John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army in Australia: 450 Victims!

Melbourne lifts abuse payout cap

Published: April 24, 2009 Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart has lifted compensation payments available to victims of clergy sexual abuse by nearly 50 percent to $75,000.
Archbishop Hart decided to raise the limit by $20,000 after a request from the compensation panel that recommends ex gratia payments to victims, The Age reports.
"We want to be compassionate. With time, these things need to be reviewed, and that's what we've done," Archbishop Hart told the paper.

A Church spokesman said that since Melbourne's protocol was set up in 1996, about 450 victims had come forward, the vast majority relating to earlier offences, and that the number of cases was declining.

He said he could not rule out further cases because victims typically kept abuse to themselves for a long time.

But victim advocate Helen Last said the rise had come about only because victims had agitated for it, and that Melbourne's system was still one of the world's worst.
"This increase hasn't come from the will or the heart of the of the Church, it has come from the protestations of the victims," she said.

Melbourne is the only Australian diocese not part of the national Towards Healing protocol. Its system, set up in 1996 when Cardinal George Pell was archbishop, has an independent commissioner, Peter O'Callaghan QC, an agency to provide counselling and support, and a compensation panel.

Payments were capped at $50,000, and $5,000 was added when the GST was introduced.
Vicar-General Les Tomlinson said the Victorian Victims of Crime Assistance Act made up to $60,000 available to most applicants, and similar compensation schemes in other states had limits at or below $75,000.

SOURCE
Catholics lift sexual abuse pay (The Age)
LINKS
Melbourne Archdiocese

JPIIPPA Ex-Kansas City Catholic bishop accused of sex abuse

Ex-Kansas City Catholic bishop accused of sex abuse

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 862 7688 home, 314 503 0003 cell)

We're saddened to see that a second former Kansas City Catholic bishop is accused of child molestation. (They are Bishop Joseph Hart and now Bishop Joseph Sullivan.) We're equally sad to see the church hierarchy continuing to fight in court for secrecy and against victims.

We're grateful to the individuals who have found the strength to take legal action against this predatory cleric and other church officials who further betrayed them. We are especially grateful to Mr. Hymel who is trying to use the time-tested American justice system to shine a light on deeply held church secrets and expose the corruption of Catholic figures who shield child molesters.

Opening church records on child molesting clergymen is crucial if kids are to be kept safe, if wounded victims are to be healed and if this on-going crisis is to be fully understood. This judge should follow the brave example of dozens of other judges across the country, and rule on the side of truth and openness, not secrecy and deceit. Catholics, citizens, and children deserve no less.

We hope the courage of these individuals will inspire others who have been assaulted by church employees - lay or ordained, alive or dead, current or former - to come forward, call police, and get help.

(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the nation’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. We've been around since 1988 and have more than 9,000 members across the country. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)

Contact David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell, 314-645-5915 home), Barbara Blaine (312-399-4747), Barbara Dorris (314-862-7688)



http://www.caller.com/news/2009/apr/15/judge-dioceses-must-turn-over-records-in-abuse/

Judge: Dioceses must turn over records in abuse lawsuit

Man says he was victimized at minor seminaryBy Denise Malan (Contact) April 16, 2009

CORPUS CHRISTI — A judge ordered two Catholic dioceses to turn over records in a civil lawsuit alleging that a Baton Rouge bishop sexually abused a boy in Corpus Christi almost 30 years ago.

In the suit, a Houston man alleges that Bishop Joseph Vincent Sullivan abused him from 1978 to 1982, nearly two years of which he spent in the Corpus Christi Minor Seminary. The man, now 42, was a teenage student in the Baton Rouge minor seminary and transferred to Corpus Christi after schools closed in Baton Rouge and Lumberton.

Sullivan remained bishop in Baton Rouge but would visit the boy at the Corpus Christi Minor Seminary, a high school for boys aspiring to the priesthood. Sullivan died in 1982.

The suit, filed in Nueces County, alleges the dioceses of Baton Rouge and Corpus Christi failed to protect the boy. The Diocese of Corpus Christi argues in court documents that it did not know Sullivan would subject anyone to harm.

The church says it already has turned over all pertinent records, but plaintiffs attorney Mynor Rodriguez said the church has only given him yearbooks and other records readily available from his client.

