• Weeping statue comments: A lack of disclosure over the years has not really helped Churches much.
PERTH, W. Australia: Canon Frank Sheehan was commenting on the Rockingham weeping Madonna. He said that considering the amount of donations, disclosure would be helpful. It was like the religion followed by Middle Ages peasants. Anglican critics called for an end to the secrecy surrounding a recent scientific report on the supposed weeping statue of the Madonnna at a Catholic church in Rockingham, south of Perth. Professor of New Testament Bill Loader said he did not believe the statue was representative of Christianity.
-- The West Australian, "Statue probe under attack," by Ben Harvey, p 14,
Saturday February 22 2003
[COMMENT: The same newspaper had reported on Feb 19 that an estimated $60,000 had been donated by visitors to the statue which was on display at the church. Church authorities stated the money would be sent to Sister Joan Evans for her work in a Bangkok slum. It is understood that the parish priest will have a brief respite. But if this statue was of divine origin, wouldn't the hiding of clergy sex abuse be abolished at all levels of the Roman Catholic Church? END of COMMENT]
[Feb 22, 03]
• No cutoff date for Trupia stipend;
TUCSON (AZ):
Many local Catholics have expressed outrage that Monsignor Robert C.
Trupia continues to be paid by the local diocese 11 years after he was
suspended over accusations of child molesting.
But there are no signs of when Trupia's pay might be cut off, in spite of
new policies on handling abusive priests that were approved by the Vatican in December. Trupia was one of four Diocese of Tucson priests named in 11 civil suits settled out-of-court last year for an amount people close to the case place as high as $16 million.
The lawyer who filed those civil suits estimates Trupia had at least 30
victims.
In the 11 years since he was suspended, the local diocese has paid the
54-year-old priest a total of $177,000, and officials say they must continue until Trupia is defrocked - a process also called laicization that must go through the Vatican.
-- Arizona Daily Star,
http://www.azstarnet.com/star/today/30222TRUPIADEFROCKED.html ,
By Stephanie Innes,
(Poynteronline Feb 22 03) Possibly Feb 22 03
• Confession Seal Comes Under Attack in Several State Legislatures;
LEXINGTON, Ky: The seal of confession is under attack in Kentucky.
The state legislature is considering two bills. One, sponsored by
Democratic state Rep. Susan Westron, would completely eliminate the
priest-penitent privilege. Another, sponsored by state Sen. R.J. Palmer,
also a Democrat, would leave the priest-penitent privilege intact except
in the case of priest-to-priest confession. In that case, Palmer's bill
would require the confessor to report the penitent to government
authorities.
There are also two mandated-reporter bills being debated that would put
clergy on the list of reporters for the state along with the other usual
occupations such as doctors and teachers.
-- National Catholic Register, http://www.ncregister.com/ ,
by Thomas A. Szyszkiewicz, Register Correspondent,
(Poynteronline Feb 22 03)
Feb. 23- March 1, 2003
• Man allegedly abused by priest kills himself.
SEATTLE (Washington State):
A Seattle man who said he was molested decades ago by a priest in the
Seattle Roman Catholic Archdiocese committed suicide earlier this week,
his family said, in the parking lot of Holy Family Church in Kirkland,
where the alleged abuse occurred.
Jeff Alfieri, 43, was found by Kirkland police officers in his vehicle
early Tuesday with a gunshot wound to his head.
In June, Alfieri contacted the Seattle Archdiocese, saying that the Rev.
Gerald Moffat had molested him in the early 1970s when Moffat was a priest
assigned to Holy Family, said archdiocese spokeswoman Jackie O'Ryan.
A lawsuit filed on behalf of Alfieri in November accuses Moffat of
sexually molesting him during trips and church-related occasions when the
boy was about 11 to 13 years old.
-- The Seattle Times, http://archives.seattletimes. nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/ display?slug=victim21m& date= 20030221 &query=priest+alfieri ,
by Janet I. Tu , Seattle Times staff reporter,
(Poynteronline Feb 23 03)
Feb 21 03
• Courant Seeks To Open Records.
HARTFORD (CT):
The Courant filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court Friday seeking to end the state judicial department's unusual practice of selectively closing entire court files and, in some instances, concealing from the public even
the existence of a case.
The lawsuit contends that the controversial practice violates a constitutional right of access to court proceedings recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court. Denied access, newspapers are thwarted in their First
Amendment right to monitor the courts, a lawyer for The Courant said.
"You cannot be an effective check and balance if you do not have access to what they are doing," attorney Stephanie S. Abrutyn said. "The system loses credibility and it loses public confidence."
The lawsuit names as the sole defendant Judge Joseph Pellegrino, the state's chief court administrator. Melissa Farley, a judicial branch spokeswoman, declined to comment. ...
In addition to family cases, certain civil cases involving allegations of sexual abuse by priests, corporate misconduct and other matters of public
interest have been selectively sealed. A few years ago, a secret civil trial involving abuse accusations against a priest in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford took place in a New Haven courtroom.
-- Hartford Courant, http://www.ctnow.com/ news/local/ hc-secrecy0222. artfeb22.story ,
by Eric Rich,
(Poynteronline Feb 23 03)
Feb 22 03
• At victim's funeral, archbishop gives apology for abuse
SEATTLE (WA):
Several hundred people filled Seattle's St. James Cathedral yesterday to mourn a 43-year-old man who committed suicide months after claiming he had been molested by a priest in Seattle's Roman Catholic Archdiocese.
