Responses to Current Issues: The Clergy Sex Abuse Scandal
MEDIA
Responses to Current Issues: The Clergy Sex Abuse Scandal
MEDIA
click
here for Media coverage April 16, 2002 and later
APRIL 15
Many faithful demand voice in future
of Catholic Church - Boston Herald
Parishioners and protesters at the first Sunday Masses following
Bernard Cardinal Law's announcement he would not resign mulled
the hierarchical structure that allows him to remain despite the
disapproval of many rank-and-file Catholics.
Outside the lightly attended service at the Cathedral of the
Holy Cross - skipped by Law, who is said to be meeting with victims
and secluded in prayer - protesters called for Law's resignation
and a greater role by the laity in shaping church leadership.
http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/chur04152002.htm
Airman quits to confront priest over abuse
- AP
PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. - A man who says he was sexually
abused over a three-year period as a boy is leaving military service
to confront the Boston-area priest he alleges is responsible.
Paul Busa, 24, an Air Force military policeman has filed a
lawsuit against the Rev. Paul Shanley, accusing the Roman Catholic
priest of sexually abusing him in the 1980s, the Gazette of Colorado
Springs reported yesterday.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/105/metro/Airman_quits_to_confront_priest_over_abuse+.shtml
Careful balance on abuse - Boston Globe
Editorial
SQUABBLING BETWEEN the Massachusetts House and Senate should not
delay passage of a bill to require that priests and other members
of the clergy report allegations of sexual abuse perpetrated against
young people. The version approved by the Senate ought to offer
guidance as legislative leaders devise a final bill that should
be quickly sent to the governor for her signature.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/105/editorials/Careful_balance_on_abuse+.shtml
Bridgeport diocese in alleged coverup -
AP
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - A Roman Catholic priest accused of sexually
assaulting a boy was allowed to continue at his post in the Bridgeport
Diocese for more than a year after the allegations became known,
the Connecticut Post reported yesterday.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/105/metro/Bridgeport_diocese_in_alleged_coverup+.shtml
Polish Catholics suffer a shock - Boston
Globe
KRAKOW, Poland - In the bad old days, when the Roman Catholic
Church in Poland was under constant assault from the Communist
regime, the faithful viewed the struggle as a badge of honor and
proof of their virtue. Today the church is finding its honor and
virtue challenged as never before.
...The calls for change gained momentum early this month as
new evidence surfaced that church officials knew about Paetz's
behavior for years, but failed to intervene. Particularly disturbing
for Poles was the fact that it was not the church itself that
stepped in first to protect the young seminarians from an abusive
archbishop, but the country's fledgling free press.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/105/nation/Polish_Catholics_suffer_a_shock+.shtml
Worshipers separate church and faith - Boston
Globe
Some parishioners came to church early. They skirted past pickets,
past TV cameras, past difficult questions. And they prayed.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/105/metro/Worshipers_separate_church_and_faith+.shtml
Pope Calls Meeting on Sex Scandal - AP
ROME (AP) - Pope John Paul II has summoned American cardinals
to the Vaticanfor an extraordinary meeting to talk about sex abuse
scandals in the U.S. church.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&ncid=716&e=4&u=/ap/20020415/ap_on_re_eu/vatican_church_abuse
Professor urges laity to step up - Chicago
Tribune
BOSTON -- Despite Cardinal Bernard Law's insistence that he will
stay on as Boston's archbishop, a Harvard University professor
is calling on mainstream Roman Catholics to demand Law's resignation
and withhold donations to the archdiocese until it listens to
the voices of the laity.
Although she supports progressive organizations such as Call
to Action and Women's Ordination Conference, which have long pushed
for a stronger role for the laity, Bane believes such groups are
"too easily dismissed" by church officials.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0204150226apr15.story
St. Augustine Pastor Denounces Priests Who
Prey On Children - Hartford Courant
Urges Flock To Keep Faith In `Confusing, Difficult Times'
http://www.ctnow.com/news/local/hc-bridgeport0415.artapr15.story?coll=hc%2Dheadlines%2Dlocal
Third archbishop accused of hiding abuse
by clergy - The Guardian (UK)
Another American archbishop was implicated yesterday in the child
abuse scandal that is devastating the Catholic church in the US.
Rembert Weakland, the Archbishop of Milwaukee, is the third
most senior clergyman to be accused of having suppressed information
about abuse cases.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,684487,00.html
ALLEGATION'S AFTERMATH: Priest's absence
haunts church - Detroit Free Press
Uncertainty fluttered through St. Suzanne Catholic Church as parishioners
sat waiting for a recent Sunday mass.
Their pastor, the Rev. Dennis Duggan, had been removed because
of an allegation of sexual misconduct against him. His substitute,
the Rev. Kevin O'Brien, was away on a golf outing.
http://www.freep.com/news/religion/cope15_20020415.htm
THE ATLANTA FLOCK: For Catholics, faith
outweighs scandal -Atlanta Journal-Constitution
But Lopez's mind was not on the crowded pews, the crying babies
or the classically elegant surroundings. He was thinking about
the scandal of sexual misconduct and cover-up that has spread
across the Catholic Church.
http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/epaper/editions/today/news_c3aba773a4a5f14f006f.html
Archbishop's sermon focuses on abuse claims
against priest - Seattle Times
Seattle Archbishop Alex Brunett delivered a spirited homily yesterday
to beleaguered parishioners at Seattle's Immaculate Conception
Church, whose former pastor stands accused of sexual abuse.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/134436686_catholicreact15m0.html
Archdiocese fought hard in court - The Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel
Church aided victims, but records show it also sought legal costs'"
In the early 1990s, even as the Archdiocese of Milwaukee was
getting credit for an innovative program to help heal the wounds
of sexual abuse by priests, the archdiocese continued to play
legal hardball with some victims. Archdiocesan lawyers put victims
and their families through lengthy depositions, moved to collect
legal costs from the plaintiffs and sought to place some case
files under seal to protect them from public scrutiny."
http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/apr02/35324.asp
Catholics urge youths to talk about scandal
- St Louis Post-Dispatch
Throughought the region, St. Louis Catholics are encouraging children
to talk about what one priest calls the "spotted elephant
in the living room" - the scandal of priests sexually abusing
minors.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/News/1335C6587E7507CA86256B9C000BE0FF?OpenDocument&Headline=Catholics%20urge%20youths%20to%20talk%20about%20scandal
Bishop Orders Diocesan Review Of Priests
- Tampa Tribune
St. PETERSBURG - While refusing to give law enforcement officials
files containing allegations of sexual abuse, Bishop Robert Lynch
has ordered his own internal review of all his priests.
http://www.tampatrib.com/MGAKV8TQ10D.html
Protesters, Not Cardinal, Show Up for Mass
- New York Times
Cardinal Bernard F. Law broke with his usual practice and did
not say Mass in the Cathedral of the Holy Cross here today, as
protesters stood outside demanding he resign or even go to jail
after years of retaining priests accused of sexual abuse.
It was the first time in memory, parishioners and clergy members
here say, that the cardinal has missed Sunday Mass at the cathedral,
his home church, when he was not traveling or ill.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/15/national/15BOST.html
Sent to California on Sick Leave, Boston
Priest Bought Racy Gay Resort - New York Times
When Boston church officials granted the Rev. Paul R. Shanley
a medical leave 12 years ago and allowed him to move here, they
saw it as a chance for him to heal various physical ailments,
primarily allergies, in the desert air, and to do a little pastoral
work if and when he was well enough.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/15/national/15CALI.html
Parish Makes Peace With Sins of the Father
- New York Times
EVANSVILLE, Ind. Each weekday before noon, the people line up
outside the confessional at Holy Trinity Church in this river
city's timeworn downtown, bursting with sin.
They come not just because Holy Trinity is the only church
in the area to offer the sacrament of reconciliation daily. They
come because behind the confessional's wooden door sits the Rev.
Jean Vogler, an admitted sex addict who spent 10 months in federal
prison for possession of child pornography in 1996. Knowing his
sins makes it easier to share theirs.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/15/national/15PAST.html
Mounting a Defense Tough for Church - AP
When molestation claims against Roman Catholic priests first made
their way into the courts, plaintiffs were sometimes asked questions
such as "Did you enjoy the sex?"
Victims' parents were countersued, accused of negligence for
allowing their child to be alone with an errant clergyman. In
a few cases, private investigators dug through trash to get evidence
to discredit the accuser.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020415/ap_on_re_us/church_abuse_defense_1
Accused Priest Still Serves In KC Diocese
- KMBC
The Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph now admits that
a retired priest accused of sexual child abuse is still active
in the diocese, KMBC reported.
Church officials said that priest is in a role that does not
put children at risk.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/kmbc/20020415/lo/1162665_1.html
Couple: Priest Sexually Assaulted Our Twin
Boys - WXII
The Catholic Diocese in Charlotte paid damages to a Boone couple
who said a priest sexually abused their sons
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/wxii/20020415/lo/1162694_1.html
Faith not shaken by scandal, suburban Catholics
say - Daily Herald
Roman Catholic priests wear a white collar as a subtle way to
identify themselves as ministers in a community, but these days
the uniform stands out like a scarlet letter.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/cdh/20020415/lo/faith_not_shaken_by_scandal_suburban_catholics_say_1.html
Priest accused of sex abuse named - Allentown
Morning Call
The Allentown Catholic Diocese this weekend identified a Pottsville
priest the diocese believes sexually abused a minor more than
20 years ago.
In a letter read to St. Patrick parishioners at the end of
Masses Saturday and Sunday, Bishop Edward Cullen said Monsignor
William E. Jones of St. Patrick Church had been dismissed because
of a credible allegation that surfaced last week.
http://www.mcall.com/news/yahoo/all-a1_5priestapr15.story
The Church Kept His Secret - Newsday
His accusers hounded the church, threatening to go public with
the fact that an abusive priest held a managerial job at Leo House,
a Catholic hostel in Manhattan where children sometimes stayed.
But Roman Catholic officials in Boston and New York allowed
the Rev. Paul Shanley to stay in his managerial job there for
more than two years, from 1995 to 1997, assuring themselves that
he was properly supervised, according to more than 800 pages of
internal church documents released last week in a lawsuit against
Shanley.
http://www.newsday.com/news/yahoo/ny-nyshanvr2669003apr15.story?coll=ny%2Dnewsaol%2Dheadlines
Church's reformers helped hide its tawdry
past - USA Today
What American Catholics want, by a three to one margin in several
recent polls, is the prompt resignation of bishops and cardinals
who covered up for sex-predator priests.
What they're getting instead is a new policy on sex abuse written
by some of the very church leaders who are accused of betraying
Catholic believers.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/usatoday/20020415/cm_usatoday/4026790
Lawyers: More Abuse Victims Surface - AP
BOSTON (AP) - More than 450 people have come forward claiming
they were sexually abused by Boston-area priests as a widening
scandal engulfs the nation's fourth-largest Roman Catholic diocese,
lawyers said.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020415/ap_on_re_us/church_abuse_118
Catholic conference will address abuse scandals
- Jacksonville Times-Union
Subject will come up in workshop
Organizers of a national Catholic leadership conference being
held this week in Jacksonville said there was no time to include
a forum to address the national scandal involving Catholic priests
molesting children.
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/041602/met_9152601.html
Hallinan's wild reach - San Francisco Chronicle
COMPARE TWO approaches to investigating sex abuse in the local
Catholic Church. Most Bay Area district attorneys are taking it
seriously but judiciously, working with church leaders and victims
to see which allegations deserve prosecution.
Not San Francisco District Attorney Terence Hallinan. He wants
to pore over 75 years of records in a legal Dumpster-dive that
promises confusion, cost and politics. He should reconsider the
scope of his inquiry and clarify his strategy.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/04/15/ED83605.DTL
Priests: Sex no longer a taboo topic in
seminaries - Cincinnati Enquirer
Scandals have changed the way priests are chosen and trained
http://enquirer.com/editions/2002/04/15/loc_priests_sex_no.html
U.S. church leadership to meet in Rome on
clergy sex abuse crisis - Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The clergy sex abuse crisis in the U.S. Catholic
Church took a new turn April 15 as it was revealed that the Vatican
scheduled a Rome summit on the issue with U.S. cardinals and top
officers of the bishops' conference.
They were to be in Rome April 22-25 to meet with Pope John
Paul II and top Vatican officials.
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/20020415.htm
Cardinal: U.S. Catholics will respond to
financial need from scandal - Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A top Vatican official said church openness
is the key to retaining U.S. Catholics' financial support amid
a growing sex abuse scandal. "I am convinced that if you
explain the need to the people, they will respond," said
U.S. Cardinal Edmund C. Szoka, president of the commission that
governs the Vatican City State. "You have nothing to fear
with telling the truth. If there's a financial problem, tell them.
Tell them the truth. And they will respond," said the cardinal,
who served nine years as archbishop of Detroit before his Vatican
posting.
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/briefs/cns/20020415.htm#head10
Celibacy and the Priesthood - Religion &
Ethics Newsweekly
R & E correspondent Lucky Severson talks to proponents and
opponents of priesthood celibacy, including Tim Higgins, a former
priest now married with children, who serves as a chaplain at
a correctional institution in Portland, Maine. Higgins says he
loved the priesthood, but the desire to come home to a partner
became just as big as time went on. He believes that allowing
priests to marry makes them more in tune with the needs of their
parishioners. Severson also talks to Father John McCloskey, director
of the Catholic Information Center, who feels that the tradition
of celibacy in the priesthood should never be changed. "The
Catholic Church will not and cannot change its traditional teachings
and disciplines," says McCloskey, "simply because of
a particular moment and a particular time in a particular country."
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week532/cover.html
Crisis in the Catholic Church - Religion
& Ethics Newsweekly
RELIGION & ETHICS NEWSWEEKLY host Bob Abernethy continues
our discussion on the Catholic Church with Peter Steinfels, columnist
for THE NEW YORK TIMES. Abernethy talks to Steinfels about the
latest news regarding the Church, including the status of Boston's
embattled Cardinal Bernard Law, and Steinfels' recent article
("The Church's Sex-Abuse Crisis") in the April 19 issue
of COMMONWEAL, which analyzes the crisis in the Church and calls
for changes to overcome it.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week532/perspectives.html
Some see Chicago's policy as one to emulate
- USA Today
The Archdiocese of Chicago is often held up as a model for dealing
with allegations of sexual abuse of young people by priests. Chicago's
procedures were established in 1993 by Cardinal Joseph Bernardin,
the leader of the archdiocese until his death in 1996. Bernardin,
the first cardinal to develop such comprehensive procedures, was
himself accused of sexual abuse in 1993 by a man who later recanted
his charges.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2002/04/16/catholic-side.htm
Of Many Things - America Magazine
Suddenly everyone is an expert on celibacy. Suddenly everyone
is an expert on the priesthood. Suddenly everyone is an expert
on gay priests. Or more accurately, suddenly everyone is happy
to talk about the Catholic Church, no matter how little they know
about Catholicism.
http://www.americamagazine.org/gettext.cfm?textID=1722&articleTypeID=23&UUID=3287&
Editorial: Punishing the Church - America
Magazine Editorial
The desire to punish is human. But punishing the wrong people
is wrong. The church is not just the bishops; it is the people
in the pews. There are no deep pockets with unlimited funds. Churches
depend on the small weekly contributions from their congregations.
Punishing the church means punishing the people of God and those
they serve. Justice demands that we find another way.
http://www.americamagazine.org/gettext.cfm?articleTypeID=3&textID=1725&issueID=369
The Catholic Church and Child Sexual Abuse
- America Magazine
When complex situations are given simplistic understandings and
simplistic solutions, people will inevitably be hurt. The phenomenon
of child sexual abuse, in the priesthood and in society at large,
is a complex issue that does not admit of simple understandings
or simple solutions. It is important that we examine the issue
in greater depth; otherwise the church and society will not only
repeat past mistakes but also make new mistakes in response. Most
important, without a more informed understanding and a more reasoned
response, children will be no safer and may, inadvertently, be
placed at even greater risk.
http://www.americamagazine.org/gettext.cfm?articleTypeID=1&textID=1721&issueID=369
Can the Church Be Healed? - America Magazine
In recent weeks, dioceses all across the United States have re-examined
their policies on clergy misconduct, as priests across the country
have been removed from parish duty because of their derelictions.
Media coverage of these events has encouraged the faithful to
wonder and to question.
http://www.americamagazine.org/gettext.cfm?articleTypeID=1&textID=1724&issueID=369
Priest Pedophiles - America Magazine
Studies in the area of sexuality and psychosexual development
have demonstrated that there are five basic sexual orientations:
http://www.americamagazine.org/gettext.cfm?articleTypeID=1&textID=1730&issueID=369
Cardinal Sin - The New Republic
In America, somebody has to personalize a story before it becomes
alive in the culture. When it comes to the crisis of sexual abuse
in the Catholic clergy, that person is Bernard Cardinal Law, the
archbishop of Boston. Late last week, Law re-affirmed his decision
not to resign his office but to continue "to serve this Archdiocese
and the whole Church with every fiber of [his] being." In
so doing, he managed not only to duck responsibility for his own
actions. He also demonstrated himself not yet capable of recognizing--let
alone rectifying--the deep institutional problems within the Church
that created this crisis in the first place.
http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=express&s=winters041502
APRIL 14
Church has ever ignored most of us - Detroit
Free Press Opinion
I'm fairly confident that despite loud banging of drums this week
for his resignation, Bernard Law will still be the Cardinal of
Boston today.
