ABUSE TRACKER

[From Canadian Press]

Natan Obed discussed the church’s responsibility in ensuring Johannes Rivoire is put on trial in Canada

The leader of the national organization representing Inuit says he had a meeting with the head of a Catholic order in Rome to discuss the case of a priest accused of crimes against children in Nunavut.

“I would hope that the Catholic Church’s faith dictates that they would work with us in a case where there are severe allegations of sexual abuse, especially sexual abuse of minors,” said Natan Obed, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami.

Obed said he had a one-hour meeting Thursday with Louis Lougen, superior general of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, to discuss the church’s responsibility in ensuring Johannes Rivoire is put on trial in Canada.

The meeting came after Obed asked Pope Francis during a meeting at the Vatican on Monday to personally intervene in Rivoire’s case.

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More than three years ago, the state attorney general’s office announced it was launching an investigation into the handling of child sexual abuse by New York’s Catholic dioceses. Since then, no cases have been pursued by the district attorneys who were encouraged at that time to pursue any related criminal allegations that were uncovered and fell within applicable statutes of limitations.

The lack of any apparent grand jury investigations — which could also produce reports detailing the dioceses’ handling of child sex abuse even if criminal charges were not possible — has occurred despite increasing evidence that church leaders routinely covered up the allegations to protect those priests and their institutions. That practice also led to the additional abuse of children when accused priests were later allowed to return to ministry without bishops or others notifying congregations of their histories, according to court records.

“I am not aware of any (criminal…

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[This report includes video interviews with two survivors, Colleen Garbarini and Gordon Smith, and a Twitter clip with more interview content. See also the deposition of Bishop Howard Hubbard.]

The release last week of nearly 700 pages of testimony by former Bishop Howard Hubbard on priest abuse in the Albany Catholic Diocese helped to validate claims made by survivors of priest abuse, accusers said.

Last week’s ruling to unseal Hubbard’s deposition was the first time accusers had the chance to read his multi-day testimony. While some attorneys had access to the file, survivors like Gordon Smith did not.

“Finally, we have confirmation from them that they have been doing this all along,” said Smith, who filed one of about 300 Child Victims Act lawsuits against the Albany Diocese in 2019.

Smith said he read parts of the deposition and press articles detailing the almost 700-page document.

In the deposition,…

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[Note: “Silent Screams! A Gallery of Artwork Born of Clergy Abuse” is available on YouTube.]

Sometimes the interviews on TV don’t do it. People have become immune to the horror, in Vinnie Nauheimer’s view. 

Twenty years ago this week, his family’s story was part of a larger one that was in the headlines – on the front page of the Daily News on two consecutive days, for instance, with pages of coverage inside.  The first day, the News’ lead story was titled “Twisted Journey of a Problem Priest”; the next, “Problem Priest Had Church on His Side.”

A few days earlier, the New York Times headline involving the controversy at Holy Name parish in Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y., ran “A Secret Settlement, but Little Solace for Family.”

Victims and their families are now finding alternative ways to bear witness to the tragic legacy of the sexual abuse of children, lest anyone…

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Residents see it as the first step towards healing for the community.

The last several months have been important ones on the path of healing and reconciliation between the Catholic church and First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. In the wake of Pope Francis’s historic apology for the horrors of the residential school system, there is also healing and reconciliation to be had closer to home.

In Kahnawake, the remains of an allegedly abusive priest will be exhumed from the cemetery at St. Francis Xavier Mission Catholic Church and repatriated to Saint-Jérôme. This is the starting point for what survivors hope will be a process of healing.

“The original decision was made last summer. People wanted him removed,” said Melissa Montour-Lazare, a spokesperson for the community in Kahnawake. “There was already controversy in 1999 where the women [he abused] had stated that they didn’t want him there.”

Reverend Léon Lajoie was…

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[Please share the original URL of this open source article with others who are interested. This article and related ones appear in Sexual and Spiritual Violence against Adult Men and Women in the Catholic Church, a special issue of the journal Religions.]

Abstract

Disproving assumptions to the contrary, this article clearly shows how and why adults can become victims of abuse in church contexts. It does this by focusing on the pastoral care context and the interdependent potential risk factors lying within. As previous studies suggest, this context is especially susceptible to perpetrating abuse. Approximately three-quarters of all cases of abuse occur or begin in the context of pastoral care or spiritual counseling. Often, theories of pastoral care do not address this danger and tend to idealize the practice of pastoral care. In contrast, it is necessary to recognize a specific power to victimize due to the theological and structural…

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Pope Francis apologized on Friday for the Roman Catholic Church’s involvement in a system of Canadian boarding schools that abused Indigenous children for 100 years, an announcement that comes after the discovery last year of signs of unmarked graves with the remains of dozens of children.

I feel shame — sorrow and shame — for the role” that Catholics played “in the abuses you suffered and in the lack of respect shown for your identity, your culture and even your spiritual values,” Francis said.

Francis also promised he would travel to Canada, where he would be better able to “express to you my closeness” as part of a process of healing and reconciliation.

Francis spoke during an audience at the Apostolic Palace with 62 delegates from Canada’s three largest Indigenous groups, who had traveled to the Vatican in the hope that he would apologize to survivors in Canada. This was…

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Former Priest Daniel McCormack faced a deposition this week, forced to answer questions about several civil cases against him.

McCormack is free after serving time for sexually abusing five children while he was a priest at St. Agatha’s Parish. Gene Hollander, an attorney who represents several victims, said the deposition was an important moment in the history of the case.

“This is the first time since the scandal broke 17 years ago that he’s being forced to answering questions about abusing children,” Hollander said.

Hollander was one of several attorneys questioning Daniel McCormack about abusing children. Hollander said McCormack’s deposition lasted seven hours Wednesday.

“He had a very flat demeanor,” Hollander said. “I didn’t see any emotion from him. I just didn’t see any remorse. Some of these victims went through unspeakable horrors.”

Hollander said he has represented several of McCormack’s victims. So far, he has settled nine cases. He…

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THE Bishop of Sheffield, Dr Pete Wilcox, has expressed “deep shame” that a former priest in his diocese was responsible for the repeated beating, over almost a decade, of a woman in his parish.

Dr Wilcox said in a statement: “There are no excuses whatsoever for what took place and it is a cause of great regret to us that the matter has only now come to court. Clerical abuse is a grievous breach of trust, which almost always, as in this case, causes life-long harm.”

The assaults by Hilary Alflatt between 1983 and 1992 were only part of a pattern of abuse that he allegedly inflicted on his victim at his Sheffield vicarage, a jury at Hull Crown Court heard last week. Mr Alflatt was also accused of treating his victim like a slave, forcing her to take a vow of obedience, making her prostrate herself before him, kiss…

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United States Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams announced that Robert Brennan, 83, of Perryville, MD, was sentenced by United States District Court Judge Anita B. Brody to five years of probation, the first two years of which will be served on home confinement with location monitoring, for lying to investigators about not knowing a former parishioner and victim of sexual abuse.

In November 2021, the defendant pleaded guilty to making materially false statements in a matter within the jurisdiction of the executive branch of the United States government. The charges stem from an interview conducted in April 2019, during which Brennan was questioned by the FBI and made a number of false statements.

Brennan had served in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia from 1993 to 2004 as a priest at Resurrection of Our Lord parish in the Rhawnhurst section of Northeast Philadelphia. In September 2013, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office filed criminal…

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[From Alberta Native News]

Mounties have pressed a new charge against an Oblate priest living in France who faces multiple allegations sexual abuse from when he lived in Nunavut.

