ABUSE TRACKER

New court documents reveal that Traditional Latin Mass priest Father James Jackson, who pleaded guilty to a federal child pornography charge in June, told authorities he was sexually abused as a child.

Additionally, a statement from his sister filed with the court said that Jackson engaged in a life of drugs, alcohol, and “sexual wildness” as a young person.

Jackson signed a plea agreement in June admitting to a single charge of receipt of child pornography, while prosecutors moved to dismiss a second count of possession of child pornography. That agreement isn’t official until the judge accepts it at sentencing, which is set for Dec. 13 at 1 p.m. in Providence, Rhode Island, in the U.S. District Court.

News of his arrest in October 2021 shocked many of his friends, supporters, and former parishioners, with many who saw Jackson as a holy priest rushing to his defense. 

Jackson…

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Text of a talk given to the Latin Mass Society in London on November 24th, 2023. Mr. Sire’s audio of this talk can be heard here.

When Joseph Shaw proposed this talk to me in early September, I suggested the title “Pope Francis: how much lower can we sink?”, but the fact is that since then we have been overtaken by events. Over the past eleven years we have all seen Pope Francis’s pontificate in a trajectory of accelerating descent into more and more overt betrayal of Catholic doctrine, but I must say I did not foresee the Gadarene rush we have seen just within the last three months. If we want to assess the very grave events that are happening around us, we need to try and understand the man we now have sitting on the throne of Peter. So before I comment on recent developments I would like…

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Attorney general’s office has challenged dozens of claims in which alleged victims can’t recall specific dates, places where abuse occurred

A potential flaw in the legislation that created New York’s Child Victims Act has led to legal turmoil in hundreds of cases filed by alleged sexual abuse victims in the Court of Claims, where the state attorney general’s office has waged a fierce effort to have many of the lawsuits that were filed against New York agencies dismissed.

A central focus of the state’s litigation strategy has been to assert that in the Court of Claims — where litigation targeting state-affiliated individuals or entities is adjudicated — the rules require a claimant to provide the date and location of when and where an incident is alleged to have taken place.

Those rules, part of the Court of Claims Act, outline the specific criteria that must be met for someone…

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Audio recordings obtained by The Associated Press provide an unprecedented look at the methods the Mormon church uses to keep child sexual abuse cases secret.

[This 50-minute audio report with transcript provides remarkable background for Recordings show how the Mormon church protects itself from child sex abuse claims, by Michael Rezendes and Jason Dearen, Associated Press (December 4, 2023), previously blogged on Abuse Tracker.]

In this week’s episode, produced in collaboration with The Associated Press, secret audio recordings expose a legal playbook used by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that keeps evidence of sex abuse out of reach of authorities.

AP reporters Michael Rezendes and Jason Dearen investigate the case of a former Mormon bishop, John Goodrich, who was accused of sexually abusing his daughter Chelsea. 

The story opens in Hailey, Idaho, with Chelsea Goodrich and her mother, Lorraine, locked in discussions with the director…

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Attorneys for several men who say members of the clergy in the Archdiocese of Washington sexually abused them in Maryland decades ago defended on Friday the new law that allowed them to sue the Catholic Church: The Child Victims Act.

The filings from plaintiffs’ lawyers respond to a legal challenge from the Washington diocese last month, with the church’s attorneys arguing Maryland’s child victims law is unconstitutional, and that the men’s lawsuits, filed in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, should be dismissed as a result.

Archdiocese attorneys contend the legislature granted defendants immunity from child sex abuse lawsuits after the victim turns 38, when it expanded the statute of limitations to that age in 2017. They argue their legal protection stems from a rare provision in the law known as a statute of repose, which created “vested rights” that lawmakers cannot simply change.

Lawyers for the victims in the lawsuits disagree.

…

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Two lawsuits from Acadiana will affect the outcomes of other clergy sex abuse cases in Louisiana.

This week, the Louisiana Supreme Court announced it will hear arguments in a civil case 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. 

The issue going before the Supreme Court is a 2021 law that created a three-year ‘lookback’ window. The law gives survivors of sexual abuse up until June 14, 2024 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 issue before the Louisiana Supreme Court is whether the newly-enacted legislation applies to the cases, and whether it’s constitutional,” said attorney Cle’ Simon, who represents…

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There are more than 250 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by clergy or other church staff, according to officials. They are planning to file in March of 2024.

The Diocese of Sacramento announced Saturday that it will file Chapter 11 bankruptcy next year following hundreds of sexual abuse allegations and lawsuits. 

“It is now clear to me that this is the only way available to me to resolve these claims as fairly as possible,” said Bishop Jaime Soto in a statement. “There are many victim-survivors awaiting compensation for the reprehensible sins committed against them.”

In 2015, Dorothy Small says she was abused by a priest within the Diocese and it’s taken years for her to overcome the trauma. She settled her case in 2019 through mediation but is concerned about this bankruptcy announcement, claiming it will seal documents containing survivor stories from the public.

“That does not benefit society,…

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SACRAMENTO – The Diocese of Sacramento will seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after more than 250 lawsuits claiming sexual abuse by clergy and other staff, Bishop Jaime Soto said on Saturday.

Soto said the diocese intends to seek Chapter 11 protection by March 2024.

“There are many victim-survivors awaiting compensation for the reprehensible sins committed against them,” Soto said in a statement to his parishioners. “The diocese faces more than 250 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by clergy or other church staff. The reorganization process will allow me to equitably respond to the large number of those who are victim-survivors of abuse.”

Under Chapter 11 protection, a court would oversee how available assets would be distributed to fulfill claims against the diocese. Victim-survivors would be represented in a court-supervised proceeding, the diocese said.

A fund would be created to distribute to all victims, the diocese said.

“Without such a…

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Church will be positioned to continue mission that greatly benefits community

The Archdiocese of Baltimore recently announced its decision to file for Chapter 11 reorganization under the U.S. bankruptcy code. The filing is in response to numerous anticipated lawsuits stemming from historic and previously time-barred cases of child sexual abuse. The lawsuits can go forward under a recent change in Maryland law.

Much has been written and said about this decision, and my views about it are informed by my role as a volunteer member of the board of advisors that oversees the church’s handling of its financial resources and as a retired, longtime financial executive in the banking and professional sports fields.

Clearly, there was no other choice that would allow the Archdiocese to both provide equitable financial compensation to survivors of abuse who bravely have come forward to report the evil they suffered and for the…

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Hundreds of Swiss churchgoers have left the Catholic Church following revelations of sexual abuse.

