ABUSE TRACKER

Editor’s note: This article has been updated with additional information and reaction.

Daytime talk show host Phil Donahue tackled a wide range of topics on his show “Donahue,” which ran in syndication for 29 years. He also took on the issue of clergy sexual abuse in the Catholic church long before major media outlets were reporting on it.

In a 1993 episode he cautioned against “media hyperbole” but said people with more insight and who were more informed than him on this issue had described the abuse scandal as “the biggest crisis in the history of the largest church of Christendom — the holy Roman Catholic Church.”

“That’s not an overstatement, is it?” he asked on the show, nearly a decade before The Boston Globe’s investigation into abuse cover-ups in the Boston Archdiocese erupted into a national controversy. National Catholic Reporter had been the first publication to…

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The Department of Justice (DOJ) said there was nothing illegal with the offer of a reward for information that may lead to the arrest of Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) founder Pastor Apollo Quiboloy.

Quiboloy faces trafficking and child and sexual abuse cases in courts in Davao City and in Pasig. The controversial pastor however has said that these accusations came from disgruntled former members of his religious group.  

During the continuation of the hearing of the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs, which is investigating if there was excessive force in the serving of a warrant against Quiboloy, DOJ Undersecretary Nicholas Ty said various laws allow the offer of a reward such as the National Internal Revenue Code, Customs Modernization and Tariff Act, Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act, and Anti-Terrorism Act.

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[This is an updated, longer version of the brief obituary blogged yesterday in Abuse Tracker. See also videos of Donahue’s March 1993 interview of Barbara Blaine, Jason Berry, and Fr. Andrew Greely: Part 1 and Part 2 (with David Clohessy and other survivors).]

Stalking the aisles, microphone in hand, he turned “The Phil Donahue Show” into a participation event, soliciting questions and comments on topics from human rights to orgies.

Phil Donahue, who in the 1960s reinvented the television talk show with a democratic flourish, inviting audiences to question his guests on topics as resolutely high-minded as human rights and international relations, and as unblushingly lowbrow as male strippers and safe-sex orgies, died on Sunday at his home on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. He was 88.

His death was confirmed by Susan Arons, a representative of the family.

“The Phil Donahue Show” made its debut in 1967 on WLWD-TV in…

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An evangelical pastor in Kenya ordered his flock to shun education and medicine and starve their children to death in order to meet Jesus, witnesses in a manslaughter trial said.

When her parents denied her food and water for eight days, the girl said that she knew she was going to die, just like her two younger siblings. For days, her parents had beaten her when they caught her sipping water or looking for food. Famished and frail, she said they dressed her in special attire worn for death.

“The children were not supposed to eat, so they could die,” the child, a 9-year-old identified only as EG and hidden inside a witness protection booth, told a packed courtroom on Thursday in the coastal Kenyan city of Mombasa.

She was among the first witnesses to testify last week in the manslaughter trial of Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, an evangelical pastor accused…

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David Haas is currently attending the Church of St. Thomas Aquinas in St. Paul Park, Minnesota. For those who are unaware, Mr. Haas has been credibly accused by over fifty women of a wide range of sexually abusive behaviors. A number of these reports come from Mr. Haas’s tenure at St. Thomas Aquinas in the 1980s, during which he served as music director. These reports indicate that Mr. Haas used his position of authority to groom and sexually abuse multiple teenage girls and women at St. Thomas Aquinas. Into Account’s Oct. 2020 report on Mr. Haas’s abuse includes some of these allegations. See also in the New York Times.

Into Account has received new first-person reports about Mr. Haas’s current behavior at STA, ranging from suggestive comments to surprising women with unwanted touching. Some of this behavior falls squarely into Mr. Haas’s known patterns…

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After news broke last week about the Vatican’s expulsion of Luis Fernando Figari, the founder of an influential Peruvian lay group, the original whistleblower who reported his abuses said she had asked that action be taken against him in 2010.

Speaking to Crux, Peruvian theologian Rocio Figueroa, who at the time belonged to the women’s branch of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV) founded by Peruvian layman Luis Fernando Figari, said she had asked that Figari be removed from leadership while still part of the community.

“In that moment, this was in 2010 and it was more or less in July. I said to him, I’m going to Lima and [Figari] must not be the superior of the SCV…I asked for three things: I asked to close the cause of beatification for Germán Doig; remove Figari as superior; and third, investigate Figari.”

The SCV, Figueroa said, “did the first two, [they] didn’t do the…

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[See also video of Donahue’s March 1993 interview of Barbara Blaine, Jason Berry, and Fr. Andrew Greely: Part 1 and Part 2 (with David Clohessy and other survivors).]

Phil Donahue, who in the 1960s reinvented the television talk show with a democratic flourish, inviting audiences to question his guests on topics as resolutely high-minded as human rights and international relations, and as unblushingly lowbrow as male strippers and safe-sex orgies, died on Sunday at his home on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. He was 88.

His death was confirmed by Susan Arons, a representative of the family.

“The Phil Donahue Show” made its debut in 1967 on WLWD-TV in Dayton, Ohio, propelling Mr. Donahue on a 29-year syndicated run, much of it as the unchallenged king of daytime talk television.

Almost from the start, “The Phil Donahue Show” dispensed with familiar trappings. There was no opening monologue,…

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NPR’s David Folkenflik speaks with Emily Kassie and Julian Brave NoiseCat about their new documentary, “Sugarcane,” about Indian residential schools in Canada.

DAVID FOLKENFLIK, HOST:

U.S. students have been missing an alarming amount of school in the wake of the pandemic. When they miss lots of days without an excuse – well, that’s known as truancy. Every state has a policy, and many of those policies make truancy illegal. In some places, law enforcement officers will visit families’ homes even during summertime. Reporter Dylan Peers McCoy of member station WFYI spent a day with one of those officers. She brings us this report from Madison County in central Indiana.

DYLAN PEERS MCCOY, BYLINE: Mitch Carroll is wearing jeans, a T-shirt, and pristine white sneakers when we head out on a Thursday in May.

MITCH CARROLL: I go in a little light.

MCCOY: But it’s obvious that he’s in law enforcement….

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The Vatican has removed the archbishop of the biggest Catholic diocese in Pakistan after an inquiry found him at the center of financial corruption, illegal sale of church property, and involvement in sexual abuse, according to reliable sources.

Rumors have been circulating since last month that the Vatican had decided to suspend Lahore Diocese Archbishop Sebastian Francis Shaw but the Pakistani Catholic leadership reportedly hushed up the issue. However, Lahore’s Archdiocesan Vicar General Father Asif Sardar announced on Aug 15 that 66-year-old Shaw was going on a sabbatical and Karachi Diocesan Archbishop Benny Mario Travas would be taking charge of the Lahore Diocese as the apostolic administrator.

Catholic Advocate Morris Nadeem told Christian Daily International that Father Sardar made the announcement during the Mass on the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Lahore on Thursday evening.

“Shaw was in the US…

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Church leaders have a moral responsibility to make public the names of clergy found guilty of sexual abuse, says church historian and poet, Dr Jane Simpson.

Speaking after the release of the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care, Simpson argues this is a practical form of redress they could do right now.

“The Commission (2018–2024) made the names of perpetrators public by posting witness statements on its website. But I have yet to hear that any of the eight denominations within the Commission’s terms of reference has made this information readily available, so that the victims and survivors can have some sense of closure,” Dr Simpson says.

“Media statements by church leaders responding to the final report so far are full of generalities. Making the names of clergy guilty of professional misconduct through sexual abuse could demonstrate their commitment both to redress for past…

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Violent accusations against the head of the largest diocese in Pakistan had been smouldering for a long time. Priests wrote letters of protest to Rome. Now the church leadership has apparently reacted. On the ground, however, they are keeping a low profile.

The Vatican has suspended the Archbishop of Lahore in Pakistan, Sebastian Shaw. This was announced by the head of administration of Pakistan’s most populous diocese, Vicar General Asif Sardar, according to the Asian Catholic press service Ucanews (Friday). In the past, allegations of sexual abuse and financial fraud had been levelled against Shaw. Rome has appointed the Archbishop of Karachi, Benny Mario Travas, as interim Apostolic Administrator, Sardar said.

During the mass on the Solemnity of the Assumption, Sardar called for prayers “for our archbishop”, who is now beginning a “sabbatical”. Sardar did not give a reason for the archbishop’s dismissal, according to Ucanews. According to the report, representatives…

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A Stanly County, North Carolina, pastor is facing charges after investigators said he failed to report crimes against children, according to deputies with the Stanly County Sheriff’s Office.

Stanly County officials said an investigation began on May 30 for a string of sexual assault allegations involving minors that spanned over several years.

Kenny Parker, the pastor of Straitway Baptist Church in Albemarle, was charged with three counts of failing to report crimes against juveniles. Parker is also the chief administrator of the church’s school, according to state records obtained by our news partner, WCNC.

The investigation is ongoing.

Parker was released on a $5,000 bond. He is due in court on Sept. 25.

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Archbishop Sebastian Shaw, OFM, has been replaced as administrator of the Archdiocese of Lahore, Pakistan, the diocese’s vicar general announced Thursday.

