ABUSE TRACKER

The diocese is facing of hundreds of lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by clergy. It would be the second time the diocese has sought the protections of the courts.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego is warning it may have to file bankruptcy in the future because of the potential fallout from hundreds of pending lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by clergy over the past 75 years.

The warning comes nearly 15 years to the day since the diocese last sought the sanctuary of the bankruptcy code, filing for Chapter 11 reorganization in the face of 144 claims of sexual abuse by clergy. The bankruptcy was dismissed eight months later, after the diocese reached a settlement with the victims for $198 million.

Now the diocese might have to go down the same path, said Keven Eckery, the communications director for the sprawling diocese of 1.3 million Roman Catholics in San Diego…

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The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego said Friday it may declare bankruptcy in the coming months as it faces “staggering” legal costs in dealing with some 400 lawsuits alleging priests and others sexually abused children.

In a letter that was expected to be shared with parishioners this weekend, Bishop Robert McElroy said the cases were filed after California lifted a statute of limitations on childhood sexual abuse claims.

Assembly Bill 218, which was signed into law in 2019, allows alleged victims to sue up until age 40. Also, beginning in 2020, it opened a three-year window for filing lawsuits without age limitations.

Most of the alleged abuse cited in the suits took place 50 to 75 years ago, and the earliest claim dates to 1945, Kevin Eckery, communications director for the diocese, said at a Friday news conference, KNSD-TV reported.

Eckery predicted that it would cost…

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That’s what an abuse survivor recently wrote to me about her call to the Southern Baptist Convention’s sexual abuse hotline. She had contacted the hotline more than seven months earlier, expecting her call would yield action. She was disappointed.

You can’t blame her for having had that expectation. The word itself — “hotline” — carries a connotation of urgency. So, that alone may lull people into expecting action.

Survivors weigh many concerns when considering whether to call the hotline. Is it safe? Is it confidential? Will a call trigger meaningful action? Will it bring accountability to the perpetrator? Will it provide help? Is it a good choice?

Although we all would like to imagine the answer to each of these questions is “Yes,” that may not be so. And there are good reasons for skepticism.

Here are some highlights of what we actually know — and don’t know — about the hotline,…

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As accusations mount against Frank Pavone, the head of Priests for Life says they ‘have already been addressed.’

A former employee says she was serially sexually harassed by Priests for Life director Frank Pavone, while Pavone himself acknowledged that he’s faced sexual misconduct allegations in the past.

The woman told The Pillar that she reported Pavone’s harassment both to Priests for Life officials – who excused Pavone’s behavior – and to the Diocese of Amarillo, while Pavone was still incardinated there as a cleric.

She is the second woman to come forward in recent weeks, alleging Pavone’s sexual advances, grooming behavior, and unwanted touching of junior employees.

For his part, Pavone told The Pillar Wednesday that he is “saddened” by recent reports which “revisit old accusations that contain numerous inaccuracies, misrepresentations, and mistruths.”

Those allegations, Pavone claims, “have already been addressed.”

Mary Worthington was an employee of Priests for Life from 2004, when…

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[Google translation followed by the French text. See also the full report on Philippe, Vanier, and L’Arche, and the synthesis (executive summary).]

CORREF read with horror and infinite seriousness the damning reports of l’Arche , “Ownership and abuse, investigation of Thomas Philippe, Jean Vanier and l’Arche”, and of Tangi Cavalin “l’Affaire, The Dominicans facing scandal of the Philip brothers. (note 1) both published on January 30.

Above all, the Conference of Religious of France salutes the very great professionalism of the researchers, their independence, their courage and that of the bodies that commissioned them, L’Arche and the Province of France of the Dominicans. All participate in this “little bit of truth” that we so need in the face of sexual violence committed in the Church and the systemic causes that made it possible.

These sums of work come to confirm – if it were still needed – the…

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The Irish branch of L’Arche, an international charity for people with intellectual disabilities, has said it is “very disappointed and saddened” following a report that found its French-Canadian founder Jean Vanier had abused as many as 25 women.

Mairead Boland Brabazon, chief executive of L’Arche Ireland, said that “thankfully, the report has shown the rest of L’Arche was not involved”. She said she was grateful that the charity’s international leadership had “thoroughly investigated the matter and acknowledged the women involved. They have taken it very seriously.”

Ms Boland Brabazon oversees L’Arche’s four centres in Ireland, at Dublin, Belfast, Cork and Kilkenny, caring for up to 170 people with day services provided to more than 100 others.

What the latest report uncovered was “completely against our values”, she said. “We work very hard for people to have a very good quality of life,” she said, adding she was thankful for all…

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We need to tread carefully when it comes to the Catholic version of stardom – very carefully, indeed

French Catholic paper La Croix has just reported on investigations into Jean Vanier and his sidekick Dominican priest Fr Thomas Philippe.

In 1946, Fr Thomas Philippe set up a ‘formation community’ called Living Water (L’Eau Vive). He sexually abused several women, who complained, and he was dismissed from the clerical state in 1956.

But because the details of his case were kept secret, he and his brother (also a priest) managed to convince people that Fr Thomas was an innocent victim of Vatican intrigues.

Then Fr Thomas met the young Jean Vanier, groomed him, and founded L’Arche with him in 1964. What followed was a horrible mess of sexual abuse fuelled by private revelations and bogus mysticism – all hidden behind excellent public relations.

Jean Vanier was venerated as a living saint,…

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Archbishop André-Joseph Léonard, the archbishop emeritus of Brussels-Mechelen and former primate of Belgium, has just published a book that will undoubtedly not go unnoticed in the Catholic world.

 L’Eglise dans tous ses états: 50 ans de débats autour de la foi (“The Church in All Its ‘States’: 50 Years of Debates Around the Faith”) is presented as an autobiographical account through which its author delivers an uncompromising analysis of the events that have taken place in the Church over the past five decades — from the theological and pastoral drifts that marked the post-Vatican II period to the current debates surrounding the Synod on Synodality and the various sexual-abuse scandals that have arisen over these years. 

Born in 1940 and ordained a priest in 1964, Archbishop Léonard was appointed bishop of Namur in 1991 and then archbishop of the Archdiocese of Brussels-Mechelen in 2010. He retired in 2015. 

His reputedly orthodox…

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Two bills that conflict directly with Catholic values and the protection of life are progressing in the Maryland General Assembly.

A bill that would legalize assisted suicide (SB0845/End-of-Life Action Act) was reintroduced Feb. 7 in the State Senate and a companion bill was expected to be introduced in the House. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Jeff Waldsteicher (D-18) of Montgomery County, essentially would legalize physician-assisted suicide in Maryland. 

The Maryland Against Physician Assisted Suicide coalition has been leading the lobbying effort against physician-assisted suicide legislation since it was first introduced in 2020.

“The proposal is the same dangerous, misguided policy that has failed repeatedly in Maryland,” directors of MAPAS said in a news release. “The Maryland Against Physician Assisted Suicide coalition remains staunchly opposed to legalizing physician-assisted suicide (PAS) for the same array of concerns, which the bill’s proponents continue to ignore. The fact that the General Assembly is being…

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After many years of clergy sexual abuse survivors only finding support for their healing outside of the Church community, Good Samaritans within the Church are approaching victims to help them bandage their wounds.

One American group of such Good Samaritans reached out to survivors and hosted several Healing Circles based on Restorative Justice principles. 

In an e-mail interview, Bill Casey, a Restorative Justice practitioner for more than 15 years, provided an explanation of what this group did, the challenges they faced and the good that came out of their efforts.

Bill Casey, a life-long Catholic, felt a call to action after January 2002 upon reading the Boston Globe’s series about the sexual abuse scandal in the Boston Archdiocese. Since then, he has interacted with hundreds of survivors and given presentations at conferences, including Boston College’s “Church in the 21st Century” and the Conference of Major Superiors of Men. Casey has practiced…

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[Via MSN]

Can we talk about the Ellis defence now?

In the highlight reel of disgraces perpetrated by the late George Pell against victims of church sex abuse, the so-called Ellis legal defence must surely be the standout. It was a cold-blooded strategy concocted between Pell and elite Sydney lawyers which had the dual effect of deterring victims from suing the church and saving the church a fortune. The strategy was so ugly that the NSW government was ultimately forced to legislate it out of existence. It has passed into infamy because it was so cruel and so unjust.

Yet no one’s been talking about the Ellis defence this week as Pell’s supporters have methodically set about washing the late cardinal’s reputation and positioning him for canonisation.

As the caravan moves on from the drama and spectacle of Pell’s burial last week, the powerbrokers have come in,…

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[Via National Catholic Reporter]

Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, the papal vicar for Vatican City State, has appointed Scalabrinian Fr. Luigi Sabbarese, a 60-year-old canon lawyer, to coordinate and verify the city state’s safeguarding efforts.

Francis established a set of guidelines in 2019 for the protection of children and vulnerable persons for the Vicariate of Vatican City, that is, for Vatican City State and the Roman Curia.

The guidelines said the papal vicar “shall appoint a contact person for the protection of minors who shall coordinate and verify the implementation of the present guidelines so that, within the vicariate, there is a community respectful and mindful of the rights and the needs of minors, as well as being vigilant in preventing any form of violence or abuse.”

