ABUSE TRACKER

A Solano County jury found Matthew Shelton guilty of sexually abusing Benicia students. He was acquitted of similar allegations in Napa.

Editor’s Note: This story includes details of alleged sexual misconduct against minors.

A jury on Thursday found a former Benicia teacher guilty of sexually abusing four students at Robert Semple Elementary School, bringing to a close a criminal case that rocked the waterfront community and highlighted statewide gaps in educator vetting.

Matthew Shelton, 44, faced 12 felony counts of lewd acts with a child. He was convicted of 11 of those counts. The jury declared a mistrial for the remaining count.

This was not the first time Shelton had been on trial for sexually abusing elementary students. Nearly two decades ago, Shelton stood trial over similar allegations that he sexually abused students at Phillips Edison Elementary School, a charter school in Napa. The jury acquitted him in 2008…

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A former Wilmington Catholic school teacher who was arrested while working at an elementary school in Florida has been convicted of multiple sexual offenses involving a child in Delaware more than three decades ago.

The Delaware Department of Justice announced that Christopher Crisona, 58, was convicted on October 22, 2026, of three counts of Unlawful Sexual Intercourse First Degree, two counts of Unlawful Sexual Contact Second Degree, one count of Unlawful Sexual Penetration Third Degree, and Continuous Sexual Abuse of a Child.

According to prosecutors, Crisona sexually abused a child between September 1, 1994, and June 15, 1995, while employed as a teacher at St. Thomas the Apostle School in Wilmington. He was removed from the school during the academic year following a student complaint but later worked at several other Catholic schools in Delaware.

His subsequent employment included St. Matthew’s in Wilmington in 1999, Corpus Christi in 1999, and…

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A Lower Richland pastor speaks out after an after-school care worker was arrested on allegations involving a child.

A man who worked in a Lower Richland church’s after-school care program is facing charges following allegations of misconduct involving a child. 

Trinity Church Pastor Jay Kennedy said the church is heartbroken over the allegations and is focused on supporting the affected families.

“We are heartbroken at even the possibility of harm coming to a child,” Kennedy said. “We subject all of our staff to thorough criminal background checks and abuse prevention training. Our heart is to protect children, so we want justice to be served. We’ve been participating in the investigation since the beginning and helping our families process this for a while. We’ve also expanded our security camera system and are offering counseling to those affected. Please keep them in your prayers.”

According to the Richland…

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A former Madison priest who turned himself in following an undercover child grooming investigation is scheduled to reach a plea deal in his case.

Andrew Showers, 38, is charged with attempting to groom a child for sexual activity and two counts of bail jumping. His attorney appeared by phone Tuesday. A plea and sentencing hearing was set for Feb. 8.

According to a criminal complaint, Showers communicated online with an undercover Wausau police officer whom he believed was a 15-year-old girl. Investigators say Showers used the Kik and Telegram messaging apps to send sexually explicit messages and photos, repeatedly referencing the girl’s age and acknowledging the legal risks of talking with a minor. Online court records list the offense date as March 8.

Showers was previously arrested in 2025 in Waupaca County, where authorities say he agreed online to meet with an undercover police sergeant posing as a 14-year-old girl.

…

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Former part-time Pensacola police officer Matthew Baxter, who was arrested this week on child porn charges, worked security for Echo Life Church in Pensacola in the past, as well as at several Escambia County Public Schools.

Echo Life Church has a Christian preschool and elementary classrooms, as well as multiple youth groups.

In an email sent to the congregation by Pastor Joe Driver, Echo said Baxter served as a contracted security officer through the Pensacola Police Department prior to his arrests. Echo terminated Baxter Oct. 4.

“We understand the concerns that have been raised regarding the arrest of Pensacola Police Officer Matthew Baxter,”

Driver wrote in the email. “We want you to know that we share those concerns, and we have been in contact with law enforcement authorities.” Driver told church members that authorities assured them that none of the allegations against Baxter involve church members, staff or…

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Gifts. Cash. A church title that, he said, came from God. And when a boy said no, humiliation in front of the congregation or a beating.

That, according to court records, is how a Lawton, Okla., pastor allegedly kept a boy under his control for years. It is also the pattern behind 15 felony sex charges filed against him this month.

James Lamont Newton, 53, who styles himself “Chief Apostle” and presiding prelate of Prophetic Judah Kingdom International, was arrested October 21 after police executed a search warrant. Jimmy L. Butler, 52, is charged as an accessory; investigators say he drove victims to Newton and stood at the door to keep others out.

Both men are presumed innocent unless proven guilty. That presumption covers the courtroom. It does not cover the ministry, which has questions to answer, regardless of what a jury decides.

The playbook, as the accuser describes…

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A nonprofit aiming to save the South Burlington parochial school campus from potential Chapter 11 liquidation has increased its bid to $5.9 million.

Supporters wanting to save the Vermont Roman Catholic Diocese’s flagship Rice Memorial High School from potential liquidation in the church’s ongoing Chapter 11 financial reorganization case have upped their offer from $4.3 million to $5.9 million.

The state’s largest religious denomination asked a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge this summer for permission to privately offer the grade 9-12 South Burlington campus to the new nonprofit entity RMHS Inc., whose principal officers are the nine members of the Rice School Board.

But a creditors’ committee representing more than 100 people who have filed clergy abuse claims against the diocese contested the plan’s initial price tag — spurring all sides to hold mediation talks this fall and supporters to raise their bid.

“The diocese has discussed…

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The father of a teenage girl who accused a priest of inappropriately touching her had reported the priest’s “increasingly disturbing” behavior to Bishop Robert Joseph McManus earlier than was previously known, police records show.

The father of the girl had sent a letter to McManus complaining about then-reverend Alan J. Martineau on Aug. 22, 2021, weeks before another priest reported other questionable behavior by Martineau. The letter did not describe the alleged abuse of the girl. But it described a pattern of bizarre behavior by Martineau, including an alleged nighttime entrance into the family’s house.

“My wife was so distressed when hearing about Father clandestinely entering our home with our sons there that she was physically shaking . . . and this is only the most recent in a long series of spiritually, socially, and psychologically abusive behavior,” the girl’s father wrote in his letter,…

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The pontiff will continue his custom of meeting abuse victims on papal trips during his apostolic journey to Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru.

The Vatican announced Tuesday that Pope Leo XIV will hold “several meetings” with victims of clerical sexual abuse during his apostolic journey to Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru from Nov. 6–17.

“During the days of the Holy Father’s upcoming apostolic journey to Latin America, several meetings are planned with people who are victims of abuse by members of the clergy and the Church,” the Holy See Press Office said in a statement.

The Vatican also explained that these meetings “reflect the Pope’s desire to express his closeness to those who have suffered, and continue to suffer, because of this violence.”

However, the Vatican did not specify the number of meetings or how they were to be conducted. Its statement, however, emphasized that the popeʼs objective is “to work with…

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Pope Leo XIV will meet with survivors of clergy sexual abuse during his upcoming trip to Latin America, which will take the American pope to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, the Vatican said Tuesday.

The Vatican statement didn’t say when the encounters would take place or where, but said “several meetings are planned,” suggesting more than one encounter. The Nov. 6-17 trip is going ahead as planned despite Leo’s Oct. 13 lung cancer surgery which had put the trip in question.

Continuing the practice of his two recent predecessors, Leo met with abuse survivors in June in Spain and most recently in France. Ahead of the French trip, the Vatican confirmed the meeting ahead of time rather than after it took place, as had been the previous practice.

“These meetings reflect the pope’s desire to express his solidarity with those who have suffered and continue to suffer as…

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 Pope Leo will meet with survivors of sexual ​abuse by Catholic clergy during his November ‌6 to 17 three-country tour of South America, the Vatican said on Tuesday.

Leo, who is recovering from lung ​cancer surgery, will visit Uruguay, Argentina and ​Peru on one of the most intense ⁠foreign trips taken by a pope in decades, after ​being deemed fit for the journey by his doctor ​on Monday.

“Several meetings are planned with people who have been victims of abuse by members of the clergy and ​the Church,” the Vatican said in its ​Tuesday statement.

“These meetings reflect the pope’s desire to express his ‌closeness ⁠to those who have suffered, and who still suffer, because of this violence,” it said.

Leo, 71, has held meetings with survivors of abuse by ​clergy on ​several of ⁠his foreign visits, including in France last month.

In that encounter, the pope…

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Poland’s bishops announced Saturday that they had approved the revised statutes of a long-delayed independent commission investigating abuse in the Church and named a historian to lead it.

The Polish bishops’ conference said Oct. 24 that the commission of independent experts (Komisja niezależnych ekspertów) — initially approved in 2023 — would be led by Piotr Franaszek, a professor at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków.

In a statement at the end of their Oct. 22-24 plenary meeting in Zakopane, the bishops said the revised statutes would be submitted to a government ministry as part of the process of securing legal personality for the commission under Polish law. This step will give the independent commission a legal status distinct from that of the bishops’ conference.

Speaking at a press conference, bishops’ conference spokesman Fr. Leszek Gęsiak, S.J., said the approval of the revised statutes and appointment of a chairman…

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A 63-year-old East New York pastor has been sentenced to 14 years in prison and 10 years of post-release supervision after a Brooklyn jury convicted him of repeatedly sexually assaulting a girl from his own congregation, starting when she was just 11 years old. Paul Lewis founded and led Messengers for Christ World Healing Center, a church with branches stretching from Brooklyn to Jamaica, Trinidad and Germany.

