ABUSE TRACKER

[See also the original article in Romanian.]

Catholic priest Augustin Benchea, sentenced in 2024 to four years in prison for continuous sexual assault on a minor – a case revealed exclusively by PressOne – could be released from prison after the Vaslui Court ordered his conditional release today, January 27. However, the decision is not final and can be appealed within three days of notification. 

Beyond the court’s decision, however, an essential question remains: what will happen to priest Augustin Benchea after he leaves prison and what will be his status within the Catholic Church?

PressOne requested clarification regarding its situation from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Iași.

The spokesperson for the Episcopate, priest Adrian Blăjuță , exclusively told PressOne that representatives of the institution have sent the Vatican an official request to receive ” clear instructions ” regarding Benchea’s status and the steps to be taken upon his release.

…

View Cache

When Josh Shapiro ran for governor in 2022, he touted his work as Pennsylvania attorney general to expose a systematic cover-up by the Catholic Church to protect priests who abused children.

“I sought justice for victims of abuse and put predator priests behind bars,” Shapiro said on social media during his campaign. “As Governor, I’ll continue fighting for accountability for victims of sexual abuse.”

Four years later, former lawmakers who are also survivors of child sexual abuse sayShapiro hasn’t done enough to live up to that promise.

Bill Wachob, a former Democratic state representative for Clearfield and Elk Counties who says he was abused as a preteen, penned an open letter accusing Shapiro of letting the issue “languish.”

“Here was a guy that made this such a pivotal issue, now in charge of the state,” Wachob told Spotlight PA. “You would think that the governor who exerted…

View Cache

Key Points

• Former Green Bay Bishop Robert Banks died at the age of 97 after serving as a priest for 73 years.

• Banks served as the 10th bishop of the Diocese of Green Bay from 1990 until his retirement in 2003.

• Banks later faced criticism for his role in reassigning priests accused of abuse while he was vicar general in Boston.

Former Green Bay Bishop Robert Banks died Jan. 25 at the age of 97. Banks was the bishop of Green Bay for 13 years since 1990.

The Catholic Diocese of Green Bay announced that Banks died about 8 a.m. Jan. 25 at St. Paul Elder in Kaukauna, where he lived. He had been a priest for 73 years and served as a bishop for 40 years in Green Bay and the Archdiocese of Boston.

The diocese said Banks was “an outstanding shepherd of the flock entrusted to…

View Cache

Warning: This story contains disturbing content.

A self-proclaimed preacher in Kenya linked to an infamous starvation cult that killed more than 400 people will be charged over a further 52 deaths at another village, prosecutors said Monday.

In a case that made global headlines when it came to light in 2023, hundreds of people died in what became known as the “Shakahola Forest Massacre”, one of the world’s worst cult-related tragedies, discovered just inland from the Kenyan beach resort of Malindi.

Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Mackenzie has pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of manslaughter at his trial in Mombasa and has remained in custody.

But last year, Kenya was shocked by the discovery of yet more bodies in the remote village of Binzaro, around 30 kilometres (20 miles) from Shakahola along the Indian Ocean coast.

It appeared to show that the same cult had continued to operate even after the…

View Cache

In a statement this week, Bethel senior leaders Bill Johnson and Kris Vallotton acknowledged they didn’t do enough when one or more alleged victims confided in them.

Editor’s Note: Please be aware that this story contains allegations related to sexual misconduct. Read with care. If you have experienced harm, help is available. 

Bethel’s lead pastor Dan Farrelly’s voice broke as he greeted his congregation on Sunday morning. 

“The truth is we did not properly and fully discipline, and bring to closure, and bring out the truth of a very important situation involving a man named Shawn Bolz,” Farrelly told parishioners, during the January 25 service at Bethel’s campus in north Redding.

The same day, Bethel leadership also released a 2,700-word open letter regarding the church’s relationship with Bolz, who Bethel regularly platformed up until 2019. That’s when Bethel leaders say they first became aware of sexual misconduct allegations against Bolz as well as allegations…

View Cache

Abuse victims began to deliver impact statements in the bankruptcy case against the Diocese of Buffalo on Tuesday.

It’s the first of four sessions where 80 people will speak about the sexual abuse they say they experienced from clergy members.

The courtroom was filled with both tears and anger Tuesday as men and women approached the stand to speak about the sexual abuse they say they experienced in non-testimonial statements. These statements are not intended to be used as evidence in a legal case, but rather to describe and resolve an immediate crisis and prevent further harm. 

Some statements went into graphic detail about forms of abuse that the victims experienced as children by both priests and nuns belonging to the diocese.

Michael Whalen, who first came out about the abuse he endured back in 2018, which then led to an investigation that uncovered more than 900 people with similar…

View Cache

Abuse survivors are sharing their stories of sexual abuse by clergy members of the Diocese of Buffalo.

The statements are part of an ongoing Chapter 11 bankruptcy court case. Tuesday was the first of four scheduled sessions where survivors could share nontestimonial statements, meaning they weren’t be questioned by any attorneys.

It was an important opportunity being able to recount the abuse by clergy members over the years, and making those offenses publicly known, abuse survivor Michael Whalen said.

“That’s what we needed to let the world know, is that these were crimes against children, and they went unpunished. You know, my abuser admitted to (abusing) a couple of dozen boys, and he openly admitted and he was able to walk free.”

This was the first time abuse survivors in Buffalo were given the time to make their own stories known in front of a judge and in a courtroom.

…

View Cache

Survivors described decades of abuse, coverups, and lasting trauma while urging a federal judge to end the bankruptcy case, which is approaching its sixth year.

Rage. Humiliation. Guilt. Distrust.

These were among the words spoken Tuesday in U.S. District Court by survivors of clergy sexual abuse as they testified in the Diocese of Buffalo’s bankruptcy case.

Eleven survivors, some now in their 60s, delivered raw, sometimes graphic accounts of sexual abuse by priests and nuns of the Catholic Church. Dozens more are expected to testify through the week.

The abuse spans decades. More than 900 survivors filed claims against the Diocese and their abusers. A Vatican investigation previously found that former bishops shielded abusive priests and moved them from parish to parish.

Among those who testified was Paul Barr, an attorney who represents numerous survivors and who was abused in the early 1980s by the Rev. Michael Freeman.

“What we…

View Cache

Bethel Church leaders apologized Sunday for mishandling allegations that prophetic minister Shawn Bolz sexually harassed his staff and used social media to fabricate charismatic “words of knowledge.”

“We did not tell the truth enough, early enough, long enough, or loud enough,” top leaders at the Redding, California, megachurch said in a statement posted online on Jan. 25.

Pastors Bill Johnson, Kris Vallotton and Dann Farrelly dedicated about half of each of the church’s three services to apologies and explanations. They said they tried to deal with the concerns about Bolz privately in 2019 but didn’t think it was their responsibility to say anything publicly. They did not acknowledge any concerns about him or his ministry until allegations started to come out online in early 2025.

The ministers reconsidered their silence amid the furor following charismatic Bible teacher Mike Winger’s 5-hour 50-minute YouTube video, released Jan. 17, detailing…

View Cache

Two more states have joined a national movement to “end silence and expose abusers” wishing to silence their victims. State legislators in Oklahoma have filed a bill to ban agreements used to cover up sexual abuse, while the Georgia governor has stated a similar bill will be introduced soon. 

Both proposed state laws, which will be known as Trey’s Law, are designed to prohibit non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) in cases of child sexual abuse.

Also, on Friday, Alabama legislators, who had previously filed a version of Trey’s Law, voted to unanimously approve bills SB 30 and HB 93 through both chambers.

“We want to continue to give victims of sexual abuse a voice,” said State Rep. Susan DuBose (R–District 45) on the House floor. “Prohibiting these nondisclosure agreements is essential.”

However, because Alabama’s version of Trey’s Law does not apply retroactively, it…

View Cache

A bill that would make clergy mandatory reporters of child abuse is entering its fourth year in the Kansas Legislature after failing to pass the House three years in a row.

The legislation seeks to require ordained ministers or clergy to report suspected child abuse to authorities. Representative Tobias Schlingensiepen introduced the bill in 2023 following conversations with abuse survivors.

Joe Cheray, who says she was sexually abused by her grandfather between 1982 and 1987, testified in support of the bill on Monday before the House Judiciary Committee. Cheray was raised in the Catholic Church and told her priest about the abuse, but he was not a mandated reporter, so no one was told.

The abuse still affects Cheray today. She said she has PTSD, doesn’t trust many people and had a severe fear of public speaking until recently.

“I trusted religion completely,” Cheray said.

Under the proposed legislation, if…

View Cache

An usher at a Catholic church in Fredericksburg has been arrested and charged in connection with child sexual abuse material, according to a statement from the church.

The individual volunteered at St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception as an usher before his arrest. The church is part of the Catholic Diocese of Arlington, which said they were not aware of any activity that took place on parish grounds.

“We encourage anyone who may know of any abuse or misconduct on the part of any cleric, employee, or volunteer of the diocese to immediately notify civil authorities as well as to reach out to the diocesan Victim Assistance Coordinator at (703) 841-2530,” the church’s statement reads.

DC News Now has reached out to the Fredericksburg Police Department and is working to gather more details.

This is a developing story.

View Cache

Evergreen Park IL – School parents are reacting, after a substitute teacher that has worked at multiple schools within the Chicago Archdiocese has been fired.

