON, B.C, Canada -- Winston K. Blackmore has 26 wives. Or 27, 29 or even more depending on who's telling the story. The 47-year-old polygamist himself would only allow he had "less than 20," a number sneered at as low by those who claim inside knowledge of Blackmore's affairs.
   "Having more than one wife is totally normal," argued Blackmore, who reckons he has between "30 and 40" brothers and sisters through different relationships his dad had with wives, or "sister-wives," as they call each other.
   "I'm a product of this religion and this is my lifestyle."
   Until recently, Blackmore -- self-proclaimed Bishop of Bountiful, a community of about 1,000 just south of Creston, B.C. -- was near omnipotent.
   The man, rumoured to have at least 30 wives and more than 100 kids, was chief executive officer of all Bountiful's business interests and trustee of 320 hectares of property. He controlled all the cash and most aspects of the lives of his Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS) followers, which is not connected to the mainstream Mormon Church. [...]
   ... the recent announcement by B.C. General Attorney Geoff Plant that a special law-enforcement task force has been appointed to look into charges of sexual exploitation, child abuse and forced marriages of young women to men who are sometimes three times their age. [...]
   Ruth Palmer is one of several wives of a Bountiful man and said the recent allegations are unfounded.
   "I know of no mistreated children in Bountiful," the 42-year-old Creston garden centre owner told the Sun.
   Palmer said members of her community are liked and well-respected by those in Creston. "We love who we are and we're not involved in sick orgies," she said.
   Wild sex is just one of the misconceptions about the polygamist lifestyle, added Marlene Palmer. "The thought that we women are subservient is also a myth," she said.
• Order must talk on abuse: author -- RCC. Salesians. Australia flag; Aust. Nat. Flag Assn. 
   The Age (Melbourne), www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/08/01/1091298576363.html , By Martin Daly, August 2, 2004
   AUSTRALIA: Author and lateral thinker Michael Hewitt-Gleeson yesterday took the first step in a campaign to force the Catholic order of Salesian priests and brothers to speak out about the brutalisation of generations of students at the notorious college, Rupertswood, in Sunbury, by launching a stinging attack on the ethics of the order.
   Dr Hewitt-Gleeson, who founded the School of Thinking with Professor Edward de Bono and wrote the bestseller Software for the Brain, has written to the Catholic Primate of Australia, Cardinal George Pell, and the Papal ambassador, the Apostolic Nuncio, detailing alleged abuse by Catholic priests and brothers and a brutal assault on him when he was eight years old.
   He was left, he says, with "corrugated welts on my bottom, which were wet with the blood that began oozing from the bruises and broken skin".
   "Assault ran rife at Rupertswood. Not many people know that Ronald Ryan, the last man hanged in Victoria, was also a victim of Rupertswood," he said in a public statement yesterday. One Salesian priest was recently defrocked by the Pope at the request of the order's Australian leader, Father Ian Murdoch, for sex abuse against students at Rupertswood, outside Melbourne, while others have been convicted of sex crimes at various Salesian institutions, notably Rupertswood.
• Troubling reality of child sex abuse comes to light: Parents can learn as result of recent allegations -- teachers, coach, pastor. U.S.A. flag; Mooney's MiniFlags
   Coloradoan, www.coloradoan.com/news/stories/20040801/news/956600.html , By COURTNEY LINGLE, CourtneyLingle@coloradoan.com , Sunday, August 1, 2004
   COLORADO: A number of high-profile cases in Larimer County is dredging up an issue that tends to lie dormant because of its taboo status. And as the courts scrutinize the behavior of those who have been charged with sex crimes against children, local authorities say the publicity is helping shed light on a problem that's more common than most people want to admit.
   In the past nine months, the cases that have made headlines include accusations against a local junior high school teacher, a Loveland substitute elementary school teacher, a former Fort Collins youth coach and a former Fort Collins pastor. All are accused of sexually assaulting children and using their position to gain access to their victims.
   "People do not want to hear about bad things that happen to kids," said Fort Collins police Detective Ginger Mohs, who works in the Crimes Against Persons unit. "It's not pleasant, but we have a responsibility as a community to pay attention to what's happening to kids and help them." [...]
   A former Fort Collins charter school board member last week pleaded guilty to one felony count of distribution and one misdemeanor count of possession of sexually exploitative material involving a child. In exchange for his guilty plea, four felony and four misdemeanor counts of sexual exploitation were dropped. The charges were brought after police found 2,500 images of child pornography on his home computer in April.
• Troubles dogging polygamy prophet [Jeffs] -- Polygamy sect.
   The Arizona Republic, www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0801polygamy-analysis.html , Joseph A. Reaves, Aug. 1, 2004
   HILDALE, Utah -The surveillance cameras around his walled compound are gone. But everywhere the prophet looks these days, he sees trouble.
   From southern Canada to northern Arizona and western Texas, authorities and activists are intensifying their investigations into the inner workings of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its self-proclaimed prophet, Warren Jeffs.
   In the past few days:
* Jeffs was accused in a lawsuit of sodomizing his then-5-year-old nephew and covering up serial child molestations by fellow church leaders for decades. In a statement Friday, he denied the allegation.
* Texas authorities cited FLDS officials for 29 environmental violations at a compound the church is building on a remote ranch in the western part of the state.
* The attorney general of British Columbia organized a task force to look into allegations of sexual exploitation, child abuse and forced marriages at an FLDS community near the Canadian-U.S. border.
* Dozens of young men and boys who were chased out of the FLDS so older men could have a better pick of young brides have taken the unprecedented step of going public with their stories and appealing for help.
* Rumors have circulated that one of Jeffs' dozens of wives may have run away into protective custody.
   Amid the whirlwind of events, Jeffs seems to have disappeared and his carefully crafted world appears to be teetering.
   The prophet was never one to mingle with the masses. He doesn't give interviews and always travels with a phalanx of bodyguards.
   Several months ago, Jeffs took his privacy to a new level, erecting an 8-foot cinderblock wall around his home along West Utah Street and mounting surveillance cameras atop the ramparts.
   Those cameras were gone last week and the compound was quiet.
   "We think he's down in Texas and he took the cameras with him for his new place," said Sam Brower, a private investigator who has been monitoring Jeffs and the FLDS for five years.
   No one knows for sure, but circumstantial evidence indicates Jeffs may, indeed, be living on a 1,691-acre ranch near the tiny town of Eldorado in west Texas.  ...
• Details From Secret Priest Files Disclosed: L.A. Archdiocese had resisted turning over the material on clerics accused of sex abuse -- RCC. > 500 complainants.
   Los Angeles Times, www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-priests1aug01,1,4585293.story?coll=la-headlines-california ; By Jean Guccione, August 1, 2004
   LOS ANGELES (CA): Lawyers for Cardinal Roger M. Mahony are now providing plaintiffs' attorneys information about confidential church personnel files on priests accused of sexual misconduct.
   Those files have been sought in court for more than a year by both prosecutors and the lawyers who have sued the Los Angeles Archdiocese on behalf of more than 500 victims claiming abuse by priests.
   Mahony's lawyers argued that the documents were protected by the 1st Amendment right of religious freedom and numerous laws, including those covering communications between lawyers and their clients, psychotherapists and their patients, and penitents and their confessors.
   Attorney Jeffrey Anderson of St. Paul, Minn., said the prolonged legal fights over disclosure of the files are typical. Courts in at least 13 states have ordered documents contained in secret priest files to be disclosed, he said. The court in just one state, Wisconsin, has ruled for the church.
   To avoid what they contend would be confidentiality breaches, Mahony's lawyers have agreed after months of mediation to compile summaries of documents contained in more than 100 confidential priest files being sought in the civil cases.
   Advocates for victims say the internal church documents - like those disclosed in Boston and other U.S. dioceses - could provide new insights into how Mahony and other high-ranking church officials responded to complaints from parents, parishioners and others that priests were sexually abusing minors. Some plaintiffs have said they will refuse to resolve their claims until they see the confidential files on their abusers.
   Confidential files played an important role in the outcome of a 1998 trial involving a former Stockton priest who Mahony supervised when he was bishop there, according to plaintiffs' lawyers. They introduced evidence from the priest's confidential file - a 1976 letter of apology by the priest to the family of an 11-year-old girl he admitted molesting. The jury awarded $30 million to two brothers who said they were molested by the same priest, Father Oliver Francis O'Grady, years after the letter was written. Mahony testified that he was unaware of the letter, which was written four years before he became bishop of Stockton.
   The Catholic Church has acknowledged that it sometimes compiles two separate sets of files: one standard personnel file and another once known as "sub secreto," which can contain the sensitive information.
   Irvine attorney Katherine K. Freberg has viewed 15 secret files as part of lawsuits. She said they provide a more complete picture of the accused priests than separate personnel files that church officials are more likely to disclose.
   "When you look at the personnel file, you would think the priest was on his way to becoming the next bishop," Freberg said. "Then when you finally get the secret archive file … it shows multiple allegations against the priest, psychological reports diagnosing the priest as a pedophile and sham investigations by the diocese."
   Disclosure of such files is "crucial for understanding the persistent dangerous decision-making patterns of the hierarchy," said David Clohessy, executive director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests [SNAP]. "If there is nothing in those files, show us for heaven's sake, and that would go a long way to restoring trust in the leadership" of the church.
   Mahoney's spokesman, Tod Tamberg, said the fight over releasing the documents is "about principle."
   In some cases, Tamberg said, the files will show that the archdiocese acted responsibly by referring accused priests to treatment or removing them from ministry.
   "The accused is presumed guilty regardless of the tenuousness of the accusation and the burden of proving innocence is shifted to the accused," he said.
   By contrast, Orange Bishop Tod D. Brown has handed over all the documents in any file, except for psychotherapy reports.
   So far, Mahony has resisted handing over confidential priest personnel files to criminal prosecutors. Retired Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Thomas Nuss is expected to rule soon on whether prosecutors are entitled to the files.
   In the civil cases, Mahony's lawyers are voluntarily providing a judge with summaries of documents in the confidential files, including information about when church officials learned of alleged abuses and how they responded. After he has reviewed the summaries, the judge has been turning them over to lawyers for the plaintiffs.
