Wednesday, September 30, 2009

John Paul II Pedophile Bishop in Canada charged with possession of child porn

Oh when the saints of John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army go marching in
They come in groves and numbers, mitres and money and papal powers


Former N.S. bishop charged with possession of child porn


By CBC News, cbc.ca, Updated: September 30, 2009 2:22 PM


A former Roman Catholic bishop from Nova Scotia is facing child pornography charges.
Raymond Lahey, the former bishop of the diocese of Antigonish, is known as the man who oversaw a $15-million settlement with people who said they had been sexually abused by priests in the diocese dating back to 1950.

He was arrested at the Ottawa Airport last week after members of the Canada Border Services Agency performed a random check of his laptop computer.

Lahey has been charged with distributing and selling child pornography. No court date has been set.

On Saturday, Lahey, 69, announced his resignation as bishop of the Antigonish diocese.

In a letter to parishioners, he said he needed time for "personal renewal."

-------

'If you can't trust the chief shepherd, who can you trust?'

Toronto and Halifax — From Friday's Globe and Mail Thursday, Oct. 01, 2009 10:41PM EDT

Raymond Lahey was a gentleman theologian and scholar and a kindly shepherd to his flock in the deeply religious Gaelic, Acadian and First Nations parish churches of Nova Scotia's Antigonish County and Cape Breton Island.

He was courageously outspoken in urging his fellow Roman Catholic bishops to make the church more relevant to everyday life. He proclaimed that bishops must come among their people as ambassadors of Jesus who keep “God's saving mysteries” alive.

Through much of his career, he had to deal with pain and anger over priestly sex scandals. He once asked his priests to pray for a month for people who had been abused as children by church officials and last month played a major role in negotiating a $15-million settlement for victims of a sexually abusive cleric.

On Thursday it was Rev. Lahey himself who scandalized his church.

Following a careful examination of his laptop by border officials after he flew into Ottawa on a flight from Europe, he was charged by police with possession and importation of child pornography.

Mark McGowan, principal of University of Toronto's St. Michael's College and one of the Canadian church's foremost scholars, called it “a horrendous incident. This is something that just has a massive ripple effect. This will evoke anger and disbelief and likely mark the pilgrimage of more Catholics away from the church.”

The archbishop of St. John's, Nfld., Martin Currie, told CBC: “I was shocked. I was saddened. I was angered. You know, if you can't trust the chief shepherd, who can you trust?”

In Roman Catholicism, a bishop is responsible for teaching the faith and ruling the church. He carries a shepherd's crook as part of his formal vestments, emblematic of Jesus, who, according to the Bible, called himself the “good shepherd.”

Father Lahey, 69, sent a letter to the Pope resigning as bishop of Antigonish before flying to Ottawa to surrender to police.

He was born in St. John's and ordained a priest in 1963. He was awarded a Ph.D. magna cum laude from the University of Ottawa in 1966 – when he was just 26 years old.

He studied in Rome and Cambridge and became first a professor and later head of the department of religious studies and a member of the senate at Memorial University of Newfoundland.

He wrote extensively on theology and church history, made a substantial number of contributions to the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, served on two school boards, a provincial education committee and an orphanage trust, organized the Pope's visit to Newfoundland in 1984 and in 1985 was given the title Prelate of Honour by John Paul II.

And over three decades in the province, he dealt with the fallout from the church's devastating sex scandals.

According to testimony from one victim of the horrific abuse committed at Mount Cashel Boys Home orphanage in St. John's, Father Lahey was instrumental in removing from the facility a Christian Brother – a member of the lay Catholic order that ran the orphanage – who was sexually involved with a boy. It is not known if the man ever faced charges.

In 1986, Father Lahey was consecrated bishop of St. George's diocese – now the Diocese of Corner Brook and Labrador – which placed him in charge of churches overseen by Rev. Kevin Bennett.

Father Bennett was convicted in 1990 of multiple sex charges involving altar boys. In the $13-million civil trial for damages that resulted, the diocese was driven into bankruptcy and Father Lahey was initially held partly liable financially, although he testified he was unaware of what Father Bennett was doing. The Newfoundland appeal court later cleared him of financial responsibility.

In April, 2003, to the bagpipe skirl of MacCrimmon's March, Father Lahey was named bishop of Antigonish in St. Ninian's Cathedral. Two months later, one of his priests, Rev. Hugh Vincent MacDonald, went on trial on 27 sex-related charges. One of his alleged victims committed suicide.

Six years later, Father Lahey played an instrumental role in negotiating a record $15-million settlement with Father MacDonald's victims.

Last Aug. 7, Father Lahey was quoted in the news media as saying: “I want to formally apologize to every victim and to their families for the sexual abuse that was inflicted upon those who were instead entitled to the trust and protection of priests.”

And now he has been charged.

Both Archbishop Currie and Archbishop Anthony Mancini of Halifax voiced concern that Father Lahey's arrest would rekindle torment and suffering among victims of past sexual abuse.

“Given the context of the church in parts of Atlantic Canada, particularly within the context of Bishop Lahey's landmark agreement on the cases in the diocese of Antigonish, this is absolutely unfathomable,” said Prof. McGowan, “In the court of public opinion there is no silver lining to this story whatsoever.”

Saturday, September 26, 2009

10,000 victims of John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army in Ireland now live in Britain

The Vatican Trinity of John Paul II, Benedict XVI and the Opus Dei are responsible for covering-up the legacy of the John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army all over the world. John Paul II has a millstone www.jp2m.blogspot.com tied around his neck and he is burning in hell for all these tens of thousands of victims he left behind. The Opus Dei are obsessed with their WORLD DOMINATION plan and glorifying their founder Escriva that they would silence the Jesuits like Jon Sobrino who criticized the hypocrisy of John Paul II's papacy see Benedict XVI-Ratizinger God's Rottweiler www.pope-ratz.blogspot.com


Lost souls fled clerical abuse


By Ruth McDonald
BBC Radio 4
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8272203.stm

A religious statue
Abuse at Catholic institutions was detailed in the Ryan Report

It is estimated that 10,000 survivors of abuse in schools and reformatories run by Catholic religious orders in Ireland now live in Great Britain.

