Making good on their verbal threat in open court to “spend down” the remaining money left in their estate to prevent 575 victims of rape, sexual assault and abuse by clergy of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee from receiving restitution, lawyers for Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki have filed an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. They seek to overturn a U.S. 7th Circuit decisive ruling that a fraudulent “cemetery trust” created by former Archbishop Timothy Dolan, now cardinal of New York, was not “protected” by federal religious laws or the First Amendment and can be used to compensate survivors.
A few weeks ago, the archdiocese started carrying out its threat by randomly deposing and, of course, re-traumatizing victims, putting survivors through hours of questioning by church lawyers fishing for reasons to file yet more pointless briefs and run up expensive bills. So far, lawyers’ fees and court costs are soaring near $20 million dollars while Listecki has begrudgingly offered $4 million, total, for all rape victims, less than $7,000 per survivor.
In the latest filing, Listecki again legally howls the discredited excuses of “religious freedom” and “First Amendment rights.” Clearly these rights are not enshrined in our Constitution for bishops, or anyone else, to cover up sex crimes, as if child rape is no one’s business but their own.
What matters is not winning the brief (they won’t). What matters is that it will be expensive, create more delays and pile up legal fees so there is no money left for survivors. You might as well move the Sunday collection plate over to the lawyers’ offices or, perhaps, the country club. The later location might be easier since, as Listecki wrote in a recent column in a Catholic paper, he will be getting in as much golf as he can this summer. In the meantime, hundreds of victims are languishing through years of bankruptcy without help, much less justice.
When filing for bankruptcy over four and a half years ago, Listecki urged victims to come forward for “restitution, healing and resolution.” Since then, however, he has claimed that none of the 575 victims, not a single one, has a legitimate case.
It is pretty clear that Listecki filed for bankruptcy in utter bad faith and breech of promise to victims. The bankruptcy was filed to prevent restitution to victims by deploying the federal bankruptcy system and so called “religious freedom” to shield Listecki, Dolan and dozens of child sex offenders from the consequences of their criminal conduct and cover-ups.
Dolan wrote to the Vatican when he sought permission to create his bogus cemetery trust to prevent U.S. courts from compensating victims of priest sex abuse. Since then, it has been shown the archdiocese has at least $300 million available for victim restitution. But so far the archdiocese appears to have found a means to buy its way of justice, in plain sight, out for everyone to see. Again.
http://sol-reform.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Hamilton-Logo.jpg00SOL Reformhttp://sol-reform.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Hamilton-Logo.jpgSOL Reform2015-07-18 02:03:082015-07-18 02:03:08Peter Isley, Church still evades payments to abuse victims, Wisconsin Gazette
And if, finally, you have no escape, go to settlement and apologize to anyone who may have been hurt by your “mistakes.”
The scenario is unthinkable, but it is also descriptive of the very behavior that Catholics have witnessed among their leaders, with slight variations, for the past 30 years.
Those of us who have reported on the scandal for the past three decades, who have read through endless pages of horrific accounts and unfathomably slippery depositions, understand the descriptive exhaustion that Dominican Fr. Tom Doyle displays in his essay. There are no words left to adequately describe the level of deceit and corruption that existed in bishops’ residences and chancery offices across this land as thousands of priests, hidden and protected by bishops, abused tens of thousands of our children.
Barbara Blaine writes powerfully of how such abuse and utterly callous treatment by church officials can derail a life. She got hers back on track and became a leading advocate for victims. It is impossible to overstate the significance of the work of abuse survivors in bringing the church to some degree of accountability. Whatever progress occurred came about only because of pressure from outside the clergy culture.
NCR was the first publication that was both national and Catholic to deal with this ugly story at a time when few, including the editors here, could imagine the dimensions of the scandal.
Over the decades, the church has made progress in addressing the issue, most notably under Pope Francis with his tribunal for bishops and the forced resignations of bishops who have failed in their handling of sex abuse cases. But all of that still must be accompanied by a serious qualification: None of it happened voluntarily. All of it was forced by public pressure.
What remains is a void little spoken about but perhaps the longest-lasting and least-attended-to effect of the scandal. The failure of the bishops was not merely strategic or an example of extreme incompetence, though that all was certainly part of the case. The deeper failure was their betrayal, at a sacramental level, of the community they were charged to serve.
In their deceptions and rationales, they put aside the God of love and justice and mercy. They put aside the God who summoned the little children. They put aside, for venal reasons, the God of life they so ardently preached.
If we believe that God infuses every aspect of our lives, that that sacramental reality is a distinctive element of Catholic life, we are left wondering how our bishops, in their worst hour, could time and again turn their backs on that reality.
Peter, we know, made no excuses, didn’t try to spin his denial. He “wept bitterly.” The community today waits, wondering what sacramental act might restore trust so deeply broken.
http://sol-reform.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Hamilton-Logo.jpg00SOL Reformhttp://sol-reform.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Hamilton-Logo.jpgSOL Reform2015-07-18 01:58:142015-07-18 01:58:14Editorial: It's time to end pattern of deceit and denial on clergy sex abuse cases, National Catholic Reporter
A man testified that he suffered years of child sexual abuse after visiting a respected member of his upstate New York Hasidic community for comfort on the day of the September 11 terror attacks.
