ABUSE TRACKER

A lawyer for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield asked the state’s top court Monday to halt a civil lawsuit brought by the former Chicopee altar boy who suffered sexual assaults decades ago at the hands of former Bishop Christopher J. Weldon.

The high-profile case was elevated from the Appeals Court to the Supreme Judicial Court in December because the high court wanted to consider issues it raises.

They include whether the diocese, which includes all of Berkshire County, is protected by what’s known as charitable immunity, a legal protection that existed under certain circumstances at the time of the assaults in the 1960s. Also, the case tests whether the First Amendment’s protection of church autonomy renders a religious organization beyond the reach of the courts in a case like this.

State courts have so far declined to dismiss the litigation. In an earlier action March 4, Associate…

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Novo Mesto Bishop Andrej Saje, the head of the Slovenian Bishops’ Conference, apologised on Sunday to the victims of sexual abuse by clergy on behalf of the Catholic Church in Slovenia, as he marked the day of prayer for such victims.

Listening and hearing, protecting and providing support, both in an emotional and spiritual sense, are key factors, he said in a statement shared on the Church’s website.

“No victim is to blame for the evil that was done to them and should never have happened. The full responsibility lies with the perpetrator, and I advocate zero tolerance of any abuse. I express my compassion to the victims and their families,” he said.

Saje said he was aware that statements and regulations cannot heal the wounds and pain of individuals, and that unless the perpetrators, or at least those who knew of the abuses, are held accountable, it will be…

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A Catholic theologian writes about why papal apologies can be meaningful, even when some may see them as mere words.

Pope Francis apologized on April 1, 2022, to First Nations, Inuit and Métis delegations, acknowledging the harm done by residential schools in Canada and marking a crucial step in the church admitting its role in the abuse of Indigenous communities and children. Yet this apology, as important as it is, raises questions about what it means when a pope apologizes.

As a Catholic theologian who studies church authority, I’ve observed how previous papal apologies can speak for the entire church and either deny or claim responsibility.

It was once unthinkable for a pope to apologize, for admitting guilt would imply that the church was sinful. However, the Second Vatican Council, a gathering of bishops, cardinals, heads of religious orders and theologians that met from 1962 to 1965 and modernized the…

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Slade McLaughlin, 65, a Philadelphia personal injury attorney who built a stellar career representing clients in legal battles against the likes of Pennsylvania State University and its disgraced former assistant football coach, Jerry Sandusky, as well as the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, died by suicide, Sunday, April 3, near his home.

Mr. McLaughlin’s death stunned his family and colleagues in the city’s legal community who remembered him as a “larger-than-life” force who lived to seek justice for his clients, many of whom had been victimized by large, powerful entities.

On Sunday afternoon, he left a note for his wife, Caroline, and drove to a housing development under construction near his Villanova home where he died, said Paul Lauricella, who knew Mr. McLaughlin for 43 years, graduated from law school with him, and was his law partner for the last 11 years.

Mr. McLaughlin had been suffering under the weight of an…

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The Legionaries of Christ received four new allegations of sexual abuse against members of the congregation between March 2021 and March 2022, and new allegations also have been made against priests already undergoing canonical procedures after being named in previous reports.

The Legionaries’ 2021 “Annual Report: Truth, Justice and Healing” was released April 6 with updates to their ongoing effort to “give an account of their commitments to the victims of sexual abuse since the publication three years ago (December 2019) of all cases from their history.”

Since releasing its previous annual report in March 2021, the congregation received four new allegations, it said.

“One is awaiting the conclusion of civil and canonical proceedings. Three are under investigation prior to an eventual canonical trial,” the congregation said on its site, 0abuse.org, which provides updated data on cases and documents.

Concerning the status of allegations received between December 2019 and March…

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There is a reason why the Six Nations-Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) were not invited to Rome to meet the pope and secure an apology for the victims of the residential schools — we don’t want an apology, we want justice. Tens of thousands of Native children suffered abuse by the residential schools administered by the Roman Catholic Church with the compliance of the provincial and federal governments and it may well be proven thousands died either by murder or neglect by the priests. nuns and staff at the schools. I was baptized into the Church as a child at the Akwesasne Mohawk Territory. I was taken against my will to the Mohawk Institute in Brantford, Ontario, 600 kilometers (373 miles) from my home and, along with the two dozen other Akwesasronon (people from Akwesasne) endured sexual, mental and physical abuse while being denied adequate food and health care, our bodies marked by open…

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A Evansville priest has been removed from the public ministry after an allegation of sexual misconduct from 20 years ago was reported to the Diocese of Evansville.

According to the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), Father Bernie Etienne served at the Holy Rosary Catholic Church and is currently placed on administrative leave.

The Diocese did not clarify the nature of the allegations against Father Etienne, regarding the age, gender of the victim and where the sexual misconduct took place.

The Director of Communications for the Diocese said, “Civil authorities and the Diocesan Review Board have been notified. Father Bernie strongly denies the claim and, as with all accused, he is accorded the presumption of innocence during the investigation of this allegation.”

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Officials with the Catholic Diocese of Evansville say Father Bernie Etienne has been placed on administrative leave while they investigate an allegation of sexual misconduct.

According to a press release, the incident allegedly happened more than 20 years ago and civil authorities and the Diocesan Review board have been notified.

Officials say Etienne strongly denies the claim.

Mike McDonnell is the Communications Manager of SNAP, which is the ”Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.”

His organization specializes in researching and understanding abuse at the hands of clergy members.

They also understand the process that takes place after an initial accusation.

“The investigation itself is part of a canonical process,” says McDonnell, “So, it’s an internal investigation within the Diocese.”

The investigation is similar to that of a regular police investigation, with a few key differences.

They still have an investigator go out and collect information and talk to people.

…

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Father Bernie Etienne, who worked at Holy Rosary Catholic Church, has been removed from public ministry after the Diocese of Evansville received an accusation of sexual misconduct against the clergyman stemming from 20 years ago. Father Etienne is on administrative leave and is not able to act as a priest while the complaint is investigated. 

The Diocese did not expand on the nature of the accusation — where it occurred or the gender and age of the victim. The Director of Communications for the Diocese simply said, “Civil authorities and the Diocesan Review Board have been notified. Father Bernie strongly denies the claim and, as with all accused, he is accorded the presumption of innocence during the investigation of this allegation.”

However, we know that false allegations of sexual abuse are extremely rare. While it is not entirely clear whether the accusation involves a child or an adult, the fact that it…

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The Diocese of Evansville has received an allegation of sexual misconduct against Father Bernie Etienne, a priest of the diocese, which is alleged to have occurred more than 20 years ago.

Civil authorities and the Diocesan Review Board have been notified.

Father Bernie strongly denies the claim and, as with all accused, he is accorded the presumption of innocence during the investigation of this allegation.

In accord with Church norms, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, and in accord with diocesan policies, Father Bernie is on administrative leave and is not able to perform public ministry while the investigation proceeds. Father Alex Zenthoefer has been appointed temporary administrator of Holy Rosary Parish.

Father Bernie has served in the following parishes: St. Joseph, Jasper; St. Joseph, Princeton; Blessed Sacrament, Oakland City; Holy Rosary, Evansville; and Nativity, Evansville. He also served as…

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The Catholic Diocese of Evansville disclosed Wednesday that one of its priests has been accused of sexual misconduct.

In a news release, the diocese said it received an allegation of sexual misconduct against Father Bernie Etienne, who serves as pastor at Evansville’s Holy Rosary Catholic Church, 1301 S. Green River Road.

The Catholic Diocese of Evansville said it brought the complaint, which Etienne “strongly” denies, to “civil authorities” and the Diocesan Review Board.

Etienne has been placed on administrative leave. The misconduct is alleged to have happened more than 20 years ago, the release states.

From 1996 to 2006, Etienne served as pastor of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Gibson County, according to Courier & Press archives. The C&P contacted the Gibson County Prosecutor’s office, but did not hear back prior to publication. 

Evansville Police Department spokeswoman Sgt. Anna Gray said the allegation had not been brought to EPD investigators, and…

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‘This is the most messed up situation regarding a church I’ve been part of, but God can make this new,’ said a reported survivor.

