‘Deep wounds’: Respected Canadian Catholic figure sexually abused women, report finds
BY SYLVIE CORBET THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jean Vanier, the founder of L'ARCHE, an international network of communities where people with and without intellectual disabilities live and work together, smiles as he poses for the photographers following a news conference, in central London, Wednesday, March 11, 2015. . (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
A respected Canadian Catholic figure who helped improve conditions for the developmentally disabled in multiple countries over half a century sexually abused at least six women, a report produced for his French-based charity has found.
According to the report released by L’Arche International Saturday, the women’s descriptions provide evidence enough to show that Jean Vanier engaged in “manipulative sexual relationships” over a period from 1970 to 2005, usually with a “psychological hold” over the alleged victims. Vanier died last year at age 90.
“The alleged victims felt deprived of their free will and so the sexual activity was coerced or took place under coercive conditions,” the report said. It did not rule out potential other victims.
None of the women was disabled, a significant point given the Vatican has long sought to portray any sexual relationship between religious leaders and other adults as consensual unless there was clear evidence of disability. The #MeToo and #ChurchToo movements, however, have forced a recognition that power imbalances such as those in spiritual relationships can breed abuse.
During the inquiry, commissioned by L’Arche last year and carried out by the independent, U.K.-based GCPS Consulting group, six adult, non-disabled women said Vanier had engaged in sexual relations with them as they were seeking spiritual direction.
According to the report, the women, who have no links to each other, reported similar facts and Vanier’s sexual misconduct was often associated with alleged “spiritual and mystical justifications.”
A statement released by L’Arche France Saturday stressed that some women still have “deep wounds.”
Taught by mentor
The report noted similarities with the pattern of abuse of the Rev. Thomas Philippe, a Catholic priest Vanier called his “spiritual father.” Philippe, who died in 1993, has been accused of sexual abuse by several women.
A statement from L’Arche International said analysis of archives shows that Vanier “adopted some of Father Thomas Philippe’s deviant theories and practices.” Philippe was banned from exercising any public or private ministry in a trial led by the Catholic Church in 1956 for his theories and the sexual practices that stemmed from them.
In a letter to the charity members, the Leaders of L’Arche International, Stephan Posner and Stacy Cates Carney, told of their shock at the news, and condemned Vanier’s actions.
“For many of us, Jean was one of the people we loved and respected the most. … While the considerable good he did throughout his life is not in question, we will nevertheless have to mourn a certain image we may have had of Jean and of the origins of L’Arche,” they wrote.
Vanier worked as a Canadian navy officer and professor before turning to charity work. A visit to a psychiatric facility prompted him to found the charity L’Arche in 1964 as an alternative living environment where those with developmental disabilities could be full-fledged participants in the community instead of patients.
The charity now has facilities in 38 countries that are home to thousands of people both with and without disabilities.
Vanier, who was unmarried, also travelled the world to encourage dialogue across religions, and was awarded the 2015 Templeton Prize for spiritual work, as well as France’s Legion of Honor. He was the subject of a documentary shown at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival called “Jean Vanier, the Sacrament of Tenderness.”
The allegations against Vanier reveal a major gap in the Catholic Church’s handling of sex abuse allegations to date: Because he was a layman, he was exempt from the Vatican’s in-house sanctioning procedures for abuse, which only cover priests, bishops and cardinals. For these offenders, the worst penalty the Vatican can impose is defrocking — essentially, making the priests laymen again.
A similar case concerned the lay leader of a Peru-based organization, Sodalicio, who escaped Vatican justice for years even though there were credible allegations of sexual, physical and psychological abuse against him. The Vatican finally ordered him to live in isolation from his followers, a penalty that drew scorn from his victims given that it amounted to an all-expense-paid retirement in Rome.
Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV), or Sodalitium of Christian Life is a Society of Apostolic Life of Pontifical Right, according to the Code of Canon Law which governs the Latin Rite branch of the Catholic Church. It was founded in Lima, Peru, by Luis Fernando Figari on 8 December 1971. It acquired its present canonical form when Pope John Paul II gave his Pontifical approval on 8 July 1997. The Sodalitium was the first male religious society in Peru to receive papal approval. By 1997 there were Sodalit communities in several countries.
The Sodalitium is composed of consecrated laymen and priests, called "Sodalits," who live in community as brothers, live the evangelical counsels through perpetual commitments of celibacy and obedience, as well as the communication of goods.
Being recognised as a lay society of apostolic life of pontifical right, the Sodalitium is under the authority of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life of the Holy See. This is the first lay society of apostolic life to be recognised with Pontifical approval.
In 2003 there were accusations of brainwashing of young people, and of elitism, conservatism, and authoritarianism. Later there were allegations of sexual abuse by the founder Luis Fernando Figari. There were also detailed allegations about the founder's extreme right-wing and phalangist activism in his youth. Independent investigators commissioned by the Sodalitium reported that “Figari sexually assaulted at least one child, manipulated, sexually abused, or harmed several other young people; and physically or psychologically abused dozens of others.” Apart from the sexual abuse, it was also reported that Figari committed physical abuse, being described as “appearing to enjoy observing the younger aspirants and brothers experience pain, discomfort and fear.”[citation needed] On one occasion, he burned an individual with a candle, and menaced members by allowing his dog to bite them at times. The report also mentions that there are several other Sodalits who had physically or psychologically abused another Sodalit or a person in formation. These people are still in the community, though they have had "administrative actions taken against them and are receiving training."
On 30 January 2017, the Vatican's Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life ordered that Figari be “prohibited from contacting, in any way, persons belonging to the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, and no way have any direct personal contact with them.”
On 10 January 2018, it was announced that Pope Francis had appointed Bishop Noel Londoño Buitrago of the Diocese of Jericó, Colombia as papal commissioner. He will work alongside the papal delegate, Cardinal Joseph Tobin of the Diocese of Newark. Pope Francis said that a verdict would be reached within a month, and was likely to be unfavourable to Figari. Tobin had found instances of sexual and psychological abuse, and financial irregularities.
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If Kansas Catholics are ‘very sorry’ about child sex abuse, why won’t they back this bill?
BY THE KANSAS CITY STAR EDITORIAL BOARD
The Catholic Diocese of Wichita released the names of 15 priests with “substantiated allegations of sexual abuse of a minor.” BY COURTESY/DIOCESE OF WICHITA
What the Kansas Catholic Conference might consider giving up for Lent is its official neutrality on a bill that would eliminate the statute of limitations for civil suits filed by victims of childhood sexual abuse.
To do otherwise would give the surely mistaken impression that the Catholic Church still doesn’t understand and/or care about the extent of the damage caused by its long history of covering up abuse perpetrated by priests.
If you understand abuse at all, you know that it takes even most adult victims many years to come forward. The average age of disclosure is 52.
So Kansas law, which gives childhood victims only three years after they turn 18 to file lawsuits, desperately needs the overhaul that it might finally get, though legislators have opposed such an update in the past and many are hesitant still.
Ten states have completely eliminated civil statutes of limitations for child sex abuse, and 14 other states have set the statute of limitations over the age of 50 for victims.
In Kansas, which has one of the shortest windows for lawsuits by victims of childhood abuse in the country, the effective limit of age 21 keeps most victims from ever being able to pursue civil action.
That limit was set in 1992, when so much less was understood, and the general public thought little about the issue at all.
State Rep. Cindy Holscher’s bill would do away with the time limit back to 1984. Victims also want a “look-back period” during which victims of abuse that occurred before that time could come forward.
For some reason, the Kansas Catholic Conference says it’s staying neutral on the bill, even though its director, Chuck Weber, repeatedly apologized to victims at a recent hearing on it, and said lawmakers should take a “survivor-centric approach.”
