Clergy Child Molesters (99) -- References/Chronology

• Irish church fails to develop child protection policies -- Roman Catholic Church (RCC).

   National Catholic Reporter, www.national catholicreporter. org/word , The Word From Rome, by John L. Allen, jallen@ natcath.org , October 1, 2004
   ROME: In a development that will seem all too familiar to Americans who followed the sex abuse scandal in the States, a national commission set up in Ireland "to develop a comprehensive and integrated child protection policy" has ended in disagreement over whether bishops or lay professionals should decide how allegations of abuse are handled, and whether dioceses and religious communities can be compelled to follow a single set of national standards.
   The church's position is that each bishop and superior holds ultimate responsibility in individual dioceses and religious orders, while lay members of the Working Group on Child Protection wanted lay child care professionals following a uniform policy to make the decisions.
   To be clear, it's not that the bishops don't want lay assistance. Indeed, Dublin's Archbishop Diarmiud Martin recently reaffirmed his commitment to lay expertise. "I have no problem about having professional people coming in," he told the Irish Times Sept. 22. The discussion is instead over who has the final say on decisions such as whether to report a given accusation to the civil authorities. [More]

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INTENTION: A challenge to RELIGIONS to PROTECT CHILDREN
Series starts: www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethicscontents.htm Visit http://www.ncrnews.org/abuse

Sources JavaScript Kit and www.aftinet.org.au/campaigns/signonconfirm.html

   INCOMPLETE LINKS: Refer back to "References 61" for methods of obtaining the URLs.    The dispute parallels what happened in the United States in 2002, when the American bishops, acting after consultation with the Holy See, clarified that the lay review boards created under their Dallas "charter" on sex abuse play only a consultative role.
   Moreover, because the charter is not canonically binding (unlike a companion set of "norms"), bishops are in theory free to pick and choose which parts to apply. A handful, such as Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz of Lincoln, Nebraska, has exercised that right.
   Religious orders have also developed their own policies, most notably a somewhat softer approach to the "one-strike" policy of automatic removal from ministry for even one act of sexual abuse. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 12:26 PM] (This is the first of the Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse , for Fri October 01, 2004.)
• Austrians leaving the church -- RCC. 10,709 leave archdiocese in 2 months. $US3.5 m loss.

   National Catholic Reporter, www.national catholic reporter. org/word , The Word From Rome, by John L. Allen, October 1, 2004
   ROME: A veteran Austrian sociologist and observer of the Catholic scene has called the current wave of defections from the church, with more than 10,000 from the Vienna archdiocese alone since July, a kind of Austrian "Chernobyl."
   Fr. Paul Zulehner, director of Vienna's Institute of Pastoral Theology, spoke to NCR Sept. 28.
   The hemorrhage coincides with a sex abuse scandal centered in the eastern diocese of Sankt Pölten, where over the summer some 40,000 pornographic images, including some depicting children, were discovered on computers at the local seminary. On Sept. 30, local media reported that the diocese's bishop, Kurt Krenn, had bowed to insistent demands and resigned. Vatican sources confirmed the resignation Oct. 1, but said that no official announcement was likely before Tuesday, Oct. 5.
   Under Austrian law, Catholics who wish to be withdrawn from the state-administered "church tax," which amounts to one percent of income (roughly $350 per capita), must go to the offices of the local government to fill out a form. The number of people on the tax rolls provides a rough indicator of church membership.
   Applications to withdraw from parishes in the Archdiocese of Vienna rose by 36 percent in July and by another 40 percent in August, according to church figures. As of Aug. 31, 10,709 people had left the church over those two months.
   "It's worse than reported," Zulehner told NCR, saying that the number of defections was even higher in Krenn's diocese. In one small town, he said, the losses were up by 300 percent.
   Zulehner said that the new bishop of Sankt Pölten must be a true "pontifex," i.e., a bridge-builder.
   "He must come from the open middle of the church, someone who can heal the divisions among the polarized groups in this little diocese," he said. "Fortunately, we have a lot them."
   Zulehner cautioned, however, that it would be a mistake to read the current spike in defections as entirely caused by the scandal in Sankt Pölten.
   "There were already 20,000 to 30,000 people leaving annually even in the last years of Cardinal Franz König, when there weren't any big problems," he said. "This is a broader phenomenon of modernization and secularization."
   Given that, Zulehner said, he does not expect that the current crop of defections will necessarily return to the church, even if the problems in Sankt Pölten are resolved.
   Finally, Zulehner said, the losses in membership threaten to further complicate what was already a difficult financial situation for the Austrian church. The Vienna archdiocese, he said, already faced the need to slash its budget by 30 percent in coming years. The loss of 10,000 people in two months, representing $3.5 million in potential tax collections, is therefore an added blow. #
• Austrian Catholics "relieved" as Bishop Krenn steps down [Krenn] -- RCC.
   Die Presse, www.diepresse.at/ Artikel.aspx? channel=&ressort= ee&id=445382 , 15:37, Oct.01.2004
   ST. POELTEN / VIENNA, Austria -- Bishop Kurt Krenn's secretary Michael Dinhobl said that the Bishop was "well" on Thursday after recently announcing his decision to resign from the post. Dinhobl confirmed that Krenn had been asked by Pope John Paul II to offer his resignation in a letter received on Sunday.
   The Pope has not yet officially accepted Krenn's resignation and there was no mention of it in the Vatican's press releases on Thursday. Priest Udo Fischer described the decision as an "admission from Rome that they got it wrong." He said the diocese was looking back on "13 hard years."
• Lay group hails bishop's resignation [Krenn] -- RCC.
   Philadelphia Inquirer, www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/nation/9804645.htm , By William J. Kole, Associated Press
   VIENNA, Austria - An influential Roman Catholic lay organization expressed relief yesterday at the resignation of a bishop who oversaw a seminary where authorities found child pornography. The group called the resignation an "important first step" in rebuilding trust in Austria's scandalized church.
   We Are the Church, which says it has 500,000 members and has condemned priest pedophilia and other scandals that have rocked the country's religious establishment in the last decade, had pressed for Bishop Kurt Krenn to step down or be fired.
   In an interview for yesterday's issue of the newspaper Der Standard, Krenn announced he was resigning immediately as bishop of St. Poelten, the diocese 50 miles west of Vienna where the seminary is located.
   "Yes, I have stepped down, and as of now I am the former bishop of St. Poelten," Krenn told the newspaper.
• Priest named in sex harassment claim [Boyle, Satlawa] -- RCC. Woman

   North Adams Transcript, By Donna Roberts, Friday, October 01, 2004
   ADAMS (MA) -- The former housekeeper and secretary for the Roman Catholic Churches of Adams has filed a complaint of sexual discrimination and sexual harassment against the Rev. Daniel Boyle, Business Manager David Satlawa, and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield.
   Theresa Kennedy filed the complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, which received it Aug. 17. Kennedy was employed by the diocese for more than 10 years, until she was asked to either resign or be terminated in May.
   The complaint does not state which job-ending option Kennedy chose, and Kennedy did not return phone calls by press time.
   There are 16 separate incidents in the complaint, in which Kennedy described various alleged ways she was harassed by both Boyle and Satlawa.
   One such incident includes Satlawa hitting her on the buttocks in her home, while he was staying with her and caring for his terminally ill mother.
• ARRESTED: Alleged St Peter's pedophile held in Bangkok [Mountford] -- Anglican.

   The Advertiser (Adelaide, S. Australia), By CHRISTOPHER SALTER and BRYAN LITTLELY, October 2, 2004
   THAILAND: South Australia's most wanted man was captured in a swoop by Thai police on Thursday night.
   For more than 12 years, John Mountford has not faced allegations he sexually abused a 14-year-old St Peter's College student while he was chaplain at the prestigious Adelaide Anglican school.
   On Thursday, he spent his first night behind bars in the Suan Phlu Immigration Detention Centre -- sometimes home to up to 2000 immigrants kept in crowded, oppressive conditions without airconditioning. It is just a block from the Australian Embassy, home to Australian Federal Police who worked with Royal Thai Police to track Mountford when he returned to Thailand from Britain two weeks ago.
   Outside Bangkok Criminal Court yesterday, Mountford, 49, a British citizen, said only that he had "nothing to say".
   "Nothing at all. I've lived in Thailand for 10 years," he said. But in Adelaide, the family of a student allegedly abused by Mountford said they were "relieved at his capture".
• 13 face court following child porn crackdown -- Included Church pastor, teacher, owner childcare centres.

   ABC, Friday, 1 October 2004
   Picture --Police arrest a suspect during Australia's biggest child porn bust. Police video
   AUSTRALIA: Thirteen men have appeared in courts in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth today following a police investigation into an international child pornography ring.
   Among those charged are school teachers, a priest and the owner of three childcare centres.
   More than 200 people have been charged with 2,000 offences and Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty says there are more to come.
   So far in Western Australia 12 people have appeared in court including 24-year-old teacher Alan John Vella.
   Vella has been charged with possessing and selling or supplying child pornography.
   The men have been released on bail and will reappear in court later this month.
   In Sydney, a 33-year-old teacher is alleged to have secretly filmed schoolgirls undressing in a changing room.
   The man is also a church pastor and was refused bail. He will reappear in court next week.
• School teacher remanded in custody -- Sunday School teacher. Filming females.
   National Nine News, 18:10 AEST, Fri Oct 1 2004
   AUSTRALIA: A Sydney school teacher set up a video camera behind a changing room mirror to film female students undressing, a court was told on Friday.
   The 33-year-old man from Mount Druitt appeared in Waverley Local Court charged with 22 child pornography offences.
   He was one of the first of almost 200 people to appear in court in Australia's biggest crackdown on internet child pornography.
   The married teacher and church youth pastor faced court charged with eight counts of possessing child pornography, seven counts of installing a device to facilitate filming for indecent purposes, and seven counts of filming for indecent purposes.
   His wife and family sat in the public gallery and listened as the facts of the case were read out.
• Former school chaplain arrested on child sex offences -- Anglican. Boy.
   Sydney Morning Herald, October 1, 2004
   AUSTRALIA: A former Anglican chaplain at a prestigious Adelaide boys school has been arrested in Thailand on child sex offences.
   The Reverend John Mountford was arrested in Bangkok yesterday by Royal Thai Police after a provisional arrest request by Australian authorities, Justice Minister Chris Ellison said today.
   Mountford, a former chaplain at St Peter's College in Adelaide, fled Australia after reportedly admitting to the college headmaster in June 1992 that he had sexually assaulted a 14-year-old male student.
   Mountford has claimed he was told at the time by former Anglican Archbishop of Adelaide Ian George to flee the country or police would be called.
   He subsequently fled to Bali and had since lived in Britain and Thailand.
• Man wanted for Australia child sex crimes arrested in Thailand [1990s Mountford] -- Anglican. Boy.
   Radio Australia
   AUSTRALIA: A British man who served as an Anglican priest in Australia is appearing before a court in the Thai capital, Bangkok.
   John Mountford, 48, who is wanted in South Australia on child sex charges, was arrested on Thursday by Thai police.
   Our South East Asia correspondent, Peter Lloyd, reports since being arrested, the former chaplain of an Adelaide school has been under close guard inside a caged section of the Immigration Detention Centre in Bangkok.
   Mr Mountford is wanted for sex offences allegedly committed at the school in the early 1990s against a boy who was then aged 14.
   The charges include five counts of indecent assault, one of unlawful sexual intercourse and two of committing an act of gross indecency.
• Priest pleads guilty [2003 Ryan] -- RCC. Boy.

   Newsday, By JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER, October 1, 2004
   NEW YORK: A suspended Catholic priest who had served in parishes in Brooklyn and Queens pleaded guilty Wednesday in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead to abusing a 6-year-old boy last year, the district attorney's office said yesterday.
   Barry Ryan, 56, of Palm City, Fla., who was suspended from priestly duties in 1995, admitted to abusing the boy between May and October 2003 during visits to Long Island. The abuse occurred in a private home. Officials have declined to provide the location to protect the child's identity.
  Suffolk County Court Judge Ralph Gazzillo is expected to sentence Ryan to 2 years in prison on Dec. 1 for second-degree course of sexual conduct against a child.
   Prosecutors said Ryan has cancer and is under hospice care.
   While Ryan was awaiting arraignment in March at the Riverhead jail, he was allegedly beaten with a stick by another inmate. Alan Otto, the jail's chief of staff, said an internal investigation into the incident is continuing. Findings of that inquiry were not immediately available yesterday.
• Abuse lawsuit against Catholic diocese is dismissed [1973-74 Leonard] -- RCC. Boy.
   The Virginian-Pilot, October 1, 2004
   VIRGINIA BEACH (VA) -- A $5.3 million lawsuit accusing the Richmond diocese, a Catholic priest and a now-retired bishop of culpability in child sexual abuse decades ago was dismissed today by Circuit Court Judge Edward W. Hanson Jr., who ruled that the statute of limitations had expired.
   William Bruce Jeter, a 46-year-old Norfolk resident, had filed the suit last October, naming the Rev. John E. Leonard as his abuser. He also accused Bishop Walter F. Sullivan, who ran the Richmond diocese from 1973 until retirement last fall, of covering up and not investigating incidents of abuse.
   The suit stated that Jeter was sexually abused by Leonard as a teen-aged student in 1973 and 1974 at St. John Vianney Seminary. At the time, Leonard was on the faculty of the Catholic boys' boarding school, which was in Goochland.
   At issue in Friday's court hearing was whether Jeter's suit was filed after the deadline set by state law for personal injury suits. Such cases generally must be filed within two years of when the harmful action occurred; anyone injured as a minor must file suit within two years after turning 18.
• Suit against priest dismissed [1973-74 Leonard] -- RCC. Boy.
   Richmond Times-Dispatch, www.timesdispatch. com/servlet/Satellite? pagename=RTD/MGArticle/ RTD_BasicArticle&c= MGArticle&cid=10317 78285490
   VIRGINIA: A $5.35 million law suit against the Rev. John E. Leonard was dismissed in Virginia Beach Circuit Court today because the statute of limitations has expired.
   William Bruce Jeter filed the lawsuit against Leonard in October 2003. The suit alleged that Jeter was sexually abused and assaulted in the mid-1970s by the priest while he was a student at St. John Vianney Seminary, a diocesan high school in Goochland County for boys planning to enter the priesthood. Leonard was on the school's faculty.
   The seminary closed in 1978.
   Jeter first contacted the diocese about the alleged abuse in 1996, and filed the suit last year. The two-year statute of limitations for filing suits begins to run when a victim of child sexual assault gets therapy for the emotional harm.
   Lawyers for the Catholic Diocese of Richmond and for Leonard argued that the statute of limitations for Jeter to file suit ran out two years after he complained to the diocese in 1996.
• Sex Abuse Group Worries About Plea Deal -- RCC. Girl.

   Survivors Network of Those Abuse by Priests, http://snapnetwork. org/snap_press_ releases/093004_ ct_plea_deal.htm
   CONNECTICUT: Leaders of the nation's largest support group for clergy molestation victims are urging a New Britain State Attorney to "be firm" in negotiating any plea deal with a priest accused of sexually abusing a young New Britain girl.
   They are worried that the priest will move and sexually assault kids in his native Poland once the case against him is resolved.
   Two officials with SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abued by Priests, are writing the New Britain State's Attorney, Scott J. Murphy urging him to push for an admission of guilt by the priest or pursue a full trial.
   It was signed by Mark Serrano of Washington DC, a SNAP National Board member, and SNAP's Connecticut director, Landa Maurtiello-Vernon of Hamden. [Emphasis added]
• Catholic Confessional Confidential [Anderson, Tanilong, Harris, Ziemann] -- RCC.

   Orange County Weekly, by Gustavo Arellano
   CALIFORNIA: Over the years, the pederast priests of the Diocese of Orange chose a variety of places for their kiddie-fiddling.
   In 1986, for instance, convicted cleric Andrew Christian Anderson masturbated a 13-year-old altar boy twice at a South Coast Plaza-area theater: the first time while watching the Michael Douglas/Kathleen Turner vehicle The Jewel of the Nile and the second at Rambo: First Blood, Part II.
   Father Gerardo Tanilong, meanwhile, received a six-month prison sentence earlier this year for groping a 15-year-old girl while both rode in a car with her family.
   And Michael Harris, former principal of Mater Dei and Santa Margarita Catholic high schools, allegedly fellated victims in rectories, his personal residence, even Mater Dei offices during the 1980s.
   But in the diocese's 28-year history, there is no known record of a priest molesting a child in that most intimate of Catholic sanctuaries: the confessional booth.
   Bishops, though, are another matter.
   Internal church correspondence obtained by the Weekly reveals that during the late 1990s, the Orange see bullied into silence a mother who claimed that a visiting bishop molested her son during confession at St. Kilian in Mission Viejo.
   The bishop in question is G. Patrick Ziemann, who in 1999 resigned as head of the Santa Rosa diocese after settling a lawsuit alleging that His Eminence kept a Costa Rican priest as his personal boy toy.
   Ziemann, who taught religion at Mater Dei from 1971 to 1974, currently faces three other lawsuits alleging child molestation while he served in the Los Angeles and Orange dioceses from 1967 until 1992.
• Local lay Catholics hope to make difference through Voice of Faithful -- RCC.
   Sheboygan Press, By Janet Ortegon, Press correspondent
   SHEBOYGAN (WI): In the ugly brotherhood of Catholic communities marked by scandal, Sheboygan can take its place among the struggling.
   In an effort to reach out to victims of abusive priests and out of concern for the future of the Catholic Church, a group of Catholic lay people has started an affiliate of Voices of the Faithful in Sheboygan.
   VOTF is a national group of lay Catholics that began in Boston more than two years ago, in the aftermath of widespread abuse and news of hierarchical cover-ups of abusive.
   The Sheboygan affiliate has been active for about a year and it shares the national group's tenets: to support the abused, to support priests of integrity and to shape structural change within the church.
• Attorney asks for priest's records [Urban] -- RCC.
   Albany Times Union, By MICHELE MORGAN BOLTON, Thursday, September 30, 2004
   ALBANY (NY) -- A lawyer representing victims of sexual abuse by priests is trying to force the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany to turn over the personnel records of a priest who has filed an ethics complaint against him.
   John Aretakis filed the lawsuit Wednesday in state Supreme Court in Manhattan, claiming he can't defend himself against the Rev. Carl Urban's attacks until he sees all the evidence.
   Aretakis claims the records will show that church officials covered for Urban's behavior.
   "We haven't seen the action or any paperwork," diocesan spokesman Kenneth Goldfarb said. "But we'll respond in court, as we always do."
   Urban, the pastor of St. Adalbert's Church in Schenectady, filed a complaint on June 30 with the state Committee on Professional Standards, accusing the North Greenbush lawyer of slandering him during a speech in May.
• Priest's sex charge is dropped [1965-69 Magee] -- RCC. Accuser suicided. Boy.

   Star-Ledger, BY MARYANN SPOTO, Friday, October 01, 2004
   NORTHERN IRELAND / NEW JERSEY: Authorities in Northern Ireland dropped charges against a priest from Bay Head who was accused of sexually assaulting a child nearly 40 years ago in that country, officials confirmed yesterday.
   The charges against the Rev. Patrick Francis Magee were withdrawn Sept. 22 because the alleged victim committed suicide three weeks earlier, leaving authorities with insufficient evidence to continue with the case, said Gordon Buckley, senior prosecutor for the Northern Ireland Department of Public Prosecution.
   Arrested Dec. 28 when he was visiting family in Northern Ireland, Magee, pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Bay Head, was charged with "committing an act of gross indecency on or towards a child" between Jan. 1, 1965, and Dec. 31, 1969.
   Released on bail, Magee had been required to remain in Northern Ireland until a judge determined whether his case should be held over for trial.
• Davenport diocese talks money -- RCC. Bankruptcy protection mooted.

