ABUSE TRACKER

A former principal at a Christian boarding school in Missouri that closed in March amid abuse allegations has been charged with sex crimes involving a former student.

Craig Wesley Smith Jr. was charged by the prosecutor in Wayne County in September with forcible sodomy and attempted forcible rape, court records show. He is accused of forcing a teenage girl to perform sex acts in the late 2000s when she was a student at Lighthouse Christian Academy in Piedmont, about 130 miles (209 kilometers) south of St. Louis.

A probable cause statement alleged that Smith told the girl he would kill her and “make it look like she committed suicide” if she told anyone.

Smith faces a hearing Thursday in Wayne County. Messages were left Tuesday with Smith and his attorney.

ABM Ministries operated the school, which claimed success in helping students who were troubled, learning-impaired or dealing with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder or…

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After nearly 50 years in silence, Chris MacLean is ready to share his experience of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

MacLean, who now lives in Toronto, said he was taken advantage of by Father Joe Nelligan while attending Brennan High School in Windsor in 1979.

“It wasn’t just my parish priest who I saw on a weekly basis, and if I didn’t like him, I could just not go. He was at my high school,” MacLean told CTV News.

MacLean said the two had a close relationship and he admired Nelligan, which made the abuse “much harder” to digest.

“It was an inside job,” he said. “He knew me. He had my trust, and he eventually broke that trust.”

Following the abuse, MacLean, worried about how it would appear, buried the trauma deep within himself.

Over the years, MacLean said when he noticed instances of institutional abuse, he would…

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The Archdiocese of Dubuque has been named a defendant in a trio of civil cases alongside a former area priest previously charged with sexual abuse.

The lawsuits were filed this month in Charlotte County (Fla.) Circuit Court. The Archdiocese of Dubuque is listed as a defendant in all three cases alongside Leo Riley, who served as a priest in the Dubuque area in the ’80s and ’90s.

The civil complaints that spurred the three cases are not yet publicly available, though all three were filed the same day and list John Doe plaintiffs represented by the same attorney.

Riley, 68, of Port Charlotte, Fla., previously was charged in Iowa District Court of Dubuque County with five counts of second-degree sexual abuse stemming from allegations related to his time at a Dubuque parish in the 1980s.

Riley was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Dubuque in 1982 and served in…

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Chatham woman’s first novel tells the story of a young girl who was abused by a Catholic priest.

It’s been nearly two decades since news came to light about young girls being sexually assaulted by a Catholic priest while serving at churches in Southwestern Ontario and the cover-up by the church, but Renée D. Bondy hasn’t forgotten about it.

The Chatham woman’s first novel [non]disclosure, published by Second Story Press, tells the story of a young girl who was abused by a Catholic priest. Like many victims, she kept a dark secret for years before finding her voice.

When asked about the decision to write [non]disclosure, Bondy recalled writing articles for a Toronto Catholic newspaper on the trial of the late Fr. Charles Sylvestre, who pleaded guilty in a Chatham courtroom in 2006 to 47 charges of indecent assault, which occurred between 1954 and 1986 involving girls age eight to…

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After 40 years, the lies had to stop. 

If there was any question about whether movies can change lives, the documentary Prey by Windsor native Matt Gallagher is the answer.  

Prey, chronicling a fight for justice by survivors of a pedophile priest, returned to the Windsor International Film Festival on Monday after causing a sensation there in 2019. 

Monday’s screening included a Q-and-A with Gallagher and Chris MacLean, who suffered sexual abuse at the hands of his Windsor priest and barely spoke of it until he watched Prey 40 years later.  Article content

On Oct. 8, MacLean settled a lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of London for the abuse perpetrated by Rev. Joe Nelligan in Windsor. 

“The documentary really touched me,” MacLean told the Star. “It was time to stop lying. Not telling the truth is no different than lying.

“For years, I didn’t tell people I knew that were strongly Catholic because…

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[See also the text of the PCPM report.]

The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors released its first annual report October 29, detailing measures taken to combat sexual violence within the church. The document reveals uneven implementation across various countries worldwide.

This report has been eagerly awaited for more than two years, following Pope Francis’ request that the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors produce a comprehensive overview of the church’s efforts to address sexual abuse. Tutela Minorum – in Latin – published its first report October 29, assessing the adoption of measures by different church entities to combat sexual abuse against minors and vulnerable individuals.

The report presents findings based on interviews with church leaders during episcopal visits to Rome (known as ad limina) and questionnaires sent to stakeholders on the ground. It also issues numerous recommendations.

The approach contrasts with typical methods in Rome. Right from the start, the…

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[See also the text of the PCPM report.]

Highlighting progress made in safeguarding and recommendations for rectifying ongoing gaps, the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors dedicated its first annual report to all victims and survivors of sexual abuse by members of the Catholic Church.

“The commission’s work — including this report — is and always has been about recognition and inclusion of victims and survivors of abuse in the life of the church,” Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, president of the pontifical commission, said at a news conference at the Vatican Oct. 29.

“Your suffering and wounds have opened our eyes to the fact that as a church we have failed to care for victims, and that we didn’t defend you, and that we resisted understanding you when you needed us most,” he said.

“We praise your courageous testimony, and at the same time, we recognize that you are…

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[See also the text of the PCPM report.]

A Catholic group tasked with tackling the issue of clerical sexual abuse released a first-of-its-kind report Tuesday on its work over the past decade, sparking a new round of debate over what else should be done.

In the report, the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors outlines its effort to improve abuse-related safeguards in Catholic churches around the world and to offer more support to sexual abuse victims.

“Nothing we do will ever be enough to fully repair what has happened,” said Cardinal Sean O’Malley, who leads the commission, at a news conference, according to The Associated Press. “But we hope that this report and those that will come, compiled with the help of victims and survivors at the center, will help to ensure the firm commitment that these events never happen again in the church.”

Critics of…

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[See also the text of the PCPM report.]

Vatican’s child protection commission delivers first report on scandal that has engulfed church for decades

Church leaders who fail to take action against paedophile priests are a “further source of evil” for victims of sexual abuse and should be removed from their posts, the Vatican’s child protection commission has said.

In its first report on a scandal that has embroiled the Catholic church for decades, the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors said the church was still failing to ensure that clerical sexual abuse cases were dealt with adequately. It also criticised the Vatican office charged with processing complaints of being slow and secretive.

The commission was set up by Pope Francis in 2014 and its first report, published on Tuesday, focused on church protocol in 17 countries. Its publication comes a month after the pontiff was rebuked over the church’s…

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[See also the text of the PCPM report.]

The report is intended to assess efforts by the Roman Catholic Church to safeguard minors and others. Advocates for survivors called it an exercise in obfuscation.

Ten years after it was first established, a Vatican commission on clerical sexual abuse issued its first report on Tuesday, a limited step in self-accounting by some bishops that was immediately criticized by victims’ advocates as being toothless and lacking independent verification.

Since the clerical abuse scandal erupted into the mainstream media two decades ago, the church has struggled to put in place effective measures around the world to end abuse and hold the church hierarchy accountable when it was involved in covering up cases.

The Vatican group, the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, was formed in 2014 to advise Pope Francis on how best to protect minors and vulnerable…

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A Lafayette district judge on Monday rejected attempts by the Diocese of Lafayette to dismiss some claims by an alleged victim of priest sexual abuse but ordered disclosure of the victim’s name to be filed under seal.

Lafayette attorneys Seth Mansfield and Collin Melancon filed a lawsuit in August in 15th Judicial Court in Lafayette on behalf of the alleged victim identified in court documents as “JM John Doe” against the Diocese of Lafayette and Immaculate Heart of Mary Roman Catholic Church in Lafayette.

Lafayette is believed to be the first place where a Catholic priest, Gilbert Gauthe, was convicted of child abuse and jailed in the 1980s, long before such cases became public elsewhere. Gauthe served 10 years of a 20-year sentence after admitting he abused more than 30 children in the 1970s and 1980s.

The state Supreme Court in June ruled that victims of clerical sexual abuse have  View Cache

[See also the text of the PCPM report.]

Pope Francis’ child protection board called Tuesday for victims of clergy sexual abuse to have greater access to information about their cases and the right to compensation, in the first-ever global assessment of the Catholic Church’s efforts to address the crisis.

The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors issued a series of findings and recommendations in its pilot annual report, zeroing in on the church in a dozen countries, two religious orders and two Vatican offices with detailed analysis.

In its most critical note, it called for greater transparency from the Vatican’s sex abuse office, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. It said the office’s slow processing of cases and secrecy were retraumatizing to victims, and its refusal to publish statistics or its own jurisprudence continues “to foment distrust among the faithful, especially the victim/survivor community.”

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[See also the text of the PCPM report.]

Parts of the Roman Catholic Church are still failing to ensure clerical sexual abuse is reported adequately, Pope Francis’ commission for child protection said Tuesday, raising concerns about a “lack of transparency” in the Vatican’s handling of cases.