   None of the new information has been made public.
   Patrick J. Schiltz, a law professor at the University of St. Thomas who once defended churches in molestation cases, voiced concern for the way some plaintiffs' lawyers have tried to make the mere existence of secret church files "sound dark and sinister … [involving] some dark cabal of evil cardinals."
   But plaintiffs' lawyers cite internal church documents showing that bishops were under orders from the Vatican until 2001 to require those involved in the investigations, including the accuser and witnesses, to take vows of secrecy. There was a threat of excommunication from the Catholic Church for those who even revealed that the papal order existed, according to Richard Sipe, a former Benedictine monk and national expert on sexual abuse in the Catholic Church who acts as a consultant to plaintiffs' attorneys.
   Freberg said she was unaware that there was a second, secret archive file until she was told by a lawyer for the diocese of Orange in 1998 that she would never see the one they kept on Msgr. Michael A. Harris, who was accused of molesting 12 high school boys.
   She began a legal fight to open the files for litigation. Eventually plaintiffs' lawyers got the file, which included a confidential 12-page psychological evaluation diagnosing Harris with same-sex paraphilia and ephebophilia - a sexual attraction to adolescent boys - and sexual deviance.
   Harris, the former principal at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, has denied the allegations. He left the priesthood as part of a 2001 settlement with one of his accusers. The dioceses of Los Angeles and Orange also paid $5.2 million to the victim. # [Emphasis added]
   [COMMENT: The claim that the secrecy order was valid "until 2001" is probably incorrect, in spite of a Vatican statement to that effect on August 7, 2003. US canon law experts were seeking guidance on the 1962 secrecy document, the Instructio Crimen sollicitationis, in Rome with Vatican experts on February 7 2002. Also, it is quoted on the Vatican website in Epistula Graviora Delicta of May 18, 2001 as still being operational. The latter document is still included on a list of Disciplinary Documents at http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/doc_dis_index.htm (accessed 02 August 2004). COMMENT ENDS.]
• Oregon archdiocese takes a page from corporate playbook -- RCC.
   Chicago Tribune, www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0408010031aug01,1,5052842.story?coll=chi-business-hed ; By Susan Chandler, Tribune staff reporter. Freelance reporter Dan Cook contributed to this report from Portland; Published August 1, 2004
   PORTLAND (OR): The Roman Catholic Church in Portland, Ore., has more in common these days with corporate giants such as Dow Corning Corp. and Texaco Inc. than it does with its Methodist or Baptist neighbors.
   When the Portland archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in early July, it was trying to protect itself from hundreds of millions of dollars in damages sought by people who claim they were sexually abused by priests. It's the same strategy often used by corporations faced with legal judgments they can't afford to--or don't think they should have to--pay.
   "It's not unheard of for a religious institution to seek refuge in bankruptcy court, but this is still highly unusual," said James Sprayregen, one of the nation's top bankruptcy lawyers. "This case is going to be watched very closely."
   Anytime an institution gambles on Chapter 11 to solve its problems, the outcome is far from certain. Occasionally, management loses control of the firm, and sometimes the firm can't be saved. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 09:23 AM]
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont91.htm
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Sun August 01, 2004
• 'Text from God' cleric jailed for death tryst. [2004 Fossmo] -- ? Pentecostal (or Lutheran?). Women, Man. Sweden flag; Mooney's MiniFlags 
   The Sunday Times (Perth, W. Australia), by Simon Johnson, p 36, August 1, 2004
   STOCKHOLM: A Lutheran pastor who faked telephone text messages from God to get his nanny lover to murder his wife and attempt to kill his neighbour has been jailed for life.
   The case has fascinated Sweden with its intoxicating mix of sex, death and the workings of an obscure religious sect.
   The court found Helge Fossmo, a Pentecostal minister in the town of Knutby, north of Stockholm, guilty of inciting Sara Svensson, his children's 27-year-old nanny, to kill his second wife and his neighbour, Daniel Linde.
   Fossmo was having an affair with the nanny and Linde's wife.
   The nanny admitted to the January murder of Alexandra Fossmo and to shooting Linde, who survived the attack. The same court has ordered her to be sent to a psychiatric institution.
   "Helge Fossmo ruthlessly made use of Sara Svensson's love for him and her dependency on him as a religious leader," read the verdict of the court.
   The trial painted a picture of a bizarre religious community, in which life was controlled by a woman known as "Christ's Bride" after she became engaged to Jesus in a ceremony.
   The community's ministers also exercised a controlling influence in the lives of their flock. In Fossmo's case that included using the latest technology to get his nanny to commit murder. Miss Svensson testified she received anonymous text messages, which she believed to be from God, urging her to kill.
   A technology company traced erased messages on her phone to Fossmo, who admitted sending them but said they were intended only to guide the nanny in her faith.
   Miss Svensson also said the pastor told her that killing his wife and neighbour was the only way she could please God. [Aug 1, 04]
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont91.htm
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Mon August 02, 2004 edition follows:-
• Focus Of Catholic Sexual Abuse Suits Now Includes Nuns [Lammers, Sisters of Charity of Nazareth] -- RCC. U.S.A. flag; Mooney's MiniFlags
   WAVE, www.wave3.com/Global/story.asp?S=2121577&nav=0RZFPRNf , The Associated Press, 4 p.m., August 2nd, 2004
   LOUISVILLE (KY): The Roman Catholic sexual abuse crisis has focused primarily on molestation by priests, but in Louisville, more than 20 people are now suing an order of nuns that staffed an orphanage decades ago.
   While most experts agree the incidence of abuse by nuns has been much less frequent than with male clergy, the phenomenon has been gaining some attention recently.
   The initial lawsuit against the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth was brought by seven plaintiffs July 15, just over a year after 243 people reached a $25.7 million settlement with the Archdiocese of Louisville over abuse claims.
   Herman J. Lammers, a longtime Catholic Charities director who was accused by two of those plaintiffs, was the resident chaplain at St. Thomas-St. Vincent Orphanage, which the sisters ran from 1952 until it closed in 1983.  Lammers died in 1986.
   The recent complaints have been filed mostly by women who say Lammers raped or molested them. But there are also allegations against more than 10 nuns.
   "As women, they should want to protect children," said 30-year-old Landa Mauriello-Vernono of Hamden, Conn., who has a pending lawsuit against a nun and the Catholic school she attended.
   She's also leading a national awareness campaign for the Survivors Network for Those Abused by Priests [SNAP]. The campaign included a demonstration in Maryland earlier this month asking the Leadership Conference of Women Religious to allow victims to speak at its national gathering in August.
   "What we're really doing is reaching out to the victims and educating parents and grandparents that not all women are safe," Mauriello-Vernon said. "But I think our country will have a pretty hard time hearing that."
   A Boston lawsuit filed in May included allegations by nine people who said they were abused by more than a dozen nuns at a Catholic school for the deaf.
   Jeff Anderson, a Minnesota attorney, said he has represented more than 1,000 people over 22 years in cases involving priests or religious men, but has only handled about a half-dozen involving nuns.
   "That tells you something," Anderson said. "The whole phenomenon of nuns abusing is somewhat recent."
   Anderson said many nuns who abused minors were exploited by male clergy themselves.
   "Abuse in religious orders is a grave problem because they don't have geographic boundaries and can move abusers from parish to parish, state to state and country to country," he said. "It's a serious problem yet to be realized and appreciated."
   The Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, for example, is a 192-year-old order of 650 nuns that provides education, health care and social services in the United States and India, Belize, Nepal and Botswana. Spokeswoman Barbara Qualls said the community has had as many as 1,600 nuns.
   The order and its attorney have denied that they have any evidence of abuse or a cover-up at the orphanage, which was owned by the archdiocese through Catholic Charities, or at three schools mentioned in the suits. The archdiocese recently told the order it had heard from some of the accusers.
   "We are very grieved at the memories of any individual of this nature. We want to cooperate in any way we can," Qualls said. "We are also grieved at the memory of our own deceased sisters, who are indeed innocent until proven guilty."
   The order's sexual abuse policy, approved in February 2003, requires an accused nun to be removed from her ministry while a full investigation is conducted. Only one sister named in the lawsuits, Mary Jane Rhodes, is living and still part of the community.
   William McMurry, who orchestrated the settlement with the archdiocese, said the alleged abuse at the orphanage is far worse than priests who preyed on young parishioners.
   "When I reflect on the 243 victims in the archdiocese case, the horrors that occurred here are far more frightening because those children had a home to at least retreat to, but instead these were captives living a child's nightmare," McMurry said.
   McMurry said the orphanage could hold up to 450 children at one time, meaning the number of people suing the nuns could be high. The initial plaintiffs were five biological sisters who were reunited this spring after a half-century and realized they shared similar abuse.
   On the Net: * Sisters of Charity of Nazareth: http://www.scnazarethky.org * William F. McMurry & Associates: http://www.courtroomlaw.com * Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests: http://www.survivorsnetwork.org [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 05:23 PM]
• Bond Delayed in Deacon's Death [Harper, Reynolds] -- Baptist. Love triangle.
   WXIA, www.11alive.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=49979 , The Associated Press, 11:34:07 AM, Aug/2/2004
   ROME, Ga., USA (AP) -- No immediate reason was given for canceling the bond hearing Monday for an assistant pastor accused of killing a deacon at his own church.
   Richard Scott Harper, 33, was expected to appear in court at 1:30 p.m. in Floyd County Superior Court in Rome, Ga.
   Police say Harper stabbed 36-year-old Thad John Glenn Reynolds to death in July because Harper was romantically involved with Reynolds' wife. Both Harper and 34-year-old Michelle Sullins Reynolds are charged in his death.
   Reynolds, who was the district manager at a Frito-Lay distribution center, was found dead outside the plant. Reynolds had been a deacon and a marriage counselor at Hollywood Baptist Church, and police say he and Harper were close friends. Michelle Sullins Reynolds remains in jail.
• Bond hearing for pastor accused of murder postponed [2004 Harper, Reynolds] -- Baptist. Love triangle. U.S.A. flag; Mooney's MiniFlags
   AcessNorthGa.com www.accessnorthga.com/news/ap_newfullstory.asp?ID=42892 , The Associated Press
  ROME, Ga. The bond hearing for a pastor accused of murdering a deacon has been postponed.
