ABUSE TRACKER

Thika chief magistrate Stella Atambo to rule on bond next month

In Summary

• The probation officer is to file a report before the bail ruling is made on April 8
• The prosecution has opposed the bail application saying the priest is influential and may interfere with witnesses. 

A Catholic priest (Fr Abednego, not his real name) accused of defilement has been detained by a Thika court for another 12 days pending the determination of his bail application.

He is accused of defiling the victim between 2020 and August 2023 at his home in Buruburu Phase 5 in Nairobi county. The priest is also facing an alternative charge of indecent assault.

Fr Abednego, who pleaded not guilty to the charges, had applied for his release on bond. The prosecution opposed the application.

When the bail/bond application came up for determination on Wednesday, the prosecution, led by Christine Torome, told Thika chief magistrate Stella Atambo it was important to…

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In a surprising twist, Fr. Daniel McCarthy, a twice-accused Chicago priest, is now back on the job after facing two accusations of sexual assault. That’s worrisome, of course, but sadly not terribly shocking. But what is shocking is that the cleric apparently spoke at length with a reporter regarding the Archdiocese’s mismanagement. Of course, that rarely happens. The cleric gave a relatively detailed description of the three-year saga of the church ‘investigation’ into the allegations against him to a reporter. The result: a news report that is telling, alarming, gripping, and disgusting all at once. Even the headline is startling: 

“Archdiocese of Chicago sat on or lost child sexual abuse accusation, didn’t question priest about allegation specifics, accused priest says.”

The sub-heading of that article reads, “Fr. Daniel McCarthy said he was never directly questioned about the details of child sexual abuse allegations leveled against him,…

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According to the Diocese, the Vatican “decided that there was not sufficient evidence presented to arrive at moral certainty that Father Graham was guilty of the accusation made against him.”

DULUTH — A Catholic priest in Duluth will have his duties restored and be removed from the credibly accused list after a Vatican investigation determined there “was not sufficient evidence” that he was guilty of sexual abuse of a young person, the Diocese of Duluth said in a statement Friday.

In 2016, Rev. William Graham, pastor at St. Michael’s Catholic Church in the Lakeside neighborhood, was placed on administrative leave after a man accused him of abusing him on at least three occasions in 1977-78 when the man was 15 to 16 years old and attending Duluth’s Cathedral High School. Graham, a teacher at Cathedral High School at the time, was ordained as a priest in 1976.

According to the…

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Robert Thomas’ victims included multiple Black girls from San Francisco’s Bayview neighborhood. To stop him, two survivors would have to endure Thomas’ jailhouse machinations and a painfully slow criminal court process.

Rachel Tolliver was in an Apostolic Christian church in San Francisco when she was reminded of the devil from her past.

It was 2011 and Tolliver, then in her early 20s, had known a hard road. Raised around addiction and abuse, and having spent time in multiple group homes, the Bayview native was well versed in the ways that adults and systems can disappoint the children in their care. She was “over it all — just over life, to be quite frank,” she said. So she came asking God for a reason to go on.

“I made every single day of my life church,” she said. “Sunday all the way through Saturday, going to church….

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A third church leader with Mark Barclay Ministries and Living Word International Church in Midland has been suspended and removed from all church positions effective immediately after being accused of misconduct.

Josh Barclay, on behalf of Mark Barclay Ministries and the church, confirmed to WNEM-TV5 a second pastor is being investigated for sexual abuse.

In a statement, Barclay said the abuse allegations didn’t take place at the church nor was the church involved in any way.

“Living Word International Church is deeply saddened and concerned to address recent allegations of misconduct involving one of our ministers. We take these matters extremely seriously and are committed to transparency, accountability, and ensuring the safety and well-being of our congregation.”

Josh Barclay, Mark Barclay Ministries

Barclay said the church is cooperating fully with law enforcement in their investigation. The individual in question is suspended from all church duties, pending the outcome of the…

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5 days agoSusie Rack,BBC News, West MidlandsShare

Diocese of Lichfield Archdeacon Paul Thomas was required to resign following a “brief, consensual but inappropriate relationship with a woman”

An archdeacon has resigned and been banned from ministry for three years after admitting an “inappropriate relationship”.

The Venerable Paul Thomas, archdeacon of Salop since 2011, stepped back from duties last September while a complaint was investigated.

The Bishop of Lichfield confirmed it pertained to “a brief, consensual but inappropriate relationship with a woman during 2022 and early 2023″.

“I am deeply grieved that Paul’s long service in ministry in this diocese… has been marred in this way,” Bishop Michael Ipgrave added.

The relationship occurred while Archdeacon Thomas was experiencing “post-Covid depression and spiritual exhaustion”, the bishop said.

A complaint made under the Church of England’s Clergy Discipline Measure was overseen by the Bishop of Shrewsbury, the Right Reverend Sarah Bullock.

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Never questioned, says Carboni, neither was the legitimacy and autonomy of that bishop in his pastoral choices, nor were they a judgment on people

After the message sent to the parish communities by Father Paolo Contini regarding the affair linked to the abuse suffered as a seminarian and the consequent developments, the clarifications arrive from Archbishop Roberto Carboni.

In reference to the message of Father Paolo Contini written to his parish communities, published in recent days on social media and taken up by the press, where comments are made on appointments made in a diocese of Sardinia» specifies the archbishop, I consider it necessary to clarify that the expressions used by me, and taken up again by him without my authorization, were extrapolated from a personal message and must be contextualized to be understood in their meaning. They wanted to respond, in the form of solidarity and closeness, to his emotional situation…

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Cardinal Müller condemned as ‘unfathomable’ the ‘absurdity’ of German bishops negotiating Catholic doctrine in Rome ‘as if the Church’s teachings were an offer to be sold to the highest bidder in the supermarket of ideologies.’

Cardinal Gerhard Müller strongly criticized “negotiations” between the Vatican and German bishops about the heretical German Synodal Way and accused “German Synodalists” of effectively blaming Christ for sin by falsely claiming that His Commandments are responsible for the abuse crisis.

Cardinal Gerhard Müller strongly criticized “negotiations” between the Vatican and German bishops about the heretical German Synodal Way and accused “German Synodalists” of effectively blaming Christ for sin by falsely claiming that His Commandments are responsible for the abuse crisis

In an INTERVIEW with Austrian news outlet kath.net, Cardinal Müller was asked about the RECENT MEETING between German bishops and members of the Vatican Curia.

“The German Synodalists are completely wrong not only in terms of…

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In a surprising twist, Fr. Daniel McCarthy, a twice-accused Chicago priest, is now back on the job after facing two accusations of sexual assault. That’s worrisome, of course, but sadly not terribly shocking. But what is shocking is that the cleric apparently spoke at length with a reporter regarding the Archdiocese’s mismanagement. Of course, that rarely happens. The cleric gave a relatively detailed description of the three-year saga of the church ‘investigation’ into the allegations against him to a reporter. The result: a news report that is telling, alarming, gripping, and disgusting all at once. Even the headline is startling: 

“Archdiocese of Chicago sat on or lost child sexual abuse accusation, didn’t question priest about allegation specifics, accused priest says.”

The sub-heading of that article reads, “Fr. Daniel McCarthy said he was never directly questioned about the details of child sexual abuse allegations leveled against him,…

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After a months-long saga of media coverage, internal infighting and an exodus of members and deacons, Pastor Steven Smith of Immanuel Baptist Church of Little Rock, Ark. tendered his resignation via a letter to his congregation last night.

As previously reported by BNG, Immanuel Baptist is a prominent, wealthy and tall-steeple congregation where former Arkansas governor and U.S. President Bill Clinton previously worshiped. It is one of the largest and best-known churches in the state.

It also has been the subject of nearly four dozen reports detailing internal infighting, political drama, an exodus of members with young children, and a 41% vote of “no confidence” in Smith by the church’s deacon board, much of which has resigned.

Nearly all this reporting has come from Arkansas Democrat-Gazette religion editor Frank E. Lockwood. In February, Smith blamed the church’s abuse crisis and media coverage on Satan, rebuking him: “We command you by the power and the blood of…

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Pastor Steven Smith of Immanuel Baptist Church of Little Rock, Arkansas, will be resigning from his position in April amid criticism for failing to inform his church about child abuse charges against a former children’s ministry staffer. 

In a letter released Wednesday, Smith said he will step down effective April 7 to “diffuse the current situation and allow Immanuel to heal.”

“Every family experiences tension, and our church family tension has been very real and very public in recent months,” wrote Smith, as reported by The Arkansas Times.

“To feel this tension as we walk through the halls and as we worship together has been disheartening. Unfortunately, at present we do not see this abating, but only increasing.”

Regarding possible future plans, Smith said that he was “not stepping into another ministry, but stepping aside to allow this process of healing to begin.”

According to Immanuel’s  View Cache

T.D. Jakes, influential pastor of Dallas megachurch The Potter’s House, has been mentioned in a lawsuit against embattled music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs. 

On Monday, producer Rodney “Lil’ Rod” Jones alleged in a lawsuit that Combs engaged in a multi-year “sex trafficking venture.” The sordid 98-page legal complaint mentions Jakes once, as part of a list of evidence that Jones “has personally witnessed and secured.” 

Jones’ accusations are related to multiple allegations of sexual assault against Combs, including a suit filed in November by Cassie Ventura, Combs’ former girlfriend. Earlier this week, agents raided Combs’ residences in Los Angeles and Miami as part of a federal sex-trafficking investigation.

In the suit filed Monday, Jones claimed he has “irrefutable evidence” that detail “how (Combs) planned to leverage his relationship with Bishop T.D. Jakes, to soften the impact on his public image of Cassie Ventura’s lawsuit.” No allegations of wrongdoing were…

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A man charged last year with sexually assaulting children in West Penn Township was sentenced this week.

