References cont. (35) — Clergy Child Molesters
• Dissident US group establishing a foothold in Australian parishes [-- says RC journal.] -- RCC.
AD 2000 magazine, Melbourne, Australia, "Dissident US group establishing a foothold in Australian parishes,"
www.ad 2000. com.au/ articles /2003/ sep2003p6_ 1429.html ,
by Mary-Ruth Monsour, p 6, Vol 16, No 8, September 2003
MELBOURNE, Victoria, Australia: The Massachusetts President of the Catholic Action League, C. J. Doyle, recently said of the new US body 'Voice of the Faithful': "Now we know what VOTF means by structural change in the Church - Protestant church government, a weakened papacy and women priests. The notion that [it] is faithful to anything remotely resembling Roman Catholicism is an insult to the intelligence of Catholics."
Meanwhile, at least seven US bishops have ordered VOTF groups not to meet on church property - although the group has signalled it may fight this in the US civil courts.
In Australia, on the other hand, the Sydney-based Catalyst for Renewal recently announced its support for VOTF, with one member remarking, "What's so wonderful about this [group] is that it's the middle ground of the Church, not the radical wing."
That claim could be open to question, given that one US observer has described VOTF as a wolf in sheep's clothing.
References: www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethicscontents.htm
Most newsitems are from
http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=46
Voice of the Faithful (VOTF) is an 18-month-old reform movement which began when 28 Boston parishioners met to express outrage at the mishandling of the clerical sex-abuse scandal in their archdiocese.
Now VOTF claims 35,000 members in over 180 parishes worldwide. Although the Australian contact had not yet responded to enquiries when this report went to press, it is known the movement began parish affiliates in Melbourne and Sydney in July. More Australian parish groups are expected. This followed a visit by VOTF President Jim Post.
VOTF's slogan is "Keep the faith, change the Church", but the fidelity of its aims has been questioned.
Under the cover of justifiable grief and anger at child sexual abuse, VOTF has been proving a useful umbrella for some more familiar groups. While it is basically a lay volunteer movement, many of its US leadership are already associated with dissenting groups including Call to Action, CORPUS [Corps of Reserve Priests United for Service], We are Church and women's ordination bodies.
Backed by donations of over $US573,000 to December 2002, VOTF lists three goals: support for victims of sexual abuse, support for priests of integrity, and support for structural change within the Church.
Support services include links with the survivors' network for those abused by priests (SNAP). There is also the very practical $US90 survivor kit (petrol card, phone card, how to find a support group, and $40 cash) to assist victims in coming forward to seek help and lodge compensation claims.
Meanwhile VOTF has also launched a million dollar appeal to cover its own full-time staff and administrative costs.
Programs supporting "priests with integrity" include "sounding board" meetings between approved priests and parishioners, with the goal of helping address clerical feelings of isolation and stress.
One of VOTF's founders and a trustee, Svea Fraser, remarked: "The battle isn't clergy against laity, but laity and clergy against episcopacy." She said VOTF did not want to overturn the hierarchy, but merely make it more accountable and increase lay involvement in Church affairs.
To this end, VOTF initiated its own charity - "Voice of Compassion" - to mirror the Cardinal's Annual Appeal in Boston. As a protest, scandalised parishioners could donate instead to VOC, which in turn would direct funds only to the charities approved by VOTF. So far, this money has been distributed to Catholic charities, but not to any parts of the Church administration, thereby weakening its infrastructure.
It is in defining its third goal that the problems with VOTF become clear. As one critic commented, this goal - if realised - effectively paves the way for a separate Catholic Church founded on popular opinion and public sentiment.
VOTF President Jim Post, recently told an audience during his visit to Melbourne that the facts were grim, with allegations in Australia against several hundred priests by more than 1300 victims. Furthermore, he claimed, this figure was understated and our problem is as bad as the United States in pro rata terms.
He declared that Catholics must choose whether to leave the Church or stay and fight. The faithful, he said, are expected to "just be good quiet Catholics, sit in our pews, say our prayers, put money in the basket when it comes by and don't make waves."
Post added: "Our view is that the Church is capable of cleansing itself from this terrible set of injustices and this evil, and that therefore until there is greater evidence that it's not possible, I think we fully intend to work within the structure of the Church."
Structural change
However, VOTF's goal of structural change is ambiguous and, as Chicago's Cardinal Francis George said, "I can't support an agenda that seems undefined until they're willing to say what they're for; why would you meet with them?"
A VOTF document on change, titled Discerning the Spirit: a Guide for Renewing and Restructuring the Catholic Church, sheds some light on its underlying philosophy, referring as it does to the "clerical" culture, noted for its "power and secrecy, ignorance of the human body and sex, a mindset that degrades women and marriage, [and] a spiritually distorted, psychologically troubled view of celibacy."
VOTF also selectively cites the Vatican II Document Lumen Gentium to support calls for a more "democratic" Church with active participation in its guidance and governance. The group's website urges: "It is vitally important that the faithful in each parish engage in and support the formation and action of pastoral and finance councils and safety committees."
In the face of such thinking and the prospect of a growing VOTF presence in Australia, Church authorities here will need to take note of the developing battle between the episcopacy and VOTF in the US.
Mary-Ruth Monsour is a Sydney Catholic writer who is active in her children's faith development and in local parish life.
[COMMENT: Well, Chicago's Cardinal Francis George doesn't think he ought to meet with VOTF because its structural change agenda is undefined. Might I ask what demands about a definite agenda did Jesus make of the Pharisee into whose home he went, or of the publicans and harlots who clustered around him, or the children whom he blessed?
I think that the reason VOTF had not "defined" its agenda about authority in the Church might be that the Catholics comprising it first of all have to "unlearn" a lot of what they learnt over the years. We were taught that "Everywhere and in every age she (the Church) teaches everything that he taught." But we find that there was a kind of consensus approach to decision-making in The Acts of the Apostles accounts of the early Church, and that the Church sent Peter and another Apostle to Samaria. Who was the boss? We learn that we had married priests, just like our elder brothers in the Greek-culture Churches, for more than 1000 years. Was the Apostolic Church and later the Latin-Rite Church in heresy then, for a millennium? Or, is celibacy a heresy?
No wonder we don't know what to think about Church authority! -- Faith Purification Programme, 13 Jan 04.
COMMENT ENDS.]
[September 2003]
• Irish sex probe quickens. DUBLIN, Ireland: The Irish Government announced yesterday it would speed up a judicial inquiry into decades of physical and sexual abuse in state-funded child-care institutions run by religious bodies.
-- The West Australian, p 38, Wed Sep 3 03
• Church school abuse inquiry. HELSINKI, Finland: Finnish police are investigating an official of the Finnish Adventist Church on suspicion of sexually abusing children for more than 20 years at the Church's schools and camps.
