• [Sex-abusing priest was active in 1957, BEFORE THE '60s "SEXUAL REVOLUTION," and Bishop Matthew Brady fought the problem.]
NEW HAMPSHIRE: When he learned that one of his priests was preying on teenage girls, Bishop Matthew F. Brady of Manchester, N.H., yanked the man out of ministry. Then he wrote letter after letter -- at least 15 in all -- warning other bishops not to let the priest back into parish work.
Considering how many Roman Catholic bishops have quietly transferred sexual abusers to new parishes, Brady's stand was notable. But what's really startling is the year he took it: 1957.
Brady's letters are among 9,000 pages of documents made public by New Hampshire's attorney general at the end of a grand jury investigation last month.
The correspondence makes clear that sexual abuse by priests did not begin with the "sexual revolution" in American life in the 1960s, as some Catholics have maintained. By the 1950s, the New Hampshire files show,
U.S. bishops had a lot of experience with the problem.
-- Washington Post, One Diocese's Early Warning On Sex Abuse,
www.washingtonpost.com/ ,
By Alan Cooperman,
Tuesday, Apr 22 03; Page A01
[COMMENT: Why couldn't good Bishop Brady have removed this priest from the priesthood? Ah, perhaps one ought to read the article about reinstatements being ordered by the Vatican. COMMENT ENDS]
[Apr 22 03]
• Voice of the Faithful formed in Louisville in Wake of Sex Abuse.
(LOUISVILLE, Ky.) -- Dozens of Catholics stood across the street from the Cathedral of the Assumption in downtown Louisville today to announce that they were forming a new church reform group known as Voice of the Faithful.
Voice of the Faithful was first formed in Boston in the wake of the priest abuse scandals last year. It announced today the beginning of a Louisville chapter with about 40 to 50 members. Worldwide, the group says it has 25-thousand members.
-- WAVE - DT 47 digital television (Louisville, Kentucky),
Catholics Form Group That Calls For Reform in Wake of Sex Abuse,
http://www.wave3.com/Global/story.asp?S=1244470&nav=0RZEFNqg ,
Apr 22 03
[And see: Area Catholics join national support group,
www.courier-journal.com/ ,
LOUISVILLE (KY):
The Courier-Journal,
By Peter Smith,
psmith@courier-journal.com ,
Apr 23 03]
List as Apr 22 03
•
Catholic spokeswoman to quit: Morrissey departing archdiocesan post.
BOSTON (MA): Donna M. Morrissey, the public relations executive who became the face of the Archdiocese of Boston during the clergy molestation scandal last year, is stepping down, church sources said yesterday.
News that she will leave came soon after several diocesan employees were laid off as part of budget-cutting by Bishop Richard G. Lennon, the apostolic administrator overseeing the archdiocese.
-- Boston Herald, Church spokeswoman to quit: Morrissey departing archdiocesan post,
http://www2.bostonherald.com/ ,
by Eric Convey,
Tue Apr 22, 03
[COMMENT: Have sympathy for Ms Morrissey, who had to face the world's news media as bit by bit revelations of the years of squalid behaviour and multiple transfers must have sapped her Faith in her Church, and perhaps in God. COMMENT ENDS]
[Apr 22, 03]
• United Church of Christ reinstates minister caught exposing himself.
ILLINOIS: The Rev. Ron Eslinger, who served as administrator of the United Church of Christ in Southern Illinois until he was caught exposing himself, is now free to seek another ministerial position, a church body has decided.
A spokesman for the Illinois South Conference of the church said the incident will remain on the standardized form used by all UCC congregations when they select a new minister.
Unlike the Catholic church and some Protestant denominations, UCC congregations select their own clergy.
The Church and Ministry Team, the body that made the decision to reinstate Eslinger, includes six clergy and five laypeople.
Eslinger's ordination had been suspended in the wake of his guilty plea to a misdemeanor charge resulting from an incident in which he exposed himself to a neighbor. Two of Eslinger's neighbors in Highland videotaped the incident.
-- St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "UCC reinstates minister caught exposing himself,"
www.stltoday.com/ ,
By Rick Pierce,
Apr 22 03
[COMMENT: "I am the Good Shepherd," said Jesus. Or is the text "Jesus wept" more appropriate? COMMENT ENDS]
Apr 22 03
• Anglicans ban five priests on sex counts and two others; Hollingworth report near,
by Brendan O'Malley , Amanda Gearing and AAP. BRISBANE (Queensland,
Australia):
The Anglican Church has stripped five Queensland priests of their licences to preach after investigating them for sexual misconduct.
Another priest was banned for non-sexual misconduct and two church officials have been dismissed for inappropriate sexual behaviour.
The church made the admissions ahead of a long-awaited report into its past handling of sex abuse allegations which was expected to be handed to Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane Phillip Aspinall today.
-- The Courier Mail (Brisbane), "Anglicans ban five priests on sex counts,"
Wed Apr 23 03
• Hollingworth feared depriving sex-offence bishop of income, By Greg Roberts.
BRISBANE (Queensland), Australia: Peter Hollingworth, when he was the Anglican archbishop of Brisbane, failed to act against a retired bishop who sexually interfered with a 14-year-old girl in part because he did not want to reduce the bishop's capacity to earn money.
The Governor-General has told an inquiry by the church's Brisbane diocese into its handling of child-sex complaints that to take any action against Bishop Donald Shearman would also have had "pastoral consequences" for the bishop and his wife, Fay.
The report of the inquiry was handed yesterday [contrast with Brisbane newsitem above] to Dr Hollingworth's successor as archbishop, Philip Aspinall, who is seeking legal advice about which parts can be made public.
-- Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney,
Wed Apr 23 03
[And see: GG makes inquiry admission: report,
www.theage.com.au/ ,
MELBOURNE: The Age,
Wednesday 23 April 2003]
• Anglican inquiry told "Pastoral" reason by Hollingworth to allow abuser to earn income.SYDNEY (Australia): Governor-General Peter Hollingworth, when he was the Anglican archbishop of Brisbane, failed to act against a retired bishop who sexually interfered with a 14-year-old girl in part because he did not want to reduce the bishop's capacity to earn money.
It would have had pastoral consequences for the bishop and his wife Fay.
Yesterday the report of the inquiry was handed to Archbishop Philip Aspinall, who is seeking legal advice about which parts can be made public.
Shortly before he resigned to become Governor-General, Dr Hollingworth had invited Bishop Shearman to preach at the 2001 Easter service in Brisbane's Anglican cathedral
Bishop Shearman had told the inquiry's head, Melbourne barrister Peter Callaghan, that he would not provide details of discussions at the 1995 meeting attended by Dr Hollingworth. At that meeting it is said that Shearman had admitted sexually interfering with the girl over two years at a Church boarding house in the mid-1950s.
Hetty Johnston, director of Braveheart, said the Dr Hollingworth "remains in a state of total denial over sex abuse issues." The inability to force Bishop Shearman to give evidence demonstrated the need for a royal commission, she said.
-- The West Australian, "Money was a factor in bishop case," (Sydney Morning Herald), Wed Apr 23 03, p 8
[COMMENT: He was a retired bishop by then. Question 1: How did he earn money by keeping his Church's licence to preach? Do they pay them by the sermon? Q 2: Isn't it common for retired people to be unable to earn money? Why should a person who has led a young girl away from the Church be treated any better? COMMENT ENDS]
Article date: Apr 23 03
• Catholics confront sexual abuse in the Church.AUSTRALIA: Voice Of The Faithful [VOTF] is a Catholic organisation claiming 25,000 members worldwide, and it was formed in response to the sex abuse crisis that tore the U.S. Catholic Church wide open last year. Its mission is to support the victims of clerical sexual abuse, to support "priests of integrity" and to lobby for structural change within the Church. We talk with founding member Svea Fraser. . . .