The church called Jeff Alfieri's suicide a cruel reminder of its past failures.
"Your son's life was burdened, even tormented by memories of abuse by the hands of a priest," Archbishop Alexander Brunett said. "In the name of the Catholic Church, I offer you the deepest apology for all you suffered through the violation of this sacred trust."
A burly lawyer from Seattle who worked as a business agent for Teamsters Local 117, Alfieri was found dead in his car in Kirkland on Tuesday with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
-- The Seattle Times, "At victim's funeral, archbishop gives apology for abuse,"
http://seattletimes. nwsource.com/ html/ localnews/134639859_churchabuse23m.html ,
By Elizabeth M. Gillespie, The Associated Press
(Poynteronline Feb 23 03)
• New church shocker
PENNSYLVANIA:
Altoona-Johnstown Roman Catholic Diocese officials know of sex abuse
accusations against four previously unidentified priests, but have not
taken the steps required by the church’s national zero-tolerance policy.
Those who brought the information to Bishop Joseph Adamec say they were
rebuffed and that nothing has been done.
They are now demanding Adamec step down.
Two of the accused priests were stationed at Johnstown’s Catholic high
school – one as principal, and the other as music director and director of
a boys and girls’ camp.
One of the accused priests now holds a leadership position in the diocese,
and two are pastors in diocese churches.
The four priests are in addition to 10 other accused priests identified in
the 1994 sex abuse trial of now-defrocked Francis Luddy.
-- The Tribune-Democrat, http://www.tribune-democrat.com/ site/news.cfm?newsid=7151457&BRD= 2332&PAG=461&dept_id=484742&rfi=6 ,
by Susan Evans
(Poynteronline Feb 23 03)
• Abuse by clergy in Canada is described.
LOUISVILLE (KY):
Canadians victimized by sexual abuse, often at the hands of the clergy, said at a conference yesterday that their country lags at least a decade behind the United States in terms of public awareness, aggressive legal action and probing media.
"We haven't found a Boston Globe," which has doggedly pursued allegations of sexual abuse by Catholic priests, said Nancy Mayer of The Linkup, a national advocacy group for victims of sexual abuse.
The Linkup is sponsoring the three-day conference in Louisville.
"The Canadian press is tied up with the Catholic Church and is not aggressively pursuing the story. And we don't yet have a Jeffrey Anderson," the Minnesota attorney who has represented numerous victims of sexual abuse by clergy, Mayer said.
-- The Courier-Journal, http://www. courierjournal. com/ localnews/ 2003/02/23/ ke022303s371000.htm , by R.G. Dunlop,
rdunlop@courier-journal.com ,
(Poynteronline)
Feb 23 03
• Church mum on resignation.
MONTEREY (CA):
A week after the second-highest official in the Monterey diocese resigned
over ties to an alleged pedophile, church officials still have not
publicly discussed his future, his replacement or details of the
relationship.
Monsignor Charles Fatooh, 56, stepped down Feb. 13 as vicar general amid
media questioning about his dealings with longtime acquaintance Monsignor
Robert Trupia. Trupia, a 54-year-old clergyman suspended a decade ago over
pedophilia allegations in Arizona, got a consulting position with the
diocese through Fatooh in 1995 and later lived in a Maryland condominium
owned by Fatooh.
Fatooh was expected to return from a 10-day vacation at the end of this
week, but diocesan officials said they did not know the exact day.
Diocesan spokesman Kevin Drabinski said Friday the monsignor has not
spoken to Bishop Sylvester Ryan about retirement or continuing on in the
diocese.
"This is not something that gets decided by phone," Drabinski said.
-- Monterey Herald, http://www.montereyherald. com/mld/ montereyherald/ news/ 5239675.htm ,
by Alex Friedrich,
afriedrich@montereyherald.com
(Poynteronline Feb 23 03)
• Church's poor choice,
MONTEREY (CA):
After Monsignor Robert Trupia of Arizona was suspended from the Catholic
priesthood following an allegation of child sexual abuse, where did he
find refuge? In part in the Diocese of Monterey and from its
second-highest ranking official, Monsignor Charles Fatooh.
After his suspension in 1992, the Monterey diocese periodically hired
Trupia as a consultant, even as allegations and lawsuits against him grew.
That arrangement finally ended in 2001, amid more claims of pedophilia.
But Trupia continued to find help from Fatooh, an old friend who rented
the scandalized priest a condominium he had just bought in Maryland.
Last week, Fatooh's actions rightly cost him his job. After revelations
about the rental arrangement appeared in the press, Fatooh resigned as
vicar general. The Monterey diocese says it wasn't aware of the housing
arrangement until now. But it used its own bad judgment in employing
Trupia, even as his former diocese was trying to defrock him.
It's the kind of situation that has drawn outrage against some in the
Catholic church for looking out for their own when it comes to claims of
sexual misconduct.
-- Monterey Herald, http://www.montereyherald.com/ mld/montereyherald/ 5213986.htm ,
(Poynteronline Feb 23 03)
• Abuse Panel's Critics Say Diocese Puts Priests First.
CALIFORNIA:
A key reform by the Orange diocese of the Roman Catholic Church is coming
under fire from victim-rights advocates, who say a committee set up to
protect minors from clergy abuse is stacked with insiders who put the
interests of priests ahead of those who are molested.
