Survivor group demands Vatican investigation of

New Orleans archdiocese

Oct 19, 2020

by Madeleine Davison

A priest at a Catholic high school was removed from ministry after confessing he had abused a child in 2013. Another priest was arrested after allegedly engaging in sexual acts with two women on the altar of his small-town church. And seven new names were added to the list of clergy credibly accused of child sexual abuse.

All of this happened within two weeks in the New Orleans Archdiocese.

Partly in response to these events, on Oct. 9, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP, wrote a letter to Pope Francis calling for the removal of New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond.

The letter, which SNAP also sent to the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith and the Apostolic Nunciature in Washington, D.C., said Aymond has refused to be honest with parishioners, has not pursued accountability for abuse and has "lost control of his priests."

"We implore you to send Vatican investigators to New Orleans so that you may arrive at the same truth for yourself that we already know — Catholics in New Orleans deserve a better leader than Gregory Aymond," the letter said.

Kevin Bourgeois, a SNAP leader in New Orleans, and Zach Hiner, SNAP's executive director, said the archdiocese — which also filed for bankruptcy in May, citing the financial burdens of abuse lawsuits — is experiencing a crisis that will require Vatican and secular intervention to rectify.

"It has been … an absolute debacle of infinite proportions," Bourgeois said.

The sexual abuse crisis in the Archdiocese of New Orleans stretches back decades. With the latest addition — to include members of the Franciscan Friars' order, according to Nola.com — there will be over 70 names on the official list of priests and clergy credibly accused of abusing children.

On Oct. 2, the archdiocese said a priest named Patrick Wattigny confessed to sexually abusing a minor in 2013. Wattigny had resigned from his post as a chaplain at Pope John Paul II High School after a student disclosed texts in February 2020 from Wattigny, which a lawyer for the student's family described as "grooming," according to Nola.com. He had kept his job at a nearby church.

After Wattigny disclosed the 2013 abuse, Aymond said in an Oct. 9 video statement that Wattigny was removed from service and reported to law enforcement. His name has been added to the archdiocesan list of credibly accused priests.

In the statement, Aymond said the archdiocese did not know about the abuse before Oct. 1. He also said the texts disclosed in February between the teenager and Wattigny were "not sexual in nature" but that Wattigny was asked to resign because the texts were a violation of the archdiocese's "technology policy."

"The texts did not indicate abuse, and there was no allegation of sexual abuse," Aymond said in the statement. "I am truly, truly sorry for the pain that this has caused."

On Oct. 5, Nola.com reported that a man named Tim Trahan had accused two priests — Luis Fernandez and the late Robert Cooper — of abusing him when he was a student at a now-closed prep school in New Orleans in the late 1970s. Another man has also accused Fernandez, Nola.com reported.

Aymond, who worked at the prep school while Trahan was a student, helped him and another student get Cooper dismissed from his job at the school after they disclosed that he had sent them sexually suggestive letters, Nola.com reported. But the archbishop told Nola.com there wasn't enough evidence to place Cooper or Fernandez on the list of credibly accused priests.

And on Sept. 30, a priest named Travis Clark was arrested on charges of obscenity after he allegedly engaged in sexual conduct with two women who worked as dominatrixes, on the altar of Sts. Peter and Paul Church in Pearl River, Louisiana, according to WWLTV and Nola.com. Clark had also just replaced Wattigny as chaplain at St. John Paul II High School after Wattigny resigned due to the text messages.

Aymond called Clark's actions "demonic" and personally reconsecrated a new altar in the church on Oct. 10 after the old one was removed and burned, Catholic News Service reported. Clark was also removed from ministry, Aymond said in the Oct. 9 video statement.

MORE AT LINK:

https://www.ncronline.org/news/accountability/survivor-group-demands-vatican-investigation-new-orleans-archdiocese

Polish bishop resigns following accusations of failing to act on abuse

BY JUNNO AROCHO ESTEVES, CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

October 19, 2020

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis accepted the resignation of a Polish bishop accused of negligence after a documentary claimed he repeatedly transferred a priest accused of sexually abusing children.

