Vatican Abuses
Catholic child abuse scandals 360 years old
By Stephen Bates in London
April 17, 2004
Ap 17/04- FairfaxDigital- The Catholic church's mishandling of pedophile scandals among its clergy has been going on for hundreds of years, a new book reveals.
Father Joseph Calasanz, a 17th century Spanish priest who founded the Piarist Order to educate the children of the poor, remains a revered figure who was canonised in 1767. An elegant statue stands in his memory at St Peter's in Rome.
Scholars who have been educated by the order, which has 1500 priests across the world, include Goya, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, Bruckner and Victor Hugo.
But a British academic has uncovered a secret, hidden for more than 300 years in the Vatican archives. Father Joseph, whose order was suddenly and mysteriously shut down for a period by Pope Innocent X in 1646, was guilty, like many since, of suppressing accusations of child abuse against his colleagues.
Karen Liebreich, a historian, claims: "The contemporary Catholic church's practice of moving a suspected pedophile away from the original scene of the crime for fear of ensuing scandal and the backlash clearly has long antecedents."
Her book, Fallen Order, quotes from a letter Father Joseph wrote to the headmaster of one of the order's schools in Naples in 1631 about a priest accused of abuse: "I want you to know that your reverence's sole aim is to cover up this great shame in order that it does not come to the notice of our superiors, otherwise our organisation, which has enjoyed a good reputation until now, would lose greatly," Father Joseph wrote.
The accused priest, Stefano Cherubini, a member of a well-connected Vatican family, did not hesitate to pull strings with Francesco Albizzi, assessor of the Inquisition, and managed to supplant Father Joseph briefly as head of the order.
It was not until 1646 that the complaints against him and other senior Piarist priests became widespread and the order was temporarily closed down.
Father Joseph moved priests and even promoted them when claims of abuse were made against them - a system of "promotion for avoidance" the church has practised ever since.
More than 10,600 children molested by priests since 1950
MASSACHUSETTS SCHOOLS: forced feeding homosexuality
Group blasts Catholic university over 'queer studies'
Sued
priest had resided with murdered priest
Catholic
"leaders" promote gay agenda
Articles
highlight 'gay priest' problem
Homosexualilty and Molestation - PDF
Sex Education: Spinning the Truth
Miami - Vatican Grievance filed against Catholic attorney, lay activist, and columnist
2006
Priests claim 70 percent of U.S. bishops are gay
April 12-2006- over and over again, the underground of heterosexual priests say the figure is accurate.
“This 90 percent figure, according to these priests, is in the parishes, grammar schools, hospitals, nursing homes, the chancery, high schools and colleges. One priest told us if the non-celibate gays were removed, we would have only ten Catholic churches in union with Rome. What we see is not what is. The good priests who keep in contact with me say that
70 percent of the U.S. bishops are homosexual. Five of the South Florida bishops are homosexual.
PUBLIC INQUIRY OPENS ON 'PEDOPHILE CLAN' CLAIMS
by Paul Likoudis
CORNWALL, Ont. - Mar/06 - Fifteen years after allegations that a "pedophile clan" consisting of prominent local officials in government, the Church, police, child welfare and probation departments abused dozens of young boys in the St. Lawrence River community of Cornwall on the eastern edge of Ontario, an official public inquiry led by Justice Normand Gloade opened here last week under a national spotlight.
This public inquiry is not to "determine who did what to whom," in the words of Justice Gloade - though that may come out in the course of the ten-month inquiry (broadcast daily on the Internet at
www.cornwallinquiry.ca ), but to determine "how public institutions in Cornwall responded in the past to any allegations of sexual abuse that were brought to their attention - not just in the Church but in all institutions," and to help those individuals who were abused, and who may be abused in the future, to cope with their trauma.
On the inquiry's opening day, February 13, the chief witness was Dr. David A. Wolfe, one of Canada's top sex abuse experts, a professor at the University of Toronto and a practicing psychologist whose specialty is sex abuse, and the author of the first academic textbook in the world dealing with issues of child sex abuse.
Over the next ten months, numerous witnesses will testify, building a mountain of paperwork that some critics of the inquiry fear will bury the scandal in a way that numerous government and police cover-ups, along with heavy doses of media ridicule, never could.
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Book details gay, pederastic clergy
Mar 27, 2006
Mar 06 - A forthcoming book by investigative journalist Randy Engel
is likely to be one of the most controversial books of its kind in quite some time.
The Rite of Sodomy – Homosexuality and the Roman Catholic Church, due out in July 2006, is 1318 pages in length, and, according to the Web site for the book, “tracks the rise of homosexuality in the Catholic hierarchy, diocesan priesthood and religious life in the United States over a span of 100 years and three generations of prelates. It examines all facets of this intergenerational phenomenon on the life of the Church – yesterday, today and tomorrow. The text is broken down into five mini-book sections, each examining a different aspect of homosexuality in the Roman Catholic Church.
BOOK : 'Epistles on Clergy Abuse'
Apr 4, 2006
April 06 - Vincent J. Nauheimer, whose son was molested by a priest of the New York archdiocese, has published a book titled
Epistles on Clergy Abuse,
This book will give the reader a first hand opportunity to experience the process of battling with the institution known as the Roman Catholic Church over the issue of sexual abuse of minors through letters. It was compiled because I realized a long time ago that there are those out there who don’t have voices. My example has helped many find their voices and in doing so, they have learned to speak out. After reading this book, hopefully, many more will find their voice and use it to put an end to this tragedy.
This all started in a sleepy little village of about twenty-five-hundred households. My wife was a Eucharistic minister and taught CCD for ten years. Both my sons were altar boys and one of them was the sacristan.
2005
Priest accuses U.S. cardinal of abuse of power
Priest troubled by Cincinnati Archdiocese 'gay' youth ministry
Noted
priest concerned over archbishop's pro-gay stance
Catholic priest suing New York, Newark
archdioceses
The following is the text of a press release, dated Dec. 13, 2005, from New York attorney John Aretakis regarding Father Robert Hoatson, a Catholic priest who is suing the New York and Newark archdioceses, the Congregation of Christian Brothers and the Albany diocese. Following that is the unedited text of the lawsuit itself.
27. BR. JOSEPH CLARK molested the plaintiff in the novitiate which was in
Esopus, New York in 1971-72. The plaintiff temporarily left the religious order
because of his anxiety over being abused. Clark would hug the plaintiff and rub
himself up and down the plaintiff's body despite the plaintiff's protestations.
The defendant CLARK also flaunted his wealth and power and it was widely known
that he was an alcoholic.
28. During the six months in the novitiate in 1971-72, it became apparent to the
plaintiff how dysfunctional the Catholic Church was. The plaintiff re-entered
the order in the summer of 1973 and was sent back to the postulancy for the
summer to get acquainted with the group he would be joining in novitiate. There
were many more actively gay Brothers than straight. Two of the plaintiff's
classmate were dismissed during the second novitiate, Henry Sek and Patrick
Sweeney. Both were found making love in a closet. It was clear to the plaintiff
that he was in a class and Order of significantly more gay than heterosexual
men.
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT A JURY TRIAL IS SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK DEMANDED
FR. ROBERT M. HOATSON,
Plaintiff,COMPLAINT-against- CIVIL ACTION
No.:
NEW YORK ARCHDIOCESE, CARDINAL EDWARD EGAN, THE NEWARK ARCHDIOCESE, ARCHBISHOP JOHN J. MYERS, CONGREGATION OF CHRISTIAN BROTHERS, FR. JOHN O'BRIEN, BR. LAURENCE BOSCHETTO, BR. PAUL KEVIN HENNESSY, THE ROMAN CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF ALBANY and BISHOP HOWARD J. HUBBARD,DefendantsJOHN
A. ARETAKIS
(JA 7925)
Attorney for Plaintiff
FR. ROBERT M. HOATSON
353 East 54th Street
New York, New York 10022-4965
Local man claims abuse at hands of ex-priest
By KEVIN KOELLING
Managing Editor
Minnesota attorney seeks others ‘to get them some help'
INDIANAPOLIS - Perr County News - Nov 4/05 - An ex-priest described as a “prolific molester” of young boys will face civil-court actions in Indianapolis that will involve one Tell City man, according to the lawyer representing several victims.
