ABUSE TRACKER

Even after two decades of clergy sexual abuse horror stories, it’s hard not to be affected by what Skip Shea says he experienced as a teen, after landing a job mowing lawns at a retreat center for priests.

It was called the House of Affirmation – a place whose name promised emotional support and healing for troubled priests, including pedophiles.

Two years ago, Shea told investigators from the state attorney general’s office that starting in 1974, at the age of 14, he was given alcohol by priests at the House of Affirmation – and sexually abused at least eight times over a few years. The facility was only a year old.

Today, Shea wants to know whether the public will ever learn what the attorney general’s office discovered, as it pursued what’s believed to have been a wide-ranging inquiry into how Catholic dioceses in Springfield, Fall River and…

View Cache

The Rev. William O’Malley, a former McQuaid Jesuit High School faculty member who gained fame with a role in the 1973 blockbuster “The Exorcist,” and infamy when he was accused in lawsuits of sexually abusing students during his time at the all-boys Catholic school, has died at age 91.

O’Malley died July 15 at Newton-Wellesley Hospital in Newton, Massachusetts, McQuaid wrote on its website and in statement issued Monday.

A Buffalo native and graduate of College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, he worked at McQuaid from 1966 to 1986, teaching English, Latin and theology and leading its drama department.

His good looks, wit and charisma made him a standout on campus, his role as Father Joseph Dyer in “The Exorcist” added to the mystique, and admired by parents, he became one of McQuaid’s most celebrated teachers. Consequently, the sexual abuse accusations stunned many who knew him from his…

View Cache

At first glance, the Catholic faith today in Portugal seems as central a part of everyday life as when the conservative dictator António de Oliveira Salazar’s autocratic regime ruled the country with the tacit approval of the hierarchy in the mid-20th century. 

Adults and young children alike still attend traditional festas and participate in religious processions, often carrying aloft life-size flower-adorned statues of Jesus, Mary and Sao Antonio de Lisboa, the 13th-century Portuguese Franciscan friar who is known to most Catholics the world over as St. Anthony of Padua. Priests and bishops are still called upon to bless fishing fleets or new bridges, and the roads into Fatima are often jammed with religious pilgrims. 

Even so, when Pope Francis arrives in Lisbon on Aug. 2 for the 42nd international trip of his papacy and his fourth World Youth Day — a major gathering of Catholic youth that takes…

View Cache

Pope Francis has been dining out on a paper revolution that made it easier to prosecute crimes of abuse and coverup, and trading on promises to take the abuse of adults seriously.

Marko Rupnik is no longer Fr. Marko Rupnik SJ, which is the way he wants it. Well, he gets it. I don’t like it any more than you. Marko Rupnik is still—intolerably—Fr. Marko Rupnik, though without faculties—unless a bishop or other religious institute takes him. The disgraced celebrity muralist cum inveterate pervert and abuser of mostly religious sisters is radioactive these days, so I suppose it is unlikely, but stranger things have happened.

I was about to ask if maybe there’s a job open in APSA, but then I remembered Bishop Zanchetta and realized there doesn’t need to be a job open for him to get it.

The statement from the superior of the Jesuits’ international houses, Fr. Johan…

View Cache

Anti-cultists claim that the cases of child sexual abuse among the Jehovah’s Witnesses are higher than among Catholic priests. The claim is false.

On July 24, an anti-Jehovah’s-Witnesses organization called JZ Help is holding a web press conference on the theme “Jehovah’s Witnesses: Child Abuse Worse than in the Catholic Church?” From the presentation of the press conference, we learn that “Australian activist Lara Kaput and activist Steven Unthank from saysorry.org,” after having met with the German Reappraisal Commission in Berlin on June 20, will “share their experience” with the Australian Royal Commission. “At the press conference,” we read, “they [the anti-Jehovah’s-Witnesses activists] will present data from the Royal Commission’s investigation, which show that the number of victims within Jehovah’s Witnesses is many times higher than within the Catholic institutions studied. Based on the number of victims in Australia, an estimate of possible numbers of victims among Jehovah’s…

View Cache

The Diocese of Richmond, Virginia, says it has received allegations of child sexual abuse against a retired priest, with law enforcement investigating the claims as the priest remains removed from public ministries. 

The Richmond Diocese — the larger of the two in the state in front of the Diocese of Arlington — said in a July 1 press release that it had “received a recent report of alleged child sexual abuse against Father Walter Lewis.” 

“The allegation reports that the abuse took place in the 1980s while Father Lewis was serving as pastor of St. Anne Catholic Church, Bristol,” the diocese said. “The allegation has been reported to law enforcement.”

Bristol is located in the extreme southwestern part of the state near the Tennessee border. Lewis served at the parish from 1983–1995. 

Bishop Barry Knestout “immediately prohibited Father Lewis from any public ministry in the diocese” for the…

View Cache

“I can’t do this.”

It was a wail from the bowels of the Archdiocese of Detroit chancery office by a promising young priest, tasked with framing the agonies of failed marriages into bloodless canonese so that couples might please the powers in Rome to grant their annulment. It was a necessary penance and rite of passage for the clerically upward bound, chosen ones already by virtue of this assignment, some fantasizing about that oh-so-tall bishop’s miter that could someday be theirs — when it would be received, of course, “in all humility.”

For Fr. Thomas Gumbleton, it was 1960 and priests simply and unquestionably did what the archbishop bid them do. Better known to his seminary classmates as scrappy, hard-charging “Gump” — a guy who could take it as well as he could dish it out in hockey, football or even handball — he certainly was not a hierarchical climber….

View Cache

Exception only for court dates as part of tough $800,000 bail conditions

Kenyan Roman Catholic priest Lawrence Muvengi who is facing sexual abuse charges allegedly involving a 12-year-old schoolgirl, is not to return to the parish of St Catherine except for court, as part of conditions attached to his $800,000 bail.

The clergyman was granted bail by Parish Judge Natalie Creary-Dixon following a bail application on his behalf in the St Catherine Parish Court last week.

The judge ordered that Muvengi should report to the Matilda’s Corner Police Station in St Andrew three times weekly, and he is not to be seen in the parish of St Catherine on days when he is not in the parish for court appearances.

Further, the Kenyan was ordered to surrender his travel documents to the authorities, and a stop order has been imposed at all ports of entry nationally.

The case is to…

View Cache

2 insurance companies to agree to pay $50.75 million

Sexual abuse survivors in the Diocese of Rochester’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy case have reached a settlement with two insurance companies totaling $50.75 million, an attorney for the survivors announced Friday.

The settlement is with the Interstate and First State insurance companies, according to attorney Jeff Anderson, whose firm has been involved in lawsuits against the diocese.

The settlement still needs court approval and be voted on by the survivors.

The Diocese had filed for bankruptcy protection in 2019 after 475 survivors brought lawsuits against the Diocese under the New York Children Victims Act. Rochester was the first to declare bankruptcy as a result of potential claims against it from victims.

The Diocese includes Livingston County, where some victims have filed claims.

Previously, survivors had reached a $75.6 million settlement from the Diocese and another insurer, LMI.

The three settlements total $126.35…

View Cache

[Via CTV News]

Geraldine Shingoose was shocked when she opened a report probing what should be done to protect potential unmarked grave sites at former residential schools for Indigenous children.

Of the thousands of former students who detailed the abuses they suffered to an adjudicator tasked with determining their eligibility for compensation under the historic Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, only about 30 have sought to have copies of their words archived.

Shingoose — an Indigenous elder and residential school survivor — is among that small group. She said she’s heartbroken to think thousands of records will be destroyed within five years unless more survivors also request their preservation, an option she fears most are not even aware of.

“That’s history,” she said in a recent interview.

“Those are sacred stories.”

The debate surrounding the future of these records has gained momentum since more First Nations began seeking answers about…

View Cache

On a frigid February morning in 2013, Sr. Renelle Lasalle sat next to her friend Monique A. Papatie in a hotel conference center in Val-d’Or, a mining town in the western Quebec region of Abitibi where the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (known as TRC) was holding a two-day hearing. 

A retired educator and a respected figure in the nearby Algonquin Anishinaabe,  Papatie was there to share her experience as a student at an Indian residential school in the 1950s and the impact it had on the rest of her life. (Canadians refer to boarding schools as residential schools.)

A decade later, Canada’s reconciliation still feels elusive, but Lasalle remembers that day vividly. It was not just the horror stories she heard. It was also the love she felt from the women who had invited her to attend. 

“They said, ‘We are going to…

View Cache

The Jesuits said Monday that a famous artist priest is definitively expelled from the religious order for sexually, spiritually and psychologically abusing women, and lamented they couldn’t prosecute him more vigorously under the Vatican’s internal procedures.

The Rev. Marko Ivan Rupnik remains a Catholic priest but is no longer a Jesuit priest, after he didn’t appeal his June expulsion decree, said Rupnik’s former superior, the Rev. Johan Verschueren.

Rupnik, a Slovenian priest, is one of the most celebrated religious artists in the Catholic Church. His mosaics decorate churches and basilicas around the world, including at the Vatican.

Late last year, the Jesuits acknowledged Rupnik had been accused by several women of sexual, spiritual and psychological abuse over 30 years. He had largely escaped punishment until then, apparently in part because of his exalted status in the church and at the Vatican, where even Pope Francis’ role in the…

View Cache

(ABC 6 News) – A lawsuit filed on Wednesday claims a former Lourdes High School student was sexually assaulted multiple times by a former clergyman with the Diocese of Winona-Rochester nearly 50 years ago.