On Tuesday, Marvin Leroy Mosley was sentenced by Schuylkill County Judge Charles Miller to six months to 23 months in Schuylkill County Prison after he admitted to sexually assaulting three children over a decade ago.

Mosley had admitted to the crimes when he was questioned by West Penn Township Police after a 26-year-old victim came forward in early 2023.  The victim told police that she, along with two others, were assaulted by Mosley at a farm in Andreas where he was staying at the time.

Following Mosley’s time in prison, he will serve 5 years probation, pay $16,000 in restitution to the victims for health bills related to the abuse, and he will be listed on the sex offender’s registry for the rest of his life.

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Original Story from June 22, 2023

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The founder of Special Olympics Maine spent years sexually assaulting a child beginning in the late 1960s, according to a new lawsuit.

Mark Frank, 65, of Augusta filed a lawsuit in Cumberland County Superior Court against Special Olympics Maine and Special Olympics Inc., based in Washington, D.C., the Portland Press Herald reported.

The lawsuit alleges the organizations should have been aware of the abuse and stepped in to protect Frank, who said he was sexually abused by Melvin Boutilier “dozens, if not hundreds” of times, according to the Press Herald.

The Special Olympics organizations told the Press Herald that they are “shocked and saddened” by the allegations, saying such behavior has never been tolerated within the Special Olympics.

Boutilier, who died in 2012 at age 83, was long celebrated for his work as an educator and volunteer with organizations serving children with intellectual disabilities. He was awarded the highest honor presented…

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Two Australian pastors, Corey Turner and Stacey Hilliar, will “lose their ministry credentials” for at least two years in the wake of a sex scandal, their former church’s overseeing denomination announced.

In an email posted Wednesday by a watchdog group, Wayne Alcorn, president of Australian Christian Churches (ACC), informed ACC pastors of “recent action” the denomination had taken regarding two ACC pastors. Turner, lead pastor of Neuma Church in Melbourne, confessed to a relationship with Hilliar, executive leader of the church’s worship and creative teams.

A charismatic megachurch seemingly modeled after Hillsong, Neuma Church has nine locations in Australia, plus campuses in Bangkok, Thailand, and San Francisco. Both pastors have admitted to sexual misconduct that violated their marriage vows and resigned in early February. 

Alcorn referred to the ACC’s “extensive processes” of evaluating the behavior of the prominent ministers and its impact. “It was determined…

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The Belgian Church had warned that the Pope could not go through with his planned visit in September if Vangheluwe was not laicised.

Pope Francis laicised the former Bishop of Ghent Roger Vangheluwe, who resigned his see in 2010 after admitting to sexual abuse of two nephews.  

Recent years have seen a rising tide of public appeals by Church leaders and politicians in Belgium for Rome to defrock him. 

Several bishops told the Vatican in public and private statements that the Pope could not go through with his planned visit to Belgium in September, to attend the 600th anniversary of the Catholic University of Leuven, if Vangheluwe was not laicised. 

Belgian politicians joined the fray, with Prime Minister Alexander De Croo calling for Vangheluwe’s laicisation in January and Justice Minister Paul Van Tigchelt announcing in February that Belgian officials had known since 2012 that many adult pornographic images were found on Vangheluwe’s computer.

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I have degrees from two Jesuit universities and worked as a Catholic high school religious educator and music minister for 27 years (ncronline.org, March 27, 2024). My husband and I raised our sons in the church. My youngest brother is a member of the De La Mennais order. Catholicism is part of my DNA, but I am no longer Catholic.

After confronting my own childhood abuse at the hands of two Catholic priests, even after discovering among family a total of six victims of these same two priests, and even after Boston in 2002, I remained a faithful Catholic. I taught my students that an imperfect human institution was admitting its wrongdoing and was committed to change. But then it became clear that my church’s dis-ease was so deep, so systemic, that no real change was taking place – Cardinal Francis E. George, the author of the…

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• In short: A man who suffered prolonged sexual abuse by former Canberra priest Father Lloyd Reynolds in the1960s has won his bid to have a settlement agreement set aside.
• As part of a $100,000 settlement he signed an agreement not to pursue any further liability, but the court found his dyslexia and literacy skills were so poor he thought the document was something else entirely.
• What’s next? Acting Justice Greg Curtin found the settlement deed was not just and reasonable and set it aside, clearing the way for the man to seek further damages.

A man who suffered prolonged sexual abuse at the hands of a former Canberra priest has won a bid to have a settlement agreement set aside, because he couldn’t read well enough to understand what he was signing.

Warning: This story contains details that some readers may find distressing.

It’s believed to be the first such judgement by…

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The church will share records and information with the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc as it continues to investigate the site of a former residential school where hundreds of children went missing.

Vancouver’s Catholic archdiocese is marking Easter with a commitment towards reconciliation with First Nations in B.C., Archbishop J. Michael Miller says.

The church and the chief of the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc announced Thursday that a “sacred covenant” agreement has been reached between the church and the First Nation in Kamloops.

The covenant comes three years after the First Nation announced the discovery of what it believed were more than 200 unmarked graves of children at the site of a former residential school.

Miller said the agreement with the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc will open a new chapter in the relationship between the church and First Nations in B.C.

“Unquestionably, the church was wrong in implementing a government colonialist policy which resulted in devastation…

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In an era where accessing information is merely a few clicks away, resources like “Six Questions To Ask Your Child If You Think They Are Being Sexually Abused” are invaluable. These guides, as recommended by Horowitz Law, serve not just as educational tools for those in dire situations but also as enlightening reads for everyone. Even if you’re convinced that you’ll never be in this awful situation, we also encourage you to share these excellent guides with others with children as a gesture of care and responsibility.  

However, there’s an equally significant yet often overlooked conversation that needs attention: the importance of asking our loved ones whether they endured sexual abuse in their childhood. Asking a girl or boy if someone is touching them inappropriately currently in the present is obviously important, but it’s also important that adults be asked the same question about events that could have…

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Catherine Coldstream found joy when she joined a Carmelite order, but also abuse, she tells Sarah Meyrick

CATHERINE COLDSTREAM says that she is staggered by the media interest in her memoir, Cloistered: My years as a nun. “People used to glaze over when I said I’m writing about my time as a nun,” she says. But the book is barely out, and several of the broadsheets, as well as the Church Times (Books, 8 March), have run reviews and interviews. There are speaking engagements in the diary.

The bones of her story are these. She grew up in a bohemian home in north London, the daughter of Sir William Coldstream, a painter and professor of fine art, and his much younger second wife, an opera singer. The marriage was stormy, and her upbringing was dysfunctional and marred by conflict.

On the death of her father, Catherine experienced an overwhelming religious conversion. Three years…

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A bishop of The Episcopal Church who was based in Wyoming has been deposed from his position following an investigation into a reported “indiscretion” he had with a church member.

The Rt. Rev. Paul-Gordon Chandler, bishop of the Episcopal Church in Wyoming, was officially deposed following a Title IV disciplinary investigation, according to an announcement released by the Episcopal Church Office of Public Affairs on Wednesday.

“Chandler has voluntarily submitted to a sentence of deposition, which deprives him of the right to exercise the gifts and spiritual authority of God’s word and sacraments conferred at ordination,” the Public Affairs Office stated.

The deposition came as part of an accord that Chandler agreed to with the Rt. Rev. Mary Gray-Reeves, presiding bishop-designate for some Title IV matters, which the Disciplinary Board for Bishops approved.

In a statement to Episcopal News Service, Chandler maintained his innocence…

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VENICE  |  April is Child Abuse Prevention Month, and in conjunction with the Secretariat of Child and Youth Protection of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), the Diocese of Venice will hold a Mass for Victims of Child Abuse for the 17th consecutive year with Bishop Frank J. Dewane as the Celebrant. The Mass will take place at 12:15 p.m., Friday, April 5, 2024, at Epiphany Cathedral, 350 Tampa Ave. W., Venice. All are invited to attend as we come together to pray for the victims of abuse.

Through a comprehensive Safe Environment program, the Diocese of Venice, and its entities, take very seriously the safety of all young people and vulnerable adults. The Diocese has a zero-tolerance policy, and works to prevent any instances of abuse, particularly against minors and vulnerable adults. This comprehensive program aims to protect the most vulnerable from all types of abuse while raising…

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A former Louisiana deacon says his own son was sexually abused by a priest. After the deacon left the church, he said he just learned he was excommunicated.

WDSU investigative reporter Aubry Killion uncovered a new video of the convicted priest being questioned.

Warning: the details in this story are graphic.

“It’s a graver sin to leave the church than it is to rape, molest, abuse, or take advantage of men, women, children. That’s an institution that I can’t be a part of,” Scott Peyton said.

Peyton resigned as a deacon for the Diocese of Lafayette last year.

He says he got a letter this month from the Diocese of Lafayette letting him know he was being excommunicated.

“They levied this punishment on me while the priest who molested my son, the day he walks out of prison, will be able to go to any Catholic Church, receive sacraments, will…

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Studies in Germany suggest that abuse in the country’s Protestant congregations, like that in Catholic communities, is also linked to a type of institutionalized clericalism.

The sizable number of abuse cases in the Catholic Church in Germany became known for the first time in 2010. Since then, the Church has been striving to process these cases. At their plenary assembly on September 25, 2018, the German Bishops’ Conference (DBK) published a study documenting cases of abuse between 1946 and 2014. At the end of 2020, the Protestant Church of Germany (Die Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland) also began research on sexual abuse in their Churches. On January 25, 2024, this study was made public. What these two studies have in common is the role that clericalism plays in sexual abuse in Christian communities, local Churches, religious congregations, and organizations.

