ABUSE TRACKER

Victims upset that the franchise helped Catholic officials

They charge that the Saints’ conduct was detrimental to survivors

The nation’s leading support group for clergy sexual abuse victims says that top officials with the New Orleans Saints flaunted National Football League (NFL) goals by working with Catholic officials to hide predators, thus endangering children and further wounding abuse victims. SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) wants the NFL to open an investigation into the Saint’s actions.

The Saints are accused of colluding with the Archdiocese of New Orleans to modify the Archbishop’s list of abusers, pressure elected officials to turn a blind eye to the scandal, and to influence public opinion by putting pressure on media outlets to curtail their coverage. Drawn into this web of deceit are judges, lawyers and the ultra-rich. SNAP issued an earlier statement on the recent revelations…

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Four individuals have filed lawsuits against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, alleging they endured sexual abuse and harassment by church officials between 1960 and 1980. 

The defendants were between the ages of 10 and 14 at the time of the alleged assaults. 

“The suit alleges that the Diocese had full knowledge that numerous priests in positions of trust were grooming and sexually abusing children and not only did nothing about it [but] intentionally concealed it,” stated the Clarkson Law Firm. 

The four individuals, who are now adults, were able to file lawsuits against the Diocese under the updated Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Act. The act opened a two-year window for victims to file civil suits against assailants and institutions that enabled sexual abuse, with no statute of limitations. The window to file similar cases closes on Feb. 28, 2025, after which a 9-year statute of limitations will apply.

Kristin Burnett, a…

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Lex Garcia says she was raped for two years by her teacher at a Rio Rancho high school.

During a time when she said she should have been preoccupied with the normal worries of a teenager, Garcia said she was instead embroiled in a manipulative relationship with her instructor, with whom she worked as a lab assistant.

It took 15 years for Garcia to acknowledge to herself she had been sexually exploited, and even longer “to admit it to anyone that could help me.” That time, the now-33-year-old said, far exceeded the timeline currently allotted by law for victims to come forward to make a civil claim, a problem Garcia said would be addressed by a bill on lawmakers’ table to eliminate the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse.

“Trauma is not tied to a [timed] clock,” Garcia told lawmakers of the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee on…

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Father Carlos Martins, a known exorcist and co-host of “The Exorcist Files” podcast, pleaded not guilty Jan. 27 in an Illinois court to a misdemeanor charge of battery over an alleged incident that took place during a national relic tour.

The Will County state’s attorney’s office filed the charge Jan. 23 after Joliet, Illinois, police investigated an alleged incident that involved students. It was reported by priests at a local parish Father Martins was visiting in November while touring the country with a relic of St. Jude.

The criminal charge obtained by OSV News and filed by the state’s attorney’s office accuses the priest of “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.”

The charge is a class A misdemeanor in the state of Illinois and…

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[See also the decision of the Maryland Supreme Court.]

Three separate cases asked the court to void the law, saying it illegally removed a statute of limitations for filing lawsuits

A 2023 state law that lifted a 20-year statute of limitations on lawsuits against public and private entities involved in incidents of sexual abuse, essentially allowing victims to file suit at any time, is constitutional.

The Supreme Court of Maryland, in a narrow 4-3 decision Monday, ruled that the legislature was within its power when it passed the Child Victims Act of 2023. The law, signed by Gov. Wes Moore (D) in 2023 opened the door to claims against private entities — most notably the Archdiocese of Baltimore — and state government agencies.

Defendants in three cases — the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, The Key School and the Board of Education of Harford County — argued the 2023 law…

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[See also the decision of the Maryland Supreme Court.]

The Supreme Court of Maryland ruled Feb. 3 that the Child Victims Act passed by the General Assembly in 2023 is constitutional. The CVA removed any statute of limitations for civil suits involving child sexual abuse. 

The law repealed a statute of repose that had been established in a 2017 law. Some institutions that had been sued after the CVA was enacted contested the constitutionality of the 2023 law on the basis that a statute of repose cannot be changed retroactively.

The justices ruled 4-3 that the state Legislature actually meant to extend the statute of limitations in the 2017 law, rather than establish a statute of repose, even though the term “statute of repose” was used numerous times in the 2017 bill.

The 2017 bill extended from age 25 to age 38 the time when victim-survivors of child sexual abuse…

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The Maryland Supreme Court, in a 4-3 ruling, has upheld the Child Victims Act as constitutional.

The Child Victims Act (CVA) enacted in 2023 eliminates restrictions put in place in 2017 that had prevented many adult victims of child sexual abuse from suing.

After the CVA went into effect on October 1, 2023, numerous adult plaintiffs filed child sexual abuse claims in state and federal courts in Maryland. Their claims of having been victims of sex abuse when they were minors had been time-barred before October 1, 2023.

The high court addressed three cases where lower courts had dismissed constitutional challenges to the CVA by institutions being sued for alleged child sexual abuse. The challenges were brought by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. which includes five counties in Maryland; The Key School, Inc., a private school in Annapolis; and the Harford County board of education.

The parties agreed…

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[See also the decision of the Maryland Supreme Court.]

