CARDINAL PELL GUILTY ON ALL COUNTS OF SEX ABUSE
NEWS: WORLD NEWS
by Christine Niles, M.St. (Oxon.), J.D. • ChurchMilitant.com
SYDNEY, Australia - A jury has found Cdl. George Pell guilty on all counts related to sexually abusing two altar boys.
A previous trial resulted in a hung jury.
Pell had been accused of molesting two altar boys during a swimming trip in the 1990s, when he was bishop in Ballarat, a town northwest of Melbourne. Pell has vigorously denied the allegations, and his attorney, Robert Richter, said in 2017 that there is "voluminous" evidence to show that "what was alleged is impossible."
Although multiple accusations were levelled at the cardinal initially, the court threw out most of them.
Pell was named the Vatican's Secretariat for the Economy in 2014, making him the third highest-ranking cleric in Rome. He was brought in ostensibly to clean up Vatican finances, exercising oversight over Vatican properties and personnel.
His proposed reforms, however, which included demands for greater transparency, met with resistance. According to Vatican expert Edward Pentin, the "Old Guard" resisted reform out of fears it would reveal their corruption.
Pope Francis restricted Pell's powers without notice in a motu proprio he issued in 2016. And a financial audit by the firm PricewaterhouseCoopers was cut short by the Secretary of State after only four months.
One source who spoke with Pentin complained that the reforms were "dead, over, finished, they've been blocked. The corruption continues; it's just better concealed," the inside source added, saying Vatican finances had returned to being as bad as they were before Pell's reforms, and possibly worse.
Libero Milone, the Vatican's auditor general, initially put in place to implement reforms, was fired in 2017, the Vatican accusing him of "spying" on officials. Milone, however, claims it was the other way around: The Vatican was spying on him, and he was fired because he had discovered financial irregularities that threatened Vatican officials.
One week later, Pell also left the Vatican, granted permission by Pope Francis to stand trial in Australian court over charges of "historical sexual offenses."
"All along I have been completely consistent and clear in my total rejection of these allegations," Pell said at the time. "News of these charges strengthens my resolve and court proceedings now offer me an opportunity to clear my name and then return here back to Rome to work."
Some have called out the pope for an apparent double standard: In September he had refused to allow Cdl. Luis Ladaria Ferrer, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, to stand trial for allegations of sex abuse cover-up, citing sovereign immunity.
Bishop accused of ‘brutally’ raping nun 13 times exposed thanks to sisterly protest
Bishop Franco Mulakka is escorted by police in Kochi, Kerala, September 2018 © V Sivaram / Reuters
In the latest sexual abuse scandal to hit the Catholic Church, a nun who said a bishop raped her 13 times claims the church tried to silence her, while fellow nuns who showed support for the victim were intimidated.
The Indian nun from the southern state of Kerala said Jalandhar Bishop Franco Mulakkal first raped her in 2014 when he visited the convent and called her into his room one night.
“I was numbed and terrified by his act. I took all efforts to get out, but in vain. He raped me brutally,” she later wrote in a letter to the Pope’s representative in India.
How do you get to be a Bishop in the Catholic Church without even the faintest fear of God?
The news comes just days after Pope Francis finally acknowledged that sexual abuse of nuns by the clergy is an ongoing problem.
The nun first spoke out about the abuse in January 2017, and approached various church officials and Vatican representatives, some of whom told her not to tell the police and to instead wait for the church to sort it out.
It took five other nuns rebelling and publicly showing support for the sister in a days-long protest outside the High Court in September for the church to even acknowledge the accusations.
Nuns hold placards during a protest demanding justice after an alleged sexual assault of a nun by a bishop in Kochi © V Sivaram / Reuters
Two weeks later, Mulakkal was stripped of his administrative duties by the Vatican and was arrested the next day, and currently faces charges of rape and intimidation and trial by a special prosecutor. Police believe they may have evidence that he raped her and intimidated both his alleged victim and the nuns who supported her.
Mulakkal maintains his innocence and has claimed the nun had a vendetta against him. Upon his release on bail in October, he was given a warm welcome by his diocese.
“We used to see the fathers of the church as equivalent to God, but not any more,” the victim’s sister told the New York Times. “How can I tell my son about this, that the person teaching us the difference between right and wrong gave him his First Communion after committing such a terrible sin?”
