ABUSE TRACKER

Regarding the Times Union’s series of articles on Albany Bishop Emeritus Howard J. Hubbard, I have been quiet too long. I want to speak up for Hubbard the man. I’m not writing about his leadership or the Roman Catholic Church’s handling of sex abuse but of Hubbard, the good and decent man I have known for more than 60 years. The allegation of his deviant behavior is completely out of character for that man. I was Hubbard’s assistant in the chapel of Camp Tekakwitha while we were both in the seminary and then in Rome for two years before he was ordained as a priest and before I returned after my ordination. In the 18 years I served as a priest, before and after I resigned in order to marry Faye Tischler, I worked with Hubbard on issues of social and criminal justice. Throughout, he was a spiritual and dedicated…

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Another parish is feeling the pain of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe’s $121.5 million settlement in a bankruptcy case that stems from hundreds of allegations of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy.

Some congregants at San Isidro Catholic Parish in the village of Agua Fría had been told the parish would be receiving half the proceeds of a land sale to build a new church.

But now there are doubts the parish will retain the building funds amid the archdiocese’s efforts to settle its Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Congregants fear the parish may lose about 23 acres of church property in a deal between the archdiocese and the Santa Fe Civic Housing Authority without seeing a dime.

Representatives of the archdiocese did not return repeated messages seeking comment.

Minutes of a meeting last month between archdiocese officials and parish leaders state the Rev. John D. Cannon, now rector of the Cathedral…

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Survivors of Guam clergy sexual assaults have a few days left to vote for or against the Archdiocese of Agana’s bankruptcy exit plan, which includes settlement of the abuse claims estimated at $37 million to $101 million.

Their ballots must be received by the U.S. District Court of Guam clerk by Sept. 19 to be counted as a vote to accept or reject the disclosure statement, which is the plan to get the archdiocese out of bankruptcy.

U.S. District Court Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood approved the adequacy of the third amended disclosure statement filed on July 19, giving each claimant a chance to be heard by their vote.

Each abuse claimant’s decision about how to vote is their own, but they can seek guidance from their attorneys.

A vote to accept the plan by a majority of the more than 270 abuse survivors who filed claims in the archdiocese’s bankruptcy…

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Authorities confirmed they have received calls about potential additional victims after 2News broke the story that a former Utah mayor and Latter-day Saint bishop had been arrested on suspicion of child sex abuse.

“Since the report was released that Johnson was taken into custody, we have received other reports of additional victims,” said Stephanie Dinsmore, spokesperson for the Davis County Sheriff’s Office.

Carl Johnson, 77, was arrested Wednesday at his Orem home and booked into the Davis County Jail on seven counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child. The allegations come from an ongoing investigation that covers several decades and involves victims who were as young as 2 years old at the time of the alleged abuse.

Johnson was the mayor of West Bountiful in the 90s, and he served in various leadership roles in his local congregation of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, including the…

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Nueva condena (y nueva indemnización privada) por abusos contra un sacerdote del Opus Dei

Nueva denuncia de “abuso de conciencia y poder con connotación sexual” (el término se las trae) contra un sacerdote del Opus Dei, en esta ocasión en Chile, que se ha saldado con la suspensión del cura, Carlos Rodríguez Picado, y con un acuerdo privado “entre las partes”

La nota concluye lamentando “el profundo dolor de la víctima” y “no haber sabido darle todo el reconocimiento, acompañamiento y apoyo que buscaba en el Opus Dei”

Nueva denuncia de “abuso de conciencia y poder con connotación sexual” (el término se las trae) contra un sacerdote del Opus Dei, en esta ocasión en Chile, que se ha saldado con la suspensión del cura, Carlos Rodríguez Picado, y con un acuerdo privado “entre las partes”, según informa la prelatura del Opus Dei en un comunicado.

La “demanda de indemnización de perjuicios”, apunta la Obra,…

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A lawsuit has been filed against the Kingston polygamist family by ten former members who allege the group and its leaders engage in sexual and physical abuse, commit fraud, and profit from unpaid child labor.

The plaintiffs, most of them women, filed the 109-page lawsuit in Third District Court Wednesday against group leader Paul Elden Kingston and dozens of other named individuals and organizations. The suit lays out multiple disturbing allegations against the Kingston group which is commonly known as “the Order.”

“It is a common and intentional practice in the Order to require girls and women to submit sexually to their husbands even if the sexual submission is against their will because having children results in workers for the benefit of the Order,” the lawsuit states. “It is also a common and intentional practice in the Order for girls to be impregnated and have children when they are young…

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Women who were members of a Utah polygamous group said in a lawsuit that they were forced into underage marriages in which their husbands raped them and that they had to perform child labor in the group’s businesses.

The northern Utah-based Kingston Group, also known as the Order, arranged such marriages so that girls would become pregnant and beholden to their husbands and the group, alleges the lawsuit filed Wednesday in state court in Salt Lake City.

“Order girls are taught from birth that their primary purposes in life are to be obedient, a submissive wife, and to bear as many children as possible,” the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit filed by 10 people against Kingston Group members, including leader Paul Eldon Kingston, seeks a jury trial and unspecified damages.

The group sought to maintain “Pure Kingston Blood” by arranging marriages between cousins and other close relatives and shunning relationships that…

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Summary

In October 2019, Mercy Corps and its Board requested that investigative firm Vestry Laight conduct an independent, external review into what steps were taken when reports of abuse by Mercy Corps’ late co-founder Ellsworth Culver were brought to the organization’s attention in 2018.

Also in late 2019, Mercy Corps engaged law firm Nichols Liu to conduct a separate review evaluating the organization’s sexual exploitation and abuse policies and their applicability to these circumstances. Both reviews were published by Mercy Corps on January 29, 2020.

In response to the Vestry Laight and Nichols Liu reports, Mercy Corps’ Board of Directors and Executive team announced commitments to action to restructure and strengthen legal, ethics and safeguarding functions, update policies and strengthen Board governance.

The commitments to action can be found here and you can find more details on the commitments and progress below. We have fulfilled the majority (18 out of 23) commitments and…

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Daughter of nonprofit’s former leader says investigation into abuse, trafficking served to cover up past behavior

Note: This story contains details of abuse that some readers may find disturbing.

A new $1 lawsuit against international nonprofit organization Mercy Corps alleges the organization retraumatized the daughter of its former leader while conducting an independent investigation into her claims of horrific abuse.

The lawsuit, filed in Multnomah Circuit Court by Portland attorneys Kim Sordyl and Michael Fuller on behalf of plaintiff and victim Tania Humphrey, seeks a jury trial for claims of intentional infliction of emotional distress. Mercy Corps hired an outside firm in 2020 to investigate Humphrey’s reports of being raped, trafficked and abused by her father, Mercy Corps co-founder Ellsworth Culver, and other Mercy Corps-affiliated members from around 1973 to 1989, while Humphrey was a student at St. Mary’s Academy in Portland. Culver died in 2005, before…

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An 80-year-old youth ministry volunteer admitted molesting two juvenile relatives when confronted by a Sierra Vista police detective earlier this month, according to court records obtained by Arizona Daily Independent.

Jay Herbert Anderson remains in the Cochise County jail in lieu of $300,000 bail after being arrested Sept. 2 by Det. Jessica Ferrel of the Sierra Vista Police Department. He is scheduled to be back in court Sept. 13 for a preliminary hearing on nine felony charges.

Anderson came under investigation July 11 when a male relative came forward with concerns that two female juveniles had been molested by Anderson several years ago. The girls, who live in separate cities, reportedly divulged the sexual abuse for the first time during a religious event in early July.

Ferrel noted in a probable cause statement that one of the girls reported being molested during summer trips to Arizona between aged five to…

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A Missouri boarding school already under scrutiny amid physical and sexual abuse allegations may soon be shut down, following a judge’s ruling.

Cedar County Circuit Judge David Munton signed an order Wednesday night to close Agape Boarding School in Stockton after the Missouri attorney general’s office and the state Department of Social Services filed petitions citing evidence that someone on the state registry for child abuse and neglect was actively working there.

But early Thursday, Munton stated in a court document that before closing the school he wanted the sheriff to confirm that the employee is still working at Agape. Officials have not said whether that’s the case, and a hearing originally scheduled for Thursday to decide Agape’s fate was postponed until Monday.

“Agape’s employment of a staff member who is listed on the state’s Child Abuse/Neglect Central Registry presents an immediate health and safety concern for the children residing at…

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Awake Milwaukee invites you to participate in Courageous Conversations, our online speaker/discussion series created to build community, deepen understanding, encourage conversation, and inspire action in response to the complex issue of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. You are invited to join us for:

WHAT I WANT CATHOLICS TO UNDERSTAND: A CONVERSATION WITH ABUSE SURVIVORS

PART 1, LISTEN AND LEARN: THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 7:00PM – 8:30PM CDT
PART 2, DISCUSS AND DISCERN: THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 7:00PM – 8:30PM CDT

Our wonderful panel of victim-survivors—Gigi Fontanilla, Deacon Larry Normann, Kathy Ann Coll, Shaun Dougherty, and Esther Harber—will share their stories and perspectives with the Awake community. 

Part 1 (Listen and Learn) will include a short introduction from Awake, engaging conversation with our panelists, and question and answer time at the end of the evening. (This event will be recorded for later viewing.)

Part 2 (Discuss and Discern) will be focused on building connections…

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Nondisclosure agreements have been a consistent pattern in recent abuse scandals facing major churches.

