News Story of the Day
Three brothers accuse former priest turned AIDS activist of sex abuse
uly 25, 2018, The Buffalo News
The former head of the Buffalo area's largest AIDS prevention organization is being accused of molesting three brothers from a South Buffalo family when he was a Catholic priest in the 1970s.
West Seneca resident and author P.A. Kane wrote a first-person essay accusing Ronald Silverio of being the young parish priest who molested him when he was a parishioner of Holy Family Church in South Buffalo.
Man Says Cardinal McCarrick, His ‘Uncle Ted,’ Sexually Abused Him for Years
By Sharon Otterman, July 19, 2018, NY Times
James was 11 years old when Father Theodore E. McCarrick came into his bedroom in Northern New Jersey, looking for the bathroom. Father McCarrick, then 39 and a rising star in the Roman Catholic church, was a close family friend, whom James and his six siblings called Uncle Teddy. James was changing out of his bathing suit to get ready for dinner.
“He said, turn around,” James, who is now 60, recalled in an interview last week. “And I really don’t want to, because I don’t want to show anybody anything.” But he did, he said, and was shocked when Father McCarrick dropped his pants, too. “See, we are the same,” James said he told him. “It’s O.K., we are the same.”
Catholic priests raise 5 main objections against grand jury report in Pennsylvania
By Ivey DeJesus, July 17, 2018, PennLive
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Tuesday is expected to release the latest salvo in a last-ditch effort to amend what is expected to be a blistering report on the Catholic Church statewide.
The court is slated to release the response of state Attorney General Josh Shapiro to efforts by at least two dozen priests seeking to revise the report from the 40th Statewide Grand Jury. The priests, current and former, whose names have been redacted from the report, have petitioned the court seeking to revise or block the release of the forthcoming 800-plus page report.
He Preyed on Men Who Wanted to Be Priests. Then He Became a Cardinal
By Laurie Goodstein and Sharon Otterman, July 16, 2018, NY Times
As a young man studying to be a priest in the 1980s, Robert Ciolek was flattered when his brilliant, charismatic bishop in Metuchen, N.J., Theodore E. McCarrick, told him he was a shining star, cut out to study in Rome and rise high in the church.
Bishop McCarrick began inviting him on overnight trips, sometimes alone and sometimes with other young men training to be priests. There, the bishop would often assign Mr. Ciolek to share his room, which had only one bed. The two men would sometimes say night prayers together, before Bishop McCarrick would make a request — “come over here and rub my shoulders a little”— that extended into unwanted touching in bed.
Hawaii--Survivors Now Have More Time to Sue for Clergy Sex Abuse
By KU`UWEHI HIRAISHI, JUL 12, 2018, Hawaii Public Radio
A new law in Hawaiʻi now gives survivors of child sexual abuse more time to file claims against their abuser. Reforms to the state’s statute of limitations have been key in exposing the extent of child sexual abuse at various institutions, most notably the Catholic Diocese of Honolulu.
Nearly 60 priests associated with Hawaiʻi’s Roman Catholic Church have been accused of child sexual abuse. That’s according to a recent report by attorneys of abuse victims.
58 Hawaii priests accused of child sex abuse; deadline to file a civil claim extended
Brigette Namata, July 11, 2018, KHON2
HONOLULU (KHON2) - Allegations of Hawaii priests sexually assaulting children date as far back as the 1950s.
A detailed report compiled by law firm Jeff Anderson and Associates PA and the Law Office of Mark Gallagher reveal 58 men associated with the Diocese of Honolulu who have been accused of sexually abusing children.
The report also shows a letter written by a priest with Maryknoll Fathers, dated November 6, 1959, to another priest on the mainland. In the letter, the priest admits Hawaii was considered a "dumping ground" for troubled clerics from the mainland and the Philippines and Guam. He warned against transferring two troubled priests to the islands, adding "these two men might be most dangerous out here."
Filings disclose new details on grand jury clergy abuse probe
By Nathaniel Lash & Craig R. McCoy, July 10, 2018, The Inquirer
New filings in a suit to stop the release of a Pennsylvania attorney general’s report on clergy sex abuse offer a window into who is seeking to keep the report secret and why.
The documents were made public Friday by the state Supreme Court, which blocked the release of the grand jury report until the appeals could be heard.
Release report on Catholic priest abuse allegations now | Editorial
By The Inquirer Editorial Board, July 10, 2018, The Inquirer
For decades, the Roman Catholic Church has gone to extremes to ignore, cover up and downplay the widespread sexual abuse and rape of boys and some girls across the world. So it comes as no surprise that nearly two dozen current and former priests are seeking to block the release of a grand jury report detailing serial sexual abuse in Catholic dioceses across Pennsylvania.
Fight, deny, and delay have been the Catholic Church’s playbook when it comes to clergy sexual abuse. When all else fails, the church quietly pays confidential settlements to sweep cases under the rug.
Allegations against former area priest ‘not substantiated,’ diocese says, as alleged victim’s attorneys protest
By MATT SURTEL AND MALLORY DIEFENBACH, July 3, 2018. The Daily News
DUNKIRK — A former Batavia priest has returned to active ministry after sexual abuse allegations against him were found to be “not substantiated.”
Rev. Dennis G. Riter was placed on administrative leave in March. He returned to his duties at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Dunkirk this past weekend.
The complaints against Riter had been investigated by former Erie County assistant district attorney Scott F. Riordan on behalf of the Buffalo Diocese. Riordan was assistant chief of the Sexual Assault Bureau in the Erie County District Attorney’s Office and is currently a village justice in Kenmore.
Riter was pastor from 2002 to 2009 at the former St. Mary’s Church in Batavia.