According to court documents, the alleged abuse took place from 1972 to 1974, when the plaintiff was between the ages of 14-16 years old.

The suit names Father Joseph Cashman as the alleged perpetrator, who was first ordained by the diocese in 1960 before having his ministerial privileges suspended in 1992 after he was accused of making sexual approaches to several children prior to 1986.

Cashman worked at Lourdes High School between 1970-1977.

The lawsuit claims the Diocese of Winona-Rochester and Rochester Catholic Schools “knew or should have known that Father Cashman was a danger to children before he sexually molested Plaintiff.”

This suit is just the latest claim of clergy child sex abuse against the…

View Cache

 ST CATHERINE, Jamaica— The Kenyan Roman Catholic priest accused of assaulting a 12-year-old girl was granted $800,000 bail in the St Catherine Parish Court in Spanish Town on Wednesday.

Lawrence Muvengi is to return to court on September 27. He was given bail with up to two sureties and was also ordered to surrender his travel documents.

The priest is to report to the Matilda’s Corner Police Station on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and is not to be seen in the parish of St Catherine, except for court.

The court is alleging that Muvengi sexually assaulted the child on the church premises.

The incident reportedly happened last March but was not reported until last month. The child is said to have been a member of the church for several years.

Muvengi is charged with having sexual intercourse with a person under 16 years, sexual touching of a child, grievous sexual…

View Cache

Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) – Lourdes High School, the Rochester Catholic Schools system, and the Catholic Diocese of Winona-Rochester have been named in a new clergy abuse lawsuit.

The negligence case was filed this week in Olmsted County Court by attorney Jeffrey Anderson on behalf of an anonymous former Lourdes student who alleges he was sexually abused when he was 14 to 16 years old in the early to mid-1970s by then priest Joseph Cashman. The lawsuit claims the defendants were negligent in protecting the juvenile plaintiff from being victimized by Cashman, who was suspended from his ministerial privileges as a priest in 1992. He died in 2014.

According to a biography on the diocese website, in 1986 the church became aware of “inappropriate sexual contact” between Cashman and an adult seminarian. It goes on to say that the diocese was later informed of allegations of “sexual…

View Cache

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — Another $50.75 million was added to the total settlement reached by survivors in the Diocese of Rochester’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy case Friday.

According to the law firm Jeff Anderson & Associates, the total settlement is now up to $126.35 million. That includes $55 million from the diocese and parishes, $20.6 million from insurers LMI and LMI Underwriters, $50 million from insurer Interstate, $750,000 from insurer First State, and the latest $50.75 million sum.

Victims also retain the option to pursue legal action against Continental Insurance Company, which has not settled in the case.

The settlement has not yet been approved by a court.

More than 450 sexual abuse claims were filed in the case against the diocese after the Child Victims Act extended the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse cases. 

View Cache

Legal Battles Remain Against Continental Insurance Company

Today it was announced that the survivors in the Diocese of Rochester Chapter 11 bankruptcy case have reached a settlement with two additional insurance companies, Interstate and First State, totaling $50.75 million.  This is in addition to the $75.6 million in settlement money from the Diocese and another insurer, LMI, who both previously settled with the survivors. The Diocese filed for bankruptcy protection after approximately 475 courageous survivors brought lawsuits against the Diocese under the New York Child Victims Act.

The Diocese of Rochester partial settlement consists of five main components: 1) a $55 million payment from the diocese and parishes; 2) a $20.6 million settlement with insurers LMI and LMI Underwriters; 3) a $50 million settlement with the insurer Interstate; 4) a $750,000 settlement with the insurer First State; and 5) the ability to litigate against the remaining non-settling insurer, Continental Insurance Company.

…

View Cache

Sponsor of bill that created window to sue over decades-old abuse says constitutional amendment may be needed

One afternoon last month, Miranda and Jennifer Wetzler answered a call from their attorney in shock: The Colorado Supreme Court had blocked the sisters’ chance to right a decades-old wrong after their alleged abuser had walked free more than 30 years earlier.

“When I heard the news, I started crying and I just thought, ‘Not again,’” Miranda Wetzler said. “I thought maybe this time we could get the justice we deserved.”

Colorado’s Child Sexual Abuse Accountability Act, which took effect Jan.1, 2022, provided a three-year window for adults who were sexually assaulted as children to bring forward lawsuits over abuse they allege happened between 1960 and 2022, even if the statute of limitations for criminal charges had long since expired.

The Wetzler sisters were preparing to file a lawsuit under the act when…

View Cache

An African-born Roman Catholic priest in Jamaica, accused of assaulting a 12-year-old girl in Portmore, St. Catherine, was released on J $800,000 bail Wednesday after an appearance at St Catherine Parish Court.

Father Lawrence Muvengi, who is from Kenya, is now required to report to Matilda’s Corner Police Station on specified days, surrender travel documents, and not be seen in St Catherine, except for court.

The allegations state that Father Muvengi sexually abused a 12-year-old schoolgirl who attends his church and whom he befriended.

The alleged assault occurred on church premises at the St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, Portmore, Jamaica. in March but was only reported to the police in June.

Father Muvengi, 39, faces charges of sexual intercourse with a minor, sexual touching, grievous sexual assault, and child abduction. He was positively identified by the complainant, leading to the filing of charges.

The JCF emphasized its commitment to ensuring…

View Cache

The Rev. William J. O’Malley, a McQuaid Jesuit High School teacher who became a Rochester celebrity for his supporting role in the 1973 horror film “The Exorcist,” and was later accused of sexually abusing students, has died. He was 91.

O’Malley died at Newton-Wellesley Hospital in Massachusetts on July 15.

His death was confirmed by McQuaid Jesuit High School, which posted a brief statement on its website. The school noted that O’Malley taught English, Latin, and theology, and headed the drama department during his tenure from 1966 to 1986.

For years after his Hollywood turn, O’Malley was a man about town and one of the best-known members of the local Roman Catholic clergy. His affable demeanor and flair for theatrics made him a frequent guest on talk shows locally and nationally.

O’Malley was also a prolific author, having written more than three dozen books on the Catholic faith…

View Cache

La diócesis balear ofrece cubrir los gastos en terapia, que la denunciante estima en 1.500 euros mensuales durante 26 años. Sería la indemnización más alta conocida en la Iglesia española

EL PAÍS puso en marcha en 2018 una investigación de la pederastia en la Iglesia española y tiene una base de datos actualizada con todos los casos conocidos. Si conoce algún caso que no haya visto la luz, nos puede escribir a: abusos@elpais.es. Si es un caso en América Latina, la dirección es: abusosamerica@elpais.es.

El obispado de Mallorca ha ofrecido una compensación económica a la víctima de un sacerdote condenado por abusos, un caso que ha admitido esta semana, y le ha pedido que calcule sus gastos en terapia: ascienden a casi medio millón de euros, según confirma esta mujer a EL PAÍS. Esa cantidad resulta del dinero invertido durante 26 años en terapia y medicinas, con una media de 1.500 euros…

View Cache

A retired Catholic priest who served at a number of parishes throughout Virginia has been accused of child sex abuse, according to the Catholic Diocese of Richmond.

The allegations against Fr. Walter Lewis stem from an incident that occurred in the 1980s when he was serving as a pastor of St. Anne Catholic Church in Bristol.

Lewis was ordained a priest of the Catholic Diocese of Richmond in 1979. He served as pastor or parochial vicar at a number of parishes, including:

• Holy Spirit, Virginia Beach
• St. Andrew, Roanoke
• St. Anne, Bristol
• St. Mary, Richmond
• St. Bridget, Richmond
• St. John Neumann, Powhatan
• Good Samaritan, Amelia

Lewis publicly announced his retirement from active ministry in May 2023.

“Bishop Knestout acknowledges it takes great courage to come forward to report allegations of this nature and offers his prayers for the ongoing healing of victims,” a release from the Catholic Diocese of Richmond reads.

According to the release, the…

View Cache

As hundreds of sexual abuse survivors keep waiting for years to see any money from a bankrupt New Orleans Archdiocese, new court filings show the church is paying $25 million to lawyers and consultants in federal bankruptcy court.

That includes $13 million and counting to the church’s own bankruptcy lawyers and accountants, who have fought at every turn to justify the church’s need for protection from creditors and to keep details of clergy abuse from being released to the public.

New documents filed in the archdiocese’s federal bankruptcy case show the mounting legal fees in the church’s three-year effort to protect its finances and pay off its debts. Court records show the white-shoe law firm Jones Walker has billed the archdiocese about $11 million so far, while the firm’s reported expenses have totaled just $282,000.

Jones Walker attorneys Mark Mintz and Dirk Wegmann were charging $400 and $300 an hour for…

View Cache

By his words, omissions and actions, Pope Francis has failed to reduce and sometimes abetted the clerical rape and sexual torture of children around the world, the persecution and deaths of women and LGBTQ+ persons in the culture wars, the suffering of Ukrainians and the persecution of people of faith in China.

SEXUAL TORTURE OF CHILDREN

“The widespread sexual violence within the Catholic Church amounts to torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment,” the UN Committee Against Torture stated on May 23, 2014.

