ABUSE TRACKER

Although major steps have been taken to help achieve healing and reconciliation with survivors of clergy sexual abuse, much work remains ahead for the U.S. Catholic Church, the chairwoman of the National Review Board told the spring assembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Citing the progress that has occurred since 2002 when the abuse scandal exploded, Suzanne Healy said in a prerecorded address to the bishops that the church’s outreach efforts must continue to evolve as the needs of survivors are better understood.

“We must focus on the areas of healing and reconciliation, accountability, transparency and ongoing education for all involved in child and youth protection,” said Healy, who has chaired the NRB since June 2020.

“You, as bishops and eparchs, have made significant progress over the years. And sometimes we can imagine that it may feel like it is never enough. However, as the pain of child abuse is…

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The UN is concerned about the efforts of Catholic Church members to undermine efforts to improve the prosecution child sex abusers.

Four UN special rapporteurs have called on the Vatican to make it mandatory that church officials everywhere report abuse allegations to civil authorities.

While acknowledging Vatican-mandated reforms in the handling of clerical sexual abuse, The four human rights experts, volunteers who investigate and make recommendations on behalf of the UN Human Rights Council, also expressed concern about the “continued efforts of members of the Catholic Church to undermine legislative efforts to improve the prosecution of sexual abuse against children in national courts” and to lobby legislatures “to preserve the statute of limitations on these crimes”.

The report, sent to the Vatican in April and published on the website of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights today, was written by special rapporteurs working on the promotion of…

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Poland’s state commission for fighting sex abuse of minors said Thursday it has asked the Vatican for data on abuse by the clergy in Poland because Poland’s church is not providing the requested information.

Head of the commission Blazej Kmieciak said that some 30% of cases of abuse of persons aged under 15 that the commission is analyzing relate to the clergy.

He said, however, that despite written requests made earlier this year to regional leaders of Poland’s Catholic Church and of other churches, only one bishops’ court made its files available to the State Commission for Cases of Pedophilia.

“We are receiving no documents, no information from Poland’s Episcopate Conference that would allow for a substantive analysis of the cases that we need to clarify,” Kmieciak told a news conference.

As a result, the commission sent a letter to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith asking,…

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N special rapporteurs have criticised the Vatican over child sexual abuse in stronger terms than ever before, highlighting that there have been “tens of thousands of alleged victims” over “decades”.

This week the office of the UN high commissioner for human rights has released a letter which it sent to the Holy See in April (English translation available).

It details significant abuse in eight countries and highlights concerns over the Vatican’s “obstructionist practices”.

The letter expressed regret that there had been no response to a separate communication which the rapporteurs sent in 2019.

The latest letter has only been made public, as they had threatened, because it had not been replied to either.

‘Obstructionist practices’

The rapporteurs referred to “persistent allegations” that the Catholic Church had obstructed and failed to cooperate with domestic judicial proceedings, in order to “prevent” accountability for abusers and compensation for victims.

They urged the…

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The Diocese of Lafayette has received an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor by Deacon Shawn Jude Gautreaux, according to a news release. 

Following an initial inquiry, the Diocese has placed Gautreaux on administrative leave pending a further determination in the matter. 

The allegation received, according to the release, relates to a period of time many years before he was ordained a deacon. Further, the Diocese has reported the allegation to law enforcement authorities in St. Martin Parish. 

The Diocese reportedly is unaware of any other allegations involving Gautreaux at this time.

According to the release from the Diocese, staff is continuing to cooperate fully with law enforcement and anyone with any information on any cases of possible abuse is urged to come forward to local law enforcement authorities and to the Diocese.

In response, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) issued the following statement:

“It is what the Diocese of…

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Deacon Shawn Jude Gautreaux from St. Bernard Catholic Church in Breaux Bridge, LA, has been put on leave pending an investigation into allegations that he sexually abused a minor. According to the Diocese of Lafayette, the allegation against the Deacon comes from a period of time before his ordination. The Diocese also said that local law enforcement has been informed.

However, it is what the Diocese of Lafayette is not sharing that concerns us. We believe that full transparency requires more information about Deacon Gautreaux. What the accusations are, when he was ordained, what his assignments were and how long he worked at each, including St. Bernard Parish, is vital knowledge for the parish community and the public. Catholic officials should also visit every place where the Deacon was assigned and beg anyone with information or suspicions to notify the police immediately.

We hope the Diocese…

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“The cover-up was extensive,” the report says. “Again, Iowa is not different from the rest of the country.”

The Iowa Attorney General’s Office released a report Wednesday after reviewing 50 complaints of sexual abuse and misconduct involving around 70 Catholic priests.

“Sexual abuse took place over decades,” the report read. “The complaints, the victims, the duration of the abuse were overwhelming.”

Attorney General Tom Miller started looking into the issue in 2018 after the Pennsylvania attorney general released a similar report.

In 2019, the Des Moines and Sioux City dioceses released their first lists of credibly accused priests. The Davenport Diocese and Dubuque Archdiocese had also previously released these lists.

Since the attorney general’s office began the review, three names were added to the list for Sioux City, and one name was added for Davenport.

The 50…

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Roman Catholic priests sexually abused minors across Iowa for decades while church leaders covered it up, but reforms implemented in the last two decades have largely ended the problem, a three-year review by Iowa’s attorney general concluded.

A report issued by Attorney General Tom Miller said the number of complaints, victims and the duration of the abuse was “overwhelming” and the “cover-up was extensive,” similar to what has been found elsewhere in the U.S.

“The image and reputation of the church were put ahead of the enormous harm to young people,” the 30-page report found.

The review found that only five Iowa priests have been the subject of allegations since 2002, and that bishops who participated in concealing past problems are no longer in charge in Iowa.

Miller said key reforms implemented since 2002 are working. He praised the automatic reporting of all abuse allegations by church…

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In Iowa as in the rest of the country, the incidence and duration of sexual abuse by clergy “were overwhelming” and the cover-up “extensive” in earlier decades, a report by the Iowa Attorney General’s Office that was released Wednesday concludes.

A years-long investigation by the office reviewed nearly 50 complaints of sexual abuse against current and former Catholic priests and other officials, including 17 allegations that had never before been reported.

In a statement Wednesday, the bishops of Iowa’s four Catholic dioceses said the church “is committed to do all that is humanly possible to protect minors from the sin and crime of clergy sexual abuse, and to promote healing.” The bishops said the new report would be studied for ways to improve existing reporting and investigating procedures.

The state’s investigation was inspired by a sweeping and scathing report issued by the Pennsylvania Attorney General in 2018.

In…

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‘Our hearts go out to the victims of these acts,’ report says 

The Iowa Attorney General’s Office has completed a review of clergy abuse in Iowa. The office examined records involving about 70 Catholic priests and looked into 50 complaints of sexual abuse and misconduct reported to the attorney general.

“Sexual abuse took place over decades. The complaints, the victims, the duration of the abuse were overwhelming,” a report by the AG’s Office concluded. “Our hearts go out to the victims of these acts. The consequences are severe and lifelong.”

The report concludes that while the Catholic Church in Iowa had a long, painful history of abuse by priests and a cover-up by officials, the Dioceses have enacted many reforms over the last two decades. The Dioceses have become more responsive to victims of clergy abuse and each now reports all accusations to law enforcement authorities.  

Five priests in Iowa…

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When a bipartisan majority of state lawmakers voted in the final days of the legislative session to give survivors of past childhood sex abuse access to the justice system, a small group of people quietly celebrated the accomplishment: the former Colorado legislators who watched their similar effort go down in flames 15 years ago.

“I do applaud the people who really worked on it,” said Alice Madden, the House majority leader in 2006 and a Democrat from Boulder. “I’m sad there were not champions prior to this.”

At the time, Madden was one of the sponsors of an effort to abolish the civil statute of limitations — the time window in which victims could file a lawsuit — for child sexual abuse. Until the recent law change, survivors generally had six years after they turned 18 to sue their perpetrator and only two years to sue an institution. The…

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The Catholic Diocese of Kansas City – St. Joseph said that it does not duplicate publicly listed names of “credibly accused” priests, but victim advocates say that’s not enough.

A victim advocacy group says the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City – St. Joseph failed to include the names of nearly 20 priests in its list of “credibly accused” sexual abusers.

Members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests went to the diocese’s headquarters on Wednesday to write the names of the priests that were all at one point tied to Kansas City, Missouri.

The group said that while Bishop James V. Johnston Jr. had not included the priests on his list of accused clergy, they can be found on lists of institutions elsewhere.

Former SNAP executive director David Clohessy said it was important for the local diocese to include all of the names on its list.

