ABUSE TRACKER

Utah clergy could be allowed to report instances of child abuse or neglect even if the perpetrator told them during confession if the clergy member believes the abuse is ongoing, under a newly proposed bill.

Rep. Anthony Loubet, R-Kearns, spoke with KSL.com about his legislation — which has not yet been made public — saying it also provides legal protection to members of the clergy who decide to inform law enforcement of ongoing abuse.

“What my bill is trying to do is to at least give them those protections that others currently receive,” Loubet said of the civil and criminal liability protections. “So if they report, they don’t have to worry about getting sued for failing to report or being aware of neglect or abuse or anything like that.”

Loubet said he’s working to find a middle ground on the issue of penitent privilege, by giving faith leaders the option…

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A Canadian cardinal who is a close advisor to Pope Francis on Tuesday personally denied accusations he sexually assaulted a teenage girl in the 1980s, telling his congregation by video he has never behaved inappropriately towards anyone.

Cardinal Gerald Lacroix, the 66-year-old archbishop of Quebec, is facing claims of sexual assault dating back to 1987 and 1988, when the victim was 17, as part of a class action suit against more than 100 priests in the archdiocese.

Lacroix has been Quebec’s archbishop since 2011 and a cardinal since 2014. Since last year, he has served on the pontiff’s Council of Cardinal Advisors, which meets regularly at the Vatican.

“Never, to my knowledge, have I acted inappropriately towards anyone, whether minors or adults,” he said in a video filmed in his office.

“My soul and my conscience are at peace in the face of these accusations which I refute,” he said,…

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In light of a Protestant abuse study unveiled in Germany, a Catholic lay group has called into doubt the “persistent narrative of the Synodal Way attributing systemic causes of abuse to specifically Catholic factors.”

Published on Jan. 25, the ForuM study identified 1,259 accused individuals and 2,174 survivors of abuse since 1946 within the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), according to a report by CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner. This study’s findings starkly contrast with the claims of an “alleged Catholic-specific dimension of sexual abuse,” stated “Neuer Anfang,” a German lay group critical of the Synodal Way.

The German Synodal Way, which voted for women’s ordination and transgender ideology, among other issues, linked its resolutions to the MHG Study, an investigation of clerical sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in Germany.

However, Neuer Anfang has stated…

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The Diocese of Orange and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles have agreed to pay a combined settlement believed to be the largest ever in a sex abuse case filed on behalf of an individual against a religious institution. 

The case involving two of the most notorious sex predators in California reached a $10-million settlement on Friday, January 26, according to a local report from East Bay Times.

The case focuses primarily on the sexual crimes of Fr. Eleuterio Ramos and Fr. Siegfried Widera. 

In 2020, a piece of California legislation provided a three-year window during which the state would lift the statute of limitations for lawsuits regarding decades-old sex abuse cases. This week’s settlement resolves one of the first suits to go to trial since 2020. 

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles, where Ramos first began committing sexual assault on minors almost immediately following his ordination, will pay out $500,000,…

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A pastor of a Racine church faces more than 75 years in prison after an investigation into alleged sexual assault of two different females.

Bernabe Leon Alvarez, 37, of Racine, is charged with two felony counts of sexual exploitation by a therapist, one felony count of repeated sexual assault of a child and one felony count of child enticement.

The four felonies carry a maximum possible prison term of 77 years, six months and a total fine of $225,000.

Leon Alvarez remains free from custody on a $10,000 cash bond.

The criminal complaint: Pastor accused of sexual assault by two females

First female interviewed

An investigator with the Racine Police Department and a forensic interviewer spoke to the first female last February. The now 18-year-old stated the defendant, the pastor of her former church, not identified in the complaint, began to assault her in August of 2020, when she was…

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Bishop William T. McGrattan, Bishop of the Diocese of Calgary and President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, has issued the following statement regarding the recent allegations of sexual assault concerning His Eminence Gérald Cyprien Cardinal Lacroix, Archbishop of Quebec.

Bishop McGrattan’s full statement follows:

“On 25 January 2024, it was reported in the news that Cardinal Gérald Cyprien Lacroix’s name has recently been added to a list of clergy and pastoral workers who have been accused of sexual abuse in a class action lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Quebec. He has issued a statement and he has communicated his decision to withdraw temporarily from activities in his Diocese.

Within the Catholic Church, Pope Francis has established a clear procedure that must be followed when an allegation is made against a Bishop, as outlined in Vos Estis Lux Mundi. The Bishops of Canada have set up a third-party reporting system…

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Holy Trinity Catholic Parish announced earlier this month that Father John Pilcher had been appointed as its senior associate pastor. Pilcher was accused of sexual assault of a minor while working in Topeka, but the Kansas Bureau of Investigation could not substantiate the claims and no charges were filed.

A Catholic church in Lenexa is facing pushback from some of its parishioners after appointing a priest who previously faced a sexual assault allegation.

Earlier this month, Holy Trinity Catholic Parish announced it had appointed Father John Pilcher as its senior associate pastor.

During Pilcher’s introduction at the church’s Jan. 13 mass, Pilcher brought up the allegation that was leveled against him during his previous stop at a Topeka parish.

“If you Google my name, you will find that back in 2021 when I was pastor at Mater Dei, an allegation was brought up against me,” he…

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The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouver denies institutional problems protecting sexually abusive priests

Warning: This story contains disturbing details of sexual abuse.

The Archdiocese of Vancouver has admitted in court documents sexual abuse of a man by a priest and a Christian Brother and its vicarious liability for that but denied negligence for acting in any way that could attract legal punitive damages.

An unnamed man alleging sexual abuse by two Roman Catholic priests is suing the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouver (RCAV), a Corporation Sole, the Catholic Independent Schools of Vancouver (CISVA) and the estates of two men.

In documents filed in B.C. Supreme Court on Oct. 23, 2020, John Doe alleges that North Vancouver Holy Trinity Parish pastor Father John Kilty, now dead, committed multiple acts of sexual assault and battery on him when he was six.

In a further amended response to civil claim filed on Dec. 13, the…

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Why am I posting this decades-old newspaper story here and now?

First, because so much about the early history of our movement to protect kids, expose predators, deter enablers and help survivors is nowhere to be found. (Much was pre-Internet and we in SNAP had our hands full just trying to deal with our trauma and the trauma of the hundreds of others who sought our help, even back in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s, before the scandal erupted into national awareness).

Second, because the pastor’s quote here so clearly reveals how Catholic officials felt (and feel) about their institution and this crisis: “My objection was that they were passing out literature. That was detrimental to our faith, our church and to the priesthood itself.”

And third, because though I’ve said it hundreds of times directly to many of my survivor pals and colleagues, I’ve never used this space…

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Sexual assault and reproductive coercion share similar dynamics: both are forms of violence that intimately violate a person’s body. The Catholic Church’s clergy sex abuse scandals and its attempts to coerce people’s reproductive decision-making by banning abortion and attacking contraception reveal a dangerous sexual sociopathology that fundamentally undermines the Church’s claims to moral authority on issues of sexuality.

By now, the stories are familiar and well documented. The 2006 documentary, “Deliver Us From Evil,” chillingly shows how Catholic bishops repeatedly relocated a priest named Oliver O’Grady from parish to parish in an attempt to cover up his rape of dozens of children. The 2005 Academy Award-winning film, “Spotlight,” dramatizes the true story of the Boston Globe investigative reporting team that exposed widespread sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests in the 1970s and the cover up by the Archdiocese of Boston. In 2018, a Pennsylvania grand jury published a 1,356-page…

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Texas lawsuit claims that the minor was a victim of a serial predator as well as student leaders in the campus ministry Chi Alpha.

A church in a Texas college town, a chapter of the campus ministry Chi Alpha, and its sponsoring denomination, the Assemblies of God, are being sued by a father who alleges that the leaders he entrusted to disciple his teenage son instead got him naked in ministry settings and used their positions of authority to sexually abuse him.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday, follows a tumultuous several months for Chi Alpha. Since last spring, a serial predator has gone to jail for child sex abuse, chapter leaders across a half-dozen Texas universities have been dismissed, and the organization’s national director resigned.

The majority of the departing leaders had ties to Daniel Savala, a registered sex offender who groomed and…

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The father of a teenage boy in central Texas is suing the nation’s largest charismatic-evangelical denomination for negligence, saying one of its ministries gave his son’s alleged abusers “positions which engendered trust.”

The new lawsuit is the latest development in a widening sex scandal involving convicted sex offender Daniel Savala. The scandal has implicated the Assemblies of God (AG) and its sponsored college outreach, Chi Alpha Campus Ministries.

Since last spring, multiple reports have alleged that leaders of Chi Alpha, which operates on over 300 college campuses, allowed Savala access to students at several Texas chapters. 

The suit filed Thursday claims that Chi Alpha and its affiliates in central Texas allowed men, whom Savala had mentored, to have “authority and power over minor children.” This led to the abuse of multiple victims, the suit stated.

Plus, leaders allowed Savala to attend on-campus meetings, prey on young men, and subject college students “to his…

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State lawmakers hope a compromise in the proposed legislation will get Catholic lobbyists on board, a year after a similar bill died over the church’s backlash

After failing a year ago, Washington state lawmakers are trying again this session to pass a bill that would make clergy mandatory reporters of child abuse or neglect.