In the area of sexual abuse, it is clear that listening to…

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In their new book, Surviving God: A New Vision of God Through the Eyes of Sexual Abuse Survivors, Grace Ji-Sun Kim and Susan Shaw offer a feminist and intersectional understanding of God that challenges traditional ways of Christian thinking.

Kim and Shaw deconstruct patriarchal understandings of God as masculine and violent, replacing this male-centered God with one informed by the stories of sexual abuse survivors.

Surviving God is filled with testimonies and poems written by survivors of sexual abuse, carefully placed within a robust cultural, theological and scriptural analysis of the systems and frameworks churches use to perpetuate and justify stories alike. They share survivors’ thoughts on how the church’s response, or lack thereof, deeply impacted their ability to heal psychologically and spiritually, and present ways Christian theology can bear a healthier and more responsible image of God.

One of those abuse survivors, Kim and Shaw explain, is Jesus himself.

In chapter 8,…

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This is the story of how one of Australia’s top Catholic Bishops was brought down by a 7NEWS investigation. Chris Reason’s exclusive reporting about the alleged crimes of the Bishop of Broome landed on the desk of the Pope, and led to history being made – the first Papal investigation in Australia.

[To view program on Youtube, click here.]

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Complaints against an English priest named to become a bishop also triggered a Vos estis lux mundi investigation into his own diocesan bishop, who was accused of failing to handle the allegations appropriately. 

Canon Christopher Whitehead of the Diocese of Clifton has returned to parish ministry, the diocese announced in a brief statement on March 22, after a preliminary investigation into allegations raised against him determined there was no cause to initiate a full canonical proceeding.

But while the priest has now returned to parish ministry, the circumstances which led to his canceled episcopal promotion caused a major headache for multiple Vatican departments, and led to a Vatican-ordered investigation into Bishop Declan Lang of Clifton, who resigned weeks after the investigation began.

The Vatican announced Dec. 15, 2023 that Whitehead had been selected by Pope Francis to become the next Bishop of the Diocese of Plymouth, with his episcopal consecration scheduled for…

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Survivors’ coalition accuses insurers of ‘egregious delay tactics,’ but those companies argue criminal conduct may not be subject to policy coverage.

ALBANY — A coalition representing alleged survivors of child sexual abuse are calling on state lawmakers to investigate the insurance industry’s practices as many of those companies — which have provided policies to New York Catholic dioceses dating back decades — are fighting efforts to have the insurers pay settlements to victims.

The Coalition for Just and Compassionate Compensation, which bills itself as an independent alliance of survivors of child sex abuse, sent a letter Wednesday to state Sen. Neil Breslin and Assemblyman David Weprin, who chair their chambers’ insurance committees, requesting that they convene public hearings and examine whether the insurers are complying with the intent of the New York’s Child Victims Act.

The outreach by the coalition, whose members also include attorneys representing victims of clergy sex abuse, comes as…

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[See also Bishop J. Douglas Deshotel’s decree removing Deacon Scott Peyton’s faculties to function as a cleric and declaring him excommunicated.]

Toward the end of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus uses unsparing language in his condemnation of certain religious leaders of his era. He concedes the leaders’ authority, telling the people gathered that they should listen to their leaders’ instructions. “But” he adds, “do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice.”

He continued: “They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them. All their works are performed to be seen. …They love places of honor at banquets, seats of honor in synagogues, greetings in marketplaces, and the salutation ‘Rabbi.’ “

That reading comes easily to mind with the recent news from the Diocese of Lafayette, Louisiana, where a permanent deacon…

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The Polish state Internal Security Agency March 26 raided three houses run by the the Priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus as part of an ongoing investigation by Poland’s new government into funding the congregation received from the previous government for its ministry for victims of abuse.

Sacred Heart Father Michal Olszewski, who leads the ministry, was arrested March 26, along with three former employees of the Ministry of Justice, and connected to the Justice Fund under the former Polish Law and Justice government.

The congregation has been in the middle of a political storm since early this year because of a Justice Fund investigation.

Accused of having “no experience” in the field, the congregation’s foundation didn’t receive the last batch of the funding — $7.5 million. Creators of the ministry told OSV News the funding is “indispensable to finish construction and start helping those abused both in society…

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Maryland Child Victims Act was enacted last year, allowing child sex abuse lawsuits to be filed by survivors, regardless of how long ago the acts occurred.

To speed up an inevitable constitutional challenge to Maryland’s Child Victims Act (CVA), which removed the statute of limitations from any child sex abuse lawsuits filed in the state, a federal judge has cleared the way for a case against the Mormon church to move straight to the Maryland Supreme Court.

The Maryland Child Victims Act of 2023 went into effect at the beginning of October, allowing claims to be filed against abusers and institutions that enabled the conduct, regardless of how long ago the acts occurred. The legislation has been hailed as a landmark achievement for survivors of childhood sexual abuse, since many individuals are unable to reach a point where they seek justice until long after the typical statute of limitations has expired.

…

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A PRRI survey finds that around one-quarter (26%) of Americans now identify as religiously unaffiliated, a number that has risen over the last decade and is now the largest single religious group in the U.S.

People in the U.S. are leaving and switching faith traditions in large numbers. The idea of “religious churning” is very common in America, according to a new survey from the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI).

It finds that around one-quarter (26%) of Americans now identify as religiously unaffiliated, a number that has risen over the last decade and is now the largest single religious group in the U.S. That’s similar to what other surveys and polls have also found, including Pew Research.

PRRI found that the number of those who describe themselves as “nothing in particular” has held steady since 2013, but those who identify as atheists have doubled (from 2% to 4%) and those…

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In response to this published letter to the editor, the writer is misinformed and very much off base.  Had they paid attention to the eight years of their Catholic education, or bothered to learn more about their faith and the Church in their adulthood, they’d first of all know there is no Archdiocese of Arlington.  They’d know the difference between an Archdiocese and a Diocese; Arlington is the latter, led by a Bishop.  And an extremely good one at that, who is a man of great integrity and a true spiritual leader.

Second, the Diocese has an extraordinarily good record regarding these horrible abuse cases which plague not just the Catholic church, but all institutions.  Financially, the Diocese is solid, and while other Diocese are aging in their priesthood, Arlington stands proudly among numerous others nationwide who are ordaining exceptional young men to the priesthood, in numbers increasing their ranks. …

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The Archdiocese of Arlington is proposing a new facility in Front Royal despite 37 archdioceses in America declaring bankruptcy to avoid financial accountability for the over 11,000 accusations of abusing children in this country.

Many in Warren County sure seemed worried about some books possibly harming kids but not at all about the actual abuses of children by members of the clergy in the Catholic Church.

If all Catholics answer to one pope, then why is the Archdiocese of Arlington morally shielded from the fiscal and legal responsibility of their brethren in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, Oakland, or 35 other dioceses in the US alone? Are they not their brother’s keeper? They have money to expand here but not tend their flock? Surely God’s laws supersede organizational jurisdiction.

The Catholic Church has shown little to no good faith in their response to victims or prevention, for decades. This could well be an attempt by this…

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Accuser says priest assaulted him as teenager

The Diocese of Manchester has settled a child sexual abuse claim from the 1970s involving a former priest.

No lawsuit was filed because the alleged abuse happened outside the statute of limitations, but the attorney representing the John Doe who was involved said it’s important for survivors to come forward as part of the healing process.Advertisement

Attorney Mitchell Garabedian said his client was sexually abused when he was a teenager in 1973 and 1974 by the Rev. Alfred Jannetta. He said Jannetta gave the child alcohol and marijuana before abusing him at St. Paul Church in Franklin, which is now known as St. Gabriel Parish.

Garabedian said the accuser also said he was abused by an unknown priest at Camp Fatima in Gilmanton Ironworks when he was 8 years old.

Garabedian and Bob Hoatson, the president of the nonprofit organization Road to Recovery,…

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The Diocese of Manchester has agreed to settle a claim of child sexual abuse from the 1970s against a former priest, an attorney for the victim announced Tuesday.

Attorney Mitchell Garabedian said his client, whom he referred to as a “courageous childhood clergy sexual abuse victim,” settled a claim with Diocese “in the low six figures” through a settlement program.

According to Garabedian, the man was sexually abused when he was about 15 or 16 by the Rev. Alfred L. Jannetta, when the priest was assigned to St. Paul’s Church in Franklin around 1973 and 1974.

“Fr. Jannetta would sexually abuse the innocent child after giving the child alcohol and marijuana to consume,” Garabedian said in an email. “At least one incident occurred in the church rectory and one incident occurred near the church in Fr. Jannetta’s car.”

Garabedian said no lawsuit was filed because the statute of limitations had…

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Over 140 individuals have sued the archdiocese alleging sexual abuse by more than 100 priests and diocese staff

Victims of sexual assault by Catholic clergy and their supporters marched in Quebec City on March 26 to raise awareness and encourage others to speak out against abusers within the Church.

More than 140 people filed a class action lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Quebec in Canada in 2022, claiming to have been sexually assaulted by more than 100 priests or diocese staff.

Some of the archdiocese’s top leaders, including Cardinal Gerald Cyprien Lacroix, a close advisor to the pope, as well as Cardinal Marc Ouellet, once considered a strong candidate to be pope, are among the accused. Both deny the allegations.

The mostly older march participants planted crosses symbolizing the victims in front of the city’s Notre-Dame basilica.

