ABUSE TRACKER

The window to file lawsuits under New York State’s Child Victims Act will come to a close later this month, but until a few weeks ago, David Ferrick didn’t know that the law enabling victims of sexual assault to sue even existed.

Ferrick, 52, learned about it last month in Fresno, California — thousands of miles away from his childhood home in Brooklyn, where he attended St. Cecilia’s Roman Catholic Church in Greenpoint and where he says in a newly filed lawsuit that a priest there molested him when he was just a 10-year-old altar boy.

The priest, Father Patrick Sexton, was already the subject of another victim’s accusations when Ferrick was contacted by a private eye working for the law firm handling those claims.

“I was shocked,” Ferrick said of the moment he learned he could still seek justice. “I thought the statute of limitations had come to a…

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Argentine Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta is set to stand trial this October on charges of sexual abuse against two unnamed former seminarians, aggrevated by his status as a religious minister. 

The former executive head of the Argentine bishops’ conference and bishop of the Diocese of Oran, Zanchetta has spent the last several years living in Rome, working in a Vatican post created for him by the pope. 

Because Zanchetta is known to be a close friend of Pope Francis, his trial, set to begin October 12, will likely capture media attention across Argentina as well from the Vatican. So, to catch you up on the case, here’s what we know so far:

Who is Bishop Zanchetta?

Born in 1964, Zanchetta was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Quilmes in 1991. He later served as executive undersecretary of the Argentine bishops’ conference, and in that role he worked closely with then-Cardinal…

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Former cardinal Theodore McCarrick was charged in Massachusetts Wednesday with three counts of indecent assault and battery on a person over 14. McCarrick, 91, is summoned to appear in a Massachusetts courtroom Aug. 26. 

The story was first reported Thursday by the Boston Globe.

Here’s what you need to know:

What is McCarrick alleged to have done?

According to court filings obtained by the Boston Globe, McCarrick is alleged to have sexually molested a 16-year-old-boy during a 1974 wedding reception at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts.

The alleged molestation was not reported as a singular occurrence. Rather, the alleged victim, who has not been named, says McCarrick was a family friend, and that McCarrick had molested him frequently, on family trips to several states. The alleged abuse in Massachusetts reportedly took place at the victim’s brother’s wedding reception.

The alleged victim claims that McCarrick molested him subsequently at hotels in…

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FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — The Fresno Catholic Diocese has released a list of those who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors and young people in the Diocese of Fresno.

It’s something the Diocese has promised to do for several years.

There are 66 names on the list with details on all of the places the individual worked within the Diocese of Fresno.

Victim advocates say they are grateful the list was released, but say it’s not as comprehensive as it should be and it took far too long for it to be completed.

“What the list and the release of it. it does is give us a little peak into the dark closet, the dark corner,” said Attorney Jeff Anderson ,who represents abuse victims.

According to the Fresno Catholic Diocese website, the list includes those who were accused while working within the Diocese…

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Fr. Anthony Atter facing multiple allegations from single complainant

A provincial court judge in Humboldt, Sask., will hear the evidence today against a local Catholic priest charged with sexual assault.

The preliminary hearing will determine whether Father Anthony Atter will stand trial on the allegations. The 45-year-old faces charges of sexual assault, sexual exploitation and sexual interference.

The assaults allegedly took place from September to November 2020 and involved one complainant.

“I can tell you that Father Atter is is very interested in being able to testify and be able to give his version of the events,” said Atter’s lawyer, Brian Pfefferle.

“He feels very confident that when the light gets shone on this unfortunate allegation, that he will be exonerated because he completely denies any thing other than completely appropriate behaviour with anyone he has contact with in that community.” 

Sexual interference is a charge laid when the alleged victim…

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Rampant child sex abuse and cover-up. The crusades. The Inquisitions. Convincing children they will go to hell or purgatory if they don’t follow instructions. Teaching that condoms are worse than AIDS. Castrating boys for choir singing. The Index of Forbidden Books. The pope’s ridiculous hat. The Catholic Church has a rich history (literally — the Vatican has hoarded vast wealth since its inception) of giving its adherents reasons to quit. For those hanging on, the past few days have delivered yet another.

It turns out that 10 individuals within the church, including a cardinal, have allegedly (https:/ www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-57981508) defrauded the Vatican in several ways. In one scheme, almost half a billion dollars worth of church assets, largely consisting of worshippers’ tithes and donations, were reportedly used to buy property that was supposed to be turned into luxury apartments in an affiuent part of London. In another double-dealing project, the cardinal…

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‘On Aug. 14, the New York Child Victims Act’s two-year civil sexual abuse statute of limitations “window” will close, and older victims whose claims had previously been time-barred will be foreclosed from seeking justice.’