On Tuesday (April 5), a group of self-identified survivors and advocates who attended an Anglican church in Washington, D.C., published an open letter saying diocesan leaders mishandled their allegations of spiritual abuse. The letter asks the leaders to apologize to the reported victims and discipline the accused priest, the Rev. Dan Claire.

“Rev. Claire betrayed pastoral confidences, misused his ecclesial authority to control and manipulate people under his pastoral authority, disclosed and misused mental health histories in order to discredit people, and ostracized and slandered parishioners who attempted to challenge any of his questionable behavior,” the letter on the anti-abuse platform ACNAtoo says. It also cites allegations of “victim blaming and defamation in cases of sexual impropriety.” Claire said he isn’t permitted to speak with Religion News Service…

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In the run-up to the July papal visit, Catholic bishops in the DR-Congo have urged priests who have fathered children to seek laicization and care for their families

Since the beginning of this year nearly a dozen Catholic priests in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have been dismissed from the clerical state for reasons that have never been made clear.

The press releases announcing the dismissals have attracted attention precisely because of their evasiveness.

In the most recent one, at the end of March, the Diocese of Tshumbe in the center of the country said it had dismissed three priests without giving a reason.

Inquiries were met with a wall of silence.

Now it has been revealed that the National Episcopal Conference of Congo (CENCO) recently issued a 19-page internal document, dated March 4, that asks priests who have fathered children to give up their priesthood to take care…

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The Catholic bishops of Switzerland have commissioned two academics to scour diocesan archives in preparation for an independent investigation into the sexual abuse of minors

The Catholic bishops of Switzerland have pledged to open up the secret archives of all six of their dioceses in order to shed light on sexual abuse perpetrated by priests.

The Church leaders made the announcement this past Monday, nearly a year after they first committed themselves to carry out an investigation.

“Many acts have been covered up and victims ignored,” admitted Bishop Joseph Bonnemain of Chur, who is chair of the abuse commission in the Swiss Bishops’ Conference (SBC).

Speaking at a press conference, the 73-year-old bishop said the goal is “to make the Church a learning organization, ready to recognize its own mistakes”.

On hand for the announcement were the Roman Catholic Central Conference of Switzerland (RKZ), which is responsible for the material…

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The independent commission that wrote the landmark report on Church-related sex abuse in France still waiting to see the pope, four months after Vatican cancelled initial meeting

Catholics in France are beginning to wonder if Pope Francis is ever going to meet Jean-Marc Sauvé and the members of the independent commission he led in a major investigation into Church-related sex abuse in their country.

It has now been six months since Sauvé’s team – the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church (CIASE) – issued its shocking report. And four months have passed since December 9, the date CIASE members were supposed to have a meeting with the pope, until the Vatican abruptly canceled it.

“They shot themselves in the foot”

Truth be told, forces in the Roman Curia have never endorsed the commission’s work, which was actually contracted and authorized by the French Bishops’ Conference (CEF) and the…

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At the conclusion of the Lenten journey of Indigenous representatives to the Vatican, Pope Francis gave the delegation a laetare moment, a time to rejoice. The Pope’s poignant apology for the harm “members of the Catholic Church” did to Indigenous children in residential schools and his promise to visit Canada this summer is a major step toward healing a broken relationship.

The apology at Rome comes amid a $30-million national campaign to raise funds for healing programs for the survivors and families of former students at the schools. I was heartened to at last add our family’s donation to the $3 million our Edmonton Archdiocese has pledged to the campaign. A personal donation is a personal commitment — beyond the corporate commitment — to reconciliation.

The laetare moment came as Catholics make our way to the Cross and Resurrection, the Paschal celebration of salvation through Christ. Where is the Church on this pilgrimage? Is…

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A Catholic priest has been locked up after being found guilty of sexually abusing six boys in his care.

Father Patrick Smythe was locked up for seven and a half years after a jury reached unanimous guilty verdicts after a trial at Leeds Crown Court.

Jurors heard how Smythe, 79, preyed on three of his victims during swimming trips to the former Leeds International Pool.Smythe also targeted boys in his care while on a retreat at a hostel in North Yorkshire.

A judge who sentenced Smythe told the pensioner he had told a “pack of lies” to the court during the trial.Judge Simon Batiste said: “The offences involved six different complainants who were at the time of the offences aged between 12 and 16.

“You are a Catholic priest.

“During the trial you denied any criminal wrongdoing whatsoever.

“You took an oath on the Bible – the book that you…

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Insurance companies challenging the Boy Scouts of America’s bankruptcy plan argued Thursday that it “eviscerates” their defense rights under policies they issued and would mean grossly inflated payments of sexual abuse claims, including tens of thousands otherwise barred by the passage of time.

The arguments came on the second day of closing arguments before a Delaware judge who must decide whether to approve the reorganization plan the BSA has negotiated to compensate tens of thousands of men who say they were sexually abused as children in Scouting, while allowing the Boy Scouts to continue as an ongoing enterprise.

The Boy Scouts, based in Irving, Texas, petitioned for bankruptcy protection in February 2020, seeking to halt hundreds of individual lawsuits and create a settlement trust for abuse victims. Although the organization faced about 275 lawsuits at the time, more than 82,000 sexual abuse claims have been filed in the bankruptcy case.

The…

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 Pope Francis met with the leaders of the Spanish bishops’ conference and was briefed on the independent commission established by the bishops to investigate clerical sexual abuse in the country.

Speaking with journalists outside the Vatican press office April 7, Cardinal Juan José Omella of Barcelona, president of the conference, said the pope encouraged the bishops to continue supporting survivors of abuse.

Pope Francis “encouraged us to walk along that path of accompanying victims because they are at the center of everything, to collaborate in everything and, above all, to prevent these things from happening again,” Omella said.

In January, Omella, who was in Rome with several bishops for their “ad limina” visits, told journalists that the bishops’ conference had no plans to establish a single independent commission as in Germany, France or neighboring Portugal to conduct a nationwide investigation of the handling of cases past and present.

However, the…

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The Catholic bishops of Spain on Thursday presented their plan for an independent commission on the clerical abuse crisis to Pope Francis.

The investigation was announced soon after the Spanish Congress approved a resolution to set up its own independent commission to investigate historical allegations of abuse.

“We want someone to evaluate what we are doing, because maybe we think we are doing very well and it turns out that we are not,” said Cardinal Juan Jose Omella, president of the Spanish bishops’ conference. “That is why we have asked for an external audit, led by the Cremades-Otello law firm. They estimated that it would take them a year to evaluate what we have done so that we can rectify what we are doing wrong.” 

During a 30 minute conversation, the prelate told Crux that he believes it is “important to be humble, recognize the value of what you are doing well, without…

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As parishes throughout the archdiocese began their observances of National Child Abuse Prevention Month on the weekend of April 2-3, Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley joined the community of St. Mary of the Assumption Parish in Hull to highlight the importance of this month dedicated to awareness and education.

Like many parishes across the archdiocese, the parish used its weekend Masses as an opportunity to pray for victims of sexual abuse, especially children abused by clergy, and share information about available resources for child protection and advocacy.

Accompanying the cardinal at the Mass, celebrated April 3 at St. Ann Church, were Vivian Soper, director of the Office of Pastoral Support and Child Protection, and social worker Kristen Gotter, both of whom were available to speak with parishioners following the Mass.

In addition to April being National Child Abuse Prevention Month, this year marks the 20th anniversary of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Charter…

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In late 2021, the Catholic Church in Switzerland instructed two historians to investigate sexual abuse within the organisation. The move followed evidence of sexual abuse on a staggering scale within the organisation in France. On 4 April 2022, a date was announced for the opening of the secret episcopal archives, reported RTS. Work will start on 1 May 2022.

The researchers running the investigation are from the University of Zurich. The organisations requesting the investigation include the Swiss Bishops’ Conference, KOVOS and RKZ, three Catholic associations in Switzerland. The written agreement to proceed with the investigation was signed in November 2021. This is the first time the three organisations have come together on the subject of sexual abuse.

The two historians from Zurich University researching the abuse will be assisted by an independent scientific committee of six others.

The work will begin on 1 May 2022 and the results are…

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Indigenous leaders in Canada say Catholic Church must take concrete action to support survivors and prevent more harm.

Warning: The story below contains details of residential schools that may be upsetting. Canada’s Indian Residential School Survivors and Family Crisis Line is available 24 hours a day at 1-866-925-4419.

