Diocese of Scranton removes priest
on child sex abuse allegations
SCRANTON — The Diocese of Scranton announced on Thursday the removal of the Rev. John Ruth after the Diocesan Review Board concluded that allegations that the priest had inappropriate sexual contact with a minor appeared credible.
Ruth, 65, was suspended and removed from ministry as of Sept. 4 due to the sexual abuse claim, which was reported to have occurred from the late 1970s to the mid 1980s.
The Diocese of Scranton said it conducted an investigation and an initial review by the Diocesan Review Board found the claim appeared credible.
“The Diocese of Scranton’s ‘Policy for Response to Allegations of Sexual Abuse of Minors,’ and the United States Conference of Catholic ‘Bishop’s Charter for Protection of Children and Young People,’ both have a zero-tolerance policy for the sexual abuse of a minor and require the removal from ministry of any cleric or other religious, upon determination of a credible claim of sexual misconduct with a minor,” the statement read.
Ruth has not been criminally charged.
The allegation of abuse was reported to civil authorities by the Diocese of Scranton, officials said.
Prior to suspension, Ruth was serving as pastor of Most Holy Trinity Parish, Susquehanna, a position he held since October of 2023.
To report an allegation of sexual abuse or any other criminal activity perpetrated by a priest, deacon, employee or volunteer of the Diocese of Scranton, contact your local law enforcement agency and/or the Diocese of Scranton victim assistance coordinator, Mary Beth Pacuska, at 570-862-7551.
Cardinal Wilton Gregory clears Black deacon accused of child sex abuse in Maryland
The move comes as the civil case remains open on appeal before the Maryland Supreme Court, which is set to hear oral arguments this month.
This decision seems a bit premature with all that's going on. Perhaps it is more of a political move than a righteous decision?
Lawrence Bell, a Black Catholic deacon in Maryland accused of sexually abusing a child decades ago, has been cleared by the Archdiocese of Washington to return to ministry. He was named in a civil action filed by an anonymous party in October 2023.
Cardinal Wilton Gregory announced the news on July 17 in a letter to parishioners at St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church in Gaithersburg, noting that all canonical and civil procedures were properly followed in the investigation.
“After careful review and consultation, I have not seen any evidence that supports the allegations made in the John Doe lawsuit,” he wrote. “Accordingly, I have made the determination to lift the precautionary restrictions that had been placed on Monsignor Mellone and Deacon Bell, effective immediately.”
The decision is the latest development in a yearlong saga involving the Maryland Child Victims Act, a controversial new law in Maryland that temporarily allowed alleged victims of child sex abuse to file civil claims beyond the statute of limitations.
Bell was accused of abuse dating to the 1990s at St. Martin's, where he continued to minister at the time of the lawsuit. He was suspended from ministry by Gregory immediately upon receipt of the allegations.
The case, filed in Prince George's County Circuit Court, concerned neglect on the part of the archdiocese. It was part of a class action suit against the archdiocese even as it resisted implementation of the Maryland Child Victims Act, which it says is unconstitutional. Lawyers for the chancery filed a countersuit this year in an attempt to void the law, a case which will soon be heard before the Maryland Supreme Court.
“They believe that there was a statute in 2017 that gave them a vested right not to be subject to any lawsuits,” the defendants’ attorney Robert Jenner told WYPR this week.
A church standing up for its rights - how unChristian can you get?
“The question is whether that is accurate. In other words, can a legislature change a law that a subsequent legislature has decided is not in the best interest of Maryland citizens?”
The archdiocese says there was no criminal complaint filed in the case of Bell and Msgr Michael Mellone, who worked with him at St. Martin’s during the time of the alleged abuse. Additional complaints in the original civil lawsuit concerned the defrocked priest Robert J. Petrella and an unnamed priest.
Maryland is one of several jurisdictions where new lawsuits alleging child sex abuse were or are allowed beyond the statute of limitations, which in Maryland is typically three years. Other states with similar lookback windows include New York, California, and Louisiana. At least one Catholic diocese in each of those states has recently filed for bankruptcy, including the Archdiocese of Baltimore last year.
The Archdiocese of Washington, whose territory includes the District of Columbia and portions of Southern Maryland, faced up to $1.5 million in damages per claim. The deadline to submit new complaints passed at the end of May.
Bell’s return to ministry ultimately comes as the civil lawsuit involving him remains open, though now on appeal before the Maryland Supreme Court, which agreed in June to hear the case. Cardinal Gregory has not ruled out that restrictions could again be put in place on Bell and Mellone.
“Both men may return to active ministry,” he wrote in his letter to St. Martin’s. “This matter could be revisited in the future if the circumstances change or if new information becomes available that would necessitate further review.”
Irene Deschênes on Outrage Canada
Irene Deschênes is a survivor of childhood sexual abuse by a Roman Catholic priest. What is her story and Outrage Canada?
Irene Deschênes is a survivor of childhood sexual abuse by a roman catholic priest. Irene went to the diocese of London (Ontario) in 1992, and Irene and the diocese engaged in litigation shortly thereafter. Almost 30 years later, Irene received a settlement from the diocese of London in 2021. Irene is a staunch advocate and activist for survivors of clergy sexual abuse. She has worked in social services for most of her adult career, supporting marginalized populations for decades. When yet another case of sexual assault by roman catholic priests comes to light, Irene is known to ask, “Where’s the Outrage?” Irene hopes that those outraged by catholic employees engaging in illicit activities will ask the same question, and that Canadians will be spurred to action. Irene invites all Canadians to be outraged and to use this energy for change in a long-standing institution that has engaged in deceitful acts for centuries.
