ABUSE TRACKER

A new group called ProtestantAccountability.org will unveil the first-ever list of alleged Protestant sexual abusers in an online news conference Wednesday, August 19, at 11:00 am, EST. 

The list contains thousands of names of convicted, admitted, suspended, defrocked and/or publicly accused Protestant pastors and other church workers who have allegedly ‘violated, molested or sexually exploited vulnerable adults and children.’ In addition, the new database also includes those who suspected, or knew of, abuse and kept silent.

ProtestantAccountability.org was founded by several survivors of Protestant clergy abuse and a veteran archivist and expert in clergy abuse. 

“We started this group to “protect the vulnerable, expose the wrongdoers, deter coverups and heal the wounded,” says founding member Chellee Taylor. 

The inaugural effort involved hundreds of hours of research conducted by volunteers combing through court records, news accounts, articles and government records to compile the list that details 2,700+ clergy in 100+ denominations with…

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When the Archdiocese of San Francisco announced in late June that it would pay $395 million to hundreds of people who were sexually abused as children by Bay Area priests, archdiocesan leaders also quietly sent word to local parishes, schools and other church-run facilities: The cost of the archdiocese’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy settlement would be theirs to bear, too.

Soon after, the bills — called assessments — began arriving, with news of each parish’s obligation spelled out in letters from pastors and meetings with parish officers across an archdiocese that is home to 442,000 Catholics in San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin counties. In a letter, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone wrote that the archdiocese could not shoulder the settlements alone. 

“For the past decades, the chancery has handled these claims and shouldered the financial burden for any settlements with the goal of shielding our parishes and…

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Forty-four Catholic dioceses and religious orders across the country have sought bankruptcy protection since clergy sexual abuse claims began forcing the issue two decades ago. Two of them are in Louisiana, and a third may be next. 

The Archdiocese of New Orleans filed for Chapter 11 in May 2020. The Diocese of Alexandria followed on Oct. 31, 2025, becoming the 41st U.S. diocese to take that route. Now the Diocese of Lafayette, already facing dozens of clergy abuse lawsuits, has enrolled a bankruptcy attorney in one of its pending cases, a move that often precedes a filing of its own. Whether or not Lafayette ultimately files, the pattern across the state is unmistakable: when survivors gain ground in court, dioceses reach for bankruptcy. 

It is worth being precise about what that means for survivors. A Chapter 11 filing does not simply reorganize a diocese’s finances. It freezes…

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Supporters of Father Michael Pfleger rallied outside the Chicago Archdiocese on Wednesday.

Last month, a letter was sent to the archdiocese describing an allegation against Pfleger. It accuses him of the sexual abuse of a minor female that occurred more than 30 years ago.

The archdiocese and its independent review board began an investigation and said that, because of the allegation, Father Pfleger will step aside from ministry and live away from the parish during this process.

Pfleger faced similar allegations over the last five years. In all of those cases, the Church cleared him of any wrongdoing or deemed the claims unfounded.

 Father Michael Pfleger, longtime pastor of St. Sabina Church, accused of sexually abusing minor over 30 years ago 

In a statement, the archdiocese said:

“We are committed to following the same thorough and impartial process. No one in the church should…

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A 41-year-old pastor in the Coachella and Palo Verde valleys accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting a girl pleaded not guilty today to felony charges.  

Lino Hernandez of Mesa Verde was arrested last Wednesday following a Riverside County Sheriff’s Department investigation that began in June. 

Hernandez is charged with four counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child, two counts of lewd acts on a minor and one count of forcible penetration.

He was arraigned Tuesday before Superior Court Judge Randolph Rogers, who scheduled a felony settlement conference for Sept. 22 at the Blythe Courthouse.

The defendant was being held without bail at the Benoit Detention Center.

According to sheriff’s Sgt. Bryan Berryman, after detectives received the initial report in June of an alleged assault, they began gathering evidence that ultimately pointed to Hernandez as the alleged perpetrator, confirming that he “served as pastor at churches in the Blythe…

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*WARNING: Details in this story are disturbing. Viewer discretion advised.*

A Rutherford County jury has found a traveling pastor and his wife guilty of child sex crimes after a two-week trial.

Benjamin Garlick, 35, was convicted on seven counts of aggravated rape of a child, six counts of aggravated sexual battery, one count of solicitation of sexual exploitation of a minor and two counts of violating the Child Protection Act. The jury also found Shaantal Garlick, 32, guilty of two counts of facilitating aggravated rape of a child and two counts of aggravated child neglect.

CRIME NEWS | Lawsuit alleges older student repeatedly sexually abused 6-year-old on Kentucky school bus

Circuit Court Judge Barry Tidwell sentenced Benjamin Garlick to life in prison without parole for the aggravated rape charges. He will find out his punishment on the other charges Nov. 10, which is also the day Shaantal…

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David Oakley, 70, appears in court accused of offences against teenager in early 2000s

The Bishop of Northampton has appeared in court over allegations that he raped a teenage girl after they went on a pilgrimage to Lourdes.

The Rt Rev David Oakley, 70, is accused of twice having sex with the girl, who was 15 at the time, in the early 2000s when he was in his mid-40s and working as a Catholic priest.

The bishop was charged in June with two counts of rape of a girl under the age of 16, following an investigation by Staffordshire Police’s rape and serious sexual offences team.

He appeared at Westminster magistrates’ court on Thursday via video link from his lawyer’s office to face the charges for the first time.

Sarah Madden, prosecuting, told the court that the incidents involving the girl began “after going on a pilgrimage to Lourdes”.

“She…

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Bishop David Oakley of Northampton appeared in court on Thursday, his first appearance since being charged in June with two counts of rape involving a girl under the age of 16.

Oakley, who withdrew from public ministry in 2025 after police received a report alleging sexual misconduct, appeared via video conference. Oakley was arrested in September 2025.

Additional details of the accusation were given on Thursday by prosecutor Sarah Madden. The alleged incidents happened following a pilgrimage to Lourdes, France, in the early 2000s, when the accuser was 15 years old. Oakley would have been in his mid-40s.

“She recalls sex with the defendant on at least two occasions,” said Madden.

Oakley did not enter a plea on Thursday and the case was sent to the Central Criminal Court.

In the United Kingdom, the age of consent for sexual activity is 16. Those in a position of trust cannot engage in…

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See original article for video.

After five years in prison, former Cincinnati priest Geoff Drew is out following a 2021 rape conviction. On Monday, Geoff Drew was released after he pleaded guilty to repeated sexual assault of a boy in the late 1980s and early ’90s.

Shortly after Drew’s crimes came to light, Rebecca Surendorf made it her mission to fight for children impacted by sexual abuse. She co-founded Ohioans for Child Protection.

“We are alarmed to realize someone with such a troubling history with children had such a position of authority at our kids’ school,” Surendorf said.

Police say the 10-year-old boy was assaulted in Drew’s office at St. Jude Church. During the trial, the now 41-year-old survivor delivered emotional statements in court.

Ohioans for Child Protection wants to give those survivors even more legal avenues for justice. Surendorf says the group helped in the passage of  View Cache

In 2021, Geoff Drew was sentenced to seven years in prison for raping a young boy when he worked under the Archdiocese of Cincinnati — and now, he’s a free man once again.

Drew pleaded guilty to repeatedly raping an altar boy who was 9 and 10 years old in the late 1980s and early 1990s at St. Jude in Bridgetown, where Drew was a music director.

Drew was freshly released from prison on Monday, August 17 after serving his full sentence.

We’re releasing a new podcast looking at the entire investigation, the impacts the case had on Cincinnati, and how the Archdiocese of Cincinnati said it made mistakes along the way.

The third episode of What They Knew: Inside the Father Geoff Drew Investigation looks at what the Archdiocese of Cincinnati knew of the allegations against Drew, what they did — and did not — do about it, and…

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The class action suit was brought against the Canadian archdiocese in 2020.

The Archdiocese of Quebec in Canada will pay out an eight-figure sum as part of a major class action lawsuit that has played out there over the last several years.

The archdiocese said in a press release that the agreement was ratified on Aug. 12 by Quebec Superior Court Judge Danye Daigle. The law firm Dufresne Wee, which had originally brought the lawsuit in 2020, also confirmed the settlement on its own website.

An Aug. 12 filing in the superior court said the agreement would consist of $31.5 million “to compensate the class members covered by [the] class action.”

The agreement also stipulated that a “letter of apology” would be delivered to abuse victims.

In its press release the archdiocese said its leaders “welcome this news.” The archdiocese said Church…

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What’s changed since then and what hasn’t

Think back twenty years to August 2006.

George W. Bush was president, iPhones didn’t exist yet, and Twitter was just a month old.

That was when I wrote a letter to then Southern Baptist Convention president Frank Page, describing how the Southern Baptist pastor who sexually abused me as a kid – repeatedly and severely – had been allowed to continue in ministry even though other church leaders knew at the time, even though his name was on a secret list of “known offenders” kept by the Baptist General Convention of Texas, and even though I had notified eighteen Southern Baptist leaders in four states about my corroborated report.

David Clohessy – the guy who has seen it all in the clergy abuse arena – dropped me a line the other day, pointing out that this month was the twenty-year anniversary of that letter….

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“For children are innocent and love justice, while most of us are wicked and naturally prefer mercy.” ― G.K. Chesterton.

Scenario:

Bob was convicted of molesting a 13-year-old girl. The judge sentenced him to 5 years in prison, and he was released after 2 years. He is on the sex offender registry. He was a model prisoner, participated in Bible studies in prison, and even led one group toward the end of his incarceration.

He comes to Country Club Baptist Church and meets with the pastor. He says all the right things.

