ABUSE TRACKER

ENGLAND
BBC News

December 21, 2020

A former vicar who sexually abused children for four decades in a “despicable” exploitation of trust has been jailed.

Rev John Roberts, 86 and of Cherry Vale, Woolton, was found guilty of ten counts of indecent and sexual assault at Liverpool Crown Court on Friday.

Roberts was vicar at St Peter’s Church in Woolton, which is known as the “Beatles church” due to it being where John Lennon and Paul McCartney met.

He was jailed for nine years.

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ENGLAND
BBC News

December 21, 2020

A clergyman claims he was “blackballed” by the Church of England after reporting sexual abuse by a priest.

John Skinner said he told the Bishop of Durham about Granville Gibson in the early 1980s but was told not to gossip.

A review into how the Diocese of Durham dealt with complaints about Gibson said others may have been spared abuse if he had been “more robustly challenged”.

The church said Father Skinner’s sense of injustice was “understandable” but a “culture of cover-up” had ended.

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UNITED STATES
The Intercept

December 21, 2020

By Brian Knappenberger

The film “Church and the Fourth Estate” tells the story of how the Boy Scouts tried to cover up a massive scandal of child sexual abuse.

ON NOVEMBER 16, the U.S. passed a milestone: the end of a window of less than nine months in which nearly 92,700 people came forward with shocking sexual abuse claims against the Boy Scouts of America. By way of comparison, in the last 15 years there have been some 15,000 credible child sex abuse allegations reported against the Catholic Church.

The allegations of sexual abuse against the Boy Scouts include highly violent attacks. More than half of the claimants, according to Tim Kosnoff, an attorney who has spent years representing victims of child sexual abuse, described behavior that would constitute a Class A felony — “the most serious child sex offenses,” Kosnoff said. Cover-ups by Scout officials were frequent. Instead of informing authorities, the officials told the subjects of the allegations to quietly leave the organization. Many went on to join other troops, only to face more allegations of child abuse. The young people targeted by abuse were often told by Scouting officials not to tell their parents.

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NEW YORK (NY)
CRUX

December 19, 2020

By John Lavenburg

According to one University of Notre Dame professor, the revelations of the Holy See’s report on laicized ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick and the totality of the clergy sex abuse crisis are grounds enough to increase the number of years after a person dies before a sainthood cause can be opened.

In a conversation with Crux, Kathleen Cummings, who also serves as director of the university’s Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism, said history needs a longer opportunity to play itself out before the process should start.

“What the actual truth of the matter is, we don’t fully know yet. I think any man who served as a bishop at any point since, say the 1960’s, just the possibility something is going to come to light is going to be enough to say, ‘this isn’t a good idea,’” Cummings said. “The legacy of clergy sex abuse is going to be long and I think it’s going to have an effect on canonization as it does everything else.”

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DENVER (CO)
CNA

December 21, 2020

By JD Flynn and Ed Condon

The outcome of a Vatican appeal involving same-sex civil marriage and the Catholic identity of an Indiana school could have effect on a pending religious liberty lawsuit, and on the way other Catholic schools approach the issue of Catholic identity among their faculty.

Layton Payne-Elliot is a math teacher at Brebeuf Jesuit High School in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. In 2017, the school became aware that Payne-Elliot had contracted a same-sex marriage with Joshua Payne-Elliot, a teacher at Cathedral High School, which is also in the archdiocese.

The archdiocese asked that both schools not renew the teachers’ contracts, because, they said, teachers in Catholic schools are supposed to be witnesses of Catholic doctrine, and contracting a same-sex marriage constitutes a public act of counterwitness to that doctrine.

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MECKLENBURG COUNTY (NC)
WSOCTV.com

December 17, 2020

A North Carolina orphanage is now at the center of four lawsuits claiming adults hired to care for children decades ago sexually abused them.

The survivors are now coming forward.

Channel 9′s Allison Latos has covered the push for justice for survivors for years now. She found out when state lawmakers signed the Safe Child Act in 2019. Part of the law allowed adults who were abused when they were children a chance to fight back in civil court.

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VERMONT
The VT Digger

December 14, 2020

By Kevin O’Connor

A two-year investigation of past problems at Burlington’s shuttered St. Joseph’s Orphanage — sparked by a 2018 BuzzFeed News story headlined “We Saw Nuns Kill Children” — has confirmed a history of child abuse but concluded with no criminal charges of murder.

“It’s clear that abuse did occur at St. Joseph’s Orphanage, and that many children suffered,” Vermont Attorney General TJ Donovan said Monday upon releasing a 286-page report. “But we have found that there is no credible evidence to suggest that a murder occurred.”

The Attorney General’s Office teamed with local and state police and prosecutors after reading BuzzFeed claims that not only recounted previously reported “unrelenting physical and psychological abuse of captive children” but also revealed a few deadly allegations not documented in a series of well-publicized lawsuits in the 1990s.

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CANADA
Global News

December 17, 2020

By Alexandra Mazur

Former members are asking for more oversight over non-denominational churches after claiming they experienced religious trauma at a Kingston, Ont., church.

Over the summer of 2020, Kingston, Ont., resident Tianna Weatherdon found herself incensed while researching a non-denominational Christian church in her hometown, called Third Day Worship Centre.

As a gay Christian, she was shocked by the church’s views on the LGBTQ2 community.

“I was pissed,” she says. “I was like, this is my city and these people hate me.”

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ROME
The Wall Street Journal

December 21, 2020

By Francis X. Rocca

Pontiff says bad news shouldn’t discourage church after a year dogged by crises

Pope Francis urged hope and warned against polarization in response to crisis in the Catholic Church, at the end of a year marked by scandals over financial dealings and sex abuse that besmirched the reputations of the last three popes and other prominent clerics.

A Vatican report revealed in November that Pope Francis and his two immediate predecessors had failed for years to discipline U.S. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick for sexual misconduct. Separately, the church was dogged during 2020 by scandals over a loss-making investment purchase in London real estate by the Vatican’s powerful Secretariat of State.

In his Christmas speech to Vatican officials on Monday, Pope Francis cautioned against “judging the church hastily on the basis of the crises caused by scandals past and present.…Problems immediately end up in the newspapers—this happens every day—while signs of hope only make the news much later, if at all.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Sunday World

December 19, 2020

By Neil Fetherstonhaugh

https://www.sundayworld.com/news/irish-news/ispcc-warn-new-privacy-laws-could-result-in-46000-daily-reports-of-child-sex-abuse-being-missed-39880668.html

The charity says these new privacy rules could prevent online giants from using software that automatically scans their systems for such images.

New privacy rules designed to protect private online communications from being monitored by internet companies could mean that thousands of images of child sexual abuse and grooming could be missed, the Irish Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children (ISPCC) has warned.

The children’s charity has expressed concern at the prospect of “vital child protection” measures becoming illegal as a result of a failure at EU level to resolve a row over privacy laws.

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IRELAND
irish Examiner

December 19, 2020

By Cormac O’Keeffe

The ISPCC warns that new privacy rules could prevent online giants from using software that automatically detects child-abuse material.

A children’s charity is alarmed by stuttering efforts at EU level to resolve a row over privacy laws that risks preventing internet firms from automatically detecting child-abuse material.

The ISPCC said that if these software tools were made illegal that an estimated 46,000 reports of child sexual-abuse imagery and grooming behaviour per day could be missed.

The threat is described as the unintended consequence of a broader attempt in the European Parliament to protect private online communications from being monitored by internet companies.

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TAMIL NADU (INDIA)
OpIndia

December 20, 2020

The Police have found that he was married twice but both the wives left him. They have slapped a case of kidnapping on the pastor and the search for Jayaraj is going on.

A tribal girl was allegedly abducted by a pastor from a tribal hamlet in the Jawadhu hills located in Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu. According to the reports, the 49-year-old Christian pastor identified as Jayaraj, a resident of Trichy, was camping in Perungattur, a tribal hamlet in the Jawadhu hills of TN. The Christian priest indulged in preaching and evangelism in the village for four years in the garb of a social worker.

In October, as schools were shut down due to the nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of the pandemic, Pastor Jayaraj took advantage of this situation and proposed that he would like to teach the children at his house.

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VICTORIA (AUSTRALIA)
The Courier

December 21, 2020

By Greg Gliddon

SURVIVORS of child sexual abuse in Ballarat have welcomed a landmark court decision that will allow a Victorian man to to overturn a settlement with the church.

On Friday, the Catholic Church failed in its bid to overturn a landmark court decision meaning it can be sued by the survivor, despite him having accepted a compensation of $32,500 in 1996.

