ABUSE TRACKER

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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Pope Leo on Saturday appointed a French archbishop as the new leader of the Vatican’s commission on clergy sexual abuse, in the U.S. pontiff’s first public move to confront an issue that has damaged the global Church’s credibility.

Thibault Verny, 59, will be president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors while also remaining the archbishop of Chambery in southeast France.

The Vatican commission was created by Pope Francis in 2014 in an effort by the late pontiff to respond after sexual abuse scandals affected the Church in countries across the world.

The scandals have damaged the Church’s standing as a moral voice, led to lawsuits costing millions in countries across the globe, and resulted in a number of resignations of bishops.

Verny said he was committed to improving the Church’s safeguarding measures.

“We will promote the … equitable sharing of resources so that all parts of the…

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The lawsuit alleges the school knew about similar incidents before this investigation.

Central Catholic High School is being sued by the family of two teenage boys who were allegedly bullied and sexually harassed by soccer team members. 

The lawsuit, filed Thursday morning, alleged that Central Catholic High School failed to protect the two boys from harassment, bullying, battery, physical assault, sexual assault and hazing.

According to the document, the teachers and administrators took no actions following the alleged assault and abuse committed on the victims and that these actions have been a “long standing problem” in school campuses and sports programs. 

The lawsuit stated that “some students were shown praise after the administration having knowledge of their alleged deviant actions and failure to act that resulted in harm to other students.” 

“Central Catholic and its Staff, Coaches, and Agents knew or should have known that over time the hazing traditions…

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“Bishop Umbers emphatically denies the allegation.”

A prominent Australian bishop has agreed to step aside from ministry, amid an investigation into a historical claim of abuse, which he has strongly denied.

The Archdiocese of Sydney said July 1 that it had received notice of a civil claim of historical abuse, with auxiliary Bishop Richard Umber identified as the claim’s subject.

“Bishop Umbers emphatically denies the allegation,” the archdiocese said, adding it had notified the authorities about the complaint.

The archdiocese noted that the New South Wales Police Force, which is responsible for law enforcement in Sydney, had confirmed there was no active investigation into the allegation.

“In conformity with the archdiocesan protocol for managing safeguarding complaints and relevant legislation, Bishop Umbers has agreed to stand aside from public ministry while this allegation is investigated,” the archdiocese said.

Umbers, a member of Opus Dei who was appointed as a Sydney auxiliary bishop…

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Prospect Heights — The Diocese of Brooklyn has “officially removed” Father Raymond Flores from ministry and will add him to the diocese’s list of credibly accused priests following the recommendation of an independent panel that investigates abuse allegations.

Bishop Robert Brennan announced the decision in a press release on July 3.

Father Flores, who hasn’t served in the diocese for over a decade, was ordained in the diocese on June 29, 2013, and assigned as a parochial vicar for Divine Mercy in Brooklyn until November 8, 2014, when he was temporarily removed from ministry “due to an inappropriate relationship with an adult.”

After years of counseling and discernment, Father Flores expressed a desire to return to active ministry. According to the diocese, in September 2018, he “assumed duties” at St. Mary Help of Christians parish in the Diocese of Charleston, South Carolina, so he could serve outside of the Diocese of…

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A Roman Catholic priest has been arrested for allegedly touching a woman forcibly and lewdly in the kitchen of a Franklin Square church rectory, according to the Nassau County Police Department.

The priest, the Rev. John Adjei-Boamah, was charged with the crimes of forcible touching and sexual abuse, in connection with the alleged incident, at the St. Catherine of Sienna Roman Catholic Church rectory.

He was arraigned Friday morning and released on his own recognizance, with an order of protection for the accuser, said police spokesperson Police Det. Lt. Scott Skrynecki.

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The Orlando Diocese has been hit with more lawsuits by men who say they were abused by priests when they were children.

The documents only identified the men as John Does 1, 2 and 3. Each of them claimed the priests would get groom them, isolate them and abuse them.

