ABUSE TRACKER

In the long-awaited denouement of the Vatican’s “trial of the century,” which has been seen widely as a litmus test of Pope Francis’s press for reform, a Vatican tribunal Saturday sentenced Italian Cardinal Angelo Becciu to five years and six months in prison for his role in various financial crimes.

Becciu was also fined roughly $8,700 and permanently barred from holding any public office in the Vatican City State. An attorney representing Becciu immediately indicated plans for an appeal.

Becciu, 75, was already the first cardinal ever to stand trial on criminal charges before a Vatican civil court, and he now becomes the first ever to be convicted and sentenced. Prosecutors had asked for seven years and three months of prison time for the cardinal.

From 2011 to 2018 Becciu held the all-important position of sostituto, or “substitute,” in the Secretariat of State, making him effectively the pope’s chief of staff,…

The attorney general’s office is using a technicality to scuttle Child Victims Act claims filed against the state

State Attorney General Letitia James claims to believe women who say they were sexually abused or harassed. But that belief doesn’t extend, apparently, to a woman who says she was repeatedly abused as a child at the state School for the Blind in Genesee County.

The attorney general’s office tried to get that claim, filed under the Child Victims Act, thrown out of court on a technicality. 

James’ office did the same to hundreds of other claimants, including two women who said they were raped by a counselor at a state-run center for kids in Rockland County. As reported by my colleague Brendan J. Lyons, it’s all part of what’s being called the attorney general’s “scorched-earth approach to Child Victims Act cases” filed against state-run institutions. 

What happened to the…

A new memorial stone in Yakima’s Calvary Catholic Cemetery is meant to prompt “quiet reflection and prayer” for clergy sex abuse victims. 

It also has generated criticism from statewide victims’ advocates and a demand to update the list of diocesan sex offenders.

Yakima Bishop Joseph Tyson dedicated the monument, which honors the Catholic Church’s St. Maria Goretti, during a brief ceremony on All Souls Day, the church’s Nov. 2 celebration honoring and praying for faithful Catholics who have died.

The granite memorial, on the south end of the diocesan cemetery’s clergy circle where 25 priests and one bishop are buried, includes an icon of the saint and a prayer for healing for all victims of abuse in the Diocese of Yakima, the United States, and throughout the world, the diocese said in a news release.

“While not specifically addressing abuse by clergy, its placement in the Priests Plot at Calvary…

Kurt Rupprecht was elated last spring when the Maryland attorney general’s office went public with its report on sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. But it left the Harford County victims’ advocate, a survivor of childhood sexual assault, wanting more.

The “Attorney General’s Report on Child Sexual Abuse in the Archdiocese of Baltimore” was just that: though it listed 156 clergy and staff who abused more than 600 children over eight decades, it covered only the church’s Baltimore jurisdiction, the largest of the three in the state. It did not address the Archdiocese of Washington, a territory that includes the Maryland suburbs of the nation’s capital and southern Maryland, or the Diocese of Wilmington, Delaware, which includes Maryland’s Eastern Shore counties.

“People who don’t follow this story closely may think of the attorney general’s report as ‘The Maryland Report.’ But it’s not,” says Rupprecht, 53, who was abused in 1979…

A once-powerful cardinal and nine other people learn their fates Saturday when a Vatican tribunal hands down verdicts in a complicated financial trial that has aired the tiny city state’s dirty laundry and tested its justice system.

At the start of the hearing, Judge Giuseppe Pignatone praised prosecutors and defense attorneys alike for their professionalism in what he acknowledged was a “certainly unusual” trial for the Vatican in terms of its complexity. He stressed that the tribunal had tried, “within the limits … of the legal framework in force” to guarantee ample space for both sides to present their case, and in particular the defense.

The three-judge panel then went into closed consultations pending a late afternoon reading of the verdicts in the converted courtroom in the Vatican Museums, where the two sides have sparred for 2½ years over the details of a money-losing investment in a  View Cache

A Catholic diocese in England says a BBC report alleging that nobody has been held to account for ignored child-grooming concerns is “significantly inaccurate.”

The Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency (CSSA) published a report in June 2023 that found Bishop Robert Byrne of the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle put vulnerable people at risk by ignoring professional advice.

The CSSA found that Byrne – who took office in 2019 – promoted a priest he knew was suspected of grooming schoolboys and had an inappropriate close friendship with a convicted pedophile, Father Timothy Gardner, who was on the sex offenders register.

The BBC’s Dec. 12 report noted the CSSA also said Canon Michael McCoy, the Dean of St Mary’s Cathedral in Newcastle who killed himself in 2021 after an investigation into historical allegations was launched, displayed a “clear pattern of grooming behavior over the years” and there was an “abundance of warning…

North Carolina Pastor Joshua Wester, chair of the denomination’s Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force, agreed about the importance of transparency. “Especially if we’re talking about something that involves minors, disclosing it to the congregation provides the opportunity for parents and other guardians to follow up with their own children to ensure or find out if anything has taken place,” he said. “That’s a critical opportunity you don’t want to deny to parents for the sake of their own children.”

Resources are available for congregations, said Christa Neal, chair of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention’s Sexual Abuse and Resource Team. “We really want to shine light into this very dark area,” she said. “The next time a church finds themselves in this situation, I hope churches reach out” to our team.

Abuse Survivors Express Concern About Patterns of Enabling

After Pastor Smith revealed details about…

A group that advocates for people who have been abused by priests says the Catholic Church is denying survivor complaints.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) Aotearoa has been trying to work with a new bishop in Palmerston North about providing support for survivors of sexual abuse, including a woman who was historically abused by a priest in Waikato.

SNAP’s leader Christopher Longhurst said Bishop John Adams had stopped communicating with them.

But Adams said he was still open to working with the group.

Longhurst said the survivor wanted someone from the church as a support, so SNAP contacted Adams.

The group asked Adams via email to display one of its posters in the diocese and encouraged him to look at its website.

Longhurst said Adams replied to say he had looked at SNAP’s Facebook page and had seen some angry comments.

Adams, in an email viewed…

Yesterday, December 14, 2023, Fr. Amedeo Cencini FCC as papal delegate and his colleague S. Marisa Adami SFF and Fr. Victor Pope OFM. The decree of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life was presented to the Sisters of the Community of Loyola who came to the Archdiocese and to those who were connected online.

Given that the Loyola Community had its general house in Rome, the Dicastery handed the matter over to the Diocese of Rome. A commissioner was appointed who, after several conversations with all the sisters, wrote a final report, which was sent to the dicastery in September 2022 through the Apostolic Nunciature. On October 20, 2023, he issued a decree on the dissolution of the Loyola Community due to serious problems concerning the exercise of authority and the way of living together.

The dicastery determined that the decree must be implemented…

The Vatican has decided to shut down the religious community of sisters co-founded by accused abuser Father Marko Rupnik, the Slovenian Archdiocese of Ljubljana announced Friday.

Sisters from the Loyola Community were presented with a decree on Dec. 14 from the Vatican Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life on the dissolution of their community “due to serious problems concerning the exercise of authority and the way of living together,” the archdiocese said.

According to the Dec. 15 statement, the dissolution of the community must take place within one year. The Vatican decree ordering the dissolution of the Loyola Community was issued on Oct. 20.

Rupnik co-founded the Loyola Community with Sister Ivanka Hosta in Ljubljana, Slovenia, more than three decades ago. The priest and mosaic artist was removed from the Jesuits in June after having been accused of spiritual, psychological,…

#MeToo showed us the impact of our shared voices. But six years later, too many workers are prohibited from telling their stories of workplace sexual harassment.

• Six years after #MeToo went viral, significant state legislation has gone into law, with 25 states plus D.C. passing over 80 anti-harassment bills.
• Bipartisan action from the federal government led to President Biden signing both the Speak Out Act, to address predatory nondisclosure agreements; and the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Harassment Act, to restore the ability of workers to take their employers to court—both in 2022.
• As reported by the National Women’s Law Center, this legislative progress is welcome, but there is more work to be done.
• Women of color, trans women, and women with disabilities experience disproportional abuse and are the most likely to be harmed by NDAs.

In 2006, the activist, consultant and leading voice against sexual assault Tarana Burke founded the hashtag…

2023 has been a good year for child sex abuse (CSA) statute of limitations (SOL) reform, but not a banner year.  Here’s a quick rundown of the SOL picture right now.