A Decade-Old Crime Finally Reaches Sentencing

Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Jennifer Naiburg handed down the sentence, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office. Lewis was convicted on September 24 following a jury trial on a charge of first-degree course of sexual conduct against a child, the office says. The victim and her family were members of his congregation, and prosecutors say he knew them well through the church.

Between September 3 and December 23, 2014, prosecutors say Lewis repeatedly…

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A fourth victim has come forward and accused a former middle school teacher and track coach of sexual abuse, court records show.

James ‘Jim’ Wilder III, 60, was indicted by a grand jury on Tuesday, and that indictment came with an additional charge.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Reopened cold case against former teacher finds more victims of sexual abuse, prosecutors say

Wilder now faces four counts of second-degree statutory sodomy and one count of first-degree attempted statutory sodomy with a person less than 14 years old.

Wilder was a Lindbergh School District middle school teacher and track coach during the time of the charges, investigators say.

Wilder was first charged in September after investigators had reopened a case against him that had gone cold after his first accuser, Emilie Morris, died before being able to face him at trial.

Investigators were able to pursue the case after a change in…

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A Midlands church daycare worker is out on bond after being charged in connection with the alleged sexual assault of a child, according to the Richland County Sheriff’s Department.

Zachary Turnage, 34, was arrested Oct. 10 and charged with second-degree assault and battery and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, the sheriff’s department said.

Deputies were first notified of Turnage in August after the child’s mother reported finding inappropriate text messages and images from him on the child’s phone. The child was between the ages of 7 and 12, according to the sheriff’s department.

Investigators later learned that the child attended after-school care at Trinity Church on Hallbrook Drive, where Turnage worked, the department said.

According to documents provided by the sheriff’s department, the mother told deputies she received a phone call about “some things today that had been going on at the church.”

She then decided to check…

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Jose Mora, the man accused of inappropriate contact with children met through Tucson’s Golden Dawn Tabernacle Church, will spend time behind bars after pleading guilty.

Mora was sentenced on Tuesday, Oct. 27, to 10 years in prison. Mora was given credit for more than 500 days served. He must register as a sex offender upon his release. On Sept. 28, More pled guilty to one count of attempted sexual conduct with a minor under 15 

The investigation began in October 2023 after detectives identified Mora as a suspect following a review of a news article where he made statements that appeared to confirm his involvement, according to TPD. In January 2025, a second victim came forward, prompting detectives to uncover multiple incidents involving young boys from the congregation.

On April 10, 2025, federal authorities in Eloy informed TPD that Mora was in custody on an unrelated matter. TPD detectives traveled to…

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A federal grand jury in Columbia returned a nine-count indictment, presented by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, charging Richard Channing Shealy, 54, of Lexington, for producing, distributing and possessing child sexual abuse material.*

The indictment alleges that in February 2026, Shealy shared CSAM files with an undercover Homeland Security Investigations agent using a peer-to-peer file sharing network. After obtaining a search warrant, law enforcement searched Shealy’s home and uncovered more CSAM files on Shealy’s computer. Among the files discovered were pictures of a child that Shealy abused in 2004 and 2006.  

Shealy faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison on four counts of producing child sexual abuse material and up to 20 years in federal prison on the distribution and possession charges. Shealy also faces fines of up to $250,000 on each count.  

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of…

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The Holy See’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) has issued a penal precept for Father Scott Kallal. In implementing the DDF’s penal precept, and for the safety of the faithful, Archbishop Shawn McKnight has established restrictions governing Father Kallal’s ministry, consistent with the precept and within his authority as archbishop.

A penal precept is a formal, binding order under Church law that establishes specific requirements or prohibitions and applies a penalty for noncompliance. Under these restrictions, Father Kallal must abide by a safety plan and is prohibited from conduct with minors that could be reasonably understood as grooming, favoritism, inappropriate physical contact, or conduct that is likely to create scandal among the faithful. He will not be assigned to parish ministry or engage in ministry with minors…

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Last week, the New York Catholic Archdiocese agreed to an $800 million settlement with survivors of sexual abuse. Legal experts say the agreement could serve as a barometer for survivors who are still negotiating for restitution with Baltimore’s Catholic Archdiocese.

New York’s agreement involved 1,300 people who were abused from the 1950s to near present day. A report from the Maryland attorney general established that more than 600 children were abused by nearly 160 priests in the Baltimore Archdiocese over the last 80 years.

However, about 1,000 people have filed claims for restitution after the Baltimore Archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in 2023. The attorney general’s report noted that there were likely many more survivors than the office was able to confirm.

Theresea Lancaster, a lawyer for the survivors, said the agreement, along with others, is a good marker for what survivors deserve.

“The $800 million settlement…

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Letter to priests says an agreement has been reached, with signing scheduled for early Nov.

Archbishop Ronald Hicks on Saturday communicated with the clergy of the Archdiocese of New York regarding the terms of a proposed settlement of claims under the Child Victims Act (CVA), in an email seen by The Good Newsroom.

“I am sure by now you have all seen or heard the reports, first published in The New York Times, that an agreement has been reached to resolve all outstanding claims brought against the Archdiocese of New York, our parishes, and affiliated agencies, under the Child Victims Act.

“While the deal is not yet final – and won’t be until the settlement is signed, now scheduled for the week of November 6th – we have, in fact, reached an understanding with all of the plaintiffs and their attorneys. We are on the verge of being able to,…

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A survivor is speaking out after the Catholic Archdiocese of New York agreed to pay more than $800 million to settle clergy sexual abuse claims brought by more than 1,000 survivors.

For Joseph Caramanno, the agreement brings a sense of validation he said he feared might never come, along with protections for future victims he was not sure would ever be implemented.

Caramanno accused a priest at his former high school, St. Joseph by the Sea on Staten Island, of sexually abusing him in 2001 when he was 16 years old.

“It still doesn’t seem real,” Caramanno said.

He also criticized how his allegations were handled under Cardinal Timothy Dolan.

“Cardinal Dolan went on the record in one interview basically saying that I was honest and we’re not going to look into it based on a press conference, you know one press conference,” Caramanno said.

Settlement…

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SNAP demands more than money to compensate survivors of clerical abuse in the Archdiocese of New York for the trauma they endured and for the betrayal by their church that failed to protect them.

Angela Walker, Executive Director of SNAP Survivors Network, said full accountability means that all those who shielded perpetrators of abuse must also be brought to justice.

“The church has hidden behind this wall of silence for far too long,” she said. “The settlement is one step on the road to justice, but we encourage survivors to demand accountability from those in the church who hid the abuse and allowed it to continue.”

Approximately 1,300 survivors of clergy sexual abuse and their attorneys unanimously agreed Friday to an $800 million settlement with the Archdiocese of New York to resolve all claims under New York’s Child Victims Act.

In an email to clergy confirming the agreement, Archbishop Ronald…

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As part of the settlement, the archdiocese must publicly identify clergy members and other church leaders credibly accused of sexual abuse

NEED TO KNOW

• The Archdiocese of New York has agreed to pay more than $800 million to approximately 1,300 people who say they were sexually abused by clergy members and other church leaders
• Reached after more than seven years of litigation, the agreement is the second-largest sexual abuse settlement involving a U.S. Catholic archdiocese
• Survivors can choose a payment of at least $250,000 or seek a potentially larger amount through an individual review, while the archdiocese must publicly identify credibly accused abusers and preserve records of abuse

The Archdiocese of New York has agreed to pay more than $800 million to approximately 1,300 people who say they were sexually abused by clergy members and other church leaders, marking the second-largest settlement of its kind involving…

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After an investigation that lasted more than a month, a Massachusetts man is facing charges in connection with the rape of a child in the basement of a church in Milford, police announced.

Milford police said Raul Feliciano, 63, of Worcester, lured the victim to the church last month.

The investigation began on Sept. 9, after the victim reported the incident to Milford detectives. Feliciano was arrested on Friday by the Worcester Police Department and is charged with rape of a child and indecent assault and battery on a child under 14.

“To violate a child is among the most heinous of crimes. Doing so in a place of worship only further cements the depravity of this assault,” Milford Police Chief Robert Tusino said in a statement.

Bail was set at $15,000, and Feliciano is due back in court this week.

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Licensed mental health counselor Paul Fahey has published the definitive resource on Catholic spiritual abuse—but he says there is still work left to be done.

When Paul Fahey published his first paper on spiritual abuse—the misuse of spiritual or religious authority to control or harm another person—he had no idea how well it would be received.

“I found I had stepped into a gap I didn’t even know existed,” Fahey, a licensed mental health counselor, says.

Shortly after the paper, titled “The Place Where You Stand is Holy Ground,” went live, messages started coming in from people writing to him about their own harmful experiences in the Catholic Church.

The variety of accounts surprised him; they represented every corner of the church, from parishes to convents to Catholic families.
He published the paper, he says, because he wished he had something like it during his time as a director of…

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The television ad begins with a dark video of an empty swing and the faint sound of children’s voices in the background, then shifts to footage of vacant pews inside a church.

After that comes an image of Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach.

“They were children, sexually abused by Catholic clergy in Kansas,” a voice says. “One hundred eighty-eight suspected predators, and Kris Kobach has a file with their names. But he won’t release the list, covering up for clergy alleged to have committed rape and sexual battery.”

