St. Michael's private school alerts police to 3rd incident amid ongoing sexual assault investigation
CBC News 
St. Michael's school said it asked police to secure the facility on Thursday and into the future following an unspecified threat as it deals with allegations that a student was sexually assaulted there. (Farrah Merali/CBC)
Officials at a Toronto private boys' school announced Friday they've notified police about a third "incident" as the school continues to deal with a crisis sparked by allegations that students have been assaulted or sexually assaulted on camera.
St. Michael's College School released no further information about the third incident, but said parents have been notified. Crisis counsellors remain at the school for students, faculty and staff, officials said. Police officers are also guarding the facility, after it faced an unspecified threat on Thursday.
News of the latest incident was included in a statement explaining how the school has handled the situation, which officials became aware of on Monday.
The school said that's when the administration received a video of the first incident which took place in a washroom. The school said it notified police about what happened because it severely violated the student code of conduct.
By Monday evening, officials said they received a video of a second incident that happened in a locker room.
On Thursday, Toronto police said they were only notified about that incident, an alleged sexual assault, after it hit the news on Wednesday. The school's own timeline confirms that's accurate.
School says it's reached out to victims
Two police sources told The Canadian Press the incident the school discussed with officers on Monday involved members of the basketball team bullying a student and soaking him with water.
Those sources said there was another incident involving the football team where a group of boys held down another student and allegedly sexually assaulted him with a broom handle. Both incidents were captured on video and circulated among students at the school.
In the wake of the shocking incidents, the school said it has received a threat and taken steps to keep students safe.
The school said it has also reached out to the victims to provide support.
Meanwhile, a series of meetings are planned for parents on Friday afternoon.
Former Wisconsin Priest Arrested in Minnesota
on Sexual Assault Charges
MINNEAPOLIS (KSTP) A former Wisconsin priest who was living in Minneapolis was arrested in Hennepin County Friday after being charged with sexual assault in Wisconsin.
Seventy-one-year-old Thomas Edward Ericksen has been charged with second-degree sexual assault of an unconscious victim, second-degree sexual assault against a child and first-degree sexual assault against a child, according to court records.
According to Jeff Anderson & Associates, a law firm which represents victims of sexual abuse, Ericksen was ordained in 1973 and worked in Wisconsin parishes until 1988, when he was permanently removed from ministry.
The Sawyer County, Wisconsin district attorney filed charges and issued an arrest warrant Friday. According to Anderson & Associates, police in Wisconsin had been investigating Ericksen since 2010.
Ericksen is being held in Hennepin County. Court records show he was living in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis.
South Dakota Priest Pleads Not Guilty To
Child Sex Abuse Charges
By: Associated PressRAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) - A priest who served in Rapid City, South Dakota has pleaded not guilty to sexually abusing a child.
Thirty-eight-year-old John Praveen was charged last month with sexually touching a 13-year-old girl over her clothes. Praveen entered his plea Friday. Bond remains set at $100,000.
The Rapid City diocese earlier offered to house and supervise Praveen at a retirement home for priests in Piedmont, but backed off after some community members objected.
Praveen worked at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Rapid City and All Saints Church in Eagle Butte. He belongs to the Holy Spirit Fathers, an order based in Hyderabad, India, that has tried to raise his bail. His arraignment earlier this month was postponed because of the lack of a translator.
Former Oklahoma Priest Accused In
Second Child Sex Abuse Claim
BY TRIBUNE MEDIA WIREOKLAHOMA CITY – The Archdiocese of Oklahoma City says they have received a second credible allegation of child sexual abuse involving a former priest of the archdiocese.
In a November 14 letter, “a victim reported an incident of child sexual abuse in the early 1970s involving former priest Benjamin Zoeller while he was assigned to The Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Oklahoma City,” the archdiocese said on November 16.
The archdiocese is reviewing Zoeller’s history, spanning nearly 40 years in eight parishes, after a former Oklahoma resident wrote the church back in August, alleging Zoeller abused him twice in 1985.
