ABUSE TRACKER

The Vatican and the German bishops have announced they will work together to resolve the controversial German Synodal Way.

In a joint press release, the two parties on March 22 said further meetings would “develop concrete forms of synodality in the Church in Germany, which are in accordance with the ecclesiology of the Second Vatican Council, the requirements of canon law, and the results of the world Synod, and which will subsequently be submitted to the Holy See for approval.”

According to the press release by the German Bishops’ Conference (DBK) and the Holy See on Friday evening, the meeting lasted “the entire day.” It was characterized by “a positive and constructive atmosphere.”

The press release continued: “It was possible to discuss some of the open theological questions raised in the documents of the Synodal Way of the Catholic Church in Germany,” saying “differences and points of agreement were identified.”

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Since the national “reforms” adopted by all U.S. Catholic Bishops in 2002, there have now been four criminal convictions of Toledo Catholic diocesan clergy. Three clerics were convicted in federal court for sexual crimes involving minors and one priest was convicted in state court for murder.

The lineup of felon priests includes most recently Father Michael J. Zacharias, who this week was formally defrocked by the Vatican. Catholic church officials will act as though the bad acts of yet one more Toledo Diocesan cleric is neatly wrapped up with a bow.

Except it’s not.

Many questions remain unanswered, and much work remains to be done to protect kids, expose corruption and heal victims.

Zacharias was convicted in December 2023 by federal authorities on multiple charges of sexual crimes, including human trafficking.

He “manipulated and coerced drug-addicted boys and men into sex” and made a “confession video” in which he performed…

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Pope Francis did not create the crisis of credibility or the failure of leadership culture that precipitated it, but he has not made either any better. In fact, his conduct of the office entrusted to him has made things very much worse.

Pope Francis has defrocked a Belgian bishop, 87-year-old Roger Vangheluwe, who is among the most notorious high-ranking clerics ever to face consequences for his perverse and criminal behavior.

Good, one might say, but the defrocking—more precisely the “reduction to the lay state”—highlights entrenched structural and cultural problems all centered for the moment on the reigning pope, Francis.

The Vangheluwe case in brief

Vangheluwe’s crimes began to come to light fourteen years ago. Benedict XVI let Vangheluwe go into early and honorable retirement, even though he had admitted to the sexual abuse of his own nephew over a…

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The unanimous state legislation has been ruled unconstitutional in a split decision hinging on the due process clause of the Louisiana Constitution.

The Louisiana Supreme Court has ruled that the state’s temporary suspension of the statute of limitations for child sex abuse is unconstitutional, a 4-3 decision likely to be seen as a win for the state’s Catholic hierarchy.

The three-year “lookback window” was opened in June 2021 and allowed individuals to file abuse lawsuits regardless of when the incidents are alleged to have occurred. The change in law, stemming from a case against the Diocese of Lafayette, had faced various legal challenges and was taken up by the state’s high court in late 2023.

“We are constrained to find the statutory enactment is contrary to the due process protections enshrined in our [state] constitution and must yield to that supreme law,” reads the majority opinion released on…

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The sexual abuse of children by Catholic sisters and nuns has been overshadowed by far more common reports of male clergy abuse.

Women in religious orders have been not only abuse victims but also perpetrators, though few dioceses or religious orders publicly name abusive nuns. Survivors of nun abuse hope to raise awareness of the issue. Each week a support group for them gathers online. Among its members is Gabrielle Longhi, who is suing her alleged abuser’s religious order and her former Catholic school, Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart, in Bethesda, Maryland. Her case exists because of a new law in Maryland removing the civil statute of limitations for child sex abuse victims.

On Wednesdays, the support group meets over Zoom. The members talk about their lives, their religious families and their old parochial schools. But mostly, they are there to talk about the sexual abuse they…

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• In short: The ribbons will be removed from the fence outside St Patrick’s Cathedral in Ballarat on Saturday. 
• The bishop’s office says the ageing fence needs to be repainted. 
• What’s next? Organisation Loud Fence wants the parish to meaningfully consult with survivors of abuse about the future of the ribbons. 

Thousands of colourful ribbons tied to the fence of a regional Victorian cathedral as a show of support for survivors of child sexual abuse are set to be removed.

The Diocese of Ballarat says it will remove ribbons tied outside St Patrick’s Cathedral on Saturday morning, for the ageing wrought-iron fence to be painted. 

It is unclear at this stage whether the ribbons will be returned to the fence or how they may be stored into the future. 

Bishop Paul Bird’s office says the parish will continue to consult with survivors of sexual abuse and Loud Fence organisers to decide the…

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The Catholic Church’s “established, dogmatic models of the theological approach to sexuality have become anachronistic,” a moral theologian told a conference on sexuality and culture at the John Paul II Pontifical Institute for Marriage and Family Sciences in Rome.

Developing a new theological ethics of sexuality is “a task for the entire church community,” Salesian Father Ronaldo Zacharias, a professor of moral theology at the Salesian University of São Paulo, told the conference March 21.

“We cannot ignore that in recent decades there has been a remarkable evolution regarding terminologies, concepts and descriptions related to sexuality,” he said, noting the strong influence such developments have had on people’s conceptions of their own sexuality.

The church, therefore, “should not talk about sexuality without considering the understanding we have of it today,” he said, while also keeping in mind potential problems with modern understandings of sexuality.

Citing the Brazilian theologian Augustinian Sister…

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Several German bishops were due to meet with top Vatican officials today, while the two sides are openly at odds over the reform of Church governance

Just hours before the start of Holy Week, several of the highest-ranking officials of the Roman Curia are facing a challenging meeting — the latest round of talks, which was due to take place Friday, with a delegation of Catholic bishops specially convened from Germany.

On the agenda for the March 22 gathering was to be the dialogue, initiated several years ago, between the Holy See and the Church in Germany regarding the German “Synodal Path” and its implications. This initiative, with the Catholic bishops and lay leaders of Germany launched in 2019 in response to the clergy sex abuse crisis, has fueled numerous tensions between the Vatican and the German bishops.Further reading: Why Pope Francis wants no repeat of the German “Synodal Path”

Closed-door…

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The legislation would give those who suffered sexual abuse while in the Boy Scouts the ability to press claims against the organization.

The Alabama House of Representatives Thursday approved a bill that would allow Alabamians who suffered sexual abuse while in the Boys Scouts of America to press claims against the organization.

SB 18, sponsored by Sen. Merika Coleman, D-Pleasant Grove, and carried in the House by Rep. Matt Simpson, R-Daphne, a former Baldwin County child victims prosecutor, would lift the state’s statute of limitations for civil claims on sexual abuse to allow those abused in the Boy Scouts of America to file claims with The Scouting Settlement Trust.

“There was a fund that was created for assets for members with a settlement trust from people in the boy scouts who were affected by sexual abuse. This would allow Alabama citizens to be able to recover…

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Amendment to state constitution concerning statute of limitations is simple but would be substantial in safeguarding children

In November, Colorado voters will have a voice in saving children from sexual predators and those who harbor them. Coloradans will be able to do more than watch stories about the frightening epidemic of child sexual abuse; they can be part of the solution by using their voice at the ballot box to benefit children.

That’s if the General Assembly lets them.

The Child Sexual Abuse Accountability Act (SCR 24-001) will allow voters to make a small and narrow change to Colorado’s Constitution that will give the General Assembly the authority to pass retroactive laws for claims of child sexual abuse. Colorado’s Constitution framers did not know about the epidemic of child sexual abuse. They did not know about the science of trauma or delayed disclosure. They did not…

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Since the national “reforms” adopted by all U.S. Catholic Bishops in 2002, there have now been four criminal convictions of Toledo Catholic diocesan clergy. Three clerics were convicted in federal court for sexual crimes involving minors and one priest was convicted in state court for murder.

The lineup of felon priests includes most recently Father Michael J. Zacharias, who this week was formally defrocked by the Vatican. Catholic church officials will act as though the bad acts of yet one more Toledo Diocesan cleric is neatly wrapped up with a bow.

Except it’s not.

Many questions remain unanswered, and much work remains to be done to protect kids, expose corruption and heal victims.

Zacharias was convicted in December 2023 by federal authorities on multiple charges of sexual crimes, including human trafficking.

He “manipulated and coerced drug-addicted boys and men into sex” and made a “confession video” in which he performed…

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The rape trial of 92-year-old Catholic priest Lawrence Hecker will not start as scheduled Monday in Orleans Parish Criminal District Court because Hecker’s mental competency has not yet been evaluated.

It’s unclear when that evaluation will happen or how long the trial will be delayed.

Hecker admitted in an August interview with WWL Louisiana and the Guardian newspaper that he had sex with at least three underage boys in the 1960s and 70s. But in that same interview, he denied ever having sex with someone against his will.

A week after that interview, Hecker was arrested and charged with aggravated rape, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated crime against nature and theft for allegedly choking a student unconscious and having sex with him in his church office in 1975 or 1976.

Hecker pled not guilty to those charges last year and his bond was set at more than $800,000. Later, he…

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Belgian ex-bishop and abuser Roger Vangheluwe was found out and admitted to his abuse in 2010. Why was he finally laicized fourteen years later?

