ABUSE TRACKER

Editor’s note: This article refers to sexual violence, which some readers might find triggering and/or disturbing.

A North Las Vegas pastor has agreed to a plea deal in a sex crimes case. Bobby Cornealius Smith of New Beginnings Ministries was charged last year with nine counts of sexual assault, one count of attempted sexual assault, and one count of child abuse, neglect, or endangerment. 

According to KLAS, Smith’s attorney said that Smith, 46, will continue his work as a pastor. He is still listed as the pastor of New Beginnings Ministries on the church’s website. 

“We have a no-judgment policy,” the website says. “Come in as you are, but refuse to stay the same, and allow God to complete His perfect work in you.”

As part of the plea agreement, Smith has pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of gross lewdness and conspiracy to commit a…

View Cache

A Wichita Falls Pastor was behind bars again Monday after a grand jury tacked more charges onto allegations that Paul Andrew Coleman sexually assaulted a child.

Coleman, 67, is now charged with sexual assault of two children and continuous sexual abuse of a child related to allegations that surfaced in 2022.

He was being held Tuesday in the Wichita County Jail on $425,000 in total bonds for charges in the latest indictment against him, according to online jail records.

Anyone charged with a crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Coleman was the pastor of Good Samaritan Outreach Ministries on East Carolina Street when an 11-year-old child made an outcry at Patsy’s House Children’s Advocacy Center, according to allegations in court documents. The child said the assaults occurred at the church and at a home.

At that time, a Wichita County grand jury indicted Coleman…

View Cache

A Southern Baptist pastor in Greensboro, North Carolina, was arraigned Tuesday in federal court in New York City on charges of falsifying records in a sexual abuse case, part of the Department of Justice’s probe of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.

The indictment is the first involving an entity of the Southern Baptist Convention, which federal officials have been investigating since August 2022 following revelations of hundreds of abuse cases within the denomination.

In March, the interim president of the church’s executive committee said no indictment of the governing body was expected, although some entities were still being probed. Tuesday’s indictment involved a former administrator and professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.

Matthew Queen, senior pastor at Friendly Avenue Baptist Church since March of this year, was previously the interim provost at the seminary, where he also taught, according to media reports. He left the school…

View Cache

May 13, 2024

Dear Attorney General Bailey:

We are survivors of awful physical, emotional, educational, educational and sexual abuse and cover up at several Christian boarding ‘schools’ in Missouri.

To protect others, expose evil and help our ourselves find healing and closure, more than a dozen of us filed civil abuse and cover up lawsuits against the adults at the Ranch who committed or concealed heinous acts against us as youngsters.

Over the last few months, several of us have settled our lawsuits against the Circle of Hope Girls Ranch in Humansville where we were so deeply hurt. We are gratified that our courage has helped shine a light on the horrific crimes and misdeeds that were allowed to go on there for years.

But real healing and closure elude us for several reasons.

First, we’ve since learned that there are dozens of so-called ‘Christian boarding schools’ (that seem very similar to…

View Cache

Summary

• The “troubled teen” industry, including private equity-funded and unlicensed faith-based institutions, often engages in abusive practices and is poorly regulated, exploiting desperate parents and state systems.
• Educational consultants, youth transportation companies, and adoptive parents benefit financially from placing children in abusive facilities, with many teens being sent to international programs with little oversight.
• Legislative and policy changes are needed to regulate the industry, ensure proper post-adoption support, and hold parents accountable for child abandonment, with advocacy efforts underway to address these issues.

“My son needs a strict regime with strong men running the show.” That was the position of one parent who refused to plan for the return of his son to the United States after he was removed, along with 7 other boys, from Atlantis Leadership Academy (ALA) in Jamaica due to severe abuse and neglect allegations. The “strict regime” included allegations such as the following…

View Cache

For nearly two decades, one woman stood up to the Southern Baptist Convention, forcing it to face its sex abuse crisis. She was gaslit, maligned, and threatened with legal action. But she didn’t back down. And on this edition of The Roys Report, you’ll hear her story.

Joining host Julie Roys is Christa Brown, an abuse survivor who overcame the odds in pursuit of justice.

[Watch on youtube.]

As a 16-year-old girl, Christa was repeatedly raped by the youth pastor at her Southern Baptist Church. And when she told the music minister at her church what had happened, he told her never to speak of it.

For 35 years, Christa kept silent, accepting the shame that rightly belonged to her rapist. But in the early 2000s, Christa broke her silence—and confronted her childhood church with what had happened. She thought they would do the right thing. But instead, they attacked…

View Cache

As a federal court considers the bankruptcy of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, survivors of sex abuse at the hands of clergy addressed the court on Monday.

The hearing was the second time where the judge allowed victims to share what they went through to allow the court to better understand the case.

Attorney Andrew Janet represents a 58-year-old woman who testified. She said she was abused by a lay teacher when she was 12 years old. The woman was one of eight abuse survivors who testified in a packed courtroom.

“In some bizarre way, it is a relief. It is a turning point to, a, be able to say it to people out in public and to turn the focus back onto themselves to heal,” said Paul Jan Zdunek, the chairman of the Survivors Committee.

The testimony was not included in the court record. Instead, it puts a human perspective…

View Cache

Eight survivors opened up on Monday about the sexual abuse they endured at the hands of Catholic clergy during an emotional hearing in the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s bankruptcy case.

Archbishop William Lori and federal judge Michelle Harner listened to agonizing stories about how the abuse has impacted their lives.

The Baltimore Archdiocese declared bankruptcy in September before a new law, the Child Victims Act of 2023, was set to go into effect. The legislation would have opened the church to several lawsuits.

The Maryland Attorney General’s Office released a 450-page report that identified 156 priests, deacons, Catholic teachers and seminarians within the Archdiocese accused of assaulting over 600 victims.  The incidents detailed in the report date back to the 1940s.

Monday’s hearing was the second in the case.  The first took place in April, when six survivors testified, the…

View Cache

A retired judge mandated by the Vatican to investigate sexual misconduct allegations against a Quebec cardinal says that despite the complainant refusing to collaborate with the probe, he could find no evidence tying the church leader to the alleged crimes.

Retired Quebec Superior Court judge André Denis says that while his investigation doesn’t exonerate Cardinal Gérald Lacroix, it hasn’t uncovered evidence to justify a canonical trial.

“The elements gathered during the investigation make it implausible that the events associated with the cardinal occurred,” Denis told a news conference in Quebec City.

The allegations against Lacroix, the archbishop of Quebec City, emerged in January when he was named as a perpetrator in a class-action lawsuit alleging sexual abuse by clergy and staff. The alleged sexual touching involving Lacroix took place between 1987 and 1988 in Quebec City when the unnamed female plaintiff was 17.

The archbishop has denied the allegations, which…

View Cache

An inquiry ordered by Pope Francis into an allegation of sexual assault against a Canadian cardinal has found no evidence of wrongdoing, the Vatican said Tuesday.

Cardinal Gerald Lacroix, the 66-year-old archbishop of Quebec and a member of the pope’s C9 advisory council, had been accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl in the 1980s.

“In the light of the facts examined by the judge, the report does not permit to identify any actions that amount to misconduct or abuse on the part of Cardinal Gerald C. Lacroix,” the Vatican said in a statement.

“Consequently, no further canonical procedure is foreseen.”

However, the retired judge who wrote the report later published a statement saying he lacked an “important piece of evidence” in that he was unable to meet the plaintiff.

The claims against Lacroix date back to 1987 and 1988, when the alleged victim was 17, and are part of…

View Cache

Scotland’s first female bishop, the Rt Rev Anne Dyer, is poised to face a disciplinary tribunal amidst allegations suggesting her behavior could tarnish the church’s reputation.

Appointed in 2018, Rev Dyer has been accused of actions “unbecoming of a member of the clergy” and likely to “bring the church into disrepute.”

According to The Daily Mail Rev Dyer has previously reported enduring “significant bullying and harassment.”

The process leading to a tribunal was initiated by the church’s procurator, Paul Reid, KC.

After reviewing preliminary findings last November, Reid decided to advance three complaints to a formal hearing. “The alleged canonical offences concern behaviour or conduct unbecoming of a member of the clergy, which brings or is likely to bring the church into disrepute,” the church said in a public statement.

Rev Dyer’s leadership came under scrutiny in 2022 when allegations of bullying emerged, prompting a brief suspension that was quickly lifted after an appeal. Despite…

View Cache

Allégations contre le cardinal Lacroix

Au terme de trois mois d’enquête, le juge à la retraite André Denis révèle qu’il n’a jamais pu obtenir le témoignage de la femme qui a déclaré avoir été agressée il y a 35 ans par le cardinal Gérald Lacroix.

«Sa déclaration est anonyme et elle refuse de collaborer à mon enquête», écrit le juge québécois dans le rapport de 66 pages qu’il a remis au pape François le 6 mai 2024.

«Elle en a le droit et elle doit être traitée avec respect, empathie et accueil comme on doit le faire avec toute personne humaine.»

Mais ce refus a «grandement affecté» l’enquête que lui a commandé le pape le 8 février 2024.

