Grand jury shows audacity of archdiocese

Probe of how the church investigates allegations against priests found it focuses mostly on its reputation and assets

By Monica Yant Kinney

If Catholic churches across the region took up a collection this Sunday and used it to hire lawyers to mislead victims of clergy sex abuse, would anyone give?

If a parish priest confessed that your tithing paid rapists to retire and funded interrogations that push innocents to suicide, would you demand a refund?

And knowing that dozens of area priests accused of abuse remain on the job in good standing with access to children, should you think twice about signing up your son for altar service?

The latest 124-page grand jury report on clergy sexual abuse makes abundantly clear that when it comes to predator priests, the Philadelphia Archdiocese blew its last chance to be believed.

Six years after another grand jury report forced contrition and so-called reforms, the archdiocese remains focused on protecting its assets and reputation above all else.

Victims who muster the courage to report their torment then must endure an investigatory process biased against them.

One young man was hounded into giving an in-person statement with a church staffer who immediately relayed the details to lawyers fearing litigation. Another victim was guilted into reliving his trauma while hospitalized after a suicide attempt, only to learn later that the archdiocese had used his confidences against him in the defense of his priestly abuser.

District Attorney Seth Williams, a proud Catholic, admitted that he had lost faith in his church's ability to do right by those it wronged. He now urges abuse victims to call or e-mail his office (215-686-8783, da.victimservices@phila.gov) rather than risk being wounded all over again.

"You do not need to go to the archdiocese first," Williams said.

Even the grand jurors - regular citizens honorably answering the call to seek justice - noted the audacity of the archdiocese's overseeing sex-abuse investigations:

"There is no other class of crimes where we expect the victims to rely on their assailants for a resolution."

Mistakes and intentions

Five years and five months ago, a different panel of grand jurors released the first report on sex abuse in the archdiocese. They found that church leaders had allowed dozens of priests to abuse hundreds of children for decades and harbored at least 63 known criminals.

Cardinal Justin Rigali condemned that report, especially the assertion that church officials knew exactly what they were doing when they protected pedophile priests over children.

"Mistakes are one thing," Rigali insisted. "Intentions are another."

That was 2005, and though the report did not lead to arrests, it forced the archdiocese to hire a respected victim advocate, establish a Review Board, and - significantly - begin reporting new allegations to law enforcement.

The church touted the "reforms," but made sure the new process was as sick and twisted as the old.

Turns out the archdiocese refused to adopt any of the victim advocate's recommendations. And that much-hyped Review Board - chosen by the cardinal himself - regularly deems accusations "unsubstantiated" even when priests flunk polygraph tests and the evidence against them is overwhelming.

In one fondling case reported by two victims, the Review Board sided with the priest even after hearing convincing corroborating testimony by several other former altar boys with clear memory of the cleric's obsession with sex.

"On July 24, 2008," the grand jury wrote, an archdiocesan staffer told 36-year-old victim "Ben" that the Review Board "could not substantiate his allegation. Less than a year later, Ben committed suicide."

Second time's a charm?

Last week, another group of truth-seeking strangers released a second sordid grand jury report on clergy sex abuse. This one led to the arrest of a Catholic schoolteacher and three archdiocesan priests on rape charges and a once-omnipotent monsignor charged with endangering the welfare of children.

Within hours, Rigali fired off another denial, this time of the stunning revelation that the archdiocese still refuses to pull priests from parishes after they are accused of sexually assaulting minors.

"I assure all the faithful," Rigali wrote, "that there are no archdiocesan priests in ministry today who have an admitted or established allegation of sexual abuse of a minor against them."

Parse that sentence with me, will you? It's a work of lawyerly art designed to lull Catholics into thinking their children are safe.

No active priest could have an admitted allegation, we now know, because as part of those "reforms," the archdiocese no longer bothers to question priests accused of sexual misconduct.

"The policy is not to even ask the abuser to speak," wrote the astonished jurors. "The explanation we were given for this policy is that it might 'put the priest in a position of admitting' his guilt."

The second part of Rigali's wiggle concerns established allegations. See above, then weep.

If two grand jury reports, failed lie-detector tests, repeat accusations, earnest witnesses, and victim suicides aren't enough to convince the archdiocese of priestly culpability in 2011, what is?