The contact person also was to coordinate “the prevention and training activities of pastoral workers” and promote increased care in welcoming and supporting “those who…

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My personal feelings about the late cardinal George Pell, buried last week, are unresolved, deeply private and still raw.

George Pell was a controversial figure for decades and was a staunch defender of the church. He repeatedly touted his credentials as a person to whom the sexual abuse of minors was an abhorrent scourge on the church.

He did so as a cover to divert attention away from his record as a man who waged a covert war on victims and survivors of abuse, and who orchestrated the church’s defence to my claim — the “Ellis defence”, by which I was figuratively hanged, drawn and quartered, displayed as a warning to any other survivor who may have the temerity to seek to sue the church.

It claimed: “there is no legal entity responsible for sexual abuse in the Catholic Church”.

Pell apologised to me for that legal abuse perpetrated by the…

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He was abused by Father Samuel Penney while he was a choirboy

The victim of a paedophile priest from Burton has spoken of his horrific ordeal and how it took years before he could even speak about what happened to him. Eamonn Flanagan was 11 when he was first abused by vile Father Sam Penney, who was at the time the priest at St Mary and Modwen Catholic Church in the town.

Mr Flanagan, who has waived his right to anonymity, says he was abused while he was a choirboy at the Guild Street church in the 1970s. Speaking to his partner prompted him to speak to others and finally to the church diocese organisation, thinking action would be taken against Penney. But he was left devastated when nothing happened and Penney remained as a priest and would go on to attack other children.

Now in his fifties Mr Flanagan,…

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[Via MSN]

Every group imaginable participates in a Capitol Day. Civil rights advocates, educators, unionists, nurses, hairdressers, cities and counties, you name it, every agenda gets its day.

Their purpose is to bring attention to bills under consideration by the Texas Legislature.

Sometimes they get news coverage, but mostly they get a chance to meet with specific legislators to press their agendas.

These ordinary events aren’t as easy for survivors of child sexual abuse, even those who are now adults.

It’s difficult to come forward and reporting such crimes is still rare, especially for those victimized by members of the clergy.

It can take years, even decades, for them to talk about it.

That any victims of child sexual abuse are gathering in front of the Capitol next week is a minor miracle.

But a group of Texans, including a San Antonio contingent of the Survivors Network of those Abused…

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In 2018, the Catholic world was reeling from the one-two punch of abuse allegations against Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and the scathing Pennsylvania grand jury report exposing Catholic clergy sexual abuse of over 1,000 children over the previous 70 years. That reckoning prompted a group of researchers from 10 Jesuit institutions to mobilize to look for ways to stem a crisis of clergy sexual abuse that is now reaching its fourth decade.  

At Georgetown University, a priest began studying the healing effect of abuse survivors’ stories; an ethicist at New York’s Fordham University began investigating how Black survivors had been erased from the clergy abuse crisis; in Milwaukee, an interdisciplinary team at Marquette University started a workshop for Catholic teens on abusive power dynamics.

These projects are three of the 18 funded by an unnamed foundation and whose findings are published in Taking Responsibility, a 68-page report from Fordham University released in January.

…

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A bill that would mandate clergy report disclosures of abuse will be modified, but it may not be enough to win over its critics.

House Minority Leader Angela Romero, D-Salt Lake City, told FOX 13 News on Thursday she is amending her bill to only mandate that disclosures of child sexual abuse and exploitation be reported to law enforcement. She confirmed that would remove any requirement clergy report physical abuse.

“It focuses on child sex abuse, so clergy would have to report if it’s child sex abuse,” Rep. Romero said, adding the decision was made with the support of sexual abuse survivors and victim advocates she has been working with.

The House Minority Leader’s bill is one of four pieces of legislation that have been filed in the Utah State Legislature following recent cases of sexual abuse involving faith groups in the state, including The Church of Jesus Christ of…

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Vatican City – The umbrella group of Catholic religious orders in France is demanding church authorities assume responsibility for horrific evidence of sexual, spiritual and psychological abuse in L’Arche, once a preeminent lay community dedicated to people with developmental disabilities.

Sister Veronique Margron, president of the conference of religious orders in France, issued a devastating analysis Thursday of the implications of the findings of a two-year investigation into L’Arche, its founder, Jean Vanier, and his spiritual guru, the Rev. Thomas Philippe.

The 437-page report, published on Jan. 30, offers a detailed forensic study of how Vanier created a secretive “sect” within the heart of the Catholic Church designed entirely to feed his sexual appetites through “collective delirium” and mystical-sexual practices that he justified on spiritual grounds.

Using seduction, manipulation, secrecy and coercion, the charismatic Vanier initiated as many as 25 young women into the “mystico-sexual practices” of the sect within…

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‘I’m sure that there are going to be other conversations taking place on the top priorities of either chamber,’ Rep. Ryan Bizzarro said

After declaring victory in special elections Tuesday and claiming a majority in the Pennsylvania House, Democrats say their first order of business after reorganizing the chamber will be to vote on legal relief for sexual abuse survivors. 

The Republican-controlled state Senate last month passed a long-awaited bill that would give childhood sexual abuse survivors additional time to sue their attackers in court. 

To the dismay of the proposed constitutional amendment’s author, Rep. Jim Gregory, R-Blair, Senate Republicans packaged the measure with other proposed amendments on voter identification and gave the Legislature power to veto regulations from the executive branch.

A House Democratic spokesperson said Wednesday that House Speaker Mark Rozzi, D-Berks, plans to call votes on both a standalone version of the survivors’ amendment and…

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When The Big Problem Here is that people don’t know enough pastors, not that those pastors cause countless scandals, you’ve got a much bigger problem on your hands than a lack of trust.

Yet again, Gallup surveys show that Americans’ trust in clergy, including pastors, is eroding. In fact, that erosion has hit record levels for the second year in a row. Barely a third of Americans trust pastors any further than they can throw them. And Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) leaders think they know why. Yes, it’s so simple! People just don’t know any pastors personally, and so all they have to go on is the constant news of pastors’ scandals!

But this explanation actually causes them more problems than they think. It’s a signal flare in the sky to all beholding it: This is not a trustworthy organization at all.

Gallup delivers devastating news about…

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As fewer Americans interact with pastors on a regular basis, fewer say they trust clergy overall.

Trust in pastors fell for the third straight year and reached an all-time low. Around 1 in 3 Americans (34 percent) rate the honesty and ethical standards of clergy as high or very high, according to the latest Gallup survey.

Downward trends in church attendance accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic. With more Americans staying home each Sunday, fewer personally know a local church pastor. The lack of individual knowledge means more people associate pastors as a whole with the scandals surrounding individual church leaders.

The 34 percent who believe pastors have high ethical standards marks a two-point drop from the previous historic low last year of 36 percent.

Declining trust in pastors

Previously, Americans said pastors had a high or very high ethical standard and level of honesty,…

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As a pediatrician-turned-pastor, I believe reporting suspected child harm is our civic and Christian duty.

After entering the exam room to greet a 4-year-old patient, I couldn’t help but notice bruises on her arms. Black, blue, green, and yellow—each was in a different stage of healing. Injuries on the arms and legs are typical for young children as they run, grow, and play. But her bruising pattern resembled the imprint of a wire hanger.

While looking through her medical chart, I asked what had happened. The little girl sheepishly explained that she fell while playing hopscotch with her friends. Her stepfather nodded in approval, but red flags erupted in my mind. I continued with her well-child check as if not overly concerned. But as I examined her frail body, more bruising was evident on her torso, back, and thighs—where children do not typically get hurt.

“How did you get so…

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Three bills advocating for change to Utah clergy child abuse reporting requirements are making their way through the current legislative session.

The bills include HB212, HB115 and SB 72. HB212, sponsored by state representative Brian King, was introduced to the House on Jan. 17 as Clergy Child Abuse Reporting Requirements.

The bill is meant to clarify the current option clergy members already have to report abuse revealed to them in confidential meetings.

“HB212 will make explicit what the statute already is,” King said, “which establishes a priest-penitent privilege that says you can’t require or mandate priests or clergy to report child abuse when that information comes from the perpetrators.”

The bill says one may, if they feel like they need or want to, report abuse to law enforcement, King said.

HB212 is largely trying to make sure clergy know there is no legal prohibition on reporting abuse to law enforcement…

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Survivors of clergy abuse said if the Diocese of Worcester, Massachusetts, were to release the names of priests who have been accused of abusing children, it would help more people heal.

The diocese reported 173 people have made credible allegations against 54 clergy between 1950 and 2022. The report said the majority of the victims were abused as boys.

But unlike the vast majority of U.S. dioceses, Worcester doesn’t name the clergy accused of abuse.

Skip Shea, a 62-year-old from Uxbridge, said three priests from the diocese abused him from age 11 until 16. He said not making the names of accused priests public doesn’t help survivors.

“It just keeps everything still a secret, which is probably the most damaging thing you can do to any victim or survivor is to let them know that it’s still a secret,” Shea said.

Shea also wants the diocese to publish…

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Pennsylvania House Speaker Mark Rozzi is calling the chamber back into session on Feb. 21 with a plan in mind and a hope for a break in the stalemate that has prevented any legislation moving in Harrisburg.

But the Berks County Democrat said Wednesday he would would rather see adult survivors of child sexual abuse have greater opportunity to sue their abusers than continue to hold the speaker’s gavel.

