• Church investigating whether priest jeopardized the safety of a minor [2004 Coughlin, 1990-94 Skinner] - Roman Catholic Church (RCC).
Herald Tribune,
www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article? AID=/20040808/APN/ 408080662 ,
By RYAN LENZ, Associated Press Writer, August 8, 2004
SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine -- Parishioners at two Roman Catholic churches learned Sunday their priest had been temporarily removed while the Portland diocese investigates his involvement with a former church volunteer charged with sexual assault.
The diocese is investigating whether the Rev. Paul Coughlin put a minor at risk when he knew John Skinner of Stonington. Skinner was recently indicted for sexually assaulting a teenager from 1990 to 1994 while serving as a youth ministry volunteer at St. Mary of Lourdes in Lincoln, Maine.
"This is an ethical issue with the church, and we want to know when did Father Coughlin know that there was a complaint against John Skinner," said Sue Bernard, diocese spokeswoman. "We're trying to find out what he knew and when he knew it."
The diocese also is investigating whether Coughlin, who has served as pastor of Holy Cross and St. John the Evangelist in South Portland since 1996, allowed Skinner to live with him at St. John's rectory in Portland.
Coughlin, 69, of Woburn, Mass., was ordained in 1966. His first assignment in Maine was at St. Athanasius and St. John in Rumford in 1970. He also served in parishes in Waterville, Oakland, Augusta, Bangor and Wells.
[Posted by Kathy Shaw at 01:14 PM]
(This is the first of the Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker,
www.ncrnews.org/abuse ,
for Sun August 08, 2004.)
INCOMPLETE LINKS: Refer back to "References 61" for methods of obtaining the URLs.
• Removal of former Yuma priest part of healing [1973-75 Trupia]
Yuma Sun,
http://yumasun.com/artman/publish/articles/story_12517.shtml ,
BY JAMES GILBERT, Aug 8, 2004
YUMA (AZ): Monsignor Richard O'Keeffe said the removal of a former Yuma priest from the Tucson diocese over sexual abuse allegations may bring a sense of closure to the victims and the parish community that has been affected.
"Healing is an ongoing process and we pray for the continued healing of those who have been harmed and for their families," said O'Keeffe, the spiritual leader of the Immaculate Conception Church for the past 23 years. "The holy father's decision is a fulfillment of the commitment that there is no room in the priesthood for those who would harm children."
Church officials in Tucson on Thursday announced that Robert Trupia, formerly a monsignor and associate pastor at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Yuma from June 1973 until March 1976, had been stripped of his priesthood.
Trupia, 56, who was suspended in 1992, had been named in three separate lawsuits alleging that he molested teen-age boys during the 1970s. One of the cases was settled out of court in 2002.
David Donald Frei of Yuma filed a suit in Yuma County Superior Court in December of 1997. He alleged that Trupia molested him on several occasions while he was a student at St. Francis School from 1973 to 1974.
In a similar suit filed in Pima County, Todd Michael Diaz alleged that Trupia molested him and held him against his will in the church rectory in the summer of 1975.
• A fair price for faith in Hubbard Times Union,
www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=273885&category= REGIONOTHER&BCCode= &newsdate=8/8/2004 ,
by Fred LeBrun, Sun, August 8, 2004
ALBANY (NY): Six weeks ago, former U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White released with great hoopla the results of an extensive investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct by Bishop Howard Hubbard, leader of the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese.
Her report is 200 pages of excruciating, often embarrassing detail. It took four months to prepare.
Her conclusion was that there is no credible evidence the bishop was guilty of homosexual activity, or broke his vows of celibacy, or had sexual relations with anyone. The ruthlessly analytical report is all about sex, or the lack of it.
Now comes the price of vindication. The diocese was presented with a $2.2 million bill last week by White's Manhattan law firm, Debevoise and Plimpton, for services rendered.
There is apt to be an audible gulp over the amount by those who ultimately pay it, the faithful of the 14-county diocese.
There's no indication the bishop won't sign off on the payment. White said her law firm will direct a substantial portion of the fee into a fund for the relief of victims sexually abused by priests, which does take a bit of the sting out.
White said that during the course of the investigation, which took interviewers all over the country, she was moved by the suffering endured by abuse victims.
• Bountiful's 'celestial wives' and the law -- polygamous group, uneven-age parentings.
Ottawa Citizen,
www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/soundoff/story.html?id=5b0195da-5a1d-48af-a042-898937ff4756 ,
by Daphne Bramham, The Vancouver Sun, Sunday Aug 08 2004
CANADA: No one in Bountiful disputes the fact that most first-time mothers who walk into this polygamous community's midwifery clinic are younger than 18.
Nobody disputes the fact that the fathers are often three or four times older than the mothers. And nobody disputes that many are the "plural wives" -- or concubines -- of men much older than them.
After all, when it comes time to register the births, midwife Jane Blackmore says the fathers in this religious community near Creston in south-central B.C. happily sign their names on the government forms.
They are members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and they believe polygamy is the "new and everlasting covenant."
• Deadline for joining abuse suit against diocese nears [Detroit Archdiocese] -- 16 priests, dozens of complainants.
Port Huron Times Herald,
www.thetimesherald.com/news/stories/20040808/localnews/ 1005279.html ,
By JOSEPH DEINLEIN, Aug 8, 2004
SOUTHFIELD (MI): A Southfield lawyer said his firm is investigating dozens of reports of sexual abuse as part of a class-action lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Detroit.
Wednesday is the deadline for people to join the suit, which seeks damages for sexual abuse the plaintiffs say was at the hands of 16 priests, at least three of whom served in the Blue Water Area.
Lawyer Justin Ravitz of Sommers, Schwartz, Silver and Schwartz, one of three law firms that filed the suit, declined to say how many people have come forward or who they are. So it's unclear if any Blue Water Area residents have joined the suit or if any charges of abuse have been made surrounding the time the three priests served locally.
"We have spoken to dozens of individuals who claim to be victims," Ravitz said.
Archdiocese spokesman Ned McGrath, in a statement released shortly after the suit was filed, said the archdiocese has been commended for its cooperation with civil authorities in reporting and investigating sex-abuse allegations. He said the archdiocese provides counseling for those abused.
• Judge: Prosecution of former priest can continue [1995 Hopkins]
Philadelphia Inquirer,
www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/states/pennsylvania/cities_neighborhoods/philadelphia/ 9345271.htm , ~ August 08, 2004
PENNSYLVANIA: The prosecution of a former Roman Catholic priest charged with sexually assaulting a young Oaklyn parishioner in 1995 can continue, a state Superior Court judge in Camden County ruled Friday.
A lawyer for James Hopkins argued that the charges, aggravated sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child, should be thrown out. Attorney Robert Rosenberg said that the charges exceeded a New Jersey statute of limitations and that authorities violated Florida wiretap laws in their investigation. Judge Linda G. Baxter disagreed and scheduled the next pretrial hearing for Sept. 10.
Hopkins, who was living in Stuart, Fla., where he relocated after being removed from the priesthood in 1995, was arrested last year. Hopkins and the Camden Diocese had previously settled a lawsuit filed by the family of his alleged victim. Amid the national priest-abuse scandal in 2002, Jonathan Norton, then 17, held a news conference to announce that he was pursuing charges against Hopkins. He said he wanted to take the action to help other victims seek help, as well.
• Croteau papers chilling, inconclusive [1972]
The Republican,
www.masslive.com/metrowest/republican/index.ssf?/base/news-1/109 1954763194312.xml ,
By BILL ZAJAC, wzajac@repub.com , Sun, Aug 08, 2004
SPRINGFIELD (MA): For investigators probing the 1972 death of 13-year-old altar boy Daniel Croteau, the story told by the Rev. Richard R. Lavigne just didn't add up.
He told investigators he never gave Croteau alcohol, but then a boyhood friend of Croteau's said Lavigne gave the boys wine from the same chalice parishioners drank from at St. Catherine of Siena Church in Springfield.
Lavigne told investigators he was never alone with Croteau. Then he admitted that a week before the boy's body was found April 15 on the banks of the Chicopee River, Croteau had spent the night with the priest at the Chicopee home of Lavigne's parents.
The statements of several boys, now men, who say they were molested by Lavigne were included in a search warrant affidavit filed by State Trooper Thomas Daly after the case was reopened in 1991. It is among 2,035 pages of documents unsealed after a 17-month legal battle waged all the way to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court by The Republican and a Greenfield lawyer who represents clergy abuse plaintiffs.
The papers provide an anatomy of an investigation that pointed police toward a suspect but fell short of the physical evidence needed to prosecute him. When Croteau's bludgeoned body was found less than a mile from St. Mary's rectory, where Lavigne was living at the time, the boy had more than twice the legal level of alcohol in his blood and his stomach was filled with wads of chewing gum.
• S. Portland pastor suspended from duties [Coughlin, 1990-94 Skinner]
Portland Press Herald,
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/local/040808priest.shtml ,
By JUSTIN ELLIS, August 8, 2004
SOUTH PORTLAND (ME): The Rev. Paul Coughlin, pastor of South Portland's two Roman Catholic parishes, has been temporarily removed from his duties while officials investigate his involvement with a former church volunteer charged with sexual assault in northern Maine.
Coughlin, 69, has served as pastor of Holy Cross and St. John the Evangelist since 1996.
The Diocese of Portland is investigating whether Coughlin put children at risk by allowing John Skinner Sr. to live with him at St. John's rectory. Skinner, of Stonington, recently was indicted on charges that he sexually assaulted a teenager between 1990 and 1994, when he served as a youth ministry volunteer at St. Mary of Lourdes in Lincoln.
Diocesan officials said Coughlin's removal was a procedural step taken in most church investigations.
• Priest removed from parishes [Coughlin, 1990s Skinner]
WMTW,
http://www.wmtw.com/Global/story.asp?S=2146731&nav=7k6rPe2X , ~ August 08, 2004
SOUTH PORTLAND (ME) (AP) -- Roman Catholic diocese officials are planning a news conference Sunday in South Portland to discuss temporarily removing a priest from two parishes while they investigate his involvement with a former church volunteer charged with sexual assault.
The Rev. Paul Coughlin has served as pastor of Holy Cross and St. John the Evangelist Parishes since 1996.
The Diocese of Portland is investigating whether Coughlin put a child at risk. They also are investigating whether he allowed John Skinner to live with him at St. John's rectory.
The Stonington man recently was indicted on charges he sexually assaulted a teenager in the early 1990s, when he volunteered at St. Mary of Lourdes in Lincoln.