Known as NDAs, the documents were the focus of a new piece in Religion News Service by Katelyn Beaty.

“In recent months, allegations of unhealthy leadership patterns have been lodged against Andy Wood, the new senior pastor at Saddleback and former senior pastor at Echo Church, a multi-site congregation in San Jose, California,” Beaty reported. “In response, Saddleback hired an executive search firm to investigate the claims and found ‘no systemic or pattern of abuse under Andy’s leadership.’ But critics say if former Echo employees were allowed to talk freely, patterns would emerge.

The report noted a change.org petition that currently has over 1,200 signatures.

“Those whose names appear below implore the current leadership of Echo Church in San Jose, CA to release all former employees from any non-disclosure agreements, any non-disparagement agreements, and any documents…

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There are two types of child sex abuse survivors, the troubled child sex abuse survivor and a thriving survivor. Many assume that victims who were sexually abused as children are destined to become deeply troubled failures as adults. But that is an incorrect statement. For starters, three women were sexually abused in their youth by Dr. Larry Nassar. Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, and McKayla Maroney all suffered deeply as girls when Nassar, a sports doctor, assaulted them. As adults, however, they went on to become Olympic gold medalists.

These three are far from the only childhood abuse survivors to thrive in adulthood. Actors Ashley Judd, Terri Hatcher, Mackenzie Phillips, and Gabriel Byrne are among many other celebrities who have disclosed sexual abuse. We do not mean to imply that becoming a celebrity is a sign of success. And, of course, most who succeed in adulthood do not…

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Pengerang MP Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said said today she supports the Joint Action Group for Gender Equality’s (JAG) castigation of Religious Affairs Minister Datuk Idris Ahmad for his victim-blaming and silencing of a child survivor of sexual abuse.

Without naming the religious minister, Azalina questioned the precedent Idris would be setting by silencing and downplaying the child victim’s allegations, especially with several Acts already in place that were designed to help and protect victims of sexual abuse.

“JAG raised similar concerns regarding the act of silencing victims of sexual crimes. What now of our newly-passed Anti-Sexual Harassment Act or the Child Act or the Sexual Offences Against Children Act?

“What kind of messaging and precedent are we setting? Using religion especially to create fear, shame, and obligation to protect the reputation of a sexual predator is against every rule of protective laws for children in this country,” she said…

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Protecting the reputation of sexual predators by using religion to instil fear, shame and obligation against victims, is against every rule of law protecting children in this country, said Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said. 

The Pengerang MP said this in calling for better protection of minors who become victims of sexual crimes while urging all quarters not to sweep the issue under the carpet. 

This follows a recent remark by Religious Affairs Minister Datuk Idris Ahmad reminding a 15-year-old child actress not to expose her father’s “aib” (indiscretions) after she alleged multiple sexual abuse instances. 

Azalina said she agreed with a statement by the Joint Action Group for Gender Equality yesterday raising concerns regarding the act of silencing victims. 

“What now of our newly passed Anti-Sexual Harassment Act or the Child Act or the Sexual Offences Against Children Act? What kind of messaging and precedent are we setting?” she questioned…

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This follows a nearly year-long News 5 Investigation

[Includes video interviews of survivors]

More people are stepping forward saying they, too, suffered severe abuse at the hands of some local nuns. Now, victims are starting to see offers of restitution. This comes after a News 5 Investigation continues to expose what happened at a former home for children called Parmadale.

Barb Kuznecov said that when she was young, her parents suffered from mental and financial problems. So, at just 7 years old, she was sent to Parmadale.

“I wasn’t a person. I didn’t mean anything to anybody,” said Kuznecov with tears in her eyes.

Abuse from Sister Myra and Another Nun

She told us the abuse Sister Myra Wasikowski handed out was unbearable, including an incident on a staircase.

“She dragged me down by my hair down those steps and then made me kneel in the living room with my arms…

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Just more than a year after ex-cardinal and ex-priest Theodore McCarrick was arraigned in a Massachusetts criminal court on assault and battery charges, proceedings continue on without an imminent conclusion.

Another status update in the case came and went in Dedham District Court on Sept. 8, without any progress and another continuance to Nov. 1.

McCarrick was criminally charged in July 2021, with three counts of indecent assault and battery on a person over 14 stemming from the alleged sexual assault of a 16-year-old boy during a wedding reception at Wellesley College on June 8, 1974.

The alleged victim in the case has not been publicly identified. The person is represented by attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who is well known for representing those who have made abuse allegations against Catholic clergy.

McCarrick, who turned 92 in July, appeared in person for his arraignment on Sept. 3, 2021. It was his first…

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Should the look-back window be reopened and maybe even left open?

This provision of New York State’s 2019 Child Victims Act allowed adults who had been abused decades ago to sue their abusers or the institutions that enabled the abuse. The statute of limitations for such suits was raised to the age of 55; abuse survivors had a two year window (which included an extension in 2020) to file lawsuits. More than 10,000 such claims were filed in New York.

Now that deadline has passed, but hundreds and possibly thousands of other victims have either come forward after the deadline or have not been able to find representation in cases where the alleged abusers would not have the resources to cover settlements and costs.

The Child Victims Act offered victims of alleged abuse a three-year period in which to seek justice, but, too often, three years was not long enough…

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A former Utah city mayor and bishop with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been arrested on accusations he sexually abused at least three children decades ago.

Carl Matthew Johnson, 77, was arrested Wednesday and booked into the Davis County jail in northern Utah on suspicion of seven counts of sex abuse of a child, according to a probable cause statement.

Investigators say Johnson acknowledged abusing three victims in 1985, 1993 and 1996 and estimated there was a total of six victims as young as 2-years-old, according to the document. He told investigators he had struggled “controlling his sexual urges” most of his life.

Some of the alleged abuse occurred in the same years as he was mayor of West Bountiful, a city just outside of Salt Lake City that he led from 1990-1997.

The investigation is still ongoing, but so far Johnson is only booked on…

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A bankruptcy judge approved Thursday the Boy Scouts of America’s (BSA) $2.46 billion reorganization plan.

Why it matters: It would enable the BSA to exit Chapter 11 and continue operating while compensating over 80,000 men who allege scout leaders sexually abused them, per Reuters.

• It’s the largest sex abuse lawsuit in U.S. history and comes after years of legal battles.

Details: Under the plan, the BSA, its local councils, settling insurance companies and troop-sponsoring groups like religious organizations would contribute to a fund for survivors in exchange for protection from future abuse lawsuits.

• Claimants could receive anywhere from $3,500 to $2.7 million for the most severe cases.
• Some of the money would also go toward a trust set up to fund litigation against those that have not settled, per AP.

What’s next: The ruling, issued by Judge Laurie Selber Silverstein in Delaware, now awaits approval from a federal…

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A federal judge gave final approval to the Boy Scouts of America’s plan to exit bankruptcy Thursday, marking an end to the largest sexual abuse case against a single organization in American history. 

Judge Laurie Selber Silverstein confirmed the plan a little more than a month after signaling she would do so in a 300-plus page opinion that found a trust at the heart of Scouts’ proposal would be adequate to compensate victims of abuse.

Silverstein had rejected one portion of the plan in her July opinion: A $250 million settlement with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which she said would protect the church from claims of abuse that weren’t directly tied to Scouting. Scouts subsequently scrapped the settlement, leaving victims with claims against the church free to pursue them outside the bankruptcy.

Central to the bankruptcy plan is a $2.46 billion trust fund for survivors — down from $2.7 billion without the contribution from the Mormon church. In return,…

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The roots of the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe go back 50 years,  when zealots preaching a gospel of misogyny and homophobia—led by an accused sexual predator—took over America’s largest Protestant denomination.

In June, at the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting in Anaheim, Calif., Albert Mohler Jr., the president of the denomination’s flagship seminary and one of its leading theologians, was asked whether he believed that women who have abortions should be prosecuted for murder. Mohler acknowledged that there could be gray areas, such as miscarriages, but came down on the side of criminalizing women. “There are many cases in which, demonstrably, there is not just an abortionist who should face criminal consequences, but a woman seeking an abortion,” he said to applause. “That is something we believe the law should pursue.” Law enforcement could pursue such cases, he added, if the final version of the Supreme Court’s opinion in Dobbs v….

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Not every church that uses NDAs has faced scandal. But of those that have in recent years, NDAs were inevitably in the mix.

In 2019, pastor Rick Warren told a reporter why Saddleback Church — one of the most dynamic megachurches worldwide — didn’t use nondisclosure agreements: “We believe that our competition is not other churches, but rather the world, the flesh, and the devil.”

Warren’s comment hints at the original purpose of NDAs: to prevent employees of businesses from taking trade secrets to competitors — an Apple employee from taking the latest phone update to their new Microsoft gig.

Warren, by contrast, was apparently happy for Saddleback staffers to take their wisdom elsewhere, since all churches are playing for Team Jesus.

Saddleback’s new lead pastor may be less inclined to take such an open-handed approach.

In recent months, allegations of unhealthy leadership patterns have been lodged against Andy Wood, the…

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This article appears in the Synod on Synodality feature series. View the full series.

Inmates, college students, climate activists, LGBTQ people, clergy sex abuse survivors, health care professionals, church reform advocates and older Catholics are among those who have participated in their own listening sessions for the grassroots consultation that has been held ahead of the 2023 Synod of Bishops in Rome.