In 2023, as you can see in our SOL Tracker, 15 states lengthened criminal and civil CSA SOLs and/or revived expired civil claims.  CHILD USA and CHILD USAdvocacy’s biggest achievement was Maryland, yes, Maryland, which passed a permanent window that means the victims of child sex abuse should not have to face SOL barriers in their cases anymore.  The bill is up for constitutional challenge in 2024, and CHILD USA will be supporting the cases with our highly successful amicus briefing.  

Maine eliminated the charitable immunity caps, and its permanent window is now being considered by the Supreme Court of Maine.   The North Carolina window was upheld in several lower courts on its way up to the North Carolina…

A Nebraska priest has died after being attacked in the rectory of his parish in the early morning before he was to celebrate Mass for the Second Sunday of Advent.

Fr. Stephen Gutgsell was found “suffering from injuries sustained during an assault” Dec. 10 at the rectory of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Fort Calhoun, Nebraska, where he served as pastoral administrator.

According to a Dec. 10 press release from the Washington County Sheriff Mike Robinson, the county’s 911 emergency dispatch received an emergency call Dec. 10 at approximately 5:05 a.m. reporting an attempted break-in at the rectory. According to the statement, deputies arrived within six minutes and found a Black male inside the residence with the injured priest.

Gutgsell was transported to the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska, where he succumbed to his injuries.

The suspect was taken into custody and transferred to the…

A former Marblehead Episcopal priest, Boy Scout leader and assistant headmaster at Tower School is set to go on trial this summer for allegedly raping a 12-year-old Marblehead boy whom he took across state lines to a Boy Scout camp in New Hampshire in 1976.

On Aug. 18, a New Hampshire grand jury indicted Richard Losch, 89, on a charge of aggravated felonious assault. His alleged victim, who asked to be identified as Jack to protect his and his family’s privacy, spoke to the Current recently.

“I am coming forward in order to give Losch’s other victims the opportunity to seek justice and healing,” Jack said.

Losch now lives in Livingston, Alabama, where he has worked at two churches for years. 

Contacted by the Current, Losch said, “On the advice of my attorney, I have no comment to make other than that the charge is totally false, and I deny all allegations of…

In the months since Maryland eliminated the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse claims, more than 100 victims have filed a slew of lawsuits alleging horrific treatment inside the state’s youth detention facilities.

State lawmakers passed the Child Victims Act with the Catholic Church clergy abuse scandal in mind after a scathing investigative report revealed the scope of the problem within the Archdiocese of Baltimore, which filed for bankruptcy to protect its assets from the impending wave of lawsuits.

With claims against the diocese now relegated to bankruptcy court, an unexpected spotlight has settled on the state’s juvenile justice system.

At least 50 plaintiffs sued the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services in early October, when the new law took effect. Rather than effectively rehabilitating at-risk youth, the department “locks them inside a cage to become the prey of sadistic staff whom they cannot escape,” according…

Pair were earlier blocked from suing over abuse they claim they suffered from alleged prolific paedophile priest David Joseph Perrett

Two abuse survivors have won the first major challenge to the Catholic church’s use of permanent stays since a high court decision in October.

Earlier this year, two survivors, one of whom is dying, were blocked from suing the Armidale diocese over abuse they allege they suffered from alleged prolific paedophile priest David Joseph Perrett.

The two men, both Indigenous, alleged they were abused during camping trips from an Aboriginal mission in the mid-1970s.

Police investigated their allegations and found enough evidence to charge Perrett, but he died in 2020 while awaiting trial for more than 100 offences relating to the abuse of almost 40 young children.

His death also prompted the church to seek and obtain a permanent stay – or a permanent halt to proceedings – which stopped the…

Archdiocese of San Francisco says priest is proven innocent via an independent review board

A lawsuit filed in Alameda County in March alleges Redwood City pastor Fr. David Ghiorso, who works at St. Matthias Parish and St. Charles Parish in San Carlos, sexually assaulted, harassed, abused, and molested a child while he was in the custody of the Catholic Charities CYO of the Archdiocese of San Francisco.

However, the Archdiocese of San Francisco claims Ghiorso is innocent and asserts that any allegations by media coverage have damaged Ghiorso’s reputation and those of other priests.

While Ghiorso’s civil case is still open, with his next civil hearing scheduled for Dec. 20, the Archbishop allowed Ghiorso to return to work after being cleared by the Archdiocesan Independent Review Board, said Peter Marlow, Archdiocese of San Francisco communications director.

In response to a KQED article published in November, Marlow said it was an “unjust…

The word awake signifies a change, a new awareness of one’s surroundings. Sara Larson’s awakening came in 2018, following the Pennsylvania grand jury report on sexual abuse in the Catholic Church and the revelations of then-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick’s long history of abuse. She says the news left her and other Catholics she knew in the Milwaukee area “concerned and hurt and frustrated, and wondering what we could do to help.” In March 2019, a group of people began meeting in Ms. Larson’s living room to discuss ways to respond. They called the group Awake, and it didn’t take them long to settle on an answer.

That August, Awake made its first, formal, public act: an apology in the form of an open letter to survivors of abuse. Ms. Larson says that the group decided to issue the letter because “many apologies that have been given by church leaders feel inadequate.” Awake, she…

A Roman Catholic priest who admitted to a federal judge earlier this year that he downloaded and stored thousands of images of child sexual abuse was sentenced to six years in federal prison.

The investigation into the Rev. James W. Jackson, 68, a former Rhode Island priest assigned to St. Mary’s Church in Providence, began in September 2021.

An East Providence detective identified an IP address assigned to the rectory at St. Mary’s Church that was being utilized to share files of child sexual abuse material, prosecutors said.

A court-authorized search of a computer and digital device located in a church rectory bedroom utilized by Jackson discovered images and videos of child sexual abuse.

A forensic audit of the devices subsequently identified over 12,000 images and 1,300 videos of child sexual abuse, according to Zachary Cunha, U.S. attorney for Rhode Island.

Email and phone messages were left with a lawyer…

Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu walked the short distance from his apartment in Vatican City to the residence of Pope Francis, expecting to discuss his work overseeing the canonization of saints. 

The Italian cardinal was a star, even mentioned as a potential future pope. Twenty minutes later, he emerged from the 2020 meeting with a very different status—that of an accused criminal. Vatican magistrates alleged Becciu had embezzled more than $100,000 through a nonprofit group run by his brother. Francis told Becciu to resign his Vatican post. 

Since the summer of 2021, the 75-year-old Becciu has been on trial for embezzlement, abuse of office and witness tampering. He is the first cardinal to be tried in Vatican City’s criminal court, and prosecutors are seeking a sentence of more than seven years in prison. Becciu has denied any wrongdoing. 

Nine others, including former Vatican officials and outsiders, face charges in…

United States Attorney Zachary Cunha said that a former Catholic priest assigned to St. Mary’s Church in Providence was sentenced for downloading and storing thousands of images of child sexual abuse material.

68-year-old Father James Ward Jackson was charged with receipt of child pornography.

The  Rhode Island State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force found that Jackson had a computer at the rectory which contained over 12,000 images and 1,300 videos of child sexual abuse material in September 2021.

Jackson was then released awaiting trial into the custody of his sister in Kansas.

In June 2022, police identified the IP address of the residence Jackson was staying at as having downloaded child sexual abuse material.

The Kansas Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force seized a portable computer and an external hard drive and found evidence that numerous files with names indicative of child sexual abuse material had been deleted.

…

Rev. Goedert, a survivor of the Andrea Doria shipwreck, said in a 2007 deposition that he knew 25 priests had broken the law over the years by abusing children but never alerted police.

[See also the text of Goedert’s deposition with document exhibits.]

The Rev. Raymond Goedert, a renowned church official who had many titles and later drew scrutiny over allegedly covering up priest sexual abuse allegations in the Chicago area, died Saturday.

He was 96.

The Rev. Goedert rose to prominence in the Catholic Church community upon his ordination in 1952, eventually rising to auxiliary bishop in 1991 and serving as vicar general of the Archdiocese of Chicago from 1995 until his retirement in 2003.

“He served the archdiocese in a variety of roles: as pastor, notary, vicar general and as administrator of the archdiocese after Cardinal Bernardin died,” Cardinal Blase Cupich said in a statement. “A friend…

A former Southern Baptist children’s minister accused of child sexual abuse has asked an Arkansas court to seal his record, an effort critics say would hinder other potential victims from coming forward.

Meanwhile, the Southern Baptist church where he last served had been hailed by its well-known pastor as a place free of any potential abuse. Now, the legal counsel for both sides are members of that same church. And the pastor is in hot water for not informing the congregation of the allegations.