• I found Jesus in prison.
• I’ve repented.
• I led prison Bible studies.
• I’m ready to lead a Christian life.

The pastor is excited. This is a redemption story he loves to hear. He baptizes the guy and introduces him to his church as “Saved.” Everyone likes Bob. Sure, he doesn’t teach the teens Sunday school…

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Australia has had a long history of human trafficking, beginning with “blackbirding” or the kidnapping of islanders to work on sugar plantations in Queensland, and the plight of the Stolen Generation of Indigenous Australians. 

The death of Puangthong Simaplee at the Villawood Detention Centre in 2001 and the subsequent coroner’s inquest highlighted the existence of human trafficking here in Australia.

In 2004, I heard about the plight of Thai women who had been trafficked into Australia to be sex workers. Having just returned from Thailand, I felt a strong call to do something about the issue. This is very much in keeping with our Josephite charism as expressed in the words of our founder, St. Mary of the Cross MacKillop: “Never see a need without doing something about it.”

In 2005, I established the Josephite Counter-Trafficking Project to look at the issue of human trafficking here in Australia and to…

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Parishioners at Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church learned that over $9 million earmarked for a new building will go toward a sexual abuse settlement.

Members of the Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in the Fresno diocese learned over the weekend that money they contributed for a new church building will instead be used in an ongoing bankruptcy settlement.

The fallout stems from a July 2025 bankruptcy filing by the Catholic Diocese of Fresno in response to a surge of sexual abuse claims. The resulting settlement will require the diocese to liquidate assets like unused property and use money on hand to pay victims who were sexually abused by clergy.

During a Sunday Mass livestreamed on Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church’s YouTube page, Monsignor Perry Kavookjian told parishioners that despite money contributed by them being earmarked by the church for a separate fund to help pay for a…

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Justice and Truth Win Freedom – The fight against women and child sex slavery – ISBN: 9789403928876

A powerful story of one man’s life-long fight for justice and freedom for thousands of sexually abused and trafficked women and children in the Philippine sex trade.

Father Shay Cullen, 83, is an Irish missionary priest and a member of the Missionary Society of St Columban who founded the PREDA Foundation in 1974. Since his assignment to the Philippines in 1969, where he was initially posted to St Joseph’s parish in Olongapo City, he has worked to protect women and children from sex slavery and to promote human rights, peace, and non-violence.

Born in Dublin on March 27, 1943, he was educated at Presentation College in Glasthule and completed his college education at St Columban’s in Dalgan Park, Navan, before being ordained in April 1969.

Through his ecumenical mission for justice and peace,…

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A Lincoln County youth pastor and funeral director faces four criminal charges after he contacted Kentucky State Police to confess to crimes involving a 17-year-old member of his youth group.

Jason Coulter, a youth pastor at Green River Pentecostal Church in Lincoln County, was charged on Aug. 17, 2026, with third degree sodomy, possession of matter showing a sexual performance by a minor, promoting a sexual performance by a minor, and procuring or promoting the use of a minor by electronic means.

According to court records, Coulter reached out to Kentucky State Police on Aug. 14 and told investigators he wanted to confess to crimes. He told troopers he met the 17-year-old through his youth group at church and that the two began exchanging nude photographs through Snapchat. He also told investigators he shared sexual fantasies with her through the app.

Coulter told investigators the two met in person on…

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Until this month, Andrew Buzzell was a role model to fellow members of Green Mountain Baptist Church in Rutland Town. They’d elected the 34-year-old married man as a church elder and pitched in financially to the statewide nonprofit he directed, Child Evangelism Fellowship of Vermont, that organized Christian programs and camps for kids.

Then church pastor Stephen Burch got called to meet with Federal Bureau of Investigation agents. Burch listened as investigators explained that they’d just arrested Buzzell on a charge of distributing images of child sexual abuse. Their evidence showed that over the last two years, Buzzell had shared and received the material in online chatrooms, according to court documents. In an online conversation with an undercover agent, Buzzell also discussed the prospect of meeting a 9-year-old girl for sex, prosecutors allege in court documents.

The pastor struggled to make sense of it. Buzzell had been part of the…

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A Vermont church elder and child evangelist has been charged with distribution of child sex abuse material (CSAM). Andrew Buzzell had been serving as an elder at Green Mountain Baptist Church in Rutland and as state director for Child Evangelism Fellowship of Vermont. 

Editor’s note: This article refers to reports of child sex abuse that some readers might find triggering and/or disturbing.

Buzzell has been removed from all leadership roles at Mountain Baptist Church, and his membership with the church has been revoked. 

According the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Vermont, Buzzell, 34, was arrested after an investigation revealed that he allegedly “distributed materials containing child pornography, also known as Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), through a free instant messaging mobile application.”

RELATED: Former Southern California Pastor Arrested on Sexual Assault Charges Involving Minor

Authorities said that the investigation was triggered by a…

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More than a dozen people allege they experienced either sexual misconduct or financial manipulation at Miracle Arena For All Nations church

Jodi says she remembers her hands shaking as her married pastor — the man she had for months been told to call “dad” — pulled her onto his lap on a cream-coloured couch in his ministry office.

Just 16 years old at the time, Jodi says she froze as Kofi Danso, a self-described “Man of God,” prophet and the leader of Miracle Arena church, then located in North York, Ont., began to unbutton her pants.

“He was like, ‘Just know that I’m here … I’m your dad.’ He’s whispering these things to me while he’s kissing my neck and fingering me,” the woman, now in her 20s, said in an interview with the Investigative Journalism Bureau (IJB).

“I just became numb.”

Jodi, whose identity is being protected because she…

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Editor’s Note: The following article includes graphic elements that some may find disturbing.

A Valley priest has pleaded not guilty to charges filed after he was allegedly seen engaging in a sexual act with a registered sex offender in Warren’s Perkins Park.

Seventy-five-year-old Monsignor Anthony Spinosa, who has been the rector of the Basilica and National Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon in North Jackson since 2002, was booked into the Trumbull County Jail on August 13 and arraigned the following day in Warren Municipal Court on charges of public indecency and procuring.

Spinosa is a Chorbishop with the Maronite Catholic Church, which, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, is a senior priest elevated to a rank just below a full diocesan bishop.

Monsignor Spinosa, was charged several days after a couple walking their dog in Perkins Park on July 31 told police that they spotted 54-year-old Kenneth Kopp of Southington…

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After five years in prison, former Cincinnati priest Geoff Drew is out following a 2021 rape conviction. On Monday, Geoff Drew was released after he pleaded guilty to repeated sexual assault of a boy in the late 1980s and early ’90s.

Shortly after Drew’s crimes came to light, Rebecca Surendorf made it her mission to fight for children impacted by sexual abuse. She co-founded Ohioans for Child Protection.

“We are alarmed to realize someone with such a troubling history with children had such a position of authority at our kids’ school,” Surendorf said.

Police say the 10-year-old boy was assaulted in Drew’s office at St. Jude Church. During the trial, the now 41-year-old survivor delivered emotional statements in court.

Ohioans for Child Protection wants to give those survivors even more legal avenues for justice. Surendorf says the group helped in the passage of Erin’s Law,…

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Geoff Drew, the former Catholic priest convicted of raping a student more than three decades ago, is returning home to Cincinnati after five years in prison.

Drew, 64, is scheduled to be released Monday and will live for now at the Volunteers of America halfway house in Cincinnati, where he’s expected to participate in treatment and re-entry programs alongside other men and women recently released from prison.

Drew’s case inspired the creation of a child advocacy group by Catholic parents and a movement to change Ohio law regarding the statute of limitations for sex crimes against children.

The former priest’s arrest in 2019 also brought renewed scrutiny to the Catholic church’s handling of abuse allegations involving clergy. An Enquirer investigation three years ago found multiple instances throughout Drew’s career when children, colleagues, parishioners and church employees raised concerns about his behavior, but he was not suspended and ordered to stay away from kids…

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Date: Monday, Aug. 24
Start Time: 6:30 p.m.
End Time: 8 p.m.
Location: Virtual
Register here

A Webinar for Survivors and Those Who Care for Them

A 2014 study found that 75% of adult Christians reported experiencing harm in their religious communities due to spiritual coercion and abuse of spiritual authority, however, the existence of spiritual abuse and the harm it causes is largely unrecognized and unaddressed in the Church. Drawing from psychological research and the Church’s teaching on human dignity, this presentation with Paul Fahey and Thomas Berg will help you define, recognize, and respond to spiritual abuse and religious trauma.

Paul Fahey is a professional counselor, retreat leader, and the host of the Third Space podcast. He provides counseling for those who have been spiritually abused and creates resources for Church leaders to better safeguard their communities against abuse. Paul Fahey lives in Michigan with his wife, Kristina, and five kids.

…

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Press Release 08/17/2026

New group posts first-ever list of alleged Protestant sexual abusers

It’s based on court records, news accounts, articles & government records

More than 2,700 clergy, in 100+ denominations, with photos, are put online

Database also includes ‘those who suspected or knew of abuse & kept silent’

Victims seek to ‘protect the vulnerable, expose the wrongdoers & deter coverups’

WHAT

In an online news conference, to prevent sexual misdeeds, clergy sex abuse survivors and an expert will announce the posting of thousands of names of convicted, admitted, suspended, defrocked &/or publicly accused Protestant pastors and other church workers who have allegedly ‘violated, molested or sexually exploited vulnerable adults and children’

WHEN/WHERE

Wednesday, Aug. 19 at 11:00 a.m. Eastern

WHO

Two women who were exploited and abused as adults by separate Protestant clergymen and a man who is a veteran archivist & expert in clergy abuse:

–a Florida woman, who was…

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Prosecutors say she knew about inappropriate conduct between a teacher and students

The former head of Miss Hall’s School was arraigned on one count of reckless endangerment of a child in court on Monday for her alleged role in the teacher abuse scandal that has already seen a former teacher indicted for rape.

