Incidence Report – Sexual Misconduct in Church – 9 July 2021 (Part – 1)

A Nun is a religious woman lives as a contemplative cloistered life in a monastery. Her ministry and prayer life are centred within and around the monastery for the good of the world. She professes the perpetual solemn vows living a life according to the evangelical counsels of poverty, celibacy, and obedience. Nuns were exploited by priests, bishops in Church. With fear of retribution and being isolated or even expelled from their community, Nuns don’t make official complaints.  Amidst such situation, these 93 incidences on nun abuse, cover-ups by church, settlement etc were flashed to bring out moral accountability by Church.

Incidence 1: Scandals, compensation programs lead Catholic clergy sex abuse complaints to quadruple in 2019 

1. The number of allegations of Catholic clergy sex abuse of minors more than quadrupled in 2019 compared to the average in the previous five years, U.S. church officials reported this week, in part the result of new church-run compensation programs for victims as well as survivors driven to come forward by several major clerical abuse scandals.
2. The annual audit of nearly 200 dioceses and church entities across the country has been done since 2002, when reports of clergy abuse and coverups exploded and U.S. bishops approved reforms, including a yearly review of complaints and compliance. The reform package is often called the “Charter.”

(washingtonpost.com, 27 June 2020) News Link

Incidence 2: It’s time for our Catholic president to address the church’s sexual abuse scandal members 

1. The U.S. Catholic Church has been dealing with the horror of widespread clergy sex crimes and cover-ups. Yet U.S. abuse survivors have never received official acknowledgment of their pain by any federal official anywhere.
2. Many of the estimated 100,000 adults who were assaulted by Catholic clerics are struggling with depression, suicidal thoughts, fractured families, eating disorders, mental health issues and addictions to drugs, alcohol, sex or work. A disproportionate share of these survivors are unemployed, underemployed or unemployable.
3. Biden, who so obviously loves the church, has long been well situated to help heal families who are still suffering, many in shame, silence, isolation and self-blame, from this ongoing scandal. Yet he has essentially been silent about this crisis and the devastating impact it continues to have on so many.

(ncronline.org, 13 May 2021) News Link

Incidence 3: Pope Francis dismisses a retired Grand Haven priest from the Clerical State due to sexual abuse allegations. 

Key Points:

1. The incidents of sexual abuse that occurred from 1999-2006 happened while Langlois was serving as pastor of St. Patrick – St. Anthony Parish in Grand Haven.
2. According to the Diocese of Grand Rapids, these incidents began while the victim-survivor was a minor and continued into adulthood. 

(wzzm13.com, 7 May 2021) News Link

Incidence 4: Reporting system launched for church sexual abuse 

1. The Diocese of London (DOL) has joined a nationwide service that reports instances of sexual abuse within the Church.
2. The Bishops of Canada has launched the Canadian Reporting System for Sexual Abuse or Cover-up by a Catholic Bishop, which the Diocese said is a commitment to providing transparency and healing for parishioners who have suffered from sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic clergy.
3. The Catholic Bishops of Canada condemn the sin and crime of sexual abuse in the strongest possible terms.
4. The Bishops of Canada has worked with ClearView Strategic Partners, a Canadian firm that creates secure whistle-blower and reporting platforms, which can be accessed on the DOL’s official website. Anyone wishing to make a report can provide the information via the platform. It is then sent along to Church authorities.

                   (blackburnnews.com, 8 May 2021) News Link

Incidence 5: Costa Rica orders ex priest held on sex abuse charges 

1. A Costa Rican court on Friday ordered a priest facing sexual abuse charges held in custody for six months while awaiting trial.
2. Viquez allegedly abused two teenagers in 2003. At the time in Costa Rica, such charges generally couldn’t be pursued 10 years after a complainant’s 18th birthday.
3. The case led Costa Rica to lengthen the statute of limitations on sex crimes from 10 to 25 years.
4. Viquez was expelled from the priesthood by the Roman Catholic Church. There are other abuse accusations against him.