Senate Bill 6298 would add clergy to the list of mandatory reporters in Washington. And the bill’s main sponsor, state Sen. Noel Frame, D-Seattle, hopes a compromise regarding whether clergy should still report information obtained during a confession will be enough to win over Catholic lobbyists, who proved to be the main obstacle to passing the law last year.

“I cannot handle the idea that a member of a faith community, a leader in a faith community, would stand on the sidelines when they believe a child is at imminent risk of abuse or harm,” Frame said…

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A Belgian Church official has told a parliamentary committee that the Vatican’s failure to laicize a bishop who admitted to abuse threatens to overshadow Pope Francis’ scheduled visit to the country.

Speaking at a Jan. 26 hearing of the Flemish Parliament’s committee investigating clerical abuse, Bruno Spriet addressed the case of Bishop Roger Vangheluwe, who resigned as Bishop of Bruges in 2010 after admitting to sexually abusing a nephew.

Spriet, the general secretary of the Belgian bishops’ conference, said: “As we have communicated, his ecclesiastical file is in Rome. After all, according to canon law, only the Holy See can remove someone from the priesthood or episcopate.” 

“In recent years, the Belgian bishops have written several times to the Holy See (in 2017 and 2019) to speak out more clearly about ecclesiastical sanctions against Roger Vangheluwe.” 

“In their joint letter to Pope Francis in October 2023, they reiterated their demand for Roger…

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Let me share with you one of the worst and most important recent news stories that you’ve probably never heard about. Late last month, the Southern Baptist Convention settled a sex abuse lawsuit brought against a man named Paul Pressler for an undisclosed sum. The lawsuit was filed in 2017 and alleged that Pressler had raped a man named Duane Rollins for decades, with the rapes beginning when Rollins was only 14 years old.

The story would be terrible enough if Pressler were simply an ordinary predator. But while relatively unknown outside evangelical circles, he is one of the most important American religious figures of the 20th century. He and his friend Paige Patterson, a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, are two of the key architects of the so-called conservative resurgence within the S.B.C.

The conservative resurgence was a movement conceived in the 1960s…

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NEW YORK – Two of three priests named in a recent report on clergy sex abuse in the Diocese of Gaylord in Michigan, and who had been in active ministry, have now been restricted from presiding at any public celebration of Mass following a diocesan review of the allegations against them.

The decision by Bishop Jeffrey Walsh to impose the restrictions on Father James Gardiner and Father Raymond Cotter was made after Walsh met with Gaylord’s Diocesan Review Board Jan. 22, in what he described as a “long and intense meeting” to thoroughly review files and to discern outcomes.

The third priest in active ministry named in the report, Father Donald Geyman, will continue his current assignment as pastor of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Traverse City, Michigan, pending the outcome of an assessment and determination of a safety plan.

Walsh said the outcomes are his “best effort to…

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One of the Catholic Church’s leading doctrinal officials has reiterated his unusual call for the global institution to consider ending its millennia-long requirement that priests remain celibate, saying that allowing priestly marriage could be a means of preventing clerics from living dangerous double lives.

In an exclusive interview with National Catholic Reporter on Jan. 24, Archbishop Charles Scicluna said: “One of my worries is that people are put in a situation where they are comfortable with a double life.”

“This is not to diminish the beauty of celibacy or the heroic commitment of people who have accepted celibacy as a gift and live it,” said the archbishop, speaking in an interview at the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith for NCR’s “The Vatican Briefing” podcast. “But I think it is good that we discuss it.”

Earlier this month, Scicluna — who serves as both…

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Legally requiring a religious leader, like a Latter-day Saint bishop or Catholic priest, to report child abuse has failed to pass the Utah Legislature in two recent attempts. This time around, Republican Rep. Anthony Loubet hopes his bill addressing the problem makes it all the way to Gov. Spencer Cox’s desk.

Loubet’s approach doesn’t mandate ecclesiastical leaders to report abuse. Instead, it would give them the option to, even if a person “has made a confession to the clergy member” about perpetrating such abuse. They can also make a report if they have a “reason to believe that a child is, or has been, the subject of abuse or neglect,” even if it hasn’t been disclosed to them.

If a bishop, for example, reports abuse to local authorities, they would be granted legal protections if an investigation is launched. The bill’s language states it has to…

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Le cardinal Gérald Cyprien Lacroix vient d’annoncer à ses principaux collaborateurs et collaboratrices qu’il se retire provisoirement de ses activités jusqu’à ce que la situation soit clarifiée. Il nie catégoriquement les allégations qui le visent depuis hier, qu’il juge sans fondement. Dans les prochains jours, il adressera une communication personnelle aux diocésains de Québec qui sera relayée aux médias.  

L’équipe diocésaine comprend cette décision qu’elle accueille avec tristesse : tout sera mis en œuvre par ses collaborateurs et collaboratrices afin de prendre le relais des tâches liées à la mission diocésaine.

Les autorités diocésaines continueront d’avancer dans le processus de l’action collective, dans le respect de la vérité et avec le souci d’offrir une réparation aux survivants et survivantes d’abus sexuels. 

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Court documents say Gérald Cyprien Lacroix touched 17-year-old without consent

As part of an ongoing class-action lawsuit against the archdiocese of Quebec, a high-ranking member of the Roman Catholic Church in the province is now facing allegations of sexual assault.

The class action lawsuit targeting the archdiocese was authorized in June 2022.

Cardinal Gérald Cyprien Lacroix has now also been named in court documents that were presented Thursday morning.

The class action now also names the Séminaire de Québec, a revered institution responsible for creating Université Laval, the first francophone university in North America. 

The alleged incidents involving Lacroix took place between 1987 and 1988 in Quebec City when the plaintiff was 17. Lacroix is accused of touching her without her consent. 

The woman is not named in the court documents.

From 1982 to 1987, Lacroix served as the secretary-general of the Pie-X secular institute in Quebec City. From 1985 to 1987, he was…

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ROME – After being named in a class-action sex abuse lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Quebec, Cardinal Gérald Lacroix has denied the allegations against him but has announced his decision to step aside until the matter is clarified.

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.

In a Jan. 26 statement, the Archdiocese of Quebec said that Lacroix “categorically denies the allegations against him” and considers the allegations “unfounded.”

However, they said the cardinal had decided to temporarily withdraw from leadership of the archdiocese and that they accepted the decision “with sadness.” In coming days, the statement said, Lacroix would “send a personal communication” to the archdiocese “which will be relayed to the media.”

With the charges, Lacroix was added to…

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Allegations of sexual abuse and grooming by Chi Alpha, a national campus ministry of the Assemblies of God, expanded significantly Jan. 25 with details alleged in a lawsuit brought by an unnamed minor in Texas.

Previously, allegations of sexual abuse have been lodged against two former Chi Alpha leaders — Daniel Savala and Chris Hundl — but the new lawsuit for negligence in care for a minor names additional alleged perpetrators. If the claims made in this lawsuit are proved true, the extent of sexual abuse within Chi Alpha will be far more widespread than earlier indicated.

Stephen Holt of Brazos County, Texas, is the father of a minor child named only as L.H. in the suit. Together, they seek more than $1 million in damages from the General Council of the Assemblies of God, North Texas District Council Assemblies of God, Mountain Valley Fellowship, and Chi Alpha Campus Ministries, College Station.

…

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Cardinal Gerald Lacroix, head of the Archdiocese of Quebec, has temporarily stepped aside from his duties as archbishop after being accused in a lawsuit of sexual abuse of a 17-year-old, allegations that the archbishop is strongly denying.

In a short French-language statement released on Friday, the archdiocese said that though Lacroix “categorically denies the allegations against him,” he is “temporarily withdrawing from his activities until the situation is clarified.”

According to the statement, Lacroix maintains that the allegations are “unfounded.”

The statement said, however, that archdiocesan authorities “will continue to move forward in the process of collective action, with respect for the truth and with a concern to offer reparation to survivors of sexual abuse.”

Lacroix, 66, is a member of the Council of Cardinals advising Pope Francis. He has been a cardinal since 2014 and archbishop of Quebec since 2011.

The legal action…

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In light of a Protestant abuse study unveiled in Germany, a Catholic lay group has called into doubt the “persistent narrative of the Synodal Way attributing systemic causes of abuse to specifically Catholic factors.”

Published on Jan. 25, the ForuM study identified 1,259 accused individuals and 2,174 survivors of abuse since 1946 within the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), according to a report by CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner. This study’s findings starkly contrast with the claims of an “alleged Catholic-specific dimension of sexual abuse,” stated “Neuer Anfang,” a German lay group critical of the Synodal Way.

The German Synodal Way, which voted for women’s ordination and transgender ideology, among other issues, linked its resolutions to the MHG Study, an investigation of clerical sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in Germany.

However, Neuer Anfang has stated…

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A former South Side pastor appeared in court Friday, where he was expected to accept a plea deal for alleged child sex abuse, but the hearing was pushed back.

Jerry Jones is accused of abuse that allegedly took place during his time as a pastor at Apostolic Assembly Church in Morgan Park.

In court Friday, the judge ordered a “pre-trial investigation,” which typically takes 30 days to complete. During that time, Jones will be on a 12 hour daily curfew.

Lawyers for Jones’ complainants said it’s possible Jones could avoid time behind bars.