According to reports, Shaw has faced allegations of sexual abuse and financial fraud, but his future remains unclear amid a lack of official information about his removal and the reasons behind it.

Father Asif Sardar announced at Mass in the Cathedral of Lahore on Aug. 15 that Archbishop Benny Mario Travas of Karachi will take over as apostolic administrator of the archdiocese in northeast Pakistan while Shaw goes “on a sabbatical,” UCA News reported.

The vicar general did not say why the 66-year-old archbishop was leaving in his announcement on the solemnity of the Assumption of Mary at Sacred Heart Cathedral.

Shaw — who led Pakistan’s largest archdiocese, with over half a million Catholics, since 2013 — has been accused of sexual abuse and of selling Church properties and…

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Despite calls from abuse victims and their advocates to stop displaying artwork by the disgraced former Jesuit priest Father Marko Ivan Rupnik, the Vatican has again used one of the artist’s images to illustrate an online article. 

In addition, last week, a video was published by Argentine public TV channel Canal de la Cuidad that shows a Rupnik image hanging in Pope Francis’ personal apartment inside the Vatican’s Santa Marta residence.

On the Vatican website, the Holy See’s communications department used a picture of a Rupnik mosaic of the dormition of Mary at the top of an article for the solemnity of the Assumption of Mary on Aug. 15.

Vatican News articles about Catholic feast days have continued to regularly feature Rupnik’s art after public abuse accusations were made against the Slovenian priest at the end of 2022.

Accused of sexually abusing women, Rupnik is currently under investigation…

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The mother of a Cardinal Newman student has filed a lawsuit claiming her son was racially harassed and sexually abused at the Catholic school. 

The lawsuit claims that the Columbia school was grossly negligent in allowing abuses by students and football coaches to take place under its watch. 

Football players at Cardinal Newman sexually assaulted the student — who was identified as John Doe and whose age was not listed — while other students stood by laughing and filming in late September 2023, the Aug. 14 lawsuit states. The assault happened just a few weeks into the unnamed student’s time on the team. 

Video of the incident, which the lawsuit said left the student “crying and visibly distressed,” was later shared by students through social media, according to the lawsuit. 

The student, who is Black, continued to play football at the school until his mother withdrew him in November of…

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Survivors, advocates, and pastors call for “true repentance” among religious groups that ran schools and homes between 1950 and 1999.

Not long after Frances Tagaloa accepted Christ at 16, she started experiencing flashbacks.

Over the next few years, Tagaloa began piecing together long-buried memories and came to recognize that she had been sexually abused between the ages of five and seven by a Catholic Marist Brother who taught at a school in the Auckland suburb of Ponsonby.

Tagaloa only told her parents about the abuse years later, after getting married and having children, because talking about the issue was taboo in her father’s Samoan culture, and she didn’t want her parents to blame themselves.

Her mother approached the Catholic Church in New Zealand around 1999, but Tagaloa, 56, decided not to speak with them —until three years later, when she heard the Marist Brothers were…

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Evangelical pastor B. Moses Melchidezek, 27, was charged today with two counts of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old boy in a church in June.

According to Sinar Harian, Moses claimed trial to both charges after they were were read to him in the Shah Alam Sessions Court.

Both charges were proffered under Section 14(a) and Section 14(b) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017, and each is punishable by up to 20 years’ imprisonment and whipping upon conviction.

Section 14(a) pertains to physical sexual contact with a child while Section 14(b) concerns the coercion of a child into sexual activity.

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A former pastor in Lexington, Kentucky, has been indicted by a grand jury with seven felony charges related to his alleged sex crimes against a 15-year-old girl. Zachary King, formerly an executive pastor at LexCity Church, was first arrested in July. 

King, 47, reportedly resigned from the church shortly before his arrest, when he was confronted by members of the congregation. 

According to the arrest report, King admitted to having “sexual intercourse with the minor starting at age 15 in January 2023, continuing until April 2024.” 

King reportedly also specified that the abuse took place “in the minor’s home, at his residence, and at the church where he was a former pastor.”

RELATED: Man Arrested After Reportedly Confessing to Pastor That He Molested a 4-Year-Old

King also confessed to communicating with the child via WhatsApp and SnapChat, arranging meetups and receiving explicit photographs from the…

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An independent assessment of Catholic safeguarding protocols in New Zealand has highlighted significant progress in many areas while also pointing to the need for further improvements, according to a report released Thursday by Te Rōpū Tautoko, the group coordinating the Church’s engagement with the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care.

The assessment, conducted by U.K.-based GCPS Consulting, examined the implementation and suitability of safeguarding culture standards across the Catholic Church in New Zealand. It included a review of policies and procedures and interviews with survivors, Church leaders, safeguarding officers, and parishioners.

The move follows the findings of New Zealand’s abuse commission, Abuse in Care: Royal Commission of Inquiry, in care institutions from 1950 to 1999 in a final report released in July.

The report revealed that up to 42% of those in faith-based care run by all denominations were…

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ALMOST 72 per cent of child sexual abuse in Australian religious organisations happened in Roman Catholic churches and organisations, new research has found.

The study, conducted through the Australian Catholic University, did not report specifically on abuse in Anglican organisations. “Anglican” was subsumed in a category with a wide range of denominations, including Jehovah’s Witnesses and Orthodox Churches, together totalling 21.8 per cent of abuse events.

The study, The Prevalence of Child Sexual Abuse Perpetrated by Leaders or Other Adults in Religious Organizations in Australia, surveyed 8503 people aged 16 and over, and found that one in 250 of the respondents reported being sexually abused by an adult in a religious organisation. Men reported significantly higher rates of abuse than women; the abuse was overwhelmingly perpetrated by men.

The study found that child sexual abuse in religious organisations had declined over time: results showed that 2.2 per cent of men aged 65 and older had…

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An independent assessment of Catholic safeguarding protocols and procedures in New Zealand has identified significant progress in many areas, while also highlighting where more work is needed, according to a statement from the country’s bishops’ conference.

Te Rōpū Tautoko, the group which coordinated the Catholic Church’s engagement with the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care, issued its final report on July 31.

This report came just a week after the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care lambasted the Catholic Church in its report to the abuse of children and vulnerable adults in care facilities.

RELATED: Abuse commission in New Zealand points to Catholic Church in particular

“The assumed moral authority and trustworthiness of clergy and religious leaders allowed abusers in faith-based institutions to perpetrate abuse and neglect with impunity. Religious beliefs were often used to justify the abuse and neglect, and to silence survivors. Hierarchical…

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A Western Australia parliamentary committee gave its final report after examining the support available to survivors of institutional child abuse, saying the Catholic Church and other religious entities had put their own institutional and financial wellbeing over the needs of victims.

“Institutions that maintain an unholy wall of silence can only be doing so as a strategy to limit their financial liability rather than providing just outcomes for victim/survivors,” the committee said in its report.

Specifically mentioning the Christian Brothers, the report accused the Catholic religious group of trying to hide information on the abuse of children under their care to protect their financial viability.

“It is the conspiracy of secrecy and institutional denial around abuse that not only adds to the trauma suffered by those who were abused but also obstructs their path to justice,” committee member Christine Tonkin told state parliament on Thursday.

“The evidence of survivors is…

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Texas megachurch Gateway Church has canceled its popular annual conference in the wake of the sexual abuse scandal involving its founder Robert Morris.

The church announced on Wednesday that the Gateway Conference 2024, scheduled to be held at its Southlake campus, has been cancelled.

The conference has been a mainstay of Gateway for more than a decade, drawing “thousands of church pastors, leaders and staff . . . to bless, empower and equip the local church,” according to the event’s Facebook page.

However, in June, Morris resigned from the church he founded in 2000, after a 54-year-old Oklahoma woman alleged she was sexually molested by the preacher between 1982 and 1987, as reported by The Roys Report (TRR).

Cindy Clemishire was 12-years old, when Morris, then a 21-year-old traveling evangelist, allegedly molested the preteen on Christmas Day 1982.

Also recently resigning from Gateway was Morris’ son, James Morris,…

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A 90-year-old woman, who as a pregnant teenager had a priest look up her skirt to check if she was wearing underwear before sending her to a mother and baby home, said it is “humiliating” that she is still waiting for redress.

Helen Culpan from Co Carlow is one of 34,000 survivors who are entitled to a redress payment for the time they spent in one of the country’s many mother and baby homes. The €800m scheme finally opened for applications on March 20 this year — three years after it was first promised by the State. 

Priority is to be given to elderly applicants, according to the Department of Children and Integration which is responsible for the scheme, many of whom are in their 80s and 90s. However, Helen Culpan is still awaiting her payment, and fears she may pass away before it is paid.

[PHOTO…

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Archbishop Sebastian Shaw of Lahore takes ‘sabbatical’ amid rumored suspension

The Vatican has replaced Archbishop Sebastian Shaw of Lahore with an apostolic administrator following allegations of sex abuse and financial fraud in Pakistan’s most populous Catholic diocese.

Lahore Archdiocesan Vicar General Father Asif Sardar announced the appointment of Archbishop Benny Mario Travas of Karachi as the apostolic administrator of Lahore on Aug. 15.