   Thad John Glenn Reynolds, a longtime member of Hollywood Baptist Church, was found stabbed to death last month inside the Frito-Lay distribution center where he worked. Police arrested Richard Scott Harper, a pastor at the church, and Reynolds' wife, Michelle Sullins Reynolds, in his death.
   Authorities believe Reynolds was involved in a love triangle turned deadly. They say that Harper allegedly stabbed Reynolds 19 times, an attack they believe the deacon's wife helped plan via phone calls and computer messages. Both were charged with murder.
• God is probably NOT telling you to kill people via text message -- Lutheran. Two mistresses. Sweden flag; Mooney's MiniFlags 
   Engadget ; www.engadget.com/entry/5214445011154290 , Posted 8:59 AM ET Aug 2, 2004, by Peter Rojas
   SWEDEN: So a Swedish pastor from some fringe Lutheran sect was just sentenced to life in prison for using anonymous text messages that he said were from God to convince his nanny/lover to murder his wife and attempt to kill the husband of his other mistress. Police determined that the text messages were in fact not divinely sourced, tracing them back to the pastor rather easily. Dude, we'd heard Sweden was crazy! (Webpage invites comments)
• Bankruptcy seen as dioceses' shelter -- RCC. 25 more complainants. U.S.A. flag; Mooney's MiniFlags
   The Oregonian, www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/front_page/ 1091447770312870.xml , By JEFF KOSSEFF and JIM BARNETT, Monday, August 02, 2004
   TUCSON, Ariz. -- On the same day Portland's archdiocese announced its bankruptcy, Tucson Bishop Gerald Kicanas sent a weekly memo to his congregation that strongly hinted at a filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
   "When a dangerous storm is approaching, you should seek shelter," Kicanas wrote, not knowing that his longtime friend Portland Archbishop John Vlazny was headed to bankruptcy court. "In its own way, Chapter 11 reorganization represents an option for shelter for our diocese."
   By taking the drastic step of declaring bankruptcy July 6, Vlazny forever changed how dioceses conduct the business of religion. As dioceses pay settlements for decades of child abuse by priests, bankruptcy is now an option.
   While up to a dozen U.S. dioceses have been considered bankruptcy candidates, Tucson's diocese is widely considered the most likely to follow in Portland's footsteps. Kicanas is expected to announce whether the diocese will file before a sex-abuse trial begins in September.
   Tucson's approach to bankruptcy preparation has been more public than Portland's. Kicanas had turned the deliberations into a public dialogue.
   "Portland's bankruptcy provided almost a sense of relief, because we know we're headed in that direction," said Monsignor Robert Fuller of the St. Frances Cabrini parish in Tucson. "Nobody wants to be the first to go bankrupt. Portland doing it, in a sense, makes it easier for us." [...]
   The diocese has settled some sex abuse allegations for millions of dollars.
   To pay its legal bills and the victims while avoiding a trip across the street to bankruptcy court, the diocese sold the building for $1.65 million to a Catholic foundation, to which the diocese now pays rent.
   The diocese also sold property for a new Catholic high school, bringing in $3 million. But the diocese, as of mid-July, still faced 15 suits from 25 plaintiffs.
   The diocese says bankruptcy protection could allow it to equitably distribute payments to all victims instead of paying on a first-come, first-serve basis.  . . .
• Police Promise More Stings to End Lewd Behavior at Public Park [2004 Werth] -- RCC. Males. Park lavatories might be unsafe.
   WGRZ, www.wgrz.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=22114 , Posted by Aaron Saykin, Reporter, Created: July/30/2004 5:22:37 PM, Updated: July/30/2004 7:29:53 PM
   TONAWANDA (NY): A day after the public first learned of the latest arrest of Father Charles Werth, parents like Williamsville's Colleen Buonocore seem unfazed.
   She continues to take her children to play at Ellicott Creek Park in the Town of Tonawanda, where Werth was found exposing himself to other men in a public bathroom.
   "You can stay home and not go out because these things might possibly happen," Buonocore said. "I don't think you can live life that way."
   Police agree, saying the arrest of Werth and three other men during an undercover sting is a sign that they're doing their job.
   They insist the park is safe because men like Werth are not looking for children, only other men; however, they are issuing a warning to all parents.
   "Don't let young children go into any bathroom anywhere by themselves, especially the younger ones because you don't know what you're going to walk into," said Lieutenant James Szabo of the Town of Tonawanda Police Department. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 08:23 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Mon August 02, 2004
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont91.htm
• Failures by top management in dealing with sinful priests. -- RCC. U.S.A. flag; Mooney's MiniFlags  Vatican City flag; Mooney's MiniFlags 
   America (USA Catholic newspaper), "Of Many Things," www.americamagazine.org/ gettext.cfm?textID=3680&article TypeID=23&issueID=492 , By Thomas J. Reese, Vol. 191 No. 3, August 2, 2004
   UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Everyone recognizes that the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church was not caused only by the sinful failures of individual priests; it was also caused by the failure of a number of bishops to deal appropriately with these priests.
   There were not just personal failures; there were also personnel policy failures. In any other institution, the failures of these bishops in dealing with the crisis would be described as failures in management.
   Seminaries ...
   To see the full text, you must subscribe to America in the print or Web-only version. Editorials & book reviews are open to all. [Found on Internet 01 Aug 04]
• Sex abuse bankruptcy sad, unbelievable? Uncertain future. -- RCC.
   America, "An Uncertain Path," www.americamagazine.org/gettext.cfm?textID=3684 &articleTypeID=1&issueID=492 , by Fred J. Naffziger, Vol. 191 No. 3, August 2, 2004
   UNITED STATES: Sad? Unbelievable? Outrageous? Whatever one thinks about the recent bankruptcy filing by the Archdiocese of Portland, Ore., it is certainly unprecedented. And it is taking the Catholic Church down an uncertain and uncharted legal path.
   Portland's Archbishop John Vlazny has sought the protection of the federal bankruptcy system from the diocese's creditors, including victims of sexual abuse by members of the clergy, while he attempts to ...
   To see the full text, you must subscribe to America in the print or Web-only version. Editorials & book reviews are open to all. [Found on Internet 01 Aug 04]
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont91.htm
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Tue August 03, 2004 edition follows:-
• Judge: Lawsuits against diocese can proceed -- RCC. U.S.A. flag; Mooney's MiniFlags 
   Tribune-Review, www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/trib/pmupdate/s_206408.html , Tuesday, August 3, 2004
   PITTSBURGH (PA): An Allegheny County judge today allowed a series of sex abuse lawsuits to proceed against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh.
   Common Pleas Judge R. Stanton Wettick Jr. denied the church's request to dismiss on the grounds that reported abuse happened years or even decades ago.
   Lawyers for more than a dozen purported victims are arguing the state's two-year statute of limitations on filing lawsuits over abuse does not protect church leaders from claims they shielded predator priests and helped them gain access to children.
   Church lawyers had argued that the victims had a legal duty to determine years ago if church officials were complicit in the abuse. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 04:45 PM]
• Man claims Springfield Diocese covered up clergy abuse [1976-77, 1977-78 Dupre] -- RCC.
   Telegram & Gazette, www.telegram.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040803/APN/408030755 , The Associated Press, Tuesday, August 3, 2004
   SPRINGFIELD, Mass.- A man saying he was molested by two priests as a teen has filed a civil suit against the Springfield Diocese claiming that church leaders destroyed personnel files and tried to cover up clergy sex abuse.
   The man filed his lawsuit a week ago in Hampden Superior Court, under the pseudonym John Doe. In it, he claims he overheard retired Springfield Bishop Thomas Dupre, then a priest, say at a rectory meeting in 1977 or 1978 that "priest files previously maintained by Bishop Weldon had been destroyed."
   Bishop Christopher J. Weldon retired as head of the Roman Catholic diocese in 1977 and died in 1982.
   The man says he was abused for two years, starting in 1976, in the Bondsville section of Palmer, by two priests who have since died. He claims the abuse began when he was 15 and continued until he was 17.
   The man, now 43, told The Republican in Springfield that he was serving refreshments to the priests gathered at the rectory when he overhead Dupre.
• Former Local Teacher Pleads Guilty To Sex Abuse [1970s-80s Maggard] -- Baptist. 7 boys.
   TheLouisvilleChannel.com ; www.thelouisvillechannel.com/news/3610125/detail.html , August 3, 2004
   LOUISVILLE (KY): A former teacher pleaded guilty to sexually abusing seven boys in the 1970s and early 1980s.
   The deal calls for Bill Maggard Jr., 57, to spend up to 10 years in prison, WLKY NewsChannel 32 reported Tuesday.
   He could have served 20 years if convicted of the 10 felony counts of indecent or immoral practices with another, and two counts of first-degree sexual abuse.
   Maggard taught for 13 years in Jefferson County Public Schools, and later worked at a school operated by Highview Baptist Church.
• Former youth pastor pleads guilty in sex abuse case [Craig] -- Baptist. Boy.
   Azcentral.com , www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0803PastorPlea03-ON.html , Associated Press, 07:05 AM Aug. 3, 2004
   SIERRA VISTA (AZ): A former youth pastor has pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual abuse of children under the age of 15, authorities said.
   Eric K. Craig was arrested on Nov. 2, 2003, by Sierra Vista police and initially charged in a case involving a 12-year-old boy.
   As the investigation evolved, he was indicted on eight felony charges. Authorities said five of the charges may be dropped under a plea agreement.
   Craig, 42, pleaded guilty Monday to continued sexual abuse of a child under 14, a count of attempted molestation of another child, and a third count of sexual abuse.
   Craig, who formerly worked at First Baptist Church in Sierra Vista, has been held on $250,000 bond at the Cochise County Jail in Bisbee since his arrest.
   He could face more than 50 years in prison when he's sentenced Aug. 30. #
• Evansville priest relieved of duties over Internet use [2004 Traylor] -- RCC.
