References cont. (11) — Clergy Child Molesters

• Good priest, bad priest -- my faith remains. - Roman Catholic Church.

AUSTRALIA: I have read that numbers of Catholic have renounced belief in the authority of the Catholic Church because of acts of paedophilia by priests. . . . I am totally unmoved in my attachment to the Church by such acts. . . . I have always known of sinful priests ... gravely alcoholic ... embezzled.
I studied in three seminaries where men are trained to be priests. . . . I have been taught that the Church demands a high moral character of priests. . . . I don't believe priests are guaranteed by the Church to be good men. ... No one has ever asked me to believe it. No one ever will. -- AD 2000 (Australian comment magazine on Catholicism), by Frank Mobbs (writer and lecturer who has taught at Catholic seminaries), March 2003
[COMMENT: This seems to be the rearguard action, still, defending the indefensible. He overlooked the main problem. Why have bishops and the Vatican allowed child-abuse and other sex-abuse priests to remain in ministry, and why does the Vatican reinstate many of the few that desperate bishops have dismissed? Why do some other major Churches have similar anti-children practices? COMMENT ENDS]

^ ^ CONTENTS 1 6 Translate Links Events Books HOME v v

< < Back ^ ^ Non-marital REFERENCES 5 101 Overview Outreach Books "Fathers" Secrecy v v Next > >

• Outside group to provide Anglicans with "strategies" for children to keep safe from child abuse and domestic violence. - Anglican Church.
   PERTH, Western Australia: About 500 people attended Perth's Anglican St George's Cathedral on February 2 for the Feast of the Presentation in the Temple, and to launch the inter-church Year of the Child. AND, A special discussion on protective behaviours will be held on March 30 at Anglican St Mary's School, Karrinyup.
   Archbishop Peter Carnley said "I want the Church to be a safe and happy place for children." The workshop will be led by Andrea Musulin, co-ordinator of Protective Behaviours WA, to provide children with "strategies to keep themselves safe and cope with situations which threaten their wellbeing, specifically in areas of child abuse and domestic violence." -- Anglican Messenger, Perth, "Year of the Child 2003: Happy launch of Year of Child," by Margaret Price, AND, "Making church a safe and happy place," Mar 2003, p 4 [COMMENT: And most of us used to think that the Ten Commandments and the saying "Woe to him by whom scandal comes" would protect children in Church situations! COMMENT ENDS]
• Wolves train the shepherds! Kinsey's and Pillard's parts in launching the current pandemic sexual anarchy and child sex abuse. Wolves are paid by the Church! UNITED STATES: Document by Dr Judith A. Reisman: The following briefing of the source of the Catholic Church's sexual abuse scandal is excerpted from a document delivered to the Holy Father [the Pope] and endorsed by renowned Catholic leaders. I write you as a sympathetic non-Catholic with decades of research experience in identifying the causes of today's pandemic sexual anarchy and its inevitable fallout in pandemic child sexual abuse.
   Without question, the main source of this erotic pollution has been the implementation of the allegedly "scientific" sexual "manifesto" crafted by Prof. Alfred Kinsey in his 1948 tome, Sexual Behavior in the Human Male. Originally funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, Kinsey's human sexuality disciples today counsel the Church and train its children; its future nuns, brothers, priests and bishops. . . .
   In 1948, most of our patriarchal state sex laws exacted strict controls on male sexual licence and thus favored women, children and the family.
   ... Kinsey's elite legal and psychiatric colleagues created the "Sex Offenses" section of the first American Law Institute Model Penal Code [ALI MPC].
   The ALI MPC urged the legalisation of fornication, cohabitation, adultery, contraception, alienation of affection, seduction, abortion and prostitution.
   Kinsey's influence on society includes the shaping of seminarians, priests and bishops.
   Briefly, 87% of his male research subjects were already aberrant; prisoners, homosexuals, 1,400 sex offenders, at least 650 abused boys, etc., while so few normal women would talk to him that he had to label "wives" women who lived more than a year with a man.
   In this way he could fake his date to show that masturbation and fornication were common and critical for later marital success. . . .
   Still following our sexuality stream, Kinsey's erotic dogma is seen in the now-famous 1985 document "The Problem of Sexual Molestation" in the Church, in which Father Thomas Doyle, Ray Mouton and St Luke's Dr. Michael Peterson (a closet homosexual, now dead from AIDS) said the Church was unequipped to address sex predators due, and I quote, to its "extreme moral judgmentalism." . . .
   The Lancet, the British medical journal wrote: Dr. Judith A. Reisman and her colleagues demolish the foundations of the two [Kinsey] reports ... Presumably some at least of those [sex] offenders [they called normals] were also the sources of information on stimulation to orgasm in young children that can only have come from pedophiles -- or so it must be hoped. [Vol 337: March 2, 1991, p. 547] . . .
   Once attaining success in the courtroom the bogus Kinseyan sex credo may finally be excised from our larger society. Until then, the wolves will still be paid millions to train the shepherds who guard the sheep. -- Social Justice Review, (bi-monthly) www.socialjusticereview.org , "The Hidden Scourge of the Sexual Abuse Scandal; When wolves train shepherds," by Judith A. Reisman, Ph.D., www.drjudithreisman.org , p 52, March 2003 (by courtesy of John XXIII Fellowship Co-op, PO Box 22, Ormond, Vic, 3204, Australia, www.j23.com.au )
• Strict Separation of Church and State. UNITED STATES: A judge apologised to three defendants, convicting them of trespass. They were homosexual activists who had been repeatedly asked to leave the U.S. bishops' Mass, and wanted to receive Communion. The penalty was the 30 hours they had already spent in gaol. The judge, Mildred M. Edwards, a Catholic, took in on herself to apologise "on behalf of the Church" for the way they were treated, finding that "tremendous violence has been done to you . . . when the body of Christ was denied to you." The author said this was a blatant misuse of judicial authority, and she is not qualified to hold public office.
In another instance, a St Louis judge used the words "hocus pocus" and "transubstantiate" when dealing with a civil case, nothing to do with religion. The author wrote that this violated the First Amendment [of the U.S. constitution]. -- The Catholic World Report, "Strict Separation; When the Catholic Church is attacked in the courts, the dangers of church-state entanglements are somehow overlooked," by James Hitchcock (a history professor at St Louis University and a syndicated columnist), March 2003 p 60 [COMMENT: Well, the author was right about the first case, but stretching it a bit about the second. COMMENT ENDS] [Mar, 2003]
• Man gets suspended sentence over internet pornography. - No religion link reported. PERTH: Brendon Robert Keith Excell, 26, of Mirrabooka, pleaded guilty yesterday to downloading 193 child pornography images from the internet. The court was told that after the discovery of the internet images he had lost his wife (she had discovered the images), friends, and job, and had not been able to see his newborn baby. The court ruled he had already suffered enough. The court was told the images mainly showed young boys in various stages of undress and engaging in sexual activities. The judge sentenced him to two years jail, suspended for two years. In the Perth District Court; before Chief Judge Kevin Hammond, Alma Kurze prosecuted, Shane Adams for the defence. -- The West Australian, "Man escapes jail over child porn," by Anne Calverley, Sat Mar 1 03, p 60
• Choirboy sues Church for $2m over sexual abuse; - RCC.
   SYDNEY (NSW) Australia: Dan Buckley, a 32-year-old former choirboy and student of Sydney's St Mary's Cathedral College, will on Monday lodge court papers seeking $2 million damages.
   It will be alleged the Catholic Church ignored violent bullying at the school, and sexual abuse within the grounds of the cathedral. Mr Buckley had successfully prosecuted church employee and paedophile David O'Grady for sexually abusing him 21 years ago.
   The legal action comes as a second former choirboy has backed allegations that the sacked St Mary's choirmaster David Russell witnessed a sexual assault on Mr Buckley and himself by O'Grady at Mr Russell's home. Mr Russell was sacked on January 31 after a church inquiry, but he has denied wrongdoing and is suing for wrongful dismissal. -- The Weekend Australian, "Choirboy sues church for $2m over sexual abuse," by Vanessa Walker and Natalie O'Brien, Mar 1-2 03, p 3 [See The Weekend Australian, "Choirmaster saw sex abuse, sobbing witness tells inquiry," http://www.theaustralian.com.au , by Vanessa Walker, Religious affairs writer, [Mar 1-2, 03]
• Faithful Air Their Views on Catholic Sex Scandal.
   LOS ANGELES (CA): A discussion of the charges attracts 200 at a church conference in Anaheim. 'We have created' the problem, the moderator says.
   Far from courts, steeples and television cameras, 200 Catholics quietly gathered in an Anaheim conference room Friday to discuss the sex abuse scandal facing their church.
   Leading their discussion was Tom Beaudoin, a theologian from Boston College who said the church has not been open enough on issues of sex.
   Declines in church confidence cannot be "attributed to the bias of the media," Beaudoin said. "This is a problem we have created ourselves."
   His remarks came during the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress, held at the Anaheim Convention Center and nearby hotels and sponsored by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. The event is billed as the nation's largest annual gathering of Catholics, and this year's attendance is expected to match last year's turnout of more than 37,000.
   It is the first since allegations of sexual abuse by Catholic priests erupted into a national scandal. -- Los Angeles Times, "Faithful Air Their Views on Catholic Sex Scandal," http://www.latimes.com/ news/local/la-me- molest1mar01,1, 2554696.story , by Jennifer Mena, (Poynteronline 03 Mar 03) Mar 1 03