“We pray for our archbishop… God grant him good health; always guide him. He is going on a sabbatical,” Sardar told Catholics at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Lahore during the Mass on the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Sardar did not specify the reason for removing the archbishop from the administrative role of the archdiocese in the capital of Punjab province, where almost half of Pakistan’s 1.3 million Catholics live.

Church officials refused to comment about Shaw’s removal to UCA News.

However, the…

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While bankruptcy litigation continues in federal court, the diocese says it’s a new era of transparency and accountability.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Editor’s note: This is Part 4 of an ongoing 2 On Your Side series, “Faith & Fallout,” which examines multiple issues facing the Diocese of Buffalo, including the sexual abuse of children, bankruptcy, church closings and how the diocese spends donations by parishioners. 

Four and a half years after the Diocese of Buffalo filed for bankruptcy while facing a mountain of child sexual abuse lawsuits, justice remains elusive for survivors. 

“Survivors are going to get crumbs that fall from the table. And that’s not justice to me, Sean. It’s not what they deserve, and it’s not what they were promised,” said Kevin Brun, a survivor of clergy sexual abuse.

While bankruptcy litigation continues in federal court, the diocese says it’s…

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For Immediate Release August 15, 2024 

Press Conference:  Wyndham Hotel NRG Houston, Texas. 2 pm Friday, August 16th. SNAP, www.snapnetwork.org, is proud to host our annual conference this weekend at Wyndham Hotel NRG Houston, TX.

The conference runs from August 16th to 18th. This event allows us to gather friends, survivors, advocates, and allies for a weekend of camaraderie and connection. We are so happy to be able to welcome many first-time attendees to gather in person and hear powerful messages from keynote speakers such as Cindy Clemshire. Cindy is the courageous Baptist survivor who last month told The Wartburg Watch that Dallas megachurch founder and pastor, Robert Morris, began sexually abusing her on Christmas Day, 1982, when she was only 12 years old. Cindy said that the assaults continued for four-and-a-half years. Although this was not the first time Cindy had spoken out, the blog piece launched a media storm…

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Marko Rupnik, a Catholic priest, was expelled from the Jesuit order because he’d allegedly abused women. He was later accepted into the diocese in his native Slovenia. Rupnik is also an artist, and his work is on display in churches in Lourdes, Rome and Washington, D.C., among others.

Some of these sites are planning to cover or remove Rupnik’s art; some congregants and clergy disagree with such actions. The Vatican’s communication chief, Paolo Ruffini, for example, has defended the Holy See’s decision to keep Rupnik’s art on his department’s website.

As an art historian, I ask whether the debate is missing the point.

Bridging Eastern and Western European traditions

Rupnik’s art has been honored in the past as part of an effort by the Catholic Church to bridge Eastern and Western European faith traditions. With his heritage as a Slovenian, Rupnik was able to create imagery that blended both traditions. He was chosen…

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After decades of controversies and dozens of survivors speaking out, the Church of England still faces fierce criticism for the way it responds when members of the clergy are accused of abuse.

A BBC investigation into how it dealt with allegations about Blackburn priest Andrew Hindley exposed deep and continuing failings in the Church’s child protection system.

After the news about Canon Hindley broke earlier this week, the current Dean of Blackburn, the Very Revd Peter Howell-Jones, acknowledged there had been “a meteoric failure of structure and systems which should have been addressed years before”.

Asked if – given the details we now know – he trusts the Church to which he belongs, the Dean said, “I categorically do not.”

Canon Hindley was offered a secret six-figure pay-off after being assessed as a potential risk to children and young people. The priest, who denies any criminal activity or wrongdoing, was…

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In short:

A WA parliamentary committee has today handed down its final report after examining the the support available to survivors of institutional child abuse.

It found some religious entities have been prioritising survival and financial wellbeing over the needs of those who had been abused.

The committee made 21 recommendations, including that the identities of abusers be clearly listed on the websites in which they operated.

The names of known child abusers should be published prominently on church websites and the WA government should create a centrally accessible list of all known perpetrators, an inquiry into institutional child sexual abuse has urged. 

The Community Development and Justice Standing Committee handed down its final report on Thursday after examining the support available to survivors of institutional child abuse.

It found the Catholic Church and other religious entities had prioritised their own institutional and financial wellbeing over the needs of…

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Tribal leaders and community members will gather in Fort Shaw on Thursday, Aug. 15 for a “Day of Remembrance” to honor the children who died at Indian boarding schools.

From the 1800s to the 1970s, Native children were taken from their homes and forced to attend government-funded Christian boarding schools, where they were emotionally, physically and sexually abused. The explicit mission of these schools was cultural genocide. Some children died at these schools and were buried in unmarked graves. Tribes suffered language and culture loss as a result, and historical trauma persists in Native communities today.

Established in the late 1800s, the Fort Shaw Indian School was one of several boarding schools in Montana.

The event, free and open to the public, will kick off at 10 a.m. with remarks from Iva Croff, liberal studies division chair at Blackfeet Community College, and Carol Murray, a boarding school survivor. Attendees will…

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A second pastor has resigned from Cross Timbers Church in Argyle, Texas, just weeks after Lead Pastor Josiah Anthony stepped down amid scandal.

In a statement released this week, Cross Timbers Executive Pastor Byron Copeland acknowledged the difficulty the church has experienced and announced his decision to leave.

“I have felt the heavy weight of our recent hurt at Cross Timbers Church,” Copeland wrote. He added that he is optimistic about the future of the church, especially given that church founder Toby Slough had returned to “steady the ship.”

“But, I sense that God is calling me to a fresh season of life,” Copeland continued. “So, it is with a thankful heart that I have decided to resign from my position.”

As The Roys Report (TRR) previously reported, Josiah Anthony resigned from Cross Timbers in July due to what was initially labeled “inappropriate and hurtful” actions. However, later Cross…

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Luis Fernando Figari Rodrigo, founder of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (Sodality of Christian Life) and accused of committing sexual abuse, has been expelled from the organization by decision of the Vatican, the Peruvian Bishops’ Conference announced.

In an Aug. 14 statement posted on its website, the conference said that the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life has announced, in a decree, that Figari, 77, has been expelled from the sodality “in accordance with Canon 746 of the Code of Canon Law.” 

The decree explains that Figari has been expelled based on the “results obtained and the certainties acquired” in the investigation carried out by Archbishop Charles Scicluna and Monsignor Jordi Bertomeu of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith following their visit to Peru in July 2023 on behalf of Pope Francis.

At the time, the Holy Father entrusted both prelates with…

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Police have obtained a four-day remand order against a priest who allegedly sexually assaulted a teenage boy.

District police chief Assistant Commissioner Wan Azlan Wan Mamat said police have taken statements from three individuals so far in connection with the case.

“Based on our investigations no other victims have been identified so far.

“The suspect has been remanded for four days to assist further investigations,” he said.

It was reported that a priest was arrested for allegedly committing physical sexual assault on a teenager.

Police received a report from a 13-year-old boy at 10.09pm on Aug 12.

The victim claimed that between June and July this year, the suspect, who is a priest, had physically sexually harassed him in a bedroom within the grounds of a church at Bandar Bukit Puchong.

Police arrested the 27-year-old suspect at a restaurant in Puchong on Aug 13.

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The Vatican on Wednesday expelled the founder of an influential Peruvian religious movement, the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, after the Catholic hierarchy spent more than a decade of downplaying allegations of sexual and psychological abuse and financial corruption against him and his community.

The decree against Luis Fernando Figari came after Pope Francis last year ordered an investigation into the Sodalitium by the Vatican’s top sex abuse experts to get to the bottom of the scandal. Previous commissions and investigations had failed to fully address the group’s problems.

According to the decree by the Vatican’s department for religious orders, which was posted on the website of the Peruvian bishops conference, Francis gave his explicit authorization to expel Figari from the movement, even though canon law didn’t precisely cover his alleged misconduct.

Figari’s behavior was “incompatible and therefore unacceptable in a member of a church institution, as well as causing scandal and serious damage to…

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Convicted pedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale has admitted more historical child sexual abuse in Victoria.

Appearing in Bendigo Magistrates Court via video link from Port Phillip Prison, as he lay in his prison bed and propped up by three pillows, the frail 90-year-old pleaded guilty to eight additional sexual assault charges against children.

He was facing 62 child sexual assault charges but 56 were withdrawn. 

The former Catholic priest, who had been too unwell to appear before his committal hearing previously, admitted six counts of indecently assaulting young males and two counts of buggery of two children who were aged under 14.

The crimes were committed in the regional Victorian towns of Inglewood, Ballarat, Apollo Bay, Horsham and Mortlake between 1973 and 1981.

“Are you guilty or not guilty, Mr Ridsdale,” Magistrate Megan Aumair asked the accused on Wednesday.

“I’m guilty,” Ridsdale replied.

The notorious pedophile priest will next appear at…

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As both chambers of Congress consider legislation to establish a federal commission to help address Native American boarding school-era trauma, the U.S. bishops have requested an amendment be made to the current proposals to give them a seat at the table.

If passed, the “Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act” would create a five member commission, a 15 member subcommittee, and separate 19 member and 17 member advisory committees to investigate, document and acknowledge past injustices that took place at the federal government’s Indian boarding schools.

