Catholic Whistleblowers Join Forces on Abuse, Ex-swim coach accused of abuse

Church Whistle-Blowers Join Forces on Abuse
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN May 20, 2013

They call themselves Catholic Whistleblowers, a newly formed cadre of priests and nuns who say the Roman Catholic Church is still protecting sexual predators.

Although they know they could face repercussions, they have banded together to push the new pope to clean house and the American bishops to enforce the zero-tolerance policies they adopted more than a decade ago.

The group began organizing quietly nine months ago without the knowledge of their superiors or their peers, and plan to make their campaign public this week. Most in the steering group of 12 have blown the whistle on abusers in the past, and three are canon lawyers who once handled abuse cases on the church’s behalf. Four say they were sexually abused as children.

Their aim, they say, is to support both victims and fellow whistle-blowers, and identify shortcomings in church policies….

But the whistle-blowers’ group contends that vigilance is necessary because some bishops are violating the zero-tolerance policies, and abusive clergy (who now number 6,275, according to the bishops’ count of those accusations that they deem credible) still have access to children. They point to the revelations in the last month that a priest in Newark who was a convicted sex offender restricted by a court order from working with children had been ministering in a Catholic parish in Trenton, taking confessions from children and going on weekend youth retreats….

The whistle-blowers’ group plans to hold its first news conference this week in New York, and some members are bracing for the reaction. They said they know priests who spoke up and were removed from their parishes, hustled into retirement or declared “unstable” and sent to treatment centers for clergy with substance-abuse problems or sexual addictions…..
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/21/us/catholic-church-whistle-blowers-join-forces-on-abuse.html

Ex-swim coach accused of abuse appears in court
By Peter Schworm    Globe Staff    May 20, 2013

MEDFORD — When the young boy joined the Arlington Boys & Girls Club swim team in the late 1970s, his coach was Paul Collins, who also dated his family’s neighbor and would sometimes fill in as baby sitter.

On those occasions, when the boy went to sleep, Collins would sit at his bedside and “begin rubbing his back and chest,” according to allegations detailed in court documents released Monday. ­Collins would then massage the boy below the waist and tell him he should not talk about it to anyone else.

It was, he told the boy, “our ­little secret.”

The boy, now a middle-aged man, is one of four adults who in recent weeks have accused Collins of sexual assault, part of an expand­ing investigation into child abuse at the youth club. The men came forward after club officials announced in February that another former employee, William Sullivan, had allegedly sexually abused children at the club ­between the 1970s and 1990s. ­Sullivan is deceased.

On Monday, two days after being arrested in his Long Island home, Collins, 62, was arraigned in Cambridge District Court on charges of sexually assaulting the boys and ordered held on $250,000 bail. Collins pleaded not guilty to the accusations, but prosecutors said he had admitted to sexual contact with two accusers and told investigators he may also have had contact with the other two….
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/05/20/new-york-man-charged-with-sexually-abusing-children-arlington-boys-girls-club-late/dQnWc6GwgfQDC1WtXq5iMI/story.html

Catholic child abuse: 187 allegations against 98 priests have led to zero convictions, Abuse survivor demands state inquiry, Restitution Returns to the United States Supreme Court (again) (child p_rn victims), Court hears details of satanic ritual, Girl’s satanic horror

Catholic child abuse: 187 allegations against 98 priests have led to zero convictions  4/24/13
“I am one of the fortunate survivors to have succeeded in securing a criminal conviction against one of two Spiritan priests who sexually abused me,” writes campaigner Mark Vincent Healy.

THE DIOCESES OF Clogher, Elphin, Killala and Waterford join the infamous group of seven Catholic Church authorities, including Derry, Dramore and Limerick, where not one priest has been convicted for having committed an offence or offences against a child or young person despite numerous allegations since 1 January 1975. From the 16 dioceses reviewed to date by the National Board for Safeguarding Children, there have been 187 allegations made in relation to 98 priests where there have been no convictions. This represents a third of the church authorities examined where not one priest was held to account….

To date there have been four reviews of missionary orders where a total of 113 priests have had 287 allegations raised against them but only seven priests have ever been convicted. The sad reality is that only 6.2 per cent of accused Irish missionaries are ever convicted. I am one of the fortunate survivors to have succeeded in securing a criminal conviction against one of two Spiritan priests who sexually abused me from the ages of nine to 12 and then tried to cover it all up. Forty-seven Spiritans had 142 allegations made against them in the second tranche of audits, and only three were convicted….

Fr Andrew Greely, a professor of Sociology at the University of Chicago believes there could be up to 50 victims per priest. Meanwhile, Richard Sipe a psychotherapist in Maryland, has said 250 victims may suffer over the lifetime of a paedophile. Shockingly, the 106 priests accused in the third tranche could possibly have abused between 5,300 to 26,500 potential victims. Just 271 came forward….
http://www.thejournal.ie/readme/catholic-child-abuse-187-allegations-against-98-priests-have-led-to-zero-convictions-883536-Apr2013/

Abuse survivor demands state inquiry Sarah Stack and David Young – 24 April 2013

AN abuse survivor who alleges an uncle of the former Bishop of Clogher was one of his attackers has demanded a state inquiry into clerical sex crimes in Northern Ireland. The Stormont Executive has established a statutory probe into abuse committed in state and church-run institutions, but its remit does not cover criminal acts committed by priests outside of children’s residential facilities.

