• Clergy abuse cases highlight cardinal [O'Grady deported to Ireland]
Seattle Post-Intelligencer, http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp? category=1110&slug=Church%20Abuse%20Mahony ; By GILLIAN FLACCUS, ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
LOS ANGELES (CA): The case of a notorious molester from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Stockton has come back to vex Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony, who testified at a 1998 civil trial involving the former priest.
Six lawsuits accusing ex-priest Oliver O'Grady of abuse were filed last year, under a California law that lifted for one year the statute of limitations in old sex-abuse cases.
Now plaintiffs' lawyers want to discover what Mahony knew about the activities of O'Grady, a former Stockton priest who pleaded guilty in 1993 to molesting two brothers and served seven years in prison before being deported to his native Ireland. Mahony was bishop in Stockton from 1980 to 1985, during part of O'Grady's tenure there.
The brothers won a $30 million judgment against the Stockton Diocese after the 1998 trial, which featured dozens of pages of confidential church documents and sworn testimony from Mahony, who was by then leading the Los Angeles Archdiocese. The award was later reduced to $7.5 million in a settlement with the diocese.
The six new cases threaten to reopen a controversial part of Mahony's past at a time when he has been criticized for his handling of the abuse scandal that has enveloped the church nationwide since 2002.
• Conservative Catholics target bishop with blue binder of blasphemy [Brown, Stephens]
Orange County Weekly, www.ocweekly.com/ink/04/43/news-arellano2.php , by Gustavo Arellano
CALIFORNIA: Every week, a group calling itself the Orange County Catholics gathers in a different member's house and recites the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel.
"St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in the day of Battle. Be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the Devil," they whisper while kneeling on the floor.
They then speak about the sinner to whom they direct the 19th-century prayer: Orange Diocese Bishop Tod D. Brown, a man whom one former Catholic-school teacher claims is "duped by the Devil."
Each Orange County Catholic (OCC) member has a personal beef with Brown. Michael and Susan Teissere of Long Beach complain Brown ignored them two years ago when they pleaded with the bishop to defrock Father Rod Stephens, Michael's cousin, for supposedly being gay.
One woman frowns at Brown's infamous Jan. 18 nailing of his "Covenant with the Faithful" outside the doors of Orange's Holy Family Cathedral that pledged diocesan transparency in sex-abuse cases. "Since when has it been faithful to emulate Martin Luther?" she scoffs.
And almost everyone is uncomfortable that Brown serves on a national ecumenical and interreligious-affairs council. "And he aligns himself with moderate denominations, not the Jerry Falwells or Southern Baptists!" gasps another lady.
• More Salesian old boys speak out
The Age (Melbourne), www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/07/02/1088488152579.html?oneclick=true , July 3, 2004
AUSTRALIA: They sang Kyrie and the Sanctus in Latin and remembered the good times at Rupertswood. The Salesians of Don Bosco were celebrating their history at their Mother House in Australia, Rupertswood, a mansion at Sunbury. Thousands of boys had passed through it since the Salesians arrived there in 1927.
The third largest Catholic organisation in the world, with 17,000 members, the Salesians are a powerful order of priests and brothers. Their saint, John Bosco, founded the order in Turin, Italy, in 1859, to be a friend to children who were poor, abandoned or at risk. But now, the Salesians were moving from the imposing building in Sunbury that had been their Australian base under the spiritual guidance of their chosen patron, Mary, Help of Christians.
Pre-dinner drinks were reportedly served around the stairs in front of the dining room, according to an internet account of the event, and guests recited Prayers of the Faithful in remembrance of those who had graced the hallowed rooms.
• Prosecution actions mean fewer charges for ex-priest [1980s Shanley]
Contra Costa Times, www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/nation/9063885.htm?1c , By Jay Lindsay, ASSOCIATED PRESS
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - The most outspoken accuser of defrocked priest Paul Shanley was dropped from the case by prosecutors Thursday and won't testify at Shanley's upcoming sex abuse trial.
Prosecutors filed documents to remove Gregory R. Ford, who received one of the largest civil settlements from the Boston Archdiocese after saying he recovered memories of abuse as a child. A second accuser, Anthony Driscoll, was also removed from the case.
As a result, four rape and two indecent assault and battery charges were dropped against Shanley, one of the most notorious figures in the clergy abuse scandal that began in Boston in 2002. He now faces 10 charges -- six counts of rape and four counts of indecent assault and battery on a child.
Ford, now 26, alleged Shanley raped him while he was attending church-run classes at St. Jean's Parish in Newton during the 1980s, a charge Shanley has denied.
• Jail for leaders of paedophile ring [1995-2000 Wiel]
The Scotsman, http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=757132004
FRANCE: A court in northern France has convicted ten members of a paedophile ring after a trial that gripped the nation.
The court heard allegations of sexual abuse, torture and bestiality involving children from three to 18 in the town of Outreau between 1995 and 2000.
After nearly two months of hearings and 15 hours of deliberations, the court sentenced 37-year-old Myriam Delay-Badaoui, the woman at the centre of the trial, to 15 years in prison for child rape.
Her husband, unemployed alcoholic Thierry Delay, 40, and another couple who were their neighbours, were also handed hefty prison sentences for rape. All four had confessed to raping the Delay couple's four children.
The court also sentenced priest Dominique Wiel and another man to prison for rape, and found four others guilty of abusing, but not raping, children. All six had pleaded innocent. Seven other people were acquitted. [Emphasis added]
• Salesians accused of paying hush money [1960s Ayers, 1970s, 1975]
The Age (Melbourne), www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/07/02/1088488156571.html?oneclick=true , By Martin Daly, July 3, 2004
AUSTRALIA: The Salesian sex-abuse scandal widened last night with claims that four new alleged victims were secretly paid compensation by the Catholic order.
The Age has already reported allegations by three former students from the Salesians' college at Rupertswood, in Sunbury, that they were abused by a priest in the 1970s.
The new alleged victims include a man from rural Victoria who was paid $45,000 to settle his claim he had been sexually abused at Rupertswood in the 1960s by Father Jack Ayers, a Salesian priest now reported to be seriously ill in Samoa.
Another alleged victim, Mark Beaumont, 36, of Melbourne, received a $10,000 settlement last November relating to claims he had been sexually abused at the age of seven by a Salesian brother at the Don Bosco Boys' Club in South Oakleigh.
Beaumont says his sister, now dead, received $5000 compensation last year for alleged abuse by the same man when she was five.
Both cases allegedly happened in about 1975.
• A hard look at prisons [Geoghan]
The Boston Globe, www.boston.com/ news/globe/ editorial_opinion/ editorials/articles/ 2004/07/02/a_ hard_ look_ at_prisons ; July 2, 2004
BOSTON (MA): The brutal murder of defrocked priest John Geoghan last year while in prison catalyzed a long-overdue examination of the state's correction system. An investigation by the Romney administration concluded that a culture of tolerance for abuse pervaded the Correction Department, and Governor Romney removed or reassigned several high-ranking officers, including the correction commissioner. Now a panel headed by former attorney general Scott Harshbarger has taken an even broader look, offering proposals to bring more transparency and accountability to the troubled system.
The Harshbarger report adds an important voice to a growing chorus for prison reform, an issue that has attracted little public interest for decades. Pressure is growing to develop a prison system that is not only more humane but smarter, more cost-effective, and safer for all citizens. Two key recommendations -- for an inspector general to investigate complaints about staff, inmates, or prison conditions and an external monitoring committee -- have the potential to remake the system.
In addition to these structural changes, the report calls for a sweeping new mission for the Correction Department: better preparing offenders for their eventual release. The lack of literacy, skills, and education for prisoners within months of their return to the streets is shocking and contributes to the high rates of repeat offenses -- nearly 50 percent of released inmates are convicted of another crime within three years. "Often people are coming out more dangerous than when they went in," Harshbarger said in a meeting with the Globe.
