ABUSE TRACKER

Sexual abusers are disgusting “enemies” who deserve to be condemned and punished – but also deserve Christian love and pastoral care because they too are children of God, Pope Francis said.

Francis made his comments on April 29 in a private conversation with Jesuits while he was visiting Hungary.

Francis is also a Jesuit and the comments were published on Tuesday in the Italian Jesuit journal Civilta Cattolica, as is customary after such meetings.

Abuse scandals have shredded the Church’s reputation and have been a major challenge for the pope, who has passed a series of measures over the last 10 years aimed at holding the Church hierarchy more accountable, with mixed results.

During Francis’ visit, a Hungarian member of the Jesuits religious order asked Francis how it was possible to follow Jesus’ commandment to love enemies when the enemy was a sexual abuser.

“How do we approach, how do…

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Punishing and condemning those guilty of clergy sexual abuse is an act of charity, Pope Francis said.

“The abuser is an enemy. Each of us feels this because we empathize with the suffering of the abused,” he said during a private meeting with 32 Jesuits April 29 during his three-day trip to Budapest, Hungary. Those guilty of abuse “deserve punishment, but they also deserve pastoral care.”

As is customary during his trips, the pope spent time with local Jesuits, answering their questions; the transcript of the encounter was published May 9 by La Civiltà Cattolica, an Italian Jesuit journal.

One of the Jesuits at the meeting asked the pope about the Gospel commandment to love, “but how do we love at the same time people who have experienced abuse and their abusers? God loves everyone,” including the abuser.

“I would like to offer the compassion and love that the Gospel…

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A CATHOLIC Church Commission has concluded after only six months investigating child sexual abuse by priests in Portugal that only 4,815 victims were identified but said that it was the tip of a great iceberg of abuse that has yet to be revealed.

The report of the Commission was published on Feb. 13, 2023. Critics and supporters of clerical child abuse victims said that there were many thousands more victims not given the opportunity to come forward. The victims were mostly boys 10 to 14 years old. 

Several bishops and priests who have been accused of child abuse are still in their church duties and positions and allegedly flout the Vatican law supported by Pope Francis whereby the civil authorities should investigate and prosecute such allegations. A shocking report in France in January 2022 found approximately 3,000 Catholic priests and religious authorities had sexually abused over 200,000 children since the…

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Closing arguments are expected to begin 9 a.m. Thursday

A man accused of committing sex crimes while serving as a Roman Catholic priest in Mansfield and Fremont denied guilt from the witness stand Wednesday during his federal sex-trafficking trial.

The Rev. Michael Jude Zacharias, 56, faces five counts of sex trafficking, two of which involve victims who were minors. The allegations span 15 years from July 2005 to August 2020.

Closing arguments in the case are expected to begin 9 a.m. Thursday, according to Claudia Vercellotti, leader of the Toledo chapter of Survivor’s Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP.

The victim advocate was in the U.S. District Court/Northern District of Ohio in Toledo on Wednesday to watch as Zacharias was sworn in to answer questions about his conduct.

Zacharias was placed on administrative leave in 2020 by Toledo Bishop Daniel Thomas, the Fremont News-Messenger reported last year. He is banned…

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Carolyn Bloom, a therapist appointed by Bishop Robert Deeley as a point person to handle allegations of sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church for the entire state of Maine, has been disciplined by a Maine licensing board after she admitted to violating multiple ethics rules governing social workers.  The violations relate to Bloom’s interactions with a woman who reported being abused by a Diocese of Portland priest.

In 2020, Melissa Kearns reported her sexual abuse and exploitation by Rev. Anthony Cipolle to the Diocese of Portland.  One of the people she dealt with during the course of reporting her abuse was Bloom, who is identified on the Diocese’s website as an “independent clinician” and licensed clinical social worker.

According to Ms. Kearns’ allegation, Bloom began providing counseling to Ms. Kearns over the course of several months.  After Ms. Kearns retained Horowitz Law to represent her…

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A new resource for tracking Native residential schools affiliated with the Catholic Church marks a major advance toward healing the wounds of systemic abuse, said one project organizer.

“While there are more steps for the Catholic Church to take to move toward truth, healing and reconciliation, this list is a powerful step forward,” said Maka Black Elk, executive director for Truth and Healing at Red Cloud Indian School on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

On May 9, Black Elk and a group of archivists, historians, tribal members and other supporters unveiled a list of some 87 Catholic-run Native boarding schools that had operated in 22 U.S. states prior to 1978. The schools were among more than 400 overseen by the U.S. federal government in the 19th and 20th centuries, with many sites operated by Christian churches and organizations.

The list, accessible online at http://ctah.archivistsacwr.org, provides school names,…

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E. Jean Carroll was only able to bring her lawsuit against the former president because of a change in New York law.

The jury verdict finding former president Donald Trump liable for sexually abusing E. Jean Carroll as well as for defaming her by claiming that she lied about it was a shot at justice that Carroll would not have received had the New York Legislature not acted.

That is because the civil trial came decades after the expiration of the statute of limitations for the alleged sexual attack, which happened in the 1990s according to Carroll. But last year, state lawmakers passed and Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law the Adult Survivors Act. That law gave survivors of sexual assault that occurred when they were adults a one-year period to bring civil claims for damages for such attacks regardless of when the attack took place.

The revelations from the…

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2 alleged victims of late Rev. Dale Crampton also alleged sex abuse by late Auxiliary Bishop John Beahen

WARNING: This story contains details of child sexual abuse.

The Catholic church in Ottawa has quietly settled three child sexual abuse lawsuits involving notorious priest Dale Crampton, cancelling three separate jury trials that were scheduled to be heard in Ottawa this spring.

Two of the three plaintiffs alleged they were not only assaulted by Crampton, who killed himself in 2010, but also by his superior, auxiliary bishop John Beahen, at Crampton’s cottage in West Carleton. Beahen died from a stroke in 1988. 

Unlike in criminal courts, civil jury trials are rare in Canada — Ontario is one of a few provinces that still hold them. Most cases end up being settled out of court, sparing both sides the risk and scrutiny of public trials, and keeping any evidence gathered in the dark.

…

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Recovery Speaking Initiative supports survivors in Guelph and beyond

WARNING: This story contains details of sexual abuse of a child and may be disturbing to some readers.

Though he says he feels like a “warrior” now, at 71, 60 years ago Robert McCabe was just a sweet and quiet boy. A child, who, after being sexually assaulted by his Catholic priest in a motel room while travelling to Montreal, spent the night curled up in a chair crying “no, no, no.”

The Guelph man said sharing his memories has helped him to reconcile with them. He has finally forgiven himself and his abuser who is now deceased, after a life of coping using alcohol, and a quest for recovery and justice. He founded Recovery Speaking initiative in 2020 and runs a men’s support group held Thursdays online, because he said, “there is hope after dealing with sexual abuse…

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A group of archivists, historians, concerned Catholics, and tribal members has published the first comprehensive list of Native American boarding schools in the United States run by Catholic entities.

The Catholic Truth & Healing website lists 87 Catholic-run Native boarding schools before 1978 across 22 states. Seventy-three of those schools were run or staffed by Catholic women religious.

“While there are more steps for the Catholic Church to take to move toward truth, healing, and reconciliation, this list is a powerful step forward,” Maka Black Elk, executive director for truth and healing at Red Cloud Indian School, said in a May 9 statement announcing the publication. Black Elk contributed to efforts to compile the list.

Hundreds of government-funded boarding schools operated across the country from 1819 to the 1970s; many of those were run by religious groups, including Catholic dioceses and religious orders. In May…

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An attorney who represents survivors of sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of New Orleans bankruptcy is asking a newly appointed federal judge to toss out rulings from U.S. District Judge Greg Guidry, who recused himself from the case last month amid questions about his ties to the Roman Catholic church.

Guidry, who as a district court judge was tasked with hearing appeals related to the bankruptcy case, recused himself April 28 after the Associated Press reported that he had donated $50,000 to local Catholic charitable organizations.

In court documents filed Monday, New Orleans attorney Richard Trahant asked Guidry’s successor in the case, U.S. District Judge Barry Ashe, to vacate two rulings by Guidry because of the circumstances surrounding his recusal.

In court documents, Trahant argued that the rulings, which had affirmed earlier rulings of U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Meredith Grabill, “could undermine the public’s confidence in the judicial process…(and) convey a message…that the…

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Carolyn Bloom receives a monthly stipend from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland to coordinate counseling and treatment for those who say they were sexually abused by clergy as children.

A licensed social worker who works with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland was disciplined by a state regulatory board over her interactions with a woman who has accused a priest of taking advantage of her in a time of crisis.

Carolyn Bloom, an independent clinician for the diocese, admitted to violating a national code of ethics for social workers and agreed to pay for and participate in a year-long supervision program.

She has worked with the diocese for 20 years, the diocese confirmed Tuesday, helping to coordinate outpatient counseling for people who say they were sexually abused by diocesan employees.