Svea Fraser: I saw this paedophilia crisis as a symptom of a much deeper problem, the cause of it being the centralisation, the hierarchical structure of our Church right now. Having been to seminary and studied the Vatican II documents, I've been well aware of the new model of Church that was explained in the 1960s and articulated so well in those documents, about the Church being all the people of God, on a pilgrim journey – and in fact, had felt the frustration and disappointment that it hadn't really taken hold yet. This crisis raised for me, and for many others, the recognition that the structure that was in place, the monarchical model of Church, was no longer effective. Because what it had done was it had provided an opportunity – with the clericalism, with the secrecy – to have this kind of abuse of power happen. And for me, it was very much a clash of models of Church – but prior to that was first the sense of deep commitment to helping these children who had been so abused, that this was my faith family that had done it to them. Before anything else, before any of that analysis took place, it was a sense of standing with them, of wanting to do something to help make it better, and to tell them that we were sorry this had happened.
-- Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Radio National, Religion Report, "Catholics confront sexual abuse in the Church,"
www.abc.net.au/rn/ , with Stephen Crittenden,
Apr 23 03
• Statute of Limitations gets Palm Beach Diocese dropped from abuse negligence lawsuit
PALM BEACH (FL): A judge dropped the Diocese of Palm Beach from a lawsuit alleging it was negligent for employing a priest accused of sexually abusing two men, saying the statute of limitations had expired.
Circuit Judge Jeffrey Winikoff made his decision Tuesday because the alleged incidents happened about 14 years ago. State law requires negligence claims to be filed within up to seven years after reported
abuse.
"The judge followed the law and we are pleased with that," said C. Brooks Ricca Jr., attorney for the Roman Catholic diocese and the former priest, Matthew Fitzgerald.
The ruling also applies to the Diocese of Rockville Center in New York, which was accused of sending Fitzgerald to the Palm Beach Diocese in 1989 without disclosing sex-related allegations in New York.
-- Herald Tribune, "Palm Beach Diocese dropped from abuse lawsuit,"
,
(The Associated Press),
Apr 23 03
• "A Nun's Story": How can all of this criminal activity in Catholicism go on so protected and hidden for so long? UNITED STATES:
Rarely does a day go by now that someone doesn't ask what I think of "the big priest scandal," and "what did nuns know?" Did we know all that sexual abuse was going on? Those are questions every church worker needs to be asked, because if we too have been part of the denials and cover-ups, then we too have some serious and soulful owning up to do. We too have abused all those children.
While I obviously can't tell you "what all nuns know," I can tell you what I know, both as a product of Catholic grade school, high school, college, and grad school, as well as a nun of almost 40 years. And while no single one of us can ever represent all nuns, I can tell you that there probably isn't a nun alive and well right now who isn't thinking about what they know and how this could happen. All those who work in the church cannot help but ask those questions. The horror and depravity that's been revealed so far is enough for the whole world to cry out for total justice. The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. So help us God!
"How could this happen?" is the question any thinking person asks every time another layer of clerical scandal is revealed: evermore sexual abuse, billions in settlements and hush money, and not only decades, but a long, dark history with centuries of highly organized denials, threats, and cover-ups. All of which continue without interruption even as I write. How could this happen? How can all of this criminal activity go on so
protected and hidden for so long? How could so many of us not see? Not just nuns and priests, but all who are part of the Catholic Church – how did we not see this coming? Or did we? When I look at everything I know
now, I'm beginning to wonder. I'm beginning to feel as though I saw far more than I ever realized. Every day I see more and more how the crisis in the Catholic priesthood is so much greater than the sum of its pedophile
priests.
-- Religious News Online, "A Nun's Story": What I Know About the Priest Scandal,
www.sweenytod.com/rno/ ,
By Sr. Karol Jackowski,
(Posted by Kathy Shaw 4:48:57 PM, Poynteronline Apr 23 03)
•
Catholic Abuse Survivor: We're unwilling to forgive decades later because of the simultaneous assault on our forming personalities, and there's abuse of power.
UNITED STATES: In the past year, thousands of adults who grew up in Catholic schools, parishes, and churches throughout the world, have stirred their memories and begun to disgorge a horrific litany of sexual exploitation at the
hands of the clergy. But as horrible, as unforgivable, and as worthy of prosecution as each of the individual acts of sexual abuse or violence may be, the focus on these acts alone misses the point.
As a survivor of sexual abuse by a priest, I have watched with dismay as the scandal around the Church's protection of its priests has devolved into arguments about gay priests, married priests, and celibacy. The
crisis in the Roman Catholic Church is not about sexual desire. It is about abuse of power: rampant, arrogant, and systemic.
The perpetrators include the offending priests, the hierarchy that has protected them, and thousands of other priests who have turned a blind eye. Each has excused himself from the moral, ethical, and civil strictures of society in the name of protecting what they see as their greater calling. The result is a pervasive, calculated, and often sadistic betrayal of all who have expected safe haven in the church.
The fondling, masturbation, and rapes were the weapons. We victims have described those painful events in detail in media interviews, depositions, and criminal investigations. The touching of our bodies was despicable.
But what has left so many of us still unwilling to forgive decades later is the simultaneous assault on our forming personalities. At a time in life when we were beginning to sort out who we would become as adults, these defining events added vulnerability, self-blame, shame, a deep mistrust in relationships, and a loss to [?of] faith in whatever strengths and weaknesses we already possessed.
-- Religious News Online, Clerical Abuse: A Case Against Forgiving or Forgetting,
www.sweenytod.com/rno/ ,
(Poynter Apr 23 03)
•
Archbishop Flynn might be Law Replacement
BOSTON (MA): The search for Cardinal Bernard Law's permanent replacement at the Boston Archdiocese heated up Wednesday.
Sources tell the Boston Herald that the search for a replacement is now focused on Archbishop Harry Flynn of Minneapolis-St. Paul.
Flynn helped clean up the diocese of Lafayette, La., following a sex abuse scandal in the early '80s.
Archbishop Edwin O'Brien, head of the Archdiocese of the Military is also on the list of candidates, though he has previously said he has no plans of coming to Boston.
-- TheBostonChannel.com TV, "Report: Church Focuses On Law Replacement,"
www.thebostonchannel.com/ ,
(Poynteronline Apr 23 03)
•
Rev. Kevin B. Sullivan resigns; 'immoral act' alleged.
BETHALTO (IL): The priest at Our Lady Queen of Peace Church resigned April 15 amid controversy over allegations of impropriety, church officials confirmed Tuesday.
The Rev. Kevin B. Sullivan resigned April 15 after an accusation that he committed a serious "immoral act," said Kathie Sass, director of communications for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield.
"No illegal acts were committed, nor did (the immoral act) involve a minor," a Church spokesperson said.
Sass said the diocese received a complaint not more than a week before Sullivan's resignation. She said the diocese investigated the allegation, and Bishop George J. Lucas asked Sullivan to resign.
"(Sullivan) has been removed from active ministry," she said.
-- The Telegraph, "Priest resigns; 'immoral act' alleged,"
www.zwire.com/ ,
by Cynthia M. Ellis,
(Poynteronline Apr 23 03)
•
Mons. Peter H. Luque will face sexual charges.