Nine years later, a report by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul stated “Catholic clergy in Illinois sexually abused more than 1,900 minors.” Former Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, Raoul’s predecessor, began investigating the scope of state clergy sexual abuse in 2018 after a Pennsylvania grand jury report documented the abuse of 1,000 minors in that state. “The revelations in that report shocked numerous state attorneys general who pledged to investigate…

View Cache

The largest evangelical megachurch in Alabama just spent $4.5 million to open a center for pastoral restoration. The center provides counseling and support for pastors working through issues that cost them their jobs — issues like marital infidelity and sexual abuse.

I’m sure pastors with “issues” need support and counseling. I can’t help but ask, however, what it means to prioritize the well-being and restoration of these men to ministry over the well-being and healing of their victims. I can’t say I’m surprised. Evangelicals seem to show a lot of compassion for pastors who commit sexual abuse. Too bad they don’t show the same concern for victims.

The narrative of a center for pastoral restoration is one of a good man who made a bad decision and who simply needs biblical guidance to ensure repentance and commitment not to do it again. Churches tell this story with euphemisms like “indiscretion” and…

View Cache

Cardinal Angelo Becciu criticized the prosecutor’s case against him Thursday as the Vatican finance trial edged toward a close.

In a July 20 statement, Becciu said that Alessandro Diddi, the Vatican City State’s promoter of justice, had presented an account that he called “wholly far from reality.”

The former second highest-ranking official at the Vatican’s Secretariat of State insisted — as he has done since the trial began in July 2021 — that every single accusation made against him was false, “none excluded.”

The cardinal is accused of fraud, embezzlement, abuse of office, conspiracy, and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Becciu was speaking after Diddi opened two weeks of hearings July 18 to sum up the case against the 10 defendants in the trial, which centers on a luxury property deal in London, England, that the prosecutor said had lost the Vatican up to 189 million euros (around $212…

View Cache

The Vatican has commissioned a new investigation of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (Sodality of Christian Life), a lay society of apostolic life founded in Peru.

The investigation will be led by Archbishop Charles J. Scicluna, assistant secretary of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and an expert on sexual abuse, the Peruvian newspaper La República reported on July 20.

Scicluna will be accompanied by Monsignor Jordi Bertomeu, an official of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. The visit could begin Tuesday, July 25, according to the report. The Crux news outlet also reported on July 21 that a Vatican inquiry was underway.

Years ago, both Vatican officials were sent by Pope Francis to deal with the sexual abuse scandal that rocked the Church in Chile. Bertomeu was recently commissioned to study the progress being made in Bolivia in the prevention of clerical sexual abuse in the…

View Cache

Next week the Vatican’s top two investigators will arrive in Peru to conduct an in-depth inquiry into the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV), a scandal-ridden lay group whose founder has been sanctioned for various abuses, including the sexual abuse of minors.

According to sources with knowledge of the visit, Maltese Archbishop Charles Scicluna and Spanish Monsignor Jordi Bertomeu will begin their work on Tuesday, July 25, speaking with both victims and the leadership and top members of the SCV.

Scicluna is the Archbishop of Malta and also serves as adjunct secretary to the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, where Bertomeu is also an official, and which, among other things, is tasked with handling allegations of clerical abuse. Scicluna also serves president of a board of review for abuse cases within the dicastery.

Among the primary motives for the investigation, according to sources, is the ongoing legal harassment of journalists who…

View Cache

Brad Dahr pleaded guilty to sexual offences committed in 2020

WARNING: This article contains details of abuse.

A 56-year-old man who was a pastor in the east-central Alberta town of Vegreville from 2016 until 2020 will spend five years in prison after pleading guilty Friday morning to sexual offences.

Court of King’s Bench Justice Kevin Feth accepted a joint sentencing submission from the Crown and defence and sentenced Brad Dahr to four years in prison for sexual exploitation and one year for making child pornography.

According to an agreed statement of facts, the pastor ran a mental health outreach program for young adults and asked a teenage member of the church’s congregation in 2017 to co-preach a sermon series with him. 

The teen confided in him about her mental health struggles and came to depend on him for help.

The pair exchanged more than 190,000 phone messages, which were not sexual, but in early…

View Cache

Previous Allegations Surface as TX Pastor Arrested for Child Sex Crimes

News Channel 3 reported the pastor of Mt. Pisgah Missionary Baptist Church located at 4995 FM 49, Mineola, TX 75773, was arrested on Tuesday on charges of indecency with a child by sexual contact, as per judicial records.

The arrest has sent shockwaves through the community, leaving many in disbelief as Timothy Nall, 68, was considered a trusted figure within the church. However, disturbing revelations have now come to light as the family of the alleged victim speaks out.

“We want justice for our family and for the previous victims that didn’t get justice,” the family of the alleged victim expressed, as they called for accountability in the wake of these deeply troubling allegations.

As the news unfolds, it has come to light that this is not the first time Nall has faced similar accusations. In 2014, he was…

View Cache

Yumken Bagra, who worked as the hostel warden of a government-run school in the Shi-Yomi district, is out on bail 

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Arunachal Pradesh police has filed a charge sheet against a former hostel warden of a government-run residential school accused of raping and sexually harassing 21 children, including six boys.

Rohit Rajbir Singh, the Superintendent of Police of SIT said Yumken Bagra was booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code read with four sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

Another person named D. Pertin was also booked under Section 212 of the IPC for harbouring the accused.

The 33-year-old Bagra, from Tadin village in the West Siang district, was arrested in the State’s capital Itanagar on November 13, 2022, but was released after a local court granted him bail.

The police began investigating after a man lodged…

View Cache

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that FRANCIS HUGHES, a former pastor at a religious institution in Queens, New York, was sentenced to five years in prison by U.S. District Judge Philip M. Halpern for his receipt of images of child pornography from a 15-year-old minor in Westchester, New York, with whom HUGHES was engaging in sexually explicit text communications.  HUGHES pled guilty on August 16, 2022, before Judge Halpern.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in related court proceedings:

On February 16, 2020, HUGHES communicated by text messages with a 15-year-old boy (“Minor-1”).  During the course of the text communications, among other things, Minor-1 sent HUGHES three images of Minor-1’s penis.  Upon receiving one of the images, HUGHES responded, among other things, “Yummmmm I will suck you so much” and “Make you cum.”  During the communications,…

View Cache

Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown is asking the state spending board for approval to create four positions to beef up his office’s investigations into sexual abuse by Catholic clergy.

Brown wrote in his request to the Maryland Board of Public Works that his office has seen a significant increase in tips regarding instances of sexual abuse since it released in April its report detailing decades of abuse and torture of children in the Archdiocese of Baltimore . The board , which is comprised of the governor, comptroller and state treasurer, approves major state expenditures.

The proposed positions in the office’s Criminal Investigation Division would “support the investigations of allegations related to the sexual abuse of minors by clergy and others” affiliated with the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., and the Diocese of Wilmington in Delaware, in addition to “processing and investigating any new allegations” related to the Baltimore archdiocese, according…

View Cache

Boucher already serving sentence for sexual assaults on two boys

Brian Boucher, the former priest imprisoned for sexually abusing two boys, has been charged with additional sex crimes allegedly committed in prison. 

Prosecutors charged Boucher this month with sexual assault, voyeurism and criminal harassment, which according to court filings were committed in February 2023, while Boucher was serving his eight-year sentence. 

The victim’s identity is protected under a publication ban, but the charges indicate that Boucher allegedly “surreptitiously observed” a person in a place where they had a reasonable expectation of privacy. 

• Priest found guilty of sexual assault defrocked by Montreal archdiocese
• Montreal priest convicted of sex crimes pleads guilty to additional charges

The criminal harassment charge alleges Boucher criminally harassed a person and caused them to “reasonably fear for their safety.”

In 2019, Boucher was found guilty of sexually abusing two boys between 1995 and 2011, while he was a…

View Cache

A former principal of an Australian Jewish school will be sentenced on Aug. 24 after being convicted of sexually abusing two students.

Judge Mark Gamble set the date Friday after a third day of submissions on what sentence Malka Leifer should receive following her convictions by a Victoria state jury in early April.

Leifer’s sentencing is potentially the final chapter of an extended battle that tested Israeli-Australian relations over efforts to bring the 56-year-old Israeli citizen to justice.

Leifer abused sisters Dassi Erlick and Elly Sapper between 2003 and 2007 while she was principal of Melbourne’s ultra-Orthodox Adass Israel School for girls, the jury found.

Erlick was 14 and Sapper 12 when Leifer arrived at the school from Israel in 2000, first as a head of religion.

The sisters told the court last month that being sexually abused by Leifer broke their ability to trust and was painful to remember.

…

View Cache

A federal judge has denied a motion by survivors of clergy sexual abuse to have bankruptcy proceedings against the Catholic Church on Long Island dismissed.

The motion, if approved, would have sent some 600 cases back to state court for trials and potential payouts. The Diocese of Rockville Centre praised the decision by U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Martin Glenn, while some attorneys for survivors said it will further drag out negotiations for a settlement nearly three years after the diocese declared bankruptcy.

But other attorneys said they believe Glenn is still giving the diocese a hard deadline of making a deal by Oct. 31, or taking the unprecedented step of kicking a Catholic diocese out of bankruptcy.