   Des Moines Register, By SHIRLEY RAGSDALE, REGISTER RELIGION EDITOR, October 1, 2004
   IOWA CITY, Ia.: Pastors and board members from every parish in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport were invited here Thursday to discuss the possibility of the diocese seeking bankruptcy protection from several priest abuse lawsuits.
   "Diocesan resources are insufficient to cover what compensation the victims are asking. We will try to settle these cases fairly and honorable. Tragically, there are many more that also have been harmed, primarily by three former priests of the diocese," Davenport Bishop William Franklin said.
   "Chapter 11 may be the only way to compensate all victims - all who have come forward and those yet to do so," he said.
   The diocese is facing 16 civil lawsuits filed by 18 men who allege they were sexually abused by priests. Another 22 cases are in mediation.
• Pastor pleads no contest to corrupting girl, 14 [2001 Gray] -- Church of God. Girl.
   NEPA News, The Associated Press, October 01, 2004
   PENNSYLVANIA: A former minister at a North East church pleaded no contest to a charge of corruption of minors for allegedly having indecent contact with a 14-year-old girl three years ago.
   In return for Thursday's plea, Erie County prosecutors dropped charges of aggravated indecent assault, indecent exposure and indecent assault against Carson L. Gray, 33, the former minister of the Praise Cathedral Church of God.
   Gray allegedly assaulted the girl behind the church and in his former home in October 2001.
   Officials with the Church of God, based in Cleveland, Tenn. said his license as a minister was revoked and he had moved to Pineville, W.Va., by the time state police filed charges in December. He was extradited to face the charges in Erie County in January.
   Gray had been a minister at the church for eight months when the alleged incidents occurred, police said.
• Voice of the Faithful head submits resignation
   Concord Monitor, By THEO EMERY,The Associated Press, October 01. 2004
   BOSTON - The executive director of the Catholic Church reform group Voice of the Faithful resigned yesterday after two years of helping build the group into a national mouthpiece for laity during the clergy sexual abuse crisis.
   Steven Krueger, a 52-year-old former financial consultant from Boston, announced his resignation in a letter to the organization. In an interview, he did not specify a reason, but said he was leaving to "pursue other interests."
   "This has been such an extraordinary experience for me on both a personal as well as a spiritual level," he said. "I've had the opportunity to meet literally hundreds, if not thousands, of Catholics who care deeply about the church."
   The resignation was effective immediately. He did not offer a reason for the resignation in his letter.
   The organization formed shortly after attorneys for abuse victims forced the archdiocese to release documents in early 2002 revealing that church officials shifted pedophile priests between parishes after allegations of abuse arose.
• How long should culpability last? [1970s Dupre] -- RCC. Boys.
   The Christian Science Monitor, www.csmonitor.com/ 2004/1001/p03s01- usju.html By Sara B. Miller, Staff writer, October 01, 2004
   MASSACHUSETTS: The peculiarity of the episode - a Roman Catholic bishop indicted on child-rape charges, and a prosecutor dismissing those charges hours later - is typical of the hurdles and complexity of trying sexual-abuse cases.
   The events in Springfield, Mass., where retired Bishop Thomas Dupre is accused of molesting two boys in the 1970s, were a blow to victims' advocates, who had looked forward to the first prosecution of a Roman Catholic prelate as a landmark step in the sexual-abuse scandal that erupted in 2002.
   The circumstances also highlight a larger debate over sexual abuse and justice. The charges against Bishop Dupre, like so many recent allegations against clergy, date back decades, and because of statutes of limitations, are beyond legal reach. The case has renewed attempts in Massachusetts to end those time limits in an effort, say advocates, to protect future victims and those who have yet to come forward.
   But some argue that such statutes provide vital protection against verdicts based on insufficient evidence: As the years go by, ever fewer witnesses are alive or available to testify, and the clarity of events may fade. What's more, many suspect that the worst wave of cases has already passed - that abuse in churches, schools, and other organizations peaked in the 1970s and was more a sign of the era than a sign of things to come.
   Advocacy groups say that [the peak in the 1970s] is due to that fact that it takes a long time for people to come forward," says Thomas Plante, a professor of psychology at Santa Clara University. "We disagree with that. There was a confluence of events in the 1970s.... There is remarkable evidence [to suggest that] there was something particular about the era."
   The indictment charging the former leader of the Springfield diocese was unsealed Monday. That afternoon, Hampden District Attorney William Bennett announced he was prohibited from pursuing charges because the statute of limitations had run out long before. (Currently, it can be up to 15 years in Massachusetts; it was six in this case, due to when the alleged abuse occurred.)
   The plaintiffs' lawyer, Jeffrey Newman, says Dupre may face charges in other states, since he allegedly traveled outside Massachusetts with the boys. Under certain state provisions, if a suspect leaves a state in which he or she committed a crime, the clock on the statute of limitations stops until he or she returns to that state. Mr. Bennett said he is handing information to authorities in New Hampshire, New York, and Canada.
   Still, many local advocates were disappointed and dismayed. "The way events unfolded, it gave us a sense of sudden hope that some prosecutor somewhere was going to follow through and pull it off," says Peter Pollard, the western Massachusetts coordinator of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. "[The case] really symbolized that this is an issue that permeated the entire structure of the church."
   His group was among those lobbying outside the Boston Statehouse Wednesday, calling for an abolition of the state's statute of limitations. Statutes vary by state and crime. Murder has no limitations, and some states have no limits for rape cases involving children, says Patrick Noaker, a lawyer in Minnesota who represents abuse victims.
   "Most states are lengthening their statutes of limitations for childhood sexual-abuse cases," he says. Missouri, Illinois, Connecticut, and California have recently extended theirs, though others, including Minnesota and Florida, have not - in part, say experts, because a strong church lobby often wishes to protect church leaders from trials.
   Abolishing statutes would raise constitutional questions, says Dr. Plante. He says he understands advocates' frustration. "But in many of these cases, so many years go by [that] there are fewer witnesses, less data, there is psychiatric illness among some of the parties involved. What do you do with that?"
   Carmen Durso, a Boston lawyer who represented many plaintiffs in the Boston archdiocese case, says those fighting for the abolition of statutes are not seeking retroactive justice, but are looking toward the future. "Survivors just want to make [sexual abuse] stop," he says.
   According to a report by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, most of the incidents of abuse by clergy reported so far occurred in the 1970s. But Karen Terry, who helped research the report for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, says only 10 percent of victims report abuse in the year it occurred. Still, she expects fewer reports of abuse during the 1990s.
   In the meantime, many theories have surfaced: Some cite a groundswell of seminarians and priests in the era during the 1970s, an overall mistrust of authority, which may have led to less accountability, or the sexual revolution sweeping the country.
   "The changing culture in the 1960s and 1970s had some role to play in this kind of thing," suggests David Finkelhor, director of the Crimes against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire. The sexual revolution may have steered some homosexuals to the ministry as a way to control temptations that had been, up to that point, suppressed by societal mores. He also says that many who'd taken vows in a previous era could have been affected by the general change in culture.
   Plante says other contributing factors include an absence of checks and balances as a disdain for authority emerged: "In society in general, there was a flatter organizational chart." Indeed, he says, research has shown that the 1970s was a peak time for sexual abuse in many professions, including psychotherapy and schools. Noaker - and many abuse victims - refute such theories; he says predators will prey on the vulnerable regardless of changes in the culture at large.
   Things have changed in another way since the 1970s, and partly in response to cases like these. Many experts anticipate far fewer allegations of abuse in the late 1990s, as parents grew more attuned to inappropriate behavior and warned their children of it, and, more recently, as public scrutiny of the Church has grown.
   The earlier eras were permeated with "a really trusting Catholic subculture," says John McGreevy, a history professor at the University of Notre Dame. "Priests were worshiped as heroic figures; parents were incredibly trusting with their young boys. Now that trust is gone." # [Emphasis added]
   [COMMENT: The misplaced trust is in other religions too, and is broken by some clergy and many supervisors. The reason that the major problem seems to be in the monarchical systems such as the RCC, Anglicans, and Episcopalians is that there is little or no accountability. In the RCC there is no way for the laypeople to dismiss clergy, including bishops. It is no wonder that reformers of previous ages, who met with pigheaded resistance and judicial murders, quoted sections of the New Testament that seem to contradict the monarchical principle, and discovered writings of the Fathers and decisions of Church Councils that denied it, too. Since the 1800s the discovery of scripture forgeries favouring the centralist line has also weakened the foundations behind the monarchical practice of Church governance. COMMENT ENDS.]
• High court to hear case of priest child abuse [McKeown] -- RCC. Boy.
   Nashville City Paper, By Judith R. Tackett, jtackett@nashvillecitypaper.com October 01, 2004
   NASHVILLE (TN): The Tennessee Supreme Court will hear a sexual abuse case next week in which two boys claim the Roman Catholic Diocese of Nashville is to be held responsible for the abuse they suffered from a former priest.
   The court hearing in the case Doe et al. v. Roman Catholic Diocese of Nashville is set for 1 p.m. Wednesday.
   The Tennessee Court of Appeals sided last year with the trial judge, Davidson County Circuit Judge Walter Kurtz, in his decision that the Nashville Diocese was not liable for the molestation that happened years after the Diocese ended any affiliation with former priest Edward McKeown.
   In its written opinion the Tennessee Appeals Court stated that the plaintiffs "had failed as a matter of law to satisfy the threshold requirements for stating a claim for the tort of outrageous conduct."
   In other words, the two victims, now in their early 20s, seek to hold Nashville's Catholic Diocese liable because they allege failure on the part of church officials to properly report McKeown's conduct to authorities after they discovered the priest's sexual abuse.
• Bishop Says Abuse Scandal Could Force Diocese into Bankruptcy -- RCC.
   KCRG, 12:38:07 AM, Friday, October 01, 2004
   IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) - Bishop William Franklin says the Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport lacks the financial resources to compensate victims of alleged priest abuse and warned a settlement could force the church into bankruptcy.
   Franklin also said no final decisions have been made for meeting the monetary demands set forth recently in negotiations with 37 men who claim they were sexually abused by priests in the last 50 years.
   Franklin told more than 150 clergy and board members from parishes around the diocese Thursday that diocesan financial resources are limited. He says they are not adequate to compensate the victims for the amounts demanded.
   The bishop says the diocese will make every effort to settle these cases, but Chapter 11 bankruptcy may be the only way to fairly and honorably compensate all victims.
• Davenport Diocese contemplates bankruptcy over sex abuse suits -- RCC.
   Quad-City Times, By Todd Ruger, Friday, October 1st, 2004
   IOWA CITY (IA) - The Catholic Diocese of Davenport might file for bankruptcy because it does not have adequate financial resources to compensate victims of child sexual abuse by priests, Bishop William Franklin said Wednesday.
   "The diocese will make every effort to settle these cases," Franklin told a special meeting of church leaders from across the diocese's 22 counties in southeast Iowa who gathered Thursday night in the pews of St. Patrick Parish in Iowa City.
   "But you must know that Chapter 11 bankruptcy may be the only way to fairly and honorably compensate all victims - those who have already come forward and those who have not yet done so," he said from the pulpit.
   Franklin called the meeting, he said, to tell parishes "be sure your corporate records are in good order."
• Accused priest is offered plea bargain [2002 Kramek] -- RCC.

   The Herald, www.newbritainherald. com/site/news.cfm? newsid=13047080 &BRD=1641&PAG=461& dept_id=10110&rfi=6 ; By ADAM WITTENBERG , Oct/01/2004
   NEW BRITAIN (CT) -- A Polish priest accused of raping a local teenager while serving at Sacred Heart Church can avoid a trial if he accepts a plea bargain offered Wednesday in New Britain Superior Court.
   While attorneys for the priest and the state refused to discuss the terms of the offer, its acceptance would settle nearly two years of legal trouble for the Rev. Roman Kramek.
   Kramek is accused of engaging a 17-year-old female New Britain High School student in sexual intercourse while she was seeking his counsel for a previous sexual assault in December 2002.
   Kramek told police the woman did not refuse his advances but that she did not give him permission to touch her either. The victim has claimed she told him several times not to touch her.
   State law prohibits clergy and counselors from having sexual contact with the people they are counseling.
• Voice of the Faithful's executive director resigns -- Steven Krueger moves on.

   Boston Globe, By Associated Press, October 1, 2004
   BOSTON (MA): The executive director of the Catholic Church reform group Voice of the Faithful resigned yesterday after two years of helping build the group into a national mouthpiece for laity during the clergy sexual abuse crisis.
   Steven Krueger, a 52-year-old former financial consultant from Boston, announced his resignation in a letter to the organization.
   In an interview, he did not specify a reason, but said he was leaving to "pursue other interests."
   "This has been such an extraordinary experience for me on both a personal as well as a spiritual level," he said.
   "I've had the opportunity to meet literally hundreds, if not thousands, of Catholics who care deeply about the church."
   The resignation was effective immediately. Krueger did not offer a reason for the resignation.
   The organization formed shortly after attorneys for abuse victims forced the archdiocese to release documents in early 2002 revealing that church officials shifted pedophile priests between parishes after allegations of abuse arose, rather than remove them from ministry.
   As the scandal touched off a nationwide crisis in the church, Voice of the Faithful emerged as a platform for Catholic laity seeking greater influence over the church. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 07:44 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Fri October 01, 2004
Abuse Chronology, visit: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont99.htm
• [Hollow apologies]

[Hollow apologies]

   U.S. Catholic, p 10, "Verbatim" section, October 2004.
   UNITED STATES: "Until [bishops are held accountable], repeated apologies and calls for forgiveness will sound too much like the comments Pete Rose provided when he finally admitted betting on baseball games: 'I'm sure I'm supposed to act all sorry or guilty... Let's move on'." - Author Robert McClory in "Where is bishops' contrition?" (Chicago Tribune, Aug. 8, 2004)

[2 items inserted 11 Dec, 06] [Oct 2004 issue]
• Lay ministers face tough new requirement in Oregon.

Lay ministers face tough new requirement in Oregon

   U.S. Catholic, editors@ uscatholic. org , p 10, October 2004.
   BAKER, Oregon -- Lay ministers in the Diocese of Baker have been notified that if they cannot agree to a two-page "affirmation of personal faith" that includes some of the church's official teachings on sexuality, they should withdraw from service to the church.
   Bishop Robert Vasa issued the document to every parish in the diocese. Each person who serves as a lay minister -- including lector, eucharistic minister, catechist, or cantor -- must read it before being certified or recertified by the parish. Those who disagree with the teachings it spells out are expected to quit, according to the Associated Press. An excerpt from the affirmation reads: "I accept the church's teaching that any extramarital sexual relationships are gravely evil and that these include pre-marital relations, masturbation, fornication, the viewing of pornography, and homosexual relations."
   A spokesman said Vasa is not asking for a "public proclamation" of agreement "but an internal checklist they would read through."
   Still, Wilma Hens is one of at least six lay ministers to quit since the document was issued. She was a cantor and lay liturgical minister at her parish in Bend, Oregon.
   "I happen to believe that many of the teachings on human sexuality are just plain faulty," she told the AP. "I cannot give my full assent. I don't want to pretend to do so in order to be a lay minister." #

[Oct 2004 issue]
• Catholic schools shocked as teachers arrested. [2004 Goodall, Vella] -- RCC schools. Child pornography.

   The West Australian, by Natasha Granath and Luke Eliot, p 3, Friday, October 1, 2004
   PERTH: Two Catholic school communities in Perth are reeling after two teachers were charged with possessing child pornography.
   Martin Peter Ernest Goodall, 46, an upper school teacher at Iona Presentation College in Mosman Park, and Alan John Vella, 24, of Caversham, a Year 5 teacher at St Brigid's Primary School in Middle Swan, have been stood down without pay.
   Catholic Education WA director Ron Dullard said that if found guilty the men would be dismissed and deregistered.
   St Brigid's refused to speak to the media yesterday and staff closely guarded children and parents leaving a crisis meeting.
   Iona staff kept most parents from talking although some said they were shocked by the news.
   One parent, Michelle Warner, said she hoped the school had the means to weed out such activity.
   "But how do you deal with it anyway?" she said. "And how do you stop it? You can't blame the school for someone else's actions. They're wholly responsible, but the school has to deal with it openly."
   Iona principal Margaret Herley said it was a sad occasion.
   "It is unfortunate that this should happen," she said. "However, we are a strong and loyal community and we will cope with this matter together."
   Education Minister Alan Carpenter said private schools in WA were responsible for screening their own teaching applicants.
   Mr Dullard said WA Catholic schools followed State school screening procedures that required all applicants to have a police clearance. He said both teachers had been screened properly.
   "If anything in our screening procedures had indicated anything in their prior records, they certainly wouldn't have been employed," he said.
   He said the investigations had not found any link to school computers, which barred access to internet pornography.
   "We are very confident there. However, we still need to find out what these people have been up to within the school and we will investigate that. [Emphasis added]
   (Picture -- On guard: A staff member shields students at St Brigid's from the media yesterday after the arrest of one of the teachers on Wednesday. Picture: Don Palmer) [Emphasis added] [ And see CathNews of Church Resources, Australia: www.cathnews.com/news/410/3.php ] [Oct 1, 04]
• Child Wise, www.childwise.com (Recommended for parents to check how to protect children from sexual predators, on television Oct 1, 04)
• Youth pastor filmed student girls undressing. -- Youth pastor. Filming girls.
   The Age, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, "Teacher filmed girls undressing," www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/10/01/1096527915112.html?oneclick=true , AAP, 1:03PM, October 1, 2004
   SYDNEY, NSW, Australia: A Sydney school teacher set up a video camera behind a changing room mirror to film female students undressing, a court was told today.
   The 33-year-old man from Mount Druitt appeared in Waverley Local Court charged with 22 child pornography offences.
   He was one of the first of almost 200 people to appear in court in Australia's biggest crackdown on internet child pornography.
   The married teacher and church youth pastor faced court charged with eight counts of possessing child pornography, seven counts of installing a device to facilitate filming for indecent purposes, and seven counts of filming for indecent purposes.
   His wife and family sat in the public gallery and listened as the facts of the case were read out.
   Prosecutor Sergeant Caroline Martin told the court the man had set up a video camera behind a mirror in a school changing room and filmed female students undressing.
   Magistrate Lee Gilmore said search warrants executed at the teacher's home recovered a computer with images of young children engaged in sexual acts and in sexual poses on the hard drive.
   Ms Gilmore said a search of the school uncovered videotapes of female pupils. "The videotapes that were taken possession of were viewed and they showed females, who appeared to be under the age of 16, to be changing between items of clothing," she told the court.
   She said police alleged the teacher had made "full and frank admissions" of accessing child pornography and of filming the female pupils.
   Ms Gilmore described the crimes as "abhorrent" and said it was "inevitable" the defendant would face a jail sentence.
   "(These crimes) by their very nature they are, of course, abhorrent to the community at large," she said.
   She refused an application for bail on the grounds of the serious sexual nature of the offences and for the protection of the victims.
   The matter was adjourned for mention at Penrith Local Court on October 5. # [Emphasis added]
Related
* The Courier-Mail, Brisbane, Queensland, "Child pornography web stretches across globe," www.thecouriermail. news. com. au/common/ story_page/0,5936, 109 34241% 255E9 53,00.html , by Luke McIlveen, Oct 01, 2004
* Herald Sun, Melbourne, Victoria, "Gangsters' sickening outreach," www.news.com.au/ common/story_page/ 0,4057,109 36 465%255E421,00.html , By Luke McIlveen, October 1, 2004
* The Mercury, Hobart, Tasmania, "Tassie child porn swoop," www.themercury. news.com. au/ common/ story_ page/0,59 36,10935795% 255E921, 00.html , By LINDA SMITH, LUKE McILVEEN and IAN McPHEDRAN, Oct 01, 2004. [Oct 1, 04 ]
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont99.htm
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Sat October 02, 2004 edition follows:-
• Bishops to meet with Pope -- RCC.

   Capital News 9, www.capital news9.com/ content/ headlines/ ?ArID=97286& SecID=33 , 11:21 AM, Oct/2/2004
   NEW YORK: Bishops in New York state are preparing to meet with the Pope.
   Albany Bishop Howard Hubbard and other bishops statewide will meet with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican next week. The bishops are expected to get advice from the pontiff on issues like the declining number of priests at regional parishes and the clergy sexual abuse scandals.
   In a statement earlier this month, the Pope said there is a "crisis of confidence" in American church leaders in the wake of the scandal. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 05:01 PM]
• Boy says priest fondled him [2000s de Alba Campos] -- RCC. Boy.

