Pope Francis sending team to investigate whether German diocese mishandled sexual abuse allegations, amid public anger
28 May, 2021 16:03
Pope Francis sending team to investigate whether German diocese mishandled sexual abuse allegations, amid public anger
Archbishop of Cologne Rainer Maria Woelki at the cathedral in Cologne, Germany, April 2021.
© Ina Fassbender / AFP
Pope Francis will dispatch a team to investigate if the Archbishop of Cologne mishandled sexual abuse claims in the Catholic Church. Parishioners have been protesting against the diocese and demanding accountability.
Investigators from the Vatican will visit the Archdiocese of Cologne, Germany in the first half of June to check whether its leader, Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki, had made “mistakes” in the addressing of the sexual abuse cases, the archdiocese said in a statement on Friday. They will also look at possible failings by Stefan Hesse, the archbishop of Hamburg, who was the former head of personnel in Cologne.
Woelki has been slammed by parishioners for not releasing a report detailing abuse allegations and failing to inform the Vatican about a particular case involving a priest. The cardinal himself had requested an investigation last year and had promised to support the probe. He said he welcomed the fact the Pope wanted “to get his own picture” of the affairs in the archdiocese.
On Thursday, around 60 people protested Woelki’s visit to the city of Dusseldorf. They were holding up red cards when he arrived at the Church of St. Mary of Peace. Roughly 140 parishioners had signed a letter against the cardinal performing confirmations at the church and had asked him to send a representative instead.
Woelki said during the trip that he understood the concerns of the public and it was “important for me to hear them.”
In 2010, a victim told the archdiocese of Cologne that a Dusseldorf priest, who was later identified by the media as Pastor O., sexually abused him in the late 1970s, when he was a child. The victim was subsequently compensated €15,000 ($18,210) by the Church.
Woelki, who worked with Pastor O. when he himself was a deacon, told local media he had declined to formally investigate the case because it had proved impossible to question the pastor due to his dementia. Pastor O. died in 2017.
In January 2019, the archdiocese commissioned a Munich-based law firm to examine Church files from 1975 onward in order to determine what had led to the cover-up of the incidents of sexual abuse over the years. However, Woelki decided not to publish the report, citing “methodological deficiencies” in the firm’s work, according to the Catholic News Agency.
Woelki then commissioned a new independent study, which was published in March 2021.
The report identified 243 priests and lay people working for the Church who abused minors, and at least 386 victims between 1946 and 2018. In 55% of cases, the victims were children under the age of 14. Half of the cases overall dealt with sexual violence, while the rest related to verbal or physical abuse.
The two officials commissioned by the Pope to assess the situation in Cologne, the center of Germany’s largest and most powerful Roman Catholic diocese, are Anders Arborelius, the Bishop of Stockholm, and Johannes van den Hende, the Bishop of Rotterdam.
Pope Francis unveils major revision of Church penal code
addressing sex abuse issues
1 Jun, 2021 13:25
Pope Francis greets people at the San Damaso courtyard after the weekly general audience at the Vatican
on May 26, 2021. © Reuters / Remo Casilli
Pope Francis has unveiled a key revision to Catholic Church law, expanding its penal code and making it significantly less vague, as it now contains clear directives on sexual abuse of minors, pornography and other misdeeds.
The updated Book VI of the Code of Canon Law was unveiled by the Vatican on Tuesday. The new text is the result of over a decade of work to revise the code, launched back under Pope Benedict XVI.
Announcing the revision, Pope Francis said the changes were performed to provide the Church with a more “agile salvific and corrective tool” needed to “avoid more serious evils and to soothe the wounds caused by human weakness.” Another aim of the revisions was to “reduce the number of cases in which the imposition of a penalty was left to the discretion of authorities,” the pontiff added.
There are evils more serious than child sexual abuse? Do these people even know God?
The new text introduces various changes to the law currently in force and imposes sanctions on some new offenses.
The revised Book VI contains nearly 90 canons, which is some 30 articles more compared to its previous revision. The new variant is also significantly less vague than its predecessor, as it explicitly names the offenses and punishments for them.
Namely, the code contains an entirely new section titled ‘Offences against human life, dignity and liberty’. Among other things, the section describes offenses “against the sixth commandment” – i.e. adultery – “with a minor or with a person who habitually has an imperfect use of reason.” A cleric found guilty of such behavior “is to be punished with deprivation of office and with other just penalties,” including permanent dismissal from the clerical state.
