ABUSE TRACKER

The judge’s verdict in a Canadian defamation suit brought by Cardinal Marc Ouellet against Paméla Groleau, a former lay pastoral worker in the Archdiocese of Québec, who accused the prelate of sexual misconduct, is not expected for some months.

Proceedings in the case took place at Montreal’s courthouse in early March, with Judge Martin Castonguay presiding.

He referenced documents from a class-action lawsuit filed against the Archdiocese of Quebec that named him in a list of alleged abusers. The suit was initiated in August 2020, when two men who claimed they were sexually assaulted as minors by diocesan priests applied in the Superior Court of Québec to authorize instituting a class-action lawsuit.

It was formally filed as a class-action suit in May 2022 and listed over 100 clergy and staff members who were accused of abuse, including the cardinal.

In a statement issued Aug, 18, 2022, Matteo Bruni, director of…

View Cache

The alleged assaults occurred in the 90s when the plaintiffs were minors taking part in a church’s youth programming, the lawsuit states.

A former Wyoming Catholic youth minister and teacher in Casper sexually assaulted three boys while they took part in youth programs facilitated by a local church and the Diocese of Cheyenne, a lawsuit filed Tuesday alleges. 

The civil complaint alleges that then-Wyoming Catholic youth minister Doug Hudson sexually assaulted the three boys in the 1990s. The complaint also lists the Diocese of Cheyenne, which oversees parishes throughout Wyoming, and Our Lady of Fatima Church in Casper as defendants, stating that they failed to “supervise and control” Hudson and protect the plaintiffs, which allowed for the alleged sexual assaults to occur. 

A spokesperson for the diocese declined to comment on the lawsuit until diocesan officials have consulted with legal counsel. He said in an email to WyoFile that the…

View Cache

The Greene County Court of Common Pleas arraigned a former Cedarville University professor on charges of rape, sexual battery and gross sexual imposition Thursday.

The Greene County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday it began an investigation into John Kent Tarwater, 55, of Cedarville Township, in July, stemming from the disclosure of sexual abuse from a juvenile victim.

Deputies and U.S. Marshals took Tarwater into custody in Centerville Tuesday, March 31 and booked him into the Greene County Jail.

Bail was set at $1 million and the court issued a temporary protection order for the victim, who was between 10 and 12 years of age when the acts took place in 2019 and 2022.

The sheriff’s office said the investigation, which spanned several months and involved multiple states, remained ongoing and that the identified victim was not associated with Cedarville University.

Cedarville University said in a statement Tarwater was placed on administrative…

View Cache

A discourse on the safeguarding of minors and vulnerable adults was held recently for the clergy of the Diocese of Penang at Domus, Minor Basilica of St Anne.

A discourse on the safeguarding of minors and vulnerable adults was held recently for the clergy of the Diocese of Penang at Domus, Minor Basilica of St Anne.

Cardinal Sebastian Francis, Bishop of Penang, addressed the clergy and religious through a pre-recorded message. The address, intended as a common diocesan directive, will be shared with ministries working with children across the diocese to raise awareness on safeguarding responsibilities.

Emphasising the central place of children in the Gospel, Cardinal Sebastian reminded those present that Jesus placed the child at the heart of faith and the Kingdom of God.

“Keep the child at the centre of the narrative of the Kingdom of God as Our Lord Jesus did, and you will never go wrong,”…

View Cache

A Florida lawsuit over sexual abuse claims against a Dubuque priest has been delayed again despite the priest’s death.

A Florida judge this week granted a motion to continue the civil trial against Rev. Leo Riley and the Catholic Church Diocese of Venice. Attorneys argued over the production of documents and how the case will proceed after Riley died in December 2025.

Riley has been accused of abusing multiple children in both Iowa and Florida. A criminal case against him in Iowa was dismissed citing statute of limitations. Riley had served in the Dubuque area in the 1980s before being transferred to Florida. A John Doe plantiff filed the current lawsuit in 2020 claiming Riley had abused him as a child in Florida.

In court last week, the plaintiff’s attorney, Damian Mallard, asked the judge to compel what he described as a complete production of records.

“What I’m asking for, Your…

View Cache

Legislation that would allow the victims of childhood sexual abuse to sue the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence and any other institution that failed to stop the abuse or concealed it is headed for a vote by the full House.

The House Judiciary Committee approved the bill on a 9-to-1 vote on Thursday, April 2, setting the stage for a House debate and vote as early as next week. The only nay vote was cast by Rep. David Place, R-Burrillville.

What does the bill do? It allows victims to sue so-called “non-perpetrators” who did not commit the abuse but made it possible by action and inaction, such as moving offending priests from parish to parish. It also removes the expired time limits on lawsuits filed by victims against the church and other “institutions” for a two-year period. This “revival window” would end on June 30, 2028.

If this seems familiar:  View Cache

“After all these years, in light of the attorney general’s report, I don’t know what else we could do to say to the Senate: Do the right thing,” said House Judiciary Chair Carol Hagan McEntee, whose sister is a survivor of clergy abuse

The House Judiciary Committee is expected to vote tonight in favor of three bills that Attorney General Peter F. Neronharecommended in his scathing report on clergy sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence.

But it’s clear the real battle over those bills will be in the Senate. Last year, the House passed a bill to allow previously expired civil claims against institutions such as the Roman Catholic Church. But the Senate balked.

House Judiciary Chairwoman Carol Hagan McEntee, whose sister is a survivor of clergy abuse, on Wednesday said she expects the committee to pass  View Cache

Vatican City – The Vatican has announced plans to compensate victims of a Peru-based Catholic movement, which was dissolved last year following revelations of rampant sexual and psychological abuse by some of its leaders.

Pope Francis ordered the closure of the ultra-conservative Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV) a week before his death, after a seven-year Vatican investigation.

The lay order acknowledged that its founder Luis Fernando Figari and other leaders of the movement sexually and psychologically abused at least 19 minors and 10 adults between 1975 and 2002.

The investigation also revealed financial mismanagement.

The Vatican said Wednesday it would set up a “listening channel” in Lima in May for the victims, in order to hear their complaints and requests for compensation.

The church will use assets seized from SCV to compensate the victims, it added.

“For those who have directly suffered abuse, this announcement opens a real opportunity to continue…

View Cache

[Read full document: SNAP resignation letter.]

Citing long-running disagreements over governance and operational structure, a group of at least two dozen local leaders and members with several decades of experience meeting with and advocating for survivors of clergy sexual abuse have left the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests to start their own group. 

In resignation letters and in interviews with National Catholic Reporter, several of the now-former SNAP members said they had also lost faith in the organization’s board of directors, which they characterized as arrogant, authoritarian and dishonest.

“This has been coming for a couple of years. We finally just said, ‘Enough is enough. We’re done,’ ” David Lorenz told NCR.

Lorenz, a clergy sex abuse survivor who had been a member of SNAP for 20 years and most recently served as the organization’s state director in Maryland, submitted his resignation letter along with other local…

View Cache

After lengthy negotiations, the Church and the Spanish government established a system in order to compensate victims of abuse within the Catholic Church.

The Catholic Church, the Spanish government, and the people’s ombudsman have agreed upon a protocol for compensating abuse victims following arduous negotiations that began last January.

The agreement does not establish specific parameters for financial compensation — neither minimums nor maximums — because it is not intended to be the sole avenue for reparation. Furthermore, as agreed upon by the signatories, the aim is to address each case on an individualized basis.

The signing of the new protocol, which will enter into force on April 15, took place at the ombudsman’s office on March 30. Present at the ceremony were the president of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference (CEE, by its Spanish acronym), Archbishop Luis Argüello; the president of the Spanish Confederation of Religious (CONFER, by…

View Cache

While serving as a Long Island bishop, his earlier tenure in Boston came under scrutiny during investigations of sex-abuse allegations involving pedophile priests.

Bishop William F. Murphy, who led the Diocese of Rockville Centre, N.Y., home to more than 1.5 million Roman Catholics on Long Island, and who was earlier the No. 2 church official in Boston — a tenure that came under scrutiny as a searing scandal about clergy sex abuse unfolded — died on March 26. He was 85.

His death was announced by the diocese, which did not say where he died or state a cause.

Bishop Murphy, who retired in 2017, came to Long Island to lead the Rockville Centre diocese, one of the nation’s largest, in 2001, just months before The Boston Globe began publishing articles about decades of sexual abuse by priests in the Archdiocese of Boston and a coverup by high church officials….

View Cache

Rhode Island, home to the country’s largest Catholic population per capita, could become the next state to allow survivors who were sexually abused decades ago to sue their abusers and the institutions that allowed the abuse to happen.

Spurred in large part by the state attorney general’s recent report that found 75 priests abused more than 300 children since 1950 while serving in the Diocese of Providence, Rhode Island, lawmakers are considering legislation that would allow previously expired civil claims against institutions and supervisors responsible for enabling or covering up sexual abuse.

“This is about protecting children and bringing justice to those who could never ever seek it all these years,” said Rhode Island State Rep. Carol Hagan McEntee, who serves as the chairperson of the State House Judiciary Committee.

