Newly rich targeted as witches, South African police warn

JOHANNESBURG—Newly rich South Africans are increasingly accused of witchcraft and attacked by their neighbors, police in the northern province of Limpopo said Wednesday.
"Now you are a witch because you are driving a four-by-four. This is the mentality that people have," police spokesman Hangwani Mulaudzi, told the Sapa news agency.
"Once people start amassing wealth, getting bigger houses and sending their children to better schools, it means you are engaging yourself in witchcraft.

Mulaudzi said Limpopo had seen four attacks in the past three months in villages where alleged witches were either assaulted or killed.
In the most recent incident, an 81-year-old grandmother and her 26-year-old granddaughter were stoned to death and then set alight by a mob in a small village Sunday after being accused of witchcraft, Sapa reported.

Mulaudzi said villagers who had left home to earn money in urban areas were becoming afraid to return and build new houses in their communities. He blamed a lack of education in rural areas for misconceptions about the upwardly mobile.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/world/view/20110323-327225/Newly-rich-targeted-as-witches-South-African-police-warn

Lawmaker Calls Bishop ‘Pedophile Pimp’

A top Republican in New Hampshire on Friday called Bishop John B. McCormack of Manchester a “pedophile pimp” on his Facebook page.
The Republican, State Representative D. J. Bettencourt, the House majority leader, was responding to criticism from Bishop McCormack that state budget cuts would hurt the most vulnerable members of society.
“Would the bishop like to discuss his history of protecting the ‘vulnerable?’ ” Mr. Bettencourt, a practicing Roman Catholic, wrote. “This man is a pedophile pimp who should have been led away from the State House in handcuffs with a raincoat over his head in disgrace. He has absolutely no moral credibility to lecture anyone.”
Mr. Bettencourt said in a statement that his criticism stemmed from Bishop McCormack’s time as an administrator for Cardinal Bernard F. Law in Boston, where he was a top aide assigned to investigate complaints that priests had sexually abused minors. He was named bishop of Manchester in 1998.
In 2002, he was part of a settlement with state prosecutors in which the diocese acknowledged it had protected abusive priests and submitted itself to audits. The agreement halted a criminal investigation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/02/us/02bishop.html

UN staff killed by Afghan mob enraged over Florida Quran burning

At least 20 UN staff members were killed in northern Afghanistan when a protest over a Quran burning overseen by pastor Terry Jones turned into a violent mob.

An Afghan mob apparently angry over a Quran burning in Florida set upon a United Nations compound Friday, killing as many as 20 employees and setting fire to several compound buildings.

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The attack, which may be the deadliest assault on the UN in Afghanistan, grew out of a protest in response to news that US pastor Terry Jones oversaw a Quran burning on March 20. Mr. Jones drew worldwide criticism last year for threatening to burn Qurans on the anniversary of 9/11.
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-South-Central/2011/0401/UN-staff-killed-by-Afghan-mob-enraged-over-Florida-Quran-burning

Marquette University Pres. Accused Of Covering Up Clergy Abuse

MILWAUKEE -- Marquette University's president is accused of protecting one of the nation's most notorious predator priests.
The allegations are part of a pending lawsuit against the Rev. Donald McGuire and his order.The Rev. Robert Wild supervised McGuire in the late 1980s when he headed up the Chicago Province of the Society of Jesus.Long before McGuire was a convicted pedophile, he was arguably the one of the country's most prominent Jesuits."Father McGuire is a saint, walking around among us," McGuire supporter Tony Mockus said at McGuire's sentencing in 2007.McGuire was best known as spiritual adviser to Mother Teresa and often brought children and families to meet her, despite, claims the lawsuit, the growing number of sexual misconduct complaints against him."As Father McGuire is being presented to the world as Mother Teresa's spiritual adviser and the director of his order of nuns, the Jesuits, including Father Wild, never tell her that this man is a pedophile priest," said the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests spokesman Peter Isely.
http://www.wisn.com/r/27375873/detail.html

Madison priest accused of fondling teenage girl maintains his innocence

A Madison priest accused of fondling a teenage girl in 2003 and 2004 and exposing himself to her maintains his innocence, his attorney said Thursday.
Attorney Stephen Eisenberg, who is representing the Rev. Joseph Gibbs Clauder, said Clauder "looks forward to exonerating himself."
Clauder, 64, who was removed from public ministry in 1999, made an initial appearance Thursday in Dane County Circuit Court on a charge of sexual assault of a child under age 16. Commissioner Scott McAndrew ordered Clauder to have no contact with the alleged victim, who was 14 and 15 when the incidents are said to have occurred, or unsupervised contact with minors while free on a signature bond.
A status conference was set for Monday, at which time Eisenberg said a date could be set for a preliminary hearing.
The Diocese of Madison posted a statement on its website Wednesday saying, "There is no place in the priesthood for those who would abuse a child" and renewing its promise for appropriate precaution and reporting of sexual abuse of minors.
Laura Nyberg, who sued Clauder in 1993 after the two had been involved in what she termed an "inappropriate sexual relationship" after Clauder counseled her following her second miscarriage, attended Thursday's court appearance and urged any other victims to come forward. "For me, the most powerful thing is not to be alone," she said.
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/crime_and_courts/article_5bb432c2-5bb8-11e0-9641-001cc4c03286.html

33 archdiocesan priests accused but not named

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has a list of 33 priests accused of sexual abuse involving minors. But unlike other Roman Catholic archdioceses that have published similar lists in recent years -- Milwaukee, Chicago and Baltimore, among others -- it has refused to do so.
The archdiocese's list has been around for nearly eight years and is the subject of at least one lawsuit filed by a man who says he was sexually abused as a teenager by a former Twin Cities area priest.
The question of whether to reveal the priests on the list came into question again this week when St. John's Abbey in Collegeville released the names of 17 monks who have faced credible allegations of sexual abuse or other misconduct. The disclosure was part of a settlement of lawsuits against the abbey.
St. Paul attorney Jeff Anderson, who has represented thousands of clergy sex abuse victims, and victims' rights advocates have pressed to make such lists public for years. Doing so helps victims heal, leads others to come forward and protects children from possible future abuse, they say.
"Until all the names of the all offenders become known and exposed ... other survivors will suffer in secrecy and silence and shame until they know they're not alone," Anderson said. "Kids remain at risk. Those offenders could be in schools, our neighborhoods; they could be in churches."
http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/faith/119035049.html

Former Hardeeville Pastor and Secretary Accused of Stealing Church Money

HARDEEVILLE, SC -- The congregation of a Lowcountry church is rocked by scandal as a former pastor and the secretary are charged with taking money from the church.

Hardeeville Police said they believe the theft happened over the past couple of years at St. Stephen AME Church on Main Street.

Police said the church's new pastor and a committee reviewed the finances and asked them to look into some irregularities in late February.

Hardeeville Police said $56,000 was in the church account and after two and a half years, just two thousand was left.

After their investigation, police arrested the church's former pastor, Jonathan Roberts, for criminal conspiracy and the secretary, Roberta Simmons, for breach of trust with fraudulent intent of $10,000 or more.

Chief Richard Nagy said they have so far found evidence the two used about $21,000 for their personal use and the investigation isn't over yet.
http://www2.wsav.com/news/2011/mar/31/3/former-hardeeville-pastor-and-secretary-accused-st-ar-1654574/