• [Christian boarding college leader is asked to act]

   Faith Purification Programme, Perth, Letter sent March 3, 2005
   FAITH PURIFICATION PROGRAMME 46 Cobine Way, Greenwood, WA, 6024, Australia. Tel. 08 9343 9532 Mobile 0408 054 319, E-mail: (john.massam@multiline.com.au) http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/minilist.htm
3 March 2003
Rev. Father Kevin Long, Rector, St Thomas More College, Mounts Bay Rd, Crawley WA 6009
Dear Father,
   It is an article of faith that the Church is unfailingly holy. ¹ Another belief is that miracles occur. Your membership of a commission to investigate the Rockingham statue has interested me in trying to consider these two beliefs together, and form a kind of challenge. A lack of disclosure has not helped the Churches much, according to an academic reported on February 22.
   The Church of the Epistles and the Acts, when the Apostles had actually EXPERIENCED organising a community, isn't exactly the same sort of ideal Church where the wheat and the weeds grow up together until harvest, is it? Would Peter and Paul allow wolves in sheep's clothing to remain in the flock? Would they have allowed anyone other than a good shepherd, not a "hireling", to be in charge of a flock? Did the Holy Spirit allow Ananias and Sapphira to tell lies?
   From the long-term problems arising from unorthodox sex by Church clergy, it is obvious that something is seriously wrong. In the words of an American Jesuit on February 28, "It will take years for the church to emerge from this morass." No miracle has occurred to prevent this unhealthy corruption of youth and initiation of them into masturbation, fellatio and pornography, all forbidden, ² very young, and/or even into sodomy, which latter surely even unorthodox "Lite" Christians reject as unhealthy from the spiritual, emotional, and physical aspects.
   This is a request for you to take some positive study and action on this problem. It is not a subject that some people want to even think about. But the figures show that many, many people in the Church have had to think about it, because they have experienced it either as participants (yes, the figure is at least 6%, not the 1% used by apologists, and the overall unchastity figure is given as about 50%), fellow-clergy, supervising clergy, whistleblowers, victims, parents of victims, or spouses of victims.
   The connivance of the episcopate and heads of the orders has been proven to the hilt in the U.S., Britain, Eire, and Australia. The secrets were kept -- but at the price of losing credibility with people of good will. It is no good blaming "the world" if the Children of the Light act like the Children of Darkness. The Dr Pell denial of the "gag" was a disgrace. In Perth the archbishop three times has failed to even acknowledge a petition on the subject. This attitude, and the inactivity of people like you, has made it necessary for action by people like us. Could you offer ideas or help, please?
   Yours faithfully, FAITH PURIFICATION PROGRAMME, John Massam
Enc.: References (7) pp 1-2 showing selection of statue commission, reported Nov 21 02; References (9) pp 5-6, dénouement, showing lack of disclosure has not helped Churches much, Feb 22 03; Rockville Centre, U.S.A., Grand Jury condemnation, release date Feb 10 03, pp 1-2, 77-78.

__________________________
¹ Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1995, Society of St Paul, Sydney, section 823
² Ibid, see sections 2351-55

