THE ALIQUIPPA POLICE DEPARTMENT IS SEEKING FUNDS FOR A SECOND K-9 AND VEHICLE. BEAVER COUNTY RADIO NEWS CORRESPONDENT SANDY GIORDANO HAS MORE. Click on ‘play’ to hear Sandy’s report…

Pope on sex abuse: “We showed no care for the little ones”
By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis issued a letter to Catholics around the world Monday condemning the “crime” of priestly sexual abuse and its cover-up and demanding accountability, in response to new revelations in the United States of decades of misconduct by the Catholic Church.
Francis begged forgiveness for the pain suffered by victims and said lay Catholics must be involved in any effort to root out abuse and cover-up. He blasted the self-referential clerical culture that has been blamed for the crisis, with church leaders more concerned for their reputation than the safety of children.
“With shame and repentance, we acknowledge as an ecclesial community that we were not where we should have been, that we did not act in a timely manner, realizing the magnitude and the gravity of the damage done to so many lives,” Francis wrote.
“We showed no care for the little ones; we abandoned them.”
The Vatican issued the three-page letter ahead of Francis’ trip this weekend to Ireland, a once staunchly Roman Catholic country where the church’s credibility has been damaged by years of revelations that priests raped and molested children with impunity and their superiors covered up for them.
Priestly sex abuse was always expected to dominate the trip, but the issue has taken on new gravity following revelations in the U.S. that one of Francis’ trusted cardinals, the retired archbishop of Washington Theodore McCarrick, allegedly sexually abused and harassed minors as well as adult seminarians.
In addition, a grand jury report in Pennsylvania last week reported that at least 1,000 children were victims of some 300 priests over the past 70 years, and that generations of bishops failed repeatedly to take measures to protect their flock or punish the rapists.
In the letter, which was issued in seven languages and addressed to the “People of God,” Francis referenced the Pennsylvania report, acknowledged that no effort to beg forgiveness of the victims will be sufficient but vowed “never again.”
He said, looking to the future, “no effort must be spared to create a culture able to prevent such situations from happening, but also to prevent the possibility of their being covered up and perpetuated.”
Francis didn’t, however, provide any indication of what concrete measures he is prepared to take to sanction those bishops — in the U.S. and beyond — who covered up for sexually abusive priests. Francis several years ago scrapped a proposed Vatican tribunal to prosecute negligent bishops, and he has refused to act on credible reports from around the world of bishops who have failed to report abusers to police or otherwise botched handling cases, and yet remain in office.
In Chile, where a church sex abuse scandal exploded earlier this year, Francis strong-armed the 31 active bishops to offer to resign en masse over their handling of abuse. So far he has accepted five of their resignations.
Unlike the U.S. bishops’ conference, which has referred only to “sins and omissions” in their handling of abuse, Francis labeled the misconduct “crimes.”
“Let us beg forgiveness for our own sins and the sins of others,” he wrote. “An awareness of sin helps us to acknowledge the errors, the crimes and the wounds caused in the past and allows us, in the present, to be more open and committed along a journey of renewed conversion.”

Sign at high school named for Cardinal Wuerl is vandalized
PITTSBURGH (AP) — A sign at a Roman Catholic high school in Pennsylvania named for Cardinal Donald Wuerl has been vandalized with paint.
Monday is the first day of school for North Catholic High School. It is part of the Pittsburgh Diocese, where Wuerl was bishop from 1988 to 2006. Wuerl is now archbishop of Washington.
A recent grand jury report on six Pennsylvania dioceses accused Wuerl of helping protect some child-molesting priests while he was bishop of Pittsburgh.
Wuerl has apologized for the damage inflicted on the victims but also has defended his actions.
The paint on the sign covered Wuerl’s name. Some school alumni have organized a petition online to remove his name.