Jeannie Norris, who is 80 and now lives in North Carolina, appeared for the arraignment via Zoom in Berkshire Superior Court. She hardly spoke during the proceedings.

Prosecutors allege Norris received multiple reports of inappropriate conduct between a teacher, Matthew Rutledge, and his students.

Rutledge was indicted earlier this year on three counts of rape involving two former students.

Prosecutors say Norris’s lack of action created a substantial risk of harm to children in her care.

Berkshire County District Attorney Timothy J. Shugrue previously told 5 Investigates that an investigation is ongoing, and he expects…

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Geoff Drew served 7 years for the repeated rape of an altar boy, as set by his plea deal

CINCINNATI — A former priest and confessed rapist was released from prison on Monday morning after completing his 7-year sentence, and authorities are warning the public that he is still very dangerous.

Geoff Drew was released from the Noble Correctional Institution, a medium-security prison for men in rural Noble County between 8:30 and 8:45 a.m., according to an Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction spokesperson.

Now Drew is set to live in a two-story halfway house in Over-the-Rhine, Volunteers of America, a re-entry program on W. McMicken Avenue that currently houses 35 registered sex offenders, according to the Ohio sex offender locator website.

“He mastered his craft,” said retired Cincinnati police detective Dana Jones, who led the case against Drew with Green Township police detective James Conforti. “His title of being…

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Most of the bishops’ early resignations are blurred by the Catholic Church’s characteristic opacity when dealing with clergy sexual abuse.

In his last two years in office, Pope Francis forced out 36 bishops. Overall, Francis forced out a total of at least 87 bishops, including other similar disciplinary measures.

In his first 15 months in office, Leo XIV outpaced his predecessor’s rate of early bishops resignations, a proxy to gauge the scale of sexual abuse and other issues in Catholicism.

The early resignation of bishops remains one of the few relatively easy-to-spot “symptoms” of structural trouble in any given Catholic diocese, as the adage goes. “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.”

Even if up until now a bishop in the Catholic Church still holds an almost unchecked power in his diocese, its patrimony, and symbolic capital, before 1966, episcopal appointments were virtually for life. Following the Second Vatican…

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• Former Cincinnati priest Geoff Drew is returning to the city after serving a prison sentence for rape.
• He pleaded guilty in 2021 and served 2 years in jail and another 5 in prison to complete his 7-year sentence.
• His case inspired the creation of a child advocacy group and a movement to toughen the state’s child abuse laws.

Geoff Drew, the former Catholic priest convicted of raping a student more than three decades ago, is returning home to Cincinnati after five years in prison.

Drew, 64, is scheduled to be released Monday and will live for now at the Volunteers of America halfway house in Cincinnati, where he’s expected to participate in treatment and re-entry programs alongside other men and women recently released from prison.

Drew’s case inspired the creation of a child advocacy group by Catholic parents and a movement to change Ohio law regarding the statute…

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VICARS and priests who hear about child sex abuse dur­ing Con­fes­sion will not have a duty to report it under new laws com­ing into force next year.

The Crime and Poli­cing Act intro­duces a man­dat­ory report­ing oblig­a­tion to those work­ing or volun­teer­ing with chil­dren in faith set­tings.

While the Home Office said “there will be no excep­tions based on reli­gious prac­tices”, the seal of Con­fes­sion will not be covered.

The seal is the priest’s oblig­a­tion under canon law to hear a per­son’s Con­fes­sion in com­plete con­fid­ence.they can­not repeat or dis­close what is said.

Tra­di­tion­al­ists called for this to be main­tained, while man­dat­ory report­ing without reli­gious excep­tion was one of the key recom­mend­a­tions in the final report of the Inde­pend­ent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in 2022.

Bishop Robert Sprin­gett, lead for safe­guard­ing, told the Gen­eral Synod last month it was “clear that Con­fes­sion is not a ‘reg­u­lated activ­ity’ as defined…

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A statement from President of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB, regarding the Christopher Saunders case.

The crimes of abuse of which the former bishop of Broome, Christopher Saunders, has been found guilty following a jury verdict in the District Court of Western Australia represent a betrayal of everything the gospel and the Catholic Church stand for.

They are a violation of the human dignity of victims and survivors and a complete betrayal of their trust: these crimes deserve the strongest condemnation.

As Bishop Tim Norton, the current bishop of Broome, has said in his pastoral letter, those whose bravery enabled them to come forward to expose these crimes – the victims, the survivors and other witnesses – have shown great courage, commitment and resilience through a long and difficult process. The Catholic community in Broome, and more widely in Western Australia and the rest of our…

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Bishop Christopher Saunders was convicted on 13 counts of sex abuse crimes, including against a canonical minor.

Bishop Christopher Saunders was convicted of sexual abuse on Thursday, after jurours took just seven hours to consider the evidence against the former head of the Diocese of Broome, Australia.

The Western Australia district court found Saunders guilty on 12 counts of indecent assault and one count of sexual penetration against young Aboriginal men. The court found the bishop not guilty of six other charges.

Most of the charges reportedly concerned one victim, who was 16 when the sexual contact began and 19 when it ended. In canon law, persons below the age of 18 are considered minors. According to the prosecutor, the young man “felt shame” at what had occurred but “felt like he could not say no.” Saunders was also accused of committing offenses against a 24-year-old man and another man…

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Christopher Saunders has spent weeks fighting historical allegations.

Broome Bishop Christopher Saunders found guilty of abusing Indigenous men

What charges was Christopher Saunders convicted of?

What role did Christopher Saunders hold in the Catholic Church?

Why did the trial against Saunders last three weeks?

A retired Catholic bishop known for hosting boozy parties is now a convicted predator after he was found guilty of sexually abusing two young Aboriginal men.

A jury found Christopher Alan Saunders, 76, guilty of one count of sexual penetration without consent and 12 counts of unlawful and indecent assault following a trial in the West Australian District Court that lasted more than three weeks.

The former Bishop of Broome was found not guilty of six other charges.

There was no reaction from Saunders in the dock as the verdicts were read out.

Saunders had fought allegations he groomed…

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It’s an all too familiar trajectory, but no less shocking for its appalling frequency.

Catholic priest sexually abuses teenage boys.

The sort of headline you’ve seen countless times before.

But this time, the priest in question was one of the highest-ranking Catholics in Western Australia, and his victims were young, trusting Aboriginal boys and men he plied with alcohol.

On Thursday, Bishop Christopher Saunders, once in charge of the vast Kimberley diocese of Broome, which spans thousands of square kilometres across Western Australia’s remote north, was found guilty of multiple counts of sexually abusing two young men, including one count of rape.

Still a bishop

Saunders, who is still listed on official church websites as “Bishop Emeritus of Broome” and as the “most Rev Christopher Saunders”, having never been stripped of his titles, protested his innocence throughout.

The jury, however, thought otherwise, and convicted him of 13 charges.

He originally…

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PERTH, Australia (AP) — An Australian jury on Thursday convicted a former Catholic bishop renowned for hosting alcohol-fueled house parties of sexually abusing two young Indigenous men.

The District Court of Western Australia jury convicted Christopher Saunders, 76, of 13 out of 19 charges of sexual abuse that allegedly occurred between 2008 and 2019 in his sprawling diocese on the country’s tropical northwest coast.

Prosecutors alleged he lured young Indigenous men to his church-owned house in the tourist town of Broome with free alcohol and cigarettes paid for with church funds. House rules included that the male-only guests had to remove their shirts.

“The accused had a sexual interest in young Aboriginal men and a tendency to act on that interest when the opportunity presented itself,” Prosecutor Adam Ebell had told the court.

The convictions included one count of sexual penetration without consent and a dozen indecent assaults.

He was acquitted…

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A court found Christopher Alan Saunders, the former bishop of Broome, guilty of sexually abusing two men, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.

An Australian jury on Thursday found a former Catholic bishop guilty of sexually abusing two men, according to media reports.

The former bishop, Christopher Alan Saunders, 76, was found guilty of 13 sex offenses, including one count of sexual penetration without consent and 12 charges of indecent assault, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported. He was acquitted of six other charges. Mr. Saunders, who was the bishop of the diocese of Broome, had pleaded not guilty to the charges, local media reported.

The current bishop of Broome, Tim Norton, released a statement after the verdict acknowledging “the courage of victims, survivors and other witnesses who came forward to express their truth.”

“We are deeply sorry for the hurt they have experienced. We are sorry for…

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Lawsuit covers people who say they were sexually abused by staff dating back to 1940

A Quebec Superior Court judge has approved a historic $31.5-million settlement in a class-action lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Quebec.

The deal ends years of legal action for claimants who said they were sexually assaulted by members of the Archdiocese since 1940.

Quebec Superior Court Justice Danye Daigle approved the settlement earlier this week, led by representative plaintiffs Gaétan Bégin and Pierre Bolduc.

Both men have said they were sexually assaulted by parish priests starting in the 1950s and 1960s when they were aged 14 and 12 respectively.

Daigle heard emotional testimony from victims during a public hearing in July, to determine whether the out-of-court agreement and the requested fees, were in the best interests of the class members.

After the hearing, Bégin described it as a historic day. Now 86, Bégin said the boy…

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Johnny Hunt’s defamation case against the Southern Baptist Convention and its Executive Committee is dead, with a federal judge throwing out the remainder of the case Aug. 12.

Hunt, a former SBC president and former executive vice president of the SBC North American Mission Board, filed suit in March 2023, alleging former SBC President Bart Barber and the denomination defamed him and invaded his privacy by making public the story of his “brief, inappropriate, extramarital encounter with a married woman” in 2010.