The Vatican announced Oct. 17 that the pope accepted the resignation of 68-year-old Bishop Edward Janiak of Kalisz and named Archbishop Grzegorz Rys of Lodz as apostolic administrator "sede vacante."

In June, the Vatican had appointed Archbishop Rys as apostolic administrator "sede plena," indicating that the see was not vacant.

Bishop Janiak's failure to act when told about allegations of abuse perpetrated by a diocesan priest drew a public outcry following the May 16 release of the documentary, "Hide and Seek," produced by Polish filmmakers Marek and Tomasz Sekielski.

The film was a follow-up to their 2019 documentary "Tell No One," which exposed the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church in Poland and has garnered nearly 24 million views on YouTube.

In "Hide and Seek," the filmmakers accused the Polish church of continuing to cover up sexual abuse by Catholic clergy, and specifically detailed the abuse perpetrated by a priest of the Diocese of Kalisz.

Several victims said the priest, Father Arkadiusz Hajdasz, began abusing them in the late 1990s. Bishop Stanislaw Napierala had led the Diocese of Kalisz from 1992 to 2012, and Bishop Janiak since 2012.

The parents of one of the abused children reportedly told Bishop Janiak in 2016 about the abuse; they claim the bishop told them, "These are lies," and asked them to leave.

Father Hajdasz was transferred to position at a local hospital, and the bishop apparently did not report the case to the Vatican until 2018 when the accusations became more publicly known.

The documentary prompted Archbishop Wojciech Polak, primate of Poland and the bishops' delegate for child protection, to request the Vatican to start the proceedings allowed for by Pope Francis in the document, "Vos Estis Lux Mundi" ("You are the light of the world"), regarding bishop accountability.

https://www.catholicregister.org/home/international/item/32239-polish-bishop-resigns-following-accusations-of-failing-to-act-on-abuse

Pope needs transparency, zero tolerance to end Vatican's

financial corruption

Oct 19, 2020

by Michael Sean Winters

Jesus warned us that money and faith do not mix very well. And one of the greatest tragedies in the history of Christendom, the Reformation, was sparked in part by disgust at the wealth that had been accumulated by the successors of Peter and the cardinals who advised them. Closer to our own time, we can recall the memory of Chicago-born Archbishop Paul Marcinkus who led the Vatican bank into a series of shady investments and the Banco Ambrosiano scandal, for which the Vatican paid out $244 million to the failed bank's creditors.

So, the allegations of financial malfeasance surrounding Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu are not entirely surprising. Much remains to be learned, but this much is clear already: Pope Francis' reputation before history as a reformer will depend in large part on his ability to confront this scandal head on and use it to uproot the procedures, policies and personalities that made it possible.

The current scandal broke into public view almost a year ago when police raided the Vatican Secretariat of State looking for evidence of financial wrongdoing. Shortly after, the head of the Vatican's "watchdog" agency for financial matters, Rene Brülhart, resigned at the end of his five-year term, in part because the police had also raided his office. Brülhart was considered a straight shooter and so the decision likely raised alarms at international watchdog agencies. The decision to raid Brülhart's office apparently resulted in the resignation of the police chief.

Then, at the beginning of the summer, the Vatican announced the arrest of investor Gianluigi Torzi on charges of extortion, fraud and money laundering after details of a shady real estate deal involving luxury apartments in London came to light. Commenting on that mess earlier this month, the head of the Vatican Secretariat for the Economy, Jesuit Fr. Juan Antonio Guerrero Alves, said the Holy See had been "swindled" by its investors.

The stakes hit the roof, however, last month when Becciu was removed as prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, his rights as a cardinal were stripped from him, and he held a press conference where he filled in some of the details the Vatican press office had not regarding the charges against him. And, last week, a laywoman, Cecilia Marogna, was arrested by Italian police on a Vatican warrant. Marogna's firm apparently received hundreds of thousands of euros from her fellow Sardinian, Becciu.

