ABUSE TRACKER

Groups acting on behalf of abuse victims have urged Britain’s Catholic Church to speak up on a case that sent shockwaves throughout the United Kingdom and respond to fresh claims about the mass rape of children by mostly Muslim “grooming gangs,” being attentive to victims that may come from their communities.

Campaigners are shocked by the lack of accountability for state officials who ignored the abuse and disappointed by the church’s silence on the issue.

Advocates like Timothy Dieppe and Antonia Sobocki stress that victims are turning to the church for help and that church leaders must speak out against these abuses, regardless of the cultural sensitivities involved.

“When something like this happens, it’s an affront to everyone’s human dignity, and those engulfed by this pandemic of sexual abuse need the church now more than ever,” said Antonia Sobocki, Catholic director of the British-based LOUDFence organisation.

“The job of church leaders isn’t…

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As New Orleans church leaders braced for the fallout from publishing a list of predatory Catholic priests, they turned to an unlikely ally: the front office of the city’s NFL franchise.

What followed was a months-long, crisis-communications blitz orchestrated by the New Orleans Saints’ president and other top team officials, according to hundreds of internal emails obtained by The Associated Press.

The records, which the Saints and church had long sought to keep out of public view, reveal team executives played a more extensive role than previously known in a public relations campaign to mitigate fallout from the clergy sexual abuse crisis. The emails shed new light on the Saints’ foray into a fraught topic far from the gridiron, a behind-the-scenes effort driven by the team’s devoutly Catholic owner who has long enjoyed a close relationship with the city’s embattled archbishop.

They also showed how various New Orleans…

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Poverty, slow legal system worsen plight for victims of clergy sexual abuse, conference told

Victims of sexual abuse committed by the clergy in the Philippines urgently need shelter and protection to withstand pressure to settle or abandon criminal cases against offending priests, activists said at the start of a three-day “Zero Tolerance” conference. 

Poverty and the slow pace of the legal system threaten survivors’ search for justice, according to representatives of the People’s Recovery, Empowerment and Development Assistance (Preda) Foundation, a non-government organization that seeks to protect and rescue children from sexual abuse. 

Preda president Francis Bermido Jr. and founder and Columban Father Shay Cullen were speaking on the first day of the Zero Tolerance Abuse Philippines 2025 conference, organized by the Ending Abuse Global (ECA) coalition. 

The conference opened two days after Massachusetts-based abuse watchdog BishopAccountability.org released its first-ever database of priests accused…

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The head of the Philippines bishops’ conference urged Catholics on Friday to report sexual abuse to civil or ecclesiastical authorities, after a victims’ advocacy group published reports of abuse against clergy and religious in the country this week.

While the cardinal’s remarks were meant to demonstrate a commitment to addressing clerical sexual abuse, they are likely to spark controversy among victims’ advocates, who say that ecclesiastical officials should urge potential cases always be reported directly to law enforcement.

In a Jan. 31 statement, Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David also asked Filipinos to help bring abuse perpetrators to justice, adding that this would support Pope Francis’ vision of synodality in the Catholic Church.

“We welcome initiatives intended to hold people in whatever form of authority accountable, including the Church. This is part of the pope’s call for a more synodal Church. The Church, being a human institution, is not exempt from sin…

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North Carolina’s highest court has upheld a law that gave adult victims of child sexual abuse two additional years to seek civil damages

North Carolina’s highest court upheld on Friday a law that gave adult victims of child sexual abuse two additional years to seek civil damages, rejecting arguments that the temporary window violated constitutional protections for those facing claims that otherwise could no longer be pursued in court.

In a case involving a local school board sued by three former students years after an ex-high school coach was convicted of crimes against team members, the state Supreme Court ruled the General Assembly was able to enact a key provision within the 2019 SAFE Child Act that was also signed by then-Gov. Roy Cooper.

Before the law, victims of sexual abuse before age 18 effectively had until turning 21 to file such civil claims against perpetrators. Now such victims have…

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THE public must appreciate that Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma, in his Jan. 30, 2025 statement, acknowledges that sexual abuses of some priests against minors “wound the Catholic faith” and the Church is “fully committed to support the survivors and their families.”

The victims and their families need a lot more than that and they want to know about it from the church leader.

• Aside from assurance of spiritual healing — as the Lord “heals the broken-hearted and binds their wounds” — the Church can compensate materially the survivors and help in their rehabilitation, without the force of litigation.
• Turn into concrete the promise of support for the abused children and their families “to be heard and get justice” by adopting a plain and clear process, marked by an efficient system of reporting the abuse and the action on it, whether within the Church or before government prosecutors and the courts.
• Other…

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Dr. Rene Obra said survivors often develop coping mechanisms, such as pathological lying and poor anger management.

Victims need professional legal, medical and psychological support to regain their well-being, according to Obra, former chief of the Center for Behavioral Sciences of Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center.

“They need people who can understand their problem, empathize with them and help restore their physical, mental, social and spiritual well-being,” he told SunStar in text message Friday, Jan. 31, 2025.

SunStar interviewed Obra after BishopAccountability.org, a United States-based group that monitors abuse in the Roman Catholic Church, released on Wednesday, Jan. 29, a list of 82 priests linked to dioceses in Visayas and Mindano who were accused of sexually abusing female and male minors.

Obra said these cases could be just the “tip of the iceberg,” with many more likely unreported.

He pointed out that the issue is not exclusive to Catholic clergy…

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A school disciplinary task force detailed investigators’ findings and recommendations in a 2019 letter to Joseph Reilly, saying he should no longer hold a leadership role.

The new president of Seton Hall University was told in writing more than five years ago that he violated federal Title IX policies on sexual abuse reporting and that he should no longer hold the leadership positions he held at the time.

In internal documents being published for the first time by POLITICO, a special task force formed by the university to carry out disciplinary actions detailed investigators’ findings and recommendations against Monsignor Joseph Reilly in 2019. Reilly, then a high-ranking seminary leader and member of university boards, was not accused of abuse but investigators determined he did not properly report sexual misconduct allegations from 2012.

Reilly acknowledged those findings in November 2019 and,…

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For the first time ever, leading experts gathered in a landmark three-day public summit to confront the issue of child sexual abuse and cover-ups by clergy on Jan. 31, 2025. The event featured the Philippines’ foremost authorities on the Catholic abuse crisis, alongside renowned global experts from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States.

Organizers aimed to spark a national conversation in the Philippines— the world’s third-largest Catholic country— about this long-silenced issue, while exposing the systemic failures within religious institutions across the developing world that have allowed abuse to persist unchecked.

In many countries, including the Philippines, clergy sexual abuse has been shielded by powerful church leaders who prioritize protecting the institution’s reputation over the well-being of survivors. Bishops and senior Church officials have been complicit in covering up abuse, transferring predator priests from parish to parish, and silencing victims. This entrenched culture of protection has allowed the…

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Two Democratic state lawmakers are trying again to require clergy members in Washington to report child abuse or neglect, including when it is disclosed to them by a congregant during confession.

Sen. Noel Frame, D-Seattle, and Rep. Amy Walen, D-Kirkland, introduced legislation to add clergy to the state’s roster of professions whose members must inform law enforcement if they believe a child has been harmed.

Frame’s Senate Bill 5375 will get its first hearing Tuesday afternoon in the Senate Human Services Committee.

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Ousted leaders say Gregory Aymond removed them after they refused to fund sexual abuse lawsuit settlements

The way that the archbishop of New Orleans’ Roman Catholic archdiocese fired leaders at a church-affiliated food bank Thursday has angered many congregants of the bankrupt organization.

Aymond summarily removed Natalie Jayroe – the longtime president and CEO of Second Harvest of Greater New Orleans and Acadiana – on Thursday, as well as three members of the Second Harvest board of directors: Kristen Albertson, Nick Karl and Bert Wilson.

A statement released on behalf of some of the ousted leaders said they had been removed for refusing to send the archdiocese up to $16m to pay settlements for child molestation committed by Catholic clergy.

A letter sent Thursday by Aymond did not acknowledge the reason for replacing Jayroe and the three board members. The church has not responded to a request from Guardian reporting partner WWL…

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Mike Hoffman was married with children and active in his Chicago parish when a 2006 news article caught his attention: A priest of the archdiocese was facing a lawsuit for alleged sexual abuse decades earlier.

While other Catholics may have seen it as just one more distressing clergy abuse story, to Hoffman, the news was deeply personal. The priest named in the article was the same one who had also abused him when he was a child, he said, and the individuals who had come forward had been his contemporaries at his childhood parish.

Resurfacing old and painful memories, the article spurred Hoffman to begin sharing his own story and to seek healing.

Today, he and a group of other clergy abuse victim-survivors, academics, psychologists, restorative justice advocates, clergy and others — collectively calling themselves the National Catholic Restorative Justice Initiative, or NCRJI — are working on the development of…

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In a profound reflection delivered during Sunday’s Angelus prayer, Pope Francis emphasized how Jesus Christ reveals the ultimate criterion by which all history is judged: love.

“Whoever loves lives, whoever hates dies,” the pope told pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square on Feb. 2, the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord.

Drawing from the Gospel of Luke (2:22-40), which recounts Mary and Joseph bringing the infant Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem, the pontiff focused on three significant aspects of Christ revealed through Simeon’s prophecy: salvation, light, and a sign of contradiction.

