US

Denver, Colo., Sep 5, 2018 / 07:00 pm (CNA).- One week after thousands of Catholic laywomen signed a letter asking Pope Francis to respond to their questions about the Church’s sexual abuse crisis, a group of Catholic laymen have penned their own letter to the pope and American bishops, calling for an investigation into the Church’s role in preventing sexual abuse.

The letter is hosted on the website “Catholic Men United for Christ,” but it is not sponsored by any group or organization. The signatories of the letter pledge to do some form of fasting on each Friday starting Sept. 7, and continuing through 2018.

Signatories include popular Catholic author Scott Hahn, radio host Al Kresta, along with other notable Catholic leaders.

“Holy Father, we come to you for answers. You personally have been faced with allegations. These allegations have been leveled by a high-ranking church official, Archbishop Viganò. Further, many bishops in the United States have publicly stated that they believe these allegations should be investigated. We implore you to address them,” reads the letter.

“Moreover, regardless of the veracity of Archbishop Viganò’s allegations, our concerns about corruption remain.”

“Your Holiness, Your Eminences, and Your Excellencies: Amidst widespread global abuse, coverups, and hierarchical failure, what are you doing and what will you do to protect the people of God? We urge you to answer this simple question because the cost of the episcopal corruption is catastrophic.”

The letter requests that an investigation into Church hierarchy be carried out by “faithful lay men and women.”

The signatories “reiterate and support” last week’s letter from Catholic lay women, signatory Mark DeYoung told CNA, “but even more so, we’re looking at the bigger picture at what has happened in various countries […] in just saying that there is certainly established fact there is a problem with abuse.”

Failure to combat this corruption and abuse could result in the reduction or elimination of ministries due to a lack of priests, DeYoung told CNA.

DeYoung, a theology graduate student, said that fathers have expressed concern about potentially sending their sons to seminary, and have even said that they “will not have their kids involved in the liturgy as altar servers” out of fear of sexual abuse.

This could result in “potentially the death of vocations and young people being active in the Church,” said DeYoung. He also said it was “heartbreaking” to read testimony from some of the Pennsylvania abuse victims who said that their abuse caused them to lose their religious faith entirely.

“We’re really fighting for these people, (and) we’re also saying that as Catholic men that we’re going to take responsibility for our own lives as well,” noting that not every Catholic man is faithful or properly follows Church teaching.

DeYoung told CNA that the letter came from the fact that many Catholic men are “angry, heartbroken, and really shocked at the state of the Church at the moment,” in terms of the abuse of minors as well as “the clergy members who are disobeying their vows and living and against the call to chastity and purity.”

In addition to the investigation into abuse and misconduct, DeYoung says that the signatories are also looking to the bishops for spiritual leadership during this chaotic time.

“We are men who love the Church, we love our bishops, we support our Holy Father, and we want to see the truth come out here,” he said.

At press time, the letter had been signed by over 3,000 people.

[…]

Buffalo, N.Y., Sep 5, 2018 / 05:39 pm (CNA).- Bishop Richard Malone of Buffalo is resisting demands for his resignation after recently published  documents suggest that he mishandled allegations of sexual abuse and misconduct by priests in his diocese.

“My handling of recent claims from some of our parishioners concerning sexual misconduct with adults unquestionably has fallen short of the standard to which you hold us, and to which we hold ourselves,” Bishop Malone said in an Aug. 26 statement to members of the diocese.

In hindsight, he said, some allegations “which at the time may have seemed hazy or difficult to substantiate—warranted more firm or swift action.”

However, he rejected calls from local Catholics and public officials that he step down, saying, “The shepherd does not desert the flock at a difficult time.”

Several of the recently-reported allegations involve boundary violations or sexual misconduct against adults, meaning that the diocese was not required to take action against them in the same way that it would allegations of sexual abuse of minors, under the 2002 Charter for Protection of Children and Young People.

Malone said that while he sought to follow the Charter’s requirements, he “may have lost sight of the Charter’s spirit, which applies to people of all ages.”

The bishop said that he is establishing a task force to review diocesan protocols for dealing with claims of inappropriate behavior involving adults.

“This task force will be comprised of laity, clergy religious, and I will invite an elected official or two,” he said.

He also announced the creation of an Office of Professional Responsibility to help enforce the Diocesan Code of Ethics and promised to cooperate with any potential investigations launched by state authorities. Erie County’s district attorney has suggested that a criminal investigation of the diocese is being planned.  

Malone’s statement came several days after a two-part 7 Eyewitness News investigation, published Aug. 22-23, revealed documents indicating that Malone allowed priests to stay in ministry despite multiple allegations against them.

The investigation focused on two priests whose names were reportedly considered for inclusion on a publicly-released list of credibly accused clergy, but then removed before publication. Both priests were in active ministry at the time of the list’s publication in March.

