ABUSE TRACKER

• Kentucky Supreme Court case to decide whether 2021 law against “non-perpetrators” in abuse claims can apply retroactively.
• SBC, Southern Seminary and Lifeway filed amicus brief in April saying Kentucky 2021 law shouldn’t apply retroactively. Courier Journal article in October puts attention on brief.
• Abuse survivors and leaders in SBC abuse response issue joint statements denouncing SBC’s brief.

A six-month-old legal brief has sparked uproar and confusion throughout the Southern Baptist Convention over contradictions between the denomination’s professed stance on abuse versus its legal position.

SBC Executive Committee members, the former chairs of SBC abuse response task forces and abuse survivors have denounced an amicus brief as evidence of the Nashville-based denomination seeking to avoid accountability.

The SBC, SBC Executive Committee, Brentwood-based Lifeway Christian Resources and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville filed the April brief in a case unrelated to abuse in the SBC or one of its churches, though the legal…

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Wow. That’s the reaction here at Horowitz Law to the latest revelations in Louisiana’s largest and deeply troubled Catholic diocese: The Archdiocese of New Orleans. In just one news story, allegations that detail almost all of the irresponsible and heinous behaviors exhibited by clerics who commit and conceal child sex crimes are laid bare. We acknowledge that most of what follows are accusations yet to be proven or disproven. However, at the same time, it’s important to note that the predator in this case pleaded guilty in criminal court. Some of it is based on recordings of phone conversations and official police documents, which also lends credibility to the startling allegations. But if even a few of the accusations in The Guardian’s article this week are deemed valid, it will be a huge blow to an already-embattled prelate, Archbishop Gregory Aymond.

That story accuses Catholic officials in New Orleans…

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More than 200,000 children are estimated to have suffered sexual abuse from Spain’s Catholic clergy, an independent commission has found.

The details emerged from an unprecedented public investigation by Spain’s ombudsman, who spoke of the “devastating impact” on victims.

Angel Gabilondo also criticised the Church for its inaction and attempts to cover up or deny the abuse.

“What has happened has been possible because of that silence,” he said.

The 700-page report, which was ordered by Spain’s Congress last year, reveals the result of a survey that the commission carried out on 800,000 members of the public.

It found that 0.6% of the country’s adult population, roughly 39 million people, said that they had suffered sexual abuse as children by members of the clergy.

That percentage rose to 1.13%, more than 400,000 people, when including alleged abuse by lay people in institutions overseen by the Church.

Mr Gabilondo said the…

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Spain’s first official probe of sex abuse by clergy members or other people connected to the Catholic Church in the country included a survey that indicated that the number of victims could run into hundreds of thousands.

The survey was part of a damning report by the office of Spain’s ombudsman, or “defensor del pueblo,” following an 18-month independent investigation of 487 cases involving alleged victims who spoke with the ombudsman’s team.

Ombudsman Ángel Gabilondo criticized the church’s response to sex abuse scandals, saying it had often been to minimize if not deny the problem. He presented the nearly 800-page report to the speaker of the Spanish parliament’s lower house Friday and then to reporters.

“This is a necessary report to respond to a situation of suffering and loneliness that for years has remained, in one way or another, covered by an unfair silence,” Gabilondo…

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More than one in 200 Spaniards may have been sexually abused by Catholic Church priests, a survey released on Friday suggested, pointing to a far greater number of victims nationwide than previous similar investigations.

The survey by Spain’s human rights ombudsman, part of a report presented to parliament on Friday, questioned just over 8,000 people. The document criticised the Church for not cooperating more fully with the investigation and seeking to “minimise the phenomenon”.

Ombudsman Angel Gabilondo said 0.6% of the survey sample said they had been abused by a priest, a figure that rose to around 1.1% when including abuse by lay people such as teachers at Church institutions.

“By being able to quote 0.6% you can see the magnitude of what it can mean in terms of overall abuse,” he told a press conference after delivering the report. Spain’s population is around 48 million.

A spokesperson for the…

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In response to a complaint from his own anti-abuse panel about “serious problems” in the handling of a case involving a prominent Slovenian artist and priest, Pope Francis has decided to lift the statute of limitations in Church law which, up to this point, had barred a canonical prosecution.

The Vatican made the announcement in a brief statement Friday, roughly 48 hours after news broke that Father Marko Rupnik had been accepted back into his home diocese in Slovenia as a priest in good standing. The 68-year-old cleric and artist had been expelled from the Jesuit order in June, after an internal investigation found a high degree of credibility to charges of sexual and other forms of abuse against adult women.

Friday’s announcement also came in the wake of a couple of high-profile developments last month, which, taken together, suggested to some observers that Rupnik was being virtually rehabilitated.

According…

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The mosaic artist Fr. Marko Rupnik will face a canonical process over allegations of sexual, psychological, and spiritual abuse against women religious, the Vatican announced Friday, in an apparent about-face.

The Vatican has not formally specified the charges Rupnik will face, and the Vatican’s press office has declined questions on its statement.

The Holy See press office said Oct. 27 that the process would take place after Pope Francis decided to waive the statute of limitations on the claims, amid a worldwide outcry after it emerged this week that Rupnik had been accepted into a diocese in his native Slovenia after being expelled from the Jesuit order.

The press office said that in September the pope had been informed of “serious problems” in the Vatican’s handling of the case by the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, a Vatican body dedicated to the safeguarding of minors and vulnerable adults. 

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With the world media in Rome to cover the signature synodality initiative of Pope Francis, a stomach-churning Jesuit scandal returned to dominate the news.

To the outrage of victims, the shock of the assembled synod delegates, the bewilderment of bishops and the shame of the Holy See, it turned out that the world’s most infamous Jesuit abuser, Father Marko Rupnik, had been returned to ministry in a Slovenian diocese. The news rocketed around Rome on Wednesday evening.

On Friday, with the Vatican engaged in intense damage control, the Holy Father reversed himself in the face of a media outcry. He directed that the Rupnik case be reopened at the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), and lifted the statute of limitations to that effect. The Holy See press office stated that it was an example “[listening] attentively and compassionately to those who are suffering.”

Father Rupnik has been for generations…

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Abuse survivors, along with some members of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee and the SBC’s abuse reform task force, have denounced a Kentucky court filing by Southern Baptist entities aimed at limiting their liability for sexual abuse claims.

A brief filed earlier this year by lawyers for the Executive Committee, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Lifeway, an SBC publisher, argues that a Kentucky law that changed the statute of limitations for making civil claims over abuse — and allowing survivors to sue third parties such as churches or police — should not be applied retroactively.

“There are no mincing of words here. No holding back. This is disgusting,” abuse survivors Megan Lively, Jules Woodson and Tiffany Thigpen said in a statement released Wednesday.

A group of Southern Baptist leaders working on abuse reforms also criticized the brief, saying the filing was “a choice to stand against every…

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The historic report on abuses in the clergy, very harsh on the institution, makes Spain the El histórico informe sobre los abusos en el clero, muy duro con la institución, convierte a España en el país con la proyección oficial de víctimas más alta. Se basa en una encuesta a 8.000 personas que cifra los afectados en un 1,13% de la población. Recomienda que el Estado también asuma su indemnización

España pasa hoy de ser una excepción mundial entre los países católicos, sin casos de pederastia en la Iglesia reconocidos oficialmente, a ser el país con el cómputo de víctimas más alto del mundo: un 1,13% de la población adulta actual ha sufrido abusos en el ámbito religioso, según una encuesta a gran escala, la primera de este tipo en el país, que ha realizado el defensor del pueblo, Ángel Gabilondo. El Defensor ha eludido hacer el cálculo en números…

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Milton Martin, 56, of First Pentecostal Church of Chalmette, accused of abuse of girl, now 28, who was member of congregation

Authorities in Louisiana have charged a Pentecostal pastor with sexually molesting a teenage girl who was a member of his church.

Milton O Martin III, 56, faces one charge each of felony carnal knowledge of a juvenile – colloquially referred to as statutory rape – and of indecent behavior with a minor, records obtained by the Guardian show.

A grand jury in the New Orleans-area community of St Bernard parish indicted Martin on Tuesday, about seven months after he had been arrested in connection with the allegations and had made bail.

Scott Rodrigue, the state police detective who helped obtain the indictment against Martin, also investigated the retired New Orleans Catholic priest Lawrence Hecker, who years ago secretly admitted to church leaders that he sexually molested…

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In August, Father Rupnik was accepted for priestly ministry in the Diocese of Koper in his native Slovenia.

