ABUSE TRACKER

Warning issued about Msgr. Craig Harrison

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (ChurchMilitant.com) – The bishop of Fresno, California is breaking his years-long silence about a notorious Bakersfield priest, revealing he may have abused at least seven children.

Bishop Joseph Brennan had a letter read aloud at all parishes over the weekend giving more details about the defrocked Msgr. Craig Harrison, a popular priest of nearly 40 years in Bakersfield. Harrison continues to officiate at weddings, funerals and lead spiritual retreats, in spite of a Vatican decree of laicization ordering him to cease leading such events.

“The diocese of Fresno has consistently had a ‘no comment’ response through all of this,” the letter explains. “If you found that frustrating, then just remember that I share that frustration with you.”

The bishop goes on to reveal the number of credible allegations against Harrison: “It might be helpful for you to know that…

It probably never will, at least under the current generation of church leaders.

A day of reckoning for a once powerful prince of the Roman Catholic Church had finally come.

Frail and 91, former cardinal Theodore McCarrick was arraigned last week on charges that he sexually assaulted a 16-year-old boy at Wellesley College in the 1970s.

As startling and historic as that event may be, it’s years too late for those he’s accused of having abused — and for a church that still struggles to put the clergy sex abuse scandal behind it. It probably never will, at least under the current generation of church leaders — not until there are no more victims, and no more clerics to hold accountable.

“The Catholic Church has run out of rugs to sweep things under,” said Jack Connors, a prominent Catholic and business leader who played a major role…

CHICAGO (WLS) — The Archdiocese of Chicago is removing three priests from ministry, pending investigations into what the church calls “inappropriate” conduct.

In letters to parishioners Saturday, the archdiocese said these priests are stepping aside for relationships with other adults.

The archdiocese said none of the incidents involved children.

The letters also said the priests all acknowledged their behavior.

At Ss. Genevieve and Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr Parish in Cragin, former associate Pastor Orlando Flores Orea has been asked to step aside for an alleged relationship with a woman, a letter from the archdiocese said.

The pastor at St. Gerard Majella, St. John the Baptist and Ascension-St. Susana Parish in Markham, Father Pedro Campos, was asked to step aside due to alleged inappropriate behavior with an adult man while Campos was pastor at St. Kevin Parish.

And the pastor at St. Simon Chapel of St. Gall in Gage Park, Father Rene Mena Beltran, was…

An official with the Archdiocese of Santa Fe has denied the organization directed Santo Niño Regional Catholic School Principal Robin Chavez not to report to law enforcement a concern of possible child sexual abuse by a school employee.

In a statement Saturday, the archdiocese said, “At no time did we, nor would we ever, tell a school not to contact the authorities. That is a direct violation of our Policy of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe Abuse Awareness Training for Adults Relating to Sexual Misconduct and Sexual Harassment.”

In a late April interview with a New Mexico State Police officer, Chavez said officials with the archdiocese had informed her an incident involving 30-year-old Robert Apodaca and a student “did not yet rise to that level of notification” to law enforcement or the state child welfare agency, a state police report says.

“As of the time of my interview no contact…

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — The Diocese of Fresno has remained mostly quiet about the allegations of abuse at parishes in Firebaugh and Bakersfield made against former Monsignor Craig Harrison.

“I’ve been asked by our bishop to read this letter to you this morning,” said a clergy member at St. Francis Church in Bakersfield.

A letter from Bishop Joseph Brennan was read during Sunday mass, directly addressing the accusations first made public against the former monsignor in April of 2019.

“The Diocese of Fresno did receive allegations of misconduct involving seven minors against Craig Harrison,” the letter read.

After an internal investigation, the letter explains the Diocesan Review Board looked over each allegation and found them to be credible. Those findings led to a case being opened within the Vatican.

According to Bishop Brennan, a judicial tribunal was scheduled to hear the matter the same week that Harrison submitted his resignation…

A Spanish bishop resigned from his post to settle down with a writer of erotic novels, according to reports.