Four of the nuns who supported the victim were given transfer orders to remove them from their Kuravilangad convent in the wake of their protest. However, this has just been overturned, Mirror Now reports, with the Jalandhar Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church sending the nuns an email saying they can remain as long as they are needed for the court case.
Kerala police say more nuns have since come forward with allegations of abuse at the hands of priests.
Vatican’s homophobic hypocrisy: 80% of priests are gay, explosive book reveals
Book written by a gay, French journalist
Priests are seen as Pope Francis leads a Holy Mass at the Vatican © Reuters / Alessandro Bianchi
French journalist Frederic Martel’s new book, ‘In the Closest of the Vatican,’ claims that the more homophobic the priest, the more likely they are to be gay.
While not all the priests detailed in the 570-page book act on their sexual preferences, many are allegedly engaging in relationships with their fellow fathers, while some prefer casual hook ups and others are hiring male prostitutes, according to the review in Catholic publication the Tablet.
Martel’s scandalous claims come after he spent four years interviewing over 1,500 people, including 200 priests, 41 cardinals and 52 bishops, diplomatic officials, guards and others in the Vatican. Martel, who was a former adviser to the French government and is gay, repeatedly visited Rome where he sometimes stayed in the Vatican or Holy See properties in Rome.
Martel’s publishers have described the book as a “startling account of corruption and hypocrisy at the heart of the Vatican.” One of the claims is that the late Colombian cardinal Alfonso López Trujillo used gay prostitutes, despite his staunch defense of the Church's views on homosexuality.
The book is to be released February 21, on the same day as Pope Francis’ sexual abuse summit. While the book does not focus on the Catholic Church’s problems with child sex abuse, Martel thinks the secretive sexual culture makes it difficult for secretly gay priests to denounce abusers.
“The issue of homosexuality is a very serious issue that must be adequately discerned from the beginning with the candidates [for the priesthood].” Pope Francis said in December.
New Jersey Catholic Church names more than 180 priests accused of child sexual abuse
By Associated PressMore than 180 Roman Catholic priests accused of sexually abusing minors in the US have been named.
New Jersey's five Roman Catholic dioceses released lists of alleged offenders on Wednesday (local time), joining more than two dozen other states that have named suspected abusers in the wake of a landmark grand jury report in Pennsylvania last year.
The lists released identified priests and deacons who served in the dioceses of Camden, Trenton, Metuchen and Paterson and the archdiocese of Newark. Many priests on the lists are dead, while others have been removed from ministry.
Cardinal Joseph Tobin, the archbishop of Newark, which listed 63 former priests, said he hoped the disclosure "will help bring healing to those whose lives have been so deeply violated."
Cardinal Joseph Tobin, the archbishop of Newark, said he hoped the disclosure "will help bring healing”. (AP)
State Attorney General Gurbir Grewal formed a task force last year to conduct a criminal investigation into sexual abuse by clergy in the state, shortly after a Pennsylvania grand jury report identified over 300 predator priests and more than 1000 victims in that state.
"While this is a positive first step towards transparency and accountability, I hope this spirit of openness continues during the course of our ongoing investigation and in response to our requests for records and information," said Mr Grewal.
Newark's list includes Theodore McCarrick, a former Newark archbishop who served as Washington DC, archbishop from 2000 to 2006. McCarrick was removed from public ministry in June.
Theodore McCarrick, a former Newark archbishop who served as Washington DC archbishop from 2000 to 2006, was named. (AP)
The lists released by the diocese don't include details about specific allegations or when they are alleged to have happened; rather, any details about the named priests and the crimes of which they are accused come from court records or previously published reports.
Several priests who served in the Newark archdiocese have been accused of molesting boys as part of their volunteer work with Boy Scout troops, according to published reports. Others named in the release were arrested, convicted or pleaded guilty and were returned to service after probation or treatment, according to court records and published reports.
Carmen Sita changed his name to Gerald Howard after being sentenced to probation and receiving treatment and began serving as a priest in the Jefferson City, Missouri, diocese where he was assigned to a parish attached to a school. He was later accused of abusing teenage boys and was convicted a second time. The Missouri diocese reported Howard is currently incarcerated.
New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal, left, formed a task force to investigate sexual abuse by clergy in the state. (AP)
Former priest Richard Mieliwocki, who was convicted and sentenced to probation, disappeared after starting counselling and resurfaced when he was accused of molesting teenagers as a counsellor in an in-patient substance abuse program.
Another priest who was named, Manuel Gallo Espinoza, was indicted by a grand jury in 2016 after admitting to at least one allegation of abuse. He fled to Ecuador, and a warrant was issued for his arrest.
