Catholic Church paedophile networks to be mapped
'like organised crime' by academics
ABC Newcastle / By Giselle Wakatama
Posted Yesterday at 5:10pm
The role of women, nuns and seminaries in paedophile networks are also being mapped.
(Reuters: Daniel Munoz)
A "mafia-like" code of silence among "dark networks" within the Catholic Church has begun to emerge from a world-first project mapping clerical paedophile networks, says an academic behind the project.
The project is led by Newcastle sociologist Kathleen McPhillips and criminologist Jodi Death (pronounced Deeth) from Queensland University of Technology's (QUT) law faculty.
The research builds on work done by Sally Muytjens, one of Dr Death's doctoral students, who mapped Catholic paedophile networks in Victoria.
The mapping will now include other hotspots such as Newcastle and the role of women in the church, nuns and seminaries.
Jodi Death is a criminologist leading the mapping project. (Supplied: Twitter)
The Victorian project identified 99 clergy members as abusers linked to 16 paedophile networks in the Melbourne and Ballarat dioceses.
It found there was a "mafia-like" code of silence among clergy perpetrators who formed dark networks (DNs) within the Victorian Catholic Church.
"The covert nature of DNs is due to the illicit activities being conducted by the network," Ms Muytjens said.
"Examples of DNs include terrorist organisations, youth gangs, drug-trafficking rings, price-fixing cartels, and other criminal enterprises."
Researchers say in Victoria they found there were clusters of abusers who ended up clustered together.
(Supplied: Sally Muytjens)
Hunter survivors in focus
Abuse at the hands of paedophile clerical networks in the Maitland-Newcastle Catholic Diocese is now on the radar of the researchers. They have been briefed by about 50 abuse survivors and family members associated with the Clergy Abuse Network (CAN).
"There is enormous enthusiasm for the project because a lot of the survivors are convinced that there were, and probably are, networks of paedophiles," said CAN founder and survivor Bob O'Toole.
Bob O'Toole was sexually assaulted by a Newcastle Marist brother. (ABC News: Dan Cox)
Dr Death said the survivors were invaluable as they held so much information about what happened and how it happened.
Dr McPhillips said it was a world-first project.
"It is very important, this project, in the sense that we think the work that we are
about to do is uncovering a network in a way it has never been seen before," she said.
"We are using documents, but for the very first time we are using the oral histories of survivors to map these paedophile networks across the Catholic Church, so the potential is enormous."
Abuse survivors briefed in Newcastle about the paedophile mapping project.
(ABC Newcastle: Giselle Wakatama)
Dr Death said every survivor likely held information they may not be aware was important in a larger map. "The end result is we want a map that tells us about all the connections," she said.
"In Victoria, we found there were clusters of abusers who ended up clustered together, and abusers weren't just moved around randomly they were removed really quite strategically.
"We would like to know if that's the case across the country and, in the long-term, around the world — we would like a world map."
Light shone on nuns, seminaries
Women in the Church will be examined as part of the mapping process.
"We know it's coming from nuns and lay teachers," Dr Death said.
"Nuns are interesting and may also be part of the dark network, sexualising things like discipline. They are really understudied, and nuns were also vulnerable as victims themselves. We need to map and unpack that issue."
The sex abuse royal commission
It went to some dark places. Here's some of what it found.
Seminaries, colleges where priests where received training, were also deemed a lure for paedophiles, Dr Death said.
"Seminaries were places where people would make connections," she said. "There is also evidence of clergy taking young boys back to a seminary to be abused by other seminarians."
'Like a chocolate wheel'
Clerical abuse survivors have backed the project, with dozens telling the ABC they will share their stories.
Survivor Scott Hallett has applauded the mapping project. (ABC News: Mark Reddie)
Scott Hallett was abused by Vincent Ryan, who was banned from priestly duties after abusing more than 30 boys.
He said it sickened him to think paedophiles were shuffled around.
"It was like a chocolate wheel. Somebody offends, let's spin the wheel and, 'Righto mate, you're there now,'" Mr Hallett said.
Gerard McDonald was abused by the same priest and welcomed the mapping project.
"It is about time. People need to realise that it has been happening for too long and it is time people stood up," he said.
