ABUSE TRACKER

ALBUQUERQUE — The look on the attorneys’ faces offered the first clue Friday that a plea hearing for a former Santa Fe priest accused of child sexual abuse would not proceed as planned.

Daniel Balizan was expected to plead guilty Friday morning to charges stemming from child sex abuse accusations brought by a former parishioner at Santa María de la Paz Catholic Community. But as news of Balizan’s death by suicide spread through the federal courthouse, it was clear there would be more shock than resolution.

“I’m stunned,” Balizan’s attorney, Dan Cron, said after the hearing.

As the proceeding before U.S. District Judge Matthew Garcia began, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jaymie Roybal said she had received news Balizan had died by suicide, which she verified with the FBI and local law enforcement. Balizan died in Springer, where he had been on home detention with electronic monitoring in the custody of his…

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A former Santa Fe priest arrested last year for allegedly sexually abusing a 15-year-old boy more than a decade ago took his own life shortly before a plea hearing scheduled for Friday morning, his attorney confirmed.

Daniel Balizan, 62, a former pastor of Santa Maria de la Paz Catholic Community in Santa Fe, was indicted in June by a federal grand jury for a reported case of child sexual abuse in 2012, according to the indictment.

Balizar killed himself at his home in Springer the night before he was scheduled to plead guilty to a federal charge of coercion and enticement of a minor, said Dan Cron, Balizan’s attorney.

Cron said he learned of his client’s death Friday morning while driving from Santa Fe to Albuquerque for the 10 a.m. plea hearing in U.S. District Court.

“I am shocked by this,” Cron said in a phone interview. “I had no…

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After being arrested in 2023, the former pastor of Santa Maria de la Paz Catholic Community in New Mexico – Daniel Balizan – passed away before the completion of his trial. He was expected to make a plea in the federal case.

Balizan was indicted by a federal grand jury in 2023. They accused him of attempting to knowingly persuade an underage boy to engage in sexual activity. On May 24, 2024, at a plea hearing in federal court, the assistant U.S. attorney announced that Balizan was deceased and that there would soon be a motion to dismiss the case. The United States Attorney’s Office told KRQE that Balizan was found deceased at his home but that the manner of death has not yet been determined as of Friday afternoon.

Following the news, the Archdiocese of Santa Fe responded to the death, claiming Balizan took his…

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Here we go again. Oh my gosh! Hysteria. Bishop Malone is performing confirmations. Again – sexual abuse is not excused. Malone should be banned. He resigned as bishop in Buffalo. Catholics. Sit down and decide who makes judgments on clergy. If it’s you, then show me your authority. Malone is still a bishop. You have nothing to say about his authority.

It’s been more than four years since Bishop Richard J. Malone resigned as leader of the Buffalo Diocese amid a firestorm of criticism over his role in covering up molestation claims against clergy. But this past week, he presided over confirmation ceremonies at St. Gregory the Great in Amherst, the largest parish in the Buffalo Diocese.

Pomposity is rampant in Buffalo. A priest is always a priest. While the intermediary between Christ and you, he still performs sacraments. If you can’t cope, leave. The church will survive. Priests are human and subject…

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There’s a major development after a News 5 Exclusive Investigation revealed a convicted sex offender was allowed to help lead Catholic masses at a local church.

There’s a major development after a News 5 Exclusive Investigation revealed a convicted sex offender was allowed to help lead Catholic masses at a local church. The bishop of the diocese has now asked for the pastor of that church to resign.

The Catholic Diocese of Cleveland confirms it sent a letter today to parishioners of St. Thomas More Church and the parents of children who go to St. Thomas More School asking that Father Mike Feldtz resign as pastor and that he is now on a leave of absence to focus on health problems.

The letter comes on the heels of our investigation showing how convicted sex offender Keith Kozak was permitted by Father Feldtz to be on the altar assisting with services…

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Prosecution hints that Lawrence Hecker, 92, accused of historical rape and kidnapping, is feigning illness to avoid going to trial

A dispute over whether a retired New Orleans Catholic priest technically remains hospitalized or not is the latest reason his high-profile rape and kidnapping trial has been delayed.

Lawrence Hecker, 92, a confessed serial child molester, has been residing at Bridgepoint continuing care facility in Marrero, Louisiana, a facility across the Mississippi River from New Orleans that is attached to a hospital campus.

Hecker was hospitalized elsewhere in January – three months following his arrest on rape and kidnapping charges – for delirium brought on by a urinary tract infection and Covid.

But at a hearing on Thursday that was supposed to determine Hecker’s competency to stand trial, neither his defense attorneys nor prosecutors knew who ordered his stay at Bridgepoint or for what medical reason. The judge presiding over the case,…

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Pope Francis has not done enough to stamp out clerical sex abuse and its cover-up, activists and abuse survivors said on Thursday, protesting before a Vatican-hosted World Children’s Day festival.

The Roman Catholic Church has been shaken by sexual abuse scandals around the world. Francis has tried to impose order, but his critics say more should have been done to root out abusive clergy and help their many victims.

“We want to protect young people who are attending” the festival, said Matthias Katsch, co-founder of Ending Clergy Abuse (ECA), in a press conference by the ancient Roman Castel Sant’Angelo fortress, in view of St Peter’s Basilica.

He noted that anti-Church abuse activists visited Rome in September to demand “zero tolerance” ahead of a major Vatican summit on the future of the Church, “but nothing has happened since”.

Specifically, Katsch accused Francis of failing to punish cardinals and bishops “who covered up sex…

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Since 1950, sexual misconduct claims were made against 19 priests in west Michigan diocese, with most occurring before 2002

KALAMAZOO — The Office of Michigan’s Attorney General released the third of seven expected reports into allegations of clergy abuse and misconduct in Michigan’s seven dioceses May 22, detailing its findings from an investigation into the handling of abuse claims in the Diocese of Kalamazoo.

Reports have previously been issued on the Diocese of Marquette and the Diocese of Gaylord.

Although the Diocese of Kalamazoo was established in 1971, the report said the investigation covered allegations dating back to 1950 involving current or former clergy of the Kalamazoo diocese, including religious order priests and priests of other dioceses ministering in the Kalamazoo diocese.

Since 1950, the report said, allegations of sexual misconduct have been made against 19 priests in the Diocese of Kalamazoo, of whom 12 were ordained or later incardinated…

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Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has released the third of seven reports on alleged sexual abuse in dioceses throughout the state. 

The report details “allegations of abuse that took place in the Diocese of Kalamazoo,” one of seven in the state of Michigan. Previous reports focused on the Dioceses of Gaylord and Marquette.

As with the prior reports, the Kalamazoo investigation details abuse allegations that stretch back decades. The review includes allegations of misconduct “by priests who are current or former clergy for the Diocese of Kalamazoo that occurred in the diocese from Jan. 1, 1950, to the present.”

The Diocese of Kalamazoo was previously part of the Diocese of Grand Rapids; it did not become its own named diocese until 1971.

The diocese “agreed to provide reports of abuse to the Department of Attorney General,” Nessel’s office said, describing diocesan participation…

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Teresa Pitt Green is a survivor of clergy sexual abuse.

She is an advocate for abuse survivors, an expert in restorative justice, and a witness to the harm of clergy abuse, and the possibility of healing.

Pitt Green is a co-founder of Spirit Fire, which “is a fellowship of survivors of abuse within the Church who share, as part of our ongoing recovery, a spiritual practice which permits us to offer our wisdom, experience, and faith to all others who seek healing, growth, and reconciliation in the wake of the abuse of children and vulnerable adults in a faith setting – in particular in the Catholic Church,” according to the group’s website

In November 2018, she addressed the U.S. bishops’ conference, during a prayer service in the wake of the Theodore McCarrick scandal. 

“This is my story,” she told the USCCB. “Long ago — five decades ago — where the…

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As the latest chapter of a saga that began one year ago, the Vatican made a ruling last month in the case of the Arlington, Texas, Carmelites locked in a dispute with Bishop Michael Olson over allegations of sexual misconduct on the part of Mother Theresa Gerlach, who has been replaced by the Vatican as the community’s superior, even while the nuns at the Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity continue to recognize her as their superior.

Of course, anyone who has followed the twists of this story knows it’s not just about sexual misconduct — the saga has included allegations of drug use, lawsuits and restraining orders, and periodic statements from Archbishop Carlo Vigano, former apostolic nuncio to the U.S.

But while there is a great deal unresolved — and still unclear — in the Arlington, Carmel saga, the Vatican’s Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life made a decision —…

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The Holy See has reinstated a Carmelite mother superior nearly a year after the bishop of Fort Worth, Texas, dismissed her after alleged inappropriate conduct with a priest. 

Bishop Michael Olson issued a decree on June 1, 2023, dismissing Reverend Mother Teresa Agnes Gerlach from religious life following a nearly six-week-long investigation into the affair. 