In all, 110 non-diocesan Catholic groups—universities, advocacy nonprofits, religious congregations, ministries and private associations of individuals, among others — submitted their own synodal “synthesis” reports this year to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said Julia McStravog, a consultant helping to coordinate the bishops’ synodal work. Those groups’ reports were to be synthesized along with those of 178 Latin Rite dioceses in the United States into a 10-page document that the bishops’ conference was scheduled to submit to the Vatican’s General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops in…

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“The threats went from ‘don’t tell or you’ll get in trouble’ to full-blown ‘you and everyone you know is going to go to hell,’ which is like, the most terror-inducing threat — putting that fear, in me as a believer at the time, feeling like I was responsible for all these other people’s eternal lives.”

An Edmonton man has filed a $2-million lawsuit against the Catholic Archdiocese of Regina, claiming a priest sexually abused him when he was a young altar server.

Vincent LaHaye alleges in a June 23 statement of claim that he suffered 30 years of “psychological pain, suffering and anguish” after being abused at the hands of the late Alfred W. Bouchard, a priest who served at Swift Current’s Sacred Heart Catholic Church in the early 1990s.

LaHaye, 41, claims the assaults began when he was 10 and continued for two years until Bouchard…

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Police say the man held a “position of trust” over the three alleged victims.

Carl Johnson, a former mayor and LDS bishop, was arrested and booked into the Davis County jail on suspicion of seven counts of aggravated abuse of a child on Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2022.

A one-time Utah mayor and former bishop for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was arrested Wednesday after police say he sexually abused at least three children.

Carl Johnson, 77, was arrested in Orem and booked into the Davis County jail on suspicion of seven counts of aggravated abuse of a child.

Police allege in a probable cause statement that Johnson was in a “position of trust” over the three alleged victims, who disclosed they were sexually abused as children between 1985 and 1996.

One alleged victim told police she was between 5 and 8 years old in 1996, when Johnson…

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Judge will allow the youth organization to exit Chapter 11 and settle decades of claims by more than 80,000 men

The Boy Scouts of America secured approval of a $2.46bn reorganization plan from a bankruptcy judge on Thursday that will allow the youth organization to exit Chapter 11 and settle decades of claims by more than 80,000 men who say they were abused as children by troop leaders.

US bankruptcy judge Laurie Selber Silverstein in Wilmington, Delaware, signed off on the restructuring proposal after the Boy Scouts made changes to address her previous ruling that had rejected portions of the settlement.

The biggest change in the amended plan was the removal of a $250m settlement payment from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which Silverstein refused to approve.

Silverstein said that part of that settlement proposal went too far in attempting to protect the Mormon church from abuse…

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A Utah lawmaker and prominent attorney for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints advised a church bishop not to report a confession of child sex abuse to authorities, a decision that allowed the abuse to continue for years, according to records filed in a lawsuit.

The records — two pages from a log of calls fielded by a law firm representing the church and the deposition of a church official — show that Utah Republican State Rep. Merrill F. Nelson took the initial call from a bishop reporting that church member Paul Adams had sexually abused his daughters. Nelson also had multiple conversations over a two-year span with two bishops who knew of the abuse, the records show.

Nelson is a conservative lawmaker who was elected to the Utah House of Representatives in 2013 and announced his retirement earlier this year. He was also a lawyer…

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A U.S. bankruptcy judge rejected the Catholic church’s argument that it should be allowed to keep paying monthly stipends to staff accused of sexual abuse.

 A federal bankruptcy judge has ordered the Archdiocese of New Orleans to stop paying retirement benefits to five priests who have been accused of sexually abusing minors or vulnerable adults but are not included on a list of more than 70 clergy the local church considers “credibly accused.”

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Meredith Grabill issued the order Aug. 31, rejecting the local Catholic church’s argument that it should be allowed to keep paying monthly stipends to priests, deacons and lay staff who face claims of sexual abuse in sealed documents that were turned over to the court by the Archdiocese earlier this year.

From the very beginning of its bankruptcy case in May 2020, the Archdiocese tried to argue that it needed…

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Robert Kapal spent nearly 40 years trying not to remember a Buffalo Diocese priest he says abused him as a child.

But when a reporter showed up at his door four years ago with diocese documents naming the priest, the 46-year-old firefighter burst into tears.

“I haven’t heard that name in a long time,” Kapal said, before recalling details of sexual abuse he said he endured at St. Christopher Catholic Church in the Town of Tonawanda in 1980. 

That was four years ago, and it might have been financially beneficial for Kapal to come forward. New York’s Child Victims Act was about to become law, opening a “look-back window” for survivors of sexual abuse to sue abusers and the institutions responsible for their abuse. But emotionally, Kapal wasn’t ready.

“I wanted to forget about this and just move on with my life, and I couldn’t,” Kapal said.

Legally, Kapal has…

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A lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Denver alleges years of abuse by a Catholic priest.

These claims of abuse allege it happened at church, at Sunday school and even out in the open. That’s according to an attorney representing the Denver-area woman who filed the suit.

The Archdiocese said the priest in question, Marshall Gourley, is not even part of their order, just another point of contention between both sides in this case.

“The Archdiocese was aware, at the time, that the abuse was occurring,” Paul Linnenburger, who represents the woman who filed the lawsuit, said.

“It was not unusual for there to be instances of abuse connected thereto, in hallways, in private rooms, sometimes out in the open,” Linnenburger said.

The claims of sexual abuse happened, according to Linnenburger, during the mid-1980s at a Catholic church in the city.

“There was roughly a four-year period from about the time…

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Father Johannes Rivoire, who is now 91 years old and lives in Lyon, has long been accused of sexually abusing Inuit children

Tanya Tungilik says she wants to meet face to face with the former French Oblate priest her late father alleged sexually abused him as a child.

She is to join a delegation of Inuit planning to travel from Nunavut to Paris and Lyon, France, next week to seek the extradition of Father Johannes Rivoire to Canada. The trip, led by Nunavut Tunnagavik Inc., a group representing Nunavut Inuit, is to also include Tungilik’s brother, Jesse Tungilik, and Steve Mapsalak, who has also accused Rivoire of abuse.

Tungilik says her father, Marius Tungilik, who died in 2012, alleged he was sexually abused by Rivoire when he was 13 years old while working at the Co-op store in Naujaat, Nvt. Those accusations have never been heard in court.

“I want…

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Rev. Tomas Vazquez Tellez, 49, who served St. Joseph Catholic Church in Kennewick and St. Patrick Catholic Church in Pasco was taken to the Benton County Jail Wednesday.

BENTON COUNTY – A priest who served two churches in the Tri-Cities was arrested Wednesday after a woman said he raped her at his home.

Rev. Tomas Vazquez Tellez, 49, is accused of third-degree rape with an aggravating factor of being a person of trust.

The Kennewick Police Department said a woman reported to another priest within the Yakima Diocese that Vasquez had raped her after a dinner at his home. The woman then reported it to the police, a decision, according to diocesan officials, made with their full support.

Vasquez resigned as pastor of St. Joseph Catholic Church in April of 2020 and began serving St. Patrick Catholic Church in Pasco prior to leaving for a three-month…

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BENTON COUNTY, Wash. — A local priest, who has served at St. Joseph Catholic Church and at St. Patrick Catholic church in Pasco is now in the Benton County Jail facing rape charges.

According to Monsignor Robert Siler with the Yakima Diocese, 49-year old Rev. Tomás Vázquez Téllez was arrested on September 7th by Kennewick Police Department Officers.

Vázquez was booked into the Benton County Jail on suspicion of 3rd Degree Rape with an aggravating factor of being a person of trust.

Siler said the woman reported that her and Vázquez had developed a friendship over the course of the past few years. The woman claims they had lunches and dinners together, but that the priest had never made romantic overtures before. The woman said she viewed Vázquez as a friend whom she could confide.

According to Siler, the woman reported the alleged rape occurred following a dinner at a home…

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A Tri-Cities priest has been arrested on suspicion of rape.

Rev. Tomás Vázquez Téllez, 49, was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of third-degree rape with an aggravating factor of being a person of trust. Vázquez Téllez has been serving at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Pasco since September 2021.

Before that he was the pastor of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Kennewick before stepping down in April 2020 to begin a sabbatical to study biblical languages, according to a new release from the Diocese of Yakima. He was an associate pastor in Sunnyside for three years and spent one year at Holy Family in Yakima before serving at St. Andrew’s Catholic Church in Ellensburg from 2009-16, according to the diocese.

Vázquez Téllez was booked into the Benton County jail after being arrested at his home. According to the diocese, the suspected sexual assault happened on Aug. 19-20.

According to the diocese,…

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A Yakima Diocese priest has been arrested in Benton County on suspicion of third-degree rape with an aggravating factor of being a person of trust.

Reverend Tomás Vázquez Téllez, 49, was arrested on Wednesday, Sept. 7th.

He is now in the Benton County Jail awaiting his charges.

The arrest follows a Kennewick Police Department investigation of a reported rape that occurred August 19th and 20th at the suspect’s home in the city.

The woman reported the rape to another priest in the diocese within hours of it happening, then decided to report it to police.

Vázquez resigned as pastor of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Kennewick in April 2020.

He then began serving at Pasco’s St. Patrick Catholic Church and was preparing to go to Jerusalem before the incident.

