ABUSE TRACKER

According to an analysis by The Buffalo News, Child Victims Act lawsuits accused 230 local Catholic clergy of sexually abusing vulnerable and unsuspecting children over the past 75 years. The complaints covered nearly every parish in the Diocese. Since 1950, more than 2,300 priests have been assigned to the Buffalo Diocese. By our accounting, that indicates that about 10% of the ordained in the Diocese were abusive. That is nearly double what the Catholic Church acknowledged in 2004. 

Any child sexual abuse in any institution is bad. However, it seems to us that the Diocese of Buffalo clearly was following the Catholic Church’s “playbook” for concealing these crimes: transferring known perpetrators, minimizing the allegations, and more likely than not, silencing brave victims who came forward. Bishop Richard Malone initially named 42 priests who were removed from ministry after “allegations of…

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DELMAR — Rev. James Daley, a longtime pastor of St. Thomas the Apostle parish and who oversaw the renovations of the church that stands in the middle of town, was named in a summons of complaint filed in state Supreme Court in Albany County for alleged sexual abuse.

Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger announced today that he has asked the independent Diocesan Review Board to offer advisement on the following clergy, each of whom has an allegation of child sexual abuse filed against him through the Child Victims Act.

Scharfenberger identified Daley along with Rev. Dennis Murphy and Rev. Nellis Tremblay in his announcement. None of the three serve in public ministry due to illness or age.

Scharfenberger said all of them maintain their innocence.

A summons was filed with the state Supreme Court in Albany County naming the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany as a defendant on Monday, July 26 in…

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Father John Varno was accused of abuse in a January lawsuit. He continued to serve parishoners in 3 local churches for seven months

ALBANY — Late on Friday afternoon, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany announced that the Rev. John Varno had “voluntarily withdrawn” from ministry after being accused of sexual abuse in a Child Victims Act lawsuit. 

There’s more to the story than that. You see, some parishioners at Our Lady of Grace in Ballston Lake, one of three parishes where Varno had been serving as a sacramental minister, demanded he be removed after learning about an accusation that the diocese hadn’t mentioned to them. 

“We didn’t want him to have access to our children until this is worked out,” said John McIntyre, who is one of the parishioners. “They’ve got to protect our kids.”

McIntyre is the publisher of Spotlight Newspapers. He had discovered Varno’s name in a database of…

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This is the CVA lawsuit filed on January 15, 2021 by a man who alleges that he was abused by John J Varno in the late 1980’s. The actual summons and complaint is below. The Case number is 900383-21.

All the Cases and updates on this one may be searched via this link

Below is the link to the full Summons and Complaint PDF document:

https://spotlightnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/900383_21_KEVIN_SEEBALD_v_KEVIN_SEEBALD_SUMMONS___COMPLAINT_1.pdf

The arrest of Varno and reinstatement are described in a Times Union Article here

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A retired Catholic priest who most recently served two Delaware County congregations was removed from public ministry last week following allegations of child sexual abuse in a claim filed under the Child Victims Act.

Father Gregory Weider was placed on administrative leave by Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany effective Saturday, Aug. 14. 

Weider, 84, who retired from the priesthood in 2010, has been serving as sacramental minister at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Margaretville and its mission, St. Anne’s in Andes, according to diocesan officials.

Representatives from both congregations did not respond to an email request for comment by press time Thursday, Aug. 26.

Under the terms of his leave, Weider is not permitted to publicly officiate at sacraments, wear clerical garb or present himself as a priest, according to Mary DeTurris Poust, director of communications for the Albany diocese and associate publisher of…

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A former priest accused of sexually abusing boys more than 40 years ago waived his right to a preliminary exam in Southfield’s 50th District Court on Thursday, which sends the case to Oakland County Court for possible trial.

Gary Berthiaume, 80, who served at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Parish in Farmington and elsewhere,  is charged with two counts of gross indecency between males – committing/procuring. He also faces charges of second-degree criminal sexual conduct that allegedly happened in Farmington. Berthiaume waived his right to a preliminary exam for those charges last month.

All charges involve alleged victims between the ages of 13 and 15, for crimes that allegedly happened in the 1970s.

Berthiaume was arrested last September at his home in Warrendale, Illinois following an investigation by the Michigan Attorney General’s Office. He’s one of 11 individuals with connections to the Catholic Church who have been charged with crimes…

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In February 2019, Pope Francis invited the presidents of every episcopal conference to the Vatican for a Meeting on the Protection of Minors in the Church to address the issue of the sexual abuse of minors by members of the clergy. A similar meeting focusing on the region of Central and Eastern Europe will take place in Warsaw from September 19-22. In this article, Fr Federico Lombardi puts this regional meeting into the context of the Church journey thus far.

The Church must confront the challenges present in today’s world, the most fundamental being the faith and the proclamation of the God of Jesus Christ, with all the grandiose cultural and anthropological transformations present. There are also specific challenges, however, that profoundly influence the life of the Church and its evangelizing mission. One of the most critical challenges that has emerged in the last few decades, is that of the…

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ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — After more than 15 years of silence, a Rockford woman is speaking out against a local church, claiming a deacon sexually abused her as a teen and the church covered it up.

At just 15-years-old, “Sarah” says she was sexually abused at North Love Baptist Church, 5301 E Riverside Blvd.

Now, she’s suing the church and a man by the name of John Neese, who she claims was behind it all.

“I would just tell myself over and over again, as a little girl, this didn’t happen.. this didn’t happen. And I would just wake up the next morning and go to school, and this would happen all over again,” she said.

“Sarah” said it all began in 2004 at a Sunday night service, where she first met Neese.

“He would tell me, constantly, that I couldn’t tell my parents because they wouldn’t believe me,” she…

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OSNABRÜCK, Germany (CNS) ─ A German bishop who co-chairs the Synodal Path’s forum on priests said he is “skeptical” about exempting Catholic priests from celibacy.

Bishop Felix Genn of Münster said he accepted that people were deciding not to become priests because they did not feel called to celibacy, adding: “Perhaps they will then choose another profession in the church.”

The bishop spoke in an interview with the Bistumspresse publishing group in Osnabrück. His remarks were then reported by the German Catholic news agency KNA.

“As a bishop, I also see my responsibility to the universal church,” Bishop Genn said in the interview.

He also expressed doubts about whether the forum would come to a clear position on celibacy. He said there was likely to be disagreement on whether it should be voluntary or compulsory.

The bishop called for a change in the status of priests, saying that they must, under…

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Editor’s Note: This article contains descriptions of sexual abuse.

A woman is claiming that top executives in the Southern Baptist Convention defamed her and conspired against her as she was speaking out about her father sexually abusing her in a suit filed earlier this month in Franklin Circuit Court.

Hannah-Kate Williams filed the suit on Aug. 16, naming her father, James Williams, of Frankfort; the Southern Baptist Convention; the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville; and several leaders involved with both organizations.

The Southern Baptist Convention is one of the largest Christian denominations in the country, claiming affiliation with over 47,000 churches and touting more than 14 million members in the U.S. 

In the suit, Hannah-Kate Williams described in detail the abuse, sexual and otherwise, she allegedly endured at the hands of her father beginning at age 8 and continuing in an “ongoing and regular fashion” well into her teenage…

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The New York Times’ recent documentary on the courageous investigative journalism of Jason Berry has once again fixed our gaze on the enduring tragedy of the sexual abuse crisis in the Roman Catholic Church.

In addition to chronicling Berry’s decade-long crusade to expose the U.S. hierarchy’s role in protecting sexually predatory priests, the film includes Berry’s searing testimony about the great emotional, spiritual and financial costs of his truth-telling in the church.

Listening to Berry recount his decision to step away from the perilous fight for justice to focus on his family and mental well-being is heart-wrenching. One cannot help but to weep for him and all who have dared to document and protest the church’s devastating sin histories of abuse and violence in the face of silence, indifference and enmity.

This is especially true of the church’s Black victims of sexual abuse.

Earlier this year, a panel of Black…

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Two men who were abused by a paedophile priest in regional Victoria in the 1960s have reached landmark settlement agreements with the Catholic Church.

Key points:

• Coffey, who died in 2013, was convicted of child sex abuse in 1999
• The settlements were not part of the 1999 prosecution against Coffey
• The two men who have received compensation say the money won’t erase the scars of his “sadistic, domineering” abuse

The two abuse survivors were abused by Father Bryan Coffey between 1965 and 1968 while he served as assistant priest in Port Fairy, in south-west Victoria.

The ABC understands the settlements are the first to be made in relation to Coffey, but about a dozen other victims have begun legal proceedings to seek compensation for his actions.

Coffey, who died in 2013, was convicted in 1999 of sexually abusing children, with the charges including abuse perpetrated while he was in…

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Brian Devlin’s experience of Cardinal Keith O’Brien’s abuse of power is prompting his calls for reform and renewal in the Church, writes Jason Osborne

Faithful Catholics today are weary and browbeaten following the revelations in recent years of the deep rot of abuse that took place at the heart of parishes and dioceses around the world. Compounding and exacerbating these cases were the widespread efforts to cover up the abuse, as Church officials sought to save face and avoid scandal in a number of instances.