-- The West Australian, p 38, Wed Sep 3 03
• Private school's teacher on sex counts. [CURRENT] PERTH, Western Australia: A teacher sacked by a northern suburbs private school for allegedly having sex with a female student has pleaded guilty to sex charges in Perth Magistrates' Court.
The 24-year-old Heathridge man, who is not named for legal reasons, appeared in court yesterday to plead guilty to 13 child sex charges.
Police allege he sexually assaulted a female student between August and December last year.
The incidents are believed to have occurred away from school.
He was sacked by the school last month.
The man will appear in the District Court on October 17. He was released on $5000 bail.
-- The West Australian, "Teacher on sex counts," p 12, Thur Sep 4 03
[FOOTNOTE: It is not certain from this report if the private school was a religious school, or not. FOOTNOTE ENDS.] Sep 4 03
• 80 wards of State abused in 7 years. PERTH, W. Australia:
Almost 80 wards of the State were abused by carers while living in relatives' homes, foster care or hostels over seven years, a new WA Government report shows.
Community Development Minister Sheila McHale has called a review into every allegation of abuse of children in State care in the past 10 years amid concerns that some children may not have got the support they were entitled to.
... The department is making a submission to the Senate inquiry into children in institutional care. The numbers abused are less than one per cent.
Advocates for Survivors of Child Abuse spokeswoman Michelle Stubbs said any review ought to be independent.
In May, The West Australian revealed that at least seven people were claiming negligence by the department.
The Senate inquiry is due to report in December.
-- The West Australian, "80 wards of State abused in 7 years; Department ordered to review all claims of harm since 1993,"
by Kate Gauntlett, p 6, Fri Sep 5 03
• Church in an $85 million accord;
Tentative record pact with 552 over abuse.
BOSTON (MA): The Archdiocese of Boston yesterday reached a tentative agreement with lawyers representing more than 500 people who say they were sexually abused by priests in which the church would pay the plaintiffs $85 million, the largest single amount ever in a case of clergy sexual abuse.
The agreement marked the dramatic conclusion to Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley's all-out push in his first weeks in Boston to bring closure to the abuse cases that made this the epicenter of what many consider the gravest crisis in the history of the Roman Catholic Church in America.
Under the agreement, the settlement will become final if 80 percent of 552 plaintiffs accept the offer within 37 days. All but a handful of the plaintiffs would be paid between $80,000 and $300,000, with the amounts set in binding arbitration overseen by Paul A. Finn, the mediator who oversaw the negotiations that led to the agreement. . . .
O'Malley was able to convince the steering committee representing the plaintiffs that the archdiocese was, as he put it, "maxed out" when it came to offering $85 million. That figure was $30 million more than the original $55 million O'Malley offered Aug. 8 to settle the claims. O'Malley upped the offer to $65 million two weeks ago, and to $75 million last Friday, lawyers said.
. . .
-- Boston Globe Spotlight,
"Church in an $85 million accord;
Tentative record pact with 552 over abuse"
www.boston.com ,
By Kevin Cullen and Stephen Kurkjian, Globe Staff, (Walter V. Robinson and Kathleen Burge of the
Globe staff contributed to this report), Sep 10 03
• Costly resolutions.
BOSTON (MA): The church has settled several cases with victims of sexually abusive clergy members for more than $1 million. The victims did not necessarily share awards equally.
Date 1992
Diocese Fall River
Clergy James Porter
Victims/claims 101 victims
Approx. amount $8 million
Date 1998
Diocese Dallas
Clergy Rudy Kos
Victims/claims At least 5
Amount $23 million1
Date 1999
Diocese Stockton, Calif.
Clergy Oliver Francis O'Grady
Victims/claims 2 brothers
Amount $7.6 million2
Date 2000
Diocese Los Angeles
Clergy Michael Baker
Victims/claims 2 victims
Amount $1.3 million
Date 2001
Diocese Los Angeles and Orange County
Clergy Michael Harris
Victims/claims 1 victim
Amount $5.2 million
Date January 2002
Diocese Tucson, Ariz.
Clergy 4 priests
Victims/claims 11 lawsuits
Amount $14 million
Date June 2002
Diocese Los Angeles
Clergy Clinton Hagenbach
Victims/claims 1 lawsuit
Amount $1.5 million
Date September 2002
Diocese Providence
Clergy 10 priests, 1 nun
Victims/claims 36 victims
Amount $13.5 million
Date September 2002
Diocese Boston
Clergy John Geoghan
Victims/claims 86 victims
Amount $10 million
Date September 2002
Diocese Jesuits of northern Calif.
Clergy 4 priests
Victims/claims 2 victims
Amount $7.5 million
Date January 2003
Diocese BC High School and others3
Clergy James Talbot, Francis J. McManus
Victims/claims 15 victims
Amount $5.8 million
Date May 20034
Diocese Manchester, N.H.
Clergy 28 priests, 3 others
Victims/claims 176 claims
Amount $15.5 million
Date June 2003
Diocese Louisville, Ky.
Clergy 34 priests, 5 others
Victims/claims 240 claims
Amount $25.7 million
Date June 2003
Diocese San Bernardino and Illinois order5
Clergy Edward L. Ball
Victims/claims 2 brothers
Amount $4.2 million
Date August 2003
Diocese Boston
Clergy About 140 priests and brothers, 1 other
Victims/claims 552 people
Amount $85 million
* Amounts are approximate. 1. After jury award of approximately $120 million. 2. After jury award of approximately $30 million. 3. The Jesuits of New England; the Portland, Maine diocese; and Cheverus High School in Portland. 4. May 2003 settlement of $6.5 million to 61 people brought Manchester to the totals shown. 5. Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in Aurora, Illinois, where Ball was ordained, paid half the settlement.
-- Boston Globe Spotlight,
www.boston.com , Sources: AP, news reports Graphic: Kathleen Hennrikus and David Butler, Globe Staff, Sep 10 03
• "Weakness of faith" story shows weakness of argument about clergy and secrecy rules. UNITED STATES: Cardinal says 'weakness of faith' was behind sexual abuse, but movements of renewal are already taking the Church ahead. "Weakness of faith" was the root cause of the sexual abuse crisis in the US church, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said in a television interview on September 5. Interviewed on Eternal Word Television Network's "The World Over" program, the cardinal said priests share in the weakness of all human beings, and if their faith is just an idea or hypothesis rather than a deep personal friendship with the Lord, they may give in to their weaknesses. ETWN is based in Birmingham, Alabama. (The article goes on to try to partly blame "the world" for the priests' sins. Then he claimed that Catholic renewal movements such as Communion and Liberation, Focolare, and the Catholic charismatic renewal were a sign of "the springtime".)