«Si je ne peux affirmer que sa dénonciation est infondée, je ne peux certes pas l’avaliser sur la foi des faits révélés par mon enquête», ajoute le juge retraité de la Cour…

View Cache

KRAKÓW, Poland (OSV News) — The president of the Polish bishops’ conference, Archbishop Tadeusz Wojda of Gdansk, has been accused of alleged negligence in a sex abuse case. The report, filed by a victim-survivor advocate under the new procedural norms established by the papal document “Vos Estis Lux Mundi,” was sent to the Vatican’s apostolic nunciature in Warsaw in March, according to the Polish Catholic media outlet Wiez.

On May 20, a letter was published that Polish abuse victims sent to all members of the Permanent Council of the Polish bishops’ conference May 13, asking to suspend Archbishop Wojda in his duties as president of the Polish bishops’ conference “pending investigation of the alleged negligence.”

“In many Polish dioceses … the welfare of institutions turns out to be more important than human suffering,” victims said in a letter prepared by three vocal advocates of clerical sexual abuse survivors: Toska Szewczyk…

View Cache

It’s been more than four years since Bishop Richard J. Malone resigned as leader of the Buffalo Diocese amid a firestorm of criticism over his role in covering up molestation claims against clergy.

Malone, now 77, has mostly kept a low profile while living in a Town of Tonawanda home owned by Catholic Cemeteries of Buffalo.

But this past week, he presided over confirmation ceremonies at St. Gregory the Great in Amherst, the largest parish in the Buffalo Diocese. In two separate services at the church, he marked the foreheads of more than 100 young people with holy oil, reminisced about his days as a campus minister at Harvard University, and urged nearly 1,000 people in attendance to take “a new step forward with Jesus.” He has also done confirmations in several other churches since 2023 in Allegany County, Orchard Park and Williamsville, and was scheduled Sunday for a confirmation in…

View Cache

The 58-year-old woman couldn’t bear to share the details of the sexual abuse she suffered as a child, but its effect on her came across loud and clear Monday in a Baltimore courtroom as she faced the leader of the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

“Do you see me now?” she cried toward Archbishop William Lori, who was seated across the courtroom from her. “Do I matter to you now? I suffer from PTSD, from anxiety, from depression and panic attacks. I’m on disability. It will take me days to recover from talking today. I hope you’ve heard my truth and feel the pain I’ve struggled with.”

Her testimony as one of eight abuse survivors to speak Monday in the archdiocese’s bankruptcy case contributed to a chilling picture of children being tormented by Catholic clergy and a vivid portrait of the lives altered permanently by their experiences.

Victims recounted being abused in…

View Cache

The Diocese of Richmond said on Friday it has learned of allegations that a now deceased man sexually abused students of St. John the Apostle Catholic School.

[VIDEO]

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — A day after the Catholic Diocese of Richmond said they learned of allegations of sexual abuse against students of St. John the Apostle School, 13News Now obtained court records of a previous sexual abuse case from 2021 in which the school is mentioned several times throughout the documents.

According to court documents from Virginia Beach, a man named Vince Jakawich was the subject of an investigation in which he faced a felony aggravated sexual battery of a minor charge stemming from an unspecified incident in the summer months of 2020. 

Bond documents filed by Jakawich’s legal counsel reveal he was a parent, who requested to be allowed back to St. John, “where his daughters are students.”

Both court…

View Cache

by: 

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — A pastor with St. John the Apostle Catholic School in Virginia Beach is on temporary leave amid allegations involving a parent at the school, who is now deceased.

The case involves allegations of sexual abuse involving local Catholic school students.

WAVY News 10 has learned that although the case dates back four years, it came to light this past week after a second alleged victim of the same parent emerged.

According to a May 10 letter from Miriam Cotton, the principal of the school at the time, the accusations made against the adult were not made on school grounds, and the information was reported to Child Protective Services.

The statement, in part, reads:

As your principal, I feel this is a suitable moment to remind our parents of the importance in speaking with your children about appropriate touch, what are safe…

View Cache

Bishops will have audience with Pope on Friday

Portugal’s Roman Catholic bishops begin an ‘ad Limina Apostolorum’ visit to the Vatican today, with the issue of historic sexual abuse of children at the hands of the clergy over the years being just one that will come under discussion.

These ‘ad Limina’ visits take place every five years – this one was supposed to have taken place in 2020, but had to be postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

In addition to meetings between the prelates and various dicasteries of the Holy See, the bishops will also meet the Pope, on the last day of their visit (Friday).

Canon law in the Church establishes that “the Diocesan Bishop has the obligation to present to the Supreme Pontiff, every five years, a report on the situation of the diocese entrusted to him.”

According to the Portuguese Episcopal Conference (CEP), in this report…

View Cache

After an anonymous allegation arose against close papal aide Cardinal Gérald C. Lacroix of Québec earlier this year, a preliminary canonical investigation launched by Pope Francis has found no evidence of misconduct.

On Jan. 25, Lacroix was named in a class action lawsuit filed against the Archdiocese of Quebec in 2022, with court documents alleging that he inappropriately touched a 17-year-old girl on two occasions, in 1987 and 1988. His accuser was not identified.

Lacroix subsequently denied the allegations but made the decision to withdraw from leadership of the archdiocese while an investigation took place.

According to a May 21 Vatican statement, after the allegations against Lacroix arose Pope Francis on Feb. 8 asked Justice André Denis, a retired Judge of the Superior Court of Québec, to conduct a preliminary canonical investigation of the accusation.

That inquiry concluded May 6, and the results were presented to Pope Francis shortly after.

…

View Cache

The Holy See Press Office reports that the preliminary canonical investigation regarding an anonymous accusation against Canadian Cardinal Gérald Lacroix, Archbishop of Québec, has not found “any actions that amount to misconduct or abuse” and therefore “no further canonical procedure is foreseen.“

The Holy See Press Office issued a statement on 21 May regarding the conclusions of the preliminary canonical investigation regarding an anonymous accusation against Cardinal Gérald C. Lacroix, Archbishop of Québec.

The conclusion of the report has confirmed that no actions that amount to misconduct or abuse on the part of the Cardinal have been identified, and therefore, “no further canonical procedure is foreseen.”

On 8 February 2024, Pope Francis entrusted André Denis, a retired judge of the Superior Court of Québec, the mandate to shed light on an accusation made in the context of a class action lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Québec.

The preliminary canonical investigation…

View Cache

Testo in lingua italiana

Testo in lingua francese

Testo in lingua inglese

Testo in lingua italiana

In merito alle conclusioni dell’indagine canonica preliminare relativa a una accusa anonima contro il Cardinale Gérald C. Lacroix, Arcivescovo di Québec

L’8 febbraio 2024 il Santo Padre ha affidato ad André Denis, giudice della Corte Superiore del Québec in pensione, il mandato di fare luce su un’accusa formulata nell’ambito di una azione legale collettiva intentata contro l’Arcidiocesi di Québec.

Il rapporto dell’indagine canonica preliminare effettuata dal giudice è stato portato a termine il 6 maggio 2024 e consegnato al Santo Padre nei giorni successivi.

Alla luce dei fatti esaminati dal giudice, il rapporto non consente di identificare alcuna azione che si configuri come cattiva condotta o abuso da parte del Cardinale Gérald C. Lacroix. Di conseguenza, non è prevista una procedura canonica più approfondita.

Il Santo Padre ha autorizzato il giudice…

View Cache

The International House of Prayer-Kansas City’s Forerunner Church held its final worship service in Grandview on Pentecost Sunday as the fallout continues over the sex abuse scandal involving the global prayer movement’s founder.

The building was filled to capacity at the 10 a.m. service, with leaders saying their goodbyes and thanking those who have been part of the church, from the musicians to the youth teachers to those who served coffee and cleaned the restrooms.

“This morning our heart is really to just express gratitude to the Lord and gratitude towards those that have served and been a part of this community over the years,” senior pastor Isaac Bennett told the congregation. “We’re so grateful for this community and what the Lord has done and what the Lord is going to do in your lives. Even in the days ahead. “ … There’s no easy way to do this. How…

View Cache

What is the proper spiritual response to the abuse crisis in the Church? is the question raised at the “Repairing the Irreparable” conference in Rome. Father Étienne Kern, who initiated the event, discusses the aims of the conference.

The Church must grapple with the spiritual repercussions and necessary reparations of the sexual abuse crisis, emphasizing the need to honor and support the victims and restore faith among the deeply shaken Christian community, says the rector of the Shrine of Paray-le-Monial in eastern France, who initiated a conference in Rome titled, “Repairing the Irreparable.” 

Listening to and supporting victims on the psychological, financial, and legal levels  “is absolutely essential, but not sufficient. Some victims also ask the Church to honor the distinctly spiritual dimension of reparation because they have also been harmed in their souls,” Father Étienne Kern told La Croix’s Gilles Donada in an interview, discussing the aims of the conference.

Participants at the May…

View Cache

Pope Francis spoke about immigration, surrogacy, and abuse in an interview with CBS News, parts of which aired on “60 Minutes” on Sunday night.

Clerical abuse “cannot be tolerated,” Francis told CBS’s Norah O’Donnell.

