The top 10 religious(read Christian and sexual) scandals in recent history. Counting backwards from 10 to 1:
10. BRIAN JOSEPH SPILLANE.
Molesting girls in the confessional box and raping hypnotised boys were parts of a pattern of “rampant pedophilia” by a former priest accused of sexually assaulting youngsters, a Sydney court has been told.
Brian Joseph Spillan, a former chaplain at St Stanislaus College in Bathurst, has been charged with 29 counts of indecently assaulting 11 males and females, and others bringing the total number of charges to 146.
Some of the witnesses mentioned that Mr. Spillane:
* sexually assaulted both boys and girls between 1971 and 1990 during his time at both St Stanislaus boys’ school in NSW’s central west and St Anthony’s parish at Marsfield, in Sydney’s north
* had group sex in the shower block
* anal intercourse and group rape at the Bathurst boarding school
* hypnotised boys for the purpose of having sexual intercourse with them
* assaulted a number of girls, climbed into bed with them and simulated or attempted to have sex with them.
9. TONY ALAMO.
At first glance, Jeanne, Amy, Nikki and Desiree are bonded by the horrors they say they experienced as children. Jeanne, Amy, Desiree and Nikki were born in the Tony Alamo Christian Ministry, which, some say, is a cult.
In the 1980s, Alamo, a self-proclaimed prophet of God, had thousands of devoted followers in the United States, including the parents of Joanna, Amy, Desiree and Nikki. “When Tony would say that God spoke to him, everybody believed it,” says Jeanne.
Ex-followers say that by the end of 1990 Alamo was living in compounds extensively with more than a dozen women, some of whom he called his “spiritual wives.” Although no legal documents were signed ever, Juana says that when she was 15 years old (Alamo was 59 years old and his pastor at the time), she was forced to become his spiritual wife and have sex with him. Amy said she started when she was 14. Desiree said Alamo made her spiritual younger wife when she was only eight years old. Nikki said she was 15 when he realized Alamo planned to make his next “wife.” Nikki escaped from the enclosure and Alamo fled before she had the opportunity to act.
Alamo is now serving 175 years in prison.
8. FATHER CLODOVEO PIAZZA.
Brazilian prosecutors said Father Clodoveo Piazza, an Italian priest who ran an award-winning shelter for homeless children in Brazil, has been charged with sexually abusing boys for years and allowing visiting foreigners to exploit the children. Piazza, now working as a missionary in Mozambique, was charged along with another former director of the nonprofit group Fraternal Help Organization, a private group based in Salvador.
Lidivaldo Britto, chief prosecutor for Bahia state in northeastern Brazil, said at least 10 boys were sexually abused over several years while Piazza ran the group.
7. ALASKA DIOCESE.
The Catholic Diocese of Fairbanks and representatives of almost 300 alleged victims of clergy abuse have agreed on a settlement of almost $10 million.
Complaints of sexual abuse of a minor have been filed in recent years against the diocese, with some allegations dating back 50 years.
The diocese filed for bankruptcy protection last year and all proceedings are overseen in bankruptcy court in Anchorage.
6. REVEREND RICARDO MUNOZ QUINTEROS.
A Catholic priest and his girlfriend are accused of soliciting sex from young girls, including one who later bore his child, investigators said Wednesday.
The Rev. Ricardo Munoz Quinteros, 55, found the youths with the help of his girlfriend, Pamela Ampuero, who photographed the minors and sent him the pictures over the Internet, investigator Jaime Graffigna
said.
Munoz offered his victims up to $90 to be with him, Graffigna alleged. The priest stayed silent as he was led from jail to the courthouse Wednesday. The public defender assigned to his case entered a plea of not guilty.
The Catholic bishop in Melipilla, Enrique Troncoso, said he was shocked by the report and promised to open an investigation. Munoz was suspended from his duties as a priest.
The priest has been charged with abusing three girls, ages 14, 16, and 17, Graffigna said.
Ampuero, 33, the mother of two children fathered by Munoz, has been charged with peddling the sexual services of minors, Graffigna said.
One of the victims also bore the priest’s child, prosecutor Cristian Caceres said.
Munoz served in Melipilla, 40 miles (70 kilometres) northwest of Santiago. His alleged victims are from the nearby town of Curacavi.
