Saturday, June 22, 2002

posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/22/2002 09:21:10 PM

BOSTON (Mass.)
State turns priest abuse files over to local prosecutors
The Boston Globe
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) Judgments on whether to prosecute 33 inactive Maine priests accused of sexually molesting minors now rest in the hands of the state's district attorneys.
The state attorney general's office said Friday that it has completed a review of church records and distributed case files to local prosecutors.
Prosecutors in each county where the offenses allegedly occurred will now determine whether further investigation is warranted, and whether any criminal cases can be filed.
Abuse by priests has been alleged in all eight of Maine's prosecutorial districts, though the statute of limitations could prevent charges from being brought.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/22/2002 09:14:55 PM

NASHVILLE (TN)
Columnist or Catholic?
Tennessean columnist Tim Chavez walks tightrope
Nashville Scene
By Henry Walker
After twice promising "not to write on anything said" during a meeting of area Catholics to discuss the church's child abuse scandals, Tennessean columnist Tim Chavez, who is also Catholic, did just that on Saturday.
Stepping back and forth, as convenient, between his job and his faith, Chavez the journalist used the pages of The Tennessean to organize and promote last week's gathering while Chavez the Catholic assured readers that the meeting would be closed to the press.
On June, 1 he wrote, "The first meeting will be closed to the media. Even though I am a member of the media, I am also a Catholic. In regard to both identities, I am pledging not to report what is said. I will be there only to facilitate the discussion."
Similarly on June 8, he wrote "The initial meeting will be closed to the news media. I have pledged not to write on anything said at the meeting, unless the whole group asks otherwise.")

posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/22/2002 09:02:55 PM NASHVILLE (TN)
Catholics still hearing voice of bureaucracy
Nashville Tennessean
Tim Chavez
I was an altar boy for 10 years.
It truly was one of the most enriching experiences of my life.
But after listening last Sunday to some priests and other church authorities put the best possible political spin on the bishops' new charter on sexual abuse, I don't feel confident recommending the same experience to my grandchildren.
Priests and their bosses are still speaking in the voice of a bureaucracy. You can't blame them. That is the life and experience they know best. But USA TODAY reported this week that 89% of Catholics surveyed last week said a priest who has sexually abused a minor also should be removed from the priesthood, or defrocked. The bishops did not go that far. They will, however, remove offenders from active ministry.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/22/2002 08:45:48 PM

BOSTON (Mass.)
Judge handling church abuse cases described as fearless
The Boston Globe
By Trudy Tynan, Associated Press
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) ''Fearless'' is the first word that lawyers and friends use to describe Superior Court Judge Constance Sweeney.
''She calls them as she sees them and it doesn't matter whether it is the mayor, a popular liberal cause, or the Church,'' said former Springfield Mayor Theodore DiMauro, who appointed Sweeney, then a young lawyer, as city solicitor in 1982. She was the first woman to hold the job.
Sweeney has already demonstrated some level of that fearlessness in her newest assignment: sole judge to oversee the civil cases in the priest sex abuse scandal in the Boston Archdiocese.
She opened the floodgates last fall by forcing the Roman Catholic archdiocese to release thousands of once confidential documents in a case brought by 86 people who claimed they were victims of defrocked priest John Geoghan.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/22/2002 08:30:34 PM

BOSTON (Mass.)
Excerpts from rulings by judge overseeing church abuse cases
The Boston Globe
By Associated Press
Here are excerpts from some of Superior Court Judge Constance Sweeney's rulings. Sweeney has been appointed the sole judge to hear civil cases arising out of the priest sex abuse scandal in the Boston archdiocese.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/22/2002 08:28:13 PM

BOSTON (Mass.)
Review of new rules not set
The Boston Globe
By Jason Horowitz, Globe Correspondent, 6/22/2002
ROME - The Vatican, known for its deliberate and painstaking approach to any alteration of church policy, has not set an official time frame to review the American Catholic Church's newly adopted zero-tolerance policy toward priests who sexually abuse minors.
While the policy, called the ''Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People,'' is morally binding in the 194 US archdioceses, it needs Vatican approval before it can become enforceable church law. But Father Ciro Benedettini, vice director of the Vatican's press office, said Thursday, ''We will take all the time that we need'' to assess the proposal.
The charter's 17 articles have been distilled to a separate legal document that will undergo examination by at least five Vatican offices, whose leaders include some of the most powerful names in the Vatican governing body.
They are Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos of Colombia, of the Congregation for Clergy; Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re of Italy, the Congregation for Bishops; Cardinal Jorge Medina Estevez of Chile, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments; and Archbishop Julian Herranz of Spain, of the Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/22/2002 08:21:59 PM

BOSTON (Mass.)
Scalia dissent questions bishops
The Boston Globe
By Lyle Denniston, Globe Correspondent
WASHINGTON - Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, one of the nation's most prominent Roman Catholics, has sharply challenged the moral authority of American bishops to speak out on issues of crime and punishment. Scalia struck out at the bishops Thursday in his dissenting opinion to the court's decision striking down the death penalty for mentally retarded inmates.
Scalia criticized the court majority for citing, in support of its decision, a brief filed by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops arguing that execution of the retarded ''cannot be morally justified.''
Without mentioning the priest sexual abuse scandal explicitly, Scalia said, ''The attitudes of that body regarding crime and punishment are so far from being representative, even of the views of Catholics, that they are currently the object of intense national [and entirely ecumenical] criticism.''

posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/22/2002 08:09:24 PM

BOSTON (Mass.)
Bishop who called for Law's resignation moved accused priest
The Boston Globe
By Associated Press
JOLIET, Ill. -- Newly released court documents show that a bishop who said Boston Cardinal Bernard Law should resign over his handling of priests accused of sexual abuse had also reassigned an accused priest to a new parish.
Joliet Bishop Joseph Imesch was believed to be the first Roman Catholic bishop to publicly suggest Law step down since January, when Law acknowledged reassigning a priest accused of molesting children.
That admission by Law and the sentencing of former Boston-area priest John Geoghan to up to 10 years in prison fueled a crisis that has consumed the church and put Roman Catholic bishops across the country under scrutiny.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/22/2002 08:06:26 PM Bishop Thomas Gumbleton: "Bishops must accept responsibility, repent"
National Catholic Reporter
Thank you very, very much. Your words of introduction are a bit exaggerated, but they still sound pretty good, and make me feel good. I really do thank you and thank all of you for being here today on the occasion of this award, and also for this presentation. I didn’t exactly offer to give it; I was kind of pressed to give it. At first I was hesitant to speak about the crisis in the Church. But as I thought about it, I thought I probably really do need to in a public way, express some of my own convictions about this current crisis. So, at this point, I am very happy to make this presentation, and thank the Sisters of Charity of Montreal for inviting me here today.
posted by Tom Fox on 6/22/2002 07:57:14 PM

Reflections of a Married Catholic Clergyman
Catholic Way
By Rev. Mr. Keith A. Fournier
Founder, Deacon
The current crisis in the Catholic Church presents a time for repentance, reflection and renewal!
Catholic Way - Like every person who has heard or been in any way affected by the current scandal and crisis facing the Catholic Church, I am outraged, deeply hurt, concerned and moved to both prayer and action.
I have prayed my heart out, appeared as a guest on Television programs, attempted to explain this horror to my children, tried in any way I can to support the victims, promote proper prosecution for the offenders and help provide insight to other Christians and people of good will who have been shocked by this grievous scandal.
Because I love the Catholic Church, I have proposed, along with many others, that this is a time of purification that sets a course, a way of response, paved by justice, truth, penance and authentic conversion, if she responds in a manner that is faithful to the gospel she proclaims.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/22/2002 03:58:55 PM

Panel may be reviewed: Diocese may reconsider board's makeup in light of bishops' charter
Dallas Morning News
By SUSAN HOGAN/ALBACH / The Dallas Morning News
The Catholic Diocese of Dallas said this week that it might re-examine the makeup of its conduct review board in light of the sexual abuse charter passed by U.S. bishops last week. The diocese said its board was created before the 1997 civil verdict that found the diocese guilty of gross negligence in its handling for former priest Rudy Kos, who molested boys in three parishes during the 1980s and early 1990s.
posted by Tom Fox on 6/22/2002 03:30:04 PM

Policy not applicable to priests in orders
Dallas Morning News
By SUSAN HOGAN/ALBACH / The Dallas Morning News
One-third of the nation's Catholic priests belong to religious orders that don't fall under the authority of bishops and aren't required to follow the charter on clergy sexual abuse approved by U.S. bishops last week in Dallas.
The Conference of Major Superiors of Men, which represents the leaders of 160 religious orders in the United States, said it would consider adopting a similar policy at its meeting next month in Philadelphia.
posted by Tom Fox on 6/22/2002 03:27:44 PM