Church

No one is more frustrated with the abuses or the attempted cover-ups than those who endured them, though, and Brian Devlin is one such man. Author of a new book, Cardinal Sin: Challenging power abuse in the Catholic Church, Mr Devlin is seeking to take to task the institutional structures in the Church that allowed such abuses to be carried out – and power…

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Directive comes as Boy Scouts of America faces lawsuits and bankruptcy after allegations of sex abuse by former troop leaders

The bishop of the Iowa Area of the United Methodist Church is asking the organization’s churches in the state to stop chartering Boy Scout troops because of sex abuse lawsuits by former scouts.

Bishop Laurie Haller told church leaders in a message this week they should not renew chartering agreements with troops at least until the Boy Scouts of America emerges from federal bankruptcy proceedings.

Breaking ties is intended to protect the churches from further liability, now that the United Methodist Church has learned Boy Scouts of America doesn’t have enough insurance to cover sponsoring churches, the letter states.

“The local churches are at risk of having to pay significant sums to victims to compensate them for the damages they suffered at the hands of some scout leaders,” Haller wrote….

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ALBANY – A woman is suing the Grace Baptist Church in Lansingburgh, alleging its leadership ignored her daily sexual abuse as a child at the hands of a youth pastor – then claimed that she had “led him on.”

A lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court on Broadway alleged Larry Hallock, the church’s former youth pastor, sexually abused the victim “on a daily basis” between 2000 and 2002 in the church located at 612 Fourth Avenue. The girl was between 15 and 17 at the time, her lawyer said.

At the time of the abuse, the lawsuit said, Hallock’s wife sent the child several letters acknowledging that she had informed the leadership of Grace Baptist Church of Hallock’s involvement with the child.

“Rather than inquire as to why (the child) was receiving letters from the Pastor Larry Hallock’s wife, the church leadership did nothing,” the lawsuit said. “Later when the…

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Three months after Russell Moore left the helm of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission under pressure, his interim successor has announced his impending departure.

In a news brief, Baptist Press reported Aug. 24 that Daniel Patterson, acting president of the ERLC, has been recommended to serve as executive pastor of Central Church in Bryan-College Station, Texas. The senior pastor of that congregation is Phillip Bethancourt, who until April 2020 served as executive vice president of the ERLC before Patterson succeeded him.

Bethancourt was the whistleblower who just days before this year’s annual meeting of the SBC released audio recordings of conversations between Moore and Mike Stone and Ronnie Floyd. Stone is a Georgia pastor who was a candidate for SBC president. Floyd serves as president of the SBC Executive Committee. Both had been accused by Moore of not responding to or attempting to downplay allegations of sexual abuse in SBC…

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Former cardinal Theodore McCarrick was criminally charged in Massachusetts last month with sexually assaulting a 16-year-old during a 1974 wedding reception at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts.

McCarrick was initially summoned to appear in court this week, on Thursday, August 26. But his first court date — called an arraignment — has been rescheduled to next week; the hearing will take place on Sept. 3.

Here’s what an arraignment is, and what to expect at McCarrick’s.

The allegations

According to court filings obtained by the Boston Globe, McCarrick is alleged to have sexually molested the 16-year-old-boy, a family friend, during his brother’s wedding reception — including groping the teenager sexually within the sacrament of confession.

The alleged molestation was not reported as a singular occurrence. Rather, the alleged victim, who has not been named, claims McCarrick molested him frequently, on family trips to several states.

The alleged victim claims that McCarrick…

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A retired vicar jailed for sexually abusing children was allowed to work in churches for 25 years despite an earlier conviction for a similar crime.

David Beater, 80, was jailed for more than four years on Monday for assaulting two boys in the 1980s.

The BBC has found he was able to work in churches until 2010, despite a previous conviction in 1985 for abusing a 14-year-old boy in Kent.

The Church of England said the case raises “concerning questions”.

Beater was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court after pleading guilty to offences against two boys, aged eight and 13, between 1982 and 1985.

His Honour Judge Philip Statman told Beater he was guilty of a “profound and grave breach of trust”, adding that it was “noteworthy that some of the offences took place within the vicarage”.

One victim now in his mid-40s, who was eight at the time, told the…

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HERMITAGE — A former youth pastor at Grace Chapel Community Church is accused of possessing child pornography and sexually assaulting children during his time at the church.

Mark Willian Heotzler, 29, of 1480 Hollywell Ave., Chambersburg, Franklin County, was charged with a total of 53 counts of sex crimes against minors. State police said in a criminal complaint filed Tuesday that Heotzler had 10 victims, all younger than 18.

Criminal documents associated with the case do not list an attorney for Heotzler.

Heotzler’s LinkedIn page indicates that he has worked at Grace Chapel Community Church since 2014. He is not listed on the church’s website as a current staff member.

Grace Chapel Community Church Lead Pastor Aaron Lego submitted a statement in response to an inquiry by The Herald:

“Grace Chapel Community Church is and has been cooperating fully with an active and ongoing criminal investigation with state law enforcement….

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A priest caught by two children having sex with their mother decades ago is facing trial in Brisbane accused of indecent treatment of a six-year-old boy.

The boy and his sister confronted their mother – who died more than 20 years ago – and Terence Thomas Keliher from the doorway of the bedroom in about 1976, crown prosecutor Elizabeth Kelso said in her opening address to the jury on Monday.

“You’ll hear (during the trial) the defendant didn’t stop quite immediately,” she told the District Court jury.

The jury would hear the naked man stood up, faced the children and started masturbating before ejaculating onto the boy’s chest, Ms Kelso added.

She said the six-year-old crawled under the bed from where he heard his sister shouting and his mother telling her to shut up.

“When he came out from underneath the bed the defendant was still standing there … undressed,”…

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No one’s data is ‘private.’

There is a narc in your pocket. It ratted out Msgr. Jeffrey Burrill, the general secretary of the U.S. bishops’ conference, and he had to step down. According to The Pillar, Burrill “visited gay bars and private residences while using a location-based hookup app in numerous cities from 2018 to 2020.” While pundits and activists might see an opportunity to opine about Catholic hypocrisy, what we should all be asking ourselves is what kind of a dirty turncoat would be in possession of, and then share, that kind of information about a person.

Per The Pillar: “According to commercially available records of app signal data obtained by The Pillar, a mobile device correlated to Burrill emitted app data signals from the location-based hookup app Grindr on a near-daily basis.” So the rat was Burrill’s cell phone (or maybe a tablet)—and for two years it was keeping daily tabs on…

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If similar imaging was to be undertaken in Australia as to what has been used in the residential schools in Canada, there is a possibility similar horrors would be uncovered

Across the Pacific Ocean, in Canada or ‘Turtle Island’ as it is also known by many of its Indigenous inhabitants, a horror has been unfolding.

It started at a former residential school in Kamloops, British Colombia where, via the use of ground penetrating radar technology, the remains of at least 215 Native Canadian children were found buried in mass unmarked gravesites.

 This school ran for 85 years, was part of compulsory government programs to forcibly assimilate these children, and was administered by the Catholic Church.

Not long after this first discovery, the bodies of another 751 children were found using the same technology at the former Marieval Indian Residential School, this time in Saskatchewan.

There was an outpouring of grief…

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The Church of England has admitted it made mistakes in its handling of unsubstantiated allegations of child abuse against a former Anglican priest who took his own life.

The C of E expressed “deep regret and sorrow” over Father Alan Griffin’s death and said it took responsibility for failings that “led to unreasonable pressures” on him.

Lambeth Palace, the headquarters of the archbishop of Canterbury, and the diocese of London were responding to a highly critical coroner’s report issued last month into Griffin’s death in November 2020.

The report said that Griffin, 76, had killed himself “because he could not cope with an investigation into his conduct, the detail of and the source for which he had never been told”.

It added: “Father Griffin did not abuse children. He did not have sex with young people under the age of 18. He did not visit prostitutes. He did not endanger the…

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My friend Kevin Young, who has died of cancer aged 62, was a former businessman and prominent campaigner for the rights of victims of child sex abuse, whose civil action against his own abusers led to an important change in the law, enabling others to seek compensation many years after suffering abuse.

Born in Newcastle, to Margaret (nee Loveley) and John Young, Kevin was taken into care in 1961 suffering from neglect and malnutrition. His parents were convicted of his wilful neglect.

At the age of eight he was placed at the Catholic St Thomas More’s school in Devon. The sexual abuse inflicted on him by the school gardener was the first in a series of encounters with paedophiles. Aged 14 he was taken to St Camillus, a residential school in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, run by the Catholic Diocese of Leeds, where he was sexually assaulted by the headteacher, James…

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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – After disclosing a report of sexual abuse by a late priest, the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh says “a number” of other victims came forward alleging inappropriate or abusive misconduct.