Cathy Spillane has been hearing about these institutions all her life.

Her father Joe spent his childhood in a Catholic Church-run school in Kerry. He was beaten regularly by the priests who worked there, and starved of love and affection throughout his childhood.

"It was so beyond comprehension, really," she said, remembering how her father used to tell them how he was so hungry as a boy he would eat leaves off trees, and pretend they were chocolate.

His stories left a lasting impression on his daughter, who recognised much of what her father had gone through in the pages of the Ryan Report.

Ten years in the making, the Ryan Report was published in May and shocked the world with a detailed catalogue of almost mediaeval horror.


RYAN REPORT SUMMARY
The commission's report, which runs to five volumes

Summary of findings from the Commission to Inquire Into Child Abuse (105Kb)
Most computers will open PDF documents automatically, but you might need to download Adobe Reader.
Download the reader here

Children - some as young as a few months old - were placed in the care of Catholic priests and nuns in orphanages or so called "industrial schools".

Many were put there simply because their families were too poor to support them.

The report found evidence of "endemic" child sex abuse and "pervasive, excessive and arbitrary punishment" in the institutions - where children were held until they were 16.

Brothers and sisters were often split up, and by the time they re-entered the outside world, many children had lost contact with any remaining family they had.

Not surprisingly, many left Ireland as soon as they could, and never looked back.

May Henderson was one of those who chose to go. She ended up in London, still in her teens, and, as she admits herself, unsure of what to do in the outside world.

She only learned to use a knife and fork after she left the convent.

"Because in the school, all we ever had was an enamel plate and a spoon," she said.

"When you come out of there you don't know anything".

It's hard to reconcile this bright-eyed, cheerful lady in her 70s with the frightened young girl who left Ireland all those years ago.

Compassion

"They used to tell me I would end up like my mother 'on the streets'," she said of the nuns who brought her up.

She has copies of correspondence from her father to the nuns; heartbreaking letters, asking for news of May and her sisters. She does not know if they were ever answered.

May, like many of the emigrant survivors, has put Ireland behind her.

She has never been back to the land where she was treated so harshly. She has carved out her own life in London, with a family and close friends.

She applied to the Irish government for compensation for her time spent in the institutions, and was successful. But many don't even make it that far.


Lost Souls of Ireland
Lost Souls Of Ireland will be broadcast on Friday 25 September at 1100 BST on BBC Radio 4 or listen for seven days after that at
BBC iPlayer

Many simply leave their Irish identity behind, and never look back.

They never read Irish newspapers, stay away from other Irish people and cut themselves off from anything that might remind them of their terrible pasts.

They are, in general, very hard to reach out to. But some do come forward - and often when they do, they ring Phyllis Morgan and Marie Aubertin at the London Irish Survivors Outreach Centre.

Phyllis is a whirlwind of energy and compassion. Like the people she helps, Phyllis too was raised in an institution.

She vividly describes one incident, when a nun dragged her from behind a door and began to beat her, as if it happened yesterday.

Since the Ryan Report was published their phones have been ringing off the hook, with more survivors speaking, often for the first time, of their ordeals.

There is still some way to go, it seems, before all the stories of horror are heard.

Illinois' Catholic bishops win court to protect pedophile priests

John Paul II and Benedict XVI and the Opus Dei covered-up the John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army for over 26 eyars and all those Cardinal clones are continuing their legacy until today.

Candlelight vigil TONIGHT bemoaning ruling that protects predators

Illinois' Catholic bishops win huge victory at state Supreme Court

New decision makes it much tougher to expose molesters & safeguard kids

Sex victims also worry about a Joliet pedophile priest who got freed today

A different convicted serial predator priest could be released this weekend

WHAT
Holding candles, signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, concerned Catholics and clergy sex abuse victims will hold a one hour vigil because
-- bishops have won a new IL Supreme Court decision that protects predators,
-- a Joliet predator priest IS walking free now, having just gotten out of custody, and
-- a Chicago serial predator priest MAY soon walk free

The victims will
-- express sadness and worry for the safety of Illinois children,
-- harshly condemn Catholic officials for endangering kids and exploiting technicalities, and
-- prod anyone who saw, suspected or suffered crimes by clergy to call police immediately so the 2 Chicago area predator priests might be prosecuted again.

WHEN:
TONIGHT, Thursday, Sept. 24, 8:30-9:30 pm

WHERE:
Outside the Cardinal’s mansion, 1555 N. State Parkway, (corner of State and North Ave)

WHO:
10 – 15 clergy sex abuse victims who are members of a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org)

VISUALS
The group will hold posters, childhood photos and pictures of the predator priests, and give copies of their July letter to the Illinois Attorney General urging that McCormack be permanently kept in state custody.

WHY
-Today the Illinois Supreme Court released a ruling making it easier for sexual predators to conceal their crimes and more difficult for victims to expose their predators. Once again Catholic officials have succeeded in protecting pedophiles rather than kids. This decision is a massive victory for dangerous predators and irresponsible employers, especially corrupt church officials.

This ruling will make it very hard for many child sex abuse victims to safeguard others, expose predators, and seek justice. It gives employers and molesters strong incentives to destroy evidence, intimidate victims, threaten whistleblowers, discredit witnesses, conceal crimes and 'run out the clock' on child sex cases. This ruling will also encourage church authorities to keep playing legal hardball with victim’s lives and with children’s safety, using hundreds of thousands of dollars from generous parishioners.

http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/political-fix/political-fix/2009/09/ill-supreme-court-snubs-abuse-lawsuit-against-former-bville-priest/

- Tomorrow morning at 9 am a hearing will be held regarding whether Fr Dan McCormack, Chicago’s most notorious priest predator, will be declared a sexually violent person and continue to be held or be released after serving just a little over two years in custody.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-mccormack-24-sep24,0,6292530.story

- A Roman Catholic priest, Fred Lenczycki, the first priest in the country to be declared a “sexually violent person” was released from custody this morning in DuPage county and will now be living in Cook county. He abused as many as 30 boys, many from Chicago's suburbs, some of whom he forced to dress in “revealing baby Jesus costumes.”