Michael Connolly claims he was victimised for five years of his childhood in Donagh, Co Fermanagh, by parish priest Peter Duffy, who was later promoted to canon. The deceased cleric was the uncle of the former Bishop of Clogher, Joseph Duffy, who was today heavily criticised for unsatisfactory responses to child abuse allegations and risky behaviour of priests in the diocese….http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/abuse-survivor-demands-state-inquiry-29220069.html

Restitution Returns to the United States Supreme Court (again)
By James R. Marsh on April 24, 2013

Today, James R. Marsh of the Marsh Law Firm and Paul G. Cassell of the University of Utah College of Law Appellate Legal Clinic, filed a brief in the United States Supreme Court in their latest effort to convince the Court to consider the critical issue of criminal restitution for victims of child pornography.

The case, Doyle Randall Paroline v. Amy Unknown, arises out of a long-fought extensively litigated restitution action which started almost four years ago before Judge Leonard Davis in the Eastern District of Texas Tyler Division. In January, the defendant filed a Petition for a Writ of Certiorari in the Supreme Court seeking review of last year’s landmark Fifth Circuit en banc decision which significantly expanded the rights of child pornography victims to receive criminal restitution.
http://www.childlaw.us/2013/04/restitution-returns-to-the-uni.html

Court hears details of satanic ritual
April 24 2013  By Sandy Moeketsi

Johannesburg – Phrases were chanted before Kirsty Theologo and her friend were set alight, the High Court sitting in the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court heard on Wednesday. Her alleged murderers stood at the points of a satanic star, where candles burnt. In the middle of the star was a burning Bible, where blood would be shed, Lester Moody told the court. Moody was testifying against four people accused of setting Theologo and her friend alight in an apparent satanic ritual on October 21, 2011….
http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/court-hears-details-of-satanic-ritual-1.1505823

Girl’s satanic horror April 24 2013 By SUSAN DU

Johannesburg – Kirsty Theologo thought that she was going to a party with friends she trusted on the night of October 21, 2011.

She brought another girl along.
She had a drink.
She trusted her friends when they told her they needed to stop by a petrol station to get sweets, then again when they said there had been a change of plans and that they would be going into the “mountains of Linmeyer” instead.

The “party” turned out to be a satanic ritual in which Kirsty was drugged, bound, drenched in petrol and burnt so severely that she died later in hospital.  Her friend, now 16, survived. She can’t be named due to her age….

Kirsty and her friend – the only two people not dressed entirely in black – lost consciousness due to the brake fluid that had been secretly added to their drinks.  The two victims were then bound and left to one side while the accused created a “satanic star” in the ground and lit candles at each of its five points, Moody testified….
http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/girl-s-satanic-horror-1.1505350

Pope: Stopping child sexual abuse key to ‘credibility’ of Catholic Church, Leesburg child p_rn suspect had more than 500,000 images and videos at his home

Pope: Stopping child sexual abuse key to ‘credibility’ of Catholic Church
By Philip Pullella, Reuters  Fri Apr 5, 2013

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis wants the Catholic Church to “act decisively” to root out sexual abuse of children by priests and ensure the perpetrators are punished, the Vatican said on Friday.

Francis, in a meeting with the Holy See’s doctrinal chief, Archbishop Gerhard Mueller, had declared that combating sexual abuse was important “for the Church and its credibility”, a statement said.

Francis inherited a Church mired in problems and a major scandal over priestly abuse of children. It was believed to be the first time he had taken up the issue of sex abuse with a senior member of his staff since his election on March 13….
http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/05/17614945-pope-stopping-child-sexual-abuse-key-to-credibility-of-catholic-church

Judge could order Leesburg child porn suspect to pay for own attorney
Friday, April 5, 2013  LEESBURG, Fla.

A man who the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said downloaded the most child pornography in the state of Florida was denied bail Friday morning.
Officers said John Shearen had more than 500,000 images and videos at his home in Leesburg.

He was arrested Thursday, on his 51st birthday, at his home in the Lakeside Pointe apartment complex, FDLE said. Agents said they identified Shearen last month while monitoring child porn websites, and they caught him at his computer Thursday morning as he was downloading more videos….

“We were able to seize anywhere from 500,000 to 1 million images and videos. They were stored on several computers and external hard drives to actually being transferred from the computers to separate DVDs, and he has a DVD collection of child pornography. So, we have a lot of work to do. Those initial cases will be charged today,” said Special Agent Jeff Duncan.

Agents said Shearen admitted his crimes….
Shearen faces 20 counts each of distribution and possession of child porn, but agents said there may be more charges filed as the investigation continues.

“He is the No. 1 person who can distribute child pornography throughout the world,” said Duncan. “And he’s been doing it.”
http://www.wftv.com/news/news/local/fdle-man-who-downloaded-most-child-pornography-sta/nXCb3/

No bond for Leesburgh child porn suspect
A man who the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said downloaded the most child pornography in the state of Florida was denied bail Friday morning.
http://www.wftv.com/videos/news/no-bond-for-leesburgh-child-porn-suspect/vxQyP/

Sex Abuse Cases – Marci Hamilton, Capturing the Friedmans – The Victims speak out

Sex abuse cases: ‘I have a personal stake in this’ (Video)
Mar 28, 2013  Jeff Blumenthal     Reporter- Philadelphia Business Journal

Last week, I interviewed Marci Hamilton, a lawyer representing victims in the Sandusky and Philadelphia Archdiocese child abuse scandals, as part of our Inside the Reporters Notebook series….

Hamilton’s pointed response explained what she says is a personal reason for her involvement. She is a professor at Cardozo School of Law and not a litigator by trade. But she said she was incensed on February 10, 2011, when a Philadelphia Grand Jury released a report following an investigation into allegations that two priests and a teacher sexually abused a 10-year-old boy at St. Jerome Parish in Philadelphia, and that another priest assigned to St. Jerome sexually assaulted a 14-year-old boy.

It was that report, Hamilton said, that caused her to contact her co-counsel Jeff Anderson, and say she wanted to participate in the litigation.