N.Y. priest is nabbed in Laredo
San Antonio Express-News
LAREDO —— A Catholic priest accused of raping a parishioner two years ago in his Brooklyn church was arrested here early Friday and flown back to New York City to face criminal charges. Laredo police officers assisted investigators from the Kings County, N.Y., district attorney's office in apprehending Cyricacus Udegbulem, a 39-year-old Nigerian national who lived in a condo in a northern Laredo neighborhood. Udegbulem was arrested at 4:45 a.m. Friday at his home in the 7500 block of Country Club Drive, authorities said.
posted by Tom Fox on 6/22/2002 03:23:31 PM

Bishops start implementing week-old abuse policy; law enforcement reviews intensify
Associated Press
America's Roman Catholic bishops spent the past week meeting with priests, recruiting parishioners for review boards and taking sex abusers off the job as they started implementing their ambitious policy to end the church's molestation crisis.
Yet even as Catholic leaders began to clean house, outside pressure from law enforcement authorities was building.
posted by Tom Fox on 6/22/2002 03:16:23 PM

CLEVELAND (OH)
Catholic newspaper seeks balance in face of scandal
The Plain Dealer
The clergy sex-abuse scandal is back on Page 1; not that it ever went away. It's three of the four front-page stories in today's paper, the same way it's been since March. Inside, an editorial calls for lay people to be involved in carrying out the policy, adopted a week ago by the nation's Roman Catholic bishops, that bars any priest who has sexually abused a minor from ministerial duties.
The only surprise might be that the paper is the Catholic Universe Bulletin, the official newspaper of the Cleveland Diocese.
For the past three months, the newspaper has walked an admitted fine line between being an independent publication and being a defensive or whitewashing house organ. The Universe Bulletin has given more coverage to the abuse crisis than have most of the diocesan papers around the country.
"Some do it well, others don't, but the papers are trying to be as good as they possibly can," said Dennis Sadowski, who became editor of the paper four years ago. "My job is to tell the story of what's happening in the church today. I have a responsibility to cover it as well.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/22/2002 12:57:47 PM

NORFOLK (Va.)
Beach man says diocese covered up sexual abuse
The Virginian-Pilot
By STEVEN G. VEGH
The Virginia Beach man who accused a priest of sexual abuse said Thursday the exoneration of the Rev. John E. Leonard this week by the Diocese of Richmond represented a cover-up of ``abhorrent behavior.''
``I came forward because I love my church. I came forward because Father Leonard engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior,'' Thor Gormley said in an interview. ``I'm morally obligated to speak up.''
Leonard, who has denied any wrongdoing, could not be reached for comment Thursday.
He was suspended in May as the priest of St. Michael Parish in the Richmond suburb of Glen Allen pending the outcome of the investigation. On Tuesday, Bishop Walter F. Sullivan announced that, based on the investigation's findings, Leonard's suspension was ``unwarranted.'' Leonard was restored to his post the same day.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/22/2002 11:24:29 AM

NEW YORK (N.Y.)
In Hindsight, What Might Have Been Done
The New York Times
By PETER STEINFELS
It has been a season of jolting ups and downs for Bishop John F. Kinney of the Diocese of St. Cloud, Minn., a man who nine years ago was at the center of an effort to focus the attention of the nation's Roman Catholic hierarchy on the problem of priests who sexually abuse young people.
Despite that record, a month ago, at one of the four public sessions that Bishop Kinney organized to hear the views of Catholics in his 12,000-square-mile diocese in central Minnesota, he faced what one staff member called booing from some angry church members, but what the bishop himself preferred to call "high emotion" and "disagreeing."
Then, at the emotionally wrenching opening session of last week's meeting of the Catholic bishops conference in Dallas, he was one of four bishops who introduced victims they had known to the group. Back in St. Cloud, Bishop Kinney sent letters on Wednesday telling three priests that, although they were already no longer in parish ministry, the church's new "zero tolerance" policy meant they could no longer wear clerical garb or publicly present themselves as priests.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/22/2002 10:57:27 AM

NEW YORK (N.Y.)
3 Priests May Be Removed, Detroit Archdiocese Says
The New York Times
DETROIT — The Archdiocese of Detroit said today that it would probably remove three priests who prosecutors believe sexually abused minors in the past. An earlier investigation of the three by the archdiocese had cleared them.
An archdiocese spokesman said that new church guidelines mandating removal of any abusive priest left them with little choice. The spokesman, Ned McGrath, said "the strongest possibility" was that all three would lose their parishes.
The criminal investigation of priests began in April after diocesan officials reluctantly agreed to hand over all information regarding accusations of sexual abuse by clergymen within the last 15 years.
The Wayne County prosecutor, Michael Duggan, said that in each of the three cases, his office uncovered at least one additional victim unknown to the archdiocese.
"This is why law enforcement should be handling these cases and not the archdiocese," Mr. Duggan said. "This is what law enforcement does for a living. It's not what the archdiocese does for a living."
posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/22/2002 10:53:48 AM

PORTLAND (ME)
Abuse claims distributed to prosecutors
Portland Press Herald
By DAVID HENCH, Portland Press Herald Writer
The investigation into molestation complaints against Roman Catholic priests will move forward under the direction of district attorneys in all eight of Maine's prosecutorial districts.
The state Attorney General's Office and other investigators said Friday that they have completed their review of church records and distributed case files to local prosecutors, who will decide whether to bring charges.
Prosecutors in each district where the alleged offenses occurred will determine whether further investigation is warranted and whether there are any cases that can be brought to trial. Crimes have been alleged in all eight districts, though the statute of limitations could prevent charges from being brought.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/22/2002 08:43:00 AM

DOVER (N.H.)
Seven new suits filed against Diocese of Manchester
Former Dover priest among those named
Foster's Democrat
By BRAD MORIN
Democrat Staff Writer
DOVER — Seven new sexual abuse lawsuits have been filed against the Diocese of Manchester, naming several priests accused of molesting numerous alleged victims.The plaintiffs’ attorney, Mark Abramson, has now filed 40 lawsuits against the Diocese of Manchester on behalf of clients who claim the church failed to protect them from sexual abuse.
Abramson said he started a mediation process last week with the diocese, but it fell apart and he is now seeking discovery evidence as he prepares for trial.
"Settlement negotiations have folded because the church has been so unreasonable," Abramson said.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/22/2002 08:35:52 AM

MANCHESTER (N.H.)
Diocese says it is
aiding state's inquiry
The Union Leader
By NANCY MEERSMAN
Union Leader Staff
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester is cooperating fully with the Attorney General’s Office in the state’s investigation into sexual abuse of minors by priests, a spokesman for the church stated emphatically yesterday.
“We do know that the Attorney General’s Office is conducting an investigation,” said Patrick McGee, the diocese’s public relations specialist. “ . . . We once again are saying we intend to cooperate fully with that investigation.”
Attorney General Philip T. McLaughlin this week said he was hoping talks with the diocese would “lead to open cooperation,” but suggested he was less than satisfied with the information the diocese has produced thus far. He said investigators don’t yet have some of the records they want.
“I can only tell you, that which we seek we have not in their entirety gotten,” McLaughlin told an Associated Press reporter.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/22/2002 08:30:13 AM

LOUISVILLE (KY)
Abusive priests less likely to repeat offenses than typical molesters, experts say
The Courier-Journal
By Gideon Gil
In a letter to parishioners at St. William Church this week, the Rev. Joseph Stoltz -- removed from ministry because he sexually abused a child in the 1970s -- apologized for ''poor judgment'' that led to ''terrible mistakes'' 25 years ago.
He wrote that he was emotionally immature at the time, having entered the seminary at age 14, and ''sought affection, connection and intimacy in, as the song goes, 'all the wrong places.' ''
Stoltz, who did not return a phone call, has not been accused of any other abuse since that one, according to archdiocesan officials.
Experts who have treated abusive priests say that while some are true pedophiles who must be removed from public ministry to protect children, situations like the one Stoltz's letter outlines are not unusual.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/22/2002 07:59:58 AM

ATLANTA (GA)
Pastor's jurors quizzed on molestation trial
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
By CHANDLER BROWN
Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer
Jurors who convicted a Lithonia minister on child molestation charges were interrogated by a judge Friday to determine whether they considered some evidence illegally during their deliberations.
DeKalb Superior Court Judge Cynthia Becker ordered the courtroom closed while she individually questioned 12 people -- 10 original jurors, a replacement and an alternate -- for five to 20 minutes each.
The jurors convicted the Rev. Troy Brown, pastor of Greater Anointing Tabernacle Worship Center, last month on charges of sexually molesting a 15-year-old boy. Becker sentenced Brown to 70 years in jail with no parole, 30 years more than prosecutors requested.
On Friday, the judge was trying to determine whether jurors were improperly influenced during deliberations.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/22/2002 07:51:18 AM