Prince Philip Pictured at Nazi Funeral

Edward VIII with Wallis Simpson

On Dec. 11, 1936, King Edward VIII gave up the British throne to marry Wallis Simpson, a twice-divorced American. Years later, the FBI investigated the couple’s links to Germany’s Nazi regime.

In 1941, the FBI began close surveillance of the duke and duchess after it was informed that the couple were being used by the Nazis to pass on secrets that could wreck the Allied war effort. A prime suspect, the FBI was told, was Joachim von Ribbentrop, then the Nazis’ foreign minister, who was said to have been the duchess' lover when he was ambassador to Britain in 1936.

Edward’s long-rumored ties to Nazi Germany became common knowledge after the release in 2003 of papers compiled by U.S. naval intelligence agents asserting that Hitler saw the former king as a friend, even in the middle of World War II. The papers had remained secret for fear they would upset the Queen Mother, who died in 2002 aged 101. On Dec. 11, 1936, King Edward VIII gave up the British throne to marry Wallis Simpson, a twice-divorced American. Years later, the FBI investigated the couple’s links to Germany’s Nazi regime. ~Source

Of course, as it turns out, Edward VIII was also a Catholic Knight of Malta like many Nazi Nobility were.

Prince Philip walking in Nazi Funeral procession

“If I were reincarnated, I would wish to be returned to Earth as a killer virus to lower human population levels.” - Prince Philip (Charles’ father) ~ Source

Prince Philip has broken a 60-year public silence about his family's links with the Nazis.

In a frank interview, he said they found Hitler's attempts to restore Germany's power and prestige 'attractive' and admitted they had 'inhibitions about the Jews'.

The revelations come in a book about German royalty kowtowing to the Nazis, which features photographs never published in the UK.

They include one of Philip aged 16 at the 1937 funeral of his elder sister Cecile, flanked by relatives in SS and Brownshirt uniforms.

One row back in the cortege in Darmstadt, western Germany, was his uncle, Lord Mountbatten, wearing a Royal Navy bicorn hat.

Another picture shows his youngest sister, Sophia, sitting opposite Hitler at the wedding of Hermann and Emmy Goering.

Explaining the attraction of the Nazis, 84-year-old Prince Philip told an American academic: "There was a great improvement in things like trains running on time and building. There was a sense of hope after the depressing chaos of the Weimar Republic.

"I can understand people latching on to something or somebody who appeared to be appealing to their patriotism and trying to get things going. You can understand how attractive it was."

He added that there was 'a lot of enthusiasm for the Nazis at the time, the economy was good, we were anti-Communist and who knew what was going to happen to the regime?'

Philip stressed that he was never 'conscious of anybody in the family actually expressing anti-Semitic views'. But he went on to say there were 'inhibitions about the Jews' and 'jealousy of their success'.

Philip was born Prince of Greece and Denmark on Corfu in 1921, the youngest of five children and the only son of Prince Andrew of Greece and Princess Alice of Battenberg. All four of his sisters married German princes and three - Sophie, Cecile and Margarita - became members of the Nazi party.

Sophia's husband, Prince Christoph of Hesse, became chief of Goering's secret intelligence service and they were frequent guests at Nazi functions.

Philip went on to fight with distinction for the Allies in the Second World War before marrying the young Princess Elizabeth in 1947, five years before she became Queen. He served with the Royal Navy where, by 1945, he had risen to the rank of first lieutenant on a destroyer and was mentioned in despatches.

All of his sisters and brothers-in law are now dead but he keeps in contact with his German relatives.





His comments on the family's Nazi connections appear in Royals and the Reich, by Jonathan Petropoulos, to be published in Britain in May. Source





Obama Surrounded by Roman Catholic/Jesuit Schooled Intelligence Leaders

http://www.flickr.com/photos/35591378@N03/4998791337/

President Barack Obama meets with Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, right (Alma Mater St. Mary's University, Texas), in the Oval Office, Sept. 9, 2010. Also attending are, clockwise from left, Robert Cardillo, DIA Deputy Director (and now Director of National Intelligence for Intelligence Integration and schooled at Georgetown), Deputy National Security Advisor Tom Donilon (Donilon attended La Salle Academy, earned a B.A. at The Catholic University of America in 1977 and is connected personally to the Biden family) , Rodney Snyder, Senior Director for Intelligence Program, NSS (Can not find any kind of BIO on him), John Brennan, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism (Attended private catholic schools from his youth, is Alma mater at Fordham University and is former CIA), and National Security Advisor Gen. James L. Jones (Alma Mater Georgetown University).

control jesuita sobre obama

Minnesota church won't investigate priest

More on this Story: Funeral held for Owensboro man who took own life
*New Interesting Info about David Jarboe case*

OWENSBORO, Ky. (AP) — The Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis is not planning to investigate a priest from the state who was named in a Facebook posting by a man before he shot himself to death in a Kentucky church parking lot. But a Kentucky diocese plans to continue with its investigation of the man's allegations.

