ABUSE TRACKER

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee announced Wednesday that a priest has lost the faculty to hear confessions validly, after he published an op-ed supporting a bill that would remove legal protections for the confessional seal.

Archbishop Jerome Listecki announced March 22 that he had “immediately removed the canonical faculties of Father [James] Connell to validly celebrate the Sacrament of Confession and to offer absolution, here in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and thereby also in the Catholic Church around the world.”

Priests are required to have faculties from a diocesan bishop to validly hear confessions and confer sacramental absolution. Listecki’s withdrawal of Connell’s faculties renders the priest unable to hear confession in any cases unless a particular penitent is in immediate danger of death.

Connell, 80, is retired from active ministry in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, after a priestly career which included stints as both a diocesan curial official and a parish pastor.

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Bilbao Cathedral in northern Spain held a mass on Friday to recognise and apologise to victims of sexual abuse by the Roman Catholic Church in the diocese, in one of the first services of its kind in Spain.

Spain has been confronting cases of sexual abuse since El Pais newspaper reported in December 2021 more than 1,200 alleged cases of abuse by clergy spanning seven decades.

Josu Lopez Villalba, a priest who was also a victim of abuse, joined other victims at the service on Friday.

“The act was profound and silent. No need for words, the people who were there know why they were there,” Lopez told Reuters.

“We were kids, we didn’t understand. Afterwards you realise. This was necessary for the church and for victims.”

Joseba Imanol Ibarra, another victim, said in other parts of Spain such a mass might not have been held.

“We were lucky this happened…

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Today, a panel of the Kansas State Senate will finally hold a hearing on legislation that would remove legal barriers preventing victims of child sexual abuse from seeking criminal and civil justice.  We support the efforts of the brave survivors who have worked so hard for this hearing, and we applaud their courage and persistence.

Senate Bill 317 would remove the statute of limitations on criminal charges going forward, as well as allow survivors to file lawsuits for damages until they turn 31 years old. Under current law, children who are victimized by coaches, clergy, family members, and others must file a lawsuit before the age of 21.

Based on over 30 years of experience, we at SNAP believe that changing antiquated, arbitrary, predator-friendly statutes of limitations in both the criminal and civil arenas is the single most effective thing lawmakers can do to help prevent child…

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[A 45-minute audio interview with Kenneally and DePalma Hannon, with questions and comments from survivors and other listeners.]

A new book documents decades of abuse and neglect at Catholic orphanages in the last century, centering around St. Joseph’s Orphanage in Burlington. We’re talking with the author about her book and with a survivor of the abuse who is pushing to change Vermont’s laws around abuse allegations.

Our guests are:

• Christine Kenneally, author of Ghosts of the Orphanage: A Story of the Mysterious Deaths, a Conspiracy of Silence and a Search for Justice
• Brenda DePalma Hannon, a former resident of St Joseph’s Orphanage and a spokesperson for the St. Joseph’s Orphanage Restorative Inquiry

Kenneally is visiting bookstores in the region promoting her new book, with events including:

• Burlington’s Phoenix Books on Wednesday,…

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Archbishop Jerome Listecki’s attempt to silence Father James Connell and deprive him of his ministry to hear confessions is a disgrace.  Father Connell has been an important voice urging everyone to understand the complex history of confession and the care that must be taken with this powerful sacrament, lest it be used to facilitate sexual abuse.  By trying to silence Father Connell, Archbishop Listecki is showing that he is ignorant of the history and careless about the danger.

Father Connell is a church lawyer with deep knowledge and experience with confession.  In fact, when a Milwaukee priest, Father Lawrence Murphy, used confession repeatedly to find potential victims and sexually assault them, sometimes during confession, Father Connell was selected to investigate the case.  This was the worst case of confessional abuse in Milwaukee, and one of the worst known cases in the history of Catholicism – and Father Connell…

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[Via Yahoo News]

A former student has filed a civil lawsuit against a Christian boarding school outside of Humansville. Circle of Hope Girls Ranch now faces six lawsuits in federal court.

The most recent lawsuit, filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court’s Western District of Missouri, states that “instead of providing a safe haven to (former student Sophia Ellis) and others, the (Circle of Hope Girls Ranch) — by the actions of its owners, employees, and/or agents — subjected (Ellis) to physical torture and psychological abuse for three years” starting in 2017. The suit is requesting a trial by jury and an unspecified amount of money.

According to the court document, Ellis was brought by her father via plane to the religious boarding facility, where she, among other things, saw other children being restrained and forced into a push-up position for extended periods of time, had her belongings taken and…

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Photo caption: Paul Neyer and his wife, Liesl, stand inside their home Feb. 12. Paul Neyer decided to come forward with abuse allegations against the Rev. Geoff Drew almost 30 years after he was abused. Albert Cesare / The Enquirer

Paul Neyer swiped the screen on his phone and watched the images race by.

Friends mugged for the camera. Kids posed with pets. The usual Facebook stuff. It was the end of a long week in 2017 and Paul welcomed the distraction. He just wanted to relax on the couch in his family room without thinking too much.

But after a few minutes, he stopped scrolling. His eyes fixed on a photo someone had posted of a Catholic priest baptizing a baby.

Paul’s hands shook and his heart quickened. Still clutching the phone, he jumped to his feet and rushed out the front door to the porch. He felt as…

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During his first assignment as a pastor in 2005, the Rev. Geoff Drew quickly developed a reputation among the boys at St. Rita’s Catholic school in Dayton.

Drew liked to touch them, one of the boys told prosecutors years later. He rubbed their shoulders. He put his hands on their faces. He whispered in their ears.

The behavior went on for so long and happened so often, according to court records, that more than 40 boys at St. Rita wrote a letter asking school officials to instruct Drew to “stop touching them.”

Drew didn’t stop.

Instead, the letter from the boys at St. Rita became another example of what prosecutors and some parents would later describe as Drew’s grooming behavior, the work of a sexual predator seeking out children to abuse.

It’s also another example of Drew avoiding consequences for his behavior, which went on for decades, until his  View Cache

Four lawsuits filed Tuesday claim mental and physical abuse in a former children’s home run by the Catholic Diocese, three of which also claim sexual abuse.

Parmadale Family Services was a group home for “unruly” children open from 1925 to 2014.

The four women filing the lawsuits resided at Parmadale throughout its time, some from the early 1960′s and some as late as the 2000′s.

Three of the victims reported sexual assault while at the children’s home, including:

• Being forced to have sexual interactions with other children while employees watched
• Being sexually assaulted by a priest named “Father Leahy” while other men he invited watched
• Being sexually assaulted by a “Mr. P” among other staff

One of the lawsuits notes that she was even sexually assaulted on her birthday.

All four women reported mental and physical abuse, including:

• Being punched in the face or stomach
• Getting their hair pulled
• Being verbally and…

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The Catholic Diocese of Cleveland is among the plaintiffs in four lawsuits filed by women who say they were abused as children at the former Parmadale Family Services.

Known as Parmadale Children’s Village when it opened in 1925, the sprawling campus along State Road in Parma was for many years an orphanage run by Catholic Charities.

Parmadale eventually closed in 2014 and later fell to the wrecking ball, but many of the dark secrets about the treatment of children at Parmadale over the decades are just now being brought to light.

According to the new lawsuits, the women say they were subjected to systematic abuse by staff members at Parmadale and members of the Catholic clergy assigned to the orphanage.

“It made me sick to my stomach, truthfully. It made me appreciate that I had a mother to come home to every day,” said Attorney Bruce Taubman.

Taubman says…

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For more than a year, the News 5 Investigators have been telling you about women breaking their silence concerning child abuse at the Parmadale Home for Children in Parma. The reports are centered on physically abusive nuns in the 1950s, ‘60s, and ’70s, but those stories are now sparking a whole new chapter in this investigation.

Women who were at Parmadale in the late 1990s and early 2000s are coming forward with their own stories and they’re armed now with lawyers.

Today, four women filed lawsuits against the Catholic Church saying the abuse they survived as children was “extreme and outrageous” and they were “subjected to continual physical, mental and sexual abuse by numerous employees of Parmadale.”

We want to warn you, what you are about to read may be difficult for some to experience.

LAWSUIT: KAREN BROWN’S STORY

“Never did I expect me walking into Parmadale was…

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Lawsuits filed today, defendants respond to allegations

During our News 5 Investigation “Breaking Their Silence,” our reports focused on nuns physically abusing kids at the Parmadale home for children in Parma decades ago. Now, we have some of the most explosive allegations yet and they go beyond the brutal beatings.

New lawsuits filed today in Cuyahoga County Court claim multiple children were not only physically assaulted but sexually abused during their stay at Parmadale.

Tammie Mayle’s lawsuit names several entities like the Cleveland Catholic Diocese and the Sisters of Charity as defendants. She told us she was only 7 years old and a ward of the state when she went into Parmadale.

We want to warn you. What you’re about to read may be difficult for some to experience.

“What was it like living with this for decades?” we asked Mayle.

“It’s hard to trust people,” she replied with tears streaming…

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[Includes excerpts of video interviews with Christine Kenneally and two orphanage survivors.]

A new book has been released detailing the alleged child abuse that happened at Burlington’s St. Joseph’s Orphanage for over 100 years.

Author Christine Kenneally wrote an article for Buzzfeed in 2018 detailing countless accounts of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse of children, and even allegations of murder at the St. Joseph’s Orphanage.