At times, though, they said the abuse was far more flagrant and others in the community and within the church hierarchy knew about what was happening.

Two of the lawsuits named Bob Hoeffer as the abuser. Hoeffner was already accused of abuse by multiple men, including one who shot and killed Hoeffner and his sister in Palm Bay in 2024. The men said the abuse happened in the 2010’s.

The new claims against Hoeffner are older, dating back to the 1980’s. The victims said Hoeffer was known to live with boys and threatened to quit when he…

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Officials in Dolton, Ill., called the purchase a rare opportunity. But some residents questioned whether the village, grappling with a deficit and potholes, could afford it.

The Chicago suburb where the first American pope grew up will buy the boyhood home of Leo XIV, which local officials have been looking to preserve as a landmark since the pontiff’s election in May.

In a unanimous vote on Tuesday, the Board of Trustees in Dolton, Ill., agreed to acquire the modest three-bedroom house on East 141st Place — about 20 miles south of downtown Chicago — for a yet-to-be-determined amount.

Officials said that the village should not pass up the rare chance to own the property, which was put up for auction online with a reserve price of $250,000 around the time of Leo XIV’s installation.

“I will say this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Jason M. House, the mayor of…

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“He feels that he has done something real to expose the problems in the diocese and in the Catholic church hierarchy,” said Jeff Anderson, who represented the plaintiff, “so that other kids will be protected.”

An Olmsted County jury awarded $7.6 million to a plaintiff who alleged sexual misconduct and filed a lawsuit against the Diocese of Winona.

The jury returned its verdict on Monday, June 30, after a weeklong trial to determine the damages.

The plaintiff, referred to as Doe 254, filed the complaint for a personal injury lawsuit in 2021 related to allegations of abuse in the 1970s. The case alleged three counts relating to negligence and demanded payment for the damages in excess of $50,000.

This case is a result of the Minnesota Child Victims Act of 2013, which lifted the statute of limitations on past claims of child sexual abuse for a three-year period that ended…

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Key Points

• The Rev. Jay Mello of Fall River has been under investigation for sexual misconduct since June 2024.
• The Catholic Diocese of Fall River said its investigation is completed and Mello was found to be credibly accused of sexual misconduct with two parishioners.

Jay Mello, the former pastor of St. Michael’s and St. Joseph’s parishes in Fall River, is restricted from returning to priestly duties after an investigation by the Diocese of Fall River found “credible allegations” that he engaged in sexual misconduct with two parishioners.

The diocese on July 1 announced the end of an investigation begun a little more than a year ago.

The diocese’s Ministerial Review Board, comprising mostly lay people, evaluated the investigation; Bishop Edgar da Cunha completed an independent review, and together determined that “some, though not all, of the allegations were credible, including credible allegations…

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The Brief

• Two new lawsuits name Father Bob Hoeffner, previously accused and later killed by an accuser.
• A third lawsuit names George Zina, tied to alleged abuse in the Dr. Phillips area.
• Victims say church leaders knew and failed to act.

The Diocese of Orlando is facing three new lawsuits from men who allege they were sexually abused by Catholic priests as children. 

What we know: A man is suing the Diocese of Orlando for $25 million and demanding a trial by jury after allegations of a pastor sexually abusing him and potentially others “for years.”  Now, three new lawsuits have been filed against the diocese, two of which named Father Bob Hoeffner, a priest who was already accused of similar abuse by others and was shot and killed last year by one of his accusers. 

Another lawsuit names George Zina, a former church worker in the Dr. Phillips area during…

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On Monday, a jury issued a verdict on a civil lawsuit in which a male survivor accused a Diocese of Winona-Rochester priest of sexually abusing him as a child from 1973 to 1976.

The accused priest is Father Joseph Cashman, and after deliberation, the jury awarded the victim, named Doe 254 in court documents, with $7.6 million.

“This is a case about accountability, it’s about justice. It’s about Doe 254 finding his voice and regaining his power. We stand with him on this momentous day,” said Attorney Josh Peck.