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/09/ex-priest-convicted-of-abuse-leaves-prison.html

Despite this dreadful news, we hope deeply wounded child sex victims will continue to find the strength to come forward, get help, start recovering and do what they can to warn families about dangerous sex offenders.

Contact:
Barbara Blaine, SNAP President, 312 399 4747
David Clohessy, SNAP National Director, 314 566 9790

Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
www.snapnetwork.org

---



SNAP Press Release

Sex abuse victims blast archdiocese

St. Louis archbishop helped stop IL victims from suing

New court ruling yesterday is "dangerous for children," SNAP says

Group to 2 bishops: "You're protecting predators & jeopardizing kids"

Victims are also upset that bizarre "sexually violent" priest is released

Bizarre cleric, who abused dozens, worked here for ten years in the 1990s

Despite his colleague's warning, St. Louis archdiocese let him work here at 5 places

He gave boys naked ‘massages’ & dressed them in “revealing baby Jesus’ costumes”

WHAT
Holding signs at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims will
-- harshly criticize St. Louis' new archbishop for helping to stop Illinois victims from suing, and
-- urge him to fight cases against pedophile priests on the merits, not on technicalities.

They will also announce that a bizarre cleric, who may have molested 30 kids,
-- is now free, having just completed his sentence as America's first "sexually violent predator" priest,
-- gave boys naked ‘massages’ and dressed them in ‘revealing baby Jesus costumes’ as part of an alleged ‘research project’
-- worked at five St. Louis locations in the 1990s: three Catholic parishes and two hospitals

SNAP will urge
-- his former employers here to do outreach to others who may have been hurt by the convicted priest.
-- anyone who saw, suspected or suffered his misdeeds to call police, so the predator can be charged for other crimes.

WHEN
TODAY, Friday, Sept. 25, 2:00 p.m.

WHERE
Outside the St. Louis archdiocese headquarters, 4144 Lindell (near Taylor) in St. Louis' Central West End

WHO
Three victims of clergy sex abuse, including leaders of a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org)

WHY
1) Yesterday, St. Louis' archbishop and Belleville's bishop prevailed when the state Supreme Court ruled in their favor and against a St. Louis area firefighter who was molested as a boy by a priest with ties to both dioceses. The two bishops' legal moves now stop dozens of pedophile priest lawsuits in Illinois and will prevent, SNAP predicts, hundreds of victims of other, non-clergy child molesters from exposing their predators and seeking justice in the court.

SNAP condemns allegedly spiritual figures who take advantage of every possible legal maneuver to defend proven pedophile priests. The group will urge St. Louis Catholic officials to fight child sex abuse victims on the merits, not on legal technicalities.

2) Yesterday, America's first-ever priest to be deemed a "sexually violent predator" was freed from a Rushville IL facility. He's Fr. Fred Lenczycki who was convicted in 2004 of molesting three boys. He was to be released from prison in May 2006. But prosecutors felt the chance of him re-offending was high, and they successfully fought to have him kept in state custody and be declared "sexually violent" under a relatively new state law.

For roughly ten years throughout the 1990s, he worked at five St. Louis locations: DePaul and Deaconess (now Forest Park) hospitals and three area parishes: St. Blaise Parish in Maryland Heights, North American Martyrs in Florissant and St. George’s in south St. Louis County.

Lenczycki was originally a priest in the Joliet diocese. Joliet's now-retired bishop has publicly said he sent Lenczycki to treatment because of abuse allegations and warned then-St. Louis Missouri Archbishop John May about Lenczycki's crimes. Nevertheless, May let Lenczycki move to St. Louis and work here.

Two years ago, SNAP asked hospital and archdiocesan staff to reach out to others who may have seen, suspected or suffered Lenczycki’s sex crimes. Though he remains under state supervision, SNAP feels kids will be safer if Lenczycki is charged, convicted and imprisoned again for other crimes he's committed.

Between assignments in Joliet and St. Louis, Lenczycki was sent to San Francisco, where he allegedly molested three other kids.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-lenczkcki-priest-released-25sep25,0,6059553.story

CONTACT
David Clohessy 314 566 9790 cell, Barbara Dorris 314 503 0003

Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
www.snapnetwork.org

====


SNAP Press Statement

For immediate release: Thursday, September 24, 2009

Pedophile priest case tossed out, Sex abuse victims respond

Statement by Peter Isely of Milwaukee, SNAP Midwest Director (414) 429 7259 cell

We are very distressed that Catholic officials have succeeded in protecting pedophiles rather than kids. This decision is a massive victory for dangerous predators and irresponsible employers, especially corrupt church officials.

This ruling will make it very hard for many child sex abuse victims to safeguard others, expose predators, and seek justice. It gives employers and molesters strong incentives to destroy evidence, intimidate victims, threaten whistleblowers, discredit witnesses, conceal crimes and 'run out the clock' on child sex cases.

It stands in stark contrast to the long-standing trend across the US to open court house doors, not slam them, on men and women who are devastated by horrific child sex crimes.

All sex crime victims want is the same option other crime victims have - the chance to use the time-tested, open, impartial American justice system to alert others about wrongdoing. When the victims of awful sex crimes are given their ‘day in court,’ predators can be exposed, unsuspecting parents can be warned, vulnerable children can be protected, and wounded victims can be healed. Now, however, Illinois Catholic officials have, in large measure, denied hundreds of suffering individuals this basic right.

It is a tragedy that Catholic bishops even try to use legal technicalities like this to try and evade their molar responsibilities. This callous ruling will just encourage church authorities to keep playing legal hardball with victim’s lives and with children’s safety, using hundreds of thousands of dollars from generous parishioners.

It’s heart-breaking that there’s apparently no justice for this brave, compassionate man, and there are no consequences for this priest's child sex crimes or his supervisors' complicity.

Despite this dreadful news, we hope deeply wounde child sex victims will continue to find the strength to come forward, get help, start recovering and do what they can to warn families about dangerous sex offenders.

