ABUSE TRACKER

Three Catholic bishops sued, arguing the mandate infringes on religious freedoms. A federal judge agreed, granting an injunction on Friday.

Catholic priests in Washington cannot be required to report child abuse or neglect they learn of in confession, a federal judge ruled Friday.

U.S. District Court Chief Judge David G. Estudillo granted a preliminary injunction sought by three Catholic bishops, temporarily blocking enforcement of a controversial element in a new state law set to take effect July 27. 

Estudillo ruled that requiring disclosure of information priests hear in the confessional infringes on their First Amendment right to practice religion and will force them to violate their sacred vows or face punishment by the state.

The decision means clergy will be added to the state’s roster of professions that must report to law enforcement when they have “reasonable cause to believe that a child has suffered abuse or neglect.”

But…

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Their recent report, circulated among Church leaders and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, outlines a pattern in which accused priests are frequently suspended, named publicly, or otherwise penalized before an investigation concludes—sometimes even without sufficient preliminary evidence

A growing chorus of Catholic priests across the United States is raising concerns over what they see as a widening gap between Church law and its implementation, particularly regarding the treatment of clergy accused of misconduct. The tension centers on whether canon law is being applied consistently and fairly—or selectively bypassed in the name of institutional transparency.

At the heart of the matter is the Association of U.S. Catholic Priests (AUSCP), a national group of clergy formed in 2011. This year, the AUSCP has taken the unusual step of appealing directly to the Vatican, urging the Holy See to reinforce adherence to due process and canonical protections for priests. Their request was…

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Babies were buried, without coffins, one on top of the other in the 9ft-deep chamber of a septic tank in Tuam, Galway

The bodies of hundreds of infants who died in an Irish mother and baby home are to be recovered from a septic tank where they have lain hidden in an unmarked grave for decades.

As excavation work starts at the mass grave, which is thought to contain the bodies of 796 babies, it is hoped it will be possible to identify some of the remains before they are given a proper burial,

The painstaking process, expected to last two years, comes more than 10 years after historian Catherine Corless first uncovered the shocking secrets of St Mary’s mother and baby home in Tuam, County Galway.

In 2014, she found there were no burial records for hundreds of infants and…

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A team of 18 archaeologists, anthropologists, and forensic scientists have begun excavating an old septic tank this week at the former St. Mary’s Mother and Baby Home run by the Bon Secours Sisters in Tuam, County Galway, western Ireland, now the site of a housing development.

Over the next two years, according to The Irish Times, an excavating machine will go through the site in search of remains for 796 children allegedly buried, in the words of the Bon Secours Sisters “in a disrespectful and unacceptable way” between 1925 and 1960.

The Bon Secours Sisters have released a statement apologizing for the treatment of the deceased babies, and their mothers during that time.

The goal of the excavation is to find, analyze, identify, and provide a decent burial for the children’s remains — many of them newborns.

To identify them, DNA samples have been collected from more than 80 relatives who were…

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Afull excavation began July 14 at a site near a former mother-and-baby home in the west of Ireland, believed to be the final resting place of up to 800 infants.

The infants died in the home — run on behalf of the Irish government by the Sisters of Bon Secours — during a period from 1925 to 1961. St. Mary’s in Tuam, Irish County Galway, had been established along with a network of other such institutions at the request of the new government after independence in 1922 as a refuge for unmarried pregnant women and their children.

The issue is a controversial and emotive one, with some claiming the high death rate at the home is an indication that the children were neglected by the sisters while others argue that the infant mortality rate was also high in the wider Irish society at the time due to poverty and prior to the…

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Tacoma WA – Editor’s note: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the type of legal ruling that was issued against Washington’s mandatory reporter law.

County prosecutors in Washington state have agreed not to enforce a state law requiring clergy to report child abuse or neglect, if they learned about it in confession. That’s according to a stipulation document filed in the case. 

Catholic leaders claim the law violates their First Amendment right to free exercise of religion by requiring that they break the seal of confession, which is grounds for immediate excommunication in the Catholic Church.

There is still an ongoing request for a judge to file an injunction before the law’s effective date, on July 27. If a judge does grant that, it would stop the law from taking effect at the state level. 

Previously, anything a clergy member learned through confession was considered…

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The El Paso and Las Cruces catholic dioceses are facing lawsuits over the alleged sexual abuse of children.

On Thursday, two law firms said they filed eight new lawsuits against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Las Cruces, the Catholic Diocese of El Paso and several borderland churches regarding priests that allegedly committed sexual abuse against kids, ages ranging from 3 to 15.

The lawsuit alleges child sexual abuse by the following priests:

• Monsignor Albert Chavez
• Father David Holley
• Father Emilio Roure
• Father Wilfrid Diamond
• Monsignor Gonzalo Morales
• Father Bernard Bissonnette
• Father Joaquin Resma

The churches listed in the lawsuit are:

• Our Lady of Health in Las Cruces
• Our Lady of Purification in Dona Ana County
• Immaculate Conception in Alamogordo
• Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mesilla Park
• St. Anthony in Anthony, New Mexico
• St. Eleanor in Ruidoso

The lawsuit is spearheaded by Davis Kelin Law Firm, LLC and Huffman Wallace & Monagle, LLC (HWM).

“We are shocked by the number…

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This week, New Mexico attorneys filed eight lawsuits against Catholic leadership in Las Cruces and El Paso, alleging priests in Southern New Mexico parishes committed sexual abuse against young children ranging in ages from 3 to 15 between 1956 to 1990.

The law firms of Davis Kelin Law Firm and Huffman Wallace & Monagle filed the civil lawsuits in the Third Judicial District courts against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Las Cruces and the Catholic Diocese of El Paso, seeking damages for the “intentional, malicious, wilful, deliberate, wanton and/or reckless disregard for the harmful consequences.”

New Mexico has been described as an “epicenter of Catholic sexual abuse in the United States,” recording dozens of instances of abuse of children, and also hosted Servants of the Paraclete Center in Jemez Springs, New Mexico, which was said to offer for treatment for priests who sexually abused dozens of…

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A Roanoke priest has been accused in a Florida lawsuit of sexually abusing a boy in the early 2000s. Father George Zina is currently a priest at St. Elias Catholic Church Maronite Center in Roanoke.

This lawsuit was filed in Orange County, Florida, earlier this month by a John Doe against the Diocese of Orlando and two Orange County churches, Holy Family Catholic Church and Saint Jude Maronite Catholic Church.

The lawsuit is seeking $10 million in damages. Zina is not a defendant in the lawsuit. It accuses the Diocese and churches of negligence for failing to prevent the alleged sexual abuse.

“We believe that the Diocese and these churches were negligent. Meaning that they knew or should’ve known that Zina was unsafe and they failed to protect our client, who was a parishioner and a child,” said Jenny Rossman, trial attorney for Herman Law, which is representing the plaintiff…

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A French priest, idolized for serving the poor, also victimized children. Pope Leo should take note.

Just below my window in Paris, a tidy shop does a lively business selling stylish secondhand goods — clothing and books, toys and trinkets — with proceeds going to help France’s destitute and homeless.

The outlet, and scores like it, is part of a philanthropic enterprise founded by a priest known as Abbé Pierre, regarded for decades as an almost sacred figure in France, a paragon on par with Mother Teresa.

The paragon has become a posthumous pariah and a symbol of what should be Pope Leo XIV’s most critical priority: addressing the depthless disgrace of priestly sexual abuse, the scandal from which the Catholic church has failed to extricate itself a quarter century after it erupted.

Abbé Pierre, who died in 2007, was a singular figure in France who prompted a moral awakening to…

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Msgr. Carlo Alberto Capella, a former Vatican diplomat who was convicted of distributing and possessing child pornography, continues to work at the Vatican Secretariat of State as one of several clerks, a report says.

OSV News reached out to the Vatican press office July 14 for a comment on the Italian monsignor’s continued employment and also sought comment from the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. OSV News is awaiting a response, as neither has issued a statement.

The news of the continued employment of Msgr. Capella, who was sentenced to a five-year prison term in 2018, was first reported by the Spanish conservative news site InfoVaticana on July 12.

Abuse Victims’ Advocate: ‘Decision Irresponsible and Arrogant’

“The Ssecretariat’s decision to re-employ a priest convicted of distributing and possessing child sex abuse images was irresponsible and arrogant,” Anne Barret Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org, a watchdog group that tracks abuse…

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Anational group of U.S. Catholic priests has urged the Vatican to safeguard the due process rights of accused clergy. The group faulted bishops for allegedly violating canon law in disciplining some priests cited for misconduct.

The Association of U.S. Catholic Priests, formed outside of Chicago in 2011, asked Pope Leo XIV earlier this month to encourage churchwide obedience to canon law, which holds that accused persons are assumed innocent until facts demonstrate otherwise and that religious superiors “must start a judicial or administrative procedure” to discipline priests.

Since his installation as the first Augustinian pontiff in May, Leo, a canon lawyer by training, has repeatedly urged a “firm and decisive” response from church leaders in clergy sex abuse cases while facing questions about his own handling of abuse allegations in Chicago and Peru. 

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[See also the Etienne v. Ferguson lawsuit.]

The Catholic bishops of Washington state and several priests were in federal court Monday (July 14) asking the court for a preliminary injunction to temporarily block a clergy mandatory-reporting law that will go into effect on July 27. 

