Saturday, June 01, 2002

Words Returning to Haunt U.S. Bishops
Catholics: Confidential report in 1985 urged leaders to take action to combat a growing sexual abuse scandal.
By LARRY B. STAMMER,
LOS ANGELES TIMES STAFF WRITER
"What did they know and when did they know it?"--a variation on a phrase popularized during the Watergate scandal--is now being directed at the nation's Roman Catholic bishops as they scramble to confront the church's sexual abuse crisis.

Ex-local priest arrested in Mich.
The Rev. Robert L. Schaeufele, charged with capital sexual battery, is the first bay area priest arrested since the scandal began.
By WILLIAM R. LEVESQUE, WAVENEY ANN MOORE
© St. Petersburg Times
published June 1, 2002
A Catholic priest who served 27 years in the Diocese of St. Petersburg has become the first priest in the Tampa Bay area to be charged with sexual assault since a national scandal engulfed the church earlier this year.

Bishop Caught on Tape Suggesting Concealing Abuse Evidence
By Brian Ross
ABC NEWS
May 31 — The Vatican's American embassy may have played a key role in keeping secret the scope and seriousness of the priest sexual abuse problem and of the millions of dollars in church money used to keep the scandal quiet, ABCNEWS has learned.

Published Earlier:

2 schools to be sold for Mt. Cashel claims
But official says fight to keep them open will continue
Wendy Cox
CANADIAN PRESS
VANCOUVER — Two private Vancouver-area schools will be closed by the end of next month and sold to pay compensation claims for victims of abuse at Newfoundland's notorious Mount Cashel orphanage, says a lawyer for the liquidator. A Supreme Court of Canada ruling Thursday denying the schools a new hearing on the legal action that has dragged on since 1996 is finally finished, said David Wingfield, who represents liquidator Arthur Andersen.

Bitter legacy from priest's sexual abuse still lingers
Four brothers want the Catholic church to accept blame for their years of torment
Scott Simmie
Toronto Star FEATURE WRITER
Kerry Paquette still doesn't feel comfortable in a Roman Catholic Church. It's easy to understand why. As an 11-year-old altar boy in the late 1970s, he says he was repeatedly abused by a priest named Albert Desrochers in Northern Ontario. Kerry's brothers say the same happened to them.
(Published May 25, 2002.)

Priest guilty in sexual abuse of women
Assault charges were from Sudbury and Sturgeon Falls between 1972, 1984
Sonia Verma
Toronto Star Staff Reporter
SUDBURY — The way she recalls it, Rev. Donald Holmes was her confidante, someone who made her feel pretty and special. Her parents treated him like one of the family, inviting him to Sunday dinners and even her 10th birthday party. Yesterday, Holmes was convicted of sexually abusing her and 11 other women. (Published May 23, 2002.)

Priest's memory called `selective'
Lawyer argues cleric accused of abuse shouldn't be trusted
Sonia Verma
Toronto Star STAFF REPORTER
SUDBURY — Dressed in a vest and Roman collar, quietly reading the Bible before court began, Rev. Donald Holmes looked every bit the small-town priest he used to be before this trial started. Two years ago, he was placed on administrative leave by the Catholic church when allegations first surfaced that Holmes had sexually abused young girls in his parish decades ago.

posted by Bill Mitchell on 6/1/2002 05:36:25 PM

Weakland begs for forgiveness
Says earnings didn't cover settlement
By TOM HEINEN and MARY ZAHN
of the Journal Sentinel staff
Last Updated: June 1, 2002
St. Francis - In a historic and humbling act of public contrition, retired Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland begged for forgiveness Friday from faithful Catholics for what he termed a sinful scandal before 400 people in an archdiocesan chapel and tens of thousands of others watching live broadcasts.

This is how apologies should be done
COLUMN: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Jim Stingl writes: The long standing ovation said it all. For these 400 Catholics on this night with this home church advantage, Rembert Weakland's apology was more than enough. People at home may have been throwing stuff at their television screens for all I know, but Weakland could feel the love Friday at the Cousin Center's Mater Christi Chapel.

Apology wasn't only to Catholics
COLUMN: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Tim Cuspisin writes: In this television era, public apologies are truly public. And Rembert Weakland, Milwaukee's retired Roman Catholic archbishop, offered his apology Friday evening not only to the faithful gathered at the Mater Christi Chapel in the Archbishop Cousins Catholic Center in St. Francis. He offered it to everyone in southeastern Wisconsin with access to a television or a radio.

Milwaukee Symphony concert won't honor Weakland
A Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra "Notes of Appreciation" performance at 4 p.m. on June 9 at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist has been changed from a concert honoring retired Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland to the sole purpose of benefiting the cathedral's expanded outreach ministries.

Green Bay bishop to change how abuse allegations are handled
Past policies were 'at best inadequate and at worst scandalous'
By VIKKI ORTIZ
of the Journal Sentinel staff
Last Updated: June 1, 2002
Green Bay - Bishop Robert J. Banks agreed Friday to make significant changes to the diocese's policy on handling cases of alleged sexual abuse by priests - including defrocking priests confirmed as offenders and notifying future parishes of allegations against priests.