CALIFORNIA: A Catholic priest who worked in the Diocese of San Bernardino for more than 40 years was charged Tuesday with sexually assaulting two teenage boys in San Bernardino and Colton in the 1960s.
Monsignor Peter H. Luque, 68, in a letter mailed Tuesday, was ordered by the District Attorney's Office to appear for arraignment on May 22 in San Bernardino Superior Court, Chief Deputy District Attorney John Kochis said.
Luque faces 12 felony counts, including oral copulation, lewd act on a child and sodomy, stemming from allegations he sexually assaulted the boys from June 1963 to February 1969.
The alleged molestation started when the boys were 13 and 14 and continued for years, according to a 12-page complaint filed by the District Attorney's Office.
-- San Bernardino Sun, "Priest will face sexual charges,"
www.sbsun.com/ ,
By Joe Nelson,
(Poynteronline Apr 23 03)
•
123 rabbis said she lied -- even though a second victim spoke too.ISRAEL: After complaining that a senior rabbi harassed her, a settlement resident becomes an outcast.
They warned her mother that her sisters' chances of a good match would be damaged, claims B.G. They tried to turn her brother and her husband's family against her. Over 100 rabbis, she says, including at least three
candidates for the post of chief rabbi, signed notices that appeared in newspapers calling her a liar. Speeches have been made denouncing her, she claims, while Rabbi Moshe Bleicher, head of the Shavei Hebron Yeshiva, has published an article saying she suffers from mental illness and from hallucinations.
This is only part of the degradation B.G., a settlement resident, has suffered since a newspaper interview five months ago in which she alleged that she had been the victim of "improper behavior of a sexual nature," as
she puts it, on the part of Beit El rabbi, Shlomo Aviner, who also heads the Ateret Cohanim Yeshiva.
A second woman also alleged in the same interview that Aviner had sexually harassed her, both physically and verbally, and that she had been forced to move away.
"The mask of abuse and scheming that we lifted simply astounded us - 123 rabbis claimed that the two women were crazy and liars without knowing a thing about them, just because of what Rabbi Aviner and Rabbi Bleicher said," says Hannah Kahat, head of Kolech ("Your Voice") a forum for religious women that seeks to improve their status within the community.
-- Haaretz, "When no one can hear you scream,"
www.haaretzdaily.com/ ,
By Ruth Sinai,
(Poynteronline Apr 23 03)
•
Victims' network SNAP tells diocese to back off .
TOLEDO (OH): The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests asked the Toledo Roman Catholic Diocese to suspend church-sponsored support groups for abuse victims, but church officials said yesterday the groups will continue.
"We have grave concerns about these meetings," SNAP founder Barbara Blaine said. "We believe the safety of victims is at risk."
The diocese recently hired two counseling professionals to run support groups for people abused by church officials. Two sessions have been held so far at Corpus Christi Parish on Dorr Street.
The Rev. Michael Billian, chancellor of the diocese, said a few victims asked the church to organize the group. "We set it up to be completely independent of the church," he said.
-- Toledo Blade, "Victims' network tells diocese to back off ,"
,
Apr 23 03
•
19 seek to join lawsuit against 2 Kentucky dioceses --Fr Nienaber cases.
KENTUCKY: Nineteen plaintiffs are seeking to join a lawsuit against the Roman Catholic dioceses of Lexington and Covington, raising to seven the number of priests accused of past sexual abuse in the case.
The amended lawsuit, filed Monday in Fayette Circuit Court by Lexington attorney Robert Treadway, added 19 plaintiffs, bringing the total number of people suing the two dioceses to 24. Treadway is seeking class-action
status in the cases.
Seventeen of the new plaintiffs, all female, are accusing the Rev. Leonard Nienaber of sexually abusing them as children in the 1960s and 1970s while he worked at Mary Queen of the Holy Rosary Church in Lexington.
One of the original five plaintiffs, a male, had also accused Nienaber.
The two other new plaintiffs are each accusing a different priest.
-- The Courier-Journal, "19 seek to join lawsuit against 2 Kentucky dioceses,"
www.courier-journal.com/ ,
By Peter Smith psmith@courier-journal.com ,
Apr 23 03
[And see: 19 want to join suit vs. diocese,
www.kentucky.com/ ,
By Louise Taylor,
KENTUCKY
Lexington Herald-Leader]
List as: Apr 23 03
•
Man-boy sex pictures, indecency with boy, but paedophile Fr Neil Crayden escapes prison UNITED KINGDOM: A Roman Catholic priest from Norwich, who downloaded internet images of adults having sex with young boys, has escaped a jail sentence.
Father Neil Crayden, 47, had already been moved from his parish after indecently assaulting a 15-year-old boy when he was caught with the child pornography.
The priest was caught by Operation Ore, which is targeting paedophiles who have used credit cards to access child abuse images from an American website.
He had admitted receiving child pornography from Texas-based Landslide Productions in 1999 and six charges of possessing indecent images of children at an earlier court hearing.
-- Evening News, "Paedophile priest escapes prison,"
www.eveningnews24. co.uk/ ,
Apr 23 03
• [2 More Men Accuse Retired Fr Carl Sutphin; now 6 men; motives doubted by defence lawyer, still!]
VENTURA (CA): Ventura County prosecutors filed additional criminal charges Tuesday against a retired Catholic priest after two more men came forward with allegations that they were molested as boys three decades ago.
Father Carl Sutphin, 70, now faces 14 counts of child molestation involving six boys during the late 1960s and 1970s.
During a court appearance Tuesday, Sutphin's attorney, James Farley, told a judge he will seek a complete dismissal of charges by challenging a controversial state law that allows prosecutors to file sex-abuse counts
years after an alleged crime has occurred.
Outside the courtroom, Farley, a Catholic deacon, described his client as a compassionate man who has been unjustly accused amid national hysteria over alleged sex abuse by priests.
"I always have to question the motives of people who are coming forward after all these years," Farley said. "Most of these counts are over 30 years old."
-- Los Angeles Times, "2 More Men Accuse Retired Priest,"
www.latimes.com/ ,
By Tracy Wilson,
Apr 23 03
•
Boy 13 Testifying In Fr Peter Kiarie's Abuse Trial of June 16 2002 Allegations. [Current, acquitted later]
QUEENS (NY): A 13-year-old Queens boy testified yesterday that a Catholic priest became upset and ridiculed him after the boy rejected his sexual advances during a day trip to the Rockaways last year.
Speaking of the Rev. Peter Kiarie, the neatly dressed, bespectacled seventh-grader told a jury in Queens Criminal Court in Kew Gardens: "He started calling me names like stupid and fat. He got angry."
The boy, who was 12 at the time, said Kiarie, 42, fondled and groped him several times after he and the priest convinced the child's mother to let them go by bus to the beach without her on June 16.
-- Newsday, "Testimony In Priest's Abuse Trial,"
www.newsday.com/ ,
By Herbert Lowe,
Apr 23 03
•
Deliberations in Fr George H. Robichaud's trial enter third day
LACONIA (NH): The 12 member jury panel — six men and six women — deciding the fate of a priest accused of raping a young boy deliberated all day Tuesday without reaching a verdict.
The Rev. George H. Robichaud, 59, of Sanbornton, is charged with one count each of aggravated felonious sexual assault and attempted aggravated felonious sexual assault involving a 15-year-old boy in 1985.