“Many may still live in Kansas,” continues the 30-second ad paid for by the Kansas Values Institute, “but you’d never know if one lives next door, because of Kris Kobach. Survivors deserve justice. Kansas deserves the truth. Tell Kobach, prosecute the abusers.”

Clergy sex abuse has become a heated issue in the Kansas attorney…

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A pastor’s authority carries responsibility. Families who seek spiritual guidance should be able to trust that the person behind the pulpit will respect their safety, dignity, and boundaries.

Benjamin Garate, the former senior pastor of Calvary Chapel Montrose in Colorado, was arrested October 21, 2026, in connection with allegations of sexual assault and child abuse. The church subsequently announced his removal.

The allegations demand a careful investigation and a response that puts the affected person’s safety and privacy first.

Garate is presumed innocent unless proven guilty. The reporting reviewed describes an arrest and pending allegations, not a conviction.

Key Takeaways

• Benjamin Garate, 72, was arrested in connection with sexual assault and child abuse allegations.
• He served as senior pastor of Calvary Chapel Montrose.
• The church board announced his removal following the arrest.
• The case raises questions about pastoral oversight, reporting channels, and safeguards.
• Institutional liability requires evidence of an…

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[See also the text of the complaint.]

Key Points

• A new lawsuit alleges the late Bishop Louis E. Gelineau was one of three priests who sexually abused a man starting when he was a 10-year-old altar boy.
• This is the first time Gelineau, who died in 2024, has been publicly named as an alleged abuser, though he was previously cited for failing to stop abuse.
• The lawsuit claims the abuse occurred multiple times over several years at St. Luke’s Church in Barrington, Rhode Island.

While the late Bishop Louis E. Gelineau is named in the attorney general’s report on clergy sex abuse as one of the higher-ups in the Rhode Island Catholic Church who failed, over many decades, to stop the molestation of children, a newly filed suit publicly names Gelineau for the first time as one of the alleged abusers.

The…

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. . . Requiring the Archdiocese of New York Enterprise to Account & Take Responsibility for the Massive Institutional Failures of the Past That Permitted Predators to Abound

Survivors of clergy sexual abuse and their attorneys have agreed to an $800 million settlement with approximately 1,300 survivors of the Archdiocese of New York. All survivors who filed claims against the Archdiocese of New York have agreed to the settlement plan.

“The $800 million payout by the Archdiocese of New York is far from a full measure of justice. For the horrors inflicted, for decades, it does mark a momentous moment of real reckoning.” – Jeff Anderson

The New York Child Victims Act, passed by the New York Legislature, Allowed Survivors to Bring Civil Claims

The Child Victims Act gave voice to survivors, and it was a shift in public policy in New York, made by lawmakers to protect children and the…

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Before the report on abuse, the Vatican published a document dealing with the Catholic Church’s ability to keep its own flock.

Why does Venite ad Me dismiss the role of abuse in the Catholic Church’s ability to grow and sustain itself?

On Thursday, October 22, days before the presentation of the 2026 report from Tutela Minorum, the entity created by Pope Francis to address the clergy sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), where Tutela is located in the Vatican structure, published a lengthy document dealing with the “transmission of the faith in an epochal change.”

As per the Vatican’s practice, the document’s title Venite ad Me comes from the Latin original and it references a passage in Matthew’s Gospel (11:28) where Jesus offers his embrace as a chance to rest and recover energies, an invitation to…

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Cardinal Blase Cupich sends letters informing parishes that a child sex abuse allegation against Fr. Kenneth Fleck is deemed “unfounded.”

OAK LAWN, IL—A former priest who spent time serving at St. Catherine of Alexandria Church has been cleared of an allegation of sexual abuse against a minor following an investigation by the Archdiocese of Chicago.

Rev. Kenneth Fleck served at the Oak Lawn parish as an administrator in 2022, in addition to four other Catholic parishes on Chicago’s South Side and south suburbs. Cardinal Blase Cupich asked Fleck to step down from ministry in July after the archdiocese had received a more than 30-year-old allegation of sex abuse against a minor. The abuse was said to have reportedly taken place at the former Our Lady of Peace, where Fleck was a deacon from June to December 1975.

Letters…

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A retired priest has been cleared by the Archdiocese of Chicago after a sexual abuse allegation.

In July, the Archdiocese announced that Fr. Kenneth Fleck was being investigated for a 30-year-old allegation against a minor.

Blase Cardinal Cupich issued the letters to the communities of Saint Catherine of Alexandria Parish in Oak Lawn, Christ Our Savior Parish in South Holland, Saint George Parish in Tinley Park, Saint Josephine Bakhita Parish in Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood, and Saint Katherine Drexel Parish in Chicago’s Calumet Heights neighborhood about the allegations against Fr. Fleck.

This happened more than 30 years ago, and Fleck, who is now retired, has strongly denied that he has ever sexually abused anyone, the July letter said.

In a new letter to the six parishes issued Saturday, Cupich wrote that the Archdiocese’s Independent Review Board investigated and determined “that there is not a reasonable cause…

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A primer from people in the know about the state’s largest religious denomination and its two years (and counting) of Chapter 11 plot twists.

Leaders of the Vermont Roman Catholic Diocese said filing for Chapter 11 financial protection in the fall of 2024 promised the church stability amid a rising number of payouts to resolve priest misconduct lawsuits.

So why, two years later, is the state’s largest religious denomination seeking to withdraw its request?

The church’s explanation remains the same: escalating costs — this time, to pay for all the wrangling the Chapter 11 process was supposed to resolve.

“The diocese does not believe it can afford to incur even greater legal bills,” Bishop John McDermott wrote in a recent statement about attorney fees that have hit $2 million and counting.

The church has repeatedly declined to comment further when asked about the case. But as…

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[This 35-minute video interview with Paulina Guzik, Polish journalist and author of the book Truth Heals, explores the task of educating bishops, diocesan communications directors, victim assistance coordinators, and Catholics generally, in the value of speaking with survivors. Guzik speaks about her interview with the Polish survivor known at the time as Victor, and the impact on her and on him of that interview. She also talks about her conversation with Chicago survivor Michael Hoffman and the effect on him of his meeting with Cardinal Francis George, who did not press Hoffman to forgive. Guzik compares the clergy abuse situation in the United States with the resistance that Catholic prelates have shown in other countries, especially in Africa, and also explores the deficient approach to safeguarding in the secular world, particularly in schools. Guzik explains that her book had its beginnings in the 2019 clergy abuse revelations in Poland,…

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Dr Virginia Miller is a research fellow at the Centre for Religion, Ethics and Society, Charles Sturt University, Canberra. She is the author of four books and numerous articles on child sexual abuse, elder abuse, euthanasia and religious freedom.

Last year she published ‘Child Sexual Abuse Inquiries and the Catholic Church: Reassessing the Evidence’. Michael Cook, of The Catholic Weekly, recently interviewed her about her findings.

You have analysed inquiries into child sexual abuse which were conducted in Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, Ireland, England and Wales, Spain, Italy and France. Which were the best and which were the worst?

The ideal inquiry into child sexual abuse would be objective/evidence-driven, forensic in nature, free from ideological bias, and offer significant recommendations for child safety in terms of current deficiencies in the Church and other institutions of interest.

In my view none of the inquiries fully met this standard….

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The Archdiocese of New York and attorneys for around 1,300 people who reported sexual abuse by clergy have agreed to an $800 million settlement of their legal claims.

An agreement to resolve more than seven years of litigation over clerical sexual abuse would see the Archdiocese of New York pay $800 million to settle claims brought by approximately 1,300 parishioners.

Archbishop Ronald Hicks, Archbishop of New York, confirmed the agreement in an email to clergy on Saturday, October 24.

He noted that it would become final only after the parties signed it, with signing scheduled for the week of November 6.

The settlement follows a framework agreed in May that required the consent of everyone who had filed a claim.

“We are on the verge of being able to, please God, bring some measure of healing and reconciliation to all victim-survivors,” Archbishop Hicks wrote.

He also said the agreement would…

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About 1,300 survivors of clergy sexual abuse have unanimously agreed to an $800 million settlement with the Archdiocese of New York, marking one of the largest payouts by a Catholic diocese in the United States.

The agreement follows more than seven years of litigation stemming from claims filed under New York’s Child Victims Act, or CVA, which changed the state’s strict statute of limitations on sexual crimes against children and opened up a one-year window to revive past claims of any age. Jeff Anderson & Associates, which represents 300 abuse survivors, announced on Oct. 24 that all claimants had agreed to the settlement plan.

The settlement emerged after nearly a year of negotiations between the archdiocese and attorneys representing abuse survivors amid concerns that a potential Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing could complicate or delay compensation. The parties first reached a settlement framework in May.

“The unanimous agreement of survivors…

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‘There is not a reasonable cause to believe Father Fleck sexually abused the person making the accusation,’ Cupich letter reads

A Chicago priest has been returned to ministry after an investigation into an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor, the Archdiocese of Chicago said.

In July, the Archdiocese of Chicago sent letters to multiple church communities after Father Kenneth Fleck was accused of sexual abuse more than 30 years ago at Our Lady of Peace Parish.

He has served at parishes in Oak Lawn, South Holland, Tinley Park and Chicago.

Cardinal Blase Cupich, archbishop of Chicago, sent a letter to multiple parishes Saturday to inform them of Father Fleck’s reinstatement after the Independent Review Board’s investigation.