Archdiocese spokesman Dennis McGrath told The Messenger-Inquirer newspaper there was no justification for an investigation into the Rev. William Baer, former rector of St. John Vianney College Seminary at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota, where David M. Jarboe had once been a student.

The 23-year-old Jarboe shot himself in the parking lot of Blessed Mother Catholic Church in Owensboro, Ky. on Feb. 3.

His Facebook posting mentioned Baer and two other priests, one of whom he praises, as well as pain as a result of sexual abuse in the church. The Kentucky man didn't accuse a specific priest or other individual of abuse in the note.

David Jarboe

"I mean, because he was critical of Father Baer in his Facebook post does not make the giant leap that he was responsible for whatever happened to him," McGrath told the newspaper. "... Father Baer is one of our finest, most popular priests."

McGrath said Baer was well-respected and was instrumental in St. John Vianney College Seminary's growth when he was there.

The "poor bedeviled young man, for him to mention (Father Baer) in the same context with whatever may have happened to him is so unfortunate and so unfair," the archdiocese spokesman said of Jarboe.

Jarboe mentioned three priests in the note. To the first one, whom he identified as Father Fedewa, Jarboe wrote: "Thanks for proving to me what dedicating your life to Christ can be like. Thanks for your service to the Church."

To Baer, "you get no thanks. You are an evil man. Period."

To the third, the Rev. Freddie Byrd, "I forgive you."

Baer, now at Transfiguration Catholic Church in Oakdale, Minn., did not immediately respond to an e-mail request for comment.

Byrd was pastor of Blessed Mother from 1998-2008. According to the diocese's website, he is pastor of St. Peter of Antioch and Sacred Heart parishes in Waverly, Ky.

He declined to comment when reached by the newspaper at the St. Peter of Antioch church rectory Wednesday.

The Diocese of Owensboro announced Monday it is utilizing an independent investigator to examine the allegations made by Jarboe. The Daviess County Commonwealth Attorney's Office has asked the Owensboro Police Department to investigate as well.

The Diocese of Owensboro has been in contact with the Rev. Peter A. Laird, vicar general of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, McGrath said.

Dwight Eisenhower - Vatican Connections

"President Dwight D. Eisenhower meets with Pope John XXIII at the Vatican on Dec. 6, 1959. Only the second time that an American President has met with the Supreme Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church." -Source

Click the thumbnail on left to see larger picture of Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower (5R), Mrs. Henry R. Luce (4R), John Foster Dulles (3R) and John A. McCone (2R) during pontifical requiem mass for Pope Pius XII in Washington, D.C.



Of Murder (political assassination): (1945) That Gen. George Smith Patton was assassinated by a fraudulent “road accident” near Mannheim, Germany on 9 Dec 1945 (dying in hospital 21 December 1945) after having requested a meeting with President Truman concerning evidence from the Nazis in his possession that Gen. Dwight David Eisenhower was both a traitor and operative working on behalf of the Vatican and the Soviet Union. Miraculously the other occupants of the car in which Patton was critically injured escaped unharmed. That to this day, the claim that Patton was about to expose Eisenhower have been denied. Furthermore, that Eisenhower and his supporters did besmirch the character and memory of war hero Patton including the complete lie that the escape of over 150,000 of the German army on the halt on August 31, 1944, of the Third Army was because it ran out of fuel. Furthermore that Patton was overlooked for more senior positions and was about to be relieved because he was mentally unstable. To this day, these deliberate lies to conceal the patriotism of Patton against Gen. Eisenhower being one of the greatest traitors of American history are still regarded as true. ~Source

20th October 1957: Queen Elizabeth II with US president Dwight D Eisenhower at a White House State banquet. Eisenhower is wearing the British Order of Merit awarded him by King George VI after World War II.