Thursday’s news about the defrocking of Roger Vangheluwe has given us an answer to a question raised with some palpable urgency by another high-profile scandal touching the very echelons of power in the Vatican.

The other case is that of Fr. Marko Rupnik, the inveterate creep and serial abuser of mostly religious women, accused but never tried for his alleged crimes, which he committed over three decades, much of which he spent right under the noses of Roman authorities in the Society of Jesus—to which he then belonged—and the Vatican for which he did a lot of work.

Perhaps the past tense of the verb “to do” is not accurate. Rupnik is still listed as a consultant to the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the…

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‘Ohio should not be a safe haven for predators’

Rebecca Surendorff became an advocate for victims of childhood sexual abuse after the arrest of Geoff Drew, a former Cincinnati priest who pleaded guilty in 2021 to raping a 10-year-old altar boy.

Drew was Surendorff’s music teacher at St. Jude Catholic School in Bridgetown in the 1980s. The altar boy was her classmate, Paul Neyer. Surendorff’s daughter was baptized by Drew, who was pastor of St. Ignatius Parish in Green Township when her children went to school there — and Drew was arrested — in 2019.

“He basically had a three-decade pattern of behavior of grooming children in Butler, Hamilton and Montgomery counties, and yet he was able to work with children in both school and churches in our state, despite well-written policies and well-trained parents,” said Surendorff, co-chair of Ohioans for Child Protection. “Few people realize that a second victim…

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Nuns Don’t Just Abuse. Some Enable Abuse

The issue of sexual abuse within the ranks of the Catholic Church has been a headline for many years now. However, a recent Associated Press article has brought to light an equally disturbing aspect of this crisis: the role of some nuns not only as perpetrators of abuse but also as enablers. Yes, tragically, some nuns abuse kids. Tragically, some also ignore or hide abuse by others. And tragically, some punish kids who speak up, thereby deepening their wounds and essentially helping their tormentors. This blog post aims to delve deeper into this grim reality, presenting instances of abuse, the enabling of such behavior by some nuns, and the implications thereof.

Instances of Nuns Enabling Abuse

The sexual victimization of boys and girls by Catholic nuns has sadly re-emerged in recent news, painting a grim picture of reality…

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Survivors are calling the latest court order a “win” in the bankruptcy case of the Baltimore Archdiocese.

A judge issued a new order this week giving survivors of clergy sexual abuse the chance to address the court directly.

“It feels like a big win to me,” Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests spokesperson Teresa Lancaster said.

Survivors had requested the opportunity to testify, saying it would give a meaningful voice to victims, humanize the process and deepen understanding of the case.

“Giving your voice in person, and also the people testifying are talking for hundreds of survivors, and that is more valuable than anything,” Lancaster said.

SNAP director David Lorenz said the testimony is akin to a sentencing hearing in a criminal case.

“I believe giving the impact statement will be healing for survivors, similar to victims giving their impact statements in criminal court,” he said.

Catholic Archbishop William…

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Catholic journalist, editor and author Christopher Altieri is asking the question, “So what?” in response to the Vatican’s recent decision to feature the artwork of disgraced Jesuit priest and artist Marko Rupnik, an “inveterate creep and professional pervert,” in its illustration of St Joseph’s feast in its liturgical calendar. 

“Well,” Altieri began in his fiery March 19 op-ed, “Marko Ivan Rupnik […] is a disgraced celebrity artist-priest and sometime retreat leader credibly accused of spiritually, psychologically, and sexually abusing more than two dozen victims—most of them women religious—over the course of three decades, much of it spent right in Rome.”

The Vatican has incurred significant scrutiny in recent years over its perceived support of Rupnik despite continually assuring the public of its concern for victims of clergy abuse.

“It makes good sense,” said Altieri, for the Vatican to reconsider publicly supporting Rupnik’s art, “even if you don’t care a whit about…

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The Louisiana Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the Diocese of Lafayette in an alleged sexual abuse case. 

The lawsuit, originally filed in 2018 against Saint Martin de Tours Catholic Church, alleges that Rev. Kenneth Morvant abused Doug Bienvenu, the only plaintiff named in the suit, and other altar boys various times between 1971 and 1979. The plaintiffs’ ages at the time of the alleged abuse range from 8 to 14. 

This ruling stems from a 2021 amendment that led to a three-year lookback window. 

The judges decided the Louisiana Legislature went above their constitutional power after they gave the opportunity for the lawsuits to be submitted, meaning any sex abuse case involving clergy filed under that lookback window is not to be heard in court.

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“The organizations that enable and protect child molesters are rejoicing over this ruling,” said attorney Kristi Schubert.

In a split ruling that has major implications for hundreds of child sex abuse victims, the Louisiana Supreme Court has struck down a law that allowed victims to file civil lawsuits over abuse that happened decades ago.

Child molestation victims and their advocates were devastated by the 4-3 ruling.

“Once more the victims and survivors of childhood sex abuse have been denied justice,” said Richard Windmann, president of Survivors of Childhood Sex Abuse. “The institutionalized, systematic, and wholesale rape of our children by these organizations is self-evident. Now we move on to the United States Supreme Court. The final stop is to see if we, as human beings, are going to let these atrocities stand and continue to happen.”

“Predators and institutions that protect predators are going to continue with their bad practices,”…

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The Supreme Court of Louisiana has ruled a law that allows victims of child sex abuse to sue their abusers years after the crime as unconstitutional.

Three justices dissented and assigned reasons. To read the entire ruling, including the dissents, scroll down.

At issue is a lawsuit filed in St. Martin Parish that accuses the church of knowing that the late Rev. Monsignor Kenneth Romain Morvant sexually abused children. The alleged abuse took place in the 1970s at a Catholic church and a Catholic school in St. Martin Parish. To read our story about the suit, click here.

Usually, plaintiffs have a year after the incident or injury at issue to file a lawsuit. That time limit is called “prescription.”

But the Louisiana legislature passed a law in 2021, as many states have, that allows sex abuse victims to file suit during a window of time set by the law. It’s…

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Following allegations John MacArthur failed to protect victims of child abuse, publishers have declined to publish MacArthur’s new book, “The War on Children,” an employee at Grace to You (GTY) confirmed with The Roys Report (TRR).

According to a still-available post on Google Books, “The War on Children: Providing Refuge for Your Children in a Hostile World,” was set to be published in 2022 by Thomas Nelson.

However, MacArthur’s broadcast ministry GTY announced last week that the book would be published by the new MacArthur Publishing Group.

In April 2022, TRR received a tip that Thomas Nelson had canceled its release of “The War on Children.” So, TRR emailed Nelson about the planned release of the book but did not receive a response. We have sent additional emails since then, but have still not heard back from the company.

The tip came about a month after TRR published an exclusive story, revealing that…

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A Jefferson City man was charged with promoting and possession of child pornography Thursday as part of an ongoing investigation by the Boone County Sheriff’s Office Cyber Crimes Task Force. 

Melvin Lahr, 77, was arrested Wednesday and is being held without bond at the Cole County Jail, according to online court records. 

According to court documents, investigators found dozens of images of child sexual abuse material on an online account linked to Lahr. 

When a search warrant was served at Lahr’s home Wednesday, he allegedly admitted to viewing images online for approximately 30 years, court documents said.

Lahr also allegedly admitted to taking photos of two 14-year-old girls and engaging in sexual activity with a minor approximately 20 years ago.

Court documents said Lahr detailed his abuse in an unpublished biography that was in the online account and shared the biography with other “like-minded individuals online.”

The Jefferson City Diocese added Lahr…

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The Diocese of Lafayette excommunicated former deacon Scott Peyton after he resigned and told the diocese that sexual abuse in the Catholic Church and the molestation of his son by a priest had “shaken my faith and trust in the institution.”

Priest Michael Guidry pleaded guilty in 2019 to molesting Peyton’s child, who was 16 at the time, four years earlier. Guidry, 78, provided alcohol to Peyton’s son and molested him in his intoxicated state, according to a related lawsuit and a confession by the priest.

Peyton and Guidry served together at St. Peter’s Church in Morrow, a tiny rural town in the northern reaches of St. Landry Parish. 

On Dec. 4, Peyton wrote to Lafayette Diocese Bishop Douglas Deshotel that after “deep reflection” he had chosen to “leave the Catholic Church and the diaconate” and step away from his position at the Cursillo Training…

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Latest claim alleges Alfred Quigley groomed and sexually battered a student at St. Ann’s Academy in Kamloops

A retired British Columbia Catholic high school teacher with ties to the notorious Mount Cashel Orphanage in Newfoundland is now facing a third civil claim from a former student alleging sexual abuse. 

The latest documents filed in B.C. Supreme Court allege Alfred Patrick Quigley groomed and sexually battered a 17-year-old student at St. Ann’s Academy in Kamloops in 2013.

Quigley, 73, is also named in two previous lawsuits alleging he sexually abused students during tenures at St. Thomas More Collegiate in Burnaby in the 1970s, and O’Grady Catholic High School in Prince George in the 1990s. 

None of the allegations have been proven in court. CBC News reached out to Quigley in Newfoundland, where he now lives, but did not receive a response. 