“At one time there was a reason for (a) statute of limitations,” Weber said. “There still is a reason for (a) statute of limitations. (Are) there reasons to eliminate them today? We ask the question. We’re not saying no. We’re asking the question: What are the ramifications of that?”
The ramifications are justice, recognition of many great wrongs previously ignored, and an opportunity for survivors to tell their story, and perhaps get some help and some closure.
He surely knows the answer and the ramifications, especially since he also testified that, “We know that it sometimes takes decades for a survivor of childhood sexual abuse to come forward.”
It took Susan Leighnor 50 years. She testified that starting when she was 10 years old, she was raped by two different priests at Church of the Holy Cross in Hutchinson, Kansas, where she grew up. The first of the two told her she would go to hell if she ever told anyone, and she believed him. The other, William Wheeler, who died in 1994, was on last year’s list of priests against whom there have been substantiated reports of childhood sex abuse in the Diocese of Wichita.
Maybe you think the church’s position on the bill no longer matters, but it does. Holscher said what she’s heard from some of her colleagues is, “I don’t think the church would like that.”
At the hearing, Weber said, “Again, I want to say I’m sorry on behalf of the Catholic Church for anyone who has ever been abused. We are very, very sorry. And I know for many, that means nothing, and I understand that.”
Of course it means nothing when it is not followed by any action, and act of repentance. Good grief.
If that’s the case, then he also must understand that these apologies would mean a lot more if the four bishops that the Kansas Catholic Conference represents came out in support of Holscher’s bill.
Visit KansasCity .com for numerous background links.
List of Memphis clergy 'credibly accused' of child sex abuse released by Catholic Diocese
Katherine Burgess, The Commercial Appeal
Months after promising survivors to release a list of clergy credibly accused of child abuse, the Catholic Diocese of Memphis has done so.
Its list includes 20 names. The list is predominantly made up of names already included in lists compiled by other dioceses or religious orders along with clergy named publicly by victims.
The two exceptions appear to be James Gilbert and Floyd Brey, who do not appear in ProPublica’s database compiling the lists released by dioceses and religious orders or on bishopaccountability.org, which lists accused clergy.
"We are heartbroken and deeply saddened for the victims of these crimes and we have been scandalized to learn that some of those in authority ignored the cries from victims or minimized the damage," wrote the Most Rev. David Talley, bishop of the Diocese of Memphis, in a letter accompanying the list. "...The evils of the past can only be purged through a vigilant process of examination that is transparent to the public. Our response must demonstrate the highest levels of honesty and scrutiny."
The list from the Catholic Diocese of Memphis comes after 178 other dioceses and orders covering 64.7 million Catholics released their own lists of credibly accused clergy, according to data gathered by ProPublica.
Bishop Carroll T. Dozier, of the Catholic Diocese of Memphis, in a file photo from May 21, 1971. Dozier is among the priests named in a new list of clergy credibly accused of child sex abuse. (Photo: Richard Gardner / The Commercial Appeal)
According to the report from the Diocesan Review Board, which compiled the list, the definition of sexual misconduct that they used "is broad" and "derived from Tennessee law and other sources, and generally prohibits ... all sexual contact, solicitation, lewd sexual behavior and conversation involving minors."
"The Board is charged to determine whether it is more likely than not that the accused cleric engaged in sexual misconduct involving a minor," the report reads.
Since the Diocese of Memphis was created out of the Diocese of Nashville in 1970, the Diocesan Review Board did not repeat investigations into clergy ordained into the Diocese of Nashville. It later incardinated into the Diocese of Memphis, Talley wrote, but simply accepted the conclusions of Nashville's investigations.
Nashville released its list of 13 former priests who had been credibly accused in November 2018, which has since been updated.
Talley wrote that the same applied for clergy named on lists by other dioceses or religious orders.
