French Catholic cardinal accused of child sex abuse coverup in court
RFI
A court in Lyon is expected to hand down a verdict on 7 March for Cardinal Phillipe Barbarin, the archbishop of Lyon, who was in court this week, accused of covering up the sexual abuse by minors.
Prosecutors declined to press charges because the acts date back to before 1991, past the statute of limitations. But the victims insisted on a trial anyway, saying they are entitled to put their case before a court, to hold the Catholic Church to account.
Under French law, the court can still convict and even jail the suspect, regardless of the prosecutor's position.
Barbarin and his co-defendants have denied covering up anything, and Barbarin said he learned of the full story about the priest’s abuse only after scandal went public in 2015, when a former scout went public with allegations that he was abused as a child 25 years earlier.
Priest Bernard Preynat was charged with sexual abuse in 2016, and is expected to be tried later this year. Though he was interviewed by church leaders in 1991, Barbarin stopped him from working with children in September 2015.
Barbarin faces up to three years in prison and a 45,000 euro fine if he is found guilty of failing to report abuse of minors and failing to assist persons in danger.
He would also be the highest ranked Catholic clergy to be convicted of covering up child sex abuse, anywhere in the world.
US ex-priest sentenced to up to 14 years in prison
for child sex abuse
for child sex abuse
AFP
NEW YORK: A former Catholic priest who had admitted to sexually abusing children in the US state of Pennsylvania was sentenced Friday to up to 14 years in prison — the second clergyman to be jailed in the wake of a damning statewide grand jury report.
David Poulson, 65 — who served as a priest for four decades in the Diocese of Erie — had entered a guilty plea in October after being accused of sexual assault (5th story on link) and attempted sexual assault of two boys, aged eight and 15, in the 2000s.
“Poulson assaulted one of his victims more than 20 times in church rectories,” state Attorney General Josh Shapiro told reporters, according to a statement from his office.
“He made that victim go to confession and confess the abuse — to Poulson.”
The specific charges against Poulson were corruption of minors and endangering the welfare of children. His sentence could be as short as 2.5 years or as long as 14 years, the maximum under state law.
The priest — who was only suspended in 2018, eight years after the diocese first learned of allegations against him — also assaulted the same boy and repeatedly attempted to assault another victim at his remote hunting cabin.
Poulson was named in a sweeping Pennsylvania grand jury report released in August that revealed credible allegations against more than 300 suspected predator priests and identified over 1,000 victims of child sex abuse.
In many cases, the abuse was covered up by the Catholic Church for decades.
In 2010, when the church first learned of the claims against Poulson, he admitted to then bishop Donald Trautman that he was “aroused by boys,” the attorney general’s office said.
But Trautman, who retired in 2012, simply assigned him to a different parish.
While most of the cases cited in the grand jury report could not be brought to trial due to a statute of limitations, Poulson and John Sweeney were charged and jailed.
And why is not Trautman charged?
Last month, Sweeney was sentenced (5th story on link) to 11.5 months to five years in prison for abusing a 10-year-old in the 1990s.
The Pennsylvania grand jury report, which slammed the American Catholic Church for turning a blind eye, or actively covering up abuse allegations, sparked similar inquiries in other US states.
In December, the Illinois attorney general published a report saying that nearly 700 clergymen had been accused of child sexual assault, a far greater number than had been previously disclosed by Church authorities.
These reports have prompted activists to campaign for statutes of limitations on sex abuse charges to be eliminated. So far, those efforts have been unsuccessful.
Louisville priest convicted of inappropriately touching a child denied appeal
By Sara Rivest
LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - A former Louisville priest found guilty of sexual abuse has been denied an appeal.
In 2016, Father Joseph Hemmerle was convicted in Meade County on one count of inappropriate touching. He was sentenced to seven years in prison.
The charge comes from an incident in 1973 where Hemmerle molested a 10-year-old boy at the summer camp he was attending, Camp Tall Tree.
Hemmerle was the camp’s director. According to the appeal, Hemmerle routinely treated campers with poison ivy reactions. The victim, Michael Norris, testified at Hemmerle’s trial that he was exposed to poison ivy when playing in the woods. He developed an extensive skin rash and sought treatment from Hemmerle.