The case involves Patrick Stephen Miller, 37, who was charged with second-degree sexual assault and pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of misdemeanor harassment in January 2022. He was given a one-year suspended sentence, with 19 days credit for time already served, and wasn’t required to register as a sex offender, according to court documents.

However, Miller remains under investigation as a second victim now has come forward….

Another month, another scandal. That seems to be the case these days with former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden. 

It’s also the case when we talk about Vatican life in the tense era of Pope Francis. World without end. Amen.

The most-recent drama in Rome involves Luca Casarini, who recently took part in the Synod on Synodality as a special nominee of Pope Francis. 

Here is the key for religion-news consumers: The problem isn’t that the mainstream press has done a poor job covering this case — it’s that mainstream journalists haven’t covered it at all. This fits into a recent trend in which important and, for many, troubling stories about Catholic debates, scandals and divisions are simply ignored by leaders in elite newsrooms.

The Catholic press, however, has been on this latest story, especially newsrooms with Rome-based bureaus and reporters. This is what noted Vatican journalist John Allen…

Sacramento, per capita, may have seen more of its child molesting predator priests cross national boundaries than any other US diocese. Just when we thought more information would be revealed about these mobile clerics, approximately a whopping 250 abuse and cover-up lawsuits filed against the diocese bumped into an unforeseen obstacle. The Sacramento Catholic officials decided to take shelter in the bankruptcy courts, providing them with an avenue for keeping their dark secrets under wraps. That’s right; the Sacramento Diocese officially announced its filing for bankruptcy protection after months of mulling it over joining dozens of others that have been financially battered by sexual abuse lawsuits. Let’s take a deep dive into the unnerving truth that has unfolded over the years in the Sacramento Diocese.

Interesting Facts about the Sacramento Clergy Sex Crimes & Cover-Ups

Over the years, the alarming number of…

The Diocese of Sacramento, California, has announced it will file for bankruptcy by March in an effort to resolve more than 250 sexual abuse lawsuits filed under a three-year California lookback window.

Bishop Jaime Soto announced the news Dec. 9, saying in a letter to diocesan faithful that he had made the decision following “careful consideration and consultation.”

“Without such a reorganization process, it is likely that not all the abuse victim-survivors would receive a fair consideration of their claim,” he said in his letter. “The funds available to settle claims could be depleted by the first few cases addressed, leaving those that follow with little or no compensation.”

In a letter to the faithful this March, Soto had warned that a “staggering number of claims” filed under California’s AB 218 — which commenced on Jan. 1, 2020 and expired Dec. 31, 2022 — stood to “overwhelm” the diocese, presenting…

Amid hundreds of lawsuits accusing clergy of sexual abuse, the Catholic Diocese of Sacramento announced on Saturday it intends to file for bankruptcy.

Bishop Jaime Soto said he believes it is the most transparent, fair and respectful way to address all the claims.

“It’s a very dark legacy in our history, and we have to respond for that,” Bishop Soto said. “And I have to, as bishop, I have to try to make amends for that.”

The Diocese of Sacramento said it faces more than 250 lawsuits claiming sexual abuse by clergy or other church staff. It said a court would oversee the distribution of assets, dividing things up as equitably as possible amongst survivors under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code.

Otherwise, the Diocese said, funds would be exhausted with the first cases that go to trial, leaving the rest of the survivors with nothing.

However,…

It’s unclear if the judgment against the Cohoes Memorial Hospital, which closed in 1986 amid a bankruptcy, will ever be paid

A state Supreme Court justice has awarded a $3.75 million judgment against the now-closed Cohoes Memorial Hospital in a Child Victims Act case filed by Gary Greenberg, a former Albany County legislator and state Senate candidate who was sexually abused there in 1967 by an employee, according to court records.

The sexual abuse of Greenberg took place when, as a young boy, he went with his mother to the hospital to visit his father, who had been admitted for treatment for more than a week.

Louis Van Wie, an accused serial child molester who would be sentenced to prison in 1997 for his conviction on unrelated sodomy and sexual abuse charges, had convinced Greenberg’s parents to let him take the boy on a tour of the hospital. Van Wie…

All of the charges relate to the same victim and occurred at various locations in Donegal

Eamonn Crossan appeared at Donegal Circuit Court facing a total of 96 sex-related charges.

The 72-year-old was due to stand trial before a judge and jury.

However, just moments before a jury was due to be sworn in for his trial, Crossan’s legal team informed Judge John Aylmer there could be progress in the case.

After a short adjournment, it was indicated that Crossan was pleading guilty to a total of nine sample charges ranging from indecent assault to sexual assault.

All of the charges relate to the same victim and occurred at various locations in Donegal between various dates in the 1980s and 1990s.

Crossan is currently on remand in the Midlands Prison in Portlaoise for these charges.

He previously served three years with the final 12 months suspended for similar offences after being…

Eamonn Crossan appeared at Donegal Circuit Court facing a total of 96 sex-related charges.

A FORMER DONEGAL parish priest has pleaded guilty to a raft of sex abuse charges against a young boy.

Eamonn Crossan appeared at Donegal Circuit Court facing a total of 96 sex-related charges.

The 72-year-old was due to stand trial before a judge and jury.

However, just moments before a jury was due to be sworn in for his trial, Crossan’s legal team informed Judge John Aylmer there could be progress in the case.

After a short adjournment, it was indicated that Crossan was pleading guilty to a total of nine sample charges ranging from indecent assault to sexual assault.

All of the charges relate to the same victim and occurred at various locations in Donegal between various dates in the 1980s and 1990s.

Crossan is currently on remand in the Midlands Prison in Portlaoise for…

In a plea for a sentence of five years on child pornography charges, Fr. James Jackson told a federal judge that he accepted responsibility for his crimes and was sorry, and that he had been sexually abused himself as a minor.

The priest also sent to the court an August letter to members of his religious community, in which he apologized for his “vile sin.”

“The vile sin into which I fell, and for which I am guilty, has caused immeasurable harm,” Jackson explained in a handwritten letter dated Aug. 6, and reportedly sent to his religious provincial superior and other members of his religious community. 

“I have sinned against God, children, you, friends and family, former students and former parishioners and many others besides,” the priest wrote. “I cannot repair this damage, but I must try. I hope you will accept this apology.”

“I’m sorry at a level I’ve…

“Our holding is also consistent with rulings by other courts that have considered whether Catholic dioceses, including the Archdiocese, are subject to personal jurisdiction because of alleged sexual abuses committed by priests,” Judge Robert J. Gilson said. “Like this case, those cases depended on the specific jurisdictional facts involved.”

In two published opinions, the Appellate Division reached opposing conclusions in deciding whether personal jurisdiction existed for dioceses named as defendants in claims of sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic priests.

In D.T. v. Archdiocese of Philadelphia, the plaintiff alleged that he was sexually abused by a former Catholic priest, Michael McCarthy, in New Jersey in 1971 when he was 14 years old. At that time, McCarthy was a priest and teacher in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, which is named as a defendant in the case. D.T.’s claims against the archdiocese were dismissed for lack of personal jurisdiction because no facts established…

The bishop of the Diocese of Sacramento, California, announced on Saturday that “after careful consideration and consultation” the diocese will be filing for bankruptcy amid a slate of over 250 clergy abuse lawsuits.

Sacramento Bishop Jaime Soto said in a Saturday statement that Chapter 11 bankruptcy is the “only respectful, transparent, and fair way to address the substantial number of claims” and “sustain the sanctifying, teaching, and charitable work” of the diocese.

The diocese, which has 102 parishes serving over 1 million faithful, will likely file for bankruptcy in March 2024, according to the bishop.

Soto said the decision to file for bankruptcy is part of the diocese’s “journey of atonement and renewal” in the wake of the hundreds of clergy abuses coming to light.

“I remain steadfast in my belief that I must continue to atone for the horrible sin of clergy sexual abuse,”…

Facing more than 250 claims of abuse by clergy and others, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento is planning to declare bankruptcy in March.

In a letter distributed in parishes over the weekend, Bishop Jaime Soto wrote, in part:

“It is now clear to me that a court-supervised re-organization is the only respectful, transparent and fair way to address the over 250 claims by those who have been abused by clergy and other members of the church.”

The diocese says almost half the claims involved allegations from the 1970s or earlier, more than 80% involved allegations from the 1980s or earlier, and six claims allege abuse that occurred after the reforms and improved safeguards enacted in 2002.