The late Charles Appel was a priest in Pittsburgh until the church disciplined him in 2001. Bishop McConnell said the first reported case of abuse occurred against a child while Appel was at Sheldon Calvary Camp in Conneaut, Ohio in the late 70s and early 80s.

Now McConnell says others have come forward and the diocese has learned the abuse happened at multiple locations, not just at Calvary Camp, and the victims weren’t just boys. But McConnell says because the abuse happened decades ago and Appel died in 2019, “there is much we will probably never know.”

“As inadequate as it may seem today, on behalf of the church, I offer my deepest apologies to those who were…

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In a Dec. 5, 2019 statement, a spokesperson for the Diocese of Rochester said that while it “appreciates the many accomplishments that Archbishop Sheen achieved in his lifetime,” a cause for beatification “must entail a review of the person’s entire life,” and therefore believed “a further review of his role in priests’ assignments” was warranted before Venerable Sheen’s cause could proceed.

Earlier this month, a window allowing lawsuits over child sexual abuse claims beyond the statute of limitations closed in New York. Empire State lawmakers passed the Child Victims Act in 2019, which temporarily lifted the statute of limitations, allowing childhood victims of sexual abuse to take legal action. The deadline for such lawsuits, initially set for August 2020, was extended to August 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, nearly 10,000 lawsuits were filed in that window, including “thousands of accusations of sexual…

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Victoria’s policing and criminal justice systems erred so seriously in relation to Cardinal George Pell that it shows that not even victims of abuse or bona fide complainants, let alone an accused person like the cardinal, could rely on them, said Jesuit Father Frank Brennan, Australian legal expert.

The law professor and rector of Newman College at the University of Melbourne attended key parts of Cardinal Pell’s trials and appeals and had access to court transcripts.

He became convinced that the cardinal was innocent of the historical sexual abuse charges brought against him and that he should never have had to face them.

In an exclusive interview with The Catholic Weekly, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Sydney, Father Brennan was scathing in his assessment of the police work conducted under the former Victoria Police Commissioner Graham Ashton and subsequent failures that saw Cardinal Pell imprisoned for 13 months until his…

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The student said the abuse occurred between 2015 and 2018 at Mother McAuley Liberal Arts High School in Mount Greenwood.

A former student at a South Side all-girls Catholic school is suing her coach there, alleging the woman sexually abused her.

The lawsuit filed this week in Cook County Circuit Court also names the Catholic Bishop of Chicago and Mother McAuley Liberal Arts High School as defendants.

The former student, who is not named in the suit, alleges the coach sexually abused her for four years, beginning in 2015.

“The aforementioned episodes would take place at practices, games and/or … other functions, at Mother McAuley and/or at Mother McAuley sponsored practices, game locations, and during recreational outings, which [the coach] routinely organized with minor students and their families, whom she met through Mother McAuley,” according to the lawsuit.

The student began attending Mother McAuley in…

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The U.S. and Canada are starting to face their history of forcing indigenous children into abusive boarding schools

What was the school’s goal?

Simply put, cultural genocide. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the U.S. government and religious leaders used compulsory boarding schools to force young Native Americans to give up the languages and cultures of their ancestors, which were considered self-evidently inferior to a Christian, Western-style upbringing. Boarding schools were made mandatory for Native American children in 1891. This often meant forced separation from their families and communities. And because these schools were underfunded, crowded, and often unsanitary, thousands of students died of disease. Canada also coerced at least 150,000 indigenous children into a network of residential schools that were mostly run by the Catholic Church; last June, researchers uncovered 1,148 unmarked graves on the grounds of three schools. U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, a member of the Laguna…

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What is hush money?

It is money paid so that someone will keep certain information a secret. 

Orpah Winfrey recently created a whole multi-season show called “Greenleaf” that airs on Netflix. This fictional show chronicles the ways churches try to bury the truth. Unfortunately, way too many real-life examples prove the truths in this series.

In my own hometown of Colorado Springs, New Life Church and Pastor Brady Boyd paid a sex abuse victim of Ted Haggard’s to keep quiet about the details of the very public fallout. When asked about it in a public interview, Pastor Brady said, “It was compassion assistance.” However, this is not a biblical term nor are there any positive examples of this in the Bible.

Since then, we have seen this same scenario play out with Ravi Zacharias, Brian Houston, Bill Hybels, Jerry Fallwell Jr, and the list goes on and on. We are…

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) — A retired Polish archbishop has been ordered to lead a life of prayer and penance, which includes a ban on taking part in any public celebrations — both secular and religious, according to Vatican News and international media.

The sanctions against Archbishop Marian Golebiewski, 83, the retired archbishop of Wroclaw and a former bishop of Koszalin-Kolobrzeg, came after a Vatican investigation looked into alleged negligence in handling allegations of abuse against minors by priests under his authority. The official announcement was published on the archdiocese’s website Aug. 21.

Vatican News’ Polish desk reported that the investigation had been conducted regarding reported “omissions” by the archbishop and followed the provisions laid out by the Code of Canon Law and Pope Francis’ “Vos Estis Lux Mundi” (“You are the light of the world”), which holds bishops accountable for interfering with, covering up or failing to address abuse accusations…

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After nearly 1,000 abuse claims were filed against the Diocese of Buffalo in the last two years, the diocese’s Bishop Michael Fisher called it a “tragedy of epic proportions.”

The time window to file civil lawsuits in old cases of child sex abuse in New York expired on Aug. 14. A total of 924 claims were filed against the Diocese of Buffalo, more than any other diocese in the state. Nearly 11,000 total claims were filed in New York under the act.

“It is of paramount importance to deal with the Church’s obligations to survivors forthrightly and to work to repair the enormous damage that has been done not only to the reputation of the Church here in Western New York, but most importantly to the lives of those affected,” Bishop Fisher stated in a letter dated Aug. 21. Fisher was installed as bishop of Buffalo in January 2021.

The state’s Child…

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CHICAGO — A former Mother McAuley High School student has filed a lawsuit claiming she was sexually assaulted and abused by her water polo coach.

The woman, who is not being named, filed the lawsuit against the Catholic Bishop of Chicago, Mother McAuley Liberal Arts High School and her former water polo coach for alleged repeated sexual assaults.

The victim’s attorney said she was a student at the all-girls Catholic school, located in Mount Greenwood, from 2012 to 2016. The victim first met the coach in 2013 when she was 13, according to the lawsuit.

Around 2014, the victim claims the coach started taking her out to dinner as well as having her babysit the coach’s children.

When you are in a position where an individual has authority or power takes advantage over you,” said attorney Colleen Mixan-Mikaitis. “In this type of situation and to the extent of this sexual…

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Commentary: Cardinal’s land case has major implications for Catholic Church in India

Catholic officials in Asia and beyond should pay attention to the court case against Cardinal George Alencherry in Kerala, a tiny state in southern India.

Early in August, while upholding the verdicts of two lower courts, the Kerala High Court ordered Cardinal Alencherry to face trial for the sale of various holdings of Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese four years ago.

If Cardinal Alencherry faces trial, he will be the first cardinal to do so in an Asian civil court. Even if that does not happen, the case will still be a landmark, as the cardinal becomes the first Catholic bishop to face criminal charges for selling church properties in India. If convicted of all the charges, he may face more than 30 years in jail.

The court refused to accept that bishops have independent and exclusive right to own and…

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It’s the Moon of Snowblindness on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. It’s been a cold March with the temperature often below zero. The road passes Wounded Knee and its cemetery on the hill to the west then rises up over the land, the snow-covered plains falling away to the east. As my car rises into the sky, a herd of horses appears alongside and runs with the car, making me think of Black Elk’s vision of dancing horse nations.

When I arrive at my destination, drums signal the beginning of Yutapi Wakan, the ceremony of sacred food. Waves of purifying smoke wash over us. Images of Wanikiya, “He Who Makes Live,” and the ancestors look down at us from the walls. A star quilt hangs behind the fires burning on the altar. Today is the start of the season of purification, and ashes from the sacred fire mark our bodies.

It’s…

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COXSACKIE — A priest accused of sexual abuse under the Child Victims Act formerly was assigned to a Coxsackie church, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany said.

The diocese released a statement Aug. 21 announcing that the Rev. Gregory Weider, 84, is on administrative leave following an allegation of sexual abuse. Weider had retired from full-time ministry in 2010 but had been working as Sacramental Minister at Sacred Heart in Margaretville and its mission, St. Anne’s in

Andes.

Weider had worked at St. Mary’s in Coxsackie from October 1977 to March 1982, the diocese said. He was ordained in 1963.

St. Mary’s declined to comment on the matter.