Gerlach had previously served as the prioress of the Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity in Arlington. Olson said at the time of the dismissal that the investigation had found her “guilty of having violated the Sixth Commandment of the Decalogue and her vow of chastity with a priest from outside the Diocese of Fort Worth.”

In a statement on Wednesday, Olson said that the Vatican’s Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life “informed me that it overturned the decree dismissing Mother Teresa Agnes” from the…

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The Archdiocese of Baltimore announced this week that more than half of the parishes in Baltimore’s historic city core will close or merge as part of a major pastoral planning process.

The final plans, announced May 22, will see 61 parishes at 59 worship sites in Baltimore City and some nearby areas of Baltimore County reduced to 23 parishes at 30 worship sites.

“These decisions, while difficult, are made with an eye toward a future goal of hope,” Archbishop William Lori said in a video message, saying the plan was put together, “guided by the Holy Spirit,” with an eye to helping the parishes prioritize announcing the Gospel and helping neighbors in need.

The many Catholic churches in Baltimore City were built to serve “a surging population that’s now lost hundreds of thousands of people,” the archdiocese says on the website for the initiative….

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Signs of the times. The Durham University report on abuse, released April 30 after a four-year study, highlights the importance of listening to abuse survivors in restoring trust and changing Catholic culture.

In a “listening Church” that tries to be synodal, it is interesting to see the kind of speakers that are placed in front of young Catholics to deliver a “commencement speech” at graduation ceremonies in Catholic colleges and universities in the United States. The controversial speech delivered on May 11 by a famous football player and traditionalist Catholic, Harrison Butker, to the class of 2024 at Benedictine College in Kansas is just one example of the bizarre situation in which the U.S. Catholic Church finds itself.

I followed the reactions to that commencement speech the same week I read “The Cross of the Moment. A Report from the Boundary Breaking Project,” the final report of the Center for Catholic…

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After the dust settled, former Bishop Richard Stika ended up having a lasting impact on the Diocese of Knoxville.

Perhaps not the type he would have envisioned. The multiple crises and lawsuits that built up under his leadership spurred the diocese to update its sexual misconduct policy.

In February, Louisville Archbishop Shelton Fabre, who served as the interim leader in Knoxville, approved the updates. They include new language and policies, including rules that church leaders can’t interfere with sex abuse investigations and the accused can’t retaliate against the accuser.

An internal diocesan review board started working on the changes in January 2023. Stika resigned in June.

Diocesan spokesperson Jim Wogan declined to say why each change was made or whether Stika’s time with the diocese influenced them.

“The diocese views this as a positive step by removing any questions about the board’s authority and ability to act independently,” Wogan wrote in…

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The Michigan Attorney General’s Office on Wednesday released its report summarizing allegations of sexual abuse involving priests within the Catholic Diocese of Kalamazoo, saying the goal of the document was to “acknowledge the reports of abuse from victims” and to make public the findings of its investigation.

“We must break down the walls of silence that so often surround sexual abuse and assault,” Attorney General Dana Nessel said during a virtual news conference Wednesday morning. “In the end, we hope that this report provides a voice to those have suffered in silence for so long and that it shines a light on those alleged offenders whose actions allowed them to evade true accountability.”

She praised the survivors who shared what happened to them.

“Their willingness to come forward helped bring attention to an issue that has affected so many in our state and our country, including, of course, children,” Nessel…

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[To see the AG’s report on the Kalamazoo diocese, click here.]

A new report is aiming to shed light on alleged abuse cases that reportedly took place within the Diocese of Kalamazoo.

Released by Attorney General Dana Nessel Wednesday, the report contains detailed descriptions of sexual abuse allegations and other sexual misconduct, including grooming and misuse of authority, against minors and adults, according to the Department of the Attorney General.

Among the findings were the names of 19 priests, 12 of which are priests for the Diocese of Kalamazoo and 7 others who ministered in the Diocese.

Of those 19 individuals, 12 are accused of abusing minors, 5 are accused of misconduct with adults and two others are accused of misconduct with both adults and minors, officials noted.

For those accused of sexually abusing minors, 10 of those are alleged to have done so within the Diocese’s nine counties,…

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The indictment is the first public acknowledgment from the U.S. Department of Justice that it is investigating the SBC and its entities.

A former Southern Baptist seminary professor and interim provost has been indicted on a charge of obstructing justice in a sexual misconduct case, the Department of Justice announced Tuesday (May 21). 

Matt Queen, who was previously an administrator and professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, allegedly gave the FBI falsified notes during an ongoing investigation into alleged sexual misconduct at the seminary, which is in Fort Worth, Texas. He was arraigned Tuesday, according to the DOJ.

“As alleged, Matthew Queen attempted to interfere with a federal grand jury investigation by creating false notes in an attempt to corroborate his own lies,” said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams of the Southern District of New York in a statement. “The criminal obstruction charge announced today should exemplify the seriousness of attempts by…

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Henry David Thoreau once said, “There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.” These profound words resonate strongly as we reflect on recent developments concerning the need for reform in the Catholic Church to protect children. The French bishops introduced an unusual church abuse ‘reform‘, which has garnered significant attention and raised important questions about the effectiveness of measures.

According to one newspaper, “Catholic priests in France  will be made to wear traffic-light coded identification tags to allow the public to check whether they may have faced sexual abuse charges.” These cards will include a QR code that reflects a red, orange, or green light based on the priest’s clerical status. While this innovative step aims to increase transparency and accountability, the fundamental question remains: Is this enough?

The Need for Effective Measures to Protect Children

At Horowitz Law, we…

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The former CEO of Orange, a leading Christian youth curriculum, has accused Orange founder Reggie Joiner of clergy sexual abuse in an email to two board members.

Former CEO Kristen Ivy writes she and Joiner did not have an “inappropriate relationship,” as initially reported in a statement by Orange announcing Joiner’s and Ivy’s resignations last month. Instead, in an email obtained by The Roys Report (TRR), Ivy labels Joiner’s actions “clergy sexual abuse.” And she adds, “I’m not the only one.”

Ivy sent the email to Orange Board Chairman Joel Manby and Board Member Jennifer Barnes on April 23—the opening day of the Orange Conference 2024. In her email to Manby and Barnes, Ivy admits that she initially labeled what had happened between her and Joiner as an “inappropriate relationship” and explains why.

“During the time of my original interview, I was prepared to protect…

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A third leader at televangelist Mark Barclay’s Michigan church is facing charges of sexual assault, according to Midland County Circuit Court records.

Randy Saylor, associate pastor at Living Word International Church in Midland, Michigan, is the second pastor and third person involved with the church to be charged with sex crimes.

Saylor, 71, was arraigned Wednesday on charges of second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a person under 13, and second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a relationship. His crimes allegedly happened around March 2018.

Living Word has suspended Saylor from all duties “pending the outcome of the investigation,” Living Word Church Administrator William Bailey said in a statement to local media. He added that there are no allegations that the abuse took place at the church or involved the church in any way.

“Living Word International Church is deeply saddened and concerned to address recent…

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The Soul Survivor Watford in the United Kingdom has hired a new associate pastor in the aftermath of an abuse scandal that led to the ouster of its founder, Mike Pilavachi. 

The Rev. Simon Nicholls will take on the new role as associate pastor, taking the reins from the former associate pastor, The Rev. Andy Croft, who departed last year due to his ties to an ongoing investigation of Pilavachi. 

The ministry announced Nicholls’ appointment during its services on May 12. Nicholls will assume the position in September. 

“Many of you will know of Si as he used to be part of the church family until eight years ago when he left to train for ordination in the Church of England,” a statement emailed to supporters reads. 

Pilavachi was investigated last year by the Church of England based on allegations of “inappropriate intimate…

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A Southern Baptist pastor who previously served as a seminary administrator has been indicted in federal court on one charge of falsifying records to cover up a report of sexual abuse.

This is the first indictment of a Southern Baptist Convention official amid several years of reckoning over sexual abuse claims and the mishandling of those claims.

The May 21 indictment of Matthew Queen, 49, in the Southern District of New York is the first visible fruit of an FBI investigation of the SBC that began in 2022. If convicted, Queen could face up to 20 years in federal prison.

Queen, now pastor of Friendly Avenue Baptist Church in Greensboro, N.C., was arraigned on the charge before U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan Tuesday. He had begun serving the North Carolina church just months ago after relocating from Texas.

He is a former evangelism professor who previously held the L.R. Scarborough Chair…

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Bolivia Jesuits ask victims of two priests implicated in scandal to make formal complaint

In the developing sexual abuse of minors scandal involving Jesuits in Bolivia, a May 13 article in the Spanish newspaper El País implicated two other priests, Francesc Peris and Carlos Villamil, and also published the testimonies of eight alleged victims.

The Jesuits asked the victims to make a formal complaint with the Society of Jesus and offered their assistance in filing a complaint with the public prosecutor. 

El País broke the initial story on the scandal April 29 in a report titled “Diary of a pedophile priest,” stating that Jesuit priest Alfonso Pedrajas Moreno, who died in 2009, sexually abused as many as 85 minors in Bolivia, based on admissions found in his own diary.

