ABUSE TRACKER

Native American children at the U.S.’s 408 federal Indian boarding schools suffered whippings, sexual abuse, manual labor and severe malnourishment between 1819 and 1969 as part of the American government’s campaign to compel their assimilation, according to a report released Wednesday by the Interior Department.

The big picture: Interior Secretary Deb Haaland authorized an investigation into the U.S.’s Indian boarding school system after the discovery of Indigenous children’s remains at an old Canadian residential school site renewed attention on Americas’ history of genocide against Indigenous peoples. The probe has since identified marked or unmarked burial sites at roughly 53 different schools.

Details: The federal residential school system was founded as part of an effort to eradicate Indigenous languages and cultures.

• “Federal records indicate that the United States viewed official disruption to the Indian family unit as part of Federal Indian policy to assimilate Indian children,” the report notes.
• Initial research shows that hundreds of…

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A Yakima native offers two options. He wants the grave of an accused predator priest moved. Or he wants the cemetery to include an admission that several abuse reports against the priest have been substantiated.

Michael Ross says the cleric, Msgr. Joseph Sondergeld, sexually violated him as a boy. (And two local church jurisdictions’ websites list Sondergeld as “credibly accused.”)

As the former national director of SNAP, I applaud Ross’ courage. And I deplore the disingenuous response by a top Yakima Catholic official to Ross’ simple request.

In dodging Ross’ proposal, Msgr. Robert Siler is doing what Catholic figures have done for decades and tragically, keep doing even now: parsing words, splitting hairs, evading responsibility and refusing to help deeply wounded victims heal from horrific childhood trauma, trauma that could have been prevented if only bishops had acted like caring shepherds instead of like cold-hearted CEOs.

…

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At least 500 Native American, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian children died while attending Indian boarding schools run or supported by the U.S. government, a highly anticipated Interior Department report said Wednesday. The report identified over 400 schools and more than 50 gravesites and said more gravesites would likely be found.

The report is the first time in U.S. history that the government has attempted to comprehensively research and acknowledge the magnitude of the horrors it inflicted on Native American children for decades. But it falls well short of some independent estimates of deaths and does not address how the children died or who was responsible. The report also sheds little new light on the physical and sexual abuse generations of Indigenous children endured at the schools, which were open for more than 150 years, starting in the early 1800s. 

The report and an accompanying news release acknowledge the harms…

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The U.S. is acknowledging the large-scale and violent treatment of Indigenous students at more than 400 Indian boarding schools run by the federal government between 1819 and 1969, according to a report released by the Department of Interior on Wednesday. 

Over 500 American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian children’s deaths occurred at 19 of the federal Indian boarding schools, according to the report. In total, 53 marked and unmarked burial sites were identified at these school facilities nationwide. The investigation is ongoing, and the department said it expects “the approximate number of Indian children who died at Federal Indian boarding schools to be in the thousands or tens of thousands.”

Beginning in the early 19th century in the U.S., Indigenous children were “selected” from reservation schools and moved away from their families to attend the government-chartered schools, which were often subcontracted to Presbyterian, Catholic and Episcopalian religious organizations to…

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One arrest doesn’t seem to be enough for certain people to learn a lesson. Accused of juvenile cruelty for a second time, Pastor John Raymond, a one-time Survivor contestant and former Republican candidate for the Louisiana House, was arrested for a second time on Monday. His latest arrest is once again related to an incident at Lakeside Christian Academy, a kindergarten-12th grade school that he founded and ran as headmaster.

According to local news outlets, Monday’s arrest is connected to practices that occurred six years ago. Raymond was initially arrested last month and the Slidell Police Department said in a press release that parents and faculty members came forward to report additional incidents after Raymond’s first arrest, including some dating back to 2017.

Raymond was arrested in April and charged with three counts of cruelty to juveniles after taping children’s mouths shut for talking too much in class, Daily Kos reported. Similar to his demeanor now, he defended his actions then, claiming…

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A Benton Harbor pastor accused of sexual assault was back in court on Wednesday.

Leroy Lane Jr. preached at the former Straight Gate Pentecostal Power Church. Multiple allegations have been made against Lane, accusing him of preying on and inappropriately touching teenage girls from his church.

Back in September 2021, Lane was accused of inappropriately touching a 13-year-old girl who was interviewed by investigators about the allegations.

According to documents obtained by 16 News Now, the girl was helping Lane prepare for a Super Bowl party at his home. She told investigators she was in his basement when he asked her to come sit with him on a reclining chair. She proceeded to sit on the arm of the chair.

He then asked her to sit on his lap, but she did not want to. That’s when he allegedly grabbed her, picked her up and put her on his lap….

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Pope Francis will meet members of Canada’s Indigenous communities in late July, visiting the cities of Edmonton, Quebec and Iqaluit in Nunavut, the country’s most northern region.

“Accepting the invitation of the civil and ecclesiastical authorities and the Indigenous communities,” the pope will be in Canada July 24-29, returning to Rome July 30, the Vatican announced May 13.

The Vatican said a detailed program would be released later.

“The pope’s visit will provide a unique opportunity for him, once again, to listen and dialogue with Indigenous peoples, to express his heartfelt closeness and to address the impact of colonization and the participation of the Catholic Church in the operation of residential schools throughout Canada,” the bishops of Canada wrote on a website — papalvisit.ca — launched for the visit.

The papal visit, the bishops said, would be “a significant step on the road to truth, understanding and healing.”

Pope Francis…

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The doll is about 6 inches tall, handcrafted of red leather, with a tan belt and headband around its long black hair. It’s a male warrior, holding a bow.

“This is actually me,” D. Richard Wright said of the doll.

Wright, a parishioner of Gichitwaa Kateri Catholic Church in Minneapolis, made it as part of an effort to process recent findings in Canada of what are believed to be hundreds of graves of children on the sites of former Indigenous residential schools.

Some Twin Cities American Indians — mostly women — gathered to make “spirit dolls” representing the children in some of those graves, resulting in an exhibit called “215+” on display at the end of last year through this January at Indigenous Roots Cultural Arts Center in St. Paul.

Wright, 72, is a member of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe. He made the doll, he said, not because…

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After Friday’s announcement of Pope Francis’s visit to Canada this summer, calls are already being made by government leaders and Indigenous communities for him to issue a formal apology for the Catholic Church’s role in the residential school system.

The announcement of the pope’s visit, set for July 24-30, came as a surprise to some given Francis’s ongoing knee trouble, which has recently confined him to a wheelchair.

Archbishop Richard Smith of Edmonton, coordinator of the papal visit, said during a May 13 press conference that he was “astonished” the pope decided to come given his current condition.

Not only has the pope’s physical mobility decreased, but he has canceled events due to his knee pain, and the Vatican recently postponed a planned trip to Lebanon next month, citing health reasons.

He is still scheduled to visit the Congo and South Sudan in early July, just a few weeks prior…

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Content warning: This article discusses an individual’s experiences with sexual assault, which may be triggering to some readers.

On a warm July day, Deana Hills made the drive from her home in Kelowna, B.C., into the office where she worked as a dental assistant. It was 2020, and businesses were following COVID-19 protocols: when the patient, Linda Ervin, arrived, Hills greeted her outside in a medical mask and led her into the office. 

After the usual small talk, Ervin said she worked as a diaconal minister with The United Church of Canada and also as a consultant in abuse prevention and boundary issues for the denomination, a role she’d held for decades. In fact, even before becoming a consultant in 1992, she worked in this realm: women had approached Ervin to voice complaints about abuse and harassment within the United Church since the 1970s. She was a familiar, trustworthy face, having…

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When confronted, the priest apparently confessed to the crime and was immediately suspended.

A Roman Catholic priest working in the Diocese of Essen in Germany has been suspended following an allegation of sexual abuse that dates back 30 years.

The diocese said on Thursday.

The man, who was accused of sexually abusing a minor, was subject to a criminal probe that had since been terminated due to the statute of limitations, it said in a statement.

When the case was closed, the victim contacted the diocese to inform them of the matter.

When confronted, the priest apparently confessed to the crime and was immediately suspended.

Bishop Franz-Josef Overbeck then launched an investigation, the diocese said.

The German Catholic Church has responded to ongoing revelations of clerical sexual abuse with a reform process known as the Synodal Path, which is aimed at addressing the exercise of power, sexual morality, the priesthood…

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Bishop Stephan Ackermann will step down from his position as spokesman on abuse issues for the German bishops’ conference in September, the conference announced May 12.

The bishops also announced that they will reorganize their reappraisal of sexualized violence in the context of the church, reported the German Catholic news agency KNA.

Bishop Ackermann, 59, of Trier recently was criticized for naming a female victim in a sexual abuse case.

He said a new and broader structure of responsibility was needed as soon as possible so that the Catholic Church in Germany could do more justice to the complexity of the issue of sexual abuse and the dimension of the task. He said he would therefore relinquish the office at the autumn plenary assembly of the bishops’ conference, KNA reported.