Weider also served at Blessed Sacrament, Mohawk; St. Anthony, Schenectady; St. Agnes, Cohoes; St. Thomas the Apostle, Delmar; Holy Cross, Albany; Sacred Heart, Watervliet; and Holy Trinity, Schaghticoke, which was the merger of St. John the Baptist and Our Lady of Mount…

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When a bishop is facing more than 900 survivors in bankruptcy court—resulting from hundreds of New York’s Child Victims’ Act civil lawsuits against his priests—reasonable people would believe that the bishop would take a different path from his predecessors who covered up abuse and protected predators.

But not Buffalo Bishop Michael Fisher.

Or, if that same bishop has vowed “zero tolerance for any act of sexual abuse, or sexual harassment, toward a young person or adult” that he would—for the sake of prudence and risk management alone—remove a parish priest like Fr. Paul Nogaro, who has been twice sued for child sexual abuse. (To date, we do not know how many survivors have accused Nogaro in bankruptcy claims)

But not Buffalo Bishop Michael Fisher.

Or, if brave survivors gathered the strength in the autumn of 2020 to talk to that bishop’s “investigator” to share their stories of abuse, the…

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LOS ANGELES, Aug. 24, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Aggrieved, angered, and ashamed by the revelations in the documentary film, Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God, author Rosaliene Bacchus breaks her silence as a former Catholic nun in her novel, The Twisted Circle, and adds her voice for victims of sexual abuse by predatory priests in the patriarchal Catholic Church.

Drawing on her seven-year experience of the religious life during the 1970s in her native land, Guyana, Bacchus explores the abuse of power by members of the clergy. The religious women ensnared in the author’s twisted circle of deceit, are not without guilt. Taught to hate the sin but forgive the sinner, they share silent complicity with the abusers.

Inspired by real events—the author’s sexual harassment as a young nun by a government official and her conflict with an American missionary nun—The Twisted Circle is set in Guyana’s remote northwest rainforest region where Bacchus spent her final year…

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ROCKFORD — The Rev. Paul Kingsbury, senior pastor and the face of North Love Baptist Church since 1982, has resigned in the wake of a lawsuit claiming a church employee sexually abused a teenage girl.

The seven-count suit, filed by a woman in May in Winnebago County Court, alleges John Neese of Loves Park had an abusive relationship with former church member from 2004 to 2006.

The complaint lists several positions for Neese, and it’s not clear in what capacity

Neese served the church at the time of the alleged offenses. According the complaint, Neese also was employed in a managerial position at Independence Village, a local retirement facility.

The lawsuit — which names Neese, the church and Independence Village as defendants

— alleges individuals from the church and the retirement home “were aware, or reasonably should have been aware, that Neese was having inappropriate interactions with minors” at…

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The plaintiff contends that the archdiocese would perhaps have rejected Brignac if the Christian Brothers had been transparent about the reason it ousted him.

NEW ORLEANS — Though serial child molester and former Catholic deacon George Brignac has been dead for more than a year, the legal fallout from how local church officials handled one of the area’s most notorious clerical predators continued to unfold last week.

A man who alleged he was raped as a boy by Brignac decades ago filed a lawsuit for damages against the Christian Brothers order, arguing that the organization should have stopped Brignac from ever becoming a deacon. The plaintiff was a primary witness in the last of four attempts to criminally prosecute Brignac, and collected a $550,000 settlement from the Archdiocese of New Orleans in 2018.

The 12-page suit, filed in Orleans Parish Civil District Court, recounts how Brignac had been ousted from the…

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A WINDOW CLOSED. AN ISLAND CHANGED. This story is the second in a four-part series examining the impact of the Child Victims Act.

Part 1: These 5 Staten Island institutions, figures may never be the same again

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Scores of priests who served many different Catholic churches on Staten Island over the years have been named in either substantiated complaints of sex abuse or allegations being played out in civil court.

Even prior to a flood of lawsuits filed under the state’s Child Victims Act, records were released by the Archdiocese in 2019 showing substantiated accusations that ended in payouts to the victims.

So how do parishioners feel about the controversy? What about a monsignor ordained in the early ‘60s? Has it shaken their faith? And what would they like to see come next?

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While outing queer people is a cruel in any context, it can get far more complicated when the person being outed is a high-ranking Catholic priest. In a recent shitball of a story that’s been continuing to gather shit along its route, cell phone data was used to reveal officials from the Catholic Church — both at the Vatican and in the U.S. — using the gay hookup app Grindr.

The Pillar, a conservative Catholic publication used “publicly available data” to track the phone activity of several priests, according to the New York Times. The reports from the Pillar’s (deeply unethical) investigation led to the resignation of Monsignor Jeffrey Burrill, the former general secretary of the U.S. Catholic Bishops’ Conference, who was accused of using the app and of hanging out at gay bars and bathhouses.

Look, there are a lot of unsavory things going on…

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The Crown and defence consented to Anthony Tei Atter’s committal during a preliminary hearing in Humboldt on Aug. 9.

A Saskatchewan Catholic priest charged with sexual offences against a minor was committed to stand trial after a preliminary hearing in Humboldt last week.

The Crown and defence consented to Father Anthony Tei Atter’s committal after the complainant testified on Aug. 9, defence lawyer Brian Pfefferle confirmed.

Testimony heard during preliminary hearings is banned from publication to preserve an accused’s right to a fair trial. A trial date will eventually be set in Saskatoon Court of Queen’s Bench.

Atter, 45, was charged with sexual assault, sexual interference and sexual exploitation on Dec. 13, 2020 in connection with alleged incidents between Sept. 1 and Nov. 4, 2020.

A charge of sexual interference is laid when a sexual assault complainant is under the age of 16.

Atter — the priest responsible for the parishes…

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Following the release of the bombshell Pennsylvania grand jury report in 2018, 22 states opened their own independent investigations into the abuse of Catholic children by clergy. As more information about the true scope of the problem has been uncovered over the past three years by those probes and by civil windows, we urge the remaining states to open probes of their own. We are confident that the scope and scale of investigations nationwide into cases of abuse by the clergy, nuns, brothers, lay employees, and volunteers will yield hundreds, if not thousands, of new victims coming forward and will reveal the names of countless “hidden predators.”

Every state has a certain degree of power to conduct probes and to take action against those crimes that are still within the statute of limitations. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has secured four convictions in the state’s clergy abuse investigation. In Wisconsin, Attorney…

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ACNA’s Upper Midwest Diocese, where the abuse allegations have taken place, places few checks and balances on the bishop’s authority.

A lay leader of a second Chicago-area church in a conservative Anglican diocese has been accused of sexual abuse, according to a statement from church leaders.

“Our leadership has become aware of information involving credible allegations of serious sexual misconduct and abuse of a female adult from former Greenhouse Movement staff member Joel Girard during his time serving on the Cornerstone Anglican Church staff,” the Anglican Diocese of the Upper Midwest announced in early August.

Reached by telephone, Girard declined to comment about the allegations.

Cornerstone is the second church in the Greenhouse Movement, a church-planting organization sponsored by the diocese, to face abuse allegations.

Last month, Upper Midwest Diocese Bishop Stewart Ruch III announced he was taking a leave of absence after admitting he made a “regrettable error” in…

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She’s been vilified by detractors and revered as a heroine by sexual assault survivors for challenging the silence of perpetrators.

Anglican priest Rev June Dolley-Major has embarked on two hunger strikes and been resourceful in her use of social media to garner support and help other victims as she took on the powerful Anglican church to hold her alleged rapist accountable.

Hers is a struggle shaped by an alleged raped in 2002 by a fellow priest with whom she had travelled to Makhanda at the time.

“The rape still haunts me. I once tried to commit suicide. Silence kills,” she said.

She recounted the events of the day to a tribunal set up by the Anglican Church this month.

The accused, also an Anglican priest, allegedly came into her bedroom.

“I asked him what he was doing. He did not respond. He proceeded towards me and forced himself on me….

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In recent days there have been many shocking events in the state which have created fear and chaos both in the lives and in minds of the people of the state. However, there is another shocking incident which has gone unnoticed or even if it was noticed it has gone ignored and it has not been given enough attention. This incident received widespread attention in Garo Hills, where it took place, but it seems that the people of other districts of the state or even of the state capital are not aware of it or have not given it too much thought. This incident is the sexual abuse of a minor girl by a Catholic priest, Fr James Paranathu. The incident took place on July 24, 2021 and the Priest fled after committing the crime but was arrested on August 11, 2021.

This incident is important in many aspects. First…

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TURA, Aug 21: In a major development to the molestation of a minor allegedly by a priest in East Garo Hills last month, the district police has now filed a charge sheet against the accused following the completion of the investigation.

The priest, Fr. James Parathanathu, had allegedly molested a 14-year-old girl at the latter’s residence while her parents had gone to work in their paddy fields. The parents of the girl had then they filed a police complaint after they came to know about the incident.

According to the victim, the priest had not only groped her but had also offered her money to keep mum.

Parathanathu, who was reportedly missing after the incident, was recently arrested and sent to judicial custody.