That article was viewed more than 6 million times in six months.

Kenneally said there was a lot more to unpack, which she did in her new book “Ghosts of the Orphanage: A Story of Mysterious Deaths, a Conspiracy of Silence, and a Search for Justice.”

“I really wanted to put St. Joseph’s Orphanage in context of this whole system,” Kenneally said.

She did so by sharing the stories of what people in the system, like Walter Coltey, suffered through.

“I still…

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A journalist and survivors reckon with a brutal reality.

Excerpt from Ghosts of the Orphanage

It was a freezing day in January 2016 when I passed through a long-locked door and first set foot into what had once been St. Joseph’s Orphanage. The beautiful, spooky old hulk of a building was dark and frigid, and as I walked through the hallways, the sound of my feet against the worn wood floors was amplified in the long corridors.

In the cold winter light, the basement dining room, once an optimistic yellow, had an uneasy green tinge. Here and there the paint blistered. I tried to picture all the children sitting here at their little tables, eating their food and keeping their heads down, dreading the consequences if they got sick.

I walked up the stairs, above the lattice-panel doorway that led to the confessional, past the polished wood posts, past exposed brick and moldering mortar. A dark corridor ran the…

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Clergy abuse survivors and advocates to hold press conference in support of Father James Connell

WHERE: Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, 812 N Jackson St, Milwaukee, WI

WHEN: Friday, March 24th, 11:00am

WHO: Clergy abuse survivors and advocates

WHAT: A press conference with clergy abuse survivors and advocates holding signs in support of Father James Connell

WHY: On March 22nd, Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki, in an unprecedented act of retaliation, “removed the canonical faculties of Father James Connell to validly celebrate the Sacrament of Confession and to offer absolution,” as punishment for his relentless advocacy on behalf of survivors of rape and sexual violence at the hands of Catholic clergy.

Since 2010, when Father Connell, a canon lawyer, pastor, and former vice chancellor of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, co-founded the Survivors and Clergy Leadership Alliance, he has met and prayed with…

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Sadly, I have learned that Father James Connell, a priest of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee who is now retired from active ministry, has continued to disseminate false information about the sacramental seal of confession.  He has publicly advocated for the removal of the legal protection of the confessional seal, suggesting there are situations where it is permissible to violate it.  

Such assertions are gravely contrary to the definitive teachings of the Catholic Church about this sacrament.  The Catholic Church firmly declares that the sacramental seal of confession is always, and in every circumstance without exception, completely inviolable.  The Archdiocese of Milwaukee fully assents to this fundamental tenet of the Catholic faith.

The false assertions of Father James Connell have caused understandable and widespread unrest among the People of God, causing them to question if the privacy of the confessional can now be violated, by him or any other Catholic priest. 

…

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Archbishop Jerome Listecki of Milwaukee has stripped one of his priests of the faculty to hear confessions following the clergyman’s public support for civil laws mandating that priests break the seal of confession for sins of sexual abuse.

“I have informed Father James Connell that effective immediately he is to cease all such erroneous communications that distort the teachings of the Church about the confessional seal,” Listeicki wrote in a March 22 statement. 

“I have also immediately removed the canonical faculties of Father Connell to validly celebrate the sacrament of confession and to offer absolution, here in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and thereby also in the Catholic Church around the world.”

Connell, a retired priest in the archdiocese and former vice chancellor, made comments March 13 in delawareonline.com advocating for a Delaware state bill that mandates priests break the seal of confession for penitents who confess…

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[Note: Author Christine Kenneally is reading at Harvard Book Store in Cambridge MA on Tuesday 3/28/23 at 7:00 pm. See her publisher’s page for other New England dates.]

Even after Spotlight, even after Tuam, this book was a shock. Christine Kenneally’s exposé of the abuse and torture of children in 20th-century orphanages fits neatly alongside those earlier stories of religious institutional child abuse. And yet, readers might find themselves emotionally unprepared.

Kenneally’s book, “Ghosts of the Orphanage,” focuses primarily on St. Joseph’s Orphanage in Burlington, Vt., though it also touches on Native boarding schools as well as institutions in Canada, Ireland and Australia. Most were run by the Catholic Church. The appalling stories from all of those places are chillingly similar.

Children taken into these institutions were often stripped of their name, birthday and identity; they were known by numbers and sometimes by cruel nicknames. Punishments for even minor…

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Summary

• Book alleges John Paul II covered up child abuse cases before he became pope
• Ruling PiS party vocally defending late pope’s name
• Some non-PiS supporters say would vote to defend late pope
• Elections expected to be close run

Wadowice, Poland – A controversy over John Paul II’s legacy looks set to spur some undecided voters in Polish elections due by November, political analysts say, as allegations that the late pope concealed child abuse deepen rifts in the predominantly Catholic country.

Claims in a new book and TV documentary that the late pope, born Karol Wojtyla, knowingly hid clerical paedophilia scandals as archbishop of Krakow have led some Poles to demand that his legacy be reassessed.Advertisement · Scroll to continue

This has provoked a furious response from religious conservatives, with politicians from the ruling nationalists Law and Justice (PiS) defending John Paul II in the face of what they say is a…

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Daniel J. Fleming, James F. Keenan, SJ, and Hans Zollner, SJ along with a substantial team from Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church and the Institute of Anthropology at the Gregorian University (formerly the Centre for Child Protection), have assembled this collection of essays on one of the most critical issues facing Catholicism.

This book seeks answers to questions such as: “to what extent have we been blind to these issues? Why have our efforts in theology and theological ethics been so slow to wrestle with this crisis? How are theology and theological ethics implicated in the crisis? And how might the disciplines be constructive in responding?”

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From the Introduction

In the Spring of 2019, James Keenan was a visiting professor at his alma mater, the Gregorian University in Rome. After several meetings with his friend and fellow Jesuit Hans Zollner and his colleagues at the then Centre…

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Publishing the names of credibly accused child sex abusers, as Canada’s Jesuit Fathers did March 12, is one small step toward creating a better Church, but it’s not enough for abuse survivor John Swales.

For Swales, who was sexually exploited by Fr. Barry Glendinning between 1969 and 1974 in London, Ont., transparency about past sexual abuse is a good first step. But transparency must be accompanied by accountability, Swales told The Catholic Register. 

“The question that needs to be answered is, ‘Why? Why are we here? What are we going to do about it?’ Accountability really reigns high,” he said. “If the question is, ‘Would that build a better Church?’ Absolutely.”

Swales won’t get an argument from Canada’s most recognized expert on clerical sexual abuse, Sr. Nuala Kenny.

“Transparency and accountability are key in atonement and developing a culture of safeguarding,” she said in an e-mail. “We are slowly learning how…

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Kansas owes its kids.

It owes them protection. It owes them a better future. For those who have been wronged through sexual abuse, it owes them justice.

With a hearing Thursday, the Kansas Legislature has finally — after years of delay — inched toward recognizing that fact. At 10:30 a.m., the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on Senate Bill 317, which eliminates the statute of limitations for criminal prosecutions of child sexual abuse. It also extends the deadline for pursuing civil action by 10 years, among other changes to state law.

At a news conference Wednesday afternoon formally announcing the hearing, Sen. Cindy Holscher, D-Overland Park, detailed the bill and a bit of the process.

“We are very excited to get to this point, to have a bill hearing and work to move this bill forward,” she told reporters. “Getting…

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The Catholic Church has overseen the world’s longest-lasting and most widespread campaign of institutional sexual abuse. Why is it that after sixteen centuries of documented evidence and decades of continuous international public exposure, new revelations of the scope and magnitude of the crisis continue to shock the public?

Manufacturing the Clerical Predator goes beyond the usual clichéd and tediously-repeated popular explanations offered for the abuse crisis by exploring the personal narrative and theoretical accounts of three Wisconsin former seminarians and priests detailing the transmission of the culture of clerical abuse across three generations. It supplies a fresh, unique, and urgently-needed approach to the question that has yet to be answered about sexual abuse and cover-up in the Church: Why?

Manufacturing the Clerical Predator is now available on YouTube! Click here to see the film.

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German prosecutors looking into historical cases of sexual abuse by clergy in the Munich archdiocese said Tuesday that they initially investigated the late Pope Benedict XVI on suspicion of being an accessory to abuse, but later dropped the probe.

Munich prosecutors examined 45 cases of possible wrongdoing by church officials that arose from a report into how the archdiocese handled abuse cases between 1945 and 2019.

The then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was archbishop there from 1977-1982, and the report by a law firm commissioned by the archdiocese and released in January 2022 faulted his handling of four cases during that time. Benedict, who died in December nearly 10 years after his retirement as pope, asked forgiveness for any “grievous faults” in his handling of abuse cases, but denied any personal or specific wrongdoing.

Prosecutors said that that “three (at the time) living church personnel managers” were listed as suspects for a time during their…

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An Australian jury retired on Wednesday to consider their verdicts following the six-week trial of a former principal of a Melbourne ultra-Orthodox Jewish girls school accused of molesting three sisters.

Malka Leifer, 56, has pleaded not guilty in the Victoria state County Court to 27 sexual offenses that were allegedly committed at the Adass Israel School, where she was head of religion and later principal, and at her Melbourne home and at school camps in the rural Victorian towns of Blampied and Rawson between 2003 and 2007.