In an agreement with the state social work board signed on Monday, Bloom admitted she…

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The new projects and developments at the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors represent “a major shift toward a more impact-focused direction,” said its president, Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley of Boston.

“The Holy Father has asked a lot from us, and we are all committed to making this work,” the cardinal said, according to a press release from the commission May 8.

“We have sought the necessary resources to respond adequately, and we are confident in the plan we have laid out and the people we have working with us,” he said in the statement, which was issued at the end of the commission’s plenary assembly in Rome May 3-6.

“At times, this new direction has been both steep and fast for all of us reflecting the urgency of the challenges. This accelerated pace over the last six months has caused growing pains as we have attempted to respond…

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Pope Francis last week addressed the plenary gathering of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, declaring that “now is the time to repair the damage done to previous generations.”

Speaking to the commission’s members in the Vatican on May 5, Pope Francis said that clerical sexual abuse “and its poor handling by Church leaders” has been one of the “greatest challenges for the Church in our time.”

But, while the pope called for a “spirituality of reparation” as the Church continues to reckon with past “sins of omission,” efforts to move on from the crisis of abuse have to reckon with the fact that decades of scandals are not all the fault of “previous generations.” Rhetorically, many Church leaders remain some distance away from the pope’s vision of personal sacrifice for atonement, preferring the language of institutional responsibility and apology by proxy.

“Mending the torn fabric of…

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A review of Cardinal Sin: Challenging power abuse in the Catholic Church by Brian Devlin, published by Columba Books. Amazon link (paperback). Ebook link (epub and mobi).

Cardinal Sin is the memoir of whistleblower and former priest Brian Devlin, a victim of the late Scottish Cardinal Keith O’Brien. From 1985 to 2013, O’Brien was one of Scotland’s highest-ranking clergymen. A vocal opponent of homosexuality, which he famously described as a “moral degradation,” he was later exposed as having had inappropriate and predatory sexual relationships with seminarians and other priests.

On a superficial level, Cardinal Sin could simply be described as a memoir of abuse—abuse of power, sexual abuse, and an institution designed to protect those who abuse. But on every page of this intimate and self-aware account, there is wit, insight, and humanity in abundance. This is not just the story of how the crimes of…

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A former Maryland state senator and two other men have detailed their harrowing accusations of childhood sex abuse by Baltimore-area priests to The Post — as their lawyers prepared Tuesday to unveil a planned historic class-action lawsuit against the archdiocese.

The expected legal action comes on the heels of a bombshell April report by Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown that listed 156 priests suspected of abusing more than 600 children in the past eight decades — and a recent reversal on the statute of limitations that had prevented such lawsuits.

One of the men’s lawyers, Adam Slater, said the estimate of roughly 600 victims noted in the AG’s report is just the “tip of the iceberg,” and his partner in the upcoming civil suit, prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump, added there are an “astonishing” additional number of people who have suffered in silence from priest…

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High-profile attorneys on Tuesday stood next to survivors, who shared stories of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

A new lawsuit will be filed against the Archdiocese of Baltimore by civil rights attorney Ben Crump and sexual abuse attorney Adam Slater on behalf of survivors of childhood sexual abuse perpetrated by members of the church. 

The Maryland Attorney General’s Office released a 456-page report earlier this year on an investigation that details nearly 160 clergy, teachers, seminarians and deacons within the Archdiocese who allegedly assaulted more than 600 children going back to the 1940s. 

Fifteen of the names were redacted or kept out of the report.

“We believe you,” Crump said. “You are victims no more. You are heroes for others who have suffered abuse by clergy of the Catholics of this city and this state. We are going to continue to stand with you.”

The attorneys announced…

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New law eliminating statute of limitations for sexual abuse lawsuits takes effect Oct. 1

Attorneys put the Archdiocese of Baltimore on notice for lawsuits months before a new state law eliminates the statute of limitations for sexual abuse lawsuits.

Ben Crump, who’s best known for representing victims of police brutality, attorney Adam Slater and a number of survivors held a news conference Tuesday morning in front of the Baltimore Basilica, the first Roman Catholic cathedral built in the United States. The attorneys said the lawsuits will be filed individually, and some will be filed against people not publicly named in the state attorney general’s report.

The Maryland Attorney General’s Office spent years on its investigation, and the resulting report paints a damning picture of the archdiocese, which is the oldest Catholic diocese in the country and spans much of Maryland. The report found more than 150 Catholic priests and other…

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Following investigative news stories that lifted the veil of secrecy from a Maryland Attorney General’s report on clergy child sex abuse, survivors gathered Monday outside the Archdiocese of Baltimore offices to demand that five church officials be removed from the ministry and seven other priests be named.

David Lorenz and other members of Maryland’s chapter of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests also called on Baltimore Archbishop William Lori to resign, but acknowledged that is unlikely to happen unless parishioners pressure the church for more accountability.

The group held the news conference in response to articles published last week in The Baltimore Sun and The Baltimore Banner that identified church officials and accused priests whose names were redacted from the attorney general’s report on child sex abuse within the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

The 456-page grand jury report was released last month and details decades of…

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A Catholic elementary school is changing its name to remove the name of a bishop who led the Vermont diocese during a time of “unthinkable abuse of children by priests,” the school announced on Monday.

The principal of the John A. Marshall School in Morrisville told students on Monday that on July 1 the school will become known as All Saints Catholic Academy.

“While we did not discuss this with the students, we would be remiss not to acknowledge that part of our motivation to rename the school relates to the unthinkable abuse of children by priests who were under the leadership of the school’s namesake, Bishop John Marshall,” the letter says.

“While our school is not responsible for what transpired – nor can we change what happened years before the school was even built – we can take steps to assure our current and future students that we are…

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In April 2023, Maryland’s top prosecutor, State Attorney General Anthony Brown, accused Catholic Church officials in Baltimore of covering up the sexual abuse of over 600 children over 60 years, some of whom were “preyed upon by multiple abusers over decades”.

Sounds familiar? That is because it is. Child sexual abuse scandals in the Roman Catholic Church are like a recurring decimal, with boys being the main targets. Back in 2002, in one of the biggest scandals to rock the Church, an investigation found over 500 victims of abuse by Roman Catholic clergy in that city.

And the hits just kept on coming.

In 2017, an investigation in Australia found 4,444 claimants of abuse at the hands of that institution, four times the number of allegations associated with any other religious group. In one monastic order, two-fifths of its membership were alleged perpetrators.

In Germany in 2018, it was reported…

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New Bedford MA – A civil lawsuit brought by a man alleging he was sexually abused by a former New Bedford priest when he was an altar boy over 30 years ago has been settled “in the low to mid six figures,” according to the plaintiff’s attorney.

Jason Medeiros was a former altar boy at St. Anthony of Padua Church in New Bedford, and participated in a Catholic youth group. Both were supervised by Father Richard Degagne, according to a press release issued by Boston-based attorney Mitchell Garabedian.

The lawsuit alleged that Degagne sexually abused Medeiros on multiple occasions in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine in approximately 1988 and 1989 when he was about 12 and 13 years old. The abuse allegedly occurred over two years.

Degagne has denied the allegations in the lawsuit.

Medeiros said, “I didn’t come forward until my 40s, and the reason was I couldn’t comprehend…

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(For Immediate Release May 9, 2023) 

A sexual assault case filed by a former altar boy against a former New Bedford priest has been settled.

Jason Medeiros was a former altar boy at St. Anthony of Padua Church in New Bedford and participated in a Catholic youth group. Both were supervised by Father Richard Degagne, according to a press release issued by Boston-based attorney Mitchell Garabedian.

According to the complaint, Degagne, who was ordained in 1982 and is now in his late 60s, was working with St. Anthony of Padua Parish in New Bedford from around 1986 until 1991. Before being suspended from ministry, he worked in East Freetown, Attleboro, Fall River, New Bedford, and Taunton. He presently resides in Brownfield, Maine, and is listed on the diocesan website as ‘faculties removed’. The settled lawsuit claims that between the ages…

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 05-09-23

CONTACT:
Reverend James E. Connell, J.C.D.
Milwaukee Archdiocese Priest, Former Vice-chancellor, Canon lawyer
414-940-8054
connell.jim951@gmail.com

On April 27th, Reverend James E. Connell, J.C.D., a priest of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and former Vice-chancellor, filed an open records request asking for communications between the Wisconsin Department of Justice and Catholic dioceses and religious orders.

Thus far, Father Connell has received no response from the DOJ.

Below and also linked here is his video statement regarding his open records request:

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MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A South Florida teacher who was arrested last week appears to have a pattern of jumping from school to school, with short employment stints at each, to include a public school in Miami-Dade County.

Local 10 News has learned that after 29-year-old Eric Givens was fired from St. Mary’s Cathedral School for sending an inappropriate text to a student, it is also there where police say a victim told them he grabbed her wrist, hair and breasts on several occasions while she was in the 5th grade.

Givens is now facing several charges, including battery.

A 10-year-old girl at Theodore and Thelma Gibson Charter School would later tell police that in March, Givens sent her an in appropriate text that read, in part, “always wanted to date you” along with a picture of himself wearing only boxer briefs.