A SUSPECT IN FRIDAY’S BANK ROBBERY IN NEW BRIGHTON IS STILL BEING SOUGHT. BEAVER COUNTY RADIO NEWS CORRESPONDENT SANDY GIORDANO HAS THE UPDATE. Click on ‘play’ to hear Sandy’s report…

U-S DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT SECRETARY BEN CARSON AND CONGRESSMAN KEITH ROTHFUS WILL BE IN BEAVER COUNTY TODAY. THE SECRETARY AND CONGRESSMAN WILL BE TOURING ECONOMY VILLAGE OF AMBRIDGE PUBLIC HOUSING THIS MORNING TO SEE THE IMPACT OF SUPPORTIVE SERVICES UPONING HOUSING RESIDENTS. THEN LATER TODAY, THE TWO WILL TOUR THE MIDLAND OPPORTUNITY ZONE. BEAVER COUNTY RADIO NEWS CORRESPONDENT SANDY GIORDANO WILL BE COVERING THEIR VISITS AND WILL HAVE A FULL REPORT REPORT FOR US DURING THE NOONDAY REPORT.

PENNDOT DISTRICT 11 IS ANNOUNCING IMPROVEMENTS ON LOVI ROAD IN NEW SEWICKLEY TOWNSHIP, BEGINNING TODAY, WEATHER PERMITTING. LOVI ROAD BETWEEN ROUTE 989 AND BLACK WOODS ROAD WILL BE CLOSED TO TRAFFIC AROUND-THE-CLOCK STARTING THIS MORNING AND CONTINUING THROUGH EARLY OCTOBER. IMPROVEMENTS INCLUDE FULL-DEPTH RECLAMATION AND PAVING, DRAINAGE UPGRADES, GUIDERAIL REPLACEMENTS, AND OTHER MISCELLANEOUS CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITIES. ALL TRAFFIC WILL BE DETOURED. MOTORISTS SHOULD USE CAUTION WHEN TRAVELING THROUGH THE CORRIDOR.

A NEW BRIGHTON MAN HAS BEEN CHARGED IN AN INDUSTRY BOROUGH ACCIDENT. BEAVER COUNTY RADIO NEWS CORRESPONDENT SANDY GIORDANO HAS DETAILS. Click on ‘play’ to hear Sandy’s report…

WEATHER FORECAST FOR MONDAY, AUGUST 20TH, 2018

TODAY – PARTLY CLOUDY. A SHOWER OR THUNDERSTORM
POSSIBLE. HIGH – 83.

TONIGHT – MOSTLY CLOUDY SKIES THIS EVENING
FOLLOWED BY THUNDERSTORMS OVERNIGHT.
LOW NEAR 70.

TUESDAY – THUNDERSTORMS LIKELY. A FEW STORMS MAY
BE SEVERE. HIGH – 81.

Bishop: Church today ‘not the church’ of grand jury report
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The bishop of Pittsburgh’s Roman Catholic diocese pushed back against a call for his resignation and said the diocese has “followed every single step” needed for responsible action after allegations of child sexual abuse.
Bishop David Zubik spoke Sunday to George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “This Week” following the Tuesday release of a landmark report detailing widespread child sexual abuse in six Pennsylvania Roman Catholic dioceses. The report accused Zubik of not reporting credible allegations.
Zubik said he can understand the rage people have reading the report and “I feel that rage too.” But he said that since he became the bishop in 2007, “we have followed every single step that we needed to follow to be responsible in our response to the victims.”
Officials have, he said, listened to victims “very carefully,” removed priests from dioceses, turned allegations over to appropriate district attorneys, let an independent review board look at whether a return to ministry is warranted and finally, informed parishioners of the diocese’s actions.
“The church of Pittsburgh today is not the church that’s described in the grand jury report,” he said.
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests called for Zubik to step down and for an end to donations “until he steps down or takes proven steps that protect kids.”
Asked about an allegation in the report that an alleged victim was told after a meeting with Zubik that the diocese would pay for college tuition and counseling in exchange for his silence, Zubik said the allegation was made after the person accused of abuse had died, and the diocese has decided since 2002 “not to do any confidentiality agreements.”
“But we needed to be able to assert whether or not the alleged behavior did in fact occur,” he said. “And that was part of the discussion that took place in that particular case.”