…

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Key points:

• The review into the national redress scheme recommended significant changes to the application process
• Social Services Minister Anne Ruston said the government was taking immediate action on 25 of the 38 recommendations
• The government did not back a recommendation to change the standard of proof required for a claim

Elderly and terminally ill survivors of child sexual abuse will be able to access advance compensation payments of up to $10,000, after an inquiry found the scheme designed to support victims is a bureaucratic nightmare.

In its first two years of operation, the national redress scheme has been criticised as incredibly slow, overly complicated and traumatising for survivors forced to recount horrific tales of abuse in the hope of securing financial support.

A review commissioned by the federal government has been released by Social Services Minister Anne Ruston and agreed with many of those sentiments.

One of the recommendations by senior public…

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The Archdiocese of Berlin announced that it was temporarily suspending the work of its expert commission established to follow up on a legal report about sexual abuse in the archdiocese since 1946.

The archdiocese said June 22 that the commission is recommending that findings from the legal firm Redeker Sellner Dahs be reworked or that another legal firm be commissioned to investigate the abuse.

In a statement later that day, lawyers Sabine Wildfeuer and Peter-Andreas Brand of Redeker Sellner Dahs said they learned about the suspension of the archdiocesan Sexual Abuse Expert Commission through the media.

“No one has spoken to us about this, neither from the archdiocesan staff nor from the expert commission,” the letter said.

“Our mandate for a legal opinion has been fulfilled completely and properly. The report states in detail by whom and in what way cases of sexual abuse were covered up in the area…

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The Legionaries of Christ were supposed to be the great Catholic hope of Latin America, but their Mexican founder’s sexual crimes have permanently weakened the congregation

Father Marcial Maciel’s name no longer appears on any of its official documents.

But the Legion of Christ, the male religious congregation the late Mexican priest set up in 1941, is still deeply affected by the actions of its founder.

Maciel has been accused of some 60 rapes and other forms of corruption.

Most of his crimes came to light after his death in 2008. But they have plunged his congregation into a long crisis.

The Legion of Christ was once touted as the future of the Church in Mexico, the country with the world’s second-largest Catholic population.

But at the order’s most recent chapter, the Legionaries (as the group is more commonly known) spoke of a “vocational emergency, marked by a steady decline…

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In a letter made public today, four Independent human rights experts working with the United Nations want the Vatican do more to prevent violence and sexual abuse against children.  The experts cited the “persistent allegations of obstruction and lack of cooperation” from the Catholic Church. SNAP agrees wholeheartedly with them.

To us, it is excellent news that yet another highly respected group is calling on the Vatican to reform. Hopefully, the increased pressure from these international experts will force Church officials to make a difference for children and the vulnerable. We also applaud the UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner (OHCHR) for noting the tactics used by Catholic leadership in avoiding accountability and transparency. Most importantly, we fully agree with the UN experts who raised concerns about the Church’s efforts to thwart legislative efforts to make the prosecution of abusive clergy, brothers, and nuns easier, as intense…

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A man abused for years by a paedophile priest at a County Down school is to receive a six-figure sum in damages, the High Court has been told.

Tony Gribben, 61, sued the trustees and board of governors at St Colman’s College in Newry and the Diocese of Dromore.

He took the lawsuit over the sexual and physical assaults suffered at the hands of the late Father Malachy Finnegan.

The pay-out to Mr Gribben forms part of a settlement.

A personal apology will also be issued on behalf of the leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland under the terms of the agreement.

Outside the court, Mr Gribben said that for the apology to be meaningful, the Church must “acknowledge it was more concerned about protecting its reputation than safeguarding children from the actions of predatory paedophiles like Finnegan”.

“The diocese needs to be completely transparent in cooperating with a…

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Father Andrew Small from Liverpool was appointed on Tuesday as the new secretary of the pope’s commission for the protection of minors, succeeding American Monsignor Robert Oliver, who was removed from the position earlier this year.

“I am deeply honored to be called to serve the Holy Father and God’s people as secretary of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors,” said Small in a statement released by the commission when the appointment was announced.

“Safeguarding the youth of our Church and of our communities remains one of the most urgent priorities of the Church today,” he said. “I look forward to doing my part to help rebuild trust in a Church whose mission is to protect, support and love any and all, but especially those wounded by the Church’s ministers. The Lord will accompany us in the healing that lies ahead as we continue on this most important…

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The Diocese of Camden “grossly underreported” its assets in a bankruptcy filing in an effort to “disadvantage survivors of clergy abuse,” a lawyer charged Wednesday.

Attorney Jeff Anderson asserted Bishop Dennis Sullivan, the diocese’s leader, “has at least $774 million under his control.”

In contrast, he said, the diocese’s bankruptcy filing lists assets of almost $54 million and net assets after liabilities of $28.1 million.

“We’re here to sound the alarm,” said the St. Paul, Minnesota, attorney, who called the diocese’s financial accounting “a lie, a facade, a fiction.”

“They are hiding their assets and their true ability to pay (clergy sex abuse victims), the same way they’ve been hiding offenders and the role of top officials,” claimed Anderson.

The diocese rejected Anderson’s claims, saying it “continues to fully comply with all requirements” of U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

“Any claim to the contrary is purposefully inflammatory and does nothing to advance the cause…

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“Better late than never” is one cliché that comes to mind when hearing that the Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kansas has reversed itself by admitting a cleric that it previously cleared is actually a credibly accused abuser.

“We told you so” also comes to mind. The context of this cliché – that the church cannot honestly or possibly police itself – has been a concern of advocates for years and is sadly shown to be true with each new story about clergy abuse that comes out.

In this particular case, the red flag was that the accused cleric, Fr. William Haegelin, was laicized in 2004, just two years after the accusation. In the context of the Catholic Church, this kind of timeframe is speedy and sends the message that this cleric’s crimes were severe enough that the institutional church wanted to distance themselves from him as quickly…

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Voicing “deep sorrow for the suffering of victims and survivors of abuse,” the archdiocese said that former priest William Haegelin was in fact the subject of “a substantiated allegation of sexual abuse of a minor.

Crediting a sex abuse victim for his challenge of a review board’s ruling in 2002, the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas says an allegation that a now-laicized priest abused a minor was, in fact, able to be substantiated. 

“The archdiocese is particularly grateful for this survivor’s courage and strength in coming forward to challenge the decision,” the archdiocese said in a June 18 statement in the case involving former priest William Haegelin.

“Due to this persistence, we are now able to acknowledge more fully the harm to the survivor and to better assist and support their healing,” the archdiocese said. “Archbishop Naumann offers his sincere apology to the survivor, their family and community.”

Voicing…

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A viral video has in many ways exposed a practice of child abuse at some religious schools that clerics don’t want people to talk about.

A sexually explicit video involving a senior Muslim cleric that surfaced a few days back has reignited a debate on the seemingly rampant abuse that takes place in Pakistan’s religious schools known as madrassahs. 

Seventy-year-old Aziz ur Rehman, a scholar at one of the top Islamic institutions in Pakistan’s second largest city of Lahore, has confessed he forced a student to perform sexual acts in return for a promise to let him take an exam after he was caught cheating. Rehman is now in police custody. 

The case involving Rehman, who’s a Mufti, which means he’s among the highest echelons of the clergy, can become a test case for Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government on how to tackle a politically sensitive matter, experts said. 

“What…

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A determined Sister Lucy is unwilling to give in to the Church’s coercion tactics. She remarked, “Other than my room, they have denied me access to all the other areas in the convent. They don’t talk to me. Still, I will continue my fight and I won’t be leaving this convent.”

Days after the dismissal of Sister Lucy Kalapura from the Franciscan Christ Congregation (FCC), an exclusive report by The Times of India revealed that she was removed by the Vatican over frivolous charges. Sister Lucy had supported the nun, who accused Bishop Franco Mulakkal in a rape case. And this drew the ire of the Apostolica Signatura, the highest judicial authority in the Catholic Church.

The former nun had joined the FCC at the tender age of 17. According to the Church, she has committed a long list of ‘crimes.’ It includes buying a car and publishing…

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The Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston has added more priests to the list of credibly accused clergy.

The original list in 2019 named local priests who were credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors from 1950 to 2018.

The updated list now includes Manuel La Rosa Lopez who pleaded guilty to indecency with a child last December. La Rosa Lopez was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

His victims were teenagers at the Sacred Hearth Catholic Church in Conroe who waited 20 years for justice. Two of them sued The Vatican for $20 million.

The other three died decades ago, according to the Archdiocese. John Patrick Barry, C.S.B., Franz B. Lickteig, O.Carm. and William “Herb” Schreiner, C.S.B. were members of Religious Orders based outside of the Archdiocese but serving within its geographic boundaries.