Xavier Novell, 52, started a new chapter of his life when he suddenly resigned from his position at the diocese of Solsona last August for “personal reasons” in order to have a relationship with an erotic novel writer.

The woman, who Spanish newspaper El Pais named only as “SC,” from Barcelona, has published several erotic novels.

Among the titles reportedly attributed to her are the “Amnesia Trilogy” and “Hell in Gabriel’s Lust.”

According to the publication, she will not comment on speculation “nor will she grant interviews.”

El Pais reported Pope Francis, the most senior figure in the Catholic Church, had accepted Novell’s resignation from his position.

Still according to El Pais, Novell will also ask for the Pope’s permission for a dispensation from the vow of celibacy and obedience that all Catholic bishops take…

Child sexual abuse has been found to take place in most major UK religions, according to the latest report by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. Some religious organisations were found to have no child protection policies in place at all. 

IICSA found “blatant hypocrisy” and “shocking failings” among religious organisations purporting to teach right from wrong and yet failing to prevent or respond to child sexual abuse.

The Child protection in religious organisations and settings report examines evidence received from 38 religious organisations in England and Wales. The investigation followed on from those into the Anglican and Catholic Churches already conducted by the inquiry

The report recommends that all religious organisations should have a child protection policy and that the government should legislate to amend the definition of full-time education, to bring any setting that is the pupil’s primary place of education within the scope of a registered school, and…

How one woman faces the shock and scandal of clerical sex abuse in the diocese where she grew up.

On a beautiful day in the early summer of 2018, I was puttering around my apartment and getting ready for a parish visit. I was content in my work at an archdiocese, had recently returned from a stint at the Pre-Synod on Young People at the Vatican, and was knee-deep in wedding planning. To sound cheesy, I was loving church life.

Out of the blue, as I was getting ready to leave for another day of the ministry work I loved, I received a call from a friend: “Nicole, we didn’t want you to find out elsewhere: Cardinal Theodore McCarrick has been accused of sexual abuse and the accusations were found credible. The story is about to break everywhere.”

I found myself gripping the back of my sofa, totally knocked off…

NEW YORK – Soon after ex-cardinal and ex-priest Theodore McCarrick was arraigned in a Massachusetts criminal court Sept. 3 on assault and battery charges, attorneys and activists alike stood on the five steps leading up to the Dedham District Court courthouse and tried to capture the day’s significance.

“Today marks a new phase in the global struggle to hold bishops accountable,” said Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of bishop-accountability.org, into microphones set up by various news outlets. “The world is witnessing what was unimaginable 20 years ago, a powerful (former) cardinal forced to answer child sex abuse charges in a suburban courtroom.”

Moments before, attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who represents the plaintiff and sat near McCarrick during the proceedings, told reporters outside of the courthouse that this was a “very emotional day” for his client, who has “been waiting for this day for decades,” and is “riding an emotional roller coaster right…

The University Commission on Gonzaga’s response to Catholic Sexual Abuse Crisis released its 18-month report on Wednesday with recommendations for GU President Thayne McCulloh on how the university can progress as a Jesuit institution given its specific historical and geographic context. 

The report stops short of issuing a formal apology or putting particular parties at fault for the presence of priests with a history of sexual abuse on the university’s premises, but offers future strategies to the president for how to ameliorate the situation going forward. 

“The commission actually made recommendations that operationalize some of this,” McCulloh said. “For example, by recommending that we memorialize these events publicly, on the campus, then we acknowledge that harm was done and that people have suffered.”

The commission advises that a working group be assembled to plan the construction of a permanent “labyrinth” near the Jundt Art Museum. That memorial, as…

BARNSTABLE — The trial for the Catholic priest with Cape ties charged with rape is still set to take place at the beginning of October. 