Zoeller was removed as a priest from the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City in 2002 and defrocked in 2011.
He is also not allowed to volunteer or work at any parish or church-associated entity, including Sacred Heart Catholic Church, 2706 S. Shartel Ave., where Zoeller volunteered once a week.
To report abuse that occurred in the past or present, call the Abuse of Minors Pastoral Response Hotline at (405) 720-9878. The Oklahoma Department of Human Services has established a statewide abuse reporting hotline at (800) 522-3511.
An excellent discussion - or, at least, a start:
Crisis in the pews: San Diego Catholics shaken by revelations of abuse, cover-ups
Peter Rowe
Mary Josweg is a 21st century Catholic, but she sounds an awful lot like the 16th century Protestant reformer Martin Luther.
“The church needs to get cleansed,” said Josweg, 69, a parishioner at St. Patrick’s in Carlsbad. “I believe in Jesus as the son of God and Creator of the world — I happen to be Catholic. But the organization that I belong to is totally corrupt.”
Josweg was among the thousands of Catholics who attended eight “listening sessions” convened by San Diego Bishop Robert McElroy in October and November. He got an earful.
“People are no longer following blindly,” said Harley Noel, 85, a parishioner at St. John’s in Encinitas. “Now, the heirarchy can't — I hate to say pull the wool over people’s eyes, but it’s hard for them to run and hide.”
Across the nation, Catholics have questioned and criticized church leaders, frustrated by months of distressing headlines:
In July, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick was forced to resign, after reports surfaced that he had sexually abused seminarians and altar boys.
In August, a Pennsylvania grand jury revealed the rapes and molestations of more than 1,000 children by 300 priests.
In September, the San Diego diocese added eight priests to its public list of men credibly accused of sexually abusing minors.
In October, Cardinal Donald Wuerl resigned as archbishop of Washington, D.C., amid accusations that he had turned a blind eye to predatory clerics when he served as a bishop in Pennsylvania.
And that's just in America. This is going on all over the world.
More damaging revelations may be coming. San Diego’s Irwin Zalkin and other lawyers are urging California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to investigate California dioceses, following the lead of civil authorities in Pennsylvania, New York, Florida and other states.
While most of these outrages occurred decades ago, many are only now being exposed. McElroy and others say this demonstrates the effectiveness of the 2002 “Dallas Charter,” reforms adopted by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to prevent the sort of sexual scandals revealed by the Boston Globe’s “Spotlight” series.
The Dallas Charter, though, had a glaring oversight — it did not hold to account bishops who had shielded abusive priests or were themselves accused of similar crimes.
When the U.S. bishops met in Baltimore last week, the agenda included measures to increase episcopal accountability. But the Vatican, reportedly favoring reforms for bishops around the world, ordered the Americans to postpone any independent measures.
This slow, spotty response has frustrated the faithful. In September, the Pew Research Center found that 62 percent of U.S. Catholics disapproved of how the church has handled the sex abuse scandal.
When McElroy launched his listening tour a month later, many in attendance were skeptical and angry.
“I thought it was horrific,” Josweg said of McElroy’s Oct. 17 “listening session” at Church of the Nativity in Rancho Santa Fe. “I was outraged that people were not screaming at him. It is such a cover-up. They never talk about the cover-up, all they talk about is it has gotten better, that the police are now called whenever a child is molested.”
Recent news, Madeline E. Lacovara wrote in the Jesuit magazine, America, underlines “the perceived ongoing failure of the institutional church itself.
“This loss of trust in the leadership of the church makes this the most significant crisis confronting the church since the Reformation.”
Yet this is a different church than the one Luther critiqued in 1517 with his 95 theses. The largest Christian denomination in the world, the Roman Catholic Church includes worshipers of every race, nationality, political party and sexual orientation.
The crisis has exposed divisions in the pews. Some argue that the scandals reveal a “lavender mafia” of powerful gay clerics. Others insist it illustrates the need for married and female priests. There are those who say the liberalizing changes wrought by Vatican II and Pope Francis have undermined the church’s timeless teachings.