Laiby Stern told a court that he was sexually molested for five years from 2001 until his bar mitzvah by Moshe Menachem Taubenfeld, whom he described as one of “the most powerful men” in his Skverer Hasidic-dominated Rockland County community of New Square.
Stern told a packed courtroom that Taubenfeld first molested him when the boy sought reassurance after after hearing about the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
“He called me into his office, closed the door and told me to pull my pants and underpants down,” Stern, now 22, recounted multiple times during his testimony, pausing regularly to regain his composure.
Taubenfeld then allegedly proceeded to rub the boy’s penis. “He then told me to lay flat on the desk and inserted a finger in my anus,” he told the rapt courtroom.
The abuse occurred regularly, every few weeks at first, then escalating to once every few days, Stern testified.
When asked by Steve Moore, an assistant Rockland County district attorney, why he continued to go to Taubenfeld’s home, the alleged victim simply said he was too shocked to do anything else.
“I didn’t know what to think,” he said.
Taubenfeld, 55, who denies the accusations, kept his eyes downcast throughout most of the proceedings, and prayed during breaks. He faces a charge of second-degree course of sexual conduct, a felony. He faces up to 7 years in prison.
Supporters of the accused man, who has 20 children and once worked as a premarital counsellor, said they don’t believe the alleged victim’s account.
“He’s lying,” one of the New Square men there to support Mr. Taubenfeld said in Yiddish during a brief recess, referring to Stern.
On Friday morning, Stern was back on the witness stand for cross-examination by defense attorney Gerard Damiani.
The defense’s line of inquiry seemingly intended to demonstrate that the accuser is mentally unfit to recall the details of the abuse, given his depression and use of psychiatric medicine after the abuse had ended in 2006, as well as his recent brief hospitalization.
“Didn’t you say you wanted to make millions of dollars suing Taubenfeld?” Damiani asked Stern towards the end of his cross-examination. ‘
“No,” he answered.
Stern gave several impassioned statements to wrap up his testimony, saying that New Square is not concerned about the molesters in their midst.
The alleged victim was interviewed about corruption and abuse in the community for a story in the Forward , which has since won a major journalism award.
The trial is scheduled to resume on July 20. Did Hasidic Neighbor Start Sex Abuse Reign of Terror on September 11_ – News – Forward
http://sol-reform.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Hamilton-Logo.jpg00SOL Reformhttp://sol-reform.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Hamilton-Logo.jpgSOL Reform2015-07-18 01:45:472015-07-18 01:45:47Frimet Goldberger, Did Hasidic Neighbor Start Sex Abuse Reign of Terror on September 11?, Forward
TLC has officially canceled “19 Kids and Counting” after the Duggar’s oldest son Josh admitted to molesting five minor girls, including his sisters Jill and Jessa.
In May, the network pulled all episodes of the series from its schedule before ultimately announcing the cancellation:
“After thoughtful consideration, TLC and the Duggar family have decided to not move forward with “19 Kids and Counting,” the network said in a statement on Thursday. “The show will no longer appear on the air.”
“We spent the past month and a half in thoughtful consideration about what is the best way forward here,” Marjorie Kaplan, group president of TLC, Animal Planet and Velocity networks told the Associated Press.
TLC also announced its partnership with child-protection organizations, Darkness to Light and RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network), as part of a new campaign to raise awareness about child sexual abuse.
“TLC will work closely with both groups and with the Duggar family on a one-hour documentary that will include Jill and Jessa and other survivors and families that have been affected by abuse,” the network said in the statement.
On May 21, Josh Duggar addressed the molestation allegations and apologized in a statement on Facebook:
“Twelve years ago, as a young teenager I acted inexcusably for which I am extremely sorry and deeply regret. I hurt others, including my family and close friends. I confessed this to my parents who took several steps to help me address the situation. We spoke with the authorities where I confessed my wrongdoing and my parents arranged for me and those affected by my actions to receive counseling. I understood that if I continued down this wrong road that I would end up ruining my life. I sought forgiveness from those I had wronged and asked Christ to forgive me and come into my life. I would do anything to go back to those teen years and take different actions. In my life today, I am so very thankful for God’s grace, mercy and redemption.”
His parents Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar also released a statement at the time.
“Back 12 years ago our family went through one of the most difficult times of our lives. When Josh was a young teenager, he made some very bad mistakes and we were shocked,” they wrote in a statement on Facebook. “That dark and difficult time caused us to seek God like never before. Even though we would never choose to go through something so terrible, each one of our family members drew closer to God. We pray that as people watch our lives they see that we are not a perfect family.”
In Touch was the first to report that Jim Bob allegedly waited more than a year before he turned his then-teenage son over to Arkansas State Police for sex offenses, including forcible fondling. The names of both the suspect and the alleged victims were redacted in the report, however, it listed Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar as their parents.