In its first annual report, the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors surveyed safeguarding protocols from bishops in 17 different parts of the world, along with how the Church’s central administration processes cases.

“At times, the commission found a troubling lack of reporting structures and victim/survivor accompaniment services,” the report said. “The commission found a persistent concern regarding the transparency in the Roman Curia’s (the church’s central administration) procedures and juridical processes. The commission notes that this will continue to foment distrust among the faithful, especially the victim/survivor community,” it added.

The report includes several recommendations including compensation for survivors, a…

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President’s historic remarks, alongside Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, given at Gila Crossing school near Phoenix

On Friday, Joe Biden formally apologized for the United States government’s role in running at least 523 Indian boarding schools. His remarks were given at the Gila Crossing community school outside of Phoenix, Arizona, and marked his first visit to Indian country as president.

“After 150 years, the United States government eventually stopped the program,” Biden said. “But the federal government has never, never formally apologized for what happened – until today. I formally apologize, as president of the United States of America, for what we did. I formally apologize. That’s long overdue.”

“Federal Indian boarding school policy, the pain it has caused, will always be a significant mark of shame, a blot on American history,” he said. “For too long, this all happened with virtually no public attention.”

Indian boarding schools were run with the…

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President Joe Biden apologized, opens new tab on Thursday for the U.S. government’s role in running abusive Native American boarding schools for more than 150 years, marking an acknowledgement of devastation the community endured for generations.

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT

U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American to be a cabinet secretary, had launched a probe to recognize the troubled legacy of federal Indian boarding school policies. An investigative report, opens new tab by the department found that at least 973 children died in these schools.The federally-run Indian boarding school system was designed to assimilate Native Americans “by destroying Native culture, language and identity through harsh militaristic and assimilationist methods,” the White House said on Thursday.No U.S. president had formally apologized for that action until now.

KEY QUOTES

“The president also believes that to usher in the next era of the Federal-Tribal relationships we need…

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In short: 

John Patrick Casey has pleaded not guilty to three counts of sexual assault against a person under the age of 16.

The Catholic priest is alleged to have given a 14-year-old boy staying at his house an indecent massage.

What’s next?

The District Court jury trial is due to run for five days. 

A Catholic priest has appeared before Lismore District Court to face historical child sex abuse charges.

John Patrick Casey has pleaded not guilty to three counts of sexual assault against a person under the age of 16.

The charges relate to an alleged incident in 1982 at Father Casey’s home at Mallanganee in northern New South Wales. 

Father Casey was the parish priest at Mallanganee between 1981 and 1988.

In her opening address, the crown prosecutor told a jury of seven women and five men the case against the 76-year-old would rely on photos and…

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After a priest recently expelled from a Peru-based society has denied allegations of sexual abuse, two former members of the group have said he not only committed the abuse, but obstructed justice in the coverup of child pornography.

Father Jaime Baertl is one of 15 members expelled from the Peru-based Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV) in the past two months, including its founder, Peruvian layman Luis Fernando Figari.

For over a year the Vatican has been conducting an in-depth investigation into the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV), which for the past decade has undergone various reform efforts amid sweeping allegations of various forms of abuse, including the sexual abuse of minors, as well as financial corruption.

Baertl and fellow SCV member Juan Carlos Len were jointly expelled from the SCV Thursday, with a communique from the nunciature referring to “irregular and illicit” financial activities within SCV companies and organizations, as well as one allegation of sexual…

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“Only” is a very simple, four-letter word that means so much. Often used to quantify or put something in perspective, the word ‘only’ is helpful–But not always. When it’s used in connection with child sexual abuse, it’s, in fact, quite the OPPOSITE of helpful. It often hurts. It’s often used to MINIMIZE the horror of child sexual abuse. That almost inevitably adds even more pain to the already severe pain many victims of such heinous crimes already feel, even decades later.

We’ve all heard the word ‘only’ used in this dismissive, insensitive way:

• ‘Well, he only touched you once.’
• ‘He only took you on that one trip, right?’
• ‘Thank heavens it was only groping, and not penetration.’
• ‘We should be grateful that it was only one football player, not several.’
• “It could have been worse, right? You only spent the night over there once.”

But there’s an even WORSE way the word ‘only‘ is sometimes used. As wrong and…

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Pretend for a minute that you are named CEO of a large, well-respected chemical company. You suspect that for years, your predecessors dumped toxic materials in numerous unsuspecting communities in and around the area where you are headquartered and live.

Then, shortly after you assume your new post, you learn that your suspicions are well founded. Indeed, for years and years, your predecessors secretly and recklessly put dangerous chemicals in dozens and dozens of places. Some of which were the LAST places one would expect to find such public health threats.

Making matters worse, those dump sites were almost always near unsuspecting neighbors who were given no warning whatsoever. And when those neighbors voiced concerns, alarmed by rumors or reports of wrongdoing, your predecessors repeatedly misled or lied to those mothers and fathers living in close proximity to those many toxic locations, needlessly putting their children at risk.

This is…

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A man has been arrested for allegedly recording people inside a church in a Chicago suburb.

Police said the camera was hidden inside a women’s bathroom and it was there for months.

The 24-year-old man from Atlanta was arrested for illegally recording people inside World Mission Society Church in Bloomingdale, Illinois.

The DuPage County state’s attorney identified the man as Ramon Ochoa Garcia.

He now faces charges of unauthorized video recording of a person under 18 and unauthorized video recording without consent.

Investigators said Garcia put a small pen camera into a vent to record people in the women’s bathroom at the church.

Police said this started as early as Aug. 1.

A pastor at the church later found the pen and reported it to police.

Prosecutors believe there are at least 24 victims who were recorded, including two young girls.

A judge denied the prosecutor’s request to detain Garcia…

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A 50-year-old priest in Aligarh has been sentenced to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment for raping a five-year-old Dalit girl. The swift trial concluded in 30 days, with the court imposing a Rs 50,000 fine. The girl’s brother reported the crime, which led to the priest’s immediate arrest and subsequent conviction under multiple legal provisions.

A local court in Aligarh has sentenced a 50-year-old priest to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment after he was found guilty of raping a five-year-old Dalit girl. After the formal filing of charges on Sept 25, the conviction and sentencing were completed in 30 days. The court also imposed a Rs 50,000 fine on the convict.

On July 3, the child’s grandfather had filed a complaint with local police claiming that the girl along with her 8-year-old brother had gone to a nearby temple where the priest, who lived there, lured her with a promise of…

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Parishes and dioceses must move quickly to give life to the consultative bodies and broad participation in mission and ministry already foreseen by church law if the Catholic Church is to have any hope of becoming a more “synodal” church, members of the Synod of Bishops said.

“Without concrete changes in the short term, the vision of a synodal Church will not be credible and this will alienate those members of the People of God who have drawn strength and hope from the synodal journey,” the members said in the final document they approved Oct. 26.

Pope Francis convoked the synod in 2021 and called on parishes, dioceses and bishops’ conferences to hold listening sessions before the first synod assembly in Rome in 2023. The current assembly, including most of the same members, began with a Mass at the Vatican Oct. 2.

Members voted on each of the 155 paragraphs…

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A major Vatican summit of global Catholic leaders ended on Oct 26 with a call for women to be granted more leadership roles in the Church but stopped short of calling for women to be ordained as clergy.

The gathering, which included cardinals, bishops and lay people from more than 110 countries, also did not take a stand on inclusion of the LGBTQ community, despite discussion that it might call on the Church to be more welcoming.

Pope Francis called the month-long summit, known as a Synod of Bishops, to consider the future of the worldwide Church. It was the second of two gatherings, held a year apart, and featured closed-door discussions among 368 “members” with voting rights, including nearly 60 women.

Advocates for greater roles for women in the Church had hoped the synod might call for women to serve as deacons. In its final text,…

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In its final statement, the synod said “there is no reason or impediment that should prevent women from carrying out leadership roles in the church” — without specifying what the roles might be.

A Vatican assembly on the future of the Catholic Church on Saturday said that more should be done to help women overcome “obstacles” to taking a leadership roles within the Church.

Since October 2, the Assembly of the Synod, comprising 368 religious and lay people — including women — from about 100 countries, has held closed-door debates about rejuvenating the Roman Catholic Church.

It is a personal project of Pope Francis, 87, who will have the final say on any doctrinal changes.

But in a rare move, the pontiff on Saturday said he would directly adopt the consultative body’s proposals.

In its final statement, the synod said “there is no reason or impediment that…

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President Joe Biden did something Friday that no other sitting U.S. president has: He apologized for the systemic abuse of generations of Indigenous children endured in boarding schools at the hands of the federal government.

For 150 years the U.S. removed Indigenous children from their homes and sent them away to the schools, where they were stripped of their cultures, histories and religions and beaten for speaking their languages.

“We should be ashamed,” Biden said to a crowd of Indigenous people gathered at the Gila River Indian Community outside of Phoenix, Arizona, including tribal leaders, survivors and their families. Biden called the government-mandated system that began in 1819 “one of the most horrific chapters in American history,” while acknowledging the decades of abuse inflicted upon children and widespread devastation left behind.

