Sunday, February 12, 2006

Priest Gets Probation for Groping Ex-Altar Boy

Greenwich Village, New York --

A Catholic priest from Pennsylvania was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years probation for taking a 17-year-old former altar boy to a Greenwich Village hotel and groping him.

The Rev. Albert Liberatore, 41, of Lackawanna, apologized in State Supreme Court in Manhattan and accepted responsibility for inappropriate behavior, his attorney, Robert Gottlieb, said Wednesday.

'He admitted he knew he crossed the line,' Gottlieb said. 'He cared very much for and about the boy and his family.'

In June, Liberatore pleaded guilty to attempted sexual abuse and admitted he groped the boy at the Washington Square Park Hotel in May 2002

Liberatore, who has been suspended as a priest, was charged with first-degree sodomy and sexual abuse. He could have received 15 years in prison if convicted at trial.

Justice Rena Uviller said Wednesday she would abide by the negotiated sentence of a decade's probation. In addition, the priest must register as a sex offender, cannot have unsupervised contact with minors nor any contact with the victim, who is now 20.

Read the article at bishop-accountability.org dated 08/11/05
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2d priest defrocked for abuse in N.H. - The Boston Globe

MANCHESTER, N.H. --

Pope Benedict XVI has defrocked a second New Hampshire priest accused of sexual abuse.

The announcement that Paul Aube has been stripped of his priesthood came Friday from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester, which said the Pope made the decision on May 20.

This means Aube can neither act as a priest nor receive financial support from the church. Aube is only the second New Hampshire priest to be defrocked since the state began investigating clergy sexual abuse in 2002. Ronald Corriveau was defrocked by the late Pope John Paul II in March.

Aube was ordained in 1970 and worked at parishes in Claremont, Berlin, Nashua, and Rochester. According to a 2003 report by the state attorney general's office, two Nashua police detectives reported in 1975 that they found Aube parked on a secluded road with an 18-year-old boy; the two were fondling, the report said.

Former Bishop Odore Gendron later transferred Aube from Nashua to a youth ministry position at a Rochester church.

Aube acknowledged in a 2003 interview that he molested several boys in their late teens between 1971 and 1980 while assigned to these churches. He said he confessed the abuse to his superiors and asked for counseling and to be assigned to duties that would keep him away from children.

Read the article at The Boston Globe dated 08/14/05
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Molesting NH priest defrocked by Pope

Manchester, New Hampshire

Roman Catholic priest Paul L. Aube, who gave special crucifixes to boys he sexually assaulted, has been defrocked by Pope Benedict XVI, church officials announced yesterday.

Aube is the second diocesan priest to lose his collar in light of the priest sex-abuse scandal in New Hampshire. The decision means Aube is no longer bound to the obligations of the priesthood, cannot act as a priest and has been returned to the lay state, the diocese said in a press release.

In 1994, Bishop Leo E. O'Neil permanently removed Aube from ministry, but Aube still kept his status as priest until the Vatican's action, which took place on May 20.

'He was one of the bad ones. He was one of the targets of the Attorney General's investigation,' said Peter Hutchins, a Manchester lawyer who sucessfully sued the Manchester diocese on behalf of dozens of clients.

Four of his clients — three males and one female — were abused by Aube, Hutchins said.

'He was more of a groomer — get to know the kid — vs. someone who would just grab them,' Hutchins said.

Aube had assignments in St. Mary in Claremont, Guardian Angels in Berlin, Holy Rosary in Rochester, Elliot Hospital and Concord Hospital.

Aube admitted to abusing 15 children or young adults while serving in parishes between 1970 to 1981.

Read the article at The Union Leader and New Hampshire Sunday News dated 08/13/05
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Diocese faces another abuse suit

MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin -—

A man who claims he was sexually abused by a Roman Catholic priest for six years sued the Milwaukee Archdiocese for fraud Thursday.

It was the latest attempt by victims to overturn Wisconsin’s ban on lawsuits against religious groups.

Wisconsin courts have upheld a decade-old ruling that prevents alleged victims from seeking damages. It is the only state with such a law.

Victims’ groups hope evidence obtained in a recent suit in California might persuade a judge to hear the case.

The man, now 44 and identified in court records only as John Doe, claims high-ranking officials in the archdiocese knew that the Rev. Siegfried Widera was sexually abusing children, yet transferred him to cover it up.

The archdiocese transferred Widera in 1976 to the Diocese of Orange in California, where Widera acknowledged molesting at least 10 boys, according to a psychological evaluation.

Read the article at Post-Crescent dated 08/13/05
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Lawyer: Church Knew of Danger

Miami, Florida --

A 38-year-old Broward County man, who says a Catholic priest raped him when he was a young illegal immigrant, has obtained church records that he claims will bolster his bid for punitive damages against the priest and the Archdiocese of Miami.

'Juan Doe' sued the Archdiocese and the Rev. Ernesto Garcia-Rubio in 2002, claiming the one-time pastor of Our Lady of Divine Providence in Sweetwater raped him once in 1984.

Garcia-Rubio was defrocked in the late 1990s after allegations that he had raped a young parishioner and sexually abused four Central American refugees.

Last year, the Archdiocese agreed to pay $3.4 million to settle almost two dozen lawsuits against various priests, including Garcia-Rubio. But the Juan Doe case is still being fought in Miami-Dade Circuit Court.

In court papers filed Friday, Fort Lauderdale lawyer Russell Adler claims that he has obtained documents that now prove the Archdiocese knew Garcia-Rubio was a danger to young boys many years earlier and did nothing to stop it.

Read the article at bishop-accountability.org dated 08/12/05
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Jasper priest accused of molesting disabled man facing criminal charges

JASPER, Indiana --
A 52-year-old Roman Catholic priest from St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Jasper, was arrested Thursday afternoon by the Indiana State Police and faces five criminal charges after being accused of molesting a 19-year-old mentally disabled man.

According to an ISP press release, Father Wilfred L. Englert, pastor of the Jasper church, turned himself in at Dubois County Circuit Court, in Jasper, after an almost month-long investigation by the ISP following allegations of sexual abuse by a 19-year-old mentally disabled man.

A criminal investigation began on July 18 after the alleged victim told police that Englert had abused him several times between April and June 2005, according to police.

The alleged molestations took place while Enlglert and the disabled man, whom police said had been friends for about a year, were camping at Patoka Lake in Orange County and at other times at a Dubois County residence.

Read the article at Abuse Tracker 2005B dated 08/12/05
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Former Schuylkill Haven priest faces prison for embezzlement

POTTSVILLE, Pennsylvania --
A Roman Catholic priest who acknowledged owning hundreds of child pornography photos, magazines, videotapes and DVDs as well as embezzling more than $23,000 from the church has been sentenced to three to 23 months in jail on the theft charge.

Read the article at SunGazette dated 08/11/05
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Top NYC Catholic Leader Named in Divorce

NEW YORK, NY — A Roman Catholic monsignor resigned as rector of St. Patrick's Cathedral after being accused of having an affair with a married woman.

Cardinal Edward Egan accepted Msgr. Eugene Clark's resignation Thursday despite the 79-year-old Clark's denials that he has been carrying on an affair with his 46-year-old private secretary, the New York archdiocese said.

'He offered his resignation for the good of Saint Patrick's and the Archdiocese,' the church said in a statement. 'He will not be celebrating Mass or the sacraments publicly until this matter has been resolved.'

Clark has been rector of St. Patrick's in midtown Manhattan since 2001 and has often celebrated Mass there when the cardinal was away. A strong proponent of traditional morality, he blamed the church's sex-abuse scandal in 2002 on 'the campaign of liberal America against celibacy.'

Read the article at ABC News Dated 08/11/05
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Catholic priest sentenced to probation for attempted sex abuse (phillyBurbs.com) | Pennsylvania News

NEW YORK - A Pennsylvania priest who pleaded guilty to attempted sexual abuse for groping a former altar boy on an overnight trip to New York City was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years probation, authorities said.

Albert Liberatore Jr., of Scranton, Pa., admitted groping the boy in a hotel room in May 2002.

The Roman Catholic priest had earlier pleaded guilty in Pennsylvania to sexually assaulting the same boy and was sentenced in June to five years probation.

The victim told police he became involved with the priest when he was an eighth-grade altar boy at the Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Duryea, Pa. Investigators said the victim said he met the priest for dinners, slept at the rectory and went with him on trips to New York.