“When there is a case of a religious man or woman who abuses, the full force of the law falls upon them. In this there has been a great deal of progress,” he said.

The pope said the Church “must continue to do more.”

“Unfortunately, the tragedy of the abuses is enormous. And against this, an upright conscience and not only to not permit it but to put in place the conditions so that it does not happen,” he said.

(Francis gave his remarks in Spanish, which CBS translated into English.)

Turning to immigration, O’Donnell told the pope she grew up in Texas, where the Catholic charity on the border with Mexico – the Annunciation House…

View Cache

The judge in the Archdiocese of New Orleans bankruptcy case said Thursday she wants to give survivors of child sex abuse by Roman Catholic priests and deacons an opportunity to tell their stories in court to Archbishop Greg Aymond as a way of helping to bring closure and healing.

But Judge Meredith Grabill denied a request by attorneys for the survivors that would have allowed that reckoning process to begin now. Instead, Grabill said she wants to wait until a settlement plan, which would compensate survivors for past abuse and resolve the bankruptcy case, comes before her court for approval — something that is months away, and could possibly not happen at all.

“I completely envision, if a plan gets filed and we get to a confirmation hearing, allowing survivors to provide testimony … I fully envision the archbishop being here in the courtroom to listen to the evidence,” Grabill…

View Cache

During his short tenure as Missouri’s top legal official, Attorney General Andrew Bailey has consistently used (and abused) his office to promote an extremist right-wing partisan agenda with a brazenness unheard of even in Missouri politics.

Bailey, appointed to the office to fill a vacancy in January 2023, is seeking the Republican nomination in August to run for a full elected term in November.

In the interest of keeping the public informed about this uniquely problematic public official, the Post-Dispatch Editorial Board has launched this standing summary of Bailey’s more outrageous ideological stunts and abrogations of duty. We have dubbed it The Bailey Tally. It will be updated as needed.

Latest addition: Punting on Christian boarding school abuse

Activists have implored Bailey to use the prominence of his office to highlight alleged physical and sexual abuse of kids at Christian boarding schools — a historic problem in Missouri’s under-regulated private school system and…

View Cache

Father William Graham reinstated by Vatican, appeared before grateful supporters Friday.

Describing it as a story of “light triumphing over darkness,” a Duluth Catholic priest once accused of sexual abuse returned to his church Friday.

Standing in front of supportive congregation members, Father William Graham said the immediate task will be to pray together and listen to each other.

The Duluth Diocese removed Graham from the St. Michael’s Parish for almost eight years, after allegations of sexual abuse from a man who said he was abused as a teenager in the 1970s.

Graham had steadfastly denied the allegations, and earlier this month the Vatican said there was not enough evidence, and he was reinstated.

“I am grateful to God and to the Vatican for declaring my innocence after a painful seven years and ten months of suffering under a demonstrably false accusation,” said Graham.

“As I return to Duluth and…

View Cache

ROME – Argentine Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, the Vatican’s doctrine czar, has said that despite the broad use of alleged spiritual or mystical experiences to commit and justify abuse in the church, disputes over terminology can muddle prosecution.

His perspective may have implications for efforts to prosecute some of the most high-profile and contentious abuse cases today, including the case of Slovenian ex-Jesuit Father Marko Rupnik, who stands accused of multiple acts of abuse against dozens of adult women, mostly nuns, stretching over more than 30 years.

Speaking to journalists during a May 17 press conference presenting new norms for evaluating the authenticity of Marian apparitions or other spiritual phenomena, Fernández was asked about what is sometimes described as “false mysticism” in abuse cases.

Prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), Fernández replied, “When we speak of false mysticism, we must be careful…false mysticism is…

View Cache

There’s new life in the fight to pass a constitutional amendment that would allow survivors of childhood sex abuse to sue their abuser years after the statute of limitations has expired.

It was August 2018 when then-Attorney General Josh Shapiro published a report on childhood sexual abuse in the Catholic church. That report led to protests and calls for legislation to help survivors of sexual assault sue their abuser beyond the statute of limitations.

In January 2021, the State House and Senate passed constitutional amendments to open a window for survivors to file lawsuits. However, in February, the Department of State failed to publicize the amendment, as required by the state constitution. That led to the resignation of Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar.

Since then, legislation has stalled in the legislature. Last year, the House and Senate passed bills that did not match up. Now, there’s a chance the amendment…

View Cache

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — The Catholic Diocese of Richmond released the following statement regarding sexual abuse allegations involving St. John the Apostle School in Virginia Beach.

The Catholic Diocese of Richmond recently learned of allegations of sexual abuse committed against students of St. John the Apostle School by an adult (now deceased). The appropriate civil authorities and law enforcement agencies are involved. The Diocese is also investigating to confirm whether the Diocese’s Safe Environment regulations or other policies were properly followed. 

The protection of our children is of the upmost importance to the Diocese. 

Fr. Rob Cole, Pastor of St. John the Apostle parish, is on temporary leave from the parish while this matter is investigated. The Diocese will not reach any conclusions until the investigation is completed. Know, however, that the Diocese is committed to ensuring that our institutions provide an environment where our children are safe and thrive. 

During this…

View Cache

This week on 60 Minutes, correspondent Norah O’Donnell sat down with Pope Francis for a historic interview. The head of the Catholic Church for more than a decade, Francis had previously never spoken at length with an English-language American broadcast network.

In a wide-ranging conversation lasting more than an hour, O’Donnell spoke with the pontiff about such topics as the wars in Ukraine and in Israel and Gaza; the Church’s handling of its sexual abuse scandals; and the conservative backlash against the pope’s more progressive approach.

O’Donnell interviewed Francis at Casa Santa Marta, the Vatican guest house where he has lived since his election in 2013, rather than the papal apartments in the Apostolic Palace, where popes have historically resided. Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Argentina, Francis is the first Jesuit pope in papal history.

• Pope Francis:…

View Cache

A federal judge on Wednesday denied a motion by the Diocese of Rockville Centre to dismiss its bankruptcy case and appointed two high-powered mediators in an effort to break a 3½-year logjam of negotiations involving clergy sex abuse survivors.

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Chief Judge Martin Glenn, expressing his irritation at the case remaining unresolved, issued the ruling after some survivors spoke in court of the pain they have endured and their frustration after more than $100 million in legal fees have been paid to attorneys but nothing to them.

Glenn said he was appointing retired U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Shelley Chapman and Paul Finn, a lawyer with deep experience in resolving sexual abuse claims, to try to get the diocese and lawyers for the survivors to reach an agreement. As a judge, Chapman oversaw the 2008 Lehman Brothers Holdings bankruptcy case — the largest bankruptcy case in U.S. history — and other Chapter 11 mega-cases.

…

View Cache

Only a few years after being rocked by a clergy sex abuse coverup, the Diocese of Crookston is embracing its outsize role in the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage as a sign of healing and a moment of renewal.

This weekend, the eyes of Catholics across the country are on the Diocese of Crookston — but for far different reasons than the last time the rural Minnesota diocese was in the national spotlight.

The local Church of only 35,000 Catholics —the third smallest in the country — has the distinction of kicking off the entire National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, with a two-day Eucharistic conference featuring powerful catechists like Bishop Robert Barron and Father Mike Schmitz, celebratory fireworks over Lake Bemidji, and Pentecost Sunday Mass at the Mississippi River headwaters to start the pilgrimage’s Marian Route.

But only a few years ago, Crookston was embroiled in scandal. In 2017, the diocese’s then-ordinary, Bishop Michael…

View Cache

I was 16 years old in August 1967. I was the sophomore class president and sectional wrestling champion; I was still basking in the afterglow of participating in the state tournament. It had been the best year of my young life.

I had no way of knowing I was about to be swallowed alive by a terrible evil that I could never have imagined existed in this world.

No one had heard of sexual predators in those days. There were men who “liked boys” and some who molested young girls, but they were always somewhere else. They were in cities far away, never in our world of Holsteins and feeder pigs in the American Heartland – and certainly not in our little white-frame country church. It was unheard of and unthinkable. But, as we would all come to know, it was happening to thousands of boys and girls…

View Cache

As allegations of clergy sexual misconduct mount up, even resulting in churches being closed down, #ChurchToo survivors and advocate organizations call on the government to criminalize adult clergy sexual abuse.

#ChurchToo Survivors Call on CA Governor Gavin Newsom to Urgently Investigate Questionable Circumstances Surrounding Public Safety’s Handling of Senate Bill 894

“Sexual Exploitation by a Member of Clergy” 

As allegations of clergy sexual misconduct mount up, even resulting in churches being closed down, #ChurchToo survivors and advocate organizations call on the government to criminalize adult clergy sexual abuse in alignment with the Southern Baptist Convention’s 2022 resolution. However, a recent bill in CA to criminalize adult clergy sexual abuse, similar to laws in 13 states and D.C., failed to leave the Public Safety committee under questionable circumstances, and survivors are calling on Governor Gavin Newsom to investigate. 

Sacramento, CA – In an urgent appeal to Governor Gavin Newsom, survivors and advocates of the #MeToo/ #ChurchToo movement…

View Cache

The Rev. Antony Devassey Punnackal has been cleared of sexual battery charges by a Sevier County jury and has settled a federal civil lawsuit filed by the woman who said he sexually assaulted her during a 2020 counseling session, but he will not be returning to ministry in the Catholic Diocese of Knoxville.

