Child sexual abuse claim made against former Springfield, Mass, Catholic Bishop deemed credible
by: Ariana Tourangeau, Mike Masciadrelli
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – An investigation into a sexual assault claim against late Springfield Bishop Christopher J. Weldon was released Wednesday afternoon and according to the report, the claim is credible.
Judge Peter A. Velis, now retired, and Archbishop-designate Mitchell T. Rozanski held a briefing at the Bishop Marshall Center to share what the investigation revealed.
The report, which was sent to 22News states that on July 25, 2019, Judge Velis was contacted by Jeffrey Trant, director of the Office of Safe Environment and Victim Assistance of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield to conduct an “independent and outside” investigation respecting allegations made by a certain individual of sexual abuse committed by the late Bishop Christopher Weldon.
That certain individual, a man, claimed Weldon abused him when he was a child back in the 1960s.
The purpose of the investigation was to assess and determine the credibility of the individual’s allegations, to analyze how the complaint was handled by the Diocesan personnel responsible for protecting children and vulnerable adults and to help identify opportunities for improvement in how the diocese handles these matters.
The investigation included several of the following interviews:
The complainant
Members of the Review Board present at the hearing of the complaint on June 13, 2018
Diocesan employees who fielded the original complaint
Bishop Mitchell T. Rozanski
The Diocesan investigator
Other Diocesan employees
Persons with relevant information concerning geographical locations
Members of the complainant’s support group
Former altar boys
Other individuals referenced in Velis’ final report
Velis said in the report, “in evaluating the actions of those involved in the Weldon assessment, I found that there was a reluctance to fervently pursue an evaluation of allegations against him due to his prominence and revered legacy in the religious community.”
He goes on to say that the way the Diocese responded to the complainant and the procedure was greatly flawed. He also said in his conclusion that he found the allegations of the complainant concerning Bishop Weldon to be unequivocally credible.
According to Velis’ report, the notes from the complainant were prepared in February of 2015 and contained descriptions of Weldon’s alleged abuse on the complainant, a child who was nine or 10 years of age,” with phrases such as, “cuddling,” “behind me sexually,” “pulling me closer in bed,” “naked in bed,” and “behind me sexually, different places.” The notes also reference phrases such as, “two or three other boys naked in the room” and “tried penetrating me repeatedly both Forand and Weldon.”
The report notes that the narratives given by the victim of his experiences with Weldon were characterized by him as coming from the mindset and perspective of a 9-year-old boy. This is how he felt and viewed his victimization at the time of the alleged assaults.
The report states that the victim’s allegations against Weldon, including rape, described that he was forced onto a bed and “flipped over” and that he fought the entire time. He also described the assault as “hurting like hell and they wouldn’t stop.”
Archbishop-Designate Rozanski apologized for what happened to the victim and says action is needed to protect children.
“We need to go beyond an apology, rather, once and for all we need to implement real and substantial changes, some which we have already undertaken,” Archbishop-Designate Rozanski said.
Rozanski added that the diocese will now remove honorable mentions of Weldon at all Catholic facilities and will ask Trinity Health to rename Weldon Rehabilitation Hospital in Springfield.
Weldon served as Bishop from 1950 to 1977 and died in 1982.
Judge Peter A. Velis report regarding sexual abuse allegations made against former Bishop Christopher J. Weldon
The full report which is some 400 pages and includes exhibits is posted on their website or you can view it below:
Judge Velis recently sent the document of his investigation to the Diocese in Springfield that entails how the diocese handled the complaint as well as improvements that can be made for future abuse allegations.
Victims file 20 new child abuse suits against North Country, NY, priests
BY NCPR NEWS , IN CANTON, NY
St. Mary's Cathedral in Ogdensburg, NY. Photo: James Crowley, Chancellor, Roman Catholic Diocese of Ogdensburg, Creative Commons, some rights reserved
Victims of child sexual abuse have filed 20 more claims against Catholic priests in the Diocese of Ogdensburg, which covers the North Country. The suits were filed under New York’s Child Victims Act by two law firms on behalf of “numerous” people.
They name seven priests publicly for the first time, including clerics who served in Malone, Schroon Lake, Parishville, Potsdam, Dannemora, Lowville, Massena, and Crown Point. They also name three other priests who had been the subjects of previous lawsuits.
The alleged perpetrators worked during various periods between 1961 and 1989.
In a press release, attorney Cynthia LaFave said the suits “will ensure that the future protects children instead of abusers.” The Diocese said in an email to the Watertown Daily Times it “takes all allegations of abuse seriously, and these new allegations will be investigated.”
In February, the Diocese said it was exploring bankruptcy, as it had already faced almost two dozen sexual abuse claims.