Givens was a part-time coach at South Miami…

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After Maryland lawmakers recently eliminated the statute of limitations for child sex abuse lawsuits amid heightened scrutiny of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, civil rights attorney Ben Crump announced plans Tuesday to bring a series of civil claims on behalf of victims.

The threat of litigation comes as the the archdiocese faces continued fallout from a state report released last month that found more than 150 priests and other clergy in the archdiocese sexually abused over 600 children with impunity. The report, which the Maryland Attorney General’s Office produced after a yearslong investigation, paints a damning picture of the nation’s oldest Catholic diocese.

Days after the report’s release, Gov. Wes Moore signed legislation to end Maryland’s statute of limitations for child sex abuse lawsuits effective Oct. 1. Previously, victims couldn’t sue after turning 38.

Crump, best known for representing victims of police brutality, held a news conference Tuesday outside the Baltimore Basilica with…

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Bolivia’s episcopal conference stressed solidarity with abuse victims, in response to recent revelations that a deceased Jesuit priest committed acts of sexual abuse against dozens of Bolivian boys. 

In response to a May 5 media report about abuse committed by Fr. Alfonso Pedrajas, who died in 2009, the Bolivian bishops’ conference said it was in “solidarity with the victims who have suffered acts of sexual abuse.” 

“We ask for their forgiveness,” the conference said, “and we want to tell them that we share their suffering and disappointment for these serious events that have marked their lives and have been a cause of deep pain,” the bishops said.

The Society of Jesus’ province for Bolivia also responded to the report, saying that the Jesuits had filed a police complaint to initiate an investigation into Pedrajas’ case. 

The Bolivian provincial superior, Fr. Bernardo Mercado, SJ, also told the newspaper that the society…

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Former seminarian’s tuition, expenses paid

Bishop Richard Stika authorized the Diocese of Knoxville to pay nearly $50,000 in private university tuition and living expenses for a former seminarian he knew had been accused of rape, Knox News has learned.

In a letter to Saint Louis University in Missouri viewed by Knox News, Stika confirmed the diocese would pay $48,258 for the 2021-22 school year. The school, one of the top Jesuit universities in the United States, offers courses in theology but is not a seminary. Stika earned his bachelor’s degree from Saint Louis University.

The letter, dated April 12, 2021, is on Office of Bishop letterhead and

signed by Stika. It is addressed to the university’s international services office. Stika wrote that the student, who is Polish, “will not be in any way a burden to the United States of America or the State of Tennessee.”

The former seminarian remains…

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The Diocese of Oakland announced Monday it was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the face of hundreds of potential sex abuse lawsuits against the diocese.

In an open letter to parishioners, Bishop Michael Barber said the bankruptcy filing “is the best way to support a compassionate and equitable outcome for survivors of abuse, while ensuring we continue to provide the essential services and support so crucial to our parishioners and communities.”

Barber had alerted parishioners in March to the possibility of the bankruptcy filing because of the impact of AB 218, a state law that extends the statute of limitations for victims of childhood sexual abuse to file civil lawsuits. 

His March announcement came days after The Diocese of Santa Rosa filed for bankruptcy for the same reason. The Santa Rosa diocese was facing a second wave of sexual abuse lawsuits…

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A high-profile civil rights attorney has taken aim at the Archdiocese of Baltimore in the latest legal hit for the church embroiled in a sexual abuse scandal. 

A new lawsuit is expected to be filed against the archdiocese by civil rights attorney Ben Crump and sexual abuse attorney Adam Slater on behalf of survivors of childhood sexual abuse perpetrated by members of the church. 

The attorneys are expected to announce the lawsuit Tuesday, which will be filed when the Maryland Child Victims Act goes into effect on October 1. 

The act, signed into law in April, eliminated the statute of limitations for survivors of child sex abuse in Maryland to sue their abusers. 

Survivors of child abuse, particularly those who experienced abuse within the Baltimore Catholic Church, had been pushing lawmakers to pass the act for decades.  

The Maryland Attorney General’s Office released a View Cache

The sex abuse claims allegedly occurred in the 1960s, 70s and 80s by priets who are either dead or not active, the diocese said

The Catholic Diocese of Oakland announced on Monday that it filed for bankruptcy amid 330 sex abuse lawsuits in an effort to stabilize its finances, the group said. 

Most of the claims center on sex abuse crimes that occurred in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s by priests who are no longer active in ministry or are deceased, the diocese said. 

In a letter to parishioners, Bishop Michael C. Barber said the diocese believes “this process is the best way to ensure a fair and equitable outcome for survivors.”

The Cathedral of Christ The Light and Catholic Diocese of Oakland building in Oakland, California. The Diocese has filed for bankruptcy as it faces 33 lawsuits alleging sex abuse.  (Google Maps)

“It is important we take responsibility for…

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Catholic Church denies responsibility for priest, saying he was employed as teacher at time of alleged abuse

WARNING: This article contains details of abuse.

It was the late 1960s in Toronto and a young boy was standing on the edge of a subway platform considering something terrible. The torment he says he felt was becoming unbearable.

David Cullen, who was around 10 years old at the time, says he managed to find a nearby payphone to call his mother for help. He went on to spend much of the rest of his life in and out of doctors’ offices and hospitals, dealing with chronic pain and severe emotional distress. 

He says he had no idea why, until five decades later.

In 2019, Cullen, 59, was reviewing test results with a team of doctors when one asked a pointed question: had he ever been sexually abused as a child?

That’s when…

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• La Conferencia Episcopal Española saca a la luz su Instrucción sobre abusos sexuales, en la que no se contempla las indemnizaciones económicas a víctimas
• DOCUMENTO: Instrucción de la Conferencia Episcopal Española sobre abusos sexuales (texto íntegro)

La Conferencia Episcopal Española saca a la luz su Instrucción sobre abusos sexuales. Los obispos aterrizan con este documento el ‘motu proprio’ ‘Vos estis lux mundi’, publicado por el papa Francisco hace justo cuatro años (9 de mayo de 2019) y readaptado tras la actualización efectuada por el Pontífice el pasado 25 de marzo.

Además de pedir perdón a las víctimas y comprometerse con la búsqueda de la verdad y la justicia, la Instrucción asume el mandato del Papa de investigar a laicos acusados de abusos. Sin embargo, en el texto no se contempla ningún tipo de indemnización o reparación económica a las víctimas.

“Sin perjuicio de la responsabilidad civil y penal personal de cada fiel,…

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• El religioso, en sus casi cinco décadas en el país andino, habría abusado sexualmente de al menos 85 menores
• Antonio Gausset Capdevilla y Luis Tó han sido acusados de haber violado a “decenas” de menores y de novicios
• Ocho superiores han sido suspendidos mientras se completa la investigación que dirima las definitivas consecuencias

Días atrás, la Iglesia y la sociedad bolivianas se estremecían al conocerse que la Procuraduría General del Estado iniciaba una investigación contra el misionero jesuita español Alfonso Pedrajas Moreno, fallecido en 2009 y quien era conocido como el padre Pica. Todo tras dar a conocer el diario El País que el religioso, que pasó casi cinco décadas en el país andino y que también estuvo destinado en Perú, había abusado sexualmente de al menos 85 menores; buena parte de ellos, en el Colegio Juan XXIII, en Cochabamba. Una larga serie de crímenes de la que, para mayor consternación, él mismo…

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 05-09-2023

CONTACT:
Peter Isely
ECA Founding Member
Program Director of Nate’s Mission
414-429-7259
peter@natesmission.org

Sarah Pearson
Deputy Director of Nate’s Mission
414-366-5403
sarah@natesmission.org

Reverend James E. Connell, J.C.D.
Milwaukee Archdiocese Priest, Former Vice-chancellor, Canon lawyer
414-940-8054
connell.jim951@gmail.com

Ryan Jayne
Freedom from Religion Foundation Senior Policy Counsel
608-256-6822
ryan@ffrf.org

WHEN: Tuesday, May 9th, 2023, 1:00pm

WHERE: State Capitol Building, State Street entrance, Madison, WI

WHO: Directors of Nate’s Mission, a Wisconsin survivors’ project of the global organization Ending Clergy Abuse (ECA) and the Senior Policy Counsel for the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF)

WHAT: Press event to release the Open Records Request by Fr. James Connell to Wisconsin AG Josh Kaul and discuss the experience of Wisconsin survivors on the second anniversary of Kaul’s statewide investigation into clergy abuse. A filmed interview with Connell about the filing will be shared and posted online after the event.

WHY: Last week, Fr. James Connell, retired vice chancellor of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and a…

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Baltimore Catholic sex abuse survivors are calling for Archbishop William Lori to resign.

This comes after local newspapers published the redacted names of church officials accused of abuse and cover-ups in the Baltimore Catholic Church.

Survivors want the church to name the rest.

The grand jury report identified 158 clergy accused of abusing more than 600 victims. But 15 names were redacted or kept out of the report.