The opportunity to hold child sexual abuse perpetrators—and the institutions that enabled them—accountable is about to expire for many suffering survivors who were assaulted in New York. On Aug. 14, the New York Child Victims Act’s two-year civil sexual abuse statute of limitations “window” will close, and older victims whose claims had previously been time-barred will be foreclosed from seeking justice. This legislation also extends the statute of limitations to age 55 for child sex abuse survivors whose claims have not previously been time-barred. We urge our leaders to take immediate action to reform the current law to ensure that victims, no matter their age, have continuing access to the courts.   

Statute of limitations reform must acknowledge…

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President of the Council of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe looked into allegations that Stanislaw Dziwisz, during his term as archbishop of Krakow, covered up cases of clergy sex abuse

The president of the Council of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe has spent ten days in Poland investigating John Paul II’s former secretary over alleged covering up cases of clergy sex abuse of minors.

The aim was to verify signals, also made in public, of negligence by Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz during his term as the archbishop of Krakow,” the Vatican nunciature in Poland said in a statement.

Retired Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco visited Poland June 17-26 where he held a number of meetings and reviewed documents regarding allegations against Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, the late Polish pope’s private secretary for nearly 40 years.

Cardinal Dziwisz, 82, who has long been respected in his homeland for his proximity to the late pope, was…

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A Minneapolis-area school run by the Christian group People of Praise mishandled a student’s allegation of sexual abuse against a teacher, the school board president acknowledged in a recent email to teachers and parents.

People of Praise began investigating reports of abuse within the close-knit community last year. The Aug. 6 email also acknowledged an ongoing investigation into similar reports involving the same teacher.

Katie Logan told The Washington Post she was molested by Dave Beskar two weeks after her graduation from Trinity School at River Ridge in 2001, when she was 17.She also told The Post about her report to police in December 2020.

At the time of the alleged incident, Beskar was a 35-year-old teacher and girls’ basketball coach who lived in a People of Praise home for celibate men. Logan reported the alleged incident to a school official in 2006, but Beskar remained on staff until 2011, when…

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It began on the afternoon of her first Communion, the day Sheri A. Biasin, a reedy child of 7 or 8, dressed in the shiny white dress her grandmother made.

That was the day one of the most trusted people in Biasin’s life, the family’s priest, the Rev. Daniel L. Gill, followed her into a bathroom at her house in West Stockbridge, declared she was “the chosen one,” and put his tongue in her mouth.

Over the next four years, until she was able, at age 12, to fend him off, Biasin says, Gill groped and fondled her sexually at family picnics, sleepovers and beach outings in Pittsfield, West Stockbridge, Sandisfield and in the Franklin County town of Ashfield. Biasin says she grew up feeling different, alone, unlovable, dirty. She cried into her pillow and worried about the next weekend outing with the handsy priest so adored by her parents.

…

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(RNS) — When the news broke on Thursday (July 29) that the former cardinal Theodore McCarrick had been criminally charged with sexual abuse of a minor, many Catholics likely felt justice was one step closer to being served. Others may have wondered anew how the former archbishop of Washington had been allowed to abuse seminarians and minors for decades.

But a new survey shows that perhaps the likeliest response to the McCarrick news among Catholics was: Who?

McCarrick, who was laicized in 2019, is the highest ranking individual in the Catholic Church to be charged in the abuse crisis. His alleged abuse spanned decades and has received national attention since it became public in the summer of 2018. But a recent survey commissioned by America Media and conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate found that only 38% of Catholics surveyed had heard of McCarrick.

Even when respondents…

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JACKSON, Mich. — A former Catholic school teacher will spend 12 to 30 years in prison for sexually abusing children during his tenure at a southern Michigan school in the 1970s.

Joseph Comperchio, 67, was sentenced Wednesday in Jackson County Circuit Court, Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office announced.

He also must register as a sex offender.

Comperchio pleaded guilty in June to three counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct and one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Nessel’s office charged Comperchio in September with six counts of criminal sexual conduct for sexually abusing two children and added five new counts in October related to two other individuals.

At the time of his arraignment, Comperchio was living in Fort Myers, Florida, but the charges stem from his work as a drama and music teacher at St. John Catholic School in Jackson, where he taught between 1974-77.

The victims said the assaults…

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Gov. Andrew Cuomo sexually harassed 11 women in his workplace through nonconsensual touching and inappropriate comments, according to a report published by the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James after an extensive investigation into harassment accusations.

During the monthlong investigation, 179 witnesses were interviewed and 74,000 pieces of evidence were reviewed. The report details the women’s testimonies of suggestive remarks made by the governor and his unwanted hugging, kissing and groping.

As a civil probe rather than a criminal trial, the investigation did not find Cuomo guilty by law and cannot mandate a punishment. Allies within his own political party, however, are calling for Cuomo’s resignation, including President Joe Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and both U.S. senators for New York.

When the accusations were first made, Cuomo asked New Yorkers not to unfairly judge him until after an official investigation. It is now after an official investigation, but Cuomo…

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GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — A Catholic priest in South Carolina has been placed on leave after he was sued by a woman who said the pastor manipulated her into a sexual relationship.

Father Wilbroad Mwape was removed at least temporarily as the pastor at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in Greenville by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston, The Greenville News reported.