The wave of departures is particularly strong in central Switzerland and Basel. In French-speaking Switzerland too, the number of departures has increased since mid-September, but at a lower level.

All the indications are that the “losses” in the Roman Catholic Church, which were already very pronounced in the record years of 2021 and 2022, have continued this year, even though the definitive figures drawn up annually by the Swiss Institute for Pastoral Sociology (SPI) have not yet been published.

“By 2023, we are heading for an increase in the number of departures for both the Catholic and Reformed churches,” Urs Winter, project manager at the SPI, told Swiss news agency Keystone-SDA.

Last year, some 34,600 people left the Catholic Church in Switzerland.

Data collected in the cantons by Keystone-ATS show an acceleration in departures since the…

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The Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento announced Saturday that it is filing for bankruptcy protection, joining dozens of others that have been financially battered by sexual abuse lawsuits.

“After much prayer and careful consideration, it is now clear to me that this is the only way available to me to resolve these claims as fairly as possible,” Bishop Jaime Soto said in a statement posted to the diocese website. “There are many victim-survivors awaiting compensation for the reprehensible sins committed against them.

“The diocese faces more than 250 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by clergy or other church staff. The reorganization process will allow me to equitably respond to the large number of those who are victim-survivors of abuse.”

The decision to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, which is expected to occur in March, means “a court would oversee the distribution of available assets to satisfy claims…

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1994: Nancy Dunn of North Adams, 34, a parishioner at Notre Dame du Sacre-Coeur parish, meets the Rev. Warren Savage, who had been assigned to oversee a merger of local parishes. Dunn says she enters into spiritual counseling with Savage. In at least three sessions, that counseling includes discussion of her struggle with the belief that she was a lesbian.

November 1995: Dunn and Savage begin a sexual relationship that lasts until September 1996 with more than two dozen sexual encounters.

Nov. 6, 1996: A psychotherapist in Amherst, Carla Brennan, calls the Springfield diocese to report that Dunn, a client, is alleging misconduct by one of its priests. That report finds its way to the Commission to Investigate Improper Conduct of Diocesan Personnel, as the panel was then known.

June 16, 1997: The diocesan commission meets with Dunn and Brennan in Springfield. It hears Dunn recount…

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Over the past 14 years, a Northampton therapist has been helping a client, Nancy A. Dunn of Easthampton, contend with fallout from a year-long sexual relationship with a priest.

In 2020, wanting more answers, Dunn got back in touch with the Springfield diocese. She did so 23 years after a misconduct board upheld her claim that a parish priest, the Rev. Warren Savage, drew her into a sexual relationship.

Before 2020, therapy focused on the past.

Since then, according to Dunn and her therapist, Nancy Knudsen, a main topic in counseling has been anguish over the diocese’s response to her requests for information.

“There are two betrayals here, one by Warren Savage and the other by the church itself in its handling of this matter, both when it first happened and now,” said Knudsen, a psychotherapist who directs the Couple and Family Institute of New…

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Early this year, a retired phys ed teacher left her ranch house in Easthampton and drove down the interstate to tell her story of clergy abuse.

It wasn’t Nancy A. Dunn’s first time before the Springfield Diocese’s review board, which meets in the red-brick Maguire Pastoral Center to hear allegations of clergy misconduct.

But it was her last.

The board later informed Dunn she needn’t have come back. Why? The diocese had already written her a six-figure check, she says she was told, to compensate her for a priest’s misconduct in the 1990s.

Dunn still had questions.

She wanted to know whether the Rev. Warren Savage had been held accountable, as the diocese had said he would, for engaging in a year-long sexual relationship with her nearly three decades ago. Savage remains in active ministry at Westfield State University.

“My intention was never to destroy this man, it was to…

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Stephen Kiesle changed his plea to no contest and surrendered to law enforcement Friday.

A notorious former East Bay priest who was accused of sexually abusing dozens of kids is back in jail, but not for the abuse cases.

Stephen Kiesle appeared in Contra Costa County court Friday to change his plea to no contest for driving drunk and killing his Rossmoor Walnut Creek neighbor. Kiesle was sentenced to six years and eight months in state prison.

Last year, prosecutors said Kiesle was drunk when he ran over and killed Curtis Gunn, who was walking with his wife on a sidewalk in Rossmoor.

In court, Gunn’s wife gave a tearful victim impact statement saying “Kiesle made a choice to drink that night. Today he has chosen his prison term.”

Kiesle previously served time for sexually abusing a young girl while he was…

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He is charged with one count each of aggravated kidnapping, aggravated crime against nature, first-degree rape and theft of $500 or more.

An Orleans Parish judge on Thursday set a March 25 trial date for Lawrence Hecker, the 92-year-old retired New Orleans priest accused of raping and kidnapping a teenager nearly 50 years ago.

Hecker, who served in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans, allegedly confessed in 1999 to church leaders that he had molested several teenagers over a span of 15 years, according to an investigation The Guardian published in June. The archdiocese allowed him to stay in the church.

An indictment charges Hecker with assaulting only one teenager. Hecker faces counts of aggravated kidnapping, aggravated crime against nature, first-degree rape and theft of $500 or more. He pleaded not guilty to the charges in September.

Criminal District Court Judge Benedict Willard set bail…

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In response to class action lawsuit, the Washington Archdiocese is seeking to overturn Maryland’s Child Victims Act

A Maryland man behind a class action lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Washington said the assault he endured as a child by a priest caused decades of substance abuse, shame and depression.

“From age 15 until I was 40 … I used alcohol to cope with the pain, but all that did was turn me into an alcoholic,” said the man identified in court filings under the pseudonym “Richard Roe.”

Roe is one of three men named in the filing, which asserts the archdiocese did little to prevent and protect them from abuse when they were children in the church.

He sat down with the News4 I-Team after the Archdiocese of Washington filed a legal challenge last month to the Child Victims Act…

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[See video.]

Lawrence Hecker, 92, pled not guilty to the charges on Sept. 13. Hecker’s trial date is set for March 25, 2024.

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The Archdiocese of New Orleans has abruptly dismissed the Rev. Anthony Odiong from St. Anthony of Padua Church in Luling and filed a report with a law enforcement agency about the clergyman.

Odiong’s exit came shortly after Nov. 26 Mass, during which he made disparaging remarks about LGBTQ+ people.

