Vatican tells U.S. bishops not to vote on proposals to tackle sexual abuse, spurns lay and civil investigations
DC Priest Arrested On Child Sex Abuse Charges
By Dan Taylor, Patch Staff |
Church tells American Bishops to delay vote on sex abuse measures
By Julie Zauzmer and
Michelle Boorstein, WaPo
BALTIMORE — The Vatican stymied a plan by America’s Catholic leaders to confront sexual abuse, insisting in a surprise directive on Monday morning that America’s bishops postpone their effort to hold bishops more responsible in the abuse cases that have scourged the church.
At the same time, the Vatican’s ambassador to the United States suggested that bishops should not look to lay people in the church or law enforcement to confront the church’s sexual abuse crisis.
Thus the bishops of America’s 196 Catholic dioceses and archdioceses were left scrambling, as they learned just as they began their first meeting since the abuse crisis re-emerged this summer that Rome wanted them to drop all the votes on their agenda. In an unusual move, the bishops had devoted their annual meeting almost exclusively to the burgeoning national crisis starting with a period of prayer today.
Moments after the the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops learned of the Vatican’s letter, Archbishop Christopher Pierre, the Vatican’s ambassador to the United States, warned of supporting outside lay investigations into the church. He seemed to refer obliquely to both the bishops' now-tabled proposal to establish a lay commission capable of investigating bishops' misconduct, and also the more than a dozen U.S. states' ongoing criminal and civil investigations into crimes committed by priests.
“There may be a temptation on the part of some to relinquish responsibility for reform to others from ourselves, as if we were no longer capable of reforming or trusting ourselves,” Pierre said. “Assistance is both welcome and necessary, and surely collaboration with the laity is essential. However, the responsibility as bishops of this Catholic Church is ours."
How is that working for you, so far?
Pierre, a French bishop sent by Pope Francis to Washington in 2016, quoted a French author who said that “whoever pretends to reform the church with the same means to reform temporal society” will “fail.”
The bishops had planned to vote on a code of conduct, the first ethical guidelines for bishops, and to create the lay commission. Instead, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo -- the president of the U.S. bishops' conference -- told the group that the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops wants American bishops to take no action until a worldwide meeting of church leaders in February.
Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org, called the last-minute order from the Vatican “truly incredible.”
“What we see here is the Vatican again trying to suppress even modest progress by the U.S. bishops,” said Doyle, whose group compiles data on clergy abuse in the church. “We’re seeing where the problem lies, which is with the Vatican. The outcome of this meeting, at best, was going to be tepid and ineffectual, but now it’s actually going to be completely without substance."
The bishops, like the advocates who had gathered near their Baltimore meeting to protest on behalf of victims, expressed frustration at the Vatican’s move.
Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago quickly proposed an alternative to the Vatican’s request that no vote be taken. He suggested a nonbinding vote at this session, followed by an additional meeting of all the bishops in March — after Francis’s worldwide meeting — to formally vote on these policies as soon as possible.
Leaders said that the bishops will still spend Tuesday and Wednesday debating and fine-tuning their proposals, as planned. They will just conclude the meeting without any binding vote.
Some bishops said the Vatican’s request alone damages American leaders' efforts to regain parishioners' trust, after a longtime church leader -- ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick -- was revealed this year to have allegedly sexually harassed and molested multiple victims, and after a Pennsylvania grand jury report documented decades of abuse by hundreds of priests.
“This kind of thing is a blow to what we’re trying to overcome here in the United States – the perception of a hierarchy that is unresponsive to the reality of the tragedy,” said Jefferson City Bishop Shawn McKnight, who became a bishop nine months ago. He said he blamed not necessarily Pope Francis, but people around him in the Vatican who oppose efforts to move faster to put a stop to abuse. ”This will be a moment to decide whether we are going to simply fall in line, slow down and get behind, or will we maintain efforts at true reform in the church."