“God is present among His people — not because He dwells within four walls, but because He lives as a man among men,” Francis explained, highlighting the radical newness of this moment in salvation history.

The pope noted how Mary and Joseph were “deeply moved and astonished” as Simeon identified Jesus through these…

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A battle is being waged across states about whether ‘retroactive laws’ reviving expired claims under previous statutes of limitations are constitutional.

When the Maine Legislature decided in 2021 to allow anyone to file a lawsuit over child sexual abuse regardless of how long ago it occurred, advocates said the state was ahead of the curve.

Maine had already removed the time limit on all future claims 20 years earlier.

But last week, Maine’s highest court deemed the transformational 2021 law unconstitutional. Elizabeth Ward Saxl, who directs the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault, said the ruling was a shock.

“We were on the front end of many of those changes in the nation,” Ward Saxl said. “We have been making slow, incremental, but steady progress in opening these paths to justice for survivors. This feels like a gigantic step backwards.”

Many states have been updating these laws…

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• Former Cape Cod priest Mark Hession’s retrial on a charge of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 has been delayed.
• Hession was found not guilty of two counts of rape in June, but the jury deadlocked on the assault charge.

A former Cape Cod priest facing an assault charge is set to next appear in Barnstable Superior Court in March.

In June, a jury found Mark Hession not guilty of two counts of rape alleged to have happened between 2005 and 2008. But the jury deadlocked on one count of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, alleged to have happened in 2002.

A second trial on that charge was expected to begin on Feb. 10, but that date has now been vacated and is no longer on the court calendar. The defense needed time to review additional discovery, according to the Cape and Islands District Attorney’s…

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While the trial of two Spanish-born Jesuit priests, both of them formerly provincials of the Society of Jesus in Bolivia who were charged with covering up abuse cases, was rescheduled to begin in March, the Bolivian network of abuse survivors managed to promote a national encounter of victims and hopes they will be adequately invited by Justice to take part in the current procedure.

Father Marco Recolons and Father Ramón Alaix were provincials of the Jesuits during the time when dozens of cases of sex abuse were perpetrated by Father Alfonso “Pica” Pedrajas and failed to tell the authorities. Padre Pica, also born in Spain, was a missionary in Bolivia for decades and wrote about his crimes in his diary.

He abused at least 85 boys and died in 2009. Pica was never taken to the courts for his many crimes.

The trial was set to begin on Jan. 23….

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Nearly 15 years after “Carlos” was allegedly abused while in minor seminary and after countless complaints both locally and in Rome, a canonical process has finally been ordered against his apparent abuser, but with a few snags.

Among other things, “Carlos,” a false name, said that it took 15 years for a canonical procedure to be opened last spring, and even then, he was not informed that this step had been taken.

After finding out about it only in recent weeks, Carlos said he was shocked to see that the case is being tried in the ecclesiastical province of Toledo in Spain, where his abuser is from, and that the archbishop set to oversee the case and appoint judges is someone he has denounced for coverup in the Vatican’s Dicastery for Bishops.

Carlos said he was sexually abused as a minor by his spiritual director, Father Pedro Francisco Rodríguez Ramos,…

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The Diocese of San Carlos in Negros Occidental has clarified on the status of priests facing allegations of sexual abuse of minors.

In a statement issued by The Roman Catholic Bishop of San Carlos (Diocese of San Carlos) in San Carlos City on January 30, 2025, it provided information on the status of Father Conrado Mantac and Father Aron Buenacosa who are both facing allegations of sexual abuse of minors.

“Both priests remain on administrative leave and are not currently engaged in any ministerial duties,” the Diocese of San Carlos stated.

“It is important to note that these cases are still under ecclesiastical review by our Diocesan Safeguarding Office, and the Diocese is steadfastly committed to cooperating with civil authorities and the Philippine Courts to ensure a fair and just process. Both institutional processes (legal and ecclesiastical) are being carried out to protect the victims and implement proper disciplinary sanctions…

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San Carlos Diocese Bishop Gerardo Alminaza has apologized for letting two priests accused of sexual abuse of children celebrate Mass in public. 

Alminaza gave his apology in an interview with Rappler after a public statement said Father Conrad Ursua Mantac and Father Aron Buenacosa are on administrative leave.

The two are among the 82 priests in the Philippines database of US-based watchdog bishop-accountability.org. They belong to the group of 34 priests charged with child sexual abuse in the Philippines. The rest also served in the Philippines but faced cases abroad.

Anne Barrett Doyle, the co-director of the abuse tracker group, mentioned the San Carlos diocese clerics as examples of how Philippine bishops tolerate abuse by allowing the accused to continue with public ministry. 

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Accounts of the two men were accepted by decision-maker of national redress scheme with $45,000 and $95,000 awarded respectively

Two men abused by George Pell in Ballarat in the 1970s, when Pell was a priest in the diocese, have been granted compensation by the federal government’s national redress scheme.

An investigation by journalist Louise Milligan, published in the Monthly and by the ABC, states one of the men was compensated for being anally raped by Pell in a school gymnasium. The other told the redress scheme he was groped on the genitals by Pell during a game in a swimming pool.

The decision-maker for the redress scheme accepted the men’s accounts, the reports state.

For a criminal case to be proven, a standard of proof of “beyond reasonable doubt” must be satisfied. The national redress scheme for people who have experienced institutional child sexual abuse has a lower standard: that…

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The former bishop of Australia’s Broome diocese is facing six new abuse charges, taking the total number of criminal charges against him to 39.

The new charges include the alleged rape of a boy under 13. The Australian bishops’ conference said in September 2023 that an internal Church investigation into Bishop Christopher Saunders had identified no potential victims under the age of 18.

Australian media reported that child abuse squad detectives re-arrested Saunders in Western Australia Jan. 26.

The 75-year-old bishop was charged with sexual penetration of a child under the age of 13, three counts of indecent dealings with a child under 13, and two common assault counts. The offenses are alleged to have taken place in Broome between 2009 and 2010.

Saunders was initially arrested in February 2024 following a January police raid on his former residence in the Broome diocese. He was charged with 26 offenses: 19 historical sex charges…

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Channel 4 News reported two women had accused John Perumbalath of ‘inappropriate behavior’

The Bishop of the English city of Liverpool said on Jan. 30 that he was stepping down from his post after a British broadcaster aired allegations of sexual assault and harassment against him.

His resignation comes just weeks after Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, leader of the world’s Anglicans, also stepped down over failures in the Church of England’s handling of a serial abuse case.

Channel 4 News reported two women had accused Liverpool Bishop John Perumbalath of “inappropriate behavior.”

He denies wrongdoing but said in a statement afterward that a “rush to judgment and my trial by media… has made my position untenable.”

Perumbalath said he had decided to retire immediately to avoid a “long period of uncertainty” while the claims were further investigated.

“I do not wish this story to become a distraction for this incredible…

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The Diocese of Bolzano-Bressanone in Italy made history Jan. 20 by publishing the country’s first diocesan abuse report, titled “The Courage to Look.”

Experts called it a hopeful sign in a country where the Catholic Church has yet to tackle the abuse crisis and seek answers on the scale and scope of clergy abuse.

The Diocese of Bolzano-Bressanone released its report with representatives of a German law firm present. The firm, Westpfahl Spilker Wastl in Munich, produced the study.

“This is an important development,” said Father Hans Zollner, a top expert on clergy abuse and founding director of the Institute of Anthropology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He is a former member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. 

‘Major Signal Effect Expected’

Speaking to German Catholic Domradio, he said that “it is the first diocese on Italian state soil to present a report of this…

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In a reversal of prior claims, Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne issued a statement Wednesday confirming he did sign a written set of restrictions on his ministry imposed against him by the Vatican over allegations of sexual abuse, walking back a previous statement to the contrary.

Despite other claims last week, the cardinal said Jan. 29 that he did receive — and sign — written notice of a penal precept which imposed formal restrictions on his public ministry and living arrangements in 2019, shortly after his resignation was accepted at the age of 75.

The precept was imposed by the Vatican following accusations in Peru of sexual abuse against the cardinal dating back to the early 1980s, first made in 2018. Cipriani served as Archbishop of Lima from 1999 until 2019.

When news of both the accusations and the Vatican imposed restrictions on his ministry first broke last week, the…

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Bankrupt Roman Catholic archdiocese replaced members at church-affiliated non-profit over $16m dispute

The archbishop of New Orleans’s bankrupt Roman Catholic archdiocese on Thursday abruptly fired and replaced top leaders at a church-affiliated food bank, with those dismissed saying it was because the non-profit refused to contribute to paying survivors of child sexual abuse by clergymen.

The ousted members of Second Harvest’s board of directors say the changes “follow months of increasingly aggressive pressure placed on Second Harvest to contribute as much as $16m toward helping to resolve victims’ claims related to the church’s sexual abuse-related bankruptcy”, which has been pending since May 2020.

Second Harvest is what’s called an apostolate of New Orleans’s archdiocese, meaning it is owned by the church. But Second Harvest also has a non-profit governing board. And its former chair, Bert Wilson, says the grants they get from Feeding America and other non-profits specifically say the…

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The Bishop of Liverpool has resigned following allegations of sexual assault and harassment, heaping more pressure on the Church of England as it seeks to move past the fallout from a separate scandal that toppled its former leader.