I say this because the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church
has always prided itself on ignoring public opinion.
http://www.freep.com/news/metro/ager14_20020414.htm
The Cross and the Cover-up - Los Angeles
Times Opinion
NEW YORK -- I am both a Catholic and a victim of sexual abuse.
So each day's news of lawsuits, cover-ups and sexual accusations
against priests is like a slap. How could this have happened in
my church? And once it did, how could so many of our leaders respond
to reports of abuse by trying to bury them?
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-000026638apr14.story?coll=la%2Dnews%2Dcomment%2Dopinions
Losing faith - San Francisco Chronicle
How the Catholic Church's stance on sexuality and scandal has
shaped the paths of three current and former priests
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2002/04/14/MN150915.DTL
Mission Viejo Priest Removed on 1978 Claim
- Los Angeles Times
St. Kilian parishioners stunned at announcement of abuse investigation
against Father Tom Naughton.
A Jesuit priest assigned to a Mission Viejo Catholic church
has been removed temporarily from his duties while church officials
investigate a claim that he molested a child more than two decades
ago in Texas, diocesan officials said late Saturday.
http://www.latimes.com/editions/orange/la-000026486apr14.story?coll=la%2Deditions%2Dorange
Endangered Authority - Washington Post Opinion
WHETHER THE Roman Catholic Church should rethink mandatory celibacy
for priests or admit women to the priesthood -- those are questions
that the church hierarchy and its laity may or may not wish to
consider. They are strictly the business of men and women who
share the Catholic faith. But when leaders of a major religious
institution -- any religious institution enjoying privileges under
American law -- knowingly allow members of its clergy who have
committed the most horrible and venal crimes against children
to avoid justice; when that institution shields sexual predators
and conspires to transfer them from place to place rather than
turning them over to the criminal justice system -- then that
institution is in serious danger not only of losing ground with
its parishioners but also of losing its moral authority in the
larger society. The Catholic Church is edging close to that position
today.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44507-2002Apr13.html
Priestly Duties, Shared Stigma - Washington
Post
D.C. Pastor Soldiers On as Church Struggles With Sex Abuse Scandal
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44612-2002Apr13.html
Wisconsin prelate silent on pedophile, papers
show - Washington Post
MILWAUKEE -- An archbishop who established a model program for
handling sexual abuse by clergy transferred a priest who was an
admitted sex offender from one parish to another in 1979 and did
not remove him until 1992, documents unsealed by a judge here
show.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44865-2002Apr13.html
Breaking a vow of silence on abuse - Chicago
Tribune
Victim speaks out, but archdiocese is slow to end secrecy
But at age 60, after hearing countless allegations of pedophilia made against Catholic priests and simmering for years over the "pittance" he received for trauma he suffered as a child, McGowan decided he has remained silent long enough.
In 1997 the archdiocese of Chicago paid McGowan $55,000 for
being the victim of alleged sexual abuse by "employees, representatives
and/or agents of the Catholic Bishop" of Chicago, according
to a confidential settlement McGowan provided to the Tribune.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-0204140290apr14.story
Diocese Questions Future Along With the
Past - New York Times
Unknown to the worshipers scattered introspectively about the
cavernous 154-year-old cathedral, the fate of the Rev. David C.
Weber, the cathedral rector who presides over the diocese's lead
pulpit, was being decided this day by Bishop Anthony M. Pilla
and his advisers as they grappled with the escalating scandal
of priests present and past accused of sexually abusing parochial
school students.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/14/national/14CLEV.html
Religion and the Law - New York Times
The legal tactics that Roman Catholic dioceses around the country
have used in sexual abuse cases against priests have ranged from
withering hardball litigation to mediation to consider payments
to victims even after the statute of limitations has expired.
"There is not only an enormous variation from diocese to
diocese," said Patrick J. Schiltz, the dean of the University
of Saint Thomas School of Law in St. Paul, "but also among
the attorneys representing a given diocese."
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/14/national/14LEGA.html
Bishop Says Pope Is Leaving Scandal to American
Catholics - New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/14/national/14VATI.html
A Clerical Error - New York Times Opinion
The text (and annotated subtext) from a letter sent on Friday
by Cardinal Bernard Law to Boston priests:
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/14/opinion/14DOWD.html
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT: Prosecuting the Church
- New York Times
As public outrage continues to build over the still-spreading
scandal of child sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests, many
Americans who once held religious leaders above secular reproach
are now demanding that ways be found to hold them accountable.
Lawsuits have not done the trick. Over the last two decades, dioceses across the country have faced hundreds of civil actions and paid an estimated $1 billion in damages. Yet the church has not made the fundamental changes many feel it must.
As a result, some lawyers and victims' advocates are now thinking
the once unthinkable: people at the top of the Catholic hierarchy
" bishops and archbishops " should face criminal prosecution
over the crimes of their priests.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/14/weekinreview/14BRUN.html
The Cry For A New Church - Hartford Courant
Egan, Law Become Symbols Of Resistance To Change In Catholicism
Already, church scholars are describing it as a unique moment
in the 300-year history of America's largest religion, an ecclesiastical
catharsis that will forever change Catholicism as we know it.
http://www.ctnow.com/hc-rinker0414.artapr14.story?coll=hc%2Dheadlines%2Dhome
Lasting trauma inflicted by priest -Omaha
World-Herald
LINCOLN - Paul Margand was a priest for only two years, serving
only one parish, St. Teresa in Lincoln. The fear and anger he
sowed in molesting boys during that time endure to this day, some
15 years later.
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_np=0&u_pg=36&u_sid=365651
Priest sex case raises doubts - Connecticut
Post
Facts appear to contradict firmness of Egan policy
BRIDGEPORT -- The resolution of a case involving a priest accused
of sexual abuse raises doubts about Cardinal Edward M. Egan's
recent statements that he acted swiftly and decisively when confronted
with such charges in the Bridgeport diocese.
http://www.connpost.com/Stories/0,1002,3750%257E527924,00.html
Church rule keeps files on priests - Seattle
Times
In a crowded filing room inside the Roman Catholic Archdiocese
of Seattle Chancery, Archbishop Alex Brunett keeps a secret archive
that contains information on priests accused of crimes and immoral
acts. Few know about it, and church law requires that only the
bishop have a key.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/134436379_secrecy14m.html
Head of Ireland's Catholics promises more
openness on abuse charges - AP
DUBLIN, Ireland - The head of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland
issued an open letter Sunday promising greater openness in responding
to allegations of child sexual abuse by priests.
"Only when we have full knowledge about what we are dealing
with can we be sure that we have put in place all the necessary
structures and procedures to respond as best as we can now and
prevent recurrence in the future," he wrote in the letter,
which was read aloud at masses in Dublin.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020414/ap_wo_en_ge/ireland_church_abuse_2
Area prosecutors not taking special steps
against priests - Miami Herald
At a time when prosecutors around the country are creating special
grand juries, demanding records, even arresting priests as they
investigate sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, South Florida
prosecutors say they have no reason to take such aggressive steps.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/3059996.htm
Priests contend with mistrust - Akron Beacon
Journal
47,000 good priests lumped in with `bad'
http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/news/local/3061672.htm
How the church hid the sins of Father Cooley
- Cincinnati Enquirer
For 15 years, priest was left to prey on boys
http://enquirer.com/editions/2002/04/14/loc_1how_church_hid_sins.html
Archbishop appeals to parishioners - The
Age, Australia
Melbourne's Roman Catholic archbishop has directly appealed to
members of a suburban parish for information about misconduct
by disgraced priest Father Ronald Dennis Pickering.
http://theage.com.au/articles/2002/04/13/1018333431561.html
The church's cross to bear - Cleveland Plain
Dealer
George Eppley, a lifelong Roman Catholic, says his faith is rock
solid. But his trust in thechurch 's top leaders is crumbling.
News of the church 's stout defense of molesting priests and
settlements with victimsestimated at $1 billion have millions
ofCatholics like Eppley calling on the churchto stop hiding its
sins and to heal itself.
http://www.cleveland.com/abuse/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/cuyahoga/1018791001137000.xml
Redrawing boundaries - Cleveland Plain Dealer
Opinion
I want to believe that the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland - my
diocese - has turned a corner. With the very public suspension
in the last two weeks of 11 priests accused at some point in their
ministry of abusing children, the diocese finally began to act
with the openness the issue demands.
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/kevin_o_brien/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/opinion/1018791005137001.xml
Going nowhere: Vatican rejects besieged
Law's resignation - Boston Herald
Embattled Boston archbishop Bernard Cardinal Law, buckling to
tremendous pressure to quit his post after mishandling sexual
abuse allegations, submitted his resignation to the pope this
week but it was rejected for fear of causing a domino effect in
the northeast United States, sources told the Herald.
http://www.bostonherald.com/news.html
Law decides to stay - Boston Globe
But advisor says his statement is meant to buy time
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/103/metro/Law_decides_to_stay+.shtml
The church's cross to bear - Cleveland Plain
Dealer
But reformers say the priesthood's male-only, celibate culture
has fostered cover-ups of sexual wrongdoing and mistakes in protecting
children.
"I think there's a real sense of outrage that the institution
seems to care a lot more about protecting its image than healing
the victims," says Sister Christine Schenk, executive director
of a Cleveland-based reform group called FutureChurch.
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/cuyahoga/1018791001137000.xml
APRIL 13
For faithful, debate goes on - Boston Globe
As the spokeswoman for the Boston Archdiocese stood in front of
Cardinal Bernard F. Law's Brighton residence to explain that the
embattled leader would continue to serve, she had to raise her
voice above the long and loud honks of motorists rolling past
the church and responding to protesters' signs, which included:
''Honk if you want Law to resign.''
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/103/metro/For_faithful_debate_goes_on+.shtml
Scholars see hand of Rome in letter - Boston
Globe
The letter was written in Brighton, and it was delivered by fax
to priests throughout Eastern Massachusetts.
But when theologians and other scholars of the Catholic Church
read the extraordinary missive Cardinal Bernard F. Law sent to
his priests yesterday, they saw the hidden hand of Rome.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/103/metro/Scholars_see_hand_of_Rome_in_letter+.shtml
Abuse victims decry cardinal's letter as
insult - Boston Globe
It was, some of them said, nothing less than a spit in the face.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/103/metro/Abuse_victims_decry_cardinal_s_letter_as_insult+.shtml
Task before cardinal is immense, priests
say - Boston Globe
If Cardinal Bernard F. Law plans to stay long-term as leader of
the Boston Archdiocese, he has an enormous - some say impossible
- task ahead to restore his credibility and once again become
an effective pastoral leader, priests said yesterday.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/103/metro/Task_before_cardinal_is_immense_priests_say+.shtml
Stance surprises political leaders; some
fear split - Boston Globe
Cardinal Bernard F. Law's announcement yesterday that he was staying
on as archbishop of Boston, despite growing popular sentiment
that he step down, was greeted by politicians and prominent Catholics
with surprise, incredulity, and a smattering of support.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/103/metro/Stance_surprises_political_leaders_some_fear_split+.shtml
Text of Cardinal Law's statement
'We now realize... that secrecy often inhibits healing'
The following is the text of the letter Cardinal Bernard Law
sent to priests of the Boston Archdiocese on April 12:
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/103/metro/_We_now_realize_that_secrecy_often_inhibits_healing_+.shtml
The issue of record keeping - Boston Globe
Critics blast Law for comments on archdiocese files
For several of Cardinal Bernard F. Law's detractors, the explanation
Law offered for the role he and his top deputies played in the
scandal involving the Rev. Paul R. Shanley was the most objectionable
portion of the statement Law made yesterday.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/103/metro/Critics_blast_Law_for_comments_on_archdiocese_files+.shtml
Former Bellingham priest indicted - Boston
Globe
A former associate pastor at Assumption Parish in Bellingham was
indicted yesterday by a Worcester County grand jury on charges
that he molested 18 boys while serving at that church between
1978 and 1984.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/103/metro/Former_Bellingham_priest_indicted+.shtml
Haitian agency's use for charity aid eyed
- Boston Globe
A social service agency funded by Catholic Charities helped pay
for last month's mobilization of Boston's Haitian community in
support of embattled Cardinal Bernard Law.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/103/metro/Haitian_agency_s_use_for_charity_aid_eyed+.shtml
The Cardinal's choice - Boston Globe Editorial
Cardinal Bernard Law deserves credit for candor in his letter
yesterday. But he still has to resolve the essential dilemma laid
out in it: How can he, ''a lightning rod of division,'' as he
put it, fulfill his stated desire to ''provide a ministry of unity.''
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/103/editorials/The_Cardinal_s_choice+.shtml
Anti-Catholic bigotry warrants discussion
- Times-Union Opinion
Anti-Catholicism is as American as apple pie a la mode, chocolate
malts, diet Pepsi, and silly nostalgia at the beginning of baseball
season. No Catholic who has to work in the higher media, the upper
academy, or the New York publishing world has any doubts about
its existence.
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyKey=80882&category=O
Some Support Priests Amid Charges - AP
CLEVELAND (AP) - Amid the tide of clergy sex abuse allegations,
some Roman Catholics accustomed to turning to their priests for
help in times of trouble have found themselves returning the favor.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020413/ap_on_re_us/church_abuse_support_1
Former Bellingham priest indicted - Telegram
& Gazette
WORCESTER-- The Rev. Paul Desilets, 78, now living in a Canadian
rest home, was indicted by a Worcester County grand jury yesterday
on charges that he sexually assaulted 18 young men and boys in
Bellingham.
Bellingham is part of the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, but
falls within the jurisdiction of the Worcester district attorney's
office.
http://www.telegram.com/news/page_one/desilets.html
Abuse by Clergy Is Not Just a Catholic Problem
- New York Times
MARSHALL, Tex. " From its founding in 1987, the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America, which puts its membership at more
than 5.3 million, has earned praise for its "zero tolerance"
approach to sexual misconduct among its clergy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/13/national/13LUTH.html
Diocese of Brooklyn Suspends Priests - New
York Times
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn is suspending an undisclosed
number of priests who have been accused of sexually abusing minors,
a spokesman said yesterday. The priests are among 15 whose names
have been handed over to prosecutors looking into whether charges
can be filed for old cases of molestation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/13/nyregion/13LIST.html
Church Officials Deny Published Reports
on Egan - New York Times
BRIDGEPORT, Conn., April 12 " The Roman Catholic Archdiocese
of New York and the Bridgeport Diocese strongly denied a report
published today that Cardinal Edward M. Egan, as the leading bishop
in Bridgeport in the late 1980's, knew of and failed to report
a sexual relationship between a priest and a 15-year-old girl.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/13/nyregion/13EGAN.html
Renegade View on Child Sex Causes a Storm
- New York Times
When the University of Minnesota Press agreed more than a year
ago to publish a book called "Harmful to Minors: The Perils
of Protecting Children From Sex," it was clear that it would
be controversial. Other publishers had rejected the manuscript,
including one who said it was "radioactive" because
of its argument for providing children with more sexual education
and responsibility
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/13/books/13SEX.html
Detachment at the Vatican - New York Times
Opinion
One of the most disheartening aspects of the sexual abuse scandal
sweeping the Roman Catholic Church is the silence at the Vatican.
Allegations that children have been molested by priests have sprung
up around the world. Yet the best the Vatican has been able to
muster in the way of moral and doctrinal guidance to its confused
and increasingly angry flock has been a vapid paragraph tucked
inside a nine-page pre-Easter letter lamenting the "dark
shadow of suspicion" the scandal has cast on the church and
innocent members of the priesthood.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/13/opinion/_13SAT2.html
Bishop Says Pedophile Wounds Will Mend Slowly
- Reuters
ROME (Reuters) - The head of American Catholic bishops defended
the integrity of U.S. Catholic institutions on Saturday, saying
recent child sex scandals that have rocked the Church to its foundations
were tragic but isolated.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020413/ts_nm/pope_paedophilia_bishop_dc_2
Archdiocese to share files about priests
- Detroit Free Press
Under increasing pressure from authorities and parishioners, the
Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit agreed Friday to turn over past
and future allegations of priests molesting children.
Officials in the state's largest diocese said they will share
complaints dating to 15 years ago with prosecutors in six counties.