The Child Victims Act, passed last year, allows victims to sue no matter how long ago the abuse occurred. The window for cases was set to expire in August, but was extended due to the coronavirus pandemic.
From the press release by the law firms of Jeff Anderson & Associates and LaFave Wein & Frament, the accused clerics include:
Monsignor F. Gordon Coseo, accused of sexually abusing a minor from approximately 1971 to 1976 at Notre Dame in Malone, NY
Father Joseph W. Elliott, accused of sexually abusing a minor from approximately 1985 to 1988 at St. Michael in Parishville, NY and St. Mary in Potsdam, NY
Father George A. Fontaine, accused of sexually abusing a minor in approximately 1971 at Our Lady of Lourdes in Schroon Lake, NY
Father Frank M. Kearns, accused of sexually abusing a minor in approximately 1965 to 1967 at St. Joseph in Dannemora, NY
Monsignor Joseph F. Luker, accused of sexually abusing a minor in approximately 1971 or 1972 at St. Peter in Lowville, NY
Monsignor John F. Pendergast, accused of sexually abusing a minor in approximately 1987 to 1989 at St. Mary in Massena, NY
Father Donald E. Seguin, accused of sexually abusing a minor in approximately 1961 at Sacred Heart in Crown Point, NY
Four complaints allege abuse by Father Emile G. LaLonde in the 1960s and 1970s when he was assigned to St. John the Baptist in Madrid, NY and St. Augustine in North Bangor, NY. The firms have now filed a total of five cases implicating Father LaLonde.
Four complaints name Father John J. Fallon, who was criminally convicted in connection with receiving child pornography in the mail in 1986. The firms have now filed a total of five cases naming Father Fallon.
Two complaints allege abuse by Father Liam O’Doherty, who was indicted by a Franklin County grand jury in 1979 for sexually abusing minors at St. Ann in Saint Regis Falls, NY. One of the complaints filed today alleges abuse dating back to 1966, shortly after Father O’Doherty was ordained a priest. The firms have now filed a total of four complaints implicating Father O’Doherty. His whereabouts are unknown.
New Vatican manual advises bishops to report
sex abuse claims to police
AFP
Pope Francis delivers his Sunday Angelus prayer to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's square at the Vatican on July 12, 2020. Picture: Vincenzo PINTO / AFP
The Roman Catholic Church has admitted to abuses by predator priests from Australia to Chile, France, Germany, Ireland and the United States.
The Vatican released guidelines on Thursday for bishops and other senior officials on dealing with clerical child sex abuse claims, clarifying rules on tackling a decades-old scandal plaguing the church.
The manual, which includes a form to be filled out detailing the alleged crime against minors, does not include any new laws but was drawn up after Pope Francis called for the procedures to be laid out step-by-step, it said.
It strengthened advice to officials on reporting claims to civil authorities, saying they “should” do so, even if not obliged to by law in the country in question, especially if necessary to protect the person involved or other minors.
There is more to this article at The Citizen.
Lawsuit alleging sexual abuse by priest filed against Catholic Diocese of Shreveport
The lawsuit, “Paul Doe vs. the Diocese of Shreveport” accuses the late Rev. William Allison, a priest who served under the Alexandria Catholic Diocese from 1949 until his death in 1987, of sexually abusing the plaintiff during his two-year tenure at Our Lady of Fatima in Monroe, when he was an altar boy in the fifth or sixth grade.
Allison served as pastor of Fatima from 1973-1975 before being transferred to Bossier City, where he served at Christ the King Catholic Church for eight years, serving mission churches at Barksdale Air Force Base, Mary Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Caplis and Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Doyline.
The lawsuit was filed in Caddo District Court because Monroe is encompassed with in the Shreveport diocese.
The allegations, however, reach back to a time long before the Catholic Diocese of Shreveport was formed on June 16, 1986. Until then, Shreveport – and Monroe – were part of the Diocese of Alexandria, later renamed the Diocese of Alexandria-Shreveport, headquartered in Alexandria.
Allison, who was transferred to St. Francis Xavier Cathedral in Alexandria three years before the Shreveport diocese was created by Pope John Paul II, was never a part of the Diocese of Shreveport. He was still serving at that church at the time of his death in 1987.
In the lawsuit, Doe’s alleged rape by the college student is graphically described, as is his alleged abuse by the priest.
Doe’s attorneys describe a “grooming” period when Allison allegedly allowed Doe to do special tasks for him. and then details the escalation process as it led to the alleged sexual abuse. The suit also claims Doe went to a nun at his school named Sister Lucia and asked to resign as an altar boy, and she pulled his ear and “shamed him into staying on.”