Bishop Georg Bätzing, president of the bishops’ conference, thanked Bishop Ackermann for his 12 years of service as spokesman on…

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Pope Francis will make a much anticipated visit to Canada from July 24-30, where he is expected to issue an apology on Canadian soil for the Catholic Church’s involvement in the country’s abuse-ridden residential schools, fulfilling a long sought after request by the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

The Vatican announced the visit in its daily bulletin on May 13 and said the pope would visit the cities of Edmonton, Québec and Iqaluit. A detailed schedule has yet to be released.

Speculation about the trip has swirled since Francis held a series of meetings with representatives of Canada’s Indigenous community from March 28 – April 1 at the Vatican.  

At the conclusion of the meetings, Francis issued an initial apology and pledged to visit Canada soon.

“For the deplorable conduct of members of the Catholic Church, I ask God’s forgiveness,” said Francis, who described the institutional abuses by…

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 Iowa has one of the nation’s most restrictive laws for when an individual can file civil claims concerning sexual abuse of a child.

Statehouse Democrats are pushing to change that.

Last year, Iowa repealed its statute of limitations on criminal charges for child sex abuse. But that new law did not include a similar repeal of the statute of limitations on civil claims, under which victims can seek financial damages.

At this time, an Iowan has until his or her 19th birthday to file civil claims for child sexual abuse.

That makes Iowa one of 11 states that caps the time when an individual can file civil claims at 25 years old or younger, according to the national advocacy organization Child USA.

A dozen states have no statute of limitations on civil claims for child sex abuse, according to Child USA.

Democratic state lawmakers are pushing…

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[Note from BishopAccountability.org: See the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report with Appendices A and B (boarding school list and descriptions), Appendix C (boarding school maps), and Appendix D (Consultations with Indian Tribes, Alaska Native Villages, Alaska Native Corporations, and the Native Hawaiian Community]

[Via America]

Hundreds of boarding schools supported by the U.S. government for 150 years sought to forcefully assimilate Native American and Indigenous children into white society, a first-of-its-kind report from the Interior Department said.

The report, issued May 11, identified 408 schools in 37 states or territories that tens of thousands of children were forced to attend from 1819 to 1969. The period largely coincides with the forced removal of many tribes from ancestral lands.

It also said there are at least 53 marked or unmarked burial sites associated with the schools.

Additionally, about 19 of the schools accounted for more than 500…

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Cardinal Joseph Zen

Cardinal Joseph Zen’s arrest in Hong Kong on Wednesday has prompted condemnation from democracy and religious freedom advocates, as well as a statement of concern from the Holy See.

While the 90-year-old cardinal was released on bail, Zen could face life in prison if convicted of colluding with a foreign government in his pro-democracy advocacy.

But Zen is not the first “Prince of the Church” with a record – a number of other members of the college of cardinals have spent time in prison throughout Church history.

The Pillar took a look at other arrested, indicted, or imprisoned cardinals in the life of the Church. These are their stories:

St. John Fisher

St. John Fisher was an English cardinal and martyr in the early 1500s. He was appointed both chancellor of Cambridge University and Bishop of Rochester in 1504, and he came to be known for his preaching and educational…

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There are numerous signs that the Catholic Church is failing in Western countries. There are few vocations, church attendance is down and young people are leaving the church in droves. There are as many theories explaining this decline as there are commentators, but the theories can be collected in two major baskets: those that blame culture and those that blame the church itself.

The Catholic hierarchy tends to blame contemporary culture for the church’s problems. Consumerism, individualism and secularism top their list of negative forces. The media bombards people with images and messages that are antithetical to Christianity: Happiness comes from sex, money and power. Life is too busy with work and leisure to have time for religion.

The social structures that supported religion have also weakened.

Ethnic neighborhoods that once reinforced religious communities and values have seen a decline as their residents have been disbursed to the suburbs. As…

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Coalition benefits churchgoers and abuse survivors, says former mayor

Three Catholic groups in St. John’s with a lot to lose are teaming up to keep the church’s most prized possession from potentially falling into the hands of developers as the archdiocese sells off properties to compensate Mount Cashel abuse victims.

The coalition between the Basilica Heritage Foundation, St. Bonaventure’s College and the St. Bon’s Forum was reported by CBC on Wednesday. The group has since confirmed its plans to place a joint bid for the Basilica of St. John the Baptist and its adjoining properties in a letter posted to the school’s website.

The signatories say it’s a move to “maintain and protect a vital piece of our history, our culture and our city.” Nobody from the group was made available to speak to the media on Thursday.

The Basilica — one of the oldest and largest churches in the country — promises…

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[Via Catholic World Report]

The president of the German bishops’ conference has expressed his belief that Church teaching needs further development, in response to critique of the synodal path in that country.

The statement came in the latest instance of epistolary exchange between Bishop Georg Bätzing of Limburg and Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver.

“Our Church needs change in order to faithfully carry out her mission and take the precious Gospel of Jesus Christ to the people of our time. And the urgent need for change also includes the need to further develop the Church’s teaching. Such is my conviction,” Bishop Bätzing wrote in a May 5 letter to Archbishop Aquila.

The assembly of the synodal path has voted in favor of documents calling for the priestly ordination of women, same-sex blessings, and changes to teaching on homosexual acts.

Germany’s “Synodal Path” is a process that brings together lay people…

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Mississippi prosecutors have dropped a second set of charges against a former Franciscan friar who was convicted last month of sexually abusing a student during the 1990s at a Catholic school.

Paul West, 62, received a 45-year sentence on April 13 and is in the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility.

He had been scheduled to go on trial Tuesday on charges of sexually abusing another student during the 1990s at St. Francis of Assisi School in Greenwood.

The Mississippi attorney general’s office submitted an order dropping the second set of charges because he had been convicted on the first set, the Greenwood Commonwealth reported. Circuit Judge Ashley Hines approved the order.

As first reported by The Associated Press in 2019, La Jarvis Love, now 39, and his cousin, Joshua Love, now 38, had accused West of numerous instances of sexual abuse while they were…

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[Via Crux]

The president of the Portuguese bishops’ conference begged forgiveness from victims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy, as a church-appointed independent commission predicted many more abuse cases would come to light.

“These attacks are particularly serious; in addition to direct physical harm, they affect the fundamental system of affection, trust and values that sustains personal, relational and spiritual development,” said Bishop José Ornelas Carvalho of Leiria-Fatima.

“I hope the liberating courage of victims can motivate others in a similar situation, offering a key contribution to the creation of a new culture and a dignified, fair and welcoming future,” he said.

The bishop, whose speech was carried May 10 by Portugal’s Ecclesia news agency, addressed a Lisbon colloquium co-sponsored by the Independent Commission for Studying Sexual Abuse of Children in the Church, set up last November by the bishops’ conference.

Ornelas said he was grateful to those who had…

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Pope Francis, struggling with a bad knee, is going ahead with his plan to visit Canada this summer so he can apologize in person for abuse suffered by Indigenous peoples at the hands of the Catholic church.

The Vatican on Friday announced that Francis will head to Canada on July 24, returning to Rome on July 30. While in Canada he will visit Edmonton, Quebec and Iqaluit, a small town where about half the population are Inuit.

Last month, Francis made a historic apology for abuses in Canada’s church-run residential schools. He said he wanted to go to Canada to deliver the apology personally to survivors of misguided Catholic missionary zeal.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said Francis was “accepting the invitation of the civil and ecclesiastical authorities and the Indigenous communities” in making what the Holy See termed an “apostolic journey.”

Even as the Vatican was confirming the trip, Francis…

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[See the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report with Appendices A and B (boarding school list and descriptions) and Appendix C (boarding school maps).]

Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland today released Volume 1 of the investigative report called for as part of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative, a comprehensive effort to address the troubled legacy of federal Indian boarding school policies. This report lays the groundwork for the continued work of the Interior Department to address the intergenerational trauma created by historical federal Indian boarding school policies.

This investigative report is a significant step by the federal government to comprehensively address the facts and consequences of its federal Indian boarding school policies—implemented for more than a century and a half—resulting in the twin goals of cultural assimilation and territorial dispossession of Indigenous peoples through the…

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There is an assumption that gets in the way of sexual violence prevention: that talking about things like sexual activity and consent somehow encourages sexual activity. So both schools and families often shy away from teaching about the sexual abuse of children and, later, about the sexual assault of adults.

Most recently, the attitude that silence equals prevention has encouraged a harmful—and confusing—connection between pedophilia and the L.G.B.T.Q. community. After Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida signed the Parental Rights in Education bill (known by its critics as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which, among other things, “prohibits classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in certain grade levels”), legislators in at least a dozen states proposed similar laws. The fear among lawmakers and other advocates of these bills is that teaching elementary-aged children about gender identity or sexual orientation is not “developmentally appropriate” or amounts to “indoctrination.”

The debate on which topics are age-appropriate…

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A South Australian Department for Education coordinator and teacher of more than 30 years has been charged with child sex offences spanning more than a decade against three children.

Lina Costanzo, of Tranmere in Adelaide’s east, faced the Adelaide Magistrates Court charged with three counts of persistent sexual exploitation of a child.

The 51-year-old is accused of sexually exploiting a child between 1989 and 1994, another child between 1990 and 1995 and a third child between 1992 and 2002 at Glenelg, Eden Hills and other places in South Australia.