The Victorian Court of Appeal judges said it was not enough given the wrong done to him

“It is, in our view, very plainly just and reasonable to set aside the (1996) deed. Indeed, it would positively be unjust and unreasonable not to do so,” they found.

This means the survivor can press ahead with suing the church for abuse inflicted by now-dead Warragul priest Daniel Hourigan between 1977 and 1980.

It’s a judgement which could set a precedent for many survivors in abuse in Ballarat.

Phil Nagle, a pupil at St Alipius from 1974-76, who hung new ribbons on the school fence at the weekend, said many people had simply taken money that was offered at the time.

“It was all very unfair and low, insignificant settlements and didn’t fit the crime that were committed against the victims,” he said.

“Once the Ellis defence was lifted, the judges have decided to review theses ‘deeds of release’ and have realised they were unjust.

“Rightside Legal got the deed of release overturned. All these extra cases are now like time bombs as every single one signed pre the Ellis defence can be reviewed.

“They’ve done a terrific job and now this sets the precedence for a lot of appeals.”

Mr Nagle said he himself had accepted a settlement without legal representation in the 1990s.

“I had no legal representation at the time of my deed, this guy had all the legal representation, and so for him to get such a result, it’s brilliant,” he said.

“I signed a deed of release in 1998. After the parliamentary enquiry in Ballarat, the church came to me again, and offered me some more money, so I accepted it at the time.”

The decision means the survivor can press ahead with suing the church for abuse inflicted by now-dead Warragul priest Daniel Hourigan between 1977 and 1980. A Supreme Court trial date had been set down for November but this was vacated because of the church’s appeal.

Rightside Legal Senior associate Laird Macdonald hopes the trial can go ahead in early 2021. “The church went to the highest court in Victoria trying to justify a pittance it paid to a man whose life was ripped to shreds by a pedophile priest,” Senior associate Laird Macdonald said.

In a statement, the Diocese of Sale said it would consider the court’s findings. The church would have to go to the High Court to lodge another appeal.

Lifeline 13 11 14 beyondblue 1300 22 4636

– with AAP

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VICTORIA (AUSTRALIA)
Gippsland Times

THE Victorian Court of Appeal has declined to hear an appeal from the Catholic Church against the overturning of a settlement agreement it had with a Gippsland man.

In a unanimous decision, the Victorian Court of Appeal declined to hear the church’s appeal.

“It is, in our view, very plainly just and reasonable to set aside the deed,” the court said. “Indeed, it would positively be unjust and unreasonable not to do so.”

In the late 1970s the former altar boy, known as WCB, was sexually abused for three years, from the age of 12, by his local parish priest, Father Daniel Hourigan.

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YAKIMA (WA)
Associated Press

December 20, 2020

One of four priests accused of sexual abuse by an Ellensburg man has been exonerated, with the man’s attorneys expressing regret over the false accusation and the priest being restored to ministry.

The Rev. Seamus Kerr, 91, was named in a lawsuit filed in Kittitas County last year by a man identified only as John Doe, the Yakima Herald-Republic reported. The man said he was abused as a boy in the late 1970s and early 1980s at St. Andrew Catholic Church in Ellensburg.

But during the course of the litigation, it was revealed that Kerr, who has been a priest for 60 years, was wrongly accused. The lawsuit was settled on Dec. 10, with the Catholic Diocese of Yakima agreeing to pay $15,000 in past and future counseling costs for the man in exchange for the lawsuit’s dismissal.

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HOUSTON (TX)
Houston Chronicle

December 15, 2020

By Nicole Hensley

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:1zqI5XEyDHIJ:https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/crime/article/Houston-priest-Manuel-La-Rosa-Lopez-sex-abuse-15807970.php+&cd=16&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

CONROE — The woman in the courtroom said shame filled her life in the years that followed the sexual abuse of Manuel La Rosa-Lopez, the Catholic priest whose crimes stained her childhood and those of others at a Montgomery County parish.

She shared the tearful reflection Wednesday as the Houston-area cleric was sentenced to 10 years in prison in exchange for pleading guilty to two counts of indecency with a child. The woman’s 2018 complaint to law enforcement resulted in priest’s arrest and conviction for abuse that spanned from 1998 to 2001 at Conroe’s Sacred Heart Catholic Church.

The criminal investigation happened amid a closer look at how the Catholic Church handled decades of clergy abuse accusations

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
NOLA.com

December 18, 2020

By Ramon Antonio Vargas and David Hammer

Editor’s Note: This is the final part of a three-part series. Earlier:

Part I: Monster in our Midst: How a pedophile clergyman stayed close to prey
Part II: Monster in our Midst: Despite predatory past, deacon welcomed back to Catholic institutions

The email to the Archdiocese of New Orleans came in on a Friday in November 2018.

A week earlier, New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond had published a list of clergymen credibly accused of child molestation — a first-ever effort by the leadership in this traditionally Catholic city to fully come clean about the depth of a scandal that blew up in 2002 and had begun to simmer again in summer 2018.

The scandal’s recent flare-up owed mostly to the first name on the list, which was organized alphabetically: George Brignac. That name jumped out at one man, and it prompted him to write the email.

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
NOLA.com

December 17, 2020

By Ramon Antonio Vargas and David Hammer

This is the second part of a three-part series.

Anyone else in George Brignac’s shoes — saddled with the disgrace that accompanies his name — might have gotten the hell out of Dodge and tried to reinvent himself, to outrun the shame.

Over the 12 years he served as a deacon at Our Lady of the Rosary Church, beginning in 1976, Brignac had been accused of molesting at least five boys and was arrested at least three times.

Brignac, who was also a schoolteacher, was never convicted. But he was forced to sign an agreement, under duress, to stay away from children. And, though some fellow priests objected, the Archdiocese of New Orleans suspended him from ministry in 1988.

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
NOLA.com

December 18, 2020

By Ramon Antonio Vargas

Editor’s Note: This is a follow-up to our three-part series on the career of deacon and serial child predator George Brignac.

Earlier:

Part I: Monster in our Midst: How a pedophile clergyman stayed close to prey
Part II: Monster in our Midst:Despite predatory past, deacon welcomed back to Catholic institutions
Part III: Monster in our midst: After disgraced deacon’s exposure, recriminations but no justice

For Leon Cannizzaro, preparing to leave office after 12 years as Orleans Parish district attorney, one defendant that was in his sights and got away is a particularly vexing one: the inveterate child molester and former Catholic deacon George Brignac.

Cannizzaro had more than two years left in his final term when the local archdiocese in November 2018 released the first version of a list of clerics who had been credibly accused of child molestation over the decades.

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KERALA (INDIA)
Tribune News Service

December 17, 2020

Row over Franco Mulakkal’s photo in church calendar

The release of the official calendar of 2021 by the Syro Malabar Thrissur Diocese bearing the picture of rape-accused Bishop Franco Mulakkal has not just evoked protests in Kerala but also angered a section of priests in the Jalandhar Diocese.

The priests supporting the victim nun have said even though they chose not to come out openly over the issue in Punjab as the calendar was not circulated here, they were certainly unhappy with the decision of the Thrissur Archdiocese to go ahead with inclusion of the photograph of Franco Mulakkal.

The 43-year-old victim nun had served as the Superior General in the Missionaries of the Jesus congregation based in Jalandhar.

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EAST MALAYSIA
Daily Gazette

December 19, 2020

A deaf mute Korean priest was charged in the Magistrate’s Court here Friday with molesting two Persons with Disabilities (PwD) a few years ago.

However, no plea was recorded from Jee Jon Hoon, 55, as Magistrate M.Kalaiarasi postponed the case to Jan 18 for mention for the court to get a Korean and international sign language interpreter.

Jee was charged with using criminal force on the two victims, aged 26 and 27, and are also deaf-mute, with intent to outrage their modesty at an apartment in Kampung Paya here at 12.20am in October 2013 and between 11pm and 1 am in July 2017, respectively.

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KERALA (INDIA)
UCA News

By Saji Thomas

December 1, 2020

The priest continues to serve as a pastor five years after he fathered a child with a Catholic nun

A Catholic diocese in southern India has denied allegations of covering up the case of a priest who had a child with a nun, but a campaign is seeking its bishop’s resignation and the priest’s dismissal.

Officials of Thamarassery Diocese in Kerala state maintain some laypeople “with a vested interest” raked up the five-year-old case of Father Jomon Kandathinkara despite the diocese acting against him.

“It is true the priest had a child with a nun, and he was suspended for a year after the matter came to our notice,” Father Benny Mundanattu, the diocesan chancellor, told UCA News on Dec. 1

“The diocese did not laicize him after he expressed deep remorse for his sin, and both of them were not ready to marry and settle down together.”

