ABUSE TRACKER

The Diocese of Lincoln has suspended a priest and teacher with Pius X amid self-reported allegations of sexual misconduct.

Father Joe Bernardo has been suspended after being placed on administrative leave in recent months, according to a release shared with Pius X members on Tuesday.

Bernardo, who’s worked with the school for several years, took a sabbatical and sought inpatient counseling late last year. The Diocese of Lincoln said that during his sessions with a therapist, Bernardo self-reported several incidents of sexual misconduct.

The priest told his therapist that he had intentionally rubbed up against one or more male students at Pius X, according to the release. Church officials said the incidents likely happened off school grounds and may have seemed unintentional to a victim.

Bernardo also divulged instances where he had taken photos of students in public places without their consent. He also said he had taken photos of…

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A Florida pastor and support staff member at a local elementary school has been arrested and charged with two child sex abuse felonies. 

Jeffery Summers, 51, pastor of New Hope Baptist Church in Port Orange, was arrested on Friday evening by deputies of Port Orange Police Department, according to court records. He was charged with solicitation for sexual conduct with a child over a computer and traveling to meet a minor for sexual conduct.

The arrest came as part of “Operation Full Throttle” last weekend. The initiative included several Florida law enforcement agencies and targeted child predators, according to a Port Orange Police press release. Sixteen people were arrested and charged with various crimes related to child sexual exploitation.

Summers also worked as a paraprofessional at Horizon Elementary, a public school in Port Orange, reportedly working with special education children. On Sunday, school principal Melani Johnson sent…

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As News 12 has reported, Jose Saez Jr. had been accused of sexually exploiting dozens of children while he was the pastor of the Iglesia Cristiana Alumbranda El Camino Church.

A Brentwood pastor pleaded guilty Tuesday to sexual exploitation of a child, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

As News 12 has reported, Jose Saez Jr. had been accused of sexually exploiting dozens of children while he was the pastor of the Iglesia Cristiana Alumbranda El Camino Church.

“The defendant’s sexual exploitation of minors, both in person and online, is horrific, and he now faces at least 15 years in prison for his unspeakable crimes,” stated United States Attorney John J. Durham. “That he held a position of trust and responsibility as a pastor of a local church makes his conduct even more reprehensible. Protecting vulnerable children from predators like this defendant will always be a priority of…

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A lawsuit filed in Peoria County alleges a former priest of the Catholic Diocese of Peoria sexually abused a man over a six-year period starting in the late 1990s.

The suit, filed on behalf of Michael Eckert by attorneys at Jeff Anderson and Associates, claims Father Thomas Miller’s abuse of Eckert started when the boy was 8 years old in 1997 and continued through 2003.

Eckert’s attorneys make the argument that the alleged abuse of Eckert is part of a larger pattern of abuse and cover-ups or ignorance of abuse at the diocese starting as early as 1946. The lawsuit frequently cites a 2023 report published by the Office of the Illinois Attorney General that found more than 50 documented instances of bishops receiving reports of child sexual abuse.

The attorneys go on to claim abuse was repeatedly ignored or handled inadequately,…

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– Interview. During its March 31–April 4 Plenary Assembly, the French Bishops’ Conference will elect a new president to succeed Archbishop Éric de Moulins-Beaufort. After six years in office, Archbishop de Moulins-Beaufort reflects on a presidency indelibly marked by the issue of sexual violence in the church.

La Croix: You will complete your second term as president of the French Bishops’ Conference (CEF) at the end of June. What are you feeling?

Archbishop Éric de Moulins-Beaufort: We have worked extensively on very painful issues. These six years have opened my mind and my heart. I feel a certain relief in moving on to another phase, in being able to serve the Archdiocese of Reims more fully. However, I do not at all see myself as being relieved of the issue of sexual abuse, which has definitively marked my life and my ministry. This is an evil that must continue to…

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Dear SNAP members and supporters,

We are writing to you from Rome, where three representatives from our community have been dispatched to advance our mission of protecting children and holding the Catholic church accountable for its handling of clergy abuse. Our presence here is critical during this time of a potential papal transition — and we want you to know exactly what we are doing and why.

A Legacy To Be Proud Of

As you know, SNAP is the world’s oldest and largest survivor organization for clergy abuse, with a mission that has always been global. This is because abuse within the Catholic church ultimately traces back to one man — the pope — who holds absolute authority over every ordained cleric worldwide. Only the pope can hire, fire, or discipline a priest, including those who sexually abuse children or vulnerable adults. If abusive priests are concealed, transferred, or protected from…

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It’s been 500 days since the Oct. 27, 2023, papal lifting of the statute of limitations in the case of Father Marko Rupnik, the Slovenian ex-Jesuit who has been accused of spiritual and sexual abuse by at least 20 women, and developments are ongoing.

On March 9, three alleged victims shared testimonies of their interactions with Father Rupnik on a prime time Italian television program, and when reporters tried to speak with Father Rupnik, he refused.

At the same time, the retired bishop of the Diocese of Koper, where Father Rupnik was incardinated in August 2023, told OSV News that the priest “continues his work all over the world.”

And finally, according to a source close to the Vatican, Father Rupnik is to be tried under the canonical crime of “spiritual abuse” and “false mysticism” — a crime mentioned during the Nov. 22, 2024, audience of Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández…

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It can be tackled by integrating faith-based values with strong legal protections and community involvement

On March 7, UCA News published a report highlighting a strong warning from Timor-Leste’s Education Minister Dulce de Jesus Soares to teachers who engage in the sexual abuse of students.

It underscored the government’s commitment to fostering a safe school environment in Catholic-majority Timor-Leste.

The warning followed a report on recent cases of sexual abuse at two public schools, with school directors as the primary suspects. This represents a serious breach of trust. The directors involved are facing immediate suspension from their teaching roles and positions.

Recently, two high-profile Catholic clergy members drew global attention.

In 2021, a foreign priest from the US, Richard Daschbach, was convicted of sexually assaulting four minors at the orphanage he managed. He was a close associate of Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao.

In 2022, former  View Cache

A second lawsuit has been filed against controversial pastor John-Paul Miller, accusing him of sexually assaulting a woman decades ago when she was 14. The alleged assault occurred at a school Miller ran as a “hunting area for under-age females.”

The assault reportedly happened in the late 1990s, when Miller taught at his father’s former Christian school, Cathedral Hall Academy, according to a lawsuit filed last week in Horry County, South Carolina.

This suit comes just eight days after an Indiana woman, “Jane Doe 1,” sued Miller for allegedly raping her when she was a minor, The Roys Report (TRR) previously reported.

The latest lawsuit further details how Miller and his father, Reverend Reginald Wayne Miller, created churches and religious organizations to conceal and further a pattern of “predatory behavior.”

It added that Reginald Miller used the school “to extend his authority over students and staff while securing financial and…

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A lawsuit was filed Monday against the Catholic Diocese of Peoria on behalf of a man who alleges a priest sexually abused him many years ago.

The suit filed in Peoria County Court alleges Father Thomas Miller sexually abused Michael Eckert starting when Eckert was eight years old, between 1997 and 2003. The abuse happened at church, the rectory, and at St. Vincent de Paul Parish.

Attorneys from the law firm Jeff Anderson and Associates said since 1950, 20 reports of sexual abuse by clergymen have been made to bishops of the Diocese of Peoria.

Anderson said that the bishops have a long history of ignoring reports of abuse, and he noted that 53 Peoria-area clergymen have now been accused of sexual abuse of a child.

“Peoria stands, in my view and my experience, as one of the most dangerous, perilous, and difficult places of all the Catholic…

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Survivors group speaks on efforts by the church to quash abuse cases

After years of waiting, New Jersey’s victims of alleged clergy sexual abuse may finally get answers.

The state Supreme Court on Thursday ordered hundreds of pages of records in the cases to be unsealed, handing a blow to the Catholic Church. The court agreed to hear arguments next month over whether a grand jury investigation of the abuse complaints can proceed.

NJ Spotlight News spoke with Mark Crawford, the New Jersey director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP), about the latest revelations and what they means for survivors.

“It’s really huge,” he said. “They were asked to come forward, give testimony, which they’ve done. And for years we’ve heard nothing.”

“[Survivors] want people to know who did this and what could have been done either to stop it or what was not done to…

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An alleged sexual assault victim of a former Warsaw pastor facing 30 felony charges including aggravated sexual battery and taking indecent liberties with a child speaks exclusively with 8News.

Following a 15-month investigation, in December of 2023, Albert Wharton was arrested in South Carolina by the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office and South Carolina’s Pickens County Sheriff’s Department.

According to the arrest warrant, Wharton was charged with a total of 30 felony charges — including 22 felony counts of taking indecent liberties with a child under the age of 13 while in a custodial position and eight felony counts of aggravated sexual assault.

The alleged offenses were committed beginning in 1981 through 1996. Authorities say the alleged offenses happened while Wharton was a preacher at Berachah Academy, a former school located at Victory Baptist Church.