   Times, www.thetimesonline.com/articles/2004/08/03/roundups/roundups/e48aaf49c3fbe fba86256ee 5005b07cc.txt ; Tuesday, August 3, 2004
   EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) -- A Roman Catholic priest has been relieved of his duties at two Evansville churches and sent to counseling over his viewing of some Internet sites.
   The Rev. William A. Traylor, 54, left a letter to be read to parishioners at St. Joseph and St. Theresa parishes last weekend explaining that he was seeking treatment.
   The letter said he had been viewing "inappropriate" Web sites but did not specify the nature of those sites, the Evansville Courier & Press reported in a story Tuesday. Traylor's letter said officials of the Evansville diocese had urged him to undergo an evaluation -- after which he could return to service.
   Church officials declined to release the text of the letter to the newspaper, saying it was a communication between Traylor and his parishioners. The newspaper reported Traylor had been viewing pornographic Web sites, but gave no specifics.
   Diocesan Chancellor Judy Neff declined to discuss details of the removal of Traylor, who had served St. Joseph and St. Theresa since 2001.
• Three Plaintiffs Join Lawsuit Against Order Of Nuns [1930s + Sisters of Charity of Nazareth] -- RCC.
   WAVE, www.wave3.com/Global/story.asp?S=2127753&nav=0RZFPURO , 5 p.m., August 3rd, 2004
   LOUISVILLE (KY): The latest claims against the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth allege sexual abuse happened at a now-defunct orphanage as early as the 1930s.
   Gladys Cambron, at 72 the oldest person to sue, said she was molested by two nuns and a priest starting at age 6.
   Cambron was among three people added Tuesday to a lawsuit filed in Jefferson County Circuit Court against the sisters. It brings the number of plaintiffs to 24.
   Cambron said she lived at St. Vincent Orphanage in Louisville, which was owned and operated by the sisters, from 1938 until 1943. At that time, her maternal grandparents took custody of her and her older sister and raised them.
• Confessions of a Married Clergyman -- RCC.
   TCRnews.com ; http://www.tcrnews2.com/Fournier2.html , By Deacon Keith A. Fournier, (c) Third Millennium, LLC
   UNITED STATES: I recently returned from two events that gave me great hope for the future of the clergy. First, I had the privilege of visiting a seminarians retreat. There, I met forty wonderful men, in love with Jesus Christ and His Church, clearly called to the celibate life and ready to give themselves to the Lord and His people. Later, I spoke to over a hundred permanent deacons, their wives, their priest director and their wonderful Bishop.
   These men are serving sacrificially as an order of clergy in the midst of the world, committed to the "new evangelization" proclaimed by the Pope. I left both experiences with a deeper conviction than I already had (which was quite deep!) that the "gates of hell will not prevail" against our beloved Church.
   Like every person who has heard or been in any way affected by the "sexual scandal" and resulting crisis facing the Catholic Church, I am still outraged, deeply hurt, concerned and moved to both prayer and action. I have prayed my heart out, appeared as a guest on Television programs, attempted to explain this horror to my children, tried in any way I can to support the victims, promote proper prosecution of the offenders and help provide insight to other Christians and people of good will who have been shocked by this grievous scandal.
   Because I love the Catholic Church, I have proposed, along with many others, that this is a time of purification that sets a course, a way of response, paved by justice, truth, penance and authentic conversion, if she responds in a manner that is faithful to the gospel she proclaims. This way has been forged by the Lord who "hears the cry of the poor" - the abused and the faithful who deserve a Church that can be trusted. He is the One who will guide us all through this time of testing, travail and eventual triumph.
   I believe that we have begun the path down that road and I am deeply grateful once again for the leadership of a giant in the Chair of Peter, John Paul II. Because I believe that the Church is a gift, a communion that has been given from above, I know that it is intended to be a home for the whole human race. It is not the possession of anyone but its Divine Founder.
   The Church is also, as her servant/leaders said so well at the Second Vatican Council, "an expert in humanity." I believe in faith that the Church will rise to the occasion and do what is right because the promise of her Leader and Savior that "the gates of hell will not prevail" can be trusted.
   [COMMENT: Well, the Chair of Peter seems to have a blind spot as far as child sex abuse goes, judging by its failure to even have a trial of a man who allegedly seduced seminarians, and its promotion of Cardinal Law to a Rome sinecure. COMMENT ENDS.]
• Portland archdiocese lists $10 million in assets -- RCC.
   Catholic World News, www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=31225 , Aug. 02, 2004
   PORTLAND (OR) (CWNews.com) - The Archdiocese of Portland, Oregon, has filed papers with a bankruptcy court listing $10 million in assets. Creditors of the archdiocese-- including lawyers for sex-abuse victims-- will try to persuade the court that the archdiocese actually controls assets of up to $500 million.
   The Portland archdiocese, which opened a new chapter in Church history by filing for bankruptcy on July 6, has presented the court with a 230-page document, listing all of its assets, to be weighed against creditors' claims. The court filing includes the bank accounts of the archdiocese, and an estimated cash value of material assets-- although sacred objects are not included in the accounting.
   The main point of contention in the bankruptcy case, however, will be the ownership of property held by the parishes of the Portland archdiocese. Real-estate records in Oregon show the value of parish properties at over $400 million. Creditors argue that these properties must be included as assets of the archdiocese, since the Portland archdiocese holds legal title to them. But the archdiocese counters by saying that under canon law, these properties belong to the parishes, and the archdiocese merely holds them in trust.
• Suit: Dupre said files destroyed [1977=78, 1980s] -- RCC.
   The Republican, www.masslive.com/springfield/republican/index.ssf?/base/news- 7/1091521193271443.xml , By BILL ZAJAC, wzajac@repub.com , Tuesday, August 03, 2004
   SPRINGFIELD (MA): The Most Rev. Thomas L. Dupre said personnel records of priests were destroyed upon the retirement of former Bishop Christopher J. Weldon, according to a clergy sexual abuse suit filed against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield.
   Dupre was chancellor when he discussed the files in 1977 or 1978 at a deanery meeting of diocesan priests at St. Bartholomew's rectory in Bondsville, according to the suit filed last week in Hampden Superior Court by John Doe, a pseudonym used to protect the plaintiff's identity.
   Dupre resigned as bishop of the Springfield Diocese in February amid allegations that he abused two minors more than 20 years ago.
   Hampden County District Attorney William M. Bennett's office is interested in information contained in the suit, according to Assistant District Attorney James C. Orenstein. "This is someone we will want to talk with," Orenstein said.
   A grand jury has been considering charges against Dupre since March when Bennett determined there was "just cause." Possible charges range from sexual abuse to failure to report abuse to the proper authorities.
   Diocesan lawyers retrieved a copy of the suit in court yesterday and presented it to Bennett's office, according to Mark E. Dupont, spokesman for the diocese.
• Lee County Pastor's Wife Reportedly Killed [2004] -- Crying Out Loud Ministries. U.S.A. flag; Mooney's MiniFlags
   WRAL, www.wral.com/news/3607776/detail.html , UPDATED: 8:05 pm EDT, August 2, 2004
   RALEIGH, N.C. -- Investigators in three counties reportedly are looking into the death of a pastor's wife. The pastor reportedly is among those being questioned by officers.
   Sources told WRAL the victim's name is Marnita Bynum, a substitute teacher and the wife of Lee County pastor Melvin Bynum. WRAL also was told that police are questioning Melvin Bynum.
   Bynum, pastor of Crying Out Loud Ministries in Sanford, is among several people being questioned. Moore County deputies said they consensually searched the Bynum home near Pine Bluff.
   The victim's body was found north of Hamlet in Richmond County around 2:30 a.m. According to the sheriff's office, she was found in the trunk of a car that is believed to be hers.
• Judge orders embattled pastor locked out of Vegas church [Hunter] -- Baptist. Sexual and financial accusations.
   KESQ News 3, www.kesq.com/Global/story.asp?S=2122665, KLAS-TV, Associated Press
   LAS VEGAS (NV): A judge ordered a Las Vegas pastor locked out of his church today after the congregation turned to the courts for help.
   The congregation at Greater Saint James Baptist Church says it wanted Pastor Gary Hunter out -- and voted 96-to-21 to get rid of him.
   But he refused to leave -- while denying allegations of sexual misconduct and looting the church treasury.
   Hunter remains defiant despite Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Tony Abbatangelo's order today.
   The judge says his action has NO effect on whether Hunter remains the pastor of the congregation.
   But he says church leaders CAN change the locks and ban Hunter from the property.
• Pastor Ordered to Leave Church Property [Hunter] -- Baptist. Stealing and sexual harassment claims.
   KLAS, www.klas-tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=2122958&nav=168XPSDg , by Chris Saldaña, Aug. 2, 2004
   NEVADA: A valley pastor has been ordered to leave church property. His congregation voted on his removal over accusations he's been stealing money from the church, and claims of sexual harassment.
   Pastor Gary Hunter has been preaching at the church for the last three and half years. Monday, an impromptu service took place after the congregation heard the judges ruling -- and praise and worship erupted inside the Greater Saint James Baptist Church.
   Church members say the pastor took their place of worship away. Church member Irene Parker said, "I built this church. I've been at this church for forty years and since Hunter has been there, I have not been able to go to my church."
   Irene Parker is one of many who left the church. "The man is not a spiritual man, and he don't care what he says in church. He calls people names," she continued, a reason why his own congregation voted to oust him from the pulpit.
• Ex-priest faces court [1984 Hawkins] -- Anglican. Australia flag; Aust. Nat. Flag Assn.
   The Courier-Mail, www.thecouriermail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936, 10331315%255E1702,00.html , 03 Aug 04
   AUSTRALIA: A former Anglican priest accused of indecent assault today faced a Tasmanian court.
   Garth Stephen Hawkins, 59, appeared briefly today in Hobart Magistrates Court, charged with one count of indecent assault.
   It is alleged the offence occurred at Triabunna, on the state's east coast, in January 1984.