Less than a week ago, Pope Francis apologised for the “deplorable” abuses that members of the Roman Catholic Church committed at residential schools that Indigenous children were forced to attend across Canada for decades.

The apology was historic and welcomed by many, but survivors of the forced-assimilation institutions and other Indigenous leaders say tangible action is needed to truly grapple with the Catholic Church’s role in what occurred.

“There is still much work [to be done],” said Gerald Antoine, who led an Assembly of First Nations delegation that travelled to Rome late last month to meet the pope to discuss the…

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Activist and Anglican priest, Reverend June Major, has taken her fight for justice for sexual assault victims to the president’s office.

On Wednesday, Major handed a memorandum to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office in Tuynhuys, Cape Town, calling for a commission of inquiry into historic child sexual offences within churches and other faith-based institutions.

The move comes as the country observes Sexual Assault Awareness Month and against the backdrop of Ramaphosa acknowledging that gender-based violence was a pandemic in the country.

In the memorandum, Major highlighted that in countries such as Ireland, Australia, Canada and Mexico, commissions of inquiry were set up to investigate sexual abuse of minors by priests.

The memorandum called for a “safe space” for victims and survivors, the majority of whom were now adults, to share their experiences.

“I recently assisted a family where a pastor (allegedly) raped a four-year-old child and another 10-year-old. Another pastor (allegedly)…

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The federal government abandoned its 2015 appeal of a court ruling that released the Catholic Church from its financial obligations to residential school survivors because it believed there was a “low likelihood of success,” according to records obtained by The Globe and Mail.

For almost seven years, Indigenous leaders have sought answers to why Ottawa dropped its legal action against the Catholic Church, which was short $21.3-million in a fundraising campaign meant to benefit survivors. Documents released last week by the Department of Justice through an access-to-information request provide some insight into the decision.

In a memorandum to then-justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould dated April 21, 2016 – five months after the appeal was abandoned – Duaine W. Simms, then an assistant general counsel and director of the Aboriginal affairs portfolio at the Department of Justice, wrote that there “would be a low likelihood of success of an appeal…

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A Catholic priest accused of sexually abusing boys told a jury he had carried out an exorcism for one of his alleged victims.

Father Patrick Smythe described how he had been invited to the complaint’s workplace in Leeds years after he is said to have indecently assaulted him.

Smythe, 79, said he had been contacted as there were concerns about a the “presence of a malevolent nature” where he had been working.

The defendant told the court that he “conducted a simple blessing with holy water” at the workplace.

Father Patrick Smythe is on trial at Leeds Crown Court. He pleads not guilty to six counts of indecent assault and one of attempted indecent assault.

As Smythe gave evidence at Leeds Crown Court, his barrister Susannah Proctor asked: “Was (the complainant) part of the process?”

Smythe replied: “Yes he was there. He was happy enough that I had been.”

The defendant…

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Appeal to Ramaphosa for inquiry into sexual misconduct by the clergy

One woman’s campaign to have a commission of inquiry into sexual offences committed by the clergy across all denominations will step up a gear on Wednesday when she hands her appeal to the office of President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Rev June Dolley-Major has been fighting for years to be heard — waging a hunger strike, a 40-day walk and now gathering signatures and letters of support. Now she is hoping for a proper response.

“On Wednesday April 6, God willing, at 12pm, I will be handing over a memorandum to the office of the presidency. This will be done at Tuynhuys, where I will be accompanied by four other people,” she told TimesLIVE.

“It has been a lengthy process and it is going to take many more years,” she said, adding that while she did not expect a face-to-face with…

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The Fort McMurray Catholic School Division has renamed Father Turcotte School after survivors of the Holy Angels Residential School in Fort Chipewyan accused the school’s namesake of sexually abusing children in the 1960s.

The Grade 1-6 school will now be called Our Lady of the Rivers. A statement from the division said the name was chosen to acknowledge the importance of the Athabasca and Clearwater Rivers in the region, “as well as the protection that Mary, mother of Jesus, provides for our school community.”

“We wholeheartedly acknowledge the sins of our forebears and will continue moving forward on the path to healing and reconciliation. By renaming the school we pray that this action shows our continual commitment to work in consultation and cooperation with the original peoples of Treaty 8,” said FMCSD board chair Cathie Langmead in a statement.

Father J.A. Turcotte was a Catholic priest who…

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In 2016, a Pennsylvania grand jury report revealed widespread sexual assault by Catholic priests in the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese. One of the accounts in that report came from Shaun Dougherty who is from Johnstown, PA and survived sexual abuse by his priest when he was 10 years old.

“I’m here to share my story so it is not repeated again,” Dougherty said to an small audience in the HUB’s Ohio Room. Dougherty came to IUP as part of the University’s Six O’clock Series which are a series of guest lectures open to the public. He does not want his story to be “heavy.” Instead, he wants his story to be an inspiration for others to speak up and act.

Dougherty began his story in 2012 when he was working on building a restaurant in New York City which was one of his childhood dreams. He received a…

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Willy Rice, pastor of Calvary Church in Clearwater, Florida, and a candidate to become the next president of the Southern Baptist Convention, has removed a deacon from leadership, citing the denomination’s ban on individuals who have committed sexual abuse from church leadership roles.

“As pastors of Calvary, we believe in the resolution passed by the 2021 Southern Baptist Convention at its annual meeting that dealt with sexual abuse and said in part ‘resolve that the messengers of the Southern Baptist Convention believe that any person who has committed sexual abuse is permanently disqualified from holding the office of pastor and that we recommend that all affiliated churches apply this standard to all [positions] of church leadership,’” Rice said in an April 1 video announcement.

Rice did not identify the deacon in the video. But Religion News Service identified the man as Jeff Ford,…

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While researching some predator priests in Los Angeles, the nation’s largest Archdiocese, we at Horowitz Law stumbled on a few disturbing facts about what is really going on behind the scenes in LA.

Disturbing Fact #1: At least 355 proven, admitted, and credibly accused abusive Catholic clergy are or have been in that one jurisdiction. That’s not a typo, 355. That figure comes from perhaps the nation’s most comprehensive and trusted source of information on the church’s continuing crisis, BishopAccountability.org. The Archdiocese consists of 288 parishes, which means that, on average, every single church in the sprawling area has been ‘served’ by MORE than one child molester.

Disturbing Fact #2: Los Angeles Catholic officials have DELETED their list of predator priests at least twice over the years. They did this for the first time in November 2008. According to BA.org, “This very significant change was apparently not flagged on the archdiocesan website.” In…

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A priest in Baltimore has returned to active ministry following an investigation into allegations of child sexual abuse by the Baltimore Archdiocese.

Last year, the Archdiocese announced father Martin Demek, who was the then-pastor of Corpus Christi Catholic Church in Baltimore’s Bolton Hill neighborhood had been suspended.

The suspension came after the archdiocese learned of allegations of abuse against him from 1989.

The alleged victim, who was about 11 years old then, said the incidents took place at St. Bartholomew Catholic Church in Manchester.

The archdiocese says it interviewed close to 50 people as part of the investigation and found no evidence to substantiate the claims made by the alleged victim.

The archdiocese’s independent review board approved the decision to return Rev. Demek to the priesthood. They say he has once again taken over as the pastor of Corpus Christi Catholic Church.

Police never filed charges against Martin Demek.

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Assembly of First Nations delegate lead Dene National Chief Gerald Antoine called the scene a “divine moment” in time.

It rained for three days straight in Rome, but on Friday the clouds parted above St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City following the long-awaited apology given by Pope Francis to residential school survivors and their families.

Beams of light shone down on the Indigenous delegates addressing the media in the square. Assembly of First Nations delegate lead Dene National Chief Gerald Antoine called the scene a “divine moment” in time, and indeed it was.

The apology by the head of the Catholic Church took me by surprise. I was viewing a live feed of the Pope speaking to delegates in a private ceremony from the Vatican press office nearby and did a double-take when I heard the translator say, “I am sorry.” Those simple but powerful words had at last been uttered…

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In the two decades since U.S. bishops promised to oust credibly accused predatory priests, we know of only one still-active cleric who has been accused publicly five times without ever having been suspended from his post around kids.

That cleric is Fr. Alex R. Anderson, an active parish priest in the archdiocese of St. Louis.