“FOR GOOD TEACHINGS TO BE HEEDED, A BIG CLEANUP IS NEEDED” [A brief telephone acknowledgement was received soon after, and the Perth archbishop wrote a letter acknowledging the petition received, and saying sex abuse would not be tolerated.] [To Internet 16 Nov 05] [Mar 3, 03]
• The enormity of clergy sexual abuse has been well hidden, 33 names listed. - RCC.
   WORCESTER (MA): Mary T. Jean, leader of Worcester Voice, said she has compiled a list of 33 priests of the Worcester Roman Catholic Diocese accused of sexual misconduct, and she has received the names of 11 others that she is trying to verify.
   She met last week with District Attorney John J. Conte to ask him to release the names that he received from the diocese. She had met earlier with Bishop Daniel P. Reilly, who also refused to give her any information.
   Mrs. Jean said Friday that she compiled her own list based on conversations with victims and families and other Catholic groups. She said she intends to go back to the bishop to press for disclosure, and she is in the process of setting up another meeting with the bishop.
   Mrs. Jean said the number of priests who allegedly abused children indicates the Worcester Diocese may have a worse problem than Boston.
   In the meantime, the Catholic activist groups will continue their demonstration at 9:30 this morning in front of St. Paul's Cathedral. Worcester Voice, Speak Truth to Power, Coalition of Catholics and Survivors, and others have vowed to continue the demonstrations until the diocese releases to the public all files on accused priests and all its financial information.
   "For years the Worcester Diocese's representatives were taken to be a holy reflection of truthful information. In hindsight, the enormity of clergy sexual abuse has been well hidden,' Mrs. Jean said.
   "The Worcester Diocese, being one-sixth the size of Boston with 33 known cases, sadly illustrates a greater proportion of clergy sexual abuse cases,' she said. -- Telegram & Gazette, "33 priests are on list of accused in diocese," http://wt.us.publicus.com/ apps/pbcs.dll/artikkel? SearchID= 73127635054246>& Avis=WT&Dato= 20030302& Kategori=NEWS& Lopenr=303020429& Ref=AR , by Kathleen A. Shaw, Telegram & Gazette Staff, (Poynteronline 03 Mar 03) Mar 2, 03
• Former S.F. priest charged with abuse caught in Mexico. - RCC.
   SAN FRANCISCO (CA): A retired San Francisco Roman Catholic priest charged with multiple counts of child molestation was arrested Saturday in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, FBI officials said.
   FBI officials allege that Austin Peter Keegan fled from his Oceanside home to Mexico in September after learning of a $5 million warrant issued for his arrest.
   The warrant stemmed from a San Francisco grand jury indictment of Keegan, 67, on 25 sex abuse charges involving two San Francisco boys during the 1960s. -- San Jose Mercury News, http://www.bayarea.com/ mld/mercurynews/ news/local/ 5298632.htm , (Poynteronline 03 Mar 03)
• Diocese muzzles priests. - RCC. ALTOONA-JOHNSTOWN (PA): Priests in the Altoona-Johnstown Roman Catholic Diocese are under a gag order that threatens penalties, including excommunication, if they publicly disagree with the bishop. Under a similar gag order and threat of excommunication is a prominent retired monsignor, Phillip Saylor, whose testimony on priest sex abuse broke ranks with diocese hierarchy in the 1994 trial of now-defrocked Francis Luddy. Bishop Joseph Adamec continues to refuse public comment on the controversies surrounding his administration, including new allegations of sex abuse by priests. He abruptly canceled a press conference scheduled Friday. The gag orders were revealed last week on the heels of a Tribune-Democrat investigative report that diocese officials know of sex abuse accusations against four previously unidentified priests, but have not taken the steps required by national church policy. Nor have officials reported the accusations to prosecutors, despite an agreement to report even old allegations. -- The Tribune-Democrat, http://www.tribune-democrat.com/ site/news.cfm?newsid= 7231135&BRD=2332& PAG=461&dept_id= 484742&rfi=6 , By Susan Evans, Mar 2 03
• High-stature TV priest-author says news media doing Satan's work; 30 years hiding abuser priests in discreet jobs. DALLAS, Texas: In the world according to Father Benedict Groeschel, the Catholic Church's sexual abuse scandal is largely the stuff of fiction. Reporters "doing the work of Satan" are driven to lie, the New York priest says, because they hate the church's moral teachings. These are not the opinions of a marginal figure. Indeed, Father Groeschel is one of the most prominent priests in America, reaching millions with his books, tapes, parish lectures and regular appearances on the Eternal Word Television Network. His stature is high among many church leaders, too -- he has heard the confessions of a cardinal, consulted with the Vatican on a case for sainthood, been a friend to Mother Teresa. The preface to his media-blaming 2002 book From Scandal to Hope was written by Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy Dolan, who praised Father Groeschel for putting the abuse scandal in context. For all his commentary on the crisis, Father Groeschel has revealed few details about his role as a player in it: He has been a key figure for 30 years in the loose-knit nationwide network of therapists who have helped troubled priests keep working. -- The Dallas Morning News, "Priest plays down abuse crisis, helps clergy keep jobs," www.dallasnews.com/ dmn/news/stories/ 030203 dnprogroeschel. 1b0f5.htm , by Brooks Egerton, Mar 2 03
• Bishop says late priest abused minors in Imperial Valley CALIPATRIA, Calif.: Church officials have disclosed that a priest who died in 1999 molested several children during his 27-year tenure at a Catholic parish in this small Imperial County town. A letter from Bishop Robert Brom distributed to parishioners Sunday said an investigation found the Rev. Robert S. Koerner "sexually abused children throughout the years of his pastorate at St. Patrick's, from 1963 to 1990." Brom apologized to Koerner's victims and their families. -- San Francisco Chronicle, (AP), http://www.sfgate.com/ cgi-bin/ article. cgi? file=/ news/archive/ 2003/03/03/state 1716 EST0125.DTL , (Poynteronline 05 Mar 03) Mar 3 03
• Church not cleansing itself quickly, so victims seek government and court help. LOUISVILLE (KY): Jeff Anderson has won millions of dollars suing Roman Catholic dioceses over sexual abuse by priests, and he savors his reputation as a tough-as-nails courtroom lawyer. But in a hotel ballroom here last Saturday, he clutched a teddy bear to his chest. "If you drop by and the legislator you want to see isn't around, you leave one of these," Anderson instructed about 40 amateur lobbyists from across the country. "You tell them it represents the innocence of a child -- the innocence that's been stolen -- and I guarantee they'll remember you." Anderson's presentation at a conference of survivors of sexual abuse marked a pivotal moment in the scandal gripping the Catholic Church. Frustrated after months of pleas for change inside the church, the victims' movement is shifting tactics and applying pressure primarily from the outside by lobbying state legislators and assisting grand jury investigations. "In the past, survivors always tried to force changes from within," said Susan Archibald, president of the Linkup, a victims' support group that gathered here for its 11th annual meeting. "But at the end of last year, we were still disappointed by the level of transparency and accountability accepted by the bishops. So we decided to fight from another direction." -- Washington Post, "Victims of Priests' Abuse Seeking Redress Outside Church." http://www.washingtonpost.com/ wp- dyn/ articles/ A30431- 2003Mar2.html , by Alan Cooperman, Page A04, Mon Mar 3 03
• Women leaflet near church and form support group. ST. AUGUSTINE (FL): A woman who accused a local Catholic priest of making sexual advances is starting the state's third chapter of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. Jeanmarie Moore and nine others passed out "SNAP St. Augustine" leaflets near the open doors of the Cathedral Basilica Sunday as the noon-time church bells tolled. The leaflets urged people to seek help if they have been sexually victimized by religious figures. "This is the beginning," Moore said. The 39-year-old woman accused the Rev. Father Rene Robert in December of making unwanted sexual advances. Since then, he has been suspended from San Sebastian Catholic Church by the Diocese of St. Augustine. Robert was recently cleared of criminal wrongdoing by Assistant State Attorney Maureen Sullivan Christine. -- St. Augustine Record, http://www.staugustine.com/ stories/ 030303/new_ 1364852.shtml , by Ken Lewis, Mar 3 03
• Maine bishop sends mass mailing marking one-year anniversary of scandal. PORTLAND, Maine: The head of Maine’s Roman Catholic diocese has written a letter to the state’s 240,000 church members explaining what steps the diocese has taken since the clergy sexual abuse scandal broke just over a year ago. In the letter, Bishop Joseph Gerry describes the past year as "tumultuous and painful for all involved, especially the victims/survivors." He said he remains "saddened and distressed" about the abuse. The letter describes what steps the diocese has taken in response in response to the abuse, and is accompanied by two brochures: one to explain available services to victims of abuse, the other to describe the training programs the church has adopted in an attempt to prevent future abuse. "I believe these initiatives will not only help us to prevent abuse but also will begin to address the immeasurable pain endured by victims/survivors," Gerry wrote. -- Foster's Daily Democrat, (AP), http://www4.fosters.com/ News2003/March2003/ Mar_03/News/reg_me_ 0303h.asp , Mar 3 03
[COMMENT: The scandal didn't "break" just over a year ago -- it has been exposed on and off since at least 1985, and all Church leaders knew quite well its psychological reasons, if academics like Thomas Doyle and Richard Sipe are any guide. Read the Grand Jury reports to get a fuller understanding. COMMENT ENDS] [Mar 3, 03]
• Now-dead Fr Koerner corrupted children 1963 to 1990. SAN DIEGO (CA): Parishioners attending Mass yesterday at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in the Imperial County town of Calipatria were told that a now-dead priest molested several minors during his 27-year tenure. In a letter distributed during services, San Diego Bishop Robert Brom said his investigation found that the Rev. Robert S. Koerner "sexually abused children throughout the years of his pastorate at St. Patrick's, from 1963 to 1990." Brom's letter asked other victims or their families to contact the diocese. He also apologized "to Father Koerner's victims and their families for the harm done to them. I wish to reach out to them with pastoral concern and care and to promote healing and reconciliation with them." -- San Diego Union-Tribune, "Inquiry names now-dead pastor," http://www. signonsandiego. com/ news/metro/ 20030303- 9999_1m3priest.html , by Sandi Dolbee, Mar 3 03
• Madison diocese seeks dismissal of lawsuit. MADISON (WI): Madison - The Madison Roman Catholic Diocese has asked a judge to dismiss a civil lawsuit accusing it of failing to protect an altar boy from being sexually abused by a priest in 1969 and 1970. The diocese had no information relating to possible sexual misconduct or other possible inappropriate behavior by Father Kenneth Klubertanz until June 6, 2002, the diocese said in documents filed Friday in Dane County Circuit Court denying all allegations in the lawsuit. A 46-year-old plaintiff, identified in court papers as "John Doe," alleges Klubertanz sexually abused him in 1969 and 1970 while a priest at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Reedsburg. -- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, http://www.jsonline.com/ news/state/ mar03/122761.asp , From Journal Sentinel staff and The Associated Press, Posted by Ann Brentwood 4:34:31 AM, (Poynteronline 05 Mar 03), Mar 4 03
• Ex-priest may fight sex case extradition. [Woodcock (Marist)] RCC. UPPER HUTT, NEW ZEALAND: A former New Zealand priest accused of sexually abusing children is likely to appeal against extradition from London. Alan Woodcock, 54, is accused of indecently assaulting teenage boys at Silverstream in Upper Hutt, Wellington and Palmerston North between 1982 and 1985 while working as a teacher. The former Marist priest was arrested in London in August last year. Detective Sergeant Murray Porter of Upper Hutt, who is heading the investigation, asked British authorities to begin court proceedings to have Woodcock extradited to face sexual abuse charges in New Zealand. Mr Porter said yesterday that Woodcock had been given more time to decide whether to lodge an appeal with the Home Secretary. "We had not had any official notification from the UK as to the status of the Woodcock extradition appeal, though we know he has been given an extension till March 12," Mr Porter said. "But indications from crown prosecutions and our police liaison in the UK are that an appeal is probable." If an appeal was pursued extradition could be delayed up to two years. [Emphasis added] -- The Dominion Post, http://www.stuff.co.nz/ stuff/0,2106,2304360 a11,00.html , [Posted by Ann Brentwood 3:49:54 PM, Poynteronline 05 Mar 03] Mar 4 03