8News spoke with an alleged victim who wished to remain anonymous. She says she attended the academy from…

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Home Office Minister Jess Phillips believes that victims of abuse within the Church deserve real change from institutions, not just “lamenting and repenting”.

This comes as the Church of England faces a safeguarding crisis, with the Archbishop of Canterbury recently resigning over mishandling abuse allegations against John Smyth, now known as one of the Church’s most prolific abusers.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Phillips declined to specify what changes the Church should make in response to recent safeguarding failures but stressed that victims of institutional abuse are owed a debt for coming forward.

She said: “Whilst I cannot tell the Synod what it has to do, I condemn the acts of psychological, emotional and physical abuse and sexual abuse against both adults and children, including where they occur in religious settings or contexts.

“What I know of the years of working on the frontline with victims of both historical…

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• Following third-party report on clergy sexual abuse in Southern Baptist Convention, feds launch investigation into Nashville-based denomination and leads to charges over incident at Texas seminary.
• Former pastor and seminary faculty Matt Queen pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators in October. Judge sentences Queen TK.
• Outcome of federal investigation so far has fallen short of abuse survivors and allies’ hopes for denomination-wide accountability.

A former Southern Baptist pastor and seminary professor won’t serve jail time after lying to federal investigators in the first and potentially only felony conviction to emerge from an abuse-related investigation into the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.

The Department of Justice began investigating the Southern Baptist Convention in late 2022 following a third-party report on clergy sexual abuse, leading to scrutiny into a January 2023 incident at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas where administrators reportedly mishandled an abuse report. Matthew Queen, a former professor…

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• New Jersey’s clergy abuse victims and their advocates have been waiting seven years for the state to issue a report on clergy abuse.
• Newly released documents show the Catholic Church’s quest to quash the investigation.

A slew of court documents recently unsealed by New Jersey’s Supreme Court reveals the secret quest of the Catholic Church to quash the state’s grand jury investigation of decades of clergy sexual abuse.

The court has scheduled a hearing next month that pits the state Attorney General’s Office against the Catholic Diocese of Camden over the issue of whether the state can go forward with its grand jury investigation of clergy abuse.

After a 2018 Pennsylvania grand jury report found that hundreds of Catholic priests had sexually abused at least 1,000 children, New Jersey’s Attorney General’s Office launched its own investigation.

For nearly seven years, New Jersey’s clergy abuse victims and their advocates have been…

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One year into his tenure as San Diego’s bishop in 2016, Cardinal Robert McElroy was asked to meet with a resident of his Southern California diocese to discuss grave matters regarding the ongoing clergy sexual abuse crisis.

McElroy, the incoming archbishop of Washington, D.C. who will be installed March 11, said in an NCR interview that he had a constructive initial meeting nine years ago with Richard Sipe, a former Benedictine priest, researcher and psychotherapist, and a well-known voice in the Catholic world in support of survivors of clergy sexual abuse.

However, the discussions took a strange turn at a second meeting, McElroy said, when Sipe began making hearsay claims without providing verifiable evidence, including about now-former cardinal and retired archbishop of Washington, D.C., Theodore McCarrick.

Afterwards, Sipe began behaving in an unorthodox manner. McElroy said that Sipe delivered an allegation-filled letter through a process server who falsely impersonated a…

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A Hungarian teacher has been arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting a student during a school-organised sleepover, sparking outrage and legal action. The incident, which took place at a Catholic primary school, was reported by a concerned parent, leading to an immediate investigation. As authorities continue their inquiries, the teacher remains in custody, facing serious allegations that could result in a lengthy prison sentence.

24.hu writes that a teacher from Laky Demeter Roman Catholic Primary School in Hungary has been arrested on suspicion of sexual assault, following a shocking incident at a school-organised sleepover. Reports indicate that the teacher arranged for an eighth-grade student to sleep in close proximity to him in a separate room from others during the event, which took place in the school’s gymnasium. The Zalaegerszeg District Court has ordered the teacher’s detention, while the Zala County Prosecutor’s Office continues its investigation. Further details remain undisclosed, but…

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Accused have been identified as Mahesh Popat Narode (27) and Gaurav Dattatray Mali (21). This marks the third such case reported in Alandi.

A shocking incident has come to light in Alandi, Pune district, where a 15-year-old student at a reputed Warkari educational institution was allegedly subjected to sexual abuse. Two individuals have been booked under the POCSO Act late Tuesday (March 4) night in connection with the case.

The accused individuals have been identified as Mahesh Popat Narode (27) and Gaurav Dattatray Mali (21). This marks the third such case reported in Alandi since January, sparking widespread outrage among residents and raising concerns over misconduct within religious institutions.

https://www.thebridgechronicle.com/news/alandi-two-minor-boys-sexually-assaulted-at-educational-institute-28-year-old-arrested

According to Dighi Police, the victim is a child in conflict with the law (a minor under legal supervision). The incident reportedly took place in January when the student was asleep with other boys in the…

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Marcelino de Andrés, 58, a member of the Legion of Christ, was the chaplain of the Highlands School in Madrid.

The news about these new cases at the Legion of Christ happen as Pope Francis suppresses a similar, but smaller Argentine predatory order.

Five more victims of clergy sexual abuse to the already monstruous record of the Legion of Christ. The accused of these abuses is a priest, Marcelino de Andrés, a 58-years old Spaniard who was Marcial Maciel’s last private secretary.

Him, as other leaders of the Mexican religious order, appear in the main picture of this story as captured by a photographer who documented how the members of that order paid their respects to the predator behind a multinational religious empire who had, until the end, John Paul II’s support and barely was “punished” by Benedict XVI with a “retierement into a life of prayer”.

Following standard practice, Spanish authorities released De Andrés…

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Police in Peel Region say a religious leader from Brampton has been charged in connection with a sexual assault investigation.

Peel Regional Police said the 69-year-old man attended a residence Monday to perform a religious ceremony.

During that time, he allegedly sexually assaulted a female victim.

Police said they arrested the man, identified as Ashok Kumar, on Friday and charged him with sexual assault. They noted that Kumar is also known by the name Ashok Sharma.

“The accused has been a religious leader in the Brampton community for several years and investigators believe there may be additional victims,” police said in a news release on Saturday.

They are asking anyone with information to contact them at 905-453-2121 ext. 3460 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).

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A board said it found evidence that the complaints were credible, noting evidence of “frequent boundary violations with both minors and adults.”

The Diocese of Knoxville said it is searching for a new assignment for a St. John Neumann Catholic Church and School priest who was placed on administrative leave in December.

Father Joseph Reed was placed on leave after a complaint of “boundary violations” was brought to the attention of the Diocese of Knoxville. The diocese had reported the complaint to state authorities and told Reed of the situation.

At the end of January, the Knox County Sheriff’s Office closed its investigation into Reed and said the allegations were unsubstantiated. Soon after, the Department of Children’s Services and the Diocese of Knoxville both confirmed they had opened investigations into the case. 

On March 4, the Diocese of Knoxville shared a letter updating the community on the conclusion of the…

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The Vatican’s Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life has decreed the suppression of the Miles Christi religious order, founded in Argentina and the subject of a Vatican intervention in 2022.

“This decision was specifically approved by Pope Francis on Feb. 6, 2025,” stated an official communication released by the AICA news agency.

Implementing the measure fell to Mauricio Landra, auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Mercedes-Luján, as the papal delegate appointed by the Vatican dicastery.

“Given the delicacy and complexity of the situation, in order for everything to be carried out with justice and charity, in order to implement the decision taken by the Holy See, we entrust this time to Mary, Mother of the Church,” Landra said when announcing the decision.

Miles Christi (Soldier of Christ) was a clerical religious order of diocesan right founded in 1994 in the Archdiocese of La Plata, Argentina.

In…

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STEPHEN Cottrell, the current Archbishop of York who is also caretaker Archbishop of Canterbury following Justin Welby’s resignation, is now in a maelstrom of historic safeguarding scandals engulfing the Church.

The central allegation against Mr Welby is that abuse carried out for decades by Christian camp leader John Smyth was known about and not acted upon by senior figures within the Church. The former archbishop bowed to pressure and resigned after a damning report concluded that had he formally contacted police when he had the opportunity, five years before Smyth’s death, a trial might have been possible.

As a result of the same report, ten clergy were named last month as facing possible disciplinary action over safeguarding failures. They include George Carey, who was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1991 to 2002. The review said he had, as principal of Trinity Theological College in Bristol,…

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Dozens of statements to a French court tell of decades of sexual abuse at a Catholic school. The case has also created a political crisis, with media allegations that today’s prime minister François Bayrou knew what was going on but failed to act.

Since early February, France’s prime minister François Bayrou has been the subject of a damning series of articles by the investigative outlet Mediapart detailing allegations that he turned a blind eye to decades of allegations of physical violence, sexual abuse, and rape at Notre-Dame de Bétharram, a private Catholic school. It is located just outside of Pau, where Bayrou is mayor, and where he’s built his political career for the past forty-five years.