A similar fate awaits priests found guilty of “grooming or inducing” minors to expose themselves “pornographically,” as well as simply “immorally” acquiring, stashing and distributing pornographic imagery of minors “by whatever technology.”
Apart from addressing the sex abuse issues that have been plaguing the Catholic Church for decades already, the revised code touches upon some other hot topics, related to women’s rights – namely, abortion and allowing women to be ordained.
The Vatican's stance on both of the women-related issues remains unchanged and quite conservative, the revised Book VI shows. Namely, a “person who actually procures an abortion” automatically becomes the target for excommunication.
Similarly, “both a person who attempts to confer a sacred order on a woman, and the woman who attempts to receive the sacred order” face excommunication, with the cleric also risking permanent expulsion from the priests’ ranks. Earlier this year, the Pope formally allowed women to read mass, yet he reaffirmed that ordained ministries, such as the priesthood, remain reserved for men only.
‘Internal systemic failures’ led to Wolf administration blunder
that derailed child sex abuse amendment
Angela Couloumbis of Spotlight PA 1 hr ago
The inspector general’s investigation was ordered by Gov. Tom Wolf after state election officials admitted in February that they had failed to advertise the ballot question as required by law.
Jose F. Moreno / Philadelphia Inquirer
Harrisburg, Pa. — “Internal systemic failures” were behind the Wolf administration’s bungling of a statewide referendum that would provide legal recourse to survivors of child sexual abuse, according to a much-anticipated report released May 26.
The Office of State Inspector General found no evidence that the administration’s failure to advertise the proposed constitutional amendment as required was deliberate or the result of outside pressure or “intentional malfeasance.”
But it did find the Department of State, which oversees elections, had no formal or written process in place for ensuring referendums appear on the ballot. There was also little, if any, executive oversight or staff training — a chronic complaint from employees interviewed for the inquiry — and paltry communication between the various bureaus within the department that are responsible for getting questions on the ballot.
The Department of State, according to the report, “lacked executive oversight, written policies and procedures, proper staff training, and consistent communication of the process.”
The agency’s error meant the referendum could not appear on the May ballot, as had been planned, devastating the state’s community of survivors who have pushed for it for nearly two decades.
Shortly after learning of the mistake earlier this year, the department’s secretary, Kathy Boockvar, publicly acknowledged the error and announced she would resign. On Wednesday, state officials said the department’s head of legislative affairs, whose job includes tracking legislation, had also resigned — although they would not say whether it was related to the mistake.
Veronica Degraffenreid, the department’s acting secretary, apologized Wednesday for the error, saying: “It was so horrifying to me and everyone at the Department of State that a grave error — at the department — added to the pain of any victim of abuse.”
Degraffenreid said her agency has already instituted a number of changes to ensure such a mistake never happens again, among them, implementing what she called a “top-down” process that puts high-level staff in charge of monitoring every aspect of getting a question on the ballot.
The inspector general’s investigation was ordered by Gov. Tom Wolf and involved interviews with nearly two dozen current and former employees and a review of electronic communications and other internal department documents. But even the report’s release Wednesday did not seem to satisfy Republican lawmakers.
“At this point, it seems to have raised more questions than answers,” Sens. Lisa Baker (R., Luzerne) and Dave Argall (R., Schuylkill) said in a joint statement. The two committee chairs are scheduled to hold a joint hearing on how the error occurred next month.
Rep. Jim Gregory (R., Blair), a survivor of child sexual abuse, said one of his biggest disappointments is that even though the report revealed major administrative failures, “resignations were accepted — but nobody was fired.”
“That’s unconscionable to me, unconscionable to victims,” he said.
The proposed ballot question centers on whether to allow a two-year reprieve in state law so older survivors of child sexual abuse can sue the perpetrators and the institutions that covered up for them. Those survivors are currently too old under the statute of limitations to bring such legal claims.
A number of victims of Catholic priests say it took them years to break their silence on the abuse they endured. Without a reprieve, they say they are left with no legal recourse, even in the face of multiple grand jury investigations in Pennsylvania that revealed every Catholic diocese in the state covered up decades of clergy sexual abuse.
Lobbyists for the Catholic Church and the insurance industry vehemently oppose the proposed two-year window.