Glenn ruled on Tuesday that attorneys for the survivors failed to show that it is not possible for the diocese to come up with a deal in a “reasonable amount of time.” He,…

View Cache

Argentina’s Catholic Church is undergoing major changes, with a new archbishop for the Buenos Aires capital and three cardinals-designate. The changes have created a new landscape in Pope Francis’ homeland — a landscape designed in Rome.

Archbishop Jorge García Cuerva, 55, took the helm of Buenos Aires on July 15, while the Archbishop Ángel Rossi of Córdoba, a 64-year-old Jesuit, will be created a cardinal at the upcoming consistory Sept. 30. A Capuchin priest, Father Luis Dri, was also named a cardinal. At 96, Cardinal-designate Dri, known as Argentina’s confessor, is the oldest of the 21 new cardinals named by Pope Francis on July 9.

The final cardinal-designate from Argentina, Archbishop Victor Manuel Fernández of La Plata, a 61-year-old theologian, will not remain in the country. He will bid farewell to his archdiocese on Aug. 5 with a thanksgiving Mass before he travels to the Vatican as the new prefect…

View Cache

After nine years directing the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Office of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment, Tim O’Malley will transition Aug. 1 to part-time assistant for special projects for Archbishop Bernard Hebda.

“I am grateful for Tim’s commitment and service to this local Church, as he so effectively built our Office of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment team and the Ministerial Review Board, while genuinely and compassionately walking with survivors of sexual abuse and their loved ones,” the archbishop said in a statement. “Given his many gifts, I am grateful that Tim has agreed to continue to serve the Archdiocese, albeit in new ways.”

Replacing O’Malley as director will be Paul Iovino, the deputy director of the MSSE office for nearly three years. Iovino and O’Malley are former law enforcement officials.

“I am grateful that Paul brings to this position not only his 25+ years in law enforcement…

View Cache

Almost 78,000 Catholics across nine Southwest Michigan Counties are getting a new leader.

Bishop Paul Bradley, the head of the Diocese of Kalamazoo is retiring.

His retirement to Bishop Emeritus was mandated by the Vatican at the age of 75.

Though you may still see him at church, his bishop duties are ending, but not his role as a priest.

“Celebrating mass, celebrating sacraments, preaching the gospel. Doing all those things that a priest does,” Bishop Bradley said.

He will continue to be a priest in Southwest Michigan. Bradley is from Pennsylvania, but after more than 14 years in Michigan he is staying here.

“I chose that I want to stay here, because this is my church now. My diocese even though I won’t be responsible for it. This is the church that I have grown to love,” Bradley said.

Bradley said his health is good, but his retirement from…

View Cache

Pope Francis is set to meet with victims of sexual abuse when he travels to Portugal for World Youth Day next month.

The Holy Father will meet with victims as part of his multi-day visit to Lisbon, Cardinal Manuel Clemente, the patriarch of Lisbon, confirmed in a conversation with journalists July 20. 

The location and date of the meeting would not be publicly announced to protect the privacy of the victims, Archdiocese of Lisbon Auxiliary Bishop Americo Aguiar told Reuters.

A commission investigation had announced earlier in the year that nearly 5,000 children had been sexually abused by Church officials in Portugal over the course of about seven decades.

The 2023 World Youth Day will be taking place in Lisbon Aug. 1–6. The five-day event is celebrated internationally every few years, with most meetings since the 1980s taking place in Europe. 

Francis, throughout his pontificate, has been…

View Cache

[Via Detroit Catholic]

The Vatican’s chief prosecuting attorney began his closing arguments outlining final charges against 10 defendants, including a cardinal, stemming from an investigation launched in 2019 by internal reports of suspicious financial activity.

Now, Alessandro Diddi, the prosecutor, was set to present his case over the course of at least six hearings starting July 18, marking the final stage of a two-year-long Vatican trial investigating the mismanagement of Vatican funds.

The alleged financial crimes his office is directing against the list of defendants include multiple charges of fraud, embezzlement, bribery, extortion, abuse of office, incitement to break the law, money laundering and the publication of confidential documents.

Among the defendants are some former officials of the Vatican Secretariat of State, “who did not know how to interpret the spirit and ideals of the church,” which includes being bound by canon law to administer church assets with care, vigilance…

View Cache

One afternoon last month, Miranda and Jennifer Wetzler answered a call from their attorney in shock: The Colorado Supreme Court had blocked the sisters’ chance to right a decades-old wrong after their alleged abuser had walked free more than 30 years earlier.

“When I heard the news, I started crying and I just thought, ‘Not again,’” Miranda Wetzler said. “I thought maybe this time we could get the justice we deserved.”

Colorado’s Child Sexual Abuse Accountability Act, which took effect Jan.1, 2022, provided a three-year window for adults who were sexually assaulted as children to bring forward lawsuits over abuse they allege happened between 1960 and 2022, even if the statute of limitations for criminal charges had long since expired.

The Wetzler sisters were preparing to file a lawsuit under the act when a unanimous decision by the state’s high court on June 20 struck down the law as a violation…

View Cache

During his visit for World Youth Day, the Pope will meet with victims of abuse in Portugal.

While not on the official schedule, it is reported that Pope Francis will meet with victims of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church when he visits Portugal in August 2023 for World Youth Day (WYD). In recent years, the local Church has launched an investigation to initiate a path of transparency in a tumultuous environment. 

Portuguese Vatican journalist Aura Miguel, interviewed by I.MEDIA, says that the Pope will “certainly” talk about abuse during his stay in Lisbon. She believes that “these are subjects he won’t hesitate to address clearly.”

The planned meeting with victims, however, will be “discreet.”

“The victims have been contacted and are free to meet the Holy Father or not,” she explains. 

The Vatican expert recalls that during the 2008 World Youth Day in Sydney, Benedict XVI met with…

View Cache

The Catholic Diocese of Richmond has received a recent report of alleged child sexual abuse against Fr. Walter Lewis. The allegation reports that the abuse took place in the 1980’s while Fr. Lewis was serving as pastor of St. Anne Catholic Church, Bristol. The allegation has been reported to law enforcement.

Fr. Lewis denies the allegation.

As a result, Bishop Knestout has immediately prohibited Fr. Lewis from any public ministry in the diocese while the investigation is underway. The diocese will not reach any conclusions regarding this allegation until the investigation concludes.

Fr. Lewis was ordained a priest of the Catholic Diocese of Richmond in 1979. During his tenure, he served as pastor or parochial vicar at the following parishes: Holy Spirit, Virginia Beach; St. Andrew, Roanoke; St. Anne, Bristol; St. Mary, Richmond; St. Bridget, Richmond; St. John Neumann, Powhatan; and Good Samaritan, Amelia. Fr. Lewis recently retired from active ministry. His…

View Cache

A civil lawsuit has been filed against the Diocese of Winona, Lourdes High School, and Rochester Catholic Schools by someone who claims to have been sexually abused by a priest.

Identified in the lawsuit only as Doe 222, the plaintiff says Father Joseph Cashman had unpermitted sexual contact with him while Doe 222 attended Lourdes High School from 1972 to 1974.  The sexual contact happened when the plaintiff was between 14 and 16 years old.

Cashman was ordained as a priest in 1960 and worked in parishes throughout southern Minnesota.  The Diocese of Winona says it learned of allegations of sexual misconduct against Cashman in 1986 and his ministerial privileges were revoked in 1992.

Cashman died in 2018.

The lawsuit claims the Diocese, Lourdes High School, and Rochester Catholic Schools should have known Cashman was a danger to children and did not provide a reasonable level of safety and care. …

View Cache

The Catholic Diocese of Richmond said it is reviewing allegations of child sexual abuse made against a recently retired priest who once served in Virginia Beach.

The allegation of abuse against Father Walter Lewis took place at another parish — St. Anne Catholic Church in Bristol — in the 1980s.

The diocese said the allegation has been reported to the police and that Lewis is prohibited from any public ministry while the investigation is underway.

Lewis, who announced his retirement in May, denied the allegation.

According to the diocese, Lewis was ordained a priest in 1979 and served as pastor or parochial vicar at the following Virginia parishes:

• Holy Spirit in Virginia Beach
• St. Andrew in Roanoke
• St. Anne in Bristol
• St. Mary in Richmond
• St. Bridget in Richmond
• St. John Neumann in Powhatan
• Good Samaritan in Amelia

“The diocese will not reach any conclusions regarding this allegation until the investigation concludes,” the diocese said in…

View Cache

Francis Fernandes is reportedly charged under stringent laws to protect minors and members of disadvantaged communities

A Catholic priest serving as the principal of a diocese-run college in a southern Indian state has been remanded in judicial custody for allegedly abusing a minor girl. 

Police arrested Father Francis Fernandes, principal of Sacred Heart College under Shimoga diocese in Karnataka, on July 20 following a complaint from a girl, reported to be below 18 years of age.

Local media reports said the priest has been charged under provisions of the stringent Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POSCO) Act and the Scheduled Caste (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

After daylong interrogation, police produced the priest before a special court on July 21 and he was remanded in judicial custody for 14 days.

Offenses under the laws meant to protect minors and vulnerable groups are treated as non-bailable and the arrested can file a bail application before…

View Cache

Bishop Steven Wright of Hexham and Newcastle received prayer ribbons alongside his symbols of office.