Father Cashman was employed by the Diocese of Winona, Lourdes High School, and Rochester Catholic Schools. During the time of the abuse of Doe 254, Fr. Cashman served as the principal of Lourdes High School.

“I’m proud to say that I stood, we stood with a very courageous survivor who was violated by a very revered and trusted priest,” said Attorney…

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A long-anticipated bankruptcy filing from The Roman Catholic Bishop of Fresno was made in federal court Tuesday arising from claims made by the victims of clergy sexual abuse.

Joseph V. Brennan, bishop of the Diocese of Fresno, first announced in May 2024 the intention to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the face of 154 cases filed against the Diocese, which covers the entirety of the Central Valley from Merced to Kern County.

During the reorganization process, the court will oversee ‘the allocation of available assets to satisfy the claims against the Diocese,” according to an open letter from Brennan dated July 1. Victim survivors of clergy sexual abuse will be represented in the proceedings and a fund will be established by the court for distribution.

“I am clear-sighted that this path is the only path that will allow us to handle claims of…

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More than a year after announcing plans to file for bankruptcy, the Catholic Diocese of Fresno has officially filed for Chapter 11 protection — a move that has drawn criticism from lawyers representing survivors of sexual abuse.

The Diocese of Fresno, which serves approximately 1 million Catholic parishioners in the central San Joaquin Valley, faces 153 claims of abuse by clergy, following a new state law that opened a three-year window for individuals to bring forward otherwise barred or expired claims.

“Our Church must address the suffering that victims of clergy sexual abuse endure. We know the sin; it will always be before us,” Joseph Brennan, Bishop of the Diocese of Fresno, said. “As your Bishop, I commit to maintain the highest standards for the protection of the vulnerable and our youth and I will continue to confront allegations of abuse or any wrongdoing with diligence and care.”

Some are…

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The Catholic Church has made misleading claims about having reported to authorities allegations of abuse against one of its most senior figures.

The church’s powerful Sydney Diocese on Tuesday said Bishop Richard Umbers was the subject of a “claim of historical abuse”, that he had stood aside, and that it had “notified the relevant authorities”.

“In accordance with its obligations, the Archdiocese has notified the relevant authorities of the complaint,” it said in an official statement Tuesday.

“The NSW Police have confirmed there is no active investigation at this time,” the church said.

Yet The Klaxon can exclusively reveal the church has not notified NSW Police.

“NSW Police is not aware of this matter,” a spokeswoman said.

NSW Police told The Klaxon the church had not notified them, or contacted them in any way, about the abuse allegations.

There was no possibility of there being any investigation, because NSW Police were…

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[Includes a 4-minute video of the interview with survivor Carol Dupre, somewhat different from the printed report below.]

The long-running sex abuse bankruptcy case involving the Catholic Diocese of Rochester is nearing its conclusion. After six years and more than 475 victims, a settlement offer is currently being voted on by those affected.

Votes will be counted on July 29, with the deadline to submit votes set for July 15. I spoke with Carol Dupre, a church abuse survivor from Spencerport, who shared her thoughts on the process.

Brean: “You can see the finish line”

Dupre: “I do believe so, yeah. We’re hopeful.”

Brean: “And you feel what?”

Dupre: “I’m tired. I feel like I’ve been in a wrestling match for, it’s been more than six years. The case will be a full six years by September.”

Dupre has been fighting for eight years, but her battle began long before that. She was abused…

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Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, said Thursday that judges have been selected to hear the trial of Father Marko Rupnik, a former Jesuit accused of sexual abuse against women.

The cardinal told journalists that the judges chosen are “independent and external” to the dicastery but did not indicate when the Slovenian priest’s trial is set to take place in the Vatican.

“The idea was, if possible, to eliminate the idea that the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith or the Holy See had any interest or were subjected to pressure,” he said.

Rupnik, whose religious artworks can be found in shrines and churches around the world, has been accused by at least a dozen women, mostly former nuns, of sexual, psychological, and spiritual abuse that reportedly occurred over the past three decades.