Diocese spokesperson Maria Aselage said the church is reviewing the lawsuit and will respond later.

Both Mwape and the diocese are named in the lawsuit, filed in Orangeburg County.

Before coming to Greenville in 2020, Mwape was pastor at Holy Trinity Church in Orangeburg. It was there that the woman said Mwape started grooming her into a sexual relationship, growing her knowledge in the Catholic faith while also using her confessions about trouble in her marriage to prey on her vulnerabilities, according to…

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Researchers weigh in on apologies from premier, cabinet minister, archbishop after controversial comments

Manitobans have heard a number of apologies from public officials in recent weeks.

On Tuesday, Premier Brian Pallister said he felt sorry for the misunderstanding caused by his comments on July 7 — after protesters toppled statues of Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth at the legislature — that settlers in Canada “didn’t come here to destroy anything, they came here to build.”               

On the same day as Pallister’s apology, newly appointed Indigenous Reconciliation Minister Alan Lagimodiere came out and labelled residential schools a tool of genocide, after initially defending the people who ran them.

And the archbishop of St. Boniface apologized on behalf of the Catholic Church after a priest accused residential school survivors of lying about abuse.

The public response to recent apologies from Manitoba political and religious figures has varied. Judging the value of an apology…

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Readers discuss the papacy of Francis and the internal politics of liberals versus traditionalists.

To the Editor:

Re “The Ungovernable Catholic Church,” by Ross Douthat (column, July 29):

On reading the column, I was struck that the church is well positioned to respond to the challenges facing modern Catholicism. But does it have the courage to strike the balance needed to make the necessary modifications?

Pope Francis showed great promise early on, and managing in conjunction with the traditional Vatican machine has controversy at its very core. But he is the man at the helm.

A recent declaration on the “sinfulness” of gay Catholics and the efforts to weaponize the Holy Eucharist only make the schism wider.

The church is a global institution and as such must flex its muscles or it will falter or, worse, fail to exist.

Read the room. Like it or not, the young people…

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Trigger warning: nonconsensual sexual activity and abuse of minors

Nearly nine months after the Vatican released a report detailing the abuse of power and authority and abuse of minors and priests by ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Fordham College ’54, the former cardinal has now been charged with the sexual assault of a minor in 1974. 

McCarrick was charged in a Massachusetts court on three counts of indecent assault and battery on a person over 14, according to documents filed in the Dedham, Massachusetts, District Court. 

The charges were first reported by The Boston Globe on Thursday, July 29.

McCarrick is the highest-ranking Roman Catholic official in the U.S. to be criminally charged with a sexual crime against a minor, according to Mitchell Garabedian, the lawyer for the man alleging the abuse. Garabedian is a well-known lawyer representing church sexual abuse victims.

Although the incident occurred nearly 50 years ago, because McCarrick was not…

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After surgery and a series of missteps, Francis must steel himself for a case that will shed light on allegations of embezzlement, extortion and predatory property deals at the highest levels of the church

Eight years after he was handed the job as head of the Catholic Church with a mandate to clean up the Vatican’s sleazy finances, Pope Francis’s final report card will be written this autumn in a makeshift courtroom hastily set up inside the Vatican’s museum.

Following years of stuttering financial reforms, the biggest criminal trial in the Vatican’s recent history is under way, tackling allegations of extortion and embezzlement, as well as tales of prostitutes, spies and millions of euros in donations from the faithful frittered away on a luxury London property. In their 487-page indictment, prosecutors denounced the ten defendants including prelates and bankers as “actors in a rotten, predatory and lucrative system” that allegedly…

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It was a lovely Saturday evening inside Our Lady of Mount Virgin Catholic Church. Light filtered through arched stained glass windows imprinted with dedications to Italian Americans who populated the Mount Baker church after its founding in 1911. Some were open to let in a breeze for the 5 o’clock Mass, normally in Vietnamese for one of several groups of immigrants the church has since attracted.

An English-speaking guest, Auxiliary Bishop Daniel Mueggenborg, helped conduct Mass on this July night — the prelude to a fateful parish meeting. “Tonight is going to be a difficult evening,” Mueggenborg told the crowd of 150 or so. “There is no way around it.”

The bishop, and a handful of others from the Seattle Archdiocese, came to tell parishioners their church would close.

Two other Seattle churches, St. Mary’s in the Central District andSt. Patrick in North Capitol Hill, are also slated to do…

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A South Carolina churchgoer said a Catholic priest used his position of power to groom her for sex.

The priest knew the woman was having marital problems and “exploited this knowledge” when he engaged in “sexual behavior” in 2020 and 2021, according to a lawsuit the churchgoer filed Wednesday.

Now, the priest is on administrative leave as leadership shifts in his Greenville congregation, according to Maria Aselage, a Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston spokesperson.

“We have received a copy of the lawsuit and are currently reviewing it,” Aselage said in a written statement.“We will respond to the pleading in due time.”

A Facebook user believed to be the priest didn’t immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment Friday.