“The investigation into the case has been completed and charge sheet has been filed already. He has been arrested and sent to judicial custody. The matter is…

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At Saturday’s close of the “lookback” window created by New York’s Child Victims Act, more than 900 child sex abuse claims against the Buffalo diocese were counted by The Buffalo News. 

The total number of abuse claims, which as of Monday is 924, is more than twice the largest number of claims ever filed in a U.S. diocese bankruptcy proceeding since 2004, they reported.

Ilan D. Scharf, an attorney for the committee of unsecured creditors in the case, told The News that some claims are duplicates or amended claims, while others may still be in the mail or have not been processed yet. 

The sex abuse claims within the Diocese of Buffalo account for almost one-tenth of all “lookback” abuse claims in New York, which recorded 10,857 claims, The News said.

Religious establishments, and especially Catholic institutions, accounted for “slightly more than half of all lawsuits, according to a preliminary…

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A judge ruled a lawsuit levied by a 24-year-old New Mexico woman against Portsmouth Abbey School and a former teacher there may continue, despite a motion by the defendants last week to have the case dismissed.

The woman, identified in the lawsuit as “Jane Doe,” was a 15-year-old student at the Abbey in 2012 when Michael Bowen Smith, a humanities instructor then in his 40s, began a sexual relationship with her, according to the complaint. She said the school was negligent in failing to protect her “from the known or suspected abuse” by Bowen Smith. 

U.S. District Court Judge William Smith on Aug. 18 rejected the Abbey’s statute of limitations defense as a grounds for dismissal.

On Aug. 11, Attorney Steven Richard of Providence, representing the Order of St. Benedict that owns and operates Portsmouth Abbey, said the plaintiff turned 18 in October 2014, after…

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Pope Francis accepted the resignation of a Brazilian bishop Wednesday after video showed the bishop apparently engaged in sexual misconduct. The resignation came after the bishop had been investigated twice previously for allegations of misconduct.

An announcement in the August 18 Vatican news bulletin said that Pope Francis had accepted the resignation of Bishop Tomé Ferreira da Silva of the Diocese of São José do Rio Preto, and appointed the local metropolitan Archbishop Moacir Silva of Ribeirão Preto to serve as temporary administrator of the diocese.

Ferreira offered his resignation to the pope on Saturday, after local media reported Friday on a video which appeared to show the bishop exposing himself during a video call with another man. 

According to local media, the video appears to be a video call with Ferreira, during which the bishop is allegedly engaged in an act of self-gratification. 

When asked to confirm the video’s…

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When Pope Francis spoke about Chile’s Bishop Juan Barros in January 2018, the pope probably knew his remarks would be controversial. But he likely did not realize what kind of firestorm they would set off, or how long it would take to repair the damage.

The pope was on a pastoral visit to South America, with a stop in Santiago de Chile. A journalist asked him about Barros — a bishop the pope had appointed to the Chilean diocese of Osorno, despite allegations that he enabled, witnessed, and covered up sexual abuse by the notorious predator and Chilean priest Fernando Karadima.

Francis told the journalist that the accusations against Barros were “all calumny,” and lacking proof.

“The day they bring me proof against Bishop Barros, I’ll speak,” the pope said. 

His insistence set off protests across Chile. They also prompted a rare rebuke from a cardinal: Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley…

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PLATTSBURGH — With the deadline to file lawsuits under New York’s Child Victims Act expiring last Saturday, attorneys representing some of the survivors of sexual abuse say victims now have fewer paths for their stories to be heard in court.

The Child Victims Act temporarily suspended the state’s time limit on civil lawsuits filed for sexual abuse claims when it was signed into law in 2019. Its deadline was extended by a year in August 2020, largely because of the pandemic.

‘CAME TO OUR DOORSTEP’

Local lawsuits in the North Country have been filed against schools, boy scout chapters, churches, county foster care programs and more.

Ronald Kim, a Saratoga Springs attorney of the Law Office of Ronald J. Kim, PC, said his firm is considered a “small potatoes outfit.” Even still, he represents clients from across the state in 92 lawsuits filed under the Child Victims Act, with victims…

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The Vatican has sanctioned a retired Polish archbishop for covering up child sexual abuse, the archdiocese in Wroclaw said Saturday, the latest in a series of such sanctions in the devout country.

The case against Marian Golebiewski, 83, is just the latest sexual abuse scandal to hit the Catholic church in the predominantly Catholic EU member state.

“In the wake of formal notifications, the Holy See carried out proceedings regarding Archbishop Marian Golebiewski’s reported negligence in cases of sexual abuse of minors by certain priests,” the archdiocese said in a statement. 

The negligence took place while Golebiewski was bishop of Koszalin-Kolobrzeg in 1996-2004, as well as when he was the archbishop of Wroclaw in 2004-2013, it added. 

Following its investigation, the Vatican decided to ban Golebiewski from public services and order him to donate to a Catholic foundation for the protection of minors. 

The Church, which wields strong political influence…

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NEW YORK – When Maka Black Elk attended the Red Cloud Indian School he remembers a friend relaying a story from her grandmother that when she attended the school a Jesuit priest would come to the dormitory at night and escort one of the girls somewhere else.

The assumption, he said, was that there was sexual abuse happening.

“[My friend] talked about her grandma saying that she was just a little girl and a thought she had was ‘he never picks me because I’m not pretty enough’ and how that was a lasting thought that was both horrifying to recall and stuck with her,” Black Elk told Crux.

The Red Cloud Indian School, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, was founded as the Holy Rosary Mission School by the Jesuits and Franciscan Sisters in 1887. It was a part of a national U.S. policy to assimilate Indigenous peoples…

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ROME – A Sicilian priest who has been serving in the Archdiocese of Perugia for nearly 10 years has been arrested on charges of child pornography and child prostitution after allegedly paying for explicit images of minors sent via online chats.

A native of Caltavuturo, near Palermo, Father Vincenzo Esposito, 63, has overseen a parish in the San Feliciano neighborhood of Magione, in the regional province of Perugia, since his appointment there in 2013.

He was arrested over the weekend following an investigation by the Carabinieri, the Italian military police who enjoy broad authority in Italy, of Termini Imerese, in Sicily, and is currently being held at a jail in Spoleto, Umbria.

Esposito is accused of making sexual advances to four minor boys through video chat applications such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. Specifically, he is charged with sending money to the boys, who are under 18, in exchange for…

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ROME – Days after the arrest of a parish priest in Perugia on charges of child pornography and prostitution, Italian Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti, who oversees the archdiocese, visited the pastor’s community in a show of support and solidarity.

During a special Aug. 4 visit to the parish of San Feliciano, in Perugia, Umbria, Italian Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti said that “If the seriousness of the facts, especially concerning the minors involved, attributed to the priest Don Vincenzo Esposito are true, this story demonstrates a shocking human, moral, and religious degradation.”

Bassetti, who is the archbishop of Perugia and president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI), visited the community following the arrest earlier this week of Esposito, 63, on charges of child pornography and child prostitution.

A native of Sicily, Esposito has overseen a parish in the San Feliciano neighborhood of Magione, in the regional province of Perugia, since his appointment there…

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SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. (WLUC) – Three men face multiple felony charges in Sault Ste. Marie in connection to child trafficking.

According to the Chippewa County Sheriff’s department, among the three arrested on Sunday during a “ghost” operation was 37-year-old Aaron Nowicki who is a non-practicing catholic priest.

Nowicki is from Cheboygan but works in Sault Ste. Marie.

According to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Marquette, Nowicki resigned and was removed from ministry in 2019 because of allegations of serious, but not criminal, sexual misconduct with a vulnerable adult.

23-year-old Micah Rickerd, a college student and 41-year-old Benjamin Simpkin, a Sault Ste. Marie man who works in foodservice were also arrested.

All three men are charged with one count of Accosting a Child for Immoral Purposes, two counts of Using a Computer to Commit a Crime, and one count of Child Sexually Abusive Activity.

All three suspects were arraigned in…

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SAULT STE. MARIE, MI — A sting operation conducted Friday led to the arrest of three different men who each are accused of allegedly attempting to meet with children for a sexual encounter. According to the Chippewa County Sheriff’s Office, the one-day operation was coordinated between that office, the Sault Ste. Marie Police Department, the Sault Tribe Police Department and the “Ghost” team from the Genesee County Sheriff’s Office.

“The focus of this mission was to locate adults who were using the internet to find children to have sex with,” said Chippewa County Sheriff Mike Bitnar. “Now, this operation lasted for one day and by the end of the day we had arrested three people.”

During the sting, police posed as 14- or 15-year-old children and engaged in separate conversations with each man about meeting up for a sexual encounter. All three men allegedly arrived…

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The case of a Cincinnati-area priest accused of raping a 10-year-old altar boy three decades ago returns court Monday.

This is expected to be the final hearing before Father Geoff Drew’s trial starts Oct. 25.

