Month: November 2018

WHEELING (WV)
The Intelligencer

December 1, 2018

Thursday’s release of a list of predator priests who served in West Virginia is only a beginning for the Roman Catholic Church, in many ways.

One of them is that the shocking, disturbing revelations in the list may — and should — make the list longer. Church officials say that was one of their goals in making the information public.

There are reasons to believe they are right in expecting their action Thursday will result in more accusations against priests. One entry on the list itself reinforces that feeling.

Officials of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston said earlier this fall that they were compiling a list of priests against whom credible accusations of abusing minors had been lodged. The diocese includes all of West Virginia.

One of the credible allegations of abuse was reported to the diocese on Oct. 26 — two days…

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Catholic

November 30, 2018

By Michelle Martin

Cardinal Cupich added the names of 10 current and former priests and deacons to its public list of clergy with substantiated allegations of child sexual abuse on Nov. 28.

Four were priests of the Archdiocese of Chicago, two were deacons of the Archdiocese of Chicago, two were extern priests from dioceses outside of the United States and two were religious order priests. All six of the archdiocesan priests or deacons have died; none of the men has been in public ministry since 2004.

William Kunkel, general counsel for the Archdiocese of Chicago, said the additions mean the list now includes every priest or deacon investigated by the archdiocesan Independent Review Board or similar archdiocesan processes and found to have credible allegations against them.

“The cardinal made the decision to expand the list to whoever had substantiated allegations against them…

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BALTIMORE (MD)
Baltimore Sun

November 30, 2018

By Tina Alexis Allen

I grew up in the tony suburbs of Washington, D.C. — the moneyed, preppy, elite, entitled bedroom communities of Chevy Chase, Bethesda and Potomac — wreaking havoc in the ‘80s just down the street from Columbia Country Club, where, allegedly, the young Christine Blasey Ford swam that fateful summer day, pre-gathering, pre-groping, pre-assault.

I attended the all-girls school there, Immaculata Prep. Though I never hung out with Brett Kavanaugh and his buddy Mark Judge, I partied with the boys from Gonzaga and Georgetown Prep. Like Brett, I was the captain and star of the basketball team, maybe surpassed him on the court — being a Washington Post First team All-Metropolitan selection, and receiving full basketball scholarships to Stanford, Notre Dame and Maryland. I, too, worked my ass off to get what I got and had a full summer…

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OMAHA (NE)
WOWT TV

November 30, 2018

The Archdiocese of Omaha has submitted documents to the Nebraska Attorney General pertaining to 24 priests, among a total of 38 clergy , with substantiated allegations of abuse or misconduct with minors.

The cases date back to 1978.

According to a news release from the Archdiocese issued Friday morning…

The documents included information on 24 archdiocesan priests with substantiated allegations of the abuse of minors or misconduct with minors. In all, documentation on 38 clergy were given to the attorney general for alleged abuse or misconduct with minors as far back as 1956 but reported to the archdiocese between 1978-2018.

“We acknowledge this report with sorrow, and know that it will cause a great deal of pain,” said Archbishop George Lucas. “We’re deeply saddened so many innocent minors and young adults were harmed by the church’s ministers. To victims and their families,…

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[Whistleblowers send letter to Scicluna asking him to seek justice, keep promises]

CHILE
La Tercera

November 29, 2018

“La Congregación de los Hermanos Maristas se ríe de nuestro dolor, buscan desgastarnos y no avanzan en la búsqueda sincera de justicia y reparación”, señalan en la misiva.

Durante esta jornada, los denunciantes del caso Maristas enviaron una carta pública al arzobispo Charles Scicluna, secretario adjunto de la Congregación para la Doctrina de la Fe, para pedirle que “cumpla su palabra” empeñada en la cita que sostuvieron en febrero, e intervenga en el proceso, pues consideran que “las redes de impunidad siguen activas”.

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LITTLE ROCK (AR)
Bilgrimage

November 30, 2018

By William Lindsey

Two days ago, I wrote,
One bishop after another is claiming that there have not been cases of abuse in his diocese for years now, and the lists being released are almost entirely names of priests who have been dead for some time. Many survivors are pointing out that they can testify that the lists being released are not complete, since they personally known of priests whose names are not on the lists being released.

Then I told you I have had phone calls from people telling me that this is true of the list released by the bishop in the Catholic diocese in which I live, the Little Rock diocese: people are telling me they know of priests whose names are not on the list of abusive priests in Arkansas released recently by Bishop Anthony Taylor.

Now…

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
The Worthy Adversary

November 23, 2018

By Joelle Casteix

The enemy of sex abuse and cover-up is the light of truth: Statute of Limitation Reform.

Why? Because civil justice—properly executed—demands that such behavior be uncovered and made public. Predators AND the institutional cover-up that enables predators to flourish are EXPOSED. Law enforcement can put bad guys behind bars.

If we only expose the predators, but don’t expose the institutional cover-up that enables such predators in institutions such as the Catholic Church—the predatory system continues to flourish. The Catholic Church/Boy Scouts/Michigan State, etc., continue unabated.

New predators will “fill the gap” left by predators put in jail or exposed individually if systems of cover-up are allowed to remain in place. (Just ‘plug in the new guy’ and it’s business as usual)

The enemies of Statute of Limitation Reform are Class Action Lawsuits and IRCPs. These are what…

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BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo News

November 29, 2018

No one denies that there have been issues of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church. However, the diocese does Catholics a disservice when they lump inappropriate behavior by priests together with criminal behavior, such as pedophilia.

A homosexual priest making a pass at a 22 years old male, while inappropriate, is not criminal. Neither is a priest having a heterosexual affair with an adult female. Yet, for the most part, we are left guessing what the allegations against many of the priests are. We cannot separate true pedophiles from those who simply failed to live up to their vow of celibacy. That is wrong.

The diocese terms the allegations against the various priests, “credible,” but does not define what that means or how the determination was made. Who made that determination? Was it a priest with a degree in theology, or a…

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
KDKA TV

November 29, 2018

Survivors and parishioners came out to St. Paul Cathedral in Oakland on Thursday night for the first of four listening sessions since the release of the Pennsylvania grand jury report on clergy sexual abuse.

Similar sessions are already being held in in the Greensburg Catholic Diocese.

But organizers in the Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese are hoping to create a safe space so everyone can work through the healing process together.

Bishop David Zubik sat at the altar listening as one-by-one the faithful stood before him to share their pain and anger over the scandal.

“I was overcome with emotion. I spoke all across the state and didn’t have this problem until tonight, but I felt a sense of community that I haven’t felt for a long time,” said Jim VanSickle, a survivor of clergy abuse.

Nancy Pieffer, another survivor who became a social…

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LONDON (UK)
The Week

November 30, 2018

By Damon Linker

Three months ago, I announced I was leaving the Catholic Church. My reason was that the latest revelations in the church’s interminable sex abuse scandal had revealed “a repulsive institution — or at least one permeated by repulsive human beings who reward one another for repulsive acts, all the while deigning to lecture the world about its sin.”

Let’s just say subsequent events haven’t led me to regret the decision.

That would include Wednesday’s news that the offices of the cardinal-archbishop of Galveston-Houston, who also happens to serve as president of the United States Catholic bishops’ conference, were raided by “dozens of local and federal law enforcement officers … looking for evidence in a clergy sexual abuse case.” A couple of weeks ago, the story was the Vatican’s decision to nix plans by the American bishops to devise some…

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NORTH CHARLESTON (SC)
WCSC TV

November 29, 2018

By Harve Jacobs

A volunteer at a church in North Charleston is facing charges after performing oral sex on a child, according to an affidavit.

That suspect also once attended and volunteered at a church in Mooresville, according to a spokesperson.

A judge denied bond Wednesday for Jacop Robert Lee Hazlett, 28, who is charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor.

Investigators say Hazlett escorted a 3-year-old boy into a bathroom at the Newspring Church, located in the 5100 block of Ashley Phosphate Road on Nov. 25. The affidavit states the boy used the restroom and when he was finished, Hazlett performed oral sex on him before pulling the boy’s pants back up.

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IOWA CITY (IA)
Associated Press

November 28, 2018

By Ryan J. Foley

A Catholic diocese on Wednesday defended its decision to continue employing a priest who told police he was trying to rape a woman when he was arrested naked in an Iowa mall in 2013.

The Diocese of Sioux City issued a statement for the first time acknowledging the 5-year-old incident involving Father Jeremy Wind, calling it a “mental health episode” from which he recovered with the help of medication and treatment. The diocese gave no details about what occurred and told parishioners the scrutiny was unfortunate and unnecessary because “there is nothing newsworthy to report.”

The statement came in response to inquiries from The Associated Press, which used the state’s open records law to shed light on a criminal case that was recently erased from public court files. It marks the latest diocese personnel matter that has…

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CONROE (TX)
ABC 13 News

November 29, 2018

Investigators who executed a search warrant at the Galveston-Houston Archdiocese offices Wednesday are hoping to find a daily journal written by Father Manuel La Rosa-Lopez while he was residing at the Shalom Treatment Center.

