Tuesday, December 30, 2008

After agreement, chruch still won't pay JPII Pedophile Priests victims

Sixteen months after agreement, church still won’t pay; Sex abuse victims respond

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, national director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790 cell, 314 645 5915 home)

This is a pattern we’re seeing across the nation: Catholic bishops making then foot-dragging or reneging on agreements in clergy sex crimes and concealment cases. They’ve done it with victims, prosecutors, judges and attorneys general.

Bishops feign compassion toward victims when facing public scrutiny, then act callously when that scrutity fades.

Church officials would have you believe there is some genuine legal dispute here. There isn’t. It’s plain and simple: they agreed, under pressure, to compensate deeply wounded victims. Now, they’re not doing it. Their actions are deliberate, hurtful and inexcusable.

Victims respond to such hard-ball tactics in two ways. Some remain mired in shame, depression and hopelessness, convinced that nothing will ever change and that staying silent is the safest course. Others, however, finally summon up the strength and courage to come forward, outraged at how their brothers and sisters who’ve been assaulted are being mistreated. We grieve for those in the former situation, and appreciate those in the latter.

And we are deeply grateful that Larry and others are bravely speaking out today, and exposing the shameful betrayal perpetrated by Charleston Catholic officials.

(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the nation’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. We’ve been around for 17 years and have more than 8,000 members across the country. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)

Contact David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell, 314-645-5915 home), Barbara Blaine (312-399-4747), Peter Isely (414-429-7259,) Barbara Dorris (314-862-7688), Mary Grant (626-419-2930), Mark Serrano (703-727-4940)


Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
www.snapnetwork.org

===========

More Settlements Announced for McCormack Victims

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, national director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790 cell, 314 645 5915 home)

No amount of money can restore the stolen childhood and shattered trust and devastated faith these kids have suffered and will continue suffering. But we hope this decision will bring them and their families some healing and closure.

We also hope these settlements will deter future recklessness, deceit and secrecy by officials in the Catholic church and in other institutions that deal with kids.

Virtually every survivor shares the same goal: stopping horrific child sex crimes and cover ups.

These preventable and horrific crimes could have been prevented if only Cardinal George chose courage over cowardice and selflessness over selfishness. His cover up, recklessness and deceit regarding McCormack's crimes were recent, egregious and inexcusable.

Two earlier settlements involving McCormack, negotiated by other attorneys, were for $2 million and $2.5 million.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Pedophile Priests mock and riducule the Birth of Christ




As the Opus Dei clones of John Paul II, all Pedophile-Priests mock the Birth of Christ by claiming magic power of the Eucharist to be able change instantaneously the bread into the flesh of Christ -- thus overpowering the birth of Christ -- and the 9 months pregnancy of Mary.

Benedict XVI and the Opus Dei priests eternally mocks the Birth of Christ and Mary by claiming supowers in the Catholic Church, thus their demise is inevitable as predicted by the Third Secret of Fatima.


Pope John Paul II consecrated his 27 pedophiliac-papacy-years to Our Lady Mary....... with a Devil's tail encompassing 12,000 American little boys (and girls) sodomized by his JPIIPPA Pedophile Priests Army. He thought he was so holy he was embracing Our Lady everyday --- while he covered-up the worst evil committed against children under his Holy See of Peter. But Mary is no sweet-submissive woman under John Paul II's autocracy. In her Magnificat she proclaims:
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted those of low degree

One of those "mighty and proud" that God will soon scatter is John Paul II (together with his proud Marquis de Peralta.) It is only a matter of God's timing when Christ will turn the Vatican like the Temple of Solomon into rubbles because of the John Paul II Altar of Sodomy. Benedict XVI, his papal clone has just touched the first domino that will make the Vatican fall like a deck of cards domino effect.

Posted in honor of the feast of the Immaculate Conception and Christmas.

Monday, December 15, 2008

John Paul II's Jesuit pedophile John Powell were frenzy writers

The higher they are, the harder they fall. John Paul II the Great is the highest pope created by the Opus Dei and all his writings must be cited by every Catholic churches and schools throughout the world or else they face excommunication by the Vatican also run by the Opus Dei.

At the same time that John Paul II was so busy writing tons of books and encyclicals and homilies, he was ignoring his John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army as they feasted in sodomy and lusted on thousands of American altar boys and girls, not only in America but also around the world. The Opus Dei wanted an impeccable John Paul II papacy because he is the Mystical Husband of their Opus Dei founder St. Josemaria Escriva see the John Paul II MIllstone for details www.jp2m.blogspot.com

And so Opus Dei disregarded the victims of the John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army as they created endless papal brands of John Paul II Youth, John Paul II Priests Generation, the Culture of Life, the Culture of Love, etc. What the Opus Dei was hiding in secrecy was the CULTURE of PRIEST-PEDOPHILIA in the 20th century unique to the 26 years papacy of John Paul II!

At the same time that John Paul II was writing his papal library, the Jesuits also had their own famous author that matched John Paul II’s writing frenzy, John Powell, who now stands accused of pedophilia.

www.pope-ratz.blogspot.com Benedict XVI Ratzinger God's Rottweiler shows all the details of the pope's power in covering up the most heinous crime against children in Church history.

www.jp2m.blogspot.com John Paul II Millstone shows details the role of John Paul II in his 26 years papacy as he did NOTHING to stop the priest-pedophilia under his papal watch. John Paul II's papacy was controlled by the Opus Dei and therefore they also controlled the thriving of the John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army!


=====

Priest accused of sexual abuse
CHICAGO (IL)

The Phoenix
The Official Student Newspaper of Loyola University, Chicago

http://www.loyolaphoenix.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticle&ustory_id=705e02de-efbd-4125-a656-e7d14eb40219

As a Jesuit and a professor at Loyola University Chicago, the Rev. John Powell, S.J., built a reputation as a popular teacher and a best-selling religious author - and all of it was called into question again last month as he faced his third sexual abuse lawsuit since 2003.


The civil lawsuit, filed Nov. 6 by the plaintiff "Jane Doe 125," who has chosen to remain anonymous to the public, claimed that Powell held "private counseling sessions" with her during a religious retreat in 1967. During these sessions, said the official complaint, he forced her to kiss him and required her to remove her school uniform so that he could fondle her.


The lawsuit also named the Chicago Province of the Society of Jesus, or the Jesuits, as a defendant on counts of negligence and fraud, and stated that the Jesuits knew about Powell's pedophilic tendencies before the alleged incident and failed to act on that knowledge.


Powell, 83, now retired in Michigan, worked as a professor of theology at Loyola from 1965 until his retirement in 1996. During that time, he held spiritual retreats and wrote popular books such as Fully Human, Fully Alive, inspirational self-help manuals that blended pop psychology with Catholic theology and established him as "one of the best-selling spiritual authors of our time," according to Publishers Weekly.


"This guy sells books about sexually intimate relationships, and the Jesuits make millions off of them, and it's a fraud, a complete fraud," said attorney Marc Pearlman, who represents the anonymous plaintiff for the law firm Kerns, Frost and Pearlman. "The guy was sexually abusing his students and people who came to him for counseling."


He also, according to a number of accusers, used his position as a counselor and professor to abuse young girls. Throughout the years he was assigned to Loyola University, the lawsuit said, Powell held spiritual retreats that brought him into contact with minor children. It was during one of these retreats, held at Rosarian Academy in West Palm Beach, Fla., that he sexually abused the plaintiff, according to the lawsuit. She was "approximately 16 or 17," the suit said.


The lawsuit also claimed that Powell "engaged in a pattern and practice of sexually abusing Loyola University students." In 2006, a former Loyola University student, Diane Ruhl, named the Chicago order of Jesuits as the defendant in a civil lawsuit along with three other women. The lawsuit, which is still pending, claimed that Powell sexually abused Ruhl during private counseling sessions while she attended Loyola and also said that both Jesuit leaders and Loyola administrators received reports of Powell's alleged abuses and ignored them.


Powell has never been charged with a crime.


Pearlman, the attorney, represented four women in a 2003 sexual abuse lawsuit against Powell, which the defendant settled publicly in 2005. He said that he has dealt with a number of women who have come forward and claimed that Powell abused them, enough to convince him that there may have been dozens more.


"I really doubt the number is just six or seven or 13," he said. "We had a client, her sister went to Loyola and he was abusing her 13-year-old sister. He used to frequent the house, and he'd tell her parents he was going to tuck her in and bless her and read her confession, and then he'd abuse her. A 13 year-old."


Powell could not be reached for comment. A statement from the Chicago Province of the Society of Jesus said he was in "extremely poor health, requiring 24-hour medical care and supervision."


Pearlman also said that in his experience, the Jesuits displayed a record of covering up sex abuse within their ranks.


"The Jesuits have a history of being horrible on these types of issues," he said. "They've had sex abusers in their ranks, they've known about them, they've covered it up, they've transferred them and ignored it, and Powell's not the only example. I really think the way they approached this sex issue was to sweep it under the rug."



Pearlman pointed to the case of the Rev. Donald McGuire, S.J., as an example. A public jury convicted McGuire in a 2006 criminal trial of sexually abusing two teenage boys in Chicago in the 1960s. Documents show that Chicago Jesuit leaders received alerts about McGuire's behavior dozens of times during his career, according to multiple news sources.


A spokesperson for the Jesuits' Chicago Province said he was not able to comment by phone. In an e-mailed response statement, the Rev. Edward Schmidt, S.J., Chicago Provincial of the Society of Jesus, said that the Chicago Province does not comment on ongoing legal proceedings out of respect for the judicial system.


"The Province takes allegations of sexual misconduct seriously," said the statement, "investigates them fully, and cooperates with authorities. We believe the individuals who have come forward deserve our understanding and prayers."


The statement also encouraged anyone who has been abused by a member of the Province to contact the appropriate law enforcement or child protection agency no matter what amount of time has passed since the abuse.


Barbara Blaine, founder and president of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP), agreed with Pearlman's estimate, calling the Jesuits "the worst in this country" in terms of religious organizations with a track record of concealing abuse. SNAP is a Chicago-based national advocacy and support group for survivors of sexual clerical abuse.

Blaine said that the 30 year span between the alleged incident and the lawsuit typified cases of clerical abuse based on her experience, especially so with cases involving Jesuit priests. She also said she was disappointed by Loyola University's lack of response to the claims of abuse by Powell.


"When you're raped by a teacher in your school," she said, "you're not really in a position to speak up or do anything about it. It takes years, sometimes decades of healing to withstand the scrutiny, especially because the Jesuits and Loyola do not make it easy for victims to speak up."