“That priority is getting victims of childhood sexual assault their day in court to provide them justice, to provide them the truth, to allow them to expose their perpetrator to protect all the children in this commonwealth from ever being sexually abused by their predators ever again,” said Rozzi, who was abused as a child by a Catholic priest.

“I never wanted to be a legislator. I never wanted to be speaker but I’m here right now…

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According to The Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee, a deacon at Little Flower Catholic Church is being investigated by the Florida Department of Children and Families.

The diocese said on Thursday afternoon, Feb. 2, Little Flower Catholic School received a complaint from three students regarding Deacon Tom Gordon, a deacon serving at Little Flower Catholic Church.

DCF and the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office were notified on Feb. 3, and the diocese said at this time, Gordon is not serving in ministry until they receive the outcome of the investigation.

“The Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee is committed to protecting children, youths and vulnerable adults,” The Diocese said in a statement provided to WKRG News 5. “Sexual misconduct by church clergy, employees and volunteers violates human dignity and the mission of the Catholic Church. The spiritual well-being of all victims, their families, and others in the community is of particular concern to the Church.”

The…

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A leaked email has revealed a Dunedin principal said a silver lining to the deadly Auckland floods was keeping a story about her school off the front page.

A pre-dawn blessing was held at Trinity Catholic College on January 28, to mark a new era for the school after changing its name from Kavanagh College.

It followed a 2020 investigation into former Bishop of Dunedin John Kavanagh, after whom the school was named.

The investigation found that seven priests, two brothers and one lay teacher sexually abused children, and in one case an adult, during that time.

The investigation found Kavanagh knew of complaints related to two priests: Father Freek Schokker and Magnus Murray.

In the case of Murray, it was determined he admitted abuse to Kavanagh and was sent to Australia for treatment.

Kavanagh did what he was required to under canon law at the time, but the probe…

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The Catholic school board has identified a former teacher whose license was recently revoked after a disciplinary committee found he sexually abused a student in the early 2000s.

The Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario says it recently became aware that one of its former teachers, Edward Michael Oliver, had his license revoked for apparent “professional misconduct” involving the sexual abuse of a student.

The school board says Oliver was employed for 31 days as an occasional teacher at St. John Catholic High School in Perth before assuming a contract position for five months more than a decade ago.

He has not been employed by the board since that time.

According to a decision handed down by the Ontario College of Teachers (OCT) in August 2022, Oliver “engaged in a personal relationship with” a student, “spent time alone” with her in his personal vehicle and in his residence, and…

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A federal judge this week said she wants to see the Archdiocese of New Orleans bankruptcy proceedings wrapped up later this year, signaling that clergy sexual abuse victims, church creditors and the New Orleans faithful may soon learn the final financial cost of the abuse crisis to the local Roman Catholic church.

At a hearing Tuesday that included arguments over raising the cap on the bankruptcy’s mounting legal fees, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Meredith Grabill told attorneys for both sides she hopes a mediation hearing scheduled for next week will move the needle forward in the case nearly three years after it was filed.

“I hope we get to 2024 and don’t have to have this conversation again,” Grabill said. “I think that is a reasonable goal…I’m optimistic about what you’re walking into next week and that it will be productive.”

Court documents, many of which have been redacted or…

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An advocacy group for survivors of sexual abuse by priests has condemned the Diocese of Worcester’s updated report on cleric abuse throughout the diocese’s history because it does not name accused clerics.

In a news release, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, said the diocese and Bishop Robert J. McManus’ practice of not naming priests leaves uncertainty in parishioners.

“[U]ntil hierarchs like Bishop McManus ‘come clean’ about all the perpetrators in their dioceses – bishops, priests, and deacons – parishioners can only look up from the pews to the altar and wonder if the mass celebrants may be a threat to their children,” the statement reads.

The recent report is an update to a 2004 document by then-Bishop Daniel P. Reilly. The new report cites 209 total allegations made against clergy since the establishment of the diocese in 1950. Of those claims, 173 were deemed “credible,” or…

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Victims and defendants in all five cases were member of Jehovah’s Witness congregations; arrests follow sexual abuse charges against four different members of Jehovah’s Witness congregations in October 2022

Acting Attorney General Michelle Henry today announced the filing of criminal charges against five individuals from Pennsylvania: Marc Brown, of Allegheny County; Raymond Shultz, of Beaver County; Abimael Valentin-Matos, of Lancaster County; Kevin Isovitsch, of Butler County; and Norman Aviles, also of Lancaster County, for the sexual assault and exploitation of children. In each case, all of the defendants and their victims were members of Jehovah’s Witness congregations. These arrests follow charges filed against four other members of Jehovah’s Witness congregations in October 2022.

“The details of these crimes are sad and disturbing, facts which are made even more abhorrent because the defendants used their faith communities or their own families to gain access to victims,” said Acting Attorney General…

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We applaud Pennsylvania Acting Attorney General Michelle Henry who announced today the arrests and criminal charges in multiple child Sex Abuse cases across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The charges were returned to the Office of Attorney General by the 49th investigative grand jury.

Five men, all of whom were involved with the Jehovah’s Witnesses, were charged with sexual assault offenses involving minors, some of their own families. The charges were filed against Marc Brown of Allegheny County, Raymond Shultz of Beaver County, Abimael Valentin-Matos of Lancaster County, Kevin Isovitsch of Butler County, and Normal Aviles of Lancaster County.

We know that pursuing justice against these perpetrators would not be possible if it were not for the strength and courage of the brave victims who stepped forward by calling the Office of Attorney General to report these crimes. We understand it’s hard for victims to speak up, but that’s…

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Five members from Jehovah’s Witness congregations from across Pennsylvania are facing child sex abuse charges as the state’s acting attorney general continues to urge survivors to come forward and report their abuse.

The charges against the five men are the result of an investigating grand jury, and in each case the men and their victims were members of Jehovah’s Witness congregations, acting Attorney General Michelle Henry announced Tuesday.

Four of the men were arrested, while one man, Norman Aviles of Lancaster County, is still at large and is wanted on 20 charges, prosecutors said.

The new cases come after four Jehovah’s Witness members were charged last October by then-Attorney General Josh Shapiro with the sexual assault and exploitation of 19 children.

Ms. Henry said Tuesday those initial cases stemmed from a referral from a local district attorney’s office, which grew to a three-year investigation with 100 of hours of testimony…

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Patty Ruppert was trembling so badly she wasn’t sure she would get through her talk.

Standing in front of her fellow parishioners at the conclusion of an evening Mass in December, the faith formation director at Immaculate Heart of Mary revealed a painful secret few knew about her: she is a survivor of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

“I stand here to try to help others put a face to this horrible reality of abuse,” said Ruppert, who gave the same address at all the liturgies that weekend.

The church is more than clergy, hierarchy or stone buildings, she said, and faith is not rooted in a priest, bishop or anyone else.

“My faith,” she insisted, “is in Jesus Christ.”

When the 64-year-old lector and extraordinary minister of holy Communion finished her presentation, parishioners rose to their feet for an extended ovation. Many came up to her after Mass…

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Liz Goldman, M.D., is a board-certified psychiatrist specializing in women’s mental health care and currently serves as a Clinical Associate faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Goldman’s story has been told in the film Silent No More. This blog was originally shared with Marci Hamilton, CEO and Founder of CHILD USA, in response to the horrendous politicking that PA residents have endured for nearly two decades of dodge and delay tactics by legislators to avoid Statute of Limitation Reform.

I signed up to speak at Rep. Rozzi’s “listening tour” event on 1/27/23 as a public commenter. Unfortunately, I wasn’t selected and didn’t get that opportunity.

I stayed publicly silent for 32 years after being sexually abused as a child. Then, I shared my story with Philadelphia Magazine in 2018, detailing my life at ages 12-14 when I was groomed and then repeatedly sexually abused by a teacher at my…

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A Roman Catholic Diocese that covers central Massachusetts has published a new report about clergy sexual abuse of minors between 1950 and 2022, but unlike similar reports released by many other dioceses, the report did not include the names of the priests who were found to have committed abuse.

In the report made public Friday, Bishop Robert McManus of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester said he felt releasing the names “will not accurately reflect the various concerns and outcomes.”

McManus said that in addition to reporting every allegation to law enforcement, the diocese publishes information on its website about every priest who has been placed on leave due to a credible report of abuse or who has been removed from clerical duties.

“Such lists can be a cause for deep division among many members of our Church who see this as publicly branding as guilty…

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A Massachusetts diocese has defended not publishing a list of accused clerics. Do they have a point?

The Diocese of Worcester, Massachusetts, issued on Friday an updated report on clerical sexual abuse in the diocese, going back to the 1950s.

In the wake of first the Spotlight scandals of the early 2000s and then the Pennsylvania grand jury report of 2018, reports like these have become common for U.S. dioceses to release, and become an accepted part of both the Church’s reckoning with its past, and the tracking of its progress.

But the Worcester report was different from most — not for what it included, but for what it didn’t.

Unlike other dioceses, Worcester did not include the names of clergy accused of historical acts of abuse, and it does not maintain a public list of “credibly accused” clergy.

