St John of God Healthcare and Catholic Church respond to Royal Commission findings

THE findings of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse have reached deep into the hearts of Catholics, revealing horrors that are difficult to face. The Gazette asks Hawkesbury’s Catholic institutions for their responses to the crisis.
Last week the commission hearings revealed that between 1980 and 2015, 4444 people alleged they were abused as children in more than 1000 Catholic institutions, with 1880 perpetrators identified.

http://www.hawkesburygazette.com.au/story/4463596/rebuilding-our-trust/ 

Royal commission: Abuse survivors push for police inquiry into Anglican Bishop Philip Newell

Tasmanian survivors of clergy abuse want police to investigate whether a former Anglican Bishop should face criminal charges for allowing a paedophile to remain in the church.

A day after the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse released damning findings, survivors said they planned to launch legal action.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-14/abuse-survivors-push-for-police-inquiry-into-anglican-bishop/8270358 

Brother erased from history

The Christian Brothers have taken the extraordinary step of moving the grave of a notoriously brutal brother from the grounds of a WA school as the Catholic Church reels from revelations of past abuse.The Catholic order has dismantled the grave of Brother Francis Paul Keaney at Bindoon Agricultural College, shifting his remains to a humble plot at Karrakatta, effectively erasing any trace of the Brother from the institution he once ruled over.

https://thewest.com.au/news/wa/brother-erased-from-history-ng-b88396569z 

Abusive priests inadequately supervised

Sydney's Catholic archbishop says he can't pretend there is remotely enough supervision of abusive priests to be certain they won't sexually assault children again.
Archbishop Anthony Fisher on Friday said the church financially supports known abusers and tries to find out where they live when they want nothing more to do with the institution.

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2017/02/24/abusive-priests-inadequately-supervised 

Catholic archbishops front abuse inquiry

Australia’s most senior Catholic leaders’ efforts to address the church’s ‘catastrophic failure’ to protect children will be tested when all five metropolitan archbishops answer to the child sex abuse royal commission.
The archbishops of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth will jointly face the royal commission in Sydney on Thursday.

http://www.echo.net.au/2017/02/catholic-archbishops-front-abuse-inquiry/ 

Australian archbishops: Leadership on abuse was ‘catastrophic failure’

Five Australian archbishops testified before a government commission on child sexual abuse, reiterating apologies and taking responsibility for actions that occurred before they were church leaders.  They also said they believed the culture of church and society had changed enough that it would help such abuse from occurring in the future.
The abuse of children in the church was “a catastrophic failure in many respects, but primarily in leadership,” Archbishop Timothy Costelloe of Perth told the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse Feb. 23, near the end of three weeks of public hearings.

http://catholicphilly.com/2017/02/news/world-news/australian-archbishops-leadership-on-abuse-was-catastrophic-failure/ 

Catholic response "criminally negligent"

Australia's major Catholic archbishops have accepted a "catastrophic failure" of leadership left children unprotected from sexual abuse.

The Archbishops of Perth, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide all agreed with counsel assisting Gail Furness SC's proposition that leadership's response to allegations was inadequate.

http://www.news.com.au/national/breaking-news/catholic-archbishops-front-abuse-inquiry/news-story/e6b003f894c1d53a545ff4afa2b347fd 

New Guam priest lawsuits: Catholic Church operated 'harem of young boys'

Four more former altar boys filed separate federal lawsuits Wednesday, alleging that former island priest Louis Brouillard sexually molested them repeatedly when they were children in the 1970s, bringing to 22 the total number of clergy sexual abuse cases filed on Guam.
The Archdiocese of Agana now faces a minimum $110 million in damages in connection with the lawsuits.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/02/22/new-guam-priest-lawsuits-catholic-church-operated-harem-young-boys/98275560/ 

Two Dundee establishments investigated as part of Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry

A former school and defunct orphanage in Dundee are both being investigated as part of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry.

The inquiry is probing historic child abuse across Scotland. More than 60 residential and care establishments are being investigated.  The two Dundee institutions being investigated both closed down in the early 1980s: the Balgowan List D School and the Roseangle Orphanage (St Vincents).