Right Rev. John Perumbalath’s departure came after Channel Four news reported earlier this week that one woman had accused the bishop of kissing her without consent and groping her, and another woman accused him of sexual harassment. The allegations had become a distraction, he said.

“This is not a resignation occasioned by fault or by any admission of liability,’’ he said. “Rather, it has become clear that stepping back from my ministry and waiting for the completion of further reviews would mean a long period of uncertainty for the diocese and all those who serve it.”

The resignation comes just months after the church was shaken by the departure of former Archbishop of…

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Groups acting on behalf of abuse victims have urged Britain’s Catholic Church to speak up on a case that sent shockwaves throughout the United Kingdom and respond to fresh claims about the mass rape of children by mostly Muslim “grooming gangs,” being attentive to victims that may come from their communities.

“There’s general shock that no one in authority, such as police officers, social workers or local councillors, has been prosecuted or even disciplined for knowing about these under-age rapes and failing to act,” said Timothy Dieppe, head of public policy for the ecumenical Christian Concern. “Yet even in the church, there’s a reluctance to say anything for fear of being branded Islamophobic. This is disturbing and alarming — it’s as if these children have been sacrificed on an altar of political correctness.”

The London-based campaigner spoke as Britain’s home secretary, or interior minister, Yvette Cooper, announced a new “rapid…

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Supporters of a bill that would require clergy members to report suspected child abuse or neglect say it would help protect children from abuse, while opponents say it asks the church to assume a disciplinary role when it is meant to be a support system.

Sen. Mary Ann Dunwell, D-East Helena, introduced the bill to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Jan. 28. She referenced a 2020 Montana Supreme Court ruling that reversed a $35 million verdict against the Thompson Falls Jehovah’s Witness congregation following allegations that church elders covered up the abuse of a young girl.  

Dunwell’s bill would remove the part of Montana law that the Supreme Court used in that case, which exempts clergy members from mandatory reporting. But the bill also comes with an amendment that would maintain the exemption for formal confessions. 

Matt Brower, the executive director of the Montana Catholic Conference, thanked the sponsor for…

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Shortly after his 12th birthday, Mark Joseph Williams’ father died, leaving him under the care of a mother suffering from alcoholism and mental illness. The fact that several men in his community stepped in as father figures appeared to be a positive thing — until it wasn’t. Williams was first raped at the age of 13 by his devout Catholic teacher, later by a Catholic priest. 

In his new book Torrent of Grace: A Catholic Survivor’s Healing Journey after Clergy Abuse, Williams offers a contribution to a concerningly limited literary genre in the church: clergy abuse survivor narratives. Torrent of Grace is not without its shortcomings, but the messy, painful and challenging story is a necessary and important work for the church.

Torrent of Grace: A Catholic Survivor’s Healing Journey after Clergy Abuse

Mark Joseph Williams

192 pages; Orbis Book

$24.00

On the night of his first sexual…

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State and local investigations of two East Tennessee Catholic priests have concluded, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Knoxville announced, clearing the way for it to conduct its own review.

In what a diocese spokesperson said were unrelated cases, the Revs. Joseph Reed and Miguel Velez had been accused of “boundary violations” and placed on administrative leave in December, as government agencies looked into the complaints.

At the time, the principal of the Knoxville-area St. John Neumann Catholic School, where Reed was the top pastor, told the school community in a letter that the matter was harmless: She described the diocese’s response as an “overcorrection” while it worked to rebuild trust following past challenges with former leadership.

The diocese announced the end of the state and local investigations Monday.

Whatever its nature, the complaint against Reed was investigated by the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services and local law enforcement.

…

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Thirteen people alleging childhood sexual abuse by Catholic priests, nuns and teachers decades ago cannot file civil lawsuits because a retroactive law eliminating the statute of limitations violates the state constitution, Maine’s highest court ruled Jan. 28.

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court’s 5-2 decision in Robert E. Dupuis v. Roman Catholic Bishop of Portlandfound that an expired statute of limitations timeframe amounts to a “vested right” for potential defendants that can’t be eliminated after the fact.

But attorney Michael Bigos, who represents the plaintiffs, said he’s looking for a way around the ruling by focusing on what he called “fraudulent concealment claims and other causes of action” by the Diocese of Portland, which he suggested might effectively extend the time limit for filing civil lawsuits against it.

Bigos said the diocese, which includes the whole state, “knew about rampant sexual abuse by its priests, nuns and teachers for decades and…

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A former youth pastor charged with more than 30 felonies for sexually abusing children will stay in jail.

Washtenaw County District Court Judge J. Cedric Simpson denied Zachary Joseph Radcliff’s bond after hearing from prosecutors how the 29-year-old temporarily fled to Virginia during the ongoing investigation and repeatedly contacted a victim who came forward. This means, absent another ruling, Radcliff will stay in jail until his case concludes.

Simpson made the decision in a Thursday, Jan. 30, hearing. Radcliff’s attorney, Grand Rapids-based James A. Thomas, asked Simpson to reduce his client’s bond to $10,000.

Radcliff’s bond had previously been set at $3 million.

“(A) $3 million bond is tantamount to no bond,” Thomas said during the hearing. “Even if it was $1 million, it’s still tantamount to no bond.”

The worship director and interim youth pastor for Oakwood Baptist Church in Augusta Township told…

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Update Jan. 29th: According to the Kern County District Attorney’s Office, Daugherty posted bail.

————

A 41-year-old Tehachapi youth pastor was arrested Monday following an investigation that revealed an alleged sexual assault of a teen victim.

On January 27, 2025, Tehachapi police arrested Adrian Daugherty, 41, following an investigation that alleges Daugherty committed lewd and lascivious acts with a minor.

Daugherty is a youth pastor at the Tehachapi Church of the Nazarene, said police. He was booked into the Kern County Jail.

The investigation is ongoing. It’s unknown at this time if there are any more victims.

Anyone with information regarding this investigation is asked to call the Tehachapi Police Department at (661) 822-2222.

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Despite initially giving a different account, Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne’s clarified this week that he did sign a written set of restrictions on his ministry over allegations of sexual abuse, after all.

While that concession is interesting, it doesn’t bring any real clarity to a complex case unfolding in the news this week, or explain why and how he continued in public ministry for years after his ministry was supposedly restricted.

And the cardinal’s admission to being handed a formal penal precept back in 2019 highlights again a pattern of sanctions being imposed on senior clerics without either resolving the cases against them, or effectively restricting their ministry.

A growing list of international scandals appears to highlight a continued climate of dysfunction and special treatment for senior churchmen while delivering little in the way of justice or resolution, either for the accused or for his alleged victims.

And, given…

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The former bishop of Australia’s Broome diocese is facing six new abuse charges, taking the total number of criminal charges against him to 39.

The new charges include the alleged rape of a boy under 13. The Australian bishops’ conference said in September 2023 that an internal Church investigation into Bishop Christopher Saunders had identified no potential victims under the age of 18.

Australian media reported that child abuse squad detectives re-arrested Saunders in Western Australia Jan. 26.

The 75-year-old bishop was charged with sexual penetration of a child under the age of 13, three counts of indecent dealings with a child under 13, and two common assault counts. The offenses are alleged to have taken place in Broome between 2009 and 2010.

Saunders was initially arrested in February 2024 following a January police raid on his former residence in the Broome diocese. He was charged with 26 offenses: 19 historical sex charges…

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Bankrupt Roman Catholic archdiocese replaced members at church-affiliated non-profit over $16m dispute

The archbishop of New Orleans’ bankrupt Roman Catholic archdiocese on Thursday abruptly fired and replaced top leaders at a church-affiliated food bank, with those dismissed saying it was because the non-profit refused to contribute to paying survivors of child sexual abuse by clergymen.

The ousted members of Second Harvest’s board of directors say the changes “follow months of increasingly aggressive pressure placed on Second Harvest to contribute as much as $16m toward helping to resolve victims’ claims related to the church’s sexual abuse-related bankruptcy”, which has been pending since May 2020.

Second Harvest is what’s called an apostolate of New Orleans’ archdiocese, meaning it is owned by the church. But Second Harvest also has a non-profit governing board. And its former chairperson, Bert Wilson, says the grants they get from Feeding America and other non-profits specifically say the…

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A South Central District Court judge has denied a request to close court records from public view in the cases of three people who were associated with a Catholic school in Mandan where a teenage male student allegedly committed sexual assaults.

Closure petitions were brought by Thomas Hoopes and David and Christine Fleischacker last fall after criminal cases filed against the three for failing to report the alleged assaults were dismissed. At the time the charges were filed, Hoopes was the assistant principal, David Fleischacker held an administrative position and his wife Christine was a teacher and the school’s director of science.

Following a hearing last November seeking closure of their case records, Hoopes and the Fleischackers each filed affidavits outlining why Judge Cynthia Feland should grant the motions despite the “presumption of openness” of court records referred to in state law and the state judiciary’s administrative rules.

Under those…

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76-page case report details relationship between Father Bob Hoeffner, Brandon Kapas

Palm Bay FL – A year after a man killed a priest, the priest’s sister, his own grandfather, and also wounded two officers, there could finally be an answer why Palm Bay police said Brandon Kapas went on the shooting rampage.