Worcester diocese announces new policies to handle allegations of abuse
Saturday, June 1, 2002
By Kathleen A. Shaw
Telegram & Gazette Staff
WORCESTER-- Bishop Daniel P. Reilly, terming sexual abuse of minors by priests a “sin that must be dealt with,” yesterday announced new, far-reaching policies for handling allegations of abuse by clergy and church workers.
The bishop said in an interview that he believes the current crisis in the Catholic Diocese of Worcester and throughout the Catholic Church represents a “time of purification” that eventually will lead to a better church. “The church will be much better for it,” Bishop Reilly said.

'Healing' Mass draws hundreds
Friday, May 31, 2002
By ROSS GRANT
(Springfield, Ma) Union-News
PALMER — The idea of priests sexually abusing children was so painful, Rebecca Drake of Monson recalls, she felt compelled to meet with others in her church every week after Mass to renew her faith. As a lifetime member of the Roman Catholic Church, Drake was shocked by the current scandal. But instead of merely holding to her faith, she decided that something more was needed. So she proposed a "Mass of hope and healing." A special Mass, with a special purpose: praying for those who have been hurt, but also upholding those who keep the church together.

Catholic Church in Australia embroiled in child sex scandal
Fri May 31,12:21 AM ET
By EMMA TINKLER, Associated Press Writer
SYDNEY, Australia - The Catholic Church in Australia was embroiled in a child sex scandal Friday after its most senior clergyman denied offering bribes to cover up abuse allegations against a priest.

Pastor removed from his post
By Thomas Farragher, Globe Staff, 6/1/2002
The Archdiocese of Boston yesterday removed the pastor of St. Rose of Lima Church in Rochester, saying it had found complaints that he sexually abused two men in the 1970s and 1980s credible enough to warrant a full investigation.

'Why' Is Tough to Answer in Priest Abuse Cases
Uncertainties Fuel Debate About Offenders' Treatment and Its Aftermath
By Sandra G. Boodman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, June 1, 2002; Page A01
At the conclusion of last month's emergency meeting in Rome, the American cardinals summoned by Pope John Paul II drew a sharp distinction between two types of abuse cases involving priests: those in which the victims were children, and the majority, which the cardinals said "involved adolescents and, therefore, were not cases of true pedophilia."

Detroit Cardinal hears from priests:They tell him he's needed as a shepherd at home
May 31, 2002
BY PATRICIA MONTEMURRI
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
Detroit Cardinal Adam Maida was told Thursday by Catholic priests he leads that they want him to curtail his frequent travels to stay home and help a flock reeling from the humiliation of a national clergy sex abuse scandal.

Keeler again publicly apologizes to Stokes; Also restates commitment to zero tolerance for abuse
By John Rivera
Sun Staff
Originally published June 1, 2002
Cardinal William H. Keeler apologized publicly once again yesterday to Dontee D. Stokes, fulfilling a pledge made a day earlier in a private meeting with the man over the sexual abuse he suffered a decade ago at the hands of a Catholic priest.

posted by Bill Mitchell on 6/1/2002 11:01:16 AM

Friday, May 31, 2002

Angry at Scandal, Lay Group Seeks Quiet Uprising in Pews
NATIONAL: The New York Times' Pam Belluck reports: "WELLESLEY, Mass., May 30 — The spartan basement of a church school was overflowing with people when Dr. James E. Muller took the microphone the other night. The room was charged with the nervous electricity of people plotting a revolution, in this case one that would change the very structure of the Roman Catholic church so that lay people would have a voice in major decisions..."

Family Says Church Knew of Allegations
NEW YORK: The New York Times' DANIEL J. WAKIN reports: "Family members of a former seminarian said yesterday that Cardinal John O'Connor and officials of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York knew at least 15 years ago about allegations of a sexually charged relationship between the young man and a prominent monsignor who was suspended last week..."

Miami Archbishop: `We have been irresponsible'
FLORIDA: The Sun Sentinel's Noaki Schwartz reports: "Miami · In a rare public statement Archbishop John Favalora, usually cloaked behind the walls of the Miami archdiocese, acknowledged on Wednesday that the church has fallen short when looking after its most vulnerable -- the children. 'We have been irresponsible in so many ways,' he said in a spontaneous statement at the end of a media luncheon on Wednesday...'"

Cleveland Bishop will bar priests who abuse children
OHIO: The Cleveland Plain Dealer's David Briggs reports: "From this day forward, priests who sexually abuse a child will be permanently banned from ministry in the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland. In a letter this weekend to the diocese's 235 parishes, Bishop Anthony Pilla sets forth three "non-negotiable" principles on sex abuse: Future abusers will be barred from ever returning to ministry; lay people will be added to the review process; and all instances of abuse must be reported to civil authorities..."

The cops are probing 50 priests and counting, yet the D.A.'s letting Cardinal Coverup slide.
The Buck Stops Where?
COLUMN: Los Angeles New Times' Finger columnist Rick Barrs writes: The Finger hears that Steve Cooley's livid over this protuberance's last column, which depicted our derelict district attorney kowtowing to Cardinal Roger M. Mahony instead of either barging into L.A. Roman Catholic archdiocese headquarters with a search warrant or hauling Mahony's cassock-cloaked hiney before a grand jury. Did this digit mention cuffing the cardinal and transporting him to the calaboose for alleged obstruction of justice as another option? Whatever. When The Finger made its weekly call to Cooley's flacks, a spokeswoman sputtered, 'I don't know why we should speak to you at all. You burned us!..'"