Fairhaven resident Mark Hession, charged with two counts of rape, indecent assault and battery on a child 14 and under and intimidating a witness, will face a jury trial starting Oct. 5.

Hession pleaded not guilty in January to the charges. Hession served at 12 institutions in the Cape Cod and Fall River areas, including as parish priest from 2000 to 2014 at Our Lady of Victory Church in Centerville.

In a pretrial conference Aug. 30 in Barnstable Superior Court, Cape and Islands Assistant District Attorney Sharon Thibeault told Judge Mark Gildea that prosecutors were ready for the trial date. She said she is waiting for data obtained from the victim’s phone as well as contact information for all witnesses on the witness list. 

A final pretrial hearing…

There’s been another knock for Mark and Adam James, in their 41-year quest for answers as to who murdered their mother, Maria James.

Key points:

• A coronial inquiry into the death of Maria James, set up in the wake of the ABC podcast Trace, has begun
• The counsel assisting the coroner, Sharon Lacy, says a recently found bloodied quilt has not yielded usable DNA evidence
• The inquest is set to continue for three weeks

The 38-year-old single mother was killed in a frenzied stabbing attack in her Thornbury bookshop in 1980.

Maria’s bed quilt, a police exhibit that had been missing for decades, showed up recently.

But DNA testing has failed to find any clues pointing to her killer.

Counsel Assisting the coroner Sharon Lacy broke the news to the Victorian Coroners Court today.

“In June 2021, remarkably, the continental quilt was found. Unfortunately, DNA analysis since then has failed to produce any results that are useful in…

Today, the Archdiocese of Chicago distributed the following announcements on Fr. Pedro Campos, Fr. Orlando Flores Orea and Fr. René Mena Beltrán.

Fr. Orlando Flores Orea

Letter to Parishioners of Ss. Genevieve and Stanislaus (English | Español)

Letter to Parishioners of St. Paul Parish (English | Español)

Fr. Pedro Campos

Letter to Parishioners of  Ascension and St. Suzanna-St. John Baptist-St. Gerard Majella (English | Español)

Letter to Parishioners of Our Lady of Nazareth (English | Español)

Letter to Parishioners of St. Kevin Parish (English | Español)

Fr. René Mena Beltrán

Letter to Parishioners of St. Gall and St. Simon Parish (English | Español)

Three priests have been removed by the Archdiocese of Chicago pending investigations into inappropriate conduct. None of the incidents involving the priests under investigation involved children.

Fr. Orlando Flores Orea of Ss. Genevieve, Stanislaus Bishop, St. Agnes, St. Kieran and St. Paul Parish was asked to step aside from ministry while the Archdiocese investigates a relationship Flores Orea had with an adult woman.

Fr. Pedro Campos of St. Gerard Majella, St. John the Baptist and Ascension-St. Susana Parish is under investigation for an inappropriate relationship with an adult man while he was a pastor at St. Kevin Parish.

While the investigation is ongoing, Fr. Gary Graf of St. Agnes, St. Kieran and St. Paul in Chicago Heights will serve as the parish administrator.

Fr. René Mena Beltrán of St. Gall and St. Simon Parish is under investigation for inappropriate behavior involving an adult man. While Beltrán is under investigation, Fr….

The law firm of Jeff Anderson & Associates has filed two new civil sexual battery lawsuits against former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and the Archdiocese of Newark, according to a Sept. 2 press release from the firm.

The lawsuit filed by JA DOE 60, a former employee of the Archdiocese of Newark, alleges that, in approximately 1991, McCarrick engaged in unpermitted sexual contact with the plaintiff and that the abuse allegedly occurred at the Archdiocese of Newark cathedral in Newark. McCarrick, who is 91 and currently living in Missouri, was ordained in 1958 and defrocked in 2019.