The news of Father Marko Rupnik‘s return to priestly ministry despite having been accused of sexual abuse interrupted the bishops’ Synod on Synodality as it was completing its final week of meetings.

The Society of Jesus had dismissed the Jesuit priest and artist last June after admitting to knowing of abuse accusations against Rupnik for years.

Here’s a timeline of known facts about what the Jesuits knew and when they knew it in the Father Rupnik case, what actions the order took, and how he was returned to priestly ministry.

2018

October: Jesuit Father Juan Antonio Guerrero Alves, Father Rupnik’s superior, receives allegations of sexual misconduct on the part of Father Rupnik, and an allegation that Rupnik gave absolution in confession to an accomplice in a sin against the Sixth Commandment. A preliminary…

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Madrid, Oct 27 (EFE).- Over 230,000 people in Spain were abused by Catholic priests as children, according to a report by the Spanish Ombudsman that was published on Friday.

The investigation on sexual abuse in the country’s Catholic Church, commissioned by the Spanish parliament, brings together the testimonies of 487 alleged victims.

The report was delivered by Ángel Gabilondo to the president of the Congress of Deputies Francina Armengol on Friday, one year and a half after it was ordered.

The over 700-page document urged the creation of a state fund to compensate the alleged victims and accuses the Catholic Church’s hierarchy of having denied and concealed these crimes for decades.

While the investigation did not provide the total number of potential victims of abuse, it revealed that 0.6% of Spain’s 39 million-strong population have allegedly suffered sexual abuse by a priest before turning 18.

That translates to an estimated…

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Over 200,000 minors are estimated to have been sexually abused in Spain by the Roman Catholic clergy since 1940, according to an independent commission published Friday.

The report did not give a specific figure but said a poll of over 8,000 people found that 0.6 percent of Spain‘s adult population of around 39 million people said they had suffered sexual abuse by members of the clergy when they were still children.

The percentage rises to 1.13 percent — or over 400,000 people — when including abuse by lay members, Spain’s national ombudsman Angel Gabilondo told a news conference called to present the findings of the report.

The revelations in Spain are the latest to rock the Roman Catholic Church after a series of sexual abuse scandals around the world, often involving children, over the past 20 years.

But unlike in other nations, in Spain — a traditionally Catholic country that has become…

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Pope Francis has ordered the Vatican to reopen the case of a well-known priest-artist accused of sexually, psychologically and spiritually abusing adult women, and removed the statute of limitations on their claims, the Vatican said Friday.

The announcement marked a major turnaround for the Holy See and followed an outcry among victims and their advocates over the handling of the case of the Rev. Marko Ivan Rupnik, a former Jesuit whose mosaics grace churches and basilicas around the world.

The scandal has been a headache for the Jesuits, the Vatican and Francis himself due to suspicions that Rupnik received favorable treatment from the Holy See, where a Jesuit is pope and other Jesuits head the sex crimes office that investigated Rupnik and declined to prosecute him because the claims against him were deemed too old.

A Vatican…

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Pope Francis lifts the statute of limitations in the case of Fr. Marko Rupnik to allow a canonical procedure to take place regarding allegations against the former Jesuit.

Pope Francis has asked the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to review the case of former Jesuit artist, Fr. Marko Rupnik, who was accused of psychological and sexual abuse by some consecrated women with whom he worked. He was expelled from the Society of Jesus in June.

A Holy See Press Office statement on Friday said, “In September, the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors brought to the Pope’s attention that there were serious problems in the handling of the Fr. Marko Rupnik case and lack of outreach to victims.”

“Consequently,” it added, “the Holy Father asked the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to review the case, and decided to lift the statute of limitations to allow…

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Spain will on Friday learn the results of the country’s first independent probe into the abuse of minors within the Catholic Church, long accused by survivors of stonewalling and denial.

Unlike in other nations like France, Ireland and the United States, in Spain — a traditionally Catholic country that has become highly secular —  clerical abuse allegations are only now gaining traction.

Spain’s parliament in March 2022 overwhelmingly approved the creation of an independent commission led by the country’s ombudsman to “shed light” on allegations of sexual abuse of “defenceless boys and girls” within the Catholic Church.

The commission’s final report is scheduled to be delivered to parliament at 11:30 am (0930 GMT) by Spain’s national ombudsman Angel Gabilondo, a former education minister.

Spain’s Catholic Church, which for years flatly refused to carry out its own probe, declined to take part in the independent investigation, although it did cooperate by providing documents on…

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To the editor: Columnist Gustavo Arellano highlights former Diocese of Orange Bishop Tod D. Brown’s complicity in concealing and enabling Catholic clergy child abuse. He makes an important contribution to the struggle for equality: the equality of believers and nonbelievers.

Since major stories about clergy abuse broke around the beginning of this century, the church has attempted to obstruct full accountability for the crimes of its priests.

The underlying theme of Catholic efforts to escape full reckoning is that since the church is God’s true religion, its wrongdoers deserve more lenient treatment than other child rapists.

The 1st Amendment requires that believers and nonbelievers be equal before the law. Any lesser penalties, or allowing concealment of heinous crimes just because the perpetrators are clergy, violates this principle of equality. There should be no difference in how the law treats any child abuser and in how it deals with any institution that…

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… and what will SBC officials do about it now?

In keeping with nationwide trends, the Kentucky legislature extended the time period in which child sex abuse survivors can bring civil lawsuits and allowed that their lawsuits can be asserted, not only against perpetrators, but also against institutions that fail to protect children.

Under these new laws, Samantha Killary pursued her lawsuit for childhood sexual abuse against a Louisville police officer and also against Louisville Metro for “employing and empowering” him.

The case is now pending before the Kentucky Supreme Court, with arguments about the validity of the new laws.

Into this case, the Southern Baptist Convention decided to insert itself, even though the SBC is not a party and the case has nothing to do with the SBC.

Together, the Southern Baptist Convention, the SBC Executive Committee, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and Lifeway Christian…

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The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors has reached out to known victims of Slovenian Fr. Marko Rupnik, asking to meet with them.

The purpose of the invitation, written by a member of the 19-member papal body, was to examine and study how the victims were treated by the church, specifically the Jesuits — the religious order Rupnik was expelled from in June — and the Vatican, Il Sismografo, an Italian blog that closely follows the Vatican, reported Oct. 25.

Catholic News Service confirmed the invitation Oct. 26.

The mission of the papal body includes evaluating the church’s response to victims and abuse allegations and ensuring that “robust policies and practices for the prevention and management of all forms of abuse are in place,” according to the commission’s strategic plan 2022-2027.

Its three-point mandate includes improving church practices by identifying and detailing gaps and ongoing concerns in current prevention…

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Scandal-plagued PwC would determine payout rates under scheme proposed by Catholic Church Insurance in effort to avoid insolvency

The Catholic church insurer wants to establish a scheme that would stave off its own insolvency by paying church bodies only a fraction of the money owed to abuse survivors, at rates to be determined by scandal-plagued consultancy PwC, documents show.

Catholic Church Insurance is facing significant financial turmoil due to the rising volume of abuse claims, estimating it has $381m in liabilities relating to professional standards payouts to various church entities, including dioceses and church-aligned charities.

In an attempt to protect itself financially, CCI is asking the federal court to approve a legally binding scheme that, if it comes close to insolvency, would trigger a reduction in abuse payouts to church bodies. The scheme would allow the insurer to pay out only a yet-to-be-determined percentage of what is owed to survivors.

…

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(OSV News) — A former Jesuit priest dismissed by the order for sexual abuse has apparently been incardinated in a diocese in his native Slovenia, according to multiple media reports.

Father Marko Ivan Rupnik—a renowned mosaic artist who was expelled from the Society of Jesus in June for refusing to comply with ministry restrictions after credible abuse accusations—has been accepted into the Diocese of Koper, which is headed by Bishop Jurij Bizjak.

The news was first reported Oct. 25 in Italian and German media reports, and confirmed to media in a statement from diocesan vicar general Msgr. Slavko Rebec.

Father Rupnik has been accused of sexually, spiritually or psychologically abusing some 2 dozen women and at least one man over a 40-year period.

He had been briefly excommunicated in 2020 for granting absolution to a woman with whom he had engaged in sexual relations. Among his accusers were several members…

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It is impossible to absolve Pope Francis of ultimate responsibility for the farcical management of the Rupnik business. Whether by act or omission, he is the author of it.