The lists don't include religious order priests, such as Jesuits, who may serve in parishes or schools but are not ordained by the diocese. A victims' compensation fund announced this week in New Jersey also won't cover claims against religious order priests.
Mitchell Garabedian, a lawyer who has represented alleged victims in New Jersey, said the release of names isn't enough.
"Given the vast number of priests named as sexual abusers and the span of time in which the sexual abuse took place, it is fair to state that the Archdiocese and Dioceses in New Jersey have forgotten how to be moral and kind with children," he said.
Nearly 2000 accused clergy members and others nationwide have been identified since and including the Pennsylvania grand jury report, a review by The Associated Press found.
ELITE MELBOURNE CATHOLIC SCHOOL ROCKED
BY CHILD SEX ABUSE CLAIMS
It's been revealed that an elite Melbourne Catholic school is being investigated by lawyers for historical child sex abuse claims.
The Herald Sun is reporting that De La Salle College in Malvern is the school under question, after James Parkinson of Porters Lawyers revealed he was looking into claims against Brother Anselm.
The child sex abuse claims are alleged to have taken place between 1960 and 1989 at both Revesby Catholic school in New South Wales and De La Salle.
Anselm's (also known as Tom Hallam) actions were believed to have been well known. “He was a serial paedophile who has many victims,” Mr Parkinson said. “The order knew he was a risk but they still allowed him access (to children).”
Ex-teachers told the lawyer that his actions were well known at the school but the brothers "refused to act."
At least eight former students have come forward to current De La Salle Principal Peter Houlihan to complain about the abuse they experienced. Houlihan said the school was deeply apologetic.
“We’ve unreservedly and wholeheartedly apologised … we just have to acknowledge this is a terribly shameful period in our history,” a statement read.
“We also recognise that past responses to complaints about institutional abuse were not appropriate and we apologise for that.”
“The De La Salle Brothers will continue to work to provide some healing through counselling, apology and monetary compensation to those who have experienced abuse in any of our facilities.”
Hallam died in the 1990s.
And yet, he lives, in a place with an even warmer climate than Melbourne. Those brothers and sisters who ignored and enabled his 'violation of the sacred', stand a very good chance of joining him there.
Committee kills bill that would have opened window for child sex abuse suits in So. Dakota
Sarah Mearoff Forum News Service
A South Dakota legislative committee killed a bill that could have broadened the window for survivors of childhood sexual abuse to pursue civil suits against entities, such as the Catholic church.
The House Judiciary Committee on Monday voted 7-3 to defer House Bill 1269 to the 41st legislative day — effectively killing it. The bill would have temporarily broadened the statute of limitations for survivors of child sex crimes to pursue civil actions against entities or organizations.
Under current law, victims over the age of 40 cannot pursue a civil suit for child sex crimes against an entity. That current statute has been in place since the Legislature passed it in 2010.
Since that bill passed, activists have pushed for bills similar to HB 1269 in an attempt to open up the window.
At the time of the 2010 bill's passing, plaintiffs were pursuing a case against the Catholic Diocese in Sioux Falls and the Blue Cloud Abbey for childhood sexual abuse that allegedly occurred at a Catholic boarding school for American Indian children in southeastern South Dakota in the 1950s and 1960s. The case was then thrown out.
Proponents said the bill would give survivors who were denied justice nine years ago an opportunity to seek it and would send a message to abuse survivors that the state supports them. Opponents say that statutes of limitations exist for a reason, and that allegations from decades ago are difficult to prove or deny — especially when alleged perpetrators or eyewitnesses could now be dead.
Though HB 1269 has been pushed by this group of survivors, proponents say the bill would not just help this one group, but all survivors of childhood sexual abuse.
Justin Bell, a lobbyist for the Catholic-affiliated St. Joseph's Indian School, told committee members on Monday that HB 1269 would open up the possibility of litigation that could "bog down" schools that are currently doing good work for American Indian children and communities. Committee Chairman and House Majority Whip Rep. Jon Hansen, R-Dell Rapids, said that it's "not justice" to hold organizations and congregations liable today for crimes that were committed decades ago.
Especially if your pockets are being lined by those organizations.
Rep. Tamara St. John, R-Sisseton, the prime sponsor of the bill, contended that HB 1269 "has nothing to do with politics," but "is as simple as someone wanting justice or acknowledgement of the most unthinkable of things."
