References cont. (9) — Clergy Child Molesters

• [Wesley College ex-head charged on internet allegation.] - Uniting Church.

PERTH, Australia: The ex-head of Wesley College, Perth, John Bednall, 56, was charged on January 31 2003 under the Censorship Act with using a computer to obtain objectionable internet material. The school council had claimed in 2002 that he had used a school computer to access inappropriate webpages. -- The West Australian, "Ex-college head will face court," p 13, Saturday, February 1, 2003 [Look back: "The facts about Wesley College," Sep 2002] [Feb 1, 03]
• [Monks facing eviction because they refuse to improve relations with Catholic Church.] - Greek Orthodox Church.

The West Australian, "Monks cling to Holy Mountain," (Associated Press), p 28, Mon Feb 3, 2003
ATHENS: More than 600 people chanting "Orthodoxy or death" protested at the weekend against a decision to evict monks from a monastery on Mt Athos. There are 117 at the Esphigmenou Monastery under an eviction order. The monks staunchly oppose efforts to improve relations between the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church. They have been declared "schismatic" by the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. The police declined to evict the monks. An appeal has been lodged, the abbot Methodius said.
[COMMENT: Read the newsitem below about how Boston Catholic authorities, who had agreed about a year ago under a court-approved "deal" with a victim, to release all the names of child-abusing priests, have been hiding the names of 24 more. And did you know that there are RC missions in Russia, and ask yourself if the missioners ought to leave that Orthodox country and work at home to convert Catholic and other Churches' clergy instead! Then ask yourself why many Orthodox and other religious people don't want to "improve relations." END of COMMENT] [Newsitem Feb 3, 03]

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!!!: [Boston RCs "overlooked" 24 more child-abusers in the lists!]

NEW YORK: Boston's Catholic archdiocese has turned over to lawyers newly-discovered files showing 24 more priests were accused of abusing children. The archdiocese gave up the files on Friday after lawyers found allegations of child sex abuse among files on 41 priests the archdiocese had originally said were accused only of sexual misconduct with adults. -- The West Australian, "More abuse cases," Mon Feb 3 03, p 28
• [Globe wins award for reporting the clergy scandal.] WASHINGTON -- The staff of The Boston Globe has been awarded the Worth Bingham Prize for 2002 for its continuing series of stories on the clergy sexual abuse scandal. Judges for the prize said the Globe's coverage had prompted reporters across the country to investigate similar allegations against clergy. "The story of clergy sex abuse required hard and diligent work by many reporters and editors, and so we are gratified to receive recognition from our fellow journalists," said Martin Baron, editor of the Globe. The Bingham Prize, which honors the best investigative reporting in American newspapers and news magazines in the previous year, will be presented in Washington tomorrow at the Washington Press Club Foundation's Congressional Dinner. (Poynteronline Abuse Tracker) -- Boston Globe, "Globe wins award for reporting," www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/035/metro/Globe_wins_award_for_reporting+.shtml , Feb 4 2003
• [Diocese barred from distributing funds to avoid compensation.] BEND (OR): Deschutes County Circuit Court Judge Michael Adler on Monday temporarily stopped the Roman Catholic bishop for Eastern Oregon from transferring assets to 50 churches after an attorney contended it was a strategy to protect financial assets from victims who win sex abuse suits. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Baker faces nearly $70 million in claims from 18 men who say they were sexually abused in the 1950s and 1960s in Burns and Klamath Falls by the late Rev. David Hazen. The plaintiff's attorney, David Slader, argued that Bishop Robert Vasa was testing the strategy to see if he and other bishops nationwide could avoid millions in damages by turning over assets to individual churches. (Poynteronline Abuse Tracker) -- The Bulletin, Bend, Oregon, "Diocese barred from giving funds to churches," www.bendbulletin.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=8749 , by Tom Peterson, Feb 4 03
[COMMENT: News media had reported previously that Church leaders had discussed another alternative -- transferring assets overseas. END of COMMENT.] [Newsitem Feb 4, 03]
• [Children of deserting priest's dead lover to go on television.] BOSTON (MA): WCVB-TV (Channel 5) will air a three-part interview with the four children of Rita J. Perry tonight, on the 6 p.m and 11 p.m. newscasts and on a special edition of "Chronicle," the station's 7:30 p.m. newsmagazine show. Perry was identified as the woman who had a secret affair with the Rev. James D. Foley starting in the 1960s. The priest, who may have fathered two of her children, was at the family's house and fled the night that Perry succumbed to a fatal drug overdose in 1973. He has apologised since. -- Boston Globe, "WCVB to air interviews about mother's affair with priest," www.boston.com , by Mark Jurkowitz, Feb 4, 03
• [Protesters: 'We're not going away'.] WORCESTER (MA) -- "We are not going to be silent any more" was the battle cry of sex-abuse victims and their supporters Sunday morning at St. Paul's Cathedral. The group rallied to demand that Bishop Daniel Reilly make public the personnel files of accused priests. The group of about 20 protesters held signs and posters that told how they felt. Among the groups represented were STOPP (Speak Truth To Power), Worcester's SNAP chapter (Survivor's Network of those Abused by Priests), CCCS (Coalition of Concerned Catholics and Survivors), Survivors First, and the Worcester Voice. (Poynteronline Abuse Tracker) -- Fitchburg Sentinel and Enterprise, Protesters: 'We're not going away', www.sentineland enterprise.com/ Stories/0,1413,106 %257E4992% 257E1154643,00.html Date ?? Feb 4 03
• [Rapist now priest in Arizona, alcoholic "star" to hospital work then vanishes, molester priest became Catholic teacher.] BOSTON: Documents released Tuesday show what alleged victims say has been a disturbing pattern in the yearlong clergy scandal: Priests accused of sexual abuse have been allowed to move to other states, where they continued to have access to children. The personnel files of five priests released Tuesday are among 24 new files handed over last week by the Boston archdiocese to attorneys for the alleged victims of the Rev. Paul Shanley.