Bishop Steven Wright receives prayer ribbons from representatives of abuse survivors including Maggie Mathews, centre, who delivered a testimony during the Installation Mass.
Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales / Mazur

Steven Wright was installed as the Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle on Wednesday, one month after he was appointed to replace Bishop Robert Byrne.

Members of the hierarchy including Cardinal Vincent Nichols and Archbishop Malcolm McMahon of Liverpool, apostolic administrator of the diocese since Bishop Byrne’s resignation in December, attended the Mass of Installation in St Mary’s Cathedral in Newcastle.

Alongside the customary elements of an installation, the Mass featured a significant contribution from survivors of abuse, following Bishop Wright’s commitment on his appointment to learn “about the troubling history [of abuse and safeguarding failures] and the way the diocese needs to respond to this…

View Cache

The number of abuse allegations against Church officials has declined again according to a new report from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, with the encouraging numbers underscoring what the bishops say is a need for reform and justice. 

The July 2023 Report on the Implementation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, issued by the USCCB’s Secretariat of Child and Youth Protection, revealed the results of the audit year of 2021-2022, with the report saying the data were indicative of “cultural changes in our Church.”

An audit of several dozen dioceses throughout the country, performed by Stonebridge Business Partners, found “2,704 allegations … reported by 1,998 victims/survivors of child sexual abuse by clergy throughout 194 Catholic dioceses and eparchies that reported information.” The allegations concerned abuse “alleged to have occurred from the 1930s to the present.”

Those numbers are down from over…

View Cache

Survivors of childhood sexual abuse by Catholic clergy in three prominent Massachusetts dioceses were interviewed by the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office over two years ago, but the AG’s office failed to produce reports on the dioceses, Nancy Eve Cohen reports for New England Public Media.

Skip Shea, who was first abused at the age of 11, said he “doesn’t know who is stopping this [report].” He was interviewed in 2001 [error for 2021] by the MA attorney general’s office and spoke directly with a state police officer about his abuse at the hands of three priests. Investigators were compassionate and took notes, Shea said, but nothing ever came of his interview. A spokesperson for the new attorney general declined to comment on whether the AG’s office was working on reports on the Worcester, Springfield, and Fall River dioceses.

View Cache

A Quebec Superior Court judge has signed off on a sex abuse class-action settlement involving the Montreal archdiocese.

The agreement, announced earlier this year, includes a minimum $14.8 million in compensation for victims of sexual abuse committed by diocesan priests and lay employees of the archdiocese since 1940.

The lead plaintiff in the class action was a victim of Brian Boucher, a since-defrocked priest who was convicted of sexually abusing two boys under his supervision and sentenced in 2019 to eight years in prison.

Montreal law firm Arsenault Dufresne Wee said today nearly 80 victims are part of the class action it filed in April 2019, which was authorized by the court in 2021.

A settlement was reached this year and Justice Donald Bisson signed off on it earlier this month, describing the agreement as fair and reasonable.

Each victim will be compensated between $96,000 and $160,000, and receive an…

View Cache

Pope Francis’ naming of his long-time Argentine collaborator, Archbishop Víctor Manuel Fernández, as the new prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith marks the most consequential curial appointment of this 10-year-old pontificate. The appointment is noteworthy both for who was appointed and for the pope’s bold articulation of a new mandate for the notorious dicastery. 

Many supporters of Francis have been disappointed over the years by his reluctance to appoint figures to curial leadership more in keeping with his vision for the church. Often, he seemed too willing to allow outspoken curial critics of his papal ministry (e.g., Cardinal Gerhard Müller and Cardinal Robert Sarah) to remain in office. But now, the pope has appointed an enthusiastic supporter of his reformist program to lead one of the most powerful curial offices.

Not surprisingly, those sympathetic to Francis’ papal agenda have hailed the appointment of…

View Cache

Statistics show that many Pennsylvania predators end up in Florida. Why? According to law enforcement records, at least 22 predator priests from Pennsylvania went to or were sent to Florida. We will probably never know the exact reason why this is so, but we have a few theories. Catholic officials rarely explain (or explain honestly) these transfers. They are almost never disclosed on church ‘credibly accused’ lists, which either provide no assignment histories or include only those assignments in that one diocese).

We at Horowitz Law can’t help but wonder if bishops have some very quiet ‘gentleman’s agreement’ not to reveal when one of their child molesting clerics was sent to another state or diocese. Again, who knows the full truth?
Thank heavens for the prosecutors and attorneys general who have used their subpoena and investigative powers to unearth and publicize these priests, their crimes, their transfers, and the cover-ups instigated by…

View Cache

A new film, The Starling Girl, has hit the theatres, and it explores a common but often troubling phenomenon: abuse victims who have conflicted feelings about their perpetrators. Right up front: If you feel or have ever felt this way, please know that you are far from alone. It’s absolutely normal, maybe even typical. Abuse victims often see or read about other abuse victims because of court cases, either criminal or civil. (In part, that’s because it’s easy and safe for news media to report on cases that are in the justice system, as opposed to reporting on abuse allegations that have not been filed in court.) The media are drawn to conflict. They are also drawn to things that shock and appall us. Criminal prosecutions and civil lawsuits involving abuse are, by definition, shocking and appalling and involve conflict, so they attract media attention.

But often, the…

View Cache

Four more former Northwestern University football players came forward Wednesday to claim they were also subjected to “extreme ritualized sexual” hazing at the prestigious Big Ten school.

They spoke out one day after the first lawsuit was filed by an anonymous former Wildcats player, whose civil complaint went into excruciating detail about hazing he alleged was carried out within Northwestern’s football program.

“The university and the football program has let us down. That’s why we’re here today,” former player Lloyd Yates told reporters in Chicago, standing alongside fellow Wildcats football alums Warren Miles-Long, Simba Short and Tom Carnifax.

“We were thrown into a culture where physical, emotional and sexual abuse was normalized,” he said.

The players haven’t sued the school, but their attorneys said that they’re conducting more interviews with them and that civil action is pending.

The players…

View Cache

The sprawling trial into alleged financial crimes at the Vatican Secretariat of State entered its final phase this week, with prosecutors beginning their summing up arguments against the ten defendants. 

The Vatican’s chief prosecutor made a key concession during closing arguments, when he admitted to the court that he had wrongfully asserted that a major financial deal was financed with money from Peter’s Pence. 

Switching to a narrative in line with previous Pillar reporting, prosecutor Alessandro Diddi told judges that the money had actually come from profits of the IOR, a Vatican bank, deposited by the secretariat into Swiss banks.

Diddi, Promoter of Justice for Vatican City, opened his final turn before the court on Tuesday by reiterating that, despite the number of defendants from the Vatican’s premier governing department, he was not mounting a case against the Secretariat of State itself.

“This is not a trial of the Secretariat of State…

View Cache

Christian David Vargas, 19, of High Springs, was arrested yesterday and charged with lewd or lascivious battery on a victim under 16 and lewd or lascivious conduct by an adult in two separate cases that both reportedly occurred at Ignite Life Center.

The first case involved a victim who was 12 years old when the incidents began in 2020 and 13 years old when they stopped in 2021; the victim said she had intercourse with Vargas at least three times. The victim reportedly told a Gainesville Police Department officer that the incidents occurred at Ignite Life Center, 404 NW 13th Avenue, and that Vargas repeatedly pressured her to have intercourse until she gave in. Vargas was 16 years old when the incidents began.

The second case involved a victim who was 14 years old and reportedly began when Vargas was 17, in February or March of 2022. The victim said…

View Cache

Earlier this month, Pope Francis appointed Archbishop Victor Manuel Fernandez as prefect of the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith. 

The archbishop, an Argentine, had been since 2018 the Archbishop of La Plata, and was before that the rector of Argentina’s Catholic University — a role to which he was appointed by then-Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio.

Widely regarded as the author of the 2016 apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia, Fernandez has long been a close collaborator of the pope.

Since his July 1 appointment, Fernandez has made waves — because of comments on the possibility of same-sex liturgical blessings, his handling of abuse allegations, and because of “Heal me with your mouth,” a 1995 book the archbishop wrote on the subject of kissing.

Amid those waves, Pope Francis named Fernandez a cardinal July 9 — he will officially join the College of Cardinals in late September.

In an interview by email July…

View Cache

Argentine Archbishop Victor Fernández will not be able to forget July 2023. In the span of less than two weeks, he was named the new prefect of the Holy See’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and then cardinal.

Cardinal-designate Fernández, a 61-year-old theologian, told OSV News in a written exchange that his appointment — and those of the other 20 men (including two more Argentines) also set to become cardinals — is part of a larger invitation from Pope Francis to “walk more decidedly along the lines he established in his first encyclical, Evangelii Gaudium (‘Joy of the Gospel’), which still requires a more forceful application.”

“Who can say that Evangelii Gaudium has been applied? It is not noticeable,” Cardinal-designate Fernández said.

Taking over the dicastery will require the cardinal-designate to move with care, as opponents, both of his appointment and, more broadly, of the pope, have criticized…

View Cache

The Focolare movement, one of the largest lay organizations in the Catholic Church with members in countries across the world, published its first report on cases of sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable adults within its ranks on March 31.

The report, which was done internally and not by an independent firm, focuses on accounts of abuse received by the movement’s Commission for the Welfare and Safeguarding of Members from 2014 to 2022. The findings indicate that from 1969-2012, 66 members of the global movement were accused of abusing 42 minors (29 between the ages of 14 and 18, and 13 under the age of 14) and 17 vulnerable adults.