During a March 12 public hearing in Providence, McEntee spoke in favor of the statute of limitations bill…

View Cache

State urged to issue official apology

“The priest, drunk on alcohol, called the children one by one, grabbed their bodies, and did not let them go.”

Meeky Woo Flippen, born in 1965 to a Korean mother and a Black American soldier father, recalled the abuse she suffered from 50 years ago.

At 13, when her mother died, she was left at the Catholic child protection facility for mixed-race children, “St. Vincent’s Home,” in Incheon. To escape clergy abuse, she chose adoption abroad.

Her new American family, however, did not want her. She had to wake up at 3 a.m. and work in the strawberry fields.

With money saved over several years, she returned to Korea as an adult and stood before her mother’s grave. The funeral she had been barred from attending, because of her mixed-race appearance, had haunted her for decades.

She choked back tears, saying, “I mustered the…

View Cache

Catholic nuns are quietly breaking cycles of domestic abuse, trafficking, and silence affecting women and children

The significance of a large red-lettered banner in an Indonesian convent and community center is hard to miss.

“Stop violence against women and children,” it says in the Indonesian language at the Good Shepherd community center in Ruteng, Indonesia.

The message affirms the dignity of people who are often denied it, continuing the mission of the Good Shepherds’ founder, St. M. Euphrasia Pelletier. Her ministries in 19th-century France focused on the needs of women and children, and she famously said that “A person is more precious than the whole world.”

That remains the governing principle for the congregation as it ministers throughout Ruteng, a town of about 4,000 in the near-western highlands of Flores — Indonesia’s only predominantly Roman Catholic island.

“It’s what makes our mission and vocations more meaningful,” said Sr. Flora Nirmala,…

View Cache

The Sanctity of Scripture, the Sanctity of Life, and the Ghosts that Haunt Us

Content Warning: This series will dive into the Southern Baptist abuse crisis, and will therefore include sensitive language regarding sexual abuse. While I will always seek to be sensitive and write for and from the compassionate Kingdom of God, I do encourage reader discretion.

I am haunted by chapter 2 of Christa Brown’s Baptistland: A Memoir of Abuse, Betrayal, and Transformation. Brown’s memoir details the horrors of her Southern Baptist youth pastor sexually abusing her over and over again at age 16.

Reading her story, my stomach sinks. My soul screams. A phantom Christianity hovers over the pages of Brown’s story, sending chills down my spine.

I was a loyal and proud Baptist for nearly two decades. I grew up in Sunday School and youth group, went to Lifeway’s Fuge camps every summer, found an SBC church…

View Cache

My heart has always been warmed by the care that the designer of the freeway exit signs in Portland, Ore., took when correctly accenting the street named for the legendary founder of the United Farm Workers union: “César E Chávez Blvd” say the signs. I am a transplant to the Pacific Northwest from Central California, and I appreciate the accuracy.

I once worked at a Catholic parish that members of the Chávez family sometimes attended from La Paz, the U.F.W. headquarters about 10 miles down the road. I never met César Chávez himself, but my children went to school and made their first Communions and confirmations with Chávez grandchildren. Their parents were my casual parent-friends. I have been to Chávez quinceañeras and graduations and funerals. I was sad when I was unable to secure a ticket to the official designation of the U.F.W. headquarters as a national monument in 2012,…

View Cache

The Spanish government and the Catholic Church in Spain have signed an agreement to compensate victims of sexual abuse in church-run institutions, even in cases where the statute of limitations has expired.

Following two years of negotiations, the agreement was inked in Madrid on Monday by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s government, the church and the Spanish Ombudsman.

Following the signing, Justice Minister Félix Bolaños spoke of a “groundbreaking model worldwide” and “a day of justice for the victims.”

The state would “have the final say” on the claims and the church “will pay,” Bolaños stressed.

The agreed procedure is primarily aimed at those whose cases can no longer be prosecuted, for example due to the statute of limitations or because the perpetrators are no longer alive.

According to official figures, this applies to the majority of victims. Those affected may submit their claims to the Ministry of Justice from April…

View Cache

For Father Arnaud de Boissieu, a 75-year-old French priest who has publicly revealed that he was sexually abused at 17 by a Catholic layman, writing is therapy.

In a book titled “He Will Take Care of Me,” published by Editions Emmanuel, he recounts his spiritual journey since then, as he has tried to live with what he describes as a wound that is “impossible to heal.”

Served many mission assignments

Ordained a priest of the Mission de France prelature in 1981, Father de Boissieu was sent on missions to heavily de-Christianized areas. He worked with migrant farmers in Cameroon, street children in Tanzania and sailors on stopovers in Marseille in southern France, then in Casablanca, Morocco, where he still lives.

After 45 years of priestly ministry, Father de Boissieu still cries when recalling the assault. “I lived for half a century in a shocking denial of…

View Cache

Most Holy Father,

I write to you not as an adversary of the church, nor as one who has abandoned faith, but as a son who entrusted his life entirely to her structures and now bears the cost of that trust. I offer this letter as a personal witness, in the hope that it may contribute to the church’s ongoing discernment about accountability, justice and the lived reality of those who seek help from within her hierarchy.

My experience raises a painful but unavoidable question: whether it is realistically possible to pursue justice from within ecclesial structures without first leaving them.

Having dedicated six years of my life in preparation for priestly service in the Diocese of Norwich, Connecticut, I looked forward to my ordination in 2014. Yet on the night before that ordination, I encountered a glimpse of how the church can fail to act justly, an…

View Cache

Douglas Zeb McDaris, 74, was pastor at the Oakview Baptist Church in Livingston Parish from May 2005 to May 2006, according to McDaris’ LinkedIn profile. He later became pastor at the New Beginnings Baptist Church in Six Mile, South Carolina, his LinkedIn and his Sermon Central online profile show.

Livingston Parish jail records show that McDaris was booked last Friday on two counts of molestation of a juvenile, who was identified as an acquaintance.

Livingston Parish deputies say that a person contacted them Feb. 6 and filed a complaint about a previous sexual assault. No further details were given. 

Bond was set at $100,000. Judge William S. Dykes said that, if McDaris is released, he will be required to wear an ankle monitor, Livingston Parish court records show. McDaris was also told not to contact the victim or the victim’s family, and he cannot go within 100 yards of the…

View Cache

When David DeMenge arrived in Little Falls in 2025, he came with a public testimony about brokenness, secrecy and redemption. In a September 2025 profile in the Morrison County Record, he spoke openly about a pornography addiction he said grew out of trauma, and about the depression and shame that once pushed him to the brink of suicide before he embraced faith and ministry.

Now, DeMenge is facing much more serious allegations. DeMenge, who came to Little Falls from Hutchinson to serve as a pastor, has been charged with seven counts of criminal sexual conduct — a case that casts last year’s introduction in a much different light.

According to a criminal complaint filed in McLeod County District Court, DeMenge, 33, is charged with three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and four counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct. The charges allege the offenses occurred between Jan. 1, 2013, and Dec….

View Cache

The Brief

• • The “Georgia Clergy Sexual Abuse Bill” adds “clergy” to the list of authority figures (like teachers and coaches) who can be prosecuted for sexual misconduct.
  • The legislation passed both chambers without a single “no” vote.
  • The push was spearheaded by survivors who spent years lobbying to ensure the pulpit is no longer a “legal shield” for predators.

In a unanimous show of support, Georgia legislators passed the “Clergy Sexual Abuse Bill,” officially adding religious leaders to the list of authority figures, such as teachers and coaches, accountable for sexual misconduct.

The bill’s passage follows years of relentless lobbying by survivors determined to close a long-standing loophole. Their goal was simple but profound: to ensure the pulpit can never again serve as a legal shield for predators.

Senate Bill 542

What we know:

For decades, a specific gap existed in Georgia’s…

View Cache

n June 2024, Cindy Clemishire publicly accused prominent Gateway Church founder Robert Morris of sexually abusing her as a child in the 1980s. After he was released from jail Monday, Clemishire said she will continue to seek justice.

The former Southlake megachurch pastor was indicted on child sex abuse charges in March 2025. He was sentenced to a 10-year suspended sentence in October and was required to register as a sex offender for life. Additionally, he agreed to pay Clemishire $270,000 after he pleaded guilty.

He completed a six-month sentence in Osage County jail in Oklahoma on Monday. In a lengthy statement he released through his attorneys on Tuesday, Morris apologized once again and asked Clemishire and her family for forgiveness.

In an interview with The News last year, Clemishire said recovering from the abuse, which she said started when she was 12 years old, was a “lifelong journey.” In June, Clemishire filed a defamation lawsuit…

View Cache

President Donald Trump’s former spiritual advisor, Robert Preston Morris, said Tuesday as he was released from prison after serving time for child sexual abuse that what he did “was wrong.”

The 64-year-old Texas megachurch founder pleaded guilty last year to abusing a girl, starting when she was 12 in 1982, in Oklahoma.

“What I did to Cindy decades ago was wrong. There is no other word for it, and there is no excuse for it. I am deeply sorry,” Morris said in a statement following his release. “I have carried the weight of that wrong for a very long time, and I am grateful—genuinely grateful—that the Clemishires had the courage to bring this into the light.

