Showing posts with label a catholic texan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label a catholic texan. Show all posts

Philly DA Charges Priests, Teacher With Assault

This undated photo released by the Philadelphia
District Attorney's office shows Monsignor
William Lynn, who is charged with felony
endangerment, according to a grand jury report
released Thursday. Prosecutors say Lynn
transferred abusive priests to new parishes
with schools and youth groups without warning
parish officials.
PHILADELPHIA -- Two Roman Catholic priests, a former priest and a Catholic school teacher were charged Thursday with raping young boys, while a former high-ranking church official was accused of transferring problem priests to new parishes without warning anyone of prior sex-abuse complaints.

The charges stemmed from a two-year grand jury investigation into priest abuse in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, the second such inquiry in the city.

In the rare, if not unprecedented, move, the grand jury charged Monsignor William Lynn with endangering children in his role as secretary for clergy under former Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua.

Lynn, 60, had a duty to protect children in the five-county archdiocese and refer priests with known sexual problems for rehabilitation or prosecution, District Attorney Seth Williams said in announcing the charges.

"He instead lied to parishioners and went out of his way to reassign priests without telling pastors or principals . that they were pedophiles," Williams said.

Lynn's defense lawyer said the two endangerment counts should not apply because Lynn did not have any children under his care. He also questioned the merits of the counts, which carry a maximum 14-year prison term.

"We certainly don't concede for a moment that he knew he was putting children at risk," lawyer Tom Bergstrom told The Associated Press.

While American dioceses have paid hundreds of millions of dollars to abuse victims to settle civil lawsuits in recent years, criminal charges in clergy sex abuse cases have been rare.

People who were molested as children often wait for decades before gaining the courage to come forward - usually long after the statute of limitation for criminal charges has run out. A small number of accused clergy have been prosecuted and convicted since 2002, when the clergy sex abuse crisis erupted in the Archdiocese of Boston. However, no bishop or church administrator has been taken to trial over their failures to protect children from accused priests.

Lynn featured prominently in a scathing 2005 grand jury report that found 63 priests in the Philadelphia archdiocese had been credibly accused of child sexual assault over several decades while local church officials turned a blind eye. Frustrated prosecutors then concluded, though, that they could not file any criminal charges because the statute of limitations on the crimes had expired.

Pennsylvania has since revised laws to give child sex-assault victims more time to report abuse, while the archdiocese under Cardinal Justin Rigali has pledged to refer credible complaints to law enforcement.

The current case, referred by the archdiocese, involves two victims, one of them a boy who was allegedly abused by two priests and his sixth-grade teacher at St. Jerome Parish, starting when he was a 10-year-old altar boy in 1998.

The Rev. Charles Engelhardt, now 64, and the Rev. Edward Avery, now 68, both raped the boy in the church sacristy after Mass, the report charged. Engelhardt also allegedly gave the boy wine and showed him pornography. He later told Avery about the encounter, prompting Avery to demand that the boy perform a striptease act after Mass, followed by oral and anal sex, the report said.

Bernard Shero, now 48, his sixth-grade teacher the next year, raped him during a ride home from school, then made him walk home, the report said.

The victim, later plagued like many abuse victims by depression and substance abuse, reported the attacks years later.

Avery had been on the church's radar since at least 1992. That's when a 29-year-old medical student told the archdiocese that Avery, who frequently moonlighted as a disc jockey at city nightclubs, had abused him in the 1970s and 1980s.

Avery was sent to six months of sex-offender treatment, although his parish was told the leave was for unspecified "health" reasons, the report said. Despite the center's recommendation that he be kept away from adolescents or other vulnerable minors afterward, Lynn recommended him for a position at a parish with an adjacent elementary school, authorities said.

Bevilacqua agreed, but sent him instead to a different parish, St. Jerome.

Rigali succeeded Bevilacqua in 2003 and soon afterward deemed the medical student's abuse claims credible. He removed Avery from his priestly duties that December.

"That was five years too late to protect Billy (a pseudonym for the altar boy) - and who knows how many children," the report said.

According to the report, Bevilacqua could not be charged because there was no evidence linking him to the alleged cover-up of the assaults against these two victims. His lawyer told investigators the 87-year-old retired prelate suffers from cancer and dementia.