The Maryland Supreme Court ruled Monday that the Child Victims Act is constitutional, notching a huge victory for survivors of childhood sexual assault.

The ruling allows thousands of civil court cases filed against individuals and institutions to continue after being put on hold for more than a year.

“This is a historic victory for survivors to affirm their right to have their voices heard in court,” said Robert Jenner, a managing partner at Jenner Law, who represents victims. “It sends a strong message to institutions that they can no longer rely on procedural loopholes to escape accountability.”

The Child Victims Act allows survivors of childhood abuse to sue their alleged abusers at any time after an incident. Previously there was a time limit for those who wanted to sue.

“My journey began in 2002 when what happened to…

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[See also the decision of the Maryland Supreme Court.]

Maryland’s high court this week upheld a sweeping state law that lifts the deadline for survivors of childhood sexual abuse to sue the institutions that enabled their harm.

With a 4-3 vote, the justices deemed constitutional the Child Victims Act, clearing one last obstacle for adult survivors to take their claims to the courts. The ruling has implications for churches, schools and government agencies. Survivors and plaintiffs’ attorneys were celebrating the decision on Tuesday. Here’s what you need to know.

Decision examined a word: ‘repose’

Maryland law has long had a statute of limitations that set a deadline for adults to sue institutions over the abuse they suffered as children. Lawmakers extended that deadline in 2017 and added seemingly innocuous language to the law: “statute of repose.” This was an obscure legal principle that had otherwise been…

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[See also the decision of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.]

Exceptions must be made for organizational cover-ups of abuse and for survivors facing threats of retaliation.

With respect to the Jan. 29 article “Maine supreme court rules 2021 child sex abuse law is unconstitutional,” I am glad to have received a factual, detailed and timely representation on the crucial issue of filing lawsuits against sex abusers in Maine. After reading, I find myself concerned with the Maine Supreme Judicial Court’s decision to reinstate the statute of limitations on child sex abuse.

Maine Supreme Judicial Court rulings are important to the people of Maine. The decisions made by our judicial leaders can affect the everyday lives of ourselves and our community members, depict the overall attitudes held by our governing bodies and allow us to make predictions of what may be to come.

In particular, statutes of limitations surrounding sex…

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[See also the decision of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.]

Maine Supreme Judicial Court’s decision to reinstate the statute of limitations on child sex abuse

“I remember details,” Frank said, flipping through old photographs of his younger self.

But at his home in Augusta, he tells us that for most of his life, he’s been trying to forget.

“I lost my soul—I lost my morals—I didn’t care anymore,” he said.

So, filing a lawsuit against the Special Olympics of Maine was a difficult decision.

That decision reignited memories that still physically shook him to his core.

The lawsuit alleges that Melvin “Mickey” Boutilier, the founder of Special Olympics Maine, started abusing Frank when he was a child in the 1960s and continued for decades while he worked for the program.

“I never want Special Olympics to be hurt by this,” Frank said. “Please, anyone who watches this—the program itself…

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The Archdiocese of Luxembourg announced the end of its collaboration with the Verbum Spei fraternity, which had been established there since 2016. The reason: a relationship between a priest and a student, revealing the persistence of a system of control and concealment within this dissident community of the Brothers of Saint John.

“An ongoing attachment (…) to the person and teachings of Father Marie-Dominique Philippe.” This was one of the reasons cited by the Archdiocese of Luxembourg in a statement January 31 announcing the immediate termination of its collaboration with the Verbum Spei fraternity.

Originating from dissidents of the Brothers of Saint John

Verbum Spei, which is mostly composed of French members but almost unknown in France, was founded in 2012 in Mexico by dissidents from the Saint John community who sought to remain faithful to its founder, Dominican Father Marie-Dominique Philippe (1912–2006). Philippe, however, had been severely criticized for his…

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[See also the transcript of Judge Warshaw’s decision.]

The Catholic Diocese of Camden challenged use of a special grand jury for the investigation

New details have emerged about secretive court proceedings that have allowed the Catholic Church to delay a state investigation into sex abuse allegations.

The Catholic Diocese of Camden was able to shut down part of the investigation at a secret court hearing roughly two years ago, according to court documents first obtained by NorthJersey.com.

The diocese challenged the state’s authority to use a special grand jury for the investigation, which was supposed to end with an extensive report detailing individual abusers, their actions and any broader cover-up by the church. A judge sided with the diocese and agreed to seal the ruling at the request of the church, writing that special grand juries investigate public officials or government agencies, not private institutions like churches.

…

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A former priest who is currently in prison for historic sex abuse is listed to appear in court again today (Thursday)  facing 16 similar allegations.  

Dennis Finbow, 76, of HMP Bure in Norwich, faces charges of indecent assault on girls and boys as young as eight years old in the 1980s.  

Eight charges are for indecent assault on a girl under the age of 14; three are for indecent assault on a girl under the age of 16; and five for an indecent assault on a boy.

Fourteen incidents are alleged to have happened in Peterborough, one in St Neots and one in Windsor, Berkshire. 

Finbow, who previously served in the parishes of Peterborough and St Neots, is listed to appear at Cambridge Magistrates’ Court this afternoon. 