A search warrant attained by ABC13 reveals Montgomery County officials are also looking for records stemming from a meeting between Cardinal Daniel DiNardo and one of Father La Rosa-Lopez’s alleged victims, who said the priest repeatedly touched him while he was still a minor.

In all, six alleged victims have come forward with claims against La Rosa-Lopez, but the charging document only lists one male and one female victim. The search warrant names another.

Prosecutors said Thursday the church investigation into allegations against La Rosa-Lopez extend all the way up to the Holy See in Rome.

According to the search warrant, the victims were told that reports…

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
Tribune Review

November 29, 2018

By Jamie Martines

Seated in front of the altar at Saint Paul Cathedral in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood, Bishop David A. Zubik of the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh listened as members of the city’s Catholic community — some of them survivors of sexual abuse at the hands of clergy — shared criticism, reflections and questions following the Pennsylvania grand jury report on sexual abuse released in August.

Thursday’s session is the first of four to be held by the Diocese of Pittsburgh; the others are next week.

“All that I have heard tonight has been your sharing reflections with me,” Zubik said as he addressed attendees at the close of the session. “And so I need to thank you for your courage.”

He extended is apologies to victims and members of the Catholic community.

“I really am very sorry,” Zubik said. “Not empty…

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MORGANTOWN (WV)
The Herald-Dispatch

November 30, 2018

By Megan Osborne

The Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston has released the names of 31 clergy who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors from the 1950s to the present, including five who at some point in their careers served at churches in Huntington.

None of the incidents appear to have occurred in Huntington parishes.

Among those included in the list from the diocese:

The Rev. Franklyn W. Becker acted as the Marshall University Catholic Community Chaplain and served at St. Joseph Catholic Church from January 1975 to August 1976. Multiple incidents referencing Becker were reported to the Archdiocese of Milwaukee between 1970 and 2002, but none were reported to the DWC. He departed the DWC in 1976 and was dismissed from the clerical state in November 2004.

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HOUSTON (TX)
Houston Chronicle

November 29, 2018

By Nicole Hensley and Jay R. Jordan

A sweeping search warrant used to enter the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston was aimed at learning everything about the accused pedophile priest, Manuel La Rosa-Lopez, from his time as a seminarian to his final parish assignment in Richmond.

The search warrant affidavit released Thursday was what allowed local law enforcement officials to walk out of the church headquarters Wednesday on San Jacinto Street with several boxes of evidence. As their 12-hour hunt for records ended that night, Montgomery County District Attorney Brett Ligon called the search “fruitful.”

“We found several things specifically on point,” said Ligon, as investigators packed up.

Among the records being sought were the names of therapists who may have treated La Rosa-Lopez and what their opinion was after he underwent counseling in the early 2000s. A diary that La Rosa-Lopez was required…

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SPRINGFIELD (IL)
Herald & Review

November 30, 2018

By Jim Bowling

A list released Thursday by the Diocese of Springfield with the names of 19 priests accused of sexually abusing children includes at least six clergy who worked in Decatur at times.

The disclosure was in response to a review by the state Attorney General’s office, which since August has been investigating the Roman Catholic Church after a Pennsylvania grand jury report identified at least seven priests with a connection to Illinois.

Springfield Diocese spokeswoman Marlene Mulford on Thursday declined a Herald & Review request to disclose where each of the 19 worked, but a review of public documents and newspaper clips show those with Decatur ties are:

Garrett Neal Dee, who worked at Holy Family Catholic Church in Decatur in 1971, according to a Springfield State Journal-Register article in 2002. He left his parish in Texas after acknowledging…

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PARIS (FRANCE)
La Croix International

November 30, 2018

By Mélinée Le Priol with Pierre Sautreuil

In a decision illustrating the French Church’s genuine concern to address the sex abuse issue, the nation’s bishops have announced a program for accompanying “priests displaying signs of frailty that may become risk factors.

”A grave-faced Bishop Jacques Blaquart met the press on Oct. 22, three days after the suicide of a young priest from his Diocese of Orleans.“How can we simultaneously continue to protect minors and vulnerable persons in the first instance while showing respect and concern for accompanying those who have engaged in inappropriate behavior?” he asked aloud.The whole French Church continues to face this tension as revelations of sexual abuse by clergy continue to mount.

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ALBUQUERQUE (NM)
Santa Fe New Mexican

November 29, 2018

By Daniel J. Chacón and Andrew Oxford

The Archdiocese of Santa Fe is filing for bankruptcy, Archbishop John Wester said Thursday in the face of dozens of ongoing lawsuits stemming from a sexual abuse scandal that stretches back decades and a new investigation by the state’s attorney general into the Roman Catholic Church’s handling of misconduct by its clergy.

Wester said parishes and schools will continue normal operations. But the move will give the archdiocese time to get its finances in order as it faces what Wester said is the real prospect of running out of money. It also could mark the beginning of an effort to finally put a number on how many survivors of sexual abuse at the hands of New Mexico priests are still out there — and how much the church might owe them.

At this…

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

November 30, 2018

We received dozens upon dozens of responses from you, our dear readers, to our editorial published Nov. 9: “Open letter to the US Catholic bishops: It’s over.” Below is a sampling of those letters. They have been edited for length and clarity.

Thank you for speaking for me in so many ways in your letter telling the U.S. bishops’ conference: “it’s over.” As a spiritual director and Catholic psychotherapist, I received my first referral of a clergy abuse victim/survivor in 1988 from a large midwestern diocese.

After treating dozens more survivors, serving on review and advisory boards, giving talks and trainings, arguing, begging and praying with bishops, collaborating with beautiful and faithful survivors, parents, caring priests and Catholic and non-Catholic professionals, I have seen weariness, disappointment and, finally, full belief in the reports of victim/survivors over decades.

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JEFFERSON CITY (MO)
KOMU Channel 8

November 29, 2018 6

By: Mercedes Mackay

Thursday an advocate group for priest abuse survivors called out priests who were left off a recent Jefferson City Diocese “credibly accused list”.

SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, met outside of the Cathedral of St. Joseph to voice their concerns about the list.

“We are here today because we are concerned, in particular, about three credibly accused child molesting priests who spent time in Mid-Missouri,” David Clohessy, SNAP St. Louis volunteer, said.

He said according to court records that include church documents Father Kenneth J. Roberts, Father John C. Baskett and Father A. Lenczycki were all clerics accused of child molestation.

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BUFFALO (NY)
WGRZ TV

November 29, 2018

By Steve Brown and Dave Harrington

That is the question for Buffalo’s Catholic Diocese these days. How much will it cost to resolve dozens upon dozens of claims of sexual abuse at the hands of priests?

“People ask me that all the time and we’re not sure,” said Buffalo Bishop Richard Malone in his interview with Maryalice Demler earlier this month.

The Bishop has said repeatedly it is the compassionate thing to do to address claims even if they date back decades and the legal statute of limitations has expired. But 2 On Your Side is told money was also a factor.

A source tells us there was an interested within the Diocese hierarchy in clearing as many of these cases as quickly possible “at Buffalo prices”, meaning, cheaper than potential civil lawsuits against the Diocese.

There are few clues about the…

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
Tribune Review

November 29, 2018

By Deb Erdley

As the top federal prosecutor in Western Pennsylvania, David Hickton tried a Somerset County priest for molesting children at a Central American orphanage and later invoked federal organized crime statutes in an inquiry into the Altoona Johnstown diocese.

He said he had reason to be suspicious of the Catholic church.

In a lengthy interview with USAToday published Thursday, Hickton, 63, revealed that he personally witnessed teammates on his 6th-grade basketball team at St. Anne’s School in Castle Shannon singled out by a coach who was fondling children. Though the former altar boy said he was never abused, he said he saw the team’s coach select a child to shower with him after every game.

“It was like Russian roulette,” Hickton, the former U.S. attorney in Pittsburgh, told USAToday. “Everybody was looking at each other, worried that they might be…

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PORTLAND (ME)
Associated Press

November 29, 2018

A defrocked Roman Catholic priest who was a central figure in the clergy abuse scandal that rocked the Archdiocese of Boston was convicted Thursday of sexually abusing another boy.

Ronald Paquin, who was released from prison in 2015, was convicted of assaulting a boy in the 1980s in Kennebunkport, Maine.

The victim, now an adult, told reporters after the verdict that Paquin was “pure evil,” thanking jurors for doing “the right thing.”

Two men testified Paquin befriended them as boys at a parish in Haverhill, Massachusetts, and invited them on trips that included visits to Kennebunkport, Maine. They said he gave them alcohol, and let them drive his car without a license. One of them testified he was drugged.

Both said Paquin repeatedly assaulted them, but the jury reached a guilty verdict on counts involving only one of the victims. In the…

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PORTLAND (ME)
Portland Press Herald

November 29, 2018

By Megan Gray

A former Boston priest was found guilty Thursday of sexually abusing a boy during trips to Maine in the 1980s.

Ronald Paquin, 76, was found guilty on 11 of 24 counts of sexual misconduct.

The counts that led to the guilty verdict were based on the testimony of one of two men who accused Paquin in sometimes graphic detail during the three-day trial. He was not found guilty of abusing the other man.