Outrage Canada is a national, non-religious coalition of outraged Canadians that hold the Roman Catholic church of Canada accountable for ongoing crimes and advocates for all victims of Catholic clergy.
We are committed to ensuring justice for victims, the safety of all children and the prevention of abuse by the Roman Catholic church.
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: We are here with Irene Deschênes. I’ve been conducting interviews with several people, mostly women who have come forward as victims of clergy-related abuse, primarily within Orthodoxy, as much of the focus has been on the Catholic Church. Could you share your experience, including your denomination? And to clarify, this is happening in Canada rather than the United States, correct?
Irene Deschênes: Yes. I grew up Roman Catholic and was baptized at a very young age. My parents were immigrants who came to Canada in 1959, married, and I am the second oldest of five children. We had a very religious household, attended church every Sunday without fail, and observed all the special times during the church calendar year. I went to a Catholic school and then a Catholic high school got married to a nice Catholic boy and had two children. Would you like me to talk about my memory recovery now?
Jacobsen: Yes.
Deschênes: Okay. My children attended a French first language school because my ex-husband is Francophone. We both wanted them to be raised bilingually, so they went to a French school.
There is much more on this story on goodmenproject at:
Sex abuse claims brought against
700 Catholic clergy in Illinois
At least 17 more people allege sexual violence
by French charity icon Abbe Pierre
More than a dozen more people have made accusations of sexual violence against the late French humanitarian monk Abbe Pierre, according to a report published Friday. With Pierre's once-saintly image already shaken by allegations of sexual abuse in July, these latest claims prompted his namesake foundation to announce that it would be changing its name and the Emmaus charity he also founded to announce the permanent closure of a memorial dedicated to him.
At least 17 more people have made accusations of sexual violence against a French monk who became a household name for his charity work, according to a report published Friday, prompting his charities to distance themselves from their founder.
A Capuchin monk since 1932 and an ordained Catholic clergyman since 1938, Abbe Pierre died in 2007 aged 94.
Born Henri Groues, Abbe Pierre left behind a legacy as a friend to the poverty-stricken and founder of the charities Emmaus and the Abbe Pierre Foundation.
With his once saintly image already shaken by allegations of sexual abuse in July, the latest claims prompted his foundation to announce it will change its name and the Emmaus charity he also founded to announce the permanent closure of a memorial to the priest.
Friday's allegations range from non-consensual touching of women's breasts to "kissing by force", "repeated sexual contact with a vulnerable person", "repeated penetrative sex acts" and even "sexual contact with a child", the report said.
Specialist consultancy Egae was hired by the Abbe Pierre Foundation and Emmaus in July to gather further testimony about their founder, after a first battery of allegations shocked the nation.
They found evidence of abuse dating from the 1950s into the 2000s, taking place mostly in France but also in the United States, Morocco and Switzerland.
Those who testified are current or former volunteers at Emmaus, workers in places where Abbe Pierre stayed, members of families with close ties to the priest or people he met at public events, Egae said.
'Forced'
Some 17 years after his death, Groues until July remained a familiar sight on charity shop posters and in metro stations urging French people to think of the poor.
He gave his inheritance away aged 18 to join the order of Capuchin monks, later becoming active in the Resistance to Nazi occupation and spending several post-war years as a member of parliament.
In 1949, he founded the Emmaus community that preaches self-help for excluded people, which has since spread to dozens of countries.
He was also a backer of the "Restos du coeur" soup kitchens movement and clashed with city authorities that failed to lodge the homeless.
In Friday's report, "some women were speaking for the first time about what happened to them, reliving the events even as they told their stories," Caroline De Haas, associate director of Egae, told AFP.
One had written in a letter to France's committee investigating sexual abuse in the Catholic Church that she had been "forced to watch Abbe Pierre masturbate and to perform oral sex in a Paris apartment" in 1989.
The family of another woman, who has since died, said she was "forced to masturbate" Abbe Pierre in the Moroccan capital Rabat in 1956.
A third woman said she endured "forcible kisses" and "contact" when she was eight to nine years old in 1974-75.
And a fourth reported forced physical contact while Abbe Pierre was serving as an MP in France's National Assembly in 1951.
'Total support for victims'
France's Catholic bishops' conference (CEF) spoke of its "pain" and "shame" after the first wave of accusations against Abbe Pierre, which were revealed by the Abbe Pierre Foundation and Emmaus themselves.
The two charities reiterated their "total support for victims" in a statement Friday, hailing the "courage" of those who had come forward.
Beyond changing the Abbe Pierre Foundation's name and closing Emmaus's memorial to the founder, they will also set up an independent committee "to explain the failings that allowed Abbe Pierre to act as he did for more than 50 years", they said.
Abbe Pierre's public persona as a friend to the destitute was "a matter of historic fact", the charities added, whereas "we are now faced with the unbearable pain he inflicted".
The two organisations will maintain until the end of the year a contact and support facility set up in July for any more victims who wish to come forward.
(AFP)
No comments:
Post a Comment