Coulm Kenny: It is the truly faithful who are aghast at the Church

Bishop Philip Boyce of Raphoe sees the Catholic Church "attacked from the outside by the arrows of a secular and godless culture: rocked from the inside by the sins and crimes of priests and consecrated people".

Missing from his blame equation last week were non-criminal acts and omissions of the hierarchy and other Church authorities. These have contributed mightily to the decline of the Irish Catholic Church and to the despair of its faithful.

Bishop Boyce was speaking at Knock, Ireland's major shrine for the traditionally devout. It is a place where the truly afflicted go for comfort. Yet Bishop Boyce seemed to equate their personal problems with those of the institutional Church that is itself largely to blame for its own current troubles.

Last week too, Archbishop Dermot Clifford of Cashel and Emly, tried again to distance himself from the handling of child abuse complaints in Cloyne. But mere words will not redress the harm done for decades by a hierarchy that was unable or unwilling to change its Church's thinking and structures to meet modern needs."

 - Colum Kenny, Independent.ie

Former Chicago priest sued for sex abuse - Houston Chronicle

 "A lawsuit has been filed by a Chicago teenager who claims he was a victim of a former Roman Catholic priest.

The lawsuit filed Thursday in Cook County Circuit Court accuses Daniel McCormack, the former priest at St. Agatha Catholic Church, of abusing the boy between 2004 and 2006."

- Houston Chronicle

Another lawsuit accuses former priest of sex abuse - Chicago Tribune

"Another person who says he was a victim of Daniel McCormack filed a lawsuit against the former St. Agatha Catholic Church priest today in Cook County Circuit Court accusing him of sexual abuse.

After McCormack pleaded guilty in 2007 to sexually abusing five boys and was sentenced to 5 years in prison, numerous other alleged victims came forward with similar stories of abuse.

The latest is an unidentified Chicago teenager who says he was sexually abused by McCormack between 2004 and 2006 in the West Side church’s rectory and school buildings, according to the lawsuit. The alleged victim was 11 or 12 when the abuse began."

 - Chicago Tribune

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

'via Blog this'

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