ST. PETERSBURG (FL)
Priest may face more charges
Prosecutors are investigating other claims of abuse. Meanwhile, a judge agrees to reduce his bail to $300,000.
St. Petersburg Times
By WAVENEY ANN MOORE, Times Staff Writer
LARGO -- A Catholic priest charged with two counts of capital sexual battery could face more charges next week, prosecutors told a Pinellas-Pasco judge during a bail reduction hearing Friday.
In addition, prosecutors said they are investigating claims that the Rev. Robert L. Schaeufele, charged with sexually assaulting two 11-year-old boys in the mid 1980s, abused other children as late as 1998.
Robert Riddle, 28, one of the accusers upon whom the charges are based, said he was not surprised to learn that the priest might have abused other children.
"We knew he wouldn't stop," Riddle said.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/22/2002 07:40:43 AM

WASHINGTON (D.C.)
After the Payout, Pain and Confusion Linger
Settlements Sometimes Settle Little for Victims of Abuse by Priests
Washington Post
By David Finkel
Washington Post Staff Writer
TUCSON -- There are some things Albert Coderre remembers about the day he became a millionaire and some things he does not.
He remembers he had to borrow a car to get to his lawyer's office because he had sold his to pay overdue bills.
He doesn't remember the exact time he arrived -- he had sold his watch as well -- or the date, other than it was near the end of March, which was two months after the settlement of a lawsuit he was part of against the Diocese of Tucson and 27 years after he was a fifth-grade student being summoned into a vacant room by a priest named Father Luke.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/22/2002 07:27:22 AM

RALEIGH (N.C.)
Ex-Baptist missionary admits abuse
Says 'sinful acts' with children abroad took place years ago
News & Observer
By YONAT SHIMRON, Staff Writer
A former Southern Baptist missionary who teaches English to immigrants at Forest Hills Baptist Church in Raleigh has confessed to abusing several children during his 30-year career in Indonesia.
The confession, in the form of a letter to members of the church, came in response to a meeting that the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention had last week with five of his victims, now adults.
William "Mac" McElrath, 70, of Pineview Drive in Raleigh wrote members of his church, saying, "During that time of stress and culture shock, I succumbed to temptation. ... My sinful acts involved touching, tickling, cuddling and fondling that went too far." He denied engaging in sexual intercourse with any of his victims.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/22/2002 07:17:25 AM

BUFFALO (N.Y.)
Bill passed for clergy to report sex crimes
The Buffalo News
By TOM PRECIOUS
News Albany Bureau
ALBANY - Members of the clergy will be required to turn over to civil authorities instances of child abuse involving other clergy dating back at least 20 years under a tentative deal reached Thursday night.
The agreement, which also adds clergy to the list of 19 other professions that must report child abuse incidents, goes further in some areas than the recent guidelines adopted by the nation's Catholic bishops during their Dallas conference last week.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/22/2002 07:09:31 AM

NEW YORK (N.Y.)
Priest Charged in Rape in 2000 in the Rectory
The New York Times
By ANDY NEWMAN
Roman Catholic priest was arrested yesterday in Texas on charges that two years ago he raped a woman on a couch in a Brooklyn rectory, where she had gone for advice about annulling her marriage, the authorities said.
Church officials in Brooklyn did not notify law enforcement officials of the woman's accusations against the priest, the Rev. Cyriacus Udegbulem, in 2000, and instead encouraged her to do so herself, a church spokesman said yesterday. She declined out of concern for her privacy, he said.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/22/2002 07:04:48 AM

NEW YORK (N.Y.)
THE 'RAPIST' REV.
New York Post
By DENISE BUFFA, ERIC LENKOWITZ and ANDY GELLER
June 22, 2002 -- A visiting priest from Nigeria was busted in Texas yesterday on charges of raping and sodomizing a woman two years ago while working at a Brooklyn church.
Cyriacus Udegbulem, 38, was arrested about 6 a.m. in Laredo, where he moved after being expelled from the Diocese of Brooklyn in January 2000, officials said.
He waived extradition and was being flown back to New York last night to face rape and sodomy charges that could put him behind bars for 25 years.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/22/2002 06:59:44 AM

NEW YORK (N.Y.)
Priest Charged
In B'klyn Rape
Daily News
By ROBERT INGRASSIA
Daily News Staff Writer
Catholic priest was arrested in Texas yesterday and charged with raping a woman who had come to his Brooklyn church two years ago to discuss her failed marriage.
The Rev. Cyriacus Udegbulem, 38, is accused of assaulting the parishioner at Our Lady of Charity Church in Crown Heights on New Year's Day 2000.
Rev. Cyriacus Udegbulem (r.) is taken into custody in Laredo, Texas, for a rape he allegedly committed in Brooklyn two years ago.
Authorities learned of the allegation in April, when the Diocese of Brooklyn began turning over the names of priests accused of sexual misconduct during the past 20 years.
Udegbulem was the second Brooklyn priest arrested from the list. The Rev. Francis Nelson was charged last month with molesting a 12-year-old girl in 1999.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/22/2002 06:55:31 AM

LONG ISLAND (N.Y.)
Deal on Reporting Abuse
Newsday
By Jordan Rau and Dionne Searcey
ALBANY BUREAU
Albany - Clergy would be required to report child abuse by their peers to the authorities under a deal tentatively reached yesterday by lawmakers distressed at revelations about sexual abuse by Catholic priests.
Negotiations over the measure had been stalled for weeks, in part because Senate Republicans were reluctant to cross the Catholic Church so soon after the Senate broke with them over another bill requiring insurers to pay for prescription contraception.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/22/2002 06:47:33 AM DETROIT (Mich.)
Maida dismisses 2 priests
Detroit Free Press
Church's zero-tolerance policy against abuse of minors takes effect
BY DAVID CRUMM
FREE PRESS RELIGION WRITER
Detroit Catholic Cardinal Adam Maida fired two priests Friday -- the first to be removed by the Archdiocese of Detroit under the church's new zero-tolerance policy against the sexual abuse of minors.
Both priests -- the Rev. Robert Haener, 70, and the Rev. Michael Daly, 53 -- already had been working in restricted ministries for the Felician Sisters in Livonia, because of past charges of abusing children. Both men are now barred from ever working for the church again. They must never wear their clerical garb or represent themselves as priests in public.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/22/2002 06:38:29 AM

FRESNO (CA)
Hanford priest denies rape charges
Fresno Bee
By Cindy Carcamo
A Roman Catholic priest accused of raping a 16-year-old girl who worked at his church appeared Thursday in Kings County Superior Court, where his jury trial date was set for Aug. 19.
The Rev. Miguel Flores, a priest at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Hanford, pleaded not guilty in his arraignment Thursday to raping the teen-ager. Prosecutor Anna Ferguson said Flores has refused a plea deal with prosecutors.
Flores' attorney, Rick Conway, said their stance hasn't wavered.
posted by Jayson Landeza on 6/22/2002 04:25:16 AM

SEATTLE (WA)
Seattle priest faces removal: ‘I’m so clearly not a danger’
Seattle Times
By Janet I. Tu
Seattle Times staff reporter
A prominent local priest, who recently headed the Archdiocese of Seattle's AIDS ministry and is a former director of its Catholic Youth Organization (CYO), may no longer be allowed to minister under the new rules passed by the nation's bishops earlier this month, the archdiocese said yesterday.
The Very Rev. David Jaeger, 58, who also is a former director of seminarians for the archdiocese, admitted several years ago that he had inappropriately touched children at a CYO camp in the 1970s.
posted by Jayson Landeza on 6/22/2002 04:15:40 AM

SAN ANTONIO (TX)
N.Y. priest is nabbed in Laredo
San Antonio Express-News
By Bonnie Pfister
Express-News Border Bureau
LAREDO —— A Catholic priest accused of raping a parishioner two years ago in his Brooklyn church was arrested here early Friday and flown back to New York City to face criminal charges.
Laredo police officers assisted investigators from the Kings County, N.Y., district attorney's office in apprehending Cyricacus Udegbulem, a 39-year-old Nigerian national who lived in a condo in a northern Laredo neighborhood.
Udegbulem was arrested at 4:45 a.m. Friday at his home in the 7500 block of Country Club Drive, authorities said.
The accused priest secured a chaplain's job at Laredo's Mercy Health Center less than two months after church authorities in Brooklyn stripped him of priestly duties.
posted by Jayson Landeza on 6/22/2002 03:58:02 AM

