Catholic Officials in US Release List of Accused Priests

"Roman Catholic officials in Boston have released a list of priests accused of child sex abuse.

The Archdiocese of Boston says the publication of the names is part of an effort to protect children and “rebuild trust” in the wake of the sex abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church in recent years.

Cardinal Sean O'Malley said in a statement accompanying the posting that the effort is to ensure the “tragedy of sexual abuse is never repeated.”

The list contains the names of 157 priests and two deacons in cases over the last several decades. O'Malley did not include the names of 91 people, including dead priests who were never publicly accused and were never investigated by the Church."

 -VOA 

Records: Priest in Ky. admitted sex addiction

 "Court records show a Roman Catholic priest accused of abusing boys in Kentucky in the 1970s told church officials he was a sex addict in 1985.

Records released Tuesday say the Rev. James R. Schook was not removed from ministry at the time because officials believed he was involved with men, not boys, according to The Courier-Journal (http://bit.ly/p6owkL). Instead, he was put into a treatment program.

Shook is now facing seven counts of sodomy in Jefferson Circuit Court involving two teens in the 1970s. He has pleaded not guilty. His attorney, David Lambertus, declined to comment to the newspaper about the released records."

 - Houston Chronicle

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U.S. lawyer says Vatican knew of priest's sex abuse

"A lawyer representing a victim of priest abuse in a lawsuit against the Roman Catholic church said on Monday Vatican documents show the church hierarchy and the pope were ultimately responsible.

A lawyer for the church disagreed, saying the newly released documents show the Holy See was not involved in the offending priest's transfer from Ireland to Chicago and then to Portland, Oregon, where the victim was a minor in the 1960s.

In April, U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman in Oregon ordered the Vatican to produce documents in the case that alleged a cover-up of priest sex abuse.

At the time, the judge's order was termed a "historic step" by attorney Jeffrey Anderson, who sued the Holy See in Rome and U.S. archdioceses and church officials on behalf of an unnamed man in Oregon.

Anderson said on Monday an analysis of the 1,856 documents written in Latin, Italian and English showed the Vatican had direct control over the placement and laicization of Rev. Andrew Ronan, who left the priesthood in 1966 and died in 1992."

 -Reuters

Hideaway bishop John Magee pledges full response to sex abuse report

"The Newry-born Catholic bishop severely criticised in the Cloyne report for his approach to child abuse cases has broken his silence.

Bishop John Magee, whose resignation was accepted by the Pope, is now thought to be timing a public response to coincide with the Vatican's official reply to the damning report.

Now retired, Dr Magee yesterday spoke for the first time about the report, after he was tracked down by the Sunday Independent to his home in Mitchelstown, Co Cork. He had not been seen since the report revealed serious mishandling of child sex abuse cases."

 - Belfast Telegraph

Trenton diocese to pay $1 million to five men in sex-abuse settlements

" The Catholic Diocese of Trenton has agreed to pay $1 million to five men who claimed their parish priest sexually abused them when they were altar boys 30 years ago.

The settlements, announced Tuesday, bring to $1.3 million the amount the diocese, which encompasses Burlington, Monmouth, Ocean and Mercer Counties, has paid to alleged abuse victims of the Rev. Ronald Becker, who served in parishes in the Trenton area from 1973 to 1989.

Becker was removed from active ministry in 2002 and has since died."

- Philly.com

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Former Fresno Priest Target of Sex Abuse Lawsuit

"New sexual abuse allegations have turned the Catholic diocese of Fresno into a target for protesters claiming crimes are covered up.

A lawsuit filed last week accuses a priest of sexually victimizing a boy in San Jose ten years ago. Father Don Flickinger started his career in Fresno and worked for many years at San Joaquin Memorial High School.

Flickinger also worked at St. John's in Downtown Fresno, and that's where protesters gathered Tuesday.

Abuse victims came to the church to shine a spotlight on what they call a "continuing cover-up" of sex abuse that reaches all the way to the top of the Catholic Church. But the church's deacon told Action News the church has mended its ways.

44 years ago, Julie Kliegel was a 7-year-old princess living on the grounds of the Catholic diocese of Fresno. But her kingdom crumbled in a single day. She says a priest and a seminarian beat and raped her, then left her lying there."

 abc30.com

Weakland, Sklba to be questioned as part of archdiocese bankruptcy case

 "Retired Milwaukee bishops Rembert Weakland and Richard Sklba will answer questions under oath in October about the extent and alleged coverup of child sex abuse in the archdiocese, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Susan V. Kelley ruled on Friday.

However, that testimony won't be available to the public, at least initially.

Kelley granted a request by survivor-creditors to question the two, along with defrocked priest Daniel A. Budzynski, who is believed to have molested several children, as part of the church's bankruptcy proceedings.

The judge scheduled the questionings for the weeks of Oct. 17 and 24. But she imposed strict limits on their duration and ordered them sealed from public view.

 - JSOnline

"I don't want this on anybody's website," said Kelley, a reference to victims' attorney Jeff Anderson's distribution of Weakland's 2008 questioning, in which the retired archbishop referred to Sklba as his "go-to guy" in the handling of sex abuse cases.

"This isn't about embarrassing these people. This is about giving the parties relief," Kelley said."

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