A disgraced former Jesuit accused of heinous sexual, psychological, and spiritual abuse allegedly perpetrated against well more than a dozen victims – most of them women religious – over some three decades, Fr. Marko Rupnik, is now a priest of Koper diocese in his native Slovenia.

Koper’s vicar general told The Pillar that Bishop Bishop Jurij Bizjak agreed to give Rupnik a chance since “Rupnik had not been sentenced to any judicial sentence.”

Rupnik has never been tried for his alleged crimes of abuse. That is because the Vatican department responsible for investigating and prosecuting the crimes of which Rupnik stands accused decided not to waive the statute…

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A famous priest-artist who was thrown out of the Jesuits after being accused of sexual, spiritual and psychological abuse of women has been accepted into a diocese in his native Slovenia, the latest twist in a case that has implicated the pope and laid bare the limits of the Vatican’s in-house legal system.

The Diocese of Koper confirmed in a statement sent to The Associated Press on Thursday that the Rev. Marko Ivan Rupnik was accepted as a priest there in August.

Rupnik was taken in because he had been expelled from the Jesuits and because the diocese hadn’t received any documents showing that Rupnik had “been found guilty of the alleged abuses before either an ecclesiastical tribunal or civil court,” it said.

The statement cited the Universal Declaration on Human Rights’ provision on the presumption of innocence and right to a defense for anyone accused of…

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An unprecedented letter published by the synod on synodality Wednesday said that the Church should focus more on the idea of synodality ahead of the October 2024 final session of the Church’s years-long consultative process. 

The Oct. 25 text also emphasized discipleship of Jesus Christ, and commitment to both service of the poor and protection of the environment.

“We hope that the months leading to the second [Vatican] session in October 2024 will allow everyone to concretely participate in the dynamism of missionary communion indicated by the word ‘synod,’” said the  letter, which was addressed to Catholics around the world.

“This is not about ideology, but about an experience rooted in the apostolic tradition,” the letter added.

The letter was published Wednesday afternoon, as more than 300 of the synod on synodality’s delegates deliberate on an interim report they’ll publish later this week. The aim of the synod on synodality is…

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Marko Ivan Rupnik, a former Jesuit who has been at the centre of controversy amidst accusations of spiritual and sexual abuse, has been granted permission to return to priestly ministry in the Diocese of Koper in his native Slovenia.

The decision follows consultations by Bishop Juri Bizjak with senior prelates from Rome– alongside a report released in September on the Aletti Center, the artistic institute founded by Rupnik, after a canonical visitation investigating the accused priest’s dealings.

It is understood that Bishop Bizjak, who heads the Diocese of Koper where Rupnik has been incardinated, discussed the course of action with Slovenia’s apostolic nuncio Bishop Jean-Marie Speich, canon lawyer Giacomo Incittii, and Cardinal Angelo De Donatis who serves as the vicar of the Diocese of Rome.

Nuncio Speich lauded the decision to incardinate Rupnik in Slovenia with encouragement and approval, calling it an “excellent solution” and foreseeing no additional trouble “because there…

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Father Marko Rupnik was released by the Jesuits after an investigation credibly showed that he had abused his authority over a group of Slovenian nuns for years. In the 1990s this included his forcing them to commune his ejaculate from chalices used for Mass. The Jesuits investigated these crimes but found them outside the statute of limitations. Rupnik went on to Rome to found the Aletti Center, where he could practice as an artist and teach Ignatian spirituality. In 2016, Rupnik committed one of the gravest canonical crimes: He affected to use his power as a priest to absolve a woman of a sexual sin she had committed with him. This crime comes with a penalty of automatic excommunication. In January 2020, an investigation confirmed that Rupnik had committed the crime. In May of the same year, the conviction and verdict were reaffirmed unanimously and formalized after an investigation by…

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Father Marko Rupnik, the former Jesuit priest and mosaic artist accused of serious abuses against women, has been accepted for priestly ministry in a diocese in Slovenia.

In a statement to CNA on Wednesday, the Diocese of Koper confirmed earlier Italian and German media reports that Rupnik was now incardinated there.

The statement said that Rupnik was received into the diocese at the end of August.

The local bishop accepted Rupnik’s request to be received into the diocese “on the basis of the decree on Rupnik’s dismissal from the Jesuit order” and “and on the basis of the fact that no judicial sentence had been passed on Rupnik,” according to an English translation of the statement, written in Slovenian, issued by diocese’s vicar general, Slavko Rebec.

Rebec went on to cite Article 11.1 of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states:…

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The influential mosaic artist Fr. Marko Rupnik has been incardinated into a diocese in his native Slovenia.

Msgr. Slavko Rebec, vicar general of the Diocese of Koper, said in an Oct. 25 statement to The Pillar: “In response to the question whether the priest Marko Ivan Rupnik has been received (incardinated) into the Diocese of Koper, we answer that the said priest was received into the Diocese of Koper at the end of August 2023.”

“The Bishop of Koper admitted him on the basis of the decree of Rupnik’s dismissal from the Jesuit order and on the basis of Rupnik’s request for admission to the Diocese of Koper, and on the basis of the fact that Rupnik had not been sentenced to any judicial sentence: ‘Everyone who is accused of a criminal offense has the right to be presumed innocent until he is found guilty according to law, in a…

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Marko Ivan Rupnik was received in a Slovenian diocese. He can now exercise his priestly ministry freely.

Quando si gode di una copertura ai massimi livelli non vi è nulla da temere. Con questa convinzione si è sempre mosso Marko Ivan Rupnik, l’ex gesuita sloveno che è stato dimesso dalla Compagnia di Gesù a seguito della fuoriuscita di notizie in merito a delitti canonici che sono stati trattati in modo “anomalo”, si fa per dire.

Il 1 dicembre 2022 Silere non possum rendeva noto che l’artista aveva subito una condanna per aver assolto la complice nel peccato contro il sesto comandamento. Venne così appurato dalla Congregazione per la Dottrina della Fede che il sacerdote era incorso nella scomunica latae sententiae. Dopo pochi giorni, Papa Francesco ha revocato la scomunica senza spiegare il perché. Poco tempo dopo giunsero al dicastero ulteriori denunce in merito ad abusi commessi da Rupnik. Il procedimento, anche in quel…

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Pastor defends computer expert who had 9,900 sexually explicit images of children

A Mississippi man who volunteered for his church’s media ministry is now facing two charges of possessing and distributing child sexual abuse images after federal officials found 9,900 sexual images of children on his personal computer, according to The Sun Herald in Biloxi.

A judge denied the man bail and had him immediately jailed, saying he was a flight risk and a potential danger to the safety of the community. Meanwhile, a church leader and family members maintain his innocence.

Cameron “Cam” Cotrill, 66, of Vancleave used his computer expertise to volunteer at Center Pointe Church in Ocean Springs, Mississippi.

The district judge handling the case denied Cotrill bail, as he awaits trial in January. The judge cited substantial evidence against Cotrill, his potential threat to the community, his significant wealth, and his many…

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Just a few days after my 45th birthday, I had another dream about my childhood pastor.

This final dream was the coup de grâce: My great-grandparents’ home was ablaze. It was dark. Early morning still, and I was standing outside, talking on the telephone with him, and he essentially told me he was washing his hands of me and that, whether I believed it or not, he wasn’t the only abuser out there. That there were others. That I could go on and do what I needed to do. It was water under the bridge to him.

Before hanging up the phone, he told me he wouldn’t gift us the $10,000 we needed to rebuild. I never had asked him for any money. I am not asking for any now.

I awoke. Showered. Carried my kids off to school. Then stumbled onto an Ohio Capital Journal article published Aug. 17 about child sex abuse…

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A Catholic priest from Philadelphia was convicted today of sexually abusing a 16-year-old girl in 2014. The victim described the assault as a “nightmare” in court. We applaud this brave survivor for reporting the cleric despite her suffering. Her bravery has helped to ensure that Catholic children and the public are safer. We hope that the cleric will receive the stiffest sentence possible for his crime.

 Fr. Armand Garcia pleaded guilty to corruption of a minor and unlawful contact with a minor stemming from the assault on this now-25-year-old woman. The priest was initially charged with rape, but agreed to a plea bargain taking that charge off of the table. The victim was an altar server at the Immaculate Heart of Mary parish in the Andorra neighborhood at the time of the crime. The survivor had known the clergyman since she was 13 and he was a friend of her father’s. She…

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A Philadelphia priest has admitted to sexually abusing a teen girl who was once an altar server at his parish.