He is leaving the country, in fact.

Punnackal serves at the discretion of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate, an international religious order that has requested he return to his native India, diocese spokesperson Jim Wogan said in an email to Knox News.

The religious order, in essence, loaned Punnackal to the diocese and now has requested he return after being cleared of his legal entanglements. Punnackal has been suspended since January 2022. Diocesan leaders learned May 10 of the request that he return to India, Wogan said.

What becomes of his ministry is now up to the Carmelites of…

View Cache

If you are a survivor of abuse from clerics or employees from the Archdiocese of Baltimore – May 31st is the deadline for you to come forward and seek justice. Over 100 claims will be filed in the next two weeks – regardless of when the abuse occurred – allowed by the new Child Victims Act in Maryland. The claim and compensation process is confidential and allows survivors to remain anonymous.

Survivors and their families are encouraged to reach out for a free and confidential consultation. For those unsure if they qualify to file a claim for child sexual abuse that occurred at a Maryland church, catholic school, church camp, or other church-run program by the Archdiocese of Baltimore, can learn more by contacting The Yost Legal Group.

View Cache

Sovereign Grace Church of LaGrange, Georgia was adopted by Sovereign Grace Churches in September 2014.  In 2018, a deacon was found guilty of incest, aggravated sexual battery, and child molestation.  He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.  This was not the first time.  He was also sentenced in 2000 for child molestation, put on probation, and entered into the sex abuse registry. 

Now, the lead pastor, has been arrested for sexual battery and child molestation related to his oldest daughter.  He is in jail awaiting an indictment by the Grand Jury.  His wife also alleges emotional and physical abuse.  She has filed for a restraining order, custody of her daughters, and divorce.  Their marriage has been on the rocks for over a decade, and this was known to denominational leaders in Sovereign Grace Churches. 

Both these men were approved as above reproach when signs clearly indicated otherwise.  They should…

View Cache

Brother Joseph Charron initially was charged with sex crimes involving a now-former student. He recently pleaded guilty to aggravated battery, and the sex crime charges were dropped. Still, his Benedictine abbey placed him on its list of credibly accused child sex abusers.

On the same day this spring that Brother Joseph Charron pleaded guilty to a felony battery charge against a former student at Marmion Academy, where the Benedictine monk was a longtime teacher, the Aurora Catholic school circulated a letter saying his conviction did not involve sexual abuse.

“With a heavy heart, I write to notify you that today, in Kane County Circuit Court, Joseph Charron, known to many in our community as Brother Andre, pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated battery of a minor,” the Rev. Joel Rippinger, abbot of the Benedictine monastery that oversees the far west suburban school, said in the March 28 letter. “There…

View Cache

 Madagascar’s influential Catholic bishops’ conference – usually loyal to the government – has denounced in very strong terms the recently enacted law authorizing surgical or chemical castration for pedophiles.

The country’s parliament passed the controversial law on February 2 this year. The law requires that perpetrators of rape against children between the ages of 10 and 13 are surgically castrated. Those who rape children between the ages of 14 and 17 will be chemically castrated. Offenders in both cases could face sentences of up to life in prison.

Chemical castration involves injecting convicted sex offenders with chemical treatments designed to quell their sex drive. These treatments aim to lower the testosterone levels of male sex offenders. This could be reversed by stopping the treatments. Surgical castration involves surgically removing one or both testicles with the aim of lowering testosterone production in male sex offenders to decrease their sex drive. Unlike…

View Cache

Jerry Dan Heflin was arrested May 7 and charged with more than 60 felony counts, including child molestation, aggravated sodomy, sexual battery against a child and incest.

The charges stem from a 2016 incident, WALB News reported.

Heflin, 60, was a deacon at Unity Baptist Church in the South Georgia town of Sylvester. Church leadership released a statement May 10:

“Due to the recent headlines and social media comments inferring that the criminal charges involving Mr. Jerry Heflin occurred at Unity Baptist Church, our church feels compelled to respond. We have great confidence that our judicial system has investigated the facts surrounding these charges and that the judicial system will handle the matter in an appropriate manner. Our church has internal security measures in place that ensure the safety of all persons including both children and adults. We are confident that none of the allegations made in this…

View Cache

When the man realized the youth pastor who had sexually victimized him as a child was going to adopt two young boys, he stepped forward.

He stepped forward despite the fact that he knew his youth pastor Christopher Codding is well loved at his church in Cartersville. He stepped forward despite the shame and pain he still suffered. He just knew he needed to stop it from happening to anyone else.

“When I would be invited to youth events (led by Codding) at elementary school I didn’t know I was being groomed… I didn’t know I already had a target on my back,” he told Floyd County Superior Court Chief Judge John “Jack” Niedrach during a sentencing hearing Thursday.

The man described being 10 years old and coming from a broken home, and waking up to Codding — a grown man he trusted and believed in — abusing him.

He…

View Cache

Leaders and lawmakers in Missouri must do more to protect vulnerable youth inside the state’s unlicensed boarding schools, advocates said at a Thursday news conference in Kansas City.

And that should start, they said, with Attorney General Andrew Bailey. He could do more to bring attention to the alleged abuse at schools across the state, said David Clohessy, former national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

“He can and should use his bully pulpit and his resources to shout from the rooftops to parents, ‘Be careful, look hard and think twice before sending your kids to one of these facilities,’” Clohessy said. “No matter how slick and nice the website might be and no matter how frustrated and overwhelmed you might feel.

“He can and should take that simple immediate step to warn parents.”

During the news conference outside the federal courthouse in Kansas City, Clohessy…

View Cache

The battle between advocates for abused kids and state officials appearing less than concerned returned Wednesday to the steps of the Missouri Supreme Court building.

People connected to the allegations against several southwest Missouri boarding schools went to the office of Attorney General Andrew Bailey to demand action.

The SNAP organization and other abuse survivors are frustrated by a perceived lack of action against as many as five schools where kids allegedly have endured physical and sexual abuse.

“I beg him to just listen to us, to just hear our stories, hear our concerns,” said abuse survivor Amanda Householder.

Householder’s parents are scheduled to go to trial in October on 99 felony charges and one misdemeanor charge related to the alleged abuse of girls when they ran the Circle of Hope girls ranch in Humansville, Missouri. The state closed the ranch in 2020.

David Clohessy is the director of SNAP.

…

View Cache

Broderick Miller has spent about half of his life behind bars, but the 45-year-old wants it known thereʼs an explanation.

“The whole reason I got locked up was because I was using drugs,” Miller said in an interview at a Maryland prison. “The whole reason I was using drugs was because of the deacon.”

Cinder block walls, a heavy metal door and a large hallway window enclose the room where Miller, who goes by “Brodie,” recounted in April how he turned to a Catholic church in Baltimore when he needed food as a teen, only for a clergyman to prey on his vulnerability.

Deacon Thomas Kuhl began assaulting Miller around 1995, at first offering food or money for sex, Miller alleges in court documents. When Millerʼs nerves got in the way of Kuhlʼs desires, he introduced the teen to heroin to calm him down. It didnʼt take long for Miller…

View Cache

The Rev. Antony Devassey Punnackal has been cleared of sexual battery charges by a Sevier County jury and has settled a federal civil lawsuit filed by the woman who said he sexually assaulted her during a 2020 counseling session, but he will not be returning to ministry in the Catholic Diocese of Knoxville.

He is leaving the country, in fact.

Punnackal serves at the discretion of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate, an international religious order that has requested he return to his native India, diocese spokesperson Jim Wogan said in an email to Knox News.

The religious order, in essence, loaned Punnackal to the diocese and now has requested he return after being cleared of his legal entanglements. Punnackal has been suspended since January 2022. Diocesan leaders learned May 10 of the request that he return to India, Wogan said.

What becomes of his ministry is now up to the Carmelites of…

View Cache

Bursts of torrential rainfall soaked a group of victim advocates in front of a federal courthouse in Springfield on Tuesday, each holding a sign relating to abuse they said they endured at Missouri boarding schools.

The paper was drenched but their message was clear: If you see something, say something.

Three women, alongside former Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) leader David Clohessy, urged state officials to thoroughly investigate Christian boarding schools amid multiple reports of abuse at facilities throughout southern Missouri. Many have in resulted in criminal charges and lawsuits.

They want action from Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey but said they have had little success in their pursuit of accountability and more regulation.

Their frustration was palpable.

“I’m asking the state of Missouri to do something because I find that myself and many others basically lost our childhood to this state,” said 33-year-old Amanda Householder, who…

View Cache

Louisiana’s top court will reconsider its recent decision to scrap a “look back law” for abuse survivors — a move that could have a profound impact on several Catholic dioceses in the state that are already grappling with significant legal settlements and ongoing investigations.

On May 10, the Louisiana Supreme Court granted a rehearing on a March ruling that had overturned a 2021 “look back law,” which gave victims of child sexual abuse until June 14 of this year to file civil claims. Senate Bill 246 would seek to extend that deadline until June 14, 2027.