Below Eisenhower speaking with George HW Bush who was allegedly working for the CIA at that time although George Bush denies that to be true. Read More

With Cardinal Spellman ("The Military Vicar")


Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower (R) and Father Edward Bunn (L)
at Georgetown Univ. unveiling bust of Rev.Edmund A. Walsh. SJ



U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower receives an honorary degree at the dedication of the Edmund A. Walsh Memorial Building, 1958. Also pictured, University President Edward B. Bunn, S.J. (left) and Archbishop Patrick A. O’Boyle (right).

25 Most Evil People - 20th Century

Dwight D Eisenhower

Background

Born the third of seven sons in Denison, Texas to David Jacob Eisenhower and Ida Elizabeth Stover. His father was an Engineer while his mother was a devoted follower and supporter of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society (Jehovah's Witnesses). The family home served as the local meeting hall for the group from 1896 to 1915.

The constant and regular exposure of Eisenhower to End of the World imagery mixed with Bible prophecy by the Jehovah's Witnesses had a profound impact on him throughout his life. While he was never a gifted student, nor known for his intellect, his fascination in occult and religious power placed him more than once midst powerful men, who assisted his career.

Dwight graduated from High School around 1909 at the age of 19. He then took a night shift labouring job at the Belle Springs Creamery. In 1911, Eisenhower attempted to apply for the Naval Academy but failed the basic entrance exam. In later years, his record was changed to claim he passed, but was somehow ineligible on account of his age, even though he qualified under the age limit at the time.

Later that year (1911), powerful US Senator for Kansas Joseph L. Bristow used his influence to get Eisenhower into West Point Military Academy. The motivation for this act and how he came to know Eisenhower has never been properly explained. At Westpoint Eisenhower again he showed mediocre academic skills, but managed to scrape through and graduate.

Eisenhower with his wife Mamie on
the steps of St. Mary's University
of San Antonio, Texas,  in 1916,
where Eisenhower was at the time
a football coach.

Unlike most of his fellow graduates, Eisenhower never saw action in World War I. Instead, he spent the first few years with the National Guard and then assigned to various new tank corps where he met General Fox Conner. He had the dubious honor of having his temporary rank of Major being revoked and being demoted back to Captain by 1922.

When General Conner was appointed Camp Gaillard, Panama and the Panama Canal Zone, he made Eisenhower his executive officer - a role he held from 1922 until 1924. It was under the guidance of General Conner that Eisenhower found a grounding in essential military strategy and politics. After finishing his term with Conner, Eisenhower was promoted again to Major and attended the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth.

His career then stagnated for five years until in 1929 he was appointed Executive Assistant to General George Moseley, then Secretary of War. In 1933, he was then appointed chief military aide to General Douglas MacArthur and accompanied him to the Philippines. It was through MacArthur that Eisenhower first came to the attention of the all-powerful American Jesuit Fr. Edmund A. Walsh. MacArthur was educated by the Jesuits and Walsh was his influential patron.

Eisenhower quickly became an even more deeply devoted fan of Fr. Walsh and his geopolitical mind than his superior General MacArthur.

At the outbreak of World War II in 1939, Eisenhower returned from the Philippines at 49 but a Lt. Colonel. By June 1941, six months before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour, Col. Eisenhower was appointed to the War Department General Staff in Washington D.C. and to a role holding the temporary rank of Brigadier General.

Whatever his role in the events leading up to Pearl Harbour, he soon held favour with President Franklin D. Roosevelt, another staunch supporter of Fr. Edmund A. Walsh S.J.

In December 1943, President Roosevelt announced Eisenhower, still then only officially holding the rank of Colonel would be the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, being promoted immediately to being a four star Major General - one of the most dramatic rise in promotions in American history.

The announcement sent shockwaves through the US and even the Allied forces as Eisenhower was promoted over the heads of over fifty seasoned military leaders, including his former friend and mentor Douglas MacArthur - all of whom had far greater skill and merit.

Upon his arrival in England in 1943, a controversial claim has been made that Eisenhower received a communique from senior members of the SS offering clear and specific terms of unconditional surrender of all German forces, including the assassination of Hitler, if the Americans would help halt the Soviet advance into Central Europe.

Whether true or false, there is no question that Eisenhower quickly shelved the Churchill plan of a 1943 invasion while the Nazi forces were in a state of disarray and allowed the Germans a full six months to re-arm and re-equip their French forces ahead of any invasion.