It was revealed that he has been previously accused of child molestation.

The archdiocese is defending itself, saying he had passed background checks despite those allegations.

Last Wednesday, Evergreen Park police say parents brought forward disturbing information about a substitute teacher at Queen of Martyrs School.

Police say the parents had learned the teacher has a history of allegations of child sexual abuse, and one family reported a possible incident involving their child while he was at school.

“It’s disturbing. There’s, there’s no other words to say it. Besides, it’s disturbing,” one parent said.

The parent has asked to remain unnamed. He works at ABC7 Chicago.

He’s concerned with the fact that a man with a history of troubling allegations levied against him would be…

View Cache

A group of Catholic parishioners from southern Maine say they have been prevented a second time from meeting with a Falmouth priest to discuss his qualifications.

Paul Kendrick of Freeport and Michael Sweatt of North Yarmouth, co-founders of Voice of the Faithful in Maine, said Rev. Steven Cartwright has now cancelled twice on them.

As baptized Catholics they said they can’t fathom why their clerical leader won’t meet with them.

Cartright has now reportedly put off two proposed meetings with the group.

Though Kendrick previously said he saw no reason to explain to Cartwright what its representatives want to talk to him about, he and Sweatt have since done so.

“We hope to determine if you, in your role as a Catholic priest and pastor, are qualified to be a vibrant and effective spiritual director,” they wrote him.

“It’s just about two guys wanting to meet with their pastor,” Kendrick told…

View Cache

The Archdiocese of Chicago has sent a letter to Catholic school families alerting them to the termination of a teacher with a history of child molestation allegations in Illinois and other states.

According to the letter, the male teacher was employed as a substitute at Queen of Martyrs Catholic School in Evergreen Park earlier this month.

The letter states the terminated teacher also worked in at least three other South Side and south suburban Catholic schools over the past 16 months.

The Archdiocese of Chicago says as of now, none of the allegations took place at any Chicago-area schools.

“We have learned, however, that one family in the south suburbs filed a complaint… with their local police for conduct that occurred while he was tutoring in their home,” the letter from the archdiocese read in part.

The Archdiocese of Chicago says they’re cooperating with DCFS and two suburban police departments…

View Cache

The Brief

• The Archdiocese of Chicago has restored Father Ronald Kondziolka to ministry after an independent review found no reasonable cause to support a decades-old abuse allegation.
• Kondziolka had stepped away from ministry while investigators reviewed the claim, which he denied.
• Church officials said the priest is in good standing and emphasized both child safety and due process.

The Archdiocese of Chicago has restored a priest to ministry after an independent review determined there was no reasonable cause to support a decades-old allegation of sexual abuse of a minor.

What we know

Archbishop Blase Cupich announced that Father Ronald Kondziolka has been returned to ministry following an investigation into an allegation dating back more than 40 years. Kondziolka had been directed to step away from ministry last August while civil authorities and the archdiocese’s Independent Review Board reviewed the claim.

In a statement, the archbishop said the review board…

View Cache

Six weeks ago, attorneys for the Archdiocese of New Orleans and clergy sex abuse survivors agreed to a settlement in the long-running bankruptcy of the local Roman Catholic church that will pay survivors more than $230 million.

Thursday, the two sides were back in court arguing over how much the lawyers in the case will get paid.

As of December, legal and professional fees topped $52.7 million, according to bankruptcy court documents filed in late December. That doesn’t include millions more in fee applications that have yet to be filed.

The issue of legal fees has surfaced periodically throughout the long-running case. But U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Meredith Grabill ruled in 2024 that the question of whether certain fees were excessive — and who has legal standing to challenge them — would be settled after the case was resolved, not before.

The court is revisiting the issue now that…

View Cache

France’s Catholic school federation announced Thursday the closure of the establishment, targeted by numerous complaints of violence and rape from former students. Separate authorities denied this just hours later. In practice, the school is likely to come under new supervision.

“Bétharram will close, there is no other option,” Pierre-Vincent Guéret, president of French Catholic school federation FNOGEC, announced in a radio interview on Thursday, January 22. The announcement of the closure of the Notre-Dame-de-Bétharram private school, which was renamed Le Beau Rameau in 2009 and which still counts around 200 middle school students, caused a stir.

The institution, located a few kilometers from Pau in southwest France, has become infamous as a site of abuse, sexual assault and rape of students over several decades. In total, nearly 250 complaints have been filed, half of them relating to sexual abuse. “The name Bétharram must be consigned to the dustbin of history,”…

View Cache

Rite & Reason: No one is Catholic by birth and the notion of ‘Baptismal promises’ is risible

Throughout the world, there continues a long-standing, systemic and overlooked severe restriction on children’s rights with regard to religion. This warrants, but has yet to receive, serious examination. It impacts Ireland in a special way and contemporary circumstances make Ireland an ideal place to conduct that examination.

Let me set the scene with a couple of brief, inter-related stories. They concern the relationship between children’s rights and religion in Ireland, and certain unchallenged aspects of the canon law of Ireland’s major Christian denomination and provider of education, the Latin Catholic Church.

It restricts children’s rights as set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948 and United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in 1989, to which both Ireland and the Holy See…

View Cache

One of the most striking aspects of our therapeutic age is the increasing inability of many to sustain a sane and coherent moral hierarchy. Perhaps this stems from the omnipresence of social media. Everything, everywhere always demands our attention and yet, with nowhere solid to stand, we have no way of judging what is important and what is trivial. Or perhaps it’s because the label of “victim” has become the most coveted title. Now many seek the “prize” without having been subjected to real abuse—abuse that no one would wish upon himself.

A prominent Catholic recently argued in the Irish Times for a new category of victim: those subjected to infant baptism, especially as practiced by the Catholic Church. Former president of Ireland and canon lawyer Mary McAleese declared it to be “a long-standing, systemic and overlooked severe restriction on children’s rights with regard to religion.” Really? At the very…

View Cache

IT is the truth that is spoken quietly but with conviction and clarity by children who are victims of sexual abuse that wins justice for them in courts of law and by which they win their freedom from the domination of their abusers. Their abusers are frequently their biological father, stepfather, live-in partner of their mother, their grandfather, brother, pastor, priest, teacher, neighbor, or online fake boyfriend. Children are not safe in this world from those who are supposed to protect and care for them and give them a bright and happy future.

On Aug. 10, 2022, Mariel (not her real name) was brought to the Preda Foundation’s home for abused girls. Mariel was a victim of multiple acts of sexual abuse perpetrated by her own father over several years. Empowered by the Preda Foundation’s therapeutic programs, she recovered and filed a case against her abusive father. He went into…

View Cache

[See our cached image of this letter here.]

January 24, 2026

The Archdiocese of Chicago distributed the following letters today to the communities of All Souls Parish, Mother of the Americas Parish, Our Lady of the Heights Parish, Our Lady of Unity Parish, St. Anthony of Padua Parish, St. Benedict the African Parish, St. John Neumann Parish, St. Veronica Parish and Franciscan Health Alliance regarding the reinstatement of Father Ronald Kondziolka to ministry.

All Souls Parish (English)
 Mother of the Americas Parish (English, Spanish)
Our Lady of the Heights Parish (English, Spanish)
 Our Lady of Unity Parish (English, Spanish)
 St. Anthony of Padua Parish (English, Spanish)
St. Benedict the African Parish (English)
St. John Neumann Parish ( View Cache

The Rev. Ronald Kondziolka was asked to step back from ministry work in August after the Archdiocese of Chicago received an allegation that he abused a child in the 1990s while working at St. Brendan’s Catholic Church.

A Chicago priest accused of sexually abusing a minor over 40 years ago has been reinstated by the Archdiocese of Chicago.

The Rev. Ronald Kondziolka was asked to step back from ministry work in August after the Archdiocese received an allegation that he abused a child in the 1990s while working at St. Brendan’s Catholic Church in the Englewood neighborhood.

The archdiocese’s Independent Review Board investigated the claim and found no “reasonable cause to believe Father Kondziolka sexually abused the person making the accusation,” Cardinal Blase Cupich wrote in a letter Saturday to parishioners at several churches where Kondziolka worked. The board recommended Kondziolka return to ministry and the file be…

View Cache

Prosecutors in the Swiss city of St Gallen have ended an investigation into five complaints of sexual abuse against the Catholic Church without filing any charges.

The complaints were received after the publication of the abuse report in September 2023.

One of the five complaints was filed by the Diocese of Chur regarding an alleged assault from the 1970s and another from a private individual.

+ What next for Swiss Catholic Church after abuse allegation?

A total of five priests were accused, and ten people were identified as potential victims. The investigations were “time-consuming and complex,” prosecutor spokesperson Leo-Philippe Menzel told Swiss public broadcaster SRF.

The length of time since the alleged assaults further complicated the investigations. The statute of limitations was cited as one of the key reasons that some other cases could not be investigated.

In two cases, the indictment chamber of the canton of St Gallen…

View Cache

A Canton pastor pleaded guilty to a crime involving a 13-year-old girl.

Jesse Santos, pastor of Canton Seventh-Day Adventist Church, was arrested in February 2025 and charged with kidnapping, two counts of gross sexual imposition, and endangering children.

On Thursday, Santos entered a guilty plea to the amended charge of abduction.

He will be sentenced by Ashland County Court of Common Pleas Judge David Stimpert on March 5.