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FRANCE
Catholic News Agency

December 19, 2020

The Church in France is under pressure, according to the president of the French Catholic bishops’ conference.

But for Archbishop Éric de Moulins-Beaufort, that is no cause for despair.

“The Church in France is being jostled in many ways; it is reacting, which proves that it is alive,” he told CNA in an email interview.

The archbishop of Reims, in northeastern France’s Grand Est region, has had a busy past few months.

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VATICAN CITY
BBC

December 20, 2020

George Pell, the Australian cardinal whose conviction for child abuse was overturned this year, has said his conservative Christian views drove public opinion against him.

Speaking to the BBC, the 79-year-old said there was “no doubt” that his direct style and traditional approach to issues such as abortion had contributed to a hostile atmosphere.

The former Vatican treasurer said he would not apologise for those views.

His case rocked the Catholic Church.

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NEW ZEALAND
NZ Herald

December 18, 2020

Could there be a crueller phrase for the plight of the estimated 250,000 children, young people and vulnerable adults who have suffered from “abuse in care” over the past 50 years?

Such a contradiction only emphasises how a void of care was tolerated and even promulgated for so long.

Our Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions has conclusively proved our experience mirrors that of overseas. We are not unique but we have an opportunity now to lead the world in redress and rehabilitation.

The release of the inquiry’s draft report, Tāwharautia: Pūrongo o te Wā, this week described the key themes and common issues from the experiences of survivors and witnesses. The sheer scale of neglect, intentional harm and outright violence is nauseating and unbearable.

This is a national tragedy and requires a recovery effort of monumental proportions. To raise our vulnerable and damaged citizens out of this misery must surely be given priority.

This week, the Government said it was considering two changes in areas which concerned survivors – a centralised claims process and reform of the Limitations Act. The inquiry isn’t due to table a final report and recommendations until January 2023 but there is enough in this draft report to act much sooner.

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SALT LAKE CITY (UT)
Salt Lake City (UT)

December 18, 2020

By Peggy Fletcher Stack

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints unveiled new wording Friday for the faithful on a host of social issues — from sexual abuse to conversion therapy, cremation to stillborn babies, counseling to HIV infection.

The Utah-based faith also added two significant sections to its “General Handbook” — one decrying “prejudice,” building on recent speeches against it by church leaders, and the other on “seeking information from reliable sources.”

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UNITED STATES
Open Tabernacle (blog)

December 14, 2020

By Betty Clermont

The Catholic Church is the only religion headquartered in an autonomous country. The sovereignty of the Holy See – the name of the government of both the Vatican City State and the worldwide Church – provides criminal and civil immunity from any other authority to Vatican residents and government officials.

The Vatican has immense wealth. How it is earned, how it is spent, who profits remain hidden because it is shielded by self-rule. Vatican officials’ access to global financial markets is facilitated by its status as a sovereign city/state.

As officials of an independent nation, a pope and his appointees have access to, and some influence in, many international organizations.

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LIVERPOOL (ENGLAND)
Liverpool Echo

December 18, 2020

By Luke Traynor

The victim’s complaint to police took the case to court which today saw Rev John Roberts found guilty of abusing children in the 1980s

A former vicar who indecently assaulted a choirboy in the 1980s was today found guilty of abusing more children.

Rev John Roberts, who was based at St Peter’s Church in Woolton, until his retirement in 2013 was found guilty by a jury of nine more counts of indecent and sexual assault.

It relates to three different victims, all children, and abuse committed in the 1980s.

Now 86, Roberts was allowed to carry on working for 24 years despite his 1980s conviction.

And tragically, one of his victims whose complaint to police took the case to court, died recently and didn’t get the chance to see justice delivered.

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SASKATOON (SASKATCHEWAN)
DiscoverHumbolt.com

December 18, 2020

By Maury Wrubleski

St. Anne’s Parish in Annaheim was one of those served by Fr. Anthony Atter.

In response to charges laid against Lake Lenore and area priest Anthony Atter alleging sexual abuse and sexual interference relating to a minor, Bishop Mark Hagemoen of the Diocese of Saskatoon issued a response on December 17.

The statement confirmed that Atter had been removed from his ministry in the parishes of St. Anthony centred in Lake Lenore, St. Anne in Annaheim, and St. Gregory in St. Gregor.

While the Diocese stated that it would make no further comment relating directly to the case, it would cooperate to the utmost with the police investigation.

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UNITED STATES
Vanity Fair

December 18, 2020

By Dan Adler

A group of church volunteers sent a letter to ministry leaders about a pattern of staff conduct.

Since Carl Lentz was fired from Hillsong Church in November over his cheating scandal, the megachurch has faced a number of allegations about its culture. Page Six added to the growing pile on Thursday night, reporting that in 2018, a group of “high-level” volunteers sent a letter to ministry leaders claiming that there were “verified, widely circulated stories of inappropriate sexual behavior amongst staff/interns” at the church.

In a statement to Vanity Fair, Hillsong acknowledged that it “received a letter with serious allegations regarding specific members of the Hillsong NYC volunteer and staff teams.” The church said that after a three-month inquiry into the claims, it learned that “some of the allegations were true.”

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DETROIT (MI)
The Detroit News

December 18, 2020

By Oralandar Brand-Williams

Two state lawmakers plan next month to reintroduce legislation that would lift the statute of limitations for accusers of former University of Michigan doctor Robert Anderson, removing barriers to lawsuits against the school over allegations that he sexually abused them.

Michigan Reps. Ryan Berman, R-Commerce Township, and Karen Whitsett, D-Detroit, announced during a Zoom conference Friday that they will propose the bipartisan legislation at the start of the new session of the Michigan Legislature next month.

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PHOENIX (AZ)
3TV/CBS 5

December 18, 2020

By Nicole Crites

https://www.azfamily.com/news/original_reporting/child-sex-abuse-survivors-have-until-dec-30-to-file-claim-in-arizona/article_47ca37da-417b-11eb-9e26-cf3fdff7c7a8.html

Survivors of child abuse in Arizona have less than two weeks to file a claim against their abusers or the institutions that gave the abusers access to children.

Last year, Arizona lawmakers extended the statute of limitations for people who were sexually abused as children to come forward to seek justice.

And now that window for legal action is coming up on a fast-approaching deadline of Dec. 30. In Arizona, child sex abuse survivors now have less than two weeks to file a claim against their abuser or the institutions that gave them access to children.

Whether you were abused by a family member or someone in Boy Scouts, the Catholic Church or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, this is really the last call for adult survivors who are ready to say “me too” in the fight to find at least some accountability.

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UNITED STATES
Patheos (blog)

December 18, 2020

By Barry Duke

TOP of the list of crimes committed mainly by Catholic priests is Manuel La Rosa-Lopez, above, formerly of the Sacred Heart Church in Conroe, Texas. On Wednesday he was jailed for ten years for repeatedly abusing at least two minors between 1997 and 2001.

He faced a possible longer sentence but agreed to plead guilty in exchange for less time behind bars.

Tahira Merritt, attorney for two of the plaintiffs, uniquely identified as Jane Doe and John Doe, said:

It is not a long enough sentence, but at least it will be away from children while he is incarcerated and he will be registered as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

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YAKIMA (WA)
Yakima Herald-Republic

December 18, 2020

By Tammy Ayer

One of four priests accused by an Ellensburg man of abuse in the late 1970s and early 1980s has been exonerated.

The Rev. Seamus Kerr, a senior priest with the Catholic Diocese of Yakima, was exonerated as part of a settlement, according to a news release from the diocese. The March 2019 lawsuit filed in Kittitas County Superior Court alleged an Ellensburg man was sexually abused by priests at St. Andrew Catholic Church when he was a minor.

An order of dismissal was entered Dec. 10 after the settlement was reached. The diocese, which has provided more than $10,000 in mental health counseling for the man, agreed to provide an additional $5,000 in counseling payments, the release said.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

ENGLAND
LifeSite News

December 18, 2020

Church leaders did not report allegations to the police against the priest, who helped to bring sex education into Catholic schools 20 years ago.

Father Joseph Quigley of the Archdiocese of Birmingham, England was convicted this week of sexual activity with a child, sexual assault, false imprisonment (he liked to lock children in a crypt) and cruelty. One case against him dated from the 1990s, another concerned his actions between 2006 and 2008.

The Archdiocese, headed until 2009 by Vincent Nichols, now the Cardinal Archbishop of Birmingham, and since then by Archbishop Bernard Longley, failed to report Quigley to the police when they learned of one set of his crimes in 2008. Instead, they flew him to the United States for “rehabilitation” in a specialist clinic and subsequently allowed him to return to work in the UK.