Steve Christensen, communications manager at Loyola University Chicago, declined to respond. He said that the university refers all questions about Powell and the alleged abuse to the Jesuits' Chicago Province and said that university officials would not comment on the lawsuit.


In an e-mail response, Ellen Kane Munro, vice president and general counsel at Loyola, said that the university "will not tolerate sexual abuse, or indeed sexual harassment of any kind, by anyone, including its faculty and the Jesuits."


Pearlman said the case might reach a settlement, but he promised to make the results public.


"If the Jesuits want to step up and settle the case," he said, "that's always better for the victims, but it will be public, whether it goes through the courts or not."



Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 13

Displaying 1 - 13 of 13
Steve Smith
posted 12/05/08 @ 6:59 AM CST
The religious orders seem to be a cult whereby those that sexually abuse are "taken care of" by the brotherhood. Save the brotherhood - but rape the children. It is time for society to recognize the sicknesses called religious orders. Post a reply to this comment Steve Smith
posted 12/05/08 @ 7:03 AM CST
The religious orders seem to be a cult whereby those that sexually abuse are "taken care of" by the brotherhood. Save the brotherhood - but rape the children. It is time for society to recognize the sicknesses called religious orders. Post a reply to this comment

SMP TURLISH
posted 12/05/08 @ 8:25 AM CST
Of course this is an absolutely horrific story but is there no possibility of invoking federal Trafficking statutes against Powell?

What about conspiracy charges if it can be proven that Jesuit leadership had any knowledge of his sexually abusive behavior?

Here is an individual without integrity, character or conscience.

Marc Pearlman has said it well. Sad to say, John Powell's life was a complete fraud and disgraces all of us in ministry.

SMP TURLISH
maureenpaulturlish@yahoo.com Post a reply to this comment

tony
posted 12/05/08 @ 11:17 AM CST
That the Catholics turn a blind eye to these endless assaults speaks volumes about what religion does to the minds of those kneeling in the pews.

I have no middle man in my relationship with God.

X brainwashed Catholic Post a reply to this comment

Albino Luciani - MURDERED POPE
posted 12/05/08 @ 5:24 PM CST
www.bishop-accountability.org/abusetracker for daily verified & vetted coverage on the USCCB (Unremoved Sexual Criminal Cabal Bishops) & the Roman La Cosa Nostra Curia, who continue a scorched-earth, to the last laity dollar, of already multiple BILLIONS OF DIVERTED OFFETORY PLATE LAITY DONATIONS, in their CLEAR & PRESENT endangerment of hundreds of thousands of children, while aiding, abetting, enabling, perpetrating, racketeering, perjuring, obstructing justice, for thousands of hidden clergy pedophiles, with NO correction, no removal of many hundreds of GUILTY cardinals and bishops, & generally gross dereliction of duty, as well as wholesale FRAUD & EVIL.

THE SOLUTION? "Stop Donating Laity"! as St. Peter Damien correctly asserted.

The USCCB Credo & Motto Remains = ISAIAH 28:15!

There are over 100+ recently published empirical and factual books on the subject at: www.amazon.com, and FREE at your local public libraries.

Among the salient & cogent authors are: Roman Catholic Bishops Thomas Gumbleton (USA) and Jeffery Robinson (Australia), along with comments from Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini of Milan, Italy, in 'The Tablet' (UK).

Other factual authors include: Fr. Richard Sipe, Dr. Robert Grant, MD, Attorney & Scholar Marci Hamilton, Dr. Leon Podles, Jason Berry, David Yallop, Fr. Thomas Resse, SJ, Fr/.Dr. Howard Bleichner, SS, and Fr./Dr./Canon Lawyer Thomas Doyle, OP, to name only a few.

On film and DVD:

2006: US Academy Award BEST DOCUMENTARY nominated - 'DELIVER US FROM EVIL';

2007: Cannes Film Festival Winner 'VOWS OF SILENCE'

2008: Nationally Released In Movie Theaters This December 8th, 'DOUBT' Starring US Academy Award Winning BEST ACTRESS Meryl Streep & US Academy Award Winning BEST ACTOR Phillip Seymor Hoffman

St. Paul to the Ephesians, 5:11, reminds each of us: "Do not deal in fruitless deeds of darkness, but expose them!";

Edmund Burke correctly states: "The only condition for the triumph of evil is for good men (or women) to do nothing!"

No Curia Accountability Or Removal? NJO LAITY MONIED! It Is THAT Simple!

Fiat Lux & Vertias!

Albino Luciani,

MURDERED POPE,

NOT Smiling, From Heaven

Post a reply to this comment

Amos
posted 12/05/08 @ 5:51 PM CST
What I do not understand is why these sexual abuse crimes against those who have not attained their majority are not considered under the more generic and appropriate terminology of "Crimes Against Humanity?" Such crimes are not subject to criminal or civil statutes of limitation. Where prevalence of such sociopathic behavior is identified, legal argumentation for such redefinition is not outside the realm possibility. Post a reply to this comment

Andrew
posted 12/06/08 @ 1:11 AM CST
As far as the Jesuits taking sex abuse seriously, one poor example is Fr. Thomas Smolich (arguable now one of the top Jesuits in the USA) made a Jesuit permanently live in the same building as a Jesuit who allegedly sexually assaulted him, Br. Charles Connor (who was part of an unrelated $7 million Jesuit sex abuse settlement). Post a reply to this comment

Robin
posted 12/06/08 @ 7:11 AM CST
Fr. Powell's books helped me tremendously during my high school and college years in the 1970's. The allegations against him do nothing to detract from the benefit I've received from my reading and reflection on his writings. In fact, being fully human reminds all of us to acknwledge that we sin as part of the human condition. My belief in the teachings of Christ and personal experience have taught me and our family to choose to practice forgiveness and discover the freedom and healing it brings to live life to the fullest. We could all feel more "fully alive" if we'd learn to practice detatchment and forgiveness. Imagine if we were more curious and less certain that we really know what's in the heart and mind of these accused priets today, years after these alleged events took place. We might discover that just like you and me, they are good people who in their human frailty likewise sinned. Why would any of us want to define our current identity, worth and value on our past? . . . Because that would be fraud! Post a reply to this comment

tilton60115
posted 12/06/08 @ 12:43 PM CST
Someone in YOUR family commits a crime, do you abandon them? Would Christ abandon him? Well, a religious order becomes family once you enter and all are called to be Christ-like.

Don't think that Catholics don't abhor what has gone on, we do. And we know what we have to do about it. Post a reply to this comment

Barbara
posted 12/07/08 @ 8:13 PM CST
I do not mean to diminish the horrible sex abuse, however does the media think ONLY Catholic priests (a small minority at that) are abusers? No rabbis, no ministers, no imams, no Mormons? People, please know this, the vast majority of priests are truly men of God. The main problem is that some of the 'top dogs' of the various doiceses covered this up! The abusers should have been tried & judged in an American criminal court. This is NOT abandoning your 'family' member! If your relative was abusing children (or any other serious crime), I would hope you would turn him in to the proper law authorities. Post a reply to this comment

blues
posted 12/08/08 @ 12:09 AM CST
Most comments on this topic typically fall into one of two groups, either the priest and church are horrific or the Church is good and there are few bad apples and all should be forgiven.

My take is with each abuse there are two crimes. One is the actual abuse, which in of itself is unforgivable. The second is committed by Church officials, the whole chain of command from the local to the vatican. As an institution the Catholic Church basically provides a pimping service for the predators. Historically they have bailed the priest out only to put them in position to continue their behavior elsewhere. The goal is to protect the institution at any cost.

For all the high morals one would think would be attributed to the religious it's surprising that there haven't been any whistle blowers on the inside. All seem complicit in ongoing abuse. They really have lost their way as an institution. Post a reply to this comment

Mediator
posted 12/08/08 @ 6:41 AM CST
Our current look at the "abuse crisis" through 21st century eyes and understanding of sexuality and law would suggest that bishops in the 1950's - 1990's "should have known. . . yadda, yadda, yadda."

A reality is that MOST did their best with the knowledge, information, and counsel they recieved from thier advisors (among them were lawyers and law enforcement.) Their intention was to do good for both victim and priest for whom they had dual responsibility. A prevailing belief in the last half of the last century was that sexual acting out was an affliction similar to alcoholism. Alcoholic priests were sent to rehab and then re-assigned, hoping that the change in environment and 12-step meetings would give them a fresh and sober start. I believe Bishops in general meant well, yet were ignorant about psycho-sexual matters, didn't know what they didn't know, and fearful of what they didn't know until reality hit the fan in the 80's.

Today (and especially in the last 20 years) we know more scientific information than ever before about sexuality, what's treatable and not treatable; what's pathological vs behavioral; and the consequences of ignorance on both sides of the abuse crisis issue.

Victims advocates and some lawyers would have us beleive we can/should judge past behavior by today's legal standards and understanding of sexulaity, which in my opinion is misguided. The reality is, that most Bishops and dioceses since the 1990's have changed their approach in accord with current understanding of law and science.

Hindsight is 20/20 and the Monday morning quarterback always gets it right! I say, let's give enlightened and better informed church leadership the benefit of the doubt in 2008.

Signed,
Advocates for Mediation NOT Litigation Post a reply to this comment


ann
posted 12/08/08 @ 10:55 PM CST
it is so true about religous orders getting away with more, for they have no set Bishop. there also is another big order in chicago called the AUGUSTINIANS, now they are close in similar problems to the jesuits. but as for a religious order they are, it appears, most overlooked. myself, i was a victim of a major augustinian leader from chicago area. no justice there served me. mine very similar to this jesuit story. Post a reply to this comment

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Pedophile Priests ridicule the Immaculate Conception of Mary

Benedict XVI and Opus Dei Priests and the John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army mock and ridicule the Immaculate Conception of Mary

Every year on December we celebrate the Immaculate Conception of Mary who was the only creature to be created WITHOUT original sin so that she alone would be worthy to carry to full term and be the Mother of God Jesus Christ.

It took her about 16 years before she got was impregnated by the Holy Spirit as announced by the Archangel Gabriel in Nazareth and then she was married to Joseph…

Jesus was carried to full term in Mary’s sinless womb for 9 months and then he grew to be a normal boy for 30 years in Joseph’s carpentry shop before he started his ministry at age 30. Then for 3 years he was a preacher with his 12 Apostles. He was crucified at age 33.

And now Benedict XVI and the Opus Dei priests who are ALL SINNERS and who covered-up the most heinous crimes of the John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army claim to stem-cell and clone in an instant the REAL flesh of God Jesus Christ -- in the Eucharist!