The injunction would allow the court case Etienne v. Ferguson go to full trial, while keeping confessional privileges at status quo if a decision to their case is not made before July 27.

The Catholic Church — across the Archdiocese of Seattle and the Dioceses of Yakima and Spokane — said in a press release they already require priests to report child abuse and neglect to law enforcement and other state authorities. The only exception would be if the information is learned during the sacrament of confession. 

Consequences of the new law

Washington’s new law imposes penalties of…

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In short:

A law firm is planning to launch a class action in the Supreme Court of Tasmania against the Christian Brothers, over alleged “serious physical abuse” of students at Hobart’s St Virgil’s College in the 1970s and 80s.

During a civil trial in the Supreme Court in Hobart in March, former students gave evidence about alleged harsh corporal punishment.

What’s next?

Lawyer Angela Sdrinis says she hopes to launch the action by early next year.

When Simon* was a student at a Catholic boys’ school in Hobart in the 1970s, he says the school was run in an “archaic, cruel” manner.

He said one of the teachers had a name for the strap that he would use to hit students.

“He used to call it Horace, and he used to have a little rhyme he used to recite as he strapped you,” Simon said.

“It used to be: ‘Horace…

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Father Herman Porter, who died in 1986, joins the list of the Diocese of Rockford Priests against whom a substantiated allegation of sexual abuse of a minor has been reported.

Details of the abuse have not been released. In February, diocese officials updated their list of priests who have credible sexual abuse of a minor allegations against them, adding Porter’s name.

The list has been posted and made available on the diocesan website since 2018.

The Diocese of Rockford, on Feb. 17, 2025, updated its list of priests against whom a substantiated allegation of sexual abuse of a minor has been reported. The update was made to include the name of the late Father Herman Porter.

Father Porter was ordained in 1947 and served the Rockford Diocese as pastor of St. Therese of Jesus Church of Aurora, 1970-1979; administrator of St. Ann Church in Warren, 1967-1968; associate…

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President Donald Trump is desperately trying to divert attention away from his decision to cover up the Epstein files. Good luck. Whatever his role in the Epstein child sex trafficking universe, the cover-up is a separate issue, as the Catholic bishops could tell him. The fundamental problem is this country doesn’t like institutions—whether government, church, university, school, or sport—that cover up child sex abuse.

We have been here before. There have been impassioned demands for the release of Catholic clergy sex abuse files across the country since the 2002 Boston Globe’s Spotlight report on clergy sex abuse in the Boston Archdiocese. The series was followed by some searing disclosures and file releases, but to this day the bishops have continued to fight in the courts and public square to keep as many of their secrets as possible in locked filing cabinets. Over twenty years have passed, but the demands for…

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As many of our readers know, I officiate a lot of funerals. In addition to nearly 17 years as pastor with responsibilities for such things, I officiate pick-up funerals for families who do not have a church or a minister. Thus, I have been to and led hundreds of funerals.

It is rare for anyone to stand up at a funeral and speak ill of the dead — unless maybe in jest. But sometimes truth must be told that is hard to hear. I’ve been to those funerals, too. Ones where family members stood and said, “He was difficult and distant” or “He worked more than he spent time with family.” Painful truths, to be sure.

But sometimes, when a public figure dies who has harmed many people, the truth needs to be told anyway.

You may recall that when Paul Pressler died, his family hid his death and his funeral…

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Fr. Juan Carlos Garcia, a Catholic priest in the Diocese of Nashville, pleaded guilty Monday to multiple sex crimes. The charges involved both children and adults. In response, SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, observed that cases like this show that the sexual abuse scandal in the Church is not just a thing of the past.

We commend the young victim who reported to Catholic officials in 2023 that Fr. Garcia had engaged in “improper touching.” It is because of their courage that this cleric has been convicted and appears to be on track to be removed completely from ministry.

Fr. Garcia was only ordained in 2020. While we recognize that there is not yet a surefire way to identify sexual predators, we call on the Diocese of Nashville to be fully transparent about whether any red flags were reported prior to 2023 – especially…

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A Lima priest accused of sexual misconduct requested laicization last week, after The Pillar reported charges that the Lima archdiocese mishandled the allegations against him, in a process that some alleged amounted to a cover-up for a priest close to Lima’s Cardinal Carlos Castillo.

And while Castillo, 75, has faced significant criticism over his leadership of the archdiocese in recent weeks, the cardinal pushed back last week, telling Catholics that he enjoys the confidence of Pope Leo XIV, and expects to remain in office for five more years.

—
The Pillar broke the news last month that the Archdiocese of Lima was accused of mishandling an investigation into Fr. Nilton Zárate Rengifo, who was accused of harassing a religious sister, solicitation in the confessional, and attempted absolution of an accomplice in a sexual sin, but had not been subject to a formal canonical process.

After the allegations against Zárate broke, the priest…

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The Benedictine community at Keizersberg Abbey in Leuven, Belgium, has been temporarily dissolved following allegations of abusive behavior among adults, according to an official declaration released by the head of the Sublacense-Cassinese Benedictine Congregation.

Abbot President Ignasi M. Fossas, OSB, announced sweeping disciplinary measures affecting multiple monasteries in the Flemish-Dutch province, including the suspension of community life at Keizersberg Abbey and the temporary prohibition of public ministry for several monks. 

“The archdiocese is not publishing any statement on Keizersberg,” the press office said in response to a request from CNA, referring to the abbey’s comprehensive statement.

In his declaration, Fossas announced an extraordinary canonical visitation of all monasteries in the Flemish-Dutch province, including Dendermonde, Affligem, Steenbrugge, and Doetinchem/Slangenburg. The comprehensive review aims to verify the situation of each community and ensure effective governance structures.

“The work of the visitation may continue for several months,” Fossas stated in the official document…

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Alex Jurado, a popular Catholic apologist known for his social media ministry Voice of Reason, is denying allegations in a bombshell report that he sexually groomed an underage teenage girl when he was 21 years old.

The Protestant website Protestia on Monday published a report alleging that “whistleblowers within the Catholic community” had revealed sexually explicit texts Jurado, now 28, allegedly sent to a girl possibly as young as 14 years old.

The website shared screenshots of the alleged conversations between Jurado and the young girl. The site further alleged that Jurado had sent “sexually explicit messages” to several other women. 

Jurado sharply denied the allegations on Tuesday. The influencer said in a statement on his Instagram page that the claims were untrue and that he is “voluntarily cooperating in an investigation that will allow the truth to come to light.” 

“​​[T]he accusation that I was having an…

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A man who told his sisters they would be doing him a favour to have sex with him as he was going to become a priest and had sexual urges has been jailed for eight years.

Richard Brennan (64) previously of Rathfarnham, now living in the United States, pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to 24 counts against his three sisters, including 18 of indecent assault and six charges of rape.

He entered the guilty pleas after each of the three women had given evidence before a jury and before the final woman was about to be cross-examined.

He pleaded guilty to four sample charges of indecent assault and four rape charges against Paula Faye on dates between January 1978 and December 1981 when she was aged between 13 and 17 years old.

Brennan also pleaded guilty to 13 sample incidences of indecent assault and two charges of rape…

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A former Franklin priest has pleaded guilty as charged to several child sex abuse charges.

According to Williamson County District Attorney General Stacey B. Edmonson, Juan Carlos Garcia Mendoza came to a guilty plea agreement and will serve seven years in federal prison.

In 2024, the Williamson County Grand Jury indicted Garcia Mendoza on a count of continuous sexual abuse of a child, one count of aggravated sexual battery, four counts of sexual battery by an authority figure and two counts of sexual battery.

Following his indictment, he was removed from his position as an associate pastor at St. Philip Catholic Church.

Court documents show Garcia Mendoza cannot have contact with the victims and will relinquish his role as a priest within the Roman Catholic Church. Once released from prison, he must register as a sex offender and be placed on community supervision for…

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A former principal of St. Joseph Catholic School in Salem and vice principal of Regis St. Mary Catholic School in Stayton was charged July 15 with sexually abusing a minor while he was employed at Regis.

Christopher Seibert, 56, was arrested July 14 after a Marion County grand jury indicted him on four counts of first-degree sexual abuse and one count of second-degree unlawful sexual penetration.

Seibert is accused of sexually abusing a girl who was under age 14 between April 2021 and April 2023. The indictment alleges he unlawfully and knowingly subjected her to sexual contact or penetration on at least five occasions.

Deputy District Attorney Caitlin Spencer said at the arraignment that Seibert would pull the student out of class, take her to his office and put his hand under her skirt or blouse.

After the last incident, in which Spencer alleged that Seibert penetrated the girl, she…

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Editor’s Note: This week, John Bellocchio, a survivor of sexual abuse at the hands of the late Theodore McCarrick as a young teenager in Hackensack, New Jersey, forwarded me an email he received from the Diocese of Metuchen, New Jersey. The official who sent the email apparently forgot to delete multiple emails between diocesan personnel (including the bishop) exposing their unfiltered comments about him and their suspicions about his intentions. I invited John to write a reflection on his experiences working with the Catholic hierarchy as a survivor, and he responded with a strong challenge to Church leadership. — ML

Dismissed and Insulted: The Cost of Speaking Up

Coming forward as a survivor is never easy. But nothing could have prepared me for what I experienced when I recently reached out to the Diocese of Metuchen. I contacted them respectfully, seeking dialogue and transparency. What I received…

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A priest in the Diocese of Nashville, Tennessee, will serve seven years in prison after pleading guilty to multiple counts of sex abuse.

