Pope encourages protection of children from abuse

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis is calling for courageous defense of children to protect them from abuse.

Francis made no mention of the church scandals in many countries in which clergy abused children and hierarchy covered up for them. At a Mass he celebrated Sunday in crowded St. Peter's Square, Francis said abuse victims are in his prayers.

He stressed that all must work with courage so that children, who are among the most vulnerable people, be always defended and protected.

Ignoring sometimes heavy rain, Francis toured the square in a popemobile, but left the vehicle to embrace disabled adults and children along his route.

In a surprise, he ventured beyond the Vatican's confines, riding the popemobile down a Rome boulevard to greet thousands of cheering faithful who couldn't fit in the square.

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Catholic religious order abuse files may go public

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Less than three months after the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles released the files of priests accused of sex abuse, attorneys for alleged victims are back in court seeking similar records kept by more than a dozen religious orders.

A hearing Tuesday will begin the process of determining if — and in what form — the records kept by religious orders such as the Jesuits, Vincentians, Salesians and Dominicans, among others, will be made public.

The continued legal battle comes after the Los Angeles archdiocese unsealed under court order the files it kept over the years on 120 of its priests who have been accused of sex abuse in civil lawsuits. The church agreed as part of a $660 million settlement to release the documents, but attorneys for individual priests fought for five years to keep them under wraps, citing privacy issues.

A number of religious orders signed off on the settlement agreement and contributed significant amounts to it because up to one-third of the accused priests belonged to religious orders, said J. Michael Hennigan, an archdiocese attorney representing the interests of the orders at the hearing.

Those orders assigned priests to work in the archdiocese but are separate entities with their own hierarchy and disciplinary processes, he said.

Ray Boucher, a coordinating attorney for the plaintiffs, said the records kept on accused priests by the religious orders are critical to understanding the scope of the sex abuse scandal and the internal dynamics that contributed to it.

In many instances, the archdiocese file on a religious order priest is empty or one-sided and missing records that would show whether the order already knew of the priest's behavior and how they ultimately handled him, he said.

Some of the orders have also reached separate settlements with alleged victims, including the Franciscans.

Franciscan files released last year revealed a pervasive culture of abuse over generations at a Santa Barbara seminary dedicated to training future Franciscans. The file included a rarely seen "sexual history" written by one priest for a therapy session that detailed how he formed a boys' choir and selected his victims from among its ranks.

"These orders ... have really flown under the radar," Boucher said.

Religious orders whose files will be discussed at the hearing include small groups such as the Piarist Fathers and larger, more well-known organizations such as the Jesuits and Dominicans.

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Rutgers fires basketball coach after abuse video surfaces

By David Jones

NEWARK, New Jersey (Reuters) - Rutgers University fired the head of its men's basketball team on Wednesday after the release of video showing him shoving players, hurling balls at their heads and berating them with homophobic slurs.

The video, which went viral on the Internet, prompted outrage and calls from players, fans and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie for the ousting of the coach, Mike Rice.

The governor said the dismissal was "the right and necessary action to take in light of the conduct displayed" at New Jersey's largest public university with 58,000 students.

Rice's firing, amid the popular "March Madness" tournament that determines the top U.S. college basketball teams, throws the spotlight on the pressure-cooker world of U.S. college sports, where big money and university reputations are at stake.

Rutgers has been playing in the Big East Conference, one of the most competitive, that includes such basketball powerhouses as the University of Connecticut, Syracuse University and Georgetown University. The taxpayer-supported Rutgers University paid Rice $655,000 last year, the third year of a five-year contract, according to public records.

The video of Rice, released on Tuesday by the ESPN sports network, showed "a chronic and pervasive pattern of disturbing behavior," said Rutgers President Robert Barchi in a statement announcing the dismissal.

"Coach Rice cannot continue to serve effectively in a position that demands the highest levels of leadership, responsibility and public accountability," Barchi said.

The video shows Rice pushing players to the floor, throwing balls from close range to their heads and midsections, kicking them and shouting obscenities and homophobic slurs.

Rice had been suspended briefly in December by Rutgers Athletic Director Tim Pernetti after he was shown the video. The suspension cost Rice $75,000 in fines and lost salary.

The dismissal on Wednesday marked a reversal for Pernetti and Rutgers, which had retained Rice as coach when the suspension ended and had ordered him to undergo anger-management therapy.

Pernetti, in a statement, acknowledged that he should have gone further than the suspension.

"I thought it was in the best interest of everyone to rehabilitate, but I was wrong," Pernetti said. "Moving forward, I will work to regain the trust of the Rutgers community."

Rice, 44, apologized for his behavior in an interview with WABC-TV on Wednesday outside his New Jersey home.