Any new cases will be reported to prosecutors immediately, they
said.
http://www.freep.com/news/locway/priest13_20020413.htm
Jury begins deliberation in case of priest
accused of raping a girl, molesting another - AP
SANTA ROSA, California - A jury began deliberating Friday in the
case against a Roman Catholic priest accused of raping a teen-age
girl behind the altar and molesting another in a rectory.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020413/ap_wo_en_ge/us_priest_assault_3
Making peace with past - Milwaukee Journal
Sentinel
Betrayed and scarred as a child by a parish priest, a sexual abuse
victim looks back on his life
Even now, 27 years later, Scot Edgerton flinches when he thinks
of that morning in the sacristy at St. Aloysius Catholic Church
in West Allis, and how the priest grabbed him from behind, thrusting
his hands down the boy's pants.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/Metro/apr02/35139.asp
Shame, fear and mistrust haunt victims for
decades - St Louis Post-Dispatch
They speak as though they endured it only five minutes ago.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/News/0E16D7D3EE23AA8B86256B9A0063BACC?OpenDocument&Headline=Shame%2C%20fear%20and%20mistrust%20haunt%20victims%20for%20decades
APRIL 12
Cardinal Law says he will not resign
Refusing to bow to widespread calls for his resignation, Cardinal
Bernard Law has announced that he is staying on as archbishop
of Boston. In a letter to priests of the Catholic archdiocese
dated today, Law said he is "determined to provide the strongest
leadership possible" to solve the problem of child sexual
abuse by clergy.
http://www.boston.com/globe/spotlight/abuse/stories/041202_law.htm
Cardinal is called undecided about resignation
- Boston Globe
Amid widespread speculation about his future, Cardinal Bernard
F. Law yesterday was still deciding whether to resign or remain
as Boston's archbishop, according to two of the cardinal's advisers.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/102/metro/Cardinal_is_called_undecided_about_resignation+.shtml
Law aides often dismissed complaints of
clergy abuse - Boston Globe
Peter Pollard still feels the sting of it. In 1988, several weeks
after Pollard reported his alleged sexual abuse by the Rev. George
Rosenkranz to the Archdiocese of Boston, the church official who
handled abuse complaints said he found nothing to justify removing
the priest from ministry.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/102/metro/Law_aides_often_dismissed_complaints_of_clergy_abuse+.shtml
Can next pope heal the church? - Boston
Globe
HANS KUNG, the great Catholic philosopher, author, and dissident,
still remembers speaking at Boston College in March 1963. It was
during the heady days of Vatican II, and the reception was enthusiastic
as the young theologian, who served as a Vatican-appointed expert
at the council, urged a spirit of openness and intellectual freedom
in the church.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/102/oped/Can_next_pope_heal_the_church_+.shtml
N.Y. grand jury to investigate diocesan
actions - Boston Globe
NEW YORK - A special grand jury is being impaneled on Long Island
to investigate charges of sexual misconduct by priests and to
determine whether the local Catholic diocese has covered up allegations
of criminal abuse.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/102/metro/N_Y_grand_jury_to_investigate_diocesan_actions+.shtml
60 percent in poll say Law should resign
as archbishop - Boston Globe
NEW YORK - By 60 percent to 27 percent, Massachusetts Catholics
say Cardinal Bernard Law should resign as archbishop of Boston,
according to a poll released yesterday.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/102/metro/60_percent_in_poll_say_Law_should_resign_as_archbishop+.shtml
Bishop bows out as speaker at BC High commencement
- Boston Globe
Bishop John B. McCormack of Manchester, N.H., has bowed out as
commencement speaker this spring at his alma mater, Boston College
High School, fearing that the ceremony would be overshadowed by
McCormack's ties to defrocked priest John J. Geoghan and allegations
that the bishop did not act to stop a fellow parish priest from
molesting boys in the 1960s.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/102/metro/Bishop_bows_out_as_speaker_at_BC_High_commencement+.shtml
Church turns focus to finding Law's successor
- Boston Herald
In a clear signal that embattled Bernard Cardinal Law's departure
appears imminent, church officials have begun floating names for
a successor, including a longtime papal deputy who recently returned
to Boston from the Vatican.
Lost church power is tough to regain - Boston
Herald Opinion
Sometime soon - perhaps today, perhaps in a few weeks - Bernard
Cardinal Law will resign.
Then what? Under one scenario, the new leadership of the archdiocese
matches deeds with words. The stonewalling stops, the secret files
are opened and the chancery quickly settles with the scores of
victims who still continue to surface. The church is re-energized
few bad apples expunged from its midst, confession heard and absolution
- in the way of monetary compensation - granted, things return
to normal. The central role of the church in the spiritual and
civic life of the region is restored. Maybe, but not likely.
http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/tom04122002.htm
Sexual abuse bill deadlocked: Senate, House
lawmakers pointing fingers over delay - Boston Herald
State lawmakers are deadlocked over how far they should go in
requiring clergy to report child abuse - and whether testimony
from social workers should be allowed in cases involving minors
http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/bill04122002.htm
St. John Cathedral's
pastor is suspended over abuse allegation - Cleveland Plain Dealer
The pastor of the most prominent pulpit in the Catholic
Diocese of Cleveland was suspended last night, the latest casualty
in a widening investigation of alleged child sexual abuse by priests.
http://www.cleveland.com/abuse/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/cuyahoga/1018603919780766.xml
On Good Friday, protesters pray for victims
of sex abuse - National Catholic Reporter
The Boston archdiocese has experienced a Lent and Triduum like
no other. A variety of Catholic viewpoints converged at the Cathedral
of the Holy Cross in Boston's South End neighborhood on Good Friday
and again on Easter Sunday. Inside, Cardinal Bernard Law, spiritual
head of the nation's fourth largest diocese, prayed for the victims
of clergy sex abuse and pledged to restore "trust among the
faithful."
http://natcath.org/NCR_Online/archives/041202/041202h.htm
Forgiveness marks Holy Thursday service
- National Catholic Reporter
In an act designed to help victims of sexual abuse heal from the
traumas they have suffered, a woman who as a child was repeatedly
abused by a priest participated in Holy Thursday services led
by Cleveland Bishop Anthony Pilla at St. John Cathedral.
http://natcath.org/NCR_Online/archives/041202/041202i.htm
Celibacy's history of power and money -
National Catholic Reporter
Whoa, slow down a minute on the celibacy talk and married priests.
Let's remind ourselves how the Catholic church got into the celibacy
mess.
http://natcath.org/NCR_Online/archives/041202/041202s.htm
Finally, They Listened: Atlanta school heeds
warning of abuse victim - Newsday
The e-mail included a link to the Marist School in Atlanta, where,
Salveson soon discovered, Robert Huneke was working as a guidance
counselor with high school students.
At that point, Salveson, now 46, did what he's been doing for
two decades: He wrote a letter. This time, it was to the Marist
School, saying that Huneke, a former priest who worked on Long
Island, had sexually abused him for seven years, starting when
Salveson was 13. For Salveson, the letter was just one more step
in an ongoing mission he's been on since 1980.
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-liabus0412.story?coll=ny%2Dtop%2Dheadlines
Egan Knew Of Baby By Priest, Girl - Hartford
Courant
While serving as bishop in Bridgeport, Edward M. Egan, now New
York cardinal, failed to notify police about a sexual relationship
between a 15-year-old member of a church youth group and a priest
- a relationship considered statutory rape under Connecticut law.
http://www.ctnow.com/hc-2priest0412.artapr12.story?coll=hc%2Dheadlines%2Dhome
Vt Attorney General Disappointed with Catholic
Church - WCAX
The Catholic Diocese has agreed to provide information about allegations
of sexual misconduct going back only to 1982. Attorney General
Bill Sorrell says the diocese has records that date back to 1932,
although the Church is refusing to turn any of those records over.
Sorrell pointed out that dioceses in other states are turning
over records dating back farther than 20 years, some as far back
as 75
http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=741068&nav=4QcS8OcQ
Catholic seminar to address concerns about
abuse of children, elderly - Waco Tribune-Herald
The issue of the sexual abuse of children will receive much of
the attention Saturday at a presentation for Catholic lay people
in the Waco area who volunteer with children, elderly and other
vulnerable folk through their churches - just as the scourge is
commanding the attention of many of the nation's Catholics these
days.
http://www.wacotrib.com/auto/feed/news/2002/04/12/1018587375.03468.1694.2096.html
Pope 'Anxious' to Help U.S. Church Out of
Scandal - Reuters
The head of U.S. Catholic bishops said on Friday Pope John Paul)
had assured him he was "willing, anxious and eager"
to help the U.S. Church emerge from pedophilia scandals with policies
to prevent future cases.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020412/ts_nm/pope_paedophilia_bishop_dc_1
Catholic Church paying heavy price for sex-related
scandal - Sun-Sentineal
The growing sex abuse scandal engulfing the Roman Catholic Church
isn't just a spiritual or psychological calamity. It is also a
financial crisis that already has cost the church an estimated
$300 million to $1 billion.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-pcost041202.story?coll=sfla%2Dnews%2Dsfla
Catholic Charities Gets Less Money - AP
BOSTON - The child-molestation scandal in the Boston Archdiocese
is contributing to a drop-off in donations to Catholic Charities
in the metropolitan area.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020412/ap_on_re_us/church_abuse_finances_1
Catholic churches to host sex-abuse workshops
- Palm Beach Post
Area Catholics concerned about sexual abuse can learn about sexual
trauma, symptoms of abuse and helping abused children during four
educational workshops beginning this month.
http://www.gopbi.com/partners/pbpost/epaper/editions/today/local_news_c36bf480f6c6c0a6008a.html
Bishops' Committee Members Accused - AP
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) -- Two of the five Roman Catholic bishops on
the committee developing the church's national response to the
sex abuse crisis are accused in lawsuits of helping protect priests
who molested children.
A third bishop on the panel suggested in a 1990 speech that
church leaders hide records of abusive priests in the Vatican
embassy, which has diplomatic immunity. His comments are being
used in a sex abuse lawsuit that names all U.S. bishops as defendants.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Church-Abuse-Bishops.html
Police Clear Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of
allegations - Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-041202mahony.story
Lt. Dwayne Johnson said the three-week investigation uncovered
no evidence of a crime and that no further action would be taken.
He said Mahony was interviewed in person about the alleged incident,
which he denied had taken place, and that he cooperated fully
with detectives.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-041202mahony.story
Church Sex-Abuse Controversy, and Exorcising
a Vision of Scandals Past - Los Angeles Times Opinion
Some of the accused clergy are clearly guilty, and most appear
guilty or at least morally culpable. But what if some are not?
What if the cases against them are no more plausible than statues
that cry tears of blood? What if there are cracks in the monolith
of evil reported by media day after day? Unfortunately, the presumption
of guilt is now so strong in much of the TV coverage, the net
so wide, that one can't help recalling media's role in the witch-hunt
frenzies behind sex-abuse allegations that closed the McMartin
day-care center in Manhattan Beach and Little Rascals preschool
in Edenton, N.C., in the 1980s and 1990s, respectively. The first
case yielded no convictions, the second two that were overturned.
All of the defendants were stigmatized indelibly.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/printedition/calendar/la-000025978apr12.story
Catholic Church PR a nightmare - Dayton Business
Journal
http://www.bizjournals.com/dayton/stories/2002/04/15/editorial1.html
Deputies Interview 100 in Probe of Azusa
Priest - Los Angeles Times
The cleric, David Granadino, who was removed from his church,
has denied the allegations of molestation made in a call to a
hotline.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-000026083apr12.story
Mexican bishops say won't report pedophilia
to police - AP
MEXICO CITY - A spokesman for Mexico's Roman Catholic bishops
said the church would not give statistics on alleged clerical
abuse of minors and another said it should not even report crimes
to authorities.
"Dirty laundry is washed at home," Jalapa Archbishop
Sergio Obeso, president of the Social Pastoral Commission, told
a news conference on Thursday during the annual assembly of the
Mexican Episcopal Conference. The remarks were widely reported
Friday by Mexican newspapers and broadcasters.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020412/ap_wo_en_ge/mexico_church_sex_2
Diocese reviewing files - San Jose Mercury
News
The Oakland Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church says it is reviewing
20 cases of sexual misconduct involving priests, including more
than a dozen that involve children.
The disclosure comes two days after San Francisco District
Attorney Terence Hallinan surprised officials in the San Francisco
Archdiocese with a request for records of any sexual abuse by
clergy or staff reported in the past 75 years.
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/3049577.htm
Camden Diocese gives up names - Philadelphia
Inquirer
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Camden last night announced that
it has turned over to local prosecutors the names of 19 priests
who have been accused of sexual abuse.
Twelve of the names already had been known from an ongoing civil suit brought against the diocese by victims of alleged abuse.http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/krphiladelphia/20020412/lo/camden_diocese_gives_up_names_1.html
Outside of Rome, some things come clear,
And one is growing crisis of leadership - NCR, The Word From Rome
The U.S. church is experiencing a leadership vacuum that, so far,
no American prelate has been capable of filling.
http://nationalcatholicreporter.org/word/word0412.htm
Vatican sets limits to cooperation with
sex abuse investigations - Australian Catholic Telecommunications
The Vatican has insisted that it is firmly against the policy
of the Catholic Church to hand over files on priests to civil
investigations in Ireland or elsewhere.
Despite the pledges of co-operation from Irish bishops, they
are not expected to contradict the position laid down by Rome
- that as a point of principle, these files should stay confidential.
http://www.cathtelecom.com/news/204/66.asp
New Catholic bishop of scandal-hit diocese
pledges full cooperation with investigator - AP
DUBLIN, Ireland - The new Roman Catholic bishop of Ireland's scandal-hit
diocese of Ferns pledged Friday to give full cooperation, and
confidential files if requested, to a government-appointed investigator
into sexual abuse by priests.
The Very Rev. Eamonn Walsh, who last weekend was appointed
the caretaker bishop of Ireland's most southeasterly diocese,
said he would lead his own probe into every allegation against
every priest, past and present.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020412/ap_wo_en_ge/ireland_church_abuse_1
Brothers: One is activist against priest
abuse; the other is an accused priest - AP
COLUMBIA, Missouri - One brother is a priest. The other brother
once sued the Roman Catholic Church, alleging he was molested
by his childhood priest, and is now director of a national support
group for such victims.
The Rev. Kevin Clohessy and his brother, David, have been largely
estranged since that 1991 lawsuit. But the divide has suddenly
become sharper and more painful: The priest was publicly accused
this week of molesting a male college student nearly a decade
ago.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020412/ap_wo_en_ge/us_church_abuse_brothers_1
Church oversight can't stop predator - Detroit
Free Press
Victims say action by archdiocese wasn't enough; priest did it
again
http://www.freep.com/news/metro/priest12_20020412.htm
Prosecutors May Seek Catholic Diocese Records
- WESH
A spokesman with the Brevard-Seminole County state attorney's
office said state prosectors may want to review old files of the
Catholic Diocese of Orlando.
State prosecutors want to see if there were crimes committed
during the 1970s and early 1980s that the diocese didn't disclose,
WESH NewsChannel 2 reported.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/wesh/20020412/lo/1160646_1.html
Celibacy Has History Beyond Priests - AP
NEW YORK - For a species that has transformed mating into an obsession,
human beings over the centuries have shown an abiding interest
in the opposite of sex " celibacy.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020414/ap_on_re_us/opposite_of_sex_1
Questions for the bishops - Milwuakee Journal
Sentinel Editorial
"Bishops do not like to put pedophiles in positions where
they hurt children," Green Bay Bishop Robert J. Banks said
this week.
Then why did they keep doing it?
http://www.jsonline.com/news/editorials/apr02/34612.asp
Prosecutor Skeptical of L.I. Bishop's Assurances
- New York Times
The Suffolk County district attorney cast doubt yesterday on assurances
by Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre that no priests serving
on Long Island faced believable accusations of sexual abuse of
minors.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/12/nyregion/12SUFF.html
APRIL 11
Prosecutor didn't get names of four
who faced allegations - Cleveland Plain Dealer
At least four priests who, according to court records and sources,
have been named in past child sex-abuse allegations were left
off the list of accused clerics released by the church this week.
http://www.cleveland.com/abuse/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/cuyahoga/10185225163101514.xml
Sloatsburg parishioners rally to reinstate
priest - The Journal News
SLOATSBURG - A candlelight vigil for an ousted priest drew more
than 200 people yesterday to St. Joan of Arc Church.
http://www.thejournalnews.com/newsroom/041102/11priestvigil.html
Meetings will address sex-abuse scandal
facing Catholic Church - Sacramento Bee
The Catholic Diocese of Sacramento will hold two town hall meetings
Sunday to discuss the sex-abuse scandal facing the church as well
as the policies of the local Sacramento diocese.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/2143470p-2524688c.html
The Catholic Church's sex-abuse scandal
hurts all Christians - Nando Times Opinion
On a train in Europe a number of years ago, a Catholic friend
and I shared a compartment with an attractive but somewhat nervous
man and woman who quite clearly were together in a romantic sense.
When we left the train, my friend remarked that the man was a
priest.
http://www.nandotimes.com/opinions/story/356350p-2898854c.html
The Catholic Church's sins of omission -
Seattle Times
The first inclination of any organization in trouble is to cover
up, and it always - always - makes things worse
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorialsopinion/134434515_cathed11.html
Sins of the Fathers - Philadelphia CityPaper.net
Two papers, two approaches to covering the biggest story on the
religion beat since the Reformation.
http://www.citypaper.net/articles/2002-04-11/cb4.shtml
Poll: Bishops Should Quit - Newsday
Three-quarters of the American public - including 70 percent of
the country's Catholics - believe that bishops who did not report
allegations of sexual abuse of children by priests should resign,
according to a poll released Thursday.
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-poll04011.story?coll=ny%2Dtop%2Dheadlines
Bishop Agrees to Hand Over All Allegations
- New York Times
Prodded by prosecutors, Bishop Thomas V. Daily, head of the Roman
Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, said yesterday that he would give
them the names of all priests in his jurisdiction who had been
accused of sexually violating minors in the last 20 years. And
shifting the diocese's stance, he promised to funnel any future
accusations directly to prosecutors.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/11/nyregion/11BISH.html
Abuse Victim Is Suspicious About Timing
of Apology - New York Times
Susan Gallagher received another e-mail message two weeks ago
from the lawyer for the Salesians, the Roman Catholic order of
the priest who had sexually abused her and two of her brothers
in New Jersey and New York more than 20 years ago. It read like
many others the order had sent her.
The lawyer, Richard Beran, wrote that the Salesians had taken
all necessary steps to keep the priest, the Rev. Frank Nugent,
now 80, away from children. That the Salesians would report clerical
abuse in Massachusetts, where Father Nugent had also worked, when
and if the state passed a law requiring it. And no, he said in
response to a request from Ms. Gallagher, the Salesians would
not release her from the confidentiality agreement that went with
the $250,000 settlement they paid her in 1998.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/11/nyregion/11SALE.html
Grass-roots network flooded with calls from
survivors of sex abuse by clerics - San Jose Mercury News
As sex-abuse scandals rock the Roman Catholic Church from Boston
to Los Angeles to Fremont and Los Gatos, a grass-roots network
of abuse survivors finds itself swamped with phone calls from
victims who feel the time is right to come forward.