One case involves Fr. Art Smith, who had been suspended from his parish by the previous bishop in 2011, after complaints from parents and school officials that he had shown signs of grooming and stalking students and had inappropriate communications with one male student.

In November 2012, Bishop Malone returned Smith to ministry, as chaplain of a nursing home. There, two young men at the nursing home – ages 19 and 25 – complained of inappropriate touching by Smith. The regional superior of the religious order running the nursing home wrote to Bishop Malone to report the complaints and say that the order was discontinuing Smith’s work there.

Documents show that Malone asked Smith to return to a treatment center in Philadelphia, but Smith initially pushed back, refusing to go. Other documents show Malone asking Smith to honor their “gentleman’s agreement” requesting that he “refrain from public celebrations of the liturgy or other sacraments and from wearing clerical attire.”

In 2015, Malone wrote in a letter to Vatican officials that Smith had groomed a young boy, refused to stay in a treatment center, faced repeated boundary issues, and been accused of inappropriate touching of at least four young men. However, in the same letter, Malone said that “On the basis of his cooperation in regard to regular counseling, I have granted Father Smith faculties to function as a priest in the Diocese of Buffalo.”

That same year, the bishop wrote a letter of approval for Smith to serve as a priest on a cruise ship, explicitly clearing him for work with minor children.

In 2017, Malone assigned Smith as a “priest in residence” at a parish. The priest was suspended in 2018, after the diocese said it had received a new substantiated allegation of sexual abuse of a minor.

A second case reported by 7 Eyewitness News involves Fr. Robert Yetter, who until last week was pastor at St Mary’s of Swormville.

At least three young men in 2017-2018 reported sexual advances by Yetter. Internal memos indicate that Yetter acknowledged at least one instance of inappropriate touching.

Auxiliary Bishop Edward Grosz met with Yetter after being informed of the accusations. He discussed sexual harassment with Yetter and referred him for counseling, then wrote that he considered the cases closed.

On Aug. 27, four days after the 7 Eyewitness News report, the diocese announced that it had received a new complaint against Yetter. It said that Bishop Malone had asked for and received his resignation as pastor of St. Mary’s and had placed him on administrative leave while an investigation is carried out.  

The 7 Eyewitness News reports include photographs of more than a dozen relevant documents, including chancery memos, emails from diocesan officials, and letters to and from Bishop Malone.

The Buffalo News reported Sept. 3 that the Diocese of Buffalo is still trying to determine who had leaked the confidential documents. The diocesan headquarters is increasing security measures, with new locks, security guards, identification badge requirements, video monitoring and a computer security analysis.

[…]

Washington D.C., Sep 5, 2018 / 05:27 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- US Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh faced a range of questions on Wednesday, the second day of his confirmation hearings, including on abortion and religious freedom.

Kavanaugh affirmed Sept. 5 that Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey are “an important precedent of the Supreme Court,” and said that “being able to participate in the public square” with “religious speech” is “a part of the American tradition.”

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) asked Kavanaugh in the morning about women’s reproductive rights.

“As a general proposition, I understand the importance of the precedent set forth in Roe v. Wade,” Kavanaugh replied. “Roe v. Wade held, of course, and it was reaffirmed in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, that a woman has a constitutional right to obtain an abortion before viability, subject to reasonable regulation by the state, up to the point where that regulation constitutes an undue burden on the woman’s right to obtain an abortion.”

He said that the Roe decision “is settled as a precedent of the Supreme Court … one of the important things to keep in mind about Roe v. Wade is that it has been reaffirmed many times over the past 45 years, as you know, and most prominently, most importantly, reaffirmed in Planned Parenthood v. Casey in 1992.”

Feinstein indicated that “how you make a judgement on these issues is really important to our vote as to whether to support you or not,” saying, “I truly believe that women should be able to control their own reproductive systems, within, obviously, some concern for a viable fetus.”

Kavanaugh replied: “I understand your point of view on that, Senator. And I understand how passionate and how deeply people feel about this issue. I understand the importance of the issue. I understand the importance that people attach to the Roe v. Wade decision, to the Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision.”

“This is the point I want to make that I think is important. Planned Parenthood v. Casey reaffirmed Roe and did so by considering the stare decisis factors. So Casey now becomes a precedent on precedent. It’s not as if it’s just a run-of-the-mill case that was decided and never been reconsidered. It applied the stare decisis factors and decided to reaffirm it.”

“That makes Casey a precedent on precedent,” he said, which he compared to Miranda rights.

Feinstein asked, “What do you say your position today is on a woman’s right to choose?”

Kavanaugh answered: “As a judge, it is an important precedent of the Supreme Court. By it, I mean Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. [It’s] been reaffirmed many times. Casey is precedent on precedent, which itself is an important factor to remember. And I understand the significance of the issue, the jurisprudential issue, and I understand the significance as best I can; I always try, and I do hear, of the real-world effects of that decision, as I tried to do all of the decisions of my court, and of the Supreme Court.”