The RCMP issued a Canada-wide warrant for Johannes Rivoire, who resides in Lyon and is in his 90s, on March 28, The Canadian Press reports.

Nunavut RCMP said officers received complaints last year for repeated instances of sexual abuse that are alleged to have occurred 47 years ago, leading to him being charged with sexual assault a month ago.

The warrant was issued a day after Inuit leaders met with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Monday, where they asked for His Holiness’s intervention in the case.

Natan Obed, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, told CP he asked the Pope to urge Rivoire to return to Canada to face the charges and to ask France to intervene in the event Rivoire…

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The trial court’s January 14 verdict is ‘patently wrong, manifestly erroneous and totally perverse’, the state said.

The Kerala government on Wednesday filed an appeal before the High Court challenging the verdict of a trial court acquitting former bishop Franco Mulakkal in a case related to raping a nun, PTI reported. The nun also moved the High Court on Monday, according to The News Minute.

In June 2018, the nun had filed a complaint claiming that she was sexually abused by Mulakkal between 2014 and 2016 when he was the bishop of the Jalandhar diocese of Roman Catholic Church.

Mulakkal had accused the nun of seeking revenge for ordering an inquiry into a complaint against her. He was removed from his post after the allegations.

Judge G Gopakumar of the Kottayam Additional District and Sessions Court acquitted him on January 14.

In its appeal on Wednesday, filed by Additional Public Prosecutor…

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After years of resisting such calls, Pope Francis on Friday apologized for the “deplorable conduct” of some Catholics in Canada’s residential school system for Indigenous children, saying he was “deeply grieved” by the stories of “suffering, hardship, discrimination and various forms of abuse” from survivors.

Speaking to an audience that included an Indigenous delegation that traveled from Canada to the Vatican this week to press for an apology, Francis said he felt “shame” for the role Catholics have had “in the abuses you suffered and in the lack of respect shown for your identity, your culture and even your spiritual values.”

“All these things are contrary to the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” the pope said at the Apostolic Palace. “For the deplorable conduct of these members of the Catholic Church, I ask for God’s forgiveness and I want to say to you with all my heart: I am very sorry….

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The March 23 expiration of a provision in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester’s ongoing bankruptcy reactivates an untold number of state court sexual-abuse claims against individual Catholic churches across the diocese’s 12-county span. 

The revived state court cases were put on hold two years ago under a stipulation approved as part of the Chapter 11 case the diocese filed in 2019. The diocese filed the bankruptcy petition partly to avoid defending itself against scores of individual sexual-abuse claims. 

Running parallel to the ongoing bankruptcy, the revived state court cases promise to add complications that could include substantial new legal costs for the diocese, which so far has spent nearly $6 million to pay attorneys, accountants and consultants working on the long-stalled bankruptcy.

Inked six months into bankruptcy case in March 2020, the expired agreement called a temporary halt to scores of state court lawsuits filed against individual churches and other organizations…

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A lawsuit alleging priests at Jesuit College Preparatory School Dallas sexually abused students there in the late 1970s and early 1980s has settled.

A lawsuit alleging priests at Jesuit College Preparatory School Dallas sexually abused students there in the late 1970s and early 1980s has been settled.

In a letter sent Wednesday to the local Jesuit community, school president Mike Earsing said he believed the accounts told by nine Dallas-area men who brought a lawsuit against the school, the Catholic Diocese of Dallas and the Society of Jesuits’ USA Central and Southern Province, the Catholic religious order that includes Dallas.

“While none of us wanted to believe that any of the priests at our school could inflict such heinous injury, the fact is, a few did,” Earsing wrote.

The men and their lawyers issued a joint statement with the school, the diocese and the order announcing some…

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March 29, 2022 

Dear friends of Jesuit Dallas,

Recently, an agreement was reached with nine of the men who filed lawsuits describing sexual abuse they experienced over 35 years ago when they were students at our school. In reaching this agreement, we have been guided by a desire to find a solution that best reflects the values central to our school’s mission. Focusing on our shared values led us to seek a path toward reconciliation and away from an adjudicatory process.

This has not been an easy journey for these men, or for us. You will recall that in December 2018 the Jesuits’ Central and Southern Province released a list of Jesuits and former Jesuits against whom there were credible allegations of sexual abuse of minors. In January 2019 the Dallas Diocese released its own list of priests who were credibly accused of having inflicted abuse on minors. These lists…

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B.C. Supreme Court has been asked for an order to make the pope’s representative to Canada hand over records related to alleged sexual abuse at a seminary school.

A man who alleges he was sexually abused by Mission Roman Catholic priests and a seminary employee wants the pope’s envoy to Canada to hand over documents related to the case.

Mark O’Neill is seeking damages for sexual abuse he alleges he suffered as a teen during his time at a Mission Roman Catholic seminary from 1974 to 1978. He was age 13 to 17 at the time.

The defendants listed in the suit are: Seminary of Christ the King; Westminster Abbey Ltd.; the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Vancouver, a Corporation Sole; Emerick Lazar; Harold Vincent Sander a.k.a. Dom Placidus Sander; Shawn Rohrbach and John Doe.

In a March 25 application to B.C. Supreme Court, O’Neill and lawyer Sandra Kovacs seek an order that Rev. Ian Jurkovic,…

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A Costa Rican court on Wednesday sentenced a former priest to 20 years in prison for a 2003 sexual abuse case.

The country’s judicial branch said in a statement that ex-priest Mauricio Víquez had used his position as a priest to sexually abuse at least one teenager in 2003, and possibly two.

“The prosecution proved that Viquez abused his position of power and authority, his status as a priest and the confidence the victim had in him to carry out sexual attacks against the victim,” according to the statement.

The sentence can be appealed.

Víquez was extradited back from Mexico in 2021 after he fled in 2018 from Costa Rica, where the statute of limitations had been running out on abuse charges facing him.

In 2003 in Costa Rica, such charges generally couldn’t be pursued 10 years after a complainant’s 18th birthday.

The case led Costa Rica to lengthen the…

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A 19-year-old man has sued the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland over allegations that it failed to protect him from a former priest who was sentenced to prison for exploiting children.

The man filed the lawsuit in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court earlier this month, alleging that Robert McWilliams raped and sexually molested him. The accuser was about 15 years old at the time of the incidents.

McWilliams was serving a life sentence for sexually exploiting boys when he died by suicide in February. He was 41.

The lawsuit, filed by Lebanon attorney Konrad Kircher, says the diocese had obtained information about McWilliams during his years as a seminarian.

The suit says it “revealed that McWilliams was an immature, emotionally unstable individual, who, in the context of the history of clergy sexual abuse of children, presented a threat of harm to children.”

The suit alleges that McWilliams, while a priest at…

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Man files lawsuit against Catholic Diocese of Cleveand

A Northeast Ohio teenager has filed a civil lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland that alleges the diocese failed to protect him against his abuser: former priest Robert McWilliams.

A federal judge sentenced McWilliams to a life sentence last November for numerous child pornography, child exploitation and child sex trafficking charges.

McWilliams took his own life in prison in February.

Konrad Kircher is the plaintiff’s attorney. He said his client filed the lawsuit to hold the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland accountable for McWilliams’ actions.