“After receiving the results of their thorough investigation, the IRB determined that there is not a reasonable cause to believe Father Fleck sexually abused the person making the accusation,” the letter read…

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The Catholic Archdiocese of New York on Saturday reached a settlement with more than 1,300 accusers who said they were sexually abused by clergy members and lay leaders, with The New York Times reporting the settlement amount is $800 million.

In an email obtained by the Daily News, New York Archbishop Ronald Hicks informed priests that, while the deal won’t be finalized until the week of Nov. 6, an understanding has been reached with all the plaintiffs and their attorneys.

“We have, in fact, reached an understanding with all of the plaintiffs and their attorneys,” Hicks wrote. “We are on the verge of being able to, please God, bring some measure of healing and reconciliation to all victim-survivors. This agreement will also allow the archdiocese to turn its full attention once again to its mission of preaching the Gospel, healing the sick, caring for the poor and needy,…

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The Archdiocese of New York has agreed to pay more than $800 million to settle sexual abuse claims made by 1,300 people who said they were victimized by clergy members and lay people in positions of leadership in the Roman Catholic Church.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs sent an email late Friday to the priests of the archdiocese announcing the planned settlement, The New York Times reported.

But all the alleged victims must sign off on the agreement before the archdiocese goes forward with the payout.

Archbishop Ronald A. Hicks confirmed to the Times Saturday that the deal will not be finalized until all parties involved – the plaintiffs, the lawyers and the archdiocese – sign it.

“We are on the verge of being able to, please God, bring some measure of healing and reconciliation to all victim-survivors,” he told the outlet.

The settlement would give…

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The Archdiocese of New York and attorneys for about 1,300 parishioners who said they were sexually abused by clergy have agreed to an $800 million settlement of their legal claims, the second-largest involving a Catholic archdiocese in the U.S.

Archbishop Ronald Hicks sent an email Saturday to clergy confirming the settlement after attorneys for the survivors of alleged abuse announced it. Hicks said the agreement will not be final until the parties sign it, an action scheduled for the week of Nov. 6.

The only larger settlement over sexual abuse claims in the U.S. was by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, which agreed in 2024 to pay $880 million to 1,000 abuse victims, in addition to $740 million in claims it had paid previously. In June, the Archdiocese of San Francisco agreed to a $395 million settlement over about 500 lawsuits filed over clergy abuse, and in…

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The Archdiocese of Baltimore and the survivors committee reported significant progress during Friday’s bankruptcy court hearing, raising hopes for a settlement in the church’s Chapter 11 case by the end of the year.

“We have three full days of mediation next week,” one lawyer said during the hearing. “Locking ourselves in a courtroom will get a deal done, hopefully.”

The court was told that the structure of the plan is not an issue, but the dollar amount remains a key point of negotiation.

“We are working toward a monetary resolution,” the lawyer added.

The mediation now includes three parties, as Baltimore’s Catholic parishes, schools, and affiliates have been brought into the discussions.

Attorney Teresa Lancaster, an abuse survivor, shared her cautious perspective on the developments.

“I refuse to get too excited about it. My concern is for the survivors, you know, they’ve been led ups and downs and they hang…

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The Roman Catholic archdiocese might now avoid bankruptcy by reaching a settlement with 1,300 people who said they had been abused by clergy members and lay leaders.

The Archdiocese of New York and plaintiffs’ lawyers were closing in on a settlement on Friday in which the church would pay more than $800 million to settle claims from 1,300 people who said they had been sexually abused by its clergy members and lay leaders.

The plaintiffs’ lawyers said that they had finalized the settlement with the archdiocese and that all of the plaintiffs had signed off on it.

But Joseph Zwilling, a spokesman for the archdiocese, said in an interview on Friday night that the parties were still working to finalize the agreement. “We are not quite there yet,” he said.

Terms of the settlement would call for each plaintiff to have the option of receiving a lump-sum payment of…

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New details in the case of an Eastern Kentucky pastor arrested earlier this month on charges related to child sexual exploitation.

Jared Salmons’ case advanced to federal court, where he was indicted on Thursday in London.

He was charged with four counts of knowingly producing obscene visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, involving five minor victims between late September and mid-October in Knott County.

He was also federally indicted on four counts of receiving child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography.

Federal prosecutors say an iPhone 17 Pro Max seized from Salmons is subject to forfeiture.

Salmons was a pastor in Perry County and also worked as general manager of the Knott County Water and Sewer District before being fired after his arrest.

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A 33 year old pastor has been remanded to the Belize Central Prison after being charged with sexual offences.

Kevin Tzib faces six counts of sexual assault and one count of unnatural crime.

Police say the charges were brought after four separate reports were made against him.

Tzib was arraigned on Thursday in San Ignacio, where he pleaded not guilty to the charges. Bail was denied, and he was remanded to prison.

Police have not released further details of the allegations.

The charges are allegations, and Tzib is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

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A Lawton pastor has been arrested and faces multiple felony sexual abuse and rape charges.

Lawton Police Department officers arrested James Lamont Newton, 53, following the execution of a search warrant on Oct. 21 in connection with an investigation into allegations of sexual abuse.

According to court documents, LPD began investigating allegations reported in September 2026 that Newton sexually assaulted two juvenile males. The first reported incident occurred in 2010, with several additional instances of alleged sexual abuse reported from that time through 2023.

Court documents state one victim alleged Newton used gifts, church status and financial assistance to gain control over him. The victim also reported multiple occasions in which Newton shamed boys within the church for failing to comply with demands and allegedly became physically violent if they refused.

Investigators also noted two previous reports of sexual abuse allegations made against Newton in 1998 and 1999, examining whether…

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The Derry Diocese said it received no prior concerns or complaints relating to paedophile priest Fr Edward Gallagher’s conduct with seminarians before his arrest, following fresh allegations of alleged grooming and inappropriate behaviour during visits to Maynooth seminary.

In its October 22 edition, The Irish News reported that an anonymous former seminarian, who was 18 at the time, claimed they made separate formal complaints to two senior priests in the Diocese of Derry regarding Gallagher’s conduct in the late 1990s.

As reported in the Irish News article, it was alleged Gallagher asked intrusive questions about whether seminarians had girlfriends, frequently complimented them on their appearance and invited them to go for drives with him.

The former seminarian said that he found Gallagher intimidating and had warned other students not to be alone with him. According to The Irish News, the complainant claimed it was “an open secret” within Maynooth that…

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Majority of crimes considered to have ‘lapsed’

After the extraordinary revelations – and the sense of hope – that came from the independent commission set up almost four years ago to investigate child sex abuse within the Portuguese Catholic Church, Expresso reports that none of the complaints that emerged from the woodwork have led to formal charges being brought in court.

In a nutshell, all claims made against Catholic priests still living have been archived.

In the majority of cases, cases were dismissed because the alleged offences were already time-barred under criminal law. In the other cases, they met the same fate as there was considered to be “insufficient solid evidence” to proceed with an indictment (in spite of the commission’s belief that more than 100 abusers were still working as priests).

Although the law states that the statute of limitations for such offences only begins to run…

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A new lawsuit accuses three Rhode Island priests, including former Roman Catholic Bishop of Providence Louis Gelineau, of sexually abusing an altar boy several times at a Barrington parish.

The victim, who was 10 years old when he first became an altar boy at St. Luke’s Parish, filed a lawsuit against the church and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence last week.RELATED: Lawsuit accuses former bishop, two priests of abusing altar boy

The lawsuit revealed that Father Oscar Ferland sexually abused the victim numerous times between the years of 1982 and 1987. It also noted that Gelineau assaulted the victim twice while visiting the parish, and Father Robert Cabral molested him while on trips to Rocky Point Amusement Park.

Ferland, Gelineau and Cabaral have since passed away.

Globe Rhode Island Reporter Amanda Milkovitz sat down with the victim who explained why he waited decades to come forward about…

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John A. Camardo, III, was sentenced in court to eight years in prison and 10 years of post-release supervision.

A former executive pastor at The Chapel and youth soccer coach was sentenced to eight years in prison Monday after pleading guilty to sexually abusing two children in Amherst.

John Camardo III, 47, of Williamsville, was sentenced before State Supreme Court Justice Deborah Haendiges to a determinate term of eight years in prison, followed by 10 years of post-release supervision. He will be required to register as a sex offender upon his release.

The sentencing came after Camardo pleaded guilty in July 2026 to rape in the second degree and course of sexual conduct against a child in the second degree, both Class D violent felonies.

According to prosecutors, Camardo engaged in sexual intercourse with a victim younger than 15 between April and May 2024. He also…

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A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit against Pawleys Island Community Church, Pawleys Island Christian Academy and several other defendants accused of allowing a registered sex offender to work on a campus where children attended school.

U.S. District Judge Richard Mark Gergel dismissed the proposed class-action lawsuit Sept. 15, finding that the plaintiffs failed to meet the financial requirements needed to bring the case in federal court.

The lawsuit, filed Aug. 4, alleged that the church and school allowed Warren Spencer Perry, a convicted and registered sex offender, to volunteer in a custodial maintenance position that gave him access to children attending the academy.

According to the complaint, church and school officials knew Perry was a registered sex offender but did not tell parents that he was working on campus and had repeated access to students.

The lawsuit was brought by two parents, identified as John Doe and Jane Doe,…

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John A. Camardo, III, 47, of Williamsville, was sentenced Oct. 19 to eight years in prison plus 10 years of post-release supervision after pleading guilty to rape in the second degree and course of sexual conduct against a child.