In his letter, Talley said the "most notable" name in this category is that of Carroll T. Dozier, the founding bishop of the Diocese of Memphis.
Dozier was included on a list of clergy credibly accused of sexual abuse of a child by the Catholic Diocese of Richmond, Virginia, last year. He was assigned to three parishes there before being appointed the first bishop of the Diocese of Memphis after it separated from the Diocese of Nashville. The allegation of abuse was made after his death, but other details were not given.
Talley wrote that the Diocese of Memphis' files have no evidence of credible allegations made against Dozier in Memphis before his death or inclusion on the list in Richmond.
"While the Diocese of Memphis will investigate all allegations that come forward against Bishop Dozier, such investigations will be essentially incomplete as Bishop Dozier will not have had an opportunity to defend himself," Talley wrote. "We recognize listing Bishop Dozier might be upsetting to some parishioners who remember him as our first Bishop. However, because of the Diocese of Richmond’s findings, placing his name on our list is appropriate.
Here are the names listed by the Catholic Diocese of Memphis
Priests also named by the Diocese of Nashville:
The Rev. Edward James Cleary (deceased)
Born: April 18, 1914
Ordained: May 18, 1940
Incardinated in Diocese of Memphis: January 6, 1971
Died: November 10, 1997
Assignments in West Tennessee: Immaculate Conception Church in Memphis, St. Paul Church
Msgr. William Floyd Davis (deceased)
Born: August 17, 1929
Ordained: May 26, 1956
Incardinated in Diocese of Memphis: June 1, 1971
Died: October 26, 2011
Assignments in West Tennessee: St. William Church in Millington, St. Louis Church, Teacher at Catholic High School for Boys, St. John Church in Memphis, Blessed Sacrament Church, St. Mary’s Church, Savannah and Our Lady of the Lake, Pickwick
The Rev. Walter Emala (deceased)
Born: June 14, 1925
Ordained: May 31, 1952
Incardinated in Diocese of Memphis: January 6, 1971
Died: February 20, 2008
Assignments in West Tennessee: St. Anne Church in Memphis, West Tennessee Area Scout Chaplain, Immaculate Conception Church in Memphis, St. Ann Church in Bartlett
The Paul Frederick Haas (deceased)
Born: December 14, 1933
Ordained: May 23, 1959
Dismissed from priesthood: May 24, 1977
Died: June 7, 1979
Assignments in West Tennessee: St. John Church in Memphis, Teacher at Catholic High School for Boys, Sacred Heart Church in Memphis
The Rev. James A. Kemper (deceased)
Born: February 7, 1915
Ordained: March 21, 1942
Died: November 23, 1993
Assignments in West Tennessee: Holy Rosary Church, St. James Church
The Rev. James William Murphy Jr. (deceased)
Born: September 12, 1922
Ordained: April 3, 1948
Incardinated in Diocese of Memphis: January 6, 1971
Died: October 11, 2016
Assignments in West Tennessee: Sacred Heart Church, St. Thomas Church, Director of the Ladies of Charity for West Tennessee, Immaculate Conception Church in Union City, St. Anthony Church, St. James Church
Joseph L. Reilly
Born: December 16, 1928
Ordained: May 26, 1956
Dismissed from priesthood: 1965
Assignment in West Tennessee: St. Michael Church
The Rev. James Arthur Rudisill (deceased)
Born: May 16, 1926
Ordained: May 19, 1951
Died: February 8, 2008
Assignments in West Tennessee: Sacred Heart Church in Memphis, Youth Director for West Tennessee, Holy Angels Church in Dyersburg
The Rev. Paul Wiley St. Charles (deceased)
Born: June 23, 1939
Ordained: May 21, 1966
Incardinated in Diocese of Memphis: January 6, 1971
Suspended: August 7, 2006
Died: December 27, 2009
Note: Allegations also found credible in a separate investigation by Memphis Review Board
Assignments in West Tennessee: St. John Church, Chaplain for Scouting in the Memphis area, Director of the Catholic Youth Office in the Memphis area, teacher at Catholic High School, Church of the Ascension
The Rev. Anthony G. Stredny (deceased)
Born: October 15, 1928