For many Native Americans, the long-awaited apology was a welcome acknowledgment of the government’s longstanding culpability. Now,…

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Pope Francis set up the panel of experts in December 2014 amid an avalanche of revelations of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy across the world.

The pope’s commission on clerical child sex abuse said Friday it will publish its first annual report next week, a decade after the body was established.

The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors said the report coming on Tuesday would be a “first step” documenting “where risks remain, and where advances can be found”.

Pope Francis set up the panel of experts in December 2014 amid an avalanche of revelations of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy across the world, and subsequent cover-ups.

But, it has faced strong criticism over its organisation, funding and role, with numerous high-profile members quitting.

In 2022, Francis incorporated the body into the Roman Curia — the government of the Holy See — and asked for an annual, “reliable account…

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On the surface, it’s a prestige Oscar picture about the Catholic Church. But it’s actually a pulpy soap opera.

‘Conclave’ contains all the aspects of a Serious Oscar Contender. It’s about the Catholic Church, stars older, award-winning actors, fills every space with portentous orchestral music, and follows serious people having serious thoughts down seriously long corridors. But unlike, say, ‘Spotlight,’ which at its core was a drama about the church covering up sexual abuse of children, the scandals at the heart of Conclave are barely serious enough to bring down an Alabama Senatorial candidate, much less a candidate for Supreme Pontiff.

The movie hints around at the actual problems with the modern church–that it covers up, again,  the sexual abuse of children and that a very recent Pope had an active membership in the Nazi Party as a youth–and instead mostly focuses on stuff that Donald Trump’s lawyers could persuade…

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A meeting four years in the making said the ordination of women required further study, but it called for women to have more leadership roles, even in seminaries.

A monthlong meeting of Catholic bishops and lay people at the Vatican ended on Saturday with a call for women to be given more leadership roles in the church. But on the question of whether women could be ordained as deacons, the church said the possibility “remains open” and required further meditation.

Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich of Luxembourg, one of the top officials at the meeting, said at a news conference on Saturday night that allowing female deacons was a delicate issue, and that the meeting, known as a synod, had not deliberated for or against it.

“The question remains open,” he said, adding that the pope had signed the document approving the meeting’s findings. “Who am I to contradict the Holy Father?”

…

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A major Vatican summit of global Catholic leaders ended on Saturday (October 26) with a call for women to be granted more leadership roles in the Church but stopped short of calling for women to be ordained as clergy.

The gathering, which included cardinals, bishops and lay people from more than 110 countries, also did not take a stand on inclusion of the LGBTQ community, despite discussion that it might call on the Church to be more welcoming.

Pope Francis called the month-long summit, known as a Synod of Bishops, to consider the future of the worldwide Church. It was the second of two gatherings, held a year apart, and featured closed-door discussions among 368 “members” with voting rights, including nearly 60 women.

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The pope’s “Synod on Synodality” ended Saturday without progress on female deacons, married priests or LGBTQ+ outreach.

The Vatican’s most highly anticipated gathering since the 1960s ended Saturday with the thorniest issues facing the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics largely unanswered.

The Synod of Bishops, which met in October 2023 and again this month, pledged administrative changes that could give more power to local dioceses. But it referred questions on the ordination of female deacons, further outreach to the LGBTQ+ community and married priests for further study.

The outcome calmed the fears of church conservatives that Pope Francis’s “Synod on Synodality” would serve as a smokescreen for radical change while leaving liberals, who had seen it as their best opportunity since Vatican II to promote reform, empty-handed for now.

“It’s hard to say whether this synod has actually taken any decision,” said Massimo Faggioli, a Catholic theologian at Villanova University.

The…

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One year after the Vatican announced it would open a canonical case on Father Marko Rupnik — an artist and former Jesuit accused of spiritual, psychological, and sexual abuse — victims say they feel disappointment and betrayal at the Church’s lack of response and transparency.

Rupnik has been accused of abusing adult women who were under his spiritual care as part of a religious community he helped found in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Some of these accusations became public through the media in early December 2022, although the priest’s superiors and officials at the Vatican were aware even several years earlier.

While the investigation and trial of Rupnik is still pending, the priest remains free to exercise his ministry in the Diocese of Koper, Slovenia, where he was accepted in 2023.

A year ago on Oct. 27, days before the close of the 2023 assembly of the Synod…

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President Joe Biden did something Friday that no other sitting U.S. president has: He apologized for the systemic abuse of generations of Indigenous children endured in boarding schools at the hands of the federal government.

For 150 years the U.S. removed Indigenous children from their homes and sent them away to the schools, where they were stripped of their cultures, histories and religions and beaten for speaking their languages.

“We should be ashamed,” Biden said to a crowd of Indigenous people gathered at the Gila River Indian Community outside of Phoenix, including tribal leaders, survivors and their families. Biden called the government-mandated system that began in 1819 “one of the most horrific chapters in American history,” while acknowledging the decades of abuse inflicted upon children and widespread devastation left behind.

For many Native Americans, the long-awaited apology was a welcome acknowledgment of the government’s longstanding culpability. Now, they say, words must be…

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The White House says President Joe Biden will apologize on behalf of the U.S. government Friday for its 150-year campaign to break up Native American culture, language and identity by forcing children into abusive Indian boarding schools.

More than 900 children died at the government-funded schools, the last of which closed or transitioned into different institutions decades ago. Their dark legacy continues to be felt in Native communities where survivors struggle with generational trauma from the torture, sexual abuse and hatred they endured.

Biden is expected to formally acknowledge the federal government’s role and apologize for it during an appearance at the Gila River Indian Community outside Phoenix.

A closer look at the federal boarding school system:

150 years of forced assimilation

Congress laid the framework for a nationwide boarding school system for Native Americans in 1819 under the 5th U.S. President, James Monroe, with legislation known as the Indian Civilization Act. It was…

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Authorities point to suspicious bank transfers of more than three million euros over past six years from Roman Catholic Church’s treasury

Scrutiny over high-profile embezzlement and money laundering allegations enveloping the Roman Catholic Church in Greece continued unabated on Friday, with authorities now focusing on well-known nightclub entrepreneur.

The latter, with reputed business activity in the western port city of Patras, is alleged to have facilitated money laundering of more than three million euros emanating from the Church’s coffers, with two high-ranking clerics at the center of the probe.

The businessman is described as hailing from western Greece, aged 60, with involvement in previous cases of blackmail, fraud and intimidation. One blackmail victim, reports on Friday revealed, was an Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Greece Metropolitan (an ecclesiastical ranking akin to bishop) in south-central Greece.

The suspect was convicted at the time by a three-justice first instance court of…

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Greek authorities have frozen the bank accounts and assets of five cafe and nightclub owners on suspicion of laundering Catholic church money supplied by two church officials, a senior Greek official and local media said on Thursday.

During a months-long investigation, the country’s anti-money-laundering authority found that more than 3 million euros ($3.24 million) were directed from the funds of the Catholic Church in Greece to five bank accounts, a source with knowledge of the probe told Reuters.

The authority’s findings have been forwarded to a prosecutor who is expected to open its own investigation, the Athens News Agency said. The two church officials are suspected of embezzlement and the most recent suspicious money transfer was a few days ago, it said.

The businessmen are active in the southern Peloponnese area.

The Holy Synod of the Catholic Church of Greece said in a statement on Thursday that it has not…

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The Diocese of Alexandria is moving to conduct a “mediated resolution” with victims of alleged sexual abuse by priests prior to filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy – a scenario that may offer both benefits and challenges for abuse victims, according to observers.

The diocese has previously acknowledged that 27 of its priests were accused of sexual misconduct and abuse of minors. The mediation plans were detailed in a Sept. 24 letter from the law firm Gold Weems Bruser Sues & Rundell, according to a report from the Catholic News Agency.

The Diocese of Alexandria’s plans follow a different pattern than the New Orleans archdiocese, whose petition for bankruptcy protection in May 2020 surprised abuse victims in that region. The letter obtained by the Catholic News Agency indicates that the Alexandria diocese wants to move forward in a way that would avoid the slow pace and high…

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Stephen Johnson, 40, met the alleged victim on a social media app when she was 12 years old and selling nude content online. 

A youth pastor and counselor appeared before a judge in bond court, charged with one count of living off the earnings of a teenager who worked as a prostitute. 

According to a complaint affidavit, Stephen Johnson, 40, met the alleged victim on a social media app when she was 12 years old and selling nude content online. 

Investigators say the girl met someone on the app who she thought was a woman who offered to help her sell more nude content, but that woman was really Johnson. 

According to the complaint, the acts continued until the alleged victim was 17 and flew to Birmingham, Alabama, where the suspect allegedly posted her on escort ads and directed her to engage in commercial sex acts for money. 

“He trafficked a…

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A new lawsuit accuses the WWE and its founders of fostering a culture of sexual abuse within the organization and looking the other way while a longtime ringside announcer preyed on young men he hired as “ring boys.”