Survivor Gerard McDonald said the mapping project is long overdue. (ABC News: Anthony Scully)
British child migrant Mick Kenny was six in the 1950s when he was placed in a Newcastle children's home.
He said the mapping project would be confronting, but well worth it.
"The nuns, every now again, they would take two or three of us to a nursing home and leave us there with a priest — they knew, they knew," Mr Kenny said.
Andrew Nash, a Marist Brothers student, died in his bedroom in 1974. (Supplied)
Geoffrey Nash's brother Andrew is the youngest known clerical abuse suicide victim in Australia.
Andrew Nash died in 1974 aged 13 and Geoffrey said the mapping project was a painful but positive step.
"It is work that has been coming for many years and I think it is going to draw all the work that has been done in the past together," he said.
Australia's first dedicated police strikeforce into Catholic clergy abuse was set up in the Hunter Valley in 2007.
Strikeforce Georgiana netted 19 offenders who were convicted of more than 600 offences, relating to 182 victims.
That's an average of more than 9 each, and is probably well underestimated.
Researchers have not put a timeline on the mapping project but say once finished in Australia they intend to move their research offshore.
Cardinal Blase Cupich demanding details on abusive order priests
but won’t post findings
The Archdiocese of Chicago has been getting explicit details from religious orders on problem priests in the area for over two years. But it’s keeping that information secret. Some orders won’t release it, either.
By Robert Herguth Chicago Sun Times
Feb 5, 2021, 5:30am CST
Cardinal Blase Cupich has stepped up behind-the-scenes efforts to get a handle on clergy in religious orders who have been accused of sex abuse. But, even though the Archdiocese of Chicago’s website lists diocesan priests to have faced “substantiated” child sex abuse allegations, Cupich hasn’t made public information about order priests in the archdiocese even when the orders themselves have done so. Ashlee Rezin Garcia / Sun-Times file
Two and a half years after the latest sex abuse scandal rocked the Catholic church and prompted new pledges of transparency, the church in the Chicago region has yet to make a full accounting to the public of its problem priests.
Cardinal Blase Cupich has demanded for more than two years now that Catholic religious orders that operate in his territory fully disclose to him any information on their clergy members who now face or previously have faced accusations of child sexual abuse.
But Cupich — who heads the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago, which covers Cook County and Lake County, and who reports to Pope Francis — has kept those findings secret. The archdiocese won’t say how many clerics from orders in the Chicago area have faced such accusations or make public any information about them, such as where those clergy members are today.
That’s despite Cupich’s stepped-up behind-the-scenes demands on the semi-autonomous religious orders to produce detailed reports on predator priests and other problem clergy in their ranks — information that some orders have made public but that others have declined to.
The refusal by the archdiocese to make public such information stands in contrast to the responses of other dioceses to the latest church scandal, including those in Joliet and Rockford. Both of those dioceses, which cover parts of the Chicago suburbs, identify order priests currently or formerly in their territories who have faced child sex abuse allegations.
Though the Archdiocese of Chicago hasn’t disclosed similar information for Cook and Lake counties, its website lists diocesan priests — who are under Cupich’s authority — to have faced “substantiated” child sex abuse allegations.
With each order handling its internal affairs differently and some declining to make public the same kind of information, that’s left the public in the dark regarding just how many predator priests, brothers and deacons there have been in the region.
That’s a troubling gap, according to the leaders of some religious orders, who say they not only make such information known to the public themselves but also have done so to the archdiocese in response to Cupich’s demands and church guidelines.
Crackdown on orders began in 2018
Among the events that prompted the archdiocese’s efforts to find out more information about problem clergy from religious orders were revelations in 2018 about a once-prominent Augustinian priest, Richard McGrath. After being accused of having child pornography on his cellphone, he’d been moved into a Hyde Park monastery that’s near a Catholic school and day care center, the Sun-Times reported in September 2018.
The Augustinians are among religious orders that have not released a public list of accused members in the Chicago area. The order is facing two lawsuits in Cook County that say its clerics abused students years ago at Providence Catholic High School in New Lenox and St. Rita High School on the South Side.
“The order’s top officials, including those at the Midwest Augustinians, have employed a pattern and practice of concealing, hiding and not disclosing facts that sexually abusive brothers and religious served in positions with access to children,” says one of the suits, filed in 2020, which accuses a now-deceased cleric of having molested a male student at St. Rita in the 1970s.