“We are shocked and saddened by these developments,” Yakima Diocese Bishop Joseph J. Tyson said. “I am grateful that the woman…

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A message to the global leader of the Catholic Church: District Court of Guam Chief Judge Francis Tydingco-Gatewood issuing an order this week in connection the clergy sex abuse cases. In it, she writes – would Pope Francis be inclined to meet all Guam’s plaintiffs who alleged abuse at the hands of the church clergy?

The chief judge wants to know if the Pope would be open to discussing a potential global settlement with Guam’s victims. Her order comes after the Holy See argued a motion to dismiss a case against a victim, only identified in court documents as “D.M.”, who alleges former archbishop Anthony Apuron raped him several times in the mid-1990s.

The Holy See contends the court lacks jurisdiction to take on the case. The chief judge said last month she was inclined to toss the case.

The Holy See says it would have to consult with the…

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John Delaney, 50, of Philadelphia, a clergy abuse survivor and vocal victim advocate, died Friday, Aug. 26, of a drug overdose.

Mr. Delaney fought hard as a victim advocate after coming out publicly in 2005 about his own sexual abuse as a child. Mr. Delaney said he was raped and sexually abused as an altar boy at St. Cecilia’s Roman Catholic Church by the Rev. James Bryzski, who was later called “one of the archdiocese’s most brutal abusers” in a Philadelphia grand jury report. Bryzski, the report said, may have abused more than 100 boys during his time as a priest.

Bryzski, who was defrocked in 2005 and died in 2017, was never prosecuted.

“We can count at least 100 victims who stepped forward because of the courage and strength they saw that came from the voice of John Delaney,” said Mike McDonnell, a friend, fellow survivor, and communications…

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On September 30th, National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, we will honour Indian residential school survivors with an Eagle Feather.

When and where Date and time

Fri, 30 September 2022, 8:30 AM – 9:30 AM EDT

Location

Parliament Hill Wellington Street Ottawa, ON K1A 0A9 Canada

About this event

If you like, you will have seating in front for our national opening ceremony: Remember Me: A National Day of Remembrance. Click here for the official website: Remember Me Website.

We hope that you will accept an Eagle Feather as a gesture of gratitude.

We honour you because you have shown strength and given us all the courage and humility to heal.

We are an Indigenous women led, not for profit organization. We are the facilitators of this national event on Parliament Hill, Ottawa. Dawn Iehstoseranon:nha (she keeps the feathers) is a Mohawk Feather Keeper and will be presenting individual…

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She was in elementary school when her grandfather first molested her — physical and emotional abuse that was to last about a decade until, at age 16, Joyce Sitt was ready to seek justice.  

Or she thought she was until she spoke with her family’s rabbi.  

“He informed me that I could say whatever I wanted to but that if I did tell, I would lose all of my friends,” Sitt recalled this summer in a Monmouth County courtroom.  

“He let me know that my grandfather donates money and if I did this, all of the people that he helped would lose everything.” 

That talk with the rabbi was back in 2009. Last summer, after a failed marriage and a suicide attempt and years of pain stemming from a childhood of torment, Sitt came forward again.  

This time, undeterred and with the help of investigators, she recorded her grandfather confessing to the…

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The pastor’s wife told a woman to “never show her face again at the church and to disappear completely,” according to police.

The former pastor of Eagan Hills Church has been charged in the sexual assault of two women, according to documents filed in Dakota County court.

Bruce Douglas Konold, 61, of Eagan faces 12 counts of criminal sexual conduct and one count of harassment.

The specific charges include:

• Harassment (Pattern of Stalking Conduct)
• Criminal Sexual Conduct in the 3rd Degree (Clergy) (Ongoing Meeting for Advice)
• Criminal Sexual Conduct in the 3rd Degree (Prohibited Occupational Relationship)

Under Minnesota law, it is a felony for religious clergy to have sexual relations with a person who is not their spouse while providing that person with spiritual guidance.

If convicted, Konold faces up to 15 years in prison and a $30,000 fine.

Konold was pastor of the church for 30 years,…

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The former pastor of a church in Eagan has been charged with 12 counts of criminal sexual conduct and one count of harassment in connection to events dating back to 2020, according to a criminal complaint filed in Dakota County court.

Bruce Douglas Konold, 61-years-old, of Eagan, who was reported to have worked at the church for around 30 years, is set to appear in court on Oct. 26.

The complaint details accounts from two women, a 20-year-old listed as “Victim 1” and a 30-year-old listed as “Victim 2.”

GRAPHIC CONTENT WARNING: the details contained from the criminal complaint below could be considered to be graphic or disturbing in nature.

Victim 2 reported to police that Konold had offered her a personal assistant position at the church in 2020, according to the complaint. Konold was said to have reached up her shirt while at her home in June 2020, and…

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The suspect allegedly committed the crimes against six minor students of a Sunday School between March 2021 and this year

A Protestant seminarian in Indonesia’s Catholic-majority province of East Nusa Tenggara has been arrested following complaints of raping six girls aged between 15-16.

Police arrested the 36-year-old seminarian in the provincial capital of Kupang during the weekend and named him a suspect in the rape case, a police official said. His name was not disclosed.

Yames Jems Mbau, an official with the Criminal Investigation Unit told UCA News on Sept. 5 that the seminarian was arrested following complaints from the victims’ families.

He said the suspect repeated the crime several times between May 2021 and March this year in the complex of the Evangelical Church in Timor (GMIT) located in Waisika village.The suspect was serving as an assistant minister at the church. 

Mbau also said the suspect videotaped the crime and…

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On July 22, the Diocese of Rochester filed objections asking the court to disallow and expunge 74 claims (including several duplicates) asserted in its chapter 11 bankruptcy case.

In an affidavit filed with the bankruptcy court, Father Daniel J. Condon, diocesan chancellor, noted that “A number of claims allege that the survivor was abused by a member of a religious order, a lay employee, volunteer, resident or student of a school or facility owned and operated by a religious order or other non-Diocesan entity.”

The reason behind filing these objections, Father Condon explained, is to prevent claims that should be directed against non-diocesan entities from diluting payments to survivors who were abused by perpetrators for whom the diocese or its affiliates may have had legal responsibility.

A diocesan statement addressing the claim objections emphasized that “the Diocese is not questioning the veracity of these claims,…

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Chairing a parish steering committee related to the Diocese of Rochester’s bankruptcy case has been a learning experience for Father Thomas Mull, pastor of Our Lady of Peace Parish in Geneva.

“When we began three years ago, I and others knew very little about bankruptcy. It’s been a learning process as we go,” said Father Mull. “I’ve learned a lot, though I can’t say I wanted to know it.”

The committee comprises four additional pastors; a regional finance director; and two lay parish trustees (see below).

Representing parishes

The priests on the committee represent all the pastors, ensuring that parishes have a voice in bankruptcy proceedings, Father Mull said. Yet he noted that church personnel are not versed in bankruptcy law, so they rely heavily upon attorneys to explain legal proceedings “at an elementary-school level.”

Suzanne Krebs, regional finance director for Chemung, Schuyler, Steuben and Tioga counties, said she brings…

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Feb. 14, 2019: Then-Gov. Anrew Cuomo signs into law the Child Victims Act, which will open a one-year “window” (later extended for a second year), providing survivors of child sexual abuse the opportunity to file civil suits previously blocked by New York’s statute of limitations.

March 14, 2019: As the Aug. 14 opening of the CVA window nears, the diocese announces it will stop accepting new claimants into a voluntary process established in March 2018 for the independent reconciliation and compensation of sexual-abuse victims.

Sept. 12, 2019: With 45 lawsuits filed against it in less than a month since the CVA window opened, the diocese files for bankruptcy. The case is assigned to U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Paul R. Warren.

Nov. 14, 2019: The diocese files a lawsuit seeking to establish that its insurers must cover potential liabilities related to historical claims of child sexual abuse.

Dec. 23,…

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The Arizona Court of Appeals has agreed to hear arguments on whether federal bankruptcy law precludes a victim from suing the employers of the two Catholic priests who allegedly sexually abused her as a child several decades ago.

The woman, referred to in court records as Jane HM Doe, is now about 50. She filed a nine-claim lawsuit in February 2020 against the Roman Catholic Church of the Diocese of Phoenix, St. Mark Roman Catholic Parish Phoenix, and the Society of the Divine Savior USA Province concerning sexual abuse she alleges she suffered as a student at St. Mark in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Read more by Terri Jo Neff >>

Court records show Judge Joan Sinclair of the Maricopa County Superior Court dismissed the case in March 2021, ruling Doe had no standing to sue for the abuse because she filed for bankruptcy…

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Reverend Jaroslaw “Jerry” Gamrot, 58, who serves at Holy Face Catholic Church and Little Flower School in Great Mills, has been charged for an incident that reportedly happened in July on a highway.

Gamrot, a Poland native who currently has a residence in Frederick County, Maryland, was served the charges on August 21.

Charging documents for the incident indicate that on July 25, Gamrot was traveling west on Route 70 in Frederick with no pants on and was allegedly masturbating.

A male victim claimed to police that he was exposed to him on a public road near the 56-mile-marker. The victim claimed to state police that he was targeted by Gamrot, as he continued to pull up next to his vehicle multiple times to expose himself.

This allegedly occurred three times.

However, on Gamrot’s final maneuver, the victim took a picture of the vehicle’s license plate and the inappropriate action…

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Seventeen of the 29 Buffalo Diocese priests put on administrative leave since 2018 due to a sex abuse allegation involving a minor were later allowed to resume their priestly activities.