In December, he had his clerical status and rights removed by His Holiness Pope Francis. 

Finbow was handed a prison sentence of six…

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The rule of law must prevail so that the child victims can have justice, freedom, and a good happy life

Philippine Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David has reacted to the allegations by a US-based non-government organization that researches and documents clergy that are credibly accused, charged, and convicted of child sexual abuse internationally.

His words are very welcome to defenders of child rights who campaign for justice for victims of child exploitation and abuse.

It is the first time that we have heard a Philippine cardinal encourage the laity to assist child victims in filing criminal charges in civil courts against abusive priests.

David, who is the bishop of Kalookan and now president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), is a human rights defender who stood up against former president Rodrigo Duterte in defense of victims of summary executions and their families.

Now, he…

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Spokane Bishop Thomas Daly is urging Catholic voters in Washington state to oppose a proposed law that would order priests to violate the seal of confession in cases where child abuse is revealed during the sacrament. 

The bill, proposed in both houses of the state Legislature, would amend state law to require clergy to report instances of child abuse with no exemption for instances where the abuse is learned during the sacrament of penance. 

A 2023 version of the proposal offered an exemption for abuse allegations learned “solely as a result of a confession.” The latest bill does not contain such a carve-out.

State Sen. Noel Frame, D-Seattle, told the Washington State Standard that the proposal was “a hard subject for many of my colleagues, especially those with deep religious views.”

“I also know far too many children have been victims of abuse —…

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In a blow for clergy sex abuse victims, the New Jersey State Supreme Court has ruled that a Catholic archdiocese’s accountability for an alleged predatory priest does not cross state lines.

The decision arose from the case of an Illinois man who accused Michael J. McCarthy, a priest in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia from 1965 until he was defrocked in 2006, of molesting him during an overnight stay in Margate in 1971, when he was 14 and a member of McCarthy’s parish.

The man, identified only as D.T. in court paperwork, sued the archdiocese in May 2020 in New Jersey, one year after state legislators here enacted the New Jersey Child Victims Act.

That law created a two-year window, from 2019 to 2021, to allow people to revive previously time-barred civil claims arising from childhood sexual abuse. Thereafter, under the law, victims can sue for childhood abuse before…

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The archbishop of New Orleans’ Catholic Church denies he ousted top leadership at a church-affiliated food bank in Louisiana for refusing to redirect millions of dollars to support clergy sexual abuse settlements, according to a video statement he published this week.

Two fired board members have issued statements saying they were removed last week by Archbishop Gregory Aymond of the Archdiocese of New Orleans after resisting pressure to channel as much as $16 million to support the church’s long-running bankruptcy negotiations with hundreds of sexual abuse survivors.

The Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater New Orleans and Acadiana says that it provides upwards of 39 million pounds of food and groceries to hundreds of thousands of families across South Louisiana annually.

CEO Natalie Jayroe, who led the organization for 19 years before being fired, “resolutely refused to reallocate donor funds that are solely intended to help alleviate hunger and food insecurity in…

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[See also the transcript of Judge Warshaw’s decision.]

It was a court fight waged quietly behind closed doors for more than six years.

Motions were argued before a judge in Trenton and filed under seal. An appellate panel reaffirmed the lower court decision, that record was hidden as well from the public. Now the Supreme Court has it.

At stake could be some of the darkest secrets of the Catholic Church.

But a series of cryptic court filings that have tracked the case docket over time, along with what had been a sealed transcript first reported Wednesday by NorthJersey.com, tell a story that no one — not the lawyers involved, the prosecutors, nor those directly affected by what may yet be decided — was ever allowed to talk about.

It’s the story of a prolonged fight by a diocese to stop the state’s effort to…

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[See also the transcript of Judge Warshaw’s decision.]

When New Jersey’s attorney general announced an investigation into decades of alleged sexual abuse by Catholic clergy, survivors in the state hoped they would finally see the public reckoning they had long sought.

Nearly seven years have passed since then, but there’s been little sign the Attorney General’s Office is close to finishing the probe. The agency has been tight-lipped about its progress, if any, despite receiving hundreds of tips from alleged victims.

Court documents obtained by The Record and NorthJersey.com offer one explanation for the delay: One of New Jersey’s five Catholic dioceses succeeded in quashing a key part of the investigation at a secret hearing almost two years ago.

Those documents, which have not been publicly reported before, show that the Diocese of Camden challenged the state’s authority to empanel a special grand jury to lead the…

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An international online database of clergy who face allegations or have been convicted of child sexual abuse launched its Philippine listing Jan. 29, drawing a sharp response from the Philippine bishops’ conference, which reiterated the need for efforts to hold the church accountable for abuse.

The BishopAccountability.org’s new listing names 82 priests and bishops who are either Philippine nationals or foreign nationals and have faced or are facing allegations either in the Philippines or the United States, and sometimes in both countries. The listing of each accused individual is based on a compilation of media reports, court documents and/or statements from dioceses and religious orders.