The Mediapart revelations come less than a year after a parliamentary report revealed just how little control the state is exercising over the thousands of private Catholic schools it funds. According to the parliamentary report, most schools have their contracts…

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A New Jersey diocese this week faced a significant setback in its ongoing court battle related to a clergy abuse investigation as the state Supreme Court announced it would consider whether decades of abuse allegations can be presented to a grand jury.

The high court said it would hear from both the state attorney general and the Diocese of Camden in the years-old controversy. Oral arguments are scheduled for April 28-29. 

After a Pennsylvania grand jury report in 2018 found allegations of decades of clergy sexual abuse in that state, former New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal convened a “Clergy Abuse Task Force” to investigate allegations of abuse. 

Heavily redacted documents released by the state Supreme Court and obtained by CNA show that the government sought to impanel a grand jury to consider the findings of the task force, which was charged with “investigating allegations of sexual abuse by…

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Poland’s day of prayer for victims of clerical sexual abuse, scheduled each year for the first Friday in Lent, was overshadowed March 7 by a controversial opinion from the legal council of the Polish bishops’ conference regarding an independent commission for the investigation of abuse cases that has been under development for the past two years.

According to the Polish Catholic information agency KAI, the legal council blasted several fundamental foundations of the “Commission of Independent Experts to Investigate the Sexual Exploitation of Minors in the Catholic Church in Poland,” which had been approved by the bishops in June 2023.

The bishops’ legal council opinion, which was sent to all curial offices Feb. 28, according to KAI, said that a critical vote and resolution taken on June 14, 2023 were actually invalid and would have to be repeated; cited potential lawsuits and other risks for bishops that could come from…

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The Vatican has suppressed an Argentine religious order founded by a priest who sexually abused adult members, and abused the confessional to cover his tracks.

The suppression of the clerical religious institute Miles Christi was announced by the Argentine bishops’ conference Thursday, but approved by Pope Francis before he went into the hospital for pneumonia last month, according to a March 6 announcement from the conference.

The suppression is the latest in a series of moves during the Francis pontificate to address issues with religious institutes founded by abusive priests, and to address governance in new ecclesial movements and religious communities.

Miles Christi was founded by the now-laicized Fr. Roberto Yannuzzi in 1994, as an association of clerics in the Archdiocese of La Plata, Argentina. Drawing on Ignatian spirituality, the members of the institute focused on spiritual direction, retreats, and other initiatives for the spiritual formation of Catholics.

While Yannuzzi…

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In March 2024, the 12-year-old son of popular podcasters Josh and Ginny Yurich wrote a letter to leaders at a Michigan megachurch, pleading with them to confront the behavior of the church’s youth pastor.

“He always comes up to me at youth group and yells my name and gives me hugs and says he loves me, which I feel weird about,” the boy’s letter stated. “It feels creepy considering I’ve barely known him a year.”

Now, that youth pastor, Matthew Swider, is facing multiple felony charges for allegedly soliciting sex online with someone he thought was a 15-year-old boy and then touching him inappropriately.

And the Yurichs are furious with their former church—Community Bible Church in Brighton—for allegedly failing to take their concerns seriously and instead kicking the Yurichs out of the church.

But, in an email to the congregation last December, Community Bible Church claimed it had engaged…

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Apologist Michael Brown is facing criticism for releasing his autobiography on how God can turn “broken people into world-changers,” despite an ongoing investigation into alleged sexual misconduct.

Brown and his publisher, Destiny Image Books, released Brown’s autobiography, “Living in the Line of Fire,” two days ago.  Meanwhile, Firefly, the firm hired by the board of Brown’s ministry, is actively investigating Brown.

“I find it unconscionable, unchristlike, tone-deaf, and extremely hurtful to the victims of clergy sexual abuse and spiritual abuse at the hands of Dr. Michael Brown that Destiny Image Publishers would release Mike’s autobiography while he’s being investigated for clergy sexual abuse,” wrote Shelanu TV President Ron Cantor on X. “Read the room! You could not have waited until the investigation was over?”

Brown has been accused of crossing physical boundaries in the early 2000s with a former secretary, by holding her hand,…

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A secret legal battle over whether the state could investigate allegations of sexual abuse by members of the clergy within the Catholic Church finally came in the open Thursday after the New Jersey Supreme Court ordered the release of hundreds of pages of court filings detailing the behind-the-scenes fight.

At the same time, the high court scheduled a hearing next month to hear arguments as to whether a grand jury investigation of those abuse complaints can proceed.

Survivors of abuse at the hands of priests and others within the church have been waiting for such an accounting since 2018 — when then-Attorney General Gurbir Grewal announced he would undertake a new effort to uncover and document decades of allegations and make those results public.

But despite the creation of a special task force and the promise of a grand jury investigation, it all seemed…

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An investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has resulted in a one-year sentence for passport fraud for Jorge Antonio Velez-Lopez, a 69-year-old Columbian national, former archdiocese priest and convicted child molester, Feb. 28. Velez was also civilly denaturalized as a U.S. citizen and ordered removed from the United States.

Velez entered the U.S. in 2003 as a temporary religious worker. Velez applied for permanent residency May 15, 2007, to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and stated under penalty of perjury that he had never knowingly committed any crime of moral turpitude. He was granted permanent residency Nov. 6, 2007.

Velez applied for naturalization March 11, 2013, to Citizenship and Immigration Services and stated under penalty of perjury that he had never committed a crime for which he had not been arrested, that he had never given false or misleading information to any U.S. government official while applying for an…

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While many good and dedicated bishops and priests in the Philippines and elsewhere are examining their conscience about their responsibility to bring pedophile clergymen to justice, many more are not. In the past, Pope Francis — who remains hospitalized — has strongly spoken out on the urgent need to cleanse the institution of child-abusing priests and religious. “A priest cannot remain a priest if he is an abuser,” he said.

As the successor of Saint Peter and Vicar of Christ, Francis speaks with authority in urging Church leaders to take responsibility for the widespread clerical child sexual abuse that has come to light in the past 20 years and its constant concealment by bishops and priests. “I will be responsible that it doesn’t happen anymore,” he told CNN Portugal in the wake of shocking revelations of such abuse there. Frequently, bishops, priests and lay leaders turned away from the victims,…

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Irish and Polish dioceses commemorate the Day of Prayer for Survivors and Victims of Sexual Abuse on the first Friday of Lent, which is March 7 this year.

Since 2016, the Vatican’s Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors has established a Universal Day of Prayer for Survivors and Victims of Sexual Abuse. In the press release announcing its creation, the Commission explained that a “survivor of clerical child sexual abuse made the proposal of a Day of Prayer.”

In response, Pope Francis requested Bishops’ Conferences around the world to choose an appropriate day to mark this prayer initiative. Dioceses in Poland and Ireland mark the Day of Prayer for Survivors and Victims of Abuse on the first Friday of Lent, which this year falls on March 7.

Candles to be lit in Ireland

Since 2017, the dioceses in Ireland have commemorated this day of prayer. This year, parishes across the country will light…

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Education officials in Catholic-majority nation say student abuse will not be tolerated after two recent scandals

The top education officials in Catholic-majority Timor-Leste have warned of stern punitive action against teachers if students face sexual abuse from them in schools. Education Minister Dulce de Jesus Soares said the government will not tolerate sexual abuse committed in schools.

Soare’s press meeting last Friday at the Education Ministry office in the national capital, Dili, came after sex abuse cases were reported in two public schools involving school directors within a week. Among others present at the conference were Secretary of State for Gender Equality Elvina Sousa Carvalho and National Institute for Child Rights Protection Dinorah Granadeiro.

The government response came a day after Estefania Barreto Cardoso, the mother of an abuse victim, held a press conference saying her daughter faced sexual violence in Nicolao Lobato Public School.

In…

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Members of the Symposium of Episcopal Conference of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) are among the faith and civil society organizations proposing the formation of “an ethical reference group” that will help in overseeing the reparations for Africa following the historical injustices the continent has suffered.  

In a declaration issued at the end of the February 27-28 workshop that took place at the African Union Commission (AUC) headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the delegates said that the group would guide “restorative justice based on indigenous African traditions, sources, and spirituality.”

“We propose the formation of an Ethical Reference Group, in close coordination with the African Union Commission, to assist the AU Committee of Experts and the AU Special Envoy by providing ethical guidance on the issue of reparations,” the delegates said in the statement.

They added, “The Ethical Reference Group will also offer thought leadership and counsel, drawing on global case studies to inform…

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[See also the unsealed Supplemental Brief of the Petitioner State of New Jersey.]

After a Pennsylvania grand jury in 2018 found hundreds of Catholic priests had sexually abused at least 1,000 children over seven decades, New Jersey’s then-Attorney General Gurbir Grewal launched an investigation of allegations of sexual abuse by members of the clergy within Catholic dioceses here.