Bishop Soto goes on to say, “I remain steadfast in my belief that I must continue to atone for the horrible sin of clergy sexual abuse. The sickening evil that was perpetrated upon…

New court documents reveal that Traditional Latin Mass priest Father James Jackson, who pleaded guilty to a federal child pornography charge in June, told authorities he was sexually abused as a child.

Additionally, a statement from his sister filed with the court said that Jackson engaged in a life of drugs, alcohol, and “sexual wildness” as a young person.

Jackson signed a plea agreement in June admitting to a single charge of receipt of child pornography, while prosecutors moved to dismiss a second count of possession of child pornography. That agreement isn’t official until the judge accepts it at sentencing, which is set for Dec. 13 at 1 p.m. in Providence, Rhode Island, in the U.S. District Court.

News of his arrest in October 2021 shocked many of his friends, supporters, and former parishioners, with many who saw Jackson as a holy priest rushing to his defense. 

Jackson…

Text of a talk given to the Latin Mass Society in London on November 24th, 2023. Mr. Sire’s audio of this talk can be heard here.

When Joseph Shaw proposed this talk to me in early September, I suggested the title “Pope Francis: how much lower can we sink?”, but the fact is that since then we have been overtaken by events. Over the past eleven years we have all seen Pope Francis’s pontificate in a trajectory of accelerating descent into more and more overt betrayal of Catholic doctrine, but I must say I did not foresee the Gadarene rush we have seen just within the last three months. If we want to assess the very grave events that are happening around us, we need to try and understand the man we now have sitting on the throne of Peter. So before I comment on recent developments I would like…

Attorney general’s office has challenged dozens of claims in which alleged victims can’t recall specific dates, places where abuse occurred

A potential flaw in the legislation that created New York’s Child Victims Act has led to legal turmoil in hundreds of cases filed by alleged sexual abuse victims in the Court of Claims, where the state attorney general’s office has waged a fierce effort to have many of the lawsuits that were filed against New York agencies dismissed.

A central focus of the state’s litigation strategy has been to assert that in the Court of Claims — where litigation targeting state-affiliated individuals or entities is adjudicated — the rules require a claimant to provide the date and location of when and where an incident is alleged to have taken place.

Those rules, part of the Court of Claims Act, outline the specific criteria that must be met for someone…

Audio recordings obtained by The Associated Press provide an unprecedented look at the methods the Mormon church uses to keep child sexual abuse cases secret.

[This 50-minute audio report with transcript provides remarkable background for Recordings show how the Mormon church protects itself from child sex abuse claims, by Michael Rezendes and Jason Dearen, Associated Press (December 4, 2023), previously blogged on Abuse Tracker.]

In this week’s episode, produced in collaboration with The Associated Press, secret audio recordings expose a legal playbook used by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that keeps evidence of sex abuse out of reach of authorities.

AP reporters Michael Rezendes and Jason Dearen investigate the case of a former Mormon bishop, John Goodrich, who was accused of sexually abusing his daughter Chelsea. 

The story opens in Hailey, Idaho, with Chelsea Goodrich and her mother, Lorraine, locked in discussions with the director…

Attorneys for several men who say members of the clergy in the Archdiocese of Washington sexually abused them in Maryland decades ago defended on Friday the new law that allowed them to sue the Catholic Church: The Child Victims Act.

The filings from plaintiffs’ lawyers respond to a legal challenge from the Washington diocese last month, with the church’s attorneys arguing Maryland’s child victims law is unconstitutional, and that the men’s lawsuits, filed in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, should be dismissed as a result.

Archdiocese attorneys contend the legislature granted defendants immunity from child sex abuse lawsuits after the victim turns 38, when it expanded the statute of limitations to that age in 2017. They argue their legal protection stems from a rare provision in the law known as a statute of repose, which created “vested rights” that lawmakers cannot simply change.

Lawyers for the victims in the lawsuits disagree.

…

Two lawsuits from Acadiana will affect the outcomes of other clergy sex abuse cases in Louisiana.

This week, the Louisiana Supreme Court announced it will hear arguments in a civil case against the Diocese of Lafayette and St. Martin de Tours Catholic Church in St. Martinville. In the lawsuit, six plaintiffs allege they were molested by Father Kenneth Morvant decades ago when they were between the ages of 8 and 14. 

The issue going before the Supreme Court is a 2021 law that created a three-year ‘lookback’ window. The law gives survivors of sexual abuse up until June 14, 2024 to file civil lawsuits, regardless of when the alleged abuse occurred. Previously, survivors had until they turned 28 years old to file such claims. 

“The issue before the Louisiana Supreme Court is whether the newly-enacted legislation applies to the cases, and whether it’s constitutional,” said attorney Cle’ Simon, who represents…

There are more than 250 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by clergy or other church staff, according to officials. They are planning to file in March of 2024.

The Diocese of Sacramento announced Saturday that it will file Chapter 11 bankruptcy next year following hundreds of sexual abuse allegations and lawsuits. 

“It is now clear to me that this is the only way available to me to resolve these claims as fairly as possible,” said Bishop Jaime Soto in a statement. “There are many victim-survivors awaiting compensation for the reprehensible sins committed against them.”

In 2015, Dorothy Small says she was abused by a priest within the Diocese and it’s taken years for her to overcome the trauma. She settled her case in 2019 through mediation but is concerned about this bankruptcy announcement, claiming it will seal documents containing survivor stories from the public.

“That does not benefit society,…

SACRAMENTO – The Diocese of Sacramento will seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after more than 250 lawsuits claiming sexual abuse by clergy and other staff, Bishop Jaime Soto said on Saturday.

Soto said the diocese intends to seek Chapter 11 protection by March 2024.

“There are many victim-survivors awaiting compensation for the reprehensible sins committed against them,” Soto said in a statement to his parishioners. “The diocese faces more than 250 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by clergy or other church staff. The reorganization process will allow me to equitably respond to the large number of those who are victim-survivors of abuse.”

Under Chapter 11 protection, a court would oversee how available assets would be distributed to fulfill claims against the diocese. Victim-survivors would be represented in a court-supervised proceeding, the diocese said.

A fund would be created to distribute to all victims, the diocese said.

“Without such a…

Church will be positioned to continue mission that greatly benefits community

The Archdiocese of Baltimore recently announced its decision to file for Chapter 11 reorganization under the U.S. bankruptcy code. The filing is in response to numerous anticipated lawsuits stemming from historic and previously time-barred cases of child sexual abuse. The lawsuits can go forward under a recent change in Maryland law.

Much has been written and said about this decision, and my views about it are informed by my role as a volunteer member of the board of advisors that oversees the church’s handling of its financial resources and as a retired, longtime financial executive in the banking and professional sports fields.

Clearly, there was no other choice that would allow the Archdiocese to both provide equitable financial compensation to survivors of abuse who bravely have come forward to report the evil they suffered and for the…

Hundreds of Swiss churchgoers have left the Catholic Church following revelations of sexual abuse.

The wave of departures is particularly strong in central Switzerland and Basel. In French-speaking Switzerland too, the number of departures has increased since mid-September, but at a lower level.

All the indications are that the “losses” in the Roman Catholic Church, which were already very pronounced in the record years of 2021 and 2022, have continued this year, even though the definitive figures drawn up annually by the Swiss Institute for Pastoral Sociology (SPI) have not yet been published.

“By 2023, we are heading for an increase in the number of departures for both the Catholic and Reformed churches,” Urs Winter, project manager at the SPI, told Swiss news agency Keystone-SDA.

Last year, some 34,600 people left the Catholic Church in Switzerland.

Data collected in the cantons by Keystone-ATS show an acceleration in departures since the…

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento announced Saturday that it is filing for bankruptcy protection, joining dozens of others that have been financially battered by sexual abuse lawsuits.

“After much prayer and careful consideration, it is now clear to me that this is the only way available to me to resolve these claims as fairly as possible,” Bishop Jaime Soto said in a statement posted to the diocese website. “There are many victim-survivors awaiting compensation for the reprehensible sins committed against them.

“The diocese faces more than 250 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by clergy or other church staff. The reorganization process will allow me to equitably respond to the large number of those who are victim-survivors of abuse.”

The decision to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, which is expected to occur in March, means “a court would oversee the distribution of available assets to satisfy claims…

1994: Nancy Dunn of North Adams, 34, a parishioner at Notre Dame du Sacre-Coeur parish, meets the Rev. Warren Savage, who had been assigned to oversee a merger of local parishes. Dunn says she enters into spiritual counseling with Savage. In at least three sessions, that counseling includes discussion of her struggle with the belief that she was a lesbian.

November 1995: Dunn and Savage begin a sexual relationship that lasts until September 1996 with more than two dozen sexual encounters.