Twice during Tuesday's day-long deliberations, the jury raised questions.
The jurors' inquiries were not made public.
-- Foster's Daily Democrat, "Deliberations in priest's trial enter third day,"
http://www4.citizen.com/ ,
By Gordon D. King,
Apr 23 03
•
Bishop Reilly refuses to disclose abuse numbers and costs to VOTF.
WORCESTER (MA): Bishop Daniel P. Reilly told members of Worcester Diocese Voice of the Faithful [VOTF] that he will not disclose information they requested on the numbers of sexual abuse victims and abusers or the total financial costs associated with the church scandal.
With his written response, the bishop enclosed a clipping from The Catholic Free Press, which he publishes, that explained how he is dealing with the church abuse scandal.
Mary Keville of Harvard, Voice of the Faithful coordinator, said the response, which she got late last week, was a "non-answer" and "disappointing," and the group's leadership will have to decide what its response will be.
In February, Voice of the Faithful asked the bishop to disclose numbers of minors and women who were victims, the number reported to legal authorities, the disposition of all complaints and the number of
confidential agreements reached with victims; the total financial cost to the diocese, including all settlements, services to victims, legal fees, and medical and psychological treatment of offenders; child support payments and what the sources of these funds were. The organization also wanted to know the total number of priests and church workers against whom credible allegations of sexual abuse were made.
-- Telegram & Gazette, "Bishop refuses to disclose abuse numbers,"
http://wtnlb.us.publicus.com/ ,
by Kathleen A. Shaw,
Apr 23 03
•
Archbishop search heats up: Minnesota cleric Harry J. Flynn reportedly among candidates for post.
BOSTON (MA): Boston could soon have a new archbishop and speculation is increasingly focusing on a Minnesota prelate with a history of confronting clergy sexual abuse.
In typical cases for choosing diocesan heads, the process takes at least four months from the resignation or death of an incumbent to pick his successor. In Boston, where apostolic administrator Richard G. Lennon
replaced Bernard Cardinal Law, that milestone passed 10 days ago.
While cautioning that any commentary is speculation until the pope makes his choice, well-placed Catholics here and abroad pointed to Archbishop Harry J. Flynn of Minneapolis-St. Paul as a likely successor to Law.
Lennon is unlikely to become archbishop under church tradition.
The Rev. Thomas Reese, editor of the Jesuit weekly magazine America,' said the Vatican's timing will probably dictate the type of archbishop Boston gets.
"In the case of Boston, the fundamental question is: Has the Vatican decided to leave Lennon in to clean up the mess so the new man can come up with a clean slate and pull the diocese back together?" said Reese, "or
do they want to put somebody in to finish cleaning up the mess rather than having Lennon finish cleaning up the mess."
Flynn would fit the latter bill.
-- Boston Herald, "Archbishop search heats up: Minnesota cleric reportedly among candidates for post," http://www2.bostonherald.com/ ,
by Eric Convey, Wed Apr 23 03
• [Police lay more charges in B.C. indigenous abuse investigation; Fr Edward Fitzgerald is in Ireland; thousands of complaints.]VANCOUVER (CP, Canada): More charges have been laid in a broad, long-running investigation into abuse at aboriginal residential schools in British Columbia.
A 77-year-old former Vancouver Island man faces 21 sex and assault-related charges. Edward Gerald Fitzgerald now is living in Ireland and investigators are working to try to bring him back to Canada to stand
trial. He is charged with 10 counts of indecent assault, three of gross indecency, two of buggery, and six counts of common assault.
The offences were said to have taken place while Fitzgerald was a dormitory supervisor at the Lejac Indian Residential School near Fraser Lake, in northern British Columbia, and the Cariboo-St. Joseph's Indian
Residential School near Williams Lake in the central part of the province, between 1965 and 1973.
Police said Wednesday the alleged incidents involved 10 male students.
The RCMP said the Native Indian Residential School Task Force now has completed its investigation of allegations of physical and sexual abuse at 15 residential schools in British Columbia.
The schools were set up under a federal policy aimed at assimilating aboriginals and run for decades by various Christian churches. The last one closed in the 1970s.
"We've had literally thousands of complaints come in on this, so it's taken a quite a while to process all of them," said task force spokesman Cpl. Mike Pacholuk.
-- The Canadian Press, "Police lay more charges in B.C. residential abuse investigation,"
www.canada.com/ ,
by Terri Theodore,
Apr 23 03
•
Catholic man fastens protest about sex abuse on church door.
ANCHORAGE (Alaska): An 85-year-old Anchorage man, angered that Catholic Church officials here failed to grant the same honors to the victims of an abusive priest as were recently given to the priest himself, staged a public protest Wednesday in which he revealed his own sexual exploitation by an itinerant priest nearly three-quarters of a century ago.
With television cameras rolling, Vincent Doran, a World War II bomber pilot who still works part time designing sewage treatment plants, engaged in a modern re-enactment of sorts of Martin Luther's 16th-century protest of church corruption.
Luther nailed his 95 theses to a church in Germany, sparking the Protestant Reformation. Doran used packaging tape to affix his poster to a metal door of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in West Anchorage, accusing "good priests" of complicity by not speaking out against abusers. He also proposed a series of reforms that would protect children in at least his own parish.
-- Anchorage Daily News, "Catholic man challenges church over sex abuse,"
www.adn.com/ ,
By Nicole Tsong
Apr 24 03
• [Keep low profile, Anglican Hollingworth told sex-case bishop.]SYDNEY (Australia): As Anglican archbishop of Brisbane, Peter Hollingworth told a retired bishop who sexually interfered with a 14-year-old girl to "keep a low profile" for a short time because he was concerned the church might be damaged by adverse publicity.
In other developments, a leading academic and feminist, Wendy McCarthy, has attacked the church over its refusal to pay compensation to the victim.
The Governor-General has told the inquiry by the church's Brisbane diocese into its handling of child sex abuse complaints that he failed to act against Bishop Donald Shearman because he did not want to reduce the bishop's capacity to earn money.
Bishop Shearman has admitted interfering with the girl over two years in the mid-1950s at a church boarding house in the NSW town of Forbes.
-- Sydney Morning Herald, "Keep low profile, Hollingworth told sex-case bishop,"
www.smh.com.au/ ,
By Greg Roberts,
Apr 24 03
• Anglicans seek legal check on sexual abuse report.BRISBANE (Queensland), Australia: The Anglican Church is to seek legal advice before releasing an independent report into its handling of sexual abuse complaints.
The advice will be on how much could be released without defaming anyone mentioned in it. In Canberra a spokesman for former Brisbane archbishop, now Governor-General Peter Hollingworth, said he had not received and did not expect to receive a copy until the legal advice had been received.
The report follows a civil court award of $800,000 to a former student at Toowoomba Preparatory School because the school and the Church had failed in its duty of care.
. Dr Hollingworth's wife Ann is expected to have a mastectomy because of breast cancer, Government House announced yesterday.
-- The West Australian, "Church seeks legal check on sexual abuse report," (Australian Associated Press), Thu Apr 24 03, p 11
• Melbourne, Australia Embraces VOTF's Svea Fraser.MELBOURNE (Victoria), Australia: As a testimony to the compelling nature of the VOTF message, and to the hunger of the People of God to help heal and renew the Catholic Church, devoted Catholics in Melbourne, Australia embraced VOTF's Svea Fraser with open arms. As reported in the April 20, 2003 issue of Melbourne's The Age, Svea, a trustee and co-founder of Voice of the Faithful, was warmly received during several speaking engagements throughout Greater Melbourne in her April sojourn to that city.