Read the article at phillyBurbs.com dated 08/11/05
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Top Catholic leader resigns from church - U.S. News - MSNBC.com

NEW YORK, NY -

A Roman Catholic monsignor named in court papers as 'the other man' in a divorce case resigned Thursday as rector of St. Patrick's Cathedral, the New York archdiocese said.

Cardinal Edward Egan accepted Msgr. Eugene Clark's resignation from the key church position despite the 79-year-old Clark's denials that he has been carrying on an affair with his 46-year-old private secretary, the church said.

'He offered his resignation for the good of Saint Patrick's and the archdiocese,' the statement said. 'He will not be celebrating Mass or the sacraments publicly until this matter has been resolved.'

Read the article at MSNBC.com dated 08/11/05
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Ex-priest indicted in Daytop sex abuse

Daytop, NJ --

A former Roman Catholic priest whose whereabouts were unknown to the Archdiocese of Newark for a decade was indicted Tuesday on charges of sexual misconduct with four male teenagers he counseled as a social worker last year at Daytop-NJ in Mendham.

A Morris County grand jury handed up an indictment that charges Madison resident Richard J. Mieliwocki, 58, with three counts of child endangerment and five counts of criminal sexual contact that all relate to alleged sexual interaction Mieliwocki had with four youths between the ages of 16 and 18 at the prestigious, in-patient substance abuse rehabilitation facility.

While entrusted with counseling the youths -- including three who were on court-ordered probation -- Mieliwocki asked three about the size of their genitals and whether they masturbated. He allegedly touched the buttocks of one youth, the genitals of a second, and got a third teenager to remove his clothing and then spanked the boy's bare buttocks, court documents state.

Read the article at Daily Record dated 08/10/05
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Former Priest Says He Was Shuttled around after Abuse Allegations

SAN DIEGO -

A former Roman Catholic priest claims church officials shuttled him to new parishes after he was accused of molesting children in the 1970s, according to a newly filed court document.

The declaration by Edward Anthony Rodrigue supports allegations that bishops knew priests were molesting children but covered up the crimes by shifting accused clergy elsewhere. Rodrigue has been convicted of molestation twice and is serving a 10-year term at Corcoran state prison.

'There is overwhelming evidence that the church was well aware of the sexual misconduct of these priests,' said Raymond P. Boucher, lead attorney for hundreds of people who are suing the church.

J. Michael Hennigan, the attorney for the San Diego diocese, said it's difficult to evaluate old claims.

'We're not contending that it's impossible,' Hennigan said. 'Do I have to take the word of a convicted felon?'

Rodrigue was convicted in 1979 of sexually assaulting two boys in Ontario and is behind bars for a second molestation conviction.

Read the article at bishopaccountability.org dated August 10, 2005
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Levada to Answer Questions on Priest Abuse (phillyBurbs.com) | National

PORTLAND, Ore. -

The American archbishop stepping down to become the Catholic Church's doctrinal watchdog will waive diplomatic immunity and answer questions about clergy sex abuse.

Archbishop William Levada of San Francisco decided Wednesday to honor a subpoena he was served at his farewell Mass last Sunday, accepting the jurisdiction of U.S. courts. He had previously refused to agree to jurisdiction and other conditions.

Abuse victims' attorneys want to question Levada, 69, as part of the bankruptcy case of the Archdiocese of Portland, which he led for nearly a decade before assuming the San Francisco post in 1995.

Last year, Portland became the first Catholic diocese in the nation to declare bankruptcy, citing sex abuse lawsuits seeking more than $155 million in damages.

Levada, who official steps down next week to take the job formerly held by Pope Benedict XVI, will be deposed in early January in San Francisco.

Read the article at phillyBurbs.com dated August 11, 2005
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Levada to Answer Questions on Priest Abuse (phillyBurbs.com) | National

Portland, Oregon -

The American archbishop stepping down to become the Catholic Church's doctrinal watchdog will waive diplomatic immunity and answer questions about clergy sex abuse.

Archbishop William Levada of San Francisco decided Wednesday to honor a subpoena he was served at his farewell Mass last Sunday, accepting the jurisdiction of U.S. courts. He had previously refused to agree to jurisdiction and other conditions.

Abuse victims' attorneys want to question Levada, 69, as part of the bankruptcy case of the Archdiocese of Portland, which he led for nearly a decade before assuming the San Francisco post in 1995.

Last year, Portland became the first Catholic diocese in the nation to declare bankruptcy, citing sex abuse lawsuits seeking more than $155 million in damages.

Levada, who official steps down next week to take the job formerly held by Pope Benedict XVI, will be deposed in early January in San Francisco.

Read the article at phillyBurbs.com dated August 11, 2005
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Saturday, August 20, 2005

Priest sentenced to three to 23 months for embezzlement

Pottsville, Pennsylvania -

A Roman Catholic priest who acknowledged owning hundreds of child pornography photos, magazines, videotapes and DVDs - as well as embezzling more than $23,000 from the church - was sentenced Tuesday to three to 23 months in jail on the theft charge.

The Rev. Ronald J. Yarrosh, 57, formerly an assistant pastor at St. Ambrose Church in Schuylkill Haven, will also serve 10 years' probation on the child sex abuse charges.

Yarrosh pleaded guilty in April to charges of theft, receiving stolen property, criminal use of a communication facility and three counts of sexual abuse of children. He was also ordered to pay $23,629 in restitution.

Read the article at AP Wire Dated August 9, 2005
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Mediation Begins Between Abuse Victims, Archdiocese

Portland, Oregon --

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland began mediation this week with over 60 former parishioners who say they were abused by priests.

The total number of victims has skyrocketed to at least 240.

The archdiocese says it hopes that through mediation the church and the individual victims will be able to agree on a dollar figure for how much they should be compensated. If they don't agree, the two sides will next meet in bankruptcy court.

Initially, lawyers for the victims had fought mediation, saying that the archdiocese was trying to force the people it had abused to waive their rights to a jury trial. But they agreed to go ahead when it was decided that if the mediation fails, the victims will still be able to proceed with a trial.

The victims, speaking through a representative, said that the archdiocese should not expect to get away with paying a nickel on the dollar.

Read the article at KOIN.com Dated August 9, 2005
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Judge orders review of Church files

Wheaton, Illinois

A judge will review documents concerning sexual abuse allegations against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet before deciding whether to make the information available to the public.

DuPage County Judge Stephen Culliton on Monday granted the diocese's request for a protective order, but indicated that he would enforce it at his discretion. Culliton said he would personally inspect all documents related to a lawsuit against the diocese and former priest Ed Stefanich.

Culliton said he would place documents in the case's public file, but still take steps to shield the identities of alleged victims and respect others who had an expectation of privacy.

"I will decide what or what not will be part of the public record," Culliton said in court. "I see a distinction between materials disclosed to another party and things filed on the record.
"

"(The protective order) won't be a blanket one, but there may well be portions (of documents) deleted," he said.

Diocesan attorney James Byrne told Culliton that within 24 hours of Monday morning's hearing he would turn over the former priest's personnel file and other documents. The file is expected to include Stefanich's seminary records, psychological evaluations, correspondence from parishioners and other documents that might shed light on how Joliet Bishop Joseph Imesch responded to reports of Stefanich's inappropriate conduct with minors.

Stefanich pleaded guilty in 1987 to the criminal sexual abuse of a Woodridge girl beginning when she was 14 years old and a parishioner at St. Scholastica Church. The girl later said that the relationship was discovered and reported to Imesch more than a year before the bishop removed Stefanich from ministry.

A Glen Ellyn man in his late 40s filed a civil lawsuit in 2003, claiming Stefanich molested him when he was 12 years old at Christ the King Church in Lombard. The man says he blocked out recollections of the alleged abuse until he suddenly recalled them in 2001.

Read the article at suburbanchicagonews.com Dated August 9, 2005
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New charge against Gary priest

Michigan City, Indiana

A second credible allegation of sexual misconduct against a Catholic priest already removed from public ministry has led the Diocese of Gary to notify his former northwest Indiana parishes where there could be other victims.

The new allegation against the Rev. Richard Emerson was found to be credible, so the parishes where he has served were notified last week, as have been law enforcement authorities, said diocesan spokesman the Rev. Brian Chadwick.

“It’s not a finding of guilt,” he said.

The alleged victim was a minor, Chadwick told the Herald-Argus of LaPorte for a story published Monday. Chadwick would not say whether the alleged incident occurred in Indiana or Florida.

Emerson’s whereabouts could not be determined today, and he could not be located for comment.

Emerson was suspended last December while pastor of Notre Dame Parish in Michigan City.