-- The Record, Perth West. Aust., "Ratzinger sees hope for Church," Sep 11 03, p 2
[COMMENT: The honest part was to say there was a "crisis." A doubtful part was to say that the crisis was in the "US Church," instead of admitting there is a worldwide succession of exposures. Cardinal Ratzinger has failed to explain how men who have received the Sacrament of Holy Orders, and with it supposedly a huge inflowing of divine grace, could actually be able to "give in", nor how the bishops who fostered them failed to be honest with the next parish or school, and warn that they were sending them the child-seducers. The "renewal" movements he listed are already decades old, yet the clergy child abuse has continued and still continues. The article does not report on the exposure since July 29 2003 in the Telegram & Gazette of the Church's alleged secrecy document Crimen Sollicitationis "The Crime of Solicitation" of March 16, 1962, for which an English translation is on the internet at: http://www.rentapriest.com/criminales.pdf .
Nor has he explained how his own name, as prefect of the above-named Congregatio pro Doctrina Fidei "The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith", is on an 18 May 2001 Epistula or "Letter", mentioning the 1962 secrecy Instructio. The letter may be found at: www.vatican.va/ roman_curia/ congregations/ cfaith/ documents/rc _con _cfaith_ doc_20010518 _epistula_graviora%20 delicta_lt.html . COMMENT ENDS.]
[Sep 11, 2003]
• Media unfair to Priests, says US Bishops' President. UNITED STATES: Oversaturated coverage of the Church's sexual abuse scandal has falsely painted all priests as child abusers, says US Catholic bishops' conference leader, Bishop Wilton Gregory. Reforms had come from the reporting, but the media ought to investigate in the rest of society, including homes.
-- The Record, "Media unfair to Priests, says US Bishops' President," Sep 11 03, p 12
[COMMENT: One reporter, Jason Berry, found that in the mid-1980s clergy sex-abuse was UNDER-reported. He could not get a newsitem about a $US 405,000 settlement for sex-abuse, to one family, published in the main U.S. newspapers. The breakthrough came when a small newspaper, the Times of Acadiana, Lafayette, hired him for a month, and let him send newsitems through the accepted channels to the major news media. (see Berry's book Lead us not into Temptation, 1992, page 32.) So many complainants started coming forward that all except a few media executives realised they had been too naive and trusting in the past. If a group claiming that Heaven is guiding them cannot keep their hands off children, is it any wonder that news media report it? COMMENT ENDS]
[Sep 11 03]
• 260 Milwaukee priests say celibacy ought to be optional. MILWAUKEE, USA:
Archbishop Timothy Dolan of Milwaukee wrote a letter praising the Roman Catholic demand that its clergy remain unmarried and have no sex. His letter was triggered by a letter signed by 160 priests (28%) in his archdiocese asking that celibacy be optional for future entrants. He claimed that celibacy had been cherished by the Church since the time of Jesus, and had been compulsory for nearly 1000 years.
-- The Record, "Celibacy is gift cherished by Church," Sep 11 03, p 13
[COMMENT: This is a full-page article, with two pictures, trying out the old pro-celibacy arguments! It is encouraging to see that 160 priests have overcome their training and got enough courage to sign a statement opposing celibacy. The article doesn't cover the following: There is evidence that Jesus chose married men for the leaders, the apostles, and that their wives accompanied them on their missionary journeys. Even St Paul, the unmarried self-selected "apostle," after writing that he preferred all the Christians to be unmarried, grudgingly wrote that to prevent sexual sin, every person ought to be married. Epistles exist (though now believed to be post-apostolic) ordering in two separate letters that only respected married men be chosen for the male leadership roles in the Church -- and there were some rules for women in some leadership positions. Paul (or some forger) foretold that in later times bad teachers would fall away from the faith and forbid people to marry. He called such "teachings of demons" (1 Timothy 4:1-3). All the arguments for celibacy, even saying that it is almost 1000 years old, can't overcome the obvious retorts: "Were the first 1000 years or so all wrong, then? Are present-day Church leaders more suited to ruling the Church than Jesus and the apostles?" For more detail see "Celibacy crept in from the outside," of 07-09 October 02. COMMENT ENDS]
[Sep 11 03]
• They've jumped on the "let's sue'em" bandwagon. PERTH, W.A.: Book Extract:
"Speaking of money, one cannot help but think that in this litigious world we exist in, there are people jumping onto the 'let's sue-'em' bandwagon. I can only speak from limited experience, but not once in five years attending a Catholic boarding school (aged 13-18) did I see or hear a sexual advancement from a priest to a student. The same went for my time as an altar boy. You can always go on what you see and hear -- often it's hard to go by secondhand stories."
Book: Half Time, by Peter Sweeney, 2003. Mr Sweeney is a journalist with the Perth Sunday Times.
-- The Record, "Religion, Roman Catholics and why they're the best," Sep 11 03, p 14.
[COMMENT: This old chestnut has been used before by bishops, too, more shame to them. Previous articles trying to explain away the failure of the Church to stop sex-abuse have been exposed in "Let's deal with apologists pretending that Church child abuse isn't costly and continuing" issued on Feb 26 03, and updated Mar 18 03 and Sep 10 03. Paying boarders, day students, and altar boys have not been immune from sex abuse, but it is/was the friendless orphans who suffered the most sex-abuse and physical and psychological abuse, both in Catholic and in other religious "homes." There are none so blind as those who WILL NOT see. COMMENT ENDS.]
[Sep 11 03]
• Record $85m Settlement In Boston.
BOSTON (MA): After hearing that Boston's Roman Catholic archdiocese had reached a
record $85 million settlement with 552 alleged victims of priest abuse
last Tuesday, Peter Isely wasted no time. By Wednesday afternoon, Isely,
Milwaukee coordinator for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
(SNAP), was hosting a press conference outside Milwaukee archdiocese
headquarters, imploring the archbishop there to initiate settlement talks
with local abuse victims. "In Boston, Catholics are gonna start returning
to church," says Isely, 43. "But a cloud will hang over Wisconsin's church
until our bishops reverse course to follow Boston's example."
According to many victims' groups, lawyers, and church officials, however,
such reversals are a long way off. "There have been so many opportunities
in the last two decades for church leaders to straighten up," says David
Clohessy, national director of SNAP, which claims 4,500 members. "Most of
those opportunities have been squandered." Although last week's tentative
settlement was a benchmark--in addition to raising the bar for a lump-sum
payout, it guarantees church-funded, confidential therapy for victims--the
Boston archdiocese was so uniquely beleaguered by allegations that a wave
of similar deals is unlikely. "This isn't going to open the gates to
hundreds of settlements," says Mark Chopko, general counsel for the U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops. "Each case has to be evaluated on its own
merits."
. . .
A SHORT HISTORY OF PAYOUTS ELSEWHERE:
Over the past 25 years, there have been other major church sex-abuse-case settlements around the country:
YEAR ACCUSED PRIEST DIOCESE AMOUNT
1986 Gilbert Gauthe Lafayette, La. $ 5.5 million;
1993 James Porter Santa Fe, N.M.* $ 8 million;
1998 Rudy Kos Dallas $31 million;
2002 John Geoghan Boston $10 million;
2003 various Louisville, Ky. $25.7 million
*The settlement was reached by Servants of the Paraclete Treatment Center in Jemez Springs, N.M.