“Many years ago, I sought their forgiveness privately, and as Cindy’s father recently noted, he extended that grace to me—a grace I did not deserve and have never taken for granted.”

Who Is Former…

View Cache

The founder of a Texas megachurch who pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a child in the 1980s was released Tuesday after serving six months in an Oklahoma jail.

Robert Preston Morris, 64, was released just after midnight, said Osage County Sheriff’s Capt. Matt Clark.

Morris pleaded guilty last year to five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child as part of a plea agreement under which he received a 10-year suspended sentence with the first six months to be served in the Osage County Jail.

The abuse began in 1982 when the victim was 12 and Morris was a traveling evangelist staying in Hominy, Oklahoma, with her family, according to Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, whose office prosecuted the case.

Morris was the senior pastor of Gateway Church in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Southlake, where he led one of the nation’s largest megachurches until June 2024 when — faced…

View Cache

More than two dozen people have left their positions at a national support group for clergy sexual abuse survivors amid concerns over the group’s mental health network and financial issues.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, provides support across the United States and other countries. The group was founded in the late 1980s and gained prominence in 2002 after the Boston Globe first reported on the Catholic church sex abuse scandal.

Last week, 27 SNAP group leaders and supporters submitted a collective resignation letter to the board of directors. The group had expressed concerns about budget transparency, adherence to the group’s bylaws and mission, and the board’s governance practices. “These concerns — including issues of transparency, accountability, and response to protected internal reporting — have not been meaningfully addressed through appropriate or independent review,” they wrote in the resignation letter.

The former SNAP group leaders said they…

View Cache

Just over three years to the date after filing for Chapter 11 protection under the crush of nearly 440 Child Victims Act claims, the Diocese of Albany reached a $148 million settlement agreement with the survivors of sexual abuse by diocesan priests and others on March 27.

“This day is a day to honor survivors, to honor those who were very shamefully hurt by the Diocese of Albany and by priests and by the placement of them by bishops and that’s where the focus is today,” said Bishop Mark O’Connell at a press conference at the diocesan pastoral center.

‘I just send my apologies’

“I do not want to take away from their very painful day and I just send my apologies, along with the leaders in the Diocese of Albany,” he said. “With all my heart I want to say how sorry we are, how sorry I…

View Cache

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey held a ceremonial signing of Trey’s Law (SB-30) March 30. The law prohibits non-disclosure agreements in civil cases involving sexual abuse, sexual assault and trafficking in the interest of public safety.

Effective Oct. 1, Trey’s Law deems these NDAs void and unenforceable in Alabama, ensuring survivors can share their stories without fear of legal repercussion — even if they choose to enter settlement agreements regarding their experiences.

Sen. Matt Woods and Rep. David Faulker were the sponsors of Alabama’s version of Trey’s Law. Other versions of the bill have been introduced on both state and national levels and passed unanimously in both Texas and Missouri.

Trey’s Law has gained bipartisan support in every jurisdiction where it has been filed.

In an unprecedented alliance of political parties, Trey’s Law has gained bipartisan support in every jurisdiction where it has been filed.

The bill is named in honor of Trey…

View Cache

For Myra Russell, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany’s $148 million clergy abuse settlement is not a finish line. It is, she says, long overdue — and only a partial measure of justice after years of trauma. She says a lengthy process has made healing even harder.

Russell, a survivor of abuse by two priests within the Albany Diocese, said the resolution has taken a toll on her physical and emotional health. After years of fighting, she said the settlement provides “a sliver of relief,” even as though it cannot undo what happened.

PREVIOUS: Albany bishop apologizes for history of abuse in diocese

“My parents were led to believe that [priest] was safe and we were always at the Church,” Russell said.

Russell said the abuse began when she was young and escalated over time.

“You know, the peck on the cheek, then it comes closer…

View Cache

Spain’s Catholic bishops and the Spanish government took another step Monday toward compensating victims of sexual abuse by clergy members who have died or whose possible crimes are too old to be prosecuted.

In January, Spain’s Catholic bishops agreed to let the country’s ombudsman have the final say in the church’s compensation of such victims. The government and Spain’s bishops signed paperwork Monday detailing how the new church-state reparation system, which takes effect April 15, would work.

The agreement, which envisages a one-year window for claims, marks a rare concession by the Catholic hierarchy. It’s aimed at resolving disagreements between the left-wing government and church authorities over reparations after victims criticized the church’s original in-house compensation proposal.

Archbishop Luis Argüello, the president of the Spanish Episcopal Conference, said the text will not include number amounts for the compensation that sexual abuse victims could…

View Cache

Barrhead parents say they have been left “disgusted” after a priest urged them to pray for a convicted sex offender during mass. Families attending St John the Evangelist Parish Church last Sunday were urged to pray for former parish priest, Father Stephen Baillie, who was convicted of sexual assault.

Monsignor John Tormey told the congregation his former colleague had thrown his life away following “a moment of weakness”. The ‘moment of weakness’ included attempting to perform a sex act on a man who was so heavily intoxicated he was unable to consent.

Baillie – who was the parish priest at St Joseph’s Church in Clarkston at the time of the offence – was convicted following a trial at Paisley Sheriff Court last week.

One parent and parishioner, who asked not to be named, said the congregation was full of families who had been making an extra…

View Cache

Michael Mohr, 54, was an official in the Lutheran Church.

The FBI wants you to come forward if you believe you or someone you love were a victim of a pastor now facing federal child pornography-related charges.

The FBI in Springfield says it’s identifying potential victims of Michael Mohr, 54, charged in late-January. He’s no longer listed as a president of a regional section of the Lutheran Church.

Federal prosecutors say Mohr allegedly had cameras hidden in his Springfield home, hid cameras in a Vandalia home he allegedly used, and at least once filmed a sexual act performed in a Vandalia hotel room involving a juvenile.

The Springfield FBI has developed an online form that you can use.

“The FBI is legally mandated to identify victims of federal crimes it investigates,” said an FBI news release.  “Victims may be…

View Cache

Former Lubbock youth pastor Luke Cunningham pleaded guilty Monday morning to two counts of sexual assault child bigamy.

Cunningham was sentenced to 40 years on each count by Judge Douglas Freitage in the 140th District Court. Cunningham has 650 days of jail credit.

Cunningham pleaded guilty to two out of 16 counts. All other charges against him were dismissed. The two assaults Cunningham pleaded guilty to happened in September and October of 2018.

Judge Freitag ordered a lifetime protective order for the victims.

“As a pastor you were supposed to point people to God, but instead you tried to play God yourself,” one victim said during impact statements made to the court.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: State argues former Lubbock youth pastor is ‘violent offender’

Cunningham served as the student pastor at Turning Point Community Church in Lubbock from 2016 to 2020 then left for a church in Granbury, Texas.

View Cache

In Kharkiv Oblast, two representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate have been notified of suspicion in sexual crimes against underage girls, the Office of the General Prosecutor reports.

Since 2024, Ukraine has restricted the Moscow Patriarchate church’s activities due to its ties to the Russian Orthodox Church, which supports Russia’s aggression, and numerous cases of collaborationism among its clergy.

According to investigators, a 52-year-old rassophore monk responsible for baking invited girls to his home under the pretext of treating them to sweets.

After treating them, the man forced them to go to the bathroom, undress, and take a shower. He photographed and filmed the naked girls, storing the pornography on his personal phone.

The pro-Russian monk plied the minors with alcohol

Law enforcement detained the monk and notified him of suspicion for producing and possessing child pornography.

During the investigation, one 14-year-old girl stated she…

View Cache

A Wisconsin priest arrested last year for child enticement and attempted sexual assault is facing new charges of possessing child sex abuse material.

Father Andrew J. Showers of the Diocese of Madison was charged March 27 with two felony counts of possession of child pornography. The Waupaca County Jail confirmed to OSV News that Father Showers is not currently incarcerated there. According to court records, Father Showers is scheduled for an initial court appearance on the charges on April 14.

OSV News is awaiting a response from both the Waupaca County district attorney’s office and the priest’s attorney, named in court documents as Christopher Van Wagner, as to whether Father Showers is currently under any restrictions or monitoring pending his upcoming hearing.

Posssession of child pornography charges emerged from investigation after Aug. 2025 arrest

The latest charges emerged from an investigation of the 38-year-old priest’s digital devices, which had been seized…

View Cache

A Paradise Valley Unified School District (PVUSD) teacher committed suicide while fleeing arrest for the sexual abuse of a minor. 

Steven Charles Mitten III, a history teacher at Shadow Mountain High School, fled from police on Wednesday shortly before taking his own life, according to a media advisory issued by the Phoenix Police Department (PPD) on Thursday. 

Mitten, 65, previously worked at Cactus Shadows High School within the Cave Creek Unified School District (CCUSD). CCUSD awarded Mitten their Excellence Award in May 2018, given to one teacher in the school for outstanding contributions to students.