The diocese sent letters discussing the new case last week to that parish and to three others in the diocese where Emerson has been posted: LaPorte’s St. Joseph, Munster’s St. Thomas More, and Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Hammond.

“If it reaches just one victim that is still trapped in shame and self-blame, it’s a worthwhile effort,” said David Clohessy, executive director of the victim advocacy group Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, or SNAP.

Read the article at indystar.com Dated August 8, 2005
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Bill would force church to disclose its finances

Boston, Masssachusetts --

The Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, still dealing with the fallout from the clergy abuse crisis and upheaval over church closings, faces a major battle on Beacon Hill this week as lawmakers push for an unprecedented measure to force the church to open its books to the public.

The legislation, authored by state Senator Marian Walsh and backed by 32 other lawmakers, is being considered at a time when the church faces deep skepticism and in some cases open hostility from politicians on Beacon Hill and at City Hall. Some lawmakers who champion the bill, which will be brought up at a hearing Wednesday, previously stood side by side with church leaders on policy issues like abortion.

The legislation, which would require all religious organizations to file annual financial reports and a list of real estate holdings with the attorney general's charities division, is opposed by the Catholic Church and major mainline Protestant denominations. It is being watched as a test of how much clout the archdiocese still retains with the state's political establishment.

Walsh, a West Roxbury Democrat, began exploring the idea for the bill when she heard from lay Catholics, who wanted more information about the financial health and holdings of the archdiocese as it settled civil suits and launched a sweeping reconfiguration of parishes. She said as perhaps the largest charity in the state, the Catholic Church should be subject to the same disclosure requirements as other nonprofits.

Read the article at The Boston Globe Dated August 8, 2005
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Conflict and Anger at Farewell Mass for Archbishop

San Francisco, California --

Protesters marched outside St. Mary's Cathedral in San Francisco as Archbishop William Levada celebrated a farewell Mass to mark his departure for Rome.

Levada was appointed by Pope Benedict to serve as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Cardinal Ratzinger had served in that same office until being selected as Pope. Levada is the highest-ranking American clergyman in the church's history.

Angry words were exchanged outside the church as parishioners were confronted by dozens of protesters wearing t-shirts that read, "It's a sin. Stop the cover-up."

The archbishop, who has led the San Francisco diocese for the last decade, has been criticized for covering up or ignoring instances where pedophiles misused their authority as priests to molest children.

Before the Mass, Levada was served a subpoena to testify in Oregon in a case involving child sexual abuse by priests in the Portland area.

Cookie Gambucci, whose brother is one of the plaintiffs in the Portland case, served the court papers on Levada. She told KCBS reporter Tim Ryan the archbishop called her "a disgrace to the Catholic church."

"That's what he said. Now I'm thinking about all the priests that have abused all those little kids, including my brother," said Gambucci, "and I'm thinking, let's define disgrace to the church."

"It was pretty sickening to hear that from a bishop who is hiding all of these people that are doing all of this abuse," she said.

She had tried unsuccessfully on several other occasions to serve Levada with papers.

Read the article at CBS 5 Dated August 7, 2005
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U.S. Archbishop Subpoenaed Ahead of Mass

San Francisco, California --

Archbishop William Levada, soon to be the highest ranking American at the Vatican, was welcomed to his final Sunday Mass here by thousands of admiring parishioners, a few critics and a subpoena compelling him to testify about sex abuse in the Roman Catholic Church.

Levada was handed the subpoena minutes before he began the procession to the altar at St. Mary's Cathedral.

It requires him to give a deposition Aug. 12 concerning sex abuse allegations against priests in the Portland, Ore., Archdiocese, where he was archbishop from 1986 to 1995.

The 69-year-old archbishop spoke to a standing-room-only crowd of 3,000 in the cathedral Sunday, telling them he would miss San Francisco but he looked forward to working as "God's shepherd" in Rome.

"What I have experienced in the city of Saint Francis ... has been a great grace for me," he said.

Levada is expected to leave later this month for his appointment as head of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the post held by former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before he became Pope Benedict XVI.

In that role, Levada will help shape Catholic doctrine and play a major role in the church's response to claims of sexual abuse by priests.

As Levada spoke Sunday, about 50 protesters held a silent vigil outside with signs reading: "In memory of children abused by clergy."

Since the abuse scandal broke in 2002, hundreds of clergy have been removed from parish work in this country and church leaders have set new guidelines for reporting and dealing with future allegations and the priests accused. The U.S. church says it has paid at least $840 million in settlements with victims since 1950.

Read the article at Newsday.com Dated August 7, 2005
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Tax bill sent for Catholic church

Boston, Massachusetts

As it struggles to improve its financial condition by selling off closed churches, the Boston Archdiocese is facing a new and unfamiliar kind of expense: property taxes.

Under state law, houses of worship are exempt from property taxes, but more than 60 churches have closed under a major restructuring of the archdiocese and local assessors are beginning to look at them as taxable property.

"What the law says is that a church or a house of religious worship has to be owned by the tax-exempt entity and occupied for religious services or instruction," said Marlene Locke, chief assessor for the city of Danvers, who recently sent the archdiocese a bill of $13,450 for the closed St. Alphonsus Church.

"My feeling was the church has been sitting vacant for over a year, they are actively marketing it. ... I felt that it no longer met the requirements for a religious tax exemption," she said.

Terrence Donilon, a spokesman for the archdiocese, said its lawyers are reviewing the issue.

Tim Connolly, a spokesman for the state Department of Revenue, said the decision on whether to tax closed churches will be left to individual communities.

Donilon said the archdiocese, rocked by the clergy sex-abuse scandal, is working hard to rebuild and extra tax bills "contribute additional financial pressure."

Read the article at The Seattle Times Dated August 6, 2005
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Priest says Philly archdiocese told him to stay mum about abuse

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

A Roman Catholic priest who told a church official in the early 1980s that a fellow priest was molesting boys said he was told that the Philadelphia Archdiocese's "highest authority" warned that he should keep quiet.

The Rev. James Gigliotti told The Philadelphia Inquirer for Sunday's edition that he received a stern warning after he reported the accusations against the Rev. James J. Brzyski.

"This comes from the highest authority: You're to keep your mouth shut," Gigliotti said an assistant chancellor told him.

Gigliotti is the first priest to say publicly that the archdiocese told him to keep quiet.

"I take full responsibility for this, but those words, 'You're to keep your mouth shut,' made a big impression on me because it came from high authority," said Gigliotti, 57, who now leads a parish in Arlington, Texas.

Gigliotti identified the man who warned him as the Rev. John W. Graf, an assistant chancellor under then-Cardinal John Krol, who died in 1996.

Graf, who now heads a Chester County parish, told the paper that he did not wish to comment on Gigliotti's account "because of the privacy of all the people involved."

After the accusations were made against Brzyski, the archdiocese quickly removed him from his parish. But church officials did not tell parishioners the reason, nor did they report Brzyski to police.

Read the article at www.statesman.com Dated August 6, 2005
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ABC News: Calif. Church Settles Abuse Suits for $56M

San Francisco, California --

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland has agreed to pay $56 million to settle lawsuits filed by 56 alleged victims of priest sexual abuse, the diocese said.

The agreement is a series of individual settlements with each remaining victim who alleged abuse by Oakland priests, according to plaintiffs' attorneys. Negotiations took more than four months and were overseen by an Alameda County Superior Court judge.

The diocese did not say how much each alleged victim would receive.

"It is my heartfelt hope that reaching this resolution will help victim-survivors move forward ever more securely along the path of healing," Diocese of Oakland Bishop Allen Vigneron said in a statement Friday.

"I take this occasion to reiterate once more my commitment … to insure the safety of children and young people in our church community. I renew my apology to victim-survivors, to their families and to the whole community for the great harm that has been done by those priests who have sexually abused minors."

Larry Drivon, a Stockton lawyer who represents half the alleged victims, called the settlement "adequate and fair." But, he added, "There is no amount of money that can ever bring back the stolen innocence and destroyed faith that sexual molestation by a child's priest causes."

The diocese will pay $25 million of the settlement; the rest will come from insurers. The diocese's portion of the payment will be funded through a loan and sale of diocesan assets.

Read the article at ABC News dated August 6, 2005
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Tuesday, August 09, 2005

Oakland diocese settles church abuse suits for $56M

San Francisco, California

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland has agreed to pay $56 million to settle lawsuits filed by 56 alleged victims of priest sexual abuse, the diocese said Friday.