Despite promises to attend to their needs, "Victims are still feeling left
out, as though their experience of having been abused just doesn't
matter," said Mary Grant, the Southern California director of Survivors
Network of Those Abused by Priests. "We who've been abused within the
Orange diocese have had similar experiences when we've gone to church
officials or reached out to help other victims."
The latest sign of dissent came in December with the resignation of an
abuse victim -- one of two appointed by church officials -- from the
Sexual Misconduct Oversight and Review Board.
The 33-year-old molestation victim said she quit the committee because it
was "a public-relations sham preoccupied with protecting the good name of
the priests." (The Times does not name victims of sexual abuse without
their consent.)
-- Los Angeles Times,
http://www.latimes.com/ news/local/ la-me-molest 23feb23,1, 5318691.story ,
by William Lobdell, Times Staff Writer,
(Poynteronline Feb 23 03)
Feb 23 03
• Unsung judges lead way in priest investigations.
ARIZONA:
Prosecutors made some progress.
Investigative reporters dug up a little more.
And the attorneys who fought for years on behalf of thousands of victims
deserve much credit.
But the biggest breakthroughs in the nationwide sex abuse scandal rocking the Roman Catholic Church have come through a series of rulings by a small group of mostly unheralded judges in 10 states, including Arizona.
The judges have invoked the First Amendment and public interest to unseal court documents, release personnel records and prod slow-moving grand jury investigations.
Their rulings have provided a window into the scope of sexual abuse by priests and the ways many cases were covered up by church leaders.
-- The Arizona Republic,
http://www.arizonarepublic.com/ news/articles/ 0223priests23.html ,
by Joseph A. Reaves,
(Poynteronline Feb 23 03)
Feb 23, 2003
• Globe honored for stories on church, Islamic world.
BOSTON (MA):
The Boston Globe has been honored with two George Polk Awards for its coverage of the clergy sex abuse scandal and the Islamic world.
The team of investigative journalists that exposed widespread sexual abuse by priests was honored for national reporting about the crisis in the Catholic Church. The stories uncovered the questionable way in which
church officials handled abuse allegations and resulted in the resignation of Cardinal Bernard F. Law.
-- Boston Globe, http://www.boston.com/ dailyglobe2/055/metro/ Globe_honored_ for_stories_ onchurch_Islamic_ world+. shtml ,
by Globe Staff,
(Poynteronline Feb 24 03)
Feb 24 03
• Mexico mayor vows crackdown on gay prostitutes after slaying of priest.
MEXICO CITY: The mayor of Torreon in northern Mexico is urging a crackdown on male prostitutes following the murder of a priest who prosecutors say had patronized them.
"Let them go to another city," said Mayor Guillermo Anaya Llamas in remarks reported Tuesday by several local newspapers.
On Sunday, the Coahuila state attorney general's office said that two 18-year-olds had confessed to killing a Catholic priest, Jose Reglio Carrillo Valenzuela.
Prosecutors said the youths admitted robbing and killing Carrillo, 46, on Friday after accepting his offer of 400 pesos (almost $40) each to have sex .
They were arrested on Saturday while driving the victim's car, according to the attorney general's office.
-- The Arizona Republic,
http://www.azcentral.com/news/ articles/0225 MexicoPriest Slain25-ON.html ,
Associated Press,
(Poynteronline Feb 27 03)
Feb 25 03
• Globe adds Selden Ring Award to its awards.
BOSTON (MA):
Reporters and editors at The Boston Globe have won the 2003 Selden Ring Award for Investigative Reporting for their series of articles revealing that the Archdiocese of Boston routinely hid sexual abuse by Catholic priests.
The $35,000 annual prize recognizes the year's outstanding work in investigative journalism that led to direct results.
The Globe reporting led to a new movement among the laity, passage of a state law requiring clergy to report sexual abuse, grand jury investigations, a revolt among Boston priests against their leadership, a national child-protection policy in the Catholic Church, and ultimately, the resignation of Cardinal Bernard F. Law.
-- Boston Globe, "Globe receives Selden Ring Award,"
http://www.boston.com/ dailyglobe2/ 056/metro/Globe_ receives_ Selden_ Ring_ Award+.shtml ,
by Globe Staff,
(Poynteronline Feb 27 03) Feb 25 03
• Homosexuality and the churches, pt. 1; The Religion Report - 26/2/2003:
First in a two-part series. Sexuality has always been a controversial issue in Christian teaching, but recently homosexuality has become an issue that is tearing the mainline churches apart. The worldwide Anglican communion is on the verge of schism, conservative Catholics in America and Australia have begun to attack homosexuals with renewed energy, the liberals are fighting back. Why are arguments over homosexuality dividing the churches so deeply right now? Conservative U.S. commentator Michael Jones says that homosexuality is the final battlefront in the culture wars - so who's going to win?
. . .
Marcus Borg is Hundere Distinguished Professor of Religion and Culture at Oregon State University. He is a member of the famous Jesus Seminar, and the author of numerous best-sellers, including The God We Never Knew, Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time, and most recently Reading the Bible Again for the First Time.
. . .
Marcus Borg: Yes, and one of the reasons for that, or perhaps the major reason, is that fundamentalists and many conservative evangelical Christians see the bible as a divine product, therefore whatever it says has the quality of absolute truth, because it comes from God, and in the modern period they have tended to interpret the bible literally, . . . evolution versus creation, and then a biblical sexual ethic versus a more, for want of a better word, permissive sexual ethic, and then the nature of Jesus, whether he literally was God in human flesh. . . .The emerging paradigm says No, it’s like the Scriptures of all religious traditions, a human historical product.
-- Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Radio National, Religion Report, Homosexuality and the churches, pt. 1,
www.abc.net.au/ , with Stephen Crittenden,
Feb 26 03
• Let's deal with apologists pretending that Church child abuse isn't costly and continuing. PERTH, Australia: An expose of
Clifford Longley's "How can we deal with our collective paranoia over paedophiles?" originally in the British Catholic newspaper The Tablet of 25 Jan 2003, republished in On Line Opinion of 24 Feb 2003, www.onlineopinion. com.au/ 2003/Feb03/ Longley.htm -- Faith Purification Programme, Perth, Feb 26 03
• Latin Mass used as tool to bring children to corrupters!
LONG ISLAND (NY),
An organization of Long Island Catholics yesterday asked a Vatican court to discipline Bishop William Murphy because he will allow the old Latin Mass rite to be celebrated only at a former seminary in Uniondale that is used as a residence for priests accused of sexually abusing children.
Vincent Cioci, president of the group, described Murphy's refusal to relocate the Latin Mass from St. Pius X as "callous, deliberate and malicious" and said the bishop must be held accountable "for placing our
children in harm's way."
The Long Island Latin Mass Committee has about 1,000 members in the Diocese of Rockville Centre, Cioci said during a news conference in Mineola yesterday.
Cioci, father of six, said the Latin Mass is popular because it brings them a "deep spirituality." Richard Manougian, another commitee member, said many younger Catholics who never knew the Latin Mass were now seeking it as well as other traditional devotions. Manougian, who prefers the old Mass as more "reverential," brought with him his family's 30-inch statue of Mary, with a sizable brown rosary knotted around her neck.
-- Newsday, "Group Wants Bishop Disciplined,"
http://www. newsday.com/ mynews/ny- limass263147575 feb26.story ,
by Rita Ciolli,
(Poynteronline Feb 27 03) Feb 26 03
• Jehovah's Witness girls abused, religion shielded abuser.
NASHUA (NH): Two sisters can pursue their claims that elders from their Jehovah’s Witness congregation in Wilton ignored their mother’s complaints of sexual abuse, a judge has ruled.
The sisters say that church elders failed to report their father’s abuse or do anything to stop it. They also claim that church policy and practices shield abusers from prosecution.
The church disputes that the elders were made aware of the abuse at the time.
Hillsborough County Superior Court Judge William Groff rejected the church’s arguments that the suit should be dismissed on constitutional and other legal grounds in a series of rulings earlier this month. -- The Telegraph, "Judge: Sisters may pursue church case,"
http://www.nashuatelegraph. com/Main.asp? SectionID =25&Sub SectionID =354&ArticleID=74613 ,
by Andrew Wolfe,
wolfea@telegraph-nh.com
(Poynteronline Feb 27 03)
• Former N.H. priest charged with molesting two boys.
CONCORD, N.H.: A Roman Catholic priest, Joseph Maguire, was arrested in Dennis, Massachusetts on Tuesday and charged with raping two young boys two decades ago in New Hampshire.
-- http://www4.fosters.com/News2003/February2003/ Feb_26/News/ reg_nh_0226e.asp ,
Foster's Daily Democrat, by J.M.Hirsch, Associated Press Writer,
(Poynteronline Feb 27 03)
Feb 26 03
• Boston Archdiocese still trying the "separation of Church and State" claim.
BOSTON (MA):
The Archdiocese of Boston, which last week lost its argument that hundreds of sexual abuse lawsuits against the church should be dismissed because they violate the constitutional separation of church and state, yesterday
asked that a higher court be allowed to review the issue.
Lawyers for the church asked Superior Court Judge Constance M. Sweeney to report the case to the state Appeals Court. Once that is done, lawyers for the archdiocese said, they would ask the Supreme Judicial Court to take the case directly. In the meantime, the archdiocese requested that the lawsuits be put on hold.
The decision to appeal Sweeney's decision angered lawyers for alleged victims, who suggested that the church was hypocritical in its assurances that it wants to reach a settlement with the alleged victims.
"On one hand, you've got the archdiocese publicly saying that they want to settle the claims," said lawyer Jeffrey A. Newman, whose firm represents about 250 alleged victims of clergy sexual abuse. "On the other hand, they're asking the court to delay all 400 cases."
-- Boston Globe, "Archdiocese turns to Appeals Court,"
http://www.boston.com/ dailyglobe2/ 057/metro/ Archdiocese_ turns_to_ AppealsCourt+.shtml ,
by Kathleen Burge,
(Poynteronline Feb 27 03) Feb 26 03
[COMMENT: Please note that Pope Pius IX included in the Syllabus of Errors item 55 and the encyclical Quanta cura, Dec 8 1865, that the separation of Church and State was a "depraved fiction," quoting an 1852 Church document. So, unless this doctrine was abolished by the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, the liberal democracies and several other forms of civil government have been flouting papal doctrine for a long time! In reality, the revenues from North America have been so large that the Vatican hasn't sincerely cared what their countries' constitutions contained! This court move is merely another delaying tactic. Even if the insurance industry and the legal profession recommend such moves, a genuine "shepherding" hierarchy would refuse to adopt such methods, so sure to arouse negative reactions among many people passionately loyal to the reputed "democracy" in the U.S. END of COMMENT.]
Feb 26 03
• Early loser in Church Abuse Scandal, bishop reneged on promise to resign, now berating his critics.