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VANCOUVER (CANADA)
Vancouver Sun

December 18, 2020

By Glenda Luymes

Thirteen previously unknown victims have come forward since a historic 2019 report on clerical sexual abuse

The Archdiocese of Vancouver has named another three priests who sexually abused minors.

All three men — John Edward Kilty, Johannes Holzapfel and Armand Frechette — served in at least one parish in the Archdiocese of Vancouver between the mid-1940s and early 1980s, and all three are now dead.

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YAKIMA (WA)
Catholic News Service

December 18, 2020

A senior priest of the Diocese of Yakima, Father Seamus Kerr, was exonerated as part of a settlement of a lawsuit filed against the diocese in 2019 alleging a man from Ellensburg, Washington, was sexually abused by priests at St. Andrew Catholic Church there when he was a minor.

“On behalf of our client … we acknowledge that the allegations of sexual abuse and improper conduct made against you, including statements in court pleadings and the press, have proven to be false,” said a letter to Kerr from the attorneys representing the man.

“We hereby withdraw the allegations and express our regret for any harm they may have caused to you and your reputation,” it added.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service

December 18, 2020

By Mark Zimmermann

District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser, in response to a lawsuit filed by the Archdiocese of Washington, has modified the current pandemic limits on gatherings at houses of worship in the District to 25% of capacity and no more than 250 people.

Bowser took the action in an executive order issued Dec. 16. It became effective at 12:01 a.m. Dec. 17 and will be in place through Dec. 31.

“In order to resolve litigation,” it said, “this order repeals the numeric cap of 50 persons on gatherings at houses of worship and allows physically large facilities to accommodate more worshippers based on their overall capacity, up to a maximum of 250 persons.”

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SALT LAKE CITY (UT)
The Salt Lake Tribune

December 18, 2020

By Peggy Fletcher Stack

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints also issues new instructions on cremation, AIDS, therapy and medical care.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints unveiled new wording Friday for the faithful on a host of social issues — from sexual abuse to conversion therapy, cremation to stillborn babies, counseling to HIV infection.

The Utah-based faith also added two significant sections to its “General Handbook” — one decrying “prejudice,” building on recent speeches against it by church leaders, and the other on “seeking information from reliable sources.”

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CINCINNATI (OH)
WCPO

December17, 2020

By Craig Cheatham

Geoff Drew: COVID has him ‘fearful for his life’

Geoff Drew, a Cincinnati Catholic priest charged with 9 counts of rape, is making a third attempt to lower his $5 million full cash bond.

The priest is accused of sexually assaulting a former altar boy from 1988 to 1991 when Drew was the music minister at St. Jude Parish in Green Township.

Drew has been held in the Hamilton County Justice Center since his arrest on Aug. 19, 2019.

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BURLINGTON (VT)
WCAX

December 17, 2020

By Darren Perron

Vermont Catholic Bishop Christopher Coyne is apologizing to survivors of abuse following the release this week of an investigation on the former St. Joseph Orphanage in Burlington.

While Coyne says he’s relieved the investigation turned up no evidence of murder, allegations made by some former residents there, he says he is saddened about the confirmation of abuse of kids who lived there. He says the Burlington Diocese and Vermont Catholic Charities worked with investigators and have been transparent in providing all of their records.

Reporter Darren Perron: You know Bishop, back then before the priest sex abuse scandal, claims against clergy, frankly, weren’t believed. Do you believe the claims?

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
The New Orleans Advocate

December 18, 2020

By David Hammer and Ramon Antonio Vargas

Lawyers representing the church or its insurers took a hard line, arguing that plaintiffs had waited too long, and that they would be lucky to get anything.

The email to the Archdiocese of New Orleans came in on a Friday in November 2018.

A week earlier, New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond had published a list of clergymen credibly accused of child molestation — a first-ever effort by the leadership in this traditionally Catholic city to fully come clean about the depth of a scandal that blew up in 2002 and had begun to simmer again in the summer of 2018.

The scandal’s recent flareup owed mostly to the first name on the list, which was organized alphabetically: George Brignac. That name jumped out at one man, and it prompted him to write the email.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Wakefield Express

December 17, 2020

By Tony Gardner

A Catholic priest has appeared before a court to face charges of sexual offences against boys dating back more than 40 years.

Father Patrick Smythe entered not guilty pleas to four charges of indecent assault when he appeared before Leeds Magistrates’ Court this week.

The 77-year-old is alleged to have committed the offences against four different boys aged under the age of 16 between 1978 and 1983.

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COLORADO
SNAP Network

December 17, 2020

Following an updated report on clergy sexual abuse from Colorado’s attorney general, the University of Colorado revoked an honorary degree it had bestowed on a Catholic priest that the report revealed had multiple allegations against him. We applaud this move and hope that other institutions follow suit for any wrongdoers that they have honored.

Now that Fr. Charles Woodrich – aka Fr. Woody – has been exposed an abuser, Catholics and secular leaders in Colorado must reckon with how these crimes remained hidden for so long.

For parishioners, they must ask their bishops and leaders who knew what when. For Colorado politicians and other secular leaders, they must ask how they can reshape Colorado laws to better serve their citizens and prevent future children from experiencing the horrors of sexual abuse.

While we applaud this decision by the University of Colorado, the fact is that the AG’s report does not expose the full scope of Catholic clergy abuse in Colorado. In a key omission, the report contains no information about abuse by religious order priests, which means there are probably other Fr. Woodys out there wearing the robes of the Capuchins, Jesuits, Franciscans, or others.

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WISCONSIN
SNAP Network

December 17, 2020

Hundreds of graduates from four Catholic schools in Wisconsin signed a joint letter to a local religious order, demanding answers and actions following a recent article that detailed one man’s struggle with clergy abuse that ultimately culminated in suicide. We applaud these men and women for using their voices to fight for truth and transparency and hope that their example inspires lay Catholics around the country.

The example set by graduates from Notre Dame Academy, Premontre High School, Abbot Pennings, and St. Joseph Academy gives us hope that more and more lay Catholics are choosing to be less deferential to Church officials and less willing to believe what they say when it comes to cases of clergy abuse. Minimization, obfuscation, and sanitizing language regarding cases of abuse are key parts of the “playbook” for clergy abuse uncovered by Pennsylvania AG Josh Shapiro. We believe that the recent comments from Abbot Dane Radecki regarding Nate’s abuse were attempts to follow that playbook. We are grateful to see these alumni push back.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

December 18, 2020

By Adam Cooper and Tom Cowie

The Catholic Church has failed in its appeal over a compensation payout to a sexual abuse survivor, and now faces the prospect of being sued by hundreds of other victims who received meagre payments in exchange for their silence.

A former altar boy known as WCB was in 1996 paid $32,500 by the church after he was repeatedly abused by Warragul priest Daniel Hourigan between 1977 and 1980.

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AUSTRALIA
Wellington Times

December 18, 2020

By Georgie Moore

The Catholic Church has failed to overturn a landmark court decision meaning it can be sued by a Victorian sexual abuse survivor.

The former altar boy earlier this year became the first Australian to overturn a settlement with the church in the state’s Supreme Court.

The survivor received $32,500 in 1996 after taking legal action against the church. The Court of Appeal has agreed it was not enough given the wrong done to the man.

He was abused from the age of 12 by Warragul priest Daniel Hourigan, between 1977 and 1980. The priest took his own life after being charged.

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EUROPE
Catholic Herald

December 18, 2020

Despite Poland being over 90 percent Catholic, a survey published on Thursday suggested that approximately 41 percent of Poles view the Church favorably. This is a decrease of 8 percent from September, according to The Straits Times Europe and a survey by the CBOS institute, quoted by the Polish news agency PAP.

Meanwhile, 47 percent of the 1,010 adults surveyed earlier this month said they disapproved of the Church, up from 41 percent in September.

The survey echoes the results of a poll by another group last month when 40.4 percent of respondents said they trusted the Church, a decrease from 58 percent four years ago. Similarly, 42.4 percent of Poles said they distrusted the Church.

The Church’s reputation in Poland has been impacted by scandals, such as that of Polish Bishop Edward Janiak who resigned in October over suspicions he covered up sexual abuse of children.

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QUEENSLAND (AUSTRALIA)
Central Queensland News

December 18, 2020

By Frances Vinall

The Catholic Church tried to block a victim who experienced ‘horrific’ abuse as an altar boy from accessing compensation.

The Catholic Church’s attempt to block a paedophile priest’s victim from accessing a payout has failed.

The Victorian Court of Appeal on Friday rejected an application from the church that would have prevented the victim, known by the pseudonym WCB in court to protect his identity, from seeking compensation.