Founded in 1943 by the Italian laywoman Chiara Lubich and approved by the Vatican in 1962, the Focolare movement has its headquarters in Rocca di Papa, near Rome, and is present in 182 countries. It…

View Cache

The Diocese of Ogdensburg, New York, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy July 17, making it the sixth of the state’s eight dioceses to do so in response to a wave of sexual abuse lawsuits.

The “difficult and painful” decision — taken after “extensive prayer and consultation” — was necessary to satisfy a new wave of lawsuits permitted by New York’s Child Victims Act, explained Bishop Terry R. LaValley in a video message posted to the diocesan website.

Passed by the New York Legislature and signed into law in 2019, the CVA extended the state’s statute of limitations for sexual offenses against children by granting a one-year look back for time-barred civil claims to be revived; giving survivors until age 28 to press charges for felonies and age 25 for misdemeanors; and allowing survivors up to age 55 to bring lawsuits. The Legislature extended the look-back window to last two years,…

View Cache

The Diocese of Ogdensburg, New York, is filing for bankruptcy following almost 140 sexual abuse lawsuits for incidents dating back decades filed under the state’s Child Victims Act, which allowed claims to be filed past the statute of limitations for a period of two years ending in 2021.

Fourteen cases so far have either been settled or dismissed, leaving 124 claims of child sexual abuse against the diocese, Darcy Fargo, a diocesan spokeswoman, told CNA.

The purpose of the bankruptcy filing is so that the diocese may be able to compensate each victim and continue serving the faithful with its services and ministries, Ogensburg Bishop Terry LaValley said in his July 17 letter to the faithful of the diocese.

Ogdensburg is the fifth diocese in the state of New York to file for bankruptcy following the passing of the Child Victims Act in 2019. Now, only the Archdiocese…

View Cache

The Vatican prosecutor insisted Tuesday that his indictments of 10 people, including a cardinal, for alleged financial crimes held up under two years of testimony, criticism and defense motions, as he began closing arguments in a trial that exposed the unseemly financial underbelly of the Holy See.

Prosecutor Alessandro Diddi opened two weeks of hearings to summarize his case by accusing officials in the Vatican secretariat of state of committing “grave violations” of internal norms and canon law when they decided in 2012 to start investing the pope’s money in “highly speculative” investments, including in a 350 million euro (US $390 million) London real estate venture.

“There’s not a single faithful (Catholic) who has donated a euro thinking that this euro would be used in speculative operations,” Diddi said, alleging that such canonical violations amounted to criminal abuse of office and embezzlement.

The sprawling Vatican trial originated in the London…

View Cache

A sign placed next to two cardinals’ tombs criticizing their handling of abuse cases is stirring controversy in Germany.

The noticeboard was placed in the refurbished crypt of Paderborn Cathedral in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia by the tombs of Cardinal Lorenz Jaeger and Cardinal Johannes Joachim Degenhardt.

Jaeger led the Paderborn archdiocese from 1941 to 1973, when he was succeeded by Degenhardt, who was in office until his death in 2002.

The text beside the two cardinals’ tombs reads: “From today’s perspective, the archbishops buried here made serious mistakes in dealing with sexual abuse during their time in office.”

“All too often they put the protection and reputation of the institution and the perpetrators above the suffering of the victims.”

The sign adds that visitors soon will be able to read further information following the installation of a QR code at the site directing them to a website.

…

View Cache

A 58-year-old Kitchener man is facing additional changes in relation to incidents that allegedly happened at Saint John Paul II Catholic Elementary School in Kitchener.

In May the man was charged with assault after Waterloo regional police said they received a report of a student receiving inappropriate messages from a former school administrator on April 13.

At the time, a spokesperson from the Waterloo Catholic District School Board (WCDSB) told CTV News the individual was retired from the board.

Police said they could not confirm the man’s relation to the school. 

On Friday, police announced the man is now also facing two counts of sexual assault, two counts of sexual interference and one count of invitation to sexual touching.

Police said a second youth victim has also been identified.

The accused is scheduled to appear in court on Monday.

View Cache

Johnny Hunt has spoken at the Southern Baptist Pastors’ Conference nearly twice as frequently as any other person in the last two decades.

The once-disgraced and now controversially “restored” pastor has spoken at the annual preach-a-thon 14 times since 2000 — substantially more than the next most-frequent preacher in that time period, Jerry Vines.

The annual cavalcade of preaching is held every June immediately prior to the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting. During the time of the so-called “conservative resurgence,” the Pastors’ Conference became a proving ground for conservative pastors who later would ascend to elected office.

That was the case for Hunt, who in 1996 was elected president of the Pastors’ Conference. The next year, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary named a chair of biblical preaching for him. Then in 2008, he was elected SBC president.

With only three exceptions, the men elected president of the SBC have preached at the Pastors’…

View Cache

St Catherine Parish Court Judge Natalie Creary-Dixon has asked for documentation on the criminal history of Kenyan Roman Catholic priest Lawrence Muvengi, who is accused of the alleged sexual abuse of a 12-year-old girl.

The request was made today when the 39-year-old made his first court appearance.

Muvengi, who is charged with rape, sexual grooming, having sexual intercourse with a person under 16, and abduction, was remanded to return to court on July 19.

He was represented by attorney-at-law Charles Williams.

Allegations are that Muvengi sexually abused the child on the compound of the church, which is located in Portmore, St Catherine, on several occasions in April.

The matter was reported to the police’s Centre for Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse (CISOCA).

An investigation was launched, which resulted in the arrest of the clergyman.

He was formally charged following a question-and-answer session.

View Cache

Those who continue to complain to The Baltimore Sun about the newspaper’s outstanding coverage of the child abuse by Catholic priests are misdirecting their anger (”It’s possible to support child sexual abuse victims and have concerns about coverage,” July 16). Instead of at The Sun, they should be directing their ire at the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

The Catholic Church could easily put an end to all of this immediately by releasing an unredacted version of the investigation and by reining in their “secret” legal team that tried to delay justice. By doing that, which is in their power to do, we would have the names of all of those identified in the report.

Until the church does what should have been the right thing long ago, it’s up to media outlets like The Sun to continue to investigate until full accountability is done and the victims feel…

View Cache

A bishop who was forced out of office because he covered up clergy sex abuse wants to minister in St. Louis. Catholic officials should not let this happen. Bishop Richard Stika just resigned, in part, because of considerable controversy over how he dealt with two recent predatory clerics in his Knoxville diocese.
Stika has publicly said that he plans to move home and do some church work in his native St. Louis (where, for years, he played a prominent role in dealing with predator priests).

If this happens, it will be a reckless and callous move. St. Louis Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski should immediately, and public prohibit Stika from working here. If he refuses, Pope Francis should do this. Here’s why: Those who commit abuse largely CANNOT be deterred. They are driven by a deeply rooted, extraordinarily strong compulsion that overpowers their capability to think…

View Cache

The Catholic Diocese of Richmond posted on its website earlier this month that retired priest Fr. Walter Lewis was accused of sexually abusing a child during his time at  St. Anne Catholic Church in Bristol. The clergyman denied the accusation, but the Diocese said that it had been reported to law enforcement.

The accusation against Fr. Lewis stems from an incident that was said to have occurred in the 1980s. The priest was ordained in 1979. He worked as a parochial vicar or pastor at several parishes, including Holy Spirit, Virginia Beach; St. Andrew, Roanoke; St. Anne, Bristol; St. Mary, Richmond; St. Bridget, Richmond; St. John Neumann, Powhatan; and Good Samaritan, Amelia. Fr. Lewis retired in May of 2023.

We know that it can take survivors decades to come forward. Delayed disclosure is quite common, and the average age of reporting is 52….

View Cache

A man who once served in St. Andrew’s Catholic Church in Roanoke has been accused of child sexual abuse, according to the Catholic Diocese of Richmond.

Officials said the report of the alleged incident took place in the 1980s while Fr. Walter Lewis was serving as pastor of St. Anne Catholic Church, in Bristol.

In the release, the Catholic Diocese of Richmond said Lewis was ordained in 1979 and served at the following parishes as either pastor or parochial vicar until his retirement in May 2023:

• Holy Spirit, Virginia Beach
• St. Andrew, Roanoke
• St. Anne, Bristol
• St. Mary, Richmond
• St. Bridget, Richmond
• St. John Neumann, Powhatan
• Good Samaritan, Amelia

According to the diocese, Lewis has denied the allegation, which has been reported to law enforcement.

As a result of the reports, officials said that Lewis is now prohibited from any public ministry in the diocese while the investigation is underway.

…

View Cache

An Omaha priest pled guilty last month to two misdemeanor charges of theft, almost two years after he was charged with stealing nearly $200,000 from an elderly priest. The priest was also accused of stealing thousands from a Nebraska parish where he was pastor.

Fr. Michael Gutgsell, 74, pled in a Douglas County courtroom June 29 to two misdemeanor counts of theft, and was sentenced to two years of probation. The priest was initially charged in December 2021 with a felony count of theft along with the abuse of a vulnerable adult — and could have faced five years in prison if convicted of those charges.

According to charging documents, Gutgsell gave the stolen money, along with hundreds of thousands from his own savings, to an Omaha homeless man whom he apparently believed would pay him back.

