ABUSE TRACKER

But the bishop, who resigned in 2015, will not be allowed to live or do church work in Minnesota, North Dakota or South Dakota. 

Nearly nine years after Twin Cities Archbishop John Nienstedt resigned after charges of a sex abuse coverup, the Holy See in Rome concluded its investigation and determined that he did not commit a crime.

Even so, Pope Francis decided that because some of Nienstedt’s conduct was “imprudent,” the former archbishop cannot return to the church’s province of St. Paul and Minneapolis (which includes all of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota) to live or do church work.

“Though the evidence available did not support a finding that any conduct on the part of Archbishop Nienstedt could be judged as a delict, it was communicated to me that several instances of ‘imprudent’ actions were brought to light,” Archbishop Bernard Hebda, who took over for his predecessor in…

View Cache

Since I arrived in this Archdiocese in 2015, I have often been asked for clarification on the status of my predecessor, Archbishop John Nienstedt, who had been under investigation for certain decisions made during his tenure as Archbishop and also regarding allegations of inappropriate conduct with both minors and adults. I have made public statements in this regard previously in August 2016 and December 2018, indicating that the questions necessitated a determination by officials of the Holy See. Archbishop Nienstedt himself also stated publicly that he would welcome an investigation to resolve the allegations, which he has denied.

The promulgation of Vos estis lux mundi (Vos estis) in 2019, reflecting Pope Francis’s desire that reports of misconduct made against bishops around the world be brought to light and thoroughly investigated, created a path forward for a resolution of the Archbishop Nienstedt matter. At the formal request of individuals here in the Archdiocese, including the late Tom…

View Cache

A lengthy Vatican investigation into misconduct allegations against Archbishop John Nienstedt, the former leader of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, concluded that he took “imprudent” actions but did not violate church law, the archdiocese announced Friday.

However, the archdiocese also said Pope Francis barred Nienstedt from any public ministry following the investigation.

Nienstedt was one of the first U.S. bishops known to have been forced from office for botching sex abuse investigations. He stepped down in 2015 after Minnesota prosecutors charged the archdiocese with having failed to protect children from harm by a pedophile priest who was later convicted of molesting two boys. Nienstedt was later accused of his own inappropriate sexual behavior involving adult males and minors.

His successor, Archbishop Bernard Hebda, in 2016 forwarded allegations to the Vatican that Nienstedt invited two…

View Cache

The Rev. Raymond Goedert was a confidant of cardinals who served as acting head of the Archdiocese of Chicago after Cardinal Joseph Bernardin died in 1996, and later acknowledged his failure to report sexual abuse accusations against priests.

Goedert, 96, died of natural causes on Dec. 9 at his Gold Coast home, said his cousin, John Holden. A longtime Chicago resident, Goedert resided in the residence of Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich on North State Parkway.

Born in Oak Park, Goedert attended Quigley Preparatory Seminary and then earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from St. Mary of the Lake Seminary in Mundelein.

In 1952, Goedert was ordained to the priesthood, and several years later he was studying in Rome. On his way back to the United States, he was aboard the trans-Atlantic SS Andrea Doria ocean liner off the coast of Massachusetts when it collided with a Swedish passenger liner.

The Andrea…

View Cache

Spain’s bishops have disputed the findings of a report which they commissioned almost two years ago on sex abuse in the Spanish Church.

The bishops’ criticisms of the Cremades study – known after Javier Cremades, the partner from the law firm Sotelo who led the investigation – prompted confusion over their position on abuse cases.

After receiving the study on 19 December, they published an updated version of a Church report first issued in May and put a link to the Cremades study on the bishops’ conference website.

The bishops’ report, titled Para Dar Luz (“To Shed Light”), is notably more favourable to the Church than the Cremades report. 

Sex abuse in the Church drew public attention in Spain in October, after the national ombudsman produced a report, commissioned by the Spanish parliament in March 2022, which suggested that 1.13 per cent of people in Spain had suffered sexual abuse in Church spheres.

Precise…

View Cache

A settlement has been reached between notable Southern Baptist Convention lay leader Paul Pressler and a man who accused the influential figure of raping him several times decades ago.

Gerald Duane Rollins, Jr.’s lawsuit against the 93-year-old Pressler and other entities within the SBC concluded with a settlement and dismissal filed “with prejudice” by the plaintiff, according to The Baptist Press.

“It appears to the Court that all matters in controversy between Plaintiff and all Defendants have concluded,” stated Judge R.A. Sandill of the 127th Judicial District Court.