In the afternoon, Kavanaugh  was questioned by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) about religious liberty issues.

Cruz first asked in that regard about the Ninth Amendment, which says, “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”

In his discussion of this amendment and its protection of unenumerated rights, Kavanaugh said that “an example of that is the old Pierce case where Oregon passed a law that said everyone in the state – this is in the 1920s – everyone in the state of Oregon had to attend, every student had to attend, a public school. A challenge was brought by parents who wanted to send their children to a parochial school, a religious school. The Supreme Court upheld the rights of the parents to send their children to a religious parochial school and struck down that Oregon law. That’s one of the foundations of the unenumerated rights.”

Since Kavanaugh had mentioned religious liberty, Cruz then asked about his views on the importance of religious liberty and how the Constitution protects it.

“To begin with,” Kavanaugh answered, “it’s important in the original Constitution; even before the Bill of Rights, the framers made clear in article six, ‘no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States’. So that was very important, in the original Constitution, that the framers thought it very important that there not be a test to become a legislator, to become an executive brand official, to become a judge … the framers understood the importance of protecting conscience, it’s akin to the free speech protection in many ways … If you have religious beliefs, religious people, religious speech, you have just as much right to be in the public square, and to participate in the public programs, as others do.”

“In other countries around the world,” he said, “you’re not free to take your religion into the public square.” He cited crosses being knocked off of churches in mainland China, and that “you can only practice in your own home, you can’t practice, you can’t bring your religious belief into the public square. And being able to participate in the public square is a part of the American tradition. I think as a religious person, religious speech, religious ideas, religious thoughts, that’s important.”

Kavanaugh noted that the Supreme Court precedent has recognized that “some religious traditions in governmental practices are rooted sufficiently in history and tradition to be upheld … so the religious tradition reflected in the First Amendment is a foundational part of American liberty. And it’s important for us as judges to recognize that and not – and recognize too that, as with speech, unpopular religions are protected.”

Cruz asked, of the free exercise and establishment clauses, “are they at cross purposes and intention are or they complimentary of each other?”

Kavanaugh answered that “I think in general it’s good to think of them as both supporting the concept of freedom of religion … to begin with you’re equally American no matter what religion you are, if you’re no religion at all. That it’s also important, the Supreme Court has said, that religious people be allowed to speak and participate in the public square without having to sacrifice their religion in speaking in the public square, for example, or practicing their religion in the public square. At the same time, I think both clauses protect the idea, or protect against, coercing people into practicing a religion when they might be of a different religion or might be of no religion at all. So the coercion idea, I think, comes out of both clauses as well … I think it’s good to think of the two clauses working together for the concept of freedom of religion in the United States, which I think is foundational of the Constitution.”

[…]

Metuchen, N.J., Sep 5, 2018 / 05:20 pm (CNA).- The Diocese of Metuchen has temporarily removed a priest from parish ministry while it reexamines the handling of misconduct allegations made against him.

The priest, Fr. Alfonso R. Condorson, was ordained in 1995 in the Archdiocese of Newark by Archbishop Theodore McCarrick. Condorson, previously known as Alfonso Condorpusa, held parish assignments in the archdiocese before transferring to the Diocese of Metuchen in 2004. He was permanently incardinated in the Metuchen diocese in 2008. Condorson is now listed as pastor of St. Joseph Parish, Bound Brook, NJ.

The priest was born in Lima, Peru in 1967. According to a 2015 report in Metuchen’s diocesan newspaper, he “settled in Maryland” in 1967, and became a U.S. citizen around 1998.

Condorson has a long-standing relationship with Metuchen’s Bishop Emeritus Paul Bootkoski, who sold in 2015 a New Jersey property to the priest for $1. Bootkoski, who authorized settlements to alleged victims of Archbishop Theodore McCarrick, became Bishop of Metuchen in 2002. He was also chief aide to McCarrick during the latter’s tenure as Archbishop of Newark.

The diocese is now reviewing how two allegations made against the priest were handled.

In 1997, Condorson was accused of making unwanted sexual advances on a 24-year-old male parishioner. CNA has spoken with a New Jersey man who says he was the victim of unwanted sexual advances from Condorson in that year, while the priest was assigned to Holy Trinity Parish in Hackensack, NJ.

The man, who requested anonymity because of the nature of the allegations and citing fears of repercussions to his business, spoke with CNA about the incident, which he says occurred while he was vacationing in Cancun with Condorson, in late September or early October of 1997.

He explained that Condorson was a family friend. “He had never been physical with me” in an overtly sexual way before the incident in Cancun, the man said, though he recalled at least one episode of “rough house” play that was, he said, uncomfortable.

“Then, one night” in Mexico, “in a taxi — after drinking, it was 1 or 2 in the morning — he rested his head on my shoulder. I thought he was tired, or couldn’t hold his liquor. Then, he put his hand on my knee. I hit him in the head with my camera, which snapped a picture.” CNA has obtained a digital copy of the image, but has not seen the original or independently verified the identities of the two men depicted in it.