In their written reasons, judges David Beach, Stephen Kaye and Robert Osborn said WCB had been subjected to abuse “of the most horrific kind”.

He was tormented from the age of 11 while he was an altar boy at Warragul, in the Diocese of Sale, from 1977-1980.

The abuse was also inflicted on his brother, the justices said.

The paedophile priest, Daniel Hourigan, admitted the repeated sexual abuse before his death in 1995, the justices said.

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WASHINGTON D.C.
National Catholic Register

December 17, 2020

Amid a national reckoning on racial equality, a polarized campaign season, and the Vatican’s release of the McCarrick Report, Washington’s Catholic shepherd became the first African American to be named a cardinal.

By Joan Frawley Desmond

During the Nov. 28 consistory at St. Peter’s Basilica where he would become the first African American cardinal, Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Washington heard Pope Francis preach on the Gospel and warn against the temptation to abuse ecclesial power.

In his homily for the consistory, the Pope reflected on the passage from Mark’s Gospel in which Jesus refers to his crucifixion while walking with his disciples to Jerusalem. On that journey, said Francis, Jesus alludes to his death to prepare his disciples “for the trials to come” and to encourage them to accompany him to the cross.

But James and John want to take a different path, the “road of those who, perhaps even without realizing it, ‘use’ the Lord for their own advancement,” the Pope added, calling out the use of “the scarlet of a cardinal’s robes” for “worldly” gain.

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ROME (ITALY)
Catholic News Service

December 17, 2020

By Claire Giangravé

Forgiveness is a recurring theme of the former Vatican official’s prison journal, and he told reporters that if anyone in the Vatican meant him harm, ‘I will pray for them.’

Cardinal George Pell was not soured by his fall from the Catholic Church’s top ranks after he was accused of sexually abusing minors, the Australian prelate told reporters Wednesday (Dec. 16). Nor did the Vatican’s tepid defense of its former financial reform czar alienate Pell as he went to trial and was eventually acquitted on appeal.

“Right throughout Pope Francis was very respectful, as was the Vatican, of the due process in Australia, but he made no secret privately and to me of his belief that I was innocent and he supported me,” Pell said in an online news conference to publicize his new book, a prison journal.

Pell, 79, said his advanced age prevents him from returning in any formal capacity to his anti-corruption work in the Vatican.

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ROME (ITALY)
America

December 17, 2020

By Gerard O’Connell

Pope Francis celebrates his 84th birthday on Dec. 17, and four days later he will give his traditional (and often challenging) Christmas greeting to the Roman Curia for the eighth successive year.

Soon after his election on March 13, 2013, Francis told close friends that he had the distinct feeling that his would be “a short pontificate”—not more than a few years. Now he knows he was mistaken. Informed sources confirm he is in good health and continues to have the deep inner peace that he first experienced at the time of his election. Vatican officials who meet the pope regularly say there is no conclave on the horizon.

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PHILIPPINES
Arte.TV

December 2020

Written and directed by Marianne Dardard. Produced by Séverine Bardon

[VIDEO]

Our months-long investigation on clergy sex abuse in the overwhelmingly Catholic Philippines is now available with English subtitles. Unlike other countries, there is no association of victims for clergy sex misconduct in the Philippines.

The Philippines, despite being one of the most Catholic countries in the world, has never convicted a member of the clergy for sex abuse. And yet there are survivors who say that the abuse has been going on for years. At the end of 2018, an American priest who had officiated for forty years was arrested for pedophilia by the Philippine police and the American federal authorities.

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PARIS (FRANCE)
Wall Street Journal

December 16, 2020

By Francis X. Rocca and Noemie Bisserbe

Archbishop Luigi Ventura is one of several prominent Catholic churchmen accused of sexual misconduct in recent years

A former Vatican envoy to France was found guilty of sexually assaulting five men, in the latest case of such misconduct by a senior Catholic Church official.

Archbishop Luigi Ventura, who served as papal nuncio to France until December 2019, received a suspended eight-month prison sentence from a court in Paris Wednesday for the assaults, which occurred between 2018 and 2019.

One of the victims, an employee of the city of Paris who was tasked with welcoming the cleric at the mayor’s New Year address in 2019, said the archbishop had groped him in an “insistent and repeated” manner.

The 76-year-old archbishop was convicted in absentia. The court had accepted a note from his doctor saying that he shouldn’t travel from Rome to Paris during the current phase of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Holy See Press Office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. An attempt to reach the archbishop through the Vatican wasn’t successful.

In July 2019, the Vatican took the unusual step of withdrawing the archbishop’s diplomatic immunity to prosecution, in accordance with what it said were his wishes, to “collaborate fully and spontaneously with the French judicial authorities.” This summer, the Vatican spokesman said Archbishop Ventura reaffirmed his innocence.

Archbishop Ventura, a longtime Vatican diplomat, is one of several senior members of the Catholic hierarchy accused of sexual misconduct with adults in recent years, adding another dimension to the church’s long-running crisis over the clerical abuse of children.

In June, the pope reinstated his longtime protégé Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta in a high-level Vatican job, even though he is facing charges of sexual harassment in his native Argentina. Bishop Zanchetta has denied wrongdoing.

Last month, a Vatican report showed that Pope Francis and his two immediate predecessors had failed for years to discipline U.S. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick for sexual misconduct. St. John Paul II appointed Mr. McCarrick as archbishop of Washington, D.C., in 2000, even after being warned that he had been accused of sharing his bed with adult seminarians and of pedophilia.

Under Pope Benedict XVI, the Vatican pressed Mr. McCarrick to resign as archbishop of Washington and asked him to keep a low profile, but didn’t subject him to a church trial. Pope Francis followed the lead of his predecessors and assumed that the allegations had been rejected, the report said. In 2019, Mr. McCarrick became the first cardinal in modern times to be dismissed from the priesthood after a church trial found him guilty of sexual abuse of minors and sexual misconduct with adults. Mr. McCarrick denied wrongdoing.

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PARIS (FRANCE)
France24 News

December 16, 2020

A Paris court on Wednesday sentenced former Vatican ambassador to France Luigi Ventura to an eight-month suspended prison sentence after being convicted of sexual assault against five men.

The Vatican had previously lifted Ventura’s immunity while on trial. The court ordered Ventura to pay 13,000 euros in damages and he will now appear on sex offenders Register.

Former Vatican Ambassador to France was not present during the sentencing, nor was he present during the proceedings after his lawyers told the court that his doctor advised him against traveling from Italy to France due to the risks for health in the middle of coronavirus pandemic.

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Catholic News Agency

December 16, 2020

A Paris criminal court on Wednesday gave a former nuncio to France an suspended 8-month prison sentence for sexual assault.

The court found Archbishop Luigi Ventura guilty of placing his hands on the buttocks of five men while conducting his public diplomatic duties.

He was ordered to pay 13,000 euros ($15,800) to four of the men and 9,000 euros ($10,900) in legal costs, reported AFP.

Ventura’s lawyer, Solange Doumic, told the French newspaper Le Figaro that the Italian archbishop was considering an appeal.

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PARIS (FRANCE)
Reuters

December 16, 2020

A French court has found former Vatican ambassador to France Luigi Ventura guilty of sexual harassment against five men in 2018 and 2019 and given him an eight-month suspended sentence, AFP reported on its Twitter feed on Wednesday.

Prosecutors had opened an investigation after a junior official at Paris City Hall accused the papal nuncio, then 74, of molestation in January 2019, and city authorities filed a complaint. Other men later came forward with similar allegations.

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PARIS (FRANCE)
The Tablet

December 16, 2020

By Tom Heneghan

Archbishop Luigi Ventura, a former nuncio to France who fled to the Vatican last year under accusation of sexual aggression, has been given an eight-month suspended sentence in absentia by a Paris magistrates’ court and ordered to pay unusually high fines.

His case was unprecedented because the Vatican lifted his diplomatic immunity to allow a civil court to try him. Ventura denied the five counts against him and vowed to defend himself, but then quietly left France during the summer of 2019 and resigned on turning 75 that December.

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PARIS (FRANCE)
The Tablet

December 16, 2020

By Tom Heneghan

Archbishop Luigi Ventura, a former nuncio to France who fled to the Vatican last year under accusation of sexual aggression, has been given an eight-month suspended sentence in absentia by a Paris magistrates’ court and ordered to pay unusually high fines.

His case was unprecedented because the Vatican lifted his diplomatic immunity to allow a civil court to try him. Ventura denied the five counts against him and vowed to defend himself, but then quietly left France during the summer of 2019 and resigned on turning 75 that December.