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/local/dundee/374766/two-dundee-establishments-investigated-as-part-of-scottish-child-abuse-inquiry/ 

Royal Commission into child sex abuse: Archbishop refused to apologise to mother of teen victim

A HEARTLESS archbishop has refused to apologise to a 92-year-old mother for the sexual abuse a priest inflicted on her then teenage daughter, who later committed suicide.

The Archbishop of Melbourne Denis Hart yesterday fronted the royal commission into child sex abuse to issue a series of apologies for the Catholic Church’s handling of a “tsunami” of cases but refused to even acknowledge that Eileen Piper’s daughter Stephanie had been sexually assaulted over several years by a disgraced former priest.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/royal-commission-into-child-sex-abuse-archbishop-refused-to-apologise-to-mother-of-teen-victim/news-story/23ba2addd552de7e7ebaea058d24c9bc 

Child abuse royal commission to see report suppressed by Catholic Church

A report suppressed by the Catholic Church for more than a year will be tabled at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses into Child Sexual Abuse this week.
The 2015 report by former Federal Court judge Donnell Ryan QC is into the Church's compensation scheme for victims known as the Melbourne Response. The scheme was set up in 1996 by then archbishop of Melbourne George Pell to assist people "who have been abused sexually, physically or emotionally by members of the Catholic Church".

http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-22/report-suppressed-by-catholic-church-tabled-at-royal-commission/8294324?pfmredir=sm 

Former priest sentenced to 30 years for child pornography

A former U.S. Navy lieutenant commander and ordained Catholic priest was recently sentenced to 30 years in prison for charges involving the sexual exploitation of children, announced U.S. Attorney Charles M. Oberly III of the District of Delaware.
John Thomas Matthew Lee, 51, of Millsboro, was sentenced Feb. 8 by U.S. District Court Judge Leonard P. Stark of the District of Delaware, who also ordered Lee to serve a lifetime term of supervised release. On Nov. 16, 2015, Lee pleaded guilty to one count of production of child pornography and one count of distribution of child pornography. He became a registered sex offender following his 2007 conviction in a general court martial of sexually assaulting another Naval officer while serving as a chaplain at the U.S. Naval Academy. Lee has been in custody since his arrest Nov. 3, 2014.

http://www.sussexcountian.com/news/20170213/former-priest-sentenced-to-30-years-for-child-pornography 

Retired bishop could still face Vatican probe, trial

Former Guam priest Tomas A. Camacho, who now is a retired bishop on Saipan, still can be investigated by the Vatican and face a canonical trial over allegations he sexually abused an altar boy in the 1970s, a lawyer with expertise on Catholic Church law said.
“Yes, he can still be investigated and punished, even if he is retired,” said Minnesota-based canon lawyer Jennifer Haselberger, who established Canonical Consultation and Services LLC in 2013.

http://www.guampdn.com/story/news/2017/02/14/retired-bishop-could-still-face-vatican-probe-trial/97882102/ 

Communications head quits child abuse inquiry over ‘personal life changes’

Britain's biggest child sex abuse inquiry has been hit by another high-level departure. Media chief Bron Madson has left the troubled Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) amid reports of tensions over a consultancy firm that has been paid nearly £300,000.

Ms Madson quit her role as head of communications as the IICSA revealed that it has paid the consultancy firm Crest Advisory £294,232 since 2015 for “strategic communications advice”.

http://www.policeprofessional.com/news.aspx?id=28457 

Tentative trial date set in Feit case

A judge set a tentative trial date for a former priest accused of killing a McAllen woman more than 50 years ago. After a brief hearing Monday morning, both sides in the capital murder case of John Bernard Feit agreed to a late April trial date.
District Judge Luis Singleterry set a pretrial date for April 20, and a subsequent trial date of April 24 after Hidalgo County Assistant District Attorney Michael Garza asked the court to set a date, as most evidence has been turned over to the defense.

http://www.themonitor.com/news/local/tentative-trial-date-set-in-feit-case/article_c0289698-f20d-11e6-8ea5-4370b27e5faf.html