Jones is charged with 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse from 2020 and was charged in 2023 with criminal sex abuse.

His next hearing is scheduled for Feb. 28.

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A 92-year-old former priest, Lawrence Hecker, who was arrested and accused of rape and kidnapping, is currently hospitalized in the ICU.

Hecker’s attorney told a judge in court Friday that Hecker tested positive for COVID-19 two weeks ago and was admitted for blood pressure issues and a UTI.

The prosecution in the case said Hecker’s ailments are treatable and that the hospital is working to discharge him.

It is unclear at this time when Hecker will be released from the hospital.

A status update in the case is expected on Feb. 23.

His trial is set for March 25, which was not changed in court Friday. The judge did not announce any delays due to Hecker’s health.

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Gerald Lacroix, who is close to the pope, has been archbishop of Quebec since 2011 and a cardinal since 2014

Cardinal Gerald Lacroix has been accused in Canada of sexually assaulting a female teenager, as part of a class action lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Quebec, court documents showed Thursday.

The 66-year-old Lacroix is facing claims of abuse dating back to 1987 and 1988, when the victim was 17, attorney Alain Arsenault, who is handling the suit, told AFP.

Arsenault said victims are feeling freer to speak out, and that those accused “were protected for a long time.” He expects more victims to come forward and join the suit.

Lacroix, who is close to Pope Francis, has been the archbishop of Quebec since 2011 and a cardinal since 2014. He has served since last year on the pontiff’s Council of Cardinal Advisors, which meets regularly at the Vatican.

The legal…

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Former Catholic priest Vincent DeLorenzo died Friday morning while serving a one-year sentence at the Genesee County Jail.

FLINT, Mich. (WJRT) – A former Flint-area priest serving a one-year jail sentence for a child sex crime died in custody Friday morning.

Vincent DeLorenzo pleaded guilty last April to one count of attempted first-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a young male attending a funeral service at Holy Redeemer Parish in Burton in the 1980s.

He was about halfway through his one-year sentence at the Genesee County Jail when his attorney, Mike Manley, says DeLorenzo became ill last weekend. Authorities transferred DeLorenzo to an area hospital, where he died Friday.

Manley thanked the Genesee County Sheriff’s Office for acting compassionately to make sure DeLorenzo received appropriate end of life medical care.

DeLorenzo admitted to sexually assaulting a 5-year-old boy after a funeral service for the boy’s deceased family member.

During his 20-year…

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Fr Alfonso López Benito, 80, was found dead at his apartment in Valencia

The body of an elderly priest accused of paying male migrants for sex was discovered naked in bed in his Spanish apartment.

Alfonso López Benito, 80, a former canon of Valencia Cathedral, was found deceased on Tuesday by a friend and janitor who had gone to pay him a visit.

A postmortem found he had died by suffocation and had likely been dead for several days.

A 40-year-old South American man has been arrested on suspicion of murder. Described as a Peruvian immigrant, he was said to have tried to use the priest’s bank card in a local bar.

Police have theorised that Fr Benito’s death could have been the result of a violent argument between lovers.

Fr Benito had allegedly been asked by the Archbishop’s office in Valencia to stop bringing lovers to his home, which was…

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Forum Study suggests church features prized by German Protestants facilitated rather than prevented sexualised violence and continue to hinder full disclosure

Berlin – For 500 years, German Protestants have been quietly confident that theirs was the better Christian church: a participative and democratic antithesis to centralised, clerical Roman Catholicism.

But a bombshell report on Thursday into sexualised violence and institutional cover-up presents a very different – yet wearingly familiar – story.

After four years of work, the Forum Study suggested many church features prized by German Protestants had aided and abetted – rather than prevented – sexualised violence in the past, and are hindering full disclosure in the present.

Even at 871 pages, the report’s authors conceded their report is an incomplete first attempt to cast light on abuse within Germany’s EKD, a federation of 20 autonomous Protestant and Reformed churches with 13,000 parishes and 19 million registered members.

At…

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For Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley, the tinted windows were the giveaway.

Back in 2003, the windows of the official car were darkened for the area’s highest-ranking Catholic priest so that passersby and protesters could not see who was inside. Recently, O’Malley admitted there is a metaphor there somewhere for the state of the church when he took over the once politically and socially powerful Boston Archdiocese, which was reeling from the uncovering of its botched handling of clergy sexual abuse.

“We were in a terrible crisis,” O’Malley told the Globe recently. “I think we’ve come a long way from there towards establishing a sense of peace.”

Boston, for so long a bastion of American Catholicism, was ground zero for what would be a global crisis. More than 1,400 people would come forward to say they were sexually abused by a priest, deacon, or…

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A veteran campaigner has called on Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan to give an “immediate” and “detailed explanation” for his defrocking of the former president of St John’s Seminary in Waterford & Lismore.

Tony Gribben of the Dromore Group said the sacking of a priest is a serious matter and the people of Waterford & Lismore deserve an explanation for the move. Bishop Cullinan’s failure to explain the sacking “generates suspicion and intrigue”.

In a statement this weekend, Bishop Cullinan said he commissioned an inquiry into Fr Michael O’Connor, a priest of the Diocese of Waterford & Lismore, in accordance with church procedures.

Fr O’Connor was president of St John’s College in Waterford city for nine years between 1985-1994. The seminary closed in 1999 due to dwindling vocations.

The Irish Independent understands that Fr O’Connor has been out of ministry for nearly 25 years when the process was undertaken.

While no priest in the…

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Riding on the wave of public outrage, the phrase ‘treating all survivors fairly’ has quickly become the go-to tagline in the US Catholic Church’s PR playbook. We seem to hear it all the time, especially when a Catholic official is weighing or seeking Chapter 11 protection in the face of potentially startling disclosures about clergy sex abuse and coverups that would likely come through civil lawsuits. This raises an interesting question we’d like to ask every US bishop, one that we’ve never seen any Catholic official answer in any convincing way. Note:  Deadlines for diocesan bankruptcies are approaching soon in Maryland and northern California.

High-Profile Church Authorities Emphasis on ‘Fair Treatment’

Given the frequency of the statement, it is essential to revisit some of the quotes from prominent Catholic figures:

• Connecticut Bishop Michael Cote in 2021: The diocesan bankruptcy filing will “assure all survivors are included…

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Immanuel Baptist pastor calls for independent inquiry into church’s handling of sex abuse allegations

Immanuel Baptist Church Lead Pastor Steven Smith on Friday called for an independent, third-party investigation into the congregation’s handling of sex abuse accusations.

Although an inquiry being conducted by the church’s insurance company is ongoing, Smith on Friday described that as merely a “necessary first step.”

“The past two months at Immanuel Baptist Church have been marked by swirling accusations, allegations, conflicting accounts, divisiveness, confusion, even anger,” the pastor wrote in a statement Friday addressed to the “Immanuel Family.”

“I have tried to provide helpful information and to answer questions as they were asked — but the wide range of emotions and confusion have persisted.

“This is why I have proposed that we hire a fully independent firm with expertise in sexual abuse to conduct a thorough investigation and assessment of these matters. A firm with…

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Robert Corfield, a man who abused a boy in Canada in a secretive Christian church in the 1980s, has spoken publicly about what happened for the first time.

He was confronted by the BBC as part of a wider look into claims of child sexual abuse spanning decades within the church, known as The Truth.

His name is one of more than 700 given by people to a hotline set up to report sexual abuse within the church.

The sect says it addresses all abuse allegations.

The church, which has no official name but is often referred to as The Truth or The Way, is believed to have up to 100,000 members worldwide, with the majority in North America.

The potential scale of the abuse has been captured through a hotline – set-up last year by two women who say they were also sexually abused by a church leader when…

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Patrick Kearon, the newest member of the body that governs The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has said he would like see the faith better care for sex abuse victims

The newest member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ top governing body said every faith — including his — must do more to protect victims of sexual abuse and help facilitate a healing process.

Last month, Patrick Kearon, 62, became the first new member since 2018 named to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the body which oversees the business interests and global development of the faith widely known as the Mormon church.

Speaking to The Associated Press on Tuesday, Kearon, who was raised in England and converted to the faith as an adult, outlined the global, compassionate approach he would take on a range of sensitive issues from the border crisis to the LGBTQ…

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“In the exercise of my responsibility as Bishop of Waterford & Lismore, and to provide clear information to the faithful of the Diocese, I am publishing the following statement in the interest of the spiritual and pastoral integrity of the Diocese:

I commissioned an inquiry into Father Michael O’Connor of the Diocese of Waterford & Lismore in accordance with Church procedures. This process involved referring the case of Father O’Connor to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in the Vatican. The result of this inquiry is that Michael O’Connor has been dismissed from the clerical state, and therefore he is no longer a priest.

This decision is solely based on the outcome of this Church inquiry. I will not be making any further comment on the matter.”

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A former president of a seminary in the diocese of Waterford and Lismore has been dismissed from the priesthood following an internal inquiry, the bishop of the diocese has confirmed.

The inquiry into Fr Michael O’Connor, who was president of St John’s College in Waterford city for nine years, was initiated “in accordance with church procedures,” Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan said in a statement.

Commissioning the inquiry involved referring the case of Fr O’Connor to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in the Vatican, which is responsible for defending Catholic doctrine and was formerly known as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

“The result of this inquiry is that Michael O’Connor has been dismissed from the clerical state, and therefore is no longer a priest,” Bishop Cullinan said.