Despite being accused of molesting at least five boys – none of whom know each other – and being named in at least two pending civil abuse lawsuits, Fr. Anderson has not been suspended for a single day by St. Louis Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski nor by his predecessors.

We are filing today a formal complaint against Rozanski via ReportBishopAbuse.org, the Catholic church’s official complaint portal.

Two years ago, responding to intense pressure, Pope Francis adopted a policy called Vos Estis. It requires the reporting of any bishop with conduct “consisting of actions or…

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French national Johannes Rivoire, age 93, a former priest in Canada’s residential school system, has been charged in Canada with sexual assault, that allegedly happened decades earlier.

“In September 2021, Nunavut RCMP received a complaint of sexual assault that occurred approximately 47 years ago,” Nunavut Royal Canadian Mounted Police spokesperson wrote in an email to Native News Online. “As a result of the investigation, on February 23, 2022, Father Johannes Rivoire, 93, of Lyon, France was charged with sexual assault. A Canada-wide warrant has been issued for the arrest of Father Rivoire.”

Rivoire returned to France in the early 1990s. According to CBC reporting, Rivoire worked in many Nunavut communities in the 1960s and 1970s, before returning to France. France does not extradite its own citizens. 

This isn’t the first time the priest has been charged with sex crimes against children in Nunavut. In 1998, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police issued a…

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Last week two major U.S. Catholic universities hosted conferences that engaged ongoing historical and theological research on clergy sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

The first, a symposium titled “Gender, Sex, and Power: Towards a History of Clergy Sex Abuse in the U.S. Catholic Church,” was hosted March 27-29 by the Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism at the University of Notre Dame.

The second, a conference titled “‘Our transgressions before you are many, and our sins testify against us’ (Is 59:12a): Re-Imagining Church in Light of Colonization and Catholic Sexual Abuse,” took place at Gonzaga University March 31-April 3.

Although I was out of town and could not attend the Notre Dame event, I was an invited participant in the Gonzaga conference, which was sponsored in part by the “Taking Responsibility” project based at Fordham University. The primary working…

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Herry Wirawan raped girls aged between 11 and 14 from 2016 to 2021 at the school, hotels or rented apartments in the city of Bandung.

At least nine babies were born as a result of the rapes and the case has prompted public outcry.

On Monday judges at the Bandung High Court granted prosecutors’ appeal for the death penalty, saying in the ruling: “What he had done had caused trauma and suffering to the victims and their parents.

“The defendant had tarnished the reputation of Islamic boarding schools.”

Wirawan’s assets will also be seized, including a foundation he owned, and auctioned off to benefit the victims and their children.

The judges also ruled that nine children born to the victims should be handed over to the Children and Women Protection Agency with periodic evaluation “until the victims are mentally ready to care for their children, and the situation allows for…

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The former head of the Vatican’s financial watchdog testified Tuesday that the agency launched an intelligence investigation into a suspicious London real estate deal after it learned about it but had no power to stop the Vatican secretariat of state from concluding it.

The testimony by defendant Rene Bruelhart in the Vatican’s big fraud and extortion trial again put the spotlight on Pope Francis and the No. 2 in the secretariat of state, Archbishop Edgar Pena Parra, who Bruelhart said made clear the deal had to be concluded “under any circumstances.”

The Vatican’s payment of 15 million euros to Italian broker Gianluigi Torzi to get full ownership of the building is at the heart of the trial into the London property, which has grown to include other financial charges. Prosecutors accuse 10 people, including Torzi, other Italian money managers and Vatican officials, of defrauding the Holy See and extorting it…

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Having been a Catholic for at least 50 years, I am very well aware of the “false teachings” that don’t align with the Bible that the Roman Catholic Church has perpetuated for so many years.

I have no issues with Catholics per se, but I have a big problem with their leadership who have been leading their flock down the wrong path, through the wide gate that leads to destruction. (Matthew 7:13-14)

We are all accountable to God, (Romans 14:12), leaders and teachers even more so. (James 3:1)

The RCC has brainwashed its all-too-trusting flock with spoon-fed theology and reverence toward the priests and their higher-ups, particularly the pope, for thousand of years.

Instead of effectively dealing with the “monster” priests they have bred and groomed, they are way more concerned with saving face, a great travesty since they affect the all-important well-being of the victimized child. Their “deny, deny,…

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Pope Francis expressed his “indignation and shame” in offering an apology to a delegation of Canadian Indigenous leaders “for the deplorable conduct of members of the Catholic Church” in relation to residential schools. Residential schools were a Canadian government policy to assimilate Indigenous children in schools largely operated by the Christian churches. Catholic religious orders operated the majority of the schools. 

“I ask for God’s forgiveness and I want to say to you with all my heart: I am very sorry,” Pope Francis said in an April 1 audience at the Vatican. 

“We accept this apology,” said Chief Gerald Antoine, head of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) delegation. 

Pope Francis delivered his apology in an address both forthright and lyrical, leaving many of the Indigenous leaders deeply moved.  

At the same time, he announced his intention of visiting Canada, likely in July, to meet Indigenous Canadians…

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The former bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany has acknowledged covering up allegations of sexual abuse against children by priests in part to avoid scandal and protect the reputation of the diocese.

Howard Hubbard made the admission during a deposition taken last year as part of a response to dozens of claims filed under New York’s Child Victims Act. A judge ordered the deposition released on March 25.

Hundreds of people have sued the Albany diocese over sexual abuse they say they endured as children, sometimes decades ago.

During the four-day deposition, Hubbard named several priests who had been accused of sexual abuse who were referred to treatment and later returned to ministry, without notification to the public. One, David Bentley, admitted to Hubbard that he had engaged in the behavior alleged.

Hubbard testified he didn’t report the allegations to law enforcement because he didn’t feel he was…

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As a theologian who studies church apologies for historical wrongs, I understand why the Pope was moved to speak this week, but I hope this was not his definitive apology.

Pope Francis made a public statement today to the delegations of Indigenous people who met with him this week to discuss personal experiences in residential schools or their harmful legacies.

His statement included the words “I am very sorry,” and is being reported as an apology for residential schools.

As a white settler theologian, it is not for me to say what the apology means to those to whom it was addressed. But as a scholar who studies church apologies for historical wrongs, and their place in processes of reconciliation, I note there are significant shortcomings to the Pope’s statement.

Abuse and criminal actions

There are several kinds of wrongs associated with residential schools. There were abusive and often criminal actions by…

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A defrocked Philadelphia priest, who had been accused of sexual abuse, was sentenced to two years of house arrest and five years of probation for lying to investigators. Robert Brennan pleaded guilty late last year for lying to the FBI during an investigation into sexual abuse by clergy.

You might be surprised by what he exclusively told Eyewitness News just moments before his sentencing on Thursday.

Eyewitness News: Are you sorry?

Brennan: Absolutely not.

That’s what Robert Brennan told Eyewitness News as the defrocked Catholic priest rushed into the federal courthouse Thursday to hear his fate for lying to FBI agents.

Eyewitness News: Why all the lies?

Brennan admitted in court last year he lied to the FBI during an investigation into sexual abuse by clergy back in 2019, falsely saying he didn’t know one of his 20 alleged victims.

A federal judge sentenced the 84-year-old Thursday to five years probation,…

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[VIDEO]

The Nativity School in Worcester is being called on to remove flags in support of the Black Lives Matter movement and the LGBTQ community and are threatened with losing the right to call itself a Catholic school. Attorney Mitchell Garabedian joined Jim Braude to discuss.

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“It is necessary to highlight the crimes of the past committed within the Roman Catholic Church. We must learn the lessons and do everything possible so that no injustice can happen again,” said Joseph Maria Bonnemain, bishop of Coire and head of the Swiss bishops’ conference.

The Swiss Catholic Church said Monday it had commissioned an independent study to shed light on sexual abuse in the Church since the mid-20th century and “learn lessons” from the past.advertisement

At a press conference Monday, the Conference of Swiss Bishops, the Central Roman Catholic Conference of Switzerland and the Conference of Unions of Orders and Other Communities of Consecrated Life in Switzerland said they mandated the University of Zurich the mandate to study past attacks.