   Mr Hawkins had no legal representation and did not enter a plea. [Duplicated below]
• Give us our place in the church, Reformed women demand in Accra -- Clergy sex abuse makes it unsafe. Women. Ghana flag; Mooney's MiniFlags 
   Worldwide Faith News, http://www.wfn.org/2004/08/msg00007.html , by Noel Bruyns, Ecumenical News International, From PCUSA NEWS, pcusa.news@ecunet.org , Mon, 2 Aug 2004
   ACCRA, Ghana - The church is not a safe place for women because of continued sexual abuse by clergy, a gathering of Protestant women at the 24th General Council of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) has cautioned.
   This was a "particularly painful" observation, said about 300 women from Presbyterian, Reformed, Congregational and United churches from around the world, attending a WARC women's pre-council meeting on July 27-28, in a statement released on July 31.
   "A threat to the fullness of life is patriarchal power that is another means of domination and exploitation," said the women, referring to the council theme "That all may have life in fullness" (John 10:10), in their statement distributed to the 400 member church delegates and 600 other participants attending the General Council in the Ghanaian capital.
   "The concern over violence against women as a threat to life came repeatedly to our consciousness. What remains particularly painful is that the church is not a safe place for women - stories of clergy sexual abuse continue to go unchallenged," they said.
   They called on churches to recognize the right of women to "healthy and affirmative relationships" both within the family and the wider community and noted that that the church was still unable to address the root causes of HIV/AIDS, especially its links to poverty, unequal power relations between men and women, and issues of human sexuality. [Emphasis added]
• Ex-priest's sex-abuse trial delayed [2003 Salazar] -- RCC. Female. U.S.A. flag; Mooney's MiniFlags
   Amarillo Globe News, www.amarillonet.com/stories/080304/new_sexabuse.shtml , By JIM McBRIDE, jim.mcbride@amarillo.com , Tuesday, August 3, 2004
   DALLAS (TX): A judge Monday delayed the sex-abuse trial of a former Tulia priest after the prosecution filed an amended indictment in the case.
   Dallas court records also show prosecutors have received unspecified information that former Tulia priest John Salazar allegedly committed other acts of sexual misconduct against victims in Swisher County.
   Salazar, 48, is accused of sexually assaulting an 18-year-old former parishioner while the victim was unconscious and physically unable to resist, according to Dallas County court records.
   The alleged victim was intoxicated when she was assaulted last year in an Irving hotel room after a wedding, police and church officials said earlier. Salazar's attorney has denied the charge.
   The newly amended indictment alleges Salazar, a clergyman, caused the alleged victim to submit or participate by exploiting the victim's dependence on Salazar's professional character as a spiritual adviser.
• Former teacher pleads guilty to sexual abuse of 7 boys in 1970s, '80s [1970s-80s Maggard] -- Baptist. Boys. U.S.A. flag; Mooney's MiniFlags
   The Courier-Journal, www.courier-journal.com/localnews/2004/08/03ky/B8-maggard08030-3109.html , By Jason Riley, jriley@courier-journal.com
   LOUISVILLE (KY): Bill Maggard Jr., a former educator at public and religious schools in the Louisville area, pleaded guilty yesterday to sexually abusing seven boys in the 1970s and early 1980s.
   His plea spared him the possibility of a 20-year prison sentence if convicted at trial.
   The plea agreement calls for Maggard, 57, to spend up to 10 years in prison. He will be sentenced Sept. 30.
   Maggard agreed to plead guilty in Jefferson Circuit Court to 10 felony counts of indecent or immoral practices with another, and to two charges of first-degree sexual abuse.
   He was indicted earlier this year on charges of molesting six boys in the early to mid-1970s and one boy in the early 1980s.
   For one victim, Henry Vaughn, the possibility of up to 10 years in prison is not long enough for his fifth-grade teacher at Schaffner Elementary School. But avoiding a painful trial was for the best, Vaughn said yesterday. [...]
   Maggard taught 13 years in Jefferson County Public Schools and later worked at a school operated by Highview Baptist Church, where he also volunteered in Sunday school and choir programs.
   The church has said that no one has reported any allegations of abuse. Maggard resigned from his Sunday school position and the choir last year, church officials said.
   The molestation occurred at Schaffner Elementary and in Maggard's home, according to court records. Maggard taught from 1969 to 1975 at Schaffner and from 1975 to 1982 at Williams Middle School.  ... [Emphasis added]
• Priest relieved of duties [2004 Traylor] -- RCC. Viewing Internet porn.
   Courier & Press, www.courierpress.com/ecp/news/article/0,1626,ECP_734_3083109,00.html , By PHILIP ELLIOTT, 461-0783 or elliottp@courierpress.com , August 3, 2004
   EVANSVILLE (IN): The Diocese of Evansville temporarily has relieved a priest of his duties and sent him to counseling after he allegedly was caught viewing pornographic material.
   The Rev. William A. Traylor left a letter to be read to parishioners at St. Joseph and St. Theresa last weekend explaining he was seeking treatment.
   It said he had been viewing "inappropriate" Web sites and that the diocese had urged him to undergo an evaluation - after which he could return to service.
   Diocesan officials refused to release the text of the letter, saying it was a communication between Traylor, 54, and his parishioners.
   "I believe the letter was written by Father Traylor and it was his communication to his parishes and that is it," said Paul Leingang, the Evansville diocese's director of communications.
   Diocesan Chancellor Judy Neff said it is a personnel matter and would not discuss details of the removal of the priest, who had served St. Joseph and St. Theresa since 2001. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 01:17 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Tue August 03, 2004
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont91.htm
• Former Anglican minister faces court . [1984 Hawkins] -- Anglican. Australia flag; Aust. Nat. Flag Assn.
   Courier Mail, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, "Ex-priest faces court," www.thecouriermail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,10331315%255E1702,00.html , August 03, 2004
   HOBART, Tasmania, Australia: A former Anglican priest accused of indecent assault today faced a Tasmanian court.
   Garth Stephen Hawkins, 59, appeared briefly today in Hobart Magistrates Court, charged with one count of indecent assault.
   It is alleged the offence occurred at Triabunna, on the state's east coast, in January 1984. Mr Hawkins had no legal representation and did not enter a plea.
   Magistrate Peter Dixon remanded Mr Hawkins in custody to face the same court on September 2. [Aug 3, 04]
• Tennis coach in jail over teenage student. [1980s Hopper] -- Uniting Church. Girl.
   The Age, Melbourne, http://theage.com.au/articles/2004/08/02/1091432113506.html , By Chee Chee Leung, August 3, 2004
   MELBOURNE, Victoria, Australia: Gavin Hopper, who once coached tennis stars Mark Philippoussis and Monica Seles, was behind bars last night after a jury found him guilty of starting a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old schoolgirl.
   The jury of eight women and four men deliberated for about seven hours over two days before convicting Hopper, 48, on three counts of indecent assault and six counts of gross indecency while the girl was under his care, supervision or authority as a physical education teacher at Wesley College.
   The maximum penalty for indecent assault is five years' jail, and the maximum for the gross indecency charges is three years. Hopper was found not guilty of two counts of gross indecency.
   The County Court heard that Hopper - who runs a tennis academy on the Gold Coast with former champion Pat Cash - started the affair with the teenager in 1985. [...]
   The woman, now 33, told the court she had a four-year sexual relationship with Hopper that included sex at their homes, his school office and his parked car.
   The married teacher told the girl he loved her and promised to leave his wife and move to Queensland with her after she finished school.
   In 1988, while Hopper was the fitness adviser for Fitzroy Football Club, he instructed the girl to go out with player Richard Osborne to avoid arousing suspicion.  ... [Emphasis added] [Aug 3, 04]
• Wesley College buys sex victim's silence. [1980s Hopper] -- Uniting Church. Girl.
   The Age, "College buys sex victim's silence," http://theage.com.au/articles/2004/08/03/1091476453935.html , AAP, August 3, 2004
   MELBOURNE: Melbourne's exclusive Wesley College today said it had made a confidential agreement with another former student, separate to the under-age sex conviction of disgraced tennis coach Gavin Hopper.
   While Wesley College principal Helen Drennen was light on details, she revealed that the institution had reached a "confidential agreement" with a former student in 1988.
   Wesley College reportedly paid the student more than $100,000 a year after she left the school, when she took legal action against Hopper and the college over under-age sex claims. But Dr Drennen would not confirm this.
   "All I can confirm is that a confidential agreement was reached, the details of which I can't disclose," Dr Drennen told Melbourne radio ABC.
   "I would like to stress the matter was agreed confidentially to protect the interests and welfare of the student at the time."
   The revelation comes after Hopper, 48, of Hope Island in Queensland was yesterday found guilty of three counts of indecent assault and six of gross indecency stemming from a relationship with a student in the mid-1980s.
   Hopper, who has trained stars including Mark Philippoussis, Monica Seles, and Wally Masur, had pleaded not guilty to all charges and denied having a sexual relationship with the woman.
   The woman, now 33, was a student at Wesley College, where Hopper was a maths and physical education teacher when the affair began. The relationship continued until 1988.
   Former students have alleged Hopper had a string of affairs with schoolgirls while he was a physical education teacher at the exclusive school. [...]
   His lawyer David Galbally, QC, yesterday said he would appeal the conviction. # [Aug 3, 04]
• No appeal for paedophile sentence. -- No religion link reported. Female.
   The Age, http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/08/03/1091476481753.html , AAP, August 3, 2004
   MELBOURNE: The Victorian Director of Public Prosecutions will not appeal against a judge's decision to allow a convicted paedophile to avoid prison time.
   The 27-year-old man, who was convicted on three child sex charges and cannot be named, was given a suspended sentence with 200 hours of community service and told to get counselling.
   In a statement today, the Director of Public Prosecutions said "there are insufficient prospects of a successful appeal against sentence to justify bringing an appeal".
   The man was reportedly arrested after his victim's mother wore a wire to record his confession.
   The victim's aunt said her sister was deeply disappointed with the sentence.
   "She now feels she's done all this for nothing," she said.
   "He's got off. He basically walked away. My sister can never trust another person and you would never know how much my niece will be affected." [Aug 3, 04]
• Sex fiend may get $1 million. [Cisinski] -- No religious link reported -- Germany, Poland and Israel don't assist Australia. Girl. Australia flag; Aust. Nat. Flag Assn.  Germany flag; Mooney's MiniFlags  Poland flag; Mooney's MiniFlags  Israel flag; Mooney's MiniFlags 
   The West Australian, Perth, W. Australia, by Sean Cowan, p 9, Tuesday, August 3, 2004
   PERTH: A German-born convicted sex offender could be paid more than $1 million in compensation for the time he spent in detention while officials tried to have him deported.