-- U.S. News, "A Settlement In Boston,"
www.usnews.com ,
By Dan Gilgoff,
(Posted by Kathy Shaw 10:13:18 AM, Poynteronline, Abuse Tracker, Thursday, September 18, 2003)
• New coordinators of Voice of the Faithful: UNITED STATES:
Diocese of Indianapolis;
Diocese of Houston, Sheila McNulty;
Archdiocese of St. Louis;
Diocese of Fort Wayne/South Bend;
Diocese of Rockford;
Maryland - Judy Miller;
New Zealand.
AUSTRALIA: VOTF Celebrates 1st International Regional Coordinator Residing in Country (S)He Coordinates:
VOTF welcomes Adrian Farrell from Victoria, Australia as VOTF's new Regional Coordinator for Australia! Adrian is organizing the formation of Parish Voice affiliates in Australia.
-- Voice of the Faithful homepage, www.votf.org , on Sep 20 03
########## Poynteronline, Abuse Tracker, Wednesday, September 24, 2003 edition follows:-
•
Lawyers OK church abuse settlement agreement.
BOSTON (MA): Some 552 alleged victims of clergy sexual abuse and the Archdiocese of
Boston moved a step closer yesterday to resolving civil cases out of
court.
"We have a settlement agreement," attorney Mitchell Garabedian announced
after emerging from a closed-door downtown meeting where he and other
members of a steering committee presented the proposed agreement to all
five dozen lawyers involved.
The lawyers overwhelmingly approved the $85 million offer that had been
negotiated by the steering committee.
For the deal to become final, at least 80 percent of plaintiffs must now
sign on.
"We have every confidence in the world that this agreement will go
forward," said Robert Sherman of the firm Greenberg Traurig.
(Poynteronline, Abuse Tracker,
Posted by Kathy Shaw 10:16:45 AM)
-- Boston Herald,
http://www2.bostonherald.com ,
by Eric Convey and Robin Washington,
Wednesday, September 24, 2003
• A mistake left alone.
BOSTON (MA): It is not enough to repent a misdeed, according to the teachings of the
Catholic Church; one must strive to set right the wrong that has been
done.
It is fine for Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley to promise there will be no
more unilateral changes to the Policies and Procedures for the Protection
of Children but, if he hopes to be taken seriously, he must rescind the
one already made.
"It was a mistake to do it. It was wrong and it has to be fixed," Mary
Jane Doherty of Regis College said of the revision that will deny victims
of sexual predators in the priesthood access to the church's internal
investigations.
The modification, which the canon lawyer, the Rev. Robert W. Oliver,
dismisses as a minor, technical change, was made without consulting either
the commission that drafted the policies or the panel charged with
implementing them.
"This is a breach of our contract with the archdiocese," said Suzin
Bartley, a clinical social worker and a member of the panel appointed by
Cardinal Bernard F. Law to write the new policies. "We were told we had a
certain role to play in this process and we intend to play it. We need to
resist the removal of victims' rights to access to the church's
investigations. The children and families of the archdiocese deserve more
from us than that."
After working for 18 months to devise policies that will restore trust in
the church, Bartley's own trust has been shaken.
-- Boston Globe,
www.boston.com ,
By Eileen McNamara, Globe Columnist,
Sep 24 03
• About a quarter of people have been abused: Expert.
MYERSTOWN (Pennsylvania): Mark Serrano doesn't like the term "fondling" to appear in stories about sexual abuse.
"It anesthetizes us. It's not fondling to strip a child naked, after
manipulating him emotionally and mentally, and then perform sexual acts on
the child," he said.
Serrano, who said he was sexually abused by a Catholic priest for seven
years, was one of six speakers pulling what he called "the cloak of
secrecy" from child sexual abuse yesterday at a seminar sponsored by the
Evangelical School of Theology.
Other speakers included therapists who treat both victims and offenders, a
judge, an offender and a theologian.
The audience contained about 100 people, most of whom are engaged in some
kind of ministry.
Sexual abuse rears its head in most congregations, said Carmen Morrison,
who treats sex abuse victims with Psychological Affiliates of Lancaster.
"From 40 to 70 people out of a church of 200 experienced some form of sex
abuse," she said. [NOTE: But the abuse might not have been Church-related. The majority of child sex-abuse is external to religions. NOTE ENDS]
-- Patriot-News, "Theologians address sex abuse,"
www.pennlive.com ,
BY AL WINN, Of Our Lebanon [USA] Bureau.
• Archdiocese, Lawyers Finalize Settlement.
BOSTON (MA): Attorneys representing hundreds of alleged clergy sex-abuse victims and
the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston have approved the final language
of an $85 million settlement.
The agreement is similar to a memorandum of understanding announced two
weeks ago. It spells out in greater detail the process that arbitrators
will use to decide how much money individual plaintiffs will receive.
Awards will range from $80,000 to $300,000, depending on the type,
duration and harm caused by the sexual abuse.
Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who represents 120 alleged victims, said the
deal takes into account the best interests of the survivors.
The deadline for alleged victims to opt into the settlement was extended
by one week to Oct. 23. Eighty percent of the victims must agree to
participate.
-- TurnTo10.com,
www.turnto10.com
• Former students defending accused priest.
KENTUCKY: The news that Paul Arbogast, a former priest who served as headmaster of
Covington Latin School in the 1970s, had been accused of sexually
molesting boys during his years at the elite prep school hit his former
students hard.
They used words such as "inconceivable," "unbelievable" and "nonsense," to
describe the accusation. They say far from being a potential abuser,
Arbogast has been the model of decorum and integrity.
"There are a million other people who if you said it about them, I'd say,
'Yeah, I can see that.' But I'd never believe it in a million years about
Father Arbogast," said Richard Gangwish, a Northern Kentucky attorney and
1970 graduate of the school.
The Covington Catholic Diocese last week announced it was suspending
Arbogast, one day after court papers filed in Boone County contained an
accusation that he had molested young men in the 1970s. The diocese said
nothing in its files shows any previous accusations against Arbogast, but
its policy calls for an immediate suspension of any diocesan employee accused of sexual misconduct.
-- Cincinnati Post,
www.cincypost.com ,
By Paul A. Long,
Post staff reporter,
Sep 24 03
• The faith to heal.
CANADA: Editorial - Contrition is the first of four stages of Roman Catholic penance. It is a sense of having done wrong, and it leads directly to
confession, satisfaction and, eventually, absolution. Penance and the
meaning of guilt are essential tenets of the Roman Catholic church, and as
a veteran priest Thomas O'Dell would have helped hundreds on their way to
absolution over the years.