Those decisions have drawn criticism for Bishop Robert McManus, who has…

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On Jan. 26, 2023, Fordham University submitted a statement outlining an effort to better understand and prevent sexual misconduct from clergy members. The statement included a message from President Tania Tetlow where she said she sympathizes with survivors of abuse and aims to defend those from “such cruelty.” “Too many are still determined to disbelieve reality—that child sexual abuse remains rampant in many institutions with trust over children,” wrote Tetlow.

Citing her years as an attorney, Tetlow wrote about the variety of issues within the court system that occasionally turns a blind eye to such pressing issues. As a lawyer, she wrote that she has even discovered a “…frequent overlap between domestic violence and child sexual abuse.”

 “I [have] experienced the hostility of a legal system determined to disbelieve something so unpleasant. As I heard one family court judge announce, ‘litigants know not to bring claims like that into my court,’”…

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Timor Leste’s former president and four-time prime minister Xanana Gusmao has come under fire for joining the birthday party of a defrocked American priest jailed for child sex abuse.

The photos and videos showing Gusmao celebrating the 86th birthday of his long-time friend and ex-priest, Richard Daschbach, in Becora Prison in the capital Dili, on Jan. 26, sparked debates on social media.

Photos showed Gusmao, flanked by some other guests, cutting and sharing cake while smiling.

Richard Daschbach was sentenced to 12 years in jail in December 2021 for sexually abusing several minors in a childcare home he founded in the 1990s.

Supporters of the abuse victims said the incident has hurt them.

“This was very painful for the victims to see. It is a slap in the face to the victims,” a source close to the victims told UCA News on Jan 30.

She condemned…

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A former Catholic church musician anonymously alleging he was raped has been forced to identify himself by name in order to continue his legal action against the Catholic Diocese of Knoxville.

Identified only as “John Doe” in his original lawsuit alleging a seminarian raped him, the claimant refiled his lawsuit Jan. 27 under his legal name, according to the document uploaded by Pillar Media.

Knox County Circuit Court Judge E. Jerome Melson ruled in August 2022 that the claimant could not pursue the lawsuit anonymously, granting a request by the defendants, according to court records Pillar Media accessed.

Liz Evan, a Clarksville, Tenn.-area attorney and member of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Sexual Abuse Task Force, which oversaw a third-party investigation in the SBC Executive Committee’s handling of abuse claims, said the judge’s ruling could discourage alleged sexual abuse survivors from seeking justice.

“Survivors will absolutely be chilled from seeking justice through…

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The Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board (NAMB) terminated one of its church-planting leaders, Michael Crawford, on Friday amid reported “moral failure,” a NAMB spokesman confirmed to The Roys Report (TRR).

Crawford had been vice president of strategies and development for the Send Network, NAMB’s church-planting arm, since October. He also led the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware (BCMD), but resigned suddenly on Friday.

A letter to BCMD member churches stated Crawford gave notice that he was resigning as executive director “effective immediately.” He had led the organization for almost a year.

Crawford’s resignation came “due to moral failure involving marital indiscretions which disqualifies him from this position,” according to the letter from the BCMD’s president, the president of its administrative committee, and the leader of its mission board.

Crawford’s departure is the second at NAMB amid scandal within the last nine months. Last May,…

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Michael Crawford, executive director of the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware, has resigned “due to moral failure involving marital indiscretions which disqualifies him from this position,” the convention’s Administrative Committee announced Saturday, Feb. 4.

“This morning we received word from Brother Michael Crawford that he is resigning his position as the executive director of the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware effective immediately,” the brief statement said. “The reason for his resignation is due to moral failure involving marital indiscretions which disqualifies him from this position.”

What is not clear is Crawford’s employment status with the Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board, where he also has been employed as vice president of strategy and development. That position was announced last October.

Given the unusual nature of an executive being simultaneously employed in two full-time jobs by two Baptist entities, BNG asked Crawford in October if he was, in fact, being employed by both BCMD…

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Parents who say their child was abused by a teacher at a preschool in Texas are suing the preschool where the abuse allegedly happened. They’re also suing a Christian preschool where the teacher was previously employed, claiming the school failed to report other allegations of the teacher’s abuse, allowing his abuse to continue.

The lawsuit was filed on January 26 in Dallas County District Court and seeks $100 million in damages. The Roys Report (TRR) is not naming the alleged victim’s parents to protect the alleged victim’s identity. 

The suit alleges that Thaddaeus Davidson, 34, abused the plaintiffs’ 3-year-old child while employed at Carpe Diem Private Preschool in Southlake.

The suit adds that Davidson’s previous employer, Lionheart Children’s Academy, failed to report allegations of abuse, dating back to 2021. A non-profit Christian organization founded in 2014, Lionheart operates educational childcare programs using contracted church facilities.

According to Lionheart, Davidson has…

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Bishop Georg Bätzing and Irme Stetter-Karp spoke on the first full day of Europe’s synodal continental assembly in Prague.

German Catholic leaders urged participants in Europe’s synodal continental assembly Monday to consider adopting the goals of the country’s controversial “synodal way.”

Bishop Georg Bätzing, chairman of the German bishops’ conference, and Irme Stetter-Karp, president of the lay Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), told delegates at the meeting in Prague Feb. 6 that the Church needed structural changes in response to systemic abuse.

Speaking on the first full day of the meeting, they insisted that the Church in Germany wanted to pursue reforms in unity with Catholics in other European countries, rather than taking a “special path” (Sonderweg) that critics say could lead to schism.

Bishop Bätzing said: “We started a synodal way in 2019 because a scientific investigation into abuse in our Church showed us: There is serious…

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The Florida Department of Children and Families is investigating claims made against a deacon at Little Flower Catholic Church in Pensacola, according to the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee.

The Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee says Little Flower Catholic School received a complaint from three students about the deacon, who serves at Little Flower Catholic Church.

The deacon will not serve the ministry until the investigation is complete.

The diocese says the incident did not take place at the school, and that it happened during Mass.

The Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee has alerted families of the incident. They sent WEAR News a statement, which we have provided below:

On Thursday afternoon, February 2, Little Flower Catholic School received a complaint from three students regarding Deacon [REDACTED], a deacon serving at Little Flower Catholic Church. The Florida Department of Children and Families and the Escambia County Sherriff’s Office were notified on February 3. At this time,…

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Archbishop John C. Wester has seen the Archdiocese of Santa Fe through a cataclysmic clergy abuse scandal, a bankruptcy of more than $121 million, and worst of all, the unscrubbable stain of the damage done to hundreds or thousands of New Mexico Roman Catholics, most of them children.

The clip file is huge and painful. But if you look at the calendar, much of it is in the past.

Or is it?

Not by a long shot.

My source? Archbishop John C. Wester.

“You know, sometimes people say, ‘Well, I guess we’ve settled that,’ ” Wester said in a recent interview. “I say, ‘Oh, no, we haven’t settled it at all.’ ”

His message is easy enough to discern. The archdiocese’s awful history regarding the sexual abuse of children can never again just be pages in a book; stories in a library; signatures on checks. The battle against abuse has…

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The Diocese of Rockville Centre’s proposal to offer a sexual abuse settlement of as much as $200 million raises many questions [“Diocese offers up to $200M sexual abuse settlement,” News, Jan. 28]. Church Canon law 1263 states that a bishop has the right to impose a moderate tax on each parish church.

Throughout the year, there are additional “second collections,” which are also delivered to the bishop of each diocese. My former church in Queens was recently paying an 18% tax with no accountability of where this money was being spent by the bishop.

How much money has been spent employing high-priced law firms by the diocese? When will the diocese’s financial concerns be controlled by faithful lay leaders who espouse transparency and accountability? If not now, when?

— Joe Campbell, Port Washington

St. Agnes is the patron saint of the Rockville Centre diocese. She is also the patron…

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The Australian Victorian Supreme Court has permitted a claim for damages by a secondary victim of abuse and effectively confirmed the extension of liability to secondary victims.

RWQ v The Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne & Ors [2022] VSC 483 involved a claim brought pursuant to Part IX of the Wrongs Act 1958 (VIC) (the ‘1958 Act). The claim was brought by a father whose son had allegedly been abused by George Pell, the second defendant to the proceedings and a Vatican official, in 1996 when Pell was appointed as an assistant priest, bishop, auxiliary bishop and cardinal in Australia. The claim was also brought against the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne, the first defendant.

The pleadings of the plaintiff alleged that his son had turned to illicit substances at the age of 14 to deal with the trauma of the alleged abuse and that this had resulted in his fatal heroin overdose…

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The Costa Rican Bishops’ Conference and the Archdiocese of San José announced that an agreement has been reached to compensate four victims of sexual abuse by ex-priest Mauricio Víquez Lizano, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence.

The bishops said in a Feb. 1 statement that in order to close the legal proceedings for damages against the victims, “an agreement has been reached” that is “satisfactory to all parties.”

“According to what is established in this instrument, the content of this agreement is subject to a confidentiality clause, so no statements will be made in this regard,” the local Church said.

The bishops’ conference and the Archdiocese of San José stated that “the problem of the sexual abuse of minors is a dramatic situation in society” and added that “the Church regrets that cases have occurred in ecclesial contexts and works actively for prevention in order to provide safe environments.”

…

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I urge the Catholic Church and the Republican Party to refrain from seeking additional restrictions on abortion in the 2023 legislative session. Kansas voters rejected the imposition of Catholic teaching on abortion in August 2022, so why cause more strife in our state by debating abortion again?