Prosecutors wanted a grand jury empaneled to consider evidence in the case, but Camden’s diocesan leaders successfully squashed it, persuading trial and appellate judges that a state grand jury had no authority to issue a presentment against a private religious entity — and that all court records in the matter should be sealed.

Wednesday, the state snagged a win in the long-fought battle, when the New Jersey Supreme Court ordered the records to be unsealed and agreed to hear arguments in the case next month.

The decision clears the…

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The 2019 report, which says the university’s president didn’t properly report allegations, could become public in a separate church abuse case.

Seton Hall University has ignored calls by New Jersey’s governor, three state lawmakers and a member of Congress to release a report critical of its new president’s failure to report allegations in a major sexual abuse scandal more than five years ago.

Now it could be a judge who forces the storied Catholic university’s hand.

Avion Benjamin, a state Superior Court judge in Essex County, New Jersey, spent the last seven months overseeing the litigation of 450 claims of sexual abuse within the Archdiocese of Newark and at Seton Hall. Her predecessor in the case, which began in 2019, long ago ordered both institutions to disclose a mountain of evidence to lawyers for the alleged victims.

Yet even Benjamin said she was…

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[Note: The most recent clergy abuse article in the Canton Repository is about a Seventh Day Adventist pastor: Stark and Wayne County pastor accused of kidnapping, sex abuse of a minor, February 25, 2025]

In response to the Canton Repository story of a local pastor sexually abusing a minor, I feel the need to respond. I am 100% against child abuse of any kind in any church or organization. I pray for this minor and her family and that this pastor gets what he deserves.

With that being said, I must also note that I am a strong and unworthy devoted Catholic. So much that in my youth, I considered a vocation to the priesthood and religious life before deciding my vocation was somewhere else. It brought me closer to God, and the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church is not the reason I didn’t enter the seminary…

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Many people have asked for a long time. What did the popes do to curb the incredible amount of child sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church?

My usual answer is: nothing. This excellent new book by investigative journalist Philip Shenon confirms that the popes ignored abuse and protected abusers every way they could—in the United States and across the world. Shenon’s “investigative history of the modern Roman Catholic Church,” shows that the popes made numerous terrible mistakes in running the church. I focus on sex abuse because this book helps to explain why Catholicism has avoided responsibility for abuse for so long.

Do you know the last seven popes? They are:

• Pius XII (1939-1958)
• John XXIII (1958-1963)
• Paul VI (1963-1978)
• John Paul I (August-September 1978)
• John Paul II (1978-2005)
• Benedict XVI (2005-2013)
• Francis (2013-present)

The Beginning

Father Marcial Maciel Degollado started the Legion of Christ, a Roman Catholic religious congregation, in 1941. His abuses started in…

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A former Catholic priest who was convicted of sexually abusing a minor will be deported back to his native country of Colombia after he serves his time in prison, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). 

Jorge Antonio Velez-Lopez — who has not had any assignments or faculties to serve as a priest since 2010 — pled guilty in 2021 of sexually abusing a minor for whom he had a temporary responsibility of supervising. 

The abuse began in June 2005 when the victim was a teenager, and the sexual relationship continued into her adulthood.

At that time, Velez-Lopez was serving as the girl’s priest at St. John the Evangelist Parish in Columbia, Maryland, according to the Archdiocese of Baltimore. The victim gave birth to the former priest’s child and the two married in 2016 when she was 24 years old. 

Velez-Lopez…

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Teachers, health care providers and others must report suspected abuse. Clergy should as well.

There are few areas of lawmaking as fraught with the competing tensions between rights and responsibilities than those involving religion, a necessary result of the constitutional freedom that the First Amendment guarantees for Americans’ exercise of faith.

That tension between rights and responsibilities has been on painful display this legislative session as state lawmakers again consider a bill that would add clergy to the list of those who are considered mandatory reporters of child abuse and neglect.

State law outlines an extensive list of people — with varying levels of contact with children — who are required to report child abuse or neglect to law enforcement or the state’s Department of Children, Youth and Families. Among those mandatory reporters are teachers, coaches and other school employees, law enforcement, health care providers, counselors,…

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Last week, Christian County judge Jessica L. Kruse ruled against motions made by Kanakuk Kamps and ACE Insurance Co. in a fraud case filed against them by sexual abuse survivor Andrew Summersett. Despite their arguments that Summersett’s claim was filed after the statute of limitations, the case will proceed.

Summersett is suing Kanakuk, ACE and other individual parties for fraudulent concealment and civil conspiracy related to sexual abuse he experienced as a child at the hands of Kanakuk camp counselor Pete Newman.

Newman was a serial offender during his tenure at Kanakuk and is currently serving two life sentences plus 30 years for sexual abuse against children.

This decision follows a contrasting decision made by another Christian County judge, Raymond M. Gross, in a lawsuit filed against Kanakuk and other relevant entities by Logan Yandell, who also was abused by Newman while at camp. Yandell’s case recently was dismissed for being “time-barred” and…

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The Congregation of the Fathers of Bétharram has acknowledged responsibility in widespread sexual abuse at a Catholic boarding school it oversees near the town of southwestern town of Pau, where Prime Minister François Bayrou has been mayor since 2014. Meanwhile a prosecutor has dismissed complaints alleging Bayrou failed to act on the abuse when he was education minister in the 1990s.

Since last year,  police have received more than 150 complaints of violence, sexual assault and rape against former religious figures and lay personnel at the Notre-Dame-de-Bétharram boarding school. The alleged abuse occurred between the 1950s and 2010’s.

A judicial investigation was opened on 21 February for rape and sexual assault. Only one of the three men placed in police custody was indicted – the other two benefiting from the statute of limitations, some dating back 70 years.

The Catholic priests who ran the school for many…

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A man who claimed he was sexually abused by a priest while attending a school in Newry in the 1980s is to receive £115,000 in damages.

The High Court case alleged he was attacked by the late Fr Malachy Finegan, who was a former headmaster at St Colman’s College.

The priest, who died in 2002, was accused of a long campaign of child sex abuse but was never prosecuted or questioned by police about claims made against him.

The plaintiff, who is not being named, sued the Diocese of Dromore along with the trustees and board of governors of the school.

The plaintiff was also awarded legal costs as part of the settlement.

No admission of liability was made by the defendants.

It is the latest in a series of settlements reached by people who reported being sexually abused by Finegan while he worked as a teacher in Newry.

He…

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The Fountain Police Department (FPD) reported that a former youth pastor in Fountain was arrested for alleged sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust on Sunday, March 2.

According to FPD, 45-year-old Stephen Hutto was arrested around 10 a.m. on Sunday after an investigation that indicated he had been previously employed as a youth pastor at Fountain Independent Baptist Church, off of North Main Street and West Iowa Avenue, and is currently a pastor at Highlands Baptist Church, located in Boone, Colorado.

Hutto was booked into the El Paso County Criminal Justice Center (CJC) on a felony charge of Sexual Assault on a Child by One in a Position of Trust.

FPD Detectives are asking for the public’s help in locating any additional witnesses or victims who may have information related to the case. Those with information can call Detective Tori Smith at (719) 382-4288…

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A local pastor is facing serious allegations of sexual assault against a minor. Charles B. Brinson, 64, the bishop of Brinson Memorial Church, was arrested on February 19, 2025, and charged with multiple counts of aggravated sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child.

New Jersey Pastor Charged with Sexual Assault of Teenager

Authorities allege that Brinson assaulted a 16-year-old teenager twice in January and February 2024 at his residence near the church. The victim reported that Brinson administered an unknown substance, causing loss of consciousness before the assaults. Following the second incident, the victim underwent a medical examination at a local hospital.

The Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office has filed a motion to detain Brinson pending trial. He is currently in jail awaiting a court hearing scheduled for later this month.

Community Reaction to Sexual Assault by Bishop

Local resident Brooke Baker expressed shock upon learning of Brinson’s arrest,…

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An Arlington pastor who was arrested last July on sexual assault charges is now being sued by an alleged victim on seven different counts including sexual exploitation, according to a lawsuit filed Friday.

The suit claims Ronnie Goines, who serves as lead pastor at Koinonia Church, sexually assaulted a church member on two separate occasions in 2023, and that the church failed to hold Goines accountable for his actions, despite other accusations in the past.

“Koinonia and Goines knew that the representations were false or made the misrepresentations recklessly without any knowledge of their truth and as a positive assertion,” according to the suit. “For example, Koinonia knew that Goines had been involved in prior sexual abuse of a female.”

The woman sued Goines for assault, and accused both him and Koinonia Church of negligence, fraud, intentional infliction of emotional distress, civil conspiracy, and sexual exploitation. The…

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Ali Terwilliger was having coffee with friends when she learned that prosecutors weren’t filing charges against Bobby Hawk, a former pastor accused of grooming young women years ago.

“My heart just dropped,” Terwilliger said. “I feel like I was in shock for a couple of days.”