The Kamloops claim also names the Roman Catholic Bishop of Kamloops, the Catholic…

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[See the decision.]

Court rules 4-3 to overturn law that allowed victims to file civil suits over sexual abuse that took place decades ago

In a split ruling that has major implications for hundreds of child sexual abuse victims, the Louisiana state supreme court has struck down a law that allowed victims to file civil lawsuits over molestation that happened decades ago.

Child molestation victims and their advocates were devastated by the 4-3 ruling from a court whose members are elected.

Lawyers Richard Trahant, Soren Giselson and John Denenea, who represented the plaintiffs in the case at the center of Friday’s ruling, said: “Today, four of the seven … justices overruled a law passed by a unanimous Louisiana legislature, signed by then governor [John Bel] Edwards, supported by then attorney general and current governor Jeff Landry and current attorney general Liz Murrill. That’s nearly 200 elected officials who viewed this law…

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The Supreme Court of Louisiana has ruled a law that allows victims of child sex abuse to sue their abusers years after the crime as unconstitutional.

Three justices dissented and assigned reasons. To read the entire ruling, including the dissents, scroll down.

At issue is a lawsuit filed in St. Martin Parish that accuses the church of knowing that the late Rev. Monsignor Kenneth Romain Morvant sexually abused children. The alleged abuse took place in the 1970s at a Catholic church and a Catholic school in St. Martin Parish. To read our story about the suit, click here.

Usually, plaintiffs have a year after the incident or injury at issue to file a lawsuit. That time limit is called “prescription.”

But the Louisiana legislature passed a law in 2021, as many states have, that allows sex abuse victims to file suit during a window of time set by the law. It’s…

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Decades ago, a probation agent allegedly warned a Mormon church in Prince George’s County that a man they brought on as a minister was not allowed to be in the presence of children.

Frederick Edvalson had been convicted twice of sexually abusing minors, and the terms of his probation barred him from being around kids, according to a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt.

At the church in Camp Springs, Edvalson befriended a girl, gained her trust and sexually abused her, the federal complaint says. He pleaded guilty to a felony sex offense in 1985, online court records show, and earned the condemnation of Prince George’s top prosecutor at the time, who said Edvalson told the girl “he was giving her special religious training.”

Though the girl got justice in criminal court against Edvalson, who died years ago, “the church itself, who let this known predator hang around kids, has…

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CWR asked several high-ranking officials at the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communications whether there have been discussions regarding the use of Rupnik’s artwork, and if so, who has made which decisions.

Victims and advocates are running out of patience with Pope Francis and the Vatican, as official Vatican outfits including the communications dicastery continue to make use of artwork produced by a disgraced former Jesuit, Fr. Marko Rupnik, who is now a priest of Koper diocese in his native Slovenia, though he reportedly resides in Rome.

Vatican Media used a Rupnik studio image to illustrate their brief on the Solemnity of St. Joseph, causing an international uproar.

“It’s so injurious,” Antonia Sobocki of the UK-based LOUDFence survivor advocacy group told CWR on Thursday.

“I cannot think of a less appropriate artist to choose to illustrate this feast day than a serial rapist like Marko Rupnik,” Sobocki—herself a survivor of familial abuse—said March…

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A man who says he was sexually abused as a boy by a priest in New Mexico in the 1960s sued the church and diocese this week, the latest case to surface in the state as the Roman Catholic Church wrestles with the global clergy sex abuse scandal.

The suit filed Tuesday in state district court in Las Cruces seeks unspecified compensation for the unnamed victim. His lawyers say he is now 62 and has been “suffering in silence for over 50 years.”

The complaint names as defendants St. Joseph Parish in Lordsburg and the Catholic Diocese of El Paso, Texas, which oversaw the southern New Mexico parish before the creation of the Las Cruces Diocese in the 1980s.

It details alleged abuse by the Rev. Lawrence Gaynor, who died in 1978 at age 75. Gaynor was included in a list of accused priests that was released…

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Bishop J Douglas Deshotel issued the order after Scott Peyton had resigned from his post, but the abusive priest was not censured

A Louisiana man who resigned as a Roman Catholic deacon after a priest at whose side he served sexually molested his son has been excommunicated from the church by his local diocese, a remarkably harsh punishment that his child’s abuser does not appear to have faced.

Scott Peyton’s excommunication from the Catholic church at the hands of bishop J Douglas Deshotel comes as the latter’s Lafayette diocese has asked Louisiana’s supreme court to strike down a law that retroactively and temporarily eliminated filing deadlines for lawsuits demanding damages for childhood sexual abuse from years ago.

The law which lawyers for the Lafayette diocese targeted wasn’t exclusively for clergy abuse victims, but it prompted many new cases of that nature against Louisiana’s Catholic institutions and clerics who worked for them.

Peyton…

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[See also a PDF of the statement.]

Au cours  des derniers mois, de nouveaux éléments graves concernant le cas de S.E. Mgr Roger Vangheluwe, évêque émérite de Bruges, ont été rapportés au Dicastère pour la Doctrine de la Foi, ce qui a nécessité un réexamen de l’affaire. Suite à une nouvelle enquête, le Dicastère a décidé d’entendre la défense du prélat.

Après avoir examiné la défense susmentionnée, le 8 mars 2024, le Dicastère a présenté la documentation au Saint-Père, proposant son renvoi de l’état clérical, conformément à l’article 26 des normes Sacramentorum sanctitatis tutela sur les crimes réservés à la compétence du Dicastère pour la Doctrine de la Foi.

Lors de l’audience accordée à Son Eminence le Card. Préfet du Dicastère, le 11 mars, le Pape François a accédé à la demande, en ordonnant que la peine proposée soit imposée. Le 20 mars 2024, la mesure a été notifiée à l’intéressé qui, prenant acte de…

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Pope Francis has laicized Bishop Roger Vangheluwe, almost 14 years after the Belgian prelate resigned after admitting that he had abused a nephew.

The apostolic nunciature to Belgium said in a March 21 statement that “serious new elements” had emerged in recent months, prompting the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to reopen the case of the former Bishop of Bruges, who stepped down in 2010.

The dicastery, which handles abuse cases, presented a file to Pope Francis March 8, recommending Vangheluwe’s dismissal from the clerical state. 

The nunciature said that the recommendation was made “in accordance with Article 26 of the norms Sacramentorum sanctitatis tutela, on crimes reserved to the competence of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.”

During a March 11 meeting with the Vatican’s doctrine chief Víctor Manuel Fernández, Pope Francis “granted the request, ordering that the proposed sentence be imposed.” 

Vangheluwe was informed of the…

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A Belgian former bishop who admitted sexually abusing two of his nephews has been removed from the priesthood by Pope Frances, more than a decade after the case first came to light.

The Vatican said Thursday that Bishop Roger Vangheluwe, 87, had been “dismissed from the clerical state” after “serious new elements” in the case emerged.

Bishop Vangheluwe resigned as bishop of Bruges in 2010 after admitting he had abused one nephew over the course of a number of years.

He later admitted to abusing a second nephew but was not prosecuted due to Belgium’s statute of limitations.

The country’s bishops have repeatedly called for the Vatican to expel Bishop Vangheluwe from the priesthood with the case becoming a symbol of the abuse scandals in the country.

In a statement following the dismissal, the Belgian bishops’ conference said they had always considered it “shameful” that Vangheluwe had been allowed to…

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Pope Francis has dismissed the former bishop of Bruges, Belgium, from the clerical state 14 years after Pope Benedict XVI accepted his resignation following his admission that he sexually abused his nephew.

Roger Vangheluwe, 87, was informed on March 20 by the apostolic nunciature in Brussels that Pope Francis had ordered his laicization effective March 21 after “serious new elements” in his case led the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to review his file, Vatican News reported.

After a new investigation, which included listening to the Belgian cleric’s defense, the dicastery presented the case to Pope Francis on March 8 with the recommendation that he be removed from the clerical state.

Pope Francis approved the recommendation during an audience on March 11 with Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, dicastery prefect, Vatican News said.

The Belgian Catholic website Kerknet.be reported that the nunciature’s announcement concluded by saying, “The Holy Father once again…

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Pope Francis on Thursday defrocked a notorious Belgian bishop who admitted 14 years ago that he sexually abused his nephew but faced no Vatican punishment.

The case of Roger Vangheluwe, the emeritus bishop of Brugge, long ago became a symbol of the Catholic Church’s hypocrisy and dysfunction in dealing with cases of abuse. Not only was he allowed to quietly retire after the scandal broke in 2010, but the head of the Belgian church at the time, Cardinal Godfried Danneels, was caught on tape asking one of his victims to keep his abuse secret until the bishop left office.

The Vatican announcement that Francis had laicized Vangheluwe came a few months before the pope is due to visit Belgium, where the case would have been an unwelcome and problematic distraction.

Vangheluwe, 87, shot to international infamy in 2010 amid disclosures he had sexually abused his young…

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Roger Vangheluwe, the 87-year-old former bishop of Bruges, has been dismissed from the clerical state after being found guilty of abuse of a minor. Pope Francis approved the sentence following a re-examination of the case in light of “serious new elements” reported to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The decades-long case of 87-year-old Belgian Bishop Roger Vangheluwe, who was found guilty of sexual abuse of minors, has ended with his dismissal from the clerical state.