DALLAS (TX)
Priest cited over policy
Checks weren't done on all workers; pastor to remain at All Saints
Dallas Morning News
By SUSAN HOGAN/ALBACH / The Dallas Morning News
The Catholic Diocese of Dallas has taken action against a third Dallas priest who failed to fully implement a sexual abuse prevention plan in his parish.
But unlike the other priests, the pastor of All Saints Church in Far North Dallas will not lose his parish.
Bishop Charles V. Grahmann recently removed the Rev. Tom Cloherty from four of the bishop's key advisory committees. In addition, the priest can no longer serve as chaplain to area youths attending the World Youth Day gathering led by Pope John Paul II in Toronto next month.
posted by Jayson Landeza on 6/22/2002 03:49:35 AM

PROVIDENCE (RI)
Judge refuses diocese bid to seal officer's testimony
Providence Journal-Bulletin
By Jennifer Levitz
Journal Staff Writer
A Superior Court judge yesterday ruled against a request by the Diocese of Providence to seal from the public the sworn, pretrial testimony of a retired police officer appointed by Bishop Louis E. Gelineau to investigate allegations of sexual abuse by priests.
Judge Robert D. Krause said the diocese's request appeared to clash with the goals stated last week by the U.S. Conference of Roman Catholic Bishops, in Dallas, for less secrecy in the church's handling of sexual-abuse allegations.
posted by Jayson Landeza on 6/22/2002 03:44:41 AM

NEW YORK
Priest Charged in Rape in 2000 in the Rectory
New York Times
By ANDY NEWMAN
A Roman Catholic priest was arrested yesterday in Texas on charges that two years ago he raped a woman on a couch in a Brooklyn rectory, where she had gone for advice about annulling her marriage, the authorities said.
Church officials in Brooklyn did not notify law enforcement officials of the woman's accusations against the priest, the Rev. Cyriacus Udegbulem, in 2000, and instead encouraged her to do so herself, a church spokesman said yesterday. She declined out of concern for her privacy, he said.
Father Udegbulem, a visiting priest from Nigeria, was dismissed, but soon found work as a hospital chaplain and part-time church priest in Laredo, Texas.
posted by Jayson Landeza on 6/22/2002 03:26:32 AM

DETROIT (MI)
Maida dismisses 2 priests
Church's zero-tolerance policy against abuse of minors takes effect
Detroit Free Press
June 22, 2002
By David Crumm
Free Press Religion Writer
Detroit Catholic Cardinal Adam Maida fired two priests Friday -- the first to be removed by the Archdiocese of Detroit under the church's new zero-tolerance policy against the sexual abuse of minors.
Both priests -- the Rev. Robert Haener, 70, and the Rev. Michael Daly, 53 -- already had been working in restricted ministries for the Felician Sisters in Livonia, because of past charges of abusing children.
Both men are now barred from ever working for the church again. They must never wear their clerical garb or represent themselves as priests in public.
posted by Jayson Landeza on 6/22/2002 03:16:17 AM

CHICAGO
Documents: Bishop was warned of priest's behavior
Chicago Tribune
By David Heinzmann and Todd Lighty
Tribune staff reporters
Catholic Diocese of Joliet court documents unsealed today in Will County show Bishop Joseph Imesch moved a priest to a Lockport parish in 1980 even though he had access to allegations the priest had sexually abused boys in the past.
In Lockport, the priest allegedly resumed his sexual abuse of boys, including the molestation of one youth that lasted seven years. That victim subsequently sued the diocese, generating documents that were sealed under court order in 1993.
posted by Jayson Landeza on 6/22/2002 02:51:20 AM

WASHINGTON, D.C.
After the Payout, Pain and Confusion Linger
Settlements Sometimes Settle Little for Victims of Abuse by Priests
Washington Post
By David Finkel
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, June 22, 2002
There are some things Albert Coderre remembers about the day he became a millionaire and some things he does not.
He remembers he had to borrow a car to get to his lawyer's office because he had sold his to pay overdue bills.
He doesn't remember the exact time he arrived -- he had sold his watch as well -- or the date, other than it was near the end of March, which was two months after the settlement of a lawsuit he was part of against the Diocese of Tucson and 27 years after he was a fifth-grade student being summoned into a vacant room by a priest named Father Luke.
posted by Jayson Landeza on 6/22/2002 02:40:52 AM

LOS ANGELES
Taking His Vows to Heart
Working in the shadow of abuse scandals, one longtime priest presses on with untiring service to God and community.
Los Angeles Times
By MARY McNAMARA, Times Staff Writer
The 23rd anniversary of the Rev. Msgr. David O'Connell's ordination would be marked by a partial solar eclipse. But when the alarm went off at 5:30 that Monday morning, the priest was unaware of either event.
Thudding down the carpeted stairs in the rectory of St. Frances Xavier Catholic Church in South-Central Los Angeles, O'Connell was thinking about his dog.
posted by Jayson Landeza on 6/22/2002 02:27:25 AM

PHOENIX (AZ)
Phoenix Diocese to defrock 3 priests over sex misconduct
Arizona Republic
By Joseph A. Reaves
Bishop Thomas J. O'Brien vowed Friday that the Phoenix Diocese would lead the nation in cracking down on child molesters and promptly backed his words by banning three priests from active ministry for the rest of their lives.
O'Brien's dramatic move eclipsed another important breakthrough by Bishop Manuel D. Moreno of Tucson. Moreno named 15 priests accused of sexual misconduct, but five of those priests are dead and the others were suspended from active duty years ago.
posted by Jayson Landeza on 6/22/2002 02:22:25 AM

Friday, June 21, 2002

IRELAND
Religious say they will back clerical sex abuse inquiry
Irish Independent
THE Conference of Religious in Ireland have agreed to co-operate with an inquiry by the Catholic Church into clerical child sexual abuse.
However, victims of clerical sexual abuse said they would only be able to welcome CORI's decision to co-operate when they knew the full terms of reference of that inquiry.
Sceptical abuse victims said the church had only co-operated in the past when its members were granted immunity and protected from prosecution.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/21/2002 06:13:49 PM

BOSTON (Mass.)
Keating to head panel on sexual abuse by clergy
Boston Herald
Associated Press
The board charged with overseeing the U.S. bishops' new sex abuse policy is led by Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, a lifelong Roman Catholic and law-and-order politician who says he'll be tough on errant priests and prelates who let them serve.
The 57-year-old Keating, a term-limited Republican serving his final year in office, is also a former federal prosecutor who has disagreed with the church's opposition to the death penalty.
Keating believes his background is part of why U.S. bishops' conference president Bishop Wilton Gregory appointed him to lead the National Review Board. He says he also has a sincere desire to help the church during a dark hour.
``I was a product from the first grade through a senior in high school of Catholic education and it was a warm and wonderful experience,'' he said. ``I never heard of a child being approached (by an abuser). It is an incomprehensible evil to me.''

posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/21/2002 05:04:03 PM

BOSTON (Mass.)
Justice upholds decision on release of records in Reardon case
Boston Herald
Associated Press
The Boston archdiocese must hand over some, but not all, records relating to a priest who supervised convicted child molester Christopher Reardon.
That's the ruling from a justice of the state's highest court.
Upholding a lower court decision, Supreme Judicial Court Justice John Greaney said the archdiocese must release certain personnel records of the Reverend John Martin. But Martin's psychiatric records will remain private.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/21/2002 04:58:34 PM

CHICAGO (Ill)
Zero tolerance also should apply to bishops
Chicago Sun-Times
BY ANDREW GREELEY
American Catholics are not likely to be convinced that the reforms the bishops voted for in Dallas last week mean anything unless there are resignations in the hierarchy. Surveys by both Gallup and the Wall Street Journal indicate that Catholics want the pope to remove bishops who have reassigned pedophile priests to parish work. The position is logical: If there is to be zero tolerance for offending priests, then there should be zero tolerance for offending bishops.
There apparently weren't enough votes for Cardinal Francis George's proposal that sanctions be applied to bishops, too, though he said he expected that it would come up again in November.
It would be hypocritical to expel priest abusers and not expel the bishops who were accessories to their offenses before and after the fact. ''One strike and you're out'' should apply to bishops, too.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/21/2002 04:50:41 PM

Effects of Cantor''s Sexual Abuse Described by Three of His Victims
The Jewish Exponent
HARRISBURG
Three tearful young women described the sexual abuse they suffered at the hands of their synagogue''s cantor during a June 7 sentencing hearing for Philip Wittlin.
Wittlin, who for more than 30 years was the cantor of Chisuk Emuna Congregation in Harrisburg, will serve a minimum of 15 months in a state correctional facility and 20 years probation as part of a plea agreement. He was further ordered to pay the costs of prosecution and a number of fines.
Wittlin pleaded guilty in February to a number of charges, including five counts of corruption of minors and two counts of aggravated indecent assault, stemming from the abuse of two girls. He is believed to have abused a handful of other girls since the late 1960s, though the statue of limitations on those crimes has expired.
posted by Bill Mitchell on 6/21/2002 04:19:33 PM