Even for those who are not "stepping down" toward release dates, drug and alcohol treatment and violence prevention training should be universally available. That only 3 percent of the Correction Department's nearly half-billion-dollar budget goes to programming indicates the low priority given to such crucial strategies.
• 6 charges dropped against ex-priest [Shanley] - RCC.
The Boston Globe, www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2004/07/02/6_charges_dropped_against_ex_priest , By Ralph Ranalli and Jonathan Saltzman, July 2, 2004
BOSTON (MA): Middlesex District Attorney Martha Coakley dropped charges yesterday involving two alleged victims of defrocked priest Paul R. Shanley, including Gregory Ford, Shanley's first and most controversial accuser.
In a move that prosecutors and defense lawyers alike described as a tactical maneuver to strengthen the remaining case against Shanley, Coakley's office dismissed four charges of rape and two charges of indecent assault on a child involving the alleged molestation of Anthony Driscoll and Ford, whose continued involvement would probably have complicated the upcoming trial, given conflicting statements he has given about when he recovered memory of the alleged molestation.
"In determining our strategy with the best interests of the victims, the jury, and the case in mind, it seemed clear that trying a portion of the case, rather than all of the allegations altogether, would produce a similar verdict either way," Coakley said in a statement released by her office yesterday.
"We . . . believe that this will result in preserving the best interest of justice," she said.
All four of the alleged victims accused Shanley of raping them while they were altar boys and he was a priest assigned to St. Jean's Parish in Newton.
Ford has led a troubled life, marked by emotional turmoil, multiple suicide attempts, and psychiatric hospitalizations, and he had become a lightning rod for criticism of the case by Shanley's defenders.
• Audit: Priest misused $127,500 in Wellfleet [1980s-90s Kelly]
Cape Cod Times, www.capecodonline.com/cctimes/auditpriest2.htm , By AMANDA LEHMERT
BARNSTABLE (MA): A former Falmouth priest embroiled in a murder investigation allegedly misused $175,000 in church funds in Wellfleet in addition to some $800,000 he may have embezzled from a Woods Hole church, according to court documents filed yesterday.
The Rev. Bernard Kelly, 71, already admitted to misspending at least $50,000 from St. Joseph Parish in Woods Hole, where auditors found the $800,000 in unexplained expenses earlier this year.
That spurred auditors to examine the financial records at Our Lady of Lourdes in Wellfleet, where Kelly was pastor from 1987 to 1997. The investigation yielded the additional questionable expenditures.
The private auditing firm hired by the diocese also determined Kelly spent at least $127,500 of the $175,000 for his own use, the court documents said.
Auditors are still investigating whether the remaining $47,500 was spent on authorized church expenses.
• Ex-bishop: Priest OK'd for duty [Clay]
Times Leader, www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/news/local/9060662.htm , By BONNIE ADAMS badams@leader.net , and MARK GUYDISH markg@leader.net
PENNSYLVANIA: Bishop James Timlin and others say the Rev. Christopher Clay was entitled to resume ministerial duties when no criminal charges resulted from a young man's accusations against him.
The former Diocese of Scranton bishop said he offered Clay local parish work in 2003 after a police investigation yielded no charges.
But that word apparently hasn't reached the Diocese of Forth Worth in Texas, where Clay this week was barred from saying Mass because church officials say they have no proof he's in good standing.
Clay until recently assisted his close friend, the Rev. Allan Hawkins, at St. Mary the Virgin Church in Arlington, Texas. In reaction to a Dallas Morning News article, Hawkins distributed a letter to his parishioners Wednesday.
Hawkins said he had contacted Timlin in 2003 "to make sure that there was no objection to my inviting Father Clay to assist us at St. Mary the Virgin." Timlin confirmed Thursday that he had no objections.
Diocese of Scranton spokeswoman Maria Orzel said this week that Clay was removed from active ministry after his name surfaced during an investigation into an allegation against two priests at the Society of St. John in Pike County.
• Mahony alleged to be in contempt [O'Grady $US 7m damages]
Pasadena Star News, www.pasadenastarnews.com/Stories/0,1413,206~24533~2245221,00.html
LOS ANGELES (CA): Attorneys for alleged clergy sex abuse victims have asked a judge to consider holding Cardinal Roger Mahony in contempt of court for resisting depositions in cases that date to his years as bishop of Stockton.
Mahony now heads the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the largest in the nation. The contempt motion targeting him was filed late Tuesday in Alameda County Superior Court.
Attorneys want to question Mahony because he led the Diocese of Stockton from 1980 to 1985 and supervised Father Oliver O'Grady, who was later convicted of child molestation.
The Stockton diocese previously paid two brothers $7 million in damages after a jury found it didn't do enough to prevent the abuse by O'Grady.
• Juneau diocese pays former Alaskan who said he was abused [1979-82 Nash $US 175,740]
Grand Forks Herald, www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/news/state/9060673.htm , Associated Press
JUNEAU (AK): The Catholic Diocese of Juneau has agreed to pay $175,740 to a former Juneau resident who said he was sexually abused by a priest more than two decades ago.
Joel Post, who now lives in Duluth, Minn., said the Rev. Michael Nash sexually abused him numerous times between 1979 and 1982, according to a statement from the diocese.
Nash's attorney, Louis Menendez, said the former Juneau priest is attending law school at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb., and was neither involved in nor notified of the settlement. Nash denies any wrongdoing, "without equivocation," Menendez told the Juneau Empire.
He said Nash would have been happy to address the charges openly in court.
"The American Catholic Church should not be viewed as a slot machine that pays off on allegations. ... The American Catholic Church deserves more," Menendez said.
• Diocese asks priest to admit hiring error [Clay]
The Dallas Morning News, www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/city/tarrant/stories/070204dnmetpriest. 2ab3a.html ; By SUSAN HOGAN/ALBACH, Thursday, July 1, 2004
ARLINGTON (TX): The pastor of St. Mary the Virgin Catholic Church in Arlington has been asked by diocesan officials to tell weekend worshippers that he made a mistake in allowing a Pennsylvania priest accused of sexual abuse to assist at worship over the last year, an official of the Fort Worth Diocese said Thursday.
The unusual action came after an e-mail was sent to church members, apparently by the pastor, the Rev. Allan Hawkins, saying he planned to defend his actions during weekend Masses. The e-mail said Father Hawkins had been assured by officials from the Diocese of Scranton, Pa., that the Rev. Christopher Clay's suspension from ministry had been lifted last year.
The Scranton Diocese said Thursday said that Father Clay remains "removed from active ministry without faculties as a priest" because of an ongoing ecclesial investigation. The Fort Worth Diocese banned Father Clay from ministry Tuesday after learning he'd been assisting in Mass at the Arlington church.
Neither Father Hawkins nor Father Clay, who lives in Dallas, has responded to repeated interview requests.
• Diocese moves $5M in assets -- to avoid paying compensation of $US 16m?
Fox 11, www.fox11az.com/news/local/stories/KMSB-20040701-dsbp-docese.2b6b29629.html , By Stephanie Innes / Arizona Daily Star, 11:25 AM MST, Thursday, July 1, 2004
TUCSON (AZ): During the last 13 months, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson, which is considering filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, has sold or transferred assets reportedly worth $5 million -- primarily to other Catholic corporations.
Attorneys representing plaintiffs in pending civil actions against the diocese are concerned the diocese is shifting its assets to affiliated Catholic entities to avoid compensating victims of sexual abuse by local clergy. Another result of shifting assets to other Catholic groups is that on paper the diocese will appear to have less wealth than it really has, the lawyers say.
The diocese says its transactions from the past year were in good faith and part of regular church business.
Last month, Diocese of Tucson Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas wrote a letter to parishioners saying that filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection "now appears to be the only option" for the diocese, which serves about 350,000 Catholics in nine counties and has already paid out an estimated $16 million in settlement costs related to priests abusing children.