Anne Barrett Doyle, a director of BishopAccountability, pointed out that there have been no

convictions among the clergy who had substantiated allegations against them. While attending a conference hosted by Ending Clergy Abuse, an international network of clergy abuse survivors’ groups in Quezon City in…

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The Anglican Church leadership in South Africa has admitted to failing to disclose sexual abuse allegations against its former member John Smyth, who mistreated children in the 1970s and 1980s in the U.K. and Zimbabwe before fleeing to South Africa, where he died in 2018.

In November, an independent review found the Church of England covered up “horrific” abuse by Smyth, who volunteered at Christian summer camps in the 1970s and 1980s.

A South African panel, headed by a retired judge, released its own report Tuesday in which it said the Anglican Church should have reported Smyth, even though there was no evidence that he had committed similar abuses in the country. Nevertheless, the risk that he would reoffend was high, the panel found.

Smyth fled to South Africa in 2001, where he worked in parishes until 2014.

The head of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa said the report found that…

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Maryland’s Supreme Court on Monday upheld the constitutionality of a state law that ended the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse lawsuits following a report that exposed widespread wrongdoing within the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

The court upheld the 2023 law in a 4-3 ruling, saying the Maryland General Assembly had the authority to change the law as it did, after hearing arguments in September.

Opposition over the law’s constitutionality focused on an earlier 2017 law that established a cutoff age of 38 for victims to sue. The justices considered whether it was written in a way that permanently protected certain defendants from liability. The court concluded that the Maryland Legislature has the power to change such a statute, which it did in passing the 2023 law.

In the court’s majority ruling, written by Maryland Chief Justice Matthew Fader, justices decided that the relevant portion of the 2017 law created a…

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When Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby resigned in November over his failure to report a serial child abuser in his own denomination, the drastic step, it was thought, would preserve the Church of England’s ability to discipline its clergy in other cases of abuse — and its moral authority overall.

Before Welby could leave office, however, the bishop of York, who was to run the Church of England in the interim, was hit with questions about his own management of abuse, and on Jan. 28, the bishop of Liverpool resigned after being accused of making unwelcome sexual advances. (He denies the allegations, saying he resigned so as not to be “a distraction.”)

While the clergy sexual abuse crisis has most famously struck the Catholic Church, every faith tradition and every kind of clergy (though mostly male) have been implicated: celibate monks and Protestant ministers who are family men….

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Some of the most conservative media outlets covering Christianity in America are skewering the Southern Baptist Convention North American Mission Board for its policy of communication by obfuscation.

Protestia represents the far-far right of American evangelicalism. The latest headline at the online publication screams, “NAMB Disputes Johnny Hunt’s $610K/Year Salary Claim In the Most Secretive, Stupid Way Possible.”

The Baptist Report is an anonymously sourced online journal reporting on the inner workings of the SBC. Its headline is comparatively toned down: “NAMB Responds to Reports It Allegedly Paid Johnny Hunt a $610K Salary — Sort Of.”

And Church Leaders took a more understated approach with its headline: “NAMB Responds to ‘Some Speculation Online’ About Executives’ Salaries Following Johnny Hunt’s Claim of $610K in Annual Earnings.”

As BNG previously reported, the former executive vice president at NAMB — who was felled by a sexual abuse scandal — claims in court filings to have been…

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Closing the first-ever International Summit on Children’s Rights, the Pope stresses that children around the world “are watching us to see how we move forward in life.”

February 3, 2025 was a day dedicated to children. The Vatican held its first-ever International Summit on Children’s Rights in the Apostolic Palace with the presence of Pope Francis, advocates, and heads of NGOs.

Speakers from all over the world came to discuss the global crisis of millions of children without basic human rights. The message that rang throughout the Summit was that “nothing is worth more than the life of a child.”

An Apostolic Exhortation dedicated to children

In a world marked by poverty, war, lack of education, and exploitation, children everywhere face injustice and vulnerabilities. Pope Francis expressed his gratitude to all the participants and speakers for making “the rooms of the Apostolic Palace an ‘observatory’ focused on the reality of…

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On January 24, 2025, Nicholas Wagner was arrested in Vero Beach, FL, for allegedly exposing himself to a teenage girl at a park. According to media reports, the Vero Beach Police Department confirmed that the incident occurred on January 10, 2025, at South Beach Park near a Pavilion. The victim told police that a strange man walked by her and her friend while they were handing out religious materials near the pavilions. They claim the man was pacing nervously, fidgeting with vending machines, and talking to himself. After several minutes, Wagner walked into a nearby restroom and remained there for a long time. When he finally exited, the victim claims he stood in the doorway of the restroom—fully exposed—locking eyes with the young girl and making no attempt to cover himself. The man then walked to the parking lot, got into a blue SUV, and fled the area. The victim’s friend took several photos of the man and…

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Roger Goodell speaks as emails detail how team helped to spin coverage of clergy sexual abuse scandal

The NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell, said the New Orleans Saints “are great corporate citizens” despite revelations in unearthed emails detailing how the football team’s owner and other top executives coordinated with the city’s Roman Catholic archdiocese in a campaign to soften media coverage of a decades-old clergy-abuse scandal engulfing the church.