According to the police report, the crime happened at a campsite in the 3000 block of Ashland County Rd. at River Run Campground in Loudonville in September 2025.

View Cache

Living Word Church associate pastor pleads no contest to 11 criminal sexual conduct counts; bond revoked

Former Living Word Church associate pastor Randy Saylor was jailed Thursday after pleading no contest to 11 counts of criminal sexual conduct with two children under 13, facing up to life in prison.

Saylor, 73, of Sanford, is the third Living Word Church elder convicted of CSC. Saylor pleaded no contest to four counts of first-degree CSC and seven counts of second-degree CSC. Four other counts were dismissed.

This was the same plea offer that Saylor rejected last year, said Assistant Midland County Prosecutor Courtney Driscoll. The plea agreement includes a minimum of 10 years in prison and up to life.

Driscoll objected to Saylor pleading no contest instead of guilty, yet Midland County Circuit Court Judge Michael Beale allowed the no contest plea due to potential civil liability. However, at Driscoll’s demand, Saylor gave a…

View Cache

A Louisiana federal court did not allow a Catholic order, the Salesians of Don Bosco, to dismiss a 1970s child sexual abuse involving one of its priests who taught at an Archdiocese of New Orleans high school. The order argues the Archdiocese is an indispensable party to the alleged victim’s suit, though his recovery is limited due to the Archdiocese’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding that ended Dec. 8, 2025 with a $230 million settlement. But dismissal would allow the order to “escape any liability” for child sexual abuse by one its priests.Brief / January 23, 2026

Read the ruling here.

View Cache

(Opinion) Bible teacher and podcaster Mike Winger has released a bombshell, a 5-hour 50-minute video that has sent shock waves through the charismatic movement. Called “The Skeletons in Bethel’s Closet are Now Going to Speak,” it exposes fraudulent prophecies and sexual misconduct by southern California prophetic minister Shawn Bolz.

Winger provides a convincing case that Bolz’s ministry — which was strongly promoted by Bethel Church in Redding, California — was based on data mining Facebook and other public sources. Winger also documented several cases of alleged sexual misconduct by Bolz.

This was known to Bethel in 2020, and steps were taken in private to distance the church from Bolz. But in public, Bethel leaders continued to endorse Bolz and didn’t publicly distance themselves from Bolz until February 2025.

Winger released the video on Jan. 17. A day later at a Sunday service, Bethel pastor Kris…

View Cache

For victims of Child Sexual Abuse (CSA), disclosure is a critical first step in recovery.
Gemara and Katz (2023) note, “early disclosure of CSA is necessary to put an end to the
abuse, prevent repeated victimization, protect other children, provide psychological
intervention to the impacted children and hold the abuser accountable.” However, many
survivors never disclose or do so long after the abuse has occurred.

Münzer et al. (2016) define delayed disclosure as the time between the onset of abuse and
disclosure. While that may appear to be a clear-cut definition, in practice this delay can
range from a few days to decades. In fact, many survivors do not disclose until adulthood.
In a study of adult survivors of CSA, Wager (2015) found that 75% had not disclosed their
abuse during childhood.

CHILD USA has conducted a systematic review of the global literature published since
2015. Overall, seventy-eight articles met inclusion criteria. Analysis identified four
categories of barriers to disclosure.

Internal Barriers…

View Cache

An Oregon woman is suing The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, alleging that a high priest for a ward in the east Las Vegas Valley sexually assaulted her for as many as five years when she was a child.

The complaint, filed Tuesday in federal court in Las Vegas, claims that in 1995 a high priest ordained within the church and responsible for counseling and teaching congregation members had raped the girl when she was 10 through 15. The plaintiff’s name is not disclosed in the suit, and she is referred to as “Jane Doe C.H.” by attorney Margot Cutter.

Cutter said the church had a heightened duty to protect the girl, given the unique trust between religious leaders and congregants. The lawsuit’s claims include negligent supervision and breach of a mandatory duty to report suspected child abuse.

The attorney did not respond to inquiries about whether the…

View Cache

The resignation of an Indonesian bishop has exposed a familiar pattern of secrecy, clericalism and unanswered questions

When announcing his resignation on Jan. 19, Franciscan Bishop Paskalis Bruno Syukur of Bogor addressed a range of accusations levelled against him.

The 62-year-old bishop denied allegations of abuse of authority, embezzlement of Church funds, and condoning cases of clerical sexual abuse — claims he said had driven his decision to step down after 11 years as bishop.

Syukur also described the pressure that led him to decline his appointment as a cardinal by Pope Francis in October 2024. The elevation would have made him the fourth cardinal from Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, and the first to come from the predominantly Catholic island of Flores.

At the time, the Vatican said Syukur declined the red hat because he wished to deepen his service to the Church and the People of God….

View Cache

Covering the Vatican, he had a front-row seat to the waning years of Pope John Paul II’s pontificate and the election of Pope Benedict XVI. 

Soon after John L. Allen Jr. hired me as national correspondent for Crux — the news outlet he left this paper to help launch in 2014 — I was due to travel to Rome on one of the many trips John encouraged me to take there under his watch. 

Even though my beat at the time was the U.S. Catholic Church, John insisted that I would succeed better stateside if I understood how the Vatican worked and got to know the place and its players. And John, who died Jan. 22 at 61, was right.

His death was announced by Crux.

As John and I discussed the plans for that particular visit — it was my second trip over for Crux — John asked…

View Cache

“It’s a little sad, and it ain’t hit me hard yet, but it will,” Daryl Powell said. Powell sued the church, alleging they were aware of decades of child sexual abuse

New York’s Riverside Church settled the first case resulting from a decades-long child sexual-abuse scandal in its basketball program, agreeing to terms Tuesday with former player Daryl Powell before the matter could go to a Manhattan jury.

Powell, the 64-year-old former college star who now works as a deputy sheriff in Virginia, testified to years of abuse by Ernest Lorch, the multimillionaire director and coach of the once-vaunted Riverside program. He testified that Lorch groped his genitals during frequent “jockstrap checks,” smelled his body when he’d come out of the shower, and routinely paddled his bare buttocks.

On Tuesday, Powell smiled broadly and shook the hands of his attorneys, Riverside’s lawyers, and jurors after state Supreme Court Judge Alexander…

View Cache

Numerous lawsuits have now been filed against Riverside Church over sexual abuse allegations involving Ernest Lorch, who led its prestigious basketball team in Harlem.

From the basement of Riverside Church in Harlem, one of the most storied basketball programs in New York took hold, giving teenagers an opportunity to showcase their skills for college recruiters and more.

But buried in the program’s success was a much more sordid history. Its influential head coach and founder, Ernest Lorch, was accused of physically and sexually abusing many of his young players. Nearly all of the men kept their abuse a secret for decades. And the Riverside aides who did speak up about the abuse said church leadership did little to stop it.

On Tuesday, one of Mr. Lorch’s accusers, Daryl Powell, agreed to settle his lawsuit against the church for an undisclosed amount, just as closing arguments were to begin. Mr….

View Cache

Following a Louisiana Supreme Court ruling that pushed back the deadline for claimants of childhood sex abuse to file lawsuits, nearly 30 new suits alleging clergy abuse have been filed against the Diocese of Baton Rouge.

Local ABC affiliate WBRZ reported that the 29 lawsuits claim instances of clergy sex abuse occurring between 1963 and 1993. More than one-third of the new suits have already been privately resolved.

The suits name 20 clergy, many of whom are deceased, WBRZ added. Several appear on the diocese’s list of credibly accused individuals, which was published in 2019, but 12 are not.

Reagan Charleston Thomas, an attorney representing one of the claimants, said clergy could not appear on the credibly accused list for a number of reasons and said her “assertion of a survivor’s story” is not based on that factor, according to WBRZ.

Another attorney, Julien Lamothe, said that he…

View Cache

An associate pastor at Buffalo Grove’s St. Mary Catholic Church has been asked to live away from parish premises.

BUFFALO GROVE, IL — An associate pastor at St. Mary Catholic Church is being accused of sexually abusing a child 60 years ago in India. According to a letter from the Archdiocese of Chicago sent last week and obtained by Patch, Cardinal Blase Cupich has withdrawn Rev. Denis Manuel Carneiro’s faculties to minister and he has been asked to live away from parish premises.

Carneiro has served as an associate pastor at St. Mary, located at 10 N. Buffalo Grove Road, on three occasions — from June 2004 to August 2004, from November 2009 to May 2013 and from June 2013 to the present.

Similar letters, also obtained by Patch, were sent out to the following area parishes where Carneiro had served in the past:https://80e196b81ebe04b2cced9812d9cb1a05.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-45/html/container.html

• Our Lady of the Rosary Parish,…

View Cache

The founder of Rollo Life of Christ Brethren Ministry in Benin, Bishop Gideon Osagie Osazee, has been arrested by the Edo State Government over allegations of sexual abuse involving two biological sisters.

The two sisters told investigators that they were aged 13 and 17 at the time the alleged incidents occurred. In addition, four other girls have reportedly come forward with similar allegations against the cleric, which he has denied.

Officials said Osazee was arrested after several days of surveillance by the state government.

The elder of the two sisters, who said she is now 21, alleged that the incident occurred while she was asleep. She told investigators that she later realised the suspect was her pastor and alleged that she was threatened not to disclose the incident.

The younger sister said she was 13 years old at the time of the alleged abuse.