The court’s 4-3 March ruling had found that law was at odds with the state constitution’s due process, prompting dismay from abuse survivors and advocates, and a filing for a rehearing from state attorney general Liz Murrill.

Murrill, a Republican, called the Supreme Court’s decision to grant a hearing a “victory for child victims…

View Cache

A Brownsville priest was indicted on several child sex crimes, records show.

Fernando Gonzalez Ortega, who was serving as a priest at St. Luke’s Catholic Church in Brownsville at the time of his arrest, was indicted May 8.

The six-count indictment charges him with continuous sex abuse of a child (victim under 14), indecency with a child with sexual contact, sexual assault by clergyman and three counts of sexual assault of a child.

Gonzalez-Ortega is accused of a sexually abusing a child from Dec. 27, 2012 through Dec. 26, 2014.

The indictment alleges that Gonzalez Ortega also sexually assaulted said child three times in 2017, with the most recent assault allegedly taking place on Sept. 15, 2022.

On Feb. 12, Brownsville police arrested Gonzalez Ortega at the 1900 block of Barnard Road on several active warrants. Gonzalez Ortega was initially arrested in February on multiple child sex-related crimes, including trafficking…

View Cache

Louisiana’s top court will reconsider its recent decision to scrap a “look back law” for abuse survivors — a move that could have a profound impact on several Catholic dioceses in the state that are already grappling with significant legal settlements and ongoing investigations.

On May 10, the Louisiana Supreme Court granted a rehearing on a March ruling that had overturned a 2021 “look back law,” which gave victims of child sexual abuse until June 14 of this year to file civil claims. Senate Bill 246 would seek to extend that deadline until June 14, 2027.

The court’s 4-3 March ruling had found that law was at odds with the state constitution’s due process, prompting dismay from abuse survivors and advocates, and a filing for a rehearing from state attorney general Liz Murrill.

Murrill, a Republican, called the Supreme Court’s decision to grant a hearing a “victory for child victims…

View Cache

Following a police investigation into the Archdiocese of New Orleans, the Louisiana Supreme Court has decided to rehear arguments in favor of a law that could reopen the window for victims of child sex abuse to file lawsuits against the Archdiocese. 

 “In a victory for child victims of sexual abuse – I’m pleased that the Louisiana Supreme Court granted our application for a rehearing,” Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill posted on her X account. “This was the right decision – as the bill passed unanimously through the State Legislature and should be the law here in Louisiana.”

“I’ll always defend victims of sexual abuse, and I look forward to the next steps at the Louisiana Supreme Court,” she added. 

In March, the Court initially ruled that the law, which was passed in 2021 and amended in 2022, “conflicted with due process rights in the state constitution,”  View Cache

The therapist waved a stick-like object back and forth before state Rep. Mark Rozzi’s eyes, making him look left and right, as the therapist got his patient to recite painful memories of sexual abuse that happened 40 years earlier.

The therapy Mr. Rozzi has undergone recently, he said, has let him mentally grasp horrible recollections from his youth and “file them away like any other childhood memory.” It is called EMDR — for “eye movement densensitization and reprocessing therapy” — and it has been a milestone in his handling of memories of being raped by a Catholic priest.

“It’s been a godsend,” he said of its effect on his personal life.

Squaring away things in his public life is another matter.

Mr. Rozzi, 53, for years has championed in Harrisburg the need to allow child sex abuse survivors a two-year window in which to file otherwise…

View Cache

Advocates for victims of abuse at Missouri boarding schools on Monday urged the state’s attorney general to launch an investigation, work with local prosecutors and take other steps aimed at stemming the tide of abuse.

Three Christian boarding schools in southern Missouri have shut down since 2020 amid wide-ranging abuse allegations levied by current and former students. Several people affiliated with those schools are facing criminal charges. Advocates who worry that more abuse is going unpunished gathered Monday outside Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s St. Louis office to demand action.

“This is a structural problem,” said David Clohessy, a longtime advocate for abused children and former leader of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. “These are facilities that are remote, independent, private, sometimes for-profit, largely under the radar with little or no scrutiny, state oversight, monitoring or supervision. It’s a recipe for disaster.”

A spokeswoman for Bailey said in…

View Cache

Prominent boarding school abuse victim speaks out

She sued her parents; They now face 100+ felony charges

Now, she blasts AG for “insulting letter & endangering kids”

Group to Bailey: “Hold zoom meeting with suffering survivors“

In last minute plea, they call on lawmakers to strengthen child safety laws

WHAT

At a sidewalk news conference, a nationally-known survivor, activist and whistleblower will discuss

• startling new revelations that a Missouri sheriff dealt with at least 15 run-away teens – including two just last Saturday – from a Christian boarding school over the past three years, and
• the upcoming criminal trial of her parents on 100+ felony abuse charges stemming from their years-long severe mistreatment of kids at their boarding school, and
• her just-resolved unusual civil lawsuit against her mom and dad.

Holding signs and childhood photos, she and other abuse survivors will also reveal a “terse and insulting” letter they recently received from Missouri’s attorney…

View Cache

The Freedom From Religion Foundation cheers the decision of the Washington attorney general to force the Seattle Archdiocese’s compliance with a clergy child sexual abuse investigation.

Attorney General Bob Ferguson recently sent subpoenas to the Seattle Archdiocese, the Diocese of Spokane and the Diocese of Yakima seeking to examine whether these religious entities have used charitable funds to cover up pedophilia. Of the three, the Seattle Archdiocese is the one that has refused to cooperate.

The Seattle Archdiocese first released names of perpetrators in 2016. The list, which now has more than 80 individuals, includes long-dead priests. It goes without saying that the Catholic Church cannot be trusted to fully and accurately report on the number of perpetrators among its clergy. The Illinois Attorney General’s Office’s published report in 2023 listed four times as many substantiated child sex abusers than previously disclosed…

View Cache

Miller’s April 27 death has been the source of fierce controversy and widespread speculation.

The FBI and the U.S. attorney’s office have been asked to assist in an investigation into the death of Mica Miller, a pastor’s wife whose apparent suicide in North Carolina has been the source of fierce controversy and widespread speculation among her friends and former church community in South Carolina.

“The Robeson County Sheriff’s Office has been in contact with the United States Attorney’s Office and Federal Bureau of Investigation in South Carolina since the early stages of the Mica Miller investigation,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement to local news station WPDE on Monday (May 13). “Based on the information gathered during the investigation and jurisdiction reasons, the Sheriff’s Office has requested the assistance of both agencies.”

Miller, 30, was found dead at Lumber River State Park near the South Carolina border west of Wilmington…

View Cache

Local law enforcement investigating the controversial death of Mica Miller have reached out to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in South Carolina and the United States Attorney’s Office for help, ABC 15 News has reported.

The media outlet said the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office announced the development on Monday. 

The Roys Report (TRR) reached out to the sheriff’s office for more information but did not hear back. However, Veronica R. Hill, Public Affairs Specialist at U.S. Attorney’s Office, confirmed her office has been in contact with the sheriff’s office but wouldn’t further “confirm/deny/comment on investigations.”

Mica Miller’s death at Lumber River State Park in North Carolina on April 27 has been making headlines globally for concerning details surrounding it. Mica’s family members allege that John-Paul Miller was abusing Mica, and that Mica feared for her life.

Additionally, Mica and her husband were in the process of divorcing at the time of…

View Cache

A Brownsville priest was indicted on several child sex crimes, records show.

Fernando Gonzalez Ortega, who was serving as a priest as St. Luke’s Catholic Church in Brownsville at the time of his arrest, was indicted May 8.BACKGROUND: Brownsville priest arrested on child sexual abuse, trafficking charges, authorities say

The six-count indictment charges him with continuous sex abuse of a child (victim under 14), indecency with a child with sexual contact, sexual assault by clergyman and three counts of sexual assault of a child.

Gonzalez-Ortega is accused of a sexually abusing a child from Dec. 27, 2012 through Dec. 26, 2014.

The indictment alleges that Gonzalez Ortega also sexually assaulted said child three times in 2017, with the most recent assault allegedly taking place on Sept. 15, 2022.

On Feb. 12, Brownsville police arrested Gonzalez Ortega at the 1900 block of Barnard Road on several active warrants. Gonzalez Ortega…

View Cache

The Diocese of Brooklyn said that a Vatican-ordered investigation into a retired auxiliary bishop has ended, concluding that allegations against Bishop Raymond Chappetto are unfounded. 

Chappetto, a now-retired auxiliary bishop who was vicar general of the Brooklyn diocese, was accused in 2021 of administrative negligence, namely failing to disclose appropriately that a Brooklyn priest was prohibited from contact with minors, and thus potentially putting minors at risk.

But in a statement sent to The Pillar Thursday, the diocese said it had been informed by apostolic nuncio Cardinal Christophe Pierre that “upon examination of the Vos estis investigation report in a complaint against Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus Raymond F. Chappetto, the Dicastery for Bishops has concluded the allegations ‘are manifestly unfounded, and the case has been closed.’”