The Saints owner, Gayle Benson, and other key lieutenants “are very involved in this community, and they are great corporate citizens”, Goodell said after media outlets provided the most complete accounts yet detailing the team’s decision to help the New Orleans church’s messaging about a scandal that has prompted state police and federal agents to jointly open a child sex-trafficking investigation into the archdiocese.

Goodell’s comments came after being asked about the correspondence between the Saints and the church at a news conference…

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The New Orleans Saints NFL team is denying that any members of its organization had input into, or oversight of, a list of credibly accused clergy in the Archdiocese of New Orleans, with the denial coming amid a media controversy over the football team’s role in helping the archdiocese manage the fallout from the abuse scandal.

A media firestorm erupted this week after leaked emails showed the extent of the Saints’ involvement in offering the archdiocese public relations help amid its reckoning with the clergy abuse crisis.

Saints owner Gayle Benson, herself a Catholic, had previously acknowledged in 2020 that team spokesman Greg Bensel had helped the archdiocese prepare for the 2018 release of its credibly accused clergy list. 

Benson said at the time that Bensel had urged the archdiocese to “be honest, complete, and transparent” and “own the past wrongs and find a solution to correct them,”…

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Mike Bickle, founder of the International House of Prayer-Kansas City (IHOPKC) groomed and sexually abused 17 women, some of whom were minors, according to an independent investigation released tonight. In some cases, the abuse constituted rape, the investigation found.

“Throughout the investigation, we have identified and interviewed seventeen (17) Survivors who were either sexually abused or experienced sexually abusive misconduct, including sexual abuse, rape, clergy abuse, and spiritual abuse, perpetrated by BICKLE beginning to our knowledge in the mid-1970s,” stated the report by Firefly Independent Sexual Abuse Investigations. “These acts of abuse have had profound and lasting impacts on the lives of the victims, causing significant emotional, psychological, and spiritual harm.”

Bickle and his Executive Leadership Team (ELT) also responded to reports of sexual abuse with “deliberate indifference” and discouraged victims from involving law enforcement, the report added.

“This indifference not only exacerbated the trauma experienced by the…

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A newly released report on abuse at the International House of Prayer Kansas City (IHOPKC) found that leaders at the 24/7 prayer ministry “shielded perpetrators and minimized victims” in what was a “systemic” leadership failure.

As reported yesterday by The Roys Report (TRR), the investigative report also found that IHOPKC Founder Mike Bickle sexually abused 17 women, including minors, and the abuse included rape.

The report is the result of a months-long investigation by Firefly, which was commissioned by the Messianic Jewish network Tikkun Global. In addition to Bickle, survivors also accused 16 other IHOPKC staff of sexual misconduct, the report said. The report did not name the other accused staff.

Firefly stated in the report that high-level leaders knew of the allegations but “shielded perpetrators” from legal accountability, allowing many to continue to work there.

It added that “certain members of the ELT (Executive Leadership Team) at IHOPKC were more focused on…

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A 2020 lawsuit first revealed the New Orleans Saints‘ involvement in the New Orleans Archdiocese’s crisis management response to a sex-abuse scandal. At the time, the team stated its collaboration was “minimal” and that the archdiocese had reached out to request PR assistance.

New emails revealed that the Saints were not only more involved than what was previously believed, but that people in the organization were the initiators of the correspondence and resulting collaboration.

Investigations by the New York Times and Associated Press uncovered more than 300 emails related to the Saints’ involvement in the church’s response to sexual abuse accusations against the New Orleans Archdiocese. The emails, which were revealed in a 2019 subpoena, and their contents had remained private until now.

Saints’ emails reveal different story than their initial claims

Among the first of those emails, according to the Times, was…

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The child told their mother that then-Pastor Timothy Nall touched the child “all over.” The child said they were scared of him, the document said.

Arrest documents allege an East Texas pastor accused of sexually assault would bring the young child into his church office and touch them inappropriately. 

Timothy Daniel Nall, 69, of Holly Lake Ranch, was arrested by Tyler Police Department Saturday for a warrant for a sexual assault of a child charge out of Wood County. He was previously the full-time pastor at Mt. Pisgah Missionary Baptist Church in Mineola. 

According to an arrest affidavit, the reported sexual assault of a child happened in fall of 2022 at the church. Parents of the child told investigators they noticed strange behavior at home starting in the fall of 2022.

In counseling sessions, the child mentioned “a bad guy who touches her belly” and the child referenced getting candy from…

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The Paris prosecutor said Tuesday it cannot investigate allegations by several women who said they were sexually assaulted or harassed by Abbé Pierre, a nationally revered priest and humanitarian crusader who died in 2007.

The allegations against him first surfaced last year and were detailed in an internal report by Abbé Pierre’s foundations. The French Catholic Church last month asked prosecutors to initiate an investigation, saying it wanted to uncover the full extent of the abuse, any other victims and any systemic cover-up.

The Paris prosecutor’s office said Tuesday that it looked into legal options, but that Abbé Pierre’s death makes it impossible to open an investigation into his past actions.

It also studied whether to investigate those who covered up or failed to report the abuse allegations, but because of statute of limitations, no investigation is possible.

