ABUSE TRACKER

[VIDEO] Calling Bishop Edward Malesic ‘one of the most secretive bishops in the United States,’ activists demanded the diocese share more details on clergy accused of abuse.

Activists from two of the nation’s leading groups speaking out against child sexual abuse by Catholic clergy held a press conference outside the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist Wednesday to condemn Cleveland Bishop Edward Malesic for what they say is his inadequate handling of such cases.

Administrators from BishopAccountability.org and the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests called Malesic “one of the most secretive bishops in the United States” in regard to sharing information about abusers, both living and deceased. They also revealed a list of 50 clergymen whom they believe should be added to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cleveland’s current public record of 51 clerics with “substantiated allegations” of sexual abuse against…

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[See video]

Release more names and more information. That was the call from victims advocates to the Catholic Church in Cleveland. The recent revelation of a former St. Ignatius priest being credibly accused of abusing children has sparked one organization’s deeper dive into priests who’ve served in the Cleveland Catholic Diocese.

Anne Barrett Doyle is the co-director of BishopAccountability.org. She stood in front of the Downtown cathedral today saying dozens of additional names of priests should be on the Cleveland Catholic Diocese credibly accused list. One of the names is a priest who we broke the story on last year.

“It’s hard to trust people,” said Tammie Mayle in tears just last year in a News 5 exclusive investigation. At the time, she had just filed a lawsuit saying while she was a child at the former orphanage called Parmadale, Father…

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[VIDEO]

On Wednesday, about half a dozen members from BishopAccountability.org gathered in front of The Cathedral of Saint John the Evangelist in Downtown Cleveland demanding Bishop Edward Malesic release the names of every Catholic priest who has been accused of sexual abuse in the church but has not been revealed.

“His list only includes 51 priests who have faced substantiated allegation. he is leaving dozens and dozens of abusers off his list and he knows this,” said Anne Barrett Doyle, Co-Director of BishopAccountability.org.

19 News is not showing the list of names since the priests have not been criminally charged.

The watchdog group says laws in the state of Ohio regarding sex abuse are some of the worst in the country.

Current law states a child sex abuse survivor can only pursue charges against their alleged attacker until they are 30 years old.

“The single most compassionate…

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The Diocese of Manchester has added three names to its online list of dozens of priests credibly accused of child sexual abuse going back to 1950, church officials announced this week.

The three new entries represent the first additions to the Diocese’s Restoring Trust website since it was launched in 2019, a spokesperson for the Diocese said.

The Restoring Trust website provides the year each priest was ordained, his parish assignments and his status, which ranges from criminal conviction to being defrocked to “assigned to a life of prayer and penance.”

The list includes 76 names of priests, 51 of whom are dead. Most of the referenced cases have been concluded. Two are listed as pending.

The information and additional resources are available at catholicnh.org/restoringtrust.

The Rev. George Desjardins has been added under the category “Cases Concluded” for a recently received report of abuse that took place…

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2 cases against ex Jesuit already known, 3 new at Doctrine of Faith

There are currently five complaints from alleged sex-abuse victims of world-famous Slovenian mosaic artist and ex-Jesuit priest Marko Rupnik at the Vatican office that handles such cases, Vatican sources said Wednesday.

Two of the complaints to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith are already known and three of them new, they said.

The two came out in public for the first time in late February, saying that “the rubber wall” surrounding Rupnik’s alleged sex abuse has “crumbled.” They are named Mirjiam and Gloria, and are Slovenian women former members of the Ignatius of Loyola Community of which the 69-year-old Rupnik was a prominent member before being expelled three years ago.

“We knew each other in the community,” Mirjam explained in a press conference with Gloria at her side, “we were all young girls, full of…

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José Ornelas is suspected of covering up a case of sexual abuse 

An investigation into allegations that one of the country’s most senior bishops covered up sexual abuse in the Catholic Church is still ongoing, according to an announcement today by the office of the country’s attorney general.

In an update on investigations into allegations of sexual abuse in the Church by clerics or other people linked to the institution, the attorney general’s office clarified that the inquiry opened by prosecutors in the Guimarães section of the Department of Investigation and Criminal Action (DIAP) in Braga, and in the Lisbon DIAP, remains under investigation.

“The Guimarães case received a final judgement, with part of it being closed and a certificate being drawn up for further investigation,” the statement continues. “This certificate gave rise to an inquiry that is still under investigation.”

The office of public prosecutions confirmed in October 2022 that it was investigating José Ornelas, bishop of Leiria-Fátima…

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The Diocese of Manchester, the Roman Catholic Church in New Hampshire, on Wednesday added three priests to its list of clergy accused of sexual abuse of a minor as part of its continuing effort and commitment to protecting children and young people. This is the first addition to the Restoring Trust website since its inception in 2019. The information, assignment histories, and additional resources are available at catholicnh.org/restoringtrust.

Reverend George Desjardins has been listed under the category “Cases Concluded” for a report of abuse that took place more than 40 years ago that was received recently. Fr. Desjardins is alive and has been retired since 2002. He is prohibited from ministry.

Reverend Matthew Schultz has been listed on the Restoring Trust website under the category “Cases in Process,” which are cases involving living Diocesan priests, but where the canonical proceedings are not yet complete. Fr. Schultz is prohibited from…

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For immediate release, April 10, 2024

Watchdog group blasts Cleveland bishop for secrecy around abuse

Bishop Malesic runs “one of the most secretive” dioceses in the U.S., they say

Bishop claims just 51 priests are credibly accused

But in 2002, county prosecutor identified almost three times as many 

Abuse expert releases 50 names that should be added to diocese’s list of accused clergy

Ohio leader of victims’ group: “Malesic’s secrecy puts children at risk, hurts victims, and betrays Cleveland Catholics”

[To see the 50 clergy omitted from the Cleveland diocese’s list of priests with substantiated allegations, click here.]

WHAT 
At a sidewalk news conference, the leader of the world’s leading research group on the clergy sex abuse crisis will: *

• Release the names of 50 publicly accused clerics who should be added to Bishop Malesic’s posted list of accused Cleveland priests 
• Urge Bishop Malesic to end the Cleveland diocese’s secrecy about…

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Wednesday, April 10

4:30 – 6 p.m.

Virtual Zoom

Free

Fordham’s ongoing “Taking Responsibility: Jesuit Educational Institutions Confront the Causes and Legacy of Clergy Sexual Abuse” project is sponsoring two spring webinars.

Part I: Memorializing Clergy Sexual Abuse

Join us for an interdisciplinary conversation about the ethics, means, and meanings of public memorials related to clergy sexual abuse.

In this webinar, three scholars will explore questions about whether, when, and how communities can contend with the history and memory of the Roman Catholic clergy sex abuse crisis. With expertise in trauma studies, liturgy, theology, and history, our panelists ask about the ethics, means, and meanings of various efforts to remember clergy sex abuse, as well as those who suffered and defied it.

Part II: Whose Stories Are They? Catholic Sex Abuse Records and the Issue of Transparency

Springing from a recent legal settlement that promised an abuse documents archive…

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The man had alleged he was abused in 1948, when he was an eighth-grader in Rumford, by the Rev. Lucien Joseph Mandeville. The terms of the settlement have not been released.

A Maine man who sued the state’s Catholic diocese in 2022, alleging he was abused as a 13-year-old boy by a priest in Rumford, has settled and agreed to drop his case.

Under the pseudonym John J.L. Doe, the man said he regularly attended the former St. John Parish, now part of the Parish of the Holy Savior, as a boy in the late 1940s. As an eighth-grader in early 1948, he said, he and two other children were playing outside the church when the Rev. Lucien Joseph Mandeville asked to drive them home. The lawsuit said Mandeville abused the boy in his car after dropping off the other two children.

The man, who is now 89 and lives…

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A priest in the Catholic Diocese of Brownsville, Texas, has been removed from ministry in the wake of an accusation of child sexual abuse. This is the second cleric in the Diocese, that we know of, to be accused this year. The other clergyman was arrested in February.

At the time of the arrest, SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, urged the Bishop to do immediate outreach to beg other victims and witnesses to report to law enforcement. We renew our plea as this second case is being investigated by the Diocesan Review Board.

Brownsville Bishop Daniel E. Flores received notification on March 15th that Msgr. Gustavo Barrera had been accused of a child sex crime. The priest denied the claim, but submitted his resignation and retirement as pastor of Our Lady of Sorrows in…

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Five new complaints of alleged abuse committed by Father Marko Rupnik have been presented to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome, where an investigation into the case is being carried out after Pope Francis decided to lift the statute of limitations.

The new cases mark the latest development in the case of Rupnik, a Jesuit accused of having committed serious sexual, spiritual, and psychological abuse against at least 20 women over a period of decades.

As reported by the Italian news agency Ansa, the testimonies of five alleged victims were presented at the Vatican dicastery by Italian lawyer Laura Sgrò on April 3.

The complainants include two women who shared their testimony at a press conference in February, while the other three are heretofore unknown cases.