That includes the names of five church officials, the report alleges, who helped cover up decades of abuse.

Names of three of the 10 redacted priests were also published.

“But, who are the other seven?” said David Lorenz, director of the Maryland Network of those Abused by Priests.

Survivors, on Monday, pressed the church to remove all priests who enabled abusers, and name the others accused.

“We have to go after, not only the perpetrators,…

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The Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland filed for bankruptcy Monday due to hundreds of new child sex abuse claims, becoming the second diocese in California to do so.

The San Francisco Bay Area diocese faces more than 330 lawsuits brought under a California law allowing claims that would have otherwise expired, Bishop Michael C. Barber said in a letter posted to the diocese’s website.

Most of them allege abuse that dates back to the 1980s and earlier, according to Barber, and by priests who are no longer active in ministry or deceased. He said a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization would ensure “a fair and equitable outcome for survivors” and allow the church to continue its work.

SNAP, a survivors’ network for clergy sex abuse victims, criticized the bankruptcy filing, calling it a ploy to keep information hidden. In a statement, it said the Oakland diocese could sell off property to…

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The Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland filed for bankruptcy Monday as it confronts more than 330 lawsuits over alleged sexual abuse of children by the clergy dating back decades.

“After careful consideration of the various alternatives for providing just compensation to innocent people who were harmed, we believe this process is the best way to ensure a fair and equitable outcome for survivors,” said Bishop Michael Barber in a statement. “Given our current financial resources, (the Roman Catholic Bishop of Oakland) could not shoulder the burden of litigating 330 cases.”

Bankruptcy “can provide a way to support all survivors in their journey toward healing in an equitable and comprehensive way,” he wrote in a public letter in March.

“We have limited cash reserves, and insurance may cover some of the claims,” the diocese said on its website. “We are also exploring the potential sale of assets that are underutilized or may not…

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The Roman Catholic Bishop of Oakland filed for bankruptcy protection Monday in the face of 330 child sex abuse claims going back decades, church officials announced.

The diocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in order to stave off individual lawsuits and consolidate the claims in a court-supervised process that will ultimately lead to settlements.

“After careful consideration of the various alternatives for providing just compensation to innocent people who were harmed, we believe this process is the best way to ensure a fair and equitable outcome for survivors,” said Bishop Michael Barber.

“It will also allow RCBO to stabilize its finances and continue the sacred mission entrusted to us by Christ and the Church,” Barber said in a news release Monday. “Given our current financial resources, RCBO could not shoulder the burden of litigating 330 cases filed under…

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In his role as president of the Vatican’s child protection commission, Archbishop of Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley said the body’s recent actions “represent a major shift towards a more impact-focused direction.” 

At the plenary assembly of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, which took place from May 3–6, members adopted several new policies and updates in an attempt to address the sexual abuse crisis. 

Those changes include a proposal updating the Church’s guidelines for addressing clergy sexual abuse, a forthcoming “audit tool” to “evaluate the adequacy of local churches safeguarding guidelines,” and a new fund supported by bishops’ conferences around the world to support victims, their families, and communities in impoverished areas, according to the commission’s May 8 press release.

“At times, this new direction has been both steep and fast for all of us reflecting the urgency of the challenges. This accelerated pace over the last six…

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The Diocese of Oakland is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy due to child sex abuse claims, it announced Monday in a press release. The diocese says it faces more than 330 lawsuits alleging child sexual abuse.

According to the release, Catholic schools in operation under the Oakland Diocese are part of separate legal entities and are not included in the bankruptcy filing. Employees and vendors will also be paid as usual with employee benefits continuing uninterrupted, the release continues.

“After careful consideration of the various alternatives for providing just compensation to innocent people who were harmed, we believe this process is the best way to ensure a fair and equitable outcome for survivors,” said Bishop Michael C. Barber. “It will also allow RCBO to stabilize its finances and continue the sacred mission entrusted to us by Christ and the Church. Given our current financial resources, RCBO could not shoulder the…

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As the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors’ plenary session in Rome comes to an end, Cardinal Seán Patrick O’Malley says the Pope “has asked a lot from us, and we are all committed to making this work.”

A “new universal framework” to update Church guidelines; a fund with contributions from the Bishops’ Conferences for training and assistance to victims; partnership with the GHR Foundation for safeguarding programmes; strategies to combat online child abuse; an in-depth study on the issue of vulnerability in its various forms; and, a strategic plan to focus on the needs of victims and survivors and address them in the Church’s accountability mechanisms.

These new strategies represent the work carried out by members of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors during its Plenary Assembly.

Members took time to analyse and elaborate on the work of the Commission’s ongoing and future work, in light…

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The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) will speak about the new revelations that
identify many of the redactions that were made in the Attorney General’s report on the Child Sexual
Abuse in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, Maryland.

https://www.marylandattorneygeneral.gov/press/2022/111722.pdf

https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/community/religion/john-krzyanski-joseph-omeara-samuel-lupico-catholic-sex-abuse-report-NTWFDCHPJBHBVPU6OIGNRJTTG4/

https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/investigations/bs-md-church-officials-sexual-abuse-redacted-20230504-pngpc2eym5ehjjocmgttwg3o4q-story.html

WHAT: A sidewalk news conference, abuse survivors and advocates who are part of SNAP, the Survivors
Network of those Abused by Priests, will speak about the information revealed by the two major
newspapers in Baltimore. We know that several of the officials were completely complicit in
covering up and enabling abusers.

WHEN: Monday, May 8th at 11:30 am

WHERE: In front of the Archdiocese of Baltimore office, 320 Cathedral St. Baltimore, MD 21201
WHO: 7-10 abuse survivors and advocates, including the Maryland SNAP Leader David Lorenz, who
wants to see church officials remove any and all priests who knowingly mislead victims or enabled
abusers to continue harming children by their actions or lack of action.

WHY: Specifically, SNAP…

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When Brian P. Hannon finally reported to the Baltimore Archdiocese that as a teenager he had been repeatedly raped by a priest in the rectory of a Catonsville church, one of the officials he met with was the Rev. Bruce Jarboe, now a monsignor.

“He’s the one running the show,” Hannon, now 65, recalled of the meeting about 20 years ago. “He was very condescending to me. They acted like I was putting them out.”

When Hannon learned Friday that Jarboe was one of five high-ranking church officials who helped abusive priests escape accountability, but whose names were redacted from the recent Maryland Attorney General’s Office report on decades of clergy child sex abuse in the archdiocese, he wasn’t surprised.

“Disgusting,” Hannon said. “It’s an old-boy network.”

The archdiocese paid for lawyers to argue before a Baltimore judge, successfully as it turns out, that the names should be…

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Research shows an undeniable link between poverty and sexual violence

TEN years have gone by and Chido Mpira (now 19) has adamantly refused to join the family when they go for church gatherings every week.

While the community never understood her, her immediate family did, however they had agreed that Chido’s demise was a secret that should be kept within the family.

But Chido who has spent the last decade to herself has vowed she would rather die than attend church as she has been subjected to rape by her church minister at the tender age of nine.

Her family refused to report him for fear of touching the “anointed” one of God.

As she narrates her story, Chido who is still far from healing, wishes governments employ mechanisms that tackles religious related sexual abuse cases.

“My family is very close to the pastors’ family so I literally grew up…

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Sólo podrá dar misa de manera privada. Los integrantes del jurado eclesiástico habían solicitado una pena más dura.

El Obispo de la diócesis de la Santísima Concepción, monseñor José Antonio Díaz, inhabilitó por 10 años al sacerdote de Concepción Daniel Molina, quien había sido denunciado por abuso sexual.

Molina sólo podrá celebrar Misa de manera privada.

La decisión se dio a conocer en un comunicado oficial de la Iglesia, para dar precisiones ante “las manifestaciones públicas y la confusión expresada por muchos fieles respecto a la situación del presbítero Daniel Molina”.

La inhabilitación es consecuencia de un proceso canónico al que el Padre Molina fue sometido, como respuesta a denuncias recibidas en su contra.

El proceso fue autorizado por la Santa Sede. Para resguardar la imparcialidad, el tribunal estuvo conformado por jueces ajenos a esta diócesis y a esta provincia.

Los jueces solicitaron la pena máxima que corresponde a la pérdida…

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Pope Francis met with members of his child protection body Friday, stressing the importance of making reparation for past failures and urging them not to be discouraged when it seems like no progress is being made.

Speaking to members of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors Friday, the pope told them not to be discouraged in their work, saying, “Even when the path forward is difficult and demanding, I urge you not to get bogged down.”

“Keep reaching out, keep trying to instill confidence in those you meet and who share with you this common cause. Do not grow discouraged when it seems that little is changing for the better. Persevere and keep moving forwards!” he said.

Francis’s audience with the commission comes at the end of their spring plenary assembly in Rome, during which they welcomed 10 new members and sought to regroup amid what has been…

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A priest from Rwanda alleged to have participated in the country’s 1994 genocide has been laicized, but not as a result of those accusations but rather for having a son out of wedlock.