According to the lawsuit, the order — which won’t comment on the suit — has “had numerous agents who sexually molested children.”
The Society of the Divine Word’s Techny grounds near Northbrook, where one elderly priest accused of child sex abuse out-of-state years ago now lives. Robert Herguth / Sun-Times
How other orders have responded
The Society of the Divine Word near Northbrook and the Redemptorists in Chicago say they have had members who’ve been accused of sexual abuse. Neither of those orders has made public the names of all of those credibly accused, though both say they intend to do so.
The Passionists in Park Ridge and the Christian Brothers in Burr Ridge won’t say whether they have created or plan to create a public list of clergy accused of abuse.
The Alexian Brothers order in Elk Grove Village doesn’t post such a list. The order, which has long been involved in hospitals in the Chicago area, says that’s because there have been no such accusations against its members.
The Carmelites — who help run Carmel High School in Mundelein, Mount Carmel High School on the South Side and Joliet Catholic Academy — released a list in November of what it said were 31 credibly accused clerics in the province that includes Chicago. Twenty had worked at some point in the Chicago area. Thirteen of the 20 are now dead. None of those still alive is currently in any public ministry, according to the order.
“Religious orders are not going to be able to turn the page unless they’re transparent,” says the Rev. Carl Markelz, who became the Carmelites’ provincial leader last June. “It helps the victims to move forward, and it helps us.”
They had better turn the page in a hurry. When they stand before Jesus Christ, they don't want the Book of Life open to this page.
The Rev. Carl Markelz, the Carmelites’ provincial leader: “Religious orders are not going to be able to turn the page unless they’re transparent.” Provided
Some religious orders with a presence in the Chicago area, including the Dominicans, didn’t respond to calls and emails seeking comment.
Cupich, his chief operating officer Betsy Bohlen and their spokeswoman Paula Waters would not answer questions.
In 2018, Waters said the archdiocese’s policy is “to list all diocesan clergy with substantiated allegations of sexual abuse of minor” on its website and that Cupich “calls on all religious orders and dioceses to do the same.”
But even when the orders have posted such information, the archdiocese hasn’t posted that same information.
The country is carved into dioceses, each headed by a bishop and staffed in large part by diocesan priests. Cupich’s domain includes more than 2 million Catholics. The priests who answer directly to him and who staff most parishes are the diocesan clergy.
Male religious orders are groups of priests and other clerics that often extend beyond the boundaries of a particular diocese, focus on a specific mission and identify with a particular philosophy or saint. The Franciscans, for instance, follow in the mold of St. Francis of Assisi, who embraced the poor and sick in the 1200s.
Religious orders have their own leaders and operate relatively freely within dioceses, though they need permission from the local bishop, such as Cupich, if they engage in public ministry, whether that’s in a parish, at a school or hospital or in some other charitable endeavor.
Regarding abusive clergy members in religious orders, Waters said in 2018 that the orders “are the only ones who have this information and can guarantee that their lists are complete.”
But, asked then whether the archdiocese keeps track of accused order priests within its boundaries, she said, “It is done on a regular basis.”
The Augustinian monastery in Hyde Park that, despite being close to a Catholic elementary school, took in a priest in 2018 who had been accused of having child pornography on his cellphone. Robert Herguth / Sun-Times
Cupich began demanding more information on members of the orders working or living in the Chicago region starting in 2018, leaders of some of the orders say.
That began after the Sun-Times reported on McGrath. Cupich’s office knew McGrath had been moved to the Hyde Park monastery near a Catholic school and day care center — he’d been living in Will County, in the Diocese of Joliet — but didn’t inform even its own school.
There is more on this story and others at the Chicago Sun Times.
California Catholic Churches Argue that Childhood Sex Abuse Window is Unconstitutional
Children going to the first holy communion
In California the Catholic Church has filed motions in the Northern and Southern Superior Courts to throw out a 2019 law that allowed accusers of clergy sexual abuse to sue even if they were molested decades ago. The motions filed ask judges to rule Assembly Bill 218 unconstitutional.
Assembly Bill 218 was authored by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego) who said in 2019, “The idea that someone who is assaulted as a child can actually run out of time to report that abuse is outrageous. More and more, we’re hearing about people who were victims years ago but were not ready to come forward to tell their story until now.”