“When we got back to the hotel, he said, “that’s when it all started.”

The man alleged that once they were back in the hotel room, “[Condorson] started mumbling something about ‘please don’t judge me’.” He went on to say, “how much he loved me, how he wanted to kiss me — had always wanted to kiss me — always been in love with me.”

The man says he responded to Condorson with “complete silence.” He told CNA that Condorson asked him not to say anything about the incident, and that it took several weeks for him to confide in his parents what had happened while he had been on vacation. The parents had noticed his agitation and aloofness, especially around Condorson, who continued to call on the family at home.

The man says his family reported the incident to Bishop Charles McDonnell, an auxiliary bishop of Newark and the pastor of Holy Trinity Parish, where Condorson was stationed. The alleged victim’s father, who also spoke to CNA on condition of anonymity, said that the archdiocese “fought us all they way to the end.”

Condorson left Holy Trinity eventually — in June of 1998, sources close to the episode recall — but only after the family of the man making the allegations threatened to sue. The family says they ultimately decided not to file a lawsuit. “I never wanted money,” the man making the allegations told CNA.

Bootkoski was vicar general of the Newark archdiocese when that allegation was reported.

A spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Newark told CNA: “The Archdiocese investigated fully the allegation at Holy Trinity according to the protocols in place in the Archdiocese at that time for allegations of misconduct involving adults. The allegation could not be substantiated. The individual who made the accusation did state that nothing sexual had occurred. During that time, Fr. De Condorpusa underwent evaluation by competent professionals who were aware of the accusation. Those professionals concluded that there was no reason to limit or halt his ministry.”

The Newark archdiocese added that “since Bishop Bootkoski of Metuchen was Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Newark at the time of the allegation, the Diocese was aware of both the allegation and the results of the investigation.”

The Diocese of Metuchen provided CNA with a statement saying that the alleged incident happened while Condorson was a priest of the Archdiocese of Newark, and was investigated by that diocese.

“The Archdiocese had an investigation which included interviews with both Fr. Condorson and the claimant, both adults. As Vicar General, Bishop Bootkoski said he was informed of the investigation by the pastor of the parish and a former pastor, also a Vicar General for the archdiocese, who both had knowledge of the situation. Based on the testimony of the two men, at that time, Bishop Bootkoski says he was informed they had conflicting accounts of what had occurred, both lacking any hard facts. The claimant, who was an adult, and his family did not pursue the matter,” the diocese said.

In 2008, a New Jersey man wrote to Archbishop John Myers of Newark and to Bootkoski, alleging that in the summer of 1997 Condoron asked him for help with computer repairs in the Holy Trinity rectory. He said that after the work was completed, the priest “requested that I stay and have a glass of wine with him.”

“Father De Condorpusa sat next to me on the love seat and took off his collar and shoes. We briefly discussed the repair of his computer when suddenly he placed his arm around me and tried to kiss me. I was shocked, got up, and asked him what he was doing.”

“He said to me, ‘I thought you wanted it, I like older men,’” the man alleged.

The Archdiocese of Newark told CNA that “the only correspondence in the Archdiocese of Newark’s files during the year 2008 relates to Fr. De Condorpusa’s request for incardination into the Metuchen Diocese.”

The Diocese of Metuchen told CNA that it did receive the 2008 allegation, and reported the matter to the county prosecutor soon after being informed. It also said its “Diocesan Response Officer” contacted “the accuser to offer to meet to discuss the letter and provided the phone number of the proper county prosecutor for reporting Fr. Condorson.”

“Having met with the accuser and no additional information being provided, and no action being taken by the prosecutor, in light of Father’s denial there was no basis for continuing the inquiry.”

The Diocese of Metuchen told CNA this week that Condorson would be withdrawn from parish ministry at the directive of its current bishop, Rev. Paul Checchio.

“Bishop Checchio, given the challenges involved in reviewing the allegations that are two decades old, directed Father Condorson to step aside from his parish responsibilities pending the diocese’s review of the entire matter,” a diocesan spokesperson told CNA.

Priests of Metuchen have praised the leadership of Checchio, who took over the diocese in 2016. Speaking off-record, several area priests have said told CNA they find his leadership trustworthy, and a change from Bootkoski’s administration.

A clerical source inside the diocese told CNA Condorson’s close relationship with Bootkoski made the priest difficult to trust.

In response to questions about their relationship, the Diocese of Metuchen told CNA that Bootkoski “categorically denies” any accusations of impropriety in the relationship.

“According to Bishop Bootkoski, the two men are longtime friends. Any reports to the contrary are inaccurate, untrue and unfounded,” the diocese said.

On file with the Sussex County clerk’s office is a deed dated June 11, 2015, in which Bootkoski ceded interest in property located at 4 Pine Point Lane, Stanhope, NJ, to Condorson, for total consideration of $1.

