ABUSE TRACKER

Cardinal Angelo Sodano, a once-powerful Italian prelate who long served as the Vatican’s No. 2 official but whose legacy was tarnished by his support for the pedophile founder of an influential religious order, has died. He was 94.

The Vatican in its Saturday announcement of his death said Sodano had died on Friday. Italian state radio said that Sodano recently had contracted COVID-19, complicating his already frail health. Corriere della Sera said he died in a Rome clinic where he had been admitted a few weeks ago.

Pope Francis in a condolence telegram Saturday to Maria Sodano, the retired prelate’s sister, noted that Sodano had held many roles in the Vatican’s diplomatic corps, culminating in his being named secretary of state on June 28, 1991, by the then-pontiff, John Paul II. A day later, John Paul, who later was made a saint, elevated Sodano to the rank of cardinal.

In…

After four months of activity, an independent commission created by the Portuguese bishops to investigate child abuse has received at least 326 allegations of abuse.

The fact that 214 of them were collected within the first month of operation demonstrates that there has been a significant decline in the rhythm of testimonies over the past few months. Some of the group’s members are now calling on the country’s bishops to better publicize their work and encourage abuse victims to come forward.

It was the initiative of the Portuguese bishops’ conference to create the commission, a decision taken in November 2021 after the release of a report on abuse and cover-up in the French church shocked many across Europe.

One month before, the work group that investigated abuse in Catholic institutions in France had publicized the results of its investigation, estimating that some 216,000 people had experience abuse in…

A Pillar symposium

A three-year experimental phase comes to an end June 1 for Vos estis lux mundi, the set of canonical policies promulgated by Pope Francis for investigating allegations of abuse, misconduct, or administrative negligence on the part of the Catholic Church’s bishops.

Vos estis lux mundi came into effect June 1, 2019 for an ad experimentum period that officially concludes Tuesday. While an official extension has not been announced by the Holy See, Vos estis has been understood to remain in force, and is expected to undergo revisions in the months to come.

While Vatican sources tell The Pillar that some bishops have been asked for feedback on the document, it is not clear whether other Catholics interested in reform efforts will be asked for their views on the possibilities for revising Vos estis lux mundi.

The Pillar asked victim-survivors, advocates, ecclesiastical officials, and other experts for their suggestions on the prospect of revising Vos estis lux mundi.

…

On Tuesday, after being presented with three candidates, Pope Francis chose Cardinal Matteo Zuppi to be the new president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI).

The Bologna archbishop will be tasked with spearheading changes on the way clerical sexual abuse is addressed in the pope’s backyard.

In a recent interview, Pope Francis indicated that he wanted a man ready to “make a change” and that he preferred for him to be “authoritative,” meaning, “a cardinal.”

Zuppi, a leading figure in the Community of Sant’Egidio, arguably the lay movement most favored by the Argentine pontiff, is defined by those who know him as an authentic street priest, always close to the poor, a man of peace – he was part of the team of mediators that facilitated the Peace Accords in Mozambique in the early ’90s – and as an authoritative personality with pastoral sensibilities.

He was born in Rome and ordained…

As the Italian bishops’ conference debates this week how to best address the clerical sexual abuse crisis and the calls for a nationwide investigation, Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston, head of the papal commission for the protection of children, told them that the only way forward is with the truth.

Speaking from experience, as he has spent much of the past 40 years addressing the scandals, O’Malley said, “We have nothing to fear by telling the truth. The truth will set us free. Acknowledging people’s stories of abuse, listening to survivors and committing to working together is not easy,” but “it is the only way.”

The Italian bishops are meeting this week for their general assembly. On Tuesday, they elected Cardinal Matteo Zuppi of Bologna as their new leader, and local observers have pointed out that his five-year term as head of the conference will largely be interpreted by how…

We hope that Bishop Robert McElroy’s elevation to Cardinal signals a change in the California Catholic landscape. The current archbishops of Los Angeles and San Francisco, whose seniority is now usurped by the new Cardinal, have resisted transparency on behalf of sexual abuse survivors. Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone alienates many by refusing to do the bare minimum of publishing a list of abusers from San Francisco. At least San Diego has a list and adds to it.

To be sure, Bishop McElroy has work to do to gain credibility; he ignored the advice of Richard Sipe, an esteemed clergy sexual abuse expert regarding Sipe’s warnings about Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. In the end, Sipe was right, and McElroy was mistaken. His list is short, as being proven by the lawsuits now piling up.

Now that Cardinal-elect McElroy has been given the red hat, we hope he…

Analysis

Papal advisor Fr. Antonio Spadaro said Sunday morning that the pope’s appointment of San Diego’s Bishop Robert McElroy as a member of the College of Cardinals is “a strong and clear message for the Church in the United States.”

The appointment came as a surprise, apparently even to McElroy, who said in a May 29 statement that he was “stunned and surprised” by the papal nod.

Indeed, the cardinal-elect is not the metropolitan of a major archiepiscopal see, nor the prefect of a Vatican dicastery. Francis has previously appointed as cardinals the bishops of smaller sees, but every U.S. bishop to whom he has previously given a red hat has been an archbishop. 

And given that a growing number of American Catholics are Hispanic, many Vatican-watchers expected the next U.S. cardinal would also be Latino, even if it was not Los Angeles’ Archbishop Jose Gomez, whom the pope has…

At the turn of the twentieth century, the modernist crisis roiled the entire Catholic Church. Modernism’s opponents claimed that exegesis and theology had become infected with rationalism, thereby undermining the historical truth of the Bible and the Christian faith. The remedy for this disease, they believed, was a widespread network of anonymous informants—called the Sodalitium Pianum or La Sapinière—who would denounce professors and others suspected of the modernist heresy. The accused priests would be summarily removed from their positions, with little or no chance of defense. 

While modernism was a real theological problem the Church needed to address, this overwrought response led to human rights abuses that haunted Catholicism for a long time. The modernist controversy comes to mind when thinking about the suppression of priests’ rights that has accompanied today’s sex abuse crisis. 

Recently, four veteran Catholic priests I know were suspended from priestly ministry. Each was suspended on the basis of…

Many of us are struggling to come to terms with the news that the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention has covered up abuse, maligned survivors, and even kept a secret list of 700-plus sex offenders for years.

In the aftermath of this atrocious exposure, the behavior of various SBC leaders has been discouraging and even appalling. We are hearing many sorrowful words, but are these leaders just crying crocodile tears? Will words ever be followed by action?

One harrowing example is Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Church of Dallas. He appeared on Fox News speaking about the horror of the report. He bragged about how his own church has a zero-tolerance policy toward abuse. He then ended his interview by calling for survivors to forgive their offenders — an audacious, inappropriate, tone-deaf request to make as a pastor representing the denomination that has plundered the souls of victims repeatedly.

The icing…

For two men who grew up in Sandusky, a lawsuit filed in California might be their last chance to get some form of justice for a local minister they say sexually abused them for years, and for the church that did nothing to stop it.

The California statute of limitations allows more time for alleged survivors of childhood sexual assault to bring legal action. It also provides a “look back window,” which suspended all statute of limitations time constraints for three years.

That “window” ends this year.

For Victor and Roy Matthews, like many alleged victims, the California law has provided the opportunity to ask a court to hear the allegations and render a judgment.

They contend that Bishop Rev. Rufus Sanders, of the Emmanuel Temple Church on East Adams Street in Sandusky, sexually molested both of them when they were boys, beginning in the late 1970s through the early…

SINS OF THE FATHERS

Pope Francis just named the new head of the Italian Bishops’ Conference who says he will do what no one has ever dared: investigate clerical sex abuse in the shadow of the Vatican.

If there is one open secret in the eternal city, it is that the allegations of clerical sex abuse in Italy have always been swept away, into the shadows of the Vatican.

The last three popes have had mixed reviews on their handling of the global scandal. When the worst of the abuse was coming to light, Pope John Paul II was too infirm and impotent to do anything about it. His successor Pope Benedict XVI was demonstrably blind to the problems coming in from the global church, and was implicated in the coverup in Germany. Pope Francis has done more than both of his predecessors in terms of reconciling the pain. But none of these…

The sexual abuse scandal that has rocked the Southern Baptist Convention in recent days should prompt leaders within the denomination — and within individual churches — to examine the issue more closely, local pastors say.

