Amid the fallout from the Cloyne report’s exposure of former bishop John Magee for failing to unmask abusive priests, the minister reiterated warnings that there will be no religious exceptions to hardline rules on withholding information.

Ms Fitzgerald dismissed out of hand suggestions that information given to a Catholic priest in the confessional about crimes against a child can remain confidential.

The church’s watchdog on clerical child abuse, Ian Elliot, has said there should be room to allow clerics to keep secret details passed on when someone seeks forgiveness.

But Ms Fitzgerald backed Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s warning on Thursday that one rule will apply to everyone in Ireland.

The minister said: “The point is, if there is a law in the land, it has to be followed by everybody. There are no exceptions, there are no exemptions. I’m not concerned, neither is the Government, about the internal laws, the rules governing any body.”

The Government is to draw up legislation to bring updated child protection guidelines into law and to make it mandatory for organisations to follow the rules. Under the planned laws anyone suspected case of abuse must be reported, while under other reforms anyone found to have withheld information on a crime against a child will face jail.

Bishop of Dromore John McAreavy said it was “unreal” to say that the seal of confession was the “chink” in the commitment of the church to ensure child protection. He claimed there was anecdotal evidence that suggested child abusers did not go to confession to admit their sins.

Justice Minister Alan Shatter said time had been set aside in the Dail on Wednesday to debate the Cloyne report. Both he and Ms Fitzgerald are working on a draft motion for the debate.

A Department of Justice statement said: “Other parties and political groups will then be consulted about the motion in an effort to reach agreement on its terms, so that the Dail can be united in expressing its abhorrence at the findings of the report and its determination that the State take all necessary measures to ensure the protection of children.”

Source: Belfast Telegraph

The report was prepared for the USCCB Secretariat of Child and Youth Protection by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University from survey responses submitted by all but one of the 195 U.S. dioceses and eparchies (Eastern Catholic dioceses) and 156 of the 218 religious orders that belong to the Conference of Major Superiors of Men.

Only seven of the new allegations involved children under the age of 18 in 2010, with two-thirds of the new allegations having occurred or begun between 1960 and 1984, the report said.

“The number of alleged offenders increased by one-fifth, from 286 alleged offenders reported in 2009 to 345 alleged offenders reported in 2010,” CARA said. Almost 60 percent of those offenders had been identified in earlier allegations and three-quarters of the offenders are now dead or laicized, the report said.

The CARA report was released in conjunction with the annual audit to review compliance by the nation’s dioceses with the U.S. bishops’ 2002 “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.”

CARA placed the costs associated with child sex abuse at $123.7 million for U.S. dioceses and eparchies and $25.9 million for religious orders in 2010, bringing to nearly $2.7 billion the amount spent by the U.S. Catholic Church to address clergy sex abuse since 2004.

More than half of the spending in 2010 — $70 million from dioceses and eparchies and $18 million from religious orders — was for settlement of abuse claims. The second-largest category of expenditures was for attorneys’ fees; dioceses and eparchies spent $33.9 million on lawyers in 2010, while religious orders spent $4.8 million.

Nearly $10 million was paid out for the support of offenders in dioceses and eparchies, while religious orders spent about $1.8 million to support offenders in 2010, according to CARA. The cost of therapy for victims was $6.4 million for dioceses and eparchies and about $540,000 for religious orders.

In addition, dioceses and eparchies spent at least $20.9 million and religious orders about $1.6 million “for child protection efforts such as safe environment coordinators, training programs and background checks” in 2010, CARA reported.

The dioceses and eparchies reported that approximately 28 percent of their 2010 expenditures as the result of allegations of sexual abuse of a minor were covered by insurance. For religious orders, only 4 percent of the costs were covered by insurance.

The CARA survey also found that a growing number of allegations of child sex abuse have been unsubstantiated or determined to be false. Among dioceses and eparchies, 17 percent of the new allegations in 2010 were unsubstantiated or false, compared to 11 percent in 2006 and 7 percent in 2007.

The percentage of allegations against religious-order priests that have been unsubstantiated or determined to be false has remained relatively steady at around 10 percent since 2006.

Asked who had first reported the alleged abuse to the diocese or eparchy, more than half (52 percent) said the victim himself or herself had made the report. More than a quarter of the reports were made by an attorney, while the rest were made by a family member or friend, law enforcement officials or the bishop of another diocese.

But only 39 percent of reports to religious orders were made by the victim, while 32 percent of the reports came from a bishop or eparch and 21 percent were made by an attorney.

The charter approved by the bishops in Dallas in 2002 called for an annual report detailing the number and type of sex abuse allegations involving minors against U.S. clergy. The first report, issued in 2004, covered the year 2003.

The Diocese of Lincoln, Neb., was the only diocese or eparchy that did not participate in the 2010 survey. The participation rate among religious orders was about 72 percent.

Source: NCRONLINE

Edwin DeLeon, of the 1700 block of West Ohio Street in the West Town neighborhood, allegedly began a sexual relationship with the girl in 2005 when she was 14 and he was 34, prosecutors said Sunday in Cook County bond court.

DeLeon, who appeared before Judge Donald Panarese Jr., knew the girl’s aunt, prosecutors said. After the relationship ended in 2007, the girl told her parents the two had been having sex, prosecutors said.

DeLeon was arrested Saturday at his home by members of the Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force.

Source: CHICAGOTRIBUNE

Cardinal Justin Rigali, the archbishop of Philadelphia, should have suspended the priests suspected of paedophilia much sooner, campaigners say.

The sweeping action of the church, the largest mass suspension in America of Priests, comes after the report was released on February 10, 2011.

Disclosed in the report were allegations that for decades the church had covered up abuse of children as young, mainly boys as young as 9.

The report uncovers a long list of priests accused of repeated acts of violence over many years. In one case The Revernd Edward Avery, aged 68 was accused of raping a 10 year old from 1998 to 1999. The following year the young boy was once again claimed he was raped by his Catholic school teacher.

Yesterday a new law suit was filed against the Archdiocese by Philip Gaughan, 31 who claims to have been raped while a teenager under the care of the priests.

In response the Catholic church has appointed a specialist investigator, Gina Maisto Smith to report on the string of claims.

In a statement released today Cardinal Justin Rigali apologized to all those victims of sexual abuse who were under the care of the church.

“I know that for many people their trust in the Church has been shaken,” Cardinal. “I pray that the efforts of the Archdiocese to address these cases of concern and to re-evaluate our way of handling allegations will help rebuild that trust in truth and justice.”

Source: Culture Clash Daily

news.com.au - THE Catholic order of a former priest jailed today for sexually abusing boys at a New Zealand school says it will supervise him for the rest of his life after he is deported back to Australia.

Rodger William Moloney, now 73 and in ill-health, was jailed for two years and nine months by Justice Graham Panckhurst in the High Court at Christchurch today, the New Zealand Press Association reported.

He will be deported after serving his sentence.

Moloney was found guilty at a trial in June on three charges of indecently assaulting boys under 16 and four of inducing them to do indecent acts.

He was acquitted of 16 other similar offences.

The head of the Brothers of St John of God, Brother Timothy Graham, said justice had not merely been done, but had been seen to be done.

“Quite possibly, no other matter had been subject to such comprehensive and rigorous investigation and scrutiny,” he said today.

“I repeat my unreserved apology and that of the Brothers of St John of God to each and every victim of sexual abuse as well as profound sadness for the crimes that took place at Marylands all those years ago,” Brother Graham said.

The Brothers of St John of God purposefully retained him in the order so he could be so supervised and when he was returned to Australia, he would be similarly housed and supervised for the rest of his life.