In May 2019, the then-Congregation for…

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Prosecutors are asking to charge Mariano Fazio along with the four clerics already accused by 43 women.

The number two of Opus Dei, the auxiliary vicar Mariano Fazio, was formally accused of trafficking women for himlabor exploitation within their religious order in conditions of semi-slavery, a practice that the Opus would have committed for four decades in Argentina. This is stated in the eight-page document to which he has accessed ElDiario.es, within the judicial process opened against the top officials of the Opus in Argentina. the Opus –that is, the number two of the order worldwide– and lives in the Vatican, he requests that he be charged along with four officials responsible for the order in the country who had already been accused. The petition was sent on June 11 to federal judge Daniel Rafecas by prosecutors Alejandra Mángano_, initially included in the accusation, which did charge the three priests…

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2 On Your Side has a clearer picture of how much money individual parishes are contributing to the $150 million Buffalo Catholic Diocese sex abuse settlement.

Parishes are responsible for $110 million, with $30 million coming from real estate proceeds and $80 million coming from a percentage of the cash they had on-hand as of last August. We now know more than 20 parishes have had their amounts adjusted ahead of the July 15 deadline.

As part of the lawsuit settlement, each parish in the Buffalo Catholic Diocese will pay 10 to 80-percent of the unrestricted cash they had on-hand as of last August. Parishes on the closure list are being asked to pay higher percentages.

2 On Your Side spoke with the Chief Operating Officer of the diocese two weeks ago.

“We actually heard from parishes, a number of parishes, that they expected the amount to…

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[See also the full report (in French).]

An official inquiry published Wednesday found that abuse at the Bétharram Catholic school went unaddressed during François Bayrou’s tenure as education minister in the 1990s. The report warned of ongoing violence in both public and private schools and accused the government of failing to implement effective protective measures.

French lawmakers on Wednesday accused the state of “structural dysfunctions” in handling child abuse in schools, delivering a scathing 330-page report that chronicles decades of systemic violence and silence across France’s educational institutions. 

“Children across France were subjected to monstrosities,” wrote the committee president, Fatiha Keloua Hachi, describing the three-month investigation as a “deep dive into the unthinkable”. 

The probe, led by centrist Violette Spillebout from Macron’s ruling party Renaissance, and Paul Vannier, a lawmaker with the hard-left France Unbowed party (LFI), heard testimony from 140 people, including survivors. While abuse occurred in both public and private schools, the MPs…

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[See also the PDF of the Brennan letter in English and Spanish.]

An Open Letter to the Faithful

Brothers and Sisters,

In May of last year, I announced the Diocese of Fresno’s plan to Atone for the Suffering Inflicted by Clergy Abuse, and how that plan includes reorganizing our Diocese by filing for bankruptcy. Today I announce that the Diocese has filed a Voluntary Petition for chapter 11 bankruptcy with the United States Bankruptcy Court here in Fresno County. I am clear-sighted that this path is the only path that will allow us to handle claims of sexual abuse with fair, equitable compassion while simultaneously ensuring the continuation of ministry within our Diocese.

Our Church must address the suffering that victims of clergy sexual abuse endure. We know the sin; it will always be before us. Now that we have entered a journey of conversion through contrition…

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The Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno has officially filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a move that’s been anticipated since last year when the church first announced it was addressing past claims of sexual abuse at the hands of its clergy.

The Diocese is facing more than 150 claims of abuse. In a statement released Tuesday, the Bishop of the Diocese Joseph Brennan said the voluntary Chapter 11 Bankruptcy filing was needed to “address the suffering that victims of the clergy sexual abuse endure.”

The diocese first signaled its intent to seek bankruptcy protection in May 2024, when the church publicly acknowledged the sexual abuse cases it would face. At the time, church leaders stated the Diocese expected to file for bankruptcy protection in August 2024 in anticipation of having to settle cases.

