Sacred Hearts priest in Chile investigated for sexual abuse

June 19, 2018 CNA Daily News News Briefs 0 Print

Santiago, Chile, Jun 19, 2018 / 06:03 pm (ACI Prensa).- The Chilean province of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary reported Monday that a preliminary investigation is underway on Fr. Juan Andrés Peretiatkowicz Valdés, accused of sexual abuse and the abuse of power.

According to a June 18 statement, the case involves accusations of acts which “allegedly began at the end of the 1980s.” According to the congregation the priest has had no pastoral responsibilities for five years for health reasons.

“We express our will and commitment to thoroughly and rigorously investigate these acts and resolutely fight against the culture of abuse and cover up,” the congregation stated.

Provincial Superior René Cabezón Yáñez received the information in early May and “immediately began a preliminary investigation.”

The congregation welcomes this investigation “as a desperate cry in search of truth and justice which obliges us as Church to leave behind the poor and overdue job of listening. We believe this is the only way of reparation for those who have been violated or abused.”

They are also working on the review and implemntation of “new practices, procedures, and protocols which consolidate not only transparency in accusations but also provide healthy and protected environments in our pastoral ministries  and our communities especially where children and young people are participating.”

“We entrust ourselves to the hearts of Jesus and Mary to help us in this task which the laity and civil society demand of us and we humbly undertake as something we owe them,” the statement concludes.

 

This article was originally published by our sister agency, ACI Prensa. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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Bishop Mark Hagemoen transferred to Saskatoon diocese

September 12, 2017 CNA Daily News 0

Saskatoon, Canada, Sep 12, 2017 / 04:35 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Bishop Mark Hagemoen of Mackenzie-Fort Smith was on Tuesday named as Bishop of Saskatoon, which covers a large portion of south-central Saskatchewan, one of Canada’s prairie provinces.

“Of course, I respond with obedience and enthusiasm to this new appointment, and I look forward to serving the People of God of the Diocese of Saskatoon as their new bishop. They have waited a year for this appointment, and I will strive to serve them to the best of my ability, with great help from Almighty God,” Bishop Hagemoen wrote in a Sept. 12 letter to the people of the Mackenzie-Fort Smith diocese.

He added that he regrets having to leave the Diocese of Mackenzie-Fort Smith, and that “the news comes at a time when we are in the midst of many developments and projects,” which will continue.

Bishop Hagemoen was born in Vancouver in 1961, and obtained a bachelor’s degree from the University of British Columbia in 1983. After completing his undergraduate, he travelled for a year throughout southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, before entering seminary.

He attended seminary at St. Peter’s in London, Ontario, and was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Vancouver in 1990. He served for 10 years as director of youth ministry, and as a parish pastor, vicar general, episcopal vicar, and head of two Catholic schools.

In 2007 he was named a monsignor.

He also studied youth ministry in the US, and earned a doctorate from Trinity Western University in 2007.

In 2013 he was appointed Bishop of Mackenzie-Fort Smith, and was consecrated a bishop. The Mackenzie-Fort Smith diocese is centered in the Northwest Territories, and also includes parts of Nunavut and Saskatchewan.

His ministry has focused on Canada’s indigenous peoples, the new evangelization, youth ministry, and Catholic schools.

Bishop Hagemoen told the Saskatoon diocese’s publication that most Catholics in the Mackenzie-Fort Smith diocese are indigenous, and that “In my whole way of approaching pastoral ministry, I have been shaped by walking with our Aboriginal people here. In terms of how I pastor, and how I approach things, that has been a real gift.”

He said that “The diocese of Saskatoon seems to be a very dynamic diocese, with a rich history, a strong Catholic legacy and culture, and I am looking forward to contributing to that legacy with all my might and energy, as well as I can, with the help of almighty God.”

Bishop Hagemoen was among the six bishops of Alberta and the Northwest Territories who issued guidelines in September 2016 directing “authentic and effective pastoral accompaniment” of the divorced-and-remarried.

A response to Pope Francis’ summons in Amoris laetitia for guidelines about pastoral accompaniment, the document clarified that the belief “that there has been a change in practice by the Church, such that now the reception of Holy Communion at Mass by persons who are divorced and civilly remarried is possible if they simply have a conversation with a priest” is “erroneous”.

Saskatoon’s last bishop, Donald Bolen, was transferred to the Archdiocese of Regina in July 2016.

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