|
DIOCESE/State Watch
Los
Angles, CA: The Los Angeles Times reports: “The
nation’s largest
Roman Catholic archdiocese said Friday it would pay $60 million to settle 45
lawsuits alleging sex abuse by priests.” Read
more.
Fort Worth, TX: According
to the Star-Telegram, Fort Worth Bishop Joseph P.
Delaney’s diocese “buried key facts about six men accused of molesting
children in their secret archive, known as the confidential files.” For
details, click here.
Barnstable, MA: Cape
Cod Online reports: “A retired priest pleaded guilty
yesterday to embezzling more than $500,000 from a Woods Hole church in what
the prosecutor called a ‘wholesale looting.’ The Rev. Bernard Kelly,
73, was sentenced in Barnstable Superior Court to seven years of probation
for embezzling from St. Joseph’s Church in Woods Hole and filing false
tax returns.” Read more.
Pennsylvania: As noted in VOTF’s Focus newsletter last week, the Pennsylvania
legislature passed a landmark bill strengthening sexual abuse laws which Governor
Rendell signed on November 30. VOTF members were very influential in getting
this legislation passed. Some of the major provisions of the bill are:
-
Close a loophole in the mandatory-reporting law. Until now, anyone designated
a "mandatory reporter" of child sex abuse was obliged to report abuse
to civil authorities only if a victim reported abuse directly to him or her.
- Make it a criminal offense for a person to knowingly conceal or facilitate
sex abuse by a person whom they employ or supervise.
- Extend to age 50 the time by which a sex-abuse victim may bring criminal
charges against his or her abuser. The existing limit is age 30. The extension
applies
only to abuse after the bill becomes law, and does not extend the time a victim
can sue an abuser.
- Require criminal-background checks for workers in foster, adoptive and
family day-care homes.
-
Require much more detail about sex offenders to be listed in the "Megan's
Law" database, including a physical description of the offender and the
make and license-plate number of his car.
To learn how you can get more involved in the Protecting
our Children campaign, click here.
Bridgeport,
CT: The Stamford Advocate reports: “A Superior
Court judge has ruled that sealed documents from priest sex abuse cases
in the Bridgeport
Roman Catholic Diocese should be open to the public. Judge
Jon Alander's ruling Wednesday is the latest in a long running legal
battle pitting the diocese
against several newspapers.” Read
more. The Diocese
of Bridgeport statement
is here. VOTF
Bridgeport, CT will have a statement on their website.
Cleveland,
OH – The Cincinnati Post reports: “Seven
other Roman Catholic dioceses in Ohio and the Parma Byzantine Eparchy
have contributed
money to create the voluntary Counseling Assistance Fund
aimed at victims who no longer trust the church to help them.” Read
more.
Ohio: NRC representative Ed
Friedl (Region 6 - MI, OH) writes: "Nineteen
farm parishes in Northwestern Ohio were closed within the past year and a half
and their assets (bank accounts and properties) were confiscated by Bishop
Leonard P. Blair of Toledo. Two of the viable parish communities have sued
the Bishop and the Diocese for the return of their assets misappropriated by
Bishop Blair.This is a landmark case in Ohio, as well as for other states,
in asking for a definition of "Corporation Sole". Thus far, the first
parish to sue, St. James of Kansas,Ohio, an Internal Revenue 501(c)3 entity,
has met with some initial success because the judge in the Court of Common
Pleas in Seneca County, Ohio, has not accepted the Diocese's Motion to Dismiss
but has accepted St James Parish's Memorandum in oppostion to the Diocese's
Motion.
These people need our financial and spiritual support in a case that portends
to have a long drawn out resolution, particularly if the Diocese drags out
their replies.
For further information
from St. James Parish visit their website: (Click on "updates" to
obtain some background and further information.)
|