That information was part of the blockbuster Guidepost Solutions report released in 2022 that documented a pattern of covering up and ignoring reports of clergy sexual abuse in the denomination. Hunt was unexpectedly snared in the investigation.

At first, Hunt denied the allegations leveled against him by first-person testimony of the woman involved, then he admitted the encounter had, in fact, occurred but insisted it was not abusive in nature. The woman…

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Note: This article includes references to sexual assault.

The Catholic Church will resume its investigation into a disgraced ex-bishop found guilty of sexually abusing young Aboriginal men.

Former Bishop of Broome Christopher Alan Saunders, 76, was convicted of 13 sex offences on Thursday, including sexual penetration without consent, following a 3.5-week trial in Perth.

A church probe into the retired clergyman’s activities was suspended when the Western Australian police started investigating him.

It is set to restart now the trial has finished.

“Its findings will inform decisions in Rome about Christopher Saunders’ position in the church,” Archbishop Timothy Costelloe said on Friday.

“The Diocese of Broome will determine any future financial or other support.”

Saunders’ offending between 2010 and 2019 also included a dozen unlawful and indecent assault charges.

He was acquitted of six charges, including two counts of indecently dealing with a child older than 16 under his authority…

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As ProPublica and the Minnesota Star Tribune investigated child sexual abuse in the Old Apostolic Lutheran Church, reporters found that children who were victims of sexual misconduct sometimes went on to repeat the behavior.

This story contains descriptions of sexual abuse.

ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up for Dispatches, a newsletter that spotlights wrongdoing around the country, to receive our stories in your inbox every week.

For two sisters raised in a family of 11 children that moved back and forth between Washington state and South Dakota, danger didn’t come from outsiders like they’d been warned by their church.

It came from their brothers in the next bedroom.

Lynn said she was still in diapers when her abuse began. Two older sisters told her how they caught one of their brothers touching her. The sisters told their mother, but Lynn said her parents did…

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A US pastor who has served churches in California has been arrested on multiple child sexual assault charges, with investigators saying there may be other alleged victims.

Lino Hernandez, 41, was arrested on Wednesday after Riverside County Sheriff’s deputies executed a search warrant at his home in Blythe, according to police.

The investigation began in June following an allegation that a minor had been sexually assaulted. Detectives subsequently identified Hernandez as a suspect.

Hernandez has served as a pastor at churches in Blythe and Indio, although authorities have not identified the congregations involved.

Police have also not said whether the alleged offences have any connection to Hernandez’s work as a pastor.

He was arrested without incident and booked on multiple sexual assault charges. Hernandez remained in custody ahead of a scheduled court appearance on Friday.

Investigators said the case remains ongoing and believe there may be additional alleged victims.

Authorities…

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Bishop David Oakley of Northampton was in court yesterday facing allegations that he raped a 15-year-old girl twice in the early 2000s.

Oakley, who was in his 40s and a priest for the diocese of Birmingham at the time of the allegations, appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday via videolink to face the charges from his lawyer’s office. He was released on bail, on condition that he doesn’t contact the alleged victim or her family.

Prosecutor Sarah Madden said Oakley and the girl “started dating… after going on a pilgrimage to Lourdes.”

“She recalls sex with the defendant on at least two occasions,” Madden added. The incidents are alleged to have occurred between 2000 and 2001, when Oakley was in his mid-40s and a priest of the Birmingham archdiocese.

Oakley was not asked to enter a plea as the case has been sent to the Old Bailey by Chief…

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An 81-year-old temple priest was sentenced to four years in jail by the Magistrate’s Court here after being found guilty of molesting a 31-year-old woman two years ago.

Magistrate Wan Farrah Farriza Wan Ghazali imposed the sentence on Lim Ah Kau @ Lim Ho Cheng after finding him guilty following a full trial.

Lim was found guilty of using criminal force against the woman with intent to outrage her modesty at a temple here on Feb 29, 2024, about 10am.

He was charged under Section 354 of the Penal Code, which provides for a jail term of up to 10 years, or a fine, or whipping, or any two of the punishments, upon conviction.

During the trial, the prosecution called six witnesses, while the defence called two.

The court ordered Lim to serve his sentence from the date of his conviction on Wednesday (Aug 12).

However, the court granted a…

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“We wish to raise serious concern regarding patterns of religiously motivated violence and persecution,” the letter said, “especially Christians, including women and girls.”

A joint letter from U.N. human rights experts warning Nigerian officials of the heightened risk of violence against Christian women and girls in the country has been made public after the government failed to respond within 60 days.

The June 1 letter cited attacks against Christian women and girls in northern Nigeria and the Middle Belt region, including killings, forced conversion, and sexual violence. The letter was signed by Reem Alsalem, U.N. special rapporteur on violence against women and girls; Gabriella Citroni, chair-rapporteur of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances; Morris Tidball-Binz, U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions; Nicolas Levrat, U.N. special rapporteur on minority issues; and Alice Jill Edwards, U.N. special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman,…

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Oakley took a leave of absence, which he and his diocese said was for “personal reasons.”

An English bishop accused of raping a minor appeared in court on Thursday, where he was ordered not to contact his alleged victim ahead of his plea hearing set for next month.

Bishop David Okaley appeared in Westminster Magistrates’ Court via video from his lawyer’s office for the Aug. 13 preliminary hearing, with the bishop released from custody on bail as he awaits his upcoming trial.

The bishop, 70, was charged last month with two counts of rape of a minor, over claims dating back to alleged sexual misconduct involving a girl younger than 16, which reportedly took place between February 2000 and February 2001, when Oakley was in ministry as a priest.

While charges were announced in June, Oakley was under investigation for months before that, and the bishop began a leave of…

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A community – bystanders, law enforcement, colleagues and family – is likely to deny an atrocity when acknowledging it requires action.

Widespread denial accompanied the public exposure of Jeffrey Epstein’s decades-long sexual abuse and trafficking of girls and women.

After the U.S. Justice Department released millions of case documents on Epstein in January 2026, billionaires, politicians, heads of state and academics proclaimed their ignorance of Epstein’s global network of sexual exploitation.

Why would so many intelligent and powerful people repeatedly trumpet their lack of awareness, especially after Epstein’s 2008 plea agreement to underage prostitution charges?

Submit a guest post. Your piece may be featured on Ripple.

And what about all of Epstein’s staffers and business associates who kept quiet about the suspicious behavior they observed?

As a human rights researcher who has conducted genocide research on four continents, I think denials of human rights atrocities can help people understand the denial of crimes…

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It’s been more than six months since the first trial in the Riverside Church child molestation scandal resulted in a settlement for former college basketball star Daryl Powell. In the immediate aftermath, hopes arose that the Powell case would lead to a quick resolution of the remaining 25 lawsuits filed against the iconic Manhattan church over allegations of sexual abuse in its pioneering youth-sports program, which put more than 60 players into the NBA.

That hasn’t happened.

Since Powell settled in January, just one additional case has been formally settled, according to state court files. In the interim, another plaintiff has died — the third former Riverside player who has died while awaiting justice under New York state’s Child Victims Act.

The plaintiff, who sued anonymously using his initials, D.N., died in February, according to a July 17 court filing from one of his attorneys at Herman Law, which said…

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The Vatican has reversed another Diocese of Buffalo closure decree for a Niagara County church, this time in Wilson.

Our Lady of the Rosary, at 345 Lake St., received the news that its closure decree was revoked in late July, with the Vatican’s Dicastery of Clergy finding that the diocese did not follow the proper discernment process regarding the closure’s impact, among other canon law violations. The church also received a decree stating that its $716,454 in assets would not go toward the diocese’s $150 million sexual abuse settlement.

“Our committee as well as the community is ecstatic,” said parishioner Michael Moley, the procurator for the Our Lady of the Rosary’s appeal process. “We’ve had an overwhelming response from the community in favor of keeping the church open, from the village board to other Protestant churches.”

Our Lady of the Rosary is part of the St. Brendan on the Lake…

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In a unanimous decision, Arizona’s Supreme Court upheld a broad definition of clergy-penitent privilege July 30. While the case involved the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, widely known as the Mormon church, the ruling has implications for the Catholic Church’s defense of the seal of the confessional.

The Arizona case, Doe v. Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, centers on a Latter-day Saints member, who had confessed to abusing his children in the context of the Mormon church’s formal repentance process. The plaintiffs sued the church along with individual clergy members for failing to report the abuse.

The Catholic dioceses of Arizona — Phoenix, Tucson and Gallup, New Mexico (which includes part of Arizona) — filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, along with other groups including the Arizona Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, the Arizona Association for…

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Bishop Timothy Norton of Broome Diocese expresses his deep sorrow to victims and survivors following the conviction of Australian Bishop Christopher Saunders, pledging a diocesan path marked by listening, accountability, and hope.

Vatican News

The Bishop of Broome, Australia, has expressed profound sorrow for the suffering and shame endured by victims and survivors after his predecessor was convicted of sexual offences.

On Thursday, a jury in the District Court of Western Australia found Bishop Christopher Saunders, Bishop Emeritus of Broome, guilty of 13 sexual abuse offences against two young Aboriginal men. 

Bishop Saunders denied the sexual assaults took place and can appeal the conviction.

He served as Bishop of Broome from 1996 to 2021, and the offences occurred between 2008 and 2019.

In a pastoral letter addressed to Catholics throughout the Kimberley region, Bishop Timothy Norton, SVD, current Bishop of Broome, acknowledged the verdict and thanked Australian…

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Hunt’s lawyers had argued he was a private figure and his misconduct was nobody’s business. He also claimed a tweet criticizing him was defamatory.