The diocese publicized the priests’ returns to ministry by stating that a review board had examined the claims and found them to be “not substantiated.”

Diocese officials maintain that the review process is rigorous, independent and designed to protect children from potential abuse.

Accusers and their attorneys aren’t convinced, and they worry that some priests are being publicly exonerated and put back into contact with children without a thorough and impartial investigation into abuse claims.

They point out that in some cases a priest was returned to ministry, even though his accuser wasn’t interviewed as part of an investigation.

The most recent reinstatement of a priest was in July, when Bishop Michael W. Fisher restored the faculties of the  View Cache

For decades, Johannes Rivoire has lived as a free man in France, despite multiple charges that he sexually assaulted Inuit children while working as a priest in Nunavut beginning in the 1960s.

Pressure is mounting on several fronts to have him extradited, but legal experts are divided on whether the former priest could ever be forced back to Canadian soil.

The federal Department of Justice confirmed in late July that Canada has asked France to extradite the nonagenarian. The extradition request has found a vocal supporter in Aurélien Taché, a left-wing MP in France associated with the opposition group La Nouvelle Union populaire écologique et sociale.

Over the past year, pressure has been increasing to bring Mr. Rivoire back to Canada – including from Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami president Natan Obed, Inuk elder and former politician Piita Irniq, and the federal NDP. There’s been international…

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Members of the Southern Baptist Convention are meeting in Fort Worth this weekend to discuss reforms in the wake of a national sex abuse crisis.

In recent months, the convention — which is the largest Protestant denomination in the country — has faced scrutiny for its handling of the widespread scandal.

Several branches within the denomination are under investigation from the Justice Department following a third-party investigation that found church leaders suppressed reports of sexual abuse for two decades.

In response, the convention created the Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force to address the crisis.

Mike Keahbone, vice chair of the task force and pastor of First Baptist Church in Lawton, Oklahoma, told Fort Worth Report that meeting would help provide a road map for reforms.

“I hope (the task force) will bring out real and true reform with practical and real changes to show we care about the issue — not just…

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Eduardo Córdova es uno de los prófugos potosinos más buscados por autoridades nacionales e internacionales

En 2014 un escándalo sacudió a la Iglesia Católica de San Luis Potosí y de México, al conocerse el caso de Eduardo Córdova, un conocido sacerdote acusado de abusar sexualmente a menores de edad.

Más de cien víctimas dieron testimonio ante el Tribunal Eclesiástico de la Arquidiócesis de San Luis Potosí sobre los sucesos cometidos durante años. Por estos hechos, la otrora Procuraduría General del Estado emitió una orden de aprehensión contra Eduardo Córdova Bautista.

Sin embargo, el sacerdote potosino cercano a cúpulas empresariales y políticas se dio a la fuga, y desde el 25 de junio de 2014 se convirtió en prófugo de la justicia.

Las autoridades señalan que el cura es buscado en 180 países debido a la ficha roja, que emitió en 2016, la Policía Internacional (Interpol).

Además, el actual fiscal general José Luis Ruíz…

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The forty-eight-year-old priest was arrested for impregnating a twelve-year-old girl who is a member of the Light House Gospel Church, Oluwo.

The information has also revealed that the mother of a twelve-year-old victim joined church due to spiritual problems, which led to the death of her two daughters.

The victim’s mother wanted to save her daughter from family problems and brought her to the church.

The Father of three children and the church’s priest asked the mother of the twelve-year-old victim to send her to church alone for special prayers.

The priest took the twelve-year-old girl into the room within the church and forcefully had carnal knowledge of her, which resulted in pregnancy.

CSP Olasunkanmi Popoola informed the detectives about the scenes soon after police arrested the church priest.

The victim’s mother told police that since her daughter was not regularly menstruating every month, it was difficult to know that her daughter was…

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Father McCann is accused of voyeurism on March 28 this year

A voyeurism complainant took a video of the priest accused of spying on her in a changing room, a court heard today.

During a brief mention of the case against 35-year-old Father Aidan Patrick McCann at Craigavon Magistrates Court, a prosecuting lawyer lamented that “there’s still no decision papers.”

When District Judge Greg McCourt asked for an explanation, the lawyer revealed the “difficulty relates to obtaining video footage from the injured party that was outstanding”.

“That has been received by the police this week so it’s making its way to the prosecution and hopefully a decision will follow in short order,” said the lawyer, applying for the case to be adjourned for a month.

Father McCann, with an address at the parochial house on Maddens Row in Keady, is accused of voyeurism on March 28 this year in that…

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As a number of protesters gathered outside of Rembert Weakland’s funeral, who was archbishop of Milwaukee from 1977 to 2002 after a sexual abuse scandal, a survivor of clergy abuse is speaking up and his concern with the statewide Clergy and Faith Leaders Abuse initiative.

“We have to hold people to justice no matter who they are,” said Peter Isely, director of Nate’s Mission and survivor of clergy abuse.

At just 13 years old, Isely said his abuse began less than a week after attending a minor seminary. The abuse done by one of his faith leaders.

“It began gradually, as it often does, you know shoulders rubbing…you know then it’d sort of stop. Next time is going to go farther down until he finally went into my pants,” said Isely.

He’s made it a life mission to protect others. He’s part of the Survivors Network of those Abused By…

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U.S. District Court of Guam Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood on Tuesday ordered the counsel for the Holy See, or the Vatican, to file a written report on whether Pope Francis could meet with all survivors of Guam clergy sexual abuse to help settle hundreds of abuse claims.

The judge gave the Holy See’s counsel up to Sept. 13 to file responses to two specific questions she posted during an Aug. 26 hearing on the Vatican’s motion to dismiss a particular Guam clergy sexual abuse case.

The plaintiff in the case is identified in court documents only as “D.M.” to protect his privacy. In his lawsuit, he seeks to hold the Vatican also responsible for the actions of former Archbishop Anthony Apuron, who allegedly raped and molested him when he was a minor student at Father Dueñas Memorial School in 1994-1995.

But the Vatican, which has hired California-based attorney Jeffrey Lena…

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Barletta, 82, was accused of molesting as many as 25 minors but was never charged. The 2018 Pennsylvania grand jury report revealed depth of his conduct, said he admitted to abuse.

• The 2018 Pennsylvania grand jury report on clergy abuse named 41 priests in the Catholic Diocese of Erie
• Among them was the Rev. Michael G. Barletta, who taught at Cathedral Prep from 1975-1994
• Barletta died at 82 in late August. He was never charged

Over his long career as a priest, including 19 years teaching at Erie’s Cathedral Preparatory School, the Rev. Michael G. Barletta was accused of sexually abusing as many as 25 minors.

The conduct made Barletta one of the 41 “predator priests” from the Catholic Diocese of Erie named in the groundbreaking August 2018 statewide grand jury report on clergy sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church in Pennsylvania.

Barletta has died at 82, leaving behind a…

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Pope Francis says he has taken it on himself to rid the Catholic Church of sexual abuse, telling CNN’s partner channel CNN Portugal that he was “responsible that it doesn’t happen anymore.”

In an exclusive, wide-ranging interview in Rome last month, the Pontiff said the church had “zero tolerance” for abuse and said that “a priest cannot remain a priest if he is an abuser.”

The church’s response to sex abuse scandals has become one of the defining themes of Francis’ time as Pope, and he told CNN Portugal that every case of abuse within the church “hurts” him.

Multiple reports detailing decades of sexual abuse, systemic failures and cover-ups across multiple countries have been released since Francis became the leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics in 2013. While he was criticized for some of his actions — such as when he  View Cache

Pope Francis says he has taken personal responsibility to rid the Church of sexual abuse. He told CNN Portugal that he was “responsible that it doesn’t happen anymore.” In an interview in Rome, the Pontiff said the Church had “zero tolerance” for abuse, while “a priest cannot remain a priest if he is an abuser.” Francis told CNN Portugal every case of abuse “hurts” him.  This, despite criticism that Francis has been insufficiently firm in some cases.

The Pope has been criticised, for instance, for defending a bishop in Chile accused of covering up a sex scandal in 2018, something he later described as a “grave error”. That said, the Pope abolished Vatican secrecy rules for cases of abuse, and put in place new rules which made it mandatory for all dioceses to set up systems for reporting abuse and cover-ups. This effectively allows the Church to share documents and information with…

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As part of its ongoing commitment to provide regular communications regarding its Safe Environment efforts, the Diocese of Springfield is today issuing a quarterly report on an update made to the online listing of “Finding of Credibility of Allegations of Sexual Abuse of a Minor.”

On Aug. 1, 2022, the name of the late Father Daniel L. Gill was added to the list based on a credible finding by the diocesan Review Board. Father Gill was ordained in 1958 and passed away in 1995. The abuse reported in this allegation dates back to 1967 to 1971 and involved a minor.

Father Gill’s full assignment listing can be found at http://diospringfield.org/oseva-credible-allegation-abuse-minor/.

An allegation being found credible does not indicate a finding of guilt and, because he was deceased when the allegation was brought forward, Father Gill was unable to respond to this allegation. Nonetheless, the Review Board carefully reviewed the allegation,…

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Behind a closed chapel office door inside a federal women’s prison in California, a chaplain forced inmates seeking his spiritual guidance to have sex with him, exploiting their faith and their powerlessness behind bars for his own gratification, prosecutors said.