Coughlin is not accused of sexual abuse during the time Skinner lived with him.
[Posted by Kathy Shaw at 08:42 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker
www.ncrnews.org/abuse ,
Sun August 08, 2004
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont92.htm
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker,
www.ncrnews.org/abuse,
Mon August 09, 2004 edition follows:- • Former priest to face court on indecent dealing charges [1960s]
Australian Broadcasting Corporation,
www.abc.net.au/tropic/news/200408/s1172709.htm ,
Tuesday, 10 August 2004
AUSTRALIA:
A former priest from Marian, in north Queensland, is due to appear in Bundaberg Magistrates Court next month on a string of charges of indecent dealing with children.
Police have charged the man, who now lives in Bundaberg, with eight counts of indecently dealing with a boy aged under 14 years and one count of indecently dealing with a girl aged under 12 years.
Regional crime coordinator Detective Inspector Dale Weightman says the alleged crimes took place in Marian in the 1960s.
[Posted by Kathy Shaw at 08:12 PM]
• Ratzinger says new springtime of the Church not about numbers Catholic World News,
www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=31380, Aug. 09 2004
ABUJA, Argentina (CNA/CWNews.com) - Speaking with the Polish Catholic news agency KAI, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger said that the "new springtime" of the Church is a reality, but that it will not "necessarily" be significant in terms of numbers.
The Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith told KAI that there are groups of the new generations in the Church today who represent "a new springtime of the Church that renews the world." The cardinal explained that "we should not think that in the near future Christianity will become a movement of the masses again, going back to a situation like Medieval times."
"At least we cannot expect that in the current conditions," he added.
[COMMENT: Springtime? Or self-delusion?COMMENT ENDS.]
• Hearing for Accused Priest [1978-80 Behan]
WPVI-TV 6, http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/news/08092004_church_behanhearing.html ,
August 9, 2004
PHILADELPHIA (PA): A preliminary hearing is scheduled today, for the first priest indicted by a Philadelphia grand jury looking into sex abuse in the church.
Father James Behan is a former teacher at North Catholic High School. He's accused of molesting a teenage boy between 1978 and 1980. That's when he left Philadelphia for North Carolina.
Even though this allegedly happened over 25 years ago, Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham said that the statute of limitations is still in effect, because Behan left the state in 1980.
Behan's lawyers disagree.
(Copyright 2004 by WPVI-TV 6. All rights reserved.)
(Search for related stories, on
http://abclocal.go.com website.)
• Judge OKs charges against priest [1978 + Behan]
PennLive.com
http://pennlive.com/newsflash/pa/index.ssf?/base/news-18/109209056 2314390.xml&storylist=penn ;
By DAVID B. CARUSO,
The Associated Press, 6:13 p.m. ET, Aug/9/2004,
PHILADELPHIA (PA) (AP) - A judge ruled Monday that a priest accused of sexually abusing a teenage boy in the 1970s can be put on trial, even though Pennsylvania normally bars prosecutors from bringing charges in sex assault cases that are more than a few years old.
The Rev. James J. Behan, 60, is accused of having several sexual encounters with a student at Northeast Catholic High School, beginning in 1978 when the boy was 15.
The alleged victim waited decades to tell his story to law enforcement. That type of delay would usually trigger the state's statute of limitations, but prosecutors argued at a hearing Monday that the clock stops running if a person who allegedly commits a crime leaves the state.
Behan left Pennsylvania in 1980 to take a job at a parish in North Carolina. He now lives in Childs, Md.
Philadelphia Judge Linda Anderson sided with prosecutors Monday and ordered Behan to stand trial on charges including rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, indecent assault, endangering the welfare of children and corruption of minors.
Behan's attorney, Michael J. McGovern, said he would try again later to have the case thrown out. McGovern said the passage of time will make it difficult for Behan to receive a fair trial.
"If someone choses to wait as long as this person has waited, then not only is there a question about the reliability of evidence, but you might have witnesses who died or disappeared," McGovern said.
• Pictures of abusive priests remain in prominent spots [1970s Kokocinski]
Toledo City Paper,
www.toledocitypaper.com/archives/080504/cityside.html ,
by Bill Frogameni, Aug 5, 2004
TOLEDO (OH): Sexual abuse victims say the Toledo Catholic Diocese refuses to show real contrition for its pedophile clerics. Victims say they've asked the diocese to tell parishioners about abusive clerics and to remove public tributes to these men, but the diocese is uncooperative. In fact, large pictures of known pedophile priests still exist in diocesan churches.
According to Claudia Vercellotti, Toledo co-leader of the Survivor's Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), other such tributes to disgraced priests exist in the diocese as well, tributes SNAP has long asked the diocese to remove.
"What message does it send to victims, victims' families and parishioners, when you walk into church and see a large picture of a known pedophile priest still hanging there?" Vercellotti said.
Noneconomic reparations for victims came into focus recently when the diocese failed to carry out part of a legal agreement it reached with Bill Claar, a survivor of clerical sexual abuse. Claar, abused as a boy by the Rev. Bernard Kokocinski in the mid-1970s at a Fremont church, reached agreement with the diocese that provided a statement be placed in all the church bulletins of the parishes Kokocinski served. The statement admitted Kokocinski was removed from ministry amid credible allegations of "sexual misconduct" with a minor and that he would not seek reinstatement.
The statement was to run concurrently at all of Kokocinski's ex-parishes but only ran at some. Eventually, the parishes ran the notice after Claar expressed outrage and other media outlets took notice. The diocese attributed the incident to a simple mistake, but Claar, who also received a monetary settlement, said he believes it was intentional. "It would have been easy for them to comply," said Claar from his home in Alaska. "It wasn't about money."
• Clerical abuse charges withdrawn [????]
One in Four,
http://oneinfour.org/news/news2004/withdrawn ,
by Patsy McGarry, Religious Affairs Correspondent - Irish Times, ~ August 09, 2004
IRELAND: The DPP has withdrawn serious sex abuse charges against a former Christian Brother after the accused man successfully challenged the allegations at a Redress Board hearing on May 15th last.
In a similar case last year another man making similar allegations against the same former Christian Brother received compensation from the Redress Board.
But in that instance the former Christian Brother, who denies those allegations also, was not informed the case would be heard before the board. He became aware afterwards.
The accused man still faces about 20 other similar allegations, all of which he denies.
"John" claims the allegations have taken nine years out of his life. From day one he has denied all allegations and cites contradictions one of which is that he has been accused of abusing a boy in 1964 at a residential institution when he (John) was not there until 1967.
• Bishop removes former Bangor priest [2004 Coughlin, 1990-94 Skinner]
Bangor Daily News
www.bangornews.com/editorialnews/article.cfm?ID=427568 ,
By Judy Harrison, ~ August 09, 2004
BANGOR (ME): The priest who shepherded St. Mary's Catholic Church through the 1978 fire that destroyed its Cedar Street home has been removed from the pastorate of two South Portland parishes because of his association with a man accused of sexual abuse of a minor. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland is trying to determine whether the Rev. Paul Coughlin, 69, put children at risk through his association with John S. Skinner Sr.
The diocese also is investigating complaints that Coughlin allowed Skinner, 62, to live with him at a South Portland rectory, the diocese announced this weekend. Only church employees are permitted to live on church property.
Coughlin was placed on temporary administrative leave while his association with Skinner is investigated.
Skinner, whose last known address was in Stonington, was indicted in July by the Penobscot County grand jury on six counts of gross sexual assault. He has not been arrested but is scheduled to be arraigned in Penobscot County Superior Court on Aug. 27.
The alleged assaults occurred at Skinner's Lincoln home between 1990 and 1994, beginning when the victim was 13 and continuing until he was 17, said Michael Roberts, deputy district attorney in Penobscot County.
• Parishes react to priest probe [Coughlin, Skinner]
Portland Press Herald,
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/local/040809priest.shtml ,
By DAVID HENCH, Aug 9, 2004
SOUTH PORTLAND (ME): Roman Catholics responded with shock, disappointment and faith Sunday to news that the Rev. Paul Coughlin was placed on leave pending an internal investigation.
Coughlin's suspension, announced during weekend Masses to parishioners of two South Portland Catholic churches - Holy Cross and St. John the Evangelist - involves whether he knew about sexual misconduct allegations against John Skinner Sr., who was recently indicted on charges of molesting a teenage boy. Diocesan officials learned two months ago that Coughlin had a long-term association with Skinner.
The Diocese of Portland is investigating whether Coughlin knew of the allegations and still put a minor at risk by allowing the child to be alone with Skinner. The diocese also is investigating whether Coughlin improperly allowed Skinner to live at the rectory in South Portland for an extended period of time.
Members of Coughlin's parishes said they hoped the inquiry would be fair, thorough and quickly concluded.
"We all love and respect Father Paul and certainly will keep him in our prayers," said Pamela Sharpe, a parishioner at Holy Cross for 10 years. "He has a big heart and he's always been there for all of us and certainly we want to be there for him."
• Priest temporarily removed from Maine post [2004 Coughlin, 1990-94 Skinner]
Boston Globe,,
www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2004/08/09/priest_temporarily_ removed_from_maine_post ,
By Associated Press, August 9, 2004
SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine -- Parishioners at two Roman Catholic churches learned yesterday that their priest had been temporarily removed while the Portland diocese investigates his involvement with a former church volunteer charged with sexual assault.
The diocese is investigating whether the Rev. Paul Coughlin put a minor at risk when he knew John Skinner of Stonington. Skinner was recently indicted for sexually assaulting a teenager from 1990 to 1994 while serving as a youth ministry volunteer at St. Mary of Lourdes in Lincoln.
"This is an ethical issue with the church and we want to know when did Father Coughlin know that there was a complaint against John Skinner," said Sue Bernard, diocese spokeswoman. "We're trying to find out what he knew and when he knew it."
The diocese is also investigating whether Coughlin, who has served as pastor of Holy Cross and St. John the Evangelist in South Portland since 1996, allowed Skinner to live with him at St. John's rectory in Portland.
• Sexual danger redefined [disbarred lawyer Pentlarge, ex-priests Lavigne, Porter, 1980s Leahy]
The Republican,
www.masslive.com/hampfrank/republican/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1092041192304150.xml ,
By FRED CONTRADA,
fcontrada@repub.com , Monday, August 09, 2004
NORTHAMPTON, MASSACHUSETTS - He claimed to have seen the error of his ways, but despite convicted child molester Joel Pentlarge's testimony in Hampshire Superior Court last month, a jury deemed him sexually dangerous and sent him to a state prison hospital for treatment.