Benedict XVI and Opus Dei priests ridicule the Immaculate Conception by claiming to be sinless like Mary when in fact they are the worst of sinners because they led the cover-up of John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army in the 20th century!

Christ said that anyone who causes children to sin shall have a millstone tied to his neck and cast to the sea. That is why John Paul II is now in the depths of the sea of Hell and Benedict XVI his clone is also walking with an invisible Papal Millstone also around his neck.

The John Paul II Pedophile Priests all mocked the Immaculate Conception of Mary. Everyday they said Mass and ate the flesh of God and everyday they sodomized the altar boys who assisted them at Mass.


Benedict XVI and the Opus Dei are chanting Latin Masses in a language that Christ never spoke…and which the Immaculate Conception Mary also never spoke.

Benedict XVI and the Opus Dei are Catholic cannibals of the flesh of God in the Eucharist forever ridicule and mock the sinless Mother of God.

Satan tempted Eve and Adam to eat of the fruit of the Good and Evil and now he tempts and perpetually Benedict XVI and Opus Dei priests obey Satan by eating God’s flesh…which they create through the black magic of the Eucharist.

Victims - Attackers - Responsible Leaders

Pearl Harbor - 3,000 victims - 170 planes - Admiral Yamamoto

WTC & 9/11 attacks - 5,000 victims - 19 Muslims - Osama bin Laden

USA Priest Pedophilia - 12,000 victims - 5,448 priests - John Paul II + Benedict XVI + Opus Dei (the new Roman Catholic Trinity! the Vatican Trinity)

Saturday, December 6, 2008

John Paul II Pedophile Priest in LA admits molesting boys

Oh when the saints go marching in it is the John Paul II the Great Pedophile Priests Army who are marching in!!!

www.pope-ratz.blogspot.com Benedict XVI Ratzinger God's Rottweiler shows all the details of the pope's power in covering up the most heinous crime against children in Church history.

www.jp2m.blogspot.com John Paul II Millstone shows details the role of John Paul II in his 26 years papacy as he did NOTHING to stop the priest-pedophilia under his papal watch. John Paul II's papacy was controlled by the Opus Dei and therefore they also controlled the thriving of the John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army!
=====

From the L.A.Daily News, 12.3.2008

Priest admits molesting boys

By Aron Miller aron.miller@dailynews.com 818-713-3756 Staff Writer

Updated: 12/03/2008 12:54:37 AM PST


Ending another case of priest sexual abuse, a former member of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles who worked at a Pacoima church pleaded guilty Tuesday to molesting a boy 20 years ago.

George Miller, 70, also admitted molesting three other victims whose cases can’t be prosecuted because of the statute of limitations, prosecutors said.

Miller, who has been free on bail since his July 2007 arrest, faces three years in prison when he is sentenced Jan. 30. He must serve 85 percent of his sentence before he is eligible for parole.

Miller, who lives in Oxnard, had been charged with molesting a boy he met while assigned to the Guardian Angel Church in Pacoima. He befriended the boy’s mother and became a frequent guest at their home, police said.

The molestations occurred between March 1988 and March 1991, when the victim turned 12.

The Miller case was just one of dozens involving Archdiocese of Los Angeles priests. The cases culminated in 2007 with a record $660 million settlement involving 508 victims.

In a 2002 interview with the Daily News, one of the accusers said Miller had molested him at a Malibu beach house that priests used as a retreat.

That case was dismissed in 2003 after the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated a law extending California’s statute of limitations for sex crimes.

Miller was ordained in 1963 and served at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Santa Clarita, San Buenaventura Mission Church in Ventura and St. Philomena in Carson before arriving at Guardian Angel in 1973. He served at the Pacoima parish until 1984, the last three years as pastor, before being transferred to Santa Clara Church in Oxnard. He went out on sick leave in 1996, and retired a year later.

John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army 59 victims in Springfield MA paid 4.5 Million by Diocese

www.pope-ratz.blogspot.com Benedict XVI Ratzinger God's Rottweiler shows all the details of the pope's power in covering up the most heinous crime against children in Church history.

www.jp2m.blogspot.com John Paul II Millstone shows details the role of John Paul II in his 26 years papacy as he did NOTHING to stop the priest-pedophilia under his papal watch. John Paul II's papacy was controlled by the Opus Dei and therefore they also controlled the thriving of the John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army!


===
Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield pays $4.5 million to 59 clergy abuse victims

by The Republican Newsroom
From MassLive.com
Tuesday December 02, 2008, 12:28 PM

By STEPHANIE BARRY
sbarry@repub.com

SPRINGFIELD - The Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield announced Tuesday it has paid $4.5 million to 59 clergy abuse victims after a lengthy arbitration process.

The settlements ranged from $5,000 to $200,000 and were paid Nov. 20, according to a statement released by the diocese. Victims who agreed to participate in arbitration were asked to fill out confidential questionnaires detailing their abuse and the impact on their lives.

The abuse claims date back to 1948, a diocesan spokesman said. Among the claims were 31 new ones against defrocked priest Richard R. Lavigne, who has been identified as a serial abuser during waves of lawsuits since the 1990s.


File photo by Michael S. Gordon / The RepublicanA complaint against former Bishop Thomas L. Dupre, shown in this photo from 2004, was among 59 settled by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield Nov. 20.

Also, a new complaint was settled against former Bishop Thomas L. Dupre, who resigned abruptly in 2004 after the Republican questioned him about two men who previously accused him of sexual abuse during the 1970s.

Those men received payments after this negotiation, according to the diocese. Dupre personally contributed to a portion of those, diocesan spokesman Mark E. Dupont said.

The arbitration followed an $8 million settlement between the diocese and its insurance carriers, which had resisted covering millions of abuse claims.

More details in The Republican tomorrow.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 2, 2008 at 6:21 pm and is filed under Abuse and Cover Up, Must Read, Friends and Partners, Church Culture, Finances and Ownership. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.



COMMENT
Robert M. Kelly Says:

December 6, 2008 at 5:25 am
good people,

Barb Dorris has hit the nail on the had. The victims, by coming forward and sticking with it, have given us more than we know. We owe them a great debt.

Dupre’s legacy lives on in the Diocese.

The more that I study this case, the more I see that the basic direction and playbook of management has not changed since around July of 2002, when the claims began to overwhelm the diocesan system. Dupre was a canon lawyer by trade and a notorious hair-splitter as well as a master manipulator. He was never wrong, and complaints against clergy abuse were always someone else’s fault throughout his 9 years at the top - until the day he resigned.

Bishop McDonnell also plays hardball, but he has a better arsenal of pitches, learned no doubt during his baby bishop years in the Big Apple.

Denial and self-preservation among clergy are very strong here. Until the Diocese learns to act better, instead of being always watchful, wary and reactive, the laity here will continue to suffer.

But with such a noble example of redemptive suffering that the victims have given us, how can we give up now?

I’ve been following this story for a while, and indeed it is a tangled tale that goes back to the days of Bishop Weldon (1950-1977). In fact most accounts put the peak years of abuse at 1965-1975.
I invite you to join me at the web site below for more information.

The last link here is a post I made about 2 weeks ago, when there was a large blank space on the Diocesan web site - since then, information about the settlement was recently filled by a press release.

peace

the blog:http://westernmassachusettscatholics.blogspot.com

the diocesan press release: http://www.iobserve.org/rn1126a.html

the post about settlement:http://westernmassachusettscatholics.blogspot.com/2008/11/d42-settlement-day.html
===
For immediate release, Tuesday, December 2
Statement by Barbara Dorris, Outreach Director for SNAP, 314-862-7688
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests


We commend these brave men and women who found the strength to speak up, expose predators, protect kids and finally secure some measure of justice. No settlement or money, of course, can repair their stolen childhoods and shattered lives. But we are grateful they were brave enough to come forward, wise enough to take legal action, and persistent enough to endure years of delay by Catholic officials. We hope they will feel some pride and comfort in this resolution.

Through this settlement, Dupre has essentially admitted his crimes. Sadly, like ten or twelve of his brother bishops who’ve molested kids, he remains on the payroll shrouded in secrecy.

Now, the burden is on Springfield Catholic officials to more aggressively reach out to others who were hurt by these predators and seriously monitor the predators. We urge them to post the names, photos and whereabouts of these dangerous men on the diocesan website, in parish bulletins and in the weekly diocesan newspapers. That’s the quickest, cheapest and most effective way to protect kids, warn parents and alert neighbors.

Contact

David Clohessy, National Director, 314-566-9790

Thursday, December 4, 2008

JP2 clone Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland followed orders to cover-up John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army

www.pope-ratz.blogspot.com Benedict XVI Ratzinger God's Rottweiler shows all the details of the pope's power in covering up the most heinous crime agaisnt children in Church history.

www.jp2m.blogspot.com John Paul II Millstone shows details the role of John Paul II in his 26 years papacy as he did NOTHING to stop the priest-pedophilia under his papal watch.

* * *
From CBS 58 WDJT-TV Milwaukee News, 11.20.2008.

This story - click here http://www.cbs58.com/index.php?aid=5267 with Video - asks the key question: Was retired Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland following church orders, from the pope in Rome, in covering up sex crimes (rape, molestation, sodomy) against children? The answer is clear: yes, he was–as was every bishop in the Roman Catholic Church who wanted to keep his job. Job security and being obedient to their superior, the pope, was more important to these Church officials than reporting crimes to law enforcement authorities, more important than the safety of future children.

New videotape released http://www.cbs58.com/index.php?aid=5267

MILWAUKEE - New videotape has been released of former Archbishop Rembert Weakland.

Weakland implies when he hid pedophile priests he was following church orders.

CBS 58's Veronica Griffin has the latest stunning revelation on a sex scandal that won't away.

========

http://www.620wtmj.com/shows/charliesykes/34386719.html

FLASHBACK: THE SHAME OF REMBERT WEAKLAND

By Charlie Sykes

Nov 13, 2008

Dramatic admission from the former archbishop.....

Retired Archbishop Rembert Weakland admitted in a video deposition released Wednesday that he transferred priests with a history of sexual misconduct back into churches without alerting parishioners.

The former archbishop acknowledged that he did so because "no parish would have accepted a priest unless you could say that he has gone through the kind of psychological examination and that he's not a risk to the parish."

**
I'm reposting a column I wrote in 2002:

The shame of Rembert Weakland
Milwaukee archbishop tolerated and protected priestly sexual abuse


By Charles J. Sykes


Even years later, he's haunted by the casual greeting: "Hi, Greg."