Nov. 6, 1996: A psychotherapist in Amherst, Carla Brennan, calls the Springfield diocese to report that Dunn, a client, is alleging misconduct by one of its priests. That report finds its way to the Commission to Investigate Improper Conduct of Diocesan Personnel, as the panel was then known.

June 16, 1997: The diocesan commission meets with Dunn and Brennan in Springfield. It hears Dunn recount…

Over the past 14 years, a Northampton therapist has been helping a client, Nancy A. Dunn of Easthampton, contend with fallout from a year-long sexual relationship with a priest.

In 2020, wanting more answers, Dunn got back in touch with the Springfield diocese. She did so 23 years after a misconduct board upheld her claim that a parish priest, the Rev. Warren Savage, drew her into a sexual relationship.

Before 2020, therapy focused on the past.

Since then, according to Dunn and her therapist, Nancy Knudsen, a main topic in counseling has been anguish over the diocese’s response to her requests for information.

“There are two betrayals here, one by Warren Savage and the other by the church itself in its handling of this matter, both when it first happened and now,” said Knudsen, a psychotherapist who directs the Couple and Family Institute of New…

Early this year, a retired phys ed teacher left her ranch house in Easthampton and drove down the interstate to tell her story of clergy abuse.

It wasn’t Nancy A. Dunn’s first time before the Springfield Diocese’s review board, which meets in the red-brick Maguire Pastoral Center to hear allegations of clergy misconduct.

But it was her last.

The board later informed Dunn she needn’t have come back. Why? The diocese had already written her a six-figure check, she says she was told, to compensate her for a priest’s misconduct in the 1990s.

Dunn still had questions.

She wanted to know whether the Rev. Warren Savage had been held accountable, as the diocese had said he would, for engaging in a year-long sexual relationship with her nearly three decades ago. Savage remains in active ministry at Westfield State University.

“My intention was never to destroy this man, it was to…

Stephen Kiesle changed his plea to no contest and surrendered to law enforcement Friday.

A notorious former East Bay priest who was accused of sexually abusing dozens of kids is back in jail, but not for the abuse cases.

Stephen Kiesle appeared in Contra Costa County court Friday to change his plea to no contest for driving drunk and killing his Rossmoor Walnut Creek neighbor. Kiesle was sentenced to six years and eight months in state prison.

Last year, prosecutors said Kiesle was drunk when he ran over and killed Curtis Gunn, who was walking with his wife on a sidewalk in Rossmoor.

In court, Gunn’s wife gave a tearful victim impact statement saying “Kiesle made a choice to drink that night. Today he has chosen his prison term.”

Kiesle previously served time for sexually abusing a young girl while he was…

He is charged with one count each of aggravated kidnapping, aggravated crime against nature, first-degree rape and theft of $500 or more.

An Orleans Parish judge on Thursday set a March 25 trial date for Lawrence Hecker, the 92-year-old retired New Orleans priest accused of raping and kidnapping a teenager nearly 50 years ago.

Hecker, who served in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans, allegedly confessed in 1999 to church leaders that he had molested several teenagers over a span of 15 years, according to an investigation The Guardian published in June. The archdiocese allowed him to stay in the church.

An indictment charges Hecker with assaulting only one teenager. Hecker faces counts of aggravated kidnapping, aggravated crime against nature, first-degree rape and theft of $500 or more. He pleaded not guilty to the charges in September.

Criminal District Court Judge Benedict Willard set bail…

In response to class action lawsuit, the Washington Archdiocese is seeking to overturn Maryland’s Child Victims Act

A Maryland man behind a class action lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Washington said the assault he endured as a child by a priest caused decades of substance abuse, shame and depression.

“From age 15 until I was 40 … I used alcohol to cope with the pain, but all that did was turn me into an alcoholic,” said the man identified in court filings under the pseudonym “Richard Roe.”

Roe is one of three men named in the filing, which asserts the archdiocese did little to prevent and protect them from abuse when they were children in the church.

He sat down with the News4 I-Team after the Archdiocese of Washington filed a legal challenge last month to the Child Victims Act…

[See video.]

Lawrence Hecker, 92, pled not guilty to the charges on Sept. 13. Hecker’s trial date is set for March 25, 2024.

The Archdiocese of New Orleans has abruptly dismissed the Rev. Anthony Odiong from St. Anthony of Padua Church in Luling and filed a report with a law enforcement agency about the clergyman.

Odiong’s exit came shortly after Nov. 26 Mass, during which he made disparaging remarks about LGBTQ+ people.

Archdiocese officials on Thursday didn’t disclose any details about what they reported to law enforcement, although they did say it was related to the reasons that Odiong was asked to leave the church. Officials said their “concerns” about Odiong didn’t involve the abuse of minors or a member of the St. Anthony Parish.

But Odiong is facing allegations of abusive behavior. A woman who has known the priest since 2007 has accused him of years of controlling, manipulative and lewd behavior that included sexual and financial abuse, said her attorney, Kristi Schubert.

The woman filed allegations in U.S. Bankruptcy Court as…

Under murky circumstances, a Louisiana Catholic priest has been abruptly removed from his position by the Archdiocese of New Orleans. Church officials have filed a police report against the Rev. Anthony Odiong, according to nola.com, though authorities declined to give further details.

“These concerns do not include the abuse of minors nor to our knowledge involve anyone in this (church),” reads a statement from archdiocese officials to The Guardian.

In 2019, a woman who viewed Odiong as a “spiritual adviser” came forward to allege years of financial and sexual abuse at his hand. According to the Guardian, Odiong is accused of forcing the woman to perform sexual acts — threatening to “place a curse on her head” if she refused — and stealing thousands of dollars from her.

Call logs reviewed by the Guardian confirm that the…

The RVC Diocese, which includes Our Lady of Peace and St. Raymond, attempts to settle abuse case

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre has made what it says is its “best and final proposal” toward a settlement with the more the 600 people who accused the church of child sexual abuse.

In question is the Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection the diocese filed three years ago, with church officials saying they are willing to amend its reorganization plan to compensate those victims through a $200 million fund the church would set up.

This particular offer isn’t new. In fact, it was made last February, entitling victims to a minimum cash payment of $100,000 for some lawsuits, while others would receive an immediate cash payment of $50,000.

The proposed payout is the largest settlement offer made in any diocesan case to date, according to church spokesman, Sean Dolan — both on…

Police investigation of Anthony Odiong began Wednesday after 2019 complaint to archdiocese spurred little action

A recently dismissed south-east Louisiana Catholic priest is under law enforcement investigation after facing allegations of clerical misconduct with multiple women as well as claims of financial improprieties, according to officials.

The archdiocese of New Orleans on Wednesday reported Anthony Odiong in connection with at least one of those complaints to the sheriff’s office of St Charles parish, Louisiana, the agency confirmed.

That complaint came from a woman who first contacted authorities in 2019 and accused Odiong of sexual and financial abuse while he was serving as her spiritual adviser for years.

Sheriff’s officials said that they immediately contacted an attorney for the woman and requested an interview. The woman’s attorney, Kristi Schubert, said her client wasn’t immediately available to speak with investigators Wednesday after her initial report produced little action, but she…

The long battle to bring a former Catholic priest to justice for his sexual abuse of a 13-year-old boy in Madeira has finally ended, with a court in Madeira finding Anastácio Alves guilty on all counts, and condemning him to six years and six months in jail. As reports today explain, this was the 3rd time Anastácio Alves had been cited for child sexual abuse while working as a priest – but the only time witnesses agreed to come forwards. The trial went ahead ‘behind closed doors’.

Former priest Anastácio Alves was sentenced to six and a half years in prison, with an effective sentence, for committing four crimes of sexual abuse of a child and one crime of sexual acts with a teenager. It is also prohibited from having guardianship of minors and exercising a profession that involves living with minors for the next seven years. The ruling was announced this afternoon, at the Funchal court (Building 2000).

The defendant allegedly abused a minor and the crimes occurred between 2015 and 2016, at the victim’s grandmother’s house, when the former priest, who was posted to a parish in Paris, was traveling to Madeira for vacation.

Anastácio Alves awaited trial in freedom. However, at the end of reading the ruling, the Public Prosecutor’s Office asked for the coercive measures to be tightened and for his preventive detention, given that he had already worked abroad (France and Switzerland) and…

Julgamento teve início em 12 de outubro, após um adiamento devido à greve dos funcionários judiciais, tendo decorrido à porta fechada por determinação do coletivo de juízes

O ex-padre madeirense Anastácio Alves foi esta quinta-feira condenado a seis anos e seis meses de prisão efetiva por quatro crimes de abuso sexual de crianças e um crime de atos sexuais com adolescente pelo Tribunal da Comarca da Madeira.