Weakland enters TV spotlight Friday
WISCONSIN: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Tim Cuprisin reports: "If you want a measure of the importance of Archbishop Rembert Weakland's public apology Friday, Channel 4 is pre-empting the beginning of the NBA playoff game for coverage. The NBC affiliate will join the New Jersey-Boston game in progress after the end the prayer service, which is scheduled to begin at 6 Friday in the Mater Christi Chapel in the Archbishop Cousins Catholic Center in St. Francis..."

7 Peoria priests ousted amid abuse allegations
ILLINOIS: The Chicago Tribune's Flynn McRoberts and David Heinzmann reports: "Stripping them of their Roman collars and the right to call themselves Father, the Diocese of Peoria on Thursday removed seven priests from ministry after "credible" allegations of sexual misconduct were made by more than a dozen people..."

Of faith and funds
A Catholic faces difficult questions: Can he trust his church? Should he honor his fundraising pledge or send the money elsewhere? What would you do?
OPINION: Poynter's Roy Peter Clark writes in the St. Petersburg Times: "I donate about one percent of my salary to the Roman Catholic Church. That's not much, just a tithe of a tithe. Ashamed, I decided last year to give more. Through Blessed Trinity parish in St. Petersburg, my spiritual home for 25 years, I pledged $5,000 over five years to my bishop's capital fundraising drive...Last year I wrote my first check for $1,000. It's past time for me to write another, and now I'm not sure what to do. My fear is that the money will be misdirected or that it will be used to dig the church hierarchy out of the abyss of sexual scandal..."

Church admits negligence
OKLAHOMA: The World-Herald's JOSEPH MORTON reports: "The Omaha Archdiocese has admitted that its negligent supervision of former priest Daniel Herek resulted in his sexual abuse of a 14-year-old altar boy..."

Published Earlier:
14 priests in Miami diocese accused of abuse
FLORIDA: The Sun-Sentinel's Noaki Schwartz reports: MIAMI -- At least 14 priests with the Miami Archdiocese have faced sexual abuse allegations since the early 1980s, a figure that is expected to climb as state attorneys’ offices in South Florida learn about more past claims. But while priests have been suspended or retired, it is unclear whether the
allegations were ever reported to law enforcement..." (Published May 25, 2002.)
posted by Bill Mitchell on 5/30/2002 11:27:40 PM

SPOTLIGHT REPORT
Records show Law reassigned Paquin after settlements
MASSACHUSETTS: The Boston Globe's Stephen Kurkjian reports: "Cardinal Bernard F. Law reinstated the Rev. Ronald H. Paquin to priestly duties as recently as 1998, despite numerous detailed complaints of molestation against the priest and substantial monetary settlements to Paquin's accusers, according to internal church documents made available to the Globe..."

ROCHESTER PRIEST
Archdiocese keeps Rochester priest in parish despite lawsuit
MASSACHUSETTS:
The Boston Globe reports: "The Archdiocese of Boston yesterday kept in place the pastor of St. Rose of Lima church in Rochester, who has been sued by two men who charge he sexually abused them in the 1970s and 1980s..."

Liberal Catholic group speaks up against 'zero tolerance'
NATIONAL: The AP's Richard N. Ostling reports: "A liberal Roman Catholic group has come out against the adoption of a ''zero tolerance'' policy toward priests who have molested children, saying that those who commit misdemeanors may deserve a second chance..."

Lawyers seek to curb church attorneys at depositions
MASSACHUSETTS: The Boston Herald's Tom Mashberg reports: "Lawyers looking to depose key Boston archdiocese figures in the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal want the judges overseeing their lawsuits to stop church attorneys from ``obstructing'' their efforts to interrogate defendants under oath..."

Bishop works to help heal Joliet Diocese
Rev. Joseph L. Imesch, Bishop
Diocese of Joliet
ILLINOIS: Joliet Bishop Imesch writes to The Chicago Tribune: "I am writing in response to "Joliet bishop at center of crisis; Criticism grows over Imesch's history of handling sex-abuse allegations" (Page 1, May 16). I can try to explain my past actions and words regarding the sexual misconduct crisis in the Roman Catholic Church, but I fear those explanations would ring hollow and would not really serve any good purpose. I apologize for anything I may have said or done that has made me appear insensitive or indifferent to this tragedy that has affected the most innocent among us. In dealing with allegations of sexual abuse, I did what I thought was right. My decisions were based on the conventional wisdom and practices of the time..."

Priest is target of new sex allegations
WASHINGTON: The Seattle Times' Ray Rivera reports: "A name from the past is causing new troubles for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle...Six former altar boys who claim they were sexually abused by the Rev. James McGreal in the 1970s filed a lawsuit yesterday in King County Superior Court against the retired priest and the archdiocese..."

Catholics wonder: How could a priest do this? Father Shanley worked in parishes for 30 years despite complaints to the church of child abuse
NATIONAL: USA TODAY's Cathy Grossman reports: BOSTON -- Some people say it's proof of the devil that evil can be masked by charm, that the same person can do good deeds yet cause soul-scarring harm. ''This is what's so horrid about all this,'' recalls Verona Mazzei of Newton, Mass. ''Father Paul Shanley was wonderful when we knew him: charismatic, intelligent, open. He helped me in my faith journey.''So, she and others who knew Shanley wonder: How could this be the same priest who allegedly fondled boys, lured or forced them into sex and demolished their trust?"