A credible allegation is one which there is reason to believe is true, based on reasonably available information, in…

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Five individuals, among them a priest, have been arrested in Bengaluru for allegedly trying to get a 10-year-old girl sacrificed in order to ‘ward off evil spirits’ in a field, as per India Today. 

A case has been registered against them by the cops under the Karnataka Prevention and Eradication of Inhuman Evil Practices and Black Magic Bill, kidnapping and criminal intimidation as per The New Indian Express.

The report said it happened in Gandhi Grama near Nelamangala on June 14. The girl was a Class 4 student and lived with her grandma while her parents lived in Magadi. Both were labourers. 

In their complaint, the parents claimed that the neighbours Savithramma and Soumya took their daughter to a nearby field. She told them she was forced to wear a garland. 

The grandmother noticed she was missing and on hearing her screams, raised the alarm. She was rescued and narrated the incident…

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The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has said he will appeal a ruling by a magistrate’s Court in Kitui which freed a former Catholic priest who had been accused of attempting to kill a woman and a child he is alleged to have fathered.

Senior State Counsel Bonnie Okemwa said the office of the DPP disagrees with Kitui Chief Magistrate Stephen Mbungi’s judgment and will be moving to the High Court to lodge an appeal.

Fr Japheth Mwove Kimanzi, a former Catholic priest, was acquitted on Wednesday last week, prompting protests and loud wailing from the victim, who claimed that she had been denied justice.

Veronica Musali Mutua burst out crying inside the courtroom as soon as the trial magistrate delivered the judgment, saying that the trial court had sided with her persecutor.

Permanent disability

Mr Okemwa, who is the head of prosecutions in Kitui County, said the appeal will…

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The Lahore police reported that they had filed a complaint against Mufti Azizur Rahman after distressing video footage of the priest allegedly sexually abusing one of his students quickly went viral.

Local media reported that the victim has included in his complaint that he was barred from taking examinations at Wafaqul Madaris for three years because Mufti Rahman had accused him and another student of cheating.

Mufti Rahman allegedly told the victim that if he engages in sexual activity and pleases Mufti, he will help him with his exams, and the victim had no choice but to be sexually abused.

The distressing video, which went viral a few days ago, sparked outrage on social media, with many demanding that it should be prosecuted. Meanwhile, Mufti Rahman asserted his innocence in a video message claimed that the student in the video had drugged him and made him lose his wits.

Mufti…

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Craig Harrison’s attorney claimed that Harrison received a letter from Bishop Brennan from the Fresno Diocese threatening and defaming him.

Harrison resigned his post in the catholic church earlier this year, claiming he was not given the chance to defend himself to the diocese following allegations of sexual misconduct.

Now Kyle Humphrey, Harrison’s lawyer, claims the letter from Bishop Brennan accused Harrison of continuing to present himself as a catholic priest in his private businesses. Humphrey claimed the letter said, “essentially if monsignor did not agree to shut down his business and no longer work with his woman’s non-profit then they would put him on the list of credibly accused priest, something he is not on.”

Humphrey claims the bishop’s letter says that he creates a source of “confusion and scandal” for local Catholics.

We have not seen a copy of this letter for ourselves, despite asking Humphrey for the…

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Accused former priest Craig Harrison has been told by his previous boss at the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno to shut down his counseling business and stop serving in a nonprofit that ministers to women because such activities might sow confusion and scandal, according to a statement released Friday by Harrison’s attorneys.

The statement also said his lawyers have received word from the Catholic Church that Harrison will not be named on a soon-to-be released list of priests credibly accused of sexual improprieties.

The diocese’s chancellor declined to confirm either assertion, about the list or any attempt to call off Harrison’s spiritual consulting activities, and declined to address them. She said the list of accused priests is still being finalized.

“I will not make any comment about who’s on the list and who’s not on the list,” Chancellor Cheryl Sarkisian said.

Harrison has repeatedly denied he has ever had inappropriate…

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The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis announced June 17 it has fulfilled its remaining $3 million obligation to clergy abuse survivors ahead of schedule in its $210 million bankruptcy settlement.

Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda said in a statement, “With funds drawn from unexpected estate gifts, and at the advice of the Archdiocesan Finance Council and Corporate Board [lay leaders who advise him on archdiocesan operations], the archdiocese has decided to accelerate its payment schedule, underscoring a heartfelt desire to assist the survivors as promptly as possible by fulfilling our financial obligation ahead of schedule.”

The archdiocese filed for bankruptcy protection in January 2015 in the wake of mounting claims of clergy sexual abuse dating back as far as the 1940s.

Ultimately, 453 claims were filed against the archdiocese during the claim-filing period, most of which were related to lawsuits brought against the archdiocese during a three-year-lifting of the statute…

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Pope Francis has named Oblate Fr. Andrew Small secretary “pro tempore” of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

Small, 53, had served two terms as national director for the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States, and his successor there was named in April.

The Vatican June 22 announced Small’s appointment to the commission, which Pope Francis established in 2014. The body of experts, with input from survivors, is meant to make proposals and spearhead initiatives to improve safeguarding norms and procedures throughout the church. Its work is separate from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s investigation and canonical prosecution of clerics accused of abuse.

Small, who was born in Liverpool, England, but worked in the United States for many years and holds U.S. citizenship, succeeds Msgr. Robert Oliver, a priest of the Archdiocese of Boston.

The commission is headed by Boston Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley;…

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While acknowledging Vatican-mandated reforms in the handling of clerical sexual abuse, four U.N. special rapporteurs urged the Vatican to make it mandatory that church officials everywhere report abuse allegations to civil authorities.

The four human rights experts, volunteers who investigate and make recommendations on behalf of the U.N. Human Rights Council, also expressed “concern about the continued efforts of members of the Catholic Church to undermine legislative efforts to improve the prosecution of sexual abuse against children in national courts” and to lobby legislatures “to preserve the statute of limitations on these crimes.”

The report, sent to the Vatican in April and published on the website of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights June 21, was written by special rapporteurs working on the promotion of truth, justice and reparation; on the sale and sexual exploitation of children; on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; and on the rights of persons…

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THERE is a compelling documentary on Netflix titled The Keepers. It begins with an unsolved murder mystery, a theme which has become rather popular for documentaries on streaming websites and elsewhere. The murder is of a nun back in 1969, who taught at a high school in Baltimore, US. After her disappearance one night, her body was found two months later but the perpetrators were never identified or found.

But within one episode, it is clear the series, and the story it was following, was so much bigger than the murder of a young nun, who taught English at a Catholic school. By the time the viewer clicks on the second episode it turns into a story of abuse carried out at the school by a priest; as the survivors tell of their experiences; it turns out that some of them had confided in the nun and there is circumstantial…

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Bishop Emmanuel Lafont, who resigned last October on his 75th birthday, has been accused by several young men of demanding sex for favors

Police in Cayenne, the capital of French Guiana, received a strange Sunday evening phone call last October 18th.

It was from Bishop Emmanuel Lafont, the Catholic spiritual leader of the some 295,000 inhabitants of this overseas French department located on the northeast coast of South America.

The bishop told the officers he had been physically threatened by a young undocumented immigrant who was living at the bishop’s residence.

A few minutes later, the police arrived on the scene and arrested a 27-year-old Haitian man whom we’ll call “José”.

Lafont reported him for “degradation and violent theft against a vulnerable person”.

The Cayenne prosecutor’s office opened a preliminary investigation the next day.

The bishop and the young man were questioned, but their versions of the incident and the…

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A group of U.N. “experts” is expected to issue a statement aimed at forcing the Holy See and the Catholic Church to surrender to abortion and gender ideology, under the guise of demanding that the Vatican takes all necessary steps to prevent abuse.

With the Human Rights Council’s latest session due to begin on June 21, experts from the U.N., including several special rapporteurs, are poised to publish a statement urging the Holy See to introduce all necessary measures to prevent sex abuse.

The statement, which goes beyond the capacities of the U.N. experts, has the hallmarks of an attempt to undermine Catholic doctrine by using the sex abuse scandals.

In February 2014, a report by the Committee of the U.N. Convention for the Rights of the Child waded into the Church’s teaching on human sexuality and canon law. In May 2014, a report from the Committee of the U.N. Convention against Torture…

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Catholic Archbishop Marcel Damphousse also calls for Pope Francis to apologize for harm caused

Ottawa-Cornwall Archbishop Marcel Damphousse issued a formal apology Monday to Indigenous people for the Catholic Church’s role in the residential school system.

He also called on Pope Francis, the global head of the church of approximately 1.3 billion people, to apologize, as well.

The apology is the latest expression of contrition from a Canadian Catholic leader since the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation announced the discovery of what are believed to be the unmarked burial sites of children’s remains adjacent to a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C. It follows similar apologies from the archbishops of Vancouver and Regina.