Prosecutor Justin Lewis had asked the 12 jurors to consider that Leifer, a Tel Aviv-born mother of eight, showed sexual interest in the girls when they were teenage students at the school and later when they became student teachers there. He alleged that Leifer engaged in sexual activities with them and took advantage of their vulnerability and ignorance in sexual matters, and her position…

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Exclusive: Strategy used to deny compensation is a ‘stark example’ of Catholic clergy prioritising the advice of lawyers over moral leadership

How the church is blocking survivor compensation claims – Full Story podcast

In the small workshop behind his home in the Victorian country town of Broadford, Craig Waters was huddled on the floor, rocking back and forth. He’d been back there for hours, crying and alone, trapped anew in childhood nightmares.

Waters was trying to process what the Catholic church had just told him: it was threatening to thwart his attempt to receive justice for the horrors he says he experienced as an eight-year-old boy at St Brendan’s Catholic primary school in western Sydney.

There, a Catholic nun he dubs “the witch” would take him away from his friends at lunchtime, lead him to a small dark room off the main assembly hall and shut the door.

“I remember…

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Every week since the beginning of the legislative session in January, survivors of childhood sexual abuse have staffed a table near the main public entrance to the Statehouse.

Every week, they have met with senators and representatives, working toward a compromise on legislation that would remove barriers for other survivors who seek justice through criminal charges and civil litigation.

Every week goes by without a hearing on the bill.

They are frustrated.

This week, on Thursday, a Senate panel finally plans to hold a hearing on legislation that remains a work in progress. Senate Bill 317 would establish a legal climate in Kansas where there is no statute of limitations on criminal charges, and where survivors could seek damages through civil cases until they turn 31 years old. Under current law, children who are victimized by coaches, priests, family members and others must file a lawsuit before the…

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Parishioners twice went to church officials with concerns about about a South Carolina priest’s behavior years before before he allegedly groomed and sexually assaulted an 11-year-old boy, including on overnight visits at his home and on a trip to Panama City, Florida, according to federal prosecutors.

Father Jaime Adolfo Gonzalez-Farias, 68, allegedly plied his victim with gifts. He gave him a tablet and a phone, and sent the boy intimate messages, calling him Cricket and himself Mr. Wildfire, according to prosecutors. He also warned the child that something bad would happen if he told his parents about their relationship.

The allegations were made against Gonzalez-Farias, formerly a priest at the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston, at a detention hearing in the federal courthouse in Columbia on Friday. It was the first time those details emerged since the indictment was unsealed following Gonzalez-Farias’s arrest on Nov. 29, 2022.

“He…

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Three women filed lawsuits Tuesday that allege they were sexually and physically abused at a now-shuttered children’s group home that had been run by the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland.

One of the woman who was at the Parmadale Children’s Village in the 1970s said in her lawsuit that the priest at the time, whom the document referred to as “Father Leahy,” sexually abused her at his cottage on the property while men he invited there watched.

The abuse described in the lawsuits spanned from 1961 to 2002.

The suits, including one filed by a fourth woman who said she was physically and mentally abused, named Parmadale Family Services; the diocese; its bishop, the Rev. Edward Malesic; Catholic Charities Corp.; and Sisters of Charity St. Augustine as defendants.

It also accused Cuyahoga County and the Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Services of failing to…

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Less than three months after the Archdiocese of Santa Fe reached an agreement in its yearslong Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, Archbishop John Wester has published an open letter to sexual abuse claimants saying that he is “ashamed” of what happened to them.

“With this open letter, I wish to express my profound regret and sorrow over the tragic and inexcusable harm done to you by clergy sexual abuse,” Wester said. “As Archbishop of Santa Fe, I apologize to each of you and to all those who have been harmed by sexual abuse perpetrated by Roman Catholic Clergy in this archdiocese.”

Wester added that the archdiocese “takes full responsibility for the abuse.”

“I am ashamed of what happened to you and even more so that it happened within the auspices of the Catholic Church,” the archbishop said. “There are no words that can convey how sorry I am and how committed…

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Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra admitted to asking Vatican national police to spy on the director of the Vatican’s primary bank.

The sostituto of the Secretariat of State, Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, appeared as a witness before a Vatican City court on Friday, telling judges that he had ordered unsanctioned electronic spying on the phone of the director general of the IOR, the Vatican bank which had rejected a loan application from Peña Parra’s office.

Admitting that he ordered electronic “monitoring” of IOR director Gianfranco Mammì, both in Vatican City and in Italy without a court order, raises questions about the operation of the rule of law at the highest levels of the curia, and accountability among Vatican law enforcement personnel.

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When Archbishop Peña Parra took the witness stand March 17, he confirmed prior testimony from former officials at the Secretariat of State, who said that Peña Parra had ordered an…

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Will Archbishop Peña Parra face a formal complaint in the Vatican?

One of the highest-ranking officials in the Holy See — the effective papal chief of staff no less — told a Vatican courtroom Friday that he had asked for extra-legal surveillance of the director general of the IOR, the Vatican’s canonically-established banking operation.

It was a striking admission by Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, the sostituto at the Secretariat of State.

More striking was the archbishop’s instance that he would “do it again” if he thought it necessary.

Hearing Peña Parra speak on March 17, some might be left to assume that Vatican City is structured as a kind of casual surveillance state, or that if the archbishop’s actions seemed jarring, they are really only the ordinary idiosyncrasies of religious monarchy in a microstate.

But as a simple legal matter, electronic surveillance of the kind Peña Parra ordered is tightly…

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Fr. Arthur Massé has pleaded not guilty to one count of indecent assault

This story contains details about child abuse that may be distressing to some viewers. Canada’s National Residential School Crisis Line is available 24 hours a day at 1-866-925-4419.

An order of Roman Catholic priests is picking up the legal tab for one of its own on trial for historical sexual abuse at a residential school in Manitoba.

Fr. Ken Thorson, spokesperson for Oblates of Mary Immaculate Lacombe (OMI), said his Ottawa-based order is supplying the defence lawyer for Fr. Arthur Massé.

“Yes, Arthur Massé is an Oblate priest,” Thorson confirmed in an email to APTN News. “It’s important to remember that Oblates take a vow of poverty – where they own nothing as individuals and share everything in common.

“As part of this commitment, they are provided with basic supports in retirement, even if they have been removed…

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The investigation into a Pensacola Catholic Church deacon carried out by the Florida Department of Children and Families on a claim of sexual misconduct was deemed “unfounded,” according to a statement from Chief Operating Officer of Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee, David Ell.

In February, the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee “became aware of a report of inappropriate conduct with a minor female,” involving Deacon Tom Gordon, while serving at Little Flower Catholic Church in Pensacola.VIDEO: Watch the latest video stories in the WKRG News 5 Video Center

The Diocese then reported the allegations to the DCF and the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office.

“There is no evidence to suggest that the alleged touching was committed in lewd or lascivious manner; therefore, this case will be closed- unfounded,” according to an ECSO quote provided by the Diocese.

According to the statement from Ell, Deacon Gordon will resume serving as a deacon for the…

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The Portuguese Catholic Church has restated its new safeguarding obligations following the findings of an independent commission on sexual abuse by clergy. In contrast, most of its dioceses have observed anomalies in the commission’s conclusions.

New Safeguarding Commitments

According to the National Catholic Reporter, the Portuguese bishops’ permanent council reaffirmed its gratitude for the work that made it possible to cross-reference information between victim testimonials and data from their archives on March 14. “We value public scrutiny and stand ready to assist society in eradicating the drama of child abuse by providing lasting support to victims and judging perpetrators. Given the subject’s intricacy, we apologize that we have not always stated our aims clearly,” it said.

The council released the statement after debating comments to a list of suspected abusers presented to the church at the Marian site of Fatima. It was stated that an independent group of trusted persons…

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About 50 percent of children raised by the infamous Japanese doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo faced mental trauma and nutrition that took a long time to overcome, says a report.

The trauma of the children raised in facilities of Aum Shinrikyo (Supreme Truth) cult was mentioned in a diary written by a victim, the Mainichi newspaper reported on March 16.

The paper reproduced the findings of a 1995 child consultation report two days ahead of the 28th anniversary of the deadly sarin nerve gas attack by cult members on Tokyo’s Kasumigaseki subway station that left 14 dead and about 6,000 injured.

Following the attack, the authorities launched a crackdown on the cult and raided various facilities run by the cult. A total of 110 children were rescued and put in various childcare facilities, media reports say.

Chizuo Matsumoto, also known as Shoko Asahara, founded the cult in 1987. He presented himself as a self-styled godman and Japan’s…

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Tom Kettle has seen enough evil in his life. The 66-year-old Irishman has retired from his career as a police detective and moved to a small lean-to adjoining a castle in the town of Dalkey. He’s relieved to be done with his days in the Garda Síochána, Ireland’s national police service: “All his working life he had dealt with villains. After a few decades of that your faith in human nature is in the ground. It’s a premature burial, predating your own.”

The Garda, unfortunately, isn’t done with him. In his new novel, Old God’s Time, Sebastian Barry follows Tom as his life is thrown even further into disarray when he’s confronted with a past he’d rather forget. It’s a relentlessly bleak, stunning novel about how the effects of violence and abuse can reverberate for years and across generations.

Tom is mostly enjoying his retirement — being “stationary, happy and useless”…

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‘We must keep our commitment to do everything possible to restore Fr. Guzman’s good name,’ the Archdiocese said

An Evergreen Park priest who was accused of sexually abusing a minor nearly 40 years ago has been cleared of wrongdoing by the Archdiocese of Chicago.