“With all claims, counterclaims and controversies now resolved, the Court is therefore of the opinion that the Motion should be granted and the matter dismissed as to all parties.”

The details of the settlement have not been made public.

The special counsel to the SBC and the SBC Executive Committee, both named defendants…

View Cache

Aaron Benneweis pleaded guilty to sexually exploiting and sexually assaulting Jennifer Beaudry

Warning: This story contains some details of sexual exploitation 

Jennifer Beaudry has been waiting years for Aaron Benneweis to face consequences for his crimes. 

On Thursday, she watched as he was led away from a Saskatoon courtroom in handcuffs. 

“It’s the first time I’ve seen him take any kind of accountability,” Beaudry said. “I didn’t really think this day was going to come.” 

In October 2023, Benneweis pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting and exploiting Beaudry when she was a teenage student and athlete at the private Christian school formerly called Christian Centre Academy, now known as Legacy Christian Academy. 

A standing-room only crowd of people gathered to support her at the provincial courthouse in Saskatoon on Thursday, during a sentencing hearing for Benneweis, 47.

He was a coach and athletic director at the private Christian school at the time of the offences, which began…

View Cache

Aaron Benneweis, former Legacy Christian Academy athletic director, to be sentenced Jan. 18 for sex assaults on a student over four years.

Aaron Travis Benneweis was a 32-year-old teacher, coach and athletic director at a Saskatoon Christian school when he started showing inappropriate sexual attention toward Jennifer Beaudry.

At the time, Beaudry was a 13-year-old student at Christian Centre Academy (since renamed Legacy Christian Academy), and Benneweis was her gym teacher and track and field coach, a Saskatoon provincial courtroom heard during Benneweis’s sentencing hearing on Thursday.

Benneweis would leave her notes, wink at her and bite his lip. He then started singling her out, asking her to meet him in secluded rooms during school hours.

Over the next four years, it progressed to more covert meetups where Benneweis would kiss and grope Beaudry in a van, a drama room, on a public trail by the river and in his…

View Cache

“Wealth doesn’t just beget more wealth – it begets more power.” Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor and Professor.

When Pope John Paul II died on April 2, 2005, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger appeared to be his most likely successor according to reports at the time. Karol Wojtyla had reigned for 27 years. He had appointed Ratzinger prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith – the most powerful Vatican position at the time – on November 25, 1981. For 24 years, Ratzinger was one of the pope’s closest advisers, supporting Wojtyla’s ecclesial and political ideologies.

“In the Vatican, the Opus Dei cardinal most active in view of the conclave is Julian Herranz … Ratzinger’s leap to the top of the list of candidates for the papacy is due to him; it took shape at the suppers for cardinals that Herranz organized at Opus Dei’s heavily guarded villa in the…

View Cache

NEW ORLEANS (KADN) — The Louisiana Supreme Court will hear arguments on January 23 in a civil case against the Diocese of Lafayette and St. Martin de Tours Catholic Church in St. Martinville.

In the lawsuit, six plaintiffs allege they were molested by Father Kenneth Morvant decades ago when they were between the ages of 8 and 14.

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

“The issue before the Louisiana Supreme Court is whether the newly-enacted legislation applies to the cases, and whether it’s constitutional,” said attorney Cle’ Simon, the plaintiffs’ attorney in a December interview with News15. “The church has taken the position, at…

View Cache

[Note from BA: This is a three-part series. See also: “The Opus Dei Popes: Part 1- John Paul II” and “The Opus Dei Popes: Part 2 – Benedict XVI.”]

“Wealth doesn’t just beget more wealth – it begets more power.” Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor and Professor.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s path to the Chair of St. Peter is similar to that of Karol Wojtyla. While he was provincial of the Argentine Jesuits during the Dirty War, he showed his ability to be compliant by cooperating with the barbaric military junta.  Later, Bergoglio was appointed by Pope John Paul II as bishop during the administration of a president close to Opus Dei.

THE DIRTY WAR

The Dirty War (1976-1983) shocked the conscience of the world. In the aftermath of a military coup, the junta was “brutal, sadistic, and rapacious,” wrote Marguerite Feitlowitz in her book, A Lexicon of Terror:…

View Cache

SHREWSBURY – St. John’s High School is ignoring allegations that a former teacher sexually abused three brothers in the 1960s, two of the men and their lawyer alleged Wednesday. 