Court documents reveal two of the alleged victims were girls and one was a boy, and all were under the age of 17 at the time.

The documents allege Ms Costanzo maintained an unlawful sexual relationship with the three children that involved multiple unlawful sexual acts.

Ms Costanzo’s lawyer, Craig Caldicott, told the court she contested the charges and would plead not…

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The Catholic Diocese of Buffalo is making drastic cuts to its stable of priests following its clergy abuse scandal and ensuing bankruptcy. 

The diocese confirmed Wednesday it invited 132 active priests to apply for just 36 open positions — that’s one priest for each “parish family” as outlined in the diocese’s “Road to Renewal” initiative.

The program is meant to address financial issues brought on by Child Victims Act lawsuits filed against the diocese and a decline in attendance.

The diocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy more than two years ago after more than 250 CVA lawsuits were filed.

As of December 2021, more than 900 people have accused local clergy and diocesan staff of sexual abuse and the diocese has paid more than $7 million in legal and professional fees.

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[Via Crux]

A funeral Mass will be celebrated May 17 for retired Bishop Robert H. Brom of San Diego, who died May 10 in San Diego. He was 83.

The Mass for Brom, who headed the diocese from 1990 until 2013, will be celebrated at St. Therese of Carmel Church in Del Mar Heights, California, followed by burial at Holy Cross Cemetery.

“He was a natural teacher who constantly labored to bring the ecclesiology of the Second Vatican Council into the heart of the Diocese of San Diego,” Bishop Robert W. McElroy, current head of the diocese, said in a May 10 statement.

“This dedication to the council also framed his lifelong service in forming men for the priesthood,” he added.

Robert Henry Brom was born Sept. 18, 1938, in Arcadia, Wisconsin. He earned a bachelor’s degree at St. Mary’s University in Winona, Minnesota, and a licentiate in sacred theology…

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Former Priest, 65-year-old Fernando Cristancho, was sentenced to 22 years in federal prison for coercion and enticement of a minor.

Cristancho also admitted that he met the victim through the church. The Priest produced nude images of four other minor victims.

He must also register as a sex offender in the place where he lives.

According to his guilty plea, Cristancho was ordained as a Roman Catholic Priest in Colombia, South America, in 1985. It wasn’t until 1999, when he started work in Baltimore in the Archdiocese.

However, the crimes were committed in Harford County at the St. Ignatius Catholic Church.

The plea agreement shows that the victim was 11,12 and 13 at the time of the incident. The victim’s family were also members of St. Ignatius.

Soon after Cristancho arrived at the church, he began to spend time with the victim’s family outside of church, including meals at restaurants…

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On May 3rd, 2022, the Society of the Roman Catholic Church of the Diocese of Lafayette in Louisiana lost its bid to turn over a lower court’s decision on the constitutionality of the new SOL reforms for childhood sex abuse in Louisiana, when they filed an application of writ to the 3rd District appeals court.

The church has been on both sides of the statute of limitations reform bill since its inception last year. When the bill was in committee, they filed opposition to the bill. When it passed the house and senate, and Governor Edwards signed the bill into law, Archbishop Gregory Aymond withdrew his opposition for the bill and publicly voiced support for the new law. Now that the law is enacted, the Archdiocese of the Ecclesiastical State of Louisiana are now fighting the constitutionality of the new law.

The case will now continue to move through the…

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 The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kan., has failed to defeat a sexual abuse claim by claiming the allegations of a former altar boy were too late.

The Kansas Supreme Court ruled April 22 that an eight-year statute of limitations does not doom a man’s claims that he was abused in the 1980s as a child but did not remember until he was an adult.

The ruling allows a John Doe to pursue his lawsuit against the Archdiocese and a priest at St. Matthew Parish. He filed his petition in 2017, claiming he was sexually abused from ages 9 through 12 but did not recover those repressed memories until 2015 when he saw news coverage of abuse uncovered in Guam.

The defendants filed motions to dismiss based on the statutes of limitations and repose, but they were denied. Further arguments at the summary judgment phase that the claims were…

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The Portuguese commission investigating the sexual abuse of minors within the Catholic Church has already received 326 testimonies on this type of case since it began work last January.

It is the latest tally of the commission, which includes more men than women, from all regions of the country, all ages and school levels and all types of abuse, as revealed today by a member of the group, the sociologist Ana Nonnen von Almeida.

During a conference organized by the Commission in Lisbon and with the participation of international experts, Nunes de Almeida explained that, in addition to these 326 direct testimonies, “there are other people who say that they have been victims of abuse”, so that the number amounts to ” many, many hundreds”.

The commission announced in April in its first three months of work that it had confirmed 290 cases of abuse within the church, 16 of…

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Many are victims of family members seeking to satisfy their own sexual urges and make money on the side

Eleven-year-old Evangeline is one of several children rescued from child sex abusers who abused them over the internet for money from rich foreign pedophiles. The demand is huge. The other victims are boys and girls of six, eight and 10 years old.

They were repeatedly sexually abused in front of an internet-connected cellphone using Philippine internet service providers (ISPs) while foreign pedophiles around the world paid and watched the horrific shows.

A study conducted in 2021 by Unicef, Interpol and Ecpat International, all great advocates of child rights, discovered that among Filipino children between the ages of 12 and 17, one in every five had suffered sexual abuse over the internet, especially during coronavirus lockdowns. That is an estimated 2 million abused Filipino children in total.

The live sex shows were streamed…

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The European Union’s executive arm on Wednesday unveiled a plan to require online platforms to detect and report the sharing of child sex abuse images on the internet.

The regulation, which needs to be endorsed by member countries and the EU Parliament, would force companies operating in the EU to detect, report and remove the material.

Voluntary detection is currently the norm and the Commission believes that the system does not adequately protect children since many companies don’t do the identification work.

Reports of online child sexual abuse in the 27-nation bloc have increased from 23,000 in 2010 to more than 1 million in 2020. International police agency Interpol has also reported a surge in the online distribution of explicit sexual images of children during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A similar increase has been noticed globally, with reports of child abuse on the internet rising from 1 million to almost 22…

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For 34 years, Yakima native Michael Ross blocked the memory of sexual abuse by a Catholic priest from his mind. Then he pushed officials at two Catholic dioceses for acknowledgement of the abuse and, eventually, resolved a lawsuit over it.

Now Ross is taking his efforts to another stage — Yakima’s Calvary Cemetery, where Monsignor Joseph Sondergeld has been buried for more than 50 years in an area reserved for deceased clergy.

Ross has asked the Diocese of Yakima to remove Sondergeld’s remains from the priests’ circle, or at least acknowledge in the cemetery that multiple claims of abuse against him have been substantiated.

“Right now, in the Yakima diocese, he’s still a venerated priest,” Ross said of Sondergeld’s placement in the cemetery. “When people who have been abused, when family members of people who have been abused by Joseph Sondergeld walk by and see he’s there with an elevated…

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Pedro Strecht, President of the Commission of Inquiry into Pederasty in the Portuguese Church, and José Ornelas, President of the Episcopal Conference in Lisbon.Joao Henriquez

The Church of Portugal has apologized for the sexual abuse of minors. He did so Tuesday afternoon at a scientific forum organized in Lisbon by an independent commission of inquiry into pederasty, according to Bishop José Ornelas of Leiria Fatima, who chairs the Portuguese Episcopal Conference. “I want to once again appeal to the victims with a request for forgiveness for suffering and convey gratitude to those who dared to condemn. The tragic situation of the current war shows that a person is capable of the greatest barbarism, ”he argued.

In front of an audience that also included Hans Zollner, one of the experts appointed by Pope Francis to combat pederasty in the Church, and the presidents of the revision chambers of Spain and Germany,…

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Robert Fenton was a 26-year-old youth pastor at Abide In The Vine church in Owego, New York, when he was given approval to betroth a 14-year-old congregational member by her family and church leadership.

Fenton convinced the teenage girl’s parents and leadership at the non-denominational church to allow him to betroth the underage girl, telling them he had a vision “declaring that God wanted the victim to be his spouse.”

The youth pastor was granted permission to betroth the 14-year-old under the condition that no sexual activity would take place. But according to his now 40-year-old victim, Fenton “frequently” assaulted the underage girl during his two years at the church in the late 90’s.

Last week, Pennsylvania’s Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced charges against Fenton for assaulting a 14-year-old.

RELATED: Las Vegas Ex-Pastor, Teacher Pleads Guilty in Child Sex Case

“I want survivors to…

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The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops announced to staff May 4 a dramatic reorganization of its communications department, including the closure of the Washington and New York offices of Catholic News Service.

In meetings with newsroom staff, James Rogers, the chief communications officer of the conference, said that the Washington office would be closed at year’s end.

The Rome bureau of Catholic News Service will remain open and continue to report on Vatican and related international events.

A statement released by the bishops’ public affairs office said: “Over the next few months, the USCCB Department of Communications will undertake a significant realignment to better utilize the resources entrusted to the Conference by the faithful in a manner that fits the communications environment today.

“Sadly, this will impact a number of staff. We are grateful for the time and dedication of the committed team of communicators at the Conference who serve…

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Catholic News Service recently reported a story about itself — and the news wasn’t good. 