Fr. Armand D. Garcia appeared in a Philadelphia courtroom Oct. 23 to plead guilty to corruption of a minor and unlawful contact with a minor. He will be sentenced in January 2024.

The abuse took place while Garcia was a parochial vicar at Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Philadelphia from 2014-2017.

The priest had initially been charged with rape; photographing, filming and depicting on a computer sexual acts; sexual assault; and corruption of a minor. According to the criminal docket, the first three charges were dropped, while Garcia entered a non-negotiated guilty plea for corruption of a minor and unlawful contact with a minor.

The victim, who was a 13-year-old student at the parish school when she met the priest, delivered an impact statement at the hearing, noting the…

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A mother is suing a shuttered Christian boarding school in Missouri, blaming her son’s death on a gang rape and other abuse he endured there.

Agape Boarding School has been subjected to a wave of litigation as a series of abuse allegations emerged, but the case filed this month and amended Monday in federal court by Kathleen Britt is believed to be the first wrongful death suit.

The suit said that mental health problems plagued Britt’s son, Jason Britt, after he left the private school, where several staffers subsequently were charged. The suit said he lifted weights obsessively and ingested copious steroids so he would become so strong that he never would be victimized again.

He grew so despondent that he wrote a suicide note. But heart and kidney failure were what claimed his life in February 2022.

“The saddest part of his case is…

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Pope Francis accepted the resignation of 59-year-old Polish Bishop Grzegorz Kaszak on Tuesday following public calls for him to step down over poor management of scandals involving priests in his diocese.

Kaszak, who had led the southern Polish Diocese of Sosnowiec since 2009, had recently faced blowback from local media for his response to a priest of his diocese allegedly being caught hosting an orgy with a male prostitute at the end of August.

In a letter posted to the diocese’s website Oct. 24, Kaszak said he requested his resignation from Pope Francis on Sept. 29.

“I also ask everyone to forgive my human limitations. If I have offended anyone or neglected anything, I am very sorry for it,” the bishop said.

The diocese said in a Sept. 22 press statement that it had become aware from media reports of an orgy held the night of Aug….

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The pope on Tuesday accepted the resignation of a Polish bishop whose diocese has been rocked by reports of a sex party involving a male prostitute in a priest’s apartment, as well as previous violent incidents involving his clergy.

The Vatican didn’t give a reason for why Bishop Grzegorz Kaszak was resigning as head of the diocese of Sosnowiec, in southwestern Poland. At 59, he is several years shy of the normal retirement age of 75.

But his diocese has been in the spotlight again after one of his priests was placed under criminal investigation for an Aug. 30-31 incident at his apartment in Dabrowa Gornicza that allegedly involved a male prostitute.

Polish media reported that one of the participants of a sex party at the home collapsed after overdosing on erectile dysfunction pills. The reports said the priest allegedly tried to initially bar paramedics from entering the apartment.

Waldemar…

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The Buffalo Diocese is offering up to $100 million to settle child sex abuse claims in its federal bankruptcy case.

As much as half of that would come from parishes, schools and other Catholic entities, while the diocese would also need to sell its Catholic Center on Main Street, the former Christ the King Seminary campus in the Town of Aurora and other properties.

More than three years since the claims were filed, none of the abuse victims has been compensated as the diocese, its parishes and insurance carriers attempt to negotiate a settlement with abuse victims.

Those details were revealed in court papers filed late Monday in which diocese lawyers sought a preliminary injunction to keep all sex abuse lawsuits against parishes and schools grounded while mediated negotiations in the diocese bankruptcy case continue.

Court papers said the $100 million does not include insurance funds, while suggesting that insurance…

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“It’s time to let juries decide these cases”

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — The Diocese of Buffalo claimed it will offer $100 million to settle child sex abuse lawsuits and is considering the sale of the Catholic Center, the former Christ the King Seminary campus and other real estate, according to documents filed in its federal bankruptcy case Monday.

However, lawyers representing child sexual abuse survivors say the preliminary injunction filed by the diocese is an attempt to prevent survivors from pursuing their cases against non-bankrupt entities and effectively silence survivors.

Declaring bankruptcy put a hold on all litigation against the diocese in state court. But that did not apply to its parishes and related nonprofits.

The unsecured creditors committee, made up of six abuse survivors, agreed to place a hold on litigation against non-debtor entities while participating in good faith negotiations.

The agreement expired on September 30 and the committee…

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Pope Francis has appointed Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández as a member of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts, the Vatican department charged with authoritatively interpreting canon law, despite the pope’s September decision to excuse the cardinal from participating in his own department’s most sensitive legal work.

Cardinal Fernández’s appointment was announced in the daily Vatican news bulletin on Oct. 20. The appointment comes after Fernández was created a cardinal by Pope Francis in September, and assumed the role of prefect for the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in the same month.

While it is customary for DDF prefects to serve on the council, Fernández’s nomination is unusual. At the time of his appointment as DDF prefect, Pope Francis specifically urged him to focus on doctrinal matters and to leave the department’s legal work overseeing major canonical crimes in the hands of “competent professionals.”

On the day Fernández took office,…

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[See a PDF of the diocese’s original post here.]

For some time now, the Diocese has been actively engaged in mediation with the Creditors’ Committee, which represents the interests of abuse survivors. The Diocese’s insurance carriers have also participated in mediation as we work to establish a pool of settlement funds to provide some measure of restitution and, we pray, closure for survivors.

Any ultimate settlement will need to be funded by monetary contributions sourced from across our Catholic community, including from the Diocese, parishes, and other affiliated Catholic entities, as well as from available insurance assets. While confidential settlement discussions continue, our Catholic community must remain steadfast in supporting survivors and dedicating available resources to their healing. To that end, the Diocese, in close consultation with the priests who make up the parish steering committee, is making a commitment that the collective contribution of our Catholic community, not…

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The Catholic Diocese of Buffalo announced Tuesday it is pledging at least $100 million to survivors of sex abuse.

The diocese says that with the help of parishes and other affiliate Catholic entities, it will create a pool of settlement funds of at least $100 million.

The diocese also says that total does not include any insurance money.

According to official court documents, the diocese would contribute all of its liquid assets and likely need to sell the Catholic Center on Main Street in Buffalo and the Christ the King Seminary Campus in East Aurora.

The diocese released a statement, saying in part:

“We recognize that honoring this commitment will be challenging, but it is absolutely necessary that we do everything in our power to set things right, to move beyond this dark chapter in our history and move forward as together we work to rebuild and renew our church.”

…

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Le vicaire de Ruffec est mis en examen et placé sous contrôle judiciaire. La victime est un jeune garçon âgé de 9 à 11 ans au moment des faits, qui sont récents.

François-Xavier Grandpierre, vicaire de Ruffec, a été mis en examen, vendredi, pour agressions sexuelles sur mineur. CL révélait l’information ce mardi 24 octobre. On en sait un peu plus sur les faits qui sont reprochés à ce prêtre de 31 ans, qui a grandi en Charente.

Le parquet de Versailles indique que les faits se sont produits entre le 1er juillet 2021 et le 5 août 2023, « au préjudice d’une seule victime, un garçon âgé entre 9 et 11 ans au moment des faits ». On sait aussi que la jeune victime est « l’un des enfants d’une famille dont le mis en cause était proche ».

Le père François-Xavier Grandpierre, vicaire à Ruffec, est visé par une enquête pour atteinte sexuelle sur mineur, au parquet de Versailles….

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A 31-year-old priest from Charente was indicted for sexual assault on a minor under the age of 15, Agence France-Presse (AFP) learned from the Versailles public prosecutor’s office and the diocese of Angoulême, which suspended from all functions on Tuesday October 24. The indictment, pronounced on Friday, was accompanied by judicial review.

The facts occurred between July 1, 2021 and August 5, 2023, “to the detriment of a single victim, a boy aged between 9 and 11 years old at the time of the events, one of the children of a family to whom the accused was close”, declared the prosecution to AFP. Some of these events took place in Yvelines, where the victim’s family resides. Investigations are continuing to see if there are other victims.

Entering the seminary in 2015 in Bordeaux, the future priest then joined the Paris seminary, before becoming an educator in a boys’ school integrating musical…

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A priest in the bishop’s diocese was accused of holding a sex party in his church apartment that involved a male prostitute who lost consciousness.