Terwilliger is one of several women who came forward last year, hoping Hawk — who led EPIC Church KC and also was president of the Blue Springs school board — would be held accountable. But they were told recently that because the statute of limitations had run out, charges could not be filed.

“We were really devastated by this,” said Destiny Bounds, who led a news conference in July where women alleged that Hawk had taken advantage and groomed them dating back to the 1990s, But they also took comfort, Bounds said, that the prosecutor’s office said the reason for no charges…

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The attacks occurred in a children’s home during the 1970s and 1980s, and the case has been referred to the public prosecutor’s office

A case of sexual abuse against a minor within Luxembourg’s Catholic Church, dating back to the period from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s, was reported last year to church authorities, according to a report published on Monday.

The attacks took place against a young male at a children’s home, and a resident of the home has been named as the perpetrator, the report released by the Archdiocese of Luxembourg stated.

The case has been forwarded to the public prosecutor’s office, the archdiocese said.

Another complaint of abuse received involved a religious community, the report said, adding that this referral did not relate to sexual abuse against minors.

Since 2019, the Luxembourg Catholic Church has published annual figures on the number of reports of abuse it received…

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A Roman Catholic diocese has been ordered to hand over almost half-a-million pounds to a man who was sexually abused by a priest nearly 50 years ago.

Judge Lord Clark ordered the Diocese of Galloway to pay the male, who has not been identified for legal reasons, a total of £473,250 for the impact the abuse has had on his life.

Lawyers for the man raised an action against the church at the Court of Session in Edinburgh.

They argued that their client was entitled to compensation for how the priest targeted the boy when he was around five or six-years-old at St Mark’s primary school in Irvine.

The court heard that the boy had sustained a serious psychiatric injury as a consequence of the abuse carried out on him and this impacted his ability to work and live his life.

The same priest, who also hasn’t been identified, targeted the…

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The convent of Montefiolo, in Sabina, where the Pope’s former Vicar for Rome has built a luxurious apartment, will become the new headquarters of the former Jesuits of the Aletti Centre. With the relative expulsion of the nuns who live there. Our report.

“The nuns have gone out, there’s nobody here at the moment, I’m just passing through and can’t let you in,” answers a woman’s voice over the intercom. “But can’t we just visit the church and the grounds, we’ve heard it’s beautiful?” we ask. “No, there’s no one here. But we know there are priests… Silence, the conversation abruptly ends. It’s Thursday 27 February, and we’re standing outside the large metal gate of the convent of the Benedictine Sisters of Priscilla in Montefiolo, in the municipality of Casperia, a small village in the Sabina hills, in the province of Rieti.

We came here because we had been told that Father…

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Since last year, police have received more than 150 complaints of violence, sexual assault and rape at the Notre-Dame de Bétharram school near the southwestern town of Pau, where Prime Minister François Bayrou has been mayor since 2014.

A spokesman for priests who ran a French school where staff have been accused of repeated abuse against boarders on Tuesday, March 4, said they felt “responsible” for what had happened and were seeking to make amends.

Allegations of repeated sexual and physical violence at the Catholic school have cast a shadow over the premiership of François Bayrou, who has been accused of knowing about some of the accusations as early as the 1990s as education minister and as a local official but not acting on them. Bayrou’s wife was a religious studies teacher at the school and several of his children were educated there.

A prosecutor on Monday however said two…

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[See also Judge Clark’s opinion.]

A Roman Catholic diocese has been ordered to pay a man more than £470,000 after he suffered “horrific” sexual abuse at the hands of a priest almost 50 years ago.

The man, who has not been identified, was targeted by the priest when he was five years old while at school in Irvine in Ayrshire and again while he was a boarding school pupil in the Highlands aged 14 to 16.

The Court of Session said the Diocese of Galloway was “vicariously liable” for the abuse, which has left the man unable to work since 2012.

It ordered the diocese to pay a total of £473,250 for the impact it has had on his life.

The priest, who has not been identified, died in 2021 and had been convicted of sexual abuse.

Lawyers for the man, also unidentified for legal reasons, raised an action against…

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A 32-year-old now-former teacher at Archbishop Murphy High School (AMHS) in Everett has been charged with sex crimes involving very young children.

According to King County court records, John Doty was arrested after investigators discovered multiple downloaded files on his computer that contained explicit child pornography in video and image form. The documents state many of the victims were between 4 and 7 years old, with some likely being as young as 1 year old.

“He said that he doesn’t find the content with kids sexually arousing and doesn’t have a sexual interest in kids, but he finds it exciting to know that he is doing something illegal,” the documents read.

Doty allegedly told investigators he downloaded the abuse material as part of his “crime game,” and described downloading, watching, and distributing the child abuse materials as “…very silly but still thrilling, [like] ‘Oops, I did a crime.’”

Prosecutors allege…

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[See also the full text of the MI AG’s report on the Diocese of Lansing.]

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel released a report in December on sexual abuse in the Diocese of Lansing. It is seriously flawed, though she received no pushback from the media; they accepted the report at face value. We did not, and with good reason: Nessel’s animus against the Catholic Church is indisputable (see our website for the evidence).

This is the fourth diocesan report on this subject: reports on the dioceses of Marquette, Gaylord and Kalamazoo were previously issued. The Lansing report found that there were 56 diocesan officials who were accused of sexual abuse between the 1950s and the 2010s. Unlike most probes on this subject, this one includes alleged adult victims as well as minors.

The alleged offenders include one male teacher, three religious brothers and 52 ordained clergy (four deacons and…

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[Includes eight-minute video report and interview.]

A judicial investigation was opened on February 21 into charges of rape and sexual assault against a former school employee at the Notre-Dame de Bétharram school in southwestern France. French Prime Minister François Bayrou, whose children attended the school, has come under increasing scrutiny after a former teacher accused him and his wife of having turned a blind eye to years of abuse. For analysis, we’re joined by Alice Ackermann, communications consultant for the International Planned Parenthood Federation.

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[See also Judge Clark’s opinion.]

A man who was sexually abused by a priest at a Roman Catholic primary school when he was five or six and developed Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as a result of that and other abuse has been awarded £627,000 in damages by the Outer House of the Court of Session.

The anonymous pursuer, F, argued that significant weight ought to be ascribed to his experiences at the school in assessment of damages. The action came to proceed solely against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Galloway, originally convened as second defender, which argued that other abuse the pursuer suffered later in life was an equal contributor to his mental health issues.

The case was heard by Lord Clark. Milligan KC and McCaffery, advocate, appeared for the pursuer and Primrose KC and Rolfe, advocate, for the second defender.

Most significant factor

In the late 1970s,…

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The Archdiocese of Cologne, Germany, has issued a statement of condemnation after a carnival float associating Jesus with the sex abuse crisis was premiered at a parade in the city. 

The float featured a cartoon of a young boy wearing altar server clothes standing outside a confessional. An arm sticking out from the curtain beckons the boy, who pulls away, while a sign outside the confessional reads, “Jesus Loves You.”

In a statement addressed to the festival committee, Frank Hüppelshäuser, head of office at the archdiocese, condemned the float as “tasteless,” pointing out that its imagery “directly associates Jesus, the Son of God, with abuse.” 

“It is suggested that Jesus himself is sitting in the confessional and wants to pull the altar boy into it with a wave of his hand; at the very least, Jesus is being instrumentalized here,” he continued. “If one assumes that the Son…

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Half measures and foot dragging won’t do.

Any good Baptist preacher will tell you that repentance means more than just feeling sorry for one’s shortcomings. It means doing something about them — turning away from evil and heading in the other direction. But the Southern Baptist Convention seems to be having trouble practicing what it preaches.

Eighteen years after an ABC 20/20 investigation found evidence of “preacher predators” in the denomination, six years after the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News detailed complaints against 300 church leaders by more than 700 victims, and almost three years after an audit ordered by the SBC’s own executive committee found that church leaders had ignored, belittled and intimidated survivors of sexual abuse, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination is still dragging its feet.

This month, at a meeting of the SBC executive committee in Nashville, committee president Jeff Iorg said…

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The Catholic Diocese of Arlington has learned that Dr. Eric Sean Williams of Annandale was arrested on Thursday, February 27 in Fairfax County and criminally charged on multiple counts of sexual assault involving a minor.

Until his arrest, Dr. Williams was a long-term substitute teacher since January 2019 and volunteer since October 2016 at St. Michael’s Catholic School in Annandale. His volunteer activities included CYO coaching. No known criminal incidents took place on parish or school property.

As a condition of his teaching and volunteering, Dr. Williams underwent a criminal background check and completed VIRTUS safe environment training on the prevention and reporting of abuse. Dr. Williams first became VIRTUS compliant as a condition of his volunteering in 2016 and had maintained his compliance up to the time of his arrest.

Anyone with any relevant information regarding Dr. Williams should immediately contact the Fairfax County Police Department by calling (703)…

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Frock and frisk.

An NYPD chaplain has been busted in the Bronx for allegedly patronizing a prostitute, according to police.