DALLAS (TX):
He reneged on a deal to resign. He stiff-armed the bishop sent to replace him. Now he says the News is trying to run the Church. For the good of the diocese, this prelate should pack his bags.
AS A CATHOLIC, I HAVE WATCHED WITH sadness the deteriorating morale of the Dallas diocese under Bishop Charles Grahmann (pictured at a confirmation on p. 59). The crisis that has engulfed the Church in the United States began with the largest jury award in Dallas County history—against our bishop. The drumbeat of bad news that began here doesn't seem likely to end soon. Commenting on the continuing disarray, in November the Dallas Morning News called for the bishop's resignation. His response, through a house organ called the Texas Catholic, has been to berate anyone who agrees with the News, based not on any refutation of its arguments but on the premise that the News, as a secular organization, has no business
telling the Church how it should be run.
I beg to differ with the bishop's assessment. He is not from Dallas, so he may be unaware of the history of his own diocese. Perhaps it would be helpful to shed a little light on it.
-- D Magazine,
by Wick Allison;
"The Bishop vs. the News; Why Won't This Bishop Go?"
http://www.dmagazine. com/article. asp?articleid=439 ,
(Poynteronline Feb 27 03)
•
SNAP now has 4500 members; new chapter forms.
LEXINGTON (KY):
A national organization that provides support to thousands of victims of clergy sex abuse is establishing a chapter in Lexington.
David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said the group wants to help victims speak out and find healing.
"Our first priority is always self-help. It's giving people the courage and strength to recover," Clohessy said in an interview in Lexington yesterday.
A survivor of clergy sex abuse and one of four victims who addressed the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops before it passed a national sex-abuse policy, Clohessy has been a leading voice on the issue.
Founded 13 years ago in St. Louis, SNAP has 45 chapters nationwide and claims a membership of 4,500.
-- The Herald-Leader, http://www.kentucky.com/ mld/ heraldleader/ 5256446.htm ,
"Chapter for priest-abuse victims forms in Fayette,"
by Frank E. Lockwood, Herald-Leader Staff Writer.
(Poynteronline Feb 27 03)
• Boston Church agrees to 90-day delay, to reach agreement. BOSTON: The Boston Archdiocese and lawyers representing about 400 alleged clergy sex abuse victims have jointly asked a judge to put a 90-day hold on all those cases to see if they can reach a mediated settlement.
"Our hope has been that these cases can be resolved to the satisfaction of all parties, through some form or mediation process," said an archdiocesan statement.
Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who is handling 108 lawsuits against the archdiocese, declined to join the moratorium.
The archdiocesan statement expressed disappointment at the decision by Garabedian and his clients but added, "We fully recognise his right, and the rights of his clients, to pursue their claims through the formal litigation process."
-- The Record, Perth, "Stay in US abuse cases," CNS,
Feb 27 03, p 12
[COMMENT: Contrast this agreement to have a 90-day stoppage to mediate for an agreement "to the satisfaction of all parties," with a later plea about the Constitutional freedom of religion, to throw out all the court cases, as reported in Foster's Daily Democrat of Mar 4 03. END OF COMMENT]
Article: Feb 27 03
• "Father" was a father in 1978; State senate ordering Churches to report abuse.
PHOENIX (AZ): Hoping to catch more sex offenders, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted Wednesday to expand the requirements of who needs to report suspected cases of abuse.
And among the first people who could be affected by the new laws are church officials who would be required to tell police what they know or at least reasonably suspect about the actions of the members of the clergy they direct.
The legislation was actually one of two bills approved Wednesday designed to deal with the problem of abuse and assault. Lawmakers also voted to give victims who are traumatized more time to file civil claims against
their attackers and those who shield them.
That vote came after Sharon Roy testified about how the Rev. Patrick Colleary of Scottsdale fathered her daughter in 1978. Roy said Colleary raped her, but Colleary has said through his attorney that the relationship was consensual. The priest, who has since withdrawn from celebrating Mass and other public activities, has admitted to fathering Roy's child.
-- Arizona Daily Star, "Bill adds to scrutiny for sexual offenders,"
http://www.azstarnet.com/ star/thu/ 30227r SEXCRIMES2 fmst2fjmd.html ,
by Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services,
(Poynteronline Feb 28 03) Probably Feb 27 03
• Ex-priest serving at least 33 1/2 years gaol!
CONCORD (NH): Former priest and convicted child molester Gordon J. MacRae insists the Catholic Diocese of Manchester first learned of an abuse allegation against him after they transferred him to a new parish in Keene.
An investigator for the state Attorney General’s Office confirmed this, but said it was how MacRae’s superiors handled the matter afterward and their assurances to state child protection officials that the priest was
being supervised that were "inappropriate."
MacRae, 49, is serving a 33 1/2 - to 67-year state prison term for his 1994 convictions for sexually assaulting four boys in 1983.
In an interview at New Hampshire State Prison last month, MacRae said his superiors did not learn teenager Lawrence Carnevale accused him of molesting him until November 1983, six months after he left the Hampton parish where he was assigned at the time.
-- The Union Leader, "Imprisoned ex-priest swears he's no serial child rapist,"
http://www.theunionleader. com/articles_ show.html? article=18562 ,
by Kathryn Marchocki, Union Leader Staff,
(Poynteronline Feb 28 03) Possibly Feb 27 03
• Victim removed from seminary programme, priest continues in office.
WORCESTER (MA):
Bishop Daniel P. Reilly removed a preseminarian from consideration for priesthood after the bishop was told of a series of homosexual encounters that occurred with the Rev. Jean-Paul Gagnon in the rectory of St.