The service will soon shutter its U.S. operation after more than a century of being recognized as a trusted, unbiased news source in the Catholic community and beyond. Come January, when its two U.S. bureaus [Washington and New York] close, 21 staffers will lose their jobs. 

According to CNS’s publishers, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Rome bureau will remain open. That’s a small consolation, however, because there’s no shortage of outlets covering Vatican news. Reporting the story of the Church in the U.S. is what makes CNS relevant, and therefore, valuable. 

Today’s “environment” needs more trusted news sources, not fewer, especially because so many Catholic publications rely on CNS to supplement their own coverage. It’s a common practice in the business; the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal subscribe to and publish…

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You feel a ‘calling’ to serve God.

You specifically feel that God wants you to be ordained as a cleric.

And not just any cleric. God says you should be a priest.

Imagine you’re from a devout Catholic family.

Chances are that people you know will be excited by this news.

Chances are that they think highly of priests.

Chances are that, if you attend parochial school, your teachers will be excited.

And chances are that your parents and other relatives are thrilled you feel about your decision.

But a handful of men can thwart your noble calling.

One is your diocesan vocations director (who could tell your bishop “I don’t think this young fellow would be a good priest” or “feels a genuine calling” or “is likely to truly be celibate” or “could really make it in our rigorous seminary program” or whatever).

Another is your bishop (without whose…

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An elderly Catholic priest has been sentenced to four years in jail for sexually abusing a young Perth girl more than 40 years ago after asking her for “back scratches”.

Key points:

• Richard Doyle abused the girl during visits to her family home
• His lawyer said joining the church left him sexually naive and led to ‘problems’
• Doyle will be eligible for parole after serving half of his four-year term

Richard Doyle, 85, was found guilty earlier this year after a judge-alone trial in the District Court, convicted of four charges of indecently dealing with the girl when she was between 6 and 10 years old.

Doyle was acquitted of another two charges.

The court was told the victim’s family came to know Doyle when he was working in WA’s Wheatbelt region.

When they all moved to Perth, he started visiting the family at their home, with the victim — who…

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The road toward justice for the victims of clergy sex abuse has been long, tortuous and littered with legal minefields. But increasingly in the past few years, it has led to milestones involving accountability for the Catholic Church, and restitution for individuals preyed upon as children. That it has taken two decades in many cases is maddening, but breakthroughs even at this late date are critically important.

In April, a Catholic diocese in the Philadelphia suburbs of southern New Jersey agreed to pay nearly $88 million to settle claims by several hundred people, many of them now elderly, who say they were abused as children. For many of the 300 or so plaintiffs in the Diocese of Camden, it will mean payouts in the range of $300,000, with the possibility of additional amounts stemming from separate lawsuits against insurance companies, parishes and schools.

The Camden settlement was among…

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Did the nun really deserve her saintly reputation? She inspired a craze for self-flagellation among her ‘sisters’, says one woman in this shocking three-parter, while a street doctor is even more scathing

ho could have foreseen, when Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu was born in what is now Skopje, North Macedonia, in August 1910, that she would become one of the icons of the 20th century, recognised across the globe as Mother Teresa, saintly giver of comfort to the destitute? More specifically, who could have predicted that she would embody so much of what was wrong with that century and the next? The three-part documentary Mother Teresa: For the Love of God? (Sky Documentaries) sets out the pros and cons of Teresa mania, finding the good to be fragile and the bad, profound.

Briskly we are given the backstory of a family made vulnerable by the death – perhaps by poisoning – of…

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The German “Synodal Way” has created worldwide controversy. But how much it is costing the Catholic Church remains a mystery.

A spokesman for the Church in Germany declined on May 8 to give a breakdown of the costs of the multi-year project, which critics claim could lead to schism.

CNA approached the spokesman after seeing documents suggesting that the German Church had spent millions on the Synodal Way, an initiative bringing together laypeople and bishops to discuss far-reaching changes to Catholic teaching and practice.

The documents appeared to indicate that the project had so far cost more than 5.7 million euros (around $6 million).

The figure was based on data compiled by the Association of the Dioceses of Germany, a legal entity of the German bishops’ conference located in Bonn.

The documents, which are not publicly available, suggested that the Church spent 703,195 euros in 2019, 878,035 euros in 2020,…

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Roman Catholics are mourning Bishop Robert Brom, the San Diego spiritual leader for nearly a quarter-century who oversaw a major bankruptcy amid the predatory priest scandal. He died Monday morning at his home.

The San Diego-Imperial Diocese made the announcement. Cause of death wasn’t immediately released. He was 83.

“Bishop Brom was a pastor, teacher and servant leader of the Catholic community in San Diego and Imperial Counties for 23 years,” Bishop Robert McElroy said in a statement. “He oversaw the building of many beautiful churches in our Diocese, as well as the establishment of two magnificent high school campuses” — Cathedral Catholic in Carmel Valley and Mater Dei in Chula Vista.

Brom was appointed coadjutor bishop of San Diego on April 22, 1989, to assist Bishop Leo Maher and became the fourth bishop of San Diego on July 10, 1990. He retired Sept. 18, 2013.

“Bishop Brom’s deep love for…

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Nearly 20 parish churches on the eastern edge of North America face the prospect of closure, as the properties have gone up for sale in bankruptcy proceedings for the Archdiocese of St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada. 

The parish church properties – at 18 of the 34 parishes in the archdiocese –  were included in a March notice of sale, part of an effort to resolve an archdiocesan bankruptcy filing and a court order to compensate victims of sexual abuse at a closed Catholic orphanage in Newfoundland.

The Newfoundland archdiocese was in 2021 found liable for a religious community which operated Mount Cashel, a notoriously abusive orphanage in the archdiocese that closed in 1990. After it became responsible to compensate more 100 men sexually abused at the orphanage in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, the archdiocese filed for bankruptcy protection in December 2021 — compensation claims were expected to exceed $50 million CAD.

In…

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Second window for legal claims

Could California find itself in another conflict with the U.S. Supreme Court?

Nine California Catholic dioceses and archdioceses have asked the nation’s highest court to review their case against a 2019 law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, which created a three-year window for survivors of childhood sexual abuse to file legal claims against alleged perpetrators at school, church or elsewhere, regardless of when the alleged abuse occurred. The law also allowed defendants to be sued for a new offense: “cover up” activity.

In the April 15 petition, which was first reported last week by the Catholic News Agency, lawyers for the Catholic bishops assert the law is unconstitutional because California already gave victims a chance to sue in 2002 — when it opened a one-year portal for sex abuse survivors to file claims with no time limit attached — and because it retroactively adds new liabilities.

…

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Six months before he died, the late Cardinal John Foley praised Catholic News Service in a 2011 speech he delivered to the annual Catholic Media Convention.

Christopher Gunty remembers Foley, who headed the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Social Communications for 23 years, saying that “if Catholic News Service didn’t exist, we’d have to create it.”

Gunty, now the associate publisher and CEO of the Catholic Review, a monthly magazine for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, says he and his paper “rely heavily on CNS to inform our readers on what’s going on in the nation and the world, and without them, it’s going to be nearly impossible for us to do so.”

Gunty and other Catholic media professionals, as well as some Catholic bishops and communications officials, lamented the pending loss of Catholic News Service, the U.S. bishops’ century-old wire service, which has been long respected…

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A Franciscan priest was removed from his nursing home assignment Tuesday, after a woman took to social media and YouTube to raise public allegations of sexual assault.

The incident is the latest in a series of controversies to plague the TOR Franciscan friars, who administer the well-known Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio.

The woman says the priest should be removed from ministry, while his religious province has emphasized that allegations against the priest are “unsubstantiated.”

A former Vatican official says the case raises critical questions about justice and the Church’s response to unsubstantiated accusations.

Dakota Bateman, 27, began posting and speaking online in late April 2022 about allegations that Fr. Benedict Jurchak, TOR, sexually assaulted her in February 2018. 

Bateman had previously reported the incidents both to the priest’s province and to the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, where the province is headquartered, but her allegations were not known publicly until recently.

…

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Skip Shea’s Award Winning Trinity to screen at Estate of Mind, the former House of Affirmation, as a benefit for BishopAccountability.org

The House of Affirmation was a treatment center for priests with psychological issues, including pedophilia. However the priest who started it, Fr. Kane, was himself a pedophile and they networked children in the Blackstone Valley. Including Shea who returns to remind people of this history of clergy abuse in the Diocese of Worcester.

Estate of Mind 120 Hill St, Whitinsville MA, 01588

Saturday, May 21, 2022
Doors open at 7:00PM for a reception, screening at 8:00PM with a Q&A after.
Tickets are $20.00 and can be purchased here.

TRINITY is Skip Shea’s first feature length film based on a true story. It follows Michael, an artist. While getting his morning coffee at his sister’s coffee shop, Michael accidently bumps into…

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For 34 years, Yakima native Michael Ross blocked the memory of sexual abuse by a Catholic priest from his mind. Then he pushed officials at two Catholic dioceses for acknowledgement of the abuse and, eventually, resolved a lawsuit over it.