Per PPD, an unnamed adult female reported to law enforcement on Monday that Mitten initiated a sexual relationship with her when she was 16 years old. That relationship purportedly lasted for approximately three years.

The Crimes Against Children Unit (CACU) immediately investigated the woman’s claim and found probable cause to arrest Mitten. 

The media advisory…

View Cache

A man accused of molesting a disabled boy whom he met while working as a Roman Catholic priest in New Orleans has been indicted on child rape charges, according to authorities.

Grand jurors seated in New Orleans’ state criminal courthouse on Thursday handed up a nine-count indictment against Mark Francis Ford, nearly five months after authorities arrested him and jailed him without bail. The document charges Ford, 64, with aggravated rape of a child; raping a person suffering from a physical disability preventing resistance; two counts of molesting a juvenile; another three of indecent behavior with a minor; and kidnapping.

Ford is only the latest figure to come under authorities’ scrutiny during the longstanding clergy molestation scandal within the New Orleans Catholic church. Prosecutors allege that he committed the offenses cited in the indictment between 2006 and 2008, victimizing a boy who was between the ages of 12 and 14.

He would…

View Cache

Lawyers for a man who alleged he was repeatedly sexually assaulted as a child by a now-dead Catholic priest in rural Manitoba and Winnipeg in a 2023 lawsuit recently reached a confidential settlement with the Archdiocese of St. Boniface.

Terms of the settlement, which was reached in the fall after a private judicially assisted dispute resolution in front of a Court of King’s Bench justice in September, are not included in public court records reviewed by the Free Press.

The lawsuit, which was filed in June 2023 and named the archdiocese and archbishop as defendants, was officially discontinued in November.

The plaintiff, now in his early 60s, claimed the alleged abuse began when he was eight-years-old in 1972 and lasted until 1982.

He claimed the repeated sexual violations occurred while he was a member of the Notre-Dame-de-la-Nativité in Somerset, a small community about 150 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg.

The man, who…

View Cache

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany offered $148 million dollars to settle more than 400 sex abuse cases this past Friday.

NewsChannel 13 spoke with one of the survivors, Myra Russell. Myra said the sexual abuse started when she was a young girl and went on for multiple years. She said she was abused by two different priests.

“Well first it starts with the grooming of normalizing social behavior like behaviors that are not okay. It’s the calling you honey. Then it’s the oh, just like kissing you on the side of the cheek, and then it’s kissing you on the lips,” said Myra.

Myra said she deals with trauma from her abuse to this day.

“I’m still not back to work. I haven’t been working since 2019. I had to take a leave of absence. Because I work with trauma survivors,” said Myra. “I’m just retraumatizing myself by continuing…

View Cache

The Spanish government and the Catholic Church signed an agreement Monday to compensate victims of sexual abuse by clergy in cases that can no longer be pursued through the courts.

The deal for the Church to pay reparations comes ahead of a June 6-12 visit by Pope Leo XIV, in what will be the first papal visit to the country since 2011.

Justice Minister Felix Bolanos said the deal, first reached in January, is aimed at victims who are unable to pursue legal action because the crimes have proscribed or the alleged abusers have died.

After signing the agreement in Madrid, Bolanos called it “a day of justice” for “the thousands of victims who suffered sexual abuse within the Catholic Church and were not only left without support, but were doubted and forgotten”.

Under the system, compensation will be determined on a case-by-case basis rather than through fixed guidelines.

The…

View Cache

The new protocol does not develop one of the points of agreement signed last January, in which the government committed to investigate sexual abuse in all areas of civilian life

@Ombudsman

In a move described as a «historic moral commitment», the Spanish Church, the Government and the Ombudsman have sealed on the morning of March 30, 2026, the definitive protocol for the comprehensive reparation of victims of sexual abuse in the ecclesiastical sphere.

This agreement builds on the pact reached last January 8th and sets in motion an unprecedented institutional mechanism for the state to monitor the adequacy of the claims handled by the PRIVA plan (the Church’s reparations plan). It will also allow victims to go directly to the new platform created by the government to process their claims against the Church. View Cache

» Continue to this story on Église catholique en France 

CWN Editor’s Note: The French bishops overwhelmingly approved the formation of Renaître (To be reborn), a program to accompany abuse victims.

Renaître will come into existence on September 1, following the expiration of the mandate of the Independent National Authority for Recognition and Reparation. The bishops’ conference explained that “personalized support is set up by people specifically trained by the national authority … The support will make it possible to find restorative approaches with the person recognized as a victim.”

Under Renaître, the local bishop will send a “letter of acknowledgment of the violence suffered” upon the canonical or civil conviction of the accused. In other cases, such as when the accused priest is deceased, the bishop will acknowledge the suffering that has been experienced.

The above note supplements, highlights, or corrects details in the original source (link above). About…

View Cache

El acuerdo se firmará este lunes, según ha anunciado el Defensor del Pueblo

La Iglesia y el Gobierno han llegado a un acuerdo para reparar a las víctimas de pederastia que no puedan acudir a la justicia, ya que la gran mayoría de los casos están prescritos.

El protocolo se firmará este lunes a las once de la mañana, según ha anunciado en redes sociales el Defensor del Pueblo, Ángel Gabilondo. Hace diez días, cuando ya había un pacto, la jerarquía eclesial dio un paso atrás y se resistió a sellar el convenio, como tenían previsto hacer esa misma semana. Fuentes conocedoras del proceso señalaron entonces que había una discrepancia en las cuantías que debían abonar y también sobre si el Defensor es competente para revisar las indemnizaciones que la Iglesia ya ha pagado internamente, las cuales, según denuncian las asociaciones de víctimas, han sido, en muchas ocasiones, “ridículas y humillantes”….

View Cache

Florida’s strict legal time limits leave little recourse in long-ago incidents

Steven Langston found himself suddenly wrestling late last summer with disturbing boyhood memories.

They involved church wine, a priest at Orlando’s St. John Vianney School and oral sex, the 54-year-old said.

Why, he asked himself, were these vivid flashbacks haunting him more than 40 years later?

And what could he do about it now?

As it turned out, not much in Florida, where the law works against survivors like him.

[PHOTO: Steve Langston stands outside the Diocese of Orlando offices in downtown Orlando, Friday, March 13, 2026. Langston says he was abused decades ago as a grade schooler at St. John Vianney Catholic School by a priest who has since died. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)]

The state imposes tight legal limits on older abuse cases under a 2010 law, and courts have blocked efforts to evade them. And unlike California…

View Cache

ALBANY – The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany has agreed to pay $148 million to settle claims filed by more than 400 people who allege they were sexually abused as children by priests and other diocesan employees during assaults that date back decades.

The proposed settlement, which follows years of grueling negotiations, became public in a release from a law firm that represents almost 200 of the plaintiffs who have alleged sexual abuse and are also claimants in the diocese’s ongoing bankruptcy case.

The agreement must still be approved by the victims as well as a federal bankruptcy judge. It does not include the diocese’s insurance carriers, some of whom have asserted they are not responsible to pay for what they allege was criminal behavior that went on for years with the knowledge of church leaders.

“The survivors on the Official Committee of Tort Claimants in this case…

View Cache

MADISON, Wis. — A Madison-area priest was charged with two counts of child sexual abuse materials online court records show.

Fr. Andrew Showers was charged following an investigation that began last August. Diocese of Madison said the new charges are based on digital evidence found on Fr. Showers’ electronic devices which were seized last August following his arrest.

The 37-year-old priest is accused of driving to Clintonville to meet up with a 14-year-old girl named Abby for sex. However, Abby never actually existed. According to a criminal complaint, a Clintonville police officer posed as Abby online and made posts in adult-targeted social media forums in order to catch Showers.

Showers was most-recently assigned to Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Madison and had a presence at St. James School. He previously served at St. John the Baptist in Waunakee, Saint Paul’s Catholic Student Center in Madison and Saint Cecilia Catholic…

View Cache

The diocese in New York declared bankruptcy just over three years ago.

The Diocese of Albany, New York, will pay survivors of sexual abuse a $148 million settlement in restitution for what Bishop Mark O’Connell called a “shameful chapter” of abuse in the diocese’s history.

The diocese announced the settlement in a press release on March 27. The nine-figure amount was still subject to court approval, but the amount itself had been accepted by the committee of survivors suing the diocese.

In the press release, O’Connell admitted a “clear and un-nuanced statement of guilt on the part of the diocese in its handling of our predator priests and others within the diocese.”

“It is a shameful chapter in our history, and no monetary settlement such as the one reached today will erase the pain caused to survivors,” he said while apologizing.

The bishop vowed to be “exceedingly diligent” in working…

View Cache

The diocese has faced criticism from parishioners over high levels of contribution requirements for some parishes.

The Diocese of Buffalo, New York, will contribute an extra $10 million to its abuse settlement fund while lightening the contribution requirements for some parishes, Bishop Michael Fisher said this week.

The diocese announced a $150 million abuse settlement in April 2025. Insurance contributions have upped the total amount to around $315 million, though the diocesan contribution will remain the same.

The diocese was originally projected to pay $30 million into the settlement, with parishes asked to contribute $75 million. Controversially, parishes that were slated for closure or merger were to be required to contribute up to 80% of their “unrestricted cash” to the settlement.