James Theodore Highhouse was sentenced Wednesday to seven years in prison — more than double the recommended punishment in federal sentencing guidelines. U.S. District Judge Haywood S. Gilliam Jr. said the guidelines, which call for a sentence of less than three years, “seriously underestimate the seriousness” of Highhouse’s conduct.

“It’s hard to come up with the right words to describe how egregious an abuse of these victims this was,” Gilliam said.

Highhouse is among five workers charged in the last 14 months with sexually abusing inmates at the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, California, and the first to reach the sentencing phase of his case.

Highhouse, wearing a T-shirt and…

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Leaders in the Archdiocese of Denver neglected to protect a young girl from sexual abuse in the 1980s, despite being warned of the priest’s predatory nature, a lawsuit filed last week in Denver District Court alleges.

Father Marshall Gourley sexually abused a girl when she was between the ages of 7 and 11 years old while she attended church programming, and it resulted in a lifetime of trauma and struggle, the lawsuit alleges.

“When Fr. Gourley was abusing Plaintiff, Defendants knew, or should have known, that Fr. Marshall Gourley was unfit for the priesthood, specifically unfit to engage minors with the authority, control, respect, and reverence of a priest and representative of Defendants because, in part, they had received notice Fr. Gourley had committed acts of sexual abuse on children,” the lawsuit reads.

A December 2020 report led by the Colorado attorney general’s office documented systemic child sexual…

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As the Church’s three-year synod approaches its final year, Catholics in Ireland await the outcome with a variety of hopes and aspirations, writes Conor Capplis

The story of Jesus meeting a sceptical Samaritan woman at the well told in the Gospel of John is, for many Christians, a story of encountering Jesus and choosing his well as the source of eternal life. 

As the Irish Church faces a crossroads ahead, with many big decisions to be made, Bishop William Crean of the Catholic Diocese of Cloyne wonders what wells sustain the Irish people today.

The increasingly secularised nation has found new watering holes after decades of Church scandals.

“Where are people finding their sources of, say, imagination, vision, inspiration, motivation, direction, purpose and meaning?” he asks, speaking to the Irish Examiner at his palace in Cobh, Co Cork. 

“I find myself asking: for young people, what’s the source of their spirituality?” 

“Maybe…

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Greek politicians and the country’s powerful Orthodox Church joined in condemning a retired bishop who claimed Friday that women aren’t raped “without wanting it.”

In an interview with private Skai TV, Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Dodoni supported the Church’s official position against abortion, but added that there should be no abortion even in the case of rape.

He then proceeded to question the notion of rape itself, saying: “A woman does not sit and get raped without wanting it.” He added that there can be no conception as a result of rape.

Chrysostomos called abortion a “crime.”

Politicians of all stripes condemned his remarks on rape.

“The Metropolitan of Dodoni’s statement about rape is inconceivable and is to be condemned,” Education and Religious Affairs Minister Niki Kerameus tweeted. “It brutally insults society and does not agree with the position of the Church, which supports women victims of abuse and rape.”

“We…

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Recently, a German report showed that the number of abuse victims over the past few decades in the diocese of Trier is higher than expected. However, Stephan Ackermann, the Roman Catholic bishop responsible for the diocese, refuses to resign.

A report showed that 513 people had become victims of sexual abuse between 1946 and 2021. Many of them could be identified by name. Of the victims, 162 were female, and 311 were male. Furthermore, 195 suspects were identified. These numbers are much higher than a study from 2018 showed. That research spoke about 442 victims, and 148 suspects Katholisch.de reported.

Bishop Stephan Ackermann is now accused of knowing about the high number of abuse victims but having covered it up. The report reads: “At least in a large number of cases, the diocese did not take any measures to protect those potentially affected from sexual abuse.”

In reaction…

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For more than 30 years, the Catholic Church of Montreal covered up the abuse committed from parish to parish by a serial abuser priest. Thanks to their hard work, two women are now busy cleaning up to prevent such situations from happening again.

Priest Brian Boucher is languishing in prison today after being sentenced to eight years in prison in 2019 for sexually assaulting two barely teenage boys during the 1990s and 2000s. 

But he was able to rage for so many years in at least three parishes in the West of Montreal, it is because the leaders of the clergy minimized his deviations, sometimes swept the warning signs under the carpet, or even the transferred from parish to parish which allowed him to make other innocent victims. 

These disturbing findings are highlighted in a documentary by our Bureau of Investigation, broadcast since Thursday on Quebecor’s Vrai content platform and…

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An independent inquiry into sexual assault by Catholic clergy in Portugal has so far gathered testimony from 400 people

The Catholic Church must show “zero tolerance” to sexual assault by members of the clergy, Pope Francis said in excerpts of an interview with a Portuguese television channel broadcast Sunday.

“It’s very clear. It’s zero tolerance,” he told TVI/CNN Portugal in an interview, extracts of which were published on the channel’s website.

“A priest cannot continue being a priest if he is an aggressor. He cannot because he is either sick, or a criminal,” he said.

“It’s monstrous because it destroys lives,” he added, during the two-part interview to be aired on Sunday and Monday.

An independent inquiry into sexual abuse within the Catholic Church in Portugal has so far gathered testimony from around 400 people, said the man leading the inquiry, child psychiatrist Pedro Stretch.

As a result, 17 cases…

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The Marist Brothers and Fathers have educated prime ministers, judges, cardinals and All Blacks at their Catholic high schools. But their record of sexual abuse is horrific.

A teacher credited with helping nurture the musical talents of Neil Finn, Mike Chunn and Th’ Dudes has been accused of being a serial paedophile, who would abuse teenage boys during tramping trips in the Tararua Ranges.

Ray Gannaway, a Catholic Marist Brother who was known as ‘Brother Ivan’ during his teaching career in Auckland and Wellington was celebrated as a great musician and educator when he died in 2018.

He was an early influence on Split Enz and Th’Dudes during his time at Auckland’s Sacred Heart College in the late 1960s and 70s.

He then moved to Wellington, where between 1972 and 1975 he led tramping trips for his third and fourth form students at another Marist Brothers-owned school, St Bernard’s College.

…

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The Catholic Church must show “zero tolerance” to sexual assault by members of the clergy, Pope Francis has said.

He made the comments during an interview with a Portuguese television channel broadcast today.

“It’s very clear. It’s zero tolerance,” he told TVI/CNN Portugal in an interview, extracts of which were published on the channel’s website.

“A priest cannot continue being a priest if he is an aggressor. He cannot because he is either sick, or a criminal,” he said.

“It’s monstrous because it destroys lives,” he added, during the two-part interview to be aired today and tomorrow.

An independent inquiry into sexual abuse within the Catholic Church in Portugal has so far gathered testimony from around 400 people, said the man leading the inquiry, child psychiatrist Pedro Stretch.

As a result, 17 cases have been referred to the judiciary. The findings of the inquiry are expected at the end of…

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More than 300 victims of church-related abuse have used the Safe Spaces scheme during its two-year trial period.

The Catholic Church in England and Wales has announced that it will continue the Safe Spaces service, provided jointly with the Church of England, to support victims of church-based abuse. This follows a successful two-year trial of the scheme.

The service, run through its pilot period by the charity Victim Support, offers a confidential helpline and personal support to those who have suffered abuse through their relationship with the Church. It is staffed by a team of trained support advocates, who have undergone specialist training in supporting survivors of sexual violence, and specific training on church abuse cases.

More than 300 victims have used the service since it began in September 2020.

An independent assessment found the pilot a success, and the Churches will now begin a tendering process to find a long-term…

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Father Wayne Dohey urges Catholics to unite around St. Peter’s church

A church shakeup is set to take place in Mount Pearl as Roman Catholics prepare to vacate Mary Queen of the World on Topsail Road, and the Baptists get set to move in.

Meanwhile, a parish priest is calling for members of the faithful to unite at St. Peter’s church on Ashford Drive, which is set to expand its catchment area as neighbouring churches close amid a dramatic restructuring of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. John’s.

It’s the latest chapter in the ongoing and historic sell-off of properties — from churches and rectories to parish halls and vacant land — by the archdiocese, which is under creditor protection as it tries to raise millions to compensate abuse victims who attended the former Mount Cashel orphanage.

During Saturday mass at St. Peter’s, Father Wayne Dohey revealed that the congregation’s…

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Warning: The story below contains details about abuse in residential schools that may be upsetting. Canada’s National Indian Residential School Crisis Line is available 24 hours a day on 1-866-925-4419.

Glaciers and high mountain ranges, fjords, freshwater lakes and lowlands dominate the two million square-kilometre (770,000 square-mile) territory of Nunavut, Canada. This expanse is composed of ocean inlets and islands, including the Queen Elizabeth archipelago, a group of islands made up of frozen, snow-covered rock. It is home to extensive Arctic wildlife and ecosystems.

In summer, the landscape bursts with lush greenery and purple saxifrage flowers that grow in large clusters along the tundra floor. In Nunavut’s capital of Iqaluit, faded wooden rowboats dot the shores of the ocean inlet with barges anchored in the distance. White canvas hunting tent villages are pitched outside the city borders.

Iqaluit is the hub of Nunavut, providing access to government and medical services…

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The Archdiocese of Milwaukee held a funeral Mass on August 30 for former archbishop of Milwaukee Rembert Weakland, who died on August 22 at age 95.

The service stands as a difficult day for many sexual abuse survivors and their loved ones, and the celebration of Weakland’s life may bring up strong, painful feelings.