Augustine Parish in Millville.
Rev. Gagnon was not removed from the parish and still has not been officially removed from the parish in Millville after a civil suit was filed alleging that he molested Timothy P. Staney of Worcester when Mr.
Staney was a child.
The Catholic Diocese of Worcester later paid for six months of psychiatric hospitalization for Chad Boisvert after he suffered from what he said was severe depression associated with the sexual encounters and his subsequent removal from the preseminary program.
Mr. Boisvert, who now lives in the Boston area, said he was a 24-year-old virgin when the diocese approved his request to stay for a short term at the rectory in Millville.
Mr. Boisvert is not a party to the Staney suit but was subpoenaed to testify at a deposition regarding that suit.
Under questioning by Daniel J. Shea of Houston, lawyer for Mr. Staney, Mr. Boisvert said he was never told about any past allegations involving Rev. Gagnon. [Surprised?]
-- Telegram & Gazette, "Would-be priest removed after alleged relationship,"
http://wt.us.publicus.com/ apps/pbcs.dll/ artikkel? SearchID= 73127329154438&
Avis=WT&Dato= 20030227&Kategori= NEWS&Lopenr= 302270335&Ref=AR ,
by Kathleen A. Shaw, Staff:
(Poynteronline Feb 28 03) Feb 27 03
• [Before he became a priest he had sex with a girl, so Lubock refused him, but Amarillo took him -- and kept him until he made one of three sisters pregnant.]
AMARILLO (TX): Former priest Rosendo Hererra, 37, had a history of sexual misconduct. He was refused ordination in Lubbock after having sexual relations with a girl in Mexico, but the Amarillo Diocese had no problem taking him in. It was only after he had improper relations with three sisters in Amarillo -- impregnating one of them -- that their family felt the Diocese needed to be held responsible for their actions.
"This has been devastating to my clients and their family and they're happy that this has been resolved in a matter satisfactory to everyone and they're ready to move forward," said family attorney Clay Holcomb.
The Diocese agreed to pay the 17-year-old mother $27,150 from 2020-2027.
The settlement includes an undisclosed sum to her family. Although it was never discovered to what extent Herrera had abused her sisters, the Diocese will also put $700 in a trust for the youngest sibling, and an
undisclosed sum will go to the family's eldest daughter.
-- KAMR-TV February 28, 2003, "Diocese Settles Priest Sex-Abuse Lawsuit,"
http://www.kamr.com/ Global/story. asp?S=1155760& nav=1PuLEHch ,
02/27/2003, by Subha Ravindhran,
(Poynteronline 02 Mar 03),
Posted by Ann Brentwood 8:43:52 AM,
Feb 27 / 28 03
!!!: [A year cut from priest's gaol due to "stress" and "stigma" he felt!] Was active 1972-91.
SYDNEY, Australia: Fr Vincent Ryan, 64, jailed for 22 years for molesting boys over two decades, had his minimum sentence reduced from 16 years to 15 years, yesterday because of his otherwise good character, and the stress and stigma he had endured from his convictions.
He had preyed on 28 altar boys in the Hunter Valley, New South Wales, from January 1972 to December 1991.
The Catholic Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle intends to place him in its Encompass program, an initiative of the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference, which provides counselling, treatment and ongoing supervision for sex offenders.
-- Sydney Morning Herald,
www.smh.com.au/ text/articles/ 2003/02/27/ 1046064169949. htm "Sentence reduced for altar boys' molester" by Ellen Connolly, Feb 28 03
[COMMENT: Elsewhere in these documents is evidence of the failure of the "Encompass" programme to even stop the bishops from applying "gag" clauses to victims seeking compensation, even after national publicity arising from Archbishop Pell's misguided denials in mid 2002. The programme cannot possibly supervise serial offenders. For example, in Britain a cardinal's job is supposedly on the line because he put a predator into an airport chaplaincy to get him away from children, but a mentally weak teenager missed his flight, sought help in the chapel, and was molested! END of COMMENT.]
[Feb 28 03]
• [Vatican letting laypeople into trials of abusers.] "NEW YORK: Pope John Paul had approved changes in Vatican policy that would make it easier to dismiss clergy accused of sex abuse and would give lay people a greater role at trials of alleged molesters conducted by the Church, a Vatican official said on Wednesday."
-- The West Australian, "Church action on abusers," Fri Feb 28 03, p 31
[COMMENT: Is this the THIRD attempt by the Vatican to allay the anger of Catholics and parents after Voice of the Faithful was formed early in 2002 in Boston? For background, from a prize-winning journalist, read "Clergy Sex Abuse - the Trail Leads to Rome," by Jason Berry, San Francisco Chronicle,, January 20, 2002, at www.survivorsnetwork.org/News_Vatican/Trail_leadsto_rome.htm . He writes: "But when the trail of accusations leads right into the Vatican, the obsession with secrecy and cover up is thrown into high relief. In 1998 eight former members of the Legion of Christ religious order filed a petition in a Vatican canon law court at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith seeking prosecution of Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado, the Legion founder." The Pope praised and honoured the accused man. "In 1999 Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger dismissed the canon law petition filed at his office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith -- refusing to allow the accusers to give testimony, giving no reason for his action." And lots more.