Instead, the Catholic Church should focus on one of its biggest problems: the sexual abuse of boys and girls by its own Catholic priests and the coverup of these abuses by Catholic bishops. Sexual abuse and coverups occurred many times over many years, as the Kansas Bureau of Investigation documented in a report summary released Jan. 6, 2023, by the-Attorney General Derek Schmidt.

Having the Catholic Church repair its problems with bishops and priests is not the only reason for not seeking more restrictions on abortion.

Abortion is a religious and moral issue, and citizens should not be prohibited by the government or…

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The proposal, if passed, could have major financial ramifications for the Catholic Church and other institutions grappling with ongoing sexual abuse scandals

Childhood victims of sexual abuse in California would no longer face deadlines to file civil claims against their alleged abusers under a new bill announced Monday by Assemblymember Dawn Addis (D-Morro Bay) and Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley).

The Justice for Survivors Act seeks to end the civil statute of limitations for child sexual abuse, including claims against institutions that may have enabled or covered up abuse. Under the state’s current law, survivors are required to file claims in civil court by their 40th birthday, or in some cases, within five years after discovering their abuse as an adult.

“By eliminating the civil statute of limitations for child sexual abuse, we are helping survivors come forward to seek the critical closure they need,” Addis said in a press release issued Monday….

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Advocates of clergy sexual abuse victims are slamming a new report by the Catholic Diocese of Worcester on the abuse of minors, arguing the report is a “deceptive cover-up.”

According to the report, the diocese has received 209 allegations of clerical sexual abuse since its founding in 1950, 173 of which diocesan officials have deemed credible. Since only one allegation involves abuse that occurred since 1998, the report argues the diocese has effectively prevented sexual abuse of minors in recent years.

But attorneys who specialize in clerical pedophilia are forcefully rejecting that conclusion, arguing the Worcester Diocese has a history of discouraging victims from reporting their experiences. Lawyers and advocates add that people usually wait to come forward about their experiences with sexual abuse until they’re at least about 50 years old. Therefore, they say the report does not accurately reflect more recent cases of abuse during…

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A Roman Catholic Diocese that covers central Massachusetts has published a new report about clergy sexual abuse of minors between 1950 and 2022, but unlike similar reports released by many other dioceses, the report did not include the names of the priests who were found to have committed abuse.

In the report made public Friday, Bishop Robert McManus of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester said he felt releasing the names “will not accurately reflect the various concerns and outcomes.”

McManus said that in addition to reporting every allegation to law enforcement, the diocese publishes information on its website about every priest who has been placed on leave due to a credible report of abuse or who has been removed from clerical duties.

“Such lists can be a cause for deep division among many members of our Church who see this as publicly branding as guilty…

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This is the 16th installment in an 18-part serial on the unsolved 1966 murder of Buffalo Diocese Monsignor Francis J. O’Connor. Read the rest of the series.

[Includes brief video of former Buffalo News reporter Michael McKeating [who] remembers the murder of Francis O’Connor, sharing why he believes the Buffalo Diocese pressured the Buffalo police to stop investigating, and what Buffalo police homicide chief Leo J. Donovan told him about the investigation being shut down.]

Bishop James A. McNulty left no doubt who was the boss during the nine years he spent in charge of Buffalo’s Catholic Diocese.

But was he powerful enough to stop Buffalo police from investigating the murder of one of his priests? Did he?

McNulty was running the Buffalo Diocese when Monsignor Francis J. O’Connor was found dead March 13, 1966, in Scajaquada Creek.

The O’Connor murder probe was shut down suddenly –…

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What a despicable statement by the attorney for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, Gerald Petruccelli, who argued in court last week that nobody in Maine would have the “right to rest” if the statute of limitations for civil cases remained repealed. The victims of heinous crimes will never have that luxury.

It’s clear that the Catholic Church hasn’t changed. It has not accepted responsibility for decades of systemic protection of abusers and still does not exhibit compassion for the victims. Is there no limit to its hypocrisy?

Daniel Smith
Yarmouth

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Delegates representing the Catholic Church in Ireland will join another 200 in-person and 390 online delegates from around Europe at an assembly in Prague today to hammer out recommendations on reform and renewal for global Catholicism.

The ground-breaking European Synodal Assembly in the Czech capital is the next stage in a radical process of widespread consultation within the church initiated by Pope Francis in 2021.

The gathering will agree a series of “priority calls to action” which may include recommending change on the position of women and on the church’s language on LGBTQ+ relationships.

The four Irish delegates who will attend the Assembly in person are led by the leader of the Irish church, Archbishop Eamon Martin. A further 10 delegates will attend the Assembly online.

According to Dr Martin the Irish team, “is conscious of our responsibility to bring the fruits of what has been shared in many gatherings across…

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The President of Malawi has lauded “the enormous socioeconomic impact” of the initiatives that the Catholic Church has undertaken in the Southeastern African nation.

In his message following a meeting with the Apostolic Nuncio to Malawi and Zambia, Archbishop Gianfranco Gallone, President Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera said that his government will continue to collaborate with the Church to improve livelihoods.

“I have restated my administration’s satisfaction with the enormous socioeconomic impact the Roman Catholic Church has had in this country for decades through a number of interventions in various key sectors of human development,” President Chakwera says in a Wednesday, February 1 Facebook message. 

The Malawian President disclosed the purpose of the meeting, saying, “The main thrust of our discussion was on consolidating the cordial working partnership between the government of Malawi and the Roman Catholic Church.”

To enhance the partnership, the President who has been at the helm of the country…

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Key Points

• The filing is the next step in the explosive lawsuit which alleges alleges a former church employee was raped by a church seminarian and that the church, led by Bishop Richard Stika, interfered.
• The church asked the judge to permit the order of protection specifically due to the continued reporting of Knox News.
• The church is specifically asking for investigative documents to be sealed. A similar request was denied in a New York Court late last year.

The Catholic Diocese of Knoxville is asking a judge to grant greater secrecy as the church continues to defend itself in an explosive sexual abuse lawsuit. The effort is in large part due to the reporting of Knox News.

The Catholic Diocese of Knoxville has asked a judge to allow it to keep secret internal documents as it defends itself in an explosive sexual abuse lawsuit.

The diocese, citing ongoing coverage by Knox…

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Father César Cordero of Cuenca died Saturday morning at age 95. Easily the best-known Catholic priest in Ecuador and one of the most decorated in Latin America, he was accused in 2010 of being a “sexual monster” who raped and abused more than 50 boys and was subsequently defrocked by the Vatican.

Born into one of Cuenca’s most prominent families, Cordero’s father was the city’s most successful attorney in the early 20th century. His grandfather was president of Ecuador and later, its poet laureate.

Cordero is the founder of the Catholic University of Cuenca and more than a dozen primary and high schools throughout Ecuador. He is also credited with establishing hospitals, clinics, religious radio and television stations and several Catholic charities. He earned PhDs in Lima and Paris and did post-doctoral work in the U.S. In addition to Spanish, he was fluent in five languages. Among his many honors were…

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(For Immediate Release February 3, 2023)

A North Dakota priest, removed from ministry last month pending an investigation of “inappropriate conduct,” was arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of committing “sexual exploitation by therapist.” We applaud the brave victims for speaking up and contacting the police about this young priest. Contrary to what Catholic bishops say, clergy sexual abuse is NOT a thing of the past. This is the third arrest that we know of in 2023. Moreover, these arrests are likely a drop in the bucket, because only between 2 and 10 out of 100 victims of clerical abuse report within a year of being molested, and one-third never, ever report.

Fr. Neil Joseph Pfeifer, 48, was arrested in Rugby, North Dakota, and taken to the Pierce County Correctional Facility, where he awaits formal charges. Bishop John Folda of the Diocese of Fargo said in a statement, “Father…

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A new report by the Diocese of Worcester identified 173 credible allegations of cleric abuse of minors since the diocese was established in 1950.

The diocese said the report by Bishop Roberth McManus serves as an update to the 2004 report by then-Bishop Daniel Reilly. The total number of allegations made in the review, including allegations deemed unsubstantiated false or withdrawn, was 209.

Most of the allegations were reported to have occurred between the 1960s and 1980s, but 93 more credible or substantiated allegations have been made since the 2004 report. 

A large majority of the substantiated claims involved the abuse of boys. Less than 25% of the substantiated claims involved the abuse of girls, according to the diocese.

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A judge-led review of the Anglican diocese of Melbourne’s professional standards framework that investigated whether its response to sex abuse and other complaints was quick enough has been quietly warehoused by the church at the same time as it is embroiled in a messy five-year delay over whether to defrock ­former governor-general Peter Hollingworth.

The diocese of Melbourne was handed the review findings in April last year into its professional standards legislation but is not set to formally act on any reforms until at least October this year, further angering survivors who have for years been denied a ruling on Dr Hollingworth’s place in the church.

The glacial response comes as Dr Hollingworth is due to face the church’s independent professional standards board this week, in secret, to defend claims he bungled the handling of the child sex abuse response while he was archbishop of Brisbane and in his responses while…

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The synod process heavily criticised by the late cardinal George Pell could hold the key to preventing a recurrence of the “shocking” historical sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, according to the most senior woman working at The Vatican.