Father O'Dell was the subject of a $1.4 million award given to "John Doe,"
a 33-year-old Sudbury man who was a victim of "extreme deviancy," both
physical and mental, by O'Dell. The man was 10-15 years old during the
abuse, which occurred from 1981-1986, while O'Dell was a parish priest in
Lively. O'Dell is serving 30 months in Kingston Penitentiary after being
convicted in 2000 for offences against John Doe.
In an interview with The Sudbury Star, Bishop Jean Louis Plouffe of the
Diocese of Sault Ste. www.ospreynewsnetwork.com Marie called O'Dell's crimes and the criminal and civil court cases that stemmed from
them "a horror story." He added that the church is anxious to put this
chapter behind it and begin healing through "reconciliation with those
directly involved. If this is the beginning of a healing process, I am
happy. This is what I pray for."
-- Sudbury Star,
www.thesudburystar.com
!!!: U.S. bishop's leader thinks newsmedia "obsessively cover" hypocrites seducing children!
PHILIPPINES: The September 20 ZENIT analysis, "Blind to the Spirit: How the Media Treat Religion, Reporters Just Don't Get It," is a must read.
The ZENIT report begins with Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the US
episcopal conference (like the CBCP here), speaking at a conference of
journalists about problems in the coverage of the sexual abuse scandals.
Bishop Gregory said, "The media have helped to provoke sorely needed
reforms in how the abuse problems are handled" by the Catholic hierarchy.
But he also rightly complained that "the way the story was so obsessively
covered resulted in unnecessary damage to the bishops and the entire
Catholic community."
Against the media's rejection of these complaints as "shooting the
messenger," Zenit reports in-depth studies of--and expert observation
about--religion and the press.
From Yahweh to Yahoo!: The Religious Roots of the Secular Press, by Doug
Underwood, a journalist for many years and now a professor of communication at the University of Washington, is the result of his extensive research on journalists and religion and their deeds in the newsroom.
-- The Manila Times, "Blind to the Spirit,"
www.manilatimes.net ,
By Rene Q. Bas, Sep 24 03
• NEW "VOICE OF THE ORDAINED" WORKS FOR CHURCH ACCOUNTABILITY.
NEW YORK: It's been nearly two years since the sexual abuse scandal in the American Catholic Church first began [NOTE: It really began in 1985! NOTE ENDS.], and one month since Father John Geoghan -- the man whose conviction started it all [What about Gauthe in the 1980s and Shanley?] -- was murdered by a fellow inmate at a Massachusetts prison. By this point, calls for reform and accountability within the Church hierarchy have become commonplace. But until now, these calls have been coming primarily from the laity. That's changing, as VOA's Maura Farrelly reports.
They call themselves "Voice of the Ordained." They're a small but vocal group of 150 priests and 52 former priests from three dioceses in and around New York City.
-- Voice of America,
"US Catholic Priests' Group Urges Reform,"
www.voanews.com ,
Maura Farrelly,
New York.
• Judge has harsh words for clergy abuse attorney.
ALBANY (NY): In two strongly worded decisions, a judge dismissed a motion
asking that he recuse himself from clergy abuse cases and tossed out a
suit brought against a member of the Albany Diocese hierarchy.
Acting Supreme Court Judge Christian F. Hummel said attorney John Aretakis
"repeatedly crossed" the line between "zealously representing" his clients
and "unprincipled attacks on the judiciary."
"Such behavior will not be tolerated by this court or any other court,"
Hummel writes. "If plaintiff's counsel
again engages in attacks on the court which are completely lacking in
factual or legal support, this court will schedule a hearing to determine
if Mr. Aretakis should be held in contempt of court."
Aretakis, who represents a number of alleged victims of clergy abuse,
charged Hummel with having ex parte, or partisan, contact with
representatives of the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese and in a host of
other charges, claims Hummel is conspiring to swing the case in favor of
the Catholic Church.
-- Troy Record,
www.troyrecord.com ,
By: James V. Franco.
• Barry Glendinning shows up at trial.
CANADA: Sexual abuse by an older brother was a factor in the life difficulties
experienced by two brothers, but it pales in comparison to the impact of
the abuse by a Catholic priest, a London psychologist testified yesterday.
Psychologist Peter Jaffe spent his second day under cross- examination by
Toronto lawyer Peter Lauwers, representing the Roman Catholic Diocese of
London in a $7-million civil suit under way in the Superior Court of
Justice in London [Canada].
The diocese and Rev. Barry Glendinning are being sued by John, Ed and Guy
Swales and their family for damages they say resulted from abuse by
Glendinning when he was a teacher at St. Peter's Seminary in London in the
late 1960s and early 1970s.
Glendinning, who is retired, made his first appearance at the trial
yesterday.
Dressed in a suit and tie, he appeared late in the afternoon and sat
quietly in a row near the back of the courtroom as examination of Jaffe
continued.
It was thought Glendinning might begin his testimony yesterday, but
Jaffe's appearance on the witness stand occupied the entire day.
The retired priest might begin testifying Friday.
In proceedings yesterday, Jaffe agreed with Lauwers that abuse by John
Swales should be considered as a factor in the difficulties Ed and Guy
Swales have experienced in life.
-- London Free Press, Canada,
www.canoe.ca ,
Sep 24 03
• A 'wall of anger' confounds Pilarczyk
CINCINNATI (OH): Church officials hear the same complaint whenever they talk to Cincinnati
Catholics about the clergy sexual abuse crisis: Archbishop Daniel
Pilarczyk just doesn't "get it."
He doesn't get why rank-and-file Catholics are so upset, they say. He
doesn't get that when he talks about rules and regulations, most people
would rather talk about the suffering of victims.
And he doesn't understand that when he expresses remorse about abusive
priests, as he did in several interviews Monday, he comes across as a
cool-headed administrator instead of a warm, caring pastor.
"The archbishop suffers from a lack of personal warmth that would go a
long, long way toward assuring people that we're on the road to some kind
of healing," said Nan Fischer, chairwoman of Voice of the Faithful in
Cincinnati.
-- The Cincinnati Enquirer,
www.enquirer.com ,
By Dan Horn,
Sep 24 03
• Druce beaten as child, inquiry finds.
BOSTON (MA): Joseph L. Druce, charged with murdering defrocked priest John J. Geoghan,
was severely beaten by his father as a child and was sexually abused,
beginning at age 8, by three other adult men, including a neighbor and a
man with a religious affiliation, according to an investigator hired by
Druce's lawyer.
"His problems stem from his abuse as a child," Joseph Guidetti, the
investigator, said of Druce. "He didn't have a chance in life from Jump
Street."
Guidetti declined to release the names of the three men he said sexually
abused Druce, saying the three -- who were not family members -- will be
key witnesses for the defense when Druce goes on trial.