On Feb. 21, Mirjam Kovac (who said she suffered spiritual and psychological abuse but not…

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Baltimore Archbishop William Lori on Monday attended a hearing at a U.S. bankruptcy court in which several witnesses testified on the abuse they endured at the hands of Church officials. 

The archdiocese said in a release on Monday that the archbishop “attended [the hearing] in which victim-survivors of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church offered statements as part of the proceedings associated with the archdiocese’s filing for Chapter 11 reorganization.” 

The archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in September of last year in response to a looming wave of sex-abuse-related lawsuits. Lori at the time said filing for bankruptcy ensured that “victim-survivors will be equitably compensated” and the Church would be able to “continue its mission and ministries.”

After the sealed hearing on Monday at U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Maryland, Lori said he was “deeply grateful to the victim-survivors for their courage today [and]…

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While Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore says he was grateful to hear the testimony of victim-survivors of clergy sex abuse in the archdiocese at a recent hearing, one of the victim-survivors has shrugged off his attendance as “part of a PR stunt.”

Lori, Baltimore Auxiliary Bishop Adam Parker and Jerri Burkhardt, the director of the archdiocese’s Office of Child & Youth Protection, attended a hearing on April 8 in which six victim-survivors of clergy sexual abuse offered statements as part of the archdiocese’s bankruptcy proceedings.

The testimonies were public, but off the record, with a primary purpose of giving victim-survivors the opportunity to share their stories in a public setting. Teresa Lancaster, one of the victim-survivors who provided testimony, told Crux it’s important for them to get that opportunity.

“A lot of people just don’t know what’s going on, and when people testify and put a face behind the word survivor it…

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Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, a longtime leader in the U.S. Catholic peace and justice movement, has died at the age of 94 in Detroit. He helped found Pax Christi and Bread for the World and was a war tax resister. He was also a survivor of sexual abuse in the church who was forced to resign in 2007 after he spoke out publicly in favor of an Ohio bill to extend the statute of limitations for cases of sexual abuse by clergy. In 2013, Bishop Gumbleton spoke to Democracy Now! about his work with the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP.

Bishop Thomas Gumbleton: “Well, what really opened my eyes was when a friend of mine — in fact, the person who started SNAP — came to me and asked me to intervene with the local bishop, because the priest who had abused her, and who had also abused other…

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The Redmans say when they eventually reported Pilavachi for the abuse they’d witnessed and had heard others describe, including inappropriate massages of young interns, their concerns were dismissed.

“We approached a senior leader from a church in London,” Beth Redman says in the film. “It was a very emotional conversation—and said about these massages, and said, you know, ‘Who could we talk to? What can be done?’ And this person, not dismissively or unkindly, just matter-of-factly said, ‘That’s just Mike. Nothing will be done.’”

Similarly, Matt Redman recalls, “What would always come back, if you spoke to someone or authority, would be this phrase, ‘That’s just Mike.’ And I’ve heard this phrase from so many people down through the years . . .  It was almost like saying . . . “He’s going to speak. He’s going to be funny—so gifted and talented. He’s got this charismatic personality. And what…

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Six victim-survivors of sexual abuse by clergy in the Archdiocese of Baltimore gave statements in court April 8 about the long-term impact of the abuse on their lives as part of the federal bankruptcy reorganization.

The testimonies were off the record and not transcribed. Judge Michelle M. Harner, who is overseeing the Chapter 11 case, noted that the statements are not evidentiary in the case.

Their primary purpose, she said, was to “increase engagement and understanding” and to provide a forum for those affected by the pre-bankruptcy conduct of the archdiocese and its representatives.

“Today is a listening session and an opportunity for individuals to be heard,” Harner said.

Archbishop William E. Lori and Auxiliary Bishop Adam J. Parker attended the hearing, sitting in the front of the courtroom. They both hugged the first survivor who spoke.

Harner thanked each person who made a statement — three women and three…

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A Polish priest was sentenced to 18 months in jail for sex and drug crimes, state news agency PAP reported on Tuesday, after an incident in which a man reportedly collapsed during an orgy at his home.

According to Polish media reports, a man collapsed at the party after taking too many erectile dysfunction pills. One of the partygoers called an ambulance, but when paramedics arrived they were refused entry and were only able to attend to the man after police were called, according to the reports.

The diocese’s press office did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

The priest, referred to as Tomasz Z due to Polish privacy laws, was sentenced for sexual offences, the supply of drugs and failing to provide assistance to a person in danger of loss of life or serious bodily harm.

He was also ordered to pay the victim 15,000 zlotys…

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“We look forward to explaining to the Supreme Court why the Archdiocese of Philadelphia is subject to New Jersey’s jurisdiction when priests in doing their jobs were taking children to New Jersey and abusing them there,” David Inscho and Andra Laidacker of Kline & Specter said.

The New Jersey Supreme Court recently granted a motion for leave to appeal in D.T. v. Archdiocese of Philadelphia, a case filed over the alleged sexual abuse of a minor by a Catholic priest which was dismissed in the Appellate Division for lack of personal jurisdiction.

The plaintiff’s claim alleged that he was sexually abused by a former Catholic priest, Michael McCarthy, in New Jersey in 1971, when he was 14 years old. At that time, McCarthy was a priest and teacher in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, which is named as a defendant in the case. D.T.’s claims against the archdiocese were dismissed by the…

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The legal system will never run out of ways to transform real-world harms into meaningless abstractions—all in service of insulating the wealthy and powerful from accountability.

When you think of the Due Process Clause of the Constitution, which says that no one shall be “deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law,” what rights do you imagine this language protecting? Perhaps the right not to be imprisoned by the government without a fair trial, or the right to be free of unjustified police confiscations of your belongings. According to a 4-3 Louisiana Supreme Court majority in Bienvenu v. Diocese of Lafayette, though, a due process right you may have failed to consider is the right of priests and their enablers not to be held accountable by victims of their sexual abuse.

Over the course of years in the 1970s, several boys between the ages of eight and…

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The leadership team of a North Carolina congregation has dismissed the church’s lead pastor for “sexual misconduct” that involved multiple adult victims. He was ousted after initially giving a “partial” confession that multiple staff challenged as an attempt to “control” the narrative.

In an open letter released on April 1, leaders of Pursuit Church in Denver, North Carolina, announced that Pastor Jordan Green’s employment at the church had been terminated as of that date. “Green committed acts of sexual misconduct which has deeply wounded his victims, the people who call Pursuit Church home, and this leadership team,” it stated. 

The 850-word letter stated that Green was found to be in situations that “were in direct violation of Pursuit Church’s policy regarding workplace harassment.” A Facebook post from Pursuit Church on April 4 clarified that “the victims of Jordan’s actions . . . were all adults.” 

In…

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An interdisciplinary conversation about transparency, control, and the volatility of sexual abuse archives. 

Featuring:Levi Monagle, J.D., Partner, Hall, Monagle, Huffman, Wallace, LLC

Terence McKiernan, President, bishopaccountability.org

Dr. Jennifer Haselberger, JCL, Ph.D., Founder, Canonical Consultations

Dr. Kathleen Holscher, Associate Professor, University of New Mexico

Wednesday, April 10, 4:30 – 6:00 pm (Eastern Time) Registration

Springing from a recent legal settlement that promised an Abuse Documents Archive in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, this webinar asks questions about the meanings, limits, and promise of “transparency” in the effort to understand and ameliorate the Catholic clergy abuse crisis. 

What is to be learned, gained, and achieved in opening up the archives of Catholic sexual abuse? What kind of healing follows from transparency, if any? Beyond respecting the wishes of survivors who prefer privacy, are there any other limitations to consider? What does transparency have to…

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As a young girl, Eva Dittrich sought forgiveness during confession at her Catholic church in Baltimore County because her grandfather was molesting her at home.

Her priest, Father Joseph Maskell, responded by telling her she was “a whore,” but that he would “try to cleanse me of my sins in private counseling sessions,” Dittrich said in court Monday.

“These sessions were actually sexual abuse,” she testified.

Maskell later invited her into his car and on boat rides, where he “violently raped” her, Dittrich recalled. “I tried to jump out of the boat. I would rather drown,” she said, adding that she attributed a lifetime of nightmares, tumultuous relationships and decades of intensive psychotherapy to the torment she endured decades ago.

Dittrich, 68, was the first of six survivors of clergy sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Baltimore to speak as part of the church’s bankruptcy case Monday. In a move…

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Archbishop William E. Lori sat quietly Monday as six men and women stood in court and spoke of surviving violent and sometimes years-long sexual abuse at the hands of priests and staff employed by the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

One woman said her abuse began in first grade. Another said a priest routinely threatened her with a gun and once held her head underwater near a boat’s propellers to keep her silent about her repeated rape. A man described how the abuse he endured as a young teen set him on a path of destruction that has haunted him for years. All said they live with depression and nightmares of their abuse to this day.

The sex abuse survivors have fought for this opportunity since the Archdiocese of Baltimore filed for bankruptcy last fall just days before a Maryland law called the Child Victims Act took effect. The law…

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A special conference took place Monday in federal bankruptcy court, designed to give adult survivors of childhood clergy sexual abuse a chance to testify. It comes amid the Chapter 11 proceedings for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, which declared bankruptcy in September in anticipation of a flood of sexual abuse lawsuits when Maryland’s Child Victims Act became law.