"I’m now 56 so I live with this every single day, it’s something that never goes away,” Norris said. “Child sexual abuse is a horrible thing but at the hands of the clergy it’s even worse.”
Hemmerle allegedly demanded Norris undress inside his private cabin. He was accused of molesting and performing oral sex on the victim.
Hemmerle also taught Norris at Trinity High School.
“I got a little emotional this morning when I saw that the appeal had been agreed to or denied on his part because that’s been lingering,” Norris said.
Norris was back in town on Friday to meet with the Archdiocese of Louisville.
“It’s not about them, it’s about me,” Norris said. “I’m trying to put closure on this whole thing and move forward. I’ll never fully be able to move forward, but it is one step in the process and I’ve been wanting to meet with Archbishop Kurtz for a while now and to finally be able to do that. He is a busy man and for him to take the time to meet with me - it was a really good discussion.”
The Archdiocese of Louisville said Hemmerle’s pension will not be affected by his conviction. They previously said it was not affected because Hemmerle was in the appeal process but said Thursday it will not be affected since he is retired. They have no further comment.
2 new lawsuits target Diocese of Pittsburgh,
allege child sexual abuse and cover-ups
Megan Guza
New lawsuits were filed Friday against the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, claiming sexual abuse by two priests and a cover-up by diocese officials.
One suit claims a priest took a student on a trip to Super Bowl X in Florida in 1976 with two other children. The boy called it “a week of hell,” according to the lawsuit.
The other suit claims a priest targeted a boy who played from 1978 to 1980 on the basketball team the priest coached at Nativity Our Lord on Pittsburgh’s North Side.
The lawsuits, both filed by attorney George Kontos on behalf of two men, name the Revs. Raymond Rhoden and Thomas O’Donnell, Bishop David Zubik, Cardinal Donald Wuerl and the diocese as defendants.
Rhoden and O‘Donnell both were named in the scathing grand jury report accusing the Catholic church of covering up decades of sexual abuse by hundreds of priests across the state.
O’Donnell was ordained in 1960 and assigned to 11 local parishes over the next 50 years. His name appeared often in the 900-page grand jury report released in August.
Dozens of families made complaints about O’Donnell over the decades, according to the grand jury report, and he eventually was ordered by the diocese not to be around children.
Nevertheless, in January 2014, the grand jury report states, he received a letter of good standing from the diocese that said no accusations of misconduct had ever been made against him.
The lawsuit alleges that O’Donnell abused the boy, now 56, from 1975 to 1976 while he was a student at Annunciation Catholic School, now known as Northside Catholic School. O’Donnell developed a pattern of watching the alleged victim play basketball near the rectory and inviting him inside for water and, later, to the basement to roll coins from the church donation box, according to the lawsuit.
O’Donnell would offer the alleged victim wine and started to sexually assault him two times a week, according to the lawsuit. The alleged abuse culminated with a trip to the Super Bowl, according to the lawsuit.
Rhoden was accused in a lawsuit of sexually abusing an altar boy who also was player on the basketball team Rhoden coached. The boy was about 10 when the abuse began. He alleged that Rhoden would pull him out of class under the guise of counseling him and then sexually assault the child in his vehicle and in church offices.
Rhoden was accused in 2002 of sexually abusing a child between 1976 and 1977, according to the grand jury report. The report alleges Wuerl specifically was aware of the accusation and allowed Rhoden to remain in retirement and collect benefits.
Rhoden allegedly admitted to the sexual abuse.
Both lawsuits draw heavily from the grand jury report, and both demand jury trials.
The diocese in Pittsburgh plans to open a victim compensation fund this month, and dioceses across the state announced their own funds late last year in the wake of the grand jury report. Dioceses began establishing the funds after state lawmakers failed to pass statute of limitation reforms that would allow victims to bring old claims of abuse against the church.