In 1944, Eisenhower was confirmed as a Five Star General and Chief of the Army. In spite of the massive logistical superiority of the Allied forces, the Eisenhower D-Day plan very nearly failed. Again, during the Battle of the Bulge Eisenhower inexplicably ordered the halt of the encirclement of German forces enabling up to 150,000 to escape and prolonging the war a further twelve months.

No rational, military or political explanation for this order has ever been given. The effect of Eisenhowers deliberate decisions to prolong the war cost an additional 100,000 allied personnel and effectively handed Eastern Europe to the Soviet Union.

One man that did know the truth was Gen. George Smith Patton. On December 9th 1945, the day before he was due to fly back to Washington to meet with President Truman with proof that Eisenhower was a traitor who had costs the lives of thousands of American soldiers and millions of civilians, he was seriously injured in a “road accident” near Mannheim, Germany on 9 Dec 1945 (dying in hospital 21 December 1945). Miraculously the other occupants of the car in which Patton was critically injured escaped unharmed.

To counter the claims and rumour mills, Eisenhower authorised the leak of stories to damage the character of Patton including blaming Patton for the escape of the 150,000 soldiers of the German army and that Patton was mentally unstable. These false rumours still persist today.

However, there can be no doubt about the direct orders of Eisenhower in Operation Keelhaul- the repatriation of over two million former Russian prisoners of war to Joseph Stalin. While the actions of Eisenhower have always been maintained as a fact of life following the Yalta Agreement between Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt, the manner and clear fate of these poor souls was nothing short of Genocide on the same level as Adolf Hitler and the SS.

Eisenhower deliberately used the same logistical infrastructure of the Nazis used to murder millions to transport the millions of Russian prisoners of war to concentration camps until they could be handed across to the Soviets for mass execution.

During this time, tens of thousands died from malnourishment, from ill treatment and sickness at the hands of Eisenhowers "special units" in charge of the operation. Many simply died in the same manner as the Jewish victims who had also been carted like sardines in the same train carriages years before.

Following the end of the war Eisenhower was appointed Military Governor of the US Occupation Zone. He was instrumental in dismantling key evidence of the live human sacrifice of millions via the ovens at concentration camps. Eisenhower also played a crucial role in eliminating as much evidence as possible concerning the direct role of the Catholic Church and the Jesuits in World War II. He was rewarded in being made a Knight of Malta by the Vatican.

In 1953 Eisenhower won the Presidency of the United States in a landslide along with his young Vice President Richard Nixon.

His Presidency was notable for the closeness the world came to Nuclear war.

The original and official standard of the United States was changed under his presidency to "In God we Trust" a direct and deliberate heresy against the fundamental tenets of the Declaration of Independence that sought the United States to be a secular society.

He died in 1969.

Of deliberately lengthening the European war causing further crimes against humanity: (1943) That in 1943 senior members of the SS did offer clear and specific terms of unconditional surrender of all German forces to Gen. Dwight David Eisenhower and his senior staff, including the assassination of Adolf Hitler on the single condition that the Soviets would not be allowed to advance into Central Europe. That rather than seizing upon this information to press ahead with the Churchill plan of a 1943 European Invasion, Gen. Eisenhower recommended to President Roosevelt the Nazi truce offer be declined and the invasion postponed, thereby lengthening the war for two more years. Furthermore, during the 1944 “Battle of the Bulge”, Gen. Eisenhower did order a halt in encirclement of German forces enabling up to 150,000 to escape and thus prolong the war further. In both cases, the delays recommended by Gen. Eisenhower did enable the soviet forces of Fr. Joseph Stalin S.J. to increase their hold of Eastern Europe. Furthermore, that these deliberate and still inadequately explained delays did cause the needless deaths of over 200,000 soldiers, including at least 100,000 allied personnel and Americans.

Of Murder (political assassination): (1945) That Gen. George Smith Patton was assassinated by a fraudulent “road accident” near Mannheim, Germany on 9 Dec 1945 (dying in hospital 21 December 1945) after having requested a meeting with President Truman concerning evidence from the Nazis in his possession that Gen. Dwight David Eisenhower was both a traitor and operative working on behalf of the Vatican and the Soviet Union. Miraculously the other occupants of the car in which Patton was critically injured escaped unharmed. That to this day, the claim that Patton was about to expose Eisenhower have been denied. Furthermore, that Eisenhower and his supporters did besmirch the character and memory of war hero Patton including the complete lie that the escape of over 150,000 of the German army on the halt on August 31, 1944, of the Third Army was because it ran out of fuel. Furthermore that Patton was overlooked for more senior positions and was about to be relieved because he was mentally unstable. To this day, these deliberate lies to conceal the patriotism of Patton against Gen. Eisenhower being one of the greatest traitors of American history are still regarded as true.