As presently constructed, the legislation reserves spots for various Indigenous associations and members of federal departments, which the U.S. bishops don’t dispute are important. However, because many of these schools were run by Catholic and Protestant entities, the U.S. bishops argue the legislation should create spots for members of religious communities, as well.

“It seems like an omission if the…

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Three Jesuit provincials in Bolivia were formally indicted by the general prosecutor’s office for having allegedly covered up abuses perpetrated by former Archbishop Alejandro Mestre of La Paz in the 1960s.

The Bolivian Association of Victims and Survivors of Ecclesial Sexual Abuse praised the measure but hope to add more denouncements to the current inquiry.

Father Bernardo Mercado, 43, the provincial of the Jesuits in the South American country, Father Osvaldo Cherviches, 52, who was the provincial between 2014-2018, and Spanish-born Father Ignacio Suñol, 81, who was the provincial between 2019-2022, are being officially investigated for failing to take Mestre’s case to the authorities.

According to a press statement released by the prosecutor’s office, Chirveches, who was then responsible for “healthy environments” at the provincial curia – the department in charge of dealing with abuse accusations – was informed in November of 2021 of Mestre’s abuse case. The Spanish-born Jesuit…

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The Anglican Church apologizes after an investigation implicated the church. Andrew Hindley, a priest from northwest England, remained in his position from 1991 to 2021 despite repeated accusations against him. He was even offered nearly €280,000 in 2022 to leave.

The Anglican Church apologized August 13 for its handling of the case of a priest from northwest England who was suspected of posing a risk to children and who had been offered a large sum of money to leave its ranks.

Already accused of inaction in dealing with child sexual within the clergy, the Church of England once again promised to strengthen its procedures for handling such cases after it was implicated by a BBC investigation.Further reading: Church of England’s reputation damaged by sexual abuse claims

According to the BBC, Andrew Hindley remained a priest in Blackburn from 1991 to 2021 despite repeated accusations regarding his behavior, which were well-known within…

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A Philadelphia megachurch pastor hoped his charitable deeds would favorably sway a judge at his sentencing. Instead, the judge referred to him as a serial predator and sentenced him to five to 12 years in prison for sexually assaulting three children.

Mark Hatcher, Sr., 61, of Holy Ghost Headquarters Revival Center, was convicted in February  of rape, statutory sexual assault, and indecent assault.

Two convictions stem from Hatcher’s sexual assault of two children to whom he was related—a 6-year-old boy in 2007—2008, and a 15-year-old girl in 2000. The third conviction is for raping a 13-year-old girl in an abandoned home owned by Hatcher’s church.

Before handing down the sentence, Montgomery County Court Judge Thomas Branca said there were two men on trial: one an active, beloved community leader and pastor—and a serial predator, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

The judge weighed the good Hatcher has done, adding “heavier weight…

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The Archbishop of Zagreb violated the provisions of the Pope’s document “Vos estis lux mundi” and the HBK guidelines “for handling cases of pedophilia by clerics”

Instead of suspending them, the Archbishop of Zagreb, Msgr. Dražen Kutleša transferred the priests accused of pedophilia and enabled them to continue to perform their duties and to be in contact with the faithful and ministers. Therefore, it can be argued that Kutleša, then still the archbishop of Split, failed to act in accordance with the document “Vos estis lux mundi” in January 2023 , which was issued by Pope Francis in 2019 in order to establish a system for reporting abuse and dealing with such cases within of the Catholic Church, and he did not follow all the “Guidelines for handling cases of sexual abuse of minors by clerics” of the Croatian Bishops’ Conference,…

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The Church of England made a six-figure pay-off to a priest assessed as a potential risk to children and young people, a BBC investigation has found.

Canon Andrew Hindley – who worked in Blackburn diocese from 1991 to 2021 – was subject to five police investigations, including into allegations of sexual assault.

He has never been charged with any criminal offences and says he has never presented any safeguarding risk to anyone.

A senior member of staff at Blackburn Cathedral resigned over the settlement and says concerns about the priest were “an open secret” among senior clergy.

The former Bishop of Blackburn Julian Henderson described the financial settlement when he was in post as the “only option” left for the Church “to protect children and vulnerable young people from the risk Canon Hindley posed”.

The archbishops of Canterbury and York have told the BBC they are “still working” to get…

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The Church of England has issued an apology to abuse survivors after a priest, assessed as a potential risk to children, received a payout. On Tuesday, the church’s leaders, including the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and the Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell, admitted that survivors had been “let down” by the handling of the case involving Canon Andrew Hindley, as reported by news agency AFP.

Hindley, who was removed from office on health grounds in 2021, had been the subject of multiple allegations over several years, though he had never been criminally convicted or found guilty of misconduct by independent church courts. Reports indicate that Hindley was subjected to five police investigations, including claims of sexual assault. Despite these serious allegations, the details of the payout remain shrouded in secrecy due to non-disclosure agreements, though the BBC reported an offer of £240,000 ($307,000).

A risk assessment carried out by a child protection charity had flagged Hindley as posing “a risk of significant harm…

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The Regional Court in Hildesheim must deal with the claim for damages for pain and suffering of a victim of abuse against the Catholic diocese. The bishop also relies on clarification by the court.

Dispute over compensation for pain and suffering – The diocese expects the civil process to clarify abuse cases

In the legal dispute over a damages payment to a victim of abuse, the Catholic Diocese of Hildesheim has applied for the dismissal of the lawsuit. A corresponding response to the lawsuit has been filed with the Regional Court of Hildesheim. The Diocese cannot make any statements as to whether the victim’s allegations are accurate as described, it was stated. It considers the allegations to be time-barred.

Case of Liability for Public Authorities

The Diocese expects the court proceedings to provide clarity, objectivity, and transparency for all parties involved. Among other things, it is also about questions…

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John Denzel had served in various roles at St. Brigid since 2017 but was given the position of safe environment coordinator in 2022.

A Plain City man who worked at the Saint Brigid of Kildare parish as a safe environment coordinator was indicted for allegedly possessing child sexual abuse material.

John Denzel, 60, was charged with 11 counts of illegal use of a minor or impaired person in nudity and four counts of pandering sexually oriented material involving a minor. According to the indictment, the alleged offenses occurred from July 6, 2022, and Jan. 3, 2023.

The indictment says that Denzel knowingly solicited, received, purchased, exchanged, possessed, or controlled material that shows a minor participating or engaging in sexual activity.

St. Brigid of Kildare Parish, is a parish and pre-K through 8th grade school. A spokesperson for the Catholic Diocese of Columbus said a diocesan administrator was made aware on…

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Professor David Pooler is a Professor in the Diana R. Garland School of Social Work at Baylor University. What is consent and power in clergy-laity relations?

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: We are back to the “delightful” topic of clergy-related abuse in general, but sexual abuse in particular, because it is the darkest in the public imagination. Regarding consent as a claim when an individual priest, pastor, or religious authority comes forward, what are some important ethical considerations? While that can be considered legitimate in some cases, it is probably not legitimate in most considerations. In other cases, it’s a blanket lie. 

Professor David K. Pooler: I’ll say this. I do think it’s possible that there are people who have had sex with a married pastor, single pastor, priest, or whatever. They probably believe it was consensual because someone may not have said “No,” didn’t resist, or wasn’t clear that they didn’t want that…

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Argentina is in the midst of a vocational crisis.

In 1990, the country saw a high of 2260 seminarians.

This year, there are 481 diocesan seminaries, according to the Organization of Seminaries of Argentina. The number of religious seminarians is not available for this year. But in 2020, the last year for which numbers have been provided, there were 351 religious seminarians in Argentina.

The situation doesn’t seem poised to improve any time soon — this year saw just 57 new entries to Argentinian diocesan seminaries, a far cry from the 256 new entries in 1997.

According to Fr. Andrés Vallejos, formator at the Seminary of the Holy Cross in the country’s second largest diocese of Lomas de Zamora, there are a number of factors in Argentina’s vocational decline: the secularization of Argentine society, the Church’s declining credibility due to the politicization of the priesthood and the abuse crisis, and…

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The Church of England has apologised to abuse survivors who have been “let down by the church”, after a clergyman reportedly assessed as a potential risk to children and young people was given a payout.

The Archbishops of Canterbury and York acknowledged the “concerning background” to the case of Canon Andrew Hindley, who the BBC said had been subject to five police investigations, including allegations of sexual assault.

The church confirmed that “a number of allegations were made about the canon over a number of years”, but said there had never been a conviction in the criminal courts or any finding of misconduct in the independent church courts.

Mr Hindley was removed from office on health grounds in 2021 but, after bringing a High Court claim against that decision, was given a payment in settlement, the church said.

The BBC reported an offer of £240,000 was made, but said non-disclosure…

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A recent decision by a Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Tagum, Davao del Norte, convicting 14 Filipino of “child abuse” could end up a case study in the Philippines and maybe even internationally on legal doublespeak and the travesty of justice.

It took me several hours to wade through the court decision, promulgated last July 3, almost six years after the arrests of teachers now known as the Talaingod 18, Talaingod being a town in Davao del Norte where the alleged child abuse occurred.