Bootkoski had acquired the property in 1988 for $130,000. The net assessed value of the property — land and improvements — is currently listed at NJParcels.com as $193,900. The property carries an annual tax burden between $6,000 and $7,000. The deed — recording the sale of the property for $1 — is dated June 11, 2015 and was registered with the Sussex County clerk’s office June 22, 2015.

The Diocese of Metuchen told CNA that Bootkoski decided to give the house to Condorson after deciding that he no longer had need of it, and after his family declined interest in it.

“Bishop Bootkoski was a longtime friend of [Condorson’s], having known him before he went in to seminary from his parish assignment in Elizabeth, NJ,” the diocese said. Bootkoski was pastor of St. Mary of the Assumption Parish in Elizabeth from 1983-1990.

“When planning his will with a lawyer, he was advised to sell it to him for $1, rather than include it in his estate. So he did.”

As Bishop of Metuchen, Bootkoski authorized settlements in 2005 and 2007 to former priests who say they were sexually assaulted by Archbishop Theodore McCarrick, who himself led the Metuchen diocese before becoming Newark’s archbishop, and then Washington’s.

Bootkoski recently stated that he informed Church authorities about reports of McCarrick’s misconduct shortly after receiving them, though the New York Times has reported that the Diocese of Metuchen was aware of allegations years before the settlements were made.

In 2015, less than a year before Pope Francis accepted his letter of resignation for limits of age, Bootkoski made Condorson the director of the diocesan office for Hispanic ministry.

In the same year, Bootkoski sold Condorson the New Jersey property.

Condorson did not respond to requests for comment.

CNA staff contributed to the reporting of this story.

[…]

Metuchen, N.J., Sep 5, 2018 / 02:31 pm (CNA).- Bishop Emeritus Paul Bootkoski of Metuchen said last week that claims of abuse against then-Cardinal McCarrick made to his diocese were reported to the then-nuncio in a timely manner. Accounts from some alleged victims suggest the diocese had been aware of McCarrick’s misconduct long before it was reported.

An Aug. 28 statement from the office of Bishop Bootkoski said Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò “was mistaken in his recollection of facts regarding abuses committed by Archbishop McCarrick.”

Archbishop Viganò, the former apostolic nuncio to the US, had written that Bishop Bootkoski, as well as Archbishop Emeritus John Myers of Newark “covered up the abuses committed by McCarrick in their respective dioceses and compensated two of his victims. They cannot deny it and they must be interrogated in order to reveal every circumstance and all responsibility regarding this matter.”

According to the statement from Bishop Bootkoski’s office, “the Diocese of Metuchen received the first of three complaints against Archbishop McCarrick in 2004,” after McCarrick had been transferred to Washington and made a cardinal.

“The Diocese of Metuchen promptly reported each claim it received to law enforcement in multiple counties in the different states where the reported offenses took place,” the statement said.

Bishop Bootkoski said he informed the then-apostolic nuncio to the US, Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo Higuera, of the claims received by the Metuchen diocese regarding McCarrick in December 2005, first by phone, and then in writing.

“Any implication that Bishop Bootkoski failed to report the accusations against Archbishop McCarrick to the appropriate church officials and civil authorities is incorrect,” the statement said.

A letter sent Dec. 6, 2005 from Bootkoski to the nuncio summarized that a priest of the Metuchen diocese, who was subsequently dismissed from the clerical state, “alleged McCarrick had inappropriate physical contact with him”; that a former Metuchen seminarian “alleged to have heard rumors of parties held at the New Jersey shore home of Cardinal McCarrick; however, he indicated he was not at any of the parties and put no credence in the rumors”; and that a priest of Metuchen who was subsequently removed from ministry dues to allegations of sexual abuse of minors in the 1990s “alleged McCarrick had inappropriate physical contact with him, including sexual touching, when he was a seminarian, as well as similar encounters with other priests of the diocese.”

According to a July 16 article in the New York Times, Robert Ciolek “filed for a settlement from the church” in 2004.

Ciolek had been a seminarian in the 1980s, and alleged abuse by McCarrick. He was ordained a priest, but left the priesthood in 1988.

In 2005, he received an $80,000 settlement from the Metuchen, Trenton, and Newark dioceses.

But the New York Times reported that Ciolek was contacted “around 1999” by Msgr. Michael Alliegro, who asked him “if he planned to sue the diocese, and then mentioned Archbishop McCarrick’s name.”

Msgr. Alliegro had served as McCarrick’s secretary in Metuchen, and he was vicar of pastoral life for the diocese from 1987 until about 1999.

“And I literally laughed, and I said, no,” Ciolek told the New York Times, adding that Alliegro breathed a sigh of relief.

The New York Times reported another priest was in 2004 “forced to resign under the church’s new zero-tolerance protocols against child abuse.”