While investigating Engelhardt, authorities came to charge his predecessor at St. Jerome, the Rev. James J. Brennan, with raping a 14-year-old boy. The alleged abuse occurred during a leave of absence Brennan requested in 1996 to deal with what he called his own childhood sexual abuse, the report said.

The victim, a member of St. Andrew Church in the Philadelphia suburb of Newtown, later attempted suicide, the report said.

Lynn and other church officials had also been aware that Brennan, now 47, had a prior history of impropriety with minors, the report said.

And, even today, 37 accused priests in the archdiocese work in assignments that put them near children while complaints are investigated or, in some cases, deemed not credible, the grand jury found.

"We would have assumed, by the year 2011, after all the revelations both here and around the world, that the church would not risk its youth by leaving them in the presence of priests subjected to substantial evidence of abuse. That is not the case," the report said.

Lynn, now assigned to a parish in suburban Downingtown, and the four others were surrendering Thursday to await arraignment. A defense lawyer for Brennan did not immediately return a message; it wasn't immediately clear whether the others had lawyers.

Rigali vowed to take the grand jury report and its calls for further reforms seriously.

A lay Catholic group called BishopAccountability.org that tracks data related to the priest abuse problem praised Williams' decision to pursue church leaders.

"To date, not one bishop or church official has spent a single day in jail for enabling crimes against children," the group said in a statement.

"Victims of sexual abuse by clergy may find this news deeply painful. Our thoughts and prayers are with them. It is in this spirit that the Archdiocese of Philadelphia is cooperating fully with the civil authorities in this and all related matters," Rigali said in a statement.

The Diocese of Manchester, N.H., averted criminal charges in 2002 by admitting it had harmed children when church officials transferred accused priests among parishes, and agreed to allow state prosecutors to audit the diocese's child protection policies.

The Archdiocese of Cincinnati pleaded no contest in 2003 to charges of failing to tell authorities about sex abuse claims against priests, paid a fine and created a fund for victims.

Also in 2003, Phoenix Bishop Thomas O'Brien admitted he sheltered abusive priests in a deal that carried immunity from indictment for obstruction of justice. He agreed to institute reforms and cede some authority to other church officials.

D.C. priest on leave faces more charges of sex abuse

A Catholic friar who was convicted of inappropriately touching a teenage boy in the District of Columbia in 2007 has been arrested in Florida on charges of having a sexual relationship (it's actually called "RAPE") with a 14-year-old boy.

William C. Wert, 53, is being held in a Sarasota County jail on 10 counts of committing a sex offense against a child. He had been living in a retirement home for clergy in Venice, Fla. He went there after he was found guilty of assaulting a 14-year-old he had followed from a Metro station.

Last week, another 14-year-old boy and his father filed a complaint after the father found inappropriate messages from Wert on his son's cell phone, sheriff's deputies said.

Investigators found text messages and a motel room receipt connecting Wert to the boy.

Deputies said Wert engaged in sex with the boy several times between September 2010 and last month.

At the time of the D.C. incident, Wert oversaw Whitefriars Hall in Northeast Washington, where he trained young men to be priests.

A spokesman for Whitefriars Hall on Friday said Wert hadn't worked at the institution in four years and referred inquiries to the Chicago office of the Order of Carmelites. A message left at the headquarters was not returned.

According to D.C. court documents, on May 22, 2007, Wert followed a boy from the from the Brookland-CUA Metro station in Northeast Washington.

Wert began to talk to the boy, who was walking home from school. After he asked the boy his name, Wert asked, "Do you know somewhere we can hide?"

Police said he grabbed the boy's inner thigh, and the teenager yelled and hit Wert.

When police arrived, Wert claimed that the boy tried to rob him, but later admitted that he had was interested in the boy and apologized because there had been a mistake because he "misread" the teenager, documents said.

After a two-day trial, a D.C. judge found Wert guilty of simple assault. He was sentenced to 15 days in jail.

According to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Wert moved into the retirement home for Order of Carmelites in 2008.

A retired priest who lived at the home told the newspaper that Wert never explained why he had been on leave from Washington, D.C. and had recently bought a new Ford Mustang that was parked out front.

On the Carmelite web site it says of Wert, "William Wert, O.Carm., is the new Prior of Whitefriars Hall, the Carmelite House of Formation in Washington, DC. Father Bill made his profession in the Order in 1980 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1986. In this position as the Director of Formation, he oversees all the levels of formation for the Carmelite students. He will continue in his role as coordinator for the Province’s vocation team. He follow Father Emmett Gavin, O.Carm., who now ministers in New Jersey as a canonist for the Archdiocese of Newark, and as an associate pastor at Saint Anastasia’s Parish in Teaneck."