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PARIS (FRANCE)
Associated Press

December 16, 2020

By Masha MacPherson

A Paris court on Wednesday convicted a former Vatican ambassador to France of sexually assaulting five men in 2018 and 2019, and handed him a suspended 8-month prison sentence.

Retired Archbishop Luigi Ventura, 76 — who was not present in court — was “shattered” by the verdict, according to his lawyer, Solange Doumic. She said she was uncertain whether he would lodge an appeal because the procedure “has been extremely painful for him.”

Ventura has repeatedly denied wrongdoing. Sexual assault is punishable in France by up to five years’ imprisonment and fines in France.

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PARIS (FRANCE)
Associated Press

December 16, 2020

By Masha MacPherson

A Paris court on Wednesday convicted a former Vatican ambassador to France of sexually assaulting five men in 2018 and 2019, and handed him a suspended 8-month prison sentence.

Retired Archbishop Luigi Ventura, 76 — who was not present in court — was “shattered” by the verdict, according to his lawyer, Solange Doumic. She said she was uncertain whether he would lodge an appeal because the procedure “has been extremely painful for him.”

Ventura has repeatedly denied wrongdoing. Sexual assault is punishable in France by up to five years’ imprisonment and fines in France.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

December 16, 2020

The former Apostolic Nuncio to France, who has been accused of sexual harassment by several men, has always proclaimed his innocence. Archbishop Ventura had waived his diplomatic immunity in order to cooperate with the French justice system.

Archbishop Luigi Ventura, 76 years old, who had served as Apostolic Nuncio to France from 2009 to 2019, was sentenced to an eight-month suspended prison sentence for sexual harassment of several men. The prelate will also have to pay €13,000 to the victims, as well as €9,000 in legal fees.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

December 16, 2020

The former Apostolic Nuncio to France, who has been accused of sexual harassment by several men, has always proclaimed his innocence. Archbishop Ventura had waived his diplomatic immunity in order to cooperate with the French justice system.

Archbishop Luigi Ventura, 76 years old, who had served as Apostolic Nuncio to France from 2009 to 2019, was sentenced to an eight-month suspended prison sentence for sexual harassment of several men. The prelate will also have to pay €13,000 to the victims, as well as €9,000 in legal fees.

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ORLANDO (FL)
Orlando Sentinel

December 15, 2020

By Tiffini Theisen

The pastor of a Baptist church in the Florida Panhandle was arrested Monday on child pornography charges, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said.

Agents tracked uploads to an IP address at the Milton home of William Dalton Milam, 62, the FDLE said.

Milam remained jailed Tuesday morning with no bond, Santa Rosa County jail records show.

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ORLANDO (FL)
Orlando Sentinel

December 15, 2020

By Tiffini Theisen

The pastor of a Baptist church in the Florida Panhandle was arrested Monday on child pornography charges, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said.

Agents tracked uploads to an IP address at the Milton home of William Dalton Milam, 62, the FDLE said.

Milam remained jailed Tuesday morning with no bond, Santa Rosa County jail records show.

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CANADA
CBC News

December 16, 2020

Police say incidents allegedly happened between Sept. 1 and Nov. 4

A Saskatchewan priest responsible for three parishes in small rural villages has been accused of sexual assault.

Anthony Tei Atter, 45, faces charges of sexual assault, sexual exploitation and sexual interference for multiple alleged incidents involving one victim.

Sexual interference is a charge laid when the alleged victim is under the age of 16.

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CANADA
CBC News

December 16, 2020

Police say incidents allegedly happened between Sept. 1 and Nov. 4

A Saskatchewan priest responsible for three parishes in small rural villages has been accused of sexual assault.

Anthony Tei Atter, 45, faces charges of sexual assault, sexual exploitation and sexual interference for multiple alleged incidents involving one victim.

Sexual interference is a charge laid when the alleged victim is under the age of 16.

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ENGLAND
BBC News

December 17, 2020

Church officials dismissed claims a priest was sexually abusing young men as “drunkenness”, a report has found.

Granville Gibson was jailed in 2016 and again last year for sexual offences committed in the 1970s and 80s.

In a review of how the Diocese of Durham handled complaints about Gibson, clinical psychologist Dr Stephanie Hill said a number of “red flags” were missed.

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ENGLAND
BBC News

December 17, 2020

Church officials dismissed claims a priest was sexually abusing young men as “drunkenness”, a report has found.

Granville Gibson was jailed in 2016 and again last year for sexual offences committed in the 1970s and 80s.

In a review of how the Diocese of Durham handled complaints about Gibson, clinical psychologist Dr Stephanie Hill said a number of “red flags” were missed.

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
WWL-TV

December 16, 2020

By Ramon Antonio Vargas and David Hammer

A review of more than 10,000 pages of documents from the Orleans Parish district attorney’s office reveal a timeline of George Brignac’s abuse over decades in Archdiocese of New Orleans churches.

Jan. 6, 1935: George Feldner Brignac is born to Horace L. Brignac Sr. and Ethel Marie Cocke Brignac.

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
WWL-TV

December 16, 2020

By Ramon Antonio Vargas and David Hammer

A review of more than 10,000 pages of documents from the Orleans Parish district attorney’s office reveal a timeline of George Brignac’s abuse over decades in Archdiocese of New Orleans churches.

Jan. 6, 1935: George Feldner Brignac is born to Horace L. Brignac Sr. and Ethel Marie Cocke Brignac.

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BUFFALO (NY)
The Buffalo News

December 17, 2020

By Jay Tokasz

While the Covid-19 pandemic overshadowed most other local news this year, one of the biggest stories of 2018 and 2019 – the Buffalo Diocese’s clergy sex abuse scandal – spilled into 2020 in a major way. The diocese’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing represented an historic new chapter in the scandal. The New York attorney general’s lawsuit against the diocese is unique in its effort to hold some of Buffalo’s bishops personally accountable, through state charitable law, for mishandling abuse claims. We’ve published many stories on the diocese’s bankruptcy case this year. I included the first story on the filing because it encapsulated much of the scandal to that point, while also giving a thorough account of what the bankruptcy will mean for the region. The story on the attorney general’s action shows how officials for decades covered up for a priest who is now accused in 21 separate Child Victims Act lawsuits. I also included three stories unrelated to the diocese scandal. A thoroughly sourced story prompted intense reader interest and outrage over how the current D’Youville College president has gone about making personnel and other changes at the college. Another story highlighted how a woman who was abused as a girl by her father is seeking justice through the Child Victims Act, even though she doesn’t expect to reap a financial windfall. And finally, a breaking news story about former Bills great Jim Kelly’s controversial tweet was just fun to write.

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BUFFALO (NY)
The Buffalo News

December 17, 2020

By Jay Tokasz

While the Covid-19 pandemic overshadowed most other local news this year, one of the biggest stories of 2018 and 2019 – the Buffalo Diocese’s clergy sex abuse scandal – spilled into 2020 in a major way. The diocese’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing represented an historic new chapter in the scandal. The New York attorney general’s lawsuit against the diocese is unique in its effort to hold some of Buffalo’s bishops personally accountable, through state charitable law, for mishandling abuse claims. We’ve published many stories on the diocese’s bankruptcy case this year. I included the first story on the filing because it encapsulated much of the scandal to that point, while also giving a thorough account of what the bankruptcy will mean for the region. The story on the attorney general’s action shows how officials for decades covered up for a priest who is now accused in 21 separate Child Victims Act lawsuits. I also included three stories unrelated to the diocese scandal. A thoroughly sourced story prompted intense reader interest and outrage over how the current D’Youville College president has gone about making personnel and other changes at the college. Another story highlighted how a woman who was abused as a girl by her father is seeking justice through the Child Victims Act, even though she doesn’t expect to reap a financial windfall. And finally, a breaking news story about former Bills great Jim Kelly’s controversial tweet was just fun to write.

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NEW ZEALAND
The Irish Times

December 16, 2020

Quarter of a million children taken into care in state and church-run homes, detention facilities and orphanages suffered abuse

Nearly four in ten – or 250,000 – of the children taken into care in New Zealand state and church-run homes, detention facilities and orphanages suffered from abuse, a royal commission into historic abuse of children, young adults and vulnerable adults in institutions between 1950 and 1999 has reported.

The interim findings of the inquiry, the Tawharautia: Purongo o te Wa, lay out what prime minister Jacinda Ardern, who set it up two years ago, describes as the “unconscionable” treatment of young people and particularly the Maori. The report warns that such practices have not been entirely eradicated and complains that the redress system is complex and unsympathetic.