“I want some validation from St. John’s,” a man in his 70s who did not give his name said at a press conference called by his lawyer, Mitchell Garabedian. 

Garabedian, who handled seminal cases in Boston’s Catholic priest sexual abuse scandal, told reporters the school has not provided a substantive response to the claims. 

He alleged a former teacher at the school sexually abused two brothers who were a freshman and sophomore in the mid-to-late 1960s, along with their 9-year-old brother. 

Garabedian named the teacher as Richard Doyle, but said he did not know whether he was alive or dead.

The school, in an email sent to alumnus hours after the press conference that it shared with the Telegram & Gazette…

View Cache

SHREWSBURY – Three brothers, two of whom attended Saint John’s High School in the mid-1960s, are alleging that Saint John’s religion teacher Richard “Dick” Doyle sexually abused them while they were minors.

On Jan. 3, Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D., the co-founder and president of Road to Recovery, Inc. – a New Jersey-based nonprofit that assists victims of sexual abuse and their families – spoke to reporters across the street from Saint John’s. Mitchell Garabedian, who is representing the brothers, joined the press conference virtually. 

“Richard Doyle knew no bounds,” said Garabedian. “Where were the Xaverian Brothers, and why didn’t they protect these innocent children from a sexual predator?”

During the press conference, two of the brothers – who chose to remain anonymous – detailed their experience while at Saint John’s High School. Each brother was sexually abused repeatedly; one brother reported being abused 25-plus times. The children were 16, 15,…

View Cache

The Franciscan Friars of California filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy after 94 sex abuse lawsuits were made against the religious organization

A Roman Catholic organization in California that is devoted to serving the poor has filed for bankruptcy as it faces nearly 100 lawsuits related to sex abuse claims stretching as far back as the 1940s.

The Franciscan Friars of California said in a Tuesday statement that it filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy on Dec. 31 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Oakland.

The religious organization cited a change in California state law in 2019 as the reason for the move. The law allows abuse survivors to file decades-old complaints that would have otherwise been prohibited because of the expiration of the statute of limitations. 

The Franciscan Friars of California said it was overwhelmed by the number of cases filed, both in terms of the human cost and…

View Cache

The Franciscan Friars of California announced this week that they have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy over dozens of sexual abuse allegations filed against the religious order.

The Franciscans of the Province of St. Barbara, founded in 1915 in Oakland, California, said on their website on Tuesday that they had filed a Chapter 11 petition “to address 94 child sexual abuse claims” leveled against the friars. 

Friars from the Province of St. Barbara, one of seven such OFM Franciscan entities in the United States, serve in California, Arizona, Oregon, and Washington, and in a number of Native American nations in the Southwest as well on mission to Mexico, Russia, and the Holy Land.

The order said the dozens of claims came about due to California “state laws that allowed abuse survivors to file decades-old complaints that were otherwise time-barred or expired under the state’s statute of limitations.”

The…

View Cache

The committee tasked with representing survivors of clergy sex abuse in the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s bankruptcy case launched a website Wednesday to provide information about the process.

According to the website, survivors can expect to see a news feed with case updates, an overview of the bankruptcy process, a page with “frequently asked questions” and an inventory of resources for survivors.

“Communication is vital,” said Paul Jan Zdunek, chair of the committee of seven survivors tasked with representing the rest, in an email. “As representatives of all survivors, the Creditors Committee wants to make sure there is a flow of information to all survivors during this lengthy and complicated bankruptcy process.”

Describing the website as a “first step in the Committee communication with survivors,” Zdunek added that the committee may put on “town halls or other in-person or virtual meetings.”

The website’s launch comes during a pivotal stage of the…

View Cache

The Franciscan Friars of California, a Roman Catholic organization dedicated to serving the needy, has found itself amid a distressing situation.

Filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy stems from the weight of approximately one hundred legal cases associated with historical allegations of sexual abuse dating back to the 1940s.

This decision, announced in a statement on Tuesday, arose from a significant alteration in California’s legal landscape in 2019. 

The change allowed survivors of abuse to bring forward complaints from decades past, surpassing the statute of limitations. Overwhelmed by the volume and period of these cases, the organization cited this legal shift as the primary reason for their bankruptcy filing.

The distressing reality revealed in their statement emphasized that all the claims date back at least 27 years, with some stretching as far back as the 1940s. Of the 94 filed claims, the majority were centered in California, involving…

View Cache

A CASE in which a local priest is accused of historic sexual abuse against two males, one of which allegedly dates back over 40 years, is to transfer to crown court for trial.