The judge was clear from the outset: only survivors would give statements, the conference was not on the record and not evidentiary in nature. She said, from the court’s perspective, Monday was a listening session and an opportunity to be heard in order to increase engagement and understanding of the case.

“I want to tell survivors out there: ‘Come forward. We’ll stand with you. There’s strength in numbers, and don’t hide in the closet anymore,’” survivor Teresa Lancaster said.

Lancaster was one of six…

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William Lori, the Catholic archbishop of Baltimore, listened as six survivors of church abuse shared their stories in court

At 68 years old, a lifetime of nightmares later, a white-haired woman told a Baltimore courtroom Monday about the sexual assaults she suffered as a teenager at the hands of a priest.

Speaking directly to the Catholic archbishop of Baltimore, who looked up at her from his seat and nodded as she spoke, the woman described spending much of her life believing that God saw her as a whore and did not love her.

She is only now learning to love herself, she said.

“I am so grateful that I am allowed this moment and you are listening to me, you are hearing me,” said the woman, bursting into tears. “You weren’t there back then,” she told Archbishop William Lori, “but you are hearing me now.”

The encounter came during an…

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An Argentine judge on Friday ruled that 20 cloistered nuns had suffered abuse for more than two decades at the hands of high-ranking clergy in the country’s conservative north, and ordered the accused archbishop and church officials to undergo psychological treatment and training in gender discrimination.

The ruling in the homeland of Pope Francis cast a spotlight on the long-standing abuse of nuns by priests and bishops in the Catholic Church.

Though long overshadowed by other church scandals, such abuses in religious life are increasingly being aired and denounced as a result of nuns feeling emboldened by the #MeToo movement, which has a corollary in the church, #NunsToo.

“I conclude and affirm that the nuns have suffered acts of gender violence religiously, physically, psychologically and economically for more than 20 years,” Judge Carolina Cáceres said in the ruling from Salta in northwestern Argentina.

She also ordered the verdict be conveyed…

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The former secretary of an Australian bishop charged with sexual abuse told The Pillar that she was personally instructed by Bishop Christopher Saunders to make payments to potential victims.

Cherrille Quilty told The Pillar that from 2016 to 2017 she worked for Bishop Saunders, who led the Western Australia Diocese of Broome until 2021. 

Quilty said that she was among the first to raise a criminal complaint against the bishop, whom she also accused of abusive bullying as an employer, and to give evidence in the Vatican ordered investigation carried out into allegations against Saunder under the norms of Vos estis lux mundi.

The bishop’s former secretary also claimed to The Pillar that there had been a list of dozens of young Aboriginal men pinned to the diocesan office wall during her time there, to whom the bishop ordered frequent payments from Church funds.

Quilty also said that Saunders was routinely bullying and abusive to staff, including…

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The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference releases “Integrity in Our Common Mission”: a national code of conduct ensuring safety and zero tolerance for clerical abuse.

A national code of conduct has been released by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC) for people ministering in Catholic dioceses around Australia.

A new document

In a press release published on 8 April by the ACBC, the bishops present the 32-page document, which they say is a means “of furthering the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference’s ongoing commitment to the safety of children and vulnerable people”.READ ALSO08/04/2021

A bird’s nest and healing: Vatican sponsors event on preventing sexual abuse

The Document, entitled “Integrity in Our Common Mission” (link) was approved by the bishops at their plenary meeting in November 2023 and replaces earlier codes such as Integrity in Ministry for clergy and Religious, and Integrity in the Service of the Church for Church lay…

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A controversial Filipino megachurch Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, sought by the U.S. for child sex trafficking, has set forth conditions for his surrender in the Philippines, demanding assurances against extradition, amid charges against him in both countries. The 73-year-old pastor is accused of asking women to “sacrifice” their bodies to the “appointed son of god” and raping them.

The U.S. Justice Department, in 2021, accused Quiboloy, the leader of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ church in the Philippines, of sex trafficking girls and women aged 12 to 25 as personal assistants, or “pastorals,” who were allegedly coerced into sexual relations with him. Concurrently, the Philippine justice department has charged him with sexual abuse and other related offenses, including qualified human trafficking and child abuse acts.

Quiboloy’s demands for surrender include a written assurance from the Philippine government, ensuring no U.S. interference or extraordinary rendition, AFP reported Sunday. He expressed…

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A Filipino televangelist wanted in the U.S. for child sex trafficking has given conditions for his surrender. Currently, Filipino megachurch pastor Apollo Quiboloy is in hiding. But he said in a voice clip posted on YouTube Saturday that he’d surrender to Filipino authorities if he received assurances he won’t be extradited to the U.S.

Quiboloy, a self-proclaimed “Son of God” and spiritual advisor to former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte, is the founder of the Philippines-based Kingdom of Jesus Christ Church. The church has a United States headquarters in Los Angeles.

The church claims to have 6 million members in 200 countries, The Roys Report (TRR) previously reported. Additionally, the church’s television network, Sonshine Media, has nearly 300,000 subscribers on YouTube.

The 73-year-old pastor is on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) most wanted list for multiple charges, including child sex trafficking, sex trafficking by force,…

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Lawyers representing sex abuse victims have asked the Louisiana Supreme Court to reconsider its decision to invalidate a law that created a three-year “lookback window” in which victims could sue their abusers regardless of how long ago the abuse took place.

Plaintiffs in Douglas Bienvenu, et al v. Diocese of Lafayette and St. Martin De Tours Catholic Church filed an application of rehearing to the Louisiana Supreme Court on Thursday. According to the filing, the group argues that the court overstepped its power and erred in its interpretation of the law.

Attorney General Liz Murrill filed a similar application on Friday warning that the Court’s decision in Bienvenu inches toward tipping the balance of power in state government. 

“This case marks a significant constitutional moment in the Court’s history. Members of the Court have consistently emphasized that the powers bestowed upon our ‘three co-equal branches of government’ must remain ‘separate…

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In a case concerning a polygamous sect in the vicinity of the Arizona-Utah border, Samuel Bateman, the leader, pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to transport underage girls across state lines for sexual activities involving children.

This scheme, deemed to have spanned several years, involved Bateman orchestrating sexual acts with minors and conspiring to free underage girls from Arizona state custody. His guilty plea encompasses charges of kidnapping conspiracy, with a recommended prison sentence of 20 to 50 years, while one conviction could carry a maximum life sentence.

Bateman, aged 48, admitted to taking underage brides, engaging in sexual activity with them, and organizing group sex, sometimes involving child brides. Despite attempts to contact Bateman’s attorney, Myles Schneider, for comment, no response was received. Bateman, who proclaimed himself a prophet and had over 20 wives, including 10 under 18, sought to establish an offshoot of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus…

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The Vatican on Monday published a new document setting out “grave violations of human dignity”, listing abortion, surrogacy and gender theory alongside discrimination against migrants and LGBTQ people.

The 20-page document, endorsed by Pope Francis, is the culmination of five years of work but comes amid splits in the Catholic Church over a range of social issues, most recently the blessing of gay couples.

Entitled “Dignitas infinita” (Infinite dignity) and published by the Vatican’s powerful department of doctrine, the document covers the key themes of the Argentine’s 11-year papacy, from war to ecology and social justice.

It reaffirms the Church’s long-held opposition to abortion, euthanasia and surrogacy, but now puts them alongside issues such as poverty, conflict, sexual abuse, marginalisation of migrants and human trafficking as…

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Pope Francis has made major changes to the Diocese of Rome, giving new positions to both Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, his vicar for the diocese since 2017, and Auxiliary Bishop Daniele Libanori, a Jesuit who has served as auxiliary for the past six years.

In appointments announced by the Vatican April 6, Pope Francis named the 70-year-old Cardinal De Donatis to be the major penitentiary or head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, a church court dealing with matters of conscience.

He succeeds Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, who had held the position since 2013 and will celebrate his 80th birthday in September.

Pope Francis did not immediately name a new vicar for the Rome diocese.

The Vatican announcement said Bishop Libanori, who gained international attention for his strong defense of the women who accused former Jesuit Father Marko Rupnik of abuse, will become the “assessor of the Holy Father for consecrated life.”

The…

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The First Baptist of Broken Arrow is reopening its investigation of alleged sexual misconduct by one of its ministers that took place more than a decade ago.

First Baptist-BA says the allegations pertain to actions that took place during the timeframe 2003-06 timeframe and involved a former college and singles minister. The minister was terminated after the alleged behavior came to light.

“The individual who has brought this to us was a teenager in our church during this timeframe and part of our high school student ministry,” First Baptist-BA says. “While there are many aspects yet-to-be-determined, we have confirmed that some level of sexual contact took place between this teenager and (the minister), resulting in his termination in 2006.”

The church read a lengthy statement to parishioners earlier this year announcing new steps would be taken.

The church has chosen to identify the alleged abuser publicly “so relevant witnesses can come forward”…

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In a rare ruling, a Kenyan high court has sentenced a Catholic priest found guilty of assaulting a 16-year-old girl to spend the next three years preaching about the country’s sexual crimes law.