• Former Douglaston Priest Is Dismissed By Catholic Diocese [Byrns]
Queens Chronicle, www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=12176948&BRD=1862&PAG=461&dept_id=152512&rfi=6 , by Liz Rhoades, Managing Editor July 01, 2004
NEW YORK: After seven years of charges and lengthy investigation, a priest who formerly served in Douglaston has been barred from the ministry by the Diocese of Brooklyn and Queens for sexual abuse charges involving two local boys.
The removal of Father Joseph Byrns, 61, who served at St. Anastasia Catholic Church from 1969 to 1983, was announced by Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio in a letter read to the Douglaston parishioners on Sunday and to those in St. Rose of Lima Church in Brooklyn, where he last served.
"I accepted the Diocesan Review Board's report and met with Father Byrns, advising him that he would not be permitted to return to active priestly ministry," Bishop DiMarzio said. The priest had been on administrative leave since 2002.
Charges against the priest were brought by two brothers from Douglaston, Father Timothy Lambert and Robert Lambert. It was persistence by Father Lambert that eventually got action on the sexual abuse charges. [Emphasis added]
• Allegations made versus priest who served area [1965, 1973 Joffe]
Saukvalley.com ; http://ww2.saukvalley.com/news/285598494860679.bsp , SHAW NEWS SERVICE, Thursday, July 1, 2004
ROCKFORD (IL): The Catholic Diocese of Rockford received sexual-misconduct allegations against a former priest who once served parishes in Lee and Whiteside counties, Bishop Thomas Doran said in a statement released Wednesday.
According to Rockford Catholic Diocese officials, the allegations made against William Joffe came from four people.
In the statement released by Doran, church officials said they first heard allegations of sexual misconduct against Joffe in 1993 from a man who said Joffe molested him in 1965 when Joffe was an associate pastor at St. Patrick Parish in Dixon.
A second adult male made more allegations against Joffe in 2002, claiming that Joffe engaged in sexual contact with him when he was a minor in 1973, when Joffe was pastor at St. Mary's Parish in Morrison and a faculty member at Newman Central Catholic High School in Sterling, diocese officials said.
• Church Asks San Diego Judge To Invalidate Abuse Cases [1967-68 Janssen, about 800 other cases]
NBCSanDiego.com ; www.nbcsandiego.com/news/3483233/detail.html
SAN DIEGO (CA): The Roman Catholic Church is asking a San Diego federal judge to void a 2003 law that makes it legal for victims of sexual abuse to sue, it was reported Thursday.
The law put an end to an earlier statute of limitations in parish sexual abuse cases, opening up a tidal wave of lawsuits in California. The Roman Catholic Church currently faces about 800 alleged sexual abuse cases, said Susan Oliver, a San Diego lawyer representing the Diocese of Davenport, Iowa.
The church's request stems from an alleged case of sexual abuse in San Diego. A Colorado man says his parish priest molested him there when the two were vacationing in 1967 and 1968. The priest, James Michael Janssen, is now 83.
• Prosecutors drop accuser from case against Shanley [1980s Shanley]
MetroWest Daily News, www.metrowestdailynews.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=72177 , By Jay Lindsay / Associated Press, Friday, July 2, 2004
CAMBRIDGE (MA): The most outspoken accuser of defrocked priest Paul Shanley won't testify against him in Shanley's upcoming sex abuse trial after prosecutors dropped him from the case yesterday.
Prosecutors filed documents to remove Gregory R. Ford and another accuser, Anthony Driscoll, from the case during a hearing on an unrelated motion at Middlesex Superior Court.
As a result, four rape charges and two indecent assault and battery charges were dropped against Shanley, a key figure in the sex abuse scandal that began in Boston in 2002. He now faces 10 charges -- six counts of rape and four counts of indecent assault and battery on a child.
Ford, now 26, said Shanley raped him while he was attending church-run classes at St. Jean's Parish in Newton during the 1980s, a charge Shanley has denied.
Ford received one of the largest civil settlements from the Boston Archdiocese in April. His lawyers said the lengthy civil proceedings, in which Ford was deposed 40 to 50 times, gave Shanley's criminal defense attorneys plenty of material to use to cross-examine Ford, in an attempt to create reasonable doubt with the jury.
Shanley's attorney, Frank Mondano, said prosecutors dropped the two weakest cases. He said he could use them to prove the allegations against Shanley were fabricated to win judgments in civil lawsuits.
• Victims group meets diocese official
Providence Journal, www.projo.com/news/content/projo_20040702_snap2.268c78.html , BY RICHARD C. DUJARDIN, Journal Religion Writer, Friday, July 2, 2004
PROVIDENCE (RI): Two leaders of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests [SNAP] are asking that Roman Catholic Bishop Robert E. Mulvee allow abuse victims to provide sensitivity training to his newly ordained priests.
Yesterday afternoon the group's national leader, David Clohessy, and Landa Mauriello-Vernon, who heads the chapter in Connecticut, went to the diocesan offices at Cathedral Square with a letter intended for Bishop Mulvee.
Since the bishop is on a visit to Rome, Monsignor Paul D. Theroux, the moderator of the curia, accepted the letter on his behalf, saying he thought the bishop "would be open to arranging something."
The monsignor and Clohessy have known each other for at least 10 years, going back to when the priest was working for the National Conference of Catholic Bishops and had helped set up some of the first meetings between bishops and abuse victims.
• Ten convicted in France sex case [1995-2000]
BBC News (Britain), http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3859115.stm
FRANCE: A court in northern France has convicted 10 members of a paedophile ring after a trial that gripped France.
The court heard allegations of sexual abuse, torture and bestiality involving children from three to 18 in the town of Outreau between 1995 and 2000.
The ringleaders, Thierry Delay and his wife Myriam - the parents of four of the victims - were sentenced to 20 and 15 years in jail for child rape.
Another couple and a priest were also among those convicted in Saint Omer. [Emphasis added]
• Priest targeted by another suit [1975 onwards Cornelius]
Seattle Times, http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2001970529_cornelius02m.html , By Janet I. Tu
SEATTLE (WA): Another lawsuit has been filed against the Rev. John Cornelius, this one by three local men who accuse him of sexually abusing them when they were teenagers.
The suit accuses the Roman Catholic priest, who has been the subject of multiple lawsuits, of molesting them at John F. Kennedy Memorial High School in Burien, and/or at St. Mary and Immaculate Conception churches and rectories in Seattle. The suit, filed in King County Superior Court, does not name the men.
Cornelius, who resigned his pastoral assignment in May 2002 after the Seattle archbishop said he would be removed from ministry, could not be reached for comment. At the time, he apologized for the pain he caused his accusers and the church but stopped short of admitting to the numerous sexual-molestation charges lodged against him.
In the lawsuit filed Wednesday, one plaintiff accused Cornelius of raping him hundreds of times over the course of 10 years. He said he met Cornelius in summer 1975, just before his freshman year at Kennedy, after his family was introduced to the priest.
He said he eventually turned to drugs, couldn't keep a job, attempted suicide twice and was financially dependent on Cornelius, who provided him with money to support himself as long as he complied with the priest's sexual demands. The suit says he still suffers from "profound, debilitating and disorienting depression."
• Brookyn priest pulled from ministry [Byrns] - RCC.
The Boston Globe, www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/07/02/brookyn_priest_pulled_from_ministry , By Michael Rezendes, July 2, 2004
BROOKLYN (NY): A Brooklyn priest who was initially exonerated after allegations that he sexually molested two brothers in the early 1970s has been permanently removed from active ministry by Brooklyn Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio -- six years after church officials first heard the charges.
The announcement that the Brooklyn diocese has found allegations against the Rev. Joseph P. Byrns credible was made at St. Anastasia Church in Queens, where Byrns was serving at the time the two brothers were abused, and at St. Rose of Lima Church in Brooklyn, where Byrns was pastor until last July, when he was temporarily suspended.