Osazee denied the allegations, stating that…

View Cache

A former intern at one of the largest megachurches in the United States has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for possessing and distributing child sexual abuse material.

Austin Ryder Sewell, 25, was also given a lifetime term of supervised release, ordered to register as a sex offender and required to pay $15,500 in restitution to victims.

Sewell began working as an operations intern at Life.Church’s Midtown Tulsa campus in January 2025. The church told The Roys Report that it only became aware of the charges after his internship had ended.

Authorities said the investigation began after messaging app Kik sent more than 10 cyber tips to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), reporting several videos depicting the sexual abuse of children.

A Kik user later identified as Sewell was found to have shared the videos through multiple accounts and used chats to discuss his sexual interest in…

View Cache

Some MLK Day Reflections

“True evil lies not in the depraved act of the one, but in the silence of the many.”

Today, I’m contemplating these words, attributed to a Baptist preacher, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

In countless stories of clergy sex abuse, we have seen the tragic truth of King’s words made manifest. Even with childhood histories of having endured horrific depraved acts – of having been molested, raped and sodomized by pastors wielding God as a weapon – many survivors have said that the worst of their experience came when they tried to tell about the abuse within the faith community.

That was when they faced “the silence of the many.”

That was when the relational fabric of community, and often even of family, was torn asunder.

That was when faith itself was deemed a fraud.

Within the Southern Baptist Convention, church after church has stood, not…

View Cache

Ten lawsuits have been filed in Lake Charles’ 14th Judicial District Court against churches and schools in southwest Louisiana since the state’s “lookback window” law went into effect in 2021, allowing survivors of sexual abuse to file decades-old lawsuits.

The recent law change from the Louisiana Legislature opened the floodgates for childhood sexual abuse survivors to file civil suits that otherwise would have been barred through the state’s statute of limitations. Still, in some cases, survivors can no longer pursue criminal charges when the statute of limitations has lapsed or their alleged abuser has died.

The lookback window was initially set to expire in 2024, but state lawmakers extended the deadline to file lawsuits until June 14, 2027.

Not every clergy member named in a lawsuit previously appeared on a list of credibly accused clergy members the Diocese of Lake Charles released in 2019. The clergy members named…

View Cache

Officials want survivors and witnesses to step forward and share information

The Michigan Attorney General’s office has launched an investigation into Indian boarding schools and other institutions to see if crimes were committed in the state.

The office is seeking to identify, document, investigate and prosecute instances where crimes are believed to have occurred at the institutions, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced recently.

To support the effort, investigators are asking survivors, witnesses, and others who may have firsthand knowledge to come forward and share information.

“This investigation seeks to bring truth and accountability to a painful chapter in our state’s history,” Nessel said in a statement. “My office is committed to ensuring that survivors’ voices are heard and that any criminal acts uncovered are thoroughly investigated and, when possible, prosecuted.”

Michigan is home to 12 federally recognized tribes, and eight schools and institutions have been identified as operating in…

View Cache

A former priest, who was accused of sexual abuse by dozens of women in Brazil, was sentenced last week to 24 years and nine months in prison for raping a three-year-old child in 2016.

The court also ruled that Bernardino Batista dos Santos, 78, will have to compensate the victim – who was not identified, given that the case is being handled under seal – at 30,000 Brazilian reais (about US$ 5,580).

The crime occurred during a visit to a country property that was owned by the former priest in the city of Tiros, Minas Gerais State. The girl told her mother what happened and a number of witnesses confirmed that they could hear the victim crying.

Mother and daughter currently live outside Brazil. They were reluctant to file a complaint against the priest, but did so after they were informed of another abuse case involving a young child.

Dos…

View Cache

Sr Ranit Pallassery’s decision to speak as a survivor of sexual abuse confronts the misuse of authority within the Church

In the quiet of a convent, where silence is usually a receptacle for prayer, an asphyxiating silence took root at the Missionaries of Jesus Convent in Kuravilangad in 2014. For Sister Ranit Pallassery, bound by religious vows of obedience, chastity, and poverty, her sanctuary was transformed into a site of violation and dissolved before her.

Early this month, she became the first Indian nun to speak as a survivor of sexual abuse on camera and in print, sharing her agonizing but empowering journey of growth.

“I was overwhelmed by shock, fear, anxiety, confusion and later by anger and disgust that a bishop could exploit vulnerable women. I feared retaliation against my family and expulsion for transgressing my vows,” says Pallassery.

Court documents confirm that she confided in spiritual mentors and…

View Cache

SÃO PAULO, Brazil – Cleared of abuse allegations by the Vatican in October of 2025 and reinstated in Chile’s Society of Jesus, Father Felipe Berríos, who had been expelled from the order in 2024, said that he decided to leave the Jesuits for good.

Berríos, well-known in the Andean country for his housing activism, claimed the final ruling of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith exonerating him from all charges should put an end to the case, but that’s not what’s happening.

“A canon law expert, who’s a friend of mine, said that’s unprecedented. The Dicastery told the Order to readmit me, but they decided to keep punishing me,” he told Crux.

Indeed, after the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith dismissed the case for “having failed to reach sufficient moral certainty as to the commission of the alleged crimes,” the Jesuits maintained a number of disciplinary measures…

View Cache

Are changes coming at the Dicastery for Clergy?

Pope Leo XIV is reviewing the authority of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Clergy to use procedures introduced first by Benedict XVI for the laicization of clerics in special circumstances.

Pope Francis’ apostolic constitution Praedicate evangelium on the reform of the Roman curia gives the dicastery the authority to administratively dispense clergy from the clerical state, a normalization of special faculties created by Benedict in 2009, for priests who have abandoned ministry or engaged in “seriously scandalous behavior.”

But the use of special processes has come under scrutiny in and outside of Rome, with some expressing concern that the procedure has been applied too broadly and liberally, and others expressing concern that the Dicastery for Clergy, already understaffed, is stretched too thin to handle cases expeditiously.

—
Several dicasteries of the Roman curia have special legal powers to handle certain kinds of cases under their…

View Cache

Bishop Syukur stepped down citing ‘obedience’ to the Holy See

Editor’s note: This story is developing and has been updated.

An Indonesian churchman who declined to become a cardinal last year has resigned 12 years early as a diocesan bishop, citing “obedience” to the Holy See.

The Vatican announced Jan. 19 that Pope Leo XIV had accepted the resignation of Bishop Paskalis Bruno Syukur, O.F.M., as head of the Diocese of Bogor.

The Vatican did not give a reason for Syukur’s highly unusual resignation at the age of 63, 12 years after he was appointed to lead the Bogor diocese and 12 years before he would be expected to tender his resignation to the pope. There have been no public reports that Syukur is suffering from health issues.

The diocese, located in the province of West Java, said Jan. 19 that the bishop had taken part in a farewell event at which…

View Cache

A North Carolina bishop returned a priest accused of sexual abuse to active ministry effective January 13, over six years after the priest was placed on administrative leave by the previous bishop.

The priest, Father Patrick Hoare, has denied the allegations of sexual abuse, which allegedly took place well before his ordination to the priesthood. Father Hoare has also expressed remorse for alleged boundary violations with minors while a diocesan priest.

Bishop Michael Martin, OFM Conv, of Charlotte assigned Father Hoare as the new chaplain of Pennbryn, a retirement community. The Pillar, citing diocesan sources, reported that Bishop Martin “considered a parish assignment initially,” with “an expectation that the priest might also engage in campus ministry with college students.”

“Priests were concerned about any assignment for Father Hoare,” a source told The Pillar, “and especially concerned about one that might involve proximity to young people.”

Allegations

In 2017, Bishop Peter Jugis, Charlotte’s bishop from 2003…

View Cache

Pope Leo XIV received Czech President Petr Pavel for an audience in the Vatican yesterday morning, where they discussed issues such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine, President Trump’s territorial ambitions on Greenland, and sexual abuse in the Catholic church. 

“The Pope sees us as a country that is trying to follow the path that he is also trying to promote,” Pavel told reporters before his visit to the Vatican. “This means not supporting conflicts, but rather contributing to their resolution.” 

In addition to the war in Ukraine, they discussed conflicts in the Middle East and the recent return of Czech citizen Jan Darmovzal from Venezuela, for which the Czech Republic sought the Pope’s help, according to the president.

The president also raised the issue of sexual abuse in the Church, following an open letter from victims of the Czech Catholic Church, who last week asked him to represent them…

View Cache

A New York man has filed a lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Newark, claiming he was sexually abused when he was a student at Paramus Catholic High School four decades ago.

The suit is the second of its kind filed against the high school and Archdiocese in less than a month.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Superior Court of Bergen County, alleges that Bernard Garris, who worked as a coach and teacher at the school, sexually assaulted the victim on school grounds.

“Garris had sexually inappropriate and/or sexually abusive relationships with many minor children,” alleges the suit.

Garris was terminated in 1987 for “physically abusing students,” the suit claims.

Archdiocese of Newark spokeswoman Maria Margiotta said the archdiocese does not comment on matters that are in litigation.

The complaint is the second lawsuit filed recently that accuses Garris of sexually abusing students.

The lawsuit claims the Archdiocese,…

View Cache

BATON ROUGE – At least 29 new lawsuits have been filed in the 19th Judicial District Court since the original deadline for the “lookback window” passed for victims of sexual abuse by members of the Catholic Church.  

The deadline, originally set for June 2024, has now been pushed back to June 14, 2027.