Her bill was signed into legislation by Gov. Gavin Newsom and took effect January 1, 2020. The landmark bill gives victims of childhood sexual abuse until age 40, or five years from discovery of the abuse, to file civil lawsuits. The previous limit had been 26, or within three years from discovery of the abuse. The new law also suspends the statute of limitations until January 1, 2023 — giving victims of all ages time to bring lawsuits if they wish.
California is one of 15 states that have extended the window for people to sue institutions over long-ago sexual abuse. These “look back” windows have resulted in thousands of lawsuits nationwide, with the majority directed at the Catholic Church.
Victims advocates have shown strong support for AB218. For many victims of sexual assault it takes years to come to terms with what happened. Victims carry shame, guilt and denial, and even well into adulthood are often reluctant to testify against their abusers. The Catholic Church had previously taken advantage of victims reluctance and leveraged statutes of limitation to make sure they never would testify. The church was well aware it had a sexual abuse problem but still continued to secretly harbor pedophile priests in its ranks.
In seeking to overturn AB218 they are asking the court to not to allow victims to hold them accountable. The Catholic Church’s arguments against the bill assert that the longer statute of limitations increases the chances “that witnesses will have died, memories faded, and documents may have been lost. This reality absolutely impairs the defendants’ ability to defend themselves.”
The reality is that under AB218 thousands of victims have finally been given a chance to get the justice they deserve. These lawsuits allow the truths that have been hidden for decades to see the light of day.
It's another dreadful example of the Catholic Church thinking it can get away with horrific sins against children through legal loopholes. They ought to be terrified of standing before Christ, not just for the sexual abuse of children, but for the refusal to deal with the sin in their midst and accept responsibility for the lives they've destroyed.
German archbishop under fire over clergy sex abuse report
In this Sunday, May 3, 2020 file photo, German Cardinal and Archbishop Rainer Woelki, right, celebrate a church service at the Cologne Cathedral, in Cologne, Germany. Cologne Archbishop Rainer Maria Woelki faces mounting discontent in his diocese over his decision to keep under wraps a study on how local church officials reacted when priests were accused of sexual abuse. Woelki has cited legal concerns about publishing the study conducted by a law firm.
By The Associated Press
Fri., Feb. 5, 2021
BERLIN - The head of the German Bishops’ Conference has criticized the handling by one of the country’s most prominent Roman Catholic archbishops of a report on past child sexual abuse by clergy.
Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki, the archbishop of Cologne, faces mounting discontent in his diocese over his decision to keep under wraps a study he commissioned on how local church officials reacted when priests were accused of sexual abuse. Woelki has cited legal concerns about publishing the study conducted by a law firm.
In other words, it would open the diocese up for lawsuits. Probably lots of lawsuits.
The head of the national bishops’ conference, Limburg Bishop Georg Baetzing, criticized Woelki at a news conference on Thursday.
German news agency dpa quoted Baetzing as saying the “crisis that has arisen because the report is not now public was not well-managed, from my point of view.”
The law firm that prepared report has offered to publish the document on its website and to take sole responsibility for it, but the diocese has rejected that idea.
Sure, lawsuits are good business for lawyers, even when they lose.
Woelki has drawn fierce criticism from Catholics in Cologne. The local diocesan council called last month for “full transparency” and said the confidence of the area’s Catholic faithful in church leaders had been damaged.
“After years of secrecy and denial, people in our diocese finally expect plain talk and concrete steps of responsibility,” the council said. “That is always possible. And it is high time.”
Woelki said Thursday he was “painfully aware that confidence had been lost” and acknowledged that he had made mistakes.
He pointed to the planned March 18 publication of a new report he also commissioned, and said that “after that, those affected and then everyone who is interested will get an insight into the first report.”
So, would this be a report on the report? Perhaps a dumbing down of the language, a glossing over of the most egregious aspects?
Why is there no fear of God in the Catholic Church? Why don't they want to face their sins in truth and humility? Do they actually think God will wink and smile at their demonic deeds and the evil attitudes that enabled myriad paedophiles to appear as though 'men of God' and destroy the children of God? They had better face their sins now before they stand before Him. I guarantee it will not go well for those who have attempted to downplay this great evil.
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