                 (looptt.com, 8 May 2021) News Link 

Incidence 6: Harrisburg Diocese bankruptcy case could collide with bill giving child sex abuse victims  a chance to sue 

1. Survivors of child sex abuse in Pennsylvania have for years endured setback and failures in their efforts to reform state law to allow them a path to justice. 
2. Now, the commonwealth, which is close yet again to passing reform legislation, could set precedence with regards to how legislation and legal cases stack up for victims. 
3. Victims earlier this month rallied at the Capitol to call on lawmakers to pass the pending legislation. 
4. The Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg, one of the largest dioceses in the commonwealth, gained national attention by filing for bankruptcy last year.
5. The 15-county diocese became the first – and to date only – Catholic diocese in Pennsylvania to file for bankruptcy. The filing followed the 2018 40th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury report, which found that church leaders had for decades covered up heinous child sex crimes at the hands of hundreds of priests.

               (pennlive.com, 5 May 2021) News Link

Incidence 7: Steven P. Woyen pleads not guilty to sexual battery charges 

1. A former Lutheran pastor pleaded not guilty Tuesday to three charges of sexual battery.
2. Tuscarawas County Common Pleas Judge Michael Ernest accepted the pleas from Steven P. Woyen and set bail at $50,000, which may be met with cash, surety or property.
3. Woyen, 46, formerly ministered at churches in Strasburg and Minerva. Beard said the alleged crimes occurred when the victim was between the ages of 15 and 18 when Woyen pastored First Lutheran Church of Strasburg. 

                  (timesreporter.com, 4 May 2021) News Link

Incidence 8: Nuns on trial in Argentina over abuse of deaf children           

1. Two nuns and seven other female employees of an Argentine institute for deaf children went on trial Monday in a sexual abuse case that has shocked the home country of Pope Francis. 
2. Two priests in charge of children at the center were jailed for more than 40 years each in November 2019 for sexual abuse, including rape, of some 20 minors.
3. The victims were aged between four and 17 at the time, Several staff at the school were taken into custody after allegations of abuse first surfaced in 2016, and the institute was shut down.
4. The Catholic Church has been shaken by a string of child sex abuse scandals in recent years; in the United States, Europe, Latin America and Australia.     

(ctvnews.ca, 3 May 2021) News Link

Incidence 9: Wisconsin Department of Justice to investigate church-related sexual abuse 

1. Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul announced a statewide initiative Tuesday to review reports of clergy and faith leader abuse in the state. 
2. Led by the Wisconsin Department of Justice, Kaul says the plan has support from survivor groups, crime victim services professionals and district attorneys:
3. Survivors, those who are aware of or witnessed sexual abuse and people who have knowledge about the cover-up of such abuse, are all being encouraged to give confidential statements to the Department of Justice. 

                 (dailycardinal.com, 28 April 2021) News Link

Incidence 10: Reform rabbinic giant disciplined for inappropriate relationships now accused of ‘sexually predatory behavior’

1. Asenior leader of the Reform movement whose rabbinic privileges were briefly suspended two decades ago for “personal relationships” that violated ethical codes in fact sexually harassed or assaulted at least three women, including one who was a minor when the misconduct began, an independent investigation by Manhattan’s Central Synagogue has found.
2. Rabbi Sheldon Zimmerman, who was senior rabbi at Central from 1972 to 1985, resigned his position as president of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 2000 after the Reform movement’s Central Conference of American Rabbis ruled that his relationships had broken its rules. But neither CCAR or HUC provided details of the misconduct at the time, leaving the impression that Zimmerman had simply had consensual affairs, and he went on to serve as vice president of the Birthright Israel program and rabbi of the Jewish Center of the Hamptons.