Now Ross is taking his efforts to another stage — Yakima’s Calvary Cemetery, where Monsignor Joseph Sondergeld has been buried for more than 50 years in an area reserved for deceased clergy.

Ross has asked the Diocese of Yakima to remove Sondergeld’s remains from the priests’ circle, or at least acknowledge in the cemetery that multiple claims of abuse against him have been substantiated.

“Right now, in the Yakima diocese, he’s still a venerated priest,” Ross said of Sondergeld’s placement in the cemetery. “When people who have been abused, when family members of people who have been abused by Joseph Sondergeld walk by and see he’s there with an elevated…

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An 85-year-old Catholic priest who sexually abused a girl more than 40 years ago has finally learnt his fate in court.

An 85-year-old Catholic priest who sexually abused a girl more than four decades ago has been jailed after a judge said he had “disgraced the church” he served so faithfully.

Richard Joseph Doyle faced a judge-alone trial in the West Australian District Court and was found guilty of four counts of indecently dealing with the child at her home when she was aged between six and 10, dating back to 1979.

Doyle asked the girl to scratch his back and tickled her on various occasions before he sexually abused her, the court was told.

Judge Belinda Lonsdale said during the sentencing hearing on Monday that the victim trusted adults, and particularly priests, describing Doyle’s crimes as a “gross breach of trust”.

“Had your offending occurred only once, it might…

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Clotheslines with billowing linens and long dresses are a common sight on the off-grid farms of Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County, home to the nation’s largest Amish settlement. For many tourists they’re as iconic a part of Amish Country’s bucolic scenery as the rural lanes and wooden bridges.

But for two days in late April, a clothesline with a different purpose was strung in a small indoor exhibit here. Hanging from it were 13 outfits representing the trauma of sexual assault suffered by members of the Amish, Mennonite and similar groups, a reminder that the modest attire they require, particularly of women and girls, is no protection.

Each garment on display was either the actual one a survivor wore at the time they were assaulted or a replica assembled by volunteers to match the strict dress codes of the survivor’s childhood church.

One was a long-sleeve, periwinkle blue Amish dress with a…

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In September 2018, “mediation” was scheduled. In January 2019, the Archdiocese of Agana filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, listing $22.96 million in assets and $45.66 million in liabilities. They provided a list of nonsalable “essential” and salable “nonessential” properties.

On Guam, the original lawsuit was $1.3 billion with almost 300 claimants. With 1.3 billion Catholics in the world, it’s like each Catholic giving $1 to the settlement fund!

Since Guam’s population is 179,000 people, that’s equal to every person on Guam getting at least $7,000 each! Please let those numbers sink in!

The world’s population is 7.7 billion, over 3 billion live on less than $2.50 a day!

I’m sure that most of us can agree the lawsuit settlement money can be much better served feeding and sheltering the impoverished and homeless people of the world instead of paying for the clergy’s sex abuse crimes.

While it is commendable…

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It has been an amazing decade in Buffalo.

We shed a half century of decline. Population rose. A startup scene bloomed. Billions in public investment bred a wave of private investment. A Buffalonian is governor of New York for the first time in 138 years. And the Bills and Sabres are on the rise and secured in Western New York for decades to come.

As I retire as editor of The Buffalo News, 45 years after writing my first newspaper story and after nine and a half years leading this newsroom, I feel lucky to have caught this decade.

Some of the stories we told were difficult, some exhilarating. We worked through a pandemic and a historic snowstorm. Always, our aim was simple: Tell Buffalo’s story, good or bad. Confront what weakens us and celebrate our successes.

Some memorable stories from an amazing decade:

Priest sex…

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As per the case, Father James Erthayil attempted to bribe a witness from withdrawing support to survivor nun

The Judicial First Class Magistrate Court, Pala, has discharged Father James Erthayil, a priest who allegedly attempted to influence a key witness in the nun rape case against Bishop Franco Mulakkal.

Considering a discharge petition filed by the priest, judge Padmakumar G. found that no purpose would be served if the case was proceeded with and there were no chances of conviction of the accused as the charges were groundless. Though the police had obtained sanction under Section 155(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) to register an FIR , the court found the non-cognisable offences charged against the petitioner as not legally sustainable.

As per the case, Fr. Erthayil had made a phone call to one of the witnesses in the case and attempted to bribe her from withdrawing support…

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Some years back a horrific scandal hit the Roman Catholic Church throughout the world. Shocking revelations of child sexual abuse by clerics, first emerging in Boston in 2002, spread like wildfire as it was also discovered that church leaders offered sanctuary to their pedophile priests for years at a time.

Justice was difficult. There was resistance to these explosive charges even at the most elite levels of the Catholic hierarchy. An Associated Press article, “Papal spokesman likens sex abuse allegations to anti-Semitism,” published in 2010, began this way:

“At a solemn Good Friday service, Pope Benedict XVI’s personal preacher likened the tide of allegations that the pontiff has covered up sex abuse cases to the ‘more shameful aspects of anti-Semitism.’ But within hours, facing a storm of criticism at the comparison, the Vatican felt it necessary to distance the pope from the preacher’s remarks.”

However, as the tsunami of accusations…

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I’ve been trying to take in all of the information Julie Roys provided in her articles about the John MacArthur scandal. From what I’ve read in these articles and from various takes on the matter, this amounts to spiritual abuse. Specifically, we’re looking at a nasty misinterpretation of forgiveness and accountability.

Content/Trigger Warning: Discussion of Domestic and Spiritual Abuse

Julie Roys uncovered evidence of church abuse perpetuated by MacArthur’s church, Grace Community Church in California. Roys procured hard proof that John MacArthur and other members of his church chose to shame Eileen Gray for “refusing to reconcile” with her abusive husband, David.

For Shame!

Something to keep in mind (for myself especially) is that John MacArthur messed up but isn’t the sole culprit here. He wasn’t the only member of Grace Community Church to fail Eileen. Based on the documents  View Cache

The incident allegedly took place at a changing room at Rushmere Shopping Centre

A priest has appeared in court accused of voyeurism by allegedly spying on a female for sexual thrills.

Father Aidan Patrick McCann (35) appeared at Craigavon Magistrates Court by videolink from his solicitor’s office and confirmed that he understood the single charge against him.

Fr McCann, with an address at the parochial house on Maddens Row in Keady, Co Armagh, is accused of voyeurism on March 28 this year in that “for the purpose of sexual gratification, he observed a female doing a private act knowing that the other person did not consent to being observed for your sexual gratification”.

None of the alleged facts surrounding the offence was opened in court on Friday but giving evidence to the court, Constable Mosgrove said she believed she could connect the priest to the offence.

It is understood charge…

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• Sky documentary claims Mother Teresa covered up the worst excesses of church
• Doctor Jack Preger worked with her charity, and was shocked by what he saw
• Woman who worked with her for two years says she was ‘schizophrenic’ because she thought ‘being poor like Jesus was good’ 

She was able to stop wars, befriend presidents, build a global empire of orphanages and have sick prisoners released from prison. Yet Mother Teresa also covered up for the worst excesses of the Catholic church and seemed more attracted to poverty and pain than actually helping people escape it. 

That’s the claim in a compelling new three-part Sky documentary series Mother Teresa: For The Love Of God, which talks to some of her closest friends and bitterest critics and serves as a thorough reappraisal of one of the most famous women of the last century. 

Born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Skopje, now North Macedonia,…

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After an audio clip of the conversation was leaked, the police booked a case against the priest, which was later handed over to the district crime branch.about:blank

The Judicial First Class Magistrate Court, Pala, has discharged Fr James Erthayil in a case related to alleged attempt to influence a key witness in the rape case filed by a nun against Bishop Franco Mulakkal.

Considering a discharge petition filed by the priest, judge Padmakumar G found that no purpose would be served if the case is proceeded further, and there is no chance of conviction of the accused as the charges were groundless. As per the case, Fr Erthayil had made a phone call to one of the victims in the case, and attempted to bribe her to withdraw support to the survivor. After an audio clip of the conversation was leaked, the police booked a case against the priest, which…

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Secrecy in the Denver Archdiocese? We at Horowitz Law hope we’re misreading the news out of the Denver Archdiocese, but we suspect and fear that we aren’t. A Colorado television station reported that a Denver archdiocesan priest had been accused of inappropriately touching a child in 2018. More specifically, a media report states that a priest in the Archdiocese of Denver inappropriately touched a minor in a public space when the young girl was exiting church immediately after Mass. Denver church officials supposedly followed their “Code of Conduct” and “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People” by immediately reporting the allegation to authorities (or so they say). The cleric was placed on administrative leave pending an investigation. So far, this sounds like they are actually following the correct protocol, right? Well, not really.

Denver Archbishop Samuel Aquila is NOT revealing the name of the priest. At a bare minimum, this…

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Mary Alexander filed a lawsuit on behalf of a man who alleges he was sexually abused by a Catholic priest when he was a young boy.

The man, named John Doe in the complaint, alleges that Father Murrough Wallace and two young priests sexually abused and assaulted him when he was 10 years old. The alleged abuse took place in Holy Angels Catholic Church and School in Yuba City, CA in 1965. 