Peris, known as “Checho,” and Villamil, nicknamed “Vicu,” allegedly committed the abuse in the 1980s when both priests worked at the…

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Allegations of widespread abuse against children who were said to have been forced to attend Canada’s Indian Residential Schools were uncommon before the last of them was shuttered in 1996. […]

Allegations of widespread abuse against children who were said to have been forced to attend Canada’s Indian Residential Schools were uncommon before the last of them was shuttered in 1996. That was the year the Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples alleged the existence of systemic abuse at these boarding schools, charges detailed in the 2015 Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, the body appointed to examine the history, operation, and legacy of these schools.

Indigenous activists and institutions linked to them, abetted by a compliant mainstream media preoccupied with sensational stories, began zealously promoting even more scurrilous assertions about the Indian Residential Schools, especially those administered by the Roman Catholic Church, starting…

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The president of the Polish bishops’ conference, Archbishop Tadeusz Wojda of Gdansk, has been accused of alleged negligence in a sex abuse case. The report, filed by a victim-survivor advocate under the new procedural norms established by the papal document Vos Estis Lux Mundi, was sent to the Vatican’s apostolic nunciature in Warsaw in March, according to the Polish Catholic media outlet Wiez.

On May 20, a letter was published that Polish abuse victims sent to all members of the Permanent Council of the Polish bishops’ conference May 13, asking to suspend Wojda from his duties as president of the Polish bishops’ conference “pending investigation of the alleged negligence.”

“In many Polish dioceses … the welfare of institutions turns out to be more important than human suffering,” victims said in a letter prepared by three vocal advocates of clerical sexual abuse survivors: Toska Szewczyk (not…

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A $500,000 bond set for Charlotte County priest Leo Riley, following his initial appearance at the Dubuque County Courthouse has been posted. Sources tell ABC7 the bond was posted by Riley’s brother.

Riley is facing five counts of sexual abuse allegedly committed during his time as a priest in Iowa. Last month, a local victim came forward saying he was abused by Riley in Charlotte County.

“I buried these memories very deep but I couldn’t keep them buried forever,” said an alleged victim going by John Doe.

Father Leo Riley has not been charged in Charlotte County, but is back in Dubuque to answer to five counts of capital sexual battery related to reports in the 1980s.

Riley was a past priest at the Resurrection Church in Dubuque, Iowa. In Charlotte County, he was a Priest at Saint Charles Borromeo in Port Charlotte in the early 2000′s, and is currently…

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Seek money & acknowledgement from Archdiocese of Baltimore

Alleged victims of sex abuse at the hands of the clergy have become creditors against the Archdiocese of Baltimore at the federal courthouse, but this is about far more than a payday.

“We’re trying to get to the goal of how can we make sure truly beyond the money, how can we make sure this doesn’t happen again,” said Committee of Unsecured Creditors Chair Paul Jan Zdunek.

A woman who we will refer to only by her first name, Rebecca, took the stand first to share details of what her abuser called their ‘little secret’ at St. Peter Claver Catholic Church in West Baltimore.

At the age of 12, Rebecca says a priest at the church began following her around to secluded areas and molesting her.

She reported it to a seminarian who she found out later was abusing children as well.

…

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The International House of Prayer-Kansas City’s Forerunner Church held its final worship service in Grandview on Pentecost Sunday as the fallout continues over the sex abuse scandal involving the global prayer movement’s founder.

The building was filled to capacity at the 10 a.m. service, with leaders saying their goodbyes and thanking those who have been part of the church, from the musicians to the youth teachers to those who served coffee and cleaned the restrooms.

“This morning our heart is really to just express gratitude to the Lord and gratitude towards those that have served and been a part of this community over the years,” senior pastor Isaac Bennett told the congregation. “We’re so grateful for this community and what the Lord has done and what the Lord is going to do in your lives. Even in the days ahead. “ …

There’s no easy way to do…

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Church administrator issues statement regarding charges

Living Word Church Associate Pastor Randy Saylor will be arraigned Wednesday on charges related to alleged 2018 sexual assaults.

Saylor, 71, is the second pastor and third person involved with the church to be charged with such crimes.

He is expected to be arraigned on charges of second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a person under 13, and second-degree CSC with a relationship. He is set for an 8:30 a.m. arraignment in Midland County District Court Wednesday. The crimes allegedly occurred around March 29, 2018 and were investigated by Michigan State Police.

“Living Word International Church is deeply saddened and concerned to address recent allegations of misconduct involving one of our ministers,” Living Word Church Administrator William Bailey said in a statement responding to a Daily News request for comment.

“It has come to our attention that Randy Saylor, a member of our pastoral team, is…

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A judge sentenced a North Las Vegas pastor to one year of probation on Monday, the result of a plea deal for a sex crimes case. 

Bobby Cornealius Smith will have to register as a sex offender and cannot be alone with children other than his biological children while he is on probation. Smith will continue his work as a pastor, according to defense attorney Robert Draskovich.

Smith is the pastor of New Beginnings Ministries, according to the church’s website.

Clark County District Court Judge Joe Hardy, Jr. referred to the plea deal reached between Smith and the Clark County District Attorney’s office as he sentenced Smith.

A grand jury previously indicted Smith for 11 felony charges, including nine counts of sexual assault, one count of attempted sexual assault, and one count of child abuse, neglect, or endangerment. Three women, one family member, and two women whom he referred to as…

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Editor’s note: This article refers to sexual violence, which some readers might find triggering and/or disturbing.

A North Las Vegas pastor has agreed to a plea deal in a sex crimes case. Bobby Cornealius Smith of New Beginnings Ministries was charged last year with nine counts of sexual assault, one count of attempted sexual assault, and one count of child abuse, neglect, or endangerment. 

According to KLAS, Smith’s attorney said that Smith, 46, will continue his work as a pastor. He is still listed as the pastor of New Beginnings Ministries on the church’s website. 

“We have a no-judgment policy,” the website says. “Come in as you are, but refuse to stay the same, and allow God to complete His perfect work in you.”

As part of the plea agreement, Smith has pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of gross lewdness and conspiracy to commit a…

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A Wichita Falls Pastor was behind bars again Monday after a grand jury tacked more charges onto allegations that Paul Andrew Coleman sexually assaulted a child.

Coleman, 67, is now charged with sexual assault of two children and continuous sexual abuse of a child related to allegations that surfaced in 2022.

He was being held Tuesday in the Wichita County Jail on $425,000 in total bonds for charges in the latest indictment against him, according to online jail records.

Anyone charged with a crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Coleman was the pastor of Good Samaritan Outreach Ministries on East Carolina Street when an 11-year-old child made an outcry at Patsy’s House Children’s Advocacy Center, according to allegations in court documents. The child said the assaults occurred at the church and at a home.

At that time, a Wichita County grand jury indicted Coleman…

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A Southern Baptist pastor in Greensboro, North Carolina, was arraigned Tuesday in federal court in New York City on charges of falsifying records in a sexual abuse case, part of the Department of Justice’s probe of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.

The indictment is the first involving an entity of the Southern Baptist Convention, which federal officials have been investigating since August 2022 following revelations of hundreds of abuse cases within the denomination.

In March, the interim president of the church’s executive committee said no indictment of the governing body was expected, although some entities were still being probed. Tuesday’s indictment involved a former administrator and professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.

Matthew Queen, senior pastor at Friendly Avenue Baptist Church since March of this year, was previously the interim provost at the seminary, where he also taught, according to media reports. He left the school…

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May 13, 2024

Dear Attorney General Bailey:

We are survivors of awful physical, emotional, educational, educational and sexual abuse and cover up at several Christian boarding ‘schools’ in Missouri.

To protect others, expose evil and help our ourselves find healing and closure, more than a dozen of us filed civil abuse and cover up lawsuits against the adults at the Ranch who committed or concealed heinous acts against us as youngsters.

Over the last few months, several of us have settled our lawsuits against the Circle of Hope Girls Ranch in Humansville where we were so deeply hurt. We are gratified that our courage has helped shine a light on the horrific crimes and misdeeds that were allowed to go on there for years.

But real healing and closure elude us for several reasons.

First, we’ve since learned that there are dozens of so-called ‘Christian boarding schools’ (that seem very similar to…

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Summary

• The “troubled teen” industry, including private equity-funded and unlicensed faith-based institutions, often engages in abusive practices and is poorly regulated, exploiting desperate parents and state systems.
• Educational consultants, youth transportation companies, and adoptive parents benefit financially from placing children in abusive facilities, with many teens being sent to international programs with little oversight.
• Legislative and policy changes are needed to regulate the industry, ensure proper post-adoption support, and hold parents accountable for child abandonment, with advocacy efforts underway to address these issues.