John H. LaChance, Druce's lawyer, has said he is investigating an insanity
defense. Guidetti said that for such a defense, the alleged abusers are
needed to corroborate Druce's assertions that he was sexually abused as a
child.
Druce's father, Dana Smiledge, declined to comment yesterday at his home
in Byfield.
-- Boston Globe,
www.boston.com ,
By Sean P. Murphy, Sep 24 03
• Former priest accused of abuse decades later; Man says he was abused at
Lombard.
JOLIET (IL): A former Roman Catholic priest who served in several DuPage County
parishes has been accused for the second time of child molestation and the
Joliet diocese with covering up those crimes.
A 47-year-old Glen Ellyn man on Tuesday filed a civil lawsuit against the
Rev. Edward Stefanich, 65. The suit alleges repeated sexual abuse between
1969 and 1970 when the man was about 12 years old and attending Christ the
King Elementary School in Lombard.
It is the second civil lawsuit alleging abuse at the small Lombard school.
Stefanich was convicted in 1987 of aggravated criminal sexual assault
against a 14-year-old girl while working at St. Scholastica parish in
Woodridge. He pleaded not guilty but was sentenced to six months in DuPage
County jail and 12 months' probation.
-- Daily Herald,
www.dailyherald.com ,
By Tona Kunz,
Posted September 24, 2003
• Judge denies access to files.
ALBANY (NY): A state Supreme Court judge has denied a sexual abuse victim's request for
access to a pedophile priest's personnel file at the Roman Catholic
Diocese of Albany.
Justice Christian Hummel said seeking internal church documents about the
Rev. John Bertolucci was "a wholly unsupported fishing expedition."
The man who said Bertolucci molested him in the 1970s sought the file,
believing it would show the priest had repeatedly called his victims,
possibly at the instruction of the Albany Diocese.
The suit filed last year named Bertolucci and the Rev. Kenneth Doyle,
chancellor and spokesman for the Albany Diocese. It accused Doyle of
plotting with Bertolucci to intimidate a victim of sexual abuse.
-- Albany Times Union,
www.timesunion.com ,
By ANDREW TILGHMAN,
Wednesday, September 24, 2003
• E. Toledoan alleges priest abused him.
TOLEDO (OH): A 44-year-old East Toledo man filed a lawsuit yesterday claiming that a
priest sexually abused him three decades ago in a South Toledo church.
Eugene A. Parra of 663 Elmore St. alleges in the suit filed in Lucas
County Common Pleas Court that he was abused by Father Miller, first name
unknown, from age 8 until he was 14, sometime between 1967 and 1973. "The
sexual contact by [Father Miller] occurred during this time on numerous
occasions on a regular basis at the SS. Peter and Paul Church and/or its
rectory," the lawsuit contends.
The suit, which also names the Toledo diocese and unknown conspirators,
says Mr. Parra grew up in a devout Catholic family and regularly attended
Mass with his grandmother at SS. Peter and Paul Church in Toledo's Old
South End.
It alleges that Father Miller had the child touch him "in erogenous zones"
and that the abuse caused severe emotional distress and psychological
injuries for Mr. Parra.
-- Toledo Blade,
www.toledoblade.com ,
Sep 24 03
• Lawsuit accuses priest of abuse in late '60's. [1960s and 80s]
JOLIET (IL): A Joliet diocese priest who served time in jail for molesting a west suburban girl in the 1980s had abused children more than 15 years earlier, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday.
The lawsuit, filed in DuPage County, alleges that the Rev. Edward
Stefanich abused a man identified only as John Doe 85 while Doe was a
student at Christ the King Catholic School in Lombard.
The lawsuit accuses Stefanich of abusing the man, now in his late 40s, in
1969 and 1970. Stefanich served at Christ the King from 1969 to 1974,
according to Marc Pearlman, John Doe's attorney.
"Like so many victims, he felt like he was the only one," Pearlman said.
"He was threatened that if he told anyone he would go to hell, and no one
would believe him. He was encouraged to keep this secret."
At a brief news conference outside diocesan headquarters in Joliet,
Pearlman said his client repressed all memory of the alleged abuse until
2001.
-- Daily Southtown,
www.dailysouthtown.com ,
By Allison Hantschel
• Pilarczyk Talks To FOX19's Dan Carroll.
CINCINNATI (OH): The Archdiocese of Cincinnati has put three priests on administrative
leave. Thomas Brunner, David Kelly, and Daniel Pater all of which have
admitted to abusing children. This is the first step, in accordance with
new church standards, towards the permanent removal of these men.
Monday the Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk talked with FOX19 news reporter Dan
Carroll about this issue and how he's dealing with the sexual abuse
scandal.
"There is now no priest in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati who has ever
sexually abused a child, who is in active ministry. As far as I know,"
said Pilarczyk.
When asked by Dan Carroll on how much confidence he had on that statement,
Pilarczyk had this to say, "Oh I have absolute confidence in the
statement, that I don't know of any priests who have offended in the
ministry. I don't because there aren't any that I know of."
-- Fox 19,
http://fox19.coms
• Spokane Diocese releases name of deceased priest accused of abuse.
SPOKANE (Wash): The Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane has released the
name of another priest accused of sexual abuse decades ago.
Bishop William Skylstad says there is credible evidence the Rev. Joseph
Pineau was involved in an incident of sexual misconduct 36 years ago.
A review board made the recommendation to publish the name after an
investigation.
Pineau was a priest in the Spokane Diocese from 1932 until his retirement
in 1968. He died in 1982 at the age of 83.
The diocese has made public the names of seven living priests accused of
sexual misconduct, but Skylstad had withheld the names of six deceased
priests, saying their release would serve no purpose.
-- Seattle Post-Intelligencer, The Associated Press,
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com
• New lawsuit targets priest who served at Lee church.
GREENFIELD (MA): A priest with ties to Berkshire County is among the latest
targets in lawsuits filed by people alleging sexual abuse by Catholic
clergymen.
Trina Cysz, 30, now of Belchertown, claimed that she was abused by the
Rev. John J. Bonzagni while she was a high school student preparing for
her confirmation at St. Mary's Parish in Lee.
Cysz claimed in her suit that Bonzagni tried to fondle her when she was 16
years old. She said he twice grabbed her from behind and tried to rub
against her, and once held her after confession while they said the Lord's
Prayer. Cysz said in each of the three instances she pulled away and the
priest did not pursue her.
Her attorney, John Stobierski of Greenfield, said Bonzagni's alleged
actions were "not what is commonly perceived to be sexual abuse, but it's
still sexual abuse."
-- Berkshire Eagle,
Associated Press,
www.berkshireeagle.com
• Sex abuse suits last resort, 2 say.
GREENFIELD (MA): Two people who filed suits this week against the Roman
Catholic Diocese of Springfield charging they were abused by priests said
yesterday they did so out of frustration with the handling of their
complaints.