According to a statement from the Apostolic Nunciature in Brussels, Pope Francis on Thursday, 21 March, imposed the sentence on the former bishop of Bruges, who had resigned as head of the diocese in April 2010 after being accused of historical abuse.

Vangheluwe admitted, in particular, to having abused one of his nephews. The crimes of which he was accused, however, were barred under the statute of limitations.

New elements in the…

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If survivors of child sex abuse in the Catholic Church in Baltimore have the opportunity to testify at two hearings in bankruptcy court about their torment, Archbishop William Lori will be there to listen.

Lori, leader of America’s oldest archdiocese, “will personally attend on both occasions to hear directly from the survivors,” attorneys for the church said in a court filing Wednesday.

The Baltimore Sun first reported on Lori’s agreement with the committee representing survivors in the church’s bankruptcy case to be present in court, if the judge approves the proposal to have survivors testify.

“It’s important for me and for church leaders continually to hear from victim-survivors about what happened in their life and what that brought about in their lives,” Lori told the church-published Catholic Review for an article published Wednesday. “I also think it’s a moment when victim-survivors experience a moment of empowerment and justice. And, I think their…

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A Florida priest and Grammy-winning recording artist has been restored to ministry after accusations of alleged sexual misconduct with a minor were retracted by the accuser.

Father Jerome Kaywell, pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Punta Gorda, Florida, “has been returned to ministry, effective immediately” and his “good name … restored,” said Bishop Frank J. Dewane of Venice, Florida, in a March 14 letter to parishioners.

Father Kaywell had been placed on administrative leave in January after the diocese had received notice from an unspecified law firm that the popular priest had allegedly engaged in misconduct “with someone who was a minor at the time … in the Winter of 2013/2014.”

Father Kaywell had maintained his innocence throughout the investigation, which in accord with diocesan safe environment policy included notification of the State Attorney’s office and the engagement of an independent investigator.

However, on Feb. 13 the diocese received word…

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Ex-Catholic priest Paul J. Blancard, 84, was charged in September with ‘indecent assault’ on a female in Burnaby between May 1, 1967 and Oct. 15, 1970, when he was working at St. Helen’s Parish in Burnaby.

An ex-priest who has already served a sentence for molesting young girls on Vancouver Island has now been charged with sexual abuse during his time at a Catholic church in Burnaby 57 years ago.

Paul J. Blancard, 84, made a video appearance in B.C. provincial court in Vancouver last week after being charged in September with “indecent assault” on a female in Burnaby between May 1, 1967 and Oct. 15, 1970, according to the court registry.

The Archdiocese of Vancouver confirmed Blancard was an assistant pastor at St. Helen’s Parish in Burnaby during that time.

His next court date is scheduled for April 16.

The victim’s name is protected by a publication ban.

The…

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A man in New Orleans, Louisiana waited outside of a church for Archbishop Gregory Aymond to arrive so that he could plead for the release of documents surrounding alleged abuse from within the church, which he says he was abused in.

WDSU was there to catch the dramatic footage that shows Aaron Hebert passionately speaking to Archbishop Aymond and you can hear by the tone in his voice that Hebert wants closure.

According to the report, Aaron Hebert was allegedly abused by Lawerence Heckler while as a child and the abuse allegedly happened in the church where he confronted the Archbishop, St. Josephs in Gretna.

Hebert hopes that his story and his voice will prevent others from going through what he went through as a kid, but WDSU reports that he doesn’t have much faith in Archbishop Aymond.

In all, Hebert does not feel confident that documents in…

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Scott Peyton, a former deacon whose son was molested by a priest he served alongside in St. Landry Parish, has been excommunicated by Lafayette Bishop J. Douglas Deshotel.

Peyton served as a deacon in the diocese until December 2023. That’s when he resigned citing “distressing revelations regarding sexual abuse scandals involving members of the clergy.”

“The magnitude of these revelations has deeply shaken my faith and trust in the institution to which I have dedicated a significant portion of my life,” Peyton wrote in his resignation letter to Bishop Deshotel. “This decision is not a rejection of my faith in God or my commitment to living a life guided by Christian principles. Instead, it reflects a conscientious objection to the way the Church has handled cases of sexual abuse, and a desire to distance myself from an institution that, currently, falls short of the values it professes.”

In 2019, Father…

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The Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s Chapter 11 reorganization case has asked bankruptcy court Judge Michelle M. Harner to allow victims of clergy abuse to present survivor statements at upcoming hearings in April and May. 

Archbishop William E. Lori told the Catholic Review he will attend both court sessions. He said the archdiocese was in favor of the victim-survivors having a chance to present their stories.

“I don’t think that very many of us can really understand the depth of pain suffered by victim-survivors,” the archbishop said. “I think it’s important for me and for church leaders continually to hear from victim-survivors about what happened in their life and what that brought about in their lives. 

“I also think it’s a moment when victim-survivors experience a moment of empowerment and justice. And, I think their testimonies will have a big impact on my mind and…

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The Catholic University of America in Washington announced March 20 that Teresa Pitt Green, a writer and speaker who promotes healing for survivors of abuse and their families in the church, would receive an honorary doctoral degree at its May 11 commencement ceremony.

She thanked Catholic University on X, formerly known as Twitter, and called the news of the honorary doctorate “one of the happiest moments” of her life.

Pitt Green is herself a survivor of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy and has been an advocate for survivors for more than 20 years, authoring several books and speaking numerous times to the U.S. bishops on the issue.

She is the co-founder of Spirit Fire, a Christian restorative justice initiative and fellowship of survivors of abuse in the church. She is also vice president of Healing and Recovery Ministries at St. Edmund’s Retreat on Enders Island, Mystic, Connecticut, and she is…

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The title of a new report – “More visibility in unity and more reconciliation in diversity” – reflected a sober approach.

Germany’s Catholic and Protestant Churches published a joint report last week calling for a more realistic approach to ecumenism.

The report admitted that the historic ecumenical goal of a shared Eucharist remains a distant prospect, instead arguing that rather than setting specific targets the Churches should focus on a “process-oriented ecumenism”.

While Christians of both confessions hope for concrete reforms, the report said, “no breakthroughs are to be expected in the near future”.

The title of the report – “More visibility in unity and more reconciliation in diversity” – reflected its sober approach. The text included no further targets, saying it would be better to focus on similarities than differences.

“Despite differences in some individual ethical issues that have become apparent in the Catholic-Protestant dialogue, there is broad…

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A businessman pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiring with the leader of an offshoot polygamous sect near the Arizona-Utah border to transport underage girls across state lines, making him the first man to be convicted in what authorities say was a scheme to orchestrate sexual acts involving children.

Moroni Johnson, who faces 10 years to life in prison, acknowledged that he participated in a scheme to transport four girls under the age of 18 for sexual activity. Authorities say the conspiracy between the 53-year-old Johnson and the sect’s leader, self-proclaimed prophet Samuel Bateman, occurred over a three-year period ending in September 2022.

Authorities say Bateman had created a sprawling network spanning at least four states as he tried to start an offshoot of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which historically has been based in the neighboring communities of Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah. He and his…

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Several prominent lawyers have published stinging academic critiques and legal opinions about the Vatican’s recently concluded “trial of the century,” highlighting violations of basic defense rights and rule of law norms that they warn could have consequences for the Holy See going forward.

The opinions cite Pope Francis’ role in the trial, since he secretly changed Vatican law four times during the investigation to benefit prosecutors. And they call into question the independence and impartiality of the tribunal since its judges swear obedience to Francis, who can hire and fire them at will.

The critiques underscore the growing problems on the international stage for the peculiar microstate that the Holy See calls home: an absolute monarchy where Francis wields supreme legislative, executive and judicial power.

The legal opinions are likely to feature in the appeals within the Vatican court system of the nine people who were convicted in December of several financial crimes…

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An affidavit is shedding more light on charges accusing a Tell City pastor of sexual misconduct with a minor.

Last week, Errol Wright was arrested and charged with multiple counts of sexual misconduct with a minor, child seduction and child solicitation.

Tell City residents “shocked” following arrest of local pastor

Recently released court documents show the incidents allegedly took place over a three-year period. The documents also show Wright was a girls’ soccer coach at Tell City High School and when rumors of an inappropriate relationship with an underage girl surfaced, the school said Wright could not be around the girls unless another adult was present. The documents also show the school reported its suspicions to the Indiana Department of Child Services. It is not known what action the department took. The documents also show the underage female claimed after one of her sexual encounters with Wright,…

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A newly released affidavit has revealed new details after the pastor of Community Christian Church was arrested and accused of sexual misconduct.

In February, detectives say a victim went to the Tell City Police Department accusing 48-year-old Errol Wright of sexually abusing her when she was under the age of 18.

According to the affidavit, the victim claims she and Wright started having sexual intercourse when she was 15-years-old and would have sex up to three times per week for years.

The victim told police that they had intercourse in several different places, including at the Christian Community Church numerous times.

Police say Wright promised the victim he would leave his wife for her, but she says she realized that was a lie and he was using her for sex.