And what about this? "I've lost count of the number of times that newspapers -- including this one -- have told their readers this year that the sex abuse scandal in the church 'began in January in Boston.' It didn't. This incarnation of the scandal began in the early 1980s in New Orleans and erupted every few years in places like Santa Fe, Dallas, Santa Rosa, Stockton, San Francisco, Los Angeles and many other dioceses. Basically, this year's story is the same sad, sensational tale we've been telling for at least 15 years." -- San Francisco Chronicle, "Pedophilia; History Repeats Itself; Abuse scandal has rocked Catholic Church for years;" by Don Lattin, Chronicle Religion Writer dlattin@sfchronicle.com , Sunday, June 16, 2002, at: http://sfgate.com/ cgi-bin/article. cgi?file=/ chronicle/archive/ 2002/06/16/ IN220148.DTL . END of COMMENT.]
[Feb 28, 03]
• Catholics' stricter US policy from November "kicks in"; 47 named, 13 to be checked.
SEATTLE (WA):
As the nation's Roman Catholic dioceses begin implementing the new abuse policy passed by its bishops last November, the Seattle Archdiocese said this week that a review of its files reveals that 47 priests serving in
the archdiocese since the mid-1950s have been accused of sexual abuse of minors.
Beginning in the next few weeks, 13 of those cases — all diocesan priests who still are alive — will be reviewed by the archdiocese's review panel, composed primarily of lay experts. Those 13 priests are all either retired or on administrative leave; none is serving in a parish.
This is the first time the archdiocese has disclosed a definitive number of priests accused of sexual abuse of minors.
The national policy, which becomes binding tomorrow, states that any priest who has admitted or been found to have committed "even a single act of sexual abuse" would be permanently removed from ministry. If an accused priest disagrees with the review board's findings, he may appeal to a church tribunal.
-- The Seattle Times, "Church tallies alleged abuse; 13 diocesan priests to be investigated,"
By Janet I. Tu,
http://seattletimes. nwsource.com/ html/localnews/ 134643116_ archdiocese28m.html ,
(Posted by Ann Brentwood 9:51:32 AM, Poynteronline Mar 1 03)
Possibly Feb 28 03
• Diocese to Launch Anti-Abuse Seminar.
LONG ISLAND (NY):
Saying the Diocese of Rockville Centre must educate all who work for it to
the "harms of child abuse and what we must do to prevent it," Bishop
William Murphy is asking all Catholic Church employees and volunteers to
attend special training seminars.
-- Newsday, http://www.newsday.com/ news/local/ longisland/ ny-lett0228.story ,
By Rita Ciolli,
(Poynteronline 02 Mar 03)
Feb 28 03
• Only ONE of 145 priests indicted! Names kept secret.
CLEVELAND (OH): Feb. 26 - When a grand jury looking into sexual abuse by members of the Catholic clergy finished its work in December, it reported that it had uncovered accusations against 145 priests.
But the panel indicted just one of them, leaving parishioners to guess about the names of the others and setting off a battle over whose rights are being protected, the priests' or the youths' whom they are accused of
sexually molesting.
Many sexual abuse victims and news organizations are pressing to make the records public. This week, the county prosecutor here took the unusual step of asking a judge to consider whether Ohio law allows them to be
unsealed.
But the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cleveland is fighting such a move, saying it would violate the law on grand jury secrecy, which is intended to protect the confidentiality of witnesses, including abuse victims and
people who are accused of but not charged with an offense.
In a letter to the prosecutor in December, the diocese threatened to sue the prosecutor if the records were released.
-- http://www.nytimes.com/ 2003/02/28/national/ 28DIOC.html? ex=1047099600 &en=3e062f6ff64e1322 &ei=5062 &partner=GOOGLE ,
New York Times, February 28, 2003, "Dioceses Resist Releasing Names of Accused Priests," by Laurie Goodstein:
(Poynteronline, Posted by Ann Brentwood 10:14:31 AM, Mar 1 03)
Feb 28 03
• Missouri priest sentenced to 15 years for abusing boy; youngster, now 10,
tells how he was teased.
CLAYTON, (MO): A Roman Catholic priest who molested a young boy was sentenced Friday to 15 years in prison after the judge heard statements about the trauma caused by someone considered a close family friend.
The boy's parents said he suffers from nightmares, anxiety attacks and low self-esteem because of the three years of abuse by the Rev. Gary Wolken.
"At school, the popular kids call me fruitcake and gay," wrote the boy, who was identified only as J. The boy, who is now 10, was in kindergarten when the abuse began and told his parents a year ago.
Wolken, 37, was removed last March as associate pastor at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in St. Louis and suspended. The Archdiocese of St. Louis triggered a police investigation after learning of the allegations, and Wolken pleaded guilty in December to statutory sodomy and child molestation.
-- Boston.com , http://www.boston.com/ dailynews/059/ nation/Missouri_ priest_sentenced_ to_1:.shtml ,
by Jim Salter, Associated Press,
Feb 28 03
• 47 priests accused of abuse over last 50 years.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/110531_priests28.shtml ,
SEATTLE(WA):
The Seattle Archdiocese admitted yesterday that over the past 50 years, 47 local and visiting clergy have been accused of sexually abusing minors.
-- Seattle Post-Intelligencer, "47 priests accused of abuse over last 50 years; Seattle Archdiocese names panel for 'thorough review' of 13 cases,"
By Sam Skolnik,
Posted by Ann Brentwood 10:07:53 AM,
(Poynteronline 02 Mar 03)
• Documents on sex abuse by priests to be released.