“McWilliams was convicted, and the federal judge hammered him pretty good with a sentence that made my client feel somewhat validated, but then McWilliams committed suicide in prison, which was a cowardly act that deprived my client of that justice.McWilliams refused to even serve his sentence and now a civil lawsuit is my client’s opportunity to hold…

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David Frodsham was a top civilian commander at a U.S. air base in Afghanistan when Army commanders ordered him home after investigating multiple complaints of sexual harassment.

“I would not recommend placing him back into a position of authority but rather pursuing disciplinary actions at his home station,” wrote one commanding officer when recommending that the Army order Frodsham to leave his post at Bagram Airfield and return to Fort Huachuca, a major Army installation in Arizona, according to a U.S. Army investigative file obtained by The Associated Press.

But when Frodsham returned to his home station in the fall of 2015, he rejoined the Network Enterprise Technology Command, the Army’s information technology service provider, where he had served as director of personnel for a global command of 15,000 soldiers and civilians, according to his Army resume.

By spring of the following year, he was arrested in Arizona for leading…

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While Indigenous leaders from across Canada are in the Vatican this week to meet with Pope Francis and discuss the ongoing impacts of the residential school system and seek a papal apology, residential school survivors are also gathering in Winnipeg, and one said she has a message for the Pope and for the Catholic Church: that it failed when it tried for years to eradicate Indigenous culture in Canada.

“Although we could not be at the Vatican to meet with the Pope, I want to show the Catholic Church and Pope Francis that we are still here.” Geraldine Shingoose said to a rousing applause from the crowd as the We Are Still Here: The Survivors Legacy Conference kicked off on Tuesday in Winnipeg.

The conference brought hundreds of survivors of Canada’s Residential School system together at the Victoria Inn Hotel and Conference Centre for what will be three days of…

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Indigenous leaders and federal politicians say a new criminal charge against Johannes Rivoire, a Roman Catholic priest, is a step forward in the pursuit of justice for his alleged victims, who accuse him of sexually abusing them when they were young children in Nunavut.

Nunavut RCMP said on Monday that they had charged Father Rivoire based on a complaint about a sexual assault that took place 47 years ago. The force has issued a Canada-wide warrant for his arrest. The 93-year-old priest currently lives in a nursing home in Lyon, France.

Over the past year, Father Rivoire’s case has been raised in Ottawa by advocates and federal New Democrats, who have called on Justice Minister David Lametti to have the federal government work to bring him back to Canada.

Piita Irniq, a past commissioner of Nunavut and former territorial politician, said on Tuesday that the…

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Royal Canadian Mounted Police say an arrest warrant was issued last month for Johannes Rivoire, who currently lives in France

Police in Canada have laid a new charge against a “devil priest” hiding in France amid allegations he sexually abused multiple Inuit children.

The case against Johannes Rivoire, who victims say has evaded justice for decades, received renewed focus this week when Canada’s Inuit leader requested the pope personally intervene during a visit to the Vatican by a delegation of Indigenous groups.

Meeting privately with Pope Francis on Monday, Natan Obed, head of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, asked that Rivoire return to Canada to “stand trial for the harms he has done”.

Obed called on the pope to use his “influence with the relevant authorities” to have Rivoire extradited, or for the priest to be tried in France.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said a Canada-wide arrest warrant was issued last month for…

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Mounties have laid a new charge against a Roman Catholic priest who has previously avoided trial for multiple allegations of sexual abuse linked to his time in Nunavut.

RCMP said a Canada-wide arrest warrant has been issued for Johannes Rivoire, who is in his 90s and lives in Lyon, France.

Nunavut RCMP said officers received a complaint last year regarding sexual assaults that occurred about 47 years ago.

Mounties said Rivoire was charged last month with sexual assault on a female.

The latest development in the investigation of the Oblate priest comes after the leader of the national organization representing Inuit people asked Pope Francis to intervene in the case during a meeting at the Vatican on Monday.

Natan Obed, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, said he asked the Pope to “speak with Father Rivoire directly and ask him to go to Canada to face the charges.” Obed also asked…

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For the first time, Francis received Indigenous survivors of abusive boarding schools in Canada who were seeking the pontiff’s apology over the church’s role in running the schools.

Pope Francis on Monday held his first Vatican meeting with Indigenous groups from Canada who were seeking his apology over the Roman Catholic Church’s involvement in a system of boarding schools that abused Indigenous children for over 100 years.

The meeting, with two of Canada’s three largest Indigenous groups, suggests that the pope, who had declined to apologize over the matter, is now prepared to discuss the church’s role as a way of making amends for the harm it caused.

The church has appeared more open to apologizing since several Indigenous communities announced last year that they had discovered signs of human remains, most likely those of children, in unmarked graves on the grounds of former schools.

Monday’s meeting took place…

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There are growing hopes that, like many in Europe, Latin American nations will soon launch independent inquiries into historical cases of clerical sexual abuse.

Over the past few years, several countries in Europe have launched new inquiries into the sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests.

Most recently, following the release of new data by the El Pais newspaper, Spain’s parliament approved the creation of an investigative commission led by the country’s ombudsperson, marking an unprecedented move in a Catholic-majority country that had remained largely silent on the issue for years. In France, a national inquiry found last year that an estimated 330,000 children have been sexually abused in Catholic institutions since 1950. Germany held multiple inquiries on the subject in recent years, while Poland, Portugal and the United Kingdom have investigations continuing. In Italy, too, abuse survivors are asking their government to launch a national…

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Natan Obed is in Rome as part of a delegation trying to get Pope Francis to Canada

The Indian Residential Schools Resolution Health Support Program has a hotline to help residential school survivors and their relatives suffering with the trauma  of past abuse. The number is 1-866-925-4419.

The president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami asked Pope Francis Monday to intervene personally in the unresolved case of Johannes Rivoire, a retired Roman Catholic priest living in France linked to sex abuse allegations in Nunavut.

Natan Obed, who speaks for all Inuit in Canada, said he made the request as part of an “hour-long encounter” with the pontiff and eight-member Inuit delegation to the Vatican in Rome.

“We asked that the pope speak with Fr. Rivoire directly and ask him to go to Canada to face the charges that he’s up on in Canada,” said Obed.

“And, if Fr. Rivoire is not agreeable…

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Indigenous leaders from Canada and survivors of the country’s notorious residential schools met with Pope Francis on Monday and told him of the abuses they suffered at the hands of Catholic priests and school workers. They came hoping to secure a papal apology and a commitment by the church to repair the harm done.

“While the time for acknowledgement, apology and atonement is long overdue, it is never too late to do the right thing,” Cassidy Caron, president of the Metis National Council, told reporters in St. Peter’s Square after the audience.

This week’s meetings, postponed from December because of the pandemic, are part of the Canadian church and government’s efforts to respond to Indigenous demands for justice, reconciliation and reparations — long-standing demands that gained traction last year after the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves outside some of the schools.

More than 150,000 native children in Canada were…

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A key moment in the newly released deposition of Bishop Emeritus Howard Hubbard comes when an attorney asks the retired Catholic leader why he hadn’t called law enforcement after being apprised by a county social services commissioner that David Bentley, a priest under the bishop’s control, had allegedly committed child sexual abuse — and that the cleric had subsequently admitted it to the bishop.

“Bishop,” Jeffrey R. Anderson asks, “why didn’t you, after (Rev. Bentley) admitted to you having committed the felony of child sexual abuse, at his lips to your ears, why didn’t you call up the police and say, ‘I have a priest that just admitted a crime to me’?”

Bishop Emeritus Hubbard’s answer: “Because I was not a mandated reporter. I don’t think the law then or even now requires me to do it.”