Drew, 59, has pleaded not guilty to nine counts of rape.

He remains at the Hamilton County jail in lieu of $5 million bond and faces life in prison if convicted.

His trial has been postponed three times now.

The latest delay, announced back in April, was at the request of his attorney, Brad Moermond, due to new allegations and evidence prosecutors outlined in voluminous court documents last year and so he can challenge the prosecutors’

Father Drew remains a priest in the archdiocese who is currently on administrative leave pending the outcome of the criminal charges, according to the Archdiocese of Cincinnati

New allegations against Father Drew are expected to come out the trial…

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Tomé Ferreira de Silva, the bishop of the Diocese of São José do Rio Preto, has previously been accused of sexual misconduct, mismanaging funds of the diocese and ignoring allegations of local priests abusing minors.

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of a Brazilian bishop who quit after an intimate video of him with another man leaked on social media.

Tomé Ferreira de Silva, the bishop of the Diocese of São José do Rio Preto, submitted his resignation on Saturday after acknowledging that he was the man seen in the explicit video.

Bishop was Seen Caressing His Sexual Organ On Video Call with Another Man

According to Brazilian news outlet Globo, the video, which leaked on social media on Friday, showed Ferreira half-naked, exposing himself and caressing his sexual organ during a video call with another man and was allegedly engaged in an act of self-gratification.

When asked to confirm…

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A Brazilian Bishop has resigned days after a video of him allegedly masturbating on a video call went viral.

The Vatican announced that Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Bishop Tomé Ferreira da Silva, 60, of Sao Jose de Rio Preto, who confirmed to a local newspaper Diario da Regiao that it was, in fact, him in the video, but provided no additional comment.

The bishop has been subject to other Vatican investigations — including covering up reports of sexual abuse —  and many in his diocese have petitioned for his removal since 2014.

In 2015, the Vatican launched an investigation into alleged embezzlement and having a romantic relationship with his driver.

In 2018, the Vatican opened an investigation into sexual abuses in Ferreira’s diocese, including allegations he covered up some accusations. The Vatican also investigated da Silva’s reported relationship with an adolescent male, with whom he’d exchanged explicit sexual…

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RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A Brazilian bishop resigned on Wednesday, less than a week after a video spread on social media that featured someone, purported to be him, masturbating.

Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Bishop Tomé Ferreira da Silva, who oversaw a diocese in Sao Paulo state, Sao Jose do Rio Preto. At age 60, Ferreira is 15 years shy of the normal retirement age for bishops. Since 2015, he had reportedly been investigated by the Vatican for other accusations, including allegedly ignoring reports of sexual abuse in his diocese.

The Vatican, the Brazilian bishops conference and Ferreira’s home diocese all announced the resignation but provided no details on the cause. None of the three responded to emailed questions about whether the bishop was the man in the video or what was behind his departure. The person in the video resembles Ferreira, and local paper Diario da Regiao…

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Pedido de Tomé Ferreira da Silva, de São José do Rio Preto, foi aceito pelo Papa Francisco e divulgado nesta quarta-feira (18) pela CNBB. Em 2018, ele foi investigado pelo Vaticano em denúncias de abusos sexuais e deixou cargo ligado à CNBB.

[GOOGLE TRANSLATION OF HEADLINE AND SUB-HEAD ABOVE:
After an intimate video leak, bishop resigns from the Diocese of Rio Preto, in the interior of SP

Tomé Ferreira da Silva’s request, from São José do Rio Preto, was accepted by Pope Francisco and disclosed this Wednesday (18) by the CNBB. In 2018, he was investigated by the Vatican in allegations of sexual abuse and left a position linked to the CNBB.]

O bispo Tomé Ferreira da Silva renunciou ao cargo na Diocese de São José do Rio Preto (SP). O pedido foi aceito pelo Papa Francisco e divulgado nesta quarta-feira (18) pela Conferência Nacional dos Bispos do Brasil (CNBB).

…

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PEORIA — It’s going on two years since the Vatican interrupted the sainthood path of Archbishop Fulton Sheen.

When and if that effort resumes isn’t clear — not even to the incoming bishop of the Catholic diocese where Sheen was born, grew up and was ordained. 

Sheen’s remains, entombed in Peoria, already are drawing religious pilgrims to the area regularly.

“Let me say it this way: If there is something out there, if there is some reason why his cause should not go forward, I think we should have a clear understanding of why that is,” said Louis Tylka, coadjutor bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Peoria.

“Since nobody has given that, I have to believe that there’s got to be some reason why there was a pause, but it’s only a pause. When it was paused, they didn’t say, ‘It’s over.’”

Continuing to ‘promote his…

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The same right-wing reporters that outed a Grindr-using Catholic leader have released more reports, suggesting that they could out several people within the Catholic Church – including some possibly living at the Vatican.

Last month, a right-wing Catholic outlet outed a leader in the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), a Catholic organization made up of members of the Church’s hierarchy that opposes LGBTQ equality. The report claimed it relied on data obtained from the leader’s use of the LGBTQ dating app Grindr to out him.

Since then, the outlet has published even more reports. While they haven’t outed anyone else specific yet, in two reports they allege that they have once again obtained data from online dating apps that would implicate high-ranking Catholic officials are gay or having sex. The reports could out further Catholic leaders here in the United States, but also from the highest ranks of the…

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A North Carolina man has filed suit in New York State Supreme Court against the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island and two Long Island Episcopal parishes for $20 million, alleging that when he was a boy, he was sexually abused by Rev. Canon Paul Wancura from 1978 to 1985.

In March 2018, the 87-year-old Rev. Wancura, who lived alone, was found in a bedroom of his Silver Beach home, trapped in a corner in a heap between the bed and a wall, with his wrists tightly bound. It was determined that he had been in that state from three to seven days, Shelter Island Police Chief Jim Read said. Rev. Wancura was airlifted to Stony Brook University Hospital and placed in the intensive care unit.

The Shelter Island Police and Suffolk County Police departments termed the incident a burglary and a home invasion, and listed several items stolen from the…

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Retired Roman Catholic priest Father Gregory Weider was temporarily removed from public ministry, effective Aug. 14, by Bishop Edward Scharfenberger, prelate of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany, according to a statement issued by the diocese Saturday.

Weider, 84, was put on leave due to the filing of a sexual abuse-related allegation against him under the Child Victims Act, according to the release. The law included a one-year look-back window that allowed victims from 1970 and prior to sue, and was extended through Aug. 14 of this year due to the pandemic.

The clergyman has been serving as a sacramental minister at Sacred Heart in Margaretville and its mission church, St. Anne’s in Andes, both in Delaware County. His first assignment after his priestly ordination was as associate pastor at St. Anthony’s on Seward Place in Schenectady from 1963 to 1964, the diocese said.

During his tenure as associate pastor of St. Thomas…

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Every 9 Minutes A Child Is Sexually Abused In The United States, But Only 12 Percent Of Cases Are Reported to Authorities Each Year; No Time Limit for Justice Act Empowers Child Sex Abuse Victims and Encourages States to Eliminate Statute of Limitations for Prosecuting Child Sexual Abuse and Civil Suits Involving Child Sexual Abuse.

August 22, 2021 – Last week, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Representative Gwen Moore (D-WI-4) announced the No Time Limit for Justice Act, a bill that incentivizes states to eliminate their statute of limitations for criminal prosecution and civil suits involving child sexual abuse.

According to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), every nine minutes a child is sexually abused in the United States, but only twelve percent of these cases are reported to authorities each year. Studies have shown that the discrepancies in underreporting of minor sexual abuse can be largely attributed to the fact that a majority of child victims do not reveal…

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Known for its coastlines, mountains and the state that was “first in flight,” North Carolina has also developed a more dubious reputation recently: as a regional destination for adults who want to marry children.

State lawmakers are nearing passage of a bill that could dampen the state’s appeal as the go-to place to bring child brides — but would still leave it short of a national push to increase the age to 18. The proposed legislation would raise the minimum marriage age from 14 to 16 and limit the age difference between a 16-year-old and their spouse to four years.

“We will have moved the needle and made North Carolina no longer at the very bottom of the barrel of states,” said Drew Reisinger, the register of deeds in Buncombe County. But, he said, “we’re still going to be putting a lot of children in harm’s way.”

Reisinger said the…

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About eight months ago, the Digging Deeper team told you the story about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, in Bisbee, and how they were aware of child sex abuse and did not report it to authorities.

It involved a Border Patrol agent and his wife.

This is an amended complaint to the original civil lawsuit filed in Cochise County. The original complaint detailed how three children were sexually and emotionally abused.

The amended complaint alleges various church leaders conspired to conceal the sexual abuse.

“I think that the LDS church has a cult of secrecy surrounding sex abuse. And a cult of secrecy preventing their clergy from reporting sex abuse of children,” Lynne Cadigan, the plaintiff’s attorney said.

Lynne Cadigan represents the children who claim they were physically and sexually abused by their father Paul Adams.