The York County jury deliberated for nearly five fours Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning. The former clergyman did not react as the forewoman announced the split verdict in a quiet but firm voice.

Paquin was one of the priests exposed in the early 2000s by a sweeping Boston Globe investigation into clergy sex abuse. He served more than a decade in prison in Massachusetts for…

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Agency

November 29, 2018

By Ed Condon

Before it began, many U.S. bishops expected their November general assembly in Baltimore to produce something tangible – a new policy, structure, or system – that would help them reassure Catholics that they were responding to months of sexual abuse scandals breaking across the Church.

But after a last-minute Vatican’s decision to suspend a vote on draft measures until after a Rome meeting of the heads of the world’s bishops’ conferences in February, it seems likely that no universal response to the crisis will emerge until at least the second half of 2019.

Some U.S. bishops have told CNA they now realize that if they want to initiate new reforms, they’ll have to do so in their own dioceses, using the ordinary prerogatives of a diocesan bishop.

As they wait for Rome to form its response to the…

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ALLENTOWN (PA)
The Morning Call

November 29, 2018

By Tim Darragh

Karen Votta is a “born and bred” Catholic who felt herself drifting from the church as the “Spotlight” sex abuse scandal exploded out of Boston in 2002.

Despite her disappointment, the Bethlehem woman says she continued to attend Mass occasionally and send contributions to the church.

But the lurid Pennsylvania grand jury report released in August, exposing 301 allegedly abusive priests and more than 1,000 victims in six dioceses across the state, made Votta question the church — but not her belief in Jesus — even more deeply.

“I am Catholic, although I don’t know why I keep sticking around,” Votta said. “The church just keeps making it harder and harder to be a good Catholic… My whole Catholic family has drifted away.”

Revelations of sexual misconduct by priests and cover-ups by their superiors have not only damaged…

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ALBUQUERQUE (NM)
Catholic News Service

November 29, 2018

Agents from the office of New Mexico’s attorney general executed a search warrant to obtain records from the Archdiocese of Santa Fe regarding at least two former priests credibly accused of child sexual abuse.

The agents were at the archdiocese’s administrative offices in Albuquerque Nov. 28.

Attorney General Hector Balderas was seeking information on Marvin Archuleta and Sabine Griego, according to the archdiocese.

Both men, the archdiocese said in a statement afterward, were among clergy included on a list of priests, deacons, religious and seminarians accused of child sex abuse that first was released in September 2017.

The archdiocese said its staff “worked cooperatively” with the agents.

Meanwhile, Santa Fe Archbishop John Wester called all archdiocesan priests to a mandatory meeting the afternoon of Nov. 29, after which he planned to address a news conference.

There was no mention of the…

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

November 28, 2018

A respected and credible Catholic news source reports that “one of the organizers appointed by Pope Francis to plan a February summit at the Vatican on sexual abuse has been accused of covering up abuse in his own archdiocese in India.”

Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Mumbai reportedly told a whistle blower that he “was too busy” to do an investigation into an alleged predator priest. The whistle blower also says the Cardinal delayed removing that cleric from ministry, and then refused to tell his flock why the priest was removed. The whistle blower was ostracized for her activism. This kind of response from any church official to an allegation of sexual abuse would be troubling, but is far, far worse when that church official is one of those handpicked to plan a summit on abuse prevention.

…

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Get Religion

November 29, 2018

by Terry Mattingly

In terms of global, national, regional and local importance, the massive police raid of Catholic headquarters in Houston is clearly the big religion-news story of the day.

The question for me: How important is this story in terms of TEXAS news?

Hold that thought. First, here is the headline in The New York Times: “Investigators Raid Offices of President of U.S. Catholic Bishops.”

This is a solid and disturbing report, with some factual language in places where journalists often offer vague details. Here is the Times overture by veteran religion-beat scribe Laurie Goldstein:

Dozens of local and federal law enforcement officers conducted a surprise search of the offices of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston on Wednesday, looking for evidence in a clergy sexual abuse case that has ensnared the local archbishop, Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo, who also serves as president of…

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HOUSTON (TX)
Star Telegram

November 29, 2018

By Cynthia Allen

This week in Houston, state prosecutors investigating a case of sexual abuse by a Catholic priest searched the offices of the local archdiocese. They were seeking employment and disciplinary records for Manuel La Rosa-Lopez, who stands accused by two people of fondling them two decades ago when they were teenagers.

“This is not a search warrant against the Catholic Church,” said Montgomery County District Attorney Brett Ligon, who is leading the investigation. The archdiocese says it has been cooperating, and was quick to contend that this was not a raid.

But watching footage of gun-toting law enforcement officers walk in and out of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston headquarters, it sure felt like one. And even I — someone who has previously called on secular authorities in Texas to investigate the Catholic Church, as several states are already doing —…

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WILSON (TN)
Wilson Post

November 29, 2018

By Ken Little

William Casey will have to wait until 2019 to find out if his most recent bid for a new trial will be granted by a Sullivan County Criminal Court judge.

Another trial remains a possibility for the former Catholic priest and Greene County resident, based on an opinion filed in May by the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals at Knoxville.

Casey had a post-conviction hearing scheduled Wednesday in Sullivan County Criminal Court. Judge James F. Goodwin granted a continuation until March 15, 2019, so 2nd Judicial District Attorney General Barry Staubus Jr. and Casey’s 2011 trial defense lawyers could review a brief filed Monday in support of a new trial submitted by his current defense lawyer, Francis “Frank” Santore Jr.

Casey, who turns 85 on Jan. 4, was found guilty of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and two counts of…

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SANTA FE (NM)
U.S. News & World Report

November 29, 2018

The Latest: Warrants Detail Clergy Sex Abuse in New Mexico

The Latest on the New Mexico attorney general’s investigation in clergy sex abuse (all times local):.

Search warrants obtained by The Associated Press reveal graphic allegations of sexual abuse of children by members of the Catholic clergy in New Mexico.

The warrants were served Wednesday by agents with the state attorney general’s office at the home of a former priest in northern New Mexico and at the offices of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, which is located in Albuquerque.

The warrants were based on the statements of two unidentified victims and a confidential informant who provided information about the church not following through on settlements and giving ultimatums to victims. That included threats of stopping paid treatment if victims went to authorities with their claims.

The archdiocese did…

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CONCORD (NH)
NBC News

November 26, 2018

By Kalhan Rosenblatt

Earlier this month, in the first of Labrie’s two appeals, the court ruled in a unanimous decision to uphold his felony conviction.

A former student at the prestigious St. Paul’s School in New Hampshire, convicted of a felony charge stemming from rape allegations, will argue on Wednesday he had an ineffective legal team and deserves a new trial.

Owen Labrie, 23, was found guilty in 2015 of one count of “certain uses of computer services prohibited,” three counts of sexual assault and one count of endangering the welfare of a child.

The sexual assault charges and the endangering the welfare of a child charge are misdemeanors. The computer-use charge is a felony, and carries a mandatory lifetime registration as a sex offender, according to the Concord Monitor.

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CONCORD (NH)
Concord Monitor

November 28, 2018

By Alyssa Dandrea

On the heels of a failed appeal, St. Paul’s School graduate Owen Labrie returned to the state’s highest court Wednesday to argue his high-profile defense team provided poor legal representation at his 2015 sexual assault trial.

Labrie, now 23, was acquitted of felony rape charges, but convicted of using a computer to lure a 15-year-old girl for sex as part of the “Senior Salute,” a now-infamous tradition at St. Paul’s where upperclassmen competed for intimate encounters with younger pupils. Labrie maintains his trial attorneys misunderstood the statute governing the computer-use crime and did not defend him against the charge.

A state prosecutor challenged that argument Wednesday, telling New Hampshire Supreme Court justices that Labrie’s trial team did a good job. Assistant Attorney General Sean Locke said Labrie was found not guilty of the most serious crimes – three counts…

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CONCORD (NH)
The Associated Press

November 28, 2018

By Michael Casey

New Hampshire’s Supreme Court heard biting criticism of an elite prep school graduate’s star-studded legal team Wednesday as his lawyer argued he deserved a new trial following his conviction for using a computer to lure an underage student for sex.

Owen Labrie, 23, of Tunbridge, Vermont, was acquitted in 2015 of raping a 15-year-old classmate as part of “Senior Salute,” a game of sexual conquest, at St. Paul’s School. But he was found guilty of a felony computer charge and several misdemeanor counts of sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child.

The computer law says no one shall knowingly use a computer online service “to seduce, solicit, lure, or entice a child” to commit sexual assault.

Christopher Johnson, a lawyer for Labrie, argued Wednesday that his trial lawyers were ineffective for a slew of reasons, including…

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NEW YORK (NY)
The New York Times

November 28, 2018

By Laurie Goodstein

Dozens of local and federal law enforcement officers conducted a surprise search of the offices of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston on Wednesday, looking for evidence in a clergy sexual abuse case that has ensnared the local archbishop, Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo, who also serves as president of the United States Catholic bishops’ conference.