“It’s overwhelming, and I am deeply concerned by the findings,” said the Rev. Steve Livengood, senior pastor of Abbotts Creek Missionary Baptist Church, one of the more than 30 High Point churches affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.

“Sexual abuse should grieve us all, and it should grieve us that the name of Christ is harmed. I think we need to look at the recommendations closely to determine how we can ensure that every church is a safe place for every woman, man, girl and boy to come and worship our Lord.”

In an independent report released May 22, explosive details painted a picture of how SBC leaders had perpetuated a cycle of sexual abuse…

When a sexual abuse scandal hits the church, words from its ministers can be indicative of how bad things really are. The reputation of the church is on the line, but so is the welfare of the people it serves.

“Mortified” is a word one minister used last week. “Heartbroken and sickened,” said another.

If you’re not up on this particular story, you might be led to believe that such reactions came from Catholic clergy, whose church has been repeatedly rocked by abuse allegations.

But not this time. These are the words of Eric Costanzo, pastor of South Tulsa Baptist Church, and Todd Fisher, executive director-treasurer of Oklahoma Baptists and former pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church in Shawnee.

They’re both ordained ministers in the Southern Baptist Church, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination and probably the most influential religious group in Oklahoma.

I know both men. They are…

A large-scale lawsuit against the Southern Baptist Convention alleging a coverup of sexual abuse has been refiled by a new set of attorneys for Hannah Kate Williams.

An earlier version of the same charges had been filed in a Kentucky circuit court Aug. 16, 2021, but some months later was withdrawn. The new suit was filed by two nationally known attorneys specializing in abuse who now represent Williams.

The new lawsuit has been largely overlooked in the national media — perhaps because it was announced just two days prior to publication of the SBC’s massive report on sexual abuse.

On Friday, May 20, attorneys Vanessa B. Cantley and Brian Kent announced that they now represent Williams, who has been an outspoken advocate for reform in the SBC. Due to a recent change in Kentucky law, cases of this nature must be filed under seal, so Baptist News Global has not been able to…

Between July 24 and 29, Pope Francis, the leader of the Catholic Chruch will be visiting Canada, making stops in Quebec City, Edmonton and Iqaluit. The visit is largely centred around reconciling the Church with First Nations, Metis and Inuit, in light of mass graves of children being found at Canada’s numerous residential schools.

Nunavut Premier P.J. Akeeagok said the visit is important for Nunavummiut, particularly survivors who are still reeling from the horrors of residential school. Which has resulted in various issues for Inuit families in Nunavut, including addiction, chronic health problems and cycles of physical and sexual abuse, which originated from educators at residential schools.

“I’m really optimistic for the healing journey to start happening for the people who really need to be a part of this process,” said Akeeagok.

“We’ve all seen and we all know the devastation residential schools have played on Nunavummiut.”

On April 1…

Given the death late Friday of Italian Cardinal Angelo Sodano, who was 94, what’s often described as the Vatican’s “old guard” has taken a significant blow. Sodano had been the Secretary of State to two popes and the former Dean of the College of Cardinals, and he remained massively influential in shaping the Vatican’s internal culture.

With Sodano’s passing, the new de facto captain of the old guard arguably becomes 88-year-old Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, Sodano’s successor as Dean of the College of Cardinals and, like Sodano, a product of the Secretariat of State, having served as an aide to the legendary Cardinal Giovanni Benelli when Benelli was the sostituto, or chief of staff, to Pope Paul VI.

What do we mean by the “old guard”?

The phrase refers to an informal network of longtime personnel, both clerical and lay, and primarily (though not exclusively) associated with the Secretariat of State, the Vatican’s…

Bishops in Italy examine the issue of clergy sexual abuse

An independent body to look into sexual abuse; listening to victims; compensation; and a historical and sociological study.

These are among the demands that victims of clergy sex abuse are making to the Catholic Church in Italy. They are supported by a shocking book, co-authored by the historian Lucetta Scaraffia (Agnus Dei. Gli abusi sessuali del clero in Italia).

The demands are reminiscent of the courageous methods that bishops in France adopted when they established the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church (CIASE) under the direction of Jean-Marc Sauvé. Except that, so far, the Italian Church has been resistant to dealing with matters of sexual abuse.

 After initially claiming that it was not an issue in their country, the bishops are now saying that they can deal with it on their own and without external intervention, especially from…

The death of Cardinal Sodano marks the end of an era.

Cardinal Angelo Sodano, who died on 27 May at the age of 94, was a Holy See diplomat who wielded enormous power inside the Vatican but whose time in office was tainted by his perceived failure to tackle high-profile cases of sexual abuse. 

The Italian prelate served as Secretary of State from 1990 to 2006 and during the years when John Paul II’s health was failing he effectively ran the Church’s central administration alongside the Polish Pope’s personal secretary, then-Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz. A highly skilled diplomat, in 1984 Sodano helped John Paul II to mediate a resolution to the decades-long conflict between Chile and Argentina over the islands in the Beagle channel, forcefully articulated the Vatican’s opposition to the 2003 Iraq war, and was closely involved in steering the Church’s diplomatic relations with eastern Europe, Russia and China. 

His…

Free Catholic school tuition and cemetery plots are among the proposed compensation the island’s Catholic church wants to give victims of clergy sexual abuse.

The church, which filed for bankruptcy in 2019 as it faced hundreds of abuse lawsuits asking for more than $1 billion in damages, submitted its updated bankruptcy plan May 20. The plan provides more details about how the church intends to compensate victims.

The bankruptcy plan, which the church said will, “bring the greatest measure of justice to the greatest number of victims,” must be approved by a vote of the church’s creditors.

Real estate

The church wants to sign over dozens of pieces of real estate, worth about $18.35 million, to a trust for victim compensation, the bankruptcy plan states.

It also wants to separately sell its chancery office complex in Hagåtña and the church-owned FHP/TakeCare property in Tamuning. The church wants to use…

The shocking news released this week of hundreds of Baptist church leaders and officials named in sexual abuse cases across the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) sent ripples through the faith community.

The self-help group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) spoke to us Sunday to give their perspective and also inform the public on resources available to victims.

“We’re not upset with the faithful in any denomination. It’s the leaders that SNAP has an issue with,” said David Brown.

Brown is a Tennessee SNAP representative who has his own experience with sex abuse.

“I was abused by a Catholic priest in Nashville from ‘61-’62,” Brown said. “I was a 15-year-old skinny, pimple faced kid. No one was going to believe me.”

He said he repressed those memories and remained silent for 35 years, and still his trauma was felt well-into adulthood.

…

Notorious paedophile priest Vincent Gerard Ryan has died at the age of 84.

Key points:

• Vincent Gerard Ryan had 37 known victims
• Ryan has died at the age of 84
• Catholic Church officials will not comment on his death

Ryan, known as Vince Ryan, was jailed for more than two decades for abusing 37 known victims, dating back to the 1970s.

He completed his studies in Rome a decade earlier, before becoming a parish priest in the beachside Newcastle suburb of Merewether.

He went on to work as a parish priest across the New South Wales’ Hunter Valley until he was first jailed in 1996.

His abuse survivors are angry he has died without being stripped of holy orders, or defrocked.

The Maitland-Newcastle Catholic Diocese will not comment on his death.

Victims raise the alarm

It was July 1995 when two men, Gerard McDonald and Scott Hallett, raised the alarm on Ryan’s abuse.

Ryan preyed…

Pope Francis this morning announced the creation of 21 new cardinals, most of whom will be eligible to vote in the next papal conclave. One of them is Robert McElroy, the ultra-progressive bishop of San Diego. For Catholics who actually believe what the Catholic Church teaches, this is terrible news.

And for Catholics who would like their Church to be run by men who can be trusted to do the right thing on sex abuse — well, Francis long ago showed (e.g., the Zanchetta affair) that he cannot be trusted. And here he goes again. Here’s a link to a 2016 letter that Richard Sipe, the (now-deceased) psychotherapist and foremost expert on the sexual habits of the Catholic clergy, sent to McElroy back in 2016. Excerpts:

It was clear to me during our last meeting in your office, although cordial, that you…

Andrew Ehman claims senior monk ‘discreetly’ observed abuse occur in boys’ shower, did not intervene

[Warning: This article contains descriptions of sexual assault, and could negatively affect someone who has experienced similar trauma.]