"There's no explanation for what's on that film," he said. "There's no excuse for it. I was wrong. And I want to tell everybody who's believed in me that I'm deeply sorry for the pain and hardship that I've caused."

MEDIOCRE SEASON

The hiring of Rice in 2010 was seen as an effort to beef up the Rutgers men's basketball team, which last played in a post-season tournament in 1991. But the team has had a losing season in each of the three years Rice was head coach.

Rice previously had been the head coach at Robert Morris University in Pennsylvania, leading the team to back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances. Dr. Craig Coleman, athletic director at Robert Morris, said in an email to Reuters that Rice's behavior in the video was "quite unfortunate, but it is not indicative" of his behavior at the smaller school.

From 2001 to 2004, Rice was director of the Eastern Invitational Basketball Camp at the Hoop Group, a Neptune, New Jersey-based organization that trained student athletes.

"They were probably the most enjoyable four years I've had running our business," Rob Kennedy, president of the Hoop Group, said of Rice's tenure. "He was universally liked by everybody."

Rutgers' initial decision to suspend Rice, rather than dismiss him, has come under fire and reignited debate over how universities deal with big-time college sports and the money they generate.

Investigators found those pressures played a role in Penn State's failure to take action against football coach Jerry Sandusky, who was convicted last year for sexually abusing young boys over the years.

The video showing Rice's homophobic slurs was particularly sensitive for Rutgers after the 2010 suicide of student Tyler Clementi, 18, who jumped off a bridge after learning that a roommate spied on his homosexual tryst in their dorm room.

The episode drew national attention when the roommate, who used a computer-mounted webcam, was prosecuted under a hate crimes law. The case also highlighted issues of bullying through social media and teen suicide.

Rice's antics were reminiscent of an incident in 1997 when Indiana basketball coach Bob Knight was caught on tape choking player Neil Reed in practice. Knight, known for his short temper and combative personality, was fired six months later.

The video that prompted Rice's dismissal was compiled by former NBA player Eric Murdock, who served as director of player development under Rice.

Murdock's lawyer, Raj Gadhok, told reporters that the university failed to renew his client's contract after Murdock brought the video, and Rice's errant behavior, to the attention of school officials.

In an interview with ESPN posted on its website on Tuesday, Pernetti denied Murdock's claim that he was wrongfully terminated. He said his contract was not renewed after he attended a speaking engagement against the wishes of the Rutgers coach.

(Writing by Tom Brown and Ellen Wulfhorst; Editing by Paul Thomasch, Mary Milliken and Grant McCool)

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Pa. woman sues church, shrine, cites priest abuse

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A new priest-abuse lawsuit accuses church and local authorities of letting a Philadelphia-area priest flee to Poland during a stalled investigation.

The lawsuit says the priest assaulted a woman last year while counseling her at a Roman Catholic shrine in Bucks County.

The woman volunteered at Our Lady of Czestochowa (CHEST'-uh-HOV'-uh) in Doylestown.

The Associated Press is not naming the accused priest because he could not be reached for comment.

He belongs to the Pauline Fathers, a religious order at the shrine. A woman who answered the phone Wednesday said the Pauline supervisors were "in prayer" and not available for comment.

The lawsuit also accuses Bucks County prosecutors and Philadelphia Archdiocese officials of failing to pursue the complaint and letting the priest flee.

Neither office immediately returned phone messages.

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Abuse victims want pope to open Argentina files

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — A U.S. group that tracks clergy abuse called on Pope Francis to apologize Tuesday for what it called the Argentine church's protection of two priests who were eventually convicted of abusing children.

The Bishop Accountability group cites the case of Father Julio Cesar Grassi, who ran the "Happy Children" foundation and was convicted of pedophilia in 2008, and Father Napoleon Sasso, convicted in 2007 of abusing girls at a soup kitchen in suburban Buenos Aires. Sasso had been moved to the kitchen by church authorities after he got into trouble for pedophilia in remote San Juan province.

Jorge Bergoglio, who became Argentina's cardinal in 2001, wasn't directly involved in any sex abuse scandals or coverups, but he failed to remove priests accused of sexually abusing their faithful, and refused to meet with the victims, their attorney Ernesto Moreau told The Associated Press.

"Bergoglio has been the strongest man in the Argentine church since the beginning of this century," Moreau said, and yet "the leadership of the church has never done anything to remove these people from these places, and neither has it done anything to relieve the pain of the victims."

Now Grassi is free on appeal, thanks in part to the church's report. Before he was convicted, he thanked Bergoglio for "never abandoning him."