The accusers attorneys are seeking data the dioceses of Baton Rouge and Corpus Christi turned over to the John Jay College of Criminal Justice as part of a nationwide study in 2003 of abuse in the Catholic church. The study found that 96 percent of participating dioceses had received allegations of sexual abuse against priests by children younger than 18.

This data they have is going to show what they knew and when they knew it, Rodriguez said.

District Judge Jose Longoria limited the request to documents only about the accuser and Sullivan after attorney Gary E. Ramirez of Corpus Christi, representing both dioceses, argued the request was overly broad.

They want this court to allow them to put the Catholic church on trial, Ramirez argued.

Rodriguez said he was not looking for new victims and said the data will show the church knew about the abuse but did not take necessary action. Showing fraudulent concealment would be necessary to overcome the statute of limitations, which ended two years after the accuser turned 18.

The man did not remember the abuse until within two years of the filing of the lawsuit in 2007, according to court documents. Attorney Johnny Garza said memories resurfaced in therapy the man underwent after his second marriage collapsed.

A statement Wednesday from the Diocese of Corpus Christi said the church takes all allegations of abuse seriously and stressed that this incident did not involve any employees or priests of the local diocese.

We pray for the well-being and fair treatment of all parties concerned, the statement reads. Since litigation is ongoing, any further comment is not advisable.

The Diocese of Baton Rouge settled a lawsuit involving Sullivan and a victim with repressed memories in 2004 and renamed a local Catholic high school that had been named for him. It argues the Nueces County court has no jurisdiction over it in the Corpus Christi case.

The local case is set for trial in October.

Contact Denise Malan at 886-4334 at maland@caller.com



http://www.kristv.com/Global/story.asp?S=10191640

Former Student Sues Diocese, Claims Molestation

Updated: April 15, 2009 07:42 PM CDT

CORPUS CHRISTI - A former student at the School for Prospective Catholic Priests is suing the Diocese of Corpus Christi, claiming he was molested by a visiting bishop.

He says the abuse happened between 1978 and 1982 and the Diocese is partly responsible.

Attorneys for Glenn Hymel say he was honored to be selected for the local seminary school as a teenager.

Hymel is now 42 years old and claims it was only recently that he realized he had been abused, and that he had buried the memories until something recently made them resurface.

His attorneys say Hymel has had two failed marriages and he claims the abuse he suffered as a teenager is to blame for it.

Bishop Joseph Sullivan was with the Diocese of Baton Rouge before he died in 1982, but he frequently made trips to the local school.

The Seminary on Saratoga later closed and eventually became the current John Paul High School.

Hymel claims the abuse happened at the former school, as well as on trips that he took with Bishop Sullivan.

In court Wednesday, Hymel's attorneys were granted some of the records used in a nationwide clergy abuse investigation that came out in 2003.

They believe those records could contain details that would prove Hymel's claims.

"In that study, they gave a lot of information concerning sexual abuse in their midst. And we're seeking that information, because it goes to show what they knew, when they knew it, and what they did about it," Mynor Rodriguez said.

The Diocese of Corpus Christi has previously acknowledged that 13 victims have come forward with claims of sexual abuse involving eight local priests, and the settlements they received cost the Diocese about $1.3 million.

A spokesperson for the Diocese couldn't comment on the new claims by Hymel, but he did say that none of the church leaders or possible victims in the case are still in the area.



LIST OF OTHER BISHOPS WHO ARE ACCUSED OF HAVING MOLESTED KIDS

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/bishops/accused/

JPIIPPA Atlanta archbishop is defendant in 3 new pedophile priest lawsuits

Oh when the saints go marching in

Oh when the John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army go marching in

we are losing count, now it must be more than 5,500

The mission of JP2M is to be in solidarity with the victims of the 26 years papacy of John Paul II -- by showing to America and the world why John Paul II must never be called a "saint" in American lips, in American soil and in every nation where his army, the JPIIPP John Paul II Pedophile Priests reigned in secrecy and cover-up under his Holy See......