More than 150,000 Indigenous children were separated from their families and forced to attend residential schools across Canada between the 1880s and 1996, with many suffering physical, sexual and psychological abuse. Most of the schools were operated by Catholic denominations on behalf of the federal government.

“I extend…

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Fr Malachy Finnegan taught and worked at St Colman’s College, Co Down from 1967 to 1987

A man abused for years by a priest at a Co Down school is to receive a “six-figure sum” in damages, the high court in Belfast heard on Monday.

The pay-out to Tony Gribben forms part of a settlement reached in his lawsuit over the historic sexual and physical assaults he suffered at the hands of the late Fr Malachy Finnegan.

A personal apology will also be issued on behalf of the Catholic Primate, Archbishop Eamon Martin under the terms of agreement.

Mr Gribben (61) sued the trustees and board of governors at St Colman’s College in Newry and the Diocese of Dromore.

Outside court he said: “The diocese needs to be completely transparent in cooperating with a long overdue investigation on its failings.”

Mr Gribben claimed for negligence and failures to protect him…

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Anyone who was sexually abused by a Catholic priest has less than two weeks to file a claim before a deadline set in the Diocese of Camden’s bankruptcy case, attorneys said as they added nine new names to the list of accused priests.

The diocese — which includes parishes in Atlantic, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem counties — filed for bankruptcy last fall after church officials said its finances were overwhelmed by clergy sexual abuse settlements and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A bankruptcy judge set a June 30 deadline for those owed money to file claims against the diocese. That has prompted attorneys to call on anyone sexually abused by a clergy member tied to the Diocese of Camden to file a lawsuit quickly, or risk missing out on a settlement through the bankruptcy court.

“We need to sound the…

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UN human rights experts* urged the Holy See to take all necessary measures to stop and prevent the recurrence of violence and sexual abuse against children in Catholic institutions, and to ensure those responsible are held to account and reparations are paid to victims.

In a letter to the Holy See in April 2021, the experts expressed “utmost concern about the numerous allegations around the world of sexual abuse and violence committed by members of the Catholic Church against children, and about the measures adopted by the Catholic Church to protect alleged abusers, cover up crimes, obstruct accountability of alleged abusers, and evade reparations due to victims”.

The experts noted the persistent allegations of obstruction and lack of cooperation by the Catholic Church with domestic legal proceedings to prevent accountability of perpetrators and reparations to victims. They also noted the concordats and other agreements negotiated by the Holy See with States that limit…

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A group of UN human rights experts said Monday they had urged the Vatican to take steps to stop child sex abuse in Catholic institutions and prevent it from happening again.

The experts called on “the Holy See to take all necessary measures to stop and prevent the recurrence of violence and sexual abuse against children in Catholic institutions, and to ensure those responsible are held to account and reparations are paid to victims.”

The four special rapporteurs, who do not speak for the United Nations but report their findings to it, wrote to the Vatican in April.

The experts voiced their “utmost concern about the numerous allegations around the world of sexual abuse and violence committed by members of the Catholic Church against children,” according to the letter released Monday.

They also said they were worried about measures adopted by the church to “protect alleged abusers, cover up crimes,…

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Four human rights experts working with the United Nations are imploring the Vatican to be more proactive about stopping and preventing violence and sexual abuse of children.

The U.N. Human Rights Office cited “persistent allegations of obstruction and lack of cooperation” from the Catholic Church. The experts said in an April 7 letter made public on Monday that the church demonstrated a pattern of behavior “to protect alleged abusers, cover up crimes, obstruct accountability of alleged abusers, and evade reparations due to victims.”

The experts also alleged bids were made by select church members to undermine attempts to prosecute child sex offenders in national legislatures. They noted lobbying attempts to limit how long former child victims can report the crimes after becoming adults.

The experts said the violations had allegedly been committed over decades in many countries with tens of thousands of victims.

“We note with great concern the apparent pervasiveness…

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Independent human rights experts working with the United Nations have urged the Vatican to do more to stop and prevent violence and sexual abuse against children, citing “persistent allegations of obstruction and lack of cooperation” from the Catholic Church, the U.N. human rights office said.

The four experts, in a letter dated April 7 but only made public on Monday, faulted efforts by the church “to protect alleged abusers, cover up crimes, obstruct accountability of alleged abusers, and evade reparations due to victims.”

In general terms, the experts alleged bids were made by some church members to undercut efforts in national legislatures to prosecute child sex offenders, and cited lobbying attempts to limit how long former child victims can report the crimes after they become adults.

The experts said the violations had allegedly been committed over decades in many countries with tens of thousands of victims.

“We note with great…

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I was 22 years old and working as a sports reporter when I was raped by a Major League Baseball player.

I didn’t tell my best friend, my sister, my mother or my sports editor, who was a woman. For 18 years, I didn’t tell anyone.

I didn’t say it out loud to myself, write it down, speak his name or allow myself to think about it beyond wishing hard that it would not have happened. I spent years willing it to unhappen. Magical thinking became my truth.

That all changed in January, when I heard that the New York Mets’ general manager, Jared Porter, was fired for sending sexually explicit texts and photographs to a female reporter in 2016.

I hadn’t been a sports reporter in 11 years, but as I read accounts of other women’s experiences with sexual harassment, the full force of my own assault hit me. And with…

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“We were just like machines for them, they definitely dehumanised us.”

THE WAY SURVIVORS of mother and baby homes have been treated by the Catholic Church and successive governments in Ireland amounts to “abuse of the abused”, one woman has said.

Terri Harrison was among the survivors to give testimony to the Investigation Committee of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes.

Speaking to The Journal, Terri said that recalling the trauma she suffered when coerced into giving her son up for adoption, and her ongoing search for him, while giving evidence to the Commission was incredibly difficult.

Terri gave birth to a son, Niall, in the St Patrick’s institution on the Navan Road in Dublin in 1973. She [was] 18 years old at the time and wanted to keep her baby.

She moved to England and had planned to raise her child there but a religious organisation found…

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A former Catholic school music teacher will serve at least a decade in prison after pleading guilty to four counts of criminal sexual conduct.

It’s the harshest prison sentence so far in the Michigan Department of Attorney General’s ongoing clergy abuse investigation, according to a news release Friday.

Joseph – or Josef – Comperchio of Fort Myers, Florida, was first charged last September in connection to sexually abusing two children.

In those cases, he was charged with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and four counts of second-degree criminal sexual contact.

Five new counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct involving two individuals were added this past October.

The charges stem from Comperchio’s time as the drama and music teacher at St. John Catholic School in Jackson in the 1970s.

He pleaded guilty Friday morning to three counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct and one count of first-degree criminal sexual…

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A former music teacher is facing 10 to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to sexual abuse charges dating to his tenure at a Jackson Catholic school in the 1970s. 

Joseph Comperchio pleaded guilty Friday in Jackson County Circuit Court to three counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct and one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, according to Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office. 

Nessel’s office in September charged Comperchio with six counts of criminal sexual conduct for sexually abusing two children and added five new counts in October related two individuals.

At the time of his arraignment, Comperchio was living in Fort Myers, Florida, but the charges stem from his work as a drama and music teacher at St. John Catholic School in Jackson in the 1970s, Nessel’s office said.

“We remain indebted to the survivors who have come forward in order to share their stories,” Nessel said in a statement. “Their…

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Critics of Murphy Commission findings about mother and baby homes have failed to note they were based on sworn testimonies

Donal O’Donnell, the incoming chief justice, has warned against the increasingly strident attacks being made on his fellow judges, who make an easy target for critics because they “cannot and do not answer back”.

Addressing a recent Bar Council conference, O’Donnell did not mention the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes, but he could have, because it has been under extraordinary attack ever since the publication of its report in January.

The commission was led by a retired judge, Yvonne Murphy, and she and her two fellow commissioners, Professor Mary Daly and Dr William Duncan, have been invited to appear before the Oireachtas committee on children to answer the charge that their report had “failed” former residents of the homes.

They have refused to do so. In a letter…

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With deep sorrow for the suffering of victims and survivors of abuse, the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas (“Archdiocese”) announces that William Haegelin, a priest who was removed from ministry in 2002 and laicized in 2004, has been the subject of a substantiated allegation of sexual abuse of a minor. Mr. Haegelin’s name had been listed among the Archdiocese’s Substantiated Clergy Offenders under the category “Previously Publicized Allegations Not Able to Be Substantiated” but is now listed under the category “Substantiated Allegations of Clergy Sexual Abuse of a Minor.”  The list may be found at www.archkck.org.    