Ordained: June 15, 1957
Incardinated into the Diocese of Galveston-Houston: 1971
Died: 2018
Assignments in West Tennessee: Our Lady of Sorrows, Holy Rosary Church, Blessed Sacrament Church
The Rev. Edward Albert Walenga (deceased)
Born: November 2, 1926
Ordained: May 30, 1953
Died: November 27, 1983
Assignments in West Tennessee: Little Flower Church, Sacred Heart Church in Humboldt
Priests determined to have engaged in sexual misconduct before the formation of the Memphis Diocesan Review Board:
Daniel Dupree
Born: June 30, 1956
Ordained: July 14, 1984
Suspended: March 3, 1992
Dismissed from clerical state: March 31, 2006
Assignments: Church of the Resurrection, St. Andrew Church in Lexington, St. Regina Church in Parsons, Christian Brothers High School, Associate Director of Jackson Deanery Youth Ministry
James Gilbert
Born: July 11, 1931
Ordained for the Diocese of Natchez (now Jackson): May 25, 1957
Granted dispensations from clerical state: October 10, 1973
Reinstated to clerical state for Diocese of Memphis: July 27, 1978
Suspended: August 13, 1985
Laicised: 2006
Assignments in West Tennessee: Associate Professor of Education at LeMoyne-Owen College, Academic Dean of LeMoyne Owen College, Professor of Education at LeMoyne-Owen College, Teacher at State Technical Institute, Coordinator of Family Life Ministry for the Diocese of Memphis, Adjunct professor at Christian Brothers College, Blessed Sacrament Parish
Juan Carlos Duran (formerly O.P.)
Born: August 3, 1960
Ordained: December 28, 1996 (Dominican Order)
Dismissed from Dominican Order: 2001
Dismissed from clerical state: 2017
Assignments in West Tennessee: St. Peter Church, Church of the Ascension
Priests determined by the Review Board to have credible allegations of sexual misconduct involving minors:
The Rev. William Kantner (deceased)
Born: May 3, 1944
Ordained: January 11, 1975
Died: February 17, 2013
Assignments: St. Paul Church, St. Louis Church, St. Anne Church, Bishop Byrne High School, St. Joseph Church, Holy Cross Church in Paris, St. Mary’s Church in Camden, St. Francis of Assisi Church, Charter Lakeside Hospital (part-time chaplain), Christian Brothers College (in residence), Church of the Incarnation in Collierville; St. Peter Manor and Villa (sacramental minister), St. James Catholic Church
Joseph Thinh Duc Nguyen
Born: December 14, 1961
Ordained: June 25, 1994
Administrative leave: September 2006
Suspended: July 23, 2007
Dismissed from the clerical state: May 29, 2012
Assignments: Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Germantown, St. Paul, St. Ann Church in Bartlett, Chaplain at St. Peter Manor and Villa, Sacramental Minister to the Vietnamese Catholic Community
References in the archives deemed credible by the Review Board:
The Rev. Floyd Brey, S.J. (deceased)
Born: March 24, 1904
Ordained: June 23, 1935 (Society of Jesus)
Died: December 14, 1996
Assignment in West Tennessee: St. Mary’s Hospital in Humboldt in 1971
Allegations deemed credible by other review boards:
The Rev. Thomas Joseph Dove, C.S.P. (Paulist Fathers)
Born: March 2, 1934
Ordained: May 1, 1961
Suspended from ministry: November 2014
Assignment in West Tennessee: St. Patrick Church
[Finding of credibility made by Paulist Fathers]
The Most Rev. Carroll T. Dozier (deceased)
Born: August 18, 1911
Ordained a priest: March 19, 1937 (Diocese of Richmond)
Ordained Bishop of Memphis: January 6, 1971
Died: December 7, 1985
Assignment: Bishop of Memphis
[Finding of Credibility made by Diocese of Richmond]
The Rev. Alfred Longley (deceased)
Born: September 17, 1913
Ordained: 1939 Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis
Removed from Ministry: 1968
Died: 1974
Assignment: Christian Brothers College 1965-1966* (Note this assignment is reported by the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis, though neither the Christian Brothers nor the Diocese of Nashville have any record of Fr. Longley ever having served in West Tennessee.)