“Sexual abuse, especially abuse by a religious leader, is a deep and long-lasting trauma, and we urge all people to be mindful of this reality when they speak about Weakland’s legacy … As Catholics, we believe in praying for all who have died. While this includes Rembert Weakland on the day of his funeral, we also remember in our prayers all victims of clergy sexual abuse, especially those who have died deaths of despair in the aftermath of their abuse. We pray for survivors who continue to work for truth, justice, and healing, and we call…

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From Ogdensburg to the Vatican. An advocate for survivors of clergy sexual abuse says the Diocese of Ogdensburg and its bishop are in a historic position – a position that could influence the future of the Catholic Church in New York state.

According to John Bellocchio, a nationally known advocate for abuse survivors, the Vatican could put Bishop Terry LaValley of the Diocese of Ogdensburg in charge of investigating one of the most prominent cardinals in the world.

Earlier this month, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York, helped the Diocese of Ogdensburg celebrate its 150th anniversary. Less than three weeks later, Dolan is accused of covering up clerical sexual abuse and trying to shield money from lawsuits filed by victims of clergy sexual abuse.

“The things that Timothy Dolan did are reprehensible. He’s never been held to account. He’s been promoted and now the world knows and…

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Victims explained the scheme was aimed to take a total of eight weeks since applying but have been waiting longer, due to delays caused by ‘staff shortages’

The SNP Government has been accused of ‘betraying’ victims of child abuse amid claims the compensation scheme has descended into “chaos”.

Survivors of historical abuse claimed they have been treated like “second-class citizens” after long hold-ups in securing payouts.

The Scottish Government has claimed that staff shortages has resulted in delays to processing the claims for victims meaning they have had to wait longer for their promised cash under the redress scheme launched in December last year.

At the time, the Deputy First Minister John Swinney boasted of “confronting the scale and horror of the abuse Scotland’s most vulnerable children [had] suffered”.

Scottish Tory justice spokesman Jamie Greene told the Scottish Daily Mail: “No amount of money can ever replace the appalling suffering these survivors endured.

…

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I learned a great deal while I spent several days researching and writing an in-depth look at religious and legal views of the confessions people make to bishops and other clergy. Not all of it made it into my story.

Let me share an amazing story that I had to leave on the cutting-room floor, so to speak. But first, here are the first two paragraphs of my article. I hope you’ll read it and benefit from what I found:

Priests, pastors and bishops from various faiths say both sides of an apparent collision of ideals are sacred to them: protecting children from all forms of abuse, and keeping confessions confidential so penitents feel safe and motivated to acknowledge and stop their sinful — and sometimes criminal — behavior.

The tension between doctrines about confessions and the impulse to protect children through mandatory reporting laws raises important legal, societal…

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When the news of the McCarrick scandal hit the headlines in November 2020, the blow to my family and our faith was devastating. Normally, I am an unabashed enthusiast full of love for the Catholic Church, sharing my faith even with secular friends, but these revelations reduced me to silence. I found myself wrestling with unavoidable questions: Why am I still doing this? How can I stay in a Church associated with so much corruption and evil?

As a kid growing up in a family of former Catholics, I could give you hundreds of reasons to not be Catholic. The Inquisition, Crusades, and other historical atrocities were high on the list of criticisms that I discussed with disdain in my peer group of adolescent atheists.

As far as we were concerned, you had to be either stupid or evil to claim allegiance to such an institution, and besides, claiming such…

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Records were created under disciplinary procedures mandated by Pope Francis to govern investigations of child sexual abuse allegations against bishops

The Archdiocese of New York is waging a legal battle to block the disclosure of more than 1,400 pages of internal records related to its investigations of Howard J. Hubbard, who served as bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany from 1977 to 2014.

The records are being sought in connection with a Child Victims Act case filed against Hubbard, the Albany diocese and deceased former priest Francis P. Melfe, who like Hubbard is a target of multiple child sexual abuse claims.

The archdiocese’s records on the former bishop were created under disciplinary procedures known as “Vos Estis” that were mandated by Pope Francis in 2019 to govern the investigations of child sexual abuse allegations against bishops or other church superiors. The pope’s mandate also included examinations of any alleged…

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As the daughter of a clergy abuse victim-survivor and a lay person who works for the Church, Jerri von den Bosch speaks often with fellow Catholics about her family’s experience with the abuse crisis.

In June of 2021, I wrote 10 Things Never to Say to Survivors of Clergy Sexual Abuse that covered some of the hurtful things people sometimes say to clergy abuse survivors. Included were some more supportive things they might say instead. Many people read it and several clergy abuse survivors, including my mom, responded with additional things that they have heard from Catholics and would add to the list. I believe that most people who say these things are well intentioned; they are just not aware of how to walk with someone who has experienced trauma. So I present 6 Things Never to Say About Clergy Abuse Survivors, along with some things that you, as…

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Andrew Peacher has blasted deputy first minister John Swinney as he called on the Scottish Government to ‘end victim’s suffering’ and start paying out compensation

The SNP Government is letting down victims of historic child abuse with delays to the £115million redress scheme, a survivor’s husband has said.

Andrew Peacher wrote to the Scottish Daily Express to detail how “unfair” it was for his wife Joanne, who was a victim of child abuse, saying the delays to her case have left her “hanging on like a thread”.

Joanne Peacher, 53, took part in the Historic Child Abuse Inquiry describing how she was raped by a priest and sexually abused by a female care worker when she was a young child in one of the orphanages run by the Sisters of Nazareth, the Roman Catholic order.

In her witness statement, Mrs Peacher, who has mild learning disabilities, told the…

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The Archdiocese of New York has gone to court to keep under wraps hundreds of pages of records involving an Albany bishop accused of sexually abusing children.

The records pertaining to Howard Hubbard, who served as bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany between 1977 and 2014, are being sought in connection with a lawsuit brought against him and another former priest. Both have been accused of numerous child sex abuse claims, according to an Albany Times Union report

Hubbard has vigorously denied the allegations, and the former priest — Francis Melfe — is now dead.

The records were created under disciplinary procedures known as “Vos Estis” that were mandated by Pope Francis in 2019 to govern the investigations of child sexual abuse allegations against bishops or other church superiors, the newspaper reported Saturday.

The Archdiocese is seeking to block their release in New York State…

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Pope Francis fulfills a pledge, but it’s only a start

It was not the typical papal visit. Yes, there were the political dignitaries, the popemobile, and the larger-than-usual press corps. But the reason for the visit was different, the tone was different, and Pope Francis was different: he was in a wheelchair for a good part of his July visit to Canada.

He was there to honor a pledge he made in March of this year to the various representatives of the Métis, First Nations, and Inuit communities of Canada who had travelled to Rome to meet Francis personally and to ask on Vatican soil that he come to their soil on Turtle Island. They did so because they wanted him to apologize for the role of the Church in administering the Residential Schools that had been established by the federal government in the nineteenth century with the express purpose of ensuring…

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Late last week, in an interview with Bishop Robert Barron on his “Bishop Barron Presents” talk show, the actor Shia LaBeouf shared that working on a new biopic about Padre Pio has changed his life. He now goes to Mass, receives Communion and particularly loves the Latin Mass. “Latin Mass affects me deeply, deeply,” he explained. “It feels like they’re not selling me a car. And when I go to some Masses with the guitars and stuff…it’s like they’re trying to sell me on an idea.”

“It almost feels like I’m being let in on something very special,” Mr. LaBeouf said of the Latin Masses he has attended in Oakland, Calif. The decision of the Second Vatican Council to make the Mass more participatory was a “bureaucratic activation,” he feels. “There was a yearning to activate the public, in an artificial way.”

As you might imagine, this created quite a stir….

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A Catholic priest in the Archdiocese of Washington has been placed on administrative leave and suspended from public ministry pending an investigation after he was charged with the misdemeanor offense of indecent exposure Aug. 25. 

The allegations in charging documents say that Father Jaroslaw “Jerry” Gamrot, pastor of Holy Face Parish and administrator of Little Flower School in Great Mills, Maryland was masturbating in a vehicle on Route 70 and exposed himself to a man driving in another vehicle, baynet.com reported.

The outlet reported that the incident occurred on Jul. 25 and that Gamrot, 58, allegedly pulled his vehicle next to the man’s vehicle three times and exposed himself, while wearing no pants.

Baynet.com reported that on Gamrot’s last attempt in his alleged exposure, the man snapped a photo of Gamrot and his license plate. The individual reported the incident two days later, according to Elena Russo,…

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A judge in Nicaragua sentenced a Roman Catholic priest to 49 years in prison Friday for the rape of a 14-year-old girl.

Judge Edén Aguilar Castro sentenced Rev. José Leonardo Urbina to 24 years in prison on two counts of abuse and 25 years for one count of rape.

However, Aguilar Castro ruled that Urbina would serve only 30 years. Nicaraguan law limits maximum sentences in most cases to 30 years.

Urbina served as a priest at the Perpetuo Socorro parish in the town of Boaco, 55 miles (90 kilometers) northeast of the capital, Managua. He was arrested in July on a complaint from the victim’s mother.

The Diocese of Grenada expressed “deep pain and suffering” in a statement about the sentence, and called on the faithful to “continue praying for our jailed priests.”

In June, a parish priest in the southern town of Nandaime was sentenced to two years…

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A former Calvary Chapel pastor and speaker is serving jail time in Virginia on multiple charges related to child sexual abuse, records obtained by The Roys Report show.