Over a period of several years, the victim reportedly told police she believed Wright had sexual intercourse…

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A priest who led an evangelical movement in the 1980s and 1990s has appeared in court to face multiple allegations of sexual offences against former members of a church congregation.

The Reverend Christopher Brain led the movement called the Nine O’Clock Service in Sheffield between 1986 and 1995.

Brain appeared at Sheffield Magistrates’ Court for a four-minute hearing on Monday where he faced a total of 34 charges in relation to 11 women.

The charges relate to allegations of sexual offences committed against women who had joined the movement, police have said.

Brain, now 66, of Park Road, Wilmslow, Cheshire, is charged with one count of rape and 33 counts of indecent assault, alleged to have been committed between 1981 and 1995.

The Nine O’Clock Service was initially held at St Thomas’s Church, in the Crookes area of Sheffield, before moving to Ponds Forge sport complex in the city centre.

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Embattled Pastor Apollo C. Quiboloy, the self-appointed “Son of God” and founder of Kingdom of Jesus Christ, was ordered arrested by the Senate on Tuesday, March 19, for snubbing committee hearings.

The Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality, chaired by Senator Risa Hontiveros, had summoned Quiboloy to attend its investigation on allegations of human trafficking and sexual abuse, but he defied it.

Senate President Miguel “Migz” F. Zubiri signed the arrest order for Quiboloy, who will be detained at the Senate.

Earlier, Hontiveros cited Quiboloy in contempt for his non-appearance during committee hearings on January 23, February 19, and March 5, despite being served with subpoenas, and ordered his arrest.

In a Facebook live, Hontiveros said the arrest order can be enforced anytime and that its issuance is timely as the country observes the National Women’s Month.

Hontiveros thanked Zubiri for signing the arrest order, saying…

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Will also have to pay restitution to victims’ families

A Michigan priest was sentenced to four to 20 years incarceration Monday, March 18.

A jury in Clinton County returned guilty verdicts on the charges against David Rosenberg, 72, of DeWitt, for embezzling or stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from retired priests. He was originally charged in Dec. 2022.

Rosenberg will also have to pay restitution to the victims’ families.

According to authorities, Rosenberg was employed as Director of the Lansing Catholic Diocese’s St. Francis Retreat Center in DeWitt between 2015 and 2021. He embezzled or stole approximately $780,000 from three priests and gave the stolen funds to his charitable foundation, FaithFirst, formerly the Rosenberg Family Corporation. The 95-acre Retreat Center property includes apartments that house retired priests. The three victims resided at the Retreat Center apartments until their deaths.

In February, he…

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A Michigan priest was sentenced to at least four years in prison Monday, one month after a jury found he stole more than $830,000 from elderly priests for whom he supposedly helped to care.

Fr. David Rosenberg’s prison sentence came after has was convicted Feb. 9 on eight felony counts, including three felony counts of embezzlement from a vulnerable adult of more than $100,000. The priest will also be ordered later this year to make restitution, but the amount has not yet been determined.

While Judge Cori Barkman declined to impose a lengthy sentence requested by prosecutors, she told the priest in court March 18 that his lack of remorse was “egregious and even heinous.”

The priest retains his presbyteral faculties, but has been directed by the Lansing diocese not to engage in public ministry.

Rosenberg, 72, was charged in December 2022 with multiple counts of criminal embezzlement, committed against…

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Father Earl Bierman used to tell people that, in 30 years as a teacher, I was the only student he ever threw out of class. It was because I argued with him about the Vietnam War.

Twenty years later, he tried to kill me.

The failed murder-suicide attempt shocked Greater Cincinnati. A Catholic priest caught on tape threatening to shoot a former student and then kill himself.

Echoes of Father Bierman’s demented voice can still be heard 30 years later in Catholic churches across the United States and beyond.

In 1992, child sexual abuse by priests was a new phenomenon. The blockbuster book Lead Us Not into Temptation by Jason Berry documented 400 cases of sexual abuse by priests in the United States.

The book didn’t surprise me. I knew a priest who had committed hundreds of such crimes all by himself.

Bierman had taught my health and religion classes at Covington…

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Lieve Halsberghe says Oblate Safeguarding Commission report ‘unworthy of a democracy’

A report that reviews a Catholic order’s handling of child sexual abuse allegations against one of its priests in Nunavut is being dismissed as nothing but propaganda by one of its staunchest critics.

“This report is not justice,” says Lieve Halsberghe, a researcher for BishopAccountability.org. “The church permits herself to create a parallel system they call justice, but which it is not.

“It is unworthy of a democracy that the church is allowed to investigate” itself.

The Oblates say the report, released Tuesday, is intended to provide a form of justice not available through the courts. France has refused to extradite Rivoire to face charges in Canada.

The Oblate Safeguarding Commission report commissioned by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate a year ago was released Monday and written by retired Quebec judge Andre Denis.

Denis says he concluded, based on the…

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The allegations of child sexual abuse against former Bay Shore teacher Thomas Bernagozzi are enormous. So are the potential costs for that school district, which will be on the hook for any civil damages his victims may win in the 45 cases filed under the state Child Victims Act.

The legislation enacted in 2019 created a legal window to allow anyone who was abused years ago when they were children to file for compensation. Bay Shore faces more lawsuits under this act than any Long Island school district. The window for filing these lawsuits closed in 2021.

Unsurprisingly, that extraordinary change in the law had consequences that only now are being quantified. It allowed lawsuits that otherwise would have been barred because of time limits to be filed against schools, nonprofit organizations and religious groups like the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre, which recently filed for bankruptcy because of…

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While church groups in different nations have been discussing what to do with Father Marko Rupnik‘s works after sex abuse allegations against him came to light, Brazil’s Sanctuary of Our Lady of Aparecida, the major Catholic shrine in the South American country, has apparently decided with no debate it will not halt the installation of giant murals produced by Centro Aletti, where Father Rupnik is still listed as director of spiritual art and theology atelier.

During a program that was aired Feb. 28 by TV Aparecida, owned by the sanctuary, Redemptorist Father Eduardo Catalfo, the shrine’s rector, along with Aparecida’s administrator, Father Fábio Evaristo, announced the basilica’s new south facade will be inaugurated May 11.

That was the second of the temple’s four facades to be covered with Father Rupnik’s mosaics depicting biblical scenes. The north facade — Father Rupnik’s largest work in the whole…

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[See the report.]

Following an exhaustive investigation, retired Superior Court of Quebec Justice André Denis concluded French priest Joannès Rivoire was guilty of sexually assaulting five minors in Naujaat, Nunavut, between 1968 and 1970, and one in Arviat and Whale Cove, Nunavut, between 1974 and 1979.

Denis also found that Rivoire departed Canada on Jan. 16, 1993, “hiding this terrible reality” from his Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) superiors and Churchill-Hudson Bay Bishop Reynald Rouleau. Thus, “the Oblates in Canada and the ecclesiastical authorities in Nunavut neither concealed nor organized Joannès Rivoire’s ‘flight’ from Canada to France in 1993, and they too were victims of his duplicity and prevarication” when Rivoire told his order he needed to return to his home country to care for his ailing parents.

Between Jan. 20 and Feb. 28, 1993, four plaintiffs visited the RCMP detachment in Nunavut to sign a statement accusing Rivoire of…

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At the conclusion of the federal trial and conviction of Michael Zacharias, the Diocese of Toledo, in accord with Canon (Church) Law, had transmitted the case to the Holy See along with the request to the Holy Father to impose the penalty of direct dismissal from the clerical state (returning him to the lay state). The Holy Father alone has the authority to impose this penalty of direct dismissal from the clerical state when the case warrants such an action.

The Diocese was recently informed that the Holy Father has imposed upon Zacharias the perpetual penalty of direct dismissal from the clerical state (returning him to the lay state), for the sexual abuse of minors and other reprehensible immoral behavior.

Bishop Daniel E. Thomas reiterated, “with the imposition of this penalty, it is my hope and prayer that healing for victims may continue and justice be restored, as we remain vigilant…

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Pope Francis has laicized an Ohio priest after the clergyman received a life sentence in prison for the sexual abuse of minors, the Diocese of Toledo said this week. 

Michael Zacharias, 57, was convicted on five counts of sex trafficking by a federal jury in the Northern District of Ohio last May. His crimes, committed between 1999 and 2020, involved three victims, two of whom were minors when Zacharias began abusing them.

Upon his conviction, he faced a minimum of 15 years in prison. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said in November that the then-priest received a life sentence for the crimes. 

In a press release on Monday, the Diocese of Toledo said that following Zacharias’ convection, diocesan officials “had transmitted the case to the Holy See along with the request to the Holy Father to impose the penalty of direct dismissal from…

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A Punta Gorda priest has been cleared and will not be charged after the alleged victim withdrew their claims of child sexual abuse, according to a new statement.

In February, the Rev. Jerome Kaywell, at Sacred Heart Punta Gorda, was accused of sexual misconduct with a minor in the winter of 2013/2014.

Throughout the investigation, the Diocese of Venice stated that Father Kaywell maintained his innocence and denied the allegations.

A new statement claims that the allegations were taken seriously and acted upon in accord with the Diocesan Policy for the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults.

Due to the case involving a minor, the State Attorney’s Office was also notified.