McKnight raised a question rarely broached in the Catholic church, with its reverence for hierarchy and the specter of possible schism: whether the U.S. bishops should obey the Vatican’s wishes. “I’m beginning to wonder if we need to look at a resolution where we refuse to participate in any kind of cover-up from those above us,” he said. "It’s for the good of the church. We have to be respectful of the Roman Curia but also we have an obligation to our people. And our priests.”
But even as he repeatedly proclaimed himself disappointed by the Vatican’s request, DiNardo said that the American bishops will act in accordance with its wishes.
“We are Roman Catholic bishops, in communion with our Holy Father in Rome. And he has people around him who are what we call congregations or offices, and we’re responsible to them, in that communion of faith,” DiNardo said in an afternoon press conference. He later added: “We are responsible and respectful of the leadership in other places, and obviously our great, great respect is for the church in Rome, because that’s the first church.”
Here, again, there is no reference to responsibility to God, just to the church. This is one of the many foundational problems with the Catholic Church.
DiNardo said that the U.S. bishops informed the Vatican of their general plans for this meeting in September and October, but did not present the precise documents -- including the code of conduct for bishops -- that the body would be debating at this meeting until about Oct. 30. It was not until Sunday night that DiNardo got the letter from the Congregation for Bishops, the powerful Vatican body, that DiNardo said also raised questions of whether the documents ran afoul of some fine points of canon law and directed the U.S. bishops not to vote.
He said he did not know if Pope Francis himself had issued the order.
American bishops are focused on abuse, he said, but the “cultural heritage” of some bishops elsewhere in the world means that not all Catholic leaders are as concerned, he said. He also raised the possibility that Vatican leaders were concerned about American bishops setting a standard on their own, instead of working with their fellow church leaders globally at the February meeting.
When he opened the meeting, DiNardo said that the U.S. bishops remain committed to the proposals they had planned.
“Brother bishops, to exempt ourselves from this high standard of accountability is unacceptable and cannot stand,” DiNardo said, striking a markedly different tone just after the ambassador spoke. “Whether we will be regarded as guardians of the abused or the abuser will be determined by our actions.”
Then the bishops adjourned for their planned day of prayer — which was supposed to precede two days of debate and voting on concrete proposals — leaving stunned abuse survivors and church insiders to discuss what had just happened.
Becky Ianni, the D.C. regional head for SNAP — the most established survivor advocacy group — said that she was frustrated by the surprise announcement. “To me, this is not rocket science. Someone covers up abuse of a child, they’re gone. Seems very simple to me,” she said. “We’re dealing [in the U.S.] with the crisis, right here, right now. Yes, it’s a global problem, and they need to discuss it there, but the U.S. needs to come up with something right now.”
During the day of prayer, two clergy abuse survivors were invited to speak to the bishops. Luis A. Torres Jr. told the bishops, “Abuse of a child is the closest that you can get to murder and still possibly have a breathing body before you. When a child had been abused, particularly by someone whom they trust, you have destroyed the child.”
He asked the question that he said he learned to ask in church: What would Jesus do? “Would he have called his lawyers and denounced the victims? Or would he have turned over the tables in a fit of rage and declared that this was intolerable in his father’s house?” Torres said. “I ask [for] your action, which is needed right now. Not in three months. Not in six months. Yesterday.”
WASHINGTON, DC -- Police have arrested a Catholic priest in D.C. on child sexual abuse charges, according to a report.
The accused is 46-year-old Urbano Vazquez of Northeast, who had served as the parochial vicar at the Shrine of the Sacred Heart Parish in Columbia Heights since 2014, according to a statement from the Archdiocese of Washington.
Vazquez allegedly had sexual contact with a child in May 2015. The child -- a girl -- was 13 years old at the time, according to a WTOP report, which noted that Vazquez is accused of putting his hand down the front of her shirt and on her bare breast on two occasions.
Two others have accused the priest, according to the Washington Post.
The Archdiocese of Washington says it learned of the allegations on Oct. 26 and reported them to D.C. police.