In his June 28 letter to parishioners, DiMarzio said church officials reached their decision after the allegations were examined by a diocesan review board established to evaluate allegations of clergy sexual abuse.
"I accepted the board's report and met with Father Byrns, advising him that he would not be permitted to return to active ministry," DiMarzio said.
DiMarzio's action was a crucial marker on a long and painful journey for the brothers who made the allegations, the Rev. Timothy J. Lambert, a New Jersey priest, and Robert V. Lambert, a Nevada resident who has held a variety of jobs.
"I'm very relieved this has happened," Robert Lambert said yesterday. "At the same time, I'm a bit disappointed that it took this long." [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 03:26 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Fri July 02, 2004
Religions' sex abuse Chronology, visit: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont87.htm
• Eight acquittals for Marist brother. [1980s Maguire] - RCC.
Catholic News, Australia, www.cathnews.com/news/407/12.php , Jul 2, 2004
SYDNEY (NSW), Australia: After eight trials on child sex abuse charges, NSW Marist Brother John Maguire has been acquitted once more.
The Age reports today that jurors were never told of the other allegations against him.
Because of a court ruling on the risk of contamination of evidence, a judge decided that each case against Br Maguire had to be heard separately. The ruling followed defence claims that the students making the allegations had colluded at a school reunion in 1999.
The jurors at each trial before Judge Megan Latham in the NSW District Court since last November were therefore unaware of the extensive allegations against Br Maguire.
Prosecutors were also hamstrung by the 20 years that elapsed between the alleged offences and when the first complainant went to police in 1997. Legal rules prevented the Crown from calling several witnesses, such as psychologists, family members, girlfriends and other teachers in all but one case.
Br Maguire, 60, was accused of sexually and indecently assaulting six boys at St Joseph's College in Hunters Hill, Sydney 20 years ago. In all, he faced 17 counts of sexually related assault of boys aged between 11 and 13 while he was the year 7 dormitory and form master. He now lives on school grounds at Marist College, Ashgrove, in Brisbane. He was suspended as deputy headmaster when he was charged on February 13, 2002. ...
SOURCE: Eight acquittals for priest (The Age, Melbourne, 2/7/04)
LINKS:
Court told dormitory brother preyed on homesick boarders (CathNews 18/2/03)
Priests said to cross borders to escape abuse charges (National Catholic Reporter 29/6/04)
Vatican looking for ways to speed up processing of sex abuse cases (Catholic News Service 1/7/04)
• Gets 13-y-o drunk and penetrates her, but may be free in a year and a bit. -- No religion involvement [Gibson]
The West Australian, "Father fumes over predator's penalty," by Pamela Magill, p 10, Friday, July 2, 2004
PERTH (W. Australia): A predator who plied a 13-year-old girl with alcohol and sexually assaulted her after she passed out could be out of jail in little more than a year.
Robert Joseph Gibson, 36, was sentenced in the District Court to two years and eight months jail after being convicted of indecently assaulting and sexually penetrating the girl.
But because of sentencing laws and his eligibility for parole, he will have to serve just half of that.
The girl's father, who was infuriated by what he saw as a lenient sentence, warned young girls to be safety conscious. ... he feared assaults by older men who preyed on young victims were prevalent. ... his daughter kept her assault a secret for eight months because she feared she would not be believed against the word of an adult. ... she reportedly had eight more vodka cruiser drinks after being sick. ... She knew she should not have been drinking and should not have been at her attacker's house and was worried she may have contributed to, or in some way deserved, what happened.
The girl had permission to sleep at a friend's house on the night of the assault but the friend was a relative of Gibson and they ended up at his house. ...
The girl's father said she now understood she did not contribute to Gibson's despicable behaviour. ...
[COMMENT: The scarcity of room in prisons possibly is more a cause of the modern lenient "sentencing laws" and "eligibility for parole" than the usual "blame society" arguments put forward by politicians on both sides of the fence. (Do not forget, however, that real reformers have a fear that a high percentage of prison inmates have been "framed".) And the taxation loopholes plus wasteful government spending are probably the causes of under-funding of prison accommodation and criminals' rehabilitation programmes. Some people will question the father's statement that the daughter "did not contribute" to the behaviour. Having eight more alcoholic drinks after vomiting is hardly a blameless or sensible action, many would judge. - jcm 02 Jul 04. COMMENT ENDS.] [Newsitem: Jul 2, 04]
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Sat July 03, 2004 edition follows:-
• Little evidence of sexual abuse in institutions
One in Four, http://oneinfour.org/news/news2004/evidence , by Patsy McGarry, Religious Affairs Correspondent - Irish Times
IRELAND: The secretary general at the Department of Education and Science, Mr John Dennehy, has said there was no significant evidence of sexual abuse at the State's residential institutions in files at the Department.
Giving evidence to the investigation committee of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse in Dublin yesterday, he corroborated the view of the former minister at the Department, Mr Micheál Martin, who told the committee on Wednesday that relevant files dealt mainly with physical abuse and neglect.
The minister said details of sexual abuse at the institutions emerged mainly through the media and survivors.
However, earlier yesterday another former minister for education, Dr Michael Woods, who in January 2000 succeeded Mr Martin in the post, told the committee files there reported "abuse particularly physical, some instances of sexual (abuse) and some of both." [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 07:36 AM]
• Ahern to speak at child abuse inquiry
One in Four, oneinfour.org/news/news2004/aherntospeak
IRELAND: The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, is expected to give evidence to the investigation committee of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse next Monday. Patsy McGarry, Religious Affairs Correspondent, reports.
A spokeswoman for the commission confirmed yesterday that it had been provisionally agreed Mr Ahern would begin his evidence at 10 a.m. on July 5th. It is likely to centre on factors leading to his 1999 apology to abuse victims on behalf of the Irish people.
Yesterday, Ms Mary McLoughlin, of the child-legislation unit at the Department of Health and Children, said the first mention of child sex abuse in Department policy documents was in 1977, when a memorandum from a committee of experts on non-accidental injury to children made passing reference to it.
Prior to that, "the understanding that abuse existed was not there," she said. Until the mid-1980s, in Department reports and files "there was very little consciousness of anything other than neglect".
• Christian Brothers resolve legal dispute -- €1 million cost (so far)
One in Four, http://oneinfour.org/news/news2004/resolvedispute
IRELAND: A legal dispute between the Christian Brothers Congregation and the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse has been resolved after the commission's recent decision that it won't proceed with "naming and shaming" individual perpetrators of abuse unless those were convicted by the courts, the Supreme Court heard yesterday.
The action has cost the commission more than €1 million. As a result of the June 16th decision announced by the new chairman of the commission, Mr Justice Sean Ryan, the substance of the congregation's challenge to proposed procedures of the commission's investigation committee is now unnecessary and won't be proceeding, Ms Mary Irvine SC, for the congregation, said.
In stating it would not name individuals, the commission had unilaterally moved the goalposts and rendered unnecessary the main point of the congregation's appeal against aspects of the High Court's decision on the congregation's challenge, counsel indicated.
Mr Frank Clarke SC, for the commission, said he broadly accepted what Ms Irvine said. At Ms Irvine's request, Ms Justice McGuinness, sitting with Mr Justice Hardiman and Mr Justice Geoghegan, granted, on consent, an order setting aside the congregation's appeal against aspects of a High Court decision last January on the congregation's challenge to the investigation committee's proposed procedures.
• Uncovered Vatican files highlight abuse [1930s-60s 30 allegations]
One In Four, www.oneinfour.org/news/news2004/vatican , From RTE Online
IRELAND: The Christian Brothers have revealed that they have uncovered files in the Vatican relating to the abuse of schoolboys in Irish institutions.
The files include written accounts about thirty findings of child sex abuse at six schools between the 1930s and 1960s.