(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 for 21 years 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 of St. Louis, SNAP National Director (314) 566-9790 cell
Barbara Blaine of Chicago, SNAP Founder and President (312) 399-4747 cell
Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, SNAP Outreach Director (314) 503-0003

Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
www.snapnetwork.org

Monday, September 21, 2009

Estimates of John Paul II pedophile priests

http://www.remnantofgod.org/rccsex.htm

Current estimates of Roman Catholic priests in the U.S.= 49,000 to 50,000
Estimates of pedophile priests = 3,000 (6.1%) to 8,000 (16.3%)
188 Dioceses in the U.S. Divide 3,000 by 188 = 16 perpetrators per diocese
Divide 8,000 by 188 = 42 perpetrators per diocese
Current experts claim a pedophile could abuse 200-265 children in a lifetime.
200 x 16 perps/diocese = 3,200 victims/diocese
200 x 42 perps/diocese = 8,400 victims/diocese
3,200 victims/diocese x 188 dioceses = 601,600 victims in U.S.
8,400 victims/diocese x 188 dioceses = 1,579,200 victims in U.S.
Average American family consists of 4-6 people
(3,200 victims/diocese) 601,600 victims x 4 family members = 2,406,400 indirect victims

60l,000 victims x 6 family members = 3,609,600 indirect victims
(8,400 victims/diocese) 1,579,200 x 4 family members = 6,316,800 indirect victims
1,579,200 x 6 family members = 9,475,200 indirect victims

These numbers are a reflection of immediate family only and do not reflect the indirect victims within the parishes that are affected.

188 Bishops are responsible for the pain of at least 601,600 direct victims and as many as 9,475,200 indirect victims — a total of as many as 10,076,800 people. Clearly, something is wrong.

Using the lower numbers the number of direct victims and survivors alone could populate a city larger than Boston. Using the higher numbers, it would be the fourth largest city in the U.S.— one between the size of Houston and Chicago..

"Since the beginning of the nationwide scandal five years ago, Catholic authorities in the United States have paid out around 2.8 billion dollars in damages to victims." -AFP article "Jesuits to pay 50 mln dlrs to abuse victims in Alaska:"

full article DATED 11/21/2007

Think about that Mr & Mrs Catholic. The money you donate to your church is NOT going to spread the Gospel. It's going to pay off lawsuits for child rapists. You are FUNDING THEIR SEXUAL DECADENCE.


http://www.remnantofgod.org/rccsex.htm

John Paul II Pedophile Priest in Croatia

Croatia: Priest detained on pedophile charges


* Posted in the Croatia Forum

http://www.topix.com/forum/world/croatia/TE57UDOGR97FJD6SG

14 June 2007 | 13:01 | Source: AP
ZAGREB -- A priest from a small Croatian island has been detained on suspicion of abusing five boys aged between ten and 12.

The case is the second in recent years in the predominantly Roman Catholic Croatia, police said Thursday.

Drago Ljubičić, 63, who served on the northern island of Rab, was detained Wednesday evening on charges of performing "lecherous acts" on five children, police said in a statement.

The case has shocked Croatia, where nearly 90 percent of the country's 4.5 million people consider themselves Catholics and the church enjoys wide government and popular support.

The spokesman for the regional diocese, Danijel Delonga, said the church would take appropriate measures against Ljubičić if the suspicions are confirmed. "Such acts are shameless treason of a priest's vocation," he said.

Ljubičić’s case is the second of alleged pedophilia among priests in Croatia.

In 2003, a priest from Zagreb was sentenced to one year and nine months in prison for abusing 13 girls. His sentence was later reduced to three months on probation, a ruling critics said showed the judiciary's reluctance to go against the church.

John Paul II Pedophile Priest in Samoa

Samoa's Pedophile Anger

By Claire Harvey, Michael Davis and Natalie O'Brien

The Australian

June 23, 2004 AUSTRALIAN Catholic authorities learnt last October that convicted Australian pedophile priest Frank Klep was associating with children in Samoa, but failed to inform the Samoan Catholic Church until yesterday.


The furious Catholic Archbishop of Samoa, Alapati Mataeliga, is now preparing to send Klep home to Australia "on the first plane", where he faces arrest.


Victorian police last night could not explain why it had not sought the extradition of Klep under outstanding warrants, despite a Commonwealth agreement that allows extradition for crimes punishable by more than two years jail. Commander Terry Purton of Victoria Police Crime Department said there was an "active investigation" against Klep. "If he returns to this state he will be arrested."



The Australian Federal Police last night also said it had informed Samoan authorities of Klep's convictions as far back as 1998, on advice from Victoria.



However, chief inspector of Samoa's Criminal Investigations Bureau, Willie Lafaili, said yesterday he had never been asked to investigate Klep by Australian police. Archbishop Mataeliga has summoned the Salesian Order to his Apia office this morning to explain its "breach of trust", "and ordered it to prevent Klep from delivering Mass or mixing with children".



"We are not prepared to be involved in sheltering or hiding Father Klep in any way," the Archbishop's spokesman, Puletini Tuala, said yesterday.



"As soon as the police inform us that he is wanted for arrest, we will say yes, take him, he is out of here on the first plane."



Klep was convicted in 1994 of sex offences during the 1970s against a student at the Salesian College in Rupertswood, north of Melbourne, where he was principal.


Klep's religious order, the Salesians of Don Bosco, sent the priest to its Samoan mission in 1998 after he served nine months' community service for the offences, instructing him to refrain from contact with children.



Klep was also forbidden to deliver Mass to congregations including children.



Victorian police then issued a warrant for Klep's arrest on five charges of indecently assaulting students at the college during the 1970s.



The Salesians' Australian head, Father Ian Murdoch, has firmly denied the order moved priests to shield them from sex allegations, although another Australian priest working for the order in Samoa, Jack Ayers, was also reportedly accused of rape at the Rupertswood school in the 1960s.



In an October 2003 letter to Klep, obtained by The Australian, Father Murdoch warned he had learnt Klep was disobeying the order to stay away from children.



Father Murdoch wrote that an Australian tourist had reported seeing Klep delivering Mass at Apia's main Catholic cathedral.



Father Murdoch reminded Klep he had been sent to Samoa on the strict instruction that he did not associate with children, or deliver Mass to any congregation involving children.