Louisiana diocese names 14 priests accused of sexual misconduct involving children, including rape
BY RAMON ANTONIO VARGAS | RVARGAS@THEADVOCATE.COM
The Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux on Friday named six Catholic priests who admitted or were convicted of sexual misconduct with children as well as three others who faced civil litigation credibly accusing them of molesting minors.
Another five were credibly accused outside of a court setting of "serious and unacceptable conduct with minors, ranging from inappropriate physical contact ... to molestation," bringing the total number of names on Friday's list to 14, officials said.
The Bishop of Houma-Thibodaux, Shelton Fabre, has sent parishioners a letter offering an apology "for the egregious sins that have taken place."
"Let me be clear: the abuse of a child by anyone is sinful, abhorrent and evil, particularly when perpetrated by one vested with the sacred trust of God’s children," Fabre's letter read. "Furthermore, any attempt to cover up these sins is even more disturbing. I apologize to all who have been harmed. It is with deep respect and profound reverence that I humbly extend this apology."
Priests Alexander Francisco and Carlos Melendez admitted to inappropriate physical contact with a minor, and Robert Melancon was convicted of raping a child, the diocese said.
Dale Guidry and Lawrence Cavell solicited children for sex, while Guidry was also accused of molesting a minor. Patrick Kujawa was convicted of child pornography possession.
Three other priests were sued over sexual abuse allegations that the church deemed credible: Etienne LeBlanc, Gerald Prinz and Bernard Schmaltz.
The five others that church officials believe were credibly accused are Claude Boudreaux, Gerard Kinane, Ramon Luce, Dac Nguyen and Daniel Poche.
Four of the 14 — Prinz, Boudreaux, Kinane and Schmaltz — were included in a list of clergy members faced with credible allegations of sexual abuse that the Archdiocese of New Orleans released in the fall.
Four, including Boudreaux, weren't diocesan priests. Boudreaux was a Jesuit who provided the diocese with weekend assistance. Melendez was a Missionaries of Christ priest from El Salvador who participated in the diocese's Hispanic ministry. Luce was a priest from a diocese in the Philippines who served in Lockport, and Nguyen was a priest of the Society of Domus Dei who worked in Amelia.
All of the men were stripped of their ability to perform their priestly duties by or within the diocese. Guidry, Melancon, Schmaltz and Boudreaux have already died, officials said. Nguyen's and Melancon's statuses were unknown.
The disclosure of Houma-Thibodaux follows similar ones by church officials nationwide in light of continued revelations of previously uncovered cases of clergy abuse. The U.S. Catholic clergy abuse crisis first erupted in earnest in Boston in 2002, after which officials adopted measures to attempt to root out such behavior.
The Houma-Thibodaux diocese is the second of Louisiana's six Catholic dioceses to release the names of priests credibly accused of sexual misconduct with children. The Archdiocese of New Orleans released its list in November.
The bishops of all five of the state's other dioceses — including those based in Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Alexandria, Lake Charles and Shreveport — have all said they plan to release similar lists.
Houma-Thibodaux's diocese once formed part of the New Orleans archdiocese but was broken off in 1977.
It's now the fourth-largest of the seven dioceses in Louisiana, in terms of the number of Catholics estimated in the local population, according to diocesan websites. There are an estimated 90,000 Catholics in the diocese.
However, the diocese is much smaller than the three largest ones — New Orleans, Lafayette and Baton Rouge, respectively, which between them count more than 1 million Catholics.
Biographical details of the priests named Friday can be found here.
Ex-priest named as child abuser fired
by city of Springfield, IL
HERALD & REVIEW by city of Springfield, IL
The city of Springfield has fired a City Water, Light and Power employee whose name appeared on a list of Catholic priests credibly accused of child sex abuse.
The State Journal-Register reported 62-year-old Joseph D. Cernich was stripped of his priestly title in June 2003 and began working for the city five months later.
The Diocese of Springfield has refused to say which parishes Cernich had been assigned to as a priest or what he was accused of doing.
Human Resources Director Jim Kuizin says Cernich was dismissed in December after an investigation into his hiring and employment. Kuizin declined to reveal the reasons for Cernich's firing. The State Journal-Register reports there is no record of complaints or disciplinary action.