Father Paul Guzman serves at Most Holy Redeemer Parish in the south suburbs.

The Archdiocese Independent Review Board, its Office of Child Abuse Investigation and Review, and outside investigators found “insufficient reason to suspect Father Guzman was guilty” of the sexual abuse allegation, church officials said Tuesday.

RELATED | Evergreen Park priest accused of sexually abusing minor more than 40 years ago: Archdiocese

The Archdiocese of Chicago sent a letter to Most Holy Redeemer parishioners Tuesday, informing them Guzman was cleared.

In the letter, Cardinal Blase Cupich, archbishop of Chicago, wrote that he accepted the investigation findings and will reinstate Father Guzman,…

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An Indonesian intelligence official has withdrawn a defamation case against an activist Catholic priest but the priest refused to withdraw the human trafficking allegations he made against the official.

Bambang Panji Priyanggodo, deputy head of the Indonesian State Intelligence Agency for Riau Islands Province, bordering Singapore and Malaysia, withdrew the libel suit on March 18 against Father Chrisanctus Paschalis Saturnus, chairman of the Migrant and Overseas Pastoral Peace Justice Commission of Pangkalpinang Diocese, who accused the official of backing perpetrators of human trafficking.

Ade Darmawan, the official’s lawyer, claimed that Priyanggodo withdrew the case after praying and receiving “instructions to forgive” the priest.

“Our client, in his prayers, asked for an answer. Whether to stop or continue with this case? He chose to withdraw and forgive what Father Paschalis [Saturnus] had done,” Darmawan told journalists on March 19.

He also said the upcoming holy month of Ramadan, when…

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A non-profit foundation established by lay Catholics has furnished US bishops with data linking priests with online gay dating services, the Washington Post reports.

The Post, in a critical investigative story, reports that the Colorado-based group, Catholic Laity and Clergy for Renewal (CLCR) “has spent millions of dollars to buy mobile app tracking data that identified priests who used gay dating and hookup apps and then shared it with bishops around the country.”

But the president of the foundation, Jayd Henricks, a former official of the US bishops’ conference, explains that CLCR has much broader purposes and programs, and the delivery of data from services such as Grindr was only a part of its services. His explanation, in an article for First Things, provides a very different picture of the group’s activities.

CLCR was founded in 2019, by lay Catholics who were appalled by the scandal centered on former cardinal Theodore McCarrick. The founders…

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A private, lay-led effort to root out clergy sexual misconduct in the Catholic Church by exposing their use of dating apps has raised concerns such methods may actually make it more difficult for the church to help clergy struggling with chaste celibacy and prevent them from damaging others through their sexual misconduct.

The nonprofit Catholic Laity and Clergy for Renewal recently claimed it has been legally purchasing publicly available data to assess the use of “hookup apps” by seminarians and clergy, then sharing its findings with several rectors and bishops.

Jayd Henricks, identifying himself as CLCR’s president, confirmed the initiative in a March 8 essay in the journal First Things, ahead of a March 9 Washington Post article bringing the project to light.

Henricks—who initially said he “might consider” an interview with OSV News but then declined—-wrote in his essay that CLCR had bought the data “in the ordinary way,” analyzed it…

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Church leaders in Kerala, a state in southern India, have complained about a stage play which “wrongly portrays the convents as centers where nuns are made to work as slaves and abused.”

The play – Kakkukali – is staged by Alapuzha-based Neythal Nataka Sangham and written by K.B. Ajayakumar and directed by Job Madathil. It details the trials and tribulations faced by a Catholic woman from a coastal region who becomes a nun, against the wishes of her Communist father.

The play is based on a short story by Francis Noronha featured in the book Thottappan, which had been given an award by the local bishops’ council.

“Therefore, there may not be anything offensive in the short story, but some seem to be offended in the dramatization,” said Father Paul Thelakat, the former spokesman of the Syro-Malabar synod.

“It is alleged that there may be some Marxist infiltrations in the play,” the priest…

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A conservative Catholic organization spent millions of dollars to buy data that originated with gay dating apps in order to identify gay priests and out them to their bishops, according to an investigation by The Washington Post. In addition to the major implications for LGBTQ rights and the ideological rifts currently dividing the church, the episode raises fundamental questions about privacy in the internet age that should concern all Americans.

The Post used records and interviews to uncover how a group of conservative Catholics in Colorado established a nonprofit called Catholic Laity and Clergy for Renewal, and funded it with some $4 million. The money was used to buy tracking data from mobile apps like Grindr, a gay dating site. By matching user information and location data, the group was able to identify which of the apps’ users were priests — then shared that information with bishops…

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Martin Baron, former executive editor of The Washington Post, The Boston Globe and the Miami Herald, is Brandeis’ 2023 Richman Distinguished Fellow in Public Life.

“Everybody has an opinion. With social media, everyone is expressing their opinion. We [journalists] have to offer more value than that,” said Martin Baron, who is Brandeis’ 2023 Richman Distinguished Fellow in Public Life. From March 15 to 17, Baron participated in multiple forums, in which he engaged in discussions with Brandeis students, faculty, and the greater community about his experiences in newsrooms such as the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and the Miami Herald. During his residence at Brandeis, Baron emphasized one main message to student journalists: prioritize objectivity. 

The Richman Fellowship website defines the recipient as someone “whose contributions have had a significant impact on improving American society, strengthening democratic institutions, advancing social justice or…

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Ownership of the Archdiocese of Agana’s two major real estate properties that include the chancery will soon officially change hands after a federal judge on Monday approved the total $5.8 million sale, proceeds of which would help settle clergy sex abuse claims and pay other costs in the Catholic church’s bankruptcy case.

No one objected to the archdiocese’s $2.3 million sale of its chancery property in Agana Heights to “Phoenix Foundation or nominee” by the court’s March 16 deadline.

Former Guam National Guard adjutant general Benny Paulino of Inalåhan and other devout Catholics are members of the private foundation.

“At this time, I just want to say that the foundation is grateful for the opportunity to purchase the chancery property,” said Paulino on Tuesday.

The court also didn’t receive any objection to the archdiocese’s $3.5 million leasehold sale of its FHP/TakeCare property in Tamuning to AMBC P.C. or its assigns….

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A survivor of clergy abuse and advocate for others who have suffered is putting pressure on local entities to release the names of priests accused of sexual abuse.

The Jesuits of Canada recently published the names and parishes of 27 men who had been convicted of sexually assaulting or abusing children.

Gemma Hickey is part of a group advocating for the release of the names of credibly accused priests.

Locally, they would like to see Catholic entities, including the Archdiocese of St. John’s, release such lists.

Hickey says releasing the names is important because it helps survivors understand they’re not alone, and helps the general public realize how big the issue is.

Releasing the Parishes is also critical, they state, because it helps them link when a priest was moved and where they were moved to.

Hickey notes that there’s a local connection in the Jesuits’ list.

They say Lorne Trainor,…

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Survivors who request the Eucharist may be brought the host at home by a fellow survivor of clerical abuse.

An American archdiocese is bringing the Eucharist to survivors of clerical sex abuse who hunger for Communion but find church-going traumatic.

“People really want the Eucharist. They want to be fed and healed by it,” said Paula Kaempffer, outreach coordinator for restorative justice and abuse prevention for the Archdiocese of St Paul and Minneapolis.

She told Catholic news website The Pillar that she works with abuse survivors who speak of “their hunger for Eucharist, except for who dispenses it”.

“They can’t go into a church and have a priest give them Communion. There’s too much trauma there. Many of them say, ‘I am Catholic to the core. I will always be Catholic, but I cannot walk inside a church’.”

Under the programme, launched in autumn 2022 by the archdiocese in the…

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The trial of a former Slidell Catholic priest accused of sexually abusing a 15-year-old boy has been delayed again.

As The Times-Picayune reports, the trial date was delayed Monday as jury selection for Patrick Wattigny was supposed to begin.

The north shore District Attorney’s Office said the trial will be rescheduled at a later date but did not say when that rescheduled date might be.

Wattigny was arrested in 2020 but released on bond and was awaiting trial on a count of molesting a 15-year-old boy starting in 2013. He pleaded not guilty to the first case in 2021.

In October, a second person reported to the St Tammany Sheriff’s Office that they too were abused by Wattigny, and was re-arrested on another charge of molesting a juvenile.

Wattigny served at a Covington church, St. Peter Catholic Church, in the mid-1990s. From 2000…

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[Via Washington Post]

Catholic leaders are pushing back against efforts to alter state laws that exempt clergy from reporting child abuse they hear about during the sacrament of confession, arguing the changes will force priests to choose between the law and their faith.

Advocates for abuse survivors insist the changes are necessary, noting instances where abuse by a parishioner or even a cleric continued despite a priest learning about it during confession.

“It is almost as though it is a pass for priests,” said Michael McDonnell, spokesperson for Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. “We hope politicians in every state would be encouraged to produce some legislation that would further safeguard children from any unnecessary damage.”

The debate comes as lawmakers in at least three states, which are Delaware, Vermont and Washington, consider removing an exemption in mandatory reporter laws for what is often described as “clergy-penitent privilege.”

Similar…

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A new ministry aims to bring the Eucharist to the survivors of clerical sexual abuse.