L.A. Archdiocese Enlists Services of Top PR Firm
Publicity: Sitrick & Co., advisor to Enron and other troubled clients, takes on priest scandal.
CALIFORNIA: The Los Angeles Times' Carla Hall reports: "After months of headlines about abusive priests, the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles has engaged Sitrick & Co., a prominent and expensive public relations firm specializing in high-profile clients with big troubles Known for navigating clients through bad publicity, Sitrick has represented Enron after the energy giant's fall, talk show host Laura Schlessinger after her negative comments about gays, actress Halle Berry after her traffic accident, comedian Paula Poundstone after her child-endangerment case and Orange County during its 1995 bankruptcy.."

Victim describes abuse by priest 30 years ago
ILLINOIS: The Chicago Sun-Times' Cathleen Falsani reports: "Room 208. The reading room. It was down the hall from the balcony, near the office, on the second floor of St. Catherine of Alexandria school in Oak Lawn. The man's memory of what happened there is clear, even though it was more than 30 years ago. He'd thrown a spitball. The teacher caught him. He had to go see "Father" to be disciplined..."

posted by Bill Mitchell on 5/30/2002 07:43:15 AM

Wednesday, May 29, 2002

President weighs in on church scandal
VATICAN/NATIONAL: The Boston Globe's Anne E. Kornblut reports: "ROME - After sidestepping the sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church for months, President Bush raised the topic during his meeting yesterday with Pope John Paul II, telling the Holy Father that he was ''concerned about the Catholic Church in America.''

A catholic alternative
COLUMN: Boston Globe columnist Eileen McNamara writes: "The church that many disillusioned Catholics are trying so hard to envision might already exist. A carpenter built it with his wife, Mary..."

Stokes says he did not seek criminal probe of Blackwell
Claim of abuse was made so priest could 'get help,' according to accuser
MARYLAND: The Baltimore Sun's Scott Shane reports: "Dontee D. Stokes said yesterday that when he told others in 1993 that the Rev. Maurice J. Blackwell had sexually abused him, he did not intend to start a criminal investigation of the popular West Baltimore priest. 'All I wanted was to be believed and to have him get help,' Stokes said in a telephone interview. 'I never wanted for the world to know he did these things to me...'"

More data ordered freed on allegations
MASSACHUSETTS: The Boston Globe's Matt Carroll reports: "The Archdiocese of Boston yesterday was ordered to turn over by the end of the week any allegations of sexual misconduct it has against 11 priests to an attorney whose clients assert they were sexually abused by the Rev. Paul R. Shanley..."

Priest probing abuse allegations quits post; health cited
MASSACHUSETTS: The Boston Globe's Kevin Cullen reports: "The Rev. David P. White, the priest whose former job as a police detective made him seem ideal for the job of investigating allegations of sexual abuse against other priests in the Archdiocese of Boston, has quit the post after just two months..."

Two men file suit alleging abuse by priest in 1970s and '80s
MASSACHUSETTS: The Boston Globe's Michael Rezendes reports: "Two Allston-Brighton men have filed lawsuits in Suffolk Superior Court saying they were sexually abused in the late 1970s and early 1980s by the Rev. John P. Lyons, now the pastor of St. Rose of Lima Church in Rochester..."

Some Parishes Able to Forgive Abuse
INDIANA: The AP reports: CELESTINE, Ind. (AP) -- Week in, week out, year after year, German immigrants in this small farm town have passed through the doors of St. Peter Celestine Catholic Church to marry, mourn and confess their sins. On a recent Sunday, though, it was their priest who was confessing, acknowledging to his congregation a sexual relationship he had years ago with a teen-age boy. The parishioners in the town's only church bowed their heads and prayed. And instead of shunning the Rev. Michael Allen, they forgave him. The priest's bishop also said Allen deserved a second chance..."

Nearly 100 Kentucky Men Add to Accusations Against Priests
KENTUCKY:The New York Times' Francis X. Clines reports : "LOUISVILLE, Ky., May 22 — In the beginning, there was only Mike Turner, a prosperous construction company owner, who allowed his name to be made public along with his embarrassing memories of having been sexually violated as a boy by his parish priest. Then, Mr. Turner began getting phone calls, and 10 men came forward with similar tales, then 20 more. In the month since Mr. Turner went public with a lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Louisville, this heavily Catholic area has been shocked to see more than 90 men bring shame-steeped complaints against 14 priests, a deacon and a lay parochial school teacher. The complaints cover a 25-year period that crested in the mid-1980's..."

Ex-deputy to George, Bernardin accused
2 more priests gone from posts
ILLINOIS: The Chicago Tribune's Mickey Ciokajlo and Monica Davey report: he Chicago Tribune's Mickey Ciokajlo and Monica Davey report: "The sex-abuse scandal that has plagued the Roman Catholic Church has reached into the upper levels of the Chicago archdiocese with the removal from duty of two priests, including a former top deputy to Cardinal Francis George and the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin..."

Church critics need to check all closets
OPINION:Dennis Byrne writes in The Chicago Tribune: "The heat now being applied to the Catholic Church for its sexual abuse scandal is fair game. "Fair" in that some clergy are getting what they deserve for dribbling away their moral authority. "Game" in that the usual Catholic-bashers are smugly counting points scored against "patriarchy," "orthodoxy," "religiosity," "autocracy" and all the other hateful stereotypes they apply to the church or religion..."