“It is necessary to highlight the crimes of the past committed within the Roman Catholic Church. We must learn the lessons and do everything possible so that no…

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Governor demands lawmakers give issue a high priority this spring

Gov. Tom Wolf announced Monday that he will schedule a special legislative session this summer if they fail this spring to pass a bill that gives victims of child sexual abuse the opportunity to sue their abusers in court.

As lawmakers prepare to deliberate over the state budget package due in June, Wolf is demanding that it include a bill that opens a two-year retroactive window for these victims to file lawsuits outside of the statute of limitations.

Wolf made the demand in the Capitol Rotunda with victims of child sex abuse accompanying him. Among them was Muhlenberg Township Democratic Rep. Mark Rozzi, a victim himself who has been pushing for the legislation for years.

“It’s been a full year since this bill passed in the House of Representatives, and the Senate needs to act now,” Rozzi said. “Many senators…

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A night dedicated to healing at Saint Leo Catholic Church. It’s the fifth annual service the archdiocese has held for survivors of abuse and their family members.

A night dedicated to healing at Saint Leo Catholic Church.

It’s the fifth annual service the archdiocese has held for survivors of abuse and their family members.

KETV Newswatch 7 was there as the archbishop led the service.

Inside st. Leo the Great Catholic Church, men, women and children sat in pews Monday night.

Surrounded by the color purple, which symbolizes strength and domestic violence awareness.

Although the victim outreach and prevention office serves as outreach for victims of clergy abuse, organizers say this healing service is much more than that.

“We realize there’s a lot of people in our community that are hurting with wounds of abuse, both from childhood through adulthood so this is for everybody,” said Mary Beth Hanus,…

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Pope Francis’s long-awaited apology to Canada’s indigenous community for more than a century of abusive residential schools, many of them run by the Catholic Church, should be followed by millions of dollars in compensation and the release of residential school records, survivors and indigenous leaders said.

Canada’s state-sanctioned schools forcibly separated about 150,000 children indigenous children from their families, subjecting many of them to physical and sexual abuse in what the Truth and Reconciliation Commission called “cultural genocide.”

“For the deplorable behavior of those members of the Catholic Church, I ask forgiveness from God and I would like to tell you from the bottom of my heart that I am very pained,” Francis said on Friday. The Pope said he hoped to visit Canada in July. read more

But for survivors, the historic apology alone isn’t enough.

Saa Hiil Thut’s former school in Kamloops, British Columbia was among several former…

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Baltimore pastor removed from ministry in 2021 amid investigation

There is no evidence to substantiate allegations against a priest who was removed from ministry over a child sex abuse investigation, the Archdiocese of Baltimore announced Sunday.

The archdiocese said Father Martin Demek is suitable to return to ministry.

The claims against him involved someone who said they were abused starting in 1989 in Manchester. The archdiocese says it worked with an investigative team and interviewed nearly 50 people to come up with its decision.

The Carroll County Sheriff’s Office also investigated the claims and did not file charges.

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Father Martin Demek is Returned to Active Ministry in the Archdiocese of Baltimore

In early 2021, the Archdiocese of Baltimore received an allegation of child sexual abuse against Father Martin Demek that was immediately reported to law enforcement. Law enforcement did not file criminal charges against Father Demek and, in April of 2021, gave permission to the Archdiocese to investigate the allegation. Father Demek was then suspended from ministry pending the outcome of the investigation. The Archdiocese released a public statement concerning the allegation and the reason for Father Demek’s suspension and invited individuals with information to contact law enforcement and the Archdiocese.

During the investigation, additional information was received by the Archdiocese and shared with law enforcement. In accordance with the Archdiocese’s policies for the protection of children and youth, the Archdiocesan Office of Child and Youth Protection, assisted by an investigative team including a former FBI…

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A Baltimore priest has returned to his ministry after an investigation into allegations that he sexually abused a child did not find any evidence to substantiate the charges, the Archdiocese of Baltimore said Sunday.

Last year, the Archdiocese announced Father Martin Demek, the then-pastor of Corpus Christi Catholic Church in Baltimore’s Bolton Hill neighborhood, had been removed of his faculties to function as a priest and suspended him from ministry, pending the results of an investigation.

The archdiocese learned of the allegations in early 2021 and contacted the police. According to the original charges, the alleged abuse began in about 1989 when the victim was about 11 years old. The incidents were said to have happened at St. Bartholomew Catholic Church in Manchester. The Rev. Demek said he was innocent of the charges and he has been not criminally charged.

The archdiocese said its investigative team included a former FBI…

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In testimony conducted over four days in April 2021, Bishop Howard Hubbard, the former leader of the Diocese of Albany, N.Y., described in unusually frank terms how he moved diocesan priests who had been accused of molesting children in and out of treatment centers and back into ministry. He admitted that the transfers were consistently made without informing local police, families of abuse victims or Catholics in Albany’s parishes, where the men were reassigned.

Bishop Hubbard testified that parishioners were told that their pastors had been removed for “treatment” with no further explanation.

“My perspective is we did not reveal the reason for his treatment,” Bishop Hubbard told Jeff Anderson, the lead attorney for one of the survivors suing the diocese, in reference to one priest.

“And the reason for his treatment was he had been accused of sexually abusing a minor, correct?” Mr. Anderson asked.

“That is correct,” answered the…

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It is no secret that clergy sex abuse and coverups are on the rise. In response to the hundreds of lawsuits filed regarding Catholic Church corruption and sexual abuse, Bishops are touting their screening process of new hires, claiming “We do much more now to screen our seminarians to stop predators from becoming priests.”  But we are skeptical, as predators are still getting into the priesthood.

If you’ve followed the clergy sex abuse and cover-up crisis, you’ve seen some variation of this many times over the past 20 years. . .But here’s what you have NOT seen over those years:

• “School districts adopt Catholic abuse screening”
• “On abuse, Protestant officials are learning from Catholic ones”
• “Summer camps, learning from the church, weed out molesters”
• “Daycare centers emulate Catholic dioceses on abuse”

The obvious point here is, that if Catholic bishops are doing such a great job of preventing abuse and “screening out” molesters, officials in other institutions and…

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Daniel McCormack served five years in prison for molesting young boys. Now, he’s a free man but his legal troubles are far from over. 

WGN Investigates has learned the former priest spent hours being deposed Wednesday by attorneys in several pending civil cases. The plaintiffs allege they were sexually abused by McCormack.

“His demeanor was pretty flat and matter-of-fact,” says Attorney Gene Hollander. “To me, he didn’t show any remorse at all.”

Hollander and other attorneys asked McCormack more than 500 questions. But he repeatedly invoked his Fifth Amendment rights and refused to address any of the allegations.

Several of the lawsuits specifically target the Catholic Bishop of Chicago claiming the “Diocese acquiesced to McCormack’s continued involvement in school and parish activities after they knew or should have known of McCormack’s abuse.”

In 2007, McCormack pled guilty to abusing five boys during his time at St. Agatha Roman Catholic Church…

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Former church members and a church official in Texas want a formal investigation of Bishop Dwight Reed’s actions.

When the Iowa Attorney General’s Office issued a report last year about sex abuse by Catholic clergy, it also publicized a hotline for people from any denomination to call with similar concerns about that taboo topic in their own places of worship.

Since March 21, seven calls have involved the 53-year-old Christ Apostolic Temple in Des Moines.

The calls follow online chatter about the November 2021 marriage of the church’s thrice-divorced, 63-year-old bishop and pastor to a 19-year-old he had been offering special guidance to as dean of the church school.

It’s not illegal to marry someone so much younger if they’ve reached the age of legal consent, which in Iowa is 16. But Bishop Dwight Reed’s critics, some of them former church members, have taken to social media to challenge his actions,…

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SAN JOSE — A Costa Rican court sentenced a former priest to 20 years in prison Wednesday for sexual abuse of a minor, more than two years after the then-cleric was captured in Mexico for the crime, committed almost two decades ago.

A judge ruled Mauricio Viquez, who held high-level positions in the diocese of the capital San Jose, was guilty of abusing a boy who ran errands for him in exchange for meals for his family.

“My wife and my two children have supported me. Today I felt completely free. The ghost that I’d carried since I was 12 disappeared,” said the now 30-year-old victim, whose identity was kept anonymous throughout the trial.