There was a time when Deborah Schiessl struggled to attend Mass.

As an adult survivor of clerical sexual abuse, she was grappling with the Church and her place in it.

“I continued to attend, but I sat way in the back. I felt very much like if the people here knew, they would not want me here,” Deborah told The Pillar.

“I felt like I really questioned, do I belong here anymore? I really had to pray about it and struggle with it.”

Today, Deborah has gone through a process of healing, although she still struggles with trust issues and does not like to confide in priests. Her abuser received a jail sentence and was laicized. She is active in her parish.

But she knows that many fellow abuse survivors are at a different place in…

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A lawsuit filed in Will County claimed the Diocese of Joliet actively concealed the sexual misconduct of one of its priests who now is being sued by the estate of one of his alleged victims, who died last year.

The lawsuit was filed March 1 by a plaintiff going under the fictitious name of Jane Doe. She was appointed as administrator of the estate of John Doe, the fictitious name for the alleged victim of former priest Alejandro Flores.

In 2010, Flores pleaded guilty in Kane County to sexually abusing a boy. He was deported to his native Bolivia after serving most of his prison sentence.

John Doe, the alleged victim, was born in 2000 and died at age 21 on March 6, 2022, at a rehabilitation center in California, according to the lawsuit.

The woman…

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Lent is with us, and so is the 10th anniversary of Pope Francis’ ascent to the papal throne — an appropriate conjunction, since these are days of tribulation for his papacy.

There is the two-front war that Rome finds itself fighting on doctrine and liturgy, trying to squash the church’s Latin Mass traditionalists while more gently restraining the liberal German bishops from forcing a schism on Catholicism’s leftward flank.

There is the latest example, in the grim case of the Jesuit priest-artist Father Marko Rupnik, of well-connected clerics accused of sex abuse who seem immune to the rules and reforms that are supposed to put limits on their ministry.

And then there are the grim numbers for the Francis-era church, like the accelerating drop in the number of men studying for the priesthood worldwide, which peaked around the beginning of Francis’ pontificate and…

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Advocates say church is using legal manoeuvres to ‘crush the children’ that clergy abused

The Catholic church and other institutions are attempting to use the death or incapacitation of paedophile clergy to stymy more than a dozen cases brought by historical abuse survivors, an analysis of court records suggests.

The church has drawn widespread criticism since the Guardian revealed its recent, aggressive strategy to use the deaths of paedophile clergy to claim it can no longer receive a fair trial and block survivors’ civil claims permanently.

The strategy, largely adopted in New South Wales, relies on a key decision last year in the state’s highest court, which found the death of Father Clarence Anderson, an abuser long known to the Lismore diocese, rendered the church unable to fairly defend itself against a woman known only as GLJ.

That’s despite clear evidence that high-ranking church officials knew Anderson was abusing boys at…

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The church has lost all its moral authority

Ten years ago today, on the afternoon of Wednesday, March 13, 2013, the 115 cardinal-electors of the Catholic Church walked up one after the other to a table in the Sistine Chapel to deposit folded ballot papers, only an inch wide, in a silver urn. Each bore the name of the cardinal they wanted to succeed Pope Benedict XVI, who had stunned them by his resignation just over a month earlier. It was an anonymous vote, of course, but just to make sure, the cardinals had been instructed to disguise their handwriting.

It was the fifth ballot since Tuesday night, and they knew it would be the last. After that first vote, there was a ripple of surprise when the bookies’ favourite, the scholarly but energetic Cardinal Angelo Scola of Milan, received 30 votes instead of…

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‘It is with deep sorrow that I share these names,’ says St. Paul’s president Kevin Booth

WARNING: This article contains discussion of the sexual abuse of minors.

Two former teachers at St. Paul’s High School in Winnipeg, one of whom also served as principal, are on a list of accused sexual abusers in the Jesuits of Canada.

“I am incredibly saddened,” St. Paul’s president Kevin Booth said in a statement posted Monday on the school’s website, after it was revealed two former St. Paul’s educators — Father John Pungente and Father George Topp — were on the list of 27 priests and brothers released Monday by the Jesuits, a religious order of the Catholic Church.

The people on the list were “credibly accused” of sexually abusing minors over the past six decades, Jesuits of Canada said.

“It is with deep sorrow that I share these names and I painfully recognize the life-long impact that the trauma of abuse has…

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Bishop Michael W. Fisher has put a Cheektowaga pastor on administrative leave for a second time after an additional claim of child sexual abuse was made against the priest.

The diocese received a recent “proof of claim” alleging abuse by Monsignor Peter J. Popadick, pastor of St. Aloysius Gonzaga Parish, according to diocese spokesman Joseph Martone.

Popadick was removed from ministry in 2019 due to a previous allegation in a Child Victims Act lawsuit and reinstated four months later after a diocese investigation and a review board examination of the claim.

Attorney Edward C. Cosgrove, who defended Popadick in the previous accusation, said he believes the priest again will be cleared.

“I would expect that this highly questionable claim that has been filed in bankruptcy court will be resolved in Monsignor Popadick’s favor very soon,” said Cosgrove

Martone said the most recent claim alleged abuse from more than…

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The Catholic Diocese of Oakland, which oversees 82 parishes in Alameda and Contra Costa counties, is considering filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in an effort to resolve about 330 sexual abuse lawsuits, according to a Thursday letter. Church leaders believe filing for bankruptcy protection will help pay out what is sure to be a mountain of legal costs, but survivors see it as the Catholic church avoiding responsibility.

The lawsuits come after a 2018 change in California law that opened a window from 2020 to 2022 for sexual abuse victims to proceed with legal cases, no matter when the abuse took place. The Oakland Diocese website claims that all but three of the cases occurred before 2003. 

“After much prayer and thoughtful advice, I believe bankruptcy can provide a way to support all survivors in their journey toward healing in an equitable and comprehensive way. It will also allow the…

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The Diocese of Oakland is considering filing for bankruptcy due claims of child sex abuse by priests, the church announced in a letter on Thursday.

The Diocese of Oakland is considering filing for bankruptcy due claims of child sex abuse by priests, the church announced in a letter on Thursday.

According to the letter addressed to parishioners and friends, the diocese is facing approximately 330 lawsuits.

“As the court continues to process the lawsuits, the total magnitude will become clearer,” Most Rev. Michael C. Barber, the Bishop of Oakland, said in the letter. “However, it is increasingly evident we face a monumental challenge. I have therefore been working with our College of Consultors, our Diocesan Finance Council, and our staff and advisors to discern the best way to support compassionate and equitable compensation for survivors and ensure the continuation of vibrant, Christ-centered parishes to serve our faithful.

Most…

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The Diocese of Oakland is facing the possibility of bankruptcy due to child sex abuse claims, it announced in a letter on Thursday. According to the letter, which was addressed to “Parishioners and Friends,” the diocese said it may be facing approximately 330 lawsuits.

“As the court continues to process the lawsuits, the total magnitude will become clearer,” read the letter, which was signed by Bishop of Oakland, Most Rev. Michael C. Barber. “However, it is increasingly evident we face a monumental challenge. I have therefore been working with our College of Consultors, our Diocesan Finance Council, and our staff and advisors to discern the best way to support compassionate and equitable compensation for survivors and ensure the continuation of vibrant, Christ-centered parishes to serve our faithful.”

The letter goes on to say that the “Diocese is giving strong consideration to filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.”

“After much prayer and…

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The country’s ruling party wants to convert reports that the pontiff turned a blind eye toward child abuse into electoral rocket fuel.

War? Inflation? Corruption? Nope, the big subject dominating Poland’s politics ahead of this fall’s parliamentary election is the legacy of John Paul II.

Although the canonized Polish pontiff has been dead since 2005, he’s become the hottest subject in Poland following an explosive documentary aired by the U.S.-owned broadcaster TVN, alleging that when he was a cardinal in his home city of Kraków, he protected priests accused of sexually molesting children.

That caused a collective meltdown in the ranks of the ruling nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party, which is closely allied with the powerful Roman Catholic Church.

U.S. Ambassador Mark Brzezinski was even summoned (later toned down to “invited”) to appear at the foreign ministry. 

In a statement, the ministry said it…

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Pedophile’s death allegedly has been used as a shield from abuse accusations in the Catholic Order in Australia. The Marist Brothers, a Catholic order, will argue in court that they should not be held liable for abuse claims related to Brother Francis “Romuald” Cable because he is dead, despite allegations that the order concealed his crimes for years.

Even though Cable had been accused of abusing children as early as 1967, the Marist Brothers took no action to expel him from the order or alert the police. Instead, he was transferred to the order’s governed schools. In September 2019, Cable passed away in prison after being given a 16-year prison term in 2015 for crimes committed against 19 boys at Marist Brothers schools in Maitland, Hamilton, and Pagewood between 1960 and 1974.

Catholic Order Using the Death of a Pedophile Member as A Shield From Allegations of Abuse

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A new book and television documentary claims that the then cardinal Karol Wojtyła was not just aware of priests who sexually abused children – he covered up for them

To the outsider’s eye, the Catholic Church reigns supreme in Poland. On a regular Sunday, Polish church pews are full while queues form, even during Mass, for Confession.

In 2016, the country installed Jesus Christ as King of Poland at a grand ceremony in Krakow. Last year, after three decades of lobbying, Polish bishops secured an almost total ban on abortion.