Archdiocese officials on Thursday didn’t disclose any details about what they reported to law enforcement, although they did say it was related to the reasons that Odiong was asked to leave the church. Officials said their “concerns” about Odiong didn’t involve the abuse of minors or a member of the St. Anthony Parish.

But Odiong is facing allegations of abusive behavior. A woman who has known the priest since 2007 has accused him of years of controlling, manipulative and lewd behavior that included sexual and financial abuse, said her attorney, Kristi Schubert.

The woman filed allegations in U.S. Bankruptcy Court as…

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Under murky circumstances, a Louisiana Catholic priest has been abruptly removed from his position by the Archdiocese of New Orleans. Church officials have filed a police report against the Rev. Anthony Odiong, according to nola.com, though authorities declined to give further details.

“These concerns do not include the abuse of minors nor to our knowledge involve anyone in this (church),” reads a statement from archdiocese officials to The Guardian.

In 2019, a woman who viewed Odiong as a “spiritual adviser” came forward to allege years of financial and sexual abuse at his hand. According to the Guardian, Odiong is accused of forcing the woman to perform sexual acts — threatening to “place a curse on her head” if she refused — and stealing thousands of dollars from her.

Call logs reviewed by the Guardian confirm that the…

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The RVC Diocese, which includes Our Lady of Peace and St. Raymond, attempts to settle abuse case

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre has made what it says is its “best and final proposal” toward a settlement with the more the 600 people who accused the church of child sexual abuse.

In question is the Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection the diocese filed three years ago, with church officials saying they are willing to amend its reorganization plan to compensate those victims through a $200 million fund the church would set up.

This particular offer isn’t new. In fact, it was made last February, entitling victims to a minimum cash payment of $100,000 for some lawsuits, while others would receive an immediate cash payment of $50,000.

The proposed payout is the largest settlement offer made in any diocesan case to date, according to church spokesman, Sean Dolan — both on…

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Police investigation of Anthony Odiong began Wednesday after 2019 complaint to archdiocese spurred little action

A recently dismissed south-east Louisiana Catholic priest is under law enforcement investigation after facing allegations of clerical misconduct with multiple women as well as claims of financial improprieties, according to officials.

The archdiocese of New Orleans on Wednesday reported Anthony Odiong in connection with at least one of those complaints to the sheriff’s office of St Charles parish, Louisiana, the agency confirmed.

That complaint came from a woman who first contacted authorities in 2019 and accused Odiong of sexual and financial abuse while he was serving as her spiritual adviser for years.

Sheriff’s officials said that they immediately contacted an attorney for the woman and requested an interview. The woman’s attorney, Kristi Schubert, said her client wasn’t immediately available to speak with investigators Wednesday after her initial report produced little action, but she…

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The long battle to bring a former Catholic priest to justice for his sexual abuse of a 13-year-old boy in Madeira has finally ended, with a court in Madeira finding Anastácio Alves guilty on all counts, and condemning him to six years and six months in jail. As reports today explain, this was the 3rd time Anastácio Alves had been cited for child sexual abuse while working as a priest – but the only time witnesses agreed to come forwards. The trial went ahead ‘behind closed doors’.

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Former priest Anastácio Alves was sentenced to six and a half years in prison, with an effective sentence, for committing four crimes of sexual abuse of a child and one crime of sexual acts with a teenager. It is also prohibited from having guardianship of minors and exercising a profession that involves living with minors for the next seven years. The ruling was announced this afternoon, at the Funchal court (Building 2000).

The defendant allegedly abused a minor and the crimes occurred between 2015 and 2016, at the victim’s grandmother’s house, when the former priest, who was posted to a parish in Paris, was traveling to Madeira for vacation.

Anastácio Alves awaited trial in freedom. However, at the end of reading the ruling, the Public Prosecutor’s Office asked for the coercive measures to be tightened and for his preventive detention, given that he had already worked abroad (France and Switzerland) and…

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Julgamento teve início em 12 de outubro, após um adiamento devido à greve dos funcionários judiciais, tendo decorrido à porta fechada por determinação do coletivo de juízes

O ex-padre madeirense Anastácio Alves foi esta quinta-feira condenado a seis anos e seis meses de prisão efetiva por quatro crimes de abuso sexual de crianças e um crime de atos sexuais com adolescente pelo Tribunal da Comarca da Madeira.

“O tribunal decidiu, em cúmulo jurídico, aplicar ao arguido uma pena única de seis anos e seis meses de prisão”, anunciou a presidente do coletivo de juízes, Carla Meneses.

O julgamento teve início em 12 de outubro, após um adiamento devido à greve dos funcionários judiciais, tendo decorrido à porta fechada por determinação do coletivo de juízes.

Após a primeira sessão do julgamento, o advogado de defesa, Miguel dos Santos Pereira, indicou que Anastácio Alves respondeu “a tudo o que lhe foi perguntado”…

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Los Angeles (CNN) — On Monday, the US Supreme Court grappled with one of the highest-profile bankruptcy cases the court has taken on in decades.

The case hinges on the legality of OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma’s multibillion-dollar bankruptcy plan ­— which would have the Sackler family, who once owned the pharmaceutical giant, personally pay up to $6 billion to victims of the opioid crisis, including state governments, local governments, Native American tribes and individuals, in exchange for the family’s legal immunity from future civil lawsuits. The deal would also mean the family would not have to admit any guilt or wrongdoing related to allegations that the Sacklers were complicit in aggressively marketing OxyContin and downplaying its highly addictive properties.

But the Supreme Court’s upcoming decision in this case may affect much more than the Sackler family’s fortune. Third-party releases, the provision that would allow the Sacklers to be shielded from additional civil…

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A Louisiana Catholic priest’s sudden dismissal from the church where he had been a popular pastor for the last several years has set off a fresh scandal in the embattled New Orleans archdiocese, the second-oldest in the US.

As they tell it, local church leaders rescinded Anthony Odiong’s invitation to serve as a cleric in the region due to unspecified “concerns … about [his] ministry prior” to his arrival in the archdiocese – “and quite possibly during his time” there. As a result, the New Orleans archbishop, Gregory Aymond, told Odiong’s bishop in Nigeria to recall him to his home diocese “as soon as possible to address these concerns”, officials said in a statement.