Father Juan Carlos Garcia-Mendoza was indicted last year on several counts of sexual battery and other crimes, some of which involved children and some adults. The priest was charged with eight crimes in February 2024 and two more in June of that year.

The Diocese of Nashville said in the Nashville Catholic this week that Garcia had pleaded guilty to the February charges. Those crimes include “continuous sexual abuse of a child,” aggravated sexual battery, and “sexual battery by an authority figure.” 

In addition to the prison sentence, the priest will be listed in the state sex offender registry.

The diocese also indicated that he would be removed from the priesthood. Garcia “agreed not to contest laicization from the priesthood,” the statement said.

…

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Catholic bishops and priests in Washington are challenging a new state law that requires clergy to break the seal of confession to report possible child sex abuse.

The bill, signed by Democratic Gov. Bob Ferguson, a Catholic, in early May, mandates that clergy inform authorities of suspected sex abuse cases, including alleged abuse discussed during the sacrament of reconciliation, or confession. 

Backing the three Catholic dioceses in the state, the Justice Department sued Washington state in late June for launching “attacks on the free exercise of religion” and stated that “anti-Catholic” laws violating the confidentiality of confession are unconstitutional. Several Orthodox churches have joined the lawsuit as well. The hearing took place July 14. 

Supporters of the law have a different view. Mary Dispenza, a former Catholic nun and a current member of the Survivors Network of those…

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Access to the entire site is now closed off to the public, with 24-hour security also in place

A full forensic excavation on the site of the former mother and baby institution in Tuam, Co Galway, began on Monday morning.

This process will focus on recovering and analysing human remains from the site and will also involve a memorialisation of the deceased.

Ground was broken on the project just after 10.30am, and the excavation expected to take around two years to complete.

“Access to the entire site is now closed off to the public and it is also concealed from view,” the Office of the Director of Authorised Intervention, Tuam confirmed.

There will be a 24-hour security presence at the site, with a 2.4 metre high fence also in place.

“These measures are necessary to ensure the site’s forensic integrity and to enable us to carry out the works to…

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Experts are searching for the remains of hundreds of children who died at the institution run by Catholic nuns until 1961, including bodies disposed of in septic tanks.

Excavators broke ground on Monday in western Ireland to search for the bodies of hundreds of babies and young children, some of them discarded in septic tanks, who died at a home for unwed mothers that was managed by Catholic nuns from 1925 to 1961.

The circumstances of the children’s short lives, the treatment of the mothers and the decades of secrecy surrounding the deaths have been recognized widely as a profound moral stain on the Irish government, which funded the institution, and the Catholic Church, which managed it.

About half of the children, estimated to number about 800 in all, died before their first birthdays.

“Some of the families have been really seeking answers to these questions for many years,” Daniel MacSweeney, who…

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When Annette McKay’s first grandson was born, she thought her mother, Maggie O’Connor, would be over the moon. She had become a great-grandmother.

Instead, McKay found her sobbing unconsolably outside her home, crying: “It’s the baby, the baby.”

McKay reassured her 70-year-old mother that her great-grandson was healthy. But O’Connor wasn’t talking about him.

“Not your baby, my baby,” O’Connor said, revealing a secret she had buried for decades. Her first child, Mary Margaret, died in June 1943, at just 6 months old.

It was the first and only time that O’Connor spoke about Mary Margaret, or her experience in St. Mary’s Home – a so-called mother and baby home in the town of Tuam, in western Ireland’s County Galway.

The Tuam institution was one of dozens of “homes” where pregnant girls and unmarried women were sent to give birth in secret for much of the 20th century….

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The law ignited a battle between the state and the Catholic Church over whether designating clergy as mandatory reporters limits the free exercise of religion.

A federal judge indicated Monday that he will likely issue a preliminary injunction against Washington’s law designating members of the clergy as mandatory reporters of sex abuse. 

Without an injunction, the law will take effect on July 27. The legislation has received major pushback from Catholic leaders, who claim they are unfairly singled out and would be unconstitutionally required to act against their beliefs should the law be allowed to stand. 

Judge David Estudillo with the U.S. District Court of Western Washington did not issue an official ruling Monday, but said he was leaning toward granting the injunction. His decision is expected to come down before the law’s effective date. 

SB 5375, which was signed by Gov. Bob Ferguson in May, adds…

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The full excavation of a mass grave of babies and young children at Tuam in County Galway is under way.

The exhumations will be carried out at the site of an institution for unmarried mothers, which operated between 1925 and 1961.

The story came to international attention 11 years ago, after amateur historian Catherine Corless discovered there were death certificates for 796 babies and children who were in the institution, but no burial records.

In 2017, investigators found what they described as “significant quantities of human remains” at the site.

The bodies were in underground chambers in a disused sewage system.

The institution, which was known as St Mary’s mother-and-baby home, was run by Catholic religious order the Bon Secours Sisters and owned by Galway County Council.

Experts from Colombia, Spain, the UK, Canada, Australia and the United States have joined Irish specialists to take part in the unprecedented…

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The excavation that began on the site of the mother and baby home yesterday is making history in a double sense

Ireland often seems surreal. But it is also, if I may be permitted to coin a word, subreal. We share the island, not just with what is above ground but what it under it. Our reality is not just experienced – it is exhumed. As Seamus Heaney put it in Bogland, it keeps “striking/ Inwards and downwards,/ Every layer they strip/Seems camped on before”.

The subsoil of the grounds of the former Bons Secours Mother and Baby home in Tuam is described as a “yellow-grey silty gritty layer”. And it is being stripped now, down to where, between 1925 and 1961, perhaps 796 tiny human beings were stuffed in a disused sewage system. This non-resting place is, as the technical report published in 2017 has it, “an elongated structure, comprising…

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A priest in training and religious educator is facing multiple child pornography charges, according to DeSoto County Sheriff Thomas Tuggle.

Louisiana native Jonathan Nguyen-Voung, 24, was taken into custody without incident July 10 at his place of work at Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Olive Branch, the sheriff said.

In a press conference July 11, Tuggle announced the arrest of Nguyen-Voung, who was charged with multiple felonies which include possession of child pornography, accessing and distributing child pornography. Tuggle said forensic experts discovered a device actively downloading explicit material when the search warrant on the suspect’s Nesbit residence was executed.

“We take all crime seriously, especially crimes committed against our children,” Tuggle said. “We will be relentless in our pursuit of these predators.”

Nguyen-Voung is being held at DeSoto County’s jail without bond.

The arrest is part of a wider investigation into crimes against children in DeSoto County dubbed…

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After their only scheduled mass of the week at noon on Sunday, members of Ascension Parish battled the high heat and rolling thunder in the distance to attend a meeting for all parishioners at the Polish Falcons Pavilion in their parking lot.

Former Ascension Parish Trustee, Bill Brach, and Mary Pruski, a volunteer at Save Our Buffalo Churches, brought the large group in attendance up to date on what has been happening since last September.

Since being removed as Trustee of Ascension Parish by the Buffalo Diocese last October, Brach and his wife Nancy along with several others have helped organize and prepare appeals to prevent the closing of their church on Sumner and Swan streets in the City of Batavia. The announcement for closure was made by the Buffalo Diocese last September.

The group has since opened a 501(C)(3), created a Facebook page called Friends of Ascension, Link to…

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Archbishop Thibault Verny of Chambéry, France, made international headlines as he succeeded one of the most acclaimed figures of church safeguarding in the world, Cardinal Sean O’Malley — retired archbishop of Boston — in his role as president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors (PCPM). 

Verny, 59, may be new to the universal church, yet he is a well-known figure in France and a bishop remembered for his firm stand against abusers in the Catholic Church. 

Verny had been a member of PCPM since 2022. At the same time, in France, he had been president of the Council for the Prevention and Fight Against Pedophilia, within the French bishops’ conference. After a full term on the body, on July 1, he was succeeded by Bishop Gérard Le Stang of Amiens.

Stéphane de Navacelle, a well-respected Parisian lawyer and member of the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church, know by its French acronym…

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[See also the lawsuit.]

Catholic News Agency reports State Supreme Court in Erie County has issued a temporary halt on payments the Buffalo Catholic Diocese has required of parishes in order to fund its clergy abuse settlement amid a Vatican-moderated dispute over parish mergers.

The lawsuit, filed last Tuesday by nine parishes including Holy Apostles Church in Jamestown, sought the injunction prior to tomorrow’s deadline. That deadline is now on hold until August 6.

All of the churches named in the lawsuit were set to be merged with other area parishes under the diocese’s restructuring plan.

The mergers are on hold while the Vatican looks at appeals seeking to prevent them.

Catholic News Agency reports the Diocese, which filed for bankruptcy in 2020 amid the large number of abuse claims, announced last month that its parishes would be required to pay up to 80% of their “unrestricted cash” by…

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The Archbishop of Toulouse appointed a priest who served a prison sentence for raping a minor as diocesan chancellor and episcopal delegate for marriage.

Archbishop Guy de Kerimel said that by appointing Fr Dominique Spina to the post he had “chosen the path of mercy”.

In 2006, Spina was convicted of raping and sexually assaulting a 16-year-old student while serving as his spiritual director in the 1990s at Notre-Dame de Bétharram school at Lestelle-Bétharram, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department of south-west France.