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NEW ZEALAND
The Irish Times

December 16, 2020

Quarter of a million children taken into care in state and church-run homes, detention facilities and orphanages suffered abuse

Nearly four in ten – or 250,000 – of the children taken into care in New Zealand state and church-run homes, detention facilities and orphanages suffered from abuse, a royal commission into historic abuse of children, young adults and vulnerable adults in institutions between 1950 and 1999 has reported.

The interim findings of the inquiry, the Tawharautia: Purongo o te Wa, lay out what prime minister Jacinda Ardern, who set it up two years ago, describes as the “unconscionable” treatment of young people and particularly the Maori. The report warns that such practices have not been entirely eradicated and complains that the redress system is complex and unsympathetic.

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NEW JERSEY
The Jersey Journal

December 17, 2020

Letters To The Editor

Editor’s note: The following letters are in response to Jersey Journal Faith Matters columnist the Rev. Alexander Santora’s recent piece “Time for a Reckoning: Church must confront, change old boy’s network exposed in Vatican’s McCarrick report.”

Church disregards women

I am one of the lucky women educated by the church from kindergarten to graduate school without ever encountering an instance of abuse.

I did encounter constant and omnipresent prescriptions on how to live and think, with the underlying message that the most valuable female virtues in the eyes of the church are obedience, service and respect.

As a professional woman in Manhattan, however, over the years I came to view the church as out of touch, with no messages truly applicable to the experiences and demands of my life. There were no relevant views from the church to consider in ever greater areas of my life.

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NEW JERSEY
The Jersey Journal

December 17, 2020

Letters To The Editor

Editor’s note: The following letters are in response to Jersey Journal Faith Matters columnist the Rev. Alexander Santora’s recent piece “Time for a Reckoning: Church must confront, change old boy’s network exposed in Vatican’s McCarrick report.”

Church disregards women

I am one of the lucky women educated by the church from kindergarten to graduate school without ever encountering an instance of abuse.

I did encounter constant and omnipresent prescriptions on how to live and think, with the underlying message that the most valuable female virtues in the eyes of the church are obedience, service and respect.

As a professional woman in Manhattan, however, over the years I came to view the church as out of touch, with no messages truly applicable to the experiences and demands of my life. There were no relevant views from the church to consider in ever greater areas of my life.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
Legal Reader

December 16, 2020

By Addie Davison

If you are one who chooses to fight against church sexual abuse, there are many taking the legal route and getting assistance and justice. Regain your confidence and restore your lost faith by standing for yourself.

The Catholic Church has suffered an epidemic of misconduct. A study by the University of Chicago found that over 100,000 people have been victims of molestation by Catholic priests. A Pew Research center survey tells that approximately 8 in 10 U.S. adults have faced church sexual abuse as a child, reflecting a big issue.

Places of worship offer peace and solace, and if these institutes get polluted with wrong intentions and activities, it is scary. So what to do if a believer becomes a victim in the hands of the clergy? What to do if you or someone is known to you has faced molestation in a church? This article explores the legal options that a victim can have.

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WISCONSIN
Green Bay Press-Gazette

December 16, 2020

By Haley BeMiller

https://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/story/news/2020/12/16/notre-dame-academy-alumni-call-out-st-norbert-abbey-after-suicide/3886222001/

DE PERE – Graduates of four Catholic high schools are demanding action from St. Norbert Abbey after its leader disputed allegations of sexual abuse lodged by a fellow alumnus who died by suicide in March.

The call for change came after the Green Bay Press-Gazette published an investigation detailing the story of Nate Lindstrom, who said three Norbertine priests abused him as a teenager in Green Bay in the late 1980s. Lindstrom received $420,000 in secret payments from the Catholic order over 10 years until the abbey stopped sending checks in 2019.

Lindstrom, 45, killed himself less than a year later.

Over 400 graduates of Notre Dame Academy and the former Premontre High School, Abbot Pennings and St. Joseph Academy signed a letter sent Wednesday to the Norbertines and Notre Dame officials imploring them to address Lindstrom’s allegations. Signees include members of Lindstrom’s family and Anne Horak Gallagher, an actress and wife of U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher of Green Bay.

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FLORIDA
ABC-7 News

December 16, 2020

By Jeff Butera

SOUTHWEST Fla. – Investigators in the Florida Attorney General’s office have completed a two-year investigation into sexual abuse inside Florida Catholic churches, revealing three major findings:

– Using 267 tips to a tip line, investigators found 97 Florida priests accused of sexual abuse in Florida.

– The investigation did not uncover current, ongoing or unreported sexual abuse by Florida priests.

– Investigators found 81 priests who had been credibly accused of sexual abuse in other states, then transferred, relocated or retired to Florida, sometimes without the knowledge of the Florida churches they were being moved to.

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HARRISBURG (PA)
Tribune Democrat

December 16, 2020

By John Finnerty

https://www.tribdem.com/news/lawmakers-could-let-voters-decide-whether-to-allow-lawsuits-for-abuse-survivors-in-2021/article_a11e2e0a-3ff4-11eb-bb8a-1b0a9e21195e.html

The chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee says that moving a bill to amend the Constitution to create a window of time for lawsuits by adult survivors of child abuse will be a top priority when lawmakers return to the Capitol next month.

The bill has already passed once, but because it’s a proposed constitutional amendment, it must pass unchanged a second time before it goes on the ballot for voters statewide.

State Sen. Lisa Baker, R-Luzerne, announced Tuesday that she plans to introduce legislation that will mirror House Bill 963, which passed both chambers of the General Assembly in 2019.

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BURLINGTON (VT)
WCAX-TV

December 16, 2020

By Dom Amato

Abuse survivors, known as “The Voices of St. Joseph’s Orphanage”, shared stories Wednesday, of what they experienced at the orphanage decades ago.

Some of the group of more than 30, are sticking to their claims that children were murdered while they were being care for. In a nearly 300 page report released on Monday, Attorney General T.J. Donovan says evidence of abuse exists, but there isn’t enough evidence to substantiate murder.

Donovan also says law enforcement, and the state should have investigated when the claims were first made.

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VERMONT
Seven Days

December 16, 2020

By Chelsea Edgar

Thirteen former residents of the St. Joseph’s Orphanage responded on Wednesday to the long-awaited investigative report released earlier this week, saying the psychological trauma of their childhood experiences continues to take an incalculable toll.

Walter Coltey, who lived in the orphanage from 1953 to 1959, said that he is estranged from his two grown children because he brought them up the only way he knew — with belt-lashings and severe punishments like he endured at the hands of the nuns who staffed the children’s home.

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
NOLA.com

December 16, 2020

By Ramon Antonio Vargas and David Hammer

It was 1953, and George Brignac was fresh out of high school when he joined the regional chapter of the Christian Brothers.

He spent seven years with the Catholic order, which founded four well-known local schools: St. Paul’s in Covington, De La Salle and Christian Brothers in New Orleans, and Archbishop Rummel in Metairie. But, by 1960, the order had expelled him.

Brignac told some people it was for “reasons of health.” Another time, his superior in the order said Brignac found “obedience difficult.”

Years later, his twin, a priest named Horace L. “H.L.” Brignac, revealed the truth in a statement to police: George Brignac had been “too friendly with boys.”

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SHREVEPORT (LA)
Shreveport Times via the Daily Advertiser

December 16, 2020

By Deborah Bayliss

A strange occurrence in a sexual abuse lawsuit against the Diocese of Shreveport and the late Father William Allison, has attorneys in the case questioning what led to all nine judges of the Second Circuit recusing themselves from the case.

The lawsuit filed against the Diocese of Shreveport seeks damages on claims of sexual abuse among other accusations that occurred in the 1970s of a then child among other accusations.

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SHREVEPORT (LA)
Associated Press

December 16, 2020

All nine judges in Louisiana’s Second Circuit Court of Appeal have recused themselves from a sexual abuse lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Shreveport and a late priest.

Following the full court recusal, the Louisiana State Supreme Court reassigned the case to the Louisiana Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal in New Orleans, attorneys for the plaintiff stated Wednesday.

The lawsuit filed against the diocese alleges a plaintiff, a former altar boy, was sexually abused by the late Father William Allison and another man who lived in a church rectory on separate occasions in the 1970s, the Shreveport Times reported. Allison died in 1986.

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BOULDER (CO)
Boulder Daily Camera

December 16, 2020

By Katie Langford

University of Colorado’s Board of Regents on Wednesday revoked an honorary degree bestowed on the late Rev. Charles Woodrich, a Denver priest named in a Colorado Attorney General’s Office report this month for sexually abusing children in the 1970s and ’80s.

Woodrich, known as Father Woody, was one of 52 priests in Colorado’s three Catholic dioceses who sexually abused children between 1951 and 1999, according to independent investigator and former U.S. Attorney Bob Troyer.