According to In Touch, “a bizarre turn of events prevented police and prosecutors from finishing their investigation and possibly prosecuting” Josh Duggar.
The magazine reported that the state trooper who first took over the report about the alleged abuse in late 2004 never followed up and was later convicted on child pornography charges, for which he is serving a 56-year prison sentence. The three-year statute of limitations had passed and would have prevented police to pursue any charges.
In June, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar admitted to keeping the matter from police, and in an interview with Megyn Kelly, they revealed Josh confessed to molesting his sisters three times before they got him any sort of “help.”
Josh, 27, is now married with three children and a fourth due in July. In May, he announced his resignation as executive director of Tony Perkins’ conservative and anti-gay group, Family Research Council Action.
“19 Kids and Counting” premiered on TLC in September 2008 and followed the lives of devout Independent Baptists Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar and their 19 children.
Last year, thousands signed a Change.org petition calling for the cancellation of the show claiming that the family was using their fame to “promote discrimination, hate, and fear-mongering against gays and transgendered people.” The petition was started after Michelle Duggar taped a robocall urging Fayetteville, Arkansas residents to oppose a law that would allow transgender individuals to use the proper bathroom.
In the call, Michelle said that transgender women should not be able to use women’s restrooms because she didn’t believe residents would want, “males with past child predator convictions that claim they are female to have a legal right to enter private areas that are reserved for women and girls.”
The show was in its tenth season at the time of cancellation.
Full article: http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/55a7badbe4b0896514d0672d
http://sol-reform.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Hamilton-Logo.jpg00SOL Reformhttp://sol-reform.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Hamilton-Logo.jpgSOL Reform2015-07-17 03:00:072015-07-17 03:00:07Stephanie Marcus, Comment Email '19 Kids And Counting' Canceled By TLC After Josh Duggar Child Molestation Scandal, Huffington Post
A Waxhaw man who pleaded guilty to child sex abuse charges in New York this year remains under investigation by the FBI and Union County authorities in a child pornography case, officials said Wednesday.
Bill Bates-Congdon, 51, was sentenced to 20 years in prison after he admitted to abusing two boys and two girls – ages 7 to 12 – between 1997 and 2005, Oswego, N.Y., CountyDistrict Attorney Gregory Oakes said.
Bates-Congdon was indicted on 22 abuse-related counts, Oakes said, and pleaded to two counts of sodomy in the first degree and one count each of criminal sexual act in the first degree and sex abuse in the first degree. Allegations involving at least one other child had statute of limitations problems, according to Oakes.
The case centered on children in Scriba, a small town east of Rochester on the edge of Lake Ontario.
Bates-Congdon knew his victims, Oakes said. The district attorney praised their courage in stepping forward, saying: “They were motivated in part by justice and by a sense of wanting to prevent him from doing this to other children.”
He also said Bates-Congdon is very good at duplicity. In jail, he launched a campaign to pressure the district attorney for a lesser sentence, claiming he was being targeted because he is gay, Oakes said.
The prosecution had nothing to do with sexual orientation, Oakes said, and “everything to do with him as an abuser of children.”
Bates-Congdon even managed to convince his minister to lobby Oakes on his behalf. The prosecutor recalled telling the minister that Bates-Congdon was playing him the same way he played his victims and their parents.
Oakes said he told the minister, who was unaware of specifics in the case, “This was a man who systemically sought out victims to victimize over a period of years. He’s the worst kind of monster.”
Another investigation
Bates-Congdon moved from New York to Waxhaw about a decade ago.
In June 2014, Union County investigators working with New York authorities said they seized homemade child pornography videos from Bates-Congdon’s home in Waxhaw. Two Union County children were identified in the videos and their families were notified, officials said at the time.
Both of the boys were under the age of 16 and knew Bates-Congdon, Union County Sheriff’s Office Captain David Linto said. No additional children from Union County have been identified, he said.
The Sheriff’s Office is working with the FBI on the case, Linto said. Oakes said his office also has been in contact with the FBI and Union officials.
The FBI is continuing to review computer files and older media, including floppy discs and VHS tapes, Linto said.
He said he hopes the case can go to the U.S. Attorney’s office for consideration by the end of the year. Authorities also will need to sort out jurisdiction issues.
Bates-Congdon is locked up in New York’s Attica prison, records show.
http://sol-reform.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Hamilton-Logo.jpg00SOL Reformhttp://sol-reform.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Hamilton-Logo.jpgSOL Reform2015-07-17 02:42:052015-07-17 02:42:05Adam Bell, Waxhaw man sentenced to 20 years in NY child sex abuse case, Charlotte Observer
A Jewish teacher and rabbi’s son who molested two teenage girls was “an utter hypocrite” who professed his Orthodox faith while “cynically condemning his victims to suffer”, a judge has said.
Todros Grynhaus, 50, was jailed for 13 years and two months on Friday.
He must pay one victim £45,000 and the other £35,000 in compensation as well as prosecution costs of £35,000.
Grynhaus had taught in Jewish schools in Britain and abroad before setting up a successful direct debit management business while filling a role as a respected figure within the Charedi community in Salford.