In a statement last week to Agence France-Presse, Archbishop de Kerimel said: “It is true that Fr Spina served a five-year prison sentence, including one year suspended, for very serious acts that took place nearly 30 years ago”.

He added that the Church had “nothing to reproach this priest for in the last 30 years”. The post was administrative, he continued, adding that Spina “no longer” exercised “pastoral responsibility, other than celebrating the Eucharist,…

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Parishioners are now trying to block the Diocese of Buffalo from using their churches’ funds toward the $150 million settlement to sex abuse survivors.

Parishioners from five churches filed a lawsuit in state Supreme Court seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to prevent church leaders from paying the diocese.   

Those parishioners attend Blessed Sacrament in the town of Tonawanda, Our Lady of Peace in Clarence, Saint Bernadette’s in Orchard Park, St. Aloysius Gonzaga in Cheektowaga and St. John XXIII in West Seneca.

Last month, the diocese ordered these churches to give 80% of their unrestricted cash to help pay the settlement. They were previously told they had until July 15 to do so.  

In court documents, attorneys claim these churches would have to suspend several community programs like day care services and food pantries if they lost that money. Some churches even claim they’d have to cease operations…

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Core groups from five Catholic parishes have filed a lawsuit against the Diocese of Buffalo to block payments that would go toward the diocese’s $150 million settlement with more than 800 survivors of sexual abuse.

The diocese has asked affiliate parishes to contribute between 10 to 80 percent of their unrestricted cash and investments, with the highest percentage applied to parishes scheduled to close or merge under the Road to Renewal program.

All five parishes involved in the lawsuit — Blessed Sacrament in Tonawanda, Our Lady of Peace in Clarence, Saint Aloysius Gonzaga in Cheektowaga, Saint John 23rd in West Seneca, and Saint Bernadette in Orchard Park — are slated to merge with other parishes under the diocese’s restructuring plan. But they’re all fighting to stay open.

“It’s sad that we have to do this, I mean, I don’t want to fight the church,” said Eugene Hanitz, who has been…

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The Bishops’ Conference of France this week said a dozen new accusers have come forth with allegations of abuse against deceased Capuchin priest Abbé Pierre.

The famed French priest has already been accused by several dozen people of inflicting abuse over the course of several decades. Pierre founded the Emmaus movement, an international charity effort, after World War II.

In a July 10 press release the French bishops said they were “shocked to receive the testimony of 12 new victims of Abbé Pierre, including 7 minors at the time of the events.”

The bishops “assure these people of their support,” the prelates said in the release.

Allegations of abuse against Pierre, who for decades was hailed for his charity work in France, shocked the Catholic world last year. Emmaus International revealed the abuse claims in July of 2024, with new allegations surfacing View Cache

The Rockford Diocese priest organized the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus in 1968 and was floated as a candidate for Archbishop of Washington.

The late Fr Herman A. Porter, an African-American Catholic priest who served in the Midwest and in 1968 organized the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus, has been added to the Diocese of Rockford’s list of clergy credibly accused of child sex abuse.

The diocese released the updated list earlier this year, as noted in a February bulletin from one of Porter’s former parishes, Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Sterling, Illinois.

“Per diocesan policy, parishioners at parishes where Father Porter served, even though briefly, were notified and his name has now been added to the Diocese of Rockford’s list of priests against whom an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor has been substantiated,” the bulletin stated.

Born in the…

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A French archbishop’s decision to promote a priest who was sentenced to jail for raping a teenage boy has drawn new condemnation of the Roman Catholic Church for its record on sex abuse.

Victim support groups and traditionalists have expressed outrage over the case of Dominique Spina, who was found guilty of raping a 16-year-old boy in 2006 and sentenced to five years in prison.

The archbishop of Toulouse, Guy de Kerimel, set off the controversy in June when he named Spina as diocesan chancellor, putting him in charge of archives.

The canonical code lays down that the chancellor must be “of honest reputation and above all suspicion.”

Kerimel said he had acted out of “mercy” in making the appointment and that he had “nothing to reproach” the priest for in an “administrative function.”

In a statement released Thursday in the face of mounting protests, Kerimel acknowledged the “incomprehension” and…

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SÃO PAULO – Lux Mundi Center, an office established by the Conference of Religious of Brazil and by the Bishops’ Conference, recently promoted a cycle of conferences with Father Hans Zollner, a major international expert on safeguarding, as part of its effort to educate priests and members of religious groups on abuse prevention in Brazil.

Zollner visited the South American nation at the end of May and his classes, attended by hundreds of participants – both in person and on-line – highlighted the importance of transforming Catholic communities, parishes, and ecclesiastical movements into safe spaces for everybody, especially for children, teenagers and vulnerable adults.

A member of the Society of Jesus, Zollner heads the Pontifical Gregorian University of Rome’s Institute of Anthropology: Interdisciplinary Studies on Human Dignity and Care, and has visited dozens and dozens of countries to train Church members on establishing adequate safeguard measures.

“The Conference of Religious…

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Lawsuit says son born out of abuse was adopted and only recently reunited with dad, who had years ago received compensation for damages. Now both are suing Anglican Church for son denied of native culture and benefits

A 56-year-old adopted B.C. man, who tracked down his biological father two years ago, discovered he had been born as a result of sexual assault at a residential school in Alert Bay.

Now he and his father, 72, are suing the Anglican Church for damages, including for the son’s loss of knowledge of his Indigenous heritage and decades of federal benefits, according to a lawsuit in B.C. Supreme Court.

The case dates back to 1968, when the father — Postmedia is not naming the plaintiffs because of its policy of not naming victims of sexual assault — was sexually assaulted at St. Michael’s Indian Residential School by Jane Peacock, a church employee whose…

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A former bishop in the Church in Wales is facing fresh allegations of historic sexual abuse, as a BBC investigation uncovers new claims against Anthony Pierce and another former clergyman.

Pierce, once Bishop of Swansea and Brecon, is currently serving four years in prison for indecent assaults on a child during his time as a parish priest in the 1980s.

His lawyer says he “deeply regrets” the crimes, while the Church in Wales has admitted it feels “the most profound shame at the dreadful offences”.

Several men have now reportidly told the BBC that Pierce behaved inappropriately towards them, too.

A woman also claims she was assaulted by David Gedge, the late choirmaster at Brecon Cathedral, and says no action was taken when she reported it, while Pierce was bishop at the time.

Police are now investigating these new allegations, and the Church in Wales has confirmed it is reviewing how such cases…

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A British Columbia father and son are suing the Anglican Church of Canada, alleging the son was conceived as a result of sexual abuse by a female employee of St. Michael’s Indian Residential School in Alert Bay in the late 1960s. 

The lawsuit says the father was 14 years old when he was victimized by a school supervisor in 1968, and he settled a lawsuit with the church in 2008 over the alleged sexual assault at the school on Cormorant Island, northeast of Vancouver Island. 

Court documents filed this week in B.C. Supreme Court say the plaintiffs only recently found out they were related, leading to a “traumatic reunion,” and their relationship has been confirmed by DNA testing. 

The notice of civil claim says the father, now 72, “had no idea” he had a son that was given up by the woman to a non-Indigenous family months after his birth,…

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A group of parishioners suing the Diocese of Buffalo do not have to add local church funds into a massive sex abuse survivors settlement — at least not yet.

The original deadline to do so, as outlined in the diocese’s “Road to Renewal” plan, was July 15. After Friday’s hearing in Erie County State Supreme Court, that deadline is now on hold until at least the next court date, Aug. 6.  

The parishioners are asking for an injunction to avoid making that payment. Those include members of Blessed Sacrament in the town of Tonawanda, Our Lady of Peace in Clarence, Saint Bernadette’s in Orchard Park, St. Aloysius Gonzaga in Cheektowaga and St. John XXIII in West Seneca.

The diocese ordered each of those churches to give up to 80% of their unrestricted cash toward the $150 million settlement.

Attorneys argue the diocese cannot collect contributions while the Vatican is reviewing appeals….

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Parishioners in the Diocese of Buffalo, New York, won a reprieve on Friday when the state supreme court instituted a temporary halt on payments the diocese has required of parishes in order to fund its clergy abuse settlement amid a Vatican-moderated dispute over parish mergers. 

The complicated case stems from a group of parishes who object to the diocese’s requirement that they pay huge portions of cash into the diocese’s $150 million clergy abuse settlement even as they wait for the Vatican to hear their appeal concerning a diocesan merger plan. 

The Diocese of Buffalo, which filed for bankruptcy in 2020 amid the large number of abuse claims, announced last month that its parishes would be required to pay up to 80% of their “unrestricted cash” by July 15 to help fund the settlement for abuse victims. 

The amount a parish must pay is calculated by its cash reserves. Parishes with less…

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One fall night in September 2023, Emma Misco arrived at her church in upstate New York to discover an unpleasant surprise.

At first, no one appeared to be there. Thrive City Church had officially launched in Syracuse as part of the Association of Related Churches (ARC) just 20 months before. Misco, then 34, had recently returned to Syracuse after serving on the mission field and was overseeing small groups.

Before setting up for a meeting, she headed for the bathroom, which ran through the office of the pastor, Ben Tubbs, then 36.

His office was locked as usual, but she noticed a sign on his door stating the office was available. She knocked, heard no answer, then unlocked and opened the door.