The former executive pastor at The Chapel in Getzville and youth soccer coach with the Amherst Soccer Association and Amherst Hawks received the sentence from State Supreme Court Justice Deborah Haendiges. He must register as a sex offender.

Between April and May 2024 he engaged in sexual intercourse with a victim under 15, and between April 2025 and June 2026 he engaged in multiple acts of sexual conduct with a second victim under 13. Both crimes occurred in Amherst and he knew the victims. Final orders of protection were issued through 2054.

Invoking 1 Timothy 5:20-21, church leadership issued a public rebuke of Camardo’s actions in a letter to The Chapel…

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The former senior pastor of Calvary Chapel Montrose was arrested in connection with a case involving child sexual abuse, the church announced.

Benjamin Garate is no longer employed by the church and was removed from all pastoral duties and leadership responsibilities, Calvary Chapel Montrose posted on social media.

According to court records, Garate has two hearings on Thursday afternoon. He is accused of several sex charges and child abuse. His bond was set at $60,000.

“We condemn sexual abuse in every form. We have zero tolerance for sexual abuse, exploitation, or the misuse of spiritual authority. Such conduct is fundamentally contrary to our Christian beliefs and our responsibility to protect the vulnerable,” the church stated.

Calvary Chapel stated it supports a thorough investigation and is cooperating with law enforcement.

The board is currently overseeing church operations and finances, while Pastor John Krabill will continue to serve…

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A Christian worship singer has been hit with a nine-count federal indictment.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina said in an Oct. 21 news release that 54-year-old Richard Channing Shealy was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges for producing, distributing and possessing child sexual abuse material.

The charges follow 33 similar charges brought against Shealy by the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department. At the time of his initial arrest, he was married to the chair of the Lexington One school board.

Who is Richard Channing Shealy?

Before being arrested for charges related to child sexual abuse material in March, Shealy was a Christian worship singer. He was once a guest speaker with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes at Gilbert High School, according to a December Facebook post that is no longer available. He served as an interim worship…

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The movement says research into the allegations is far from complete and could take years, and that the evidence may confirm or fail to substantiate them.

The Schoenstatt movement in Germany has asked people who knew its founder, Father Joseph Kentenich, to share memories and documents as research into allegations against him continues, including any experiences of possible abuse.

In 2020, abuse allegations against Kentenich became public, and the Diocese of Trier suspended his beatification cause in 2022.

The appeal, published Oct. 15 on the movement’s German website, explicitly invites accounts of experiences “perceived as crossing boundaries or as abusive.”

“Historical research into the allegations against Father Joseph Kentenich is in full swing and far from complete,” the movement said.

Schoenstatt has a contact page for people seeking to participate.

“Incriminating evidence may be confirmed; it may equally turn out that allegations…

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Trial testi­mony began Oct. 19 in the case of a former Wilm­ing­ton Cath­olic school teacher accused of rap­ing a stu­dent in the ‘90s.

Chris­topher Crisona is a former teacher of the now-defunct St. Thomas the Apostle School in Wilm­ing­ton. He is charged with mul­tiple felon­ies tied to claims that he repeatedly raped a stu­dent at the school in the ‘90s.

Open­ing state­ments pre­viewed a trial that will focus both on the dec­ades-old recol­lec­tions of the vic­tim while the defense will seek to dis­credit those memor­ies by delving into the sci­ence of repressed memor­ies and the vic­tims’ thera­peutic care through the years.

Crisona was charged along­side John Tag­gart, a former priest at the school who also faces mul­tiple sex abuse felon­ies. Tag­gart’s trial is sched­uled for Janu­ary. St. Thomas the Apostle School, formerly loc­ated in the 200 block of Bayard Ave., closed in 2008 after 105 years.

Trial testi­mony on the…

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After report on clergy abuse from attorney general, legislation still in limbo

AN OVERWHELMING MAJORITY of Massachusetts residents say they believe that the state should eliminate the statute of limitations for reporting child sexual abuse, but Beacon Hill leadership doesn’t seem eager to talk about a bill under negotiation that could do just that.

Legislative leaders this week have kept their comments general about a provision tacked onto the House’s version of a primary care reform bill that would eliminate the statute of limitations on civil child sexual abuse cases, remove the $20,000 charitable immunity cap, and create a two-year window for survivors to revive expired abuse claims.

The amendment, adopted with little fanfare in the closing days for formal business this summer, was introduced by Rep. John Lawn, of Watertown, who serves as House chair of the Legislature’s Health Care Financing Committee.

Lawn, himself a…

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Two lawsuits filed Wednesday allege a church and school in Volusia County failed to protect young boys from ongoing sexual abuse by an employee who had already been investigated by police for similar crimes.

Richard Tripp, 31, and Camron Armstrong, 24, are separately suing the institutions they say were supposed to protect them from Matthew Clark Graziotti. Graziotti was sentenced in 2015 to 210 years in federal prison after sexually abusing 29 children under the age of 12 and creating child pornography of the acts, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

His 2014 arrest shocked the South Daytona community and parents whose children attended Warner Christian Academy, where Graziotti was a fifth grade teacher until he was picked up by the FBI.

Armstrong was a student at Warner Christian, while Tripp attended Edgewater Alliance Church in Edgewater where Graziotti served as a youth pastor.

Tripp’s suit against the church,…

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For the first time, a 56-year-old man has detailed in writing the abuse he allegedly suffered at the hands of three Rhode Island priests, including former Roman Catholic Bishop of Providence Louis Gelineau, while serving as an altar boy at a Barrington parish.

The victim, who was 10 years old when he first became an altar boy at St. Luke’s Parish, filed a lawsuit against the church and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence last week.

The lawsuit explains that the victim’s decision to become an altar boy at the parish in 1982 was “a point of pride” in his family, who were devout Irish Catholics.SEE ALSO: Clergy sex abuse lawsuit filed against the Diocese of Providence

It wasn’t long before Father Oscar Ferland took a special interest in him, per the lawsuit.

“This began years of sexual abuse that continued through approximately 1987,” the…

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A new lawsuit alleges that Bishop Louis E. Gelineau, the former leader of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, raped an altar boy at St. Luke’s Church in Barrington in the 1980s.

The alleged victim, now 56, said he had not talked about his experience before. “Who’s going to believe a 13-year-old?” he said.

Gelineau, who died in 2024 at age 96, has never before been publicly accused of sexually abusing children.

For 25 years, Gelineau oversaw a system where priests accused of abuse were moved from parish to parish and to treatment centers and back, keeping those incidents quiet.

Now, the former altar boy, a Newport man who is 56, is suing the diocese for abuse that he said he suffered from Gelineau and two other priests, including one who was credibly accused of molesting other children. In the lawsuit, filed on Friday in Providence County Superior Court…

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Editor’s Note: This story discusses allegations of child molestation. Reader discretion advised.

A new lawsuit, for the first time, accuses former Roman Catholic Bishop of Providence Louis Gelineau of raping an altar boy in the 1980s at a church in Barrington.

The lawsuit filed by a “John Doe” on Friday is one of dozens filed in recent months against the Diocese of Providence after the state approved a new law in June allowing sex abuse to survivors to file new lawsuits that had previously been prevented by the statute of limitations.

Gelineau was bishop from 1972 to 1997.

He died in 2024 at the age of 96.

The clergy sex abuse scandal came at the tail end of Gelineau’s time as bishop.

Lawsuits then, and in the years since, named Gelineau as a defendant, with accusations the diocese protected pedophile priests years…

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Translated by Karolis Broga

The Pope has granted a request by Tadas Švedavičius, a priest accused of sexual offences against children, to be dismissed from the clerical state.

“As a result of this decision, Švedavičius has lost his clerical status and ecclesiastical faculties and can no longer exercise priestly ministry. Dismissal from the clerical state does not terminate criminal proceedings or exempt him from liability under state law,” the Archdiocese of Vilnius said.

Švedavičius was suspended from his duties following allegations of offences involving the sexual abuse of children, possession of pornographic material and involving children in alcohol consumption. After petitioning the Holy See to be dismissed from the priesthood, he also accepted personal responsibility for compensating the victims.

The prosecutor’s office announced in August that Švedavičius’ case had been referred to court.

The Archdiocese of Vilnius said it would continue to strengthen safeguards for minors…

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A former New York pastor has been sentenced to eight years in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release for child sex crimes involving two victims. John Camardo III had been an executive at The Chapel, a multisite megachurch in Western New York.

Editor’s note: This article refers to reports of sex abuse that some readers might find triggering and/or disturbing.

In July, Camardo pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree rape and one count of second-degree course of sexual conduct against a child.

In addition to being a pastor, Camardo had also been a coach for girls travel soccer. Camardo was promptly removed from his positions as pastor and coach following his arrest. 

RELATED: SBC Pastor in Kentucky Faces Multiple Sex Crime Charges

In a statement following Camardo’s arrest, The Chapel said that the victims were not connected…

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A former Lexington pastor has been indicted on federal charges involving the production, distribution, and possession of child sexual abuse material, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office District of South Carolina.

Richard Shealy, 54, faces a nine-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Columbia.

Officials said Shealy shared child sexual abuse material with an undercover Homeland Security Investigations agent through a peer-to-peer file-sharing network in February 2026.

Investigators later searched Shealy’s home after getting a warrant, where they found more child sexual abuse material on his computer.