The woman — who McClatchy News isn’t identifying due to the sensitive nature of the allegations — in her lawsuit said she is a devout Catholic who attended churches in Greenville…

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Argentine Catholic Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta will go on trial on sexual abuse charges in October.

The public prosecutor’s office of the Argentine province of Salta announced on Aug. 6 that the trial would take place on Oct. 12-15.

Zanchetta was given a Vatican post by Pope Francis after he resigned as bishop of Orán, northwest Argentina, in 2017.

The 57-year-old bishop is charged with simple sexual abuse, aggravated by being committed by an officially recognized minister of religion, against two men identified only by their initials, G.G.F.L. and C.M.

Zanchetta has denied the allegations.

“The former bishop [of Orán] was summoned under penalty of law and at least 39 witnesses are expected to testify during the hearing,” the public prosecutor’s office said.

Pope Francis named Zanchetta as bishop of Orán on July 23, 2013, in one of his first episcopal appointments in his homeland of Argentina.

After resigning as the head…

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FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — The Diocese of Fresno has finished a lengthy investigation reviewing claims of sexual assault involving clergy members within the Diocese.

The investigation began in May of 2019, reviewing more than 2,800 files to identify any priest, deacon, or other member of the church facing allegations of sexual abuse involving a minor within the Diocese.

The files listed accusations that went back as early as the 1900s to the present.

Diocese officials looked into the allegations and determined credible allegations against 37 priests, deacons, or members of a religious order of which 24 are incardinated priests for the Diocese of Fresno, 7 extern priests, and 6 members from a religious order

A separate list of 29 clerics and members of religious orders are also named who have no allegations of sexual abuse of a minor while serving in the Diocese of Fresno, but were determined to have allegations against them…

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FRESNO, Calif. (KGET) — Former Bakersfield priest Craig Harrison is on a list of clergy credibly accused of sexual abuse of a minor released Friday by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno, the culmination of a two-year review of 2,800 clergy files.

Defense lawyer Kyle J. Humphrey, one of several attorneys who have spoken on Harrison’s behalf since allegations first surfaced in 2019, said from their standpoint the ex-priest’s inclusion was inevitable.

“They’ve never done a legitimate investigation,” Humphrey said of diocesan officials. “They’ve never interviewed (Harrison), allowed us to present witnesses or cross-examine accusers.”

The list contains information about 37 priests, deacons or members of a religious order credibly accused while serving in the Diocese of Fresno, officials said in a news release.

An additional 27 clerics and members of religious order are named who had no allegations brought against them while in the Fresno diocese but were credibly…

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The Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno posted a list of priests who it says have faced “a credible accusation of sexual abuse” to its website Friday.

The lists includes more than 60 names of clergy who have been accused of sexual misconduct against minors and young adults.

The revelations come more than two years after the Fresno Diocese had vowed to release such a list. In early 2019, the diocese said it would release a list after reviewing records dating to 1922 — similar to what other dioceses did.

The Diocese of Fresno is one of the last in California to release a list of credibly accused priests to the public.

Almost all dioceses in the state released their lists in 2018 and 2019. Advocates in 2020 told The Bee that the Diocese of Fresno was stalling the release…

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GREENVILLE — A former parishioner has accused the pastor of St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in West Greenville of using his position to manipulate her into a sexual relationship, according to a lawsuit filed this week.

Following the allegations, the Diocese of Charleston placed Fr. Wilbroad Mwape on leave, according to a statement from the Support Network for those Abused by Priests (SNAP), which has expressed support for the plaintiff. 

The lawsuit states that Mwape met the plaintiff while he was a priest at Holy Trinity in Orangeburg, where he served for about five years, and where she was a member. Mwape provided the plaintiff with counseling during that time, the complaint said.

Mwape, who the complaint states was aware of the plaintiff’s marital issues through his position as her priest, was transferred to St. Anthony’s in the summer of 2020. According to the lawsuit, he invited the former…

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A survivor of abuse in a faith-based institution is appalled at what she calls the Catholic church’s mishandling of victims’ stories of abuse.

Frances Tagaloa has called out the Catholic church to change their processes when dealing with survivors, following the recent Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry Pacific investigation hearing.

This comes after a couple of Pacific survivors gave their testimony at the recent Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry Pacific investigation hearing in South Auckland, including from a spokesperson named Ms CU.

Tagaloa said as a survivor she sought to emphasise how appalled she was at the Catholic church’s attempts to silence Ms CU, through a lack of communication, support and information along with protecting the perpetrator and not providing adequate monitoring or safeguarding over Fr Sosefo Sateki Raas whose conduct was under the spotlight at the inquiry.

“It illustrates a pattern that is not unique,”…

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VATICAN CITY — The Vatican is investigating about a dozen founders of congregations of consecrated or religious life, and the most common allegations involve abuse of power or conscience, financial corruption or problems associated with “affectivity,” said a top official.

Spanish Archbishop José Rodríguez Carballo, secretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, spoke about his office’s work overseeing religious congregations in an interview July 30 with “Vida Nueva,” a Spanish weekly magazine on religion.