“I have a personal stake in this,” Hamilton said. “My children are Catholic. My daughter was baptized by a pedophile priest. I have family pictures with a pedophile at one of the most important ceremonies of a child’s life. So I am in it, yes, in Philadelphia. Because its the only way to make this Archdiocese to do the right thing.”
http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/blog/jeff-blumenthal/2013/03/sex-abuse-cases-i-have-a-personal.html

Capturing the Friedmans
At a time when child sexual abuse has been identified as a major public health crisis, the new film “Capturing the Friedmans” takes a skeptical attitude regarding believing children. The 1989, Arnold Friedman and his son Jesse plead guilty to multiple charges of sodomy and sexual abuse against young boys who took computer classes taught in the basement of their home. Jesse now claims he was wrongly convicted.

Our research into the case shows that the director of the film sacrificed truth in favor of creating artistic ambiguity. Clear evidence is omitted and facts are distorted. In addition, the film  relies on  popular but erroneous myths about child sexual abuse. As a result, uncertainty is created about the guilt of two confessed pedophiles — who are recast as victims — while the real  victims — the boys and their families — are portrayed as  untrustworthy.
http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/1/ctf/1.html

In Their Own Words:  Jesse’s Victims Speak Out
….The Film “Capturing the Friedmans” about a case of child molestation in Great Neck, Long Island has been nominated for an Academy Award.  We are two of the victims of Arnold and Jesse Friedman writing to you, asking you to hear out side of the story, writing on behalf of the other victims and ourselves. We were abused, tortured, and humiliated by Arnold and Jesse Friedman in computer classes in Arnold’s basement.  Many of us have physical scars from what was done to us; all of us have psychological scars. Although it has been 16 years, we live with the knowledge of these crimes every day of our lives. Some of us have had bad dreams, some of us slept with baseball bats under our bed for years for fear of reprisals.  Many years ago, we thought we could not tell what was happening to us because we felt too guilty and embarrassed and were constantly threatened. Our parents thought Arnold was calling our houses so often because he was such a concerned teacher. His calls were to make sure we were not telling and to repeat the constant threats.
http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/1/ctf/vict.html

Pope Francis was often quiet on Argentine sex abuse cases as archbishop, – Nightline: When To Believe A Child’s Word, Missing dogs, ritualistic killing confound Idaho officials

Pope Francis was often quiet on Argentine sex abuse cases as archbishop By Nick Miroff, March 18, 2013

HURLINGHAM, Argentina — Father Julio Cesar Grassi was a celebrity in the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires. The young, dynamic, ­media-savvy priest networked with wealthy Argentines to fund an array of schools, orphanages and job training programs for poor and abandoned youths, winning praise from Argentine politicians and his superior, Archbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio.

Grassi called his foundation Felices los Niños, “Happy Children.”

Today, Grassi is a convicted sex offender who remains free on a conditional release after being sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2009 for molesting a prepubescent boy in his care.

Yet in the years after Grassi’s conviction, Bergoglio — now Pope Francis — has declined to meet with the victim of the priest’s crimes or the victims of other predations by clergy under his leadership. He did not offer personal apologies or financial restitution, even in cases in which the crimes were denounced by other members of the church and the offending priests were sent to jail….

There is no evidence that Bergoglio played a role in covering up abuse cases. Several prominent rights groups in Argentina say the archbishop went out of his way in recent years to stand with secular organizations against crimes such as sex trafficking and child prostitution. They say that Bergoglio’s resolve strengthened as new cases of molestation emerged in the archdiocese and that he eventually instructed bishops to immediately report all abuse allegations to police.

In September, after an Argentine priest from a rural area was convicted of abusing dozens of boys between 1984 and 1992, the archbishop’s office released a statement saying the case had “reaffirmed our profound shame and the immense pain that result from the grave mistakes committed by someone who should be setting the moral example.”

But during most of the 14 years that Bergoglio served as archbishop of Buenos Aires, rights advocates say, he did not take decisive action to protect children or act swiftly when molestation charges surfaced; nor did he extend apologies to the victims of abusive priests after their misconduct came to light….
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/pope-francis-was-often-quiet-on-argentine-sex-abuse-cases-as-archbishop/2013/03/18/26e7eca4-8ff6-11e2-9cfd-36d6c9b5d7ad_story.html

Nightline: When To Believe A Child’s Word
Nightline – November 14, 1996

TURNING POINT:  When Children Accuse – Who To Believe
Byline: Ted Koppel and Erin Haynes

ABC-Nightline – November 14, 1996

WHEN CHILDREN ACCUSE: WHO TO BELIEVE Child sex abuse is a very serious problem.

In 1994 alone 140,000 new cases were investigated and found to be real. But are innocent people being sentenced for crimes they never committed because of the testimony of the young?

Doubt over the testimony of children in sexual abuse cases has made it harder to try accused child molesters, sometimes with deadly consequences, but authorities say children do tell the truth in most cases.

TED KOPPEL: [voice-over] This week, another tragedy.

1st RESPONDENT: I don’t understand this. They- they knew. Why did they let him come into this neighborhood? Or in any other neighborhood?

TED KOPPEL: [voice-over] A convicted child molester avoids prison because there is doubt over the testimony of a child…..

STEPHEN CECI, Psychologist, Cornell University: Not only do I believe children can be reliable in sexual abuse cases, I believe the vast majority of them are reliable in those cases.

ERIN HAYES: [voice-over] But Ceci says what is missing from many accounts of his work is that it is fairly difficult to convince children to make up even the most harmless stories.

STEPHEN CECI: Because in our studies we work at it very hard….