The agreement is a series of individual settlements with each remaining victim who alleged abuse by Oakland priests, according to plaintiffs' attorneys. Negotiations took more than four months and were overseen by an Alameda County Superior Court judge.

The diocese did not say how much each alleged victim would receive.

"It is my heartfelt hope that reaching this resolution will help victim-survivors move forward ever more securely along the path of healing," Diocese of Oakland Bishop Allen Vigneron said in a statement Friday.

"I take this occasion to reiterate once more my commitment ... to insure the safety of children and young people in our church community. I renew my apology to victim-survivors, to their families and to the whole community for the great harm that has been done by those priests who have sexually abused minors."

Read the article at USATODAY.com Dated August 6, 2005
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ABC News: Calif. Church Settles Abuse Suits for $56M

San Francisco, California --

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland has agreed to pay $56 million to settle lawsuits filed by 56 alleged victims of priest sexual abuse, the diocese said.

The agreement is a series of individual settlements with each remaining victim who alleged abuse by Oakland priests, according to plaintiffs' attorneys. Negotiations took more than four months and were overseen by an Alameda County Superior Court judge.

The diocese did not say how much each alleged victim would receive.

"It is my heartfelt hope that reaching this resolution will help victim-survivors move forward ever more securely along the path of healing," Diocese of Oakland Bishop Allen Vigneron said in a statement Friday.

"I take this occasion to reiterate once more my commitment … to insure the safety of children and young people in our church community. I renew my apology to victim-survivors, to their families and to the whole community for the great harm that has been done by those priests who have sexually abused minors."

Larry Drivon, a Stockton lawyer who represents half the alleged victims, called the settlement "adequate and fair." But, he added, "There is no amount of money that can ever bring back the stolen innocence and destroyed faith that sexual molestation by a child's priest causes."

Read the article at ABC News Dated August 6, 2005
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Monday, August 08, 2005

Jury rejects priest's claims of defamation in abuse case

Janesville, Wisconsin

A jury on Thursday decided against a Catholic priest who said he was falsely accused of sexual abuse by a former altar boy, concluding the allegations were substantially true.

After two hours of deliberations, the jury rejected claims that the 26-year-old man had defamed the Rev. Gerald Vosen of Baraboo by concocting the story of abuse to explain to his parents why he was gay.

John Casey, the man's attorney, said his client's credibility was attacked for more than a year, but it took a jury only two hours to substantiate his claims that the priest abused him while an altar boy and student at a Catholic elementary school in Janesville.

"My client has been vindicated. Now the public knows he is not a liar," Casey said. "But he will never have his childhood back."

Vosen, 71, had sued the man last year claiming the allegations were false. His attorney asked jurors to award the priest $1.1 million in punitive damages. Vosen's attorney, Patrick McDonald, said the jury may have been prejudiced by news coverage of the Catholic Church's sex abuse scandal.

Read the article at St. Paul Pioneer Press Dated August 8, 2005
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Behind a Priest's Suicide

San Jose, California

On the day he was to report for jury duty, Father James Chevedden said the 11 a.m. Mass at the Sacred Heart chapel in Los Gatos before catching a ride downtown.

Shortly after jurors were dismissed on that breezy spring afternoon, security guards at a nearby transit authority building saw something falling from the six-story courthouse parking garage in San Jose.

At 4:48 p.m., paramedics found Chevedden's body face up on a patch of dirt. He died on his 56th birthday.

Although no suicide note was found, authorities say the Jesuit priest took his own life. He had been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, and he had severely injured himself at least once before.

An obituary in the National Jesuit News reported that Chevedden jumped to his death May 19 last year "after a long struggle with mental illness."

His fatal leap "was not an act of a person in possession of his rational capacities," wrote Father John Martin, Chevedden's superior at the Sacred Heart Jesuit Center.

But his therapist and distraught family members were puzzled. Chevedden seemed to be functioning well with prescribed medications and regular psychiatric treatment. He was active in the Bay Area, teaching catechism to children, leading Bible study groups and happily studying Judaism, Hebrew and Eastern Christianity.

It wasn't Chevedden's illness that had precipitated his death, they decided; it was something that had happened to him at Sacred Heart.

"In retrospect, I can understand that he just felt like there was no way out," said psychiatrist George Maloof. "It's a very sad tale."

Read the article at latimes.com Dated August 6, 2005
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Oakland diocese to settle abuse cases for $56 mln

San Francisco, California -

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland, California, agreed on Friday to pay $56.3 million to settle 56 cases of sexual abuse of children by priests from 1962 to 1985, lawyers and the church said.

Plaintiffs' lawyer Rick Simons said the settlement represented all abuse cases against the Oakland diocese, with the amounts per victim ranging from a few hundred thousand dollars to $2 million.

"This news is a great relief to those Catholic children who silently suffered for years with the pain and harm of sexual abuse by their priest," he said.

The Catholic Church in the United States has faced hundreds of lawsuits in recent years involving charges of pedophilia by some priests.

Oakland Bishop Allen Vigneron again expressed his regret about the crimes dating back decades.

"I renew my apology to victim-survivors, to their families and to the whole community for the great harm that has been done by those priests who have sexually abused minors," he said in a statement. "It is my heartfelt hope that reaching this resolution will help victim-survivors move forward ever more securely along the path of healing."

The Rev. Mark Wiesner, a church spokesman, said insurers would pay more than $31 million of the settlement, with the diocese taking out a loan to fund the remaining $25.3 million. He said the church planned to sell plots of land it owned in the region to pay back the debt.

The litigation and subsequent settlement followed a California measure that temporarily lifted the statute of limitations for old priest abuse claims.

Read the article at Reuters.com Dated August 5, 2005
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Sunday, August 07, 2005

Judge limits financial data access in priest suit

Nashville, Tennessee --

A Davidson County Judge yesterday quashed subpoenas seeking the release of all financial data from nine Catholic organizations but agreed that plaintiffs in a priest molestation suit should get records detailing the relationships between the businesses and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Nashville.

Lawyers for the businesses, which include two area Catholic high schools, had asked to be left out of the court battle between the victims and the diocese. They argued that the organizations are separate financial entities from the diocese and were not defendants in the suit, scheduled to go to trial in March 2006.

Davidson County Circuit Court Judge Walter Kurtz said the plaintiffs' lawyers were entitled to review evidence showing the links between the organizations and the church. The judge has yet to decide whether that information will be provided to a jury once the trial is under way.

"What we'll do with that (during trial) is a completely different issue," Kurtz told the lawyers.

Read the article at tennessean.com Dated July 30, 2005
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Diocese won't comment on Vosen verdict

Janesville, Wisconsin --

Because the Rev. Gerald Vosen soon will be tried by the Catholic Church in the Diocese of Madison, the diocese's leader, Bishop Robert Morlino, said he was not allowed to comment on a verdict reached Thursday afternoon in Rock County.

A Rock County jury unanimously decided in a civil trial that accusations of sexual abuse against Vosen were true.

Morlino issued a press release soon afterward to say he was barred from comment.

Addressing the case's background, the bishop said:

"With the advice of the diocesan review board, I placed Father Vosen on administrative leave and reported the matter to the Holy See (Vatican) in accord with church law. The Holy See has instructed that a canonical (church) trial take place to determine Father Vosen's guilt or innocence. Thus any personal judgment in the matter is of no consequence because the matter will be resolved by a canonical tribunal of which I am not a member.

Read the article at The Janesville Gazette Dated August 5, 2005
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Suit claims sexual abuse of priest in Los Gatos

Los Gatos, California --

The family of a Jesuit priest who committed suicide last year has filed a wrongful death lawsuit claiming that his religious superiors failed to protect him from sexual abuse at a Los Gatos residential center for retired clergy.

Jesuit officials have denied the allegations in the suit. But the case raises echoes of a scandal that rocked the Roman Catholic religious order three years ago, when the Jesuits paid $7.5 million to settle a lawsuit by two developmentally disabled men who were molested by two members of the order while living at the same facility.

Now the family of the late Rev. James Chevedden says that one of the same molesters groped Chevedden's genitals while he was in a wheelchair recovering from an earlier suicide attempt.

``They didn't protect this guy,'' said Robert L. Mezzetti II, a San Jose attorney who represents Chevedden's family. ``They put an invalid who had mental and emotional problems in the custody and care of a sex offender.''

The order's top official for California, the Rev. Thomas Smolich, refused to discuss the lawsuit's specific allegations. While expressing sympathy for Chevedden's family, Smolich called the lawsuit ``groundless and without merit.''

