The police have twice investigated Saunders (73) and not charged him, and are now calling on Church authorities to allow them to see the report.

The Vatican report identifies Saunders as a "predator" who sexually assaulted four Aboriginal men and boys and groomed dozens more.

It also says Saunders spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on grooming his victims by plying them with gifts of alcohol, phones, cash and travel.

Besides slamming Saunders' behaviour, the Vatican report is also critical of the two West Australian police investigations into the bishop's alleged offending and their decision not to charge him.

The Vatican noted the first complaint about Saunders was made in 2018. Police began investigating and by March 2020 Saunders had stood aside from his long-standing role as head of the diocese.

In 2020, Australia's Channel 7 heard about the investigation. It later reported that Saunders ordered his staff to collect and burn hundreds of office documents, files and photographs after the abuse allegations went to air.

In May 2021, just over a year after Saunders stood aside, the police decided not to press criminal charges against him. They said the ages of the victims at the time of the alleged acts could not be substantiated through evidence at that time.

It is an outcome that did not impress the Vatican investigators who say the police "mishandled" the inquiry for various reasons.

These included "limited resourcing and competing priorities, a lack of will by senior management to tackle the systemic issues, a strained ­relationship between police and the Kimberley Aboriginal Legal Service, and evidence gaps relating to establishing the ages of the victims at the time of the alleged offences".

Australian Catholic bishops respond

In a statement this week, the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference described the allegations as "very serious and deeply distressing, especially for those making the allegations."

It said the independent report had been provided to the Holy See, with the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith continuing the investigation.

Conference president Archbishop Timothy Costelloe explained the Church's investigation into allegations against Saunders couldn't start until the Western Australia Police Force inquiries had concluded in 2021.

In 2022, Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge oversaw the Church's investigation for the Vatican.

Costelloe entrusted the process to an experienced and independent specialist investigations organisation. Its comprehensive inquiries examined several serious allegations.

"That independent report has been provided to the Holy See, with the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith continuing the investigation.

"We will respect the enduring confidential nature of this process ... Saunders, who has maintained his innocence, is able to ...[communicate] directly with the Holy See.

"In due time, the Holy See will make its determinations. It is hoped that this will not be unduly delayed."
Source

• The Australian
• The Guardian
• The West Australian
• Australian Catholic Bishops Conference

He has done little to seriously address the problem even though a year has passed since the summit where about 190 bishops and cardinals heard the testimony of victims, they say.

The Pope closed the four-day "abuse summit" last February promising the Church would "spare no effort" to bring to justice paedophile priests and the bishops who covered up their crimes.

Besides criticising Francis for apparently backing out of a commitment to a zero-tolerance approach to clerical abuse, survivors are also asking for the report about the Vatican's investigation into former cardinal Theodore McCarrick to be published.

In the past year, zero tolerance has "dropped out of the pope's lexicon," said Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of the Bishops Accountability advocacy group.

"By that I mean ‘one strike and you're out' for abusers, at least out of the ministry, and ‘one strike and you're out' for enablers," she added.

"I think zero tolerance is a pledge the pope is choosing not to make. I think he's picking and choosing the changes he wants to make in the Church, and he's chosen not to pursue that one," Doyle said.

"I'm not so sure he was keen on doing it anyway."

So what progress has been made since last February?

Three months after the summit: the Vatican established procedures for every diocese to report allegations of abuse and foster accountability for the actions of bishops and cardinals.

Eleven months after the summit: Francis announced the rule of "pontifical secrecy" would be abolished in an effort to improve transparency in sexual abuse cases.

Bishops Accountability found that 4,500 victims of clerical sexual abuse in France had come forward over the past year.

Public cases in Spain had surged by 50% thanks to media investigations.

In France, bishops agreed to compensate victims.

Although these steps have prompted changes in some Catholic countries, in others there has been no impact at all.

As an example, in Italy, the bishop of Prato, became the first bishop in the country to report alleged cases of clerical sexual abuse to the police.

But in both Spain and Italy, a "concordat" between the Vatican and the state means that bishops can refuse to testify in court.