"This was the first report to the Archdiocese of this allegation of sexual abuse and immediately upon learning of this serious allegation, the Archdiocese immediately removed Father Vazquez from ministry and suspended his priestly faculties," the statement reads. "Since the initial claim to police, additional allegations against Father Vazquez were reported."
As a result of the incident, the pastor of Sacred Heart will also be removed.
"In reviewing this troubling matter, the Archdiocese subsequently determined that Father Moises Villalta, OFM Cap., pastor of Sacred Heart, failed to follow appropriate protocols related to reporting allegations of abuse to civil authorities and the Archdiocese of Washington," the statement adds. "Father Villalta has been removed as pastor. For similar reasons, the parish's child protection coordinator has been placed on administrative leave."
Wow! What a major fail by 3 responsible people, it appears. But, at least the Archdiocese responded promptly and decisively.
The statement continues: "The Archdiocese of Washington takes seriously its responsibility to protect the children entrusted to its care. The Child Protection Policy of the Archdiocese of Washington mandates criminal background checks, applications and education for all employees and volunteers who work with young people. In this case, Father Vazquez cleared the background check and accompanying requirements."
Pennsylvania Catholic dioceses announce funds to compensate sex abuse victims
by Angela Couloumbis, Jeremy Roebuck and Harold Brubaker
GENEVA HEFFERNAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Amid renewed national furor over the Catholic church's handling of clergy sex abuse, several of Pennsylvania's Catholic dioceses — including Philadelphia — announced the establishment Thursday of separate programs to financially compensate victims whose claims are too old to be taken to court.
Though details on the so-called "reparation funds" remained hazy – including just how much church officials have set aside in each diocese to compensate victims – Philadelphia Archbishop Charles J. Chaput described the church's financial commitment in his city as "significant."
"Money can't buy back a wounded person's wholeness," he said in a statement. "But what compensation can do is acknowledge the evil done and meaningfully assist survivors as they work to find greater peace in their lives."
Church officials in Pittsburgh, Allentown, Harrisburg, and Scranton also unveiled similar funds Thursday. A spokesperson for the Diocese of Erie said a similar program would be launched there soon but details of that program were not yet ready for public disclosure.
The announcements by the dioceses come as Pennsylvania's legislature grapples with the question of whether to create a temporary reprieve in the statute of limitations to allow older victims of child sexual abuse to sue. The Catholic church and the insurance industry has fiercely opposed it, contending it would cripple them financially and, in the church's case, cut into funding for its other public service programs. Creating victims compensation funds is viewed by some victims and their advocates as a preemptive strike to tamp down momentum for a window.
Details released by the Philadelphia archdiocese suggested that its program appeared to be furthest along. Officials have already reached out to dozens of known abuse victims in the archdiocese and have selected independent administrators in place to manage the claims.
The archdiocese is modeling the effort on funds established over the last two years by five dioceses in New York that have paid more than $200 million to 1,062 victims — an average of about $200,000.
Kenneth R. Feinberg, who was special master for victims of the 9/11 attacks , and Camille S. Biros, business manager in Feinberg's Washington office, will administer the program in Philadelphia, as they are doing in New York.
Priests could be prosecuted for sexual abuse years later under new bill
Democrats win majority in NY Senate
Thuy Lan Nguyen
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) - If new proposed legislation passes, priests accused of sexual abuse could be charged years after their alleged crimes.
Republican Senator Patrick Gallivan introduced new legislation, just two days after democrats won majority in the New York State Senate. The "Child Victims Protection and Accountability Act" focuses on three main parts:
Statute of limitations: This removes the limitations for criminal action in regards to a sexual crime committed against a minor. It also extends the limit on the civil side until the alleged victim turns 50.
Mandated reporting: The agencies required to report child abuse to the New York State Office of Children and Family Services will include members of the clergy. Clergy will also have to report allegations directly to law enforcement.
Whistleblower protection: Non-public employees who report abuse will be protected. It will encourage employees of not-for-profit organizations to disclose alleged abuse.
Senator Gallivan says he's discussed elements of this proposed legislation with Bishop Malone, and Malone supports it.