• Grand Jury spends 10 months, says Manchester bishops lied to authorities, made no effort to restrict paedophiles. CONCORD, N.H., March 3 -- For years the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester was "willfully blind" to pedophile priests, making no effort to restrict or monitor their activities even after they admitted sexual misconduct, prosecutors said today in a public report on a 10-month grand jury investigation. The 154-page report placed responsibility squarely on New Hampshire's bishops, saying decisions to reassign offending priests "were always made at the top." It also said that diocesan officials "made apparently false statements" in civil lawsuits and that, on at least one occasion, the diocese used a confidential out-of-court settlement to keep a victim from speaking to law enforcement authorities. -- The Washington Post, "N.H. Prosecutors Report Diocese Ignored Sex Abuse; Bishops Were Culpable, State Says," http://www.washingtonpost.com/ wp-dyn/articles/ A37074-2003Mar3.html , by Pamela Ferdinand and Alan Cooperman, [Posted by Ann Brentwood, Poynteronline, 3:55:19 AM] Tue Mar 3/4, 2003, Page A03
• Family saw two faces of diocese. NEW HAMPSHIRE: Members of a family in which a young girl was abused by their priest thought a look at his personnel file last week would reiterate the betrayal they already knew. Instead they said it showed church leaders had lied to them more than they had realized. Among their most disturbing discoveries, they said, was a suggestion that a church official was coaching the abusive priest on how to deny their allegations even as he was promising the family he would investigate its claims. "Abused again - that's been my sister's experience with this," said the victim's brother. "I feel like nothing is going to surprise me anymore, and then I go back and look at these documents." -- Concord Monitor, http://www.cmonitor.com/ stories/front2003/ victimside030403_ 2002.shtml , by Annmarie Timmins, Mar 3 or 4, 2003
• State blames Church leaders. CONCORD (NH): Dozens of New Hampshire children could have been spared sexual assaults by Roman Catholic priests had church leaders acted appropriately when they first learned of a priest’s sexual misconduct, a state report released yesterday concluded. "Many, many of the victims said they had no idea the priest posed a danger to them," said Senior Assistant Attorney General N. William Delker, who led the attorney general’s investigation. -- The Union Leader, http://www. unionleader. com/ articles_show.html? article=18731 , by Kathryn Marchocki, Mar 3 or 4, 2003
• Priest accused of paedophilia faces accusers. [Bishop Pahomije] VRANJE, YUGOSLAVIA: Monday -- Before the Vranje Municipal Court's investigating judge, Bishop Pahomije faced five boys who accused him of sexual abuse and abuse of official position, B92 correspondent reports. After the confrontation, lawyer of one of the boys Dragan Nikolic told the press that his client has irrefutably proven that Bishop Pahomije sexually abused him on several occasions. The Judge in the case is expected to hold a press conference today. -- B92 News, http://www.b92.net/ english/news/index.php? lang=english&version= standard&my_categories_class= , [Posted by Ann Brentwood 2:41:59 PM, Poynteronline 05 Mar 03] Monday Mar 3 03
• Silence clauses, Church wilfully blind, 35 priests nearly 60 years, police too failed. - RCC. NEW HAMPSHIRE: The Diocese of Manchester knowingly endangered children by mishandling accusations of sexual abuse by nearly 35 priests for almost 60 years, according to an exhaustive report released yesterday by the state attorney general's office. The report, which accompanied 9,000 pages of church files, also showed that the church demanded silence from victims it settled with; that the police did not always pursue misconduct; and that parents sometimes believed the church over their children. "The state was . . . prepared to establish that in some instances, the diocese was willfully blind to the danger its priests posed to children," the state's report said. -- Concord Monitor, "Church files reveal depth of priest sex abuse scandal," http://www.cmonitor.com/ stories/front2003/ 03mainstory_2002.shtml , by Annmarie Timmins, Daniel Barrick and Amy McConnell, (Poynteronline 05 Mar 03) ? Mar 4 03
!!!: Wants freedom of religion to include freedom to hide criminals' files! LOS ANGELES (CA) : The head of the nation's largest Catholic archdiocese has been resisting giving law enforcement documents tied to sexual abuse by priests. Cardinal Roger M. Mahony's lawyers last week cited 1st Amendment protections in refusing to release communications involving priests being investigated for sexual abuse. Lawyers representing Mahony and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles asserted the prelate's privilege in Los Angeles civil court, and also asserted it the week before in Ventura and Los Angeles counties. The lawyers argued that priest-bishop confidentiality is a foundation of the Catholic religion and interfering with it violates the free exercise of religion. (Poynteronline 05 Mar 03) -- San Francisco Chronicle, (AP), "Cardinal Mahony cites 1st Amendment to hold LA clergy abuse files," http://www.sfgate.com/ cgi-bin/ article.cgi?file=/news/archive/ 2003/03/03/state 0855EST0047.DTL , Tue Mar 4 03
• Boston defence trying "freedom of religion" in 400 cases; Boston judge rejects. Plus, Paul Shanley cases. - RCC. BOSTON (MA): A Superior Court judge Monday denied a motion by the Archdiocese of Boston that would have delayed two lawsuits filed by alleged victims of priestly abuse until the state’s highest court had weighed in on a constitutional appeal. In a separate action, Superior Court Judge Constance Sweeney scheduled a pre-trial conference hearing at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday on these two suits, filed by Gregory Ford and Paul Busa. Both claim that the Rev. Paul Shanley sexually abused them at St. Jean’s parish in Newton when they were children. Last week, the archdiocese appealed Sweeney’s decision that the First Amendment’s guaranteed right to freedom of religion does not shield the church from the roughly 400 civil suits filed against it. The church asked for litigation to halt until a higher court had resolved this question on appeal. -- Foster's Daily Democrat, (AP), "Judge rejects motion that would have delayed Mass. priest lawsuits," http://www4.fosters.com/ News2003/ March2003/ Mar_04/ News/ reg_ma_ 0304a.asp , by Jennifer Peter, Mar 4 03
[COMMENT: Contrast this plea about the Constitutional freedom of religion, to throw out all the court cases, with the recent agreement with most lawyers to seek a 90-day stay of proceedings, to mediate for an agreement "to the satisfaction of all parties", as reported in The Record of Feb 27 03, p 12. END OF COMMENT] [Mar 4, 03]
• Accused monsignor quits. - RCC. SAN BERNARDINO (CA): Monsignor Peter Luque has resigned from the R.C. Diocese of San Bernardino while still under investigation on allegations he molested children, diocesan officials said Saturday. In a letter read to parishioners this weekend at St. Edward's Parish in Corona, Luque said he was leaving the parish. "Unfortunately, the investigation being conducted by law enforcement is not being brought to a speedy conclusion,' Luque wrote. "Our parishioners need to heal and progress toward God's kingdom without the uncertainty of my return to you. When the matter is closed, I will personally visit with you to bid farewell and publicly discuss my future ministry.' Luque, 67, has worked in the diocese, which covers San Bernardino and Riverside counties, for 40 years. He spent 12 of those years as parish pastor at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church and school in San Bernardino. -- San Bernardino Sun, http://www.sbsun.com/ Stories/0,1413,208~ 12588~1214473,00.html , by Felisa Cardona, (Poynteronline 05 Mar 03, Posted by Kathy Shaw 7:30:28 AM), Mar 3 or 4 03
• Landry preyed on altar boys, teenagers, through N.H., Mass., and Canada. - RCC. CONCORD (NH): Leo Landry served at Roman Catholic parishes in three states and Canada, often preying on the altar boys he supervised, state prosecutors said in a report Monday. They said Landry admitted to numerous sexual encounters with teenage boys throughout his 12-year priesthood. Landry, who left the priesthood in 1972, cited an instance in 1967 when he was summoned by then-Bishop Ernest J. Primeau to answer a woman’s complaint that he had been seen having sex with her son at the family’s lakeside camp in Milton. The 13- or 14-year-old was an altar boy at Holy Trinity parish in Somersworth, where Landry was assigned in 1965-66. -- Foster's Daily Democrat, (AP), "Allegations followed Landry through parishes in N.H., Mass., Canada," http: //www4. fosters.com/ News2003/ March2003/ Mar_04/News/ reg_pr_ 0304h.asp , by Larry Laughlin, Mar 4 03
• [Fr MacRae had self-identification problems, now 67 year prison term.] CONCORD, (N.H.): The Catholic Church knew of concerns about former priest Gordon MacRae’s sexuality as far back as 1978, before he became a priest. A psychological evaluation concluded MacRae appeared to have two personalities, one well-adjusted and the other with "an unresolved problem of sexual identification, as heterosexual adjustment is conceived of as threatening and dangerous," according to a report released Monday by state prosecutors. Despite the shaky start, MacRae became a priest. Now he is serving up to 67 years in prison after being convicted in 1994 of repeatedly assaulting one boy, and pleading guilty to assaulting or trying to assault three others. -- Foster's Daily Democrat, (AP), "Concerns about MacRae began early, " http://www4.fosters.com/ News2003/March2003/ Mar_04/News/reg_pr_ 0304e.asp , by David Tirrell-Wysocki, Mar 4 03
• [Fr Boulanger had victims in Berlin, but was left to seduce 20 years in U.S.A.] CONCORD, (N.H.): The Rev. Albert Boulanger’s superiors learned in the 1960s he was accused of molesting children in Berlin but did little to stop him from abusing others over the next 20 years, state prosecutors said Monday. Boulanger was 71 when he died last year, a few days after the Catholic Diocese of Manchester turned over his personnel files to investigators from the attorney general’s office. Because of his death, and because they were unable to interview several alleged victims, investigators said they would not have been able to prosecute the diocese for its handling of his case. The diocese responded to the prosecutors’ report by apologizing for past mistakes and describing its toughened approach to molesters. It said it would not respond to specific allegations. -- Foster's Daily Democrat, (AP), "Investigators say Boulanger’s victims spanned decades," http://www4.fosters.com/ News2003/March2003/ Mar_04/News/reg_pr_ 0304d.asp , by Holly Ramer, Mar 4 03
• Priest told N.H. boy his father died for reporting alleged abuse. CONCORD, (N.H.): A Roman Catholic priest told a boy his father had died because the father had reported the priest’s alleged sexual abuse of the boy to the Manchester Diocese, according to a report released by state investigators Monday. The alleged victim, who was not identified, wrote to the Rev. Raymond Laferierre in 1995, accusing him of having molested him "on many occasions" while Laferierre was assigned to St. Patrick’s parish in Milford. Laferriere, who retired in 1995, lives in New Hampshire. -- Foster's Daily Democrat, (AP), http://www4. fosters. com/ News2003/ March2003/ Mar_04/News/ reg_pr_0304c.asp , by Larry Laughlin, Mar 4 03
   Before he was ordained, a Catholic psychiatrist at St. Mary Seminary in Maryland reported to the diocese that Laferriere had "incipient schizophrenia with homosexual overtones." But he was ordained just the same. -- Union Leader News, http://www.theunionleader.com/ church_ show.html? article=18737 , Mar 4 03
• AG's report names 35 NH priests. NEW HAMPSHIRE: The report released yesterday by the Attorney General’s Office includes material on 35 New Hampshire Catholic priests, 19 from Massachusetts and five members of religious orders. Priests mentioned in the report and associated with the Diocese of Manchester include: Paul Aube; Wilfred Bombardier; Aimee Boiselle; Albert Boulanger; Albion Bulger; Gerald Chalifour; Richard Connors, whose file does not contain allegations that he sexually assaulted minors, but rather that he possessed pornography a witness said appeared to depict teenage boys; Alfred Constant; Joseph Cote; Robert Densmore; Karl Dowd; Eduard Duval; Mark Fleming; Father Fournier (not otherwise identified); Roger Fortier; A.M. Hilary; Alfred Jannetta; Raymond Laferriere; Conrad LaForest; Francis Lamothe; Leo Landry; Richard Lower; Gordon MacRae; Andy Meehan; Francis Mullen; John Nolin; Donald Osgood; Eugene Pelletier; Philip Petit; John Poirier; Leo Shea; John T. Sullivan; Roland Tancrede; Romeo Valliere, and Roland Vielette. -- The Union Leader, http://www.theunionleader.com/ church_ show. html? article= 18723 , ? Mar 4 03