"Looking at the dioceses, parishes and episcopal conferences in seven of the largest Catholic countries in the world, we're finding mixed results," Doyle said.

"But what they all have in common is a sobering verdict... it is still entirely possible today... for a bishop to knowingly keep an abuser in ministry or return him to ministry, and for neither one of them to suffer a consequence under canon law."

Source

• Crux Now
• The Guardian
• Image: The Irish Times

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Paul Warren set strict limits, ruling that it would last three hours and that only two lawyers as well as Bishop Emeritus Matthew Clark's physician or aides, who will monitor his health, will be allowed in the room to avoid "a train wreck," the Democrat and Chronicle reported. Read more

In March this year the Lyon court ruled that Barbarin, "in wanting to avoid scandal caused by the facts of multiple sexual abuses committed by a priest ... preferred to take the risk of preventing the discovery of many victims of sexual abuse by the justice system, and to prohibit the expression of their pain."

Barbarin, who is the archbishop of Lyon, was given a six-month suspended sentence for "non-denunciation of sexual violence against minors."

He then offered his resignation to Pope Francis, but Francis refused to accept his resignation until the appeals process is completed.

Barbarin told the appeals court hearing last Thursday that he filed his appeal because he "cannot see clearly what [he is] guilty of."

First of all, he told the court that when he arrived as Archbishop in 2002, he considered that his predecessors had done whatever was necessary.

Barbarin admitted he knew of the rumours and said that no one disputed them.

"Everyone knew, nobody moved. Why am I expected to file a complaint 20 years later, when parishioners and parents had not done so at the time?" he told the Lyon court.

The outcome of the hearing of the appeal will help determine his future within the Catholic Church.

The case against Barbarin

The charges against Barbarin stem from complaints about French priest Bernard Preynat, who has admitted to abusing numerous Boy Scouts from the 1970s to the 1990s.

Barbarin is one of several church officials who were accused of covering up for Preynat over many years.

However, some of the accusations were outside the French statute of limitations. Of all those named, only Barbarin was convicted.

Barbarin's lawyer told the appeals court there is no legal basis for the court's decision to convict his client in March.

The case hinges on a discussion he had in 2014 with Alexandre Hezez, who was one of Preynat's 85 victims.

Hezez says he told Barbarin about Preynat's sexual violence during scout camps in the 1980's. He also says he told Barbarin he thought Preynat should no longer lead a parish.

At last Thursday's abuse hearing, Hezez told the court "I was certain that an investigation would begin. I was naive."

In response, Barbarin told the appeal hearing that after the discussion he followed Vatican instructions about what to do in such situations. He could not have done more than that, he explained.

He moved Preynat to another parish. Preynat then continued to work with children for another year until he retired.

The case against Preynat

Preynat will be tried in Lyon this coming January on charges of sexual assault of minors.

Although the civil case is still pending, Preynat has already been tried by France's Catholic Church.

In July this year, the Church found him guilty of sexually abusing numerous Boy Scouts. He was subsequently defrocked.

France's bishops voted this month for financial compensation to sexual abuse victims.

Source

• AP
• la-Croix International
• Image: BBC.com

"We still haven't fully realised that the crisis of confidence is charging into the Church's timberwork with unmitigated force," Bishop Heiner Wilmer says.

He has already drawn criticism from the establishment when, three months after his appointment as Bishop of Hildesheim, he told a newspaper that abuse of power was in the Church's DNA.

"I had reckoned with criticism, but not that so many people would be quite so distressed," he says.

Wilmer thinks the Church has forgotten abuse of power is as old as the Gospels. The way the disciples quarreled over who was first among them is an example.

He notes that the Church's reaction to the abuse crisis up to now has been to apply discipline and canon law, improve prevention and communications and work together with the judiciary and state authorities.

In his view, the Church must ask itself what the power abuse crisis means for "the way we speak about God, the Church and the way we proclaim the Gospel."

Hushing up clerical sexual abuse occurred because it was seen as something that sullied the holiness of the Church - so it had to be covered up, he says.