One woman in the crowd, who said she had been a victim of…

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A Louisiana man, who worked as a Catholic deacon and whose son was sexually assaulted by his priest as a child, has been excommunicated by his former bishop. As far as SNAP can tell, no perpetrator has ever faced this harsh ecclesiastical penalty. We call on the faithful who are appalled by this action to contact the bishop and express their dismay.

Scott Peyton’s excommunication from the Church on March 13, 2024, at the hands of Diocese of Lafayette Bishop J. Douglas Deshotel, seems to us to be vindictive, unnecessary, and likely to have a chilling effect on those victims and their families who are also believers. While Scott had worked as a deacon in the Diocese alongside his son Oliver’s abuser, Fr. Michael Guidry, Scott had already stepped away from this position in December, telling the Bishop at the same time that he and…

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Lawrence Hecker, 92, has been charged with first-degree rape, among other crimes.

Name: Lawrence Hecker

Age: 86 or 87

Position: Diocesan priest in Archdiocese of New Orleans

Served where: St. Mary in New Roads; Christ the King in Terrytown; Holy Family in Luling; Holy Rosary in New Orleans ; Our Lady of Lourdes in New Orleans; St. Anthony in Luling; St. Bernadette in Houma; St. Charles Borromeo (in residence); St. Frances Cabrini; St. Francis Xavier in Metairie; St. Joseph in Gretna; St. Louise de Marillac in Arabi; St. Theresa of Child Jesus

Ordained: 1958

Estimated time of abuse: Late 1960s, 1970s

Allegation received: 1996

Lawsuits filed/previous known allegations: Name included on list that Archdiocese of New Orleans released in late 2018

Removed from ministry: 2002

Current status: Public records say he still lives in Louisiana

Details: The archdiocese of New Orleans said a credible accusation of abuse led to Hecker’s removal from ministry in 2002. Further details are unknown.

The trial…

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The Diocese of Columbus, Ohio has updated and tightened its standards of conduct for addressing abuse allegations, reporting, and preventing sexual abuse.

According to the Catholic Standard, the diocese published the original standards of conduct in 2002, and were modified again in 2016. This year, the diocese issued a new update in line with the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People adopted by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. 

The updates are in the 112-page Diocese of Columbus Safe Environment Manual. According to the Standard, the policies

establish norms of appropriate clerical and lay conduct toward minors and the vulnerable and apply to all priests, deacons and members of religious orders in the diocese, as well as teachers in diocesan schools, parish and school employees, persons in positions of lay ministry and anyone else in a person of trust who is…

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The insidious and chronic nature of church sexual abuse is an outgrowth of patriarchal concepts of the divine that provide theological cover for abusers and shame for their victims, said the authors of a new book on theologies of abuse.

Language depicting God as “father,” “king,” “master,” coupled with an emphasis on the omnipotence and omniscience of God, is problematic because it emanates from patriarchy, said Susan M. Shaw, co-author of Surviving God, A New Vision of God Through the Eyes of Sexual Abuse Survivors.

“These are the characteristics we associate with men, and having a God like that essentially reinforces and justifies men having exclusive power over women, children, feminized men and marginalized other people,” Shaw said during a recent episode of “The State of Belief,” a podcast moderated by Interfaith Alliance President Paul Raushenbush.

“We really wanted to explore the ways those images, that language and those beliefs have…

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Authorities have jailed a Georgia pastor in the Sovereign Grace Churches network on preliminary charges stemming from a child abuse investigation, reports indicate.

Russell Jon Tusing II, 44, is being held without bond in the Troup County Detention Center on a felony charge of child molestation and a misdemeanor charge of sexual battery, according to jail records.

After Tusing’s arrest last Friday, police told the LaGrange Daily News that Tusing pastors Sovereign Grace Church of LaGrange, a small city southwest of Atlanta, along the border with Alabama.

The church is one of more than 130 congregations affiliated with Sovereign Grace Churches. Tusing is no longer listed on the local church’s website, which previously stated he “has faithfully served as the lead pastor” since 2011, cached results on search engines show.

Tusing was appointed the church’s pastor in August 2011 after…

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Leaders at Community Christian Church are speaking out for the first time since the church’s pastor was recently arrested on child sex crime charges.

As we reported, pastor Errol Wright was arrested and charged with Sexual Misconduct with a Minor, Child Seduction, and Child Solicitation after an investigation.

Affidavit details child sex abuse accusations made against Tell City pastor

• Adam Kight

Officials at the church say they waited to release a statement because of how heavily involved Wright’s family is in the church.

The statement also addresses a “misunderstanding,” and says that none of the church’s money went to paying Wright’s bail.

Statement from Community Christian Church concerning arrest of Errol Wright:

“We have felt the same shock and hurt as the community concerning the recent incident involving our previous pastor.  We neglected to release a statement until now because his family is heavily involved in the church, and we wished to…

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The Louisiana Supreme Court has ruled that the state’s temporary suspension of the statute of limitations for child sex abuse is unconstitutional, a 4-3 decision likely to be seen as a win for the state’s Catholic hierarchy.

The three-year “lookback window” was opened in June 2021 and allowed individuals to file abuse lawsuits regardless of when the incidents are alleged to have occurred. The change in law, stemming from a case against the Diocese of Lafayette, had faced various legal challenges and was taken up by the state’s high court in late 2023.

“We are constrained to find the statutory enactment is contrary to the due process protections enshrined in our [state] constitution and must yield to that supreme law,” reads the majority opinion released on March 22.

“Accordingly, we reverse in part, and vacate in part, finding the trial court erred in overruling the…

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There is surprising pushback against a constitutional amendment that would allow child sex assault survivors to bring civil claims no matter how long ago their abuse happened. Republicans in the Colorado Senate are threatening to prevent the measure from making the ballot. 

They’re worried it would lead to lawsuits against churches, schools and other institutions that they say would have no way of defending themselves because the cases happened so long ago.

Under the amendment, survivors could sue both their abusers and those who covered up the abuse. 

The legislature passed a similar law three years ago, but the Colorado Supreme Court struck it down, saying the Constitution prohibits retroactive cases.

While many Republicans helped pass the law, they are now refusing to refer the constitutional amendment to the ballot unless institutions are exempted.

Child sex assault survivors such as Angie Witt say the opposition makes no sense. Witt says…

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Roger Vangheluwe, former bishop of Brugge, was suspended from ministry in 2010 for sex abuse of minors; his dismissal from the clerical state was long awaited in Belgium

Pope Francis has laicized Belgian prelate Roger Vangheluwe, the former bishop of Brugge who was suspended in 2010 after admitting to abusing his young male nephews for over a decade beginning even before his ordination to the episcopacy.

The pope made the decision to permanently remove the 87-year-old Vangheluwe from the clerical state on March 10 and the news was communicated to him this past Wednesday. The move brings an end to a long affair that had dragged on for fourteen years. Belgium’s statute of limitations prevented Vangheluwe from being prosecuted for these crimes.

But the Belgian bishops had been urging the pope to laicize him for the past several years.  A few months ago, his case again became a source of…

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Michael Hobbs, a former priest of the Diocese of Westminster, was sentenced, on 25 March 2024, at the Old Bailey, to 12 years’ imprisonment, following conviction of non-recent sexual abuse.

The Diocese of Westminster is deeply sorry for the hurt that he caused to his victims, their families and the wider community, and acknowledges the gravity of the abuse he inflicted.

The Diocese of Westminster has cooperated with the police and statutory authorities throughout the investigation.

Michael Hobbs was stood down from ministry in 2000, and laicised in 2002.

The Diocese of Westminster is committed to the safeguarding of all children and vulnerable adults in its care. Over the past two decades, in conjunction with the Catholic Church in England and Wales, we have developed robust safeguarding policies and procedures, which have been put in place across parishes, chaplaincies, schools and agencies of the diocese to provide protection for children…

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Reactions have poured in since the Oblates of Mary Immaculate published the Report of the Oblate Safeguarding Commission, authored by retired Superior Court of Quebec Justice André Denis, on March 19. The most consequential revelation of this 57-page report is that Rivoire was guilty, based on the “preponderance of evidence,” of sexually assaulting five minors in Naujaat, Nunavut, between 1968 and 1970, and one in Arviat and Whale Cove, Nunavut, between 1974 and 1979.

Fr. Ken Thorson, OMI, wrote in an email that “many have expressed their gratitude for the comprehensiveness of Justice Denis’ investigation and the clarity of the report.” Others told the provincial superior of OMI Lacombe their hopes that the findings “might offer some validation for those people (victims, families and supporters) who have long advocated for justice in this case.”

Tanya Tungilik, the daughter of the late Marius Tungilik, who accused Rivoire of sexual abuse, told…

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Books by Marko Rupnik, the Jesuit who’s been banned from public ministry for raping nuns, are featured at a prominent book store a few steps from St. Peter’s Square

The “Libreria San Paolo” is the largest bookstore on the Via della Conciliazione, the broad avenue that leads from the Tiber River up to St. Peter’s Basilica. Each day you can find priests, women religious, seminarians and tourists – even bishops and cardinals – browsing through the store’s countless volumes on spirituality, scripture or theology. As they mingle through the shelves, they pass by display tables featuring a broad selection of the latest titles or recommendations from the bookstore’s staff.

And among them are works by Father Marko Rupnik, the world-famous mosaic artist. He’s the Slovenian Jesuit who’s been accused of raping numerous women religious and is at the center of a continuing scandal. The…

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Attorneys involved in the Archdiocese of New Orleans bankruptcy process said Monday they were evaluating how a major ruling by the Louisiana Supreme Court that makes it harder for victims of childhood sexual abuse to sue their accusers will impact the long-running case and the 550 survivors of child sex abuse who claim they were sexually abused by local Roman Catholic clergy.