The suit claims it was only after Doe had a “breakdown” that he started searching the internet and in July 2019, found that the Catholic Diocese of Shreveport had listed Allison as one of the Alexandria Diocese’s 19 priests accused of sexual misconduct. (No priests from the Shreveport Catholic Diocese were listed.)
When the Diocese of Alexandria released the names of the priests accused of sexual abuse of minors, Allison’s name was on that list as well as a few others who had served in the Shreveport area. The Diocese of Shreveport published the Alexandria list, and asked that anyone in the now Shreveport diocese who had been abused by any of the priests listed to come forward.
The lawsuit asks for a judgment in favor of Doe and that the Catholic Diocese of Shreveport pay Doe an amount that will ‘fully compensate him for his past and future pain and suffering,” mental anguish, past and future medical expenses, and anything else that might involve money, along with lawyers’ fees and court costs.
Doe is represented by well-known south Louisiana clergy sex abuse attorneys from the Herman, Herman & Katz L.L.C. and Shearman-Denenea L.L.C. law firms in New Orleans, and Metarie attorney Richard C. Trahant.
Allison’s 38-year tenure as a Roman Catholic priest began in 1949 with two assignments in Louisiana parishes before launching on a 18-year tour in parishes in the west and southwest in 1955. Those years were spent in Colorado, California, Arizona and New Mexico, with a few of them as a patient at “Servants of the Paraclete,” a treatment center for “troubled priests” in Jemez Springs, N.M.
During this period of time, Allison showed up at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Flagstaff, Ariz., where the bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Gallup, N.M., allowed him to work while a patient at Servants of the Paraclete. There, and in subsequent assignments in California and Colorado churches, child sexual abuse allegations against Allison mounted.
In July 2011, a civil suit was filed accusing the priest of having abused “many children,” and by 2013, there were 12 lawsuits against the Catholic Diocese of Gallup, N.M., accusing it of protecting pedophile priests, including Allison, by assigning them to pastoral duties in small churches.
In June, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla. law firm began recruiting alleged victims of Allison during his three-year stint at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Fresno, Calif., for a class action suit against the Roman Catholic Diocese in Fresno.
That firm, Horowitz Law, said, the most recent allegation against Allison, “includes the abuse of a male minor that was reported in 2019 from abuse that occurred in 1961.” According to that law firm, “The exact number of Allison’s victims is unknown, and continuously growing.”
Catholic Church issues warning as claims of
sexual abuse surface in Fiji
Christine Rovoi of RNZThe major development comes after an exclusive 1 NEWS investigation into historic sexual abuse against children in the pacific.
The Catholic Church in Fiji has warned any priests found to have abused children will be severely dealt with.
The warning comes amid allegations of sexual abuse by the church's priests as revealed in a report by Television New Zealand claimed a man was molested by a priest in Fiji when he was a child.
The report claimed that the NZ Catholic Church had moved certain brothers and priests - who had sexually abused children - to the Pacific including Fiji.
The head of the church in Fiji, Archbishop Peter Loy Chong, said he emphathised with the victims of sexual abuse - "with their hurt, anger, trauma and feelings. I empathise with the pain that victims and their families have experienced and continue to experience".
"On behalf of the church, I express our remorse for past failures and extend our sincere regret and deep sympathy to the victims of sexual abuse. The church apologises for any abuse perpetrated by clergy or religious.
"Sexual abusers have failed the Sixth Commandment - you must not commit adultery."
Archbishop Peter Loy Chong.
SUPPLIED/ARCHDIOCESE OF SUVA
Archbishop Chong said since he took office seven years ago, it had not received any complaints or reports of sexual abuse. He said the church takes these allegations seriously and any complaints of sexual abuse by priests would first be referred to the police while also investigated by his office.
According to him, any priests found to have abused children would be dealt with severely by the church and the state. The archbishop said the church had policy and protocols in place for suspected sexual offending among priests.
"That has been the stand of the church and each conference of bishops has been instructed that we need to put in a policy for sexual abuse and we have done that," he said.
"We published our Guidelines for Dealing with Sexual Abuse in 2014, and this was to see to it that when somebody is a sexual offender, that procedures are carried out so that this person is interrogated and taken to task."
Catholics during a procession in Suva in 2015.
SUPPLIED/CATHNEWS NZ
Former Fort Collins, Co, priest granted parole
after imprisonment for sexually abusing teens
Sady SwansonFort Collins Coloradoan
The former Fort Collins priest imprisoned in 2007 for sexually assaulting child parishioners in two counties has been granted parole.
Timothy Evans, 57, was sentenced to 14 years to life in prison in 2007 for sexually assaulting a teen boy who worked at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church, where Evans was a pastor.
The parole board announced last week that Evans had been approved for parole after his June parole hearing. Evans will be eligible for release on July 30, according to a Department of Corrections spokesperson.