In her several talks to hundreds of concerned Catholics, Svea emphasized that Voice of the Faithful does not want to supplant the hierarchy, but rather to work with the whole Church as "the People of God," to increase accountability and lay involvement in Church administrative issues. Svea was quoted in newspaper accounts as saying, "The laity are starting to wake up. We do have rights, but also responsibilities … this awful thing has happened, but we don't just have to wring our hands, we can do something about it." This message has given hope, inspiration, and tools to Australian Catholics who are reeling from a clergy sexual abuse crisis in their country, and who are looking for answers and solutions.
At this date, Melbourne Catholics are strongly considering forming a Melbourne-based affiliate of Voice of the Faithful. Msgr. Christopher Prowse, Vicar-General of the Archdiocese of Melbourne, has indicated that the Archdiocese would be open to a Melbourne affiliate of Voice of the Faithful.
-- Voice of the Faithful website, www.votf.org,
April 24, 2003
•
Abortion priest is removed after more allegations made.
BETHALTO (IL): A Catholic priest who was accused of paying for his lover to have an abortion in the 1980s has been removed from active ministry because of a new allegation of impropriety.
The Rev. Kevin B. Sullivan, 66, resigned last week as pastor of Our Lady Queen of Peace Church in Bethalto and was removed from active ministry due to "an allegation of a serious incident of impropriety," said Kathie Sass, spokesman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield.
Sass said the allegation is separate from the abortion allegation that was made against Sullivan and does not involve a minor. The new allegation was reported to the "victim assistance coordinator" for the diocese on April 11. Sullivan gave his resignation after he was called to a meeting with Bishop George Lucas on April 15.
Lucas informed parishioners of Sullivan's resignation last week, at a Mass on Holy Thursday. The diocese is not elaborating on the nature of the allegation.
-- Belleville News-Democrat, Bethalto priest is removed after allegations made,
www.belleville.com/ ,
By Brian Brueggemann,
(Poynteronline, Posted by Kathy Shaw, Apr 25 03)
•
'Brother Vic' arrested in abuse cases.
MOBILE (AL): Brother Victor Bendillo, a former longtime teacher and academic adviser at
Mobile's only Catholic high school, was arrested Thursday on two charges
of second-degree sexual abuse and two charges of enticing a child for
immoral purposes.
The charges, stemming from alleged incidents in the 1990s, were the first
criminal counts filed in a Archdiocese of Mobile.
Mobile County District Attorney John M. Tyson Jr. said Thursday, "This is
only the first set of arrests."
Bendillo, clad in handcuffs and a dark suit, emerged from the back of an
investigator's car around 12:15 p.m. at Mobile County Metro Jail, 450 St.
Emanuel St.
The 74-year-old, who worked at McGill-Toolen High School from 1959 to
1998, did not respond to reporters' questions as he entered the docket
room.
-- Mobile Register, 'Brother Vic' arrested in abuse cases,
www.al.com/news/mobileregister/ ,
By Kristen Campbell and Steve Myers, (Poynteronline supplied),
Apr 25 03
[Also see -- The Times-Picayune, "Catholic brother accused of child abuse to stay in N.O.,"
www.nola.com/ , By Bruce Nolan,
Sat Apr 26 03]
[List as Apr 25 03]
• Cleared Vicar in Line for New Post.CARLISLE (Britain): A CUMBRIAN vicar cleared of child porn allegations could still be made an honorary Canon of Carlisle Cathedral.
A ceremony to award the post to the Rev Bert Galloway was postponed after he was arrested on suspicion of downloading child porn from the internet.
Mr Galloway, 62, was finally told this week that no charges were to be brought against him - more than two months on from his arrest.
-- The News and Star, Cleared Vicar in Line for New Post, www.news-and-star.co.uk/ ,
Apr 25 03
• Priest Cleared of Sexually Abusing Boy on Day Trip.
QUEENS (NY): A Catholic priest from Kenya, the Rev. Peter Kiarie, cried in relief yesterday after a Queens jury cleared him of charges that he sexually abused a 12-year-old boy during a day trip to the Rockaways on June 16 last year.
-- Newsday, Priest Cleared of Sexually Abusing Boy on Day Trip,
www.newsday.com/ ,
By Herbert Lowe, Apr 25, 03
[Emphasis added]
•
California removes two time limitations for 12 months; Fr Baker was given 15 more abusing years.
LOS ANGELES (CA): "This man is the reason we just got that legislation through," said California State Sen. Joe Dunn, acknowledging police officer Manuel Vega.
Vega -- doing his bread-and-water Holy Week fast outside the Los Angeles cathedral in an attempt to convince Cardinal Roger Mahony to release all the internal archdiocesan files on priests -- had testified in Sacramento.
One result: A 12-month clock is running on the filing of criminal charges in sex abuse cases. The clock that has plagued investigating detectives was recently modified.
Meanwhile, as the sidewalk conversations proceeded, former priest Michael Stephen Baker in Los Angeles Superior Court was being ordered to criminal trial on 29 felony charges of molestation. Baker, one of more than 100 Los Angeles priests being investigated, told Mahony in the mid-1980s that he had molested children, but Baker continued to periodically serve in parishes. He retired in 2000.
Dunn, a leader in Sacramento in seeing that two statutes of limitation on sex abuse cases were lifted, said, "We'll stay involved as a legislative body until the victims have had their day in court."
-- National Catholic Reporter, "Battling the 'bunker mentality';
Legislator; lawyer work to give victims day in California's courts,"
www.natcath.com/ ,
Apr 25 03
•
Priestly identity in church's time of darkness
SAN ANTONIO (TX): In an explanation of the importance clergy hold in the lives of Catholics, Fr. R.J. Cletus Kiley said, "It seems to me that most priests have had the experience of the smallest child in the parish coming up to him and saying, 'Are you God?' "
Kiley is a former Chicago pastor and seminary rector currently serving as the executive director of the secretariat for priestly life and ministry at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
He said, "In listening to the victims of sexual abuse in the past year, out of their woundedness, they will say, 'God did this to me.' The intensity of their anger and their hurt at being abused by a priest is more than it is by a schoolteacher because I believe that the iconic power [of the priest] is somehow involved."
Speaking on the second day of a three-day conference sponsored by the Common Ground Initiative, Kiley was one of about 50 Catholics engaged in a frank and wide-ranging discussion about the identity and ministry of the men at the center of the clergy sexual abuse crisis, men who have taken up the role of alter Christus, "another Christ" -- priests.
The list of Catholic leaders who took part in the conference included theologians, lay activists, religious order and diocesan priests, members of religious communities, and three prelates. One participant, Patricia Kelly, a Pennsylvania psychologist and mother of 12 who works as consultant to dioceses and religious communities, said she thought the group represented "a microcosm of the church, although maybe a little weighty on education."
-- National Catholic Reporter, "Priestly identity in church's time of darkness,"
www.natcath.com/ , By Gill Donovan, gdonovan@natcath.org ,
Apr 25 03
•
Third Lawsuit Alleges Sex Abuse At Boys Town
OMAHA (Neb.): Boys Town faces a third lawsuit claiming sexual abuse from decades ago at the home for wayward youth.
Phoenix attorney William Walker said Friday more lawsuits will follow, but he is refusing to say how many more.
Boys Town officials said the claims are unfounded.