ERIN HAYES: In fact, in his studies, most of the children ultimately do not give in to interviewers’ suggestions, and while many of the interviews are about more serious subjects, medical exams, for example, they are not about sex abuse, and many in the child protection field are troubled that Ceci’s research is being applied to sex abuse cases….

STEPHEN CECI: Maybe 1 percent, 5 percent, 10 percent. I suspect it’s nowhere near the majority. My hunch is the majority of interviews done with kids by front-line workers, child protective service, law enforcement, therapists, pediatricians, are well-done….

ERIN HAYES: [voice-over] But his critics point out Underwager uses his own standards for determining what is repeated and leading. For instance, he has said that interviewers’ questions like this one, “Okay … I don’t want you to say anything you can’t remember for sure,” could be considered leading. And most of the tapes he reviews come to him from defense attorneys, for whom he consults. When he testifies for them, he says, he is paid $2,500 a day. Underwager admits he has no way to known if the children’s accounts of abuse in the cases he reviews are actually false. [interviewing] How do you know, in each of these cases, that the abuse did not happen?

RALPH UNDERWAGER: I don’t. That’s not my function. That’s the function of the justice system.

ROB PARRISH: If that’s the case, then there’s no reason for him to be expressing an opinion in the justice system, any more than any of the rest of us. I mean, you could call anybody in that circumstance to say, “I’ve viewed the tape and I think it’s a bad interview, so therefore I think this child’s probably not telling the truth.”

ERIN HAYES: [voice-over] At least 10 courts have disallowed Underwager’s testimony. One ruled he “…did not have bone fide qualifications…” as a researcher. Another said his work “…was not scientifically reliable…” Underwager does continue to testify, which concerns many of his critics, who say is expertise is colored by what they see as a sympathetic view toward pedophiles. In a Dutch publication [Paidika] three years ago, Underwager said, “Paedophiles need to become more positive and make the claim that paedophilia is an acceptable expression of God’s will for love and will among human beings.” Underwager says he has always believed sex between adults and children is harmful, but says to help treat pedophiles, they must first be encouraged to openly proclaim their sexuality….

MARK ELLIS, National Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse: His methods and theories are not accepted by others in his field, and have been subject to a great deal of criticism by others in his field.

ERIN HAYES: [voice-over] Prosecutors are also critical of Dr. Gardner, who not only testifies, but publishes and markets his own books on child sex abuse, books often quoted in court cases.

ATTORNEY: [law firm videotape] Now, I want to talk to you about the most common cause of false accusations.

ERIN HAYES: [voice-over] In this videotape produced by a law firm, an attorney cites from Dr. Gardner’s research Gardner’s conclusion that false allegations of child sex abuse are commonplace in custody disputes.

ATTORNEY: [law firm videotape] This phenomena [sic] has been examined in research and it’s now been given the name “parental alienation syndrome.”

ERIN HAYES: [voice-over] That disorder, however, cannot be found in the standard manual of psychiatric diagnoses. It is a term Dr. Gardner coined himself, based mainly on his own experience as a psychiatrist. But the largest study done on the subject to date found that false allegations of child sexual abuse rarely surface in custody disputes ["...less than 2% of cases involved an allegation of sexual abuse." Dr. Gardner declined a videotaped interview for this report, but he sells tapes of his own, as well, in which he describes his criteria to help determine whether a child's allegation of sexual abuse is true or false. Among his criteria?

Dr. RICHARD GARDNER: [videotape] If it sounds incredible, it’s probably not true. In extreme cases, children who are sexually abused become like little street-smart sluts. I believe that children who are false accusers are going to have a higher incidence of reading mystery stories.

ERIN HAYES: [voice-over] Dr. Gardner concedes no one has scientifically tested his criteria, not even he.

ROB PARRISH: Those tests are not based on scientific reality. They’re not verified, they’re not validated in any way.
http://theawarenesscenter.blogspot.com/2011/02/turning-point-when-children-accuse-who.html

Missing dogs, ritualistic killing confound Idaho officials
Reuters March 21, 2013 By Laura Zuckerman

SALMON, Idaho, March 21 (Reuters) – The mysterious disappearance of about 30 dogs in southern Idaho has baffled animal control officials and raised concerns among dog lovers after a German shepherd was found with its head crushed in a suspected ritual killing.

The missing canines range widely in size, breed and age.

“The dogs seem to vanish into thin air,” said Debbie Blackwood, director of the animal shelter in Twin Falls, Idaho.

Officials say some 30 dogs have gone missing in recent months in Twin Falls and nearby communities in an agricultural region in south-central Idaho known as the Magic Valley….

The dog, found in an area known as the Devil’s Corral in neighboring Jerome County, appeared to have suffered a “ritualistic execution” ….
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sns-rt-usa-dogsidahol1n0cd0be-20130320,0,3597508.story

Pope ‘complicit in child sex abuse scandals’ , UK top cardinal accused, “The story of Sybil is true, not fictional or fraudulent.” they refute the sociocognitive model of DID

- Pope Benedict ‘complicit in child sex abuse scandals’, say victims’ groups
- UK’s top cardinal accused of ‘inappropriate acts’ by priests
- Lessons not learned on abuse therapy
- Republic accused of sex abuse ‘cover-up’
- Sybil in her own words: The untold story of Shirley Mason, her multiple personalities and paintings “The story of Sybil is true, not fictional or fraudulent.”
- A New Model of Dissociative Identity Disorder “They also refute the sociocognitive model of DID.”
- Delhi High Court commutes death penalty of man who killed father

Pope Benedict ‘complicit in child sex abuse scandals’, say victims’ groups
Pope Benedict XVI ‘knew more about clergy sex crimes than anyone else in church yet did little to protect children’, say critics
Ian Traynor in Brussels, Karen McVeigh in New York and Henry McDonald in Dublin
guardian.co.uk, Monday 11 February 2013

For the legions of people whose childhoods and adult lives were wrecked by sexual and physical abuse at the hands of the Roman Catholic clergy, Pope Benedict XVI is an unloved pontiff who will not be missed.