A third man has now filed a civil suit alleging sexual abuse at Mission’s minor seminary school while he was a teenager. Andrew Ehman, like the two other accusers, attended the high school seminary for aspiring priests in the 1970s.

In his civil claim, filed in BC Supreme Court on May 24, Ehman says Shawn Rohrbach was an adult student at the college seminary in 1975 when he allegedly plied Ehman with alcohol and committed sexual battery against him. Ehman was 16 at the time.

Harry Sanders (known as Father Placidus), whose estate is named in all three suits, “detected and discreetly observed” the abuse taking place in the boys’ shower room and did nothing, which allowed…

Here is a list of the 21 men Pope Francis will install as Roman Catholic cardinals at a ceremony known as a consistory on Aug. 27.

Cardinal Electors under 80 will be able to enter a conclave to elect the next pope after Francis dies or retires:

1. Archbishop Arthur Roche (British) – Prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments

2. Archbishop Lazzaro You Heung-sik (South Korean) – Prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Clergy

3. Archbishop Fernando Vérgez Alzaga (Spanish) – President of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State and President of the Governorate for Vatican City State

4. Archbishop Jean-Marc Aveline – Metropolitan Archbishop of Marseille, France

5. Bishop Peter Okpaleke – Bishop of Ekwulobia, Nigeria

6. Archbishop Leonardo Ulrich Steiner – Metropolitan Archbishop of Manaus, Brazil

7. Archbishop Filipe Neri António Sebastião di Rosário Ferrão – Archbishop of…

[Via the Catholic Telegraph]

Pope Francis announced Sunday that he will create 21 new cardinals in August, one of whom is the bishop of San Diego, California.

Who is Bishop Robert McElroy? Here are some fast facts:

A San Francisco Native, McElroy Has Led the San Diego Diocese Since 2015

Born in San Francisco in 1954, Bishop McElroy grew up in San Mateo County. McElroy was ordained a priest in 1980 and served as an auxiliary bishop to San Francisco’s Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone starting in 2010.

In 2015, Pope Francis tapped him to lead the San Diego diocese, succeeding Bishop Cirilo Flores, who died of cancer in September 2014 just one year after assuming the position.

McElroy underwent coronary bypass surgery late last year, which according to the diocese was successful. As a cardinal, at age 68, he is well within the maximum age of 80…

Back in February, we reported that former St. Peter’s Parish Pastor, James Garisto was arrested with charges of endangering the welfare of children, corruption of minors and indecent assault. New information against Garisto has surfaced with a new accusation from a former St. Peter’s altar server.

Previous Allegations

As we previously reported, Garisto, who owned a home in the Fishtown neighborhood of Philadelphia at the time of the earlier assaults, was accused of attacking a child hundreds of times between 1995 and 2002. He was released from custody after posting 10% of his $75,000 bail.  

Garisto has been in the public eye since his abrupt removal as pastor of St. Adalbert – St. Roch parish in North Shore Staten Island in 2015. His departure caused plenty of confusion and distress, as seen from the video at the bottom of this article. On leave from the Archdiocese of New York since…

[Note from BishopAccountability.org: See the Southern Baptist Convention list and the report. See also Christa Brown’s website, the Baptist Accountability website, and the Houston Chronicle’s Abuse of Faith investigation.]

They were right. I was wrong to call sexual abuse in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) a crisis. Crisis is too small a word. It is an apocalypse.

Someone asked me a few weeks ago what I expected from the third-party investigation into the handling of sexual abuse by the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee. I said I didn’t expect to be surprised at all. How could I be? I lived through years with that entity. I was the one who called for such an investigation in the first place.

And yet, as I read the report, I found that I could not swipe the screen to the next page because my hands were shaking with rage. That’s because, as dark a…

How many bad apples must we pluck before we recognize that the orchard is diseased?

Yesterday, at 4 p.m. eastern time, the Southern Baptist Convention released a comprehensive, independent report of its executive committee’s response to decades of sex-abuse allegations. The SBC is the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, by far. It is the nation’s most powerful and influential evangelical denomination, by far. Its 14 million members help define the culture and ethos of American evangelicalism.

Last June delegates, called “messengers,” to the SBC’s annual convention responded to proliferating reports of inadequate or corrupt responses to sex-abuse allegations by voting overwhelmingly to commission an external review of their own leaders. The executive committee hired a firm called Guidepost to conduct the investigation.

The report is a calamity. My friend Russell Moore, a former president of the SBC’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, called it an “apocalypse.” The report says that “for…

[Includes video with brief interview of convicted deacon Stephen Douglas Livingston in prison, and of the mother of victim Heather Schneider.]

As a pastor who holds Southern Baptist Convention school degrees and has served on boards for SBC entities, I am mortified by what report disclosed.

A dark and difficult day has come for the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). We knew it was coming. It needed to come. And it is devastating.

As the prophet Isaiah warned, “What will you do on the day of reckoning, when disaster comes from afar? To whom will you run for help? Where will you leave your riches?”

The Southern Baptist Convention and our convention of churches now have nowhere to turn, nowhere to run, and no place left to look but inward. This past week, Guidepost Solutions released the full report of their independent investigation of…

Victims of sexual abuse at Southern Baptist institutions no doubt hoped they would find a caring reception when they took their stories to the denomination’s leaders in Nashville. But for decades, what they received was legal stonewalling.

The grim story is told in abundant detail by investigators hired to review the denomination’s stubborn failure to address abuse by clergy and other church employees. Again and again, their report shows, victims and their supporters went in search of atonement only to find attorneys in their way. Neither Jesus nor the Bible figures prominently in the internal documents quoted in the report, but risk management and dodging liability are constant concerns.

“Over the years, the EC’s response to sexual abuse allegations” — the “EC” referred to is the executive committee of the Southern Baptist Convention — “was largely driven by senior EC staff members, particularly D. August ‘Augie’ Boto, the…

In response to an explosive investigation, top Southern Baptists have released a previously secret list of hundreds of pastors and other church-affiliated personnel accused of sexual abuse.

The 205-page database was made public late Thursday. It includes more than 700 entries from cases that largely span from 2000 to 2019.

Its existence became widely known Sunday when the independent firm, Guidepost Solutions, included it in its bombshell report detailing how the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee mishandled allegations of sex abuse, stonewalled numerous survivors and prioritized protecting the SBC from liability.

Executive Committee leaders Rolland Slade and Willie McLaurin, in a joint statement, called publishing the list “an initial, but important, step towards addressing the scourge of sexual abuse and implementing reform in the Convention.”

“Each entry in this list reminds us of the devastation and destruction brought about by sexual abuse,” they said. “Our prayer is that the survivors…

Note: This report contains graphic descriptions of sexual assault.

In an open letter to his former church, Southern Baptist Convention leader Johnny Hunt admitted to inappropriate behavior with a woman in 2010 but denied he sexually assaulted her as alleged by the woman and her husband.

The incident was highlighted in the May 22 report issued by Guidepost Solutions after its independent investigation into alleged mishandling of sexual abuse cases in the SBC. One week before the report was released, Hunt abruptly resigned as senior vice president at NAMB.

About an hour and a half after release of the Guidepost report on Sunday, Hunt issued a statement via Twitter denying the allegations of abuse: “I vigorously deny the circumstances and characterizations set forth in the Guidepost report. I have never abused anybody.”

Five days later, Hunt issued an open letter admitting to inappropriate behavior with the pastor’s wife but denying that it was a…

For those unaware, a new and remarkable Southern Baptist Abuse Report was released this week at the Southern Baptist Convention, showcasing the denomination’s handling of sexual abuse over the past two decades. Conducted by a third-party investigator, the new Southern Baptist Abuse Report features almost 300 pages of allegations, cover-ups of reported sexual abuse cases, and an internal list of 703 people suspected of abuse.

Here are four takeaways from the shocking Southern Baptist Convention showcasing child sex abuse and cover-up scandals that burst into the public consciousness this week.