A federal judge dismissed the final claims of a defamation lawsuit filed by former Southern Baptist President Johnny Hunt, who claimed his career was ruined after his sexual misconduct became public in 2022.

Hunt, who had been a megachurch pastor in Georgia and a vice president with the Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board — as well as a popular author and speaker — was named in the 2022 Guidepost Solutions report on how Southern Baptist leaders had dealt with issues of abuse.

According to that report, Hunt allegedly assaulted another pastor’s wife, then hid his misconduct from church members and his employer for years. Hunt said he had sinned but denied it was abuse.

RELATED: Is a pastor’s sin a private matter?…

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The former bishop was convicted of sexually abusing two men. The diocese apologized to the victims and asked Our Lady Queen of Peace to intercede “on this journey of reconciliation, healing and hope.”

Christopher Saunders, the former bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Broome, Australia, was convicted on Aug. 13 of sexually abusing two young Aboriginal men between 2008 and 2017.

Saunders, who is 76 years old, led the northwest Australian diocese from 1996 until 2021 when he resigned. He was convicted of 13 charges, which included nonconsensual sexual penetration. He originally faced 26 charges, but seven were dropped and he was not found guilty for the other six.

Bishop Tim Norton of the Diocese of Broome published a pastoral letter to the faithful after his predecessor was convicted.

Norton thanked the police and the prosecutors “for their commitment to bringing this matter before a jury.” He acknowledged “the…

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The Apostolic Nunciature in Lithuania said Thursday it was deeply concerned about allegations of sexual offenses against children involving two Catholic priests, Lithuanian news portal 15min.lt reported.

“The Holy See has been informed of this painful situation, continues to monitor it with great concern and regularly receives updates on any developments,” the nunciature said in a statement to 15min.lt. “The Holy See firmly reaffirms its zero-tolerance policy toward any form of abuse.”

The diplomatic mission expressed sympathy for the alleged victims and their families. It said criminal proceedings are under the jurisdiction of Lithuanian state authorities, while the corresponding canonical investigation is the responsibility of the Archdiocese of Vilnius.

One of the priests is accused of sexual offenses against 11 minors. According to law enforcement data, authorities recorded 34 alleged criminal episodes over a 23-year period, from 2002 through 2025.

The second priest is accused of possessing child pornography. Authorities…

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Lithuanian Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius on Thursday called for cooperation from the Catholic Church and answers on whether it took sufficient steps to detect and prevent child sexual abuse after two priests were charged with sexual offenses involving children.

“I expect open and constructive cooperation between the Church and law enforcement, transparency and a readiness to answer not only who may have committed the crimes, but also the vital question of whether sufficient measures were taken in all cases to ensure that potential abuse was detected early, prevented and reported to the responsible authorities,” Sinkevičius said in a Facebook post.

He said the government must also assess whether legal and institutional mechanisms adequately protect children in schools, families, sports organizations, religious institutions and other settings.

“There can be no tolerance for sexual violence against children,” Sinkevičius said, adding that an institution’s reputation cannot be placed above the safety of a…

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Lithuania’s justice minister is calling for renewed efforts to establish a public registry of people convicted of sexual offenses against children after prosecutors announced cases against two priests this week.

Justice Minister Rita Tamašunienė said Thursday that such a registry could strengthen monitoring and prevention measures and help protect children from repeat offenses.

“In my view as justice minister, the time has come to return to this idea and look for solutions that would help protect children even better,” Tamašunienė said in a statement. “We fully support making such data public.”

She said authorities should continue monitoring people convicted of sexual offenses even after they have served their sentences, arguing that this would strengthen the state’s role in preventing repeat offenses.

Social Security and Labour Minister Inga Ruginienė has also expressed support for the idea.

Lithuania’s parliament, Seimas, gave initial approval in 2024 to legislation that would establish a registry…

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The Bishop of Northampton has appeared in court over allegations he raped a teenage girl after they went on a pilgrimage to Lourdes.

David Oakley, 70, is accused of twice having sex with the girl, who was aged under 16 at the time, in the early 2000s.

Oakley, who was then in his mid-40s and working as a Catholic priest, was charged in June with two counts of rape of a girl under the age of 16, following an investigation by Staffordshire Police’s Rape and Serious Sexual Offences team.

He appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday via videolink from his lawyer’s office to face the charges for the first time.

Prosecutor Sarah Madden told the court Oakley and the girl “started dating… after going on a pilgrimage to Lourdes”.

“She recalls sex with the defendant on at least two occasions,” Ms Madden said.

Lourdes, in south west France, attracts…

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The Diocese of Palm Beach is putting sweeping new rules in place governing clergy conduct, sexual abuse allegations, whistleblowers and the monitoring of priests, nearly two months after a Boynton Beach pastor was placed on administrative leave amid what church officials called “serious allegations.”

Bishop Manuel de Jesús Rodríguez announced the new diocesan policies Thursday as part of a broad overhaul aimed at protecting children, vulnerable adults and others who come into contact with Catholic clergy, employees and volunteers.

At the center of the changes is a new body of diocesan law titled Protecting and Safeguarding the People of God, dated Aug. 7. The rules took effect Aug. 8 and are being implemented on an experimental basis for two years, according to the bishop’s decree.

The extensive policy package creates separate codes of conduct for clergy, employees and volunteers, procedures for handling allegations of sexual abuse…

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A former Amarillo pastor was indicted following his arrest in a prostitution sting.

A Randall County grand jury indicted David Austin Ritchie, 42, on a charge of solicitation of prostitution.

Ritchie, the former senior pastor of Redeemer Christian Church, was among eight men arrested during a June undercover operation conducted by the Texas Department of Public Safety.

RELATED | ‘Shocked & heartbroken’: Church fires Amarillo pastor after arrest in prostitution sting

The church fired Ritchie after learning of his arrest. He had served as senior pastor since 2011.

Jorge Luis Lopez-Najera, 24, of Amarillo, who was arrested in the same operation, was also indicted on a charge of solicitation of prostitution.

The cases against the other six men arrested in the sting remain pending.

• John Alexander Grado-Vega, 26, of El Paso – solicitation of prostitution
• Braiden Deion Sellers, 34, of Pascagoula, Mississippi…

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Parents sue SC church, academy and denomination over registered offender’s access to children.

The Southern Baptist Convention and its Executive Committee have been named as defendants in a proposed federal class-action lawsuit against a South Carolina church and academy where authorities say a convicted sex offender was allowed to volunteer near children.

In addition to the SBC and SBC EC, the Aug. 4 filing in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina names Pawleys Island Community Church, Pawleys Island Christian Academy, former senior pastor Donald James Williams, his wife Virginia Lee “Ginny” Williams, former academy director Jennifer “Niki” Howard, unnamed church elders and Warren Spencer Perry as defendants.

“The Southern Baptist Convention does not comment on ongoing litigation,” said Jeff Iorg, president and CEO of the SBC Executive Committee, in a statement. “We will review it and respond appropriately.”

In the filing, the parents, identified as John…

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An Australian jury on Thursday convicted a former Catholic bishop renowned for hosting alcohol-fueled house parties of sexually abusing two young Indigenous men.

The District Court of Western Australia jury convicted Christopher Saunders, 76, of 13 out of 19 charges of sexual abuse that allegedly occurred between 2008 and 2019 in his sprawling diocese on the country’s tropical northwest coast.

Prosecutors alleged he lured young Indigenous men to his church-owned house in the tourist town of Broome with free alcohol and cigarettes paid for with church funds. House rules included that the male-only guests had to remove their shirts.

“The accused had a sexual interest in young Aboriginal men and a tendency to act on that interest when the opportunity presented itself,” Prosecutor Adam Ebell had told the court.

The convictions included one count of sexual penetration without consent and a dozen indecent assaults.

He was acquitted of six charges that…

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Note: this article contains references to sexual abuse.

A Catholic bishop who resigned when sexual abuse claims were levelled against him has been found guilty of abusing young Indigenous men.

Former Bishop of Broome Christopher Alan Saunders, 76, was found guilty of 13 sex offences on Thursday following a jury trial in the West Australian District Court.

The offending between 2008 and 2019 included one count of sexual penetration without consent and a dozen unlawful and indecent assault charges.

He was acquitted of six other charges, including two counts of indecently dealing with a child over 16 under his authority and four counts of unlawful and indecent assault.

Saunders was ordained as the second Broome bishop in 1996 and presided over 13 schools and nine parishes, before stepping aside in 2020 when the sex abuse claims became public.

Pope Francis accepted his resignation a year later.

Unless acquitted on appeal,…

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City Council Member Carl Wilson and other preservationists staged a rally outside Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, Aug. 12 They called on the Landmarks Preservation Commission to intervene. The Archdiocese is trying to raise $800 million to pay survivors of sexual assault.

As part of its continuing efforts to raise $800 million for a fund to pay past victims of sexual abuse, the Catholic Archdiocese of New York is putting three more West Side complexes on the block including two schools and one church.

At a “Stop the sale” rally on Aug. 12, City Council member Carl Wilson revealed that the buildings that the Archdiocese is now seeking to sell include Our Lady of Guadalupe Church at 328 West 14th Street, the shut down elementary school of Guardian Angel at 193 10th Ave. that closed in 2023, and the shut down St. Michael’s Academy, a former all girls high school…

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An independent review is necessary to restore public confidence, said Sen. Joe Vitale.

A senior New Jersey lawmaker has asked the state attorney general to investigate Seton Hall University over its handling of sexual harassment and abuse allegations, according to a letter obtained by POLITICO.