He said the church has very “clear and precise criteria” when it comes to discerning the authenticity of a religious charism when determining whether to approve a new congregation or religious order.

Among these criteria, he underlined: “communion with the church; the presence of spiritual fruits; the social dimension of evangelization; high regard for other forms of consecrated life in the church; and the profession of the Catholic faith,” referring to the doctrinal congregation’s 2016 letter “Iuvenescit Ecclesia” to…

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At the height of his career, former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick was one of the most influential leaders of the Catholic Church in the U.S., heading the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. Last week, he became the first U.S. Cardinal to be criminally charged with a sexual crime against a minor, making the 91-year-old the highest-ranking Catholic Church official in the country to face criminal charges for clergy sexual abuse.

The fact that McCarrick sexually molested adults and children was already known: A Vatican investigation confirmed the abuse. He’d been defrocked in 2019.

Mitchell Garabedian has settled more than 2,000 clergy sex abuse cases over the past 20-plus years and is the lawyer representing an abuse survivor in a current civil case against McCarrick.

“Cardinal McCarrick was one of the most powerful and influential cardinals in the world. He hobnobbed with presidents: George W. Bush, President Ford, President Carter, President Clinton,” Garabedian…

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An online auction will start Sept. 21 to sell hundreds of “nonessential” properties belonging to the Archdiocese of Santa Fe.

A Florida-based executive with the auction company involved said Friday the auction — aimed to raise money to help settle a bankruptcy case — will be divided into two sales, one ending Sept. 28 and the second starting sometime in November.

The archdiocese originally proposed offering 732 properties in Northern New Mexico, but Louis B. Fisher III said there will be fewer in the two batches. Fisher, national director of SVN Auction Services, headquartered in Florida and Louisiana, said there will be about 140 in the first sale and about 500 in the second.

The properties tend to be small, and many were donated by parishioners to the archdiocese. Fisher said some of the parcels will be “challenging, quite honestly,” to sell. But some are “desirable.”

“I’m not going to…

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[Via National Catholic Register]

A former New York seminary professor pleaded guilty this week to charges of stalking a local news reporter, after a criminal complaint accused him of making a death threat and other threats over the phone. 

Paul Lubienecki, a former adjunct professor at the now-closed Christ the King Seminary in East Aurora, New York, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to stalking local investigative reporter Charlie Specht with the outlet WKBW. The charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Lubienecki will face sentencing on Nov. 9 at 12:30 p.m.

On six separate occasions, Lubienecki left harassing voicemails for Specht during the reporter’s investigation into allegations of clerical sex abuse in the Buffalo diocese and at Christ the King seminary.

“I know where you live in [TOWN],” the Feb. 11, 2020 complaint accused Paul Lubienecki of telling Specht in a voicemail. “I‘m going to…

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The pastor of a Catholic church in Greenville has been placed on administrative leave after he was accused of using his position of authority to have a secret sexual relationship with one of his parishioners, according to a lawsuit filed in Orangeburg County this week.

Father Wilbroad Mwape was placed on temporary administrative leave and the local dean, Father Jay Scott Newman, will be the parish administrator in his absence, Maria Aselage, spokesperson for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston, told The Greenville News in a statement Wednesday.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

“This case stems from the Catholic Church’s continued failure to police their priests,” the lawsuit states in its opening page.

The diocese is reviewing the lawsuit and will respond in due time, Aselage said.

Mwape did not return calls or emails for comment.

Phil Allen and Steve Olson, two…

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Father Louis Gigante is the brother of late mobster Vincent Gigante aka ‘The Chin’, who was the head of the Genovese crime family

Retired priest Louis Gigante, who is best recognized as the brother of late mobster Vincent Gigante of the Genovese crime family, has now been accused of sexual abuse of a minor boy. A lawsuit was filed in May 2021 against Father Gigante, on the allegation that he molested a nine-year-old boy at St. Athanasius Church in 1976-77. The retired priest reportedly subjected the unnamed victim to “endure prolific and profound abuse” during bible study sessions. 

According to the court documents, “[The] plaintiff would attend bible study at the church with Father Gigante and (he) would find ways to get plaintiff alone … and repeatedly performed oral sex on him.” The suit further alleges that Gigante’s Bronx parish as well as the Archdiocese of…

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Priest abuse has been a steady and disturbing pattern across the U.S. for decades. Currently, cases are pouring in, and the list of clergy credibly accused of abuse continues to grow in New York state. Four dioceses in New York have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, prompting claims deadlines. The dates for Syracuse and Rochester have already passed, but it’s not too late for some.

Due to bankruptcy filings, the Diocese of Buffalo and Diocese of Rockville Centre have a deadline for clergy abuse claims of August 14, 2021. This date coincides with the extended look-back window date in the Child Victims Act (CVA), which has led to an even greater influx of clergy abuse lawsuits. Since the New York CVA was enacted, thousands of child sex abuse cases by clergy have been reported by survivors who were previously unable to make claims due to their age and when the abuse occurred.