Victims of the epidemic of sex- and child-abuse scandals that erupted under Benedict’s papacy reacted bitterly to his resignation, either charging the outgoing pontiff with being directly complicit in a criminal conspiracy to cover up the thousands of paedophilia cases that have come to light over the past three years, or with failing to stand up to reactionary elements in the church resolved to keep the scandals under wraps.

From Benedict’s native Germany to the USA, abuse victims and campaigners criticised an eight-year papacy that struggled to cope with the flood of disclosures of crimes and abuse rampant for decades within the church….
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/11/pope-complicit-child-abuse-say-victims

UK’s top cardinal accused of ‘inappropriate acts’ by priests
Three priests and former priest report Cardinal Keith O’Brien to Vatican over claims stretching back 33 years
Catherine Deveney
The Observer, Saturday 23 February 2013
Three priests and a former priest in Scotland have reported the most senior Catholic clergyman in Britain, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, to the Vatican over allegations of inappropriate behaviour stretching back 30 years.

The four, from the diocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh, have complained to nuncio Antonio Mennini, the Vatican’s ambassador to Britain, and demanded O’Brien’s immediate resignation. A spokesman for the cardinal said that the claims were contested.

O’Brien, who is due to retire next month, has been an outspoken opponent of gay rights, condemning homosexuality as immoral, opposing gay adoption, and most recently arguing that same-sex marriages would be “harmful to the physical, mental and spiritual well-being of those involved”….
One of the complainants, it is understood, alleges that the cardinal developed an inappropriate relationship with him, resulting in a need for long-term psychological counselling….
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/23/cardinal-keith-o-brien-accused-inappropriate

Letters
Lessons not learned on abuse therapy
The Guardian, Monday 11 February 2013

In 1995 a 13-year-old boy committed suicide having been told he could not have counselling in the long run-up to his abuser’s trial. His mother said: “He was desperate to talk to someone. But social workers said there was no possibility of discussing the abuse before the trial. They did not want to contaminate the evidence.” His abuser was later jailed for four years for offences against other boys….

Malign attacks in the 1990s on psychotherapists by those accused of abuse in an effort to discredit their adult children’s stories have left a false impression. The purpose of therapy is to provide a container for patients’ often unbearable feelings and help them to move on. It leads to a more not less coherent witnessing of the past. Perhaps that is why it arouses such hostility in those who are desperate to bury what happened – accused abusers and their defence teams….
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/feb/11/lesssons-not-learned-abuse-therapy

Republic accused of sex abuse ‘cover-up’
11/09/2001
The Irish Government and judicial system conducted a ‘‘hideous cover-up’’ after a young girl was subjected to years of sexual abuse, it was claimed today.

Ian Paisley Jr (DUP, North Antrim) told the Stormont Assembly that 24-year-old Sarah Bland and her mother have spent the last two decades battling in vain to secure justice.

They had come to him in a desperate bid to right a terrible wrong, he said.

He declared: ‘‘For as long as this gross injustice, known as the Bland case, remains unresolved, anything the Irish authorities may say about rights, about equality, about honour, about truth, should be treated with contempt.’’

Mr Paisley’s motion expressing concern at the failure of the Irish judiciary to resolve the case of Sarah Bland, the daughter of a British citizen, was passed unanimously. He said the student and her mother, Trish, had given him a huge dossier on the abuse which began in 1980 when she was aged four and living in a stately home in the Irish midlands….
http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/republic-accused-of-sex-abuse-cover-up-23261.html

Journal of Trauma & Dissociation
Sybil in her own words: The untold story of Shirley Mason, her multiple personalities and paintings
DOI:10.1080/15299732.2013.724611 Philip M. Coons MD
10 Oct 2012

Abstract
Suraci’s Sybil in Her Own Words is almost as fascinating as the original book Sybil(Schreiber, 19732. Schreiber, F.R. 1973. Sybil, Chicago: Henry Regnery Company). The story of Sybil is true, not fictional or fraudulent. One early commentator actually suggested that Sybil and Dr. Cornelia Wilbur, her treating psychiatrist, were a case of folie à deux, or shared psychosis (Victor, 19753. Victor, G. 1975. Sybil: Grand hysteria or folie a deux? [Letter]. American Journal of Psychiatry, 132: 202). Having met Dr. Wilbur, listened to her presentations on multiple personality (now known as dissociative identity disorder or DID), and read the many critiques and reviews of Sybil, I have concluded that Sybil was not iatrogenically created by Dr. Wilbur. Documenting this, however, is beyond the purview of this book review.

Shortly after the death of Sybil in 1998, her identity as Shirley Ardell Mason was revealed. She had been living in Lexington, Kentucky close to the residence of her former therapist and had been running her art business out of her home. Patrick Suraci, Ph.D., had discovered Sybil’s identity from a painting that he had inherited from a colleague at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. This colleague, Flora Rheta Schreiber, the author of Sybil, had died in 1988. Waiting until after the death of Dr. Wilbur in 1993, Suraci finally telephoned Shirley Mason and began a five-year telephone relationship with her until she died in 1998. This book grew from those telephone conversations and other research that Dr. Suraci conducted….
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15299732.2013.724611

A New Model of Dissociative Identity Disorder Paul F. Dell, PhD Psychiatr Clin N Am 29 (2006) 1–26