In a document dated May 2, the Bishop of the French Diocese of Evreux, where Father Wenceslas Munyeshyaka has worked since 1994, notified him of Pope Francis’ decision to relieve him of his priestly responsibilities.

“By Decree dated March 23, 2023, received last week, the Sovereign Pontiff, Pope Francis, by his supreme and final decision which is not subject to any appeal, has dismissed in pœnam from the clerical state Father Wenceslas Munyeshyaka, incardinated in the Archdiocese of Kigali (Rwanda) and currently residing in the Diocese of Evreux,” read the document signed by Bishop Christian Philippe Pierre Robert Nourrichard.

“Father Wenceslas Munyeshyaka is exempt from all obligations arising from sacred ordination, automatically loses all the rights specific…

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National known civil rights attorney Ben Crump and renowned attorney Adam P. Slater are planning to file a lawsuit on behalf of Archdiocese sexual abuse survivors.

The attorneys will hold a press conference to announce the lawsuit on Tuesday, May 9, with survivors of childhood sexual abuse perpetrated by clergy, seminarians, deacons, and employees of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore.

Attorney Crump and Attorney Slater will also launch a petition calling for the passage of legislation that would remove the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse across the nation.

This news comes after Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown released a redacted report on child sex abuse in the Archdiocese of Baltimore in April, detailing abuse within the church based on documents dating back to the 1940s.

In March, a Baltimore judge approved the release of the Maryland Attorney General’s investigation into the history of…

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Missionary Alfonso Pedrajas appears to confess to paedophilia, in a diary discovered by his nephew

The publication of parts of the diary of a dead Spanish Jesuit missionary has triggered the suspension of several members of the clergy, a legal investigation and an apology from the Catholic Church. His diary details his sexual abuse of dozens of children under his care in Bolivia.

Alfonso Pedrajas spent 48 years there, working as a teacher and tutor to young priests. Several years after his death in 2009, his nephew Fernando Pedrajas found a 383-page diary in which the priest details episodes from his life, including apparent confessions of abusing children.

“I harmed a lot of people (85?), too many,” he writes in one entry, published along with other excerpts by Spanish newspaper El País on April 30th.

“My biggest personal failure, without a doubt: paedophilia,” he wrote in another.

In the diary,…

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The Catholic Church’s insurer is considering winding down its ­operations unless another substantial bailout is made by dioceses and religious orders to plug the hole caused by sex abuse cases.

Catholic Church Insurance is discussing closing its new and renewal general insurance business amid a continuing surge in abuse claims as well as the liability ­impacts of factors such as Australia’s erratic weather.

The church hierarchy has been told the capital injection is needed about 18 months after shareholders pumped $170m into CCI to help cover sex abuse claims, amid significant losses.

The church has assured that sex abuse payments will not be ­affected by the insurer’s challenges.

Its shareholders include the ­dioceses across Australia and any decision to wind down its operations would affect hundreds of entities. The church hierarchy has about a fortnight to decide on ­another bailout.

Steps are under way to reassure victims of abuse that…

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A comprehensive investigation into the L’Arche movement demonstrates that Jean Vanier fostered a psychologically crippling and spiritually depraved environment

A little over three years ago, L’Arche International published its preliminary findings on allegations of sexual abuse and other transgressions against Thomas Philippe, OP, and Jean Vanier, the principal figures in the L’Arche movement. The organization noted at the time that “the stakes are high for L’Arche, following the death of its founder and revelations which mark a break in its history, there is a need to reread the past…. An in-depth study is to be carried out to gain a better understanding of the personality and input of Jean Vanier and the relationship dynamics at work between the founder and those who knew him”.

That in-depth study, “Abuse and Hold: An Investigation of Thomas Philippe, Jean Vanier and L’Arche”, was released in January. It’s a nine-hundred-page document comprehensive in scope,…

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In legal documents filed this week in the child sexual abuse case against the aging rocker, Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler claimed that his life is of “significant public interest.” As such, he says, he was protected under the First Amendment to “out” a survivor of sexual abuse against her will, make millions of dollars publishing her story, and continue to revictimize her.

Tyler also filed an affidavit claiming that it was “not his intention to hurt” the victim by telling her story of rape and abuse.

Think his argument is unique? Think again. Tyler and his lawyers are leveraging a despicable trend of “victim-blaming” to escape the consequences of abusing children and young teens. By bullying, blaming, and silencing victims in public and the media, perpetrators, their defenders, and their lawyers have been attacking innocent victims for decades.

Here are some recent hair-raising examples.

1. Quentin Tarantino Defends Convicted Rapist Roman…

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The charging documents said Erin Foerstel made a full confession.

KIRKWOOD, Mo. — A former nurse at St. John Vianney High School was charged Thursday with multiple sex crimes after allegations of inappropriate conduct with a student.

Erin Foerstel was charged with two felonies: one count of second-degree statutory sodomy and one count of sexual contact with a student.

According to charging documents, Foerstel performed oral sex on a Vianney student under the age of 17 earlier this year. The charging documents said Foerstel made a full confession.

According to online court documents, her bond was set at $75,000, cash only. As part of her bond, she can not go on the Vianney campus or have any communication with the victim through third parties or social media.

In April, the school sent a letter to parents saying Forestel was removed from the campus and is “no longer employed…

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KIRKWOOD — A former nurse at St. John Vianney High School here has been charged with felony sex crimes after admitting to sexual contact with an underage student.

Erin Foerstel, 43, of Kirkwood, faces charges of statutory sodomy in the second degree and sexual contact with a student younger than 17, the age of consent in Missouri. 

Foerstel confessed to police that she performed a sexual act on a student at Vianney last month while employed at the school as a nurse, Kirkwood detective Donald Douglas wrote in a probable cause statement. 

Foerstel worked at Vianney from August 2020 until April 24, when administrators fired her after receiving a report of the alleged sex incident last month, Vianney President Rick Davis and Principal Ian Mulligan said in an email Thursday to parents with students at the all-male, Catholic private school.

Foerstel had also had inappropriate contact with students through social media,…

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Antony Punnackal faces a hearing Monday in Sevier County.

The attorney for a Gatlinburg priest accused of sexually battering a Central American woman says he has video evidence showing the woman schemed to commit tax fraud, information that would undermine her credibility in the criminal case against her alleged attacker.

Travis D. McCarter filed a motion last week in Sevier County Circuit Court on behalf of client Antony D. Punnackal, who is charged with battering the woman and with sexual battery by an authority figure.

Punnackal faces a hearing Monday morning ahead of a planned trial Wednesday, although McCarter is seeking to delay the trial.

According to McCarter, the priest’s accuser also has been recorded on video talking about the criminal case.

“Perhaps most importantly, the alleged victim makes a statement in the video that roughly translates to an admission that the alleged victim believes the detective that dropped her…

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MUNICH – The Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK) believes that the process of coming to terms with the abuse scandal in the Church is far from complete.

At the spring plenary meeting in Munich on Saturday, ZdK Vice-President Wolfgang Klose demanded, among other things, the establishment of structures to deal with cases in Catholic associations and organizations.

In addition, it must be clarified how the ZdK can cooperate with the German Bishops’ Conference (DBK) on the issue. Klose demanded that the committee accompany the reappraisal in the DBK and the Catholic dioceses in a critical manner.

The ZdK General Assembly is the highest body of the organization of Catholic laity. It meets twice a year – and now in Munich for the first time after the conclusion of the so-called Synodal Way, the reform process in the Catholic Church in Germany that has been extremely controversial in the view…

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In an interview with EL PAÍS, the nephew who found his uncle’s secret diary, in which the Jesuit priest revealed that he sexually abused dozens of minors during decades, says: ‘You’re with the victims or with the pederast’

In 2018, EL PAÍS launched an investigation of pedophilia in Spain’s Roman Catholic Church and developed a database with all the known cases. If you know of any unreported cases, write to us at abusos@elpais.es or abusosamerica@elpais.es if the case is in Latin America.

What seemed like an ordinary cardboard box changed Fernando Pedrajas’ life. It happened in early 2021 amid the pandemic, just before an unprecedented snowstorm blanketed Madrid in white. Fernando’s mother had died a few months earlier, so he had gone to the family home to sort everything out and put it up for rent. He went down to the storage room and found a dusty box with “PICA” written on…

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A Mississippi minister and educator is accused of sex acts with several underage boys he knew from his position as their pastor, tutor, or employer, according to affidavits from Olive Branch Police.► Olive Branch, MS educator charged with child molestation, sexual abuse, unnatural intercourse

Daniel Paul Harris, 44, was arrested Thursday and charged with two counts of molesting (touching a child for lustful purposes), two counts of sexual battery, and one count of unnatural intercourse.

“There’s a lot of children who have come in contact with this person,” Bob Morris, Desoto County District Attorney said. “I don’t want to comment in detail on the investigation. I can only say that it does cover a time period, I would not say it’s an isolated event with one individual.”