1) Institutions can do more than they claim or admit.

For at least 15 years, Baptist officials repeatedly told victims, advocates and reformers: “We can’t compile a list of child molesting clergymen” and “We can’t take action to stop abuse as a national body because all our churches are independent.” Events of the last few days prove these…

Bombshell.

That’s how multiple media outlets described the 395-page report released Sunday (May 22) by Guidepost Solutions after a months-long investigation into how the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee responded to clergy sexual abuse allegations over the last two decades. The Houston Chronicle, whose investigative journalism in 2019 deserves credit for helping lead to this new report, explained how Guidepost documented the systemic efforts by leaders of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination to cover up sexual abuse and misconduct.

“The investigation sheds new and unprecedented light on the backroom politicking and deceit that has stymied attempts at reforms and allowed for widespread mistreatment of child sexual abuse victims,” Chronicle reporters Robert Downen and John Tedesco wrote Sunday. “And it exhaustively corroborates what many survivors have said for decades: that Southern Baptist leaders downplayed their own abuse crisis and instead prioritized shielding the SBC — and its hundreds of millions of dollars in annual donations — from…

The report on sexual abuse by ministers of the Southern Baptist Convention, or SBC, and the failure of the denomination’s leaders to respond with Christlike concern for the victims, makes comparison with the travails of the Catholic Church all too easy to draw.

“Our investigation revealed that, for many years, a few senior [Executive Committee] leaders, along with outside counsel, largely controlled the EC’s response to these reports of abuse… and were singularly focused on avoiding liability for the SBC,” the report stated.

“In service of this goal, survivors and others who reported abuse were ignored, disbelieved, or met with the constant refrain that the SBC could take no action due to its polity regarding church autonomy — even if it meant that convicted molesters continued in ministry with no notice or warning to their current church or congregation,” it said.

Sound familiar? For years, reporters here…

Cardinal Angelo Sodano, a controversial Vatican power broker for more than a quarter of a century who was accused of covering up one of the Catholic Church’s most notorious sex abusers, has died at the age of 94.

Sodano, who had been ill for some time and died on Friday night, was secretary of state under two popes — John Paul II and Benedict XVI — holding the number two post in the Vatican hierarchy for 16 years between 1990 and 2006.

It was widely believed that Sodano, together with John Paul’s secretary, then-Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, ran the Church in the final years of the late pope’s life as his health deteriorated from Parkinson’s and other illnesses. John Paul died in 2005.

In a series of exposes in the National Catholic Reporter in 2010, author Jason Berry, a leading expert on the Church’s sex abuse crisis, wrote how Sodano blocked…

A recent News 4 Investigation into a Jefferson County center where Catholic priests and clergy accused of sexually abusing children are living under the radar has led to a new police investigation.

The center is located in Dittmer, Missouri. It’s called the Vianney Renewal Center and is run by the Servants of the Paraclete, a Catholic religious order founded in 1947. The Servants of the Paraclete’s website claims to “provide care for priests and brothers in need.” Nothing mentions sexual abuse.

Read: Priests accused of sexual abuse living at Jefferson County treatment center

While reporting on the center, News 4 Investigates found one former clergy member, Robert Brouillette, who is listed on the national sex offender registry, as living at the Paracletes center. His name does not show up on the Missouri sex offender registry as required by law.

News 4 Investigates brought this to the…

Native American tribal representatives are partnering with Catholic dioceses and religious congregations in uncovering vast amounts of information about the church’s role in operating residential schools that for more than a century worked to assimilate Indigenous children into white society.

Known as the Catholic Native Boarding School Accountability and Healing Project, or AHP, the effort is helping church institutions learn about their past and aiding Native American communities fill holes in their ancestral history.

The “pain of the realization of the immensity of the harms caused,” motivated Sister Susan Torgersen of Minneapolis to join the effort as a member of its coordinating team and its Religious Accompaniment Subcommittee working with religious congregations of women and men.

She said the AHP seeks to work toward accountability by Catholic institutions’ and to promote healing among both Indigenous tribes and Catholic entities.

“As church, we owe our Native brothers and sisters what it…

German Catholic Bishop Georg Bätzing has defended his decision to promote a priest accused of sexual harassment.

The bishop of Limburg, western Germany, said on May 26 that if he was taking the decision today, he would send the case for review to a diocesan advisory board, reported CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner.

The board did not exist at the time that Bätzing appointed the unnamed priest to the post of district dean, although the bishop knew of the allegations and was in contact with both reported victims, the “Christ und Welt” supplement of the German newspaper Die Zeit said on May 25.

The victims were identified as a trainee Protestant pastor and a Catholic employee of the Limburg diocese.

Bätzing, who has served as chairman of the German Catholic bishops’ conference since 2020, said that today he would “present the whole matter and ask…

Anti-abuse activists on Friday demonstrated near the Vatican embassy to Italy to demand action into sexual abuse in the Italian Catholic Church, amid ongoing discussion on how such an investigation should be organised.

A small group of protesters approached the Apostolic Nunciature building, near the centre of Rome, carrying boards with pictures of men and women with blood-stained underwear. One of the protesters had a nun’s veil on her head.

They said they took inspiration from a protest staged in the Estonian capital Tallinn in April which sought to draw attention to alleged violence committed by invading Russian forces against women in Ukraine. In that protest demonstrators applied fake blood to their underwear and down their legs.

“I have unfortunately experienced paedophilia and every victim knows they cannot recover from what they have been through, but the greatest wish is that other children do not suffer what we have experienced,”…

All eyes are on Italy’s bishops this week to see if they will finally launch a full-scale investigation into pedocriminality within the Catholic Church in their country.

Members of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI) gathered at a large hotel on the outskirts of Rome on Monday for a week-long plenary assembly as victims of clergy sex abuse and their supporters issued demands for an inquiry.

“We ask for the full collaboration of the Italian Church in an independent investigation, conducted by credible and objective professionals, that sheds light on the abuses committed by the clergy in Italy,” said an open letter issued by “Italy Church Too”, a group of associations created in February to give weight to these demands.

“We ask that the archives of dioceses, convents, monasteries, parishes, pastoral centers, and Catholic educational and scholastic institutions be opened and made available (and) that channels of effective collaboration be put…

Barely had Cardinal Matteo Zuppi of Bologna, the new head of the Italian bishops’ conference and key Pope Francis ally, wrapped up a Friday press conference announcing a new study of clerical sexual abuse cases when survivors of abuse proclaimed they were “very unhappy” and declared the bishops’ initiative “useless.”

“It’s rather sad. It’s not good, we are very unhappy,” said Francesco Zanardi, an abuse survivor himself and head of Rete L’Abuso (“The Abuse Network”), Italy’s lone survivors group.

For months, both abuse survivors and advocacy groups in Italy have pressured the Italian bishops and state officials to conduct an independent national inquiry into clerical abuse going back decades, offering a comprehensive report similar to those being published in other European countries.

The previous leadership of the Italian Bishops Conference (CEI), led by Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti, had said it was considering the proposal but would let the new officials elected during the…

The new president of the Italian Conference of Bishops on Friday said he would launch an independent inquiry on sex abuse by Catholic clergy in Italy, but the announcement disappointed victims advocates because it will only go back 20 years.

The Italian church is coming under mountain pressure to confront its legacy of clerical sexual abuse. Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, who was appointed this week by Pope Francis, said the investigation will limit its scope to two decades in order to be “more accurate and accountable.”

Zuppi promised a report would be delivered by Nov. 18 by a panel of independent experts selected among university professors.

“We are starting from them (the victims),” Zuppi told a news conference. “It is clear that their suffering drives us, and it should stimulate us to give responses that are trustworthy and serious.”

Victims’ advocates say the initiative does not go far enough. They…

In his first press conference since being selected as president of the Italy’s bishops’ conference, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi announced on Friday plans for a report on clerical sex abuse in the country.

“Our thoughts always go to the victims and that is the first concern,” Zuppi said on May 27.

“We need to strengthen diocesan services for minors and vulnerable people,” he said, according to ACI Stampa, CNA’s Italian-language news partner.

The cardinal announced that the report will only cover abuse in the Catholic Church in Italy from the year 2000 to 2021. He said it is due to be released on Nov. 18, 2022.