You could not ask for a purer distillation of…

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Robert Brennan, a former Catholic priest who lied to the feds in a child sex abuse case, will be sentenced in federal court later this week.

A former Philadelphia Catholic priest who pleaded guilty late last year to lying to federal agents in connection with a child sexual abuse case will learn his fate later this week when he is sentenced by a federal judge.

Robert Brennan, who was charged in a corruption case by the federal government relating to his alleged sexual abuse of a minor child decades ago, is scheduled to be sentenced on Thursday by U.S. District Judge Anita Brody, according to court records.

According to media reports, Brennan, who had since been defrocked, admitted that he lied to FBI agents when they interviewed him at his Maryland home in 2019, saying that he did not know Sean McIlmail or his family, when, in fact, he had…

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A Buffalo Diocese priest who died in 2021 is accused of molesting a 15-year-old boy less than five years ago.

A claim of “unpermitted sexual contact” by the Rev. Robert M. Yetter in a lawsuit filed last week is the most recent alleged incident of abuse by a diocese priest among several hundred cases that have become public through court filings since 2018.

The vast bulk of accusations against Buffalo area priests involve abuses alleged to have happened at least 30 years ago, and diocese leaders say data shows safeguards tightly curbed abuses since they were put in place in 2002. The News found just one other public allegation of child sex abuse against a priest after 2005.

Victims advocates, however, maintain that the diocese has a spotty record on transparency and victims often don’t report abuse until years later, so it’s difficult to know yet whether…

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A former troop leader has been arraigned on multiple charges stemming from Michigan’s review of child sexual abuse lawsuits against the Boy Scouts of America.

Mark Chapman, 51, appeared Monday in Roseville District Court on two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and eight counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Chapman is accused of sexually assaulting two boys at the time he was a scoutmaster in the Detroit suburb, where he also worked in and attended The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Starting in 2000, one victim was abused at the church — where the troop sometimes met — and other places from the time he was 13 or 14 until he was 17, according to Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel.

The second victim was assaulted for years beginning when he was about 11.

The Michigan charges were announced March 9, before Chapman’s parole from a New York…

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The Jesuits of Canada say they will continue to probe allegations of sexual abuse linked to a priest who once worked in the Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) community of Kahnawake outside Montreal.

The decision follows Kahnawake’s vote on the weekend in favour of exhuming the remains of Rev. Léon Lajoie, who was assigned to the St. Francis Xavier Mission Church in the community from 1961 to 1996.

Members of the community came forward last summer with sexual abuse allegations against Lajoie, who died in 1999, demanding that his remains be moved from the territory in order to start a healing process.

The Jesuits said in a statement Sunday they respect the decision, adding that their next step will be consultations with the community over the transfer of Lajoie’s remains to a Jesuit cemetery in St-Jérôme, Que.

They also said that while an independent investigation they ordered into the alleged…

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A Catholic priest has gone on trial accused of sexually abusing boys at a swimming pool.

Father Patrick Smythe is also accused of committing sex offences against boys in his care while on a retreat at a hostel in North Yorkshire.

Leeds Crown Court heard the offences are alleged to have taken place around 40 years ago.

Smythe, 79, of Manor Square, Otley, pleads not guilty to six counts of indecent assault and one of attempted indecent assault.

Father Smythe denies the allegations.

Michael Morley, prosecuting, told the jury that the charges relate to six boys who were in his care at the time of the alleged offences.

The prosecutor said: “We say this defendant has a sexual interest in male children.

“Not only does he have a sexual interest in children but, we say, he has acted upon that interest and he has abused that position he had in…

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As a young girl, Amanda Brandt suffered repeated sexual abuse at the hands of her best friend’s father.

Roy Pompa drugged and raped girls – ages 6 to 13 – in his home where he also videotaped the crimes. 

The trauma set Brandt on a path of self-destruction as an adult, including heroin addiction, attempted suicide and homelessness, she argues. In 2018, she filed a civil lawsuit against Pompa. The jury said she deserved $134 million for her pain and suffering.

But an Ohio law passed in 2005 limits how much plaintiffs – including survivors of child rape – can be awarded for pain and suffering.

Brandt’s damages for the abuse that happened after the tort reform law took effect were knocked down from $20 million to $250,000. The $14 million in noneconomic damages pre-2005 and the $100 million in punitive damages were unchanged.

Brandt is challenging the law before the Ohio Supreme Court,…

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The Albany Catholic Diocese concealed reports of child sex abuse for decades and failed to report the abuse to police, Albany Bishop Emeritus Howard Hubbard testified last year, according to transcripts of a deposition released Friday.

The more than 600-page transcript details instances in which the former bishop covered up allegations of priests sexually abusing minors during his 37-year tenure, which ended in 2014.

Hubbard provided four days of sworn testimony in April 2021. The deposition was released Friday as a result of a recent decision by the Albany County Supreme Court.

“Bishop Hubbard’s testimony reveals decades of decadence, denial and deception at the peril of so many innocent, trusting children, in his own words,” said Jeff Anderson, an attorney for the survivor who sought the release of the deposition.

Three hundred cases were filed against the Albany Diocese alleging sexual abuse under the Child Victims Act. Ten of those accuse the…

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For the first two decades of my life, there was very little I did that wasn’t touched somehow by evangelical churches. I can still sing a random smattering of Bible verses, thanks to catchy little melodies we played on cassette tapes in the car. If I squeeze my eyes shut hard enough, I can reach down into the primordial dregs of my memory and find some of the pledge to the Christian Flag, bringing up with it the Play-Doh smell of my preschool classroom at a church-adjacent academy in Scottsdale, Ariz. I still remember thefirst time I ever felt so overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit that I wept during a church service — I was 11,and it was during a rendition of “Shout to the Lord,” a beloved praise anthem from none other than Hillsong, the Australia-based global charismatic church network known best at the time for its stirring, internationally…

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The former bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany has acknowledged covering up allegations of sexual abuse against children by priests in part to avoid scandal and protect the reputation of the diocese.

Howard J. Hubbard made the admission during a deposition taken last year as part of a response to dozens of claims filed under New York’s Child Victims Act. A judge ordered the deposition released on Friday.

Hundreds of people have sued the Albany diocese over sexual abuse they say they endured as children, sometimes decades ago.

During the four-day deposition, Hubbard named several priests who had been accused of sexual abuse who were referred to treatment and later returned to ministry, without notification to the public. One, David Bentley, admitted to Hubbard that he had engaged in the behavior alleged.

Hubbard testified he didn’t report the allegations to law enforcement because he didn’t feel he was…

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223 people voted in favour of Rev. Léon Lajoie’s exhumation

The Mohawk community of Kahnawake voted this weekend to move out the remains of a priest facing sexual abuse allegations.

Several Kahnawake residents came forward last summer with allegations that Rev. Léon Lajoie had abused them, and demanded that his remains be removed from the community south of Montreal.

“I feel relieved, I was in shock they had to tell me three times that they voted in favour of his removal,” said Melissa Montour-Lazare, the spokesperson for the group demanding the exhumation. “I’m happy for the survivors and wish them well on their healing journey. They can rest their minds now.”

The Mohawk Council of Kahnawake shared the results on Saturday, saying 420 people voted. While two votes were invalid, 223 people voted in favour of Lajoie’s exhumation, while 195 people wanted to keep his remains in the community.

Lajoie, a…

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Analysis: the global church, founded almost 40 years ago in north-west Sydney, has little choice but to launch an independent inquiry

Judgment Day has come for Hillsong – but not in the way its pastors promised.