A request for comment from Cernich wasn't answered. He can appeal the city's decision to dismiss him through the Springfield Civil Service Commission or arbitration.
Santa Rosa Diocese names 39 clergymen
as known or alleged sex abusers
MARY CALLAHAN, THE PRESS DEMOCRATLIST OF NAMES: Here are the 39 names released by the Santa Rosa Diocese on Saturday, which lists priests and deacons with ties to the diocese, who church leaders say committed child sexual abuse or were credibly accused of such crimes.
Names previously released:
Patrick Gleeson*
Austin Peter Keegan
Don Kimball*
Vincent O’Neill*
John Rogers*
Anthony J. Ross
Gary Timmons
Names part of public record (media disclosures, legal, internet, etc.):
Carmelo Baltazar*
 |
| Bishop Vasa |
David Brusky*
John Crews
Francis (John) Ford*
Patrick A. Hannon*
Michael Emmet Kelly
Patrick McCabe
John A. Meenan*
Francisco Javier Ochoa*
Ted Oswald*
Thomas Parker
Bernie Ward
Ron Wiecek
Not previously named, credibly accused:
Francis E. Neville*
Xavier Pallathuparambil*
Alfredo Sobalvarro
James Walsh*
Named due to ties to SR Diocese but claims in other areas:
Joseph Alzugaray*
Edward F. Beutner*
Kevin Dunne
Don Eagleson*
Don D. Flickinger
J. Patrick Foley*
Ruben Garcia*
Bruce Maxwell*
John Moriarty
Mark O'Leary
Daniel Polizzi*
Celestine Quinlan*
Francis Verngren*
Vincent A. Yzermans*
Not named, but "have received much notoriety" and are "still under review""
George Patrick Ziemann*
John Clayton Nienstedt
*Asterisks denote those known to be dead, according to the news release.
Santa Rosa Bishop Robert F. Vasa on Saturday disclosed the names of 39 priests and deacons with ties to the diocese who church leaders say committed child sexual abuse or were credibly accused of such crimes, a disclosure that marks the most comprehensive acknowledgment to date of the decades-long scope of the clergy abuse scandal in the local Catholic church.
The list made public to about 140,000 parishioners as well as the media includes many well-known names long public due to high-profile molestation cases as well as several previously unknown — most of them accused for offenses committed several decades ago.
At least 23 of those on the list are deceased.
None are serving in public ministry in the Santa Rosa Diocese, Vasa said in the North Coast Catholic newspaper, published online Saturday ahead of a long-planned news release.
About 17 people included on the list served in the Santa Rosa Diocese at some point but had accusations lodged against them elsewhere, Vasa said.
But the bishop said a search of the records indicated about 25 priests were accused of abusing about 100 children during service to the Santa Rosa Dioecese from its founding in 1962 to the present — “a shocking number” that, in part, inspired release of the names, he wrote in the diocesan newsletter.
He noted that four priests — Gary Timmons, Don Kimball, Austin Peter Keegan and Francisco Xavier Ochoa — were responsible for 63 known victims. Kimball and Ochoa are deceased, according to the church.
“My primary goal in releasing the names of accused priests and deacons who served in Santa Rosa in this public fashion is to give to all the victims of clerical sexual abuse the assurance that they have been heard and that the Church is very much concerned for their well-being and healing,” Vasa wrote. “It is my deepest prayer and hope that this release of names in a consolidated fashion says to any of you who are victims, we have heard you, we believe you, we affirm you in your trauma and we want to help with a healing process.”
The list of 39 clergymen includes the well-known names of predatory priests whose disturbing behavior came to light in the mid-1990s during a rash of civil and criminal cases that exposed the sprawling North Coast diocese as a focal point of the Catholic abuse scandal several years before the scandal erupted nationwide.
The diocese has since paid out more than $29 million in legal settlements to childhood victims of at least 10 priests since the 1990s, about $12 million of it covered by insurance.
“Sadly, we have had sexual abuse events as late as 2006 and 2008 and I find that most troubling,” Vasa said in his written statement accompanying the disclosure, which was also published in Spanish. “However, the vast majority of the abuses occurred decades ago. This is not complete proof that the Church is making progress in eliminating this great tragedy, but I find this to be a sign of hope.”
