The worldwide agony: news of a single week in June-July

"As the third millennium of the redemption draws near, God is preparing a great springtime for Christianity, and we can already see its first signs."

John Paul II

Redemptoris missio

December 7, 1990

1. In Connecticut - from several sources, including NBC:

[July 3] A Connecticut priest arraigned Tuesday on child pornography possession charges says he is getting help for his addiction to the illegal material.

The Rev. Dennis Carey, 65, was released on $100,000 bond, NBCConnecticut.com reported. He was ordered to have no computer or Internet access, no pornography and no contact with anyone under age 13.

Carey resigned Friday as pastor of St. Paul in Chains Church in Waterford after the Catholic diocese in Norwich learned police were investigating him.

2. In New South Wales, Australia - from several sources, including the Brisbane Times:

[July 4] Three of Australia's most senior Catholic clergy failed to tell authorities of evidence they received that a priest had repeatedly sexually abused boys as young as 10 in New South Wales. Two of the victims committed suicide.

The three priests are Brian Lucas, secretary-general of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference; John Usher, the former head of the Australian Catholic Social Welfare Commission; and Wayne Peters, the vicar-general of the Armidale diocese in NSW.

The priest, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told a court in 2004 he admitted to the three during a 1992 meeting that he had sexually molested boys.

3. In Santiago, Chile - from several sources, including El Mercurio.

[June 28] Cristián Precht, a symbolic figure of [the] Human Rights [movement] in Chile

SANTIAGO.- The investigation ordered by the Archbishop of Santiago, Ricardo Ezzati, on Fathers Cristián Precht [a Monsignor] and Alfredo Soiza-Piñeyro, that uncovered, in both cases, "credible reports of abusive conducts with adults and minors," is not only a painful blow to the Catholic world, but also to the organizations that denounced violation of Human Rights in Chile.

As one of the founders of the Deanery of Solidarity in 1976, Precht, now 71, became an emblematic face of those who defended and protected the persecuted and tortured during the regime of deceased general Augusto Pinochet.  ...

In 1985, he was also named vice-president of the National Committee that prepared the visit of John Paul II to Chile (1987).

Which is why the alleged sexual abuse for which the cleric was accused, and that was made public in October 2011, caused great impact among those who worked for the Deanery.

The first accusation mentioned that Precht may have influenced in the suicide, 20 years ago, of psychologist  Patricio Vela Montero, whose family members had always been suspicious due to the close relationship that the priest had led with Vela in his youth. The cleric paid him a visit in the United States before [Vela] decided to take his own life. 

Though the investigated prior events had not indicated concrete evidence, other data came up, which today led Archbishop Ricardo Ezzati to make clear that, because they were "graver delicts," the local ecclesiastical authority is not competent and, for this reason, the recordings of the proceedings will be sent to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

4. In Thurgau, Switzerland - from APIC and Romandie:

[June 27] Former pastor convicted for fondling teenagers

The Courts of Thurgau have convicted the former parish priest of Aardorf to 80 fine-days of 50 francs for fondling teenagers of under 16. Arrested in the spring of 2010, the 42-year-old man had spent one month in temporary detention.

The investigation confirmed that the accused had, between 1999 and 2010, "bodily contacts" with several minors who had not reached sexual adulthood, the Thurgau district attorney's office indicated. ... Suspended from his functions by the Catholic Church following the opening of the investigation, the Aadorf parish priest resigned in late June 2010.

5. In Sao Paulo, Brazil - several sources, including O Globo:

[July 3] Priest suspected of pedophilia is arrested in Sao Paulo 

SÃO PAULO – A priest was arrested this Tuesday in Sao Paulo suspected of pedophilia. Anderson Risseto works in the Advent Community, a clandestine association that houses over 20 teenagers ... . ... In a release, the diocese of Campo Limpo informed that Risseto had left parish work when he presented his resignation as a parish priest in March 2010. In the following month, the Advent Missionary Community was extinguished by a diocesan decree. In June of the current year, the priest was suspended.