The statement did not mention whether those concerns stemmed from Aymond’s receipt in 2019 of a detailed complaint against Odiong of years-long sexual and financial abuse from a woman who viewed the clergyman as her spiritual adviser –…

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[VIDEO]

In Belgium, a recent documentary on sexual abuse in the Catholic Church has caused shock and soul-searching, reigniting a debate about the way religion is funded in the country. Unlike in neighbouring France, the Belgian state finances officially recognised religions, with representatives of the Catholic Church receiving the best pay. But the abuse scandal has seen many people demand a change in the rules. The justice ministry has asked the Church to remove members of the clergy guilty of sexual abuse from the list of those paid by the state, and a parliamentary inquiry is underway. Our correspondent reports.

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Enraged by inaction surrounding abuse claims against a former Providence HS priest, a survivors network wants Catholic leaders to act.

NEW LENOX, IL — In the wake of a $2 million settlement reached in a lawsuit over rape allegations against a Catholic priest, a network of abuse survivors is seeking answers from the Vatican in a complaint filed last week.

Reached last month, the settlement will result in Providence Catholic High School and the religious order that runs the school paying $2 million to a former student who alleged he was raped by a priest at the school.

The organization Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) is now decrying the actions of five specific officials as “repeated and deliberate recklessness, callousness and secrecy,” in a complaint sent to the Vatican. The complaint, SNAP wrote, was filed in “a sincere, even desperate, hope that the Vatican hierarchy will take immediate…

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The Louisiana Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case of alleged sexual abuse in connection to Diocese of Lafayette and St. Martin De Tours Catholic Church priests.

The court announced in a news release that it would hear the case brought by Douglas Bienvenu and unnamed plaintiffs against the St. Martin de Tours Catholic Church and sexual abuse they allegedly suffered at the hands of deceased priest Kenneth Morvant.

The Court consolidated another  lawsuit brought by a John Doe against the Lafayette Diocese and the St. Martin de Tours Catholic Church. 

Bienvenu and 10 others accused Morvant of sexual abuse back in 2018. Through the use of “alcohol and the power of God” he would prey on the then young boys, the lawsuit said.

The abuse goes back to 1971, Bienvenu’s lawsuit said. Over a two-year period, Bienvenu said he was abused at least 15 times….

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Attorneys for survivors of child sex abuse in Maryland are set to defend this week a law that victims advocates fought to enact for decades: It enables victims to sue their abusers, or the institutions that enabled them, no matter the victim’s age or how much time has passed since their torment. 

Maryland’s Child Victims Act came under fire in a pair of lawsuits brought under the landmark law in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties targeting the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington. 

The Washington diocese, which is incorporated in Maryland, last month argued the law is unconstitutional in a request to throw out both complaints, which claimed child sexual abuse by clergy. 

Friday is the deadline for survivors in both cases to defend the child victims law — or argue why they believe it’s constitutional. 

The legislature anticipated this legal battle: When lawmakers passed the Child Victims Act in the…

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Admittedly, it might be a bit of a broad stroke when we talk about regional characteristics in the context of generous, gumbo-loving, and lively Louisiana. It could be a narrow, unfair assumption by those of us who live and work in a diverse coastal area like Miami; however, many share the perception that the South is more insular and isolated than other parts of the nation, with fewer immigrants and fewer families moving in and out of the region. You may be thinking, “What does this have to do with clergy sex crimes and cover-ups?” But bear with me on this one – because we’ve got something serious to get into, and it involves a dark side of Louisiana most wouldn’t dare to broach.

Are Louisiana’s Clergy Shuffling About More Than Usual?

Our recent research here at Horowitz Law is making us re-examine this view because our examination of predator…

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The case of alleged sexual abuse against the Diocese of Lafayette and Saint Martin de Tours Catholic Church will be heard by the Louisiana Supreme Court.

The court announced it would take the case, and ordered the District Court and the Court of
Appeal to send up the records of the case, in a release Tuesday.2018: Victim speaks out over alleged sexual abuse at hands of former St. Martinville priest

“Please be advised that the above-captioned matter will be set for oral argument on this
Court’s next available docket,” the release read.

The specific date and time of oral argument has not yet been set, but the court set deadlines for the plaintiffs and the diocese to file their briefs by Jan. 2 and Jan. 24, respectively.

The lawsuit originally filed in 2018 alleges the Rev. Kenneth Morvant abused Doug Bienvenu and other altar boys by giving…

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Warning: The following contains descriptions of sexual violence.

A woman who was abused by her father is speaking about what she says is an effort by the Mormon church to protect itself from sex abuse claims.

Chelsea Goodrich, now 38, says when she was a child, her father John Goodrich, a former bishop in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, routinely slipped into bed with her while he was aroused.

In the spring of 2015, Goodrich, then a 29-year-old graduate student in psychology living in southern California, began to confront the disturbing memories.

“I confronted him about this, my mother confronted him about it, and initially, he was caught off guard. He confessed to a lot and we actually started audio recording what he was saying because we realized that he was seeking legal counsel, and he was starting to kind of backtrack on what he…

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A Wisconsin pastor accused of sexually exploiting children from Venezuela and Cuba was sentenced Monday to 15 years in a federal prison.

Cory Herthel, 40, pled guilty in August to one count of attempted sexual exploitation of a child.

The church where Herthel served, Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Green Bay, contacted the FBI in May to report that it had received information that Herthel was trading sexually explicit videos with a 15-year-old in Venezuela, according to court documents.

Herthel acknowledged he met the child begging on the streets in Ecuador and kept in touch with him after he and his mother returned to his native Venezuela and exchanged sexually explicit videos with each other, according to prosecutors and court documents.

Investigators also learned that Herthel was allegedly exchanging sexually explicit videos with two children in Cuba. He was in a sexual relationship with one of the children and was sending…

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Dalton Thomas Lifsey, founder and president of Frontier Alliance International (FAI), an evangelical-charismatic missions and media ministry, has resigned, FAI’s board has announced. Lifsey, married since 2006, reportedly confessed to sexual infidelity with a woman who is not a ministry team member.

FAI is a disciple-making ministry that sends mission teams primarily “to the Middle East and 10/40 window among unreached people groups” and provides relief to the suffering in several regions, according to its website. On Sunday, FAI’s board announced that Lifsey had “tendered his unconditional resignation” two weeks prior, on Nov. 20. The statement continued: “This resignation was effective upon its submission with no possibility of Dalton being restored to a leadership or ministry role within FAI.” 

The board statement also mentioned an earlier “adulterous relationship with a team member of FAI,” which Lifsey engaged in “a decade ago.” The statement added that the…

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The man helped police bring his attacker to justice 30 years after the attack

Police have praised the bravery of a victim who came forward to help them convict a priest of indecent assault three decades after the attack.