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/3041674.htm
Church settled charges in cash - Detroit
Free Press
Archdiocese let priest stay, paid his accuser
The Archdiocese of Detroit made a secret cash settlement several
years ago with a man who said he was sexually molested by the
Rev. Gary Bueche, but Bueche was allowed to remain as pastor of
a Macomb County parish until last week.
http://www.freep.com/news/metro/priest11_20020411.htm
Rev. Stephen Rossetti: Few priests molesters
- CNN
CNN anchor Paula Zahn spoke Thursday with the Rev. Stephen Rossetti,
a priest and psychologist, on the issue of pedophilia in the Catholic
Church.
http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/04/11/rossetti.cnna/index.html
Cardinal's Support Collapsing - Hartford
Courant
No one in Boston can predict exactly when Cardinal Bernard Law
will resign, or whether he will, but when an archbishop starts
losing the faithful such as Mary Denise Dunn, his days in the
Catholic Church's hilltop mansion in Brighton are clearly numbered.
http://www.ctnow.com/news/nationworld/hc-law0411.artapr11.story?coll=hc%2Dheadlines%2Dhome
Require abuse reporting - Denver Post Editorial
A bill that joins clergy with doctors, school officials and other
professionals in requiring that they report sexual abuse has been
introduced and is long overdue.
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1002,417%257E519325,00.html
Maryland center claims success treating
priests - Baltimore Sun
Abuse: The scandal of Catholic clergymen molesting children has
focused new scrutiny on St. Luke Institute, its methods and results.
http://www.sunspot.net/news/nationworld/bal-te.stluke11apr11.story?coll=bal%2Dnews%2Dnation
S.F. archbishop to give sex case data to
D.A. : Levada to provide 75 years of records - San Francisco Chronicle
The San Francisco Archdiocese will comply with an extraordinary
request from the district attorney to turn over any information
it has about reported sex abuse cases involving clergy and staff,
a church spokesman confirmed last night. Church officials have
been asked to go back through 75 years of records to comply with
District Attorney Terence Hallinan's request,
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2002/04/11/MN232009.DTL
40 clergymen accused in NH sex abuse cases
- The Union Leader
CONCORD - The number of clergymen accused of sexual abuse in New
Hampshire has grown to 40 as authorities receive new information
almost daily, a prosecutor said yesterday.
http://www.theunionleader.com/Articles_show.html?article=10319&archive=1
Corrupt Institution - Washington Post
I have in my hand a stunning document. It is a copy of a letter
written in 1990 by the office of Boston's Cardinal Bernard Law
to the diocese of San Bernardino, Calif., attesting to the "good
character" of a priest -- Paul R. Shanley -- who was seeking
a transfer. Pity the poor Catholics of San Bernardino. How were
they to know the letter amounted to a lie
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29627-2002Apr11.html
There Is No Statute of Limitations on Protester's
Determination - LA Times
It is a one-man picket line, and his sign reads: "I Was Sexually
Abused at This School." His cause is his own, and anyone
else's who is what Robertson says he is--a man molested in his
youth by a Catholic clergyman. He walks a long loop on the pavement
outside Junipero Serra High School, where he graduated 38 years
ago. As he paces, he can glimpse the double doors beyond which
lie the chemistry lab.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-000025831apr11.column?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2Dcalifornia
Boston's Cardinal Law urged to resign -
USA Today
Boston Cardinal Bernard Law faced a growing barrage of calls Wednesday
to resign after new revelations about his role in covering up
possible sexual abuse by priests. Area newspapers, politicians
and others have urged Law to step down as head of 2 million Roman
Catholics in the nation's fourth-largest diocese. Law made a public
apology for the scandal in mid-February. Wednesday, the archdiocese
declined to comment.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2002/04/10/church-abuse.htm
County officials ask cardinal for information
- Detroit Free Press
Prosecutors and parishioners ratcheted up the pressure on the
Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit on Wednesday, asking by letter
and peaceful protest that the church reveal more information about
sexual misconduct allegations against priests.
http://www.freep.com/news/metro/cath11_20020411.htm
Some at BC say Law unwelcome at graduation
- Boston Globe
Fearing that the Catholic Church's sexual abuse scandal could
cast a pall over graduation ceremonies, a growing number of Boston
College officials, faculty, and students are hoping that Cardinal
Bernard Law will not speak at or attend the school's commencement
this spring.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/101/metro/Some_at_BC_say_Law_unwelcome_at_graduation+.shtml
Suit ties boy's death to abuse by priest
- Boston Globe
HAVERHILL - It was three years before Jimmy Francis died a horrible
death in 1981 that Robert P. Bartlett complained to the pastor
of St. Monica's Church in Methuen that the Rev. Ronald H. Paquin
had molested Bartlett and other teenage boys.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/101/metro/suit_ties_boy_s_death_to_abuse_by_priest+.shtml
Catholic Charities is hurting - Boston Globe
The president of Catholic Charities said yesterday that Cardinal
Bernard F. Law's handling of the widening clergy sexual abuse
scandal is alienating donors and could lead to a record deficit
for the state's largest social service agency.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/101/metro/Catholic_Charities_is_hurting+.shtml
Now Catholics face new questions of faith
- Boston Globe
THREE SHARDS of drying palm stand in a glass vase on the kitchen
windowsill. Why? As the revelations grow uglier each day, it is
no idle inquiry. ''Why?'' is now the operative interrogative.
Why, for so long, did the church protect the alleged child predators
instead of the children? Why, now, do church leaders, so clearly
stripped of their power to lead, cling to their posts? Why do
Catholics still go to Mass on Palm Sunday or any other Sunday?
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/101/oped/Now_Catholics_face_new_questions_of_faith+.shtml
A forum for reflection and study for priests
- Boston Globe
BOSTON PRIESTS are gathering. The effort began last fall. Three
pastors wondered if other priests felt as they did that there
was a need for priests to come together to talk about issues of
concern. Before long others had joined them. Then the issue of
priest sexual abuse was brought to light in the reports by the
Globe Spotlight Team. The need to discuss issues of the priesthood
became more urgent than ever.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/101/oped/A_forum_for_reflection_and_study_for_priests+.shtml
SPOTLIGHT FOLLOW-UP - Boston Globe
Suit ties boy's death to abuse by priest
HAVERHILL - It was three years before Jimmy Francis died a
horrible death in 1981 that Robert P. Bartlett complained to the
pastor of St. Monica's Church in Methuen that the Rev. Ronald
H. Paquin had molested Bartlett and other teenage boys.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/101/metro/suit_ties_boy_s_death_to_abuse_by_priest+.shtml
Clergy-abuse notification bill likely to
pass Senate - Boston Globe
The Senate today will take up an amended version of a bill requiring
clergy to report allegations of sexual abuse, as advocates hope
the growing crisis in the Catholic Church will make the bill a
more urgent priority.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/101/metro/Clergy_abuse_notification_bill_likely_to_pass_Senate+.shtml
Storm swirls around Law - Boston Herald
With speculation swirling that Bernard Cardinal Law's departure
is imminent, the anger over his handling of pedophile priests
continued unabated as more Catholic leaders and laymen joined
the choir calling for his resignation.
http://www.bostonherald.com/news.html
Source: Accused molester Shanley likely
in Thailand - Boston Herald
The Rev. John J. White, the longtime companion of accused child
molester priest Paul Shanley, left his home at Billerica's St.
Mary's Parish for Thailand just before Easter on what is likely
a one-way trip to join his friend, a source told the Herald yesterday.
http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/vict04112002.htm
Lawyer questions state liability cap for
church - Boston Herald
An attorney representing more than 100 alleged victims of sexual
abuse by priests said yesterday he will ask the Legislature to
determine if the Boston Archdiocese has wrongfully hid behind
the state's cap on liabilities
for charities.
Jeffrey A. Newman said the $20,000 cap under state law was
intended to protect nonprofits from having their funds depleted
when sued.
http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/lega04112002.htm
Parents to file wrongful death suit vs.
archdiocese - Boston Herald
A Haverhill couple is filing a wrongful death lawsuit against
the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston in connection with the
1981 death of their 16-year-old son, who died when a car driven
by admitted sex abuser Rev. Ronald H. Paquin overturned on a highway
in Tilton, N.H.
http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/paqu04112002.htm
Church delay tactics ripped - Boston Herald
Despite Bernard Cardinal Law's solemn pledge that victims of sexual
abuse by church workers be spared ``painful litigation,'' boys
preyed on by convicted Middleton pedophile Christopher Reardon
are enduring mental trauma and the vicious barbs of classmates
while Law's archdiocese spins its wheels, the victims say.
A judge yesterday ordered the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of
Boston to turn over potentially damaging internal documents in
the Reardon case by next Wednesday.
http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/rear04112002.htm
B.C. priest goes on leave as past in U.S.
revealed - Globe & Mail
VANCOUVER -- A Roman Catholic priest accused of being involved
sexually with a minor in the United States was quietly sent to
work in a remote area of northern British Columbia in 1988.
Before Rev. Joseph Lang came to Canada, the church investigated
the allegations and provided treatment for the priest, Most Rev.
Anthony Pilla, Bishop of Cleveland, Ohio, said in a formal statement
released yesterday.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/GIS.Servlets.HTMLTemplate?tf=tgam/search/tgam/SearchFullStory.html&cf=tgam/search/tgam/SearchFullStory.cfg&configFileLoc=tgam/config&encoded_keywords=catholic&option=&start_row=1¤t_row=1&start_row_offset1=&num_rows=1&search_results_start=1
Catholic priest scandal: A.W. Richard Sipe
Why would the Catholic Church engage in a coverup of the sexual
misconduct of some of its clergy? What steps should the Church
take to regain the trust of believers? Ask today's guest, A.W.
Richard Sipe.
http://www.usatoday.com/community/chat/2002-03-11-sipe.htm
What the Nuns Didn't Know -Time
Could they have uncovered abuse? Not in a culture that kept them
in the dark
http://www.time.com/time/columnist/carlson/article/0,9565,227884,00.html
APRIL 10
Noted local priest on leave after second
claim of sex abuse - Seattle Times
The Rev. John Cornelius, a prominent Catholic priest who once
served as a Seattle police chaplain and gained recognition for
adopting several children, was placed on administrative leave
this week by the Archdiocese of Seattle after being accused for
the second time in six years of sexually molesting teenage boys
in the 1970s.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/134434232_snopriest10m.html
German Priest Investigated for Abuse
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) -- Police in southern Germany said Wednesday
they were investigating a Roman Catholic priest who turned himself
and confessed to sexually abusing a boy.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Germany-Church-Abuse.html
Soul-searching time in the Catholic Church
- Globe & Mail
Corruption has a way of catching up to the powerful. It is catching
up to the priests in the United States and parts of Europe who
sexually abused children entrusted to their care. It is catching
up to those senior members of the Roman Catholic Church who minimized
or turned a blind eye to the abuses. It has loosed parishioners'
feelings of betrayal, anger and sadness.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/GIS.Servlets.HTMLTemplate?tf=tgam/search/tgam/SearchFullStory.html&cf=tgam/search/tgam/SearchFullStory.cfg&configFileLoc=tgam/config&encoded_keywords=catholic&option=&start_row=7¤t_row=7&start_row_offset1=&num_rows=1&search_results_start=1
Catholic order applies for bankruptcy protection-
Globe & Mail
WINNIPEG -- A Roman Catholic order in Manitoba, faced with 2,500
legal claims of abuse over its role in running Indian residential
schools, took a measure usually reserved for troubled businesses
yesterday and indicated it will file for bankruptcy protection.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/GIS.Servlets.HTMLTemplate?tf=tgam/search/tgam/SearchFullStory.html&cf=tgam/search/tgam/SearchFullStory.cfg&configFileLoc=tgam/config&encoded_keywords=catholic&option=&start_row=9¤t_row=9&start_row_offset1=&num_rows=1&search_results_start=1
Nuns shake heads too, but faith remains
firm - Chicago Tribune
This past Holy Thursday, Sister Joan O'Shea congratulated a priest
she knew on his ordination, as is traditional on a day considered
the anniversary of the priesthood.
"His whole face clouded over," said O'Shea, a Dominican
nun. "It is clear that the whole idea of the priesthood has
been clouded by the scandal."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/women/chi-0204100022apr10.story?null
Church scandal puts parents in what-to-tell
bind - Chicago Tribune
As the scandal of pedophilia among Catholic priests grew, Eduardo
and Linda Rivera wrestled with what to say to their two children.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-0204100300apr10.story
Lawsuits hit higher in Catholic hierarchy
- Christian Science Monitor
Several new claims in sexual-abuse cases include evidence that
will test the limits of accountability.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0411/p01s04-usju.html
Altared States - Hartford Courant
Catholic Church Facing Increased Pressure To Let Priests Marry,
As They Do In Related Denominations
http://www.ctnow.com/features/lifestyle/hc-marriedpriest2.artapr10.story?coll=hc%2Dheadlines%2Dhome
Vatican reluctant to give files to authorities
- Irish Times
Senior Vatican sources have confirmed that the Holy See is reluctant
to see private church documents handed over to civil investigating
authorities.
http://scripts.ireland.com/search/highlight.plx?TextRes=catholic%20AND%20sex&Path=/newspaper/ireland/2002/0410/1430494323hm5vatican.html
Access to records from all dioceses promised
- Irish Times
The director of the Irish Bishops' Conference Child Protection
Office said yesterday he understood the church would supply to
the State whatever information it required for its inquiry into
clerical child sex abuse in the diocese of Ferns,
http://scripts.ireland.com/search/highlight.plx?TextRes=catholic%20AND%20sex&Path=/newspaper/ireland/2002/0410/649178303hm5bailey.html
Church treated sex abuse issue 'very badly'
- ex-judge - Irish Times
The Catholic Church had treated the clerical sex abuse issue "very
badly", the new chairwoman of the bishops' Child Protection
Committee said yesterday.
Retired District Court judge Ms Gillian Hussey said the church
had "gone down to the pits. And you have to come up from
the pits. There's no going down further. I think it's at its lowest
ebb."
http://scripts.ireland.com/search/highlight.plx?TextRes=catholic%20AND%20sex&Path=/newspaper/ireland/2002/0410/3522311744hm5hussey1.html
East Bay priest held in abuse of boy in
1979 - San Jose Mercury News
FREMONT MAN CLAIMS SEXUAL ASSAULT AT 15
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/3034122.htm
12 priests abused vows - Detroit News
Detroit Archdiocese investigated 18 since '88 for sexual misconduct;
most were removed
http://www.detnews.com/2002/religion/0204/10/a01-461598.htm
Family's New Outrage - Newsday
LI diocese: Accused priest 'not a threat to young people'
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-liabus0410.story?coll=ny%2Dtop%2Dspan%2Dheadlines
Dillon Issues Subpoena to Diocese - Newsday
Nassau District Attorney Denis Dillon Tuesday said his office
also has subpoenaed information from the Diocese of Rockville
Centre about sexual abuse complaints made against Long Island
priests.
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-lida0410.story?coll=ny%2Dtop%2Dspan%2Dheadlines
An Ohio Parish Buries a Troubled Clergyman
- New York Times
" Down the aisles they came in flowing white vestments, score
upon score of Roman Catholic priests seeking strength in sacred
ritual today as they bid farewell to their brother, the Rev. Don
A. Rooney, a curate widely cherished in the local parish. Father
Don, as he was known, committed suicide last week as he faced
accusations in the Cleveland Diocese's mushrooming scandal over
sexually abusive priests.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/10/national/10OHIO.html
Warning About Priest Didn't Prompt Inquiry
- New York Times
YUCCA VALLEY, Calif., April 9 " Officials of the San Bernardino
Diocese acknowledged today that they had been told a Roman Catholic
priest who was being transferred here had been in legal trouble,
but they said the warning was not specific and they did nothing
to investigate it. The case involves the Rev. Ponciano M. Ramos,
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/10/national/10DIOC.html
Release of Papers Puts Pressure on Cardinal
in Boston - New York Times
But today, a day after the release of 800 pages of documents in
a lawsuit over another priest who faces multiple accusations of
sex abuse, calls for Cardinal Law's resignation were renewed,
and some of them came from new and prominent voices. Across the
city, people felt that the evidence in the documents was much
more incriminating to Cardinal Law than anything else unearthed
since the scandal surfaced.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/10/national/10PRIE.html
Priest Named in Abuse Files Worked in Prosecutor's
Office - New York Times
The pastor of a Roman Catholic parish in Flushing, Queens, who
has been placed on administrative leave because of allegations
of past child sexual abuse, held a part-time job until last month
in the domestic violence unit of the Queens district attorney's
office, law enforcement and diocesan officials said yesterday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/10/nyregion/10SMIT.html
A Path to Change in the Church - New York
Times Letters
Everyone knows Lord Acton's dictum "Power tends to corrupt
and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Many forget that
Acton, a Catholic, wrote these words with specific reference to
the Catholic Church.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/10/opinion/L10CHUR.html
Boston Cardinal Pressured to Resign - AP
The drumbeat of calls for Cardinal Bernard Law to resign have
mounted, with two gubernatorial candidates and two major New England
newspapers asking for a shake-up at the top of the Boston Archdiocese.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Church-Abuse.html
APRIL 9
Sex abuse by priest was known - Omaha
World Herald
More than 30 years ago, a delegation from St. Joan of Arc Catholic
Church in Omaha went to Archbishop Daniel Sheehan, asking him
to protect children from the Rev. Thomas Sellentin, two former
parishioners said Monday.