Viquez, who was removed from the priesthood in 2019 when the accusations became known, was also accused of other abuses from before 2003. He was only charged in one case, due to the statute of limitations…

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The former pastor of Ellendale’s Philadelphia Pentecostal Holiness Church is facing multiple charges after state prosecutors say he inappropriately touched multiple women over a span of seven years.

Bishop Major Foster was once a trusted member of the Ellendale community. Beyond his role within the church, Foster co-founded the Ellendale Community Civic Improvement Association and fought for clean water for the town.

This position allowed Foster to sexually abuse three women for years, the Delaware Department of Justice said. It is also likely the reason investigators say they believe there are more victims that have not yet come forward.

According to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, someone is sexually assaulted in the U.S. every 68 seconds. However, only 25 out of 1,000 perpetrators are sent to prison.

When it comes to perpetrators of sexual abuse, Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings said “there is…

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Never again.

A light of hope for healing, restoration and real reform shined a little last week on the announcement that nine Dallas-area men had settled a lawsuit alleging that they were sexually abused as students at Jesuit College Preparatory School Dallas.

The school’s president, Mike Earsing, provided a public statement that he believed the truth of the allegations that date to the 1970s and 1980s. And Mike Pedevilla, the first victim to come forward publicly and bravely, made this moving and hopeful statement: “Now, I can finally begin to heal.”

But even as the hope for healing and genuine expressions of remorse and reform are embraced by Jesuit and the Dallas Catholic Diocese, we are reminded — and should be reminded — of the depths of darkness, lies and institutional corruption that put boys in the path of men who were known to the Jesuit order to…

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There is so much to legitimately worry about in this world, real issues of life and death, race and gender, hope and fear. And then one throwback with a miter cap and staff does this:

The Catholic bishop of Worcester has demanded that a middle school remove the Pride and Black Lives Matter flags it has flown for more than a year or lose the right to call itself a Catholic school.

Until now, Nativity School of Worcester has been minding its own business, doing what it does best: God’s work. The tuition-free school — part of a Jesuit network — serves 61 boys in grades 5 through 8, almost all of them students of color and from low-income families. With longer school days and individualized attention, those kids will often leap six or seven grade levels in four years, going on to become successful high school and…

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The island’s Catholic community gathered at San Vitores Beach in Tumon to pray the the Holy Rosary commemorating the martyrs of the church and kicking off April activities for National Child Abuse Prevention Month and Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

The Archdiocese of Hagåtña’s Safe Environment Office is leading Child Abuse Prevention Month activities for the Church, working with parishes and schools, according to the press release. This year’s theme is “Thriving Children & Families: Prevention with Purpose.”

Youth for Christ initiated the Coastal Rosary series locally and St. Anthony parish joined as part of the archdiocese’s World Youth Day Activities.

350 years of St. San Vitores

The Archdiocese also held Mass, led by Archbishop Michael Byrnes, in observance of the 350th year anniversary of the Jesuit martyr, Blessed Diego Luis de San Vitores and St. Pedro Calungsod at the shrine erected in their honor.

Known as the “Apostle of…

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My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Each of us no doubt is reacting in different ways about revelations in the Times Union piece. I know I am not the only one who must deal with the reactions or the worry for a new wave of suffering for survivors and their families. All of us bear a burden of trying to help others even as we cope personally with our own pain and sorrow.

While the truth is often hard to bear, it might help us to remember that families where there has been abuse and betrayal cannot heal if the truth remains hidden. Families, like individuals, are “as sick as their secrets.” We know from Luke 12:2 that “there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed and hidden that will not be known.” There is great hope in this terrible news and darkness because we find salvation in light, the Light…

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A child neglected or emotionally abused is a victim of abuse, in this context, clerical abuse.

In May 2021, I met with government representatives from the Irish department of children. We discussed a United Nations children’s rights committee document that calls upon the Irish State to respond to the needs of children of priests. Section 33 and 34 of the 2016 UN document states in part that the committee is concerned about the “lack of measures to ensure that children fathered by Catholic priests are able to access information on the identity of their fathers” and is encouraging the state  “ensure measures to assist children fathered by Catholic priests in upholding their right to know and be cared for by their fathers, as appropriate, and ensure that they receive the necessary psychological treatment.”

In 2022, the Irish State responded to the above request. The state’s response reads: “The Irish state…

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As Indigenous representatives hold scheduled meetings in Rome with Pope Francis, part of a series of discussions with the Catholic Church on reconciliation, many hope efforts will be made to finally bring artifacts held at the Vatican back to Canada.

First Nations, Metis and Inuit delegates have met or will meet the Pope this week to share stories from survivors of Canada’s residential school system, most of which were run by the Catholic Church.

Metis and Inuit delegates met the Pope on Monday, with First Nations representatives scheduled to meet the pontiff on Thursday. The Pope is expected to hold a general audience with all of the delegates Friday.

Along with hopes for a papal apology on Canadian soil, top of mind for delegates is access the Vatican’s collection of Indigenous cultural items.

“What they now need to recognize is that they hold things…

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First Nations, Inuit and Metis residential school survivors, knowledge keepers, elders, and youth have wrapped up meetings with Pope Francis at the Vatican with a historic apology.

The delegation was there to renew calls for the Pope to apologize for the Roman Catholic Church’s role in residential schools.

On Friday, the Pope said: “I am very sorry.” He also said he will come to Canada, but a date has not been set.

CALLS FOR AN APOLOGY

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission released its 94 calls to action in 2015. Among them was a request for an apology from the Pope and for the apology to take place in Canada within one year of the release of the report.

A number of individual Catholic organizations, parishes and bishops have apologized to Indigenous children and their families for the spiritual, cultural, emotional, physical and sexual abuse the church inflicted on youngsters forced…

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Sorry is ‘an important milestone’ but more work must be done, according to the retired senator and former judge

The former chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is urging the Catholic Church to tackle residential school denialism following Pope Francis’s apology on Friday morning.

Church leaders who refuse to accept survivors’ truths are, right now, “the biggest source of resistance to reconciliation,” says Murray Sinclair.

“Denialism was allowed to flourish because of the silence that was coming from the Pope,” said the retired senator in an interview. “With this statement, those denying within the church — or denying in public because of the church being able to support denialism — will no longer have that ladder upon which they can stand.”

On the final day of an Indigenous delegation’s Vatican visit, the pontiff uttered a long-awaited and much-anticipated sorry “for the role that a number of Catholics” had…

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At the site of the former Mohawk Institute residential school in Brantford, the director of the Indigenous cultural centre that now occupies the building says the Pope’s apology to residential school survivors is a step in the right direction, but more action is needed.

“I don’t know if it necessarily brings closure,” said Janis Monture, Woodland Cultural Centre executive director. “Because there are still a lot of people who haven’t been held accountable for the actions that took place at these institutions.”

The Woodland Cultural centre is housed in what was once the Mohawk Institute. Considered Canada’s longest running residential school it opened in 1828 and closed in 1971.

During that time, Indigenous children were forcibly taken from their homes and forced to attend the facility where teachers and administrators attempted to strip them of their language and culture.

Across the country, around 150,000 Indigenous children were separated from their…

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This journey, Pope Francis noted, can help Indigenous peoples rediscover and revitalize their cultures, and the Catholic Church to grow in love and respect for their traditions.

Pope Francis on Friday expressed his “sorrow and shame” for the role Catholics have played in the abuse of Indigenous peoples in Canada, especially in residential schools.

During a meeting with representatives of the Métis, Inuit, and First Nations groups at the Vatican on April 1, the pope condemned colonization, saying he was sorry for the historic evil committed against Canadian Indigenous peoples.

He also said he would like to visit them in their “native lands,” indicating that he hopes to travel to Canada for the July 26 feast of St. Anne.

Pope Francis, who had private meetings with the Métis, Inuit, and First Nations delegations during the week, said “listening to your voices, I was able to enter into and be deeply grieved…

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Leaders of Canada’s main Indigenous organizations welcomed Pope Francis’s apology for the Catholic Church’s role in running residential schools, but, as one said, it was just “a fresh track” on a longer hunt for healing and reconciliation.

Chief Gerald Antoine, leading the delegation of the Assembly of First Nations at the Indigenous communities’ meetings with Pope Francis March 28-April 1, used the analogy of hunting to explain to reporters that much remains to be done.