In a March 23 letter obtained by EWTN News, Fisher told diocesan priests the diocese would up its contribution to $40 million while dropping the 80% cash requirement for merging…

View Cache

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany has agreed to pay $148 million to settle claims from some 440 people sexually abused by priests and diocesan employees and volunteers.

In a statement, Bishop Mark O’Connell said while the settlement is substantial, “it cannot adequately compensate the survivors for the horrors they experienced.” He added that the settlement can “hopefully provide some solace to all those affected by the pain caused by the perpetrators and the failings of those who could have intervened but did not.”

The settlement comes after child abuse survivors were allowed to file sexual abuse lawsuits as part of a look-back window created by the 2019 New York Child Victims Act. Survivors are also claimants in an ongoing federal bankruptcy case after the Albany diocese filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2023.

Then-Bishop Edward Scharfenberger told reporters when announcing the bankruptcy filings that the diocese “doesn’t see any…

View Cache

But from César Chávez to Joe Paterno to ‘living saint’ Jean Vanier, it just keeps happening.

Given the depth of the pain that those who revered César Chávez have felt since last week’s report that he sexually assaulted very young girls and raped his United Farm Worker cofounder, Dolores Huerta, it’s astounding to me, in a good way, that Kansas City’s Hispanic community immediately came out in full support of the victims.

Then, they put out a statement saying they would go through a process in which all voices would be heard on what to do about his name and his likeness – on Avenida César Chávez and a mural there. That feels respectful both to the victims and to the grief over learning about them.

I have covered abuse in a lot of forms over many years and have not once before seen a swift reaction like this: “We cannot…

View Cache

A former teacher at a school in Surrey has been jailed for sexually assaulting a pupil.

Jonathan Marshall, 75, targeted the boy – then aged between eight and 10 – when he worked at St Dunstan’s Middle Catholic School in Woking during the late 1980s.

The victim disclosed in 2021 the sexual attacks had taken place in a neighbouring church, according to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

On one occasion, he said he was driven away from the school to a deserted property, where Marshall and another, now-deceased man, abused him, leaving the victim feeling “intense panic” after realising he was too small to fight off the two men.

In December, Marshall was found guilty of 13 counts of sexual offences against a child at Kingston Crown Court.

On Thursday, he was jailed for 24 years at a hearing at the same court.

St Dunstan’s Middle Catholic School closed in…

View Cache

Angleton police confirm arrest of Alex Montealegre as investigation into alleged 2025 incident continues

Former Tejano singer and pastor Alex Montez, also known as Alex Montealegre, has been arrested on a sexual assault charge, according to a statement released by the Angleton Police Department.

Authorities confirmed that Montealegre was taken into custody on Wednesday, following an ongoing investigation into an alleged incident reported earlier this year.

“On March 25, 2026, the Angleton Police Department arrested Alex Montealegre, 61, of Angleton, in connection with an investigation into a past sexual assault,” the department stated. “The investigation began after officers received a report on January 13, 2026 regarding an incident that allegedly occurred in July of 2025.”

See original article for the Angleton Police Department statement.

Police say that after conducting interviews, gathering evidence, and reviewing the case, detectives established probable cause to charge Montealegre with sexual assault, classified as a second-degree felony under…

View Cache

Stephen Strawn, 50, was booked into the Bexar County jail Thursday

A band teacher at First Baptist Academy in Universal City was arrested on child indecency and grooming charges involving a 13-year-old student, according to an arrest affidavit.

Stephen Strawn, 50, was booked into the Bexar County Adult Detention Center on Thursday, according to jail records.

Strawn is accused of making the student try on shirts that showed her back and stomach on multiple occasions.

Child Protective Services visited the school on March 16, according to a statement obtained by KSAT, in response to a report involving the inappropriate interactions.

Police followed up two days later, according to an affidavit, when the student told officers Strawn asked her to help with flag team uniforms.

Detectives learned that Strawn had previously pulled the student out of class multiple times last November, the affidavit states, for “private band lessons.”

Strawn admitted to…

View Cache

Allegations involve striking juveniles with a belt during church youth event

An Okmulgee pastor, who also serves on the Okmulgee City Council, was arrested on a felony warrant stemming from a child abuse investigation involving an incident at a local church. Marcus Davy Jeffrey, 63, is charged with one count of child abuse related to an alleged incident on November 12, 2025 during a youth gathering at Eastside Baptist Church.

Why it matters

The case raises concerns about abuse of power and trust within religious institutions, as well as the need for robust child protection policies and oversight, especially for youth programs. It also highlights the complex dynamics when community leaders face criminal allegations.

The details

According to an affidavit, the Okmulgee Police Department requested assistance from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) to investigate the incident. Special Agent Melissa Jackson reviewed a police report and video surveillance from…

View Cache

Timothy James Sonier taught at Dodge Middle, coached at Salpointe Catholic

A Tucson teacher and coach has been arrested in a child porn case, and investigators are asking anyone with information to come forward.

The Tucson Police Department said 48-year-old Timothy James Sonier is facing 10 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor. He was being held on a $50,000 bond.

Sonier, a teacher at Dodge Middle and a coach at Salpointe Catholic High, was arrested on Thursday, March 26.

The TPD said the investigation began in December 2025, when the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department received a report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about someone uploading child sexual abuse material.

During the investigation, the LVMPD found out that the suspect lived in Tucson and contacted the TPD’s Human Exploitation and Trafficking Unit.

Sonier made his first court appearance late Thursday night, and you can watch…

View Cache

A middle school teacher and high school coach in Tucson has been arrested on child sexual abuse material charges following an investigation that began with a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), according to the Tucson Police Department.

In December 2025, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department received a report from NCMEC regarding an individual who had uploaded suspected child sexual abuse material. Detectives with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department determined the suspect was located in the Tucson area and transferred the case to TPD’s Human Exploitation and Trafficking Unit.

TPD detectives worked with TPD’s Forensic Electronic Media Unit and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) to identify and locate the suspect. Through the investigation, detectives identified the suspect as 48-year-old Timothy James Sonier.

Investigators learned Sonier is a teacher at Dodge Traditional Magnet School within the Tucson Unified School District and serves as an athletic…

View Cache

The Diocese of Tucson is aware that Timothy James Sonier, a seasonal athletic coach at Salpointe Catholic High School was arrested and charged with ten counts of sexual exploitation of a minor. His employment at the school ended in January. The diocese takes these allegations very seriously and is cooperating fully with law enforcement as they conduct their investigation. 

Salpointe Catholic High School has notified the students and families who have had direct interaction with the suspect. The safety and well-being of all students remain our highest priority. To ensure that the diocese fully supports the students, counselors will be made immediately available to the student body and school staff. 

The Diocese of Tucson requires that all employees and volunteers complete a rigorous background check before ministering or working in the diocese. 

To preserve the integrity of the investigation and to respect the privacy of all individuals involved, the diocese…

View Cache

The Albany Diocese and survivors of child sexual abuse by clergy have reached a settlement in the diocese’s bankruptcy case.

The settlement totals $148 million, with the diocese saying in a statement that it “is an important first step in forming a Chapter 11 plan that will lead to the Diocese’s exit from Chapter 11.”

The total was accepted by a tort committee of survivors involved in the case, and a statement from two law firms representing survivors — Jeff Anderson and Associates, and LaFave, Wein, Frament & Karic — indicates that 186 other abuse survivors were a part of the case.

“This settlement is more than just a significant financial outcome for survivors,” attorney Cynthia LaFave said in a statement. “It is also a public acknowledgement of the harm these survivors endured at the hands of the Diocese and its trusted leaders.

“While no amount of money can undo…

View Cache

A former Angleton pastor was put behind bars this week after being accused of sexually assaulting someone, according to investigators.

The Angleton Police Department said 61-year-old Alex Montealegre was arrested on Wednesday in connection with a sexual assault investigation that began in January.

Police said the incident happened in July 2025. Montealegre, who police say now faces a charge of sexual assault, was taken into custody and booked into the Brazoria County Jail.

According to Angleton PD, Montealegre is a former pastor of La Vida Church.

The department said an investigation into the case remains ongoing.

View Cache

Former Anglican priest Jonathan Kirkpatrick can now be revealed as the man who sexually violated a teenager at his Canterbury bach more than 30 years ago.

The 68-year-old was found guilty last week of violating the victim when the teenager was so intoxicated he thought he might have been drugged.

Kirkpatrick’s name remained secret after the trial as his lawyer indicated he might seek permanent suppression.

However, the interim order expired at 4pm Thursday without an application for permanent name suppression.

At the time of the offending, Kirkpatrick was the vicar at St Michael and All Angels in Christchurch.

He would later go on to be dean at St Paul’s Cathedral in Dunedin for five years until 2001.

Kirkpatrick was jailed for more than three years in 2011 for stealing more than $665,000 from Auckland University of Technology, where he had worked as chief executive of its Business Innovation Centre.

…

View Cache

A Catholic priest who worked at an Ontario church for a decade has been removed after he was charged with the sexual assault of a volunteer.