MANCHESTER (NH): Toby R. Hall couldn’t believe his ears when he recently learned the priest who abused him 24 years ago in Rochester was sent there after he molested other youths two years earlier.
It was a far different story than the one he was told in 1992 when he first reported his abuse by the Rev. Paul L. Aube to then Monsignor Francis J. Christian, Hall, 40, said.
Christian, now auxiliary bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Manchester, at that time said the diocese had only one other credible allegation against Aube in 1981, he recounted.
Hall, who now lives in Bridgewater, Maine, remembers Christian showering him with sympathy and concern.
-- The Union Leader, http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_show.html?article=18602 ,
By Kathryn Marchocki,
(Posted by Kathy Shaw 9:52:33 AM,Poynteronline 02 Mar 03)
!!!: [Cardinal and bishop gave references to priest with "boy" friend, drinking and carousing, and stealing!]
BOSTON (MA): This much the Archdiocese of Boston knew: that the Rev. Dozia J. Wilson had been forced out of the Diocese of Albany, N.Y., after police complaints about an alleged inappropriate relationship with a teenage boy.
Church officials also knew that Wilson was later accused of drinking and carousing with boys at the St. Joseph church rectory in Roxbury, where he was assigned from 1976 to 1979.
And they knew of another item on Wilson's resume of alleged misconduct -- taking parish funds for his personal use.
But none of that stopped Cardinal Humberto S. Medeiros and Bishop Thomas V. Daily, then vicar general of the archdiocese, from writing a total of three nearly identical letters of recommendation as Wilson sought to continue in ministry in two other states and as a US Navy chaplain.
"He has expressed to me his desire for a change," Daily wrote to the dioceses of Richmond, Va., and Tulsa, Okla., in 1979, and Medeiros wrote to the US Navy in 1978.
-- Boston Globe, http://www.boston.com/ dailyglobe2/059/ metro/Priest_ recommended_ amid_ concerns +.shtml ,
"Cleric recommended amid concerns,"
By Sacha Pfeiffer,
Feb 28 03
• [Richard Sipe says laypeople don't believe bishops have abuse under control.]
MINNESOTA:
The Catholic Church has not done enough to atone for the sexual abuse of children by priests or to change the system that led to the abuse and protected abusive priests, members of several Minnesota groups say.
"The bishops and cardinals are saying they've got things under control now, to trust them. But I don't think the laity is buying that anymore," said A. W. Richard Sipe, a therapist, author and former Minnesota priest who has spent 30 years studying celibacy and the priesthood.
"The laity is educated, thoughtful and very disturbed by the revelations that diocesan leaders knew of abuse for years and didn't stop it," he said.
-- Star-Tribune, "Laity and abuse survivors will help change church,"
http://www.startribune.com/ stories/462/ 3723994.html ,
by Warren Wolfe,
http://ads.nandomedia.com/ RealMedia/ads/ click_lx.ads/ www.startribune.com/ metro/275619758/ Button20/default/ empty.gif/ 3366396637 6366323365 356531376330
(Poynteronline 02 Mar 03)
• [Cardinal has abuse-acused priest living with him, working next to school!]
CHICAGO: Last spring, in the midst of the worst clergy sex abuse scandal ever faced
by the Roman Catholic Church in the United States, Chicago's Cardinal
Francis George began receiving an unusual house guest.
The Rev. Kenneth J. Martin, 57, a priest from the Wilmington (Del.)
Diocese who in 2001 was charged criminally with sexually abusing a high
school boy in Maryland in the 1970s, has stayed at the cardinal's mansion
on North State Parkway about one week a month since last May. That was
when he began consulting for a publishing house owned by the Chicago
Archdiocese.
Reached by phone at the cardinal's residence Thursday evening, Martin said
the charges filed against him by prosecutors in Baltimore County, Md., in
June 2001--which included child abuse, sex offense and perverted practice
charges--were adjudicated in December 2001 and that he has been on
"pre-judgment probation" ever since.
"I don't know all the details myself," George said late Thursday.
"[Martin] mentioned it to me when I first asked him if he would be able to
act as a consultant [for Liturgy Training Publications]. He said, you
know, 'This is the situation.' And I called his bishop, and his bishop
said, 'He's a priest in good standing,' and I said, 'OK.'
"If he's a priest in good standing, I don't think his bishop thinks he's a
threat, and his bishop is a responsible man, in my experience with him.
[Martin] is doing a certain limited job here, and he's doing it well,"
George said, adding that Martin does not have contact with children at the
publishing house, even though it is next door to St. Mary of the Angels
elementary school.
-- The Chicago Sun-Times, "George hosting accused priest,"
http://www.suntimes.com/ output/news/ cst-nws- priest28.html ,
by Cathleen Falsani, Religion Reporter,
(Posted by Ann Brentwood 9:06:40 AM, Poynteronline 02 Mar 03)
Feb 28 03
• Covering up since 1958 in Ohio.
CINCINNATI (OH):
Cincinnati lawyer Stan Chesley sought Thursday to compel the Diocese of Covington to release a "secret archive" containing names of people who have complained of sexual abuse by priests.
The proposed suit claims the diocese covered up sexual misconduct by priests involving
more than 100 children since 1958.
-- The Cincinnati Enquirer, Diocese's 'archive' of victims sought, Lawsuit: Misconduct covered up since '58,
http://enquirer.com/editions/ 2003/02/28/loc_ kypriest28.html ,
By Cindy Schroeder,
(Poynteronline 02 Mar 03)
Feb 28 03
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