As of last week, Minnesota attorney Patrick Noaker had filed complaints on behalf of four “John Does” who allegedly suffered sexual abuse at the hands of the former Rev. Harry E. Monroe. Noaker said Thursday he expected to file another suit this week based on allegations from a Tell City resident.
In addition to Monroe, officials from the Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis are named as defendants because they allegedly knew the priest was a child molester when they moved him from “a high-profile church in Indianapolis to a lower-profile church in Terre Haute ... and he molested kids there,” Noaker said.
The archdiocese then “moved him to Tell City, a small little berg, and he ended up molesting children there,” the lawyer continued. The idea that church officials thought they could hide the allegedly abusive priest in a small town “offends me a lot,” he said, explaining he grew up in a small Indiana town, “and those could have been my friends” (molested).
Noaker said the Tell City victim's identity is also being withheld because he is “horrified that people might find out” what was done to him.
Church leaders told members of one community the priest would no longer be a threat to children.
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Ex-Indiana priest accused of abuse
Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS – Oct 27/05 - AP - An attorney for four men who have brought sexual abuse claims against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis alleged Wednesday that it repeatedly transferred an abusive priest to increasingly rural parishes as accounts mounted of him molesting boys.
Attorney Patrick Noaker said the priest in question, Harry E. Monroe, abused at least a dozen boys in Indianapolis, Terre Haute and Perry County along the Ohio River before the late Archbishop Edward T. O’Meara removed him from ministry in 1984.
The allegations, if true, amount to the largest individual case to come to light in Indiana of church fathers repeatedly transferring a priest known to have sexually molested children and not warning his new parishioners of his proclivities.
Noaker on Tuesday filed two new lawsuits accusing Monroe of sexually abusing two altar boys while he was at the now-closed St. Catherine Parish on the south side of Indianapolis in 1977 and 1978. The complaints also named the archdiocese as a defendant and accuse it of negligence, fraud and other charges for covering up his sexual molestation history from a previous posting at St. Andrew Parish on the city’s northeast side.
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Sioux Falls Catholic Diocese: Church Letters Point To History Of Abuse
Kiloland - Nov 2/05 - Did the Sioux Falls Catholic Diocese know about Father Bruce MacArthur's long history of sex abuse, but chose to cover it up?
That's what one of his victims is claiming tonight. Judy DeLonga reached an out of court settlement with the catholic church in a civil lawsuit that accused MacArthur of raping and sexually abusing her for several years.
But according to internal church documents supplied to us by DeLonga's attorney, DeLonga wasn't the only victim and the church may have done little to protect other children.
Judy DeLonga was only 10 years old when Father Bruce MacArthur began raping her.
"The abuse was severe and frequent, it was rape and he continued to stalk me for years after he left town," said DeLonga.
But according to several letters written to the catholic church, MacArthur may have been preying on children before he ever met DeLonga, dating as far back as 1965.
One member of the St. William's Parish in Ramona, South Dakota wrote, MacArthur improperly touched a young girl under her clothing.
But MacArthur was never charged. Instead he was transferred to Blue Cloud Abby in northeast South Dakota, where he underwent psychiatric treatment.
An advocate for victims who have been abused by priests says the catholic church could have stopped MacArthur.
"Rather than doing the right thing and turning Father MacArthur over to law enforcement and police, the church leaders instead decided to try and shield him from the police and cover up his crimes," said Barbara Blaine, president of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests of Chicago.
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Five more lawsuits filed against order, Catholic diocese
By PATRICK MALONE
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN
Nov 4/05 -PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN - Five more lawsuits were filed in district court against the
Catholic Diocese of Pueblo on Thursday, alleging that a former brother at Roncalli High School molested students there during the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Eight suits have now been filed in Pueblo against the diocese and the Society of Mary religious order based in St. Louis over allegations that Brother William Mueller sexually abused students at
Roncalli.
Story Here
Shooting their own: Patterns of Cover-up Continue ?
Punishing
the Whistleblower: Student expelled form Catholic school for outing abortion clinic
escort on Staff
Posted on November 03, 2005
Nov 3/05 - A 15-year-old girl at a Catholic school who was responsible for alerting her bishop to the presence of a pro-abortion activist teacher on staff at her school has been expelled from the school. Katelyn Sills was expelled from Loretto High School in Sacramento last week, two weeks after the teacher, who was found to be an abortion clinic escort, was dismissed at the behest of the local Bishop William Weigand, according to LifeSiteNews.com. Katelyn informed her mother after she recognized Marie Bain, one of the teachers at Loretto, as an escort at a Planned Parenthood abortuary
Archbishop of Tuam apologises to child abuse victims
BY MARY O'CONNOR
Nov 3/05 - The Archbishop of Tuam has apologised to child abuse victims and their families who suffered lasting hurt after being abused by priests.
Speaking in his homily at Tuam Cathedral on Sunday, Archbishop Michael Neary deplored the behaviour of these men.
"As priests they should have been protecting and nurturing the talents of these young people. The betrayal of trust is horrendous. Today the Church is ashamed of its past failings regarding child protection. I pray for those who have suffered abuse, that they will be able to achieve healing and peace in their lives. I pray also that those who have abused will realise the terrible harm they have done and will seek pardon for their sins."
Child abuse allegations have been made against 19 priests (six of whom are now deceased) in the Tuam archdiocese, according to the Catholic Communications office. The earliest date of alleged abuse was 1940. Allegations have also been made against seven priests (one of whom is deceased) of other dioceses who held appointments or occasionally ministered in the Tuam archdiocese. One allegation has been made against a priest whom it was not possible to identify.
"Eight priests (living at the time the complaint was received) have stood aside from ministry following a reasonable suspicion that child sexual abuse may have occurred. Following a Garda investigation, a decision not to prosecute has been taken by the DPP in relation to two priests. Four have been the subject of criminal charges in respect of offences within the realm of child sexual abuse. Three priests have been convicted of charges within the realm of child sexual abuse."
Eight civil actions involving child sexual abuse have been brought, of which seven have been settled involving compensation amounting to € 327,000. The total sum paid in related legal fees to date is € 170,000."
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Priest abuse taint Roman Catholic Church at Anchorage
KTVA- Anchorage - Nov 2/05 - He founded Nome's radio station; the Archdiocese of Fairbanks; and the Society of Jesus, Oregon Province.
But, there is a sinister side to Father James Poole's biography. The noted Northern Alaska Leader is now facing a fourth suit alleging sexual abuse of a parishioner.
If the allegations are true, this would be Father Poole's youngest victim to come forward. In the suit, she’s called Jane Doe Four. She claims the abuse happened at a Catholic school session when she was seven- years-old.
The woman says Father Poole pulled her into a side room and exposed himself by lifting his robe. Then he allegedly, tried touching her. According to the suit, the alleged acts happened in the late 1960's, which, was right at the beginning of Father Poole's 40-year tenure in Northern Alaska.
Australia
There's one thing these two groups of Catholics CAN agree on, though: The overwhelming majority of both active and inactive Catholics believe that these acts of abuse are still happening today
NOT
OVER IN IRELAND: 140 more priests are accused of sex abuse
Scandal-hit Church faces more claims
By Michael Lavery
Belfast Telegraph - Nov 1/05 - More than 140 priests in four dioceses have been accused of sex abuse but more revelations could be on the way as the scandal rocks the Catholic Church in Ireland.
The Ferns inquiry involved 21 priests, but since the report's publication, dozens more allegations have been confirmed by bishops.
They include Dublin (67 priests), Derry (26) and Tuam (27).
Some of the allegations go back to the 1940s, but the diocese in Tuam could turn out to be "on a par" with Ferns, given the similarity of the population of each diocese, said Colm O'Gorman, director of One in Four, a charity for sex abuse victims.
Mr O'Gorman said he found it remarkable that the bishops were only now making these figures available, even though in some cases they were available for the last 50 years.
In Tuam, eight clerics have left the priesthood after a "reasonable suspicion" that child abuse had taken place was established.
Three clerics from the Tuam area have already been convicted on horrific child sex abuse charges.