The diocese said it was not able to provide details into the investigation, which was conducted by Archbishop Leonard Blair, who retired earlier this month as Archbishop of Hartford,…

View Cache

A priest who was arrested in Florida last month after he was accused of sexually abusing boys appeared in an Iowa court on Monday.

Father Leo Riley‘s arrest in Florida is tied to alleged abuse in Iowa in the 1980s. He’s charged with five counts of sexual abuse.

Riley appeared in court in Dubuque, Iowa, and was given a $500,000 bond, according to NBC affiliate KWWL. Riley’s attorney, Guy Cook, said that bond amount is too high, and planned to challenge it.

“Father Leo Riley is, to those people who know him well, a person of upstanding moral character, an honest man, and a person who would not commit these kinds of acts,” Cook said.

If Riley posts bond, he would remain in Department of Corrections custody and would have to stay at a halfway house, according to KWWL.

Riley served…

View Cache

A $500,000 bond has been set for Charlotte County priest Leo Riley, following his initial appearance at the Dubuque County Courthouse on Monday. Father Leo Riley spent the night in jail while his attorney filed paperwork to have his bond significantly reduced.

Riley is facing five counts of sexual abuse allegedly committed during his time as a priest in Iowa. Last month, a local victim came forward saying he was abused by Riley in Charlotte County.

Father Leo Riley has not been charged in Charlotte County, but is back in Dubuque to answer to five counts of capital sexual battery related to reports in the 1980s.

Riley was a past priest at the Resurrection Church in Dubuque, Iowa. In Charlotte County, he was a Priest at Saint Charles Borromeo in Port Charlotte in the early 2000′s, and is currently assigned to San Antonio Catholic Church, also in Port Charlotte.

Following…

View Cache

A former teacher at Pope John XXIII Regional High School pleaded guilty last week to illegally recording students while employed in the district before his 2022 arrest, authorities said.

Michael Wagner, 41, entered his plea Friday before Judge Michael Gaus, the Sussex County Prosecutor’s Office stated. He was charged with first-degree child endangerment and second-degree manufacturing of child sexual abuse.

The prosecutor’s office and Sparta police began an investigation on Oct. 12, 2022, after another teacher at Pope John overheard several eighth grade girls talking about Wagner recording them during class.

Police found hundreds of photos and videos of students taken by Wagner, who “would position the electronic device in such a way as to capture and record the underclothing of female students,” the release stated. His other personal devices were confiscated and also found to contain images of child exploitation or abuse.

Wagner taught eighth grade physics and science…

View Cache

A $500,000 bond has been set for Charlotte County priest Leo Riley, following his initial appearance at the Dubuque County Courthouse on Monday. As of Monday night, he is still behind bars.

He is facing five counts of sexual abuse allegedly committed during his time as a priest in Iowa. Last month, a local victim came forward saying he was abused by Riley in Charlotte County.

“I buried these memories very deep but I couldn’t keep them buried forever,” said an alleged victim going by John Doe.

Father Leo Riley has not been charged in Charlotte County, but is back in Dubuque to answer to five counts of capital sexual battery related to reports in the 1980s.

Riley was a past priest at the Resurrection Church in Dubuque, Iowa. In Charlotte County, he was a Priest at Saint Charles Borromeo in Port Charlotte in the early 2000′s, and is currently…

View Cache

A $500,000 bond has been set for a former Dubuque priest accused of sexually abusing multiple boys in the 1980s.

The Rev. Leo P. Riley, 68, of Port Charlotte, Fla., is charged in Iowa District Court of Dubuque County with five counts of second-degree sexual abuse. He made his initial appearance in court Monday morning after being arrested in Florida last month.

In addition to setting the cash-only bond, Iowa District Associate Judge Robert Richter determined Riley will not be allowed to leave Iowa while court proceedings continue.

Richter ordered Riley to wear an ankle monitor and be subject to pretrial supervision by the Iowa Department of Corrections. Richter also imposed a no-contact order for each of the alleged victims and witnesses and barred Riley from having any contact with minors.

Court documents state that four people have said they were sexually abused by Riley from 1985 to 1986, while…

View Cache

The priest accused of sexually abusing boys at a Dubuque school in the 1980s appeared in an Iowa courtroom for the first time, KCRG reports.

Father Leo Riley made his initial appearance in a Dubuque County Courtroom Monday morning. Riley said little, only to acknowledge the charges against him and to confirm he had legal representation. Riley is charged with five counts of sexual abuse, as prosecutors say he molested multiple altar boys while he served at Resurrection School in Dubuque from 1984-86.

The judge ordered Riley to be held on $500,000 cash-only bond. If he is able to post that bond, the judge ordered he must remain in Iowa and wear an ankle monitor. He is also not to have any contact with the alleged victims.

Riley was arrested last month in Florida where he is serving at a Catholic Church. Riley is facing…

View Cache

Louisiana lawmakers are swiftly advancing legislation that would extend the timeframe adults who are survivors of child abuse have to file lawsuits against institutions such as Catholic Church.

The bill took on more relevance Friday after the Louisiana Supreme Court announced it would reconsider its decision to scrap the state law creating a “look back window” to allow child abuse survivors to file lawsuits over misconduct that took place decades ago.

It also followed news that Louisiana State Police troopers had raided the Archdiocese of New Orleans in April, seeking records and communication about how child sex abuse cases were handled.

In 2021, the Louisiana Legislature unanimously approved a new law removing the time limit for damage suits over child abuse, but the measure wasn’t retroactive. Adults who recalled their abuse years after it happened had…

View Cache

Regarding the editorial “Courts must not let Gateway Pundit use bankruptcy to escape accountability” (April 26): The Editorial Board is right to blast a disinformation site that is a “monstrous purveyor of slander and lies” and is using bankruptcy as “a pre-emptive move” to “escape justice.”

But as much harm as this right-wing website has caused, I think we can all agree that even more monstrous than slandering adults is committing and concealing heinous, devastating sex crimes against kids.

That is exactly what thousands of Catholic clerics have done. Now, facing embarrassing litigation about widespread clergy child sexual abuses and cover ups and desperately clinging to their reputations and careers, dozens of top church officials are filing for bankruptcy.

More than 40 dioceses and religious orders — 12 in the last five years — have sought Chapter 11 protection. No, they’re not broke or going broke. Like The Gateway…

View Cache

The former Dubuque priest charged with the sexual abuse of three victims from his time at a local parish will appear in court in Iowa on Monday, May 13th.

Leo Riley was arrested back in April in Florida after charges were filed in Iowa.

He faces five charges, all connected to allegations dating back to the 1980s when he was at Resurrection Church in Dubuque.

A criminal complaint alleges that Riley forced altar boys to perform sex acts on him and to each other.

He bonded out of jail in Florida on the condition that he’d return to Iowa to face his charges.

View Cache

A former Port Charlotte priest, accused of five counts of sexual abuse to the second degree, is expected to appear in court on Monday.

Father Leo Riley, 68, is expected to make his initial court appearance in Dubuque, Iowa, on Monday at 10:30 a.m.

Riley was arrested on multiple counts of capital sexual battery in connection to his previous role at a church in Dubuque on April 24.

Before his arrest, several individuals came forward with allegations against him, which he denies.

According to the documents, Riley was ordained in 1982 and was assigned to approximately 17 different parishes in the Archdiocese of Dubuque until 2002. He served as Associate Pastor at Ressurection Parish from 1984 to 1986.

In 2002, he requested to transfer to the Diocese of Venice and was appointed at St Charles Borromeo Parish in Port Charlotte.

While the Diocese of…

View Cache

[See the Attorney General’s Petition to Enforce Subpoena.]

Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced Thursday he’s seeking a court order to force the Seattle Archdiocese to turn over files on priests accused of sexual abuse and make its archbishop answer questions under oath as part of a sweeping probe into how the state’s three Catholic dioceses handled claims of child sex abuse.

Ferguson’s office is looking into “allegations that the Catholic Church has facilitated and attempted to cover up decades of pervasive sexual abuse of children by Church leaders in Washington State,” his office’s petition for a court order states.

Because the Seattle Archdiocese “refuses to cooperate” with civil subpoenas issued by his office last summer and last month, Ferguson went public with his probe Thursday by filing a legal petition in King County Superior Court that seeks an…

View Cache

The therapist waved a stick-like object back and forth before state Rep. Mark Rozzi’s eyes, making him look left and right, as the therapist got his patient to recite painful memories of sexual abuse that happened 40 years earlier.

The therapy Mr. Rozzi has undergone recently, he said, has let him mentally grasp horrible recollections from his youth and “file them away like any other childhood memory.” It is called EMDR — for “eye movement densensitization and reprocessing therapy” — and it has been a milestone in his handling of memories of being raped by a Catholic priest.

“It’s been a godsend,” he said of its effect on his personal life.

Squaring away things in his public life is another matter.

Mr. Rozzi, 53, for years has championed in Harrisburg the need to allow child sex abuse survivors a two-year window in which to file otherwise…

View Cache

The head of Poland’s Catholic episcopate, Tadusz Wojda, has been accused of negligence in dealing with reports of sexual abuse carried out by one of his subordinates. In one case, he allegedly argued that no abuse had taken place because “it was just groping”.