The raid in Houston is the latest sign of crisis in the church, with prosecutors growing more aggressive in their search for cover-ups of abuse, and the bishops — led by Cardinal DiNardo — hamstrung by the Vatican in their efforts to carry out reforms.

The church is under a barrage of investigations around the country. Attorneys general in at least a dozen states have opened inquiries, and the Justice Department has told bishops not to destroy any documents that could…

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PITTSBURGH PA)
KDKA

November 28, 2018

By Andy Sheehan

In the wake of the Pennsylvania grand jury report on clergy sexual abuse of children, many Catholics have left the church, and those who remain say it must undergo a fundamental change.

“There’s no way it can survive as it was,” said parishioner Kevin Hayes. “This is just a seismic shift right now that’s happening.”

After years of remaining silent, parishioners like Hayes, at St. Thomas More in Bethel Park, have begun organizing laity-only groups to demand transparency and accountability.

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[Deacon is said to have raped 15-year-old ministrant[

GERMANY
Katholisch.de

November 29, 2018

Wieder ein schwerer Missbrauchsvorwurf in der Kirche: Ein Diakon soll sich auf einer Ministrantenfahrt an einer 15-Jährigen vergangen haben. Das Erzbistum München und Freising reagierte sofort.

Ein 65-jähriger Diakon wird beschuldigt, eine 15-jährige Ministrantin sexuell belästigt und vergewaltigt zu haben. Die Tat soll sich Anfang Mai ereignet haben, seitdem sitzt der Mann in Untersuchungshaft, sagte eine Sprecherin der Staatsanwaltschaft München I. am Donnerstag auf Anfrage. Ereignet habe sich der Übergriff auf einer Ministrantenfahrt nach Nürnberg. Noch am Abend sei er festgenommen worden.

Die Anklage werde relativ bald vor dem Schöffengericht beim Amtsgericht verhandelt, da es sich um eine Haftsache handele, so die Sprecherin. Da es sich um einen besonders schweren Fall einer Sexualstraftat handele, liege das Strafmaß bei mindestens zwei bis zu 15 Jahren.

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[Deacon charged with rape of a 15-year-old]

GERMANY
WELT

November 28, 2018

Ein katholischer Diakon ist in Bayern wegen der Vergewaltigung einer 15 Jahre alten Jugendlichen angeklagt worden. Ihm wird vorgeworfen, sich an der jungen Frau auf einer Fahrt nach Nürnberg vergangen zu haben.

In Bayern soll ein 65 Jahre alter katholischer Diakon eine 15-jährige Ministrantin vergewaltigt haben. Eine entsprechende Klage sei Anfang November beim Amtsgericht München eingereicht worden, teilte die Staatsanwaltschaft München I am Donnerstag mit. Der Geistliche soll sich im Mai 2015 bei einer Fahrt nach Nürnberg an der damals 15-Jährigen vergangen haben, so der Vorwurf der Ermittler.

Die katholische Kirche in Deutschland beschäftigt sich seit Jahren mit der Aufarbeitung sexuellen Missbrauchs in den eigenen Reihen. Dazu hatte die Bischofskonferenz Ende September eine umfassende Studie veröffentlicht. Demnach sollen zwischen 1946 und 2014 mindestens 1670 Kleriker 3677 Minderjährige missbraucht haben.

Zudem hatten die mit der…

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SIOUX CITY (IA)
Patheos

November 29, 2018

By Barry Duke

Investigations into abusive Catholic priests in Iowa have have brought to light a bizarre episode in which one gentleman of the cloth attempted to rape a woman at a shopping mall, then declared his intention to rape a policeman who arrived on the scene.

Father Jeremy Wind, said to have been trouserless at the time of his arrest in 2013, was allowed to resume his clerical duties after the Diocese of Sioux City satisfied itself that his “mental health episode” had been successfully treated.

The Wind case, according to this report, follows a statement made in October by the diocese’s bishop R Walker Nickless, above, which acknowledged that that it had covered up the crimes Father Jerome Coyle, who admitted to then to then-Bishop Lawrence Soens that he had sexually abused 50 boys over a 20-year period. The diocese…

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IRELAND
Yahoo Lifestyle

November 14, 2018

By Abby Haglage

One week after a lawyer urged a court to focus on the type of underwear a teen girl was wearing the night she alleges a man sexually assaulted her, Irish women are taking to the streets to protest.

“You have to look at the way she was dressed,” Elizabeth O’Connell, the attorney for the 27-year-old male defendant reportedly told the jury in the contentious trial. “She was wearing a thong with a lace front.”

The jury ultimately found the man not guilty, prompting widespread criticism from women in Ireland — including, on Tuesday, an Irish member of Parliament named Ruth Coppinger.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

November 28, 2018

A respected and credible Catholic news source reports that “one of the organizers appointed by Pope Francis to plan a February summit at the Vatican on sexual abuse has been accused of covering up abuse in his own archdiocese in India.”

Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Mumbai reportedly told a whistle blower that he “was too busy” to do an investigation into an alleged predator priest. The whistle blower also says the Cardinal delayed removing that cleric from ministry, and then refused to tell his flock why the priest was removed. The whistle blower was ostracized for her activism. This kind of response from any church official to an allegation of sexual abuse would be troubling, but is far, far worse when that church official is one of those handpicked to plan a summit on abuse prevention.

…

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JEFFERSON CITY (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

November 29, 2018

All were in Jeff City area & 2 attracted national attention

SNAP also worries about 18 new church abuse reports

It wants Catholic officials to “move quickly ” with them

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will disclose the names and histories of three publicly accused child molesting clerics who were in the Jeff City diocese but were left off a recently-posted list of such men.

They will also call on mid-Missouri’s top Catholic official to
–move quickly to resolve the 18 new abuse reports made since August, and any made since that time,
–give more details about each one of the “credibly accused” abusers that have already been identified — current whereabouts, assignment history, dates each known allegation was reported,…

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
Post Gazette

November 29, 2018

Allow me to commend the Post-Gazette on the Nov. 25 story “Hiding Behind God.” As one who was an altar server for two of the identified alleged predator priests and subsequently interacted with several clerical and lay persons associated with this sad saga, I have a very personal interest in this story.

Of particular note are the unidentified attorneys involved in the August 1978 meeting with the two victims and their mother. Absent the improper harsh grilling and intimidation that they were subjected to that resulted in the withdrawal of charges, many later victimizations could have been avoided.

Despite the “memory lapses,” it is imperative that this event continue to be investigated. Had these charges been pursued, they could have prompted earlier intervention to contain these criminal actions and the associated psychological trauma and shaken faith that have resulted. The two victims…

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
CBS 8 TV

November 29, 2018

By Kevin Johnson

The suspicious looks were one thing, but the whispers are what David Hickton remembers from the Sunday mornings two years ago when he would rise from his pew at SS. Simon & Jude to receive Holy Communion.

“I could hear the ‘tsk, tsk, tsk’ while I was going up the aisle,” he says. “Others were muttering, ‘Of all the nerve!’”

Hickton – then the chief federal prosecutor in western Pennsylvania known for his landmark indictment in 2014 of Chinese military hackers for stealing trade secrets from state institutions such as U.S. Steel – had just revealed his new target: the Catholic Church.

The former altar boy from working-class Castle Shannon put the full weight of the federal government behind an incendiary theory that the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese should be viewed as an interstate criminal enterprise – akin to the…

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[Honduran Church hides and protects priests accused of sexual abuse]

TEGUCIGALPA (HONDURAS)
ConfidencialHN

November 16, 2018

Es una investigación comenzada por la Santa Sede que busca aclarar la verdad sobre informaciones confusas e inacabadas, la reparación de las víctimas, algunas medidas que a corto y mediano plazo permitirá alcanzar la justicia. El proceso incoado en Chile y el derecho público en Pennsylvania e Irlanda, demuestran de manera clara que el papa está a favor de las víctimas y exige penalización tanto para los hechores como para los Superiores y Prelados consentidores en el tema de abusos y ofensas sexuales contra menores. El día 16 de agosto, refiriéndose al caso de los niños afectados por largas décadas sucesivas en Pensilvania usó dos palabras que puedan expresar cómo se siente el papa ante estos terribles crímenes: vergüenza y el dolor.

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BUFFALO (NY)
WBFO

November 29, 2018

By Mike Desmond

The present structure of the Catholic Church took some real hits Wednesday night, as the sex abuse crisis was scrutinized before a large crowd at Canisius College’s Montante Center and in cyberspace.

A group of prominent local Catholics organized the meeting, under the general title of the Movement to Restore Trust. Moderated by Canisius President John Hurley, the panelists were two priests, a nun and a nationally prominent lay Catholic leader.

Backed by the audience, they all see a need for major changes in the way the church is run, leaders are selected and held accountable. That could include deciding which posts require a priest and which could be filled by others.

Swormville Pastor Fr. Robert Zilliox said priests need help.

“Encouraging our priests to become holy men, encouraging our priests to become all that God wants them to be,”…

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CONROE (TX)
KTRK TV

November 28, 2018

A possible sex abuse scandal involving a local priest is unfolding.