Judge OKs $34M sex abuse settlement with New Ulm, Minn., Diocese
NEW ULM, Minn. (AP) — A bankruptcy judge on Tuesday approved a $34 million settlement between the Diocese of New Ulm in Minnesota and nearly 100 people who say they were sexually abused by priests and others.
Bishop John LeVoir apologized to sexual abuse survivors during the hearing, where U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Kressel gave final approval to the settlement. Several survivors of clergy sexual abuse testified tearfully at the hearing, the Star Tribune reported.
“I apologize again on behalf of the church to all who have been harmed by clergy sexual abuse,” LeVoir said.
The diocese serving Catholics in southern and west-central Minnesota also agreed to implement 17 child protection protocols.
Attorney Jeff Anderson of St. Paul, who represents many of the survivors, told The Associated Press that both the settlement and the hearing were “powerful.”
“This is a massive cleanup of a massive cover-up,” Anderson said. He said survivors could start receiving compensation in May.
The diocese filed for bankruptcy protection three years ago and reached the settlement last June. All 93 claimants have approved terms of the settlement, the Star Tribune reported.
In court and in a letter to local Catholics, LeVoir thanked the survivors for coming forward.
“The courage that claimants showed in coming forward to share how the Church failed them has changed our Church for the better. Our ministry is safer for children and young people, our practices and policies are now more open and transparent, and we are more humble,” the bishop wrote.
Of the $34 million settlement, $26 million comes from diocesan and parish insurance coverage; $7 million in cash contributions from the diocese, including cash from a $2 million mortgage on the Pastoral Center; and $1 million contributed by all parishes within the diocese, including parishes that were not sued, the diocese said.
The diocese previously agreed to release the names of priests credibly accused of sex abuse, Anderson said.
The New Ulm diocese is among several Roman Catholic dioceses in Minnesota that have filed for bankruptcy protection amid child sex abuse claims or are considering it.
The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis emerged from bankruptcy in December 2018, three months after a federal bankruptcy judge approved a $210 million settlement.
Last May, the Diocese of Duluth reached a $40 million settlement with dozens of people who said they were abused as children by priests.
Former Trinity College Colac, Vic., teacher
jailed for child sexual abuse
jailed for child sexual abuse
By Nicole Mills and Steven Schubert
ABC News AU
The principal of a Catholic school in Victoria has praised the "unbelievably courageous" child sexual abuse survivors who brought a former teacher to justice for his crimes.
Warning: This article contains a description of child sexual abuse.
Trinity College Colac principal Paul Clohesy attended the court hearings of former teacher Kevin Wilmore Myers, who pleaded guilty to 12 charges involving nine victims spanning from the 1980s to 90s.
Myers was sentenced in the County Court to 15 years in jail for the historical child sexual abuse offences. Myers, now aged 74, worked as a science teacher at Trinity College Colac, where he met most of his victims.
While the exact circumstances of each offence varied, he would often invite students to surf life saving club events and ply them with alcohol.
A number of victims woke up to find Myers performing fellatio on him.
In sentencing, Judge Gabrielle Cannon told Myers he had "grossly breached their trust and the trust their parents had placed in you. You offended against them when they were in a most vulnerable position, away from home and asleep," Judge Cannon said.
Two of the victims were apprentices who were abused by Myers after he left teaching and became a chef.