Evans will be released into Mesa County, the spokesperson said. At the parole hearing in December, Evans asked to be released to Grand Junction, where he could live with his stepmother and near his father, who is in a memory care facility. He said he has contacts in Grand Junction who can help him find a job.
Evans said his long-term goal is to find a way to support other sex offenders who are out on parole and hold each other accountable, he said during the December hearing. “I know how difficult it is to be granted parole,” Evans said. “I want to be in a position to be able to support at least a few other people.”
Empathy for fellow paedophiles, but no mention of the child victims!
In a victim impact statement, one of Evans' victims shared concerns with the parole board about his being released to Fort Collins, where some of the abuse occurred.
"Although we talk about how long Tim Evans was sentenced, the truth will always be that his four known victims were given life sentences," the victim's statement, which was shared with the Coloradoan, said.
The victim told the parole board that, because of Evans, they have trouble trusting others, feel shame and embarrassment in telling loved ones what happened, and have spent their life "fighting the inner voices that cast a doubt on whether the abuse continues to control our lives and the decisions we make."
Evans was one of four priests from different parishes in Fort Collins and Loveland named in a special report from the Colorado Attorney General's Office released in November detailing credible claims of abuse by Catholic priests and the Archdiocese of Denver's handling of the acts.
Evans' was the only one of the four cases that led to criminal charges.
The first accusations against Evans stemmed from Jefferson County in 2003, according to the special report, while a Fort Collins victim came forward in 2004. Evans was charged in three cases in 2005, and a jury found him guilty in 2007.
Evans was removed from the parish in 2003, when the first accusations against him were raised, according to the special report.
In the case of the Fort Collins teen, Evans said during the December parole hearing that the teen did not find comfort in his family so he turned to Evans. But Evans also said he abused his position of trust with the teen. He admitted he was guilty of the abuse but has learned how to identify triggers and created a risk management plan through sex offender treatment while incarcerated.
Evans said undergoing sex offender treatment has been “very, very helpful for identifying my abusive behaviors." Evans said he has spent “many hours” reflecting on how his poor decisions have impacted his victims and others. He said it has made him realize “how weak a man I was and how bad a priest I was.”
In the statement sent to the parole board, one of Evans' victims said Evans "grossly violated that trust" the young parishioners initially had for him.
"The betrayal brought about by Tim Evans was ultimately one against the spiritual authority and the trust his victims placed in him," the statement said. "He groomed his victims and took advantage of them when they looked to him for advice, for counsel, for friendship."
After Evans is released from prison, he will be monitored for the rest of his life, according to the parole board.
His worst sin was against God, Whom he was supposed to represent. It's questionable that he, or any other paedophile priest, ever believed in God in the first place. Which makes it curious as to how he was accepted into the priesthood. The standards must be extremely low.
Cardinal Pell, describing prison, says he knew
‘the Lord was with me’
Michael Sainsbury CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE
Australian Cardinal George Pell, 79, a former senior adviser to Pope Francis, has broken his silence two months after the country’s High Court overturned his conviction for sexual abuse of two teens.
“From the first night, I always had a breviary (even if it was out of season), and I received Holy Communion each week,” Pell wrote in an essay for U.S. Catholic magazine First Things. The story was reprinted in The Australian.
He said that on five occasions he attended Mass, even though he was unable to celebrate and noted that he “particularly lamented” this at Christmas and Easter.
“My Catholic faith sustained me, especially the understanding that my suffering need not be pointless but could be united with Christ Our Lord’s. I never felt abandoned, knowing that the Lord was with me — even as I didn’t understand what he was doing for most of the 13 months.”
Pell confirmed media reports at the time that he was in solitary confinement for 13 months from his sentencing in March 2019 until his April 2020 release; he had been sentenced to a term of six years with at least three years and eight months without parole.
Being held in a single cell is typical for child sex offenders in the Australian prison system, as they are deemed as being at high risk of violent retribution from other inmates.
“I was threatened in this manner only once, when I was in one of two adjacent exercise areas separated by a high wall, with an opening at head height,” Pell wrote, adding that as he walked around the prison’s perimeter “someone spat at me through the flywire of the open aperture and began condemning me.”
Pell, former head of the Vatican Secretariat for the Economy, described the legal actions against him as “an expensive charade.” He criticized the Australian media as “bitterly hostile” but “with splendid exceptions.”
“Prisoners from many jails wrote to me, some of them regularly,” Pell wrote, claiming that one “told me that it was the consensus among the career criminals that I was innocent and had been ‘stitched up.'”
It is remarkably unusual for a paedophile priest to even mention God, let alone a relationship with him. Of course, it is possible he is innocent; we will find out one day for sure.
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