   Detroit Free Press, BY SUZETTE HACKNEY, October 1, 2004
   DETROIT (MI): He could barely see over the witness stand, and he didn't know which hand to raise when being sworn to tell the truth, but an 8-year-old Detroit boy vividly described to a judge how a Catholic priest pulled down his pants and boxers and touched his "private part" during a sleepover this past spring.
   The boy, who was 7 at the time of the alleged incident, testified Thursday in a preliminary examination in 36th District Court. The Rev. Luis Javier de Alba Campos, 49, is charged with two counts of 2nd-degree criminal sexual conduct for allegedly fondling the boy. De Alba Campos was a visiting priest from Mexico who worked at St. Gabriel Church in southwest Detroit. He was removed from the ministry in June after the allegations became public.
   On Wednesday, de Alba Campos was bound over for trial in Wayne County Circuit Court. After hearing the boy's testimony, Judge Beverly Hayes-Sipes ruled that there was enough evidence to bring the case to trial. If convicted, de Alba Campos could face up to 15 years in prison.
   The boy, whom the Free Press is not identifying because the paper typically does not name alleged sexual assault victims, said de Alba Campos was at his home because the priest was invited by his parents to bless their southwest Detroit house. The family ate dinner with the priest and then invited him to spend the night. The boy said de Alba Campos asked if anyone would sleep in the room with him.
• Sex swoop nabs priest -- Anglican. [Thompson] -- Child care owner.

   Herald Sun, Melbourne, By KELVIN HEALEY. Oct 03, 04
   MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA: A Melbourne Anglican priest has been stood down after his computer was seized in this week's national child pornography sting.
   The vicar, from Melbourne's eastern suburbs, was stood down pending charges being laid.
   News of the priest's suspension came as disbelief turned to anger at a childcare centre owner charged over child pornography.
   A brick-wielding vandal smashed the glass front door of the East Ivanhoe Early Learning Centre, one of three kindergartens owned by Scott Barrett Thompson.
   Mr Thompson, 41, who put the centres up for sale on Friday, remained bunkered in his Kew home yesterday.
• Church 'shamed by abuse' -- Anglican.
   The Age, www.theage.com.au/ articles/2004/10/02/ 1096527989860.html , By Barney Zwartz, Religion Editor, for October 3, 2004
   WESTERN AUSTRALIA: Child abuse by clergy and church workers has traumatised and shamed the Anglican Church, Australia's Anglican leader said yesterday.
   Opening the General Synod in Perth, the Primate, Perth Archbishop Peter Carnley, said preventing the mistakes of the past was the most important issue facing the synod.
   "The more recent history of our church has hardly been glorious," Dr Carnley said. "Clearly something more is required than recrimination and handwringing."
   The synod, expected to be one of the most important and controversial in the Australian church's 102-year history, is likely to adopt national protocols on child protection and sexual abuse. The main qualms before the synod were about the cost but, given the way scandals have shocked the church - not least a priest being included in the latest child porn scandal, these will not carry much weight.
   Other issues that will raise temperatures as more than 200 representatives of the 23 dioceses meet over the next week include women bishops, homosexuality, the declining church, whether lay people should be able to offer the Eucharist and how the primate should operate.
• Priests react to bankruptcy warning -- RCC. 37 claimants.

   Press-Citizen, By Mike McWilliams
   IOWA CITY (IA): Priests at some local parishes say they are confident victims of alleged abuse at churches in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport will be compensated even if bankruptcy is declared.
   On Thursday, Bishop William Franklin announced that the diocese lacks the financial resources to compensate victims of alleged priest abuse and warned a settlement could force the church into bankruptcy.
   The Rev. Ken Kuntz of St. Mary's Church, 228 E. Jefferson St., said he was not surprised by the Bishop's announcement and had known that bankruptcy was a possibility for some time.
   "I think that some people think that by declaring bankruptcy, it's the diocese's way of getting out of compensating the victims," Kuntz said. "I feel it's important for us as a church to compensate the victims, and I was told that would happen even if bankruptcy was the route the diocese would go."
   Franklin also said no final decisions have been made for meeting the monetary demands set forth recently in negotiations with 37 men who claim priests sexually abused them in the last 50 years.
   Davenport lawyer Craig Levien, who represents most of the alleged victims, said one of the men claimed abuse at an Iowa City parish, but he declined to elaborate.
• Lawyers cite public interest in church suit -- RCC.
   The Press Democrat, By GUY KOVNER, Oct 2, 2004
   CALIFORNIA: Public interest in the Catholic Church's child sex abuse scandal justifies disclosure of secret church documents, lawyers for The Press Democrat and abuse victims said Friday.
   "It changes the balance," newspaper attorney Judy Alexander said, asserting that public interest "may overcome the privacy interest" of the church concerning its documents, including the personnel files of priests accused of sexual misconduct.
   "Historically, the church has used internal secrecy to prevent public knowledge of the problem," victims lawyer Larry Drivon said in papers filed Friday.
   Drivon and the newspaper are challenging the church's request for a blanket order that would prevent public disclosure of all documents involved in 160 lawsuits filed by alleged victims against Santa Rosa and seven other Catholic dioceses.
   In papers filed last month, church lawyers asserted that confidentiality was essential to the church's ability to minister to people "in a safe and comforting environment."
• Charges Dropped Against Pastor [2004 Priddy]
   WKYT 27, www.wkyt.com/Global/story.asp?S=2375369
   KENTUCKY: A judge dismisses the case against a Garrard county pastor accused of exposing himself to an undercover officer in a Lexington park.
   In June, police arrested Reverend Everrett Priddy during a sting operation at Jacobson Park. Friday morning, a judge in Fayette District Court said there wasn't probable cause to prove Priddy exposed himself at the park.
• Archdiocese seeks mediation to settle all abuse claims -- RCC. Diocese paid $US53m so far. $US340 m claims.
   The Oregonian, By STEVE WOODWARD, Saturday, October 02, 2004
   PORTLAND (OR): The Archdiocese of Portland has proposed alternatives to jury trials to settle about 70 clergy sex-abuse lawsuits pending against it.
   In a filing Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, the archdiocese called for mandatory mediation and binding arbitration to resolve all claims of childhood physical or sexual abuse. Current claims ask for more than $340 million in damages.
   The archdiocese said in a separate statement that the plan offers streamlined procedures to save time and money "so that the limited resources of the Archdiocese of Portland can be used to pay valid claims, rather than pay attorneys and other consultants."
   The filing also promised alleged abuse survivors that they could accept the archdiocese's "long-standing offer for a pastoral meeting" with top archdiocesan officials without jeopardizing their legal claims. The meetings, with either Archbishop John Vlazny or his right-hand man and vicar general, the Rev. Dennis O'Donovan, would be confidential and not admissible as evidence in any legal proceeding.
   Attorneys for the abuse plaintiffs were unavailable Friday to comment on the proposal. From 1950 through 2003, the archdiocese has settled about 130 lawsuits for $53 million.
• Former lay leader faces new molestation charge [1980s Swafford] -- Episcopalian. Boys.
   The Post and Courier BY GLENN SMITH, Oct 2, 2004
   WEST ASHLEY (SC): A former Episcopal lay leader faced a new sexual misconduct charge Friday after he was accused of molesting a third boy in West Ashley two decades ago.
   A New Jersey man told Charleston County investigators that Mack Swafford performed oral sex on him after plying him with alcohol and pornography at the suspect's home in the Orange Grove subdivision.
   The incident reportedly occur-red between 1983 and 1984 when the accuser was 17, authorities said.
   Swafford, a 64-year-old part-time bookkeeper and former lay leader at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, previously has been accused of molesting two other boys in incidents the accusers say occurred more than a decade ago.
   The latest alleged victim is the older brother of one of Swafford's other accusers, said Charleston County Sheriff's Capt. Dana Valentine. The New Jersey man provided a written statement to detectives Sept. 12 accusing Swafford of taking advantage of him.
• 'Clergy III' trial moves forward [Ribeiro, Kiesle, etc. ] -- RCC. 160 cases. Boys and girls.
   Alameda Times-Star, By Glenn Chapman, STAFF WRITER, Saturday, October 02, 2004
   OAKLAND (CA) -- The Catholic priest sex-abuse civil trial anointed "Clergy III" inched forward during a pair of hearings in Alameda County Superior Court this week.
   Judge Ronald Sabraw presided over an Oakland courtroom crammed with dozens of attorneys, and more lawyers chiming in via telephone conference call, as he addressed issues from sharing of evidence to legal deadlines and a trial date.
   "We are all struggling here to manage the elephant in the room," Sabraw remarked as rival attorneys debated whether all records relevant to the 160 combined civil suits were being presented as called for by "discovery" law. "I think we are making gradual progress in this case, but it's rough sledding."
   The suits have been filed against priests in Northern California accused of molesting boys and girls. Those include cases against now deceased Rev. Arthur Ribeiro of Queen of All Saints Parish in Concord and Stephen Miller Kiesle, a former priest who allegedly molested a boy at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Pinole and Our Lady of the Rosary in Union City. [...]
   The cases came after a recent state law lifted the statute of limitations on lawsuits against churches, schools and other institutions that allowed employees to molest children. Victims had to file their cases last year.  ...
• Minister charged as abuser [12 years abuse Harmon] -- Baptist.
   Cincinnati Enquirer, By David Eck, Enquirer contributor, and Jennifer Edwards, Enquirer staff writer, Oct 2, 2004
   MAINEVILLE (OH) - The longtime minister of a Baptist church and former council member in this Warren County village is accused of sexually abusing a 12-year-old church member - and police say there could be more victims.
   C. Stephen Harmon, 47, was held Friday night on no bond at the Warren County Jail. He was charged with one count of gross sexual imposition.
   Harmon has been minister at Maineville Baptist Church for 15 years. He stopped working for the church this week after the allegation arose, said church secretary Myra Wiseman.
   "It's just a horrible time," a tearful Wiseman said Friday. "It's just awful."
   Hamilton Township Police Chief Eugene Duvelius said Friday that Harmon gave authorities a statement admitting molesting the 12-year-old and indicating possible other molestations over a 12-year period. He could face more charges, the chief said. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 05:36 AM]
• St. Cloud Diocese: Second child protection audit clear -- RCC.
   St. Cloud Times, By Sarah Colburn, scolburn@stcloudtimes.com , 2 October, 2004
   ST. CLOUD (MN): Investigators have completed another audit that measures how well the Diocese of St. Cloud is complying with a charter intended to protect children.
   The Gavin Group, an independent consulting firm based in Boston, is about one-third of the way through a second audit of 195 dioceses nationwide. The group is planning to release information in February about how the dioceses are implementing the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.
   Leaders in the local diocese have received written word regarding the St. Cloud audit and Steve Gottwalt, director of the St. Cloud diocese office of communications, said the summary says: "At the conclusion of this compliance audit the diocese was found to be compliant with all articles of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People."
   Gottwalt spoke with Bishop John Kinney on Friday and said the bishop isn't releasing the audit report and is waiting for the national release.
   Kathleen McChesney is the executive director of the Office of Child and Youth Protection with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
• In Canada, Kobia Encourages Healing Efforts Of Churches [Anglican, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, United Church of Canada] -- Indigenous orphanages.

   Worldwide Faith News, Fri, 01 Oct 2004
   CANADA: Aboriginal representatives of Canadian churches, devastated by residential school scandals which have resulted in lawsuits against them totaling millions of dollars, told Rev. Dr Sam Kobia, WCC general secretary, that they must work together ecumenically if they are to bring hope and healing to the country's First Nations, most of whom have had church connections for centuries.
   Kobia was making his first visit to Canada as general secretary, beginning his tour this week in this mid-western Prairie city where First Nations are a significant part of the population. A panel of Aboriginal people met with Kobia at Thunderbird House on 30 September, a gathering place for Indigenous spirituality. Two clergy from the Cree Nation, Very Rev. Stan McKay, former Moderator of the United Church of Canada, representing his church's All Native Circle Conference and Canon Murrray Still, an Anglican priest from the Rupert's Land diocesan Council on Indigenous Ministry, described the process of apologies and healing the churches had undertaken.
   Anglicans, Presbyterians, Roman Catholic religious orders and the United Church of Canada operated hundreds of Indian residential schools across Canada for decades until 1969 on behalf of the federal government. The authorities had a policy of Native assimilation into European society, and the schools forced children to speak English only and to deny their Indigenous culture and religion. Some of the former European and Canadian clerical and lay staff have been charged and convicted of sexual and physical abuse.
• Diocese of Davenport warns about settlements -- RCC.
   Press-Citizen, Associated Press
   DAVENPORT (IA): Bishop William Franklin says the Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport lacks the financial resources to compensate victims of alleged priest abuse and warned a settlement could force the church into bankruptcy.
   Franklin also said no final decisions have been made for meeting the monetary demands set forth recently in negotiations with 37 men who claim they were sexually abused by priests in the last 50 years.
   "Diocesan financial resources are limited - they are not adequate to compensate the victims for the amounts demanded," Franklin told more than 150 clergy and board members from parishes around the diocese Thursday.
   "The diocese will make every effort to settle these cases, but you must know that Chapter 11 bankruptcy may be the only way to fairly and honorably compensate all victims," he said.
   The Davenport diocese, like others around the nation, has been hard hit in the last five years by sexual abuse lawsuits aimed at former priests, some dating back to the 1950s.
• British priest held in Bangkok over sex case [1991-92 Mountford] -- Anglican. Boy.

   The Guardian (Britain), by John Aglionby, South-east Asia correspondent, Saturday October 2, 2004
   THAILAND: A British Anglican priest has been arrested in Thailand following a request from Australia where he is wanted on paedophile charges, Thai officials said yesterday.
   John Mountford, 49, an Australian resident, was arrested on Wednesday at his Bangkok home, weeks after returning to the city from Manchester, said an immigration official.
   He is wanted on eight charges in connection with the alleged abuse of a 14-year-old boy while he was chaplain at St Peter's College, a private school in Adelaide, South Australia, between 1991 and 1992.
   The charges comprise five counts of indecent assault, one of unlawful sexual intercourse and two of procuring the commission of an act of gross indecency. Australia's justice minister, Chris Ellison, said Canberra would begin extradition proceedings and was confident the request would prove successful.
• Priest charged with possessing child pornography [2004 Kruse] -- RCC.

   Omaha World-Herald, BY KEVIN COLE AND JASON KUIPER
   NEBRASKA: A Catholic priest on administrative leave was charged Friday in Knox County, Neb., with two counts of possession of child pornography.
   The Rev. Jay L. Kruse, 50, was charged by County Attorney John Thomas with possessing visual depictions of sexually explicit conduct.
   Deb Collins, a spokeswoman for the Nebraska State Patrol, said investigators determined that material found on a computer at St. Wenceslaus Parish in Verdigre was child pornography.
   Kruse, released on a $10,000 bail, is scheduled to appear in court Oct. 14.
   The Rev. Gregory Baxter, chancellor of the Archdiocese of Omaha, said there have been no sexual abuse complaints against Kruse.
   The State Patrol alerted the archdiocese in August to an investigation related to computer equipment at St. Wenceslaus.
• Lawsuit against priest dismissed [Leonard] -- RCC. Charge too old. Boy pre-seminarian.
   Richmond Times-Dispatch, BY ALBERTA LINDSEY, Oct 2, 2004
   VIRGINIA BEACH (CA): A $5.35 million lawsuit against the Rev. John E. Leonard has been dismissed in Virginia Beach Circuit Court because the statute of limitations has expired.
   William Bruce Jeter, who filed the lawsuit against Leonard and the Catholic Diocese of Richmond last year, said after yesterday's hearing that he was disappointed.
   The suit alleged that Jeter, now 46, was sexually abused and assaulted in the mid-1970s by Leonard while Jeter was a student at St. John Vianney Seminary, a diocesan high school in Goochland County for boys planning to enter the priesthood. Leonard was on the school's faculty. The school closed in 1978.
   The suit also accused the Most Rev. Walter F. Sullivan, who retired as bishop of the Richmond diocese last summer, of covering up and not investigating incidents of sexual misconduct.
• Judge dismisses sexual lawsuit against diocese [1967-70 Diamond] -- RCC.
   Quad-City Times, By Todd Ruger, Friday, October 1st, 2004
   IOWA: A Lee County, Iowa, judge has dismissed a sexual abuse lawsuit filed there against the Catholic Diocese of Davenport and a deceased priest due to lack of evidence.
   District Judge John Linn granted the diocese's motion for summary judgment in the lawsuit filed against the Rev. Martin Diamond, the Church of All Saints in Keokuk, Iowa, and the diocese in a ruling filed Wednesday.
   "The plaintiff has presented no evidence raising a material question of fact as to whether the defendants knew or should have known of any sexual misconduct or tendencies to abuse children on the part of Father Diamond," Linn wrote.
   Because of that, the court could find no duty to warn the plaintiff, who claimed that Diamond sexually abused him from 1967 to 1970, while he was 8 to 11 years old, the ruling states.
   "We're happy the case has been disposed of as a matter of law," diocese attorney Rand Wonio said Friday. "One disappointment is we didn't go into court and exonerate Father Diamond's good name."
• Sex-abuse suit rejected when deadline passes [1973-74 Leonard] -- RCC. Boy.
   The Washington Times, http://washingtontimes.com/metro/20041001-102225-7370r.htm
   VIRGINIA BEACH (VA) (AP) - A $5.3 million lawsuit accusing a Roman Catholic priest, the Richmond Diocese and a retired bishop of culpability in child sexual abuse decades ago was dismissed yesterday because the statute of limitations expired.
   William Bruce Jeter, 46, of Norfolk, sued in October 2003, claiming he was sexually abused by the Rev. John E. Leonard while a student in 1973 and 1974 at St. John Vianney Seminary in Goochland. Mr. Leonard was on the school's faculty.
   The lawsuit also accused Bishop Walter F. Sullivan, who ran the Richmond Diocese from 1973 until he retired last fall, of covering up and not investigating incidents of abuse.
   At issue in yesterday's court hearing was whether Mr. Jeter's lawsuit was filed after the deadline set by state law for personal-injury suits. [...]
   Mr. Leonard was cleared twice by the diocese, but Goochland County authorities began a criminal investigation in August 2002.
   Mr. Leonard originally was charged with three felony sex offenses involving two students in the 1970s. He was convicted of two misdemeanor charges of assault and battery in January after entering an Alford plea, in which he didn't admit guilt but acknowledged that prosecutors had enough evidence to convict him. He was given a suspended jail term and probation.
   Mr. Leonard resigned as the parish priest at St. Michael Catholic Church in Henrico County and from active priestly ministry. #
• Report: Diocese doing good job
   The Kentucky Post, By Kevin Eigelbach and Roy Wood
   COVINGTON (KY): The Diocese of Covington is taking the right steps to heal scars from past sex abuse by priests and to prevent further incidents of abuse in the future, a newly released report from the U.S. Catholic Bishops says.
   Bishop Roger Foys learned Sept. 24 that the diocese "is in full compliance with the U.S. Catholic Bishops' Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People," the diocese said.
   The U.S. Catholic Bishops report's executive summary states: "The diocese was found to be compliant with all articles of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People."
   "We are pleased that the audit found the diocese in compliance, and that we are doing all we can to protect children and young people," Foys said in a statement. "We will continue to do so."
   But Walter Pierce, a Catholic since 1976 and a regular Mass attendee at Mother of God Parish in Covington, doesn't believe the diocese is doing everything it could.
• Charges against priest dropped [1965-69 Magee] -- RCC. Accuser suicided.

   Ashbury Park Press, By JOSEPH PICARD, TOMS RIVER BUREAU, Oct/02/04
   BAY HEAD (NJ): Sexual abuse charges against the Rev. Patrick Magee of Bay Head have been dropped by prosecutors in Northern Ireland, seven weeks after the priest's accuser committed suicide, according to the Northern Ireland Court Service Press Office.
   Charges were dropped against Magee, 63, Sept. 22 after prosecutors decided that, without their key witness, their case was insufficient, the press officer said.
   "We can confirm through the Newry Magistrate's Court that the charges against Father Magee were dropped by the Northern Ireland Office of Public Prosecutions," said Audra Miller, spokeswoman for the Diocese of Trenton, which oversees Sacred Heart Roman Catholic parish in Bay Head, where Magee served as pastor until his arrest Dec. 31, 2003.
   "We consider this the answer to our prayers," said William Harrison, a Bay Head resident and communicant at Sacred Heart. "Of course, we would have preferred that a court had cleared him. But we know he's innocent and we're happy the charges have been dropped. Now we'd like him to come home and be our pastor again."
• School asks Pallottines to relocate priest [Lemanski] -- RCC. Pallottines.
   Catholic Herald, By Sam Lucero
   MILWAUKEE (WI) - A religious order priest who has admitted sexually abusing a minor is being asked to move from a rectory that is located next to a local school.
   Woodlands School, an independent charter school with students in preschool to eighth grade, is located at 5510 W. Blue Mound Road, next door to St. Vincent Pallotti Church.
   Pallottine Fr. Bill Lemanski, who has acknowledged sexually molesting a minor, lives at the church rectory. Woodlands School administrator Maureen Sullivan said Sept. 20 that she has asked the Pallottine provincial, Fr. Leon Martin, to relocate Fr. Lemanski.
   "Our position is that we would like to see him moved," said Sullivan. "That's the position from our parents who have spoken with us."
   Fr. Lemanski's case was disclosed when members of SNAP (the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests) handed out leaflets to parents at the Woodlands School parking lot on Sept. 9. The leaflet stated Fr. Lemanski poses a threat to the community.
• Priest pleads guilty to two counts sexual assault. Sentencing for Salesian set for Nov. 9 [1990-2002 Palathingal (Salesian)] -- RCC.