“O tribunal decidiu, em cúmulo jurídico, aplicar ao arguido uma pena única de seis anos e seis meses de prisão”, anunciou a presidente do coletivo de juízes, Carla Meneses.

O julgamento teve início em 12 de outubro, após um adiamento devido à greve dos funcionários judiciais, tendo decorrido à porta fechada por determinação do coletivo de juízes.

Após a primeira sessão do julgamento, o advogado de defesa, Miguel dos Santos Pereira, indicou que Anastácio Alves respondeu “a tudo o que lhe foi perguntado”…

Los Angeles (CNN) — On Monday, the US Supreme Court grappled with one of the highest-profile bankruptcy cases the court has taken on in decades.

The case hinges on the legality of OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma’s multibillion-dollar bankruptcy plan ­— which would have the Sackler family, who once owned the pharmaceutical giant, personally pay up to $6 billion to victims of the opioid crisis, including state governments, local governments, Native American tribes and individuals, in exchange for the family’s legal immunity from future civil lawsuits. The deal would also mean the family would not have to admit any guilt or wrongdoing related to allegations that the Sacklers were complicit in aggressively marketing OxyContin and downplaying its highly addictive properties.

But the Supreme Court’s upcoming decision in this case may affect much more than the Sackler family’s fortune. Third-party releases, the provision that would allow the Sacklers to be shielded from additional civil…

A Louisiana Catholic priest’s sudden dismissal from the church where he had been a popular pastor for the last several years has set off a fresh scandal in the embattled New Orleans archdiocese, the second-oldest in the US.

As they tell it, local church leaders rescinded Anthony Odiong’s invitation to serve as a cleric in the region due to unspecified “concerns … about [his] ministry prior” to his arrival in the archdiocese – “and quite possibly during his time” there. As a result, the New Orleans archbishop, Gregory Aymond, told Odiong’s bishop in Nigeria to recall him to his home diocese “as soon as possible to address these concerns”, officials said in a statement.

The statement did not mention whether those concerns stemmed from Aymond’s receipt in 2019 of a detailed complaint against Odiong of years-long sexual and financial abuse from a woman who viewed the clergyman as her spiritual adviser –…

[VIDEO]

In Belgium, a recent documentary on sexual abuse in the Catholic Church has caused shock and soul-searching, reigniting a debate about the way religion is funded in the country. Unlike in neighbouring France, the Belgian state finances officially recognised religions, with representatives of the Catholic Church receiving the best pay. But the abuse scandal has seen many people demand a change in the rules. The justice ministry has asked the Church to remove members of the clergy guilty of sexual abuse from the list of those paid by the state, and a parliamentary inquiry is underway. Our correspondent reports.

Enraged by inaction surrounding abuse claims against a former Providence HS priest, a survivors network wants Catholic leaders to act.

NEW LENOX, IL — In the wake of a $2 million settlement reached in a lawsuit over rape allegations against a Catholic priest, a network of abuse survivors is seeking answers from the Vatican in a complaint filed last week.

Reached last month, the settlement will result in Providence Catholic High School and the religious order that runs the school paying $2 million to a former student who alleged he was raped by a priest at the school.

The organization Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) is now decrying the actions of five specific officials as “repeated and deliberate recklessness, callousness and secrecy,” in a complaint sent to the Vatican. The complaint, SNAP wrote, was filed in “a sincere, even desperate, hope that the Vatican hierarchy will take immediate…

The Louisiana Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case of alleged sexual abuse in connection to Diocese of Lafayette and St. Martin De Tours Catholic Church priests.

The court announced in a news release that it would hear the case brought by Douglas Bienvenu and unnamed plaintiffs against the St. Martin de Tours Catholic Church and sexual abuse they allegedly suffered at the hands of deceased priest Kenneth Morvant.

The Court consolidated another  lawsuit brought by a John Doe against the Lafayette Diocese and the St. Martin de Tours Catholic Church. 

Bienvenu and 10 others accused Morvant of sexual abuse back in 2018. Through the use of “alcohol and the power of God” he would prey on the then young boys, the lawsuit said.

The abuse goes back to 1971, Bienvenu’s lawsuit said. Over a two-year period, Bienvenu said he was abused at least 15 times….

Attorneys for survivors of child sex abuse in Maryland are set to defend this week a law that victims advocates fought to enact for decades: It enables victims to sue their abusers, or the institutions that enabled them, no matter the victim’s age or how much time has passed since their torment. 

Maryland’s Child Victims Act came under fire in a pair of lawsuits brought under the landmark law in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties targeting the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington. 

The Washington diocese, which is incorporated in Maryland, last month argued the law is unconstitutional in a request to throw out both complaints, which claimed child sexual abuse by clergy. 

Friday is the deadline for survivors in both cases to defend the child victims law — or argue why they believe it’s constitutional. 

The legislature anticipated this legal battle: When lawmakers passed the Child Victims Act in the…

Admittedly, it might be a bit of a broad stroke when we talk about regional characteristics in the context of generous, gumbo-loving, and lively Louisiana. It could be a narrow, unfair assumption by those of us who live and work in a diverse coastal area like Miami; however, many share the perception that the South is more insular and isolated than other parts of the nation, with fewer immigrants and fewer families moving in and out of the region. You may be thinking, “What does this have to do with clergy sex crimes and cover-ups?” But bear with me on this one – because we’ve got something serious to get into, and it involves a dark side of Louisiana most wouldn’t dare to broach.

Are Louisiana’s Clergy Shuffling About More Than Usual?

Our recent research here at Horowitz Law is making us re-examine this view because our examination of predator…

The case of alleged sexual abuse against the Diocese of Lafayette and Saint Martin de Tours Catholic Church will be heard by the Louisiana Supreme Court.

The court announced it would take the case, and ordered the District Court and the Court of
Appeal to send up the records of the case, in a release Tuesday.2018: Victim speaks out over alleged sexual abuse at hands of former St. Martinville priest

“Please be advised that the above-captioned matter will be set for oral argument on this
Court’s next available docket,” the release read.

The specific date and time of oral argument has not yet been set, but the court set deadlines for the plaintiffs and the diocese to file their briefs by Jan. 2 and Jan. 24, respectively.

The lawsuit originally filed in 2018 alleges the Rev. Kenneth Morvant abused Doug Bienvenu and other altar boys by giving…

Warning: The following contains descriptions of sexual violence.

A woman who was abused by her father is speaking about what she says is an effort by the Mormon church to protect itself from sex abuse claims.

Chelsea Goodrich, now 38, says when she was a child, her father John Goodrich, a former bishop in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, routinely slipped into bed with her while he was aroused.

In the spring of 2015, Goodrich, then a 29-year-old graduate student in psychology living in southern California, began to confront the disturbing memories.

“I confronted him about this, my mother confronted him about it, and initially, he was caught off guard. He confessed to a lot and we actually started audio recording what he was saying because we realized that he was seeking legal counsel, and he was starting to kind of backtrack on what he…

A Wisconsin pastor accused of sexually exploiting children from Venezuela and Cuba was sentenced Monday to 15 years in a federal prison.

Cory Herthel, 40, pled guilty in August to one count of attempted sexual exploitation of a child.

The church where Herthel served, Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Green Bay, contacted the FBI in May to report that it had received information that Herthel was trading sexually explicit videos with a 15-year-old in Venezuela, according to court documents.

Herthel acknowledged he met the child begging on the streets in Ecuador and kept in touch with him after he and his mother returned to his native Venezuela and exchanged sexually explicit videos with each other, according to prosecutors and court documents.

Investigators also learned that Herthel was allegedly exchanging sexually explicit videos with two children in Cuba. He was in a sexual relationship with one of the children and was sending…

Dalton Thomas Lifsey, founder and president of Frontier Alliance International (FAI), an evangelical-charismatic missions and media ministry, has resigned, FAI’s board has announced. Lifsey, married since 2006, reportedly confessed to sexual infidelity with a woman who is not a ministry team member.

FAI is a disciple-making ministry that sends mission teams primarily “to the Middle East and 10/40 window among unreached people groups” and provides relief to the suffering in several regions, according to its website. On Sunday, FAI’s board announced that Lifsey had “tendered his unconditional resignation” two weeks prior, on Nov. 20. The statement continued: “This resignation was effective upon its submission with no possibility of Dalton being restored to a leadership or ministry role within FAI.” 