It’s a complicated story, set against a long history of maltreatment of the “lumad” or indigenous peoples of Mindanao who have, through much of the 20th century, been harassed and pushed away by the military from their ancestral lands, lands rich in natural resources and coveted by companies engaged in mining, logging, and agribusiness.

No one cared, except for social action groups, many affiliated with the…

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The woman said psychotherapy in her teens helped her recover traumatic memories from when she attended her family’s church in Michigan and on a mission trip.

As a young girl, Marian Ippel was consumed by recurring thoughts and dreams of herself and other children being raped. Her yearly physical provoked fear.

It wasn’t until 2020, after months of therapy to address her anxiety and depression, that the inexplicable feeling of dread began to click: Then 17, she recovered memories, she said, of sexual assault by fellow church members abusing her when she was around 3 and 4 years old.

Now 21, Ippel is accusing her Grand Rapids, Michigan, church of creating a culture that fostered alleged abuse in a lawsuit that is not typical: Her complaint, filed Monday in Kent County Circuit Court, claims harm was done to her at such a young age, while hinging on memories that she…

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Jonathan Russell, a former volunteer at First Baptist Church in Bridgeport, will spend eight to 15 years in prison.

A former Mid-Michigan church volunteer will spend several years in prison for inappropriately touching boys.

Court documents show 43-year-old Jonathan Russell was sentenced to two terms of eight to 15 years in prison. He pleaded no contest several counts of criminal sexual conduct, child abuse and indecent exposure.

Russell had been a volunteer at First Baptist Church of Bridgeport.

Police started an investigation of February 2023 after a person claimed Russell inappropriately touched a child in the spring of 2022.

Russell has similar convictions on this criminal record related to incidents in Crawford County and in North Carolina.

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In 1992, a detective went on a Boston television show to play a tape he had recorded.

The detective was there with other men who, they said, had been abused by a priest, Father James Porter, at St. Mary’s Church in North Attleboro while they were growing up in the early 1960s. On the tape, Porter admitted to abusing children at St. Mary’s.

It became an immense scandal for the Roman Catholic Church.

Quickly, the Vatican appointed Bishop Sean O’Malley to straighten out the mess.

O’Malley addressed the situation in a much different manner than Catholic hierarchy had in the past, when bishops and cardinals would arrange a quick settlement to make matter disappear without public scrutiny.

O’Malley preferred to address the concerns of the victims, to really listen to their stories.

Porter’s victims would meet in secret with their lawyers and therapists in a community center. They were on…

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Before ending formal sessions last month, the Massachusetts Legislature failed to act on a bill that would eliminate a cap on liability in child sexual abuse cases against nonprofit charities. The lawmaker who proposed the bill said the Catholic Church lobbied against it.

The bill, S.916, would have removed several barriers to recovering damages for child sexual abuse, according to state Sen. William Brownsberger. It would have eliminated the liability cap on child sexual abuse cases against public charities, as well as for similar cases against state and local governments. It also would have removed a feature of the state’s sovereign immunity law that makes it difficult for people to sue for negligent supervision of employees.

The legislation targets Massachusetts’ charitable immunity law, which caps damages against nonprofit charities at $20,000. (Medical malpractice lawsuits against a nonprofit provider are capped at $100,000.)

The cap…

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(RNS) — In 2022, Mark Rivera, a former Anglican lay minister, was convicted of felony child sexual assault three years after a young girl told her mother that he had abused her. Months later, he pled guilty to felony sexual assault, nearly three years after his neighbor reported that Rivera had raped her.

From the first, his survivors said, authorities in the Anglican Church in North America’s Upper Midwest Diocese had been slow to respond, casual about informing their fellow church members and, even after he had been arrested, sided with Rivera.

In 2021, several of Rivera’s victims went public about the obstacles they faced in reporting Rivera’s misconduct, and, ever since, a group of ACNA members has been clamoring for the denomination to revise its abuse prevention protocols.

Now, the denomination has taken steps in that direction. At its June meeting in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, the denomination’s…

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Limerick Diocese has said it is willing to take the remains of the disgraced Bishop Eamonn Casey for burial.

However, it stressed that this decision is not up to the diocese.

Bishop Casey’s death notice has been taken down from the internet, in line with Church protocol for clergy removed from ministry due to credible allegations of child sexual abuse.Advertisement0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 0% 

The recent RTÉ documentary Bishop Casey’s Buried Secrets, in association with The Irish Mail on Sunday, revealed the former Bishop of Galway had been removed from ministry by the Vatican before 2006 and that the ban was reiterated to him in 2007 after multiple allegations of abuse were received.

Galway Diocese had multiple allegations of child sexual abuse against Bishop Casey on its files when a decision was taken to inter him in the crypt of  View Cache

The Buffalo Diocese canceled a 2 On Your Side interview with its child protection policy coordinator.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Editor’s note: This is Part 3 of an ongoing 2 On Your Side series, “Faith & Fallout,” which examines multiple issues facing the Diocese of Buffalo, including the sexual abuse of children, bankruptcy, church closings and how the diocese spends donations by parishioners. 

When Bishop Michael Fisher announced a settlement in 2022 between the Diocese of Buffalo and State Attorney General Letitia James, he announced the hiring of attorney Melissa Potzler as the diocese’s new child protection policy coordinator. 

“Since I arrived here … I’m about accountability and transparency,” Fisher said at the news conference. 

Two years later, Potzler oversees a monitoring program for 20 priests and former priests. The diocese acknowledges that its own investigators have substantiated child sex abuse allegations against the…

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Archbishop-elect Richard Henning spoke with “EWTN News In Depth” about his upcoming role as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Boston, highlighting his dedication to serving the local community: “My mission will be focused on the people right in front of me.”

The call from the apostolic nuncio, Henning said, caught him by surprise. Henning, 59, has been bishop of the Diocese of Providence since May 1, 2023, and coadjutor bishop of Providence since November 2022. The Archdiocese of Boston, home to more than 1.8 million Catholics, is one of the largest in the United States. 

Henning recalled receiving the call during an already-exciting day — he was preparing to receive a catechumen into the Church.

“The nuncio called me just as I arrived back in my room, and — you know, they have that expression in the movies: ‘You better sit down for this.’ Well, that was the first time…

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Prosecutors say that Jonathan Russell’s preliminary hearing on Wednesday was adjourned as he will most likely plea to all the charges he faces.

BRIDGEPORT, Mich. (WJRT) – A former Mid-Michigan church volunteer will spend several years in prison for inappropriately touching boys.

Court documents show 43-year-old Jonathan Russell was sentenced to two terms of eight to 15 years in prison. He pleaded no contest several counts of criminal sexual conduct, child abuse and indecent exposure.

Russell had been a volunteer at First Baptist Church of Bridgeport.

Police started an investigation of February 2023 after a person claimed Russell inappropriately touched a child in the spring of 2022.

Russell has similar convictions on this criminal record related to incidents in Crawford County and in North Carolina.

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The woman said psychotherapy in her teens helped her recover traumatic memories from when she attended her family’s church in Michigan and on a mission trip.

As a young girl, Marian Ippel was consumed by recurring thoughts and dreams of herself and other children being raped. Her yearly physical provoked fear.

It wasn’t until 2020, after months of therapy to address her anxiety and depression, that the inexplicable feeling of dread began to click: Then 17, she recovered memories, she said, of sexual assault by fellow church members abusing her when she was around 3 and 4 years old.

Now 21, Ippel is accusing her Grand Rapids, Michigan, church of creating a culture that fostered alleged abuse in a lawsuit that is not typical: Her complaint, filed Monday in Kent County Circuit Court, claims harm was done to her at such a young age, while hinging on memories that…

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• The Bolivian government’s decision to file formal charges against the Jesuits makes more relevant to question about the roots of the clergy sexual abuse crisis.
• The ongoing probe in Bolivia shows how the Church sticks to a system prone to sexual abuse and the government unwillingness to go deeper into the crisis.
• The appointments in the Bolivian Jesuits and the Episcopate reveal the extent of clergy sexual abuse as a common practice shaping the current crisis.

Last Thursday, the Bolivian government announced it was formally charging three former leaders of the so-called Jesuits with trying to cover up the sexual abuse of a now deceased bishop and member of the largest religious order in the Roman Catholic Church, with a global “army” of over 24 thousand members, when considering both priests and the non-ordained religious males.

The most recent filing (opens the Nation’ Attorney’s statement in Spanish)…

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ROME — A depressingly familiar story has been playing out here in Italy over recent days, with the arrest of a trusted priest and veteran leader in Catholic education for the alleged abuse of a former altar boy beginning when the young man was just 12 years old, and stretching over a period of years.

While the arrest order is focused on that one accusation, the priest, 60-year-old Father Andrea Melis, a member of the Piarist Fathers in the northern Italian region around the city of Genoa, is also reportedly under investigation for the alleged grooming of at least seven other potential victims.

According to investigators, Melis, who’s currently in domestic confinement, pressured his targets for acts such as kisses, cuddles, and other sexual favors, in exchange for gifts including electronic cigarettes, brand-name clothing, and videogames.