In March of 2024, Supreme Court Justices ruled in a 4-3 decision that legislators had violated the state constitution when they removed the statute of limitations for sexual abuse claims and provided victims a temporary window to file lawsuits. In May 2024, the court stated that it would review the decision, and in June, it reversed itself.

Most of the newly filed lawsuits identify clergy members who appeared on the Diocese of Baton Rouge’s list of credibly accused individuals, released in 2019. 

Included in these newest lawsuits filed since June of 2024 are:
– John Joseph Berube, St….

View Cache

A former Tullahoma priest has been named in a federal lawsuit that includes the Catholic Church in what the plaintiffs maintain was part of a larger conspiracy by the Vatican to cover up sexual abuse by priests.

Named in the suit is former local priest Father Frank Iazzetta–now deceased–who was at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church and St. Paul the Apostle School in Tullahoma at the time of the alleged abuse. According to the Diocese of Nashville, Iazzetta was an administrator of St. Paul during his time in Tullahoma. He would resign from the priesthood in 1993 and died in March 2007.  

“Father Frank Iazaetta used his position as head priest and head master to sexually abuse the plaintiff when he was a minor child.”

The alleged victim, Miles Jefferies, is listed as the plaintiff and his suit names the Catholic Diocese of Nashville; St. Paul the Apostle…

View Cache

A former student of a Catholic school in Kamloops is suing over alleged historic abuse at the hands of a nun.

The former St. Ann’s Academy student alleges the abuse took place while they were a young child and happened multiple times over a three-year period, ending in the early 1990s.

According to a notice of claim in BC Supreme Court, the nun used her position of authority to “ensure” the student wouldn’t tell anyone, while the sexual and physical assaults increased in frequency and intensity over time.

The student is anonymized in the lawsuit and the alleged perpetrator, a nun and teacher, is referred to as “Jane Doe,” but it names the Roman Catholic Bishop of Kamloops and the Catholic Independent Schools of the Kamloops Diocese as defendants.

iNFOnews.ca reached out to both for a response to the lawsuit.

“The Diocese of Kamloops is deeply committed to ensuring that…

View Cache

As a parent, there is no greater pain than watching your child suffer, especially when that suffering comes from abuse by someone you were taught to trust. I am devastated by what my son, Charles, has endured because of child sexual abuse by a Catholic priest. I live with the painful knowledge that I failed to protect him, and that is something no parent should ever have to carry.

What I can do now is stand with my son. I support him in every step he takes toward healing and justice. Charles has bravely spoken out in articles published by this paper, not for attention, but to expose the truth about clergy abuse and the lasting harm it causes survivors and families.

Charles and I traveled to Albany alongside other survivors and parents, joining more than a dozen voices demanding change. We went because we…

View Cache

Gov. Josh Shapiro has built a national brand on three letters: GSD—“Get Stuff Done.” Yet, three years into his term, Shapiro has failed to deliver for the very people who first put him in the national spotlight: the thousands of survivors of the Catholic Church clergy abuse scandal.

While Pennsylvania remains paralyzed, dozens of other states—from New York to Arkansas—have already acted to provide survivors the compensation and justice they deserve.

Taking him at his word, it’s time he actually “GSD,” so to speak, for clergy abuse survivors in Pennsylvania—before he sets his sights on a bigger stage, perhaps even a presidential campaign.

To understand why, let’s revisit how we got here.

Numerous articles—most recently in The Atlantic—have chronicled Gov. Shapiro’s ambition and his steady climb up the political ladder. At each rung, he has stepped over or pushed aside others in pursuit of higher office. At times, he has used…

View Cache

Two former nuns and a retired support workers have been sentenced for abusing vulnerable children, with one jailed for 15 months.

The offences occurred at two homes run by the Catholic order The Sisters of Nazareth in Lasswade and Kilmarnock.

Carol Buirds, 75, Eileen McElhinney, 78, and Dorothy Kane, 68, were found guilty of subjecting multiple victims to cruel and unnatural treatment between 1972 and 1981.

The prosecution presented verbal accounts from former residents, an ex-staff member and a social worker in a five-week trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.

Ms Buirds, who was known as Sister Carmel Rose, was found guilty of 13 charges including assault to severe injury.

Her offences included rubbing urine-soaked bedding on children and forcing food and soap into their mouths.

She also locked one child in a cupboard and another in an unlit cellar without access…

View Cache

Some MLK Day Reflections

“True evil lies not in the depraved act of the one, but in the silence of the many.”

Today, I’m contemplating these words, attributed to a Baptist preacher, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

In countless stories of clergy sex abuse, we have seen the tragic truth of King’s words made manifest. Even with childhood histories of having endured horrific depraved acts – of having been molested, raped and sodomized by pastors wielding God as a weapon – many survivors have said that the worst of their experience came when they tried to tell about the abuse within the faith community.

That was when they faced “the silence of the many.”

That was when the relational fabric of community, and often even of family, was torn asunder.

That was when faith itself was deemed a fraud.

Within the Southern Baptist Convention, church after church has stood, not…

View Cache

An Acadia Parish priest has been arrested on alleged sex crimes involving children, officials said.

Father Korey LaVergne, 37, is charged with indecent behavior with a juvenile (3 counts) and has since bonded out of the Acadia Parish jail.

Father LaVergne is the pastor at St. Edward Catholic Church in Richard where the “Little Cajun Saint” Charlene Richard is buried.

He was heavily involved with serving his role as the diocese’s courier and delivering a vast collection of documents related to her between the diocese and the Vatican.

The Diocese of Lafayette released a statement:

“The Diocese of Lafayette has received information regarding possible misconduct by a cleric through the Acadia Parish Sheriff’s Office. The Diocese was informed that the Sheriff’s Office conducted an investigation and that an arrest was made earlier today of Father Korey Lavergne, pastor of Saint Edward Church in Richard.  The Diocese will continue to assist law enforcement and…

View Cache

An Acadiana priest has been arrested on accusations of sex crimes involving children, authorities said Friday.

The Rev. Korey Lavergne, 37, was booked into Acadia Parish Jail on Friday with three counts of indecent behavior with a juvenile, according to jail records.

Lavergne is the pastor at St. Edward Catholic Church in Richard, the home parish of the “Little Cajun Saint,” Charlene Richard.

In fact, Lavergne served as the official courier for the diocese, taking thousands of pages of documents related to her cause for sainthood to the Vatican in July.

The Diocese of Lafayette issued the following statement:

“The Diocese of Lafayette has received information regarding possible misconduct by a cleric through the Acadia Parish Sheriff’s Office. The Diocese was informed that the Sheriff’s Office conducted an investigation and that an arrest was made earlier today of Father Korey Lavergne, pastor of Saint Edward Church in…

View Cache

Richard LA — A local priest has been arrested on accusations of sex crimes involving children, the Acadia Parish Sheriff’s Office confirmed.

Authorities reported Rev. Korey Lavergne, 37, is charged with indecent behavior with a juvenile (3 counts). They said he is being booked into the Acadia Parish Jail. 

Father Lavergne is the pastor at St. Edward Catholic Church in Richard, the home parish of the “Little Cajun Saint,” Charlene Richard.

In fact, Father Lavergne served as the official courier for the diocese, taking thousands of pages of documents related to her cause for sainthood to the Vatican.

The Diocese of Lafayette issued the following statement:

“The Diocese of Lafayette has received information regarding possible misconduct by a cleric through the Acadia Parish Sheriff’s Office. The Diocese was informed that the Sheriff’s Office conducted an investigation and that an arrest was made earlier today of Father Korey Lavergne, pastor of…

View Cache

The Brief

• A Chicago-area priest, Rev. Denis Manuel Carneiro, has been accused of sexuallyabusing a minor in India about 60 years ago, according to the Archdiocese of Chicago.

• Carneiro, a retired priest of the Archdiocese of Bhopal, lived at several Chicago-area parishes and a hospital from 1999 to 2002 and is no longer permitted to minister or live near parishes.

• The Archdiocese of Bhopal is investigating the allegations, and the Archdiocese of Chicago encourages anyone who may have been abused to come forward and report it.

A Chicago area priest has been accused of sexual abuse of a minor, according to the Archdiocese of Chicago.

What we know: Reverend Denis Manuel Carneiro, a retired priest of the Archdiocese of Bhopal, Indiana, was a resident at multiple Chicago area parishes from 1999 through 2002.

Carneiro has been accused of sexual abuse of a minor that allegedly occurred about 60 years ago…

View Cache

The Rev. Denis Manuel Carneiro, an associate pastor at St. Mary Parish in Buffalo Grove, has been removed from pastoral duties amid the allegation. The allegation is being investigated by the Archdiocese of Bhopal, India.

A north suburban Catholic priest has been accused of sexual abuse of a child that allegedly occurred about 60 years ago in India.

The Rev. Denis Manuel Carneiro, an associate pastor at St. Mary Parish in Buffalo Grove, has been removed from pastoral duties amid the allegation, according to the Archdiocese of Chicago.

He was previously a priest with the Archdiocese of Bhopal, India, which is investigating the accusation, according to Cardinal Blase Cupich.

Carneiro “strenuously denies” the allegation, Cupich said in a letter sent Saturday to parishioners.

The Archdiocese of Chicago has reported the allegation to civil authorities, Cupich said.