The man, who was 17 when he was attacked, spoke to detectives on April 21, 2020 about the abuse which happened in Camden in the 1990s.

He told officers he met Reginald Dunkling while he was working as a priest at his local church in north London.

Dunkling was arrested on June 16, 2020, before being released on bail and on September 9, 2021, he was charged with indecent assault.

Investigating officer Detective Constable Lucy Dugdale said: “Today’s sentencing shows that we will always take this type of offending seriously, irrespective of how many years have passed.

“I would like to praise the victim for finding the courage to contact police; after 30 years, his…

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Last Wednesday Jerry and I spoke to a clergy sexual abuse survivor. Jerry started his cancer treatment about a half hour late at the time so that he could participate in the discussion and finished the discussion in his car on the way to treatment. Jerry was infinitely encouraging and inspirational. Just a selfless pioneer who led by example.

His teachings of kindness and concern will always guide us.

Jerry’s legacy is truly indelible.

Attorney Mitchell Garabedian

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The memories of what happened to him more than 60 years ago are somewhat hazy. But the shock, trauma and emotional scars are as clear today as they were then.

He was 6 years old when he says he was sexually assaulted by a group of men that included Father Patrick Brennan, a priest in the Catholic Diocese of Peoria.

The abuse decades ago has shaped the rest of his life in grueling ways. Isolation from other children, alcoholism, suicide attempts, marital problems and emotional trauma embedded in his psyche.

Too ashamed and confused by what happened to him, he kept it a secret from his friends and family for decades. Only much later in life, did he tearfully confide in his wife.

Now, more than six decades after the alleged assault, the 71-year-old has decided to share his story publicly in the wake of an Illinois Attorney General’s…

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You might know Jerry O’Neill as a WCAX legal expert, helping us all make sense of complicated and high-profile cases.

[Click here to see video.]

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HAILEY, Idaho (AP) — Paul Rytting had been director of the Risk Management Division at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for around 15 years when a 31-year-old church member told him that her father, a former bishop, had sexually abused her when she was a child.

Rytting flew from church headquarters in Salt Lake City to Hailey, Idaho, to meet with Chelsea Goodrich and her mother, Lorraine, to discuss what he said was a “tragic and horrendous” story.

By that time, Chelsea’s father, John Goodrich, had made a religious confession to a bishop with the church, widely known as the Mormon church, with details of his relationship with his daughter. Following church policy, Bishop Michael Miller had called a church Helpline, established to take calls from bishops about sexual abuse, and John Goodrich was quickly excommunicated.

After the excommunication, Chelsea and Lorraine reported Chelsea’s…

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Family has been searching for answers since Malecki disappeared on Nov. 11, 1969. ‘We’re hoping for some closure.’

The FBI is planning to exhume next week the body of Joyce Malecki, whose 1969 unsolved killing was explored in the Netflix documentary “The Keepers,” her brother said.

“We’re hoping for some closure,” said Darryl Malecki. He and his family have been searching for answers since Joyce Malecki, 20, disappeared after Christmas shopping at Harundale Mall on Nov. 11, 1969.

Hunters discovered Malecki’s body two days later at Fort Meade. Her hands had been bound and she had been strangled and stabbed in the throat. From the beginning, the FBI has led the murder investigation since Malecki’s body was found on the military base.

Darryl Malecki said the FBI investigator assigned to his sister’s case told him the exhumation is tentatively scheduled for Dec. 14. He said the FBI has not told…

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In 2022, New York State passed the Adult Survivors Act, allowing victims of sexual abuse who were 18 or older at the time of the alleged abuse a one-time opportunity to file a civil lawsuit against persons or institutions, even if the statute of limitations had expired. It was to last from Thanksgiving of last year to Thanksgiving of this year. Now there is talk among Albany lawmakers to extend the Act for one more year.

On principle, the Catholic League opposes exemptions from the statute of limitations. They are an important due process provision: witnesses may be deceased and memories are not likely to be as acute as they once were. But because of the way unprincipled New York State officials treated the Catholic Church with the earlier Child Victims Act, we enthusiastically support extending the statute of limitations for the Adult Survivors Act. The reasons why will be…

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[See original statement in PDF]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, December 4, 2023                                                                                                

The Diocese of Grand Rapids’ Office of Communications issues the following statement regarding the arrest of Mr. James Beauchamp, a former parish employee:

The charges against a former parish employee are deeply troubling. The Diocese of Grand Rapids holds the victim-survivor and his family in our prayers and continues to offer them support on their healing journey. The family reported the incident to the diocese, who forwarded the complaint to the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office and the Michigan Attorney General. The diocese, in conjunction with the parish, will continue to cooperate fully with the investigation.

The parish pastor terminated Mr. Beauchamp’s employment upon learning of the allegation. In accordance with our diocesan safe environment policies, Mr. Beauchamp had previously passed several background checks, went through Virtus, a safe environment training program that is mandatory for all members of…

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GRAND HAVEN, Mich. (WOOD) — Ottawa County sheriff’s detectives say a faith leader accused of sexually assaulting a teenager through a Catholic church in Ottawa County is suspected of molesting others.

Deputies say they found computer evidence showing more possible victims.

James “Jimmy” Beauchamp, 55, of Kentwood, is accused of second-degree criminal sexual conduct, child sexually abusive activity, using a computer to commit a crime and furnishing alcohol to a minor. The allegations, deputies say, involved a 17-year-old boy.

“Obviously, it’s a disturbing case with some serious allegations and serious charges,” Ottawa County Sheriff’s Capt. Jacob Sparks said.

“We suspect there may be other people out there that were victimized by Mr. Beauchamp,” Sparks added.

Beauchamp, who has no known criminal record, was working as a faith leader for teens and young adults at St. Patrick-St. Anthony Catholic Parish in Grand Haven.

“His position provided him access to those youth,”…

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The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints responded Sunday night to an Associated Press story that detailed allegations about a former church member who allegedly sexually abused his daughter.

The church swiftly excommunicated John Goodrich in 2015 after he allegedly confessed to a bishop in Mountain Home, Idaho, that he had sexually abused his daughter more than 20 years earlier.

Goodrich was arrested in 2016 and charged with lewdness, but a prosecutor asked a judge nearly a year later to dismiss the charge for lack of evidence.

On Sunday night, the Associated Press published a story that included information from recordings of a church representative talking to Goodrich’s daughter about reaching a settlement with the church when she was an adult. The story did not say why the church offered a settlement, but the story claimed it was evidence the church was trying to cover up the abuse.