The Rev. Dominic Muli Nzioka, a priest who served a parish in Mivumoni, in the Archdiocese of Mombasa, was ordered by Justice Anne Ong’iinjo March 7 to educate his congregrants about the country’s Sexual Offenses Act.

The ruling came after Nzioka appealed a seven-year sentence issued last June by a magistrate’s court in the city of Mombasa. Ong’iinjo said she was setting aside that sentence, stipulating instead that in addition to probation, Nzioka will be required to give a sermon about the anti-sexual abuse law at least once a month. His compliance will be monitored by the priest-in-charge at his parish and his probation officer.

According to news reports, Nzioka sent the teen a text in September…

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Archbishop Mario Cargnello of Salta, a city in northern Argentina, has been convicted of gender violence against Discalced Carmelite nuns, the Salta-based El Tribuno has reported.

The nuns had accused Archbishop Cargnello, who has governed the archdiocese since 1999, of harassment of a psychological, economic, and physical (though not sexual) nature. In 2020, he, along with his judicial vicar, attempted to wrestle away a camera from a nun as she was recording a meeting, in what El Tribuno described as the principal incident under review.

Archbishop Cargnello “presents indicators of rigid, structured thinking; therefore, when faced with situations and/or events that differ from his ideology or what he expects, he could react with anger or irritability, triggering intimidating behaviors,” according to a psychological report that was published with the court’s ruling. Judge Carolina Cáceres Moreno ordered Archbishop Cargnello to undergo psychological treatment, as well as training in gender violence.

Also convicted were Bishop Martín…

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The headmaster of Barebailu Government Higher Primary School in Bola village of Karkala taluk  was arrested on April 6 on the charges of sexually harassing as many as 14 minor girl students.

The accused is Rajendra Acharya (58) from Bola Vanjarakatte.  He is also the Chief Priest of Piliyooru Ichodi Mahalingeshwara Temple.

The accused sexually abused the girls between June 5, 2023 and April 3, 2024. He had even harassed the elder sister of one of the students by sending obscene photos.

Following complaints from locals, the officials of the Women and Child Welfare Department visited the school and upon receiving the complaint he  was arrested by the Karkala Rural police under POCSO. He has been produced before the POCSO Court.

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A national code of conduct has been released by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference for people ministering in Catholic dioceses around Australia.

The code of conduct applies the overarching framework Our Common Mission, which was approved in November 2022.

The 32-page document, Integrity in Our Common Mission, was approved by the bishops at their plenary meeting in November 2023, as a means of furthering the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference’s ongoing commitment to the safety of children and vulnerable people.

It is aimed at assisting in the formation and induction of clergy and lay pastoral leaders to reflect integrity in all aspects of their lives.

It now replaces earlier codes such as Integrity in Ministry for clergy and Religious, and Integrity in the Service of the Church for Church lay workers, and brings these into a single presentation, as requested by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse.

The code…

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President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday assured Pastor Apollo Quiboloy that all proceedings in his child and sexual abuse cases would be “fair”, following the televangelist’s conditions for his surrender.

Quiboloy recently released an audio statement saying he was not in hiding and that he wanted protection from extradition as he also had pending cases in the United States.

Marcos dismissed Quiboloy’s demands as “tail-wagging” the government.

“Ang maipapangako ko all the proceedings will be fair. Now, as to the involvement of the United states, malayo pa yan eh.  That’s going to take years. So I don’t think that it is something he should worry about,” Marcos said. 

No Quiboloy extradition request yet after ‘unsealing’ of US arrest warrant: DOJ

Quiboloy, leader of religious group Kingdom of Jesus Christ, had sought “written guarantees” from President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the national police and National Bureau of Investigation stating that the “US…

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Attorneys representing the McAllen priest who was recently removed from the Catholic Diocese of Brownsville has responded and denied the allegations in a statement on Saturday. 

Monsignor Gustavo Barrera was removed from his priestly faculties for ministry following an allegation of sexual misconduct with a minor that occurred about 35 years ago, Bishop Daniel E. Flores announced in a statement on Wednesday. 

Flores said that an individual, who has not been identified, met with the victim’s assistance coordinator to report the incident, and while they were encouraged to make a report with the police, the individual declined. The victim’s assistance coordinator did file a police report, per policy. 

While the Diocesan Review Board continued in the process of completing its assessment, Barrera submitted his resignation and retirement from Our Lady of Sorrows Parish in McAllen. 

Now, Barrera’s attorneys are not only denying the allegation, but also alleging slander against him because…

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Despite the failures of the “geographic solution” to clergy sexual abuse, Catholic religious orders as the Oblates have a long record of using it.

Religion and Public Life: Argentina, Canada, France, Mexico, Paraguay, and the United States are among the countries where the Oblates have relied on the “geographic solution” to clergy sexual abuse.

Two weeks ago, Los Ángeles Press published a report on the arrival of a Paraguayan Roman Catholic priest, a member of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate religious order, from his native country to Mexico.

At the time of the report, he had been in Mexico for at least six months. He kept a low profile. There is no record of him participating as priest in public functions carried by the order.

After arriving to Mexico, Juan Rafael Fleitas López performed as an instructor at the schools where the Oblates train their so-called scholastics, which is how Catholic religious orders…

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Portugal’s Roman Catholic bishops are meeting from Monday in Fátima, the country’s main site of pilgrimage, with the issue of compensation for victims of the sexual abuse of minors within the Church being among the central points on the agenda.

Between now and Thursday, this plenary assembly of the Portuguese Bishops’ Conference (CEP) is expected to finalise criteria for such compensation, based on a proposal prepared by the VITA Group, set up in the wake of a devastating report on abuse in the Church submitted by an earlier group of independent experts at the beginning of last year.

Up until last week, a total of 19 victims of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church in Portugal had expressed to the VITA Group their desire to be financially compensated for the damage they suffered. In all 86 situations of abuse were reported to the group.

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St. Joseph’s Cathedral in Wheeling, West Virginia was the scene on Sunday of an event to show support for survivors of sexual abuse in the Church and advocate for meaningful change, not only in ecclesiastical structures and governance practices, but in ecclesiastical culture generally.

Some 120 people came to see the “Walk in my shoes” installation designed and executed by LOUDfence, a survivor advocacy organization founded by Catholic laywoman Antonia Sobocki in 2020 in the UK, which has garnered the support of many UK bishops and has now come stateside. Survivors were among the participants, including several from beyond the confines of West Virginia.

The “Walk in my shoes” installation in Wheeling on Sunday was the first LOUDfence event in the United States, and featured exhibits dramatizing the trauma, the plight, and most of all the presence of survivors in the Church.

“The response was really intense,” Sobocki told Crux on Sunday…

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Six survivors of child sexual abuse committed by Catholic clergy in Maryland are set to testify Monday about their torment in front of Archbishop William Lori during a hearing in the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s bankruptcy case.

The unusual, though not unprecedented, hearing is one of at least two scheduled in the archdiocese’s bankruptcy case with a goal of shedding light on the human toll of the systemic sexual abuse that underlies the proceedings.

Baltimore’s diocese, America’s oldest, declared bankruptcy Sept. 29. It was a strategic decision designed to shield the church’s assets and limit liability days before Maryland’s landmark Child Victims Act took effect. The law lifted time limits for survivors of child sex abuse to sue perpetrators and the institutions that enabled their suffering.

Filing for bankruptcy also meant that lawsuits laying out allegations in state court might never be aired publicly. Instead, those complaints must be filed as claims in U.S. Bankruptcy…

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The Rev. Frank Canfield, a Jesuit priest who died in 2023, is said to have abused a student during the 2011-12 school year.

An allegation of sexual abuse against a deceased Jesuit priest and former Saint Ignatius High School chaplain has been deemed to be credible, according to a letter sent to alumni by the school’s president.

The accusations involve the Rev. Frank Canfield, who worked at Ignatius from 2006-14 and died last year at the age of 87. The Rev. Raymond P. Guiao, the school’s president and chief mission officer, says an alumnus first reported the allegations to him this past December and claimed the abuse occurred during the 2011-12 academic year.

Guiao writes he encouraged the man to contact the Jesuit Order’s Midwest Province, which began conducting an investigation. That inquiry wrapped up in March, and the province “deemed the allegation to be credible, meaning there is reasonable…

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CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) – St. Ignatius High School released a statement in response to allegations of sexual abuse by a priest named Fr. Frank Canfield, S.J., against a student that allegedly occurred in the 2011-2012 Academic Year.

We were deeply saddened to hear about this incident that happened 12 years ago at our school.

We immediately reached out to the alumnus, encouraged him to bring it to the attention of the Midwest Providence to investigate, and offer him our deepest apologies along with pastoral care. We are glad he came forward and hope that by doing so, he has begun the healing process he deserves.

The safety and well-being of our students is our highest priority and most sacred obligation.

Today, we have aggressive policies in place to protect student safety, including some of the strictest background checks in the country, annual training, and a zero-tolerance policy for any type…

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April 5, 2024

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Allegations of Sexual Abuse Against the late Fr. Frank Canfield, S.J., Occurred at Saint Ignatius High School in the 2011-2012 Academic Year. 