“My son needs a strict regime with strong men running the show.” That was the position of one parent who refused to plan for the return of his son to the United States after he was removed, along with 7 other boys, from Atlantis Leadership Academy (ALA) in Jamaica due to severe abuse and neglect allegations. The “strict regime” included allegations such as the following…

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For nearly two decades, one woman stood up to the Southern Baptist Convention, forcing it to face its sex abuse crisis. She was gaslit, maligned, and threatened with legal action. But she didn’t back down. And on this edition of The Roys Report, you’ll hear her story.

Joining host Julie Roys is Christa Brown, an abuse survivor who overcame the odds in pursuit of justice.

[Watch on youtube.]

As a 16-year-old girl, Christa was repeatedly raped by the youth pastor at her Southern Baptist Church. And when she told the music minister at her church what had happened, he told her never to speak of it.

For 35 years, Christa kept silent, accepting the shame that rightly belonged to her rapist. But in the early 2000s, Christa broke her silence—and confronted her childhood church with what had happened. She thought they would do the right thing. But instead, they attacked…

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As a federal court considers the bankruptcy of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, survivors of sex abuse at the hands of clergy addressed the court on Monday.

The hearing was the second time where the judge allowed victims to share what they went through to allow the court to better understand the case.

Attorney Andrew Janet represents a 58-year-old woman who testified. She said she was abused by a lay teacher when she was 12 years old. The woman was one of eight abuse survivors who testified in a packed courtroom.

“In some bizarre way, it is a relief. It is a turning point to, a, be able to say it to people out in public and to turn the focus back onto themselves to heal,” said Paul Jan Zdunek, the chairman of the Survivors Committee.

The testimony was not included in the court record. Instead, it puts a human perspective…

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Eight survivors opened up on Monday about the sexual abuse they endured at the hands of Catholic clergy during an emotional hearing in the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s bankruptcy case.

Archbishop William Lori and federal judge Michelle Harner listened to agonizing stories about how the abuse has impacted their lives.

The Baltimore Archdiocese declared bankruptcy in September before a new law, the Child Victims Act of 2023, was set to go into effect. The legislation would have opened the church to several lawsuits.

The Maryland Attorney General’s Office released a 450-page report that identified 156 priests, deacons, Catholic teachers and seminarians within the Archdiocese accused of assaulting over 600 victims.  The incidents detailed in the report date back to the 1940s.

Monday’s hearing was the second in the case.  The first took place in April, when six survivors testified, the…

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A retired judge mandated by the Vatican to investigate sexual misconduct allegations against a Quebec cardinal says that despite the complainant refusing to collaborate with the probe, he could find no evidence tying the church leader to the alleged crimes.

Retired Quebec Superior Court judge André Denis says that while his investigation doesn’t exonerate Cardinal Gérald Lacroix, it hasn’t uncovered evidence to justify a canonical trial.

“The elements gathered during the investigation make it implausible that the events associated with the cardinal occurred,” Denis told a news conference in Quebec City.

The allegations against Lacroix, the archbishop of Quebec City, emerged in January when he was named as a perpetrator in a class-action lawsuit alleging sexual abuse by clergy and staff. The alleged sexual touching involving Lacroix took place between 1987 and 1988 in Quebec City when the unnamed female plaintiff was 17.

The archbishop has denied the allegations, which…

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An inquiry ordered by Pope Francis into an allegation of sexual assault against a Canadian cardinal has found no evidence of wrongdoing, the Vatican said Tuesday.

Cardinal Gerald Lacroix, the 66-year-old archbishop of Quebec and a member of the pope’s C9 advisory council, had been accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl in the 1980s.

“In the light of the facts examined by the judge, the report does not permit to identify any actions that amount to misconduct or abuse on the part of Cardinal Gerald C. Lacroix,” the Vatican said in a statement.

“Consequently, no further canonical procedure is foreseen.”

However, the retired judge who wrote the report later published a statement saying he lacked an “important piece of evidence” in that he was unable to meet the plaintiff.

The claims against Lacroix date back to 1987 and 1988, when the alleged victim was 17, and are part of…

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Scotland’s first female bishop, the Rt Rev Anne Dyer, is poised to face a disciplinary tribunal amidst allegations suggesting her behavior could tarnish the church’s reputation.

Appointed in 2018, Rev Dyer has been accused of actions “unbecoming of a member of the clergy” and likely to “bring the church into disrepute.”

According to The Daily Mail Rev Dyer has previously reported enduring “significant bullying and harassment.”

The process leading to a tribunal was initiated by the church’s procurator, Paul Reid, KC.

After reviewing preliminary findings last November, Reid decided to advance three complaints to a formal hearing. “The alleged canonical offences concern behaviour or conduct unbecoming of a member of the clergy, which brings or is likely to bring the church into disrepute,” the church said in a public statement.

Rev Dyer’s leadership came under scrutiny in 2022 when allegations of bullying emerged, prompting a brief suspension that was quickly lifted after an appeal. Despite…

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Allégations contre le cardinal Lacroix

Au terme de trois mois d’enquête, le juge à la retraite André Denis révèle qu’il n’a jamais pu obtenir le témoignage de la femme qui a déclaré avoir été agressée il y a 35 ans par le cardinal Gérald Lacroix.

«Sa déclaration est anonyme et elle refuse de collaborer à mon enquête», écrit le juge québécois dans le rapport de 66 pages qu’il a remis au pape François le 6 mai 2024.

«Elle en a le droit et elle doit être traitée avec respect, empathie et accueil comme on doit le faire avec toute personne humaine.»

Mais ce refus a «grandement affecté» l’enquête que lui a commandé le pape le 8 février 2024.

«Si je ne peux affirmer que sa dénonciation est infondée, je ne peux certes pas l’avaliser sur la foi des faits révélés par mon enquête», ajoute le juge retraité de la Cour…

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KRAKÓW, Poland (OSV News) — The president of the Polish bishops’ conference, Archbishop Tadeusz Wojda of Gdansk, has been accused of alleged negligence in a sex abuse case. The report, filed by a victim-survivor advocate under the new procedural norms established by the papal document “Vos Estis Lux Mundi,” was sent to the Vatican’s apostolic nunciature in Warsaw in March, according to the Polish Catholic media outlet Wiez.

On May 20, a letter was published that Polish abuse victims sent to all members of the Permanent Council of the Polish bishops’ conference May 13, asking to suspend Archbishop Wojda in his duties as president of the Polish bishops’ conference “pending investigation of the alleged negligence.”

“In many Polish dioceses … the welfare of institutions turns out to be more important than human suffering,” victims said in a letter prepared by three vocal advocates of clerical sexual abuse survivors: Toska Szewczyk…

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It’s been more than four years since Bishop Richard J. Malone resigned as leader of the Buffalo Diocese amid a firestorm of criticism over his role in covering up molestation claims against clergy.

Malone, now 77, has mostly kept a low profile while living in a Town of Tonawanda home owned by Catholic Cemeteries of Buffalo.

But this past week, he presided over confirmation ceremonies at St. Gregory the Great in Amherst, the largest parish in the Buffalo Diocese. In two separate services at the church, he marked the foreheads of more than 100 young people with holy oil, reminisced about his days as a campus minister at Harvard University, and urged nearly 1,000 people in attendance to take “a new step forward with Jesus.” He has also done confirmations in several other churches since 2023 in Allegany County, Orchard Park and Williamsville, and was scheduled Sunday for a confirmation in…

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The 58-year-old woman couldn’t bear to share the details of the sexual abuse she suffered as a child, but its effect on her came across loud and clear Monday in a Baltimore courtroom as she faced the leader of the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

“Do you see me now?” she cried toward Archbishop William Lori, who was seated across the courtroom from her. “Do I matter to you now? I suffer from PTSD, from anxiety, from depression and panic attacks. I’m on disability. It will take me days to recover from talking today. I hope you’ve heard my truth and feel the pain I’ve struggled with.”

Her testimony as one of eight abuse survivors to speak Monday in the archdiocese’s bankruptcy case contributed to a chilling picture of children being tormented by Catholic clergy and a vivid portrait of the lives altered permanently by their experiences.

Victims recounted being abused in…

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The Diocese of Richmond said on Friday it has learned of allegations that a now deceased man sexually abused students of St. John the Apostle Catholic School.

[VIDEO]

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — A day after the Catholic Diocese of Richmond said they learned of allegations of sexual abuse against students of St. John the Apostle School, 13News Now obtained court records of a previous sexual abuse case from 2021 in which the school is mentioned several times throughout the documents.

According to court documents from Virginia Beach, a man named Vince Jakawich was the subject of an investigation in which he faced a felony aggravated sexual battery of a minor charge stemming from an unspecified incident in the summer months of 2020. 

Bond documents filed by Jakawich’s legal counsel reveal he was a parent, who requested to be allowed back to St. John, “where his daughters are students.”

Both court…

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by: 

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — A pastor with St. John the Apostle Catholic School in Virginia Beach is on temporary leave amid allegations involving a parent at the school, who is now deceased.

The case involves allegations of sexual abuse involving local Catholic school students.