Of publishing false statements for the purpose of concealing the origin of crimes against humanity: (1945-1961) That General Dwight D. Eisenhower and other senior Catholic Allied commanders did deliberately permit false documents to be planted in order to be “found” claiming that the Final Solution Plan (the extermination of the Jews) was organized much later in the war at an alleged conference at Wannsee Villa in Berlin on January 20, 1942. That these false records and minutes for a an SS meeting were patently false based on the fact that the SS never took minutes of their own meetings, nor would have permitted such documentation to remain unguarded. That the fraud perpetrated by Eisenhower was motivated by ensuring the window of systematic human sacrifice by the Catholic controlled Nazis was a small as possible (only 1943-45 by the false documents of Eisenhower), thus justifying the claim that the Allies “did not know” what the Germans were doing with death camps. Furthermore that claims of the death camps being built as late as 1942 and closed down within only a couple of years were falsely claimed and even supported by accused to reinforce the false position. That these false documents were then introduced into evidence during the Nuremberg Trials of a handful of Nazis.

Leonard Ravenhill On Roman Catholicism:

I don't know much about Leonard Ravenhill but I agree with his point that Rome is the true threat. - TR

Leonard Ravenhill (1907–1994)

“Evangelists today are wide-eyed to the might of Communism, but tight lipped at the menace of Romanism. America would shake from coast to coast in twenty-four hours if some preacher, anointed with the Holy Ghost, gave the Roman Catholic Church a broadside! We stir national interest against the cruel, half-civilized Mau Mau (wicked enough), but powwow with, and pander to, the Roman Catholic Church! These priests who dope mens souls,these idolatrous “masses,” these Calvary eclipsing prayers to Mary, these miserable millions cheated in life and in death by the greatest forgery Lucifer ever made.” (Why Revival Tarries by Leonard Ravenhill, Bethany House Publishers, 1988, Copyright 1959)

http://soulrefuge.org/2008/12/03/mahalia-jackson-sings-whole-world-in-his-hands-oh-lord-bring-back-the-old-spirituals-once-again/

More quotes:

"Today’s church wants to be raptured from responsibility."

"If weak in prayer, we are weak everywhere."

"Men give advice; God gives guidance."

"Are the things you are living for worth Christ dying for?"

"A sinning man stops praying, a praying man stops sinning"

"The only reason we don't have revival is because we are willing to live without it!"

"God pity us that after years of writing, using mountains of paper and rivers of ink, exhausting flashy terminology about the biggest revival meetings in history, we are still faced with gross corruption in every nation, as well as with the most prayerless church age since Pentecost."

"The Church used to be a lifeboat rescuing the perishing. Now she is a cruise ship recruiting the promising."

"The opportunity of a lifetime must be seized within the lifetime of the opportunity."

"My main ambition in life is to be on the devil's most wanted list."

"If Jesus had preached the same message that ministers preach today, He would never have been crucified."

"Entertainment is the devil's substitute for joy"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Ravenhill

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.

Funeral held for Owensboro man who took own life after Facebook post on church sex abuse

David M. Jarboe Jr.

Updates: June 19, 2020: Former Catholic Diocese of Owensboro employee accused of sex abuse
May 2, 2019: Owensboro Diocese Recommends Permanent Suspension for Priest Accused of Sexual Misconduct
April 12, 2019: Owensboro Diocese releases names of priests accused of sexual abuse
March 1, 2019: Owensboro priest temporarily suspended after sexual abuse allegations
Sept 11, 2018: Owensboro Catholic Diocese confirms two sex abuse victims have come forward
Jan 17, 2018 Father Rev William Baer dies unexpectedly
May 21, 2017 Owensboro Priest Arrested On Child Sex Abuse Charges
Jun. 14, 2016 Owensboro Diocese Suspends Rev Freddie Byrd after sexual abuse allegations - Letter from Diocese
May 18th 2016: Daviess Co., KY priest suspended over allegations
March 15, 2016: *New Interesting Info about David Jarboe case*
February 12, 2011: Minnesota church won't investigate priest

Main Article Start: 

"Fr. William Bear---you get no thanks. You are an evil man. Period." (sic) The correct spelling is "Baer"

"Fr. Freddie Byrd---I forgive you"

"But let my life be a testimony. The abuse of this church is real. Let it be known. It doesn't make you a non believer. It doesn't jeopardize your fate. It's the right thing to do."