   In May, The West Australian revealed the Federal Government had been trying to deport Kaschimier Cisinski, 52, who is not an Australian citizen, for seven years but had been unable to find a home for him in Germany, Poland or Israel.
   He had become eligible for parole release on an 11 1/2 year jail sentence passed in 1997 for a range of sex crimes against a young WA girl. Authorities held him in custody awaiting deportation until late 2002 when a Federal Court Judge ordered he be freed pending a hearing of his application to quash the deportation order. On his release, Cisinski moved to Elleker, a small town near Albany.
   Now, he wants the Federal Government to pay him damages for unlawful detention dating from March 2002 -- when Polish authorities finally rejected efforts to send him there -- until his release nine months later.
   Given a Federal Court ruling in March that Brian Gerald James Goldie was entitled to $15,000 for spending three days wrongfully imprisoned at Perth's Airport Detention Centre, Cisinski's nine months in detention could be worth more than $1.3 million. [...]
   Cisinski, who has denied molesting the WA girl, admitted previous criminal convictions for "sexual violation" and robbery in Germany. He fled to Australia in 1982, before he could be jailed.
   He is considered stateless because he was born to a Polish father who was living in Germany after World War II. He married an Australian in 1982 and was refused citizenship in 1984, but in 1989 he was granted permanent residency. #
   [COMMENT: Why was he granted permanent residency? Can no-one sue the officials or boards or the minister who does these insane actions? The colonists strongly opposed and stopped "transportation" of criminals in the 1800s, one thought. Surely it is obvious that Germany ought to take him for trial, and at the end of his sentence deport him to Poland. COMMENT ENDS.] [Aug 3, 04]
• Coach guilty of schoolgirl affair. [1985 Hopper] -- Uniting Church. Girl. Australia flag; Aust. Nat. Flag Assn.
   The West Australian, p 15, Tuesday, August 3, 2004
   MELBOURNE, Victoria, Australia: Tennis coach Gavin Hopper was behind bars in Melbourne last night after a jury found him guilty of starting a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old schoolgirl.
   The jury of eight women and four men deliberated for seven hours before convicting Hopper, 48, of three counts of indecent assault and six counts of gross indecency while the girl was under his care. He was found not guilty of two counts of gross indecency.
   The County Court was told that Hopper started the affair in 1985 while he was a physical education teacher at Wesley College.
   Hopper denied all charges and said the relationship between himself and the girl was nothing more than a teacher-student relationship.
   Judge Graeme Crossley remanded Hopper in custody and adjourned the hearing until a day to be fixed. # [Aug 3, 04]
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont91.htm
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Wed August 04, 2004 edition follows:-
• SPRINGFIELD, MA: State releases more than 2,000 pages from altar boy murder investigation -- RCC. Boy. U.S.A. flag; Mooney's MiniFlags
   The Herald News, www.heraldnews.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1710&dept_id=99697 &newsid=12616360&PAG=461&rfi=9 ; By TRUDY TYNAN, Associated Press Writer, Aug/04/2004
   SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) -- Danny Croteau and his friends thought the parish priest was "cool." He drove a convertible and let them thumb through at the Playboy magazines he kept under the driver's seat. And he always made sure there was enough leftover Communion wine for them to share.
   But Croteau's friends also told police investigating Danny's murder that the priest had his dark side and could become violent when crossed.
   Their statements were among more than 2,000 pages of investigative and court records released Wednesday in the unsolved 1972 murder of the 13-year-old altar boy.
   The state's highest court last week ordered the records made public, saying that after more than 30 years there was no longer a good reason to keep the documents under seal. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 10:59 PM]
• Lawyer-preacher held in molestation case [2004 Bautista] -- "Central Misionario Casa de Oracion." Girls.
   San Francisco Chronicle, , By Maria Alicia Gaura, Wednesday, August 4, 2004
   SAN JOSE (CA): A San Jose immigration lawyer who also preached at a small area church has been arrested on suspicion of molesting two teenage girls who attended church services.
   Mario Antonio Bautista, 43, was booked into Santa Clara County's main jail Saturday on two felony counts of sexual assault and one misdemeanor count of child annoyance. He was released after posting $150,000 bond, according to San Jose Police Sgt. Steve Dixon.
   San Jose police said the alleged victims, ages 14 and 16, had attended evening Mass at the Central Misionario Casa de Oracion on July 24. The small church, at N. 13th St. in downtown San Jose, offers services in Spanish to a largely immigrant congregation.
   After the service, the suspect, identified as a pastor at the church, allegedly called three teenage girls into his office, where the crimes allegedly took place sequentially as two of the girls waited outside. The third girl was not assaulted, police said.
• Investigators May Be Close To Arrest In Death Of Lee County Preacher's Wife [2004 Bynum] -- "Cry Out Loud Ministry". Wife.
   WRAL, http://www.wral.com/news/3615430/detail.html , August 4, 2004
   SANFORD, N.C. -- Investigators are getting closer to making an arrest in the death of a local preacher's wife.
   A preliminary autopsy suggests Marnita Bynum died of strangulation. Bynum, a substitute teacher, was the wife of the Rev. Melvin Bynum, pastor of Cry Out Loud Ministry in Sanford.
   Deputies first spotted Marnita Bynum's car abandoned along a rural road about 4 a.m. Sunday. A deputy came by to check on the car Monday morning and realized something was wrong.
   "The deputy went behind the car and as he went behind the car, he could smell the odor, so he called for assistance," Richmond County Sheriff Dale Furr said.
   Investigators believe Marnita Bynum died sometime Saturday night.
   Deputies searched their home and questioned Melvin Bynum. They said she was already dead when her husband explained her absence at Sunday services by saying she was home sick. They are not calling him a suspect.
• Husband awarded $2M in church adultery case [2000 Bailey] -- Church of Christ. Adultery.
   Montgomery Advertiser, By Jessica M. Walker, August 4, 2004
   MONTGOMERY (AL): A former Montgomery preacher will pay dearly for the sin of adultery. A jury levied a verdict of about $2 million on today against Floyd Bailey, the former pastor of Delraida Church of Christ.
   Bailey had an affair with church member Paris Faulkner in 2000. Faulkner was working at the church at the time and she and her husband Jim Faulkner had gone to Bailey for marital advice, according to court testimony.
   Jim Faulkner brought the suit against Bailey, claiming that he used his position as a pastor and marriage counselor to bring an end to the couple's marriage.
   Faulkner's attorney Frank Hawthorne said the verdict would be a warning to other pastors thinking of straying from their duty.
• Fired Pastor's Church Vandalized after sexual harrassment, embezzlent, accusations. [Hunter] -- Baptists.
   KLAS, www.klas-tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=2132938&nav=168XPX3K , Aug. 4, 2004
   LAS VEGAS (NV): A valley church that fired its pastor was vandalized Tuesday night. Church members of the Greater Saint James Baptist Church found the mess when they went to the church.
   A storage area near the altar was trashed, the kitchen was ransacked and an office was vandalized. Door locks were glued and some audio and visual equipment is missing.
   Mother Thelma Simpson, church member, said, "You just want to cry, cry, cry. You work hard. Not me, I'm retired. But these young people put their monies in and it's disgusting that you put your money in and nothing is going right and God's house is supposed to be house of love."
   The former pastor of the church, Gary Hunter, showed up with police, but would not talk on camera. He was voted out Sunday by his congregation after church members accused him of embezzlement and sexual harrassment. Hunter disputes those claims.
• Priest faces prison term [1991-93 Hofton] -- RCC. Altar boys. Britain flag; Mooney's MiniFlags  England flag; Mooney's MiniFlags 
   This is Hertfordshire, www.thisishertfordshire.co.uk/news/barnet/display.var.515326.0.priest_faces_prison_ term.php ; By Tom Spender, 4:45pm Wednesday 4th August 2004
   BRITAIN: A Roman Catholic priest who admitted sexually abusing two young altar boys has been ordered to live in a Barnet monastery while he waits to be sentenced.
   Father William John Hofton, 49, has to live in the Poor Clare Monastery in Galley Lane, Arkley, after admitting a string of offences against the two boys in their early teens at the Church of the Sacred Heart in Ruislip.
   Hofton faces a long jail term after pleading guilty to nine charges of indecent assault and seven of committing acts of gross indecency with the boys, who are now adults but cannot be named for legal reasons, between August 1991 and December 1993. The offences came to light last October.
   At Horseferry Road Magistrates Court, District judge Quentin Purdy sent Hofton to Middlesex Guildhall Crown Court for sentencing. Hofton was also ordered to abide by eight undisclosed rules set by his church.
• Priest pleads guilty in 45-year-old sexual abuse cases [1958-59 Landry] -- RCC. Stigmatine, at minor seminary. Boys. U.S.A. flag; Mooney's MiniFlags  Canada flag; Mooney's MiniFlags
   Boston Herald, http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=38567 , Associated Press, Wednesday, August 4, 2004
   DEDHAM, Mass. - A former Boston-area priest pleaded guilty Wednesday to sexually abusing two boys in the late 1950s.
   Leo Landry, who belonged to the Stigmatine order, was sentenced to lifetime probation after a joint recommendation was made by prosecutors and Landry's defense attorney.
   Landry, now 74, served at Roman Catholic parishes in three states and Canada during his 12 years as a priest. He left the priesthood in 1972.
   He was living in Lakewood, Colorado, when he was indicted by a Norfolk County grand jury in June on two counts of indecent assault and battery on a person over 14 and one count of indecent assault and battery on a person younger than 14.
   The abuse allegedly occurred at the former Stigmatine Minor Seminary in Wellesley between September 1958 and June 1959.