Sentencing him, Mr Justice Timothy Holroyde said: “This was a refined degree of cruelty on your part. You knew what you were doing and you knew what harm you would cause. You are an utter hypocrite. You professed your religion whilst cynically condemning your victims to suffer and giving false evidence seeking to cast blame on them.
“I have no doubt that you felt able to rely on a prevailing attitude of insularity which you hoped would prevent these allegations from ever coming to the attention of the police. You hoped that, at worse, you might have to pay a form of financial penalty as directed at the Beth Din.
“You believed that the combination of the girls’ sexual ignorance and the attitudes of some within your community would make it even harder for your victims to complain about you, and you came close to getting away with it.
“Even when the allegations were reported to the police, I am afraid the evidence I have heard shows that many in your community were taken in by your lying protestations of innocence. Others will have to examine their own consciences, and should reflect that, but for the courage of your two victims, your serious crimes would have gone unpunished.
“You are a highly intelligent man. You knew the consequences of your wicked actions. You saw the distress of the witnesses during the trial. You could have spared them that additional harm but you chose to brazen it out, twice giving evidence which you now admit was untrue. In my judgement there is a significant risk you will commit further sexual offences against a girl or girls.”
Manchester Crown Court court had heard that reports of sexual assault tended to be dealt with “in-house” and Grynhaus had relied on a “prevailing attitude of insularity” to keep his sickening crimes from ever being exposed.
But when one of his victims, who was abused between the ages of 13 and 16, plucked up the courage to discuss matters with a psychologist in 2009, Grynhaus sought to ostracise her from the community and said her claims were fabricated.
He was confronted about the allegations – in front of his wife – the following year by community leaders and responded by saying “what would you like me to do about it?”.
Grynhaus was referred for therapy and the crimes were not reported to police for another two years. After he was arrested and charged he appeared in court, but was granted bail and fled to Israel on a false passport.
He was held there for attempting to enter the country fraudulently. After 18 months in an Israeli prison he was deported to England and eventually stood trial in January this year. After a jury failed to reach a verdict, he was convicted at a second trial in May.
Described as “dangerous” and “highly manipulative”, Grynhaus molested the girls when they were between the ages of 13 and 16 between 2002 and 2005.
On more than one occasion, he forced the girls to perform sex acts on him. He also inappropriately touched the girls – once in a hotel Jacuzzi – and acted in a “generally inappropriate and smutty fashion”. His second victim told the court he did “whatever he could get away with at the time”.
After being convicted of six counts of indecent assault and one count of sexual assault Grynhaus was locked up for 13 years and two months. He was also ordered to sign the sex offenders register for life and will be on an extended licence for four years when he is released from prison.
Reading a statement from one of his victims who was abused for around three years, prosecutor Alistair Webster QC said: “The more and more he manipulated other people to try and force us to say sorry to him, the more it places in my mind the horrors I suffered at his hands.
“I was used and abused in the most sickening way. This was something I buried very deep down and tried not to reveal to anyone. All I could do was spend every day thinking about the abuse over and over again.
“Even in the heat of summer I would wrap myself up in a thick winter coat. I was literally hiding myself in my coat. I felt guilty and at fault for the abuse I suffered. I have had to relive in court the traumas and say in public the filthy things he did to me.”
His father is the influential London rabbi Dayan David Grynhaus.
In another statement, the second victim, who was abused for around three months, said: “Every single facet of my life is tainted by Todros Grynhaus’ touch. I am constantly afraid. It feels as though my sexuality was hijacked and derailed at the age of 15.
“I find it impossible to trust anyone, particularly those in authority.”
In mitigation, Grynhaus’ barrister Jonathan Goldberg QC, said his client had not offended in the past decade and had “profited” from the psychological treatment he received.
“He had outstandingly good character as a neighbour, communal figure and as a teacher,” he said. “Of course, it can be said and rightly so that those people could not see his darker psychosexual side.
“Part of the punishment for this man is the shame and exposure and social ostracisation within the community. This case has erupted like a scandal in a monastery.”
The court heard that on remand in prison Grynhaus has been locked up for 23 hours a day as he could not bond with other, non-Jewish, prisoners.
Detective Sergeant Joanne Kay of Greater Manchester Police said: “Grynhaus had gained the trust of his victims before sexually assaulting and abusing them. He thought he could get away with his crime but thanks to their bravery in coming forward and supporting this investigation, we have been able to prosecute him.
“This case goes to show no matter when the offence took place, justice will eventually catch up with you. We take all sexual crime reports extremely seriously and victims will be supported by specialist officers thorough out the investigation. If you have been a victim, please do not suffer in silence and call police.