The suit was filed Wednesday in Maryland, where a recent law change eliminated the state’s statute of limitations for child sex abuse claims, opening the doors for victims to sue regardless of their age or how much time has passed.

The complaint alleges that Melvin Phillips, who died in 2012, would target young men from disadvantaged backgrounds and hire them as “ring boys” to help with the preparations for wrestling matches. Phillips would then assault them in his dressing room, hotels and even in the wrestlers’ locker room, according to the complaint, which was filed on behalf of five men.

The abuse detailed in the lawsuit occurred over several years during Phillips’ long tenure…

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A former Decatur pastor accused of sex crimes with a child has been found guilty of sodomy in the second degree.

Danny Duane Pitts will soon be registered as a sex offender after being charged for sexually abusing a minor while he was the Pastor at GracePoint Church in Decatur.

Authorities arrested Pitts back in November 2021. Pitts faced two felony charges, sodomy in the first degree and sodomy in the second degree, as well as two misdemeanor charges, sexual abuse in the first degree and sexual abuse in the second degree.

Since the former pastor’s arrest, his case has been continued four different times.

This week, the courtroom heard from two accusers formerly a part of GracePoint.

One of the victims testified Pitts sexually abused him in the early 2000s.

Another victim who is a part of another indictment against the former pastor in Tennessee claimed the…

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“When I was 14 years old, I was forced to go to a religious club meeting. I had to call my parents in front of a priest, who monitored what I had to say to them in order to get permission. Even then, I was brutally pressured in a planned way by the people who spoke to me to join the organization, under the threat of eternal damnation if I didn’t…they forced me to hide my entry from my parents.”

Héctor (not his real name) was one of the ten testimonies heard Monday in the portico of the cathedral of La Almudena, next to the statue of John Paul II, in an Act of Reparation for the victims that brought together hundreds of people in the diocesan temple of Madrid before a deafening silence, which shook the stones of the cathedral.

Men and women who were sexually, physically and emotionally…

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A Peruvian priest recently expelled from a scandal-plagued lay group, in part over charges of financial irregularities, has sent a registered letter to the papal embassy in Peru demanding a series of corrections to its Oct. 23 announcement of his ouster, calling its contents “false and defamatory.”

Crux has also learned that the priest in question, Father Jaime Baertl, has business ties with an individual who helped launch a criminal complaint in Peru against of the Vatican officials leading an investigation into the group, the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV).

Last July, Pope Francis sent his top investigating team – Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta, an adjunct secretary of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), and Spanish Monsignor Jordi Bertomeu, an official of the dicastery – to Lima to conduct an in-depth inquiry into the allegations against the sodalitium.

This past week, the papal embassy in Peru, known as the…

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Zachary Radcliff, who worked at Oakwood Church, where his father is the senior pastor, is also a Christian rock musician. He is being held on $3 million bond.

A Michigan church youth pastor who moonlights as a Christian rock singer and has performed before high-profile conservative audiences has been accused of preying on teenagers in his father’s flock for more than 10 years.

Zachary Radcliff, 29, was fired Oct. 12 from his job as the music and youth director of Oakwood Church in Ypsilanti, an Ann Arbor suburb, 10 days after the Michigan State Police launched an investigation. His father, Frank Radcliff, is the church’s senior pastor.

“We realized while talking to him that there was more to the situation than was being expressed,” the church said in a statement posted on its website.

Zachary Radcliff was arrested over the…

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The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors announced that it will present its pilot Annual Report on Safeguarding at the Holy See Press Office on Tuesday, October 29th.

Among those presenting the report at the press conference are: Cardinal Seán Patrick O’Malley, Commission President; Maud De Boer Buquicchio, Commission Member and Annual Report Chairperson; Bishop Luis Manuel Alí Herrera, Commission Secretary; and Teresa Kettelkamp, Commission Adjunct Secretary.

“Our goal is to develop an Annual Report with a commitment to transparency and accountability, in solidarity with victims and survivors throughout the world,” Cardinal O’Malley said.

A request from Pope Francis

The launch of the Annual Report is both a milestone for the Commission and a work-in-progress. It is the first step towards a process of data gathering and reporting within the Catholic Church, which began by papal request.

 “I would like you, on an annual basis, to prepare for me a report…

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The pope’s commission on clerical child sex abuse said Friday it will publish its first annual report next week, a decade after the body was established.

The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors said the report coming on Tuesday would be a “first step” documenting “where risks remain, and where advances can be found”.

Pope Francis set up the panel of experts in December 2014 amid an avalanche of revelations of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy across the world, and subsequent cover-ups.

However, it has faced strong criticism over its organisation, funding and role, with numerous high-profile members quitting.

In 2022, Francis incorporated the body into the Roman Curia — the government of the Holy See — and asked for an annual, “reliable account of what is presently being done and what needs to change”.

Next week’s report “collects resources and good practices to be shared across the Universal…

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TAHLEQUAH, Okla. (KOKH) — On Friday, President Joe Biden is set to become the first president to formally apologize for the U.S. government’s Indian boarding school policy, which lasted for approximately 150 years until the 1960s.

Tribal leaders say it brought devastation to native communities across the nation.

Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin, Jr. described the move as “long-overdue.”

Tori Holland, tribal counsel attorney and designated congressional delegate for the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians, noted boarding schools sought to “kill the Indian and save the man. So it was pretty devastating for Native Americans all across.”

The impact of Indian boarding schools is still being felt today, Holland added.

The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition stated that in the 19th and 20th centuries, government agents took native children by force and brought them to the schools. The coalition asserted the students then suffered physical, sexual, cultural,…

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The Burlington diocese filed for bankruptcy to shield itself from more lawsuits over the abuse of children

BURLINGTON, Vt. — When Brenda Hannon heard the Roman Catholic diocese here had filed for bankruptcy on Oct. 1, her mind drifted back to St. Joseph’s Orphanage, the nuns, and the peanut butter pudding.

In 1961, Hannon was 8, living at the orphanage, and did not like peanut butter pudding.

“It looked like dirty dishwater,” she said, “and it tasted like dirty dishwater.”

But when Hannon refused to eat it, she alleges, some of the nuns became incensed.

“They tied me to a chair,” Hannon said. “They tried to force my mouth open. One of them held my nose so I couldn’t breathe. They forced me to eat it, but I spit it out.”

One of the nuns began smacking her in the head, she said, a final punch sending her face-first to…

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The Vatican has reprimanded the Swiss bishops for their handling of sexual abuse claims in that country after a more-than-yearlong investigation into how the bishops addressed allegations of clergy sex crimes there.

Yet the Vatican’s inquiry found no evidence of a conspiracy by the prelates to cover up abuse claims, one of the key allegations that launched the Holy See’s investigation last year.

In September of last year the Swiss Bishops’ Conference (SBK) revealed an ongoing Vatican-ordered investigation into the reported mishandling of sexual abuse allegations by Church officials there, specifically allegations that clergy had covered up abuse cases.

Allegations had been made in May “against several emeriti and acting members of the Swiss Bishops’ Conference” as well as against several other clerics there.

The Swiss bishops forwarded the allegations to the Dicastery for Bishops in Rome, which shortly thereafter opened a canonical investigation into the matter. Earlier…

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DUBUQUE, Iowa (KCRG/WWSB) – Three new civil cases are filed against the Dubuque Catholic Archdiocese and a former Dubuque priest accused of sexually abusing boys.

Three new civil cases were filed this week in Charlotte County, Florida brought forward by anonymous altar boys from Iowa claiming Leo Riley sexually abused them in Dubuque in the 1980s.

Riley now works at a congregation in Florida. He sat for a disposition last month in a separate lawsuit there from a John Doe claiming Riley had sexually abused him in Florida.

In the complaint, the plaintiff alleges Father Riley “sought and gained parental consent for Plaintiff to participate in counseling and other activities, and to spend time alone with him.”

It goes on to say Riley would force the minor to drink alcohol and then engage in harmful and illegal sexual contact with the plaintiff.

The alleged victim says the abuse started in 1985,…

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A consultants’ report on the Archdiocese of New Orleans bankruptcy blames both the local church and attorneys for abuse survivors for the case’s massive costs and slow progress, recommending that the federal judge overseeing the process immediately freeze legal fees and bring in an independent “examiner” to propose a settlement if the two sides can’t agree soon.

The 35-page report from New York-based M3 Advisory Partners said that Archbishop Gregory Aymond and his advisors are “cognitively capable” of guiding the local Roman Catholic Church through the bankruptcy process, but said they have not “exercised the leadership” needed to do it, have failed to share crucial financial information, have lacked transparency and haven’t provided oversight of mounting fees.

At the same time, it faults a group of attorneys who, together, represent more than 100 of the abuse survivors for “aggressive litigation tactics that have been disruptive to the forward progress of…

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A Catholic priest connected to a church and school in Cedar Mill has returned to India to face allegations of sexual misconduct involving children, according to correspondence obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive.