In a statement to INsauga.com, the Diocese of Hamilton says Father Rajan D’Sa “was immediately removed” removed from his duties at St. Dominic Parish in Oakville after the charge was made public earlier this week.

He has been “prohibited from all priestly ministry, pending the results of further police investigations into the allegation,” the diocese says.

The Halton Regional Police Service said on Tuesday that an investigation started in February after receiving a report about the alleged sexual assault of an adult female victim.

Police say the assault happened while the victim was volunteering at the Oakville church.

D’sa has been a member of the clergy since 2010, and was working at St. Dominic’s Roman Catholic Church in Oakville since 2016. He was listed…

View Cache

A local pastor with a history of sexual misconduct is facing a new set of charges following an alleged incident at a Chesapeake church last month.

Da’Qwone Hill, who has previously been charged with sex crimes, is accused of multiple offenses stemming from a Feb. 28 encounter involving an 18-year-old man.

According to court documents, the complainant alleges Hill took him into a back office of a church. The criminal complaint states that Hill asked the teenager if he wanted to see his private parts and, according to the teen’s written statement, Hill “continued to pull down his pants and show me anyway.” The teen further alleged that Hill attempted to get him to touch his private parts. The victim said he was able to leave the office, but claims Hill also tried to get him to go to his car “to get me alone,” according to the court documents.

…

View Cache

Judge urges discovery to finish as case moves forward after Fr. Leo Riley’s death

A motion hearing in Sarasota on Thursday focused on the next steps in a civil lawsuit against the Diocese of Venice and representatives of the Rev. Leo Riley, a Roman Catholic priest accused of inappropriate contact with multiple children.

Attorneys argued over the production of documents and how the case will proceed after Riley died in December 2025.

Riley, who served in parishes in Port Charlotte, Punta Gorda and Naples, was originally scheduled to go on trial this month in a civil suit filed in 2020 by a plaintiff identified as John Doe.

The lawsuit alleges Riley assaulted the plaintiff when he was a young boy in the church.

In court Thursday, the plaintiff’s attorney, Damian Mallard, asked the judge to compel what he described as a complete production of records.

“What I’m asking for, Your…

View Cache

A 77-year-old Cleveland priest arrested by the HEAL Human Trafficking Task Force last September, pleaded guilty in Avon Lake Municipal Court Wednesday.

Dean Dimon pleaded guilty to an amended charge and was given a suspended sentence of 30 days in jail and a $250 fine.

The judge also ordered Dimon to complete a required course in Columbus. His case will be reviewed on June 24.

Dimon, of Avon, is a priest with the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Cleveland.

On Sept. 22, 2025, Dimon was one of 135 people arrested during “Operation Next Door,” a statewide human trafficking operation conducted by more than 100 law enforcement agencies.

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said the arrests took place in urban centers, suburban communities, and rural areas throughout the state.

A recap of Operation Next Door:

• 32 people were arrested on felony charges including promoting prostitution, compelling prostitution, seeking sex…

View Cache

Portugal’s Catholic Church said on Thursday it would pay a combined ​1.6 million euros ($1.85 million) in compensation ‌to 57 victims of sexual abuse by the clergy.

A Church-funded commission found in February ​2023 that at least 4,815 children ​and vulnerable adults in Portugal were ⁠sexually abused by the Catholic clergy, ​mostly priests, over the past 70 years.

The Reuters Iran Briefing newsletter keeps you informed with the latest developments and analysis of the Iran war. Sign up here.

“Financial ​compensation does not erase what happened or undo the consequences of abuse in the lives of ​those affected… We renew our apology ​for all the harm caused,” the Portuguese Bishops’ ‌Conference (CEP) ⁠said in a statement.

CEP said only 95 people requested compensation during the submission period, with 67 eligible and the remainder ​dismissed for ​failing ⁠to meet requirements or attend the commission.

The CEP said 57 ​compensation claims had already…

View Cache

Portugal’s bishops and religious orders have announced that they will pay 1.6 million euros in financial compensation to victims of sexual abuse.

This text was translated with the help of artificial intelligence and originally published in Portuguese

In February 2023, the report of the Independent Commission for the Study of Child Sexual Abuse was published, which estimated that at least 4,800 children are believed to have been victims of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church in Portugal since 1950.

This Thursday, 26 March 2026, the Portuguese Episcopal Conference (CEP) and the Conference of Religious Institutes of Portugal (CIRP) announced the conclusion of the process of financial compensation for the victims, with more than €1.6 million paid to 57 people, according to a statement released by the Ecclesia agency.

“We acknowledge the seriousness of the suffering endured, so often borne in silence for years, we are truly grateful for the testimony you entrusted to…

View Cache

A Paris court has ordered a former Catholic bishop to pay more than $200,000 in damages to a man who accused him of rape and sexual assault in the 1970s, a ruling seen by AFP on Thursday showed.

Jean-Michel di Falco, 84, was accused of sexual abuse while he was a priest and headmaster of the Saint-Thomas d’Aquin school in Paris between 1972 and 1975.

Prosecutors had dropped a criminal investigation into the allegations of sexual abuse against the now retired bishop because the statute of limitations had passed.

But a Paris appeals court ordered di Falco — who refutes any wrongdoing — to pay damages to Pierre-Jean Pages, 65, following a long legal battle after he brought a civil case against the clergyman in 2001.

The court ruled that the civil action was not subject to the same statute of limitations.

It “follows from the evidence presented that Mr….

View Cache

Dozens of survivors of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, including several who grew up in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, are splitting from a national support network to form a coalition that prioritizes access to mental health resources.

“The bottom line is that we want to heal the wounded and protect the vulnerable,” said Teresa Lancaster, a Maryland survivor advocate and attorney whose story became part of “The Keepers” series on Netflix.

Lancaster is one of 27 local leaders of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, who resigned Monday to serve the new Abuse Survivors Coalition, or ASC. According to a timeline published by ASC, the mass resignation came after 18 months of frustration with the national network’s board of directors and failed appeals to change its course.

“The final and most painful blow” cited by ASC leaders…

View Cache

Pope Leo XIV signals a pivotal shift in defining “vulnerability,” steering Church law toward context-based interpretations of adult abuse cases.

In a carefully worded address last week to the , Pope Leo XIV signaled a possible turning point in how the Catholic Church will henceforth understand and prosecute cases of sexual abuse involving adults. His subtle linguistic reformulation — replacing “vulnerable adults” with “persons in vulnerable situations” — may reshape years of canonical debate, Vatican procedure, and diocesan practice.

Context: A Decade of Canonical Debate

Since the scandal surrounding former cardinal , the Church has wrestled with how to handle cases of adult victims within its legal framework. Pope Francis’s 2019 decree Vos estis lux mundi expanded the definition of “vulnerability,” describing a “vulnerable adult” as anyone suffering from infirmity, mental deficiency, or deprivation of freedom that limits their capacity to resist or understand an offense.

Though widely praised for its intent, the definition…

View Cache

In a speech last week, Pope Leo XIV appeared to signal a change in how the Church should think about adult victims of abuse.

The issues surround the sexual abuse of adults in the Church have been among the most prominent and contentious areas of canonical reform in the years following the scandal of the late former cardinal Theodore McCarrick.

In 2019, Pope Francis significantly broadened the definition of “vulnerability” used to determine if sexual misconduct is canonically criminal with the motu proprio Vos estis lux mundi, creating a years-long back and forth among canon lawyers and Vatican departments, and left many dioceses confused about how and how broadly to apply them.

While some clarification came in the form of handbooks and clarifications of various dicasteries, there has remained a debate about who, exactly, is a “vulnerable adult,” canonically speaking.

But in a speech last week, Pope Leo XIV appeared to…

View Cache

The Rhode Island investigation thus occupies an uneasy space between revelation and closure. It contributes to the historical record of abuse within the Catholic Church in the United States, reaffirming patterns already documented elsewhere: a concentration of cases in the mid-20th century, followed by a sharp decline as awareness, reporting mechanisms and safeguarding protocols evolved

A long-awaited investigation into clergy sexual abuse in the U.S. state of Rhode Island has concluded with a complex and, for some, unexpected picture: one in which the overwhelming weight of abuse cases lies decades in the past, and where no currently active priest faces credible accusations.

The nearly 300-page report, released in the penultimate week of March 2026 by Attorney General Peter Neronha, is the result of an inquiry launched in 2019 with the stated aim of examining abuse within the Catholic Diocese of Providence. The investigation stretched back as far as the…

View Cache

Halfway through the two weeks of meetings of the United Nations’ Commission on the Status of Women, Sr. Isabelle Izika Tsamba sounded frustrated.

“When will gender-based violence end?” she said to a visitor in the small office she shares with other sisters in the basement of the Church Center for the United Nations.

“And when will men stop asking why we are so focused on this issue?” said Tsamba, a sister from the Democratic Republic of Congo who represents the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur at the U.N.

Such questioning was frequently heard during the March 9-19 Commission on the Status of Women meetings at the world body’s headquarters in New York, undergirded by the theme of how to ensure and strengthen access to justice for women and girls.