What a mess! "Things are going to get worse, probably a lot worse, before they get better," a well connected prelate told me about the unfolding financial scandal.

Pope Francis famously does not like to humiliate subordinates publicly. He may find himself forced to do a better job explaining what the investigations he authorized have found and how he plans to confront this recurring corruption. It is hard to see how the corruption can be eradicated without a large infusion of mandatory transparency. There is a reason most decent regimes have adopted financial transparency regulations and support international organizations that help ferret out corruption, money laundering and other fiscal crimes.

The Gospel has a verse that is on point, Matthew 5:15 — "nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house" — but there are other Gospel values at stake, especially for a pope: mercy, non-judgmentalism, compassion. Trying to reform the Vatican must be like living with an alcoholic: You want to be supportive without becoming an enabler, you know you can't trust the veracity of what you are told, and the most loving thing you can do is say "no." Perhaps the Holy Father and his team should start attending Al-Anon.

MORE AT LINK:

https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/pope-needs-transparency-zero-tolerance-end-vaticans-financial

Lawsuit filed against diocese, alleging molestation by

Fr. Stanley Begnaud

By: KATC NEWS

Posted at 5:40 PM, Oct 19, 2020 and last updated 7:30 PM, Oct 19, 2020

The Diocese of Lafayette has been named in a lawsuit filed last month by a man who alleges he was molested by Fr. Stanley Begnaud when he was a teen.

The suit identifies the plaintiff and alleged victim as "Sam Doe," but it states that the man has identified himself to the court under seal.

In the lawsuit, which was served on the Diocese last week, the man says he was a teenage member of St. Stephen's Church in Berwick in the early 1960s, at the same time that Fr. Stanley Begnaud was a priest there.

Begnaud is on KATC's List. He was Labeled “a known pedophile” in diocese documents that became part of a lawsuit against their insurance company. No evidence of any lawsuits or criminal charges. Named by the Diocese of Lafayette in 2019 as a priest against whom a credible accusation has been made regarding sexual abuse of a minor or vulnerable adult.

The lawsuit describes in explicit detail an incident that began with the boy confessing impure thoughts in the confessional to Begnaud, and ending with the priest allegedly molesting him during a car ride. The boy bailed out of the moving car and ran home, and surpressed the memories of the incident until last fall, when after years of therapy he remembered, the suit alleges.

The suit additionally alleges that the Charter adopted by the Church and its Bishops in 2002 waives prescription. Usually under Louisiana civil law, a plaintiff has one year from the date of the alleged incident that injured them to file a civil lawsuit against the defendant.

The suit alleges that the diocese knew Begnaud to be "a diseased pedophile" who had raped children, but didn't do anything but transfer him from church to church. The suit accuses the church of failing to remove Begnaud from ministry, and of failing to reach out to his victims. Begnaud retired and enjoyed full benefits until he died, the suit alleges.

The suit also alleges that Bishop Deshotel has issued statements asking victims to come forward, but has denied his claims in private, and kept his claims and those of other Begnaud victims "hidden and concealed."

The suit accuses the diocese of negligence and fraudulent concealment. It also says the diocese had a duty to disclose the acts of sexual abuse by its priests by reporting them to law enforcement or other authority, and didn't do so - even though the diocese allegedly knew about his crimes for more than 25 years. In failing to protect the public from Begnaud, the Diocese in effect created a public nuisance, the suit alleges.

The plaintiff alleges physical and mental damages, including continuing nightmares and psychological damage.

We've reached out to the Diocese for a response.

https://www.katc.com/news/lafayette-parish/lawsuit-filed-against-diocese-alleging-molestation-by-fr-stanley-begnaud

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>>11164341

Angry Jesus is not dying for their sins, this time

Colorado's Catholic dioceses pay $6.6 million in abuse settlements

Denver, Colo., Oct 19, 2020 / 12:01 pm MT (CNA).- An independent reparation and reconciliation program for the three dioceses in Colorado announced Friday that $6.68 million had been paid to 73 victims of clerical abuse who were minors at the time the abuse occurred.