In a decision that surprised the local legal community and victim advocacy groups nationwide, a split Supreme Court court ruled 4-3 last week that a pair of state laws creating a “lookback window” for survivors of childhood sex abuse to file legal claims was unconstitutional.

The laws had granted child sex abuse survivors a three-year window to sue, regardless of when the alleged abuse took place. But the state’s high court said that the laws violated the due process of alleged perpetrators.

“This is a very, very, serious decision…

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A Louisiana deacon declared excommunicated this month had formally joined an Anglican parish community, before his bishop declared that he had incurred a formal canonical penalty.

Deacon Scott Peyton’s excommunication has garnered national attention, because the deacon’s defection from the Church came after his son was abused by a priest. 

The excommunication itself has been framed in local media reports as a direct response to the deacon’s criticism of diocesan policies and approaches to sexual abuse allegations.

But while that framing does not seem supported by available information, the case raises questions about episcopal decision-making, and transparency, in a gravely difficult pastoral circumstance.

—
In 2015, Deacon Scott Peyton’s 16-year-old son was molested by Fr. Michael Guidry, a priest of the Diocese of Lafayette Louisiana, where Deacon Scott is incardinated. 

Guidry was convicted of plying Peyton’s son with alcohol and sexually assaulting him after the boy passed out. During depositions in…

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In 2017, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse found that within the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle, priests had perpetuated crimes of abuse for at least 30 years. Serious allegations were mismanaged, misplaced or ignored. Crimes were minimised. “Abusive and predatory” behaviour was wrongly portrayed as “consensual”.

In her new book, Crimes of the Cross, journalist Anne Manne provides an intricate and compelling account of how multiple diocesan clergy and leaders covered up allegations, protected priests who were known perpetrators and failed to care for survivors.

Manne builds on the groundbreaking work of Newcastle Herald journalist Joanne McCarthy, whose investigations, starting in 2006, led to the establishment of the 2012 royal commission. Manne’s writing is informed by a variety of source materials, including interviews with McCarthy and various survivors, and evidence from the royal commission.

On the first page, Manne warns us this story is about a…

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Hostility towards Christianity is now pervasive in every single aspect of our Australian society. There is no exaggeration in stating that we are now both a majority non-Christian nation and openly antagonistic to orthodox Christianity. According to Michael Sexton SC, the Solicitor-General of New South Wales since 1998, “the forces of political correctness” are presently “waging a war” on everything that is regarded as inconsistent with their own secular “articles of faith”. These zealots, Mr Sexton continues, desire to eradicate from the public square anything that is inconsistent with their own radical  and secular worldview. They have developed “a hostility to all forms of Christian religion but especially the Catholic Church”, he says.[1] 

This hostility is neatly illustrated in Supreme Injustice, Guilty Until Proven Not Catholic. This book, authored by Fr John Fleming, a Catholic priest, details his utterly abominable treatment by the Australian court system. The book is an…

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A Louisiana priest was convicted in the sexual abuse of the ex-deacon’s son. What followed was a lawsuit and now the Catholic Church’s highest censure.

A Catholic priest who sexually assaulted an altar boy in Louisiana is in prison, and a diocese has paid a settlement to the victim’s family. Now the diocese’s bishop has punished the victim’s father, a former deacon, with the Church’s highest censure: excommunication.

It was the latest turn in a yearslong battle pitting the former deacon, Scott Peyton, and his family against the Diocese of Lafayette.

The Peytons and the diocese have found themselves on opposing sides of a state law that gave childhood sexual abuse victims more time to file lawsuits.

The law, which was passed in the State Legislature in 2021 but struck down on Friday by the state’s highest court, did not apply exclusively to victims of clergy abuse….

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“Bad timing?” Behar said after Goldberg — who visited Pope Francis in October — glared at her.

Whoopi Goldberg — who famously once gifted Pope Francis with Sister Act merch and also wants to send the Vatican “some bees” — had quite the reaction to cohost Joy Behar‘s confession on The View.

Tuesday’s live broadcast closed with what could’ve been a sweet moment of friends trading stories about Broadway plays, as the table’s Republican seat-holder Alyssa Farah Griffin innocently brought up a recent show she enjoyed in New York City, which seemingly prompted Behar to recall a production she enjoyed as well: “I could recommend one too! I saw Doubt the other day, with Liev Schreiber,” the 81-year-old said, referencing John Patrick Shanley’s popular play about a nun who suspects a priest of abusing a young boy. “Very interesting, about the abuse scandal in the Catholic church!”

The camera then cut to…

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The Roman Catholic Church has finally admitted that some of its Clergy engaged in sexual abuse of minors. Millions have been/are being paid out to victims/survivors. Yet where is their deep dive into the root cause analysis of this ghastly behavior in the first place? Or have I just missed it all these years?

— Christy Bergland, Baltimore 

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A permanent deacon in the Diocese of Lafayette, Louisiana, whose then-teenage son was molested by the priest he once served alongside, is now excommunicated after leaving his ministry, because he formally left the Catholic Church, according to the recent decree written by his bishop.

“I’m very surprised — I assumed at some point that they would possibly laicize me, but excommunication … that thought never crossed my mind,” Deacon Scott Peyton, who was ordained in 2012 and had served until December 2023, told OSV News. He provided OSV News a digital copy of the March 13 letter he had received from Bishop J. Douglas Deshotel of Lafayette.

The document — printed on the bishop’s letterhead, signed by both Bishop Deshotel and the diocesan chancellor, and marked with the diocesan seal — acknowledged Deacon Peyton’s Dec. 4, 2023, email stating what the deacon called his intention to resign from the diaconate…

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Appointments, departures, exchanges, and meetings in the 41st year of the clerical sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church In Rome, the only hope for victims is the appointment of Col. Teresa Morris Kettelkamp, a retired Illinois police officer, to the commission to prevent abuses. The new secretary general, the auxiliary bishop of Bogotá, Luis Manuel Alí Herrera, lacks any record that speaks of interest in resolving the sexual abuse crisis.

The most relevant news in March regarding the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church were the appointments, on March 15, the day that used to be called Ides in the ancient Roman calendar, Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, known as Tutela Minorum or simply as Tutela, by its name in Latin.

Although these appointments could be seen as signs of some movement on this matter, the reality is that the solution to the crisis is rather…

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AUGSBURG ‐ Ein heute 39-Jähriger wirft vier Geistlichen Übergriffe vor – darunter der ehemalige Augsburger Bischof Walter Mixa. Nach seiner Anzeige erfolgten Ermittlungen in der Schweiz und Deutschland. Die wurden nun eingestellt. Auch der Grund ist bekannt.

Die Staatsanwaltschaft Augsburg ermittelt nicht mehr gegen den emeritierten Augsburger Bischof Walter Mixa. Gegenüber der “Augsburger Allgemeinen” (Donnerstag) teilte Oberstaatsanwalt Andreas Dobler mit, dass die Ermittlungen wegen eines Verdachts auf Nötigung Anfang März eingestellt wurden. Gegenüber katholisch.de erläuterte Dobler am Donnerstag, dass das Verfahren aufgrund von Verjährung eingestellt wurde. Mixa wurde durch einen heute 39-jährigen beschuldigt, ihn im Jahr 2012 gegen seinen Willen am Kopf umklammert und auf den Mund geküsst zu haben. Der Mann habe in einer eidesstattlichen Versicherung einen Übergriff in der Sakristei einer Hauskapelle am Arbeitsplatz des Mannes geschildert. Die Staatsanwaltschaft hatte ihn als Zeugen einvernommen. Mixa wies die Vorwürfe über eine Anwältin “auf das Schärfste als unwahr” zurück.

Die…

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Third-party investigation into accusations is under way

As Southern Baptists across the country grapple with allegations of sexual abuse dating back decades, leaders of an Oklahoma church are looking into a case of a former minister who was accused of abusing a teenager in 2006.

The current leaders of First Baptist Church of Broken Arrow have been responding to the accusations, in part, because their counterparts in 2006 did not notify police about the allegations. They also are investigating whether church leaders back then ever alerted the congregation at that time.

The church’s investigation into long-ago accusations of sex abuse are part of an ongoing effort by the Southern Baptist Convention to reckon with a decades-long pattern of mishandling or concealing allegations that resulted in the current crisis facing the faith group.

The eastern Oklahoma church, one of the larger Southern Baptist churches in the state, with average weekly attendance of…

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In January, Fr. Jerome Kaywell, a priest at Sacred Heart Punta Gorda, in the Diocese of Venice, Florida, was accused of sexual misconduct dating back to the winter of 2013-2014. The accused, whose name has not been made public, was a minor at the time, but is now an adult. When the diocese learned of the accusations, Kaywell was removed from ministry pending an internal review. The authorities were immediately notified.

On February 13, the diocese received a letter from the law firm representing the alleged victim. The accuser withdrew the charges, apologized and blamed the accusation on a “false memory.” On March 14, the diocesan review board concluded that there was no evidence of wrongdoing, and Fr. Kaywell was allowed to resume his ministry. 

There are a lot of problems with what happened.

• Why do we know the name of the accused but not the accuser?
• Why did it take…

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A former Long Island high school girls volleyball coach was arrested Thursday and charged with raping one of his teenage players.

Shock and outrage swept across Sacred Heart Academy after 22-year-old Jason Maser, a former volleyball coach for the all-girls Catholic school, was accused of raping a 15-year-old player while working part-time as her coach at the college prep school in Hempstead.

“It’s scary,” one person said.

“It’s horrible that someone would take advantage of their position,” parent Sheena Falloon said.

The charges against Maser include rape, criminal sexual act and endangering the welfare of a child.