“There is a willingness peacefully and painfully to clarify, here we evaluate with accuracy … We want fair and true clarity,” Zuppi said.

The possibility of reparations for victims is an open question at this time, according to the cardinal, who said…

[Google translation followed by original Italian text.]

The almost two-hour dialogue between Pope Francis and the Bishops opened the 76th General Assembly of the Italian Episcopal Conference in the Vatican.

The various sessions, which took place at the Hilton Rome Airport in Fiumicino (Rome) from 23 to 27 May 2022, had as their central theme: “Listening to the narratives of the people of God. The first discernment: which priorities are emerging for the Synodal Way? “.

It was attended by 223 members, 14 Bishops emeritus, the Apostolic Nuncio in Italy HE Mons. Emil Paul Tscherrig, the President of the Council of European Episcopal Conferences (CCEE) HE Mons. Gintaras Grušas, the Coordination Group of the Synodal Way and the representatives of the Synodal Way delegates from the Regional Episcopal Conferences.
In the course of the works, a trio of diocesan bishops were elected, from which the Holy Father appointed the new President…

The Italian Bishops’ Conference on Friday presented its plan to investigate clerical abuse, but critics say it is insufficient and disappointing.

Italian bishops said on Friday that they would carry out a long-demanded investigation into clerical sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable persons, but victims and their advocates immediately said the plan fell short of what was needed.

Seeking to address the concerns about the revelations of abuse that have devastated the church worldwide, the bishops announced that they would commission a report examining cases from 2020-21, to be published in November, as well as a second report that would analyze how clerical abuse had been handled in Italy in the past two decades.

“We don’t want to evade,” Matteo Zuppi, the newly elected president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, told reporters. “We’ll take the beating we have to take.”

Even though Rome is home to the…

[Note from BishoAccountability.org: See the Southern Baptist Convention list and the report.]

A joint statement from Willie McLaurin and Rolland Slade:

The recently released Guidepost report revealed a list of alleged abusers compiled by a former employee of the SBC Executive Committee. This list is being made public for the first time as an initial, but important, step towards addressing the scourge of sexual abuse and implementing reform in the Convention. Each entry in this list reminds us of the devastation and destruction brought about by sexual abuse. Our prayer is that the survivors of these heinous acts find hope and healing, and that churches will utilize this list proactively to protect and care for the most vulnerable among us.

Our God invites us to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with God. (Micah 6:8). As a network of Great Commission churches, we are commissioned to live out the Great Commandment…

On March 8, 2022, my office received a credible allegation of inappropriate conduct by Fr. Percy Singco, MSP, Parochial Administrator of St. Patrick Parish in Weaverville. This allegation involved inappropriate conduct with an adult woman.

We take every allegation of this nature very seriously and act promptly to ensure the safety of parishioners and others with whom an accused priest may have been in contact. Accordingly, I removed Fr. Singco from ministry as of March 10, 2022, pending the outcome of an investigation into this matter.

The investigation has concluded. Fr. Singco was found to have violated diocesan policy regarding clergy conduct. He no longer has an assignment, nor does he have faculties in the Diocese of Sacramento. I have asked him to return to his order, the Missionary Society of the Philippines (MSP), effective today.

The laws of the Catholic Church and our Diocese are clear on this topic….

They dedicated their lives to a gospel that says that every human being is made in the image of God. They dedicated their lives to a creed that commands one to look out for the marginalized, the vulnerable. The last shall be first. The meek shall inherit the earth.

And yet when allegations of sexual abuse came, the leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention betrayed it all. Those men — and they seem to have all been men — must have listened to hundreds of hours of pious sermons, read hundreds of high-minded theological books, recited thousands of hours of prayer, and yet all those true teachings and good beliefs had no effect on their actual behavior.

Instead, according to an independently produced report released by the convention this week, those leaders covered up widespread abuse in their denomination and often intimidated and belittled victims. More than 400 people believed…

Key leaders of a controversial megachurch have resigned following a series of accusations of abuse and harassment within the organisation.

Brent and John and Gillian Cameron announced their resignations in a statement on the Arise Church website on Friday.

Lead pastors John and Gillian Cameron​ said they had listened to the stories of those who had “experienced pain” in their church, and they were repentant.

“We wish to apologise to all those who have been hurt, either by our actions or the actions of others, both past and present.”

“We are resigning to allow for real change to take place. We believe that our resignation ensures the best future for both the staff and the congregation of Arise.”

Arise Church recently launched two reviews into allegations its interns had been “overworked, overwhelmed, and taken advantage of”.

At the time, the church said on its website that an independent reviewer has been appointed to…

“Yes, we dropped our guard—particularly in the 1970s. It was a terrible, terrible decade. And the Church deserves criticism for what happened then. But also, if we’re going to be fair about it, we have to give credit where credit is due…”

Bill Donohue, the president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, earned a Ph.D. in Sociology from New York University. His writing, speaking engagements, and appearances on countless television and radio programs see him addressing many issues from a Catholic perspective, as well as through the lens of sociology. His recent books include Why Catholicism Matters: How Catholic Virtues Can Reshape Society in the 21st Century (Image, 2018) and Common Sense Catholicism: How to Resolve Our Cultural Crisis (Ignatius Press, 2019).

His latest book is The Truth about Clergy Sexual Abuse: Clarifying the Facts and the Causes (Ignatius Press, 2021). In it, he brings to bear his background as…

British prosecutors said Thursday they had authorized police to charge actor Kevin Spacey with four counts of sexual assault against three men, an announcement that came as the actor was in court in New York testifying in a different case.

The Crown Prosecution Service said it had “authorized criminal charges” on the four sex assault counts and one of “causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.”

The alleged incidents took place in London between March 2005 and August 2008, and one in western England in April 2013. The alleged victims are now in their 30s and 40s.

Rosemary Ainslie, head of the service’s Special Crime Division, said the charges followed a review of evidence gathered by London’s Metropolitan Police.

Prosecutors initially said Spacey had been charged. However, they later clarified that charges had been authorized, but the formal charging by police had not yet taken place.

…

A three-judge panel on Thursday upheld the sentence for a Juarez Catholic priest convicted of sexually abusing an altar girl when she was 8 years old.

The Rev. Aristeo Baca was convicted of two counts of aggravated sexual assault and one count of aggravated sexual abuse in February 2021.

In early March, the same three-judge panel sentenced Baca to 34 years in prison. He had appealed, but the judges upheld the sentence on Thursday.

The abuse took place inside the Santa Maria de la Montana parish in South Juarez between December 2015 and January 2018, the state Attorney General’s Office said.

The investigation began when the girl’s parents called the police after their daughter refused to go back to the church in early 2019. Police psychologists and medical personnel determined the girl had suffered sexual assault, the AG’s Office said in a statement.

Baca denied the charges, although prosecutors alleged…

In 2002, for the first time, the Catholic Church’s secret sex abuse files were made public. Thousands of victims came forward, and a global movement began. Saturday, June 4 – A day of presentations, discussion, fellowship, and looking ahead.

SCROLL DOWN TO SEE SCHEDULE AND EASY REGISTRATION INSTRUCTIONS

Guest interviewers: Margery Eagan and Jim Braude of 89.7 ‘GBH’s “Boston Public Radio”

• David Clohessy, former SNAP nat’l director
• Tom Doyle, whistleblower priest
• Mitchell Garabedian, Esq.
• Professor Marci Hamilton, Child USA
• Robert Hoatson, Road to Recovery
• Ann Hagan Webb, SNAP
• Kathy Dwyer, STTOP
• Anne Barrett Doyle, BishopAccountability
• Terry McKiernan, BishopAccountability

WHEN
Saturday – June 4, 2022 – 9:00-4:00 In-person and remote (ZOOM)

WHERE
Marriott Boston-Quincy Hotel
1000 Marriott Dr, Quincy MA

• The Marriott Boston-Quincy Hotel is convenient from Logan and public transportation (Red Line).
• Free parking.
• Box lunches served to registered attendees.

Registration required for both in-person ($20) and ZOOM (free) attendees.
To register, email Ruth at mooreruth01@gmail.com.
Registration fee waived if requested.