“I want to stress that the welfare of the children entrusted to our care…

View Cache

A priest who served at Chicago area parishes is facing allegations of sexual abuse involving a minor decades ago, according to the Archdiocese of Chicago.

Rev. Denis Manuel Carneiro, a retired priest of the Archdiocese of Bhopal, India, is accused of the abuse that allegedly happened 60 years ago in India, according to the letters sent to Parishes. 

According to the letters from Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, Rev. Carneiro served at Our Lady of Victory Parish in Chicago from July 1972 to May 1974, April 1979 to June 1979, and from July 1989 to June 1999.

He also served at St. Mary Parish in Buffalo Grove from May 2013 to June 2013, as well as St. Alexius Hospital in Hoffman Estates from 1999 to 2002, and Holy Family Parish in Inverness, Illinois, from June 1999 to July 2002, the letters stated.

The letters said in part, “In keeping with our…

View Cache

Father Bede was a pillar of the community but behind closed doors he preyed on little boys

To many, Father Bede was a pillar of the community offering spiritual guidance to thousands of Catholics in North Staffordshire. But behind the veneer of robed respectability, he was a predatory paedophile who targeted young boys.

His despicable crimes stretched over decades, from when he worked in children’s homes in the 1970s and continuing after he was ordained in 1979.

More details emerged just this week as the now 72-year-old – full name Alexander Bede Walsh – was convicted of another historic offence of abusing a boy at a church in Cheadle in the 1980s.

He had arrived in North Staffordshire in 1985 as procurator and priest-in-charge at the now defunct Cotton College. He lived in Mow Cop for a time and also worked in Newcastle, Burslem and Alton.

But it was in Cheadle,…

View Cache

A court case involving more than 800 plaintiffs suing the Diocese of Buffalo for sexual abuse may be nearing an end, now that a settlement amount has been decided. It’s part of the Diocese’s Chapter 11 reorganization.

One of the final steps is allowing victims and survivors to share their comments.

It’s the Catholic Church’s responsibility to provide any assistance possible with the healing process, but that also includes helping victims and parishioners move on, Bishop Michael Fisher said.

“Part of that is emerging from coming up with the settlement that we need to provide, again, for restitution to them,” he said. “But also, to bring to a conclusion, which we’re expecting from our parishes so that they can move forward.”

There have been two days set at the end of January and two days at the end of February when plaintiffs can share non-testimonial statements, but there could be…

View Cache

Listen to this article

A priest accused of molesting four children over nearly two decades allegedly raped one of the victims, according to new charges filed by the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office.

Nine additional counts were added to the case against Rev. Theodore Gabrielli, 61, who now faces 35 counts of child molestation, aggravated sexual assault and sodomy by force.

“The victim called it rape,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Lisa B. Muscari told The Tribune.

The crimes allegedly occurred across California, other states and Mexico, but the DA’s Office only has jurisdiction to prosecute crimes that occurred in California, Muscari said.

Gabrielli was arrested in Los Osos on June 12, 2025, according to SLO County Sheriff’s Office booking records.

Originally facing only five counts, an amended complaint in July charged Gabrielli with an additional nine counts of forced oral copulation with a minor in…

View Cache

In short:

Nicholas Taylor told a court last year he was sexually and physically abused while he was a student at Hobart’s St Virgil’s College in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

One of the alleged perpetrators was former Test cricket umpire Stephen Randell, who has previously been jailed for child sexual abuse.

What’s next?

Mr Taylor hopes that by sharing his story it’ll help other victim-survivors come forward to seek support or pursue justice.

For decades, Nicholas Taylor lived with the impact of child sexual abuse.

Last year, he told the Supreme Court in Hobart about the abuse he experienced while he was a student at St Virgil’s College in Hobart in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

“For me it was so I could take a little more power back from my abuse,” he said.

“It’d been a long time to get to trial — 38 years.

“It…

View Cache

The website for an orphanage with deep ties to Missouri makes no attempt to explain or assign blame for numerous accounts of abuse — revealed in a nonprofit’s independent investigation released on Nov. 12 — against the children in its care.

Instead, nearly 60 years after its founding, all that remains of Niños de México is a statement on its homepage acknowledging “the investigation of our past practices and current systems” and an aim “to find truth and clarity surrounding allegations of abuse and other misconduct.”

“That investigation has concluded,” the statement continued. “It is with heavy hearts that the board of Niños de México has decided to end our ongoing ministry effective immediately.”

It’s a response that still angers Julie Heifner, who volunteered and worked at Niños in various positions from 2010 to 2019. She’d first learned of Niños through her church in Fenton and eventually devoted…

View Cache

Alexander Bede Walsh was jailed in 2012 for abusing young boys in Coventry and Warwickshire

A Roman Catholic priest jailed for abusing boys in Coventry has been found guilty of another child sex offence and is likely to die in jail. Alexander Bede Walsh abused vulnerable young people for more than 20 years.

On Tuesday, January 13, Walsh, 72, was convicted of indecently assaulting a boy following a trial at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court. He abused the victim in Cheadle in the 1980s.

Walsh was previously jailed in 2012 after being found guilty of sexually abusing and indecently assaulting young boys between the 1970s and 1990s. He is serving a 22-year sentence at HMP Wakefield in West Yorkshire.

READ MORE: Man banned from Coventry property for repeatedly ‘causing issues’

Boys aged between eight and 16 were abused while Walsh was working in Coventry,  View Cache

Paramus Catholic, the Newark Archdiocese and the Christian Brothers were hit with another sexual assault lawsuit against former teacher and coach Bernard Garris.

A former unidentified student filed the suit Jan. 14, saying they were repeatedly sexually abused by Garris while they were a student. The complaint provides little detail about the alleged incident and does not mention the years the plaintiff was a student.

Maria Margiotta, the executive director of communications and public relations for the Archdiocese of Newark, did not immediately return a request for comment.

This is the second lawsuit in as many months filed against the school, the diocese and the Christian Brothers. Another anonymous student accused Garris and former gym teacher Donn Ernst of sexual assault in the 1980s.

Garris and Ernst have been the subject of several lawsuits by former students. By August 2021, at least 11 lawsuits had been filed against Paramus Catholic, saying the…

View Cache

CANTON, Ohio (WJW) — A former Archbishop Hoban High School student is suing school administrators, the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland and others, alleging the school’s former theater director and choir teacher sexually assaulted her numerous times on campus and at his home.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, Jan. 13, in Stark County Common Pleas Court, names former teacher Chad C. Kendall, 37, of Akron, now awaiting trial on 10 felony counts of sexual battery; school administrators including President Christopher DiMauro and principals T. Kirk Griffith and Catherine Perrow; and Brothers of Holy Cross, an Indiana religious order operating in Northeast Ohio.

The new lawsuit alleges the student — who has not been identified and is named in the complaint as Jane Doe — attended the Akron private parochial school from 2021 until graduation in May 2025….

View Cache

Does a priest assignment point to broader challenges for the Church?

The bishop of Charlotte, North Carolina has faced pushback after reinstating to ministry a priest removed more than five years ago amid allegations of child abuse.

But the case could point to a gap in the Church’s canonical norms for clerics accused of abuse before ordination, and towards ambiguity about the status of some accused clerics. It could also point to the difficulty posed by differing uses of the term “credible” to characterize allegations of abuse.

—
In 2019, the Charlotte diocese announced that a person had come forward to the diocese alleging that Fr. Patrick Hoare had sexually abused him in the early 1990s, in Pennsylvania, before Hoare was ordained a priest.

In July 2020, Bishop Peter Jugis announced that two allegations had by then surfaced against Hoare — “both of which involved accusations of inappropriate touching of relatives…

View Cache

Alexander Bede Walsh was jailed in 2012 for abusing young boys in Coventry and Warwickshire

A Roman Catholic priest jailed for abusing boys in Coventry has been found guilty of another child sex offence and is likely to die in jail. Alexander Bede Walsh abused vulnerable young people for more than 20 years.

On Tuesday, January 13, Walsh, 72, was convicted of indecently assaulting a boy following a trial at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court. He abused the victim in Cheadle in the 1980s.

Walsh was previously jailed in 2012 after being found guilty of sexually abusing and indecently assaulting young boys between the 1970s and 1990s. He is serving a 22-year sentence at HMP Wakefield in West Yorkshire.

Boys aged between eight and 16 were abused while Walsh was working in Coventry, Warwickshire, and Staffordshire. He also had a previous conviction for possessing…

View Cache

[See also the text of the Inspector General’s 2025 report on the Chicago Public Schools.]

Chicago Public Schools’ watchdog released its annual report Wednesday, detailing dozens of the more than 1,200 complaints it received between July 2024 and June 2025. The report addressed accusations of pandemic program fraud, excessive overtime, stolen equipment, residency violations and sexual misconduct by district employees.

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) is an independent body that investigates allegations of fraud, waste and misconduct within the district. The office does not disclose the identities of accused employees in the report.

Pandemic relief fraud

The OIG reported closing two cases in fiscal year 2025 involving former CPS principals who defrauded pandemic relief programs, including one who received more than $41,000 in loans on top of her six-figure salary.

One principal’s termination hearing is pending with the Illinois State Board of Education. The other principal retired amid…

View Cache

Last April, the New Jersey Supreme Court finally cleared the way for the attorney general to resume an investigation into clergy sexual abuse — an investigation that was halted for seven years after the Catholic Diocese of Camden sued to block it. That lawsuit effectively stopped the Attorney General’s Office from carrying out a probe it had promised to victims and the public alike.