WAVY News 10 has learned that although the case dates back four years, it came to light this past week after a second alleged victim of the same parent emerged.

According to a May 10 letter from Miriam Cotton, the principal of the school at the time, the accusations made against the adult were not made on school grounds, and the information was reported to Child Protective Services.

The statement, in part, reads:

As your principal, I feel this is a suitable moment to remind our parents of the importance in speaking with your children about appropriate touch, what are safe…

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Bishops will have audience with Pope on Friday

Portugal’s Roman Catholic bishops begin an ‘ad Limina Apostolorum’ visit to the Vatican today, with the issue of historic sexual abuse of children at the hands of the clergy over the years being just one that will come under discussion.

These ‘ad Limina’ visits take place every five years – this one was supposed to have taken place in 2020, but had to be postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

In addition to meetings between the prelates and various dicasteries of the Holy See, the bishops will also meet the Pope, on the last day of their visit (Friday).

Canon law in the Church establishes that “the Diocesan Bishop has the obligation to present to the Supreme Pontiff, every five years, a report on the situation of the diocese entrusted to him.”

According to the Portuguese Episcopal Conference (CEP), in this report…

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After an anonymous allegation arose against close papal aide Cardinal Gérald C. Lacroix of Québec earlier this year, a preliminary canonical investigation launched by Pope Francis has found no evidence of misconduct.

On Jan. 25, Lacroix was named in a class action lawsuit filed against the Archdiocese of Quebec in 2022, with court documents alleging that he inappropriately touched a 17-year-old girl on two occasions, in 1987 and 1988. His accuser was not identified.

Lacroix subsequently denied the allegations but made the decision to withdraw from leadership of the archdiocese while an investigation took place.

According to a May 21 Vatican statement, after the allegations against Lacroix arose Pope Francis on Feb. 8 asked Justice André Denis, a retired Judge of the Superior Court of Québec, to conduct a preliminary canonical investigation of the accusation.

That inquiry concluded May 6, and the results were presented to Pope Francis shortly after.

…

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The Holy See Press Office reports that the preliminary canonical investigation regarding an anonymous accusation against Canadian Cardinal Gérald Lacroix, Archbishop of Québec, has not found “any actions that amount to misconduct or abuse” and therefore “no further canonical procedure is foreseen.“

The Holy See Press Office issued a statement on 21 May regarding the conclusions of the preliminary canonical investigation regarding an anonymous accusation against Cardinal Gérald C. Lacroix, Archbishop of Québec.

The conclusion of the report has confirmed that no actions that amount to misconduct or abuse on the part of the Cardinal have been identified, and therefore, “no further canonical procedure is foreseen.”

On 8 February 2024, Pope Francis entrusted André Denis, a retired judge of the Superior Court of Québec, the mandate to shed light on an accusation made in the context of a class action lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Québec.

The preliminary canonical investigation…

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Testo in lingua italiana

Testo in lingua francese

Testo in lingua inglese

Testo in lingua italiana

In merito alle conclusioni dell’indagine canonica preliminare relativa a una accusa anonima contro il Cardinale Gérald C. Lacroix, Arcivescovo di Québec

L’8 febbraio 2024 il Santo Padre ha affidato ad André Denis, giudice della Corte Superiore del Québec in pensione, il mandato di fare luce su un’accusa formulata nell’ambito di una azione legale collettiva intentata contro l’Arcidiocesi di Québec.

Il rapporto dell’indagine canonica preliminare effettuata dal giudice è stato portato a termine il 6 maggio 2024 e consegnato al Santo Padre nei giorni successivi.

Alla luce dei fatti esaminati dal giudice, il rapporto non consente di identificare alcuna azione che si configuri come cattiva condotta o abuso da parte del Cardinale Gérald C. Lacroix. Di conseguenza, non è prevista una procedura canonica più approfondita.

Il Santo Padre ha autorizzato il giudice…

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The International House of Prayer-Kansas City’s Forerunner Church held its final worship service in Grandview on Pentecost Sunday as the fallout continues over the sex abuse scandal involving the global prayer movement’s founder.

The building was filled to capacity at the 10 a.m. service, with leaders saying their goodbyes and thanking those who have been part of the church, from the musicians to the youth teachers to those who served coffee and cleaned the restrooms.

“This morning our heart is really to just express gratitude to the Lord and gratitude towards those that have served and been a part of this community over the years,” senior pastor Isaac Bennett told the congregation. “We’re so grateful for this community and what the Lord has done and what the Lord is going to do in your lives. Even in the days ahead. “ … There’s no easy way to do this. How…

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What is the proper spiritual response to the abuse crisis in the Church? is the question raised at the “Repairing the Irreparable” conference in Rome. Father Étienne Kern, who initiated the event, discusses the aims of the conference.

The Church must grapple with the spiritual repercussions and necessary reparations of the sexual abuse crisis, emphasizing the need to honor and support the victims and restore faith among the deeply shaken Christian community, says the rector of the Shrine of Paray-le-Monial in eastern France, who initiated a conference in Rome titled, “Repairing the Irreparable.” 

Listening to and supporting victims on the psychological, financial, and legal levels  “is absolutely essential, but not sufficient. Some victims also ask the Church to honor the distinctly spiritual dimension of reparation because they have also been harmed in their souls,” Father Étienne Kern told La Croix’s Gilles Donada in an interview, discussing the aims of the conference.

Participants at the May…

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Pope Francis spoke about immigration, surrogacy, and abuse in an interview with CBS News, parts of which aired on “60 Minutes” on Sunday night.

Clerical abuse “cannot be tolerated,” Francis told CBS’s Norah O’Donnell.

“When there is a case of a religious man or woman who abuses, the full force of the law falls upon them. In this there has been a great deal of progress,” he said.

The pope said the Church “must continue to do more.”

“Unfortunately, the tragedy of the abuses is enormous. And against this, an upright conscience and not only to not permit it but to put in place the conditions so that it does not happen,” he said.

(Francis gave his remarks in Spanish, which CBS translated into English.)

Turning to immigration, O’Donnell told the pope she grew up in Texas, where the Catholic charity on the border with Mexico – the Annunciation House…

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The judge in the Archdiocese of New Orleans bankruptcy case said Thursday she wants to give survivors of child sex abuse by Roman Catholic priests and deacons an opportunity to tell their stories in court to Archbishop Greg Aymond as a way of helping to bring closure and healing.

But Judge Meredith Grabill denied a request by attorneys for the survivors that would have allowed that reckoning process to begin now. Instead, Grabill said she wants to wait until a settlement plan, which would compensate survivors for past abuse and resolve the bankruptcy case, comes before her court for approval — something that is months away, and could possibly not happen at all.

“I completely envision, if a plan gets filed and we get to a confirmation hearing, allowing survivors to provide testimony … I fully envision the archbishop being here in the courtroom to listen to the evidence,” Grabill…

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During his short tenure as Missouri’s top legal official, Attorney General Andrew Bailey has consistently used (and abused) his office to promote an extremist right-wing partisan agenda with a brazenness unheard of even in Missouri politics.

Bailey, appointed to the office to fill a vacancy in January 2023, is seeking the Republican nomination in August to run for a full elected term in November.

In the interest of keeping the public informed about this uniquely problematic public official, the Post-Dispatch Editorial Board has launched this standing summary of Bailey’s more outrageous ideological stunts and abrogations of duty. We have dubbed it The Bailey Tally. It will be updated as needed.

Latest addition: Punting on Christian boarding school abuse

Activists have implored Bailey to use the prominence of his office to highlight alleged physical and sexual abuse of kids at Christian boarding schools — a historic problem in Missouri’s under-regulated private school system and…

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Father William Graham reinstated by Vatican, appeared before grateful supporters Friday.

Describing it as a story of “light triumphing over darkness,” a Duluth Catholic priest once accused of sexual abuse returned to his church Friday.

Standing in front of supportive congregation members, Father William Graham said the immediate task will be to pray together and listen to each other.

The Duluth Diocese removed Graham from the St. Michael’s Parish for almost eight years, after allegations of sexual abuse from a man who said he was abused as a teenager in the 1970s.

Graham had steadfastly denied the allegations, and earlier this month the Vatican said there was not enough evidence, and he was reinstated.

“I am grateful to God and to the Vatican for declaring my innocence after a painful seven years and ten months of suffering under a demonstrably false accusation,” said Graham.

“As I return to Duluth and…

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ROME – Argentine Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, the Vatican’s doctrine czar, has said that despite the broad use of alleged spiritual or mystical experiences to commit and justify abuse in the church, disputes over terminology can muddle prosecution.

His perspective may have implications for efforts to prosecute some of the most high-profile and contentious abuse cases today, including the case of Slovenian ex-Jesuit Father Marko Rupnik, who stands accused of multiple acts of abuse against dozens of adult women, mostly nuns, stretching over more than 30 years.

Speaking to journalists during a May 17 press conference presenting new norms for evaluating the authenticity of Marian apparitions or other spiritual phenomena, Fernández was asked about what is sometimes described as “false mysticism” in abuse cases.

Prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), Fernández replied, “When we speak of false mysticism, we must be careful…false mysticism is…

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There’s new life in the fight to pass a constitutional amendment that would allow survivors of childhood sex abuse to sue their abuser years after the statute of limitations has expired.

It was August 2018 when then-Attorney General Josh Shapiro published a report on childhood sexual abuse in the Catholic church. That report led to protests and calls for legislation to help survivors of sexual assault sue their abuser beyond the statute of limitations.

In January 2021, the State House and Senate passed constitutional amendments to open a window for survivors to file lawsuits. However, in February, the Department of State failed to publicize the amendment, as required by the state constitution. That led to the resignation of Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar.

Since then, legislation has stalled in the legislature. Last year, the House and Senate passed bills that did not match up. Now, there’s a chance the amendment…

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VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — The Catholic Diocese of Richmond released the following statement regarding sexual abuse allegations involving St. John the Apostle School in Virginia Beach.

The Catholic Diocese of Richmond recently learned of allegations of sexual abuse committed against students of St. John the Apostle School by an adult (now deceased). The appropriate civil authorities and law enforcement agencies are involved. The Diocese is also investigating to confirm whether the Diocese’s Safe Environment regulations or other policies were properly followed. 

The protection of our children is of the upmost importance to the Diocese. 

Fr. Rob Cole, Pastor of St. John the Apostle parish, is on temporary leave from the parish while this matter is investigated. The Diocese will not reach any conclusions until the investigation is completed. Know, however, that the Diocese is committed to ensuring that our institutions provide an environment where our children are safe and thrive. 

During this…

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This week on 60 Minutes, correspondent Norah O’Donnell sat down with Pope Francis for a historic interview. The head of the Catholic Church for more than a decade, Francis had previously never spoken at length with an English-language American broadcast network.

In a wide-ranging conversation lasting more than an hour, O’Donnell spoke with the pontiff about such topics as the wars in Ukraine and in Israel and Gaza; the Church’s handling of its sexual abuse scandals; and the conservative backlash against the pope’s more progressive approach.

O’Donnell interviewed Francis at Casa Santa Marta, the Vatican guest house where he has lived since his election in 2013, rather than the papal apartments in the Apostolic Palace, where popes have historically resided. Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Argentina, Francis is the first Jesuit pope in papal history.

• Pope Francis:…

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A federal judge on Wednesday denied a motion by the Diocese of Rockville Centre to dismiss its bankruptcy case and appointed two high-powered mediators in an effort to break a 3½-year logjam of negotiations involving clergy sex abuse survivors.

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Chief Judge Martin Glenn, expressing his irritation at the case remaining unresolved, issued the ruling after some survivors spoke in court of the pain they have endured and their frustration after more than $100 million in legal fees have been paid to attorneys but nothing to them.

Glenn said he was appointing retired U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Shelley Chapman and Paul Finn, a lawyer with deep experience in resolving sexual abuse claims, to try to get the diocese and lawyers for the survivors to reach an agreement. As a judge, Chapman oversaw the 2008 Lehman Brothers Holdings bankruptcy case — the largest bankruptcy case in U.S. history — and other Chapter 11 mega-cases.

…

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Only a few years after being rocked by a clergy sex abuse coverup, the Diocese of Crookston is embracing its outsize role in the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage as a sign of healing and a moment of renewal.

This weekend, the eyes of Catholics across the country are on the Diocese of Crookston — but for far different reasons than the last time the rural Minnesota diocese was in the national spotlight.

The local Church of only 35,000 Catholics —the third smallest in the country — has the distinction of kicking off the entire National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, with a two-day Eucharistic conference featuring powerful catechists like Bishop Robert Barron and Father Mike Schmitz, celebratory fireworks over Lake Bemidji, and Pentecost Sunday Mass at the Mississippi River headwaters to start the pilgrimage’s Marian Route.

But only a few years ago, Crookston was embroiled in scandal. In 2017, the diocese’s then-ordinary, Bishop Michael…

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I was 16 years old in August 1967. I was the sophomore class president and sectional wrestling champion; I was still basking in the afterglow of participating in the state tournament. It had been the best year of my young life.

I had no way of knowing I was about to be swallowed alive by a terrible evil that I could never have imagined existed in this world.

No one had heard of sexual predators in those days. There were men who “liked boys” and some who molested young girls, but they were always somewhere else. They were in cities far away, never in our world of Holsteins and feeder pigs in the American Heartland – and certainly not in our little white-frame country church. It was unheard of and unthinkable. But, as we would all come to know, it was happening to thousands of boys and girls…

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As allegations of clergy sexual misconduct mount up, even resulting in churches being closed down, #ChurchToo survivors and advocate organizations call on the government to criminalize adult clergy sexual abuse.

#ChurchToo Survivors Call on CA Governor Gavin Newsom to Urgently Investigate Questionable Circumstances Surrounding Public Safety’s Handling of Senate Bill 894

“Sexual Exploitation by a Member of Clergy” 

As allegations of clergy sexual misconduct mount up, even resulting in churches being closed down, #ChurchToo survivors and advocate organizations call on the government to criminalize adult clergy sexual abuse in alignment with the Southern Baptist Convention’s 2022 resolution. However, a recent bill in CA to criminalize adult clergy sexual abuse, similar to laws in 13 states and D.C., failed to leave the Public Safety committee under questionable circumstances, and survivors are calling on Governor Gavin Newsom to investigate. 

Sacramento, CA – In an urgent appeal to Governor Gavin Newsom, survivors and advocates of the #MeToo/ #ChurchToo movement…

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The Rev. Antony Devassey Punnackal has been cleared of sexual battery charges by a Sevier County jury and has settled a federal civil lawsuit filed by the woman who said he sexually assaulted her during a 2020 counseling session, but he will not be returning to ministry in the Catholic Diocese of Knoxville.

He is leaving the country, in fact.

Punnackal serves at the discretion of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate, an international religious order that has requested he return to his native India, diocese spokesperson Jim Wogan said in an email to Knox News.

The religious order, in essence, loaned Punnackal to the diocese and now has requested he return after being cleared of his legal entanglements. Punnackal has been suspended since January 2022. Diocesan leaders learned May 10 of the request that he return to India, Wogan said.

What becomes of his ministry is now up to the Carmelites of…

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If you are a survivor of abuse from clerics or employees from the Archdiocese of Baltimore – May 31st is the deadline for you to come forward and seek justice. Over 100 claims will be filed in the next two weeks – regardless of when the abuse occurred – allowed by the new Child Victims Act in Maryland. The claim and compensation process is confidential and allows survivors to remain anonymous.

Survivors and their families are encouraged to reach out for a free and confidential consultation. For those unsure if they qualify to file a claim for child sexual abuse that occurred at a Maryland church, catholic school, church camp, or other church-run program by the Archdiocese of Baltimore, can learn more by contacting The Yost Legal Group.

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Sovereign Grace Church of LaGrange, Georgia was adopted by Sovereign Grace Churches in September 2014.  In 2018, a deacon was found guilty of incest, aggravated sexual battery, and child molestation.  He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.  This was not the first time.  He was also sentenced in 2000 for child molestation, put on probation, and entered into the sex abuse registry. 

Now, the lead pastor, has been arrested for sexual battery and child molestation related to his oldest daughter.  He is in jail awaiting an indictment by the Grand Jury.  His wife also alleges emotional and physical abuse.  She has filed for a restraining order, custody of her daughters, and divorce.  Their marriage has been on the rocks for over a decade, and this was known to denominational leaders in Sovereign Grace Churches. 

Both these men were approved as above reproach when signs clearly indicated otherwise.  They should…

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Brother Joseph Charron initially was charged with sex crimes involving a now-former student. He recently pleaded guilty to aggravated battery, and the sex crime charges were dropped. Still, his Benedictine abbey placed him on its list of credibly accused child sex abusers.

On the same day this spring that Brother Joseph Charron pleaded guilty to a felony battery charge against a former student at Marmion Academy, where the Benedictine monk was a longtime teacher, the Aurora Catholic school circulated a letter saying his conviction did not involve sexual abuse.

“With a heavy heart, I write to notify you that today, in Kane County Circuit Court, Joseph Charron, known to many in our community as Brother Andre, pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated battery of a minor,” the Rev. Joel Rippinger, abbot of the Benedictine monastery that oversees the far west suburban school, said in the March 28 letter. “There…

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 Madagascar’s influential Catholic bishops’ conference – usually loyal to the government – has denounced in very strong terms the recently enacted law authorizing surgical or chemical castration for pedophiles.

The country’s parliament passed the controversial law on February 2 this year. The law requires that perpetrators of rape against children between the ages of 10 and 13 are surgically castrated. Those who rape children between the ages of 14 and 17 will be chemically castrated. Offenders in both cases could face sentences of up to life in prison.