A disbarred lawyer and former member of several Ware town boards, Pentlarge, 54, had already served a prison sentence for sexually abusing four boys. His trial came as the result of a petition by the Northwestern district attorney's office to have him civilly committed under a 1999 law that allows sex offenders to be held for treatment indefinitely if it is determined that they have a mental condition or personality disorder that makes them likely to reoffend.
Paul Leahy had been out of prison for less than a year when he stabbed Alexandra Zapp to death in a rest room behind a Burger King restaurant in Bridgewater July 18, 2002. Leahy had served 13 years for a rape conviction in the 1980s, but was in jail more recently for accosting two teen-age girls for sex.
The Plymouth County district attorney had tried to petition for Leahy to be declared sexually dangerous, but accosting did not fall under the aegis of the law, and the DA was not allowed to hark back to Leahy's rape conviction.
Thanks largely to the Zapp case, new legislation has closed what prosecutors saw as a loophole in the 1999 law. The new legislation broadens the list of sexual offenses to include crimes such as open and gross lewdness and lascivious behavior, incestuous marriage or intercourse, posing or exhibiting a child in a state of nudity, possession of child pornography and accosting or annoying persons of the opposite sex. ...
For example, former Roman Catholic priest Richard R. Lavigne cannot be tried as sexually dangerous even though he pleaded guilty to two counts of child molestation because he is already serving probation. In contrast, Bristol County prosecutors are awaiting a trial date for defrocked priest James Porter, who is serving prison time for molesting 28 children in the Fall River Diocese.
• Parishes may find laymen in pulpit [? 2004 Traylor]
Courier & Press,
www.courierpress.com/ecp/news/article/0,1626,ECP_734_3097578,00.html ,
By PHILIP ELLIOTT, 461-0783 or elliottp@courierpress.com ,
August 9, 2004
EVANSVILLE (IN): Parishioners might find someone other than a Catholic priest leading services at St. Theresa and St. Joseph parishes while their priest continues counseling, Evansville Bishop Gerald Gettelfinger told them Sunday.
"If you come and there isn't a priest here, don't be surprised," said Gettelfinger, who celebrated Mass at St. Theresa on Sunday. "Don't let this throw you off kilter."
Instead, parishioners may find a lay person leading them in a Liturgy of the Word - a service without Eucharist.
The Rev. William A. Traylor is on leave from his post as priest of the two Catholic parishes while he seeks outpatient counseling. Last weekend, he admitted in a letter to parishioners he visited an "inappropriate adult website" and had been caught. The letter does not mention the minor who sat on the other side of a partition while Traylor viewed the pornography, a charge civil authorities are investigating.
The diocese's internal investigation and the state's Child Protective Services found the child was not harmed or endangered, but Vanderburgh County prosecutors and Evansville police are conducting their own investigation. Last week, prosecutors met with diocesan officials and requested the results of the diocese's probe.
"Everything they have has been turned over to us, so we'll be looking into it," Evansville Police Department spokeswoman Sgt. Stephanie Loehrlein said. Gettelfinger said the matter is a personnel issue and he could not discuss it. He also refused to say where Traylor, 54, was living during his treatment.
• Pure escapism from a sad reality The Age,
www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/08/08/1091903443364.html ,
August 8, 2004
AUSTRALIA: The extraordinary success of The Da Vinci Code tells us much about the times, writes Jonathan Freedland.
You will count them on the beaches. You will spot them at the airports, in their thousands. You may even succumb to them yourself.
They are copies of The Da Vinci Code, proliferating at a rate unheard of even in the telephone-number world of mass-market publishing. The 600-page thriller is breaking records at breakneck speed. Around the world it has sold more than 10 million copies; nearly 8 million of those in hard covers, making it the best-selling hardback novel ever.
It's even having an impact on the tourist trade. The Louvre along with London's Temple Church and the Rosslyn Chapel near Edinburgh are all reporting surges in visitor numbers, as Da Vinci pilgrims retrace the novel's journey.
Why is this book such a smash? Superficially it looks no different from the rest of the fat tomes that constitute the thriller market. We have a protagonist sleuth who, author Dan Brown unabashedly tells us, looks like Harrison Ford, is wanted for murder and is on the run - accompanied by a comely female cop, the brilliant French code-breaker, Sophie Neveu. ...
Still, I suspect the triumph of the Code tells a larger story. First, it confirms that people are prepared to believe the worst of the church - even in America, the most "churched" society in the world. That millions of Americans are ready to accept the notion of a murderous Catholic monk taking orders from a corrupt bishop should sound the alarm in Catholicism's upper reaches.
In the US, this has been seized on as confirmation that the scandal of sexual abuse by Catholic priests has sent public esteem for the church plummeting, to the extent that Rome's servants are now acceptable as mass-market villains.
• New sex abuse lawsuit targets former St. Ann priest [1980s + Romero]
Naples Daily News,
www.naplesnews.com/npdn/news/article/0,2071,NPDN_14940_3097326,00.html ,
By ALAN SCHER ZAGIER, aszagier@naplesnews.com , August 9, 2004
NAPLES (FL), USA: No more unsupervised contact with children.
That was the assurance reportedly given by leaders of the Archdiocese of Miami nearly three decades ago when the mother of an altar boy at St. Ann Catholic Church complained about a sexually abusive youth pastor.
That priest, William Romero, would soon leave Naples, sent by church officials to a Rhode Island treatment center for pedophiles in the clergy. According to Romero, doctors there gave him a clean bill of health.
He returned to Florida and parish assignments in Hobe Sound, on the Palm Beach-Martin county line, and Moore Haven, a farming town on the shores of Lake Okeechobee.
He continued counseling children, and by his own admission, engaging in repeated sexual misconduct with a Port St. Lucie teenager. Romero subsequently labeled the behavior as "spontaneous moments of intimacy" intended to improve the troubled teen's mental health.
[Posted by Kathy Shaw at 06:02 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker
www.ncrnews.org/abuse ,
Mon August 09, 2004
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont92.htm
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker,
www.ncrnews.org/abuse,
Tue August 10, 2004 edition follows:- • Priest sees sex case collapse [2000 Conroy]
One in Four,
http://oneinfour. org/news/ news2004/ sexcase , ~ August 10, 2004
IRELAND: The Wicklow priest charged with the sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl has seen his case dramatically collapse at the Circuit Court.
Fr. Chris Conroy (72), of 10 Rocky Road, Wicklow, was facing two counts of allegedly sexually assaulting the girl in June and July of 2000. On the first day of the trial, the court heard from the girl that the first incident occurred on the day that she went on a shopping trip with the elderly cleric before later attending a disco.
However, the second day saw Counsel for the Defence, Mr. Richard N. Keane SC, point out that the shopping trip and the disco had occurred on two successive days, rather than the same day. He submitted that if the girl was wrong about that, 'she could be wrong about everything'.
[Posted by Kathy Shaw at 09:40 PM]
• Former Priest Accused Of Sexual Abuse [1978-81 Thiel]
Fox 17,
http://fox17.trb.com/news/080904-wxmi-priest,0,2394569.story ,
August 9, 2004
GRAND RAPIDS (MI) -- A Catholic priest who taught high school students in West Michigan is at the center of a sex abuse lawsuit out of Missouri. Former priest James Thiel is being sued by a St. Louis man who says he was molested as a child back in the late 1970's.
Thiel worked as a religion teacher at Catholic Central High School in Grand Rapids for eight years. The Grand Rapids Catholic Diocese removed him from that position in 1994, a short time after a complaint was filed against him with the St. Louis Catholic Diocese.
While Thiel doesn't currently face any criminal charges, his accuser says his life has been forever changed. "I feel as though I have murdered someone because I feel I have done one of the worst acts, no less with a priest," the man told us.
The victim is from St. Louis and claims he was molested from 1978-1981, when he was ten years old. He claims he was abused by his teacher, Thiel.
• Anti-Kerry Book Author Sorry for Slurs -- child abuse blamed on two religions.
Newsday,
www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/ats- ap_politics13aug10,0,2800014.story ,
By JENNIFER C. KERR, Associated Press Writer,
August 10, 2004
WASHINGTON (DC) -- One of the authors of a new anti-John Kerry book frequently posted comments on a conservative Web site describing Muslims and Catholics as pedophiles and Pope John Paul II as senile.
But as he prepared to launch the book, "Unfit for Command," Jerry Corsi apologized for the remarks in an interview with The Associated Press Tuesday, saying they were meant as a joke and he never intended to offend anyone.
In chat room entry last year on freerepublic.com, Corsi writes: "Islam is a peaceful religion -- just as long as the women are beaten, the boys buggered and the infidels are killed."
In another entry, he says: "So this is what the last days of the Catholic Church are going to look like. Buggering boys undermines the moral base and the lawyers rip the gold off the Vatican altars. We may get one more Pope, when this senile one dies, but that's probably about it."
Corsi, who described himself as a "devout Catholic," said the comments are being taken out of context. "I considered them a joke," said Corsi, who owns a financial services company and has written extensively on the anti-war movement.
• Archdiocesan bankruptcy guided by Holy Spirit? Catholic World News,
http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=31399 ,
Aug. 10, 2004
PORTLAND (OR) (CWNews.com) - Archbishop John Vlazny testified on August 7 that he believes his decision to file a bankruptcy claim for the Portland archdiocese was guided by the Holy Spirit, according to local media reports.
In a mandated meeting with creditors of the archdiocese, Archbishop Vlazny revealed that he made the final decision to seek bankruptcy over the Fourth of July holiday weekend. "I had a feeling the Holy Spirit was working," he said.
In his meeting with creditors, the archbishop avoided a direct answer to questions about whether the Vatican had approved his decision before the Portland archdiocese sought bankruptcy protection on July 6. He responded to questions by saying that he had been in regular communication with Vatican officials, but added: "In the end, it becomes my decision."
[COMMENT: Holy Spirit? Well, self-delusion helps keep him going, one presumes. Anyway, what sort of a spirit is guiding the sex-abusing clergy? COMMENT ENDS.]
• Teachers complain at head's exorcise regime Ananova,
www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1052316.html , ~ August 10, 2004
NORWAY: Teachers at a fundamentalist Christian school in Norway are complaining that the headmaster keeps trying to exorcise them.
The accusations were revealed in a report on the private Skjaergard's School by the Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority.
Previously, the school was criticised by the same body for listing Jesus Christ as its executive manager, reports Nettavisen.
Three teachers, Borre Olsen, Ingunn Metveit Olsen and Kristin Ofsdahl Haga, say Pastor Glenn Rasmussen twice tried to free them from 'evil spirits' during working hours.