Claims have also been made against seven priests from other dioceses who served in
Tuam.
The spotlight in the abuse scandal switched to Tuam, following a revelation that a priest was continuing to serve in the archdiocese after a formal complaint of rape was made.
The priest was asked to stand down by the Archbishop of Tuam, Dr Michael Neary, after a newspaper story last week.
In Dublin, where the next inquiry into child sex abuse by priests will take place, the real figure could turn out to be
higher than 67.
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Roman Catholic groups offer $29 Million to settle lawsuits
Last Updated Nov 2 2005
CBC News
Canada - CBC - Nov 2/05 - Saskatchewan Catholic groups say they can afford to pay only a fraction of the multi-million dollar liabilities they face from residential school claims.
A lawyer for a group of Catholic organizations says 41 legal "entities" from across Canada – including dioceses, bishops and various religious orders – are offering $29 million spread out over five years.
Saskatoon lawyer Rod Donlevy said the $29 million offer for a comprehensive settlement is all the groups can afford.
"None of the organizations generate funds any more," Donlevy said. "Their members are old, they're retired. They don't have any incoming monies. They have said that they will get to that $29 million, but they didn't have any funds in excess of that."
Catholic, Anglican and United Church groups are named as co-defendants in many of the 12,000 lawsuits filed over the last 20 years.
Former students have made allegations ranging from sexual and physical abuse to loss of language and culture.
The churches ran the schools in the 20th century on behalf of the federal government.
But working on abuse claims has taken a heavy toll on his clients, Donlevy said. They have spent time and money doing research, preparing documents and defending people in court.
Donlevy says one of the reasons the 41 entities can't offer more money is that they are alone, among Catholics, in facing the costs of compensation. According to the federal government, the Catholic Church has a decentralized corporate structure – the individual orders and dioceses that ran the schools are legal entities, but the central church is not.
UK/Ireland
- Money: Catholic Church faces major sex abuse bill
30 October 2005 By Paul T Colgan
The Catholic Church faces a potential compensation bill of as much as €250 million for clerical sex abuse resulting from existing claims and new cases set to emerge following the publication of the Ferns Report last week.
This is in addition to the €128 million already paid to victims of abuse in children's homes run by religious orders, bringing the total potential cost to as much as €380
million.
The number of sex abuse claims in Ferns could average about one for every four priests, taking into account the likelihood of multiple claims against offending clerics, according to figures to be released next month.
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford Settles Abuse Cases
By PAT EATON-ROBB, Associated Press Writer
HARTFORD, Conn. - AP - Oct 31/05 - The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford agreed Monday to pay $22 million to 43 people who said they were molested by priests.
The alleged abuse dates back as far as the 1960s and involved 14 priests or retired priests.
Parents tried to bring it to the attention of Archbishop John Francis Whealon in 1983 but were threatened with legal action by the archdiocese, said attorney Jason Tremont, a lawyer for the 43 people.
"By giving victims a voice, we can change the behavior of the church and finally force the archdiocese to acknowledge responsibility for the past," Tremont said.
A spokesman for the archdiocese, the Rev. John Gatzak, said the settlement will be paid for with long-term savings and insurance policies.
"The archbishop wants to begin the healing process for those whose lives have been seriously harmed by sexual abuse, and for the church itself," Gatzak said. "We must acknowledge and deal with what has been done with justice and compassion."
Kevin Zile, 52, said the settlement can prevent others from being abused, but will not stop his flashbacks. "There were times when I was driven to New York City and woke up in the back of the car, tied and being abused by men I didn't know," he said.
Ireland:
Catholic Church, police, state: all failed raped children
Angelique Chrisafis, Ireland correspondent
Wednesday October 26, 2005
The Guardian
The Guardian - Oct 26/05 - A devastating report into one of the world's worst clerical sex abuse scandals
has found that children throughout County Wexford were abused over a 40-year period while the Catholic church, the police and
the Irish state failed in their duty to protect them.
At least 21 priests were accused of more than 100 cases of rape and sexual assault against children in the diocese of Ferns from 1962 to 2002.
The rural area of south-east Ireland is believed to have the highest proportion of accused clergy in a Catholic diocese anywhere in the world.
The report, headed by the retired supreme court judge Frank Murphy, is Ireland's first state investigation into the Catholic church's handling of abuse allegations against priests. It found that the church's negligence in dealing with allegations went as far as the Vatican.
Colm O'Gorman, a victim of child rape by one priest in Wexford, told Irish state broadcaster RTE:
"The report says very clearly that the Vatican carries a responsibility for the rape and abuse of
children."
The report is likely to spark public anger in Ireland, where the once all-powerful Catholic church has been hugely damaged by revelations of abuse.
The most notorious serial rapist named in the report is Father Sean Fortune, a violent bully who blackmailed his victims into silence. He came to his first parish, Fethard-on-Sea, in the late 1970s with a background of child sex abuse allegations while at the St Peter's College seminary in Wexford town. He was allowed to set up local youth groups and invite boys for overnight stays at his house. In the report, 25 complaints were made against him. Concerned parishioners had organised a delegation to two bishops and written to the Papal Nuncio, the Pope's ambassador in Ireland, but nothing happened.
When complaints were made against Fortune in 1987, the church sent him to London to do a communications course and seek therapy. On his return, he was made director of media outlet the National Association of Community Broadcasting, where he was later accused of raping a 15-year-old boy in a studio booth.
In 1999, in the first week of a trial on 29 charges of sexual abuse against eight boys, Fortune, 45, barricaded himself into his small home in County Wexford, protected by steel security shutters and CCTV, and committed suicide.
Yesterday's report found that for 20 years, Bishop Donal Herlihy, who was in charge of the Ferns diocese, treated sexual abuse of a child as a moral problem and did not recognise it as a serious criminal offence. When complaints were made, he would penalise the priest by transferring him to a different job for a period before returning him to his old position.
More Trials in Canada: Supreme Court sends abuse case involving Roman Catholic order back to trial
JOHN WARD
Fri Oct 28/05
OTTAWA (CP) - Oct 28/05 The Supreme Court of Canada says a case of sexual abuse at British Columbia residential school run by a Roman Catholic religious order must go back to the lower courts.
In an 8-1 decision Friday, the justices ruled that a trial court should decide whether the Oblate order, which ran a residential school for native children off Vancouver Island in the 1950s and 1960s, was negligent in the sexual assaults committed by Martin
Saxey, a school baker and handyman.
The victim, identified only as E.B. in court documents, was abused by Saxey from age seven until about age 11, although he told no one about it out of shame.
He won more than $233,000 in damages against the Oblates in 2001, but the British Columbia Court of Appeal overturned that decision in 2003.
The trial court found the Oblates "vicariously" liable and made no finding of direct liability or negligence.
The Supreme Court ruled five years ago that this vicarious liability - a kind of indirect responsibility - only applies to employers where there is a strong connection between the employee's job and the wrong committed.
A residential school case earlier this month held the United Church and the federal government vicariously liable for abuse committed by a dorm supervisor, who was directly involved with children.
This case was different, the court of appeal said, because Saxey had no supervisory role over children at the Meares Island school.
"In its view, the trial judge paid insufficient attention to the absence of any strong connection between the sexual abuse and Saxey's job on the fringes of school life as a baker, part-time motorboat operator and odd-job man," Justice Ian Binnie wrote in Friday's ruling.
He agreed with the appeal judges that the trial judge made a mistake.
Cardinal ousts 11 priests
2 sex abuse cases pending
By Manya A. Brachear
Tribune staff reporter
Published September 27, 2005
Tribune - Sept 27/05 - In the final resolution of cases that made headlines at the height of the Catholic Church's sex
abuse
scandal, Cardinal Francis George has permanently removed 11 priests from public ministry because of sexual misconduct with children.
Fourteen Chicago cases had been forwarded to the Vatican for review since the American church's new rules on sex abuse allegations took effect in 2002.
Two face canonical trials--a local proceeding in front of a panel of priests--because the Vatican determined that their cases required more deliberation. Neither is expected to return to ministry, the cardinal has said. One priest who could have faced penalties imposed by the cardinal has died.