At a press conference at the office of their lawyer John J. Stobierski,
each said the diocese was notified of their accusations months ago in
hopes of avoiding legal action.
Trina L. Cysz, 31, of Belchertown said she twice notified the diocese's
lawyer she was accusing the Rev. John J. Bonzagni of abusing her sexually
when she was a child. The first letter was sent in November 2002, she
said.
Cysz said she never got a reply from the diocese. She filed suit Monday in
Hampden Superior Court.
The diocese, in a statement yesterday, said it had urged Cysz's lawyer to
have her contact the Misconduct Commission, a nine-member lay panel that
investigates accusations against priests.
-- Republican,
www.masslive.com ,
By BILL ZAJAC,
wzajac@repub.com , Sep 24 03
• Archbishop now has 10 priests he's dismissing.
CINCINNATI (OH): Cincinnati Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk announced Monday he has placed
three sexually abusive priests, all with Dayton-area ties, on paid leave
in what he called the first step toward permanent removal from ministry.
Pilarczyk said his action, taken upon the recommendation Friday of the
archdiocese's Child Protection Review Board, means that no area priest
with a previous "substantiated" case of sexual abuse against minors is now
in active ministry.
"It's very painful and it's very difficult, but it had to be done,"
Pilarczyk said Monday.
The archbishop said he will give the three priests -- Thomas Brunner, David
Kelley and Daniel Pater -- and seven others who were already on leave the
option of either voluntarily petitioning the Vatican to be stripped of
their priesthoods or seeking a trial in church court that could result in
their permanent defrocking.
-- Dayton Daily News, "Archbishop places abusive priests on leave,"
www.daytondailynews.com ,
By Tom Beyerlein,
tbeyerlein@DaytonDailyNews.com ,
Tuesday, September 23, 2003
• Publicity may uncover paedophile priest's victims - church.
NEW ZEALAND: Publicity over the conviction of a paedophile Catholic priest in Dunedin may uncover other victims, the Catholic Church believes.
Magnus William Murray, 76, pleaded guilty to 10 charges of indecent assault, doing indecent acts and inducing indecent acts when he appeared in Dunedin District Court last month.
He abused children in Dunedin and Mosgiel from 1958 to 1972 and is to be sentenced tomorrow.
He has been told by Judge Stephen O'Driscoll he will be jailed.
The Catholic Church believes the publicity may uncover other victims in Waihi and Ngaruawahia, where Murray was based for 10 years from 1980.
It has its protocol committee on standby and is urging victims to contact Bishop Denis Browne and the police with any complaints.
It is understood two boys in Waihi, where Murray was parish priest at St Joseph's from 1980-1986, received compensation from the church after they told their families they were abused.
-- Stuff,
www.stuff.co.nz ,
By MARY ANNE GILL, September 23 03
• Priest sentenced in child porn case. [CURRENT]
UTICA (MI): The Rev. Timothy Szott, former pastor at one of Metro Detroit's
largest Catholic churches, was sentenced to 18 months probation after he
pleaded no contest to possession of child pornography.
Police found hundreds of images of child nudity, sexual acts and child
fondling on Szott's personal computer, said William Harding, chief of
operations at the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office.
The former pastor at St. Lawrence Catholic Church in Utica was charged in
June with possession of child sexual abuse material, a one-year
misdemeanor.
The Archdiocese of Detroit removed Szott, 56, as pastor in February. A
church volunteer tipped off authorities after he found pornographic
material involving children on a church computer.
Visiting 41-A District Judge Herman Campbell sentenced Szott to 18 months
probation and fined him $100.
-- The Detroit News,
www.detnews.com ,
By Marisa Schultz ,
September 23 03
• Priest's abuse had 'profound' effect on victims, expert says.
CANADA: John Swales was experiencing anger and behavioural difficulties before he
met the Catholic priest who abused him, a London trial was told yesterday.
London psychologist Peter Jaffe agreed during cross-examination reports
from 1969 showed John Swales was argumentative and difficult to handle in
class before he met the priest.
There are indications he suffered from hyperactivity and some degree of
attention deficit disorder.
One report from the time said Swales chased a brother with a knife.
His mother reported he was emotional, impulsive, subject to temper
tantrums and she feared he was going to kill someone.
But Jaffe added abuse by Rev. Barry Glendinning was a significant factor
in the emotional trauma and life-long psychological problems experienced
by John Swales and his brothers, Ed and Guy.
Jaffe said the impact was serious because the brothers were abused "in a
most profound way" over a period of three or four years by a priest, a
trusted authority figure.
-- London Free Press, Canada,
www.canoe.ca ,
September 23 03
• Former Shelby County priests defrocked amidst sexual abuse allegations.
SHELBY COUNTY (Iowa): Three former Shelby County priests are being removed from the
priesthood for alleged sexual misconduct, it was reported Saturday.
Bishop Joseph Charron and the Des Moines Diocese named the three
priests, who are accused of sexual abuse of children, and said they have
been removed from the ministry after a committee reviewed old allegations
in the diocese via new church policy.
Richard Wagner, 68; Albert Wilwerding, 73; and John Ryan, 79; are
cooperating with the process and are being defrocked, the Des Moines
Register reported.
Ryan served at St. Mary's Parish in Portsmouth from 1950-53; Wagner
served at St. Michael's Parish from 1976-82; and Wilwerding served at St.
Boniface Parish, Westphalia in 1956 and 1975, as well as at St. Mary's
Parish, Portsmouth, from 1962-65.
Wagner previously was a teacher who went on to become Dowling
Catholic High School president.
The abuse incidents allegedly date back to the 1980s, and not when
the priests served in Shelby County, it was reported. The priests each
faced one or two allegations of abuse, but the diocese said it has no idea
how many victims of abuse there may have been.
-- Harlan Tribune,
www.zwire.com
• Confessional Sanctity Targeted in Australian State.
AUSTRALIA: Pacific Rim Bureau (CNSNews.com): Lawmakers in an Australian state are
considering legislation that would compel clergy to report cases of
alleged child sex abuse - including information priests hear in the
confessional.
Local leaders of the Catholic and Anglican churches oppose the move, while
an Anglican priest who works as an advocate for victims of abuse in the
church believes it should be supported.
Like many other areas of the country and the world, South Australia has
grappled in recent years with cases of child sex abuse within the church,
and especially in the country's two largest denominations.
State law requires people such as doctors, psychologists and teachers to
report to a government agency if they suspect "on reasonable grounds that
a child has been or is being abused or neglected."
-- CNS News,
www.cnsnews.com ,
By Patrick Goodenough,
CNSNews.com Pacific Rim Bureau Chief, September 23, 2003
• Dismissal of lawsuit against diocese upheld; '90s molestation cases not Nashville church's fault.