The GOP-controlled legislature had wavered over the years on the best way to offer relief to survivors. In the end, leadership decided legal recourse could only be offered by amending the Pennsylvania Constitution, a lengthy process.
Under state law, any proposed changes to the constitution must be approved by the legislature in two consecutive sessions, each of which spans two years. The proposed change is then placed on the ballot for voters to make the ultimate decision.
After each passage, the Department of State is required to advertise the proposal in all 67 Pennsylvania counties.
The legislature approved the proposed two-year reprieve in its 2019-2020 session and was on track to pass it again in the current session in time for it to appear on the May ballot.
But because of the Department of State’s failure to advertise the question, the process needed to start again. Both chambers have once again given first approval to the proposed amendment, but the earliest a question can appear on the ballot is 2023.
Lawmakers want to figure out a way to speed up the timeline, but that effort has become mired in political disagreement. The House of Representatives now favors passing a traditional bill to establish the two-year reprieve, rather than using the constitutional amendment process.
But many Republicans in the state Senate, led by newly elected Majority Leader Kim Ward of Westmoreland County, contend that the only legal way to make the change is to amend the constitution. In taking that position, she has placed herself at odds with the Senate’s top Republican, Jake Corman of Centre County.
Ward, who controls the flow of legislation on the floor, has been silent on whether she will allow a vote on a bill establishing a two-year window. Weeks have gone by since a key Senate committee approved legislation to do just that.
Survivors groups have taken notice. In a statement this week, they accused Ward of obstructing the bill’s passage.
“It’s indefensible that Sen. Ward continues to protect predators and the institutions that have shielded them over our children and the thousands of survivors of child sexual abuse who have been promised a lookback window legislation for years,” said Michael and Deborah McIlmail, parents of Sean McIlmail, a clergy abuse survivor who died several years ago. “This bill won’t bring our son back but it will help chart a path forward and expose hidden predators and protect our children today who remain at risk of abuse.”
It's not just Ward who is a serious disappointment, but the Catholic Church continues to drag out procedures as long as possible, hoping that most of the victims will die before they have to pay them. This is not the attitude of a church of God; it's the attitude of an organization that puts itself above God.
Springfield, Ma. Diocese expands list of those ‘credibly accused’
of sexual abuse
By DUSTY CHRISTENSEN
The Recorder
Published: 6/2/2021 4:35:47 PM
SPRINGFIELD — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield has released an expanded list of church officials and employees who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse.
The diocese — comprising 79 parishes and seven missions across Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden and Hampshire counties — released its updated list of credible allegations on Wednesday. At a press conference, Bishop William Byrne noted that the list now contains 61 names, an increase from the 21 previously included on the list. Byrne said the list is part of his commitment to transparency and healing.
“‘I’m well aware that the past efforts in the Diocese of Springfield have not achieved that outcome,” Byrne said. “Make no mistake about it, we still have far to come.”
The expanded list now includes categories of church employees not previously included among those credibly accused of sexually abusing a minor: priests who were deceased when an allegation was made, those who were members of a religious order and those who were lay employees of the diocese. The list can be found on the Diocese of Springfield’s website at diospringfield.org.
Among those names is an emeritus faculty member at Smith College, Robert Ellis Hosmer Jr., who was the subject of more than one credible allegation of sexual abuse of a minor between 1973 and 1978 when he was a faculty member at Holyoke Catholic High School, according to the list.
There is much more on this story at The Recorder.
German archbishop offers resignation to Pope over
‘the catastrophe of sexual abuse’ within the Catholic Church
4 Jun, 2021 14:02
FILE PHOTO. Cardinal Reinhard Marx in Muenster. © Reuters / Ina Fassbender.
Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Germany’s most senior cleric, has offered his resignation to Pope Francis, saying the Catholic Church has reached a “dead end” and claiming “a shared responsibility” over sexual abuse by Church members.
The Cardinal – the head of the Catholic Church in Germany – wrote a letter to Pope Francis offering his resignation as Archbishop of Munich and Freising last month, but it was only released by the Archdiocese on Friday.
In his letter, the Cardinal writes that “these are times of crisis for the Church in Germany,” which has to some extent been caused by the Church’s own “failure” and “guilt”. He adds that the Church has reached a “dead end” which, he hopes, has the potential to become a “turning point”.