•Canonical trials for accused priests may begin soon. WORCESTER (MA): The revised U.S. Catholic Church procedure for dealing with priests accused of sexual abuse against minors takes effect March 1, paving the way for canonical trials to begin. That means the six diocesan priests currently on administrative leave due to abuse allegations may soon be brought through a canonical process that will determine their future in the Church, according to Msgr. F. Stephen Pedone, diocesan judicial vicar. -- The Catholic Free Press, http://www. catholicfreepress. org/ Canonical.html , by Kevin Luperchio, ? Mar 4 03
• [Payout of $US 700,000 for keeping a known sexual offender in ministry.] NORWICH (CT): The Norwich Catholic Diocese and one of its former priests have agreed to pay $700,000 to settle a three-year-old lawsuit by a man who says he was sexually abused. "John Doe" filed the lawsuit against former East Lyme priest Richard T. Buongirno; the Most Rev. Daniel A. Hart, bishop of Norwich; and the Norwich Diocese for its part in keeping a known sexual offender in a parish ministry. In agreeing Monday to pay $350,000 thorough its insurance carrier, however, the Norwich Diocese denies any claim of accountability, according to its attorney. The suit alleges that Buongirno, while a pastor at St. Matthias Church in East Lyme, molested a 9-year-old in 1990 and 1991 and again in the late 1990s at different locations when "John Doe" was 16 and 17 years old. The settlement allows the accuser some closure, lawyer Robert I. Reardon Jr. of New London said. -- Norwich Bulletin, "Diocese settles abuse lawsuit," http://www.norwichbulletin.com/ news/stories/20030304/ topstories/ 1100935.html by Gregory Smith Mar 4 03
• Profiles of eight priests demonstrate pattern of abuse. NEW HAMPSHIRE: Below are profiles of the eight priests whose cases were highlighted by the state attorney general's office as offering the strongest evidence for a pattern of child endangerment by the Diocese of Manchester. One of the priests, Albert Boulanger, died last June. All of the others, except Gordon MacRae, declined to comment yesterday. [To read the profiles, visit the webpage.] -- Concord Monitor, http://www.cmonitor.com/ stories/front2003/ db_church_2002.shtml , by Annmarie Timmins, Daniel Barrick and Amy McConnell, (Poynteronline 05 Mar 03)
• Senate inquiry into the abuse of children in foster care and institutions. CANBERRA (ACT) Australia: The Senate will look into the abuse of children in foster care and institutions. WA Senator Andrew Murray [Australian Democrats], who successfully moved for the inquiry, said it would be the third in a trilogy of probes after the Stolen Generation and Child Migrant inquiries. -- The West Australian, "Abuse inquiry," Wed Mar 5 03 p 38
• The Pope on Feb 7 2003 approved dismissal without trial in serious cases. WASHINGTON: The Pope has toughened up Vatican norms on clerical sex abuse of a minor, or breaking the seal of confession. The Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith can now dismiss the priest from the priesthood by decree, on certain grave matters, without a formal church trial. The right of appeal on administrative grounds has been abolished. -- The Record, Perth, "Pope refines norms for sex-abusers," by Jerry Filteau, Mar 6 03, p 13
• Uniting Church minister dupes 28+ women. [Crombie] - Uniting Church. MELBOURNE (Vic) Australia: A Uniting Church Minister preyed on dozens of vulnerable women over more than two decades, stealing their hearts and using their money to fund his extravagant lifestyle. The twice-married Reverend George Crombie, 50, was suspended earlier this month by the Uniting Church Synod after it uncovered a trail of abusive and manipulative relationships with female parishioners across Melbourne. After being outed, Crombie said he could leave the country or move to Perth. Most of Crombie's lovers had no idea of his serial conquests or his affairs with other female parishioners, both married and single, during his ministries at Greensborough, Sunbury, Albury, Mount Waverley, and Seaford-Frankston. The Sunday Herald Sun has 18 documented cases of Crombie's affairs. -- Sunday Herald Sun, "Cleric dupes women," http://news.com.au/ common/story_page/ 0,4057,6098668% 255E21902,00.html , by Gerard McManus, Sun Mar 9 03
• R.C. Priests having sex with men and women. CONCORD (NH): Despite their vows, some New Hampshire priests have had affairs. The Diocese of Manchester recommended counseling. New Hampshire church leaders knew Father Aime Boisselle was having sex with men he met in gay bars and public parks in Concord and Manchester. They send Father John Nolin's retirement pay to New Mexico, where he lives with a woman who was his lover in Keene. And they believed Father Donald Osgood was part of a "nest of homosexuals" involving college students and other priests in Manchester. The state attorney general's office has spent the past year investigating priests who broke the law by molesting children. But they turned up another problem as well: priests who violated their vow of celibacy by having sex with women, with men and with other priests. -- Concord Online Monitor, Priest files show limits of celibacy, In addition to child abuse, state found cases of sex with adults, http://www.cmonitor.com/ stories/news/local2003/ 030903_ celibacy_2003.shtml , by Daniel Barrick and Annmarie Timmins, Mar 9 03
• Episcopal priest sentenced to 30 years for sexual abuse. SARASOTA (FL): A defrocked Episcopal priest received 30 years in prison Monday for sexually abusing boys he met at church in the 1970s. Richard Pollard, 74, pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted rape under a plea agreement. His attorney, Charles Scruggs, did not return a phone call Monday. Pollard was arrested in August and charged with eight counts of capital sexual battery involving assaults on one boy between 1970 and 1976. Another charge was added in September after another victim came forward. The offenses occurred at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Tampa, where Pollard served from 1969 to 1974; All Saints Episcopal in Tarpon Springs, where he served from 1974 to 1992; and at Pollard's home, police said. Pollard retired from All Saints Episcopal Church in 1992. Pollard didn't acknowledge any wrongdoing when he renounced his orders in June. The Episcopal Diocese of Southwest Florida defrocked Pollard in June after allegations surfaced from two different men that Pollard fondled them when they were teenagers. -- The Herald Tribune, (AP), "Episcopal priest sentenced to 30 years for sexual abuse," http://www.heraldtribune.com/ apps/ pbcs. dll/ article?Date=20030310& Category= APN& ArtNo= 303100801&Ref=AR , Mar 10 03
• Former English R.C. priest caught in Wales with child pornography discs. [? 2000s Crayden] - RCC. SUFFOLK (England): A former Roman Catholic priest from Suffolk has admitted downloading images of adults having sex with young boys. Father Neil Crayden, 47, who was a priest in Brandon and Haverhill, appeared before Exeter magistrates after detectives raided his home on December 30 and found six child sex pictures. The priest was caught by Operation Ore, which is targeting paedophiles who have used credit cards to access child abuse images from the Texas-based Landslide Productions website. He did not own a computer, but police found the six pictures on a floppy disk. Magistrates were told two of the images were rated at level four of a five-point scale, meaning they showed children having sex with adults. Crayden, who is now living at Marine Parade, Twywn, Mid Wales, admitted receiving child pornography from Landslide Productions in 1999 and six charges of possessing indecent images of children. Magistrates adjourned the case for pre-sentence reports. Originally from Kent, Crayden grew up in Norwich and was priest for the Holy Apostles parish in Earlham. He left in about 1995 and then served as a priest in Brandon and Haverhill, where he was a regular visitor at the local Roman Catholic primary school. Crayden trained as a teacher and before his move to the West Country he was a member of the East Anglian Roman Catholic forum on religious education and served on a Norfolk County Council committee advising on the subject. -- The Evening Star, Britain, "Ex-priest admits child porn charges," http://www. eveningstar. co.uk/ Content/ news/ story.asp? datetime=11+Mar+2003>+ 11%3A39&tbrand= ESTOnline&t Category= News& category= News& brand= EST Online&item id=IPED11+ Mar+ 2003+ 08%3A39%3A 36%3 A690 , Mar 11 03
• Catholic and some other Churches will hold a "Churches' Year of the Child". PERTH: The Catholic Archbishop of Perth, Barry Hickey, has announced there will be a Churches' Year of the Child, this year. He said the United Nations adopted the theme the "Year of Fresh Water" for 2003. However, the Catholic Church and many other Christian Churches had agreed to promote the spiritual and social needs of children. Information would be distributed, giving an opportunity "to reflect upon some of the more difficult issues such as child abuse, the rights of children, and children with special needs." Special dates would include May 15 and October 22. -- The Record, Perth, "Year of the Child," Mar 13 03, p 3
[COMMENT: Well, well! Like politicians, they help to create a problem, and then they rally the public to help solve it! Perhaps the United States bishops, who are even invoking the U.S. Constitution and "freedom of religion" to avoid giving up their files about sordid priests, ought to come to Perth to take part! There had been the distraction of the Perth people over the supposed "weeping Madonna of Rockingham," and now there's these ceremonies. Not a word, however, of paying realistic compensation to the victims of the Irish Christian Brothers at their orphanages of Bindoon etc. in Western Australia, and of asking the Parliament to lift the statute of limitations. COMMENT ENDS.]
• Attempts in five states to open the seal of confession. WASHINGTON: The Catholic clergy sex abuse crisis has sparked a variety of state legislative initiatives to strengthen child abuse laws, including efforts in five states to violate the seal of confession. New bills were introduced early in March in Nevada and Florida. -- The Record, Perth, "Confession violation," Mar 13 03, p 12
• Sex with girls since 1978, even an abortion. SANTA ANA (CA): He sat in the lobby of the jail, his hair graying, his face in his hands and his back to the cameras. John Lenihan, an Irish-born former priest known for his charismatic style in front of congregations, did not want an audience this time. The suspect in a molestation case, whose admitted sexual encounters with underage females date back to 1978, posted $100,000 bail. Then two friends escorted him past the media throng outside the Orange County Jail on Thursday and into a Suburban. Earlier, criminal-justice officials and one of Lenihan's accusers gathered at a news conference to discuss the arrest of the former pastor at St. Edward Catholic Church in Dana Point. -- The Orange County Register, Church and accusers in pain, http://www2. ocregister. com/ ocrweb/ ocr/ article. do?id= 29958§ion=NEWS& subsection=NEWS&year= 2003&month=3&day=14 , by Greg Hardesty And Zaheera Wahid, (Poynteronline Mar 16 03), Mar 14 03
• Ex-Priest's Letter Is Key to His Arrest. CALIFORNIA: A former Roman Catholic priest who allegedly impregnated a teenage parishioner and paid for her abortion 21 years ago was arrested Thursday in Newbury Park by Orange County sheriff's deputies and charged with 10 counts of felony sexual assault on a minor. A key piece of evidence against John Lenihan, who had been a popular pastor at St. Edward Church in Dana Point, was a letter he wrote to Pope John Paul II last March asking to be released from the priesthood. In it, Lenihan, 57, admitted to two affairs with teenagers starting in 1978. Authorities said they obtained the correspondence, notes and other documents from the Diocese of Orange. "They have given us all of these documents we have requested, with the exception of documents that were legitimately privileged," said Orange County Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas. -- Los Angeles Times, Ex-Priest's Letter Is Key to His Arrest, http://www.latimes. com/news/ local/la-me- priest14mar14, 1,5772864.story , by William Lobdell, Mar 14 03
• 15 priests accused, only four charged so far. CALIFORNIA: Victims of sexual abuse and their lawyers want the district attorney to launch more investigations into suspect priests after the arrest of former Catholic pastor John Peter Lenihan on molestation charges. Lenihan, 57, is free on bail after being charged Thursday with impregnating a teen he met at a church in Orange 25 years ago. He denies the charges. "I don't want to sound like the victims are not grateful for the arrest of Father Lenihan," said Katherine T. Freberg, who is suing nine Orange County priests on behalf of 19 who say they were victimized. "However, there are a lot of priests out there who need to be held accountable." Fifteen Orange County priests have been accused of sexual misconduct in civil lawsuits and criminal complaints. Lenihan is the fourth to be criminally charged. Four is not enough, according to victims. "Orange County has been an open field for clergy preying on victims, and it has to stop," said Mary Grant, who settled a civil lawsuit with the Diocese of Orange in 1991 over an alleged sexual relationship she had with Lenihan beginning in 1978. "Arresting one or two priests is not enough," said Grant, whose corroborating testimony helped lead to the felony charges against him. -- Orange County Register, "Priest's arrest brings questions," http://www2.ocregister.com/ ocrweb/ ocr/article.do?id= 30090§ion= LOCAL& subsection= LOCAL &year= 2003&month= 3&day=15 , by Bill Rams and Greg Hardesty, Mar 15 03