ORANGE CO. (CA)
Victims, jurists to join diocese board
The O.C. panel will add six members in response to a new policy adopted by U.S. bishops.
The Orange County Register
By Carol Mcgraw
The Diocese of Orange will expand its sexual-abuse investigative board partly in response to a new policy adopted by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The board, called the "sensitive issues committee," will grow from five members to 11 with the addition of two retired judges, a retired law-enforcement official, a second psychologist and two survivors of sexual abuse, said Maria Schinderle, spokeswoman.
posted by Jayson Landeza on 6/21/2002 03:03:10 PM

SAN JOSE (CA)
Pinole police use radar in Kiesle search
San Jose Mercury News
By Bay City News Service
The Pinole Police Department said tonight that it will take about two weeks to process the results of a second below-ground search today at the Truckee vacation home of a defrocked Fremont priest arrested on child molestation charges.
Cmdr. John C. Miner said today's search of the home's yard, using a ground-penetrating radar device, was prompted by hits from cadaver-sniffing dogs during a search of the property two weeks ago.
Steven Kiesle, 55, of Pinole, a former seminarian and priest at Santa Paula Catholic Church, was arrested May 16 on suspicion of three counts of child molestation. He has pleaded innocent to the charges and was released after posting $180,000 bond.
posted by Jayson Landeza on 6/21/2002 02:49:43 PM

Judge denies request in Stokes case
More lenient bail conditions sought for man accused of shooting priest
Baltimore Sun
The Associated Press
Originally published June 21, 2002
A request for more lenient bail conditions for a man accused of shooting a Baltimore priest was denied today.
Dontee Stokes, 26, has been living under house arrest at a relative's home since he was released from custody May 17.
Circuit Judge Allen Schwait denied the request by Stokes' attorney, Warren Brown, who asked that his client be able to leave the house to go to church and to meet with the lawyer.
Stokes faces first- and second-degree attempted murder charges for the May 13 shooting of the Rev. Maurice Blackwell. Stokes has said Blackwell sexually abused him in the early 1990s.
posted by Jayson Landeza on 6/21/2002 02:20:32 PM

NEW JERSEY
2 alleging priest abuse waited too long to sue
Bergen-Hackensack Record
ATLANTIC CITY - Two former altar boys who said they were molested as teenagers by a parish priest waited too long to file suit against the Diocese of Camden, a judge said Thursday.
Dr. Mark Depman, 47, and his brother, John F. Depman, 46, had no legitimate legal reason for not suing until 1994, Judge John G. Himmelberger Jr. ruled.
The Depmans were among 18 plaintiffs suing the diocese over sexual abuse they say they suffered at the hands of priests in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Thursday's ruling capped a hearing aimed at determining whether the two had a legally valid excuse for not filing their claims sooner. Under New Jersey law, a minor who is sexually abused has until his or her 20th birthday to seek redress in court.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/21/2002 11:50:18 AM

OMAHA (Neb.)
Retired Omaha priest denies allegations of sexual abuse
Journal Star
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - A retired Nebraska priest is denying allegations of sexually abusing a teenage boy 25 years ago.
The Rev. Anthony Petrusic issued a statement Thursday through his Omaha attorney Tim Kielty, denying the sexual abuse allegations reported last week.
"I am troubled that anyone would make such accusations," Petrusic's statement said.
Petrusic lives in Hollywood, Fla., and helped with Mass and other duties at St. Bernard's Catholic Church in Sunrise, Fla. While in Nebraska he served as pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul Parish in south Omaha from 1969 to 1988.
Officials of the Archdiocese of Miami said the 71-year-old Petrusic was removed from his duties in April after the Omaha Archdiocese reported the allegations. Church officials were investigating the claims.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/21/2002 11:44:13 AM PORTLAND (ME)
Emotions run high in talks with bishop
Portland Press Herald
By JOHN RICHARDSON
AUGUSTA — Ten men and women who say they were sexually abused by Catholic priests, and in many cases mistreated by church officials, got a long-awaited chance Thursday to tell their stories to Portland Bishop Joseph Gerry. The emotional private meeting lasted more than two hours and was the first time the leader of the Maine's Catholics sat down with a group of abuse victims from around the state. Some of the victims and family members, their eyes still red from crying, told news reporters afterward that the meeting was both healing and painful.
"It kind of brought everything back," said Christina James of Bangor, who blamed Gerry and other church leaders for attacking her in court after she reported that a priest molested her when she was 15.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/21/2002 11:19:05 AM

LOUISVILLE (KY)
Archbishop outlines anti-abuse initiatives
The Courier-Journal
By Deborah Yetter
dyetter@courier-journal.com
Louisville Catholic Archbishop Thomas C. Kelly announced yesterday that victims of sexual abuse by priests will be offered free counseling through the University of Louisville, and that an advisory board is being created to help him handle allegations of abuse.
John Laun, a Bullitt County lawyer and former judge, will be chairman of the committee, which will include two priests, Kelly said. Lynnie Meyers, president of the Center for Women and Families, also will serve on the board, he said, adding that he chose Laun and Meyers because of their experience with issues of abuse.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/21/2002 08:13:56 AM ORLANDO (FL)
Priest suspended in sex scandal went to work for Disney
Orlando Sentinel
By Mark I. Pinsky | Sentinel Staff Writer
A prominent Missouri priest, suspended in 1999 after allegations of sexual abuse of pre-pubescent girls and teens dating to 1971, found work at Walt Disney World -- until last week.
Hugh Behan, 63, was the longtime editor of the Catholic Missourian, the official newspaper of the Diocese of Jefferson City; chaplain to death-row inmates and the Missouri Legislature; and a television host.
Born in Ireland, he lives in Davenport in Polk County.
Behan "no longer works for the company," Disney spokesman Bill Warren said. "That's all I can share with you out of respect for his privacy."
posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/21/2002 07:51:18 AM

CONCORD (N.H.)
Stakes get higher for Law
Concord Monitor
Grand jury searches for possible criminal acts
By DENISE LAVOIE
BOSTON - A grand jury is looking into whether there is enough evidence to bring criminal charges against Cardinal Bernard Law and other church leaders in the sex scandal that has engulfed the Boston Archdiocese, a law enforcement source said yesterday.
The grand jury, convened by Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas Reilly, has been investigating for weeks whether the cardinal and other leaders broke the law by quietly shuffling priests accused of molesting children from parish to parish, where they still had contact with youngsters.
A law enforcement source who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed the grand jury investigation.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/21/2002 07:32:57 AM

NEW YORK (N.Y.)
GAY REV. DENIES RECTORY ROMPS
New York Post
By ADAM MILLER and DAN MANGAN
June 21, 2002 -- A gay priest accused of supporting a young go-go dancer lover with a Queens parish's funds spoke out for the first time yesterday, telling The Post the charges are "all lies."
"They're all lies," said the Rev. John Thompson through a friend, Richard Birmingham. "The truth will come out."
But lawyer Michael Dowd, who filed a $5 million suit that accuses Thompson of sexually harassing the principal of St. Elizabeth's Parish elementary school, said the lies are coming from Thompson's bosses in the Brooklyn Diocese and called for their resignation.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/21/2002 07:12:51 AM

NEW YORK (N.Y.)
ABUSED' SISTERS TO TESTIFY
New York Post
June 21, 2002 -- Suffolk County prosecutors have asked for grand-jury testimony from two sisters who claim they were molested as children thousands of times by a Long Island priest, The Post has learned.
One sister, Donna Nichols of East Northport, L.I., is expected to testify July 1 before the criminal grand jury probing molester priests and their oversight by the Diocese of Rockville Centre, said Nichols' lawyer, John Aretakis of Manhattan.
The Post yesterday reported that Nichols, 47, settled a suit in 2000 against the diocese. She had accused the Rev. Nicholas Unterstein, a now-defrocked priest, of molested her from the ages of 12 to 18.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/21/2002 07:10:26 AM

NEW YORK (N.Y.)
Rev. Backs Principal
In Lawsuit
Daily News
By MIKE CLAFFEY
Daily News Staff Writer
Queens parochial school principal who angered Catholic Church leaders by accusing a priest of looting school coffers to pay for a gay lover has won the backing of a prominent local Catholic educator.
"Your courage in stopping this outrage, even at the risk to your own employment, has taught all of your pupils a lesson they will long remember," the Rev. Richard Van Houten, president of Archbishop Molloy High School in Jamaica, wrote to Barbara Samide.
Van Houten went so far as to hint in the letter that he would come to Samide's rescue if she is ousted as principal of St. Elizabeth School in Ozone Park.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/21/2002 07:00:42 AM