His mother remained silent while walking out of his arraignment Friday, but the family’s lawyer said bail of $75,000 in cash or a $150,000 bond was unfair.

“Obviously the bail set was very high. We’re going to get Jason out, and we’ll deal with the case going…

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The Vatican and the German bishops have announced they will work together to resolve the controversial German Synodal Way.

In a joint press release, the two parties on March 22 said further meetings would “develop concrete forms of synodality in the Church in Germany, which are in accordance with the ecclesiology of the Second Vatican Council, the requirements of canon law, and the results of the world Synod, and which will subsequently be submitted to the Holy See for approval.”

According to the press release by the German Bishops’ Conference (DBK) and the Holy See on Friday evening, the meeting lasted “the entire day.” It was characterized by “a positive and constructive atmosphere.”

The press release continued: “It was possible to discuss some of the open theological questions raised in the documents of the Synodal Way of the Catholic Church in Germany,” saying “differences and points of agreement were identified.”

…

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Since the national “reforms” adopted by all U.S. Catholic Bishops in 2002, there have now been four criminal convictions of Toledo Catholic diocesan clergy. Three clerics were convicted in federal court for sexual crimes involving minors and one priest was convicted in state court for murder.

The lineup of felon priests includes most recently Father Michael J. Zacharias, who this week was formally defrocked by the Vatican. Catholic church officials will act as though the bad acts of yet one more Toledo Diocesan cleric is neatly wrapped up with a bow.

Except it’s not.

Many questions remain unanswered, and much work remains to be done to protect kids, expose corruption and heal victims.

Zacharias was convicted in December 2023 by federal authorities on multiple charges of sexual crimes, including human trafficking.

He “manipulated and coerced drug-addicted boys and men into sex” and made a “confession video” in which he performed…

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Pope Francis did not create the crisis of credibility or the failure of leadership culture that precipitated it, but he has not made either any better. In fact, his conduct of the office entrusted to him has made things very much worse.

Pope Francis has defrocked a Belgian bishop, 87-year-old Roger Vangheluwe, who is among the most notorious high-ranking clerics ever to face consequences for his perverse and criminal behavior.

Good, one might say, but the defrocking—more precisely the “reduction to the lay state”—highlights entrenched structural and cultural problems all centered for the moment on the reigning pope, Francis.

The Vangheluwe case in brief

Vangheluwe’s crimes began to come to light fourteen years ago. Benedict XVI let Vangheluwe go into early and honorable retirement, even though he had admitted to the sexual abuse of his own nephew over a…

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The unanimous state legislation has been ruled unconstitutional in a split decision hinging on the due process clause of the Louisiana Constitution.

The Louisiana Supreme Court has ruled that the state’s temporary suspension of the statute of limitations for child sex abuse is unconstitutional, a 4-3 decision likely to be seen as a win for the state’s Catholic hierarchy.

The three-year “lookback window” was opened in June 2021 and allowed individuals to file abuse lawsuits regardless of when the incidents are alleged to have occurred. The change in law, stemming from a case against the Diocese of Lafayette, had faced various legal challenges and was taken up by the state’s high court in late 2023.

“We are constrained to find the statutory enactment is contrary to the due process protections enshrined in our [state] constitution and must yield to that supreme law,” reads the majority opinion released on…

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The sexual abuse of children by Catholic sisters and nuns has been overshadowed by far more common reports of male clergy abuse.

Women in religious orders have been not only abuse victims but also perpetrators, though few dioceses or religious orders publicly name abusive nuns. Survivors of nun abuse hope to raise awareness of the issue. Each week a support group for them gathers online. Among its members is Gabrielle Longhi, who is suing her alleged abuser’s religious order and her former Catholic school, Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart, in Bethesda, Maryland. Her case exists because of a new law in Maryland removing the civil statute of limitations for child sex abuse victims.

On Wednesdays, the support group meets over Zoom. The members talk about their lives, their religious families and their old parochial schools. But mostly, they are there to talk about the sexual abuse they…

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• In short: The ribbons will be removed from the fence outside St Patrick’s Cathedral in Ballarat on Saturday. 
• The bishop’s office says the ageing fence needs to be repainted. 
• What’s next? Organisation Loud Fence wants the parish to meaningfully consult with survivors of abuse about the future of the ribbons. 

Thousands of colourful ribbons tied to the fence of a regional Victorian cathedral as a show of support for survivors of child sexual abuse are set to be removed.

The Diocese of Ballarat says it will remove ribbons tied outside St Patrick’s Cathedral on Saturday morning, for the ageing wrought-iron fence to be painted. 

It is unclear at this stage whether the ribbons will be returned to the fence or how they may be stored into the future. 

Bishop Paul Bird’s office says the parish will continue to consult with survivors of sexual abuse and Loud Fence organisers to decide the…

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The Catholic Church’s “established, dogmatic models of the theological approach to sexuality have become anachronistic,” a moral theologian told a conference on sexuality and culture at the John Paul II Pontifical Institute for Marriage and Family Sciences in Rome.

Developing a new theological ethics of sexuality is “a task for the entire church community,” Salesian Father Ronaldo Zacharias, a professor of moral theology at the Salesian University of São Paulo, told the conference March 21.

“We cannot ignore that in recent decades there has been a remarkable evolution regarding terminologies, concepts and descriptions related to sexuality,” he said, noting the strong influence such developments have had on people’s conceptions of their own sexuality.

The church, therefore, “should not talk about sexuality without considering the understanding we have of it today,” he said, while also keeping in mind potential problems with modern understandings of sexuality.

Citing the Brazilian theologian Augustinian Sister…

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Several German bishops were due to meet with top Vatican officials today, while the two sides are openly at odds over the reform of Church governance

Just hours before the start of Holy Week, several of the highest-ranking officials of the Roman Curia are facing a challenging meeting — the latest round of talks, which was due to take place Friday, with a delegation of Catholic bishops specially convened from Germany.

On the agenda for the March 22 gathering was to be the dialogue, initiated several years ago, between the Holy See and the Church in Germany regarding the German “Synodal Path” and its implications. This initiative, with the Catholic bishops and lay leaders of Germany launched in 2019 in response to the clergy sex abuse crisis, has fueled numerous tensions between the Vatican and the German bishops.Further reading: Why Pope Francis wants no repeat of the German “Synodal Path”

Closed-door…

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The legislation would give those who suffered sexual abuse while in the Boy Scouts the ability to press claims against the organization.

The Alabama House of Representatives Thursday approved a bill that would allow Alabamians who suffered sexual abuse while in the Boys Scouts of America to press claims against the organization.

SB 18, sponsored by Sen. Merika Coleman, D-Pleasant Grove, and carried in the House by Rep. Matt Simpson, R-Daphne, a former Baldwin County child victims prosecutor, would lift the state’s statute of limitations for civil claims on sexual abuse to allow those abused in the Boy Scouts of America to file claims with The Scouting Settlement Trust.

“There was a fund that was created for assets for members with a settlement trust from people in the boy scouts who were affected by sexual abuse. This would allow Alabama citizens to be able to recover…

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Amendment to state constitution concerning statute of limitations is simple but would be substantial in safeguarding children

In November, Colorado voters will have a voice in saving children from sexual predators and those who harbor them. Coloradans will be able to do more than watch stories about the frightening epidemic of child sexual abuse; they can be part of the solution by using their voice at the ballot box to benefit children.

That’s if the General Assembly lets them.

The Child Sexual Abuse Accountability Act (SCR 24-001) will allow voters to make a small and narrow change to Colorado’s Constitution that will give the General Assembly the authority to pass retroactive laws for claims of child sexual abuse. Colorado’s Constitution framers did not know about the epidemic of child sexual abuse. They did not know about the science of trauma or delayed disclosure. They did not…

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Since the national “reforms” adopted by all U.S. Catholic Bishops in 2002, there have now been four criminal convictions of Toledo Catholic diocesan clergy. Three clerics were convicted in federal court for sexual crimes involving minors and one priest was convicted in state court for murder.

The lineup of felon priests includes most recently Father Michael J. Zacharias, who this week was formally defrocked by the Vatican. Catholic church officials will act as though the bad acts of yet one more Toledo Diocesan cleric is neatly wrapped up with a bow.

Except it’s not.

Many questions remain unanswered, and much work remains to be done to protect kids, expose corruption and heal victims.

Zacharias was convicted in December 2023 by federal authorities on multiple charges of sexual crimes, including human trafficking.

He “manipulated and coerced drug-addicted boys and men into sex” and made a “confession video” in which he performed…

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The rape trial of 92-year-old Catholic priest Lawrence Hecker will not start as scheduled Monday in Orleans Parish Criminal District Court because Hecker’s mental competency has not yet been evaluated.

It’s unclear when that evaluation will happen or how long the trial will be delayed.

Hecker admitted in an August interview with WWL Louisiana and the Guardian newspaper that he had sex with at least three underage boys in the 1960s and 70s. But in that same interview, he denied ever having sex with someone against his will.

A week after that interview, Hecker was arrested and charged with aggravated rape, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated crime against nature and theft for allegedly choking a student unconscious and having sex with him in his church office in 1975 or 1976.

Hecker pled not guilty to those charges last year and his bond was set at more than $800,000. Later, he…

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Belgian ex-bishop and abuser Roger Vangheluwe was found out and admitted to his abuse in 2010. Why was he finally laicized fourteen years later?

Thursday’s news about the defrocking of Roger Vangheluwe has given us an answer to a question raised with some palpable urgency by another high-profile scandal touching the very echelons of power in the Vatican.