"Every day, we stand in the Legislature and say the Pledge of Allegiance," St. John told committee members. "At the very end, it says, 'For liberty and justice for all.' It doesn't say, 'Except for if you're over 40 and have been abused in a Catholic boarding school.' "
Former students of Tasmania's Marist College come forward after conviction of paedophile priest
By Henry Zwartz
PHOTO: Paul and Stephen O'Halloran say they were sexually assaulted by convicted paedophile priest Thomas Fulcher. (ABC News: Henry Zwartz)
The conviction of a paedophile priest has opened old wounds in a region coming to terms with its dark history of sexual abuse.
In December 2018, Thomas Fulcher was sentenced to four years' prison, two without parole, after pleading guilty to sexually abusing two boys at Burnie's Marist College, in north-west Tasmania, between 1964 and 1967.
Fulcher was the fifth staff member associated with Marist College, now the Marist Regional College, to have been convicted of sex offences.
Now, multiple former students have come forward alleging they too were abused by Fulcher, including former state Greens MP Paul O'Halloran and his brother Stephen.
Some names in this story have been changed to protect privacy.
PHOTO: Father Thomas Fulcher in a photo from the Marist Brothers College 1967 yearbook. (ABC News)
"Stephen and I were both sexually abused at the college," Paul O'Halloran said as he leafed through a copy of the college's 1964 yearbook.
He said the abuse involved "sex-ed" or "sex-lec" classes, where boys were invited into Fulcher's room after dark and told to drop their pants "to see if everything worked as it should".
Paul said his "sex lecture" with Fulcher happened when he was 14 in 1964.
"I went in to Fulcher's room and he took me in and locked the door. He drew male genitalia on paper with a pencil. He told me to drop my pants, which I did after he'd finished his drawing," he said.
Five staff members associated with Marist College have been convicted over sex offences, they are:
Stephen Grant Randell, found guilty in 1999 on 15 charges of indecent assault against nine girls between 1981-1982
Paul Ronald Goldsmith, jailed for more than six years in 2005 on 42 sex offences against 20 boys aged between 13-16. He died in Tanzania in 2016
Gregory Laurence Ferguson, who taught at the college in the 1970s, sentenced to five years' prison in 2007 after two separate convictions
Roger Michael Bellemore sentenced to four years' prison in 2008 after being convicted of assaulting three students between 1966 and 1971
Thomas Fulcher, sentenced to four years' prison in December 2018, two without parole, after admitting to sexually abusing two former students
He said older boys had warned him about the classes, but that students could not refuse to go up.
"I mean, it was unthinkable that you would not go, given the power and the authority that the priests had, it was quite a cruel environment," he said.
"I was standing there naked.
I knew what he was asking me to do was wrong."
And how, I wonder, did Fulcher not know it was wrong?
Paul made a statement to police last year.
Stephen O'Halloran said he struggled with alcohol after his time at Marist College. "In 1968, I was playing football with the seniors at Marist and I had a corkie in my right leg," he said.
"Fulcher told me to come into his room after lights out and he started to rub and made me take my pyjamas off and put a little towel around me which didn't even cover me."
The college's yearbook is a catalogue of dark memories for the O'Halloran brothers.
"That happened two or three times in one week," Stephen said. "They'd last 20 minutes. It was horrible. I'm pretty sure it made me drink a lot more alcohol than I should have."
'I feel sorry for them'
Peter, whose last name has been withheld, studied at Marist from 1963 to 1967.
"There was a joke we former students have with each other, we each say we've done our time, as if it was a prison sentence," he said, while making biscuits at his home in the coastal enclave of Wynyard.
He said he was asked to attend a sex-ed class with Fulcher after admitting to the priest he was having sexual thoughts about girls when he was 14 in confession.
"I believe the priests used and abused confession as a sort of secret listening post. It was soon after I confessed to Fulcher about sexual thoughts that he asked me to come to his room after lights out," he said.
"I actually feel a little bit sorry for Fulcher, it is such an unnatural environment to be celibate like that, but what happened was wrong and many of the old students are still paying for it.
"My time at the school was unbearable, I couldn't wait to get out of the place. It was a jail. If I run across someone from the school we have a joke, we all did time together."
'Culture of shame, silence, fear'
More than 10 students told the ABC they were subjected to Fulcher's "sex-ed" classes in the 1960s.
Some have provided their accounts to the redress scheme, but have yet to make police statements because they did not want to put their families through the process.