“I would also ask those who may be aware of such crimes taking place within their community to report them to police. All reports will be treated with the strictest of confidence.”
http://sol-reform.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Hamilton-Logo.jpg00SOL Reformhttp://sol-reform.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Hamilton-Logo.jpgSOL Reform2015-07-16 03:24:052015-07-16 03:24:05'Utter hypocrite' Todros Grynhaus jailed for 13 years for sex assaults, The Jewish Chronicle Online
Peter Isley, Church still evades payments to abuse victims, Wisconsin Gazette
/in Wisconsin /by SOL ReformMaking good on their verbal threat in open court to “spend down” the remaining money left in their estate to prevent 575 victims of rape, sexual assault and abuse by clergy of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee from receiving restitution, lawyers for Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki have filed an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. They seek to overturn a U.S. 7th Circuit decisive ruling that a fraudulent “cemetery trust” created by former Archbishop Timothy Dolan, now cardinal of New York, was not “protected” by federal religious laws or the First Amendment and can be used to compensate survivors.
A few weeks ago, the archdiocese started carrying out its threat by randomly deposing and, of course, re-traumatizing victims, putting survivors through hours of questioning by church lawyers fishing for reasons to file yet more pointless briefs and run up expensive bills. So far, lawyers’ fees and court costs are soaring near $20 million dollars while Listecki has begrudgingly offered $4 million, total, for all rape victims, less than $7,000 per survivor.
In the latest filing, Listecki again legally howls the discredited excuses of “religious freedom” and “First Amendment rights.” Clearly these rights are not enshrined in our Constitution for bishops, or anyone else, to cover up sex crimes, as if child rape is no one’s business but their own.
What matters is not winning the brief (they won’t). What matters is that it will be expensive, create more delays and pile up legal fees so there is no money left for survivors. You might as well move the Sunday collection plate over to the lawyers’ offices or, perhaps, the country club. The later location might be easier since, as Listecki wrote in a recent column in a Catholic paper, he will be getting in as much golf as he can this summer. In the meantime, hundreds of victims are languishing through years of bankruptcy without help, much less justice.
When filing for bankruptcy over four and a half years ago, Listecki urged victims to come forward for “restitution, healing and resolution.” Since then, however, he has claimed that none of the 575 victims, not a single one, has a legitimate case.
It is pretty clear that Listecki filed for bankruptcy in utter bad faith and breech of promise to victims. The bankruptcy was filed to prevent restitution to victims by deploying the federal bankruptcy system and so called “religious freedom” to shield Listecki, Dolan and dozens of child sex offenders from the consequences of their criminal conduct and cover-ups.
Dolan wrote to the Vatican when he sought permission to create his bogus cemetery trust to prevent U.S. courts from compensating victims of priest sex abuse. Since then, it has been shown the archdiocese has at least $300 million available for victim restitution. But so far the archdiocese appears to have found a means to buy its way of justice, in plain sight, out for everyone to see. Again.
Church still evades payments to abuse victims _ Opinion _ Wisconsin Gazette – Smart, independent and revealing
Editorial: It’s time to end pattern of deceit and denial on clergy sex abuse cases, National Catholic Reporter
/in International /by SOL ReformIt is inconceivable that any bishop would stand before a congregation and give them the following instructions:
If you commit a serious sin against the community, your first obligation is to conceal it.
If an accuser comes forward, deny the offense and condemn the accuser as someone who simply wants to besmirch your name.
If that doesn’t quiet the accuser, offer payment for the person’s silence.
If that fails, hire the best lawyers in town.
Follow NCR‘s coverage of Pope Francis through our blog, The Francis Chronicles. Sign up for the email alertsso you won’t miss a thing!
And if, finally, you have no escape, go to settlement and apologize to anyone who may have been hurt by your “mistakes.”
The scenario is unthinkable, but it is also descriptive of the very behavior that Catholics have witnessed among their leaders, with slight variations, for the past 30 years.
Those of us who have reported on the scandal for the past three decades, who have read through endless pages of horrific accounts and unfathomably slippery depositions, understand the descriptive exhaustion that Dominican Fr. Tom Doyle displays in his essay. There are no words left to adequately describe the level of deceit and corruption that existed in bishops’ residences and chancery offices across this land as thousands of priests, hidden and protected by bishops, abused tens of thousands of our children.
Barbara Blaine writes powerfully of how such abuse and utterly callous treatment by church officials can derail a life. She got hers back on track and became a leading advocate for victims. It is impossible to overstate the significance of the work of abuse survivors in bringing the church to some degree of accountability. Whatever progress occurred came about only because of pressure from outside the clergy culture.
NCR was the first publication that was both national and Catholic to deal with this ugly story at a time when few, including the editors here, could imagine the dimensions of the scandal.
Over the decades, the church has made progress in addressing the issue, most notably under Pope Francis with his tribunal for bishops and the forced resignations of bishops who have failed in their handling of sex abuse cases. But all of that still must be accompanied by a serious qualification: None of it happened voluntarily. All of it was forced by public pressure.
What remains is a void little spoken about but perhaps the longest-lasting and least-attended-to effect of the scandal. The failure of the bishops was not merely strategic or an example of extreme incompetence, though that all was certainly part of the case. The deeper failure was their betrayal, at a sacramental level, of the community they were charged to serve.
In their deceptions and rationales, they put aside the God of love and justice and mercy. They put aside the God who summoned the little children. They put aside, for venal reasons, the God of life they so ardently preached.