In Sydney on Friday, Sister ­Nathalie Becquart, an ­adviser to Pope Francis, would not be drawn on Pell or the “culture wars” emerging here and overseas between progressive and conservative ­Catholics.

But she said the emphasis on synodality – a process in which lay Catholics are included in discussions with priests and nuns and ­religious brothers – was a way to get rid of the clerical model of the church that could lead to abuse of power and sexual abuse.

“We know that all sexual abuses are abuses of power,” she said. “It’s a big issue.”

Before his sudden death last month, Pell wrote a scathing article for the Spectator in…

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The attorney for a woman who is accusing a local priest of sexually assaulting her on church property says this is just the beginning of a “terrifying” case. 

JAMESTOWN, N.D. — The attorney for a woman who is accusing a local priest of sexually assaulting her on church property says this is just the beginning of a terrifying case.

Father Neil Pfeifer was released Friday, Feb. 3, on $5,000 cash bail after pleading not guilty to charges of sexual assault and sexual exploitation by a therapist. However, he is being tracked electronically 24/7.

If convicted, he faces up to 5 years in prison.Lawyer says priest sexually assaulted women for years at churchhttps://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.554.2_en.html#goog_12717684550 seconds of 3 minutes, 19 secondsVolume 90% 

“It was heart-wrenching,” said lawyer Tim O’Keeffe as he described the story of the woman accusing Pfeifer in the case.

The Diocese of Fargo has removed Pfeifer from ministry at his parishes in…

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Sexual abuse survivors of former priest Michael Studdert who took indecent pictures of children are being urged to come forward.

The priest, who has now died, is thought to have abused children in England, Wales, Poland, Denmark and Italy.

Survivors of Studdert’s shocking crimes are being encouraged to take action during a compensation scheme which is set to close on April 28.

Studdert worked as a chaplain at Eagle House School in Sandhurst, Berkshire.

Specialist abuse law experts at Simpson Millar are representing a number of individuals who suffered sexual abuse at the hands of the former priest.

Head of the Abuse law team at Simpson Millar, Liam Goggin said: “This is a truly horrific case of abuse over a significant period of time, in multiple locations, and which undoubtably impacted the lives of many individuals.

“Money from the estate has been set aside specifically to help anyone who may have suffered sexual abuse from Michael…

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On February 13, the final report of the Independent Commission for the Study of Sexual Abuse in the Portuguese Catholic Church will be released.

In October, the commission had already validated testimony from 424 witnesses, but most had already expired in legal terms.

However, Pedro Strecht, President of the Independent Commission for the Study of Sexual Abuse in the Portuguese Catholic Church, says what they have is compelling: “The witness reports present a lot of identical information, a fact that reinforces the consistency of the testimonies and outlines serious situations existing over decades that become more evident the further you go back in time, and in some places, they assumed truly endemic proportions.”

“….taking the experience of other countries and what we are learning about reality, these figures will increase over the next few months”

Ricardo Barroso Psychologist and researcher

The initial figures presented by the commission came as no surprise to…

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There used to be more cows than people in Visalia, but a new 3,000-seat megachurch has brought Vegas kitsch to the worshippers of California’s Central Valley

With declining congregations, shuttered chapels and an ever shrinking number of priests, it is easy to assume that church in the US is on the way out for good. As parishes struggle to attract younger generations, and almost a third of Americans now declare no religious affiliation, this one nation under God seems to be rapidly losing its faith.

But some regions are bucking the trend, particularly in the south and west. In California’s Central Valley, the agricultural heartland of dairy farms and orchards that sprawl across the state’s flat fertile plains, producing half the country’s fruit and veg, the Catholic population is booming, and busy building. Rising out of the rolling landscape of fruit and nut trees, which march in a mesmerising grid as…

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With just 205,000 Catholics, the Diocese of Houma-Thibodoux, Louisiana, is the smallest of the state’s seven dioceses. In fact, out of 177 US dioceses, Houma is ranked 174th in size. Unlike its neighbors to the west (Lafayette Diocese) and the northeast (the New Orleans Archdiocese), Houma hasn’t had even one truly high-profile predator priest. Overall, the percentage of its clergy who have been accused of child sex crimes and/or sexual misconduct doesn’t appear to be massively out of line with expectations given its size, although one can never be sure, given the Catholic hierarchy’s still-largely-steadfast commitment to keeping abusive hidden whenever possible.

In two key ways, however, the Houma Diocese stands out.

1. It has a disproportionately high percentage of proven predator priests. The diocese admits that six of its priests admitted, were convicted, or pled guilty to sexual abuse

• • Fr. Lawrence Cavel admitted to ‘solicitation…

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A North Dakota priest, removed from ministry last month pending an investigation of “inappropriate conduct,” was arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of committing “sexual exploitation by therapist.” We applaud the brave victims for speaking up and contacting the police about this young priest. Contrary to what Catholic bishops say, clergy sexual abuse is NOT a thing of the past. This is the third arrest that we know of in 2023. Moreover, these arrests are likely a drop in the bucket, because only between 2 and 10 out of 100 victims of clerical abuse report within a year of being molested, and one-third never, ever report.

Fr. Neil Joseph Pfeifer, 48, was arrested in Rugby, North Dakota, and taken to the Pierce County Correctional Facility, where he awaits formal charges. Bishop John Folda of the Diocese of Fargo said in a statement, “Father Pfeifer remains out of ministry…

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The civil lawsuit by a German abuse victim against a convicted abusive priest with links to the late pope Benedict XVI and representatives of the Catholic Church is now due before court on March 28.

The Traunstein Regional Court in the southern state of Bavaria set the trial date on Thursday in a case which is considered one of the most prominent in the abuse scandal involving the German Catholic Church.

The priest, a repeat offender convicted of sexual abuse identified by the initial H under Germany’s strict privacy laws, must appear in court.

“The personal appearance of the defendant priest and an informed representative of the defendant archdiocese has been ordered,” the court announced on Thursday.

Priest H was transferred from the western state of North Rhine Westphalia to Bavaria in the 1980s after accusations were made against him. At the time, the late pope Benedict XVI, born Joseph…

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The Catholic Church in Germany has so far paid more than $43.5 million (40 million euros) to victims of sexual abuse, German Catholic KNA agency has reported.

The Independent Commission for Recognition Payment approved an average amount of $24,000 (22,150 euros) in 1,809 cases. The commission’s annual report was presented in Bonn Feb. 3. There have been a total of 1,839 applications from victims of sex abuse seeking compensation from the Catholic Church.

In 143 cases (about 8%), the commission ordered a payment of more than $54,300 (50,000 euros); in 24 cases (1%) more than $108,600 (100,000 euros). In almost 1,000 cases (54%), the approved amount was $16,300 (15,000 euros) or less, KNA reported.

Most of the applications—three out of four—came from men, and one in four were from women. However, KNA noted, 20 of the 24 payments over $108,600 went to women.

The panel classified nine cases as not…

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The Quebec Superior Court has authorized a class action lawsuit against more than a dozen members of the Catholic order Brothers of Charity order for alleged sexual assaults committed over the past eight decades.

The Arsenault Dufresne Wee law firm is representing the complainants and argued the case in a Montreal courthouse on Dec. 12. The case is centred around assaults allegedly committed between 1940 and the present.

“The Brothers of Charity had contested this first step,” a news release from the law firm reads.

An heir of an applicant listed as A.B. is representing all the victims who were allegedly assaulted by either members of the clergy or lay persons connected to the religious order.

The order established itself in Quebec’s education system in 1873 and founded several schools in the province, including Mont-Siant-Bernard College in Sorel, Mont-Saint-Antoine in Montreal and College Saint-Bernard in Drummondville.

The law firm…

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The Child Abuse Reporting Expansion Act, a bill making its way through the New York legislature, would make clergy mandated reporters

If a member of the clergy suspects that a child in the congregation has been abused, is the clergyperson legally required to report it?

In New York state, the answer is no. But some advocates, clergy members and lawmakers think that should change.

The issue is at the heart of the Child Abuse Reporting Expansion Act, a bill making its way through the state legislature that, if passed, would make clergy mandated reporters.

Anti-abuse advocate Abbi Nye, part of the advocacy group CFCtoo, said her group “is calling for CARE Act to be passed because we see it as a necessary first step toward making our communities and children safer.”

CFCtoo is a collective of former Christian Fellowship Center members. The CFC has five locations in New York’s North…

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Earlier this week, a commission of French scholars released the results of their two-year investigation, nearly 900 pages of information, on sexual and spiritual abuse by Jean Vanier, his mentor Thomas Philippe, and their mystical-sexual sect that played a role in the founding of L’Arche, a worldwide organization that supports people with intellectual disabilities.

The report includes historical, sociological, psychological, theological, and religious analysis, drawing from more than 200 hours of interviews and numerous documents from the archives of two L’Arche communities, L’Arche International, the French Dominicans, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, Vanier’s personal archives, and more.

Notably, the commission had access to private folders Jean Vanier had labeled “NFA — Not For All,” which included received letters, documents, and notes of Vanier’s from 1950 to 1960. He had asked for the folder to be destroyed at his death, according to the report, but the…

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The Vatican’s most senior woman says the Catholic Church has “failed” victims of child abuse, and the church must become more modern and inclusive to stay relevant. 