On Feb. 13, the Diocese received a letter from the Law firm representing the alleged victim. The letter stated, “The alleged victim withdrew his allegation, and an apology was written by the accuser, declaring it was a false memory.”

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Survivors of sexual abuse committed by clergy in the Archdiocese of Baltimore may have an opportunity to describe their suffering in bankruptcy court, and say they struck an agreement with the church to have Archbishop William Lori there to hear them.

The committee assigned to represent all survivors of clergy abuse in the diocese’s bankruptcy case raised the prospect of at least two days of grueling victim testimony in a court filing Friday, saying it would serve as an opportunity to humanize the technical, money-oriented proceedings.

It also would restore to survivors the chance to share their stories in a courtroom, an option lost when the church declared bankruptcy in September, effectively side-stepping a new state law that eliminated time limits for lawsuits stemming from child sex abuse, the committee’s attorneys wrote.

The request for the victims’ testimony needs the approval of U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michelle M. Harner, who is presiding…

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Fr. Daniel McCarthy said he was never directly questioned about the details of child sexual abuse allegations leveled against him, and one of the allegations wasn’t investigated for about a year.

By the accused priest’s telling, an Archdiocese of Chicago investigation of child sexual abuse had big problems.

Fr. Daniel McCarthy said that during an Archdiocese investigation of child sexual abuse allegations leveled against him, he was never directly questioned about the specifics of the accusations. And despite its child safety policy to remove a priest from his parish until it completes an investigation, the Archdiocese knew about an abuse accusation against McCarthy for around a year before it removed him from Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity Parish or told the public about the allegations.

Noir could not obtain a document verifying McCarthy’s claims, but sources familiar with the Archdiocese’s investigative process confirmed parts of his recollection. The Archdiocese did not…

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[See the report.]

Canadian Oblates commissioned Andre Denis to investigate handling of allegations against Johannes Rivoire

A retired Quebec Superior Court judge, in a report commissioned by the Canadian Oblates, says he believes allegations made against former Nunavut priest Johannes Rivoire of sexually abusing children in the territory are true. 

The report, written by Andre Denis, also suggests the Catholic church was not aware of the allegations made against Rivoire at the time because the RCMP didn’t notify them. 

“Rivoire did not tell the whole truth to his superiors, to his confrères, to the Inuit for whom he had pastoral responsibility, and he himself denies a reality that has nevertheless been demonstrated,” Denis wrote in a 57-page report released Tuesday. 

Denis’s report is not a legal finding of guilt. His investigation makes conclusions based on a “preponderance of evidence,” and not “proof beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Rivoire, an Oblate priest…

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[See the report.]

Safeguarding commission concludes Rev. Johannes Rivoire sexually abused 5 Inuit children, should be kicked out of order

Evidence gathered by a retired Quebec judge “overwhelmingly demonstrates” Rev. Johannes Rivoire sexually assaulted five Inuit children between 1968 and 1979.

André Denis, a former Quebec superior court judge, spent 10 months leading the Oblate Safeguarding Commission. It was created by the religious order to investigate allegations against Rivoire and possible coverups by the church and RCMP.

“My conclusion is that Johannes Rivoire was guilty of sexual abuse of Inuit children,” Denis wrote in the safeguarding commission’s report, which was released Tuesday.

“I can affirm that the Oblates in France did everything in their power to convince him to return to Canada and answer for his actions. To no avail.”

The Oblates of Canada commissioned Denis to provide an “independent perspective” on the circumstances of Rivoire’s 1993 departure from Canada…

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[See the report.]

Following a commitment to independently review the congregation’s response to historical allegations of sexual abuse against Joannès Rivoire in present-day Nunavut, including the circumstances under which he left Canada, OMI Lacombe Canada and the Oblates of the Province of France (the “Oblates”) appointed Justice André Denis to lead the Oblate Safeguarding Commission.

The commission aimed to better understand how these allegations were addressed by Oblates, listen to victims and their families, and identify any improvements to Oblate governance, policies and processes that can safeguard children and ensure a high level of accountability. On March 15, 2024, the Oblate Safeguarding Commission issued its final report.

The report found that the allegations made against Joannès Rivoire were well-founded.

“I wish to thank Justice Denis for his thorough, independent report and to apologize to anyone who was harmed by an Oblate,” said Fr. Ken Thorson, Provincial for OMI Lacombe…

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Congregation thanks Justice André Denis for independent review, stands in solidarity with victims and survivors of abuse

The Oblates of Mary Immaculate of OMI Lacombe Canada and the Province of France (the “Oblates”) wish to thank Justice André Denis for completing a thorough, independent review of historical allegations against Joannès Rivoire, including the circumstances under which he left Canada. The commission aimed to better understand how these allegations were addressed by Oblates, listen to victims and their families and identify any improvements to Oblate governance, policies and processes that can safeguard children and ensure a high level of accountability.

Justice Denis concluded that on the ‘preponderance of evidence,’ Joannès Rivoire was guilty of sexually assaulting five minor children in Naujaat, Nunavut, between 1968 and 1970, and one minor child in Arviat and Whale Cove, Nunavut, between 1974 and 1979.

We accept the report’s conclusions with a heavy heart. We wish…

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An independent review of a priest accused of sexually abusing Inuit children in Nunavut says his Catholic order wasn’t aware of the allegations when he returned to France.

Retired Superior Court justice André Denis led the review into 93-year-old Johannes Rivoire.

Denis found the Oblates of Mary Immaculate didn’t know Rivoire was being investigated by Canadian police when he arrived in France in 1993, and the religious order was not contacted by RCMP when charges were laid five years later. 

The review says the Oblates in France learned of the charges through a news report in 2013.

“Rivoire did not tell the whole truth to his superiors, to his confrères, to the Inuit for whom he had pastoral responsibility, and he himself denies a reality that has nevertheless been demonstrated,” Denis says in his final report released Tuesday.

Rivoire refused to return to Canada after an arrest warrant was issued…

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Almost three-and-one-half years after the Catholic Diocese of Camden, New Jersey filed for bankruptcy citing financial effects from the pandemic and sexual abuse settlements, its Chapter 11 reorganization plan has been approved.

The final plan, the ninth amended proposal, establishes an $87.5 million trust to compensate about 324 survivors of sexual abuse within the diocese. The trust will be funded with $87.5 million from the diocese and related Catholic entities. Insurance policies turned over to the diocese will contribute $30 million.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Jerrold N. Poslusny, Jr., in Camden, approved the plan that allows the diocese to pay into the trust over five years and keep operating so it can pay creditors.

The settlement also requires the church to maintain and enhance protocols for the protection of children that were first implemented in 2002.

The plan was approved last April by all classes of creditors and 97%…

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Dear Friends in Christ:

Last December I shared with you my decision to file a Chapter 11 petition with the United States Bankruptcy Court on behalf of the administrative offices of the Diocese of Sacramento. I will file that petition on Monday, April 1, 2024.

As I shared in the December announcement, the bankruptcy process is the only respectful, and equitable way to address the substantial number of claims by those who have been abused by clergy and other Church Workers. Bankruptcy is a lengthy process, but it provides supervision and transparency for all the parties involved so that an equitable resolution is offered to the victim-survivors of abuse. The court-supervised reorganization will also allow me to sustain the sanctifying, teaching, and charitable work of the Catholic community in Northern California.

The Diocese is creating an easily accessible Chapter 11 Bankruptcy page on its website. On this page you will…

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Catholic Diocese of Sacramento Bishop Jaime Soto said the diocese will petition for Chapter 11 bankruptcy with a filing on April 1.

“As I shared in the December announcement, the bankruptcy process is the only respectful, and equitable way to address the substantial number of claims by those who have been abused by clergy and other Church Workers,” he said in an open letter posted to the diocese website Saturday.

Soto says the bankruptcy will be a lengthy process, but it provides supervision and transparency allowing equitable resolutions for survivors of sexual assault at the hands of clergy.

In 2019, the Diocese of Sacramento published a list of clergy members and church workers credibly accused of sexually assaulting minors and young adults. The list of credibly accused clergy has been updated as of Jan. 31.

Soto says the court-supervised bankruptcy…

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Bishop Jamie Soto of the Catholic Diocese of Sacramento said the diocese would file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on April 1.

The diocese previously announced the plan to file for bankruptcy in December as a result of over 200 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse of minors but did not disclose a date.

“…[T]he bankruptcy process is the only respectful, and equitable way to address the substantial number of claims by those who have been abused by clergy and other Church Workers,” Soto said. “Bankruptcy is a lengthy process, but it provides supervision and transparency for all the parties involved so that an equitable resolution is offered to the victim-survivors of abuse. “

The diocese said it would set up a page for news about the bankruptcy proceedings.

“As this journey of atonement continues, join me in prayer for all the victim-survivors of abuse.   May the Lord of mercies also renew us…

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A $5.4 million verdict has been awarded to a former Siena Catholic Academy student who alleges he was sexually abused.

The plaintiff testified that he was sexually abused by Father Joseph Grasso, the school’s former principal, for more than a year starting in 2002, when he was just 12 years old. Grasso was the school administrator at the now-closed academy from 1998 to 2004.