"The prime purpose of this letter, then, is to restate the limitation on the practice of your priestly ministry," Father Murdoch's letter said. "You are not permitted to have unsupervised contact with children under the age of 18, nor are you permitted to meet with them for any purpose whatsoever in the private sleeping quarters of the Salesian residence. You are not to preside over any celebrations for youth groups, nor act as a confessor. You may not celebrate the eucharist or administer the sacrament in any place where contact and interaction with minors is involved."



The Archbishop only learnt of Father Murdoch's October 2003 letter yesterday, when the Salesians' Samoan head, Father John Murphy, delivered it to his office. It was clear Klep had ignored the letter, the Archbishop's spokesman Puletini Tuala said.





Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
www.snapnetwork.org

Wednesday, September 09, 2009

John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army in Australia

John Paul II's 26 years papacy was well-controlled by the Opus Dei and they planned every event and travel he made around the world portraying him as John Paul II the Great and documenting all his virtues for his speedy canonization. But the truth is the Opus Dei was obssessed with hatred against the Jesuits especially with Jon Sobrino see the John Paul II MIllstone www.jp2m.blogspot.com and Benedict XVI-Ratzinger-God's Rottweiler www.pope-ratz.com that they completely ignored the tens of thousands of Americans and now Irish and Australians victims of the John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army. John Paul II the Great left a legacy of priest pedophilia the worst sin against children which makes his Theology of the Body a farce! His JOhn Paul II Pedophile Priests Army victims surpass those of 9-11 whom we solemnly remember this week.

Compare the CRIMES and their VICTIMS in America


Victims - Attackers - Responsible Leaders

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 - 5,478 priests - John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Opus Dei - the Vatican Trinity



Broken Rites Australia supports victims
of church-related sex-abuse.


By a Broken Rites researcher

http://brokenrites.alphalink.com.au/nletter/page159-barnett.html

Father Charles Alfred Barnett worked as a Catholic priest in various parts of Australia for twenty years but left for Indonesia in the mid-1990s. In 2009 he is in custody in South Australia, charged with sexual offences against boys in that state.

He also worked in two other Australian states — Queensland and New South Wales.

In court on 8 September 2009, Barnett indicated that he intends to plead guilty to some of the South Australian charges. He was remanded in custody and is scheduled to appear in court again later in 2009.

The South Australian matters are being investigated by the Sexual Crime Investigation Branch, South Australia Police, 30-46 Wright Street Adelaide, South Australia 5000. It is possible that police in other Australian states might also become interested in Barnett.

Broken Rites research

Broken Rites has researched Father Charles Barnett's positions in the annual editions of the Official Directory of the Catholic Church in Australia and the Directory of Australian Catholic Clergy.

Barnett is believed to be originally from Adelaide, where he was a student at the University of Adelaide. It is believed that he came originally from a non-Catholic denomination and became a convert to Catholicism as an adult. He studied for the Catholic priesthood in the Vincentian order (also called the Congregation of the Mission), which has its Australian headquarters in Sydney. In the 1970s, the Vincentian order had about 45 priests in Australia. The Vincentians had one or two communal houses in each of Australia's five mainland states.

Barnett was first listed in the annual Australian Catholic directory in the early 1970s, when his postal address was given as the Vincentian Community (where half a dozen Vincentian priests lived) in Eastwood, Sydney.

In the early 1970s he is believed to have spent time at the "Mary Immaculate" parish in Southport on Queensland's Gold Coast (in the Brisbane archdiocese). This parish was one that was normally staffed by the Vincentian order.
One family who remember Barnett from the 1970s say that they sometimes called him by his middle name as Father Alf Barnett.

South Australia

In the edition for 1975, Barnett was listed as a staff member of the St Francis Xavier Seminary, which was then situated at Rostrevor in Adelaide. This seminary, now closed, was administered by Vincentians. In the late 1970s, Barnett was listed as an assistant priest in a parish (St Teresa's) at Whyalla, a town in the western region of South Australia. This parish is part of the diocese of Port Pirie (the Catholic Church in South Australia is divided into two dioceses -- Adelaide and Port Pirie).

Barnett was still listed at Whyalla (still as an assistant) in the directories for 1981 and 1983. By 1981, the senior priest-in-charge at Whyalla was Father D. Eugene Hurley, who became the bishop of Port Pirie in 1998 (and later the Bishop of Darwin).
During the period of his Whyalla listings, Barnett was not necessarily confined to that town.

Former students of Rostrevor College (operated by the Christian Brothers), in Woodforde, Adelaide, say they remember Father Charlie Barnett in Adelaide in the 1970s.

At some stage in the late 1970s, the Directory of Australian Catholic Clergy listed Fr Charles Barnett at St Vincent's parish, Ashfield, Sydney, although this might have been a forwarding address.

Military chaplain

The 1983 directory says that, as well as being listed at Whyalla, Barnett was also a chaplain to Army Reserve units. Former Royal Australian Navy apprentices say that, in the mid-1980s, they remember Father Charlie Barnett as a Navy chaplain at the Navy's apprentice training base HMAS Nirimba at Quakers Hill, near Blacktown, west of Sydney.

In the 1988 directory, the postal address of Rev. C. Barnett, CM, was listed in the index as care of the Vincentian Community at 5 Vincentia St, Marsfield, Sydney, but this edition gave no indication of what work he was doing or where.

Queensland

In the early 1990s, Rev. Charles Barnett, CM, was listed at St Vincent's parish in Wandal, Rockhampton, Queensland. At that time, the Vincentian order provided staffing for this parish. In the 1994 directory, Barnett was listed as the Parish Priest in charge of the "Mary Immaculate" parish at Southport, Queensland (where had had orginally spent time as an assistant priest in the early 1970s).

Indonesia

In the directories for 1995 to 1997, Barnett was listed as being on leave. He was not listed in the directories for 1998 onwards. By then, he had moved to Indonesia, where he began teaching English and running a business. In Indonesia he was no longer working as a priest. At that time, Australia and Indonesia did not have a treaty for extraditing persons who were wanted by the police for alleged criminal offences. But this had changed by 2008 and Barnett became the first person to be extradited from Indonesia under a treaty with Australia.