That priest told the New York Times that he had written to Bishop Edward Hughes of Metuchen in 1994 “saying that Archbishop McCarrick had inappropriately touched him and other seminarians in the 1980s.”

“He told Bishop Hughes that he was coming forward because he believed the sexual and emotional abuse he endured from Archbishop McCarrick, as well as several other priests, had left him so traumatized that it triggered him to touch two 15-year-old boys inappropriately. The Metuchen diocese sent the priest to therapy, and then transferred him to another diocese.”

The priest was paid a $100,000 settlement by the Church in 2007.

The office of Bishop Bootkoski said that “The Diocese of Metuchen received the first of three complaints against Archbishop McCarrick in 2004.”

It is evident that three men did contact the Metuchen diocese between 2004 and 2005 with allegations against McCarrick.

The first was Ciolek, whose settlement was paid in 2005. The Diocese of Metuchen was aware of his allegation at least as far back as 1999.

The second, a former seminarian, had heard rumors about McCarrick but did not allege having been abused himself.

The third is the unnamed priest who received a settlement in 2007. He first told the Bishop of Metuchen in 1994 that he and other seminarians had been sexually and emotionally abused by McCarrick in the 1980s, and that this had triggered him to touch inappropriately two underaged boys.

Before becoming Bishop of Metuchen, Bootkoski served under McCarrick in the Archdiocese of Newark for 14 years: 11 as a priest, and three as auxiliary bishop.

[…]

Youngstown, Ohio, Sep 5, 2018 / 12:55 pm (CNA).- The Diocese of Youngstown will release a list of priests who were credibly accused of sexual abuse and removed from ministry, Bishop George Murry SJ announced during a press conference on Tuesday. The Di… […]

Washington D.C., Sep 5, 2018 / 03:00 am (ACI Prensa).- Former cardinal Theodore McCarrick made several overseas trips with the U.S. State Department, including some documented on Wikileaks, but a State Department spokesman avoided direct questions about whether his alleged sexual misconduct has prompted a review of his work under U.S. auspices.
 
“These are very serious allegations. We refer any questions about the ongoing investigations to the appropriate law enforcement authorities,” a State Department spokesman, speaking on background, told CNA Aug. 30.
 
“The United States condemns the abuse or exploitation of children wherever it exists, and we offer sincere condolences to victims,” the spokesman continued.

CNA had asked for information about McCarrick’s roles with the State Department, a summary of his trips, and whether the State Department is reviewing the trips for potential misconduct. The department was also asked whether it had any knowledge of misconduct or rumored misconduct by McCarrick and whether it had been informed of any Catholic disciplinary action taken against the former Archbishop of Washington.

McCarrick served in diplomatic roles for both the Holy See and the U.S. State Department. In November 1996, McCarrick was invited to serve on the U.S. Secretary of State’s Advisory Committee on Religious Freedom Abroad. From 1999 to 2001 he was a member of the U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom.
 
In the year 2000, the U.S. Secretary of State recommended him for the Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award, a recommendation approved by then-President Bill Clinton. At the award ceremony Dec. 6, 2000 Clinton said that two years prior he had sent McCarrick as one of his representatives on “a groundbreaking trip to discuss religious freedom with China’s leaders.”
 
“In tough places, where civilians are struggling to get out, chances are you will find Archbishop Theodore McCarrick working hard to get in and to help them,” Clinton said. “The litany of countries he has visited sounds more suited to a diplomat than an archbishop: the former Soviet Union, the Balkans, the countries devastated by Hurricane Mitch, East Timor, Ethiopia, Burundi, Cuba, Haiti, Colombia.”
 
The Archdiocese of New York’s June 2018 announcement of a credible accusation that McCarrick had abused a minor decades previously set in motion a wave of allegations about misconduct, including misconduct with seminarians. It is now known that Archbishop McCarrick was the subject of two legal settlements in 2005 and 2007 with men who said he sexually abused them while they were seminarians for the New Jersey dioceses he headed until his move to the Washington archdiocese in 2001.
 
McCarrick resigned from the College of Cardinals on July 27, the first American ever to do so, and Pope Francis ordered him to observe “a life of prayer and penance in seclusion” until the conclusion of the canonical process against him.
 
Questions about his alleged misconduct became even more controversial after Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, the former apostolic nuncio to the U.S., released an 11-page statement charging that senior bishops and cardinals for more than a decade had been aware of the allegations of his misconduct against priests and seminarians. Archbishop Viganò also stated that, in either 2009 or 2010, Pope Benedict XVI imposed sanctions on McCarrick “similar to those now imposed upon him by Pope Francis” and that McCarrick was forbidden from traveling and speaking in public.
 
Most controversially, Archbishop Viganò alleges that Pope Francis acted to lift the restrictions on McCarrick shortly after his election as pope, in 2013. Viganò says that he met McCarrick in June 2013 and was told by the then-cardinal, “The pope received me yesterday, tomorrow I am going to China.” Vigano said he met with the pope the next day and told him there was a record of misconduct.
 