The investigation into Myers's offending began after one of the victims contacted the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Victoria Police began an investigation, with other victims coming forward to disclose their abuse.
Judge Cannon commended their bravery.
"The nature of this offending meant the victims could not tell anyone for many years, allowing you to spend the best years of your life in the community while your victims lost theirs," she said.
There is more to this story on ABCNews AU.
Christian Brothers child sex abuse victim
awarded $1.4m in damages
PAUL GARVEYSENIOR REPORTER
The Australian
A landmark $1.4m legal payout by the Christian Brothers to a man who was sexually abused in their care is set to boost the cases of hundreds of other abuse victims seeking compensation.
John Lawrence, who was raped and abused by several brothers while living as a child in two Christian Brothers orphanages between 1952 and 1960, was awarded $1,440,500 in damages in Perth’s District Court on Wednesday. He will end up receiving just under $1.33 million after earlier compensation payments are deducted.
The decision is the first to be handed down since a statute of limitations on compensation for sexual abuse was lifted in 2018.
The judgment is likely to have major implications for the hundreds of other compensation claims working their way through the system, given the two controversial legal defences put forward by the Christian Brothers were rejected by the court.
Lawyers for the Christian Brothers had argued that any damages should be reduced to account for other forms of non-sexual abuse inflicted on Mr Lawrence, given the statute change only applied to sexual abuse, and had also claimed that the prospects of English child migrants such as Mr Lawrence were poor regardless of whether they were abused.
The arguments had become known in legal circles as the “salt in the wounds” defence. Mr Lawrence, who suffers from leukaemia and diabetes and has a limited life expectancy, said outside the court that he was relieved to have finally been heard and believed.
“I’m just glad I got this far after 60-odd years,” he said. “Money is not everything, I’m just glad I got to tell my story.”
Mr Lawrence’s lawyer, Michael Magazanik, said the “offensive” legal arguments pursued by the Christian Brothers during the hearing had been emphatically rejected.
“The salt in the wounds defence is dead. The judge has dismissed their argument that all the other abuse, the physical beatings, the violence, the emotional deprivation, the emotional torture, the judge has said all of that pales into insignificance next to the sexual abuse,” Mr Magazanik said.
Another similar compensation case is scheduled to start in Perth’s District Court later this month, and the judgment could shape how future matters are heard.
“It’s a comprehensive victory for John Lawrence and it’s an enormous defeat for the Brothers,” Mr Magazanik said. “It’s not just a defeat for the Brothers in this case, it establishes a framework for every other survivor, and there are hundreds of them in Western Australia.”
Mr Lawrence urged other men who suffered at the hands of the Christian Brothers to speak up. “I want all the other men who went to the orphanages to come forward now. I wish they would come forward and tell their stories and get it all out in the open,” Mr Lawrence said.
He said he did not expect the financial windfall to change how he approaches life. “I’ll take life the same as I always have. I can push it aside now and get on with my life, what life I’ve got left,” he said.
“I’d love to go to Broome for a holiday but I’m too unwell to do that.”
Catholic Bishop of Broome voluntarily steps down amid investigation into allegation of sexual misconduct
ABC Kimberley By Erin Parke, Sam Tomlin and Ben Collins
PHOTO: Bishop of Broome and the Kimberley Christopher Saunders in the Sacred Heart Church in the Beagle Bay community. (ABC Kimberley: Ben Collins)
Bishop of Broome Christopher Saunders, 70, voluntarily stepped down on Monday, pending the review.
Archbishop of Perth Timothy Costelloe said in a statement the Emeritus Bishop of Wollongong, Peter Ingham, had been appointed to oversee the diocese effective from Tuesday.
"Bishop Christopher Saunders … has voluntarily stood aside from the ordinary administration of the diocese for the duration of the visitation," he said.
The move comes as police continue to investigate an allegation of sexual misconduct against Bishop Saunders received 18 months ago.
Church authorities were not drawing a connection between the police investigation and the decision to review the diocese.
