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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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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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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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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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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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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The Clergy's Uneven Atonement

United States --

One spring day last year, Baltimore Cardinal William H. Keeler and a dozen priests knelt before more than 100 people in a Maryland church. In an act of public atonement to victims of clerical sexual abuse, they recited the confiteor, the traditional Catholic confession of sin. For some in the audience, it was a long-awaited catharsis.

"You have no idea of the healing that came out of that for me," said Edwina Stewart of Frederick, who was sexually abused by a priest 40 years ago. She recalled breaking into tears during Keeler's prayer.

David Fortwengler never has had such a moment. The North Carolina contractor, abused in the late 1960s as an altar boy at Oxon Hill's St. Columba Catholic Church, appreciates that the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington is paying for his counseling and that an auxiliary bishop personally apologized to him. But all this has not quite closed his wound.

"It's not a matter of sitting down with a bishop for five minutes and him apologizing and [me] being able to move on -- it's more than that," Fortwengler, 48, said.

"I've never even received a phone call from Cardinal [Theodore E.] McCarrick" in his role as archbishop of Washington. "Not even a 15-minute phone call to say: 'Oh, I'm sorry. . . . I just want to make sure that we're fulfilling our obligations. . . . Are we doing okay?' I don't know. Just anything."

As those accounts make clear, U.S. Catholic bishops are responding in markedly different ways to their three-year-old pledge to promote healing and reconciliation with victims of clerical sexual abuse, a promise they made in a document issuing new policies to address the church's child abuse crisis.

Read the article at washingtonpost.com Dated July 31, 2005

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Priest's defamation lawsuit against accuser heads to trial

Madison, Wisconsin -

A Catholic priest's defamation lawsuit against a man who claims the priest abused him as a boy heads to trial in Janesville on Monday.

The case will pit supporters of the priest, the Rev. Gerald Vosen, against advocates for victims of clergy sexual abuse who say the lawsuit is retaliation against a victim.

While hundreds of people have sued priests during the Catholic church's sexual abuse crisis over the past few years, observers say it's unusual for a priest to sue - especially when a church investigation has called the allegation in question credible.

Vosen, on administrative leave from his job as pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Baraboo, and his supporters have disputed the abuse allegation and say they look forward to proving it false in court. The lawsuit names the man and his parents and claims their allegation ruined his reputation.

"I hope to get my name cleared," Vosen told The Associated Press in a phone interview from his Merrimac home.

The family's attorney, John Casey of Milwaukee, recently told the Baraboo News Republic the jury will find the man's testimony believable enough to rule in the family's favor. Casey did not return a call for comment Saturday from the AP.

The 26-year-old man and his parents told the Madison Diocese two years ago that Vosen abused him for two years when he was an elementary school student at St. John Vienny Catholic Church in Janesville. Vosen was pastor of the church at the time.

In a sworn affidavit filed in court, the man claims when he was a sixth-grader Vosen warned him of retribution - including that he would go to hell - if the boy ever told others about the abuse.

Read the article at AP Wire Dated July 31, 2005

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Accused priest worked in Steamboat

Steamboat Springs, Colorado --

A Colorado priest accused of molesting young boys spent several months working in Steamboat Springs in 1990 as an assistant priest.

Steamboat Springs' Holy Name Catholic Church was one of 11 Colorado parishes to receive a letter this week from Denver Roman Catholic Archbishop Charles Chaput. The letter asks parishioners to immediately contact the Archdioceses of Denver if anyone knows about instances of sexual abuse of a minor.

Father Ernest Bayer at Holy Name said he would read the letter to the congregation during Sunday's Mass.

"We have learned a lot from the mistakes of the past," Bayer said. "We try to deal with it immediately, as soon as reported, if it is a credible claim."

Earlier this week, The Denver Post reported that a 49-year-old Southern California man, Brandon Trask, told the archdiocese that Harold Robert White molested him in the early 1970s, when White was the pastor of St. Patrick's Church in Minturn.

On Friday, The Denver Post reported that seven other men have come forward with allegations of being fondled or sexually abused by White.

Read the article at The Steamboat Pilot Dated July 31, 2005

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Diocese: Don't show abuse files

Wheaton, Illinois —

Former priest: Ed Stefanich is convicted sex offender

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 Aug. 8.