The other case is that of Fr. Marko Rupnik, the inveterate creep and serial abuser of mostly religious women, accused but never tried for his alleged crimes, which he committed over three decades, much of which he spent right under the noses of Roman authorities in the Society of Jesus—to which he then belonged—and the Vatican for which he did a lot of work.

Perhaps the past tense of the verb “to do” is not accurate. Rupnik is still listed as a consultant to the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the…

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‘Ohio should not be a safe haven for predators’

Rebecca Surendorff became an advocate for victims of childhood sexual abuse after the arrest of Geoff Drew, a former Cincinnati priest who pleaded guilty in 2021 to raping a 10-year-old altar boy.

Drew was Surendorff’s music teacher at St. Jude Catholic School in Bridgetown in the 1980s. The altar boy was her classmate, Paul Neyer. Surendorff’s daughter was baptized by Drew, who was pastor of St. Ignatius Parish in Green Township when her children went to school there — and Drew was arrested — in 2019.

“He basically had a three-decade pattern of behavior of grooming children in Butler, Hamilton and Montgomery counties, and yet he was able to work with children in both school and churches in our state, despite well-written policies and well-trained parents,” said Surendorff, co-chair of Ohioans for Child Protection. “Few people realize that a second victim…

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Nuns Don’t Just Abuse. Some Enable Abuse

The issue of sexual abuse within the ranks of the Catholic Church has been a headline for many years now. However, a recent Associated Press article has brought to light an equally disturbing aspect of this crisis: the role of some nuns not only as perpetrators of abuse but also as enablers. Yes, tragically, some nuns abuse kids. Tragically, some also ignore or hide abuse by others. And tragically, some punish kids who speak up, thereby deepening their wounds and essentially helping their tormentors. This blog post aims to delve deeper into this grim reality, presenting instances of abuse, the enabling of such behavior by some nuns, and the implications thereof.

Instances of Nuns Enabling Abuse

The sexual victimization of boys and girls by Catholic nuns has sadly re-emerged in recent news, painting a grim picture of reality…

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Survivors are calling the latest court order a “win” in the bankruptcy case of the Baltimore Archdiocese.

A judge issued a new order this week giving survivors of clergy sexual abuse the chance to address the court directly.

“It feels like a big win to me,” Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests spokesperson Teresa Lancaster said.

Survivors had requested the opportunity to testify, saying it would give a meaningful voice to victims, humanize the process and deepen understanding of the case.

“Giving your voice in person, and also the people testifying are talking for hundreds of survivors, and that is more valuable than anything,” Lancaster said.

SNAP director David Lorenz said the testimony is akin to a sentencing hearing in a criminal case.

“I believe giving the impact statement will be healing for survivors, similar to victims giving their impact statements in criminal court,” he said.

Catholic Archbishop William…

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Catholic journalist, editor and author Christopher Altieri is asking the question, “So what?” in response to the Vatican’s recent decision to feature the artwork of disgraced Jesuit priest and artist Marko Rupnik, an “inveterate creep and professional pervert,” in its illustration of St Joseph’s feast in its liturgical calendar. 

“Well,” Altieri began in his fiery March 19 op-ed, “Marko Ivan Rupnik […] is a disgraced celebrity artist-priest and sometime retreat leader credibly accused of spiritually, psychologically, and sexually abusing more than two dozen victims—most of them women religious—over the course of three decades, much of it spent right in Rome.”

The Vatican has incurred significant scrutiny in recent years over its perceived support of Rupnik despite continually assuring the public of its concern for victims of clergy abuse.

“It makes good sense,” said Altieri, for the Vatican to reconsider publicly supporting Rupnik’s art, “even if you don’t care a whit about…

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The Louisiana Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the Diocese of Lafayette in an alleged sexual abuse case. 

The lawsuit, originally filed in 2018 against Saint Martin de Tours Catholic Church, alleges that Rev. Kenneth Morvant abused Doug Bienvenu, the only plaintiff named in the suit, and other altar boys various times between 1971 and 1979. The plaintiffs’ ages at the time of the alleged abuse range from 8 to 14. 

This ruling stems from a 2021 amendment that led to a three-year lookback window. 

The judges decided the Louisiana Legislature went above their constitutional power after they gave the opportunity for the lawsuits to be submitted, meaning any sex abuse case involving clergy filed under that lookback window is not to be heard in court.

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“The organizations that enable and protect child molesters are rejoicing over this ruling,” said attorney Kristi Schubert.

In a split ruling that has major implications for hundreds of child sex abuse victims, the Louisiana Supreme Court has struck down a law that allowed victims to file civil lawsuits over abuse that happened decades ago.

Child molestation victims and their advocates were devastated by the 4-3 ruling.

“Once more the victims and survivors of childhood sex abuse have been denied justice,” said Richard Windmann, president of Survivors of Childhood Sex Abuse. “The institutionalized, systematic, and wholesale rape of our children by these organizations is self-evident. Now we move on to the United States Supreme Court. The final stop is to see if we, as human beings, are going to let these atrocities stand and continue to happen.”

“Predators and institutions that protect predators are going to continue with their bad practices,”…

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The Supreme Court of Louisiana has ruled a law that allows victims of child sex abuse to sue their abusers years after the crime as unconstitutional.

Three justices dissented and assigned reasons. To read the entire ruling, including the dissents, scroll down.

At issue is a lawsuit filed in St. Martin Parish that accuses the church of knowing that the late Rev. Monsignor Kenneth Romain Morvant sexually abused children. The alleged abuse took place in the 1970s at a Catholic church and a Catholic school in St. Martin Parish. To read our story about the suit, click here.

Usually, plaintiffs have a year after the incident or injury at issue to file a lawsuit. That time limit is called “prescription.”

But the Louisiana legislature passed a law in 2021, as many states have, that allows sex abuse victims to file suit during a window of time set by the law. It’s…

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Following allegations John MacArthur failed to protect victims of child abuse, publishers have declined to publish MacArthur’s new book, “The War on Children,” an employee at Grace to You (GTY) confirmed with The Roys Report (TRR).

According to a still-available post on Google Books, “The War on Children: Providing Refuge for Your Children in a Hostile World,” was set to be published in 2022 by Thomas Nelson.

However, MacArthur’s broadcast ministry GTY announced last week that the book would be published by the new MacArthur Publishing Group.

In April 2022, TRR received a tip that Thomas Nelson had canceled its release of “The War on Children.” So, TRR emailed Nelson about the planned release of the book but did not receive a response. We have sent additional emails since then, but have still not heard back from the company.

The tip came about a month after TRR published an exclusive story, revealing that…

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A Jefferson City man was charged with promoting and possession of child pornography Thursday as part of an ongoing investigation by the Boone County Sheriff’s Office Cyber Crimes Task Force. 

Melvin Lahr, 77, was arrested Wednesday and is being held without bond at the Cole County Jail, according to online court records. 

According to court documents, investigators found dozens of images of child sexual abuse material on an online account linked to Lahr. 

When a search warrant was served at Lahr’s home Wednesday, he allegedly admitted to viewing images online for approximately 30 years, court documents said.

Lahr also allegedly admitted to taking photos of two 14-year-old girls and engaging in sexual activity with a minor approximately 20 years ago.

Court documents said Lahr detailed his abuse in an unpublished biography that was in the online account and shared the biography with other “like-minded individuals online.”

The Jefferson City Diocese added Lahr…

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The Diocese of Lafayette excommunicated former deacon Scott Peyton after he resigned and told the diocese that sexual abuse in the Catholic Church and the molestation of his son by a priest had “shaken my faith and trust in the institution.”

Priest Michael Guidry pleaded guilty in 2019 to molesting Peyton’s child, who was 16 at the time, four years earlier. Guidry, 78, provided alcohol to Peyton’s son and molested him in his intoxicated state, according to a related lawsuit and a confession by the priest.

Peyton and Guidry served together at St. Peter’s Church in Morrow, a tiny rural town in the northern reaches of St. Landry Parish. 

On Dec. 4, Peyton wrote to Lafayette Diocese Bishop Douglas Deshotel that after “deep reflection” he had chosen to “leave the Catholic Church and the diaconate” and step away from his position at the Cursillo Training…

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Latest claim alleges Alfred Quigley groomed and sexually battered a student at St. Ann’s Academy in Kamloops

A retired British Columbia Catholic high school teacher with ties to the notorious Mount Cashel Orphanage in Newfoundland is now facing a third civil claim from a former student alleging sexual abuse. 

The latest documents filed in B.C. Supreme Court allege Alfred Patrick Quigley groomed and sexually battered a 17-year-old student at St. Ann’s Academy in Kamloops in 2013.

Quigley, 73, is also named in two previous lawsuits alleging he sexually abused students during tenures at St. Thomas More Collegiate in Burnaby in the 1970s, and O’Grady Catholic High School in Prince George in the 1990s. 

None of the allegations have been proven in court. CBC News reached out to Quigley in Newfoundland, where he now lives, but did not receive a response. 

The Kamloops claim also names the Roman Catholic Bishop of Kamloops, the Catholic…

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[See the decision.]

Court rules 4-3 to overturn law that allowed victims to file civil suits over sexual abuse that took place decades ago

In a split ruling that has major implications for hundreds of child sexual abuse victims, the Louisiana state supreme court has struck down a law that allowed victims to file civil lawsuits over molestation that happened decades ago.

Child molestation victims and their advocates were devastated by the 4-3 ruling from a court whose members are elected.

Lawyers Richard Trahant, Soren Giselson and John Denenea, who represented the plaintiffs in the case at the center of Friday’s ruling, said: “Today, four of the seven … justices overruled a law passed by a unanimous Louisiana legislature, signed by then governor [John Bel] Edwards, supported by then attorney general and current governor Jeff Landry and current attorney general Liz Murrill. That’s nearly 200 elected officials who viewed this law…

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The Supreme Court of Louisiana has ruled a law that allows victims of child sex abuse to sue their abusers years after the crime as unconstitutional.