If we believe that God infuses every aspect of our lives, that that sacramental reality is a distinctive element of Catholic life, we are left wondering how our bishops, in their worst hour, could time and again turn their backs on that reality.
Peter, we know, made no excuses, didn’t try to spin his denial. He “wept bitterly.” The community today waits, wondering what sacramental act might restore trust so deeply broken.
Editorial_ It’s time to end pattern of deceit and denial on clergy sex abuse cases _ National Catholic Reporter
Frimet Goldberger, Did Hasidic Neighbor Start Sex Abuse Reign of Terror on September 11?, Forward
/in Uncategorized /by SOL ReformA man testified that he suffered years of child sexual abuse after visiting a respected member of his upstate New York Hasidic community for comfort on the day of the September 11 terror attacks.
Laiby Stern told a court that he was sexually molested for five years from 2001 until his bar mitzvah by Moshe Menachem Taubenfeld, whom he described as one of “the most powerful men” in his Skverer Hasidic-dominated Rockland County community of New Square.
Stern told a packed courtroom that Taubenfeld first molested him when the boy sought reassurance after after hearing about the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
“He called me into his office, closed the door and told me to pull my pants and underpants down,” Stern, now 22, recounted multiple times during his testimony, pausing regularly to regain his composure.
Taubenfeld then allegedly proceeded to rub the boy’s penis. “He then told me to lay flat on the desk and inserted a finger in my anus,” he told the rapt courtroom.
The abuse occurred regularly, every few weeks at first, then escalating to once every few days, Stern testified.
When asked by Steve Moore, an assistant Rockland County district attorney, why he continued to go to Taubenfeld’s home, the alleged victim simply said he was too shocked to do anything else.
“I didn’t know what to think,” he said.
Taubenfeld, 55, who denies the accusations, kept his eyes downcast throughout most of the proceedings, and prayed during breaks. He faces a charge of second-degree course of sexual conduct, a felony. He faces up to 7 years in prison.
Supporters of the accused man, who has 20 children and once worked as a premarital counsellor, said they don’t believe the alleged victim’s account.
“He’s lying,” one of the New Square men there to support Mr. Taubenfeld said in Yiddish during a brief recess, referring to Stern.
On Friday morning, Stern was back on the witness stand for cross-examination by defense attorney Gerard Damiani.
The defense’s line of inquiry seemingly intended to demonstrate that the accuser is mentally unfit to recall the details of the abuse, given his depression and use of psychiatric medicine after the abuse had ended in 2006, as well as his recent brief hospitalization.
“Didn’t you say you wanted to make millions of dollars suing Taubenfeld?” Damiani asked Stern towards the end of his cross-examination. ‘
“No,” he answered.
Stern gave several impassioned statements to wrap up his testimony, saying that New Square is not concerned about the molesters in their midst.
The alleged victim was interviewed about corruption and abuse in the community for a story in the Forward , which has since won a major journalism award.
The trial is scheduled to resume on July 20.
Did Hasidic Neighbor Start Sex Abuse Reign of Terror on September 11_ – News – Forward
Stephanie Marcus, Comment Email ’19 Kids And Counting’ Canceled By TLC After Josh Duggar Child Molestation Scandal, Huffington Post
/in Uncategorized /by SOL ReformTLC has officially canceled “19 Kids and Counting” after the Duggar’s oldest son Josh admitted to molesting five minor girls, including his sisters Jill and Jessa.
In May, the network pulled all episodes of the series from its schedule before ultimately announcing the cancellation:
“After thoughtful consideration, TLC and the Duggar family have decided to not move forward with “19 Kids and Counting,” the network said in a statement on Thursday. “The show will no longer appear on the air.”
“We spent the past month and a half in thoughtful consideration about what is the best way forward here,” Marjorie Kaplan, group president of TLC, Animal Planet and Velocity networks told the Associated Press.
TLC also announced its partnership with child-protection organizations, Darkness to Light and RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network), as part of a new campaign to raise awareness about child sexual abuse.
“TLC will work closely with both groups and with the Duggar family on a one-hour documentary that will include Jill and Jessa and other survivors and families that have been affected by abuse,” the network said in the statement.
On May 21, Josh Duggar addressed the molestation allegations and apologized in a statement on Facebook:
“Twelve years ago, as a young teenager I acted inexcusably for which I am extremely sorry and deeply regret. I hurt others, including my family and close friends. I confessed this to my parents who took several steps to help me address the situation. We spoke with the authorities where I confessed my wrongdoing and my parents arranged for me and those affected by my actions to receive counseling. I understood that if I continued down this wrong road that I would end up ruining my life. I sought forgiveness from those I had wronged and asked Christ to forgive me and come into my life. I would do anything to go back to those teen years and take different actions. In my life today, I am so very thankful for God’s grace, mercy and redemption.”
His parents Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar also released a statement at the time.