The new disclosure comes in the wake of explosive revelations contained in a Pennsylvania grand jury report last year that renewed the drumbeat for greater scrutiny of church leadership. Catholic dioceses in San Jose and Monterey last year released their lists of clergymen accused or known to have committed sex abuse or misconduct.
Vasa said he is seeking transparency on behalf of the diocese in an effort to aid the healing of victims and to “acknowledge that the evil and sinful actions of these priests have adversely affected us all.”
“The injury done to others is not in any way comparable to the impact on specific individuals or families but there is harm nonetheless,” Vasa wrote. “The perverse actions of these priests and bishops have shaken the confidence of the People of God in every parish in our country. These predatory priests and bishops have caused immense damage to the priesthood and they have dishonored every good and holy priest striving to do God’s will.”
Amazing! No reference to what God may think of such horrific action by people ordained to represent Him. It's like they have no idea of the consequences they will face when they stand before Jesus Christ.
Catholic Church settles for $400K in five sex abuse lawsuits against N.J. priest
By Kelly Heyboer | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Five alleged victims who say they were sexually abused by a New Jersey priest settled their lawsuits against the Catholic Church for a total of $400,000 -- and a sixth cases against him is still in court, an attorney said.
Five lawsuits against Walters were settled in July after the cases went to mediation, said Mitchell Garabedian, the Boston-based attorney for the alleged victims. Garabedian, who was portrayed by Stanley Tucci in the 2015 film “Spotlight,” is known for representing victims in cases against the Catholic Church.
A sixth case filed by an alleged victim abused as a child is still in court. In that case, the alleged victim is suing Walters, the Archdiocese of Newark, St. Cassian Parish and St. Cassian School.
“The Archdiocese of Newark is working diligently towards the healing and reconciliation of survivors and seeks to resolve all claims, whether through mediation or otherwise. We are hopeful that the settlement of these five claims will begin the healing process for the victims-survivors, and we continue to work toward the resolutions of similar matters,” the archdiocese said in a statement.
Church officials have previously said New Jersey’s five dioceses have paid out a total of at least $50 million in settlements with clergy sexual abuse victims. Much of that money came from the dioceses' insurance reserve funds.
During an eighth-grade class trip to the Poconos, Walters groped her breast and buttocks as he carried her around a swimming pool for several minutes, Polemeni alleged.
“I also thought that that was just how men behaved,” Polemeni, now a teacher in Ohio, told NJ Advance Media in 2016. “That, sometimes they were creepy, and gross, and you just had to wait for them to go away.”
In the sixth case still pending in court, both attorneys for Walters and the Catholic Church asked for the case to be thrown out entirely or in part, Garabedian said. In court papers, the church attorneys have alleged “contributory negligence” or “comparative negligence,” meaning the cases should be dismissed because the alleged victim was partially at fault for the alleged abuse.
Good grief! Not what I would call repentance.
The same arguments were made by church attorneys in the five other cases that were eventually settled, Garabedian said.
“The legal language filed on behalf of the archdiocese is a standard response to these types of cases. It is unfortunate and extremely disingenuous for the plaintiff counsel to call out such language and mischaracterize it so as to sensationalize the case for heightened media attention," the Archdiocese of Newark said in a statement.
The announcement of the settlement of the cases against Walters come as the Catholic Church in New Jersey is preparing to release a list of all priests and deacons who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse.
Church officials said the list is expected to be released by the Archdiocese of Newark and the four other dioceses -- Metuchen, Paterson, Camden and Trenton -- early this year. It is unclear how many names will be on it.
New Jersey’s attorney general set up a task force last year to investigate priest sexual abuse and whether the Catholic Church covered up the crimes. The investigation is modeled on a similar two-year probe in Pennsylvania that used subpoenas to gather decades of church files that revealed more than 1,000 children were sexually abused by at least 300 priests in that state.
The New Jersey attorney general’s task force set up a hotline -- (855) 363-6548 - for people to report allegations of sexual abuse by members of the clergy.
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