“This decision is solely based on the outcome of this church inquiry,” he said, before adding that he would…

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Over 1,259 employees of the Protestant Church of Germany have committed sexual abuse since 1946, according to an independent report published Thursday. The study also found that at least 2,225 individuals have been victims of the abuse.

Researchers examined documents from the 20 regional churches of the Protestant Church of Germany (EKD) as well as Diakonie Germany, the church’s social welfare organization. The report analyzed approximately 4,300 disciplinary files, 780 personal files and 1,300 additional documents regarding all employees of the church, from clergy members to youth leaders.

Many of the personal files from the regional churches were not available to researchers, and the authors of the study therefore believe the total number of cases is even higher. The authors estimated that at least 3,500 people within the church have committed sexual abuse, with a third of the perpetrators being clergy members. The authors further estimated that over…

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Upon appeal from the prosecution, the October 2021 acquittal of Father Gabriele Martinelli, who was accused of abusing another student from 2007 to 2012 when he studied at the St. Pius X Pre-Seminary, was overturned by the Vatican’s appeals court.

Martinelli, initially acquitted due to a lack of evidence, was this week found guilty of “corrupting a minor” for sexual abuse committed between 2008-2009, and sentenced to two years and six months in prison.

The St. Pius X seminary, previously located inside a palazzo within the Vatican gardens, houses boys aged 12 to 18 years old, who serve as altar boys at papal Masses inside St. Peter’s Basilica. It was established by Pope Pius XII in 1956 to house young men and boys from Italian dioceses who felt a potential call to the priesthood.

Abuse scandals involving the pre-seminary erupted in 2017 when former altar boys went public with allegations…

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Lawsuit names Quebec cardinal in late 1980s abuse

Canadian Cardinal Gerald Lacroix, a senior adviser to Pope Francis, has been named in a class-action lawsuit accusing him of sexual assaults in 1987 and ’88. The suit accuses Lacroix of sexually touching a female teenager without her consent on multiple occasions, the Wall Street Journal reports. A new filing adds more than a dozen suspects and 46 people who say they were victims to the original suit against the Catholic Archdiocese of Québec, which was filed in 2022. Alain Arsenault, the lawyer handling the suit, said those accused “were protected for a long time,” per AFP, and now feel freer to speak out. The law firm said the suit includes 147 people who say they were sexually assaulted by a total of more than 100 priests.

Lacroix, 66, is on a temporary leave of absence from…

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Joliet Diocese faces financial struggles, announces closure of Catholic institutions

The Joliet Diocese, encompassing Will, DuPage, and Kendall counties, has declared the closure of five churches and two schools, citing financial constraints and a decline in mass attendance. The decision, attributed to “budgetary issues,” comes after a year-long evaluation process that stirred discontent among the faithful.

Bishop Ron Hicks’ office has pointed to diminishing mass attendance and financial challenges, yet remains silent on the profound impact of the decades-old priest sex abuse crisis on these closures. The diocese has been grappling with the aftermath of the abuse scandal for over two decades, with over 70 clerics accused of child molestation listed publicly.

While millions have been spent on legal settlements with victims, Bishop Hicks has chosen not to disclose the total financial burden or engage in discussions about the topic, as reported by the Chicago Sun-Times in September.

In the…

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Bhopal: Fr Anil Mathew of the Congregation of Carmelites of Mary Immaculate was released from jail after he secured bail in the case in which he was accused of running a children’s home unlawfully. He was initially charged under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015. Police later charged him for engaging in conversion attempts at the facility under the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act, 2021, an anti-conversion law.

During the inspection carried out by the chairperson of the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and a team of the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) at the children’s home at Tara Savania village, about 20 km from the Bhopal, it was revealed 26 children were missing from the facility.

However, the priest’s counsel argued that they had gone back to their respective homes after presenting letters of request from their…

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In a podcast Thursday, Charisma Media CEO Stephen Strang repeatedly called exposure of alleged clergy sexual abuse by Mike Bickle, founder of the International House of Prayer Kansas City (IHOPKC), a “spiritual attack.” He further claimed that “to burn the ministry to the ground is just the tool of Satan.” And he expressed hope that Bickle “reemerges in ministry stronger than . . . before.”

Strang used the strong language during his interview with IHOPKC Executive Director General Kurt Fuller on Strang’s podcast, the Strang Report.

Strang also stated that “charges were leveled about Bickle” on October 7—“the same day that Hamas attacked Israel.” (The first meeting with IHOPKC leaders concerning Bickle’s alleged clergy sex abuse was on Oct. 9, according to members of the so-called “advocate group,” working with alleged victims of Bickle’s.)

“This persecution is coming from within the Christian community,” Strang alleged. “. . . There…

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A just released report commissioned by the German Protestant Church (EKD) in 2020 estimated that over 9,300 children and young people were sexually abused since 1946 by 3,500 perpetrators, a third of which were members of the clergy. The EKD is an umbrella organization of 20 regional churches, representing 19.2 million Protestants in the country.

SNAP welcomes the publication of this report on the appalling extent of clerical sex abuse – even if it exposes the depth of depravity that prevails in yet another faith community. We believe that it is always a good development to have these crimes exposed. We are also grateful that more is being done in Germany to identify victims, compensate them adequately, punish perpetrators, and put in place safeguards to ensure that such crimes cannot be repeated.  

The study results are based on an examination of around 4,300 disciplinary files, 780…

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Woman taking action against Society of Divine Word gives up right to anonymity before court hearing in Tokyo

A Japanese Catholic allegedly raped by a priest from the Society of Divine Word (SVD) congregation and who is suing the order for covering it up has revealed her name publicly during a court hearing, says a report.

Tokie Tanaka, 63, a nurse residing in Tokyo, said during a press conference on Jan. 23 that she decided to reveal her identity after she was inspired by another victim, the Asahi Shimbun reported on Jan. 24.

Tanaka was referring to a former Ground Self-Defense Force member, Rina Gonoi, 24, who publicly reported sexual abuse at the hands of her colleagues while using her real name.

“I haven’t done anything wrong. Why do I need to hide?” Tanaka said adding that the move from Gonoi to go public with her name was “courageous.”

“Speaking out under…

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A 40-year-old man has been arrested by police in Spain on suspicion of murdering Fr. Alfonso Benito López, an 80-year-old priest who was found dead in his apartment, on Tuesday, 23 January. 

According to official sources quoted by local press, the suspect was arrested after using the victim’s bank card in a bar in Valencia, the coastal city where the crime took place. He was found in possession of the bank card and Fr. Alfonso’s mobile phone. 

The Spanish priest was found lying on his bed by the building’s janitor, on Tuesday.

Suspicion of foul play was aroused immediately, when the janitor received a text message from the priest’s phone only minutes after having discovered his corpse. Other friends and acquaintances had received messages in the previous days, saying that the priest was going to be out of town for a week to deal with personal matters. 

Local police…

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The Oblates of the Virgin Mary have not responded to questions about the status of Fr. David Nicgorski, a priest accused of misconduct in spiritual direction, and of sexually assaulting a religious sister.

Since The Pillar reported on the priest last week, Nicorgski has been accused of hearing confessions invalidly, in a diocese where he was prohibited from priestly ministry. 

And The Pillar has learned that other allegations against the priest have likely been raised at the Vatican.

The Pillar reported last week that Fr. David Nicgorski had been prohibited by the Vatican from offering spiritual direction for a five-year period — which began last year — after several women religious accused him of sexually manipulating and coercing them in spiritual direction, and, in one case, accused him of committing sexual assault.

But while the case has sparked widespread discussion among U.S. Catholics, the Oblates of the Virgin Mary have declined to say whether Nicgorski…

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I am writing this letter to address the issue in the Louisiana Supreme Court on prescription, or the statute of limitations, on child sexual abuse. As I have said before, this is not a political issue. This is a human issue.

When we allow and support abusers to get away with these heinous acts because of a loophole in the law, we support the abuse. I trust that the Louisiana Supreme Court will make the right decision in supporting the lookback window which is supported by scientific evidence. This is not about an insurance claim but a claim to change our society for the better. The children abused grow into adults with trauma and, if it is not properly addressed, they suffer until the day they die.

I dealt with my abuser and his lawyers holding the issue of prescription over my head, which retraumatized…

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The Mississippi Supreme Court will not consider an appeal from a former Franciscan friar who was convicted in 2022 in the 1990s sexual abuse of a student at a Catholic school.

The court decision was announced Thursday, and it means the conviction of Paul West remains in place.

The Mississippi Court of Appeals ruled in August that it found “no reversible error” in the conviction. West’s attorneys then asked the Supreme Court to further examine the case. Justices did not explain their decision not to do so.

West, 63, is in the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility.

Leflore County jurors in April 2022 found West guilty of one count of sexual battery and one count of gratification of lust.

A judge sentenced him to 30 years on the first count and 15 years on the second count, to be served at the same time.

As first…

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Cardinal Gerald Lacroix is facing charges dating back to 1987 and 1988, when the victim was 17, as part of a class action suit

A Canadian cardinal who is a close advisor to Pope Francis on Friday “categorically” denied accusations he sexually assaulted a teenage girl in the 1980s, but he will step back from his duties, the archdiocese of Quebec said.