On Jan. 28, 2024, police said they killed the 24-year-old gunman after he shot first and killed his grandfather who intervened.

Police were called to a family member’s house about Kapas acting aggressively.

Police said Kappas had a lot of guns and ammo in his car. It turned out, the car was registered to a retired priest who bought Kapas that car.

When police tried talking to that priest, however, they found Father Bob Hoeffner and his sister, Sally Hoeffner, were dead too.

Ever since then, the community has speculated what might have set the…

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[See also the full text of the report in German and Italian.]

The Diocese of Bolzano-Bressanone in Italy made history Jan. 20 by publishing the country’s first diocesan abuse report, titled “The Courage to Look.”

Experts called it a hopeful sign in a country where the Catholic Church has yet to tackle the abuse crisis and seek answers on the scale and scope of clergy abuse.

The Diocese of Bolzano-Bressanone released its report with representatives of a German law firm present. The firm, Westpfahl Spilker Wastl in Munich, produced the study.

“This is an important development,” said Father Hans Zollner, a top expert on clergy abuse and founding director of the Institute of Anthropology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He is a former member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. 

‘Major Signal Effect Expected’

Speaking to German Catholic Domradio, he said that “it is the first…

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The highest court in Maine ruled Tuesday against a law that retroactively removed the statute of limitations for civil child sexual abuse lawsuits, concluding a tense chapter in a yearslong legal battle.

The ruling comes after dozens of people filed civil lawsuits against the Roman Catholic Bishop of Portland alleging they were sexually assaulted as children by the clergy, with allegations going back as far as the 1950s. Some accusers were able to sue after state legislators passed a law in 2021 that retroactively removed a statute of limitations that determines how much time can pass after a crime before a person is no longer allowed to file a lawsuit.

The diocese challenged the lawsuits, calling the 2021 statute unconstitutional. On Tuesday, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court agreed.

Attorney Michael Bigos, who said he represents about 100 victims affected by the ruling, told USA TODAY he was disappointed by the court’s decision.

…

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Catholic bishops in the Philippines have been accused of having a “deep sense of entitlement”, displaying unyielding arrogance when it comes to withholding information on abuse carried out by priests in their dioceses.

The criticism follows the release of new data provided by BishopAccountability.org, a leading anti-abuse organisation, which details how at least 82 priests and religious brothers associated with the Philippines have publicly been accused of sexual abuse involving children.

At least seven of the accused priests continue to serve in parishes across the Asian island nation, some as recently as last month, Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org, said on 29 January.

She told journalists that the Philippine bishops have a “deep sense of entitlement”, adding: “These are men who fear nothing.”

The database of accused clerics, which is now on the BishopAccountability.org website, includes Filipino priests accused of sexually abusing children in the Philippines; Filipino priests accused…

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BishopAccountability.org, a US-based sex abuse tracking group, on Wednesday made public a database identifying 82 priests and brothers with ties to the Philippines who have been accused of sexually abusing minors from the 1980s to 2020.

Two Catholic bishops in the Visayas have vowed to be transparent in dealing with priests accused of sexual abuse of minors and who are either on administrative leave or cleared to return to active ministry.

Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma and Bishop Gerardo Alminaza of the Diocese of San Carlos in Negros Occidental, in separate statements on Thursday, acknowledged that there were priests under their supervision who were linked to the sexual abuse of children.

Palma said three of the names recently mentioned by BishopAccountability.org, a United States-based sex abuse tracking group, have been reintegrated into the archdiocese. The rest were either dead or had been dismissed from the service.

The prelate added that these…

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[See the text of the statement of Bishop Gerardo A. Alminaza, Diocese of San Carlos; see also the text of the letter by Archbishop José S. Palma, Archdiocese of Cebu.]

San Carlos Diocese Bishop Gerardo Alminaza has apologized for letting two priests accused of sexual abuse of children celebrate Mass in public. 

Alminaza gave his apology in an interview with Rappler after a public statement said Father Conrad Ursua Mantac and Father Aron Buenacosa are on administrative leave.

The two are among the 82 priests in the Philippines database of US-based watchdog bishop-accountability.org. They belong to the group of 34 priests charged with child sexual abuse in the Philippines. The rest also served in the Philippines but faced cases abroad.

Anne Barrett Doyle, the co-director of the abuse tracker group, mentioned the San Carlos diocese clerics as examples of how Philippine bishops tolerate abuse by allowing the accused to continue…

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A high official of the Roman Catholic Church has assured support to efforts to hold its leaders accountable, including for cases of sexual abuse by the clergy, in keeping with Pope Francis’ call for “greater Synodality in the Church.”

“The Church, being a human institution, is not exempt from sin and corruption. Admittedly, lack of accountability compromises our moral and spiritual authority. After the Church-related abuse scandals that happened in Europe and America the universal Church has proactively made efforts to address the issue squarely in the Church and create structures that will guarantee that our institutions are kept as safe spaces for minors and vulnerable adults,” Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David, Bishop of Kalookan and president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), said in a statement published on cbcpnews.net Friday.

David’s statement followed a report Wednesday by the US-based BishopAccountability.org identifying at least 82 priests and religious…

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The appeal by the president of the bishops’ conference after the 82 Philippine-related cases denounced in a report by the NGO BishopAccountability. Also among the problems are cases of Filipino priests incardinated in the United States returning home after being accused there. ‘In the protection of minors and vulnerable people we need the help and participation of the laity, including journalists in the search for the truth.’

‘Do not hesitate to report  members of the clergy who are guilty of abuse to both civil and ecclesiastical authorities,’ appealed Card. Pablo Virgilio David, bishop of Kalookan and president of the Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, today, speaking to the uproar sparked by the release of a list of 82 priests and religious publicly accused of sexual abuse against minors but against whom no appropriate action was allegedly take that was published on 29 January by the American observatory BishopAccountability.org.

These are both Filipino priests accused of abuse in…

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[See the text of the statement of Bishop Gerardo A. Alminaza, Diocese of San Carlos; see also the text of the letter by Archbishop José S. Palma, Archdiocese of Cebu.]

The Diocese of San Carlos clarified on January 30 that two of its priests, Fr. Conrado Mantac and Fr. Aron Buenacosa, remain on administrative leave amid sexual abuse allegations of minors and that they are still under ecclesiastical and legal investigation.

In an official statement, the Diocese stressed that both priests are prohibited from engaging in any ministerial duties while due process is carried out by both the Church and civil authorities.

The Diocesan Safeguarding Office is leading the internal review, with full cooperation from Philippine courts to ensure justice is served.

“Both institutional processes (legal and ecclesiastical) are being carried out to protect the victims and implement proper disciplinary sanctions with the accused,” the statement read.

The…

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Eric Dejaeger, 77, pleaded guilty to 7 counts of sexual abuse

A former Catholic priest convicted of sexually abusing children in Nunavut has been sentenced to six years in prison. 

Eric Dejaeger, 77, pleaded guilty to seven counts of sexually abusing children in Igloolik between 1978 and 1982. 

The children Dejaeger abused, who are now middle-aged, were between the ages of four and nine. 

Justice Faiyaz Alibhai read the details of each count to the court on Thursday morning, describing the abuse Dejaeger inflicted on six girls and one boy. 

“He destroyed their childhood, hurt their relations with their families and ruined their relationship with their church,” Alibhai said.

Crown and defence lawyers had jointly proposed a six-year sentence for Dejaeger, which Alibhai accepted.

He also noted Dejaeger was between 31 and 35 years old at the time and “was fully aware” of his actions. 

Alibhai described him as “a calculated predator.”

He…

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The devastating effects of Eric Dejaeger’s sexual abuse of seven Inuit children more than four decades ago are being felt a generation later, a judge said Thursday as he handed the former Catholic priest a six-year prison sentence.

Dejaeger pleaded guilty last week to indecent assault against six girls and one boy between 1978 and 1982 in the hamlet of Igloolik, Nvt. He was previously convicted of dozens of other sex offences involving children in Nunavut and Alberta.

“He destroyed their childhood, hurt their relations with their families and ruined their relationship with their church,” Justice Faiyaz Alibhai said in his sentencing decision Thursday.

“The trauma reverberated to the next generation, as the children of his victims also suffered from the consequences of his actions.”

Court heard harrowing accounts from five abuse survivors, who were between the ages of four and nine when the assaults took place. The two other…

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Judge calls Eric Dejaeger a ‘calculated predator’ who ‘destroyed’ childhoods

Former Roman Catholic priest Eric Dejaeger was sentenced to six years in federal prison Thursday after pleading guilty to indecently assaulting seven children in Igloolik more than 40 years ago.

Dejaeger, 77, is a “calculated predator” who “destroyed their childhood,” Justice Faiyaz Alibhai said while sentencing him in an Iqaluit courtroom.

Before reading out the sentence, Alibhai offered Dejaeger a chance to make a final statement.

About 20 people — including some surviving victims and their family members — looked on from the gallery as Dejaeger asked for forgiveness.

Some of the victims started crying.

“For what it’s worth, I am a changed person,” Dejaeger said, adding that in his time in prison he had time to reflect.

“And also, in the past 40 years I have not reoffended.”

Alibhai called a 15-minute recess to consider Dejaeger’s words.