   Catholic Herald, www.chnonline.org/ 2004-09-23/ newsstory5.html , By Sam Lucero, Sept. 23, 2004
   MILWAUKEE (WI) - Fr. Simon Palathingal, a member of the Salesians of Don Bosco religious order, pleaded guilty to two counts of first degree sexual assault of a child at a plea hearing held Sept. 15 in Milwaukee County Circuit Court. Judge Karen Christenson set a Nov. 9 sentencing date for the 62-year-old priest.
   The case stems from incidents of sexual abuse that took place in Milwaukee in 1990 and 1991 while the priest, who is a native of India, was studying at Marquette University. The victim, Nicholas Janovsky, now 23, was 9 and 10 at the time. Janovsky was present at the plea hearing, along with his mother, Sally Janovsky, leaders of SNAP (the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests) Milwaukee Chapter, and other victims-survivors.
   Following the hearing, Nicholas Janovsky said the priest's admission of guilt was bittersweet. "It's a long time coming. It should have happened 10 years ago." He said a civil lawsuit was filed against Fr. Palathingal in 1994, but it was dismissed after a Wisconsin Supreme Court decision in 1995 made it nearly impossible for victims of child sexual abuse to sue the church.
   "Wisconsin law makes it a friendly state" for clergy who sexually abuse, said Janovsky.
   The incidents were also reported to the Milwaukee County district attorney's office in the early 1990s, but charges were not filed. Assistant district attorney Gale Shelton, who is prosecuting the case, said she was not in a position to comment on why the charges were not originally filed, but would do so after the Nov. 9 sentencing.
   In June she told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that several factors entered into the decision not to file chargers earlier. "It was a balanced judgment that we made based on what shape the victim was in at that time, the ordeal that he had been through, and trying to make a decision that was in his best interest," she said.
   Janovsky, who now lives in Florida, recently learned that Fr. Palathingal was still functioning as a priest. "He was under the presumption that (the district attorney's office) had taken care of (Fr. Palathingal)," said Peter Isley of SNAP.
   Fr. Palathingal was arrested June 3 at his home in South Amboy, N.J. He was serving at St. Mary Parish in South Amboy, in the Diocese of Metuchen, at the time of his arrest. He had petitioned the diocese to seek incardination as a diocesan priest. Upon learning of the priest's arrest, Metuchen Bishop Paul G. Bootkoski revoked Fr. Palathingal's faculties to minister there and terminated his application to become a diocesan priest.
   Fr. Palathingal served in the Metuchen Diocese since December 2001. Prior to arriving in New Jersey, he served at Our Lady Queen of Heaven Parish in Lake Charles, La.
   The priest originally faced four counts of first degree sexual assault of a child, but two counts were dismissed. According to assistant district attorney Shelton, while two counts were dismissed, they will still be considered during the sentencing.
   Shelton recommended that Fr. Palathingal receive a 20-year sentence. However, Judge Christenson stated that she has the authority to impose any sentence she feels is equitable.
   During the plea hearing, Fr. Palathingal, wearing wire rimmed glasses and dressed in an orange jumpsuit with his wrists bound by chains, nodded and spoke softly as Judge Christenson questioned him. As the counts against him were read in detailed description, Sally Janovsky rose from her seat, sobbing, and left the courtroom. She returned a short time later.
   Janovsky said he plans to return to Milwaukee for the sentencing of Fr. Palathingal. He will have an opportunity to read a statement to the court with Fr. Palathingal present.
   Police in Lake Charles, La., are presently investigating a complaint against Fr. Palathingal involving two minors while the priest was serving there in 2001-2002. Janovsky lamented that had Fr. Palathingal been removed or restricted from ministry earlier, the two alleged cases of abuse that followed his ordeal would never have occurred. # [Emphasis added] [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 05:08 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Sat October 02, 2004
Abuse Chronology, visit: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont99.htm
• 20 child porn arrest names; one dead in WA. -- Various occupations, included RCC school teacher.

   The West Australian, "Child porn accused found dead," by Simon Penn and Luke Morfesse, p 7, Saturday, October 2, 2004
   PERTH, W. Australia: A 46-year old Australind man charged after Australia's biggest child pornography crackdown was found dead yesterday.
   Kim Noel Della-Vedova was due to appear in Bunbury Magistrate's Court to face three counts of possessing child pornography. A bench warrant was issued for his arrest after he failed to appear in court at 10am.
   Police went to his home about noon but Mr Della-Vedova had been found dead in his car by a friend. ... no suspicious circumstances.
   A dozen other accused appeared in Perth Magistrate's Court yesterday. They ranged in appearance from little old men like Ernest Sydney Hulbert, 66, of Duncraig, to the young a clean-cut like 29-year-old Adrian Webb, of Highgate, resplendent in a navy blue suit, while Embleton man Michael Cabrera, 44, wore jeans and a polo shirt.
   They waited at the rear of Court 37. Soon after 9am, their names were called and each went in turn to the bench where Magistrate Frank Cullen swiftly issued bail.
   The lone straggler was 49-year old Thornlie man Raymond Bruce Styles, who waited until after 2pm for a lawyer to become available before being released on $2000 bail to reappear on November 15.
   St Brigid's Primary School teacher Alan John Vella, 24, of Caversham, was released on $10,000 bail to October 21 but stayed in the courthouse to avoid the media before making a dash with his jacket pulled over his face.
   Colin James Burns, 55, of Victoria Park, John Raymond Peter Francis, 58, of Newman, and Christopher James Burgess, 24, of Woodvale, will all reappear on October 21.
   On October 22, Michael Cabrera, Martin Peter Ernest Goodall, 46, of Duncraig, and Peter Colin Venning, 42, of Kenwick, will be back in court. Ernest Hulbert, Christopher James Arnold, 52, of Joondanna, and Steven John Taylor, 34, of Ballajura, will reappear on October 29.
   Desmund Roderic Bath, 51, of Manjimup, appeared in Bunbury Magistrate's Court, and was released on $10,000 bail until October 29.
   Keith Thomas Raymond Powell, 44, of Bayswater, and Michael Anthony Willis, 34, faced court on Tuesday. Mr Powell will reappear on October 19; Mr Willis, November 5.
   Four others were charged yesterday. Andrew James Wilson-Browne, 34, of Woodvale, faces two counts of possessing child pornography and one of indecent recording of a child.
   Kenneth Reginald Rayner, 59, of Claremont, has been charged with possessing child pornography.
   Andrew James Guiles, 46, of Greenwood, has been charged with four counts of possessing child pornography and two counts of possessing objectionable material.
   Stojan Taseski, 39, of Kenwick, has been charged with possessing child pornography and possessing objectionable material. # [Emphasis added] [Oct 2, 04]
• Child porn crackdown to continue despite suicides. -- Operation Auxin.
   Australian Broadcasting Corporation, ABC News Online, www.abc.net. au/news/newsitems/ 200410/s1211810.htm , Posted 11:19pm AEST, Saturday, October 2, 2004
   AUSTRALIA: Federal Justice Minister Senator Chris Ellison says the nationwide crackdown on child pornography, Operation Auxin, will continue despite the suicides of four people questioned during the operation.
   More than 200 people have been charged with 2,000 offences and police expect to make more arrests nationwide.
   Dozens of those charged have appeared in courts around Australia.
   Two people charged during the crackdown, and two others questioned by police, have taken their own lives.
   Senator Ellison says the suicides are regrettable, but there will be no let up and offenders will face stiff penalties.
   "We've passed, nationally, laws which deal with online pornography - up to 10 years for child pornography disseminating, accessing or downloading it, and in relation to stalking children on the internet, up to 15 years' imprisonment," he said.
   Senator Ellison says he understands that discussions are under way for the crackdown to be widened.
   "It is an extensive operation, and extensive investigation which has involved hundreds of warrants being executed," he said.
   "It's of concern that we have an extensive network of this sort, but certainly, it's been an outstanding effort by law and order enforcement in Australia, led by the Australian Federal Police."
Suicides
   Police say a Queenslander who committed suicide after being charged was an officer from Logan, south of Brisbane.
   A police spokesman says the man took his own life during the first phase of the investigation last month.
   He had been suspended from duty after being charged with 46 counts relating to the possession of child abuse computer games.
   Senator Chris Ellison's office has confirmed that a man in Western Australia has also committed suicide.
   The man, who was found dead in Bunbury south of Perth, had failed to appear in court in connection to the child pornography raids.
   A Victorian man has also been found dead after being interviewed over child pornography allegations.
   Corrections Victoria says a second man, who worked as a prison officer at Sale's Fulham prison, has also been found dead after being questioned by police over a separate investigation.
   Police say neither man had been formally charged with any offences and the deaths are not being treated as suspicious.
Ellison defends record
   Senator Ellison has also responded to criticism by Labor communications spokesperson Kate Lundy of the Coalition's funding of AFP operations.
   He says the Howard Government is proud of its record in backing the fight against people who prey on children.
   "What we've seen from Labor is a grubby attempt to cover up its own inadequacy," he said.
   "They're halving the amount of money that would go to Netalert ... which is a body to fight pornography on the internet, and to help parents in that fight." # [Oct 2, 04]
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont99.htm
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Sun October 03, 2004 edition follows:-
• Abuse victims criticise church, curriculum -- RCC.

   ABC, www.abc.net.au/tasmania/news/200410/s1212050.htm , Sunday, 3 October 2004
   AUSTRALIA: The Catholic Church has been criticised by members of the Survivors Confronting Child Abuse and Rape (SCCAAR) group, which met in Hobart yesterday.
   Serious concerns were raised about the failure by some members of the Catholic clergy to meet abuse victims.
   There is also concern about the lack of any formal education on child abuse in the school curriculum in Tasmania, either for students or teachers.
   The keynote speaker at yesterday's conference, Professor Freda Briggs, says Tasmania is way behind most other states in regard to education.
   "You need a good child protection curriculum in your school systems for a start so children can identify inappropriate sexual behaviour and report it to the most appropriate people," she said. [Emphasis added] [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 09:12 AM]
• Basu: The power of forgiveness [1975 - ? '79 Wilwerding] -- RCC. Boy.

   Des Moines Register, By REKHA BASU, October 3, 2004
   IOWA: Jane Newlin couldn't explain the sadness that washed over her when she heard the priest who abused her brother had died.
   Can you grieve for a man who stole your little sibling's childhood, exploited the family's trust and cost you your own relationship with your church?
   Or was she crying because the one living connection to her brother's tortured secrets was taking them with him to his grave?
   Whatever the case, after more than a decade chasing down the Rev. Albert Wilwerding, Newlin was finally ready to let him go. She had gotten something she desperately needed from him: a face-to-face apology.
   Wilwerding molested Newlin's brother, Tommie Pierick, beginning when Tommie was 12 and Wilwerding was associate pastor at All Saints Church in Des Moines, where the family worshipped. It went on through high school.
   Tommie killed himself in 1985 at age 32, after several attempts. Before he did, he told his mother of the abuse and how it had ruined his life.
• Confronting The Nuns [1980s ?] -- RCC. Girl.
   Hartford Courant, By KIM MARTINEAU, October 3, 2004
   HAMDEN (CT) -- Landa Mauriello-Vernon kept the secret for more than a decade. She hid it from her parents, even her husband. But when it all came out, she did not hold back.
   In a May 2003 lawsuit, she accused her former religion teacher of sexually assaulting her as a student at Sacred Heart Academy, an all-girls Catholic high school in Hamden. Opting against a Jane Doe disguise in the case that is still pending, she revealed her identity to the world. But she didn't stop there.
   In February, Mauriello-Vernon, 30, founded the Connecticut chapter of a national support group for victims of child sexual abuse by clergy. Since then, the mother of two has drawn national attention to the problem of nuns who abuse, a situation that until now has been eclipsed by the church's larger sex abuse scandal involving priests.
   She will be in Chicago today to meet with leaders from the nation's largest consortium of nuns, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious - a move that would have seemed unthinkable just a few years ago.
• Report says Covington diocese taking right steps in abuse cases -- RCC.
   WKYT, www.wkyt.com/ Global/story. asp?S=2380255
   COVINGTON, Ky. -- A newly released report from the U.S. Catholic Bishops says The Diocese of Covington is taking the right steps to heal scars from past sex abuse by priests and to prevent further incidents of abuse in the future.
   Bishop Roger Foys learned Sept. 24 that the diocese "is in full compliance with the U.S. Catholic Bishops' Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People," the diocese said.
   The U.S. Catholic Bishops report's executive summary states: "The diocese was found to be compliant with all articles of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People."
   "We are pleased that the audit found the diocese in compliance, and that we are doing all we can to protect children and young people," Foys said in a statement. "We will continue to do so."
   Not everyone believes the report is completely accurate.
   Walter Pierce, a Catholic since 1976 and a regular Mass attendee at Mother of God Parish in Covington, doesn't believe the diocese is doing everything it could.
• Archdiocese requests mediation, arbitration -- RCC. $US53m gone, $US340m more requested.
   Corvallis Gazette-Times, Saturday, October 2, 2004
   PORTLAND (OR) (AP) - The Portland Archdiocese has filed court papers asking that some 70 lawsuits against it alleging sexual or physical abuse by priests be settled by mediation and binding arbitration. The claims ask for more the $340 million in damages, and in July the archdiocese became the first in the nation to seek bankruptcy protection.
   The papers were filed Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.
   In a separate statement the archdiocese, which heads the Roman Catholic Church in Western Oregon, said it wants to streamline procedures so that the resources it has can be used to pay valid claims of victims instead of going to lawyers and other consultants.
   From 1950 through 2003 the archdiocese has settled about 130 such lawsuits for $53 million.
• East Tennessee Man Claims Abuse by Catholic Church [McKoewn] -- RCC. Boy/s.
   WVLT Volunteer TV, www.volunteertv. com/Global/story. asp?S=2378899& nav=4QcHRZ8x , with Mark Mowbray
   TENNESSEE: An East Tennessee man says a local Catholic priest abused him when he was a little boy. WVLT Volunteer TV's Mark Mowbray spoke with the alleged victim and the Catholic church in a story you'll only see on Volunteer TV News.
   He doesn't want to show his face or use his name, but he wants the public to know his story about his nights as a child at a Catholic priest's parish house in Harriman.
   The man claims there was alcohol and adult movies. He says he was there with other pre-teen boys and the priest, "Quintisentially there would be one or two few beds and one of the kids would sleep in his bedroom....on weekends it would be my turn."
   That's when he says the priest abused him, "We were just laying in bed and he just grabbed me and reached around and sodomized me, it scared the hell out of me." [...]
   The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests will hold a summit, October 12th, at Pellissippi State.
   As for the priest accused in our story. He is Edward McKoewn and is now in a state prison, convicted in Davidson County of aggravated sexual assault and rape of two other children. #
• Judge dismisses lawsuit against Iowa priest [1967-70 Diamond] -- RCC. Boy.
   KTVO 3, ASSOCIATED PRESS, Oct/02/04
   IOWA: A district court judge in Iowa has dismissed a sexual abuse lawsuit filed against the Catholic diocese in Davenport and a dead priest.
   Judge John Linn granted a motion for dismissal in the lawsuit filed against the Reverend Martin Diamond. He served at the Church of All Saints in Keokuk.
   The judge says the plaintiff presented no evidence to prove the diocese knew about alleged sexual misconduct.
   The plaintiff from Hamilton, Illinois -- who was not identified in court records -- claimed he was abused from 1967 to 1970 when he was eight to eleven years old.
• Catholic priests' hold triennial huddle -- RCC.
   Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, www.post-gazette.com/ pg/04277/389048.stm , By Ann Rodgers, Sunday, October 03, 2004
   WHEELING, WEST VIRGINIA -- The mood at last week's convocation of priests of the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh was relaxed and jovial, as men in jeans and T-shirts lounged in Adirondack chairs at Oglebay Park or played golf or hiked its rolling hills. Bishop Donald W. Wuerl walked the halls in khakis and sports shirts, chatting with priests who requested a word with him.
   Held every three years since 1989, it was the first such convocation since the nationwide clerical sexual abuse scandal rocked the priesthood in 2002. It also was a place to talk in closed workshops about how parishes can conduct ministry as the number of priests who retire far exceeds ordinations.
   Yet their conversations were upbeat, echoing polls showing that the job satisfaction of Catholic priests was higher than that of most Americans.
   "Even with the scandal, our people still have a deep respect for the priesthood," said the Rev. Joseph Kleppner, pastor of St. Frances Cabrini in Center. When his parish of 2,000 families no longer qualified for a second priest, parishioners stepped up to take on nonsacramental duties. [Emphasis added]
• Focus on priest abuse widens to include nuns [School Sisters of St. Francis] -- RCC. > 100. Both genders.
   Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, By MEGAN TWOHEY, mtwohey@journalsentinel.com , Posted: Oct. 2, 2004
   WISCONSIN: Her eyes filled with tears as Grace Duckert explained how it felt when she remembered being molested as a child by a nun at a Catholic elementary school in Dodge County. She was watching television one day in the early 1990s, and Oprah Winfrey was interviewing men from Boston who had been abused by priests.
   "It was like being struck by lightning," said Duckert, 82, who was paid nearly $2,000 by the School Sisters of St. Francis for therapy after she reported the abuse. "I was overwhelmed by sadness."
   Mary Guentner suffered at the hands of a nun while at Pius XI High School in Milwaukee. "I felt like damaged goods," recalled Guentner, 46, who received close to $10,000 from the School Sisters for her therapy after she reported her abuse in the mid-1990s.
   Since it first began unfolding a decade ago, the sexual abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church has focused on priests. But now, that may be changing.
   In recent years, growing numbers of men and women who say they were abused by nuns have turned to therapists, attorneys and advocates for help. Nationally, more than 100 - including five from the Milwaukee area - have been identified by the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests [SNAP], a national organization for victims. [...]
   In the first meeting of its kind, they will ask the Leadership Conference of Women Religious to encourage members to make cases of abuse public. They want the religious orders to adopt uniform policies on how to handle allegations and begin outreach to victims. Guentner plans to take the requests to orders of nuns in the Milwaukee area.
   But uncovering the extent of abuse by nuns may be difficult. The Leadership Conference has not tracked such cases, said Annmarie Sanders, the organization's spokeswoman. The School Sisters of St. Francis, which has its headquarters in Milwaukee, declined to provide information on the number of allegations.
   Like other dioceses in the United States, officials of the Milwaukee archdiocese say it neither tracks nor takes responsibility for sexual abuse in women's religious orders that operate in the diocese. Allegations are referred to the appropriate women's religious orders, and, since 2002, to local law enforcement, Hohl said.[...]
   In September, a former nun who taught at a Catholic school in Virginia Beach more than 30 years ago was sentenced to six months in jail for molesting a male student. In Boston, 18 people have filed lawsuits this year alleging they were sexually and physically abused by nuns at a Catholic school for the deaf. And more than 40 people are suing an order of nuns in Louisville that staffed an orphanage where plaintiffs say they were sexually abused.
   Victims of abuse by nuns in Wisconsin might be stymied in the courts. A 1995 state Supreme Court decision protects churches and religious orders from lawsuits. Duckert and Guentner secured settlements with the School Sisters of St. Francis before the ruling. ...
• Recruiting efforts pay off -- RCC.
   Kansas City Star, www.kansascity. com/mld/kansascity/ living/9793600.htm by Bill Tammeus, Posted on Sun, Oct. 03, 2004
   KANASA CITY (MO): The path to the priesthood in the Catholic Church is long and increasingly arduous.
   When a man wants to explore the possibility, he often first talks with his own priest, who can direct him to the vocation office of his diocese.
   Since the priest sexual abuse scandal, says the Rev. Robert H. Stewart, vocation officer of the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese, "it's tougher. We're very vigilant. There are people who don't get past my scrutiny."
   Stewart, who is also pastor of Holy Family Parish in Kansas City, North, is not the only gatekeeper, but he reads required reference letters, arranges for psychological testing and looks over a required autobiography. Bishop Raymond J. Boland reads that, too.
   So do people at the seminary the man may attend, and so do psychological evaluators. Those evaluators ask probing questions outlined in the St. Luke Institute psychosexual interview tool. That Maryland institute treats many troubled priests. All along the route, the church looks for danger signs. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 02:30 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Sun October 03, 2004
Abuse Chronology: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont99.htm
For good teachings to be heeded, a big clean-up is needed.
• Child porn arrests likely to double.