"In essence, it is important to me to share the responsibility for the catastrophe of the sexual abuse by Church officials over the past decades," he wrote.
The Cardinal points to investigations and reports on abuse over the past decade which, he says, apart from many personal and administrative failures, exposed institutional or “systemic” failure. He laments the fact that some members of the Church refuse to believe that there is a shared responsibility, and also insists it’s wrong to “bury” the problem with an assertion that it’s all in the past.
I feel that, through remaining silent, neglecting to act and over-focussing on the reputation of the Church, I have made myself personally guilty and responsible.
“Overlooking and disregarding the victims was certainly our greatest fault of the past,” he added.
In 2018, a report commissioned by the Church found that at least 3,677 people had been abused by clergy in Germany between 1946 and 2014, with more than half of the victims aged 13 or younger at the time of the abuse. About 1,670 clerics, mainly priests, were implicated. At the time, Marx said he felt ashamed and wanted to apologize to the victims.
In March this year, another report exposed that hundreds of children, mostly boys under the age of 14, had been sexually abused between 1975 and 2018 in the Catholic diocese of Cologne and that Church officials failed in their duties. Last month, Pope Francis ordered a review of whether the Catholic Church in Cologne had made errors in handling the allegations. Cologne Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki said in March that “silence, secrecy and lack of oversight” had created a system that allowed for a “cover-up” of abuse.
The Catholic Church has been embroiled in similar sexual-abuse scandals in a number of countries around the world, including Ireland, France, the US and Australia.
Last November, Pope Francis pledged to rid the church of sexual abuse following a detailed report into a decades-long cover-up of sexual misconduct by former American Cardinal Theodore McCarrick.
The report blamed a host of top church officials for dismissing evidence against McCarrick’s misconduct which began in the 1990s, but laid the blame mostly on former pope St. John Paul II, who’d appointed McCarrick archbishop of Washington in 2000 and made him a cardinal, despite a previous inquiry into his behavior.
Also in the US, the Bishop of the city of Buffalo, NY, resigned in 2019 over an alleged cover-up of child sexual abuse.
In France, preliminary findings of an independent report released in March suggested that at least 10,000 children had been abused by clergy and other officials of the Catholic Church since the 1950s. The final report is expected to be presented in late September or early October 2021.
In his letter, Cardinal Marx, who has been a priest for 42 years and a bishop for almost 25 years, “strongly requested” the Pope to accept his resignation. According to the Resignations and Appointments section on the Vatican’s website, as of June 4, Pope Francis has not yet accepted the resignation of Cardinal Reinhard Marx.
Two priests restored after claims of historical child sex abuse were cleared
By ABC 7 Chicago Digital Team
Tuesday, June 15, 2021 11:12AM
CHICAGO (WLS) -- The Chicago Archdiocese has cleared a priest who was accused of child sexual abuse.
Father Dan McCarthy is being restored as pastor emeritus, with residence, at Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity Parish and School.
Late last year, the Catholic priest was accused of abusing a minor while he worked at Angel Guardian Orphanage in Chicago 50 years ago.
The review board found insufficient reason to suspect McCarthy is guilty.
Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity is located on Chicago's Northwest Side.
Father Michael Pfleger, a prominent activist and South Side pastor, was also recently reinstated after being cleared of sex abuse allegations. He said he struggled with isolation, depression, and even suicidal thoughts during the investigation.
Retired priest seeks to stop child sex abuse trial going ahead
Mon, Jun 14, 2021, 20:55
Aodhan O'Faolain
A retired priest is seeking a High Court order halting his trial on charges of child sexual abuse dating back to the 1960s. File photograph: Bryan O’Brien/The Irish Times.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is facing four charges of sexual assault of a female on dates between 1966 and 1969.
The complainant was a secondary school student and a minor at the time of the alleged assaults in Co Galway.
The first assault is alleged to have taken place in the room of an abbey. Two other assaults took place when the girl was bringing communion for Sunday Mass to a convent, it is alleged. She claims the accused waited for her near the convent, before violently assaulting her on those occasions.
The fourth charge relates to an incident around Christmas time, when she claims the man came up behind her, pushed her against a wall and assaulted her.
The man, now aged in his 80s, denies the allegations. He claims he cannot get a fair trial due to delay between the time of the alleged offences and when he was charged.