The second lawsuit, filed by Father Lauro Sedlmayer, alleges that Sedlmayer, a former N.J. priest who came to America from Brazil to expand his ministry, was sexually assaulted by his then-boss McCarrick and repeatedly reported the abuse. The suit also alleges that, on multiple occasions in approximately 1991, McCarrick engaged in unpermitted sexual contact…

Will Catholic women lag behind their Dalit, Muslim and Adivasi sisters in challenging patriarchal traditions?

I recently watched a debate at the Oxford Union on why Arab men hate women. Egyptian feminist Mona Eltahawy, who was the main speaker, brought forward numerous instances of women’s oppression in the Muslim Arab world. 

These were not unique to Islam, she emphasized. They occur with variations wherever patriarchy holds sway.

The truth is that similar attitudes of patriarchy dominate the Catholic world as women themselves have reiterated for decades.

A recent report commissioned by the Conference of Religious Women in India, “It’s High Time, Women Religious speak up on Gender Justice in the Indian Church,” edited by Hazel D’Lima, Cletus Zuzarte and Pallavi Xalxo, brings this out sharply.

The hierarchy of the Church, the report says, is steeped in patriarchy. This contributes in no small way to its oppression of all women —…

As disgraced 91-year-old cardinal Theodore McCarrick stood in an American court last week, charged with three counts of indecent assault and battery on a minor, the spectre of the late Scottish cardinal, Keith O’Brien, hovered silently over proceedings. Two elderly men, who once donned scarlet robes and mitres, who reached the pinnacle of Catholic church power, stripped to civvies. McCarrick pleaded not guilty to the charges.

O’Brien, the UK’s then most senior Catholic cleric, and a vocal opponent of gay rights, resigned in 2013 after the Observer revealed details of his sexually inappropriate behaviour with priests in his diocese.

For ex-priest Brian Devlin, one of the four whistleblowers who testified against O’Brien back in 2013, the two cases are clearly linked. “If we hadn’t gone to the Observer back then, the church would have dealt with McCarrick quite differently. Without O’Brien, there would be no church process.”

Devlin has written a book, Cardinal Sin, outlining his experiences…

The creator of the violent comic-book lawman drew dark inspiration from his Catholic upbringing. Now he too is seeking justice

For more than 40 years a rampaging, ultra-violent lawman called Judge Dredd has stalked the pages of British comics, as well as featuring in films, novels and video games. A television series is even in the pipeline.

Yet behind the blood-spattered fiction of a ruthless enforcer lies a very different story: that of a vulnerable schoolboy who has never forgotten the abuse he says he suffered at the hands of the Roman Catholic monks who ran his school.

The man whose childhood misery inspired him to create the Judge Dredd character is now fighting for a public reckoning of his own.

As a boy, Pat Mills, a writer and publisher often described as the “godfather of British comics”, attended St Joseph’s, a private school in Ipswich that at the time was…

A former priest who says he was abused by shamed Cardinal O’Brien has called for a secret Vatican report into the allegations to be released.

Brian Devlin, 61, was one of four priests who accused the Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh of sexual misconduct in 2013.

The scandal saw the disgraced cardinal – one of the most senior Catholic clerics in the UK – quit and apologise.

In the aftermath, the Vatican ordered its own internal probe, carried out by Bishop Charles Scicluna.

The bishop – who has gone on to become the Archbishop of Malta – was one of the Vatican’s best known sex abuse investigators.

His team travelled to Scotland in 2014 and carried out interviews as part of their 12-month long investigation into O’Brien’s conduct.

But details of the secret probe – which is believed to have been shown to the Pope – have never been revealed.

Brian, who…

A change in law in New York has allowed for the filing of more than 9,000 child abuse claims – including cases against Prince Andrew, Bob Dylan and high-profile Catholic priests – previously blocked by the state’s statute of limitations.

Warning: The following content may be upsetting to some readers.

Tom Andriola was 25, standing on the edge of Bryce Canyon in Utah, and an impulse to jump kept flashing through his mind.