To make matters worse, it’s emerged that Melis…

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Media reports showed volunteer in charge of bankruptcy expenses admitted to a stunning lack of qualifications

A group of attorneys representing clergy abuse claimants involved in the Roman Catholic archdiocese of New Orleans’ bankruptcy case – which has cost the church about $40m but remains unresolved – has formally requested the removal of the volunteer tasked by the organization to manage the four-and-a-half-year-old case’s expenses after he testified to a stunning lack of qualifications for the role.

The abuse survivors’ lawyers also requested the appointment of an outside trustee to substitute the volunteer in question, Lee Eagan, in a motion filed late on Thursday.

Their court filing came a day after the Guardian and the New Orleans CBS affiliate WWL Louisiana were the first to report on a series of sworn depositions by Eagan in which he acknowledged having never previously policed a bankrupt organization’s costs, failing to familiarize himself with the…

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After seven competency hearings and still no clear determination, Lawrence Hecker’s trial on rape, kidnapping charges is now set for September 24.

After seven competency hearings, there’s still no clear determination on pedophile priest Lawrence Hecker’s competency to assist in his legal defense, but on Thursday his trial on rape and kidnapping charges was finally set for September 24.

The 92-year-old priest is accused of strangling a high school student unconscious and raping him in the St. Theresa the Little Flower of the Child Jesus Catholic church in 1975. He admitted on camera to WWL Louisiana and the Guardian last year that he had sex with several underage boys in the 1960s and 70s, while he was a pastor and running scouting programs for the Archdiocese of New Orleans.

But Hecker denied to WWL and the Guardian that he choked out and raped the alleged victim in this case. His…

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Victims who experienced sexual abuse at the hands of clergy in San Francisco are calling out Vice President Kamala Harris — the city’s former district attorney — for not defending them in their time of need.

Joey Piscitelli, 69, a clergy sex abuse victim and advocate for survivors of clergy sexual abuse, told the Washington Times that Harris’ depiction of herself, being tough on sex offenders, was “bulls***.”

“She was handed a room full of cases and boxes of names of sex offenders, and all that in the church right there under her nose,” Piscitelli said. “The priest that molested me in ministry with children under her nose in the city. I wrote her a letter and said, ‘Hey, what about this guy? He’s a rapist. He’s with kids right now at the oldest Cathedral in San Francisco, right under your nose. What are you going to do?’…

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“If I were a victim of this guy and he died and no one would believe me because he’s dead, that doesn’t in any way justify they’re ignoring the facts of the past,” Bielmeier said. 

More than half a million Catholics call southeastern Wisconsin home. The Archdiocese of Milwaukee has nearly 200 parishes in ten counties.

Like other cities, Milwaukee’s archdiocese maintains a list of priests credibly accused of sexual abuse.

20 years after creating that list, some are wondering why a deceased Milwaukee priest is named on alleged abuser lists in two other states, but he’s nowhere to be found on Milwaukee’s.

A TMJ4 Lighthouse investigation uncovered why.

Black and white photos take Mike Bielmeier back to a childhood full of horrible secrets.

“Between the ages of 11 and 12, I was sexually assaulted by three different priests,” he said. “That is a difficult thing to overcome and I…

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A workshop for recognizing, preventing, and responding to spiritual abuse in the Catholic Church

Through the Church—the sacrament of God’s infinite love—her Scriptures, her Tradition, her prayers, and her liturgies, people can encounter the living Christ and experience his love, healing, and transformative grace.

But what happens when the men and women tasked with mediating God’s grace, appointed to preach God’s word and preside over the sacraments, do so with carelessness or coercion? What harm is done when the place of healing becomes a source of harm?

I am a limited license counselor and catechist in Michigan and I work with individuals who have been harmed by the Church and with ministry leaders to help them make their communities safer.

Join me this fall for an online workshop focused on recognizing, preventing, and responding to spiritual abuse in the Catholic Church.

This workshop is for:

• Individuals trying to…

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Retired FBI official James Bogner was recently named chair of the National Review Board, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ consultative safe environment body established in 2002 under the “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People,” also known as the Dallas Charter.

A former high-level FBI special agent with more than 35 years of law enforcement experience, Bogner succeeds outgoing chair Suzanne Healy, who recently completed her four-year term, having led the board since 2020.

Days after the Aug. 1 announcement by USCCB president Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, OSV News spoke with Bogner about his vision for the board as it works with the U.S. bishops in strengthening protections against sexual abuse within the Catholic Church.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

– – –

OSV News: How do you hope to bring your extensive and…

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“Sugarcane” follows survivors and investigators after the horrifying treatment of Indigenous Canadians was discovered at residential schools.

When it comes to stories that hold the potential to slide from sensitive to sensational, documentarians can take several approaches. There’s the talking-head driven journalistic approach, in which the story and its analysis are laid out, beat by beat. There’s also the more lurid approach that films about cults and crime can employ, with re-enactments and ominous musical cues.

But a third way — and the one that Emily Kassie and Julian Brave NoiseCat take in “Sugarcane” (in theaters), to their great credit — is to invite the audience to dwell alongside those affected by the story, letting their experiences and emotions guide the film. This one tells a horrifying story: In 2021 and 2022 in a series of cascading discoveries, unmarked graves were found on the grounds of…

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Five years ago, when the Archdiocese of St. Louis released a long list of clergy it said were credibly accused of sexually abusing minors, there was a sense of finality.

The acknowledgment, though delayed and slim on details, came with a sense that the local Catholic Church could move past clergy sex abuse headlines and be better known for its ministry.

Now, lawsuits filed in St. Louis and four surrounding counties bring dozens of new allegations of abuse and claims of a systematic coverup. The suits, while voluminous, raise questions about how much new information is revealed. Many of the accusations are vague and date back decades. Some contain errors. Many use partial names or nicknames of the accused. The lawsuits appear to be the fruits of an ongoing ad campaign targeting Missourians who may have been abused.

“Good grief,” said the Rev. Robert Reiker, shown by a reporter that…

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Franciscan Friars bankruptcy includes limits on payments for molestation allegations: Aug. 30 deadline

urvivors of sexual abuse by members of the Franciscan Friars of the Province of St. Barbara — including those living in Arizona — must file claims in the order’s bankruptcy case by the end of the month.

Notice of an earlier deadline was not provided to Native American tribes in Arizona and New Mexico, where many of the 52 accused priests spent time over the preceding decades.

Former Pascua Yaqui Attorney General Alfred Urbina said he did not receive any notice regarding a July 19 filing deadline from the Franciscans, as was mandated by the court overseeing the bankruptcy case. Urbina took it upon himself to notify the tribe after being contacted by a journalist from the National Catholic Reporter, he said.

“If potential claims are going to arise from tribal communities, I would think that…

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A man who was previously studying to be a priest at a Cincinnati seminary took a plea deal on Thursday for having child sex abuse material.

According to the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office, 28-year-old Broderick Witt was arrested and charged with eight counts of pandering sexually oriented material involving a minor earlier this year.

The investigation began in September 2023 when members of the Regional Electronics & Computer Investigations section opened an investigation into Witt’s activities after receiving information from the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

According to court documents, the material involved female children as young as 6 years old and contained disturbing content.

A Hamilton County grand jury indicted Witt on 15 charges, most of which are pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor.

During this investigation, the sheriff’s office said investigators discovered that Witt was a seminarian studying to be a priest for the…

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A Kansas City Catholic Deacon has been suspended after a lawsuit claimed he sexually abused a teenage boy decades ago.

The Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph announced on Wednesday, Aug. 7, that it had been made aware of an accusation that Brother Ralph Wehner had inappropriate sexual contact with a minor.

Church leaders said the incident is alleged to have happened more than once between 1982 and 1984 in the Archdiocese of St. Louis. An initial internal investigation was immediately launched to “determine any potential connection to Deacon Ralph Wehner.”

Based on the findings of the initial investigation, Bishop James Johnston launched a higher-level investigation on Wednesday. Deacon Wehner, whose staff directory page revealed he hails from St. Louis, has now been placed on precautionary suspension from the ministry.

However, the Diocese noted that a precautionary suspension from ministry should not be viewed as a punishment…

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Following the recent arrest of founding pastor Ronnie Goines, Koinonia Christian Church in Arlington, Texas, has named James Ray Taylor to the interim role of lead pastor. In late July, Goines was arrested on one count of sexual assault and one count of indecent assault. He was released on $23,000 bond, and a police investigation is ongoing.

In an Aug. 1 press release, Koinonia stated, “Through the Providence of God, our Executive Pastor, James Ray Taylor, was already properly positioned to assume an interim role as Lead Pastor.” Taylor’s new role became effective immediately, according to the church.

Although Koinonia didn’t address the allegations against Goines, the church acknowledged his “committed leadership” for the past 20 years. “Recognizing the unique challenges that our founding pastor is facing presently, we want his full attention to be focused on becoming healed, whole, and fully restored,”…

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Catholics in Luxembourg have expressed shock over a massive theft at their church’s Caritas charity, while hoping the scandal will not halt donations ahead of Pope Francis’ September visit.

“We are astonished — we never thought such a thing could happen,” said Gerard Kieffer, press officer for the Luxembourg Archdiocese. “But Caritas is legally and juridically independent of the church, so while we can anticipate negative consequences, reflections are underway as to how these might be limited.”