William Haegelin was the subject of an investigation in 2002 that led to an inaccurate determination and announcement that he did not sexually abuse a minor.  The Archdiocese is particularly grateful for this survivor’s courage and strength in coming forward to challenge the decision to categorize Mr. Haegelin’s allegation as not able to…

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The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas has substantiated a sexual abuse claim against a priest nearly two decades after clearing him.

The archdiocese announced in a statement published in Friday’s issue of its official newspaper, The Leaven, that it was with “deep sorrow for the suffering of victims and survivors of abuse” that it was reversing what it described as an “inaccurate” determination that The Rev. William Haegelin did not sexually abuse a minor.

Haegelin was placed on leave from St. Ann Church in the Kansas City suburb of Prairie Village, Kansas, in 2002 after the archdiocese received a letter accusing him of the inappropriate sexual relations in the 1980s. A review board determined later that year that there was a sexual relationship but that the accuser was 18 when it began, The Kansas City Star reports.

Haegelin released a…

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Gov. John Bel Edwards has signed legislation removing deadlines for Louisiana’s child sex abuse victims to pursue damages in civil court, delivering a victory to survivors of abuse at the hands of Catholic clergy.

The new law, taking effect Aug. 1, will create a three-year window where all unresolved child molestation claims can be pursued in civil court, according to The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate. Until now, child sex abuse victims had until their 28th birthday to initiate litigation over their abuse.

“The scars of childhood sexual abuse may stay with survivors long-term, and they deserve more time to report these devastating crimes,” Edwards spokesperson Christina Stephens said Monday in a statement announcing the bill signing.

The measure sponsored by New Orleans Rep. Jason Hughes, a Democrat, received final passage Thursday, the last day of the legislative session. During debate, Hughes cited research that showed the…

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New law creates three-year window for unresolved allegations – no matter how old

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards has signed a legislative bill removing legal deadlines for child sex abuse victims to sue for damages, awarding a major victory to survivors of the Roman Catholic Church’s clerical molestation scandal.

The law, which takes effect Aug. 1, creates a three-year window for all unresolved child molestation allegations – no matter how old – to be pursued in civil court.

“The scars of childhood sexual abuse may stay with survivors long term, and they deserve more time to report these devastating crimes,” Edwards spokesperson Christina Stephens said.

Sponsored by state Rep. Jason Hughes, D-New Orleans, House Bill 492 changes a 28-year-old law that gave Louisiana child sex molestation victims until their 28th birthday to initiate litigation. Hughes cited research showing that the average age for child sex abuse victims to come forward…

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A former Catholic school teacher has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing children during his tenure at a southern Michigan school in the 1970s.

Joseph Comperchio, 66, pleaded guilty Friday in Jackson County Circuit Court to three counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct and one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office announced.

Nessel’s office charged Comperchio in September with six counts of criminal sexual conduct for sexually abusing two children and added five new counts in October related to two other individuals.

At the time of his arraignment, Comperchio was living in Fort Myers, Florida, but the charges stem from his work as a drama and music teacher at St. John Catholic School in Jackson, where he taught between 1974-77. The victims said the assaults happened while he was a teacher.

“We remain indebted to the survivors who have come forward in order to share their…

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Charges against Joseph–or Josef–Comperchio, stem from his time as the drama and music teacher at St. John Catholic School in Jackson in the 1970s.

A former Catholic school music teacher will serve at least a decade in prison after pleading guilty to four counts of criminal sexual conduct, which will result in the harshest prison sentence thus far in the Michigan Department of Attorney General’s ongoing clergy abuse investigation.

Joseph – or Josef – Comperchio, of Fort Myers, Florida, was first charged last September for sexually abusing two children. In those cases, he was charged with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and four counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Then in October of last year, five new counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct involving two individuals were added.

The charges stem from Comperchio’s time as the drama and music teacher at St. John Catholic School in Jackson in the 1970s.

Friday morning,…

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A pair of state lawmakers who sponsored a bill to give adult survivors of child sexual abuse the right to sue their assailants beyond the statute of limitations say they will block state appropriations for Pennsylvania’s public research universities if Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward continues to stall a vote on their bill.

State Reps. Jim Gregory, R-Blair County, and Mark Rozzi, D-Berks, say they’ve assembled a coalition of lawmakers from diverse sectors who are willing to block funding to Pitt, Penn State, Temple and Lincoln universities unless Ward, a Hempfield Republican, moves the bill to a vote.

The quasi-public universities receive more than a half billion dollars each year in state subsidies, which is used to reduce tuition for Pennsylvania residents.

The years-long move to open the courts to claims that fall outside the statute of limitations gained momentum after the release of a 2018 statewide grand jury report…

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U.S. bishops were asked June 17 to consider authorizing development of a new formal statement and comprehensive vision for Native American and Alaskan Native ministry, since the last one approved was over 40 years ago.

Bishop James S. Wall of Gallup, New Mexico, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Subcommittee on Native American Affairs, said Catholic Native American leaders at a summit requested that a complete pastoral plan be developed and presented to the general assembly of bishops.

“During the summit, the Catholic Native leaders presented their concern that there was a perceived lack of interest in Catholic Native ministry by the Catholic Church in the United States,” said Wall, addressing prelates via Zoom on the second day of their three-day spring general assembly, held virtually due to the pandemic.

“A pastoral plan will help reassure Catholic Natives that their ministry has a high priority in the church,”…

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A divided conference of U.S. Roman Catholic bishops announced on Friday that they had voted to draft a statement on Holy Communion that may admonish Catholic politicians, including President Joe Biden, who support abortion rights.

The 168-55 decision to draft a teaching document on the Eucharist, a holy sacrament in the Roman Catholic faith, came after two hours of debate at the virtual assembly of the United States Catholic Bishops’ Conference on Thursday, in which the bishops weighed the merits of reaffirming church teachings against the possibility of sowing partisan division.

The debate this week laid bare some of the cultural and political rifts that have rocked the church in the last several years. U.S. Catholic Church membership has dropped nearly 20% in the past two decades, according to a Gallup poll in March, as sexual abuse scandals involving predatory priests have come to light and members have become increasingly…

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A finding in 2002 that one of its priests did not sexually abuse a minor was inaccurate, the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas announced on Friday.

“With deep sorrow for the suffering of victims and survivors of abuse, the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas announces that William Haegelin, a priest who was removed from ministry in 2002 and laicized in 2004, has been the subject of a substantiated allegation of sexual abuse of a minor,” the archdiocese said in a statement published in Friday’s issue of The Leaven, its official newspaper.

Haegelin’s name had been placed on the archdiocese’s list of substantiated clergy offenders under the category “Previously Publicized Allegations Not Able to Be Substantiated,” the archdiocese said, but is now listed under the category “Substantiated Allegations of Clergy Sexual Abuse of a Minor.”

The list is available at www.archkck.org.

“William Haegelin was the subject of an investigation in…

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Faith leaders from the Catholic dioceses in Texas have added four more names to the list of clergy who were accused of sexually abusing a minor from 1950 through the end of 2018.

The original list was presented as part of an effort to bring about the restoration of trust, according to the website hosted by the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston.

The updated list includes John Patrick Barry, C.S.B., Franz B. Lickteig, O.Carm. and William “Herb” Schreiner, C.S.B. who have all been “deceased for decades.”

The fourth is notable leader Manuel La Rosa Lopez, who was added to the 2019 list as being under investigation.

Diocesan Priests

ADDED 6/18: Manuel La Rosa Lopez
Diocesan: Galveston-Houston
Birth Year: 1957
Ordination: 1996
Status: Removed from Ministry 2001, 2018
Incarcerated: 2020
Assignments: St. Thomas More, Houston (Deacon)
Sacred Heart, Conroe
St. Francis de Sales, Houston
St. John Fisher, Richmond
Tribunal

Nicholas Cornelius Antle
Diocesan: Galveston-Houston
Birth Year: 1934
Ordained: 1959
Status: Retired 1990
Removed from Ministry 2011
Deceased:…

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The bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno has ordered Craig Harrison to close his counseling business and Reflections for Women nonprofit in what an attorney says appears to be a personal vendetta against the former priest.

“If (Harrison) does not comply, the bishop, acting in his capacity for the Diocese of Fresno, appears to be threatening to publicly defame Father Craig, a private citizen,” said attorney Kyle J. Humphrey, one of several lawyers representing Harrison.

The letter from Bishop Joseph V. Brennan, Humphrey said, appears to be a threat to “spew more lurid details” regarding allegations of sexual misconduct against Harrison, allegations the attorney said are false.

“To be clear, we have received confirmation from the church that Father Craig is not on the list of credibly accused priests,” Humphrey said. “The false accusations against him have been repeatedly investigated by multiple independent law enforcement agencies as well…

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Bobbie Bees said the abuse of children on military bases was not an isolated incident, but alleged that the Department of National Defence swept the crimes under the rug.

