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February 18, 2005
New Abuse Allegations In Catholic Church
February 18, 2005 [Associated Press]
Dubuque - Officials say that over the last two years, 34 individuals have reported incidents of child sexual abuse by priests to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dubuque.
Archbishop Jerome Hanus says in a letter to Catholic households in the archdiocese that each person comes forward with a story and often much hurt and pain. The archdiocese covers 30 northeast Iowa counties and the cities of Waterloo, Cedar Rapids, Dubuque and Mason City.
Hanus' letter was meant to update members of the Archdiocese on its response to the sexual abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church.
The nation's Roman Catholic bishops say the 34 incidents are among 1,092 new allegations of sexual abuse that have been reported against at least 756 priests and deacons across the country.
Posted by Nancy at 11:49 PM | Comments (0)
Child abuse allegations skyrocket in ACT
February 18, 2005
Australia/New Zealand - The ACT Youth and Family Services Minister, Katy Gallagher, says she is extremely concerned about a near doubling of allegations of child abuse in the current financial year.
Reports are expected to reach 8,000 - around 20 calls a day.
Reports are expected to reach 8,000 - around 20 calls a day.
Ms Gallagher says the increased pressure has prevented child protection workers implementing recommendations from the Vardon report, aimed at prevention.
She says this may be helped when 30 additional workers from overseas arrive in the next couple of months.
But Ms Gallagher says the team is being kept busy with up to 650 calls a month, leaving little time to work on other areas.
"Ninety per cent of our energy is focused on the statutory end and we're not doing as much in the early intervention and prevention side as I would like," she said.
"I guess that's the aim of this reform program - to turn it around from the statutory end to the prevention side.
"But whilst these numbers continue to increase, we are not in a position to do that."
Ms Gallagher says a worrying aspect of the figures is the number of cases being substantiated.
Posted by Nancy at 11:46 PM | Comments (0)
Report raises new allegations of priest abuse
February 18, 2005 [Associated Press]
WASHINGTON D.C. -- Roman Catholic bishops say over the last year they've received nearly 1,100 new allegations of sexual abuse by priest and deacons.
The head of the bishops' Office of Child and Youth Protection says half of the 756 accused priests had been named in previous abuse allegations.
Kathleen McChesney says most of the one-thousand-92 cases are decades old. She says 72 percent of the priests were either dead, defrocked or removed from public ministry before the newest allegations were made.
The bishops are releasing a new national audit of U-S dioceses. Teams of auditors visited churches across the country to evaluate compliance with the church's child protection policy.
Auditors found that the vast majority of dioceses have taken the required steps to protect children.
But the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said the audits were "minimal and misleading." The victims' group says bishops had too much control over who participated in the review.
Posted by Nancy at 11:35 PM | Comments (0)
Senate votes to increase child abuse penalties
February 18, 2005 [Associated Press]
SANTA FE -- The Senate wants to increase the criminal penalty for child abusers who kill their victims.
The Senate voted to increase the punishment for intentionally abusing a child, resulting in the child's death.
The punishment would be life in prison -- which in New Mexico means 30 years.
Current law doesn't distinguish between abuse that results in great bodily harm and abuse that results in death.
The current penalty is 18 years in prison.
The measure passed on a vote of 30-to-8.
It now goes to the House.
Posted by Nancy at 11:28 PM | Comments (0)