N.J. Catholics outraged over accused priest’s access to children, Catholics paid $36m to 600 abuse victims in Victoria, An ongoing battle against the porn connection

N.J. Catholics outraged over accused priest’s access to children
By Mark Mueller Religion News Service, April 30, 2013

NEWARK, N.J. — Amid calls for a Vatican investigation, Newark Archbishop John J. Myers is facing fierce criticism for his handling of a priest who attended youth retreats and heard confessions from minors in defiance of a court-ordered lifetime ban on ministry to children.

At St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Colts Neck, where the Rev. Michael Fugee had been spending time with a youth group, angry parishioners said they were never told about Fugee’s background, and they questioned Myers’ defense of the priest, the subject of a lengthy story in The Star-Ledger….

Fugee, 52, is a priest of the Archdiocese of Newark and under Myers’ supervision. His work at St. Mary’s, however, was in the neighboring Diocese of Trenton, where Bishop David O’Connell has ordered the pastor of St. Mary to bar Fugee from any church activities, a spokeswoman said in a statement….

Fugee was convicted in 2003 of criminal sexual contact for allegedly fondling a 14-year-old boy’s genitals on two occasions. Three years later, an appellate court vacated the verdict, ruling the trial judge should not have allowed jurors to hear the part of Fugee’s confession in which he described himself as homosexual or bisexual. The rest of the confession was not called into question.

Rather than retry Fugee, prosecutors allowed him to enter a rehabilitation program for first-time offenders, on the condition that he undergo counseling for sex offenders and sign an agreement barring him from any work in which children are involved. The archdiocese’s vicar general, on behalf of Myers, signed the agreement as well.

Yet The Star-Ledger found Fugee has apparently violated that pledge with impunity, attending retreats and hearing confessions and traveling with members of the St. Mary youth group to Canada….
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/nj-catholics-outraged-over-accused-priests-access-to-children/2013/04/30/f222d2ca-b1c6-11e2-9fb1-62de9581c946_story.html

Catholics paid $36m to 600 abuse victims in Victoria
By Greg Ansley Thursday May 2, 2013

Australia’s bid to prise open the secret world of endemic child sexual abuse in churches and other powerful institutions has stepped up a notch with revelations of the scale of perversion.

The Victorian inquiry resumed this week to admissions, contrition and apologies from the Catholic Church, which said it had paid A$30 million ($36 million) in compensation to about 600 victims of deviant priests in the state.

Next week the New South Wales special commission of inquiry will open its hearings in Newcastle, north of Sydney, in the diocese that triggered both the state inquiry and the federal royal commission into abuse of children in the care of religious, government and other institutions.

A key focus of the NSW hearings will be the late, defrocked priest Denis McAlinden, whose long-term abuse of dozens of children was known to the church but hidden as he was shuffled between Australia, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand, where he worked at Tokomaru Bay near Gisborne.

McAlinden – whose predecessor was later convicted of child sexual abuse – was central to investigations by Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox, the whistleblower policeman who sabotaged his career by making public alleged cover-ups by the Church….

In Ballarat, Church officials knew by 1975 that priest Gerald Ridsdale was a paedophile, but allowed him to continue working. Ridsdale was later twice convicted for child sexual abuse, and moved to different parishes.

The Catholic Order of Salesians of Don Bosco, which works with homeless and at-risk youths, and runs schools and boys’ clubs, said it had paid more than A$2 million in compensation to abuse victims and had 49 complaints against its priests in Victoria, three of whom will face courts this year. The Brothers of St John of God said it had received 31 cases of abuse by 15 members.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10880999

An ongoing battle against the porn connection
Bharat Dogra  The Statesman Asia News Network New Delhi May 2, 2013

Recent years have seen massive worldwide changes in cultural and social norms that are closely related to the spread of pornography and new forms of prostitution. These need to be studied and understood carefully, particularly in the context of their impact on violence and crime against women and children.