Abbé Pierre was a French Catholic priest renowned for his dedication to…

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An in-depth report released today by Ramon Antonio Vargas of the Guardian and David Hammer of WWL Louisiana revealed that high-level executives with the NFL’s New Orleans Saints football team and the NBA’s Pelicans basketball team had a deeper role than previously known in connection with the Archdiocese of New Orleans’ list of “credibly accused” clergymen. SNAP is certainly not surprised by these revelations.

When powerful institutions get together to hide something, the weak and vulnerable are inevitably the ones who are harmed. The news that two professional sports teams coordinated with the Archdiocese of New Orleans to apparently hide the names of abusers should signal that the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church is more widespread and insidious than anyone could possibly imagine. 

Sports are interwoven into the fabric of American life. Professional basketball and football franchises are valued at billions of dollars. Even though it…

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The New Orleans Saints are under fire this week for the team’s involvement in the alleged cover-up and public-relations spin of the Catholic Church sex-abuse scandal, according to new reports. As the sports world descends on New Orleans for Super Bowl LIX, questions are mounting for the team and the NFL.

New emails revealed by the Associated Press, WWLTV and others show that the Saints front office was in regular communication with the local Archdiocese as the scandal in New Orleans unfolded. The team had claimed before this new revelation that their efforts in the cover-up and spinning of the scandal were minimal.

However, emails seem to show that the team had a year-long involvement in the situation, coaching the church on how to respond publicly and even seeming to sympathize with some in the church for having to deal with the issue.

In addition —…

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In a country where abuse and neglect remain grim realities for too many children, places like the Sunflower center offer something rare: another chance

Jun was 9 years old when he arrived at a boys’ shelter in Baguio City in 2012, his body marked with burns and scars from years of abuse inflicted by his stepfather, who had also been accused of sexually assaulting his younger sister. 

When authorities intervened, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) moved the siblings from a Cordillera province to the city for their safety. His sister was taken to the DSWD’s shelter and Jun, to the halfway home for boys. 

After he spoke with social workers and counselors, he opened up about his experiences and showed them marks on his young skin that had yet to heal. 

Once, he recalled, he was put in charge of breakfast. It was very early, so while…

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Clergy abuse survivors and their supporters express pain over sports officials’ efforts to soften coverage of scandal

Clergy abuse survivors and their supporters expressed disgust, pain and disbelief after the Guardian and WWL Louisiana’s investigation on Monday into hundreds of emails showing officials with the NFL’s Saints and NBA’s Pelicans aided New Orleans’ Roman Catholic archdiocese efforts to soften critical media coverage about the church’s management of a clerical molestation scandal.

Richard Windmann said it was “disturbing” to see the emails mention his decision to go public about his abuse as a child at the hands of a priest and janitor at Jesuit high school in New Orleans in the 1970s.

In 2012, after he came forward about his abuse, the religious order which runs Jesuit deemed Windmann credible and paid him $450,000 to quietly settle out of court. But after media coverage about a local, abusive deacon and a Pennsylvania grand…

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When New Orleans church leaders prepared to publish a list of predatory Catholic priests, they turned to a well-oiled public relations machine: the city’s NFL franchise.

What came next was a 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 emails show team executives played a more extensive role than previously known in a public relations campaign to mitigate fallout from the clergy sexual abuse crisis. And they shed new light on a behind-the-scenes effort driven by the team’s devoutly Catholic owner, a close friend of the city’s embattled archbishop.

Here are some key takeaways from the emails, which the team for years sought to keep secret:

Saints executives helped church in PR effort

Team executives were so closely involved in the church’s damage control efforts that a Saints spokesman briefed his…

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After a U.S abuse watchdog slammed the Philippines’ bishops for not taking action against clergy accused of sexual abuse, Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David urged Filipino Catholics to report priests accused of misconduct to both Church and civil authorities.

Days after BishopsAccountability.org on Jan. 29 launched its Philippines database, which lists 82 priests and brothers publicly accused of abusing minors, David insisted the country’s Catholics must report “erring priests.” 

“Please don’t hesitate to file complaints against abusive clerics whether in the civil or Church forums,” David insisted in a Jan. 31 statement. “[Pope Francis] has been insistent on putting up structures of check and balance and accountability to prevent past mistakes from happening again.”

David conceded the Church is “not always successful” in keeping accused clergy accountable and needs “the help and participation of our laypeople, including our professional journalists” to protect minors and vulnerable adults from…

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[See also the media statement by James C. Gulotta, Jr. on behalf of Gayle Benson, Dennis Lauscha, Greg Bensel, and the New Orleans Louisiana Saints.]

The New Orleans Saints have responded to the release of internal emails detailing their involvement in the Archdiocese of New Orleans’ public relations efforts amid the clergy sexual abuse crisis.

In a statement, the team denied any role in shaping the list of credibly accused priests and criticized the media’s handling of the leaked correspondence.

The emails, obtained by the Associated Press, show that Saints executives, including team president Dennis Lauscha and senior vice president of communications Greg Bensel, provided strategic communications support to the Archdiocese in 2018.