Warsaw – A Polish bishop whose diocese has been badly tarnished by reports of a gay orgy involving priests and a prostitute resigned on Tuesday, the latest in a long series of sexual and financial scandals in Poland’s Roman Catholic Church.

Grzegorz Kaszak, the bishop of Sosnowiec in southwestern Poland, announced his departure after one of his priests was placed under criminal investigation in connection with reports last month that he had organized a sex party during which a male prostitute lost consciousness from an overdose of erectile dysfunction pills.

Gazeta Wyborcza, a liberal daily newspaper, reported in September that one of the priests at the gathering, held in a building belonging to the parish of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Angels in…

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We’re here today outside a courthouse because this is where you go – if you were physically or sexually or emotionally abused in an institutional setting – this is where you go for justice, healing, closure, accountability and prevention, to the admittedly flawed but time-tested and transparent legal system. You find justice, healing closure, accountability and prevention in secular courts of law, not in the private offices of wrongdoers.

This is especially true when it comes to institutions that are private, independent and secretive and when they posture as religious or educational.

So more than anything, we want to beg victims, witnesses and whistleblowers who saw, suspected or suffered any crimes or potential crimes at the Agape Boarding School to come forward and report the wrongdoing to people you can trust – your family, your friends, the police, a prosecutor, a therapist or a support group like ours.

When victims,…

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Mom sues because her son, gang raped there, is now dead

Unusual case names eight defendants; two of them are sheriffs

It also accuses a company that transports kids to such facilities

Victims also call for better laws & enforcement ‘to prevent more abuse’

WHAT

Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims will
–announce the first-ever wrongful death lawsuit against a controversial, unlicensed, independent  and now-shuttered Baptist facility for ‘troubled teenagers’ in southern Missouri, and
–call on Missouri lawmakers to pass a new law that would expand the state’s civil statute of limitations on abuse which would enable more child sex abuse victims to expose those who commit or conceal child sex crimes in court.
–urge local and state law enforcement agencies to more aggressively investigate similar schools and more vigorously prosecute wrongdoers.

WHEN
TODAY, Monday, Oct. 23 at 1:00 p.m.

WHERE
On the sidewalk outside the federal…

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A former Philadelphia Police officer and a former Catholic Priest have been convicted in separate child sexual abuse incidents.

According to the District Attorney’s Special Investigations Unit, former Philadelphia Police Officer Patrick Heron and former-Catholic priest Armand Garcia were charged in separate criminal proceedings for various counts of sexual abuse allegations with minors.

Former Officer Heron pleaded guilty to 2 counts of Unlawful Contact with a Minor, 2 counts of Sexual Abuse of Children, Involuntary Deviate Sexual Intercourse, Official Oppression, Kidnapping of a Minor, Indecent Assault, Forgery, and Stalking for five criminal cases brought against him by the Special Investigations Unit.

Former-Catholic priest Armand Garcia pleaded guilty to Corruption of Minors and Unlawful Contact with Minors, said the DA’s office and will be sentenced in January 2024. 

Officials say the Commonwealth court had been preparing to go on trial for over a decade for the allegations brought against Heron for the dozens of women and girls he abused, assaulted, intimidated, photographed, and attempted to…

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St. John’s man in his 70s was sexually abused by a Christian Brother at former Holy Cross school

The sky over St. John’s on this October morning is thick with dark clouds as a blue sedan slowly pulls into an unremarkable parking lot on Patrick Street. The older man at the wheel is expressionless as he guides his car to a stop.

He takes a second to compose himself, opens his door and plants his sneaker-clad feet onto the damp asphalt. Smartly, he stands erect.

Looking to the back of the parking lot, where Holy Cross all-boys school once stood, he feels a chill unrelated to the threatening skies overhead.

It’s the first time he’s stepped on this ground in 55 years — kept away by an invisible force field energized by pain, anger and shame.

‘This is where it happened’

“This is where it happened,” he says while sitting on a…

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The pope on Tuesday accepted the resignation of a Polish bishop whose diocese has been rocked for weeks by reports of a gay orgy involving a male prostitute in a priest’s apartment.

The Vatican didn’t give a reason for why Bishop Grzegorz Kaszak was resigning as head of the diocese of Sosnowiec, in southwestern Poland. At 59, he is several years shy of the normal retirement age of 75.

But his diocese has been in the spotlight for over a month after one of his priests was placed under criminal investigation for having allegedly organized a gay orgy at his apartment in Dabrowa Gornicza. Polish media reported that a male prostitute collapsed after overdosing on erectile dysfunction pills.

A prosecutor said the priest is suspected of “failing to provide assistance to a person whose life is at risk,” for having allegedly tried to bar police and paramedics from entering the…

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Victim told court that assault by Camille Piché ‘held me down’ for decades

WARNING: This article contains graphic content and may affect those who have experienced​ ​​​sexual violence or know someone affected by it. 

A former N.W.T. priest began a two-year sentence Monday for a crime dating back four decades. 

Camille Piché pleaded guilty in N.W.T. territorial court to indecent assault against a child while working as a priest in Fort Simpson, N.W.T. 

According to an agreed statement of facts read in court on Monday, Piché was working at the Sacred Heart Church in Fort Simpson when he developed a friendship with the victim’s parents and made regular visits to their home. 

On two of those occasions, in 1981 and 1982, Piché sat next to the victim on their living room couch. The victim was covered by a blanket and Piché admitted he put his hand under the blanket, under the child’s pants…

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Former Philadelphia priest Armand Garcia will plead guilty to sexually abusing a teenage girl in court on Monday.

Authorities arrested and charged Garcia back in 2019. He was a pastor at Saint Martin of Tours in Oxford Circle, but the alleged crime took place between 2014 and 2017 at the Immaculate Heart of Mary in the city’s Andorra section. 

Garcia also committed unlawful conduct with the same girl in his home in Delaware County, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office said. He first met the girl when she was a 13-year-old altar server at the Immaculate Heart of Mary’s Elementary School.

The archdiocese put Garcia on administrative leave when the criminal investigation began in 2018. 

The DA’s Office said the girl is expected to deliver a victim impact statement in court. 

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A Roman Catholic priest appeared in the Family Court in St Vincent and the Grenadines on Monday charged with two counts of sexual offences.

The priest, a foreign national, was arraigned on two counts of rape and two counts of indecent assault and appeared on camera before Magistrate, John Ballah, sitting in his capacity as deputy president of the Family Court.

Media reports here said that the cleric is alleged to have committed unlawful sex acts on a teenage female and was not called upon to plead to the indictable offences. He has been granted and was granted bail to appear before the Family Court, whose president would conduct a preliminary inquiry.

The court would then decide if there was enough evidence to send the matter to trial before a judge and a jury.

The priest left the court in the company of a senior member of the Diocese of Kingstown, …

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The victim said Armand Garcia exploited her trust, raping and manipulating her for years.

A Philadelphia priest has admitted he sexually abused a 16-year-old altar server at a church in Andorra in what she described in court Monday as a “nightmare.”

The Rev. Armand Garcia, 54, pleaded guilty to corruption of a minor and unlawful contact with a minor in the abuse of the now-25-year-old woman, starting when she was 16 and an altar server at the Immaculate Heart of Mary parish in the Andorra neighborhood.

The woman said in court Monday that she went to the priest, whom she knew since she was 13 and who was a friend of her father’s, in 2014 to confide in him about a personal matter and he “exploited” her trust, eventually assaulting and raping her.

“I was targeted, manipulated, and raped to the very end of my contact with him,” the…

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The former Mobile priest who in July fled to Europe with an 18-year-old woman who recently graduated from McGill-Toolen Catholic High School may soon have to leave the country when their travel clearance expires later this month.

 Mobile attorney Christine Hernandez, a representative of the young woman’s family, said Wednesday Alex Crow, who was defrocked by the Archdiocese of Mobile over the summer, recently applied for residency in Italy, where he and the young woman have lived since the summer.

Because Italian authorities denied that application, Hernandez said Crow and the young woman will have to leave the country before their 90-day stay ends in the final weeks of October.

Mobile County Sheriff Paul Burch said Thursday afternoon he had “no knowledge” of the Italian government denying Crow’s request, but thought they made the right decision.

“I would hope they would deny that knowing the controversy surrounding him coming there,”…

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Retired Bishop Tod D. Brown, the third bishop of the Diocese of Orange, died early Oct. 15 at Providence St. Joseph Hospital after being hospitalized, according to the diocese. He was 86.