The man alleges Father Wallace took him to the rectory, where two younger priests held him down while the older priest sexually assaulted him. The plaintiff in this matter also accused Father Wallace of using a brass incense burner to knock him unconscious as he was fighting back against the priests. 

The man alleges a nun was nearby who came to his aid and that the police were called.

“Our office has seen case after case where young people were taken advantage of by predator…

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Australian Cardinal George Pell has accused Italian Cardinal Angelo Becciu, who is currently on trial in a Vatican tribunal for alleged financial crimes, of providing “incomplete” information during his testimony and of thwarting efforts aimed at transparency.

In a May 6 statement, Pell accused Becciu of using his previous role as a top papal aide to block audits of the Vatican Secretariat of State’s finances and to intimidate, bully, and fire the auditors themselves.

Pell, 80, served as head of the Vatican Secretariat of the Economy, created in 2014 at the beginning of Pope Francis’s financial reform, until 2017, when he took leave from his duties to respond to allegations of historic sexual abuse of a minor in Australia.

An initial trial in August 2018 ended in a hung jury, but a retrial four months later found Pell guilty, and he spent over a year in prison while launching his…

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Cardinal George Pell said Friday that the recent testimony of Cardinal Angelo Becciu at the Vatican finance trial “was somewhat incomplete.”

He drew particular attention to a lack of evidence regarding payments of more than $1.6 million made to Neustar Australia, an information services firm, in 2017 and 2018.

Becciu, who was the second-ranking official in the Secretariat of State from 2011 to 2018, was questioned May 5 about investments during a hearing in the Vatican trial. The cardinal has been charged with embezzlement, abuse of office, and witness tampering.

In a May 6 statement, Pell said Becciu had given “a spirited defence of his blameless subordinate role in the Vatican finances” during his testimony.

As prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, Pell led an effort called for by Pope Francis to bring order and accountability to the Vatican’s finances, which have long lacked centralized procedures, controls, and oversight. 

…

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Taking the stand for a second time at his Vatican trial, Cardinal Angelo Becciu spent more than two hours reading a statement in which he claimed accusations of financial impropriety were an attempt to stain his reputation.

At the trial May 5, Cardinal Becciu said he felt “immense pain” when Pope Francis forced him to resign in 2020.

“I was thrown on the front page of newspapers, almost like a monster,” he said. “Many believers around the world have been troubled in their faith” by the accusations against him.

Cardinal Becciu said claims that he embezzled an estimated 100,000 euros and gave them to Spes, a Caritas organization run by his brother, Tonino Becciu, in his home Diocese of Ozieri, Italy, was “the mother of all my misfortune.”

“None, not one of my relatives enriched themselves with that money,” he said, adding that his brother, who served as president of…

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Authorities in North Carolina have arrested a pastor on several sex crime charges stemming from a joint investigation.

The Pitt County Sheriff’s Office reports their detectives, along with police from the Winterville Police Department, joined forces to investigate suspected child abuse involving 66-year-old John William Lovelace earlier this year.

On Wednesday, the sheriff’s office announced the arrest of Lovelace.

The pastor at Faith Baptist Church in Ayden, North Carolina, was charged by Winterville police with four counts of second-degree forcible sex and three counts of sexual battery.

According to the Pitt County Sheriff’s Office, Lovelace is also facing two counts of statutory sex offense with a child under the age of 15 and indecent liberties with a minor.

The 66-year-old was booked into the Pitt County Detention Center on a $12.4 million bond.

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A Macomb County judge sentenced a Detroit pastor to 15 years in prison Tuesday for sexually assaulting a teen. 

After being found guilty by a jury in March, James Wright-Johnson, 37, of Eastpointe was sentenced on seven charges of third-degree criminal sexual conduct with a person age 13-15, four counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct and one count of assault with intent to penetrate, according to the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office.

Wright-Johnson was a youth pastor at the Second Ebenezer Church since 2012. He was removed from the church in2017, the church’s Bishop Edgar Vann said in a statement from public relations manager Peter VanDyke.

“We are deeply regretful about the unfortunate situation that occurred concerning a former employee of the church, who was dismissed from our staff over four years ago,” Vann said. “Human resources and legal matters are confidential, which prohibit us from offering details, but please be assured that once we were made aware…

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Three women who previously worked at two church-run daycare centers in Alabama were charged with child abuse after their arrest on Monday.

According to the Montgomery Advertiser, Susan Baker, Leah Livingston, and Alice Sorrels were each charged with one count of felony child abuse and failure to report child abuse. The women, who do not have lawyers, were all detained at the Autauga Metro Jail with cash-only bonds of $55,000. They face a maximum of 10 years imprisonment each for the Class C felony charged against them. While only a shorter sentence for their failure to report child abuse since it is classified as a misdemeanor.

It Happened At Journey Church

Baker, Livingston, and Sorrels worked at the East Memorial Baptist Church Day Care before it closed months ago. They moved to Journey Church of the River Region, which is located in Sheila Boulevard, where the alleged abuse took place. Journey’s…

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Clotheslines with billowing linens and long dresses are a common sight on the off-grid farms of Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County, home to the nation’s largest Amish settlement. For many tourists they’re as iconic a part of Amish Country’s bucolic scenery as the rural lanes and wooden bridges.

But for two days in late April, a clothesline with a different purpose was strung in a small indoor exhibit here. Hanging from it were 13 outfits representing the trauma of sexual assault suffered by members of the Amish, Mennonite and similar groups, a reminder that the modest attire they require, particularly of women and girls, is no protection.

Each garment on display was either the actual one a survivor wore at the time they were assaulted or a replica assembled by volunteers to match the strict dress codes of the survivor’s childhood church.

One was a long-sleeve, periwinkle blue Amish dress with a…

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A pastor and former elementary school teacher who faced multiple counts of child sexual abuse has pleaded guilty to an attempted lewdness charge, court records show.

Reynaldo Crespin, 59, was arrested in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Feb. 19 after the Metropolitan Police Department put out a public alert noting he was wanted for sex crimes. The Clark County School District has said it hired Crespin in 2016 and that he last worked at Hickey Elementary School.

Crespin and his wife founded New Horizon Christian Church, 2167 N. Walnut Road, in 2002, according to the church’s website.

He initially faced two counts of sexual assault against a child under 16, two counts of sexual assault against a child under 14, four counts of lewdness with a child under 14, and one count each of open or gross lewdness and lewdness with a child age 14 or…

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The Louisiana 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal has given the green light for a lawsuit to continue against the Diocese of Lafayette over alleged sexual abuse from the 1960s.

On Tuesday, a panel of three appellate judges issued a ruling denying an appeal from the diocese that sought to halt the lawsuit, agreeing with 15th Judicial District Court Judge Laurie Hulin’s January decision that the case could move forward.

“We find no error in the trial court ruling,” the appeal court judges wrote.

The issue hinged on whether the time frame for the victim to file suit had passed.

In filings in the case, attorneys for the plaintiff, identified only as Sam Doe, argued the case is covered under a bill signed into law in June, which removed the time limit for victims of child sexual abuse to file lawsuits and provided past victims whose cases had been previously timed…

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Archbishop William Goh regretted the incident breeding a cloud of suspicion over those who have given their lives for service

Archbishop William Goh of Singapore apologized on May 5 on behalf of the Church soon after a senior Catholic figure in the local Church was jailed for five years for sex crimes against two teenage boys.

Like many of you, I am dismayed, shocked, and ashamed. Some of us are confused as to what actually took place and how this could have happened, Archbishop Goh said in a statement issued on the archdiocesan website.

The Singaporean man in his 60s cannot be named because of court gag orders, which also prohibit publishing his designation, appointment and the school with which he was linked to.

The convict is a member of a Catholic religious order, had taken a vow of celibacy and has never married, local media reported…

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Word on Fire Catholic Ministries is a nonprofit global media apostolate that supports the work of Bishop Robert Barron and reaches millions of people to draw them into—or back to—the Catholic faith.

Last year, Word on Fire leadership received a complaint about one of its employees. The accusations against this employee surrounded events in the employee’s personal life, not the Word on Fire workplace, and did not involve any other Word on Fire employees.

Immediately, Word on Fire put the employee on leave and hired a third-party, independent investigator. Even though Word on Fire is a small, not-for-profit organization, it has robust abuse policies, including due process obligations.

As a result, Word on Fire terminated the employee’s employment, and within hours, notified the Word on Fire staff of this result.

As with any investigation of this sort, the process took time and required strict confidentiality in order to protect the…

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Analysis

A set of allegations emerged late last week which accused Catholic media apostolate Word on Fire and its leadership of mishandling an investigation into sexual misconduct on the part of an employee.

Because Word on Fire is not a canonical entity, the accusations are not likely to lead to an ecclesiastical investigation of any kind. But as Pope Francis contemplates changes to Vos estis lux mundi, his 2019 policy on investigating allegations against bishops, the criticism of Word on Fire could lead to a kind of “Barron Rule,” which aims to regulate the “side gigs” of ecclesiastical leaders running religious nonprofits in their spare time. 