Nearly two decades after the death of the Polish pope in 2005, and nearly a decade after he was canonised, the face of St John Paul II remains omnipresent in his homeland. But the church he shaped like no other is now in meltdown since, last week, the unthinkable finally happened.

After a steady drip of clerical sexual abuse…

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An independent commission started investigating the sexual abuses of clergy members in Spain. After a year, around 445 victims stepped up and gave their testimonies.

A report from Click Orlando stated that on Monday, Mar. 13, Spain’s ombudsman announced that a committee set up a year ago to investigate historic sex abuse by the Catholic church had collected testimony from 445 victims. Spain is addressing an issue that other European nations have addressed for decades.

According to a statement released by the office of Ombudsman Ángel Gabilondo, who opened the first official investigation, the gathering of testimonies was still in progress, and it was expected that an update would be provided in parliament before the term of the current government expired this year. They are reportedly satisfied with the number of victims who felt they could come forward. “What really matters is to listen to the victims.with respect,…

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A bill that would end clergy exemptions for reporting child abuse and neglect appears dead as it failed to meet a key legislative deadline for passing out of a committee Friday.

The bill, S.16, had been assigned to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which held hearings on the matter, including one that featured Vermont Catholic Bishop Christopher Coyne, who testified in opposition to the legislation.

Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington, the committee’s chair, said Thursday that due to “constitutional concerns” the bill was being shelved, at least for now, and therefore will not move out of committee.

“I’m going to be working with legislative counsel and others trying to work something out so when we take it back to make sure it is constitutional under the United States Constitution and the separation of church and state,” Sears said.

He added that he will be looking at what laws other states have on…

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Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests challenge bankruptcy filing by Santa Rosa Catholic Diocese and plan to ask Attorney General to investigate.

The national Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests wants Attorney General Rob Bonta to investigate the bankruptcy proceedings launched this week by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Santa Rosa and perhaps Oakland as well.

The survivors’ group, known as SNAP, decided to act in the wake of the Oakland bishop’s announcement Thursday that he was “giving strong consideration” to filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy. That announcement came just four days after Santa Rosa Bishop Robert F. Vasa submitted his own bankruptcy petition to the court.

It’s not clear exactly what role Bonta might play as the highest ranking state law enforcement officer. The bankruptcy case, filed Monday, is proceeding in federal bankruptcy court, outside his jurisdiction.

Vasa said the bankruptcy court and the U.S. Trustee assigned to the…

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Archbishop John Wester wrote he was “ashamed” by decades of sexual abuse committed by Roman Catholic priests in an open letter to those who’d filed complaints and lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Santa Fe.

In a letter dated Thursday and read during Mass on Sunday, Wester professed his “profound regret and sorrow over the tragic and inexcusable harm done to you,” referring to the hundreds claimants in a scandal that rocked the archdiocese for many years.

In the letter, Wester wrote: “The archdiocese takes responsibility for the abuse,” and apologized “to each of you and to all those who have been harmed by sexual abuse perpetrated by Roman Catholic clergy in this archdiocese.”

In a recent interview, Wester acknowledged recovering from the damage done by the abuse scandal would not be easy and reiterated the archdiocese’s determination to deal head-on with abuse claims in the future. He also expressed…

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Deux Canadiens en font partie

Le pape François devrait «rendre compte publiquement de l’impact de Vos estis lux mundi», ce motu proprio qu’il a promulgué en 2019.

Il devrait aussi «révéler publiquement les noms des évêques et des supérieurs religieux» qui, depuis la mise en œuvre de ce texte juridique, ont fait l’objet d’une enquête parce qu’ils sont soupçonnés d’avoir commis des abus sexuels ou encore d’avoir dissimulé des plaintes reçues de victimes.

Ces deux demandes ont été formulées par Anne Barrett Doyle, une des dirigeantes du site américain BishopAccountability.org qui collige depuis 20 ans des informations sur la crise des abus sexuels dans l’Église catholique, tant aux États-Unis que dans le monde entier.

Le pape François «avait pourtant promis que Vos estis lux mundi ouvrirait une nouvelle ère de responsabilité» pour l’Église catholique, a-t-elle rappelé lors d’une conférence de presse tenue le mercredi 15 mars 2023.

Mais voilà que près de quatre ans…

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Johnny Hunt is suing the Southern Baptist Convention, the SBC Executive Committee and Guidepost Solutions for defamation and invasion of privacy for making public the story of his “brief, inappropriate, extramarital encounter with a married woman” in 2010.

Hunt is a former SBC president and denominational executive who was named in last year’s bombshell independent investigation of mishandled sexual abuse cases by the SBC Executive Committee. At first, he denied the allegations leveled against him by first-person testimony of the woman involved, then he admitted the encounter had, in fact, occurred but insisted it was not abusive in nature.

The woman — who is unnamed — contends otherwise. Her account, as included in the Guidepost Solutions report states: “Dr. Hunt then moved towards survivor and proceeded to pull her shorts down, turn her over and stare at her bare backside. He made sexual remarks about her body and things he had imagined…

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While Southern Baptists have been focused on alleged mishandling of sexual abuse cases in the United States, there’s another, less-talked-about legacy of sexual abuse perpetuated by Christian missionaries sent from the United States to other countries.

As one of the largest missionary-sending denominations in the world, the Southern Baptist Convention has played a role in this unspoken drama, although the SBC is far from alone in addressing problems created by a relatively small number of wayward missionaries.

Malawi, one of the world’s least-developed nations, has a history of Western missionaries behaving unethically with children under their care. This has happened against the backdrop of American and European missionaries lavishly helping out with adoptions, education and health care in the southeast African nation.

Easy to overlook

“Malawi’s encounter with dishonorable missionaries have largely been forgotten or overlooked by global audiences because the country is hardly known among U.S. audiences,” said Yasin Kakande, author…

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When I first read that there was going to be a redacted report, I thought that the redacted names only would be the names of the victims, and I was fine with that (”Judge approves redactions for AG’s Catholic clergy abuse report, clearing way for its release,” March 14). Now, it seems that they’re redacting the names of the perpetrators and the enablers as well.

The state of Maryland and the media share a policy of refraining from publishing the names of the victims of sexual predators. The state and the media typically do publish the names of the accused.

How is this situation any different? Giving sexual predators a pass just because they are Catholic is unconstitutional.

The First Amendment prohibits the government from creating a state established religion. That means that the members of any religion and of no religion are all treated the…

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THE MANY incidents of child sexual abuse by clerics has shamed thousands of good bishops and priests who have been justly angered by the rampant and tolerated child sexual abuse of their fellow pedophile priests and some bishops. They feel helpless when their bishop protects the pedophile priests and calls him “his son.” They hunger for justice for the victims and wish to exonerate their own vocation and blemished priesthood.

Church law now says every act of sexual abuse against a child is not only a heinous crime in civil law but is a violation of church law. (www.preda.org) Bishops have been scolded by Pope Francis for covering up child abuse cases among their priests instead of reaching out to help the victims, find them therapy, healing and justice. Instead, they try to buy off the child-victim and the family with money and promises. This is what happened in the…

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Clericalism is not just a problem of the Clergy, members of the newly constituted Synodality Resource Team (SRT) for Africa have said, and called on the Laity to play their role in de-clericalizing the Church.

In a two-day workshop they held to devise ways to deepen the understanding of a Synodal Church on the continent, the SRT members who shared their experiences with the Synod on Synodality noted that the phenomenon of clericalism had surfaced prominently in synodal conversations.

They described clericalism in various ways, including members of the Clergy abusing their positions, the Clergy feeling that theirs is the final word, as well as refusing to share out roles that the Laity can perform. 

The Principal of the Nairobi-based Jesuits’ Hekima University College said that clericalism is manifested by “Priests who do things that can be done, even in a better way, by the Laity.”

Fr. Marcel Uwineza highlighted a role such as financial administration…

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Lawsuits claim International Churches of Christ leaders failed to report as well as plotted to conceal abuse of women and children

Michele “Chele” Roland was looking for salvation when she joined the International Churches of Christ. She never imagined that, three decades later, she would lead a legal battle accusing the controversial Christian religious organization of enabling and covering up the sexual molestation of children in its congregation, among other alleged abuses, but that’s exactly what she’s doing.

“They have covered the spectrum of abuse,” Roland said. “This is abuse of power – spiritually, physically, psychologically, financially and sexually.”

Roland and her attorney, Bobby Samini, have filed a series of lawsuits against the International Churches of Christ – abbreviated as ICOC – which allege that its leaders failed to report as well as plotted to conceal the sexual and emotional abuse of women and children who worshipped…

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Shakespeare famously wrote, “The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.” In Poland today, however, a broad swath of the country is insisting that it must not be so with regard to St. John Paul II, as new claims of failures by the late pope on clerical sexual abuse compete with vigorous defenses of his legacy.

Fueling the showdown are a recent documentary from a Polish television network and a new book by a Dutch journalist, both of which allege that during the period when the future pope served as the Archbishop of Krakow, there were  a handful of cases in which then-Cardinal Karol Wojtyla knew of allegations of abuse against a priest and either reassigned him or otherwise tried to keep it quiet.

In a report that aired March 6, the Polish broadcaster TVN named three priests it claimed the future…

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A victim of a former priest convicted of sexually abusing a young woman as he drove her to rape counselling has criticised the Catholic Church for allowing his offending to continue after she raised the alarm.