To recap a damning week for the church, its founder and global senior pastor, Brian Houston, has resigned after an internal investigation found he had breached the church’s code of conduct twice over the past decade by behaving inappropriately towards two women.

The church has further been rocked by the revelation that the former Hillsong Dallas pastor Reed Bogard resigned last year after he was accused of rape. A former Hillsong college student also went public with claims that the church had covered up her sexual assault.

On Thursday Hillsong Atlanta’s lead pastor, Sam Collier, resigned, citing the ongoing scandals and accusations about various members of Hillsong. “A lot of our members were becoming really fatigued with a…

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For five long years, survivors of abuse at the hands of Dunedin clergy have waited to see if a reminder of the city’s dark past would be removed. The news that they had succeeded was greeted with relief, but the handling of the investigation into Bishop John Kavanagh has come under fire. PIJF reporter Daisy Hudson reports.

Murray Heasley was horrified. He was staring at a photo of a convicted paedophile, on display at his old high school.

That man, Magnus Murray, was proven to have committed acts described as “despicable sexual crimes against innocent and vulnerable children”.

It left Dr Heasley and a group of fellow old boys of Dunedin’s Kavanagh College incensed.

Their ire was increased by the knowledge that the school’s namesake, the then Catholic Bishop of Dunedin John Kavanagh, had been aware of abuse at the time and had not reported it to police.

That moment…

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A priest in the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland who has served assignments in Stow, Wadsworth and Medina has been placed on administrative leave due to unspecified allegations of violating the diocese’s standards of conduct for ministry.

The Rev. Michael D. Ausperk was placed on leave this week while an investigation is conducted, according to an announcement that St. Francis Xavier Church in Medina released to its parishioners Saturday.

“These allegations do not allege any sexual abuse of a minor,” the statement said, adding that “the details are confidential, and the diocese has not disclosed them to us.”

“While on administrative leave, Father Ausperk is unable to function in any capacity as a priest anywhere,” the statement said.

In a video posted Saturday afternoon, the Rev. Anthony F. Sejba of St. Francis spoke about the investigation.

“I’ve got some very difficult news to share with you,” Sejba told parishioners.

The pastor said…

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I want to say a couple of things to people who have been spiritually abused in Charismatic settings: particularly to people like me, who are recovering Charismatics that still want to practice religion and find their own ways of talking and listening to God, but might not be sure how to go about doing it. If you were Charismatic for a long time or since childhood, you might not realize the ways healthy boundaries have been violated or what’s normal and what’s not. These are probably are common knowledge to everybody else, but they aren’t always common knowledge to recovering Charismatics. So if none of what I’m about to say seems relevant to you, I’m glad, but people in a certain niche need to hear it.

The first thing you have to know is that, in non-emergency situations, touch is supposed to be consensual. This is sometimes the opposite of…

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The Northern Ireland government issued a formal apology on Friday to people who were abused in orphanages and children’s homes, telling them that “the state let you down.”

Ministers from all five political parties in the Northern Ireland Assembly read out apologies to survivors gathered at the Stormont government buildings near Belfast. Representatives of six institutions where abuse took place also publicly said sorry to those who were harmed.

“We neglected you, rejected you, we made you feel unwanted,” said Education Minister Michelle McIlveen, from the Democratic Unionist Party. “It was not your fault. The state let you down.”

The formal apology came more than five years after it was recommended by the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry. The years-long inquiry found shocking levels of physical, sexual and mental abuse at institutions run by the state, churches and charities between 1922, when Northern Ireland was founded as a state, and 1995.

…

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My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Greetings on this Fourth Sunday of Lent, Laetare (rejoice) Sunday. We are at the half-way point of Lent, a time to have a joyful anticipation of the celebration of the Resurrection of our Lord on Easter Sunday. I also rejoice in my return to ministry as the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Dodge City.

This has been a terrible ordeal and it has taken a long time to determine that the accusation against me was not true, but I always trusted that I would be exonerated because I knew that I did not do what I had been accused of. I trusted I would be cleared of the accusation, and I appreciate the intensive efforts of the KBI and Church authorities to investigate the accusation so thoroughly. I believe these findings speak for themselves and I simply want to get back…

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When an Assembly of First Nations delegation traveled to the Vatican in 2009 to meet with then-Pope Benedict XVI, the pontiff told them in a private meeting of his “personal anguish” over abuse suffered by Indigenous children in church-run boarding schools they were forced to attend in Canada.

What at the time was called an expression of deep, heartfelt regret is no longer seen as sufficient after last year’s discovery in British Columbia of about 200 unmarked and previously undocumented graves of children at what was Canada’s largest Indigenous residential school — one of numerous, similar grim sites across the country.

Now Indigenous leaders are expecting nothing less than a public apology from Pope Francis, with government officials up to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau lending support to their cause. Set to meet with First Nations, Métis and Inuit survivors at the Vatican next week ahead of a visit to Canada…

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The leader of the national organization representing Inuit people says it will not be a celebratory occasion when he meets with Pope Francis at the Vatican next week as part of an Indigenous delegation.

 Natan Obed has a specific item on his agenda: justice for alleged victims of a Roman Catholic priest accused of crimes against children.

Obed, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, wants the church to hold to account an Oblate priest, Johannes Rivoire, who continues to live free despite multiple allegations of sexual abuse linked to his time in Nunavut.

“He is still alive and has not faced legal prosecution,” Obed said in a recent interview.

Rivoire was in Canada from the early 1960s to 1993, when he returned to France.

A warrant was issued for his arrest in 1998. He faced at least three charges of sexual abuse in the Nunavut communities of Arviat, Rankin Inlet and…

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The long-running bankruptcy reorganization filed by the Archdiocese of Santa Fe to deal with clergy abuse claims has reached a pivotal stage, with all parties’ sides entering what could be a final mediation session this week.

Albuquerque attorney Thomas Walker, who represents the Archdiocese, told U.S. Bankruptcy Judge David Thuma on Friday that the mediation session beginning Monday involving the archdiocese, Catholic parishes, insurance carriers and attorneys for 374 clergy sex abuse survivors is “more important than any before.”

“The debtor (Archdiocese) remains optimistic that a settlement can be reached. We want to see if we can wrap this up,” said Walker during a hearing in the case.

If all parties can’t reach a settlement, he added,”We might not have another opportunity.”

For months, negotiations in the case have hinged on how much the Archdiocese’s insurance carriers should contribute to the pool of money needed to compensate victims who were…

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The bishop of Dodge City, Kansas has been cleared of an allegation of sexual abuse, the Archdiocese of Kansas City announced Wednesday.

Bishop John Brungardt will return to ministry after a nearly 14-month voluntary leave of absence which began in February 2021, when the Kansas Bureau of Investigation said it was looking into an allegation of abuse against the bishop.

“The allegation was fully investigated by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI), following which civil authorities declined prosecution,” the Archdiocese of Kansas City said in a March 23 statement.

“Following the KBI investigation, Church authorities conducted their own separate investigation of the allegation. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican has now determined that the allegation against Bishop Brungardt is not supported by the evidence and the case against him has been dismissed,” the archdiocese added.

Brungardt broke precedent last year by stepping away from ministry…

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Two men who worked in direct care at a western Pennsylvania residential facility inflicted what a grand jury alleges was “violent, demeaning and humiliating” abuse on people with severe physical and mental disabilities, federal prosecutors said Friday in announcing hate crimes criminal charges.