The church representative spoke to OSV News as investigations continued into the reported theft of 61 million euros ($67 million) from Caritas, one of Luxembourg’s largest charities, in fraudulent bank loans and transfers.

He said efforts were being made to “find solutions,” adding that the Catholic Church would issue a statement once the scandal’s parameters became clearer.

Meanwhile, a local Catholic priest said Luxembourg, which borders Germany, France and Belgium, was tightly regulated…

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Devastating documentary Sugarcane reveals horrifying stories from controversial Indigenous residential schools

Residential schools for Indigenous children have been a stain on the histories of both the United States and Canada, and although steps have been taken in making amends with the past, the new documentary Sugarcane reveals just how much of the process still remains incomplete.

These schools operated throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, with Canada’s last residential school only closing in 1997, and they have been referred to as sites of attempted cultural genocide against Indigenous people. For many children, attendance at these schools was compulsory, forcing them to travel far away from their homes, where they were systematically separated from their language and culture and suffered various forms of abuse. Attendance at these schools has been linked to serious mental health consequences, including elevated rates of depression, substance use and suicide.

New light was recently shed on the…

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An ex-seminarian with the Archdiocese of Cincinnati will avoid a trial after he pleaded guilty to child porn charges.

Broderick Witt pleaded guilty to the eight counts of pandering sexually oriented material involving a minor that he was arrested for in February, according to Hamilton County court officials.

Witt is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 5.

Hamilton County court records depict the graphic nature of eight videos, all of which involved minor females. Due to the contents referenced in the court documents, FOX19 NOW will not release the details.

The Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office previously said those videos had an IP address to Mt. Saint Mary’s Seminary, where Witt attended.

During the investigation, Hamilton County deputies say they discovered that Witt was a seminarian with the Archdiocese of Cincinnati studying to be a priest.

Witt’s residential address is Mount Saint Mary’s Seminary, where he was arrested,…

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Broderick Witt entered the guilty plea at Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas, where he was facing multiple counts of “pandering sexually oriented material involving a minor.”

A former Catholic seminarian in Ohio pleaded guilty this week to charges of possessing child sexual abuse material and faces years in prison.

Broderick Witt entered the guilty plea at Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas, where he was facing multiple counts of “pandering sexually oriented material involving a minor.” 

Prosecutors had originally charged Witt with 15 counts; he ultimately pleaded guilty to eight of those charges, with the prosecution dropping the remaining seven. 

Court documents indicated the material involved girls as young as 6 years old. 

The Archdiocese of Cincinnati had announced in February of this year that Witt, at the time a student at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary and School of Theology in Cincinnati, had been arrested…

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Bishop Michael W. Fisher declined an interview with 2 On Your Side; COO struggles to answer questions.

Editor’s note: This is Part 2 of an ongoing 2 On Your Side series, “Faith & Fallout,” which examines multiple issues facing the Diocese of Buffalo, including the sexual abuse of children, bankruptcy, church closings and how the diocese spends donations by parishioners. 

The Diocese of Buffalo is in the midst of a bankruptcy process that has dragged on for more than four years, spurred by hundreds of lawsuits alleging the abuse of young children by Buffalo priests.

It is the second-longest bankruptcy ever among Catholic dioceses in the U.S. That slow pace and big spending by church leaders has some asking just how bankrupt the diocese really is. 

For this series, 2 On Your Side Investigates gave Bishop Michael W. Fisher multiple opportunities over the course of three weeks…

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Disclaimer: All persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

A trial date has been set in the sexual abuse case against former New Orleans priest Lawrence Hecker.

The trial will begin on Sept. 24, pending additional information from the court-appointed psychiatrist.

“We’re getting very close to the rubber meeting the road, I think, in this case, and I think the most important takeaway today was that trial day,” said Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams.

At a competency hearing on Thursday, Aug. 8, Orleans Parish Criminal District Court Judge Benedict Willard stated that Hecker had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and dementia with mild cognitive impairment.

According to the judge, the report detailing the results of Hecker’s latest evaluation doesn’t clarify if Hecker is competent to stand trial.

Both the state and the defense hoped the psychiatrist would attend the hearing to testify.

“My understanding is that [the psychiatrist…

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A judge on Thursday set a tentative trial date for an elderly former priest accused of sexually assaulting a teenage boy nearly five decades ago while he was serving in the Archdiocese of New Orleans. The trial date follows weeks of upheaval as Lawrence Hecker’s mental competency was questioned. 

Criminal District Court Judge Benedict Willard set Hecker’s trial for Sept. 24, a date the court will hold pending a determination from a court-appointed psychiatrist. 

Psychiatrists determined that Hecker, 92, suffers from short-term memory loss, and imaging tests — contained among more than 7,000 pages of Hecker’s medical records collected over the last year — showed changes to Hecker’s brain consistent with age-related dementia. 

But to definitively determine whether Hecker has dementia — and if so, whether it is reversible — targeted, comprehensive dementia testing was necessary, psychiatrist Sarah Deland said in July. 

Willard ordered the additional evaluation of Hecker’s mental faculties last…

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The conclusion of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse’s bankruptcy has been further delayed as lawyers rework key documents following a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

The judge handling the case, Wendy Kinsella, suspended all upcoming deadlines in the case, including a November hearing on final approval for the diocese’s proposed plan to exit bankruptcy. The judge said she will re-evaluate the case at a Sept. 18 hearing.

Kinsella said during a hearing Thursday afternoon that she is “highly sensitive” to requests to keep the case moving. But, she added, “the court simply can’t proceed under a scheduling order formulated under a plan that is no longer being pursued.”

The ruling by the Supreme Court earlier this summer struck at the heart of the diocese’s proposed plan, which would distribute $100 million to abuse survivors if they agree not to pursue further legal…

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A priest arrested for possession of child pornography and accused of multiple other sex crimes is being held in Texas on a massive bond as police reportedly fear he may flee the United States amid the charges. 

Police arrested Father Anthony Odiong in Florida last month. The Waco Police Department said in a Facebook post that officers arrested Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with help from the U.S. Marshals Service. 

Waco police said that in March they had received “credible information” regarding a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. During the subsequent investigation, “a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. 

Odiong was extradited to Texas this week to face child porn charges as well as sex abuse charges in McLennan County, which is located in the Diocese of Austin. The 55-year-old priest reportedly waived a challenge to extradition after…

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Sometimes you just need to step back a minute.

You need time to regroup, to think things through, and a scenery change is the place to do it. Get past your current position, and situations can become clearer somehow. Thoughts can be reorganized. Problems pivot. As in the new novel “Blessings” by Chukwuebuka Ibeh, you’ll have a different perspective.

‘Blessings’
By Chukwuebuka Ibeh
c.2024, Doubleday
$28/288 pages

Obiefuna didn’t say much on the road to the seminary.

What was there to say? His father had caught him in a too-cozy situation with a young man who’d been taken in as an apprentice and for that, Obiefuna was being sent away. Away from his mother, his younger brother, Ekene, and from the young man that 15-year-old Obiefuna was in love with.

Life in seminary was bad – Obiefuna was always on alert for Seniors, who were said to be abusive because abuse was allowed, even encouraged…

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I just want to say a few words about a lawsuit filed several years ago, with serious allegations against Father Michael Scanlan, which has been publicly reported about for the first time.

And this is your standard warning that I’m going to mention some horrifying sexual abuse in this post, so stop reading now if you don’t want to hear it. I’m not linking to the lawsuit itself, but it’s easy to find in a simple google search.

I don’t have any private information about this lawsuit. I only know that it exists, because the podcaster who just published about it mentioned me rather extensively at the beginning of his video, and so somebody contacted me with the video and a copy of the lawsuit to tell me I’d been talked about. I’m reading the lawsuit for the first time now. This information is about an hour old to me…

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A single incident in the 1970s had an impact on Len Prazych’s life, relationship with family

It happened on a sweltering night in August 1971, in Bayonne, N.J. Len Prazych was 11 years old. It only took 15 seconds but the sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of his parish priest, who was almost like a second father to him, forever changed his life.

“I came from a strict Catholic upbringing and the messaging in my family is you don’t talk about these things,” said Prazych, who lives in Clifton Park. “You also never say anything against a priest or the church. It’s over 50 years later, and I’m still struggling to understand the motivations of why my parents acted like they didn’t believe me.”

Prazych has recently self-published a memoir “My Fathers: Letters of Healing on a Quest for the Truth.” “I never attempted to find an agent or…

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A Catholic parish and school in the Diocese of Columbus, Ohio, has fired an employee who was in charge of background checks and sexual abuse awareness training after he was arrested for possessing materials depicting child pornography and abuse.

The employee, John Denzel, 60, worked as the safe environment coordinator for St. Brigid of Kildare, a parish and pre-K through eighth grade school in Dublin, Ohio.

He was arrested by the Union County Sheriff’s Office on Aug. 5, according to a report by the sheriff’s office.

An official with the Union County Court of Ohio told CNA that Denzel was incarcerated for a short time at the Tri-County Regional Jail and has since been released on his own recognizance.