Many point to clericalism, saying the ingrained habit of giving church leaders absolute, unquestioning obedience has allowed problems to fester.
“You’ve got the Pius X group, the ultra-right who want to go back to the Latin Mass,” said Harley Noel. “And you’ve got the ultra-left, they want everything free and easy.”
Given the nature of this flock, it may take divine intervention to bridge the gap.
“You’re dealing with humanity,” Noel said. “God knows, we’ve had enough problems with humanity.”
Sexual morality
At the Church of the Nativity, men and women sat at 40 or so tables. After the bishop’s contrite remarks — “this was a horrific abandonment of the responsibility the church had for the safety of children” — a spokesperson at each table rose to ask a question.
How do we get younger people back to church?
The bishop admitted this is a difficult task: “Young people see the hypocrisy...”
Are there clear moral teachings in the seminaries?
Yes, McElroy insisted, plus extensive screening of candidates. “Most important is their relationship with God,” the bishop said. Another essential quality, he added, is “the ability to live out a life of celibacy.”
The mention of celibacy seemed to open the floodgates. The next questions all focused on the sex lives of church employees, whether clerical or lay.
Would engaging in homosexual acts with another consenting adult end a priest’s career?
“It could. It’s a serious violation of his vow of celibacy,” McElroy said. “But I am not prepared to say that any single action” between consenting adults would mean automatic dismissal.
There are priests and bishops all over the world living in relationships, including gay relationships, that are well known to the leadership of the church.
Should the church employ people “living unchaste lives?”
Why do so many preachers “seem to be accepting sin, instead of rejecting sin?”
McElroy listed the church’s “three essential teachings” on sexual morality.
First, “we are called to live all the virtues of Jesus Christ — all the virtues. Chastity is one of them. But chastity is not the central virtue of Christian life. The central virtue is to love the Lord God with your whole heart and to love your neighbor as yourself.”
Second, “in Catholic moral teaching, any sexual activity outside marriage between one man and one woman is considered sinful.”
Third, while violence and hatred against LGBT people “exists in a dark corner of the church, it is antithetical to the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
He referred to recent attacks on Hillcrest’s St. John the Evangelist, an LGBT-friendly parish, and its pastoral associate, Aaron Bianco. A gay man, Bianco had been deluged with angry and obscene email after several conservative Catholic web sites criticized his role and, in one case, published his home address and family photographs.
Two days before the Church of the Nativity meeting, the church was broken into and vandals spray painted an anti-gay slur on a wall.
Bianco resigned, effective Oct. 31.
“I’ve heard from many people, priests and lay people all across the globe, telling me they support me, they are behind me in the work I am doing in the church,” Bianco said. “These organizations that promote this hate, they have given me more power than I’ve ever had.”
Help me think this through... Is it necessary to promote LGBTQ values in order to make the statement that violence and hatred against LGBTQs is wrong? Violence and hatred is always wrong, although I'm hard-pressed to think pedophiles deserve anything less.
Octopus tentacles
Within the church, some authorities insist the clergy abuse scandal can be traced to a single source: homosexuality.
“The deeper problem,” wrote Janet Smith, a professor of moral theology at Detroit’s Sacred Heart Major Seminary, “lies in homosexual networks within the clergy which must be eradicated.”
These cabals, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò wrote in a letter critical of Pope Francis, “act under the concealment of secrecy and lies with the power of octopus tentacles, and strangle innocent victims and priestly vocations, and are strangling the entire Church.”
A new group, Concerned Catholics of San Diego, makes a similar argument.
“There are a lot of Catholics who are concerned about a homosexual agenda in the church,” said Daniel Piedra, 33, a Concerned Catholics leader. “The group advocates that people who have deep-seated homosexual desires or tendencies should not be allowed to be priests.”
Most, but not all, victims of predator priests have been boys. But the real problem is rooted in power, argued Mark Peters, not sexuality.