``Jim's death is a loss for his family and for the Society of Jesus,'' Smolich said, using the religious order's formal name. ``We hope to resolve this in a fair and just way, as soon as possible.''

In recent years, several clergymen with histories of sexual misconduct have been housed at the Jesuit's Sacred Heart retirement center, which sits high on a ridge overlooking Los Gatos. Jesuit officials say they consider the center a safe place to house members who should not interact with society, but who have committed themselves to the religious order for life.

Read the article at MercuryNews.com Dated August 5, 2005
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Jury decides against priest in sex-abuse defamation case

Janesville, Wisconsin -

A jury on Thursday decided against a Catholic priest who said he was falsely accused of sexual abuse by a former altar boy, concluding the allegations were substantially true.

After two hours of deliberations, the jury rejected claims that the 26-year-old man had defamed the Rev. Gerald Vosen of Baraboo by concocting the story of abuse to explain to his parents why he was gay.

John Casey, the man's attorney, said his client's credibility was attacked for more than a year, but it took a jury only two hours to substantiate his claims that the priest abused him while an altar boy and student at a Catholic elementary school in Janesville.

Vosen, 71, had sued the man last year, claiming the allegations were false. His attorney asked jurors to award the priest $1.1 million in punitive damages. Vosen's attorney, Patrick McDonald, said the jury may have been prejudiced by news coverage of the Catholic Church's sex abuse scandal.

The jury needed only to find that the allegations were substantially true to decide in the man's favor.

Read the article at Duluth News Tribune Dated August 5, 2005
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More cite sex abuse by priest

Denver, Colorado --

A dozen men have now accused Robert White of molesting them as boys. One is White's godson.

Over a 10-year period, a Roman Catholic priest who had been welcomed into the life of a Loveland family repeatedly molested two of its sons, crawling into the boys' beds while their parents slept and enticing them with motorcycles, fast cars and a cabin in the woods, the brothers allege in interviews, complaints to the church and police reports.

The allegations of Tom and John Kolde way bring to 12 the number of men who have told The Denver Post they were sexually abused as minors by Harold Robert White, who served in 11 parishes across Colorado during three decades as a priest.

Another new claim, from an Aspen man, extends the timeline of allegations against White to the late 1970s or early 1980s, meaning White now stands accused of molesting boys in Colorado over a 20-year period.

He apparently has never faced criminal or civil charges.

Read the article at DenverPost.com Dated August 5, 2005
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Diocese: Don't release abuse files

Joliet, Illinois --

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet is once again asking a court to bar the release of documents that could shed light on how church officials responded to allegations of clergy sexual abuse.

The diocese is asking a DuPage County judge to issue a protective order that would shield the personnel file of former priest and convicted sex offender Ed Stefanich from public view. Judge Stephen Culliton is expected to rule on the request Monday.

The diocese is arguing that failure to obtain a protective order would dissuade other victims of clergy sexual abuse from coming forward, and that the privacy of others would be violated.

"The absence of a protective order could have (a) chilling effect and discourage parishioners from logging complaints or writing to the bishop regarding a variety of sensitive issues," diocese attorney James Byrne wrote in a motion.

Attorneys for a man reportedly abused by Stefanich want the judge to deny the protective order. They say they've proposed releasing the priest's file with the names of reported victims and others blacked out, but the diocese rejected that offer.

A Glen Ellyn man in his 40s filed the suit in late 2003. The man is identified as John Doe in the lawsuit and has told The Herald News in Joliet he does not want his name released in order to protect the privacy of his four children.

He alleges that Stefanich sexually molested him in the late 1960s and early 1970s while at Christ the King Church in Lombard.

Stefanich was arrested in 1987 and later pleaded guilty to criminal sexual abuse of a Woodridge girl beginning when she was 14. Joliet Bishop Joseph Imesch later asked the Vatican to remove Stefanich from the priesthood.

Read the article at suburbanchicagonews.com Dated August 4, 2005
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Lawmaker pushes to end statute of limitations in sex abuse of minors

Boston, Massachusetts --

Frustrated that the Legislature has yet to act in the wake of the clergy sexual abuse scandal, state Senator Steven A. Baddour and 10 Merrimac Valley residents launched an effort yesterday for a 2006 ballot referendum that would abolish the statute of limitations in criminal and civil cases involving sexual abuse of minors.

Baddour, a Methuen Democrat, said the abuse allegations that rocked the Catholic Church in 2002 demonstrated that current laws, which limit the time victims have to file criminal charges and civil claims, often allow pedophiles to escape accountability.

''They shouldn't be able to hide behind the statute of limitations," Baddour said. ''In the Catholic Church scandal, they scared these kids for decades."

State Representative Ronald Mariano, a Quincy Democrat, filed a similar bill in December 2003, but it went nowhere. It was filed again in December 2004 but has yet to get a hearing.

For the measure to appear on the ballot, backers must gather roughly 66,000 signatures this fall. If the Legislature doesn't approve it by May 2006, supporters would have to gather about 11,000 additional signatures for it to appear on the ballot that November.

Homicide is currently the only crime without a statute of limitations in Massachusetts. For most crimes, it is six years.

Politicians on both sides of the aisle expressed support yesterday for eliminating the statute of limitations in sexual abuse cases involving minors.

Eric Fehrnstrom, communications director for Governor Mitt Romney, said the governor supports lifting the statute of limitations. Middlesex District Attorney Martha Coakley, a Democratic candidate for attorney general, said such a move is warranted, even if it is largely symbolic.

''I think the Catholic Church was an aberration in that it was a perfect storm of multiple victims and people being precluded from bringing cases," Coakley said.

Read the article at The Boston Globe Dated August 4, 2005
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Accused priests list goes online

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania --

Marie Whitehead is placing their names in cyberspace for all to see.

The 58-year-old Philadelphian is trying to track down all the Catholic priests from the Philadelphia Archdiocese accused of sexual abuse. She hopes the public will view a list of the priests' names on a Web site and come forward with information on their whereabouts.

Then she'll match the names of those still living to the neighborhoods in which they live on her organization's Web site: the Philadelphia Chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests and Other Clergy.

The names of convicted sex offenders are available on public registries like Megan's Law. The names of accused priests who have never been convicted are not readily available. And that's why Web sites like http://www.snapphila.org/ and http://www.bishop-accountability.org/ are cropping up with lists of names verified by the media, Whitehead said.

Those Web sites are not exclusive to the Catholic Church, but include other denominations and religions in which similar abuse has occurred.

Read the article at phillyBurbs.com Dated August 4, 2005
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Young man's claims 'devastating': Priest

Janesville, Wisconsin --

A young man's allegations of sexual abuse were devastating, said the Catholic priest against whom the charges were made.

"It was very devastating to realize that your name, your person was now mired in the deplorable situation within the church of clergy sexual abuse. It's hard to put into words," the Rev. Gerald Vosen said Wednesday in Rock County Court.

Vosen is suing the 26-year-old Milwaukee man and his parents for allegedly making false and defamatory statements about him to the Diocese of Madison.

The man reported to diocese officials that Vosen repeatedly sexually assaulted him during 1990-'92 when he was 11 and 12 years old and in the fifth and sixth grades at St. John Vianney School in Janesville.

Vosen was then pastor of the parish.

Read the article at The Janesville Gazette Dated August 4, 2005
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More than 50 priests tied to abuse, paper says

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania --

A grand jury documented assaults on children by more than 50 Philadelphia-area priests and harshly criticized Catholic Church leaders for shielding abusers, but brought no criminal charges, a newspaper reported Wednesday.

The decision reflected legal and factual hurdles facing prosecutors, including the expiration of the statute of limitations in virtually every case, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The abuses are believed to have occurred over the last half-century. The report, drafted by prosecutors in District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham's office, is expected to be made public next month. People named in the report will have until Aug. 31 to write a rebuttal.

A spokeswoman for Abraham would not comment Tuesday, citing grand jury secrecy. Nor would an attorney for the Philadelphia Archdiocese, C. Clark Hodgson Jr.

Read the article at Buffalo News Dated August 4, 2005
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Newspaper: Report Documents Church Abuse

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania --

A grand jury documented assaults on children by more than 50 Philadelphia-area priests and harshly criticized Roman Catholic Church leaders for shielding abusers, but brought no criminal charges, a newspaper reported Wednesday.

The decision reflected legal and factual hurdles facing prosecutors, including the expiration of the statute of limitations in virtually every case, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

The report, drafted by prosecutors in District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham's office, is expected to be made public next month. People named in the report will have until Aug. 31 to write a rebuttal.