"People will always hurt you. But the worst of all always goes unseen. The real sins of these times are behind closed doors."

"Religion is not a bad thing. But destroying free thought is. However, never once will I ever agree with the molestation of children. And never once will I agree with an institution that chooses to not acknowledge it."

"And I hope this message will save at least one child from the pain and torment that I have gone through. A child is precious to God, and using your authority as a church official to take advantage of someone is one of the foulest things imaginable."

"Perhaps your parents don't see, perhaps those you know don't see, know that God sees. And God never forgets."

"So farewell. I have loved, I have lived, I have finally forgiven, I have no regrets. I am finally at peace."

-David M Jarboe Jr. (Excerpts of a message left on his facebook page right before being found with a gunshot wound in front of the "Blessed Mother" Catholic Church in Owensboro, Ky)

Rev Freddie Byrd

See Also: The Vatican Wages tremendous Immoral Attack on humanity. By Thomas Richards

Video of News Report from Kentucky Unfortunately the video was deleted (covered up) by the local news channel

OWENSBORO, Ky. — From the beginning to the end of his funeral Mass on Monday, loved ones celebrated David Jarboe Jr.'s generosity and friendliness even as they mourned his suicide last week after he left a Facebook posting on the “pain and torment” of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

An overflow crowd of family, former classmates and friends bade farewell to Jarboe at Blessed Mother Catholic Church, where he had been a member. It was outside the church on Thursday that Jarboe took his life, leaving the Facebook posting, which prompted the Roman Catholic Diocese of Owensboro to launch an investigation.

The diocese on Monday released more details on its probe, saying Bishop William Medley would engage an independent investigator as recommended by the diocese's abuse review panel at a special meeting on Saturday.

The diocese indicated no priests identified in the posting would be on leave at this point. The diocese also referred the matter to the Daviess County Commonwealth's Attorney's office. Commonwealth's Attorney Bruce Kuegel said he has referred the matter to Owensboro police.

But at Blessed Mother on Monday, the focus was on Jarboe's life. Speakers described an ebullient young man who played football at Owensboro Catholic High School, urged people to reach outside their social circles to befriend others, and lived out that message with his own example.

A fellow Owensboro Catholic graduate recalled how they and other high school students organized a presentation to younger students at Blessed Mother School on the value of friendship called “Kick the Clique.”

A priest who had been Jarboe's mentor while Jarboe was attending St. John Vianney College Seminary, located on the campus of St. Thomas University in St. Paul, Minn., gave the main homily at Jarboe's own request. Jarboe had attended the seminary for three semesters between 2006 and 2008 when considering the Roman Catholic priesthood before later transferring to Western Kentucky University.

The priest recalled Jarboe as making friends with everyone he met. Jarboe, concerned about the lax religious habits of some students at the St. Thomas campus, helped organize a “last chance Mass” at 9:30 p.m. on Sundays at a campus chapel. What originated with a small group now attracts large crowds.

The priest said Jarboe resembled the biblical character of Jacob, who is described as wrestling with an angelic spirit in the book of Genesis. Jarboe, too, had his spiritual struggles, the priest said.

He acknowledged the shock and grief Jarboe's loved ones feel, and urged them to understand they did all they could to help in those struggles. He cited a Scriptural passage on the difficulty of understanding the human heart.

Mourners filled the church sanctuary, and several sat in an overflow room in the school, where a live video of the service was shown. Numerous priests attended, including Bishop Medley.

The Rev. John Meredith, pastor of Blessed Mother, said at the start that the service would be a celebration of Jarboe's life. “We are resurrection people,” he said. The liturgy included multiple references to Jarboe's salvation by baptism. He was buried at Resurrection Cemetery. (Update 4/12/19: John Meredith has been found to have credible accusations of child rape against him. ~Link ... Isn't it ironic that he officiated the funeral of a man who killed himself after claiming to have been sexually abused by depraved Catholic priests.)