   The Sunday Times, Perth, W. Australia, by Nadia Miraudo, p 9, October 3, 2004
AUSTRALIA: Further arrests are expected this week as the nationwide crackdown on Internet child pornography continues.
   Dubbed Operation Auxin, the massive investigation, which has already seen 200 people charged, could net a further 300 arrests in the coming months. [...]
   Justice and Customs Minister Chris Ellison said yesterday he regretted that four people had taken their own lives but the investigation would continue ...
   "Obviously the charging of people has had an effect on those concerned but what we have to look at is the effect the alleged activity has had on children -- and that is the violation of innocence," Mr Ellison said. [...]
   Australind man Kim Noel Della-Vedova, 46, an electrician, was found dead on Friday afternoon after failing to appear in Bunbury Magistrates' Court on three charges of possessing child pornography. [...]
   In WA 24 men, including Mr Della-Vedova, have been charged. [...]
   In Perth two school teachers and a former electoral officer and a state Labor MP were among those who have appeared in court. #
(Picture -- FACING JUSTICE: John Francis at Perth's Central Law Courts on child porn charges.)
(Picture -- TAKING COVER: Teacher Alan Vella leaves Perth's Central Law Courts after being charged with possessing child porn.) [Oct 3, 04]
• Clues to predators.
   The Sunday Times, Perth, W. Australia, p 9, October 3, 2004
   AUSTRALIA: Australian Federal Police will release a pedophile personality profile next year to help the public identify predators.
   Australian Hi-Tech Crime Centre chief federal agent Mike Phelan said a team of specialists was expected to complete its report before the year's end.
   "The research is being carried out by police, statistics and educational bodies, psychiatric consultants and some of us," Agent Phelan said. [...]
   ... Operation Auxin, ... Yesterday, ... appeared in Penrith Local Court [NSW] charged with possession of child pornography and supply of illegal drugs. ...
   On Friday a 33-year-old Sydney teacher accused of secretly filming youngsters while they were changing was refused bail by Waverley Court. [Oct 3, 04]
• Abuse: Church sorry. -- Anglicans. Over-all 6-7% Church related.
   The Sunday Times, Perth, W. Australia, by Nadia Miraudo, p 20, October 3, 2004
   FREMANTLE, W. Australia: Children abused by priests and church workers were yesterday offered an apology from Anglican primate Archbishop Peter Carnley.
   In his presidential address to the General Synod in Fremantle, Archbishop Carnley said the recent history of the Church had "hardly been glorious". [...]
   "Though in Australia the incidence of child abuse involving clergy and church workers accounts for only six or seven per cent of recorded cases, we have been both traumatised and shamed, particularly by some highly public cases involving multiple offences in some parts of the country," he said.
   "Often there have been delays in the handling of complaints, something we now recognise to be an entirely unacceptable secondary form of abuse."
   Archbishop Carnley said victims of abuse often suffered long-term psychological damage.
   "We rightly and honestly, and with sincere regret, own the mistakes of the past in a spirit of profound repentance," he said. [...]
   "We re-affirm that apology now in the name of the National Church ..."
   ... He said the world "had taken a disturbing turn for the worse". [...]
   He said Australia's treatment of refugees was hostile and cruel and involvement in the war without UN support was wrong. [...]
   [COMMENT: It was the national synod of the Anglican Church. "Often ... delays ... something we now recognise ... abuse" Well, the old saying "Justice delayed is justice denied" must surely have penetrated to all levels of all Churches. Far from being caused by "delays," what happened in this as in most other Churches was delaying tactics to avoid the difficult task of seeing, judging, and acting. The surviving documents of the early Church show a completely different attitude to this evil, as well as to other evils. COMMENT ENDS.] [Oct 3, 04]
• Google-- Society > Support Groups > Sexual Abuse > Survivors' Directory.
   http://directory.google.com/Top/Society/Support_Groups/Sexual_Abuse/Survivors/ , sighted Oct 3, 2004.
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Mon October 04, 2004 edition follows:-
• Church janitor's tapes reveal child molestation [2004 Darow] -- Baptist.

   CNN, www.cnn.com/ 2004/US/10/04/ janitor.tapes.ap/ index.html , Posted: 10:27 AM EDT (1427 GMT), Monday, October 4, 2004
   GARDEN CITY, Michigan (AP) -- A janitor whose body was found in the church where he worked had hundreds of illegal videotapes in his home, some depicting the man molesting children in the church restroom, police said.
   The body of Todd Darow, 40, was discovered September 23 in Merriman Road Baptist Church where he worked part-time, but investigators said there was no sign of foul play. When police went to inform Darow's wife, they saw illegal pornography inside the house.
   Returning with a search warrant, police said they found the videos, many of them self-produced and showing Darow improperly touching children in his home and in a church bathroom.
   Other tapes showed people using the bathroom without knowing they were being videotaped. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 07:37 PM]
• More Society honors 7 -- rcc.
   Republican, By ELIZABETH ROMÁN, eroman@repub.com , Monday, October 04, 2004
   SPRINGFIELD (MA) - William A. Donohue, president of the Catholic League, the nation's largest Catholic civil rights organization, spoke yesterday at a reception honoring seven legal professionals at the Springfield Marriott following the annual Red Mass at St. Michael's Cathedral on State Street.
   According to the Thomas More Society, which honored the seven, the Red Mass is held in major cities across the nation at the start of the judicial year. [...]
   While the Catholic League deals with everything from boycotting what it considers anti-Catholic television programs, defending Mel Gibson's movie "The Passion of the Christ," to continuing the tradition of nativity scenes on public property, its biggest job has been dealing with the current sexual abuse scandals in the church.
   "The Catholic church brought this on themselves. This is not a creation of the media or of anti- Catholics," Donohue said.
   "The church made some very bad decisions in getting candidates for priesthood and some very bad decisions were made on what to do with those people once it was determined they were unfit to be priests," he said.
   "Now, having said that, it's important to keep in mind that only two-thirds of 1 percent of the priests in this country have ever had an accusation against them for sexual molestation, which means 99 percent of them have never had an accusation."
   [COMMENT: It is NOT "two-thirds of 1 percent" of RC clergy, but really 4%. In addition, it is not really the bad recruiting, but the non-Jesus teachings that attract men who do not have the normal desire for women, and who are, contravening the New Testament instructions, too young to be set aside for the ministry. COMMENT ENDS.]
• Austrian Catholic church removes alleged pedophile priest -- RCC.

   Inq7.net ; Agence France-Presse, Oct 04, 2004
   VIENNA, Austria -- A priest accused of committing pedophile acts with children in his care has been removed from his post by the Austrian Roman Catholic Church authorities, a media report said on Monday.
   The man, who has not been named, is alleged to have placed his hand on the thighs of youngsters in incidents that occurred several years ago in the western community of Annaberg-Lungotz, according to daily Salzburger Nachrichten.
   The priest's superior, abbot Edmund Wagenhofer, announced that he had replaced the man in an address to the local parish congregation at the end of mass on Saturday, the report said.
   The priest has since been transferred to another abbey in the district.
   This is the latest in a string of pedophile cases within the Catholic church in Austria that have surfaced in recent months.
• Priests seen as interested in discussing celibacy issue -- RCC.

   Buffalo News, By JAY TOKASZ, Oct/4/2004
   UNITED STATES: A national survey of 3,846 priests has found that more than two-thirds of them wish to discuss whether the Catholic church should end a centuries-old tradition of forbidding priests to marry.
   The survey, which originated in the Diocese of Buffalo about a year ago, is the latest advocacy tool of two national groups calling for the end of the church's celibacy requirement for priests.
   In all, priests in 53 dioceses were asked anonymously whether they favored "an open discussion" of the celibacy requirement.
   The majority of priests who responded in most dioceses said yes to the question. In three dioceses - Fort Wayne-South Bend, Ind.; Harrisburg, Pa.; and Philadelphia - the majority of priests responded that they did not want such a discussion.
   The results from the Buffalo sampling were consistent with the overall national figures, with 66 percent of the 162 priests who responded saying they favored an open discussion.
   While middle-aged and older priests overwhelmingly favored a review of celibacy, more than half of priests younger than 40 said they did not want to discuss the issue.
   Call to Action, a national church reform organization, and FutureChurch, a Cleveland-based group, are using the survey results in a continuing campaign to have the U.S. bishops and the Vatican reconsider the celibacy rule.
• School's former chaplain faces child sex quiz [1987-90 Mountford] -- Anglican. Boy.
   Ic Birmingham, Oct 4 2004
   BRITAIN: A Briton arrested in Thailand in connection with child sex abuse allegations in Australia was a former chaplain at a Birmingham boarding school.
   Thai police arrested John Mountford (49), last week at an apartment in central Bangkok on the request of Australian authorities. He is wanted for allegedly abusing a 14 year-old pupil at an Adelaide school.
   Mountford was attached to the Blue Coat School in Edgbaston, Birmingham, between 1987 and 1990. He then left to work in Australia but has been back to Britain, the last occasion being a holiday a few weeks ago after which he went to Thailand.
   Mountford was a former Anglican chaplain at the prestigious boys' school, St Peter's College, in Adelaide. He was said to have fled Australia after reportedly admitting to the college headmaster in June 1992 that he had sexually assaulted the student.
• Protest focuses on nuns in abuse -- RCC.
   Chicago Tribune, By William Grady, Published October 4, 2004
   CHICAGO (IL): Members of an advocacy group for victims of clergy abuse told their stories Sunday in Chicago about being sexually molested by nuns.
   Landa Mauriello-Vernon, the Connecticut director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), said the group, which passed out leaflets about the issue outside a Catholic church on the South Side and held a private meeting with representatives of women's religious orders, wants the public to know that some nuns have sexually abused children.
   Most public attention has been on the male clergy in the sexual-abuse scandal that has rocked the Roman Catholic Church in recent years.
   "Knowing that there are other victims out there has given me courage and faith," said Mauriello-Vernon, 30, of Hamden, Conn., who says she was in high school when she was molested by a nun.
   Mauriello-Vernon and others distributed leaflets outside Corpus Christi Catholic Church, 4920 S. King Drive, after a morning mass and then met at a hotel with officials of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. The group, based in Silver Spring, Md., includes about 1,000 leaders of orders of nuns in the U.S.
• Area pastor indicted by grand jury [Massey] -- Baptist.
   Beauregard Daily News, Special to the Daily News, Sep 30, 2004
   LOUISIANA: On Sept. 29, 2003, the Beauregard Parish Sheriff Department began an investigation into complaints of alleged sexual molestation of juveniles involving a pastor of a local church.
   During the investigation deputies with Beauregard, Vernon, Allen and Sabine parishes learned that for approximately the past 20 years Paul Massey, 48, of Rosepine, had allegedly molested children who attended various churches where he pastored.
   The investigation also revealed that these acts had occurred in four different parishes while Massey was acting in his professional capacity.
   On Sept. 29, the Beauregard Parish Grand Jury indicted Massey on two counts of molestation of a juvenile.
• Rosepine pastor taken into custody on molestation charges [Massey] -- Baptist. Girl, boy.
   Leesville Daily Leader, From staff reports, Sep 30, 2004
   ROSEPINE (LA) -- A Rosepine pastor who allegedly molested children for nearly 20 years was taken into custody by the Beauregard Sheriff's Department at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday and charged with two counts of molestation of a juvenile.
   Paul D. Massey, 48, of Main Street in Rosepine, was arrested after a lengthy joint investigation by the BSO, Vernon Parish Sheriff's Office, as well as Allen and Sabine parish authorities. It was exactly one year ago that an investigation began after complaints of alleged sexual molestation of juveniles involving a pastor of a local church.
   During the investigation, authorities learned that Massey had allegedly molested children who attended various churches where he was pastor. Also revealed was the fact that the charges stemmed from acts that had occurred in four different parishes while Massey was acting in a professional capacity.
   The incident apparently involve one pre-teen girl and one pre-teen boy at a Baptist Church where Massey was pastor. The number of other possible victims involved has not been released at this time.
• Youth pastor charged with 2 counts of sexual battery [2004 Valentine] -- Methodist. Girl
   The Clarion-Ledger, The Associated Press, Oct 1, 2004
   MISSISSIPPI: A youth pastor at an Ocean Springs church was arrested and charged with sexual battery involving a 15-year-old girl.
   The Rev. Paul Valentine of Vancleave was taken into police custody Wednesday in Hattiesburg. He faces two counts of sexual battery. He was released on a $100,000 bond.
   Two complaints were filed against Valentine by the girl's mother alleging he engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior with her daughter on Sept. 16 while he was youth minister at St. Paul United Methodist Church, according to the district attorney's office.
   Valentine has been a youth pastor at St. Paul for about four years. The church has a membership of 1,500 people.
• Vicar vanishes as child pornography net widens [Crump] -- Anglican.

   The Age, www.theage. com.au/articles/ 2004/10/02/ 1096527990 644.html , By Andrew Webster, Barney Zwartz and Misha Schubert, October 3, 2004
   AUSTRALIA: An Anglican priest being investigated by Victoria Police in relation to the possession of child pornography appeared to have gone into hiding yesterday.
   The Reverend John Crump, 58, vicar of the Anglican parish of St Philip at Mount Waverley, is one of 68 people questioned by Victoria Police over the past three days. Police said Father Crump is expected to be charged on summons in relation to possession of child pornography. A 26-year-old teacher from Frankston is also expected to be charged.
   Prime Minister John Howard yesterday cautioned against rushing to judge that those charged as a result of the nationwide police operation were guilty.
   Mr Howard said that while every Australian was "revolted and repulsed" by allegations of child pornography, the process of law must be allowed to operate. "I don't think I should make comments generically about this issue while the process of investigation of alleged crimes in under way," he said.
   Investigators yesterday found no cameras or listening devices during a search of three Melbourne child-care centres owned by another man charged with possessing child pornography.
• Parishioners told of priest's confession [Crump] -- Anglican.

   The Age, By Martin Boulton, October 4, 2004
   AUSTRALIA: The vicar of St Philip's Anglican church in Mount Waverley made a full admission to police when questioned in relation to a child pornography investigation, his parishioners were told when they arrived to worship yesterday.
   The Reverend John Crump, 58, was nowhere to be seen at the vicarage as about 20 parishioners arrived for the 8am service. Police have confirmed Father Crump is expected to be charged on summons in relation to possession of child pornography.
   A letter sent to Father Crump from John McKenzie, the general manager of the diocese, and dated last Thursday, was read to the stunned congregation by church warden Neil McIlwraith at the start of yesterday's service.
   The letter stated: "I have been advised today by Victoria Police that a computer and other material has been seized by the police and that you have made a full admission on tape in relation to certain matters with which you are likely to be charged."
   The letter also said Father Crump had been suspended from his duties, pending the outcome of the investigation, but would be paid his entitlements.
• Church to screen priests -- Anglican.
   Daily Telegraph, By Tim Clarke, October 4, 2004
   FREMANTLE, W. AUSTRALIA: In its toughest attack yet on pedophilia within the clergy, the Anglican Church has agreed to set up a national screening program for potential priests and church workers.
   Leaders from dioceses across Australia have ratified a raft of new child protection initiatives including the "Safe Ministry Check" for applicants, and a national registry of clergy.
   The registry aims to stop offenders moving from diocese to diocese and will include details of any refusal by a bishop to ordain a person as a deacon or priest because of an "adverse risk assessment".
   Other measures given the go ahead at the church's General Synod meeting in Fremantle include a nationwide code of conduct and a series of behavioural guidelines for clergy and church workers.
   The Safe Ministry Check procedure, which dioceses will be expected to follow, includes a questionnaire which asks extensive queries of clergy and lay workers, including inquiries about sexual and criminal history. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 05:25 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Mon October 04, 2004
Abuse Chronology, visit: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont99.htm
• National laws sometimes weak; risk of naming accused.

   The West Australian, "WA backs away from national law on child pornography," www.thewest. com.au/ 20041004/news/ general/ tw-news- general-home- sto129490.html by Charlie Wilson-Clark, Natasha Granath and Simon Penn, p 1, Monday, October 4, 2004
   PERTH, W. AUSTRALIA: The State Government has backed away from moves to establish uniform Federal laws and penalties for child pornography.
   Police Minister Michelle Roberts said synchronising penalties at a national level often meant WA ended up with lowest common denominator. She cited the national paedophile register and DNA database as instances where national laws were weakened because of concerns over civil liberties.
   ... Operation Auxin last week ... extraordinary level of interstate co-operation ... 200 arrests so far, including 25 in WA. Another 300 ... expected. [...]
   Law reform campaigner Brian Tennant called for the identities of those charged with child pornography to be protected until trial or conviction. He cited the suicides of one West Australian and three men interstate accused of serious crimes.
   Two Sydney-based navy officers have been charged with possession of child pornography. Police said the arrests were not related to Auxin. # [Emphasis added] [Oct 4, 04]
• Minister caught in porn net as national synod shields young. [Crump] -- Anglican.
   The West Australian, "Synod to shield young as priest caught in porn net," by Gavin Simpson, with The Age, p 12, Monday, October 4, 2004
   AUSTRALIA: The Anglican national synod will consider a wide range of measures to protect children from abuse.
   The move comes as a Melbourne priest was named at the weekend in the national child pornography investigation.
   Victorian police confirmed that the vicar at St Philip's Church in Mount Waverley, the Rev. John Crump, 58, was expected to be charged in relation to possession of child pornography.
   Mr Crump, who is married with three adult daughters and resigned recently to take up a post in the South Australian diocese of The Murray, has been suspended from duties. ... made full admission to police ...
   ... synod ... meeting in Fremantle, will consider a wide range of child protection measures ...
   ... Primate, Peter Carnley, apologised on behalf of the Church ... on Saturday for the harm done to victims of abuse ... [Emphasis added] [Oct 4, 04]
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Tue October 05, 2004 edition follows:-
• Austria Sex-Scandal Diocese Gets New Bishop -Report [Krenn] -- RCC. Seminary corruption.

   Reuters, www.reuters.com/ newsArticle.jhtml? type=worldNews& storyID=6409736 , 05:44 PM ET, Mon Oct 4, 2004
   VIENNA, AUSTRIA (Reuters) - The Vatican chose a new bishop on Monday to take over an Austrian diocese from Kurt Krenn, who resigned after a child pornography scandal rocked the Roman Catholic Church in the Alpine state, Austrian TV reported.
   Austrian television ORF cited unnamed Vatican sources for the report, which said Pope John Paul would name Bishop Klaus Kueng to take over Krenn's former diocese of St Poelten.
   The 64-year-old Kueng, currently bishop of the Feldkirch diocese, was named by the Pope as a special investigator in July to examine how Krenn was running St Poelten, west of Vienna.
   The investigation was ordered after child pornography and pictures of priests fondling adult male students were found at the diocese seminary.
   Officials at the St Poelten diocese office were not immediately available to confirm the report.
   However, Kueng's secretary Bernhard Augustin appeared to confirm the ORF report, telling the Austrian press agency APA: "I cannot refute that (report)." [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 08:29 AM[
• No complaints about priest in child porn swoop: church [Crump] -- Anglican.

   ABC, Tuesday, 5 October 2004
   VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA: North-east Victorian Anglican Church officials had received no complaints about the behaviour of a minister who is expected to be charged with possessing child pornography.
   Waverley priest Father John Crump has been questioned by police as part of a national child pornography investigation.
   He served at the St Mark's church in North Albury between 1996 and 2001 and spent time in the Wangaratta West parish.
   Wangaratta diocese registrar John Pryor says the church had not received any complaints about Father Crump during is stay in the north-east.
   However, he says parishioners concerned about the issue can contact the church administration.
• Church sacks priest arrested for porn [Crump] -- Anglican.
   The Australian, By Edith Bevin, October 05, 2004
   AUSTRALIA: An Anglican priest expected to start work at the Mt Barker parish this month has been sacked after being caught in a child pornography sweep.
   Bishop Ross Davies, of The Murray Diocese, told The Advertiser he was "stunned" when he found out the Rev John Crump had been arrested as part of a national child pornography sting.
   Mr Crump, 58, was expected to start at the Mt Barker parish at the end of October.
   "Obviously that's not going to happen now," Bishop Davies said. "I found out the day after he was arrested. I immediately revoked his appointment.
   "I'm shocked, saddened, disappointed and angry.
• Judge expected to set trial date in abuse cases [1979-82 Ponciroli] -- RCC. Altar boy.