After returning, he said…

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[Includes a brief video, also available on YouTube.]

A US-based watchdog launched a database on Wednesday, January 29, exposing dozens of Filipino clergymen accused of sex abuse. 

The database by BishopAccountability.org lists “82 priests and brothers with ties to the Philippines who have been publicly accused of sexually abusing minors.”

BishopAccountability.org is a research group founded in 2003 that maintains the largest online library of sex abuse cases involving Catholic priests. The database launched on Wednesday is the first publicly known list of Philippine-related cases. It is now available and accessible to the public.

The new database includes the following:

• “Filipino priests accused of sexually abusing minors in the Philippines” 
• “Filipino priests who served part of their priesthood in the Philippines but who are accused of sexually abusing minors while working in the US”
• “Accused clergy from other countries – specifically, the United States, Ireland, and Australia – who served part…

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A U.S. watchdog website has reportedly launched a database on all the Philippines-based catholic priests who have been accused of sexual abuse of minors. The Associated Press reported that the site was launched on Wednesday and contains more than 80 Roman Catholic priests.

The site alleged that the silence from the Filipino bishops regarding the crimes was tantamount to a coverup. The Philippines is reported to be the third-largest Roman Catholic nation in the world and public discussion about the sexual abuse allegations has generally been silent.

It was reported that none of the 82 accused priests — which includes seven bishops — have ever been convicted by a court of law. The database, which is called BishopAccountablity.org, provides the searcher with everything from the face of the accused to past churches.

The site also features several accounts of survivors and a list of U.S.-based priests who were accused of the…

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[Includes two videos: one of Anne Barrett Doyle of BishopAccountability.org; and the other of Anne with Suzy Nauman of BishopAccountability.org, Tim Law of Ending Clergy Abuse (ECA), and Gemma Hickey (ECA) responding to a question about the Catholic church as an institution and a person’s faith in God and practice as a Catholic. These videos are also available on YouTube 1 2.]

Sexual abuse cases ‘deeply wound’ the community and ’cause irreparable damage to the lives of the victims,’ says Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma

Cebu City, Philippines – At least 10 priests with ties to Cebu have been publicly accused of sexually abusing minors, according to an online database that tracks cases of abuse by Catholic clergy.

Such cases of sexual abuse “deeply wound the very fabric of our faith life and community and cause irreparable damage to the lives of the victims,” Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma said…

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The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of  Cebu has acknowledged that sexual abuse committed by members of the clergy has life-long impact to the victims. 

“We acknowledge as an Archdiocese that sexual abuse of priests involving minors deeply wound the very fabric of our faith life and community and cause irreparable damage to the lives of the victims that can scar them for life. As we continue to confront these painful realities, we continue to invite the faithful to accompany ministers with prayers and to help in the vigilance of creating and fostering safe spaces in the Church most especially for the most vulnerable of her members,” according to the Archdiocese, in a message signed by Archbishop Jose Palma on Thursday, January 30, 2025. 

In a report of GMA Integrated News, a US-based watchdog and research group on January 29, 2025 launched an online database identifying 82 Catholic clergymen who have been…

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The names of at least 10 priests assigned in Cebu, both past and present, appeared in the latest database of clerics accused of sexual abuse.

Nonprofit organization BishopAccountability released its Philippine database of priests on Wednesday, January 29. The list includes both living and deceased clergy linked to allegations of sexual abuse—ranging from rape to acts of lasciviousness.

The group identified a total of 82 priests and brothers in the country, including foreign priests assigned here, who have been publicly accused of sexually abusing minors.

Of this number, 10 have served in the ‘Cebu archdiocese’, and at least three remain in active ministry, according to BishopAccountability.

They are Fathers Jose “Joey” Belciña, Benedicto “Ben” Ejares, and Prudencio Operiano.

The Archdiocese of Cebu confirmed the findings. However, Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma assured Catholics that the three active priests had undergone due process before returning to service.

“On this note, we attest…

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The Archdiocese of Cebu and the Diocese of San Carlos in the central Philippines have broken their silence on allegations of clergy sexual abuse, reaffirming their commitment to transparency, justice, and the protection of minors and vulnerable individuals.

The decision came after BishopAccountability.org, a U.S.-based research group, released an online database detailing allegations of child sexual abuse against 82 Catholic clergymen linked to the Philippines.

In separate statements on Jan. 30, Archbishop José S. Palma of Cebu and Bishop Gerardo Alminaza of San Carlos addressed the allegations, clarifying the status of the priests named in the database and reaffirming their commitment to transparency, due process, and the protection of victims.

Both prelates vowed to protect and support survivors of clergy abuses while fostering justice and accountability.

Gravity of sexual abuse cases

Archbishop Palma acknowledged the gravity of sexual abuse cases involving priests, saying that such offenses “deeply wound the very fabric…

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At least 82 priests and religious brothers associated with the Philippines have publicly accused of sexual abuse with minors, according to a new data provided by BishopAccountability.org, a leading anti-abuse organization.

The database now on their website includes Filipino priests accused of sexually abusing minors in the Philippines, Filipino priests who served part of their priesthood in the Philippines but who are accused of sexually abusing minors while working in the U.S., and accused clergy from other countries – specifically, the United States, Ireland, and Australia – who served part of their priesthood in the Philippines.

At least seven of the accused priests continue to serve in parishes across the Asian island nation, some as recently as last month, according to Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org said on Wednesday.

She told journalists the Philippine bishops have a “deep sense of entitlement” in withholding information on the abuse of priests…

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John Perumbalath, Bishop of Liverpool, has been accused of sexually harassing two female clerics, including one of the Church of England’s bishops, according to a Channel 4 News report released January 28. He denies the allegations.

Stephen Cottrell, Archbishop of York and the Church of England’s acting primate, is accused by his critics of a coverup, because he reportedly knew of allegations against Perumbalath, a former protégé, before he was enthroned in Liverpool. With the primate position in the Church of England currently vacant, Cottrell has been performing those duties as the most senior bishop.

Last month, Cottrell faced calls for his resignation after a BBC Radio 4 report criticized him for failing to remove serial abuser David Tudor from ministry. Cottrell served as Bishop of Chelmsford from 2010 to 2020, before his translation to York.

“It could well be another example of a church coverup,”…

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[Includes a two-minute video of clips from press conference. The video is also available on YouTube.]

Philippine priests accused of sex abuse remain in active ministry in the Catholic-majority country, a US-based abuse tracking group said on Jan. 29, 2025, urging the country’s bishops to take action and hold the alleged perpetrators accountable. BishopAccountability.org, which tracks abuse in the Catholic Church, said 82 priests and brothers from the Philippines and some who served in the country for a period in their lives had been accused of sex abuse. At least seven of the accused priests continue to serve in parishes across the archipelago, some as recently as last month, the group’s co-director Anne Barrett Doyle said at a news conference. Philippine bishops have a ‘deep sense of entitlement’ in withholding information on the abuse of priests in their diocese, said Barrett Doyle who also urged the government to prosecute…

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Malaybalay City — The US-based BishopAccountability.org has published the names of 82 priests and brothers—including nine who had been assigned in Mindanao, a bishop among them—with ties to the Philippines who have been publicly accused of abusing minors.

The abuse tracking group said that little has been done to hold to account Filipino priests who have been accused of sexually abusing minors in the Philippines, Filipino priests who served in the Philippines but who are accused of the same crime while working in the US, and foreign priests who served part of their ministry in the Philippines.

Of those who had been assigned to various dioceses in Mindanao, seven were accused of abusing minors outside the Philippines, the US in particular. The database includes the late Bishop Dinualdo D. Gutierrez of the Diocese of Marbel.

Gutierrez, Bishop of Marbel from 1982-2018 and who died in 2019, was  View Cache

U.S.-based abuse watchdog BishopAccountability.org during a Jan. 29 press conference held in Manila, Philippines, identified 82 priests and brothers with ties to the Philippines who have been publicly accused of abusing minors.

The U.S. group’s co-director, Anne Barrett Doyle, launched the online database in the Philippines, the world’s third-largest Catholic country, on Wednesday, urging the country’s bishops to take action against those accused of sex abuse.

“Philippine bishops feel entitled to their silence. They feel entitled to withhold information about sexual violence toward minors. They feel entitled to defend accused priests,” Doyle said at the press conference.

“What we hope to achieve is to raise awareness,” she said. “Secrecy only benefits the perpetrators. Secrecy equals complicity.”

The database — which collects data from news reports, publicly filed court documents, Church announcements, and other public sources — includes details of Filipino priests accused of sexually abusing minors in the Philippines; Filipino…

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In short:

The former Bishop of Broome Christopher Saunders is facing six new charges, including sexual penetration of a child under the age of 13.

The 75-year-old was arrested in Western Australia’s north on January 26 and is now facing a total of 39 charges.

What’s next?

Mr Saunders is due to appear in Broome Magistrates Court on Monday, February 3

—

A former high-ranking catholic Bishop in Western Australia’s north is facing six new criminal charges, including the alleged rape of a boy under the age of 13.

Christopher Alan Saunders, 75, was arrested by detectives from the child abuse squad on Sunday and charged with sexual penetration of a child under the age of 13, three counts of indecent dealings with a child under 13 years old and two counts of common assault.