Both the criminal priests and the bishops who covered for them abused their power, said Peters, chairman of the University of San Diego’s Clergy Abuse Task Force. “That corruption, protecting your own privilege,” he said, “my feeling is that is the same regardless of orientation.”
The real problem is a lack of the fear of God! Whether you interpret 'fear' as 'awe' or 'terror', it is sorely lacking at all levels in the Catholic Church. Perhaps there is some doctrine among priests and bishops that have them believing that sexually abusing children will not affect their salvation. If that is so, they are sorely deceived. They need only read Mark 9:42-48 and terror should come upon them.
Lay people, Peters said, increasingly demand a larger role in governing the church and ending the culture of clericalism.
“That’s giving undue privilege to members of the clergy,” he said, “and perhaps putting them inappropriately on a pedestal and not having that sort of oversight.”
The church has survived similar crises. In medieval Europe, noted Mark Mann, a professor of theology at Point Loma Nazarene University, many priests had common law wives or concubines, while some popes sired children.
In fact, Pope John XI (931-935) was rumored to be the son of Pope Sergius III (904-911).
Indeed! The Council of Elvira, Spain in 306AD, condemned sexual abuse in the clergy.
“Sexual impropriety runs through the history of the church, and I wouldn't want to single out Catholics,” Mann said, noting that the Nazarenes and other denominations have had their own sexual abuse scandals. “This is true of organizations where people have power over others.”
True, but never so much as in the Catholic Church which is a huge magnet for gays and paedophiles.
The full scope
In her America article, Lacovara advocated specific reforms: opening diocesan archives to investigators; removing from power bishops guilty of sexual misconduct or covering for guilty priests; consulting lay people before appointing a bishop; and giving women a greater role in church governance.
“Can there be any doubt that responsible women would have understood and advised bishops that no other interests could have justified exposing children to sexual abuse?” she asked.
This is a many-faceted problem in a remarkably diverse church. The solutions, like the faithful themselves, run the gamut.
Jim Chodzko, a parishioner at St. John’s in Encinitas, would “bring in lay people who are active in the church and give them full access to all church information on this, study the problem in its full scope.”
Full disclosure, he said, is paramount: “Jesus would not be saying, ‘Let’s not say this,’ or ‘We’ve got to be careful.’”
Female priests and married priests would help, Mary Josweg said. And she echoed Chodzko: no more secrecy.
“What does Pope Francis say, ‘Let’s pray and be silent’? I say we should pray and not be silent. Let’s get to the point here.”
(In September, the pontiff advised prayer and silence when confronted by those “seeking scandal.”)
Concerned Catholics’ Piedra wants “answers to specific questions, about specific incidences of possible misconduct in the diocese. The bishop has been quick to defend all of his priests but we hear of ongoing incidents in the seminary.”
Bianco would like to see acceptance of all believers, regardless of sexuality.
“The call of Jesus is to welcome all people into community,” he said. “It is not the responsibility of the church to say you are not welcome.
“I understand that there are people who believe that homosexuality is sinful. I do understand that. But if we were to go through and look at what’s been done by everyone in the pews, we would have to kick everyone out of the church.”
He is right in that everyone sins, even the most devout sin. But those who accept Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord, repent of their sins. As Jesus often said to sinners He has just healed, 'Go, and sin no more!'
Choosing to practice a sin, especially a sin that God called an abomination many times, is the right of any person on earth. But to bring it into the church and serve people in the Name of Jesus is gross blasphemy and ought to have one terrified of Judgment - God's Judgment, not man's.
Msgr. Dennis Mikulanis, pastor of San Rafael Parish in Rancho Bernardo, would like everyone to have some faith.
“The way forward is for people to realize in the history of the church there have always been bad times and bad apples,” he said. “But it’s Christ and faith in Christ and service to Christ that is the mark of true Christians and, in this case, true Catholics.”
The listening sessions ended Nov. 5. The diocese is preparing a report, a spokesperson said, complete with recommendations.
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