That included, the U.N. said, “by promoting inclusive and equitable legal systems, eliminating discriminatory laws, policies and practices,…

View Cache

Mary Rose Wilcox and her husband marched and fasted alongside César Chavez. They helped him open a radio station in Phoenix and plastered their Mexican restaurant with photos and a mural of the widely admired Latino icon.

So when Wilcox’s daughter called this week to inform them of sexual abuse allegations leveled against Chavez, she said it felt like a punch to the gut.

By Wednesday morning, the couple had taken down Chavez’s photos from their restaurant walls and made plans to cover the mural.

“We love César Chavez. But we cannot honor him and we cannot even love him anymore,” said the former Phoenix City Council member.

Many like Wilcox are working to reconcile the legacy of a man who fought tirelessly for the rights of farmworkers with stunning allegations that he sexually abused girls and the co-founder of the United Farm…

View Cache

Auxiliary Bishop Francisco Javier Acero emphasized the need to truly listen to abuse victims and not let other interests, like careerism or clericalism, stand in the way of victims’ proper care.

In light of the ongoing struggle to prevent and combat sexual abuse within the Catholic Church in Mexico, a bishop addressed the primary challenges currently being faced including “clericalism,” “careerism,” and the need to listen to those who are suffering.

In an interview with ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, Francisco Javier Acero, OAR, auxiliary bishop of the Primatial Archdiocese of Mexico and a member of the Latin American council of the Center for the Protection of Minors, emphasized the importance of the Church returning “to the essentials, to Jesus,” to ensure that “as members of the Church, we stand with the weakest and most vulnerable … the victims.”

“We must create spaces for them so we…

View Cache

Pope Leo XIV sends a message to the French Bishops’ Conference for its Spring Plenary Assembly in Lourdes, encouraging the Bishops to defend Catholic education, remain steadfast in confronting abuse, and reflect on ways to welcome communities attached to the Vetus Ordo.

At the opening of their Spring Plenary Assembly, the Bishops of France were greeted by Pope Leo XIV in a message signed by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin.

Education, abuse and liturgy formed the three central themes of the letter addressed to the bishops. These same themes will guide their discussions over four days at the Marian shrine in Lourdes.

Defending Catholic education

Amid ongoing public concern over recent abuse scandals in educational institutions, Pope Leo XIV acknowledged “a climate of growing hostility,” but urges perseverance in defending Catholic education.

In particular, he called for its Christian identity—its very “raison d’être”—to be safeguarded “with determination,” while continuing…

View Cache

As a canonist, I am often asked what changes are needed in canon law to address sexual abuse in the church. My usual response is that this is asking the wrong question, or, to paraphrase the famous aphorism, “Culture eats canon law for breakfast.” The real question is: How can we work to affect changes in the culture of the church, which will ideally be codified in the church’s law as standard expectations and practice?

For adult victims of sexual misconduct in the church, canon law is finally catching up to a culture that no longer tolerates sexual harassment or its cover-up. Helping all Catholics understand this shift in culture, and the changes in canon law, will ensure a safer environment for everyone.

When it comes to functioning legal systems, canon law is unique in that it governs a community that essentially voluntarily chooses to be bound by it. Canon…

View Cache

An independent investigation has found that former Brownsburg Vineyard Church senior pastor Denis Roy sexually abused multiple women over the course of his ministry in both Virginia and Indiana, according to the church. The findings led church leaders to pull him from ministry last year.

Vineyard USA issued a stark public statement: “Denis Roy committed clergy sexual abuse resulting in significant harm – harm to victims, harm to families, and harm to this congregation.” The denomination said it commissioned an independent review, thanked survivors for coming forward, and outlined a timeline of reports and actions it took, according to Vineyard USA.

The conclusions are laid out in a 66-page report by The Stier Group, a Fort Worth law firm hired by Vineyard USA and finished Feb. 8. Local coverage detailed the scope of the report and highlighted key passages, including how investigators assessed credibility and patterns of…

View Cache

A 41-year-old Catholic priest was sentenced to 12 years in prison on Friday after being found guilty of having sexual intercourse with a minor on church grounds.

Justice Dale Palmer imposed the sentence: 12 years for sexual intercourse with a person under 16, and an additional five years for sexual touching, to run concurrently. The priest must serve at least eight years before becoming eligible for parole.

Court documents revealed that between March and April 2023, the priest engaged in sexual activity with a 12-year-old in his living quarters on the church compound. The abuse was reported to the Police’s Centre for Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse (CISOCA), prompting an investigation that led to his arrest and subsequent conviction.

View Cache

A Catholic priest has been charged with sexual assault after an investigation in Oakville, Ont.

Halton Regional Police Service says it began an investigation in February of this year into an allegation of sexual assault committed against a woman while she was volunteering at an Oakville church.

The investigation led to the arrest of Rev. Ranjan D’Sa of Oakville, who faces one count of sexual assault.

D’Sa has been released on an undertaking with a future court date to take place in Milton, Ont.

According to police, D’Sa has been a member of the clergy since 2010 and employed with St. Dominic’s Roman Catholic Church in Oakville since 2016. Investigators say they’re concerned D’Sa may have additional victims and are asking anyone with information about this investigation, or anyone who may have been victimized by D’Sa to contact police.

The service’s child abuse and sexual assault unit can…

View Cache

Christopher Willett was former pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Crystal Springs, Miss.

A former pastor of a Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) church in Mississippi was sentenced on March 16 to 30 years in prison, with five years suspended.

Christopher Willett, former pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Crystal Springs, Mississippi, was charged in March 2025 with statutory rape, sexual battery, unnatural intercourse, computer luring of a person, and child pornography, according to reporting by ByFaith, the PCA Magazine.

Willett was initially arrested after a 19-year-old woman came to the Crystal Springs Police Department to report she had been molested by Willett beginning when she was 15 years old. The criminal activity took place between September 2020 and December 2021.

The police began its investigation the morning after the victim came forward and executed search warrants on laptops, cell phones, automobiles, and…

View Cache

* It has been translated using AI

A former pastor accused of sex exploitation of church goddesses for about a decade denied the charges in his first trial.

The Seoul Eastern District Court’s Criminal Agreement Department 12 (Chief Judge Kim Se-yong) held its first hearing on a man in his 50s who was arrested and charged with habitual quasi-rape on the 24th.

A denied the allegations, saying, “It was not a one-sided religious and economic subordinate relationship with the victims.”

Accordingly, the court decided to conduct a witness examination of the victims. The next hearing is on May 11.

Yoon is accused of continuing sexual violence against four female church members from 2015 to the end of 2024. In January last year, the victims filed a complaint with the police against Yoon, claiming that he had been repeatedly sexually harassed and committed adultery.

The victims claimed that Yoon defended his crime…

View Cache

Two Minnesota cases expose how clergy power dynamics—and victim-blaming tactics—are colliding with secular law

Last year, a Catholic priest from the St. Cloud Diocese in Minnesota was charged with “sexually abusing, physically assaulting and threatening a woman to whom he had given spiritual guidance.” A woman said Father Joseph Herzing had counseled her over a period of several years beginning in 2018, and that relationship soon turned sexual… and violent.

Setting aside the horrific details of the allegations, Herzing was a priest. He was supposed to be celibate. He was in a position of power over a woman he was guiding. Even if everything had been consensual—and the allegations said they were not—it would have been unethical and potentially criminal.

Last year, a different Catholic priest from the St. Cloud Diocese in Minnesota was also charged with sexually abusing a woman. A woman accused Father Aaron Kuhn of assaulting her repeatedly over the course of three years when…

View Cache

The Albany Police Department has arrested 75-year-old Bienvenido Lopez of Albany, a local pastor, in connection with a sexual assault investigation.

Lopez is pastor at Iglesia Fuente Inagotable on Herkimer Street. He is charged with multiple counts of rape in the 1st degree.

MORE: TikTok influencer with 1M followers arraigned on multiple rape, sexual assault charges

Detectives from the Albany Police Department’s Children and Family Service Unit are actively working to determine whether there may be additional victims.

Anyone who has had contact with Lopez and believes they may have experienced similar behavior is urged to contact the department’s Children and Family Service Unit at (518) 447-8780.

View Cache

Denis Roy, a former senior pastor at Brownsburg Vineyard Church, committed clergy sexual abuse or misconduct against multiple women in two states over the past two decades, according to an investigation commissioned by the church’s parent organization.

The probe also found that leaders and elders from multiple churches, many of whom were Roy’s friends and mentors, had varying degrees of knowledge about his behavior. Yet, the investigation found, they ignored red flags and allowed Roy to remain in leadership positions.

Clergy sexual abuse is generally thought of as an exploitation of children, but it also happens to adults. Yet, most churches don’t have policies that cover adults, including the elderly and other vulnerable individuals, who could be victims of sexual, spiritual or psychological abuse, said Mark Sloan, who has spent the last 15 years training churches, schools and other Christian ministries in abuse prevention…

View Cache

Law­suits con­tinue to pile up against a former Para­mus Cath­olic coach accused of sexu­ally abus­ing dozens of stu­dents dur­ing his time at the school.