The board statement also mentioned an earlier “adulterous relationship with a team member of FAI,” which Lifsey engaged in “a decade ago.” The statement added that the…

The man helped police bring his attacker to justice 30 years after the attack

Police have praised the bravery of a victim who came forward to help them convict a priest of indecent assault three decades after the attack.

The man, who was 17 when he was attacked, spoke to detectives on April 21, 2020 about the abuse which happened in Camden in the 1990s.

He told officers he met Reginald Dunkling while he was working as a priest at his local church in north London.

Dunkling was arrested on June 16, 2020, before being released on bail and on September 9, 2021, he was charged with indecent assault.

Investigating officer Detective Constable Lucy Dugdale said: “Today’s sentencing shows that we will always take this type of offending seriously, irrespective of how many years have passed.

“I would like to praise the victim for finding the courage to contact police; after 30 years, his…

Last Wednesday Jerry and I spoke to a clergy sexual abuse survivor. Jerry started his cancer treatment about a half hour late at the time so that he could participate in the discussion and finished the discussion in his car on the way to treatment. Jerry was infinitely encouraging and inspirational. Just a selfless pioneer who led by example.

His teachings of kindness and concern will always guide us.

Jerry’s legacy is truly indelible.

Attorney Mitchell Garabedian

The memories of what happened to him more than 60 years ago are somewhat hazy. But the shock, trauma and emotional scars are as clear today as they were then.

He was 6 years old when he says he was sexually assaulted by a group of men that included Father Patrick Brennan, a priest in the Catholic Diocese of Peoria.

The abuse decades ago has shaped the rest of his life in grueling ways. Isolation from other children, alcoholism, suicide attempts, marital problems and emotional trauma embedded in his psyche.

Too ashamed and confused by what happened to him, he kept it a secret from his friends and family for decades. Only much later in life, did he tearfully confide in his wife.

Now, more than six decades after the alleged assault, the 71-year-old has decided to share his story publicly in the wake of an Illinois Attorney General’s…

You might know Jerry O’Neill as a WCAX legal expert, helping us all make sense of complicated and high-profile cases.

[Click here to see video.]

HAILEY, Idaho (AP) — Paul Rytting had been director of the Risk Management Division at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for around 15 years when a 31-year-old church member told him that her father, a former bishop, had sexually abused her when she was a child.

Rytting flew from church headquarters in Salt Lake City to Hailey, Idaho, to meet with Chelsea Goodrich and her mother, Lorraine, to discuss what he said was a “tragic and horrendous” story.

By that time, Chelsea’s father, John Goodrich, had made a religious confession to a bishop with the church, widely known as the Mormon church, with details of his relationship with his daughter. Following church policy, Bishop Michael Miller had called a church Helpline, established to take calls from bishops about sexual abuse, and John Goodrich was quickly excommunicated.

After the excommunication, Chelsea and Lorraine reported Chelsea’s…

Family has been searching for answers since Malecki disappeared on Nov. 11, 1969. ‘We’re hoping for some closure.’

The FBI is planning to exhume next week the body of Joyce Malecki, whose 1969 unsolved killing was explored in the Netflix documentary “The Keepers,” her brother said.

“We’re hoping for some closure,” said Darryl Malecki. He and his family have been searching for answers since Joyce Malecki, 20, disappeared after Christmas shopping at Harundale Mall on Nov. 11, 1969.

Hunters discovered Malecki’s body two days later at Fort Meade. Her hands had been bound and she had been strangled and stabbed in the throat. From the beginning, the FBI has led the murder investigation since Malecki’s body was found on the military base.

Darryl Malecki said the FBI investigator assigned to his sister’s case told him the exhumation is tentatively scheduled for Dec. 14. He said the FBI has not told…

In 2022, New York State passed the Adult Survivors Act, allowing victims of sexual abuse who were 18 or older at the time of the alleged abuse a one-time opportunity to file a civil lawsuit against persons or institutions, even if the statute of limitations had expired. It was to last from Thanksgiving of last year to Thanksgiving of this year. Now there is talk among Albany lawmakers to extend the Act for one more year.

On principle, the Catholic League opposes exemptions from the statute of limitations. They are an important due process provision: witnesses may be deceased and memories are not likely to be as acute as they once were. But because of the way unprincipled New York State officials treated the Catholic Church with the earlier Child Victims Act, we enthusiastically support extending the statute of limitations for the Adult Survivors Act. The reasons why will be…

[See original statement in PDF]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, December 4, 2023                                                                                                

The Diocese of Grand Rapids’ Office of Communications issues the following statement regarding the arrest of Mr. James Beauchamp, a former parish employee:

The charges against a former parish employee are deeply troubling. The Diocese of Grand Rapids holds the victim-survivor and his family in our prayers and continues to offer them support on their healing journey. The family reported the incident to the diocese, who forwarded the complaint to the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office and the Michigan Attorney General. The diocese, in conjunction with the parish, will continue to cooperate fully with the investigation.

The parish pastor terminated Mr. Beauchamp’s employment upon learning of the allegation. In accordance with our diocesan safe environment policies, Mr. Beauchamp had previously passed several background checks, went through Virtus, a safe environment training program that is mandatory for all members of…

GRAND HAVEN, Mich. (WOOD) — Ottawa County sheriff’s detectives say a faith leader accused of sexually assaulting a teenager through a Catholic church in Ottawa County is suspected of molesting others.

Deputies say they found computer evidence showing more possible victims.

James “Jimmy” Beauchamp, 55, of Kentwood, is accused of second-degree criminal sexual conduct, child sexually abusive activity, using a computer to commit a crime and furnishing alcohol to a minor. The allegations, deputies say, involved a 17-year-old boy.

“Obviously, it’s a disturbing case with some serious allegations and serious charges,” Ottawa County Sheriff’s Capt. Jacob Sparks said.

“We suspect there may be other people out there that were victimized by Mr. Beauchamp,” Sparks added.

Beauchamp, who has no known criminal record, was working as a faith leader for teens and young adults at St. Patrick-St. Anthony Catholic Parish in Grand Haven.

“His position provided him access to those youth,”…

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints responded Sunday night to an Associated Press story that detailed allegations about a former church member who allegedly sexually abused his daughter.

The church swiftly excommunicated John Goodrich in 2015 after he allegedly confessed to a bishop in Mountain Home, Idaho, that he had sexually abused his daughter more than 20 years earlier.

Goodrich was arrested in 2016 and charged with lewdness, but a prosecutor asked a judge nearly a year later to dismiss the charge for lack of evidence.

On Sunday night, the Associated Press published a story that included information from recordings of a church representative talking to Goodrich’s daughter about reaching a settlement with the church when she was an adult. The story did not say why the church offered a settlement, but the story claimed it was evidence the church was trying to cover up the abuse.

The…

Last chance for restitution!

The Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California has set a final deadline of February 20, 2024, for the Archdiocese of San Francisco to receive claims from survivors of sexual abuse by clergy or others. If you did not file a lawsuit in the recently closed civil window, this is your last chance for restitution. If you do not file a claim and the bankruptcy proceeds to its conclusion, you will be permanently barred from taking action against the Archdiocese. Additional information is pasted below.

U.S. BANKRUPTCY COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

SAN FRANCISCO DIVISION 

In re: The Roman Catholic Archbishop of San Francisco, Case No. 23-30564 

Notice of Deadline for Filing Claims: February 20, 2024 

YOU MAY HAVE A SEXUAL ABUSE CLAIM OR OTHER CLAIM AGAINST THE ARCHDIOCESE OF SAN FRANCISCO

On August 21, 2023, The Roman Catholic Archbishop of San Francisco, a California corporation sole,…

I think we can all agree that showing respect for the dead is a necessary mark of empathy and, well, respectful. However, showing compassion for the living takes precedence. Believe me, it’s possible and far more preferable to master the delicate dance between both. This moral conundrum is especially true when the deceased is known to have wronged others, leaving a trail of deep wounds that continue to bleed in the lives of the living.

In the Catholic world, it’s devastating to witness how pervasive child sex crimes and cover-ups by clergy members have become. This horror movie of a scenario – where a wrongdoer dies while the victims continue their battle with trauma – seems to play out almost weekly. Now, the plot could go in two directions. One invokes and deepens an already profound suffering. The other offers comfort and relief to those already swallowed by unspeakable pain….

HAILEY, Idaho (AP) — Paul Rytting listened as a woman, voice quavering, told him her story.