Accusations of employee mismanagement by Word on Fire and its founder, Bishop Robert Barron, were first raised publicly April 30 by Catholic writer Chris Damian. 

A senior Word on Fire employee, Joseph Gloor, was in August 2021 accused of sexual misconduct. The allegation was investigated…

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A church pastor and former elementary school teacher from Las Vegas has pleaded guilty to a child sex crime in a plea agreement that avoids trial and is expected to get him 2-to-20 years in state prison when he’s sentenced Aug. 15

Reynaldo Cruz Crespin, 59, pleaded guilty Monday in Clark County District Court to attempted lewdness with a child under 14, court records show. Several other charges were dismissed.

Crespin also may be sentenced to lifetime supervision as a sex offender, under terms of his plea deal.

Crespin was arrested in February in Albuquerque, New Mexico, more than a week after he was named in a warrant in Las Vegas on multiple charges including sexual assault involving children under ages 16 and 14.

KLAS-TV in Las Vegas reported that Crespin taught second grade from 2016 until this year and was a pastor at New Horizon Christian Church in northeast Las…

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A CATHOLIC priest took his own life days after learning a “historic allegation” against him had been lodged to police, a coroner has found.

Canon Michael McCoy was found dead at his apartment in Newcastle on April 10 last year – a week after an incident involving Mr McCoy had been reported to Northumbria Police.

The 57-year-old, who was Dean of St Mary’s Cathedral, Newcastle, was visited by officers on April 6 and told that a historic allegation had been made against him, and that he would be invited for a voluntary interview at some stage.

Detective Sergeant Julie Beattie, of Northumbria Police’s child and adult protection department, said Mr McCoy was “upset” but said he would seek his own support from friends and colleagues, and no concerns were raised about his wellbeing.

The inquest at Newcastle Coroner’s Court heard Mr McCoy voluntarily withdrew from his ministry in the cathedral and…

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A legal loophole in the State of Massachusetts prevents prosecutors from going after teachers, coaches, and other adults in positions of authority who sexually prey on teenagers in their care.

Survivors, like Liz O’Neil, say it happens more than you may realize.

“Predators like the man who abused me hide in plain sight,” O’Neil said, reading from a victim’s statement she submitted to the Massachusetts Legislature months ago.

It began when O’Neil was 16. She trusted a teacher who began offering her rides from home school. She says those rides evolved into gifts of money and jewelry, and eventually into a full-blown sexual relationship.

“I absolutely believe I was one hundred percent abused,” she told 7News. “I felt he completely took advantage of his position.”

Jeniece McClary echoes that sentiment. She came from a single parent home and was yearning for a father figure. In high school, she found that…

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Catholic bishops in Spain say they will not cooperate with parliamentary commission because its focus is only on sexual abuse in the Church and not in all sectors of society.

The Catholic bishops of Spain have refused to participate in the State-run, independent investigation into Church-related sexual abuse of minors.

“We want to emphasize that investigating abuse within the Church only, when it is clear that of the 15,000 cases opened in Spain, only 69 involve the Church, is a surprising decision,” said Bishop Luis Argüello, spokesman for the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE).

Bishop Argüello said the commission, which Spanish Parliament agree on in March, should carry out a broader investigation, instead.

He pointed to the one recently set up by Catalonia’s regional government, which is also investigate sex abuse committed in schools, sports centers and recreational organizations.

The Church refuses to be a “scapegoat”

Argüello, who is the auxiliary…

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The head of the Roman Catholic Church in Singapore only learned in October 2020 that a prominent member of a Catholic order here had sexually abused two boys more than a decade ago, his communications office said today.

Archbishop William Goh then “gave instructions that the matter be reported to the police” because it was a criminal offence, the office said in response to TODAY’s queries.

The police told TODAY that they have issued a written advisory to a man for not reporting the perpetrator’s offences to the police after learning about them.

The archbishop’s communications office said that in accordance with Vatican protocols, Archbishop Goh directed that a report be made to the Dicastery for Consecrated Life in Rome, Italy, and that the dicastery shall inform and update the archbishop on the matter.

TODAY asked the archbishop some questions after the convicted member of the Catholic order, who cannot…

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• A Victorian teacher, 47, has admitted to sexually assaulting children in his care  
• He plead guilty to sexual penetration of a child, and committing indecent acts 
• A Melbourne school said the charges don’t relate to his time on their campus

A performing arts teacher at a private Catholic high school has admitted a range of sickening child sex offences, including the penetration of a child under 16.

Brian Wallwork, 47, was charged with 17 offences initially, but instead pleaded guilty to four rolled up charges at Melbourne Magistrates Court on Friday. 

The offences include an indecent act with a child, sexual penetration of a child younger than 16 and sexual penetration of a child (aged 16 or 17) in his care.

The defendant appeared via video link to admit the charges.   

Wallwork worked as a performing arts and music teacher at St Peter’s College, Clyde North campus in Cranbourne East. 

Some parents said…

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“The sexual abuse crisis in the Church, which became public in 2001,” says the bishop of Worcester, Massachusetts, “was a watershed moment in the Church’s loss of positive influence in the lives of Catholics.”

Bishop Robert J. McManus, 70, is the fifth bishop of Worcester, Massachusetts. He is a faithful prelate whose stand for Catholic orthodoxy has brought him criticism by activist groups. Last month, for example, protestors gathered at his chancery to criticize his insistence, in an April 3rd letter, that Jesuit-run Nativity School of Worcester stop flying gay pride and Black Lives Matter flags, stating that the beliefs behind these symbols are at odds with Catholic teaching.

Bishop McManus was born and raised in an observant Catholic home in Providence, Rhode Island. He was the third of four children; his father worked for the post office…

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A lawsuit against the Diocese of Lafayette can move forward, an appeals court decided.

The Third Circuit Court of Appeal denied a challenge to a lower court ruling that allowed a lawsuit against the Diocese over a sexual assault that happened years ago to move forward under a recent Louisiana law. The law took effect in 2021, and gave child abuse victims a three-year window to file suit against anyone involved in their abuse, regardless of how long ago the abuse happened. If anyone was convicted in criminal court, there’s no time limit at all under the new law. Previous law allowed people to file suit for ten years after their 18th birthday.

“Last year, the Louisiana legislature and Governor Edwards unanimously agreed that for a period of three years, survivors of child sexual abuse will face no statute of limitations,” said Richard Trahant, who represents the plaintiff. “Since then,…

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A religious order has cleared a Kansas priest after an allegation of sexual misconduct.

The Archdiocese of Kansas City had suspended the Rev. Michael Scully, telling him to have no contact with the public pending the results of an investigation and an internal review. The archdiocese also notified law enforcement.

The Capuchin Province of Mid-America, of which Scully is a member, learned of the allegation on Feb. 25. The religious order also said it notified law enforcement immediately.

On Wednesday, a spokesperson for the Capuchin Province said that an independent investigator and an independent review board did a thorough investigation and found the allegation against Scully to be unsubstantiated.

He said it means “the allegation was not credible based on investigative findings. As a result, Fr. Scully is cleared of this allegation.”

Scully has served as a high school administrator, youth pastor and priest at St. John the Evangelist Parish…

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On Friday, April 29, 2022, Fr. Benedict Jurchak, TOR, who previously worked at Franciscan University Steubenville, was removed from ministry by the Archdiocese of Washington, where he had been working as a chaplain in a veterans’ retirement home.

According to a statement released by TOR, in 2019 Fr. Jurchak was temporarily removed from ministry when a single allegation of sexual misconduct involving an adult woman was reported to the Franciscans.

In the following years, both the police and an independent lay investigator reviewed the claim and found that it could not be substantiated.

A female lay canonist also conducted an investigation in accord with canon law and made the same finding, which was accepted by the Franciscans after consultation with a lay review board.

The review board also accepted the recommendation of the canonist that some financial assistance be offered to the complainant, to assist with therapeutic costs.

While the…

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On Friday,April 29, 2022, Fr. Benedict Jurchak, TOR, was removed from ministry by the Archdiocese of Washington, where he had been working as a chaplain in a veterans’ retirement home.  We are grateful to the Archdiocese of Washington for removing Fr. Jurchak and applaud the brave woman who courageously spoke out on social media. 

According to the statement released by TOR, in 2019 Fr. Jurchak was temporarily removed from ministry when a single allegation of sexual misconduct involving an adult woman was reported to the Franciscans. In the following years, both the police and an independent lay investigator reviewed the claim and found that it could not be substantiated. A female lay canonist also conducted an investigation in accord with canon law and made the same finding, which was accepted by the Franciscans after consultation with a lay review board. The review board also accepted the recommendation…

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A Catholic church in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood that was home to defrocked priest and convicted child molester John Geoghan is at risk of having its doors closed for good.

Parishioners at St. Brendan Church said they have been fighting for years to save it but said the Archdiocese of Boston has not responded to their ideas.

The current pastor, the Rev. Chris Palladino, told parishioners May 31 could be the last Mass, citing poor attendance, mounting debt and a laundry list of needed repairs.

Hundreds of parishioners are now rallying for the church to stay open.

“This is a cradle-to-grave type of place for us. Baptisms, communions, all the way to funerals and all of the life events in between,” said John O’Toole.