Police said the alleged offences occurred in 2009 and 2010 in Broome.

The latest arrest…

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Philippine priests accused of sex abuse remain in active ministry in the Catholic-majority country, a U.S.-based abuse tracking group said on Wednesday, urging the country’s bishops to take action and hold the alleged perpetrators accountable.

BishopAccountability.org, which tracks abuse in the Catholic Church, said 82 priests and brothers from the Philippines and some who served in the country for a period in their lives had been accused of sex abuse.

At least seven of the accused priests continue to serve in parishes across the archipelago, some as recently as last month, the group’s co-director Anne Barrett Doyle said in a press conference on Wednesday.

Philippine bishops have a “deep sense of entitlement” in withholding information on the abuse of priests in their diocese, she said.

“These are men who fear nothing”.

Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David, president of the Philippine bishops conference, the Church’s top policy body, said in a statement…

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A US-based watchdog and research group on Wednesday launched an online database identifying 82 Catholic clergymen who have been accused of the sexual abuse of minors in cases relating to the Philippines.

BishopAccountability.org, which focuses on alleged sexual abuses within the Catholic Church, said that these cases, which date back decades, involve:

• Filipino priests accused of sexually abusing minors in the Philippines
• Filipino priests who served part of their priesthood in the Philippines but who are accused of sexually abusing minors while working in the US, and
• priests from other countries—specifically from the US, Ireland, and Australia—who served part of their priesthood in the Philippines.

Of the 82 clergymen, 34 (Filipino and foreign) were accused of child sexual abuse in the Philippines. The remaining 48 clergymen (Filipino and foreign) were accused of child sexual abuse in other countries like the US, Ireland, and Australia but have worked…

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A watchdog group, Bishop Accountability, said it had found scores of clerics with ties to the country who have been publicly accused of sexual abuse. But very few have been disciplined.

A watchdog group on Wednesday accused the Catholic Church in the Philippines of a culture of impunity, saying it had found scores of priests who had been accused of sexually abusing children and that many remain in active ministry.

The group, Bishop Accountability, said it had identified 82 priests and brothers with links to the Philippines who had been accused of abuse in recent decades. It said it compiled the list from reputable media reports, court records, church documents and other public sources.

The men were local priests or those from abroad who were accused of abuse in the Philippines, or Filipino clerics who served at home before facing accusations overseas. But not one priest has been…

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A United States-based watchdog on Wednesday launched an online database on more than 80 Roman Catholic priests who have been accused of sexually abusing minors in the Philippines and said the silence of Filipino bishops on the crimes amounted to a cover-up.

The Philippines is the third-largest Roman Catholic nation in the world, and public discussions of sexual assaults by members of the clergy, who are revered especially in rural regions, has long been generally muted.

None of the 82 members of the clergy, including seven bishops, who have been included in the new online database on clergy sexual abuses by the group BishopAccountability.org had been convicted in any Philippine court.

The database featured their faces, names and details of their alleged sexual assaults on minors, some of which dated back more than two decades ago. The nonprofit said that it had also set up such online databases on Catholic clergy abuses…

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A United States-based watchdog, BishopAccountability.org, launched an online database on Wednesday detailing more than 80 Roman Catholic priests accused of sexually abusing minors in the Philippines.

The nonprofit organization accused Filipino bishops of covering up the crimes by remaining silent on the issue, which has been largely suppressed in the country, where Catholicism is deeply ingrained. The new database includes the names, faces, and details of the alleged assaults, some dating back over two decades.

Newsweek has reached out to the Vatican for comment via email.

Why It Matters

The creation of the database marks a significant step in confronting clergy sexual abuse in the Philippines, a country where Catholicism remains a dominant force. As the third-largest Catholic nation in the world, the Philippines has long struggled with public discussions surrounding sexual abuse within the clergy. The launch of the database shines a…

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84 priests including Filipinos and foreigners who worked in the country have sexually abused minors, says global aggregator

A Massachusetts-based abuse watchdog has released its first-ever database of priests accused of sexual abuse in the Philippines, listing 84 individuals and blaming the local bishops for attempting to cover up most cases.

The watchdog, bishop-accountability.org, released the database at a press conference in Manila on Jan. 29.

At least  34 priests on the list committed the crimes within the country. Others committed these crimes abroad but spent a portion of their priesthood in the Philippines, said the abuse tracker group.

The abuse aggregator site’s co-director Anne Barrett Doyle and database manager Suzy Naujan, who released the database, blamed the bishops for dampening these public scandals by initially suspending accused priests and later reinstating them to ministry.

“Seven priests accused of raping minors are back to full…

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Clergy sexual abuse survivors have fought to be heard for decades.

Then, they spent decades fighting for the right to use the civil courts to expose their abusers, get accountability for child sex crimes, and help ensure what happened to them doesn’t happen to another child.

But the Diocese of Oakland had other plans.

To stop childhood sexual abuse trials from moving forward, the Diocese of Oakland (like more than 40 other dioceses across the country) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May 2023, effectively stopping the civil legal proceedings that would have exposed child sex crimes and cover-ups across the East Bay.

Now, the survivors are fighting to be heard again, this time in federal bankruptcy court. That is no place where survivors should ever have to fight for justice.

Recently, 15 clergy sexual abuse survivors (from the more than 350 who have come forward to obtain justice in the…

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Proposed legislation looking to repeal clergy-penitent protections in at least two states is in a head-on collision with the church’s primary legal code, one expert told OSV News.

Montana and Washington are among the states seeking to compel clergy to disclose abuse revealed to them in the context of the sacrament of reconciliation or similar confidential pastoral settings in other faith traditions.

Earlier in January, Washington state Sen. Noel Frame introduced a third bill to mandate clergy to report abuse revealed under the seal of confession or in pastoral counseling. Two previous bills sponsored by state lawmakers failed; the latest would mandate clergy who receive information about abuse in confession to report it to authorities, but would allow them to abstain from testifying in court cases or criminal proceedings.

On Jan. 14, Montana state Sen. Mary Dunwell introduced SB 139, which seeks to strike an existing provision that does not…

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Maine’s highest court on Tuesday ruled against a law that removed the statute of limitations for civil claims about child sexual abuse.

Lawmakers in the state approved the law in 2021, and it was later challenged by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland. The diocese has received many lawsuits alleging long-ago abuse by priests.

Lawyers for the diocese told the Maine Supreme Judicial Court during arguments that they felt the removal of time limits was unconstitutional. An attorney representing plaintiffs defended the law as a way to prevent past abuses from being swept away.

The court, in a lengthy ruling, stated that once a statute of limitations has expired for a claim “a right to be free of that claim has vested, and the claim cannot be revived. That means the law ”is unconstitutional as applied to expired claims,” the court ruled. Two justices dissented.

It wasn’t immediately clear what would…

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New York Yankees legend Mariano Rivera and his wife, Clara Rivera, have been accused of failing to protect a young girl from alleged sexual abuse at a Christian summer camp connected to the Riveras’ church.

A recent lawsuit claims that both the couple and their church, which Clara Rivera founded in 2009, engaged in “negligent supervision” regarding the abuse.

In 2018, Clara Rivera, senior pastor at Refuge of Hope in New Rochelle, New York, encouraged the victim to attend a summer camp run by the Ignite Life Center in Gainesville, Florida, the suit stated. Clara and Mariano Rivera later flew to the camp to investigate worries from the girl’s mother about her daughter’s safety.

When the couple met with the girl, they “isolated and intimidated” her into remaining “silent about her negative experiences,” including the abuse, according to the lawsuit.

The Riveras deny any wrongdoing,…

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Boarding school can legally be held responsible for employees that sexually assaulted a minor boy in their care, who later committed suicide, Judge says.

A federal judge has rejected an attempt by a now-shuttered Christian boarding school to throw out a wrongful death lawsuit, which alleges that years of sexual and physical abuse as a minor caused a former student to commit suicide.

The former student, Jason Britt, took his own life in February 2022, at the age of 29, leaving a note behind that revealed abuse and mistreatment at the hands of Agape Boarding School for boys in Missouri when he was a teen. His mother filed the wrongful death lawsuit against Agape in October 2023.

However, Britt’s suicide note was far from the first time the school had been linked to child abuse allegations, which led to the school shutting down just a few months before…

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The accused was identified as Bittu; the minor girl’s mother, in her complaint, told the police that her daughter used to pay obeisance at the village temple every day

Jind police on Monday arrested a priest for raping a 14-year-old minor girl in a village in Jind.

The accused was identified as Bittu. The minor girl’s mother, in her complaint, told the police that her daughter used to pay obeisance at the village temple every day.

“Two months ago, the temple priest raped my daughter and made an obscene video. He threatened to make the video of the act viral and continued to rape her. Three days ago, the priest had sent a man on a bike to our house asking my daughter to visit the temple. The man threatened my daughter and took her to the temple,” the victim’s mother added.

She said she followed the bike and reached…

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Noted exorcist Fr. Carlos Martins pleaded not guilty Jan. 27 to charges of battery in relation to a November incident that occurred in the Diocese of Joliet, Illinois.

Stella Maris Media reports that Will County State Attorney General’s office charged Fr. Martins Jan. 22 with Class A battery, which carries a $100 fine. The charge comes after reports that Fr. Martins, who is a member of the Canadian religious order Companions of the Cross, touched a girl’s hair during a relic tour at the Queen of Apostles parish in the Diocese.