Harris is listed in documents as a pastor at a church at 8300 Craft Road, which is the address…

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Grammy-award winning worship leader Matt Redman and other prominent Christian leaders from the U.K. are commending survivors speaking out in one of the largest abuse scandals to rock the evangelical church there.

The scandal involves 65-year-old Mike Pilavachi, founder of Soul Survivor, a U.K. Christian youth festival that ran from 1993—2019 and attracted about 30,000 people from around the world each summer. Soul Survivor also inspired Survivor Records, which launched popular artists like Redman, Tim Hughes, Tree63, and YFriday.

Pilavachi, who also pastored Soul Survivor Watford, is now facing allegations he abused young men in his care, bullying them, giving them full-body massages, and pressuring them to engage in extended wrestling matches. Last month, Pilavachi quit Soul Survivor and stepped back from ministry at his church, after the Church…

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Pope Francis on Friday praised the work of an international Vatican commission on sexual abuse prevention, following the recent acrimonious resignation of a high-profile member who accused it of lacking transparency.

In an address to a plenary session of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, Francis made no reference or allusion to the accusations by Father Hans Zollner, who resigned on March 29, citing concerns over the way it was operating.

Zollner, a world-renowned abuse prevention expert, denounced unclear hiring practices, an undefined relationship with the Vatican’s doctrine office and “inadequate” financial and decision-making accountability.

Addressing the commission, whose membership was renewed and expanded last year, Francis said he was pleased with a recent agreement between it and a Vatican department that oversees work in poor countries, where sexual abuse prevention is often hurt by lack of funding.

He urged members “not to get bogged down,” to “persevere and…

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Pope Francis sought to encourage his embattled child protection advisory board Friday, following weeks of turmoil sparked by the latest resignation of a founding member and fresh questions about its direction.

Francis urged his Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors to pursue a “spirituality of reparation” with abuse survivors and build a culture of safeguarding to prevent priests from raping and molesting children.

In particular, he praised the commission’s efforts to establish church child protection programs in Asia, Africa and Latin America, where there is less funding than in the U.S. and Europe.

“It is not right that the most prosperous areas of the world should have well-trained and well-funded safeguarding programs, where victims and their families are respected, while in other parts of the world they suffer in silence, perhaps rejected or stigmatized when they try to come forward to tell of the abuse they have suffered,” Francis…

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Pope Francis invited the Vatican’s child protection commission to have “a spirituality of reparation” toward victims of clergy sexual abuse and to examine where the Church has committed “sins of omission” in this area.

“The sexual abuse of minors by clergy and its poor handling by Church leaders has been one of the greatest challenges for the Church in our time,” he told the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors (PCPM) during an audience May 5.

“The failure to act properly to halt this evil and to assist its victims,” he continued, “has sullied our witness to God’s love.”

“In the Confiteor, we ask forgiveness not only for the wrong we have done but also for the good we have failed to do. It can be easy to forget sins of omission, for in a way they seem less real; yet in fact they are very real, and they…

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This morning, the Holy Father Francis received the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors members in the audience.

We publish below the speech that the Pope addressed to those present during the Audience:

Address of the Holy Father

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!

I am pleased to welcome all of you, particularly the new members of the Commission, as well as those continuing their service and the group of associates from around the world, who are a new and welcome addition.

This is our first meeting since you were formally established within the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, and I would like to provide you with some suggestions. The seeds sown some ten years ago, when the Council of Cardinals recommended the creation of this body, are bearing fruit, as we can see. In order to face today’s challenges with wisdom and courage, it is important…

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What happens to children sexually abused by priests as they grow older? Some, tragically, commit suicide. Some fall into alcoholism and drug addiction in an attempt to cope with the enduring pain caused by such profound betrayals of trust. Serial failed relationships, career catastrophes, depression and hopelessness often follow.

After decades of surviving such after-effects, one abuse survivor has risen out of the ashes to reach out to others still living amongst the ruins of their own lives.

In 1963 at age 11, Robert McCabe endured sexual abuse at the hands of a newly-ordained priest assigned to his boyhood parish in Scarborough, Ont. Decades of alcoholism followed, resulting in several failed marital relationships. At one point he found himself homeless, fighting rats for pieces of Kentucky Fried Chicken in a bin at the back of a restaurant.

Early one morning in December 2010, wondering what sort of booze to buy…

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A wealthy attorney who made a name for himself in the nation’s capital before returning home to Maine to run for governor vowed to seek redemption Thursday after he pleaded guilty to possession of thousands of images of child sexual abuse.

Eliot Cutler, who came close to being elected governor in 2010, sat stone-faced at times in court, but his voice cracked with emotion when he addressed the judge. He apologized first to the victimized children and their families.

“My behavior helped to support an industry built upon their abuse, and I hope with all my heart that they can find healing and dignity,” Cutler said.

The plea agreement, accepted by the judge, calls for Cutler to serve nine months in jail for four counts of possessing sexually explicit material of a child under 12.

It marked a remarkable fall for a man who once served as an…

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Raymond Frogner is the head of archives for the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation.

Canada’s Supreme Court has acknowledged that Canadian governments and Christian organizations weaponized education to govern and forcefully assimilate Indigenous peoples through a system of residential schools. Seven generations of Indigenous children endured unconscionable physical, emotional and sexual abuse, poor health care, deficient educational standards, inadequate shelter, chronic malnutrition and disproportionately high rates of death.

And yet there are still commentators who deny or question the trustworthiness of the records, the transparency of the research and even the merit of investigating the residential school experience.

This prevents understanding, and must be addressed.

Detractors have stated that both federal and provincial governments kept careful records around the deaths of children sent to residential school. They claim government offices delivered, years ago, almost all these records to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) or, later,…

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“The sexual abuse of minors by clergy and its poor handling by church leaders has been one of the greatest challenges for the church in our time,” Pope Francis said in his keynote address to members of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors on May 5. But, he said, “now is the time to repair the damage done to previous generations and to those who continue to suffer.”

The pope met the commission while it is holding its plenary assembly in Rome (May 2 to May 6) at a time when many questions have been raised about its organization, governance and direction following the resignation at the end of March of Hans Zollner, S.J. The Jesuit priest, who had been a founding member along with Cardinal Seán O’Malley, resigned citing his concerns about the commission regarding “the areas of responsibility, compliance, accountability and transparency.” The cardinal, who…

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[See also a letter from then-Msgr. W. Francis Malooly, Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, to Fr. Laurence F.X. Brett, cc’ing Msgr. Laurence R. Bronkiewicz of the Diocese of Bridgeport, August 11, 1993.]

The Maryland attorney general’s recent report on child sexual abuse and cover-ups within the Archdiocese of Baltimore mostly repeats or expands on known allegations and names deceased abusive priests.

The report also includes new information about a group of alleged abusers and church officials whose conduct wasn’t widely known and whose names were stripped from the document before its publication.

But clergy abuse survivors say any public reckoning falls short when some of the people involved remain anonymous, so The Baltimore Banner sought to unmask them.

Reporters matched details in the report to court transcripts, archdiocesan letters, church directories, news articles and other public documents. The investigation identified three of the clergy members and one church official whose…

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The Banner has uncovered three of the ten clergy members whose names were redacted from the Maryland attorney general’s report on child sexual abuse within the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

When the mother in suburban Atlanta remembers those days, the warning signs were there.

There were fights when she drove her son to classes for his first Communion. He begged her not to leave him. The family felt unsettled by a Christmas letter from the priest they hardly knew.

“At the end of the letter, he said, ‘How is my sweet little [boy],’ and there, I felt really nauseous for some reason. It’s like someone punched me in the stomach,” the mother would tell attorneys in a deposition. “I told my husband. I said, ‘Look at this letter. It doesn’t sound right to me.’

They would later learn what troubled their son. He alleged in a 2018 federal lawsuit in their…

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Just before Washington’s legislative session ended, in a last-ditch attempt to push through her bill requiring clergy to report child abuse, state Sen. Noel Frame proposed a compromise.

The bill, which would have added clergy to the state’s list of mandatory reporters of child abuse or neglect, ran into a sticking point. Catholic lobbyists — and a majority of state senators — wanted to carve out an exemption for priests if they learned of abuse or neglect through a confession, which is viewed as sacred within the Catholic Church. 

Frame’s compromise was essentially this: Clergy would have a duty to warn law enforcement if they believed a child was at imminent risk of abuse, even if their belief was partly or fully informed by a confession. But they wouldn’t have to report the information they were told during the confession itself. 

“We felt like this walked an appropriate line of…

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Former Catholic Diocese of Wilmington Bishop W. Francis Malooly was one of several past high-ranking Archdiocese of Baltimore officials identified as those who helped cover up sexual abuse, according to a Baltimore Sun exclusive article published online late Thursday.

Malooly — along with the Most Revs. Richard “Rick” Woy, G. Michael Schleupner, J. Bruce Jarboe and George B. Moeller — helped abusive priests get away with their crimes, either concealing the extent of a priest’s misdeeds or striking deals with prosecutors to avoid a criminal charge, according to the Sun’s article.