The records suggest that Bensel coordinated messaging, drafted talking points for Archbishop Gregory Aymond, and advised on handling media inquiries. One email also indicated that the Saints’ PR team was informed of discussions with…

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Efforts to shape narrative pulled in or targeted government officials, local media figures

A number of locally influential civic figures and organizations are involved in emails showing how top officials at the NFL’s Saints and NBA’s Pelicans closely coordinated with New Orleans’ Roman Catholic church in a campaign to soften media coverage of a decades-old clergy-abuse scandal in their city.

The Saints and Pelicans as well as the church fought in court to keep the emails hidden from the public. One of the primary justifications cited in favor of keeping the emails confidential was to protect the identities of clergy-abuse victims. Yet none of more than 700 pages of emails reviewed by the Guardian and reporting partner WWL Louisiana named any such victims.

Here is a look at some of those people present in the so-called Saints emails.

US district judge Jay Zainey

Like the Saints and Pelicans owner, Gayle Benson,…

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A bombshell new report from NYT details the involvement of the New Orleans Saints’ office in “crisis communications” for the religious institution.

The sexual-assault crisis within Holy Mother Church continues to reverberate. But, I admit, on my Catholic Church Sex Scandal bingo card, I didn’t have deep involvement by a National Football League franchise, much less the one named after our glorious canonized dead. But, then again, this is Louisiana, so anything’s possible. From The New York Times:

So in July 2018, when Greg Bensel, the Saints’ head of communications, saw a local news story revealing that a former deacon who had been removed from the ministry after abuse accusations was serving in a public role at a local church, he sent an email to Ms. Benson. “The issues that the Archbishop has to deal with that never involve him,” Mr. Bensel wrote. In reply, Ms….

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Hundreds of newly disclosed emails between the New Orleans Saints and the Archdiocese of New Orleans detail the extent to which two of the team’s top executives helped to shape the church’s public relations strategy around the clergy sex abuse crisis as the scandal was coming to light six years ago.

The emails, which were obtained by WWL Louisiana, The Associated Press, The New York Times and The Guardian, center on crisis communications advice officials with the Saints organization gave Archbishop Gregory Aymond in 2018, as he was preparing to release a list of priests and deacons accused of sexually abusing children.

Aymond’s release of that list, which originally contained 67 names and has grown to more than 80, and the ensuing flood of claims, eventually led the archdiocese to file for federal bankruptcy protection in May 2020.

Since then, more than 550 abuse survivors have filed claims…

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The Saints, whose owner is friends with New Orleans’s archbishop, fought for years to keep the emails secret.

Hundreds of internal emails obtained by The Washington Post on Monday shed new light on the role New Orleans Saints executives played in helping the city’s Catholic church leaders deal with the fallout of a sex abuse crisis years ago.

In one 2018 email, sent the night before the Archdiocese of New Orleans released a list of former clergy accused of sex crimes, Saints vice president of communications Greg Bensel wrote of a call with a local prosecutor that “allowed us to take certain people off the list.”

For years, Saints officials have denied allegations by lawyers for victims that team officials had input on the list of accused clergy, produced amid a sex abuse crisis that sent the archdiocese into bankruptcy proceedings.

On Monday, Bensel deferred questions from The Post to…

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[Includes a video excerpt from the BishopAccountability.org press conference, also available on YouTube.]

The Jan. 29 launch of BishopAccountability.org’s database listing at least 82 priests who have been charged or accused of child sexual abuse in the Philippines has made international news. The United States-based child-protection organization behind the site is headed by Anne Barrett Doyle and Suzy Nauman, who have called for an end to bishops’ tolerance and coverup of clerical child abuse and of greater care and help for victims and survivors.

News of the database hit two days before the opening of a conference called “Zero Tolerance Philippines Summit 2025.” It was organized by the Ending Clergy Abuse (ECA), a worldwide coalition of survivors’ groups in 25 countries dedicated to working for greater transparency and accountability for all, especially bishops, to end the systematic abuse of children in dioceses where this exists. The group demands that…

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The Guardian and WWL Louisiana have obtained emails showing how top officials at the NFL’s Saints and NBA’s Pelicans spent a year collaborating with New Orleans’ Roman Catholic archdiocese as the organizations sought to soften media coverage about the church’s management of a decades-old clergy-abuse scandal in their city.

An investigation of the emails shows how the communications call into question statements made over the last five years by the Louisiana billionaire Gayle Benson’s two professional sports franchises that sought to minimize their role in trying to help the church deal with the scandal’s fallout once they got involved in the summer of 2018. Nonetheless, in a lengthy statement from a team attorney on Saturday, the Saints insisted they had accurately portrayed their involvement.

Below is a summary of key points made in the lengthy report that WWL Louisiana and the Guardian published after an extensive review of the emails in…

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Excerpts from emails in which officials from the sports teams tried to finesse coverage of a clergy-abuse scandal

What they said

Greg Bensel, our senior vice president of communications, was asked if he would help the Archdiocese prepare for the media relative to the release of clergy names involved in the abuse scandal.