Father Michael Eguino, a Catholic chaplain for the NYPD and parochial vicar of St. Anselm Church in the Bronx, was arrested at about 11:20 a.m. Friday, cops said.

Sources said the 40-year-old was caught offering a woman money for sex.

Eguino was charged with patronizing a prostitute and served a desk appearance ticket for his unholy alleged act.

The circumstances surrounding the sinful solicitation remain unclear.

Eguino was made an NYPD chaplain in August 2021, just seven years after being ordained a priest.

He also serves as a spiritual director for the NYPD Manhattan, Bronx, and Staten Island Holy Name Society.

“In his spare time, he enjoys fishing, traveling, strategy games, playing sports, and is a fan of the Yankees, Knicks, and Jets,” according to…

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In the past week, two important reports have called attention to the lingering, devastating fallout from the sex-abuse scandal. The fundamental problem today is the same problem that gave rise to the scandal in the first place: too many bishops are not acting like bishops.

First let me call your attention to an essay in First Things by Michael Mazza, with the provocative title: “Who’s Really Calling the Shots at US Diocesan Chanceries?” Mazza observes that Vatican II clearly taught that bishops are responsible for the operations of their own dioceses. In practice, however, “It seems that lawyers and risk managers, not bishops, are often running the show.”

Mazza can cite chapter and verse. Since 2002, when the Diocese of Manchester, New Hampshire, caved in to demands from the state’s attorney general in order to avoid criminal prosecution, one diocese after another has agreed to prosecutors’ demands that endanger—in…

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The Second Vatican Council taught that bishops are not mere delegates of the pope, regional managers of an international operation headquartered in Rome. On the contrary, bishops have authority directly from God to shepherd those entrusted to their care—to exercise their office as teacher, priest, and ruler. 

So the answer to “who’s in charge” of the dioceses ought to be very simple. But is it? A quick glance at publicly available documents should raise serious doubts, particularly regarding the discipline of diocesan clergy. It seems that civil lawyers and risk managers, not bishops, are often running the show.

The Diocese of Manchester signed a Non-Prosecution Agreement in 2002 with the state attorney general, agreeing to require that “all diocesan personnel” comply with the mandatory reporting requirements for child abuse under state law—with no exception for the sacramental seal or the internal forum, raising obvious concerns regarding the inviolable…

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The Church of England is preparing charges against 10 mostly retired clergy, including former Archbishop George Carey and retired Bishop of Durham Paul Butler, who stand accused of not acting on reports of abuses by layman John Smyth in the 1970s and 1980s.

Smyth used a twisted interpretation of Hebrews 12:4 to convince young men that they could draw closer to God by allowing him to beat them with a cane, often to the point that their posteriors were bleeding profusely. Smyth’s wife reportedly provided his victims with diapers and ointment to help with the wounds.

Several of the 10 were significant figures in conservative evangelical circles within the Church of England. Smyth, a popular speaker, was chairman of the trust that operated the Iwerne Camps, through which he found many of his victims, from 1974 to 1982.

Some of the 10, such as Lord…

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A former Catholic school teacher and serial abuser of boys with three previous convictions for sexual offending will now be sentenced for a fourth time after admitting another historic crime.

Charles Robert Afeaki, 81, was a Marist Brother who used his teaching positions in Invercargill and Auckland in the 1970s and early 1980s to target victims. He often claimed to be disciplining his victims for alleged minor infractions, dishing out instead sadistic sexual abuse.

His crimes first caught up to him in the 1990s, when he was found guilty after a trial in the High Court at Auckland of abusing four former students. He was sentenced again in the High Court in 2003 after a fifth student came forward and again last year – this time in Auckland District Court – for the abuse of two others.

In January, he returned to Auckland District Court – albeit…

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Most Reverend Vincent Long Van Nguyen OFM Conv DD STL, Bishop of Parramatta

Homily for the 8th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C 

Readings: Ecclesiasticus 27:4-7; 1 Cor 15:54-58; Luke 6:39-45

Caution against our blind spots and distortions of the Christian faith.

Dear brothers and sisters,

At the beginning of the synod in Rome last year, there was a penitential ceremony that was particularly significant. It signalled the “change of era” that Pope Francis often spoke about. “Change of era” indicates the willingness to convert to a new way of being Church, consisting in adopting a culture of humility, vulnerability, servant-leadership and preferential option for the poor. This was truly a paradigm shift, that is, a radical change from the default position of dominance, power and triumphalism that was part of the legacy of the pre-Vatican II era.

During this ceremony, Pope Francis asked for forgiveness for the Church’s sins…

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Pope Francis’ clinical condition remains stable after Friday’s bronchospasm episode that caused vomiting and sudden respiratory deterioration, according to a Holy See Press Office statement released Saturday evening.

The 88-year-old pontiff has been alternating between noninvasive mechanical ventilation and high-flow oxygen therapy, the Vatican communiqué stated.

Medical updates indicate the Holy Father remains fever-free with no signs of infection in his blood work. His vital signs, including blood pressure and heart rate, continue to be stable. The statement also highlighted that Pope Francis has maintained a healthy appetite and is actively participating in breathing exercises prescribed by his medical team.

Vatican officials confirmed the pope has not experienced further bronchospasm episodes. He remains “alert and oriented” and received the Eucharist Saturday afternoon, after which he dedicated time to prayer.

The statement concluded by noting that “the prognosis remains reserved,” suggesting doctors are still cautious about the pope’s recovery timeline.

The Holy…

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Eric Sean Williams of Annandale, a longtime substitute teacher at St. Michael’s Catholic School in Annandale, was arrested on Feb. 27 for multiple counts of sexual assault involving a minor, the Catholic Diocese of Arlington announced.

No known criminal incidents took place on parish or school property, the diocese states. Williams had been a sub since January 2019 and a volunteer since 2016 at St. Michaels. His volunteer activities included coaching students in the Catholic Youth Organization.

The diocese encourages anyone with relevant information about Williams to immediately contact the Fairfax County Police Department at 703-691-2131.

Before being allowed to volunteer, Williams underwent a criminal background check and completed VIRTUS training on the prevention and reporting of abuse, the diocese states. Williams first became VIRTUS compliant in 2016 and had maintained his compliance up to the time of his arrest.

“The Catholic Diocese of…

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In the past week, two important reports have called attention to the lingering, devastating fallout from the sex-abuse scandal. The fundamental problem today is the same problem that gave rise to the scandal in the first place: too many bishops are not acting like bishops.

First let me call your attention to an essay in First Things by Michael Mazza, with the provocative title: “Who’s Really Calling the Shots at US Diocesan Chanceries?” Mazza observes that Vatican II clearly taught that bishops are responsible for the operations of their own dioceses. In practice, however, “It seems that lawyers and risk managers, not bishops, are often running the show.”

Mazza can cite chapter and verse. Since 2002, when the Diocese of Manchester, New Hampshire, caved in to demands from the state’s attorney general in order to avoid criminal prosecution, one diocese after another has agreed to prosecutors’ demands that endanger—in…

View Cache

he Second Vatican Council taught that bishops are not mere delegates of the pope, regional managers of an international operation headquartered in Rome. On the contrary, bishops have authority directly from God to shepherd those entrusted to their care—to exercise their office as teacher, priest, and ruler. 

So the answer to “who’s in charge” of the dioceses ought to be very simple. But is it? A quick glance at publicly available documents should raise serious doubts, particularly regarding the discipline of diocesan clergy. It seems that civil lawyers and risk managers, not bishops, are often running the show.

The Diocese of Manchester signed a Non-Prosecution Agreement in 2002 with the state attorney general, agreeing to require that “all diocesan personnel” comply with the mandatory reporting requirements for child abuse under state law—with no exception for the sacramental seal or the internal forum, raising obvious concerns regarding the inviolable…

View Cache

The Catholic Diocese of Arlington has learned that Dr. Eric Sean Williams of Annandale was arrested on Thursday, February 27 in Fairfax County and criminally charged on multiple counts of sexual assault involving a minor.

Until his arrest, Dr. Williams was a long-term substitute teacher since January 2019 and volunteer since October 2016 at St. Michael’s Catholic School in Annandale. His volunteer activities included CYO coaching. No known criminal incidents took place on parish or school property.

As a condition of his teaching and volunteering, Dr. Williams underwent a criminal background check and completed VIRTUS safe environment training on the prevention and reporting of abuse. Dr. Williams first became VIRTUS compliant as a condition of his volunteering in 2016 and had maintained his compliance up to the time of his arrest.

Anyone with any relevant information regarding Dr. Williams should immediately contact the Fairfax County Police Department by calling (703)…

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The state Senate passed a bill Friday afternoon to make religious leaders mandatory reporters of child abuse and neglect. Supporters say the move is crucial to protecting children from harm, especially sexual abuse, while opponents argue the bill could end up doing more harm.