5. LUIZ MARQUES BARBOSA
Brazilian television network SBT broadcast a tape of Luiz Marques Barbosa (83) in bed with a 19-year-old that was widely distributed on the Internet. The station said the video was secretly filmed in January 2009 and sent anonymously to the network. Barbosa was detained in april out of fear he would flee the country.
4. JUAN JOSE SANTANA.
A Catholic priest who fled home to Uruguay and was defrocked after a nun accused him of raping three children in Bolivia has been living with his family for more than a year – with the full knowledge of Uruguayan church officials – despite an Interpol warrant for his arrest.
Bishop Pablo Galimberti, whose diocese in Uruguay includes Salto, confirmed the story.
“Yes, the report is correct,” Galimberti told The Associated Press. “It involves Juan Jose Santana, who I don’t know personally, but yes, he’s accused of abusing minors.
“He lives shut up in his house, and presumably has psychological problems,” Galimberti added. “I recall that a priest in my diocese who knew about the case figured out where he lives and went to see him to offer professional help, but he rejected it.”
3. MARCIN STRACHANOWSKI.
A Polish priest accused of sexually abusing a former altar boy in Rio de Janeiro and turning his parish home into an “erotic dungeon” has surrendered and is now in police custody, a public safety official said Saturday.
State prosecutors have accused Marcin Michael Strachanowski of handcuffing the 16-year-old former altar boy to a bed three years ago in the parish house where the priest lived and threatening to kill the youth if he spoke of the abuse.
Judge Alexandre Abrahao Dias said that investigators found “erotic material sent to the victim via Internet to seduce him” and that the priest also took other youths to the parish house, “which he converted into a kind of erotic dungeon where he submitted them, often with the use of handcuffs, to orgies.”
2. FRANCOIS HOUTART.
A Belgian priest has confessed to a child sex-abuse accusation that came to light during a campaign to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize for his work fighting globalization’s impact on developing countries.
The confession was published in a Belgian newspaper Wednesday and confirmed by the organization the priest founded, deepening a sex-abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church in the country. After a spate of accusations this year, the church in September published the harrowing accounts of more than 100 victims of clerical sex abuse, some as young as 2 when they were assaulted.
In October, after supporters of 85-year-old Francois Houtart began working to nominate him for the Nobel, a woman contacted the nonprofit organization he founded and said the priest had abused her brother 40 years ago, according to its director, Bernard Duterme.
Houtart resigned the next month from the board of Cetri, which publishes reports critical of developed nations’ actions in the Third World, Duterme said.
1. TONY WALSH.
The first complaint against him was made two days after he was appointed a parish priest in Ballyfermot in 1978 but nothing was done.
Walsh was permitted to continue as a priest even though a report to the Archdiocese in 1988 describes him as ‘a very disturbed man who is always going to be dangerous.’
Archbishop Dermot Ryan knew of the abuse by 1984 – as did Monsignor Richard Glennon, Fr Michael Cleary and a number of other priests – one priest felt matters were being ‘hushed up’. The next year Monsignor Richard Glennon met Walsh, where not only did he deny nothing, he also admitted to another case the Church knew nothing about.
He was moved out of Ballyfermot to Westland Row – the report concludes ‘to avoid further scandal’.
The complaints continued including one from the housekeeper in Westland row who found her clothes – as well as syringes and condoms in Walsh’s room – and saw boys leaving it.
Ten years after the first complaint, the Church authorities sent him to the UK for treatment. The report described Walsh as ‘a very disturbed man’ who ‘is always going to be dangerous’ and ‘could not be let near schools, children, confession etc.’ But Walsh continued as a priest and continued to abuse.
The report says he fought the penal process at every stage and even though it found in 1993 he should be dismissed – Rome allowed his appeal and he remained a priest. Archbishop Desmond Connell wrote to Rome and begged the Pope to dismiss him.
In January 1996 – 16 years after the first complaint – he was finally dismissed as a priest.
He was given €10,500 severance pay but continued to represent himself as a priest.
Inna Lillahi Wa Inna Ilayhi Raaji'un.
May Allah guide the followers of this filthy faith to Islam.
Wa Salamu 'Alaykum.
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