Zachary Lee Dinell, 28, and Tyler James Smith, 31, are accused of abusing people who are not able to speak to report their injuries and lack the capacity to defend themselves.

Their 12-count indictment issued Wednesday describes that from mid-2016 to about September 2017 residents of McGuire Memorial in New Brighton were punched in the face and head, choked, kicked in the face, jumped on, had caustic substances and other liquids rubbed into their eyes and had liquids sprayed and thrown into their mouths.

Thomas King, McGuire Memorial’s general counsel, said the abuse came to light when police investigating Dinell for another matter found texts and videos…

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‘It’s nerve-wracking, but I’m also looking forward to it, to the discussions we’re going to have’

WARNING: This story contains distressing details.

A Dene woman from the Fort Nelson First Nation in northern B.C. is feeling the weight of responsibility as she prepares to travel to the Vatican to represent intergenerational survivors in an audience with the Pope.

Taylor Behn-Tsakoza, 26, is the youth delegate for the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) taking part in the historic meetings set for next week. She is part of a larger group of First Nations peoples, including Inuit and Métis representatives, asking Pope Francis for an apology for the harm done by Roman Catholic-run residential schools. 

“It’s nerve-wracking,” Behn-Tsakoza said. “But I’m also looking forward to it, to the discussions we’re going to have.”

Representing young Indigenous people and her community is a responsibility she doesn’t take lightly. 

As the youth delegate, Behn-Tsakoza will be asking…

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WARNING: This story contains distressing details

The close relationship between the Roman Catholic Church and the Mi’kmaq in what is now Atlantic Canada — an alliance that dates back more than 400 years — is being sorely tested after recent discoveries of unmarked graves at former residential school sites.

Some have turned away from the church, but others have maintained their faith.

“It’s just sad that what happened in residential schools should never have happened,” said Jeff Ward, general manager of the Membertou Heritage Park in Membertou First Nation, near Sydney, N.S.

“Those that hid behind religion, they have to answer to the Creator. They have to stand before God.

“My mom is a survivor. I’m a son of a survivor, so she told me the stories, and she’s still with us today and she shares those stories with our family and it’s very hard.”

Starting Monday, Inuit, Métis and First Nations representatives…

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Former national chief who revealed abuse he suffered is part of delegation to Vatican

[AUDIO – The Sunday Magazine]

WARNING: This story contains details some readers may find distressing.

When Phil Fontaine spoke decades ago about the sexual and physical abuse he suffered at Manitoba residential schools, he risked shame and shocked Canadians.

Fontaine, an Ojibway and former chief of the Sagkeeng First Nation, was one of the first Indigenous leaders to speak to the public about the physical and psychological abuse at Canada’s residential schools, during a ground-breaking 1990 interview with CBC’s Barbara Frum.

Now, 32 years later, the former national chief of the Assembly of First Nations is part of a 30-member delegation that will be at the Vatican starting on Monday to talk about the Roman Catholic Church’s role in the horrors that played out in Canadian residential schools.

Fontaine said the “time has come” for a full apology from the pontiff.

“It’s…

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After the death of a classmate, it is natural for teachers to listen to their students and be patient and understanding of the ways they grieve. What isn’t a reasonable response is to use the death of the classmate to their advantage.

Carlos Franco-Leon, 44, a former teacher and coach at Morris Catholic High School, did just that when he offered his support to two 15-year-old heartbroken students, one whom he admitted in a plea hearing in October to touching her buttocks in his classroom and another who he had a sexual relationship with for years.

“It absolutely astonishes me the complete lack of understanding or comprehension of the offense and the lack of empathy for the victims,” Superior Court Judge Stephen Taylor said of Franco-Leon, who stood before the Morris County judge on Friday for his sentencing.

Taylor sentenced Franco-Leon to nine years in jail: six years for charges…

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One of the lawyers defending victims of a scandal-ridden Peruvian lay group has voiced confidence that the civil case he is leading against several of its members will move forward, and he believes the organization could soon be dissolved.

Speaking to Crux, José Ugaz, a named partner with the Benites, Vargas & Ugaz law firm in Peru, said they are “very interested in the dissolution of this institution, which has had a criminal vocation among the highest ranks of its leadership.”

“We also know that at the level of the church, this is being evaluated and it’s possible that the church will make a decision in the coming months,” he said.

The group in question is the Sodalitium Christinae Vitae (SCV), one of the largest and most prominent Catholic lay groups in Latin America. It was founded by Peruvian layman Luis Fernando Figari in the 1970s.

Figari, who is accused of physical, psychological,…

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The deposition of former Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany bishop Howard J. Hubbard, who served in that role from 1977 to 2014, is now public after attempts to conceal it by his lawyers.

In his own words, the former bishop says by not reporting sexual abuse claims to law enforcement he was hoping to avoid scandal and retain the “respect for the priesthood”. When asked by an attorney why he did not inform parishioners, specifically parents, about troubled priests, Hubbard said, “by the standards I was using in the 70s and 80s, I didn’t think that was a necessity.”

Hubbard was deposed over a series of several days in April 2021. According to the deposition, between 1977 and 2002, the bishop was made aware of at least 11 priests who had been accused of sexually assaulting children.

During his tenure, Hubbard sent some of those priests away for “treatment” after…

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After a months-long investigation into allegations of sexual abuse against the late father Léon Lajoie, who worked in Kahnawake for over 30 years, the results were shared with community members last Friday.

The executive summary of the report prepared by King International Advisory Group (KIAG), the firm commissioned by the Jesuits of Canada to carry out the investigation, stated that unless more information comes to light, KIAG’s conclusions “do not currently support any allegation of childhood sexual abuse by Father Leon Lajoie, S.J. in Kahnawà:ke during the period between 1956-1990.”

The summary presents a general overview of how the investigation into the former priest of the St. Francis-Xavier Mission Catholic Church was conducted and the findings that resulted, with no identifying information included.

It states that three alleged victims were identified, and two agreed to participate in the investigation.

“We did get a strong outpouring of people from the community…

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In a lengthy article in “La Civiltà Cattolica”, former Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi SJ says bishops showed “great courage” in commissioning independent report

Father Federico Lombardi, the Jesuit priest who served as Vatican spokesman under the last two popes, has praised the Catholic bishops of France for their courageous decision to entrust an independent commission with investigating Church-related sex abuse in their county.

Lombardi, writing in the latest issue of La Civiltà Cattolica (LCC), gave an extensive evaluation of the report that the commission – known as the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church (CIASE) – issued last October.

LCC is a Jesuit journal whose articles are approved by the Holy See’s Secretariat of State, and the former spokesman’s 13-page evaluation is the first study published by a periodical institutionally linked to the Vatican.

Instrumental figure in Vatican’s response to abuse

Lombardi, now 79, has been instrumental…

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Church of Grace and Resurrection church member Juanita Faulkner is suing Rev. Gilberto Hinds for $2 million for emotional distress and financial losses.

A Queens clergyman had an unholy reaction to a member of his flock, accusing her of trying to seduce him and slamming her as “disgusting” and “stupid,” according to a lawsuit.

Juanita Faulkner claims her time at Episcopal Church of Grace and Resurrection became a living hell in 2018, when Rev. Gilberto Hinds began haranguing her.

“You are the most disgusting person that I have ever met,” Hinds allegedly told Faulkner, in front of others.