Bishop Accountability co-director Anne Doyle says this shows Bergoglio was behind the curve in the Catholic church's global struggle to deal with sex abuse by its priests, which began in 2002 after thousands of cases became public in the United States and around the world.

"We would be alarmed if the archbishop Bergoglio had done this in the '60s or '70s. That would be sad and disturbing. But the fact that he did this just five years ago, when other bishops in other countries were meeting victims and implementing tough reporting laws, it puts him behind some of his American counterparts, that's for sure," Doyle told the AP.

The group said that to send a message of zero tolerance, Francis should tell the Buenos Aires archdiocese to release the complete files on these two cases; publicly identify any priests who are "credibly accused"; publicly endorse the mandatory reporting by church officials to law enforcement of any suspected abuse; admit that he was wrong to defend abusive priests; apologize to the victims of Grassi and Sasso; and offer to meet with the victims now.

Doyle noted that The Washington Post reported on these cases just as Francis was being installed as pope in a Vatican ceremony seen around the world.

"The victims of these two priests are the very children of God about whom he was speaking in his homily today," she said. "They are the most vulnerable of the poor. We hope that Francis will seize this as a priority and reach out to the victims and rectify his terrible insensitivity to them when he was archbishop."

Messages left by phone and email by the AP seeking comment from the Buenos Aires archbishopric's press office were not immediately returned Tuesday.

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LA school district to settle elementary school abuse claims

By Dan Whitcomb

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Los Angeles Unified School District has agreed to a multimillion-dollar settlement with 58 current and former students at a school where an ex-teacher was accused of taking bondage-style photos of pupils, a lawyer for the district said on Tuesday.

The settlement would resolve nearly half of the 129 claims filed by former students of Miramonte Elementary School, attorney David Holmquist said.

Holmquist, who represents the school district, declined to disclose the amount of the settlement, which must be approved by a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge, but said it totaled millions of dollars.

"When we set up this early resolution process back last summer, the goals were to promote healing in the community and provide for the emotional health needs of the students into the future," Holmquist said. "It's in everybody's best interest, but primarily the students'."

The Los Angeles Times reported on its website that the district would pay a total of $30 million to settle the claims, with each student receiving about $470,000.

Allegations of abuse at Miramonte last year touched off protests by infuriated parents and prompted Los Angeles County school officials to temporarily replace the entire staff at Miramonte during an exhaustive investigation.

Mark Berndt, the first of two former Miramonte teachers accused of molesting students there, made headlines when he was charged in January 2012 with 23 counts of lewd acts on children, all aged 10 and younger.

Berndt is accused of taking bondage-style photos of students, some with large, live "Madagascar-type cockroaches" on their faces. In others, students were seen with spoons of semen held to their faces, according to authorities. He has pleaded not guilty.

The investigation began after a company that does photo processing turned over pictures to detectives. Authorities said a search turned up hundreds more photos.

Berndt, who taught at Miramonte for more than 30 years, was fired by the school district in early 2011, shortly after the investigation began. He could spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted.

In February 2012, then-Miramonte teacher Martin Springer was charged with three counts of lewd acts on a child. Springer also pleaded not guilty.

Holmquist said dozens of claims filed by parents or guardians were not part of the settlement agreement, but that the district was seeking to resolve the remaining cases.

(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Cynthia Johnston, Richard Chang and Stacey Joyce)

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Sex abuse: the scandal the Catholic Church cannot shake

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Colm O'Gorman was 14 years old when Father Sean Fortune arrived unannounced at his parents' house in a small town in southern Ireland. The priest was given tea and a seat by the fire, and asked the teenager to help set up a youth group.

"I was 14, and very eager and hungry to be out in the world, involved in things, doing things, making a difference. And that's what he exploited," said O'Gorman, now 46 and the executive director of Amnesty International in Ireland.

The abuse that followed, culminating in Fortune's repeated rape of the boy, was part of one of the greatest scandals ever to hit the Catholic Church, damaging the curtailed papacy of Pope Benedict and posing a huge challenge to whoever succeeds him.

O'Gorman's story is just one in a worldwide scandal that destroyed lives, bankrupted dioceses, and in many cases cost the Church its most precious asset: faith.

No questions were asked when Fortune took O'Gorman to his isolated house for the weekend. Such was the Church's power in Ireland at that time, no one would question a priest.

That was the first time Fortune sexually assaulted O'Gorman. Driving him back to his parents the next day, the priest stopped the car around the corner from the teenager's home.

"There were no words that I had that could explain what had happened, and I was terrified," O'Gorman recalls. "He said to me: ‘I'm worried about you, you have a problem. Either I can tell your parents, or you can come back down to me again.'"

"He kept coming and taking me away, for nearly three years."