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.

Read the article at suburbanchicagonews.com Dated July 31, 2005

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Lay abuse cases costing diocese

Dallas, Texas --

The Dallas Catholic Diocese soon will be paying millions more dollars to sexual abuse victims.

This time, however, the abusers in question are former child-care workers, not priests. But otherwise much is familiar: Plaintiffs say church officials ignored "red flags" about suspicious employees, while the defense says those individuals long managed to fool everyone around them.

Now, to avoid the risks of trying lawsuits, the diocese has agreed to pay a total of $2.6 million to three victims of Julio A. Marcos, who worked at St. Pius X's child-care center for much of the 1990s and is now serving a life term in prison.

Plaintiffs' attorneys say they expect to reach similar settlements soon for three more girls Mr. Marcos abused at the Far East Dallas church.

As part of the deals, diocesan officials admit no wrongdoing. Their attorney, Randy Mathis, declined to comment Friday.

Bishop Charles Grahmann isn't personally accused of protecting the Pius X molesters, as he was in 1990s clergy-abuse litigation that cost the diocese more than $30 million.

Read the article at DallasNews.com Dated July 29, 2005

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Church deacon makes court appearance

Maui, Hawaii --

A Maui Catholic Church deacon accused of molesting a boy was in court today. James Gonsalves is charged with dozens of counts of sexual abuse.

Today's bail hearing was postponed after the judge recused himself from the case. That's because of the judge's prior long-term business partnership with the defendant's attorney.

The small St. Ann Parish in Waihee, Maui is at the center of one of the biggest allegations of sexual abuse confronting Hawaii's Catholic Church.

Its deacon, James Gonsalves of Wailuku, stands accused of 62 counts of first- and third-degree sexual assault. A teenage boy alleges the molestation took place over the past three years.

Kurt Robinson attended St. Ann Church while growing up across the street from the parish. He's known Gonsalves several years and says the community is concerned but is reserving judgment.

'I believe people are a little upset about it but you've got to let it go. Ride it out and see what happens,' says Robinson.

The Catholic Church has faced a string of settlements and reassignments involving allegations of abuse by a clergy at other churches in Hawaii and across the mainland."

Read the article at KHON2 Dated July 29, 2005

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Church in $550,000 abuse case

Wellington, New Zealand --

A woman is claiming more than half a million dollars from the Catholic church for physical, sexual, verbal and emotional abuse she says she suffered while in the care of an Upper Hutt orphanage.

The woman, whose name is suppressed by a court order, says she was repeatedly abused at St Joseph's orphanage in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The nuns' names are also suppressed.

Now in her forties, she is seeking $350,000 damages, $100,000 aggravated damages and $100,000 exemplary damages and court costs. The three-week hearing begins in the High Court at Wellington tomorrow.

The damages sought are believed to be the highest claimed against the Catholic Church in an abuse case in New Zealand.

The defendants - the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Wellington, Catholic Social Services, the Sisters of Mercy (Wellington) Trust Board and St Joseph's Orphanage Trust Board - deny the allegations.

The Sisters of Mercy say the claim is barred under the Limitation Act 1950, and that they are not liable for aggravated or exemplary damages.

Read the article at stuff.co.uk Dated July 31, 2005

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Maui deacon charged with molesting boy

Wailuku, Maui —

A well-regarded Catholic deacon credited by parishioners for reviving a small-town church on Maui pleaded not guilty yesterday to 62 charges that he sexually assaulted a boy for three years.

A Maui grand jury indicted James "Ron" Gonsalves, 68, on 30 counts of first-degree sexual assault, a felony punishable by a 20-year prison term; and 32 counts of third-degree sexual assault, which carries a maximum five-year term. He was being held with bail set at $790,000.

Maui police said the incidents allegedly occurred between June 2002 and June 2005, when the youth was ages 12 to 15. Some of the assaults were reported to have occurred at St. Ann Church in Waihe'e, in the Wailuku district.

News of Gonsalves' indictment brought heartbreak and tears to many St. Ann parishioners and cast a pall over tomorrow's celebration of the church's feast day. Church members described their deacon as "big-hearted" and "generous," and said he rescued the struggling parish from the edge of extinction with new programs and fundraising.