The Rev. Joaquim Gracias of the Saint Pius X church was reportedly leaving to face the allegations in India, according to an email sent to members of the parish on June 27 and shared this week with the news organization.

Read more …

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President Joe Biden is expected to issue an apology to the Native American community for the federal government’s role in the abusive Indian boarding schools that forced Native American children to assimilate over a 150-year period, two sources familiar with the plans said.

“I’m heading to do something that should have been done a long time ago: To make a formal apology to the Indian Nations for the way we treated their children for so many years,” Biden told reporters as he departed the White House on Thursday.

Biden is expected to make the announcement during a visit at the Gila Crossing Community School outside of Phoenix on Friday as he makes his first trip to Indian Country while in office.

“The federally-run Indian boarding school system was designed to assimilate Native Americans by destroying Native culture, language and identity through harsh militaristic and assimilationist methods,” the White House said Thursday….

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The president’s apology would come less than two weeks before the election and mark the first formal acknowledgement by a U.S. president of the government’s role in atrocities against Native children.

President Joe Biden plans to formally apologize Friday for the U.S. government’s role in running hundreds of Indian boarding schools for a 150-year period that stripped Native American children of their language and culture in a systematic effort to force them to assimilate into White society.Cut through the 2024 election noise. Get The Campaign Moment newsletter.

“I’m heading to do something that should have been done a long time ago — to make a formal apology to the Indian nations for the way we treated their children for so many years,” Biden told reporters at the White House on Thursday. “That’s why I’m heading west.”

These remarks would be the first time a…

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NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — President Joe Biden said he will formally apologize on Friday for the country’s role in forcing Indigenous children for over 150 years into boarding schools, where many were physically, emotionally and sexually abused, and more than 950 died.

“I’m doing something I should have done a long time ago: To make a formal apology to the Indian nations for the way we treated their children for so many years,” Biden said Thursday as he left the White House for Arizona.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland launched an investigation into the boarding school system shortly after she became the first Native American to lead the agency, and she will join Biden during his first diplomatic visit to a tribal nation as president as he delivers a speech Friday at the Gila River Indian Community outside Phoenix.

“I would never have guessed in a million years that something like this would…

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Oct. 24, 2024 3 AM PT

To the editor: The irony of your story on the latest too little, too late settlement with victims of clerical abuse and hierarchical cover-up running at the same time as coverage of the latest Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner is palpable.

Each year, under the guise of supporting Catholic Charities, politicians seeking votes and money, business people seeking customers, and media executives and journalists seeking access to the great and powerful, gather in formal attire to kiss the ring of the archbishop of New York.

With the exception of Donald Trump, who just spews venom, presidential candidates gently insult each other with gags written for them as they pretend to rise above their lust for power and money with a display of false bonhomie.

I submit that anyone of conscience invited to this event should have attended a protest outside, particularly the journalists, whose colleagues have…

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President Biden will formally apologize Friday to Indigenous communities for the role the U.S. government played in abuses committed in federal Indian boarding schools that Native American children attended after being forcibly removed from their homes.

Why it matters: Biden’s remarks in Arizona’s Gila River Indian Community will mark the first time a U.S. president has both formally acknowledged and apologized for the policy that saw abuses occur for more than 150 years and which the United Nations regards as genocide.

• A 2022 federal report found Native American children at these 408 boarding schools suffered whippings, sexual abuse, manual labor and severe malnourishment from 1819-1969 as part of the U.S. government’s campaign to compel their assimilation.
• An Interior Department report out this year found more than 900 children died while being forced to attend the schools.
• “I’m heading to do something that should have been done a long time ago: to make…

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If Amendment 2 passes and Kentucky adopts a dangerous school voucher plan like other states, there will be unaccountable private school operators who will misuse or steal millions of taxpayer dollars and be involved in other criminal activity. 

That’s exactly what’s happened in states that bought into the radical policy of throwing hundreds of millions of tax dollars at private and church school operators, with taxpayers having no oversight of how it’s spent or who’s spending (or stealing) it.

Fraud follows school voucher programs

Earlier this year, three private school operators in Indiana were indicted by a grand jury on 76 counts of money laundering and wire fraud.  According to the indictment, the operators inflated enrollment numbers at their schools to get taxpayer money for kids who did not actually attend.

The Indiana Attorney General is suing the operators for $154…

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Apollo Quiboloy, the self-styled “Appointed Son of God,” faced off with former church members for the first time at a Senate hearing investigating his alleged misdeeds.

MANILA, Philippines — Apollo Quiboloy, a Philippine preacher accused of sexually abusing his followers, spoke out on Wednesday for the first time since being indicted on trafficking and other criminal charges, denying new allegations of wrongdoing on top of existing charges.

Apollo Quiboloy, the self-styled “Appointed Son of God” who founded the Kingdom of Jesus Christ church, faced off with former church members for the first time on Wednesday in a Senate hearing investigating his alleged misdeeds.

During the public Senate inquiry, he was accused of grooming children for sex, forcing a teenager to stop going to school to sell food to fund his church, and obliging workers to flout government rules while working long hours to construct…

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BATAVIA — St. Paul Lutheran Church and School are facing a lawsuit which claims it failed to protect children from its former principal, who earlier this year admitted repeatedly molesting a student.

The lawsuit by Andreozzi & Foote Law Firm of Harrisburg, Pa. is on behalf of the child victim in the case. The firm is a nationwide firm that handles sexual abuse cases.

Jason R. Clark, 43, in June admitted that he repeatedly molested the child from the beginning of the 2014 school year to the end in June 2015.

Clark was working as a physical education teacher at the time. He was named principal in 2019 and served in that role until his arrest.

He pleaded guilty to second-degree course of sexual conduct against a child, a D felony punishable by up to seven years in prison.

Clark, however, was given a deal and was placed on one…

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The text mentions José Ambrozic Velezmoro, former assistant for Temporalities, Communications, and Apostolate as well as former vicar general, along with Father Luis Antonio Ferroggiaro Dentone.

The apostolic nunciature in Peru announced that Pope Francis has approved the expulsion of two more members of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (Sodality of Christian Life) in the wake of the report of the special mission he sent in July 2023 to investigate allegations of abuse.

The statement from the nunciature was published Oct. 21 by the Peruvian Bishops’ Conference.

The text mentions José Ambrozic Velezmoro, former assistant for Temporalities, Communications, and Apostolate as well as former vicar general, along with Father Luis Antonio Ferroggiaro Dentone.

Although the name of Ricardo Trenemann Young also appears in the statement, his expulsion from the sodality had already been announced on Sept. 25.

According to the nunciature, Pope Francis made the decision “after evaluating the defense [statements] corresponding to…

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MANILA — The Philippine National Police (PNP) believes about 200 women are victims of sexual exploitation within the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) community, with nearly 70 by its leader Pastor Apollo Quiboloy. 

The PNP said that while KOJC has been publicly announcing that their members reach 8 million followers, only 8,000 are believed to be currently active members based on interviews conducted  by PNP.

Members are said to be recruited and groomed to be either a member of the Inner Pastoral, allegedly sexually exploited by Quiboloy, or they become an ordinary miracle worker who is forced into labor to raise funds for the KOJC.

The PNP also showed pictures of Quiboloy’s alleged luxurious bedroom, which had its own jacuzzi. 

The PNP also claimed that Quiboloy tapped the so-called Angels of Death, a private armed group to sow fear.

ABUSE, TORTURE

Yulya Tartova Voronina, a Ukrainian who was among those sexually abused,…

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MANILA — A founding member of Pastor Apollo Quiboloy’s Kingdom on Jesus Christ (KOJC) on Wednesday recounted some of the violence she allegedly endured from the religious group, including sexual and physical abuse.

Facing Quiboloy himself at the Senate, Teresita Valdehueza, who joined KOJC in the 1980s when she was just 17, narrated how she dedicated her life to the Davao City-based church. 

“At the age of 17, I became a member of the church led by this man, Apollo C. Quiboloy, in 1980… In 1988, I made the difficult decision to dedicate my life to his ministry… This choice meant leaving behind my family, my career, and the person I once was,” she told the Senate Committee on Women, which is leading the probe into Quiboloy’s alleged abuses. 

“Over time, I gained the trust and became a respected worker within the ministry,” Valdehueza added.

She said she felt spiritual satisfaction…

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MANILA, Philippines — Former followers of an arrested Filipino televangelist confronted him in a Senate hearing Wednesday, accusing him of repeatedly abusing them sexually by portraying the assaults as their religious duty to the “appointed son of God.”

Apollo Carreon Quiboloy, who was brought to the Senate under heavy police security, denied the allegations from several women, including some from Ukraine as well as the Philippines. He challenged his accusers to file criminal complaints so he could face them in court.

The 74-year-old preacher said he could not discuss his response because criminal charges against him, including sexually abusing women and human trafficking, were already being heard in two Philippine courts.

Yulya Voronina told the Senate hearing through a video link from Ukraine that Quiboloy and his key aides allegedly forced her and other victims into agreeing to have sex with him through religious deception and coercion.