Fortune's attacks became increasingly violent and escalated to rape. O'Gorman, depressed and suicidal, finally fled his hometown. He became homeless on the streets of Dublin.

It took a decade for O'Gorman to re-establish contact with his family and explain what had happened. With their support, he made a report to the Irish police in 1995.

"Within weeks, I heard back from the detective who had started the case that they had found another five victims," O'Gorman said.

RECURRING PATTERN

The investigation revealed a bully priest who manipulated and abused people wherever he went, and a Church hierarchy that, after receiving complaints about him, moved him on to places where he found new victims: a pattern that recurred in its handling of abuse cases worldwide.

Fortune killed himself in 1999 while on trial for 66 accounts of assault and rape of boys.

Though there was little legal precedent, O'Gorman took a civil suit against the Diocese of Ferns and Pope John Paul in 1998, in which he cited evidence that Fortune's crimes were well known but that the Church did nothing to limit his access to children.

The diocese apologized in 2003 and paid O'Gorman 300,000 euros ($389,500) in compensation.

In a dramatic illustration of the loss of faith in the Church across the developed world, Ireland - where Catholicism was written into the constitution and had enormous influence throughout the 20th century - closed its embassy to the Holy See in 2011 as relations hit an all-time low.

The sexual abuse crisis and its continuing repercussions on the Church was likely one of the difficulties Benedict referred to when he became the first pontiff in centuries to abdicate, saying he no longer had the strength to continue.

For 20 years before becoming pope, the then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was the man in charge of coordinating the Church's response to abuse cases, as prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. A meticulous scholar, he spent years reading the details of case after case of abuse.

"There was no one in the Church hierarchy who was better positioned to make a real difference than Pope Benedict," David Clohessy, director of the U.S.-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said last week. "He had both the power and the knowledge."

FILTH IN THE CHURCH

Shortly before his election in 2005, Ratzinger gave a now-famous address in which he lamented "filth" in the Church, seen as an indicator he would take a tougher line if made pope.

After his election, as the scandal was gaining more publicity, Benedict met abuse victims in Germany, the United States, Australia, Malta and Britain, and barred two high-profile former Vatican favorites suspected of abuse from office.

The barring from public ministry of charismatic Italian priest Gino Burresi and Marcial Maciel, the Mexican founder of the Legionaries of Christ religious order, marked a watershed, showing the Church was finally acting against abuse.

Victims groups say that the Vatican had a policy of not reporting abusive priests to secular authorities, citing evidence such as a letter sent by its head of clergy to a French bishop in 2001, commending him for not denouncing a pedophile priest who had been given 18 years jail for abusing young boys.

They are demanding a comprehensive Church policy for protecting the millions of children still in its care in schools, hospitals and youth groups worldwide, and the demotion of clergy who hid abuse in the past.

The Benedict papacy's response, O'Gorman said, "falls at the first and most important hurdle. That is to simply acknowledge the truth of what happened, and the truth of its role in the cover up of crimes by priests across the world."

With the victims still far from satisfied, the abuse crisis still hangs over the Vatican as the its cardinals - the "princes of the Church" - gather to elect Benedict's successor.

SIN OF A PRIEST

Cardinal Roger Mahony, who as archbishop of Los Angeles worked to shield pedophile priests from prosecution, according to files unsealed by court order in January, has expressed incomprehension about accusations leveled against the clergy over their handling of cases in the past.

"People say: ‘Well, why didn't you call the police?' In those days no one reported these things to the police, usually at the request of families," he told the Catholic News Service on arrival in Rome.

The Vatican's chief prosecutor of sex abuse under Benedict, Monsignor Charles Scicluna, said in an Italian television interview last week: "This disease affects all places and all society, but unfortunately our sin makes the news. Why does the sin of a priest create more fuss?"

The Vatican emphasized last week that it was the duty of cardinals to attend the conclave unless there was a serious impediment such as health. Britain's most senior cardinal Keith O'Brien excluded himself from the conclave after allegations he had behaved inappropriately with other priests.

He admitted his sexual conduct was not that expected of a priest. No allegations suggest this involved children.

Some cardinals have been suggested as "clean hands" candidates for the papacy, notably U.S. Cardinal Sean O'Malley, who published a list of clergy accused of abuse on the Boston Archdiocese website and established a system for mandatory reporting of allegations to civil authorities.

Whoever the next pontiff is, he will have to face a scandal that caused two million Catholics to leave the Church in the United States alone, according to one University of Notre Dame study.

"It doesn't just damage the body, but the soul, and the faith of believers," said Scicluna.

"This is a battle that we cannot afford to lose."

($1 = 0.7702 euros)

(Editing by Philip Pullella and Robin Pomeroy)

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