Researchers Rebecca Whisnant and Christine Stark describe the many-sided spread of this global industry: “Prostitution is a multi-billion dollar global industry that includes adult and child pornography, bartering sex for food and shelter, massage parlours, prostitution rings, stripping, saunas, live sex shows, street prostitution, escort services or outcall, ritual abuse, peep shows, phone sex, international and domestic trafficking, mail-order bride services and prostitution tourism. The prostitution industry is an enormously powerful and pervasive culture presence.”….

According to Forbes magazine, the contemporary legal pornography business is a $56-billion global industry, including a huge presence of some big multinational companies….

In a research paper titled “The Use of New Communication Technologies for Sexual Exploitation of Women and Children”, Donna Hughes…. This study quotes experiences of police officers who blame the Internet particularly for the spread of child porn. Raymond Smith of the US Postal Inspection Service, who has handled hundreds of cases of child pornography, found that the rise in Internet use by sexual predators has also increased their use of the US mail service. He said that from the time they first started investigating child pornography in the early 1980s until five years ago, they had almost eliminated the distribution of child pornography.

But since the Internet this has steadily increased. In 1998, 32 per cent of cases of distribution of child porn were related to the Internet. In 1999, 47 per cent were Internet-related, and in 2000 this had risen to 77 per cent. This paper concludes, “The use of new communication and information technologies for the sexual exploitation of women and children is creating a crisis for women’s and children’s status, and dignity all over the world.”
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/An-ongoing-battle-against-the-porn-connection-30205229.html

Blind to Betrayal The Book, How often do Child Molesters go on to Reoffend?

- Blind to Betrayal Preface
- Blind to Betrayal – Chapter 1
- Speaking Our Truth Chapter Discusses Jennifer Freyd’s presentation at a professional conference “Personal and Theoretical Perspectives on the Delayed Memory Debate.”
- Recidivism: How often do Child Molesters go on to Reoffend?

Blind to Betrayal The Book  

Betrayal is fundamental to the human condition.  Betrayal is everywhere and yet because of betrayal blindness often not seen. Drawing on empirical research, clinical thought, and real stories, we will explore with the reader central questions about betrayal and betrayal blindness: What is betrayal? What is its scope? Why are we often blind to it? What are the mental mechanisms that underlie betrayal blindness? What are the effects of betrayal blindness? How should we overcome the effects of betrayal and our blindness to it? How do we become aware of it and heal from its effects? We can create a better world together by facing betrayal and learning to trust ourselves and each other.   https://sites.google.com/site/betrayalbook/the-book

Blind to Betrayal Preface
“Betrayal violates us. It can destroy relationships and the very trust we need to be intimate in our relationships. It can and does damage the social fabric that creates the bonds for a healthy society.

In the case of children, the effects can last a lifetime. Betrayed children may grow into adults who fail to trust the trustworthy or who too readily trust people who further betray them. Whether being too willing or too unwilling to trust, difficulty with trust not only interferes with relationships, but also eats away at a strong sense of self. Those who were betrayed as children often suffer severe self esteem problems, as well as depression, anxiety, and even psychosis.”
http://dynamic.uoregon.edu/~jjf/blindtobetrayalpreface.pdf

Blind to Betrayal – Chapter 1
“betrayal occurs in many domains besides infidelity. People can be betrayed at work, in the family, and in society. Betrayal can occur at the individual and at the societal level. Betrayal can be the act of a terrorist or the act of a friend. Parents can betray by abandoning or abusing their children. Treason is betrayal. Social injustice and oppression often entail betrayal and betrayal blindness, as will be illustrated in the next chapter by the case of Kevin, who remained blind to being a victim of racial discrimination for so many years. Although not all betrayal involves blindness, ongoing or repeated betrayal is intrinsically linked with unawareness.
Ongoing betrayal can occur only when there is some deception that is not fully detected.”
http://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/09/04706044/0470604409-124.pdf

Speaking Our Truth – Chapter 13 Discusses Jennifer Freyd’s presentation at a professional conference “Personal and Theoretical Perspectives on the Delayed Memory Debate.”  She discusses her personal relationship with her parents, their false memory organization and her accounts of privacy violations and inappropriate relationships.