Cleveland – April 5, 2024 – The President and Chief Mission Officer of Saint Ignatius High School, Rev. Raymond P. Guiao, S.J., today distributed a letter to alumni who attended the school from 2007 to 2017, informing them of an incident of sexual abuse that occurred at the school in the  2011-2012 academic year.

The abuse involved the late Fr. Frank Canfield, SJ, who served at the school from 2006 to 2014. The incident was deemed credible by the Midwest Province Jesuits, which sponsors Jesuit institutions throughout a seven-state region, in March 2024, following an investigation that began in December 2023 when the victim first reported the incident.

In 2022, Fr. Canfield was also accused of sexual abuse occurring in 2000 at Saint John’s…

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[To see PDF of this statement as it appeared on the St. Ignatius website, click here.]

Saint Ignatius High School recently reported an accusation of alleged sexual abuse involving the late
Fr. Frank Canfield, S.J. The alleged abuse, deemed credible by the Midwest Province Jesuits, occurred
during the 2011–2012 school year at Saint Ignatius.

Out of our full transparency and accountability involving this incident, we have answered some common
questions you may have below.

When did Saint Ignatius learn of this alleged abuse?

We were first made aware of allegations against Fr. Canfield in October 2023, when an alumnus of
Saint John’s Jesuit High School in Toledo reported abuse that happened there in 2000. Because Fr.
Canfield was assigned to our school from 2006 to 2014, we immediately reached out to any and all
alumni who attended Saint Ignatius when Fr. Canfield was here to proactively ask if any of our former
students had experienced any similar…

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Pope Francis has transferred the vicar of Rome Cardinal Angelo De Donatis to a different post as head of the Vatican’s Apostolic Penitentiary, the Vatican announced on Saturday.

De Donatis, 70, has overseen the administrative needs of the Diocese of Rome as cardinal vicar since 2017. His reassignment leaves the important post of Vicar General of Rome vacant until the pope appoints his successor.

The Vatican also announced on April 6 that one of Rome’s seven auxiliary bishops, Bishop Daniele Belgiori, will be transferred to a new position as the Holy Father’s Assessor for Consecrated Life.

The transfer is the latest move in Pope Francis’ major reform of the Diocese of Rome. The pope issued a decree last year that deeply diminished the role of the vicar of Rome and centralized the diocesan management under the formal control of the pontiff as bishop of Rome.

Apostolic…

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A Wisconsin bishop has publicly rebuked the former apostolic nuncio to the United States, accusing him of defamation and a possibly illicit ordination.

The clash between Bishop James Powers of the Diocese of Superior and Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò stems from a March 22 post on X in which the controversial former Vatican official criticized what he called a “shamanic ceremony” at the start of the Superior Diocese’s 2024 Chrism Mass.

The March 19 Mass at its outset featured four Ojibwe women engaging in traditional dance while accompanied by indigenous drumming. Viganò in his post called the ritual “a very serious sacrilege,” describing Powers as “a squalid official of the ecumenical religion” and “not a Successor of the Apostles, but a servant of Freemasonry.” You can watch the beginning of the Mass in the diocese’s video here.

Powers responded in a sharply worded letter dated April 5, accusing…

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Warning: This story contains details some readers might find distressing.

A street and a park associated with abuse of children and young people are likely to have a name change.

Marylands Place and Marylands Reserve are both on one of two former sites of the notorious Marylands School, in the Christchurch suburb of Middleton.

One in five of the boys who attended the residential school, run by the St John of God brothers, reported being abused there, found an interim report released in 2023 for the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. It described the institution as ‘hell on earth’.

Next week, a Christchurch City Council community board is to consider a name for the street and park.

Board chairperson Callum Ward said the name change was recommended by the Royal Commission, and it also follows calls from survivors.

“There’s two main options on the table [as the new…

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• In short: Gerald Ridsdale is facing 62 new charges relating to alleged historic sexual abuse.
• The charges relate to alleged offences against six male victims in Inglewood and Mortlake between 1973 and 1981.
• What’s next? Ridsdale is expected to appear at the Bendigo Magistrates’ Court this month.

Police have laid new charges against notorious paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale, alleging further cases of historic sexual assaults against boys in central and south-west Victoria.

Ridsdale, 89, has been in prison since 1994 for the abuse of more than 70 children in Victoria and was sentenced for the eighth time last year.

Victoria Police said the Sexual Crimes Squad brought a further 62 charges against him following an investigation into a number of alleged historical sexual assaults.

The new charges of sexual penetration of a person aged between 10 and 16 and indecent assault relate to alleged incidents involving six male victims in Inglewood and Mortlake…

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Victorian pedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale has been slapped with dozens of additional historical sexual assault charges against children.

Ridsdale is serving a maximum of 40 years in prison after previously pleading guilty to sexually abusing at least 72 children during the 1970s and 80s while working as a Catholic priest.

Sexual crime detectives on Friday issued the 89-year-old with a further 62 charges as they continue to investigate alleged historical sexual assaults involving six male victims.

The alleged offences include sexual penetration of a person aged between 10-16 years and indecent assault occurring in Inglewood in Victoria’s northwest and Mortlake in the west between 1973 and 1981.

Ridsdale has been in prison since 1994 for abusing dozens of child victims when he worked as a priest at multiple schools and churches across Victoria.

In 2022, he was charged with 24 sexual offences relating to two male victims in Mortlake in…

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A civil court in Lorient, France has ruled that Cardinal Marc Ouellet and the Dominicans of the Holy Spirit dismissed a religious sister from her community without just cause.

Ouellet, the former prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Bishops, led an apostolic visitation of the community shortly before the abrupt 2021 expulsion of the 57-year-old Mother Marie Ferréol from her religious house.

Ouellet signed the decree that removed Ferréol, who had lived in the Brittany community since 1987. The nun was initially exclaustrated — a kind of temporary removal from community life — before she was definitively dismissed from the community in April 2021.

The sister said she was given no reason for her removal, which she argues was an assault on her reputation and privacy, and caused her “material and moral damage.”

The French court’s April 3 ruling argued that there was no evidence that Ferréol’s removal had been…

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Monte Lavelle Chitty, a 62-year-old Florida pastor and former police officer accused of getting a 15-year-old member of his church drunk and sexually assaulting her, is now on the run weeks after he was released on a $75,000 bond.

“Our understanding is that he’s already on the road and he’s left the state of Florida,” Monroe County State Attorney Dennis Ward told Local 10 News on Monday.

Chitty, who served as leader of First Baptist of Marathon, recently started a dockside ministry for a boating community in Boot Key Harbor, failed to attend a scheduled court hearing on Monday. Prosecutors say he fled the state in a white van with out-of-state plates.

A judge increased his bond to $1.3 million and issued a warrant for his arrest, Local 10 reported.

The pastor was previously charged with sexual battery of…

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The Philippine National Police in Davao said there will be no special treatment for controversial televangelist Apollo Quiboloy once he is arrested.

The custodial facilities of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Davao City Police Office (DCPO) are ready to accommodate the religious leader if he is arrested or if he surrenders.

“Dadalhin natin sa custodial facility ng PNP. No special treatment. Limited lang ang detention or custodial facility. Wala tayong special room for special people,” Police Regional Office XI spokesperson Major Catherine Dela Rey said.

(We will bring him to the PNP Custodial Facility. No special treatment. We have limited detention or custodial facility. We don’t have special room for special people.)

“In-assure po natin ang public na ang kapulisan ninyo sa Davao region ay wala tayong kinikilingan or tinitingnan natin ang estado ng isang tao. Ang ginagawa po namin, mandate namin ay ang pag-serve ng warrant…

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The Davao police said the Senate security office has requested for police assistance from the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters in Camp Crame in relation to the implementation of an arrest order against Apollo Quiboloy.

Davao police spokesperson Police Captain Hazel Tuazon said that the local police have not received a copy of the arrest order against Quiboloy. 

The Senate has issued an arrest order for the televangelist for failing to attend hearings on his alleged human trafficking and sexual abuse crimes.

Quiboloy can’t refuse Senate summons: Carpio

“The Police Regional Office 11 is directed to assist the OSSA in implementing the contempt warrant,” Tuazon told the local media.

Davao City police on alert for Quiboloy’s arrest

The Davao police said they have no idea yet on when the OSSA will arrive in Davao City to implement the arrest order.

Local authorities also said they are still clueless…

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Two more close associates of embattled doomsday preacher Apollo Quiboloy surrendered to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in Davao City on Thursday morning, April 4.

The two – Ingrid Canada and Jackielyn Roy – surrendered a day after authorities arrested one of Quiboloy’s close aides in Barangay Tamayong, Davao City, while two others turned themselves in in connection with a child abuse case.

They are expected to be released by authorities just like their three colleagues – Cresente Canada and younger sister Paulene, and Sylvia Cemañes – who posted bail late Wednesday afternoon, April 3.