"It's a shock. We couldn't believe it," said parishioner Agnes Cockett of the sexual abuse allegations. "We still don't believe it. ... We'll stick by him no matter what."

Read the article at The Honolulu Advertiser Dated July 29, 2005

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Maui judge recuses himself in deacon sex abuse case

Wailuku, Maui —

Because of his long professional association with the defense attorney, Maui Circuit Judge Joel August today recused himself from the case of a Catholic deacon charged with 62 sexual assault crimes against a boy.

August and Philip Lowenthal, one of the state's pre-eminent criminal defense attorneys, shared a Wailuku law practice for more than 20 years, until August was selected for the bench in 2002.

The sexual assault case of James "Ron" Gonsalves, deacon at St. Ann Church in Waihe'e, was the first time Lowenthal had come before his former law partner in court.

August announced he was stepping out of the case during a bail hearing for Gonsalves, who remains in custody at the Maui Community Correctional Center with bail set at $790,000. The matter was transferred to Circuit Judge Shackley Raffetto, who will preside over the bail hearing Monday.

A Maui grand jury indictment charged Gonsalves with 30 counts of first-degree sexual assault and 32 counts of third-degree sexual assault for incidents that allegedly occurred from June 2002 to June 2005, when the boy was 12 to 15 years old. Some of the alleged assaults were reported to have occurred at the church.

Read the article at The Honolulu Advertiser Dated July 29, 2005

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Funds sought for child of priest

Whittier, California --

A group representing alleged victims of abuse by priests is asking St. Mary of the Assumption Roman Catholic Church parishioners to set up a fund for the son of a priest, officials said Thursday.

Members of SNAP -- Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests -- say they plan to distribute leaflets in front of the Whittier church Sunday, extolling parishioners to "take a step of compassion" on behalf of the boy.

SNAP Western Regional Director Mary Grant said members also want to inform parishioners about the circumstances regarding the illegitimate son of the Rev. Jose Arturo Uribe, 47.

Uribe has been transferred to a church in Chicago, according to published reports. He presided over his final Mass at St. Mary on July 17. Uribe is now reportedly on a trip to Mexico. He was not able to be reached by telephone Thursday.

"This is our way to reach out, in a way that we believe that church officials and the parish should be doing," Grant said. "By leafleting, we're educating parishioners and helping heal the hurt that's been done by urging parishioners to reach out to Stephanie and her son."

She was referring to the mother of Uribe's son, identified in a Los Angeles Times story as Stephanie Collopy, 38, of Portland, Ore.

Read the article at Whittier Daily News Dated July 29, 2005

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"Our little secret"

Denver, Colorado --

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Denver was told at least three times of child sex-abuse allegations against one of its priests but continued to allow him to serve and moved him from parish to parish for years, according to interviews with alleged victims, one of his former superiors and church documents obtained by The Denver Post.

Since the newspaper on Tuesday detailed one allegation against the former priest, 72-year-old Harold Robert White of Denver, seven other men have come to The Post with allegations of being fondled or sexually abused by White in the 1960s.

The men, all of whom are now in their 50s, described being fondled by White in a swimming pool, while driving his car, at church rectories and at a mountain cabin. While some alleged victims kept quiet, others said they alerted parents or church officials as early as the middle to late 1960s, when White was still early in his career as a priest.

In an interview with The Post last week, White said he did not recall the alleged victim who had been interviewed, and he would not answer questions about whether he had ever been accused.

An archdiocesan spokesman would not comment on the specifics of White's history but emphasized it is committed to helping heal all those involved.

One of the men, who grew up on a farm in the northeastern Colorado town of Sterling, provided copies of correspondence between him and the archdiocese showing that he alleged to the archdiocese in 1988 that White had molested him in the late 1960s.

Read the article at DenverPost.com Dated July 29, 2005

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Scituate levies tax on disputed church

Boston, California --

The Scituate tax board concluded this week that St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Church is no longer a church and thus should pay property taxes, a decision that could cost the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston thousands of dollars in unforeseen tax bills.

The archdiocese, whose properties are exempt from taxes by state law, opposes the ruling. It has been trying to shut down St. Frances, but since October parishioners have been holding a vigil to keep it open. While the Vatican debates the church's fate, the archdiocese has paid no taxes on the 30 acres of choice South Shore real estate nestled among tony houses and seaside bungalows.