Authorities learned about the abuse when a video showing Adams having…

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With the approval of the government, a renowned sexologist ran a dangerous program. How could this happen?

In 2017, a German man who goes by the name Marco came across an article in a Berlin newspaper with a photograph of a professor he recognized from childhood. The first thing he noticed was the man’s lips. They were thin, almost nonexistent, a trait that Marco had always found repellent. He was surprised to read that the professor, Helmut Kentler, had been one of the most influential sexologists in Germany. The article described a new research report that had investigated what was called the “Kentler experiment.” Beginning in the late sixties, Kentler had placed neglected children in foster homes run by pedophiles. The experiment was authorized and financially supported by the Berlin Senate. In a report submitted to the Senate, in 1988, Kentler had described it as a “complete success.”

Marco had…

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Catholic Church authorities in Poland say the Vatican is punishing a retired Polish archbishop for his alleged negligent response to cases of sexual abuse of minors by clergymen under his authority.

The Archdiocese of Wroclaw said the Vatican had reviewed reports of alleged negligence by the diocese former head, the retired archbishop Marian Golebiewski. The probe covered the years from 1996 to 2004, when Golebiewski was head of the Koszalin diocese, and 2004 to 2013, when he led the Wroclaw archdiocese.

As a result, the Vatican has banned Golebiewski, 83, from appearing at any public religious or lay ceremonies and has ordered him to donate from his own pocket to a foundation preventing sexual abuse and supporting its victims. He is also to pray and repent.

The Holy See has punished around ten Polish bishops and archbishops over reported cover-ups of sexual abuse of minors by priests under their authority.

…

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Sheri A. Biasin, of Cheshire, speaks here about the culture surrounding clergy abuse in the 1960s and 1970s, her efforts to confront the abuse she endured, and growing up Catholic in the Berkshires. This conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity.

[See also diocesan correspondence about Biasin’s case.]

On her Catholic upbringing: I grew up in a really strict Catholic family. I mean, we did rosary before we went to bed — that sort of whole deal. That was very prominent in our life, and to go against it was like, “You’re going to burn in hell” and “Wait to see what’s going to happen to you.”

The people in my family basically bowed to this man, Father Daniel Gill. When I look back now, I think, “Oh, my God, good thing I’m not there now, because I wouldn’t have been able to take it.”

You asked how my…

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Father Gregory Weider served churches across the Capital Region for decades

A retired priest who served at churches across the Capital Region and beyond from the 1960s through 2010 was removed from public ministry last week by Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger over an allegation of sexual abuse, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany said Saturday.

The allegation against Father Gregory Weider is related to a Child Victims Act lawsuit, the diocese said. The 84-year-old priest had been serving as sacramental minister at Sacred Heart Church in the Delaware County village of Margaretville, as well as its mission, St. Anne’s, in the nearby town of Andes.

While on administrative leave, he will not publicly officiate at sacraments, wear clerical garb or present himself as a priest, the diocese said.
 
Since his ordination in 1963, Weider has served at the following locations: Blessed Sacrament, Mohawk; St. Anthony, Schenectady; St. Agnes, Cohoes; St. Thomas…

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Anne O’Brien of Hexham and Newcastle diocese has been appointed as Chair of a new safeguarding structure dedicated to supporting the responsibilities of religious congregations.

The ‘Religious Life Safeguarding Service’ is being set up following a review of safeguarding across the Catholic Church conducted by Dr Ian Elliott. This review recommended significant changes to the organisation and delivery of safeguarding services in the Church. The Religious Life Safeguarding Service will offer a full safeguarding service designed for Religious Congregations, including the provision of case work and training.

For three years Anne O’Brien has been the Chair of the Independent Safeguarding Commission for the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle – and has also worked at a national level for the last 20 years within the NHS and the Department of Health. She held a Company Board Director position at NHS Professionals Ltd for 11 years. Anne is a faculty member of…

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Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, who has led the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville for more than 10 years, announced on his 75th birthday Wednesday that he has submitted his resignation to Pope Francis.

“The role of an archbishop is both to lead, to listen and to serve,” Kurtz said of his legacy Wednesday. “… I hope that I’ve been empowered and inspired leaders to take on the mind and heart of Jesus Christ in serving others.”

In the past, bishops were required to resign outright when they turned 75, but Pope Francis changed that rule in 2018. Bishops are still required to submit their resignations to the pope upon their 75th birthdays, but the pope can decide not to accept.

Kurtz has submitted his letter, and he will retain the title of “archbishop” when he leaves the archdiocese, Archdiocese spokeswoman Cecelia Price said in an email Wednesday.

“Usually an Archbishop will stay in the diocese…

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A review board has substantiated a claim of sexual abuse made against a now-deceased priest who served at several churches in southern Chautauqua County spanning four decades.

Bishop Michael W. Fisher on Thursday accepted the recommendations from the board against eight priests. Among them was the Rev. Ralph P. Federico, who served at both St. James and St. John churches in Jamestown in the 1960s and ’70s and then at Our Lady of Lourdes in Bemus Point for nearly two decades.

Priests with substantiated claims against them are added to the list of those credibly accused kept by the Diocese of Buffalo.

The Dunkirk-born Federico has been named in at least three Child Victims Act lawsuits — one filed in August 2019 and two in July 2020.

he most recent lawsuits filed in state Supreme Court in Chautauqua County claim Federico abused male victims while serving at St. John’s Roman…

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Buffalo Bishop Michael W. Fisher says the diocese is following the recommendations of its independent review board on this matter.

The Diocese of Buffalo has placed a priest on permanent administrative leave after allegations of abuse were substantiated by an independent review board. 

Allegations of sexual abuse against six others who have since passed away, were also found to also be substantiated.

The diocese provided the following list of priests accused:

• Reverend Paul M. Nogaro
• Reverend Donald J. Lutz
• Reverend Daniel G. Duggan (deceased)
• Reverend Ralph P. Federico (deceased)
• Reverend Edward L. Kazmierczak (deceased)
• Reverend Leo F. Reddy (deceased)
• Reverend David V. Roche (deceased)
• Reverend George J. Brennan (deceased)

Buffalo Bishop Michael W. Fisher says the diocese is following the recommendations of the board on this matter.  

According to the diocese, the claims of abuse where substantiated against seven of the eight priests listed above. The abuse allegations were not substantiated against Reverend Paul M….

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Bishop Michael W. Fisher will let a priest accused of child sex abuse return to ministry after a review board determined that the alleged abuse was “not substantiated.”

The Rev. Paul M. Nogaro, retired pastor of St. Stephen Church on Grand Island, will be allowed to celebrate Mass publicly again and perform other priestly functions.

It is the second time a review board has found abuse claims made against him in a Child Victims Act lawsuit to be unsubstantiated.

Nogaro, 75, first was accused in a lawsuit on Aug. 14, 2019, and suspended from active ministry a few days later. He was allowed to resume ministry Jan. 17, 2020, after the review board’s first determination. Within days, however, a second CVA lawsuit alleged abuse by Nogaro in the 1990s at St. Gregory the Great Church in Amherst.

“They were completely unsubstantiated and there was no reasonable evidence of any kind…

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Congregation official says it stood by victims as Richard Daschbach betrayed their trust, the donors and his superiors

A Society of the Divine Word (SVD) official has denied allegations of “conspiracy” and “false accusations” against Richard Daschbach, who was dismissed from the priesthood for sexual abuse committed in Timor-Leste.

Father Jose Nicolas Espinosa, the congregation’s general secretary and spokesperson based in Rome, said “the investigation process against Daschbach, which included his self-denunciation, proved that the accusations of sexual abuse of minors were true.”

Supporters of the 84-year-old American have alleged that the accusations that led to his dismissal from the priesthood by the Vatican in November 2018 were “false” and that he was a “victim of a conspiracy.”

“His dismissal from the congregation and the clerical state proves that the SVD acted fast and adequately to ensure the ecclesiastical penalty for Mr. Daschbach,” Father Espinosa said in an interview published…

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The Vatican must break its five-month silence and speedily clarify the situation in Hamburg, the vicar-general of the archdiocese has demanded 

Pope Francis granted Archbishop of Hamburg Stephan Hesse leave of absence at the end of March, after a report on Hesse’s previous diocese of Cologne implicated him in numerous failures in the handling of abuse cases. Vicar-general Ansgar Thim has been handling the archdiocesan administration in Hamburg, but on 12 August he stated that the situation in the archdiocese has become untenable and demanded speedy clarification from the Vatican.

The Hamburg archdiocese had earlier declared on its homepage that it sincerely hoped that “the Vatican will not delay much longer in reaching a decision”. The archdiocese expected that the Pope would accept Archbishop Hesse’s resignation, the declaration said. 

“I am not shirking responsibility, but would like to send out a clear signal to all those at home and abroad…

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Albany’s ex-bishop acknowledges a longstanding policy that enabled serial sexual abuse.