• The Rev. John Picardi Jr. admitted to Boston church officials that he had raped a 29-year-old man, but he was allowed to resume parish work in New Jersey, where he was later accused of putting his hand on the buttocks of a 5th grade girl, according to the documents. He is now serving as a priest at a parish in Flagstaff, Ariz
• Records dating back decades on the Rev. Francis A. Murphy indicate the Archdiocese of Anchorage, Alaska, was aware of an extraordinarily graphic catalogue of allegations gathered against Murphy by police in Anchorage. Murphy, who had worked as a missionary in Alaska, underwent alcohol treatment and returned to the Boston area, apparently in 1986, where he was eventually allowed to work in hospital ministry at Holy Family in Methuen in 1988. Another allegation surfaced in 1994, and in 1995, Cardinal Bernard Law insisted that he no longer be allowed to perform ministerial duties, despite apparent reluctance from an archdiocese board. A spokesman for the archdiocese said he did not know Murphy's whereabouts.
• In another case, Deacon Mark Doherty was accused of molesting two brothers during a 1977 camping trip. Years later, a woman told church officials Doherty molested her when she was a child. Two brothers from another family said Doherty had also molested them. Doherty was never ordained as a priest in North Carolina, but he was allowed to work as a religion teacher at Charlotte Catholic High School. He was put on leave on Tuesday, after the publicity about the documents. -- The Arizona Republic, "Boston priest moved to Arizona after admitting rape," Associated Press, Feb. 4, 2003
• [Church pickets complain police stifling protest.] MANCHESTER (NH): A clergy sexual abuse protester faces an arraignment today on a disorderly conduct charge in New Hampshire after a Sunday arrest that demonstrators say is the result of "heavy handed" enforcement by Manchester police. Rick Webb of Wellesley, the husband of an alleged abuse victim and a regular protester at Boston's Cathedral of the Holy Cross, was arrested outside Manchester's St. Catherine's Church where protesters were picketing Bishop John B. McCormack, a former aide to Bernard Cardinal Law. (Poynteronline) Boston Herald, http://www2.boston herald.com/news/ local_regional/chur 02042003.htm , "Church pickets complain N.H. cops stifling protest," by Robin Washington and Tom Mashberg, Tuesday, Feb 4 2003
• Irish Catholic abusers cost insurance firms €10.6m so far -- implication it came from Church funds now exposed -- sex-abuse cover since 1987! IRELAND: The Catholic Church last night disclosed that it has received more than €10m [10 million euros] from insurance funds to cover the costs of compensation from child sex abuse cases. Previously, the hierarchy had implied that money used in the settlement of sex abuse cases has come directly from church funds. But last night the Catholic bishops revealed that since 1996 two separate sums, totalling €10.6m, have been made available by their insurers to pay compensation claims. According to a statement issued by Fr Martin Clarke, the principal spokesperson for the Bishops' Conference, most dioceses obtained separate insurance policies from Church & General, the insurers to the Church, against the "eventuality of legal liability" from acts of child sexual abuse by priests in the period 1987-90. (Poynteronline) -- Irish Independent, www.unison.ie/ irish_independent/ stories.php3?ca= 9&si=911546 &issue_id=8705 , "Sex abuse insurers paid €10m to Church ," Probably Feb 4 or 5 03
• Senator again exposes child abusers and those who aid them: CANBERRA, Australia: Senator Andrew Murray (Aust. Dem., W.A.) made a speech today in Federal Parliament reporting on global child abuse and the child migration programmes of the past, and asking senators to join him in making laws to reduce abuse and to help the survivors in Australia. He paid tribute to those who expose and oppose child sex-abusers. Feb 5 03
• [Priest admits sodomising in 1999 and 2001.] LONG ISLAND (NY): Long Island priest pleaded guilty yesterday to sodomizing a teenage boy, wrapping up a case that first came to light before allegations about abusive priests began making headlines across the country. The priest, the Rev. Michael R. Hands, 36, pleaded guilty in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead to two counts of sodomy for abusing the teenager from November 1999 through January 2001. Last year, he pleaded guilty to similar charges in Nassau County involving the same boy, who was 14 when most of the abuse occurred. Father Hands is expected to be sentenced to two years in jail for the Suffolk charges. His lawyer, Peter M. Rubin, said that for the Nassau offenses, Father Hands would most likely be sentenced to a concurrent six-month jail term and five years of probation. He could be released after serving 16 months in jail. (Poynteronline) -- The New York Times, www.nytimes.com/2003/02/05/nyregion/05PRIE.html?tntemail1 , "Long Island Priest Admits Sodomizing a Teenage Boy," by Elissa Gootman, Feb 5 03