The…

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Last chance for restitution!

The Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California has set a final deadline of February 20, 2024, for the Archdiocese of San Francisco to receive claims from survivors of sexual abuse by clergy or others. If you did not file a lawsuit in the recently closed civil window, this is your last chance for restitution. If you do not file a claim and the bankruptcy proceeds to its conclusion, you will be permanently barred from taking action against the Archdiocese. Additional information is pasted below.

U.S. BANKRUPTCY COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

SAN FRANCISCO DIVISION 

In re: The Roman Catholic Archbishop of San Francisco, Case No. 23-30564 

Notice of Deadline for Filing Claims: February 20, 2024 

YOU MAY HAVE A SEXUAL ABUSE CLAIM OR OTHER CLAIM AGAINST THE ARCHDIOCESE OF SAN FRANCISCO

On August 21, 2023, The Roman Catholic Archbishop of San Francisco, a California corporation sole,…

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I think we can all agree that showing respect for the dead is a necessary mark of empathy and, well, respectful. However, showing compassion for the living takes precedence. Believe me, it’s possible and far more preferable to master the delicate dance between both. This moral conundrum is especially true when the deceased is known to have wronged others, leaving a trail of deep wounds that continue to bleed in the lives of the living.

In the Catholic world, it’s devastating to witness how pervasive child sex crimes and cover-ups by clergy members have become. This horror movie of a scenario – where a wrongdoer dies while the victims continue their battle with trauma – seems to play out almost weekly. Now, the plot could go in two directions. One invokes and deepens an already profound suffering. The other offers comfort and relief to those already swallowed by unspeakable pain….

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HAILEY, Idaho (AP) — Paul Rytting listened as a woman, voice quavering, told him her story.

When she was a child, her father, a former bishop in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, had routinely slipped into bed with her while he was aroused, she said.

It was March 2017 and Rytting offered his sympathies as 31-year-old Chelsea Goodrich spoke. A Utah attorney and head of the church’s Risk Management Division, Rytting had spent about 15 years protecting the organization, widely known as the Mormon church, from costly claims, including sexual abuse lawsuits.

Rytting had flown into Hailey, Idaho, that morning from Salt Lake City, where the church is based, to meet in person with Chelsea and her mother, Lorraine.

After a quick prayer, he introduced himself and said he was there “to look into” Chelsea’s “tragic and horrendous” story.

Chelsea and Lorraine had come to the meeting…

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“It changed my life totally, mentally. I was dead. It killed me,” said an alleged victim

An East Bay pastor is under arrest, charged with several counts of kidnapping and aggravated sexual assault of a child under the age of 14.

The pastor of an East Bay church for immigrants from Central America has been arrested, charged with several counts of kidnapping and “aggravated sexual assault of a child under the age of 14”. His alleged victim? A member of his congregation.

The I-Team’s Dan Noyes began looking into this after hearing from one very concerned family. We first asked the police about the allegations last week – they said the investigation was on-going and on Friday, they made an arrest.

Just a few months ago, this church — Iglesia Pentecostes Movimiento de Gloria in Richmond — attracted 150 people or more for services.

Then, allegations of sexual abuse started…

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Decisions by independent claims officer expected by April 2024

 The final tally is in — 369 people have come forward claiming they were abused physically or sexually by people under the watch of the Archdiocese of St. John’s, including the Christian Brothers at Mount Cashel. 

Archbishop Peter Hundt delivered the message to parishioners during Roman Catholic masses on Sunday, saying each of those claims are now being evaluated by an independent claims officer to “provide both a determination of liability and a value for each claim.”

It’s the latest update in the archdiocese’s insolvency proceedings, which began when the organization filed for creditor protection on Dec. 22, 2021. 

Hundt said the claims officer’s decision should come by April.

“I know that the ongoing legal proceedings and the sale of church properties have been a great source of hurt and pain for the communities, parishes, and individuals of this archdiocese,” he said. 

“I…

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Only by eliminating the statute of limitations can we hope to restore the dignity of those most wronged among us.

Twenty years ago, my partners and I achieved a historic settlement against the Archdiocese of Louisville on behalf of 243 men and women sexually abused during their childhood. In the months following the April 2002 filing of that lawsuit, these brave survivors stood tall before the cameras and shared their stories to an audience who initially refused to accept that these horrors were true.

By September 2002, after 100 survivors had stepped out of the shadows, our community could no longer deny the revelation: 34 priests, including one Kentucky bishop, abused many hundreds of children over 50 years.

Because the Archdiocese of Louisville settled but did not admit liability, our community was left to see if our justice system could prevent…

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Since the broadcast of a shocking documentary about abuse in the Belgian Catholic Church, which awakened buried traumas, former priest Rik Deville has been overwhelmed by heart-breaking stories.

One victim, an 86-year-old man, called Deville from his car where he had locked himself, in floods of tears. He finally told someone of the horrific abuse he suffered that even his nearest and dearest didn’t know.

Deville devotes his life to providing support to victims of sexual abuse in the Church, carefully reading each victim’s story and taking their many phone calls.

“Almost every day, a new person confides in me for the first time what they have experienced,” the 79-year-old told AFP at his home in Gammerages, central Belgium.

Deville, who was a parish priest between 1969 and 2009, has never shied away from controversy, even while he was a priest.

In 1992, he published a vitriolic book about…

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In May 2022, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed the Adult Survivors Act into state law.

The act came into action on November 23, 2022, creating a one-year period when adult sexual abuse victims could file lawsuits that otherwise would have been barred because the case was too old.

Now, that window is closed.

However, the small amount of time afforded to victims saw more than three thousand legal claims filed under the act.

It also saw high-profile actors, politicians, musicians and more face lawsuits that would have otherwise never seen the light of day.

What is the Adult Survivors Act?

The Adult Survivors Act was a law that created a one-year window for sexual abuse victims to file lawsuits for offences that would otherwise have been outside the statute of limitations.

Ordinarily, US states impose deadlines on how long someone can wait to sue in civil court because it becomes…

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For years, Purdue Pharma, the maker of the prescription painkiller OxyContin, had been entangled in lawsuits seeking to hold it to account for its role in the spiraling opioid crisis.

A pathbreaking settlement reached last year appeared to signal the end to thousands of those cases, funneling billions of dollars toward fighting the epidemic in exchange for exempting members of the billionaire Sackler family, which once controlled the company, from civil lawsuits.