Schedule for June…

When news broke that Southern Baptist leaders had covered up sex abuse for decades I felt a numb sense of familiarity. I came of age as a Catholic against the backdrop of our own ongoing sex abuse crisis. It would be years before I would truly understand how sexual violence and the criminal conspiracies that perpetuated it had defined contemporary U.S. Catholicism.

One thing was clear quite quickly, however. The sex abuse scandal cast doubt on the moral authority of the Roman Catholic Church itself. A similar crisis of moral authority is underway for arguably the most significant white evangelical institution in the country. I say this both as a U.S. religious historian and as a Catholic who grew up in Alabama surrounded by Southern Baptists. As Russell Moore, a prominent former Southern Baptist, put it, “this is the Southern Baptist apocalypse.”

The Southern Baptist Convention, or…

Drew Dixon spent 22 years not talking about what happened to her.

But in 2017, she joined a chorus of women giving voice for the first time to some of the worst experiences of their lives. For Ms. Dixon, that meant going public to The New York Times with a long-suppressed claim that the media mogul Russell Simmons had raped her.

The response was swift and seismic: widespread media attention, conversations on Twitter, a documentary. There was solidarity, backlash and, ultimately, a sense of peace.

But there would be no criminal case or any lawsuit against Mr. Simmons: The statute of limitations for either had long since passed during the two decades Ms. Dixon kept her silence.

But Ms. Dixon will soon have an opportunity to revisit pursuing her case.

The State Assembly on Monday overwhelmingly passed the Adult Survivors Act, which enables adult victims, those 18 or older…

Former Ward at St. Dominic’s Children’s Home Recalls Ordeal of Being Raped at 9 Years Old

A man who was sexually abused over 25 years ago, when he was about nine years old, wants the “sexual monster” to be brought to justice.

The man who shared his heart-­wrenching experience with the Express yesterday said he is willing to tell all to the police, in the hope that the abuser, who sexually abused 30 to 40 children at the home, is finally held accountable for the crimes he committed which left him and many others shattered and traumatised for life.

The victim provided a detailed account of the horror he endured at the hands of the man, including being fondled by a priest who was aware that he was abused , and a Sister at the home who burnt all the kitchen towels after learning the perpetrator used these to clean…

Lawyers for people who say they were victimized by child sexual abuse from clergy in the Rochester Catholic Diocese are unhappy with an attempt by the diocese to settle those claims in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

Attorney Jeff Anderson, who is one of the lawyers representing 175 of those who are claimants in the lawsuits, said that the diocese is trying to force a $147 million dollar settlement on 475 survivors and victims of clergy sexual abuse.

Anderson does not feel that is a particularly generous offer. He contends that that the Diocese has billions of dollars in insurance coverage. He called it, “an effort to cheat survivors that will retraumatize them.”

Another attorney representing those involved in the lawsuits, Mitchell Garabedian, said the amount of money being offered is tied to the respect that should be shown for the survivors of childhood sexual abuse.

“Survivors need validation and they need…

Safety was not a concern when her son became an altar server at St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church in Poughkeepsie.

In her mind, the church was a place where the 15-year-old would be guided spiritually and emotionally.

When the Rev. James Garisto took a special interest in her son, she hoped he would be a positive influence.

That was 2006. In the years since, the mother watched as her son fell down what she called a “horrific path” that included a 10-year battle with drug addiction that nearly led to the end of his life on more than one occasion.

The root of that trauma, the family says, is sexual abuse suffered through the relationship with Garisto, of which they say the church was aware.

Garisto served as priest at St. Peter’s from 1998 to 2014.

He was taken into custody on May 4 by Philadelphia police based on allegations…

If you pay only minimal attention to news outlets, you know the story of the week is the Southern Baptist Convention’s stunning cover up of clergy sexual abuse. The glaring headlines of Christianity Today, The Washington Post and The New York Times are hard to miss, especially if you have been on social media. Baptist News Global has provided extensive coverage of the unfolding story.

While I have much to say about the horrifying revelations that have come to light, a story that needs to be told is that the 300-page report released by Guidestone Solutions can be directly traced to courageous, tenacious women; women who reported their own abuse; women who advocated for those who had been abused; women who stood strong in defiance of powerful Southern Baptist leaders; women who fought, some for years, against a corrupt system; women who were called names, slandered, ridiculed and threatened but who did not back down…

The Diocese of Rochester, New York, and its insurers have submitted a proposal to bankruptcy court to settle 471 sexual abuse claims against them for $147 million. The settlement includes $107,750,000 from insurers and $40,500,000 from the Catholic diocese and its entities.

The offer came after years of negotiations between insurers and the diocese.

The settling insurers include London Market Insurers ($16.6 million), certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s ($1.1 million), Interstate Fire & Casualty Co. and National Surety Corp. ($26 million), and Continental Insurance Co. (CNA) and its affiliates ($63.5 million). The liability insurance policies affected were purchased starting in 1943.

The offer would allow for an average recovery of more than $300,000 per survivor claim, according to the filing.

Lawyers for the victims of sexual abuse criticized the proposal as a deal made with insurers that shortchanges the victims. Jeff Anderson & Associates, a law firm that represents survivors of…

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester has put forward a $147.75 million offer to settle claims filed by 475 sexual-abuse survivors in the diocese’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Whether the nine-figure offer will bring a quick end to the long-stalled bankruptcy at this point seems far from certain. The offer was outlined in a filing posted with the Rochester Bankruptcy Court late Friday afternoon.

In court papers, the diocese portrays the offer as a deal that would best serve the abuse victims “by achieving certainty with respect to a very substantial insurance contribution rather than risking the cost, extensive delay, and uncertain outcome of litigation in pursuit of the theoretical possibility of a larger recovery at some point in the distant future.”

The Rochester diocese filed bankruptcy in September 2019, roughly a month after the New York Child Victims Act went into effect. 

Signed into law in February of that year, the…

An independent investigation commissioned by the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in America, showed that sexual abuse allegations were ignored or covered up by church elders for nearly 20 years.

That scathing report named Steve Gaines, the senior pastor at Bellevue Baptist Church, as one of the SBC leaders who “protected or even supported abusers.”

SBC leadership called for this investigation at last year’s annual convention. Guidepost Solutions took seven months to complete its investigation, looking at incidents between January 1, 2000 and June 14, 2021.

The nearly 300-page report concluded, “to survivors, the 2016 election of Steve Gaines as SBC President conveyed the message that a clergy sex abuse cover-up was considered ‘no big deal.’”

It was a stunning remark about Gaines, spiritual leader of one of the largest churches in the Mid-South: Bellevue Baptist in Cordova, 30,000 members…

The Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee — and thousands of its rank-and-file members — now have opportunities to address a scathing investigative report that says top SBC leaders stonewalled and denigrated survivors of clergy sex abuse over two decades while seeking to protect their own reputations.

The report, issued Sunday, says these survivors, and other concerned Southern Baptists, repeatedly shared allegations with the Executive Committee, “only to be met, time and time again, with resistance, stonewalling, and even outright hostility from some within the EC.”

The seven-month investigation was conducted by Guidepost Solutions, an independent firm contracted by the Executive Committee after delegates to last year’s national meeting pressed for a probe by outsiders.

Since then, several top Executive Committee leaders have resigned, and the body — under interim leadership — will meet Tuesday to discuss the report. Three weeks later, the SBC will convene its 2022 national meeting in…

Top Southern Baptists plan to release secret list of pastors, church-affiliated personnel accused of sexual abuse

Top administrative leaders for the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in America, said Tuesday that they will release a secret list of hundreds of pastors and other church-affiliated personnel accused of sexual abuse.

An attorney for the SBC’s Executive Committee announced the decision during a virtual meeting called in response to a scathing investigative report detailing how the committee mishandled allegations of sex abuse and stonewalled numerous survivors. The committee anticipates releasing the list Thursday.

During the meeting, top leaders and several committee members vowed to work toward changing the culture of the denomination and to listen more attentively to survivors’ voices and stories.

The report is expected to contain new details about former Jacksonville Pastor Darrell Gilyard. He was a pastor at Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church…

In the summer of 2010, a pastor and his wife at First Baptist Church in Woodstock, Georgia, said they received an invite to vacation in Florida with Johnny Hunt, a senior pastor of their church whom they considered a mentor.