Summary
Data from 220 persons who had DID were used to compare three models of DID: the DSM-IV’s classic model of DID (ie, multiple personalities, switching, amnesia), the subjective/phenomenological model of DID (Box 1), and the sociocognitive model of DID. The DSM-IV narrowly portrays DID as an alter disorder; the subjective/phenomenological model portrays DID as a far more complex dissociative disorder. The data indicate that the subjective/phenomenological model of DID is a superior predictor of the dissociative phenomena of DID. The three studies [14,70] that corroborate the subjective/phenomenological model of DID are important. They show that the subjective/phenomenological model of DID is more comprehensive and more accurate than the DSM-IV’s classic model of DID. They also refute the sociocognitive model of DID. The subjective/phenomenological model of DID was deduced from a novel, empirically supported model of pathological dissociation [4] ; that model fully explains the empirical literature on DID, whereas the DSM-IV model of DID can account for little of that literature.
http://www.copingwithdissociation.com/Dell_2006_ANewModelofDID1.pdf

describes crimes
Delhi High Court commutes death penalty of man who killed father
Press Trust of India  February 24, 2013
New Delhi: The death sentence of a man, who had killed his father as sacrifice to a deity in 2008, has been reduced to life imprisonment by the Delhi High Court….

According to prosecution, Jitender believed that if he offered a human sacrifice for the deity, his problem with his wife would be resolved.

The convict, however, had argued before the trial court that once in his dream, deity asked Jitender for a human sacrifice to ward off his problems with his wife….
http://www.ndtv.com/article/cities/delhi-high-court-commutes-death-penalty-of-man-who-killed-father-334832

Los Angeles Archdiocese Is Accused of Failing to Release All Abuse Records, Kesgrave/Stowmarket: Inquiries into historic child abuse allegations at three former schools, Ireland finally admits state collusion in Magdalene Laundry system

Los Angeles Archdiocese Is Accused of Failing to Release All Abuse Records
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN and JENNIFER MEDINA February 4, 2013

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles released 12,000 pages of internal files last Thursday on priests accused of sexually abusing children, saying that it was finally abiding by a settlement it signed with victims six years ago to make the painful history public.

But it now appears that the files the church released with much fanfare are incomplete and many are unaccounted for, according to the abuse victims’ lawyers. In addition, on many documents the names of church supervisors informed of abuse allegations were redacted by the archdiocese, in apparent violation of a judge’s order.

At issue is whether the survivors of abuse and the public will ever learn which church officials were responsible for mishandling or covering up allegations of sexual abuse.

Abuse victims had insisted that the Archdiocese of Los Angeles release the records as part of a settlement in 2007, which provided $660 million to more than 500 victims. Other Catholic dioceses that have settled with victims have released similar records.

“We know we have not gotten a complete disclosure,” said Jeff Anderson, who is among the lawyers representing the victims. “They have removed things that should not have been removed, some of which we have seen before, so we know that they exist. It’s more deception, deceit and secrecy.”

But J. Michael Hennigan,  a lawyer for the Los Angeles Archdiocese, said in an interview that while there were probably a few errors, there was no intention to withhold information.

“I would be surprised if we did this job perfectly,” he said. “The team that worked on this worked under pressure sometimes late into the night.”

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles fought for six years all the way to the State Supreme Court to block the release of the documents. Early in January, Judge Emilie H. Elias overturned a previous decision, and ordered the archdiocese to lift the redactions of the names of certain kinds of officials: archbishops and bishops, vicars for clergy members and directors of treatment facilities, as well as pastors, “church agents” or employees who had supervisory responsibility over an accused priest and were made aware of complaints or suspicions about him.

But on many pages it appears that the names of supervisors, like pastors in parishes or the supervisors of religious orders, are missing.

For example, the file on Carlos Rodriguez, a priest serving in a parish in Central Los Angeles, includes a letter to him from his religious order, the Vincentian Fathers and Brothers, informing him that he is being sent to a treatment center in Maryland. Mr. Rodriguez was accused of molesting several teenage boys over the years. But while the letter makes clear that the writer is the priest’s religious superior, the name is redacted. Other documents in the file are similarly missing names of religious order supervisors….
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/05/us/los-angeles-archdiocese-is-accused-of-failing-to-release-all-priest-abuse-records.html

 

Kesgrave/Stowmarket: Inquiries into historic child abuse allegations at three former schools
Colin Adwent Crime Correspondent Monday, February 4, 2013

THREE former Suffolk schools are now at the centre of criminal investigations into historic child abuse allegations.

The accusations, which relate to alleged physical and sexual assaults, are said to have occurred between the late 1970s and run through to the 1990s.

A solicitor representing ex-pupils of one of the schools – Oakwood School in Stowmarket – has said the number of claimants has reached three figures.

Andrew Grove, who is based in Cambridge, said: “We now have 100 complainants on the civil claim relating to Oakwood School.”

Last week detectives said they were re-opening the 1992 inquiry into alleged abuse at Kesgrave Hall independent school.

The investigation, codenamed Operation Garford, comes after former students’ calls for it to be re-opened were backed by Central Suffolk and North Ipswich MP Dr Dan Poulter.

Responding to the new inquiry, Dr Poulter said: “I am pleased that Suffolk Police are conducting a full and thorough investigation into the alleged child abuse at Kesgrave Hall school, following my intervention.

“A number of people have written to me raising concerns about abuse when they or their family members were pupils at the school, and I would again urge anyone who has been the victim of abuse to come forward and immediately contact Suffolk police.”

Four people were suspended in 1992 during the Kesgrave Hall inquiry. No charges were ever brought. The school closed in 1993.