Three justices dissented and assigned reasons. To read the entire ruling, including the dissents, scroll down.

At issue is a lawsuit filed in St. Martin Parish that accuses the church of knowing that the late Rev. Monsignor Kenneth Romain Morvant sexually abused children. The alleged abuse took place in the 1970s at a Catholic church and a Catholic school in St. Martin Parish. To read our story about the suit, click here.

Usually, plaintiffs have a year after the incident or injury at issue to file a lawsuit. That time limit is called “prescription.”

But the Louisiana legislature passed a law in 2021, as many states have, that allows sex abuse victims to file suit during a window of time set by the law. It’s…

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Decades ago, a probation agent allegedly warned a Mormon church in Prince George’s County that a man they brought on as a minister was not allowed to be in the presence of children.

Frederick Edvalson had been convicted twice of sexually abusing minors, and the terms of his probation barred him from being around kids, according to a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt.

At the church in Camp Springs, Edvalson befriended a girl, gained her trust and sexually abused her, the federal complaint says. He pleaded guilty to a felony sex offense in 1985, online court records show, and earned the condemnation of Prince George’s top prosecutor at the time, who said Edvalson told the girl “he was giving her special religious training.”

Though the girl got justice in criminal court against Edvalson, who died years ago, “the church itself, who let this known predator hang around kids, has…

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CWR asked several high-ranking officials at the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communications whether there have been discussions regarding the use of Rupnik’s artwork, and if so, who has made which decisions.

Victims and advocates are running out of patience with Pope Francis and the Vatican, as official Vatican outfits including the communications dicastery continue to make use of artwork produced by a disgraced former Jesuit, Fr. Marko Rupnik, who is now a priest of Koper diocese in his native Slovenia, though he reportedly resides in Rome.

Vatican Media used a Rupnik studio image to illustrate their brief on the Solemnity of St. Joseph, causing an international uproar.

“It’s so injurious,” Antonia Sobocki of the UK-based LOUDFence survivor advocacy group told CWR on Thursday.

“I cannot think of a less appropriate artist to choose to illustrate this feast day than a serial rapist like Marko Rupnik,” Sobocki—herself a survivor of familial abuse—said March…

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A man who says he was sexually abused as a boy by a priest in New Mexico in the 1960s sued the church and diocese this week, the latest case to surface in the state as the Roman Catholic Church wrestles with the global clergy sex abuse scandal.

The suit filed Tuesday in state district court in Las Cruces seeks unspecified compensation for the unnamed victim. His lawyers say he is now 62 and has been “suffering in silence for over 50 years.”

The complaint names as defendants St. Joseph Parish in Lordsburg and the Catholic Diocese of El Paso, Texas, which oversaw the southern New Mexico parish before the creation of the Las Cruces Diocese in the 1980s.

It details alleged abuse by the Rev. Lawrence Gaynor, who died in 1978 at age 75. Gaynor was included in a list of accused priests that was released…

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Bishop J Douglas Deshotel issued the order after Scott Peyton had resigned from his post, but the abusive priest was not censured

A Louisiana man who resigned as a Roman Catholic deacon after a priest at whose side he served sexually molested his son has been excommunicated from the church by his local diocese, a remarkably harsh punishment that his child’s abuser does not appear to have faced.

Scott Peyton’s excommunication from the Catholic church at the hands of bishop J Douglas Deshotel comes as the latter’s Lafayette diocese has asked Louisiana’s supreme court to strike down a law that retroactively and temporarily eliminated filing deadlines for lawsuits demanding damages for childhood sexual abuse from years ago.

The law which lawyers for the Lafayette diocese targeted wasn’t exclusively for clergy abuse victims, but it prompted many new cases of that nature against Louisiana’s Catholic institutions and clerics who worked for them.

Peyton…

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[See also a PDF of the statement.]

Au cours  des derniers mois, de nouveaux éléments graves concernant le cas de S.E. Mgr Roger Vangheluwe, évêque émérite de Bruges, ont été rapportés au Dicastère pour la Doctrine de la Foi, ce qui a nécessité un réexamen de l’affaire. Suite à une nouvelle enquête, le Dicastère a décidé d’entendre la défense du prélat.

Après avoir examiné la défense susmentionnée, le 8 mars 2024, le Dicastère a présenté la documentation au Saint-Père, proposant son renvoi de l’état clérical, conformément à l’article 26 des normes Sacramentorum sanctitatis tutela sur les crimes réservés à la compétence du Dicastère pour la Doctrine de la Foi.

Lors de l’audience accordée à Son Eminence le Card. Préfet du Dicastère, le 11 mars, le Pape François a accédé à la demande, en ordonnant que la peine proposée soit imposée. Le 20 mars 2024, la mesure a été notifiée à l’intéressé qui, prenant acte de…

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Pope Francis has laicized Bishop Roger Vangheluwe, almost 14 years after the Belgian prelate resigned after admitting that he had abused a nephew.

The apostolic nunciature to Belgium said in a March 21 statement that “serious new elements” had emerged in recent months, prompting the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to reopen the case of the former Bishop of Bruges, who stepped down in 2010.

The dicastery, which handles abuse cases, presented a file to Pope Francis March 8, recommending Vangheluwe’s dismissal from the clerical state. 

The nunciature said that the recommendation was made “in accordance with Article 26 of the norms Sacramentorum sanctitatis tutela, on crimes reserved to the competence of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.”

During a March 11 meeting with the Vatican’s doctrine chief Víctor Manuel Fernández, Pope Francis “granted the request, ordering that the proposed sentence be imposed.” 

Vangheluwe was informed of the…

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A Belgian former bishop who admitted sexually abusing two of his nephews has been removed from the priesthood by Pope Frances, more than a decade after the case first came to light.

The Vatican said Thursday that Bishop Roger Vangheluwe, 87, had been “dismissed from the clerical state” after “serious new elements” in the case emerged.

Bishop Vangheluwe resigned as bishop of Bruges in 2010 after admitting he had abused one nephew over the course of a number of years.

He later admitted to abusing a second nephew but was not prosecuted due to Belgium’s statute of limitations.

The country’s bishops have repeatedly called for the Vatican to expel Bishop Vangheluwe from the priesthood with the case becoming a symbol of the abuse scandals in the country.

In a statement following the dismissal, the Belgian bishops’ conference said they had always considered it “shameful” that Vangheluwe had been allowed to…

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Pope Francis has dismissed the former bishop of Bruges, Belgium, from the clerical state 14 years after Pope Benedict XVI accepted his resignation following his admission that he sexually abused his nephew.

Roger Vangheluwe, 87, was informed on March 20 by the apostolic nunciature in Brussels that Pope Francis had ordered his laicization effective March 21 after “serious new elements” in his case led the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to review his file, Vatican News reported.

After a new investigation, which included listening to the Belgian cleric’s defense, the dicastery presented the case to Pope Francis on March 8 with the recommendation that he be removed from the clerical state.

Pope Francis approved the recommendation during an audience on March 11 with Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, dicastery prefect, Vatican News said.

The Belgian Catholic website Kerknet.be reported that the nunciature’s announcement concluded by saying, “The Holy Father once again…

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Pope Francis on Thursday defrocked a notorious Belgian bishop who admitted 14 years ago that he sexually abused his nephew but faced no Vatican punishment.

The case of Roger Vangheluwe, the emeritus bishop of Brugge, long ago became a symbol of the Catholic Church’s hypocrisy and dysfunction in dealing with cases of abuse. Not only was he allowed to quietly retire after the scandal broke in 2010, but the head of the Belgian church at the time, Cardinal Godfried Danneels, was caught on tape asking one of his victims to keep his abuse secret until the bishop left office.

The Vatican announcement that Francis had laicized Vangheluwe came a few months before the pope is due to visit Belgium, where the case would have been an unwelcome and problematic distraction.

Vangheluwe, 87, shot to international infamy in 2010 amid disclosures he had sexually abused his young…

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Roger Vangheluwe, the 87-year-old former bishop of Bruges, has been dismissed from the clerical state after being found guilty of abuse of a minor. Pope Francis approved the sentence following a re-examination of the case in light of “serious new elements” reported to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The decades-long case of 87-year-old Belgian Bishop Roger Vangheluwe, who was found guilty of sexual abuse of minors, has ended with his dismissal from the clerical state.

According to a statement from the Apostolic Nunciature in Brussels, Pope Francis on Thursday, 21 March, imposed the sentence on the former bishop of Bruges, who had resigned as head of the diocese in April 2010 after being accused of historical abuse.

Vangheluwe admitted, in particular, to having abused one of his nephews. The crimes of which he was accused, however, were barred under the statute of limitations.

New elements in the…

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If survivors of child sex abuse in the Catholic Church in Baltimore have the opportunity to testify at two hearings in bankruptcy court about their torment, Archbishop William Lori will be there to listen.

Lori, leader of America’s oldest archdiocese, “will personally attend on both occasions to hear directly from the survivors,” attorneys for the church said in a court filing Wednesday.

The Baltimore Sun first reported on Lori’s agreement with the committee representing survivors in the church’s bankruptcy case to be present in court, if the judge approves the proposal to have survivors testify.

“It’s important for me and for church leaders continually to hear from victim-survivors about what happened in their life and what that brought about in their lives,” Lori told the church-published Catholic Review for an article published Wednesday. “I also think it’s a moment when victim-survivors experience a moment of empowerment and justice. And, I think their…

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