Blind to Betrayal  March 11th, 2013
Professor Jennifer Freyd has a new book with Pamela Birrell called Blind to Betrayal. The book, officially published today, explores various case studies involving betrayal, its effects and how victims come to grips with it.  Most relevant to the Recovered Memory Project is the chapter about the False Memory Syndrome….
http://blogs.brown.edu/recoveredmemory/2013/03/11/blind-to-betrayal/

Recidivism: How often do Child Molesters go on to Reoffend?

Some people claim that child abusers can’t be cured and invariably reoffend. Others suggest that recidivism rates are low and that sex offenders are less likely to reoffend than those who commit other types of crimes. What is the truth?

Overall, follow-up studies typically find sexual recidivism rates of 10%-15% after five years, 20% after 10 years, and 30%-40% after 20 years (see, Hanson, Morton, & Harris, 2003).

However, these numbers are conservative because not all offences are detected….

The vast majority of sex offenses are never reported. For instance, the National Women’s Study surveyed a representative sample of over 4,000 adult women in the United States . Three hundred forty-one (8.5%) of these women were victims of at least one rape prior to the age of 18; however, only 11.9% of these women reported the rape to authorities (Hanson et al., 1990). And it must be remembered, of the few offenses reported, an even smaller number result in convictions.
http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/1/res/rcd.html

UK: 2 Arrested After Twitter Child Abuse Probe

UK: 2 Arrested After Twitter Child Abuse Probe

LONDON August 12, 2012 (AP)

British police say they have arrested a man and a woman in relation to a probe into child abuse on Twitter.

Metropolitan Police say the pair, both in their 40s, have been released to return in November pending further questioning. They were arrested at a London apartment Friday.

Police took action after receiving information from the Sunday Mirror newspaper, which carried out a probe into sex offenders operating on the social media network.

The tabloid reported that it found 200 Twitter users who openly expressed interest in sexual images of children, and that it passed on its findings to the Metropolitan Police’s unit tackling pedophiles.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/uk-arrested-twitter-child-abuse-probe-16987347#.UCnD4KCSk0k

One in six sex offenders lives undetected digital double life, study finds

One in six sex offenders lives undetected digital double life, study finds    By Bob Sullivan

Nearly one in six convicted sex offenders is using sophisticated techniques invented by identity thieves to avoid their legally mandated registration requirements, a new study has found. These digital absconders might be able to avoid post-incarceration restrictions by living near schools and playgrounds, and could possibly gain employment working with children.

The study, conducted by Utica College and funded by the U.S. Justice Department, estimates that roughly 92,000 of the 570,000 registered sex offenders across the country are systematically manipulating their names, birthdays, Social Security numbers and other personal identifiers so they can live as they want while appearing to satisfy court-imposed or statutory restrictions.
http://redtape.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/07/25/12935445-one-in-six-sex-offenders-lives-undetected-digital-double-life-study-finds

Repressed Memories/Priest Liable for Abuse, Bill Protects Child Actors, Breivik

Articles
- Ex-Modesto priest found liable for abuse, removed from clergy   “hearings centered on…sexual abuse memories of which he said he had repressed over the decades”
- Stockton Diocese accused of cover-up in Michael Kelly case
- Two former teen idols back bill to protect child actors
- Breivik: How I met ‘Richard the Lionheart’ in London cafe to plot ‘how to seize power in Western Europe’

Ex-Modesto priest found liable for abuse, removed from clergy
By Jordan Guinn  The Record (Stockton) Apr. 06, 2012

The jury in a civil trial found that Father Michael Kelly should be held liable for three counts related to child molestation, according to the lawyer for his accuser.

Attorney John Manly said Friday a civil jury unanimously agreed that his client, a 37-year-old man identified in court papers as John TZ Doe, was molested by Kelly while he was a priest at Cathedral of the Annunciation in Stockton. The plaintiff was a student at Annunciation School in the 1980s….

Now that Kelly’s verdict has been delivered, the same jury will start a second phase of the trial Wednesday to determine the diocese’s role in the alleged abuse and liability. Manly said removing Kelly from the diocese is a substantial victory….