• [Boston archdiocesan newspaper denigrates 58 brave "Law must quit" priests.] BOSTON (MA): I was upset after reading the article about conservative columnists in the [Boston archdiocesan] newspaper The Pilot attacking the character of the 58 priests who signed a letter asking for the cardinal to resign ("Priests who asked Law to quit attacked," Page A1, March 8). As a Catholic I am still reeling from the scandals of priestly child abuse and the coverup. The true villains are the numerous priests guilty of pedophilia and the bishops and cardinals who allowed it to flourish under their watch. To suggest, as the conservative writers have done, that a few of the 58 priests who signed the letter had ministerial careers not without "major potholes" is outrageous. The major pothole that Law and his brother bishops drove so many innocent children into is the pothole we should be concerned about. I, for one, was pleased to see the priests call for Law's resignation. I pray for their continued courage and that these conservative attack articles are not the first salvo in an attempt by the archdiocese to blackball these priests. -- BOB MAHER, Sudbury; Boston Globe, "Scurrilous attack on brave priests," http://www.boston.com/ dailyglobe2/074/ letter/ Scurrilous_ attack_ on_ brave_priests +.shtml , Mar 15 03
[FOOTNOTE: The Pilot, first published in 1829, according to its website at http://www.rcab.org/pilot.html , is America's oldest Catholic newspaper. Its present editor is the current leader of Boston Catholic Archdiocese, Most Rev. Richard G. Lennon. It is published nearly every Friday. E-mail: letters@bostonpilot.org END of FOOTNOTE]
[COMMENT: Did you notice the pot-hole metaphor used? Remember Sydney Archbishop George Pell claiming (reported Jun 1 02) that the television interviewer Richard Carleton had "ambushed" him? See how blind these Church people really are? They can't see the "pot-holes" and "ambushes" that molesters lead children into, and that paedophile priests are actual enemies of Christianity! END of COMMENT.] [Mar 15, 03]
• Salvation Army protected and supported minister, abandoned victim. [? 1975 Collins] - Salvation Army. BRISBANE (Qld) Australia: The Salvation Army kept a sex abuse case secret and paid for the offending music teacher to be counselled while his victim was forced to foot her own bills, a Queensland court was told today. Former Rockhampton State High School music teacher Rodney William Collins, 57, was ordered to be of good behaviour for a year and pay $500 after pleading guilty to touching a pupil's breast more than 27 years ago. Brisbane Magistrates Court was told the former student, who is now 42, reported the incident to the Salvation Army church in 1995 after seeing Collins at a congregation meeting in the Brisbane suburb of Carina. Crown prosecutor Craig Power told the hearing the woman was suffering stress at work at the time and her marriage had broken down. He told the court she wrote to the church on advice from her psychiatrist. Collins confessed and had been sent to the same psychiatrist for treatment, which was paid for by the Salvos, while the victim paid for her own treatment. -- Herald Sun, "Teacher convicted of sex abuse," http://www. heraldsun. news. com.au/ common/story_ page/0, 5478, 6126818%5 E170200.html , Fri Mar 14 03
• Keating "stunned": Defiant Bishops Mahony and Lennon pleading Freedom and Privacy to hide crimes! LOS ANGELES (CA): The chairman of the review board named by US Catholic bishops to monitor compliance with their child-abuse prevention plan says he is "stunned" that Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles has raised First Amendment and privacy objections to the release of church documents to law enforcement officials. "I'm very concerned about what this suggests to other dioceses and the Catholic lay community at large," Frank Keating, the former governor of Oklahoma, said in an interview. "Transparency, the clear light of day, a fresh breeze, open windows - that's the policy of the board and the bishops. I'm just stunned that we would try to hide facts." Keating was reacting to Mahony's decision to resist demands for church documents by district attorneys for Los Angeles and Ventura counties, citing the constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion and what church lawyers call a "formation privilege" covering communications between a bishop and his priests. But Keating said he was equally dismayed by similar decisions made by other bishops, including a decision by Bishop Richard G. Lennon, the administrator of the Boston Archdiocese, to cite the First Amendment in a legal motion to dismiss all pending clergy sex abuse suits against the Boston archdiocese. Keating vowed to take up the recent moves by the bishops at the next meeting of the national board, scheduled to take place in Santa Fe at the end of March. But Rev. Dr Thomas P. Doyle, doctor of Church canon law, said he's unfamiliar with any "formation privilege" protecting communications between a bishop and his priests. "It has no foundation in canon law," Dr Doyle said. -- Boston Globe, "Bid to shield priest data faulted," www.boston.com/ dailyglobe2/073/ nation/ Bid_to_ shield_priest_ data_faulted+.shtml , by Michael Rezendes, Mar 14 03
• Bishop says we've 'pierced the boil,' but scandal will be long time ahealing. ALBANY (N.Y.) : In an interview Bishop Howard J. Hubbard of Albany described the clergy sex abuse crisis of the past year as "a dark night of the soul" and "a year of horrendous pain." "The whole year has been one sadness after another. ... When you think you have addressed a problem constructively, it turns out to be inadequate and not responsive to what you were trying to accomplish. It is an unrelenting series of events that are very anguishing and difficult to deal with," he said. . . . Commenting on a recent controversy over his temporary use of a Catholic Charities fund to give a victim $150,000 to purchase a home, Bishop Hubbard said he had acted in response to an immediate need at a time when "the people authorized to sign cheques from the diocesan insurance account were not available." The cheque was written on his promise that Catholic Charities would be reimbursed as soon as possible, and that was done three days later, he said. . . . He said he does not regard the scandal as nearing an end yet. "The fallout will continue to occur over a long period of time," he said. "We have pierced the boil and begun to take steps toward healing. But I don't think there's any magic-wand solution. ... The hurt that has been experienced has been very great. That type of hurt cannot be resolved overnight." -- Catholic News Service, "Bishop feels 'horrendous pain' at sex abuse crisis," www.catholicnews.com/ data/stories/ cns/20030314. htm , Mar 14 03
• Some papers were mislaid, says cardinal, so case didn't get reported -- until reporter got the facts . - RCC. BRITAIN: New allegations concerning Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor's handling of cases involving priests suspected of abuse have produced a swift response from the Church. The same BBC reporter who has been behind the string of stories questioning the cardinal's conduct in his former position as Bishop of Arundel and Brighton made yet another effort to call him into question this week, this time making allegations concerning a case which came to light 10 years ago. The reporter alleged that the cardinal, who said he had reported every such case to the appropriate authorities, had not reported this particular case. But Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor, while admitting he mislaid some papers in this case, strenuously denied any wrongdoing and a statement released by the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton offered a full explanation of the circumstances. -- Total Catholic, "Fresh allegations aimed at cardinal," http://www.totalcatholic.com/ News.asp?Action= View&ID=386CF90DBE0 D48AE8DCE 8381EDF7B F0A &GroupID= FB5C0F4DAE0 C41EF9A7A D5C 0B6 910 8C8 , (Poynteronline Mar 16 03)
• It's Time for Cardinal Mahony to Deliver on Promise of Openness. LOS ANGELES (CA):
I put in a call to Los Angeles Cardinal Roger M. Mahony's office Thursday, trying to find out how he's holding up. It has to be tough physically and emotionally, finding the moral justification to turn authorities away in sex-abuse investigations.
Do you lie awake at night?
Do you pace the halls?
Do you kneel in the new cathedral and pray that no more children get molested while you're sitting on a pile of documents the district attorney is begging for?
It has to be even tougher to stand your ground, ever-defiant, when the results of full cooperation are on display just across the Orange County line.
The arrest Thursday of a priest I first wrote about in 2001 might not have happened without the help of the Diocese of Orange, which threw open its doors and let prosecutors dig around in all the dark corners. . . .
The archdiocese claims it has turned over plenty of documents, but has a constitutional right to withhold communications between the cardinal and suspected priests.
"Prelate privilege" is the term they're using. I don't recall any mention of "prelate privilege" when Mahony said he wanted "every single thing to be out, open and dealt with, period."
Divulging these communications, the archdiocese now argues, would infringe on the church's free exercise of religion. . . .
Helping to prosecute molesters and protect children could infringe on the free exercise of religion?
In the name of the father, son, and holy ghost, what kind of twisted minds are these? . . .
The nights must be long up there at the Rog Mahal.
Pray for him, please. -- Los Angeles Times, "Points West," "It's Time for Cardinal Mahony to Deliver on Promise of Openness," http://www.poynter.org/ news/local/ la-columnist-slopez,1, 4065713. columnist? coll=la%2D headlines%2D california , by Steve Lopez, Mar 14 03
• [Accusation: Raped and sodomised 14-y-o girl in 70s.] LOUISVILLE (KY): "Metro briefs." A Metro Council aide is scheduled to go on trial Nov. 18 on charges that he raped and sodomized a teenage girl in the 1970s when he was a Roman Catholic priest. Jefferson Circuit Judge Thomas J. Knopf set the trial date for Bruce Ewing, who has pleaded innocent to the charges. Ewing was indicted Jan. 30 on one count of third-degree rape and two counts of third-degree sodomy. He is accused of abusing Janet Goodner between 1974 and 1976 while he was a priest at St. Vincent de Paul Church. Goodner, 14 at the time the alleged abuse started, also has filed a lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Louisville. Ewing, who left the priesthood in 1977, works as legislative assistant for Metro Council member Denise Bentley, D-1st District. His attorney, David Lambertus, did not return a call yesterday afternoon. -- The Louisville Courier Journal, "Sex-abuse trial of ex-priest set," http:// www. courier- journal. com/ localnews/ 2003/03/14/ ke 031403s 380575.htm , Mar 14 03
• Camden Diocese court case nine years, wore out 23 victims, $880,000, not millions. CAMDEN (NJ): After spending nine years fighting claims that some of its priests had sexually abused children, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Camden announced yesterday that it would pay 23 plaintiffs $880,000 to end the case. In their lawsuit, the plaintiffs accused 15 priests and numerous church officials of tolerating and hiding widespread child sex abuse within the diocese between 1961 and 1985. During the past year, seven of the plaintiffs tried to convince a Superior Court judge that they had legally acceptable reasons to delay filing their civil action so long. But none of them succeeded and there was no sign the remaining plaintiffs would fare better. "I am hopeful that this reconciliation will speed the process of healing for those who have been harmed in any way," Camden Bishop Nicholas DeMarzio said in announcing the settlement. The award -- which includes $300,000 to be paid to the plaintiffs' attorneys for reimbursement of out-of-pocket costs -- paled in comparison to the millions of dollars in damages the plaintiffs originally sought. . . . During the first eight years of the case, the lawsuit proceeded quietly with next to no press coverage. Then, early last year, it exploded into view just a few months after the church sex abuse scandal erupted in Boston. Last April, reporters crowded into the courtroom of Judge John G. Himmelberg Jr. in Atlantic City to cover the hearings of two of the plaintiffs, brothers Robert and Philip Young. Their testimony, under bruising cross-examination from defense lawyers, proved sensational. The men, in their late 30s, wept on the stand and fought to regain their composure while describing how Monsignor Philip Rigney began groping them at night, during overnights at the rectory, starting when they were 9 and 12 years old. -- Star-Ledger, "Camden Diocese agrees to settle sex abuse lawsuit for $880,000," http:// www.nj.com/ search/ index.ssf?/ base/news- 3/1047626043 190650. xml?starledger?nnj , by Mary Jo Patterson, Fri Mar 14 03