Chemical castration involves injecting convicted sex offenders with chemical treatments designed to quell their sex drive. These treatments aim to lower the testosterone levels of male sex offenders. This could be reversed by stopping the treatments. Surgical castration involves surgically removing one or both testicles with the aim of lowering testosterone production in male sex offenders to decrease their sex drive. Unlike…

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Jerry Dan Heflin was arrested May 7 and charged with more than 60 felony counts, including child molestation, aggravated sodomy, sexual battery against a child and incest.

The charges stem from a 2016 incident, WALB News reported.

Heflin, 60, was a deacon at Unity Baptist Church in the South Georgia town of Sylvester. Church leadership released a statement May 10:

“Due to the recent headlines and social media comments inferring that the criminal charges involving Mr. Jerry Heflin occurred at Unity Baptist Church, our church feels compelled to respond. We have great confidence that our judicial system has investigated the facts surrounding these charges and that the judicial system will handle the matter in an appropriate manner. Our church has internal security measures in place that ensure the safety of all persons including both children and adults. We are confident that none of the allegations made in this…

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When the man realized the youth pastor who had sexually victimized him as a child was going to adopt two young boys, he stepped forward.

He stepped forward despite the fact that he knew his youth pastor Christopher Codding is well loved at his church in Cartersville. He stepped forward despite the shame and pain he still suffered. He just knew he needed to stop it from happening to anyone else.

“When I would be invited to youth events (led by Codding) at elementary school I didn’t know I was being groomed… I didn’t know I already had a target on my back,” he told Floyd County Superior Court Chief Judge John “Jack” Niedrach during a sentencing hearing Thursday.

The man described being 10 years old and coming from a broken home, and waking up to Codding — a grown man he trusted and believed in — abusing him.

He…

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Leaders and lawmakers in Missouri must do more to protect vulnerable youth inside the state’s unlicensed boarding schools, advocates said at a Thursday news conference in Kansas City.

And that should start, they said, with Attorney General Andrew Bailey. He could do more to bring attention to the alleged abuse at schools across the state, said David Clohessy, former national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

“He can and should use his bully pulpit and his resources to shout from the rooftops to parents, ‘Be careful, look hard and think twice before sending your kids to one of these facilities,’” Clohessy said. “No matter how slick and nice the website might be and no matter how frustrated and overwhelmed you might feel.

“He can and should take that simple immediate step to warn parents.”

During the news conference outside the federal courthouse in Kansas City, Clohessy…

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The battle between advocates for abused kids and state officials appearing less than concerned returned Wednesday to the steps of the Missouri Supreme Court building.

People connected to the allegations against several southwest Missouri boarding schools went to the office of Attorney General Andrew Bailey to demand action.

The SNAP organization and other abuse survivors are frustrated by a perceived lack of action against as many as five schools where kids allegedly have endured physical and sexual abuse.

“I beg him to just listen to us, to just hear our stories, hear our concerns,” said abuse survivor Amanda Householder.

Householder’s parents are scheduled to go to trial in October on 99 felony charges and one misdemeanor charge related to the alleged abuse of girls when they ran the Circle of Hope girls ranch in Humansville, Missouri. The state closed the ranch in 2020.

David Clohessy is the director of SNAP.

…

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Broderick Miller has spent about half of his life behind bars, but the 45-year-old wants it known thereʼs an explanation.

“The whole reason I got locked up was because I was using drugs,” Miller said in an interview at a Maryland prison. “The whole reason I was using drugs was because of the deacon.”

Cinder block walls, a heavy metal door and a large hallway window enclose the room where Miller, who goes by “Brodie,” recounted in April how he turned to a Catholic church in Baltimore when he needed food as a teen, only for a clergyman to prey on his vulnerability.

Deacon Thomas Kuhl began assaulting Miller around 1995, at first offering food or money for sex, Miller alleges in court documents. When Millerʼs nerves got in the way of Kuhlʼs desires, he introduced the teen to heroin to calm him down. It didnʼt take long for Miller…

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The Rev. Antony Devassey Punnackal has been cleared of sexual battery charges by a Sevier County jury and has settled a federal civil lawsuit filed by the woman who said he sexually assaulted her during a 2020 counseling session, but he will not be returning to ministry in the Catholic Diocese of Knoxville.

He is leaving the country, in fact.

Punnackal serves at the discretion of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate, an international religious order that has requested he return to his native India, diocese spokesperson Jim Wogan said in an email to Knox News.

The religious order, in essence, loaned Punnackal to the diocese and now has requested he return after being cleared of his legal entanglements. Punnackal has been suspended since January 2022. Diocesan leaders learned May 10 of the request that he return to India, Wogan said.

What becomes of his ministry is now up to the Carmelites of…

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Bursts of torrential rainfall soaked a group of victim advocates in front of a federal courthouse in Springfield on Tuesday, each holding a sign relating to abuse they said they endured at Missouri boarding schools.

The paper was drenched but their message was clear: If you see something, say something.

Three women, alongside former Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) leader David Clohessy, urged state officials to thoroughly investigate Christian boarding schools amid multiple reports of abuse at facilities throughout southern Missouri. Many have in resulted in criminal charges and lawsuits.

They want action from Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey but said they have had little success in their pursuit of accountability and more regulation.

Their frustration was palpable.

“I’m asking the state of Missouri to do something because I find that myself and many others basically lost our childhood to this state,” said 33-year-old Amanda Householder, who…

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Louisiana’s top court will reconsider its recent decision to scrap a “look back law” for abuse survivors — a move that could have a profound impact on several Catholic dioceses in the state that are already grappling with significant legal settlements and ongoing investigations.

On May 10, the Louisiana Supreme Court granted a rehearing on a March ruling that had overturned a 2021 “look back law,” which gave victims of child sexual abuse until June 14 of this year to file civil claims. Senate Bill 246 would seek to extend that deadline until June 14, 2027.

The court’s 4-3 March ruling had found that law was at odds with the state constitution’s due process, prompting dismay from abuse survivors and advocates, and a filing for a rehearing from state attorney general Liz Murrill.

Murrill, a Republican, called the Supreme Court’s decision to grant a hearing a “victory for child victims…

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A Brownsville priest was indicted on several child sex crimes, records show.

Fernando Gonzalez Ortega, who was serving as a priest at St. Luke’s Catholic Church in Brownsville at the time of his arrest, was indicted May 8.

The six-count indictment charges him with continuous sex abuse of a child (victim under 14), indecency with a child with sexual contact, sexual assault by clergyman and three counts of sexual assault of a child.

Gonzalez-Ortega is accused of a sexually abusing a child from Dec. 27, 2012 through Dec. 26, 2014.

The indictment alleges that Gonzalez Ortega also sexually assaulted said child three times in 2017, with the most recent assault allegedly taking place on Sept. 15, 2022.

On Feb. 12, Brownsville police arrested Gonzalez Ortega at the 1900 block of Barnard Road on several active warrants. Gonzalez Ortega was initially arrested in February on multiple child sex-related crimes, including trafficking…

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Louisiana’s top court will reconsider its recent decision to scrap a “look back law” for abuse survivors — a move that could have a profound impact on several Catholic dioceses in the state that are already grappling with significant legal settlements and ongoing investigations.

On May 10, the Louisiana Supreme Court granted a rehearing on a March ruling that had overturned a 2021 “look back law,” which gave victims of child sexual abuse until June 14 of this year to file civil claims. Senate Bill 246 would seek to extend that deadline until June 14, 2027.

The court’s 4-3 March ruling had found that law was at odds with the state constitution’s due process, prompting dismay from abuse survivors and advocates, and a filing for a rehearing from state attorney general Liz Murrill.

Murrill, a Republican, called the Supreme Court’s decision to grant a hearing a “victory for child victims…

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Following a police investigation into the Archdiocese of New Orleans, the Louisiana Supreme Court has decided to rehear arguments in favor of a law that could reopen the window for victims of child sex abuse to file lawsuits against the Archdiocese. 

 “In a victory for child victims of sexual abuse – I’m pleased that the Louisiana Supreme Court granted our application for a rehearing,” Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill posted on her X account. “This was the right decision – as the bill passed unanimously through the State Legislature and should be the law here in Louisiana.”

“I’ll always defend victims of sexual abuse, and I look forward to the next steps at the Louisiana Supreme Court,” she added. 

In March, the Court initially ruled that the law, which was passed in 2021 and amended in 2022, “conflicted with due process rights in the state constitution,”  View Cache

The therapist waved a stick-like object back and forth before state Rep. Mark Rozzi’s eyes, making him look left and right, as the therapist got his patient to recite painful memories of sexual abuse that happened 40 years earlier.

The therapy Mr. Rozzi has undergone recently, he said, has let him mentally grasp horrible recollections from his youth and “file them away like any other childhood memory.” It is called EMDR — for “eye movement densensitization and reprocessing therapy” — and it has been a milestone in his handling of memories of being raped by a Catholic priest.

“It’s been a godsend,” he said of its effect on his personal life.