For survivors, the questions remain painfully unanswered:

What has happened to the promised investigation?

Why has it taken so long?

How many more victims must die — or take their own lives out of despair — before our leaders tell the truth about how our children were failed by powerful institutions and by the very systems meant to protect them?

Across the country, courts are beginning to confront these same failures. In New York, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts and other states, judges have acknowledged the willful stalling, lack of progress and insincere…

View Cache

Villa Park IL – A man is suing the Diocese of Joliet, saying one of its pastors sexually abused him in the early 1990s.

The Rev. John Barrett served in Mary Queen of Heaven in Elmhurst, St. Alexander in Villa Park, Notre Dame in Clarendon Hills and Saints Peter and Paul in Naperville during his career. He died in 2014.

Filing the lawsuit on Monday, the plaintiff, who is now about 40, is seeking damages. He said he suffered much pain as a result of the alleged abuse in 1990 and 1991 at St. Alexander in Villa Park, where the plaintiff was a student in the parochial school.

According to the lawsuit, Barrett started sexually abusing children as early as 1968 at Clarendon Hills’ Notre Dame.

The lawsuit said the diocese’s practice was to discuss allegations of sexual abuse internally before transfers were made, but the leaders would never warn…

View Cache

A Will County lawsuit claims a priest who died in 2014 had sexually abused a minor who attended a Catholic elementary school in Villa Park in the early 1990s.

The lawsuit was filed on Monday against the Diocese of Joliet by the alleged victim, who is going by the pseudonym John Doe in the case.

John Doe’s lawsuit claims the Rev. John F. Barrett, who died in 2014, had sexually abused him while he was attending St. Alexander Catholic School in Villa Park between 1991 and 1992.

The lawsuit alleged the Diocese of Joliet “breached its duty” of reasonable care to John Doe by allowing Barrett to remain a pastor at the school despite past allegations of sexual abuse by a separate accuser.

In 2002, Barrett was removed from ministry when the latter accuser claimed he was sexually abused by Barrett…

View Cache

A former nun who abused vulnerable young people at children’s homes in Scotland has been jailed for 15 months.

Carol Buirds, 75, was found guilty of causing children unnecessary suffering and injury when she worked at homes run by the Catholic order the Sisters of Nazareth between 1972 and 1981.

Another former nun, Eileen McElhinney, 78, was given a probation order and 240 hours of unpaid work over the abuse, while retired support worker Dorothy Kane, 68, was also given 150 hours of community service following a trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last month.

A survivors’ group described the attacks as an “abuse of status, power and trust”.

All of the offences took place over a nine-year period between 1972 and 1981.

They were committed at Nazareth House homes in Lasswade, Midlothian and Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire, and at an unknown address in Dunbar, East Lothian.

Jurors were told how Buirds,…

View Cache

Sex abuse victims and those affected by the Diocese of Buffalo’s bankruptcy will have a chance to offer statements.

Four separate sessions have been planned through the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of New York.

Each session will start 10 a.m. at the Robert H. Jackson U.S. Courthouse on 2 Niagara Square in Buffalo. They will include Jan. 27 and 28, and Feb. 25 and 26.

The Diocese of Buffalo became notorious internationally when sexual abuse cover-ups were revealed in Roman Catholic parishes across the U.S. At least 15 priests who served in Genesee, Wyoming and Orleans counties were accused of molesting children over decades.

Multiple molestations and rapes were often attributed to the same priests, who were repeatedly transferred to other parishes within the diocese. Criminal charges were rarely filed among those accused the GLOW region.

The diocese filed for bankruptcy in February 2020. The financial…

View Cache

[In this video, Rhode Island Attorney General confirms (at 1:25 in the video) that he conveyed his report to the Diocese of Providence on January 7, 2026 and gave the diocese ten days plus an additional ten days to review it. “Once those 20 days have passed, the public will have that report.”]

View Cache

Every level of Church leadership must strengthen and improve its ability to listen to everyone, especially to victims of sexual abuse and those who suffer, Pope Leo XIV said.

The problem of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church “is truly a wound in the life of the Church in many places,” and “we cannot close our eyes or our hearts” to the crisis and its victims, he said at the conclusion of an extraordinary meeting with the world’s cardinals at the Vatican.

“I encourage you to share this with your bishops: often the pain of the victims has been made worse by the fact that they were not welcomed and listened to,” he said Jan. 8. The Vatican published the remarks Jan. 10.

“The abuse itself causes a deep wound that may last a lifetime, but often the scandal in the Church is because the door was closed and the…

View Cache

Victims of sexual abuse within the Czech Catholic Church have called on Czech President Petr Pavel to stand up for them during his meeting with Pope Leo XIV in the Vatican on Monday, in an open letter released to CTK earlier this week.

Seven of the eight signatories of the letter also attached their personal stories and experiences of sexual abuse in the church. They called on the president not to sign the Czech-Vatican treaty.

Pavel and his wife Eva will visit the Vatican on Monday, 19 January, where Pope Leo XIV will receive them. A meeting with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin is also planned.

In their letter, the signatories express their trust in the president as the supreme representative of the state, who, according to the constitution, is committed to protecting human dignity and freedom.

“You will visit the Vatican next week. We ask you: Become…

View Cache

Two sisters who were abused by a former priest have called on the Catholic Church to ensure every diocese in Ireland is proactive in providing opportunities for direct engagement between abuse survivors and church leaders.

Paula and Margaret Martin from County Donegal said a legally-facilitated meeting with Diocese of Raphoe representatives last year was “deeply healing”.

Con Cunningham, then aged 86, was sentenced to 15 months in prison at Letterkenny Circuit Court in 2021 after pleading guilty to eight counts of indecent assault in the 1970s.

A spokesperson for the Catholic Church said it is committed to “continuous learning and responding positively” to those who have been hurt.

The Martin sisters were nine and 11 when the abuse started.

They waived their right to anonymity to name Cunningham.

Conviction dealt with ‘one part of pain’

The women had gone to the Church three times over a 25-year period about the…

View Cache

“I am finally at a point in my healing journey where I can claim my own story.”

Awake: Hi, Jennifer-Marie! Thank you for sharing your story with our community. What would you like to share about yourself and your life?

Jennifer-Marie Burchell: I work as a parish secretary in La Crosse, Wisconsin. I am also an ecclesiastical seamstress and love to spend time designing and constructing Church vestments. I specialize in restoring and repairing older vestments. I love to save embroidery and remount it on new vestments so it will enjoy many more years of use. I am in my mid-50s and blessed with one daughter who has been understanding about the abuse I suffered as a teenager and has been supportive of my healing journey.

Q: Your seamstress work sounds wonderful. And it’s so good to hear that your daughter has been a source of support. What would you…

View Cache

Sr. Ranit Pallassery said she will pursue every appeal avenue against Bishop Franco Mulakkal.

An Indian nun who accused a bishop of rape has said she will pursue the case to the Supreme Court, in a television interview aired almost four years after the bishop was acquitted by a lower court.

Sr. Ranit Pallassery made the statement in a Jan. 10 interview with Asianet News in which she publicly disclosed her identity for the first time, choosing to waive the anonymity she is entitled to under Indian law.

A long-form report published in August 2025 by the Indian website The News Minute previously used her name with her permission, but did not publicly disclose her identity fully.

Sr. Ranit told Asianet News: “I have decided to see this case through the High Court and the Supreme Court. Until I get a verdict from the Supreme Court, I will not rest. I will continue…

View Cache

Nearly a month after Joe Campbell was arrested on charges that he sexually abused two girls decades ago, he appeared in an Oklahoma courtroom. His accusers attended, too.

This article is part of “Pastors and Prey,” a series investigating sex abuse allegations in the Assemblies of God.

The women kept their eyes fixed on the man seated three rows ahead of them as they waited for his case to be called in a Tulsa County courtroom.

It had been decades since they had seen pastor Joe Campbell, the Pentecostal preacher they say sexually abused them as children.

The hearing was procedural. But for the four women, it was anything but.

They’d come to send a message: “We’re not those little girls anymore,” Lisa Ball said.

Nearly a month after his arrest, Campbell, 68, appeared before an Oklahoma district court judge Monday on…

View Cache

One former local preacher is back in court facing serious charges.

Andrew Stephen Ervin appeared in court this afternoon on charges of statutory rape by an authority figure.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Investigation continues after local minister is arrested on sex crime charge

His attorney, William D. Massey, tells us what the status of the case is currently.

“The status is that the discovery has not been completed and we’re waiting to receive that discovery before we can move forward,” said Massey.

Discovery is mandatory before a trial can take place. Because it is incomplete, a new court date of March 2 has been scheduled for Ervin.

“The judge gave us until march the second to get that discovery and review it, investigate it, and meet again and discuss it and tell him where we are come March 2,” said Massey.

The former northside church minister was removed from his position after…

View Cache

A former youth pastor who made stops at multiple churches in Oklahoma, Arkansas and other states pleaded not guilty to child sex crimes in court on Monday.

Joseph Lyle Campbell, 68, of Elkland, Mo., was arrested by the U.S. Marshals in Webster County on Dec. 17. He was listed in the Greene County Detention Center in Springfield, Mo., as a “fugitive from out of state.”