“Back 12 years ago our family went through one of the most difficult times of our lives. When Josh was a young teenager, he made some very bad mistakes and we were shocked,” they wrote in a statement on Facebook. “That dark and difficult time caused us to seek God like never before. Even though we would never choose to go through something so terrible, each one of our family members drew closer to God. We pray that as people watch our lives they see that we are not a perfect family.”
In Touch was the first to report that Jim Bob allegedly waited more than a year before he turned his then-teenage son over to Arkansas State Police for sex offenses, including forcible fondling. The names of both the suspect and the alleged victims were redacted in the report, however, it listed Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar as their parents.
According to In Touch, “a bizarre turn of events prevented police and prosecutors from finishing their investigation and possibly prosecuting” Josh Duggar.
The magazine reported that the state trooper who first took over the report about the alleged abuse in late 2004 never followed up and was later convicted on child pornography charges, for which he is serving a 56-year prison sentence. The three-year statute of limitations had passed and would have prevented police to pursue any charges.
In June, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar admitted to keeping the matter from police, and in an interview with Megyn Kelly, they revealed Josh confessed to molesting his sisters three times before they got him any sort of “help.”
Josh, 27, is now married with three children and a fourth due in July. In May, he announced his resignation as executive director of Tony Perkins’ conservative and anti-gay group, Family Research Council Action.
“19 Kids and Counting” premiered on TLC in September 2008 and followed the lives of devout Independent Baptists Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar and their 19 children.
Last year, thousands signed a Change.org petition calling for the cancellation of the show claiming that the family was using their fame to “promote discrimination, hate, and fear-mongering against gays and transgendered people.” The petition was started after Michelle Duggar taped a robocall urging Fayetteville, Arkansas residents to oppose a law that would allow transgender individuals to use the proper bathroom.
In the call, Michelle said that transgender women should not be able to use women’s restrooms because she didn’t believe residents would want, “males with past child predator convictions that claim they are female to have a legal right to enter private areas that are reserved for women and girls.”
The show was in its tenth season at the time of cancellation.
Full article: http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/55a7badbe4b0896514d0672d
Adam Bell, Waxhaw man sentenced to 20 years in NY child sex abuse case, Charlotte Observer
/in North Carolina /by SOL ReformA Waxhaw man who pleaded guilty to child sex abuse charges in New York this year remains under investigation by the FBI and Union County authorities in a child pornography case, officials said Wednesday.
Bill Bates-Congdon, 51, was sentenced to 20 years in prison after he admitted to abusing two boys and two girls – ages 7 to 12 – between 1997 and 2005, Oswego, N.Y., CountyDistrict Attorney Gregory Oakes said.
Bates-Congdon was indicted on 22 abuse-related counts, Oakes said, and pleaded to two counts of sodomy in the first degree and one count each of criminal sexual act in the first degree and sex abuse in the first degree. Allegations involving at least one other child had statute of limitations problems, according to Oakes.
The case centered on children in Scriba, a small town east of Rochester on the edge of Lake Ontario.
Bates-Congdon knew his victims, Oakes said. The district attorney praised their courage in stepping forward, saying: “They were motivated in part by justice and by a sense of wanting to prevent him from doing this to other children.”
He also said Bates-Congdon is very good at duplicity. In jail, he launched a campaign to pressure the district attorney for a lesser sentence, claiming he was being targeted because he is gay, Oakes said.
The prosecution had nothing to do with sexual orientation, Oakes said, and “everything to do with him as an abuser of children.”
Bates-Congdon even managed to convince his minister to lobby Oakes on his behalf. The prosecutor recalled telling the minister that Bates-Congdon was playing him the same way he played his victims and their parents.
Oakes said he told the minister, who was unaware of specifics in the case, “This was a man who systemically sought out victims to victimize over a period of years. He’s the worst kind of monster.”
Another investigation
Bates-Congdon moved from New York to Waxhaw about a decade ago.
In June 2014, Union County investigators working with New York authorities said they seized homemade child pornography videos from Bates-Congdon’s home in Waxhaw. Two Union County children were identified in the videos and their families were notified, officials said at the time.
Both of the boys were under the age of 16 and knew Bates-Congdon, Union County Sheriff’s Office Captain David Linto said. No additional children from Union County have been identified, he said.
The Sheriff’s Office is working with the FBI on the case, Linto said. Oakes said his office also has been in contact with the FBI and Union officials.
The FBI is continuing to review computer files and older media, including floppy discs and VHS tapes, Linto said.
He said he hopes the case can go to the U.S. Attorney’s office for consideration by the end of the year. Authorities also will need to sort out jurisdiction issues.
Bates-Congdon is locked up in New York’s Attica prison, records show.
‘Utter hypocrite’ Todros Grynhaus jailed for 13 years for sex assaults, The Jewish Chronicle Online
/in International /by SOL ReformA Jewish teacher and rabbi’s son who molested two teenage girls was “an utter hypocrite” who professed his Orthodox faith while “cynically condemning his victims to suffer”, a judge has said.
Todros Grynhaus, 50, was jailed for 13 years and two months on Friday.
He must pay one victim £45,000 and the other £35,000 in compensation as well as prosecution costs of £35,000.