Eleven of the cases relate to Artane Industrial School, while the others relate to other schools around the country.
The Christian Brothers say, the files were found by an archivist last year and will now be handed over to the Committee of Inquiry into Child Abuse.
The files relate to Canonical trials - where the Christian Brother leadership carried out 'internal investigations' into thirty allegations of child sex abuse against individual Brothers in Ireland.
• 2 men say Rodimer OK'd transfer of priest to Dover [1979 Tully, 20 years Rodimer]
Daily Record, www.dailyrecord.com/news/articles/news2-Akbishop.htm , By Abbott Koloff, Daily Record
NEW JERSEY: Two men accused Bishop Frank Rodimer in court papers filed Friday of trying to keep their families quiet about their alleged sexual abuse by a priest, and then allowing that priest to continue working at a Dover parish for 20 years before removing him one month ago.
The bishop reportedly told families of the two alleged victims at the time that the priest would never again be allowed to work with children.
Monsignor Ronald Tully, 67, was removed from Sacred Heart parish in Dover a month ago for what church officials said at the time was a legal matter that had resurfaced. That legal matter was a criminal charge of sex abuse and two counts of endangering the welfare of children filed in Riverhead, N.Y., in 1979.
Two men who say they were abused by Tully in 1979, when they were teenagers attending a Passaic school where Tully worked, filed papers in a Long Island court Friday that provide details of their allegations. They say Tully took them to his summer home on Long Island, got them drunk, fondled one boy, and pulled down the pants of the other boy and molested him. The boys, 14 and 15 at the time, then ran to a nearby house and police were called.
They said in court papers that one church official threatened their families to keep them quiet 25 years ago and that Rodimer made a promise at the time that he did not keep.
• State looks into priest abuse allegations [Joffe]
Northwest Herald, ://www.nwherald.com/MainSection/280886623770830.php , By KRISTEN SCHMIDT, kristenschmidt@nwherald.com
WOODSTOCK, (Illinois): The McHenry County state's attorney's office has launched an investigation into allegations of sexual abuse by a former Woodstock priest.
The investigation began after a person identifying himself as a victim of sexual abuse by former priest William Joffe called Assistant State's Attorney James McAuliff this week.
The Catholic Diocese of Rockford on Wednesday released a four-page statement and chronology detailing accusations against Joffe, who was pastor of St. Mary's Catholic Church in Woodstock for 10 years.
Joffe has been charged with no crime in connection with these or any other sexual allegations.
Woodstock police and the McHenry County Sheriff's Department have detectives investigating whether crimes happened in their jurisdictions and whether there are other, still silent, victims.
• Minister's sex-assault trial begins next week -- Fellowship Baptist [1995-98 Nation]
Fort Worth Star-Telegram, www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/local/9073882.htm?ERIGHTS=- 4668685690973086941dfw::kashaw@peoplepc.com&KRD_RM= 8oowvxvswtpwovppxorooooooo|Kathleen|Y
TEXAS: Jury selection is scheduled to begin Tuesday in a Palo Pinto district court in the trial of a minister who is accused of sexually assaulting three children.
Mark Wayne Nation, 48, has been in the Palo Pinto County Jail since he was arrested Feb. 25. He was indicted on four counts of aggravated sexual assault involving three children. The assaults occurred from 1995 through 1998, said Ira Mercer, an investigator for the Palo Pinto district attorney's office.
Nation was a minister at Fellowship Baptist Church in Lone Camp for several years, Mercer said.
• Trial date for pastor accused of sexual abuse stepped up -- Baptist [2002-03 Hollingsworth]
The Hawk Eye, www.thehawkeye.com/daily/stories/ln7_0701.html , By DOROTHY de SOUZA GUEDES, dotdsg@thehawkeye.com , July 1 2004
IOWA: A former Danville pastor's sexual abuse trial was moved up several weeks because the defendant has not waived his right to a speedy trial.
Harry Frederick Hollingsworth Sr., 57, Hubbard, Texas, was arrested March 23 on a warrant for felony sexual abuse by a counselor or therapist. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison.
Hollingsworth is accused of engaging in sexual conduct with a parishioner he was counseling between Sept. 1, 2002, and April 30, 2003, while the pastor of First Baptist Church in Danville. Hollingsworth was counseling the woman, described in court documents as emotionally dependent, for marriage and personal problems.
Iowa Assistant Attorney General Virginia Barchman Barchman is prosecuting the case at the victim's request due to a perceived conflict of interest with the Des Moines County Attorney's office.
A jury trial was set to begin Aug. 3. But because Hollingworth has not waived his right to a trial within 90 days of the May 4 filing of formal charges, Barchman on June 9 requested that the trial date be moved.
• Former Md. Priest Accused of Abusing 2 Teens in '70s [Benham]
Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24819-2004Jul2.html , By Caryle Murphy, Page B02, Saturday, July 3, 2004
WASHINGTON (DC): A 67-year-old Illinois man who left ministry as a Roman Catholic priest about two decades ago has been arrested on charges of sexually molesting a teenage boy and girl when he was still a priest and serving as pastor of a Forestville parish in the 1970s, Prince George's County and Washington Archdiocese officials said.
Francis A. Benham was charged with second- and third-degree sex offenses June 25 by Prince George's police, court records show.
He was arrested June 29 by Lincoln, Ill., city police, the Lincoln Courier newspaper reported. He is scheduled to appear in Logan County Circuit Court on Tuesday for an extradition hearing, according to Ramon Korionoff, a spokesman for Prince George's County State's Attorney Glenn F. Ivey.
According to papers filed by police in Prince George's County District Court, Benham allegedly kissed, undressed and sexually aroused a 15-year-old boy at Church of the Holy Spirit in Forestville on about six occasions between July 1977 and April 1978.
• Discrepancy celibacy
Ventura County Star, www.venturacountystar.com/vcs/religion_and_ethics/article/0,1375,VCS_151_ 009372,00.html ; By Daniel Burke, Religion News Service, July 3, 2004
NEW YORK -- A new documentary on HBO raises provocative questions about the role of clerical celibacy in the Roman Catholic Church's sexual abuse crisis. It is drawing fire from outraged Roman Catholic bishops who say the film uses a "stacked-deck approach" to "assault" the church's sexual ethos.
In an interview from his home in England, the filmmaker, Antony Thomas, said his interest in celibacy was spurred by a desire to go beyond the daily media coverage of the church's abuse scandal. "Like a lot of people, I was seeing the reports of priest abuse," he said. "But no one was asking the 'why' questions. It seemed to me there was a connection between celibacy and the reports we were seeing, and yet no one was asking, 'Why celibacy?' 'Why practice it?' 'Who benefits from it?' "
The film, "Celibacy," opens with a comparative look at the practice outside the Roman Catholic Church. Interviews with Hindu priests, laymen and Buddhists who slough off worldly desires show how the renunciation of sexual activity is a potent force in many religious traditions.
• Views of Gozitan Priests on Celibacy
DI-VE, www.di-ve.com/dive/portal/portal.jhtml?id=142057 , July 03, 2004
GOZO, Malta (di-ve news)-- 1040CET -- A survey carried out in recent weeks by Fr. Michael Galea, a qualified psychologist, has revealed some shocking statistics as regards priests in Gozo. Above all, the survey shows that 9 per cent of Gozitan priests are not observing the Cannon Law provision on celibacy while 17 per cent say that they do not agree with it, media reports said on Saturday.
The survey, carried out with the approval of the Gozo Curia, had the participation of just over half of Gozo's priests, equivalent to 85.
On the other hand, the overwhelming majority, 91 per cent, said that they are complying with the code.
The Canon Law provision on celibacy states that "Clerics are obliged to observe perfect and perpetual continence for the sake of the Kingdom of heaven, and are therefore bound to celibacy. Celibacy is a special gift of God by which sacred ministers can more easily remain close to Christ with an undivided heart, and can dedicate themselves more freely to the service of God and their neighbour."