The 11 priests had worked in parishes across Cook and Lake Counties, and some had held high-ranking positions in the archdiocese. They had already been removed from ministry while their cases were pending. Now they will be expected to live out the remainder of their lives in prayer in a monitored and restricted setting. "The archbishop in his decision feels there is moral certitude about what happened," Chancellor Jimmy Lago said Monday in announcing the cases' resolution. "What canon law requires is that we be morally certain that the abuse occurred. In each of the 11 cases, Cardinal George has determined, based on the information presented, that sexual misconduct did occur."
Each priest can appeal the cardinal's verdict, but the process could take a number of years, Lago said. George will not seek to remove the men from the priesthood, opting instead to keep them under close supervision.
"We would much rather have these individuals in a monitored restricted setting, not engaging in public ministry," Lago said. "This is a situation that we have
a little bit more control over."
Such decisions are being made across the country as bishops hear back from the Vatican about hundreds of cases forwarded for review. Other bishops have chosen to handle the cases somewhat differently. Some, for example, released the names of the priests being disciplined, unlike the Chicago archdiocese.
However, when the Tribune presented him with a list, Lago confirmed the following priests have been removed from public ministry: Revs. R. Peter Bowman, Daniel Buck, Daniel Mark
Holihan, Walter Huppenbauer, Robert Kealy, John Keehan, Donald Mulsoff, James Ray, John Robinson, Raymond Skriba and Anthony Vader.
He also confirmed that Rev. Marion Snieg, who also could have faced sanctions, had died. Revs. Thomas Swade and John Calicott await the conclusion of canonical trials.
Victims were notified of the resolution in letters mailed to their homes.
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Complaints of Priest Abuse Were Ignored
By LAURA WIDES, Associated Press Writer
Wed Oct 12,
LOS ANGELES - Oct 12/05 - AP - For decades, the Los Angeles Archdiocese ignored parishioners' sex abuse complaints and shipped accused priests between therapy and new assignments, according to newly released personnel records involving 126 clergymen.
In many cases, there was little mention of child molestation. Instead, euphemisms such as "boundary violations" were used to describe the conduct.
The summaries of the personnel records were released Tuesday as part of settlement talks with lawyers for more than 500 accusers who sued the nation's largest Roman Catholic archdiocese.
The records, released after nearly three years of legal wrangling, cover priests who were ordained as far back as the 1920s. The documents offer details in numerous cases, though much of the information has already been published.
Raymond P. Boucher, the plaintiffs' lead attorney, said the newly released information was a first step but that complete personnel files, including letters of transfer and other confidential documents, should be made public.
"The significance of these files is that they provide a little more information for the public about the church's knowledge and frankly their participation in the molestation of children, but until the (entire) files are made public, we're not going to be satisfied," he said.
Archdiocese and plaintiff attorneys had agreed to release the information, but lawyers for the accused clergy succeeded in blocking publication, arguing it would violate their clients' privacy rights.
An appellate court ordered the documents released last month.
Archdiocese attorney J. Michael Hennigan called Boucher's concerns that the summaries might be whitewashed "nonsense."
"Ray has not seen the files themselves and has no basis to say that beyond speculation," he said. "These are accurate descriptions of the content of the files, without disclosing confidential communication."
One priest, who served as a teacher and administrator at numerous Southern California schools, was convicted of molesting two boys and given probation. The conviction was later expunged from his record.
A subsequent report was made in 1994 of "boundary violations," in which he allegedly patted the buttocks of a teenager. He entered alcohol treatment days later and was eventually placed on leave.
Another priest's file shows the archdiocese received repeated complaints that he engaged in "inappropriate sexual conduct with children" beginning in 1959, but that it did not appear to take significant action against him until 1994 when he was relieved of his duties, documents said.
David Clohessy, who heads a victims' rights group, called the information release a "shrewd public relations effort," as civil cases against the clergy inch toward trial.
But Hennigan said in the early days of the accusations, church officials did not go to civil authorities because "parents of children who had been victims did not want their children famous for this. They did not want people talking about this."
Hennigan said that in many cases counseling was offered to clergymen accused of abuse. Those accused were generally removed from the ministry altogether as church officials' understanding of sexual abuse increased, he said.
The files show that in many cases the church provided years of therapy to some of the clergy.
The archdiocese has posted nearly 150 pages of summaries from the clergy files on its Web site.
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( On the Net: http://www.la-archdiocese.org)
Archdiocese Says It Didn't Shield Kids From Priests
245 clergy members from the L.A. Archdiocese have been accused of molestation
By Jean Guccione and Nita Lelyveld
Times Staff Writers
Times - Oct 12/05 -The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles allowed at least eight priests to remain in contact with children even after receiving complaints that the clerics had a sexual interest in minors, according to church documents produced in the lawsuits by hundreds of alleged sexual-abuse victims.
That is twice as many as the church had previously conceded.
The documents, which became public Tuesday, indicate that numerous children might have avoided harm if church leaders in the 1960s, '70s and '80s had reacted more vigorously to warnings about abusive priests. Tod
Tamberg, spokesman for the archdiocese, said the documents would be posted at midnight Tuesday on the archdiocese
website .
The documents offer the most unfiltered look yet at the way the archdiocese responded to child-molestation allegations involving its priests over the last half-century.
In one of the newly revealed cases, a parishioner in 1980 passed a rumor to archdiocese officials that a young boy was spending every weekend at Father Richard Henry's home. In the decade that followed, the church received additional reports about Henry, including two in 1988, one from a nun at Our Lady of the Rosary in Paramount who said that the priest was partial to boys, and the other from a layperson who said he "grabs little boys and hugs them."
Despite the reports, Henry was allowed to remain in his parish while undergoing therapy. Church leaders say they did not know that he continued to sexually abuse young boys. He wasn't removed from ministry until the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department launched an investigation in 1991 that ended with Henry pleading no contest to four counts of lewd conduct with a child.
Henry went to prison in 1993 and served three years, according to court documents. He was removed from the priesthood in 2003.
J. Michael Hennigan, the church's lead attorney in more than 560 sexual-abuse lawsuits against the archdiocese, said the newly released documents show that "since the middle 1980s, there was never a time when a priest was transferred without counseling after a credible complaint."
The documents "show men of good will and intelligence struggling" with how to handle sexual abuse, he said.
Church officials say their policies have evolved over time into a "zero-tolerance" stance that reflects changes in their thinking on how best to handle child molesters.
Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, who took over the leadership of the nation's largest archdiocese in 1985, said that the church's current policy, adopted in 2002, provides that "no priest who had ever abused a minor — no matter how long ago — would be allowed to hold an assignment."
Seven accused priests remain in active ministry today, according to the archdiocese, with at least one abuse allegation against each of them. Church officials said accusations against the seven have not been substantiated. In all,
at least 245 clergy members from the L.A. Archdiocese have been accused of molestation, according to the documents.
Church officials had previously put the figure at 219.
While church officials believe their policy protects today's children against abuse, the alleged assaults on previous generations of children continue to pose an enormous financial risk to the archdiocese.
Last year, the Diocese of Orange settled 90 cases for $100 million. Parties to the current suits have estimated that suits against the Los Angeles Archdiocese, which involve alleged abuse by more than 200 priests, could cost $1 billion.
The newly released documents were prepared by church lawyers in connection with efforts to settle the pending cases. Known as proffers, they represent what the church would be prepared to concede in the settlement talks.
They are summaries of the church's personnel files with much information deleted, including names of parents or other parishioners who complained about the priests, victims' names, many details about the alleged conduct or about therapy that the priests may have undergone. They also do not include names of church officials who were warned about the priests but failed to notify authorities and parishioners about their suspicions.
Lawyers for the accused priests earlier this year, had blocked an attempt by the archdiocese to release the documents. But late last month, a state appellate court said the church could release the information. A lawyer for many of the accused priests said he continued to object. "Any disclosure from personnel files violates the employee's right of privacy and ignores the legal process," said attorney Donald
Steier. The church's move to release the information was a "public relations decision," he said.