Cardinal Gerald Lacroix, the 66-year-old archbishop of Quebec, is facing claims of sexual assault dating back to 1987 and 1988, when the victim was 17, as part of a class action suit against more than 100 priests in the archdiocese.

Lacroix has been the archbishop of Quebec since 2011 and a cardinal since 2014. Since last year, he has served on the pontiff’s Council of Cardinal Advisors, which meets regularly at the Vatican.

“Cardinal Gerald Cyprien Lacroix has just announced to his main collaborators that he is temporarily…

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The archbishop of Quebec, Canada, Cardinal Gerald Lacroix, has been accused of abusing a 17-year-old teenager almost four decades ago.

The allegations are included as part of a lawsuit filed against the Archdiocese of Quebec and were made public in court on Thursday.

As reported by the AFP news agency and according to lawyer Alain Arsenault, who is representing a group of plaintiffs against the Archdiocese of Quebec, the accusation dates back to 1987 and 1988, when the alleged victim was 17 years old.

Arsenault said he expects additional victims to join the lawsuit, which originated in 2022 and initially involved 101 people who were allegedly “sexually assaulted” by priests and laypeople since 1940.

The new court documents, AFP notes, list 46 new alleged victims, bringing the total number of people suing the archdiocese to 147.

Lacroix, 66, is a member of the Council of Cardinals advising Pope…

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Cardinal Gerald Lacroix, one of the top Roman Catholic clergymen in Canada, on Friday stepped down temporarily after he was named in a class-action lawsuit against the church that alleged sexual assault.Local media said Lacroix’s name had been added to a list of alleged perpetrators filed in a Quebec court on Thursday.In a statement, the Quebec diocese said Lacroix, 66, had announced to co-workers he was temporarily withdrawing from his activities until the situation could be clarified.

“He categorically denies the allegations against him,” it said. The lawsuit, authorized by the court in 2022, represents more than 100 people who were alleged to have been sexually assaulted by 88 priests and staff working at the Quebec diocese starting in 1940.It also names Marc Ouellet, a former Vatican cardinal from Canada who stepped down from his position last year. Last December, Ouellet, 79, said he was suing a woman who accused him…

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This is the first installment in a three-part story.

When the words “sexual assault” and “evangelical” are used in the same sentence, does the sexual assault scandal that has roiled the Southern Baptist Convention come to mind? In August 2022, the SBC announced it was under investigation by the Department of Justice; it was just the latest tumble in a years-long, but well-deserved and long overdue downfall.

In February 2019, the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News collaborated on “Abuse of Faith,” a sprawling six-part series that exposed a massive cover-up of sexual assault in the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. In response to outcry among Southern Baptist pastors, the Convention asked the investigative firm Guidepost Solutions to determine the extent of the cover-up.

Guidepost released its report in May 2022. It makes for horrifying reading. Though Guidepost was only tasked with investigating cases dating after the turn of the century, it ultimately uncovered…

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The Diocese of Orange and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles have reached a combined $10 million settlement in a clergy child sex abuse case involving two of Orange County’s most notorious predators, attorneys with a high-profile sexual abuse law firm announced on Friday, Jan. 26.

The settlement — which includes $9.5 million from the Diocese of Orange and $500,000 from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles — heads off what was expected to be among the first to go to trial of a massive wave of lawsuits filed against Roman Catholic dioceses statewide by now-adult survivors who were given a three-year window under state law to file civil complaints regarding decades-old abuse.

It is believed to be the single largest settlement received by an individual against a religious organization, said attorney Morgan Stewart, whose Irvine-based firm — Manly, Stewart & Finaldi — represents more than 200 alleged clergy sexual abuse victims across…

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A Canadian cardinal and key ally of Pope Francis has been named in a class action sexual abuse lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Quebec, with the specific charge being that he inappropriately touched a 17-year-old girl on two occasions in 1987 and 1988.

Cardinal Gérald Lacroix’s name was added to a list of alleged perpetrators in the class action suit in court filings Thursday. The lawsuit was authorized in 2022, and covers anyone who was sexually assaulted by personnel of the Archdiocese of Quebec since 1940.

Lacroix becomes the second Canadian cardinal to be named in the lawsuit, after allegations were lodged against Cardinal Marc Ouellet in 2022 over alleged inappropriate touching said to have occurred in 2008. A Vatican investigation later found “no grounds” for any action against Ouellet, who filed a counter-suit against his accuser for defamation in December 2022.

Ouellet’s accuser later claimed that two other women…

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Pastor, author, and Christian entrepreneur, Mike Breen, has resigned as lead communicator at Apex Church in Dayton, Ohio, over alleged “sexual misconduct” with a “vulnerable” church member.

That’s according to a Jan. 15 statement from 3DMovements (3DM), an international coaching ministry for churches and pastors that Breen founded in 2004. Breen is no longer associated with 3DM. However, he leads a similar organization now, called Discipling Culture Collective.

“Mike Breen carried on an extended sexual affair with a vulnerable member of (Apex) church, which he has been leading,” the 3DM statement read. “Mike has confessed to the allegations of sexual misconduct and resigned from his leadership position at Apex.”

The 3DM statement added that Apex Church hired an independent agency to investigate the allegations against Breen. The investigation reportedly “found evidence that Mike also abused his power through bullying and intimidation,…

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An American founder of a Haitian orphanage forced four boys who lived in the institution to engage in sexual acts more than a decade ago, a prosecutor said Friday.

Michael Geilenfeld, 71, is a “dangerous, manipulative and cunning child sexual predator” who for decades has preyed on poor children while working abroad as a missionary, Jessica Urban, a prosecutor with the Justice Department’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, said during a detention hearing in Denver federal court.

Her statements marked the first time authorities have disclosed details of the investigation that led to Geilenfeld’s Jan. 18 indictment in Florida on charges of child sexual abuse. Urban, speaking via a video feed, offered the evidence to support her argument that Geilenfeld should not be released on bond as his case proceeds. She said authorities fear he or his supporters will try to intimidate victims to prevent them from testifying…

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[See also the letter by Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann]

Parents at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Lenexa are alarmed and asking questions over this month’s appointment of a priest — alleged in 2021 of sexual abuse of a minor – as the parish’s new senior associate pastor.

The group also has concerns about how they learned about Fr. John Pilcher’s appointment and his background. They first heard the news on Jan. 13 when Pilcher disclosed it to the congregation during Mass.

“I want to be totally transparent,” Pilcher said during his homily, which was recorded and posted on YouTube. “If you Google my name, you will find that back in 2021 when I was pastor at Mater Dei (Catholic Church in Topeka), an allegation was brought up against me.”

That allegation involved the sexual abuse of a minor. The Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas said…

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At least 1,259 people working for the Protestant Church of Germany have committed sexual abuse in the last decades and at least 2,225 victims were affected by the abuse according to an independent report published Thursday.

The numbers are based on the study of documents and files from the regional churches and the Lutherans’ diaconal relief and social welfare organization, known as Diakonie.

However, the authors said they were not able to analyze the personnel files of all pastors and deacons within the church, but primarily disciplinary files. They estimated that the real number of perpetrators is much higher, with nearly 3,500 people who have committed sexual abuse, German news agency dpa reported.

“It’s the tip of the tip of the iceberg,” said Martin Wazlawik from Hannover University, who coordinated the study on sexualized violence in the Protestant Church in Germany.

The church commissioned the study in 2020 and financed…

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More than 9,000 children and teenagers are estimated to have been sexually abused in Germany’s Protestant Church since 1946, according to a new report. Critics say these findings reveal only the “tip of the iceberg.

[See the report.]

The number of victims of sexual abuse in the Protestant Church in Germany (EKD) is much higher than previously thought, according to a new report published on Thursday.

Commissioned by the EKD in 2020 for around €3.6 million ($3.92m), the report constitutes the first comprehensive study into sexual abuse of children and young people in the EKD since the end of World War II, and its findings represent a huge increase on the 900 previously known cases.

What the report into abuse in the Protestant Church said

The independent researchers said that at least 1,259 perpetrators commited acts of sexual abuse upon 2,174 victims. 

However, the number of unavailable files meant that the…

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An Italian priest and ex-altar boy has been convicted to 2 years and 6 months in prison for committing sexual abuse against a minor, a student he was tutoring in a vocational institute.

The Vatican has handed down its first-ever conviction for sexual abuse committed on its grounds to an Italian priest, Gabriele Martinelli, 31, who had previously been acquitted of the same and other crimes for lack of evidence.

Martinelli is a former student of Saint Pius X Pre Seminary, a vocational institute in the Vatican that hosts the pope’s altar boys. In 2020, he was first tried in court for sexually abusing a seminary student he was tutoring in August 2010, but the case has failed to find him guilty of the charges.

That initial verdict was reversed on Tuesday, when a Vatican court found Martinelli guilty of abusing the trust of the student and forcing him to…

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In 1968, Pope St. Paul VI promulgated the encyclical letter Humanae Vitae, closing the discussion about whether the Roman Catholic Church should revise its stance on birth control. Paul offered several reasons for reiterating the church’s long-standing prohibition, one being that, in his opinion, the use of contraception would lead to the depersonalization of women. 

The document states, “A man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may forget the reverence due to a woman, and, disregarding her physical and emotional equilibrium, reduce her to being a mere instrument for the satisfaction of his own desires, no longer considering her as his partner whom he should surround with care and affection.” 