He was lying in bed, the bed of a Catholic priest. The priest, Father Dennis Pecore, had gotten up and answered the knock at his door. He stood in the doorway in his bathrobe, talking with another priest, who had come to his room. The visitor could see the boy lying in the bed. "Hi, Greg," he said to the boy.

"Nothing else was said or asked of me," recalls Greg. He was 14 years old.

Greg is just one of hundreds of young men who were sexually abused by priests they trusted. But his case casts a shadow over the Milwaukee archdiocese and the legacy of Archbishop Rembert Weakland.

It should. Because Weakland's handling of this case stands as his most shameful moment.

By the mid-1980s, it was an open secret that Pecore was using Greg, a student at the Mother of Good Counsel School, as a sex toy. Greg says that other priests knew, as well as teachers and school officials. "My mother used to call up at the rectory and they would say that I was not there, and she would ride by and see my bike out front and know I was at the rectory."

In July 1984, one of the school's teachers had become so alarmed that he wrote a letter informing Archbishop Weakland that a priest at the school was taking young boys to his private bedroom, one at a time, suggesting that he was abusing the youngsters. He urged Weakland to do something "before it goes public."

Weakland's response: a threat. He wrote that "any libelous material found in your letter will be scrutinized carefully by our lawyers."

Frustrated, the teacher and two others continued to warn about Pecore's behavior. All three teachers were fired. In a lawsuit filed several years later, the three teachers say they were fired because they had tried to warn Weakland about what was happening at their school.

There is no evidence that Weakland took any other action in response to the warnings. Instead, the teachers later said, the church "conspired to silence this situation and to terminate" the whistleblowers.

In early 1987, Father Pecore was charged with sexual assault. He was later sentenced to a year in jail. (Several years later, after he was charged with molesting another boy, he was given a 12-year prison sentence.) The archdiocese also agreed to pay Greg and his family $595,000 in an out-of-court settlement.

Weakland insisted that the agreement be kept secret. "It was the archdiocese's idea to seal it," Greg later wrote a Milwaukee judge, "and when our family saw the clause in the agreement that it was to be sealed, we strongly objected."

Greg rejects the idea that the secrecy was designed to protect him: "If the archdiocese wanted to protect me, they would have not put me through all the hassles they did."

Weakland, however, wanted the last word. In a column published in the archdiocese's newspaper, the archbishop suggested that the adolescent victims were not so "innocent" after all. "Some of them," Weakland wrote at the time, "can be sexually very active and aggressive and often quite streetwise."

Even back in 1988, prosecutors were stunned by Weakland's victim-must-share-the-blame attitude. The head of Milwaukee's sensitive crimes unit said he was "disappointed and saddened" by Weakland's comments, noting that Milwaukee 's archbishop was either "failing or choosing to ignore the obvious power differential that exists between a priest and child."

Then-assistant district attorney (and now judge) John DiMotto said that he had never known a case where a child had enticed a priest.

To this day, Weakland's actions and words still carry the power to wound.

"To me, looking back on it now," says Greg, "how could he even suggest that? I was so young at the time. I couldn't make a decision like that."

He's still disgusted by the secrecy. "I wanted to tell my story to everyone," says Greg. "I wanted to get this out. I wasn't afraid to tell what happened to me. And I felt bad for the teachers who lost their job, the principal at the school, who had to leave because of this. I wanted this out in the open."

Greg believes the teachers fired by the archdiocese "were trying to protect me, trying to help me. The teachers who lost their jobs were 100% behind my family through this whole thing."

Milwaukee 's archbishop, however, has been a different story. Rembert Weakland has nothing to say about Greg or his case. The church's secrecy, tolerance and denial of sexual abuse has become a cancer on the church.

In Milwaukee , the archbishop carries into retirement the burden of his silence.

COMMENTS:

Wednesday, Nov 26 at 12:43 AM Armistead wrote ...Archbishop Weakland isn't alone. Pope Benedict himself, as right hand man to the John Paul II, was in a position to know plenty about the American bishops and their coverup of priestly pederasty. There are outstanding law suits attempting to force him to testify. As this issue continues to fester, the questions swirl around Pope Benedict's possible involvement, knowledge, and actions as the highest ranking Vatican bureacrat at the time.

Sunday, Nov 16 at 4:11 PM Superheater wrote ...When Rembert Weakland was busy using his office to advance various left-wing causes and liturgical novelties-he was a cause celeb in the secular world because of stubborn refusal to be governed by theological norms. Now we see he wasn't just seperated from the Church on liturgical norms,but moral ones as well.

Sunday, Nov 16 at 8:02 AM greg wrote ...Please separate the condemnation of the person who sinned and the Church which is the body of Christ and therefore perfected. The priest sinned, the Church who gives us the Eucharist will stand the test of time and this scandel. We can still receive Jesus no matter how evil a human is! A human cannot corrupt Jesus.

Sunday, Nov 16 at 8:00 AM Belinda wrote ...As with each one of us, we have to fight the tendency to be a "pharisee" in the world. Our bishops and priests will be held as more accountable than us since they are standing as leaders to us. This bishop has much to repent and I'm concerned that he sounds like a pedophile in his attitude of "blame the victim". This is what pedophiles think, that the children are seducing them!!!!! How distorted and evil!!! The priest has the power and must not abuse it or children!!!

Friday, Nov 14 at 3:07 PM Tom from DC wrote ...As a non-practicing Catholic I would rather see the Church go bankrupt than the Big 3 or any other industry. I can't survive on mea cuplas and one host per day. The Catholic church has been out of touch with reality since they forced me to go to Mass 5 days a week for 8 years. I claim Caholic as my religion but I don't need the Church or a priest to tell me whats right and wrong. My saint of a mother did that. I live my life to respect her more than the preaching of the Catholic church. Amen

Friday, Nov 14 at 10:34 AM Amy P. wrote ...Russ - I'm 25, and consider myself "young" - you know what's a waste of my time? Going to a church that says anything I do - sinful or not - is okay. If it just reaffirmsm my choices, what's the point? You're right that young people can see phoniness which is why REAL, ORTHODOX, CONSERVATIVE Catholic parishes and religious orders have significantly higher numbers of youth than aging, hippy parishes. Look at Call to Action, a liberal Catholic group, and 99% of its members are over age 55.

Friday, Nov 14 at 6:46 AM Russ wrote ...To Amy-Some Bishops and above, think that you need to kiss something other than their ring, because the are above God's Law. They are out of touch with the reality of how young people think and can see through their guise of pomp and circustance. The liberal decisions that they make together as a collective group are not always on target and they can't understand why that is. The old thinking needs to consult with Vatican II decendents.

Thursday, Nov 13 at 8:01 PM Steve wrote ...It is not logically possible that one could believe that Catholic teachings are true, and allow this to happened. It does not appear that the Archbishop believed that there were souls at stake, for example. Nor that he even had a shred of decent humanity. The damage that he did is incalculable.

Thursday, Nov 13 at 2:21 PM Gabe wrote ...I have so much sympathy for Greg. Although I am a victim of sexual abuse by a sister, every time I read one of these stories about the evil of the Catholic church's hierarchy, I am stunned!! I taught junior high and high school students for over 30 years in Catholic schools, and not once did I EVER see a young boy "seduce a priest.' I know that the "bishop" is trying to rationalize his own acts, but he is just adding more evil to his deeds. How could this man handle the Body/Blood of Jesus?

Thursday, Nov 13 at 12:13 PM Josh D wrote ...I agree entirely with Amy. Everywhere where dioceses have strong, orthodox programs, attendance numbers are up as are seminarians and ordinations. Add to this the fact that in virtually everyone of those dioceses, the sex abuse scandal is quite low. Liberal dioceses like Boston and Milwaukee and those who allowed that theology in their parishes and seminaries will answer to God.

Thursday, Nov 13 at 11:55 AM Patrick wrote ...Rembert Weakland was the darling of the liberal media as long as he was fighting to distroy traditional Catholic life in his archdiocese. When he was discovered for what he was they were quick to abandon him because he was no more use to them. I am glad he's out of the picture!

Thursday, Nov 13 at 11:27 AM Bob F wrote ...If you really want to find Weakland's most shameful moment, as him about payoffs to Paul Marcoux

Thursday, Nov 13 at 8:51 AM Amy P. wrote ...No, Russ. The theologically liberal folks in the Catholic Church - who despise things like the all-male, celebate priesthood, devotion to orthodoxy, and the Traditions (big T) of the Church are a sorry lot. Read "Goodbye, Good Men" by Michael S. Rose - the fault of the abuse and the fallout lies with theologically illiterate, self-centered, liberal folk who harrassed, persecuted, and blacklisted faithful young men out of the seminaries and priesthood to "remake" Catholicism in their own image.

Thursday, Nov 13 at 8:50 AM JP wrote ...And yet they wonder why church attendance is down.

Thursday, Nov 13 at 8:18 AM Al wrote ...Matthew 18:6 Look it up, Rembert.

Thursday, Nov 13 at 6:37 AM Russ wrote ...This shadow thinking of not telling the whole truth is why young people stay away from the Sunday services. It's like a political promise--hallow in meaning. Our children learn by example and the Catholic Church is a sorry lot.

http://www.620wtmj.com/shows/charliesykes/34386719.html

John Paul II Pedophile Priests abused 40 and 100 times...altar boys

Benedict XVI was the Chief Enabler of the John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army - see details in Benedict XVI Ratzinger-God's Rottweiler www.pope-ratz.blogspot.com

======

Priest abuse trial to start Wednesday

By Sam Hemingway • Free Press Staff Writer • December 1, 2008

Another clerical sex-abuse trial -- the third this year -- is scheduled to get under way Wednesday, this one involving claims by a former Burlington altar boy that he was molested by the Rev. Edward Paquette twice in the late 1970s.

The victim, who was 12 at the time, said the incidents occurred at Christ the King Church in Burlington and that he quit being an altar boy after Paquette molested him the second time, according to court papers in the case.

• Priest-abuse cases

The former altar boy, now a businessman living in Hyattsville, Md., is suing the state's Roman Catholic diocese for damages, alleging it knew Paquette was a child molester when it hired him. The man is seeking an undisclosed amount of monetary damages for the abuse.

The diocese does not dispute the man's molestation claims but contends his case should be dismissed because he waited too long to file his lawsuit. Paquette, who is retired and lives in Westfield, Mass., is not a defendant in the case.

Both trials earlier this year involved similar molestation claims, although the alleged victims in those cases said Paquette molested them, in one case, between 40 and 100 times and, in the other case, between 20 and 50 times.