Msgr. Tuan Joseph Pham, a close friend of the late bishop, told the Los Angeles Times the prelate died after a long battle with lymphoma.

Bishop Kevin W. Vann, who succeeded Brown as shepherd of the diocese, said in a statement he was “deeply saddened” to announce the passing of his predecessor, who retired in 2012.

“With his tireless spirit and witness to Christ, Bishop Brown faithfully served the people of the Diocese of Orange since 1998 when Pope St. John Paul II appointed him bishop and ordinary of our diocese,” said Vann, who remembered especially “his kindness to me when I was a newly ordained priest years ago.”

In the fall of 1981, then-Frs. Brown and Vann…

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A spokesperson for the church said it does not vet the therapists its bishops recommend and pay for, saying “it is up to church members” to “make their own decisions.”

Co-published with The Salt Lake Tribune

When health care workers sexually abuse their patients in Utah, survivors confront obstacles to justice: in the law, in the courts — and in the culture as a whole.

This article was produced for ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network in partnership with The Salt Lake Tribune. Sign up for Dispatches to get stories like this one as soon as they are published.

This story discusses sexual assault.

Three additional men have come forward to say a therapist recommended and paid for by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints touched them inappropriately during counseling sessions related to struggles with their sexuality. The men’s statements follow allegations by three others, previously reported by The Salt Lake…

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Father Paschal Morlino removed as pastor of St. Benedict Church in southwest Baltimore

The Archdiocese of Baltimore is confirming a settlement with a priest in Baltimore accused of sexual harassment.

The archdiocese said it learned about the claims on Thursday involving Father Paschal Morlino, who is the pastor of St. Benedict Church in southwest Baltimore. Within 24 hours, the priest was suspended from any duties in public ministry. His removal was announced Sunday to parishioners.

Next to St. Benedict, a 90-year-old towering church, is the Father Paschal Center off Paschal’s Way. A parishioner and volunteer who asked to remain anonymous told 11 News it’s where she worked alongside the popular priest at the food pantry.

“(I saw) him every day. I know what kind of person he is. I knew the person that was the accuser,” the parishioner said.

In a statement, the archdiocese said someone filed a complaint in…

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As the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s bankruptcy begins to work its way through the legal system, court officials have selected a group of sexual abuse victims who, with an assist from several attorneys, will eventually negotiate settlement terms for the hundreds of fellow survivors.

Known as an unsecured creditors committee, the seven victims will play a key role throughout the archdiocese’s bankruptcy — a process that is expected to last years.

In a typical bankruptcy, meaning one that is not based around allegations of sexual assault and child abuse, such a committee is composed of people or financial institutions who hold liens or have outstanding invoices against the debtor. They’re in line behind secured creditors, who have collateral such as real estate. Unsecured creditors sometimes get as little as pennies on the dollar for what they’re owed.

But in cases where the debt…

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A High Court bid launched by the Catholic Church is set to have far-reaching consequences for personal injury claims in Victoria. Source: Herald Sun.

A legal challenge is seeking to block the parents, siblings, friends and families of abuse victims from suing for damages. If successful it would prohibit “secondary” victims from seeking damages against a range of organisations for psychological injury.

They could include the state government, WorkSafe, the Transport Accident Commission, schools, clubs, kinders, religious organisations and social and cultural groups.

The case centres on a claim brought by the father of a dead former choirboy who claims his son was assaulted by Cardinal George Pell.

Cardinal Pell was convicted, then acquitted, of abusing the choirboy now at the centre of this landmark case. The former choirboy died of a heroin overdose in 2014 having never disclosed allegations of abuse to his parents or authorities.

The choirboy’s father is…

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Two Vatican trials are coming to a head this week and posing uncomfortable questions for the Holy See, given they both underscore Pope Francis’ power as an absolute monarch and the legal, financial and reputational problems that can arise when he wields it.

On Wednesday, the Vatican’s former in-house auditor was in court for a hearing in his 9.3 million euro wrongful dismissal lawsuit against the Holy See. Libero Milone says Vatican police forced his resignation in 2017 under the threat of arrest, after he was told Francis had “lost faith” in him over his zealous attempts to audit Vatican monsignors.

The Vatican secretariat of state has objected to being named as a defendant in the suit, arguing it had nothing to do with Milone’s hiring or resignation and that the city state’s tribunal had no place getting involved.

The rationale: The pope hired Milone and…

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During Saturday’s Synod briefing, speakers highlight topics ranging from the role of women to the defense of minors and vulnerable individuals, as participants prepared to recite the Rosary and pray for peace in St. Peter’s Square on Saturday evening.

At nine in the evening on Saturday in St. Peter’s Square, the recitation of the Rosary takes place with a prayer intention for peace. A special appeal for was launched on Friday in the Synod Hall “to help the young people, in a Middle East that is bleeding, not to lose hope and not to have as their only perspective for the future that of suffering or leaving their country”, and “to provide these young people, as a Church and as pastors, with the instruments to reach peace.”

Paolo Ruffini, Prefect of the Dicastery for Communication and President of the Synod Information Commission, highlighted this at Saturday’s briefing with journalists, which…

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The so-called ‘singing priest’ received a four-year sentence in December 2022 for abusing survivor Alan Nolan, 51, and two other boys in the 1980s.

And Gardai have now submitted new files on the monster to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The files being analysed relate to three males and one female.

If charged, it could mean Walsh spending more time in jail after his expected release date in 2027.

Details of the files were also confirmed by brave abuse survivor Darren McGavin, 51, who revealed he’s working as an advocate with four other victims of the priest.

He hopes the four men will also make statements against Walsh.

Depraved Walsh — who used the cover of the Catholic Church to prey on innocent children — has started to admit his crimes when he has been hit with fresh charges over the last six years.

Since 1995, the beast has been convicted of…

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The Pennsylvania governor made a name for himself by exposing sexual misconduct and cover-ups

A sexual harassment scandal had once again consumed Harrisburg.

Allegations against a Democratic lawmaker, Rep. Mike Zabel, from both a lobbyist and a fellow House member had sparked urgent calls for his resignation and reignited widespread outrage at a male-dominated Capitol culture that seemed to let the powerful act with impunity toward women.

On March 3, Gov. Josh Shapiro weighed in.

“Let me be very clear where I stand. People deserve to be safe and free from harassment wherever they work,” the new Democratic governor told the Philadelphia radio station KYW. “I think it’s critically important for those who come forward to be able to share their truth and have it investigated fairly and properly.”

He said the investigation of the Democrat from Delaware County “should be done swiftly. And I think the [House] Speaker…

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A German bishop participating in the Synod on Synodality challenged the idea that the Catholic community in his country is at odds with the universal Church — and reasserted that it will continue to play a role in the ongoing discussions in Rome about the Church’s future.

Speaking at the Synod press briefing Saturday afternoon, Bishop Franz Josef Overbeck of Essen acknowledged that others have expressed concerns to him regarding the Catholic Church in Germany’s controversial “Synodal Way.”

“Many people have asked me, ‘Are you still Catholics and part of the Catholic Church?”, said Overbeck, one of the German Bishops Conference’s three delegates to the universal Synod, and a major proponent of the German Synodal Way. “And I say, ‘Yes, of course, we are Catholics, and we are here to stay.”

Begun in 2019, the Synodal Way is a non-canonical initiative of the German bishops’ conference and the Central Committee…

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Four men who say they were sexually abused by clergy gathered outside the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception Thursday to announce their group sent a formal complaintwith the Vatican, charging that Springfield’s bishop “harms his flock.”

The group also sent a letterto Bishop Thomas Paprocki asking that they be allowed to speak at a Diocesan gathering later this month. “We think that would be a long overdue, welcome gesture on his part, and we think that it would encourage other victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to come forward. Kids are safe when abuse is reported or abuse is not reported in a climate…of fear and shame,’’ said David Clohessy, former national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests and volunteer director of the Missouri group.

The other letter is in response to a new process by which laypeople can report to the…

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My husband and I are both Episcopal priests. While wearing a clerical collar, he has often been insulted by strangers, called a “pedophile”, “child-molester” and worse. Why? Because people assumed he was a Catholic priest. This is beyond heartbreaking to him and to me, a survivor of childhood sexual abuse by our family pediatrician as a girl in my native New York.