Church should drop cloak of secrecy
FULL ACCOUNTING NEEDED IN SEX ABUSE CASES
EDITORIAL: The Lexington Herald Leader writes: "At some point, leaders of the Catholic Church, both here in the United States and in Rome, must recognize that their dirty little secret isn't a secret anymore. Obviously, though, we haven't quite reached that point. If that stage of enlightenment had been achieved, the Archdiocese of Louisville wouldn't have asked a judge to seal all lawsuits claiming that diocesan officials were negligent in dealing with past allegations of child sexual abuse by more than a dozen priests and other church employees..."

IN THE WAKE OF THE NEWS
Paciorek finds the truth can lift big burden
MICHIGAN:The Chicago Tribune's Rick Morrissey reports: "We count on certain things in life, one of them being that goodness can come out of evil, the way a forest eventually comes back after a fire. If it weren't so, we would be making our way by flashlight in a black hole. So when Tom Paciorek finally spoke out after 40 years of suffering, he braced himself for the response and hoped, with his eyes squeezed shut, for the best. And it's the damnedest thing. Out of a painful, purposeful beginning, a sprig already is poking up through the ashes. The scandal that is rocking the Catholic Church made it to the light of day partly because the former White Sox outfielder pushed it there. In graphic detail last month, he alleged that a parish priest had sexually abused him and his three brothers when they were teenagers..."

posted by Bill Mitchell on 5/29/2002 8:51:58 AM

Tuesday, May 28, 2002
Tuesday Evening Update:

My Priest, the Child Molester
Why was the congregation so quick to forgive him?
INDIANA: Melinda Henneberger writes in Slate: "I recently learned, via the front page of the Evansville Courier & Press, the newspaper in my parents' hometown in Indiana, that the priest who signed my marriage certificate and baptized my two children also happens to have allegedly sexually molested a 14-year-old boy two decades ago. There he is, smiling, in what had once been my favorite photo of our wedding day. There he is again, pouring holy water over our twins' foreheads..."

Accused priests still working
MINNESOTA: The Pioneer Press' RICK LINSK and CHARLES LASZEWSKI report: "At least three priests with documented records of sexual misconduct or who settled lawsuits over accusations of sexual abuse are still working in Twin Cities pulpits or archdiocesan positions. One other was a parish priest until recently. And two others, sued in Minnesota over sexual abuse allegations, have relocated to other states, where one is an associate pastor and the other was the subject of a recent warning by church officials..."

Parents of abused man seek justice
MINNESOTA: The Pioneer Press's Rick Linsk reports: "Father Gilbert Gustafson didn't kill Brian Herrity. But Jeff and Cheryl Herrity believe Gustafson's sexual abuse of their son began a slow descent that would conclude with Brian's death years later from AIDS. The priest's crime also destroyed the Herritys' trust of the Catholic Church. That feeling of betrayal was rubbed raw once again last week by the news that Gustafson is still a priest and has been saying Mass at a monastery in Bloomington..."

Can a Church Go Broke?
Probably not. But the cascade of sexual-abuse lawsuits is moving Catholic
officials to devise innovative ways to shield their vast assets
NATIONAL: TIME Magazine's FRANK GIBNEY JR. reports: "It used to be said that in polite society one shouldn't discuss sex or money. But that's no longer possible in the Roman Catholic Church. Just last week Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland acknowledged paying $450,000 in 1998 to settle a claim that two decades ago he sexually assaulted a 30-year-old graduate student...Add the Weakland settlement to the huge sums other dioceses have paid to cover sex-abuse claims in recent years: an estimated $25 million in Santa Fe, N.M.; nearly $30 million in Boston; and $31 million in Dallas..."

Indiana dioceses staying silent
Catholic officials in Indiana are releasing almost no information about abuse allegations.
INDIANA: The Indianapolis Star's Bonnie Harris and Judith Cebula report: "No one knows how many Catholic priests have abused children in Indiana. The scope is unknown because the bishops who control the state's five Catholic dioceses aren't releasing many numbers. That runs contrary to what's happening in other states since the clergy sexual abuse scandal erupted in Boston in January..."

Priests to gather in Bloomington for convocation
Archbishop Buechlein is expected to comfort, inspire archdiocese's clerics amid sex scandal.
INDIANA: The Indianapolis Star's Judith Cebula reports: "For the second time since the clergy abuse scandals began sweeping through the U.S. Catholic church, priests from across the 39-county Indianapolis archdiocese will gather Tuesday to pray with Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein..."
posted by Bill Mitchell on 5/28/2002 12:11:58 PM

posted by Bill Mitchell on 5/29/2002 08:48:41 PM Bush Raises Scandal With Pope
President Voices Concern About Catholic Church's Standing in U.S.
President Bush talks with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican. (Reuters)
VATICAN/NATIONAL:

By Dana Milbank
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 29, 2002; Page A01

VATICAN CITY, May 28 -- In a private audience with Pope John Paul II today, President Bush expressed concern that the pedophilia scandal is affecting the standing of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States, aides to the president said.