Furthermore it states that "Clerics are to behave with due prudence in relation to persons whose company can be a danger to their obligation of preserving continence or can lead to scandal of the faithful."
• Former priest's lawyers question cardinal's knowledge [O'Grady $US 7.5m]
Ventura County Star, www.venturacountystar.com/vcs/state/article/0,1375,VCS_122_3010318,00.html ,
Six lawsuits accusing ex-priest Oliver O'Grady of abuse were filed last year, under a California law that lifted for one year the statute of limitations in old sex-abuse cases.
Now plaintiffs' lawyers want to discover what Mahony knew about the activities of O'Grady, a former Stockton priest who pleaded guilty in 1993 to molesting two brothers and served seven years in prison before being deported to his native Ireland. Mahony was bishop in Stockton from 1980 to 1985, during part of O'Grady's tenure there.
The brothers won a $30 million judgment against the Stockton Diocese after the 1998 trial, which featured dozens of pages of confidential church documents and sworn testimony from Mahony, who by then was cardinal of the Los Angeles Archdiocese. The award was reduced to $7.5 million a year later in a settlement with the diocese. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 06:54 AM]
////////// End of Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker www.ncrnews.org/abuse , Sat July 03, 2004
Religions' sex abuse Chronology, visit: http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont87.htm
• Salesians accused of paying hush money. [1970s, 1960s Ayers $45,000, ~1975 $10,000, $36,000, 1970s Klep]
The Age (Melbourne), http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/07/02/1088488156571.html?oneclick=true , By Martin Daly, (page 3 in section 1 of the paper) Saturday July 3, 2004
MELBOURNE (Vic), Australia: The Salesian sex-abuse scandal widened last night with claims that four new alleged victims were secretly paid compensation by the Catholic order. The Age has already reported allegations by three former students from the Salesians' college at Rupertswood, in Sunbury, that they were abused by a priest in the 1970s.
The new alleged victims include a man from rural Victoria who was paid $45,000 to settle his claim he had been sexually abused at Rupertswood in the 1960s by Father Jack Ayers, a Salesian priest now reported to be seriously ill in Samoa.
Another alleged victim, Mark Beaumont, 36, of Melbourne, received a $10,000 settlement last November relating to claims he had been sexually abused at the age of seven by a Salesian brother at the Don Bosco Boys' Club in South Oakleigh. Beaumont says his sister, now dead, received $5000 compensation last year for alleged abuse by the same man when she was five. Both cases allegedly happened in about 1975.
The family of another former boarder at Rupertswood last night confirmed he had been paid $36,000 by the Salesians in 2000 for alleged repeated sexual abuse by a senior priest and for lesser abuse by a second priest. He was 13 or 14 at the time. "I understand that within a week of his reporting the (alleged) abuse to a nun... in 1988, the two priests had fled overseas," his mother said last night.
The head of the Salesians in Australia, Father Ian Murdoch, did not respond to calls from The Age about the latest claims.
The Salesians have been under siege since Melbourne priest Frank Klep, who was convicted in 1994 on four counts of sexually assaulting students at Rupertswood, was remanded in custody on his return to Melbourne from Samoa last week on further charges of sexual abuse in the 1970s. Klep was sent by the order to Samoa in 1998, even though it knew police were investigating him on new abuse allegations. The role of the Salesians was condemned yesterday as "disgraceful" by Melbourne lawyer David Forster, who said two of his clients were allegedly abused by Klep in the 1970s.
"Too often, known pedophiles have been tipped off to avoid the law," he said. Mr Forster called for a church ombudsman to investigate the Salesians to determine if priests had been moved out of the way to avoid prosecution. [Jul 3, 04] (By courtesy of Broken Rites victim support group)
• More Salesian old boys speak out.
The Age, http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/07/02/1088488152579.html?oneclick=true , by Martin Daly, (in section 2 of the paper) July 3, 2004
The Catholic order paid out several former students over their claims of sexual abuse, reports Martin Daly.
MELBOURNE: They sang Kyrie and the Sanctus in Latin and remembered the good times at Rupertswood. The Salesians of Don Bosco were celebrating their history at their Mother House in Australia, Rupertswood, a mansion at Sunbury. Thousands of boys had passed through it since the Salesians arrived there in 1927.
The third largest Catholic organisation in the world, with 17,000 members, the Salesians are a powerful order of priests and brothers. Their saint, John Bosco, founded the order in Turin, Italy, in 1859, to be a friend to children who were poor, abandoned or at risk.
But now, the Salesians were moving from the imposing building in Sunbury that had been their Australian base under the spiritual guidance of their chosen patron, Mary, Help of Christians. Pre-dinner drinks were reportedly served around the stairs in front of the dining room, according to an internet account of the event, and guests recited Prayers of the Faithful in remembrance of those who had graced the hallowed rooms.
Rupertswood was a boys' boarding school until the 1950s, when it first admitted day students, but it continued to offer boarding, mainly to students from rural Victoria and southern NSW. Girls were admitted from 1992.
No doubt, some of those celebrating that night thought they were toasting only the best of times. But for a man who wants to be known only as Roy - and, allegedly, for some others schooled at Rupertswood - the memories are so painful that they have trouble speaking of them. "It was a terrible place," Roy says now of his time there in the 1960s.
He told The Age yesterday that he had been abused repeatedly by Father Jack Ayers, a teacher and gardener at the school, when he was aged 12 and 13. "There were 200-odd kids there. We were all scared of them generally. There were a few guys who were very good people, but they were angry, too. In outbursts of rage, they would fly down the room and just knock someone out of their chair. It was scary when, as a boarder, you could not go home."
Claims by Salesian old boys that they were sexually brutalised by a few priests and brothers have rocked the order and sent the Australian leadership into a bunker. Apart from a brief statement by the order's head, Father Ian Murdoch - who negotiated a number of financial settlements with alleged sex abuse victims - there has been no comment from the Salesians.
Roy was paid $45,000 in 2000 from the Salesians for alleged sexual abuse by Ayers. The Salesians denied liability. Ayers is now seriously ill and reportedly dying in Samoa, where the Salesians sent him allegedly after he was accused of abusing children.
Another alleged victim, Mark Beaumont, 36, of Melbourne, received a $10,000 settlement in November in a deal also partially brokered through Murdoch. It related to purported sexual abuse by a Salesian brother at the Salesian Don Bosco Boys Club at South Oakleigh, which was part of the Salesian College at Mount Waverley. He was aged about seven at the time. Beaumont says his sister, who is now dead, was given $5000 compensation in 2003 for abuse by the same man when she was five. Both cases allegedly happened in about 1975.
But Beaumont says the Salesians had difficulty in understanding why it had taken him so long to come forward and had disputed his case, telling him the brother was "into little girls, not boys".
The Salesians have been featured in a US media report about a global "rat line" allegedly run by the Catholic Church and some of its orders to hide priests and other religious figures accused of sex crimes around the world.
The Salesians also sent another Victorian Salesian priest, Frank Klep, to Samoa, to keep him away from children. Klep - a former principal of the Salesian College at Rupertswood and who later ran a youth centre in Brunswick - was convicted in 1994 of four charges of sexual assault relating to incidents during the 1970s. The Samoans ordered Klep be deported last week when his past was uncovered. On his return to Melbourne, he was charged and remanded in custody on five counts of indecent assault against a boy in 1973 while teaching at Rupertswood.
The Salesians are now being investigated by Samoa's Transnational Crimes Unit to determine if any other Salesians working in Samoa have convictions for child abuse and to investigate whether the former head of the Salesians in Australia, Father John M. Murphy, also in Samoa, should be deported because he witnessed Klep's visa application. This said Klep was of good character and did not have any convictions.