At another point, the interim priest at the Elmhurst church allegedly told her, “I have developed an aversion towards you” and “Whenever you and I are in the same room, I feel a desperate need to move to the other end,” she claims in a Queens Supreme Court lawsuit against Hinds and…

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The pastor identified as Pondson John, a priest from the Orthodox Church at Koodal, repeatedly sexually abused a 17-year-old minor girl.

On Thursday, an orthodox church priest was arrested for sexually abusing a minor girl in the Pathanamthitta district of Kerala.

According to reports, the pastor identified as Pondson John, a priest from the Orthodox Church at Koodal, repeatedly sexually abused a 17-year-old minor girl. The priest sexually abused the 17-year-old girl when she was left in his care for counselling.

The victim’s parents had sought the help of the priest for counselling her, as she was facing academic troubles.

As per the police complaint, the accused misbehaved with her two times at two different locations on March 12 and 13. At first, the priest sexually abused the victim at the church. Following the incident, the girl refused to go to the church the next day. However, the…

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How one organization—our own—got it wrong in responding to sexual harassment. And how we can do better.

I joined Christianity Today as its president and CEO in May of 2019. In August of the same year, it came to my attention that one of our editorial leaders had treated his female reports unprofessionally, engaging in unwanted touch despite repeated communications that such behavior was wrong, unwelcome, and needed to stop. I gathered more information about the history of the issue, and it was clear that earlier incidents with this individual had been addressed primarily through one-on-one conversations.

Without any written warnings in place, our options in August of 2019 were limited. We disciplined him, we documented it, and we warned him that he would be suspended or fired if it should happen again. No further allegations of unwanted touch or other inappropriate conduct arose between then and his retirement.

However,…

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Preserving ‘respect for the priesthood’ was behind efforts to conceal sexual abuse, Hubbard said

Former Albany Bishop Howard J. Hubbard testified under oath last year that the diocese systematically concealed incidents of child sexual abuse, did not alert law enforcement agencies when they discovered it, and that their actions were, in part, intended to avoid scandal and preserve “respect for the priesthood.”

The testimony of Hubbard was made public Friday after a judge recently ordered the release of a lengthy deposition that took place last April. The former bishop was questioned for four days that month by attorneys representing dozens of individuals who filed claims under the state’s Child Victims Act alleging they had been sexually abused by priests or others associated with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany.

During his deposition, which took place over Zoom, Hubbard was pressed by one attorney about why he didn’t call the police…

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Testimony Lays Bare Bishop’s Lies in August 13, 2021, Op-ed and Reveals Nearly Four Decades of Danger

Bishop Howard Hubbard’s deposition was released publicly today as a result of a recent decision by Albany County Supreme Court.  For months Bishop Hubbard and his attorneys fought vigorously to keep the deposition sealed and out of the public eye.  Jeff Anderson, one of the attorneys for the survivor who sought the release of the deposition had this to say:

“Bishop Hubbard’s testimony reveals decades of decadence, denial and deception at the peril of so many innocent, trusting children, in his own words.“

This is the first time that Bishop Hubbard’s testimony about his more than three-decade-long practice of protecting accused perpetrators instead of children has been revealed.  Hubbard was the Bishop the Diocese of Albany New York for 37 years.  Cynthia LaFave, who also represents the survivor in the case, said:

“The testimony will…

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Spain’s Church said on Friday it had discovered 506 cases of child sex abuse through a complaints procedure launched in 2020, stressing its desire for “truth” as the nation opened its first official investigation

Unlike in many other nations where the government or the Church itself has opened a probe into the scale of such abuses, this has never happened in Spain.

But this week, lawmakers backed the creation of an independent expert committee to investigate the abuses, with the Church on Friday offering a fresh update on case numbers.

“In the past two years… we have received information or complaints about 506 cases,” Luis Arguello, secretary-general of the CEE Episcopal Conference that groups Spain’s leading bishops, told a news conference.

In 2020, Spain opened 202 “child protection and abuse prevention” offices following an order from the Vatican requiring every Catholic diocese around the world have an office or system…

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Hillsong Atlanta’s Lead Pastor Sam Collier has resigned from the global Hillsong church, citing the recent scandals and explaining “it’s become too difficult to lead and grow a young Church in this environment.”

As CBN News reported, Collier and his wife Toni, have led the Hillsong Atlanta church since 2021. 

In an Instagram post on Wednesday, Collier, 33, wrote:  “This one hurt my heart deeply. I love @Hillsong, it’s leaders and believe God will pull them through this season.”

“It is with great sadness that I inform you of my departure from Hillsong,” he continued. 

“I have appreciated the Hillsong family and want to thank the Houstons for the love they have shown Toni and me,” Collier wrote. 

“My greatest reason for stepping down as Pastor of Hillsong Atlanta is probably not a secret to any of you. With all of the documentaries, scandals, articles, accusations, and the…

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Australia’s biggest evangelical church said on Wednesday its founder had resigned after acting inappropriately towards two women, another blow to an influential organisation already reeling from charges the leader had covered up sex abuse.

Hillsong Church said an internal investigation into complaints from two women had found that its global senior pastor, Brian Houston, had breached worshippers’ trust.

“We understand there will be much emotion at this news, and we all share these feelings,” Hillsong said in a statement on its website.

“We acknowledge that change is needed. We have committed to an independent review of our governance structure and processes, understanding that this is a time of humble reflection.”

The church said Houston, 68, had sent unacceptable text messages to a female staff member and had entered the hotel room of, and spent time with, another woman who was also involved with the church after an event.

Houston was…

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Attorney says she has reports of abuse from other churches in multi-state network

Some of the women who say they were abused at a north Jacksonville church went back to the church campus Wednesday with their attorney to share their stories. Attorney Cynthia Crawford told News4JAX she is a former member of the church as well, which is why the women trust her.

She joined them at the former site of the Jacksonville Assembly of the Body of Christ Church off Old Kings Road on Wednesday. The pastor of the church and two other members were arrested and charged with capital sexual battery this month.

The women who shared their stories with News4JAX were at the church at different times and described the changes and abuse they witnessed and experienced — spanning over 20 years.

“To think that it’s still standing or maybe they just replaced it, like…

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Spain’s parliament has approved the creation of a commission of inquiry to shed light on the sexual abuse of minors in Catholic-run institutions and churches

Spain’s parliament has voted to create an independent commission of experts to conduct an official investigation into pedocriminality in the Spanish Catholic Church.

The move on Thursday marks a major step in the fight against Church-related abuse in Spain and effectively by-passes the country’s bishops who have long been accused of trying to hide the phenomenon.

The new and unprecedented initiative, which was spearheaded by the ruling Socialists and the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), was approved by a wide majority in the Chamber of Deputies.

Two hundred seventy-seven of the 350 elected members voted in favor of setting up the abuse commission.

The vote comes after the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE) announced on February 21 that it was launching its own independent audit on sexual…

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German history is instructive in helping us understand the trajectory of the Church’s reckoning with the abuse crisis

In the history of the papacy, Benedict XVI marks a caesura or a break, something quite ironic, given the fact that many traditionalist Catholics identify his pontificate with the “hermeneutics of continuity”.

This caesura is not only tied to his decision in 2013 to voluntarily resign the papal office, but even more so to the fact that he has now been retired longer than he actually served as Bishop of Rome.

This has marked an extraordinary moment in the life of the Church and now Benedict’s recent penitential letter concerning historical cases of sex abuse in the Munich archdiocese he briefly led (1977-1982) must be added to the picture.