• [Brother and another freed because of legal omission.] BOSTON (MA): Prosecutors have agreed to dismiss 14 charges against two clerics accused of molesting boys decades ago, acknowledging that the alleged crimes took place before the laws they were accused of breaking existed. Prosecutors also asked a judge to throw out the remaining 10 charges against one of the men, Brother Fidelis DeBerardinis, because the grand jury which indicted him had not been told whether the boys, in every case, had consented to the sexual conduct, as required by the law at the time. Superior Court Judge Peter Lauriat agreed to both requests.Before 1986, state law required prosecutors to prove that alleged victims of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 did not consent. DeBerardinis allegedly abused the victims while he was assigned to Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in East Boston between 1968 and 1973. [The other was a priest.] (Poynteronline) -- Boston Globe, www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/036/metro/Charges_set_aside_against_2_clerics+.shtml , "Charges set aside against 2 clerics," by Kathleen Burge, Feb 5 03
!!!: [Church passed tip-off to unchaste Fr Arthur O'Leary, and Police released homosexual Fr Edward T. Kelley!] BOSTON (MA): Nine years before a Hanover priest was removed from ministry for sexual misconduct with minors, State Police privately warned the Archdiocese of Boston that its officers had spotted the priest at Cape Cod rest areas where, the priest later admitted, he was having sex with strangers. After it received back-channel warnings from police about the Rev. Arthur P. O'Leary, church officials warned O'Leary in 1985 that he was under surveillance. He promised to stay away from the rest stops, church records made public yesterday show. But within months he returned, according to the records. "Arrest will be made if we don't do something," said a church memo. O'Leary's case is at least the fourth in which once-secret archdiocesan files show law enforcement authorities deferring to the church over matters of clergy sexual misconduct. The Rev. Edward T. Kelley was allowed to continue in ministry after Nahant police found him in a state of undress with a 19-year-old man in his car in 1977. Instead of arresting Kelly, police called Bishop Thomas V. Daily, a chancery official. (Poynteronline) Boston Globe, www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/036/metro/Police_warned_archdiocese_about_priest_s_activities+.shtml "Police warned archdiocese about priest's activities," by Thomas Farragher, Feb 5, 03
• [Vatican appeal put Fr John Picardi back on duty 1997 to 2003.] PHOENIX (AZ): Bishop Thomas O'Brien agreed in 1997 to a request from Boston Cardinal Bernard Law to accept the transfer of a priest with a record of sexual abuse allegations so severe that he was banned from ministry in one diocese and nearly defrocked in another, public records show. The records, obtained by The Arizona Republic, reveal that O'Brien assigned the Rev. John M. Picardi to a Scottsdale parish less than two years after a sex abuse review board established by Law recommended considering the priest's defrocking. That recommendation was handed down Jan. 4, 1996, but rescinded April 3, 1997, after Picardi appealed his case to the Vatican. (Poynteronline) The Arizona Republic, www.arizonarepublic.com/news/articles/0205priest05.html , "O'Brien took in priest despite abuse claims," by Joseph A. Reaves and Kelly Ettenborough, Feb 5 03
• [Boston Rapist Fr Picardi suspended yesterday from Arizona parish. Appealing from Caesar to Caesar?] BOSTON (MA): Armed with opinions from the Rev. Richard G. Lennon, the Boston Archdiocese decided in the 1990s that it was powerless to punish a priest who had admitted raping another man, and that the priest was entitled to a hearing on whether he should be restored to full ministry. Because of those decisions, and despite allegations of inappropriate contact with minors, the Rev. John M. Picardi was allowed to return to parish work as a priest on loan to the Diocese of Phoenix, where he had moved. Yesterday, the Phoenix diocese suspended Picardi from the Flagstaff, Ariz., parish where he was an associate pastor. A spokeswoman for the Phoenix diocese and the Rev. Christopher J. Coyne, a spokesman for Lennon, said the earlier decisions allowing Picardi's transfer will be reviewed. If they are reversed, it would be done by Lennon, the bishop and canon law expert who became temporary leader of the Boston Archdiocese after Cardinal Bernard F. Law resigned in December. (Poynteronline) -- Boston Globe, www.boston.com/ dailyglobe2/036/ metro/Lennon_ gave_advice_on_ reassigned_priest +.shtml , "Lennon gave advice on reassigned priest," by Michael Rezendes and Stephen Kurkjian, Feb 5 2003