In response to the claims, the spokesman for Wojda’s archdiocese has issued a statement denying the accusations against the archbishop and accusing the journalist who made them of presenting only a “fragmentary” and “distorted” version of the story.

The claims were made last week in a lengthy article by Zbigniew Nosowski, the editor-in-chief of Więź, a leading Catholic news magazine.

He noted that details of Wojda’s alleged negligence had in fact first been published in February 2022 in Tygodnik Powszechny, another Catholic news magazine, but had gone largely unnoticed because they were published at the time of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Nosowski now revealed that, in March this year, the Vatican received…

View Cache

A man who says he was abused by a former Chicago priest known as “Father Happy Hands” told his story following a settlement last month.

Larry Kubbins, 60, held a press conference opening up about the alleged abuse by the Rev. Daniel Mark Holihan, who died in 2016, and had a message for survivors across the world.

“It’s been a weight I’ve had for almost 50 years,” Kubbins said. “They need to not be afraid to report it. I was not smart enough to listen to my mother and walked away from it.”

Kubbins alleges Holihan sexually abused him twice — once at Our Lady of the Snows and once at a lake house belonging to Holihan in Wonder Lake. During the alleged abuse, Kubbins and the attorney general’s office said children would call Holihan “Father Happy Hands.”

“He couldn’t keep his hands off boys, he took me to the…

View Cache

The Spanish Bishops’ Conference said the government’s five-point plan to respond to abuse largely matched the Church’s own strategy.

The Archbishop of Oviedo has accused the Spanish government of presenting “only the Catholic Church” as guilty of harbouring sexual abuse.

Estimates extrapolated from the survey claimed there were a potential 440,000 victims across the Spanish population. That figure was dismissed by the head of the polling firm as a “statistical delusion”.  

The Spanish Bishops’ Conference said the five-point plan produced in response to the report largely matched the Church’s own strategy to recognise, care for and compensate victims as well as to raise awareness of abuse through training, and to prevent future abuse through reporting and investigating allegations.

The conference said the government’s focus on compensating only victims of clerical abuse excluded “nine out of every 10 victims” of sexual abuse in Spanish society. A spokesman said: “The Church cannot accept measures…

View Cache

Watchdog groups respond to new revelations of two accused sexual predators in Cleveland parishesThey ask: How many other sex offenders are active in the diocese? In a letter to Bishop Malesic, they express concern about his “carelessness” and urge him to take immediate action 

In the wake of revelations yesterday that two accused sexual predators are helping to lead Mass in Cleveland parishes, two watchdog groups are calling on Bishop Edward Malesic to act immediately to identify and remove all other diocesan personnel who might pose a risk to children and young people. Calling the news “alarming,” a co-director of BishopAccountability.org and a longtime Ohio leader of SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) are urging Malesic to take “personal responsibility” for ensuring that only adults with clean records work at his parishes, schools, hospitals, and summer camps. In the last 24 hours, the public has learned of two accused sexual…

View Cache

One year after the diary of a Jesuit describing more than 80 cases of child abuse came to light in Bolivia, the Society of Jesus repudiated the accusation that it’s a “criminal organization” and that it shouldn’t be blamed for the crimes.

The Bolivian Community of Survivors of Ecclesial Sex Abuse, however, reaffirmed that the Jesuits have institutional responsibility for “systematically covering up” over 400 cases, arguing that superiors and provincials were aware of the crimes.

The diary of late Spanish-born Father Alfonso Pedrajas (1943-2009), known as Padre Pica, was first mentioned in a story published by Spanish newspaper El Pais in April of 2023. The article detailed how his writings were discovered by a nephew and then handed to the newspaper.

According to Pica’s diary, the first abuse happened in Lima, Peru, in 1964. Most of his crimes, however, took place when he worked at the John…

View Cache

Amid a campaign for the governorship, Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced on 9 May that he has taken legal action against the Archdiocese of Seattle, alleging that it has “refused to comply” with his investigation into whether the three Washington dioceses used charitable funds to cover up allegations of child sex abuse by clergy.

Later on 9 May, the archdiocese responded that it was blindsided with Ferguson’s decision, maintaining that it welcomes the investigation because “we have shared the common goal of abuse prevention, healing for victims and transparency”.

“We have been collaborating with the Attorney General’s legal team on the shared legal analysis, which is common for investigations like this,” the archdiocese said in a statement. “Today’s press conference was a surprise to us since we welcome the investigation and have been working closely with the Attorney General’s team for months now.”

Ferguson’s office first sent subpoenas to…

View Cache

The Catholic church is refusing to cooperate with a Washington state investigation into whether it unlawfully used charitable trust funds to cover up sexual abuse by priests, Attorney General Bob Ferguson said Thursday, asking a court to force the Seattle Archdiocese to turn over decades of records.

“We have a good understanding of the content of our files and we have no concern about sharing them with the Attorney General lawfully and fairly,” the statement said.

Ferguson, a Catholic himself, told a news conference that the archdiocese has refused to provide even a single document that had not already been made public, claiming an exemption as a religious institution. The archdiocese disputed that as well, saying it offered this week to provide private deposition documents, but that the attorney general’s office said it wasn’t interested.

Ferguson said the archdiocese ignored a second subpoena issued this spring seeking records on how…

View Cache

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson has filed a subpoena to try to force the Seattle Catholic Archdiocese to turn over records on suspected sexual abuse, he announced Thursday.

In July 2023, the Attorney General’s Office requested massive amounts of information from the archdioceses of Seattle, Yakima and Spokane, so it could map the extent and details of sexual-abuse incidents, the number of priests involved and the transfers of suspected priests from assignment to assignment. So far the three archdioceses have not provided the requested information, Ferguson said.

“We need a public accounting of childhood abuse,” Ferguson said.

Consequently, the Attorney General’s Office filed the subpoena in King County Superior Court, requesting a May 22 hearing. The three archdioceses share a common trust fund that is used to compensate victims of sexual abuse, and Ferguson wants access to those records as well.

In a written statement, the Archdiocese of Seattle said…

View Cache

Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a petition Thursday to compel the Catholic Church to hand over files and answer questions under oath. 

Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced Thursday he’s seeking a court order to force the Seattle Archdiocese to turn over files on priests accused of sexual abuse and make its archbishop answer questions under oath as part of a sweeping probe into how the state’s three Catholic dioceses handled claims of child sex abuse.

Ferguson’s office is looking into “allegations that the Catholic Church has facilitated and attempted to cover up decades of pervasive sexual abuse of children by Church leaders in Washington State,” his office’s petition for a court order states.

Because the Seattle Archdiocese “refuses to cooperate” with civil subpoenas issued by his office last summer and last month, Ferguson went public with his probe Thursday by filing  View Cache

Bob Ferguson is taking the Seattle Archdiocese to court over documents he says it has refused to release.

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson is taking the Archdiocese of Seattle to court over records he said the church is refusing to give up in an investigation of its handling of child sex abuse allegations. 

Ferguson announced Thursday his office is investigating whether the Catholic Church used charitable funds to cover up allegations of sex abuse by clergy in three dioceses in Washington: the Seattle Archdiocese, the Diocese of Spokane and the Diocese of Yakima. 

Fergusons’s office sent its first round of subpoenas to the dioceses last summer, but none have yet to provide any information not already publicly available. 

On Thursday, his office filed a petition asking the King County Superior Court to enforce the Seattle Archdiocese subpoenas and requested a hearing for May 22.

The state has not yet taken…

View Cache

The Archdiocese of Seattle is refusing to turn over documents showing how it handled child sexual abuse allegations by church leaders, Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson said in a news conference Thursday.

The archdiocese is citing a legal exemption for religious organizations that shields the records from public disclosure, said Ferguson, who has asked a King County Superior Court judge to force the church to comply with the office’s subpoenas and turn over the documents. Ferguson has requested a May 22 hearing.

Ferguson’s motion comes months after his office issued subpoenas to the state’s three dioceses — Seattle, Spokane and Yakima — as part of an investigation into allegations that they misused charitable funds to cover up decades of sexual abuse by church leaders. The investigation also seeks to identify accused priests and determine the church’s role in how it had kept those in positions of power, Ferguson said.

Ferguson…

View Cache

Priest Sex-Abuse Investigation Expands

Louisiana State Police are investigating the Archdiocese of New Orleans for suspected past child trafficking by certain priests there, according to court documents made public last week.

While many Catholic dioceses have been sued by victims and investigated by police in recent decades, using a search warrant on a chancery is less common, and tying the investigation to child trafficking even less so.

Investigators executed the search April 25, looking for documents, letters, email messages and personnel records, including records pertaining to assignments and transfers, according to an affidavit filed in Orleans Parish Criminal District Court in New Orleans.

“The Archdiocese is actively cooperating with investigators and the terms of the search warrant,” a state police spokesman, Trooper Jacob Pucheu, said by email. “This investigation remains ongoing, and there is no additional information available at this time.”

The Archdiocese of New Orleans says officials there are cooperating…

View Cache

At one point in the deposition even Hecker became overwhelmed at the number of times with which he has been confronted with sex abuse allegations.

WWL Louisiana and the Guardian have obtained a long suppressed, eight-and-a-half-hour deposition of a 92-year-old Catholic priest charged with physically overpowering and raping a boy in a New Orleans church in 1975. 