Four people have come forward, saying that Father Manuel La Rosa Lopez sexually abused children while working at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Conroe in the late 1990s to early 2000s.

Oct. 1999
An underage male was allegedly sexually abused by Father Manuel La Rosa Lopez.

April 2000
An underage girl was allegedly sexually abused by Father Manuel.

2001
The female victim and her family reported the alleged abuse to the church.

Father Manuel was transferred.

The alleged female victim and her family moved to Israel.

2010
The female accuser moved back to the area.

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
KDKA TV

November 28, 2018

By Andy Sheehan

In the wake of scathing Pennsylvania grand jury report on clergy sexual abuse, mass attendance is down in the Pittsburgh Diocese and those still left in the pews are contributing less.

KDKA’s Andy Sheehan: “They don’t want to give donations to pay for the sins of the fathers.”
Fr. Lou Vallone: “And it’s understandable.”

Parishioners are concerned that their donations will be going to lawyers and lawsuit settlements related to decades of clergy sex abuse. Many were surprised to learn that the diocese continues to financially support the accused.

Now, KDKA has confirmed that at least six priests named in the grand jury report are living on the grounds of St. Paul Seminary, at St. John Vianney Manor, a newly-renovated retirement home for priests. The diocese won’t comment except to say that it is obligated to provide for…

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SEABROOK (NH)
WMUR Radio

November 29, 2018

Jury deliberations will resume Thursday morning for a former priest charged with molesting two altar boys in the 1980s.

Ronald Paquin is accused of bringing the two altar boys from his parish in Haverill, Massachusetts, to Maine, where they said he would sexually assault them.

The boys were 11 and 14 at the time.

One of the alleged victims now lives in New Hampshire.

Throughout the trial, both sides have argued about how the jury should handle decades-old allegations.

Paquin was previously convicted of sexually assaulting an altar boy and was released from prison in 2015.

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SEABROOK (NH)
WMUR Radio

November 29, 2018

Jury deliberations will resume Thursday morning for a former priest charged with molesting two altar boys in the 1980s.

Ronald Paquin is accused of bringing the two altar boys from his parish in Haverill, Massachusetts, to Maine, where they said he would sexually assault them.

The boys were 11 and 14 at the time.

One of the alleged victims now lives in New Hampshire.

Throughout the trial, both sides have argued about how the jury should handle decades-old allegations.

Paquin was previously convicted of sexually assaulting an altar boy and was released from prison in 2015.

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NORWICH (CT)
The Day

November 28. 2018

By Joe Wojtas

Twenty-four men, who say they were sexually assaulted as teenage boys by the late Brother K. Paul McGlade and others, have filed lawsuits against the Diocese of Norwich and former Bishop Daniel Reilly.

Some of the suits, in which the men allege they were fondled, sodomized and raped while attending the diocesan-run Academy at Mount Saint John in Deep River from 1986 to 1996, are slated for trial in 2019. Each of the boys, who ranged in age from 11 to 15, had been placed at the now defunct school by the state Department of Children and Families or the state court system. DCF is not a defendant in the lawsuits.

The men are not named in the suits but have been allowed to file their cases under pseudonyms. One, John Doe, is being represented by the Reardon Law…

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NORWICH (CT)
The Day

November 28. 2018

By Joe Wojtas

Twenty-four men, who say they were sexually assaulted as teenage boys by the late Brother K. Paul McGlade and others, have filed lawsuits against the Diocese of Norwich and former Bishop Daniel Reilly.

Some of the suits, in which the men allege they were fondled, sodomized and raped while attending the diocesan-run Academy at Mount Saint John in Deep River from 1986 to 1996, are slated for trial in 2019. Each of the boys, who ranged in age from 11 to 15, had been placed at the now defunct school by the state Department of Children and Families or the state court system. DCF is not a defendant in the lawsuits.

The men are not named in the suits but have been allowed to file their cases under pseudonyms. One, John Doe, is being represented by the Reardon Law…

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CHICAGO (IL)
Sun Times

November 29, 2018

By Robert Herguth

At a closed-door gathering in August with young men studying to be priests at the Catholic Church’s seminary in Mundelein, Cardinal Blase Cupich boasted that the Archdiocese of Chicago’s “record” on sex abuse is “clean.”

“We are not what happened” in Pennsylvania, he said, referring to a grand jury report that’d been recently released showing decades of priests raping children and bishops covering up in that state.

Cupich also told the seminarians that an ongoing inquiry by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office into the handling of sexual predator priests in Illinois was no big deal, since the archdiocese, the church’s arm in Cook and Lake counties, already previously turned over all relevant information.

But on Wednesday night, Cupich’s office brought his past comments into question as the archdiocese highlighted the names of 10 more ex-priests and deacons —…

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MIAMI (FL)
Newser

November 28, 2018

By Evann Gastaldo

It’s long been known that billionaire financial adviser Jeffrey Epstein got a sweet plea deal from Florida prosecutors, serving just 13 months in a private wing of the county jail followed by a year of house arrest rather than the massive sentence he could have faced had he been hit with sex trafficking charges over allegations that he molested dozens of underage girls between 2001 and 2005, some of whom he was suspected of trafficking from overseas. Instead, he pleaded guilty to a single count of soliciting prostitution from someone underage. In an extensive new piece for the Miami Herald based on thousands of emails, court documents, and FBI records, plus interviews with key players, Julie K. Brown looks at what President Trump’s current labor secretary had to do with the deal. Then Miami’s top federal prosecutor, Alexander Acosta forged…

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ROME (ITALY)
Crux

November 29, 2018

By Elise Harris

Rocio Figueroa Alvear is a theologian, an abuse survivor and a consecrated woman-turned-whistle-blower on scandals in her former community. After trying unsuccessfully to raise the alarm both in her order and in the Vatican, she left, and is now a researcher and activist pushing for a change in Church structures that allow abuse and cover-up to happen.

A former member of the Marian Community of Reconciliation (MCR), a pontifically-recognized Society of Apostolic Life, Figueroa said that while much discussion in the Church has so far focused on the abuse and cover-up by priests and bishops, lay movements are next on the list.

Asked whether lay movements are the “next frontier,” Figueroa said “absolutely,” and pinned part of the problem on the Church granting “too much power to lay movements.”

“They have lots of rights and no responsibilities, no accountability, so…

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ALTOONA (PA)
Tribune Democrat

November 29, 2018

By Dave Sutor

A review board that was established to monitor and evaluate steps taken by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown to address child sexual abuse allegations if they arise determined the organization “has made significant and measurable progress towards developing a comprehensive program,” but noted that making sure “full implementation and enforcement of the policies and procedures” occurs is crucial going forward.

The Independent Oversight Board for Youth Protection of the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown issued its first annual report on Wednesday, following examination of work done since the diocese entered a memorandum of understanding with the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania in 2017.

The memorandum was adopted after the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General released a grand jury report in 2016, providing information about how the diocese allegedly carried out a decades-long coverup to…

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LAS CRUCES (NM)
Las Cruces Sun-News

November 29, 2018

By Diana M Alba-Soular

The Catholic Church is facing another lawsuit, this time over a priest allegedly sexually abusing a boy in Las Cruces in the 1960s.

The lawsuit accuses a different, now-deceased priest — Father Arnold Finochietto, who served at Our Lady of Health Parish in central Las Cruces — of sexually abusing the victim, identified in court records as John Doe “89.” It’s the third lawsuit filed this month in connection to alleged abuse of children by priests historically in Las Cruces.

Finochietto served as manager of the parish, which then was organized under the Catholic Diocese of El Paso.

John Doe “89” alleges Fionchietto sexually abused him, from age 6 to 10, on a near daily basis while he served as an altar boy for Our Lady of Health, according to court records.

MORE: New lawsuits accuse…

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YOUNGSTOWN (OH)
The Jambar

November 28, 2018

By Alyssa Weston and John Stran

A Trumbull County man in his 40s said he was driving from a relative’s funeral when his girlfriend received a news alert on her cell phone that said the Youngstown Catholic Diocese released the names of 34 religious figureheads who were removed from the clergy over credible sexual misconduct allegations.

When he realized priest John P. Cunningham’s name was on the list, he “immediately broke down and started crying.”

The man spoke to The Jambar on the condition of anonymity about his experience with sexual abuse at St. Stephen of Hungary Catholic Church with Father Cunningham, deceased, who was recently listed as a credibly accused perpetrator of sexual assault by the Diocese of Youngstown.

In October, the Diocese released the names of 31 Youngstown priests, two religious clergy members and one non-clergy member from a religious…

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
KCTV 5

November 28, 2018

By Chris Oberholtz &Angie Ricono

The Catholic church is under the microscope according to Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley, but some key people say that is not true.

A new opinion column in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch blasts Hawley’s office and their investigation of the Catholic church. Hawley has blasted back.

“I think a lot more needs to be done,” said Kansas City attorney Rebecca Randles.

She has spent more than a decade investigating the Catholic church and trying to hold predators priests and the church itself accountable.