It had been 14 years since Mr Andriola’s adopted older brother sexually abused him, but the memory was still raw. There, on the edge of the canyon, in the seclusion of the park, his wife became the first person he told.

“I truly thought if I spoke anything about this, that he was going to come and kill me,” Mr Andriola recalled.

A few weeks earlier, that same brother had paid them a visit and stayed an…

[Includes audio with clips of statements by Bob Hoatson and Anne Barrett Doyle]

Former Roman Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick pleaded not guilty to sexually abusing a boy nearly 50 years ago. Ousted from the priesthood, he’s the only U.S. Cardinal to face such charges.

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick pleaded not guilty today to three counts of sexual assault on a teenager. He’s the highest-ranking U.S. Catholic Church official to be charged with a sex crime, and his undoing has renewed calls for the Catholic Church to identify sex offenders in its ranks. Meg Woolhouse of member station GBH was at his arraignment near Boston and is on the line now.

Meg, tell us what the scene was like at the courthouse today.

MEG WOOLHOUSE, BYLINE: Well, McCarrick is 91, and he looked pretty frail. And it was all kind of painful to watch. Going in and out…

James Grein, who authored this open letter to encourage abuse victims to come forward, was sexually abused for almost two decades by ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who is being arraigned Sept. 3 for a sexual crime against another victim. Grein’s testimony in New Jersey and New York has highlighted the crisis of homosexual pederasty in the Catholic Church.

[Includes a video of James Grein’s speech in Baltimore on November 17, 2018]

Sept. 3, 2021

The district attorney of Norfolk County, Massachusetts has found solid, credible evidence of sexual abuse by Theodore McCarrick, the once-chief power broker of the U.S. Catholic Church who is also the highest-ranking Catholic prelate ever to be charged for sex abuse. 

Today he comes one step closer to accountability for his crimes — but sadly, just one. And  View Cache

[Includes video of attorney Mitchell Garabedian speaking about the victim in the case and an excerpt from Anne Barrett Doyle’s statement at the BishopAccountabiity.org press conference.]

Former cardinal Theodore McCarrick allegedly immersed himself into “the fabric of the victim’s family,” and then used confession to isolate and sexually assault him, the Massachusetts prosecutor said.

Bail was set at $5,000 for defrocked former cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who is charged with sexually assaulting a 16-year-old boy at Wellesley College in the 1970s.

A not-guilty plea was entered on McCarrick’s behalf during his arraignment in Dedham District Court Friday, where he remained silent.

Wellesley police charged McCarrick, now 91 and living in Missouri, more than a month ago with three counts of indecent assault and battery on a person over 14. Advocates for victims of clergy abuse protested outside of the courthouse before his 9 a.m. arraignment Friday.

Bail was set with the conditions…

Theodore McCarrick is the first former or current U.S. cardinal to be charged with sex crimes

Former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who as archbishop of Washington, D.C. was one of the most powerful leaders of the U.S. Catholic Church, appeared in a Massachusetts court on Friday to face charges of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old boy in 1974.

Mr. McCarrick is the first current or former U.S. cardinal to be charged with sex crimes. In a hearing on Friday morning, prosecutors at District Court in Dedham, Mass., charged Mr. McCarrick with three counts of indecent assault and battery. He pleaded not guilty on all counts.

“His appearance in court marks the victory of accountability over impunity, and of the rule of civil law over the Vatican’s failed strategy of coverup,” said a statement from BishopAccountability.org, a Boston-based group that tracks clerical sex-abuse cases.

The Vatican and a lawyer for Mr….

[Includes a video of the prosecutor briefly describing McCarrick’s alleged crimes.]

Former U.S. Roman Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick has pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting a 16-year-old boy during a wedding reception in Massachusetts nearly 50 years ago.

The 91-year-old McCarrick was heckled by a protester as he arrived but said nothing during a brief appearance in suburban Boston’s Dedham District Court.