The 55-year-old church leader had been elected national president of the Southern Baptist Convention two years earlier, making him one of the most powerful members of the largest denomination of Protestants in the U.S.

Hunt allegedly helped to book them a place in Panama City Beach that, unbeknownst to them, was directly beside his unit in the same condo complex, the unnamed young couple said in a 288-page blockbuster investigative report released Sunday by the Southern Baptist Convention. When the pastor’s wife arrived alone after a day out, she said she was greeted by Hunt, and they interacted from their respective balconies.

But when she invited…

Top administrative leaders for the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in America, said Tuesday that they will release a secret list of hundreds of pastors and other church-affiliated personnel accused of sexual abuse.

An attorney for the SBC’s Executive Committee announced the decision during a virtual meeting called in response to a scathing investigative report detailing how the committee mishandled allegations of sex abuse and stonewalled numerous survivors. The committee anticipates releasing the list Thursday.

During the meeting, top leaders and several committee members vowed to work toward changing the culture of the denomination and to listen more attentively to survivors’ voices and stories.

The 288-page report by Guidepost Solutions, which was released Sunday after a seven-month investigation, contained several explosive revelations. Among those were details of how D. August Boto, the Executive Committee’s former vice president and general counsel, and former SBC spokesman Roger Oldham kept their…

A first-of-its-kind U.S. government investigation is helping to reveal the deadly and commonplace brutality of the former Native American “boarding school” system, a 150-year program of separating children from their families that was part of a federal policy to eradicate Native communities’ identity and forcibly take indigenous lands.

The Interior Department’s study follows decades of calls by advocates for the government to acknowledge and address the harms caused by the boarding schools, and represents the first official attempt to confront a system of racist dehumanization that resulted in cultural genocide and the deaths of possibly tens of thousands of children.

The department’s report and initiative holds particular significance as an official acknowledgement by the U.S. government of its role in creating and perpetuating a system aimed at eliminating entire cultures and peoples.

Still, the agency’s power to address past and ongoing harms is limited, and advocates and indigenous…

A trip to the Goodhue County Historical Society’s basement in Red Wing is a trip back to a complex and complicated time in United States history. And right now, the traveling display the organization spent years trying to secure is once again a topic of national conversation.

READ MORE: Interior Dept. Investigation Identifies 21 Federal Indian Boarding School Sites In Minnesota

Titled “Away From Home: American Indian Boarding School Stories,” the display on loan from Arizona’s Heard Museum details the decades Native American children spent in federally run boarding schools across the country through artifacts and first-person testimony.

“This is definitely a conversation that needs to be had,” said Collections Curator Afton Esson. “It’s one of those topics that’s powerful and emotional and having it right now is the perfect time to share this topic with the community.”

The perfect time, perhaps, because…

Pope Francis on Tuesday named a bishop in his own image, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, as the new head of the Italian bishops conference, as the Italian Catholic Church comes under mounting pressure to confront its legacy of clerical sexual abuse with an independent inquiry.

Francis’ widely expected choice was announced during the second day of the spring meeting of the conference. Zuppi, 66, is currently the archbishop of Bologna and has long been affiliated with the Sant’Egidio Community, a Catholic charity particularly close to Francis.

The Italian Catholic Church is one of the few in western Europe that has not opened its archives to independent researchers to establish the scope of abuse and cover-up in recent decades. Whether by government mandate, parliamentary investigation or church initiation, such reports in Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and France, for example, have shown systematic problems that allowed thousands of children to be abused…

A collective of abuse survivors and advocacy groups have published an open letter to the Italian bishops, who are meeting to elect new leadership, calling for the adoption of several measures aimed at acknowledging the problem and prevention.

“Abuses perpetrated within the Church affects people in their bodies, in their lives, in their conscience: they are violations of human rights. If the Church does not respect human rights, it cannot preach the Gospel,” the letter said.

This, it said, is why “obedience to the Gospel can push us to ‘disobedience’ whenever in the name of ‘prudence’ we risk becoming accomplices to crimes.”

The nearly 50 signatories of the letter asked the bishops to obtain “truth and justice for the victims of abuse – minors, adults, vulnerable people, religious – perpetrated by people in various capacities involved in the Church, as well as preventive measures so that the Church regains credibility…

Three years ago, as the Catholic Church faced an unprecedented reckoning with clergy sexual abuse, Pope Francis introduced a church law that promised to hold bishops and religious superiors accountable for abuse that they commit or cover up.

Entitled Vos Estis Lux Mundi (“You Are the Light of the World”), the law was touted by papal spokesmen as a turning point in the fight to end child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

It’s “revolutionary,” said Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich.

“The silence, omertà and cover-ups can now become a thing of the past,” said Maltese Archbishop Charles Scicluna, the pope’s trusted abuse investigator.

Vos Estis, a motu proprio that was signed on May 9, 2019, was originally enacted for a three-year trial period that ends this June 1. As we wait to see if Francis will now make the law permanent, it is a good time to assess…

[See also the Robles v. Holy See decision.]

The Vatican is using a New York court’s recent decision to bolster its push for the dismissal of a Guam case that seeks to hold the Holy See responsible for former Guam Archbishop Anthony Apuron’s alleged sexual assault of a child.

California-based attorney Jeffrey Lena said the New York court “supports dismissal with prejudice of all claims against the Holy See.”

Lena, whom the Vatican relies upon for defense in lawsuits on U.S. soil, on Friday filed in the U.S. District Court of Guam a supplemental brief in support of their July 2021 motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction, insufficient service of process and failure to state a claim. 

The Vatican claims immunity under U.S. law, the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976, which allows foreign states to avoid being sued in court.

The District Court of Southern New York,…

[See also our PDF of this letter.]

To: Honorable Brian Schatz, Chairman, Senate Committee on Indian Affairs and Honorable Lisa Murkowski, Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Indian Affairs

Dear Chairman Schatz and Vice Chairman Murkowski:

We respectfully request that the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs hold a hearing on S. 2907, the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies in the United States Act. This bill would establish a formal commission to investigate, document, and acknowledge past injustices of the federal government’s Indian Boarding School Policies, including attempts to terminate Native cultures, religions, and languages; assimilation practices; and human rights violations. The commission would also develop recommendations for Congress to aid in healing of the historical and intergenerational trauma passed down in Native families and communities and provide a forum for victims to speak about personal experiences tied to these human rights violations.

We are grateful that…

Oregon Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley have joined other lawmakers in calling for the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs to hold hearings on a bill that would establish a truth and reconciliation commission on Indian boarding school policies.

In a letter signed by 17 other Senators, lawmakers asked Chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Vice-Chairman Murkowski (R -Alaska) to schedule a hearing to consider Senate Bill 2907 at its earliest convenience.

The bill, S. 2907, is known as the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies in the United States Act and was introduced by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) last September on the same day Murkowski introduced a formal resolution to designate the day, Sept. 30, as a National Day of Remembrance for Indian Boarding Schools.

The bill would establish a formal commission to investigate, document, and acknowledge past injustices of…

[Includes video of the confrontation at New Life Christian Church and World Outreach in Warsaw IN.]

Prosecutors in Indiana are now investigating after a woman took the stage to confront the pastor. “The lies and the manipulation have to stop,” she told him.

A church pastor in Indiana publicly confessed to his congregation this week that he’d committed “adultery” two decades ago—but he was quickly called out by a woman who took the stage to say she had only been 16 when he preyed on her.

The public confrontation that played out Sunday at the New Life Christian Church and World Outreach in Warsaw has now sparked an investigation by local prosecutors in Kosciusko County, according to local reports.

Video of the incident shot by an attendee quickly went viral on Facebook, where commentators applauded the woman for coming forward.

The footage shows the pastor, John Lowe II, announce his…

The Catholic diocese of Kalisz has been ordered by a court to pay 300,000 zloty (€65,000) to a man who was abused as a child by one of its priests.

The case is one of a number relating to sexual abuse in Poland’s Catholic church that have come to light in recent years. It has drawn particular attention because the victim, Bartłomiej Pankowiak, and his brother Jakub, who was also abused, confronted the priest in a documentary film broadcast in 2020 (pictured above).