Senate Bill 5375 would make “members of the clergy” mandatory reporters like doctors, teachers and other people who work with kids. Under the law, religious leaders would be required to tell law enforcement or the Department of Children, Youth and Families if they suspect any harm has been done to a child. They must do so even if they learned that information during a confession or other penitential communication.

This is the third time in recent years that making clergy mandatory reporters has been attempted, with exemptions for reporting information learned in confession being a sticking point in the past.

Prime sponsor Sen….

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Legislation to make clergy members mandatory reporters of child abuse and neglect passed the Washington State Senate Friday on a 28-20 vote.

Currently, Washington is one of just five states in the country that does not list clergy as mandatory reporters of child abuse or neglect.

Senate Bill 5375, sponsored by Sen. Noel Frame (D-Seattle), would require clergy to report information about child abuse to law enforcement or the Department of Children, Youth, and Families, with no exemption for whether it was learned during “penitential communications” – a term applicable to many religions but commonly understood as “confession” in the Catholic faith.

“It’s long past time that the Legislature steps up, closes this loophole, and protects children,” Frame said. “I know this is a tough subject for many of my colleagues, especially those with deep religious views. I respect that, but this bill is about the separation of church and state. This bill…

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The next pope must do what Francis refused: enact a universal zero tolerance law for abuse and cover-up

Sympathy for the pope must not mean ignoring his failure on abuse

Unlike Francis, Benedict XVI, and John Paul II, successor cannot have covered up sex crimes 

Summary 

• The next pope must institute a zero tolerance law for sexual abuse that immediately removes abusive clergy and leaders who have covered up abuse from ministry and mandates independent oversight of bishops. He must use his authority to enact fundamental, institutional changes to end the systematic practice of sexual abuse and its concealment.
• The next pope must not have any history of having covered up sexual abuse.
• Because of his history of covering up abuse in Argentina, Francis never possessed the necessary credibility to overhaul the Vatican’s management of sexual abuse cases.
• None of Francis’ reforms or initiatives have produced actual “zero tolerance” for…

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An anonymous woman from Indiana alleges Miller raped her in 1998 when she was 15 and he was 19 and working as a youth church leader, per the complaint

South Carolina pastor John-Paul Miller, whose estranged wife authorities say died by suicide last April, is accused in a new lawsuit of raping a 15-year-old girl decades ago.

An anonymous woman from Indiana alleges Miller raped her in 1998 when she was 15 and he was 19 and working as a youth church leader, according to a complaint filed Feb. 25 in Horry County’s Court of Common Pleas reviewed by PEOPLE.

The Jane Doe also alleged Miller touched her genitals without her consent when the two encountered each other in public in Myrtle Beach in 2023, per the complaint.

About 30 minutes later, Doe says the two got into an argument over him allegedly using his title…

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 Anglican Watch, a watchdog group for the Episcopal Church, is calling for the immediate resignation of the Rev. Barb Kempf, who serves as the national intake officer for complaints against bishops under the church’s Title IV clergy disciplinary processes. The move follows a series of dismissals by Kempf on pretextual bases, including canonically unauthorized factfinding efforts, false and misleading interpretations of church canons, and repeated refusals to obtain needed information from complainants.

In one case, Kempf brushed off a clergy disciplinary complaint against retired Massachusetts bishop Alan Gates involving taking a child across state lines for purposes of sexual abuse. Gates failed to report the matter to law enforcement as required by state law and church policy.

“When incoming presiding bishop Sean Rowe took office, and with the departure of corrupt Bishop Todd Ousley, who previously handled bishop clergy disciplinary complaints against bishops, we had great hopes that the…

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The Vatican Dicastery for Legislative Texts strongly cautioned against publishing “news” that would harm the reputation of an individual, especially someone who is deceased, when it comes to priests accused of abuse and not found guilty in civil or canonical procedures.

The right to defend oneself and the principles of presumed innocence until proven guilty must be protected and guaranteed, said a letter signed by Archbishop Filippo Iannone, prefect of the dicastery, and Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta, dicastery secretary.

They also said the church must uphold the principle of the non-retroactivity of crime, that is, that no person can be criminally responsible under a law or statute for conduct before that law enters into force.

Another “undeniable legal foundation” for forbidding this practice, they wrote, is Pope Francis who wrote: “It is necessary to prevent the lists of the accused being published, even by dioceses, before the preliminary investigation and…

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Janko Kolosnjaji guilty of sexually assaulting minor in 2023

Warning: this story contains references to sexual assault.

A Ukrainian Catholic priest collapsed in a Saskatoon courtroom and had to be defibrillated after a judge declared him guilty of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl in a church.

Janko Kolosnjaji, 71, was in Saskatoon provincial court Wednesday to hear the verdict in his judge-alone trial for one count of sexual assault of a minor. Saskatoon police charged Kolosnjaji in April 2023, about a month after a woman reported her 13-year-old daughter was sexually assaulted at the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of St. George in the Pleasant Hill neighbourhood.

Judge Lua Gibb found Kolosnjaji guilty and scheduled sentencing for June 16. Gibb found the girl did not consent to a kiss from Kolosnjaji and rejected the defence that he kissed the girl on the lips as part of a cultural greeting and not for sexual purposes.

…

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CONTENT WARNING: This article refers to child abuse.

A teacher at a Canberra college who sexually violated a student four decades ago had already indecently assaulted one child and went on to rape a third.

On Wednesday (27 February), 82-year-old John Vincent Roberts was sentenced to two years and eight months’ jail, to be suspended once he spent 12 months behind bars, over the abuse he inflicted in the early 1980s against his second victim.

In 1982 and 1983, he was in his 40s and worked as a drama teacher at St Edmund’s College, the ACT Supreme Court heard.

The college was a boy’s school run by the Congregation of Christian Brothers at the time, while Roberts was a member of the congregation who lived at the school’s accommodation.

He began to befriend the victim-survivor when the boy was 15, showing him favouritism over other students, and eventually offered to…

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Lucas Timothy Hunt, the 25-year-old founder of Thank You Jesus Yard Signs, was charged Feb. 25 with one count of second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor in Randolph County, N.C., after a brief investigation by the Invictus Task Force.

North Carolina residents likely have seen hundreds of these signs scattered around neighborhoods or along highways, as the signs are part of a larger “Thank You Jesus Mission” the 501(c)3 nonprofit ministry advertises.

According to the company website, Hunt founded the ministry as a teenager in 2016 as an Easter project for his “small rural church.” Since then, “170,000 signs have been sold along with car magnets, garden flags and bracelets.” Revenue from the sales is used to provide “grants to religious 501(c)3’s who seek to share God’s love.”

According to court documents, Invictus Task Force investigators found a pornographic video of two children in Hunt’s possession after receiving a tip from the…

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Calvary Church Lead Pastor Chantry Dean said that the church is committed to supporting the victims and enhancing security.

The pastor of a Bentonville church where multiple sexual assaults allegedly took place at the hands of a former volunteer has released a statement addressing the situation and vowing to enhance training requirements.

Andrew Apple, 27, was arrested on Feb. 21 by the Bentonville Police Department and is accused of rape, second-degree sexual assault, and sexual indecency with a child.

Court documents filed days later revealed that Apple was a volunteer at a Bentonville church, and that incidents of alleged rape, sexual assault, and inappropriate touching occurred between Apple and multiple children over the span of years on church grounds.

The church that Apple volunteered at was not identified in court documents. However, the pastor at Calvary Church in Bentonville has since confirmed that Apple was a…

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Spain’s Catholic Church, long criticised for lacking transparency about its handling of sexual abuse committed on its watch, on Thursday said its contested scheme to compensate victims had started.

Pressure on the Spanish Church to compensate victims amplified after a damning 2023 report estimated that Roman Catholic clergy and lay people sexually abused more than 400,000 minors since 1940.

The Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE), which groups the country’s leading bishops, presented its own compensation plan last year but without providing details on when or how it would be implemented.

CEE secretary general Francisco Cesar Garcia Magan told reporters the plan “is working… cases presented by congregations, by dioceses or directly by victims are being handled”.

But he was unable to reveal how much had been paid out to victims, saying the commission responsible for handling the claims “works independently”.

The commission would report on its work after a year of…

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The Spanish Catholic Church announced February 27 that it has put in place its mechanism for compensating victims of sexual assaults committed by clergy. According to the press, the commission began its work at the end of last year.

The Spanish Catholic Church, criticized for years for its inaction regarding sexual assaults committed by clergy, announced that it has put in place its compensation mechanism.

“The comprehensive reparation plan for victims of abuse is operational (…) Cases presented by congregations, dioceses, or directly by victims are already being handled,” declared Auxiliary Bishop Francisco García Magán of Toledo, secretary general of the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE), during a February 27 press conference.

However, he did not specify how long the mechanism has been operational and said he did not know how much compensation has already been granted, as the commission responsible for awarding them “operates autonomously.”

Further reading: In Spain, church…

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Mobile pastor Bradrick Vail, who was accused of raping two women in Prichard and Mobile, has been found guilty on seven counts of the lesser charge of sexual misconduct.