Key points:

• Census data from 2021 indicated 43 per cent of Australians identify as Christian
• This is down from 52 per cent in 2016
• The largest group describing themselves as having ‘no religion’ are people under 39

Sister Nathalie Becquart, the first woman to receive voting rights in the Synod of Bishops, is on a tour of Australian Catholic dioceses, advocating for the church to listen more to its congregation.

Her visit to Sydney and Parramatta coincides with the funeral of Australia’s most senior Catholic Cardinal George Pell, an event she did not attend due to prior speaking commitments. 

Sr Becquart, 53, said fiery protests outside the funeral showed people were understandably angry at the church for its handling of institutional child sexual…

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Following a review of all cases of sexual abuse of minors since the establishment of the Diocese of Worcester in 1950, the diocese reported Friday that it had identified 173 people who have made credible or substantiated allegations.

The diocese has refused to publish the names of accused priests.

Lawyers who have advocated for people who were sexually abused as minors by priests blasted the report as self-serving, called the Diocese of Worcester especially unhelpful on sex abuse claims, and harshly criticized the diocese for not naming accused priests.

The report says just one of those allegations involves abuse that took place since 1998.

The report, conducted by Bishop Robert J. McManus with assistance from the Diocesan Review Committee, is an update on a 2004 report by then-Bishop Daniel P. Reilly.

During the 72 years covered in the review, the total number of allegations made — including allegations deemed unsubstantiated,…

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A former Catholic church musician anonymously alleging he was raped has been forced to identify himself by name in order to continue his legal action against the Catholic Diocese of Knoxville, Tennessee.

Identified only as “John Doe” in his original lawsuit alleging a seminarian raped him, the claimant refiled his lawsuit Jan. 27 under his legal name, according to the document uploaded by Pillar Media.

Knox County Circuit Court Judge E. Jerome Melson ruled in August 2022 that the claimant could not pursue the lawsuit anonymously, granting a request by the defendants, according to court records Pillar Media accessed.

Liz Evan, a Clarksville, Tenn.-area attorney and member of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Sexual Abuse Task Force, which oversaw a third-party investigation in the SBC Executive Committee’s handling of abuse claims, said the judge’s ruling could discourage alleged sexual abuse survivors from seeking justice.

“Survivors will absolutely be chilled…

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On the eve of Grammys weekend, a group of sexual assault survivors came together to call on the music industry to take action against sexual predators and those who enable them.

“We need to take concrete steps to make sure that the music industry is safe and equitable,” said Melissa Schuman, a former member of the 2000s girl group Dream, who previously accused Backstreet Boys member Nick Carter of rape, which he has vigorously denied. 

“How much does music care?” Schuman asked, referencing Friday’s MusiCares Person of the Year gala, a Grammy tradition which raises funds to assist music professionals in need.

Alexa Nikolas, the actor known from Nickelodeon’s “Zoey 101” tearfully took the podium Friday afternoon at press conference held at L.A. Live in downtown Los Angeles.

“I have seen the music industry publicly participate in smear campaigns that have come up about me,” Nikolas said. “It’s time to turn down…

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An American journalist who was one of the first reporters in the world to expose the clerical child sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church says Pope Francis “has gone far beyond his two predecessors in confronting” the issue.

Jason Berry (73), an author and documentary-maker who has a film showing at a Dublin venue on Saturday, said the current pope “has made his share of mistakes, not heeding Ireland’s survivor leader Marie Collins on genuine reform, and his failure initially to believe news reports about the scandals in Chile. But he did change, sacking a third of the Chilean hierarchy and getting to know survivors like Juan Carlos Cruz [a prominent international campaigner on the issue].”

Francis “is still on a learning curve, though he’s light years ahead of John Paul II’s scandalous denial and Benedicts’ failure to oust culpable bishops. After so much suffering caused by the church,…

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Mourners at the Sydney funeral for Australian Cardinal George Pell, who was once the most senior Catholic convicted of sex abuse, remembered him Thursday as a victim of a campaign to punish him regardless of his guilt.

Meanwhile, a few hundred protesters yelled slogans from the street denouncing Pell, a staunch conservative who had riled gay rights supporters and was among church leaders blamed for inaction on clergy sex abuse.

Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher told the mourners at St. Mary’s Cathedral that the once third-highest-ranking cleric in the Vatican was the author of a dozen books including three volumes of a diary he wrote in prison before his child abuse convictions were overturned in 2000.

“That was one happy fruit from 404 days spent in prison for crimes he did not commit following a media, police and political campaign to punish him whether guilty or not,” said Fisher, a longtime…

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A new independent report commissioned by L’Arche International and released on its website Jan. 30 has shed light on the magnitude of psychological and sexual abuse committed by its famous founder, Jean Vanier, who died in 2019.

Founded in the French commune of Trosly-Breuil in 1964, L’Arche is an international federation gathering networks of community where people with and without intellectual disabilities live and work together. The initiative has inspired thousands of faithful around the world, allowing it to expand to 38 countries on five continents through 150 different communities. The shockwaves caused by the revelations about its founder were all the greater because he was often regarded as a saint.

While a previous report issued in February 2020 revealed Vanier’s sexual misconduct with six women in the context of providing spiritual direction to them, this new investigation found that between 1952 and 2019, at least 25 women — all of them adults without disabilities, single,…

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The Catholic Church has so far paid out around 40 million euros to victims of sexualised violence. In the past two years, a commission processed more than 1,800 applications for recognition services.

A commission set up by the Catholic Church in Germany has so far approved more than 40 million euros in so-called recognition benefits for victims of sexualised violence. In 2021 it was almost 13 million, in 2022 around 28 million. This was announced by the Independent Commission for Recognition Services (UKA) in Bonn.

In 143 cases, sums of more than 50,000 euros were awarded. In 24 cases it was more than 100,000 euros. This was always done with the consent of the responsible church authorities, emphasized the UKA chairwoman Margarete Reske, former presiding judge at the Cologne Higher Regional Court. She emphasized that there were no problems with any of the 27 Catholic dioceses.

People who have experienced…

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There could be a consequence for creating a self-appointed committee to “restore” a sexually abusive pastor to ministry and then inviting him to preach at your church. You and your church could get kicked out of the Southern Baptist Convention.

At least that’s what some Southern Baptists hope will happen at next June’s SBC annual meeting in New Orleans. The denomination’s Credentials Committee has placed two churches “under inquiry” for their support of Johnny Hunt, former executive vice president of the SBC North American Mission Board.

Hunt was named in last summer’s Guidepost Solutions investigation of mishandled sexual abuse cases in the SBC, resulting in his admission that he once had inappropriate contact with the wife of another pastor but his denial that it was abusive. The evidence against Hunt was compelling enough that he was forced from his role at NAMB and was disowned by the church where he served as…

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The investigation is ongoing

A St. James Basilica priest removed from ministry pending an investigation of inappropriate conduct was arrested Wednesday, Feb. 1, on suspicion of committing sexual exploitation by a therapist in Stutsman County, according to Maj. Justin Blinksy, assistant chief of police with the Jamestown Police Department.

Neil Joseph Pfeifer, 48, was arrested in Rugby, North Dakota, and taken to the Pierce County Correctional Facility, where he awaits formal charges, Blinsky said.

Bishop John Folda of the Diocese of Fargo issued a statement that Pfeifer was removed from active ministry on Jan. 14 pending an investigation into allegations of inappropriate conduct with adults. Pfeifer served St. James Basilica in Jamestown, St. Margaret Mary’s Catholic Church in Buchanan and St. Mathias Catholic Church in Windsor.

“Father Pfeifer remains out of ministry as pastor of the Basilica of St. James in Jamestown, St. Margaret Mary in Buchanan, and St. Mathias…

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Around two dozen activists and sexual abuse victims demonstrated in Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital on Thursday across the road from a cathedral where Pope Francis was meeting clergy.

They held up placards, including some demanding that the pope meet with clergy abuse victims in the country.

It was not clear if the pope saw the demonstrators as he arrived and left in a motorcade.

The demonstration in Kinshasa was organised by Ending Clergy Abuse (ECA), an international group, one of many that have been bringing attention to sexual abuse in the worldwide Church.

One demonstrator, Benjamin Kitobo, said he was abused when he was a boy in a seminary in the city of Kolwezi. He said the priest who allegedly abused him was later allowed to return to ministry.

There were no plans for the pope to meet with victims of sexual abuse in Congo, where about 50% of…

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His supporters say federal appeals court nominee Michael Delaney is a dedicated advocate for sexual assault survivors. The family of one high-profile survivor would beg to differ.

When Michael A. Delaney, President Biden’s nominee to the US Court of Appeals in Boston, appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee at his upcoming confirmation hearing sometime soon, Alexander Prout will be there.

Many think Delaney, a former New Hampshire attorney general, is a stellar candidate. When his nomination was announced on Jan. 18, Democratic Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan called Delaney “exceedingly qualified,” by virtue of his long career in public service and his “commitment to justice.”

Prout takes a different view.

“Michael Delaney is not qualified to sit on the bench,” he said. “If he is confirmed, it will send a chilling message to survivors of sexual assault and their advocates.”