“Jakub and Bartłomiej Pankowiak will forever remain synonymous with the fight for their own and other people’s dignity, as well as for being the initiators of systemic changes within the church…[regarding] sexual abuse against children,” said judge Arleta Konieczna, quoted by the Polish Press Agency (PAP).

In her ruling today at Kalisz district court on a civil action brought by Bartłomiej, she ordered the diocese to pay…

More than two years ago, a group of sexual abuse survivors in New York agreed to suspend their litigation under the Child Victims Act. The Diocese of Rochester, in turn, indicated that they could resolve their claims in a settlement through a bankruptcy settlement.

On Monday, a federal bankruptcy judge granted survivors to resume their previously paused actions against hundreds of independent Catholic corporations that did not seek bankruptcy protection. His scathing ruling slammed what the judge perceived as the Diocese’s hardball tactics.

“Portraying itself as a victim, trying to do right by the Abuse Survivors, the Diocese predicts that if state court litigation is permitted to move forward against any of the Catholic Corporations, ‘the Diocese may be forced to pursue a non-consensual plan of reorganization,’” U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Paul R. Warren wrote in a 16-page decision and order. “That is a pretty heavy-handed threat to be leveled at the people who…

As his mother neared death, Brendan Higgins called a priest he respected to administer last rites. The Rev. Philip Postell did the job with care and compassion, Higgins recalled.

Higgins’ recollections of that priest, preparing his mother to meet her God in 2019, were shattered last year when he discovered Postell shuffled priests across parishes amid child sex abuse allegations. Moving priests accused of sexual abuse was a common practice in the Catholic Church.

Postell’s involvement in keeping sex abuse claims quiet occurred before he led Jesuit College Preparatory School in Dallas beginning in 1992. Nevertheless, the school removed the priest’s name from its athletic stadium after a lawsuit brought by Higgins and eight other men shed light on Postell.

Some victims say this is a step toward healing.

The 15-member school board voted April 19 to remove Postell’s name…

In September 2021, a 3-year-old was killed during an exorcism in a small Pentecostal church in San Jose, California. The child’s throat was allegedly squeezed and her head held down during the ceremony, which likely asphyxiated her. In May 2022, three members of the victim’s family were charged with felony child abuse.

Several famous deaths have occurred during exorcism rituals in the past. In 1976, Anneliese Michel of Germany died of dehydration and malnutrition after nearly 10 months of Catholic exorcisms. In 2005, Maricica Irina Cornici, a Romanian Orthodox nun, died in an ambulance following an exorcism in which she was chained to a cross.

While exorcism is practiced in the majority of the world’s cultures, in the Western imagination it is most associated with Catholicism. That association has been either an asset or a liability to the church at various periods throughout history.

For most of the 20th century, exorcism was…

In California, the lawsuits are mounting — middle-aged men, saying they were sexually assaulted as children by a Boy Scout leader or a priest. A woman, now in her late 30s, detailing how she was allegedly assaulted in a center for foster children. A man who said he was abused while volunteering with the Salvation Army.

At least 750 of those lawsuits filed since January 2020 are against Catholic dioceses, and more than 800 people are in the process of filing to beat a Dec. 31 deadline, according to lawyers involved in the cases.

The year-end date marks the close of the state’s three-year “lookback window,” which allows plaintiffs to file civil suits for childhood sexual abuse no matter how long ago the alleged events took place.

Now, facing hundreds of lawsuits, a group of Catholic bishops is taking those challenges to the nation’s highest court. Saying they faced “potentially…

The Diocese of St. Cloud is hosting two listening sessions after another priest has been added to the list of clergy likely to have abused minors.

Rev. Arthur Hoppe was added to the list earlier in May. He served in nine parishes in the Diocese of St. Cloud over the course of almost 50 years, from 1950 to 1999. He retired in 1999 and died in 2019, according to a press release from the diocese.

The listening sessions are being held at St. Louis Parish in Paynesville and St. Mary Parish in Alexandria. Both sessions start at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.

These sessions are for parishioners of the diocese where Hoppe served. These parishes include:

• Assumption in Morris (1947-1950)
• St. Mary’s Cathedral in St. Cloud (1950-1955)
• St. Patrick in Minden Township (1955-1958)
• St. Nicholas in Belle River (1958-1961)
• St. John Nepomuk in Lastrup (1961-1965)
• St. Louis in Paynesville (1965-1971)
• St. Mary in Alexandria (1971-1983)
• St. Wendelin in Luxemburg (1983-1989)
• St….

Last month, scholars from all over the world met to discuss projects related to the clergy sexual abuse as part of Fordham University’s “Taking Responsibility” initiative. Some attendees disclosed their abuse by Jesuit priests, adding a palpable solemnity to the larger, systemic issues that make up the Catholic sexual abuse crisis. These stories also laid the backdrop for how important it was to research and answer exactly how Jesuit institutions can “take responsibility.”

I attended the conference as a consultant for a project focused on youth empowerment. As a professional sexologist, I study the intersection of Catholic sexual theology and the growing field of human sexuality studies. I am also a Catholic scholar formed by Jesuits.

The conference is part of a larger, grant-funded initiative in which “Jesuit Educational Institutions Confront the Causes and Legacy of Clergy Sexual Abuse,” as the project’s tagline says. The event was thoughtful, raw and…

[Includes a substantially different audio version of this report; see the transcript below.]

The Interior Department found that the U.S. operated or actively supported more than 400 American Indian boarding schools between 1819 and 1969 – a history that affects the agency’s own leader.

Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American to serve as a Cabinet secretary, tells NPR’s All Things Considered that she had grandparents who were taken from their homes and placed in these schools.

“[Those are] formidable years in a child’s life,” she says. “It’s devastating. It’s important that our country realizes and understands this history because I think it’s important for every single American to know what happened.”

The department’s findings came after an investigation into these schools and the role the federal government played in sustaining them.

Much like in Canada, Native children who attended these schools were forcibly taken from their families to be “assimilated,” as it…

[With video]

For the first time, the U.S. government released a report this month detailing the abuse and mistreatment of Native children who were forcibly sent to boarding schools in the 1800s. NewsHour’s St Louis community reporter Gabrielle Hays, who has been reporting on one school in Missouri that fits into this painful history, joins Geoff Bennett to discuss what she uncovered.

Geoff Bennett: For the first time, the U.S. government released a report this month detailing the abuse and mistreatment of native children who were forcibly sent to boarding schools in the 1800s. Our St. Louis Community reporter, Gabrielle Hays has been reporting on one school in Missouri, that fits into this painful history. And Gabrielle joins us now. So tell us more about this boarding school, the St. Regis Seminary opened in 1824. What did your reporting uncover?

Gabrielle Hays: Yeah, so we learned at this school,…

I joined the staff of the now-closed Offaly Express in 1988 but did not begin to cover law courts in earnest until 1995, following the retirement of the late Eddie Rogers.

That period coincided approximately with the first cases relating to child sexual abuse. From 1994 onwards, local and national media found themselves having to cover such cases as they began to come to light to a greater degree.

That year saw the revelations of the Brendan Smyth saga, which was to lead to the downfall of the Fianna Fáil/Labour coalition in a dispute over warrants for the Norbertine’s extradition to Northern Ireland.

It was the first high profile case involving a member of the clergy, with many more to follow, causing enormous damage to the moral standing of the Catholic Church, as outlined here.

It is, of course, true, that paedophiles are a minority of clergy, and that most…

In June 2020, protesters at the University of Oregon in Eugene toppled a statue called The Pioneer, which depicted a White man with a gun slung over his shoulder and a whip in his hand, and a second sculpture titled The Pioneer Mother.

Both monuments had drawn criticism from Indigenous student groups and historians for commemorating settler violence in the West.

Even as Southern states face a reckoning over Confederate monuments, communities in the Western United States are beginning to reconsider monuments that, in many locations, celebrate what dominant American culture has portrayed as the conquering of the region by Europeans.

Among them are hundreds of pioneer monuments, many of which celebrate White dominance over Indigenous people as the nation expanded west. Some were toppled or damaged during the racial justice protests following the murder of George Floyd.

In Portland, protesters pulled down or damaged five statues in the summer and…