In 2019, the New York Child Victims Act extended the statute of limitations for survivors of child sexual abuse to take their cases to court.

“A strong reason I believe the Child Victims Act was passed was to address the fact that many survivors, many victims of childhood sexual assault, do not feel they are able to come forward until adulthood,” says attorney Amy Keller.

Keller says one of those people is her client, referred to as “LG 55 Doe,” who says…

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Father Jerry Kaywell has been on administrative leave since late January when the Diocese first learned of the allegations.

The Diocese of Venice Florida has confirmed that Father Jerry Kaywell of Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Punta Gorda, will return to the church following an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct with a minor.

Kaywell has been on administrative leave since late January when the Diocese received notice that a sexual misconduct with a minor allegation had been filed against him.

Bishop Frank Dewane wrote a letter to Sacred Heart parishioners informing them of the investigation’s findings. According to Dewane, the “alleged victim withdrew his allegation, and an apology was written by the accuser declaring it was a false memory.”

Initially, on January 26, Dewane wrote a letter to Sacred Heart parishioners informing them of the allegation.

The letter also stated an investigation would be conducted by Diocese leaders and community members.

…

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Number represents 50% increase on victim applications announced last month

So far 12 victims of sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church in Portugal have applied for compensation, Group VITA – the group set up to implement the findings of an independent report on the subject – has announced.

The figure represents a 50% increase on the number announced a month ago.

According to a note sent to the press by Group VITA, “several people are undergoing regular psychological and/or psychiatric follow-up, and 12 are requesting financial compensation” – a matter that will be analysed in April by the plenary assembly of the Portuguese Bishops’ Conference (CEP).

The group’s coordinator, psychologist Rute Agulhas, gave her progress update to Lusa in which she said VITA has now been contacted by 84 people in its 10 months of operation – this means another five people have come forward in the space of a month. 

“Fifty-two appointments…

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A priest who led an evangelical movement in the 1980s and 1990s has appeared in court to face multiple allegations of sexual offences against former members of a church congregation.

The Reverend Christopher Brain led the movement called the Nine O’Clock Service in Sheffield between 1986 and 1995.

Brain appeared at Sheffield Magistrates’ Court for a four-minute hearing on Monday where he faced a total of 34 charges in relation to 11 women.

The charges relate to allegations of sexual offences committed against women who had joined the movement, police have said.

Brain, now 66, of Park Road, Wilmslow, Cheshire, is charged with one count of rape and 33 counts of indecent assault, alleged to have been committed between 1981 and 1995.

The Nine O’Clock Service was initially held at St Thomas’s Church, in the Crookes area of Sheffield, before moving to Ponds Forge sport complex in the city centre.

…

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When Sara Larson left her parish job after the Church’s 2018 scandals began to unfold, she knew that God was calling her to do something to help survivors.

At first she started locally, helping to launch the emerging non-profit Awake Milwaukee. But over time, the group’s work with abuse victims and survivors extended well beyond Wisconsin, through opportunities Larson sees as God’s Providence.

Earlier this year, Awake Milwaukee announced it would become Awake, changing its name to reflect a broadening scope of its mission.

Executive director Sara Larson talked with The Pillar about the name change, and about her organization’s work to support survivors, and work for change in the Church.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Can you tell us broadly about the mission of Awake?

Awake’s mission is to awaken our community to the full reality of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, work for transformation, and…

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A jury has awarded a local man more then $5 million after he said he was sexually assaulted 20 years ago by the principal of the former Siena Catholic Academy in Brighton.

The victim, who is now in his 30s, says the abuse happened when he was in middle school at Siena. He says the principal, Joseph Grasso, sexually assaulted him in St. Thomas More Church next door to the school.

This week, the jury verdict awarded the victim $5.4 million against Grasso. The priest denies the allegations.

Siena Catholic University closed in 2020.

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Deal had been held up by insurance concerns

A U.S. bankruptcy judge on Thursday approved the Diocese of Camden’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan, allowing the New Jersey diocese to move ahead with a $87.5 million settlement of sex abuse lawsuits.

The diocese initially had agreed to settle with about 300 sex abuse victims in April 2022, but the deal had been held up in bankruptcy court over objections raised by the diocese’s insurers. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Jerrold Poslusny said at a Thursday court hearing in Camden that recent changes to the deal had resolved all of the insurance-related issues.

The bankruptcy settlement was supported by more than 97% of the abuse claimants who voted on it.

Bishop Dennis Sullivan said in a Thursday statement that the approval would allow the diocese to move on from a “painful” three-year bankruptcy restructuring and “provide substantial reparations to survivors harmed by sinful priests…

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In our lives, we’re often faced with situations that demand clarity and specific answers. Imagine asking someone where they placed a particular item, only to receive an ambiguous “not around here” in response. Frustrating, isn’t it? This need for specificity isn’t just a preference in trivial matters, but a crucial expectation when the stakes are high, especially concerning safety and justice. This brings us to a disconcerting practice within the Catholic Church involving the handling of child molesting clerics, often shielded by the phrase “outside the diocese.”

The Demand for Specific Answers Concerning Scenarios

When it comes to serious concerns, vagueness isn’t just inadequate; it’s negligent. Let’s delve into a few hypothetical yet relatable scenarios:

Undesirable Answers to Important Questions

• The Missing Car Dilemma: Your spouse inquires about the whereabouts of your car, and you respond with “Not around here.” This answer is evasive and unhelpful, showing a disregard for…

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Notre Dame de Sion, once a sacred haven, now tainted with allegations of misconduct by priest Thiago Cardoso against five minors; mother of victim shares distressing experiences her son endured

Thiago Cardoso, a cleric volunteering at a monastery in Jerusalem’s Ein Kerem neighborhood, faces accusations of multiple instances of sexual misconduct involving minors from the Notre Dame de Sion community.

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Pope Francis encourages the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors to continue helping the Church safeguard minors and vulnerable people by ensuring a climate of listening and respect.

As the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors holds its plenary assembly, Pope Francis took the opportunity to invite its members to continue strengthening the Church’s efforts to prevent abuse.

The Pope thanked the Commission’s members for their personal and collective witness, and acknowledged that many of them have dedicated their lives to caring for victims of abuse.

He called their work “a courageous vocation that comes from the heart of the Church and helps her to be purified and to grow.”

The Pontifical Commission, he added, has expanded its efforts over the past 10 years in response to his call to “make the Church an increasingly safe place for minors and vulnerable adults.”

Healing fabric of lives

Pope Francis…

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Pope Francis appoints Bishop Luis Manuel Ali Herrerra as Secretary, and Ms Teresa Morris-Kettelkamp as Adjunct Secretary, for the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

Pope Francis has appointed Bishop Luis Manuel Ali Herrera, Auxiliary Bishop of Bogota, as the new Secretary for the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. At the same time, the Holy Father also appointed Ms Teresa Morris Kettelkamp as Adjunct Secretary of the Commission. Both have been serving as Members of the Commission.

The new appointments were announced on Friday by the Holy See Press Office. 

In a statement following the announcement, Cardinal Seán O’Malley, the President of the Commission, said the new appointments mark “a further important step in making our Church an ever-safer place for children and vulnerable persons.”

Cardinal O’Malley said that, while “coming from different backgrounds and possessing unique gifts in safeguarding,” the new Secretary and Adjunct Secretary “share…

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The Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento, which announced in December that it planned to file for bankruptcy protection because of a crush of sexual abuse lawsuits, will file with the bankruptcy court on April 1.

“The faithful of the diocese are being notified of the filing date at this weekend’s Masses,” diocese spokesman Frank Lienert wrote Saturday in an email to The Bee.

Bishop Jaime Soto announced in December that the diocese would follow the same path as some other ecclesiastical districts in California, including the Diocese of San Francisco, Diocese of Oakland, Diocese of Stockton and Diocese of Santa Rosa.

Soto said in a statement in December that “it is now clear to me that this is the only way available to me to resolve these claims as fairly as possible.”

“There are many victim-survivors awaiting compensation for the reprehensible sins committed against…

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When entering the Kansas Statehouse, one often will be greeted by proponents of adding clergy to the list of occupations that are mandated by law to report abuse and neglect of children.

Some of that group of persistent citizens spoke during a House Judiciary Committee hearing that would add clergy as mandatory reporters of abuse, while maintaining some carveouts to uphold the confidentiality of confession.

Versions of the bill have been shopped around the Statehouse over the past five years, but the last time one got a committee hearing was in 2019. The bill has butted up against such religious practices as Catholic confessionals that are considered confidential between a priest and parishioner.

About half of all states designate clergy as mandator reporters of abuse, and six require it even if it’s learned during a religious rite, such as confession. In 18 states, any individual is required…

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Just more than a month after a Louisville Catholic grade school teacher was charged with using students’ pictures to create child pornography, a lawsuit has been filed against the archdiocese.

Jordan Fautz, 39, was arrested on Feb. 2 and is facing charges that include distributing obscene visual representations of child sexual abuse, distributing child pornography, and possession of child pornography.

He was a seventh and eighth-grade religion teacher at St. Stephen Martyr Catholic School.

Fautz is accused of using students’ photos to create and distribute child pornography between March 2022 and February 2024.