• [Church no insurance before '96 (but see below saying from '87 onwards).] IRELAND: The Catholic church has revealed that none of Ireland's Catholic dioceses are insured against claims by victims who were sexually abused by priests before 1996. A bishops' spokesman has said that a central fund - established following a buy-out of disputed insurance policies - will not be sufficient to meet outstanding claims. However, all dioceses are insured against any legal liability they may have for abuse that took place after 1996. (Poynteronline Feb 6 03) RTE News, ( http://www.rte.ie/news/2003/0205/abuse.html ) , Church statement on abuse insurance, Feb 5 2003
• [Over 10 years to stymy "molest nest" where acolyte had molested children in choirmaster's home.] SYDNEY: David Russell, who has served as St Mary's choirmaster and music director since 1976, was dismissed last Friday by the cathedral's dean, Monsignor Tony Doherty. Sex offences by former cathedral acolyte David O'Grady against children in the early 1980s allegedly took in Mr Russell's home, though he has not been proved to have known about them. The sacking led to a boycott of Sunday's Solemn Mass by the men of the cathedral choir, and parents of child choristers angrily confronted the dean after the service. -- Sydney Morning Herald, www.smh.com.au/text/articles/2003/02/05/1044318670671.htm , "Anger over sacking of St Mary's stalwart," by Kelly Burke, February 6 2003
[COMMENT: At a certain place the bible says "Jesus wept." (John 11:35). Feel like joining Him? END of COMMENT]
A later newsitem of March 1-2 reports that Mr Dan Buckley will sue for $2m.
Article: Feb 6 03
• [SNAP nominee to help diocese evaluate accused priests.] NEW JERSEY: The Diocese of Metuchen, in what has been called a major breakthrough for victims of sex abuse by priests, will name a member of the country's largest survivors' advocacy group to its crisis review board, Bishop Paul Bootkoski said yesterday. Bootkoski is the first Roman Catholic bishop in the nation to invite a representative from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP, to help evaluate accused priests. "This is a major, although belated, breakthrough," said SNAP national Executive Director David Clohessy, noting that a small minority of the 194 Roman Catholic dioceses throughout the country have victims on their crisis teams. (Poynteronline) -- Star-Ledger, www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-3/1044515533106730.xml , "Abuse victim to help diocese evaluate accused priests," by Judy Peet, Thur Feb 06 2003
• ["Missing" Priest Found Guilty of Girl "Lap Attack".] BROOKLYN (NY): A Brooklyn jury delivered the city's first conviction in the Catholic Church's sex-abuse scandal yesterday in a case that raised questions about how the church deals with accused priests. The Rev. Francis Nelson was found guilty of molesting a 12-year-old girl in her Carroll Gardens home during a May 1999 sick call to her ailing grandmother. Nelson, a visiting priest from India, faces up to 3 years in prison. The priest, a former top assistant to his bishop in India, had denied the allegations. The evidence presented in the week-long trial essentially boiled down to the girl's word against his. (Poynteronline) -- Newsday, www.newsday.com/mynews/ny-nycath063118895feb06.story , "Priest Found Guilty," by Stephanie Saul, Feb 6 2003 [Bolding added] [EXPLANATION: For the Church's previous deceit that Nelson had gone to India, though he was just across the East River, see the newsitem at Jan 30. END of EXPLANATION] Newsitem: Feb 6 2003
• [100 policemen's attempt to over-awe abuse court brings quick new rules.] SAN FRANCISCO (CA): San Francisco police officers who show up in court to support people accused of crimes must do so while off-duty and out of uniform, a top police official said Wednesday. The new directive comes after some 100 police officers -- including Deputy Chief Greg Suhr and some retirees -- showed up at a court hearing last month to support Monsignor John Heaney, 75, a police chaplain accused of molesting a boy 40 years ago. Heaney has pleaded not guilty to eight felony counts. The show of force at the Jan. 29 hearing included some officers in uniform and prompted criticism from a group of people representing persons who were molested by Roman Catholic priests. (Poynteronline) -- San Francisco Chronicle, http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/02/06/BA144636.DTL , "Courtroom dress code for police," Feb 6 03