– Gayle Benson statement, 10 February 2020

What the emails said

I like Sarah – his PR person a lot – but if he ever wants to chat crisis communications – with him and Sarah – we have been through enough at Saints to be a help or sounding board – but I don’t want to overstep!

– Greg Bensel email to Gayle Benson, 8 July 2018, referring to Archbishop Gregory Aymond and his archdiocese’s in-house spokesperson, Sarah McDonald. This was four months before the list was released

Thank you Greg, I will pass this…

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RECENTLY, an American group that apparently has taken upon itself the task of “avenging angel” for the victims of clerical misconduct, particularly the molestation of minors, took the Philippine bishops to task “for refusing to be accountable.”

Alleging that priests who had been charged with offenses involving minors were either reassigned to other parishes or, worse, returned to the same environment within which the offenses were alleged to have been committed. This allegation — not the first time it is made, to be sure, but revived every time the Catholic Church is targeted for attack because of the positions it takes or its advocacies — begs the question: To whom should bishops be accountable?

In the theology of the Church, bishops head “local churches” — dioceses or archdioceses. They are the agents as well as the representatives of the hierarchically organized community called the Catholic Church. If this theological point…

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The Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) and DDB Group Philippines were honored with a Gold Anvil Award at the prestigious 60th Anvil Awards for their impactful short films highlighting the issue of Online Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children (OSAEC). The award, presented in the Public Relations Programs – Cause Related/Public Awareness/Advocacy category, recognizes exceptional campaigns that raise awareness, foster positive change, and inspire action for critical social causes. Presented annually by the Public Relations Society of the Philippines (PRSP), the Anvil Awards is regarded as the “Oscars of PR” in the country.

PCW Chairperson Ermelita Valdeavilla expressed her gratitude for the recognition, emphasizing its broader significance, saying: “This award is more than a milestone for PCW and DDB Group Philippines—it is a victory for every child whose voice has been silenced. While we are honored by this recognition, our commitment extends beyond this accolade. It is crucial that we…

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A trove of emails shows the team’s leadership using their influence in New Orleans to aid the archdiocese, including writing talking points for media interviews.

The Archdiocese of New Orleans was facing a crisis. A sex-abuse scandal was bursting into public view, sending shock waves through the heavily Catholic city.

Leaders of one of New Orleans’ other major institutions, the N.F.L.’s New Orleans Saints, were concerned. Gayle Benson, the team’s owner, is a devout Catholic, major church benefactor and close friend of Archbishop Gregory Aymond.

So in July 2018, when Greg Bensel, the Saints’ head of communications, saw a local news story revealing that a former deacon who had been removed from the ministry after abuse accusations was serving in a public role at a local church, he sent an email to Ms. Benson.

“The issues that the Archbishop has to deal with that never involve him,” Mr….

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Sexual abuse by Catholic priests in the Philippines has drawn renewed scrutiny following the January 2025 release of a database by the US-based watchdog BishopAccountability.org, which identified 82 clergymen—including 34 Filipino and foreign priests accused of abusing minors in the country—linked to cases spanning decades. The allegations range from exploitation, child abuse and rape, often involving victims closely associated with the clergy, such as altar servers or parishioners. While the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines established an Office for the Safeguarding of Minors to address complaints and report to the Vatican, critics argue systemic failures persist, including bishops’ historical silence, repatriation of accused priests to evade prosecution abroad and reliance on internal ecclesiastical processes over criminal accountability. Survivors and advocates highlight the enduring trauma faced by victims, contrasting sharply with the lack of convictions and the reintegration of some accused priests into ministry after canonical reviews. This ongoing crisis…

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Unearthed emails detail how the sports franchises’ owner and PR team counseled archdiocese on how to respond to unfolding clergy-abuse case

High-level executives with the NFL’s New Orleans Saints football team and the NBA’s Pelicans basketball team had a deeper role than previously known in connection with a list of priests and deacons faced with credible allegations of child molestation while the clergymen worked with their city’s Roman Catholic archdiocese, the Guardian and reporting partner WWL Louisiana can reveal.

According to highly sensitive emails that were obtained by the outlets, one top executive even described a conversation with the New Orleans district attorney at the time that allowed them to remove clergy names from the list – though the clubs deny their official participated in that discussion, and the prosecutor back then vehemently denies he would ever have weighed in on the list’s content.

The emails call into question prior and newly issued…

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Efforts to shape narrative pulled in or targeted government officials, local media figures

A number of locally influential, outside civic figures and organizations are involved in emails showing how top officials at the NFL’s Saints and NBA’s Pelicans closely coordinated with New Orleans’ Roman Catholic church in a campaign to soften media coverage of a decades-old clergy-abuse scandal.

The Saints and Pelicans as well as the church fought in court to keep the emails hidden from the public. One of the primary justifications cited in favor of keeping the emails confidential was to protect the identities of clergy-abuse victims. Yet none of more than 700 pages of emails reviewed by WWL Louisiana and reporting partner the Guardian named any such victims.

Here is a look at some of those people present in the so-called Saints emails.

US District Judge Jay Zainey

Like Saints and Pelicans owner Gayle Benson, Jay Zainey…

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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.

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.

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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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