…

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Two sisters abused by the same priest have said it was “heartbreaking” to discover the other had gone through the same thing.

Former priest Con Cunningham pleaded guilty to eight counts of indecent assaults between 1971 and 1975.

Now 86, he abused sisters Paula and Margaret Martin, who were between nine and 12, and 11 and 13 years old when it happened. 

The abuse took place at a number of locations in Donegal, including at the girls’ home, at the parochial house in Fanavolty in Fanad and also at the Loreto College buildings in Letterkenny.

Speaking publicly for the first time today, Paula said they waived their right to anonymity after staying silent during her childhood “brought much pain.”

She said: “All through my teenage years and my twenties I put huge energy into hiding this part of me because I was so ashamed.

“During this process, the legal process, and…

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A new civil sex-abuse lawsuit has been filed against former cardinal Theodore McCarrick, also naming Opus Dei priest Father Michael Barrett, who is currently a pastor in the Archdiocese of New York.

Jeffrey Anderson, a prominent attorney who represents sex-abuse victims, announced the allegations against Father Barrett and McCarrick on Wednesday in a news conference that was broadcast online.

“My youth, my childhood was robbed from me,” said the plaintiff, who filed the lawsuit anonymously, in the case during the online press conference. He said he was “abused by two people involved in the Catholic Church, and this is Father Michael Barrett and Cardinal McCarrick, who wasn’t a cardinal then, and he should have never become one.”

According to Anderson, the plaintiff was abused by Father Barrett beginning at age 12, and the abuse continued for “three to four years.”

Neither the Archdiocese of New York nor Opus Dei immediately…

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A former Catholic school music teacher in Jackson will serve more than a decade in prison as the fourth person convicted in the Michigan attorney general’s ongoing clergy abuse investigation.

Joseph Comperchio, 67, of Fort Myers, Florida, was charged last September for sexually abusing two children. In those cases, he faced two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and four counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Then in October, five new counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct involving two new individuals were added.

In June, Comperchio pleaded guilty to three counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct and one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct.

The charges stemmed from Comperchio’s time as the drama and music teacher at St. John Catholic School in Jackson in the 1970s.

Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Susan. B. Jordan sentenced Comperchio on Wednesday to 12 to 30 years in prison. He must also register as a…

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[Via National Catholic Reporter]

Msgr. Robert T. Richie, rector of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City, told cathedral parishioners in an Aug. 3 letter he has been named in a civil lawsuit alleging he “sexually abused a child on one occasion” nearly 50 years ago.

“I completely and without reservation deny this allegation,” he wrote. “Nothing like this has ever occurred during my 50 years as a priest, or at any other time in my life. I am confident that once this matter is litigated in court, the allegation will be found to be absolutely false.”

The suit was filed under New York state’s Child Victims Act, which went into effect in 2020. Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently signed into law a bill to extended the deadline for filing suits under the law to Aug. 14. The law lifted the statute of limitations on abuse cases to allow victims to file claims…

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It is with sadness that we inform you that an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor has been made against Father Paul Butler, Parochial Vicar at St. Margaret of Scotland Church in Selden, in a recently filed Child Victims Act lawsuit. The alleged abuse is reported to have occurred in the 1980s, when Fr. Butler was a seminarian.

The Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People establishes specific guidelines when an allegation is made against a clergy member. An investigation is begun when an accusation is made. In accordance with the processes and procedures outlined in the Diocesan Child Protection Policy, the matter has been reported to the civil authorities. Father Butler has voluntarily stepped away from ministry and will not present himself as a priest while the required processes and procedures are undertaken.

The Office for the Protection of Children and Young People of the Diocese…

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Two lawsuits have been filed under a new Louisiana law that gives child abuse victims a chance to file suits for old claims.

The bill took effect Sunday, and allows victims of sex abuse to file suits against anyone involved for the next three years. If someone was convicted in connection with the abuse, there is no limit on filing suits. Previous law allowed people to file suit for ten years after their 18th birthday.

According to a release, the Lamothe firm has filed two lawsuits under the new law this week; the firm believes these are among the first filed in Louisiana under the new law.

“Given that most survivors do not come forward until much later in life, usually in their 50s, this law provides a much-needed path to justice,” said Frank E. Lamothe, III, who has spent his career representing sexual…

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A priest accused of sexually abusing a child had historic links to two Wellington Anglican schools, with parents at one – Chilton Saint James in Lower Hutt – informed of the links on Monday.

During her testimony to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care two weeks ago, Joanna Oldham accused Reverend Ray Oppenheim of sexually abusing her when she was a young girl. She said that, when she was nine years old, Oppenheim molested her and took indecent photos of her three times before an uncle found out and put a stop to it.

Anglican bishop Justin Duckworth on Monday said those allegations were the first he had heard about Oppenheim, who died in 2001.

Oppenheim worked at St Mark’s Parish in Wellington from 1987 to 1990, which has since closed. That school had close links to St Mark’s School beside the Basin Reserve.