Delaware diocese settles priest abuse claims for $77M

By Associated Press

Lawyers involved with the Delaware Catholic Diocese of Wilmington's $77 million settlement with nearly 150 alleged victims of sexual abuse said the church's agreement to release unredacted documents is a historic step toward making sure it doesn't happen again.

And lawyers for the alleged victims said they will post the documents on the Internet.

"When people see the documents, they will be able to judge for themselves" how the church dealt with pedophile priests, attorney John Manly said.

The diocese agreed Wednesday to settle the lawsuits, which claimed child sexual abuse by dozens of diocesan and religious order priests dating to the early 1960s. Attorney Thomas Neuberger, who represented 99 of the 146 alleged victims, said they would each receive $530,000 on average.

Diocese attorney Anthony Flynn said church officials were pleased with the settlement.

"It's been a long struggle, but we've finally reached agreement," he said.
Delaware law created a two–year "lookback" window that allowed claims of abuse to be brought regardless of whether the statute of limitations had expired.

The abuse cases created a potential liability that drove the diocese to seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2009. At the time, it was the seventh U.S. diocese to file for bankruptcy since allegations erupted years earlier against Catholic clergy in Boston. Numerous multimillion dollar settlements between alleged victims and dioceses across the country have been reached in the aftermath.

The Wilmington Diocese covers Delaware and the Eastern Shore of Maryland and serves about 230,000 Catholics.

The bankruptcy filing had delayed some trials, but Judge Christopher Sontchi ruled in August that lawsuits against several parishes could go forward.
On Dec. 1, a Delaware jury awarded $30 million in damages to a man who claimed he was abused by a priest — a verdict that was exceptional for both the amount and for finding the local parish liable, not just the diocese.

The lawsuit by John Vai claimed that he was abused repeatedly as a boy in the 1960s by Francis DeLuca when the former priest was a teacher at St. Elizabeth's parish in Wilmington.

Advocates for victims of clergy abuse said the value of the compensatory damages was the largest ever awarded in such a lawsuit in the United States and that a parish had never before been found liable for abuse.

Manly said he thought December's verdict played a role in the settlement. "The verdict made it very clear to diocese that things were going to get a lot worse," he said.

The Associated Press typically does not name victims of sexual abuse, but Vai has spoken publicly about the allegations and testified at trial.

Neuberger told the Wilmington News Journal that each victim also would benefit in the future from any settlement or judgment from lawsuits filed against religious orders including the Oblates, Capucians and Norbertines.

He expects that will produce another $80 million for the victim trust. The settlement still needs approval from the bankruptcy judge.

Knight of Columbus Attacks Alberto Rivera while defending Pedophile Priests

Open Letter to "a Catholic Texan" from Thomas Richards

Kenneth, I left off supporting Tony Alamo as soon as it was verified he was a criminal child abuser. Why haven't you stopped supporting the Catholic "church" after the verified thousands of cases of child molestation have come to light? Instead I have noticed a lot of activity online by you continuing to justify predatory pedo priests and make excuses for them. Link And then here you are at the same time having blogs attacking Alberto Rivera. Was it ever alleged that Alberto abused children? You're obviously way off in your balancing of judgment and justice. I've seen also your comparison of priests who sexually molest children vs Public School teachers. That is the worst comparison someone can make. First of all there are thousands more public schools with public school teachers than priests who have access to children (Link to data that proves you wrong). This comparison you make links directly to your agenda to smear the deceased Alberto Rivera and totally destroys your credibility as an honest and neutral reporter. Because you show yourself to be a person who defends the Catholic "church" no matter what. So it has nothing to do with Alberto's legitamacy because you would make him your enemy simply because he exposes the Vatican. Not to mention that you are also a Knight of Columbus which swear upon an Oath to serve the Pope rather than the U.S. Constitution which are forever and inevitably at odds. you are the perfect example of why there were laws against Catholics serving in Politics. All this does is strengthen me in my position that is expressed on my web site @ spirituallysmart.com

Screen Shots showing "a catholic Texan" is a Knight of Columbus:






My info verifying Alberto Rivera's Authenticity


Expose' on another attacker of Alberto Rivera

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