The earlier trials also had dramatically different results. The first, in May, ended with an $8.7 million jury award to the victim. The second, in August, was declared a mistrial after a jury was unable to reach a verdict after 16 hours of deliberation.

This week's trial will be the first one to be presided over by Judge Dennis Pearson. Judge Matthew Katz handled the two earlier trials this year and Judge Ben Joseph presided over a 2007 case involving a different priest that required a second trial when the first one was declared a mistrial.

Pearson, in a set of rulings last week, signaled that he may be less willing than Katz or Joseph to allow lawyers for the molestation victims to introduce evidence about the diocese handled molestation claims involving other priests since the late 1970s.

Attorneys Jerome O'Neill and John Evers, representing the 28 alleged victims of priest sexual abuse who have filed cases against the diocese in Chittenden County Superior Court, have contended such evidence is important because it shows an ongoing coverup of the abuse by diocesan officials.

"I'm not sure how any post-1978 conduct is probative of negligent supervision in the 1976 to 1978 period," Pearson told the lawyers during a pre-trial hearing.

"It shows a continuing pattern and practice by the diocese," O'Neill responded.

Pearson later decided to limit testimony about some of the diocese's actions connected with its handling of molestation claims involving the Rev. Alfred Willis in 1980.

This week's trial could also feature testimony from Bishop Salvatore Matano, who has headed the diocese since 2005.

Matano has attended all of the clerical sex abuse trials in Burlington but has never taken the witness stand. O'Neill disclosed during last week's hearing that Matano recently underwent a deposition, or formal interview, with lawyers in the case.

A jury for Wednesday's trial is scheduled to be selected Tuesday. Should the case settle prior to trial, one of two back-up cases involving similar Paquette molestation claims will take its place.

Contact Sam Hemingway at 660-1850 or e-mail at hemingway@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com

Priest-abuse cases How recent Vermont civil lawsuits alleging child sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests in Vermont were resolved. The Free Press does not disclose the names of alleged victims of sexual abuse without their consent:

Alleged victimPriestResolutionYearMichael
BernierJames McShane$120,000
#2004 Robert DouglasAlfred Willis$170,000
#2004 Michael GayEdward Paquette$965,000
#2006 Neil MorrissetteGeorge Paulin$135,000
#2007 James TurnerAlfred Willis$15,000*
2007J ohn PerrotteAlfred Willis$170,000
#2008 Undisclosed Edward Paquette$8,700,000
*2008 "John Doe"Edward Paquette$250,000
#2008 UndisclosedEdward Paquette$170,000
#2008 # -- settlement
* -- verdict

Sunday, November 23, 2008

500,000 Starlings represent the victims' voice of the John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=6279476 Video



The autumn skies of Rome at dusk belong to the starlings.


God has enough of the GAY voice of Benedict XVI. God no longer want to hear the “holy” hypocrisy of the Opus Dei in their WORLD DOMINATION Agenda. So God sends 500,000 starlings which represent the victims of the John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army whose blood are crying out to Heaven for vengeance. These starlings voice drowns out the GAY voice of Benedict XVI who lives with his handsome GAY private secretary Msgr. Georg – see our blog for his photos www.pope-ratz.blogspot.com
500,000 starlings warn Benedict XVI his days are numbered and the Vatican's hours are ticking.

The Vatican was predicted in the Third Secret of Fatima to sink into a black hole and not one of its pillars will remain standing – like the Temple of Solomon.

So those 5 BILLION Euros annual deposit of the Bank of the Pope will all disappear like smoke because God ahs no use for the wealth of the Opus Dei on this planet because they covered-up the John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army for over 26 years...and worshipped on the pedophilia-altar at the Vatican.

=========

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7743286.stm VIDEO

The Sky-High Mob Over Rome

Starlings Have Been Arriving in Rome Since the 1920s, With Current Estimates at 500,000


ROME, Nov. 17, 2008
http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=6268669&page=1

The autumn skies of Rome at dusk belong to the starlings. Lifting off from their plane tree roosts...

The autumn skies of Rome at dusk belong to the starlings. Lifting off from their plane tree roosts along the Tiber river, it is a slow gathering. A small flock flies about and is joined by another small flock. Yet another joins them, and then another and they are a sky-high mob.

Seen from a roof terrace in central Rome, they resemble circus acrobats warming up for their finale with somersaults and arching pirouettes. They are their own amusement park ride, dipping and soaring with switchbacks and loop de loops.

Hundreds and then gusts of thousands glide over the domes and antennaed rooftops. Sometimes, when the birds fly low enough, you can hear the whoosh and a faint murmuring as they pass overhead. They seem to be heading for a certain somewhere until they veer off in another direction entirely.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army murdered young souls

John Paul II never stopped any ONE of his legions of pedophile priests in America and around the world who were murdering young souls like this in New Jersey. Murder is not only of flesh and blood that we see with our eyes. That is why John Paul II and the Opus Dei thought they could get away with the murder of thousands of altar boys. The fact that many of the victims of John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army committed suicide is a complicity with murder all the way from the Pope and the Opus Dei who controlled him at the Vatican for over 26 years. John Paul II does not deserve to be called a ``saint`` especially by Americans who have proven that he covered-up the most henious crime of Catholicism in modern times with 2 Billion dollars paid to settle and silence his American victims.

Opus Dei has concocted words like John Paul II the Great, John Paul II youth, John Paul II priests, etc. but they cannot escape the fact that there were thousands of pedophile priests who thrived under the 26 years of papacy of John Paul II.

History has judged John Paul II and no matter how much mainstream media lies the Opus Dei will create for him, John Paul II will go down in history as the worst pope because he was a criminal pope who covered up his own John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army numbering more than 5,500 in the United States alone with more than 12,000 victims. The American victims of John Paul II is more than double the 5,000 victims of the September 11 attacks at the World Trade Center.

Here is a classic example of how John Paul II Pedophile Priests murdered young souls.

Stop the Murder of Young Souls

By The Rev. Robert Hoatson
Daily Record
November 11, 2007

http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071111/OPINION03/711110391

When the rumors about the sexual abuse of minors by Monsignor Ronald Tully became rampant almost five years ago, I decided to bring those rumors to him, face-to-face, in the rectory of Sacred Heart Parish in Dover. It was a brisk, sunny winter's day. I rang the bell to the parish office. A worker answered the door and immediately escorted me into the office of Monsignor Tully, a dank, dirty, smoke-filled room that was also, strangely, the office of the parish's music director.

Tully thought I was asking to see him so he could hear my confession. It is not uncommon for priests to seek out unfamiliar priests for confession, especially if they have something serious to confess. I proceeded to get right to the point. I asked Tully if the strong rumors I had heard that he was a sexual abuser of minors were true. He answered, "I would never do anything like that, and have you contacted the bishop?" I told him I couldn't contact the bishop since I had no definitive proof that he was a molester, but he asked me more than three times to speak to the bishop.

His demeanor told me he was guilty, but he would never admit it. He chain-smoked, fidgeted and requested of the music director that she confirm that he was not a pedophile.

After he denied that he was a sexual abuser of anyone, I asked Tully if he knew anything about the suicide of a Paterson priest who used to live in his rectory when he was a teenager. He told me that the boy did, indeed, spend many nights in the rectory, but it only occurred when a snowstorm was coming and the boy was going to get up early to shovel or "salt" the sidewalks. He claimed he "loved" the boy and had nothing to do with his death. I believe that boy may have been sexually abused in that rectory. Just before I left, I told him I would continue my investigation. A few days later, Tully was removed from the parish.

A few days ago, we learned that Tully had accepted voluntary laicization. There were just too many victims. But why did it take four victims and nearly $1 million in settlement money to get this man out of the priesthood? One wonders why this process hadn't happened years, even decades, ago. Reports of sexual abuse by Tully were made a long time ago, but he was allowed to be a high school teacher and principal, parish priest, pastor and a specially-favored priest by the Paterson Diocese and its bishop. Otherwise, he would not have been made a monsignor.

Tully was a protected man. He was protected by the same system that created him. He should have been defrocked years ago, but the dysfunctional clerical culture that allowed him to continue serving as a priest and abusing as a pedophile is the same system that enabled his behavior. Kids weren't protected; abusive priests and their bosses were. Why won't the people in the pews believe this? They keep putting envelope after envelope and dollar bill after dollar bill into the collection baskets without questioning, without doubting, without screaming bloody murder. They are feeding the beast that allowed Ronald Tully to abuse boy after boy after boy.

How will we stop this murder of young souls? First, by passing legislation in the state of New Jersey that will give childhood victims of sexual abuse a look-back window through which they will be able to hold their abusers accountable. This legislation would benefit not only victims of clergy abuse but victims of any child sexual abuser. It is time to give victims of sexual abuse their day in court.

Second, by not allowing large institutions like the Catholic Church, with heavily financed lobbyists, to "rule the roost" in Trenton, the state Legislature will send a signal to the citizens of New Jersey that every victim of childhood sexual abuse regardless of who their abuser is has an opportunity to reap justice.

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2007/11_12/2007_11_11_Hoatson_StopThe.htm

Saturday, November 15, 2008

John Paul II's 10 Most Dangerous Predator Priests walking free in America

SNAP fact sheet – 10 most dangerous US predator priests walking free (11/08)


MD – Fr. Fernando Cristancho

In 2001, he sexually exploited and impregnated Dalia Fernandez. She gave birth to triplets and he molested two of them in 2005-06, according to a ruling by Maryland ’s second highest court (the Court of Special Appeals). The court gave custody of the six-year-old triplets to Fernandez. The priest

is originally from and worked in Virginia and Maryland . In 2004, the Baltimore archdiocese apparently revoked his permission to act as a priest.
http://www.mddailyrecord.com/article.cfm?id=8916&type=UTTM

http://www.baltimoreexaminer.com/local/crime/Priest_loses_custody_of_triplets.html

Details: Becky Ianni of Northern Virginia SNAP 703 801 6044


MA, NY, MD: - Fr. A.J. Cote

He is accused in a civil lawsuit of molesting two Massachusetts boys in 2005. While committing those crimes, he was on suspension for also sexually abusing a Maryland boy in 2001-02. That boy settled his civil lawsuit against Cote and his employers (the Dominicans) in 2007 for $1.2 million. Cote is believed to be living in western Massachusetts or Manhattan .