• [Molested at least 12, quietly living on Church superannuation in Church-managed premises, ejected from priesthood.]

   NEW JERSEY: A retired Morris County priest accused of sexually abusing at least a dozen children decades ago has been ejected from the priesthood by Pope John Paul II.
   The Rev. James T. Hanley, now 65 and long retired, was never criminally prosecuted on the allegations that date back to the 1960s because they were reported years too late. However, under heavy pressure from his victims last year, Hanley voluntarily petitioned the pope in June for laicization, or removal from the priesthood.
   "Father Hanley was formally notified Friday, March 7, 2003, that the petition was granted by the Apostolic See. This notification made his laicization effective on this date," Paterson Bishop Frank J. Rodimer said in a statement yesterday.
   Hanley becomes the first priest in New Jersey to be laicized in connection with a national sex scandal that began with revelations in Boston last year that abusive priests were routinely moved from parish to parish by church officials. . . .
   Hanley's case has been the most notorious in New Jersey. Last year, Serrano went public with his story, explaining that in 1986, a year after his family reported Hanley to Rodimer, they were outraged to find Hanley on the front page of the diocese newspaper saying Mass to children at Immaculate Heart of Mary in Wayne. ...
   The Paterson Diocese contends it does not have legal authority to monitor Hanley, especially now that he is no longer a priest. Additionally, Marianna Thompson, a spokeswoman for the diocese, said laicization does not mean Hanley will lose his church pension.
   "By law, he continues to collect his pension because he paid into it. It is not within our discretion to remove it. It's the law," Thompson explained.
   She said the diocese has nothing to do with Hanley's continued residence in a Paterson apartment building managed by the diocese.
   "He lives in the apartment under public assistance -- as a poor person. The diocese manages the apartments, but does not own them and has nothing to do with Hanley's residence there," she said. -- Star-Ledger, "Accused molester no longer a priest," www.nj.com/ search/index.ssf?/ base/news-3/ 1047626038190650. xml?starledger?nnj ; by Brian T. Murray, Mar 14, 2003
• Woman who miscarried priest's baby speaks at penitential service.
   DRACUT (MA): In his first Lenten healing service in the suburbs, Catholic Bishop Richard G. Lennon called on his followers here to support victims of clergy sexual abuse. "Our church as a whole stands in need of healing," Lennon told about 125 priests and worshipers who gathered last night at St. Francis Church. "We need to embrace fully those in our midst who have been abused." Lennon's address focused on traditional Lenten themes of forgiveness and renewal, but included a special Rite of Penance customized to reflect the theme of child sexual abuse. "My brothers and sisters, we have neglected the gifts of our baptism and have fallen into sin. Most especially, the great scandal of the abuse of children by clergy has deeply wounded us all," Lennon said. "The church and its members must make sure the abuse is not repeated." The hour-long service included emotional testimony from Diane Doria, a Malden woman who said she was repeatedly raped over five years in the late 1960s by a priest from her childhood parish in Wakefield. She became pregnant with the priest's child, but miscarried. She was despondent and troubled for decades before seeking and receiving counseling and support from the archdiocese last year, said Doria, now 51. -- Boston Globe, "Lennon takes message to suburbs," www.boston.com/ dailyglobe2/073/metro/ Lennon_takes_ message_to_ suburbs+.shtml , by Erica Noonan, Mar 14 03