Lance Rivers, of Phoenix, a former Boys Town resident, claims in the latest lawsuit filed Thursday in federal court that he was abused multiple times by a counselor from 1981 to 1983.
It is the third lawsuit claiming abuse by the late Michael Wolf, a counselor at Boys Town from 1969 to 1983. He died in 1990. The other lawsuits also allege abuse by the Rev. James Kelly around the same time.
-- KETV 7, TheOmahaChannel.com, "Third Lawsuit Alleges Sex Abuse At Boys Town,"
www.theomahachannel.com/ ,
(Poynteronline, Posted by Kathy Shaw, Apr 27 03) ,
Apr 25 03
• Kicking out sex-molester priests called a 'recipe for disaster', expert from Australia says.CANADA: Local News - For 34 years, Bill Marshall has studied and treated some of the world's most reviled criminals – rapists and child molesters.
When he started counselling inmates in 1969, only the most wicked sex offenders were in prison.
"Right away, I walked into the worst of the worst. I was seeing Bernardo-like cases all the time," he said, referring to the sexual psychopath who tortured and murdered two teenage girls.
Sitting in his downtown Kingston office, Rockwood Psychological Services, Marshall is a cheery man with a huge smile and a strong Australian accent.
Even when he's discussing sex offenders, the people Marshall says many consider the world's worst monsters, the doctor is smiling.
A world-renowned expert on sex offenders and a Queen's University professor emeritus, Marshall says despite the X-rated tales he hears from molesters and rapists, he sleeps well at night.
-- The Kingston Whig-Standard, "Kicking out sex-molester priests called a 'recipe for disaster',"
http://www.thewhig.com/ ,
By Sarah Crosbie,
Apr 25 03
[Bolding added]
• D.A. Subpoenas Files on 14 Priests in Sex Scandal; would "violate fundamental tenets of the faith".
LOS ANGELES (CA): Personnel files of 14 more Los Angeles priests have been subpoenaed, widening the investigation and setting the stage for another confrontation between the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles and prosecutors over evidence in the clergy sex scandal.
The Los Angeles County Grand Jury subpoenas, issued over the last week, are the first this year and attorneys say they almost double the number of files on individual priests and church officials that are being sought by
prosecutors.
Six retired or former priests have been charged with crimes in Los Angeles County. The subpoenas followed the grand jury testimony of detectives from several police departments.
"We continue to vigorously pursue our investigation, and expect it will be very active and intense in the months to come," said Deputy Dist. Atty. Bill Hodgman, chief prosecutor in the clergy cases. Hodgman declined to discuss the specifics of the subpoenas.
Files on 17 priests and church officials were sought last year. But prosecutors have yet to see those records. Attorneys for the archdiocese argued that disclosure of the nearly 2,000 pages of church documents would
violate fundamental tenets of the faith and constitutional protections for communications between priests and their superiors.
-- Newsday, "D.A. Subpoenas Files on 14 Priests in Sex Scandal,"
www.newsday.com/ ,
By Richard Winton,
Apr 25 03
[and see: More subpoenas issued in church abuse scandal,
www.heraldtribune.com/ ,
LOS ANGELES (CA),
Sarasota Herald-Tribune,
The Associated Press, Apr 25 03]
• Archdiocese putting Lowell rectory up for sale.
LOWELL (MA): St. Peter's Rectory, the stately Gorham Street building that was left standing during the controversial demolition of St. Peter's Church in 1996, is up for sale by its owner, the cash-strapped Archdiocese of Boston, it is said locally.
The archdiocese has been strapped for cash since the clergy sex-abuse scandal erupted last year and sent donations plummeting.
In the April 11 edition of the archdiocese newspaper, The Pilot, Bishop Richard Lennon is quoted as saying the archdiocese faces a deficit of nearly $5 million.
-- Lowell Sun, "Archdiocese putting Lowell rectory up for sale,"
,
By Christopher Scott,
Fri Apr 25 03
• Boston Archdiocese Lowers Goal for Fund-Raising Campaign, and Falling Behind in Capital Campaign.
BOSTON (MA): The Archdiocese of Boston today announced its first fund-raising campaign under Bishop Richard G. Lennon, seeking to raise $9 million in a diocese where donations have plummeted and budgets have been slashed since the sexual abuse scandal exploded here 15 months ago.
This year's target is well below last year's projected goal of $17.4 million. The diocese collected $8.6 million through the campaign last year and $16.2 million in 2001. The appeal provides operating money for programs including schools, inner-city parishes and spiritual formation classes.
Damien J. DeVasto, director of the appeal, said the sexual abuse scandal and the sluggish economy were the main reasons for lowering the goal. The archdiocese also did not want to detract donors from its capital campaign, a two-year, $300 million fund-raising drive begun in 2001 that is projected to fall nearly $100 million short.
-- The New York Times, "Boston Archdiocese Lowers Goal for Fund-Raising Campaign,"
www.nytimes.com/,
Apr 25 03
• Mass attendance dips 5 percent, cleric says.
TOLEDO (OH): Since the American Roman Catholic Church has been shaken by a sexual-abuse scandal in the last year, Mass attendance in the Toledo Diocese has declined 5 percent, but eight men also are planning to enter the seminary in the fall, the highest number in 20 years.
The Rev. Michael Billian, chancellor of the diocese, offered both statistics during a taping of The Editors television program in response to questions about how the scandal has affected the local church.
Father Billian was questioned by Thomas Walton, vice president-editor of The Blade, and Marilou Johanek of The Blade editorial board. The Editors will be broadcast at 9 tonight on WGTE-TV, Channel 30, and at 12:30 p.m. Sunday on WBGU-TV, Channel 27.
Asked whether the local church had lost members as a result of the sexual-abuse crisis, Father Billian said Mass attendance has decreased in the last year but that he does not know whether it is related to the scandal or a result of demographics.
-- Toledo Blade, "Mass attendance dips 5 percent, cleric says,"
www.toledoblade.com/
Apr 25 03
•
DA Accuses Archdiocese Of Keeping Child Molestation Hidden; 14 More Subpoenas Issued for files.
LOS ANGELES (CA): Confidential personnel files of 14 more Roman Catholic priests were subpoenaed in a widening abuse scandal involving the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
The subpoenas were issued over the last week and nearly double the number of files sought by prosecutors. Files on 17 priests and church officials were requested for last year but prosecutors have yet to see them.
Six retired or former priests have been charged with crimes in Los Angeles County. The subpoenas followed the grand jury testimony of detectives from several police departments. Prosecutors believe the information in the files will support allegations by more than 12 adults that they were molested as children by priests.
-- NBC 4 TV News, "More Subpoenas Issued In Church Abuse Scandal; DA Accuses Archdiocese Of Keeping Child Molestation Hidden,"
www.nbc4.tv/news/ ,
Apr 25 03
•
Shooting victim may be charged; Blackwell case may go to grand jury; Sexual abuse alleged; Stokes says he
would cooperate in prosecution.
BALTIMORE (MD): Four months after Dontee D. Stokes captured national attention for being acquitted of attempted murder in the shooting of a priest he says molested him, Baltimore prosecutors are close to seeking sex abuse charges against the clergyman, Maurice J. Blackwell.
Law enforcement officials said the case is likely to go to the grand jury in a few weeks.
The state's attorney's spokeswoman declined to comment on the investigation, but Stokes' lawyer, Warren A. Brown, said Friday that prosecutors have told him they want to interview his client.