The request from Sen. Joe Vitale, the Democratic chair of the upper chamber’s health committee, comes about six weeks after an investigation ordered by the Archdiocese of Newark effectively cleared the university’s new president, Monsignor Joseph Reilly, of wrongdoing as a seminary leader more than a decade ago.

But Vitale said that that investigation “appears, to many, to be a whitewash” because it conflicts with the findings of a separate, 2019 probe focused on the disgraced ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the longtime archbishop of Newark and Washington, D.C. That investigation was never made public but, as POLITICO reported in 2024, implicated Reilly (he was not accused of abuse).

That means Seton Hall has…

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This story contains descriptions of sexual abuse.

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Reporting Highlights

• Promised Reforms: The Amateur Athletic Union said it would implement “historic” reforms after a child sex abuse scandal in 2011, including mandatory training. It still hasn’t done so.
• “People Tried to Cover It Up”: A few years later, the AAU exonerated a top executive accused of sexual abuse without interviewing a single witness.
• Banned Coaches: The AAU said it would bar coaches banned for misconduct by other youth sports groups. But we found eight banned coaches working with kids in the AAU.

These highlights were written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story.

In the competitive world of youth sports, few organizations have a reach as vast as the Amateur Athletic Union. 

With 760,000 athletes and coaches…

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Some priests are questioning how allegations of sexual abuse are investigated, but victims say the process still favors clergy.

On his last day of radiation treatment for prostate cancer, Fr. Michael Pfleger teared up as he hugged nurses and rang the bell in the hospital hallway, once for himself, once “for all the other people coming out of here.” Then he posted on Facebook that it was “Easier to beat Cancer than get Justice from the Archdiocese.” Earlier this summer, the popular yet controversial priest was temporarily removed from ministry while the Archdiocese of Chicago investigated an allegation that he sexually abused a minor decades ago. It is the fifth time that Pfleger, the senior pastor at St. Sabina Parish on Chicago’s South Side, has been accused; four previous allegations were found by the archdiocese to be unsubstantiated. 

Supporters have rallied around Pfleger and called for reform of the archdiocese’s investigative process…

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A Southern Baptist church and school in South Carolina provided a known sex offender unrestrained access to children for several years and silenced a teacher who raised concerns about the situation, according to a federal lawsuit filed Aug. 4.

The class-action complaint accuses Pawleys Island Community Church and its Pawleys Island Academy of allowing Warren Spencer Perry to volunteer as a maintenance worker at the school despite knowing of his prior conviction for sexual exploitation of a minor.

Defendants include former Senior Pastor Don Williams, his wife and former Guest Services Director Ginny Williams, former academy director Jennifer “Niki” Howard, the congregation’s elders and Perry. The Southern Baptist Convention and the SBC Executive Committee also are named in the lawsuit.

A notce on the church’s Facebook page says the Williamses, Howard and several elders have resigned amid the crisis.

Formerly known as Pawleys Island Baptist Church, the congregation is a cooperating church with…

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Every allegation of sexual abuse must be taken seriously.

Every person accused of sexual abuse must be treated fairly.

Those principles are not in conflict, and we should not have to abandon one to honor the other.

The Rev. Michael Pfleger has again been removed from ministry at St. Sabina while the Archdiocese of Chicago investigates an allegation of sexual abuse said to have occurred more than 30 years ago.

He strongly denies it. I have known and admired Father Pfleger for years, and I believe him.

I also believe that my personal feelings do not mean the allegation should be ignored.

This is the fifth accusation made against Father Pfleger since 2021. The previous allegations were investigated and determined to be unfounded, and each time he was returned to ministry. Those outcomes do not prove that the latest allegation is false. But…

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Editor’s note: This story describes allegations of child sex abuse and contains a mention of suicide.

A lawsuit filed last week accuses a Catholic priest of repeatedly groping a teenager while the cleric led a church in Agawam a little more than a decade ago.

Before he left the priesthood, before he pleaded guilty to possessing a forged passport and before he was reassigned to churches in the Miami area, Tomasz Parzynski ran St. John the Evangelist Church between 2013 and 2015.

His departure from the Agawam church prompted hundreds of parishioners to lobby the bishop at the time to reconsider the reassignment.

“Strange” was Parzynski’s response when hearing about the civil lawsuit’s allegations from a reporter. “I have no idea about that. You’re the first person telling me these things.”

The lawsuit accuses Parzynski of repeatedly groping the buttocks and genitals of a boy while they…

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The Lagos pastor allegedly began defiling the petitioner’s eldest daughter when she was 13 years old.

The police command in Lagos has detained a pastor for defiling two daughters of a church member in the Isolo area.

The suspect, who is the general overseer and founder of the church, was apprehended following a petition dated July 28 by the father of the victims.

Following the petition, the police commissioner, Fatai Tijani, directed the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Yaba, to conduct a thorough investigation into the case.

A police source said on Wednesday that the case was reported through a petition dated July 28 by the victims’ father, an adherent of the church, against the suspect.

The source said the suspect allegedly began defiling the petitioner’s eldest daughter when she was 13 years old.

“The pastor allegedly began having sexual intercourse with her at the church when she was 13…

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The justices ruled the pastor’s recorded statements to another pastor are not considered a confession that’s protected under Arizona law.

Recorded statements of a Phoenix pastor admitting to kissing and touching a child can be used as evidence in the pastor’s criminal case, the Arizona Supreme Court has ruled.

On Wednesday, the high court released its decision regarding a case involving Mario Rodriguez-Ramirez, who was arrested in 2021 for allegedly abusing a child.

Before his arrest, Rodriguez-Ramirez allegedly told another pastor he had secretly watched a child shower, as well as hugged, touched and kissed the girl. The other pastor recorded the conversation without Rodriguez-Ramirez’s knowledge or consent.

The other pastor shared the recording with the child’s family and the family subsequently contacted law enforcement, court records show

The defendant attempted to have the recording not used in court, claiming the conversation was protected under Arizona law because it was…

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A Baltimore deacon charged with sexually soliciting a minor was discovered in a partnership between local sheriffs and a streaming predator investigation television program.

“We heard that there are rumors that Chris Hansen of ‘Takedown’ was back in Harford County,” Harford County, Maryland, Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler wrote in an Aug. 7 Facebook post.

“Well, the rumors are true.”

“In partnership with Chris Hansen’s team, we just completed a week of filming here, and what our joint operation uncovered should concern every parent in our community. Throughout this effort, investigators encountered multiple individuals from within Harford County attempting to communicate with who they believed were children.”

Among those arrested, Gahler wrote, was Kenneth Goedeke, “who was taken into custody after engaging with an undercover deputy posing online as a 15-year-old boy. This case highlights exactly why these operations matter. Individuals continue attempting to approach children, and our investigators are confronting them…

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Deal resolves lawsuit stemming from allegations of molestation by school janitor decades earlier.

For the second time in as many months, Jesuit High School has agreed to pay an out-of-court settlement to resolve a lawsuit claiming child molestation decades earlier by a janitor at the Mid-City school. 

The plaintiff and Jesuit struck the agreement ahead of a late September trial date in Civil District Court, according to a July 27 court filing reviewed by The Guardian. 

That pact came after Jesuit and another plaintiff alleging child molestation by the same school janitor — as well as one of his custodian colleagues — served notice in court on June 4 that they had agreed to an out-of-court settlement. 

In June, an attorney for both of those plaintiffs, Richard Trahant, would not deny that the settlement in that case was worth more than a $2.4 million…

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The charge filed against Reverend Ranjan D’Sa have reportedly been withdrawn.

This case stemmed from an alleged incident between the accused and a victim inside the Oakville church.

D’Sa has been a member of the clergy since 2010 and has been employed at St. Dominic’s Roman Catholic Church in Oakville since 2016.

In a statement, the Diocese of Hamilton said he maintains his innocence, and that “he is a priest in good standing with the faculties necessary to continue to exercise his priestly ministry.” It’s also noted that he was recently named Dean of Halton.

ORIGINAL (Published on Tuesday, March 24th at 12:46 p.m.)

A Catholic priest in Oakville has been charged with sexual assault following a police investigation.

The Halton Regional Police Service (HRPS) says the investigation began in early February after receiving an allegation involving a woman who was volunteering at a church in Oakville. Investigators allege the…

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Reverend Jeffrey Nowak from New York was arrested and charged in connection with the alleged possession of child pornography last month.

A tip-off from Police Scotland helped the FBI reopen an investigation into a priest arrested over alleged child pornography offences.

Reverend Jeffrey Nowak from Lackawanna, New York, was arrested and charged in connection with the alleged receipt and possession of child pornography on July 8.

The 46-year-old, who was a priest in the Diocese of Buffalo, is facing a minimum penalty of five years in prison and a maximum of 20 years.

According to the criminal complaint, in August 2019, he was placed on administrative leave as an investigation was conducted following allegations of inappropriate contact with children and harassment of a seminarian.

In December 2019, an email address linked to Nowak was identified as an address that accessed a New Zealand cloud-based digital storage and file-hosting website/application, which…

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INFORMATION given to the FBI by police in Scotland has led to the high-profile arrest of an American priest on child sex abuse charges.

Father Jeffrey Nowak is facing up to 20 years in prison over his alleged involvement in an online group of paedophiles.

The US Department of Justice said the FBI started investigating the clergyman, of Lackawanna, New York, after they were given a tip-off by officers in Scotland.

They said “law enforcement in Scotland” were probing a group on the Telegram app whose members participated in group Zoom calls during which members were observed viewing and sharing indecent images of children.

Investigators linked one of the participants to the username PigBoy666, which was later identified as Nowak.

Last month the FBI raided Nowak’s home, during which investigators seized multiple electronic devices, including a cell phone, laptop, iPad, a USB storage device, and suspected narcotics.