The students the ABC spoke to have not told their relatives they were abused.
The former students said boarders were the most vulnerable as they came from remote areas of Tasmania and had to stay at the school on weekends.
PHOTO: Paul O'Halloran made a statement to police last year. (ABC News: Henry Zwartz)
Joe* said the sex-ed classes were widely known among the school. "It was practically a school-wide joke," Joe said. "We would say to each other, have you had Fulcher's sex class yet?
"The number of boys you would see going to the priests' rooms after lights out was almost a nightly occurrence. There was a culture of shame, silence and fear."
Fulcher's boss accused of abuse
In addition to the fresh allegations against Fulcher, four students have also raised allegations of abuse against priest who was principal of Marist College at the time when Fulcher was teaching.
Father Peter Guiren was Rector from 1961 to 1966, before being promoted to the senior position of a Provincial of the Marist Fathers in 1971.
PHOTO: Father Peter Guiren died in 1987.
(ABC News: Henry Zwartz)
Stephen O'Halloran said he was abused by Father Guiren.
"Guiren summoned me to his office after classes at around 7:00pm," he said.
"He falsely accused me of having sex with a fellow boy student. He then sat me on his knee and put his hand up my pants, and began rubbing me,"
"I was trying not to cry. It was horrible, and I was 11.
"I was sent back to the study, but spent the evening crying in the toilets."
He has provided his account to the National Redress Scheme.
Frederick* said he was also abused by Father Guiren shortly after the death of his father while he was boarding at the college in the 1960s.
"[Father] Guiren called me into his office, got my PJ bottoms off and touched me," he said. "He told me normally my father would do this but because he had recently died, it was his job as part of a sex education. I hated it. I hated how he used my dead father as an excuse."
James* said he was abused on more than 50 occasions between 1960 and 1963 by Father Guiren.
"Guiren would invite me into his room after lights out. I hated it but he was the rector, who could I report it to?" he said.
Father Guiren died in 1987 after working across Australia, including in Brisbane, Geelong, Lismore and Perth.
PHOTO: 'James' says he was abused more than 50 times while at Marist College. (ABC News: Henry Zwartz)
'Enormous weight has fallen off me'
Those allegedly abused said they hoped that by sharing their stories, they would encourage others to come forward.
Paul O'Halloran successfully pushed to have the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse come to Tasmania.
He said there were more survivors out there.
"When I was a member of Parliament, I had people coming into my office whose lives had essentially been totally destroyed by things that had happened to them at Marist College," he said.
"This is the first time [I'm] sharing my story publicly, and it feels like an enormous weight has fallen off me," Stephen said.
"I've struggled with this all of my life. Please if you are reading this, speak to someone about it before it eats you alive from the inside out."
PHOTO: Thomas Fulcher was sentenced to four years' jail. (ABC News)
Paul said he was sharing his story to live up to Marist College's old motto.
"The motto of the school is 'Diligite Veritatem' which means 'love the truth'," he said.
"I suppose that motto has sunk in, people need to know the truth about what happened. What I want to know is, all of the priests had shared living accommodation, so how did the school not know what was going on?
"I think the scale of what happened at Marist College, particularly in those early days, was of such a scale that the story needs to be told."
In statements to the ABC, Marist Regional College, the Archdiocese of Hobart and the Marist Fathers apologised to students for the hurt caused and urged survivors to contact police.
The Catholic Church in Tasmania said it offered a "sincere apology for the damage caused to the lives of victims of sexual abuse and their families."
Hobart's Archbishop Julian Porteous said the Church had been "humbled by the historical cases of child sexual abuse, and regrets the harm caused by those priests and religious who breached their position of trust."
'Dark past' acknowledged
The Marist Fathers Australia said they acknowledged the "deep shame" of the reality that staff abused children. "We reiterate our apology to these survivors and to any former student who was hurt whilst in our care," it said.
The Catholic Church signed up to the National Redress Scheme on December 5 last year.
Adrian Drane, Principal of Marist Regional College, said the cases raised by the ABC were a reminder of "the mislaid trust place in some individuals, and is a dark past of Marist Regional College's history".
Mr Drane said Marist Regional College was planning on having a permanent acknowledgement of abuse survivors established at the school this year.
Tasmania Police said it would "continue to investigate allegations of unlawful sexual misconduct or abuse".
The ABC's request to interview Fulcher was declined by Tasmania's Director of Prisons.
*Names have been changed
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