The program is administered by Camille Biros and Kenneth Feinberg, independent from control by the Church, and is monitored by an independent board, the Independent Oversight Committee.

The IOC said Oct. 16 that “The administrators and the IOC have received positive feedback from program participants. Many survivors (and their attorneys) have commended the option to seek compensation in a non-adversarial forum independent from the Dioceses and without regard for the statute of limitations.”

The program was accounced in October 2019, and the claims process has now closed.

During the process, 98 claims were made, of which 81 were determined to be eligible for compensation.

The $6.68 million has been paid to 73 victims. Of the remaining eight, one is being paid; four have not yet responded to the compensation offer, and three are awaiting law enforcement notification by the claimants.

Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver said Oct. 16 told the victims who participated in the program, “I have met with all of you who requested a meeting in which I could offer an apology to you in person, and will meet with anyone else should you desire to do so. I know others have chosen a different path for healing and I, of course, respect your wishes. Please know, on behalf of myself and the Church, I am deeply sorry for the pain and hurt that was caused by the abuse you suffered.”

“I remain steadfastly committed to meeting with any survivor who desires to meet with me and doing everything I can so that the problems of the past never repeat themselves. I know that money cannot fully heal the wounds you suffered, but hope that those of you who came forward felt heard, acknowledged, and that the reparations offer a measure of justice and access to resources,” he added.

MORE AT LINK:

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/colorados-catholic-dioceses-pay-66-million-in-abuse-settlements-43874

Victims of convicted pedophile priest continue to search for accountability

CAUTION: This story contains graphic content related to allegations of sexual assault and might be upsetting to some readers.

about 15 hours ago By: Adrian Ghobrial and Jessica Bruno

If you or someone you know are victims of sexual violence, you can contact Crisis Services Canada, a 24/7 hotline, at 1-833-456-4566 or you can find local support through the Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres; The Government of Canada has also compiled a list of sexual misconduct support centres. If you are under 18 and need help, contact the Kid’s Help Phone online or at 1-800-668-6868.

When Jerry Boyle was in high school, he used to walk Windsor’s Ambassador Bridge and drop rocks into the Detroit River. He would count the seconds it took for the stones to hit the water.

“It could end that quick if I wanted it to. Wouldn’t have to look at him again.”

Thirty years later, Patrick McMahon would walk the very same bridge to the very same spot and contemplate the very same thing. Both were sexually assaulted by Father William Hod Marshall, decades apart.

Marshall was a Catholic priest and educator who worked at Catholic high schools across Canada, starting in the 1950s. At the time, the institutions were run or staffed by the Basilian Fathers, a group of priests whose calling is to teach. Their world headquarters is in Toronto.

In a recorded civil deposition, Marshall admitted to sexually assaulting boys at nearly every posting he had.

Marshall pled guilty in 2011 and was convicted of assaulting 17 children at Ontario schools. He was also separately convicted of assaulting two boys in Saskatchewan. Victims and their lawyers believe the actual number of children he preyed on is much higher.

It’s a reality survivors Boyle and McMahon live with each day. Marshall admitted to abusing them both. They were each young teens when they encountered the priest.

“Being the good Catholic, I was praying he’d go away. I was terrified,” says Boyle, who describes his abuse as “hands in every crevice that was on my body.”

To this day, Boyle and his wife sleep in separate beds, because the 79-year-old wakes up swinging punches into the air. Trying to beat back the memory of a priest who still haunts him.

In the Fall of 1954, Boyle entered Grade 10 at Assumption Catholic High School. A Basilian priest, Marshall, coached his high school basketball team.

“He found a victim he thought he could get away with it and he did for two years,” says Boyle, who says he was assaulted in gym showers, empty classrooms, and Marshall’s own bedroom.

“He called it a workout,” says Boyle who also claims other priests at the school walked into Marshall’s bedroom while he was being abused and walked out again.

“I could see it was another priest – I could see the black cassock – I don’t know who it was. [Marshall] said, ‘This room is busy you’ll have to find another one’,” he recalls. Marshall denied this during a 2012 civil trial.