Federal prosecutors said some of the files contained images of a child Shealy abused in 2004 and 2006.

Shealy faces up to 30 years in federal prison on each of four counts of producing child sexual abuse material and up to 20 years on the distribution and possession charges.

He also faces fines of up to $250,000 per count.

Homeland Security…

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A federal grand jury in Columbia returned a nine-count indictment for a former Lexington pastor.

Richard Channing Shealy, 54, is charged with producing, distributing and possessing child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

The indictment alleges that in February 2026, Shealy shared CSAM files with an undercover Homeland Security Investigations agent using a peer-to-peer file sharing network.

After obtaining a search warrant, law enforcement searched Shealy’s home and said they uncovered more CSAM files on his computer, including images of a child that Shealy abused in 2004 and 2006.

Shealy was initially arrested on March 26, on 13 charges of second and third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor for distributing and possessing child sexual abuse material (CSAM), and later released on bond.

Then, in May, 20 additional charges were filed against him related to child sexual abuse.

Shealy faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison on…

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WARNING: This story involves descriptions of alleged sexual crimes against children. Reader discretion is advised.

An ex-pastor and worship musician in the Midlands is now facing federal charges linked to child sex allegations dating back over two decades.

Federal court filings show Richard Channing Shealy, 54, was indicted Wednesday on multiple counts of sexual exploitation of a minor and possession of child sexual abuse material.

The allegations in the indictment date back to 2004 and involve a single underage victim that Shealy “had access to.” On four occasions between 2004 and 2006, Shealy is accused of coercing the victim to “engage in sexually explicit conduct” that was photographed.

Prosecutors also allege Shealy used a peer-to-peer file-sharing network called eDonkey in February 2026 to distribute illicit images to another user, and possessed material involving a “prepubescent minor” through late March 2026.

The following month, Shealy was found with child sexual abuse…

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Institutional transparency offers safety to churches and healing to survivors.

Key points

• Guilty clergy may misrepresent accountability as a “spiritual attack” or rebellion against God’s will.
• Believing that clergy have divine or absolute authority can reduce the likelihood of “upward dissent.”
• Many churches lack close oversight, misconduct reporting systems, or protocols for external investigations.
• A new searchable archive allows churches to use its records for hiring screenings.

Protestant Accountability contains public records documenting over 2,700 church workers who either committed sexual abuse or mishandled related investigations while holding institutional authority. The database covers church staff broadly, from associate pastors and worship leaders to youth workers and staff who have never preached.

The volunteer-run database accepts entries such as court records, state attorney general reports, news articles, and—since convicted or ousted clergy may switch denominations—data from other survivor-run archives like Stop Baptist Predators, Bishop Accountability, and Survivors…

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More than two years after Lafayette Bishop J. Douglas Deshotel excommunicated a deacon whose son was molested by a priest, the Vatican has rejected an appeal by the former deacon.

Scott Peyton resigned from the diaconate in December 2023, citing “distressing revelations regarding sexual abuse scandals involving members of the clergy.”

His son was molested by Father Michael Guidry while Peyton served alongside Guidry as a deacon at St. Peter Catholic Church in Morrow. Guidry, who confessed to the molestation, is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence.

“The magnitude of these revelations has deeply shaken my faith and trust in the institution to which I have dedicated a significant portion of my life,” Peyton wrote in his resignation letter to Bishop Deshotel. “This decision is not a rejection of my faith in God or my commitment to living a life guided by Christian principles. Instead, it reflects a conscientious…

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On Sept. 30, the Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell released a 203-page report finding that more than 270 Catholic priests abused at least 1,000 children over several decades in the dioceses of Springfield, Worcester and Fall River. The report focuses on how bishops and other church leaders perpetuated child sexual abuse in the past and — shockingly — how they continue to circumvent policies and procedures designed to protect children from sexual abuse by priests.

The report details how bishops and other church leaders:

• transferred abusive priests to new dioceses or parishes without warning parishioners in the new location.
• accepted abusive priests from other dioceses or parishes without notifying parishioners.
• placed abusive priests in unsupervised parish settings.
• failed to properly investigate sexual abuse allegations against priests, and
• failed to notify law enforcement of reports that priests had sexually abused children.

As a result of these actions…

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Some survivors of child sexual abuse met with Attorney General Andrea Campbell Tuesday. This comes a few weeks after her office released an investigation into the Fall River, Springfield and Worcester Catholic dioceses, going back to the 1950s. It found 270 clergy abused nearly one thousand children.

Skip Shea, now 66, was one of those children. He was sexually assaulted, starting at age 11 by several priests in the Worcester Diocese. At the attorney general’s meeting, which was not open to the press, Shea said Campbell told survivors like him how grateful she is that they spoke with investigators.

“This was truly an incredibly powerful meeting because this wasn’t a political event or anything. This showed that she actually, really cares. And I was blown away by that,” he said.

Shea said Campbell indicated her office is continuing to push for new legislation that allows victims to seek justice,…

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[See also the text of the complaint.]

The alleged victim, now 56, said he had not talked about his experience before. “Who’s going to believe a 13-year-old?” he said.

A new lawsuit alleges that Bishop Louis E. Gelineau, the former leader of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, raped an altar boy at St. Luke’s Church in Barrington in the 1980s.

Gelineau, who died in 2024 at age 96, has never before been publicly accused of sexually abusing children.

For 25 years, Gelineau oversaw a system where priests accused of abuse were moved from parish to parish and to treatment centers and back, keeping those incidents quiet.

Now, the former altar boy, a Newport man who is 56, is suing the diocese for abuse that he said he suffered from Gelineau and two other priests, including one who was credibly accused of molesting other children. In the lawsuit,…

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Remigio Rios, 56, was arrested on a warrant involving sexual abuse of a child under 14. The school said he is no longer employed there.

A former faculty member and coach at St. John Paul II Academy has been arrested on charges involving sexual abuse of a child, prompting school officials to notify parents and families.

According to a Nueces County Sheriff’s Office arrest report obtained by 3NEWS, 56-year-old Remigio Rios was taken into custody on Oct. 14 in connection with a charge of continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14.

The arrest report states Rios was picked up at the Hidalgo County Jail and transported to the Nueces County Jail on an outstanding warrant.

The Nueces County Sheriff’s Office also lists an indecency with a child by exposure charge and a $1 million bond for the sexual abuse charge.

In a message to parents, the academy said Rios…

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Bishop Andrzej Jeż is accused of failing to notify law enforcement after receiving credible information about alleged child sexual offenses.

Closing arguments were delivered this week in the landmark trial of a Polish bishop accused of failing to notify law enforcement promptly about abuse allegations, with a verdict expected at the end of October.

The prosecution and defense delivered their closing arguments Oct. 15 in the trial of Bishop Andrzej Jeż of Tarnów, southern Poland.

Jeż is accused of failing to promptly notify law enforcement after receiving credible information about alleged sexual offenses against children under 15 by two priests in his diocese. He denies the charges.

Prosecutor Marcin Stępień requested a 10-month prison sentence, suspended for three years, and a fine of 20,000 złotys (around $5,140), if the bishop is found guilty, the Polish Press Agency reported.

Stępień argued that the diocese reported the cases to law enforcement…

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‘They will not actually expel him, it is merely a symbolic gesture.’

The Bolivian Network of Church Abuse Survivors objected this month to the expulsion of the laicized priest Francesc Peris, 84, from the Society of Jesus.

A leader of the survivors’ group said the Jesuits made only a “symbolic” expulsion of the priest, who is accused of sexually abusing 22 minors in Spain and Bolivia between 1974 and 2004, and that it does not address the Jesuit’s “complicity” in the priest’s sexual misconduct.

The measure was announced by the Jesuits on Oct. 5. In a statement, the order said that a canonical process had found Peris guilty of several offenses.

Born in Catalonia, Peris has been living in a Jesuit residence for the past few years and has not been engaged in pastoral activities. While he has been laicized and is no longer a member of the Society of…

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The leader of a Kenyan doomsday cult linked to more than 400 deaths was convicted Monday of murdering 190 children and one adult after ordering followers to starve themselves to death to meet Jesus.

Justice Diana Kavedza ruled that Pastor Paul Mackenzie, leader of the Good News International Church, oversaw an organized system that used religious teachings to compel followers to fast until they died.

In 2023, more than 400 bodies were exhumed from shallow graves on the 800-acre (320-hectare) Chakama Ranch in coastal Kilifi County, where Mackenzie’s followers lived in mud huts, away from the scrutiny of local communities and authorities.

Mackenzie was arrested and charged with murder alongside his wife and dozens of his followers. Some followers later became prosecution witnesses in the case. The trial began in 2023.

He denied all charges, saying he did not force his followers to fast.

A mitigation hearing…

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In short:

The leader of a Kenyan doomsday cult has been found guilty of using forced starvation to kill 191 of his followers, including children and one adult.

Pastor Paul Mackenzie was convicted alongside 28 others who helped run a sect connected to his evangelical Good News International Church.

What’s next?

Mackenzie and his co-accused are due to be sentenced on November 6.

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A Kenyan preacher has been found guilty of 191 murder charges after forcing followers to starve themselves and their children so they would die and enter heaven to be with Jesus.

Pastor Paul Mackenzie was convicted alongside 28 others who helped run a sect connected to his Good News International Church in coastal south-east Kenya.

