Expert witness minimizes effect of priests' sex abuse

San Francisco, California --

Youngsters sexually abused by priests can "sometimes slide right over it with no perceived effects,'' a psychologist hired by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco testified Wednesday.

Jonathan French, a San Francisco psychologist and sex abuse expert, told a Superior Court jury that he found molestation victim Dennis Kavanaugh had suffered no significant psychological problems after being molested as a teenager in the early 1970s by a San Jose priest.

"He seems like an upbeat, decent guy,'' French testified. "He's a survivor. He managed to get married, raise kids. I don't see much evidence that this (molestation) significantly interfered with his daily life. He had friends. He did stuff.''

French said some kinds of molestation are worse than others and that the kind that Kavanaugh suffered was relatively mild, as it was not accompanied by physical violence or threats.

"Some people roll with it; others are severely damaged,'' French said.

Read the article at sfgate.com dated 03/24/2005

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Man abused by pedophile priest tells his story

Boston, Massachusetts --

Standing in the sanctuary of St. Raphael Catholic Church just below a large sculpted crucifix, Dennis Gaboury paused before launching into his personal tale of clerical sexual abuse and his long, painful path to healing.

He first thanked the church's pastor, the Rev. Pat Berquist and Bishop Donald Kettler for allowing him to speak without censorship.

"I don't know if this has ever happened where an actual victim comes to a church in front of a cross and talks to parishioners," said Gaboury who has spoken publicly many times before, including national television programs such as CNN and "Oprah."

Gaboury, 53, grew up in Massachusetts during the 1950s and '60s, in "a very Catholic home," where priests and nuns were considered more holy than human. He detailed the culture of secrecy at the time when no one spoke of sex abuse.

In 1961, he was 10 years old and an altar boy, when he was raped by his parish priest, James Porter.

Read the article at News-Miner dated March 25, 2005

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Girl's report about priest didn't worry therapist

Stockton, California --

A therapist on Tuesday said the "funny feelings" a child reported about her dealings with an associate priest at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Modesto did not raise any red flags for sexual abuse.

But Yvonne Marie McLoughlin, who testified during a trial in San Joaquin County Superior Court, also said she shredded her notes from an interview with the 10-year-old girl.

She said she recopied her notes after she received a subpoena demanding any reports on the matter, but destroyed the originals, because they were illegible.

A lawsuit brought by the girl's mother claims that Arakal twice touched the breast of the woman's eldest daughter, now 17, continuing after she asked him to stop. The mother also claims that Arakal asked her youngest daughter, now 11, to reach into his pants pocket and pull out a priest's collar.

Read the article at The Modesto Bee dated March 24, 2005

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Molest victim's ex-wife talks to jury / Woman never knew of abuse by priest but sensed a barrier

San Francisco, California --

The former wife of sexual abuse victim Dennis Kavanaugh told a San Francisco jury Tuesday that her husband was "very guarded and inaccessible'' and had never been able to tell her during their 23-year marriage that he had been betrayed as a teenager by his priest.

"He always maintained a protective barrier within himself,'' Jean Kavanaugh said. "The closeness you expect to have with your partner ... I could only go so far.''

Jean Kavanaugh, nervously chewing gum, told the jury that her ex-husband was a good father and family provider who had rejected his Roman Catholic upbringing and would not allow their two children to attend church or Sunday school.

Read the article at sfgate.com dated March 23, 2005

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Church audit subject to state standards

Manchester, New England --

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester must have its sexual abuse policies audited according to the standards of state prosecutors, a judge has ruled.

Hillsborough County Superior Court Judge Carol Ann Conboy’s ruling, handed down Tuesday, most likely breaks a stalemate that prevented church and state from fully enacting an agreement the diocese signed in 2002 to avoid criminal indictments on child endangerment.

Both sides had differing interpretations of the scope of the auditing, and placed their two-year impasse in the hands of the court.

Read the article at The Telegraph Online dated Mar. 23, 2005

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icCoventry - Verdict expected in church abuse case

Coventry, United Kingdom --

A child sex abuse case brought against the Catholic church entered its final stages at the High Court in London today.

The claimant, a 34-year-old former Coventry man known only as A, is claiming record damages amounting to nearly �2 million from the Archdiocese of Birmingham.

He was repeatedly assaulted and raped over 10 years by Fr Christopher Clonan, one-time assistant parish priest at Christ the King, Coundon.

His family says he had been left with hugely debilitating mental health issues, is unable to work and needs special accommodation.

The archdiocese is not disputing the abuse but is arguing the size of the settlement.

Read the article at icCoventry dated Mar 23 2005

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Priest vacates ministry

Nattick, Massachusetts-- A former West Warwick priest who pleaded guilty to charges that he raped a teenage boy in the 1970s has been removed from his religious order at his own request.

James D. Campbell, 59, was sentenced to serve 90 days in prison in January on charges of rape, assault and battery, furnishing alcohol to a minor and committing an unnatural and lascivious act after he admitted in Worcester Superior Court that he raped two male teenagers.

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Campbell, who served as assistant pastor at St. Joseph Church in West Warwick from 1975 to 1978, committed the acts in Uxbridge, Mass. Both victims’ families attended the parish at the time of the incident.

Rev. Raymond Diesbourg -- a member of the governing council of Campbell’s former religious order, the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in Aurora, Ill. -- said yesterday that Roman Catholic Church officials in Rome granted the former priest his request for "laicization," or removal from the priesthood, last month.