• [Insurance companies got details since 1987, but not the victims.] IRELAND: Information on cases of child sexual abuse was provided by the Catholic Church to its insurers from 1987 onwards, it emerged yesterday. While the Church & General insurance company did not have access to actual church files on abuse, it was given regular updates about pending cases. ... The disclosure is likely to anger victims treated badly by Church authorities who repeatedly declined to provide them with information, ... and initially seemed reluctant in recent months to allow access to records and files concerning child abuse. (Poynteronline) -- Irish Independent, http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=912126&issue_ id=8710 "Church gave child abuse updates to insurers in 1987," probably Feb 6 2003
• [Irish Parliament finds taxpayers to pay millions for Church abuse! Secret deal alleged.] IRELAND: Cardinal Desmond Connell will discuss his resignation with Vatican officials when he flies to Rome on Sunday. The Irish Independent has learned from sources in Rome that an end to the cardinal's tenure as Archbishop of Dublin and de facto head of the Catholic Church in Ireland could come as soon as early summer. The Cardinal had offered his resignation to Pope John Paul when he turned 75 two years ago. Rome can move on the resignation at any time and it is believed that continuous calls for Dr Connell's resignation in the wake of revelations about the Church's handling of child sexual abuse cases have reached Rome, with some comparing Dublin and him with the troubled US diocese of Boston and its Cardinal Bernard Law, who resigned last year [Dec 13 2002]. Meanwhile, the Oireachtas [Government] Public Accounts Committee is to investigate the Church-State secret sex abuse compensation deal announced last June. The controversial deal indemnifies the Church for damages arising out of claims for abuse in residential institutions, in return for a contribution of €128m, but there are at least 5,000 claims expected. The Church may be sitting on a property goldmine worth hundreds of millions of euro. -- Irish Independent, www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=912558&issue_id=8716 "Vatican visit will set scene for Cardinal to step down," by Gary O'Sullivan and Katherine Donnelly, Fri Feb 7 03
!!!: [Files say girl-molesting priest organised "crisis" forum at Lexington!] LEXINGTON (MA): A Stigmatine priest who admitted molesting teenage girls in the 1960s remains active in a Lexington church and organized an Oct. 16 forum there on the Catholic clergy sex abuse crisis, according to documents and interviews. Files released yesterday on the Rev. Nicholas J. Spagnolo of Lexington show the priest admitted in 1993 to abusing the teens after a victim went to the Archdiocese of Boston and to leaders of the Waltham-based Stigmatine Order. The files also show that Spagnolo, under the auspices of the Stigmatines, tried for the next three years to sponsor retreats for lay and religious women - despite strict orders from the archdiocese that he not minister unsupervised. Word that Spagnolo was still active at Sacred Heart Parish in Lexington, and even organized its October "Crisis in the Church" forum, outraged Katherine M. Donnelly, a Franciscan sister who has spent years counseling the woman who first denounced Spagnolo. (Poynteronline) -- Boston Herald, ( http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/chur02072003.htm ), "Files say molester priest still active in Lexington church," by Tom Mashberg, Friday, February 7, 2003
• [Student priest sexually abused boys 12 and 13 from 1974.] NEW YORK: Father Wayland Brown pleaded guilty to sexually abusing two brothers while he was a student in a seminary, from 1974. He's been sentenced to 10 years gaol. He apologised to the brothers in court. -- The West Australian, "Priest jailed," Sat Feb 8, 2003, p 35
• [Rockville Centre Diocese "reprehensible," says Grand Jury.] SUFFOLK COUNTY (NY), U.S.A.: "The New York State Civil Practice Law and Rules should be amended to prohibit as a matter of public policy confidentiality agreements in any action for damages resulting from the sexual abuse of a child. . . . The Diocese of Rockville Centre deprived plaintiffs of their rights to legal recourse based on their abuse as children by priests in the Diocese. To remedy this situation, the Grand Jury recommends that the New York State legislature should enact a statute similar" to the State of California. "Victims were deceived; priests who were civil attorneys portrayed themselves as interested in the concerns of victims and pretended to be acting for their benefit while they acted only to protect the Diocese. These officials boldly bragged about their success and arrogantly outlined in writing mechanisms devised to shield them from discovery. These themes framed a system that left thousands of children in the Diocese exposed to predatory, serial, child molesters working as priests." "In fact, although there was a written policy that set a pastoral tone, it was a sham."