What? Say whaaat?
The ABC has been unable to contact Bishop Saunders, but he told Seven News that he denied the allegation.
Church veteran spoke out on abuse 'shock'
The Broome diocese is one of Australia's largest with parishes, including a number of former Catholic missions, scattered across 770,000 square kilometres.
Bishop Christopher Saunders at a meeting with Pope Francis in Rome.
Bishop Saunders's career has been intertwined with the Diocese. He joined the Broome Parish in 1975 after completing theological studies at St Francis Xavier Seminary in Adelaide.
After working as a deacon, he was ordained as a priest the next year, working at La Grange (now Bidyadanga), Lombadina and Kalumburu missions throughout the 1970s and 1980s.
Testifying before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in 2017, Bishop Saunders said the church had failed to respond appropriately to the problems raised by the commission.
Pope John Paul II with Bishop Christopher Saunders at the Vatican in 1998.
He told commissioners data indicating one in 10 priests in the Perth Archdiocese were abusing children had left the organisation in a "state of shock".
"I would agree that there has been a massive failure on behalf of the church to respond appropriately to the issues and the matters and the allegations of sexual abuse throughout Australia," he said.
"But to see the picture as clearly painted as it is, has been a tremor and a shock to all of us."
Bishop Saunders (right) with Bishop of Geraldton Michael Morrissey, Archbishop of Perth Timothy Costelloe
and Bishop of Bunbury Gerry Holohan during a trip to Rome.
The Bishop also nominated greater psychological testing for priests and seminarians as a key method to help stop and expose abusers.
The Perth diocese did not specify how long the internal review of the Broome diocese will take.
Bishop Ingham will lead the overall review, while Monsignor Paul Boyers will oversee the day-to-day administration of the diocese.
Former Michigan Catholic priest charged with
additional child sexual abuse charges
By Justine Lofton | jlofton@mlive.com
MARQUETTE, MI – A former Catholic priest who allegedly abused his power to sexually abuse children while working in the Upper Peninsula was arraigned on more criminal sexual conduct charges on Tuesday, March 10.
Gary Allen Jacobs, 74, was arraigned on two additional criminal sexual conduct cases that he reportedly committed in the early 1980s while serving as a priest under the Catholic Diocese of Marquette in the Upper Peninsula, the Michigan Department of Attorney General announced.
In January (8th story on link), Jacobs was charged with seven counts of criminal sexual conduct in three separate cases that allegedly occurred in Ontonagon and Dickinson counties, the release said.
Two more victims came forward after the original charges were announced, the release said. Both cases arise from his allegedly abuse of his authority status as the victims’ priest. The incidents reportedly occurred between Jan. 1, 1981 and Dec. 31, 1984 in Ontonagon County.
In the two new cases, Jacobs is charged with three criminal sexual conduct counts: two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a child between the ages of 13 and 15, and one count of second-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a child between the ages of 13 and 15.
Each first-degree criminal sexual conduct charge is punishable by up to life in prison and a lifetime of electronic monitoring, while the second-degree criminal sexual conduct charge is punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
Jacobs now lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He was arrested in New Mexico on Jan. 17 for the three previously charged cases of criminal sexual conduct, the release said. Jacobs voluntarily returned to Michigan to be arraigned on the new charges.
“The progress this office is making with regard to clergy abuse is encouraging, though troubling at the same time,” Attorney General Dana Nessel said in a statement. “As my investigators continue to uncover more potential suspects, my thoughts are with the growing number of victims who have also come forward. My team will continue to talk with those who allege clergy abuse and conduct our investigations thoroughly as we pursue the truth.”
Jacobs is scheduled for a preliminary conference at 1:30 p.m. on Monday, March 23, and a preliminary exam at 10:30 a.m. on Monday, March 30, both in Ontonagon County District Court. The court denied Jacobs bond, but it will be addressed again at the preliminary examination.
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