(jweekly.com, 28 April 2021) News Link 

Incidence 11: Former Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Uganda confesses to adultery, apologises 

1. The retired Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Uganda, the Rt Rev Stanley Ntagali, has publicly confessed to committing adultery with a married woman and asked the Lord, the church and Ugandans to forgive him.
2. “I gave my life to Jesus Christ as a young man on the Christmas eve of 1974. I still love Jesus Christ because He has loved me and I would love to serve him for all the years. Sadly, I fell into the sin of adultery. I confess to the Lord and the Church to forgive me, my dear bishops and partners,” Ntagali, the eighth Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, said at an event last Thursday.

(sightmagazine.com.au, 26 April 2021) News Link 

Incidence12: Spanish Catholic leaders put numbers to sex abuse claims 

1. In a first public attempt to put numbers to instances of child sex abuse by the country’s Catholic clergy, Spain’s Episcopal Conference revealed Friday, April 23, that 220 cases were officially reported to the Vatican over the past two decades.
2. The conference, which is the top governing body of Spain’s Catholic Church, said Spanish bishops submitted 76 allegations against regular priests and 144 against members of specific religious orders to the Vatican’s office that handles sex abuse cases since 2001.
3. The figures didn’t include allegations against non-clergy members of the church or staff working in the numerous schools run by religious orders.

(ncronline.org, 26 April 2021) News Link

Incidence 12: Evangelical Christians are trying to reinvent purity culture as ‘pro-women’ 

1. The anti-Asian shootings at three massage parlours in Atlanta, Ga., in March 2021 have complex religious elements. Eight people, including six Asian women, were killed in the attacks. The alleged shooter emerged from an evangelical “purity culture” that teaches a narrow view of sexuality, often with racial undertones.
2. Purity culture has both specific and broad meanings. It directly refers to a 1990s wave of practices of “extreme abstinence,” mainly directed at women. But it also incorporates decades of broader evangelical teachings restricting sexuality to within heterosexual marriage.

                  (rawstory.com, 20 April 2021) News Link

Incidence 13: 42-year-old nun found dead in a well, suicide note found: What we know so far    

1. A 42-year-old nun was found dead in a well at a convent in Kureepuzha on Friday. The deceased identified as Mable Joseph was a native of Karunagappally in the Kollam district of Kerala.
2. From 1987, bodies of about 20 nuns have been found in wells or nearby areas in various convents in Kerala. In all these cases neither the convent authorities nor the Kerala Catholic Church lodged any complaint to conduct an investigation to find out the reason for the deaths. 

(opindia.com, 19 April 2021) News Link

Incidence 14: Plaintiffs in second Próvolo sex abuse trial demand ‘end to delays’ 

1. Victims and relatives have called for an “end to delays” in the trial of two nuns and seven other women accused of complicity in the sexual abuse of deaf children at the Antonio Próvolo Institute for Deaf and Hearing-Impaired Children in Mendoza Province, which was postponed last week due to a case of coronavirus.
2. The accused nuns are Kosaka Kumiko, Japanese under house arrest, and Asunción Martínez, born in Paraguay.

 (batimes.com.ar, 17 April 2021) News Link

Incidence15: Sister Lucy Kalapura lashes out at Alenchery over nun suicides

1. Sister Lucy Kalapura, the nun who gave a statement against Bishop Franco Mulakkal in the rape case against him, has now written an open letter to Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council President Cardinal George Alenchery regarding the incident where a nun, Mabel Joseph, was found dead in the well of a nunnery in Karunagappally, near Kollam.
2. Sr Lucy criticised the Cardinal for not taking necessary action. “What is the Christian leadership doing today? When the principles of Christianity and the teachings of Jesus Christ have taken a back seat and spirituality has become a profit-making business, it is no wonder the leadership has turned its head away from the hapless human beings who die in front of their eyes. Is it not before your eyes that the nun community is being burned within the walls of the convent after being subjected to flagrant human rights violations? Is it not before your eyes that the mutilated corpses of nuns, who have been subjected to brutal torture, including sexual exploitation, are floating in convent wells?” Sister Lucy asks in the letter.