Mackenzie and his helpers used religious teachings and a church hierarchy to enforce “deadly fasting” on followers after setting up a community in a forest, a judge said in her…

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A former pastor and soccer coach from Williamsville was sentenced to eight years in prison and 10 years of post-release supervision for child sexual abuse, the Erie County District Attorney’s Office said Monday.

John A. Camardo III, 47, pleaded guilty in July to one count of second-degree rape and one count of second-degree course of sexual conduct against a child.

Officials said that between April 2024 and June 2024, Camardo had sexual intercourse with a victim under 15 years old. Between April 2025 and June 2026, Camardo engaged in two or more acts of sexual conduct with a second victim who was under 13 years old. Officials said Camardo knew the victims, and both crimes took place in Amherst.

Camardo was a former executive pastor of The Chapel, which has several locations in Western New York. He also previously coached girls’ travel soccer for the Amherst Soccer Association as…

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A northeast Kansas woman is suing a Catholic priest, two dioceses and a parish, alleging that the priest subjected her to months of sexual misconduct after she sought his spiritual guidance.

The lawsuit, filed in Wyandotte County District Court, accuses the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, the Catholic Diocese of Salina and Seven Dolors of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in Manhattan of failing to adequately supervise the Rev. Ryan Anthony McCandless and allowing him to remain in a position of authority after the woman reported his conduct.

McCandless, 44, was under the authority of the Diocese of Salina, the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas and Seven Dolors Parish, the lawsuit says.

He also faces criminal charges in a separate case.

McCandless was arrested by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation…

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A Kentucky Baptist pastor in Perry County was arrested Tuesday on 17 counts of distributing matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor under 12.

Jared Oneil Salmons, 48, of Leburn, is pastor of Mount Olivet Baptist Church in Cornettsville.

Kentucky State Police said Salmons was located, interviewed and arrested as part of an Internet Crimes Against Children investigation.

“The KSP Electronic Crime Branch began the investigation after discovering the suspect uploading sexually explicit images of juveniles to one of his social media accounts,” the statement said.

Investigators served a search warrant at Salmons’ residence Tuesday and seized equipment allegedly used in the offenses, according to the statement. The equipment was taken to KSP’s forensic laboratory for examination.

According to the citation, Salmons admitted during an interview to creating AI-generated images and that he owned the email account associated with the alleged illegal internet activity. The charges are a Class…

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The film, executive produced by Mariska Hargitay, centers on women’s testimonies challenging institutional power within the Catholic Church.

The documentary NUNS VS. THE VATICAN, directed by Emmy-winning filmmaker Lorena Luciano, will open in theaters in Los Angeles on October 23 at the Laemmle Monica Film Center, with a national rollout to follow. The film was produced by Filippo Piscopo and executive produced by Mariska Hargitay, Trish Adlesic, Lauran Bromley, Regina K. Scully, and Amanda Stephens.

The feature-length documentary previously debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film features acclaimed actress Mariska Hargitay, along with award-winning filmmakers Trish Adlesic, Lauran Bromley, Regina K. Scully, and Amanda Stephens, as executive producers.

In the shadows of the Catholic church, nuns and women have long endured abuse at the hands of priests—insidious and tactful grooming, silenced by confession, and hidden through systemic cover-ups. The investigative documentary uncovers both the…

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More than two years after Lafayette Bishop J. Douglas Deshotel excommunicated a deacon whose son was molested by a priest, the Vatican has rejected an appeal by the former deacon.

Scott Peyton resigned from the diaconate in December 2023, citing “distressing revelations regarding sexual abuse scandals involving members of the clergy.”

His son was molested by Father Michael Guidry while Peyton served alongside Guidry as a deacon at St. Peter Catholic Church in Morrow. Guidry, who confessed to the molestation, is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence.

“The magnitude of these revelations has deeply shaken my faith and trust in the institution to which I have dedicated a significant portion of my life,” Peyton wrote in his resignation letter to Bishop Deshotel. “This decision is not a rejection of my faith in God or my commitment to living a life guided by Christian principles. Instead, it reflects a conscientious…

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https://www.archspm.org/events/trusting-the-voice-you-were-taught-to-doubt

Date: Monday, Oct. 26
Start Time: 6:30 p.m.
End Time: 8 p.m.
Location: Virtual
Register here

Trusting the Voice You Were Taught to Doubt: Rebuilding the Trust Between You and You

Many of us were taught from an early age that answers come from outside ourselves, and when harm follows, that lesson can run even deeper. In this gentle, practical session, Human Connection Coach Michelle Renee shares parts of her own journey of healing from an abusive relationship and explores how inner knowing gets buried and how it can be rebuilt, one small moment at a time. You’ll learn what your body’s signals are telling you, why self-trust grows from safety, and simple practices to bring into everyday life.

Michelle Renee is a Human Connection Coach and founder of Human Connection Lab. Her work grew out of her own path of learning to trust herself again. For over a decade, she…

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A Catholic bishop has urged Church safeguarding officers to build a lasting culture of transparency and accountability, saying their mission must go beyond exposing abuse to preventing it.

Bishop Dennis Villarojo of Malolos said safeguarding officers must ensure that no part of the Church remains hidden from scrutiny, especially where children and vulnerable adults may be at risk.

“Our duty as safeguarding officers is not so much to uncover hidden rocks, but to allow the light to scatter the darkness,” Villarojo said in a homily Friday at Sta. Maria Goretti Parish Church in Manila.

Villarojo, chairman of the CBCP Episcopal Office for the Protection of Minors and Vulnerable Persons, delivered the homily during the closing Mass of a four-day national safeguarding meeting.

He said safeguarding officers must initially uncover hidden problems, but their long-term mission is to sustain systems that prevent abuse and promote integrity throughout Church institutions.

“When systems…

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Nothing says institutional accountability quite like excommunicating the father of a clergy abuse survivor while the priest who molested his son remains a priest.

But that is where things stand in the Roman Catholic Church.

The Vatican has upheld the excommunication of former Louisiana Catholic deacon Scott Peyton, whose teenage son was sexually abused by Catholic priest Michael Guidry.

Guidry admitted the abuse, pleaded guilty to molesting Peyton’s 16-year-old son and was sentenced to seven years in prison. The Diocese of Lafayette found the allegation credible and permanently removed Guidry from public ministry.

But Guidry remains a Catholic priest.

Peyton, meanwhile, is out.

Apparently, joining the Anglicans was a bridge too far

After the abuse, Peyton and his family temporarily joined an Anglican congregation. Peyton publicly acknowledged the move, which church authorities determined constituted an act that automatically carried excommunication under Catholic canon law.

…

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A Kentucky pastor has been charged after allegedly generating AI images of child sexual exploitation material.

According to a release by the Kentucky State Police, on Oct. 13 around 3:14 p.m., the KSP Electronic Crime Branch arrested 46-year-old Jared Oneil Salmons amid a child sexual abuse material investigation.

In a uniform citation, troopers say it was reported Salmons had distributed over 17 files of child sexual abuse material.

Authorities say while investigators interviewed Salmons, he admitted to “created AI-generated images” as well as owning a reported account associated with the case.

Salmons is currently charged with 17 counts of distributing matter portraying a minor under the age of 12 in a sexual performance. Distributing matter portraying a minor under the age of 12 in a sexual performance is a Class-C felony and is punishable by five to 10 years in prison.

Salmons was transported to the Kentucky River Regional Jail.

…

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Actual change in the sexual abuse crisis depends mostly on whether or not the authorities and religious leaders are willing to fulfill their duties.

The Pope’s visit to France was good for photo-ops and Catholic “influencers,” but had little or no effect on the abuse crisis.

The Legion of Christ is playing lawfare, trying to prevent NGOs and media from reporting on abuse, while Rome keeps waiting to rule on the future of the Institute of the Incarnate Word.

Despite Pope Leo XIV’s private meeting with clergy sexual abuse survivors in France, there was little or no improvement in the handling of the crisis. To make matters worse, while justice systems remain unable to offer actual solutions to the issues, organizations with a long record of abuse and contradictory behavior are going back into pugnacious strategies against Rome and survivors.

Even if Leo XIV’s visit to France apparently worked as…

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The Reformed Church of the Swiss canton of Zurich has apologised after admitting it failed to investigate reports of sexual assault by a minister properly. The incidents occurred between 1992 and 2006.

The church leadership is said not to have fulfilled its responsibilities towards the women adequately.

The Church Council has offered a sincere apology to the women concerned. An external investigation has revealed that at least ten women were victims of sexual, physical and psychological abuse by a vicar.

It goes on to state that reports of abuse by the same vicar had already led to an internal investigation 20 years ago. “At the time, the accused pre-empted the formal opening of an administrative investigation and resigned,” the Church Council stated. The investigation was subsequently closed.

However, further reports of abuse emerged last year. This is why the Church Council commissioned the expert report. The report concludes that the…

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Investigators had learned of five alleged victims and were investigating, local media reports said

Police in the southern Indian state of Karnataka have arrested a Catholic priest accused of sexually abusing minor boys, with investigators reportedly identifying five alleged victims. 

Police arrested Father Cyprian Pinto, the parish priest of St. Vincent Ferrer Church in Valencia, on Oct. 18 at a relative’s residence in Mangaluru (formerly Mangalore), the New Indian Express newspaper reported, quoting Police Commissioner Sudheer Kumar Reddy.

Bishop Peter Paul Saldanha of Mangalore, when contacted by UCA News on Oct. 19, said he could not comment on the issue because the case is now sub judice.