When she was a child, her father, a former bishop in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, had routinely slipped into bed with her while he was aroused, she said.

It was March 2017 and Rytting offered his sympathies as 31-year-old Chelsea Goodrich spoke. A Utah attorney and head of the church’s Risk Management Division, Rytting had spent about 15 years protecting the organization, widely known as the Mormon church, from costly claims, including sexual abuse lawsuits.

Rytting had flown into Hailey, Idaho, that morning from Salt Lake City, where the church is based, to meet in person with Chelsea and her mother, Lorraine.

After a quick prayer, he introduced himself and said he was there “to look into” Chelsea’s “tragic and horrendous” story.

Chelsea and Lorraine had come to the meeting…

“It changed my life totally, mentally. I was dead. It killed me,” said an alleged victim

An East Bay pastor is under arrest, charged with several counts of kidnapping and aggravated sexual assault of a child under the age of 14.

The pastor of an East Bay church for immigrants from Central America has been arrested, charged with several counts of kidnapping and “aggravated sexual assault of a child under the age of 14”. His alleged victim? A member of his congregation.

The I-Team’s Dan Noyes began looking into this after hearing from one very concerned family. We first asked the police about the allegations last week – they said the investigation was on-going and on Friday, they made an arrest.

Just a few months ago, this church — Iglesia Pentecostes Movimiento de Gloria in Richmond — attracted 150 people or more for services.

Then, allegations of sexual abuse started…

Decisions by independent claims officer expected by April 2024

 The final tally is in — 369 people have come forward claiming they were abused physically or sexually by people under the watch of the Archdiocese of St. John’s, including the Christian Brothers at Mount Cashel. 

Archbishop Peter Hundt delivered the message to parishioners during Roman Catholic masses on Sunday, saying each of those claims are now being evaluated by an independent claims officer to “provide both a determination of liability and a value for each claim.”

It’s the latest update in the archdiocese’s insolvency proceedings, which began when the organization filed for creditor protection on Dec. 22, 2021. 

Hundt said the claims officer’s decision should come by April.

“I know that the ongoing legal proceedings and the sale of church properties have been a great source of hurt and pain for the communities, parishes, and individuals of this archdiocese,” he said. 

“I…

Only by eliminating the statute of limitations can we hope to restore the dignity of those most wronged among us.

Twenty years ago, my partners and I achieved a historic settlement against the Archdiocese of Louisville on behalf of 243 men and women sexually abused during their childhood. In the months following the April 2002 filing of that lawsuit, these brave survivors stood tall before the cameras and shared their stories to an audience who initially refused to accept that these horrors were true.

By September 2002, after 100 survivors had stepped out of the shadows, our community could no longer deny the revelation: 34 priests, including one Kentucky bishop, abused many hundreds of children over 50 years.

Because the Archdiocese of Louisville settled but did not admit liability, our community was left to see if our justice system could prevent…

Since the broadcast of a shocking documentary about abuse in the Belgian Catholic Church, which awakened buried traumas, former priest Rik Deville has been overwhelmed by heart-breaking stories.

One victim, an 86-year-old man, called Deville from his car where he had locked himself, in floods of tears. He finally told someone of the horrific abuse he suffered that even his nearest and dearest didn’t know.

Deville devotes his life to providing support to victims of sexual abuse in the Church, carefully reading each victim’s story and taking their many phone calls.

“Almost every day, a new person confides in me for the first time what they have experienced,” the 79-year-old told AFP at his home in Gammerages, central Belgium.

Deville, who was a parish priest between 1969 and 2009, has never shied away from controversy, even while he was a priest.

In 1992, he published a vitriolic book about…

In May 2022, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed the Adult Survivors Act into state law.

The act came into action on November 23, 2022, creating a one-year period when adult sexual abuse victims could file lawsuits that otherwise would have been barred because the case was too old.

Now, that window is closed.

However, the small amount of time afforded to victims saw more than three thousand legal claims filed under the act.

It also saw high-profile actors, politicians, musicians and more face lawsuits that would have otherwise never seen the light of day.

What is the Adult Survivors Act?

The Adult Survivors Act was a law that created a one-year window for sexual abuse victims to file lawsuits for offences that would otherwise have been outside the statute of limitations.

Ordinarily, US states impose deadlines on how long someone can wait to sue in civil court because it becomes…

For years, Purdue Pharma, the maker of the prescription painkiller OxyContin, had been entangled in lawsuits seeking to hold it to account for its role in the spiraling opioid crisis.

A pathbreaking settlement reached last year appeared to signal the end to thousands of those cases, funneling billions of dollars toward fighting the epidemic in exchange for exempting members of the billionaire Sackler family, which once controlled the company, from civil lawsuits.

But on Monday, the Supreme Court will hear arguments over whether the agreement is a violation of federal law in a case that could have ramifications not just for Purdue but also for organizations that turn to bankruptcy court, as the company did, to resolve claims of mass injury.

“There’s huge implications for all of corporate bankruptcy,” said Anthony J. Casey, a law professor at the University of Chicago. “I think this is probably the most important bankruptcy case before…

​The Diocese of Dromore is to sell the Bishop’s House and land on Newry’s Armagh Road to help pay compensation claims to survivors of clerical sexual abuse.

Parishioners were informed of the move in a letter by Archbishop Eamon Martin in his role as Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese.

In the letter Archbishop Martin sets out the “steps that the Diocese has been taking to meet its financial and other responsibilities for the awful sins and crimes of abuse in the past”.

He adds that the “impact of child abuse on victims and survivors is deeply personal and is carried differently by each one, and by those close to them”, and to that end the Diocese offers and funds counselling for survivors so “those who have been affected by abuse can be accompanied towards spiritual peace, one step at a time”.

Some survivors have chosen to make claims for compensation…

Leicester, United Kingdom – Father Reginald Dunkling, a priest of the Diocese of Westminster in England, was sentenced Dec. 1 for a non-recent sexual abuse of a child. The Wood Green Crown Court imposed a 12-month community order, with additional requirements.

The diocese said Dunkling, now 61, withdrew from ministry in May 2020, and since that time has had no role in public ministry. The church issued a statement saying that following his conviction, the priest does not, and will not, have any role in public ministry.

Police officers cited the bravery of the victim who came forward and spoke with them, leading to the priest being sentenced for indecent assault committed three decades ago.

On April 21, 2020, detectives received allegations of sexual abuse said to have taken place in the Camden area of London in the 1990s.

The victim-survivor, who was 17 years old at the time he…

Survivors of institutions run by Catholic diocese recall litany of sexual abuse as bankruptcy process keeps documents hidden

This is the final installment of a three-part series exploring how the archdiocese of New Orleans’s bankruptcy stands apart from other cases of its kind. The first installment ran on Wednesday 29 November 2023, and the second installment ran on Friday 1 December.

Call her Sheila.

She doesn’t want her name used because of court testimony she has given as a state social worker which helped put men who abused their families in jail. She’s retired now, but still a rescuer by nature.

On a recent afternoon she went back to Madonna Manor, the Catholic orphanage in a Spanish colonial revival building, now shuttered, several miles across the Mississippi River from New Orleans. “A reverent place,” she sighed, “but it’s also a crime scene.”

She gazed at the wooden plank covering a window….

Charged priest has worked in Avondale, Colliers and Conception Harbour

A Roman Catholic priest in Avondale has been charged with sexual assault against an adult.

Thomas Offong, 49, was charged following an investigation by the RCMP in Holyrood, according to a press release issued by the police Friday. He is scheduled to appear at provincial court in St. John’s on Feb. 6.

Police provided no other information about Offong, the circumstances or the alleged victim, and told CBC News they wouldn’t comment further as the matter is now before the courts.

Offong is a listed member of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Grand Falls and is listed as the minister of Assumption Parish, and has been since at least 2017.

Offong has also served as the reverend of Immaculate Conception Parish in Colliers and St. Anne’s Parish in Conception Harbour, according to the diocese’s website.

In a statement issued Friday afternoon, Bishop Robert Daniels…

Police in Newfoundland say they’ve charged a priest with sexual assault.

The RCMP say in a news release today that 49-year-old Thomas Offong served in the towns of Avondale, Colliers and Conception Harbour, which are roughly 70 kilometres southwest of St. John’s.

The release says Offong faces one charge of sexual assault against an adult.

Offong is listed among the priests on the website for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Grand Falls, N.L., which covers the three communities identified by the Mounties.

RCMP Cpl. Jolene Garland says the charge relates to an assault alleged to have occurred on Nov. 23.

Police say Offong is scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 6, 2024.