An initial review of the electronics, including the…

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Accusations against the Edinburg pastor charged with indecency with a child late last month include instances of him kissing, hugging, touching the victim inappropriately and removing her clothing.

McAllen resident Jorge Ivan Gonzalez Martinez, who works at Poder Y Gloria Church in Edinburg, is charged with three counts of indecency with a child and one count of indecency with a child exposes.

The investigation began when the victim made an outcry to her dad on July 19, according to a probable cause affidavit.

The victim told police that she had been touched inappropriately on multiple occasions at their church located at 4801 S. Business Highway 281 between March and April 2025.

At 8:30 a.m. on July 24, an Edinburg detective attended a Children’s Advocacy Center interview with the victim who said the abuse began when Gonzalez gave her hugs that “became tighter” over time which included “body contact.”

“(The victim)…

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A Lithuanian priest whose criminal case has been referred to court is accused of committing sexual offenses against minors over a 23-year period, with 11 people recognised as victims, prosecutors said Tuesday.

The Vilnius Regional Prosecutor’s Office said the priest faces charges related to 34 intentional offenses, including crimes against sexual self-determination and integrity, offenses against children and crimes against public morality.

“The data in the case indicate that these crimes were committed, as stated in the indictment, from 2002 until 2025 – 23 years,” said Justas Laucius, chief prosecutor of the Vilnius Regional Prosecutor’s Office.

According to prosecutors, the priest is accused of 13 incidents involving providing alcohol to a child or children, nine incidents involving the exploitation of children for pornography, four cases of sexually abusing people under 16, and three cases of satisfying sexual desires for payment while violating a minor’s sexual freedom.

He is also accused…

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Friendswood police officers arrested 32-year-old Lewis Stott around 6:16 p.m. on Friday, taking him into custody on a Harris County warrant tied to an ongoing investigation into sexual abuse allegations spanning 2020 to 2026. Stott, who lives in Seabrook, worked at The Galloway School, a small private campus in Friendswood, where he held roles as a PE teacher, second-grade teacher, substitute teacher, and soccer club coach, according to Friendswood police.

Stott was booked into the Harris County Jail on a charge of continuous sexual abuse of a child less than 14 years of age, per police records cited by FOX 26 Houston. Early reporting on his custody status diverged: FOX 26 reported his bond was set at $100,000, while local outlet KPRC 2 reported, per Click2Houston, that he was being held with no bond. The discrepancy has not been independently resolved.

Friendswood police say…

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An 11-year-old child who had been living at a church in Cheonan, South Chungcheong, died after signs of suspected abuse were found, and it was confirmed that reports of suspected abuse of the child continued up until just before the death. Police arrested the church pastor on suspicion of child abuse resulting in death and are investigating the exact circumstances.

The South Chungcheong Provincial Police Agency said on the 10th it arrested Pastor A, in his 60s, from a church in Cheonan on suspicion of causing a death by neglecting a child (child abuse resulting in death). A is suspected of abusing or neglecting B, an 11-year-old boy, while having him live at the church for several years recently.

At about 8:49 p.m. on the 5th, B was taken to a hospital by a 119 ambulance crew dispatched after a report from a church official. At the time, B showed…

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The trial of former Broome Bishop Christopher Saunders is continuing in the Western Australian District Court, with the court hearing allegations concerning his relationship with a teenage boy.

Saunders, the former Catholic Bishop of Broome, is defending allegations that he repeatedly sexually abused the teenager. The prosecution case is examining the relationship between Saunders and the young person and the circumstances surrounding the alleged conduct.

The latest proceedings have focused on allegations that Saunders used his position of authority and influence to develop a relationship with the teenager. The prosecution has alleged that his status within the community gave him significant power and influence over the young person.

The court is considering evidence as part of a lengthy legal process. Saunders has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is defending the allegations against him.

The case has attracted significant attention in Broome and across Western Australia because Saunders was…

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Apollo Quiboloy fled US in 2021 to avoid arrest after a grand jury charged him with sexual abuse, trafficking and fraud

The Philippine government is reviewing a request for the extradition of Apollo Quiboloy, a controversial pastor and founder of a religious sect accused of a series of crimes including sexual abuse, trafficking and fraud, says a state official.

In a televised briefing on Aug. 10, Claire Castro, a press officer of Malacañáng Palace, the president’s official residence and workplace, said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. wants the request for the extradition of Quiboloy to be studied carefully.

The decision will be made in a “couple of weeks,” she said.

The response came four days after the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) formally lodged an extradition request for Quiboloy on Aug. 6, Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Analyn Ratonel said in a media statement.

Quiboloy, 76, known to have close ties…

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A federal bankruptcy judge has rejected competing reorganization plans proposed by the Archdiocese of Baltimore and a committee representing survivors of alleged child sexual abuse, saying both proposals were confusing, lacked important information and contained provisions that could not be confirmed under bankruptcy law.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michelle M. Harner denied approval of the disclosure statements accompanying both plans. The denials were issued without prejudice, allowing both sides to revise and resubmit their proposals.

The Tuesday ruling marks another delay in the archdiocese’s nearly three-year effort to resolve between 900 and 1,000 claims from people who say they were sexually abused as children by clergy or others connected to the Catholic Church. It also throws into doubt a September confirmation hearing that had been expected to determine whether creditors could vote on a final settlement plan.

The archdiocese did not immediately respond Friday to a request for comment.

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The Harrisville Central School District has been ordered to pay $3.5 million to a former student who claimed he was sexually abused by a third-grade teacher beginning in 1981.

The order follows a jury trial in state Supreme Court last month.

Abuse claims

The plaintiff, identified as E.L. in court documents, was 9 years old when he said the sexual assaults began.

Court papers identified his third-grade teacher, Bette Shampine, as “a serial sexual predator who sexually assaulted and abused plaintiff and many other students” while employed by the district.

According to the lawsuit filed in 2021, E.L. reported the abuse to his parents, who notified the school’s principal, Edward Shafer.

The suit said Shafer “called E.L. into his office and threatened to hold back plaintiff for an additional year of third grade if plaintiff continued to complain about Shampine.”

District’s alleged inaction

E.L. claimed the school district took no…

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Committee Files Suit After Diocese Refused to Pursue Claims That Could Recover Hundreds of Millions for Survivors

The Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors (the “Committee”) in the chapter 11 case of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington, Vermont, Case No. 24-10205 (Bankr. D. Vt.), has been granted standing by the District of Vermont U.S. Bankruptcy Court to pursue claims on behalf of the Diocese and its estate, claims the Diocese itself refused to bring. As the debtor, the Diocese is responsible for maximizing funds available to pay its creditors, but here it refused to initiate actions to recover funds from its parishes and schools. The Court, therefore, gave the Committee the authority to pursue such actions. Acting on that authority, the Committee has filed an adversary complaint against the Diocese, Bishop John J. McDermott, and dozens of parishes and schools across Vermont. The Committee is represented by Pachulski Stang Ziehl…

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“Following a thorough, child-sensitive investigation, it is alleged that during the 2025-2026 school year, Garcia inappropriately touched five students on multiple occasions,” the state’s attorney’s office said in a statement.
When several students came forward with allegations of sexual abuse against a teacher at a West Chicago elementary school, the administration responded swiftly.

West Chicago Elementary School District 33 said staff took “immediate action” from “the moment concerns were reported” about third grade teacher Mario Garcia and removed him from contact with students, notified law enforcement and Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, and subsequently terminated his employment.

Garcia, a 54-year-old man from Aurora, is facing two counts of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child, five counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse and four counts of aggravated battery, the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office announced on Friday.

Judge Joshua Dieden ordered the former third grade teacher to be detained pre-trial…

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Ahead of a papal visit to France, the Vatican announced that Pope Leo XIV will ‘meet privately with individuals who have been victims of abuse.’ The pontiff promised the Catholic Church would make ‘additional efforts’ to address this issue.

Pope Leo XIV will meet victims of clerical sexual abuse during an official visit to France in September, the Vatican said on Friday, August 7, as it released the itinerary for the trip.

The Holy See did not immediately provide further details about the private meeting, which comes as the pontiff promised to further efforts to reform the Catholic Church in the wake of the global sexual abuse scandal.

“During his upcoming Apostolic Journey to France, Pope Leo XIV will meet privately with individuals who have been victims of abuse within the Church,” the Vatican said. “The victims themselves will be involved in preparing this meeting.”

Around 330,000 French clerical abuse…

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After a two-day trial, a Marion County judge found Christopher Seibert not guilty on all five counts. Seibert was formerly vice principal at Regis St. Mary.

A former Stayton vice principal accused last year of sexually abusing a student has been acquitted of all charges following a bench trial before a Marion County judge.

Police arrested Christopher Seibert in July 2025 after a grand jury indicted him on four counts of first-degree sex abuse and one count of second-degree unlawful sexual penetration.

According to the charging documents, a student under the age of 14 accused Seibert of sex abuse alleged to have occurred between 2022 and 2023, when he was a vice principal at Regis St. Mary Catholic School in Stayton. At the time of the report, Seibert was working at St. Joseph Catholic School in Salem.

Seibert chose to waive his right to a jury trial, preferring…

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[See also the judge’s decision.]

Parishes are often shielded from litigation during federal bankruptcy proceedings, but Judge Heather Cooper said they potentially constitute the “largest assets” in the Burlington Diocese.

Parishes in the Diocese of Burlington, Vermont, are “not separate legal entities” from the diocese itself and may be included in bankruptcy proceedings related to Church abuse cases, a federal court ruled this week.

Judge Heather Cooper said in a July 28 decision in U.S. Bankruptcy Court that a committee of abuse victims could seek compensation from the reportedly “hundreds of millions of dollars” tied up in diocesan parishes and other assets.