Plaintiffs lawyers, who have sought to have the church's full personnel files released publicly, have said the proffers are inadequate. They say the documents were designed, in part, to shield the church from public release of more information about how the archdiocese had responded to complaints about wayward priests. Legal battles continue over whether the church's full personnel files must be released.
"In the sanitized form that it's in, [the proffers are] more information than victims have had in the past. But it pales in comparison to the truth," said Raymond P. Boucher, lead attorney for the plaintiffs suing the archdiocese.
"Based on the documents that we've seen, based on the investigations that we've conducted, based on the police reports that have been made public, this is a scant glimpse into the truth," he said. "They reveal decades of participation by the archdiocese in molesting children."
Church officials have vigorously opposed efforts to make the full personnel files public. They have defended the proffers, saying the files were excerpted to protect the privacy of the priests and their accusers and the confidentiality of church communications. Hennigan said Boucher has never seen the documents on which the proffers were based.
Files were not kept on all accused priests, and their contents vary greatly. Most resemble a resume listing each priest's assignments by parish, city and year. Others show when a priest was accused, whether he was sent for psychological evaluation and treatment, and any internal correspondence regarding him.
In addition to Henry, the new documents reveal three other previously undisclosed cases of priests accused of child sexual abuse after church officials had information indicating these priests might be a danger to minors. None of the three has publicly admitted molestation.
• Kevin Barmasse, then-associate pastor at St. Pancratius in Lynwood, was transferred to the Tucson diocese in September 1983.
His move came two weeks after parents alleged in a letter to Los Angeles church officials that Barmasse sexually abused their son in the priest's bedroom, according to the documents. The transfer was part of an agreement between the Los Angeles and Tucson dioceses that allowed him to continue in ministry in Arizona for the next eight years on the condition that he get psychological treatment.
Authorities and the alleged victim's parents believed the priest's transfer "and psychiatric treatment would solve the problem," according to an earlier statement from the Tucson diocese.
Five people have accused Barmasse of molesting them during his time in Arizona. The archdiocese removed him from all ministry in 1992.
• A father accused Michael D. Buckley of exposing himself to the man's two minor sons in 1959, four years after the priest was ordained in Los Angeles. He was moved a month later to St. Charles Borromeo Church in North Hollywood.
Five years later, an anonymous letter sought to have Buckley removed from Immaculate Conception Church in Monrovia for unspecified allegations involving his "moral fitness." He was named chaplain of Harbor General Hospital in Torrance two months later, then assistant chaplain at St. Francis Hospital in Lynwood the next year.
Buckley served at six different parishes throughout the 1970s and was pastor at Immaculate Conception in New
Cuyama, Calif., when the chancellor received a phone message in 1983 "indicating that Father Buckley engages in inappropriate sexual conduct with children." Another complaint came in 1991. Buckley continued to serve as a priest until 1994, when two men reported to church officials that they had been sexually abused by the priest decades earlier.
The archdiocese says eight people have accused Buckley of misconduct with children between 1965 and 1985. One pending lawsuit involves him.
• Willebaldo Castro was moved to St. Mary of the Assumption in Santa Maria in January 1976, four months after a 16-year-old boy told Los Angeles church authorities that the priest had molested him, according to court records.
The clergyman had been removed from the priesthood in 1969 after his bishop in Mexico suspended Castro for an unspecified "moral charge." Church lawyers say in the summary that their file does not show whether his alleged moral lapse involved adults or children.
Castro was readmitted as a priest in 1972 and served as an associate pastor at St. Alphonsus in East Los Angeles from 1972 until his 1976 transfer.
Castro is accused in court of sexually abusing a child at St. Mary of the Assumption in 1977, two years after the archdiocese says it had evidence that he could be a danger to minors. He returned to Mexico in 1980.
Story
Here
Chapels on the Auction Block
Altar Boy Abuse Settlement in Canada
Threatens Dioceses
By Doug Struck
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, June 27, 2005
STEPHENVILLE, Newfoundland - Jun 27/05 - In the hardscrabble fishing villages of this remote island, the Rev. Kevin Bennett was "like a god. He was more important than a cop," and more feared than parents, recalled a former altar boy, who was one of his victims. Dozens of boys kept Bennett's secret as he ordered each into his bed to fondle and rape them.
Now, 16 years after the priest was publicly accused and sent to prison, a $10.5 million settlement reached last month over the sexual abuse claims of 39 former altar boys is causing the Catholic diocese here to prepare to put its churches, parish halls and priests' homes up for sale.
Sister Alice Walsh, active in Our Lady of Fatima for 12 years, said the congregation was devastated to learn the news.
Catholic villagers across this huge, poor swath of western Newfoundland are learning the long reach of these priestly abuses, some committed decades ago. They might lose the tiny parish chapels and meeting halls where relatives and neighbors have long been christened, married, celebrated and buried.
"We always thought we owned the church," said Theresa LaCosta, 78, who lives down the hill from Our Lady of Fatima Church in Piccadilly, a cluster of poor homes with rich views of the emerald hills that plunge into St. George's Bay. She said her husband, now deceased, had badly hurt his back while helping to lay the church foundation. "He had to stop fishing because of it. Now they are going to take the church away?"
As more churches in the United States and Canada grapple with the aftermath of sex abuse claims, anguish similar to that of St. George's diocese might be felt by Catholics far and wide.
"This is a wake-up call for the entire church," said the Rev. Thomas Doyle, a Washington attorney who has counseled many victims and advised them on lawsuits against the church.
Doyle said the Newfoundland case could be "potentially devastating" for dioceses in the United States because Canada's Supreme Court ruled that the Newfoundland diocese owned all of its parishes' property. American dioceses are fighting against having parish churches and property included in settlements against local priests and officials.
"If I were a U.S. diocese, I would be very worried about the Newfoundland case," said Charles Zech, an expert on church finances and a faculty member at Villanova University outside Philadelphia. "All of the parishes are waiting for this issue to be settled."
Claims paid by U.S. dioceses total more than $1 billion, according to a study of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and recent large settlements in Boston, Kentucky and California. Three other dioceses have entered bankruptcy protection to satisfy sex-abuse claims.
"We don't have millions of dollars. This will be very difficult," said Bishop Douglas Crosby of St. George's Diocese. "But we need a just, fair settlement for the victims. This has been delayed too long."
Full
Story Here
Groups: Vatican Failed to Address Scandal -
U.S. Bishops still part of the problem
NEW YORK (AP) - Ap 5/05 - Among the crowd cheering Pope John Paul II at Shea Stadium in 1979 was a 15-year-old New Jersey boy named Mark Serrano - there courtesy of a ticket provided by the priest he later accused of sexually molesting him.
Like other advocates for victims of abuse by priests, Serrano has mixed emotions as he assesses the papal transition now unfolding in the Roman Catholic Church. Though never losing affection for John Paul II, Serrano feels the Vatican under his leadership responded too weakly to the U.S. sex abuse scandal - and may not do any better under the next pope.
"Can we say the pope failed us? I think John Paul could have done more," Serrano said. "Can we say the bureaucrats in Rome failed us? Absolutely."
Serrano, who now lives in Leesburg, Va., is a regional official of SNAP - Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
SNAP's national director, David Clohessy, and president, Barbara Blaine, said the pope's rhetoric was admirable when he summoned America's cardinals to the Vatican in 2002 and told them there was "no place in the priesthood" for those who harm children.
"It's been disappointing that the people who were close to the pope didn't take his message to heart, and didn't go further," Blaine said. "We know full well that many bishops, even after that statement, left child molesters in the ministry."
The pope's comments, Clohessy said, "were good words that haven't, unfortunately, been followed by real action. ... He was not well-served by his advisers."
However, Clohessy added, the U.S. bishops deserve more blame that the Vatican.
"The bishops played legal hardball, were deceptive, transferred abusers and ignored victims," Clohessy said. "They're the front-line managers and have to bear responsibility."
The abuse crisis erupted in Massachusetts in January 2002, then rippled into most dioceses in the United States; the church in Canada, Australia, Latin America and Europe - including the pope's own Poland - also faced scandals.
Aside from the papal meeting with the U.S. cardinals, the Vatican tended to leave the scandal in the hands of American church leaders, although it did amend a proposed U.S. bishops' discipline policy in 2002 to ensure that accused priests' rights were respected.