To her shock, Tubbs was there. Seated and wearing headphones at an open laptop, he hurriedly stood up. But his pants were down, and he had…

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On Monday — six years after a 9-year-old child came forward with sexual abuse allegations against a lay minister in an Illinois church — a long-awaited church trial will begin for Bishop Stewart Ruch, leader of the Anglican Church in North America’s Upper Midwest Diocese. Open only to those directly involved and the seven-member Court of a Trial of a Bishop, the proceeding will determine whether Ruch, an influential and charismatic figure, responded appropriately.

Ruch has admitted to making “regrettable errors” in the case. After learning of the allegations in 2019, Ruch took two years to initiate an investigation or even share the news with members of his diocese. By that time, at least nine others had told abuse survivors’ advocates that they had been abused or groomed by Mark Rivera, a lay leader at Christ Our Light Anglican Church in Big Rock, Illinois, who had previously been a volunteer…

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Newsboys owner Wes Campbell dropped a bombshell Thursday by resigning from the Gospel Music Association (GMA) board over allegations that Newsboys Inc. covered up stories of sexual assault by former frontman Michael Tait.

He also hinted members of his own family were among those assaulted.

Campbell announced his resignation in a letter he sent to the GMA board, which then was leaked and posted by multiple people on Facebook. The Roys Report (TRR) has confirmed the letter’s authenticity with someone within the Newsboys organization.

Stating he is stepping down due to a “supposed coverup” regarding Tait, Campbell said that the impetus was a series of articles published last month detailing decades of alleged sexual assault and substance abuse.

Although he did not mention TRR by name, TRR broke the first story June 4, alleging Tait groomed and sexually assaulted three young men between 2005-2014.

Since then, “I have heard from many in our industry that there is…

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Former members of the Golden Dawn Tabernacle Church are speaking out after their pastor, Isaac Noriega, was criminally charged for allegedly ignoring years of child abuse within the church.

News 4 Tucson’s sister station Telemundo Arizona spoke with two former church members, News 4 Tucson’s Chief Investigative Reporter Chorus Nylander spoke with another, who all describe a highly controlled environment in the church they believe contributed to the alleged abuse and silence about it.

Joanne Molina, a former member who attended the church for 42 years, expressed her disapproval of the situation.

“The situation is not a good one. It is far from Godly,” Molina said.

Molina has dedicated herself to exposing the church’s leadership for what she claims has been years of child abuse and cover-ups.

“I have heard and seen several cases of child abuse, I’ve heard rumors of child abuse… nothing has ever ever been done about any…

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Authorities arrested a priest in training in DeSoto County as part of a child exploitation operation, according to DeSoto County Sheriff Thomas Tuggle.

Tuggle said detectives with the department’s Internet Crimes Against Children Division executed a search warrant in Nesbit, MS, on Thursday, July 10. That search warrant was part of a law enforcement operation targeting people wanted for child exploitation crimes, according to the sheriff. Tuggle said led investigators arrested 24-year-old Jonathan Nguyen-Voung, a priest in training, at Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Olive Branch, where Nguyen-Voung worked as a religious educator. 

Nguyen-Voung is charged with multiple felonies, including possession of child pornography, accessing child pornography and distribution of child pornography. 

Tuggle said detectives recovered multiple files containing explicit material involving minors from electronic devices seized at the home in Nesbitt.

“One device was actively downloading child abuse material at the time investigators arrived,” Tuggle said. 

According to…

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The Catholic religious order to which the Rev. Freddy Washington belongs says the allegations against him are “unsubstantiated,” but he’s identified as credibly accused by the Archdiocese of Chicago. His case illustrates the chaotic way the U.S. church still handles misconduct accusations against clergy, often to the detriment of the public.

Is the Rev. Freddy Washington a child molester or not?

The Catholic priest is part of a religious order known as the Spiritans and once ministered on the South Side and attended the same Catholic graduate school in Hyde Park as Pope Leo XIV. Washington has been on the Archdiocese of Chicago’s online list of clergy deemed to have been credibly accused of child sex abuse since 2022.

In 2023, Washington was named in an Illinois attorney general report as one of 451 clerics who served at some point in one of Illinois’ six Catholic dioceses and have credible…

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Following the arrest of a Catholic priest who is accused of sexually abusing three children in San Luis Obispo County, a fourth victim lodged claims of abuse that occurred from 2005 through 2010.

Father Theodore Gabrielli, 61, is now facing 26 criminal counts. All of the children were under the age of 14 when the alleged abuse began.

At his arraignment hearing on July 8, Gabrielli pleaded not guilty. He remains in the San Luis Obispo County Jail on charges of aggravated sexual assault of a child, sodomy of a child under 14 years of age, oral copulation upon a minor and lewd acts with a child.

From 1991 through 1999, Gabrielli allegedly brought three children under 14 years old to the Central Coast, according to court records. He is accused of committing oral copulation on the three children and sodomy on one of the children.

From Aug. 2005 through…

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Only the pope can overrule the Archbishop of Toulouse. Will he do it?

A French archbishop is standing by his decision to appoint as chancellor a priest who was convicted of raping a 16-year-old boy, and who spent four years in prison for the offense.

While Archbishop Guy de Kerimel of Toulouse argues that appointing the priest to a prominent archdiocesan position is an act of mercy, Catholics in France and the U.S. seem skeptical, with some asking why Fr. Dominique Spina is eligible for any diocesan assignment at all.

And as the archbishop doubles down in the face of criticism, the case seems almost certain to find itself on the desk of Pope Leo XIV, whose judgment on the case would speak volumes about what the Church can expect of the pontiff’s approach to safeguarding.

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The Archdiocese of Toulouse broke into the headlines Monday, when the early June appointment of…

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BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — A group of Western New York parishioners have sued the Buffalo Diocese seeking to stop the diocese from using parish funds towards the $150 million settlement with hundreds of child sex abuse survivors.

The suit, filed Tuesday in State Supreme Court, is seeking a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction to prevent pastors from paying the diocese by the July 15 deadline.

The parishioners named in the lawsuit attend Blessed Sacrament in Tonawanda, Our Lady of Peace in Clarence, St. Bernadette in Orchard Park, St. Aloysius Gonzaga in Cheektowaga and St. John XXIII in West Seneca. All of those churches were set to be merged with other area parishes under the diocese’s restructuring plan.

The mergers are on hold while the Vatican looks at appeals seeking to prevent them.

The diocese has asked parishes contribute a combined $80 million towards the settlement using unrestricted cash…

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Parishioners are now suing the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo to prevent the use of parish funds for a $150 million settlement with child sex abuse survivors.

Parishioners from five Catholic churches, Blessed Sacrament, Our Lady of Peace, St. Bernadette, St. Aloysius Gonzaga, and St. John XXIII, filed the lawsuit to prevent their pastors from using unrestricted cash towards the settlement. That money is due by July 15.

Plus, parishioners from 5 Catholic churches filed the lawsuit to

The Diocese Road to Renewal plan slated each of the five parishes for merger, but those plans remain on hold as the Vatican reviews appeals.

Any parish slated to be merged is required to put 80% of its unrestricted cash towards the settlement.

In total, parishes across the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo must contribute $80 million toward the $150 million settlement with sex abuse survivors.

We respect the public’s interest in…

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A survivor organisation called the ruling a ‘shame for a state based on the rule of law’ said it showed ‘profound ignorance of the institution of the Catholic Church and its teaching’.

A court rejected an abuse survivor’s claim against the Archdiocese of Cologne for more than €800,000 Euros because she was abused by a priest acting as her foster father.

The priest, identified as Fr U., abused his foster daughter Melanie F. for years and even forced her to have an abortion.

According to the court, because foster care is based on an act of the state the perpetrator had acted in private and not as part of his office, so a charge of liability on the part of the archdiocese could not be upheld.

The court also said there was no neglect of a general duty of care, as representatives of the diocese had not been aware of…

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The Catholic religious order to which the Rev. Freddy Washington belongs says the allegations against him are “unsubstantiated,” but he’s identified as credibly accused by the Archdiocese of Chicago. His case illustrates the chaotic way the U.S. church still handles misconduct accusations against clergy, often to the detriment of the public.

Is the Rev. Freddy Washington a child molester or not?

The Catholic priest is part of a religious order known as the Spiritans, and once ministered on the South Side and attended the same Catholic graduate school in Hyde Park as Pope Leo XIV. Washington has been on the Archdiocese of Chicago’s online list of clergy deemed to have been credibly accused of child sex abuse since 2022.

In 2023, Washington was named in an Illinois attorney general report as one of 451 clerics who served at some point in one of Illinois’ six Catholic dioceses and have credible…

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A German court has rejected a claim for more than €800,000 (approximately $865,000) in damages from a woman who was abused by a Catholic priest who also served as her foster father.

The priest, identified as Fr. U., abused Melanie F. over several years and forced her to have an abortion. However, the court ruled that because the foster care arrangement was made through the state, the abuse occurred in a private capacity—not as part of his clerical duties.

The court also determined that the Archdiocese of Cologne could not be held liable, as there was no evidence that church officials were aware of the abuse.

The archdiocese said it welcomed the court’s decision, while acknowledging that “there are no winners when it comes to abuse.”