     (newindianexpress.com, 19 April 2021) News Link

Incidence 16: Pastor arrested for sexual harassment in Chennai   

1. Scot David is running a Church in Thirumalai Nagar, Avadi Chennai. He came in contact with a 48 women lady six months ago who was suffering with family problems.  Pastor David prayed for the family.
2. Recently, when the women visited the church and was praying the God sincerely, Pastor misbehaved with her in the Church.  Shocked at the behavior of the Pastor, she ran outside and immediately went to police station nearby and made a complaint.  Ambattur Police Superintendent accepted the complaint and arrested the Pastor.  

(polimernews.com, 19 April 2021) News Link

Incidence 17:Another nun’s body found in convent well in Kerala 

1. The body of a 42-year-old Catholic nun was found April 16 in a well of a convent at Kureepuzha near Karunagappally town in Kollam district of Kerala, report Malayalam news channels.
2. The deceased was identified as Sister Mable Joseph, a member of the Pious Workers of St. Joseph, an Italian congregation that manages Maria Agnes English Medium School in Kureepuzha.
3. A suicide note recovered from the nun’s room said that she was taking the drastic step as she is unable to bear the physical difficulties and the issues related to allergy.
4. The note said that her body would be in the well of St Joseph’s Convent. “Nobody is responsible for my death. Keep me in your prayers,” the note further read.

                  (mattersindia.com, 16 April 2021) News Link, Video Link

Incidence 18:Former priest charged with sexually abusing children in Palmdale and Redondo Beach 

1. Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón’s office announced charges against a former Catholic priest accused of sexually assaulting four children at churches in Palmdale and Redondo Beach in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
2. The victims were innocent children who have spent most of their lives with the trauma caused by the abuse alleged in this case,” Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón said in a statement. 

(latimes.com, 14 April 2021) News Link  

Incidence 19: वेटिकन की ओर से जांच के आदेश के बाद अमेरिका के बिशप होपनर ने दिया इस्तीफा  

1. रोम, 13 अप्रैल को पादरियों द्वारा यौन शोषण के मामलों की जांच में कथित रूप से हस्तक्षेप करने के लिए अमेरिका के मिनेसोटा के बिशप माइकल होपनर पर वेटिकन ने जांच बिठाई थी, उसने इस्तीफा दे दिया है और क्रुक्सटन डायोसीज को चलाने के लिए अस्थायी तौर पर किसी और को नियुक्त किया गया है।
2. माइकल होपनर पर पादरियों द्वारा यौन शोषण के मामलों की जांच में हस्तक्षेप करने के आरोप थे जिसके लिए वेटिकन ने 2019 में उनकी जांच करने का आदेश दिया था।

                  (navbharattimes.indiatimes.com, 13 April 2021) News Link

Incidence 20:Church Official Warns of Financial Flood Due to Abuse Claims 

1. A top official with the Archdiocese of Santa Fe says, a financial flood from clergy sex abuse claims coming and a settlement would serve as the dam to prevent devastation to parishes across northern New Mexico.
2. A letter from archdiocese’s website states that progress is being made in collecting donations for a bankruptcy settlement prompts by allegations of abuse perpetrated by priests and other clergy over decades.

(usnews.com, 10 April 2021) News Link

Incidence 21: Australia’s Sex Discrimination Act will soon apply to politicians. Why didn’t it before? 

1. A series of legal loopholes that prevent Australia’s public servants — including politicians and judges — from being prosecuted for sexual harassment are finally about to be closed following nearly 40 years on the statute books.
2. The move comes as Prime Minister Scott Morrison deals with the backlash over his handling of a string of allegations about the mistreatment of women in politics.On Thursday, Morrison said in a news conference the government plans to amend the Sex Discrimination Act under measures designed to tackle sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace and hoped to pass the new laws by the end of June.
3. Morrison said sexual harassment was “immoral and despicable and even criminal,” and “denies Australians, especially women, not just their personal security but their economic security by not being safe at work.”

(edition.cnn.com, 9 April 2021) News Link

http://ritambangla.com/editorial/incidence-report-sexual-misconduct-in-church-9-july-2021-2/