"The thrust of it is that they're trying to take it into the grand jury," Brown said. "I'm confident they will take it in. They want to wrap this up quickly."
In November, the Baltimore prosecutors sent the Blackwell case to the Carroll County state's attorney's office for an outside review because one of its prosecutors has experience with handling sensitive sex crime
investigations.
That review was recently completed, said Margaret T. Burns, a spokeswoman for the Baltimore state's attorney's office. She declined to reveal the conclusions.
-- Baltimore Sun, "Charges possible against priest; Blackwell case may go to grand jury; Sexual abuse alleged; Stokes says he would cooperate in prosecution,"
www.sunspot.net/news/ ,
By Allison Klein,
Apr 25 03
•
Accused molester is still priest.
SACRAMENTO (CA): A priest accused of sexually molesting at least a dozen young boys in the Sacramento area 30 years ago, and presumed dead, is alive and serving in a church in Tacoma, Wash.
Father Mario Blanco, who was ordered out of the Sacramento Diocese in 1973, is pastor of Our Mary Help of Christians Church, a small traditionalist chapel that operates outside the Roman Catholic Church and does not accept the authority of the current papacy.
Blanco served in the Sacramento Diocese from Oct. 23, 1969, to April 5, 1973, and was dismissed following a church investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct. Diocesan officials later settled two cases in which
the priest was accused of sexual assault. Since last April, at least 10 men have sued the diocese alleging they were molested by Blanco.
Sacramento Bishop William Weigand said in an interview last summer that the cases involving Blanco were "the most serious ever in the diocese."
-- Sacramento Bee, "Accused molester is still priest,"
www.sacbee.com/ ,
By Jennifer Garza,
Apr 25 03
• Priest arranged abortion outside US in mid-60s; a missing 'E' identifies him in abuse lawsuit.
KENTUCKY: The Catholic Diocese of Covington has identified a one-time parish priest as the man a lawsuit alleges arranged for a girl to abort his child outside the United States in the mid-1960s.
The diocese said it knows nothing, though, about the current whereabouts of Father Joseph Browne, 73, who left the active ministry in 1970 after being a priest for 14 years.
The confusion came about partly because the lawsuit filed by Cincinnati attorney Stan Chesley identified the priest as Father James Aloysius Brown. A preliminary records check found no priest by that name.
Diocese spokesman Tim Fitzgerald said he hadn't found anything earlier because he was looking at a limited source of data -- a directory of active priests and priests who had died.
-- The Kentucky Post, "A missing 'E' identifies priest in abuse lawsuit,"
www.kypost.com/ ,
By Paul A. Long, Apr 25 03
•
Priest Cleared of Sexually Abusing Boy on Day Trip.
QUEENS (NY): A Catholic priest from Kenya, the Rev. Peter Kiarie, 41, cried in relief yesterday after a Queens jury cleared him of charges that he sexually abused a 12-year-old boy during a day trip to the Rockaways last year.
-- Newsday, "Priest Cleared of Sexually Abusing Boy on Day Trip,"
www.newsday.com/ ,
By Herbert Lowe,
Apr 25 03
•
Children's institution sex abuse priest Murphy gaoled, McConville let out.UNITED KINGDOM: A former Catholic priest has been jailed for six years for indecently assaulting youngsters at a children's home in the early 1970s.
A second ex-priest escaped a jail sentence despite also being convicted of offences against children at the home in Kent.
David Murphy, 56, from Edinburgh, was jailed on Friday after pleading guilty at Maidstone Crown Court to eight counts of indecent assault.
But 51-year-old Michael McConville, from London, was convicted of four offences and ordered to do 100 hours of community service.
-- BBC News, Sex abuse priest jailed,
news.bbc.co.uk/ ,
(Poynteronline, Apr 26 03)
•
Possible romance: Ex-church office manager gets 3 1/2 years for theft
SAN ANTONIO (TX): A former church office manager who defrauded a West Side parish out of hundreds of thousands of dollars was sentenced Thursday to the maximum: 3 1/2 years in prison.
Jean Reasor, 60, was handcuffed and taken into federal custody after U.S. District Judge Edward C. Prado rejected her request to withdraw her guilty plea to 33 felony counts, saying new information introduced by her lawyers wasn't relevant.
Details of the case remain in dispute, but prosecutors allege Reasor's activity included cashing bogus checks drawn on the accounts of St. Dominic Parish, amounting to $472,756 in losses.
One of Reasor's attorneys, Nancy Barohn, argued that the loss was about $200,000 and that Reasor was the fall guy for activity that involved Father Paul Cleary, with whom Reasor claims to have had a romantic
relationship.
Cleary hasn't responded to requests for comment in the past and was unavailable Thursday. Archdiocese spokesman Pat Rodgers didn't return a call seeking comment.
-- San Antonio Express-News, "Ex-church office manager gets 3 1/2 years for theft,"
news.mysanantonio.com/ ,
By Guillermo Contreras,
(Poynteronline, Apr 26 03)
•
Archdiocese of Mobile plans sex abuse hot line
MOBILE (AL): In response to recently disclosed sexual abuse accusations in the local Catholic Church, the Archdiocese of Mobile plans to set up a hot line so people can report abuse or request counseling, according to a church official.
Some of the information might have to go to the district attorney's office, Farmer said, because counselors are required by law to report such allegations to law enforcement.
-- Mobile Register, "Archdiocese of Mobile plans sex abuse hot line ,"
www.al.com/news/ ,
By Steve Myers,
(Poynteronline, Apr 26 03)
•
Allowance just $600 but priest 'has condo, $1m cash', and goddaughter.SINGAPORE: Joachim Kang Hock Chai received an allowance of $600 a month but managed to build up an impressive portfolio of investments, the High Court was told yesterday.
The 54-year-old priest owned unit trusts, shares and properties here, as well as in Malaysia, Hongkong and Britain.
They included a $1.6 million condominium at Fifth Avenue, which he bought in November 2001, and an apartment worth $840,000 at Teresa Ville, which he purchased in October 1998. He co-owns the second flat with his goddaughter and parish helper Mabel Chia Li Ling.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Daniel Koh said Kang also transferred $1 million from his bank account to one he shares with Ms Chia last July.
Kang is accused of 14 counts of embezzling $4.33 million from the Catholic Church while he was parish priest at the Church of St Teresa between 1989 and last year.
-- The Straits Times, "Allowance just $600 but priest 'has condo, $1m cash',"
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/ ,
Posted by Kathy Shaw 6:57:41 PM
(Poynteronline, Apr 26 03)
•
Constitutional arguments may delay abuse cases for months.
SPRINGFIELD (MA): As many as 20 lawsuits against various clergy of the Diocese of Springfield could be delayed for months as a Superior Court judge ponders the constitutionality of suing church officials for their supervision of priests accused of sexual abuse.
"I don't think anyone in this room would deny that this is a serious case. I intend to study it quite thoroughly," said Judge Lawrence Wernick after a two-hour hearing April 18 on the constitutional issue of church autonomy.
"I think we're not talking about a decision in a matter or weeks. We're talking about a decision in a matter of months," the judge said, acknowledging that his upcoming ruling could have statewide implications.
The question directly before Judge Wernick is whether Shawn Dobbert, a North Adams man who says he was repeatedly abused by Father Richard Lavigne between 1974 and 1986.
-- The Observer, Abuse cases delayed by constitutional arguments,
www.iobserve.org/ ,
By Father Bill Pomerleau, Observer staff,
(Poynteronline, Posted by Kathy Shaw 7:45:23 AM, Apr 26 03)
•
Charged priest asks that status be kept out of trial.