We both deeply love the Church, not just the Episcopal Church, but the Church as a whole. Jesus called the Church to be a light to the nations and a vision of the Kingdom of Heaven. By extension, we believe that when the Church, by the actions of those in direct control, acts against the will of God by abusing children, it needs to be called into account, both morally and legally.

On Sept. 29, 2023, Archbishop William E. Lori, of the Archdiocese of Baltimore (AOB), disclosed the…

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Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration agreed to pay $295,000 in taxpayer funds to settle a sexual harassment complaint from a female former deputy secretary involving a former top aide in his office, according to documents obtained through the state’s Right to Know Law.

The 14-page document, signed on Sept. 5, stipulated that neither the commonwealth nor the governor’s office would be held liable for any wrongdoing regarding the allegations she made against Shapiro’s former Secretary of Legislative Affairs Mike Vereb.

The agreement contains a clause barring both sides from discussing the matter; however, it allows for the settlement to be released if there is a legal requirement, such as the Right to Know Law, to do so.

The settlement reached through the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission mediation process closes the matter, barring any litigation or charges arising from the woman’s claims against the governor’s office. PennLive is…

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Rory Lott was just 8 years old when a priest allegedly molested him as he laid in a hospital bed with injuries from a car accident.

Lott healed from his physical injuries long ago, but he said he’s never been able to escape the mental torment over the abuse in 1966.

“It just changed me. I can’t describe it,” said Lott. “That scar is still there. It’s been with me over 50 years.”

Lott was also among an estimated 850 people who filed abuse claims against the Buffalo Diocese in its Chapter 11 bankruptcy case.

More than three years since the claims were filed, none of the abuse victims has been compensated as the diocese, its parishes and insurance carriers attempt to negotiate a settlement with abuse victims.

“I just want this over,” Lott said. “Everything’s at a standstill.”

All parties in the mediated talks are under a confidentiality agreement,…

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Which is worse: That someone leaked a report alleging Liberty University has mishandled and covered up sexual abuse for years, or that Liberty University appears to have mishandled and covered up sexual abuse for years?

According to Liberty President Dondi Costin, the leak is an intentional effort to malign the Baptist school founded by televangelist Jerry Falwell Sr. And according to him and other supporters, this is further evidence of the Biden administration’s attacks on religious conservatives.

Cindy Warren, who is part of an alumni group seeking to hold the university accountable, tweeted Oct. 16 on X: “As one of the people who filed the first Clery Act complaint 18 years ago, I’m gonna go ahead and say this isn’t the government trying to make LU look bad. LU has done an excellent job of that on their own. I was a super Republican when we filed that report btw.”

Also,…

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As the Vatican’s “trial of the century” lumbers towards its expected conclusion before the end of the year, it’s becoming increasingly clear that in rendering a verdict, the three-judge panel hearing the case isn’t just being to asked to choose between guilt or innocence for the ten defendants.

In fact, the judges are also facing a choice between two competing narratives, which, in summary form, might be expressed as “conspiracy” versus “ineptitude.”

On the one side is the story being told by chief prosecutor Alessandro Diddi, the Vatican’s Promoter of Justice, which is a tale of a large-scale criminal conspiracy to defraud the Vatican involving shady Italian financiers, corrupt Vatican officials and advisors, and, last but certainly not least, the pope’s own former chief of staff, Italian Cardinal Angelo Becciu.

On the other is the narrative propounded by the defense, and put in epigrammatic fashion yesterday by Cataldo Intrieri, a…

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THE government is failing young victims of sexual abuse through its “piecemeal” and “underwhelming” responses when issues are raised, a major children’s charity said today.

The NSPCC said there was “little sign of meaningful change” 12 months after the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA). The inquiry looked at 15 areas, scrutinising institutional responses to child sexual abuse – including investigations into abuse in Westminster and the Anglican and Catholic churches.

Earlier this year, IICSA chairwoman Professor Alexis Jay and panel members highlighted “deep concern at the government’s inadequate response” to their recommendations and predicted that action may be deferred indefinitely “for the sake of other political priorities.”

They suggested that the government had claimed to accept some of the inquiry’s recommendations “through what is little more than a very weak and, at times, apparently disingenuous official response.”

Responding to the report in May, Home Secretary Suella Braverman said…

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The alleged sexual abuse took place during the 1970s and 1980s, a court has heard

A West Berkshire GP committed “intensely terrifying” sexual abuse on a young boy in the 1970s and 1980s – before allegedly making a confession to a monk years later, Reading Crown Court has heard. Dr Robin Borthwick, 78, is accused of historic sexual abuse, facing four counts of indecent assault on a boy under the age of 16, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

Dr Borthwick has been deemed unfit to stand trial due to his health and is absent from the trial of facts at the crown court, the jury were told as the case proceeded on Thursday. The court heard that Dr Borthwick allegedly sexually abused the boy at a GP surgery and in two other locations during the 1970s and 1980s.

Taking to the witness stand on Thursday (October 19) as…

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A notorious former Christian Brother has been sentenced for a second time after admitting to further historic abuse against boys at Catholic schools in Victoria.

Key points:

• John Laidlaw, 84, will likely die in jail after being sentenced over further abuse of students at Christian Brothers College schools
• Judge Helen Syme told the court Laidlaw’s crimes were an abuse of power and trust 
• It is the second time Laidlaw has been sentenced over sexual offending against children

John Laidlaw, 84, appeared in the Melbourne County Court via video-link from prison today, after pleading guilty to nine charges — including indecent assault — arising from offending against students between 1966 and 1990.

During that time, Laidlaw was a teacher at a variety of Christian Brothers College (CBC) schools, including St Joseph’s at Warrnambool and St Kevin’s at Toorak, Melbourne.

The victims, who cannot be identified, were referred by Judge Helen Syme using pseudonyms.

The court heard the victims…

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Three years after declaring bankruptcy, the Diocese of Rockville Centre said Thursday it had failed to reach a settlement with 600 survivors of clergy sexual abuse as an Oct. 31 court-imposed deadline crept closer.

The diocese said it had been offering the survivors an average of at least $400,000 each, but attorneys for the survivors said that was far too little. The attorneys said they expect the cases to now be sent back to state civil court, where awards could be even higher.

Legal fees in the protracted proceedings have reached $100 million, according to attorneys.

Sean Dolan, a spokesman for the diocese, said in a statement: “The Diocese, parishes, and related parties have made their highest and best settlement offer in the amount of $200 million” to be divided among the survivors.

“This offer would provide survivors with the largest settlement of any diocese in a chapter 11 bankruptcy case to date:…

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Linda Malat Tiburzi, one of a dozen victims abused by Catholic Community Middle School teacher John Merzbacher in the 1970s who in the aftermath of her vicious assault and life of turbulence went on to become an advocate for victims of such abuse, was found dead Oct. 17 in her Glen Burnie home. She was 62.

“We think it was a heart attack,” Dianna C. Hughes, Ms. Tiburzi’s aunt who helped raise her, said.

“She was an amazing and a very talented and smart person and I don’t think people realized that the abuse took all of that away from her,” Mrs. Hughes, of Locust Point, said. “She was a very giving person and had a heart that wanted to help people.”

Linda Marie Malat was born in Baltimore and raised in Locust Point. After her mother left the family, she was reared by her grandparents and aunt.

“We have…

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Oct. 19, 2023
His Eminence Christophe Cardinal Pierre
Papal Nuncio
3339 Massachusetts Ave NW
Washington, DC 20008

Dear Cardinal Pierre:

“The Diocese of Springfield’s handling of child sex abuse allegations is a story of failed leadership—leadership that allowed clerics to sexually abuse children in the diocese for decades. Through it all, men leading the diocese for 50 years chose to protect the reputation of the church and its clerics, rather than attempt to ensure the physical and mental well-being of its children.”

“As a result, children of the diocese suffered through decades of child sex abuse, the impact of which continues to this day.”

So wrote Illinois’ highest ranking law enforcement professional, Attorney General Kwame Raoul, following a nearly five-year investigation into clergy sex crimes and cover ups across the state.
Into this horrific situation stepped Bishop Thomas Paprocki twelve years ago. He knew Springfield had been a troubled diocese. (In fact, one of his…

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In the early 1990s, Stephen Stack of Troy began to study for the priesthood in the Springfield Catholic Diocese.

After receiving his master of divinity degree from Mundelein Seminary but before he was ordained, Stack entered a psychological program to address problems of social anxiety and depression.

There he was first able to address his own history of sexual abuse.