McCarrick is the only current or former U.S. Catholic cardinal to ever be criminally charged with child sex crimes. An attorney for McCarrick says they are “looking forward to addressing the allegations in court” and would have no other immediate comment.

Pope Francis defrocked McCarrick in 2019 after a Vatican investigation.

[See also a PDF of the Washington Post front page.]

Disgraced ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick, 91, in street clothes, stooped and using a walker, was arraigned Friday in a suburban Boston courtroom on three counts of criminal child sex abuse.

It was the first time the former Catholic archbishop of Washington had appeared in public since 2018, when his fall began amid a wave of sex abuse allegations. Some in the crowd outside, including survivors of other assaults, screamed at the former global power-broker: “Shame on you! Prince of the church!”

Inside, McCarrick was charged with sexually assaulting a teen in the 1970s, the first time a U.S. cardinal has faced a criminal charge of abuse. He pleaded not guilty during the hearing that lasted less than 10 minutes. Judge Michael J. Pomarole ordered McCarrick to give up his passport and to stay away from people under the age of…

[Includes video summarizing McCarrick’s career, the allegations against him, and the actions the church eventually took.]

Former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who was defrocked by The Vatican in 2019 over sex abuse allegations, pleaded not guilty to three counts of indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or older at an arraignment in Dedham District Court in Massachusetts Friday.

A judge set a $5000 cash bail, ordering McCarrick to have no contact with the alleged victim or any minors under the age of 18.

A Norfolk County prosecutor told the judge that McCarrick “immersed himself into the fabric of the victim’s family, and then used his status as a priest to access and prey upon the victim.”

“He specifically used the act of confession to get the victim away from his parents and from his siblings and then would sexually assault the victim during that time frame,” she…

Dedham, Mass. – Former Roman Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick pleaded not guilty on Friday to charges he molested a 16-year-old boy in 1974, a case that makes him the highest-ranking U.S. Catholic official to be prosecuted for sexually abusing a minor.

McCarrick, 91, a former archbishop of Washington, D.C., wore a face mask and hunched over a walker as he entered the courthouse in Dedham, Massachusetts, walking past TV cameras and a demonstrator yelling “shame on you.”

He said nothing as the court entered a not guilty plea on his behalf to three counts of indecent assault and battery filed in July. Each charge carries up to five years in prison.

Bail was set at $5,000, and McCarrick, who now lives in Dittmer, Missouri, was ordered not to contact his alleged victim or children. His lawyer declined to comment. McCarrick has said he had no recollection of committing child abuse.

…

[Via Catholic Review of the Archdiocese of Baltimore]

While financial reforms in the Vatican are progressing steadily, cases involving corruption and malfeasance in the Eternal City are “a disease that we relapse into,” Pope Francis said.

In a wide-ranging interview broadcast Sept. 1 by COPE, the Spanish radio station owned by the Spanish bishops’ conference, Pope Francis said changes made in the Vatican’s financial laws have allowed prosecutors to “become more independent” in their investigations.

“Let’s hope that these steps we are taking … will help to make these events happen less and less,” he said.

During the interview, the pope was asked about the Vatican trial against 10 individuals and entities, including Cardinal Angelo Becciu, former prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes, on charges ranging from embezzlement to money laundering and abuse of office.

The charges stemmed from a Vatican investigation into how the Secretariat of State used…

Lawsuit alleges priests ‘misrepresented … sexual assaults and battery as acceptable to God.’

Vancouver’s Roman Catholic Archdiocese and a church order of priests have denied any involvement in or liability for alleged sexual abuse of a youth by three priests.

Ronald Wayne Petruk, 76, filed suit against The Roman Catholic Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Vancouver (RCAV), a Corporation Sole and the Oblates of Mary Immaculate.

In the suit, Petruk describes multiple assaults by three named and other priests, one in a church at Easter. He alleges he was forced to watch priests having sex with each other.