Authorities first arrested Cresente, a barangay chairman in Davao City, Barangay Tamayong around 2 pm on Wednesday, while Pauline and Cemañes turned themselves in. Three hours after Cresente’s arrest, all three were released on a P80,000 bail each.

Other Stories A peek into Apollo Quiboloy’s expensive gun collection

EXCLUSIVE: Doomsday preacher Apollo Quiboloy…

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An Argentine judge has ruled that 20 cloistered nuns had suffered abuse for more than two decades at the hands of high-ranking clergy in a conservative northern province

An Argentine judge on Friday ruled that 20 cloistered nuns had suffered abuse for more than two decades at the hands of high-ranking clergy in the country’s conservative north, and ordered the accused archbishop and church officials to undergo psychological treatment and training in gender discrimination.

The ruling in the homeland of Pope Francis cast a spotlight on the long-standing of abuse of nuns by priests and bishops in the Catholic Church.

Though long overshadowed by other church scandals, such abuses in religious life are increasingly being aired and denounced as a result of nuns feeling emboldened by the #MeToo movement, which has a corollary in the church, #NunsToo.

“I conclude and affirm that the nuns have suffered acts of gender violence…

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A third leader at televangelist Mark Barclay’s Michigan-based church has been suspended following accusations of sexual abuse, months after Barclay’s son-in-law was charged with several counts of criminal sexual conduct.

The Living Word International Church figure at the center of the recent allegations, an unnamed pastor, has been suspended and removed from all positions, according to Barclay’s son, Pastor Josh Barclay, in an interview with WNEM-TV5 last week.

According to Barclay, the alleged abuse did not occur at the church. 

Michigan State Police told WNEM that it cannot confirm or deny whether there is an active investigation until an arrest is made or charges are brought forth. 

“Living Word International Church is deeply saddened and concerned to address recent allegations of misconduct involving one of our ministers,” the younger Barclay said in a statement, as quoted by WNEM.

“We take these matters extremely seriously and are committed to…

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In 2019, New York passed the Child Victims Act, a law that changed the statute of limitations for victims of childhood sexual abuse, extending the civil limit age from 23 to 55. For victims who had already aged out of these timeframes, the law permitted a one-year lookback window, temporarily eliminating the statute of limitations to give child victims another chance at civil justice, becoming active in August of 2019 and initially supposed to end in August of 2020.

The reason the lookback window was created was because of the detrimental effects of childhood sexual abuse made reporting the crime difficult. If it ever even happened, the reporting was unlikely to occur so soon after turning 18. But the small time frame also favored certain types of child victims. With only a year, law firms preferred class-action cases, and victims had to make rash, untested decisions. If your case deviated…

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Catholic priest Lawrence Hecker, 92, was evaluated by psychiatrist after defense attorneys said he’s too sick to be tried

Seven months after his arrest on rape and kidnapping charges, 92-year-old Catholic priest Lawrence Hecker appeared in court in Louisiana on Thursday in an orange prison jumpsuit, was rolled in a wheelchair to a back room and was evaluated by a doctor to see if he is competent to stand trial.

Since being charged with aggravated rape, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated crime against nature and theft, Hecker has taken ill and was transferred from Orleans parish jail to a long-term care facility, under armed guard. Hecker’s defense attorneys argue he is too sick to be tried and filed a motion last month to have him evaluated for his mental competency.

But Hecker stood for 18 minutes in the stifling heat last August and admitted to WWL Louisiana and the Guardian that he had “willing”…

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Lawyers representing sex abuse victims have asked the Louisiana Supreme Court to reconsider its decision to invalidate a law that created a three-year “lookback window” in which victims could sue their abusers regardless of how long ago the abuse took place.

Plaintiffs in Douglas Bienvenu, et al v. Diocese of Lafayette and St. Martin De Tours Catholic Church filed an application of rehearing to the Louisiana Supreme Court on Thursday. According to the filing, the group argues that the court overstepped its power and erred in its interpretation of the law.

Attorney General Liz Murrill filed a similar application on Friday warning that the Court’s decision in Bienvenu inches toward tipping the balance of power in state government. 

“This case marks a significant constitutional moment in the Court’s history. Members of the Court have consistently emphasized that the powers bestowed upon our ‘three co-equal branches of government’ must remain ‘separate…

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Three years ago, Missouri legislators finally confronted an intolerable hazard to children: State law at the time put religiously affiliated boarding schools outside the purview of state public health and safety inspectors, on grounds of religious freedom. Not surprisingly, some Christian boarding schools became hotbeds of hidden child abuse and other dangers.

A 2021 state law changed that, with overwhelming bipartisan support, by requiring those schools to submit to standard state oversight on issues like health and safety, building codes and — crucially — background checks for staffers. There’s been no indication that these common-sense reforms have infringed on anyone’s religious freedoms.

But now, new legislation from hard-right lawmakers would risk obstructing those protections. It would allow the schools to choose oversight by a new board stacked with Christian school activists instead of answering directly to the state’s Department of Social Services.

Whatever its proponents claim, this…

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The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors has reaffirmed the requirement that every diocese, Catholic religious order and institution in the world have clear safeguarding guidelines and procedures and that they are publicly accessible.

The commission’s “Universal Guidelines Framework” also insists that “all reports of sexual abuse should be reported to the civil authorities” and that the local church maintain evidence that they have cooperated with civil authorities in investigating and responding to the allegations.

The pontifical commission began drafting the framework in 2022, invited comments on various drafts, including by members of the public through its website, and approved the framework for distribution during its plenary meeting March 5-8.

“Given the vastly different cultural contexts in which safeguarding policies and procedures are required to operate, the Commission will engage in a targeted series of pilot programs to evaluate their effectiveness especially in those parts of the Church that…

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A New Orleans attorney facing a $400,000 court penalty for warning a school principal and a reporter about a high school chaplain who was suspected of being a sexual predator took his case to a federal appeals court Wednesday.

Richard Trahant, who represents victims of clergy abuse, acknowledges having told a reporter to keep the chaplain “on your radar,” and that he asked the principal whether the person was still at the school. But, he said in a Tuesday interview, he gave no specific information about accusations against the man, and did not violate a federal bankruptcy court’s protective order requiring confidentiality.

It’s a position echoed by Trahant’s lawyer, Paul Sterbcow, under questioning from members of a three-judge panel at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

“Here’s my problem. I think I have a moral obligation to disclose something I find out about someone to protect them,” said Judge Priscilla…

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The Archdiocese of Baltimore is suing numerous insurers over their alleged failure to pay for abuse claims stretching back several decades.

The archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in September of last year ahead of a state law that ended the statute of limitations for civil lawsuits for negligence concerning child sexual abuse. The law opened the archdiocese up to abuse allegations stretching back decades.

With the Chapter 11 filing, “the archdiocese will be reorganized, victim-survivors will be equitably compensated, and the Church will continue its mission and ministries,” Archbishop William Lori said at the time.

In a new court filing last week, meanwhile, the archdiocese alleged that nearly two dozen insurers “have failed to acknowledge, or will fail to acknowledge” their obligations to “pay for the defense of the archdiocese” and its parishes.

The insurers have also allegedly failed to acknowledge their obligation to “indemnify the archdiocese…

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A monk and former teacher at Marmion Academy initially charged with sexual abuse has pleaded guilty to battery, the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office said Wednesday.

Joseph Charron, 68, pleaded guilty to aggravated battery.

He’s also known as “Brother Andre.”

Charron worked as a teacher at Marmion Academy, and lived on the Aurora campus for Roman Catholic high school boys.

He’s been sentenced to 180 days behind bars and 30 months of probation.

Charron also has to undergo a sex offender evaluation.

Prosecutors said Charron made contacts of an insulting and provoking nature with a student, when the student was between the ages of 15 and 17.

Charron currently lives in Wisconsin, and received credit for nearly 700 days of home confinement, where he had been held since May 2022, the state’s attorney’s office said in a news release.

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A retired Alabama Episcopal priest is set to go to trial soon for allegedly raping a child at a New Hampshire Boy Scout camp 48 years ago.

Richard R. Losch, 90, a former rector of St. James Episcopal Church in Livingston, was indicted by a New Hampshire grand jury on Aug. 18, 2023.

Losch’s final pre-trial conference is scheduled for May 20, with jury selection beginning on June 3.

The alleged victim of Losch, in an interview with AL.com, asked that he not be named, but said Losch was director of Indian Pond Boy Scout Reservation in Piermont, New Hampshire in 1976.

Losch, the alleged victim said, took several boys there and encouraged them to swim and walk around naked, and manipulated sleeping arrangements so that Losch had to share a bed with one of the Boy Scouts.

He said Losch…

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The music teacher’s classes at the strict, no-nonsense reform school in the woods of upstate New York would seem to be a teenager’s respite amid all the rules, a place for expression and discovery.

But a criminal indictment unsealed Thursday portrayed that teacher as a domineering and abusive tyrant who, during one-on-one trips away from school and outside the state, raped his teenage students or forced them into sexual activity.

The indictment follows years of lawsuits that have portrayed the Family Foundation School, a small boarding academy in rural Delaware County, as something closer to an unsupervised, violent prison.