“They always used the Bible as an instrument…

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After Catholic Church Settles with 1,353 Sexual-Abuse Survivors, Ray Higgins Cautions, ‘We Might Not Have Heard the Last Yet’

Ray Higgins shakes his head. Just briefly, his eyes well up. His voice quavers. At 92, Ray Higgins is in great shape. His hair has thinned over the years, but it remains a rusty red. His eyes are slightly rheumy but still a piercing blue. Early-morning sunlight explodes through the window over Higgins’s head; dust motes dance in the air.

“No,” Higgins declares. “You never get over it. We never did.”

By “we,” Higgins is referring to himself and his wife, Anne. By “it,” he is referring to the fact that their son Mike was molested by two priests while attending St. Anthony’s Seminary in Santa Barbara as a high school student in the early 1980s.

Higgins and his wife would not know anything until 1992, when the public accusations against…

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The trial for the southwest Missouri woman accused of abusing young girls at a Christian reform school has been pushed back again.

Online court records show Stephanie Householder was in court again on Oct. 16, 2024 and has pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of abuse at the Circle of Hope Girls Ranch in Cedar County. In 2021, she was charged with 10 counts of abuse and neglect of child and 12 counts of endangering the welfare of a child.

Stephanie Householder now faces a jury trial that is scheduled for five days starting on Sept. 29, 2025.

Stephanie Householder’s husband, Boyd Householder, was also charged in the case, but died while in the hospital in June 2024. The Householders’ attorney, Adam Woody, said at the time of Boyd Householder’s death, he maintained “…his innocence against any criminal conduct…”

Then-Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt got involved…

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The co-owner of a Missouri boarding school who was accused of dozens of child abuse crimes is set to appear in court.

The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests says that on Thursday, Oct. 17, Stephanie Householder, who previously ran the Circle of Hope Girs Ranch in Humansville, Missouri, will appear in court as she faces nearly two dozen charges of child abuse and neglect.

“She’s Missouri’s most prolific female abuser,” said David Clohessy, Missouri volunteer director of SNAP.

SNAP noted that Householder and her husband Boyd also worked at Agape Boarding School in Cedar County. Boyd, who had been charged on 79 similar counts, died in June following cardiac arrest. Both facilities have since been shuttered.

Also Read: Agape Boarding School announces it will close Jan. 20

Court records indicated that Householder’s plea setting is set to begin at 12:30 p.m. on…

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Twenty-two members of an Islamic business group, including its CEO, were charged Wednesday for being part of an organized crime group after hundreds of children believed to have been sexually abused were rescued last month from welfare homes linked to the group.

Nasiruddin Mohamad Ali, CEO of Global Ikhwan Services and Business Holdings, and his wife Azura Mohamad Yusof were among dozens detained last month as police investigations widened to include human trafficking and money laundering. Islamic authorities are also investigating GISB for deviant teachings linked to the banned Islamic cult Al Arqam.

Global Ikhwan was established by Al Arqam leader Ashaari Mohamad and flourished after his death in 2010. The government deemed the sect heretical and banned it in 1994.

Nasiruddin, his wife and a son of Ashaari were among the 22 charged on Wednesday. No plea was recorded from the group as the case must be transferred to a higher…

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The popular 1970’s Christian music group, 2nd Chapter of Acts, has premiered their music archive on a new Christian streaming service—and the person behind that platform is a registered sex offender and husband of a band member.

Steve Greisen, husband of 2nd Chapter’s Nelly Greisen, was convicted in 2023 of attempting to solicit sex online with a minor in Colorado Springs, Colorado, El Paso County’s sex offender registry reports. Greisen evaded jail time through a plea deal.

A year later, 2nd Chapter of Acts shared about partnering with ExploreFlix in a Facebook post. The streaming service aims to “bring faith-affirming content to families everywhere” by sharing more than 600 films, documentaries, children’s programs, and music.

ExploreFlix contains 2nd Chapter of Acts archived “never-before-seen performances, live events, recordings, and television appearances.”

“This extensive archive is nothing short of a musical buffet for 2nd Chapter…

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The pope’s safeguarding commission has announced the “imminent” release of its first annual report on the Church’s worldwide efforts to protect minors and vulnerable adults.

The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors (PCPM) said Oct. 18 that the eagerly awaited document would “provide an assessment of the nature and effectiveness of safeguarding policies and procedures in the Church, and offer recommendations for continuous improvement.”

Why is the report significant? What do we know about its contents? And what should we look out for when it’s released? 

The Pillar takes a look.

Why is the report significant?

The report is notable because it marks the first time a Vatican body has published an assessment of the state of safeguarding in the worldwide Catholic Church.

If you haven’t been following the Church’s child protection efforts closely, that might not sound like much of an achievement. Perhaps it even sounds like something the Church…

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Pope Francis has expelled two more members and upheld the expulsion of one member of the controversial lay movement Sodalitium Christianae Vitae due to allegations of sexual abuse, abuse of power and financial malfeasance.

In a letter dated Oct. 21 and posted on the Peruvian bishops’ conference website, the apostolic nunciature in Peru announced that the decision was made after the pope evaluated allegations revealed during a Vatican investigation last year.

The investigation, dubbed as a “special mission,” was conducted in July 2023 by Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta and Msgr. Jordi Bertomeu, officials of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, who traveled to Peru to meet with victims of Sodalitium, the movements’ leaders and journalists who uncovered the abuses within the group.

Founder and noted journalist among those expelled

As a result of the investigation, Luis Fernando Figari, Sodalitium’s founder, was expelled from the group in August.

…

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A former Decatur pastor charged with sex crimes is set to go on trial this week after his trial was previously continued four times.

Danny Duane Pitts is charged with two counts of sodomy and pleaded not guilty in 2022. Court documents show Pitts’s trial was set to begin on Monday, October 21.

On October 18, documents were filed by the state showing their intent to use “404b evidence” at the trial. 404b evidence is used to introduce new evidence at trial to establish a motive, plan and intent.

The notice of intent to use the 404b says that the state would like to introduce “evidence and testimony relating to acts of sodomy and sexual abuse committed by [Pitts] against an additional victim who was of a similar age at the time of the abuse as the named victim in the case.”

Documents show other evidence the state wants to…

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The goal of the Annual Report, which was requested by the Holy Father in 2022, is to provide an assessment of the nature and effectiveness of safeguarding policies and procedures in the Church and offer recommendations for continuous improvement.

The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors gathered in Rome on October 7-11 for their fall Plenary Assembly. In his homily at the Assembly’s opening Mass on October 7, Commission President, Cardinal Seán Patrick O’Malley OFM Cap., said “Those who are hurting have a particular claim on our love. The Commission has an opportunity and obligation to make the Church a more Samaritan Church.”

The weeklong meeting of 30 expert members and personnel from across five continents was the first gathering under Commission Secretary, Bishop Luis Manuel Ali Herrera, and Adjunct Secretary, Teresa Kettelkamp since their appointment by the Holy Father last Spring.

The working sessions focused on…

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A Northeastern University professor says the case of Lyle and Erik Menendez, who are serving life imprisonment for the shooting deaths of their wealthy parents in 1989, indicates a major societal shift in how male victims of childhood sexual abuse are perceived — and believed.

Around the time they were convicted of first-degree murder for killing Jose and Kitty Menendez, the young men were ridiculed in newspaper columns, talk shows and even “Saturday Night Live” as being motivated by greed.

But 28 years after their sentencing, family members are calling for the brothers’ release, saying they were driven to desperation by longtime sexual abuse at the hands of their father, a well-known executive in the entertainment industry. 

Carlos Cuevas, Northeastern professor of criminology and criminal justice, says in the decades since the Menendez sentencing there has been growing recognition that childhood sexual abuse affects…

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There was ‘no effort made to deal with perpetrators’, Dermot Farrell tells US Catholic TV network

The sexual abuse of children by priests was blamed on survivors and there was “no effort made to deal with the perpetrators”, Catholic Archbishop of Dublin Dermot Farrell has said.

The archbishop made his remarks on clerical abuse in an interview with a US conservative Catholic TV network.

Of the perpetrators of the abuse, he said: “Sometimes they were left in situ, sometimes they were moved around, because there was maybe a thinking the problem was the person they were involved with rather than with the actual perpetrators,” he said.

“So if you moved them somewhere else that’ll deal with the problem. They were putting the blame on the survivor,” he said.

“We know different now but then, because there was a sexual element in it, they [church authorities] didn’t…

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A Living Word International Church pastor in Midland, charged with criminal sexual conduct crimes, could become a repeat offender if convicted.

MIDLAND, Mich. (WNEM) – A Living Word International Church pastor in Midland, charged with criminal sexual conduct crimes, could become a repeat offender if convicted.

WARNING: Details in this story may be considered graphic.

Mark Barclay Ministries’ Rev. James Randolph, 58, is currently on administrative leave from the church after an alleged victim testified in court that he would touch her at night starting in the sixth grade.

In February 2024, Randolph was charged with six criminal sexual conduct felonies after his arrest in Nov. 2023. He’s charged with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and four counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct.