On Tuesday, the Scituate Board of Assessors voted 2 to 1 to require the archdiocese to pay $42,000 in taxes annually on St. Frances, determining that the property was worth $4.45 million.

''My feeling is if they decided they no longer want to use it as a church, I would consider it a taxable property," board chairman Fred Avila said yesterday.

The archdiocese, facing a dwindling membership and struggling with financial fallout from the clergy sexual abuse scandal, has closed 62 parishes, with another 14 slated to be closed, while six await word on appeals to the Vatican, including St. Frances. Currently, all properties still owned by the church remain tax-exempt until they are sold.

Read the article at The Boston Globe Dated July 29, 2005

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Advocates criticize tactics in lawsuit alleging abuse

Dubuque, Iowa --

Advocates for the victims of priest abuse on Friday criticized the Catholic Archdiocese of Dubuque for hardball tactics in asking a judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by an NBC news correspondent.

The Archdiocese of Dubuque has asked a federal judge to dismiss James Cummins' lawsuit, saying he was 17 and not a child when the abuse allegedly occurred. In the process, the archdiocese identifies Cummins, of Dallas, Texas, as an NBC news correspondent and bureau chief.

Cummins sued the Rev. William Roach and the archdiocese last year using his real name, but he did not include any other identifying information in his petition.

Steve Theisen, a co-founder of North East Iowa Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, in an e-mail Friday, said Dubuque Archbishop Jerome Hanus' "arguments are appalling."

"Hanus may have a legal right to defend the archdiocese like this and to blame the victim. But what he's doing is shameful. Catholics should be embarrassed and outraged by this," wrote Theisen of Hudson.

Read the article at DesMoinesRegister.com Dated July 29, 2005

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Attorneys argue over release of clergy abuse files

Los Angeles, California –

A lawyer representing the Los Angeles Catholic Archdiocese and another speaking for alleged victims of priest abuse joined forces to argue before an appeals court for release of summaries detailing how the church handled accusations against 117 priests.

A third lawyer, representing 26 priests, argued the material should not be released because of privacy rights and issues of confidentiality.

Archdiocese attorney J. Michael Hennigan said the church and Cardinal Roger Mahony are intent on releasing the material in the interest of "transparency" as a prelude to settling some 550 molestation claims.

"The archdiocese ... has an obligation to disclose what it knew and when it knew it," said Hennigan. "The archdiocese has an obligation to disclose this to its public."

He added, "We have been at this now for more than three years. These matters were meant to see the light of day."

Read the article at SignOnSanDiego.com Dated July 29, 2005

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Vosen supporters to show up in court

Baraboo, Wisconsin --

Baraboo priest Father Gerald Vosen will defend his reputation against sexual abuse charges when his defamation lawsuit against a Janesville man and his family goes to court next week.

Vosen, former pastor at St. Joseph Catholic Church, is scheduled to be in Rock County Circuit Court in Janesville Monday for the civil action against Peter L. Arnold and his parents, Leland and Nancy Arnold. According to court documents, they told church authorities in 2003 that Vosen abused Peter when he was 11 and 12 years old while Vosen was pastor at Janesville's St. John Vianney Catholic Parish in 1989-1991.

Vosen's supporters will gather at the church's new parking lot on East and Second streets at 8 a.m. Monday, said Kathy Siberz, a parish member. They will car pool to Janesville for the trial, she said.

"Certainly, anyone who would like to support father is welcome to join us," she said. "This is just a few of us who support Father Vosen and want to clear his name and who believe him."

Allegations against Vosen began in September 2003 when Karen Dresang Nelson of Sun Prairie told a state legislative committee he abused her brother, then age 14, about 28 years ago. The brother, James Dresang of Madison, denied the allegations and said he could not understand why his sister made them.

Shortly afterwards Vosen was informally suspended from his duties at St. Joseph.

In February 2004, the Madison Diocese Sexual Abuse Review Board reported there are three individuals who have made abuse allegations against Vosen. They reported at least one case was credible enough to require further investigation.

Bishop Robert C. Morlino placed Vosen on administrative leave and referred his case to church authorities at the Vatican in Rome.

Read the article at WiscNews.com Dated July 29, 2005

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