The teacher, Paul Geer, 56, was arrested Wednesday evening in Hancock, N.Y., where he lives a short distance from the site of the school, which closed in 2014. He was charged with six counts related to bringing three different children across state lines to engage in unlawful sexual activity.

Mr. Geer…

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A Roman Catholic diocese based in California has announced that it is filing for bankruptcy due to the expenses related to numerous lawsuits centered on priest abuse.

The Diocese of Sacramento released a statement on Monday confirming that Bishop Jaime Soto had “filed for reorganization of the Diocese of Sacramento’s debts in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.”

The filing comes as the diocese faced over 250 lawsuits related to sex abuse of minors by clergy and lay employees, stemming from incidents that go as far back as the 1950s.

“This wave of new claims followed a 2019 law allowing victim-survivors to file lawsuits regardless of when the abuse occurred. The likely cost of the lawsuits far outstrips the diocese’s funds available for litigation or settlement,” the diocese stated.

“Under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code, a court will oversee the distribution of available assets to satisfy claims against the diocese….

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Nineteen victims of sexual abuse at the hands of priests and/ or those connected to the Portuguese Catholic Church have indicated to Group Vita (the group created to handle these cases) that they want financial compensation for the suffering caused. A proposal for indemnities is to be ‘analaysed’ by the Episcopal Conference in Fátima next week (between April 5-11).

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The month of April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. It is a time to recognize the importance of families and communities working together to prevent child abuse and neglect.

The month of April gives us all a chance to recommit ourselves to creating safe environments in our parishes, schools and related institutions.

The Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, will celebrate the Diocese of Scranton’s annual “Healing Mass for Survivors of Abuse” on Thursday, April 11, at 12:10 p.m. at the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Scranton.

For those unable to attend in person, the Mass will be broadcast live on Catholic Television of the Diocese of Scranton. A livestream will also be available on the Diocese of Scranton website, YouTube channel and links on Diocesan social media.

The work of protecting minors and other vulnerable people in the Catholic Church involves holding those in positions of…

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A vote by hundreds of clergy sex abuse survivors on a proposed $200 million settlement by the Catholic Church on Long Island has been delayed, attorneys for survivors said.

Survivors were supposed to submit their ballots by March 22, but the deadline has been pushed back to April 12, said James Stang, the main lawyer representing the survivors committee in bankruptcy proceedings involving the Diocese of Rockville Centre.

The results are expected to be known by April 15. The balloting is being conducted by Epiq, a court-approved global technology company that works in the legal industry and with corporations.

Stang and other attorneys said the balloting was delayed to give survivors more time to vote, since the process was complicated for some.

The diocese declined to comment. Some 600 survivors have filed lawsuits against it.

The bankruptcy proceedings have been going on for three-and-a-half years, with at least $100 million…

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The Diocese of Sacramento announced it has filed for bankruptcy, citing the costs of settling more than 250 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by clergy and staff.

“There are many victim-survivors who have long suffered from the reprehensible sins committed against them,” Bishop Jaime Soto said in an April 1 press release. “This reorganization process will allow me to respond to them as equitably as possible.”

Soto had first announced the news Dec. 9, 2023, saying in a letter to diocesan faithful that he had made the decision following “careful consideration and consultation.”

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

He reiterated the decision in a March…

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Eight-year-old Mary Aminata sat on a plastic chair in the shade of a tree outside her parent’s house in this southern town of Sierra Leone. She tearfully narrated her harrowing ordeal at the hand of her paternal grandfather, who subjected her to years of sexual abuse until Catholic leaders rescued her.

“My grandfather used to rape me every night whenever my grandmother was either away or asleep,” she lamented, tears streaming down her cheeks as she tugged nervously at her dress.

Requesting anonymity, Aminata (whose name has been changed) said the pain was unbearable. “One day, I told my grandmother about the rape, and she warned me against telling anyone because it would shame the family.”

A second grader at P.A.W. Primary School, Aminata revealed that her mother abandoned her at her grandparent’s home when she was 4 to go and look for a job in Freetown, the…

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A pair of lawsuits against Yeshiva University brought by more than 50 men who say they were sexually abused decades ago by teachers and staff while in the Orthodox Jewish high school associated with the college can move forward, a New York state judge said.

New York Supreme Court Justice Alexander Tisch on Tuesday rejected the school’s bid to dismiss the two parallel lawsuits, holding that a 2019 New York state law that lifted the statute of limitations on the claims is constitutional. Justice Tisch also said the plaintiffs had sufficiently alleged that the school failed to stop the abuse and failed to provide a safe environment for its students.

The lawsuits, filed in 2019 and 2021, claim that teachers and the principal of the Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy/Yeshiva University High School for Boys sexually abused students beginning in at least 1971. Several plaintiffs say they met with school leadership…

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Richard Trahant is appealing court judgment after he contacted high school’s principal and journalist about priest Paul Hart

A lawyer representing dozens of child molestation victims against the bankrupt Roman Catholic archdiocese of New Orleans contends he was in an “untenable” situation when he learned in late 2021 that the chaplain at a local Catholic high school had admitted years earlier to groping and simulating sex with a high school student.

That legal argument came on Tuesday as the lawyer appeared before judges with the US fifth circuit court of appeal and asked it to overturn a $400,000 judgment he was handed for taking steps that resulted in the removal of the chaplain from the school’s campus.

The attorney, Richard Trahant, was punished after deciding to warn the principal at Brother Martin high school, who happened to be his cousin, about how the school’s chaplain, priest Paul Hart, had a problematic…

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It reveals failures of the Apostolic Nunciature to force compliance with the norms of the Catholic Church regarding sexual abuse.

Religion and public life: It is inevitable to assume that bishops prefer litigation, where they believe they have an advantage over victims of sexual abuse instead of developing a culture of prevention.

Despite reaching a peak back in 2020, the number of Roman Catholic dioceses willing to set up a commission to prevent sexual abuse, the total number of said areas remains at 44 since 2021 when the archdiocese of Morelia, capital of the state of Michoacán, set its commission. No commission has been established in any diocese since then.

This is a summary of a longer piece published previously in Spanish by Los Ángeles Press. It avoids some references to the initial stages of the sexual abuse crisis that would be repetitive for the English-speaking reader familiar with the responses in…

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Facing more than 250 lawsuits alleging the sexual abuse of minors by clergy and other employees since the 1950’s, the Diocese of Sacramento, California, has filed for bankruptcy as a means to provide compensation to victim-survivors of the abuse.

The diocese announced the filing on April 1, about four months after Bishop Jaime Soto of Sacramento announced the diocese planned to do so. Soto said April 1 that the bankruptcy reorganization process will allow the diocese to respond to victim-survivors as equitably as possible.

“There are many victim-survivors who have long suffered from the reprehensible sins committed against them,” Soto said in a statement. “This reorganization process will allow me to respond to them as equitably as possible.”

Per the bankruptcy filing, a court will oversee the distribution of available assets to satisfy the claims against the diocese. According to court documents, the diocese has between 200 and 999 creditors,…

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Amid an ongoing investigation into a scandal-plagued Peruvian lay group, the Vatican Tuesday announced that a top archbishop belonging to the group has resigned from leadership of the Piura archdiocese.

According to an April 2 Vatican news bulletin, Archbishop José Antonio Eguren Anselmi of Piura, 67 and a member of the Sodalitium Christinae Vitae (SCV), stepped down from leadership of his diocese.

Eguren’s exit comes amid an ongoing Vatican investigation into the SCV, a society of apostolic life founded by Peruvian layman Luis Fernando Figari in the 1970s.

RELATED: Vatican investigators meet Peru prelate accused of land trafficking

Though allegations were made several years prior, scandals involving the SCV exploded in 2015, when Peruvian journalists Pedro Salinas and Paola Ugaz published their book Half Monks, Half Soldiers detailing years of alleged sexual, physical and psychological abuse by top members of the SCV.

Figari himself was accused of physical, psychological, and sexual abuse within…

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The Vatican announced on Tuesday that Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Archbishop José Antonio Eguren of Piura and Tumbes, Peru.

Eguren, 67, has been in charge of the Archdiocese of Piura and Tumbes since 2006. He presented his resignation eight years before the age limit provided for in the Code of Canon Law. The Vatican has not reported the reason for the resignation.

Eguren and the Sodality case

The archbishop, who has been affiliated with the Sodality of Christian Life (SCV by its Latin acronym), was implicated by the press in a case of land trafficking in Piura following a 2016 report by the Al Jazeera news agency titled “Peru: The Sodalitium Scandal.”

Al Jazeera linked the San Juan Bautista Civil Association (SJB) — which in 2012 had acquired land in Piura — and the SCV with a criminal organization called La Gran Cruz…

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A Peruvian archbishop who sued two journalists over their reports about sexual abuse and alleged financial corruption in his religious movement, Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, has resigned amid a Vatican investigation.

Pope Francis on Tuesday accepted the resignation of Piura Archbishop José Eguren. At 67, he is several years shy of the normal retirement age for bishops of 75.

The Vatican didn’t say why Eguren was retiring early in its brief announcement. But the Vatican last year began an in-depth investigation into alleged abuse and financial wrongdoing in the Peruvian-based Sodalitium to which Eguren belongs.