He then worked at…

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[With a video report.]

The new account of a state trooper bolsters a meticulous new report on Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s misdeeds — and how his inner circle allowed such conduct to fester.

The governor placed his finger on the back of the trooper’s neck, standing behind her in an elevator at his Manhattan office, tracing the path of her spine with a two-word narration: “Hey, you.”

Sometimes, he asked questions — Why didn’t she wear a dress? Why pursue marriage when “your sex drive goes down” afterward? Could he kiss her? — and sometimes, he made statements: He remarked that his ideal girlfriend could “handle pain.” He said that the trooper, in her late 20s, was “too old” for him. He directed her to say nothing of their conversations.

The trooper was perhaps most unsettled after an event on Long Island in 2019. As she held a door open…

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[Includes eight-minute video interview with Mitchell Garabedian]

Defrocked ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick last week became the highest-ranking Catholic church official to be criminally charged for sexual abuse, for assault and battery on a 16-year-old boy in Wellesley in the 1970s. Meanwhile, in unrelated cases, the archdiocese of Boston settled six lawsuits last week with former leaders accused of assaults across the state ranging from 1966 to 1990. Jim Braude was joined on Greater Boston by attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who has represented hundreds of victims of church abuse to talk about the church’s longstanding problem with sexual abuse in its ranks.

Garabedian said the McCarrick case could represent “a new era” for going after powerful leaders in the church, as more victims keep coming forward.

“He wanted to take the weight off his shoulders — the emotional weight that many victims have and carry through their lives after being sexually abused as children,” Garabedian…

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Two months after one of its priests admitted in court to pocketing $516,000 in parish funds, a New Jersey Catholic diocese is introducing a multi-step system that will allow people to anonymously report financial misconduct in their parishes.

The Diocese of Metuchen — which includes churches in Middlesex, Somerset, Hunterdon and Warren counties — is partnering with an ethics consulting company to set up a telephone and online system to gather reports of ethics violations in its parishes, schools and cemeteries, church officials said.

The diocese already has systems in place for people to confidentially report allegations of clergy sexual abuse, but it has become clear parishes also needs a way for people to report theft, fraud and other financial problems, said Anthony P. Kearns 3rd, chancellor of the Diocese of Metuchen.

“Day after day in the news, we are reminded…

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[Includes eight-minute audio interview.]

Next month, a former Catholic Cardinal will face criminal charges in Massachusetts for alleged sexual molestation.

Theodore McCarrick is the highest ranking member of the U.S. Catholic clergy to be criminally charged with sex abuse. The charges stem from an alleged incident involving a teenage boy that happened more than 45 years ago.

Many of the sex abuse cases involving boys and young men are not reported until the victims are adults, and in the past many such reports have been disbelieved.

Allen Ruyle is a psychotherapist in San Diego who works with male survivors of sexual abuse.

He joined Midday Edition on Monday to talk about why it sometimes takes male sex abuse victims many years to come forward.

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The priesthood of the Catholic Church has always lived with the trappings of a kind of mystique, perhaps because of the celibacy. When the sexual abuse crisis in the church arose, that mystique was tarnished or even eroded. Parishioners no longer put priests on pedestals, and there may be something very good in that. I keep reminding myself that we’ve been called to walk with the people rather than to lead from on high. The result has become remembering why it was that I became a priest.

Most priests I know do not see themselves as holy, not in the way most people think of being holy, and surely not any more holy than the people they see each Sunday. All too often, it seems to most priests that we are far less holy than many of those folks in the pews.

Because parishioners see priests doing holy things and…

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Robin Vadakkumcherry, serving a 20-year prison stretch under an anti-child abuse law, sought bail to marry a woman whom he had raped and impregnated when she was a minor.

The Supreme Court refused to entertain on Monday a plea by a 49-year-old former priest from Kerala, serving a 20-year prison stretch under an anti-child abuse law, for bail to marry a woman whom he had raped and impregnated when she was a minor.

The rape survivor had also filed a separate petition seeking his interim bail for a few months so they could marry and legitimise the child.

Appearing before a Bench of Justices Vineet Saran and Dinesh Maheshwari, advocate Amit George, for convict Robin Vadakkumcherry, said the marriage would lend a “veneer of legitimacy” to the child.

‘Fundamental right to marry’

Mr. George even said his client had a “fundamental right to marry” which could not be thwarted by…

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The story was broken by The Pillar, a Substack newsletter founded in early 2021 by former editors of Catholic News Agency.

It had all the hallmarks of a sensationalist tabloid sting.

On July 20, 2021, an article appeared alleging that a senior U.S. priest, Monsignor Jeffrey Burrill, had used the hookup app Grindr, with data from the app placing him at a number of gay bars. Burrill, the now former General Secretary of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, promptly resigned.

But the report was not published by an outlet that many Americans would associated with such sex “exposés.” Indeed, most would have never have heard of it at all. It was The Pillar, a Substack newsletter founded in early 2021 by former editors of Catholic News Agency, that makes up just a tiny part of the Catholic media landscape in the U.S.