Canon Patrick McEntee (69) from Esker Road, Dromore who requested a leave of absence last year while a serious safeguarding investigation was carried out, is charged with indecently assaulting a complainant between 1980 and 1981.

He is further alleged to have twice indecently assaulted a second complainant on dates between 1988 and 1989.

On first appearing before Enniskillen Magistrates Court Canon McEntee, former president of St Michael’s College, spoke only to confirm his identity and that he understood the charges against him.

No details surrounding the circumstances of the alleged offences were disclosed during the short hearing although it is understood they relate to Canon McEntee’s time in Fermanagh.

At the most recent court sitting a prosecuting lawyer informed…

View Cache

A recent investigation in Spain revealed more than 200,000 endured sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic clergy. The 700-page report, ordered by Spain’s Congress, unveils the “devastating impact” on victims, criticizing the Church for its inaction and attempts to conceal or deny the abuse. Is the situation different in Africa? Child Safety Investigator Philip E. Morrison says no.

Morrison has been a missionary in Kenya since 1992. He received training as a child safety investigator with the Child Safety and Protection Network in 2014 and went on to research this topic for his Doctor of Ministry. In 2017, he published For Our Children! For Our Church! Addressing the Issue of Child Safety in the African Church, a book based on his doctoral thesis. He also lectures on Child Safety Awareness (CSA) because he believes implementing proactive child protection policies in places of worship is pivotal.

The focus of Morrison’s research…

View Cache

It’s ironic that in a movement built on prophetic dreams where God supposedly reveals the secrets of the world, apparently nobody ever receives a dream about the credible allegations of sexual abuse going on in the church.

Mike Bickle is the latest example of such allegations, following in the steps of his former fellow leaders Paul Cain and Bob Jones in what Matthew Taylor says, “bespeaks a leadership culture where charismatic authority has utterly overtaken institutional or communal accountability.”

Previous leaders of the International House of Prayer in Kansas City — known commonly as IHOPKC — released a statement  Oct. 28 saying they told IHOPKC’s leadership team about “serious allegations spanning several decades concerning its founder, Mike Bickle.” According to their statement, they believed the “allegations of clergy sexual abuse by Mike Bickle to be credible and long-standing” and based “on the collective and corroborating testimony of the experiences of several victims.”

…

View Cache

Thank God, Paul Pressler has lived to the ripe old age of 93.

That’s long enough to expose the Southern Baptist Convention’s most malevolent hypocrite to the shame of his reported double life.

Just before the end of the year, the SBC reached a settlement in a lawsuit that claimed Pressler began raping a teenage boy in Houston in 1977 and continued the sexual abuse across decades. It started two years before Pressler, then a Texas appeals court judge, and Paige Patterson, then an academician, launched the “conservative resurgence” that allowed fundamentalists to take control of the SBC.

Duane Rollins filed the lawsuit in 2017, alleging Pressler started raping him when he was a 14-year-old in Pressler’s church youth group. The lawsuit led to an investigation of sexual abuse within the SBC by the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News. Those articles resulted in heated internal conflict over reform within the nation’s second-largest religious group.

…

View Cache

• Summary

• Catholic charitable order faced 94 lawsuits
• Alleged abuse occurred at least 27 years ago
• Franciscan Friars listed up to $50 million in liabilities

Jan 2 (Reuters) – The Franciscan Friars of California, a Roman Catholic organization devoted to serving the poor, has filed for bankruptcy after facing nearly 100 lawsuits related to decades-old sex abuse claims.

The Oakland, California-based organization said in a Tuesday statement that it was driven to bankruptcy by a change in California state law that allowed sex abuse survivors to file decades-old complaints that were otherwise time-barred under the state’s statute of limitations.

The Franciscan Friars of California joins a growing wave of Roman Catholic organizations that have filed for bankruptcy to address sex abuse lawsuits.

Most of the 94 lawsuits filed against the Franciscan Friars were filed in California, where a 2019 law revived older sex abuse claims and led to the bankruptcies of the…

View Cache

The Roman Catholic order of the Franciscans is facing 94 claims involving events that took place between 1940 and 1996. Most of the accused are now dead

The Franciscan Friars of California have joined a long list of religious orders and dioceses to file for bankruptcy to face an avalanche of legal cases involving sex abuse against minors committed decades ago. The Roman Catholic organization filed for Chapter 11 on December 31, in a restructuring that allows the organization to meet its financial obligations in the face of 94 claims of sexual abuse against its friars. The alleged crimes occurred between 1940 and 1996. The Franciscans, who announced the move this Tuesday, stated that most of the accused have died and that only six are still alive.