In 2014, when Prout’s daughter Chessy was…

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The case comes down to whether, under a 2019 law, the Diocese of Providence and its leaders can be considered “perpetrators” if their conduct contributed to child sexual abuse by priests

Victims of childhood sexual abuse by priests asked the state Supreme Court in oral arguments Wednesday to revive their lawsuits against the Diocese of Providence, arguing that a state law passed in 2019 allowed them to sue the institution and its leaders.

The case comes down to whether the Diocese of Providence and its leaders can be considered “perpetrators” of childhood sexual abuse under a 2019 law. The victims argue that the conduct of the diocese and its leaders was so egregious that they could be considered a “perpetrator,” the same way the driver of a getaway car can be criminally charged in a bank robbery.

They appear to face an uphill climb. The victims’ attorney, Timothy Conlon, faced…

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George Pell accused of sexually abusing two choir boys as Archbishop of Melbourne

‘Go to hell’: Hundreds protest outside of George Pell’s funeral in Sydney

Mourners and protesters clashed ahead of the funeral service for controversial cardinal George Pell in Sydney on Thursday morning.

The cardinal, who was once the most senior Catholic to be convicted of sex abuse, died last month in Rome aged 81 and was returned to Australia to be interred at the crypt of St Mary’s Cathedral.

Hundreds of protesters shouted slogans from the park across the cathedral, denouncing Pell, a staunch conservative who had riled LGBT+ rights supporters and was among church leaders blamed for inaction on clergy sex abuse.

“Pell Burn In Hell,” read one of the signs carried by the protesters and displayed on cars, as others screamed, “George Pell, go to hell”.

Tensions flared when several faithful tried to remove colourful ribbons that the protesters had…

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‘Dances with Wolves’ actor accused of sexually abusing Indigenous girls while claiming to be ‘Holy Person’

FIRST ON FOX: At least nine religious leaders were arrested in the U.S. last month for alleged sex crimes against children, ranging from grooming to child porn to rape, Fox News Digital has found.

Former “Dances with Wolves” actor Nathan Chasing Horse was arrested Tuesday in Las Vegas on allegations he sexually assaulted young Indigenous girls spanning several states while claiming to be a spiritual healer.

According to a search warrant obtained by the Associated Press, police said Chasing Horse, who played Smiles a Lot in the 1990 film, had followers who referred to him as “Medicine Man” or “Holy Person,” and he “used spiritual traditions and their belief system as a tool to sexually assault young girls on numerous occasions.”

He is also accused by police of pimping out his victims…

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Who killed the monsignor?

This is the 13th installment in an 18-part serial on the unsolved 1966 murder of Buffalo Diocese Monsignor Francis J. O’Connor. Read the rest of the series.

BEMUS POINT – In 1966, Buffalo priests who were accused of sexually abusing children did not have to worry about being arrested.

Instead, some were sent for a time out in the lap of luxury – a stately mansion in this beautiful vacation community, on a property with lush, rolling lawns, tennis courts and a gorgeous view of Chautauqua Lake, a Buffalo News investigation has revealed.

The mansion served as the Buffalo Diocese’s secret place of confinement for at least two molester priests in the 1960s.

Police records show that the Rev. John D. Lewandowski and three other troubled priests were living at the Bemus Point mansion when homicide detectives questioned and fingerprinted Lewandowski as a suspect…

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In Pope Benedict’s final letter, he asked for forgiveness. In the past, Benedict acknowledged “his failure to act decisively at times in confronting sexual abusers.”

The priest sex abuse scandals over the decades have been shocking and horrific. The issue has been debilitating to those directly and indirectly affected. More than $3 billion have been paid in legal settlements to victims between 1950 and 2018.

Over 7,000 members of the Catholic church sexually abused over 20,000 minors, predominately young white boys. The man responsible for disciplinary action for the church for over 25 years was then-Archbishop/ Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger who would go on to become Pope Benedict XVI.

A major asset of the Catholic church is its school buildings. A countless number of Catholic schools were closed in the inner cities in my home state of Connecticut. These school closures impaired, if not eliminated, accessibility to a Catholic school education, which…

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INDIANAPOLIS (OSV News) — A priest who offered up his suffering from cancer for the sake of clerical abuse victims said he has experienced a miraculous healing following a June 2022 pilgrimage to the Marian shrine at Lourdes, France.

Father John Hollowell, a priest of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, told OSV News that doctors have said his brain tumor, diagnosed in 2019, has disappeared.

“I had an MRI two weeks after I got back from Lourdes (at the end of June 2022),” said Father Hollowell, who first announced the news in a Jan. 30 video message on his YouTube channel. “All that remained was scar tissue from the surgeries.”

In 2020, Father Hollowell learned that a series of fainting spells and dizziness were the result of an oligodendroglioma – a brain tumor usually occurring in white and non-Hispanic males between the ages of 35 and 44. About 1,200 individuals…

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The state Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday on whether the Diocese of Providence as an institution can be defined as a “perpetrator” of child sexual abuse under a relatively new state law, and thus possibly sued by alleged victims of accused pedophile priests from decades ago. 

Rhode Island lawmakers in 2019 extended the deadline for victims of childhood sexual abuse to file lawsuits against those who abused them, even if the abuse took place outside of the statute of limitations.

The new law extended the deadline from seven years to 35 years after the victim’s 18th birthday. But it allowed a retroactive extension of that deadline only if they were suing a “perpetrator” — not a “non-perpetrator.” 

In a test case of the new law, Superior Court Judge Netti C. Vogel in 2020 dismissed three priest-abuse lawsuits against the diocese and its leaders, finding that the law defined “perpetrator” as the person…

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Ireland was once regarded as the most catholic Country in the World. That, though, is no longer the case.

Mark Vincent Healy was sexually abused by a member of the Spiritan Order while at school during the 1960s and 70s. He says the sexual abuse he experienced destroyed his life.

“It had a profound psychological effect on me and the way that I made decisions in things that I wanted to do with my life, even more recently and obviously when this matter came forward and it surfaced in my life, everything changed,” he revealed to Euronews.

“It’s been now 16 years I have been seeking redress and justice but it hasn’t been an extension of justice for myself but an extension of justice to so many other survivors in Ireland.”

A ‘catastrophic’ impact on Catholicism in Ireland

Weekly Mass attendance which stood at 91% in 1975 was down to 36% in…

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Bishop Rick Stika is accused of defamation, and covering up sexual abuse, in the Diocese of Knoxville.

The Pillar has confirmed a recently-made allegation, that Bishop Rick Stika told priests a seminarian accused of sexually assaulting a parish organist had actually been victimized by the organist – essentially recasting the story so that the accused seminarian was the victim, rather than the alleged aggressor.

The allegation came in a lawsuit refiled last week, which charges that Stika impeded an investigation into the claim that former seminarian Wojciech Sobczuk sexually assaulted the lawsuit’s plaintiff, who worked as a musician at the Diocese of Knoxville’s cathedral.

The suit was initially filed in February 2022, but had to be refiled this month, after a court agreed last year with the Diocese of Knoxville’s argument that the plaintiff could not file the lawsuit using a pseudonym. Plaintiff’s attorney Patrick Thronson told The Pillar that his client…

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As people arrived one by one to put up ribbons at St Mary’s Cathedral over the past week, Ballarat child abuse survivor Paul Auchettl would quietly approach them. Every person had a story about their own experience of abuse at the hands of the Catholic Church, or stories of abuse suffered by someone they loved. Children would emerge from the faces of 60-year-old men and women, and Auchettl would guide them through the release that the tying of a ribbon would bring, like a contemporary shaman.

Every day the fence would be picked “clean” of the presence of abused children that each ribbon represents. It was this removal that most deeply troubled Auchettl and his fellow Ballarat survivor Trevor Coad, who accompanied him to Sydney. Their seven-year ribbon campaign in their hometown, the epicentre of revelations in the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse, has progressed to some sort…

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Australian police plan to ask a judge to ban gay rights protesters from demonstrating outside the funeral of Cardinal George Pell in Sydney on Feb. 2 due to public safety concerns.

Pell, who was once considered the third-highest ranking cleric in the Vatican and spent more than a year in prison before his child abuse convictions were squashed in 2020, died in Rome this month at age 81.

The staunchly conservative church leader will lie in St. Mary’s Cathedral starting Feb. 1 and will be interred at the cathedral after a funeral Mass the following day.

The New South Wales Police Force said on Jan. 31 it has rejected an application from Sydney-based gay rights group Community Action for Rainbow Rights for a permit to protest outside the cathedral on Feb. 2 due to safety concerns.

It said police Commissioner Karen Webb will apply to the New South Wales Supreme…

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Mourners paid their respects to Cardinal George Pell in a Sydney cathedral Wednesday a day before the funeral and interment of a polarizing church leader who was once the most senior Catholic convicted of sex abuse.

Pell, who died last month at age 81, spent more than a year in prison before his convictions were overturned in 2020.

Once the third-highest-ranking cleric in the Vatican, he returned to Australia in 2017 to fight abuse allegations made by multiple complainants over decades in his home state of Victoria. Only charges that he abused two choirboys in his early months as archbishop of Melbourne in the late 1990s led to convictions. He spent 404 days in mostly solitary confinement before he was cleared. But his Vatican career by then had ended.

The staunchly conservative church leader will lie in St. Mary’s Cathedral until he is interred at the cathedral crypt after a funeral Mass…

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