In February 2008, Australian authorities applied in Indonesia (on behalf of South Australia Police) for Barnett's extradition to Australia. The application went to an Indonesian court, which heard details of the Australian allegations. The application was granted and Barnett was arrested by Indonesian police at his house in Depok, just south of Jakarta. He was then detained in custody in Jakarta throughout 2008, pending completion of the extradition process.

On Friday 13 February 2009, detectives from South Australia’s Sexual Crime Investigation Branch took custody of Barnett in Jakarta and took him back to South Australia, where he was placed in custody in Adelaide in order to face a series of court proceedings during 2009 under South Australian law.

The South Australian courts can deal only with complaints about alleged incidents within that state. Anyone who wishes to discuss alleged incidents in New South Wales or Queensland would need to have a chat with the police in those states.

In court, September 2009

Barnett, aged 68, appeared In the Adelaide Magistrates Court on 8 September 2009. His lawyer said that Barnett would plead guilty to three counts of indecent assault. The charges relate to alleged offences at Crystal Brook and Port Pirie, in South Australia’s mid-north, between 1977 and 1985. The lawyer said Barnett would plead not guilty to six other charges of unlawful sexual intercourse and indecent assault at Port Pirie, Crystal Brook, Whyalla and Blackfriars between 1981 and 1994.

The magistrate remanded Barnett in custody to appear before a judge in the South Australian District Court later in 2009.

Sunday, September 06, 2009

John Paul II 25 pedophile priests in Chicago - Out of Left Field: Another deposition, more betrayal

This John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army weblog, the Benedict XVI-Ratzinger God's Rottweiler www.pope-ratz.blogspot.com and the John Paul II Millstone www.jp2m.blogspot.com web/blogs were inspired by a vision of St. Michael the Archangel in July 2002 when the late John Paul II came to America for his last WYD World Youth Day and St. Michael was tying the biggest millstone around John Paul II's neck for refusing to stop his John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army that thrived under his 26 years papacy.

It is now 2009 and after 7 years and the Catholic Church in the USA has paid more than 2 billion dollars to vicitms, Ireland is now erupting with its own share of the John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army www.jp2army.blogspot.com the "great" John Paul II left behind -- through the great cover-up by Benedict XVI www.pope-ratz.blogspot.com and the Opus Dei who controlled his 26 years papacy!

Our mission 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 JPIIPPA John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army www.jp2army.blogspot.com reigned in secrecy and cover-up under his Holy See......


Compare the CRIMES and their VICTIMS in America


Victims - Attackers - Responsible Leaders

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 - 5,478 priests - John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Opus Dei - the Vatican trinity

There are now new victims being unraveled in Ireland. There are hundreds of thousands of victims of the John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army in the poor countries of Latin America unaccounted for.


Out of Left Field: Another deposition, more betrayal


(POSTED: 8/31/09) I have just finished reading Bishop Ray Goedert's deposition, and I am very, very sad -- and very confused.

Where is the Catholic outrage? Where is the call from the faithful for a public act of penance by this bishop, this former vicar for priests, who knew that at least 25 priests had sexually molested children and did not, even once, report any of these substantiated allegations to appropriate civil authorities?

Goedert's rationale? Yes, our bishop admitted, he was aware that molestation of children was a crime, but he wasn't a "mandated reporter" at that time. Nor did Goedert tell the truth to parishioners when these priests were either reassigned, forced to resign or granted a sabbatical. He either never understood (or never cared) that parents and other victims who had not yet come forward had a right to know the truth, so that they could either deal with their own suppressed abuse issues or, as parents, verify that their own children had not also been harmed.

Where is the outrage?

Over and over victims and their families pleaded that the Church make sure these priests could not hurt any more children, sometimes offering to forgo a monetary settlement to ensure the future protection of children from these men. Over and over, while giving lip service to these requests, the Archdiocese of Chicago blatantly ignored their pleas, and refused to commit themselves in writing. Now we also know that information and correspondence regarding allegations of priest sexual abuse of minors was not made part of priests' personnel files, but kept in separate files controlled by the vicar of priests. The monitoring of these sexual offenders was casual to say the least. Sometimes the vicar of priests was himself the monitor; often it was the bishop of the vicariate to which the priest was assigned, or the bishop's designate. (Bishop Goedert is pretty vague about all of this. I guess it wasn't of much importance to him.) There was no defined protocol. There was no oversight or review. Only the "monitor," whoever that might be, knew of the allegations. Certainly, the parish school personnel did not. Where was any real concern for parishioners and their children?

So, where is the outrage?

But, all that has changed, hasn't it -- with the U.S. bishops' 2002 "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People"? Article 4 of this original charter states:
"Dioceses/eparchies will report an allegation of sexual abuse of a person who is a minor to the public authorities. They will cooperate in their investigation in accord with the law of the jurisdiction in question. . . . In every instance, dioceses/eparchies will advise victims of their right to make a report to public authorities and will support this right."

And, Article 7 of the original 2002 charter states that: "Each diocese/eparchy will develop a communications policy that reflects a commitment to transparency and openness. Within the confines of respect for the privacy and the reputation of the individuals involved, dioceses/eparchies will deal as openly as possible with members of the community. This is especially so with regard to assisting and supporting parish communities directly affected by ministerial misconduct involving minors."

So, the distressing behaviors and attitudes reflected in Bishop Goedert's deposition, mostly covering offenses and procedures during the '70s and '80s, are no longer the norm.

Since the Charter of 2002 (revised by the bishops in 2005), allegations are reported, transparency is in place so that the Catholic faithful are informed in a truthful and timely manner, and, most importantly, children are protected.

Certainly that must be the case right here in Chicago, where our cardinal is the current president of the U.S. Bishops Conference. Certainly, this diocese must be a model of faithfulness to the bishops' charter.

Not quite. . . .

Remember the tragic stories of Frs. Dan McCormack and Joseph Bennett?

With accusations going back to his seminary days, Dan McCormack, known as a "rising star" in the archdiocese, was finally arrested in August of 2005, and released while an investigation was underway. But the cardinal, against the advice of an archdiocesan review board, chose to leave Fr. McCormack in his parish and promote him to dean, until after his arrest in January 2006. During this time, Fr. McCormack continued to molest at least one boy! Oh yes, an archdiocesan official explained, "he was being monitored. . . ."