   Landry voluntarily returned to Connecticut from Colorado Wednesday to be arraigned on the charges. He immediately pleaded guilty and was sentenced by Judge Paul Chernoff. [Emphasis added]
• State releases more than 2,000 pages from altar boy murder investigation [1972] -- RCC. U.S.A. flag; Mooney's MiniFlags
   Telegram & Gazette, www.telegram.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040804/APN/408040906 , By TRUDY TYNAN, Associated Press Writer, Wednesday, August 4, 2004
   SPRINGFIELD, Mass.- Hampden County court officials released more than 2,000 pages of investigative records Wednesday from the unsolved 1972 murder of a 13-year-old altar boy.
   The state's highest court last week ordered the records made public, saying that after more than 30 years there was no longer a good reason to keep documents under seal from the investigation into the death of Danny Croteau.
   Defrocked pedophile priest Richard Lavigne remains the only publicly identified suspect in the case.
   Among the 2,035 pages released by the Superior Court clerk's office was a 1993 search warrant authorizing a blood test of Lavigne to compare his DNA with blood found along the river bank where Danny's body was found. There are also several investigators' reports and summaries of witness statements.
   Following last week's ruling by the Supreme Judicial Court, the district attorney's office released an autopsy report showing Croteau had a blood alcohol level of .18 - more than twice the legal limit for driving - when he was bludgeoned to death on April 15, 1972. His body was found on the banks of the Chicopee River.
   The Republican newspaper in Springfield and John Stobierski, an attorney 24 people who said they were molested by Lavigne, had sued for the release of the documents.
   Hampden District Attorney William Bennett argued against the release, saying the case was still an active investigation.
• Trial date for class-action lawsuit moved to January -- RCC.
   WKYT, www.wkyt.com/Global/story.asp?S=2132088
   BURLINGTON, Ky. -- The nation's first class-action lawsuit against a Roman Catholic diocese over clergy sexual abuse is headed for a January trial if settlement talks fail.
   Judge John Potter moved the trial date from Oct. 25 to Jan. 10 during a hearing Wednesday in Boone County Circuit Court. He told the attorneys for the Diocese of Covington and the plaintiffs that he wants them to concentrate on the mediation process instead of trial preparations.
   The lawsuit, certified as a class action last October, was brought on behalf of victims from the past 50 years in the diocese, which included the eastern half of Kentucky until the Lexington diocese formed in 1988.
   Both sides began mediation in June with Kenneth Feinberg, administrator of the government fund for families of Sept. 11 victims.
   The judge granted a joint motion in which the attorneys asked to postpone a pretrial hearing and submit a confidential report on the status of the mediation. The judge asked for that by Sept. 1. [...]
   Potter also said he would consider a July 22 motion filed by an attorney representing some of the living priests named in the lawsuit, asking that they be allowed to refuse to give depositions. The motion said they were invoking their right against self-incrimination.
   The diocese has reported it received allegations of sexual misconduct against 37 of its 364 priests since 1950. Of those, 16 are dead, two are on administrative leave pending investigation and the rest have either been defrocked or permanently removed from active ministry.
* On the Net: Diocese of Covington: http://www.covingtondiocese.org
• Croteau documents unsealed -- RCC. Altar boy's threats revealed.
   Republican, www.masslive.com/hampfrank/republican/index.ssf?/base/ news-1/1091646901206540.xml ; By BILL ZAJAC, wzajac@repub.com , Wednesday, August 04, 2004
   SPRINGFIELD (MA): At least four years before he was murdered, altar boy Daniel Croteau threatened to expose an improper relationship with a priest who would become the chief suspect in the slaying, according to court documents.
   That allegation was included in more than 2,000 pages of previously sealed documents in the investigation into the 1972 slaying of Springfield altar boy Daniel Croteau. The documents were being unsealed for the first time today after the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled last week that the files must be opened.
   Contained in the 2,035 pages of documents were affidavits from investigators, including a letter referenced in a request for a search warrant filed by State Trooper Thomas Daly. The May 3, 1993, letter to Daly recounts a camping trip to Goshen the then-Rev. Richard R. Lavigne took with Croteau and his brothers in 1967 or 1968.
   The letter writer, whose name was removed under the court ruling releasing the documents, said Croteau threatened to expose sexual molestation by Lavigne, who has since been accused by more than 30 people of molesting them.
   Daniel Croteau was quoted in the letter as saying, "I'll tell. I'll tell."
• Delayed justice angers NY archdiocese priests [Kavanagh] -- RCC.
   Irish Echo, www.irishecho.com/newspaper/story.cfm?id=14989 , By Ray O'Hanlon, rohanlon@Irishecho.com , issue of August 4-10, 2004
   NEW YORK: The cry of justice delayed being justice denied is a familiar refrain. But it hasn't often been heard in the context of priests directing anger and frustration at their cardinal archbishop or the Holy See in Rome.
   It is, however, being heard loud and clear in the case of Monsignor Charles Kavanagh, for years a leading cleric in the archdiocese of New York, but now a man standing under the long shadow of a serious accusation.
   Since May of 2002, Msgr. Kavanagh has been on administrative leave from his position in the archdiocese, where for years he served as vicar of development, a job that is primarily focused on raising funds and organizing major events.
   It was Msgr. Kavanagh who led the organizing for the funeral of the late Cardinal John O'Connor in 2000.
• Local Pastor's Wife Accuses Him Of Abuse [Sutton] -- "African-American Think Tank." Abuse and theft by deception.
   TheLouisvilleChannel.com ; www.thelouisvillechannel.com/news/3614945/detail.html , August 4, 2004
   LOUISVILLE (KY): A man of the cloth who started an organization designed to stop violence is being accused of such crimes by his own wife.
   The Rev. Gerome Sutton, of the African-American Think Tank, faces charges of terroristic threatening, menacing and harassment with physical contact, WLKY NewsChannel 32's Andy Alcock reported Tuesday.
   According to Metro Councilwoman Denise Bentley, Sutton recently solicited funds for that organization. But she said further investigation revealed Sutton's group was a for-profit business.
   Metro government only can give money to nonprofit groups in good standing with the state, WLKY reported.
   "I am concerned that someone would solicit funds from Metro government to aid in inner city teenage violence if they have a violent history themselves," Bentley said.
   Sutton also faces a charge of felony theft by deception. He's supposed to pay back money in that case.
• Priest, 6 Ateneo Naga teachers in child-abuse rap -- RCC. Jesuit school. Philippines flag; Mooney's MiniFlags
   ABS-CBN, www.abs-cbnnews.com/NewsStory.aspx?section=PROVINCIAL&oid=56663 , By JOEY NATIVIDAD, TODAY Correspondent, 12:03 AM, Thursday, August 5, 2004
   NAGA CITY, PHILIPPINES - A Jesuit priest and six high-school faculty members of the Jesuit-run Ateneo de Naga University in this city were named in a complaint for violation of Republic Act 7610, or the Special Protection of Children Against Child Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act.
   The case was filed on July 16 by a parent of a boy, who was subjected to alleged degrading and demeaning school investigation and later dishonorably expelled by the school.
   The parent said in his complaint-affidavit that his son, 15 years old, was investigated by a school panel tasked to look into the alleged scandalous activities of an unrecognized fraternity, Gryphon.
   However, Gryphon is a recognized people's organization by the city government and accredited by the Naga City People's Council.
   The school investigation was based on reports that Ateneo students, who were initiated as members of Gryphon, were involved in lewd acts, such as masturbation and other pervert sexual acts as part of initiation rites. Gryphon's activities were exposed four months ago amid public indignation, blaming Ateneo for failure to impose discipline on the students' ranks.
• Pastor: We had to chain them [1973-74] -- Apostolic Faith Mission. South Africa flag; Mooney's MiniFlags
   News 24, www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1567744,00.html , by Marida Fitzpatrick, 09:34, 04/Aug/2004
   JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA: A church on the East Rand has apparently been keeping people in shackles on church grounds for the past couple of years "to drive their demons out".
   Although the Gauteng Association for Mental Health has been investigating this alleged "inhuman" situation for the past three months, the seven people, who might be mentally ill, have still not been freed from their chains.
   Police spokesperson superintendent Eugene Opperman said police were investigating these allegations. "We will decide what to do as soon as we have enough information."
   Some of the people have allegedly been held for years at the St John's Apostolic Faith Mission in Etwatwa, a township outside Benoni.
• Swedish pastor appeals sentence for ordering nanny to kill his wife [2004 Fossmo] -- Pentecostal. Sweden flag; Mooney's MiniFlags 
   Borneo Bulletin, www.brunei-online.com/bb/wed/aug4w33.htm , AP, Wednesday August 4, 2004
   STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) - The lawyer for a pastor convicted of manipulating his former nanny into murdering his wife said Monday he would appeal the life sentence a court handed down last week.
   Helge Fossmo, 32, was sentenced to life in prison Friday after the Uppsala District Court ruled that the Pentecostal church pastor persuaded Sara Svensson, 27, to shoot his wife as she was sleeping in their house in Knutby, about 75 kilometres (45 miles) northeast of Stockholm. Svensson also shot Fossmos' neighbour, Daniel Linde, who survived the Jan. 10 attack.
   Helene Fossmo's death was originally declared an accident after medical examiners decided she hit her head on a bathtub faucet after a fall. But during the trial, prosecutors reopened the investigation into Helene's death, claiming that Fossmo had killed her by bashing her head against the faucet.
   Svensson, who was deemed mentally ill by a panel of judges, was sentenced to psychiatric care. She admitted to the shootings, but maintained that Fossmo persuaded her to do it, in part by sending her anonymous text messages on her cell phone.
• Self-proclaimed pastor charged with molesting [2002, 2004 Bautista] -- "Central Missionario Casa de Oracion." U.S.A. flag; Mooney's MiniFlags
   The Mercury News, www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/the_valley/9311907. htm?ERIGHTS=4915480293185362064mercurynews::kashaw@peoplepc.com&KRD_RM= 4nrnolomtsptrnrkkkkkkkkloo|Kathleen|Y ; By Chuck Carroll, Posted on Tue, Aug. 03, 2004
   SAN JOSE (CA): A San Jose immigration lawyer who calls himself the pastor of a local church has been arrested on suspicion of sexually molesting at least two girls in his church office, San Jose police announced today.
   Police made the arrest Saturday after receiving a call from a Stanislaus County law enforcement agency that had learned of one of the alleged incidents from a 16-year-old victim or her family.