A spokeswoman for Abraham would not comment Tuesday, citing grand jury secrecy. Nor would an attorney for the Philadelphia Archdiocese, C. Clark Hodgson Jr.

The report said archdiocese officials often made only a cursory inquiry into complaints by children or parents. It said church officials did not contact police and rarely, if ever, advised victims to do so.

Read the article at washingtonpost.com Dated August 3, 2005
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Priest charged with sex abuse in court

Rochester, New York --

Fr. Dennis Sewar, 54, currently suspended from his duties by the Rochester Catholic Diocese, plead not guilty, Tuesday, at his arraignment in Rochester City Court, to counts of sex abuse and endangering the welfare of a child.

The allegations were made by a man, now 19, who says the priest molested him when he was a teenage boy. The accuser says he met Fr. Sewar when Sewar was Pastor at the Church of the Annunciation on Norton Street, on Rochester's northeast side. Sewar was most recently at St. John the Evangelist, in Spencerport.

According to a sworn statement by the alleged victim, Sewar began the abuse in 1999 by rubbing his hands and legs while they watched TV inside the priest's living quarters. He claims things escalated to the point where Sewar would rub his (the boy's) penis through his clothes, and that it probably happened close to 50 times although he "could not remember specifically."

Read the article at WROC TV NEWS 8 NOW Dated August 2, 2005
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Former choir director gets 30 years for boys' abuse

Houston, Texas --

A young man who was molested by a Catholic Church choir director told his abuser to "rot in hell" Tuesday after the accused pedophile pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting him and his two young brothers during the past 10 years.

Stuart Murphy, 57, faced his victim in court somberly and tearfully after a judge handed down a 30-year prison sentence for repeatedly molesting the boys whom he met at Annunciation Catholic Church in downtown Houston.

"This is a day that he knew was coming," Murphy's defense attorney, Brett Podolsky, said after the sentencing. "He knew what he was doing was wrong and he felt like he needed to take responsibility for his actions."

Murphy's arrest in March came as a shock to those who knew him as a longtime Catholic school teacher and church volunteer who began working in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston more than 25 years ago.

Archdiocese officials said Murphy was terminated from his job at Annunciation after he was charged. He left his part-time teachers assistant job at the Cardinal Newman School days before his March 30 arrest.

Read the article at HoustonChronicle.com Dated August 3, 2005
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Priest's lawyer points out inconsistencies

Janesville, Wisconsin --

The Rev. Gerald Vosen is trying to prove in Rock County Court that a 26-year-old Janesville man's accusations of sexual assault were false and defamed him.

On Monday, Vosen's attorney, Patrick McDonald of Janesville, tried to point out inconsistencies between earlier letters and sworn statements made by the man's parents and their testimony in court before Judge John Roethe and a jury of 13, one of whom is an alternate.

McDonald is a parishioner at St. John Vianney Church, the Roman Catholic parish where Vosen was pastor and where the boy and his family were deeply involved in parish life.

McDonald also elicited testimony that would seem to cast doubt on the man's allegations of how and where the abuse occurred.

Read the article at The Janesville Gazette Dated August 2, 2005
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Portland Archdiocese Names Parishioners As Defendants In Sex-Abuse Bankruptcy Case

Portland, Oregon

In a rare legal maneuver the Portland Archdiocese has named 389,000 registered lay Catholic parishioners as defendants in its ongoing bankruptcy case.

The Portland diocese was the first in the United States to file for bankruptcy protection after facing hundreds of sex-abuse lawsuits. In its bankruptcy petition the diocese claimed a likely $400 million in legal damages while listing only $19 million in assets.

The lawyers of the sex-abuse victims, however, are arguing that the diocese owns the property and buildings of its 124 parishes, estimated at a worth of $600 million. The diocese, on the other hand, claims that the church property belongs to the parishioners and the parishes and not the diocese as a whole.

If the court finds that the Portland parishes do belong to the diocese then the diocese may become the latest of the US dioceses forced to sell and close parishes and schools to pay legal settlements. The Portland bankruptcy court agreed to allow the nearly 400,000 parishioners to serve as defendants in the hope that it could settle once and for all the disputes over the ownership of the diocese’s parishes.

The Portland case adds to the long string of unprecedented lawsuits and awards against Catholic dioceses, and ultimately all their innocent parishioners, for the admittedly disturbing negligence or criminal activities of some of the diocesan staff or leaders. Critics charge that secular institutions, such as school boards, prisons and other government agencies have rarely, if ever, been subject to such crippling legal retaliation for similar sexual offences or negligence’s by many of their staff. As well, it is rare for courts to allow numerous cases to be pursued going so far into the past as has happened with the Church abuse cases.

Read the article at lifesite.com Dated August 2, 2005
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Group complains Idaho Catholic Church uses lawyer to counsel abuse victims

Boise, Idaho --

An advocacy group for victims of sex abuse by Catholic clergy has criticized Idaho's bishop, saying he didn't adequately disclose that a church official responsible for helping potential victims is also a lawyer.

Bobbi Dominick, the lawyer, has worked as the Catholic Diocese of Boise's victim assistance coordinator for children, youth and adults, as well as being the diocese's human resources director, for two years, church officials said.

The group, Chicago-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, said Bishop Michael Driscoll's decision to have a lawyer work with potential victims violates the trust of those seeking help because some fear she'd share what she learns with other church lawyers to help them defend the church against potentially costly lawsuits.

"Victims need and deserve to speak with a compassionate, pastoral person, not a defense lawyer, when they're first disclosing and dealing with horrific childhood abuse and potentially dangerous predators," said David Clohessy, SNAP national director in St. Louis. "When victims call expecting to talk with a counselor or social worker, and end up with an attorney, that makes already wounded victims feel hurt and betrayed again."

Boise Catholic leaders denied deceiving those seeking help, and accused Clohessy of inaccuracy in a letter from SNAP to the diocese dated Aug. 2.

For instance, church documents identify Dominick with a "JD" — for juris doctor — to identify her as a trained lawyer.

Read the article at kgw.com Dated August 3, 2005
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Saturday, August 06, 2005

Sex abuse victims meet with Gallup's review board

Gallup, New Mexico

Two representatives of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests met on Saturday for the first time with members of the Gallup Diocesan Review Board for Juvenile Sexual Abuse.

Steve M. Rabi, director of New Mexico SNAP, and Joseph Baca, director of Northern Arizona and Western New Mexico SNAP, met with the review board at the chancery office of the Gallup Diocese.

Rabi, of Albuquerque, N.M., is not a sexual abuse victim from the Diocese of Gallup. According to Rabi, he was abused in his home state of New Jersey, but he has been a New Mexico resident for many years. He retired from the Bernalillo Sheriff's Department, he said, after a career in law enforcement.

Baca, of Phoenix, Ariz., says he was sexually abused in the early 1970s in the Diocese of Gallup by the late Father Clement A. Hageman, who was then assigned to a parish in Winslow, Ariz. Baca has received a settlement from the Gallup Diocese, but he and diocese officials have declined to share with The Independent the amount or details of that settlement.

According to Rabi and Baca, review board members in attendance at Saturday's meeting included Board Chairwoman Margie Trujillo of Farmington, N.M. and members Floyd Kezele and Dr. Steve Heath of Gallup, and Father Jerry Herff of Kayenta, Ariz.

Sister Mary Thurlough, the victims assistance coordinator for the diocese, was not in attendance.

Read the article at Independent Dated August 1, 2005
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Priest sentenced for sex abuse back in Ohio

Casper, Wyoming --

A Catholic priest recently released from prison after serving time for molesting a child in Guernsey in the 1980s has returned to Ohio as he intended, his attorney said last week.

Anthony Jablonowski, 68, was released from the Wyoming Honor Farm in Riverton two weeks ago after serving the lower end of a 15-month to seven-year prison sentence, his attorney Dallas Laird said.

In April 2004, Jablonowski pleaded no contest to taking indecent, immodest or immoral liberties with a minor who was a 17-year-old boy in the 1980s.

In February, he waived a scheduled parole hearing.

In March, another man filed a civil lawsuit against Jablonowski alleging he sexually abused him as a teen.

After his release two weeks ago, Jablonowski registered as a sex offender in Wyoming and in Ohio, Laird said.

"The only thing that makes it noteworthy is that he's a priest," Laird said.