Fr. Bennett? In 2002, the archdiocese received information about alleged abuse from the 1970s. Again, in 2003, allegations of abuse and rape were made known to the cardinal, and finally, the review board recommended removal in October 2005. Was Fr. Bennett removed from ministry then? No . . . not until the McCormack story broke. Then, in February 2006, and after more allegations were received, Bennett was finally removed from ministry. Oh yes, Fr. Bennett, too, was "being monitored . . ." from 2005, anyway.

In their charter, the bishops piously repeat these words of the Holy Father in his address to the American cardinals: "There is no place in the priesthood or religious life for those who would harm the young."

Obviously, despite the grave scandal to the Church, despite the huge monetary settlements, despite the harm inflicted on innocent children, despite the betrayal of the people he is vowed to shepherd, Cardinal George has flouted his own charter, overridden the advice of his own review board, and has not taken the words of the pope very seriously.

But then, again, where, oh where is our communal Catholic outrage?

By Margaret Field. A Chicago-area Catholic who is involved in Vatican II reform and renewal efforts, she writes a regular column for ChicagoCatholicNews.

Contact: meafield@comcast.net or info@chicagocatholicnews.com

===
David learns to use his sling

By Nicole Sotelo

Created Sep 03, 2009

A simple sling, used skillfully in biblical times, was known to take down a giant. Two weeks ago, a 39-year old modern-day David used a microphone at a news conference, instead of a sling, and helped to bring down a colossal silence about sexual abuse that had stood over him for 25 years.

Because of Mark McAllister’s courage to speak out, the story of Fr. Carmine Sita, aka Fr. Gerald Howard, was heard by thousands. Sita was convicted of abuse in New Jersey, legally changed his name, and was quietly sent to an unsuspecting Missouri parish where he molested again. Within two weeks of McAllister’s disclosure, the telephone began ringing at SNAP, the Survivor’s Network of those Abused by Priests. One by one, voices on the phone -- each one courageous, all tragically linked in a web of victimization -- declared that they, too, had been abused by the same priest.

By the end of last week, seven more survivors had joined Mark in breaking the silence. It appears that the abusive priest has lived freely for more than two decades, potentially putting other children at risk. Now that the silence has been broken, there is pressure on the diocese and the courts to ensure the priest will not harm others. Speaking truth saves lives.

As a child, my parish suffered two pedophile priests within a twelve-year period. Mothers spoke in hushed tones in the church parking lot after school. Priests in the pulpit spoke about God’s love but remained silent about rapes by clergy.

Silence and whispers have been the rule in Catholic culture when it comes to sexual abuse, but this culture allows criminals to walk freely and forces survivors to remain in fear. I confess I have been culpable of the sin of silence.

It’s not easy to talk about or take action to heal the wounds of sexual abuse. It is not something easily broached over donuts after church. Proclaiming the truth from the housetops, as the biblical exhortation goes, has come slowly to Catholics. But that is changing.

Survivors and laity are learning to speak up and doing so beyond just housetops.

In the diocese of Baker, Ore., a group of laity recently succeeded in getting an op-ed placed in their local paper. The editorial rang the alarm that the bishop continues to refuse to implement an abuse-prevention program, promised seven years ago in the bishops’ own Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.

Concerned Catholics in the Lincoln, Neb., diocese have used news conferences and newspapers to warn parents to protect their children because the bishop has ignored the U.S. bishops’ own mandate for diocesan-wide background checks and abuse-prevention programs.

Catholics and non-Catholics alike are coming together from across New York state to push legislation that would allow sexual predators, and those who shield predators, to be brought to justice (www.nychildvictimsact.org [1]).

Catholics across the country are slowly learning that the Goliath culture of silence in Catholicism that threatens the lives of children and our entire faith community must be brought down. We are learning how to shatter the culture of silence; learning to proclaim in the light what we have known for decades in the dark.

I can only hope that we can all be as brave as the survivor Mark McAllister in speaking the truth -- about our own abuse or helping to stop the abuse of others. What we have heard in whispers, what we fear to say, must be proclaimed from the housetops … and in news conferences, blogs, vigils and courtrooms.

The heroes of our time are the Mark McAllisters among us and those who stand in solidarity with him and other survivors. The modern David is the one who slays the culture of silence that threatens our children using the sling of modernity: our voice.

If you know of abuse taking place or are a survivor, contact SNAP at 1.877.762.7432 or SNAPDORRIS@gmail.com [2].

Nicole Sotelo is the author of Women Healing from Abuse: Meditations for Finding Peace, published by Paulist Press, and coordinates www.WomenHealing.com [3]. A graduate of Harvard Divinity School, she currently works at Call To Action.

Thursday, September 03, 2009

Opus Dei's Scalia Passes Bridgeport Diocese's Clergy Sex Abuse Files

Opus Dei lawyers are working 24-7 to keep the files of the John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army sealed and soon-to-be-forgotten because they are obsessed with the canonization of John Paul II. Opus Dei controlled 100% the papacy of John Paul II for more than 26 years see the John Paul II Millstone www.jp2m.blogspot.com and therefore the cover-up of the John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army in the USA and around the world in upon the conscience of the Opus Dei.

Scalia and his son and other family members are staunch Opus Dei members and we bet he will influence the Supreme Court members to keep the Catholic Diocese files sealed as requested! Opus Dei have many court members and lawyers spread out in USA and Italy and all major nations. Opus Dei has only one goal WORLD DOMINATION with their Holy Father St. Josemaria Escriva and Pope John Paul II as the ruling "Holy Fathers" – as they are mystically married as husband and bride see Benedict XVI-Ratzinger God's Rottweiler for details www.pope-ratz.blogspot.com


http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/2008_06_01_archive.html Opus Dei Wedding Bash of June


http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/2009/03/benedict-xvi-and-his-condom-illusion.html
Opus Dei's obssessive hatred agaisnt the Jesuits

Opus Dei Opus Satanas - see Opus Dei Alert.com
www.ODAN.org Opus Dei Awareness Network -- exposing the deception of the cult of Opus Dei
John Paul II Millstone http://jp2m.blogspot.com/
John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army http://jp2army.blogspot.com/

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 - 5,458 priests - John Paul II & St. Josemaria Escriva de Opus Dei & Benedict XVI

===

Scalia Passes Bridgeport Diocese's Clergy Sex Abuse Files Request To Full Court

By Dave Altimari The Hartford Courant

September 3, 2009

http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-scalia-priests-0903a.artsep03,0,1481163.story

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on Wednesday passed to the full court a request by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport to keep clergy sex abuse files sealed, at least for now.