The jury deliberated over parts of two days before returning the verdict.

Investigators say he met both alleged victims through his church, Tree of Life Deliverance Ministries on Stanton Road.

The two women testified that he sexually assaulted them.

Vail had been charged with three counts of first-degree rape, one count of first-degree sodomy and three counts of first-degree sexual abuse. Those are all felonies.

But the jury opted to convict on misdemeanors charges, meaning the maximum punishment is one year in jail on each count.

Mobile County Circuit Judge Jill Phillips allowed Vail to remain free on bond until sentencing, which she set for April 7.

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Law enforcement officials in New Jersey have arrested 64-year-old Charles B. Brinson, on charges that claim he molested a teen who passed out after Brinson, allegedly, gave the victim an ‘unknown substance’

Law enforcement officials have arrested a 64-year-old pastor at a church in Trenton, NJ, on charges that claim he molested a teen.

According to police, Charles B. Brinson, pastor of the Brinson Memorial Church on Brinson Avenue in Trenton, NJ, has been arrested and charged with aggravated sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child following separate incidents that, allegedly, happened earlier this year.

Resources for victims of sexual assault are available through the National Sexual Violence Resources Center and the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-4673.

Police officials said they were contacted by the alleged 16-year-old victim who claimed that on separate occasions in January and February of this year, while at Brinson’s home, the…

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Former federal parliamentarian Jessika Soors has been appointed National Coordinator for the fight against sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

The Dignity Foundation, created by the Church to handle reports of sexual violence by religious leaders, announced her appointment on Wednesday.

Soors, 36, was briefly a Groen parliamentarian before resigning in 2020 to join the office of then Secretary of State for Gender Equality Sarah Schlitz as her political director.

She then moved to the Flemish administration, where she worked on recognising local religious communities.

Soors’ role will involve coordinating and independently implementing the Catholic Church’s policies against sexual violence.

Archbishop Luc Terlinden of Mechelen-Brussels described her as a key figure in the Church’s renewed action plan to combat sexual abuse within pastoral relationships.

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A former Sioux Falls pastor is in the Minnehaha County Jail facing sex charges.

52-year-old Patrick Anderson is accused of having unwanted sexual contact with four different people, between April and August of last year.

In one case he’s also charged with raping the victim.

According to court records, he used to go by the name of Patrick Boll.

KELOLAND News did a story with him in 2016 when he was the pastor of a local Baptist church.
He told us about a program he started to help women in abusive relationships.

“I have a heart for women, for children, for people that have been pushed out of a bully position really that they just need someone to fight for them,” Anderson said in the 2016 story.

Authorities issued a warrant for Anderson’s arrest last week. He was booked into jail this morning, where he is being held on a $10,000…

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A former Sioux Falls pastor was arrested on Tuesday for charges of rape and sexual contact.

Patrick Michael Anderson has pled not guilty to one count of rape in the fourth degree and four counts of sexual contact without consent.

According to court documents, the charges the 52-year-old faces stem from incidents that occurred between April and August of 2024 and involve four different victims.

The Restoration Baptist Church of Sioux Falls confirmed to Dakota News Now that Anderson, who is also known as Patrick Boll, was a pastor at the church, but was fired in 2023.

According to Call to Freedom, a local human trafficking advocacy organization, Anderson ran a program for women coming out of trafficking situations called House of Boaz. Call to Freedom urges any women who came into contact with Anderson to call 605-759-3565 for assistance.

The rape charge is a Class 3 felony and is…

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A Colorado man accused of sexually assaulting a child while working as a youth pastor in Wisconsin Rapids more than 20 years ago is expected to reach a plea agreement in his case.

James Lane, 52, of Centennial, Colo., is charged with repeated sexual assault of a child.

Investigators the charge stems from a report made to the Clergy and Faith Leader Abuse Initiative. According to a news release, the victim in this case had not reported the assault to either church or legal authorities prior to reporting through the tip website.

According to a news release, Lane was working at Faith Reformed Church in Wisconsin Rapids when he assaulted the victim in his vehicle while driving the victim home. When interviewed by Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation special agents, Lane allegedly stated that he had a “relationship” with a girl in the youth group that got…

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A new court date has been set for a former Romanian Orthodox priest, charged in connection with a historical sexual assault in the Russell area.

Last June, Russell RCMP say a woman in her 60’s reported that a priest at a church in Lennard, Manitoba, had sexually assaulted her multiple times over the course of two years, in the early 1970’s.

The victim was between the ages of 11 and 12 at the time of the alleged assaults.

81-year-old Constantin Turcoane of Regina, had his matter heard in Russell Provincial Court yesterday (Wed), where it was adjourned to April 23.

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Three children sexually abused by their father asked the Arizona Court of Appeals to reverse a summary judgment action clearing the children’s physician, who didn’t report the abuse because it was disclosed to him under religious confession.

The children’s attorney argued Tuesday that John Herrod — bishop of a small Mormon congregation in Bisbee, Arizona — waived his clergy-pertinent privilege to keep the abuser’s confession confidential when he told the children’s mother about the abuse. The plaintiffs asked the court to reverse a lower ruling that says Herrod never waived that privilege. 

Paul Adams sexually abused all six of his children for at least seven years until his arrest, confession and subsequent suicide in 2017. He regularly raped Jane Doe 1, now 15, when she was as young as six years old and posted videos to the internet, which eventually led to his demise.

In 2021,  View Cache

Apologist Michael Brown, who’s under investigation for alleged sexual misconduct, was honored with a standing ovation at a conference last weekend at Mercy Culture Church, where Brown serves as an apostolic elder.

In his message at the Presence Driven Church Conference in Fort Worth, Texas, Mercy Culture Pastor Landon Schott equated the allegations against Brown with “gossip and slander.”

Schott also warned pastors that an “accuser of the brethren is going after men of God that have given their lives to build the kingdom.”

Then, directly addressing Brown, who was sitting in the first row, Schott exclaimed, “Dr. Brown, we honor you! We celebrate you! And this Presence Driven Church and community of pastors is behind you!”

The approximately 1,500 pastors and attendees in the room rose to their feet cheered for Brown for nearly a minute.

Your tax-deductible gift helps our journalists report the truth and hold…

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CANTON − A Stark and Wayne County pastor is accused of kidnapping and sexually abusing a minor during a camping trip last year in Ashland County.

The Rev. Jesse Santos, 59, pastor of the Canton Seventh-day Adventist Church in Plain Township, was initially arrested by Stark County sheriff’s deputies on Feb. 15 and held at the jail in lieu of bond for the Ashland County Sheriff’s Office, where the complaint originated.

Santos faces charges of kidnapping, a first-degree felony; two counts of gross sexual imposition, a fourth-degree felony; sexual imposition, a third-degree misdemeanor, and endangering children, a first-degree misdemeanor.

The charges allege Santos, who lives in Lake Township, took a 14-year-old girl against her will and had sexual contact with her on Sept. 17 and 18 while camping in Ashland County.

He was arraigned Tuesday by Ashland County Common Pleas Magistrate Emily Bates.

Santos, who remained in the Ashland County…

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COLOGNE, Germany (AP) — Germany’s Catholic Church has sharply criticized a carnival float made for a big street parade in the western city of Cologne that linked Jesus with the church abuse scandal.

The float, which was unveiled Tuesday, shows an altar boy in front of a confessional with an arm sticking out and an outstretched hand luring the boy inside. On the side of the confessional, bold letters read “Jesus loves you.”

The Cologne archdiocese condemned the float as “tasteless.”

“The inscription on the confessional — ‘Jesus loves you’ — directly associates Jesus, the Son of God, with the abuse,” it wrote in a letter published Tuesday on its website.

“It is suggested that Jesus himself is sitting in the confessional and wants to pull the altar boy into it with a wave of his hand; at the very least, Jesus is being instrumentalized here,” the letter said.

The floats for…

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[SEE VIDEO.]

John Robert Doty, 32, was a teacher at Archbishop Murphy High School and was found with pornographic footage of children as young as 1 year old.

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The Spiritan congregation has now paid out €8.8 million (£7.28 million) to 125 victims of clerical sexual abuse in the Republic of Ireland, according to recent reports.

The Irish Times reports that between 1998 and 2022, the religious order, formerly known as the Holy Ghost Fathers, made payments totalling €5.4 million in settlements to 73 survivors.

In November 2022, a harrowing radio documentary was released by national broadcaster RTÉ detailing abuse perpetrated by members of the religious order at Blackrock College in Dublin, a prestigious private all-boys boarding school.

The documentary follows the stories of brothers Mark and David Ryan, who were repeatedly abused at the college by multiple perpetrators.

The release of the documentary sparked a wave of allegations, with hundreds of men coming forward with similar accounts of experiencing abuse at Spiritan-run schools.

It also paved the way for the Scoping Inquiry, led by Senior Counsel Mary O’Toole, which examined sexual abuse…

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