LONG ISLAND (N.Y.)
Deal on Reporting Abuse
Newsday
By Jordan Rau and Dionne Searcey
ALBANY BUREAU
Albany - Clergy would be required to report child abuse by their peers to the authorities under a deal tentatively reached yesterday by lawmakers distressed at revelations about sexual abuse by Catholic priests.
Negotiations over the measure had been stalled for weeks, in part because Senate Republicans were reluctant to cross the Catholic Church so soon after the Senate broke with them over another bill requiring insurers to pay for prescription contraception.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/21/2002 06:54:40 AM

WORCESTER (Mass.)
Diocese's pocketbook is strained
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
By Bronislaus B. Kush
WORCESTER-- The Catholic Diocese of Worcester, struggling to cope with the clergy sexual abuse scandal that has rocked the church throughout the country, may also be facing a financial crisis that threatens many social service programs it oversees.
In a June 13 memo obtained by the Telegram & Gazette, Monsignor Edmond T. Tinsley warned diocesan department heads of “significant” revenue shortfalls that would severely affect the Bishop's Fund and the church's general budget.
The monsignor, the diocese's director of fiscal affairs, wrote that the shortfall could mean cutbacks or elimination of some services.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/21/2002 06:34:20 AM

BOSTON (Mass.)
Shanley indicted for abuses
Boston Herald
by Robin Washington and Tom Mashberg
The Rev. Paul R. Shanley, the one-time street priest jailed since May on charges of molesting a boy attending religion classes at a Newton church, was indicted yesterday on 16 counts of child abuse involving four boys under his charge.
The indictment, handed down by a Middlesex grand jury, includes 10 counts of child rape and six counts of indecent assault and battery on a minor, Middlesex District Attorney Martha Coakley said.
``The allegations involve situations where these young men are attending a weekly class, Father Shanley is the pastor at the time, (and) he asks for one or more of the students to come to assist him,'' Coakley said.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/21/2002 06:29:52 AM

BOSTON (Mass.)
Plaintiffs, archdiocese seek settlement in priest abuse cases
Boston Globe
By Denise Lavoie, Associated Press
BOSTON -- Tony Muzzi Jr. has some advice for alleged sexual abuse victims who are ready to sit down with officials from the Archdiocese of Boston to discuss settling claims against priests.
"Don't trust them," Muzzi said Thursday, a day after attorneys for 275 alleged victims said they would put their legal claims on hold for at least 30 days to try to work out an agreement with the archdiocese.
Muzzi is one of 86 alleged victims of defrocked priest John J. Geoghan. Their lawyer, Mitchell Garabedian, said Thursday he has no intention of joining the new settlement talks.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/21/2002 06:25:25 AM

Massachusetts Priest Indicted on Charges of Raping 4 Children
New York Times
By PAM BELLUCK
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., June 20 — The Rev. Paul R. Shanley, a central figure in the sexual abuse scandal of the Boston Archdiocese, was indicted today on charges of raping four children from 1979 to 1989, when he was the pastor at a church in suburban Newton.
The indictment charges Father Shanley with 10 counts of child rape and 6 counts of indecent assault and battery, in the abuse of four children who were taking Christian education classes at the church, said Martha Coakley, district attorney for Middlesex County, which includes Newton.
Ms. Coakley said the abuse "occurred for all of these victims over a time period" of years "with someone who was well liked and trusted by them." She said all four had been "attending a weekly class where Father Shanley was pastor at the time, and he asked for one or more of the children to come and talk with him, and that's when the victims allege the abuse would occur."
posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/21/2002 06:16:17 AM

Defrock abusers, most Catholics say
USA TODAY
By Janet Kornblum
U.S. Roman Catholics strongly support their church leaders' new policy of removing from public ministry priests who sexually abuse minors, a new poll says. But most want to go further, saying abusers should be removed from the priesthood entirely. U.S. Catholics also are nearly unanimous in saying that the pope should discipline bishops who let abusers remain in positions involving contact with minors.
posted by Jayson Landeza on 6/21/2002 05:48:13 AM

HONOLULU (HI)
Church may look into ex-Big Isle priest
Honolulu Advertiser
By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Staff Writer
Catholic Church officials say they are willing to look into allegations that a former Big Island priest molested boys some four decades ago, even though it is too late for criminal charges to be filed.
Glenn Gravela, a 50-year-old former altar boy, said he wants an apology from church officials for allegedly being sexually assaulted by a priest at Sacred Heart Church in Na'alehu when he was a fifth-grader.
Big Island police said yesterday that two others have filed reports with similar allegations against the priest since Gravela's story was published in the Hawaii Tribune-Herald Sunday.
posted by Jayson Landeza on 6/21/2002 05:36:18 AM

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Priest ousted in Missouri had been working at Disney World
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
By Patricia Rice
Post-Dispatch Religion Writer
A former Jefferson City priest who was dismissed from public ministry in 1999 in a sexual misconduct case has left his job as a greeter at Disney World in Orlando, Fla. — at least partly because of intervention from Jefferson City diocesan officials.
Disney officials say Hugh Behan, 63, left the job a week ago. For the past month Behan has been under investigation by the Osage County Sheriff's Department in a sexual abuse case involving a 10-year-old girl in 1983, said Sheriff Carl Fowler of Linn, Mo.
Bishop John Gaydos of Jefferson City dismissed Behan, a former editor of the Catholic Missourian, the Jefferson City diocesan newspaper, in January 1999 in connection with allegations of sexual misconduct with an 18-year-old woman, sources say.
posted by Jayson Landeza on 6/21/2002 05:27:47 AM

SAN JOSE (CA)
Police continue search of former priest's Truckee home
San Jose Mercury News
By Lisa Fernandez
Pinole police used sonar equipment Thursday to check underneath the Truckee garage of Stephen Kiesle, a convicted child molester and former priest who lives on the same street where an East Bay girl disappeared 14 years ago.
But after a day of searching at his vacation home about 30 miles away from Reno, police did not find evidence linking Kiesle, 55, to the disappearance of 7-year-old Amber Swartz, who was last seen skipping rope in her Pinole driveway in 1988.
posted by Jayson Landeza on 6/21/2002 05:13:41 AM

DETROIT (MI)
Evidence haunts 3 priests
Prosecutor says one may face sex abuse charges
Detroit Free Press
By Patricia Montemurri
Free Press Staff Writer
The Wayne County prosecutor said Thursday he has new evidence that three priests now working at Detroit-area parishes sexually abused minors years ago, despite earlier investigations by Catholic leaders that cleared them.
One of the priests could face prosecution, said Prosecutor Michael Duggan, while the other two priests can't be prosecuted because the alleged abuse happened decades ago and is beyond the statute of limitations.
posted by Jayson Landeza on 6/21/2002 05:08:39 AM

BOSTON (MA)
Shanley indicted on multiple new charges of child rape
Four alleged victims claim abuse by retired priest
Boston Globe
By Greg Sukiennik, Associated Press, 06/20/02
A central figure in the sex abuse scandal in the Boston Archdiocese was indicted Thursday on multiple counts of child rape and indecent assault for allegedly abusing four boys.
The allegations against the Rev. Paul Shanley span from 1979 to 1989, when he was at St. Jean's parish in Newton, a suburb of Boston. The indictment, the first against the retired priest, includes 10 counts of child rape and six counts of indecent assault and battery.
posted by Jayson Landeza on 6/21/2002 04:59:51 AM

HARTFORD (CT)
1 Strike And Out For City Priest?
Diocese Studying Effect Of Bishops' New Policy On Paturzo's Future
Hartford Courant
By Matt Burgard, Courant Staff Writer
After 20 years as a well-known activist priest on the streets of Hartford, the Rev. Louis Paturzo has been barred from any type of ministry as fallout from the sexual abuse crisis now gripping the Catholic church.
His future is on hold because of his past. Having placed Paturzo, 54, on indefinite administrative leave last month, the Archdiocese of Hartford is now trying to sort out how to interpret a "one strike" policy adopted last week by a conference of U.S. bishops.
The priest, widely hailed for his contributions to easing gang tensions on city streets, acknowledged last month that he has been the subject of at least two complaints accusing him of improperly touching teenage boys in the late 1970s and early 1980s in Waterbury and Hamden.
posted by Jayson Landeza on 6/21/2002 04:39:44 AM