   San Francisco Chronicle, by Don Lattin, Chronicle Religion Writer, Tuesday, October 5, 2004
   CALIFORNIA: An Alameda County judge is expected to set trial dates this week in a wave of child-abuse litigation against the Roman Catholic Church in Northern California, a move that could increase pressure on church attorneys to settle the cases rather than have alleged victims air their cases in public.
   Superior Court Judge Ronald Sabraw will set dates for the first of scores of lawsuits that collectively are known as "Clergy III." Plaintiffs have sued dioceses in Northern and Central California claiming that priests molested them and that church leaders covered up the alleged abuse.
   Last week, Rick Simons, a Hayward lawyer and lead counsel for the abuse claimants, asked for a January trial date for a lawsuit filed by Bob Thatcher, who says he was abused from 1979 to 1982 by the Rev. Robert Ponciroli, a now-retired priest with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland.
   Thatcher, who now lives in Arizona and has allowed his name to a used in the abuse cases, was an altar boy under Ponciroli at St. Ignatius parish in Antioch.
• Seattle Man Permanently Removed From Priesthood [Cornelius] -- RCC. 20+ boys.
   KOMO, By KOMO Staff & News Services, October 4, 2004
   SEATTLE (WA) - John Cornelius, who has been accused of sexually abusing more than 20 boys, has been dismissed from the Roman Catholic priesthood after Vatican authorities concurred with Seattle Archbishop Alex Brunett's recommendation.
   Brunett announced Monday that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome had agreed that Cornelius "be permanently dismissed from the clerical state by the Holy Father and is no longer a priest."
   The decision was made last week, but the church notified the victims and Cornelius before making the announcement, Archdiocese spokesman Greg Magnoni said Monday evening.
   "When you remove someone from the priesthood, that's the most serious action you can take against a member of the clergy. I think it speaks to the seriousness of this particular case, the number of victims who came forward and the impact it has had," he said.
   Cornelius lives in Seattle, although church officials are not sure where. He was not immediately reachable for comment Monday. He served in the Seattle Archdiocese from 1975 to 2002, and achieved national renown for taking in as many as 13 children. None has alleged any impropriety.
• Suit says priest molested boy [1983-89 Bucaro]
   The Press-Enterprise, By MICHAEL FISHER, Monday, October 4, 2004
   CALIFORNIA: A man has sued the dioceses of San Bernardino and San Diego, claiming he was molested for six years by a priest assigned to St. Matthew's Catholic Church in Corona during the 1980s.
   In a lawsuit filed Friday in San Bernardino County Superior Court, the 25-year-old accuser claims he was repeatedly sexually abused between 1983 and 1989 by the Rev. Michael Bucaro, now assigned to the prison ministry at the California Institution for Men in Chino.
   Bucaro, 52, could not be located for comment.
   The Rev. Howard Lincoln, spokesman for the Diocese of San Bernardino, said by phone Monday that Bucaro is aware of the lawsuit and he is cooperating with diocesan officials.
   There is no record of any past complaint of any kind of sexual conduct in Bucaro's personnel file, Lincoln said, adding that the diocese learned of the lawsuit from a reporter.
• Court refuses to move, dismiss abuse case against priest [Wilson] -- RCC.
   Troy Record, By Robert Cristo, Oct/05/2004
   ALBANY (NY): For the second time in a month, a Massachusetts judge ruled against the Albany Diocese's motion to dismiss or move a clergy sex abuse case against defrocked priest Dozia Wilson to New York state.
   According to Suffolk County Superior Court documents released Monday by attorney John Aretakis, the court denied the Albany Diocese's request and will try the lawsuit, accusing Bishop Howard Hubbard and former Boston Cardinal Bernard Law of harboring a predatory priest.
   Should the case make it to trial, Hubbard and other church leaders could be called upon to testify, much like Law was forced to testify in Boston in cases against convicted child molesters like Rev. John Geoghan.
   Geoghan was later murdered in prison and Law stepped down from his position after church files proved he knew about pedophile priests within his diocese and did nothing about it.
   Aretakis, who represents many alleged victims of clergy sex abuse, called the judge's decision a "huge legal victory," considering statute of limitation laws would prevent the case from going to trial in New York state but not in Massachusetts, where some of the alleged abuse occurred.
• Church defrocks local priest [1970s-85 Cornelius] -- RCC. 20+ boys.
   The Seattle Times, http://seattletimes. nwsource.com/html/ localnews/200205 4181_defrock 05m.html , By Ray Rivera, Tuesday, October 05, 2004
   SEATTLE (WA): On the recommendation of Seattle Archbishop Alex J. Brunett, the Vatican has issued the most severe penalty possible against the Rev. John Cornelius, defrocking him for a long string of sexual-molestation cases involving boys in the 1970s and '80s.
   Known for his charismatic preaching style, Cornelius, 63, was pastor from 1978 to 1996 at Immaculate Conception Church in Seattle's Central Area before he was transferred to an Everett parish. He voluntarily resigned in 2002 as allegations began to surface.
   He is believed to be the first Washington priest to be forcefully laicized, as the church calls it, and is among a growing number of priests to be cast out of the ministry since the church's sexual-abuse scandal broke in Boston in 2002 and spread across the nation.
   Three other priests within the Seattle Archdiocese have been permanently barred from the ministry in recent months, one step short of defrocking. Those priests can no longer minister or refer to themselves as priests, but they continue to receive financial support and remain under church oversight. [...]
   Cornelius was placed on leave from Immaculate Conception Church in Everett in April 2002 after being accused for the second time in six years of molesting teenage boys in the 1970s and up to 1985.
   In the weeks that followed, more than a dozen men came forward with allegations of past abuse by Cornelius, dating to his time in seminary. # (Picture)
• Group urges firm stance in punishing Polish priest [2002 Kramek] -- RCC.
   The Bristol Press, By ADAM WITTENBERG, Special to The Bristol Press, Oct/05/2004
   NEW BRITAIN (CT) -- A national advocacy group for victims of sex abuse by clergy is urging the state's attorney to seek an admission of guilt from Polish priest Roman Kramek.
   Citing concerns that Kramek will abuse again if he is allowed to return to Poland, members of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, are drafting a letter to New Britain State's Attorney Scott Murphy, asking him to be firm in negotiating a plea deal that was offered to Kramek last week.
   Kramek, 42, is accused of second-degree sexual assault for allegedly having sex with a 17-year-old girl in December 2002 while he was counseling her for a previous sexual assault. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, but Kramek could reduce that time if he accepts the plea deal Nov. 3.
   Although terms of the offer were not released, the director of SNAP Connecticut said she is worried Kramek's charges will be reduced and that his punishment will not fit the crime.
• Judge rejects challenge to diocese's property transfer
   The Tribune, www.sanluisobispo. com/mld/ sanluisobispo/ 9837902.htm , By LINDA DEUTSCH, Associated Press, Posted on Tue, Oct. 05, 2004
   LOS ANGELES - A judge rejected a challenge to a transfer of property by the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego, saying the plaintiffs lacked standing to claim that the diocese was trying to protect its assets from alleged sex-abuse victims. The lawyer who brought the case had argued that the property transfers, potentially worth tens of millions of dollars, were an attempt to shield the diocese's assets from alleged victims of clergy sexual abuse who have sued the church. San Diego attorney Andrea Leavitt said she would continue to pursue her claim, despite Tuesday's ruling by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Haley Fromholz. "We feel there are some issues we have to clarify," she said outside court. Leavitt alleged that the diocese created a "straw corporation" to help secure a $30 million loan to build three high schools. It then transferred church assets worth between $30 million and $325 million as collateral to the new corporation. ...
• Woman claims LA priest raped her when she was 17, urged abortion [1997 Garay] -- RCC. Girl. Priest spirited to Argentina.
   Pro-Life News, www.covenantnews. com/abortion/ archives/ 007238.html , October 05, 2004 Associated Press, The San Diego Union-Tribune, www.signonsandiego. com/news/state/ 20041005-0208- ca-calchurch abuse.html , Oct 5, 2004
   LOS ANGELES (CA) - A 24-year-old woman filed a lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles claiming that a priest raped her and pressured her to have an abortion.
   The lawsuit, filed in Superior Court Monday, alleged that Rev. Jesus Garay repeatedly raped the girl in 1997 while she was a parishioner and part-time secretary at Holy Family Church in Wilmington.
   The lawsuit alleged that the nation's largest archdiocese defied state law by failing to notify law enforcement of the sexual abuse and made no effort to gain medical care for the girl or to support the child after it was born.
   "Instead, when Jane was well into her second trimester of pregnancy and it was visible, the Archdiocese spirited Fr. Garay out of the country to Argentina on the border with Uruguay," the lawsuit alleged.
   Telephone calls made late Monday to an archdiocese spokesman were not immediately returned. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 07:55 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Tue October 05, 2004
Abuse Chronology, visit: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont99.htm
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Wed, October 06, 2004 edition follows:-
• State High Court To Hear Church Abuse Case [McKeown] -- RCC. Boy.

   WTVF News Channel 5 (Nashville, TN), www.newschannel5. com/content/news/7211.asp , Updated: 6:23:26 PM, Oct/6/2004
   NASHVILLE, TN: Wednesday, the Tennessee Supreme Court heard arguments in a sexual abuse case against the Diocese of Nashville. The court will decide if the lawsuit should go to a jury.
   The case was filed by two victims of former priest Edward McKoewn.
   The two men sued the Diocese of Nashville for millions of dollars, claiming church leaders knew McKeown was a pedophile and didn't do enough to make that fact known to the public.
   The case has already gone before two courts.
   "There was no cause of action, no reason for this lawsuit to go forward and (the court) dismissed it in summary judgement," said Rick Musacchio.
   The attorney for the victims, John Day, said, "These young men who were abused by this pedophile were innocent and they deserve to have the wrongdoer held accountable, including the Diocese of Tennessee."
   McKoewn was sentenced to 25 years in prison for abusing a 12-year-old boy. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 05:12 PM]
• Priest charged with sex abuse in Australia; News reported he had been working in Samoa despite charges [1970s onwards Klep (Salesians of Don Bosco)] -- RCC. Fugitive since '98 employed in Samoa. Minors.

   The Dallas Morning News, By REESE DUNKLIN, Tuesday, October 5, 2004
   SAMOA and AUSTRALIA: A Catholic priest whose Australian bosses let him work overseas as a fugitive has been charged with sexually abusing seven more boys, signaling that his alleged misconduct may be more widespread than previously known.
   The Rev. Frank Klep remains free on bail pending a hearing on 24 new charges next month in Melbourne, Australia. He couldn't be located for comment.
   The seven accusers came forward after The Dallas Morning News revealed last summer that the priest had remained in ministry on the South Pacific island of Samoa despite being wanted on Australian charges since 1998.
   The Samoan government, prompted by The News' report, swiftly deported him because he had failed to disclose a 1994 conviction in the abuse of two brothers.
   He was immediately arrested back in Australia on the 1998 charges, which involved one boy.
   The allegations against Father Klep date to the 1970s, when he worked at a boarding school near Melbourne run by his Catholic order, the Salesians of Don Bosco.
• Hubbard loses bid to relocate trial -- RCC.

   Times Union, www.timesunion. com/AspStories/story.asp? storyID=291895&category= REGIONOTHER& BCCode=&newsdate= 10/6/2004 ; Oct 6, 2004 [Can't display 09 Oct 2004]
• Souza-Baranowski guards reject inmate rehabilitation -- RCC.
   Boston Herald, By Franci Richardson Wednesday, October 6, 2004
   BOSTON (MA): Many second-shift guards at the super maximum security Souza-Baranowski Correction Center reject the notion that inmates can be rehabilitated, according to a 2002 assessment unveiled yesterday.
   "Second shift (guards) say inmates were here to be controlled and just to have the basics - to be punished,'' said Peter Rockholz, consultant for the Connecticut-based Criminal Justice Institute, as he quoted guards.
   The Criminal Justice Institute is headed by George Camp, one of three men who investigated last year's murder of ex-priest John J. Geoghan for the state.
   Since the high-profile embarrassment, DOC management has cracked down, taking inmates' complaints more seriously and leaving already praise-deprived staffers at the Shirley prison feeling less empowered in their jobs.
   While the assessment was conducted in December 2002, Rockholz said none of the institution's shortcomings he found could be tied directly to Geoghan's death.
   Steve Kenneway, president of the Massachusetts Correction Officers Federated Union, described morale as "a lot worse now'' since Geoghan's slaying.
   Kenneway said guards are more concerned about "the ramifications of responding to emergencies'' because the administration now investigates every inmate claim and exacts harsh punishment on guards at fault.
   DOC Commissioner Kathleen Dennehy acknowledged the crackdown.
   "It's like being a little bit pregnant,'' she said. "You can't abuse (prisoners) even a little bit.''
• Report details problems at Souza; Review predates Geoghan slaying -- RCC.
   The Boston Globe, By Mac Daniel,October 6, 2004
   SHIRLEY -- The state Department of Correction released a report yesterday on the institutional culture at Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center, but the state commissioner and an official with the nonprofit that conducted the study acknowledged in interviews that the findings do not take into account the fallout from the slaying of defrocked priest John J. Geoghan at the prison or subsequent calls for changes in the Massachusetts prison system.
   The report was based mostly on interviews and data gathered by an assessment team during a four-day visit in December 2002. In August 2003, authorities say, Geoghan was strangled in his cell by another inmate. That attack led to calls for prison changes.
   The study concludes with administrative recommendations, including a call for more dialogue between the Department of Correction administration and prison guards. The findings include a short section on complaints made by prisoners and guards, none of whom were identified by name.
   Prisoners alleged that guards have instigated fights among inmates. The prisoners also said that when they filed guard abuse complaints, they often were told that video surveillance had malfunctioned during the incidents.
• Catholic principal stood down [Wescott] -- RCC. Internet porn.