Details: Attorney Jeff Anderson of St. Paul MN 651 227 9990, 612 817 8665 cell


AZ – Msgr. Dale Fushek

(http://www.kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=8482564)

He is awaiting trial early next year on seven “misdemeanor sex charges stemming from his relationships with five boys in the 1980s and ’90s, including indecent exposure, assault and contributing to the delinquency of a minor,” according to news accounts. For years, he traveled the country promoting the ‘Life Teen’ program h e founded. . In January 2008, Phoenix ’s archbishop warned Catholics to avoid the new church Fushek started and still runs.

Details: Attorney Stuart Mermelstein of Miami 305 931 2200


NY – New York City - Msgr. Wallace Harris

In August of this year, he forced to step down as pastor because of allegations of sexual abuse. He now faces ten accusers but many of his parishioners have rallied around him and have basically erected a shrine to him outside his former church.


Harris is charismatic and well connected in both political and church circles. (New York ’s governor is a parishioner and Harris helped plan the Pope’s spring 2008 visit to NY.)

Details: Rev. Eric C. Crumbley, founder of Harlem Faith Center in Harlem


NY – Long Island – Msgr. Alan Placa

In a 2003 grand jury report, Placa is accused of molesting kids himself and of helping other predator priests cover up their own child sex crimes. By virtue of his training (he’s a civil and a canon lawyer), his connections across the country (he advised bishops on how to ‘handle’ abuse cases), and his close relationship with Rudy Giuliani (they’re boyhood pals and he’s on Rudy’s payroll), Placa must be considered very dangerous.

Details: Richard Tollner of Albany , New York 518 724 2462, 518 428 5000, tollner1@aol.com


IL - Fr. Kenneth J. Martin

As recently as last month, Martin, an admitted and convicted child molester, was working and living part time for a close friend who heads the Chicago archdiocese. In 2003, six months after bishops pledged to ‘reform’ and be ‘open’ about child sex cases, a reporter discovered Martin lived a week each month with Cardinal Francis George’s Gold Coast mansion. In the ensuing public uproar, George said Martin would no longer work for the archdiocese. But George kept Martin on the payroll anyway.


Martin is especially dangerous because he’s clearly very close to and favored by George, the current head of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. Because his conviction was before 1996, when Delaware ’s sex offender registry was created, Martin doesn’t have to register as a sex offender. In the only interview he gave to a reporter, he denied having pled guilty to criminal abuse charges.

Details: David Clohessy of SNAP, 314 566 9790 cell


CA - Fr. Eric Swearingen

In 2006, in a civil trial, a jury found him guilty of molesting then 12 year old Juan Rocha in the late 1980s/early 1990s. (They deadlocked, however, on whether or not church supervisors knew earlier that he was a molester. So the judge declared a mistrial.) Afterwards, he was named rector of a diocesan high school. Now, Swearingen is the pastor of Holy Spirit Church in the Fresno Diocese.

he’s still pastor at Holy Spirit Church in Fresno CA :

Details: Dave Drivon of Stockton 209 466 0982, drivonesq@yahoo.com, drivon@drivonlaw.com
Larry Drivon of Stockton 209 644 1234, 209 969 0982 abatare@comcast.net


TX, CO, MO - Brother William Mueller

Just last month, 23 civil lawsuits were settled against this cunning predator, who often used ether to knock teenaged boys out, then sodomize or molest them. Mueller often deceived his victims, claiming to be studying psychology and conducting bizarre ‘experiments’ about fear and trust. A former Marianist, he walks free now in San Antonio , Texas .

Details: Bryan Bacon of Columbia MO 573 874 7777

Attorney Adam Horowitz and Jeff Herman of Miami 305 921 3300

Attorney Dan Craig of Kansas City 816 221 7772


TX – Fr. Anthony Gonzales

In March, a civil lawsuit against him was settled. He molested at least 15 girls and admits, under oath, fathering at least eight children. After one of his teenaged victims gave birth, Gonzales’ Oblate colleagues lied, telling her Gonzales had died. He abused, impregnated and then abandoned a teenager who was living with her mentally ill mother in an abandoned house in Houston .

Gonzales now lives in Taylor Texas (population 15,000) where his sister is the mayor.

Details: Attorney Tahira Khan Merritt of Dallas 214 503 7300


MO – Fr. Thomas M. Reardon

Reardon is the most widely accused predator priest in Missouri , who faces at least 20 accusers in civil lawsuits. He also has a counseling license and until recent years was seeing drug and alcohol-addicted teens as a therapist. Along with his colleague, Fr. Thomas O’Brien, he’s accused of holding wild, liquor-laden parties with teens at a remote lake house where perhaps dozens of boys were molested.

Details: Attorney Rebecca Randles of Kansas City 816 931 9900 work


(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the nation’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. We’ve been around for 19 years and have more than 8,000 members across the country. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)

Contact David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell, 314-645-5915 home), Barbara Blaine (312-399-4747), Barbara Dorris (314-862-7688)

Saturday, November 8, 2008

America’s worst 5 Catholic Cardinals on child sex abuse & cover-ups of the John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army

Here are the 5 worst John Paul II clones who covered-up his John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army. John Paul II must not be called a "saint" in American soil and by American lips!

America's worst 5 Catholic Cardinals on child sex abuse & cover-ups

www.snapnetwork.org

NOTE: This list focuses largely on the Cardinals' admitted, proven, and alleged misdeeds within the past six years, AFTER the US bishops pledged to respond more quickly, openly and compassionately to clergy child molestation.

(For decades, however, these highly-educated men knew that child sex crimes were illegal, wrong and hurtful.)

Cardinal Francis George of Chicago

· In August 2005, Fr. Daniel McCormack was questioned by the police because of abuse allegations. Two months later, the Chicago lay review board recommended that George suspend McCormack. George refused, kept silent and let his chancellor promote McCormack. Three months later, police arrested McCormack again. During those last few months of his active parish ministry in Chicago 's inner city, McCormack molested at least three boys, the district attorney said. (One of the children, prosecutors say, had been assaulted "on an almost daily" basis.)

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/09/national/09priest.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

McCormack has pled guilty to child molestation.

Later, records obtained by victims' attorneys showed that in 1999, a school principal reported accusations against McCormack to archdiocesan officials. Nothing was done.

Adding insult to injury, five high ranking church officials closely involved in this fiasco have since been promoted.

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2008/01_02/2008_01_24_Hogan_TheCardinal.htm

The female veteran school principal (who was the only archdiocesan staffer to call the police) has, however, been fired. Church authorities refuse to say why.

http://reform-network.net/?p=606

· While the McCormack case has received some attention, George has displayed shocking callousness, recklessness and secrecy in other, post-2002 cases. Perhaps most notably, within months of the adoption of the so-called 'reforms' in Dallas, George knowingly and secretly let a convicted predator priest (Fr. Kenneth Martin) work in the archdiocese and live, part-time, with George in George's mansion.

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news5/2003_03_02_Falsani_PriestsCase.htm

Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles

· In 2005 or 2006, LA church and school officials were questioned by police about current child sex abuse allegations against John Malburg. Malburg was a Catholic high school principal from a politically prominent family. The archdiocese didn't suspend him. They told no one about the investigation. Six months later, Malburg was arrested and criminally charged. Parents asked church officials "Why didn't you tell us? Why didn't you suspend him?" Cardinal Mahony's PR man told the LA Times "Law enforcement told us to keep quiet." The next day, in the LA Times, prosecutors said they never made any such request.

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2006/11_12/2006_11_19_NBC4_ArchdioceseChurch.htm

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news5/2006_11_17_Hong_CorruptionTarget.htm

· In just nine months, police say, Fr. Nicholas Aguilar Rivera, sexually assaulted at least 26 boys in Los Angeles .

In August 2007, long-secret church records about Aguilar were publicly disclosed. According to the New York Times, the documents showed that then-Msgr. Thomas Curry "tipped off" the accused pedophile priest who then fled to Mexico to avoid criminal prosecution.(An LA district attorney said Curry "facilitated" Aguilar's flight.) Aguilar went on to molest kids in Mexico later.

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2006/09_10/2006_10_21_McKinley_AccusedPriests.htm

Curry is now one of Mahony's auxiliary bishops. Despite public pleas to discipline Curry, or at least speak out about Curry's irresponsible secrecy, Mahony said and did nothing.

· For years, Mahony stayed secretly let an admitted child molesting cleric live in his archdiocese (in a picturesque religious complex overlooking the ocean), despite the cleric's being wanted on criminal charges in Canada . In 2005, when SNAP and others demanded that Mahony and his colleagues turn over Franciscan friar Gerald Chumik to law enforcement, he let Chumik move from Santa Barbara Mission Church in Santa Barbara to Missouri .

For 14 years, Chumik has been a fugitive from his native Canada .

SNAP leaders believe this needlessly put children at risk and is a clear violation of the much-touted Dallas Charter which all American bishops adopted in June of 2002.

· Elected district attorneys rarely feud in public with powerful religious figures. But in October 2005, (more than three years after Mahony pledged "openness" about child sex abuse and cover ups), Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley said "Three years ago, I urged Cardinal Mahony to provide the fullest possible disclosure of evidence of sexual abuse by clergy. Despite two court rulings ordering full disclosure, Cardinal Mahony continues to claim 'confidentiality privileges' that no court has recognized."

http://da.co.la.ca.us/mr/archive/2005/101205a.htm?zoom_highlight=clergy


Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Houston

· In November 2007, a victim reported having been sexually abused by Fr. Stephen Horn between 1989 and 1993. DiNardo found him credible and suspended Horn. The Cardinal, however, kept the allegation and his determination secret from parishioners, police and the public for two months, despite US bishops' repeated pledges to act quickly and openly with credibly sex abuse allegations. Finally, in mid-January, DiNardo disclosed his action. (The delay gave Horn, a credibly accused molester, ample opportunity to fabricate alibis, destroy evidence, intimidate victims, threaten witnesses, or even flee the country, as some pedophile priests have done.)

Part of DiNardo's secrecy and delay occurred in the weeks between when the Pope announced that DiNardo would be named a Cardinal (October 2007) and when DiNardo was promoted amid much pageantry (November 24). Some Houston Catholics have speculated that DiNardo didn't want the news of Horn's crimes to 'rain on (DiNardo's) parade'

Weeks ago, SNAP wrote DiNardo, urging him to explain and apologize for his secrecy. SNAP has urged the cardinal to visit parishes where Horn worked and emphatically beg victims and witnesses to come forward, get help and call the police. He has not responded to either the letter or the request.

· When he was a bishop in Sioux City, Iowa, DiNardo similarly mishandled the Fr. George McFadden case in Iowa, only disclosing the allegations against this predator priest long afterwards.