"Since then the Holy See has not intervened," said Helen Alvare, law professor at Catholic University in Washington D.C. "Might some future pope wish to speak more about the issue? It's not impossible. There could be a shift of attention, a different way of speaking about things."
Full Story
Here
MORRISTOWN, N.J., Feb. 15/05 - The Roman Catholic Diocese of Paterson has agreed to pay approximately $5 million to settle a lawsuit brought by 27 men who said they were abused by five priests and a deacon, including one priest who admitted molesting numerous boys, a lawyer announced on Tuesday.
The settlement, which is believed to be the largest in a sex abuse case by a Roman Catholic diocese in New Jersey, concludes a year-old lawsuit that was brought by the 27 men and 6 of their wives, said Gregory Gianforcaro, the lawyer who represented 26 of the men. The lawsuit drew widespread publicity, particularly because it included allegations by at least 19 of the men that they had been abused by one former priest, James T. Hanley. The case was unusual in that Mr. Hanley helped it by providing a sworn statement about how he had committed numerous acts of sexual abuse against children.
Mr. Gianforcaro announced the settlement at a news conference in front of the Morris County Courthouse, which was also attended by several of his clients. "There are no winners in this settlement," he said
Priest Convicted of Molesting Altar Boy
BALTIMORE - Feb 17/05 - A defrocked priest was convicted Thursday of molesting an altar boy who a decade later shot and wounded him on the street in a fit of rage when the clergyman refused to apologize.
Maurice Blackwell, 58, former Roman Catholic pastor of a Baltimore church, was found guilty on three of four counts of sexually abusing Dontee Stokes, now 29, during the early 1990s. He could get up to 45 years in prison when he is sentenced in April.
Stokes said he felt vindicated by the verdict: "The world can see that I'm not a perfect person, but I stand here right and he stands wrong."
Blackwell, who uses a cane to walk because of his gunshot wounds, had no comment as he left the courtroom.
Stokes testified that the priest molested him from age 13 to 17. Prosecutors declined to charge Blackwell when Stokes first raised the accusations a decade ago.
In May 2002, as the sex scandal that engulfed the Roman Catholic Church was unfolding in Boston, a tormented Stokes shot Blackwell three times in the hip and hand during a confrontation on a city street.
The victim, now 27, lowered his head as the verdicts were read out in the Cambridge court on four charges including rape.
Shanley, at the centre of a scandal which shook the Boston archdiocese, reportedly showed no emotion.
The 74-year-old could face a maximum sentence of life in prison.
He was taken into custody after the verdicts.
After entering his plea, Joseph Druce shouted "Hold paedophiles accountable for their actions" and "Let's keep the kids safe" as he was led away, amid cheers from other suspects awaiting their turn in court.
Druce, 38, is accused of sneaking into John J Geoghan's cell in Souza-Baronowski Correctional Institute, trapping him inside, then strangling and beating him to death.
Defrocked priest Geoghan, a central figure in the Catholic Church's abuse scandal in Boston, was taken to hospital, but died shortly afterwards.
He had been sentenced to six years in prison last year for molesting a 10-year-old boy and was accused of molesting nearly 150 boys over 30 years.
Archbishop Covered Up Priest's Abuse, Victims Group Says
Jan 20/05 - YahooNews - New accusations of a coverup by the Archdiocese of Cincinnati include Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk himself.
Leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, say Pilarczyk and his staff knew about allegations against Father David Kelley eight years before they've admitted, but did nothing about it.
Sex abuse allegations against Kelley surfaced more than two years ago, News 5's Susanne Horgan reported.
He's being sued by 40 alleged victims who say they were abused as kids, as early as the 1970s.
Church officials have said they first got reports of Kelley's suspected abuse in 1994.
But SNAP says a fellow priest reported Kelley's activities in 1986.
The group wants Pilarczyk to apologize to the victims and release documents on all priests accused of abuse.
The evidence is that a higher percentage of Catholic priests and male Religious molest
children more than other ministers of religion. Clergy of all denominations do not molest
equally. In her foreword, the lawyer, Sylvia Demerest cites a 1995 survey of 19,000
treating professionals, funded by the National Centre on Child Abuse and Neglect. The
study found that in the US, 94% of abuses by religious authorities were sexual in nature.
Over half of these cases (54%) involved perpetrators and victims who were Catholic, even
though Roman Catholics comprise only 25% of the United States population. The minor
victims of priest abuse are overwhelmingly boys and teenagers, (80­90%), which is
contrary to the pattern of abuse in the general population.
American studies are not the only ones which defy the assumption that clergy of
all denominations abuse equally. The Briggs & SHY/ Hawen study included 200
convicted child molesters in New South Wales, Australia. It found that 93% of
convicted and imprisoned child molesters had themselves been sexually abused as
children and 60% stated that they had been abused by a Catholic priest or
Brother.
Source: (Plante, T, Bless me father for I have sinned: perspectives of sexual abuse committed by Roman Catholic priests, California, 1999, as cited in Sipe, A W R, 'Abusive clergy', The Tablet, 27 November 1999, p 1614)
http://www.thelinkup.org/integrity8.html
Archdiocese seeks to send priest accused of abuse back to Iowa
ST. LOUIS - JAn 20/05 - AP - The St. Louis Archdiocese is pushing to send the Rev. William Wiebler back to Iowa to face new allegations of sexual abuse.
Wiebler lives near two schools in the St. Louis suburb University City. Twelve new victims in Iowa have come forward alleging they were abused by Wiebler. The Vatican has ordered trial under church law to determine whether he should be punished.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Thursday that St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke has been trying to have Wiebler sent back to Davenport, Iowa. Spokesman Jamie Allman said those efforts will increase.
"Short of calling in the Swiss Guard, the archbishop over several months, has done everything in his power to get this guy out of town and back to his home diocese," Allman said. Church, or canon, law says that Burke has no authority over Wiebler, and that only Bishop William E. Franklin of Davenport, Iowa, can take action against him.
"With 12 new allegations, the burner will be turned up," Allman told the newspaper.
The Post-Dispatch reported in September that Wiebler had left a treatment center in nearby Jefferson County, Mo., and was living in an apartment 750 feet from an elementary school and about 1,500 feet from a preschool.
Wiebler, 72, has admitted abusing several minors during the 1970s and 1980s but has no criminal record. All the allegations against him fell outside the Iowa statute of limitations.
Franklin asked the Vatican in February to defrock five priests, including Wiebler. The Vatican agreed to do so for only one of the five, recommending instead that Wiebler stand a canonical
trial
More than 10,600 children say they have been molested by priests since 1950
Reports find abuse 'epidemic'
Feb 28, 2004 - OneNews - More than 10,600 children say they have been molested by priests since 1950 in an epidemic of child sexual abuse involving at least 4% of US Roman Catholic clergy, two studies report.
The reports' release brought an apology from Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, and complaints from victims that the reports focus on the actual abusers but not on the bishops who failed to stop them.
One of the reports, written by researchers at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, reveals that 10,667 children were allegedly abused by 4,392 priests from 1950 to 2002. But the report says the figures depend on self-reporting by American bishops and are probably an undercount.
This study found reports of abuse peaked with the ordination class of 1970, from which one in 10 priests was eventually accused of abuse.
Most victims were male, and of those, the largest single age group was boys 11 to 14 years old. Alleged abuses ranged from touching, with or without clothing, to oral sex and sexual intercourse.
Some $US572 million has been paid in damages to abuse victims, the report says, but notes this does not include $U85 million paid by the Archdiocese of Boston, where the sex abuse scandal first grabbed headlines two years ago, and the 14% of dioceses which were not able to provide figures.
The finding that at least 4% percent of American Roman Catholic priests were involved in child sexual abuse differs markedly from the figure of "less than 1%" offered in 2002 by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger,
(now the Pope) head of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
UK - Parish 'betrayed' over sex priest
Sept 17/04
BBC - Members of a Roman Catholic parish church have accused their diocese of betraying their trust by moving there a priest known to have abused a teenager.
Parishioners in Kentish Town, north London, say the Westminster diocese took an unacceptable risk.