DENVER (CO)
Bishops can opt to name priests
Group weighs in on sex-abuse policy
Denver Post
By Virginia Culver
Denver Post Religion Writer
Friday, June 21, 2002 - "It is up to the bishop" of each diocese to decide whether to publicly release the names of priests being investigated for sex abuse against minors, an official with a bishops group said Thursday.
Monsignor Francis Maniscalco, spokesman for the U.S. Conference of Bishops in Washington, D.C., was referring to dioceses' actions following the group's adoption of a sex-abuse policy last week.
Maniscalco said the nation's nearly 300 bishops aren't required to report to the conference how they are conforming to the new sex-abuse policy they adopted last week. The conference has no control over bishops.
Officials with the Pueblo and Cheyenne dioceses say they each have one retired priest who is being investigated for sex abuse. They have declined to release the priests' names to the media.
Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput and Colorado Springs Bishop Richard Hanifen say there are no priests in their dioceses who are alleged abusers.
posted by Jayson Landeza on 6/21/2002 04:35:28 AM

CLEVELAND (OH)
New lawsuit says priest who killed self abused many
Cleveland Plain Dealer
By John F. Hagan
The Cleveland-area Catholic priest who killed himself in March improperly touched 40 or more children at one city church in the mid-1980s and the diocese failed to stop him, a woman claimed in a lawsuit yesterday.
The 25-year-old woman, identified only as "Jane Doe," sued the Cleveland Catholic Diocese, claiming it had been told that the Rev. Donald Rooney fondled another student before he groped her.
She said Rooney molested altar boys and altar girls in the basement of St. Patrick Catholic Church on Rocky River Drive.
posted by Jayson Landeza on 6/21/2002 04:27:27 AM

SAN DIEGO (CA)
Diocese continues to release information to civil authorities
San Diego Union-Tribune
By Susan Gembrowski and Sandi Dolbee
Union-Tribune Staff Writers
After announcing that 23 priests have been accused of sexually abusing children since 1990, the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego is continuing to turn over the information to civil authorities for review and possible prosecution.
"We are doing the utmost to protect the identities of the people who brought these claims forward, but in accordance with the bishops' resolution in Dallas, we are striving for a policy that is more open, more transparent, more actively cooperative with law enforcement," Alexandra Kelly, the diocese's attorney, said yesterday.
Five cases will go to the Imperial County District Attorney's Office and the rest have been turned over to San Diego County, Kelly said. The diocese covers both counties.
posted by Jayson Landeza on 6/21/2002 04:13:17 AM

LOS ANGELES
Stronger Clergy Sex-Abuse Board Getting Started in L.A. Archdiocese
Los Angeles Times
By Teresa Watanabe, Times Staff Writer
A newly strengthened clergy misconduct review board vowed Thursday to rid the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles of any priest who sexually preys on children.
Board members, some of whom were formally introduced Thursday by Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, include a sexual-abuse survivor, parents of young children, mental-health professionals, attorneys, a priest and a nun.
posted by Jayson Landeza on 6/21/2002 04:01:56 AM

LOS ANGELES
New board to deal with clergy misconduct
Los Angeles Daily News
By Rick Orlov
Responding to the church's widening sexual abuse scandal, Cardinal Roger Mahony announced on Thursday the creation of an oversight board with broadened powers to deal with misconduct by clergy.
The 13-member Clergy Misconduct Oversight Board, chosen mainly from the laity, will deal with all accusations of misconduct involving Roman Catholic clergy members in Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. It will replace the archdiocese's Sexual Abuse Advisory Board and will have broader authority to make recommendations to Mahony.
posted by Jayson Landeza on 6/21/2002 03:51:47 AM

Thursday, June 20, 2002

SAN FRANCISCO (Calif.)
Cops return to ex-priest's property for sonar search San Francisco Chronicle
Jim Herron Zamora, Chronicle Staff Writer
Pinole police renewed their search today of the Truckee vacation property owned by a defrocked priest accused of molestation, looking for the remains of two girls reported missing in Northern California.
Police were combing the property of Stephen Kiesle with sophisticated sonar equipment recommended by the FBI.
Kiesle, who lives in Pinole, is already charged with molesting five children 25 to 30 years ago when he was a priest, but is now being investigated in the 1988 disappearance of 7-year-old Amber Swartz Garcia.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/20/2002 06:59:03 PM

ATHOL (Mass.)
Father Messier supporters will meet Thursday night
Brighto
Parishioners and supporters of Father Ray Messier will meet Thursday night at 7PM in the parish hall of St. Francis of Assisi Church on Main Street. The purpose of the meeting is to begin to draft questions for Bishop Daniel Reilly who will be conducting a mass at the church in the near future. Questions will be fielded from attendees and a list of concise questions will be forwarded for answering.
Members of the church are also in the process of establishing a fund to help Father Messier with his attorney costs. Father Messier is fighting an allegation of sexual abuse of a child back in the 1980's. The child who would now be in his 30's has not openly accused the priest and the child's mother through a Boston attorney announced the allegation. Messier is paying for his own attorney to clear his name.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/20/2002 06:44:25 PM

THE WEB
Understanding the bishops' meeting and their new charter on sex abuse.
Beliefnet
After two days marked by extraordinary speeches and fierce debate, the U.S. Catholic bishops approved a tougher policy on clergy sexual abuse (read excerpts). The bishops voted overwhelmingly to forbid pedophile priests from ever again acting as clerics, but stopped short of expelling them from the priesthood. While some welcome the new Charter as a "compassionate compromise," critics say the policy doesn't go far enough.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/20/2002 06:40:22 PM

THE WEB
One is rooted in hierarchy, in the virtue of tradition; the other believes in democracy, and the virtue of sharing power.
Beliefnet
By Deborah Caldwell
In the aftermath of the Dallas conference of bishops, it's now clear: there are two kinds of American Catholic bishops, and they divide more or less into two camps, with each group emphasizing a different philosophy and style.
The first type advocates the virtues of ancient, unchanging truths, not the latest PR or pop culture styles. In general, such bishops were appointed by Pope John Paul II, not for their public leadership qualities but for their ability to manage church structure. These bishops' primary loyalty is to the church, which means that, in a way, they view priests as their "children."
The other type of bishop believes in participatory democracy, that the church is a community of equals. This type of bishop is oriented toward the virtues of the 21st century, with its messy way of working out truth. Some of these bishops were appointed by Pope Paul VI, in the wake of the Second Vatican Council, at a time when "social justice" and "pastoral ministry" were buzzwords in Catholicism. Others have backgrounds in parish life, or are used to dealing with the public.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/20/2002 06:34:29 PM

BOSTON (Mass.)
Shanley indicted on multiple new charges of child rape
Boston Globe
By Greg Sukiennik, Associated Press
CAMBRIDGE -- A central figure in the church sex abuse scandal in the Boston archdiocese was indicted Thursday on multiple counts of child rape and indecent assault for allegedly abusing four boys.
The allegations against the Rev. Paul Shanley span from 1979 to 1989, when he was at St. Jean's parish in Newton, a suburb of Boston. The indictment, the first against Shanley, includes 10 counts of child rape and six counts of indecent assault and battery.
Shanley, 71, has been jailed since May when he was arrested and returned from California to face three counts of child rape. He has pleaded innocent and was being held on $300,000 bail.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/20/2002 06:24:02 PM

LONGVIEW (TX)
Some Bishops Angry at Cardinal Law
The News-Journal
By RACHEL ZOLL
AP Religion Writer
As his archdiocese restarts negotiations with alleged sex abuse victims and works to implement a new clerical molestation policy, Boston Cardinal Bernard Law also faces discontent from fellow bishops.
Law apologized to his colleagues for his role in the national abuse crisis during a closed-door session at last week's Dallas summit. Yet some came away from the meeting saying they were disappointed with him and one prelate, Bishop Joseph Imesch of Joliet, Ill., suggested Law resign--although he says he now profoundly regrets making the statement.
In an interview with Boston's WBZ-TV on Saturday, the final day of the bishops' Dallas meeting, Imesch said he felt Law should step down.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/20/2002 05:11:46 PM