Beginning in the 1990s (and likely longer), Sioux City church officials knew of repeated charges of child molestation against McFadden, an admitted abuser, dating back into the 1960s. (DiNardo was Sioux City bishop starting in 1997.) For at least five years (and even later), DiNardo had the chance to disclose McFadden's hurtful actions to police, prosecutors, parishioners, and the public, and to keep McFadden from other vulnerable children. He stayed silent.

According to the Des Moines Register, "The confessed child molester continued to hear confession and say Mass daily over the past decade at the Cathedral of the Epiphany, Sioux City's largest Catholic church.)

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news/2002_06_23_Rood_ChurchSecrecy.htm

McFadden is accused of abusing more than 25 girls and boys in dozens of civil lawsuits. Despite his alleged 'treatment' and 'retirement' in the 1990s, he continued to function as priest until 2002.

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news5/2008_01_14_Kever_PriestRemoved.htm

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2008/01_02/2008_01_14_Quinn_ChurchOfficials.htm

Cardinal Sean O'Malley of Boston

· Last month church officials disclosed that, for the second year in a row, O'Malley is in violation of the US bishops' child sex abuse prevention policy.

Much in the policy is meaningless public relations, SNAP is convinced. But O'Malley's breaking one of the proven, practical requirements that help prevent abuse: training kids how to avoid or stop being victimized.

Roughly one in five Boston Catholic children is not receiving this training. Every child is supposed to receive it.

Worse, O'Malley tries to dodge responsibility for this clear, egregious refusal by blaming pastors and parishioners.

But O'Malley's had six years to persuade colleagues to weaken the national abuse policy, devise alternative programs, or get on board (and get his employees on board). He's done none of these three steps.

Nor has he disciplined a single individual for flaunting this national requirement.

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2008/03_04/2008_04_11_Hamm_AbuseVictims.htm

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2006/03_04/2006_03_10_Levenson_88Victims.htm

· In a 2006 case with disturbing parallels to many of the hundreds of Boston pedophile priest cases, O'Malley moved very slowly and gingerly against a prominent Catholic hospital official who faces multiple allegations of sexually harassing employees.

A high-ranking human resources official at the hospital "accused O'Malley of improperly interceding in the investigation to help (the accused), giving him advance notice of the probe, providing him with an adviser, and telling of the reprimand before consulting with the board," according to the Boston Globe.

The cardinal's actions "have made a mockery of the investigation. It is nothing short of shameful," she wrote.

"Perhaps most troubling" was what she called the "near absence" of concern for the women complainants that she said was shown by the church hierarchy

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/05/21/omalley_reprimands_caritas_chief/

Cardinal Edward Egan of New York

· Less than two months ago, the New York Post reported "The former principal of a prestigious Catholic high school who resigned amid allegations of inappropriate images on his work computer was allowed to stay on the job for nearly five months after a priest wrote the New York Archdiocese accusing him of serious misconduct."

http://www.nypost.com/seven/02282008/news/regionalnews/diocese_let_school_big_slide_99632.htm

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/28/nyregion/28hayes.html

In 2003, Egan became the first US prelate to refuse to say mass for the devoutly Catholic, hand-picked, distinguished lay panel chosen by bishops to look at the church's child sex abuse crisis. According to the New York Times, Egan also "interfered with" and prevented the US bishops' 'watchdog' on clergy sex cases from speaking in his archdiocese.

(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the nation's oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. We've been around for 17 years and have more than 8,000 members across the country. Despite the word "priest" in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)

CONTACT

David Clohessy of St. Louis , SNAP national director 314 566 9790 cell
Peter Isely of Milwaukee , SNAP board chair emeritus 414 429 7259 cell
Barbara Blaine of Chicago , SNAP president 312 399 4747 cell
Barbara Dorris of St. Louis , SNAP 314 503 0003 cell

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Jesuit pedophile priest convicted in Illinois



Illinois: Ex-Priest Guilty of Sex Abuse By CATRIN EINHORN


Published: October 24, 2008

A once prominent Jesuit priest was convicted in federal court in Chicago of engaging in sexual activity with a teenage boy who accompanied him on religious trips to Europe and Minnesota in 2000 and 2001.


Prosecutors described the priest, Donald J. McGuire, 78, who was defrocked in February, as a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” who used his position to gain the trust of families and then sexually abused boys under the guise of teaching them lessons and making them more spiritually pure. The victim said Mr. McGuire started abusing him in 1999 at age 13. Mr. McGuire, who taught at Loyola Academy in suburban Chicago and then traveled the world directing such retreats for laypeople and members of Mother Teresa’s religious order, said he would appeal.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army in ITALY


Card. Giordano presided over a welcome party for a pedophile priest after his prison release


Bishop Betori: In Italy pedophilia 'is so small, it does not deserve any special attention...


Archbishop Cocci covered for Fr. Govonni's charges and Satanism


These are the most recent lsit of Italian Bishops and Pedophile Priests of the John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army

Priestly Pedophilia Concealed in Italy

Atila S. Guimarães

Due to a quite busy schedule, I have collected a pile of books and articles to read when spare time appears. In that mound was a long article published two years ago by the well-informed Rome bulletin Adista reporting on the pedophilia crisis in the Italian clergy. Recently I found time to read it. It was, in my opinion, very revealing of the duplicity of the Italian Episcopate, the Vatican included. They pretend that pedophilia does not exist around them: it is an American problem...
It seems useful to portray a sampling of the Italian reality for the TIA American audience. I am basing myself on the information presented in a report by Emilio Carnevali entitled "Pedophile Priests in Italy: The Hierarchy Minimizes the Problem, but It Exists - Data from the Last Years" (Adista, May 13, 2006, pp. 11-14).
We are all aware of the extreme complacency of the Vatican in dealing with the pedophilia crisis in the U.S. It has always covered for the priests and blamed the critics, as if they were trying to destroy the Church. I mention just two facts to refresh my reader's memory.
The first was the Vatican veto of the first draft of the Dallas document (2000) drawn up by the American Bishops, which was considered excessively strong. Far from being so, it was quite weak, but still much better than the final imposed version that was approved in Washington. This veto and its consequences were duly analyzed in my book on pedophilia. (1)
1. A.S. Guimarães, Vatican II, Homosexuality & Pedophilia, Los Angeles: TIA, 2004, pp-56-78
The second was the official visit of Card. Tarcisio Bertone to the U.S in August 2007. During his stay, the Vatican Secretary of State made violent, demagogic declarations against those who had attacked the clergy and the cover-up of the Bishops.
These two important facts are characteristic of the Vatican approach to ecclesiastical pedophilia.
We know that on his U.S. visit in April 2008, Benedict XVI expressed his sorrow to the victims of clergy abuse and made some vague promises regarding punishing the guilty. But, so far, we still have not seen any concrete follow-up to those lamentations.
At any rate, the report on priestly pedophile abuse in Italy and the silence of both the Italian Episcopate and the Vatican about it may help to fill in the missing spaces in the picture.
An Episcopate apparently immune to pedophilia


Bishop Betori: In Italy pedophilia 'is so small, it does not deserve any special attention...'

The indifferent attitude of the Italian Episcopate is aptly depicted by Carnevali:
"One generally speaks of the pedophilia scandal in reference to the American example, which gives the impression that the Catholic Church in Italy is absolutely immune to this type of problem, according to the media and the Bishops themselves.
"Indeed, on March 21, 2002, the secretary of the Italian Bishops Conference (CEI), Bishop Giuseppe Betori, affirmed that the phenomenon of pedophilia in the Italian clergy 'is so small that it does not deserve any special attention.' This is why, the Bishop continued, 'the permanent council of the Bishops' Conference had never spoken about pedophilia. It has no list of names on this topic. We aren't looking at a single case and don't [even] have a control process.'"
Notwithstanding, there is a long list of priests condemned by the Italian civil courts, and other clergy members under scrutiny because of their proved or alleged pedophilia. Carnevali presents this list, which starts in 2000, as "a contribution to a more realistic examination of the situation." He apologizes for some imprecision in the data due to the "almost total lack of cooperation of the espicopates in offering any information."
A list of pedophiles priests in Italy

- 2000 -

January 10 - Fr. Giorgio Mazzoccatto was sentenced to 6 years and 6 months in prison for sexual violence against minors. The crime occurred in the mid-1990s when Fr. Mazzoccatto was the pastor of Arpinova, close to Foggia. He was arrested in 1998 soon after he became pastor of Casteluccio dei Sauri Parish, also in the province of Foggia, where Fr. Mazzoccatto, still a priest after serving his prison term, continues to live.
January 17 - Another priest, age 62, living in the province of Ferrara, was sentenced to one year and 9 months in prison. The priest, whose name was not disclosed even by the civil court, was found guilty of sexually molesting two children, age 9, who attended Catechism classes.
The indifferent attitude of the Italian Episcopate is clearly depicted by Carnevali:


Card. Giordano presided over a welcome party for a pedophile priest after his prison release

January 23 - Fr. Giuseppe Rassello, 49, returned as a parish priest to Santa Maria della Sanitá Church in Naples. He was sentenced in 1991 to serve 3 years and 3 months in prison after being found guilty of sexual abuse against a 14-year-old adolescent. The sentence was confirmed in 1996, after an appeal. The priest was received back at his old parish in a welcoming ceremony presided over by Cardinal Michele Giordano; also participating were Bishop Vincenzo Pelvi and the victim's prosecutor Enrico Tuccillo, who had become a deacon. Tuccillo publicly apologized for "having calumniated Fr. Rassello," and asked the Bishop to name the released priest the defender of the youth and the disabled in Naples.

February 1 - Fr. Marco Gamba, pastor of San Michele Church in the province of Turin, was found guilty of sexual abuses of pre-pubescent altar boys and was sentenced to a 4-½ year prison term. Police investigation also revealed the priest possessed around 4,000 pictures of pornographic pedophile pictures downloaded from the Internet, along with photos of boys, age 11 and 12, who were members of the parish.

May 20 - Fr. Giorgio Govoni, 59, pastor of Staggia di San Prospero Church in the province of Modena, was accused of being a member of a group of pedophiles who engaged in sexually violent and harmful acts with minors, including participation in satanic rites in the Massa Finalese Cemetery. After a legal investigation brought to light the testimony of around 300 witnesses and 5,000 pages of reports in 57 sessions, the court issued 14 sentences condemning the criminals to penalties of 2 to 19 years in prison. The public promoters had asked for a 14-year sentence for Fr. Govoni, but the priest's death stopped the proceedings. Among the defenders of Fr. Giorgio Govini was Bishop Benito Cocchi of Modena.