---------

Stokes says he did not seek criminal probe of Blackwell
Claim of abuse was made so priest could 'get help,' according to accuser
MARYLAND: http://www.sunspot.net/news/custom/guns/bal-te.md.priest29may29.story?coll=bal%2Dhome%2Dheadlines
By Scott Shane
Sun Staff
Originally published May 29, 2002

Dontee D. Stokes said yesterday that when he told others in 1993 that the Rev. Maurice J. Blackwell had sexually abused him, he did not intend to start a criminal investigation of the popular West Baltimore priest.

"All I wanted was to be believed and to have him get help," Stokes said in a telephone interview. "I never wanted for the world to know he did these things to me."

More data ordered freed on allegations
(By Matt Carroll, Globe Staff)
The Archdiocese of Boston yesterday was ordered to turn over by the end of the week any allegations of sexual misconduct it has against 11 priests to an attorney whose clients assert they were sexually abused by the Rev. Paul R. Shanley.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

President weighs in on church scandal
(By Anne E. Kornblut, Globe Staff)
ROME - After sidestepping the sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church for months, President Bush raised the topic during his meeting yesterday with Pope John Paul II, telling the Holy Father that he was ''concerned about the Catholic Church in America.''

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Priest probing abuse allegations quits post; health cited
(By Kevin Cullen, Globe Staff)
The Rev. David P. White, the priest whose former job as a police detective made him seem ideal for the job of investigating allegations of sexual abuse against other priests in the Archdiocese of Boston, has quit the post after just two months.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two men file suit alleging abuse by priest in 1970s and '80s
(By Michael Rezendes, Globe Staff)
Two Allston-Brighton men have filed lawsuits in Suffolk Superior Court saying they were sexually abused in the late 1970s and early 1980s by the Rev. John P. Lyons, now the pastor of St. Rose of Lima Church in Rochester.

Nearly 100 Kentucky Men Add to Accusations Against Priests
By FRANCIS X. CLINES

OUISVILLE, Ky., May 22 — In the beginning, there was only Mike Turner, a prosperous construction company owner, who allowed his name to be made public along with his embarrassing memories of having been sexually violated as a boy by his parish priest.

Then, Mr. Turner began getting phone calls, and 10 men came forward with similar tales, then 20 more, one after another in a cascading effect.

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In the month since Mr. Turner went public with a lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Louisville, this heavily Catholic area has been shocked to see more than 90 men bring shame-steeped complaints against 14 priests, a deacon and a lay parochial school teacher. The complaints cover a 25-year period that crested in the mid-1980's.

posted by Bill Mitchell on 5/29/2002 05:50:29 AM Ex-deputy to George, Bernardin accused
2 more priests gone from posts
ILLINOIS: The Chicago Tribune's Mickey Ciokajlo and Monica Davey report: "The sex-abuse scandal that has plagued the Roman Catholic Church has reached into the upper levels of the Chicago archdiocese with the removal from duty of two priests, including a former top deputy to Cardinal Francis George and the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin..."

Church critics need to check all closets
OPINION: Dennis Byrne writes in The Chicago Tribune: "The heat now being applied to the Catholic Church for its sexual abuse scandal is fair game. "Fair" in that some clergy are getting what they deserve for dribbling away their moral authority. "Game" in that the usual Catholic-bashers are smugly counting points scored against "patriarchy," "orthodoxy," "religiosity," "autocracy" and all the other hateful stereotypes they apply to the church or religion..."

Church should drop cloak of secrecy
FULL ACCOUNTING NEEDED IN SEX ABUSE CASES
EDITORIAL: The Lexington Herald Leader writes: "At some point, leaders of the Catholic Church, both here in the United States and in Rome, must recognize that their dirty little secret isn't a secret anymore. Obviously, though, we haven't quite reached that point. If that stage of enlightenment had been achieved, the Archdiocese of Louisville wouldn't have asked a judge to seal all lawsuits claiming that diocesan officials were negligent in dealing with past allegations of child sexual abuse by more than a dozen priests and other church employees..."

IN THE WAKE OF THE NEWS
Paciorek finds the truth can lift big burden
MICHIGAN: The Chicago Tribune's Rick Morrissey reports: "We count on certain things in life, one of them being that goodness can come out of evil, the way a forest eventually comes back after a fire. If it weren't so, we would be making our way by flashlight in a black hole. So when Tom Paciorek finally spoke out after 40 years of suffering, he braced himself for the response and hoped, with his eyes squeezed shut, for the best. And it's the damnedest thing. Out of a painful, purposeful beginning, a sprig already is poking up through the ashes. The scandal that is rocking the Catholic Church made it to the light of day partly because the former White Sox outfielder pushed it there. In graphic detail last month, he alleged that a parish priest had sexually abused him and his three brothers when they were teenagers..."
posted by Bill Mitchell on 5/29/2002 05:43:29 AM

Tuesday, May 28, 2002

My Priest, the Child Molester
Why was the congregation so quick to forgive him?
INDIANA: Melinda Henneberger writes in Slate: "I recently learned, via the front page of the Evansville Courier & Press, the newspaper in my parents' hometown in Indiana, that the priest who signed my marriage certificate and baptized my two children also happens to have allegedly sexually molested a 14-year-old boy two decades ago. There he is, smiling, in what had once been my favorite photo of our wedding day. There he is again, pouring holy water over our twins' foreheads..."