Many of the abuse claims stem from actions that took place decades ago but were filed under the…

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The Diocese of Fresno, California, has finally filed for bankruptcy — a year after first announcing its intention to do so — in order to address more than 150 abuse claims filed under a California lookback law and create a genuine path of reconciliation for the church and abuse survivors.

“I am clear-sighted that this path is the only path that will allow us to handle claims of sexual abuse with fair, equitable compassion while simultaneously ensuring the continuation of ministry within our Diocese,” wrote Bishop Joseph V. Brennan in “Addressing the Grievous Fault of Clergy Abuse,” a July 1 letter to faithful that was posted in both English and Spanish to the diocese’s website.

Bankruptcy timeline

In a May 2024 letter to faithful, titled “Addressing the Suffering Inflicted by Clergy Abuse,” Bishop Brennan had announced plans for the bankruptcy, stating at the time he anticipated filing in August 2024.

In the Chapter…

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[See also the full report (in French).]

Summary

• Allegations about school at centre of scandal date back to 1950s
• Prime minister’s eldest daughter says she was assaulted
• Lawmakers call for better inspections, training and compensation

France must better regulate private schools and allow prosecutions for abuse of pupils whenever it was committed, two lawmakers said in a report published on Wednesday after allegations of decades of abuse at a Catholic school.

The parliamentary investigation into French schools was triggered by dozens of complaints of physical and sexual abuse by staff and religious members from former pupils of Notre-Dame de Betharram, where many pupils lived on site during term.

“Aside from the women serving us food at the canteen, everyone was part of the violence,” the report quotes Didier Vinson, a former pupil of Betharram, in the southwest of the country, as saying.

Other former pupils and ex-students from other schools…

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• The Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno announced Tuesday it voluntarily filed a petition for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as it deals with 153 claims of clergy sexual abuse.
• Fresno church officials said the action will help them avoid insolvency, while victims of abuse and their attorneys excoriated the church for delay tactics they say help the diocese evade justice.

Bogged down by 153 claims of clergy sex abuse, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno announced Tuesday it voluntarily filed a petition for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The financial reorganization process comes more than a year after the diocese declared its initial intent to seek relief in U.S. bankruptcy court.

Fresno church officials said the action will help them avoid insolvency, while victims of abuse and their attorneys excoriated the church for what they describe as delay tactics to help the diocese evade justice.

Church officials are scheduled at Eastern District Court in…

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A former priest sexually assaulted a “staggering number” of female members of an alleged cult church group he led, exerting control over their lives and ostracising them from friends and family, a court has heard.

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

Brain sat in the dock at Inner London Crown Court on Tuesday for the opening of his trial in which he is accused of one count of rape and 36 counts of indecent assault between 1981 and 1995 against 13 women.

Prosecutor Tim Clark KC told jurors that the NOS group was aimed at younger people and “presented itself to the outside world as a progressive force for good”.

“In truth NOS became a closed and controlled group which the defendant dominated and abused his position…

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The veteran head of one of Europe’s largest Catholic news agencies has resigned in protest over proposed church media reforms, accusing his country’s bishops of acting illegally and reviving “solutions known from totalitarian times.”

“These reforms are superficial and unnecessary,” said Marcin Przeciszewski, president of Poland’s Catholic Information Agency, KAI.

“We’ve tried to provide honest, responsible coverage of various issues, rather than just putting out propaganda. But most bishops seem to believe KAI should just be offering PR apologetics,” he said.

No ‘Journalistic Autonomy’

The lay Catholic spoke with OSV News after confirming his resignation in a June 26 statement, accusing Poland’s bishops of “effectively liquidating” his agency by removing “any possibility for journalistic autonomy.”

His resignation followed a major shakeup drawn up by the Polish bishops’ spokesman, Jesuit Father Leszek Gęsiak, directing that KAI will be incorporated into a new “Bishops’ Conference Media Group,” coordinated by 60-year-old Father Gęsiak,…

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Embattled Colorado Springs megachurch New Life Church has ousted two more pastors who reportedly knew in 2007 that Robert Morris, founder of Dallas-based Gateway Church, had sexually molested a 12-year-old in the 1980s.