"We must come down from there and see the Church's sinfulness but also tackle the problem theologically."

"We were far too interested in polishing the Church's image and failed to see the human being. I find that truly terrible!" he says.

Over the past century, we "allowed the Church to deteriorate into a moral institution focused on what may or may not take place beneath the sheets," he says.

The sixth commandment is not the only commandment, he notes.

Wilmer says Christ's message is both moral and aimed at liberating and redeeming human beings.

He thinks the Church must become a community that uplifts people, where the Gospel is proclaimed in a way that fascinates people and that those who are only interested in the Church's survival "have already lost."

Although he says the German bishops' synodal procedures are engaging the laity in discussions about issues like clerical power, the Church's sexual morality and the priestly lifestyle may not be easy, but he is convinced they will be successful.

Nonetheless, it will take a lot of courage on the bishops' part "to walk shoulder to shoulder" with the laity and discuss priestly ordination, celibacy and the place of women in the Church.

While he says he is "passionately" committed to celibacy, "it must be made to shine more radiantly" by being voluntary rather than mandatory.

He also believes it is crucial for women to be given leading positions and greater responsibility in the Church.

If the Church does not find a way of putting these reforms into practice, it will become marginal he says.

Source

• La Croix
• Image: Dehoniani

Bishop Philip Egan says his suggestion was prompted by the recent scandals of clerical sexual abuse.

"Clerical sex abuse seems to be a world-wide phenomenon in the Church," Egan says in his letter.

"As a Catholic and a Bishop, these revelations fill me with deep sorrow and shame."

He says he asked for the synod because he feels compelled to offer a more "constructive suggestion" to the abuse crisis.

The synod could be preceded by a "congress" for bishops that is organised and run by members of the laity.

Organisers should have "particular expertise" in clergy abuse scandals and in forming policy for safeguarding children and other vulnerable people, he suggests.

From there, the synod's results could be carried into a formal session of the Synod of Bishops in Rome.

Egan says topics at the extraordinary synod could include discussing the "identity of being a priest [or] bishop," and devising guidance on "life-style and supports for celibacy," to proposing a "rule of life for priests [and] bishops" and establishing "appropriate forms of priestly [and] episcopal accountability and supervision."

Egan said the results of such a synod could be used to inform changes to canon law and help dioceses draft their own "directories for clergy." He also noted that as a diocesan bishop he had "few tools" to help him in the day-to-day management of clergy, and compared this with the structures and supports which existed in seminaries to help formators assess and develop vocations.

"By contrast, once ordained, priests [and] bishops have few formal on-going assessments or ministerial supervision," Egan wrote.

"It ought to be possible to devise mechanisms to help bishops in their responsibilities towards clergy and to help clergy realise they are not ‘lone operatives' but ministers accountable to the direction and leadership of the diocese."

Source

• Catholic Herald
• CruxNow
• Image: Catholic Diocese of Portsmouth
  

Numerous accusations of sexual abuse of minors and adults have arisen against former Archbishop of Washington, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick.

O'Malley acknowledged "a credible and substantiated allegation" involving a minor and McCarrick when the prelate was a priest in the New York diocese.

He also acknowledged the diocese's investigation of a second incident also involving a minor and McCarrick.

"These cases and others require more than apologies," O'Malley says.

"They raise up the fact that when charges are brought regarding a bishop or a cardinal, a major gap still exists in the Church's policies on sexual conduct and sexual abuse."

O'Malley says while the Church in the United States has adopted a zero tolerance policy regarding the sexual abuse of minors by priests, clearer procedures for cases involving bishops are needed.

"Transparent and consistent protocols are needed to provide justice for the victims and to adequately respond to the legitimate indignation of the community.

"The Church needs a strong and comprehensive policy to address bishops' violations of the vows of celibacy in cases of the criminal abuse of minors and in cases involving adults."

O'Malley says he has formed these opinions after working in several dioceses and with the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

"The Church needs to swiftly and decisively take action regarding these matters of critical importance," he says.

"In every instance of claims made by victims of sexual abuse, whether criminal violations or the abuse of power, the primary concern must be for the victim, their family and their loved ones.