Accused priests still working
MINNESOTA: The Pioneer Press' RICK LINSK and CHARLES LASZEWSKI report: "At least three priests with documented records of sexual misconduct or who settled lawsuits over accusations of sexual abuse are still working in Twin Cities pulpits or archdiocesan positions. One other was a parish priest until recently. And two others, sued in Minnesota over sexual abuse allegations, have relocated to other states, where one is an associate pastor and the other was the subject of a recent warning by church officials..."

Parents of abused man seek justice
MINNESOTA: The Pioneer Press's Rick Linsk reports: "Father Gilbert Gustafson didn't kill Brian Herrity. But Jeff and Cheryl Herrity believe Gustafson's sexual abuse of their son began a slow descent that would conclude with Brian's death years later from AIDS. The priest's crime also destroyed the Herritys' trust of the Catholic Church. That feeling of betrayal was rubbed raw once again last week by the news that Gustafson is still a priest and has been saying Mass at a monastery in Bloomington..."

Can a Church Go Broke?
Probably not. But the cascade of sexual-abuse lawsuits is moving Catholic
officials to devise innovative ways to shield their vast assets
NATIONAL: TIME Magazine's FRANK GIBNEY JR. reports: "It used to be said that in polite society one shouldn't discuss sex or money. But that's no longer possible in the Roman Catholic Church. Just last week Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland acknowledged paying $450,000 in 1998 to settle a claim that two decades ago he sexually assaulted a 30-year-old graduate student...Add the Weakland settlement to the huge sums other dioceses have paid to cover sex-abuse claims in recent years: an estimated $25 million in Santa Fe, N.M.; nearly $30 million in Boston; and $31 million in Dallas..."

Indiana dioceses staying silent
Catholic officials in Indiana are releasing almost no information about abuse allegations.
INDIANA: The Indianapolis Star's Bonnie Harris and Judith Cebula reports: "No one knows how many Catholic priests have abused children in Indiana. The scope is unknown because the bishops who control the state's five Catholic dioceses aren't releasing many numbers. That runs contrary to what's happening in other states since the clergy sexual abuse scandal erupted in Boston in January..."

Priests to gather in Bloomington for convocation
Archbishop Buechlein is expected to comfort, inspire archdiocese's clerics amid sex scandal.
INDIANA: The Indianapolis Star's Judith Cebula reports: "For the second time since the clergy abuse scandals began sweeping through the U.S. Catholic church, priests from across the 39-county Indianapolis archdiocese will gather Tuesday to pray with Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein..."
posted by Bill Mitchell on 5/28/2002 12:11:58 PM

Weakland's reaction astonishes journalist
WISCONSIN: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Tim Cuprisin reports: "The reporter who broke the Rembert Weakland story says he doesn't understand the archbishop's refusal to make any comment at all on the accusations against him. 'I was amazed at the public relations stance that he and his people took,' says ABC chief investigative correspondent Brian Ross. 'There would have been 100 different ways to handle this better...'"

Accusers Find Courage in Church Crisis
Abuse Cases Elsewhere Lead 2 More Men to Denounce Local Priest
NATIONAL: The Washington Post's Caryle Murphy reports: "One morning last month, a North Carolina contractor drove to Landover to let go of a secret he had kept for 34 years. When he was an altar boy at Oxon Hill's St. Columba Catholic Church in the late 1960s, the man told a Prince George's County police detective, he was molested by a priest named Robert J. Petrella...Those three men are among scores of people who have been prompted by the Roman Catholic Church's unfolding scandal to come forward in recent months -- many for the first time -- with their stories of molestation by priests. It is a painful chain reaction, with every fresh report of decades-old sexual abuse emboldening others to talk about their own ordeals, victim advocates say..."

Don't be misled on role of married priests
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Philadelphia Archdiocesean Chancellor Msgr. Alexander J. Palmieri writes to the Philadelphia Inquirer: "The present scandal affecting the Roman Catholic Church in the United States, concerning the sexual abuse of minors by some members of the clergy, is sad and disturbing to many people and for many reasons. Regretfully, there are those who have tried to capitalize on this issue by promoting their own agendas, such as the ordination of women and a married clergy..."

Clergy Bound By Two Laws
Statutes Conflict On Reporting Abuse Of Children
CONNECTICUT/NATIONAL: The Hartford Courant's CARRIE BUDOFF reports: "The movement to make clergy report sexual abuse allegations has made it to the doorstep of the confession booth, and lawmakers from Connecticut and beyond are discovering the difficulty of getting inside..."

Tension seen between archdiocese, BC
Some alumni, faculty fault Law on crisis
MASSACHUSETTS: The Boston Globe's Kevin Cullen reports: "Thomas H. O'Connor remembers it almost as if it were yesterday: a nice spring day and thousands of excited students and proud parents crowded into Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill for the 1984 commencement of Boston College..."

Monday Evening Update

Sex-abuse cases show gaps in church response
WASHINGTON: The Seattle Times' Ray Rivera and Janet I. Tu report: "It started in January when news coverage revealed that the Archdiocese of Boston allowed some priests to molest hundreds of children over the decades. Four months later, in the other corner of the nation, the ouster of a popular Seattle priest has revealed gaps in pioneering efforts to manage sex-abuse allegations..."