This bill will be considered when the Senate returns to session January of 2019.
Archdiocese of Detroit investigating 'credible' child sexual abuse claim against late priest
DETROIT (WXYZ) - The Archdiocese of Detroit says it is investigating a "credible" allegation of sexual abuse of a minor against a late priest.
According to the Archdiocese of Detroit, the claim is against Monsignor Thaddeus Ozog, who was ordained in 1956 and died in 1994.
According to the archdiocese, they shared the complaint with authorities, and the Archdiocese Review Board commissioned an independent investigation, which found that the allegation was credible and has a "semblance of truth."Ozog worked at seven different institutions during his time. Those were:
1956 – 1958: Associate Pastor, Our Lady Help of Christians, Detroit
1958: Associate Pastor, St. Columban, Birmingham
1958: Associate Pastor, Our Lady of the Lakes, Waterford
1959 – 1975: Instructor (1959); Registrar (1962); Dean (1968); Rector (1970), Sacred Heart Seminary, Detroit
1975: Associate Pastor, St. Hillary, Detroit
1975: Associate Pastor, St. Mary, Wayne
1976 – 1978: Pastor, St. Roch, Flat Rock
Last month, the Archdiocese of Detroit removed a priest, 83-year-old Robert Witkowski, after credible allegations of child sexual abuse surfaced.
JRR Tolkien's Son Part of UK Inquiry Into Catholic Church Mishandling Child Sex Abuse Allegations
By Stoyan Zaimov , Christian Post Reporter
(PHOTO: REUTERS/ALESSANDRO BIANCHI) Bishops wait under umbrellas before Pope Francis opens a Catholic Holy Year, or Jubilee, in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, December 8, 2015.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the Archbishop of Westminster, is set to be questioned this week by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, The Telegraph reported.
The investigation will look into how major British institutions tackled sex abuse claims, with the Catholic Church attracting major controversy for relocating abusing priests in dioceses around the world.
Nichols' former Archdiocese of Birmingham is set to be examined, including how it handled allegations of abuse against Father John Tolkien, the son of famous author JRR Tolkien, who wrote The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit fantasy novels.
Senior church officials are being blamed for allowing Fr. Tolkien, who died in 2003, to continue working as a priest despite an alleged victim coming forward against him years earlier.
The man, Christopher Carrie, accused the priest of sexually abusing him twice in November 1956, when he was 11-years-old.
As BBC News reported back in 2003, the Archdiocese of Birmingham awarded Carrie £15,000, or nearly $20,000 USD, in an out-of-court settlement.
Fr. Tolkien had denied the allegations, and a police investigation launched against him in 2001 was discontinued, as the Crown Prosecution Service found him to be too ill to be charged. The priest died two years later at the age of 85.
Carrie, a father of two, said at the time that the church needs to answer for protecting Fr Tolkein.
"Although Father John Tolkien is now dead, and cannot harm any more children, that does not exempt the church from responsibility or liability.
"I am satisfied that the settlement is substantial enough to recompense me for some of the wrongs committed," he continued.
"More importantly, I hope the coverage given to the case may encourage other victims of sexual abuse to come forward."
Carrie further revealed that church officials had promised him in 1993 that Fr. Tolkien was set to shortly retire as a priest, but he continued actively officiating in church services at least until the mid 1990s.
The scandals rocking the Catholic Church have been felt worldwide, including in the U.S. A Pennsylvania grand jury report detailed in August how 301 priests abused over 1,000 children over the past several decades, with church hierarchy shielding the perpetrators.
"Priests were raping little boys and girls, and the men of God who were responsible for them not only did nothing. They hid it all," said at a press conference Attorney General Josh Shapiro.
"Men of God"? Seriously?
Pope Francis has scheduled a major four-day conference on the clerical sexual abuse crisis with his top bishops in Rome for February 2018. The meeting, believed to be the first of its kind, comes following the pontiff's condemnation of the clergy who have been committing abuse, and vow that the Catholic Church will do better.
'Doing better' is not what is needed! A major upheaval is needed!