Denzel, who has been employed by St. Brigid of Kildare since 2017 and has held the position of safe environment coordinator since 2022, was indicted on 15 charges related…

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Speaking on Joe Duffy’s Liveline programme last week, Deacon Frank Browne, a permanent deacon attached to Rathfarnham Parish, lamented at what he sees as a common “message that’s continually in the media” surrounding the Church and abuse; a message he believes the Church needs to robustly counter by outlining the successes of its safeguarding systems and the rigorous procedures currently in place.

Addressing misconceptions about the rates of abusers in the Church, Deacon Browne admitted that he gets wound up by some people’s ignorance when it comes to the estimated rates of abuse in the Church and that these misconceptions need to be challenged with facts.

“What really winds me up is when I’m at work and I talk to my younger social work colleagues or at my local GAA pitch and I ask how many priests do you think abused?,” he said. “They never, ever have less than 30%….

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A retired FBI agent will head up the U.S. bishops’ consultative safe environment body, while a clergy abuse survivor, a nursing professor and two clinical social workers are also among the board’s Aug. 1 appointments.

Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services, and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has appointed James Bogner as the next chair of the National Review Board. A former high-level FBI special agent with more than 35 years of law enforcement experience, Bogner succeeds outgoing chair Suzanne Healy, who recently completed her four-year term, having led the board since 2020.

Three new members have also been appointed to the board: Paulette Adams, a tenured professor emeritus at the University of Louisville School of Nursing; independent business owner Scott Surette, a survivor of clerical abuse; and retired clinical social worker Barbara Thorp of the Archdiocese of Boston.

Reappointed to…

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On August 1, the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph became aware of an accusation of inappropriate sexual contact with a minor between 1982-1984 in the Archdiocese of St. Louis made against Brother Ralph Wehner through a pending lawsuit. An initial investigation was immediately launched by the diocese to determine any potential connection to Deacon Ralph Wehner who is assigned to the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph.

Based on the findings of the initial investigation, Bishop Johnston initiated a preliminary canonical investigation on August 7. Deacon Ralph Wehner has been placed on precautionary suspension from exercising diaconal ministry. Precautionary suspension from ministry should not be viewed as a punishment or as indication of wrongdoing, but rather a protective measure for all persons involved.

The Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph takes all allegations of misconduct by church personnel very seriously and works to respond to survivors’ needs with urgency, respect and compassion….

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It is now abundantly clear that historically the Catholic Church has not been a safe place for all and that predators were able commit horrendous crimes in plain sight. Past leaders failed in their duty to protect children and the vulnerable, leaving the reputation of the church in ruin. Much work has been necessary to ensure the failures of the past are acknowledged and do not happen again.

The church has come to understand that keeping children and adults safe and responding compassionately to people who have been harmed must be a major focus of its work, if the church is to move forward with integrity.

Safeguarding the vulnerable in society is not a new concept to the Catholic Church. It has been with us for centuries. However, historically little consideration was given to what this looked like in practice.

Many Biblical passages call us to protect and care for those…

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A Kerry priest feels so strongly about the child sex abuse allegations against former Bishop Eamon Casey that he has ripped up some of his most precious possessions – the 50-year-old photos showing his ordination by Casey, who was then Bishop of Kerry.

Fr Patsy Lynch was ordained by the then Bishop on June 9, 1974, but following the revelations in recent weeks about Eamonn Casey he no longer wants to recall what was once his proudest moment.

“Why would I keep a picture of sexual predator?” he said.

“I know what I have done and I have done the right thing.”

The RTÉ documentary Bishop Casey’s Buried Secrets, filmed in conjunction with the Irish Mail, revealed that at least five child sexual abuse allegations were made against Bishop Casey, including one in Kerry.

Among the complainants was his niece Patricia Donovan who made her complaint to Gardaí in the…

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A Minnesota law requiring people in schools, hospitals, psychological or psychiatric practices, social services and other professions to report suspicions that a child is being maltreated has another safeguard for children, thanks to a law passed this year by the Legislature.

The new provisions state in part: “A person who intentionally prevents or attempts to prevent a person mandated … to report under this chapter is guilty of a misdemeanor.”

In addition, the law states that businesses, religious and nonprofit organizations, schools and other entities cannot have policies, written or otherwise, that “prevent or discourage a mandatory or voluntary reporter from reporting suspected or alleged maltreatment of a child.”

The Minnesota Catholic Conference (MCC) — the public policy voice of the state’s Catholic bishops — backed the bill. The conference brought the Catholic Church’s own struggles with child sexual abuse cases and its desire to prevent maltreatment of children anywhere…

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A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision on bankruptcy law will “absolutely” have a significant effect on U.S. Church abuse lawsuits, one legal expert says, with the highest court potentially opening up individual Catholic parishes and schools to legal action. 

In its June 27 decision in Harrington v. Purdue Pharma L.P., the Supreme Court held that U.S. bankruptcy law “does not authorize a release and injunction that, as part of a plan of reorganization under Chapter 11, effectively seek to discharge claims against a non-debtor without the consent of affected claimants,” according to SCOTUSblog.

Untangling the complexities of that ruling requires some knowledge of U.S. bankruptcy law, says John Czarnetzky, the dean and CEO of Ave Maria School of Law in Naples, Florida. 

“The most ancient type of bankruptcy is liquidation — a debtor files, sells all of its assets in bankruptcy court, and distributes that money to creditors,”…

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 A former Catholic priest who worked in Waco and West who was arrested last month in Florida in two alleged sexual assaults in McLennan County was returned Tuesday to McLennan County.

Father Anthony Odiong, 55, who waived extradition after his arrest in Florida, was booked into the McLennan County Jail Tuesday afternoon, Chief Deputy Cody Blossman confirmed.

Odiong, who is alleged to have taken advantage of women during their weakest times, is being held on a $2.5 million bond.

At least eight women have come forward since his arrest saying he used his position as priest and spiritual adviser to manipulate them and sexually assault them between 2007 and 2023, Waco police officials have said.

Waco attorneys Chris King and Robert Callahan are representing one of Odiong’s alleged victims and said they expect to file a civil lawsuit against Odiong and the Catholic Diocese of Austin.

“I sought spiritual direction…

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The Archdiocese of Seattle faces two new lawsuits for alleged child sexual abuse that occurred in the 1970s and 1980s, adding to a growing list of ongoing cases against the institution.

The plaintiffs say they were sexually assaulted as children by a local Catholic school coach as administrators and staff looked the other way. The men named in the lawsuit as perpetrators have died since the alleged abuse occurred.

Attorneys representing the victims, who are only identified in the lawsuits as “John Doe,” say there are likely more lawsuits to come.

The new claims follow a failed effort by the state to subpoena the Seattle Archdiocese for documents related to sexual abuse allegations. Dozens of child sex abuse cases have been brought against the Archdiocese over the years.

RELATED: Sex abuse survivors ask Vatican to investigate Seattle Archdiocese as Washington’s lawsuit fails

The two new lawsuits say…

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The maxim that the sins of the fathers are visited on the sons is true in a particularly grim sense in Ireland where, in the archdiocese of Dublin, there is only one man training for the priesthood, with another entering seminary formation in September.

Others are in the process of discernment but it is a dispiriting prospect for a capital where there are a million Catholics and almost 200 parishes. The vocations director for the archdiocese, Fr Seamus McEntee, observed that the situation was indicative of a broader “crisis of faith”.

By way of illustration of what this means, the historic parish of St Francis Xavier, run by Jesuits, has merged with the Pro-Cathedral. Its parish priest Fr Niall Leahy said, “you can give all the reasons why it makes sense for us no longer to function as a city centre parish, but the hard part is that it’s a community and…

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Following the publication of the Abuse in Care report by the Royal Commission of Inquiry, Frances Tagaloa has watched with painful interest as the news media put a spotlight on the stories of abuse and neglect suffered by countless vulnerable and children in care of state and faith-based institutions in New Zealand.

Tagaloa is one of the many who suffered at the hands of Catholic clergy, sexually abused “multiple times” as a little girl. Her testimony is one of more than two thousand survivor’s accounts that the Inquiry recorded.

Some 200,000 vulnerable children, youth and adults, out of 650,000 in care during the period were abused, and “even more were neglected,” according to the report, which also stated that leaders of faith-based institutions tried to cover up abuse by moving abusers to other locations and denying any involvement. 

They “knew, or should have known about the abuse and neglect…

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Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee Chair Philip Robertson gives his thoughts on the clergy sex abuse problem within the Southern Baptist Convention in this video.

Spoiler: He doesn’t think it’s much of a problem.

Robertson attempts to discredit and sow doubt about the 2019 Abuse of Faith series, which brought national attention to the pervasive sexual abuse and cover-up problem in the SBC, the country’s largest Protestant faith group. 

That six-part investigatory series, jointly published by the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News, documented more than 700 people who were sexually abused by Southern Baptist clergy and church staff. Nearly all of them were children at the time of the abuse. This number was widely recognized as “the tip of the iceberg.”

Not only did the series disclose widespread abuse in local churches, but it also implicated top SBC officials and leaders in mishandling abuse reports.

Abuse of Faith was an exposé that should have…

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