The diocese had argued in part that opening those assets to legal proceedings would require “substantial” litigation “against over 64 defendants” linked to the diocese, though Cooper said that the federal bankruptcy process helps “streamline” such legal disputes.

Attorneys for the diocese also argued that the parishes…

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On Aug. 9, 1991, two young Polish missionaries were killed by Peru’s Maoist Shining Path guerrillas after refusing to abandon the people they served.

Thirty-five years after Conventual Franciscan Frs. Michal Tomaszek and Zbigniew Strzalkowski were martyred, their legacy endures as a reminder that the Gospel is lived not through privilege, but through closeness to the people entrusted to the church’s care.

For Fr. Jaroslaw Wysoczanski, the only surviving member of the three-man Polish Franciscan team that established the mission in Peru’s western coastal Diocese of Chimbote, the anniversary of their death is not primarily about coming back to the day his friends perished, but rather to why they chose to remain in Peru.

“A good shepherd does not abandon his flock when danger comes,” Wysoczanski, who now ministers to migrants and refugees in El Paso, Texas, told OSV News.

Pope Leo XIV, who spent more than two decades as…

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A judge has permitted abuse survivors to pursue the inclusion of Vermont’s Catholic parishes and schools in settling claims against the Diocese of Burlington, which has been in bankruptcy proceedings since September 2024.

However, several of the parishes had earlier challenged that effort in a federal district court, saying that imposing such liability on parishes, rather than the “alleged offending priests,” is unconstitutional. 

The survivors’ committee is now seeking to have the bankruptcy court enforce an automatic stay that was previously issued by the state superior court on multiple suits brought by survivors against individual parishes. The committee is also asking the court to have the parishes’ challenge declared a violation of both the stay and the bankruptcy code.

The case highlights the ongoing issue of determining to what extent parishes, schools and affiliated Catholic entities may be held financially liable in settling abuse claims against dioceses.

Litigation to focus on…

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Two weeks after the Vatican said its canonical criminal trial of Fr. Marko Rupnik was ongoing, OSV News has learned that 22 previously undisclosed letters from women who belonged to the Slovenian Loyola Community and described alleged abuse by the famed mosaic artist are part of the records of alleged abuse.

The letters, written in 2000 at the request of the community’s superior, Sr. Ivanka Hosta, and addressed directly to Rupnik, are held in the archives of the Loyola Community, which are now in the custody of the Archdiocese of Ljubljana, Slovenia, according to people familiar with the case. In the letters, 22 women described alleged spiritual, psychological and sexual abuse by Rupnik while he was their spiritual director.

On Dec. 15, 2023, the Archdiocese of Ljubljana announced that the Vatican had ordered the Sisters of the Community of Loyola to be dissolved within one year, following a decree issued…

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Jesuit high school deal resolves lawsuit stemming from allegations of molestation by school janitor decades prior

For the second time in as many months, a prominent Catholic high school in New Orleans recently agreed to pay an out-of-court settlement to resolve a lawsuit claiming child molestation decades earlier by a janitor at the institution.

Both the plaintiff and Jesuit high school struck the agreement ahead of a late September trial date in the city’s civil district courthouse, according to 27 July legal filings reviewed by the Guardian.

That pact came after Jesuit and another plaintiff alleging child molestation by the same school janitor – as well as one of his custodian colleagues – served notice in court on 4 June that they had agreed to an out-of-court settlement.

An attorney for both of those plaintiffs, Richard Trahant, in June would not deny that the settlement in that case was worth more than…

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Every week, Bill Guelker, 78, travels 30 miles each way to attend an older Latin Mass celebrated in the woods by a retired priest.

Before Traditionis Custodes, the 2021 guidance from Pope Francis that restricted the older liturgy, Guelker was attending Little Flower parish in St. Louis, Missouri, but then that Mass was canceled, he said.

For Guelker, staying put was not an option after Little Flower switched to the more contemporary English-language liturgy, approved in the wake of the 1960s Second Vatican Council, which aimed to modernize the church.

“I accept that it’s a valid Mass, but it’s a pathetic Mass, said Guelker, who said he attends the older Latin Mass not because of nostalgia, but because the text is “much better and much more helpful in understanding the sacraments.”

Guelker is one of over a million U.S. Catholics who attend the older…

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The bishop of Maine says the Catholic diocese has arrived at “financial resolutions” with a number of clergy sexual-abuse victims.“

Even though pending cases that were decades old no longer had legal standing based on the ruling, the diocese recognizes that the harm caused by sexual abuse is not erased with time and still desired to respond with compassion,” Bishop James Ruggieri said in a statement.

Ruggieri said the payments are *intended to acknowledge, in a tangible way, consistent with our resources and obligations, the seriousness of what has been reported and the lasting impact of abuse.”

Paul Kendrick of Freeport, a spokesman for clergy sexual-abuse victims, called the bishop’s announcement “a public relations ploy designed to protect the identities of priest abusers, keep secret evidence of the church’s failure to protect children and low ball financial compensation for the lifelong harms and injuries inflicted upon victims.”

The Portland-based diocese…

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The Department of Justice (DOJ) has begun evaluating the United States’ formal request to extradite Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) founder Apollo Quiboloy, marking the first step in a legal process that could eventually lead to his surrender to US authorities.

Justice Undersecretary Raul Vasquez said the request, transmitted through the US Embassy and accepted by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), is now under review by the DOJ’s Office of the State Counsel, the agency tasked with handling extradition proceedings.

US asks Philippines to extradite Quiboloy

“Aaralin nang matindi ng Department of Justice through the Office of State Counsel para tingnan kung ito ay naaayon sa ating extradition law at kung iyan ay consistent sa RP-US Extradition Treaty,” Vasquez said in a DZMM interview on Saturday, August 8.

“Napaka voluminous kasi ng mga documents na pinadala ng US through the US Embassy na pinadaan nila earlier sa Department…

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Arizona justices unanimously ruled on Thursday (July 30) that trial courts couldn’t interfere in church leaders’ decision to report sexual abuse cases disclosed in confession, according to their own interpretation of religious doctrine.

The Arizona State Supreme Court ruled that church leaders do not need to report cases of sexual abuse, disclosed during confessions, to authorities, in a lawsuit brought against a man who confessed to Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints bishops to sexually abusing his daughter. 

Arizona justices unanimously ruled on Thursday (July 30) that trial courts couldn’t interfere in church leaders’ decision to report sexual abuse cases disclosed in confession, according to their own interpretation of religious doctrine.

“We hold that the First Amendment generally prohibits fact finders from inquiring into a clergy member’s application of his particular religious doctrine — absent fraud or collusion for secular purposes — in determining whether reporting should be withheld…

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Decades of Vermont bishops, not just the current ones, bear responsibility for hiding clergy abuse.

Letters to the editor are brief reader responses to stories and opinion pieces published by VTDigger. Letters give voice to community members and do not represent VTDigger’s views. To submit a letter, follow the instructions here

Dear Editor,

I’m writing to thank VTDigger reporter Kevin O’Connor for shining a light on corruption in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington in its effort to prevent justice for survivors of clergy sexual abuse in Vermont. There is plenty of shame to go around.

Let’s start with Vermont’s former bishop, Christopher Coyne, and his once second-in-command, John McDermott. According to a whistleblower, a woman who applied for the position of chief financial officer of the diocese, Coyne and McDermott moved the diocese’s money so they could claim that the diocese was broke when it came time to pay the…

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A former Cheektowaga priest who was removed from the clergy because of accusations that he sexually abused children has been employed to work with seniors at a Buffalo nonprofit for the last 13 years.

David Bialkowski, the former head of St. John Gualbert Catholic Church in Cheektowaga, has been working as a Senior Service Case Manager at the Lt. Col. Matt Urban Human Service Center since 2013.

Bialkowski, who is named on the Diocese of Buffalo’s list of clergy with substantiated claims of sexual abuse and is accused in two Child Victims Act lawsuits, was removed from his parish in 2011 and kicked off the diocese’s payroll in 2020, before being removed from the clergy altogether by the Vatican at some point between 2020 and 2025 – a process known as laicization or defrocking.

In a 2020 interview with the Buffalo News, Bialkowski denied that he sexually abused any child or…

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Pope Leo XIV will meet with victims of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church during his planned trip to France from September 25 to 28, the Vatican said Friday. The Holy See did not immediately provide details about the meeting, which comes after the pontiff vowed to further efforts within the Church to address its sex abuse scandals.

Pope Leo XIV will meet with survivors of clergy abuse during a four-day trip to France next month that will include a visit to UNESCO headquarters, a meeting with French bishops in Lourdes and an interreligious meeting in the border city of Metz, the Vatican announced on Friday.

The Vatican issued a brief separate statement highlighting the meeting with several abuse survivors and noting that the victims themselves will be involved in preparations for the meeting. The timing and location will be provided at a later date. 

Leo met with six abuse survivors during his recent…

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Pope Leo XIV will make a four-day apostolic journey to France Sept. 25-28, with a program that stretches from the Élysée Palace and UNESCO in Paris to the Marian shrine of Lourdes and a final stop in Metz, and it will include a private meeting with victims of abuse in the Church, the Vatican has confirmed.

The Holy See Press Office released the detailed schedule Aug. 7, along with a statement to journalists saying, “During his upcoming Apostolic Journey to France, Pope Leo XIV will meet privately with several victims of abuse in the Church. The victims themselves will be involved in preparing for this event. Further details may be provided later.”

The motto of the trip, “That the world may have life,” can be clearly read through the prism of a recent vote made by French lawmakers to legalize “assisted dying,” a move that French bishops called a “radical choice.”

Paris:…

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