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_np=0&u_pg=36&u_sid=360781
2 veteran priests abruptly retire - Miami
Herald
Two longtime priests in the Miami archdiocese abruptly retired
over the weekend, with one of the priests citing a three-decades-old
sexual misconduct allegation in his letter to the parishioners
of St. Justin the Martyr Catholic Church in Key Largo.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/living/community/states/florida/counties/broward_county/3024702.htm
Churches Tell Congregations About Ousted
Priests - New York Times
. . . "Your pastor, Father Y, has been asked to leave the
parish at the present time due to an allegation of inappropriate
behavior from his past," it said. It concluded: "Please
keep Father X and me in your prayers." . . .
Archdiocese officials have declined to identify the six priests,
who were among roughly three dozen whose cases were delivered
to the New York district attorney last week, and it appears that
the names are being kept within a small circle of officials at
the archdiocese.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/09/nyregion/09SUSP.html?pagewanted=print
'I Was in This Alone' - Los Angeles Times
Lori Haigh's life spiraled downward after repeated sexual abuse
by a Catholic priest in Orange County, while other clerics ignored
her pleas for help.
http://www.latimes.com/templates/misc/printstory.jsp?slug=la%2D040902lori
Priest's personnel files include sexual
allegations - USA Today
The Archdiocese of Boston knew that one of its priests, now accused
of rape, spoke in favor of sex between men and boys at a 1979
meeting that apparently led to the founding of a national group
advocating the practice, according to court documents released
Monday. The documents also show archdiocese officials knew of
sexual misconduct allegations against the priest, the Rev. Paul
Shanley, since at least 1967, but continued to allow him access
to children in different parishes for three decades.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2002/04/08/church-files.htm
Records show efforts to keep gays from priesthood
- AP
Court documents released Monday in the case of a Massachusetts
priest accused of sex abuse provide rare insight into the early
efforts of the Archdiocese of Boston to keep gays from entering
the priesthood. In a 1979 letter to the Vatican, the late Cardinal
Humberto Medeiros expressed alarm at the burgeoning gay rights
movement and disclosed he had spent five years weeding out homosexuals
from area seminaries.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2002/04/09/abuse-gays.htm
Catholicism's abuse crisis grew over 18
years - AP
The furor over ex-priest and convicted sex abuser John Geoghan
ignited the crisis now sweeping over the nation's Roman Catholic
dioceses, but his case was far from the first molestation scandal
to hit the church in America. New charges have sprung up constantly
over the past 18 years. During that time, at least 1,500 U.S.
priests have faced public accusations, victims' lawyerSylvia Demarest
estimates. There are currently 46,000 priests in the UnitedStates.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2002/04/09/abuse-history.htm
Priest with jail record removed from post
- Chicago Tribune
DOWNERS GROVE -- A Catholic priest convicted 24 years ago of sexually
abusing a child in Michigan has been relieved of his duties as
a priest in the Diocese of Joliet.
Rev. Gary Berthiaume worked as a chaplain at Good Samaritan
Hospital in Downers Grove until Saturday, when he was removed
of his faculties
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-0204090084apr09.story
Pastor resigns over abuse in '93 - Chicago
Tribune
A priest who once reported to the Chicago province of a religious
order resigned as pastor of his California church following revelations
that he had pleaded guilty in 1993 to battering three teenage
boys, church officials said Monday.
Rev. Ponciano Ramos resigned Saturday as pastor of St. Mary's
Catholic Church in Yucca Valley, Calif., after the Tribune inquired
of the Diocese of San Bernardino about his past conviction.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0204090306apr09.story
Heavy blow to cardinal's credibility - Boston
Globe
Cardinal Bernard F. Law, the once-powerful archbishop of Boston
whose support has been eroding for months, suffered serious damage
to his credibility yesterday with the release of hundreds of documents
showing that he repeatedly and knowingly allowed an alleged serial
pedophile to hold posts that allowed him access to children.
There is also a link at this site to specific Shanley letters
and papers
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/099/metro/Heavy_blow_to_cardinal_s_credibility+.shtml
Shanley's record long ignored - Boston Globe
For more than a decade, Cardinal Bernard F. Law and his deputies
ignored allegations of sexual misconduct against Rev. Paul R.
Shanley and reacted casually to complaints that Shanley endorsed
sexual relations between men and boys, according to an avalanche
of documents that were made public yesterday.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/099/metro/Shanley_s_record_long_ignored+.shtml
'I say...my anguish does not end, ever'
- Boston Globe
Following is an excerpt from a statement made yesterday by Arthur
Austin at a Boston news conference at which some 800 Boston archdiocese
documents concerning the Rev. Paul R. Shanley, who is accused
of child molestation, were released. Austin says he was sexually
abused by Shanley from 1968 to 1974.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/099/metro/_I_say_my_anguish_does_not_end_ever_+.shtml
A church betrayed - Boston Globe Editorial
AS DOCUMENTED in his personnel file, the Rev. Paul R. Shanley
was a depraved priest who knew few limits to his sexual cravings.
The Archdiocese of Boston, under Cardinals Humberto Medeiros and
Bernard Law, treated him as just another problem that could be
solved by transferring him to a parish in Newton, then promoting
him, then shuffling him off to a diocese in California.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/099/editorials/A_church_betrayed+.shtml
Alleged victims detail torment - Boston
Globe
It was an image of innocence familiar to any father who'd tossed
a ball with his little boy, cooked him a hamburger, or tucked
him into bed at night after a long day at the beach.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/099/metro/Alleged_victims_detail_torment+.shtml
From celibacy to godliness - Boston Globe
Opinion
WHAT IS IT that makes the Catholic sex abuse scandal so radioactive?
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/099/oped/From_celibacy_to_godliness+.shtml
In San Diego, past was a mystery - Boston
Globe
SAN DIEGO - He never preached and made few references to God.
Upon his arrival here five years ago, the Rev. Paul R. Shanley
apparently shed his previous life as a Catholic priest as easily
as he did his white collar.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/099/nation/In_San_Diego_past_was_a_mystery+.shtml
Ireland's clergy to assist in probe - Reuters
MAYNOOTH, Ireland - Ireland's Roman Catholic Church bowed yesterday
to public anger over sex abuse by pedophile priests and agreed
to cooperate with a public inquiry.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/099/nation/Ireland_s_clergy_to_assist_in_probe+.shtml
The cardinal must go - Boston Globe Opinion
Enough, cardinal, enough. Enough of the brazen disregard for the
believers in your midst. Enough of the tens of thousands of dollars
you're throwing at public relations companies. Enough of the self-centered
hope that you can salvage your reputation before you ride off
to retirement in Rome.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/099/metro/The_cardinal_must_go+.shtml
Scandal Hits Parish Twice - New York Daily
News
2 suspended priests servedin same W'chester church
http://www.nydailynews.com/2002-04-09/News_and_Views/City_Beat/a-147066.asp
Harassment Charge Gives U.S. Scandal New
Facet - Tampa Tribune
TAMPA - Floating on rafts in the swimming pool behind the bishop's
waterfront residence in St. Petersburg, Bob Lynch made Bill Urbanski's
blood freeze - as Urbanski recalls it.
Lynch, bishop of the Bay area's Catholic diocese, stared at
Urbanski. ``You know I love you, don't you?'' the older man asked.
http://www.tampatrib.com/MGAPNHF6TZC.html
Sex abuse by priest was known - Omaha World
Herald
More than 30 years ago, a delegation from St. Joan of Arc Catholic
Church in Omaha went to Archbishop Daniel Sheehan, asking him
to protect children from the Rev. Thomas Sellentin, two former
parishioners said Monday.
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_np=0&u_pg=36&u_sid=360781
Bishop says he didn't know priest advocated man-boy sex - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Bishop Robert J. Banks of Green Bay said he was not aware that
a priest advocated sex between men and boys in 1979 when he drafted
a letter of recommendation for the priest years later while with
the Archdiocese of Boston.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/Metro/apr02/33928.asp
APRIL 8
Boston diocese gave letter of assurance
about Shanley - Boston Globe
The Archdiocese of Boston arranged the transfer of a known child
molester, the Rev. Paul R. Shanley, to a California parish in
1990 with a top-level written assurance that Shanley had no problems
in his past, according to a spokesman for the San Bernardino diocese.
The letter, which cleared the way for Shanley to work for three
years at St. Anne's in San Bernardino, without restriction on
his contact with children, was written by Bishop Robert J. Banks,
who was then the top deputy to Cardinal Bernard F. Law.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/098/metro/Boston_diocese_gave_letter_of_assurance_about_Shanley+.shtml
Lawyer set to unveil documents on priest
- Boston Herald
SAN DIEGO - The scandal surrounding the Rev. Paul R. Shanley stretched
from coast to coast yesterday, as the Bay State braced for the
unveiling of archdiocese files on the accused child-molester priest,
and neighbors in his adopted city wondered if he could have committed
similar crimes on the West Coast.
http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/shan04082002.htm
Police Investigate Cardinal Mahony - Associated
Press
Police are investigating a woman's sex abuse accusations against
Cardinal
Roger M. Mahony, leader of the nation's largest Roman Catholic
archdiocese.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020407/ap_on_re_us/church_abuse_95
Catholics Grapple With Mixed Feelings on
Church Scandals - Los Angeles Times
Some blame the news media as priests address allegations against
Mahony.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-000025117apr08.story
Celibacy Denies Priests a God-Given Gift
- Los Angeles Times Letters
So, Cardinal Roger Mahony said once again that there's no correlation
between celibacy and child abuse ("Mahony Says Victims' Requests
Led to Secrecy," April 3). If there are not many research
studies made, it is because there has not been any interest placed
on the issue.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-000025068apr08.story
Publisher says Catholic leadership must
take the blame, and make changes - Lincoln Journal Star
The National Catholic Reporter first broke the story of child
sexual abuse by priests in 1983. Since then, the independent newspaper
has repeatedly urged U.S. bishops to put forth a clear and open
policy to handle such cases.
Instead, the paper's publisher Tom Fox said, the church's leadership
continued "a pattern of coverup." Fox was a key speaker
at a Saturday conference sponsored by Call to Action-Nebraska,
a group the Lincoln bishop opposes. It is part of a nationwide
organization calling for reforms in the Roman Catholic Church.
http://www.journalstar.com/local?story_id=6404
Cleveland diocese suspends nine priests
for abuse review; officials say cases not recent - AP
The Cleveland Catholic Diocese suspended nine priests while prosecutors
review past allegations that they sexually abused children.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020409/ap_wo_en_ge/us_church_abuse_60
Church faces a crisis prompted by tidal
wave of sexual abuse scandals - Irish Times Opinion
In his Easter letter the Pope appeared to put the blame for clerical
sexual abuse on individual priests rather than on the church,
writes Paddy Agnew in Rome
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/opinion/2002/0408/2339076954OPVATICAN.html
Cardinal Egan's Small Step - Hartford Courant
Editorial
Three weeks ago, the archdiocese of New York said it did not keep
track of the number of sex abuse cases involving priests. That
turned out to be untrue.
http://www.ctnow.com/news/opinion/editorials/hc-reversal.artapr08.story?coll=hc%2Dheadlines%2Deditorials
Applying her aplomb to priests' sex scandal
- Philadelphia Inquirer
The task force led by Alvaré will be selected as soon as
possible.
WASHINGTON - Smooth and quick-spoken, lawyer Helen Alvaré
is a combatant in silk gloves. Whether defending Roman Catholic
doctrine on Nightline or teaching a 9 a.m. property-law class,
Alvaré speaks briskly and ends her statements with a nod
and a flashing smile.
That aplomb will be put to the test during the next six months
as the Main Line native chairs the special advisory commission
that the Archdiocese of Philadelphia has set up to review its
procedures concerning sex abuse by priests.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/3020798.htm
Tell all - Philadelphia Inquirer Editorial
Commission on priest abuses is fine, but not enough.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/3020810.htm
Area Priest Removed From Parish - KCRA Sacramento
A Sacramento-area Catholic priest has been removed from his parish
after allegations he sexually abused young men more than 17 years
ago were revealed.
The diocese addressed parishioners at Saint John Vianney Parish
in Rancho Cordova Sunday morning, and said Rev. Michael Walsh
will no longer live on church grounds.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/kcra/20020408/lo/1155242_1.html
Sex Abuse Crisis Not New for Church - AP
The furor over ex-priest and convicted sex abuser John Geoghan
ignited the crisis now sweeping over the nation's Roman Catholic
dioceses, but his case was far from the first molestation scandal
to hit the church in America.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Church-Abuse-History.html
U.S. Catholics See Priest Scandal as Testing
Faith and the Vatican - New York Times
Over the last month, however, that seems to have changed. With
each newly revealed example of a priest's crimes, a prelate's
complicity and the church's failure to protect its most vulnerable
charges, the sexual abuse problem has moved from the realm of
fleeting scandal to the category of genuine crisis. More and more
leading Catholics, conservatives as well as liberals, are beginning
to speak of it in historic terms, as a potentially pivotal crossroads
for the church in this country.
Six New York Priests Removed for Alleged
Abuse - Reuters
Six Roman Catholic priests have been asked to leave their assignments
in the Archdiocese of New York and told "not to present themselves
as priests" because of allegations of past sexual misconduct,
the Archdiocese said.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020408/ts_nm/crime_priests_dc_15
Irish Catholic Leader Apologizes - AP
Ireland's Roman Catholic bishops were holding crisis talks Monday
over the church's handling of cases of sexual abuse involving
pedophile priests.
The bishops were expected to focus on whether the church will
surrender to the government confidential records detailing when
it learned of abuse cases and what actions it took. The church
has admitted transferring pedophile priests to new parishes, sometimes
in different countries, rather than informing police.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020408/ap_on_re_eu/ireland_sexual_abuse_7
Diocese sets up reforms - Worcester Telegram
& Gazette Staff
WORCESTER-- The Catholic Diocese of Worcester has done much in
the last decade to protect children entrusted to its care, according
to Raymond L. Delisle, diocesan spokesman.
http://www.telegram.com/news/page_one/diocese.html
Bishop helps review priest files over abuse
complaints - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
To reassure Catholics in the Green Bay Diocese that priests in
parishes and schools pose no threat to minors, Bishop Robert J.
Banks and three priests are reviewing the files of all living
http://www.jsonline.com/news/Metro/apr02/33715.asp
Church's Cross to Bear - Newsday
LI Catholics weigh effects of allegations
In recent weeks, Long Island's nearly 1.5 million Roman Catholics
have been stunned by media reports of pedophile priests and the
church's failure to report them, including some close to home.
http://www.newsday.com/news/yahoo/ny-licath082659889apr08001421.story?coll=ny%2Dnewsaol%2Dheadlines
Religious Leaders Confront Sex Abuse - Newsday
From Episcopal and Protestant churches to Jewish synagogues and
Hindu temples, religious leaders across the city are reflecting
on the sexual abuse scandal within the Roman Catholic Church and
its potential impact on their own houses of worship. As that process
unfolded further yesterday, the Archdiocese of New York announced
that six priests have been asked to leave their current assignments
because of past allegations of sexual misconduct.
http://www.newsday.com/news/yahoo/ny-nyothr082659957apr08001421.story?coll=ny%2Dnewsaol%2Dheadlines
APRIL 7
Calif. parish says Boston kept quiet
on accused priest - Boston Globe
Despite three decades of complaints that the Rev. Paul R. Shanley
had sexually abused children, the Boston Archdiocese transferred
the onetime ''street priest'' to a California parish where officials
were never told of the molestation allegations.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/097/metro/Calif_parish_says_Boston_kept_quiet_on_accused_priest+.shtml
Clerical abuse: a case against forgiving
or forgetting - Boston Globe Opinion
In the past few months, hundreds of adults who grew up in the
schools, parishes, and churches of the Archdiocese of Boston have
stirred their memories and begun to disgorge a horrific litany
of sexual exploitation at the hands of the archdiocesan clergy.
But as horrible, as unforgivable, and as worthy of prosecution
as each of the individual acts of sexual abuse or violence may
be, the focus on these acts alone misses the point.
As a survivor of sexual abuse by a priest, I have watched with
dismay in recent weeks as the scandal around the archdiocese's
protection of its priests has devolved into arguments about gay
priests, married priests, and celibacy. The crisis in the Roman
Catholic Church is not about sexual desire. It is about abuse
of power: rampant, arrogant, and systemic.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/097/focus/Clerical_abuse_a_case_against_forgiving_or_forgetting+.shtml
Shanley files leave family `horrified' -
Boston Herald
A review of Archdiocese of Boston documents released Friday to
a Newton man allegedly raped by a priest in 1989 has left the
plaintiff and his parents ``horrified and disgusted beyond our
worst expectations,'' the family said yesterday.
http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/cats04072002.htm
Alleged victim links priest to man-boy sex
group - Boston Herald
A priest accused of raping a Newton altar boy and an unknown number
of other youths over three decades used writings from Nambla -
a much-assailed group that advocates sex between men and boys
- to entice naive teens into having sex with him, an alleged victim
of the priest said yesterday.
http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/cath04072002.htm
PARISHIONERS SUBSIDIZING PERV PRIESTS -
FOR LIFE - New York Post
Catholic parishioners across the country are subsidizing lifetime
payments to hundreds of inactive ministers - including priests
convicted of molesting children, according church-law experts.