   The girl told investigators that Mario Anonio Bautista assaulted her in his church office on July 24, after Mass at the Central Missionario Casa de Oracion, on 13th Street, according to a police news release.
   The girl alleges that Bautista also assaulted her at his downtown law office in 2002.
   Investigators have also found a second victim, and there may be others, police said. Police have been unable to confirm whether Bautista is really the small church's pastor.
   Bautista, 46, was booked into jail Saturday in San Jose on two felony counts of penetration with a foreign object and a misdemeanor of child annoyance.
• Update: No Response on Priest's Standing: A local priest removed from the pulpit [Traylor] -- RCC. Viewing adult porn in parish office; bishop reported as proposing forgiveness.
   WFIE, www.14wfie.com/Global/story.asp?S=2127348&nav=3w6oPVel , Web Producer: Amber Griswold
   EVANSVILLE (IN): Father William Traylor has not conducted mass at St. Theresa and St. Joseph's churches for two weeks. Diocesan officials have refused comment until Tuesday.
   A caller who asked to remain anonymous, told Newswatch last Monday that Bishop Gerald Gettelfinger had explained to the parish council that Father William Traylor was caught by a parishioner viewing adult pornography on a computer in the parish offices at Saint Joseph's Church.
   The caller said the bishop was very vague about the details and told the council they should forgive Father Traylor, who was sent to a St. Louis treatment facility.
   Starting on Monday, Newswatch called the diocese every day to confirm the caller's story. The receptionist told us diocese spokesperson Paul Leingang was out of town all week and the bishop was not available.
• Catholic critics want investigation bill released -- RCC.
   Troy Record, www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=12601927&BRD=1170&PAG=461&dept_id=7021 &rfi=6 , By Robert Cristo , August/04/2004
   ALBANY (NY): It's been nearly seven weeks, and some Catholics are wondering why the Albany Diocese has yet to release the bill for attorney Mary Jo White's investigation that found no merit to sexual misconduct allegations against Bishop Howard Hubbard.
   Members of the Coalition of Concerned Catholics in the Albany Diocese (CCCAD) called upon Hubbard Tuesday to publicly release the full, unedited and itemized bill on the investigation that cleared him, a bill that could potentially cost the diocese more than $1 million.
   White was retained at a cost of more than $700 an hour by the diocese in February to investigate whether Hubbard could be linked to engaging in sexual activities in the 1970s.
   The 350-page report found "no credible evidence" that Hubbard engaged in any sexual activities with a male prostitute, a male suicide victim or other priests.
   "The Albany Diocese admits that it intends to pay for this specimen of self-serving propaganda out of funds collected from the faithful to pay for diocesan insurance," said coalition member Joseph Bonville in a statement.
   "Catholics, therefore, have a right to know the selfish lengths to which our chief shepherd is willing to go in his attempt to escape impartial scrutiny for his misrule in Albany," he added.
• Attacking a cult -- polygamy group. Females.
   The Arizona Republic www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/0804wed1-04.html , Aug. 4, 2004
   UNITED STATES: Fall into this rabbit hole and the ordinary rules don't apply.
   A cult is called a church, women are chattel, children are denied education, little girls are assigned as second and third "wives" to older men, and teen boys are driven away because they represent competition for girls.
   That's the way things are in the twin cities of Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah.
   Here, in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a tyrant is called prophet. He runs everybody's life and owns everything, including the keys to heaven.
   In his corner of Earth, he's the law.
• Plea deal nets ex-teacher 10 years [1970s-80s Maggard] -- Baptist. Boys.
   Lexington Heald-Leader, www.kentucky.com/mld/heraldleader/news/9314880.htm , ASSOCIATED PRESS, Posted on Wed, Aug. 04, 2004
   LOUISVILLE (KY): A former teacher has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing seven boys in the 1970s and early 1980s.
   The plea deal calls for 57-year-old Bill Maggard Jr. to spend up to 10 years in prison. He could have served 20 years if convicted of 10 felony counts of indecent or immoral practices with another and two counts of first-degree sexual abuse.
   Maggard, who taught at public and religious schools in the Louisville area, was indicted earlier this year.
   One victim, Henry Vaughn, said yesterday that the sentence is not long enough for his fifth-grade teacher at Schaffner Elementary School, but Vaughn said he wanted to avoid a trial.
   Maggard taught for 13 years in Jefferson County Public Schools and later worked at a school operated by Highview Baptist Church, where he also volunteered in Sunday school and choir programs until recently. The church has said it has no claims of abuse.
• Sedgley centre set to close [1950s] -- Anglican. Boy. New Zealand flag; Mooney's MiniFlags
   Wairarapa Times-Age, http://times-age.co.nz/news2004/040804b.html , Wednesday, 4 August 2004
   NEW ZEALAND: A meeting last week is thought to have decided to sell off the Sedgley Family Centre property and rent accommodation to continue running some of its services.
   The former Sedgley Boys Home that opened in 1939 later became the Sedgley Family Centre, is currently the target of historic allegations of abuse from a man who says he was sexually abused while in care more than 40 years ago. The former home in Intermediate Street housed many boys from 1939 until 1988.
   The Masterton branch of the boys home was opened on 6ha of land at Solway known as Sedgley in 1926 when the Anglican Church's original boys home in Lower Hutt became overcrowded.
   In 1939 a new building was opened on the site. The home was closed as the number of boys fell and the centre was re-established as a family support service designed to help families under stress.
   The services included parental education, family counselling, anger management, women's assertiveness, alcohol and addiction support, men's support and "tough love".
  The Anglican Church is now considering financial compensation for victims of sexual, physical and mental abuse at the home.
• Former Youth Pastor Pleads Guilty [Craig] -- Baptist, 8 charges. U.S.A. flag; Mooney's MiniFlags 
   KOLD - TV, www.kold.com/Global/story.asp?S=2128829&nav=14RTPV3F , By Stefanie Boe , News 13 Producer
   SIERRA VISTA (AZ): A former youth pastor in Sierra Vista admits to sexually abusing children. 42-year old Eric Craig has pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual abuse of children under the age of 15.
   He's charged with a total of eight counts, but authorities say five of the charges may be dropped under a plea agreement.
   Craig used to work at First Baptist Church in Sierra Vista.
Holy Sins
   Khilafah.com (Islamic website), www.khilafah.com/home/category.php?DocumentID =9909&TagID=1 , uploaded 03 Aug 2004

   Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) says in His Glorious Book,

   "And Allah has made for you wives of your own kind, and has made for you, from your wives, sons and grandsons". [TMQ An- Nahl: 72]

   "And among His Signs is this, that He created for you wives from among yourselves, that you may find repose in them, and He has put between you affection and mercy." [TMQ Ar- Rum: 21]

   Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) in all His Wisdom gave for mankind a system to organise their affairs and relationships based upon the attributes that Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) has accorded them in their quality as human beings. These attributes are the instincts (sexual, survival and spiritual) and the organic needs.
   Regarding the satisfaction of the sexual instinct, the interaction and regulation of men and women by Islam is such that on the one hand, Islam did not deprive men and women of the fulfillment of these instincts, which otherwise would result in depression, anxiety and frustration. This fulfillment is through the institution of marriage and what can be discerned from the Islamic texts to represent the Islamic social system. Likewise, Islam did not leave men and women to freely satisfy these instincts without restriction that results in the sexual perversion and the social ills that one can easily identify today.
   Rather Islam provided mankind with a system that ensured tranquility in the fulfilment of the sexual instinct without the denial, or frustration as in religious denominations in the Church nor the 'animalistic unchaining' one finds in decadent western culture.
   Therefore it would come as no surprise that when you bring together the two extremes of dealing with the sexual instinct into a society (the church and 'western culture'), problems would inevitably arise… and the casualties will be the 'holy ones', victims are the innocent and the suffering will always be societal.
   The church today stands embroiled in priestly sex scandals. These are not just a few 'new' priests in a reclusive location. Rather it is an epidemic that encompasses all denominations, all priestly hierarchies and most if not all countries of the world.
   Recently, photographs have appeared in the Austrian media of clerics at St Poelten seminary kissing and fondling student priests. This is after the appointment of Bishop Kueng, of the Austrian city of Feldkirch, by the Pope, and following the criminal charge made against a seminary student in possession and distribution of child pornography.
   While Austria comes to terms with this scandal, a Roman Catholic archdiocese in the US declared bankruptcy because it could not meet the cost of claims by people allegedly abused by its priests. The Archdiocese of Portland, Oregon, was the first in the US to do so and has already settled claims by some 130 people who say they were abused by priests, paying out more than $53m.
   In February 2004, a report commissioned by the Church said more than 4,000 Roman Catholic priests in the US had faced sexual abuse allegations in the last 50 years. It said more than 10,000 children - a large majority boys - were allegedly abused, but victims' representatives said this was an underestimate. Throughout the US, sex abuse cases have cost more than $650m.
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   These statistics may appear shocking, but it represents the direction of the world that has either willingly embraced western capitalism or has been forced to embrace it under the guise of 'freedom and democracy'.
   Societies where the naked flesh of the two sexes is plastered in every place and corner…where sex, body-beautiful and love dominates the lives of the people, where sex before marriage and teenage sex is rife and the average number of sexual partners per person has exponentially increased (as has sexually transmitted diseases) - it is inevitable that while the 'temporal' succumbing to these perversions of western 'civilised' culture, that the clergy, who deny the natural aspect of satisfying their sexual instinct through marriage to the opposite sex,  themselves satisfy their frustrations by sexual perversions.
   While adultery, incest, pornographic traffic, child abuse, rape, teenage pregnancies, anorexia etc…increase year on year - it is not only the unholy priests, child molesters and rapists that need to stand trial…but it is the very secular western system and values such as 'freedom' which has created these monsters, that needs to be put on trial.
   To this end, Muslims must realise that these problems that embroil and are creating havoc in the church and western societies, are diseases that will spread amongst the Muslim Ummah as 'western culture' seeks to take a grip and control over the whole world. We are not immune to its clutches and must safeguard ourselves and our families from its lure.
   Allah (subha