Most of the 182-page report details depravity against girls and boys by priests, including taking boys on camps and even to sleep overnight in their rectories, unchecked by the priests in charge and unchecked by the bishops, even in cases where reports were made to the diocesan officials. The Grand Jury recommended that the statute of limitations be amended, that Churches be compelled by law to report child abusers, that the time to prosecute for hindering a prosecution be extended, that a register be set up and checks be made on Church personnel, and other worthwhile proposals. Excellent reading (includes some sexually explicit words). [Also refer to newspaper comments on this, one titled "Diocese of Lies Exposed," of Feb 11 03.] -- Suffolk County Supreme Court Special Grand Jury, www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-suffolkreport0210,0,2290700.acrobat? coll= ny% 2Dtop% 2Dspan% 2Dheadlines , Grand Jury Report CPL § 190.85(1)(C), "Priest child sex abuse in Diocese of Rockville Centre," dated Jan 17 2003, released Feb 10 03
• Revs called 'serial child molesters' LONG ISLAND (NY): Long Island Catholic leaders played a shell game with pedophile priests to cover up allegations the clerics sexually abused teens after plying them with alcohol and pornography, officials said yesterday. A scathing grand jury report exposes priests in the Diocese of Rockville Centre as "serial child molesters" instead of prayerful do-gooders, said Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota. "In many instances, these priests first introduced these children to pornographic movies and alcohol as a means of entrapping them in a sexually abusive relationship," Spota said. "Many of the crimes were committed in rectories, and in one instance the sacristy of a church." When parents complained, diocese officials hushed up the allegations with "deception and intimidation," the grand jury report says. Then, the accused priests were shuffled off to other parishes, said Emily Constant, chief of the Suffolk County district attorney's child abuse and domestic violence bureau. -- http://www.nydailynews.com/02-11-2003/news/crime_file/story/58898p-55165c.html , New York Daily News, by Mike Claffey and Bill Hutchinson, Daily News Staff writers, (Poynteronline Feb 12 03) Feb 11 03
• Diocese of Lies Exposed. LONG ISLAND (NY): Predator priests sodomized altar boys, sexually abused cheerleaders and showed porn movies to other victims while plying them with booze in rectory bedrooms. But rather than do something about it, officials of Long Island's Catholic diocese played musical chairs with the errant clergymen - moving them from parish to parish and diocese to diocese. That's the shocking conclusion of a Suffolk grand-jury investigation of the Diocese of Rockville Centre [dated Jan 17 03], which ministers to 1.3 million Catholics in Nassau and Suffolk counties and is the sixth-largest in the nation. "Abusive priests were transferred from parish to parish and between dioceses," the panel said in a 180-page report yesterday. "Abusive priests were protected under the guise of confidentiality; their histories mired in secrecy. Professional treatment recommendations were ignored and dangerous priests allowed to minister to children." -- New York Post, http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/68904.htm , by Kieran Crowley and Andy Geller, (Poynteronline Feb 12 03) Feb 11 03
• [L.I. Diocese Tricked Victims of Sexual Abuse, Grand Jury Says.] NEW YORK: Suffolk County grand jury accused Roman Catholic Church officials on Long Island yesterday of protecting scores of pedophile priests for decades by using sham policies and a bogus "intervention team" to trick and silence victims, cover up crimes, avoid scandals and hold down financial consequences. The panel said the Diocese of Rockville Centre -- the nation's sixth largest, with 1.3 million Catholics in 134 parishes in Nassau and Suffolk Counties -- had protected at least 58 abusive priests with aggressive tactics that purported to help victims and their families but that actually used intimidation, claims of confidentiality, hush payments and other means to avoid lawsuits and publicity. [Rockville Centre is the Catholic diocese just east of Brooklyn and Queens, composed of Nassau and Suffolk Counties.] -- The Semi-Daily Journal of Economist Brad DeLong, "L.I. Diocese Tricked Victims of Sexual Abuse, Panel Says," http://www.j-bradford- delong.net/ movable_type/ 2003_archives/ 000020.html , by Robert D. McFadden, Feb 11 03
• What about the boy? NEW YORK: A grand jury's assertion that the Diocese of Rockville Centre secretly battled to protect priests while pretending to extend a pastoral hand to sexual abuse victims goes beyond anything seen since the scandal in the Roman Catholic Church erupted a year ago, victims of abuse and their advocates said yesterday. [...] While masquerading as sympathetic listeners, the officials were actually doing everything they could to fend off dozens of victims, keep their charges quiet and keep abusive priests in the ministry, the grand jury said in the report, which was released on Monday. "I have not frankly seen a team that is so sinister and dedicated to the purpose like this," said one lawyer, Jeffrey Anderson, who added that he had pressed cases in more than half of the nation's dioceses. [...] In one instance, the official told a parish employee who reported suspicious behavior that the priest would be sent for treatment, the report said. What about the boy, the employee asked. The grand jury report said the official replied: "It's not my responsibility to worry about the boy. My job is to protect the bishop and the church." [...] While his name never appears, Msgr. Alan J. Placa's shadow hovers throughout the grand jury report. Monsignor Placa was the architect of the diocese's legal strategy, a national expert in the field and the crucial member of the intervention team. Several months after the panel was ended in April, he was suspended from the ministry after being accused of abusing children. Monsignor Placa is a close friend of Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former mayor, and works for Mr. Giuliani's consulting business. The grand jury report does not mention names. -- New York Times, www.nytimes.com/ 2003/02/12/ nyregion/ 12PRIE.html , Feb 12 03