“We’ve spoken to over 400 witnesses concerning childhood sexual abuse in the Kansas City Diocese … not in any of the other diocese, just Kansas City,” Randles said.

KCTV5 News spoke with Randles months ago, and at that time she was concerned about how the investigation was unfolding.

“There needs to be an…

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
KDKA TV

November 28, 2018

Reporter Update: Parishioners Concerned Donations Being Used To Pay For Sins Of Priests
In the wake of a scathing grand jury report, Catholic parishioners are concerned that their donations will be used to pay for the sins of accused priests.

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MIAMI (FL)
Miami Herald

November 28, 2018

By Julie K. Brown

A decade before #MeToo, a multimillionaire sex offender from Florida got the ultimate break.

Palm Beach County Courthouse

June 30, 2008

Jeffrey Edward Epstein appeared at his sentencing dressed comfortably in a blue blazer, blue shirt, jeans and gray sneakers. His attorney, Jack Goldberger, was at his side.

At the end of the 68-minute hearing, the 55-year-old silver-haired financier — accused of sexually abusing dozens of underage girls — was fingerprinted and handcuffed, just like any other criminal sentenced in Florida.

But inmate No. W35755 would not be treated like other convicted sex offenders in the state of Florida, which has some of the strictest sex offender laws in the nation.

Ten years before the #MeToo movement raised awareness about the kid-glove handling of powerful men accused of sexual abuse, Epstein’s lenient sentence and his…

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UNITED STATES
Elle

November 27, 2018

By Amanda Mitchell

Since the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearings in October, Christine Blasey Ford has kept a low profile. The last anyone had heard from her was in October, when she released a statement on her GoFundMe page. But that all changed last week, when Blasey Ford released a second statement, and the sentiment was a little different this time.

The GoFundMe, which has raised nearly $650,000 in two months, has allowed Blasey Ford and her family to “take reasonable steps to protect ourselves against frightening threats, including physical protection and security for me and my family, and to enhance the security for our home.” Blasey Ford has had to move houses four times, the professor has received death threats, and has hired private security to help protect her family since coming forward with her accusations in mid-September. Kavanaugh has denied the allegations.

…

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UNITED STATES
WITW

November 26, 2018

The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) was made aware of sexual abuse in gymnastics as far back as the 1990s, according to recent court documents filed at the at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

As Reuters reports, former USA Gymnastics (USAG) President Kathy Scanlan said in a statement included in the filings that she had alerted the committee to the problem during her tenure at the head of the USAG, between 1994 to 1998. She claimed not only that “little was done” to deal with the sexual abuse, but also that the committee discouraged her from investigating and disciplining professional members who had been accused of sexual misconduct, according to The New York Times.

“USOC’s challenge to USAG disciplining professional members in this fashion (specifically impeding the ability to ban, suspend or investigate a member) would have inhibited…

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HOUSTON (TX)
Houston Chronicle

November 28, 2018

By Samantha Ketterer

Authorities on Wednesday searched the offices of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston for additional evidence in the case of a Conroe priest accused of sexual misconduct, according to the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office.

The search targets included evidence of “secret archives” that exist at the archdiocese, Montgomery County District Attorney Brett Ligon said.

“The good thing is, I’ve taken the burden off everybody in the Catholic Church,” he said. “They don’t have to know anything. I’m going to find it all.”

The search is in connection with former Conroe priest Manuel Larosa-Lopez, who was arrested Sept. 11 on four counts of indecency with a child for alleged sexual misconduct going back to 1998.

The alleged abuse lasted for at least three years and targeted a boy and a girl who attended the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Conroe, according…

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HOUSTON (TX)
KTRK

November 28, 2018

By Tom Abrahams

Law enforcement authorities from multiple agencies were moving in and out of the Catholic Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston this morning in their effort to find documents related to an ongoing sexual abuse investigation.

The Conroe Police Department, Texas Rangers, Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office, and other agencies executed a search warrant at 1700 San Jacinto.

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[Sexual abuse by clergy happened mainly at school]

BELGIUM
De Morgen

November 27, 2018

By Ann Van den Broek

Meerderheid van gevallen ging over jongens in het onderwijs

Seksueel misbruik in de kerk vond in grote mate plaats op school. Voor het eerst raken daar nu cijfers van bekend. Liefst 43 procent van de meldingen die de kerk de afgelopen jaren binnenkreeg, ging over misbruik door geestelijken in het onderwijs.

Sinds het schandaal rond de gewezen Brugse bisschop Roger Vangheluwe in 2010 losbarstte, kregen de 10 opvangpunten die de kerk oprichtte 426 meldingen binnen over seksueel misbruik binnen de kerk. Het is een publiek geheim dat veel misbruik door geestelijken zich op school afspeelde. Hoeveel bleef evenwel onduidelijk. Tot nu. Liefst 43 procent van de meldingen gaat over misbruik in een schoolse context, zo leert De Morgen.

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HOUSTON (TX)
KHOU 11

November 28, 2018

By Jeremy Rogalski

Armed with a search warrant, various law enforcement agencies are searching for records pertaining to clergy sex abuse.

Armed with a search warrant, a team of law enforcement agencies searched the offices of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston on Wednesday, looking for records related to the clergy sex abuse crisis in the Catholic Church.

The unprecedented action in Texas was taken by the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office, along with the Texas Rangers and Conroe Police Department. Nearly 50 investigators arrived Wednesday morning carrying boxes inside the Chancery, located at 1700 San Jacinto Street in downtown Houston.

The DA’s office said investigators were looking for documents in connection to the criminal case of Father Manuel LaRosa-Lopez, the priest charged in September on four counts of indecency with a child. In the search warrant filed Wednesday, the DA’s…

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Register

November 26, 2018

By Peter Feuerherd

Is the glass half empty, or half full? When it comes to financial transparency among U.S. dioceses, there’s reason to think both.

Last year, Voice of the Faithful, a group devoted to bishops’ accountability begun in response to the Boston Archdiocese sex abuse scandals of 2002, put out its first study on diocesan financial transparency.

Titled “Measuring and Ranking Diocesan Online Financial Transparency,” the study charted 177 dioceses across the United States, and discovered that most were not open about their financial statements.

This year’s 2.0 version, reports Margaret Roylance, chair of the committee that compiled an updated study, offers reason for optimism: 77 dioceses were found to have improved their transparency scores, meaning it became easier to find out information about how diocesan money was being collected and used.

The Dioceses of Orlando, Florida, and Burlington,…

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PEORIA (IL)
SNAP

November 26, 2018

For the second time, a Peoria priest has been suspended from ministry. And despite repeated promises to be “transparent,” his bishop is being unclear about the reason for this action.

According to one news account, Fr. Jeffrey Windy’s March removal comes 15 years after his 2002 arrest for manufacturing and selling gamma-hydroxybutyrate. Also known as GHB, this drug is notorious for its use in cases of date rape, and Windy served time in federal prison for his role in its manufacture. Following his release from prison, Fr. Windy began working again in Catholic parishes in 2013 and has also spent time in Bloomington.

We call on Bishop Daniel Jenky to be more forthcoming about why Fr. Windy has been removed again and about why he let Fr. Windy go back to work after he served his prison sentence. And we urge anyone who…

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Register

November 19, 2018

By Patti Armstrong

Words of advice from Phil Lawler, Marcy Klatt, Edward Sri and George Weigel

It’s clear that the dust from the Church sexual abuse scandals will not clear any time soon. What is not entirely clear is how Catholics should respond.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains why it’s so damaging:

Scandal takes on a particular gravity by reason of the authority of those who cause it or the weakness of those who are scandalized. It prompted our Lord to utter this curse: ‘Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea’ (Matthew 18:6). Scandal is grave when given by those who by nature or office…

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HOUSTON (TX)
Bilgrimage

November 28, 2018

By William D. Lindsey

A significant footnote to what I posted earlier today about how Catholic pastoral leaders have moved beyond the point of no return with the abuse horror show: this morning, criminal authorities are raiding the offices of the Catholic diocese of Galveston-Houston. According to news reports, they are looking for the secret archives that canon law mandates dioceses keep regarding abuse allegations.

This is a highly significant story because this is the diocese of Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, current president of the U.S. Catholic Bishops’ Conference. As the news report at the head of the posting states, this is also unprecedented action in the U.S.

Point of no return, indeed.

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ATHENS COUNTY (OH)
WCHS/WVAH

November 27, 2018

By Gil McClanahan and Jeff Morris

A Catholic priest with the Diocese of Steubenville is headed to prison for 12 years for sexual battery charges involving a teenage member of his parish. The church is in Athens County, Ohio. Henry Christopher Foxhoven pleaded guilty to the charges in Athens County Court Tuesday morning. The sentence was part of a plea deal with prosecutors who believe justice was served in this case.

Prosecutors say Henry Christopher Foxhoven had a sexual relationship with a teenage member of his parish from August to October of this year, adding the incidents took place in the church rectory in Athens County, Ohio.

“I forgive him because that’s what God wants me to do. It says in the Bible forgive men and I forgive him as well. I hate seeing him in that orange suit,” said the victim’s…

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JEFFERSON CITY (MO)
The Associated Press

November 27, 2018

The Missouri Attorney General’s Office is seeking court orders for Catholic dioceses to provide records as part of an investigation into potential clergy abuse.