   The Advertiser (Adelaide), Oct 06, 04
   TORQUAY, Victoria, Australia: A Catholic school principal from a Victorian seaside town has been stood down as police investigate allegations he accessed child pornography on the Internet.
   Terry Wescott, of St Therese Catholic primary school at Torquay, south-west of Melbourne, was interviewed over the allegations yesterday but has not been charged, the Catholic Education Office said today.
   Mr Wescott, who has worked at the school for 16 years, has been stood down and parents have been advised of the investigation, his employer, parish priest Father Greg Trythall, said.
   "I've sent a letter home to parents regarding the Torquay police (who) have interviewed the principal of our school, Mr Terry Wescott, in relation to possible Internet access of child pornography," Fr Trythall said on 3AW radio today.
   "All I can say is that I'm deeply shocked, and I couldn't be more surprised. [...]
   Catholic Education Office Victorian director Susan Pascoe said the principal was being investigated over child-porn possession and had been stood down from his position.
• $3M suit claims abuse by clergy
   Times Union, www.timesunion. com/AspStories/story. asp?storyID=292289& category=REGIONOTHER& BCCode=HOME&newsdate= 10/6/2004 ; Oct 6, 2004 [Can't display 09 Oct 04]
• Janitor's secrets stun Garden City church -- Baptist. Videoed porn.
   The Detroit News, Associated Press, Monday, October 4, 2004
   GARDEN CITY -- The staff and members of Merriman Road Baptist Church knew that Todd Darow had problems.
   But they were shocked to find out the man they thought was winning a battle with substance abuse and working hard at the church as a custodian was hiding secrets they never thought possible.
   After the 40-year-old's body was found in the Garden City church's gymnasium, police discovered a cache of self-produced videotapes in his Livonia home containing what they said were hundreds of hours of footage of people using the church's restroom and children being molested.
   The revelations stunned church members, who now are trying to understand how Darow was able to deceive them.
   Darow's body was discovered the morning of Sept. 23, and police said there were no signs of foul play. An autopsy likely will not take place for 8 to 12 weeks, the Wayne County medical examiner's office said.
   When police went to tell Darow's wife of his death, they saw illegal pornographic material inside their house. They obtained a search warrant and found hundreds of commercial and self-produced videos, including those showing Darow improperly touching children in his home and in a church restroom.
   The videos also showed people videotaped without their knowledge while using the church bathroom, police said.
• Woman sues two Lane County churches [1999 onwards Fenwick] -- Pentecostal.
   The Oregonian, The Associated Press, Oct 6, 2004
   EUGENE, Ore. (AP) - Two Lane County churches were negligent in hiring and retaining a clergyman who was convicted of sex crimes earlier this year, according a lawsuit filed by the victim.
   The suit, filed Monday, also lists the former clergyman, Charles Fenwick Jr., as a defendant. Fenwick, 36, was sentenced in August to five years in prison. He pleaded guilty to rape and sodomy after investigators found his DNA in a sperm stain on the girl's high school prom dress.
   The victim, who is now 19, alleged that the abuse started when she was 14.
   Fenwick worked as a pastor at New Hope Christian Center in Veneta in 1998 and 1999, and at The Lighthouse in Eugene in 2000. Both churches are listed as defendants, along with New Hope's parent groups, the Pentecostal Church of God Oregon-Southern Idaho District, based in Drain, and the national Pentecostal Church of God based in Joplin, Mo. [...]
   She wants $50,000 in economic damages and $10 million in punitive damages.
   New Hope Christian Center has been closed since late July in a controversy tied to the sex abuse case. Pentecostal district officials have said they closed the center because of financial duress brought on by an exodus of members. But a former senior pastor and several members contend the church was closed in retaliation for their support of the abused teenager.
   Harold Gore of Drain, executive superintendent of the denomination's Oregon-Southern Idaho district, did not return a phone call seeking comment.
   In Missouri, the Pentecostal Church of God's two top leaders, Superintendent Phil Redding and General Secretary Ronald Minor, told The Register-Guard newspaper that the lawsuit is unprecedented. They said the denomination's national body has never before been named a defendant in a suit alleging child abuse.
• Vatican orders trial for 3 N.O. priests -- Legal action private; 4th case gets hearing [Sanders 1993] -- RCC.
   The Times-Picayune, By Martha Carr, mcarr@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3306, Wednesday, October 06, 2004
   NEW ORLEANS: The Vatican has ordered church trials in the cases of three New Orleans priests accused of sexually abusing minors and said that Archbishop Alfred Hughes will handle a fourth case administratively, an archdiocese spokesman said Tuesday.
   The Rev. William Maestri refused to name the priests who will be tried, claiming that disclosure could compromise the rights of the accused and the complainants.
   However, he said an administrative hearing will be held in the case of the Rev. Pat Sanders, a popular Belle Chasse pastor who is accused of abusing two 16-year-olds during a 1993 outing to Biloxi, Miss.
   The trials will be the first such legal proceedings to be held in New Orleans since priest sex-abuse scandals rocked the Catholic Church in 2002. But the public may never know the final disposition of the landmark proceedings. [...]
   Sanders has kept a low profile since he was removed from duties earlier this year. Last week, however, he was among the customers in a Hibernia National Bank in Algiers when several armed robbers entered. He was shot and slightly wounded. Maestri said Sanders was treated at local hospital and is recovering well.
• Mixed response to Anglican sex register -- Anglican.
   ABC (Tasmania) Tuesday, 5 October 2004
   The Anglican Church decision to set up a national register of all church workers accused of sexual misconduct is already attracting criticism for not going far enough.
   Members at the general synod meeting in Perth have unanimously agreed to screen all priests and lay workers and to set up a national register of all church workers accused of sexual misconduct.
   The synod adopted the move to try to stop church workers from avoiding detection by shifting from parish to parish.
   However Advocates for Survivors of Child Abuse spokeswoman Michelle Stubbs says a recent Senate inquiry recommended public disclosure of all child abuse cases by all churches and the Anglicans are still keeping their problems "in house".
   "Child sexual abuse is a crime and any allegations, I feel, that the church's received about child sexual abuse should be reported immediately to the police," she said.
• Mistrust is clouding resolution of the clerical abuse issue
   The Irish Examiner, www.examiner.ie/ pport/web/opinion/ Full_Story/did-sg4Ww- XysNuN2sgHuT Lc4nqWo2.asp [Can't display Oct 09, 04]
• Ilinois and Chicago Archdiocese Sued Over Failure to Enforce and Comply With Child Protection Mandated Reporter Law Uniformly -- RCC.
   EMediaWire, www.emediawire. com/releases/2004/ 10/emw164424.htm , October 6, 2004
   A Chicago psychologist has sued the Chicago Archidiocese and key Illinois State Departments in Federal Court over their failure to comply and enforce child abuse reporting laws by mandated professionals
   CHICAGO, Illinois (PRWEB) -- A Chicago psychologist has filed suit in federal court against the Cardinal George and the Archdiocese of Chicago and the major licensing and social services departments of the State of Illinois. The suit may have a wide ranging impact on how state and religious organizations conduct business.
   Dr. Theophilus Green, a forensic and clinical psychologist, filed suit on behalf of himself, his clients and staff and alleges that all have been compromised because the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation do not enforce mandated reporter requirements for child abuse uniformly. Dr. Green's complaint alleges that following a lawful child abuse report he filed, mandated by IDCFS, that was ruled "founded," IDPR sanctioned his professional license and unlawfully interrupted services to clients and staff under his supervision in violation of state and federal Mandated Reporter immunities.
   By failing to enforce mandated reporting requirement equally, Dr. Green alleges, IDCFS and IDPR removed providers compliant with child protection laws and thereby made his clients, particularly those Catholic, more vulnerable to predators already known but not disclosed within the Catholic church.
   This is the first complaint in which a doctor has sued on behalf of his clients for actions of child abuse that were caused by a state's discriminatory enforcement of mandated reporter protections and the failure of state officials to take actions against representatives of the Catholic church following admissions of child sexual abuse.
   This case could decide if local, state, federal hospitals, schools and social service agenciesnow doing business with Catholic entities and the professionals staffing them could continue to receive public funds because of the church's admission of child sexual abuse. As a result, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is a defendant. Dr. Green's complaint (Green v. George 04-CV 5813 7th District) filed September 3, 2004, will be tried before Judge Abraham Lincoln Marovich at 219 So. Dearborn, Chicago, Ill.
   This case is significant because it alleges that because of admissions by Archdiocese of Chicago to his congregation of over 50 years of child sexual abuse, the Archdiocese of Chicago is not entitled to state and federal contracts and must return all funds received during the period in which child sexual abuse was known, but not reported. None of the thousands of child abuse reports admitted by the Cardinal George in a letter to their congregation February, 2004 were reported to state agencies because of religious vows required by the United States Counsel of Catholic Bishops.
   Dr. Green's complaint alleges that religious vows of the USCCB forbid or encouraged doctors, teachers, social workers and staff in hospitals, colleges, schools and social agencies to knowingly violate state law by failing to report known cases of child abuse. His complaint seeks to require the Illinois Attorney General to compel IDCFS to enforce mandated reporter responsibilities equally on the Catholic church and to compel IDPR to sanction the professional licenses of all professionals who know, knew or should have known of the thousands of unreported child sexual abuse cases. Dr. Green's allegations include the entire Seventh U.S. District, but if successful would be enforceable against the USCCB which is essentially the Catholic church in America.
   Dr. Green's suit seeks to compel the Illinois Attorney General to enforce the law on mandated reporting, and asks that the Illinois Attorney General and similar officials in jurisdictions with entities of the USCCB require USCCB to return all state, federal and local monies awarded during the period of known child abuse. But for the church's silence, Dr. Green alleges, new contracts would not have been let under state and federal law. The suit also asks the court to remove the church's tax exemption for failing to comply with state law. Additionally, the suit seeks to restrict federal Medicare and Medicaid monies from all Catholic schools, hospitals, churches or agencies with staff or management who have not complied with mandated reporter provisions.
   "Illinois has a terrible reputation because of blatant constitutional abuses by prosecutors in its criminal justice system," says Dr. Green. "What is not widely known is that key state agencies also work to sabotage the professional licenses of minorities who would compete for state contracts targeted for white political favorites. The most egregious example in social service is the state's handling of Maryville Academy in Des Plaines, Ill. Minority communities need a place to put children in crisis and give families a break. The alternative is often gangs, violence and jail.
   Despite admissions of child abuse, rape and unexplained child deaths at Maryville, IDCFS has converted the institution to a school to justify contracting with Cardinal George after he has admitted child sexual abuse and has taken no steps to correct the problems related to that abuse.
   "Illinois' long history of violating the legal and constitutional rights of minorities has given me unique standing in the federal courts," says Dr, Green. "I've contacted the church and informed them I am willing to drop some claims if the USCCB grants American clerics the right to marry. Marriage for priests is the only real protection the church can provide to children, as well as my clients, and would provide a healthy model for Christian living as well.
   "No church has the legal authority to restrict, or enforce the denial of, healthy human physical and emotional responsibilities just as no public official can lawfully ignore or fail to enforce violations of state law because of religious vows or concerns," continues Dr. Green. "In Illinois, the political and legal environment has created a church-state alliance that promotes expediency over the rights of others. There is no question in my mind that if the Mayor of Chicago and the Governor of Illinois were not Catholics, that the church's failure to comment on a massive legal travesty to minorities and the state's deaf hear to the consequences of the church's child sexual abuse would continue. There is, unfortunately, no other way to say it. Cardinal George has ignored his religious responsibilities to his congregation to serve the expectations of politicians in office.
   "This complaint is the most important in the history of church state division," concludes Dr. Green. "My first witness would have to be the Pope. I'm filing this pro se. Because I don't have a legal career to protect, I can take the risks no lawyer would take because of my responsibility to my clients. Regardless of the outcome, the public will be served by the legal discussions this litigation will create."
   Contact: Dr. Theophilus Green e-mail protected from spam bots 312-697-4784
   AS THIS ACTION IS PENDING, DR. GREEN WILL GIVE NO PERSONAL INTERVIEWS. PLEASE CALL OR EMAIL YOUR QUESTIONS FOR CLARIFICATION AND THEY WILL BE PROMPTLY ADDRESSED. #
• Minister accused of sex abuse had passport; Bond set at $500,000 for minister charged in molestation of boy [Harmon] -- Baptist. Boy.
   The Enquirer (Cincinnati), By David Eck, Enquirer contributor, Wednesday, October 6, 2004
   LEBANON (USA) - A former Maineville Baptist minister who allegedly admitted to sexually abusing a 12-year-old church member was issued a passport earlier this year and may have been planning a trip abroad, it was revealed during a court appearance on Tuesday.
   Stephen Harmon, 47, was ordered held in the Warren County Jail on $500,000 bond on one count of gross sexual imposition, and was ordered not to have any contact with anyone under age 18 or to be within 500 feet of anyone under 18 if he is able to post bond.
   Warren County Court Judge James Heath also appointed a public defender to represent Harmon on a charge of gross sexual imposition and ordered that Hamilton Township police retain Harmon's passport.
   The passport was issued in March, Hamilton Township Police Chief Eugene Duvelius said. "That indicates that he was ready to travel somewhere," the chief said. "People just don't get passports to hang around the States."
   Authorities believe Harmon had plans to travel as a missionary out of the United States but they have not yet found a plane ticket, Duvelius said.
• Bid to freeze diocese assets is rejected; No standing seen in sex-abuse cases
   Union-Tribune, By Onell R. Soto, October 6, 2004
   LOS ANGELES (CA): A Los Angeles judge has rejected claims that the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego transferred property worth millions of dollars to an educational corporation to escape liability in sexual abuse lawsuits.
   The judge ruled yesterday that a lawyer for people who say they were abused by priests doesn't have the standing to ask for church assets to be frozen pending the outcome of the cases.
   The lawyer said she would continue fighting.
   A diocesan spokesman said church officials feel "vindicated" by the ruling.
   The property in question includes the 16.7-acre campus of University of San Diego High School in Linda Vista and the 49-acre future grounds of Cathedral Catholic High School in Carmel Valley.
   The Linda Vista school is scheduled to close next spring, and its staff, faculty and students are moving to Carmel Valley.
   Church officials transferred the property to an educational nonprofit they control, Catholic Secondary Education - Diocese of San Diego Inc.
   San Diego lawyer Andrea Leavitt asked the judge last month to bar the church from getting rid of any assets it held in October 2002, when people, including her clients, began suing it with accusations of harboring pedophiles and ignoring problem priests.
   She said the school properties are worth something between $30 million to $325 million.
   The judge called those estimates "highly speculative."
   Leavitt also claimed church officials lied last year while seeking investors for a $30 million tax-free construction bond. The church was in court on the sexual abuse cases when it said in documents for investors that it was not facing any lawsuits, she said.
• Judge rejects challenge to diocese's property transfer [Might be a confusion here.]
• Bishop reinstates Edison priest [1997 Farrell] -- RCC.
   Home News Tribune, Oct/06/04
   EDISON: The Rev. George Farrell has returned to St. Matthew the Apostle R.C. Church in the township following an isolated incident of "inappropriate communications" over the Internet with a minor.
   "He has been reinstated. He's returning to St. Matthew's in Edison," said Joanne Ward, spokeswoman for the Diocese of Metuchen. Farrell, who faced no criminal charges, will retain his previous position as assistant pastor.
   The priest, who had taken a voluntary leave of absence last year, was reinstated by Bishop Paul G. Bootkoski following an evaluation by the Diocesan Review Board, which is charged with assisting the bishop in assessing allegations of sexual abuse and determining a cleric's suitability for ministry.
   The bishop met with Farrell last month and notified him he had been reinstated, Ward said. A spokesperson for St. Matthew the Apostle Church on Seymour Avenue declined comment.
   "I am not aware of any restriction placed on Father Farrell's return to St. Matthew's, but it's logical he would have been told not to engage in any conversations with minors on the Internet," Ward said. [...]
   The isolated incident involved a school setting, but the minor in the Farrell case was not a member of St. Matthew the Apostle parish or a pupil at St. Matthew's K-8 school in Edison. There was no physical contact between Farrell and the child, officials said.
   The incident was alleged to have occurred in 1997, according to the letter from the DYFS investigation unit.
• Report criticizes archdiocese for ignoring troubling behavior by priests [McGreal, Linehan, McMahon, Cornelius] -- RCC.
   Seattle Post-Intelligencer, By CLAUDIA ROWE, 206-448-8320 or claudiarowe@seattlepi.com , Wednesday, October 6, 2004
   SEATTLE (USA): A blunt, 15-page report on sexual abuse within the Seattle Archdiocese, released yesterday, makes plain that poor record keeping and a habit of ignoring troubling behavior by clerics was endemic into the early 1990s and likely contributed to the molestation of dozens of children by Roman Catholic priests here.
   For more than a year, a panel of 10 men and women -- half Catholics, half not -- pored over church personnel files, investigative paperwork and victims' testimony. Their charge was to determine whether 13 accused priests were fit for ministry, but the Case Review Board members, led by retired Superior Court Judge Terrence Carroll, went further than that.
   They urged greater transparency among church officials and far more input from the laity. They tried to answer the larger question surrounding priests who molest children: Why?
   "It's about a change in attitude and approach," Carroll said of the board's overall recommendation for the Seattle Archdiocese. "It's about maturing and coming to grips."
   The board made several recommendations, among them: Pursue each priest accused of abuse, even though 36 of them have left the archdiocese; create a system for handling personnel files; and pay attention to complaints by parishioners.
   In all these areas, Seattle fell short, panel members found. Yet Carroll acknowledged that the archdiocese tried to grapple with the problem long before many others.
   "We have no recent allegations, and that's something," he said. "They didn't do enough, but they did try to take steps and that needs to be commended."
   Among the areas singled out for particular criticism were the archdiocese's personnel files -- often shoddy or incomplete, the board said -- and its method for handling obviously erratic behavior on the part of priests.
   In virtually every case it reviewed, the board found evidence of "autocratic and narcissistic personality styles, outbursts of anger and mistreatment of parishioners, alcoholism, financial improprieties, paranoia, extreme eccentricities and reasonably clear evidence of mental disorders."
   With few exceptions, none of the odd conduct was formally addressed, the report says.
   In addition, when victims reported that they had been abused, most were sent to therapists untrained to assess the truth of their allegations.
   "This was profoundly difficult in many ways," Carroll said of the board's work. "The stories and the suffering that we learned about were in many cases extremely difficult to hear."
   Despite a sometimes contentious process, Archbishop Alex Brunett was pleased with the board's work, said Greg Magnoni, a spokesman.
   "The case review board absolutely met every expectation that the archbishop had, even influencing him to take steps he might not otherwise have taken," Magnoni said.
   Specifically, the board insisted that a priest be removed from ministry, even though his victim was 18 at the time of actual contact, Magnoni said. That priest remains unidentified pending a final ruling from the Vatican, as do nine others whose cases have not yet been decided.
   Three men -- James McGreal, David Linehan and Patrick McMahon -- have been removed from ministry, and last week John Cornelius, accused of abusing more than 20 boys, was defrocked.
   Even after a career in criminal justice, Carroll was unprepared for the effect of such an in-depth examination. "I came in knowing that evil happens," he said.
   "I am coming out of this experience knowing that the Catholic Church is not immune from the reaches of evil. It is, above all, a human institution."
   VIEW THE REPORT: To see the complete report, go to: www.seattlearch.org/crb
• Alleged sexual abuse victim files suit against former priests [1970s Starks, Haight, Hubbard] -- RCC. Altar boy.
   Troy Record, www.troyrecord. com/site/news. cfm?newsid= 13077168&BRD= 1170&PAG=461&dept_ id=7021&rfi=6 ; by Robert Cristo, Oct/06/2004
   ALBANY - A Saratoga County man filed a sexual abuse lawsuit Tuesday against one former Albany priest with whom the diocese settled a $1 million lawsuit and another who is deceased.
   Michael F. Mooney, 42, of Charlton, claims to have been abused by now-deceased Rev. Donald Starks and Mark Haight, who left the priesthood after his alleged past of sexual misdeeds with minors came back to haunt him in 1996.
   Mooney claims he was 14 years old when Haight, and later Starks, allegedly molested him during separate trips to Massachusetts, which is where a $3 million lawsuit was filed Tuesday.
   The now-married father of three says he met both priests at St. Francis de Sales Church in Colonie, where Mooney was an altar boy in the 1970s.
   "No one wants to file lawsuits and relive these painful and hurtful events," said Mooney, seated with his attorney, John Aretakis, in the Albany County Courthouse jurors lounge.
   "I was very active in the church and crossed paths with two priests who changed my life forever. ... Both of these priests not only sexually abused me, but stole a valuable part of my spirit and faith," added the longtime state Department of Labor employee.
   Mooney discussed how one night in the late 1970s after attending religious instruction, Haight asked him to take a ride in a small plane the priest owned and operated.
   Before taking to the skies, Mooney claims the priest allegedly wrestled with him and fondled his private parts in the car.
   After that, the two allegedly got into the plane and flew over parts of Albany, Troy, Pittsfield and Massachusetts.
   According to Mooney, the priest allegedly "thought it was funny" to turn off the engine a few times while they were flying, but Mooney recalled being terrified by the incident.
   Mooney never associated with Haight again, but then encountered Starks, who the victim alleges "would frequently rub" his back all the way down to the elastic on his underwear and snap it.
   Just after one of Mooney's birthdays, he says, Starks offered to bring him on a business trip to Boston, where the plaintiff alleges Starks "wined and dined" him and then sexually molested him.
   "I was seeing him (Starks) for help with personal problems," said Mooney. "He would tutor me and then he would always touch me in ways I don't care to describe."
   Mooney and his attorney also criticized Bishop Howard Hubbard for allowing Haight to continue his tenure as a priest, even though he was a "known pedophile" within the Albany Diocese.
   "Hubbard should step down. ... He continues to mislead and protect bad priests and has hijacked the mission of the church to protect himself by making careless decisions for over 20 years," said Mooney.
   Not much is known about Starks' past, but Haight has a long history of alleged victims.
   In 1989, the Albany Diocese settled a case for an undisclosed amount with an alleged victim from the 1970s.
   Haight was then sent away for treatment, but returned to the Albany Diocese after rehabilitation as a chaplain at Glens Falls Hospital.
   "Following treatment, a psychologist said he could return to limited duties, such as a hospital," said Albany Diocese spokesman Kenneth Goldfarb.
   Goldfarb also pointed out that all of the known alleged incidents of sexual abuse associated with Haight occurred before he was assigned to the hospital in 1990.
   "He (Haight) was removed in 1996 (for good) after the diocese learned of a second incident, both of which occurred before 1990," said Goldfarb. "We don't know of any case where he repeated any acts after being put back in ministry."
   Haight was finally asked to step down from his duties in 1996, after the diocese paid out a $1 million settlement to one of Aretakis' clients, who continues to request anonymity.
   That case wasn't made public until 2002, when area television and newspapers, as well as The New York Times, filed stories on the matter after Hubbard decided to stop making victims sign confidentiality agreements in settlements.
   In 2002, Hubbard called the $1 million settlement that brought to light the clergy sex abuse scandal in Albany "atypical and unusually high."
   In 1974, Haight was serving as a hospital chaplain at Albany Memorial Hospital, where one of his alleged victims, who won a settlement, was 12 years old and recovering from an operation at the time they first met.
   Haight was known to dress in a clown suit at the hospital. He could not be contacted for comment.
   Diocese officials said they had not yet had a chance to review copies of the 23-page summons submitted by Aretakis to the Suffolk County Superior Court.
   Aretakis said he is currently representing six more alleged victims of Haight, who have yet to file lawsuits. #
• Church openness in sex-abuse crisis is urged by board [1970s-80s Cornelius]
   The Seattle Times, http://seattletimes. nwsource.com/html/ localnews/2002055247 _ catholic06m.html , By Janet I. Tu jtu@seattletimes.com and Ray Rivera rayrivera@seattletimes.com , Seattle Times staff reporters, Wednesday, October 06, 2004
   SEATTLE (USA): The Seattle Roman Catholic Archdiocese must take bolder steps to protect children and parishioners and end the secrecy that has surrounded the church's handling of sexual-abuse cases over the decades, a church-appointed panel said in a report released yesterday.
   The powerfully worded report, made by the archdiocese's case-review board, commended the archdiocese for "putting in place practices and procedures that were ahead of most of the rest of the country." But, the report continues, "there were clearly lapses of institutional controls" and too much was conducted in secret.
   The report, written by the 10-member board that advises Seattle Archbishop Alexander Brunett on what should be done with priests accused of sexual abuse, spelled out 11 recommendations. Among them:

Release the names of all priests found to have sexually abused minors, once the archbishop has decided whether to accept or reject the review board's recommendation on the accused.

Give parishioners' complaints more consideration. Many problems have stemmed from victims not knowing the results of their complaints and from parishioners unwittingly being given a pastor with a suspicious background, the report says. "The secrecy must stop."