The Vatican has had its eye on Sodalitium, which has chapters across South America and the U.S., for over a decade. In 2017, a report commissioned by the group’s new leadership determined that its founder, Luis Fernando Figari, sodomized his recruits and subjected them to humiliating psychological and other sexual abuses.

Those abuses first came to light…

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The Catholic Church has the Louisiana Supreme Court to thank for saving it from a legal reckoning after decades of clergy abuse scandals that have roiled our state. 

Survivors of clergy abuse were understandably outraged last month when their voices were dismissed again. Instead, the high court sided 4-3 with church lawyers who challenged the constitutionality of laws reviving “prescribed” civil claims — that is, claims deemed expired because they weren’t filed by the statutory deadline.

In 2021 and 2022, state lawmakers unanimously passed a pair of laws that granted persons with claims of child sexual abuse a window to sue, regardless of when the abuse happened. Many who had been abused by clergy decades ago hoped they’d finally get their day in court.

At the time, the Diocese of Lafayette was vigorously fighting a lawsuit involving a St. Martinville priest. Plaintiff Douglas Bienvenu and others…

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A Texas college pastor who sexually abused an underage family member for 7 years will not serve any jail time due to a recent plea agreement. The pastor, William C. Robinson, led a chapter of Chi Alpha Campus Ministries and was mentored by sex offender Daniel Savala, the central figure in a widening sex abuse scandal. 

On March 22, Robinson, 47, appeared at a district court hearing in Nueces County, Texas, and accepted a plea deal. That deal, approved by District Judge David Stith, deferred Robinson’s sentence for five felony charges related to child sex abuse and gave him 10 years of probation and 120 hours of community service instead.

According to court records, Robinson pleaded guilty to one count of continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14, one count of sexual assault of a child, and three counts of indecency with a child. 

“The offender in this case,…

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Florida pastor Monte Chitty is reportedly on the run after failing to appear in court to be arraigned on charges of sexual battery, lewd and lascivious behavior, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Editor’s note: This article contains information about sexual abuse and assault that some readers may find disturbing and/or triggering.

Last month, Chitty was arrested after being accused of giving a teen girl alcohol and then sexually assaulting her after she fell unconscious. The sexual assault allegedly took place on the property of First Baptist Church in Marathon, Florida, where Chitty had been serving as pastor. He also lived at the property. 

The congregation is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). 

Following Chitty’s arrest, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) said in a news release that deputies were initially alerted via an anonymous caller, who said they had heard a girl tell…

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Iowans who were sexually abused by Boy Scout troop leaders decades ago could get much less money from a national settlement than victims in other states unless state lawmakers act this month to change Iowa law. Iowa’s current time limit on suing perpetrators of childhood sexual abuse means hundreds of Iowa victims could get as little as 30% of the money they’re entitled to from the settlement.

Joe Gargano of Fort Dodge is one survivor who’s been asking lawmakers to change the law. Gargano says it made him angry to find out he would get less money than survivors in other states.

“I said: ‘I’m not just going to settle after all this time,’” he told lawmakers. “‘I’m not going to do it. I’m not going to just take whatever they throw out.’”

Gargano is a constituent of of Republican Senator Tim Kraayenbrink of Fort Dodge. Kraayenbrink is sponsoring a bill…

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The four of us have watched with dismay as Southern Baptist Convention officials repeatedly proclaim “progress” on sexual abuse reform while, at the same time, taking 10 steps backward. They bail with a thimble — and make a show of it — while they simultaneously swing a sledgehammer and knock gaping holes in the boat.

Institutional reform isn’t happening. As a prior member of the SBC’s sexual abuse task force wrote: “Nothing will change.”

Nevertheless, looking ahead to the SBC annual meeting in June, we’re setting forth these real and tangible steps the SBC and its Executive Committee could take if they were serious about protecting kids and congregants and reckoning with their wrongs.

‘Bare minimum’ prevention steps

1. Immediately add to the new Ministry Check database all the SBC-connected clergy abuser names on the Executive Committee’s previously secret list, which was made public in May 2022 and contained 703 names.

…

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Kevin Straughan sentenced to 7-20 years in prison

A former New Hampshire minister was sentenced to prison Monday after pleading guilty to several charges, including sexual assault.

Kevin Straughan, 68, was sentenced to seven to 20 years in state prison after pleading guilty to two counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault and one count of second-degree assault involving strangulation.

Straughan served as the head minister at Agape Ministries Church in Ossipee and Moultonborough.

Prosecutors said the assaults took place in August and December of 2020, and Ossipee police first launched an investigation into Straughan in 2022.

The three victims in the case were known to Straughan. A victim-impact statement was read Monday on their behalf.

“I hope this victim-impact statement can shed some light on what my family and I have been through,” the victim said in the statement. “I can’t honestly put into words how much Kevin Wayne Straughan…

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A man allegedly sexually abused by a priest in the 1960s in New Mexico filed a lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of El Paso after “suffering in silence for over 50 years,” the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit alleges the Catholic Diocese of El Paso knew a priest, Lawrence Gaynor, was a danger to the community and needed “psychiatric supervision,” but continued to allow Gaynor to work at St. Joseph Parish in Lordsburg, New Mexico. Gaynor died in 1978.

The Catholic Diocese of El Paso is listed as the defendant in the lawsuit because the diocese was in charge of churches throughout New Mexico until 1982. The lawsuit was filed March 19 in Third Judicial District Court for Doña Ana County.

“Defendant Catholic Diocese of El Paso and its bishop Sidney M. Metzger were aware of Fr. Gaynor’s proclivity to sexually abuse children years before Fr. Gaynor sexually abused…

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• In 2018, Michigan lawmakers expanded the civil statute of limitations from criminal sexual conduct, a response to the crimes of former athletics doctor Larry Nassar.

• The case here rests on whether that law should apply retroactively.

• The Michigan Court of Appeals said it should not, and now the case is before the state Supreme Court.

The Michigan Supreme Court will hear arguments this month about whether a civil case involving 25-year-old clergy sex abuse allegations should go to trial.

The case rests upon whether a 2018 state law expanding the civil statute of limitations for criminal sexual conduct applies retroactively.

Christopher Desmond is an attorney for the survivor of alleged abuse. He said the law was meant to be broad.

“They were trying to help those individuals out and they were trying to ensure, now that we’re learning more, frankly about the psychology of sexual abuse victims and how…

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March 19 report finds priest Johannes Rivoire likely guilty of abuse

The CEO of Nunavut’s top Inuit organization is rejecting findings from a recent investigation by the Oblates into the Catholic church’s response to allegations of abuse by one of its own priests.

Rev. Johannes Rivoire worked in Nunavut for about 30 years between 1960 and the early 1990s. He left Canada for good in 1993 after police began investigating him for alleged abuse of Inuit children.

That investigation resulted in charges being laid in 1998, which were stayed in 2017 when the Crown determined there was no chance of conviction.

RCMP laid one more charge of historical sexual abuse in 2022. This charge remains active.

The Oblates hired André Denis, a retired Quebec judge, last year to conduct an independent investigation into the allegations, as well as the church and RCMP’s response to them.

That report was released on March 19….

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A proposal gaining traction in the Missouri legislature could wipe out, critics say, a 2021 law meant to protect kids by placing regulations on Christian boarding schools.

And, those critics contend, the bill would create a shield protecting unlicensed schools — several of which have been closed in recent years amid abuse allegations — from state scrutiny.

Sponsored by a St. Charles County lawmaker, the measure would no longer require unlicensed schools to directly answer to the Department of Social Services. Instead, those facilities would be overseen by a new board, with more than half of its members representing Christian schools.

“This bill raises a lot of serious concerns,” said Rep. Rudy Veit, R-Wardsville, a co-sponsor of the 2021 legislation. “It basically looks like an attempt to undo a lot of what we did three years ago. They can’t take away the powers we have (in Missouri) and then try…

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Both men suing Huron-Superior Catholic District School Board for abuse they allegedly endured as elementary students in the 1980s at hands of principal, vice-principal

The local English Catholic school board is being sued by two men who each claim they were sexually assaulted as children in the 1980s by staff at two different elementary schools in Sault Ste. Marie. 

The Huron-Superior Catholic District School Board (HSCDSB) is named as the defendant in both civil lawsuits, with each plaintiff seeking $5 million in damages. 

Both men claim the school board breached its duty of care by allowing the alleged abuse against them to occur. Both lawsuits were filed recently by Toronto-based Preszler Injury Lawyers.

SooToday is not naming the plaintiffs in either case because they are alleged victims of childhood sexual abuse.

None of the allegations contained in the lawsuits have been proven in court, and there is no evidence to suggest any school official…

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1. With regard to the legislation of Article 23 on safeguarding national security, the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong recognizes that as a citizen, it has obligation to national security;
2. The Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong has expressed its views on Article 23 legislation;
3. The legislation of Article 23 will not alter the confidential nature of Confession (Sacrament of Reconciliation) of the Church.

Hong Kong Catholic Social Communications Office

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