"It's kind of disgusting that these guys are kept on the
payroll," said Linda Pieczynski, a spokeswoman for Call To
Action, a national organization representing Catholic
http://www.nypost.com/seven/04072002/news/nationalnews/45271.htm
The Economic Strain on the Church - Business
Week
Legal liabilities from the sex scandal threaten a U.S. Catholic
Church already beset by systemic financial problems
...
The cascade of legal claims may just be starting. Plaintiffs'
lawyers say as much as $1 billion in settlements, many of them
secret, has already been paid since the first big sex-abuse case
surfaced in Louisiana in 1985
http://aol.businessweek.com:/print/magazine/content/02_15/b3778001.htm?mainw
It's Latino Immigrants Who Can Save the
Catholic Church - Los Angeles Times Opinion
One widely favored remedy for the sexual-abuse scandals rocking
the American Catholic Church is for the church to adapt to the
cultural mainstream. Priests should be allowed to marry. Catholic
women should be ordained. Ironically, Catholic culture may already
be too mainstream. Traditionally rooted in--and reinforced--by
a powerful subculture, American Catholicism is paying the price
of the assimilation of the immigrants that were once its lifeblood.
The faithful are no longer eager to give their sons and daughters
to the church.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/suncommentary/la-000024726apr07.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2Dsuncomment
Mahony's Accuser Describes History of Mental
Problems - Los Angeles Times
FRESNO -- A Fresno woman with a history of mental problems said
Saturday that her claim that Cardinal Roger M. Mahony sexually
abused her 32 years ago at a local Catholic high school was short
on details and sounded far-fetched. But she insisted that it was
true.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-040702victim.story
Mahony, Bernardin Cases Have Parallels -
Los Angeles Times
Allegations: Cardinal defended Chicago prelate against claim retracted
months later.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-000024812apr07.story
The Amazing 'Teflon Cardinal' - Los Angeles
Times Opinion
In 1998, Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony was a central figure
in one of the most notorious sex-abuse trials in Catholic church
history.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-040702lopez.story
The Church Must Exorcise the Demon of Celibacy
- Los Angeles Times Opinion
As the number of accusations of sexual abuse of minors by priests
has grown, officials of the Roman Catholic Church have been forced,
under the glare of public scrutiny, to confront the problems plaguing
the priesthood. Unfortunately, they're unlikely to get to one
of the principal roots of the problem: the church's mandatory
requirement of celibacy.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-000024728apr07.story
Mormon Leader Denounces Sex Abuse - AP
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - As sexual abuse allegations surface against
Roman Catholic priests nationwide, the head of the Mormon church
acknowledged child sexual abuse within his own church and condemned
"the sordid and evil abuse."
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020407/ap_on_re_us/mormon_conference_1
Scandal and Social Change Leave Irish Church
Adrift - New York Times
It may seem odd that Catholic missionary work with a New Age whiff
is being conducted just five miles from central Dublin. But the
pastor, the Rev. Willie Fitzpatrick, said that parishes throughout
Ireland had to find new ways to reclaim all that they had lost,
and to make Roman Catholicism relevant.
Social changes and a string of sordid scandals featuring priests
have combined to put distance between two words often uttered
as one: Catholic Ireland. As Father Fitzpatrick put it, "The
day is gone when people will believe because they are told to
believe."
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/07/international/07IREL.html
Another Woman Alleges Abuse By Father Rooney
- NewsNet5, Cleveland
A Cleveland girl said she was 12 years old when the late Rev.
Don Rooney sexually assaulted her.
Officials said that Rooney killed himself Thursday after he failed to show up to answer separate allegations of sexual abuse.
NewsChannel5's Angie Lau reported that Regina Scolaro, who
now lives in San Francisco, is speaking out to lend support to
another woman who first reported the Catholic priest.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/wews/20020407/lo/1154609_1.html
Gay Priest - Religion & Ethics Newsweekly
The scandals in the Catholic Church have prompted wide-ranging
questions about sexual orientation and practice, among them issues
of homosexuality. Experts insist that pedophilia -- sexual attraction
to children -- has no connection to homosexuality. But the scandal
has renewed attention to the issue of gays in the priesthood --
how many there are and what are the consequences for the Church.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week531/feature.html
Religious orders can hide abuse by priests
- Chicago Tribune
As Roman Catholic dioceses across the nation struggle with allegations
of sexual abuse by their priests, some are finding that independent
religious orders have allowed priests with histories of misconduct
to work in parishes where neither parishioners nor church officials
knew of their past.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-0204070457apr07.story
Abuse case costs priest his posts - Omaha
World Herald
Omaha Archbishop Elden Curtiss on Sunday removed the Rev. Thomas
Sellentin from his duties at parishes in North Bend and Snyder,
Neb., after he admitted sexually abusing boys as far back as 30
years ago.
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_np=0&u_pg=36&u_sid=359871
Confidence in church high despite troubles
- Lincoln Journal Star
A number of local Roman Catholics interviewed by the Journal Star
said their trust in the church remains high despite revelations
of cover ups and out-of-court settlements of child sexual abuse
by priests.
Several said they are glad to live in the Lincoln diocese,
which is considered one of the most conservative in the country.
http://www.journalstar.com/local?story_id=6394
Priest calls for end to celibacy - Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel
A south side priest, the latest in the archdiocese to speak out
about sex abuse problems in the Roman Catholic Church, used the
pulpit Sunday to call for an end to celibacy as a requirement
for the priesthood - remarks that led his congregation to give
him a standing ovation.
Father Thomas Suriano, 63, pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic
Church, also apologized from the altar to all the victims of sexual
abuse by priests.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/Metro/apr02/33540.asp
APRIL 6
Grand Rapids Diocese Acknowledges Old
Priest Abuse Case - Chicago Tribune
The Catholic Diocese of Grand Rapids admits to a half-million
dollar pay out to settle sexual abuse claims against a priest.
The settlement came in 1994 more than thirty years after the alleged
abuse took place.
Three sisters claimed they were repeatedly raped by the Reverend
John Thomas Sullivan back in the late 1950's and early 60's. He
served in the Grand Rapids Diocese from 1958 to 1960.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/040602-wxmi-reaction.story
Bishops accused of abuse cover-up - The
Dallas Morning News
Three of five bishops on the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops'
sexual abuse committee are accused in lawsuits of aiding cover-ups
of molestation by clergy, according to a background check by The
Dallas Morning News.
http://www.dallasnews.com/localnews/stories/040602dnmetbishops.4d1e0.html
Priest demoted over policy - The Dallas
Morning News
In what appears to be a national precedent, the Catholic Diocese
of Dallas has removed a priest from his church for failing to
do criminal background checks required by the diocese's sexual
abuse policy.
http://www.dallasnews.com/localnews/stories/040602dnmetdiocese.ae6.html
Diocese's background checks: good model,
flawed execution? - The Dallas Morning News
The sexual-abuse policy of the Catholic Diocese of Dallas is being
hailed by U.S. bishops as a model, but some parishes and schools
aren't complying fully, according to a random check of two dozen
sites by The Dallas Morning News.
http://www.dallasnews.com/religion/stories/040402dnmetdiocese.5538b.html
DAs push bill on child abuse - Boston Globe
DANVERS - Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly and several district
attorneys yesterday urged quick passage of legislation mandating
that members of the clergy report suspected child abuse to civil
authorities. A key state senator later said the bill could soon
become law.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/096/metro/DAs_push_bill_on_child_abuse+.shtml
Former student accuses priest - Boston Globe
A second former Catholic Memorial High School student yesterday
filed suit against the Boston Archdiocese and Monsignor Frederick
J. Ryan, alleging that Ryan sexually abused him in Ryan's living
quarters at the chancery of the archdiocese on two occasions 20
years ago.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/096/metro/Former_student_accuses_priest+.shtml
Author examines Catholic values - Boston
Globe
The unfolding clergy sexual abuse scandal has become the biggest
crisis to hit the Catholic Church in the United States in recent
memory. As the controversy swirls, Thomas H. Groome, a Boston
College religion professor, has written a timely book, ''What
Makes Us Catholic.'' He argues that Catholics, no matter how devout
or non-practicing, share a number of traits. They include a sense
of ultimate meaning; a feeling of community; an appreciation of
human potential and fallibility; a concern for justice and the
less fortunate; a love of tradition; a belief in the power of
faith to overcome despair; and an obligation to respect peoples
of diverse backgrounds.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/096/metro/Author_examines_Catholic_values+.shtml
Source: Files detail Shanley abuse - Boston
Herald
Files handed over by the Archdiocese of Boston yesterday to a
24-year-old Newton man suing a Catholic priest for rape contain
lurid details of sex abuse committed by the accused cleric years
before the Newton plaintiff was also allegedly molested, sources
say.
http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/prie04062002.htm
Student protests challenge cardinal at Regis
- Boston Herald
An appearance by Bernard Cardinal Law at a Catholic women's college
in Weston yesterday drew a new group of protesters outraged by
his role in the church's molestation scandal.
http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/regi04062002.htm
Ultimately, justice will be served to pedophile
priests - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
If you're a priest who has sexually assaulted a child or minor,
I imagine life is getting more difficult for you these days.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/editorials/apr02/33082.asp
Secrecy destroys trust; disclosure is healthier
- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Public attention has been fixed in recent weeks on the issue of
clergy sexual
buse, particularly in light of cases of pedophilia among priests
in several Roman Catholic dioceses.
The Roman Catholic Church is not alone in dealing with these
matters. Even though the church in which I serve has rarely experienced
allegations of sexual contact with minors, we do not condone any
sexual misconduct by members of the clergy.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/editorials/apr02/33087.asp
Why is this happening now?- Milwaukee Journal
Sentinel Opinion
A number of people have recently asked me, "Why are all these
revelations
about priests who molested children coming out now?"
Talking about it is no longer taboo.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/editorials/apr02/33081.asp
The eyes of the Catholic Church are on its
leaders- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Opinion
The Catholic Church of the 1950s, in which so many of us were
altar boys and then young priests together, seems as distant as
Camelot. Those of us who left the priesthood -- some to marry
-- gaze back on old comrades, many of whom are now bishops. They
are wrestling, as did Jacob with the angel, with how to face and
tell the truth about the explosion of pedophilia among priests
over the past two decades.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/editorials/apr02/33089.asp
APRIL 5
Mahony E-Mails Cite Fears Over Scandals
- Los Angeles Times
Abuse: In another development, a Fresno woman alleges the L.A.
archbishop molested her in 1970.
A series of confidential e-mails written by Cardinal Roger
M. Mahony show how pervasively the nationwide child-abuse scandal
in the Catholic Church has affected the Los Angeles Archdiocese.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-040602abuse.story
Detroit priest charged with sexual assault
- Detroit Free Press
New information from a Catholic bishop who was ordered to testify
under oath helped lead to a rape charge Friday against a priest
in Detroit.
The Rev. Komlan Dem Houndjame was last known to be at an out-of-state
treatment facility. Wayne County Prosecutor Michael Duggan said
he hoped to bring the priest to Detroit for arraignment within
a week.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/krdetroit/20020406/lo/detroit_priest_charged_with_sexual_assault_1.html
Church Files Show Missteps as Priest's Abuses
Continued - New York Times
Andrew Glachan, 32, was sexually abused for years by his priest
Father Edward A. Pipala, then pastor of St. Joseph's Roman Catholic
Church in Croton Falls, N.Y.
When the Rev. Edward A. Pipala, a Catholic school teacher in
Staten Island, appeared at the offices of the New York Archdiocese
at 5:45 one morning in 1977, he was nervous and scared. The mother
of a teenage student had accused him of a sexual encounter with
her son.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/06/nyregion/06PRIE.html
Pope accepts resignation of Irish bishop
VATICAN CITY - Pope John Paul (news - web sites) II has accepted
the resignation of a popular Roman Catholic bishop for southeast
Ireland who traveled here to step down in person over allegations
he protected a pedophile priest, the Vatican (news - web sites)
announced Saturday.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020406/ap_wo_en_ge/vatican_bishop_resigns_1
Be Kind To Your Priest - Hartford Courant
Opinion
His batteries get drained quickly these days. The priesthood has
changed from the era when many young men said yes to God. Priests
no longer occupy a world that values sacrifice, nor are most of
them living in a rectory with three or four fellow priests who
can buoy their spirits during long days.
http://www.ctnow.com/news/opinion/op_ed/hc-cramasisee0406.artapr06.story?coll=hc%2Dheadlines%2Doped
New Jersey Bishop Expresses Sorrow and Vows
to Handle Abuse Claims Expediently - New York Times
In a pastoral letter to be printed in church bulletins throughout
central New Jersey tomorrow, the new bishop of the Diocese of
Metuchen expresses his "heartfelt sorrow for the unimaginable
pain" that has resulted from child abuse by a few priests
in the Roman Catholic Church.
In his letter to 108 parishes in Middlesex, Somerset, Hunterdon
and Warren Counties, the Metuchen bishop, Paul G. Bootkoski, vows
to handle any future allegations of abuse against priests in an
"immediate, legal, responsible and credible manner."
Joanne Ward, a spokeswoman for the diocese, said the bishop would
review personnel records to determine if there were any unaddressed
allegations from the past.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/06/nyregion/06BISH.html
Worker's warnings on priests led to her
firing - Boston Globe
ROLLA, Mo. - Last month's resignation of Palm Beach, Fla., Bishop
Anthony
J. O'Connell following accusations that he molested a Missouri
seminarian did not surprise youth worker Donna Cox.
A decade ago, after O'Connell became a bishop, Cox complained
about possible sexual misconduct at the seminary O'Connell ran
for a quarter century. But instead of acting on her complaints,
which included six other priests, the chancellor of the Jefferson
City Diocese swore Cox to secrecy - and then fired her after Cox
expressed concern that nothing was being done.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/095/metro/Worker_s_warnings_on_priests_led_to_her_firing+.shtml
Judge: No gag order for alleged victim -
Boston Globe
A Middlesex Superior Court judge yesterday cleared the way for
the possible public release of internal Catholic Church documents
that may contain evidence about whether Cardinal Bernard F. Law
and other church officials knew about the sexual molestation of
minors by Rev. Paul R. Shanley.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/095/metro/Judge_No_gag_order_for_alleged_victim+.shtml
Law is new defendant in clergy abuse suit
- Boston Globe
Cardinal Bernard F. Law and a retired monsignor were added as
defendants yesterday to a lawsuit that now includes 14 alleged
victims of the late Rev. Joseph E. Birmingham, with the two officials
accused of allowing Birmingham to continue serving in parishes
despite knowledge of his sexual
abuse.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/095/metro/Law_is_new_defendant_in_clergy_abuse_suit+.shtml
DA calls N.Y. diocese policy on abuse 'disturbing'
- Boston Globe
NEW YORK - Cardinal Edward Egan, head of the New York Archdiocese,
took a step toward greater openness this week when he gave the
Manhattan district attorney a list of priests who have been accused
of child abuse, but at least one New York prosecutor said he did
not go far enough.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/095/nation/DA_calls_N_Y_diocese_policy_on_abuse_disturbing_+.shtml
Judge refuses to gag alleged priest victim
- Boston Herald
In a blow to the Archdiocese of Boston, a Superior Court judge
yesterday refused to silence the alleged victim of an abusive
priest.
http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/shan04052002.htm
Cover-up charges made in alleged abuse case
- Boston Herald
Men alleging abuse by the late Rev. Joseph E. Birmingham and women
who said they tried to stop it by warning high-level church officials
30 years ago fired fresh cover-up charges at top officials from
the Archdiocese of Boston yesterday.
``I should have gone to the police right from the start and
I didn't, because I had my trust and faith in the church,'' said
Mary McGree. She was one of five women who said they met in 1970
with Monsignor John J. Jennings, the archdiocesan personnel director,
to report abuse of boys by
Birmingham.
http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/prie04052002.htm
Catholic Charities subs mailing for party
fund-raiser - Boston Herald
A mass mailing will pinch hit this spring for Catholic Charities'
usual garden party fund-raiser in hopes that donors will give
generously to the social service arm of the scandal-ridden church
from the privacy of their homes.
Cardinal, prosecutors speak out on scandal
- Philadelphia Inquirer
Many of the region's top prosecutors said yesterday that Roman
Catholic Church officials should turn over information about alleged
sexual abuse by priests - including names - to enable law enforcement
to investigate possible crimes.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/3003410.htm
When the powers of Caesar and God collide
- Irish Times Opinion
In Dublin the previous evening Marie Collins told RTE's Prime
Time audience that Cardinal Desmond Connell had refused to disclose
any information to support her case against a priest. Father Paul
McGennis had admitted to his superiors that he had abused Ms Collins
when she was a 13-year-old patient in Our Lady's Hospital, Crumlin.