Borre Olsen said: "He led me to the end of the room, and there he grabbed around my stomach and started yelling loudly.
• RCCG Disowns Pastor As Port Harcourt Firm Accuses Him of Threatening the Lives of Its Management Staff [Alatoru]
AllAfrica.com ;
http://allafrica.com/stories/200408100441.html ,
by Eugene Agha, Lagos, August 10, 2004
LAGOS, Nigeria; The Redeem Christian Church of God (RCCG), in Rivers State, has dissociated itself from the activities of one Chief Jonathan Alatoru, who claimed to be a pastor with the church. The Provincial Pastor of RCCG in the state, Pastor Belemo Obonge, told City Diary in a telephone chat that Alatoru was actually a deacon in the Church before he was expelled some time ago on grounds of immorality.
Although Obonge was a little bit reluctant to disclose the actual cause of Alatoru's expulsion, but insisted that he was neither a pastor nor a worker with the Church.
According to him, Alatoru's expulsion was unanimously adopted by the Church authorities, who could no longer stomach his atrocities.
"What happened was that Alatoru would have been ordained a deacon of the Church had it been that he scaled through the probation period given him by the Church authorities. All these happened when the Church was making use of his property located at Plot 3, Joe Alatoru Drive, Port Harcourt," he said.
• De Pere minister may face more charges [~ 1988 Stein (Norbertine)] - RCC.
Green Bay Press-Gazette,
www.greenbaypressgazette.com/news/archive/local_17259802.shtml ,
By Lee Reinsch, lreinsch@greenbaypressgazette.com , ~ August 10, 2004
WISCONSIN: Already charged with multiple counts of sexual assault of a child dating back 15 years, the Rev. James Stein, 44, of De Pere, learned Monday he may face two additional counts.
Stein, 44, a Norbertine priest, appeared Monday before Judge Sue Bischel with his lawyer, Stephen Glynn, in Brown County Branch III for what was supposed to be his final pre-trial conference. Details of the new charges weren't available but to allow time to determine their admissibility. Bischel set a status conference for Aug. 19.
If he chooses to testify at his trial, Stein could face questions from the district attorney regarding prior convictions. Stein pleaded guilty to fourth-degree sexual assault in 1991 for touching a man in a sauna.
The three current charges of second-degree sexual assault of a child are for alleged incidents around 1988 and involve a now-29-year-old man who says Stein groped him in a hot tub, shower and swimming area at St. Norbert Abbey. Stein worked in youth ministry at the former Green Bay Premontre at the time.
• Grand Rapids priest accused of abuse [1984-94 Thiel (Redemptorist)] - RCC.
WOOD TV,
www.woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=2155048&nav=0RcePi5g , 4:38 p.m. August 10, 2004
GRAND RAPIDS (MI): A former priest who taught at Catholic Central High School in Grand Rapids is accused of abusing a boy in St. Louis, Missouri before coming to West Michigan.
Now a national group is asking the Catholic Diocese of Grand Rapids to reach out to people in the area who may have been abused by James Thiel, because he taught at Catholic Central High School for eight years.
Thiel taught religion at Catholic Central from 1984 to 1994. The Redemptorist Province of St. Louis, of which Thiel was a member, dismissed him in the mid 1990s after someone reported allegations of abuse. Another victim filed a current civil lawsuit against Thiel a couple months ago. That victim lives in St. Louis and alleges that Thiel sexually abused him while working at the boy's school in that city.
Officials with the Catholic Diocese of Grand Rapids say they removed Thiel from his position at Catholic Central High School in 1994 after hearing of the previous allegations.
Two leaders of the group SNAP (The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests) held a press conference outside the diocese, asking church officials to use their resources to warn people about Thiel. Since Thiel lives in Grand Rapids, members of SNAP want the diocese to post information about him on the diocesan Web site, newspaper and church bulletins.
The group says three of its members were abused by Thiel. One of them settled out of court, a second has a civil lawsuit pending, and the last did not file a lawsuit. No criminal charges have resulted in any of the cases, so Thiel would not be a registered sex offender.
• St. Bruno priest cleared of sex abuse charges GM Today,
www.gmtoday.com/news/local_stories/2004/August_04/08102004_06.asp ,
By DENNIS A. SHOOK, GM Today Staff, August 10, 2004
DOUSMAN (MI) - Every Thursday since a Dousman priest was suspended in April following sex abuse allegations, his parishioners have been holding a prayer service for him, parish pastoral associate Karen Warnes said today.
"We now plan on having one final prayer service" at 7 p.m. Thursday to welcome the Rev. John P. Schreiter back to his parish, an emotional Warnes said this morning.
The review board of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee ruled last week the charges against Schreiter could not be substantiated.
Schreiter returned to St. Bruno's Catholic Church, 266 W. Ottawa, on Friday after being the first member of the clergy acquitted since a Milwaukee Archdiocese review board was established in early 2003. Without prior announcement, he officiated at four Masses over the weekend, surprising a delighted congregation.
"(Parishoners) are so happy," Warnes said. "The people here are just rejoicing.
• Priests say dismissal lacked due process [2004 O'Brien] -- Doyle and Gomulka -- whistleblowers.
National Catholic Reporter,
http://ncronline.org/NCR_Online/ archives2/2004c/081304/081304l.htm ,
By ARTHUR JONES, for Aug 13, 2004
UNITED STATES: Two military chaplains who are critical of church leaders for tolerating clergy sex abuse lost their "ecclesiastical endorsement," apparently without recourse to any form of due process, and consequently lost their jobs in the military.
The endorsements for Air Force Col. Thomas P. Doyle, a Dominican, and Navy Capt. Eugene Gomulka, a monsignor, were withdrawn during the past year by Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien of the Archdiocese for the Military Services. Endorsement by a religious institution is the method by which the Department of Defense accepts a chaplain for duty.
Both priests said they did not receive a hearing. No avenues of due process were opened to pursue the archbishop's complaints against them, they told NCR, nor were they provided with the opportunity to explain or defend themselves.
Both Doyle and Gomulka, outside their duties as military chaplains, have been critical of the U.S. bishops' handling of clerical sexual abuse matters.
For nearly 20 years, Doyle has publicly defended the rights of clerical sexual abuse victims and criticized the U.S. bishops' cover-up of sexual abuse. Gomulka, in an Aug. 27, 2001, article in America magazine, "Home Alone in the Priesthood," discussed sexual abuse by military chaplains and the loneliness celibacy creates.
O'Brien did not cite their activities around the sex abuse crisis as reason for dismissal.
• Catholic Diocese is set to resume Bishop reception The Union Leader,
www.theunionleader.com/articles_showfast.html?article=42033 ,
By KATHRYN MARCHOCKI, ~ August 10 , 2004
MANCHESTER (NH) - The Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester will resume the Bishop's summer reception this year. The event was discontinued in 2002 during the height of the clergy sexual abuse scandal.
The reception, now to be known as the Bishop's Summer Luncheon, is for donors contributing at least $500 to the Bishop's Charitable Assistance Fund. It will be held Sept. 9 at the bishop's mansion, now known as Trudel House.
The fund gives grants to nonprofit organizations regardless of religious affiliation to help New Hampshire residents. Past recipients include New Horizons soup kitchen, American Red Cross and New Hampshire Easter Seals.
"This fund is significant because it meets people's basic needs. These aren't glamorous extras," said Kathleen D. Cook, board chairman and 2004 campaign chair.
• Abuse claimants awaiting response from diocese The Republican,
www.masslive.com/chicopeeholyoke/republican/index.ssf?/base/news- 7/109212797548770.xml ,
By BILL ZAJAC, wzajac@repub.com , Tuesday, August 10, 2004
SPRINGFIELD (MA) - Now that the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield is settling clergy sexual abuse claims with 45 claimants represented by one lawyer, a group of lawyers and their clients are lining up at the diocese's door ready to discuss their claims.
At least five lawyers representing at least 20 clients who have made allegations of sexual abuse against priests are waiting to hear from diocesan officials regarding how their claims will be addressed by the diocese.
This will not be the end of clergy sexual abuse claims here, according to one of the lawyers.
"As terrible as this seems, we are seeing only the tip of the iceberg," said Carmen L. Durso, a Boston lawyer who represents 15 of the clients.
Durso said 200 or so people have brought claims against the Archdiocese of Boston since the church settled more than 500 claims a year ago.
Greenfield lawyer John J. Stobierski, whose 45 clients are in the process of settling claims with the diocese, recently said he has another group of clients who are considering making claims against the diocese.
• St. Agnes neighbors look for 'win-win' -- $US21 m to be found.
Greenwich Times,
www.greenwichtime.com/news/local/scn-gt-st.agnes1aug10,0,4770491. story?coll=green-news-local-headlines ,
By Hoa Nguyen, Staff Writer, August 10, 2004
GREENWICH (CT): Both the Diocese of Bridgeport and neighbors of St. Agnes Church said they want to find a "win-win" solution for plans to sell 25 acres of woods that surround the church on Stanwich Road. But should negotiations fail and Catholic officials follow through on plans to sell to a developer, some neighbors said they will prepare to do battle.
"We started out with the idea and we maintain the idea that we want to go for the win-win," said Tek Nickerson, one of the organizers of last night's Town Hall meeting among about 50 neighbors. "If we cannot find the win-win, we are certainly prepared to hire the meanest, biggest attorney and the consultant to tie them up."
The diocese wants to sell the eastern Greenwich property for $15 million to cover part of the $21 million settlement reached with victims of sexual abuse announced last October. The rest is expected to come through insurance payments.
The initial plans were to sell to a developer who would construct up to 10 homes at the property at 247 Stanwich Road. Residents, many of whom are worried about the impact new homes would have on their well water systems, would rather see more of the land set aside for open space.
Before any construction could begin, the diocese and the developer must go through a public hearing process in which neighborhood opposition could influence the outcome. The diocese last week offered to delay signing any sales contract for 30 days so that neighbors could explore the possibility of purchasing the property themselves.
• Review board finds abuse allegation unsubstantiated
-- Schreiter.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel,
www.jsonline.com/news/wauk/aug04/249991.asp ,
By TOM HEINEN, theinen@journalsentinel.com , Posted: Aug. 9, 2004
MILWAUKEE (WI): Father John P. Schreiter has returned to his Waukesha County parish after the Diocesan Review Board decided an allegation of sexual abuse against him was unsubstantiated, the first such acquittal since the board was established in early 2003.