Taken in 2020 as part of a civil lawsuit demanding damages from him and the church, in the deposition, clergyman Lawrence Hecker provides the most complete account yet of how the US’s second-oldest archdiocese spent much of its recent history taking extreme measures to keep the public from finding out about his abusive past. The questioning – which the church has fought in court for years to keep hidden – also reveals steps the city’s last four archbishops took to help him avoid accountability for decades. 

Eventually, law enforcement officials were able to…

View Cache

Leaked testimony from a 2020 deposition gives insight into how Lawrence Hecker remained in the priesthood for so long after allegations came to light.

As he walked into New Orleans’ historic St. Louis Cathedral in early January 2000 to receive the honorary, Vatican-bestowed title of monsignor, veteran Catholic priest Lawrence Hecker had already confessed to molesting several children he met through his ministry. 

Hecker had been flown out of town and driven by limousine to a psychiatric facility which diagnosed him as an inveterate pedophile. He had been forced to take a monthslong sabbatical, to begin the week after his promotional ceremony at a cost to the archdiocese of $6,000. And he had already spoken personally to the archbishop of New Orleans at the time and his predecessor about the child sexual abuse allegations against him.

And yet, sworn testimony Hecker gave at a deposition in 2020 shows key higher-ups…

View Cache

In unearthed deposition, Lawrence Hecker pleaded the fifth 117 times, but still provided damning details of decades-long predatory behavior

The Guardian and CBS affiliate WWL Louisiana have obtained a long suppressed, eight-and-a-half-hour deposition of a 92-year-old Catholic priest charged with physically overpowering and raping a boy in a New Orleans church in 1975.

Taken in 2020 as part of a civil lawsuit demanding damages from him and the church, clergyman Lawrence Hecker provides in the deposition the most complete account yet of how the US’s second-oldest archdiocese spent much of its recent history taking extreme measures to keep the public from finding out about his abusive past. The questioning – which the church has fought in court for years to keep hidden – also reveals steps the city’s last four archbishops took to help him avoid accountability for decades.

Eventually, law enforcement officials were able to obtain an indictment charging Hecker…

View Cache

Five justices voted in favor of reconsidering earlier decision to deny permission, which devastated adult survivors of clergy abuse

Weeks after the Roman Catholic archdiocese of New Orleans was identified as the subject of a child sex-trafficking investigation, the Louisiana state supreme court has agreed to reconsider its decision to strike down a law that had allowed victims to file civil lawsuits over long-ago abuse.

Five of the court’s justices voted in favor of rehearing a case that produced a 4-3 ruling in March, dismaying survivors of the state’s decades-old clergy abuse scandal. The judges voting for a rare rehearing were chief justice John Weimer – who suggested a hearing before the end of May – and associate justices Scott Crichton, William Crain, Jay McCallum and Piper Griffin.

Griffin and Crichton in March had formed part of the majority that struck down the so-called lookback law. But they then signaled their…

View Cache

A prominent Anglican church in Virginia waited 16 years to investigate or inform its congregation about a former youth pastor’s alleged sexual abuse, a third-party investigation has found.

According to the report by law firm Isler Dare, Jeffrey T. Taylor sexually abused three boys—two of whom were 13—while Taylor was a youth director from 1990-1999 at the historic The Falls Church Anglican (TFCA) in Falls Church, Virginia. Despite this, Eddie Isler, the investigator, told The Roys Report (TRR) he was unaware of any pending criminal charges against Taylor.

One of Taylor’s victims approached the church with allegations in 2007, and the parents of another victim came forward in 2021. However, it wasn’t until September 2023, after some parents complained to a bishop about TFCA’s lack of response, that the months-long investigation began. In October 2023, TFCA informed its congregation of the alleged abuse.

TFCA, which President George Washington and former  View Cache

A Long Island pastor has been arrested for allegedly sexually abusing a teen girl in the basement of a church.

Clinton Bucknor, 71, of Huntington Station, is accused of sending inappropriate photos and texts to a 15-year-old girl and molesting the teen in the church basement in March, Suffolk County police said.

Bucknor works at the Huntington Seventh-Day Adventist Church. He was arrested Thursday morning after the girl’s sister notified police on Wednesday, authorities said. He’s been charged with sexual abuse, endangering the welfare of a child and criminal solicitation.

Bucknor is scheduled to be arraigned Friday at First District Court in Central Islip.

Detectives said they hope news of the arrest will inspire anyone with more information or who may also be a victim to come forward.

View Cache

The archbishop of Brussels has apologized to abuse survivors and expressed deep regret over the inclusion of reportedly three perpetrators of sexual abuse on an electoral list for the council of priests. 

“This is a grave mistake on our part, and I extend my deepest apologies to the victims. I acknowledge the mistake and offer my sincerest regret,” Archbishop Luc Terlinden of Mechelen-Brussels said in a press release published May 8.

“I have initiated a thorough investigation and will take appropriate action. In the event that priests known to the archdiocese for abuse are elected to the current Flemish Brabant and Mechelen priests’ council, they will be unable to serve on the council,” Terlinden added.

The council of priests is an advisory body that provides a bishop with guidance and support on ecclesiastical matters and church governance. 

Father Rik Devillé, a vocal advocate for victims of clerical sexual…

View Cache

A criminal complaint provided disturbing new information about a priest accused of sexually abusing multiple children.

Father Leo Riley served in the Diocese of Venice and was recently assigned to a parish in Port Charlotte. Authorities said his arrest stems from his time in Iowa in the 1980s.

A newly released criminal complaint details the alleged abuse, and also reveals why some of Riley’s alleged victims, who served as altar boys at the church, may never see justice.

The explicit details are disturbing. The complaint outlines when and where at least four underage altar boys were molested, sexually assaulted, and abused at Riley’s hands.

According to the complaint, a parent reported the alleged abuse to the principal and “a couple weeks later, Riley was transferred to another parish.”

Riley was ordained a priest in 1982. He was assigned to 17 different parishes within the Archdiocese of Dubuque until 2002.

At…

View Cache

The Spanish Bishops’ Conference said the government’s five-point plan to respond to abuse largely matched the Church’s own strategy.

The Archbishop of Oviedo has accused the Spanish government of presenting “only the Catholic Church” as guilty of harbouring sexual abuse.

Archbishop Jesús Sanz Montes said the focus on sexual abuse in the Church was “a kind of obsessive mantra” deployed “every time they need a smoke screen to distract from the real problems we have”.

He was reacting to a government plan for victims of abuse in the Spanish Catholic Church.

The plan follows the publication in October 2023 of a parliamentary report investigating abuse in the Spanish Catholic Church, conducted by Ángel Gabilondo, the national ombudsman.

The inquiry included a sample survey of 8,013 people, of whom 1.13 per cent were affected by abuse in the Church, just over half of it perpetrated by clergy and religious. The report also…

View Cache

Washington state’s attorney general is increasing pressure on the Catholic Church in a child sex abuse investigation he is conducting.

Bob Ferguson said he has asked the King County Superior Court to enforce a subpoena he issued against the Seattle Catholic Archdiocese to obtain church records for the probe.

Mr. Ferguson said the Seattle Archdiocese did not comply with the records request and that Catholic dioceses in Spokane and Yakima are also non-compliant. The legal action in Seattle could be followed by court filings against the other Catholic dioceses, he told a news conference Thursday.

“Through the course of our investigation, the Archdiocese has unfortunately refused to cooperate with our investigation, has refused to provide any of the information to us that we’re requesting that’s not already been made public,” Mr. Ferguson, himself a Catholic, told reporters. “As a result, we’re going to court today to ask the judge to compel the Archdiocese…

View Cache

Five of the court’s justices voted in favor of rehearing a case that devastated survivors of the state’s decades-old clergy molestation scandal.

Weeks after the Roman Catholic archdiocese of New Orleans was identified as the subject of a child sex-trafficking investigation, the Louisiana state supreme court has agreed to reconsider its decision to strike down a law that had allowed victims to file civil lawsuits over long-ago molestation. 

Five of the court’s justices voted in favor of rehearing a case that produced a 4-3 ruling in March, devastating survivors of the state’s decades-old clergy molestation scandal. The judges voting for a rare rehearing: Chief Justice John Weimer and Justices Scott Crichton, William Crain, Jay McCallum and Piper Griffin. 

Griffin and Crichton in March had formed part of the majority that struck down the so-called lookback law. But they then signaled their wish to reconsider their vote by helping grant only…

View Cache

The Louisiana Supreme Court announced it is reconsidering its ruling of overturning the state law that allowed childhood sexual abuse victims more time to file civil lawsuits.

Richard Trahant, Soren Gisleson, John Denenea, Kevin Duck, and Cle Simon – attorneys for Douglas Bienvenu, et al – released a statement on the announcement.

“This is a great day for child sexual abuse survivors and the children of Louisiana. It is a bad day for pedophiles and those who protect them. We commend the two Justices (Chrichton and Griffin) who decided to give this issue another look. Good judges sometimes change their minds.”

Associate Justice Jefferson Hughes dissented.

View Cache