SYRACUSE (N.Y.)
Ex-pastor indicted on sex-abuse charges
The Post-Standard
By Jim O'Hara
Staff writer
The former pastor of Liverpool Baptist Church was indicted Wednesday on charges he sexually molested three children over the last several years.
Assistant Onondaga County District Attorney Matthew Doran said the charges relating to two of the victims grew out of a sheriff's department investigation that expanded after David L. Gardiner, 42, of 122 Corkins Lane, Salina, was arrested May 1 and accused of molesting a 9-year-old girl. Those children are a boy, now 10, and a girl, now 8, according to the indictment.
Gardiner was familiar with those two through their families, Doran said. None of the incidents alleged to have occurred resulted from any church activities, the prosecutor said. Gardiner had been pastor of the independent Liverpool Baptist Church for about three years until he was fired by church leaders last month after his arrest.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/20/2002 05:02:23 PM ALBANY (N.Y.)
Bill to require clergy to report abuse cases
Times-Union
By JAMES M. ODATO and DEBORAH MARTINEZ, Staff writers
The Senate and Assembly appear close to a deal on a measure that would add clergy to the list of professionals required to report child abuse to authorities, according to several sources.
However, the deal remained tentative Wednesday as lawmakers and Gov. George Pataki's office awaited review of draft bills that were to incorporate 10 key points.
"We're optimistic this will get done,'' said Pataki spokesman Joseph Conway.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/20/2002 03:39:36 PM
CHICAGO (Ill.)
Sex abuse files may be unsealed
Chicago Sun-Times
Sealed court files detailing how the Joliet Catholic Diocese handled sexual abuse allegations against its priests may be opened to the public as soon as Friday. Will County Judge Herman Haase ordered most of the documents, which date from a 1993 lawsuit, unsealed in response to a petition by Joliet attorney Keith Aeschliman. Names of victims and their parents will be crossed out. Aeschliman, who filed the original suit and settled it out of court, said the documents will show how the diocese protected priests accused of abusing children. The diocese argued against unsealing the documents, saying it wanted to protect the privacy of the victims. Their release could be delayed if an appeal of Haase's decision is filed.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/20/2002 12:33:47 PM

CHICAGO (Ill.)
2 at desk jobs on archdiocese abuse case list
Church confirms identity of 3 of 8 priests reviewed
Chicago Tribune
By Todd Lighty and Monica Davey
Tribune staff reporters
The Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago confirmed Wednesday that three priests--one at a hospital and two at church desk jobs--are among eight clerics whose old sexual misconduct cases are being re-evaluated under a new national child sex-abuse policy adopted by U.S. Catholic bishops last week in Dallas.
The priests--James Ray, Thomas Swade and Richard Bartz--were removed from parish ministry in the 1980s and 1990s after allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced, according to church officials.
All three have been involved in limited ministry since, said James Dwyer, spokesman for the archdiocese.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/20/2002 12:20:16 PM

CHICAGO (Ill.)
Judge to unseal files on priests' abuse
Chicago Tribune
JOLIET -- A Will County judge ruled Wednesday to unseal several court files containing information about sexual abuse by priests that the Catholic Diocese of Joliet has fought to keep hidden from public view for nine years.
Judge Herman Haase cited 1st Amendment rights in granting public access to many of the documents that were sealed as part of a 1993 lawsuit against a former Joliet diocese priest.The ruling will open correspondence of Bishop Joseph Imesch, other church officials and Catholics who were troubled by the sexually abusive behavior of some priests.
But the judge denied access to many court depositions, ruling that victims, priests and other people interviewed by lawyers during the 1993 lawsuit against the diocese and Rev. Lawrence Gibbs testified with the understanding that their statements would be kept confidential under the protective order.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/20/2002 12:13:23 PM

PORTLAND (ME)
Maine's bishop keeping low profile
Portland Press Herald
By KEVIN WACK Associated Press Writer,
PORTLAND — The signal came from the Vatican in 1986. Church officials wanted the Rev. Joseph Gerry, a longtime monk, teacher and college administrator, to leave his monastery for a high-level diocesan post.
Gerry agonized over the offer. He was concerned about church politics, and later compared leaving St. Anselm, the Manchester, N.H., college and monastery where he had lived for most of his adult life, to the death of a loved one.
Yet in the end he took the job out of obedience...
On Thursday, the leader of Maine's Roman Catholics will meet for the first time with a group of abuse victims. At Gerry's insistence, the listening session will be held behind closed doors.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/20/2002 09:12:05 AM

MANCHESTER (N.H.)
7 new suits allege
abuse by priests
The Union Leader
Seven more lawsuits — five filed yesterday and two last week — bring the number of alleged victims of sexual abuse by priests to about 90 individuals who are accusing the Roman Catholic Church in New Hampshire of failing to protect them as young parishioners from sexual predators.
Two plaintiffs, one going by the name John Doe No. 22 and the other John Doe No. 23, are alleging the Rev. Edward Richard molested them while they were asleep, according to their lawyer Mark A. Abramson.
Richard was placed on administrative leave in April after it was disclosed that the Merrimack police were investigating him in connection with allegations by three individuals.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/20/2002 09:00:51 AM

NEW YORK (N.Y.)
SISTERS SAY ABUSED THEM
New York Post
By DAN MANGAN
Long Island's Catholic diocese is being threatened with a lawsuit by a woman who says the priest who allegedly sexually abused her sister for years also molested her as a child.
"It started when I was 12. There were six years of this, and over 1,000 acts of sexual abuse upon myself," said Darlene LoSordo, 45, of Saint James, L.I.
LoSordo and her sister, Donna Nichols, say they were separately - often several times a week - abused as children in the late 1960s and early 1970s by the Rev. Nicholas Unterstein, who had worked for the Diocese of Rockville Centre.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/20/2002 08:19:39 AM

LONG ISLAND (NY)
SUIT'S SORDID SAGA OF GAY REV. & GO-GO TEEN
By DAN MANGAN
New York Post
A gay Catholic priest looted his working-class Queens parish by playing "sugar daddy" to an 18-year-old go-go dancer who lived with him in a church rectory, a shocking lawsuit charged yesterday.
Among other allegations, the suit says the Rev. John Thompson looted $14,000 from a candy drive - and bragged he was untouchable because "he could bring down half the [Brooklyn] diocese with what he knew" about other gay priests.
"As long as Tommy V.D.D. [Brooklyn Bishop Thomas V. Daily] is around, nothing will happen to me," Thompson reportedly crowed.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/20/2002 08:17:25 AM

LONG ISLAND (N.Y.)
DA Pushes Tough Stand On ADA Pushes Tough Stand On Abuse
Newsday
By Carol Eisenberg
Staff Writer
Armed with a grand jury report contending that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York protected priests accused of sexual abuse, Westchester County District Attorney Jeanine Pirro yesterday called on prosecutors around the state to mount a lobbying campaign to make it a crime to allow known sex abusers access to children.
Pirro's effort builds on a grand jury report released Tuesday, which slammed the archdiocese for past decisions not to bring sex abuse allegations to civil authorities even after receiving multiple complaints against a priest.

Wednesday Evening Update

Ask and You Shall Receive
Poynter.org
By Roy Peter Clark
As we search for the salvation of newspapers, maybe it's time to learn something from our upstart cousin in the new media world. Their buzz word is "interactivity," geek-speak for "ask and you shall receive." Newspapers are still stuck on the one way street of "if you build it, they will come."
That is one important lesson I've learned from writing a brief column on charitable giving and the crisis in the Catholic Church. Should I fulfill my pledge of money to the bishop's building fund? Should I withhold it as a conscientious act of protest? Should I redirect it to another charity?
These questions were not rhetorical. Nor were they designed to produce an effect. I was facing a range of choices and needed help in reaching a decision. That was the key: I asked readers what they thought I should do.
I asked. And boy did I receive. About one message for each word in the original column. About 450 missives arrived, most via e-mail, the rest in traditional letters and a few phone calls. The first call came from the bishop.

posted by Bill Mitchell on 6/19/2002 10:04:31 PM

Priest charged with youth sex assault
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Father Marvin Knighton, a priest and consultant to the Milwaukee Catholic Archdiocese office of youth and child ministry, was charged Tuesday with the second-degree sexual assault of a youth. The alleged incidents occurred in 1988 and 1989.
In the past, Knighton worked at area private and public high schools, including Pius XI, where the accuser was a student. Knighton has three adopted sons, two of whom are grown.
posted by Tom Fox on 6/19/2002 09:49:03 AM

WILMINGTON (Del.)
Bishop asks lay Catholics to help
The News Journal
By STEVEN CHURCH AND LAURA UNGAR
Staff reporters
The Catholic Diocese in Wilmington will create a panel of lay Catholics to help church officials implement a new policy on priests who sexually abuse children, Bishop Michael A. Saltarelli announced Tuesday.
The nation's bishops adopted a policy in Dallas last week requiring any priest who has ever molested a child to be removed from the active ministry. The policy came in response to allegations that some bishops have moved priests accused of molesting children from parish to parish and have covered up their crimes.
Church officials here have said that in the past, some incidents of abuse were not reported to civil authorities. Instead, priests accused of molesting children were sent to psychiatric facilities and reassigned if they were determined to be well.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 6/19/2002 09:13:27 AM