Squaring away things in his public life is another matter.

Mr. Rozzi, 53, for years has championed in Harrisburg the need to allow child sex abuse survivors a two-year window in which to file otherwise…

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Advocates for victims of abuse at Missouri boarding schools on Monday urged the state’s attorney general to launch an investigation, work with local prosecutors and take other steps aimed at stemming the tide of abuse.

Three Christian boarding schools in southern Missouri have shut down since 2020 amid wide-ranging abuse allegations levied by current and former students. Several people affiliated with those schools are facing criminal charges. Advocates who worry that more abuse is going unpunished gathered Monday outside Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s St. Louis office to demand action.

“This is a structural problem,” said David Clohessy, a longtime advocate for abused children and former leader of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. “These are facilities that are remote, independent, private, sometimes for-profit, largely under the radar with little or no scrutiny, state oversight, monitoring or supervision. It’s a recipe for disaster.”

A spokeswoman for Bailey said in…

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Prominent boarding school abuse victim speaks out

She sued her parents; They now face 100+ felony charges

Now, she blasts AG for “insulting letter & endangering kids”

Group to Bailey: “Hold zoom meeting with suffering survivors“

In last minute plea, they call on lawmakers to strengthen child safety laws

WHAT

At a sidewalk news conference, a nationally-known survivor, activist and whistleblower will discuss

• startling new revelations that a Missouri sheriff dealt with at least 15 run-away teens – including two just last Saturday – from a Christian boarding school over the past three years, and
• the upcoming criminal trial of her parents on 100+ felony abuse charges stemming from their years-long severe mistreatment of kids at their boarding school, and
• her just-resolved unusual civil lawsuit against her mom and dad.

Holding signs and childhood photos, she and other abuse survivors will also reveal a “terse and insulting” letter they recently received from Missouri’s attorney…

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The Freedom From Religion Foundation cheers the decision of the Washington attorney general to force the Seattle Archdiocese’s compliance with a clergy child sexual abuse investigation.

Attorney General Bob Ferguson recently sent subpoenas to the Seattle Archdiocese, the Diocese of Spokane and the Diocese of Yakima seeking to examine whether these religious entities have used charitable funds to cover up pedophilia. Of the three, the Seattle Archdiocese is the one that has refused to cooperate.

The Seattle Archdiocese first released names of perpetrators in 2016. The list, which now has more than 80 individuals, includes long-dead priests. It goes without saying that the Catholic Church cannot be trusted to fully and accurately report on the number of perpetrators among its clergy. The Illinois Attorney General’s Office’s published report in 2023 listed four times as many substantiated child sex abusers than previously disclosed…

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Miller’s April 27 death has been the source of fierce controversy and widespread speculation.

The FBI and the U.S. attorney’s office have been asked to assist in an investigation into the death of Mica Miller, a pastor’s wife whose apparent suicide in North Carolina has been the source of fierce controversy and widespread speculation among her friends and former church community in South Carolina.

“The Robeson County Sheriff’s Office has been in contact with the United States Attorney’s Office and Federal Bureau of Investigation in South Carolina since the early stages of the Mica Miller investigation,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement to local news station WPDE on Monday (May 13). “Based on the information gathered during the investigation and jurisdiction reasons, the Sheriff’s Office has requested the assistance of both agencies.”

Miller, 30, was found dead at Lumber River State Park near the South Carolina border west of Wilmington…

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Local law enforcement investigating the controversial death of Mica Miller have reached out to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in South Carolina and the United States Attorney’s Office for help, ABC 15 News has reported.

The media outlet said the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office announced the development on Monday. 

The Roys Report (TRR) reached out to the sheriff’s office for more information but did not hear back. However, Veronica R. Hill, Public Affairs Specialist at U.S. Attorney’s Office, confirmed her office has been in contact with the sheriff’s office but wouldn’t further “confirm/deny/comment on investigations.”

Mica Miller’s death at Lumber River State Park in North Carolina on April 27 has been making headlines globally for concerning details surrounding it. Mica’s family members allege that John-Paul Miller was abusing Mica, and that Mica feared for her life.

Additionally, Mica and her husband were in the process of divorcing at the time of…

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A Brownsville priest was indicted on several child sex crimes, records show.

Fernando Gonzalez Ortega, who was serving as a priest as St. Luke’s Catholic Church in Brownsville at the time of his arrest, was indicted May 8.BACKGROUND: Brownsville priest arrested on child sexual abuse, trafficking charges, authorities say

The six-count indictment charges him with continuous sex abuse of a child (victim under 14), indecency with a child with sexual contact, sexual assault by clergyman and three counts of sexual assault of a child.

Gonzalez-Ortega is accused of a sexually abusing a child from Dec. 27, 2012 through Dec. 26, 2014.

The indictment alleges that Gonzalez Ortega also sexually assaulted said child three times in 2017, with the most recent assault allegedly taking place on Sept. 15, 2022.

On Feb. 12, Brownsville police arrested Gonzalez Ortega at the 1900 block of Barnard Road on several active warrants. Gonzalez Ortega…

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The Diocese of Brooklyn said that a Vatican-ordered investigation into a retired auxiliary bishop has ended, concluding that allegations against Bishop Raymond Chappetto are unfounded. 

Chappetto, a now-retired auxiliary bishop who was vicar general of the Brooklyn diocese, was accused in 2021 of administrative negligence, namely failing to disclose appropriately that a Brooklyn priest was prohibited from contact with minors, and thus potentially putting minors at risk.

But in a statement sent to The Pillar Thursday, the diocese said it had been informed by apostolic nuncio Cardinal Christophe Pierre that “upon examination of the Vos estis investigation report in a complaint against Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus Raymond F. Chappetto, the Dicastery for Bishops has concluded the allegations ‘are manifestly unfounded, and the case has been closed.’”

The diocese said it was not able to provide details into the investigation, which was conducted by Archbishop Leonard Blair, who retired earlier this month as Archbishop of Hartford,…

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A priest who was arrested in Florida last month after he was accused of sexually abusing boys appeared in an Iowa court on Monday.

Father Leo Riley‘s arrest in Florida is tied to alleged abuse in Iowa in the 1980s. He’s charged with five counts of sexual abuse.

Riley appeared in court in Dubuque, Iowa, and was given a $500,000 bond, according to NBC affiliate KWWL. Riley’s attorney, Guy Cook, said that bond amount is too high, and planned to challenge it.

“Father Leo Riley is, to those people who know him well, a person of upstanding moral character, an honest man, and a person who would not commit these kinds of acts,” Cook said.

If Riley posts bond, he would remain in Department of Corrections custody and would have to stay at a halfway house, according to KWWL.

Riley served…

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A $500,000 bond has been set for Charlotte County priest Leo Riley, following his initial appearance at the Dubuque County Courthouse on Monday. Father Leo Riley spent the night in jail while his attorney filed paperwork to have his bond significantly reduced.

Riley is facing five counts of sexual abuse allegedly committed during his time as a priest in Iowa. Last month, a local victim came forward saying he was abused by Riley in Charlotte County.

Father Leo Riley has not been charged in Charlotte County, but is back in Dubuque to answer to five counts of capital sexual battery related to reports in the 1980s.

Riley was a past priest at the Resurrection Church in Dubuque, Iowa. In Charlotte County, he was a Priest at Saint Charles Borromeo in Port Charlotte in the early 2000′s, and is currently assigned to San Antonio Catholic Church, also in Port Charlotte.

Following…

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A former teacher at Pope John XXIII Regional High School pleaded guilty last week to illegally recording students while employed in the district before his 2022 arrest, authorities said.

Michael Wagner, 41, entered his plea Friday before Judge Michael Gaus, the Sussex County Prosecutor’s Office stated. He was charged with first-degree child endangerment and second-degree manufacturing of child sexual abuse.

The prosecutor’s office and Sparta police began an investigation on Oct. 12, 2022, after another teacher at Pope John overheard several eighth grade girls talking about Wagner recording them during class.

Police found hundreds of photos and videos of students taken by Wagner, who “would position the electronic device in such a way as to capture and record the underclothing of female students,” the release stated. His other personal devices were confiscated and also found to contain images of child exploitation or abuse.

Wagner taught eighth grade physics and science…

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A $500,000 bond has been set for Charlotte County priest Leo Riley, following his initial appearance at the Dubuque County Courthouse on Monday. As of Monday night, he is still behind bars.

He is facing five counts of sexual abuse allegedly committed during his time as a priest in Iowa. Last month, a local victim came forward saying he was abused by Riley in Charlotte County.

“I buried these memories very deep but I couldn’t keep them buried forever,” said an alleged victim going by John Doe.

Father Leo Riley has not been charged in Charlotte County, but is back in Dubuque to answer to five counts of capital sexual battery related to reports in the 1980s.

Riley was a past priest at the Resurrection Church in Dubuque, Iowa. In Charlotte County, he was a Priest at Saint Charles Borromeo in Port Charlotte in the early 2000′s, and is currently…

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