They are angry the lay volunteer given responsibility for child protection was not told the priest's history. He has been jailed for abusing two other boys.
The diocese has said it will review its child protection procedures.
Forbidden contact
It has also promised to tighten its policy if necessary in light of the complaint.
Despite once admitting indecently assaulting a 17-year-old boy, Father William John Hofton was allowed to return to ministry, albeit under supervision and forbidden contact with children.
He was later moved to Kentish Town but only the other priest was told of his history.
While there he admitted carrying out other assaults in the 1990s and was recently jailed for abusing two boys.
The parishioners claim the failure to tell their lay child protection representative casts doubt on the Church's new child protection policy.
Lawyers Suing Vatican Call For A Public Audit
Roman Catholic Church is Abusing Bankruptcy Laws:
Lawyers Suing Vatican Call For A Public Audit
July 8/04 - Lawsuits for Accountability - (released byJonathan Levy & Tom Easton, Attorneys
)
The Archdiocese of Portland, Oregon recently announced plans to file for bankruptcy due to millions of dollars in potential debt to sexual abuse survivors. Now the Diocese of Covington, Kentucky and others are lining up to do the same. However, the Vatican and its myriad branches: Dioceses, Orders (Franciscans, Jesuits, etc.), and tens of thousands of tax-free organizations all answerable to Rome control multi-billions of dollars in property, artworks, and hard assets like gold, cash and securities.
Last year former Governor Frank Keating likened those who sexually abuse and cover up in the name of the Church as Mafia. He was right on the money; the real Mafia has infiltrated the Catholic Church. Just one example is the Vatican Bank, nominally owned by the Pope. The Vatican Bank operating with diplomatic immunity has been mired in one criminal scandal after another since it's current incarnation in 1942. Now it faces not only our lawsuit
(Alperin vs. Vatican Bank) seeking stolen Second World War assets but also a nearly $1 billion dollar lawsuit by five state insurance commissioners for money laundering in connection with convicted swindler Martin Frankel. The number three man at the Vatican, Cardinal Sodano is implicated that conspiracy.
In the United States, the Archdiocese and Orders have covered up crimes and enabled a legion of pedophiles. The so-called
lavender mafia now seeks to hide behind the United States bankruptcy courts. But should an enterprise infiltrated by criminals be allowed to shield themselves in this manner? The answer is a palpable NO; instead the entire Vatican apparatus should be stripped of its non-profit status here unless it submits to a public audit. We guarantee parishioners will be shocked when they see where the money went and that the Church's abuses of trust will end in short order once their full extent is revealed.
The lawsuit, Alperin v. Vatican Bank, was filed in November 1999 by Serb, Jewish, and Ukrainian Holocaust survivors against the Vatican Bank seeking return of Nazi loot from wartime Yugoslavia has run into an apparent wall of silence. Tom Easton and Jonathan Levy represent 28 plaintiffs suing the Vatican Bank, the case is currently pending in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
Argentine priest reveals sex life
June 10/04
BBC - An elderly Roman Catholic priest has scandalised Argentina's third-largest city by publishing an account of his secret sexual liaisons.
The autobiography by Father Guillermo Mariani, 77, appeared in bookshops in Cordoba this week and has virtually sold out its first edition.
In the book, Father Mariani describes affairs with women and even one attempt at a gay relationship.
He describes priestly celibacy as "unnatural" and doomed to disappear.
In interviews to publicise the book, entitled No Beating Around The Bush (Sin Tapujos), Father Mariani said: "I believe that in 30 to 50 years' time, celibacy will no longer be an obligation."
Father Mariani explained that his sexual experiences were just a small part of the book, in which he recounts his 53 years as a priest in the parish of La Cripta.
However, he added that he felt "a great relief" after telling his story, adding: "Adults both inside and outside the Church need to know about these things."
Intimate details
Local newspapers describe Father Mariani as a man already known for holding progressive social views which do not always coincide with the Catholic Church's official position.
In the most lurid passages of the book, Father Mariani recalls intimate details of his affairs.
Sex-Abuse Watchdog Leader Faults Bishops
Saturday May 1, 2004
CHICAGO (AP) - The head of a Roman Catholic bishop's lay review board on
sexual assault by priests has criticized efforts by some bishops to delay the
board's review of reform efforts in U.S. dioceses.
Anne Burke, an Illinois Appellate Court judge, said in an interview aired
Friday on WBBM-TV in Chicago that she is ``very disappointed in many of the
bishops'' for impeding the work of the National Review Board.
Burke became interim chairwoman of the panel last June when the former
chairman, former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, stepped down after Catholic
officials criticized him for likening church leadership to the Mafia.
The 12-member board of lay Catholics, appointed by U.S. bishops in 2002 to
oversee the church's reform efforts, is required to release an annual audit
exploring whether all 195 U.S. dioceses are following reforms aimed at ridding
the priesthood of abusers.
Timeline of the main events in the sex abuse scandal involving the US Catholic Church and in particular the Boston Archdiocese, where the crisis led ultimately to the resignation of the Cardinal Bernard Law.
1984: Bernard Law is appointed archbishop of Boston, and elevated to cardinal a year later.
1985: Sex abuse by priests becomes a national issue for the first time, as Louisiana priest Gilbert Gauthe pleads guilty to 11 counts of molestation of boys.
1992-3: Reverend James Porter of Fall River diocese is accused of abusing children in five US states in the 1960s and 1970s. He later pleads guilty to 41 counts of abuse.
1992: US bishops meeting in South Bend, Indiana, admit attempts by some of their number to hide abuse.
1993: First legal proceedings brought against Dallas diocese over sex abuse by the priest Rudolph Kos.
13 July, 1998: Dallas diocese forced to pay more than $31m to victims of Kos.
1999: Former Massachusetts priest John Geoghan indicted on child rape charges.
8 January, 2002: Vatican publishes guidelines on how to deal with paedophile priests, saying all cases should be reported to Rome.
9 January: Cardinal Law apologises to victims of John Geoghan and promises a tougher line on abusive priests in future.
18 January: Geoghan convicted of indecent assault and battery of a 10-year-old boy, for which he later receives a 10-year prison sentence.
10 February: Cardinal Law tells worshippers at Sunday mass he will not step down.
New Zealand Roman Catholic Church - Million dollar compensation for victims
Mar 17, 2003 -OneNews - Dozens of men are in line for compensation, in the largest payout in New Zealand by a religious order.
St John of God is offering $4 million for alleged sex abuse at a Christchurch Catholic residential school, some 30 years ago.
Marylands was supposed to be a safe haven, but some who went there as children say it was anything but.
On Monday the Australasian head of the Order of St John of God formally acknowledged the former students' pain, with a $4 million apology.
The money will be shared among 56 former pupils of the Christchurch residential school
The victims say their lives have been shattered by abuse
"Twenty years lost is just something that I can't replace, and you can't put money on that," said one victim.
The apology has cost the order dearly - it is having to take out a loan from a financial institution to service the compensation.
In addition, the order is still dealing with 14 other complainants.
Abusive US priests shamed online
Nov 02 - BBC- A group of Roman Catholic activists have launched a website naming US clergy who have been found guilty or have been accused by the public of sexually abusing children.The Survivors First group compiled a database listing 573 priests alleged of involvement in paedophilia cases since 1996, using details from newspaper articles and, sometimes, court documents.
South Africa Roman Catholic Clergy admit abuse
"All I can say is that we have had a dozen cases involving Catholic priests in different parts of the country," Cardinal Wilfred Napier told the BBC's Network Africa programme.
The
Lack of Accountability of the Confessional: Crisis in the confessional
Abuse spotlight
on Australian nuns
Aug 02 - BBC - Fresh allegations of sexual abuse, this time involving a group of nuns, have hit the Catholic Church in Australia.
The Poor Sisters of Nazareth order has admitted paying up to $A75,000 (US $41,400) to women who claimed they were abused in an orphanage.
But Sister Clare Breen, regional superior of the order in Australia and New Zealand, said the payments were not an acknowledgement of guilt.
"It is a way of reaching out to the girls to try to help in the healing process," she told Reuters news agency.