A dead former B.C. Roman Catholic bishop, convicted in 1997 of rape and indecent assault against residential school students, is among priests were named in a notice of civil claim, filed in BC Supreme Court June 18.

The suit names the Roman Catholic Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Vancouver,…

A Gonzaga University commission has released its recommendations for the university to adopt in light of sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic priests.

In 2019, the university came under scrutiny for housing Jesuit priests accused of sexual abuse.

Those priests lived in the Cardinal Bea House, a Jesuit-owned building on Gonzaga’s campus.

Specifically, the university referenced the “horrifying, predatory sexual abuse of Alaska Native girls and women by James Poole, a Jesuit priest who worked at the time in Nome, Alaska.” The Society Of Jesus knowingly reassigned priests like Poole and others to new locations where they had access to children, women and vulnerable adults. Some of them continued their abuse before being assigned to the Cardinal Bea retirement house on the Gonzaga campus.

As that information came to light, Gonzaga President Thayne McCulloh appointed the commission to “identify, discuss, and make recommendations” regarding a “set of formal actions…

Theodore McCarrick, 91, is scheduled to appear in public — in a Massachusetts courtroom — on Friday for the first time since 2018, when the former Catholic cardinal and global power-broker began his fall amid a wave of sex abuse allegations. He will be arraigned on three counts of sexually assaulting a teen in the 1970s, the first U.S. cardinal to face criminal charges of abuse.

Now in his early 60s, the accuser plans to be with supporters in the courtroom, the first time McCarrick will publicly face one of the more than a dozen people who say the once-powerful cleric sexually abused or harassed them as boys or young seminarians or clerics. Prosecutors say McCarrick abused the man when he was 16, in a coat room at the man’s brother’s wedding in Wellesley, Mass.

The sight of McCarrick, who now lives at a suburban Missouri treatment center, in regular…

Manchester’s Bishop Peter Libasci is asking a judge to dismiss the sex abuse lawsuit against him, saying in a response filed on Tuesday that none of the allegations are true.

Libasci was named in the lawsuit filed in July, accused of abusing an altar boy during the 1980s when Libasci was a parish priest in the Diocese of Rockville Centre.

Libasci has maintained his innocence since NH Reporter first broke news of the lawsuit, filed in the Suffolk County Supreme Court in New York. The answer to the lawsuit, written by Boston attorneys Michael Connolly and Stephen Rosemarino, with the law firm of Hinckley, Allen & Snyder, denies all of the allegations and demands that the case be dismissed. Libasci is also seeking to recover attorney fees from his accuser.

The legal response to the allegations offered by Libasci’s lawyers does not give…

[Via Herald-Standard, Unionville PA]

The Vatican has concluded that allegations of sexual abuse dating back a half century against the Roman Catholic Bishop of Brooklyn do not “have the semblance of truth,” but an attorney for the accusers said they would press forward with their civil cases.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York, said Wednesday that the Vatican has closed its investigation into allegations made separately by two men, who accused the bishop, Nicholas DiMarzio, of abusing them a half century ago when he was a priest in New Jersey.

DiMarzio denied the accusations made by his accusers, both of whom have filed civil claims against him.

“I repeat what I have said from the beginning. There is no truth to these allegations. Throughout my more than 50-year ministry as a priest, I have never abused anyone,” DiMarzio said in a statement. He said he “fully cooperated” with…

Brooklyn bishop Nicholas DiMarzio was  first accused of child sexual abuse in November 2019. A second alleged victim came forward in June 2020. Today, 21 months after the first complainant came forward, we learned that the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith found the allegations “not to have the semblance of truth” and so not worthy of a full canonical trial.

This sweeping dismissal of the alleged victims reflects the skepticism that Cardinal Timothy Dolan expressed at the outset of the Church’s probe, which was conducted under the Pope’s 2019 law, Vos Estis Lux Mundi.