But on Monday, the Supreme Court will hear arguments over whether the agreement is a violation of federal law in a case that could have ramifications not just for Purdue but also for organizations that turn to bankruptcy court, as the company did, to resolve claims of mass injury.

“There’s huge implications for all of corporate bankruptcy,” said Anthony J. Casey, a law professor at the University of Chicago. “I think this is probably the most important bankruptcy case before…

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​The Diocese of Dromore is to sell the Bishop’s House and land on Newry’s Armagh Road to help pay compensation claims to survivors of clerical sexual abuse.

Parishioners were informed of the move in a letter by Archbishop Eamon Martin in his role as Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese.

In the letter Archbishop Martin sets out the “steps that the Diocese has been taking to meet its financial and other responsibilities for the awful sins and crimes of abuse in the past”.

He adds that the “impact of child abuse on victims and survivors is deeply personal and is carried differently by each one, and by those close to them”, and to that end the Diocese offers and funds counselling for survivors so “those who have been affected by abuse can be accompanied towards spiritual peace, one step at a time”.

Some survivors have chosen to make claims for compensation…

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Leicester, United Kingdom – Father Reginald Dunkling, a priest of the Diocese of Westminster in England, was sentenced Dec. 1 for a non-recent sexual abuse of a child. The Wood Green Crown Court imposed a 12-month community order, with additional requirements.

The diocese said Dunkling, now 61, withdrew from ministry in May 2020, and since that time has had no role in public ministry. The church issued a statement saying that following his conviction, the priest does not, and will not, have any role in public ministry.

Police officers cited the bravery of the victim who came forward and spoke with them, leading to the priest being sentenced for indecent assault committed three decades ago.

On April 21, 2020, detectives received allegations of sexual abuse said to have taken place in the Camden area of London in the 1990s.

The victim-survivor, who was 17 years old at the time he…

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Survivors of institutions run by Catholic diocese recall litany of sexual abuse as bankruptcy process keeps documents hidden

This is the final installment of a three-part series exploring how the archdiocese of New Orleans’s bankruptcy stands apart from other cases of its kind. The first installment ran on Wednesday 29 November 2023, and the second installment ran on Friday 1 December.

Call her Sheila.

She doesn’t want her name used because of court testimony she has given as a state social worker which helped put men who abused their families in jail. She’s retired now, but still a rescuer by nature.

On a recent afternoon she went back to Madonna Manor, the Catholic orphanage in a Spanish colonial revival building, now shuttered, several miles across the Mississippi River from New Orleans. “A reverent place,” she sighed, “but it’s also a crime scene.”

She gazed at the wooden plank covering a window….

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Charged priest has worked in Avondale, Colliers and Conception Harbour

A Roman Catholic priest in Avondale has been charged with sexual assault against an adult.

Thomas Offong, 49, was charged following an investigation by the RCMP in Holyrood, according to a press release issued by the police Friday. He is scheduled to appear at provincial court in St. John’s on Feb. 6.

Police provided no other information about Offong, the circumstances or the alleged victim, and told CBC News they wouldn’t comment further as the matter is now before the courts.

Offong is a listed member of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Grand Falls and is listed as the minister of Assumption Parish, and has been since at least 2017.

Offong has also served as the reverend of Immaculate Conception Parish in Colliers and St. Anne’s Parish in Conception Harbour, according to the diocese’s website.

In a statement issued Friday afternoon, Bishop Robert Daniels…

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Police in Newfoundland say they’ve charged a priest with sexual assault.

The RCMP say in a news release today that 49-year-old Thomas Offong served in the towns of Avondale, Colliers and Conception Harbour, which are roughly 70 kilometres southwest of St. John’s.

The release says Offong faces one charge of sexual assault against an adult.

Offong is listed among the priests on the website for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Grand Falls, N.L., which covers the three communities identified by the Mounties.

RCMP Cpl. Jolene Garland says the charge relates to an assault alleged to have occurred on Nov. 23.

Police say Offong is scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 6, 2024.

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Meta Platforms (META.O) was told by EU tech regulators on Friday to provide more details on measures taken to tackle child sexual abuse material on its photo and video sharing app Instagram by Dec. 22 or risk a formal investigation under new EU online content rules.

The European Commission in October sent a first request for information on measures taken to counter the spread of terrorist and violent content, and a second last month on measures to protect minors.

“Information is also requested about Instagram’s recommender system and amplification of potentially harmful content,” the European Commission said in a statement on its latest query.

The request for information was done under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), new tech rules requiring Big Tech to do more to police illegal and harmful content on their platforms.

Failure to comply with such requests can lead to a formal probe and…

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In 1996, at age 19, “Jane Doe” decided to move to Kansas City to intern with her father’s friend, Mike Bickle. The 42-year-old prophetic pastor’s preaching about King David had touched her heart.

“I just remember feeling like he knew the same Jesus that I knew,” Doe told The Roys Report (TRR) in an exclusive interview.

Soon after she arrived, she said Bickle told her he had a dream about her. After a Sunday service, in front of Bickle’s wife, Diane, Doe said Bickle prophesied that he was David and Doe was Esther.

“He gives me the biggest word of my life,” she told TRR.  “It was, ‘You’re not just an Esther, you are going to lead thousands of Esthers.’”

A few weeks later, Bickle called Doe from Asia to say the Lord spoke to him about her, she said. This time, though, she said he sounded drunk.

“He begins to tell me that…

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About 20 former International House of Prayer Kansas City (IHOPKC) staff led a silent protest today in the ministry’s prayer room to highlight abuse allegations against IHOPKC founder, Mike Bickle, and to stand with victims. Normally, IHOPKC livestreams services in its prayer room, but today’s livestream didn’t show the protest.

“Right now, the understanding of my generation is the church does not protect the sheep,” said Susan Tuma, protest organizer and former IHOPKC staffer. “We want to come in here and say, ‘Be the people you’ve been called to be. You want to change the expression and understanding of Christianity in a single generation? . . . Then do that.’”

Bickle has said that in 1982, he received a prophecy that God was going to change the expression and understanding of Christianity in one generation. In 1999, he founded a 24/7 prayer movement at…

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While Pope Francis has urged diocesan bishops to take more seriously the canonical discipline of clerics, the outgoing chairman of the U.S. bishops’ canonical affairs committee has not taken steps to address canonically reports of public cohabitation by a senior-ranking official in his archdiocese. 

A spokesperson for Archbishop Jerome Listecki of Milwaukee told The Pillar that the archdiocese has “spoken with” judicial vicar Fr. Mark Payne, who hired as a parish schoolteacher last year a layperson with whom he had maintained a public romantic relationship, and with whom he has shared a condo for decades. 