Survivors’ group Eckiger Tisch called the ruling “a shame for a state based on the rule of law” and said it reflected “profound ignorance…

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As New York dioceses declare bankruptcy amid a wave of scandals, churchgoers are appealing to the Vatican to stop parish closures

When the papal conclave elected the first American pope on May 8 of this year, much of the excitement over Pope Leo XIV overlooked an inconvenient reality in his home country. In many places, the U.S. Catholic Church is enmeshed in legal and financial woes stemming from decades of clerical abuse and cover-ups. The dam broke in the early 2000s, when a Boston Globe exposé on clerical abuse made national news and victims in other dioceses began coming forward. In New York state, the Child Victims Act became law in 2019 and extended the statute of limitations for underage abuse survivors to file suit. According to law firm Jeff Anderson & Associates, which represents many Catholic clerical abuse victims throughout New York, over 3,300 child sexual abuse lawsuits were filed in…

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The Archdiocese of Hartford has agreed to pay a former altar boy $2.4 million to settle his claim that a priest sexually abused him more than 100 times over a five-year period in the 1980s.

Father Adolphe Renkiewicz hand-picked the youth, an altar boy at the since-closed Saint Adalbert Church and School in Enfield, to serve at funerals and other services, according to the victim’s attorney.

“My client was an altar server, an altar boy, and he would be taken out of class to go serve a funeral, for instance,” attorney Mitchell Garabedian told WVIT on Tuesday. “After the service, my client would be abused.”

Throughout the victim’s ordeal, which he allegedly endured from ages 10 to 15, no one took note of the boy’s prolonged absences, said Garabedian, who has represented legions of clergy sexual abuse victims, most notably in the…

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French Archbishop Guy de Kerimel of Toulouse defended his appointment of a priest convicted of sexually abusing a minor as diocesan chancellor, saying that he had “chosen the path of mercy.”

The June 2 appointment of Father Dominique Spina gained widespread attention in the country after the French daily, La Dépêche du Midi, noted the priest’s 1993 conviction for sexually abusing a 16-year-old high school student, for which he was given a five-year prison sentence.

“It is true that Father Spina served a five-year prison sentence, including one suspended year, for very serious acts that took place nearly 30 years ago,” Archbishop de Kerimel said in a statement to Agence-France Presse, which was published July 7 by the French newspaper Le Monde. 

Archbishop de Kerimel added that Father Spina “no longer exercises a pastoral role,” with the exception of “celebrating the Eucharist, alone or exceptionally, for the faithful.”

“Considering that…

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A year after the first claims of sexual abuse by the French priest and charity founder Abbé Pierre, 12 more people say they were assaulted. Seven of them say they were minors at the time. The Catholic Church and Emmaüs, the charity organisation founded by Abbé Pierre, have put in place a compensation fund.

Henri Grouès, known as Abbé Pierre, died in 2007. He has now been accused of 45 acts of sexual violence. Twelve new testimonies have been collected since January by Égaé, the helpline for victims.

“Seven of these testimonies concern people who were minors” as young as 10 years old at the time of the events, said the expert firm commissioned by Emmaus to shed light on the matter in a report posted on the Emmaus France website.

Among them are two sisters, one of whom “recounted Abbé Pierre masturbating…

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Should clergy be required to report child abuse heard in confession? A new Washington law says yes, but the Justice Department and others are pushing back

This article was first published in the State of Faith newsletter. Sign up to receive the newsletter in your inbox each Monday night.

Religious liberty and child abuse

Amid the weekend’s patriotic festivities, one message focused on a core American freedom now under threat in Washington state. On July 4, Catholic Bishop Robert Barron filed a legal brief, calling on federal judges to block the state’s new law that requires clergy to report suspected child abuse or neglect, even if it’s shared during confession.

“Few religious practices are more misunderstood than the sacred seal of Confession in the Catholic Church,” Barron wrote, joining the lawsuit brought by the bishops of Washington state. The law openly targets…

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The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford has agreed to pay a $2.4 million settlement to a man who says he was sexually abused by a priest more than 100 times over a five-year period, beginning in the 1980s.

The victim, who was an altar boy at St. Adalbert’s School in Enfield, alleges the abuse occurred between 1985 and 1990.

His attorney, Mitchell Garabedian, said the boy was repeatedly taken out of class to serve at funerals, where the abuse would take place.

“My client was an altar server, an altar boy, and he would be taken out of class to go serve a funeral, for instance,” Garabedian said. “Someone should have noticed my client was gone for a long amount of time. After the service, my client would be abused.”

The accused priest, Adolph Renkiewicz, allegedly sexually assaulted the victim dozens of times.

In a statement, the archdiocese said it…

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“Taking the side of mercy? Do we take this side for the victims?”

An archbishop in France appointed last month a priest convicted of raping a 16-year-old boy to the position of archdiocesan chancellor — telling French media that the appointment was meant as an act of mercy, and the position is mostly administrative.

After the appointment made French headlines Monday, victims’ advocacy groups — and the priest’s own victim — said the appointment was in their judgment unacceptable.

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Archbishop Guy André Marie de Kerimel of the Archdiocese of Toulouse – Saint Bertrand de Comminges–Rieux appointed June 2 Father Dominique Spina as the chancellor and episcopal delegate for marriages of the Toulouse archdiocese.

But in 2006, Spina was convicted of the 1993 rape of a 16-year-old boy, and was sentenced to five years in prison.

According to a statement obtained by French news outlets, Kerimel said that he has “taken…

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– The San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office filed an amended complaint on July 8 against Theodore Gabrielli, adding six new charges related to alleged child molestation involving a fourth victim under the age of 14. Gabrielli now faces a total of 26 counts of child molestation involving incidents that allegedly occurred decades ago within the county.

Gabrielli was employed as a Catholic priest at the time of the alleged offenses, which occurred over a period of several years. All criminal defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty by plea or conviction by a judge or jury.

The defendant entered not guilty pleas on July 8. The San Luis Obispo County Superior Court has scheduled a pre-preliminary hearing for July 31 in Department 6, with Judge Michael S. Frye presiding. Gabrielli is represented by attorney Ilan Funke-Bilu.

The District Attorney’s Office and San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office continue…

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Meanwhile, over decades, Fr. Boniface Ramsey kept raising the alarm with church leaders

It was a story that got away from the National Catholic Reporter.

NCR tried and was unable to confirm the long-rumored abuse allegations against Theodore McCarrick, then a cardinal and archbishop of Washington, D.C., before they became national news.

One of the reporters who investigated was my late brother, Joe Feuerherd, former editor and publisher of National Catholic Reporter.

This is the story behind that story.

McCarrick died at age 94 in April, and, upon his death, many replayed the horrors he perpetrated. This summer marks the seventh anniversary of the exposure of those crimes and cover-up.

Besides the victims who tried to warn the world — and those who tried to investigate it — there were those who suffered decades in silence. And there…

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The Catholic Church ranked second in a survey of the most common themes of UK news reports on Christianity

A survey of 5,000 articles found that 1,247 concerned the Catholic Church.

The Christianity in the News Media Report said personal faith was the leading theme of all reports on Christianity published between December 2023 and November 2024.

It featured in 1,635 articles on Christianity, according to the report commissioned by the Christian media group, Jersey Road. The Church of England was mentioned in 846 reports.

Although the Catholic Church is only the second largest denomination in England and Wales (with 31 per cent of church attendance), it received 1.5 times more media coverage than the Church of England, “despite the latter being both the established church and the largest in England and Wales (34 per cent of attendance).”

Most coverage of Catholicism focused on “the controversy around the Catholic Church’s traditional views…

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On July 1, the same day that Bishop Joseph Brennan of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno announced it filed a voluntary petition for chapter 11 bankruptcy, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, responded with its own statement.

The diocese currently faces 153 claims of abuse by its clergy.

SNAP’s press release stated that the organization “wonders at the timing,” noting that the diocese’s filing was the day after attorneys for the plaintiffs in the coordinated Northern California clergy cases made a motion asking the court to sanction the diocesan attorney “for the unacceptable delay in starting the bankruptcy process.”

As liaison counsel for the plaintiffs, Richard Simons of Furtado, Jaspovice & Simons issued the 83-page motion for sanctions on June 30. The motion was critical of the “delays of over a…

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The Catholic Church’s powerful Sydney Archdiocese has failed to report to NSW Police allegations of abuse involving one of its most senior figures, despite “disclosing” the matter a week ago.

NSW Police said they “have not received any notification” from the church, about the abuse allegations involving Auxiliary Bishop Richard Umbers, who is second only to Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher.

That’s despite the Sydney Archdiocese on Tuesday last week quietly posting to a relatively obscure part of its website a statement about the allegations, including claiming to have “notified authorities”.

It’s also despite having claimed that “the NSW Police have confirmed there is no investigation at this time”.

“The NSWPF position remains the same – we have not received any notification” — NSW Police

The Klaxon revealed the statement on Wednesday last week, on Friday revealing that the church had not notified NSW Police, despite its official claims.

“The NSWPF position…

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A contested Washington state law that would require priests to violate the seal of confession to report abuse “represents an egregious violation of the free exercise clause of the First Amendment,” Bishop Robert E. Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, who is a member of the U.S. Religious Liberty Commission, told OSV News.

“That the state could interfere in this most sacred discipline of the church should alarm not only Catholics, but indeed all Americans who revere religious liberty,” he said in a statement emailed to OSV News July 7.

Bishop Barron, founder of the Word on Fire media ministry, filed a friend-of-the-court brief July 4 in a case brought May 29 by Archbishop Paul D. Etienne of Seattle and other bishops and clergy against Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson and his administration over the recently passed law on mandated abuse reporting, which lacks exceptions for the clergy-penitent privilege.