Friday’s verdict is the culmination of four years of litigation and a seven-week trial, Manly said. The hearings centered on the plaintiff’s allegations of sexual abuse, memories of which he said he had repressed over the decades. The defense challenged the legitimacy of those memories.

The plaintiff’s attorneys also argued Kelly had victimized multiple children, but testimony from an alleged second victim was not allowed at the trial….

When the trial resumes Wednesday, the diocese’s previous handlings of child molestation cases will be the focus. That includes the case of defrocked and criminally convicted priest Oliver O’Grady.

O’Grady, a native of Ireland, recently was convicted of pornography charges in that country. Before that, the former Roman Catholic priest in the Diocese of Stockton served time for child molestation in San Joaquin County.

Before his 1993 arrest, O’Grady had been a priest at St. Anne’s Catholic Church in Lodi, the Church of the Presentation in Stockton, St. Andrew’s Catholic Church in San Andreas and others.

Allegations against O’Grady have cost the Diocese of Stockton millions of dollars in settlements in more than 20 lawsuits brought by alleged victims. http://www.modbee.com/2012/04/06/v-print/2147587/ex-modesto-priest-found-liable.html

Stockton Diocese accused of cover-up in Michael Kelly case

Fri Apr 13, 2012

By Ross Farrow/News-Sentinel Staff Writer

Now that Father Michael Kelly has been held liable for sexual assault and removed as pastor of a Lockeford parish, his civil trial will focus on the Stockton Diocese’s role in handling Kelly and other priests accused of childhood sexual abuse.

“The diocese made a concerted effort to cover up for Father Kelly,” attorney John Manly told the jury in his opening statement on Thursday morning. “They value money, power and their reputation more than they do children. Ladies and gentlemen, that has got to stop.”

The 10-woman, two-man jury found Kelly, 62, liable on Friday of sexually assaulting an altar boy in the mid-1980s. http://www.lodinews.com/news/article_2cc84273-73fd-5ac3-9452-f1d6fe4902da.html

Two former teen idols back bill to protect child actors
Todd Bridges and Corey Feldman, both of whom were molested by men with Hollywood connections, support legislation to require fingerprinting and background checks for those with unsupervised access to child performers.

By Dawn C. Chmielewski, Los Angeles Times

April 18, 2012

Three decades ago, they were teen idols. Todd Bridges played Willis on the popular sitcom “Diff’rent Strokes.” Corey Feldman starred in “Gremlins,”"The Goonies” and “The Lost Boys.”

The two men held the same dark secret: Each had been molested in his adolescence by men with Hollywood connections, experiences that would lead to downward spirals and years of drug addiction.

Today, they are making a highly public case for California legislation they hope will protect child actors from sexual predators, a problem they say continues to bedevil the entertainment industry.

“We’re not doing enough to protect children, period,” Bridges said.

The bill that the two actors support would require talent managers, photographers and others whose jobs involve unsupervised access to child performers to provide fingerprints and submit to criminal background checks. It also would prohibit registered sex offenders from representing artists who are minors.

“If this bill can help save one child from the pain and consequences of being made a victim, then it is worth every effort,” said the bill’s author, Assemblywoman Nora Campos (D-San Jose). http://www.latimes.com/business/la-et-molest-survivors-20120418,0,7018231.story

Breivik: How I met ‘Richard the Lionheart’ in London cafe to plot ‘how to seize power in Western Europe’

Mass killer draws inspiration from Islamist terror network’s methods
Claims to have met three people in London to create Knights Templar in 2002
Said he met a Serbian ‘war hero’ in Liberia in 2002 by posing as a member of Unicef
Prosecutors said Breivik was not part of a sophisticated anti-Muslim group

By Daily Mail Reporter

18 April 2012

A meeting between Anders Breivik and an English anti-Islamic militant calling himself ‘Richard the Lionheart’ was outlined in court yesterday.

Nine years before his killing spree left 77 dead, the Norwegian said he was sitting in a London cafe with members of an extremist group called Knights Templar, to plot ‘how to seize power in Western Europe’.http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2131468/Anders-Behring-Breivik-trial-Norway-killer-says-I-dont-fear-death-execute-let-go.html