Today, conservative Catholics frequently reference Paul VI’s prognostications in an attempt to connect sexual abuse and misconduct with the phenomenon of contraceptive use. 

In July 2018, the National Catholic Register published a…

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Lawmakers hope a compromise will get Catholic lobbyists on board

After failing a year ago, Washington state lawmakers are trying again this session to pass a bill that would make clergy mandatory reporters of child abuse or neglect. 

Senate Bill 6298 would add clergy to the list of mandatory reporters in Washington. And the bill’s main sponsor, state Sen. Noel Frame, D-Seattle, hopes a compromise regarding whether clergy should still report information obtained during a confession will be enough to win over Catholic lobbyists, who proved to be the main obstacle to passing the law last year. 

“I cannot handle the idea that a member of a faith community, a leader in a faith community, would stand on the sidelines when they believe a child is at imminent risk of abuse or harm,” Frame said in a legislative committee hearing discussing the bill Thursday. “I really hope this is the middle path.”

…

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Backtracking in proposed legislation keeps children at risk

On Thursday, January 25th, the Human Services Committee of the Washington state Senate will hold a public hearing on SB 6298 , “an act relating to the duty of the clergy to report child abuse or neglect.” This new bill has been introduced following the failure of previous legislation (SB 5280 ) that included an amendment that made members of clergy mandatory reporters of child abuse, without offering an exception for information about a child that may be at risk for abuse that was obtained during private pastoral communication.

 Under pressure from Catholic bishops , state Senate lawmakers have introduced a new bill that bypasses the amendment to the previous legislation brought by the House Human Services, Youth, & Early Learning Committee, by putting the clergy exemption back into the bill. If they succeed, clergy will be effectively exempt from reporting child abuse and neglect…

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Most reporters have covered a story so disturbing that they never want to think about it again — yet the evil subject makes it impossible to ever forget.

My cross to bear is Father Eleuterio Ramos.

The Montebello native terrorized Catholic parishes in Orange and Los Angeles counties during the 1970s and 1980s, once admitting to detectives that he had molested “at least” 25 boys. Church officials knew about Ramos’ depravity almost from the beginning of his career, yet never turned him over to law enforcement or even removed him from the ministry. Instead, they moved him from parish to parish until the Diocese of Orange asked the Diocese of Tijuana in 1985 to accept him — after he confessed to having “slipped,” according to a church memo.

The Orange diocese settled five sex abuse lawsuits against Ramos during the 1990s. Eleven lawsuits were still pending when Ramos died 20 years…

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Gerard ‘Jerry’ Howell was supported by New Orleans’s archbishop after credible sexual abuse allegations were made against him by dozens of children

For decades, Gerard “Jerry” Howell had avoided punishment for what his own church considers credible sexual abuse allegations leveled against him by dozens of children – including many deaf youths whom he met through his work.

Now, he’s found another way around what little administrative accountability he eventually faced, this time with the help of New Orleans’s archdiocese and its archbishop.

A court order put a halt to retirement benefits paid to Howell and other similarly accused priests, but only after the archdiocese declared bankruptcy in 2020 as it continued to struggle managing the fallout of a decades-old clerical abuse scandal.

Nonetheless, in a private letter to a high-ranking Vatican official in the US, New Orleans’s archbishop  View Cache

[See also Pew Research Center, Religious ‘Nones’ in America: Who They Are and What They Believe, January 24, 2024)]

A new survey has found that about 70 percent of American adults who describe themselves as religiously unaffiliated, the so-called “nones,” nevertheless believe in God or a higher power, and almost half of them (48 percent) describe themselves as spiritual.

The findings come from a new survey conducted by the Pew Research Center titled “Religious ‘Nones’ in America: Who They are and What They Believe.” It follows a survey Pew conducted last October, which found that 28 percent of American adults are religiously unaffiliated.

Archbishop Charles Thompson of Indianapolis, the U.S. Bishops’ Conference Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis chair, said that he has often heard about people who identify as spiritual but not religious, and believes there is an opportunity for the church to reach them.

“You want to tap…

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[For the original Washington Post investigation: A teen was accused of abuse inside Vatican City: Powerful church figures helped him become a priest, by Chico Harlan and Stefano Pitrelli, July 12, 2021. See also cache.

A Vatican appeals court on Tuesday convicted a priest of corrupting a minor when he served as an altar boy for the pope within the walls of the Holy See, handing down a 2½-year prison sentence in a case that brought allegations of sexual abuse — and the church’s resistance to rooting it out — into the geographic heart and spiritual center of the Roman Catholic Church.

The appeals court on Tuesday partially reversed the 2021 acquittal of Gabriele Martinelli, 31, in the Vatican’s first criminal trial on sexual abuse. The court concurred that there was no evidence Martinelli had used coercion when he engaged in sexual relations…

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The Vatican Court of Appeals sentenced an Italian priest to jail on Jan. 23 for “the crime of corruption of minors” relating to the sexual abuse of a fellow student at a school for papal altar boys.

The case is being called historic, as it is the first such ruling that has been handed down for sexual violence perpetuated on Vatican sovereign territory. 

Father Gabriele Martinelli was accused of forcing the former altar server, identified as L.G., to have sexual relations with him between 2007 and 2012 while they were students at the St. Pius X pre-seminary.

Martinelli was sentenced to two and a half years in prison and ordered to pay a fine of 1,000 euros (about $1,089.78) to cover the legal proceedings, Vatican News reported. 

The 31-year-old Martinelli was ordained to the priesthood in 2017 and is a priest in the Diocese of Como in…

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Father Gabriele Martinelli sentenced to two and a half years for abusing altar boy at youth seminary few yards from Pope Francis’s residence

A Catholic priest has been jailed for sexually abusing an altar boy within the walls of the Vatican in the first legal case of its kind.

In what the Italian media called the “Pope’s choirboys” case, Father Gabriele Martinelli, 31, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison by a Vatican court for sexually abusing a minor when both of them were enrolled in a youth seminary located just a few yards from Pope Francis’s residence.

It was the first Vatican trial involving sexual abuse inside the walls of the Vatican, the world’s smallest sovereign nation.

The St Pius X youth seminary was a residence for boys aged 12 to 18 who served as altar boys at masses led by the Pope in St…

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We’re deeply worried that Kansas’ Catholic archbishop, for the second time in six months, is putting an accused child molester to work in or near a Catholic school. These moves are reckless and irresponsible. In August, Archbishop Naumann let Bishop Miege hire Phil Baniewicz, who was named in a 2005 civil sexual abuse lawsuit in Arizona, as its new president.

Now, Naumann is transferring Fr. John Pilcher to Holy Trinity parish, which has a parochial school, in Lenexa.
Our simple question: Why take the risk?

Most parishes in Kansas do not have elementary schools. It would be cautious and prudent to put Fr. Pilcher in one of those churches. But Naumann is sadly but predictably opting to roll the dice with the well-being of children. The church ‘investigation’ into the abuse report involving Fr. Pilcher was relatively brief. We see no evidence that Naumann or his staff did any real outreach…

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It can take decades for an adult who survived sexual abuse as a child to bring a lawsuit. That’s the case for many who were abused by trusted members of the community, like Catholic priests. But in Massachusetts, even if a survivor of clergy abuse decides to sue, state laws can stand in the way of justice.

The first hurdle is the statute of limitations. If a victim is older than 53 and it’s been more than 7 years since they realized the abuse harmed them, the statute of limitations applies — meaning it’s likely too late to bring a lawsuit.

The second obstacle is known as the charitable immunity law, which applies to nonprofit charities. It generally limits the liability of charitable organizations, including Catholic dioceses, to $20,000. (Medical malpractice lawsuits against a nonprofit provider are capped at $100,000.)

Eric MacLeish has been one of the…

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The Louisiana Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday in an Acadiana clergy sex abuse lawsuit that will affect the outcomes of other sex abuse cases in the state.

The issue being considered by the justices is a 2021 law that created a three-year ‘lookback’ window to file civil lawsuits, regardless of when the alleged abuse occurred. Previously, survivors had until they turned 28 years old to file such claims.

The civil case before the high court is against the Diocese of Lafayette and St. Martin de Tours Catholic Church in St. Martinville. In the lawsuit, six plaintiffs allege they were molested by Father Kenneth Morvant decades ago when they were between the ages of 8 and 14.

“We have real issues about credibility, reliable evidence, and proof,” said Gil Dozier, an attorney for the Diocese of Lafayette. “This case, on top of that, is predicated on repressed memory. The plaintiffs in…

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Two sexual abuse survivors told OSV News they are deeply troubled by a recently resurfaced book on mysticism written several years ago by the Vatican’s doctrinal head that includes graphic descriptions of sexuality.

“La pasión mística: espiritualidad y sensualidad” (”Mystical Passion: Spirituality and Sensuality”) — written in 1998 by then-Father and now Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, head of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith — bills itself as “an invitation to the world of passionate love that hides in the depths of our being.”

In a Jan. 8 interview with Crux, the cardinal — who has also come under fire for his 1995 book “Heal Me with Your Mouth: The Art of Kissing” — dismissed “La pasión mística” as a naive effort “that I certainly would not write now,” and said the book was no longer available in print, having been canceled shortly after publication.