The Canadian government is facing a class action lawsuit over the sexual abuse of children on military bases by a Canadian Forces chaplain.

Vancouver resident Bobbie Bees said Thursday he decided to move forward with the lawsuit because Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan and the Department of National Defence have declined to help the victims of convicted pedophile Capt. Angus McRae who molested children during the 1970s and 1980s.

“I never wanted a claim in the first place, but the Minister of National Defence and the Department of National Defence have made it very clear that they are unwilling to assist military dependants who were sexually abused on military bases,” Bees said.

Last year this newspaper, citing newly released court martial records…

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The claim says the federal government was responsible for McRae’s abusive behaviour at bases where he was deployed throughout the country

Hundreds of children were mentally, physically and sexually abused by a Canadian Armed Forces priest, a class-action lawsuit filed by two Calgary lawyers claims.

In the legal action, filed in Calgary Court of Queen’s Bench, lawyers Clint Docken and Mathew Farrell seek compensation for Bobbie Bees and others who were abused by Capt. Angus McRae, a priest who worked as a chaplain at various military bases.

The lawsuit, which names the federal Crown as defendant, says Bees, the representative plaintiff in the case, grew up on various military bases and lived at CFB Namao in Edmonton from 1978 to 1980.

“Throughout the plaintiff’s time on the Canadian Forces Base Namao, the plaintiff was subjected to numerous cases of mental, physical and sexual abuse by Captain Father Angus McRae ……

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Content warning: this post discusses some of the atrocities of Indian Residential Schools, including physical, emotional, and sexual abuse.

In May 2021, the remains of 215 children were found at the former residential school in Kamloops. This is a devastating discovery, although the reason this has come to light is because of the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc community’s long fight to not have these children forgotten. As horrific as that number is, this is only one unmarked gravesite. There have already been 104 more potential graves located at a Manitoba residential school. Every former residential school in Canada needs to be searched, because it was not uncommon to have unmarked graves on the grounds of these schools.

It is hard to overstate the pain and damage Canada’s long history of residential schools has done — in fact, even the word “history” is misleading, since it is only…

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A former student at a posh New Jersey private school was raped, sodomized and sexually abused by three Catholic monks more than 150 times in the 1970s, a bombshell lawsuit claims.

Rodney Baron, a seventh grader at the time of the alleged abuse, said he was raped by an assistant headmaster at Delbarton School during an overnight retreat and frequently sexually assaulted in the men’s bathroom and in the headmaster of discipline’s office, according to the lawsuit filed in state Superior Court.

And Baron, seeking damages of more than $50 million, felt targeted because he and his brother were then the only two black students at the all-boys school in Morristown, the suit claims.

“As the only African American student in the school other than his brother, Rodney thought to himself: ‘Who is going to believe me?’’ said the lawsuit, filed May 12 by Baron’s attorney John Baldante.

Baron was…

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Robert McGowen’s hopes for relief decades after he says he was sexually assaulted by a Catholic priest are still alive after the Mississippi Supreme Court overturned a lower court’s ruling Thursday.

McGowen was 12 and 13 years old in 1984-85, when he says he was sexually abused by former Sacred Heart Catholic Church priest Father John Scanlon.

McGowen said he did not remember the abuse until one day in December 2018, after which he sought counseling, according to court documents.

He filed a complaint in 2019, but never got a chance to testify since 12th District Circuit Judge Jon Mark Weathers declined to hear the case.

Catholic sex abuse claim: State Supreme Court hears oral arguments in Hattiesburg case

Jackson attorney John Hawkins filed an appeal on McGowen’s behalf, saying state law provides for a case to proceed if it was brought within three years of the discovery of an injury even if…

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This week, Catholic and Baptist leaders meet to deal with issues facing their churches. While the two Christian churches are very different from each other, they do face similar problems.

The Southern Baptist Convention is meeting June 15-16, while the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops will meet June 16-18.

What are the problems that they both share?

First, both have been racked by sex abuse scandals.

The Catholic Church has been publicly grappling with this problem longer and seems to be ahead of the Baptists in responding to it. But the American bishops, and the Catholic Church as a whole, have an advantage besides time: Their long-established hierarchy and centralized policy engine make it easier to move against an often intractable ill.

The Southern Baptist Convention’s executive committee has wisely brought in an outside investigator in Guidepost Solutions. Such third-party firms can be essential in restoring credibility…

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In light of the recent discovery of 215 Indigenous children in unmarked graves at a former Catholic-run residential school in British Columbia and investigations at other former residential schools, there have been renewed calls for the Pope to apologize for residential schools and for the Catholic Church to release its records.

The story has also turned public scrutiny on how the Catholic Church has responded to other calls to apologize and be accountable to victims in cases of sexual abuse both in residential schools and throughout the church.

In 2020, I received a federal grant to study the Catholic Church as an organization that can be engaged in potentially contradictory practices to their principles, mission and values. This includes examining the content of websites and electronic documents — including safe and responsible ministry policies, protocols and codes of conduct — of the 18 Catholic archdioceses across Canada. Chiedza Chigumba, a doctoral student at Saint Mary’s…

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The Southern Baptist Convention, the largest evangelical group in the U.S. elected a new president Tuesday — Ed Litton. Litton, who has championed racial reconciliation, narrowly defeated Mike Stone, the favored far-right candidate. Judy Woodruff discusses the runoff vote with Ed Stetzer, a part of the Southern Baptist Convention and executive director of the Wheaton College Billy Graham Center.

Read the Full Transcript

Judy Woodruff: The Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant Church denomination in the U.S., met this week to elect a new president.

But it was more than just selecting a new leader. The future direction of the denomination itself is at stake. In recent years, and especially the past several months, the convention has been divided by contentious debates over race, politics, gender, and the handling of past sexual abuse cases.

In a run-off election yesterday, Ed Litton, who has championed racial reconciliation, narrowly defeated Mike Stone,…

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The Southern Baptist Convention this week took a stronger stand against sexual abuse, who can serve as a pastor and which congregations can remain a part of the network of conservative evangelical churches.

Churches will only be considered in friendly cooperation with the Southern Baptist Convention if they do “not act in a manner inconsistent with the Convention’s beliefs regarding sexual abuse.”

Southern Baptist messengers gathered Tuesday in Nashville approved the constitutional amendment in the second of two required votes. 

Another part of the constitution was also amended: Churches will only be considered in friendly cooperation if they do “not act to affirm, approve, or endorse discriminatory behavior on the basis of ethnicity.”

The topic of sex abuse remained at the front of many actions at the Southern Baptist Convention this week. It cropped up in resolutions, amendments and conversations between messengers, those delegates who get to vote on denomination business.

…

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Going into the Southern Baptist Convention’s (SBC) annual meeting, one of the biggest questions was how much the messengers assembled would trust the SBC Executive Committee.

If this morning’s business in Nashville was any indication, the messengers have answered, “Not much.”

On June 11, just four days before the start of the annual meeting, the Executive Committee announced that it was hiring an outside firm to investigate its handling of sexual-abuse allegations within the denomination. After weeks of hearsay back-and-forth and the release of recorded conversations, an independent investigation is the right move. The question is whether the convention believes that the Executive Committee–initiated investigation is sufficient or if a more-independent investigation is needed.

The Executive Committee exists to handle the affairs of the denomination between annual meetings. The SBC is ultimately run by the messengers assembled at the annual meeting. No hierarchical structure exists beyond the local…

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Delegates at the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to create a task force to oversee an independent investigation into the denomination’s handling of sexual abuse.

Separately, the convention approved its most absolutist statement yet in opposition to abortion, a resolution calling for its immediate banning without exception and calling it a “crime against humanity that must be punished equally under the law.”

The measure calls for the newly elected SBC president, Alabama pastor Ed Litton, to appoint the task force, which will head up a review of allegations that the denomination’s Executive Committee mishandled abuse cases, intimidated victims and advocates, and resisted reforms.

It also would investigate the work of a credentials committee that was created in 2019 with a mandate to identify congregations that fail to respond to sex abuse cases.

It was a sharp turn of events for the SBC’s largest gathering in decades.

The…

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Messengers to the 2021 SBC Annual Meeting overwhelmingly approved a motion calling for a task force to oversee a third-party investigation into allegations of mishandling abuse claims at the SBC Executive Committee.

The motion, offered by Grant Gaines, pastor of Belle Aire Baptist Church in Murfreesboro, Tenn., was among 32 motions made by messengers to the 2021 SBC Annual Meeting June 15 in Nashville, the most in a decade.

