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