For Antoine, a key concern is a formal recognition by the Canadian government that the residential schools were part of a systemic attempt at “cultural genocide,” or, as he explained it, an attempt “to kill the Indian in the child” and force them to assimilate.

Natan Obed, president of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, told reporters, “Today we have a piece of the puzzle,” which is the papal apology.

“I was touched by the way in…

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[Includes a three-minute video of Inuit leader Natan Obed’s assessment of the delegation’s meetings with Vatican officials and the apology by Pope Francis.]

Pope Francis could play an “instrumental role” in the push for justice for Inuit victims and survivors of sexual abuse at the hands of an Oblate priest now living in France, says the head of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami.

Natan Obed, president of the Inuit advocacy organization, spoke with The West Block‘s Mercedes Stephenson following a visit with the Pope at the Vatican last week.

During the visit, Pope Francis apologized for the Catholic Church’s prominent role in Canada’s residential school system, which he said left him feeling “indignation and shame.”

Obed said while he felt “great respect” for the Pope’s apology, there remains a significant amount of work to do and not all Indigenous people will be in the position to accept the apology.

“For me, I just…

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Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning and welcome!

I thank Bishop Poisson for his kind words and each of you for your presence here and for the prayers that you have offered. I am grateful that you have come to Rome despite the difficulties caused by the pandemic. Over the past few days, I have listened attentively to your testimonies. I have brought them to my thoughts and prayers, and reflected on the stories you told and the situations you described. I thank you for having opened your hearts to me, and for expressing, by means of this visit, your desire for us to journey together.

I would like to take up a few of the many things that have struck me. Let me start from a saying that is part of your traditional wisdom. It is not only a turn of phrase but also a way of viewing life: “In…

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A once high-ranking Omaha priest, is in better legal shape than he was, but still stands accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars and faces years in prison.

A once high-ranking Omaha priest, is in better legal shape than he was, but still stands accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars and faces years in prison.

73-year-old Father Michael Gutgsell —accused of stealing nearly $100,000 from St. Joseph Church in Springfield—has had the Sarpy County charges dismissed.

At the same time, Gutgsell is still awaiting trial in Douglas County where he’s accused of raiding the bank account of priest who was in poor health. Gutgsell, who had power of attorney over Fr. Ted Richling, is accused of stealing $155,000 from Richling, who died a few years ago and was named in a recent state investigation detailing widespread sexual abuse by Catholic clergy.

Sarpy County Attorney Lee Polikov tells News…

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Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki raised eyebrows during a meeting where he reportedly said Pope Francis was “out of touch with reality.” The Cologne archdiocese said the remarks were not intended to be disrespectful.

A high-level church meeting with Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki ended on a sour note for some participants on Saturday, after the controversial archbishop caused a stir with his remarks on the pope, news agency dpa reported.

Woelki has faced mounting criticism in recent months over his handling of reports of sexual abuse in Cologne — Germany’s largest Catholic archdiocese. The cardinal offered to resign as archbishop in March, but Francis has yet to make a decision.

What did he say about the pope?

Woelki appealed for a new start and a second chance as archbishop during a closed meeting with Cologne’s pastoral council on Friday and Saturday.

But his comments on Pope Francis sparked alarm among some of the 60 participants.

…

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Dogma Historical Resources for Making Changes to Confession in Terms of Clerical and Sacramental Theology

[Please share the original URL of this open source article with others who are interested. This article and related ones appear in Sexual and Spiritual Violence against Adult Men and Women in the Catholic Church, a special issue of the journal Religions.]

Abstract

The dynamic and asymmetry of a pastoral situation is intensified by the Catholic theological rules to the extent that the confession may only be heard by an ordained man. It is particularly the priest’s sole right to pronounce absolution that compounds spiritual dependency in terms of the personal relationship with God that the sin fundamentally impairs. I shall take dogmatic decisions and attrition—to indicate potential for change that could make the confessional, which is still an important place for some women, a possibly less dangerous place. These changes would be: Precisely, because…

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Restorative justice, clerical sexual abuse, and the Catholic Church were the topics of the 22nd annual Lawler lecture on Thursday, March 24. 

Stephen Pope, a professor of theological ethics at Boston College, stated that his name was ironic as he lectured over the prospects and pitfalls of using restorative justice to address the ongoing issue of clerical sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. 

Pope explained that clerical abuse comes from a number of interconnected problems, such as rape culture, abuse of power, and the idea of, “take what you want when you want it.” He elaborated how using status to gain access and trust allows the exploitation of many. 

Restorative justice, a topic that Pope lectured intensely on, is a justice method that focuses on facilitating internal healing for the defendants, victims, and any of the ripples that these horrible acts have caused. 

He suggests that this can be used…

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[Google translation is followed by original German text.]

Canon lawyers: Clergy congregation limits bishops’ powers / Pallottine decision “quite one-sided”.

Decisions by the Vatican Congregation for the Clergy in the “Ellen Adler” case weaken the abuse regulations of the Catholic German Bishops’ Conference (DBK) and make preventive measures more difficult. This emerges from two decrees that are now available to the BZ (see also the report of March 7). The handling of the cause causes criticism among canonists.

In the decrees, the clergy congregation rescinded preventive measures taken by the Dresden bishop Heinrich Timmerevers against two Pallottine fathers, although they expressly do not oblige Timmerevers to restore the good reputation of the main accused.

The Tübingen church law professor Bernhard Anuth bowed to the decision for the BZ about the clergyman: “In the present case, the congregation has documented that it is also willing to protect the supposedly good reputation of clergymen,…

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This column is part of our ongoing Opinion commentary on faith, called Living Our Faith. Find the full series here.

Twenty years had passed since the last time I’d read Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. A novel doesn’t change, no matter how much time goes by. But a reader changes. And the world does, too.

Last summer, when I returned to this classic — the bane of many a high school student — as part of a project of editing and annotating a series introducing classics to Christian readers, I was taken aback by something I had never seen in the book before.

Like most readers, I’d always understood The Scarlet Letter to be a story about adultery. After all, the assumed meaning of the titular “A,” pinned as a badge of dishonor to Hester Prynne’s breast, is to mark her for that particular sin. But what I realized upon this recent reading is…

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[From Canadian Press]

Natan Obed discussed the church’s responsibility in ensuring Johannes Rivoire is put on trial in Canada

The leader of the national organization representing Inuit says he had a meeting with the head of a Catholic order in Rome to discuss the case of a priest accused of crimes against children in Nunavut.

“I would hope that the Catholic Church’s faith dictates that they would work with us in a case where there are severe allegations of sexual abuse, especially sexual abuse of minors,” said Natan Obed, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami.

Obed said he had a one-hour meeting Thursday with Louis Lougen, superior general of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, to discuss the church’s responsibility in ensuring Johannes Rivoire is put on trial in Canada.

The meeting came after Obed asked Pope Francis during a meeting at the Vatican on Monday to personally intervene in Rivoire’s case.

…

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More than three years ago, the state attorney general’s office announced it was launching an investigation into the handling of child sexual abuse by New York’s Catholic dioceses. Since then, no cases have been pursued by the district attorneys who were encouraged at that time to pursue any related criminal allegations that were uncovered and fell within applicable statutes of limitations.

The lack of any apparent grand jury investigations — which could also produce reports detailing the dioceses’ handling of child sex abuse even if criminal charges were not possible — has occurred despite increasing evidence that church leaders routinely covered up the allegations to protect those priests and their institutions. That practice also led to the additional abuse of children when accused priests were later allowed to return to ministry without bishops or others notifying congregations of their histories, according to court records.

“I am not aware of any (criminal…

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[This report includes video interviews with two survivors, Colleen Garbarini and Gordon Smith, and a Twitter clip with more interview content. See also the deposition of Bishop Howard Hubbard.]

The release last week of nearly 700 pages of testimony by former Bishop Howard Hubbard on priest abuse in the Albany Catholic Diocese helped to validate claims made by survivors of priest abuse, accusers said.

Last week’s ruling to unseal Hubbard’s deposition was the first time accusers had the chance to read his multi-day testimony. While some attorneys had access to the file, survivors like Gordon Smith did not.

“Finally, we have confirmation from them that they have been doing this all along,” said Smith, who filed one of about 300 Child Victims Act lawsuits against the Albany Diocese in 2019.

