The church paid her a total of $188,000.00 on what was subsequently shown to be fraudulent claims.

She had provided medical reports by a psychiatrist and a general practitioner supporting her claim as well as emails purportedly from other victims of the same priest.

All her claims as well as the emails from other purported victims were fake.

An independent investigator working for the church at the time found that the information provided was legitimate.

The woman wanted her complaint to be kept confidential and dealt with only by the church.

The complaint was handled in-house by the Palmerston North Catholic Diocese Protocol Committee, which deals with allegations of sexual abuse by clergy.

The fraud was discovered only when the church queried one of the reports with a health provider.

The woman, who has name suppression, appeared at the Morrinsville District Court on Wednesday, June 8.

She had been charged with obtaining by deception $188,190.17 from the Catholic Church.

She is due to appear at the Hamilton District Court on June 27 for sentencing.

In the Morrinsville District Court, the former chair of the protocol committee told the court that the woman took advantage of her goodwill.

"I believe her fraudulent claims have damaged the claims of men and women who have suffered genuine abuse and has caused psychological harm to persons like myself, who give their time to support victims," she said as part of her victim impact statement.

" "I was duped and indeed cynically mocked by one of my own gender who blatantly lied ... fraudulently secured a large sum of money for her own use and committed a grave injustice on an innocent man."

Source

• stuff.co.nz
• Image: lawyer-ok.biz

He is  Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai.

Hon Tai-Fai is currently secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, a position he has held since 2010.

He had previously been professor of Theology at the Holy Spirit Seminary of Hong Kong.

Administrators are often named to run archdioceses temporarily until a new archbishop is named.

Apuron, has been the Archbishop of the Agãna archdiocese for 30 years.

He says he welcomes the appointment of an administrator

In late May, the Apuron traveled to the Vatican.

He was still in Rome on June 6 when the Vatican press office announced Pope Francis had appointed the administrator.

In a video, recorded in  St. Peter's Square, addressed the people of his archdiocese Apuron said he said he was pleased the Pope had responded to  his request for the appointment of a temporary administrator.

He said he was still the archbishop  of Agãna and is a victim of  horrible calumnies.

Apuron  has accused  a deacon, Stephen Martinez, of being part of a conspiracy to oust him over a soured property deal.

Three days before the appointment of the administrator, the Archdiocese of Agãna issued a statement announcing it had hired a US-based lawyer and investigator to look into and possibly respond to comments about the archbishop made by Deacon Martinez.

Martinez was the coordinator of the archdiocese sexual abuse response team until 2014.

"To state, as Stephen Martinez did, that the sexual abuse policy of the archdiocese was kept weak purposefully by the archbishop to protect himself is a calumny of such magnitude that the only avenue, which we are following, is recourse to the civil and canonical legal processes to address these intentional lies," the archdiocese's statement said.

The statement added that Martinez also had been the archdiocesan finance officer, a position the statement claimed he handled with "glaring incompetence."

Last week the Vatican announced that the pope had signed off on new measures to remove bishops who fail to respond to abuse allegations.

Source

• catholicherald.co.uk
• postguam.com
• Image: donboscowest.org

Reynolds was accused of raping a minor, named Veneranda while he was a missionary in Kenya and as a result of the rape, fathering a child named Sheila.

In an apology, dated Thursday 6 October, RTE media Ireland acknowledged that the material in the programme concerning Fr Reynolds ought never have been broadcast and it regrets the serious consequences caused to Reynolds.

"He is entirely innocent of the allegations broadcast against him," RTE said in a statement.

"RTE now fully and unreservedly accepts that the allegations made by Prime Time against Fr Kevin Reynolds are baseless, without any foundation whatever and untrue, and that Fr Reynolds is a priest of the utmost integrity who has had an unblemished 40 year career in the priesthood and who has made a valuable contribution to society in Kenya and Ireland both in education and in ministry."

Speaking with his parishioners at Sunday Mass, Reynolds, the parish priest of Ahascragh, Galway received several standing ovations when he told his parish that RTE media's allegations were false and baseless.

Reynolds described the event surrounding his stepping down from ministry as a "nightmare."

"I went along with the child protection procedures and protocol. The problem is, though, there is no procedure for someone who is innocent. You are treated as if you are guilty," Reynolds said.

Especially relieved to have been proved innocent Reynolds said "I am due to celebrate two marriages, one of a nephew named after me, and another of my very special niece."

"I've got tremendous support from my parish and friends and colleagues, but it hasn't been easy," he added.

At a mass marking his reinstatement, Bishop Christopher Jones, Bishop of Elphin, said Fr Kevin had responded to the attack on his integrity with great courage, strength and resilience.

Despite Reynolds immediate protest of innocence and denial of all the allegations, and despite, through his solicitors being prepared to undergo a paternity test, RTE broadcast the allegations last May on the "Prime Time Investigates."

Sources

• RTE News - Apology
• Kerryman.ie
• RTE News
• Image: Irish Times