However, a woodwork teacher Alan Stancliffe, was convicted and jailed in 1999 and again in 2007 for indecent assaults on three ex-pupils….
http://www.eadt.co.uk/news/kesgrave_stowmarket_inquiries_into_historic_child_abuse_allegations_at_three_former_schools_1_1857903

 

Ireland finally admits state collusion in Magdalene Laundry system

Taoiseach Enda Kenny fails to formally apologise for involvement over female enslavement causing more outrage
Henry McDonald in Dublin     The Guardian, Tuesday 5 February 2013

After more than seven decades of exploitation and a 10-year struggle for justice, Ireland on Tuesday admitted its role in the enslavement of thousands of women and girls in the notorious Magdalene Laundry system, but stopped short of issuing a formal apology from the government.

A long-awaited report headed by Senator Martin McAleese said there was “significant state involvement” in how the laundries were run – a reversal of the official state line for years, which insisted the institutions were privately controlled and run by nuns.

But the Irish Premier Enda Kenny’s failure to give the women and their supporters a full, formal, public apology in the Dail on Tuesday afternoon has infuriated the victims and their supporters, who said such an approach risked undermining Ireland’s attempt to right a historic wrong. Instead Kenny stated his “regret” about the stigma hanging over the women.

“The stigma that the branding together of all the residents, all 10,000, in the Magdalene Laundries, needs to be removed, and should have been removed long before this,” Kenny said. “And I really am sorry that that never happened, and I regret that it never happened.”

Claire McGetterick of the Justice For Magdalenes group said last night: “Frankly their country has failed them again”.

Labelled the “Maggies”, the women and girls were stripped of their names and dumped in Irish Catholic church-run laundries where nuns treated them as slaves, simply because they were unmarried mothers, orphans or regarded as somehow morally wayward.

Over 74 years, 30,000 women were put to work in de facto detention, mostly in laundries run by nuns. At least 988 of the women who were buried in laundry grounds are thought to have spent most of their lives inside the institutions….
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/05/ireland-magdalene-laundry-system-apology

Files Show Church Missteps, Evasions With Priests, Josh Powell’s in-laws want law to protect kids, Abuse victims ‘trafficked abroad’

Files Show Church Missteps, Evasions With Priests
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
February 2, 2013

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Archdiocese of Los Angeles released 12,000 pages of personnel files on sexually abusive priests that Archbishop Jose Gomez described as “brutal and painful reading.” While many of the names of the abusers and accusations against them were known, the files reveal previously undisclosed details of how the church transferred priests out of state, sent them to therapists who wouldn’t report crimes and suppressed information from reaching the public. Lawyers for the archdiocese and priests who objected to the records being released did not return phone calls or an email seeking comment. Among the revelations in the trove of documents:

The church records show the archdiocese maneuvered behind the scenes to avoid a possible lawsuit against a priest over abuse allegations in Los Angeles. In 2007, five former altar boys from Tucson, Ariz., were awarded $1.5 million each as part of the archdiocese’s $660 million clergy-abuse settlement. The five said they were abused by the Rev. Kevin Barmasse, who was sent to Arizona during the 1980s after he’d been accused of child molestation in Los Angeles. The records show Monsignor Thomas Curry told Mahony in a Nov. 10, 1989, confidential memo that “the young boy involved is now about eighteen, so Kevin should certainly not return for another two years by which time the period for filing law suits will have passed.” Later that month, Mahony advised Barmasse to stay away from Los Angeles. “Your presence in this area … would greatly increase the possibility of a suit against you,” Mahony wrote. Barmasse was never criminally prosecuted.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2013/02/02/us/ap-us-california-church-abuse-glance.html

Josh Powell’s in-laws want law to protect kids
February 2, 2013 OLYMPIA — The parents of a missing Utah mother pushed Friday for changes in Washington state laws on custody cases, saying proposed legislation might have prevented the killing of their two grandchildren.

Chuck and Judy Cox testified before a state Senate committee considering a bill that would restrict or block visitation rights for someone who is the subject of a murder investigation.

They told lawmakers the legislation could have changed the course of the case involving their missing daughter, Susan Powell, whose husband, Josh Powell, killed himself and their young kids during a parental visit last year….

http://www.yakimaherald.com/news/yhr/saturday/794502-8/josh-powells-in-laws-want-law-to-protect-kids

Abuse victims ‘trafficked abroad’
Seventies paedophile ring in Barnes extended to Amsterdam, say two men who claim they were abused in brothels
James Hanning , Paul Cahalan Sunday 03 February 2013

Two alleged victims of a sophisticated paedophile ring at the centre of a police investigation claim they were taken on trips to Amsterdam where they were sexually abused in brothels in the 1980s.

One male victim had been taken from the Grafton Close care home in Richmond, south-west London, it is claimed, and, as well as being trafficked in Amsterdam, was rented out to customers at the Elm Guest House, a bed and breakfast nearby. Another man has claimed he was taken to Amsterdam on a different trip.

Police are understood to be looking into the men’s claims as part of Operation Fernbridge, an investigation into historic child abuse set up in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal. Detectives are building a picture of the reach of the network – which allegedly used the property – and have seized a number of files from local authorities.

The Elm Guest House in Rocks Lane, Barnes, said to have been frequented in the Seventies and Eighties by prominent peoples including former Tory politicians, is at the centre of the investigation….

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/abuse-victims-trafficked-abroad-8478607.html

The Redemption of Sinead O’Connor

The Redemption of Sinead O’Connor
By Michael Agresta Oct 3 2012

Twenty years ago today, Sinead O’Connor tore up a picture of the pope on Saturday Night Live—and the media largely misunderstood why. Is America finally ready to hear her out?

In the weeks and months after Sinead O’Connor tore up a picture of Pope John Paul II on live television, commentators in the media sought to explain the motives of her protest. Very few, however, made use of the traditional tools of journalism: interviews, research, and textual analysis. Instead, most commentators seem to have consulted their own imaginations….