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/opinion/2002/0405/3946689487TURNERFRI05OPEDOP05R.html
Priests' Accuser Passes Lie Detector - Los
Angeles Times
Lori Haigh says two O.C. clerics ignored her pleas for help. Test's
administrator says, 'She's telling the truth.'
http://www.latimes.com/editions/orange/la-000024303apr05.story
Actions louder than words - Baltimore Sun
Opinion
Sex abuse: Church leaders need to do more than apologize for clergy
who prey on children.
http://www.sunspot.net/news/opinion/bal-ed.clergy05apr05.story?coll=bal%2Dopinion%2Dheadlines
Church is blind to damage caused by vow
of celibacy - Baltimore Sun Opinion
AND NOW, having read the sordid details from the police report,
we regard the pathetic pastor of St. Clement I Catholic Church,
caught in a lie of fear and desperation, his license to practice
suspended, his whereabouts for a week known but to his attorney
and, one assumes, God. All because he did that which his vows
forbid him to do, and allegedly lied to a Baltimore County police
officer to cover it up. Another one bites the dust, and while
the development was decidedly regrettable, one assumes there were
sighs of relief among Father Steven Girard's superiors that a
little boy wasn't involved.
http://www.sunspot.net/news/local/bal-md.rodricks05apr05.column?coll=bal%2Dlocal%2Dheadlines
Borsellino: Sex scandal rattles priests,
too Bishop Joseph Charron in Des Moines says it is a painful,
difficult time
- Des Moines Register Opinion
http://www.dmregister.com/news/stories/c5917686/17819474.html
No consensus on what to do next as sex scandals
multiply - National Catholic Reporter
U.S. Catholics seeking a Holy Week respite from the sordid stories
of clerical sexual abuse of minors got no relief. Instead, between
Palm Sunday and Good Friday, additional allegations were leveled
against priests across the country, and bishops came under heightened
scrutiny for the manner in which they deal with the priestly predators
and their victims.
http://www.natcath.com/NCR_Online/archives/040502/040502d.htm
More allegations arise in Boston - National
Catholic Reporter
Cardinal Bernard Law, fending off calls for his resignation while
dealing with new charges of sex abuse against Boston church figures,
presided at Palm Sunday services before a near-capacity congregation
of mostly Haitians and Hispanics at the Cathedral of the Holy
Cross, located in the South End neighborhood of the city.
http://www.natcath.com/NCR_Online/archives/040502/040502e.htm
Praying for courage to name the pain - National
Catholic Reporter
"We are entering into a new ecclesiology. We are entering
into a culture socially and ecclesially of accountability. Church
leaders must be accountable. Please accept my comments today as
part of my being accountable as a pastor. As a pastor I think
there must be an openness and an honesty and a sharing about things
that are real no matter how difficult they may be." With
these words, a California pastor focused attention on key issues
in the sexual abuse scandal roiling the Catholic church.
http://www.natcath.com/NCR_Online/archives/040502/040502f.htm
Tragedy may unlock brakes on reform - National
Catholic Reporter
Doc Scullen, the pastor of Holy Name Church, was bigger than life.
Knowing each parishioner by name, he exuded all the charisma and
charm of movie priests Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald. Although
I was just a boy when the great man died, it was clear from my
parents and others that no one was more respected and trusted
in the old Newburg section of Cleveland than this wise priest.
http://www.natcath.com/NCR_Online/archives/040502/040502g.htm
Protestant clergy have sex scandals, too,
historian says - Chicago Tribune
Although the flood of sex abuse allegations against priests this
year has focused attention on the Roman Catholic Church, Protestant
denominations have also faced sex scandals involving clergy over
the years.
Information on such abuse is sketchy, however, in part because
Protestant groups are so numerous.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-0204050190apr05.story
Sex abuse spans spectrum of churches - The
Christian Science Monitor
Despite headlines focusing on the priest pedophile problem in
the Roman Catholic Church, most American churches being hit with
child sexual-abuse allegations are Protestant, and most of the
alleged abusers are not clergy or staff, but church volunteers.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0405/p01s01-ussc.html
A National Precedent - Newsday
Suffolk seeks grand jury to examine church abuse cases
In an unprecedented move, the Suffolk County district attorney's
office plans to empanel a special grand jury to investigate sexual
abuse allegations against priests in the Diocese of Rockville
Centre and how the diocese handled those allegations.
http://www.newsday.com/news/yahoo/ny-liabus052656099apr05.story?coll=ny%2Dnewsaol%2Dheadlines
Lawsuit Says Church Hid Sex Crimes - AP
BOSTON (AP) - His nickname was "Father B," he drove
a flashy black convertible, and he seemed to know how to relate
to children, including the boys in the Roman Catholic parishes
where he was assigned.
The late Rev. Joseph Birmingham is also accused of sexual abuse
by a growing list of those boys, including 13 who on Thursday
joined in a lawsuit against the Boston archdiocese and church
officials, including Cardinal Bernard Law.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020405/ap_on_re_us/church_abuse_72
Accused Priest Shoots Self to Death - AP
CLEVELAND (AP) - A Roman Catholic priest shot himself to death in his car three days after being accused of molesting a girl two decades ago, authorities said Friday.
The Rev. Don A. Rooney, 48, was found slumped over the wheel
Thursday in a pharmacy parking lot in suburban Hinckley, a gunshot
wound to the head. Cuyahoga County coroner Dr. Elizabeth Balraj
ruled it suicide.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020405/ap_on_re_us/priest_suicide_1
Catholic Fund-Raiser Wants Priests To Take
Lie Detector Tests - WPLG
Another prominent leader in South Florida has been asked to step
down.
Catholic fund-raiser Edward Ricci is accusing the interim leader
of the Palm Beach Diocese of not doing enough to protect children
from abuse.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/wplg/20020405/lo/1152933_1.html
System worked well for abusers - Chicago
Sun-Times Letters
Why did so many American bishops think they could get away with
stonewalling and cover-up tactics to protect abusive priests?
They thought they could get away with it because they did get
away with it for a long time. They had carved out for themselves
an immunity not unlike that which canon law envisages in a country
where there is a union of church and state.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/greeley/cst-edt-greel05.html
APRIL 4
Bishop regrets handling of case - Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel
Bishop Raphael M. Fliss of Superior apologized Wednesday to Catholics
in his northern Wisconsin diocese, asking their forgiveness for
failing to thoroughly investigate a priest who was moved from
parish to parish after being accused of sexually abusing boys
in the 1980s.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/Metro/apr02/32466.asp
Put a 'for sale' sign on cardinal's luxurious
quarters - Boston Globe
One of the city's great monuments to wealth and power rises in
splendor on a hill overlooking Brighton and Newton.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/094/metro/Put_a_for_sale_sign_on_cardinal_s_luxurious_quarters+.shtml
Church petitions judge for gag order - Boston
Globe
CAMBRIDGE - The Archdiocese of Boston yesterday asked a Superior
Court judge for a ''gag order'' on documents it was ordered to
hand over tomorrow to the alleged victim of sexual abuse at a
Newton parish by the Rev. Paul R. Shanley.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/094/metro/Church_petitions_judge_for_gag_order+.shtml
Dozens more allege abuse by late priest
- Boston Globe
In the last week alone, more than two dozen alleged victims of
the late Rev. Joseph E. Birmingham have come forward, some with
accounts of how they fruitlessly complained about his compulsive
molestation of children during the first of six parish assignments
Birmingham had in 29 years as a priest.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/094/metro/Dozens_more_allege_abuse_by_late_priest+.shtml
Regis head defends invitation to Law - Boston
Globe
The new president of the only Catholic women's college in the
Boston area is defending her decision to invite Cardinal Bernard
F. Law to preside over a worship service at her inauguration ceremony
in the face of anticipated student protests against the embattled
prelate.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/094/metro/Regis_head_defends_invitation_to_Law+.shtml
Bishop regrets handling of case - Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel
Bishop Raphael M. Fliss of Superior apologized Wednesday to Catholics
in his northern Wisconsin diocese, asking their forgiveness for
failing to thoroughly investigate a priest who was moved from
parish to parish after being accused of sexually abusing boys
in the 1980s.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/apr02/32466.asp
Church in good shape compared to the old
days - Irish Times
FACED with the manifest evil of clerical child abuse, many church
members lament the disappearance of "the good old days"
- sodalities, full churches, bursting seminaries, unquestioned
clergy and nuns all over the place. Yet it was during the good
old days that the crimes of child abuse were being perpetrated
and covered up.
In my opinion the good days are just emerging.
http://www.Ireland.com/newspaper/opinion/2002/0403/2366570560OP03PRIEST.html
Reaching out... for reform - Christian Science
Monitor
Calls for change come from Catholics in the US and around the
world
CTA founder Dan Daley says relations between hierarchy and laity
have retrogressed, partly because "this pope has appointed
many bishops who don't have that sense that the church is from
below as well as from above. This sad scandal dramatically portrays
the need for accountability to the people.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0404/p14s01-lire.html
Catholics: Church in Midst of A 'Crisis'
- Washington Post
A growing majority of Catholics are sharply critical of the way
the Roman Catholic Church has handled instances of child abuse
by priests and believe the scandal has deeply tarnished the church's
reputation, according to a national survey by The Washington Post,
ABC News and Beliefnet.com.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58015-2002Apr3.html
Female priests provide answer - USA Today
''The average Catholic would rather have a gay who is chaste as
their priest than a straight guy who is fooling around with the
women.''
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/usatoday/20020404/cm_usatoday/3997064
Priest stripped of powers is missing - Baltimore
Sun
A Roman Catholic priest who is accused of filing a false carjacking
report to cover up a night with a male prostitute has been relieved
of his priestly faculties and is missing from his Lansdowne parish.
http://www.sunspot.net/news/yahoo/bal-md.priest04apr04.story?coll=bal%2Dnewsaol%2Dheadlines
Church struggles with long-ago abuse charges
- Seattle Times
A Pierce County priest accused of sexual abuse dating to the 1970s
was never suspended from his duties, never given a psychiatric
evaluation, and his current and former parishes were never informed
of the allegation.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/134431107_priestinvestigate4m.html
Anti-Catholic 'Experts' Fuel Church's Scandals
- Newsmax
Veteran investigative reporter Michael S. Rose has written a frightening
account of the corruption of the Roman Catholic seminary system
in the United States. In "Goodbye! Good Men: How Catholic
Seminaries Turned Away Two Generations of Vocations from the Priesthood"
(Acquinas Publishing), Rose exposes the abuses that have driven
honorable men faithful to the tenets of Roman Catholicism out
of the seminaries and given preferential treatment to homosexuals
and others wedded to unorthodox doctrines.
In his book, written before the latest abuse scandals erupted,
Rose insists that the alleged shortage of priests is "artificial
and contrived," the result of policies adopted by scores
of dioceses for many years - policies that turned the seminary
system on its head - and have now driven a stake through the heart
of the Catholic Church in...
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/4/3/202041.shtml
Bishop: Church Must Rebuild Trust - AP
The head of the U.S. Roman Catholic bishops' conference says he
disagrees with those who believe that allowing priests to marry
or ordaining women would help end the church's current sex abuse
crisis.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020404/ap_on_re_us/church_abuse_gregory_5
Diocese clarifies policy: It'll report alleged
abuse - Charlotte Observer
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte on Wednesday clarified
its position on sexual abuse, pledging to immediately turn over
to civil authorities allegations of abuse against minors by priests
or others in the diocese.
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/news/local/2994319.htm
Suits Say Vatican and Pope Are Liable in
Priest Scandal - New York Times
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., April 3 - A lawyer who has handled hundreds
of sexual abuse cases against the Roman Catholic Church filed
two lawsuits today that name the Vatican and Pope John Paul II
among those responsible for moving pedophile priests not only
between dioceses, but also between countries to avoid prosecution.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/04/national/04SUIT.html
New York Gets a List of Priests in Abuse
Files- New York Times
The Archdiocese of New York reversed course and announced yesterday
that it had given the Manhattan district attorney a list of all
its priests who had been accused in the past of the sexual abuse
of minors. It also spelled out new guidelines for evaluating fresh
accusations and backed off an earlier decision to report cases
only with an accuser's consent.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/04/nyregion/04EGAN.html
APRIL 3
Priest treatment unfolds in costly, secretive
world - Boston Globe
Psychiatrists, church trade misdeed charges
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/093/metro/Priest_treatment_unfolds_in_costly_secretive_world+.shtml
Criminal complaint filed vs. accused ex-priest
- Boston Herald
by Robin Washington and Tom Mashberg A Newton man filed a criminal
complaint yesterday against the Rev. Paul Shanley, a former pastor
shuffled between several Boston area churches where he allegedly
molested children before relocating to San Diego, where sources
say he now works as an auxiliary police officer.
http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/prie04032002.htm
New York Archdiocese Turns Over List of Accused
Abusers - AP
NEW YORK (AP) -- The Archdiocese of New York has given the Manhattan
district attorney a list of cases from the past four decades of
priests accused of molesting youngsters.
The allegations could lead to criminal charges, at least in
instances where the statute of limitations has not expired.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Church-Abuse-New-York.html
Suit Accuses Vatican of Sex Cover - up -
AP
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -- Two men sued the Vatican and three
Roman Catholic dioceses Wednesday, accusing them of covering up
sexual abuse at a Catholic boarding school in Florida and an Oregon
monastery.
The lawsuits claim that the Holy See, the archdioceses of Portland,
Ore., and Chicago, the Diocese of St. Petersburg and two religious
orders hid two abusive clergymen by moving them to parishes and
monasteries across state and national lines.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Church-Abuse-Vatican.html
Chicago Tribune
In 1991, as part of an investigative report I did for Ms. magazine
on clergy sexual abuse, I met Rita Milla. A Latina child growing
up in Los Angeles, Milla was a devout Catholic. At St. Philomena
Church, she went to confession every Saturday and
Chicago Tribune
One after another, Roman Catholic priests accused of sexually
molesting children check into a handful of specialized hospitals
around the country to confront a destructive disorder that science
can control but not cure.
Priest says Vatican, Polish church long
knew of sexual misconduct charge that brought down archbishop
- AP
WARSAW, Poland - Roman Catholic priests had for years sought the
intervention of Polish church officials and the Vatican (news
- web sites) over charges of sexual misconduct against an archbishop
who resigned last week, one priest said in a magazine interview
released Wednesday.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020403/ap_wo_en_ge/poland_archbishop_4
Another Local Priest Charged With Misconduct
- Detroit Free Press
Church leaders have removed another local Catholic priest from
his parish because of alleged misconduct.
The Rev. Gary Bueche resigned Monday as pastor of Saints John and Paul Catholic http://www.freep.com/news/religion/priest3_20020403.htm
Report: Church spent millions on quietly
treating accused priests - AP
BOSTON - The Catholic Church spent millions of dollars quietly
treating priests accused of sexual abuse before defrocked priest
John J. Geoghan's case shattered the church's secrecy, a newspaper
reported.
A.W. Richard Sipe, psychologist and ex-priest, told The Boston
Globe that the Boston archdiocese probably has spent at least
dlrs 50 million on treatments for clergy over the last 25 years.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020403/ap_wo_en_ge/us_church_abuse_therapy
Victims Crushed in a Priestly Silence -
Los Angeles Times Opinion
Well, there goes another round of Sunday offerings. Your Easter
tithes won't pay for hymnbooks or boost the salaries of underpaid
Catholic schoolteachers, but will go straight into the scandal
management fund.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-000023763apr03.column?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2Dcalifornia
Vatican suspicious of lay anger over clerical
sex abuse - Irish Times
The Curia and the Pope may not understand the horrendous dimensions
of clerical sexual abuse, writes Paddy Agnew from Rome
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2002/0403/3653186822HM5VATICAN.html
Victim fears bishop will be used as a scapegoat
by the church - Irish Times
A victim of Father Sean Fortune yesterday expressed his concern
at Dr Brendan Comiskey's resignation, saying he feared the bishop
would be used as a scapegoat by the Catholic Church.
Printed words cannot compete with impact of victims on camera
- Irish Times
Years of excellent investigative print journalism on paedophile
priests in Ferns was unable to achieve the same impact as 50 minutes
of victims and their families telling their stories to camera,
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2002/0403/2893662378HM5COMBBC.html
Fortune's crimes leave a devastating legacy
- Irish Times
When Father Sean Fortune committed suicide in 1999 he left a devastating
legacy. For decades, from when he was a young seminarian in Wexford,
throughout his 20 years as a priest, he was a serial abuser of
young boys.
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2002/0403/3121953474HM5VICTIMS.html
Bishops' official would welcome abuse inquiry
- Irish Times
The director of the Irish Bishops' Conference Child Protection
Office said yesterday he would welcome "some form of inquiry"
into the handling of cases of child sexual abuse by the authorities.
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2002/0403/2857174474HM5BAILEY.html
Mahony Says Victims' Requests Led to Secrecy
- Los Angeles Times
In interview, he defends decision not to reveal accused priests'
identities.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-000023862apr03.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2Dfrontpage
Secrets, Celibacy and the Church - New York
Times Opinion
The crisis facing the Catholic Church is a tragedy that has been
decades in the making. It was to conceal sexual activity in a
culture of celibacy that many cardinals and bishops resorted to
deception and dishonesty, even about crimes committed by priests.
Only recently has the church been forced by the public and the
victims to acknowledge this record of abuse. The larger truth
about the sexual revolution tearing at the church, however, has
barely begun to unfold.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/03/opinion/03BERR.html
After Review, Trenton Bishop Removes Priest
- New York Times
NEWARK, April 2 - The bishop of Trenton said today that he had
removed a priest from an administrative position in the diocese
after a review of personnel files dating back 50 years revealed
that the priest had been accused of molesting a young parishioner.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/03/nyregion/03PRIE.html
Diocese reveals abuse claims - Atlanta Journal
Constitution
The Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta disclosed Tuesday it has responded
to claims over the last 13 years that six priests had sexually
abused boys. It paid $31,250 in church funds --- plus additional
money from insurers --- to settle four of the claims.
http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/epaper/editions/today/news_c3aacaecf38131c5006c.html
Suit Alleging Abuse by Priest Prompts Criminal
Investigation - Los Angeles Times
LOS GATOS, Calif. -- Law enforcement authorities are investigating
allegations that a priest molested a mentally disabled man at
the Sacred Heart Jesuit Center here between 1996 and 2000.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-000023808apr03.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2Dcalifornia
Diocese removes last of 13 offenders - Newark
Star-Ledger
Reviewing its records from the last 50 years, the Roman Catholic
Diocese of Trenton turned up 13 cases of sexual misconduct by
priests with minors and removed the one accused priest who was
still working in the diocese.
