Ritual abuse - Utah/Mormon, Catholic pedophile scandal Italy, Army child abuse

CASE REPORTS OF THE MORMON ALLIANCE VOLUME 1, 1995 Chapter 6 RITUAL ABUSE "RITUAL ABUSE" IN CONFRONTING ABUSE, ELDER GLENN L. PACE: 1990 MEMO GOVERNOR'S TASK FORCE AND ATTORNEY GENERAL'S REPORT, RACHEL HOPKINS: PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

Perhaps the type of child sexual abuse that is hardest for most people to believe is ritual abuse, calling up as it does ill-formed images from the media of black masses, witchcraft trials, and Satan worship. Satan worship, which exists as an organized religion, can occur with or without sexual abuse....This chapter provides:

1. A summary of a chapter on ritual abuse from Confronting Abuse: An LDS Perspective on Understanding and Healing Emotional, Physical, Sexual, Psychological, and Spiritual Abuse, edited by Anne L. Horton, B. Kent Harrison, and Barry L. Johnson (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1993).

2. The text of a memo prepared by Elder Glenn L. Pace of the Presiding Bishopric for the Strengthening Church Members Committee in 1990. It describes his experiences counseling with survivors of ritual abuse.

3. A brief summary of the Utah Governor's Task Force on Ritual Abuse, created in March 1990, and a summary of the Attorney General's report in late February 1995 after investigating over 125 cases of alleged ritual crime. No prosecutions resulted.

4. A personal account by Rachel Hopkins, a survivor of ritual abuse. Her case had been investigated by the Attorney General's office but could not be prosecuted due to the expiration of the statute of limitations. She came forward in the wake of media claims that the report failed to show the existence of ritual abuse to confirm, on the contrary, that it did and that she had signed confessions from the perpetrators, her parents. http://mormonalliance.org/casereports/volume1/part1/v1p1c06.htm


Catholic pedophile scandal engulfs Italian church Davide Berretta, Agence France-Presse March 26, 2010 ROME - Pedophile priest scandals sweeping Catholic churches around Europe have encouraged more and more victims to speak out, fuelling a storm that now threatens to break over Italy. "Victims' groups will grow exponentially in the next few weeks," predicted Italian anti-pedophilia activist Roberto Mirabile. Fresh Catholic Church investigations in the northern cities of Bolzano and Verona could expose new cases of predatory clergy in Italy, which counts more than 50,000 priests, the highest concentration in the world. And on Friday, the left-leaning Italian weekly L'Espresso published new allegations of child molestation by a monk in Tuscany and by a nun in the northern region of Lombardy.

In an echo of the scandal that rocked the Irish Catholic Church in November, L'Espresso noted that the bishops overseeing the two dioceses were aware of the abuses and covered up the allegations....In Bolzano, revelations of abuse emerged in the local press earlier this month, and the diocese is meeting with victims who have come forward, said spokesman Martin Pezzei.
The Bolzano bishop publicly asked for forgiveness and urged victims to contact the diocese, saying in a statement that in so doing he was dispelling "the impression that the Church wants to hush up or hide something." http://www.nationalpost.com/story.html?id=2729572


Attorney: Army Has No Legal Duty To Report Child Abuse - Schofield Barracks General Says Army Failed To Prevent Child's Death March 25, 2010 HONOLULU - An attorney for the U.S. Army argued in court on Thursday that Army officials have no legal duty to report child abuse to civilian authorities. The attorney said the mother of a 5-year-old girl who was beaten to death at Schofield Barracks is not entitled to damages. The commanding general has said that opportunities were missed that could have prevented Talia Williams' death. Army lawyers said the general fired Schofield Barracks' top child abuse official for not reporting what she knew. However, the Army's lawyer said the Army should still not be held liable for their mistakes....Judge Alan Kay pointed out that the law considers them mandated reports of abuse. However, Helper argued, "It's crucial to limit how far you are going to spread liability." http://www.kitv.com/news/22960722/detail.html