As a scholar of American Catholicism and culture,…

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The religious group said the town of Mount Pleasant had violated its civil rights.

The state Supreme Court recently dismissed a civil rights lawsuit by a religious group against the town for lack of evidence.

The Legion of Christ sued Mount Pleasant officials for religious discrimination after the town determined that the Legion’s undeveloped, 161-acre property in Thornwood was taxable. The Roman Catholic order based in Cheshire, Conn. had sought a tax-exempt status as a religious group.

The July 6 civil-rights decision followed a 2020 court ruling that the property was fully taxable.

“I’m pleased that the Supreme Court continues to uphold the Town Assessor’s determination of
the taxability of the Legion’s 161-acre vacant property. This was never about religious discrimination,” said Town Supervisor Carl Fulgenzi. “The two decisions are an enormous benefit to the taxpayers of the Town ensuring that our institutional properties are paying their fair share of property…

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Louis Gigante, a former priest turned New York City councilman who is credited for rebuilding the Hunts Point section of the Bronx in the 1980s, is being accused of sexually abusing a minor while at St. Athanasius Church in Longwood, according to recent court filings.

According to documents filed with the Bronx County clerk on May 25, an unnamed “John Doe” alleges that Gigante sexually assaulted him from 1976-1977 when he was a nine-year-old attending Gigante’s bible study at St. Athanasius Church.

The man, estimated to be 50 years old, alleges that during that time Gigante forced him to perform oral sex during bible study sessions.

“The Archdiocese knew or should have known that Father Gigante was sexually abusing children and/or had the propensity to do so,” the claim reads. “The defendants Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, and St. Athanasius Roman Catholic Church knew or should have known of…

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Retired priest and former New York City Councilman Louis Gigante was slapped with a lawsuit that accused him of sexually assaulting a 9-year-old boy in the 1970s in a Bible study course.

Gigante, whose brother was mob boss Vincent “The Chin,” allegedly forced the kid to perform oral sex at St. Athanasius Church in the Bronx, documents filed in Bronx County court showed.

“The Archdiocese knew or should have known that Father Gigante was sexually abusing children and/or had the propensity to do so,” the complaint reads, according to The Bronx Times. 

“The defendants Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, and St. Athanasius Roman Catholic Church knew or should have known of the abuse that Mr. Doe and other young children were suffering at the hands of their clergy.”

Gigante is also known for nonprofit housing developments in Hunt’s Point neighborhood in the 1980s.

The suit was…

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A former priest who has detailed allegations of abuse he suffered at the hands of the late Cardinal Keith O’Brien has warned that the Catholic Church is “blinded by its fear of scandal,” and has made little effort to establish the extent of his predatory sexual behaviour.

Brian Devlin was one of four whistleblowers who detailed a litany of allegations against the man who was the Catholic Church’s most senior cleric in Britain, prompting his resignation and admission of sexual misconduct.

Eight years on, Devlin has spoken out for the first time about the man he considered a friend, mentor, and teacher, and outlined suggestions for reforms he believes could help end the “silence, secrets and omertà” in the church.

His book, ‘Cardinal Sin’, which chronicles the O’Brien affair and its fallout, has been hailed by Mary McAleese, the former Irish president, as a courageous insight into how the church’s…

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Brian Devlin wanted to be a priest, not an author.

The book he has written was one he felt compelled to write but wished he didn’t have to.

However, he has no regrets about going into print.

In the same way he has no regrets about going public with revelations which helped bring down the most senior Catholic clergyman in Britain.

A global scandal

Mr Devlin was one of four men who helped expose Cardinal Keith O’Brien’s sexual misconduct.

And when they felt the Catholic Church hierarchy attempted a cover-up, they went to the media, unleashing a story that caused a global scandal.

‘Cardinal Sin’ focuses on the abuse of power within the Church and sets out ways the leadership could change and avoid future shame.

Mr Devlin was training for the priesthood at the Drygrange seminary in the Borders from 1978 when he…

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The Archdiocese of Seattle on Friday announced final settlements totaling $165,000 for two separate cases involving allegations of sexual abuse by Sister Dolores Crosby in the 1980s, when she served as principal at Our Lady of the Lake Catholic School in Seattle from 1979 to 1992. Crosby also taught at Edmonds’ Holy Rosary School from 1973 to 1978.

Crosby, who died in 2007, was also principal at Immaculate Conception School in Everett from 1992 to 1999. In 1999, Crosby surrendered her credentials for teaching and administration when an individual brought forward an allegation of inappropriate contact that took place in the 1980s.

In addition to Holy Rosary in Edmonds, Crosby taught at several other archdiocesan Catholic schools, including St. Anne School, Seattle, from 1968 to 1970, and St. Frances Cabrini School, Tacoma (now Lakewood), from 1978 to 1979.

Crosby was included on the Archdiocese of Seattle’s List of Clergy and Religious Brothers…

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