NASHVILLE (TN): A state appeals court yesterday upheld the dismissal of lawsuits in which
two boys tried to hold the Roman Catholic Diocese of Nashville liable for
former priest Edward McKeown molesting them -- several years after he left
the priesthood.
The Tennessee Court of Appeals said that Davidson County Circuit Judge
Walter Kurtz was right when he ruled in June 2001 that the sexual abuse of
the two boys in 1994-98 came too long after McKeown was forced to leave
the priesthood in 1989 to hold the church accountable for his actions.
A three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals noted that the two boys, who
were not Catholic, met McKeown as a neighbor in a mobile home community,
"not through any church-related activities or functions." That fact, and
the long time lapse involved, "distinguish this case from other recent
lawsuits filed against religious organizations arising from the acts of
pedophile clergy or employees," the Court of Appeals said, in an opinion
written by Judge Patricia Cottrell.
-- The Tennessean,
www.tennessean.com ,
By KIRK LOGGINS, For The Tennessean.
• Sex Abuse Program Opens Some Eyes.
COLCHESTER (CT): Sexual abuse of children was the unsettling subject of two
videos shown Monday to employees and volunteers who work with children in
Catholic parishes in the Diocese of Norwich.
After they watched the first one, in which predators told of their
manipulations and victims told of their pain, the question on many
people's lips was, "What can we do to stop it?"
The second video gave them some answers.
"It's not a complex plan, by design," said Joseph Naff, who led a
four-hour training program at St. Andrew Parish Center. Titled "Protecting
God's Children," Monday's program was similar to other "awareness
sessions" mandated for church workers nationwide following the sex abuse
scandal in the Catholic Church.
The five-step plan developed for Catholic parishes, but usable by anyone,
is: Know the Warning Signs; Control Access; Monitor Programs; Be Aware;
and Communicate Concerns.
-- The Day,
www.theday.com ,
By BETHE DUFRESNE, Day Staff Columnist, Sep 23 03
• Priest sentenced in child porn case [CURRENT].
SHELBY TOWNSHIP (Mich.) (AP) -- A Roman Catholic priest has been sentenced
to 18 months' probation after pleading no contest to possession of child
pornography.
The Rev. Timothy Szott, former pastor at St. Lawrence Catholic Church in
Utica, was charged in June with possession of child sex abuse material, a
one-year misdemeanor.
At the sentencing last week, visiting 41-A District Judge Herman Campbell
also fined Szott $100.
Szott, 56, will continue the treatment he has been receiving for the past
several months at St. Luke's Institute in Silver Springs, Md., The Macomb
Daily reported Tuesday. The Catholic Church is using the facility to
rehabilitate priests with pedophilia or other compulsive behaviors.
Authorities found thousands of images of child nudity, sexual acts and
child fondling on Szott's personal laptop computer, William Harding, chief
of operations at the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office, told The Detroit
News for a story Monday.
-- MLive.com,
www.mlive.com ,
The Associated Press, 6:53 AM, Sep 23 03
• SNAP Criticizes Lori's Opposition To Unsealing Documents.
BRIDGEPORT (Conn): A group representing abuse victims is criticizing
Bridgeport Bishop William Lori.
Lori is the architect of the Roman Catholic Church's policy on sexual
abuse. But the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests [SNAP] is challenging
Lori on the Diocese of Bridgeport's opposition to disclosing sealed
documents alleging sexual abuse by priests.
The group is encouraging more victims to come forward and talk to law
enforcement officials.
SNAP also is criticizing Lori for banning Voice of the Faithful from
meeting on church property.
David Clohessy is SNAP's national director. He said Lori is a part of a
new breed of bishops that work hard at saying the right thing in public.
-- NBC 30,
www.nbc30.com ,
• Archbishop suspends 3 priests.
CINCINNATI (OH): Cincinnati Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk says his decision to suspend three
priests Monday closes one of the most difficult and painful chapters of
the clergy sexual abuse crisis in Southwest Ohio.
In his most extensive comments about the crisis in months, Pilarczyk said
he regrets that it took so long to remove priests who had admitted abusing
children nearly two decades ago.
He also acknowledged that, in hindsight, he might have handled some of the
sexual abuse cases differently.
But despite demands from his critics, the 69-year-old archbishop said he
does not see many significant reforms ahead for his administration or his
archdiocese.
-- The Cincinnati Enquirer,
www.enquirer.com ,
By Dan Horn, Sep 23 03
• Victim's group campaigns in Bridgeport diocese.
BRIDGEPORT (CT): A group representing abuse victims criticized
Bridgeport Bishop William Lori, an architect of the Roman Catholic
Church's national policy on sexual abuse, as it reached out to encourage
more victims to come forward.
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests [SNAP] handed out leaflets to
parishioners leaving Mass at St. Augustine Cathedral. They urged anyone
victimized by church employees to contact law enforcement and offered the
group's services to help them heal through a new Connecticut chapter.
SNAP criticized the diocese's opposition in court to the disclosure of
sealed documents alleging sexual abuse by priests, after a confidential
settlement with abuse victims more than two years ago.
The group also criticized Lori for banning Voice of the Faithful, a reform
group, from meeting on church property.
-- The Advocate, Associated Press,
www.stamfordadvocate.com ,
September 23, 2003
• DA: Fitchburg priest stole elevator money.
WORCESTER (MA): The Rev. Donald C. Ouellette pleaded not guilty yesterday to
charges of stealing more than $250,000 from Immaculate Conception Church
in Fitchburg.
The Roman Catholic priest, who has been placed on administrative leave by
the Catholic Diocese of Worcester, was indicted this month on 18 counts of
larceny of more than $250,000 from Immaculate Conception parish, where he
formerly served as pastor. The thefts allegedly occurred between March 15,
2001, and Jan. 2 of this year.
Rev. Ouellette, 48, was arraigned yesterday in Worcester Superior Court.
Judge John S. McCann released him on personal recognizance and continued
the case to Oct. 22 at the request of Assistant District Attorney Richard
L. Greco and Rev. Ouellette's lawyer, Thomas F. McEvilly.
When the indictments were returned by a Worcester County grand jury,
District Attorney John J. Conte said he understood that the money that was
stolen had been raised by parishioners for an elevator at the church. The
district attorney said he did not known what motive Rev. Ouellette might
have had for taking the money.
He said Bishop Daniel P. Reilly requested an investigation after
parishioners reported that money was missing from the church. The
investigation that led to the indictments against Rev. Ouellette was
conducted by state police detectives assigned to Mr. Conte's office.
Mr. McEvilly declined to comment on the charges after yesterday's
arraignment, saying it would be inappropriate to do so.
-- Telegram & Gazette,
www.telegram.com ,
by Gary V. Murray,
(Poynteronline, Abuse Tracker, Posted by Kathy Shaw 9:46:26 AM),
Sep 23 03
///////////////////////// End of Poynteronline, Abuse Tracker, Wednesday, September 24, 2003
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