The Omaha archdiocese told The Pillar it cannot yet comment on whether the priest will…

View Cache

Rockville Centre Catholic Officials Can No Longer Delay Justice to Survivors in Bankruptcy Court

Today, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn ordered the Diocese of Rockville Centre to file a reorganization plan by October 31, 2023. This gives the Diocese 105 days to reach a settlement with survivors. In a hearing this morning, Judge Glenn emphasized that the Diocese is operating on borrowed time and if the case cannot be resolved, survivors are entitled to their day in court. He also noted that in order for the parishes and other third-party entities controlled by the Diocese to get released from the case, their contributions need overwhelming support from the survivors.

“Survivors have waited long enough to have the opportunity to take legal action. To continue to deprive survivors of justice and prolong the bankruptcy process is a calculated effort by the bishop to hide assets, protect offenders, and avoid accountability,” said…

View Cache

Last month in a devastating ruling, the Colorado State Supreme Court struck a massive blow to survivors of child sexual abuse when they nullified a 2021 civil window that would have allowed adult survivors to use the civil courts to expose abusers and cover-up.

Although numerous other states have enacted such laws with no issues, the Colorado justices stated that the assembly bill signed into law violates the state constitution, which prohibits any law that is “retrospective in its operation.”

If you are a survivor who was sexually abused as a child in Colorado, we want to say this: We believe you. If you have questions about the ruling, contact our office or another attorney for expert advice on your case and what rights you can still exercise.

Other Statute of Limitation Reform News

Several other states have made significant civil statute of limitation reform for adult survivors of child…

View Cache

District Attorney Warren Montgomery reports that on Wednesday, July 12, 2023, former Slidell priest, Patrick Brian Wattigny, pled guilty as charged to 2 counts of molestation of a juvenile by virtue of a position of control or supervision over the juvenile. He was sentenced by District Judge John Keller to 15 years in prison on each count, to run concurrently, with 10 of the years suspended. The Judge also sentenced Wattigny to an additional five years of probation, sex offender registration and notification, and a “no contact” order with respect to the victims.  

The D.A.’s Office did not agree to any concessions; the Court had the sole discretion in sentencing.

Wattigny, 55, a former pastor of St. Luke the Evangelist Catholic Church and chaplain at Pope John Paul II High School, both in Slidell had been charged in 2020, when a victim came forward to report that when he was…

View Cache

A former Jesuit priest has pleaded guilty to sex crimes committed in and around New Orleans, in which he was charged with drugging and raping 17 adult male victims, many of whom were visiting the popular tourist area. 

Detectives also believe that there are more than 50 victims who remain unidentified.

Stephen Sauer, who reportedly left the Jesuit order by his own request in 2020, was sentenced to 25 years in prison on July 7 in front of a Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, judge. He will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life and is barred from contacting 12 of the victims for life. 

The former priest pleaded guilty to 13 counts of sexual battery, nine counts of third-degree rape, 17 counts of video voyeurism, and 16 misdemeanor charges of possessing drugs without prescriptions and possession of drug paraphernalia, the Jefferson Parish District…

View Cache

A New Orleans priest pleaded guilty last week to two child molestation charges for incidents that took place as recently as 2013.

Father Patrick Wattigny, 55, the former pastor of St. Luke the Evangelist Catholic Church and chaplain at Pope John Paul II High School, both in Slidell, Louisiana, was sentenced to five years in prison with five years of probation. He was also required to register as a sex offender.

The Archdiocese of New Orleans, where Wattigny was a priest, announced his removal from ministry Oct. 1, 2020. 

The priest was originally arrested and charged in 2020 when a victim reported that Wattigny molested him when he was 15 years old in 2013. Another victim came forward in the fall of 2022 and claimed that Wattigny molested him when he was a 9-year-old student. The victim said the abuse occurred during the mid-1990s, according to  View Cache

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Ogdensburg in northern New York said Monday that it was filing for bankruptcy protection as it faces more than 100 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse.

The diocese, like others in the state, is dealing with lawsuits dating to when New York temporarily suspended the statute of limitations to give victims of childhood abuse the ability to pursue even decades-old allegations against clergy members, teachers, Boy Scout leaders and others.

Bishop of Ogdensburg Terry R. LaValley said there were 124 cases pending against the diocese, with claims dating from the 1940s through the 1990s.

Ogdensburg is the sixth of New York’s eight dioceses to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a list that also includes those based in Buffalo, Rochester and Rockville Centre on Long Island.

Ogdensburg serves a big but largely rural area, and its 81 parishes are the fewest…

View Cache

The Diocese of Ogdensburg has submitted a Chapter 11 reorganization petition following the filing of more than 100 sexual abuse lawsuits. Bishop Terry LaValley stated in a letter that the reorganization is in reaction to the 138 lawsuits brought against the diocese under the Child Victims Act of New York state.

In a move that, in our opinion, tries to prevent the public from realizing the scope of clergy sexual abuse that has occurred inside its borders. Ogdensburg makes the 6th out of the 8 Catholic Dioceses in New York to do so. 

The truth about how the abuse was tolerated, by whom, and where, as well as all other real evidence, are equally as vital to survivors and their families as reparations are; without that truth, a safe Catholic diocese in Ogdensburg will not emerge, and these crimes will be replayed.

We are calling on our…

View Cache

Father Johan Verschueren, a Jesuit official and the superior of Father Marko Rupnik, announced June 15 the expulsion of Rupnik from the Society of Jesus due to his “repeated refusal” to address the allegations of sexual abuse and to comply with the restrictions placed on him.

Rupnik had according to canonical norms until Friday, July 14, to appeal the decision. By not having done so, the priest, who was also briefly excommunicated for admittedly giving absolution to one of his accomplices in a sin against the Sixth Commandment, is officially out of the order.

Various media reported that the Slovenian priest would move to live in Croatia in the Diocese of Split-Makarska. ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, contacted his superior to confirm this information but did not receive a response by press time.

Rupnik, who allegedly physically and psychologically abused numerous women religious during his stay with the Loyola…

View Cache

Embattled pastor Stovall Weems, who was ousted last year from the Florida megachurch he founded, has sued the Association of Related Churches (ARC), claiming ARC leaders “masterminded” a takeover of his church for ARC’s benefit. The lawsuit is the latest salvo in a bitter conflict between Weems, the church he formerly pastored, Celebration Church, and ARC. Over the past 17 months, Weems has been named as either the plaintiff or defendant in five separate legal cases. 

The latest lawsuit was filed July 12 by Weems and his wife, Kerri, and several entities they co-founded, in the U.S. District Court–Middle District Court of Florida. It seeks “in excess of $75,000” in damages.

The Weemses claim leaders of prominent church planting network ARC sought to “protect and expand their church growth business interests” by “gaining control” over Celebration Church based in Jacksonville. 

The…

View Cache

A retired priest who served at two Richmond-area churches for more than a decade has been accused of child sexual abuse, the Catholic Diocese of Richmond said.

An allegation was made against the Rev. Walter Lewis. The person who made the allegation, whom the diocese did not identify, said the abuse took place in the 1980s at St. Anne Catholic Church in Bristol. Lewis denies the allegation, according to the diocese, which removed him from all public work while the investigation is ongoing. Law enforcement has been contacted, the diocese said.

Bristol is in the Diocese of Richmond, which takes up much of Virginia, south of the Diocese of Arlington in Northern Virginia.

Lewis became a priest in the diocese in 1979. During his service, he was assigned to St. Bridget Church in Richmond and St. Mary in Henrico County. Lewis worked at St. Mary from 1995…

View Cache

Three decades ago, when he was a parish priest in Argentina, the man named by Pope Francis to be the Catholic Church’s new guardian of doctrinal orthodoxy wrote a short book about kissing and the sensations it evokes.

Some conservative sectors in the church are using the reflections in “Heal Me with Your Mouth. The Art of Kissing” to criticize the designation of Archbishop Victor Manuel Fernández to lead the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, a body once known as the Holy Office that for centuries was responsible for persecuting heretics, disciplining dissidents and enforcing sexual morality.

“These are ultra-conservative sectors that deeply hate the Argentine pontiff (Francis),” Fernández, the archbishop of La Plata, a city 70 kilometers (43 miles) south of Buenos Aires, told The Associated Press.

Argentina archbishop says he made mistakes in handling abuse allegations against priest

“They take a phrase from the book…

View Cache

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WNDU) – A South Bend priest who was killed in a hit-and-run crash last year allegedly sexually abused a minor during his time serving with the Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend.

The diocese says it was recently made aware of an allegation that Father Jan Klimczyk engaged in sexual abuse of a minor. Officials say that allegation has been found credible. It was not specified when the alleged abuse took place, but the diocese says it received the allegation after Father Klimczyk’s death.

As a result, Father Klimczyk has been placed on the diocese’s list of clergies credibly accused of sexual abuse of a minor. The full list can be found online by clicking here.

The diocese says it is extending its “heartfelt prayers to all who are affected by this news and stands firm in its commitment to investigate any…

View Cache

Last summer there was an outpouring of support for Father Jan Klimczyk and the Holy Family Parish on the southwest side of South Bend after the 67-year-old priest was hit and killed while riding his bike on Western Avenue.

On Monday, the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend announced that it added Klimczyk to its list of priests accused of sexually abusing a minor.