But clerical abuse…

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Paul Kendrick had accused Michael Karl Geilenfeld of being a serial pedophile. Geilenfeld twice sued Kendrick for defamation and legal cases have persisted for more than a decade.

A U.S. man who founded an orphanage in Haiti and spent over a decade dodging accusations that he abused minors in his care was charged Monday with traveling from Miami to the Caribbean country to sexually abuse children.

Michael Karl Geilenfeld, 71, who was arrested Saturday in Denver, had even won a multimillion-dollar defamation lawsuit in a Maine federal court against an advocate who accused him of sexually abusing boys at his orphanage in Haiti. Geilenfeld also had been arrested in Haiti on the very same allegations, landing him in a Port-au-Prince jail amid the defamation battle, only to have the case dismissed by a judge when some of his alleged victims were no-shows in court.

Geilenfeld is expected to have a…

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An orphanage founder in Haiti who faced past accusations of abusing boys in his care is facing criminal charges in the U.S. after an investigation revealed that he traveled to the Caribbean country to sexually abuse minors, federal officials said Tuesday.

Michael Geilenfeld, 71, previously sued a Maine activist over accusations he abused boys in Haiti, calling the claims “vicious, vile lies,” before an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI led to an indictment contending he traveled from Miami to the island nation “for the purpose of engaging in any illicit sexual conduct with another person under 18.”

Geilenfeld, who was arrested in Colorado, is expected to have a detention hearing in Denver on Thursday before being flown to Miami, where the case originated, officials said. His Massachusetts lawyer, Robert Oberkoetter, declined to comment.

Geilenfeld and North Carolina-based Hearts with Haiti sued the activist,…

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The Vatican City Court of Appeals has found Fr. Gabriele Martinelli, the former rector of a pre-seminary in the city state, guilty of corruption of a minor.

Martinelli has received a sentence of 2.5 years in prison and a 1,000 euro fine. The Vatican announced the verdict Tuesday.

The ruling partially overturns a lower court’s 2021 decision, which acquitted the priest due to insufficient evidence.

The 31-year-old priest had been accused of repeated sexual abuse at the Pius X Pre-seminary, where 12-18 year old boys live and discern the priesthood. The boys also serve at papal Masses.

The pre-seminary is run by the religious group, the Opera Don Folci. It was located within Vatican City until Pope Francis ordered it to be relocated in 2021.

A man identified as L.G. says Martinelli abused him from 2007-2012, beginning when L.G. was 13 years old.

Martinelli, who is less than one year…

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A Colorado pastor for an online church who is accused of defrauding investors of more than $3.2 million through a cryptocurrency marketplace he ran with his wife says “the Lord” helped him orchestrate the venture.

Colorado’s securities commissioner filed civil fraud charges against Eli Regalado and his wife Kaitlyn Regalado, saying the Denver couple targeted the Christian community and told followers that God would make them rich if they invested in a cryptocurrency he created called INDXcoin.

Investigators with the Colorado Division of Securities found that from June 2022 to April 2023, INDXcoin raised about $3.2 million from more than 300 people who invested in the “illiquid” and “essentially worthless” currency, according to the complaint filed Jan. 16.

Investigators said the Regalados, who ran a cryptocurrency marketplace called the Kingdom Wealth Exchange, used at least $1.3 million of those funds to support a lavish lifestyle that included tens of thousands…

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The newest member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ top governing body said every faith — including his — must do more to protect victims of sexual abuse and help facilitate a healing process.

Last month, Patrick Kearon, 62, became the first new member since 2018 named to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the body which oversees the business interests and global development of the faith widely known as the Mormon church.

Speaking to The Associated Press on Tuesday, Kearon, who was raised in England and converted to the faith as an adult, outlined the global, compassionate approach he would take on a range of sensitive issues from the border crisis to the LGBTQ community. He was particularly emphatic on how he would like sex abuse victims to be cared for by the church.

“There is no question in my mind that the abuse…

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Woodfill has been endorsed by Attorney General Ken Paxton despite his connection to Paul Pressler, a prominent religious figure accused of rape.

In 2017, a Houston college student wrote to the family of Paul Pressler, warning them that the former Texas judge and Southern Baptist leader was a pedophile.

“There is a serious issue at hand,” he wrote in an email, adding that Pressler had recently touched him and bragged about being naked with young boys. “I do not think Paul should be around small children or have male assistance of any kind.”

Then, the young man said he was resigning as Pressler’s personal aide, and asked that Pressler’s former law partner, Jared Woodfill, stop paying him to work out of Pressler’s Houston mansion.

“My conscience dictates that I step away,” he wrote. “Please take me off the payroll. If I am to continue receiving paychecks from Woodfill in the…

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Prominent Southern Baptist megachurch pastor Steven Smith confessed to his congregation on Sunday that his handling of child sex abuse allegations “should have been better,” but claimed his failure didn’t lead to “further abuse.” Meanwhile, Smith’s executive pastor, Doug Pigg, who worked closely with Smith to respond to the allegations, has announced he’s resigning.

Smith, lead pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church (IBC) in Little Rock, Arkansas, has been under fire for failing to tell his congregation about alleged child sex abuse by former IBC Assistant Director of Children’s Ministry Patrick Stephen Miller. Smith reportedly learned of the allegations against Miller in 2016. But he didn’t tell his congregation about the allegations until 2023, after the media had reported on them.

Similarly, Smith allegedly learned of an inappropriate relationship between a 23-year-old IBC youth volunteer in 2020 but didn’t tell his congregation about it until 2023.  

“My response…

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A Vatican court on Tuesday sentenced a priest to prison for sexually abusing a fellow student while attending a youth seminary whose members worked as altar servers for the pope, multiple news outlets reported, marking Vatican City’s first sexual abuse criminal trial of this kind—amid global scrutiny over the Catholic Church’s handling of abuse cases.

KEY FACTS

Gabriele Martinelli, 31, was reportedly sentenced to two-and-a-half-years in prison and issued fines—including covering the victim’s legal fees—on the charge of corruption of a minor when they both attended Saint Pius X Pre-Seminary between 2006 and 2012.

Laura Sgrò, the victim’s lawyer, told the Washington Post the decision was “historic,” since it was the first sexual violence verdict in Vatican City, an independent city-state run by the Catholic Church.

He was previously acquitted in October 2021 after a lower court found no evidence of…

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A Vatican appeals court on Tuesday convicted a priest of sexually abusing a fellow student while they were both attending a school for papal altar boys.

Partially overturning a first instance ruling from 2021, judges sentenced Father Gabriele Martinelli to two and a half years’ imprisonment, according to a copy of their ruling.

The original trial, which began four years ago, was the first in the Vatican concerning sexual abuse that occurred on Vatican territory.

Martinelli was found guilty of corrupting a minor and fined 1,000 euros ($1,083) in relation to events that took place during 2008-2009.There was no immediate comment from the priest.

Martinelli was put on trial for having forced a person known only as L.G. to have sex over a longer 2007-2012 period, while both were enrolled at the Saint Pius X Pre-Seminary.

The institution, formerly based inside the Vatican, houses altar boys who serve Mass…

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Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie’s documentary investigates the abusive legacy and devastating impact of Catholic-run Native American missionary schools.

There’s a moment in Sugarcane, a gut-punch of a documentary, when a central subject relays his shattering experiences with Catholic-run Native American schools in Canada. He goes quiet after testifying to a somber-looking clergyman. The camera stays with both people, allowing us to observe years of pain in the survivor’s crestfallen face and the sorrowful posture of the listener. “Being sorry is the first step,” the subject says after the priest apologizes for the role the Catholic Church played in abusing Native populations. “You have to take action.” 

At the heart of Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie’s powerful film is this question of action. How do you act when faced with violence from the past? What does accountability look like? The documentary, which premiered in competition at Sundance, braids three…

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At Mass on Sunday, Jan. 13, the new senior associate pastor at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Lenexa, Father John Pilcher, stepped to the lectern to greet his new parishioners. He began with a joke about his dad the K-State fan, who had a lot to say when Pilcher was at one point sent to minister to the lost souls of Lawrence. Then, ka-pow: “Also, by way of introduction, I want to be totally transparent. If you Google my name, you will find that back in 2021, when I was pastor at Mater Dei” in Topeka, “an allegation was brought up against me.”

Then Pilcher talked about how, after he got the all-clear, “I was able to engage in a sabbatical program in Rome that included a two-week trip to Egypt.” Mamma mia, right? I get that he was nervous, mostly looking down and occasionally rocking from…

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A Vatican appeals court on Tuesday convicted a priest of sexually abusing a fellow student while they were both attending a school for papal altar boys.

Partially overturning a first instance ruling from 2021, judges sentenced Father Gabriele Martinelli to two and a half years’ imprisonment, according to a copy of their ruling.

The original trial, which began four years ago, was the first in the Vatican concerning sexual abuse that occurred on Vatican territory.

Martinelli was found guilty of corrupting a minor and fined 1,000 euros ($1,083) in relation to events that took place during 2008-2009.There was no immediate comment from the priest.

Martinelli was put on trial for having forced a person known only as L.G. to have sex over a longer 2007-2012 period, while both were enrolled at the Saint Pius X Pre-Seminary.

The institution, formerly based inside the Vatican, houses altar boys who serve Mass in…

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The Diocese of Erie says late priest Father Michael Allison has been added to the list of priests under investigation for sexual abuse.