"The victims are to be commended for bringing to light their tragic experience and must be treated with respect and dignity."

The accusations "are understandably a source of great disappointment and anger for many," Cardinal O'Malley says.

O'Malley says three actions are now required of the Church. These involve:

• a fair and rapid adjudication of these accusations
• an assessment of the adequacy of the Church's standards and policies at every level, and especially in the case of bishops
• communicating more clearly to the Catholic faithful and to all victims the process for reporting allegations against bishops and cardinals.

"Failure to take these actions will threaten and endanger the already weakened moral authority of the Church and can destroy the trust required for the Church to minister to Catholics and have a meaningful role in the wider civil society," O'Malley says.

"In this moment there is no greater imperative for the Church than to hold itself accountable to address these matters, which I will bring to my upcoming meetings with the Holy See with great urgency and concern."

Source

• The Boston Pilot
• Catholic News Agency
• Image: National Catholic Reporter

Their resignation followed four sessions with Francis in which they had to explain their actions.

Francis then wrote to them. He asked them to make a "frank discernment in the face of the grave events that have damaged the ecclesial communion and weakened the work of the Church of Chile in recent years."

The bishops have asked forgiveness from the victims, the Pope and all Catholics for their "grave errors and omissions."

They have also vowed to repair the damage they have done.

Whether Francis will accept their resignation is yet to be seen.

Bishop Carlos Pellegrin of Chillan says, in offering to resign en masse, the bishops didn't want to suggest they were "abandoning ship" and leaving Francis alone to deal with their mess.

Another of the bishops, Alejandro Goic, apologised on Saturday for failing to respond to reports of cases of sexual abuse in his diocese.

These included allegations that a priest sent naked pictures of himself to a false Facebook profile.

While many of the Chilean victims of abuse welcomed the news, they have called for the Vatican to pursue further action.

"There are very good people within the Chilean Church who could take over the reins and repair the damage done by these corrupt bishops," Juan Carlos Cruz, who was an abuse victim, says.

Source

• Zenit
• NZ Herald
• France 24
• Image: Christian Today

Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati says Barros, who allegedly covered up abuse of minors, should 'without a doubt' resign.

He also says he would not judge whether Barros actually had covered up abuse by Fr Fernando Karadima.

"I'm not a judge" who can say if Barros in fact covered up or not.

Baross's diocese of Osorno released a statement on Thursday saying he has some "health difficulties," while reiterating that he's "permanently available to the directions of the Holy Father."

No details were given regarding his condition.

Last week Pope Francis admitted 'grave mistakes' in his handling of the abuse crisis.

After initially defending Barros and saying he had been slandered, Francis appointed Vatican-based sexual abuse investigator Archbishop Charles Scicluna to investigate the matter.

Scicluna went to Chile to meet with abuse victims and clergy to find out whether Barros did have a case to answer.

After reading Scicluna's 2,300-page report, which included the testimony of 64 individuals, Francis changed his mind about Barros.

He said the report caused him "pain and shame" and he apologised to everyone he offended by his earlier stance.

He acknowledged he made "serious errors of assessment and perception ... especially due to lack of truthful and balanced information."

Ezzati says Francis was "deceived" with the information given to him about Barros.

He says it is "a very serious fault to have misinformed the Holy Father," and noted he hadn't "deceived anyone" himself.

In his opinion the bishop's situation should have been resolved "years ago."

Source

• Christian Today
• The Tablet
• CruxNow
• Image: Alchetron

The Royal Commission's draft terms confine the inquiry to state institutions.

The New Zealand Catholic Bishops and representation from religious orders have written a letter to the prime minister Jacinda Ardern, the Minister for Children Tracey Martin and Sir Anand Satyanand, chairman of the Royal Commission into Abuse in State Care.

The letter was signed by Bishop Patrick Dunn, the president of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference and Sister Katrina Fabish RSM, congregational leader of the Sisters of Mercy.

The letter expressed support of the work of the Royal Commission but wanted its terms of reference broadened to include a range of Church institutions.