Catholic Diocese clarifies- no sex abuse allegations against Ohio priest
By Cristen ManionYOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -
The Youngstown Catholic Diocese is making a clarification after publishing the names of priests accused of sexual misconduct.
That list included the name of John F. (Jack) Wagner.
Over the weekend, the Diocese released a notice clarifying that Wagner shares the name of another priest- Rev. John F. Wagner of Louisville.
Diocesan officials say the later Wagner is from Louisville, Ohio, and is "in complete compliance with the Child Protection Policy of the Diocese of Youngstown."
Wagner, of Louisville, was ordained in 1972 and resigned from the ministry in 1978 after service in Kent and Walsh University.
Meanwhile, John F. (Jack) Wagner, was from Girard and was ordained in 1970.
John F. Jack Wagner reportedly left the Youngstown Catholic Diocese in 2011 after allegations came forward regarding a 13-year-old boy nearly 30 years prior, according to our print partner the Vindicator.
Diocese of Allentown and Bishops Sued by Victim Alleging Sexual Abuse by Former Priest
By Dan StammA Philadelphia law firm is filing a lawsuit against the Diocese of Allentown and former Catholic priest Bruno Tucci on behalf a man who says Tucci abused him as a child despite there being previous sex abuse allegations against Tucci.
A 29-year-old man is suing a former priest and the Diocese of Allentown, alleging the priest abused him as a child, according to a Philadelphia law firm that filed the lawsuit.
The alleged victim, who is not named, claims Bruno Tucci, a former priest, sexually assaulted him when he was an altar boy at Mount Carmel Church in Nesquehoning in the late 1990s and early 2000s, according to the lawsuit, a copy of which was provided to NBC10.
The law firm, Williams Cedar, said the suit has been filed with Lehigh County Common Pleas Court.
It comes in the wake of a scathing grand jury report detailing sex abuse by hundreds of Catholic clergy over many decades. The Pennsylvania Attorney General's office released the grand jury findings after a ruling by the state Supreme Court.
In addition to the diocese, the suit names past and current bishops, including Bishop Alfred Schlert, the order of the Congregation of the Servants of the Paraclete and Tucci as defendants.
Tucci, now 76, is a former priest in Lehigh and Berks counties, whose alleged abuses are detailed in the grand jury report. Tucci was removed from the priesthood in 2002.
The grand jury report says that the diocese became aware of sex abuse allegations against Tucci years before the plaintiff in the new suit was allegedly abused by Tucci. But, the suit claims, Tucci was allowed to continue serving as a priest at Mount Carmel.
The plaintiff is seeking financial payment for the "emotional, psychological, and financial damages arising from the abuse," Williams Cedar said in a news release.
Tucci was charged with child sex abuse in Ocean City, Maryland in 2012. The charges were eventually dropped, according to online court records.
The Pennsylvania grand jury report released in August showed systemic abuse by the Catholic church. The suit alleges negligence on behalf of Church leaders.
"This is a case that’s not just about a child abuser," attorney Gerard Williams of Williams Cedar said. "It’s about an organization that for its own purposes, as we’ve alleged in the complaint, kept the abuser in an active ministry and kept him in close contact with children, including our client."
The Allentown diocese told NBC10 it only became aware of the pending suit on Monday. In a statement, they said abuse has "no place in the Church."
And when did that decision happen? Because, apparently, there was lots of room for child sex abuse in the church not so very long ago.
Here is the diocesan statement:
"Since becoming Bishop on August 31, 2017, Bishop Alfred Schlert has acted immediately on any allegations, removing the priest from ministry and notifying law enforcement. Abuse is abhorrent and has no place in the Church. Bishop Schlert has apologized to victims and has set a clear tone of zero tolerance, and of keeping children safe. The Diocese recently announced the formation of a compensation and reconciliation program to assist victims and survivors of past clergy sexual abuse. Although compensation alone cannot repair the damage caused to those who were harmed, this program will meaningfully assist in recovery and healing for victims and survivors and their families."
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