Smith said he read parts of the deposition and press articles detailing the almost 700-page document.

In the deposition,…

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[Note: “Silent Screams! A Gallery of Artwork Born of Clergy Abuse” is available on YouTube.]

Sometimes the interviews on TV don’t do it. People have become immune to the horror, in Vinnie Nauheimer’s view. 

Twenty years ago this week, his family’s story was part of a larger one that was in the headlines – on the front page of the Daily News on two consecutive days, for instance, with pages of coverage inside.  The first day, the News’ lead story was titled “Twisted Journey of a Problem Priest”; the next, “Problem Priest Had Church on His Side.”

A few days earlier, the New York Times headline involving the controversy at Holy Name parish in Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y., ran “A Secret Settlement, but Little Solace for Family.”

Victims and their families are now finding alternative ways to bear witness to the tragic legacy of the sexual abuse of children, lest anyone…

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Residents see it as the first step towards healing for the community.

The last several months have been important ones on the path of healing and reconciliation between the Catholic church and First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. In the wake of Pope Francis’s historic apology for the horrors of the residential school system, there is also healing and reconciliation to be had closer to home.

In Kahnawake, the remains of an allegedly abusive priest will be exhumed from the cemetery at St. Francis Xavier Mission Catholic Church and repatriated to Saint-Jérôme. This is the starting point for what survivors hope will be a process of healing.

“The original decision was made last summer. People wanted him removed,” said Melissa Montour-Lazare, a spokesperson for the community in Kahnawake. “There was already controversy in 1999 where the women [he abused] had stated that they didn’t want him there.”

Reverend Léon Lajoie was…

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[Please share the original URL of this open source article with others who are interested. This article and related ones appear in Sexual and Spiritual Violence against Adult Men and Women in the Catholic Church, a special issue of the journal Religions.]

Abstract

Disproving assumptions to the contrary, this article clearly shows how and why adults can become victims of abuse in church contexts. It does this by focusing on the pastoral care context and the interdependent potential risk factors lying within. As previous studies suggest, this context is especially susceptible to perpetrating abuse. Approximately three-quarters of all cases of abuse occur or begin in the context of pastoral care or spiritual counseling. Often, theories of pastoral care do not address this danger and tend to idealize the practice of pastoral care. In contrast, it is necessary to recognize a specific power to victimize due to the theological and structural…

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Pope Francis apologized on Friday for the Roman Catholic Church’s involvement in a system of Canadian boarding schools that abused Indigenous children for 100 years, an announcement that comes after the discovery last year of signs of unmarked graves with the remains of dozens of children.

I feel shame — sorrow and shame — for the role” that Catholics played “in the abuses you suffered and in the lack of respect shown for your identity, your culture and even your spiritual values,” Francis said.

Francis also promised he would travel to Canada, where he would be better able to “express to you my closeness” as part of a process of healing and reconciliation.

Francis spoke during an audience at the Apostolic Palace with 62 delegates from Canada’s three largest Indigenous groups, who had traveled to the Vatican in the hope that he would apologize to survivors in Canada. This was…

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Former Priest Daniel McCormack faced a deposition this week, forced to answer questions about several civil cases against him.

McCormack is free after serving time for sexually abusing five children while he was a priest at St. Agatha’s Parish. Gene Hollander, an attorney who represents several victims, said the deposition was an important moment in the history of the case.

“This is the first time since the scandal broke 17 years ago that he’s being forced to answering questions about abusing children,” Hollander said.

Hollander was one of several attorneys questioning Daniel McCormack about abusing children. Hollander said McCormack’s deposition lasted seven hours Wednesday.

“He had a very flat demeanor,” Hollander said. “I didn’t see any emotion from him. I just didn’t see any remorse. Some of these victims went through unspeakable horrors.”

Hollander said he has represented several of McCormack’s victims. So far, he has settled nine cases. He…

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THE Bishop of Sheffield, Dr Pete Wilcox, has expressed “deep shame” that a former priest in his diocese was responsible for the repeated beating, over almost a decade, of a woman in his parish.

Dr Wilcox said in a statement: “There are no excuses whatsoever for what took place and it is a cause of great regret to us that the matter has only now come to court. Clerical abuse is a grievous breach of trust, which almost always, as in this case, causes life-long harm.”

The assaults by Hilary Alflatt between 1983 and 1992 were only part of a pattern of abuse that he allegedly inflicted on his victim at his Sheffield vicarage, a jury at Hull Crown Court heard last week. Mr Alflatt was also accused of treating his victim like a slave, forcing her to take a vow of obedience, making her prostrate herself before him, kiss…

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United States Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams announced that Robert Brennan, 83, of Perryville, MD, was sentenced by United States District Court Judge Anita B. Brody to five years of probation, the first two years of which will be served on home confinement with location monitoring, for lying to investigators about not knowing a former parishioner and victim of sexual abuse.

In November 2021, the defendant pleaded guilty to making materially false statements in a matter within the jurisdiction of the executive branch of the United States government. The charges stem from an interview conducted in April 2019, during which Brennan was questioned by the FBI and made a number of false statements.

Brennan had served in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia from 1993 to 2004 as a priest at Resurrection of Our Lord parish in the Rhawnhurst section of Northeast Philadelphia. In September 2013, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office filed criminal…

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[From Alberta Native News]

Mounties have pressed a new charge against an Oblate priest living in France who faces multiple allegations sexual abuse from when he lived in Nunavut.

The RCMP issued a Canada-wide warrant for Johannes Rivoire, who resides in Lyon and is in his 90s, on March 28, The Canadian Press reports.

Nunavut RCMP said officers received complaints last year for repeated instances of sexual abuse that are alleged to have occurred 47 years ago, leading to him being charged with sexual assault a month ago.

The warrant was issued a day after Inuit leaders met with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Monday, where they asked for His Holiness’s intervention in the case.

Natan Obed, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, told CP he asked the Pope to urge Rivoire to return to Canada to face the charges and to ask France to intervene in the event Rivoire…

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The trial court’s January 14 verdict is ‘patently wrong, manifestly erroneous and totally perverse’, the state said.

The Kerala government on Wednesday filed an appeal before the High Court challenging the verdict of a trial court acquitting former bishop Franco Mulakkal in a case related to raping a nun, PTI reported. The nun also moved the High Court on Monday, according to The News Minute.

In June 2018, the nun had filed a complaint claiming that she was sexually abused by Mulakkal between 2014 and 2016 when he was the bishop of the Jalandhar diocese of Roman Catholic Church.

Mulakkal had accused the nun of seeking revenge for ordering an inquiry into a complaint against her. He was removed from his post after the allegations.

Judge G Gopakumar of the Kottayam Additional District and Sessions Court acquitted him on January 14.

In its appeal on Wednesday, filed by Additional Public Prosecutor…

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After years of resisting such calls, Pope Francis on Friday apologized for the “deplorable conduct” of some Catholics in Canada’s residential school system for Indigenous children, saying he was “deeply grieved” by the stories of “suffering, hardship, discrimination and various forms of abuse” from survivors.

Speaking to an audience that included an Indigenous delegation that traveled from Canada to the Vatican this week to press for an apology, Francis said he felt “shame” for the role Catholics have had “in the abuses you suffered and in the lack of respect shown for your identity, your culture and even your spiritual values.”

“All these things are contrary to the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” the pope said at the Apostolic Palace. “For the deplorable conduct of these members of the Catholic Church, I ask for God’s forgiveness and I want to say to you with all my heart: I am very sorry….

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The March 23 expiration of a provision in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester’s ongoing bankruptcy reactivates an untold number of state court sexual-abuse claims against individual Catholic churches across the diocese’s 12-county span. 

The revived state court cases were put on hold two years ago under a stipulation approved as part of the Chapter 11 case the diocese filed in 2019. The diocese filed the bankruptcy petition partly to avoid defending itself against scores of individual sexual-abuse claims. 

Running parallel to the ongoing bankruptcy, the revived state court cases promise to add complications that could include substantial new legal costs for the diocese, which so far has spent nearly $6 million to pay attorneys, accountants and consultants working on the long-stalled bankruptcy.

Inked six months into bankruptcy case in March 2020, the expired agreement called a temporary halt to scores of state court lawsuits filed against individual churches and other organizations…

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