Whether these actions, and McCarrick’s record of abuse of adult men, were known to Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, the Holy See’s Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and Pope Francis is now an intense matter of debate.
 
In his statement Vigano said in 2014 he read in the Washington Times a front-page report on McCarrick’s State Department-backed trip to the Central African Republic. While Vigano did not name the story, a report about McCarrick’s visit by reporter Meredith Somers appeared in the Washington Times on April 17, 2014. Titled “No rest for the retired: Cardinal McCarrick on a mission for peace in Africa,” it says the trip was a humanitarian visit.
 
Vigano said he then wrote to Parolin asking if the sanctions were still in effect, but received no reply.
 
McCarrick, who was ordained a priest by the deeply influential Cardinal Francis Spellman of New York in 1958, has spent decades in global affairs.
 
His record can be tracked through various websites, such as Wikileaks’ Public Library of U.S. Diplomacy. This includes declassified sets of State Department cables from 1973 to 1976, 1978 and 1979, as well as a set of diplomatic cables ranging in date from 1966 to February 2010 that were anonymously leaked to Wikileaks.
 
The document sets are incomplete and even those which mention McCarrick do not necessarily show direct State Department collaboration.
 
The earliest cables mentioning McCarrick, from the U.S. mission to the United Nations in 1975, discuss McCarrick’s work as secretary to Cardinal Terence Cooke of New York to help bring thousands of Vietnamese orphans and abandoned children from Saigon area to the United States. The effort included collaboration with Catholic Relief Services.
 
Some year 2007 cables include reports from McCarick’s visit the Balkans at a time when Croatia was preparing to join NATO and the European Union. These cables discuss McCarrick’s advice to State Department officials and his outreach efforts to leading Croatian Cardinal Vinko Puljic of Sarajevo. Local State Department personnel were focused on support for a continued Bosnian Croat presence in Bosnia-Herzegovina, lest these ethnic Croats leave for Croatia and possibly destabilize relations among Bosnian and Serb peoples in the country.
 
A 2007 cable from the U.S. Embassy to Israel discusses the Council of Religious Institutions of the Holy Land. According to the embassy, the council was founded in late 2006 “at the initiative of Cardinal McCarrick” and Tony P. Hall, the Rome-based U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Agencies for Food and Agriculture. The council, which aimed to help religions serve as a peace-building force in the region, had financial support from USAID and the Norwegian Government.
 
A July 2007 cable from Damascus, summarizing news sources, reported that McCarrick visited Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to discuss Iraqi refugees. He was joined by Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of the Brooklyn Diocese.
 
Year 2009 cables discuss McCarrick as a potential resource in advancing U.S.-Indonesia interfaith dialogue, and also his long-time role in China.
 
In a 2009 visit to China, then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi conveyed McCarrick’s greetings to Bishop Aloysius Jin of Shanghai, a priest who was a leading Chinese Jesuit, then spent decades in prison on charges of aiding counterrevolution before his release in 1982. He was ordained an auxiliary bishop without Vatican approval in 1985, though he received Vatican recognition in 2005. The bishop said he and Cardinal McCarrick had exchanged visits “beginning when the latter was Bishop of Newark(sic.).” Pelosi said she would convey the bishop’s greetings back to Cardinals McCarrick and William Keeler, then an Archbishop emeritus of Baltimore.
 
In September 2011 McCarrick was part of a religious leaders’ delegation to Iran to secure the release of American hikers detained on accusations of espionage. A reference to this trip is made in the State Department website’s record of the emails of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in a Sept. 12 email from then-U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice to Jacob J. Sullivan, Director of Policy Planning at the State Department. Sullivan forwarded to Clinton the email, in which Rice said that the delegation was fully expected to succeed.
 
While CNA had sought information on the State Department’s internal response to reports of McCarrick’s alleged misconduct, the department spokesperson instead discussed Catholic Church action and policy.
 
“We note that Pope Francis has committed the Church to ‘act decisively with regard to cases of sexual abuse, first of all by promoting measures for the protection of minors, as well as in offering assistance to those who have suffered abuse, and carrying out due proceedings against the guilty’.”
 
“The United States expects the Holy See fully to meet its obligations to criminal justice and to ensure full implementation of its reforms and policies designed to protect minors,” the spokesperson said. “We would refer you to U.S. law enforcement and church officials on the current state of those efforts.”
 
The spokesman also left unanswered CNA’s questions about current State Department policy in response to misconduct by someone in McCarrick’s roles.
 
McCarrick’s international work included a founding role at the Papal Foundation and service as a Catholic Relief Services board member from 2000 to 2014. He served on the relief agency’s Foundation Board from 2006 to 2018, when he was removed.
 
After McCarrick was suspended from active ministry in June 2018, Catholic Relief Services said it had recently completed a “thorough global review” and asked staff to report “any knowledge of previously unreported or unresolved allegations of misconduct.”
 