Jarboe's note did not directly accuse any priests of abuse by name, but it did identify at least two by name elsewhere in the posting.

"Rev" William Baer

Jarboe referred to the former rector of St. John Vianney, the Rev. William Baer, as “evil.”

A University of St. Thomas spokesman said Baer had never been accused of sexual abuse, had had positive conversations with Jarboe and did not know what had prompted the post.

The spokesman for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis said Friday he knew of no investigation involving Baer, now a parish priest in Oakdale, Minn.

In Jarboe's note, he also said he forgave a parish priest in the Diocese of Owensboro. The note did not identify any specific offense. Jarboe was found with a gunshot wound on Thursday morning outside Blessed Mother and died later that day.

In a statement issued Monday afternoon, the diocese said the posting prompted the Saturday meeting of its 13-member review board, whose members include “lay psychologists, educators, law enforcement personnel, social workers, a practicing attorney, an Episcopalian priest, a woman religious and a canon (church) lawyer priest,” the statement said.

The board is chaired by Teresa Henry, a certified alcohol and drug counselor who works with juveniles, the statement said.

In the statement, the diocese pledged its cooperation.

Reporter Peter Smith can be reached at (502) 582-4469.

Comment in regards to Harvey Milk and his connection to Jim Jones

Comment left here but it was pending moderation by the blog author.

Milk and Moscone. Both assassinated
right  after the Jonestown Massacre

"The People's Temple didn't murder themselves. And Jones enjoyed much support even having personal visits and friendships with Rosalynn Carter, Governor Jerry Brown and many more. Why is there a character assassination on Milk for supporting Jones? This is plain stupid. There is way more to Jones than many of us realize. I just wish people would scrutinize everything instead of just swallowing hook line and sinker the propaganda given to us about Jonestown. I still want to know why all those Americans were murdered in cold blood out there in Guyana. It's already on record that Congressman Leo Ryan saw that NONE of the people cited by "concerned relatives" wanted to leave Jonestown and that most of the people there were happy. Strange how as he was leaving Jonestown he was assassinated by Larry Layton who is free now. How does a man, the only one convicted in partaking in the murder of a Congressman end up getting paroled at all?

There are too many holes in this "official" Jonestown story. Way too many. There was a lot going on in Guyana at that time as well. I believe the secret lies with the Jesuit Order, to be more specific, Fr. Andrew Morrison SJ who was the Vicar General of the Jesuits in Guyana at that time and ran the Catholic Standard newspaper. The only newspaper not controlled by the government which had just gained it's Independence in 1966 from Great Britain. Not only that, Jonestown was built on land that Venezuela stated was their's. This is just a little info. It's even way more complicated than this. And there's a lot more stories that don't add up like how it's been said Liane Harris "cut her own throat" the night before the "mass suicides" in Jonestown (This story is reported as fact in Fr. Andrew Morrison SJ book "The Struggle for Democracy in Guyana 1952 - 1992"). And funny how these stories were being pushed by this Deborah Layton Blakey about mass suicide in the first place. Sorry, but if you have seen footage of the People's Temple the DAY before the MURDERS you would know that they were not a bunch of people about to kill themselves. I hate hearing all these lies. They're insulting to all common sense."

More Jonestown Info

Jonestown - Jesuit Connections

Read about how so many people fought for Larry Layton's release from prison. Why do so many people care about this former Jonestown "fanatic" who was "the only man convicted on criminal charges arising from the events of November 18, 1978"? Let's not forget who his father was and who his sister is.

Another Comment  posted HERE (awaiting moderation as well)

"I read the article Harvey Milk and Jonestown 25 years later and saw the article about Vernon Gosney in there who happened to be the main voice that convinced the parole board to let Larry Layton be released. He was the only person prosecuted for the run way shooting that left a congressman dead. I thought it was ironic to have those two articles in one issue of a magazine. there seems to be a strange pattern of those who propagated the "mass suicide drills" allegedly going on there. i don't believe that is actually true. I believe the people who alleged these things were part of the plot somehow. Another propagater of the mass suicide drills was Larry Layton's sister, Deborah Layton who was the daughter of a powerful army officer and was married to someone else who was alleged to be CIA (Blakey). Another oen who propagated the mass suicide drills was a jesuit priest, Fr. Andrew Morrison SJ out of Guyana. He ran a newspaper there and was the most powerful catholic in Guyana."

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."

In Jail where he belongs!

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.