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1017828620175803.xml
Poll: Most U.S. Catholics Say Church in
'Crisis' - Reuters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A majority of U.S. Catholics believe the
pedophilia scandal in the Roman Catholic Church is a crisis and
many are angry at the way the church has handled the issue, according
to a Washington Post/ABC News/Beliefnet poll released on Wednesday.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-crime-priests-poll.html
Bless Me Father, For I Have Sinned - ABC
News Special with Beliefnet
http://more.abcnews.go.com/onair/DailyNews/pjr020403_ChurchCrisis_sub.html#1
The Preaching Life - ABC News
Sex Abuse Scandals Add to Burdens of Lonely, Overworked Priests
http://more.abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/priestlife020403.html
Catholics See 'Crisis' - ABC News
Poll Finds Many Catholics Angry Over Church's Handling of Abuse
Cases
Seven in 10 American Catholics say the issue of sexual abuse of
children by priests is a "crisis" for the Catholic Church,
according to a new poll conducted by ABCNEWS, the Washington Post
and Beliefnet.
http://more.abcnews.go.com/onair/DailyNews/church_poll_020403.html
The Catholic Church's Watergate - Beliefnet
This has nothing to do with anti-Catholicism because the Catholic
Church is wholly to blame, says William Donohue
http://www.beliefnet.com/frameset.asp?pageLoc=/story/103/story_10367_1.html&boardID=38107
Soul Betrayal - Beliefnet
It's not just priests who abuse youngsters. Clergy of all faiths
are guilty of sexual misconduct with children and adults.
http://www.beliefnet.com/frameset.asp?pageLoc=/story/101/story_10199_1.html&boardID=36097
Are They Really Pedophiles? - Beliefnet
Not all the scandals involved ''molestation,'' and many did not
include victims we can characterize as ''children.''
http://www.beliefnet.com/frameset.asp?pageLoc=/story/103/story_10344_1.html&boardID=37755
It's the Seminaries, Not the Celibacy -
Beliefnet
Mature priests can live happily as celibates. But seminaries do
need to deal with sexuality more realistically.
http://www.beliefnet.com/frameset.asp?pageLoc=/story/101/story_10195_1.html&boardID=36335
Addressing Priestly Pedophilia - Beliefnet
Designed to be a constructive if overdue solution, new Vatican
documents create obscurity which makes the Church look bad again.
http://www.beliefnet.com/frameset.asp?pageLoc=/story/97/story_9788_1.html&boardID=32264
Failing God's Children - Beliefnet
The church's failure to deal effectively with the sin of pedophilia
has resulted in troubling poll data.
http://www.beliefnet.com/frameset.asp?pageLoc=/story/101/story_10137_1.html&boardID=35385
APRIL 2
Camden priest case is magnet for media
- Newark Star-Ledger
The allegations were astounding, almost too unreal to believe.
Twenty-one victims came forward in a civil suit, charging that
for decades, priests in the Catholic Diocese of Camden sexually
abused children -- even trading victims -- then hushed it up.
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1017742207326565.xml
Priest resigns over allegations of sexually
abusing Westchester youth - Newsday
BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. -- A priest at a Roman Catholic seminary in
Florida has resigned over allegations that he sexually abused
a Westchester teen-ager in the 1970s.
Monsignor William White, 69, resigned after the president of
St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Boyton Beach, Fla., discovered
the Archdiocese of New York had settled a case in 1997 for $100,000
involving alleged abuse by White.
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ny--priestresigns0402apr02.story
Expressing Regret - Newsday
Twenty years before he was drummed out of the priesthood for molesting
boys, the Rev. Brian McKeon told the pastor of his first church
that he had acted "inappropriately" with a teenager.
Nothing, however, was done.
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-liabus0402.story?coll=ny%2Dhomepage%2Dmore%2Dbreaking%2Dnews
Power to laypeople - Chicago Tribune letters
Princeton, N.J. -- We hope that the Archdiocese of Chicago's laudable
process (News, March 26) for dealing with cases of sexual abuse
is only the first step toward new accountability.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/letters/chi-0204020188apr02.story
Probe Call as Irish Bishop Quits in Sex
Abuse Row - Reuters
DUBLIN (Reuters) - The Irish government was under pressure on
Tuesday to open an inquiry into sexual abuse by priests following
the resignation of a high-profile bishop in a row which has rocked
the Catholic Church in Ireland.
The Bishop of Ferns, Brendan Comiskey, quit on Monday after
intense criticism of the way he dealt with allegations of sex
abuse against a priest in his diocese, Father Sean Fortune, which
were highlighted in a TV documentary screened last month.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-ireland-bishop.html
2 Catholic Dioceses Settle Abuse Suit for
$1.2 Million - Los Angeles Times
The Roman Catholic dioceses of Orange and Los Angeles paid
$1.2 million Monday to a 37-year-old woman who alleged in a lawsuit
that a popular priest molested her as a teenager, got her pregnant
and paid for her abortion.
The church's settlement with Lori Haigh was the second high-profile
settlement the two dioceses have paid in eight months to a victim
of priestly abuse. It was the latest in a mounting string of cases
throughout the nation that have focused attention on the church's
tolerance of abusive clergy.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/la-000023610apr02.story
Abuse Investigation at Azusa Church - Los
Angeles Times
Los Angeles County sheriff's detectives are investigating complaints
that youths at St. Frances of Rome Catholic Church in Azusa were
molested by an adult. Authorities have interviewed more than a
dozen altar boys.
The allegations were brought to the attention of detectives
by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles after it received
a tip on its hotline for sexual abuse.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-000023572apr02.story
Philippines Seeks Clergy Testing - AP
MANILA, Philippines (AP) - A senior Roman Catholic Church leader
in the Philippines said Tuesday that psychological tests should
be imposed on seminarians to screen for pedophiles and prevent
them from joining the clergy.
Archbishop Oscar Cruz, former president of the Catholic Bishops
Conference of the Philippines, Asia's biggest Catholic congregation,
said the seminary should be the first line of defense in barring
pedophiles from the priesthood.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020402/ap_on_re_as/philippines_pedophile_priests_3
Diocesan officials kept abuse claims quiet
- Philadelphia Inquirer
ATLANTIC CITY - An official of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Camden
testified yesterday that he had neither alerted law-enforcement
authorities nor taken notes when a woman told him in 1984 that
a parish priest had sexually abused her two sons for years, and
had also assaulted her and other members of her family.
Msgr. Joseph W. Pokusa, testifying in an elaborate and widely
watched civil case, said he did not contact authorities because
he believed New Jersey law required this only when such allegations
came from a minor. Nor did he encourage the woman to call police.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/2981927.htm
Garland retains a new lawyer - Boston Globe
Garry M. Garland, the man who has accused Monsignor Frederick
J. Ryan of molesting him as a minor in a civil lawsuit, has switched
attorneys and is now being represented by Mitchell Garabedian,
the Boston attorney who has won millions of dollars in settlements
from the Archdiocese of Boston stemming from clergy sexual abuse
allegations.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/092/metro/Garland_retains_a_new_lawyer+.shtml
Court psychologist claims Garland is mentally
competent - Boston Herald
A court psychologist said yesterday that a former hockey star
and high-tech salesman - who was arrested Thursday trying to confront
a priest he says abused him - is mentally fit.
http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/garl04022002.htm
The priests who're guilty of nothing - Globe
& Mail, Ottawa
In 1955, a young Oblate priest named Bernard Pinet arrived in
Western Canada from Montreal. Since then, he has worked and lived
with aboriginal people. In the justice system, he met dozens of
young native kids who had suffered sexual abuse, and worked with
native elders to find ways of helping them.
Father Pinet told me that the Oblates are facing 2,500 claims
for residential-school abuse. Their legal bills are bankrupting
them. Soon they may not be able to support the elderly priests
who took vows of poverty when they joined the order, and thought
they would be looked after until they died.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/GIS.Servlets.HTMLTemplate?tf=tgam/common/FullStory.html&cf=tgam/common/FullStory.cfg&configFileLoc=tgam/config&vg=BigAdVariableGenerator&date=20020402&dateOffset=&hub=headdex&title=Headlines&cache_key=headdexEducation¤t_row=2&start_row=2&num_rows=1
The sex obsessed church should focus on
justice instead - Alternet.org
Revelations about Catholic priests and sexual abuse mayinspire
the Church to abandon its current obsession with sexand reclaim
its more compelling focus on social justice.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12752
APRIL 1
Catholic Bishop in Ireland Resigns
- AP
BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) - One of Ireland's most popular
Roman Catholic bishops announced his resignation Monday over allegations
he had protected a pedophile priest.
Bishop Brendan Comiskey, who represented the diocese of Ferns
in southeast Ireland, made his announcement in Dublin the day
before a documentary was to be shown in Ireland about a priest
who the church acknowledges sexually assaulted dozens of boys
in the 1980s and 1990s.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020401/ap_on_re_eu/ireland_bishop_resigns_2
Bishop Comiskey's statement of resignation
http://www.rte.ie/news/2002/0401/comiskey01.html
Clergy In Crisis: Secrecy crumbles in priest
sex cases - Sacramento Bee
Secret settlements in sex-abuse cases against Catholic priests
are unraveling across America as waves of molestation victims
make their stories public.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/2022974p-2249770c.html
Catholics call for forgiveness - Chicago
Tribune
To rousing applause, the associate pastor of St. Germaine Catholic
Church in Oak Lawn used Easter mass Sunday to confront the abuse
allegations against one of its former priests, saying the church's
handling of pedophilia "should never be shrouded in darkness
again."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0204010232apr01.story?coll=chi%2Dnewslocal%2Dhed
Silence weakens archdiocese's reform efforts
- Chicago Tribune Opinion
While the sex abuse crisis in the Catholic Church has undermined
the church's credibility and moral authority, the scandal has
the potential to be an instrument of change.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/printedition/chi-0204010223apr01.story
A Cardinal under siege - Chicago Tribune
BOSTON -- He came into town 18 years ago as the new pope's drill
sergeant, a toe-the-line conservative with orders from Rome to
crack down on "cafeteria Catholics" who increasingly
ignored Vatican bans on birth control, abortion and some other
sexual practices.
Now Cardinal Bernard Law, not long ago the American church's
most influential prelate, is desperately hanging on to his job,
resisting growing demands from the laity that he resign over his
mishandling of endemic sex abuse by priests.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/chi-0204010035apr01.story
Church Needs Women in Leadership Roles -
Los Angeles Times letters
While I am pleased that current events have shed new light on
how out of touch the Catholic Church hierarchy has become and
how these events have placed pressure on officials to reform,
I am disappointed that there has not been more of a discussion
about the role of women (or lack thereof) in church leadership.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-000023319apr01.story
Celibacy and Priesthood - New York Times
Letters
I must disagree with the Rev. James Martin ("Choosing Celibacy,"
Op-Ed, March 25): Mandatory celibacy is indeed a part of the problem
in the church's sex abuse scandal. Parish priests are increasingly
forced to live solitary lives, while Jesuits like Father Martin
are members of communities that provide the loving (and frequently
challenging) context to which he refers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/01/opinion/L01CHUR.html
Calif. Priest on Trial for Rape
HEALDSBURG, Calif. - The upheaval within the Roman Catholic church
has extended into this Northern California town, where a priest
stands trial on 20-year-old sexual abuse charges.
The Rev. Don Kimball, who worked at St. John the Baptist Church
in the early 1980s, has been on trial on charges of rape and lewd
conduct. He is being tried now, more than two decades after the
alleged crimes, because of recent changes in state law that extended
the statute of limitations for sex crimes involving children under
14.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020401/ap_on_re_us/church_abuse_california_3
Faith will ensure Catholic Church's recovery
from sex scandals, priest says - San Jose Mercury News
The message many Easter parishioners got Sunday was clear: The
powerful faith that has allowed Christians to believe in the Resurrection
will sustain the Roman Catholic Church through the sex scandals
that have shaken its foundations in recent months.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/krsanjose/20020401/lo/faith_will_ensure_catholic_church_s_recovery_from_sex_scandals_priest_says_1.html
Protesters target Easter service - Boston
Globe
Law, beset by crisis, cites 'wounds,' hope
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/091/metro/Protesters_target_Easter_service+.shtml
Catholic clergy asks worshipers to keep
faith - Detroit Free Press
Catholic leaders around the country called on the faithful Sunday
to maintain their belief in the church in the face of sexual-abuse
allegations that include new admissions by a Flint priest that
he had inappropriate contact with a boy more than 20 years ago.
Rev. Vincent DeLorenzo, 63, made the admission in a statement
after recent allegations that he sexually abused an 8-year-old
boy during a five-year period beginning in the late 1970s, the
Flint Journal reported Sunday.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/krdetroit/20020401/lo/catholic_clergy_asks_worshipers_to_keep_faith_1.html
More time sought to report abuse - St Paul
Pioneer Press
Dale Scheffler thought he had justice within his grasp - a $1.1
million jury verdict against a pedophile priest he said molested
him 15 years earlier and the Catholic Church officials who had
retained the troubled cleric.
Scheffler's 1996 victory was short-lived, however. The Minnesota
Supreme Court ruled that he waited too long to sue, tossing out
his case and others like it. Similar lawsuits ground to a halt.
http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/news/local/2973649.htm
Catholics Take Comfort in Easter - Los Angeles
Times
In one Florida diocese, the sex scandal has not shaken the faith
of parishioners.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-040102sermons.story
Action on sexual violence - Boston Globe
Op-Ed
ACROSS Massachusetts, a terrible silence has been shattered. Day
by day, public outrage is growing as we are bombarded with horrifying
reports of sexual violence - women being sexually assaulted at
train stations as they come home from work, a judge telling a
rape victim to ''get over it'' as he sets her rapist free, teachers
and school employees students, high school athletes allegedly
raping young women, and scores of clergy exposed as sexual predators
who preyed on generations of young boys silenced by a fortress
of institutional barriers.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/091/oped/Action_on_sexual_violence+.shtml
US Catholic leaders debate cure for sexual
abuse scandal - Boston Globe
WASHINGTON - On a day designated for celebration, prominent Catholics
struggled with a tough question: How does a church shaken by disclosures
of sexual misconduct by priests find salvation?
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/091/metro/US_Catholic_leaders_debate_cure_for_sexual_abuse_scandal+.shtmlUS_Catholic_leaders_debate_cure_for_sexual_abuse_scandal+.shtml
Vt. bishop vows church will survive abuse
scandal - Boston Globe
BURLINGTON, Vt. - The head of the Catholic Church in Vermont told
parishioners over the weekend that the church will survive the
current sex abuse scandal.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/091/metro/Vt_bishop_vows_church_will_survive_abuse_scandal+.shtml
Catholic Church not only religion facing
abuse problems, expert says - Catholic News Service
Although Catholic priests may be getting the most publicity about
allegations of sexual abuse of minors, they are far from the only
clergy guilty of such misconduct, according to a professor of
history and religious studies at Pennsylvania State University.
"You name me a denomination and I'll give you a case,"
Philip Jenkins told The Catholic Standard & Times, Philadelphia
archdiocesan newspaper. "Some (denominations) with huge problems
include Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Buddhists, Jews, Baptists,
Pentecostals, Episcopalians -- you name them."
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/20020401.htm
New York priest arrested in rape of Mass.
boy two decades ago
BOSTON (AP) _ A Roman Catholic priest charged with raping a young
boy in Massachusetts more than two decades ago was arrested Monday
in New York, Middlesex County prosecutors said.
The Rev. Romano Ferraro, 67, of the Jamaica section of Queens,
was charged with raping and sexually assaulting a boy at a residence
in Billerica, Mass., between 1973 and 1980. The boy was 7 years
old in 1973.
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ny--churchabuse-pries0401apr01.story
State priest dodged abuse claims - Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel
A Catholic priest accused of sexually molesting boys in a church
rectory after offering them beer and X-rated movies was shielded
from criminal prosecution by top church officials in northern
Wisconsin for at least six years as they moved him from parish
to parish.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/apr02/31894.asp
Church faces painful past - Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In a local version of the scandal that has rocked the Catholic
Church, a Norcross woman is petitioning officials to apologize
for a priest she says molested her 40 years ago at St. Joseph's
Church in Marietta.
http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/metro/0402/02priest.html
The Church's agony - Philippine Daily Inquirer
Opinion
NO one who grew up Roman Catholic and learned to love the Roman
Catholic Church can feel anything but distress at the scandals
unfolding in the United States involving pedophile priests and
the subsequent cover-up by the Church hierarchy.
The Catholic Church in this country is still a product of the
friar mentality or, if you prefer, a feudal mentality of the 19th
century, where the priest spoke and the faithful followed. You
are not encouraged to question doctrine and by inference Church
policy on the assumption that your faith would be endangered if
you do.
http://www.inq7.net/opi/2002/apr/02/opi_blharper-1.htm
Ohio Priest Abuse Suit Has Local Ties - WDIV
Detroit
A woman who claims a priest abused her more than 30 years ago
also accused the Roman Catholic Church on Monday of paying money
to keep young abuse victims quiet.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/wdiv/20020401/lo/1142562_1.html
Click here for media coverage March 31, 2002 and earlier