A multi-county grand jury in Oklahoma indicted Campbell on one count of first-degree rape and one count of lewd or indecent acts to a child under 16. The alleged crime occurred in 1984 when Campbell was the youth pastor at the Eastland Assembly of God Church in Tulsa.

The indictment said that between May 1 and Oct. 1, 1984, Campbell allegedly raped a young girl in the garage of his home. He is also accused of sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl at the church between March 1…

View Cache

A former Myrtle Beach pastor was in court on Monday.

John Paul Miller, 46, of Myrtle Beach, appeared before a federal court in Florence on Monday for an arraignment.

During the hearing, John Paul pleaded not guilty to his federal charges of cyberstalking and making false statements to federal investigators.

John Paul faces up to five years in prison for cyberstalking and up to two years for making false statements.

John Paul waived his right to a speedy trial, which his attorneys said was not unusual, and was released on a $100,000 unsecured bond.

As part of his bond conditions, John Paul must wear an ankle monitor and may not leave South Carolina. He also may not contact potential witnesses or anyone in Mica Miller’s family.

John Paul is accused of sending unwanted and harassing communications to Mica, his then-wife, from November 2022 until her death on April 27, 2024.

…

View Cache

In reporting on a scandal at a Georgia Baptist college, Baptist News Global included allegations against professor Jeremy Lyon. Lyon denies the allegations and is suing for defamation.

A former professor at a Georgia Baptist college is suing a Christian publication for defamation, saying he was falsely accused of sexual abuse.

Lawyers for Jeremy Lyon, who taught Old Testament and Hebrew at Truett McConnell University in Cleveland, Georgia, alleged that Associated Baptist Press, known as Baptist News Global, published “fabricated” allegations of abuse against him in a pair of stories about an abuse scandal at the school.

According to the lawsuit, attorneys for Lyon said Baptist News Global failed to contact the professor before naming him in the June 2025 stories and that the publication “fabricated information to support the false and defamatory accusations” against Lyon. The professor “categorically denies” the allegations against him, according to the suit.

In an email, Mark…

View Cache

The Archbishop of Madrid confirmed the Pope will visit Spain this year, in apparent affirmation of Vatican support for the scheme after two years of dispute between Church and government.

Church authorities reached an agreement with the Spanish government to set up a process to support and compensate victims of sexual abuse in the Church.

The Minister of the Presidency, Justice, and Relations with Parliament Félix Bolaños, the bishops’ conference president Archbishop Luis Argüello of Valladolid and the president of the conference of Religious Fr Jesús Díaz Sariego OP signed the agreement on 8 January.

Under the new agreement, the Church will fund compensation while the office of the People’s Defender, or ombudsman, will monitor the amounts paid out according to a scheme designed to reach consensus between Church, state and victims’ representatives.

The agreement ends two years of dispute over the Church’s responsibility for abuse, dating from October 2023 when…

View Cache

A proposed law in Arizona could see priests facing felony charges if they fail to break the seal of confession after learning of child abuse during the sacrament.

The measure, HB 2039, was introduced in December 2025 by state Rep. Anastasia Travers. It is awaiting action in the state House after Travers prefiled it on Dec. 4.

The bill would amend the state code to require priests to report abuse learned during confession if they have “reasonable suspicion to believe that the abuse is ongoing, will continue, or may be a threat to other minors.”

Failure to report a “reportable offense” could lead to class 6 felony charges under the bill. Those charges in Arizona can lead to up to $150,000 in fines and up to two years of imprisonment.

Travers did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the bill and why she proposed…

View Cache

Edward Gallagher (58) of Orchard Park in Lifford, County Donegal had been charged with one count of attempted sexual communication with a child on dates between April 2 and April 17, 2025 and seven further offences including inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and causing a child to watch sexual activity on April 17 this year as well as charges of possessing indecent images of children

Derry Magistrates’ Court heard today that the case against a priest facing sex offences involves some 650 pages of communications that police have to go through. 

Edward Gallagher (58) of Orchard Park in Lifford, County Donegal had been charged with one count of attempted sexual communication with a child on dates between April 2 and April 17, 2025 and seven further offences including inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and causing a child to watch sexual activity on April 17 this year…

View Cache

Bernardino Batista dos Santos had been a kindergarten director in Belo Horizonte

A court in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais has sentenced ex-Catholic priest Bernardino Batista dos Santos to 24 years and 9 months in jail after it convicted him of raping an underage person, reported the Associated Press.

The court also ordered dos Santos to pay damages amounting to 30,000 Brazilian reais (US$5,570) in its judgment, which was published this week. The complaints against the former priest had dated back to 1975.

According to Minas Gerais state police investigation details accessed by AP, the victim’s family alleged that the rape happened during a weekend at dos Santos’ farm in Tiros. He was a kindergarten director in Belo Horizonte then.

dos Santos was taken into custody in October 2024 and was placed under house arrest with electronic ankle monitoring, Minas Gerais authorities said. He had already been removed from his post…

View Cache

Pope Leo XIV has strongly condemned the Church’s failure to welcome survivors of sexual abuse, calling it a ‘scandal’ that deepens their suffering, even though the issue was not a main topic at the 7–8 January extraordinary consistory in Rome.

The door of the Church ‘was closed’ and the victims ‘were not welcomed,’ the Pope told the cardinals.

The final remarks of the Pope to cardinals were published on 10 January by the Vatican. Victims of abuse welcomed the brief text.

‘Even if it wasn’t a specific topic of discussion during our meeting, I want to mention the problem, which still today is truly a wound in the life of the Church in many places, which is precisely the crisis caused by sexual abuse,’ Pope Leo told the cardinals as they were wrapping up discussions of their day-and-a half consistory.

‘We cannot close our eyes nor our hearts’ to victims…

View Cache

Making a film that details accusations of the sexual and spiritual abuse of nuns in the Catholic Church while maintaining a message of hope is no easy feat. Yet this is the very challenge that the Italian filmmaker Lorena Luciano took on with her new documentary “Nuns vs. the Vatican.” 

Making its worldwide debut in September at the Toronto International Film Festival, the documentary focuses on the abuse of women religious in the Catholic Church at the hands of male clergy. The film features testimonies and commentary from a variety of women who are raising awareness about clerical abuse in the Catholic Church. These voices include journalists Federica Tourn and Lucetta Scaraffia, activist Barbara Dorris and attorney Laura Sgrò. Mariska Hargitay, famous for her role as Detective Olivia Benson on the NBC show “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” serves as an executive producer.

“Nuns vs. the Vatican” prominently features…

View Cache

Sister Ranit recounts stigma and fear following alleged sexual abuse by Bishop Franco

A Keralite nun has opened up about the harrowing ordeal she endured after allegedly being sexually abused by Bishop Franco Mulakkal, recounting eight years of isolation, intimidation, and institutional silence. Speaking to Asianet TV, Sister Ranit described her current life as feeling like her “hands and legs are tied,” with ongoing social ostracism and uncertainty lingering even years after the complaint was filed.

Isolation and harassment

Sister Ranit said that after raising the abuse allegation within the Church, she was immediately isolated. She alleged that three other nuns were forced to leave the congregation due to sustained harassment, including stone-pelting, following the controversy. Those who remained, including herself, now survive by doing tailoring work at the convent, she said, adding that the diocese’s continued silence eventually pushed them to the margins.

She further alleged that Bishop Mulakkal attempted…

View Cache

The deal is expected to expand the number of victims who can seek compensation

Spain’s Roman Catholic Church has reached an agreement with the government to compensate victims of sexual abuse by members of the clergy.

The accord follows complaints that religious leaders had failed to tackle the issue adequately.

It means the government will manage possible compensation in co-ordination with the Church, handling cases where other legal avenues are no longer available because the alleged crime took place too long ago or the individual accused has passed away.

Hundreds of thousands of Spaniards are estimated by the government to have suffered sexual abuse at the hands of Church figures. The move follows similar redress schemes in other nations where abuse has been uncovered.

“A democracy should not allow the existence of victims who have never been compensated [and] whose situation, on the contrary, had been covered up,” said Justice…

View Cache

The full text of Pope Leo XIV’s speech at the conclusion of the January 7–8 consistory, published today, announces a new meeting of the cardinals in June and insists that victims and survivors of abuse “need to be accompanied with the closeness of authentic pastors.”

Although it was not a specific topic of the Extraordinary Consistory held on January 7–8, Pope Leo XIV took the opportunity to speak to the roughly 170 cardinals—both electors and non-electors—about a problem that “remains a real wound in the life of the Church in many places”: the sexual abuse crisis.

This is a topic Pope Leo, like his predecessors, has repeatedly highlighted in recent months. Even in the Consistory—focused on the themes of synodality and mission, chosen by majority vote of the cardinals—he did not fail to mention this issue.

He addressed it in his concluding speech after the two day meeting, the full…

View Cache

A new bill before the Arizona house will force priests and pastors to break their seal of confession. House Bill 2039 could also require priests or pastors to testify about confessions in court about child abuse cases.

The bill states a member of the clergy, the Christian Science practitioner or the priest may withhold reporting of the communication or confession unless there is reasonable suspicion to believe the abuse is ongoing, will continue or may be a threat to other minors.

About half of the states in the U.S. have designated clergy as mandatory reporters. At least 18 others say any person, including clergy, must report any suspected child abuse.

However, many of those laws do carve out an exception for instances like confessions.

Catholic Canon Law states a priest is “prohibited completely from using knowledge acquired from confession to the detriment of…

View Cache