Compare the CRIMES and their VICTIMS in America


Victims - Attackers - Responsible Leader

Pearl Harbor - 3,000 victims - 170 planes - Admiral Yamamoto

WTC & 9/11 attacks - 5,000 victims - 19 Muslims - Osama bin Laden

USA Priest Pedophilia - 12,000 victims - 5,548 priests - John Paul II

See more in The John Paul II Millstone http://jp2m.blogspot.com/ and Benedict XVI-God's Rottweiler www.pope-ratz.blogspot.com


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SNAP Press Statement

For immediate release: Thursday, April 16, 2009

Atlanta archbishop is defendant in 3 new pedophile priest lawsuits

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 862 7688 home, 314 503 0003 cell)

We're grateful to these three brave individuals who have found the strength to take legal action against the predators who molested them and the bishops who further betrayed them.

We're sad but not surprised at the allegation that church officials and lawyers kept potentially significant and helpful information from a victim's lawyer. (Remember, just five years ago, Bishop Gregory was held in contempt of court for refusing to turn over documents when ordered by a judge to do so.)

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/02/us/bishops-leader-resists-releasing-priest-s-records-in-his-own-diocese.html?scp=1&sq=wilton+gregory+contempt+of+court&st=nyt

If bishops will deceive parishioners, parents and the public about child molesting clergy, they'll surely deceive victims and their attorneys. The Catholic hierarchy typically fights ruthlessly, and not always ethically, especially when the legal system threatens to expose deeply held and embarrassing secrets about church cover ups of clergy sex crimes.

We hope the courage of these individuals will inspire others who have been assaulted by Belleville church employees - lay or ordained, alive or dead, current or former - to come forward, call police, and get help.

(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the nation’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. We've been around since 1988 and have more than 9,000 members across the country. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)

Contact David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell, 314-645-5915 home), Barbara Blaine (312-399-4747), Barbara Dorris (314-862-7688)



http://www.bnd.com/breaking_news/story/731081.html

Wednesday, Apr. 15, 2009

Three new lawsuits filed claiming sexual abuse by Belleville Diocese priests

BY GEORGE PAWLACZYK - gpawlaczyk@bnd.com

BELLEVILLE -- Three separate lawsuits were filed Wednesday naming three new alleged victims of sexual abuse by two priests from the Belleville Diocese.

The three suits were filed in St. Clair County Circuit Court by the same attorneys who won a $5 million verdict last August for James Wisniewski of Champaign. Each refers to a decades-old Vatican document that directed that evidence of sex abuse of minors by priests must be kept secret within the church.

Steven Kern, 42, and two plaintiffs known only by initials -- 48-year-old "K.C." and 46-year-old "D.S." -- filed suit separately through lawyers Mike Weilmuenster and Steve Wigginton of Belleville.

Kern and K.C. alleged they were abused as young teenagers at St. Theresa's Parish in Salem in the 1970s by the Rev. Raymond Kownacki, and D.S. alleges he was abused at Sts. Peter and Paul Church in Waterloo by the Rev. Jerome Ratermann.

The attorneys who represented Wisniewski, of Champaign, during his successful civil trial last year in Belleville on claims that the Belleville Diocese covered up sex abuse by Kownacki, also filed a motion alleging that church officials failed to turn over key information in that case. The diocese has appealed the $5 million verdict to the 5th Appellate Court in Mt. Vernon.

Belleville Bishop Edward Braxton and former Bishop Wilton Gregory, now archbishop of Atlanta, are both named in the motion, which claims they knew about the latest allegations, but that church officials failed to make Wisniewski's lawyers aware of this knowledge.

Kownacki, of Dupo, has stated he will not comment. Ratermann could not be reached. Both priests were removed by a diocesan review board in the mid-1990s for alleged sexual abuse of minors. Neither was charged criminally.

The motion alleges that Braxton replied to Kern's sister in 2005 after she wrote a letter to him concerning alleged sexual abuse by Kownacki, and that Gregory had discussions with Kern's parents concerning the same abuse. Neither the letter nor the alleged knowledge of the discussion was turned over to the Wisniewski legal team, the motion contends.

Neither Braxton nor Gregory could be reached.

In the new lawsuits naming Kownacki, the ousted priest is accused of abusing minors by "by touching or fondling ... genitalia and engaging in oral sex."

The lawsuit naming Ratermann alleges that while he was the principal of Mater Dei High School in Breese he engaged in the same acts of sexual molestation of a minor while on a houseboat on Carlyle Lake. Some minors leaped overboard and swam to shore.

The plaintiff known as "D.S." is alleged to have had repressed memory of the alleged sexual abuse until a few years ago.

In the lawsuits involving Kern and K.C., they claim the two did not realize the extent of the psychological damage caused by the alleged sexual molestation until a few years ago.