Also inexplicably ignored were O’Connor’s own words, in an interview published in Time a month after her SNL appearance:

It’s not the man, obviously—it’s the office and the symbol of the organization that he represents… In Ireland we see our people are manifesting the highest incidence in Europe of child abuse. This is a direct result of the fact that they’re not in contact with their history as Irish people and the fact that in the schools, the priests have been beating the shit out of the children for years and sexually abusing them. This is the example that’s been set for the people of Ireland. They have been controlled by the church, the very people who authorized what was done to them, who gave permission for what was done to them.

Her interviewer seemed confused by the connection O’Connor was making between the Catholic Church and child abuse, so O’Connor opened up about her own history of abuse:

Sexual and physical. Psychological. Spiritual. Emotional. Verbal. I went to school every day covered in bruises, boils, sties and face welts, you name it. Nobody ever said a bloody word or did a thing. Naturally I was very angered by the whole thing, and I had to find out why it happened… The thing that helped me most was the 12-step group, the Adult Children of Alcoholics/Dysfunctional Families. My mother was a Valium addict. What happened to me is a direct result of what happened to my mother and what happened to her in her house and in school.

The interviewer remained skeptical of O’Connor’s characterization of Irish schools as playgrounds and training grounds for child abusers, and the interview moved on to different topics.

By now, the history of sexual and physical abuse in the Irish Catholic school system is familiar. As late as 2007, the Church controlled 93% of the schools in Ireland, giving most children no hope of escaping the often-sadistic system. As in America, serial child molesters like Brendan Smyth were shuttled from parish to parish and school to school to keep a step ahead of police and complaining parents. The culture of permissiveness towards abuse affected all communities, but probably the worst off were poor, orphaned, and troublemaking children sent to residential reformatory and industrial schools. To read the 2009 Ryan Report covering crimes carried out against children in these settings is to court a special sort of nausea—the kind that comes from bearing witness to an organized effort to deny the dignity of individual life and make the bodies of the powerless available to service the needs of the powerful. In this case, the powerless were disadvantaged minor teenagers and children.

Sexual abuse in several industrial schools was described as a “chronic problem.” Clergy whose behavior drew complaints from parents of day-school students were transferred to industrial schools where their abuses drew less attention. Some schools seem, on the evidence, to have been more labor camps than institutions of learning. At one notorious industrial school in Dublin, each child was required to string 60 rosaries each weekday and 90 on Saturdays. Students who did not reach their quotas were beaten….

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/10/the-redemption-of-sinead-oconnor/263020/

Sandusky Fits Sex Predator Profile, Report Says, Father Benedict Groeschel, American Friar, Claims Teens Seduce Priests In Some Sex Abuse Cases

Sandusky Fits Sex Predator Profile, Report Says
By MARK SCOLFORO 08/30/12

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky has been recommended for designation as a sexually violent predator, a legal status that would require lifetime registration with authorities, according to a person who has read an assessment board’s report to a judge in the case.

The recommendation from the Sexual Offenders Assessment Board was disclosed to The Associated Press on Thursday by the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the report’s confidential nature….
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/30/sandusky-fits-sex-predator-profile_n_1844831.html

Father Benedict Groeschel, American Friar, Claims Teens Seduce Priests In Some Sex Abuse Cases   The Huffington Post   By Meredith Bennett-Smith 08/29/2012

In a recent interview with the National Catholic Register, Father Benedict Groeschel, of the conservative Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, said that teens act as seducers in some sexual abuse cases involving priests….

In an interview with the National Catholic Register posted this week, Groeschel was asked about his work with the very conservative Friars of the Renewal, a breakaway order he founded 25 years ago. The conversation took an interesting turn, however, when the editor asked about the 78-year-old’s work with sexual abuse perpetrators.

“People have this picture in their minds of a person planning to — a psychopath,” Groeschel said. “But that’s not the case. Suppose you have a man having a nervous breakdown, and a youngster comes after him. A lot of the cases, the youngster — 14, 16, 18 — is the seducer.”

Pressed for clarification, the New York State-based religious leader explained that kids looking for father figures might be drawn to priests to fill an emotional hole in their lives.

Furthermore, Groeschel expressed a belief that most of these “relationships” are heterosexual in nature, and that historically sexual relationships between men and boys have not been thought of as crimes.

“If you go back 10 or 15 years ago with different sexual difficulties — except for rape or violence — it was very rarely brought as a civil crime. Nobody thought of it that way… And I’m inclined to think, on [a priest's] first offense, they should not go to jail because their intention was not committing a crime.”

The fact that the interview was published, without comment, in the National Catholic Register was significant due to the publication’s affiliation with disgraced Legion of Christ religious order.

In 1995 the legion was part of a group of investors who saved the National Catholic Register from closing. (The Legion later sold the paper, which is now owned by the Eternal World Television Network.)The powerful clerical order was also part of one of the most damaging scandals, involving its one-time leader, the Rev. Marcial Maciel, the highest-profile Catholic clergyman ever to be accused of sexual abuse, according to Time magazine….

Groeschel is an influential voice in the American Dioceses and continues to maintain a high-profile in the church, writing several books and appearing weekly on a religious television network….

Update: National Catholic Register has taken down the interview and Groeschel has offered this statement:

I apologize for my comments. I did not intend to blame the victim. A priest (or anyone else) who abuses a minor is always wrong and is always responsible. My mind and my way of expressing myself are not as clear as they used to be. I have spent my life trying to help others the best that I could. I deeply regret any harm I have caused to anyone.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/29/father-benedict-groeschel-teens-seduce-priests_n_1840900.html