NASHUA (NH): A Massachusetts priest, Frederick Guthrie, 66, accused of soliciting sex over the Internet wants to keep jurors from knowing his former vocation, arguing it
will prejudice them against him.
He is scheduled to stand trial June 2 in Hillsborough County Superior Court.
He faces two counts of misuse of computer services, charging that he used America Online to try to "seduce, solicit, lure or entice a person believed by him to be a 15-year-old male." Each charge is a felony, punishable by up to 3 1/2 to seven years in prison.
Guthrie also faces child pornography charges in Massachusetts, according to court records.
-- The Telegraph, Charged priest asks that status be kept out of trial,
www.nashuatelegraph.com/ ,
By Andrew Wolfe,
(Poynteronline, Posted by Kathy Shaw, Apr 26 03)
•
Clergy Sex Abuse Talks Have Broken Down, Lawyers For About 500 Say.
BOSTON (MA): Attorneys for the alleged victims of clergy sexual abuse say settlement discussions with the Archdiocese of Boston have broken down and that church lawyers want the cases to go to trial.
Lawyers for the nearly 500 plaintiffs, including alleged victims and their families, said they are feeling increasingly frustrated and angry about the lack of progress, and at the "hardball" legal tactics of archdiocese lawyers.
"The results so far have been extremely disappointing to the plaintiffs," said attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who is observing but not participating in the negotiations. "Based on my observation, the settlement negotiations have stalled."
But an archdiocese spokesman said church lawyers report the talks have been productive.
"I spoke with our lawyers today," the Rev. Christopher Coyne said. "They said talks are continuing, that settlement talks are moving well and that they've seen movement forward the past few weeks. We hope to bring this to successful resolution as soon as possible."
-- TheBostonChannel.com, Clergy Sex Abuse Talks Have Broken Down, Lawyers Say,
www.thebostonchannel.com/ ,
(Poynteronline, Posted by Kathy Shaw, Apr 26 03)
• New Anglican problems: Sex abuse report 'tip of iceberg' -- Claims about Brisbane Grammar boys.BRISBANE (Australia): A day after the delivery of a report on sexual abuse to Archbishop Phillip Aspinall, fresh claims have emerged that the Anglican Church is unlikely to have gleaned the full extent of sexual abuse associated with its churches and schools.
Archbishop Aspinall is seeking the opinion of a defamation specialist before releasing the report but with the ink barely dry, a clinical psychologist and children's rights advocate says many abuse victims are just starting to come forward now.
Roz Nutting said the publicly known abuse by former pedophile and school counsellor Kevin Lynch was "the tip of the iceberg" of his activities.
Even now she was regularly interviewing a couple of Lynch's victims each month.
Lynch abused dozens of boys at Brisbane Grammar School and the Anglican school, St Paul's, at Bald Hills, where he worked as a counsellor. He committed suicide in 1997.
-- The Courier-Mail, Church sex abuse report 'tip of iceberg',
www.thecouriermail.news.com.au/ ,
(Poynteronline, Posted by Kathy Shaw , Apr 26 03)
• Catholic priest gets six years for sex abuse of boy and girl victims.EDINBURGH (Scotland): A former priest turned charity worker from Edinburgh has been jailed for six years after pleading guilty to sexually abusing children as young as five during the 1970s.
David Murphy, 56, of Portobello High Street, was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court in Kent after admitting eight counts of indecent assault relating to the sexual abuse of boys and girls at St Mary's Home in Gravesend, Kent.
Murphy, who was working for Penumbra -- a charity which provides support for people with mental health problems -- was arrested years later in Edinburgh in August 2001 .
The home, which was run by the Catholic Children's Society (CCS), provided care for abused and orphaned children who had been taken into care by social services.
An investigation into allegations of abuse there began in 1994 when a former resident, then in her 30s, spoke about what had happened to her to a Catholic priest baptising one of her own children
-- Edinburgh Evening News, Priest gets six years for sex abuse,
www.edinburghnews.com/ ,
by Fiona MacGregor,
(Poynteronline, Posted by Kathy Shaw , Apr 26 03)
•
Judge upholds dismissal of lawsuit alleging abuse by Fr G.Premoshis.
PENNSYLVANIA (USA): A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by a man who said a priest molested him more than 20 years ago.
Charles Hartz Jr., 38, who lives in Michigan, alleged in his lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Greensburg that he was sexually assaulted by the Rev. Gregory Premoshis when Hartz was a student at Geibel
Catholic High School in Connellsville in 1981 and 1982.
Hartz was seeking more than $535,000 in damages against the diocese, Bishop Anthony Bosco and Premoshis, who was a teacher and later president of the school. Premoshis stepped down in March 2002, and Bosco, last summer, affirmed a review board's recommendation that he be barred from public ministry or from publicly representing himself as a priest.
Early this month, U.S. Magistrate Ila Jeanne Sensenich ruled that Pennsylvania law does not allow such suits to be filed more than two years after the alleged acts. She recommended the lawsuit be dismissed.
-- NEPA News, Judge upholds dismissal of lawsuit alleging priest abuse,
www.zwire.com/ ,
(Poynteronline, Apr 26 03)
•
Church of England Vicar had sex with girl of 13.SUNDERLAND (Britain): A vicar is facing jail after admitting a string of sex offences against a 13-year-old girl.
The Reverend Kevin Conway, of Moorside, Millfield, Sunderland, pleaded
guilty to three offences of unlawful intercourse, two of indecent assault
and one of gross indecency.
Conway, 37, a father-of-three, began seeing the schoolgirl when she was
just 12.
He told police that they started by holding hands and open-mouth kissing,
and then had full sex in a car after her 13th birthday.
-- The Evening Chronicle, Vicar had sex with girl of 13,
http://icnewcastle.icnetwork.co.uk/ ,
By Sara Wallis,
Apr 26 03
• Fr Ngwenya has two grown children, not caring for sick mother.JOHANNESBURG, South Africa: The protocol committee of the Catholic Church in Johannesburg has instituted a probe into allegations that one of their senior Daveyton-based priests, Father Paul Ngwenya, broke his vow of celibacy a long time ago by fathering two children.
Father Emil Blaser, the spokesperson for the Catholic protocol committee, this week confirmed that two high-profile priests have been appointed to begin investigations into the long-held suspicions and rumours.
Church elders in Daveyton have called for newly-appointed Archbishop Buti Tlhagale to speed up the investigation.
Four church elders, who spoke to City Press this week, claimed to have done their own investigations into the alleged love affair between Ngwenya and Pumpu Molale of Katlehong, on the East Rand. The younger son is in his 20s.
"The church has known about this allegation for a long time. We reported the matter to the late Bishop Reginald Orsmond," said Bernard Nzama, one of the elders.
Another elder, Charles Mbedle, said: "The father must own up. He must look after his sickly wife and look after his children. He has failed the church and he can't lead us anymore."
Molale has suffered a stroke that has left her paralysed on one side of her body.
-- City Press, "Senior priest may have fathered two children,"
www.news24.com/ ,
by Dulile Sowaga,
(Poynteronline),
Apr 26 03
INTENTION: The intention of this group of Webpages is NOT to HARM religion, but to help religion to remove people who seduce youngsters while hiding behind religion, and those who collude with them. THE INTENTION IS TO PROTECT CHILDREN.
Some clickable links are for network access only, so might not work for you.
** 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. **