In the Wisniewski lawsuit, statute of limitation concerns were overcome through expert medical testimony that the victim did not realize he had post traumatic stress disorder until 2002 when sex abuse of minors by priests became a national story.

Each of the three new lawsuits contains a reference to a 43-page document approved by Pope John XXIII in 1962 that Weilmeunster characterized during a telephone interview as a "...conspiracy in writing approved by a pope."

Weilmuenster, who said that he recently learned of the document's existence from lawyers in a clergy sex abuse prosecution in another state, contends that the Belleville Diocese had a copy of the document that should have been turned over during the discovery process.

"I tried this (Wisniewski) case without the benefit of this information," he said.

According to the three lawsuits, the 1962 Vatican document -- "On the Manner of Proceeding in Cases of Solicitation," was to be kept from public view and directed that evidence of sexual abuse by priests must be, "diligently stored in the secret archives of the Curia (Vatican office) as strictly confidential."

The motion states that the Vatican document, "Makes clear throughout that, in all circumstances, sex abuse cases dealing with minor children are to be kept strictly secret."

A Google search on the Internet revealed that the Vatican document was made public in 2003 during an investigative report by the BBC.

The Vatican directive contradicts the focus of the 2001 "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People," that was spearheaded by Gregory when, as bishop of Belleville, he headed the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. That document urged "transparency" on the subject of sexual abuse by priests.

Weilmuenster said there are "various remedies" that a court can take if a judge decides that the diocese improperly withheld discovery material. He declined to comment further.

Contact reporter George Pawlaczyk at gpawlaczyk@bnd.com and 239-2625

John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army to erupt in Ireland: abuses from 1975-2004

There is no end in sight for the John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army, the biggest legacy of John Paul II the Great. Now Ireland is just beginning to explode with its sex abuse scandal. The Opus Dei owns the media of the entire country, but thank God for some non-Opus Dei lawyers who are willing to do their good works in defending the victims and getting some compensations for them from the mighty and wealthy Vatican.

Catholic Ireland is losing Catholic members by the millions. Church pews are empty on Sundays. The once Catholic country that sent missionaries all over the world is now becoming non-Catholic. The sins of pedophilia cries out to Heaven unceasingly and soon the Vatican shall sink into a black hole as predicted by the Third Secret of Fatima – see God’s Rottweiler www.pope-ratz.blogspot.com and the John Paul II Millstone www.jp2m.blogspot.com tied to the neck of John Paul II in the deepest part of Hell.

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Dublin archbishop: Sex abuse report will shock

He says it will show that thousands of youths were abused from 1975-2004

updated 9:33 a.m. ET, Thurs., April 9, 2009
DUBLIN - The Archbishop of Dublin said Thursday that an upcoming report on child sexual abuse involving Catholic priests will likely reveal that thousands of youngsters were abused from 1975 to 2004.

The report "will shock us all," said Diarmuid Martin, during Mass at Dublin's Pro-Cathedral.

The archbishop said the report, compiled by the Dublin Archdiocese Commission of Investigation, is expected to show that "thousands of children or young people across Ireland were abused by priests in the period under investigation and the horror of that abuse was not recognized for what it is."


The government-appointed commission was set up to investigate abuses within the Dublin archdiocese in 2006, the same year the diocese admitted that up to 102 of its priests were suspected of abusing children. The report is studying how complaints of child sexual abuse were handled.

The commission has also now begun an investigation into the Diocese of Cloyne, in County Cork. Commission member Ita Mangan said that could potentially delay the publication of the Dublin report which had been planned for this summer.

"The commission will be finishing the report in May; we then send it to the government, and they then decide when to publish it," Mangan said Thursday. "The government is obliged to publish it, but not necessarily the next day. It could be further complicated by the fact that we're also inquiring into the Cloyne diocese. It is possible the government would decide to publish the two reports together, which could then be September, October."

The Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform said Thursday that it could not confirm any planned date of publication.

Ireland, a predominantly Catholic country, has been rapidly secularizing in recent years, spurred by the outrage at the hidden abuses within the clergy. Archbishop Martin, a Vatican diplomat assigned in 2003 to address the problem, appeared to address that disillusionment Thursday in his homily.

"There is a dramatic and growing rift between the church and our younger generations and the blame does not lie principally with young people," he said.