Feeling like he had no one to turn to, the assaults led a young Boyle to contemplate suicide. He would peer over the railing of the Ambassador Bridge, down the street from his high school where he was being abused.

“Who knows how many children had the same experience, in between us and after us.”

MORE AT LINK:

https://www.ottawamatters.com/around-ontario/victims-of-convicted-pedophile-priest-continue-to-search-for-accountability-2802828

'Dire' financial consequences warned for Catholic Diocese across PA,

depending on outcome of State Supreme Court case

The PA Supreme Court case could determine if hundreds of cases will move forward against diocese statewide, potentially piling on legal costs

Author: Jamie Bittner (FOX43)

Published: 5:41 PM EDT October 19, 2020

Updated: 6:19 PM EDT October 19, 2020

More than 300 cases are piling up against separate diocese statewide and more could be coming depending on the outcome of a case in Pennsylvania's Supreme Court that lawyers warn could have possible 'dire' financial implications on diocese statewide.

"If we win this case in the Supreme Court it's going to open the door for dozens, if not hundreds of cases that have previously been thrown out of court," said Alan Perer of Swensen & Perer, who is expected to argue the case tomorrow.

The decision that lies before Pennsylvania's Supreme Court is whether to uphold a ruling by a Superior Court in Renee Rice vs the Altoona-Johnstown Roman Catholic Diocese.

The Superior Court determined that it is possible for a jury to decide whether the statute of limitations should apply in lawsuits stemming from the catholic church sex abuse scandal.

However, many diocese lawyers claim amending the statute of limitations is a decision that lies with the state, not the courts.

"The trial court applies the law properly to the facts of the case and the Superior Court misapplied the law," said Eric Anderson, who serves as counsel for Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown. "It made a decision that is contrary to how Pennsylvania law has existed for years."

Since the Superior Court decision, more than 300 lawsuits have been filed against separate diocese across the state. The lawsuits, referred to as 'post-Rice' cases, include more than 130 filed in Pittsburgh, more than 70 filed in Philadelphia, and others filed against Allentown, Erie, Greensburg, Harrisburg, and Scranton.

"At minimum, we're talking dire financial consequences for all the diocese," said attorney Casey Coyle of Eckert, Seamans, Cherin & Mellott, who represents the Scranton Diocese which is facing 51 cases when asked about the litigation costs and the long-term impact on the Catholic Church if all post-Rice cases are allowed to be heard before a jury.

"I think there will either be some large scale mass settlement, or in some cases, I believe there will be a bankruptcy," said Perer, when FOX43 asked him a similar question.

Right now, the diocese of Harrisburg remains the only diocese to file for bankruptcy. No other diocese has announced any intention to file.

"I will note that the diocese of Altoona Johnstown in briefing the PA Supreme Court noted that the Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg filed for bankruptcy earlier this year, when it was the named defendant in just 19 lawsuits," said Coyle.

The post-Rice cases seek compensation outside survivors funds that have already paid out millions in claims. Some diocese lawyers call the scale at which the cases are being filed 'unprecedented,' with many being filed in the months following the Superior Court decision.

"The church is committed to making right with its past," said counsel Matt Haverstick of Kleinbard LLC, who represents the Diocese of Harrisburg and the Diocese of Greensburg. "But, there's a way it can be done that keeps churches and nonprofits vital providers of a safety net especially during times like these. And, I don't think that open season through litigation is the way to do that."

MORE AT LINK:

https://www.fox43.com/article/news/local/dire-financial-consequences-warned-for-catholic-diocese-across-pa-depending-on-outcome-of-state-supreme-court-case < BASE LINK AS THE MAIN LINK CONTAINS TRACKING INFO

>>11164561

Q DROP #1879

100s of Priests in PA Molested 1000s of Children

Q !!mG7VJxZNCI 15 Aug 2018 - 12:05:27 AM

https://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/08/14/stunning-findings-on-report-catholic-church-abuse-pa-priests-molested-more-than-1000-children.html

House of GOD?