November - A priest from Milan (name unrevealed) was found guilty of sexual violence against children in his parish community and was condemned to 4 years and 2 months in prison. During the police investigation, it came out that the children had been threatened and induced to silence by a member of the community who knew that the same priest had abused a 7-year-old girl in the early 1970s.
- 2001 -

January 29 - Fr. Pino Carpi was condemned by the court of Chiavari to pay $24,000 for molesting a 14-year-old girl when he was pastor of Santa Margherita Ligure Church. He did not serve jail time because of a legal mistake, even though he had been found guilty. After that, he was appointed pastor of Santa Maria di Nazareth Church in Genoa.

June 26 - Fr. Renato Mariani, pastor of San Giuliano Church in Milan, was found guilty of sexual violence against minors and condemned to 4 years in prison. On his release, he resumed pastoral duties at Garbagnate Church in Milan.
- 2002-

September 14 - Fr. Gaudencio Hidalgo, who was parish priest at San Castrese Church in Naples in 1999 and 2000, was arrested in Mexico. He abused several children, "some of them in orgies" (Adista, February 15, 2003, pp. 10-11). After an Italian judge gave him a prison sentence, he fled the country to Mexico, his homeland. It was Interpol that extradited him so that he could pay the debt he owed to Italian justice.

December 30 - A pastor of the Milan province (name unrevealed), age 37, was arrested for the crime of disseminating pornographic pedophile material.
- 2003-


Archbishop Cocchi covered for Fr. Govoni's charges of pedophilia and satanism
May 6 - Fr. D.B. (name concealed), 56, pastor of a church in Genoa, was arrested along with four other pedophiles who lured boys age 11 to 17 to commit sexual acts, offering them expensive gifts and trips abroad. The police reports: "In a little more than 6 months, we have observed dozens and dozens of such incidents. The group preyed mainly on boys of poor families. They would pay the boys from $45 to $150 for their sexual favors. Some of them became accustomed to prostitution; others just diverted themselves with the priest and his accomplices. Often it was the priest who paid for the expenses of luring the boys."

May 27 - A monk (no name disclosed) belonging to a religious institute of Milan was found guilty of sexual molestation and harm to five primary school children. He was condemned to 4 years and 8 months in prison.

July 25 - Fr. Bruno Tancredi, 59, a pastor of Monticelli Church in the province of Terrano, was found guilty of sexual violence and harm to two minors, ages 14 and 16, one of them handicapped. He was condemned to 6 years in prison. He remains a priest but has not been assigned new pastoral duties.

September 17 - Fr. Paolo Turturro was accused of sexual abuse against two 10-year-old boys. He was pastor of Santa Lucia Church in Palermo, Sicily. His case was still in process when the Adista report was published.

October 1 - Fr. Luciano Micchelotti was condemned (no penalty disclosed) for having pornographic pedophile material in his possession. The priest was pastor of Vicoforte Church in Cuneo province.

November - A pastor of Oristano Church (name concealed) was arrested in Sardinia on an accusation of pedophilia. He allegedly abused a minor girl in his parish.
- 2004 -

January - A priest (name concealed) of Romiti di Forli parish was condemned to 2 years of prison after he confessed he was guilty of pedophilia.


February 2 - Fr. Roberto Volaterra, pastor of Castagnole Piemonti Church in the province of Turin, was given a 1 year and 8 month prison term and sentenced to pay $71,000 for sexual violence against a 13-year-old girl. In an effort to prevent his arrest, parishioners defended the priest with physical force. However, the defendant pleaded guilty, acknowledging the truth of the accusations. On his release, Volaterra was appointed chaplain of St. Andrea in Savigliano Church in Cuneo province.


February 25 - Fr. Paolo Pellegrini, 52, pastor of San Gioacchino di Colleferro Church in the province of Rome, was arrested for sexual violence against a minor. The police investigation uncovered immoral films and photos compromising the priest. Six years earlier, he had been accused of being naked in front of a young woman. On June 11, Fr. Pellegrini was sentenced to 6 years in prison and ordered to pay $95,000 for both sexual violence and instigating a minor to use drugs.

March 3 - Fr. Giancarlo Locatelli, 44, was placed under police scrutiny for possessing a collection of pornographic pedophile material. The priest is secretary of the San Nichola Institute of Bari and works in San Nichola parish.

April 20 - Fr. Pietro Sabatini was condemned to pay $7,250 for purchasing pornographic pedophile material through the Internet. Fr. Sabatini is the Rector of the Diocesan Seminary of Lanusei in the province of Nuoro.


July 1 - Fr. Felice Cini was found guilty of sexually abusing several boys in the small parish of Arcille, in Campagnatico, province of Grossetto, and sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison.


Bishop Ferraro took no measures against the priest and attempted to bribe the victim

July 7 - Fr. Bruno Puelo was found guilty of sexual abuses against seven boys in the Agrigento seminary school, and was given a 2 year and 7 month prison term. One of the victims, Marco Marchese, affirmed that the sexual violence against him began at age 12; after four years of constant sexual exploitation, he spoke about it to Fr. Silvano Castronovo and Fr. Gaetano Montana, respectively vice-rector and rector of the school. Both advised him to calm down and say nothing about the abuse. Then he went to the Bishop of Agrigento, Carmelo Ferraro, who also took no measure.

Meanwhile Fr. Puelo continued to abuse other boys. After the victim got a lawyer, the Diocese offered him $36,000 to settle out of court. He refused and made a lawsuit against the priest, who was finally condemned by the civil court.
July 14 - Fr. Domenico Marcanti, 48, was found guilty of pedophilia and sentenced to 3 years in prison. He held a post at a boys' school, the Don Orione Institute of Alessandria.

October 15 - Fr. Gorgio Barbacini was sentenced to 3-½ years in prison for sexually abusing a minor under his custody. The facts came to light in 2000 when Fr. Barbacini was head of the "Migrants" program of Savonna, a Diocesan-sponsored program to help youth. After serving his time in prison, he was transferred to another diocese. There was never a church process to examine his suitability.
October - Fr. Roberto Mornat, a priest in Gavirate in the province of Varese, was found guilty of acts of pedophilia with 12 boys and sentenced to 3 years and 4 months in prison, as well as to pay $442,000 to the victims. The sentence was reduced because of the defendant's alleged partial mental illness.
- 2005 -

May 20 - Fr. Mauro Stefanoni, 37, was arrested for sexual violence against a 14-year-old retarded boy and for possessing pornographic pedophile material. The process was ongoing when the Adista report was released.

June/July - Fr. Renato Giaccardi, 42, a priest in Monregale, national vicar of various institutions of the Imperia and Albenga Dioceses in the province of Cuneo, was arrested and accused of leading minors into prostitution and exploiting them. Around 30 minors between the ages of 13 and 17 were allegedly involved in the ring. The priest compensated the boys for their sexual favors with movie tickets, ice creams and sweets. The reward for presenting a new friend to the priest was $15. His case was still being heard when the Adista report was published.


July 11 - Fr. Pierangelo Bertagna, 44, pastor at Farneta Abbey in Arezzo province, was arrested and confessed his guilt in committing sexual violence against boys (no number disclosed) in his parish.

November 15 - A lawsuit was filed against the Archdiocese of Naples by the attorney of a youth who was 14-years-old when the alleged pedophile acts occurred. The Archdiocese is accused of being responsible for the sexual violence of a priest (no name disclosed) of the Spanish Quarter who was brought to court in 2002. During the process the defendant was declared mentally incompetent of understanding what he had done. The victim's attorney accused the Archdiocese of being an accomplice to the crime since it could have been prevented had the Archdiocese properly evaluate the mental state of the priest.
- 2006 -


Card. Agostino Vallini: accusations of priestly pedophilia are "just talk"

April 5 - Fr. Marco Agostini, 60, was arrested and 17 persons filed a lawsuit against him. He was accused of sexual abuse and harm committed against 10 minors of the asylum he administrated. The abuses were allegedly carried out since 1993, when the priest of the Congregation of the Oblates of St. Francis of Sales was working at Immaculate Mary Parish in Torvajanica, near Rome, as director of the Raggazi Nuovi [Young Boys] center. In 1998, after the first accusations surfaced, he was transferred to Pomezia, where he became pastor of San Benedetto Church. Finally, in 2002, he was sent to Assisi to direct the Congregation's guest house. The court investigation was based on accusations made in 2004 by a youth in Torvajanica, followed by some 20 allegations of others youth. According to the witnesses, the victims went to talk to then-Bishop of Albano, Agostino Vallini (later made a Cardinal by Benedict XVI), but he declared that the accusations were "just talk." The parents and teachers of the victims requested that the Diocese of Ferrara, to which the priest belonged, be cited as "civilly responsible" by the court, but the judges denied the request.

The case of Fr. Marco Agostini brought to light the involvement of two other priests in pedophile crimes - Fr. Ennio di Giampasquale, ex-parish priest of San Benedetto in Pomezia and Fr. Germano Agostini, pastor of San Michele Arcangelo Church, also in Pomezia. Both priests were under house arrest when the Adista report was published.
May 3 - Fr. Donato Bono, 44, pastor of Sternata Church in the province of Lecce, was under house arrest for having been found practicing obscene acts with a minor in his automobile. He used his influence to pressure the parents and the victim to attenuate the charges against him. The police investigation, however, disclosed that around 12 other boys were also receiving the "favors" of the priest.

Conclusion

When we observe the facts as reported by Carnevali, we see that his main sources were the civil courts. He confirmed that the Dioceses refused to provide almost any information for his report. We realize that at least the civil courts in Italy are taking some action against the pedophile clergy, a very healthy step toward protecting society and the Church.

At the end of this exposé, we should take into account that this is just the result of the research of a single journalist. How many other cases were there to which he had no access? How many others have there been after he published his report on May 13, 2006?

How is it possible that the Italian Bishops are unaware of this putrid tide of pedophilia in their clergy? Is it possible that the Vatican also has no knowledge of it? I certainly do not believe this to be true. In my opinion, they all know and are covering up, as the American Bishops did.

The only difference between the policies of the Episcopates of the U.S. and Italy seems to be that the latter, including the Vatican, has much more influence in pressuring the courts and the police to remain silent and keep things comfortable for the Bishops.

If this supposition is true, we are facing a moral crisis in the Italian clergy as extensive as that in the American clergy. The difference seems to be that the cover-up of the Bishops is more skilled and effective there than here.

I think these facts should be circulated to open the eyes and ears of so many blind and deaf conservatives (and also traditionalists) who do not want to see or hear anything that disturbs their "feel-good" spiritual lives.