Schreiter, pastor of St. Bruno Church in Dousman, had been on leave since April 22 while the archdiocese investigated his case. An incident with a minor that was alleged to have happened nearly 25 years ago in Sauk County was not reported to church officials until mid-March.
The 62-year-old priest resumed his parish ministry on Friday and presided at all four weekend Masses.
"I was at all of the liturgies, and he got standing ovations and people were crying, they were just so excited," said Karen Warnes, pastoral associate at the parish. "The vicar (for clergy) came and read a letter from the archbishop at every Mass."
Schreiter was not at the parish office Monday and could not be reached for comment. The parish is planning a "joyful homecoming" for him at 7 p.m. Thursday that will include a prayer service and an outdoor celebration with food, Warnes said.
• Dousman pastor returns to parish, name cleared by review board -- Schreiter, statute of limitations.
Duluth News Tribune
,
Associated Press, ~ August 10, 2004
MILWAUKEE (WI): A Dousman pastor has returned to his parish, after the Diocesan Review Board decided a sexual abuse allegation against him was unsubstantiated.
Rev. John P. Schreiter, pastor of St. Bruno Church, had been on leave since April 22 as the Milwaukee Archdiocese investigated his case. He resumed his parish ministry Friday.
His case was the first that got an acquittal since the review board was established in early 2003. Two other priests remain on leave pending investigation of allegations.
In March, church officials received a report accusing Schreiter of sexual abuse almost 25 years ago in Sauk County.
He denied the allegation, which was forwarded to the Sauk County district attorney's office. The office said in April that the case could not be considered for prosecution because the statute of limitations had expired.
• Priest faces trial in '78-80 rape case [Behan]
Philadelphia Inquirer,
www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/9359781.htm ,
By Jacqueline Soteropoulos, ~ August 10, 2004
PHILADELPHIA (PA): A judge yesterday turned aside arguments that the statute of limitations had expired and ordered a priest to stand trial on charges that he raped a Philadelphia boy more than 25 years ago.
For the first time, accuser Martin Donohoe faced the Rev. James J. Behan, 60, and testified about the abuse that Donohoe says began in 1978, when he was a 15-year-old student at North Catholic High School, where Behan taught.
Donohoe, 41, now of Burlington County, testified that Behan showed him the Front Street home he shared with other priests, then invited the teen to sleep over.
"When the lights were out, he rolled over and put his arms around me from behind... he started kissing me on my neck, fondling. Then he performed oral sex on me," Donohoe testified.
Donohoe gave Behan a long glance and squared his jaw, but his voice wavered as he described additional sex acts.
• Priest faces trial in alleged sex assault Accuser is former NE Catholic High pupil [1978-80 Behan] - RCC. Boy.
Philadelphia Daily News
www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/9361021.htm? ERIGHTS=2657486447833057867philly::kashaw@peoplepc.com&KRD_RM= 1impqpknppohhhhhhhhhholjmp|Kathleen|Y ;
Daily News Staff Report, ~ August 10, 2004
PHILADELPHIA (PA): The first priest indicted by a Philadelphia grand jury investigating child sexual abuse must stand trial for allegedly raping a male Northeast Catholic High School student a quarter century ago.
The Rev. James J. Behan, 60, yesterday lost his bid to have the charges tossed out under the statute of limitations. The alleged abuse occurred from 1978 to 1980.
Municipal Judge Linda Anderson denied Behan's motion to dismiss the charges, which include rape, indecent assault and corrupting a minor.
Anderson then ordered the priest, who is free on bail, to stand trial on all charges. He will be arraigned Aug. 30.
[Posted by Kathy Shaw at 07:41 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker
www.ncrnews.org/abuse ,
Tue August 10, 2004
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont92.htm
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker,
www.ncrnews.org/abuse,
Wed August 11, 2004 edition follows:- • Nuns' Group Won't Listen to Abuse Victims at Conference
- RCC.
Washington Post,
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55351-2004Aug10.html ,
By Caryle Murphy, Page A10, Wednesday, August 11, 2004
SILVER SPRING (MD): A Silver Spring-based organization representing Roman Catholic nuns has declined to allow several people who say they were sexually abused as children by nuns to address a national gathering of sisters.
The Leadership Conference of Women Religious, an association of about 1,000 leaders of women's religious orders, said its annual convention Aug. 19 to 22 in Fort Worth would not be "an environment conducive for listening and dialogue."
Instead, it offered to have four of its senior officials meet with the victims' group for "a productive discussion focused on critical issues relevant to supporting survivors and preventing further sexual abuse," according to a statement released yesterday by Sister Constance Phelps, conference president.
"We're really disappointed," said Landa Mauriello-Vernon, 30, of Hamden, Conn., a spokeswoman for the victims' group. "They've said they don't have time for us . . . but all we've asked for is 30 minutes."
[Posted by Kathy Shaw at 10:30 PM]
• Committee urges charges be laid against former Labor ministers [Ensbey] - Cabinet. Illegal shredding.
Australian Broadcasting Corporation,
www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200408/ s1174635.htm , ~ August 11, 2004
AUSTRALIA: A federal parliamentary committee has recommended members of Queensland's former Goss Labor cabinet be charged over the destruction of child abuse evidence.
The committee has not named the people it thinks should be charged.
The House of Representatives committee is headed by Liberal Bronwyn Bishop and says its hearings into the so-called Heiner Affair revealed a culture of concealment and collusion that covered up the abuse of children in detention and protected the offenders.
The committee says documents relating to the affair and subsequent inquiry 14 years ago were illegally shredded.
It has recommended that members of the Queensland cabinet at the time be charged under the criminal code.
The committee has cited the case of Pastor Douglas Ensbey as a precedent for laying charges.
Ensbey was convicted and sentenced for destroying evidence after he cut up a female parishioner's diary that detailed the sexual abuse she suffered.
• Church reveals new abuse approach -- Anglican.
The Courier-Mail,
www.thecouriermail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,10419123%255E953,00. html , Aug 12, 2004
AUSTRALIA: The Anglican Church in South Australia will today reveal a proposed resolution process for victims of child sexual abuse.
The church said the model offered those who had been abused an alternative to seeking redress through the courts.
It said full details would be announced at a public launch this morning involving the administrator of the Adelaide diocese, Archdeacon John Collas, and independent adviser Fay Marles, also chancellor of the University of Melbourne.
The proposal follows an independent review of allegations of abuse within the church which found its priority was to protect itself at the expense of victims and was more concerned with its legal and insurance standing than the healing of those abused.
Since then, two former ministers and a number of church workers have been arrested, the result of an investigation by a special police paedophile task force established last year.
• Local Priest Accused of Sexual Assault [1970s Mickey]
WREG,
www.wreg.com/Global/story.asp?S=2161971 ,
August 11, 2004
MEMPHIS, TN - The Catholic Church is slammed with another sexual assault lawsuit. This time the priest accused of misconduct is right here in the Mid-South.
His name is father Richard L. Mickey. He's accused of sexually abusing twin brothers. A 20-page lawsuit spells out the disturbing details.
As the pastor of Bishop Byrne High School students trusted Father Richard Mickey, but according to the lawsuit more than 20-years ago Father Mickey 'broke the faith' of teen-aged twin brothers who attended the Whitehaven high school.
Richard Schulte, the defendant's attorney says, "Their relationship with the church has been one of trust and that trust has been broken." The lawsuit claims the 39-year-old defendants who now live in Montana were sexually assaulted and molested on numerous occasions by father Mickey.
The suit also states the diocese knew about the alleged misconduct and kept father Mickey on staff anyway. Now the defendants are suing their former priest, the diocese and Bishop Byrne high school.
• Catholic Bishop's Appeal hits record high in pledges Albany Times Union
timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=266845 &category= REGIONOTHER&BCCode=HOME&newsdate=7/16/2004 ,
By MICHELE MORGAN BOLTON, Friday, July 16, 2004
ALBANY (NY): The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany's 2004 Annual Bishop's Appeal said it hit an all-time high for pledges this year despite -- or maybe because of -- the clergy sex abuse scandal that focused for four months on the longtime spiritual leader himself.
Figures released Thursday showed parishes in the 14-county diocese pledged $6.6 million, which is 3 percent, or $202,747 more than last year.
The previous high of $6,591,218 was reached in 2000.
An average gift in the 50th-anniversary fund drive was $169, also the highest on record, Bishop's Appeal Director Jack Manning said.
• 2nd man says priest abused him [1950s Blackwell]
Palladium-Item,
www.pal-item.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040811/NEWS01/ 408110303/1008,
By Don Fasnacht, ~ August 11, 2004
INDIANAPOLIS (IN): A second man claims Father William Blackwell sexually abused him at St. Mary Catholic parish in the 1950s.
The man, identified as Daniel N., who was born in 1950, has filed suit in the Marion County court system.
The suit names the Archdiocese of Indianapolis and St. Mary school and parish as defendants.
Rev. Blackwell died in 1990.
The complaint says Daniel N. was an altar boy when he was repeatedly sexually abused by Rev. Blackwell in the sacristy and in the rectory of St. Mary.
• Okija Shrine: Lagos Businessman Declared Wanted - Brought a Fresh Corpse [2004 Ndukwu]
AllAfrica.com
http://allafrica.com/stories/200408110978.html ,
August 11, 2004, Posted to the web August 11, 2004
LAGOS, NIGERIA: A Lagos-based businessman, Bartholomew Ndukwu, has been declared wanted by the police in Anambra State for his alleged involvement in rituals at the infamous Okija shrines in Ihiala Local Government Area of the state.
Bartholomew, son of Ejimoo Ndukwu, one of the priests of the shrine arrested by the police during its first raid on the evil forest, was alleged to have brought a corpse to the shrine shortly before the raid.
P.M.News gathered that children of priests working at the Okija shrine were initiated to worship the gods at the shrine and participate in all activities therein.
• Priest-abuse victims seek help from police, prosecutors
[O'Connell]
Columbia Daily Tribune,
www.columbiatribune.com/2004/Aug/20040811Feat001.asp ,
By TONY MESSENGER,
Published Wednesday, August 11, 2004
MISSOURI: July 13 is an important day for Mike Wegs.
It's the day his sister would have turned 50 if she hadn't died 30 years ago.
Her funeral mass was celebrated by Father Anthony O'Connell and Father Manus Daly. The two were Catholic priests at the now-closed St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Hannibal. Wegs remembers them well, particularly O'Connell. It was O.C., as the seminarians referred to him, who Wegs says sexually abused him so many years ago.