Survivors continued to come forward after Troyer’s initial report was published in October 2019, according to the Denver Post. The attorney general’s office released the Dec. 1 report as a result.

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PARIS
Reuters

December 16, 2020

A French court has found former Vatican ambassador to France Luigi Ventura guilty of sexual harassment against five men in 2018 and 2019 and given him an eight-month suspended sentence, AFP reported on its Twitter feed on Wednesday.

Prosecutors had opened an investigation after a junior official at Paris City Hall accused the papal nuncio, then 74, of molestation in January 2019, and city authorities filed a complaint. Other men later came forward with similar allegations.

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INDIA
International Business Times

December 15, 2020

By Nivedita Giri

Despite rape allegation against the church Bishop, a senior priest of the Catholic diocese in Thrissur said that the Bishop still remains a member of the church.

A photo of Kerala Roman Catholic Church Bishop Franco Mulakkal, who has been accused of sexually abusing a nun, featuring on the official calendar for 2021 by the Thrissur diocese in the State has taken up churchgoers by storm. The incident triggered protests, with some followers even burning copies of the calendar in Kollam seeking its immediate withdrawal.

The month of March in the new official calendar for 2021 features the photograph of Mulakkal, along with other Bishops, indicating his birthday.

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DETROIT (MI)
Detroit Free Press

December 14, 2020

By John Wisely

The Rev. Miroslaw Krol, the top priest at Orchard Lake Schools, was sued in federal court Monday for sexual harassment by former subordinates who claim he pressured them for sex.

Two men, one a priest and the other a former lay staffer, claim that Krol recruited them to Orchard Lake in 2018, then preyed on them, groping them, kissing them and trying to have sex with them. When they rebuffed his advances, he retaliated against them, the suit claims.

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RICHMOND (VA)
WWBT

December 15, 2020

By Todd Densmore

The Catholic Diocese of Richmond announced Tuesday that an individual who previously came forward and accused a retired diocesan priest of child sexual abuse has recanted the accusations.

The allegations were made earlier this year against Father William Dinga Jr. ‘This recantation by the alleged victim exonerates Father Dinga of these accusations’ the Catholic Diocese said in a news release.

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DETROIT (MI)
FOX 2

December 15, 2020

By Jessica Dupnack

Orchard Lake St. Mary’s Preparatory is a prestigious Catholic high school in Oakland County where the top priest is accused in a lawsuit of hosting sex parties off-campus and on-campus, and allegedly sexually assaulted his employees – including two priests.

“This was not an out of the blue, first-time allegation,” said attorney Jennifer Salvatore.

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SPAIN
The Olive Press

December 15, 2020

By James Warren

The priest is accused of getting the girls to sit on his lap, using the lure of sweets to get the girls alone

A PARISH priest has been jailed for 20 years for sexually abusing young girls in his care during a six month period back in 2014, according to newly released court documents.

The priest, practicing in the city of Cordoba, was accused of sexually groping six individuals between the ages of eight and 12 who were visiting during religious camps during the school summer holidays.

An investigation began when one of the victims, who has not been named for her protection, spoke of the abuse in front of a Policia Local officer five years after the events.

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DETROIT (MI)
Deadline Detroit

December 15, 2020

A federal lawsuit accuses the chancellor of a West Bloomfield parochial high school of sexual misconduct and retaliation against two male employees who were fired.

The civil case, filed Monday in Detroit, says the Rev. Miroslaw Krol used “his authority to engage in a pattern of sexual misconduct with subordinates and retaliat[ed] against them after they reported the alleged conduct,” The Detroit News writes.

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JAMESTOWN (NY)
Post-Journal

December 16, 2020

By Eric Tichy

A former priest previously accused of sexual assault has again been identified in a Child Victims Act lawsuit.

The suit was filed last week in New York State Supreme Court in Chautauqua County. It alleges abuse by the Rev. John D. Lewandowski, who had previously been accused of abuse according to a list released by the Diocese of Buffalo.

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CINCINNATI (OH)
WVXU

December 16, 2020

By Michael Monks

The trial for a Cincinnati priest accused of raping a child is set for April of 2021. Former Father Geoffrey Drew is accused of raping an altar boy between 1988 and 1991 when he was the music minister at St. Jude School in Green Township.

Members of Concerned Catholics of Cincinnati, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) and Cincinnati Voice of the Faithful wrote an op-ed in the Enquirer calling for an investigation into the Archdiocese of Cincinnati for its handling of Fr. Drew’s case. They claim there were complaints about Drew spanning 30 years.

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FRANCE
CNA

December 16, 2020

A Paris criminal court on Wednesday gave a former nuncio to France an suspended 8-month prison sentence for sexual assault.

The court found Archbishop Luigi Ventura guilty of placing his hands on the buttocks of five men while conducting his public diplomatic duties.

He was ordered to pay 13,000 euros ($15,800) to four of the men and 9,000 euros ($10,900) in legal costs, reported AFP.

Ventura’s lawyer, Solange Doumic, told the French newspaper Le Figaro that the Italian archbishop was considering an appeal.

Ventura was absent for the trial, which took place Nov. 10. A doctor said it was too dangerous for the 76-year-old Ventura, who is living in Rome, to travel to Paris while the coronavirus was surging in France. He was not present for the verdict.

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FLORIDA
SNAP Network

December15, 2020

A Baptist pastor in Florida has been arrested on multiple counts of possessing child pornography and two counts of “promoting sexual performance of a child.” Given this man’s prominent position in his local faith community, we are concerned that there may be more victims and hope that the news of this arrest will encourage survivors and witnesses to come forward to local law enforcement.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

December 15, 2020

By Travis Andersen

A Catholic priest who delivered the funeral homily for Massachusetts Senator Edward M. Kennedy in 2009 has been indicted on charges alleging rape and indecent assault of a minor.

A Barnstable Superior Court grand jury on Friday indicted the Rev. Mark R. Hession, 62, on two counts of rape, one count of indecent assault and battery of a person under 14, and one count of witness intimidation, court records show.

An arraignment date will be set in January, a spokesperson for the Cape and Islands district attorney’s office said. It wasn’t clear who was representing Hession, and information on the dates and locations of the alleged rapes and assault wasn’t immediately available.

The Diocese of Fall River said Hession has been suspended from active priestly ministry since last year.

“A priest on leave is not permitted to exercise public ministry nor present himself as a priest in public settings,” the diocese said in a statement.

The diocese said it learned of the criminal investigation after Hession was placed on leave in March 2019 for sending what church officials described as “inappropriate communications” to several adult parishioners.

Hession had previously served as pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Seekonk before being appointed in 2018 to the same position at Holy Family Parish in Taunton, according to the diocese’s website. He was also the pastor of Our Lady of Victory Parish in Centerville and Our Lady of the Assumption Parish in Osterville.

In 2009, the Globe described Hession as the Kennedys’ “family priest on Cape Cod.” During Kennedy’s funeral Mass, Hession said, “We bring with us treasured memories” of the lawmaker.

“Memories not only of a national leader and a master legislator, but of a beloved husband, a great father, a terrific grandfather, a sweet uncle, a dear friend, a trusted colleague, a wise mentor,” Hession told the congregation.

He knew “Ted and Vicki and their family as their parish priest. My sources of reflection are the scriptures and the pastoral experience of ministering to Ted and his family,” he said. “As a priest, I saw him treasure and draw strength from his family.”

In 2002, during the initial fallout from the clergy sex abuse scandal, Hession told the Cape Cod Times he didn’t feel priests who had been accused of wrongdoing should be named publicly in the absence of criminal charges.

“The law allows for a certain exercise of discretion to make settlements with confidentiality,” Hession told the newspaper. “I don’t think it’s the best policy to publish the names if there is no indictment. It just enlarges the circle of the crisis.”

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RICHMOND (VA)
Diocese of Richmond

December 15, 2020

Recent Allegations Against Retired Priest, Father William Dinga Jr., Renounced by Individual Accuser

The Catholic Diocese of Richmond has announced today (Dec. 15, 2020) that an individual who previously came forward and accused a retired diocesan priest of child sexual abuse has recanted the accusations. The allegations were made earlier this year against Father William Dinga Jr.

This recantation by the alleged victim exonerates Father Dinga of these accusations. Father Dinga adamantly denied and maintained his innocence concerning the allegations, which arose from alleged conduct at Christ the King Catholic Church in Norfolk in 1986, when they were brought to the attention of the diocese.

Just as the diocese strives to remain transparent when child sexual abuse allegations are brought forward, the diocese will also publicly clear the accused of any wrongdoing when an accused is subjected to mistaken or unsupported allegations.

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