Treat accusations against members of religious orders similarly to those against diocesan priests. Require all religious orders ministering in the archdiocese to refer allegations to the case-review board, or its equivalent within the order. Require the order to remove the accused from ministry and keep the archbishop informed of progress on the case. Make public the names of those members credibly accused.
   Accusations against religious-order members are now referred to the orders, which have varying policies. "This result may be necessary under church law but is difficult for lay persons to understand or accept," the report says. "Certainly from the standpoint of the victim it matters not whether the abuser is a member of a religious order or not."
   Review how seminarians are trained on human sexuality. While the board did not condemn the church's requirement of priestly celibacy, it said church policies had "set the stage for deviant and illegal behavior of a few."
   "When all sexual behavior, even that which is a normal aspect of the human experience, is barred for individuals who are not prepared to handle this circumstance the distinctions between deviant or exploitive behavior and normal but unacceptable behavior can become blurred," the board said.
   Among other findings, the board said that in some cases the church relied on mental-health assessments to determine whether priests had abused minors, rather than on a formal investigation. It also sometimes used unqualified counselors and failed to give all relevant information, including previous allegations, to evaluators.
   In addition, the board looked at the "zero-tolerance" policy established by bishops two years ago, requiring that priests with even one credible allegation of abuse either be permanently removed from ministry or defrocked.
   The policy was important to restore public faith in the church, the board said, but in some cases, sanctions, therapy, supervision and notice to parishes may be sufficient.
   Each recommendation made in the report was unanimous, as was every decision in the 13 cases reviewed by the board, said Terrence Carroll, a retired King County Superior Court judge who heads the review board. "That shows the strength of our conviction on these issues."
   Archbishop Brunett issued a response supporting most of the recommendations, saying they were consistent with current practice. But he said the names of credibly accused priests should be released only after a final decision by the Vatican, to prevent the cases from being dismissed on procedural grounds. [...]
   The report was released a day after the archdiocese announced the Vatican, on the recommendation of Brunett, defrocked John Cornelius, who had been accused of sexual-molestation involving boys in the 1970s and '80s.
   Three other archdiocesan priests have been permanently barred from the ministry in recent months, one step short of defrocking. The board determined allegations in three other cases were not credible. There are six more cases awaiting a decision from the Vatican. #
• 4 allege abuse by Salem priest; A fifth also will file suit today against Michael Sprauer [1970s Sprauer] -- (Church yet to be positively identified)
   Statesman Journal (Salem, Oregon), By ALAN GUSTAFSON, October 6, 2004
   SALEM, Oregon: In a new round of sexual-abuse complaints against a well-known Salem priest, four men claim they were molested at the MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in the 1970s.
   Together, the four suits seek $7 million in damages. Named as defendant is the Rev. Michael Sprauer of Salem.
   Since mid-2003, a total of 15 men have filed suit against Sprauer, alleging that he molested them three decades ago at the state-run juvenile facility in Woodburn.
   All of the plaintiffs are represented by Salem lawyer Daniel Gatti.
   The latest suits were filed by two men identified in court papers as Douglas A. Moore and Ricky Blaze DuHaime and two men using the initials R.D.W. and R.B.
   The plaintiffs allege that Sprauer used his authority as prison chaplain to groom the young inmates to engage in sex, resulting in long-term physical and emotional suffering.
   Thomas Cooney Sr., a Portland lawyer representing Sprauer, said Tuesday that he had not seen the latest suits, filed this week in Multnomah County Circuit Court.
   “I can tell you this,” Cooney said, “Father Sprauer adamantly denies that he has ever molested anybody.”
   Sprauer was chaplain at the juvenile corrections facility from 1972-75. He later served as the director of religious services in Oregon's adult prison system, retiring from there in 1999. [...]
   Named as co-defendants are the Archdiocese of Portland and the archbishop; the state Department of Human Resources, the Oregon Youth Authority and MacLaren.
   Compensatory damages sought by the 15 plaintiffs suing Sprauer total $43 million. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 06:52 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Wed, October 06, 2004
Abuse Chronology, visit: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont99.htm
• Anglican Church apologises to victims of institutions.
   Australian Anglican Church's General Synod, "Church apologises to victims of institutions," www.anglican. org.au/docs/ MR%207-10%20 Apology%20to% 20Victims%20of%20 Institutions.pdf , October 6, 2004

   FREMANTLE (WA) Australia: The Anglican Church's General Synod has issued an apology to people who experienced hurt, or abuse or distress in institutional and out-of-home care provided by the Anglican Church.
   At its meeting at the University of Notre Dame in Fremantle, the church addressed the experiences of children covered in the recent senate inquiry into Children in Institutional Care Report, Forgotten Australians.
   The apology said “With deep sadness and regret, this Church acknowledges that many of these children suffered abuse and neglect, and a lack of appropriate care and nurture while in institutional care; and a significant number also suffered physical and sexual assault.”[...]
   Brisbane’s Archbishop Phillip Aspinall, supporting the apology, said the church was specifically addressing those who had been harmed in institutions. He said the stories of people hurt in institutions were horrific and heartbreaking.
   “It is important that this church acknowledges that it happened, that we express our deep sorrow and regret, and that we get our dioceses to look carefully at the report to check again how well we care for people.”
   Following the reading of the apology, the Primate, Archbishop Peter Carnley, read the apology on behalf of the church, then called for a minute’s silence. ... [Oct 6, 04]
Abuse Chronology, visit: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont99.htm
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Thu October 07, 2004 edition follows:-
• Pope replaces sex scandal bishop [Krenn] -- RCC.

   BBC News, http://news.bbc. co.uk/2/hi/europe/ 3723638.stm , By David Willey, BBC Rome correspondent
   Picture -- Pope John Paul II visited Bishop Krenn in Austria in 1998.
   ROME: Pope John Paul II has accepted the resignation of a disgraced Austrian bishop at the centre of a sex and child pornography scandal at a seminary.
   Bishop Kurt Krenn, 68, was in overall charge of the seminary where investigators found thousands of lewd images, including child pornography.
   The bishop has told the media that he stepped down voluntarily and not under pressure from the Vatican.
   The Pope has appointed another Austrian bishop to take his place. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 08:54 AM]
• Pope names new Austria bishop [Krenn] -- RCC.
   Boston Globe, October 7, 2004
   VATICAN CITY -- Pope John Paul II has named the bishop who investigated the seminary child pornography scandal in Austria to replace the man who resigned over the case, the Vatican said Thursday.
   John Paul accepted the resignation of Bishop Kurt Krenn as head of the diocese of St. Poelten and named as his successor Bishop Klaus Kueng, who had been appointed by the Vatican to investigate the scandal.
   The scandal rocked Austria's Roman Catholic Church and aggravated an exodus of Catholics from the church.
   Krenn, who was in charge of the seminary, resigned last week amid an uproar over his handling of the affair.
   Kueng, 64, has been serving as bishop of the diocese of Feldkirch in southwestern Austria. He is a member of the conservative Catholic organization Opus Dei, which is admired by the pontiff. [Emphasis added]
• Groups from 10 parishes ask Davenport diocese bankruptcy meetings -- RCC.
   Courier, The Associated Press, Oct 7, 2004
   DAVENPORT (IA): A letter signed by 23 people from 10 parishes in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport asks Bishop William Franklin for open meetings regarding the diocese's possible plans to seek bankruptcy because of potential payments to men alleging sexual abuse by priests years ago.
   "Filing bankruptcy for the diocese without any real consultation with or explanation to your flock, we feel would be unwise, unjust and unhealthy," said the letter which was signed by at least three men alleging sexual abuse, relatives of others alleging sexual abuse, and three priests.
   Franklin told a meeting of parish leaders last week that the diocese might file for bankruptcy because it does not have adequate financial resources to compensate victims of child sexual abuse by priests.
   The letter suggests that Franklin schedule one open meeting about the diocese's financial situation in each of the six diocesan deaneries.
   "Then, and only then, we might feel better about the course of action that seems likely to embroil everyone -- victims, lay people, clergy and parish employees -- in years of perhaps preventable conflict," Wednesday's letter says.
• Priest Facing More Charges in Australia [Klep (Salesian)] -- RCC. 7 more boys.

   Newsday, Associated Press, October 6, 2004
   DALLAS (TX) and AUSTRALIA -- A Roman Catholic priest who had been working in ministry in the South Pacific island of Samoa despite being wanted on sex abuse charges in Australia has been accused of molesting seven more boys. The priest's background was exposed earlier this year in a story by The Dallas Morning News.
   The Rev. Frank Klep, a priest with the Salesians of Don Bosco religious order, faces 24 new criminal charges next month in Melbourne, Australia, the News reported Wednesday.
   The Samoan government deported Klep last June because the priest had failed to disclose a 1994 conviction in the abuse of two brothers at the Salesian College, north of Melbourne, where he had been the principal in the 1970s. He had been sentenced to nine months of community service.
   Samoan officials learned of the old charges from the report by the Texas newspaper.
   Upon the priest's return to Australia, he was immediately arrested on the outstanding abuse charges, which had been filed in 1998, involving one boy. He was released on bail.
• Jury finds pastor guilty of molestation [Villalobos-Perez] -- Pentecostal. 2 girls.

   Skagit Valley Herald, www.skagitvalleyherald. com/articles/2004/ 10/06/news/news02.txt , Oct 6, 2004
   WASHINGTON: A jury Tuesday convicted a Mount Vernon minister of sexually molesting two girls who were clients of his wife's day care.
   As deputies prepared to take Armando Villalobos-Perez to jail to await his Nov. 18 sentencing, one of his daughters cried out, apparently to jurors who had been dismissed from the courtroom.
   "What's wrong with you?" she asked. "What's wrong with you?"
   Villalobos-Perez, 57, faces an eight- to 10-year sentence. He was a pastor with the Iglesia Santa Pentescostes Ovejas De Jesucristo, a Spanish and English Pentecostal church in Mount Vernon
   The nine-woman, three-man jury deliberated for about a day before finding him guilty of three counts of first-degree child molestation.
   After Perez was charged in July 2003, the Department of Social and Health Services suspended his wife's home day-care license.
• Teenager sues churches, ex-pastor [1998 onwards Fenwick] -- Pentecostal.
   The Register-Guard, By Jeff Wright, Oct 6, 2004
   OREGON: A 19-year-old woman has filed a $10 million lawsuit against two Lane County churches, alleging they were negligent in hiring and retaining an associate pastor who was convicted earlier this year of sexually abusing her beginning when she was 14.
   The suit, filed Monday in Lane County Circuit Court, also lists the former clergyman, Charles Fenwick Jr., as a defendant. Fenwick was sentenced in August to five years in prison, the maximum term. He pleaded guilty to one count of third-degree rape and three counts of third-degree sodomy after investigators found his DNA in a sperm stain on the girl's high school prom dress.
   Fenwick, 36, worked as a pastor at New Hope Christian Center in Veneta in 1998 and 1999, and at The Lighthouse in Eugene in 2000. Both churches are listed as defendants, along with New Hope's parent groups, the Pentecostal Church of God Oregon-Southern Idaho District, based in Drain, and the national Pentecostal Church of God based in Joplin, Mo.
   The teenager, identified only by her initials, says in the suit that she was an active member of the youth and music programs at New Hope and The Lighthouse. She alleges that Fenwick began sexually grooming her in late 1998, leading to repeated sexual abuse.
• Archbishop addresses abuse at Southern Oregon service -- RCC. Archbishop admits unrestrained crimes. Boys, girls.
   OregonLive.com ; The Associated Press, 1:00 a.m. PT, Oct/7/2004,
   MEDFORD, Ore. (AP) - Portland Archbishop John G. Vlazny told parishioners in Southern Oregon that they must come to grips with the fact that many girls and boys were sexually abused by members of the clergy.
   Vlazny also acknowledged that church leaders failed to appropriately respond to the behavior.
   "They were allowed to carry out their criminal behavior without adequate restraint or correction," Vlazny more than 150 parishioners at Sacred Heart Church in Medford.
   Vlazny's remarks came during a special Ember Day service of fasting and reconciliation for abuse victims, the first Vlazny has held since the Archdiocese of Portland filed in July for bankruptcy protection against some 70 lawsuits demanding $340 million in claims.
   Vlazny apologized to all victims of child sexual abuse, and vowed to change the culture of the church community.
• Synod prays for forgiveness for child abuse -- Anglicans.
   Sydney Morning Herald, By Kelly Burke in Fremantle (Western Australia), October 7, 2004
   AUSTRALIA: An emotionally charged minute's silence, followed by a prayer pleading for God's forgiveness, opened the fifth day of the Anglican Church's general synod.
   In recognition of the hundreds of children abused while in the church's care, the 240-strong parliament rose to its feet in silent contrition, after the Primate, Peter Carnley, read the church's formal apology.
   The church acknowledged, "with deep sadness and regret", that a significant number of children had suffered physical and sexual assault, and many more had suffered abuse and neglect, while in institutional care provided by Anglican churches and charities.
   "The church deeply regrets that its institutions and personnel did not always provide environments in which these children were protected and nurtured," the apology read.
   Phillip Aspinall, the Archbishop of Brisbane, said the stories of child abuse were "horrific and heartbreaking".
• Mixed reaction by diocese bankruptcy
   Benson News Sun, Oct 6, 2004
   ARIZONA: Recently, the Catholic Church's Diocese of Tucson filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It was a move that was not unexpected but one that has elicited mixed reactions.
   The diocese, which includes Our Lady of Lourdes parish in Benson and Holy Trinity Monastery in St. David, and others throughout parts of Cochise County, filed for bankruptcy protection due to the weight of debt and pending litigation from clerical sex abuse cases.
   According to an Associated Press report, Tucson Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas said the bankruptcy filing represents "the best opportunity for healing and for the just and fair compensation of those who suffered sexual abuse by workers for the church in our diocese."
   The bankruptcy proceedings will take more than a year to resolve. While the proceedings will delay final action on sex abuse cases, it doesn't stop them from going to trial.
• Sex abuse survivor speaks to Brookline faithful [1970s Birmingham]-- RCC. Altar boy.
   Brookline Tab, By Bernie Smith, Thursday, October 7, 2004
   BROOKLINE (MA): As St. Mary's prepares to become the sole Catholic parish in Brookline, it has yet another weight to shoulder - ministering a spiritual community that remains shaken nearly three years after revelations about the church sex abuse scandal.
   In the basement of the Brookline Village church on Monday night, about 20 parishioners gathered to hear one of the survivors of that scandal, Gary Bergeron, recount the horrors of his youth, but more importantly, how the trauma affected him and his family in the years that followed.
   Since the scandal broke, Bergeron has emerged as one of the Archdiocese of Boston's most vocal critic, and recently authored "Don't Call Me a Victim: A Personal Story of Faith, Hope and Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church."
   Bergeron was invited at the behest of Dolores Thomas, the facilitator for St. Mary's Voice of the Faithful affiliate. "One of our goals ... is to continue to support survivors of sexual abuse," Thomas said. "We needed to hear from more survivors."
   Bergeron, one of the dozens of victims who were allegedly molested by the Rev. Joseph Birmingham, served as an altar boy at the St. Michael's Church in Lowell in the early 1970s when Birmingham was a priest there. Birmingham died in 1989.
• Parishioners seek bankruptcy details -- RCC.
   Quad-City Times, www.qctimes. com/internal. php?story_ id=1036705&t= Gateway&c= 30,1036705 , By Todd Ruger
   DAVENPORT (IA): A group including at least three men alleging sexual abuse by priests of the Catholic Diocese of Davenport asked the bishop Wednesday for open meetings regarding possible plans to seek bankruptcy.
   A letter to Bishop William Franklin - signed by 23 people from 10 diocese parishes, including three priests and relatives of men alleging priestly sexual abuse - said filing bankruptcy for the diocese "without any real consultation with or explanation to your flock, we feel would be unwise, unjust and unhealthy."
   Last week, Franklin told a meeting of parish leaders that the diocese might file for bankruptcy because it does not have adequate financial resources to compensate victims of child sexual abuse by priests. The letter suggests that Franklin schedule one open meeting about the diocese's financial situation in each of the six diocesan deaneries.
   "Then, and only then, we might feel better about the course of action that seems likely to embroil everyone - victims, lay people, clergy and parish employees - in years of perhaps preventable conflict," the letter states.
   (Click Picture -- The Rev. David Hitch, left, embraces David Clohessy, national director for Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, a national advocacy group for people abused by clergy. Clohessy was sexually molested as a teen by a priest, as was Hitch's brother, Michael Hitch of Broken Arrow, Okla., standing at right. The men were in town Wednesday to ask the Catholic Diocese of Davenport to meet with parishioners about possible bankruptcy plans following allegations of sexual abuse.
• Defrocked priest goes to foster parent classes [Janssen] -- RCC.
   Quad-City Times, By Todd Ruger
   DAVENPORT (IA): A former Davenport priest attended a training session for foster and adoptive parents in Davenport on Saturday, weeks after he was removed from the priesthood for allegations of sexual abuse of children.
   Another diocese priest at the session reported that James Janssen - who faced two suspensions for treatment in the 1950s and 10 sex abuse lawsuits in two states since May 2003 - attended the training held by the Iowa Foster and Adoptive Parents Association, or IFAPA, the Catholic Diocese of Davenport said.
   "Why James Janssen would be interested in that type of training is beyond me, but it certainly isn't a good thing as far as we're concerned," diocese attorney Rand Wonio said Wednesday.
   Janssen is not on state records as being a licensed foster parent, the Iowa Department of Human Services, or DHS, said.
   IFAPA executive director Lynhon Stout said Janssen was allowed to register for the session because he was on a list of the organization's members.
• High court hears priest conduct case [McKeown] -- RCC. $US28m sought.
   The City Paper, By William Williams, wwilliams@nashvillecitypaper.com , October 07, 2004
   NASHVILLE (TN): Lawyers representing the Roman Catholic Diocese of Nashville and the sexual abuse victims of convicted priest Edward McKeown presented arguments to the Tennessee Supreme Court Wednesday as to how the court should interpret standards of liability.
   The five-member court will now review the case, in which the plaintiffs claim the diocese should be held responsible for the abuse. No timetable has been set as to when the judges might rule.
   The plaintiffs, now in their 20s, seek $8 million in compensatory damages and $25 million in punitive damages from the diocese.
   During the hearing, John Day, the attorney representing plaintiffs John Doe 1 and John Doe 2, focused on the theme of "reckless conduct."
   "The standard of liability for reckless conduct should be no less than the standard of liability for negligent conduct," Day, of Branham & Day, told the court.
• Knoth's life, and future, still enigma [1986 Knoth] -- RCC. Jesuit.
   The Times-Picayune, By Bruce Nolan, Thursday, October 07, 2004
   NEW ORLEANS (LA): A year after his abrupt resignation over allegations of sexual abuse of a minor 18 years ago, the whereabouts of former Loyola University President Bernard Knoth remain an enigma to dozens of former colleagues, while the process for deciding his future as a Catholic priest is murky and uncertain, even to church legal experts.
   Knoth, 55, has not been seen on campus since the morning of Oct. 7, 2003, when the gregarious Jesuit who had led the university for eight years stunned a small group of assembled vice presidents with news of his forced resignation.
   He said he was resigning because after months of inquiry his Jesuit superior, the Rev. Richard Baumann, had found sufficient reason to believe that Knoth, despite his denials, had sexually abused a youth when Knoth was a high school principal in Indianapolis in 1986.
   With that brief acknowledgment, Knoth left campus, ahead of a mass e-mail that disclosed the news to the rest of the campus and the city.
   A year later, the shock has worn off, but the puzzlement continues.
• Priest to get trial date [2002 Gagnon] -- RCC.
   Milford Daily News, By Sara Withee, Thursday, October 7, 2004
   UXBRIDGE (MA) -- A Millville priest will learn in November when he will face trial on a sexual assault charge.
   The Rev. Jean-Paul Gagnon will receive a jury trial assignment date Nov. 19 in Worcester, court officials said. Gagnon, who is now on administrative leave from St. Augustine parish, was in Uxbridge District Court yesterday for a pretrial conference on charges of indecent assault and battery on a person over 14 and assault and battery.
   Gagnon is accused of assaulting two men from St. Augustine's parish. He allegedly sexually assaulted a male parishioner in Sutton on or about Oct. 11, 2002. A second man came forward with the assault and battery allegation in April 2004, as District Attorney John Conte's office prepared to charge Gagnon. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 03:57 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Thu October 07, 2004
Abuse Chronology, visit: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont99.htm
• 'Law must take its course'. [2004 Vella, Goodall] -- RCC. Child porn.

   The Record, Western Australia Roman Catholic newspaper, by Jamie O'Brien, p 5, October 7, 2004
   PERTH: The Catholic community of Perth was shocked last week to hear that two Perth Catholic school teachers were among those arrested by police around Australia over involvement with Internet child pornography. [...]
   Allan John Vella, a Year 5 teacher at St Brigid's Primary School in Middle Swan, and Martin Ernest Goodall, a teacher from Iona Presentation College, were charged by police in relation to internet child pornography. Speaking to The Record on Tuesday, Archbishop Hickey said that "grossly disordered sexuality is an unfortunate fact of life." [...]
   "We must be prepared to forgive while making sure that treatment is offered and that future employment does not involve close association with young children." [...]
   ... the law must take its course, he said. [...]
   Catholic Education Director Ron Dullard last week issued a statement saying that police had informed the Catholic Education Office that the pornography was allegedly downloaded at the homes of Mr Vella and Mr Goodall and not at the schools. [...]
   Deputy Director of Catholic Education Mary Retel said the Church Community would work very hard at separating the doer from the deed." [...] [Oct 7, 04] FOR GOOD TEACHINGS TO BE HEEDED, A BIG CLEAN-UP IS NEEDED Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker SIGN-UP: www.ncrnews.org/abuse/signup.php for daily e-mails
or click Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse for current on-line
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