Wegs grew up in Moberly and graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Journalism. In May, he came forward with his story of abuse, having previously been known only as one of the John Does who sued the Catholic Church over abuse by alleged pedophiles like O'Connell.
His lawsuit has since gone away. On July 13 - a day he chose purposely - he signed a settlement with the Catholic Church.
The church, of course, admits nothing. Neither does O'Connell. But the former priest and bishop agreed to pay Wegs and another victim, Mathew Cosby, $5,000 each to settle their lawsuits. The Diocese of Jefferson City is paying Wegs $20,000 and Cosby $27,000.
• Former Memphis priest denies sexual abuse accusations [1980 Mickey]
Commercial Appeal,
www.commercialappeal.com/mca/local_news/article/0,1426,MCA_ 437_3103398,00.html ,
By Bill Dries and James Dowd, August 11, 2004
MEMPHIS (TN): Two brothers say a Catholic priest sexually abused them in 1980 when they were students at Bishop Byrne High School, a charge the priest firmly denied Wednesday afternoon.
The claim made in a Circuit Court civil lawsuit is the second set of allegations made in court against Memphis priests in a week.
Rev. Richard Mickey is accused of sexually abusing Blain and Blair Chambers during a time he was a brother working at the Whitehaven school as a counselor. Mickey was ordained a priest in 1988.
"I deny the allegations and I trust they will be resolved by the litigation process," said Mickey, who spoke to a reporter outside St. Mary's Catholic Church in Jackson, Tennessee.
"I have not seen a copy of the lawsuit but I have been advised by the diocesan attorneys that a lawsuit has been filed," Mickey said.
The twin brothers, who are now 39, live in Montana.
• Group calls for Hubbard's resignation Capital News 9,
www.capitalnews9.com/content/your_news/capital_region/default.asp?ArID=88651 , By Edward Muir, Updated 3:52 PM, Aug/11/2004
ALBANY (NY): Mark Lyman is a 40-year-old father of four who said he was sexually abused by a priest in Troy in the 1970s. He said that the abuse stays with him all the time.
Lyman said, "It's destroyed my life, and I really want somebody to take responsibility."
The person he feels should take responsibility is Bishop Howard Hubbard. Lyman and other members of the Coalition of Concerned Catholics are not swayed by the $2.2 million investigation by Mary Jo White that cleared Hubbard of sexual misconduct.
But more than that, they said Hubbard has presided over a pedophile priest scandal, even perpetuating it by moving accused priests from parish to parish. They continue their call for Hubbard's resignation.
Philip Kiernan of the Coalition for Concerned Catholics said, "He's harmed a lot of people. He's brought the clergy and the Catholic faith locally into disrepute. He's harmed the church. He should stop harming the church and go away."
But a diocese spokesman said Bishop Hubbard has no intention of stepping down, and that he has the overwhelming support of Catholics in the area.
• Second lawsuit accuses priest of abuse [1950s Blackwell]
WTHR,
www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=2162064 , Aug. 11, 2004
INDIANAPOLIS (IN): A second plaintiff steps forward suing the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis claiming sexual abuse.
The man who calls himself Daniel N. claims he was abused more than 40 years ago by the late Reverend William Blackwell at St. Marys Parish in Richmond. The accused priest died back in 1990.
Another man filed a similar lawsuit in February alleging he too was abused by Blackwell.
• Bishop asked to investigate priests [Ford, Henchal, Melville]
WMTW,
www.wmtw.com/Global/story.asp?S=2159601&nav=7k6rPkQz ,
By News 8 WMTW
PORTLAND (ME): A co-founder of the group Voice of the Faithful has asked Maine's Roman Catholic bishop to investigate two high-ranking priests.
They are former Portland diocese co-chancellors: Monsignor Joseph Ford, who is the pastor of St. Mary's Church in Wells, and Monsignor Michael Henchal, who is pastor of St. Bartholomew's Church in Cape Elizabeth.
Paul Kendrick is calling for them to be put on administrative leave, pending an internal investigation into what they knew and when, regarding sexual misconduct allegations against Rev. Raymond Melville.
In his letter, Kendrick asserts that Ford and Henchal placed children at risk of being sexually abused, by their failure to remove Melville from the ministry and by not warning children and parents about Melville's history of abuse.
Portland Catholic Diocese spokesperson Sue Bernard says, "In the past two years, Paul Kendrick has flooded the Diocese of Portland with literally hundreds of emails and letters, attacking the administration of the Catholic Church and a number of church employees. This is nothing new."
• Priest accused of rape after two decades [1976-79]
IOL,
www.iol.co.za/in dex.php?set_ id=1&click_id= 13&art_id=vn 20040811061510 119C287744 ,
by Tania Broughton, 07:13AM, August 11 2004
SOUTH AFRICA: A Durban Roman Catholic priest accused of raping a child 28 years ago has applied for a stay of prosecution, claiming his constitutional right to a fair trial will be infringed if he has to answer to the charge.
The application by the elderly priest was made at the beginning of his three-day trial in the Durban regional court on Tuesday.
Whatever the decision by magistrate Trevor Levitt, it is likely to be sent on appeal to a higher court, possibly even to the Constitutional Court.
The priest is accused of raping the child - now a 36-year-old woman - on diverse occasions between 1976 and 1979.
The charge has not been put to him but, in an affidavit before the court on Tuesday, he indicated that he would plead not guilty. He cannot be named until he has pleaded.
• 'Old law' may aid former priest [1978 Feeney]
The Post-Crescent,
www.wisinfo.com/postcrescent/news/archive/local_17272447.shtml,
By Dan Wilson, ~ August 11, 2004
WISCONSIN: Former priest John Patrick Feeney, sentenced in April to 15 years in prison on sexual assault charges, will be eligible for parole after serving just six months of his sentence.
Feeney was sentenced to 15 years in prison on April 30 on three counts of sexual assault of a child and one count of attempted sexual assault of a child.
The charges stemmed from assaults of two brothers, ages 12 and 14, in May 1978 when Feeney was the parish priest at St. Nicholas Catholic Church in Freedom.
Last week, the Parole Commission of the Department of Corrections sent out copies of a notice of parole consideration to the victims, the attorneys and the judge.
"This is based on the law that was in effect at the time of the offense," Department of Corrections spokesman Bill Clausius said Tuesday. "It is what we call 'old law'."
• Priest plans to admit guilt in sexual assault of boy [Palathingal]
Home News Tribune,
www.thnt.com/thnt/story/0,21282,1023912,00.html , By RICK MALWITZ, Aug/11/04
WISCONSIN: The Rev. Simon Palathingal, the religious order priest who kept part of his past hidden from the Diocese of Metuchen when he was hired in December 2001, agreed last week to plead guilty to charges of sexual assault that occurred in 1990 and 1991 in Milwaukee.
Palathingal, 62, is scheduled to appear Tuesday before Wisconsin Circuit Court Judge Karen Christenson, who is expected to announce a date for her hearing of the agreement reached by Palathingal and the district attorney.
Palathingal was arrested June 3 in South Amboy, where he was serving at St. Mary Roman Catholic Church. He was charged with four counts of abusing Nick Janovsky, who was 9 at the time of the assaults, at a house for retired priests in Milwaukee.
Janovsky, who has been outspoken in his criticism of the Diocese of Milwaukee for its handling of the case, approved of the plea agreement. "I have a mixed reaction," he said yesterday from his home in Florida. "I am happy (Palathingal) will be punished. Unfortunately, this man wasn't stopped years ago. Who knows how many others he abused?"
• Crowley freed after year's jail [1974-75] -- psychologist who conducted Anglican inquiry.
The Mercury, Hobart (Tasmania), Australia,
www.themercury.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,10397131%255E3462,00.html ,
By GAVIN LOWER, Law Reporter, Aug 10, 2004
AUSTRALIA: Disgraced Tasmanian psychologist Michael Crowley has been granted parole after serving a year in jail for having a sexual relationship with a teenage girl 20 years ago.
Crowley, 60, of Howden Rd, Howden, will walk free from jail after the Parole Board of Tasmania decided it was unlikely he would reoffend.
"[Crowley] used his close relationship with the victim in an inappropriate manner but it is unlikely that he will ever be in such proximity and relationship with anyone else in the future that would enable him to repeat the crime," the board said.
Crowley pleaded guilty in July last year to maintaining a sexual relationship with a person under the age of 17.
He began a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl while he was 31 that lasted for nine months from 1974 to 1975.
Crowley, who conducted an inquiry into allegations of child sex abuse in the Anglican Church, was jailed for 2-1/2 years with six months suspended.
• Justice center opens in polygamist town Fox 11,
www.fox11az.com/news/state/stories/KMSB-20040810-fambp-justicecenter. 63d39d82.html ,
By Mike Watkiss / NewsChannel 3 reporter, 12:33 PM MST, Tuesday, August 10, 2004
ARIZONA: In a community rocked by persistent and ongoing allegations of sexual abuse, welfare fraud and forced marriages, suddenly there is a new force in town. This week, the state of Arizona and Mojave County opened a new justice center in the border-straddling polygamist town of Colorado City.
A justice center was established in Colorado City to assist victims of abuse. The polygamist enclave has long been isolated by geography and hostile to outsiders, but Monday a new justice center opened its doors. The building will be used by Child Protective Services, the Arizona Attorney Generals Office, the Mojave County Sheriff's Office, and the Mojave County Attorney's Office.
Officials say they hope the new facility will serve victims who, in the past, have had nowhere to turn in Colorado City. Over the years, critics have complained bitterly that women and young girls trying to escape forced marriages and the polygamist lifestyle have had no where to go because almost all of the police officers in the community are members of the polygamist religion - the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
• Sect leader's nephew charges sexual abuse [? 1980s-90s]
The Washington Times,
http://washingtontimes.com/national/20040811-121647-6703r. htm ,
By Hugh Aynesworth, August 11, 2004
ELDORADO, Texas - A nephew of the leader of a polygamist group that has relocated to this rural community filed a lawsuit last month saying he was sexually abused by his uncle more than a decade ago in Utah.
The lawsuit is the latest problem for the 200-member Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a breakaway of the Mormon Church led by Warren Jeffs. The church also has been cited by the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality for operating an improper wastewater system that serves the 1,600-acre compound.
Last month, church members had to ask the Eldorado City Council to allow them to temporarily tap into the city's system.
• Green Light For Church 'Sex' Trial [1980-83 Lorch]
New York Post
www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/26687.htm, August 11, 2004
NEW YORK: A Manhattan federal judge gave the go-ahead yesterday to try the former director of Riverside Church's prestigious basketball program for the alleged sex abuse of one of his players more than 20 years ago.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain yesterday refused to dismiss most of the charges leveled against Ernie Lorch.