Spokeswoman Mary Compton in a Tuesday statement said the office wants personnel records, records relating to allegations of abuse and other documents from Missouri Catholic organizations.

Outgoing Attorney General Josh Hawley on Tuesday tweeted that the office wants court orders to “acquire information needed from the dioceses to ensure a full, thorough, and independent investigation.”

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ATHENS (OH)
The Athens News

November 27, 2018

By Conor Morris

A local Catholic priest was sentenced Tuesday in Athens County Common Pleas Court to a dozen years in prison, with no option for judicial release, on three counts of sexual battery related to his having a sexual relationship with a minor who attended his parish in Glouster.

Father Henry Christopher Foxhoven, 45, the priest of Holy Cross in Glouster, will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life, and will be subject to five years of post-release control after he serves his sentence.

Athens County Prosecutor Keller Blackburn in arguing for the 12-year sentence for Foxhoven said the priest had “groomed” the victim for three years. Blackburn reiterated that Foxhoven had admitted to the girl’s family that she was impregnated by Foxhoven in October (the three counts of sexual battery note that Foxhoven…

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HOUMA (LA)
Houma Today

November 22, 2018

By Dan Copp

A local former Catholic priest convicted of raping an altar boy in 1996 has died in prison, officials said.

Robert Lester “Bobby” Melancon died Nov. 5 of natural causes at the age of 82, state corrections spokesman Ken Pastorick said.

Melancon, who moved from St. Genevieve in Thibodaux to Annunziata Parish in Houma in 1985, died while serving a life sentence at the David Wade Correctional Center, a minimum-security prison near Shreveport.

A Terrebonne Parish jury of seven men and five women convicted Melancon in 1996 of aggravated rape after less than two hours of deliberation following a 4 ½-day trial.

Prosecutors at the time said Melancon was a sexual predator who raped an 8-year-old altar boy several times from 1985 to 1991 at the Annunziata rectory.

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SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
San Francisco Examiner

November 27, 2018

By Michael Barba

The Catholic diocese in San Francisco has settled roughly $87 million worth of sex abuse cases against priests and others associated with the church, mostly in the last 15 years, according to Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone.

The archbishop divulged the eye-popping figure during a series of town hall meetings held to address the sexual abuse of minors in the local Catholic Church on the heels of a grand jury report in Pennsylvania that found hundreds of priest had molested at least 1,000 children in that region.

The multimillion-dollar figure, while expensive, represents just a fraction of the problem in the Archdiocese of San Francisco, according to an advocate with the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, otherwise known as SNAP.

“It’s just the tip of the iceberg,” said SNAP national Board of Directors Secretary Melanie Sakoda, who…

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ROME(ITALY)
National Catholic Reporter

November 28, 2018

by Joshua J. McElwee

Three women survivors of clergy sexual abuse shared deeply personal stories during a Nov. 27 storytelling event, each revealing layers of pain, sadness and hurt exacerbated by the realization that they were trapped within a male-dominated structure that ignored their stories and demanded silence.

Peruvian Rocio Figueroa Alvear, once the head of the women’s branch of a burgeoning but now disgraced lay religious movement, recounted being forbidden to speak of her abuse by its male second-in-command, and threatened with publishing of false claims against her own conduct should she disobey.

American Barbara Dorris, long known as a leader of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests or SNAP, spoke publicly for the first time about her rape by a priest as a 6-year-old girl, and how it continued for years afterward.

Saying she did “everything in my…

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ROME (ITALY)
Crux

November 28, 2018

ROME – The Vatican’s former doctrinal chief in a new interview issued a strong critique of both a former papal ambassador who asked Pope Francis to resign, and the U.S. bishops’ decision to move on sex abuse without proper consultation from the Holy See.

In the interview, given to veteran Vatican journalist Andrea Tornielli and published Nov. 27 on Italian site Vatican Insider, German Cardinal Gerhard Müller, former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, spoke out against the polemics that have developed between different Church factions, and said he believes Francis is doing everything he can to address clerical sexual abuse.

“No one has the right to indict the pope or ask him to resign!” Müller said, referring to an Aug. 26 statement made by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, who served as papal envoy to the U.S. from 2011-2016,…

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

November 28, 2018

We applaud Texas law enforcement officials for raiding the “secret archives” of the Houston Catholic archdiocese. All too often, police and prosecutors pursue child molesting clerics but ignore the church supervisors and co-workers who hide their crimes.

Today’s raid was in response to the handling of the Fr. Manual LaRosa-Lopez case by Houston church officials. Perhaps if Cardinal Daniel DiNardo had reported the allegations against Fr. LaRosa-Lopez to law enforcement when he first heard of them this raid would not have been necessary. We cannot help but wonder what will be revealed in these secret files, but are glad that the Montgomery County prosecutor’s office will now have new information to work from.

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ANCHORAGE (AK)
Truth in Love blog

November, 28 2018

By Archbishop Paul Etienne

For various reasons, I have been slow to share my own thoughts with you about our USCCB meeting in Baltimore earlier this month. I needed time to sit and pray with all the events and input of the week. I am sure about two things, one; the People of God need to hear from their bishops in the wake of our meeting in Baltimore, and two, there is hope for our future.

No Vote:

Without a doubt, the ‘show-stopper’ moment came at the beginning of our meeting, when Cardinal DiNardo announced that he had only the night before received word from the Holy See (through the Congregation for Bishops) that we were not to vote on any of the proposed policies for handling sexual misconduct by bishops and dealing with poor governance of bishops with regards…

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LITTLE ROCK (AR)
Bilgrimage blog

November 28, 2018

By William Lindsey

In a flurry of statements ahead of the first day to commemorate victims of sexual abuse ever held in Germany, on Sunday this week, the German bishops said the Church had reached “a point of no return” and needed to act with the utmost urgency.

Bishops said the crisis was “of the most extreme dimension” and new approaches towards sexuality, gender equality, celibacy and the role of women had to be discussed.

Bishop Stephan Ackermann of Trier, who is responsible for sexual abuse problems in the German bishops’ conference, said it had become clear that the Church could no longer consider abuse an internal church problem and that dioceses must therefore open their archives for independent experts. “This means the bishop must give up his control and hand over all further investigations to independent experts”, he told the…

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[Confidence in Chile’s Catholic Church suffers its greatest fall, but faith of the faithful remains strong]

CHILE
Emol

November 26, 2018

El 80% de los católicos cree en Dios sin dudas, pero solo 15% confía “mucho o bastante” en la institución.

La Encuesta Bicentenario 2018 reveló que la confianza en la Iglesia Católica en Chile ha tenido un descenso significativo. Según el estudio del Centro de Políticas Públicas UC y GfK Adimark, la confianza de los encuestados en la Iglesia cayó de 18% a 9%, desde 2017 y entre los católicos bajó de 27% a 15%. “Es el peor registro de confianza que tiene la Iglesia en nuestra serie, que tiene más de 12 años”, afirma Eduardo Valenzuela, decano de la Facultad de Ciencias Sociales UC.

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[Schoenstatt ponders having ex-bishop Cox return to Chile]

CHILE
La Tercera

November 26, 2018

By Sergio Rodríguez and Leyla Zapata

“La idea es ponerlo a disposición de la justicia”, dijo el sacerdote Patricio Moore, vocero del movimiento religioso que acoge al otrora prelado, quien a mediados de octubre pasado fue expulsado del estado clerical por el Papa.

“Va a tener que obedecer lo que nosotros decidamos, es la única oportunidad que tiene. Por supuesto que nos vamos a preocupar de él, pero queremos hacerlo acá en Chile”, subrayó hoy el sacerdote Patricio Moore, vocero en el país del movimiento Padres de Schoenstatt. Y agregó: “La idea es que vuelva y se ponga a disposición de la justicia”.

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HOUSTON (TX)
KHOU TV

November 28, 2018

By Jeremy Rogalski

Armed with a search warrant, a team of law enforcement agencies raided the offices of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston on Wednesday, searching for records related to the clergy sex abuse crisis in the Catholic church.

The unprecedented action in Texas was taken by the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office, along with the Texas Rangers and Conroe Police Department.

The Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office said investigators were looking for documents in connection to the criminal case of Manuel LaRosa-Lopez, the priest charged in September on four counts of indecency with a child. A man and a woman claimed they were abused as teenagers between 1998 and 2001 at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Conroe.

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National Catholic Register

November 27, 2018

By Patti Armstrong

Could it be that the Church does not yet have a plan to deal with the sex abuse scandal and the crises of confidence because self-preserving, narcissist personalities stand in the way? Humble servant leaders dedicated to shepherding are not adept at handling that.