In a letter, the diocese said it “became aware of an allegation that Father Jan Klimczyk engaged in sexual abuse of a minor. That allegation has been found credible.”

The diocese’s statement does not outline the nature of the alleged abuse, when the alleged abuse occurred or when the diocese was notified. A spokeswoman for the diocese did not immediately respond to a request from WVPE about the allegations against Klimczyk.

Klimczyk grew up and was ordained in Poland before coming to…

View Cache

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Secretariat of Child and Youth Protection releases its annual report to highlight the “ongoing work of the Church in continuing the call to ensure the safety of children and vulnerable adults.”

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Secretariat of Child and Youth Protection has released the 2022 Annual Report – Findings and Recommendations on the Implementation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.

Courage and fortitude

In the document’s preface, USCCB President Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of Military Services described it as a “a milestone accounting of the continued efforts in the ministry of protection, healing, and accompaniment.”

Archbishop Broglio underlined how the drafting of the report was made possible “thanks to the courage and fortitude of our sisters and brothers who were harmed, abused, or molested by a trusted clergy member, and who made reports and shared their…

View Cache

Father Benjamin Sellier of the Archdiocese of Cambrai in France died by suicide in the early hours of July 11 after learning that he was being investigated for the alleged sexual abuse of a young woman.

According to local media France Bleu Nord, the 47-year-old priest was hit by a freight train at about 3 a.m. local time in the northern region near the border with Belgium.

The French media reported that a letter was found next to Sellier’s body in which he acknowledges the abuse but minimizes the facts.

“Our diocese is going through a tragic ordeal with the death of Father Benjamin Sellier. His death shocks us and plunges us into sorrow,” said the archbishop of Cambrai, Vincent Dollmann, in a July 13 statement.

“The investigation into the circumstances of the death confirms that he ended his life,” he said.

“In addition,” the prelate explained, “he was the…

View Cache

Parish priest facing allegations of abusing a young teenage girl takes his own life in small town in northeastern France near the Belgian border

Catholics in the archdiocese of Cambrai, located in the northeastern France, remain in shock after a priest accused of sexually abusing a young teenage girl committed suicide.

Benjamin Sellier, parish priest in a small town of Avesnes-sur-Helpe less than ten miles from the Belgian border, died at 3 a.m. on July 11 after being struck by a freight train. The 47-year-old cleric was walking in the middle of the tracks and the train’s conductor did not see him in time to stop.

He was the fifth accused French priest in as many years to take his own life.

“We were deeply saddened to learn of the death of Father Benjamin Sellier, parish priest of the Avesnois region,” said Cambrai’s Archbishop Vincent Dollmann in an initial press…

View Cache

The Catholic bishops’ conference in the West African nation of Togo affirms its commitment to combat all forms of Church-related sexual aggression

The Catholic bishops of Togo, whose national episcopal conference recently submitted protocols for dealing with sex abuse to the Vatican, are beginning to make a more concerted effort to fight the scourge that has plunged the Church into crisis in many parts of the world.

There is an “urgent need to combat sexual abuse in the Church”, said Archbishop Nicodème Barrigah-Bénissan of Lomé on July 7 as he formally closed the 2022-2023 pastoral year before the summer break. His chancellor, Father Séverin Gakpe, confirmed that “all priests in the archdiocese of Lomé have already signed the code of conduct for protection against abuse”, a process that is underway at the level of religious institutes.

As the abuse crisis continues to manifest itself, the Vatican has reaffirmed zero tolerance…

View Cache

The Ogdensburg Diocese has filed for bankruptcy, a move triggered by 124 pending lawsuits from more than 50 alleged victims who say they suffered childhood sexual abuse at the hands of clergy from the 1940s to 1990s.

The Diocese encompasses 12,036 square miles of northern New York, including Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Hamilton, Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties, as well as northern Herkimer County.“This difficult yet necessary decision was made in response to lawsuits filed against the Diocese under the Child Victims Act. 124 cases are currently pending against the Diocese following implementation of the act, which allows individuals who assert that they were the victims of childhood sexual abuse to file claims, regardless of when the alleged abuse took place. The claims filed against the Diocese date back decades (1940s through 1990s), prior to the institution of the Diocese’s safe environment policies and procedures,” spokeswoman Darcy Fargo said in…

View Cache

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Ogdensburg has filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in response to Child Victims Act lawsuits.

The New York state law, passed in 2019, extended the statute of limitations for survivors of child sexual abuse to bring criminal charges or file civil suits against their abusers. It also opened a “lookback window” that allowed survivors to file civil suits no matter when the alleged abuse took place.

There are currently 124 cases pending against the Diocese of Ogdensburg, which date between the 1940s and 1990s, according to the diocese.

The diocese says the goal for filing Chapter 11 reorganization “is to resolve the legal cases in a fair and equitable manner while allowing the Diocese to continue its mission.” Otherwise, the organization says, civil actions would continue for many years and those who filed the first lawsuits would receive larger awards or settlements, leaving little for the remaining…

View Cache

In the wake of more than 100 sexual abuse lawsuits, the Diocese of Ogdensburg has filed for Chapter 11 reorganization.

In a letter, Bishop Terry LaValley said the reorganization is in response to the 138 lawsuits filed against the diocese under New York state’s Child Victims Act.

The act allowed victims to sue their alleged abusers for acts that were previously protected by the statute of limitations. It opened a one-year window from August 2019 to August 2020. The deadline was extended to August 2021 because of the pandemic.

The cases go back decades, from 1940 to 1990, before, the bishop says, the diocese implemented policies to keep children safe.

LaValley said the diocese faces uncertainty in how much it would have to pay in settlements and how long the process would take.

“While we have been in litigation for almost three years, the merit of…

View Cache

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Ogdensburg in northern New York said Monday that it was filing for bankruptcy protection as it faces more than 100 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse.

The diocese, like others in the state, is dealing with lawsuits dating to when New York temporarily suspended the statute of limitations to give victims of childhood abuse the ability to pursue even decades-old allegations against clergy members, teachers, Boy Scout leaders and others.

Bishop of Ogdensburg Terry R. LaValley said there were 124 cases pending against the diocese, with claims dating from the 1940s through the 1990s.

Ogdensburg is the sixth of New York’s eight dioceses to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a list that also includes those based in Buffalo, Rochester and Rockville Centre on Long Island.

Ogdensburg serves a big but largely rural area, and its 81 parishes are the fewest…

View Cache

In a major move to deal with a troubled past, the Diocese of Ogdensburg has filed for Chapter 11 reorganization.

The Diocese, and Bishop Terry R. LaValley, will hold a news conference at 4 p.m. today in Watertown to discuss the filing.

Earlier today, the Diocese issued a detailed news release explaining the move.

The Press-Republican will have more information on this story later.

Here is the Diocese news release in its entirety.

“Following extensive consultation with diocesan staff, the College of Consultors, Council of Priests, the Diocesan Finance and Pastoral Councils, priest and deacons, pastoral leaders, and a team of professional advisors, Bishop Terry R. LaValley, Bishop of Ogdensburg, authorized the filing of a Chapter 11 reorganization case by the Diocese of Ogdensburg. Bishop Terry R. LaValley was in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of New York, in Utica for today’s filing.

This difficult yet necessary decision was made…

View Cache

The Focolare movement, one of the largest lay organizations in the Catholic Church with members in countries across the world, published its first report on cases of sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable adults within its ranks on March 31.

The report, which was done internally and not by an independent firm, focuses on accounts of abuse received by the movement’s Commission for the Welfare and Safeguarding of Members from 2014 to 2022. The findings indicate that from 1969-2012, 66 members of the global movement were accused of abusing 42 minors (29 between the ages of 14 and 18, and 13 under the age of 14) and 17 vulnerable adults.

Founded in 1943 by the Italian laywoman Chiara Lubich and approved by the Vatican in 1962, the Focolare movement has its headquarters in Rocca di Papa, near Rome, and is present in 182 countries. It…

View Cache

A Daily Record investigation has revealed Lady Smith was paid the same amount as some survivors receive in compensation.

Survivors of child sexual abuse have slammed the huge sums being earned by professionals involved in the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry.

A Daily Record investigation has revealed Lady Smith – the judge who has chaired the inquiry for seven years – was paid the same amount as some survivors receive in compensation for a lifetime of suffering for just two weeks of work.

Figures obtained from the Scottish Government show she has received just short of £2million in salary and pension contributions so far.

In another example, Johnny Gwynne, who retired on a police pension after 33 years, has been able to earn £34,193 for around 12 weeks work, at £561 a day, in his first six months as chairman of Redress Scotland, the body that sets compensation levels. This
is in comparison to paltry…

View Cache

This small European country’s cardinals represent various generations and focuses within the Church.

From August 2 – 6, 2023, Pope Francis will visit Portugal for the WYD in Lisbon. This is the first time that this European country will host a World Youth Day, which may bring together as many as a million young people. Portugal, where almost 80% of the population identify themselves as Catholic, will soon have 4 cardinal electors. The Pope announced on July 9 that Bishop Alves Aguiar, auxiliary bishop of Lisbon, would be created a cardinal on September 30 alongside 20 other prelates.

The small European country, with a population of just 10 million, is thus becoming one of the best represented in the world in the College of Cardinals, which is responsible for electing the Pope.

Portugal also has two cardinals emeritus. A close friend of Pope John Paul II,  View Cache