Father Joseph Dunne, 81, who was sacked as a priest in Scotland, indecently assaulted the woman on a number of occasions after befriending her in hospital in Ireland, where he now lives.

Now a Scottish woman who says she was assaulted when Dunne was a priest at St Paul’s church, Whiteinch, Glasgow, in the 1980s has spoken of her anger that, after reporting his behaviour to the Archdiocese of Glasgow, her concerns were dismissed, with Dunne instead being moved to another parish. He was only dismissed after further complaints about his conduct involving two girls.

The woman, now in her 50s, said: “I am furious that he was moved on to assault more women….

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WARNING: THIS STORY CONTAINS DISTURBING DETAILS

More than a third of Jesuits who are “credibly accused” of sexual abuse of minors worked in First Nations or at the Spanish Indian Residential School in Spanish, Ontario.

The religious order released a list of names on Monday, along with the places they were assigned to work, as part of an effort to be more transparent and accountable.

Of the 27 priests and brothers named, 10 worked in residential schools in Spanish and/or First Nations communities.

“I look at the list. I’m glad it’s an opening but it says credible allegation,” said Rina Diabo, chair of the finance administration committee at St. Francis Xavier Mission in Kanawha:k, Kaniankeha:ka (Mohawk) of Montreal. community in the South.

Father Henri Lalonde, one of the priests named, was appointed to the mission between 1967 and 1969. He was also involved in the mission’s singing beginning in the…

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Last year the diocese began warning it may file for bankruptcy if it could not reach a global settlement with victims, but that mediation effort fell apart

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany’s decision to file for bankruptcy will likely lead to a years-long and expensive delay in abuse survivors receiving compensation, based on a review of bankruptcy filings of other dioceses across the state.

The decision, announced Wednesday, was prompted at least in part by a concern about the diocese’s ability to meet its immediate financial obligations as it faces hundreds of allegations of sexual abuse over the past decades, according to Bishop Edward Scharfenberger.

“(As) more Child Victims Act cases reached large settlements, our limited self-insurance funds, which have been paying those settlements, have been depleted,” he said in a statement Wednesday.

The diocese’s attorneys had threatened for months that if attorneys who represent hundreds of…

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Catholic bishops reiterate new safeguarding commitments in line with the independent commission on clergy abuse

Portugal’s Catholic Church has reiterated new safeguarding commitments in line with an independent commission on sexual abuse by clergy, although most of its dioceses also reported inconsistencies in the commission’s findings.

“We renew our gratitude for the work carried out, which has made it possible to cross reference information between victim testimonies and data from our archives,” the Portuguese bishops’ permanent council said March 14.

“We value public scrutiny and are fully available to walk with society in eradicating the drama of abuse against minors, permanently supporting victims and judging aggressors. We regret that, given the subject’s complexity, we have not always communicated our intentions clearly,” it said.

The council issued the statement after meeting at the Marian shrine of Fatima to debate responses to a list of names of suspected abusers submitted to the…

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• Letter of Bishop Michael C. Barber, SJ – March 16, 2023
  • Letter of Bishop Michael C. Barber, SJ
    Our response to the harm caused by clergy sexual abuse
    March 16, 2023Dear Parishioners and Friends of the Diocese of Oakland,

    Today, I write about an important moment in our journey toward rebuilding Christ’s Church, a moment in which I ask for your support.

    You may have read or heard about a California state law which opened a three-year window for individuals to bring otherwise barred or expired claims for sexual abuse suffered as a child. Since the closing of the filing window on December 31, 2022, we have been informed there may be approximately 330 lawsuits filed against our diocese. 

    As the court continues to process the lawsuits, the total magnitude will become clearer. However, it is increasingly evident that we face a monumental challenge. I have therefore been working with our College of Consultants, our Diocesan Finance…

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The Diocese of Oakland is trying to get ahead of what appears to be around 330 looming clergy sexual abuse lawsuits, announcing they may file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which critics say is just a tactic to avoid testifying and paying damages.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland had a pretty ugly run of sexual abuse of children allegations back in the early 2000s, and in 2005, they paid a $56 million settlement to 56 victims. (The settlements ranged from $200,000 to $2 million-plus, but averaged $1 million apiece.) In today’s dollars, those settlements would likely be larger. And that’s a crucial consideration, as KRON4 reports that the diocese now suspects it’s facing “approximately 330” sex abuse lawsuits from victims, and announced Thursday that they may file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

It is not publicly known who the alleged victims are, or when the incidents occurred. A 2019 California law…

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A deacon of the Diocese of Brooklyn, New York has been sentenced to 16 years in prison after he admitted to prosecutors that he engaged in sexual acts with minors he met on the hookup app Grindr.

Rogelio Vega, 52, was sentenced March 15, two years after he was arrested in an NYPD sting operation using Grindr.

Vega, who previously served in the Brooklyn diocese’s parish of St. Sebastian, Woodside, pled guilty last September to three counts of “enticing a minor” to engage in sexual acts with him.

Reading the sentence in Brooklyn Federal Court on Wednesday, the judge noted the “especially complex” nature of the case, but said that deterring the sexual exploitation of minors is “one of the most important, most essential tasks of the criminal justice system.”

Vega was arrested in January 2021, after he made contact with an NYPD detective posing as a teenager on Grindr, a…

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Gemma Hickey wants the Catholic church to start naming names.

As a survivor of clergy abuse, and an advocate for other survivors, Hickey is tired of chasing down the church for information and pushing it to right historic wrongs. 

Now they want to see the church lay it all out there for the public to see.

“Newfoundland and Labrador is ground zero when it comes to this type of abuse,” said Hickey, who uses they/them pronouns. “When it erupted here in the ’80s, it erupted everywhere else. And so that’s why it’s really important, particularly here, to have lists that contain the names of credibly accused priests.”

CBC News asked the Archdiocese of St. John’s for its response but did not hear back by publishing time.

Hickey — who founded the groups Pathways and ACTS Canada to advocate for survivors of clergy abuse — was glad to see another Catholic organization, the Jesuits of Canada,…

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The email from the Archdiocese of Baltimore came with an ask.

The ask: Encouraging the community to lobby against proposed legislation advancing in the Maryland General Assembly that would give more survivors of child sexual abuse the ability to file lawsuits against the church and other institutions complicit in those crimes.

The proposals, the March 12 message read,would create two different classes of survivors. That’s because the legislation would cap damages such as pain and suffering against private institutions at $1.5 million, but limit judgments against public institutions to $890,000. And that “greatly increases the financial harm to the Church and its ministries,” the email stated in bold.

“Twenty-six dioceses have already filed for bankruptcy caused by similar laws in other states,” the email continued, “and more are expected.”

The Archdiocese of Baltimore has not stated that it is considering filing for bankruptcy,…

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Priests who steal are often motivated by resentment, envy, and a desire to cover up for other moral lapses, new analysis has found.

Priests who steal are often motivated by resentment, envy, and a desire to cover up for other moral lapses, new analysis has found, adding that isolation and weak oversight can contribute to the rationalization of theft through “moral licensing.”

But the same analysis concluded that a relatively small number of priests have been caught stealing from parishes, and that the priesthood does not seem to attract fraudsters or financial con artists.

A new scholarly article, “Exploring Embezzlement by Catholic Priests in the United States: A Content Analysis of Cases Since 1963,” documented almost 100 instances of stealing by priests, which have sometimes involved hundreds of thousands stolen.

The study aims to assess financial crimes committed by Catholic priests in light of what researchers call  the “fraud triangle”…

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It was terrible to learn that Jean Vanier — whom so many Catholics had looked up to as the saintly, heroic founder of L’Arche — had been manipulating and abusing women who came to him seeking spiritual direction.

We needed to learn about it, though, and that we have is due to the admirably full-on, deep investigation that L’Arche undertook when informed of the abuse, and its transparent release of findings.

It had to be immensely painful and difficult for the community, but they did not shirk their responsibility to the victims of abuse, to their communities and supporters, and to the Church. Having discovered that their body was carrying an illness — one that, if permitted to fester, might turn into an incurable and fatal sepsis — the organization addressed it with the potent antibiotic of the truth, which did set it free. L’Arche is now progressing…

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Allegations against the former moderator of the Church of North India (CNI) have put all its dioceses under police scanner

Federal officials combating economic crimes in India have raided the office and residence of a former bishop of the Protestant Church of North India (CNI), who was sacked by his Church following allegations of money laundering some six months ago.

The officials of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the economic intelligence agency responsible for enforcing economic laws and fighting economic crime in India, ended on March 17 a two-day raid of the residence of former bishop P. C. Singh of Jabalpur in central Indian Madhya Pradesh state.

The latest raid comes six months after state officials of the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) raided Singh’s residence in Jabalpur and arrested him on charges of money laundering.

The EOW, a special wing of the state police dealing with economic offenses, seized cash worth 16…

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The top court in the country turns down an appeal by the Syro-Malabar Church head to quash seven criminal cases against him

India’s top court has dismissed an appeal by the head of the Eastern rite Syro-Malabar Church, Cardinal George Alencherry, to quash seven criminal cases against him in connection with a controversial land deal in his archdiocese.

A division bench of the Supreme Court headed by Justice Dinesh Maheshwari on March 17 turned down the 77-year-old cardinal’s appeal paving the way for him to face trial in land deals he executed some five years ago in Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese in southern Kerala state.