Gaines’ motion said the task force, which will be appointed within 30 days by new SBC President Ed Litton, should be composed of members of Southern Baptist churches and “experts in sexual abuse and the handling of sexual abuse-related dynamics.”

The task force can opt to oversee the independent review already initiated by the Executive Committee or begin a separate third-party review, and it must ensure that an investigation includes “any allegations of abuse, mishandling of abuse, mistreatment of victims, a…

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[With texts of motions and survivor statement.]

Thousands of Southern Baptists are arriving in Nashville for their denomination’s big annual gathering. 

It is a milestone event for Nashville.

The Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting is the first gathering of significant size to be held in Nashville since the pandemic killed the city’s meeting industry. More than 17,000 messengers, the voting representatives from Southern Baptist churches, could show up. 

It also could be a watershed moment for Southern Baptists.

Members of the largest Protestant denomination in the U.S. are divided over its direction. Some Southern Baptists are arguing the convention has drifted toward liberalism and a course correction is needed. Others say this faction is pushing for a fundamentalism that could spur more Southern Baptists, especially people of color, to leave the convention.

They are also fighting over the sexual abuse crisis in the church, acceptance of critical race theory, defining women’s roles in ministry and who…

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[Via National Catholic Reporter]

A Rome court has strongly backed Vatican prosecutors in their pursuit of an Italian businessman accused of bilking the Holy See of millions of euros in a London real estate deal, saying he used bad-faith negotiations, last-minute contractual changes and a web of accomplices.

The three-judge panel of the Tribunal of Review rejected several motions by lawyers for Gialuigi Torzi, lodged after Rome prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for Torzi in April. The tribunal let the warrant stand, and Torzi was arrested in London but is now free pending extradition hearings.

In the 18-page interim order, obtained Wednesday, the Rome judges gave the most comprehensive evaluation yet of the Vatican case against Torzi and several other Italian businessmen and Vatican officials who have been implicated in the investigation. 

They strongly backed Vatican prosecutors, saying the evidence shows Torzi defrauded the Vatican with the help of others,…

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An Garda Síochána determined that a crime was committed but the priest in question died prior to a complaint being made.

A NUMBER OF former pupils of Belvedere College in Dublin have alleged that a priest who taught at the fee-paying secondary school assaulted them in the late 1970s and 1980s.

In March the Jesuits in Ireland publicised the name of a former Belvedere College teacher, Fr Joseph Marmion SJ, who is now deceased, to encourage people who may have suffered abuse to come forward.

The Order said at the time that Marmion had “sexually, emotionally and physically” abused pupils at Belvedere College in Dublin in the 1970s.

A number of former pupils have since alleged that a second deceased priest – Fr Brendan Kearney SJ – assaulted them. One of the men, Des Hickey, made an official complaint to gardaí in late 2017.

An Garda Síochána has confirmed…

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he Buffalo Diocese, heavily criticized by State Attorney General Letitia James for not keeping better tabs on priests who molested children, is launching a monitoring program that will include monthly home visits and other restrictions for offending priests.

Bishop Michael W. Fisher confirmed in an interview with The News that the diocese has developed and begun to implement a “detailed monitoring plan with a professional monitor who will be in contact with each of these priests who have been relieved of ministry.”

Fisher also sent a letter this week to all priests and deacons announcing that diocese lawyers and Sister Mary McCarrick, chief operating officer, met last week with the Attorney General’s Office to outline the monitoring plan.

“While this is increasingly standard practice among dioceses nationwide, it is also a key requirement of the New York Attorney General, as outlined in the suit brought against the diocese last year,”…

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Dear Members of the Faith Community of St. Elizabeth of the Trinity,

Thank you for your patience and prayers during the absence of your Pastor Emeritus, Father Dan McCarthy. As you know, late last year the Archdiocese received allegations of child sexual abuse against Father McCarthy. In accordance with our policies for the protection of children and youth, the Archdiocese Independent Review Board, assisted by our Office of Child Abuse Investigation and Review and outside investigators conducted a thorough review of the allegations.

The Review Board has concluded that there is insufficient reason to suspect Father McCarthy is guilty of these allegations. Having given careful consideration to their decision, which I accept, I now inform you that I am reinstating Father McCarthy’s faculties and his position of Pastor Emeritus with residence at St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, effective immediately.

This coming weekend, as we celebrate Fathers’ Day and honor all…

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The Archdiocese of Chicago returned the Rev. Daniel McCarthy to his Norwood Park parish after an investigation found “insufficient reason to suspect” allegations of sexual abuse of a child were true, Cardinal Blase Cupich told parishioners in a letter Monday.

McCarthy was removed from his post as pastor emeritus at St. Elizabeth of the Trinity Parish, 6020 W. Ardmore Ave., after he was accused of committing sexual abuse about 50 years ago while assigned to the now-closed Angel Guardian Orphanage in Chicago’s West Rogers Park neighborhood, according to the archdiocese.

In a letter sent Monday to the St. Elizabeth of the Trinity community, Cupich said McCarthy was reinstated “effective immediately” after the archdiocesan board’s investigation into allegations concluded.

“The Review Board has concluded that there is insufficient reason to suspect Father McCarthy is guilty of these allegations,” Cupich said.

The archdiocese asked McCarthy to live away from the parish while…

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Albany County – Rensselaerville resident Richard Tollner has filed a legal petition against the Diocese of Albany, relating to an effort to secure justice against a Catholic priest whom Tollner says sexually abused him when he was a teenage prep-school student in Nassau County. 

The petition for pre-action discovery, filed on May 28, would allow Tollner and his attorneys to acquire information from the Diocese of Albany that would help them to “fully evaluate [Tollner’s] claims” against the Diocese of Rockville Centre, which oversaw the prep school, St. Pius X Preparatory Seminary, where Tollner says he was sexually assaulted a number of times by Alan Placa in the 1970s.

Tollner declined to answer Enterprise questions about the petition this week on the advice of his attorneys, a team at Merson Law, who also declined to answer Enterprise questions. 

“Sex abuse murders your soul,” Tollner said in an Enterprise podcast in…

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San Diego Catholic schools saw an uptick in demand because of their in-person options.

While many parents grappled over the past year with whether to send their children to public school online or in-person, others considered a pandemic-era education imbued with religion.

One example: Inquiries, applications and transfer requests at St. Augustine High School in North Park were at an all-time high this academic year, said the school’s director of admissions, Paul Sipper.

While it’s not uncommon to have a waitlist at the all-boys Roman Catholic private school, there was a new intensity among families hoping to secure one of the 700 spots for students in grades nine through 12, he said.

There were more than 300 applications for prospective incoming freshmen. Requests to transfer to St. Augustine from other schools tripled, some from well-regarded public schools in Coronado, Point Loma and Poway.

The draw: in-person education and athletics with…

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Too few people in charge of residential schools have faced legal consequences for “crimes against humanity” committed against Indigenous children, experts say.

Following the discovery of the remains of 215 undocumented children, some as young as 3, under a former residential school in British Columbia, calls are mounting for leaders and staff of residential schools to be punished.

Starting in the 1800s, residential schools were funded by the Canadian government and operated by churches to forcibly assimilate an estimated 150,000 First Nations, Inuit, and Métis children. More than half of all schools were Catholic-run. Sweeping physical and sexual abuses, disease, and malnutrition were rampant, and up to 15,000 children, many undocumented, were killed nationwide. The last school only closed its doors in the mid-1990s.

“To this day, I’ve, I’ve always wanted to go back and burn the place, and I never did,” a survivor who had been subjected to sexual…

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We live in a world where human weakness and vulnerability destroy the Christian ideal of human relationships. The Church and the family of God are well aware of their responsibility to provide shelter or to protect their members, ”said the Auxiliary Bishop of Armagh.

Isabella Piro – Vatican News

“To healing – Towards Healing ”: This is the name of a counseling and support service for victims of abuse by some of the clergy sponsored by the Irish Bishops’ Conference and the National Association of Religions and Missionaries.

The organization has been active since 1996 and has helped over 7,000 people. Archbishop Michael Router, Archbishop of Armagh, and Bishop Michael Router recalled the atmosphere of the Holy Trinity.

“We live in a world where human weakness and vulnerability destroy the Christian ideal of human relationships – the priest said – that the Church itself, God’s family, is very conscious of its…

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[Via ABC News]

Berlin – One of Germany’s most famous Catholic boys’ choirs, the Regensburg Cathedral Choir, plans to establish a separate choral group for girls for the first time in its more than 1000-year history.

“We are happy to welcome girls in the future,” choir director Christian Heiss said in a statement Tuesday, adding that the so-called Regensburg Cathedral Sparrows still would be open only to boys and remain the No. 1 choir.