Only the beginning.

Those who you are taught to trust the most….

Expect MANY MANY MANY similar reports to surface from around the world.

IT GOES A LOT DEEPER.

Connected.

The choice to know will be yours.

Q

HOUSE OF GOD?

Growing pressure to name Catholic priests accused of sexual assault

BY ADRIAN GHOBRIAL AND JESSICA BRUNOPOSTED OCT 19, 2020 5:38 AM EDT LAST UPDATED OCT 19, 2020 AT 11:33 AM EDT

CAUTION: This story contains graphic content related to allegations of sexual assault and might be upsetting to some readers.

If you or someone you know are victims of sexual violence, you can contact Crisis Services Canada, a 24/7 hotline, at 1-833-456-4566 or you can find local support through the Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres; The Government of Canada has also compiled a list of sexual misconduct support centres. If you are under 18 and need help, contact the Kid’s Help Phone online or at 1-800-668-6868.

They lived in silence for decades, but now those who say they were sexually assaulted as children by Catholic priests are pushing for a new transparency that could create a seismic shift inside the Church in Canada.

“It’s time to clear out the records and release the names of these priests,” says Brenda Brunelle, a Canadian leader of the Survivors Network of Accused Priests. “So people […] can be assured their children are safe.”

Brunelle is calling on Canadian leaders to follow their American counterparts and release comprehensive lists of priests who have been convicted of, admitted to, or are credibly accused of sexually assaulting minors.

In particular, she is calling on the Basilian Fathers, an order of priests with headquarters in Toronto, to lead the way. She has been working with lawyer Rob Talach, who has filed hundreds of cases against the Catholic Church, including Basilians.

“It’s a litmus test that whether these institutions, in this case the Basilians, get it and are on board with moving forward,” he says. “They have to expose their sins and put a list out there.”

He believes, out of all the religious organizations in Canada, the Basilian Fathers have a unique responsibility to release a list. Its priests are teachers, and they operate or staff schools and universities across North and South America.

“It’s even more important because their priests had guaranteed large-scale exposure to young people,” he says.

MORE AT LINK:

https://toronto.citynews.ca/2020/10/19/catholic-priests-basilian-credibly-accused-list/

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Twin hit of abuse claims and pandemic could push NJ Catholic

dioceses toward bankruptcy

Deena Yellin NorthJersey.com

For Catholic churches around the country, it has become a familiar refrain: After shelling out millions of dollars in settlements to survivors of clergy abuse, a diocese says it's broke and declares bankruptcy.

The Diocese of Camden, representing a half-million Catholics in 62 South Jersey parishes, became the latest to file for bankruptcy protection on Oct. 1 — 10 months after a new state law waived the statute of limitations on decades-old abuse claims.

It's unlikely to be the last. If history is any guide, bankruptcy experts say, when one diocese in a state files for Chapter 11, others often follow. In North Jersey, the dioceses of Newark and Paterson, representing some 1.7 million worshippers, are caught in the same vise of legal attacks and COVID-19 financial strains, said Charles Zech, a professor emeritus at the Villanova School of Business in Pennsylvania.

"Given the uncertainty associated with the statute-of-limitations window in New Jersey, I suspect that every diocese in the state is in danger," he said.

To parishioners, the legal maneuvers may have little visible impact on the ground. A Camden diocese spokesman said there are no plans to cut churches, staff or programs. But the filings have angered victims' advocates and plaintiffs attorneys, who say bankruptcy is a ploy by the church to dodge legal accountability for past crimes.

Since 2004, some 29 Roman Catholic dioceses and religious orders nationwide have filed for bankruptcy, said Marie Reilly, a professor at Penn State Law who studies bankruptcy law.

In the past year alone, four New York state dioceses have filed: Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse and Rockville Centre, the Long Island diocese that's among the largest in the nation.

MORE AT LINK:

https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/new-jersey/2020/10/19/nj-catholic-church-diocese-could-go-bankrupt-abuse-claims-covid-pile/5965694002/

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>>11164639

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>>11164676

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