Washington’s Catholic bishops had supported a version of…

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Despite progress in prevention and reparation, the abuse crisis continues to affect the Church, especially where effective measures and a culture of transparency are lacking

Since the end of the 20th century, the Catholic Church has faced one of the most painful and scandalous crises in its history: the systematic revelation of sexual abuse committed by members of the clergy against minors and vulnerable people. This tragedy has not only destroyed human lives but has also undermined the Church’s moral credibility in many countries. The magnitude of the wound has demanded firm and sustained responses, although these remain uneven depending on the ecclesial context.

From decades of concealment to a culture of transparency

For years, many cases were silenced or treated as internal matters, under a mentality of institutional protection that is now recognized as part of the problem. The publication of the Boston Globe report in 2002, along with independent investigations…

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An inquest has been opened into the death of a former Church of England priest who raped a six-year-old boy. 

Ifor Whittaker, who was serving as a prisoner at HMP Littlehey, near Huntingdon, died at Peterborough City Hospital on March 31. 

An investigation launched by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman is ongoing. 

The 80-year-old admitted to raping a child in the vestry of St John the Baptist Church, in Sedlescombe, East Sussex, in the late 1990s. 

Whittaker was jailed for life in November last year after admitting rape and gross indecency while serving as a priest under the name Colin Pritchard. 

Handing down his sentence, Judge Gary Lucie described the former priest as a “predatory paedophile”, adding the offence had been “an egregious breach of trust”. 

He was already serving a 16-year sentence for abusing a boy between 1987 and 1991 after he was convicted in trial in 2018. 

Whittaker had also previously been jailed for five years in…

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The once mighty Gateway Church is cutting services amid a fall in tithes and attendance. How’d we get here?

It’s been a year since North Texas megachurch founder and pastor Robert Morris stepped down from his position amid claims that he had sexually abused a minor, and the Southlake-based ministry is still reeling from the scandal’s aftershocks.

Most recently, leaders at the Gateway Church, which is based out of Southlake but has campuses across North Texas, announced the end of Saturday services. Last month, the church revealed that a significant drop in tithes had led to financial struggles across the company.

In just one year, it seems the Christian ministry that once dominated North Texas’ most devout circles is near toppling. Here’s how we got to this point.

June 14, 2024

The Christian blog The Wartburg Watch publishes an interview with Cindy Clemshire, a 54-year-old Oklahoma woman. Clemshire details…

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While Benedict XVI might have been “God’s rottweiler” when dealing with dissenters, he was not when dealing with predators.

On Saturday, Leo XIV appointed French archbishop Verny as new president of Tutela Minorum. Will his appointment help to overcome failures in how Benedict XVI and Francis addressed the crisis?

At the end of his 2018 trip to South America, Pope Francis credited Benedict XVI with the development of “zero-tolerance” to address the clergy sexual abuse crisis. He said, while flying from Lima to Rome:

“You know that Pope Benedict began with zero tolerance, I continued with zero tolerance, and, after almost five years as Pope, I have not signed a request for pardon.”

This claim, however, proves fragile, as two recent cases from Argentina showcase. Both parallel Chilean former Jesuit Felipe Berríos’s case, where the “solution” also involved the “extinction” of the case due to the statute of limitations.

One scandal, already decades…

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Legalise Cannabis MP Rachel Payne has welcomed the State Government’s intent to hold churches vicariously liable for child sexual abuse committed by their clergy.

It comes after a High Court ruling last November that the Catholic Church was not liable for abuse by a Ballarat priest.

The court found that the priest was not an ‘employee’, and that it was the job of parliament to rectify this.

In May, Payne had unsuccessfully introduced a bill to hold religious and sports institutions to account for child sexual abuse perpetrated by clergy and volunteers.

It was debated, but was not put to the vote due to a lack of support, she said.

However, weeks later, State Attorney-General Sonya Kilkenny has told ABC that retrospective laws would be introduced by the end of the year.

Payne said she welcomed this news for victim survivors, who were deeply injured because their pain was not…

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How should we address the legacy of clergy abuse, and what reforms can advocate for institutional accountability?

Rev. Dr. John C. Lentz Jr. served over 30 years as Lead Pastor of Forest Hill Presbyterian Church in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Known for passionate preaching, community leadership, and a commitment to justice and compassion, he profoundly shaped the Church’s mission before retiring in 2024 after a celebrated ministry. Lentz reflects on his 30-year tenure at Forest Hill Presbyterian Church, where he inherited the traumatic legacy of sexual abuse by a former associate pastor. Lentz details the Church’s response—early efforts at acknowledgment, limited legal options, and survivor support—highlighting the structural weaknesses in denominational accountability. He explores systemic patterns of abuse across denominations, including the role of clerical authority, enabling networks, and institutional cover-ups. Drawing from neuroscience, psychology, and theology, Lentz emphasizes the importance of independent investigations, seminary reform, and third-party oversight. He warns against…

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A French parliamentary report released on July 2 has shed light on disturbing cases of abuse in schools while also reigniting a longstanding national debate over the balance between state oversight and freedom of education.  

The report, resulting from a five-month inquiry into violence within the school system, proposes a series of measures aimed at better protecting minors. However, its heavy focus on Catholic private institutions under state contract has raised concerns about potential political bias and the future of educational pluralism in France. 

The inquiry was led by parliamentarians Violette Spillebout, from President Macron’s centrist party Renaissance, and Paul Vannier, from the far-left party La France Insoumise (LFI). 

While the report formally addresses all types of schools, much of its attention is directed toward Catholic private institutions under state contract, especially those with boarding programs.  

‘Structural dysfunction’ 

The commission of inquiry was established following revelations…

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A Catholic priest has been arrested for allegedly forcibly touching a woman inside a church kitchen in a Long Island diocese already reeling from so many sex-abuse cases that it’s bankrupt.

The Rev. John Adjei-Boamah, 43, was hit with the two sex-abuse misdemeanors for allegedly forcing himself on the unidentified woman in the St. Catherine of Sienna Roman Catholic Church rectory in Franklin Square, Nassau County cops said.

His arrest comes as the Diocese of Rockville Centre — one of the largest in the country — continues drowning in a wave of sex-abuse scandals that pushed it into bankruptcy in 2020 after being hit with hundreds of lawsuits.

In December, church leaders agreed to pay out $323 million to settle the claims in one of the largest settlements ever of its kind.

“The Diocese of Rockville Centre confirms that an accusation of sexual misconduct with an adult has been made against…

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Russell Edward Graves, 44, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for sexually abusing a nine-year-old.

CALDWELL, Idaho — A Nampa man has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a nine-year-old and been sentenced to a minimum of 25 years in prison.

“The Canyon County Prosecutor’s Office acknowledges the diligent efforts of the Canyon County Sheriff’s Office in investigating this case and ensuring accountability for these offenses. The Prosecutor’s Office remains committed to protecting vulnerable victims and holding offenders accountable under the law,” the office stated.

According to the Canyon County Prosecutor’s Office, Russell Edward Graves, 44, was sentenced by Judge Thomas Whitney on July 2 and is required to serve at least seven years before becoming eligible for parole. 

Graves pleaded guilty to the abuse between 2021 and 2024. He will also pay fines, court costs and restitution to the victim. 

“A $5,000 civil penalty was imposed, and the existing…

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New studies underscore the difficulty of implanting entirely fictional events in a person’s recollection

[Print publication in the July/August 2025 issue. Online publication April 8, 2025]

How much can we trust our memories? We know that our mind keeps an imperfect record of the past. We can forget or misremember details, with frustrating consequences. Our attention can be diverted in ways that make it all too easy to miss key events.

But a particularly disturbing idea is that we readily form false memories—that is, that we can become convinced we experienced something that never actually occurred. The suggestion that it is easy to create false memories of entire events is often used to cast doubt on the reliability of a plaintiff’s testimony in a court case. For example, lawyers representing movie executive Harvey Weinstein cited this idea to raise questions about several women’s allegations against him.

Recently we had the opportunity…

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French Archbishop Thibault Verny is the Vatican’s new president of its Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors after opposing child abuse within the Episcopal Conference.

Pope Leo XIV appointed Verny to succeed American Capuchin Cardinal Sean Patrick O’Malley, with whom Verny worked to promote a “culture of protection for vulnerable people,” Vatican News reported on Saturday.

Verny is the Archbishop of Chambery and the Bishop of Maurienne and Tarentaise in France.

As president of the commission to protect minors, Verny said he will continue working to protect minors against sexual abuse and raise awareness within the church.

“In France, my mission … allowed me to listen to the victims and accompany them on their journey,” Verny said. “It was a decisive experience.”

He also worked with law enforcement and other civil authorities to develop protocols for thwarting abuse within the church.

“It is a matter of raising…

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Pope Leo XIV has appointed Archbishop Thibault Verny of Chambéry as the new president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

Pope Leo XIV has appointed Archbishop Thibault Verny of Chambéry as the new president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

The prelate succeeds U.S.-born Cardinal Seán O’Malley, 81, the founding president of the safeguarding commission established by Pope Francis in 2014.  

“I thank the Holy Father for my appointment as president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors,” Archbishop Verny said in a statement released on July 5. 

“I am honoured by the trust he has placed in me, fully aware of the grave and sacred task entrusted to the commission: to help the Church become ever more vigilant, accountable, and compassionate in her mission to protect the most vulnerable among us.”