According to the Erie Diocese, Father Allison was added to the Public Disclosure List after allegations brought forward warranted further investigation. The Diocese says law enforcement has been informed.

Father Allison died unexpectedly in 2020. He held positions with the Shenango Valley School System and was the pastor of the Church of the Beloved Disciple Parish in Grove City.

Anyone with knowledge of situations of sexual abuse or who has been affected by it is encouraged to contact the diocese.

To report abuse to the independent investigators retained by the Diocese of Erie, email ErieRCD@KLGates.com. Victims or concerned individuals also are welcome to contact the diocese directly to report abuse at 814-451-1543.

In addition, anyone can directly report suspected abuse of minors by anyone to PA ChildLine by calling…

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A Catholic priest on Tuesday got two and a half years in jail from a Vatican appeals court for sexually abusing a minor at a Church ‘pre-seminary’ in what is known as the ‘pope’s choirboys case’ Father Gabriele Martinelli, a former student at the Preseminario Pio X, saw his first-instance acquittal overturned.

In October 2021 Martinelli and another priest, Father Enrico Radice, were acquitted after prosecutors asked for jail terms of six and four years respectively.

On Tuesday Martinelli was found guilty of sexually abusing a fellow former seminarian who was a minor at the time of the abuse in 2010-2012.

He abused the boy, a year younger than him, at the choirboys’ school.

Monsignor Radice, former dean of the pre-seminary, was on trial for complicity in sexual violence.

Father Radice was suspected of not stopping the allegedly illicit acts and failing to report them, prosecutors said.

Rome prosecutors are…

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According to the Diocese’s public disclosure list, Msgr. John Hagerty, who has been deceased since 2013 is one of four priests under investigation for alleged abuse.

Another former priest in the Shenango Valley is currently under investigation for alleged abuse according to the Catholic Diocese of Erie.

According to the Diocese’s public disclosure list, Msgr. John Hagerty, who has been deceased since 2013 is one of four priests under investigation for alleged abuse.

According to his obituary, Hagerty served as a pastor at many churches in the northwest PA including Saint Joseph Parish in Sharon between 1977 and 1984, as well as Notre Dame Parish in Hermitage between 1997 and 2005 when he retired.

Msgr. Hagerty is one of two priests from the Shenango Valley currently under investigation by the Diocese.

Father Michael Allison, who served as pastor at Beloved Disciple Parish in Grove City and also held positions at…

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[See also United States of America vs. Michael Karl Geilenfeld, Indictment, Filed January 18, 2024, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida, 24-200008-CR-Williams/Goodman]

A U.S. man who founded an orphanage in Haiti was charged Monday with traveling from Miami to the Caribbean country to have sex with underage children after spending a decade dodging accusations that he abused minors in his care.

Michael Karl Geilenfeld, 71, who was arrested Saturday in Denver, had even won a multimillion-dollar defamation lawsuit in a Maine federal court against an advocate who accused him of sexually abusing boys at his orphanage in Haiti. Geilenfeld had also been arrested in Haiti on the very same allegations that landed him in a Port-au-Prince jail amid the defamation battle —only to have the case dismissed by a judge when some of his alleged victims were a no-show in court.

Geilenfeld is expected to have a…

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Two sexual abuse survivors told OSV News they are deeply troubled by a recently resurfaced book on mysticism written several years ago by the Vatican’s doctrinal head that includes graphic descriptions of sexuality.

“La pasión mística: espiritualidad y sensualidad” (“Mystical Passion: Spirituality and Sensuality”) — written in 1998 by then-Father and now Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, head of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith — bills itself as “an invitation to the world of passionate love that hides in the depths of our being.”

In a Jan. 8 interview with Crux, the cardinal — who has also come under fire for his 1995 book “Heal Me with Your Mouth: The Art of Kissing” — dismissed “La pasión mística” as a naive effort “that I certainly would not write now,” and said the book was no longer available in print, having been canceled shortly after publication.

But clerical abuse…

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When New Jersey’s attorney general launched an investigation into alleged abuses by Roman Catholic clergy in the state more than five years ago, Bruce Novozinsky felt a wave of relief.

“I had so much hope,” said Novozinsky, an abuse survivor from Monmouth County who says his family’s parish priest, the late Rev. Gerry Brown of St. Mary of the Lake in Lakewood, tried to rape him when he was 16.

Yet more than five years after the investigation was announced with great fanfare, there’s no sign that a grand jury empaneled to oversee the probe will release its report any time soon. Despite receiving hundreds of tips, the effort thus far has resulted in only three indictments and one conviction, and the state Attorney General’s Office has been tight-lipped about its process.

Abuse survivors around New Jersey say they’ve been let down once again.

Then-Attorney General Gurbir Grewal  View Cache

Pope Francis thanked the Rome-based journalists who regularly report on his papacy for their work to uncover scandals in the global Catholic Church in a manner that he said showed “great sensitivity,” as part of a first of its kind meeting at the Vatican on Jan. 22.

In an hour-long encounter in the Vatican’s ornate Clementine Hall with about 150 of the journalists who have covered Francis’ 10-year papacy most closely, the pope acknowledged scandals in the church and said he witnessed the reporters work with “respect” in uncovering them.

“In a certain sense, being a journalist is choosing to touch with your hands the wounds of society and of the world,” said the pope. “This is an occasion for me to thank you.”

Francis was meeting Jan. 22 with journalists who are members of the International Association of Journalists Accredited by the Vatican, of which National Catholic Reporter is…

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Utah lawmaker is pushing a bill to make that clear to clergy.

A longtime Utah lawmaker is shepherding a bill that could lead to more bishops, pastors, priests and other clergy reporting suspected child abuse or neglect to police.

Rep. Brian King’s HB131 makes it clear that ecclesiastical leaders can report such cases — even if the information comes through a spiritual confession and even if their religion opposes revealing those clergy-penitent conversations.

It’s true that Utah law removes clergy from the requirement to report abuse they learn about in confessions — repeated attempts to erase that exemption have failed — but King’s measure clarifies that nothing on the state’s books prevents them from notifying authorities.

“Church policies are distinct from legal obligations,” the Salt Lake City Democrat said. Though their churches might not like it, “clergy don’t have to follow [ecclesiastical] policy.”

Utah’s predominant faith, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day…

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São Paulo, Brazil – A new association of abuse survivors in Bolivia, created in the wake of revelations last May of more than 80 cases of abuse perpetrated by a Jesuit priest over four decades, has filed a lawsuit against the Society of Jesus.

“The Jesuits tried to cover-up the cases for many years. They had information on what was going on and failed to take it to the authorities. We consider that they committed crimes in a systematic way and now they have to take responsibility for them,” said Wilder Flores, president of the new association and himself an abuse survivor.

On Oct. 10, the Bolivian court system accepted the lawsuit and opened a case against the Society of Jesus. An inquiry presently is being carried out. A spokesman for the Jesuits told Crux the order is committed to solidarity with survivors, and is cooperating fully with both criminal and civil…

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Sundance 2024: Visibly overwhelmed directors Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie were met with a standing ovation at their premiere

There wasn’t a dry eye in the house at the Sundance Film Festival premiere of the new documentary “Sugarcane” on Saturday. As the lights came up when the screening at the Library theater ended, the audience’s thunderous applause erupted into a standing ovation while filmmakers Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie took the stage and embraced through tears.

The documentary, screening in the U.S. Documentary Competition section at Sundance, explores the intergenerational trauma from the residential school system in Canada, in which Native children were removed from their families and overseen by Catholic priests and nuns to “get the Indian out.” What ensued was years of physical and sexual abuse, births due to rape and, multiple eyewitnesses attest in the documentary, babies who were burned in an incinerator…

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According to his obituary, Father Allison served as pastor for Beloved Disciple Parish in Grove City beginning in 2011 where he served until his death in June of 2020.

A former Grove City priest who’s been deceased since 2020 is now under investigation for alleged abuse.

According to the Catholic Diocese of Erie, Father Michael Allison is among four priests who are currently under investigation by the diocese according to a public disclosure list featuring priests who have been investigated in the past and those who are currently under investigation.

According to his obituary, Father Allison served as pastor for Beloved Disciple Parish in Grove City beginning in 2011 where he served until his death in June of 2020.

He also served as a religious instructor at Kennedy Catholic High School in Hermitage in 2013, as well as president of the Shenango Valley Catholic School System between 2013 and 2016.

Details…

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A retired priest who sexually abused two schoolchildren at his home in the 1980s has been jailed for 32 months.

Edward Phillips-Smith, 73, exploited his position as chaplain at St Peter’s Collegiate School, Wolverhampton, to groom the young pupils.

In a statement read to Oxford Crown Court, one of his victims described his actions as “selfish, exploitative” and “perverted”.

Sentencing, Judge Pringle said: “You as a teacher were in a position of absolute trust with that young boy and you abused that trust”.

Edward Phillips-Smith worked as chaplain at St Peter’s Collegiate School, Wolverhampton, in the 1980s

The court heard Phillips-Smith, who subsequently moved to Essex and had been known to the children as Father Eddie, would run after-school clubs.

Seen as “more relaxed” than other teachers, the priest would tickle children to make them laugh.

Prosecutor Fern Russell said: “He was fun to be with, the children would sit…

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