Murdoch did not respond to calls from The Age yesterday about the allegations, including a claim from a woman that her son had been paid $36,000 four years ago by the order. Her son claimed that as a schoolboy at Rupertswood, aged 13 or 14, he had been raped six times by a Salesian priest. The priest was reportedly a senior member of the order when a group of parents complained to him that another priest had sexually abused students at Rupertswood during the 1970s.
Murdoch also did not respond to the claims by Roy. The boarders at Rupertswood were in a cream brick building down a hill from the main building. The dormitories were occupied by about 100 junior boys, partitioned at both ends by curtains behind which a Salesian brother slept to maintain order. There were about 19 priests, brothers and lay brothers. Klep was not there during the time that Roy describes.
"It was a terrifying place for me," recalls Roy. "I have horrible memories of the main building, dark staircases, where the priests lived. If you found yourself on the second floor, you were in trouble." . He says sex abuse by Ayers forced him to run away several times. He didn't tell anybody, but the Salesians told his mother he was an insolent boy. He says the abuse continued, particularly when Ayers was drunk and Roy was ordered to help him to his room.
In 2000, he decided to confront his past and called the Salesians. They sent him to the Catholic Church's Towards Healing process, which deals with abuse claims and compensates victims. "They accepted everything. Ian Murdoch said he was very sorry. He said that they had been waiting for other victims of Ayers to come forward and that there had been somebody before me," says Roy.
"I asked Murdoch if he would bring Ayers back. He said Ayers was out of harm's way in Samoa and was out of reach of children at some seminary. He said he had been sent there because of the abuse reported by the victim who reported him before me. That was in mid 2000.
"He told me that he could not get him to Australia, and that there was no extradition treaty with Samoa. I telephoned Murdoch again in mid-2000 to tell him I was running late for an appointment. "I told the secretary I was calling Murdoch about the Ayers case. She said, 'Oh, Father Ayers is here, sitting in the garden. I can see him from the window.' I was furious. Murdoch later told me Ayers had been here for heart treatment." # [Jul 3, 04] (By courtesy of Broken Rites victim support group. A shorter version is in the Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker above.)
#### Clergy Sex Abuse Tracker, www.ncrnews.org/abuse, Sun July 04, 2004 edition follows:-
• Detroit Archdiocese suspends Mexican priest in child sex case [de Alba Campos]
Detroit Free Press, www.freep.com/news/statewire/sw100511_20040704.htm , July 4, 2004, 12:47 PM
DETROIT (MI) (AP) -- A Mexican priest serving at a Roman Catholic church in Detroit has been fired because of accusations that he was involved in the sexual abuse of a minor, the Archdiocese of Detroit said Sunday.
The Rev. Luis Javier de Alba Campos, 49, became pastor at St. Gabriel Parish in February. The archdiocese said it asked him to leave the parish in mid-June after learning of a criminal child sexual abuse investigation against him.
This month, the archdiocese fired de Alba and banned him from serving as a priest in the archdiocese, it said in a news release. [Posted by Kathy Shaw at 03:04 PM]
• Victim's tale of abuse by priest draws big response [Huneke]
South Bend Tribune, www.southbendtribune.com/stories/2004/07/04/local.20040704- sbt-FULL-D1-Victim_s_tale_of.sto ; By MARGARET FOSMOE, July 4, 2004
SOUTH BEND (IN): John Salveson didn't know what to expect when he poured out his heart for publication.
He knew some people would be angry about his revelation of abuse by a Catholic priest, and others might not believe him.
What he received was a flood of support, thanks and revelations by others who secretly had suffered abuse years earlier and never told a soul.
"I got a lot of heart-rending letters from people who had been carrying this around for years and years," said Salveson, 48, a University of Notre Dame graduate who lives in Pennsylvania.
Salveson told his story for a Tribune article published in May 2003.
Salveson described being sexually abused starting at age 13 by a priest from his home parish in Long Island, N.Y., and his later efforts to have the priest removed from ministry.
When Salveson enrolled as an undergraduate at Notre Dame in the 1970s, the priest -- the Rev. Robert D. Huneke -- followed him and took a rector's job at the university, where the abuse continued.
• Weymouth priest speaks to local Voice of the Faithful
Stoneham Sun, http://www2.townonline.com/stoneham/artsLifestyle/view.bg?articleid=22856 , By Alice Wadden/ Special to the Stoneham Sun Tuesday, June 29, 2004
WINCHESTER (MA): On Monday, June 14, the Winchester Area Voice of the Faithful welcomed Father Ron Coyne, Pastor of St. Albert the Great Parish in Weymouth to its regular Monday night meeting at St. Eulalia's Church in Winchester.
About 85 people were in attendance. St. Albert's is one of the 65 parishes the Archdiocese of Boston is scheduled to close before the end of 2004.
Fr. Coyne began his talk by discussing how he decided to become a priest. His inspiration was Monsignor John J. Philbin whom he met at Holy Name Parish in West Roxbury. Fr. Philbin was a pastor in both urban and suburban parishes and retired after serving for 22 years at St. John's the Evangelist Parish in Wellesley. Fr. Philbin died June 11, 2004. Fr. Coyne was ordained in 1973 when he was 25 years old. He has served in a number of parishes in greater Boston, several of them in the city of Boston. ...
Fr. Coyne remains excited about the Catholic Church today, and loves dealing with people. However, he acknowledges that it is not easy to be a priest. Fr. Coyne is a member of the Boston Priests' Forum and was one of 58 priests who signed a letter asking for Cardinal Law's resignation. Coyne believes that as a priest, he has an obligation to tell bishops what he thinks.
In the reconfiguration of churches in the Archdiocese of Boston, the Weymouth cluster of which St. Albert's is a part, did not want to choose a parish to close. Ultimately, however, St. Albert's was chosen. Fr. Coyne was disappointed in the entire process, which did not address what he considers to be the fundamental questions of "why aren't people going to church" and "why aren't people becoming priests."
• Ex-priest is arrested on child molestation charges [1977-79 Benham]
Baltimore Sun, www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.sbriefs04jul04,0,5854625.story?coll=bal-local- headlines ; July 4, 2004
UPPER MARLBORO (MD): A man who left ministry as a Roman Catholic priest about two decades ago has been arrested on charges of sexually molesting a boy and a girl when he was serving as pastor at the Church of the Holy Spirit in Forestville in the 1970s.
Francis Benham, 67, of Illinois was charged with second- and third-degree sex offenses June 25 by Prince George's County police, court records show. He was arrested in Lincoln, Ill., and is scheduled to appear in Logan County Circuit Court on Tuesday for an extradition hearing, according to Ramon Korionoff, a spokesman for Prince George's County State's Attorney Glenn F. Ivey.
According to papers filed by police in Prince George's County District Court, Benham is accused of kissing, undressing and sexually arousing a 15-year-old boy at the church on about six occasions between July 1977 and April 1978. He is also charged with sodomizing and having oral sex with a 13-year-old girl at the church two or three times a week from April 1977 to April 1979.
• Ex-priest arrested in Lincoln on 1970s sex-offense charges [1977-79 Benham]
Pantagraph, www.pantagraph.com/stories/070404/new_20040704027.shtml , By Katherine Rosenberg , newsroom@pantagraph.com , July 4, 2004
LINCOLN (IL): A former Catholic priest living in Lincoln was arrested this week on sex charges from a late-1970s case in Maryland.
Francis Benham, 67, was arrested Tuesday on a warrant from Prince Georges County, Md., where he is accused of having sex with minors between 1977 and 1979.
Benham is charged with two counts of second-degree sex offense, which carry maximum potential prison terms of 20 years each, and one count of third-degree sex offense, which carries a maximum of 10 years.
Logan County State's Attorney Tim Huyett said Lincoln police received word of the warrant Tuesday and went directly to Benham's home. Someone there told police Benham was at church, praying, the state's attorney said.