The new president praised his predecessor, saying Cardinal O’Malley…

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Pope Leo XIV has appointed the French archbishop of Chambéry, Thibault Verny, as the new president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, the Vatican announced today, July 5. Archbishop Verny, 59, has been a member of the commission since 2022.

He succeeds Cardinal Seán O’Malley, 81, the emeritus archbishop of Boston who has served with distinction as the first president of the commission ever since Pope Francis first established it in 2014 as an advisory body to the pope. Cardinal O’Malley oversaw the development of the commission over the past decade and was the last of the original founding members to remain on the commission.

Archbishop Verny is expected to continue as archbishop of Chambéry and, like Cardinal O’Malley, to conduct his work as president of the commission from his archdiocese in France with visits to Rome whenever necessary.

Bishop Alí Herrera, 58, is currently secretary of…

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Pope Leo appoints Thibault Verny, Archbishop of Chambéry and Bishop of Maurienne and Tarentaise to succeed Cardinal Seán Patrick O’Malley as the president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. In France, Archbishop Verny was responsible for the fight against child abuse within the Episcopal Conference.

Archbishop Thibault Verny is the new president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. He will put his French experience at the service of the universal Church, while retaining his diocesan responsibilities. He was President of the Council for the Prevention and Fight against Paedophilia within the Episcopal Conference of his own country until last June, when he passed the baton to Bishop Gérard Le Stang of Amiens, who was elected to that position during the last plenary assembly.

First in the Archdiocese of Paris and then within the Conference of Bishops of France, Archbishop Verny has been actively involved…

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Pope Leo XIV signaled commitment to continuing the fight against clergy sexual abuse by appointing France’s Bishop Thibault Verny to head the Vatican’s child protection advisory commission on Saturday.

Verny, 59, replaces American Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the retired archbishop of Boston. O’Malley was the founding president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, an advisory group Pope Francis established in 2014 to advise the church on best practices to fight abuse and protect children.

As the abuse scandal spread globally during Francis’ 12-year pontificate, the commission initially lost influence and its crowning recommendation — the creation of a tribunal to judge bishops who covered up for predator priests — went nowhere. After many years of reform and new members, it has become a place where victims can go to be heard and bishops can get advice on crafting guidelines to fight abuse.

Verny, who is currently the bishop of…

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The Rev. Curtis Lambert — who has “strenuously denied” the allegations, per a letter from Cardinal Blase Cupich — was pulled out of ministry and will refrain from all parish and school activities pending the conclusion of the archdiocese’s investigation. Cupich said the allegations were also reported to civil authorities.

A priest who served at a number of city and suburban parishes has been accused of sexual abuse of a minor about 40 years ago at Sacred Heart Parish in Melrose Park, according to a statement Saturday from Cardinal Blase Cupich.

The Rev. Curtis Lambert — who has “strenuously denied” the allegations — was pulled out of ministry and will refrain from all parish and school activities pending the conclusion of the archdiocese’s investigation. Cupich said the allegations were also reported to civil authorities.

“We do not presume the truth or falsity of an allegation until the process is complete…

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Leaked documents seemingly undermining Pope Francis’ stated reason for restricting the old Latin Mass provided an incomplete reconstruction of the evidence that informed his 2021 decision to crack down on the spread of the ancient liturgy, the Vatican said Thursday.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni declined to explicitly confirm the authenticity of the documents, which were posted online this week by a Vatican reporter. But he said they “presumably” were part of one of the documents forming the basis of Francis’ decision.

“As such, it provides a very partial and incomplete reconstruction of the decision-making process,” Bruni told reporters. adding that successive confidential reports and consultations were taken into consideration.

The publication of the documents this week revived the debate in the Catholic Church over the Latin Mass, suggesting that whoever leaked them aimed to put pressure on Pope Leo XIV to address the dispute just as his pontificate is getting…

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The Brief

• Father Curtis Lambert has been accused of sexual abuse of a minor at Sacred Heart Parish in Melrose Park. The alleged abuse occurred approximately 40 years ago.
• Lambert has served as an associate pastor, pastor and administrator at parishes throughout the Chicago area since 1974.
• Lambert denies the allegation.

A local priest has been accused of sexual abuse of a minor, according to the Archdiocese of Chicago.

What we know:

Father Curtis Lambert has been accused of sexual abuse of a minor at Sacred Heart Parish in Melrose Park. The alleged abuse occurred approximately 40 years ago.

Father Curtis Lambert has served as an associate pastor, pastor and administrator at parishes throughout the Chicago area since 1974.

The Archdiocese of Chicago notified the local parishes of the allegations.

Lambert denies the allegation.

Lambert currently resides at St. Peter Damian Catholic Church in Bartlett, Ill. where he has been the…

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A priest who served at multiple Chicago-area churches is facing an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor, the Archdiocese of Chicago said Saturday.

Father Curtis Lambert will be stepping away from ministry during an investigations into the accusation, Cardinal Blase Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago, announced in letters to families of multiple parishes.

Lambert is accused of sexual abuse against a minor while he was assigned to Sacred Heart Parish in Melrose Park approximately 40 years ago, the Archdiocese said.

The pastor has previously worked in various capacities for St. Alphonsus Liguori Parish, St. Basil Visitation Parish, Immaculate Conception and St. Michael Parish, St. Mary of the Lake and Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, Our Lady of the Rosary Parish, St. Peter Damian Catholic Church, Sacred Heart and St. Eulalia Parish and St. Thomas Becket Parish.

Civil authorities and the Archdiocese are conducting investigations. According to the Archdiocese, Lambert has…

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Opus Dei’s No. 2 official drawn into federal human trafficking case

Federal prosecutors in Argentina have formally requested that Opus Dei’s second-most senior official be summoned for questioning about his role in the alleged enslavement and trafficking of 43 women over four decades.

Prosecutors seek to question Msgr. Mariano Fazio, the Opus Dei auxiliary vicar and likely heir to the current leader, Msgr. Fernando Ocáriz. Fazio is the most senior Opus Dei figure to be drawn into the case, which was brought by federal prosecutors in September after a two-year investigation.

The June 11 request by prosecutors is pending before an Argentinian judge. 

Opus Dei, in response to the request, said in a statement that the group “categorically denies” any accusations of human trafficking or labor exploitation. It said that the conclusions of the prosecutors were a “complete decontextualization” of a “freely chosen vocation.”

The…

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Steve Taylor, former producer and songwriter for the Newsboys, has addressed allegations the band’s management covered up an alleged rape, calling claims of ignorance by Newsboys’ owner Wes Campbell “utter nonsense.”

“This is a cover up of like mafia-like clout, and the whole thing needs to burn,” Taylor said, in an interview on Christianity Today’s podcast The Bulletin.

The episode, which was released on June 30, addressed The Roys Report’s (TRR) investigation into Michael Tait. Taylor co-wrote Newsboys hits including “Shine,” “I’m Not Ashamed,” and “Breakfast,” and last worked with the Newsboys in 2010.

In the interview, he told host Mike Cosper that he was “sickened” after reading TRR’s latest report, citing the story of 22-year-old ‘Nicole’ who says she was allegedly roofied by Tait. Then she said she was sexually assaulted by Newsboys crew member Matthew Brewer while Tait watched during a tour stop in Fargo, North Dakota in 2014.

…

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A woman said she “froze” after she was allegedly pushed down and raped by a former priest accused of sexual offences against 13 women in his congregation, a court heard.

Christopher Brain, 68, from Wilmslow, Cheshire, was leader of the Nine O’Clock Service (NOS), part of the Church of England, in Sheffield between 1986 and 1995.

Brain denies one count of rape and 36 counts of indecent assault between 1981 and 1995.

The prosecution allege NOS became a cult where Brain abused his position to sexually assault a “staggering number” of women followers, exerting control over their lives and ostracising them from friends and family.

Inner London Crown Court has heard a “homebase team” was set up to “care for” Brain – referred to as “the Lycra Lovelies” or “the Lycra Nuns” – with witnesses reporting seeing the defendant surrounded by attractive women in lingerie at his home looking after…

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A priest who is currently in custody on a charge of attempted sexual communication with a child has been charged with a further seven offences.

Fr Edward Gallagher, 58, of Orchard Park in Lifford, County Donegal, had been released into police custody for further questioning on Thursday.

He appeared at Londonderry Magistrates’ Court on Friday on charges including possessing of an indecent image of a child and possessing extreme pornographic images.

He has also been charged with making an indecent image of a child, distributing indecent images of a child, causing a child to engage in sexual activity, causing a child to watch a sexual activity and sexual communication with a child.

The court was told the offences are alleged to have taken place on 17 April.

Fr Gallagher spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth, and there was no application for bail.

He was remanded in…

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A historic abuse scandal at an elite French institution has consumed the country—and exposes a national failure to safeguard children

Cheval always turned his signet ring inwards before he slapped a student. Such was his routine. In the 1980s, children who attended Notre-Dame-de-Bétharram, an elite Catholic boarding school in southwest France, knew to look out for the turn of the heavy gold ring towards the inside of the palm that would deliver the blow. Older pupils also knew to check his crotch for the erection that would inevitably signal impending punishment.

When Alain Esquerre, whose book The Silence of Bétharram came out in April, tells me about this on the phone, he seems much younger than his 53 years. There’s a softness in his voice that makes him sound 13. That’s how old he was when Cheval—the student supervisor who proclaimed himself a “prefect of discipline”—first punished him. Poor grades,…

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