The full court will decide the matter by Sept. 29.

The diocese had asked Scalia to stay the publication of more than 12,000 documents while the full court decides whether to take up the diocese's appeal of an earlier ruling by the Connecticut Supreme Court that the documents are public records.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg denied the request for a stay last week. Afterward, the diocese had the right to appeal to another justice and it filed an appeal with Scalia late last week.

By sending that request to all nine justices, Scalia was following normal procedures of the court. The documents will remain sealed until the full court rules on the stay.

Late last week, attorneys for the diocese filed a 50-page writ of certiorari seeking to have the U.S. Supreme Court accept the case, in hopes it will overturn the state Supreme Court ruling.

The diocese has been fighting for several years to keep the documents sealed. Critics say the move is an attempt to protect former Bishop Edward M. Egan, who was the bishop who moved many pedophile priests around the diocese even after learning about sexual abuse allegations against them.

The diocese is arguing that releasing the sealed files would violate its First Amendment rights "that a church may not be compelled to disclose internal documents relating to hierarchical determinations regarding fitness for ministry."

The diocese secretly settled 23 lawsuits for an undisclosed amount in 2001. The suits alleged sexual misconduct by seven Bridgeport Diocese priests.

Four newspapers, including The Courant, went to court in 2002 seeking to have the files reopened and to keep them from being destroyed. The Connecticut Supreme Court has ruled twice that the files are public.

Copyright © 2009, The Hartford Courant
Related stories
From the Courant

* Bridgeport Diocese Appeals To U.S. Supreme Court To Keep Records Sealed
* Bridgeport Diocese Appeals To U.S. Supreme Court In Clergy Sex Abuse Cases
* Supreme Court Justice Denies Bridgeport Diocese’s Request

From other Connecticut sources

* Highest Court to Decide on Clergy Sex Abuse Papers|nbcconnecticut.com
* Supreme Court justice denies Diocese of Bridgeport request to keep records sealed|stamfordadvocate.com
* Church abuse documents to be released|wtnh.com

Around the Web

* Supreme Court: Catholic abuse documents can’t stay sealed|usatoday.com

SupCo ruling unfavorable to Ct. Catholic diocese

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday against a Roman Catholic diocese in Connecticut, saying that thousands of documents generated by lawsuits against six priests for alleged sexual abuse cannot remain sealed.

By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN

Associated Press Writer
NEW HAVEN, Conn. —

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday against a Roman Catholic diocese in Connecticut, saying that thousands of documents generated by lawsuits against six priests for alleged sexual abuse cannot remain sealed.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Tuesday denied the Bridgeport diocese's request to continue a stay on the release of the papers until the full court decides whether to review the case.

Ralph Johnson III, a lawyer for the diocese, said church officials were considering whether to ask all nine justices to rule on the request.

The diocese said on its Web site Tuesday afternoon that it was disappointed with Ginsburg's decision and that it "intends to proceed with its announced determination to ask the full U.S. Supreme Court to review the important constitutional issues that this case presents."

Jonathan Albano, attorney for three newspapers who requested the documents, said the ruling compels the diocese to release the documents, but he acknowledged the church could ask the full court to reconsider Ginsburg's decision.

"At the end of the day, the diocese will be able to say they were heard before every court that was available to them," Albano said.

Albano represents The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and The Washington Post. The three papers along with the Hartford Courant have asked to see the documents.

A Waterbury Superior Court said in 2006 that the documents were subject to a presumption of public access. And the Connecticut Supreme Court upheld the lower court decision, ruling that more than 12,000 pages from 23 lawsuits against the six priests should be unsealed.

The Connecticut high court also rejected the claim by church officials that the documents were subject to constitutional privileges, including religious privileges under the First Amendment.

The records have been under seal since the diocese settled the cases in 2001. They could provide details on how retired New York Cardinal Edward Egan handled the allegations when he was bishop in Bridgeport from 1988 to 2000.

The documents include depositions, affidavits and motions.

===

Supreme Court justice denies request to keep diocese sex abuse records sealed


By Noelle Frampton
Connecticut Post

Updated: 08/26/2009 12:28:06 AM EDT

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport may soon have to unseal thousands of documents generated by lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by priests now that a U.S. Supreme Court judge has denied the diocese's request to keep them sealed.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg on Tuesday denied the Bridgeport diocese's request to continue a stay on the release of the papers until the full court decides whether to review the case.

But the diocese hasn't given up in its long fight to keep more than 12,000 pages from 23 lawsuits sealed, releasing a statement that it is "disappointed" by Ginsberg's ruling but "intends to proceed with its announced determination to ask the full U.S. Supreme Court to review the important constitutional issues that this case presents."

Diocese spokesman Joseph McAleer declined further comment in an e-mail Tuesday evening.

The documents have been sealed since the diocese settled the lawsuits in 2001 and paid victims more than $30 million. They could provide details on how retired New York Cardinal Edward Egan handled the allegations when he was bishop in Bridgeport.

Four newspapers asked for the records, and the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled in May that they should be unsealed.

In June, the diocese asked the state's top court to reconsider, but the court refused. Then it went to the nation's highest court in July, citing constitutional rights and privacy issues in a renewed bid to block release of the documents.

The diocese contended that the Superior Court judge who initially ordered the release was biased because he was on a special state Judicial Branch committee exploring how to make the state courts more transparent along with a reporter whose newspaper was seeking release of the documents.

The claims contained in the records date as far back as the 1970s and include allegations that Egan tried to hide the abuse of children by diocesan priests.

Attorneys representing victims of alleged abuse accused the church hierarchy of ignoring allegations, shifting accused priests from parish to parish and failing to report complaints to appropriate law enforcement agencies.

The total amount of money the diocese has spent in the legal battles remains unclear.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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