‘Breaks my heart’: Louisville religion teacher accused of creating child porn with student photos

The lawsuit, filed on March 7, by 11 parents and students, alleges that the school and Archdiocese possibly ignored signs that Fautz was acting inappropriately.

To begin, the lawsuit says that Fautz’s mother was business manager at the school,…

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A lawsuit filed last week against the Archdiocese of Louisville claims instances of misconduct by a teacher accused of distributing images of child porn were ignored for years.

Jordan Fautz, 39, was arrested and charged in February with distributing child pornography, distributing obscene visual representation of child sexual abuse and possession of child pornography between March 31, 2022, to Feb. 2, 2024. Federal investigators said those photos included edited images of faces taken from the school’s yearbook.

The United States Department of Justice said Fautz, a seventh and eighth grade religion teacher and maintenance employee at St. Stephen Martyr Catholic School, sent child sexual abuse materials to a law enforcement officer who was working undercover online.

According to court documents, Fautz used yearbook photos of students and at least one adult from the school. The distributed images had photoshopped faces of students and the adult onto other nude…

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A church teacher in Maryland who was arrested for allegedly assaulting four girls entered the United States illegally after having been deported twice, according to an official with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Ervin Jeovany Alfaro Lopez, 33, of Germantown, was arrested on Monday after an investigation by the Montgomery County Department of Police, Special Victims Investigations Division.

A citizen of El Salvador, Alfaro Lopez had been arrested and deported in 2018 and then granted voluntary departure in 2019, following two instances of him unlawfully entering the country, reported the Washington, D.C.-based Fox 5.

In 2020, Alfaro Lopez was deported a second time when he was caught by border patrol agents in Texas, only to return to the United States under unknown circumstances.

Alfaro Lopez was arrested by Montgomery County police last August and charged with rape second-degree and two counts of sex offense third-degree. But when an…

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A ministry group leader is accused of using religion to groom and normalize the sexual abuse of a blind college student, a Texas lawsuit says.

Daniel Savala has a history of sexual abuse accusations dating back to the 1990s and has registered as a sex offender since 2013, according to the lawsuit filed this week.

Savala is currently in a Harris County jail facing sexual assault and indecency charges involving children, according to jail records. His attorney did not immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment.

The lawsuit alleges ministry group Assemblies of God and religious fraternal organization Chi Alpha Campus Ministries created the “perfect haven” for Savala to sexually abuse people beginning in 2017.

“He used (religion) as part of his grooming process to normalize the sexual abuse, and he used religious text in order to make it seem normal and would say things like, ‘Nudity…

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A former New Orleans priest accused of rape and kidnapping a child in the 1970s will undergo a mental evaluation ahead of his trial.

New court records state after a motion for psychiatric evaluation was filed. The court will appoint the sanity commission in this matter. A mental competency hearing has been set for Lawrence Hecker this month.

This is just days before his trial, which is set to begin on March 25.

His attorneys said that Lawrence Hecker is in restraints and is on antipsychotic medication.

According to the filing, Hecker is currently in a continued care facility where records show he is “confused” and “in restraints for his own protection” after pulling out his IVs.

This comes after his attorneys said Hecker was “barely conscious” and questioned if he would be healthy enough for trial in March.

WDSU obtained records in the case. Prosecutors say…

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The Diocese of Camden is to pay $87.5 million to survivors of clergy sex abuse under a plan approved by a bankruptcy judge.

A trust intended to help some 300 abuse survivors will receive payments from the diocese and related entities over a five-year period, court records show.

The reorganization plan, confirmed about 3½ years after the diocese sought protection from creditors, also calls for “maintaining and enhancing the protocols for the protection of children,” Bishop Dennis Sullivan said in a statement.

He said the plan was “a just resolution for survivors, while also ensuring that the diocese is able to continue to provide its services and ministries to the people of South Jersey.”

The plan also allows for the assignment of the diocese’s insurance rights to victims, a provision “expected to yield additional millions,” said a statement from lawyers representing a creditors committee for survivors.

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Hundreds of victims of child sexual abuse by priests or church representatives have received financial compensation so far from France’s Catholic Church under a sweeping reparations program, an independent body in charge of the process said Thursday.

An annual report by the Independent National Authority for Recognition and Reparation said 1,351 victims came forward to claim compensation and seek psychological support in an effort to recover from childhood trauma.

The average age of victims who have come forwards is 61, Marie Derain de Vaucresson, the head of the body said during a news conference Thursday.

Of them, 66%, are men and 34% are women, she said. The claims process started in 2022.

So far, the reparations authority has approved compensation claims of 489 victims, the report said. Of those, 88 people were granted the maximum of 60,000 euros ($65,000). Last year, 358 victims’ compensation claims were approved, with each individual…

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A Jasper church has sent a letter to their congregation saying Aaron Lockman has been fired as Kids Pastor due to a “significant moral failure.”

The letter is from Redemption Christian Church. It reads:

“Parents,

We need to share some important information with you regarding our Kids Ministry. Based on information we have received this week, Aaron Lockman, because of a significant moral failure, has been terminated from his position as Kids Minister at our Jasper Campus.”

Lockman is no longer listed on the church’s website.

Officials with the Dubois County Sheriff’s Office confirm they assisted with the investigation, but it is a case from the Evansville FBI Office.

A Facebook page for Lockman and also a Facebook page for the church’s kids ministry have been deleted.

Redemption Christian Church provided this statement Friday afternoon:

“We are horrified, angry, and grieving the actions of, and allegations against, the church’s former…

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It is a quarter of a century since Fr Sean Fortune took his own life on the eve of standing trial for child sexual abuse charges.

Wednesday, March 13, is 25 years to the day when notorious priest, Fr Sean Fortune died by suicide at his home in New Ross.

Days before he was due before Wexford Circuit Court on 29 charges of sexual abuse against eight young males – between June 1981 and December 1987 in Co Wexford – the serial abuser took his own life.

The groundbreaking Ferns Report in 2005 detailed 26 separate cases of sexual abuse by Fr Fortune against specific individuals including rape, masturbation and oral sex.

The Inquiry concluded that there were inexcusable and dangerous failings in the handling of Fr Fortune’s career and the many complaints made against him and if guidelines for priestly training had been followed he would never have been…

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The Catholic Church in Hong Kong said on Friday (Mar 15) that confessions by devotees to priests would remain confidential under the city’s upcoming national security law.

Hong Kong is fast-tracking a homegrown national security law, following the one Beijing imposed in 2020 after quashing huge and sometimes violent protests.

The government Bill – expected to be put to a legislature vote within days – proposes a maximum jail term of 14 years for any person who knows that someone will commit treason but fails to report it to the police.

The Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong said in a statement Friday that it “recognises that citizens have an obligation to ensure national security”.

But the security law “will not alter the confidential nature of confession”, the diocese added.

The diocese had “expressed its views” on the legislation, but told AFP that it did not intend to make those views…

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The leaders of Poland’s influential Catholic Church on Thursday chose moderate Archbishop Tadeusz Wojda to be their new principal, at a time when the church is still struggling to reckon with the abuse of minors by some Polish clergy, while the number of Poles going to church has fallen sharply.

At a two-day conference, bishops and archbishops elected Gdansk Archpishop Wojda, 67, to replace the conservative Archbp. Stanislaw Gądecki, of Poznan, as the head of the Polish Episcopate, for a five-year term, a communique said.

More than 90% of Poles, a nation of some 38 million, are still officially members of the Catholic Church, but figures from 2022 showed less than a third of Catholics attended mass, according to the church’s statistical institute.

For 27 years, from 1990 until 2017, Wojda served at the Vatican’s Congregation for the Evangelizations of Peoples, during the terms of three popes: Polish-born…

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A federal bankruptcy judge approved a plan Thursday that clears the way for the Catholic Diocese of Camden to finalize agreements to pay child sexual abuse survivors.

The deal comes nearly two years after the diocese agreed to pay $87.5 million in settlements to people who were abused by clergy members as children.

Judge Jerrold Poslusny signed off on the plan despite objections from several of the diocese’s insurance companies, attorneys for the survivors said in a news release.

“This moment comes after decades of survivors suffering, and it is their courage and their voice that is making the Diocese accountable and safer for kids,” said Jeff Anderson, an attorney representing the victims.

“It is the survivors deserving of credit, who courageously stand in Camden and across this nation,” he said. “From their courage and collective action, brings about real reckoning.”

In a letter addressed to…

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The committee representing survivors of clergy sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s bankruptcy case is seeking to give victims an opportunity to tell their stories in court.

In a legal brief filed Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Baltimore, attorneys for the group of survivors representing all of the diocese’s victims, known as the Creditors Committee, asked a judge to allow survivors to give testimony about their abuse over several hours during hearings in April and May.

The Baltimore diocese, America’s oldest, declared bankruptcy on the eve of Maryland’s Child Victims Act, which lifted a longstanding time limit for abuse survivors to sue perpetrators and the institutions that enabled their torment, taking effect Oct. 1. Survivor advocates had long fought to pass the law, eventually overcoming a strong lobbying effort from the church.

Bankruptcy was a strategic decision from the church to limit its liability and protect its assets. The move,…

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