We question the objectivity of the Church’s process. Four aspects of it were troubling: 1) Cardinal Dolan’s public comments in support of DiMarzio, 2) the lack of independence of the so-called independent investigators, 3) the Pope’s approval of DiMarzio’s staying in office while under investigation, and 4) the Church’s lack of transparency. 

…

Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio still faces two lawsuits based on the allegations, which date to his time as a young priest in Jersey City.

The Archdiocese of New York said on Wednesday that an investigation authorized by the Vatican had cleared Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, the leader of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, of allegations made against him by two men who said they were abused as children.

The accusations, which date to the bishop’s time as a young priest in Jersey City in the 1970s, were found by the Vatican’s powerful doctrinal office “not to have the semblance of truth,” the archdiocese said in a statement.

The findings likely mean Bishop DiMarzio, who has led the Brooklyn diocese since 2003, will face no disciplinary action from church officials, regardless of what happens with two civil lawsuits based on the allegations that continue to wind their way through the courts in…

Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn has been exonerated of sexual abuse allegations that date back nearly a half-century. 

The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith announced on Sept. 1 that it found the allegations “not to have the semblance of truth” after a year-plus-long independent investigation.

“I repeat what I have said from the beginning. There is no truth to these allegations,” Bishop DiMarzio said in a statement on Sept. 1. “Throughout my more than 50-year ministry as a priest, I have never abused anyone.” 

Given this finding, the Vatican will not authorize any further canonical process to address the allegations. The investigation will not affect the status of the two civil lawsuits that claim Bishop DiMarzio abused two minors while he was a young priest in the Archdiocese of Newark. 

The lawsuits were possible because of New York’s Child Victims Act.​​ The law, which went into effect…

An audit conducted in July found the Diocese of Honolulu in full compliance with the U.S. bishops’ “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People,” the set of procedures the bishops established in 2002 for addressing allegations of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy.

A letter dated Aug. 11 to Bishop Larry Silva from StoneBridge Business Partners Inc., the independent third-party organization contracted by the U.S. bishops to conduct diocesan audits, stated that “the Diocese has been found compliant with all audited Articles within the ‘Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People’ for the audit period of July 1, 2018, through June 30, 2021.”

The Charter, which has been revised several times, includes guidelines for creating safe environments for children and young people, reconciling victims, responding promptly to allegations, cooperating with civil authorities, disciplining offenders and preventing future acts of abuse.

An audit is done every…

The bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Rochester has submitted his resignation to the head of the Church.

In a letter to the church community, Rev. Salvatore Matano says canon law requires him to step down when he reaches 75, which he does this month.

The resignation requires approval by Pope Francis, who also determines when it becomes effective.

In his letter, Matano noted that other diocesan bishops in the country have served past the age of 75 until their successor has been appointed.

The potential change in leadership comes at a pivotal time for local Catholics. Nearly two years ago, the diocese filed for bankruptcy – becoming the first in the state to do so.

In his letter, Matano says COVID-19 has impacted the proceedings. Seven mediation sessions have been held, but they did not lead to a settlement agreement. Mediation is continuing through Sept. 2.

The…

[Via The Dialog of the Diocese of Wilmington]

The Diocese of Rockville Centre has ended publication of The Long Island Catholic magazine and Fe Fuerza Vida, its Spanish-language newspaper.

Sean Dolan, associate publisher and director of communications for the diocese, announced the changes in an Aug. 27 news release, saying they were taking place immediately.

He told Catholic News Service Aug. 31 that the decision to close the publications marked “a sad day” for the diocese.

The moved resulted in the loss of 2.5 positions at the diocese, including the magazine’s advertising sales representative and the newspaper’s editor, Dolan said.

“We were subsidizing both the paper and the magazine for some time,” Dolan explained. “We were one of the only publications that had to generate advertising revenue and subscription income to justify that existence.”

The diocese also is “straining” financially from its October 2020 filing of a petition for reorganization…