The charges add, however, that the “defendant knowingly without legal justification by any means made physical contact of an insulting or provoking nature with I.K., a minor, in that said defendant placed the hair of I.K. in his mouth.”

Stella Maris Media states that during police interviews in November, a male student who witnessed the incident stated that Fr. Martin…

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Father Joseph Reed was suspended back in December.

Officials with the Knox County Sheriff’s Office told WVLT News they ended its investigation into a Farragut priest.

Father Joseph Reed was placed on leave in December after being accused of violating boundaries within the Knoxville Diocese’s Safe Environment Policy.

Previous Coverage: Knoxville pastor on leave after ‘boundary violation’ accusations, diocese says

The diocese sent out a letter to the congregation when he was first placed on leave and said they reported the complaint to the state.

That started an investigation by the Knox County Sheriff’s Office and the Tennessee Department of Child Services.

KCSO officials said their investigation found the allegations unsubstantiated.

WVLT News reached out to DCS and the diocese but have not yet heard back.

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Rupnik, the sex-abusing artist-priest, was expelled from the Jesuit order in 2023 – for “disobedience” rather than for his alleged crimes, which had been declared beyond the statute of limitations – and was subsequently allowed to join a diocese in his native Slovenia and remain a priest in good standing. When people found out about that development there was massive outcry, and Pope Francis ordered Rupnik’s case to be reopened and re-examined. Still, the case languishes. The Vatican is forgetting that justice must not only be done but must also be seen to be done.

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The Revd Samuel Erlandson has appeared at Llandudno Magistrates Court and has admitted two charges of making indecent images of a child and and one charge of possession of an extreme pornographic image.

He was sentenced to 32 weeks in prison, suspended for 18 months.

He was also ordered to register with the police as a sex offender for 10 years and was made the subject of a ten-year sexual harm prevention order.

He was also ordered to carry out 160 hours unpaid work, and pay £272 in costs.

The Church in Wales is appalled and saddened that one of its clerics has committed such serious offences. Our prayers are with the victims in this case, and all victims of abuse.

The Church in Wales safeguarding team has worked closely with the police and the statutory authorities ever since these offences came to light. Immediately following his arrest, Mr Erlandson’s…

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The parents of four female high school students are suing an Indiana Catholic school, the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, and school employees they claim failed to notify police about pornography created by students that exploited their daughters. 

Local NBC affiliate WTHR reported that three male students at Bishop Luers High School in Fort Wayne searched online for explicit images and videos of girls and women who resembled several of their female classmates. They then created pornographic montages that superimposed their female classmates’ names over the explicit content. According to the Jan. 21 complaint, the male students used the names of 38 former and current female students, most of whom were minors at the time.

They then began selling and distributing the videos to other students at Bishop Luers and surrounding high schools. According to the complaint, the videos were also…

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A Catholic school in Southampton has said questions are ‘rightly being asked’ after a second former teacher was charged with sex offences this morning.

Edward George Waller, 65, had been working at St Anne’s Catholic School and Sixth Form College on Carlton Road since 2002.

Waller now faces a rape charge, two charges of abuse of a position of trust and causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity for incidents between 2004 and 2006.

It comes after former headteacher James Rouse has already been charged with child sex offences in December, and three former staff members remain under investigation.

The school has now issued a full statement, saying it understands the ‘severity of the charges’.

A spokesperson for St Anne’s Catholic School said: “While we do not know the full details of the allegations, there is no shying away from the severity of the charges.

“This is incredibly challenging news, and it…

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Edward George Waller, 65, of Winter Road, has been charged with one count of rape and two counts of abuse of trust: causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity. The charges are part of an investigation into allegations of child sexual abuse at St Anne’s Catholic School and Sixth Form College where Waller was a former teacher.

The alleged offences took place between 2004 and 2006 with Waller due to appear at Portsmouth Crown Court on Monday, February 10.

Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) have emphasised that the defendant has a right to a fair trial and are asking people not to comment and share information online which could “in any way prejudice these proceedings.”

A police spokesperson said: “We would encourage anyone who has been a victim of child sexual abuse to contact police on…

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Peruvian Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani, the first cardinal of Opus Dei, said Jan. 25 that abuse accusations made against him in a Spanish daily El País are “completely false,” while acknowledging he was sanctioned by the Vatican in the past and saying that the sanctions were lifted by Pope Francis.

On Jan. 26 Vatican’s spokesman Matteo Bruni said, however, that disciplinary sanctions are still in effect and relate to the cardinal’s “public activity, place of residence and use of insignia.”

“Although on specific occasions some permits were granted to meet requests due to the cardinal’s age and family situation, at present this precept appears to be still in effect,” Bruni confirmed in his statement to journalists.

The Jan. 25 statement of Cardinal Cipriani was issued immediately after El País published the story, in which the alleged victim claims that the cardinal abused him in 1983 when he was between 16…

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The Vatican contradicted Cardinal Cipriani’s claim that Pope Francis had eased the disciplinary measures against him, allowing him to resume his priestly ministry.

The first cardinal to belong to Opus Dei denied an allegation he abused a teenager in the sacrament of confession.

Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani, who was Archbishop of Lima from 1999 to 2019, said he had “never abused anyone” after the claim appeared in the Spanish daily El País.

It reported allegations Cipriani had abused the teenager at an Opus Dei centre in Peru in 1983. The 16-year-old’s mother had sent her son there after the death of his father, hoping Opus Dei would help him focus on his studies.

Lengthy confessions with Cipriani last 45 minutes. The alleged victim said he would weep when reproached for his sins by Cipriani, who would then give him long hugs, which made him “uncomfortable”, and caress him, touching him on…

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The Archdiocese of St. John’s is seeking to overturn a Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador decision that released Guardian Insurance from helping cover its settlement with clergy abuse survivors.

On Jan. 17, legal representatives for the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation of St. John’s (RCEC) filed documentation with the Court of Appeal of Newfoundland and Labrador to protest Justice Peter Brown’s Dec. 20 verdict.

Brown decreed that the RCEC failed to divulge instances of clerical sexual abuse upon applying for a policy with Guardian Insurance (acquired by Intact Financial Corporation in 2001) in 1980 and upon renewing the policy annually until 1985. This failure of disclosure quashed the contract.

This policy agreement, brokered by Marsh & McLennan Limited, that provided comprehensive general liability coverage had a $5 million limit from Oct. 1, 1980, to Oct. 1, 1982, and $10 million from Oct. 1, 1982, to Oct. 1, 1985.

RCEC solicitors…

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After Vatican restrictions emerged Saturday on a Peruvian cardinal’s ministry, the cardinal claimed they were lifted by Pope Francis, and that a 2018 allegation of sexual abuse against him was false.

But the Vatican said Sunday that that Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani remains subject to binding written restrictions on his ministry, with only a few exceptions given in limited circumstances.

The disagreement is likely to spur debate about the Vatican’s current and historical approach to sexual abuse allegations made against prominent bishops in the Church.

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Cipriani, the Archbishop of Lima from 1999 until 2019, said in a Jan. 25 statement that abuse allegations published the same day by Spain’s El País newspaper were “completely false.”

“I have never committed any crime, nor have I sexually abused anyone, neither in 1983, nor before, nor after,” wrote the 81-year-old cardinal.

Cipriani said the accusations against him were raised to the Vatican in 2018. The…

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Catholic America is reeling from the surprise of the new presidency’s political appointments at every level, which are decisively reshaping the political landscape.

One of the most unexpected developments has not come from the White House but from the Vatican: the retirement of Cardinal Wilton Gregory as Archbishop of Washington left a vacancy for Rome to fill following his resignation in 2022. This appointment has suddenly acquired political significance that eclipses accompanying pastoral and spiritual considerations.

According to the Catholic journal the Pillar, the papal nuncio to the United States, Cardinal Christophe Pierre, had already advised the Vatican that appointing Cardinal McElroy would be deeply polarising. He was not alone in holding this view.

Many conservative Catholics were alarmed and offended when McElroy was elevated to Cardinal over his archbishop, José Gómez, who, particularly as a Hispanic, would have seemed an obvious candidate for a “red hat.” His archdiocese, after all,…

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The director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, confirmed on Sunday the disciplinary measures that were taken in 2019 against Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani, archbishop emeritus of Lima, Peru, as a result of “the accusations [of sexual abuse] formulated against him.”

“I can confirm to you that as a result of the accusations made against him, and following the acceptance of his resignation as archbishop of Lima, a penal precept was imposed on the cardinal with certain disciplinary measures relating to his public activity, place of residence, and use of insignia, signed and accepted by His Eminence,” Bruni confirmed on Jan. 26 to ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner.

Bruni also said that “on specific occasions” he was granted “certain permissions to attend to requests due to the age and family situation of the cardinal.” In any case, the Holy See Press Office director made it clear that…

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Bishop Ivo Muser of Bolzano-Bressanone publicly apologized for mishandling priests accused of abuse during his tenure. His apology came after the publication of a groundbreaking report on sexual violence committed in his northern Italian diocese, notes Ludovica Eugenio, editor of the Italian weekly Adista. La Croix: An investigation in northern Italy by an independent firm uncovered around 60 cases of sexual assault committed by priests since 1964. What makes this report groundbreaking?