Diocese shamed sex victims' families
WISCONSIN: The Madison Capital Times' Pat Schneider reports: "Madison Catholic Diocese officials shamed parishioners who protested their sons' sexual abuse by a priest or sued the church for compensation, an investigation by The Capital Times has found. One family's effort to settle a lawsuit in 1995 drew a letter insinuating that they were "evil" for suing the diocese and comparing them to abortion protesters who commit murder for revenge..."

Wisconsin law hurts victims of clergy abuse
WISCONSIN: The Madison Capital Times' Pat Schneider reports: "The Wisconsin Supreme Court has slammed the courthouse door on victims of clergy abuse, says a Minnesota lawyer who is bringing clerical sex abuse lawsuits across the country. 'Wisconsin is far and away standing alone as the most victim-unfriendly, predator-protective state in the U.S.A. when it comes to clergy abuse,' said Jeff Anderson, an attorney based in St. Paul who also is licensed in Wisconsin..."

This month's cover story:
Broken trust,
broken lives
NATIONAL: U.S. Catholic publishes a special report on the clergy sex abuse crisis.

Weakland's views take on new meaning after scandal
WISCONSIN:The Milwauke Journal Sentinel's Dave Umhoefer reports: "In public musings over 25 years, Rembert G. Weakland - perhaps more than any other U.S. bishop - shared his deepest thoughts on delicate matters such as the struggle to remain celibate, sexual misconduct by priests and homosexuality in the clergy. That candor, juxtaposed with the jarring new allegations about his private life, now has opened Weakland's past actions to unprecedented scrutiny and hindsight.,,"

Priests struggle with their sermons
Hope, healing planned in messages to parishioners
WISCONSIN: The Milwauke Journal Sentinel's WHITNEY GOULD and JESSICA McBRIDE report: "It was no ordinary 5:15 p.m. Mass on Saturday at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist. Father Steve DeLeers, who was presiding at the Milwaukee church, confessed his own anguish to a congregation of about 120 people, many of them visibly shaken by the sex scandal that tainted the scheduled retirement of their spiritual leader, Archbishop Rembert Weakland.

WISCONSIN: Additional Journal Sentinel coverage

NEWS ANALYSIS
Price of Broken Vows
NATIONAL: The New York Times' Adam Liptak reports: "Four years ago, Paul Marcoux accepted $450,000 in exchange for his silence about what he says was sexual misconduct by Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland of Milwaukee decades earlier. On Thursday, he was on national television discussing his claims and the settlement itself. Legal experts say the archbishop is entitled to get his money back. Yet as a practical matter, they say, that will never happen.

Bronx Parish Is in Shock as Scandal Touches Home
NEW YORK: The New York Times' ALAN FEUER reports: "The accusations were shocking — and there was shock. A day after Monsignor Charles M. Kavanagh was removed from his position in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York and as the pastor of St. Raymond's Church in the central Bronx, those who knew him from the parish and the neighborhood reacted with pain and disbelief yesterday..."

Beyond Justice: The Eternal Struggle to Forgive
NATIONAL: The New York Times' Dean E. Murphy reports: "...Some scholars draw an important distinction between seeking forgiveness and offering an apology. Forgiveness requires an act of contrition. "You are opening up a dialogue if you ask for forgiveness, but when you say you are sorry, you are shrugging it off," said Garry Wills, a professor of history at Northwestern University. With Mr. Clinton's impeachment, Mr. Wills said, there was no real forgiveness because the former president fell short on contrition. Similarly, Mr. Wills said he believes Roman Catholic bishops and priests involved in the sexual abuse scandals couldn't be forgiven unless they admit wrongdoing and try to undo it..."

Parishes feel effects of priest sex scandal
Some churches see attendance drop
MASSACHUSETTS: The Boston Globe's Michael Paulson and Walter V. Robinson report: "The view from the altar is quite familiar to the Rev. Thomas J. Buckley. For seven years now he has been celebrating Mass week in and week out at Holy Family Church in Amesbury. So these days, when he sees the empty seats in the pews and the collection basket passing by, he knows something is amiss. And he's sure the problem is the clergy sexual abuse crisis..."

Handling of abuse case criticized
MASSACHUSETTS: The Worcester Telegram & Gazette's Richard Nangle reports: "In Salem Superior Court last week, a judge increased the bail for accused child molester and former Catholic priest Ronald Paquin from $100,000 to $500,000. The previous week, a Worcester Superior Court judge did just the opposite -- reducing the bail for the Rev. Robert E. Kelley, also an accused child molester, from $200,000 to nothing. Legal observers are quick to point out numerous differences between the two cases that make comparisons between them an apples-and-oranges proposition. For many Central Massachusetts victims of clergy sexual abuse however, the contrast is too stark to ignore and underscores a growing disillusionment with the way such cases are being handled by the Catholic Diocese of Worcester and District Attorney John J. Conte..."

Law ordains five new priests: Says church needs `holy men'
MASSACHUSETTS: The Boston Herald's Eric Convey reports: " Bernard Cardinal Law told five men during ordination rites yesterday that the church is suffering through an ordeal that will ultimately make them better priests if they demonstrate 'uncompromising love.' 'You and I and the whole church are suffering a severe trial,' Law told a nearly filled Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston's South End. 'No joy can be taken in from the terrible harm and betrayal at the root of this crisis, this trial. Yet out of this evil, you have the joy this morning of a much more vivid consciousness of what it means to be a priest...'''
posted by Bill Mitchell on 5/26/2002 05:49:03 AM