THE STAKES:
It’s time for the diocese to truly reckon with its past, for its own sake as well as victims’.

—-

In the Catholic tradition, confession is more than a virtue that is good for the soul; it is a sacrament. Whether it’s prompted by genuine contrition or the simple reality that you’ve been found out, confession is also viewed favorably within the secular legal system.

Which makes it doubly good that Albany Bishop Emeritus Howard Hubbard recently stated in straightforward manner what has been known for years by those who follow the regional diocese’s response to allegations of the sexual abuse of children by clergy and church staff: The diocese for far too long didn’t do nearly enough to protect the most vulnerable members of its flock.

The diocese’s common practice in the 1970s and 1980s for handling…

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A conservative Catholic media organization, The Pillar, has published several reports claiming the use of dating apps at several churches and the Vatican.

The reports hit the Roman Catholic Church in rapid succession: Analyses of cellphone data obtained by a conservative Catholic blog seemed to show priests at multiple levels of the Catholic hierarchy in both the United States and the Vatican using the gay hookup app Grindr.

The first report, published late last month, led to the resignation of Msgr. Jeffrey Burrill, the former general secretary of the U.S. bishops’ conference. The second, posted online days later, made claims about the use of Grindr by unnamed people in unspecified rectories in the Archdiocese of Newark. The third, published days after that, claimed that in 2018 at least 32 mobile devices emitted dating app data signals from within areas of…

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[Via GMA News]

Pope Francis accepted a Brazilian bishop’s resignation Wednesday amid a scandal over a leaked sex tape and allegations he covered up cases of sexual abuse by priests in his diocese.

The pope “accepted the resignation presented by Monsignor Tome Ferreira da Silva of the Diocese of Sao Jose do Rio Preto” in southeastern Brazil, the Vatican said in a statement.

It did not give a reason for the departure of the 60-year-old bishop, who had been in the post since 2012.

According to Brazilian media reports, Ferreira da Silva tendered his resignation after a video circulated on social media of him undressing and caressing his genitals while talking with the person filming.

The cleric was also ensnared in a scandal in 2018 when Brazilian media reported the Vatican had opened an investigation into allegations he attempted to cover up sexual abuse by priests working under him.

Brazil,…

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A former lecturer at the University of King’s College in Halifax will stand trial next June on historical sex-related charges involving two young men.

Wayne John Hankey, 76, of Halifax faces two counts each of indecent assault on a male and gross indecency.

Hankey is accused of abusing one of the complainants between May 1977 and December 1979 and the other in September 1982.

The crimes were allegedly committed on the King’s campus and at a home in Halifax and were reported to police earlier this year. Investigators laid charges of sexual assault and indecent assault in April and then amended the allegations before Hankey’s arraignment in June.

Lawyer Stan MacDonald entered not-guilty pleas on behalf of Hankey in Halifax provincial court in July and appeared in court Tuesday to set dates for a trial.

Judge Elizabeth Buckle scheduled the trial for five days beginning June 6, 2022.

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Civil claim seeks damages for alleged psychological and sexual abuse between 1991 and ’94 by the brother, who is from Newfoundland.

A former student at O’Grady Catholic High School in Prince George has filed a civil suit alleging sexual abuse in the early 1990s by a teacher who was a Christian brother.

The student, now in his mid-40s and a medical technologist in Victoria, is named only as John Doe in the suit filed Aug. 16 in B.C. Supreme Court in Prince George.

The student’s alleged abuser is named in the court filing but Postmedia News is choosing not to publish his name as there has been no response in court to the allegations.

The ex-student has not pursued a criminal complaint with police against the former teacher, according to his lawyer, Sandra Kovacs.

The civil claim seeks damages for alleged psychological and sexual abuse between 1991 and ’94 by…

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On the first day of their trip, the American tourists climbed to the top of St. Peter’s dome, admiring Michelangelo’s architectural marvel and its panoramic view.

On the second day, they met up with their tour group to visit ancient Roman aqueducts and enjoy a traditional pasta lunch. And in the afternoon, they listened to a man who had been abused by a Catholic priest talk them through his own personal hell.

“We came here for St. Peter and the Colosseum, but when they offered us this experience, I just wanted to go,” said Joseph Purdy, 72, a retiree from Rehoboth Beach, Del…

For that, the tour company flew in Francesco Zanardi, one of Italy’s most vocal advocates for survivors of clerical abuse.

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Key points:

• The victims of a paedophile priest have detailed the traumatic impact their abuse in the 1980s has had on their lives
• Anthony Caruana was convicted of abusing 12 students at Chevalier College in the NSW Southern Highlands
• Some victims told the court they were called liars when they told their parents about the crimes

The victims of a paedophile priest have told a court they were called liars when they told their parents about being abused by their teacher 30 years ago.

Last month, Anthony Peter William Caruana was convicted of sexually abusing 12 students at a Catholic college for boys in the NSW Southern Highlands in the 1980s.

A District Court jury found the 79-year-old guilty of 26 offences including 22 counts of indecent assault and four counts of sexual intercourse with a pupil.

During the seven-week trial, the court heard Caruana was a teacher at…

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The state parole board today unanimously rejected Fr. Michael Guidry’s request for early release.

Guidry, 78, who was pastor of St. Peter’s Church in Morrow, pleaded guilty to the molestation of a 16-year-old boy. He was sentenced to seven years in prison, but was released for appeals because of COVID. After his sentencing appeals were denied he was sent back to prison.

His victim was an altar server, as his brothers had been. His father was Guidry’s deacon and his mother taught catechism for the parish. His brother, his mother and his father all addressed the board prior to the vote. The victim did not attend the hearing, because, his father said, he couldn’t bear it.

“Our son can’t even bear to attend this hearing,” said Scott Peyton. “He doesn’t want to see him, hear his voice, hear his laughter. He (Guidry) does not take this seriously.”

All three members of the…

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Had I been sexually abused by Father Thomas Smith 20 miles east in New Jersey, 20 miles south in Delaware or 80 miles north in New York, I would have had the opportunity to seek justice. I could have held Catholic Church officials accountable for protecting a known pedophile instead of the children they promise to protect. I would not be writing this.

However, I was abused in Pennsylvania. Because of that geographical detail, I, and other victims of childhood sexual abuse, have had to endure nearly two decades of revictimization by church officials and Pennsylvania lawmakers who refuse to reform the state’s statute of limitations.

As for Father Smith — Tom Smith now — who knows where he is? Maybe he is reading this while scouting out his next victim. Does Republican Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward know where Smith is?

Ward has picked up where retired Sen. Joe…

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Bob Dylan is being accused of sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl in 1965, according to a new lawsuit filed Friday.

The “Like a Rolling Stone” singer/songwriter, 80, whose real name is Robert Zimmerman, allegedly groomed, sexually abused and threatened physical violence against the plaintiff, identified only as “J.C.” in the court documents. The alleged abuse occurred multiple times over a six-week period between April and May 1965, with some incidents occurring in his Chelsea Hotel apartment in New York.

The legal documents obtained by USA TODAY also claim that Dylan “exploited his status as a musician” to illegally provide drugs and alcohol to the underage girl.

A spokesperson for Dylan told USA TODAY in a statement on Monday that “the 56-year-old claim is untrue and will be vigorously defended.”

USA TODAY has reached out to Dylan’s attorney for comment.

“Dylan’s predatory, sexual and unlawful acts against Plaintiff amounted…

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A slew of new Child Victims Act lawsuits were filed locally as the extended “look back” window for victims of childhood sexual abuse to file claims against their alleged abuser closed Saturday.

The bulk of cases just recently filed in state Supreme Court in Chautauqua County name the Allegheny Highlands Council as a defendant. According to online records, 14 lawsuits were filed in the last week permitted under the law: two on Friday, Aug. 6; three on Monday; one on Tuesday; four on Wednesday; and four on Thursday.

More filings may show up on the state’s Unified Court System website after they are uploaded.

The 2019 Child Victims Act originally suspended the statute of limitations for a year to allow victims to pursue even decades-old allegations of abuse against priests, teachers, Boy Scout leaders and other adults. Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the pandemic had limited survivors’ ability to file claims and effectively…

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[Includes video]

An altercation occurred at Our Lady Queen of Poland Catholic Church in Edmonton Sunday morning as a group of people attempted to enter and listen to a public apology for remarks a priest previously made.

Taz Augustine, an Indigenous elder, told CTV News Edmonton that she was part of a group of six people who wanted to go and listen to the public apology that the Archdiocese of Edmonton was offering.

That apology [with links to the OMI and Mironiuk apologies] comes in the wake of comments a priest from the Polish parish made regarding Indigenous communities and residential schools, and the Jewish community.

Rev. Marcin Mironiuk, a priest with the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI), was placed on “indefinite administrative leave” from ministry within the Archdiocese of Edmonton after denying that there were unmarked graves at the sites of former residential…

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