However, that alone makes it serious according to a representative of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

"We at SNAP feel it is a responsibility of all of us, including the Bishops, media, and law (enforcement) to let the public know that this man, Anthony Jablonowski, is a known sex offender," said Judy Jones, SNAP leader in Steubenville, Ohio.

"We all need to protect our children," Jones said.

Jablonowski was a priest at St. Anthony Catholic Church in Guernsey for about 10 years before moving to Ohio in 1991.

When he registered as a sex offender in Ohio, he listed his new address in Waterford as the same one as the religious order he founded 14 years ago called the Carmelite Missionaries of Mary Immaculate, according to an article in the July 26 Marietta Times.

Read the article at casperstartribune.com Dated August 2, 2005
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Abusive, defrocked priests not monitored

Madison, Wisconsin --

If two suspended Catholic priests in the Madison Diocese are found guilty of sexual abuse in trials conducted by the church, they could join the growing ranks of defrocked predators sent into the community with no supervision.

At a time of heightened national concern about the need to track sex offenders, the Catholic Church in America has begun cutting loose dozens - perhaps hundreds - of priests who have molested children.

The church had already suspended the clerics after finding the child-abuse allegations against them to be credible. Now, as it defrocks them, expelling them from the priesthood, the men are quietly re- entering civilian life with only the barest notice to the public and no ongoing oversight by the church.

Nor is law enforcement certain to be watching them. In most instances, the statute of limitations in their cases expired years ago. This means they face no prospect of prosecution for past sex offenses. Only convicted sex offenders' names appear on public sex offender registries checkable by neighbors - and few of the defrocked priests were ever charged or convicted.

To critics, the church is washing its hands of a problem it helped create by failing to alert police to the abuse reports years ago, when they were first received.

"If, indeed, a person is a true predator, the institutional church still has an obligation to maintain some vigilance over him," said the Rev. Thomas Doyle, an early whistleblower on priest abuse, and now a prominent advocate for victims.

When an abuser is not kicked out, "at least there's some monitoring and maintenance and therapy," Doyle said.

Read the article at Wisconsin State Journal Dated August 2, 2005
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Catholic Priest Appears in Court

Rochester, New York --

A priest of the Rochester Catholic Diocese accused of sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child appeared in court Tuesday morning. Rev. Dennis Sewar pleaded not guilty to those charges.

Police arrested Father Sewar at his Henrietta home almost two weeks ago. Investigators say the abuse happened between 1999 and 2001 while Sewar was a priest at the Church of the Annunciation in Rochester.

The alleged victim, a 14-year-old boy at the time, says Father Sewar touched him inappropriately numerous times over the years.

Sewar's attorney says they will defend the charges to the end.

Read the article at rnews.com Dated August 2, 2005
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Collapse halts sex-abuse case

Wellington, New Zealand --

A woman suing the Catholic church over alleged physical and sexual abuse collapsed in the witness box at the High Court in Wellington yesterday halting the hearing.

Earlier the woman hurled a folder of documents toward a lawyer and screamed, swore and cried under questioning.

The respondents' lawyer had been questioning her about her alleged rape by a male member of a foster family approved by the church, she had stayed with in the mid-1970s.

The woman began screaming when asked when and where she stayed with the family,

She yelled: "Jesus ... I'm not an animal".

Justice Marion Frater adjourned the court for a few minutes after the woman jumped off her seat and threw a folder.

When court resumed, the woman said: "I am sorry for being a naughty girl ... I'm trying to be a good girl."

She went on to describe how she was allegedly raped by the male after a Sunday group meeting at a church.

A short time later the woman collapsed in the witness box prompting the judge to again adjourn the hearing.

On Monday, the woman broke down in court when asked to describe how she was allegedly made to perform oral sex on a priest.

She said she was about eight years old when it happened at St Joseph's Orphanage in Upper Hutt, where she lived between 1968 and 1973.

Read the article at The New Zealand Herald Dated August 2, 2005
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Enough is enough: Catholic Church needs to heal itself

Denver, Colorado --

Scandalous. That's what a former superior of the Rev. Harold Robert White called Eric Gorski's reports.

Last week, Gorski, The Denver Post's religion writer, revealed alleged sexual assaults by White on a series of young parishioners roughly 40 years ago.

Gorski also detailed what appear to be failures of Denver's Roman Catholic Archdiocese to properly react when told of White's supposed abuse.

Several alleged victims say they complained to church authorities, but church officials let White continue to minister.

Scandalous. No question about it. It makes members of the church hierarchy accomplices after the fact to felonies.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the scandal the Rev. James E. Kane saw when he talked to Gorski last week.

"I am a good friend of Father White's," Kane told Gorski. "And I personally like Father White, and I personally think this publicity is scandalous because I feel if a person has an illness, whatever it should be, what we should do for these people is pray for them and not criticize them."

We might also want to consider counseling them and, if that doesn't work, prosecuting them.

But we can't be covering up or making excuses for them.

Kane wasn't home Friday when I called. His kill-the-messenger approach to revelations of White's decades-old alleged crimes explains why there is a priest sexual assault scandal that has cost the Catholic Church an estimated billion bucks in lawsuit settlements.

Evidence mounts that several of White's young alleged victims reported the priest, saying they'd been fondled. Troubling questions arise about why White continued as a parish minister.

Read the article at DenverPost.com Dated August 1, 2005
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Local Attorney's Lawsuit Against Vatican Has Another Hurdle To Clear

Louisville, Kentucky --

A Louisville attorney and the Vatican are at odds the over Catholic sex abuse crisis. Late Monday afternoon Bill McMurry filed his response to the Vatican. The church wants the court to drop his class action lawsuit. WAVE 3's David McArthur investigates.

Abused in the parish, covered up in the diocese, but linked to one ultimate authority -- that's the case attorney Bill McMurry wants to argue in U.S. Federal Court against the Vatican.

"I think the Vatican was well aware of Father Louis Miller's pedophilia," McMurray, said, and he believes it is ultimately responsible for the actions of Father Miller and all abusive priests.

McMurray filed the lawsuit in June 5th, and since then attorneys for the Catholic church have argued that the case is flawed, saying the Vatican is a sovereign nation, and that the lawsuit was not properly filed.

Vatican officials have also raised questions about the translation of the lawsuit into Latin, but McMurry says the message is clear. "We are convinced the condition in this country, the pervasive child sexual abuse problem within the Roman Catholic Church, came about as a result of the directive of the Pope to U.S. Bishops to keep this contained."

Read the article at WAVE 3 TV Louisville, KY Dated August 1, 2005
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Orphanage a place of horror, says claimant

Wellington, New Zealand --

A woman suing the Catholic Church for alleged sexual, physical and emotional abuse sobbed loudly and became too distressed to speak as she gave evidence in the High Court at Wellington yesterday.

The woman, who has name suppression, appeared distraught when she was called on to read evidence detailing her years at St Joseph's Orphanage in Upper Hutt, and when asked to name a man she alleges sexually abused her.

She is claiming $550,000 in damages, plus interest and costs, from the church and other Catholic agencies.

Justice Marion Frater called several adjournments during the first day of the case, expected to take three weeks, so the 45-year-old woman could compose herself.

Suppression orders also prohibit publication of the names of nuns and men accused of abusing her.

Named as defendants are the Catholic Archdiocese of Wellington, Catholic Social Services (CSS), the Sisters of Mercy (Wellington) Trust Board and St Joseph's Orphanage Trust Board. All deny the allegations.

The woman claims that as a child she was often beaten at the orphanage, and was verbally and emotionally abused almost daily by some nuns.

Read the article at The New Zealand Herald Dated August 1, 2005
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Report: Toledo police helped conceal sex abuse

Toledo, Ohio -

Police helped the Catholic Diocese of Toledo cover up sex abuse allegations for several decades, refusing to investigate or arrest priests suspected of molesting children, a newspaper reported Sunday.

The (Toledo) Blade, relying on interviews with former officers and a review of court and diocese records, found at least five instances since the 1950s of police covering up allegations of abuse.

Four former officers said Police Chief Anthony Bosch, a Catholic who headed the Toledo department from 1956 to 1970, established an unwritten rule that priests could not be arrested.

Read the article at MSNBC.com Dated August 1, 2005
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Abuse lawyer seeks lien on church property

Burlington, Vermont --

A lawyer representing 10 new clients who say they were sexually abused by priests wants the court to place liens on $30 million worth of church property.

Jerome O'Neill, a former federal prosecutor, settled two cases with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington last year. Those cases ended with the diocese agreeing to cash payments of $150,000 and $120,000.