[Also see Patrick Nielsen Hayden's article at: What about the boy?] [Article: Feb 12, 03]
• [Homosexuals had infiltrated seminaries, and later organised to keep good men from finishing their studies.] PERTH, W. Australia - I cannot let Peter White's comments pass without challenge. He says that George Weigel appears to be another conservative Catholic, who has solved the sexual abuse problem, etc. etc. He also talks about the book written by Michael Rose Goodbye, Good Men and quotes a review of this book in AD2000 which he describes as a very conservative Catholic magazine. Your writer claims not to be a liberal Catholic but by his choice of language about George Weigel and AD2000 he seems more to belong to "Catholic Lite." It seems clear he has not read Goodbye, Good Men nor picked up what AD2000 was saying about the book. Michael Rose does not claim that a poor choice of candidates is responsible for the sexual perversions which have struck the Church in America in particular. Rose says that it is because the homosexual lobby infiltrated those seminaries. The major problem is not paedophilia but homosexuality. Most of the victims have not been children but teen-age adolescent boys. His claim is that the homosexual lobby has so infiltrated the seminaries that they actively drive away good men -- hence the title. -- John Rayner, Hillarys, in The Record, Perth, "Credibility in doubt," Feb 13 03, p 7
• [R.C. churchgoers' group say change 100% certain.] NEW YORK (CNS) -- The president of Voice of the Faithful [VOTF] told a New York audience on February 5 that the organisation's goal of bringing about change in the Church was 100 per cent certain to succeed, even if the organisation itself ceased to exist. The sex abuse scandal has produced an awakening among the laity, and they will no longer follow the path of "pray, pay and obey," said Voice of the Faithful president James Post. "You can't put the genie back in the bottle." Post, a professor of management at Boston University, spoke to a large responsive audience that gathered in the basement of St Ignatius Loyal Church, a prominent Jesuit church in Manhattan's Park Avenue. Joseph Sullivan, chairman of a St Ignatius Loyola parish committee formed last June by people concerned about how the sex abuse crisis has been handled, presided at the event. -- The Record, "Change ahead," Feb 13 03, p 12
• Dr George Pell's accuser named for first time as Phillip Scott; MELBOURNE (Vic) Australia: The article claims that Scott has a long criminal history. Scott's altar boy friend Michael Foley was also molested several times at the annual camp at Phillip Island. Foley later was stabbed at a Melbourne hotel in 1985. His killer, John Shea, was tried by Justice Alec Southwell, who coincidentally, in 2002, would sit in judgement on Dr Pell and his alleged molestation of Scott, in a Catholic Church tribunal. It is a very long article about Scott and his associates. -- Sunday Times, "Confronting past sins: Pell accuser had long list of convictions;" and "Pell inquiry clears little:" by Clive Simmons, Feb 16 03, pp 46-48
• Paedophilia in 1991-92 and cover-up; HONG KONG: A former priest who was convicted of molesting a 15-year-old altar boy in a paedophilia-and-coverup case that rocked Hong Kong's Catholic Church was sentenced yesterday to 4 1/2 years jail. A judiciary spokeswoman confirmed that Michael Lau, 42, had been sentenced for crimes committed in 1991 and 1992. Lau, now an insurance agent, is the only person arrested so far in the child sex scandal that hit Hong Kong's Catholic Church last year. -- The West Australian, "Sex scandal ex-priest jailed," Tue Feb 18 03, p 23
• Wesley principal remanded on peeking charge. PERTH, W. Australia: Former head of Wesley College John Bednall was yesterday remanded to appear in court next month on a charge in relation to the inappropriate use of a computer. Mr Bednall, 56, of Mosman Park, was not required to plead and was remanded until March 19. He was charged last month under the Censorship Act with one count of using a computer to obtain objectionable material. He resigned from Wesley last year when the school council called police. -- The West Australian, "Former Wesley head remanded," Thu Feb 20 03, p 17
• Magdalene mother 'locked up' for 40 years; IRELAND: An American woman adopted from an Irish 'Magdalene laundry' in the 1950s last night revealed that her natural mother was kept in clerical institutions for over 40 years. Catherine Deasy - whose mother, Joanna, entered Cork's Bessborough home for unmarried mothers in 1954 when she became pregnant with her - claimed her mother had been "dehumanised and brainwashed" with her adult life stolen from her. Ms Deasy revealed her mother's appalling plight as she demanded financial compensation for thousands of single Irish women who spent years and even decades in such Magdalene laundries. Incredibly, it took Catherine 15 years to successfully search for her Listowel-born mother - a search which she claims was hampered by the agency which originally arranged for her adoption by an American couple . -- Irish Independent, http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=921978&issueid=8788 , (Poynteronline Feb 21 03) [Bolding added] Possibly published Feb 20 03