A motion to amend his $5 million bond was denied.

WNEM-TV5 requested the felony complaint that resulted in Randolph’s charges from the Midland County Prosecutor’s Office….

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Former Gateway Church pastor Robert Morris is among a rising number of Dallas-Fort Worth pastors to resign this year due to sexual abuse allegations and moral failures.

A number of megachurch pastors in North Texas have resigned this year after being accused of sexual abuse and other crimes. Other religious leaders in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro have stepped down or faced significant consequences due to a series of ‘moral failures’ and unexplained transgressions. Here is a running list of the Texas clergy who’ve face public scrutiny in 2024.

May Terren Dames, North Dallas Community Bible Fellowship in Plano

Terren Dames, the former senior pastor North Dallas Community Bible Fellowship, was arrested and charged on May 2 for alleged solicitation of prostitution. Plano police accused Dames…

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Controversy deepened Saturday over a recent Vatican attempt to reinstate a former priest twice convicted of sexual abuse of minors in Argentina, after an interview with the Vatican’s top canon lawyer suggested that Pope Francis could be personally involved in the case.

As questions linger about the Vatican’s handling of the abuse case, focus will now likely shift from the Vatican’s Secretariat of State to Pope Francis himself.

In an Oct. 19 interview with official Vatican media, Archbishop Filippo Iannone of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts pointed out that officials at the Vatican’s Secretariat of State can be legitimately involved in clerical abuse cases, when they act as confidential couriers for decisions reached by other Vatican departments competent to deal with those cases.

But Iannone also pointed out that appeals by or for priests laicized for abuse crimes can only be considered by the pope personally, or by others acting…

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Aimee Torres was in disbelief as she read the email from her lawyer on Wednesday telling her that the Los Angeles Archdiocese had finally agreed to settle a sexual abuse class action lawsuit for $880 million.

A childhood survivor of sexual abuse at the hands of a local Catholic priest who had befriended her family, Torres had long hoped for some acknowledgement of the abuse and a sense of justice. But part of her never expected it would actually happen, she told National Catholic Reporter in a phone interview a day after the settlement was announced.

“It’s definitely something I never thought I’d see in this lifetime,” Torres said, as she fought back tears. “I mentioned to my husband that I hoped it would be resolved before I was 40, to move on to the next chapter of my life without something glaring over my shoulder.”

Torres…

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[See video.]

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – More than 1,350 child sexual abuse survivors will receive part of $880 million settlement with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles thanks to a California law that opened 3-year window for lawsuits exceeding the usual statute of limitations.

Lawyer Tim Hale, who is know for his work on behalf of sexual abuse survivors, said this is not the end of these cases.

“We are just scratching the surface, unfortunately even though this sounds like an incredible number of victims the terrifying thing is that there are so many more who have not been able to come forward and speak their truth and talk about what happened,” said Hale, “and the people who did come forward deserve an incredible amount of credit, but the reality is there are many, many more remaining silent unfortunately.”

Some of the abuse dates back to the 1940s.

“There have been…

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Vatican’s safeguarding commission has “an opportunity and obligation to make the church a more Samaritan church,” Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, told commission members during its plenary assembly.

According to an Oct. 17 statement by the commission, 30 of its expert members and personnel met with officials from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to discuss safeguarding procedures during the commission’s Oct. 7-11 plenary assembly in Rome.

The commission said it met with Archbishop John Kennedy, secretary of the discipline section for the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith; Jesuit Father Robert Geisinger, the dicastery’s promoter of justice; and Father Brian Taylor, an official at the dicastery.

During the meeting the commission “addressed current procedures in confronting sexual abuse in the Church, as well as safeguarding guideline development,” it said. “The engagement during the…

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AUGUSTA TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WXYZ) — A man who is a music and youth director at a church in Washtenaw County is facing several charges in connection to sexual abuse of children.

Zachary Radcliff, 29, was arraigned on charges of criminal sexual conduct and possession of child sexually abusive material, among others, Michigan State Police said.

Radcliff is an employee of Oakwood Church in Augusta Township and is the son of the senior pastor.

MSP said the investigation started on Oct. 2 when it was found that Radcliff asked for sexually abusive material from a minor. Investigators say multiple victims have been identified.

Police said church leaders have been cooperating with the investigation. The church says Radcliff has been suspended with pay pending further investigation.

Oakwood Church sent out a statement:

We received some very disturbing news about our music and youth director, Zachary Radcliff who is also the son of…

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Tuesday, 22 October 2024, 4:54 pm

Press Release: Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand

Today the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand released its response to the findings of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care.

The Presbyterian Church accepts the findings of the Royal Commission, including the Presbyterian Church’s reluctance to confront abuse, its failure to remove people, and the lack of consistent policies and procedures to prevent and report abuse.

The Presbyterian Church grieves deeply for all who have been harmed by its actions and inaction. Its sorrow is deep, and it is committed to working with all in building safe places for everyone.

In its response, the Presbyterian Church has apologised as a first step in doing the work of repentance, and from which it hopes that in time restoration may come. A public apology to survivors, their whanau and support networks will…

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Four days after their senior pastor pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators, members of Friendly Avenue Baptist Church in Greensboro, N.C., heard a sermon on biblical qualifications for pastors Sunday.

Matthew Queen, who has been on administrative leave from the North Carolina church since May, entered a guilty plea last Wednesday, Oct. 16, on one count of making false statements to the United States Southern District of New York attorney’s office and the FBI in a June 2023. The charges are related to an alleged coverup of sexual abuse claims against at student at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, where Queen at the time was serving as evangelism professor and interim provost.

Queen has not resigned from the Greensboro pastorate, and church leaders reportedly are working through how to handle the odd circumstances. Church bylaws require a 75% affirmative vote to remove a pastor who won’t resign on…

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WASHTENAW COUNTY, MI – The lead pastor of an Ypsilanti-area church and father of a man accused of criminal sexual conduct against children said he was “blindsided” by the allegations.

“I have been as freaked out as everyone else has been,” said the Rev. Frank Radcliff, the lead pastor of Oakwood Church, 9074 Whittaker Road in Ypsilanti.

Zachary Joseph Radcliff, the 29-year-old son of Frank Radcliff, was arraigned on a charge of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, two charges of aggravated child sexually abusive activity, two charges of child sexually abusive activity and six charges of using the internet to communicate with another to commit a crime. He faces up to life in prison.

Zachary Radcliff served as the worship director and interim youth pastor for Oakwood Church.

Church leadership was notified of a potential incident in early October, leading them to suspend Zachary Radcliff with pay…

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George Shea of Uxbridge, who was sexually abused as a boy by Roman Catholic priests, sat down for hours in 2021 with investigators from then-attorney general Maura Healey’s office to detail what had happened to him at the hands of clergy he had trusted.

Shea, 64, said he was told that Healey was conducting a wide-ranging investigation into clergy sexual abuse in the Worcester diocese. Shea had become an outspoken advocate for survivors of such abuse, and he was heartened that the state was looking beyond the well-publicized scandals that had rocked the Archdiocese of Boston.

Three years later, Shea and other survivors from the Worcester, Fall River, and Springfield dioceses are still waiting for the results of that investigation to be made public.

“It’s frustrating,” said Shea, who recalled that he sat for a lengthy interview with the attorney general’s office, which included a state trooper, in September 2021….

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The Emmaus Federation of Switzerland has condemned the sexual abuses attributed to the late Abbé Pierre, a French Catholic priest who campaigned for the poor and homeless. The federation will no longer use his image, in a sign of solidarity with all victims, it said.

“Without denying the history of the Emmaus movement, the Federation condemns these unspeakable acts and distances itself from the figure of Abbé Pierre, its founder,” said the Emmaus Federation of Switzerland in a press release on Monday, following an extraordinary general meeting held on October 15 in Bern.

The federation stressed that it will no longer use Abbé Pierre’s image or quotes in its communication material, “as a sign of solidarity with all victims of sexist and sexual violence”. It invited its members to do the same.

The federation offered its unreserved support to the victims, noting their courage in coming forward to testify. It…

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Pope Francis urges cooperation on child abuse cases, but the Vatican’s lack of transparency contradicts this

Pope Francis has called upon Church authorities to cooperate with civil authorities in relation to child sexual abuse by Church personnel. But when it comes to the Vatican cooperating, it is a different story.

On Sept. 28, while in Belgium, Pope Francis is reported to have said: “‘There is no room for abuse in the church. I ask everyone, don’t cover up abuse! Evil must not be hidden, it must be in the open … so that the abuser is judged, whether they be a layman or a laywoman, a priest or a bishop, that they be judged. The word of God is clear.”

If the word of God is clear, Pope Francis is not listening to it. The Holy See only publishes its disciplinary decisions when the allegations are in the…

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An Arkansas church rocked by child sexual abuse scandals is preparing to adopt bylaws for the first time in its 132-year history, but the draft proposal would muzzle church members from speaking to reporters and non-members about the affairs of the church.