The news that executive pastors Lance Coles and Brian Newberg had resigned was included in a “Frequently Asked Questions” document, or FAQ, distributed by New Life leaders to church members at a “family meeting” Saturday morning. The document, which was printed and not available online, was posted on Facebook by a New Life congregant, and also obtained independently by The Roys Report (TRR).

Coles’ and Newberg’s resignations follow the forced resignation of New Life Senior Pastor Brady Boyd. In a statement to the congregation on June 20, the elders said they did not believe Boyd’s earlier claim that he did not know about Morris’s child abuse until 2024.

Morris resigned from Gateway last year and was…

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Critics of Cardinal Carlos Castillo Mattasogglio allege financial and administrative mismanagement in Peru’s capital see

Amid ongoing criticism of Lima’s Cardinal Carlos Castillo Mattasogglio, the diocese faces new allegations of downplaying a claim of sexual abuse, alleged by a religious sister against a priest close to Castillo.

The allegations come after Castillo, 75, has also been accused of administrative and financial mismanagement, and of fomenting a revolving door of judicial personnel in the archdiocese.

—
The Pillar obtained a 2024 affidavit signed by a contemplative nun who alleges that Fr. Nilton Zárate Rengifo, a Lima priest, sexually harassed and manipulated her over the course of a relationship of spiritual direction and confession that began in 2018, which could potentially include the canonical crime of absolving an accomplice of a sin against the sixth commandment.

The nun says she disclosed to the priest that she suffered from borderline personality disorder before he agreed…

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Violence and sexual abuse at French Catholic school: Bétharram victims speak out

[Summary of 12-minute audio and video report in French]

This week, France in Focus explores the “Bétharram scandal”, named after the Catholic school in southwestern France where hundreds of pupils were subjected to physical, psychological and sexual abuse for decades. The perpetrators of these crimes were never brought to justice, despite complaints lodged as early as the 1990s. Our colleagues at franceinfo investigate. Warning: Viewers may find this report disturbing.

Today, the vast majority of the cases are ineligible for prosecution due to the statute of limitations. But victims are still demanding accountability, notably from current Prime Minister François Bayrou, who was education minister at the time and a high-ranking local figure. 

A French parliamentary commission was appointed in March and the findings of its inquiry will be published shortly.

Our colleagues at franceinfo have been looking into the case…

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As a bishop in Peru, Pope Leo XIV’s handling of two abuse cases was a study in contrasts, siding strongly with victims in one and accused of failing them in the other.

Sex abuse scandals have rocked the Catholic church for years, with priests around the world accused of victimizing children and others, and the institution criticized for a weak response.

As Pope Leo XIV becomes leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, his stance on abuse will play a central role in shaping the church’s future as it tries to rebuild trust.

To better understand the direction he might take, a team of New York Times reporters examined Leo’s handling of two sex abuse cases in Peru, while he was bishop in the small city of Chiclayo, from 2015 to 2023.

We found stark contrasts. In one case, Pope Leo — then called Bishop Robert Prevost — sided assertively with…

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Cologne court rules Catholic Church cannot be held liable for crimes of a priest committed outside his ‘official capacity’

A German court on Tuesday rejected a sexual abuse survivor’s claim for €830,000 ($980,000) in compensation, ruling that the Catholic Church cannot be held liable for the actions of a priest outside his “official capacity.”

The Cologne Regional Court controversially ruled that the accused priest committed these crimes outside the exercise of his official duties and “more or less as a private individual.” The court also found no evidence of misconduct by the Archdiocese of Cologne itself.

The 58-year-old woman was sexually abused by the priest in the 1980s while she was under his care as a foster daughter. According to her lawyer, the abuse continued for six years. When she became pregnant at age 15, the priest took her to a gynecologist under false pretenses, and an abortion was performed…

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