Attor­ney James Sul­li­van filed a law­suit on March 19 on behalf of an anonym­ous former stu­dent, who said he was sexu­ally abused on “numer­ous occa­sions” by hockey coach Bern­ard Gar­ris.

The law­suit names Para­mus Cath­olic High School, the Arch­diocese of Newark and the Chris­tian Broth­ers, say­ing they knew about the abuse but failed to stop it.

“We do not com­ment on mat­ters in lit­ig­a­tion,” said Maria Mar­giotta, exec­ut­ive dir­ector of the Depart­ment of Com­mu­nic­a­tions for the dio­cese.

Gar­ris has been the focus of dozens of law­suits, and some of them name gym teacher Donn Ernst. Gar­ris died in 2016, and Ernst died in 2021. Gar­ris was fired from the school in 1987 after the par­ents of a stu­dent deman­ded he be ter­min­ated after an incid­ent that…

View Cache

The public and political conversation is becoming too narrowly delimited to the responsibility of the Church, leaving a broader and more complex inquiry into causes, contexts and shared responsibilities in the background.

In recent weeks, various media outlets in Spain have intensified their criticism of the Catholic Church for its handling of sexual abuse cases, with a particular focus on the issue of victim compensation. According to this narrative, the ecclesiastical institution would not be responding adequately to the demands for reparations, which would justify government intervention to ensure satisfactory settlements.

However, this public debate raises relevant questions in terms of coherence, memory and approach that deserve further analysis.

Is the origin of the problem in the Church?

On the one hand, the historical contrast in the media treatment of certain cultural references is striking. In the 1970s, more than 69 French intellectuals signed a manifesto calling for the decriminalization…

View Cache

From missing records to questions about church cooperation, the lead prosecutor reflects on the challenges of convicting Father Gerald Robinson decades later.

Editor’s note: This article is just part of a much larger story. Beginning March 23, you can stream the full documentary on WTOL 11+. The app is free and available on your phone or smart TV, giving you access to exclusive reporting, extended interviews, and the complete investigation.

In the days after Father Gerald Robinson was convicted of killing Sister Margaret Ann Pahl, Dean Mandros finally took a moment to catch his breath and look at his computer at some of the coverage of the case.

For months, he had been inside the prosecutorial bubble, shielded from the global attention on the first U.S. case involving a Catholic priest accused of killing a Catholic nun.

“My eldest daughter walks by my computer screen and sees…

View Cache

The attorney who handled Father Gerald Robinson’s appeals points to DNA evidence, a possible alternate suspect and what he believes are flaws in the state’s case.

Editor’s note: This article is just part of a much larger story. Beginning March 23, you can stream the full documentary on WTOL 11+. The app is free and available on your phone or smart TV, giving you access to exclusive reporting, extended interviews, and the complete investigation.

Anyone who has spent any amount of time in Lucas County courtrooms over the past 50 years has seen Richard Kerger.

He’s a regular visitor to those courtrooms.

But the longtime defense attorney did not seek out the Father Gerald Robinson case. The case came to him.

“I had seen John Donahue do an argument in the court of appeals a couple of years earlier, and I was very impressed by him,” Kerger…

View Cache

Now a judge, the former defense attorney recalls the pressure, the evidence and why she believed the case against Father Gerald Robinson fell short.

Editor’s note: This article is just part of a much larger story. Beginning March 23, you can stream the full documentary on WTOL 11+. The app is free and available on your phone or smart TV, giving you access to exclusive reporting, extended interviews, and the complete investigation.

Nicole Khoury was 28 years old when the Father Gerald Robinson trial began, young enough to call herself “third chair” without disrespecting herself and experienced enough to know that she had stepped into something enormous. She had already built the outlines of the life Toledo would come to know well: University of Toledo law school graduate, public defender, criminal defense attorney, musician.

Long before she took the bench as a Toledo Municipal Court judge, long…

View Cache

A former Lexington pastor has plead guilty to multiple sex crime charges.

Zachary King was arrested in July 2024. His arrest citation said King admitted to having a sexual relationship with a victim over the course of a year and a half, starting when she was 15 years old.

Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman’s office says King was the executive pastor at LexCity Church. King resigned from his position as pastor after he was confronted by church staff with allegations of an inappropriate relationship, according to the citation.

RELATED

• ‘You can always rely on God’: LexCity Church members look for new place to go
• Lexington church ceasing ministry in wake of former pastor’s arrest

On Monday, King pled guilty to the following charges:

• Rape (first degree)
• Sodomy (first degree)
• Procuring or promoting the use…

View Cache

On March 17, the Oklahoma House of Representatives voted unanimously to pass House Bill 4227, a piece of sexual abuse legislation now being referred to as the “Cindy Clemishire Act.”

Cindy Clemishire is an Oklahoma native who was sexually abused as a child by Gateway Church founder Robert Morris back in the 1980s. Clemishire brought public charges against Morris last year for childhood sexual abuse, and in October, he pled guilty to five felony counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child.

The legislation includes a version of “Trey’s Law,” which makes nondisclosure agreements in both past and future settlement agreements related to sexual abuse cases void and unenforceable.

Clemishire says she is glad she never signed a nondisclosure agreement, despite several iterations of agreements presented during frustrating legal exchanges over the years. “Because I refused to sign that NDA at 37, I am able to sit here today at 55 years…

View Cache

Editor’s note: This article is just part of a much larger story. Beginning March 23, you can stream the full documentary on WTOL 11+. The app is free and available on your phone or smart TV, giving you access to exclusive reporting, extended interviews, and the complete investigation.

Lee Pahl does not carry many firsthand memories of his aunt, Sister Margaret Ann Pahl. She was much older than he was, and by the time he was old enough to remember her clearly, she was more like a revered presence in the family than a familiar daily figure.

But through family stories and documents, he has learned about her immense impact on the community through her more than 50 years of service to the Catholic Church.

“She was a registered nurse. She taught and was a science teacher. She had many supervisory positions in different hospitals over the…

View Cache

Chairmen of several U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops committees wrote in a letter to key House lawmakers that they support a bill that would establish an effort to investigate and document the histories and practices of Indian boarding schools, and their long-term effects on Native American peoples. 

“The forced removal of children from their tribal lands and communities as part of federal boarding school policies was a moral failure that disregarded the unique culture and dignity of Indigenous peoples,” stated the letter signed by Archbishop Shelton J. Fabre of Louisville, Kentucky, chair of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development; Bishop John T. Folda of Fargo, North Dakota, chair of the Subcommittee on Native American Affairs; Bishop Robert J. Brennan of Brooklyn, New York, chair of the Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church; and Bishop Barry C. Knestout of Richmond, Virginia, chair of the Committee on the Protection of…

View Cache

In 2023, following a major television documentary claiming that St. John Paul II had covered up clerical sexual abuse when he was leading the Archdiocese of Kraków, Polish experts rejected the claim and urged that archdiocesan records be opened to allow the full context. 

It took a change in Church leadership in Kraków to open the archives — a move announced by Cardinal Grzegorz Rys on Jan. 30, a little over a month after he was installed in Wawel Royal Cathedral. 

Once the archives had been opened, two investigative journalists gained firsthand access to the files. And after reviewing the material, they headlined their report in the journal Rzeczpospolita: “Cardinal Karol Wojtyla did not cover up cases of pedophilia” in his archdiocese.

What happened in 2023

The opposite headline — “John Paul II knew about the abuse when he was archbishop of Kraków. As a cardinal, he ‘protected the institution first, not the…

View Cache

Gallant’s new lawyer told judge the two sides have agreed on proposed time in custody

WARNING: This story contains disturbing descriptions of child sex abuse. Resources and supports for anyone who has experienced sexual violence can be found at the bottom of this story.

A third sentencing date has been set for a P.E.I. Catholic priest, who pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a child in his St. Margarets Parish in the late 1980s, after the first two hearings did not go ahead.

Brendon Earl Gallant, 80, pleaded guilty to a charge of sexual assault last summer. The court heard the victim was 12-years-old when Gallant took an interest in the child and began inviting him for sleepovers, where he would give the boy alcohol and invite him to sleep in his bed. 

On the day Gallant was scheduled to be sentenced in October, Gallant’s then-lawyer Peter Ghiz told the court…

View Cache

Peter Murray, 87, has been living in Canada for more than 50 years

An 87-year-old Alberta man is fighting extradition to the United Kingdom to stand trial for historical allegations of physical and sexual assault involving minors.

Peter Murray of Wetaskiwin, about 70 kilometres south of Edmonton, is accused of assaulting 17 young students at boarding schools between 1965 and 1972, while he was a teacher in Scotland.

He is appealing the decision of the Canadian justice who approved his extradition, according to his defence lawyer.

No charges have been laid; in Scotland, charges are released when an accused appears in court.

The accusations, detailed in Justice T.G. Rothwell’s decision dated Feb. 18, 2026, and stemming from information from Scotland, come from incidents involving a monk named Brother Peter at St Ninian’s List D School and St Joseph’s List D School. Both schools were operated by the De La Salle…

View Cache