Provincial minister Father David Gaa, the head of the order in the United States, said the decision to file for bankruptcy…

View Cache

Bruxy Cavey was previously charged with sexual assault in June 2022

The former pastor of The Meeting House — an Ontario megachurch — is facing two more sexual assault charges, CBC Hamilton has learned.

Hamilton police Const. Krista-Lee Ernst told CBC Hamilton Bruxy Cavey was charged with two counts of sexual assault on Dec. 22.

Ernst didn’t say what prompted the new charges or provide detail about when the alleged assaults took place, but wrote in an email on Thursday afternoon that Cavey will appear in court in January. 

Cavey, who was the primary teaching pastor at The Meeting House and worked there from 1996 to 2021, was charged with sexual assault in June 2022. He was 57 when he was first charged.

The Meeting House church is headquartered in Oakville, Ont., but has locations throughout the province. It also streams its Sunday service at several cinemas in southern Ontario.

CBC Hamilton contacted Cavey and the church for…

View Cache

“This wasn’t just about Epstein. This was also about all those who permitted, profited, and participated in his crimes. It’s time for transparency and exposure.” – Jeff Anderson

(New York, NY) – Tomorrow, over 150 Individuals mentioned in court documents regarding the late financier Jeffrey Epstein will be publicly exposed. We applaud Judge Loretta A. Preska and courageous survivor Virginia Roberts Giuffre for making this valuable disclosure happen.

When these names surface, we hope that every single person who ever turned a blind eye to child sex crimes will pick up the phone, regardless of how long ago the wrongdoing may have happened, and tell the police, prosecutors, and journalists what they believe they know about crimes against children.

“Epstein’s trail of abuse only continued as long as it did because there were so many people in positions of power, money, and influence that participated and permitted it. Transparency about the…

View Cache

List could be released as soon as Tuesday after deadline for objections to unsealing of names passes midnight Monday

Nearly 200 names connected to the Jeffrey Epstein-Ghislaine Maxwell sex trafficking conspiracy could be released by a New York judge as soon as Tuesday, exposing or confirming the identities of dozens of associates of the disgraced financier that until now have only been known as John and Jane Does in court papers.

A deadline for objections to the unsealing of name passes at midnight on Monday, nearly nine years after victim Virginia Giuffre filed a single defamation claim against Maxwell, daughter of the late British press baron Robert Maxwell, in 2015, that in turn produced the names in legal depositions.

A year later, in 2016, US district court judge Robert Sweet rejected Maxwell’s motion to dismiss the case, finding that “the veracity of a contextual world of facts…

View Cache

Former President Clinton, Prince Andrew and others are expected to be named.

Hundreds of sealed court filings pertaining to the late sex-offender Jeffrey Epstein are set to be made public this week, and several prominent names — including Britain’s Prince Andrew and former President Bill Clinton — are expected to appear in the documents.

U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska ruled earlier this month there was no legal justification for continuing to conceal the ex-president’s name and more than 150 names other “John and Jane Does” mentioned in the records. Preska ordered the unsealing to begin after Jan. 1.

The documents stem from a 2015 civil lawsuit centered on allegations that Epstein’s one-time paramour, Ghislaine Maxwell, facilitated the sexual abuse of Virginia Giuffre, an alleged trafficking victim. Giuffre also accused Epstein and Maxwell of directing her to have sex with Prince Andrew and several other prominent men. Prince Andrew denied the allegations and…

View Cache

The nation’s largest Protestant denomination has settled a sexual abuse lawsuit against one of its prominent leaders who had been accused of allegedly molesting young men for decades. Retired Texas Judge Paul Pressler, a Southern Baptist lay leader long considered a hero of the denomination by many, was one of the architects of the rightward shift that took control of the Southern Baptist Convention in the 1980s and 1990s.

In 2017, Pressler’s former assistant, Gareld Duane Rollins Jr., sued the lay leader and conservative activist along with the Southern Baptist Convention and several of its entities, alleging that Pressler had begun abusing him while he was a teenager in a Bible study at a Houston church. The suit accused SBC leaders of knowing about Pressler’s alleged abuse and covering it up.

Earlier this year, former SBC leader Paige Patterson (a close ally of Pressler) and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (which Patterson…

View Cache