A plea agreement shows that Douglas Phillip DeAndrea, former pastor of New Ground Church in Danville, was sentenced in May to 40 years in prison.

DeAndrea, 44, was arrested October 18, 2021, on seven felony charges of object sexual penetration and aggravated sexual battery, according to Mark Hollandsworth with the Montgomery County Jail. A grand jury indictment reveals the charges related to sexual abuse of a minor.

The plea agreement shows DeAndrea pleaded guilty to two of the charges and will be incarcerated for eight years. The other 32 years of the prison sentence were suspended. He was also ordered to serve 15 years’ probation, according to the plea agreement.

The other five charges were dismissed as part of the plea agreement.

Virginia Department…

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Behind a closed chapel office door inside a federal women’s prison in California, a chaplain forced inmates seeking his spiritual guidance to have sex with him, exploiting their faith and their powerlessness behind bars for his own gratification, prosecutors said.

James Theodore Highhouse was sentenced Wednesday to seven years in prison — more than double the recommended punishment in federal sentencing guidelines. U.S. District Judge Haywood S. Gilliam Jr. said the guidelines, which call for a sentence of less than three years, “seriously underestimate the seriousness” of Highhouse’s conduct.

“It’s hard to come up with the right words to describe how egregious an abuse of these victims this was,” Gilliam said.

Highhouse is among five workers charged in the last 14 months with sexually abusing inmates at the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, California, and the first to reach the sentencing phase of his case.

Highhouse, wearing a T-shirt and…

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A Cabinet minister and a senior No 10 aide in Boris Johnson’s government are facing allegations of sexual misconduct.

Sky News has reported the allegations of two women detailing how they were allegedly assaulted and groped by figures within the Government.

The accusations come as Mr Johnson prepares to end his tenure as Prime Minister, which was brought to a halt after the Chris Pincher scandal.

One woman told Sky News she was “sexually assaulted by someone who is now a Cabinet minister”.

She added: “I was in my early 20s and didn’t really know how to deal with it.

“I was super drunk, he is feeding me more wine and I am already quite obviously tanked, but after a while I was like ‘You know what? Would you mind if I just went to bed?’ So I went to bed, but obviously he didn’t leave me alone.”

A second…

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A local pastor is accused of sexually assaulting and inappropriately touching two women and a girl, according to police.

Bobby Cornealius Smith, 45, has been charged with three counts of sexual assault and one count of child abuse.

Smith was arrested Friday after a victim came forward in February and told police she had been sexually assaulted in 2012 when she was a minor. Smith sexually assaulted the victim about 30 times between August 2012 and March 2013, according to a North Las Vegas Police Department arrest report.

When Smith tried to provide the victim with a sex toy, he said that God had told him that if she did not participate, her life would be ruined, according to the report.

Smith texted the victim telling her when he would be going into her room at night, according to the report. The victim told police she knew of at least…

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David Kaufman will spend the next 17 months in prison.

A former Sylvania Township rabbi who was accused of rape was sentenced Wednesday in Lucas County Common Pleas court.

David Kaufman will spend the next 17 months in prison.

Earlier this year, a grand jury indicted him on gross sexual imposition and unlawful restraint charges.

He was arrested back in March and charged with rape in Sylvania municipal court. Kaufman pleaded no contest to the grand jury’s indictment on original charges of gross sexual imposition and unlawful restraint.

Kaufman was a rabbi at Temple Shomer Emunim in Sylvania Township. Following his arrest, he was immediately terminated from his position.

Temple leadership said they were told by police the alleged conduct did not happen on their premises and did not include any members of their congregation.

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Officials charge that Keenan Hord had an extreme number of text messages from a group of boys and in a church youth ministry.

A former Arkansas youth minister was accused by authorities of having inappropriate sexual contact with up to 30 boys.

Prosecutors have charged Keenan Hord, 32, with several serious crimes involving the sexual abuse and exploitation of minors that were involved in the youth ministries he was connected to,, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports.

Two Bentonville, Ark.,detectives testified at a bond hearing on Friday (Aug. 27) that officials searched Hord’s home on Aug. 24 to seize electronic devices found there.

Police Sgt. Josh Woodhams testified that he examined a phone belonging to one of the boys that revealed a romantic and sexual relationship between Hord and the boy. As many as 5,000 conversations were on the phone between them, Woodhams said. He also noted that half a million text messages were on the…

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Leaders of the Archdiocese of Denver in the 1980s failed to protect an elementary school girl from a predatory priest even after they were warned the priest was sexually abusing children, a lawsuit filed against the Catholic archdiocese alleges.

For years, Father Marshall Gourley groped a girl when she was between the ages of 7 and 11 while she attended programs at the Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, the lawsuit filed last week in Denver District Court alleges.

“Defendants knew, or should have known, that Fr. Marshall Gourley was unfit for the priesthood, specifically unfit to engage minors with the authority, control, respect and reverence of a priest and representative of Defendants because, in part, they had received notice Fr. Gourley had committed acts of sexual abuse on children,” the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit comes nearly two years after the completion of a years-long investigation spearheaded by the Colorado Attorney General’s Office…

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“Grooming” is a word that a certain set of people have become fond of, lately.

If you’re on social media in any capacity, you’ve surely seen it. People will refer to a gay person minding their own business as a “groomer,” trying to paint them as a person preparing to sexually abuse a child. They’ll call school teachers “groomers” for giving kids access to library books, or for calling a child “they” if the child prefers it to “he or she.” Anyone who suggests rudimentary sex education in schools or that kids should have some autonomy in dressing or presenting themselves the way that they want is also called a groomer. It’s as if any mention of gender or sexuality or letting kids think for themselves is grooming a child for sexual abuse.

I, myself, am a mother. My Adrienne is on the cusp of adolescence. Abuse is something I…

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Land is the investment of choice for moguls. Bill Gates has invested heavily in farmland. People have said for years that McDonald’s Corp is actually a real estate company that sells food. You might not have realized that the Catholic Church owns lots of real estate. Which of these billion-dollar entities owns more of what might be considered the most precious commodity on earth — land? Benzinga did the research, and the results might surprise you.

The Case for Bill Gates: Microsoft Corp co-founder is largely considered the biggest private owner of farmland in the U.S. with nearly 270,000 acres. This number stems from last year’s edition of The Land Report. It’s reasonable to assume that the purchases haven’t slowed down.

While Gates has said that the purchases are a result of his investment groups, he also recognizes the potential and the importance of farmland. He said in an ask-me-anything (AMA) session on…

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Quinze nouveaux plaignants se sont ajoutés à l’action collective contre le diocèse de Québec depuis la publication de la liste des présumés agresseurs sexuels. Les noms d’un évêque auxiliaire et de deux chanoines y apparaissent. Parmi les personnes visées se trouvent des récidivistes qui auraient fait jusqu’à sept victimes.

Quelques dignitaires, plusieurs multirécidivistes, de très jeunes victimes et des cas d’abus portés à la connaissance des autorités ecclésiastiques sans qu’elles n’agissent : les allégations récentes contenues dans l’action collective contre le diocèse de Québec révèlent un sombre tableau du sort qui aurait été réservé aux victimes, ainsi que des secrets parfois bien gardés.

Enquête s’est penché sur le parcours de plus de 80 religieux, dont plusieurs inconnus, qui apparaissent dans un document déposé dans le cadre du recours en justice visant l’ensemble des agressions sexuelles qui auraient été commises par des personnes sous l’autorité du diocèse depuis 1940. Plusieurs d’entre eux sont décédés.

Cent…

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The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, also known as SNAP, will hold its first monthly meeting for survivors and their loved ones on Tuesday in Cumberland

Cumberland – A national self-help organization for victims of clergy sexual abuse is starting its first support group in Rhode Island.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, also known as SNAP, will hold its first monthly meeting for survivors and their loved ones on Tuesday. The new Rhode Island chapter is being co-led by two survivors of clergy abuse, who say they hope to help others by sharing their experiences.

“Most survivors feel very alone, and most of us in the beginning didn’t believe there were a lot of others out there,” said Dr. Ann Hagan Webb, a psychologist who treats other survivors. “There is still something so validating to hearing stories that are similar to…

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Recently, in the pages of The Salt Lake Tribune, Stuart C. Reid made a passionate defense of confession to one’s spiritual advisor as a God-given right. He argued that if a pastor or bishop had a duty to report confessed crimes to civil authorities, religious liberty would be violated to the detriment of all concerned.

I believe this is entirely wrong. Consider the case, such as reported recently by the Associated Press, of an LDS man who confesses to his bishop that he is sexually abusing his own daughter. The bishop, told that he cannot inform the civil authorities, attempts to counsel the man and persuade him to repent.

Is he likely to succeed? The evidence is that pedophilia is exceedingly difficult to cure or stop. It may respond, if at all, only to a long series of intensive counseling sessions in the hands of…

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If religious leaders are forced to report what they hear in private, abusers won’t admit their crimes.

Having presided over and pastored six congregations — two as a bishop for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and four as an active duty Army chaplain — it is clear to me that the sinner/perpetrator, child abuse victims and society generally are better off when the confessional is protected by the government as the free exercise of religion’s God-given right.

In Utah there is much talk about religious freedom, particularly when it is considered operational to win this or that battle in the culture conflicts, but when the sanctity of the confessional is under attack, legislators and others go silent, or worse, many rush to get in line to rob religion of its long-standing freedoms.

Short-sighted knee jerk reactions by legislators, running roughshod over religion and its God-given rights is…

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