Grynhaus had taught in Jewish schools in Britain and abroad before setting up a successful direct debit management business while filling a role as a respected figure within the Charedi community in Salford.
Sentencing him, Mr Justice Timothy Holroyde said: “This was a refined degree of cruelty on your part. You knew what you were doing and you knew what harm you would cause. You are an utter hypocrite. You professed your religion whilst cynically condemning your victims to suffer and giving false evidence seeking to cast blame on them.
“I have no doubt that you felt able to rely on a prevailing attitude of insularity which you hoped would prevent these allegations from ever coming to the attention of the police. You hoped that, at worse, you might have to pay a form of financial penalty as directed at the Beth Din.
“You believed that the combination of the girls’ sexual ignorance and the attitudes of some within your community would make it even harder for your victims to complain about you, and you came close to getting away with it.
“Even when the allegations were reported to the police, I am afraid the evidence I have heard shows that many in your community were taken in by your lying protestations of innocence. Others will have to examine their own consciences, and should reflect that, but for the courage of your two victims, your serious crimes would have gone unpunished.
“You are a highly intelligent man. You knew the consequences of your wicked actions. You saw the distress of the witnesses during the trial. You could have spared them that additional harm but you chose to brazen it out, twice giving evidence which you now admit was untrue. In my judgement there is a significant risk you will commit further sexual offences against a girl or girls.”
Manchester Crown Court court had heard that reports of sexual assault tended to be dealt with “in-house” and Grynhaus had relied on a “prevailing attitude of insularity” to keep his sickening crimes from ever being exposed.
But when one of his victims, who was abused between the ages of 13 and 16, plucked up the courage to discuss matters with a psychologist in 2009, Grynhaus sought to ostracise her from the community and said her claims were fabricated.
He was confronted about the allegations – in front of his wife – the following year by community leaders and responded by saying “what would you like me to do about it?”.
Grynhaus was referred for therapy and the crimes were not reported to police for another two years. After he was arrested and charged he appeared in court, but was granted bail and fled to Israel on a false passport.
He was held there for attempting to enter the country fraudulently. After 18 months in an Israeli prison he was deported to England and eventually stood trial in January this year. After a jury failed to reach a verdict, he was convicted at a second trial in May.
Described as “dangerous” and “highly manipulative”, Grynhaus molested the girls when they were between the ages of 13 and 16 between 2002 and 2005.
On more than one occasion, he forced the girls to perform sex acts on him. He also inappropriately touched the girls – once in a hotel Jacuzzi – and acted in a “generally inappropriate and smutty fashion”. His second victim told the court he did “whatever he could get away with at the time”.
After being convicted of six counts of indecent assault and one count of sexual assault Grynhaus was locked up for 13 years and two months. He was also ordered to sign the sex offenders register for life and will be on an extended licence for four years when he is released from prison.
Reading a statement from one of his victims who was abused for around three years, prosecutor Alistair Webster QC said: “The more and more he manipulated other people to try and force us to say sorry to him, the more it places in my mind the horrors I suffered at his hands.
“I was used and abused in the most sickening way. This was something I buried very deep down and tried not to reveal to anyone. All I could do was spend every day thinking about the abuse over and over again.
“Even in the heat of summer I would wrap myself up in a thick winter coat. I was literally hiding myself in my coat. I felt guilty and at fault for the abuse I suffered. I have had to relive in court the traumas and say in public the filthy things he did to me.”
His father is the influential London rabbi Dayan David Grynhaus.
In another statement, the second victim, who was abused for around three months, said: “Every single facet of my life is tainted by Todros Grynhaus’ touch. I am constantly afraid. It feels as though my sexuality was hijacked and derailed at the age of 15.
“I find it impossible to trust anyone, particularly those in authority.”
In mitigation, Grynhaus’ barrister Jonathan Goldberg QC, said his client had not offended in the past decade and had “profited” from the psychological treatment he received.
“He had outstandingly good character as a neighbour, communal figure and as a teacher,” he said. “Of course, it can be said and rightly so that those people could not see his darker psychosexual side.
“Part of the punishment for this man is the shame and exposure and social ostracisation within the community. This case has erupted like a scandal in a monastery.”
The court heard that on remand in prison Grynhaus has been locked up for 23 hours a day as he could not bond with other, non-Jewish, prisoners.
Detective Sergeant Joanne Kay of Greater Manchester Police said: “Grynhaus had gained the trust of his victims before sexually assaulting and abusing them. He thought he could get away with his crime but thanks to their bravery in coming forward and supporting this investigation, we have been able to prosecute him.
“This case goes to show no matter when the offence took place, justice will eventually catch up with you. We take all sexual crime reports extremely seriously and victims will be supported by specialist officers thorough out the investigation. If you have been a victim, please do not suffer in silence and call police.
“I would also ask those who may be aware of such crimes taking place within their community to report them to police. All reports will be treated with the strictest of confidence.”
‘Utter hypocrite’ Todros Grynhaus jailed for 13 years for sex assaults _ The Jewish Chronicle