He detailed for the first time publicly Thursday a succession of sexual abuse starting by his brother three years older than Stack, now 61. That brother had been allegedly sexually abused by a deacon in the family’s church, Sacred Heart in Granite City.

Another younger brother, Stack said, was sexually abused by the Rev. William Weerts, a priest of the diocese who in 1986 pleaded guilty to sexual abuse charges and was sentenced to six years in prison.

Stack, speaking at a Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests press conference in front…

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Church has been granted special leave to appeal Victorian judgment that found Ballarat diocese was vicariously liable for abuse of child

The Catholic church has won the right to challenge in the high court a landmark Victorian ruling forcing the church to take on greater liability for the actions of paedophile priests within its ranks.

In the past two years, the Victorian courts have delivered and upheld an unprecedented ruling that the Ballarat diocese was vicariously liable for the abuse of a five-year-old child known as DP at the hands of assistant priest Father Bryan Coffey.

Vicarious liability is typically used to hold employers responsible for the wrongful or negligent actions of their employees during the course of their employment – even where there is no fault on the part of the employer.

The church, however, has long argued that priests like Coffey were not formal employees, allowing it to dodge…

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[Expanded version of an article posted earlier today in Abuse Tracker]

Nuns from the Antonio Próvolo Institute, investigated for sexual abuse of deaf children, acquitted by court; Victims’ lawyers criticise court and say they will appeal.

Two nuns and seven other female employees accused of complicity in years of sexual abuse of minors at the Antonio Próvolo Institute for Deaf and Hearing Impaired Children in Mendoza Province were acquitted by a court Wednesday of sexual abuse and rape.

The ruling, broadcast on public television, concluded a trial of two-and-a-half years in a case that has shocked the home country of Pope Francis.

This is the second trial in the case for crimes committed between 2004 and 2016 at the Próvolo Institute. In November 2019, Horacio Corbacho and Nicola Corradi, two priests in charge of children at the centre, were jailed for more than 40 years each for sexual abuse, including…

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Deerfield Academy recently reached a six-figure settlement with a former student who brought claims of sexual abuse by a math teacher during the late 1980s — the latest in over a dozen similar claims settled by the prestigious New England boarding school.

The former male student claimed that Peter Hindle, a Deerfield faculty member from 1956 to 2000 and now deceased, sexually abused him at least 20 times by repeatedly climbing through his dorm room’s window when he was about 16 years old, according to the former student’s lawyer Mitchell Garabedian on Wednesday.

The former student was not identified, but Garabedian said that the abuse happened between 1989 and 1990 and that the prep school did not take action after the former student told his counselor of the abuse. The settlement was described as being in the “low six figures.”

Deerfield Academy in a statement said…

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With an exodus of young people, the Polish church may be facing the ‘Irish scenario.’

In Poland’s parliamentary elections this month, Law and Justice, the right-wing populist party that has ruled the country for the last eight years, still got the biggest share of votes nationwide, with 35%, but not enough to keep the party in power, even with the help of its natural partner, the far-right libertarian Confederation party’s 7%. Instead, Law and Justice’s main opposition, the Civic Coalition, led by Donald Tusk, announced its plans to create a coalition government with the New Left and the Third Way parties, which got the support of 54% of voters.

The three parties’ coalition will likely push through significant changes in the political landscape, reversing polarizing Law and Justice measures on immigration and reproductive rights. But this turnabout was prefaced, and probably caused, by a watershed shift in the once unassailable position…

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Two nuns and seven other female employees of an Argentine institute for deaf children were acquitted by a court Wednesday of sexual abuse and rape.

The ruling, broadcast on public television, concluded a trial of two-and-a-half years in a case that has shocked the home country of Pope Francis.

Two priests in charge of children at the Antonio Provolo center — Horacio Corbacho and Nicola Corradi —  have been convicted and handed sentences of more than 40 years each for sexual abuse, including rape, of some 20 minors.

The victims were aged four to 17 when the crimes were committed from 2004 to the closure of the institute in 2016.

The institution’s gardener, Armando Gomez, has also been jailed for 18 years for sexual abuse, and a former altar boy pleaded guilty to the sexual abuse of five children.

Several staff were taken into custody after allegations of abuse first…

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Interpretation of canon law allows rapists to go free after short period of ‘prayer and penance’

A ruling from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has placed a rapist priest back on the job in Africa, and canon law helped that to happen.

On July 1, 2023, Fr. Hilary Ngome, who confessed to raping at least one 13-year-old girl, was fully returned to ministry by a Vatican decree, according to Bp. Michael Miabesue Bibi, prelate of the Buéa diocese in Cameroon. He announced the decree in a public letter dated Aug. 23, 2023.

Priest Admits to Rape

According to an affidavit from the family, in August of 2018, Fr. Ngome, then a parish priest of St. Martin de Porres Parish in Likomba, asked a young girl to clean his residence. When she came to clean his room, he forced her onto the bed and raped her.

…

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Questions are swirling among parishioners at Saint Benedict Church in Baltimore after the removal of their longtime pastor over a secret $200,000 settlement he paid five years ago.

Was their leader falsely accused? How can they clear his name? What does the future hold for the historic parish in Southwest Baltimore?

Another question looms large over the controversy. How does a monk come up with $200,000?

The Rev. Paschal Morlino paid the money through a private attorney to a man who accused him of fraud and sexual assault. The Archdiocese of Baltimore removed Morlino for not disclosing the settlement, and church officials are now investigating the source of the money.

In a wide-ranging, 90-minute interview with The Banner last week, Morlino confirmed the payment while denying the allegations against him. He has not been charged with a crime.When asked where the settlement money came from, he offered…

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John Doe #50 wanted to live to see justice.

He sat on his bed across from me with weathered hands resting on tired legs. The sun beamed through the bedroom window behind him, hiding his teary eyes with a darkened silhouette.

It had been 70 years since he was thrown to the wolves at the Mount Cashel Orphanage in St. John’s, but he could still close his eyes and go to that place without a moment’s notice. 

We spoke in December 2020, as the country’s top court was mulling the question of whether the Catholic church should be responsible for the abuses of the Christian Brothers who ran the orphanage. 

He’d been waiting for that answer since 1999, when he was one of four men to step forward as lead plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit seeking to hold the church responsible.

“There’s a lot of our guys who have died,”…

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There’s reason for concern about the future of Catholic elementary education in Western New York.

Strains are well-publicized – present and future litigation and settlement costs of the bankruptcy case following 900 sex abuse claims against the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo, a significant decrease in subsidies by the diocese and steep enrollment declines over the last decade – but the extent of the anxiety is open to debate among current and past leadership in the diocese’s education sphere.

Their general mission is the same: that a faith-based Catholic education remains available for Western New York children amid a time of turmoil and rebuilding trust within the Catholic Church.

But they do not agree how to get there.

Michael LaFever, retired superintendent of Catholic schools in the Buffalo Diocese, paints a bleak picture that recently closed schools in Wellsville and  View Cache

Church of the Holy Family will host the Mass on Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023 at 10 a.m.

The Archdiocese of Chicago’s Office of Assistance Ministry will hold its 12th Annual Hope and Healing Mass at 10 a.m., on Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023, at Church of the Holy Family, 1080 W. Roosevelt Rd. in Chicago. (editor’s note: to protect the privacy of victim-survivors who will attend the Mass, media are asked to not film or photograph their faces).

“From my earliest days as a bishop, I have been committed to putting the victims at the center of my ministry and I will continue to apply the highest level of vigilance to these efforts and to further strengthen our safeguards against abuse,” said Cardinal Blase Cupich, archbishop of Chicago. “On behalf of the archdiocese, survivors of clergy sexual abuse will forever be in our prayers, and we have dedicated ourselves to rooting out…

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The Boy Scouts of America has received a U.S. bankruptcy judge’s approval to pay about $245 million in fees to lawyers and financial advisers who crafted the youth organization’s $2.46 billion settlement of sex abuse claims.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Laurie Selber Silverstein in Wilmington, Delaware, late on Tuesday mostly approved final fee applications from more than two dozen law firms and advisers who worked on the bankruptcy case. The overall bankruptcy fees could end up closer to $275 million, based on outstanding requests for payment from other groups that participated in the bankruptcy.

Silverstein had decried the “staggering” legal fees racked up in the case in 2021, when the number crossed the $100 million threshold.

White & Case, which served as lead counsel during the Boy Scouts’ bankruptcy, received the highest fee award, at $71 million. Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones, which represented the official committee of abuse claimants, received…

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