The five were among the most powerful, high-ranking and visible officials in the archdiocese, which comprises of Baltimore and nine of Maryland’s 23 counties in the central and western portions of the state. Its annual directories show some served as chancellor, effectively the right hand of the late Cardinal William Keeler or the late Archbishop William Borders. Others were directors…

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In the fall of 2002, as the countryfirst realizedthe scope of child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church, a Baltimore bishop sat in a Carroll County parochial school gym to try and make sense of it all.

Auxiliary Bishop W. Francis Malooly told a group of faithful that it was a mystery to him why priests who the Archdiocese of Baltimore had recently named as credibly accused of abuse weren’t in jail, and why they had never been fully prosecuted. Priests elsewhere were being charged every day now, he said.

It was no mystery.

In many instances, Malooly — along with the Most Revs. Richard “Rick” Woy, G. Michael Schleupner, J. Bruce Jarboe and George B. Moeller — helped abusive priests get away with their crimes, either concealing the extent of a priest’s misdeeds or striking deals with prosecutors to avoid a criminal charge.

The five were among…

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The Rev. Michael Zacharias was on the phone with a boy he now stands trial for allegedly molesting for more than a decade — both as a juvenile and as an adult — when he overheard the boy’s girlfriend accurately assess the situation.

“Why does he call all the time? Is he trying to get into your pants?” the alleged victim recalled the girlfriend asking him during the phone call.

“I thought it was absurd,” the now 34-year-old man, whose name The Blade is withholding because it is a sexual assault case, said Wednesday on the witness stand in U.S. District Court in Toledo during the first day of trial testimony. But when he walked away to take the rest of the call in private, Father Zacharias “proceeds to tell me she’s right,” he testified, although at that moment, he thought it was a joke.

From that point on, the…

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Letter warns against attempts to discredit group’s founding member Hans Zollner, who has resigned

Former president Mary McAleese and Dublin abuse survivor Marie Collins have written to Pope Francis calling for “an independent, external review” of the Vatican’s Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

It follows the resignation of Jesuit priest Fr Hans Zollner, a member of the commission since it was set up in 2014.

He said it had yet to take seriously the principles of “transparency, compliance and responsibility” and that there were people in the Catholic Church who, “for personal or emotional reasons, create obstacles” in the fight against child abuse.

In their letter, both women expressed “deep concern” about the resignation from the commission “of its most experienced, globally respected and distinguished founding member Fr Hans Zollner SJ”.

They believed Fr Zollner’s integrity and honesty “to be beyond question. His commitment to child safeguarding within…

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When German Jesuit Fr. Hans Zollner resigned from Pope Francis’ abuse commission March 29, mounting a searing criticism of the organization’s leadership and its alleged lack of transparency, it plunged an already beleaguered body into crisis.

As the commission meets in Rome this week for a previously scheduled May 3-6 summit, its president, Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley, said the body would address the concerns raised by Zollner, while also noting that he strongly disagreed with the Jesuit’s assessment of the commission’s effectiveness.

The organization, founded in 2014 as the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors and with a mandate to advise the pope on child abuse prevention and accountability measures, has already suffered a number of setbacks, including the previous resignation of several other high-profile members who have questioned its ability to cut through the Vatican’s red tape and challenge its culture of…

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I was rather taken aback by the response I received from a friend when I told her that I was going to the seminary to begin my priestly and religious formation. She said to me something like this, “Catholic priesthood in this time of the most repulsive clergy sexual abuse and cover-up scandals? Don’t you have anything better to do with your life? Besides, do you think you are ready for the sacrifices, challenges, and difficulties of the priesthood?” Talk about a downer!

There is no wonder we have few religious and priestly vocations today when there are people who have such negative and pessimistic views of the consecrated life and Catholic priesthood. Even if they claim to be praying for religious and priestly vocations, can their prayers be effective when they have nothing but disdain and contempt for the vocations? We cannot inspire young men and women to the…

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In 2013, then-Catholic priest and would-be artist Kevin Barry McGoldrick was transferred from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia to the Diocese of Nashville, where he became chaplain of Aquinas College.

In the lawsuit filed on April 18 in Philadelphia, it alleges that archdiocesan officials transferred the priest — and issued a letter of support on his behalf — knowing that he had a history of sexual abuse. The lawsuit accuses the archdiocese of enabling the priest’s abuse in 2017 of the lawsuit’s 27-year-old plaintiff, identified only as “Jane Doe.”

“To know he should never have been at Aquinas College, and he was put there and I was put in harm’s way knowingly, was perhaps the most traumatic,” Jane Doe told Religion News Service.

The five-count lawsuit, entered in the Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia County, names both McGoldrick and the archdiocese and asks for hundreds of thousands of dollars in…

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Becoming a Synodal Church is the mandate of the Church in the AEC region. At the 67th Annual Plenary Meeting, held April 23-28, 2023 in Aruba, the AEC Bishops committed to transform the church at every level to reflect the call to synodality by Pope Francis. This commitment to walk together shaped both the agenda and the approach of the entire meeting where Sexual Abuse, Crime and Violence, and Solidarity with Haiti were discussed.

Sexual Abuse

Father Gerard McGlone of the Society of Jesus (Jesuit) led the bishops through a day of retreat and a study day on the topic of sexual abuse within the church. He questioned: “How can this crushing scandal transform the church so that it can once again be meaningful to the world?” He used Ronald Rolheiser’s article “On Carrying the Scandal Biblically (2002)” as a reference document.

The image presented was that of Mary and…

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My fellow survivor of clergy abuse, Luis Torres, first appeared in my well-ordered life one steamy summer evening. He arrived from his home on Staten Island, New York, in an old minivan with a bike strapped to a rack on the back. Where most people would have been thwarted, as was my intent, by the lack of a doorbell or knock, Luis was unfazed.

He was like that with survivors. He simply didn’t see barriers. He was all heart and responded to all hearts, especially to broken hearts. Perhaps it was his substantial suffering that won him, on the spiritual plane, a license for entry. At least, that was what I experienced that first evening on my porch. 

I had been told a fellow survivor of clergy abuse might reach out to me for support in his healing. I imagined the usual phone calls. What I encountered was someone standing…

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A bishop made a “succession of errors of judgment” including associating with a paedophile friar despite being warned not to, an official report into his resignation has found.

But media reports that “lewd” lockdown parties were held at Newcastle’s St Mary’s Cathedral were “simply untrue”, according to an inquiry into events leading up to Bishop Robert Byrne leaving his role as Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle in December.

Archbishop Malcolm McMahon was tasked with carrying out an investigation for the Dicastery for Bishops and an executive summary has been published on the Newcastle Diocese website.

He said there were four issues which had an impact on Bishop Byrne’s role: lockdown; buying a new house in a leafy Newcastle suburb; the suicide of the Cathedral Dean Canon Michael McCoy; and Bishop Byrne’s continued association with convicted paedophile Father Timothy Gardner.

The executive summary stated: “There has been much commentary in mainstream…

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As readers of this esteemed publication would be aware, in 2018, the Vatican signed a provisional agreement with the Chinese Communist Party on the appointment of Catholic bishops. In doing so, the Vatican recognised the Chinese ‘Patriotic Church’, set up and controlled by the CCP.

Indeed, the late Cardinal Pell, in the ‘Demos’ document attributed to him, stated that under the 2018 secret Vatican-China pact, there had been ‘no public support for the loyal Catholics in China who have been intermittently persecuted for their loyalty to the Papacy for more than 70 years’.

While the Vatican-CCP pact remains secret, it has been possible to ascertain that, according to its terms, the Vatican is to be included in the decision-making process in the appointment of bishops, with the final okay by the Pope. Well, as critics of the agreement have warned, the Chinese would have no compunction in breaking the agreement,…

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Lyon* doesn’t mince words when he talks about the impact of being sexually abused when he was a child, saying “it has destroyed my life”.

Key points:

• A Tasmanian man who alleged he was sexually abused as a child by three Anglican priests and a teacher has had his civil claim settled out of court for $1.4 million
• The man says the settlement has given him strength to fight for other victim-survivors
• The Anglican Church in Tasmania says it has paid out a total of $6.5 million since 2017 to 16 survivors who have made civil claims

WARNING: This story contains details of child sexual abuse and themes of self-harm.

“I haven’t been existing properly for 50-whatever years. You do things on auto-pilot, you take risks, you do crazy shit … you try to kill yourself,” he said.

Lyon said he drew on his strength to make his claim against the Anglican Diocese…

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In 2020 a nun accused the retired Archbishop of Auch, Maurice Gardès, of spiritual and sexual abuse.

The French Church has identified one of the previously unnamed retired archbishops investigated for sexual abuse, a revelation delayed because civil prosecutors did not inform Church officials that they had closed the case without taking any action.

After a prosecutor confirmed reporting by Famille Chrétienne, the archdioceses of Auch, Lyon and Toulouse issued a joint statement confirming that a nun had accused retired Auch Archbishop Maurice Gardès in 2020 of “moral and sexual harassment, spiritual abuse and sexual aggression”.