This time O'Neill is asking the court for a legal claim to diocesan buildings and land in case the diocese can't come up with cash.

''We expect to seek attachments in the $2.5 million range in all of the cases we have filed, for a total of around $30 million," O'Neill said.

If successful, O'Neill's clients would have a claim on church holdings if the diocese couldn't pay court judgments.

''We believe the information we have is sufficiently compelling that seven-figure verdicts are quite likely," O'Neill said. ''We want to make sure that there are sufficient assets available if we are successful in our actions. The diocese doesn't have insurance, but it has $65 million of appraised property in the city of Burlington alone."

Read the article at The Boston Globe Dated August 1, 2005
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Mixed Reviews on Area Church Reconciliation

Arlington, Texas --

Capital area dioceses say they have done their best to respond to the Catholic church's three-year-old charge to reconcile with sexual abuse victims.

Some say church leaders need to do more.

The Arlington diocese's victim assistance coordinator Patricia Mudd tells the Washington Post that Arlington has celebrated ten masses over the past year where priests publicly atone on behalf of the church.

But victims-group leader Bill Casey says the diocese only announces the masses in the diocesan newspaper, which doesn't reach enough victims.

Read the article at ABC 7 News Dated August 1, 2005
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Thursday, August 04, 2005

Defrocked molesters fall below the radar

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania --

At a time of heightened national concern about the need to track sex offenders, the Catholic Church in America has begun cutting loose dozens - perhaps hundreds - of priests who have molested children.

The church had already suspended the clerics after finding the child-abuse allegations against them to be credible. Now, as it defrocks them, expelling them from the priesthood, the men are quietly reentering civilian life with only the barest notice to the public, and no ongoing oversight by the church.

Nor is law enforcement certain to be watching them.

In most instances, the statute of limitations in their cases expired years ago. This means they face no prospect of prosecution for past sex offenses.

"As a citizen, I would be concerned and would want to know if such an individual was living on my block," said Capt. John Darby, head of the Philadelphia police Special Victims Unit, which investigates sex crimes.

But only convicted sex offenders' names appear on "Megan's Law" public registries checkable by neighbors, Darby said - and few of the defrocked priests were ever charged or convicted.

The church sex-abuse scandal, and the "zero tolerance" policy that the bishops enacted in response, has led thus far to nine defrockings in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and one in the Camden Diocese. Observers say hundreds more U.S. priests await decisions by the Vatican.

To critics, the church is washing its hands of a problem it helped create by failing to alert police to the abuse reports years ago, when they were first received.

"If, indeed, a person is a true predator, the institutional church still has an obligation to maintain some vigilance over him," said the Rev. Thomas Doyle, an early whistleblower on priest abuse, and now a prominent advocate for victims.

Read the article at Philadelphia Inquirer Dated July 31, 2005
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Ex-priest breaks code of silence

Portland, Maine --

In the summer of 1963, Francis McGillicuddy, a young priest and director of a church-run girls camp on Poland's Worthley Pond, noticed something odd about one of the camp's guests, the Monsignor Henry Boltz.

Boltz, a leading figure in Maine's Roman Catholic Church, had befriended a teenage boy from the camp staff. This boy, McGillicuddy observed, accompanied the elderly prelate on shopping trips and to the movies and made long visits inside Boltz's private cabin on the grounds of Camp Pesquasawasis.

McGillicuddy felt something was wrong. He couldn't say what it was, but he wanted to stop it.

"I called the staff together and said the monsignor's cabin was out of bounds," he recalled. "No one was to go down there for any reason."

Within days, Boltz left. For years, McGillicuddy never really knew why.

"You would never even breathe that a priest would commit sexual abuse," he said. "It would never be verbalized. It was unthinkable."

Read the article at pressherald.com Dated July 31, 2005
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Lawyers say abuse case could crack Joliet Diocese

Joliet, Illinois --

The Diocese of Joliet is urging a DuPage County judge to seal the personnel file of a former Catholic priest accused of sexual abuse, setting up a legal battle to force church officials to name both victims and other priests with similar charges.

A Glen Ellyn man in his late 40s identified only as “John Doe” is embroiled in a civil lawsuit against Edward Stefanich. Doe accuses the defrocked priest of repeatedly sexually abusing him between 1969 and 1970. Doe was a 12-year-old student at Christ the King Elementary School in Lombard at the time. Stefanich, now in his late 60s, served six months in jail on a separate aggravated criminal sexual assault charge in 1987, committed while he was a priest.

Doe’s attorney, Jeff Anderson, said the diocese has been bulletproof until his client’s case He said church officials shook off at least half a dozen similar accusations in the last decade because the alleged abuse traced back beyond the statute of limitations for such charges.

“The Diocese of Joliet has yet to be held legally accountable, and this is the first case where any survivor may get a chance to make his sordid story known,” Anderson said. “The bishop and his officials have hid behind statute. Now the wall of deception and deceit has begun to crack.”

Now Anderson wants that perceived wall to crumble.

Anderson believes Stefanich’s personnel file, paired with a deposition of Bishop Joseph Imesch, would bring to light not only Stefanich’s actions, but possibly evidence of a cover up and the names of other priests accused of abuse.

The diocese wants DuPage County Judge Stephen Culliton to seal the file, shielding both it and Imesch’s deposition from public view. The order is not meant to hide any abuse, just protect the identity of people abused, said John Cullen, a spokesman for the diocese.

“We’ve made a great effort to be open about everything involving child sexual abuse because we’re ashamed of what’s happened,” he said. “We’ve come forward and admitted what we’ve done wrong.”

Read the article at Daily Herald Dated July 30, 2005
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Center of the storm

Reno, Nevada --

Reno’s former bishop is not accused in any sexual abuse case, but he has been named as a key witness in more than 150 lawsuits. What did he know about the activities of the priests around him?

Reno Catholic leader Bishop Phillip Straling, who retired unexpectedly last month, is a key witness in more than 150 lawsuits in Southern California filed against priests accused of molesting children. In some cases, he is accused of negligence for failing to stop the abuse.

And prosecutors last week seized records from Straling’s former diocese in San Bernardino looking for information on the religious leader’s former aide, Jesus Dominguez, who recently disappeared after being charged with 58 counts of sexual assault.

The lawsuits and lawyers say Straling, while a priest in San Diego and bishop of San Bernardino, might have known that the accused priests were having sex with children but did nothing to stop them. Many believe he played a part in shuffling abusive priests to new parishes where they had access to and sometimes continued to molest children.

After moving to Reno in 1995, Straling transferred at least one accused priest, Robert Buchanan, from San Bernardino to Reno. A 2003 lawsuit claims Buchanan engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior with a teen while working at a school in San Diego. Buchanan, who still lives in Reno, has denied the allegation.

No claims of priests abusing children have been filed against Reno priests since Straling took over, according to a diocese official. One Reno priest, the late Monsignor Robert Bowling, was accused in 11 lawsuits, 10 of which were filed against the Archdiocese of Louisville, Ky., of alleged abuse in the 1960s. The eleventh case involved a Reno woman who said he behaved sexually inappropriately while she was an adult. The Louisville archdiocese settled all 11 cases for $25.7 million in 2003.

Read the article at rgj.com Dated July 30, 2005
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Report: Police helped diocese hide sexual abuse allegations

Toledo, Ohio --

During the last several decades, police officers and other government officials have helped the Catholic Diocese of Toledo cover up allegations of sexual abuse by priests, a three-month investigation by The (Toledo) Blade shows.

Interviews with former officers and a review of court and diocese records show that at least five times since the 1950s, police have refused to investigate or arrest priests suspected of molesting children, The Blade reported Sunday. In some cases that did result in charges, authorities blocked the release of files to the public.

"You can't separate police from the issue," said Catherine Hoolahan, a Toledo lawyer representing victims of abuse. "Too many times, they could have arrested priests and sent a message to the church."

Four former officers say Police Chief Anthony Bosch, a Catholic who headed the Toledo department from 1956 to 1970, established an unwritten rule that priests could not be arrested.

"You would have been fired," said Gene Fodor, who served on the force between 1960 and 1981.

Fodor said several members of St. Stephen's Church in east Toledo complained to him in 1960 about a priest who they suspected was molesting altar boys at a cottage in western Lucas County.

Fodor and other officers who heard the complaints never filed a report. Instead, police allowed the priest to go to Canada. He eventually returned to the United States to serve a parish in Louisiana, where he died in 1978.

Read the article at ONN. Ohio News Now Dated August 4, 2005
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