The judge did toss out charges against Riverside Church, ruling that there was not enough evidence the church authorized or covered up what happened.
Robert Holmes has accused Lorch of sexually abusing him between 1980 and 1983.
Lorch has denied there was any sexual contact.
• Ex-teacher guilty of sex crimes seeks shock probation [Kazmarek]
The Courier-Journal,
www.courier-journal.com/localnews/2004/08/11ky/B9-kaz0811-3394.html ,
By Jason Riley, jriley@courier-journal.com , Aug 11, 2004
LOUISVILLE (KY): A former Catholic elementary teacher sentenced in January to 13 years in prison for sexually abusing five of his former students asked a Jefferson circuit judge yesterday to be released early.
An attorney for Gary Kazmarek told Judge Kenneth Conliffe that the former teacher and coach at Our Mother of Sorrows School had not been charged with a crime in more than two decades; had apologized to his victims; and is a 63-year-old who recently was deemed only a moderate risk to commit a future crime.
With that, Casey McCall asked that his client be released on shock probation.
"My client had problems," McCall told the judge. "... But since that time, he has had nothing. We don't believe he is a threat to reoffend."
Conliffe did not make a decision yesterday.
• 5 join abuse suit; priest, nun, coach named [1930s-60s Sisters of Charity of Nazareth]
The Courier-Journal,
www.courier-journal.com/localnews/2004/08/11ky/B9-abuse0811-4434.html ,
By Gregory A. Hall, ghall@courier-journal.com , Aug 11, 2004
LOUISVILLE (KY): Five plaintiffs filed yesterday to join a lawsuit against the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, alleging abuse by a priest, a nun and a coach in the 1950s and 1960s.
The latest filing brings the number of people who have sued the Nelson County-based order to 29 since last month.
In yesterday's filing, the plaintiffs allege that they were abused at the St. Thomas-St.Vincent Orphanage and that the order was negligent in supervising the alleged abusers. The Sisters of Charity of Nazareth operated the orphanage for Catholic Charities, which is an agency of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville.
Previous plaintiffs in the suit also allege abuse dating to the 1930s and at schools.
Barbara Qualls, a spokeswoman for the order of nuns, said a response to the litigation will be filed this week.
• Alleged victim of sexual abuse finally has his say [1980s Wilson]
Troy Record,
www.troyrecord.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=12663395&BRD=1170& PAG=461&dept_id=7021&rfi=6 ,
By Robert Cristo , Aug/11/2004
ALBANY (NY): Nearly 25 years after he was allegedly molested as a teenager by local defrocked priest Dozia Wilson, 38-year-old Joseph Woodward finally got the chance to tell his painful story of abuse to prosecutors and law enforcement officials in Massachusetts.
"It was like having a 100-pound weight taken off my back to finally have officials interested in my situation and in carefully discerning the facts," said Woodward, befriended by Wilson when he was 14 in 1980 at St. Ann's Church in Fort Ann.
The Suffolk County DA's interest in the case was prompted by a civil complaint lodged by Woodward's attorney John Aretakis against Wilson.
Woodward sat with DA investigators Kelly Nunan and Emil Nunez-Rivera, as well as Sgt. John McDonough from the Suffolk County Police Department, last Friday for a 3-1/2-hour interview.
He says there were also members of the DA's office watching from a concealed window and asking the investigators questions while they interviewed him.
• Northern Alaska diocese to abide by gag order [Poole females, Convert males] -- Jesuits.
News-Miner,
www.news-miner.com/Stories/0,1413,113~7244~2327565,00.html ,
By MARY BETH SMETZER, ~ August 11, 2004
ALASKA: The leader of the Catholic Diocese of Northern Alaska, Bishop Donald Kettler, said the diocese agrees with the gag order motion filed last week in Bethel Superior Court.
The motion seeks to stop information from being released to the media in a lawsuit filed by Jane Doe alleging that the Rev. James Poole, a Jesuit priest, now retired, abused female minors while serving as director of radio station KNOM in Nome and pastor at St. Joseph's Parish.
Kettler, who was unaware of the motion when contacted last week, said he made the decision to support the motion after talking to the diocese's attorney Bob Groseclose.
"I've taken his recommendation because we're concerned that it (civil suit) not be tried in the press," Kettler said. "And secondly that we not taint the pool of possible jurors."
In addition to Poole and the bishop, two other defendants are included in the gag order request, The Society of Jesus, Oregon Province, and The Society of Jesus, Alaska.
Groseclose said the motion was prompted by the release of a deposition by the Rev. William Loyens in another lawsuit involving the diocese purporting sexual abuse of male minors by a now-deceased French Jesuit priest, Jules Convert.
• Diocese to scrutinze transferred clergy [1990s Palathingal] -- Salesian.
Star-Ledger,
www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-7/10922145323047 20.xml ,
BY JEFF DIAMANT, Wednesday, August 11, 2004
METUCHEN (NJ): The Roman Catholic diocese of Metuchen says it plans to subject transferred priests to one of the most vigorous background checks in the country, following a scandal involving a priest recently charged with molesting a boy 14 years ago in Wisconsin.
The Rev. Simon Palathingal was charged June 3 with abusing a 9-year-old boy while living at a home for elderly priests in Milwaukee during the early 1990s. He had worked in the Metuchen Diocese since December 2001 but had his ministerial privileges revoked after the arrest.
Palathingal, 62, born in India, is a member of the religious order of the Salesians of Don Bosco -- one of the largest Catholic orders in the world -- and was studying at Marquette University, a Jesuit institution in Milwaukee, at the time of the alleged incident.
He arrived in Metuchen 2 1/2 years ago after working with the Salesians in Lake Charles, La., when a priest he knew in the diocese suggested he come help during the Christmas season. Two months later he asked to become permanent, starting a process of diocese background checks. While waiting for approval, he assisted in the day-to-day operations at St. Mary's in South Amboy and St. Bernadette in Parlin.
Metuchen officials say that while reviewing Palathingal's application, they relied in part on a letter from the Salesians in Louisiana that said he was in good standing with the order.
• Lawsuit alleges abuse by clergy [? 1950s-60s Blackwell]
Indinapolis Star,
www.indystar.com/articles/7/169372-2667-009.html ,
By Rob Schneider, rob.schneider@indystar.com , August 11, 2004
INDIANAPOLIS (IN): A lawsuit filed Tuesday against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis alleges sexual abuse of an altar boy by the same priest named in a lawsuit filed earlier this year.
The most recent complaint was filed on behalf of a man identified only as Daniel N. He was born in 1950 and suffered the abuse more than 40 years ago while attending St. Mary's Parish in Richmond, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit identifies the Rev. William Blackwell as the priest responsible for the abuse. Blackwell, who served a number of assignments within the archdiocese, died Feb. 2, 1990.
The archdiocese could not comment on the lawsuit, as it had just been filed, said spokeswoman Susan Borcherts.
"We want people to know we are deeply troubled when we hear of allegations of sexual abuse of children by our own clergy, church employees or our church volunteers," Borcherts said.
[Posted by Kathy Shaw at 03:48 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker
www.ncrnews.org/abuse ,
Wed August 11, 2004
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont92.htm
• Pope's representative acknowledges letter asking Salesians to face their child abuse, admit fleeing to other countries avoiding arrest, and regarding the Church's secrecy policy.
Letter from Apostolic Nuncio (Pope's representative) Archbishop Francesco Canalini, PO Box 3633, Manuka (Canberra), August 11, 2004
AUSTRALIA:
Dear Mr [name], I acknowledge receipt of your letter of 5th instant. With kind regards, I remain, Sincerely yours, Archbishop Francesco Canalini, Apostolic Nuncio
[Aug 11, 04]
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont92.htm
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker,
www.ncrnews.org/abuse,
Thu August 12, 2004 edition follows:- • Vatican Closes 'Porn School' [2003-04 Kuechl, Rothe]
SBS TV,
http://www9.sbs.com.au/theworldnews/region.php?id=91604®ion=3 ,
09:51:43, Aug 13, 2004.
AUSTRIA: An Austrian seminary accused of homosexual and pornographic activities has been closed by the Vatican.
Vatican special envoy Klaus Kueng said the 200-year-old seminary at St Poelten, near Vienna is "closed with immediate effect".
Austrian media also reported that the envoy hinted the local bishop would be retired to allow a "fresh start".
Mr Kueng, the bishop of Feldkirch in western Austria, was chosen in July by the Pope to lead an investigation, a day after a 27-year-old Polish student priest at St Poelten was charged with possessing some 10,000 pornographic pictures.
The scandal erupted when Profil magazine published photos of priests and students from the religious school kissing and fondling.
The revelations led to the resignation of the seminary director, Ulrich Kuechl, and his deputy, Wolfgang Rothe.
[Posted by Kathy Shaw at 09:07 PM]
• Austrian seminary shut down in gay sex probe [2003-04]
The Advocate,
www.advocate.com/new_news.asp?ID=13377&sd=08/13/04 , Aug 13, 2004
AUSTRIA: A papal emissary on Thursday shut down an Austrian seminary where authorities reported finding about 40,000 photos and numerous videos, including child pornography, on computers. Other photographs of seminary students kissing and fondling each other and their older religious instructors at the seminary also were found in the diocese of St. Poelten, about 50 miles west of Vienna.
Some of the photos were published in Austrian media and triggered a public uproar that prompted Pope John Paul II to dispatch Bishop Klaus Kueng as an "apostolic visitor" to contain the scandal. "A new beginning is necessary," Kueng told reporters in remarks broadcast on state-run ORF television. "I am closing the seminary right away." Kueng said it appeared that "active homosexual relationships took shape" at the seminary, a revelation he found "very painful," the Austria Press Agency reported.
The Vatican inspector had promised to do whatever it took to restore credibility to Austria's scandalized church. Prosecutors investigating the child pornography aspect of the case have charged a 27-year-old former seminary student from Poland with possessing and distributing illicit material, an offense punishable by up to two years in prison. Kueng said his investigation found that church leaders "paid too little attention to selection procedures" at the seminary.
Two of the institution's 36 students have left the seminary this summer. Those who want to remain will have to undergo a fresh screening process, Kueng said.
• Sexual abuse victims press Orange County church to halt cathedral The Mercury News,
www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/ california/the_valley/9385811.
htm ,
Associated Press, ~ August 12, 2004
SANTA ANA, Calif. - Victims of sexual abuse by priests on Thursday urged the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange to halt the development of a new cathedral and the purchase of a new home in an adjacent gated community.