“It is not a final order. We will consult our experts and take further course of action legally,” said Father Antony Vadakkekara, spokesperson of the Sryo-Malabar Church, the second largest among the Eastern Churches.

“We have not yet received the copy of the order and we only know from…

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World Hindu Council official demanded thousands of dollars not to file false sex allegations against Catholic priest

A right-wing Hindu leader’s attempt to extort money from a Catholic clergyman by threatening to implicate the priest in a false sexual assault case has landed him in jail in a southern Indian state.

Mutuvel, who goes by a single name and is district secretary of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council) in Ariyalur in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, was remanded in judicial custody following his arrest on March 13. 

The arrest followed a complaint from Father Dominic Savio, parish priest of Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Ariyalur in Kumbakonam diocese.

“Muthuvel through one of his agents, Vinod Raj, a Catholic, demanded I pay Rs 2.5 million (US$30,306). Failing which, he threatened to embroil me in a sexual assault case,” Savio told UCA News on March 16.

The police also…

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As he watches the prosecution of former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick unfold, James Grein is grappling with some painful spiritual questions.

The questions come rapid-fire: “How is it that a 92-year-old ex-prelate has had a wonderful life while all of his victims suffer?” Grein asks. “Why are the abuse victims continuously victimized? And why is it taking so long to bring my abuser to justice?”

For years, the North Jersey native says, he has suffered, haunted by memories of abuse that engulfed him in a darkness of alcohol, drugs and suicidal thoughts.

Today, the 64-year-old has emerged as a hero for many survivors of the Catholic Church’s sexual assault scandals, after pulling himself from the depths to come out publicly against the man many consider the church’s most notorious living clergy abuser.

Grein, who grew up in Tenafly, also helped lobby for the 2019 New Jersey Child Sex Abuse Law, which temporarily lifted the…

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Peter Isley of Nate’s Mission has been outspoken about his experience being a survivor of clergy abuse. For years he’s been fighting for justice, and now he’s part of the documentary called ‘Manufacturing the Clerical Predator’ with hopes of finding a solution to clergy abuse.

“it’s trying to answer this question that’s never really been answered which is why? How has this gone on for so long, how does this keep reproducing itself,” said Isley.

Isley was only 13 years old when he was abused by a faith leader at a minor seminary. He said thousands in the state have a similar story.

The documentary is directed by Sarah Pearson, who is also a part of Nate’s Mission. Both Isley and Pearson said the film dives into what they call a systemic problem in the clergy.

“it’s not an accident or a case of a few bad apples but there’s something…

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Dear Honorable Members of the House Committee on the Judiciary,

Thank you for allowing me to submit testimony in support of H5510, which will eliminate the civil statutes of limitation for child sexual abuse, both retroactively and for the future.

Every once in a while, legislation occurs that future generations point to as transformative. H5510 would be such a law.  It would transform Rhode Island from a state that has historically shielded perpetrators and complicit institutions to one that prioritizes child protection.

H5510 would hold accountable both child molesters and the employers who fail to stop them.

I am co-director of BishopAccountability.org, an independent non-profit based in Waltham, Massachusetts. We’re the world’s leading researchers into the sex abuse crisis in the Catholic Church. We track and document more than 8,000 clergy abuse cases in all 50 states and worldwide.

I want to briefly address the ongoing cover-up of child…

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• Rep. Carol McEntee’s new bill would totally remove time limit on filing suit for child sex abuse by clergy
• Alleged victims rallies in support of the bill
• RI Catholic Church, ACLU and insurance lobby oppose bill
• Case working through courts would determine if RI Diocese was a ‘perpetrator’ of abuse

The war has begun anew over legal responsibility — and more specifically, who should be made to pay — for the sexual abuse of children, with the Rhode Island Catholic Church, the state’s insurance lobby and the ACLU on one side, and alleged victims on the other.

A legal challenge to the state’s current law is still winding its way through state court, but Rep. Carol McEntee has revived her campaign for the total repeal of the current time limit on the filing of lawsuits against pedophiles and the institutions that shielded them.

And once again, McEntee’s sister, Ann Hagan-Webb, a licensed psychologist…

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The more stories he heard from clergy abuse survivors, the more Marcus Mescher realized that their suffering wasn’t just emotional or physical − it was a moral trauma.

Clergy abuse victims often feel alone and empty − if not “dirty,” said Mescher, an associate professor of Christian ethics at the Jesuit-run Xavier University in Cincinnati. Survivors often feel abandoned by their church, community and God.

Mescher, a practicing Catholic, decided to develop quantitative and qualitative measures of their suffering to help others understand the impact of abuse by someone as important to faith as a member of the clergy.

He and his co-researchers at Xavier published a report in December, demonstrating the abuse of children and subsequent concealment by the church resulted in “persistent psychological and emotional distress, moral confusion, spiritual anguish, social alienation and distrust for institutions.”

“When the perpetrator of sexual abuse is a priest, there are even more dimensions…

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(For Immediate Release March 17, 2023) 

The Bishop of the Diocese of Oakland says he is “strongly” considering declaring bankruptcy because of an avalanche of lawsuits. Bishop Michael Barber directs his letter to “Parishioners and Friends” of the Diocese and laments the property he will need to sell and bankruptcy’s impact on his plan to realign parishes because of a priest shortage.

Nowhere in his letter does he lament the harm done to the 330 souls who have sued his Diocese. Nowhere does he acknowledge these people were part of the Oakland Diocese. They were baptized and confirmed, they were altar servers or attended Catholic schools. Their families entrusted their children to the priests who molested them, and those families donated their time and money to the Diocese. They in effect paid the clergy who destroyed their children’s lives.

Bishop Barber is woeful about his problems but…

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A number of lessons can be drawn from a recent Washington Post story.  On March 9, the Post published a nearly 4,000-word story on the work of Catholic Laity and Clergy for Renewal (CLCR), a nonprofit based in Colorado.  CLCR meticulously – and legally – collected publicly available data on clergy usage of Grindr and other hetero and same-sex hookup dating apps.  It then provided the information to bishops for corrective action.  Similar data reported on by The Pillar forced the resignation of former USCCB general secretary, Msgr. Jeffrey Burrill.

In the Latin rite, diocesan priests make a promise of celibacy.  Religious community priests take a vow of chastity.  The intended result is the same:  The priest commits himself to refrain from sexual relations.  It’s a sacrifice that, properly lived, frees him to devote his life to the service of Jesus Christ, the Church, and her people.  It’s…

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MADISON – A new name has been added to the list of credibly accused priests within the La Crosse Diocese as a result of the Attorney General’s inquiry into abuse perpetrated by clergy and other faith leaders across the state.

John J. Cullinan, who served at St. Paul’s Church in Mosinee and St. Mary’s Church in Wausau, was added to the list on Dec. 20, over two years after the diocese first published their list, the attorney general’s office confirmed this week.

“With consent from survivors, DOJ provided information about allegations regarding Father Cullinan to the Diocese of La Crosse, which then followed its process for adding Father Cullinan to its list of those with substantiated allegations of child sexual abuse,” Attorney General Josh Kaul said in a statement to the Journal Sentinel.

“We are grateful that survivors have reported abuse to the Wisconsin Department of Justice through our Clergy and Faith…

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The victim was left with “serious lifelong psychological scars”

A retired Suffolk priest who sexually abused a girl over a three-year period in the 1980s has been jailed. Dennis Finbow, 74, visited the family home of the victim in Peterborough, on numerous occasions in the 1980s and abused her.

At Cambridge Crown Court on Wednesday, March 8, Finbow, of Bealings Road in Martlesham, was jailed for six years and six months having been found guilty on three counts of indecent assault after having pleaded not guilty to six counts. He was found not guilty on the other three counts.

The court heard how Finbow would go into the girl’s bedroom claiming her mother had sent him, and that he wanted to speak to her about becoming a woman. He also asked her to take her clothes off as well as touching her inappropriately.

DC Annette Renwick said: “I am…

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A former Offaly priest who sexually abused a young woman as he drove her to the Rape Crisis Centre for counselling has avoided a jail term as he is the sole carer for his elderly sister.

Joe Dunne (81) indecently assaulted the previously abused young woman on a number of occasions after befriending her in hospital. He later asked her for forgiveness before assaulting her again.

The woman outlined how meeting Dunne when she was a young woman in a highly vulnerable situation had started “34 years of hell.” She said she thought she would be safe as he was a priest.

Dunne of Ballycrystal, Geashill, Co Offaly pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to five counts of indecent assault of the woman in 1989. He has no previous convictions.

Separate investigation

The court heard the case had come to light as a result of a separate investigation in…

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Survivors of child sexual abuse cleared an important hurdle Thursday night in their quest to sue complicit institutions, as the Maryland Senate approved vastly expanding eligibility to file civil lawsuits.

The vote tally was 42 senators in support and five opposed, and the final vote came without any debate.

The measure still needs approval from the House of Delegates — which is expected — before heading to Gov. Wes Moore’s desk.

“I feel really proud that we’ve at least given the survivors an opportunity to make their case and seek some justice,” said Sen. William C. Smith Jr., the bill’s sponsor and chairman of the committee that wrestled with versions of the bill for years.

Smith said in an interview that he felt “somber” about finally getting the bill passed. The Montgomery County Democrat is uncertain that the bill will withstand legal scrutiny down the line, but he hopes it…

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