“There were a few issues that needed attention and have been addressed, but none of them were related to program visits,” the July 28 statement said, which noted that agency policy barred any visitors or CRS employees from being alone with children and program participants.
 
CNA sought additional comment from CRS, including clarification whether the review was implemented as a result of the McCarrick revelations, but did not receive a response by deadline.

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Washington D.C., Sep 4, 2018 / 04:36 pm (CNA).- As Cardinal Donald Wuerl spoke about the sex abuse crisis after Mass in Washington D.C. on Sunday, one man stood up and yelled, “Shame on you!” in protest.

“We need to hold close in our… […]

Washington D.C., Sep 4, 2018 / 04:29 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Senate confirmation hearings for Judge Brett Kavanaugh began Tuesday. Before Kavanaugh could utter a word, Senate Democrats repeatedly interrupted the proceedings and attempted to delay the hear… […]

Chicago, Ill., Sep 4, 2018 / 03:30 pm (CNA).- Two priests from the Archdiocese of Chicago were arrested Monday in Miami, after the men were reportedly found engaged in a sex act within a parked car. At least one of them was a participant in a program for Hispanic seminarians that was suspended by the Archdiocese of Chicago.

One of the priests, Fr. Diego L. Berrio, is the pastor of Mision San Juan Diego in Arlington Heights, Illinois. He was also appointed this summer the interim “coordinator of the Office for Extern and International Priests.”

The other priest, Fr. Edwin Cortes listed the parish as his address when he was arrested. A Sept. 4 statement from the Archdiocese of Chicago said that Cortes is “an extern priest from Soacha, Colombia who served at St. Aloysius Parish in Chicago for one month, August 1 to August 31, 2018.”

The statement said that Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago “has removed Fr. Berrio from ministry and withdrawn his faculties to minister in the Archdiocese of Chicago, effective immediately. The archdiocese will appoint an administrator for the Misión San Juan Diego as soon as possible.”

“Archdiocese representatives have been in contact with Fr. Cortes’ home diocese of Soacha, Colombia and informed them that Fr. Cortes will not be granted additional faculties to minister in the Archdiocese of Chicago,” it said.

The priests were both charged with lewd conduct, and Cortes was also charged with indecent exposure.

Berrio was ordained a priest in the Archdiocese of Chicago in 2008. The priest, a native of Colombia, came to Chicago through the Casa Jesus program, a “house of discernment” in which prospective seminarians from Latin America were invited to consider the priesthood during a year-long program sponsored by the archdiocese. The program was founded in 1987.

The Casa Jesus program was suspended in 2016. In that year, NBC 5 Chicago reported homosexual activity among Casa Jesus participants, and said that in 2015 three participants had been dismissed after visiting a gay bar.

In September 2016, Fr. Octavio Munoz was arrested on child pornography charges. Munoz was the rector of Casa Jesus from 2008 to 2015, when he was transferred to a parish in the archdiocese.

On July 7, 2015, Fr. Kevin Hays, who had been appointed to replace Munoz as rector, toured the priest’s apartment with a Church employee, according to an ABC 7 report.

The employee claimed that a laptop belonging to Munoz was streaming child pornography while he and Hays were in the apartment. The employee reportedly contacted archdiocesan officials about the pornography more than a week later, and was surprised to learn that Hays had not yet reported the matter.

The archdiocese contacted private investigators after the matter was reported, but did not contact police until July 28, the same day Munoz was removed from ministry, according to the Chicago Tribune.

ABC 7 reported that Hays told archdiocesan officials he had not seen pornographic videos playing while visiting the apartment. Hays is now the pastor of Notre Dame de Chicago Parish in Chicago.

In a statement issued shortly after Munoz was charged, the Archdiocese of Chicago said that: “On July 28, 2015, Archbishop Blase J. Cupich removed Father Muñoz from ministry and withdrew his faculties, his authority to minister, after the archdiocese learned that the inappropriate material might involve minors. Given the nature of that material, the archdiocese reported it promptly to the civil authorities and have cooperated fully with their investigation.”

Another Chicago priest, Fr. Clovis Vilchez-Parra, was also arrested on child pornography charges in 2015. The priest had been serving as parochial vicar at Mision San Juan Diego, where Berrio is currently pastor. Vilchez-Parra was sentenced to four years in prison in 2017.

NBC 5 Chicago reported in 2016 that Vilchez-Parra had ties to Casa Jesus, but did not say whether he had been a participant in the program.

Also in 2015, the Archdiocese of Chicago removed Fr. Marco Mercado, who had been a Casa Jesus participant, from his position as pastor of the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines, Illinois. The archdiocese said that Mercado had had an “inappropriate relationship with an adult man.”

The Archdiocese of Chicago could not be reached for comment.

Editor’s note: This story was updated after a Sept. 4 statement from the Archdiocese of Chicago.

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