The complaint to the Lyon archdiocese was made a month before the archbishop’s retirement was announced by the Vatican. Lyon was also reported it to civil authorities, who sent it to colleagues in Auch.

Prosecutors in Auch looked into the case but filed it away in April 2022 because it was too old and not…

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Bolivia’s Jesuit congregation apologized Tuesday and announced an investigation into a late Spanish priest who allegedly abused several minors in Bolivia dating back to the 1980s.

“We apologize for the pain this has caused,” said the Rev. Bernardo Mercado, head of the Catholic religious order known as La Compañía de Jesús. He said the congregation has launched a probe that seeks to bring justice for the victims and called the situation an “embarrassment.”

The case of Jesuit priest Alfonso Pedrajas Moreno came to light over the weekend in a report by the Spanish newspaper El País. It published excerpts of the priest’s dairy, where he allegedly admitted to having abused at least 85 children while he was a teacher in Bolivia until 2009 when he died.

Bolivian officials have not released the number of victims nor the dates in which the alleged abuse took place. But earlier this week Bolivia’s top…

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Former Catholic foundation official engaged in protected activities, according to the state Court of Appeal

A trial court must reconsider its denial of a motion to block a libel suit stemming from an email allegedly containing a false insinuation that Diocese of Orange Bishop Kevin Vann used Orange Catholic Foundation funds to cover legal expenses for clergy accused of child sex abuse, a state appellate court has ruled.

Suzanne Nunn, former interim executive director of the foundation, sent the email to 47 Catholic leaders throughout the country after Vann unilaterally terminated her and the organization’s board of directors in June 2020.

In the three-page email that bore the subject line, “You can’t make this stuff up,” Nunn asked a series of rhetorical questions regarding her firing and that of the board.

“Is this considered a hostile take-over to distribute funds the diocese needs to cover debt? Lawsuits?”  she asked, according…

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An investigation into embattled Hillsong Church by the top-rated news outlet in Australia has uncovered new revelations of financial and sexual misconduct, as key sources go on-the-record for the first time.

“Hellsong: Hillsong Church Global Investigation” first aired on Australia’s 7News on April 23 and released Friday on YouTube.

The 45-minute documentary reveals more evidence of sex abuse cover-up at Hillsong and new details of pedophilia by Frank Houston, father of Hillsong founder Brian Houston. The film also features an exclusive interview with Geoff Bullock, a worship pastor who helped found the Hills Christian Life Centre, which became Hillsong. And it reveals evidence that Houston, whose career seems dead in Australia, may be launching a comeback in the U.S.

Speaking on camera for the first time, a young woman and former Hillsong member, Piper Cameron, alleged that a male Hillsong youth leader asked her for…

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A former Baptist missionary has been found guilty of sexually abusing a 4-year-old family member, who tested positive for gonorrhea last April.

On Friday, a court in Webster County, Iowa, found 30-year-old Jordan Webb guilty of second-degree sexual abuse with persons under the age of 12, a Class B felony, according to the Messenger News. The court also convicted Webb of incest, a felony, and child endangerment, an aggravated misdemeanor.

The jury deliberated about two hours before delivering their verdict, the Des Moines Register reported. Webb faces up to 32 years in prison at his sentencing on June 5.

Webb reportedly served from 2019—2022 as a missionary in St. Lucia with “Christ in the Caribbean.” 

According to a now-deleted Facebook page, the “sending church” for “Christ in the Caribbean” was Harvest Baptist Church, an Independent Fundamental Baptist (IFB) church in Fort Dodge,…

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Australian megachurch Hillsong, facing leadership scandals and allegations of financial misdeeds, has embraced a defense strategy remarkably like American televangelists facing investigations and court challenges.

Hillsong’s responses to allegations can be summarized as …

1. Deny problems exist.
2. Create churches as limited liability companies as part of a risk containment strategy. Individual churches are overseen by managers.
3. Threaten to sue critics.
4. After indisputable evidence emerges, confess, or admit that mistakes have been made.
5. Request prayer for fallen leaders.
6. Acquire expert legal advice.
7. Make personnel and board changes.
8. Experts release a report denying systemic problems exist.

Hillsong History

In 1983, Brian Houston founded Hills Christian Life Centre. The church would become Hillsong.

Actions taken by Houston more than twenty years ago still haunt the organization. In 1999, Houston learned his father Frank Houston had committed sexual abuse of children but failed to report the criminal behavior to law enforcement. Houston is currently on trial for the failure to report,…

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Federal agency claims several office bearers of the Church of North India are involved along with the dismissed prelate

India’s federal investigating agency has claimed that it has unearthed financial violations by a former Protestant bishop and several officers-bearers of the Church of North India (CNI).

Various office-bearers of the CNI, including former Bishop P. C. Singh, have been found “involved in gross misappropriation of Church properties through sale or renting out at much lower prices by showing them as deteriorating and encroached,” said a press release by the Enforcement Directorate (ED)on April 28.

The federal agency has been probing allegations of money laundering and foreign exchange violations against Singh, a former bishop of Jabalpur diocese of the CNI, a union of Protestant churches based in northern India. He was also the moderator of CNI’s 27 dioceses.

Singh was arrested on April 12 from his residence in Jabalpur in the central Indian state…

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The Internet Child Exploitation Unit (I.C.E.) of the Halton Regional Police Service (HRPS) has laid additional charges in relation to an investigation in-which the accused was involved in luring children over the internet. 

It was recently determined that the accused (who has remained in custody since his arrest on January 5) had been luring children online from locations across the world.  The accused recorded children performing sexual acts and would often pay them for doing so (often using Roblox gift cards as the currency). 

In February of 2022, the accused met with a 14-year-old female in Brampton and sexually assaulted her.

Yesterday, on May 1, investigators laid an additional 28 additional charges against the accused.

Justin Zielke (44) of Ancaster has been further charged with:

• Voyeurism (4 counts)
• Accessing Child Pornography (5 counts)
• Luring (9 counts)
• Make Child Pornography (4 counts)
• Extortion (2 counts)
• Invitation to Sexual Touching
• Sexual Interference
• Sexual Assault
• Obtaining Sexual Services from a Minor 

…

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Turning the fight against this devastating crime into a matter of colour and ethnicity could allow predators to avoid detection.

Last month, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak received some criticism – and from some quarters, praise – for suggesting victims of “grooming gangs” have been ignored because of “political correctness” and “cultural sensitivities”.

“For too long, political correctness has stopped us from weeding out vile criminals who prey on children and young women,” he said, referring to the widely publicised claim that in the United Kingdom, gangs of predominantly British Pakistani men are sexually abusing young white girls and getting away with it due to the “cultural sensitivities” of those responsible for reporting any suspicion or allegation of abuse to relevant authorities. “We will stop at nothing to stamp out these dangerous gangs,” the Prime Minister added.

Before adding my voice to this conversation, it is extremely important for me…

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One of the top advisers to Buffalo Diocese Bishop Michael W. Fisher has stepped down from her post as diocese chancellor in a move that she described in an email as a firing.

Fisher notified clergy across the diocese last week saying that Sister Regina Murphy “has completed her long and distinguished tenure with the diocese.”

The bishop did not otherwise describe the circumstances around Murphy’s departure.

Joseph Martone, diocese spokesman, responded to a reporter’s inquiry about Murphy with a written statement that echoed Fisher’s memo to clergy. Martone declined to comment beyond the statement.

Murphy used the word “terminated” in explaining to department heads in the Catholic Center that she was leaving, according to two sources who read her email. She did not respond to a voice message and an email from The News seeking comment.

Murphy, who worked under eight diocese top administrators, was appointed chancellor in 2018….

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The years I was engaged brought the most change my family had experienced in at least a decade. Loss, job changes, moves, retirements, medical diagnoses: All this, and we weren’t even married yet! 

But the straw that broke the camel’s back came from an unlikely place: witness affidavit interviews. Witness affidavits are forms containing interview questions to be asked of two people who can attest to each partner’s freedom and fitness to marry as well as their sacramental history. For some reason, my now-husband and I were told ours had to be completed in person (during the pandemic) by either our parents or godparents. For two people whose parents, godparents and friends are for the most part not local, not practicing, not present or not alive, this was exceedingly challenging. We had to schedule an extra trip across the country, scrounge up trustworthy witnesses and catechize them as to the…

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Last year, I wrote about the Irish Government and their treatment of the issue of the children of priests. Subsequent to this happening, the Irish Government met with the United Nations in Geneva to respond to the UNCRC 2016 Concluding Recommendations, a document wherein the Committee asked the State party to respond to the needs of the children of priests. It was simple enough, you would think. I only wanted the State to confirm verbally/in writing, that indeed it is wrong to stigmatise a child based on paternity. I watched the Irish State meet with the UN delegation. Unfortunately, nobody brought up the issue of priests’ children and so the statement which preceded the visit to Geneva would suffice it would seem.

However, after all was done and dusted, the UN issued its reflections on what the State party had presented. In February 2023 document, the UN requested the Irish…

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