Priests and bishops creating personal fiefdoms put themselves above others; even God. Their goal is self-enhancement and they establish a network of like-minded friends in high places. Hard-working, and hard-praying clergy are not working to form powerful networks. Their own honesty also leads them to take others at their word which is a disadvantage when dealing with the duplicitous. For instance, most never imagined the hypocrisy of ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick’s speech (at the 1:20 mark) at the Dallas Charter in 2002 when he expressed a desire to clean up the Church all while sullying it with behind-the-scenes…

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NEWCASTLE (AUSTRALIA)
ABC Newcastle

November 27, 2018

By Giselle Wakatama

A Newcastle judge has been heckled and abuse survivors left outraged after the former Catholic Archbishop of Adelaide Philip Wilson was excused from attending an appeals court judgement in relation to him allegedly covering up child abuse.

Wilson, 68, has appealed his conviction for concealing child sex abuse that occurred in the Hunter region of New South Wales in the 1970s.

He is currently serving a minimum sentence of six months home detention.

The local court found that in 1976 the victim, Peter Creigh, confided in Wilson that he had been sexually abused, yet Wilson failed to report it to police when Jim Fletcher was charged with other child sex offences in 2004.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

November 27, 2018

A priest from the Diocese of Steubenville pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual battery for grooming and impregnating a teenaged parishioner. Father Henry Christopher Foxhaven was sentenced to 12 years in prison for his crimes and will be required to register as a sex offender.

We are grateful for this sentence and for the fact that the prosecutor and the judge recognized the severity of the violation. We hope this encourages others who may have experienced, witnessed, or suspected abuse by Father Foxhaven, or others, to come forward and report to law enforcement.

However, we are troubled by the fact that the media coverage of this case constantly referred to Father Foxhaven’s crimes as a “sexual relationship.” The victim in this case was 14 years old when the grooming began and certainly cannot consent to…

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INDIA
Ed Times Youth blog

November 28, 2018

By A Guest Writer

Disclaimer: The identity of the author has been kept anonymous, as per her request owing to her personal reasons and insecurities.

I had never thought, not even in any of my dreams, that I’ll be penning this down and would get it published. It is the dark side of my life that I never wanted the world to know, that side of me that was always a well-kept secret.

Yes, like every other person, I had my past too, a dark one that I never dared to discuss with anyone. But today, I would dare to.

My Story

I was like any other bubbly child, with a normal childhood. I used to be very energetic and people used to call me “the happy soul” until that day when everything changed.

I clearly remember that day, the year…

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EAU CLAIRE (WI)
Wisconsin Public Radio

November 26, 2018

By John Davis

For the last two decades the Roman Catholic Church has been the center of several high-profile scandals involving the sexual abuse of children by priests.

In the wake of countless accusations, priests and those involved in the church are questioning how to move forward.

For one Eau Claire pastor, Rev. Thomas Krieg of St. James the Greater Catholic Church, the key is for the Catholic church hierarchy to be honest about the history of sex abuse.

He also said the underlying problem in the Catholic church has been the need of its leaders to protect the reputation of the church.

“That’s really what we’re working on now is greater transparency. We’re here to serve. A crime is a crime. Forget about protecting reputations, let’s protect children. Let’s hold everyone who has a part to play in the…

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NEW YORK (NY)
The Fordham Ram)

November 28, 2018

By Erica Scalise

The late Rev. Cornelius Carr, S.J., who spent the end of his life living in Murray-Weigel Hall, the Jesuit nursing home on Fordham’s Rose Hill campus, was accused this year of being involved in a sexual abuse incident at Jesuit High School in New Orleans in the late 1970’s.

According to Bob Howe, assistant vice president for communications, the university was not aware of the allegations against Carr until The Ram raised them.

“That was a lapse on our part, and one that will not be repeated,” said Howe. “It is the university’s duty to ensure the safety of its students, faculty and staff, and while we don’t believe any members of the Fordham community have been placed at risk by Father Carr’s presence, it is inappropriate to house him in proximity to a college campus and…

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PERTH (AUSTRALIA)
Out in Perth

November 28, 2018

By Leigh Andrew Hill

A cardinal of the Catholic Church has spoken out against the LGBTI+ community in a recent interview, blaming the church’s sexual abuse scandal on the “moral depravity” of gay people.

Cardinal Gerhard Müller spoke with right-wing publication LifeSite to address accusations of sexual abuse of boys within the organisation. Müller also addresses the resignation of cardinal Theodore McCarrick in July, after he was accused of abusing young men.

In the interview, Müller says that the “homosexual conduct of clergymen can in no case be tolerated.”

“That McCarrick, together with his clan and a homosexual network, was able to wreak havoc in a mafia-like manner in the Church is connected with the underestimation of the moral depravity of homosexual acts among adults,” Müller said.

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WHEELING (WV)
The Intelligencer

November 28, 2018

A priest who served several areas of East Ohio now will serve 12 years in jail for sexual battery after he impregnated a 17-year-old girl.

Athens County Prosecutor Keller Blackburn said the Rev. Henry Christopher Foxhoven, 45, of Glouster, pleaded guilty to three sexual battery counts. As part of his sentence, Foxhoven must register as a sex offender.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Steubenville suspended Foxhoven in October. The diocese said Bishop Jeffrey M. Monforton took that action as soon as he learned Foxhoven had admitted to the offense.

Blackburn said the teen was an altar girl in one of Foxhoven’s parishes in the diocese and Foxhoven engaged in sexual conduct with her between Aug. 17 and Oct. 25.

Blackburn previously said Foxhoven “groomed” the girl.

“He took her at a young age and used religion to the point where she fell…

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
The Times-Picayune

November 27, 2018

By Kim Chatelain

Last week, I reached into the depths of a guest bedroom closet and retrieved a fancy white album containing photos of our wedding in 1984.

Naturally, I was somewhat amazed by how young both my wife and I looked in the photos. But what really struck me was the marriage license that was affixed to the back page of the album, which included the signature of the priest who married us – Father Louis LeBourgeois.

A few weeks earlier, I had interviewed a woman in California who reached out to me after reading stories I’d written about clergy abuse in the Catholic Church. She wanted to share her story in hopes it would help other survivors.

She claimed that it was LeBourgeois who had abused her in 1968, when she was just shy of five years old and…

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NANTES (FRANCE)
La Croix International

November 28, 2018

By Céline Hoyeau

An investigation into the “sexual abuse of minor of 15” has begun. The accused is a Congolese priest who has spent the past two years in parish run by the Emmanuel Community in the city of Nantes in Western France.

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ROME (ITALY)
Crux

November 28, 2018

By Claire Giangrave and Elise Harris

One of the organizers appointed by Pope Francis to plan a February 21-24 summit at the Vatican on sexual abuse of vulnerable people has been accused of covering up abuse in his own archdiocese in India by one of his former collaborators.

“My bishop is among the organizers, which left me perplexed,” said Indian-born Virginia Saldanha, a former director of the women’s commission of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences, “What is he going to do? Come up with more cover-up ideas?”

Saldanha was referring to Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Mumbai, who also serves on Francis’s “C-9” council of cardinal advisors. Gracias was appointed to organize the long-awaited gathering of the heads of bishops’ conferences from around the world and experts from various fields for the protection of minors and vulnerable adults.

With 20 years of experience…

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Knasas City Star

November 27, 2018

By Judy L. Thomas

Angered by a column in a Missouri newspaper that said he wasn’t doing enough to investigate clergy sex abuse in the Roman Catholic Church, Attorney General Josh Hawley on Tuesday took to social media.

“We are seeking court orders to acquire information needed from the dioceses to ensure a full, thorough, and independent investigation,” Hawley said in a tweet just before noon.

And two hours later: “We are prepared to use every tool at our disposal to ensure a thorough and independent investigation to find the facts and the truth.”

The tweets were in response to an op-ed piece published Monday in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. It was written by Kansas City attorney Rebecca Randles, who has represented hundreds of clergy sex abuse victims, and David Clohessy, former director of the Survivors Network of those Abused…

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PORTLAND (ME)
Portland Press Herald

November 27, 2018

By Megan Gray

Keith Townsend described his memory of the bottle in Ronald Paquin’s hand: Tanqueray gin.

He described how Paquin made him a drink and then got upset when the liquor made him throw up on the carpet in the trailer at a Kennebunkport campground.

And he described the way Paquin touched him that night and the pain he felt the next morning that later led him to believe he had been sexually assaulted.

Townsend shared those details and others with a jury Tuesday when he testified against the former Boston priest, who is accused of repeatedly sexually abusing him and another boy on trips to Maine in the 1980s. Townsend was 13 years old on that night he recounted from the witness stand.

“I can still taste that drink today,” said Townsend, now 44.

Paquin, 76, was one of…

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

November 26, 2018

By Jeannine Gramick

This is not a feel-good article, so you might want to stop reading right now. With the report from the Pennsylvania grand jury about the sexual abuse of children by priests and the scandal of former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick’s sexual advances toward seminarians and youth, you may feel saturated by horrific stories and want to shut out any further disgusting accounts that should never have occurred. I know I feel that way. If you want to read no further, I sympathize with you. I, too, am exhausted by all the talk about sexual abuse. I feel weary of seeing article after article in almost every newspaper I pick up. I want to scream, “Enough already!”

But maybe not enough yet, because sexual exploitation has been perpetrated not only on boys and men, but also on women and…

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