Ludovica Eugenio: This report is unprecedented for several reasons. First, the investigation was entrusted to an independent firm, and the bishop granted them access to all available diocesan archives—something the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI) has never requested dioceses to do. Until now, the CEI has refused to establish an independent commission to investigate the systemic causes of abuse.

Additionally, this report prioritizes listening to victims, treating them as partners, and respecting their legitimate right to the truth. Its title, The Courage…

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Under this year’s legislation, the mandate would cover disclosures made in confessional.

Two Democratic state lawmakers are trying again to require clergy members in Washington to report child abuse or neglect, including when it is disclosed to them by a congregant during confession.

Sen. Noel Frame, D-Seattle, and Rep. Amy Walen, D-Kirkland, introduced legislation to add clergy to the state’s roster of professions whose members must inform law enforcement if they believe a child has been harmed.

Frame’s Senate Bill 5375 will get its first hearing Tuesday afternoon in the Senate Human Services Committee.

This is the third straight session that the issue will be debated. Past efforts failed when the two legislative chambers disagreed on whether to protect what’s heard in confessions. Frame and Walen hope majorities in the House and Senate can agree this time.

“It’s been far too long that we’ve failed to close this…

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The Senate Human Services Committee invites public testimony on SB 5375, a bill aimed at removing the clergy-penitent reporting exemption

For the third consecutive year, the Senate Human Services Committee will hold a public hearing on SB 5375, a controversial bill that seeks to classify clergy as mandatory reporters of child abuse and neglect. The proposed legislation would also eliminate the clergy-penitent privilege, which currently exempts clergy members from reporting suspected child abuse to authorities. The hearing is scheduled for Jan. 28 at 1:30 PM PST in SHR 4 and virtually.

If passed, SB 5375 would align Washington with six other states—New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Texas, and West Virginia—that mandate clergy to report knowledge of child abuse, including information disclosed during private religious rites like confession. Washington is one of only five states where clergy are not required to report child abuse under any circumstances.

For the past three years, the Catholic Church and Catholic state lawmakers have fiercely…

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State senators in Olympia, Wash., on Monday were set to consider legislation that would require clergy to report instances of child abuse and neglect. The requirement would include admissions of child abuse made during confession. Senators are scheduled to hold a public hearing about the legislation on Tuesday, said the Catholic Accountability Project, known as CAP.

Has this bill been proposed before? Similar bills have been brought up for consideration for three consecutive years, CAP said. Each time, the Catholic church and its clergy have opposed the legislation, the advocacy group said. For months, Washington’s attorney general has been investigating the Catholic church for child abuse and institutional concealment, CAP said. The Archdiocese of Seattle has also refused to hand over documents pertaining to instances of child abuse within the church.

Have other states passed similar legislation? If the state’s legislature passes the bill and Gov. Bob Ferguson…

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The first online database of Catholic clergy in and from the Philippines who are publicly accused of sexually abusing children will be launched Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025, in Quezon City, Metro Manila.

The Philippine database provides detailed summaries and hundreds of online sources about public allegations against around 75 priests and brothers. Most are Philippine clerics who allegedly abused children in the Philippines or the United States. The list also includes accused American priests who are working or have worked in active ministry in the Philippines.

The new resource was created by BishopAccountability.org, a respected research organization founded in 2003 and based in the US.

Our findings raise sobering questions about the Philippine hierarchy’s commitment to protecting children. We found that despite countless pledges to support victims and protect children, Philippine bishops still side with accused clergy and consistently withhold information about crimes from the public.

We will highlight five…

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Father Joseph Reed was placed on leave after a complaint of “boundary violations.”

A priest at St. John Neumann Catholic Church and School, who was placed on administrative leave, has now been cleared of allegations by the Knox County Sheriff’s Office.

Father Joseph Reed was placed on leave after a complaint of “boundary violations” was brought to the attention of the Diocese of Knoxville. The diocese had reported the complaint to state authorities and informed Reed of the situation.

KCSO told 10News its investigation is closed and the allegations were unsubstantiated.

Previously, both KCSO, the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services and the diocese had confirmed they had opened investigations related to the case.

The diocese had taken precautionary measures, removing Fr. Reed from his pastoral responsibilities during the investigation, emphasizing their primary concern for protecting those in their care and ensuring a fair review of the allegations.

…

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CARDINAL Christoph Schönborn, O.P., a prominent Dominican who served as principal editor of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, has stepped down from his post as archbishop of Vienna, Austria after almost three decades of service.

Pope Francis accepted the resignation on Schönborn’s 80th birthday on Jan. 22.

The Austrian prelate had long been considered papabile or a papal contender for his theological expertise. He worked closely with the late Pope Benedict XVI in editing the Catechism for over six years until it was published in 1992.

Three years after the Catechism’s publication, he became archbishop of Vienna. Schönborn replaced Cardinal Hans Groër, who resigned following accusation of sexual abuse.

Schönborn was a known critic of the Vatican during the time for its attempts to cover up sexual abuses committed by some priests. 

Schönborn became a key ally at the start of Pope Francis’ pontificate, having supported the latter’s views on highly…

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SHU President Monsignor Joseph Reilly was not accused of abuse, but an internal investigation concluded he knew of sexual abuse allegations on campus and did not report them, according to documents reviewed by POLITICO.

POLITICO is reporting that Seton Hall University’s Board of Regents sent out a university-wide email on Thursday January 23, 2025, “vigorously defending” its new president after the news organization reported in December that he had been implicated in an internal report on sexual abuse.

Politico’s initial report, “He knew of sex abuse allegations on campus. Now he’s university president,” was about an internal investigation that implicated Seton Hall President Monsignor Joseph Reilly in the sex abuse scandal of defrocked Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, concluding Reilly knew of sexual abuse allegations on campus but did not report them.

That initial POLITICO report, which was published about six weeks after Reilly’s investiture as university president, prompted some state lawmakers…

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Legal Bay, the premier presettlement funding company, reports a newly-filed lawsuit against celebrated Yankees-closing-pitcher-turned-church-pastor Mariano Rivera and his wife Clara. The suit filed in the Supreme Court of Westchester County claims that the couple attempted to conceal the sexual abuse of one of their young parishioners. The abuse allegedly took place in their church, Refuge of Hope, and also within the Rivera home itself. The lawsuit claims that as lead pastor, Rivera had a responsibility to protect the young girl who was being abused.

The victim was allegedly molested by another minor-aged girl during a 2018 summer internship at Ignite Life Center in Florida, a trip that was organized by Clara Rivera via Refuge of Hope. Purportedly, both Riveras became aware of the sexual abuse during a visit to the camp, and rather than take action to prevent or report it, they instead pressured the girl to keep quiet. After she returned home from the internship trip, the girl was abused again by the…

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Peruvian Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani, the first cardinal of Opus Dei, said Jan. 25 that abuse accusations made against him in a Spanish daily El País are “completely false,” while acknowledging he was sanctioned by the Vatican in the past and saying that the sanctions were lifted by Pope Francis. 

On Jan. 26 Vatican’s spokesman Matteo Bruni said, however, that disciplinary sanctions are still in effect and relate to the cardinal’s “public activity, place of residence and use of insignia.” 

“Although on specific occasions some permits were granted to meet requests due to the cardinal’s age and family situation, at present this precept appears to be still in effect,” Bruni confirmed in his statement to journalists. 

The Jan. 25 statement of Cardinal Cipriani was issued immediately after El País published the story, in which the alleged victim claims that the cardinal abused him in 1983 when he was between 16…

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As the Conference of Catholic Bishops tries to raise his voice against Trump’s policies, their record on abuse comes to bite them back. J.D. Vance attacked a statement from the U.S. Catholic bishops as Trump did it with Episcopal bishop Budde’s plea.

Vatican News confirms the news about Pope Francis sending Peruvian Cardinal Cipriani into “exile” as “punishment” for the sexual abuse of a minor.

The Spanish-speaking world has been on alert since Monday when Donald Trump went back to the White House. With the relative exception of Spain, Uruguay, and Puerto Rico, the rest of the Spanish-speaking countries are all at some risk because of Trump’s migration or trade policies.

To make matters worse, Trump’s surrogates are using the clergy sexual abuse crisis, the deep distrust that it has created even among the most faithful Roman Catholics, to their benefit.

On Sunday morning, as the rituals of the U.S. political life dictate,…

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Peruvian Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani has denied a report that alleges he sexually abused a minor in the 1980s, calling the accusations false, but acknowledged that restrictions were placed on his ministry.

On Saturday, Jan. 25, the influential Spanish newspaper El Pais published an article titled, “The first cardinal of Opus Dei, archbishop of Lima, was removed by the pope in 2019 after accusations of pedophilia.”

The article contains allegations from an individual who chose to remain anonymous who claims that in 1983, between 16-17 years of age, he was sexually assaulted by Cipriani in the confessional and remained silent for years before finally deciding to make a complaint to the pope in 2018.

It also states that a previous complaint made against Cipriani to the Vatican in 2002 apparently came to nothing, while the 2018 complaint resulted in Cipriani’s prompt retirement in January 2019, shortly after reaching the mandatory retirement age…

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