Santhosh D’Souza, president of Catholic Sabha Mangaluru, a lay association, said it was too early to draw conclusions as investigations were still ongoing.

We have full faith in the law of the land; let’s wait for the truth to…

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Following the news of the sexual assault-related lawsuit naming Cornell University and Chi Phi fraternity members, a familiar pattern occured: Victim-survivors began sharing their own stories en masse on social media, and Doubting Thomases began demanding proof.

Such cultural moments are important to victim-survivors’ felt sense of peer support that can foster the courage to share their stories or, at the least, feel less alone by hearing the testimony of another, even if they themselves are not ready to voice their own. And yet there is something grievous about a wave of public sharing in response to a news cycle, because it often comes from an urgent need to prove to doubters that the Jane Does of these stories are telling the truth.

It troubles me that vocal skepticism about the accusation’s validity — commentaries like “She showed up intoxicated” or “She wanted it at the time and just felt…

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The changes come immediately after The Hoya published new allegations against Fr. Alvaro Ribeiro, S.J., including that he committed sexual misconduct against at least four Georgetown students.

Content Warning: This article discusses clerical sexual misconduct and grooming. Please refer to the end of the article for on- and off-campus resources.

Georgetown University quietly overhauled its Title IX webpage dedicated to clerical sex abuse immediately after an investigation by The Hoya revealed new allegations against Fr. Alvaro Ribeiro, S.J., and a novel information-sharing protocol between Jesuits and the university. 

The updated webpage explicitly recognizes Ribeiro’s alleged misconduct, publicizes recent “formal protocols” to share Jesuit sexual-misconduct reports and removes the “ongoing work” section that The Hoya found had not been updated in years. 

The Hoya’s Oct. 16 investigation was the first public report that a Jesuit priest engaged in sexual misconduct at Georgetown after being placed on leave following View Cache

Content warning: this article discusses sexual assault

On October 15, Georgetown’s Women’s and Gender Studies Program (WGST) hosted a “Sexual Assault on College Campuses” panel in response to the recent surge of national media coverage surrounding high-profile sexual violence cases across higher education.

The panel featured a multidisciplinary roster of Georgetown faculty, including Samantha Berner, Title IX Coordinator; Dr. Nadia Brown, Director of WGST; Professor Chiara Cooper; Professor Tricia Hoefling; Professor Sara Pavia; and Jen Luettel Schweer, Licensed Professional Counselor.

The event arrived amidst national conversations regarding a recently reopened sexual assault case at Cornell University, which has reignited discussions around Title IX procedures, fraternity culture, and institutional accountability at college campuses across the country.

According to Brown, the event was born out of a convergence of student initiative and administrative collaboration.

“This event really grew out of a combination of student interest and…

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Will time finally be on the side of child sexual-abuse victims?

A powerful new survey from the MassINC Polling Group has clearly revealed the public’s overwhelming support to see abusers pay for their heinous acts — no matter how long it takes.

According to the poll, an astonishing 84% of respondents strongly or somewhat support eliminating the statute of limitations for filing a civil complaint alleging child sexual abuse. This is not a partisan issue, nor is it a minor policy debate. It is a resounding moral mandate.

Currently, Massachusetts law dictates a 35-year statute of limitations for these civil cases, a countdown clock that ticks into effect the moment an alleged victim turns 18.

To an outside observer, 35 years might seem like an ample window of time to come forward, seek legal counsel, and file a complaint. But this perspective fundamentally misunderstands the reality of trauma.

Psychology and…

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The Polish Bishops’ Conference will hold its 406th plenary meeting on October 22–24, 2026, in Zakopane. Among other things, the bishops will discuss preparations for the start of work by an independent expert commission that will examine the phenomenon of sexual abuse of minors in the Catholic Church in Poland, Interia reports.

Status of the commission

The commission was established in March 2026, and the current work concerns the conditions for its operation. During the meeting, the bishops are to consider the results of consultations on the commission’s statute.

One of the legal issues will be the commission obtaining legal personality under state law. The discussion is planned both in smaller groups and during the plenary part of the meeting.

Education, media and youth

The agenda also includes the situation regarding religion classes in schools, educating young people based on values, and the problem of aggression…

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The incident came to light when the victim shared his story with his friends and found out that other boys had also faced similar abuse.

Mangaluru South Police have arrested Catholic priest Father Cyprian Pinto for allegedly sexually abusing a minor boy over a prolonged period.

The police registered a case under Section 8 and 10 of the POCSO Act and Section 75(2) of BNS 2023.

Police Commissioner Sudheer Kumar Reddy said the priest was arrested from a relative’s residence. He will be produced before a magistrate after interrogation and completion of the necessary procedures.

Soon after the POCSO case was registered, the accused Church Father went absconding.

As per the complainant, the priest lured the minor boy who regularly visited Valencia St Vincent Ferrer church for prayers. The priest allegedly invited the boy to a private room and personal quarters, subjecting the minor to repeated sexual abuse and inappropriate…

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When Pope Leo XIV arrived last month in Lourdes, France, he immediately went to the Grotto of the Apparitions, where tens of thousands of pilgrims throng each year in the belief that it will heal their illnesses.

Leo prayed silently for several minutes before a statue of the Virgin Mary, and then, as pilgrims to Lourdes have done for generations, he touched the grotto’s rock wall, drank water from its spring and lit a candle.

In light of the Vatican’s announcement this past week that Leo has lung cancer, church experts are now asking whether he already knew that he was sick when he went to Lourdes nearly three weeks ago.

It is something that the Vatican has so far not disclosed.

The question — and the lack of an answer — reflects both the level of global curiosity about Leo, who left the hospital on…

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Pope Leo returned to the Vatican on Saturday days after undergoing lung surgery. Pope Leo XIV’s cancer surgeon said there are “no clinical reasons” to prevent the pontiff’s planned Latin America trip next month. 71-year-old Leo is scheduled to make an ambitious November 6-17 trip to Uruguay, Peru and Argentina, including a dozen flights and two helicopter rides to high altitudes.

Leo had the lower lobe of his right lung removed on Tuesday. The surgery confirmed he had adenocarcinoma, the most common type of lung cancer. He left the hospital on Saturday, well ahead of the week-long hospital stay the Vatican had initially anticipated.

The Holy Father has put his heart and soul into his recovery, Dr. Stefano Margaritora told Vatican News, adding that he expected the pope to recover fully from surgery “in another 10 days or so.” “As for a long trip involving air travel in about three…

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Summary

• First US pope promises slow return to full activity
• Unclear when pope will hold next public event
• Leo scheduled for South America trip in November

Pope Leo pledged on Sunday ​to slowly resume his usual activities as the leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics as he ‌greeted crowds in St. Peter’s Square during his first public event since undergoing surgery for lung cancer five days ago.

The 71-year-old pontiff had an operation on Tuesday to remove the lower lobe of his right lung, fuelling speculation about how his illness might change his 17-month papacy.

Smiling from ​a window of the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace as he spoke to pilgrims below in a firm, clear ​voice on Sunday, the first US pope thanked people across the world for their prayers and ⁠said he would now begin to resume his normal schedule.

“Having overcome this…

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Pope Leo XIV thanked thousands of faithful in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday for their prayers while he was hospitalized for an operation to remove a malignant tumor, and said he plans to gradually return to his usual duties.

The crowd erupted in cheers when the pontiff showed himself in the window overlooking the square, where a week ago on the same occasion of the traditional Angelus blessing he revealed that a nodule had been located on his lung, and that it would be surgically removed.

’’Now that this delicate phase is behind me, I will gradually resume my activities, always with God’s help and your prayers,” Leo said, his voice sounding strong four days after the lower lobe of his right lung was removed.

The pontiff said the experience of the last week “has made me feel especially close to those facing illness and infirmity.” He told…

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[Note: See also the very informative complaints: John Doe 20 v. Archdiocese of Chicago and John Doe 61 v. Archdiocese of Chicago.]

Chicago attorneys have filed more than a half dozen lawsuits alleging the Archdiocese of Chicago knew its priests were running a “sex ring” for decades at a South Side parish, but did nothing to stop it from happening.

Attorneys with the law firm of Hart McLaughlin & Eldridge accused the archdiocese of allowing priests to “operate a network of child sexual predatory behavior” at the former Holy Angels Parish.

“Holy Angels was not a sanctuary for children,” Steven Hart, the firm’s founding partner, said at a press conference Tuesday. “It was a sanctuary for predators — sexual predators — protected by the Chicago Archdiocese.”

A spokesperson for the archdiocese declined to comment on the lawsuits Tuesday.

The lawsuits allege children between the ages of 5 and…

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The legislature has yet to pass Erin’s Law, mandating child abuse prevention education, and other laws advocates say could strengthen protections for children.

Tess Sanford Ramirez and Kim Bergman share an experience they wish they didn’t. Their gymnastics and tumbling coach sexually abused them both — 10 years apart. 

But there’s a key difference between their stories, Bergman said. 

When Bergman told a friend and an adult about the abuse, they didn’t report it. Years later, when the same thing happened to Sanford Ramirez, she also told a friend. But this friend immediately pushed her to disclose the abuse to her father, leading to the coach’s conviction. 

Bergman said it shouldn’t be kids’ responsibility to prevent abuse, but it can make a real difference when children are educated on how to recognize abuse and what to do if it happens to them or to a friend. 

“One thing that I…

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