Prejudice
He also claims he will suffer prejudice because he has age-related dementia and cognitive impairment that has affected his memory.
His trial has been set down before the Circuit Criminal Court but, due to delays caused by the Covid19 pandemic, it is not known when his trial will take place.
Represented by Hugh Hartnett SC, the man argues the alleged events took place more than 50 years ago. He claims there was a considerable delay when the complainant first reported the allegations in 2017 and his being charged last December. No explanation has been given for the delay in charging the man who was first interviewed about the allegations by gardaà in 2018, counsel said.
Due to his medical condition, which counsel said is dynamic and progressive, it was unlikely the man will be able to defend himself should the case go to trial before a judge and jury.
In judicial review proceedings against the Director of Public Prosecutions, he claims the prosecution is guilty of inordinate prosecutorial delay which has deprived him of a fair trial contrary to his rights under the Constitution and European Convention of Human Rights.
On Monday, Mr Justice Charles Meenan, on an ex-parte basis, granted permission to bring the challenge and placed a stay on the trial pending the outcome of the judicial review.
Whether he wins over the High Court, there is a much higher court he will have to stand before.
American ex-priest faces Timor Leste child sex-abuse trial
Thu, June 10, 2021
Jakarta Post
A defrocked American priest accused of molesting girls for years at a Timor Leste shelter has gone on trial in a case that split the overwhelmingly Catholic country.
Richard Daschbach, 84, faces sexual abuse, child pornography and domestic violence charges and could be jailed for up to 20 years if convicted of crimes linked to an orphanage he founded in the early 1990s.
The case has sharply divided the Southeast Asian nation, where Daschbach was once revered (2nd story on link) for providing food, clothing and housing for hundreds of orphans and impoverished children.
The hearing, which started Wednesday and is expected to last until Friday, was closed to media. Daschbach was taking part via videolink from Dili. At least 15 women expected to testify have come forward so far to report they were abused as children, with fears that many more were molested at Daschbach's Topu Honis Shelter in the enclave of Oecusse.
The church is a powerful and respected institution in Timor Leste, where around 97 percent of its people are Catholic. It was the only source of protection during a brutal occupation by neighbouring Indonesia from 1975 to 1999, in which nearly a third of the population was wiped out.
Daschbach was defrocked by the Vatican in 2018 but details of his alleged sexual abuse were only disclosed the following year after the case was reported by a local news outlet. Catholic officials in the capital Dili said earlier this year that he was dismissed because he had admitted to the "heinous crime" of abusing minors.
He has nonetheless maintained broad support, including among some members of the political elite, for his unwavering support of the resistance movement that fought to win independence from Timor Leste's giant neighbour. Many devout Timorese have cast doubt on the horrific abuse claims and most alleged victims don't want to be identified, fearing retribution in the former Portuguese colony.
Among his backers are independence hero Xanana Gusmao, the country's first president, whose support for Daschbach has put him at odds with his own family. Gusmao's children are among those who have publicly supported the victims, and questioned their father's backing of a man facing charges that include rape and forced oral sex.
One alleged victim, who lived at the shelter for eight years, said details of Daschbach's alleged crimes must be heard. "We hope the trial gets at the truth so we can be free to move on with our lives," said the woman, who asked not to be identified. "The victims know what happened. We experienced it ourselves."
The ex-priest, who has lived in Timor Leste since the mid-1970s and is currently under house arrest, is also wanted in the United States on several counts of wire fraud, according to Interpol.
'Degrading treatment'
This week's trial had been postponed several times due to pandemic travel restrictions, with Daschbach's lawyer Miguel Acacio Faria citing his inability to attend in person.
"It's nerve-wracking and borderline degrading treatment toward the victims," said lawyer Maria Agnes Bere from JU,S Juridico Social, which is representing the women. "This clearly raises a sense of unfairness that the court keeps accepting the same excuses for the accused's absence." But Daschbach's lawyer said holding the trial without him being was "ineffective and violates our client's rights".
Earlier, another alleged victim said she and other girls at the orphanage were routinely forced to sleep naked with the former priest who would sexually abuse them. The woman, who lived at the shelter as a 10-year-old, also recounted how Daschbach would feed the residents and paid their school fees but said the trial should focus on his sexual abuse. "This doesn't mean that we've forgotten his kindness," said the woman, now in her thirties. "But we also haven't forgotten how he mistreated us."
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