Officers arrested Benham about 2:30 p.m. at Holy Family Church in Lincoln.
• What does Timlin know? It's hard to tell [Urrutigoity, Ensey]
Times Leader, www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/news/local/9075293.htm , By MARK GUYDISH, markg@leader.net , Posted on Sun, Jul. 04, 2004
SCRANTON (PA): The bishop seemed baffled. "I got some kind of report about the thing but it was not a written report, it was not anything."
"I don't know whether I asked for them or not."
"I remember the facts of the letter, but I don't remember seeing the letter."
These are quotes from former Bishop James Timlin during depositions in a lawsuit that accuses two priests of molesting a teenage boy after getting him drunk.
A key point in the depositions concerns whether Timlin learned about results from psychological evaluations of the priests. He had requested the evaluations after the accusations surfaced. The diocese footed the bill. Timlin admits that, by diocese policy, he was supposed to see the results.
He says he never saw them, though he did hear about them. [...]
The tug of war regarding psychological evaluations is the latest twist in a saga that began when Doe, now 23, accused Urrutigoity and Ensey of sexual abuse.
The alleged abuse occurred while Doe attended St. Gregory's Academy in Elmhurst, and later when he went to California with Ensey to visit Ensey's parents and to tour St. Thomas Aquinas College. Doe considered going there after high school.
Urrutigoity and Ensey were founding members of the Society of St. John, a priestly organization temporarily housed at St. Gregory's. Later, they bought property and moved to Shohola, Pike County. Things seemed to go well for the budding society until Doe made his allegations. [...]
Although all defendants are located in the Diocese of Scranton - and fall to varying degrees under the bishop's rule - three sets of lawyers emerged: one for Timlin and the diocese, one for the academy and the priestly fraternity, and one for the accused priests and their society.
The diocese and the academy distanced themselves from Urrutigoity and Ensey in court papers. The academy points out that the priests were not employees and that most of the alleged acts occurred in California, when Doe and Ensey visited Ensey's family.
Similarly, attorneys claim there is insufficient evidence to hold Timlin or the diocese accountable for the priests' alleged acts.
But that misses the point, said Jeffrey Bond, a relentless critic of the Society of St. John. Instead of dividing and fighting the lawsuit, Bond said the groups should be working together to find the truth.
"They are engaging in all these technical legalisms that avoid getting to the heart of the problem," Bond said. ...
• Presbyterians issue abuse apology - Presbyterians.
The Courier-Journal, www.courier-journal.com/localnews/2004/07/04ky/B1-pres0704-8962.html , By PETER SMITH, psmith@courier-journal.com , July 4, 2004
RICHMOND, Va. - Presbyterians have taken steps to toughen their policies toward ministers accused of sexual abuse, and they issued a sweeping apology to the victims of a late missionary who allegedly sexually abused at least 22 girls and women on two continents.
The actions came late Friday night at the legislative General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), based in Louisville.
The assembly, which adjourned yesterday, was highlighted by a narrow vote Friday to uphold the church's ban on ordaining noncelibate gays and lesbians, despite other votes seeking more liberal policies toward homosexuals in the church and society.
In contrast to that hotly debated issue, there was widespread support for the church's adopting stricter policies toward those who sexually abuse minors or mentally disabled adults.
• In Rome's shadow disports the disgraced Cardinal Law - RCC.
The Boston Globe, www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2004/07/04/in_romes_shadow , By Michael Paulson, July 4, 2004
ROME -- In the Eternal City, where two millenniums of Catholic triumphs and tragedies are etched into underground caverns and soaring churches, Cardinal Bernard F. Law is quietly reclaiming a portion of the influence and prestige he once enjoyed as archbishop of Boston.
He is playing an active role in governing the world's largest religious body, serving on an unusually high number of Vatican congregations charged with, among other things, the appointment of bishops and the oversight of priests around the world.
He is the titular head of two significant churches here: the Basilica of St. Mary Major, one of the four patriarchal basilicas of the Catholic Church, and Santa Susanna, an ancient parish now dedicated to serving Americans in Rome.
He is seen about town with some frequency, patronizing some of the same restaurants he preferred when Rome was just a place he visited, and sitting in the front row at important Vatican events.
Although in Boston, his role in the clergy sexual abuse scandal made it difficult for him to appear in public without being shadowed by reporters and protesters, his public presence causes barely a ripple in Rome.
Here he is overshadowed within the church by dozens of other red-robed cardinals and a beloved pope, in society by more pressing domestic scandals and controversies, and on the streets not only by ancient ruins and Renaissance art, but by modern thrills like the cast and crew of "Oceans 12," a motion picture now in production in the city's streets.
• Uncovered Vatican files highlight abuse [Christian Brothers] - RCC. 30 reports. RTE News, www.rte.ie/news/2004/0703/brothers.html , 19:24, 03 July 2004
IRELAND: The Christian Brothers have revealed that they have uncovered files in the Vatican relating to the abuse of schoolboys in Irish institutions.
The files include written accounts about thirty findings of child sex abuse at six schools between the 1930s and 1960s.
Eleven of the cases relate to Artane Industrial School, while the others relate to other schools around the country.
• Pastor sent to prison for sex assault of 5-y-o -- Pentecostal [2002 Lawrence]
Toledo Blade, "Pastor sent to prison for sex assault of child," www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040702/NEWS02/40702002/-1/NEWS , Friday, July 2, 2004
LIMA, Ohio - A pastor convicted of sexually assaulting a 5-year-old was sentenced yesterday to three years in prison.
Russell Lawrence, 64, of Lima, also was placed on probation for five years and classified as a sexually oriented offender by Allen County Common Pleas Judge Richard Warren.
Lawrence had entered an Alford plea May 21 to a reduced charge of gross sexual imposition. In an Alford plea, a defendant does not admit guilt but pleads guilty to escape more severe penalties had the case gone to trial. Lawrence, pastor of Pentecostal Bethlehem Tabernacle Church in Van Wert, was originally charged with rape in the November, 2002 incident.
• Local Minister Suspected Of Rape; Man Preached Protection From Devil Through Sex -- Apostolic Church [Romero]
TheSanDiegoChannel.com ; www.thesandiegochannel.com/news/3490094/detail.html , 2:35 pm PDT, July 3, 2004
SAN DIEGO (CA): A local minister has been arrested for allegedly using fear of the devil to induce women to have sex with him.
Carlos Romero, 59, was arrested at his workplace in Kearny Mesa Friday after a 2-month investigation, La Mesa police Sgt. Dan Willis said.
In May, a 31-year-old woman told police that she had been sexually assaulted by her pastor over the last 6 years, 10News reported.
She said the pastor had convinced her that having sex with him would protect her from the devil.
During the investigation, La Mesa police located 2 additional victims.
Police said Romero, who has been a minister for 20 years, has a congregation of about a dozen people and has nondenominational services in the homes of his Apostolic Church members. (The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
• Bishop Comiskey won't return to live in Wexford
Sunday Business Post www.sbpost.ie/web/DocumentView/did- 803548768-pageUrl--2FThe-Newspaper-2FSundays-Paper-2FNews-2FIreland.asp ; By Kieron Wood
IRELAND: Brendan Comiskey, the former Bishop of Ferns who resigned over his handling of a clerical sex abuse scandal, has decided not to return to Wexford to live.
Comiskey stood down after the broadcasting of a documentary about paedophile Ferns curate Fr Sean Fortune. The priest committed suicide while awaiting trial for abusing boys.
"I can only assure you that I did my best," Comiskey said in his resignation statement in April 2002. "Clearly this was not good enough. I found Father Fortune virtually impossible to deal with."
After his resignation, Comiskey went to study addiction counselling in the United States.
• Abuse claims push diocese to bankruptcy [$US 20m wasted]
Sunday Business Post (Ireland), www.sbpost.ie/web/DocumentView/did-21831158-pageUrl--2FThe-Newspape