Girls can apply to the new choir from the beginning of the 2022-23 school year. They will also have to attend the high school that is connected to the choir.

The Regensburg choir was founded around the year 975 and is thought to be one of the oldest boys’ choirs in the world.

Choir members have toured the world, including trips to the Vatican, the United States, Canada, Poland and Japan, and…

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A former star athlete and football player at Delbarton School in Morris County has filed a lawsuit against the order that runs the private Catholic institution, claiming three monks sexually abused him as a teenager in the 1970s – the latest in a series of similar lawsuits filed against the school.

Rodney Baron, now 57, claims in the lawsuit he was abused in the late 1970s when he was 13 or 14 years old. Baron states in the suit that he and his brother were the only Black students at Delbarton and were instructed to be “exceptionally obedient” because of their race.

The lawsuit alleges Baron was abused by two Benedictine priests and one brother at the school. One of the three was an assistant headmaster who also taught social studies, one was a headmaster of discipline and one was a math teacher. NJ…

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The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Jason Hughes, D, spoke on the state house floor on Thursday, noting that his bill aims “to give some sense of justice and closure to children that have been malicious and heinously robbed of their innocence. Period.”

The Louisiana state legislature last week passed a bill allowing for new lawsuits in old cases of child sex abuse where the statute of limitations had already expired.

An amended version of the bill, House Bill 492, passed the state house on Thursday with 102 votes in favor, none against, and three abstentions. On Friday it was sent to Gov. John Bel Edwards, D, for signature.

The legislation creates a three-year period during which survivors of child sex abuse can file lawsuits against their alleged abuser, even when the statute of limitations would normally impede such lawsuits.

The Archdiocese of New Orleans announced in May 2020 that it was…

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Lack of cooperation from internet service providers, limits to technology, and data privacy rules have hamstrung law enforcers running after perpetrators of online child sex abuse.

AS PUBLISHED BY PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

(Third of 4 parts)

Part 1: The Filipino mothers selling their children for online sexual abuse
Part 2: Young girls face a lifetime battle removing their naked photos, sex videos from the internet

It was the year 2010. National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agent Bernard Dela Cruz remembered watching dozens of children move in and out of an internet café in Cebu City in central Philippines, wondering if they were the young boys and girls they needed to rescue.

The NBI had information that the children were being livestreamed naked to paying customers abroad. It’s one of the first cases of online sexual exploitation of children or OSEC that Dela Cruz…

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Accused faces four charges dating back to the 1960s involving secondary student in Galway

A retired priest is seeking a High Court order halting his trial on charges of child sexual abuse dating back to the 1960s.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is facing four charges of sexual assault of a female on dates between 1966 and 1969.

The complainant was a secondary school student and a minor at the time of the alleged assaults in Co Galway.

The first assault is alleged to have taken place in the room of an abbey. Two other assaults took place when the girl was bringing communion for Sunday Mass to a convent, it is alleged. She claims the accused waited for her near the convent, before violently assaulting her on those occasions.

The fourth charge relates to an incident around Christmas time, when she claims the man came…

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The Archdiocese of Chicago announced Monday it was reinstating the Rev. Daniel McCarthy following an investigation into a sexual abuse allegation that surfaced last October.

The Archdiocese of Chicago reinstated the Rev. Daniel McCarthy to a Northwest Side parish less than a year after a decades-old sexual abuse allegation surfaced.

In a letter released Monday to the congregation of St. Elizabeth of the Trinity Parish and School, Cardinal Blase J. Cupich stated McCarthy would be reinstated effective immediately following an investigation from last year’s report.

“The Review Board has concluded that there is insufficient reason to suspect Father McCarthy is guilty of these allegations,” Cupich stated in the letter.

McCarthy had been removed from the Catholic church, located at 6020 W. Ardmore Ave., in the Norwood Park neighborhood, in October after he was accused of sexually abusing a minor about 50 years ago while he was…

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In a case that could decide a dispute between Kentucky child welfare officials and a Baptist children’s agency, the U.S. Supreme Court is close to ruling on whether private agencies may reject LGBTQ foster and adoptive parents because of religious beliefs.

Sunrise Children’s Services, citing religious convictions, has refused to sign a contract with Kentucky to care for abused and neglected children that would ban discrimination based on “sexual orientation” or “gender” identity,” as well as race, age and other factors.

Officials with the administration of Gov. Andy Beshear have said they will stop placing children with the agency by July 1 if Sunrise refuses to sign a standard contract that contains anti-discrimination language the state says is required by federal regulations.

Background:Letter from Baptist children’s agency lawyer confirms reason for state contract dispute

But a ruling in favor of Catholic Social Services of Philadelphia could require Kentucky to recognize the…

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Father Daniel McCarthy, former pastor at St. Elizabeth of the Trinity Parish and School, has been reinstated as Pastor Emeritus at the Norwood Park church following an Archdiocese of Chicago investigation into sexual abuse allegations levied against him last year.

McCarthy was accused of sexually abusing a minor about 50 years ago during his time at the now-closed Angel Guardian Orphanage in West Ridge, according to Cardinal Blase Cupich.

Cupich, in a letter to St. Elizabeth of the Trinity parishioners, said that there was “insufficient reason” to suspect that McCarthy was guilty of the allegations.

“Having given careful consideration to their decision, which I accept, I now inform you that I am reinstating Father McCarthy’s faculties, and his position of Pastor Emeritus with residence at St. Elizabeth of the Trinity,” Cupich said.

The Archdiocese of Chicago’s Archdiocesan Office for Child Abuse Investigations and Review looked into the…

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A retired priest who was affiliated with multiple Archdiocese of Chicago schools has been reinstated by Cardinal Blase Cupich following a child sex abuse claim dating back approximately 50 years ago.

Last October, Father Daniel McCarthy was asked to step away from ministry following a claim when he used to work at an orphanage.

“There is insufficient reason to suspect Father McCarthy is guilty of these allegations,” said Cupich.

McCarthy was retired at the time of the allegations, but served as the pastor emeritus for Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity School, a K-8 school on the Northwest Side. He has been reinstated there with residency.

McCarthy had also been chaplain for Notre Dame College Prep and Resurrection College Prep.

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 The number of sexual abuse accusations made public by Catholic churches in Illinois is a fourth of the total number, according to Attorney General Kwame Raoul.

An investigation launched by Former Attorney General Lisa Madigan in 2018 discovered Catholic churches kept at least 500 sexual abuse accusations a secret.

August 23, 2018 ATTORNEY GENERAL LISA MADIGAN ISSUES STATEMENT ON PENNSYLVANIA GRAND JURY REPORT

At the time, only 185 clergy members in the state were publicly identified as being “credibly” accused of child sexual abuse.

Madigan announced her investigation in August 2018, and by December, the state discovered those 500 undisclosed cases, bringing the total number of allegations up to about 690.

December 19, 2018 ATTORNEY GENERAL MADIGAN PROVIDES UPDATE ON INVESTIGATION INTO CATHOLIC CHURCH

Thursday, WCIA’s Target 3 investigative team found out the number of undisclosed cases doubled since 2018. That came to light in an interview with…

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A minister has slammed Catholic RSE materials portraying women as “receivers” in sexual relationships, just a few months after he said using the resources was a decision for schools.

The warning by schools minister Nick Gibb, and an Ofsted visit to one school using the resources, suggest a tougher government stance after a wave of sexual misconduct claims by pupils rocked schools earlier this year.

But the curriculum’s authors say Gibb’s claims are out-of-date and out-of-context as materials have been updated, and launched their own attack on “hardline cancel culture”.

Gibb’s ‘serious concerns’

Gibb wrote to the publishers of the ‘A Fertile Heart’ curriculum earlier this month over materials which suggested it was women’s role to “receive” and men’s to “initiate” love in relationships.

He said he had “serious concerns” amid growing awareness of how school culture contributes to sexual abuse in schools, and how gender stereotypes “could normalise non-consensual behaviour”.

…

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Falconer – A local church has been named in a new Child Victims Act lawsuit filed late last week in state Supreme Court in Chautauqua County.

An unidentified person, going by AB 325 DOE in the 12-page suit, claims to have been sexually abused by the Rev. William G. Ward during a time between 1963 and 1967, when the victim was between 13 and 17 years old. Ward was the pastor at Our Lady of Loreto, 309 W. Everett St., Falconer, in 1967.

“Defendant knew or should have known that Fr. Ward was a danger to children before Fr. Ward sexually assaulted Plaintiff,” the suit states.

It continues: “Prior to the sexual abuse of Plaintiff, Defendant learned or should have learned that Fr. Ward was not fit to work with children. Defendant, by and through its agents, servants and employees, became aware, or should have become aware of Fr. Ward’s propensity to…

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