The letter was in response to a report on clergy abuse cases between 1945-2019 that said the former pope mishandled at least four…

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[Video]

 The Rhode Island House Judiciary Committee is considering a bill to eliminate the time limit on sex abuse claims.

On Thursday it heard emotional testimony from sexual abuse survivors.

The civil statute of limitations is currently 35 years, or 7 years after an adult becomes aware of past abuse.

Now, lawmakers are trying to end the time limit on these specific types of cases.

South Kingstown Representative Carol Hagan MacEntee sponsors the bill and wants to strengthen the law, saying it would better protect children and provide support for victims.

Many speakers publicly shared their emotional stories of abuse.

Mary Banks says in the 1970s she was sexually abused by a priest at the age of 16 in Maine.

She kept it a secret until 2020 when she reported it to the Diocese.

Last year, Maine passed legislation to end the statute of limitations on sex abuse claims.

Mary…

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The bankruptcy case of the Catholic Diocese of Rochester could take a potentially significant turn.

A legal stipulation in the case expired at midnight. It allows victims abused by priests to now sue individual parishes.

The bankruptcy case, which is seeking to settle with the victims suing the diocese, is now in its third year. One legal expert tells 13WHAM it could be one of the longest cases on record.

Brian Delafranier is among 500 people who filed lawsuits under New York’s Child Victim’s Act against the diocese.

Facing potentially massive payouts to victims, the diocese filed for bankruptcy in 2019.

The case has dragged on for almost three years and that could prove costly.

A legal stipulation in the bankruptcy case staying the sexual abuse cases from moving forward expired at midnight on March 23, 2022. It had been renewed 11 previous times.

The expiration could potentially take the…

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Nearly five years after her son’s suicide, Patricia Osorio remains in pursuit of the identity of the priest who abused 11-year-old Daniel when he was a student at one of the most prestigious Catholic schools in the Colombian capital.

“I am leaving because I am tired of the life I have … As a boy I was abused at school. They wanted to make me a prostitute,” Daniel – by then a university student – wrote his mother when he swallowed pills in an unsuccessful attempt at suicide.

Looking back, Patricia, herself a teacher by profession, speaks of Daniel’s enrollment at Colegio San Viator as if he fell into the hands of criminals.

Blond and blue-eyed, Daniel “had the face of an angel,” his mother tells Efe while holding a photo album full of images from his youth.

Like many victims of clerical sexual abuse, Daniel was the child of…

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When friends ask Rose-Alma McDonald, “How can you still go to that church?” – and they ask often – the 68-year-old Mohawk from Akwesasne knows exactly what they’re getting at.

For much of last year, the doors of her Catholic church were surrounded by hundreds of baby shoes, reminders of the unmarked graves located around the site of a former Catholic Church-run residential school in Kamloops last June.

“Yeah, it tested my faith,” said Ms. McDonald, a lay minister. “It made me feel bad.”

Like many of Canada’s 11 million Catholics, Ms. McDonald will be watching the developments from an Indigenous delegation’s visit to the Vatican later this month with nervous anticipation. While she hopes the trip, along with a widely anticipated papal apology on Canadian soil, can begin to reverse the church’s troubled relationship with Indigenous people, she knows junkets and regret alone won’t cut it.

“It’s a good…

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The Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) community on Montreal’s South Shore is going to the polls this weekend to decide what do to with the remains of Jesuit priest Father Leon Lajoie.

It’s an issue dividing many community members.

Lajoie was buried on the grounds of the St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in the community 23 years ago.

Last year, allegations of sexual assault surfaced. Now, the community will decide via referendum whether the priest’s remains will remain on the territory.

“It’s a very important issue so please take the time to make your voice heard,” said Mohawk Council of Kahnawake chief Tonya Perron in a video message on Facebook.

King International Advisory Group identified three complainants who had come forward with allegations, however, KIAG noted that “as many as 20 individuals had come forward to members of a community protest group that had formed following the May 2021 Kamloops discovery [of a…

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The Archdiocese of Agaña and parties working with sex abuse survivors announced they are “inches” close to reaching a settlement amount.

“I would say 30 days ago — even two weeks ago — we were a mile or two apart, and now I would measure the distance apart by inches,” said attorney Edwin Caldie, who’s representing the survivors and creditors in discussions with the Archdiocese.

Following a ruling made by Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood, the parties involved were scheduled to discuss a settlement amount Friday morning.

The ruling made on Feb. 26 allowed the archdiocese to use funds from the Catholic schools and parishes to help pay survivors of sexual abuse.

Settling

Although the set amount was not reached, attorneys on both sides said after productive discussions since the ruling was made, an amount should be settled in the coming months.

“We’re getting to a point where I think the…

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While not coming up with a new specific dollar amount yet to offer survivors of clergy sexual assault, the Archdiocese of Agana and its creditors on Friday announced they are “close” to submitting a “consensual joint plan.”

That plan is about compensating nearly 300 abuse survivors and getting the archdiocese out of bankruptcy without closing any Catholic parish, school and other ministries.

“I’m happy to hear that you made progress from being miles apart to inches apart,” U.S. District Court Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood said Friday morning.

The judge gave parties up to April 8 to present their settlement agreement.

Previously, the archdiocese indicated it could pay up to $34.8 million, while the creditors’ committee has been proposing a payment plan of at least $100 million and real estate assets. The archdiocese’s initial offer was lower.

A key trial in February cleared the way for the archdiocese to include assets of…

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“What every institution needs to do is welcome survivors into their midst, to listen to them and act accordingly.”

Nazir Azfal, chair of the Church’s safeguarding agency, has asked survivors of clerical abuse to contact him directly, warning that “some people still don’t get it”.

In his made the comments in an opinion column for the Birmingham Mail’s BirminghamLive, Afzal asks survivors of clerical abuse to contact him directly through his email, chair@catholicsafeguarding.org.uk, stating that he’d learnt over many years that “the experiences of survivors drive change”. In particular, he requested those interested in participating in a survivors reference panel to get in touch.

“What every institution needs to do is welcome survivors into their midst, to listen to them and act accordingly.” And, Afzal added, “I do not want to hear anyone say that “we haven’t got a problem” because they are deluding themselves and endangering victims.”

Warning that “some…

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The bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dodge City will resume his duties after church and civil investigations into a sexual abuse allegation did not support charges against him, Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann announced Wednesday.

Bishop John Brungardt, 63, voluntarily stepped away when an allegation of sexual abuse of a child was lodged against him in February 2021, The Kansas City Star reported.

Naumann, who leads the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, said in a statement that the KBI investigated the allegations and prosecutors declined to file charges.

Naumann said church authorities also dismissed the case against Brungardt after their investigation concluded the evidence did not support the allegation.

Naumann said Brungardt “vigorously” denied the allegation and cooperated with both investigations.

The KBI is in its fourth year of investigating reports of sexual abuse in the four Catholic dioceses in Kansas and the…

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Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas today announced that Bishop John Brungardt will be resuming his duties as the Bishop of the Diocese of Dodge City.  Bishop Brungardt does so after a 14 month period during which he stepped aside after an allegation of sexual abuse was made against him.  Bishop Brungardt voluntarily withdrew from public ministry to facilitate the investigation of the allegation.  During that period, the allegation was fully investigated by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI), following which civil authorities declined prosecution.

Following the KBI investigation, Church authorities conducted their own separate investigation of the allegation.  The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican has now determined that the allegation against Bishop Brungardt is not supported by the evidence and the case against him has been dismissed.

Bishop Brungardt has vigorously denied the allegation throughout, and he fully…

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