Victims want ‘abuse’ priests defrocked April 22, 2010 AAP
A church-related victims’ group is calling on the Vatican to defrock about 100 Melbourne priests implicated in sexual abuse claims which have been substantiated by church investigations.
The Melbourne Victims’ Collective, a group of 27 primary and secondary alleged sex abuse victims, wants the priests stripped of their titles and privileges.
A Fairfax newspaper (The Age) reported on Thursday that almost 300 sexual abuse allegations had been substantiated in Melbourne by the Catholic church since 1996 but only one priest had been defrocked.
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/victims-want-abuse-priests-defrocked-20100422-tfhk.html
300 abuse cases, one defrocking NICK MCKENZIE AND RAFAEL EPSTEIN April 22, 2010 VICTORIA Police has called for sweeping changes to the way Melbourne’s Catholic Church deals with sex crime allegations, as The Age reveals that only one priest has been defrocked for abuse in the past 14 years.
Nearly 300 allegations of sexual abuse have been substantiated by church investigations since 1996, when the ”Melbourne Response” was set up to deal with complaints. It is believed the abuses were perpetrated by approximately 100 priests, a figure the church will not confirm. Just one priest has been defrocked as a result. Some other priests lost their role serving a parish full-time.
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/300-abuse-cases-one-defrocking-20100421-szz6.html
Suit: Vatican No. 2 Got Letter From Abuse Victim – Lawsuit claims Vatican official got letter from victim on Wis. abuse earlier than known before By DINESH RAMDE and ERIC GORSKI MILWAUKEE April 22, 2010 (AP) A neatly typed letter dated March 5, 1995, is addressed to the No. 2 man at the Vatican and recounts the story of a priest who preyed on deaf boys trapped in dormitories with no chance of escape. The letter to Cardinal Angelo Sodano from one of the Rev. Lawrence Murphy’s alleged victims is more evidence for those trying to learn what Vatican officials knew about abuse claims at St. John’s School for the Deaf outside Milwaukee and when. The document was revealed Thursday in yet another lawsuit aimed at the highest reaches of the Roman Catholic Church. It’s also significant because it involves Sodano, a strong defender of Pope Benedict XVI’s handling of the global clergy sexual abuse crisis and a man whose own record on a separate high-profile case has come under scrutiny. The Vatican’s U.S.-based attorney, Jeffrey Lena, said in a statement Thursday that the lawsuit was a publicity stunt with no merit and it rehashes theories already rejected by U.S. courts.
Murphy, who died in 1998, is accused of sexually abusing some 200 boys at the deaf school from 1950 to 1974. He was put on a leave of absence when the allegations were revealed in the early 1970s. The lawsuit claims Murphy was still allowed to serve in ministry and work with children in another Wisconsin diocese into the early 1990s….Sodano has long been accused in news reports in U.S. Catholic publications and other outlets of stalling a Vatican probe of the Rev. Marcial Maciel, the discredited founder of the Legionaries of Christ. The order has admitted that the late Maciel fathered at least one child and molested young seminarians.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=10445461
Civil suit filed against former Hawaii priest for sex assault of teen 4/21/10 A former Roman Catholic priest who was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2000 for sexually abusing a 13-year-old O’ahu boy is at the center of a civil lawsuit filed yesterday in Denver, Colo. The lawsuit alleges Mark Matson repeatedly assaulted a 15-year old boy while the teen was attending St. Andrews Seminary in Denver in 1976.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the former student, identified only as “John Doe,” who is now 49 years old and a resident of the Denver area. The complaint contends that when the student confronted Matson about a series of sexual assaults, the priest claimed to have found marijuana in the boy’s belongings and had him expelled from the Denver seminary.
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/201004211622/BREAKING01/100421055
German bishop ‘who beat orphans’ resigns From Times Online April 22, 2010 Roger Boyes, Berlin
The resignation of the conservative Bishop of Augsburg – accused of thrashing orphans with a carpet beater – has given a powerful boost to reformers in the German Catholic Church who are trying to stop the mass desertion of believers. It took almost three weeks to persuade the controversial bishop, Walter Mixa, 68, to step down and restore the credibility of the Church as it attempts to tackle and contain the growing scandal of physical and sexual abuse of children in its care.
The bishop is a close ally of Pope Benedict XVI and he had evidently counted on papal support as he stood firm against claims from at least six former pupils at a Catholic-run orphanage in Bavaria.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article7104574.ece
Irish Bishop Resigns Over Abuse Scandal By AP / NICOLE WINFIELD and MELISSA EDDY Apr. 22, 2010
(VATICAN CITY) — Pope Benedict XVI accepted the resignation Thursday of an Irish bishop who admitted he didn’t challenge the Dublin church’s policy of covering up the sexual abuse of children by priests. Bishop James Moriarty of Kildare is the third Irish bishop to resign in the past four months as a result of the Irish abuse scandal, and two more have offered to go. He said he was stepping down because he realized that “renewal must begin with accepting responsibility for the past.” Moriarty, 73, offered to resign in December after admitting he didn’t challenge the Dublin Archdiocese’s past practice of concealing child-abuse complaints from police.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1983755,00.html
Rabbi Sentenced 32 Years For Sexually Abusing Teen (WPIX)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvyB5ZzntAQ
joel engleman, Rabbi Baruch Lebovits (WPIX)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQ3x98Zp7h8&NR=1