The church was also a backdrop for the Catholic church sex abuse scandal, but parishioner O’Toole said in spite of that, the parish has remained strong.

“We’re owed something here. And that’s…

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Two brothers are among five former students who filed a lawsuit against Capital Christian School and a former teacher accused of abuse and a cover up.

Capital Christian School in Rosemont, California is at the center of a lawsuit brought about by five former students, including brothers Scott and Darren Sorgea, who claimed that former teacher David Arnold had groomed and abused them. The lawsuit brought about by other plaintiffs Dan Schumacher, Robbe Taylor and Kevin Williams seeks damages for “negligence, negligent supervision and retention, negligence per se, sexual harassment, and sexual battery.”

Fox 40 reported that as per the complaint, David Sorgea and Williams, who at the time were just 16 years old, were in Arnold’s class before their junior year. The former teacher introduced himself telling the boys, “God has called me to take care of you in every way possible.”

Former Teacher at Capital Christian School Groomed…

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Franciscan Friars
Third Order Regular of Saint Francis Province of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

Tuesday, May 3, 2022

Statement regarding Father Benedict Jurchak, T.O.R.

On Friday, April 29, 2022, Father Benedict Jurchak, T.O.R. was removed from ministry by the Archdiocese of Washington, where he had been ministering as a chaplain in a veterans’ retirement home.

In 2019, Father Benedict had been temporarily removed from ministry when a single allegation of sexual misconduct involving an adult woman was reported to the Franciscans. In the following years, both the police and an independent lay investigator reviewed the claim and found that it could not be substantiated. A female lay canonist also conducted an investigation in accord with canon law and made the same finding, which was accepted by the Franciscans after consultation with a lay review board. The review board also accepted the recommendation of the canonist that some financial assistance…

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The bishops called a California law that keeps a window open for lawsuits from sexual assault survivors ‘an unconstitutional double-revival regime.’

Catholic bishops in California have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a case challenging a state law that expands the time survivors of childhood sexual assault have to file their claims.

The petition, first reported this week by the Catholic News Agency, was filed April 15 by nine California Catholic dioceses and archdioceses after the California Supreme Court refused to consider the case — Roman Catholic Bishop of Oakland v. Superior Court of California of Los Angeles County — in November.

In 2002, California enacted a one-year window for plaintiffs to bring sexual-abuse claims against the Catholic Church and others “even if the statute of limitations had expired many decades before,” the bishops said in their petition.

When that year ended, the state attempted to revive lapsed claims…

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Some priests are challenging the Code of Conduct intended to combat abuse in the Church, which was signed by Msgr. Joseph Bonnemain, the new bishop of Chur, on April 5, 2022, and which was associated with the vicars general and the representatives of the ecclesiastical corporations of the diocese.

The document has met with strong opposition from a number of priests who accuse it of violating Catholic doctrine on several counts.

A group of 43 priests from the diocese, to which may be added 80 sympathizers, spoke out against several passages of this Code of Conduct. The bishop, in a letter to all parishes, said this Code would be “mandatory for all leaders and employees of the diocese from mid-2022 onwards.”

On April 28, 2022, this Sacerdotal Circle of Chur (Churer Priesterkreis) published a statement to warn about the disputed points and to ask the bishop to withdraw his signature,…

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A man who was part of a Catholic religious order that established a school in Singapore, was sentenced to five years’ jail on Thursday (May 5) for committing unlawful sexual acts with two teenage boys.

The Singaporean, who The Straits Times understands is not a priest, pleaded guilty to one charge of voluntarily having carnal intercourse against the order of nature and one charge under the Children and Young Persons Act.

Two other charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.

Details about the man, who is in his 60s, and his victims cannot be disclosed due to a gag order. The gag order also covers the man’s designation and appointment and the address of the incident location.

While he had committed the sex acts on the boys without the use of threats, force or coercion, Deputy Public Prosecutors Sarah Siaw and Gail Wong highlighted that he had…

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Court: Tweets were intended to tarnish Mgr Joseph Vella Gauci’s reputation

A priest has won a defamation case against a man who alleged that he had ignored and covered up child sex abuse in Gozo.

A magistrate found that the claims were baseless and defamatory and ordered the man to pay the priest €2,000 for the reputational damage he had caused with the claims.

Magistrate Rachel Montebello was ruling in a case brought by Mgr Joseph Vella Gauci against Pierre Gaffiero.

“We approached this priest to save children from being abused and you know what? He did nothing!”– Pierre Gaffiero

Gaffiero claimed on Twitter that the priest, who at the time headed the Appoġġ Child Protection Services in Gozo, had failed to act on claims of sexual abuse of two children entrusted in the custody of their grandparents.

“This is not a priest! We approached this priest to save children…

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Chief Assistant District Attorney C.J. Robinson of the 19th Judicial Circuit said the abuse suffered by at least seven children under the age of 2 at the hands of three former workers at a day care run by Journey Church of the River Region in Prattville, Alabama, was “like something out of a horror story.”

“You look at this and it’s a sickening level of abuse,” Robinson said at a press conference Monday, as reported by The Montgomery Advertiser.

The former workers — Alice Sorrells, Leah Livingston and Susan Baker, who previously worked for East Memorial Baptist Church’s day care center before it closed in December —  have all been charged with one count each of felony child abuse and failure to report child abuse as a court-mandated reporter.

The investigation of the abuse allegedly meted out to the children began after a potential employee…

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The Society of Jesus has suspended a prominent Chilean priest as it investigates accusations with a “sexual connotation,” according to the Jesuits.

In a statement May 3, the Jesuit province in Chile said, “a complaint was received April 29 from an adult woman against Jesuit Father Felipe Berríos for acts of sexual connotation. Such events would have occurred when the complainant was a minor.”

The accusations against Father Berríos shocked Chile, where the Jesuit has become a voice for the poor and excluded, including many migrants suffering discrimination. Father Berríos lived in a migrant camp in the northern Chilean city of Antofagasta since 2015, after returning from missionary work in Africa with Jesuit Refugee Service.

The statement said the provincial in Chile, Jesuit Father Gabriel Roblero, ordered the opening of a preliminary canonical investigation May 2 and named a lay lawyer to lead the investigation.

“The Company of Jesus will…

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When I was CEO of World Vision Australia, I met people all over the world – usually women and children – who had suffered all forms of abuse and were being rehabilitated in World Vision programs.

In remote Western Australia, I met Ali*, a six-year-old girl with foetal alcohol syndrome who was struggling at school.

Overseas, I met Htay, who’d been trafficked to China from Myanmar and escaped only to discover that while she was away her disabled daughter was abused by the local priest, and Nasrin* a 16-year-old girl who fled Sudan at night and was raped on the road to freedom and had no choice but to have the child in her Ugandan refugee camp.

The founder of World Vision once said, “Let my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God”. My heart was broken many times over.

In Australia, we have many…

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The Vatican believes Cologne Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki and his vicar general, Msgr. Markus Hofmann, did not violate canon law in their funding of investigations and hiring of communications consultants, reported the German Catholic news agency KNA.

Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, wrote Woelki that after an “in-depth study,” the Vatican determined the financial institutions of the archdiocese did not need to be involved in the decision to spend 2.8 million euros from an episcopal fund. Journalists were given access to the letter May 3.

The decision comes as a relief to the crisis-hit leadership of the archdiocese, KNA reported.

After accusations of the mishandling of priests accused of sex abuse, Woelki took a sabbatical from October 2021 to March 2022. His interim replacement, Bishop Rolf Steinhäuser, asked two church law experts to review the awarding of contracts to lawyers and communications consultants involved in producing reports on the…

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Bishop Stephan Ackermann of Trier has suspended the proceedings for the sainthood cause of Father Joseph Kentenich, founder of the international Schonstatt movement.

The German Catholic news agency KNA reported Ackermann made the decision in consultation with the Vatican because of allegations of sexual assault and abuse of power by Kentenich. KNA said Ackermann called for further research into Father Kentenich, stating that the diocese would not be involved in it.

The allegations against Kentenich were made during an apostolic visitation in the early 1950s but were not uncovered until a researcher found them in the Vatican archives in 2020. Kentenich’s sainthood cause was opened in 1975 in the Diocese of Trier, Germany, and was in the diocesan phase, which is the first step in a candidate’s cause before it is sent to Rome for further investigation.

The allegations from the Schonstatt Sisters of Mary described a questionable “father cult” and leadership style, as…

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• A prominent figure in the local Catholic community was sentenced to five years’ jail for sexual offences against two teenage boys
• He was charged with carnal intercourse against the order of nature and sexual exploitation of a minor 
• The accused was close to both victims and had even gone out for meals with one of the victim’s family
• The incidents occurred more than a decade ago

After growing close to two teenage boys, a member of the Catholic order here abused his position of spiritual authority, exploited their trust, and performed sex acts on them more than a decade ago, a court heard on Thursday (May 5).

For his crimes, the man, a Singaporean in his mid-60s, was jailed for five years after pleading guilty to two charges of carnal intercourse against the order of nature under the Penal Code, and sexual exploitation of a minor under the Children and Young Persons Act.

Two…

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