!!!: Priest accused of abusing twins should not have been practising! ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- A priest accused of molesting twin brothers served at a church in upstate New York for three decades despite being forced to take a leave in 1963 that should have ended his ministry, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester said. The Rev. Bernard Casper was ordained in Colorado's Pueblo Diocese and took a leave for undisclosed reasons 40 years ago, Rochester diocesan spokesman Michael Tedesco said. He moved to Auburn, 30 miles southwest of Syracuse, in the 1970s and practiced again as a priest. "He really ought not to be representing himself as a priest if he doesn't have the faculties of the diocese," Tedesco said in Thursday's Post-Standard of Syracuse. "The faculties mean that you're able to carry out the mission and the duties of a priest." -- Newsday, http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ ny-bc-ny--priest-abuse0220feb20.story , (Poynteronline Feb 21 03) Probably published Feb 20 03
• Archdiocese settles suit over claims priest sexually assaulted woman. SAN ANTONIO (TX): The Archdiocese of San Antonio will pay a woman $300,000 to settle her lawsuit over claims that her pastor sexually assaulted her and that the church and Archbishop Patrick Flores ignored her pleas for help. The settlement reached this afternoon with Julia Villegas Phelps came after Flores testified that he could not be held accountable for “every sexual act” committed by a priest in the archdiocese. “Our priests are not babies,” Flores said while on the stand this morning. “I’m not going to keep an eye on them 24 hours a day.” Phelps was seeking up to $18 million in the suit through her claims that Father Michael Kenny sexually assaulted her in front of her children and while she was medicated at her home in 1989. -- San Antonio Express-News, By Manny Gonzales, Express-News Staff Writer, http://news.mysanantonio.com/story.cfm?xla=saen&xlb=180&xlc=952639&xld=180 , (Poynteronline Feb 21 03) Possibly published Feb 20 03
• [Freedom of Religion to include child abuse! Church claim!] SAN BERNARDINO (CA): In response to a lawsuit alleging sexual abuse by a priest, lawyers for the Diocese of San Bernardino summoned up the First Amendment to argue that the diocese should not be held liable. The case was filed by a woman parishioner, who says she was molested as a child in 1990 by Monsignor Patrick J. O'Keeffe, who was her parish priest. Arguments in the case will be heard Feb. 26 in San Bernardino Superior Court. In court papers, the diocese, which covers San Bernardino and Riverside counties, argues it should not be held liable for retaining a priest accused of sexual misconduct because the U.S. Constitution protects the church's religious freedom. -- San Bernardino Sun, http://www.sbsun.com/Stories/0,1413,208~12588~1190835,00.html , "SB Diocese claims immunity from molestation suit," by Felisa Cardona, Staff Writer, Thursday, February 20, 2003
• Judge Rejects Boston Archdiocese's Motion to Dismiss 500 Suits in Abuse; BOSTON (MA): A judge today rejected a motion filed by the Archdiocese of Boston that sought to dismiss nearly 500 civil lawsuits filed in the scandal of sexual abuse by members of the clergy. The judge, Constance M. Sweeney of Superior Court, dismissed the archdiocese's argument that the First Amendment's separation between church and state prevents courts from getting involved in how the church supervises priests. Clearing the way for the lawsuit to proceed, Judge Sweeney wrote that affirming the archdiocese would "have the practical effect of granting to hierarchical church representatives unqualified immunity from secular legal redress, regardless of how negligent, reckless or intention the representatives' supervision over their subordinates might be and regardless of the severity of the injuries suffered by claimants." -- The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/20/national/20ARCH.html?tntemail1 , by Pam Belluck, (Poynteronline Feb 21 03), Feb 19, 2003
• Baptist minister accused of sex abuse. CHICAGO (IL): A Chicago man filed a civil suit Thursday accusing a Baptist minister--and registered sex offender--with molesting him as a teenager a decade ago. Terrance Wallace, now 26, accused Rev. Michael M. Taylor, a former associate pastor at Mt. Ridge Missionary Baptist Church, 2658 W. Jackson Blvd., with luring him into a home in April 1993, with the promise of a modeling job. Wallace said he reported the incident two weeks later to the church's senior pastor, Rev. Snirly Simpson, who called a meeting with Taylor and church deacons. Wallace told them Taylor had said at the house that a photographer was on his way and that he should change his clothes for the shoot. Then, Wallace said, he pushed him down on the couch and sexually accosted him. "He turned into a monster," Wallace said Thursday. -- Chicago Tribune, http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ chicago/chi-0302210061feb21,1,3654925.story , by Julia Lieblich, Tribune religion reporter, Feb 21 03
• Rabbi Arraigned After Arrest In Underage Cyber Sting; NEW YORK: A rabbi, the father of a 9-year-old girl, was arraigned Friday after his arrest in Manhattan for allegedly trying to arrange a tryst with a person he believed to be a 13-year-old girl he met over the Internet. Rabbi Israel Kestenbaum, 54, of Highland Park, N.J., was arraigned on five felony counts of attempted dissemination of indecent material to a minor and 10 misdemeanor counts of attempting to endanger the welfare of a child. Kestenbaum's wife, who began divorce proceedings before his arrest, said she was afraid for their daughter's safety and asked that the rabbi not return home if he is released on bail, Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Steiner told the court. -- Newsday, http://www.newsday.com/news/ local/wire/ ny-bc-ny--rabbi-arrested 0221feb21.story , by Samuel Maull, Associated Press Writer, (Poynteronline Feb 22 03) 4:58 PM EST, Feb 21 03

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