The claims come just a week after the head of the Catholic Church in Australia, Sydney Archbishop George Pell, temporarily stood down from his job while he is investigated over child sex abuse allegations.
Accounts of abuse
The payments relate to a 1999 court action by 17 women cared for as children at Nazareth House orphanage in Brisbane in the 1940s and 1950s.
Some of the women have described their allegations in the Australian magazine The Bulletin.
Record
award for Church abuse victims
June 13/02 - BBC -
An Australian Roman Catholic order has agreed to pay 3.64m Australian dollars ($2.1m) in compensation to 24 mentally handicapped men who were sexually abused while in its care.The out-of-court settlement far exceeds previous compensation awards made by the Catholic Church or religious orders in Australia in sex abuse cases.
A statement from the St John of God Brothers said: "The order acknowledges that some of the residents under its care were sexually abused by some brothers."
The disabled men, who were only teenagers at the time, were abused by up to 20 brothers in three Melbourne institutions run by the order over the past 30 years, a spokesman for the order said.
Church abuse 'wider than thought'
And 218 priests have been removed from their positions this year because of allegations of child sexual abuse, the newspaper says.
Its survey of Catholic dioceses across the United States comes as the Church reels from accusations that it covered up allegations of child sex abuse.
The Post also found that at least 850 US priests had been accused of sexual misconduct with minors since the early 1960s - considerably higher than previously disclosed.
Priests Abusing NUNS: Vatican 'knew of widespread abuse'
Mar 21/01 - A day after the emergence of a report on the rape of nuns by priests, the Roman Catholic Aid Agency, Cafod, has confirmed that it showed the Vatican the report seven years ago.
The leaked report said that priests and missionaries across several continents were forcing nuns to have sex with them.
On Tuesday, the Vatican confirmed that such abuse had been taking place, but denied that it was so widespread. Among the abuses detailed is the case of a nun being forced to have an abortion by the priest who impregnated her. She later died and he officiated at her requiem mass.
Also cited is the case of a mother superior who repeatedly complained to her local bishop that priests in the diocese had made 29 of her nuns pregnant
Polish archbishop 'molested students'
The respected Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita said that Monsignor Juliusz Paetz had been banned from a seminary after he failed to heed complaints about his behaviour.
Monsignor Paetz, archbishop of Poznan, denied all allegations of impropriety.
Sources told the paper that the "homosexual inclinations" of Monsignor Paetz had been known for at least two years and he had been refused access to a seminary by its rector, Tadeusz Karkosz.
Vatican Tries to place its own Canon Law ABOVE Laws of Nations
BBC - April 25/02 - People who were sexually molested as children by members of the Catholic priesthood have said the that police - not bishops - should be in charge of dealing with offenders.
Changes proposed by American cardinals in Rome did not go far enough, according to a victims' advocate who was himself molested as a child.
David Clohessy, director of the Chicago-based Survivor Network of those Abused by Priests (Snap), told the BBC there were problems not only with the abusers themselves, but with their superiors who moved them around to hide the crimes.
Pope John Paul II, who summoned the cardinals to discuss the sex-abuse scandal, said he was "heartbroken" by the spiralling number of cases in the Church in America.
After meeting the Pope, US cardinals appeared to be moving towards a policy of sacking offending priests, but a final decision will not be taken until a meeting in June.
'Nothing new'
Mr Clohessy said the current approach would not ease the crisis that has hit dioceses across the US including those in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and San Francisco.
"The Church is still committed to dealing with this problem internally and focusing on the priests who molest, rather than on the bishops who cover up and deny and enable the crime to go on," he said.
Victims said they had heard nothing new after the two-day meeting in Rome and feared the June meeting would provoke little action.
"The bishops still want to be the umpires," Mr Clohessy said.
"But this is not a ball game, these are real crimes, and abuse charges need to be handled by professionals, which in this case are police and prosecutors."
Problems 'won't disappear'
Abuse victims now fear was that too many clergy and laity will assume the matter is being addressed and simply hope that the problem would go away.
"It won't - it's a deeply seated, a deeply rooted problem that's very widespread in the Church," Mr Clohessy said.
Victims
reject Church plan for abusers
More Hong Kong Catholic priests accused of abuse
May 4, 2002 - The Roman Catholic Church in Hong Kong says two more priests have been accused of sexually abusing children, days after three clergymen were accused of a similar offence.The chancellor of the Catholic diocese in the territory, Reverend Lawrence Lee, told local television the Church was investigating the latest allegations.
On Thursday, the diocese admitted it had received complaints against three priests after claims appeared in the South China Morning Post.
The allegations are the latest in a wave of accusations of child abuse by priests which have rocked the Catholic Church worldwide.
Austria - 'Exile' for disgraced Austrian cardinal
April 14, 1998 - The news agency of the Roman Catholic Church in Austria says a former Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer, is to go into exile, because of accusations against him of sexual misconduct.The report follows the release of a statement by the church in Vienna in which Cardinal Groer, 78, asked for forgiveness but made no admission of guilt.
Feb 28, 1998 - The Catholic church in Austria has released a statement which says the paedophile accusations levelled at the Archbishop of Vienna, Hans Hermann Groer, are "in essence true."
The statement was issued by the country's top four bishops.
Hans Hermann Gröer was Cardinal and Archbishop of Vienna until in 1995. He was forced to resign after accusations that he molested a pupil
Feb 04 - An Associated Press review has found that more than 1,300 Roman Catholic clergy members have been accused of molesting minors since 1950.
Full Story here
Surprising number of Catholics OK gay marriage.
(RNS) Slightly more than a fourth of American Roman Catholics say their church should open the sacrament of marriage to gay couples, and nearly 40 percent say gays should be able to enter into civil marriages, according to a new poll.
Full story at: http://www.religionjournal.com/showbrief.asp?id=1149
Philippines Roman Catholic Church apologises for sex abuse
July 8,2002 -The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines said on Monday that it was now drafting guidelines on how to deal with such offences by its clergy.
When sexual scandals involving Catholic priests in the US came to light earlier this year, the Philippines media began reporting on abuses by local priests.
According to the president of the Catholic Bishops Conference, Archbishop Orlando Quevedo, about 200 of the country's priests may have committed "sexual misconduct" - including child abuse, homosexuality and affairs - over the past two decades.
IRELAND - Child Abuse, Pedophiles & Catholic Priests
A JAILED Catholic priest has agreed with a judge to have his imminent parole deferred until he could be sentenced for a range of new child-abuse convictions.
James Kelly, 75, used a walker to enter Cork District Court in south-west Ireland on Tuesday -- the day when almost all of his 36-year sentence for previous convictions was supposed to have been commuted.
Instead, Kelly asked for the hearing, which was intended to discuss plans for his resettlement in a Church-run nursing home in Belgium, to be adjourned.
The move followed Kelly's arrest, confession and conviction on Monday for 77 more cases of abusing boys aged 10 to 15 in the 50s and 60s.
Judge A. G. Murphy ordered Kelly to be returned to jail pending sentencing next month.
The same judge provoked anger last year when he commuted the bulk of Kelly's 36-year term for sexually abusing 14 boys in Cork and the western Irish city of Galway from 1956 to 1968. --ASSOCIATED PRESS
Irish
cardinal 'regrets' abuseMore than 20 Catholic priests, brothers and nuns have been convicted of sexually abusing children in Ireland in the past 10 years.
The cardinal urged other victims to speak out, saying the church needed to know the full scale of the problem to be able to respond fully.
Priest
reveals child abuse torment
Father Patrick McCafferty, who has served in parishes in Lisburn, County Antrim, and in Belfast, said he had decided to speak out to give hope to other survivors.
He made the comments on Friday, a day after Catholic Primate Archbishop Sean Brady apologised for failures in the church over the issue of sex abuse.
Father McCafferty, 40, is one of the church's fiercest critics on how it has dealt with abuse scandals, but he has disclosed that his motivation stemmed from having been a victim himself.
Catholic priests sorry for NZ abuses
Monday, 1 July, 2002
In a formal letter read and distributed at masses around the country, New Zealand's bishops expressed "grief and shame" over past cases of sexu