"We are of the firm view that no individual should be denied the possibility of making a submission to this government inquiry.

"It would be wrong if some individuals felt excluded from this process simply because their path of referral to an institution was different from someone else's," the letter said.

Read the letter

Anglican Archbishop Philip Richardson says the Anglican Church "needs to collaborate fully with the Royal Commission and we need the terms of reference to be extended in a way that allows that to be possible."

Richardson said the consensus seems to be that other Christian churches also wanted to be scrutinised by the Royal Commission.

He and Cardinal John Dew have met with the commission chair Sir Anand Satyanand.

A Royal Commission spokesperson acknowledged Sir Anand had met them, adding that he was meeting a wide range of people and was not commenting on the content of any submissions.

She did not say if the public consultation on the draft terms of reference would be extended beyond the end of April or not.

An Anglican General Synod committee is also writing to the Prime Minister and the Children's Minister calling for an expanded commission.

Richardson said he is asking to meet Children's Minister Tracey Martin but is keen to leave the government room to move.

"If the terms of reference are not extended, how can the church's accountability be reflected? And we want to have those conversations with the [political] ministers ... we're really not sure what that might look like."

Source

• Supplied: Amanda Gregan Communications Advisor - NZ Catholic Bishops Te Huinga o nga Pihopa Katorika o Aotearoa
• nzherald.co.nz
• radionz.co.nz
• radionz.co.nz
• Image: stuff.co.nz

St Peter Damian understood this battle and is a strategist and tactician on what we should do, why we should do it, and the cost if we don't.

St Peter Damian's insightful work has the intimidating title of ‘The Book of Gomorrah' and was penned in the 11th century in Italy. Damian fought against sex abuse in the Church in his day and this work echoes the outrage felt in our societies today.

The tone doesn't suit modern ears attuned to the language of diversity but his arguments are compellingly Christian and formed around the scriptures and the Church Fathers in judgement, mercy and hope. To dismiss him as ‘homophobic' would be to miss his essential insights. It might need an R16 label!

It is a page turner and bluntly describes sexual vice but sends the right message. For victims and survivors who need to hear the language of accountability Damian offers it.

He is an apologist for the love of God and neighbour and is incensed by corrupt priests who attack God and destroy their neighbour. The cause of the problem of sex abuse in the Church as the inordinate love of pleasure for oneself rather than the love and fear of God.

St Peter Damian is clear that superiors should not show excessive mercy and certain that those who hide the sins of others are as guilty themselves by perpetuating evil. Damian says, "Such impious piety, without a doubt, does not reduce the wound, but administers a stimulus for its enlargement…rather grants the liberty of perpetrating it".

There is no tolerance for cover-ups here! He is certain that the Church should never admit those of homosexual persuasion to holy orders. Neither does he blame sex abuse on the influence of a corrupt society. The problem is the essential failing of individuals in the Church.

It was hard to read that the service of a corrupt priest is the ruin of the people and that God does not wish to receive sacrifice from him (Damian is not testing the validity of the Mass but the impiety with which such corrupt priests offer it).

Damian says it is the spiritual fatherhood of the priest which makes these abuses most abhorrent; he compares reprobate priests who commit evils with their spiritual children as comparable to a father's incest with his carnal sons and daughters.

Damian then exhorts those who have fallen to have confidence in the Lord's mercy which never despises penance. The penance mentioned was exceedingly rigorous and varied according to the level of abuse.

Damian held that those priests who had abused children even in a minor way could never be trusted; he said they should always be in the presence of two spiritual brothers. How correct he was here!

St Peter Damian recommends to priests, for the sake of the love of God and Christian charity the contemplation of the virtue of chastity. This is his battle plan.

In this he seems to be a proponent of virtue ethics which subsumes and transcends the law. The Christian life is a high calling morally and spiritually for all. For priests in particular it is because they offer the sacred mysteries for the Church.

• Lynda Stack graduated as a distance student with a BTh from Good Shepherd College. She is now studying for a Masters at the JPII Institute in Melbourne. Lynda is married. She and her husband have two adult children who are living overseas.