Read the article at Kent County Daily Times dated 03/22/05

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Abuse victim had life of problems, lawyer says

San Francisco, California --

A 47-year-old California man who sued the Archdiocese of San Francisco for sexual abuse more than 30 years ago testified Monday that he felt "guilty, ashamed and disappointed in myself" after being molested numerous times by a San Jose priest he once admired.

As the second phase of the landmark civil trial got underway, Dennis Kavanaugh said that the Rev. Joseph Pritchard fondled him between 20 and 30 times in the early 1970s at several locations, including a golf course, the priest's rectory bedroom and a car. He also testified that he felt intense guilt for not revealing the abuse until 2002, which may have allowed Pritchard to abuse other children, including Kavanaugh's younger brother.

"I felt guilty about the fact that if I had said something, maybe a lot of people would have been spared what he did to them," Kavanaugh said in San Francisco County Superior Court. "I felt guilty. I felt ashamed. I felt afraid."

Kavanaugh is one of 22 former grade-school students who said they were repeatedly molested by Pritchard, who died in 1988 before the allegations against him surfaced. A jury hearing Kavanaugh's lawsuit against the archdiocese decided Friday that church officials knew or should have known Pritchard was abusing young boys while he was a pastor at St. Martin of Tours in San Jose.

Read the article at Monterey County Herald dated 03/22/2005

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2 in scandal still hold church posts

Los Angeles, California --

Two Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange officials who covered up for priests accused of molestation years ago remain in church positions -- one of them as a bishop, according to personnel files released as part of a clergy abuse settlement.

The files, released Tuesday, show that then-Auxiliary Bishop Michael P. Driscoll and Monsignor John Urell knew of repeated allegations of sexual misconduct against Orange County priests yet did little to protect parishioners or prevent future abuse.

Driscoll is now bishop of the Diocese of Boise, Idaho. Urell, who was a top diocesan official at the time, is now pastor of St. Norbert Church in Orange.

Neither man returned calls from the Associated Press seeking comment, but Driscoll, 65, posted a lengthy apology on the Boise Diocese's website this month in anticipation of the files' release.

''At this time I once again want to apologize to the victims who were harmed by priests in the Diocese of Orange and for my role in these cases," Driscoll wrote. ''I am ashamed that this happened."

Read the article at The Boston Globe dated May 20, 2005

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AZ Catholic Church Sells Properties To Settle Abuse Claims

Tucson, Arizona -–

Drawing more than 300 bidders, the Catholic Diocese of Tucson auctions off 83 pieces of property in an attempt to raise $3.2 million dollars needed to settle sexual abuse claims against its priests.

It is expected to take at least 40 days to determine how much money is made from the auction sale.

Three prime real estate parcels were sold Thursday under sealed bids.

One 10-acre lot did sell for $890,000, with smaller parcels going for $1,500 each.

Read the article at AllHeadlineNews.com dated May 22, 2005

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Church Abuse Case: Documents illuminate Calif. diocese attitude

Orange County, California --

The Rio Grande Valley, like other parts of the United States, has seen allegations of clergy members preying on members of their congregations. And South Texas, as elsewhere, has also encountered Roman Catholic Church officials more concerned with sweeping such incidents under the rug than with justice and preventing further crimes.

So it’s interesting to read about church documents released as part of a settlement of a sexual abuse lawsuit in Orange County, Calif.

As expected, many of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange’s once- secret personnel files were released on Tuesday, and the facts inside the files prove what church critics have long argued: Church leaders knew about priests who had molested and raped children, yet they continued to let them serve as priests where they could continue to prey on the youngest, most vulnerable members of the community.

Orange Bishop Tod Brown called the documents "painful testimony" and earlier responses by the diocese "inadequate and failed."

Read the article at The Monitor dated May 20, 2005

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Man accuses priest of solicitation

Duluth, Minnesota --

CATHOLIC CHURCH: An Alaskan man said the Rev. Robert Bester, who worked for Duluth's St. Mary's Medical Center, solicited sex in exchange for construction work.

A man who lived most of his life in northern Minnesota, much of it as a Catholic priest and as an educator, was removed this week from a parish in Alaska after a man alleged the priest solicited sex from him in return for giving him construction work at the church.

The Archdiocese of Anchorage announced that the Rev. Robert Bester, about 75, reported to his superiors that a man had accused him of inappropriate behavior, according to the Kodiak (Alaska) Daily Mirror.

Bester was born in Duluth and spent part of his career here in the late 1990s as the hospital priest for St. Mary's Medical Center.

On Wednesday, Bester was put on leave from the Alaska parish while a church panel investigates the allegations. Two days later, the alleged victim served the Alaskan archdiocese with a lawsuit.

Read the article at Duluth News Tribune dated 05/10/2005

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Houston Men Sue Pope Over Letter About Sex Abuse - Yahoo! News

Houston, Texas --

Three Houston-area men used a letter written by Pope Benedict XVI while he was a cardinal as the basis for a lawsuit against the Catholic Church, Local 2 reported in an exclusive story Tuesday.

The men claim that they are victims of the church's sex scandal and that a letter written by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is proof that he conspired to keep claims of sex abuse secret.

In a Houston federal courtroom, the men's attorneys told Judge Lee Rosenthal Tuesday that the now-pope tried to cover up sex crimes against children in the Catholic Church.

'We believe, actually, that the current pope, when he was head of the congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, actually was actively involved in that conspiracy,' plaintiffs' attorney Daniel Shea said.

Read the article at Yahoo! News dated 04/27/05

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