The $1.2 million home and the cathedral project are inappropriate at a time of diocese budget cuts and talks to reach a settlement with abuse victims, said members of Survivors Networks of those Abused by Priests.
"It's very irresponsible of the bishop," said John Grimley, who has filed a lawsuit against the diocese alleging abuse by a former principal of the church's Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana. "He's spending on things like this yet he says the diocese needs money. It's just very sad."
A small group of protesters from the group gathered at the vacant lot where the diocese hopes to build a cathedral. Protesters, who held signs with slogans such as "Feed the hungry. Clothe the naked," and "Stop the cathedral," also urged a quicker settlement to the lawsuits and the release of priest personnel files that they say will document efforts to cover up the abuse.
Diocese spokeswoman Karen Lane said Thursday that plans to build the cathedral are on hold until after a settlement is reached despite the July 19 approval of a development agreement with the city of Santa Ana.
• Prosecutor: No evidence that porn-watching priest committed any crime [2004 Traylor]
WKRN,
www.wkrn.com/Global/story.asp?S=2167333 EVANSVILLE, Ind. A southern Indiana prosecutor says there's no evidence a Roman Catholic priest who was caught viewing Internet porn in the same room where a child was present committed any crime.
Prosecutor Stanley Levco says no criminal charges will be filed against 56-year-old Reverend William Traylor. Levco's office studied results of the church's internal probe and an investigation by Evansville police.
Levco says he concluded a child who was in the same area during the time the priest was looking at the porn was separated by a partition and did not see the material.
The pastor at two Evansville churches recently explained in a letter to parishioners that he was seeking treatment after viewing "inappropriate" Web sites.
• Priest: Jews devised pedophilia 'lies' [2004 Jankowski]
Jerusalem Post,
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/Show Full&cid=1092280017655 &p=1008596975996 , ~ August 12, 2004
POLAND: The Simon Wiesenthal Center is calling on Polish political leaders to speak out against priest Henryk Jankowski, who in Sunday mass claimed recent accusations against him are part of a Jewish conspiracy.
Jankowski has recently been accused of pedophilia. According to reports from a Jewish activist in Krakow, he blamed the accusations on "Jews and Judeo-communists."
"We want Polish leaders to disassociate themselves from these comments," said Efraim Zuroff, the Center's Israel Director. "And to send Jankowski packing."
Zuroff said he doubts Polish leaders will speak out, since almost a week has elapsed since the comments were made.
"These are things that shouldn't be ignored, even though Jankowski is not the Bishop of Poland," he said. He called the comments "pure incitement" and said Jews are in no way involved in these recent accusations.
• Correction Officers say they were made villains in prison reform report [Geoghan]
Herald Tribune,
By KAREN TESTA, Associated Press Writer, Aug 12, 2004
BOSTON (MA): The union representing thousands of correction officers is issuing a scathing rebuttal to a governor's commission review of the state prison system, saying prison officers were vilified in order to promote an anti-labor agenda.
The rebuttal, obtained by The Associated Press, was to be released Friday at a news conference at the former Fort Devens. It claims the 15-member Gov.'s Commission on Correction Reform, led by former Democratic Attorney General Scott Harshbarger, used sloppy research and purposely misrepresented facts in making recommendations for reform.
The commission conducted an eight-month, top-to-bottom review of the prison system after a probe into the cellblock slaying of defrocked priest John Geoghan last August revealed signs of problems across the department.
The commission's wide-ranging report, released June 30 at the maximum-security prison where Geoghan was killed by a former inmate, made recommendations on all aspects of corrections, including relations with labor, inmate classification and programs and the need for outside oversight.
• Porn-watching priest committed no crime [2004 Traylor]
Indinapolis Star,
www.indystar.com/articles/6/169677-8776-093.html ,
Associated Press, August 12, 2004
EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- Vanderburgh County Prosecutor Stanley Levco said today he found no evidence a Roman Catholic priest committed any crime when he viewed Internet pornography in the same room where a child was present.
Levco said that no criminal charges will be filed against the Rev. William Traylor, 56. The prosecutor's office studied results of the church's internal probe and an investigation by Evansville police.
Levco said he concluded that a child who was in the same area during the time the priest was using a computer to look at porn during a summer social at St. Joseph Catholic Church was separated by a partition and did not see the material.
Traylor, the pastor of St. Joseph and St. Theresa parishes in Evansville, recently explained in a letter to parishioners that he was seeking treatment after viewing "inappropriate" Web sites.
• Detroit Archdiocese Begins Church Trials [700 removed nation-wide]
MyrtleBeachOnline,
www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/news/special_ packages/9385679.htm ,
By BREE FOWLER, Associated Press, ~ August 12, 2004
DETROIT (MI): The Archdiocese of Detroit said Thursday it has begun church trials for three priests accused of molesting children and is about to start proceedings for a fourth, as the Roman Catholic Church works through a backlog of hundreds of abuse claims against clergy nationwide.
The archdiocese did not release the names of the four priests or any details of the accusations. Detroit Auxiliary Bishop Walter Hurley said judges met last week to start the closed-door hearings, which will determine whether the men can remain priests.
Since January 2002, when the clergy abuse crisis erupted in the United States, about 700 accused priests and deacons nationwide have been removed from Catholic dioceses, the U.S. bishops said last February. As mandated by the church, the cases were referred to the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which has been overwhelmed by the claims.
Two American canon lawyers are being sent to Rome to help with the review, according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Still, the Vatican office has begun working through the claims and has returned some to local bishops to handle.
Hurley said Vatican officials have responded to 13 of the 23 cases it has sent to Rome so far. "It's an honest system within the church that's trying to pursue what's just and fair," Hurley said.
• Priests In Porn Scandal [2003-04]
Sky News,
www.sky.com/ skynews/article/ 0,,30200-1147 409,00.html , ~ August 12, 2004
AUSTRIA: The Vatican has closed a 200-year-old training college for priests in Austria amid the outcry over a sex scandal.
The St Poelten seminary, near Vienna, is engulfed in turmoil after pictures were published showing priests and students kissing and fondling each other.
A student priest at the college has been charged with owning 10,000 pornographic pictures, with Austrian media claiming that police had found a total of 40,000 images.
Some of these were reported to include scenes of sex with children and animals.
Revelations about St Poelten have forced the resignations of its director and his deputy.
Special Vatican envoy Klaus Kueng revealed he had he uncovered "serious errors in orientation".
• Austrian seminary rocked by porn scandal closed [2003-04]
CBC,
www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2004/08/12/austria_church_porn040812.html , Aug 8, 2004
VIENNA, AUSTRIA - The Vatican on Thursday shut down a seminary in Austria where investigators found thousands of pictures of students and instructors kissing and fondling.
Authorities reported finding about 40,000 photos and a large number of videos on computers at the seminary in the diocese of St. Poelten, about 80 kilometres west of Vienna. Some of the material included child pornography.
When some of the pictures appeared in Austrian media, Pope John Paul II responded to the public uproar by sending in Bishop Klaus Kueng three weeks ago as an "apostolic visitor" to contain the scandal.
Kueng told reporters on Thursday that he was closing the seminary immediately to make way for "a new beginning." He has said he would restore credibility to the church.
The evidence of "active homosexual relationships" he found at the seminary was "very painful," said Kueng.
• Pope's Special Investigator Closes Austrian Seminary Embroiled in Homosexual Photo Scandal [2003-04 Kuechl, Rothe, Krenn]
LifeSite ;
www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/aug/04081205.html , August 12, 2004
VIENNA, AUSTRIA (LifeSiteNews.com) - 50 miles west of the Austrian capital, Cardinal Klaus Kueng is wrapping up his investigation of the seminary that has been a center of heated controversy since mid-July. On July 12, the Austrian news service Profil published a series of lurid photographs and a report of homosexual activity at Sankt Poelten seminary, involving both seminarians and staff.
The Austrian bishops conference took prompt action and ordered an internal investigation. Seminary rector Ulrich Kuechl and vice-rector Wolfgang Rothe have stepped down while continuing to insist that they are innocent of any wrongdoing, and the Austrian bishops conference has indicated that they will ask the Vatican to remove the local bishop, Kurt Krenn. Bishop Krenn has called the allegations groundless and the sex acts depicted, "harmless pranks having nothing to do with homosexuality".
The alleged goings-on at the Poelten seminary are anything but harmless, according to Cardinal Kueng. A criminal investigation involving child pornography is underway, and the seminary's days are numbered. After a brisk investigation the cardinal stated, "I am closing the seminary right away." Cardinal Kueng, Austrian born and a member of Opus Dei, was sent to the Poelten seminary as "Apostolic Visitor", an emissary appointed by Rome to intervene in cases of "grave irregularity" when local church authorities are unable or unwilling to resolve the situation satisfactorily.
• Minister's conviction splits Veneta congregation, church leaders [Fenwick ] -- Pentecostal.
The Register-Guard,
www.registerguard.com/news/2004/08/12/a1.closedchurch.0812.html ,
By Jeff Wright, Aug 12, 2004
VENETA (OR): The doors of New Hope Christian Center here remain locked, closed two weeks ago after a music minister's conviction for sexually abusing a young church member.
Pentecostal Church of God district officials say they took the action because of financial duress brought on by an exodus of members.
But New Hope's former senior pastor and several church members say the closure is in retaliation for their support of the teenager abused by Charles Fenwick Jr., who pleaded guilty last month to crimes committed when he served as the church's music minister and associate pastor.
Denominational leaders are trying to sweep the scandal under the rug, said the Rev. Ron Crandall, who served as New Hope's senior pastor for nearly eight years until resigning in May because of failing health.
"What they're doing goes against the word of God and is totally contrary to the tenets of faith," he said.
• Nine charged with child sex abuse [1953-85] Anglican, Salvation Army, Catholic; 20 complainants.
The Advertiser (Adelaide),
www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/ 0,5936,10427621%255E421,00.html ,
By Nigel Hunt, Aug 13 2004
ADELAIDE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA: Police in Adelaide have vowed to continue their unprecedented rout of pedophiles after revealing another nine men have been charged with more than 40 child sex abuse offences.
Those charged include a former Anglican Minister, a former Salvation Army Minister, a Surf Life Saving Association coach, scout leaders, a Church of England Boys Society leader and several Catholic school teachers.
The offences allegedly committed by the nine men include rape, unlawful sexual intercourse, indecent assault, carnal knowledge and procuring an act of gross indecency.
The charges relate