This unusual bylaw provision was unveiled just days before one of the church’s former ministers was formally charged with repeated sexual assault and kidnapping of a child during what he called “closet time” with her at Immanuel Baptist Church.

Patrick Stephen Miller previously served Immanuel as assistant director of children’s ministry and was sent from there to an Oklahoma church without any notice to that church of accusations made against him. Miller was charged with two counts each of kidnapping and second-degree sexual assault, which together carry a potential life sentence.

It was church members speaking out about this and other unaddressed matters of sexual abuse at the church that…

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Sitting down with a controversial felon not a good look for the church just now, critics complain

New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan is still getting scorched after he was photographed smiling and laughing it up with former President Donald Trump at a key dinner held by the Catholic Diocese of New York.

Dolan was clearly enjoying himself immensely at the annual Alfred E. Smith dinner last week as he chatted and joked with convicted felon Trump, who a jury earlier this year declared had sexually abused E. Jean Carroll in a Manhattan department store. The annual event which was held the same day the Los Angeles diocese agreed to pay $1.5 billion to hundreds of sexual abuse victims of Catholic priests, raises money for Catholic Charities.

It was insult on top of grievous injury, many are complaining.

New York Times columnist Maureen Down wrote Saturday of Dolan: “ View Cache

As the Synod on Synodality explores the issue of abuse and the Church’s efforts to combat it, Archbishop Filippo Iannone, Prefect of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts, speaks to Vatican News about the various procedures being implemented and the efficacy of existing canonical norms.

The fight against abuse remains a constant concern within the Church, especially in recent years. The topic has also surfaced in the discussions of the ongoing Synod and continues to be monitored closely by the media.

We spoke to Archbishop Filippo Iannone, Prefect of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts, to explore some of the procedures being implemented.

Q: Can you tell us where we stand in terms of the laws in force? Are they effective?

This is certainly a topic of central concern for the entire Church, as the Pope frequently emphasizes, so it naturally found its way into the interventions of the Synod members. Canon…

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A statement released on Friday, October 17, by the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors says the body looks ahead to the pilot Annual Report and to strengthening ties with the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors held its Plenary Assembly in Rome from October 7-11. In a statement released on Friday, the Commission said the gathering brought together 30 expert members from across five continents to discuss the strategic direction of the Commission under the leadership of newly appointed Secretary Bishop Luis Manuel Ali Herrera and Adjunct Secretary Teresa Kettelkamp.

Cardinal Seán Patrick O’Malley, OFM Cap., President of the Commission, celebrated Mass for the opening of the Assembly.

“Those who are hurting have a particular claim on our love,” he said in his homily, “The Commission has an opportunity and obligation to make the Church a more Samaritan Church.”

…

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Marc Jacques, who was on delayed sentencing after pleading guilty to a felony count, was arrested Friday after appearing to violate bail.

The father of a trans athlete, recently convicted on a child sexual abuse material distribution charge, has been arrested by the federal government after parents of children participating and attending Kearsarge Regional High School soccer games raised concerns about his presence.

Marc A. Jacques, 50, was arrested on Friday on unknown charges, government sources confirmed to Patch. He is scheduled to be arraigned on Monday. He was out on bail on delayed sentencing after pleading guilty to a single felony count of distribution of child sexual abuse material in March. Marc Jacques is the father of Maëlle Des Lauriers Jacques, a trans athlete and goalie on the Kearsarge girls’ soccer team, and had been attending his child’s games before his arrest.

During the past few weeks, parents wondered…

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A condemned Texas man’s execution has been halted after lawmakers subpoenaed him to appear before the state Legislature amid claims of his innocence.

The Supreme Court of Texas said in a post on X late Thursday that it had “granted a Texas House of Representatives’ emergency motion” and “effectively [halted] the execution of Robert Roberson,” which was scheduled to take place on Thursday night.

Roberson was convicted in 2003 of the murder of his infant daughter, Nikki, whom he had brought to a local hospital with severe injuries. Roberson claimed the baby had fallen from her bed, but medical experts argued that her injuries were consistent with child abuse.

Testimony at his trial included the claim that Nikki’s injuries were consistent with “shaken baby syndrome.” Since his conviction, Roberson has attempted to establish his innocence by invoking Texas’s “junk science” law, which allows defendants to argue that scientific evidence used…

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After years of bankruptcy litigation, my diocese has just agreed to a record $330 million payout to victims of sexual abuse by clergy. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles made even that hefty sum look small with an $880 million settlement. In these and many other cases, all of the diocese’s parishes will be forced to contribute to the debt. Which means parishioners will be paying for the sins of their priests.

Not a few Catholics are as angry as our Lord was when He chased the money changers from the temple. Why should the innocent pay from their wages to cover the sins of the guilty?

This conundrum reformulates an old question that cries out with the blood of Abel and continues until today: Why does a good God allow the innocent to suffer?

Sin destroys the innocent far more rapidly than the sinner. The drunk driver kills…

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With nearly 1,000 people filing sexual abuse claims against the Archdiocese of Baltimore to which the Roman Catholic Church admits, I will continue to ask an important question (“Attorney: 900 to 1,000 filed sex abuse claims in Archdiocese of Baltimore bankruptcy case,” Oct. 15).

Where is the Catholic Church’s deep dive into the root-cause analysis of this horrendous behavior?

Certainly, the public deserves to know.

— Christy Bergland, Baltimore

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An annual weeklong camp in Gilmanton for people with special needs will no longer be offered, the Diocese of Manchester announced on Friday.

For 60 years, Exceptional Citizens’ Week at Camp Fatima in Gilmanton offered people ages 9 and older with intellectual or physical challenges a week of traditional camp activities such as horseback riding, swimming, boating, arts and crafts, and more at no cost to the camper.Advertisement

In a statement, Bishop Peter Libasci of Manchester said all programs at Camp Fatima and its sister facility, Camp Bernadette, must “create a strong and healthy Catholic culture, remain faithful to Church teaching and, very importantly, reinforce the Camps’ values. These imperatives supersede any one program of the organization and is why E.C. Week will not continue at Camp Fatima.”

When News 9 reached out to the diocese for clarification, a spokesperson provided a statement that said, “Code of conduct violations occurred…

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A leading U.K. bishop has vowed to make the Church a place of “safety and sanctuary for all” after a report showed a third of Mass-goers reduced their Mass attendance because of concerns about the child sexual abuse crisis.

Last week, the Centre for Catholic Studies at Durham University published a study titled “Attitudes of Catholics in England and Wales to Child Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church.”

The study showed that a third of Catholics who previously went to Mass have reduced their attendance or stopped going altogether as a result of the child sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church.

Responding to the report, Bishop Paul Mason, lead bishop for safeguarding at the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, said: “I would like to assure Catholics, and indeed anyone who has concerns, that safeguarding is integral to a bishop’s work and ministry and that…

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Los Angeles Archdiocese agrees to $880M settlement in sex-abuse cases. The $880 million settlement is in addition to $740 million paid previously to Southern California victims of sex abuse.

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has agreed to pay $880 million to hundreds of victims of clergy sexual abuse dating back decades.

The settlement with 1,353 people who allege that they were abused by local Catholic priests is the largest single child sex abuse settlement with a Catholic archdiocese, according to experts. The accusers were able to sue after California approved a law that opened a three-year window in 2020 for cases that exceeded the statute of limitations.

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has previously paid $740 million to victims. With the settlement announced Wednesday, the total payout will be more than $1.5 billion.

Attorneys still need to get approval for the settlement from all plaintiffs to finalize it, the Plaintiffs’…

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Clergy sex abuse scandals have rocked Catholic churches across the world, but few places have seen the financial toll of the Los Angeles Archdiocese.

With a record $880-million settlement with victims announced this week, the Los Angeles Archdiocese has now paid out more than $1.5 billion.

The bill reflects its rank as the largest archdiocese in the nation, with more than 4 million members, and a California law that gave accusers more time to file suit.

But attorneys and others who have been involved in more than two decades of litigation say it also is an indication of the failures of church leaders to identify molesting priests and prevent them from committing more crimes.

Some of those priests, after undergoing treatment at residential centers, were shuffled to new parishes, frequently in immigrant neighborhoods where the abuse would continue.

With the latest settlements, the number of people alleging abuse now stands…

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The plaintiffs sought $1 million in relief for the boy’s medical bills and his “pain and suffering.”

Champion Forest Baptist Church in far northwest Houston agreed to pay “minimal money” to settle a civil case that alleges one of its Sunday school teachers beat and sexually assaulted a 4-year-old boy in 2019, an attorney for the church confirmed this week.

“The case, like many lawsuits in North America, was settled by the church’s insurance company,” Marc Sheiness, a Houston-based attorney representing Champion Forest, said in an email Wednesday. “The insurance company paid minimal money to eliminate the expense of ongoing litigation.” In response to additional questions via email, Sheiness declined to disclose the cost of the proposed settlement. He said the amount “was not determined by the church and had nothing to do with the allegations or injuries being…

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