THE INTENTION IS TO HELP RELIGIONS IMPROVE
FOR GOOD TEACHINGS TO BE HEEDED, A BIG CLEAN-UP IS NEEDED
Poynter Institute CLERGY ABUSE TRACKER daily, click: http://www.poynter.org/ subscribe.to.clergy.tracker/
(e-mailed at 11 a.m. daily from U.S.A.)
If the original heading or name of an article or newsitem is not used at the start of an entry, the original heading or name will be found elsewhere in the entry.
Some clickable links are for network access only, so might not work for you. AUSTRALIA, CANADA, U.S.A. STATE / PROVINCE ABBREVIATIONS

*** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is available here without profit to people who want to read it for research and educational purposes. If you quote from this, please check (if possible) and acknowledge the ORIGINAL source. ***

To SEARCH only ONE WEBPAGE AT A TIME, you may use the built-in features of your own Browser. With most systems press [Ctrl] + F. This will cause a Find or Find/Replace or Search dialogue box to appear. (With some old programmes, start by pressing [Ctrl] + [Shift] + F. The "Search" button on two leading browsers are not useful for this. However, if your system requires it, click "Edit", then click "Find".) Type in a keyword, and press [Enter], or click "Find Next" or "Find".

Make Webpages to suit ANY Browser or Operating System
Made with monitor screen set to 800 x 600 pixels

To move quickly to the TOP of any webpage, press [Ctrl] + [Home] (or, if in view, click "Top ^ ^" or ^ ^)
To move quickly DOWN to the bottom, press [Ctrl] + [End] (or, if in view, click "Foot v v" or v v)

^ ^ CONTENTS 1 6 Translate Links Events Books HOME v v

< < Back ^ ^ Non-marital REFERENCES 5 101 Overview Outreach Books "Fathers" Secrecy v v Next > >

WWW Search Engines: www.google.com www.metacrawler.com www.looksmart.com ; AVG Free Anti-Virus
Hived off with Microsoft® WordPad© on 4 Apr 03, last spellchecked with Ms Word© (regional spellings and grammar retained) on 26 Oct 03, last modified on 10 Jun 06
Translations: http://babelfish.altavista.com/ www.tranexp.com/ www.alis.com/ http://lingvo.org/traduku
Doc. 238-11: ethicscontents11.htm