While Payne’s move has caused concern among some Wisconsin Catholics, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee told The Pillar it has given the priest verbal warnings about his “lifestyle,” but has indicated that it does not plan to initiate canonical investigations into the priest’s conduct, or to use other canonical mechanisms to address the concerns. 

The handling of the case could…

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A Milwaukee priest who maintained an allegedly romantic public relationship with a layman was placed on administrative leave Friday, while a formal canonical investigation into his conduct is initiated. 

The move comes one day after The Pillar published a report about Milwaukee judicial vicar Fr. Mark Payne, who in 2022 hired as a parish schoolteacher a man with whom he had shared a condo for decades.

Earlier this week, the Milwaukee archdiocese told The Pillar that it had given the priest verbal warnings about his “lifestyle,” but did not indicate that it planned to initiate canonical investigations into the priest’s conduct, or to use other canonical mechanisms to address the concerns. 

A spokesperson for  Archbishop Jerome Listecki of Milwaukee told The Pillar Wednesday that archdiocesan officials had “spoken with Fr. Payne about the necessity for clergy to live a lifestyle that avoids scandal and is faithful to their promises of ordination,” adding that, “he has given…

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The Rev. Richard McGrath’s name belongs on lists of abusers kept by all church districts where he worked, supporters of survivors say.

After being secretive for years, the Augustinian Catholic order has promised to publish early in 2024 a list of priests credibly accused of abuse.

But an advocacy group says one priest accused of child sex abuse and viewing child pornography should not only be placed on the Augustinian’s list, but on lists kept by all of the Chicago-area districts where he worked.

Church officials won’t say if they plan to add the Rev. Richard J. McGrath’s name to their own lists.

But at a news conference Thursday outside a Hyde Park friary that McGrath once called home, survivor advocates demanded his name also be added to the lists of the dioceses where he worked in Chicago, Joliet and Rockford.

The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP)…

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Anti-abuse activists lodged a Vatican complaint Thursday in response to a $2 million lawsuit settled by a New Lenox Catholic school and the Augustinian religious order, alleging that the “actions and inaction” by Chicagoland Catholic leaders in handling the accused priest is endangering kids.

Former Providence Catholic High School student Robert Krankvich filed a lawsuit in April 2018 alleging the school’s longtime principal and president, the Rev. Richard McGrath, repeatedly raped and abused him. Krankvich was between 13 and 15 when he was abused in the school’s gym and wrestling room in the mid-1990s, the lawsuit alleged.

The school and religious order McGrath belongs to finalized the settlement in mid-November, according to Krankvich’s attorney, Marc Pearlman.

McGrath abruptly retired from the school in December 2017 after a student reported she witnessed McGrath view a picture of a naked teenage boy on his phone. The priest…

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In what it called its “best and final” offer to survivors of abuse, the Diocese of Rockville Centre in New York on Monday proposed a plan that offers $200 million to approximately 600 survivors of abuse, the largest-ever settlement offer made in diocesan bankruptcy history.

The new plan includes an immediate cash payout of a minimum of $100,000 to claimants with a lawsuit and a $50,000 minimum to claimants without a qualifying lawsuit.

In a statement released Monday, the Long Island diocese called the plan “the best, most efficient, and most effective means to immediately begin compensating all eligible survivors equitably while allowing the diocese to emerge from bankruptcy and continue its charitable mission.”

The settlement offer includes a diocesan contribution of $50 million as well as a $150 million contribution from “parishes, co-insured parties, and other Catholic ministries,” according to the statement.

“The diocese agrees with…

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A Wisconsin prosecutor has declined to challenge a doctor’s assessment that disgraced ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick is incompetent to stand trial, making it more likely the only remaining criminal charge against McCarrick will be dismissed.

McCarrick, 93, was charged with sexual assault in the fourth degree, a misdemeanor, for allegedly fondling an 18-year-old family friend at a Wisconsin lake in the 1970s. If convicted, he would have faced up to nine months in prison and a $10,000 fine.

A Massachusetts judge dismissed a criminal child sexual abuse charge against McCarrick, the former archbishop of Washington, in August, citing the same reasons.

Prosecutors in Massachusetts had hired an expert to assess McCarrick, and she found significant deficits in his memory and said he has dementia. The Wisconsin court brought in that same expert to assess him again.

At a hearing Nov. 22 in Elkhorn, Walworth County District Attorney Zeke Wiedenfeld…

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Chapter 11 protection is designed to give an organization time to reorganize its finances to pay its debts but victims of clerical abuse feel frustrated by a lengthy and opaque process

• Read part 1 of our series here

This is the second installment of a three-part series exploring how the archdiocese of New Orleans’s bankruptcy stands apart from other cases of its kind. The first installment ran on Wednesday 29 November 2023.

In 2020, facing nearly 40 pending clergy sex abuse lawsuits, New Orleans’s Catholic archdiocese took Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, giving the organization time to sell properties or reorganize assets to negotiate debt payment.

The number of people who have gone to bankruptcy court and file abuse-related claims has since eclipsed 500. A 2021 state law opened a “look-back window” enabling the 500 abuse survivors involved in the church’s bankruptcy case to seek redress without concern for previously existing…

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Legal action filed against a New York state diocese shows the Catholic Church in the U.S. has significant work to do in safeguarding adults from clerical abuse.

The Diocese of Rochester, New York, announced on its news website, the Catholic Courier, that it had been served Nov. 16 with a civil lawsuit involving an adult and Father Matthew Jones.

The action alleges that the 41-year-old Father Jones, then pastor of All Saints Parish in Corning, New York had sexually abused male parishioner in his 20s who had sought pastoral counseling. According to the filing, the priest had plied the young man with alcohol and dinners (paid for with a diocesan credit card) and engaged in “non-consensual sexual contact” with him on numerous occasions over a six-month period. In some instances, the young man was too intoxicated to resist the priest’s advances, according to the suit.

The diocese placed Father Jones…

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[With video]

Victims of child abuse in the Catholic Church spoke out Thursday, calling on church leaders to do more to expose predatory priests.

Last week, the Catholic Church settled a lawsuit over the first-ever complaint against the Vatican for $2 million.

Activists with the group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests are urging the Church to issue a warning about local priests, claiming they’re dangerous.

“The Archbishop of Chicago has vast resources, church bulletins, parish websites, pulpit announcements, church publications, church mailings. They could and should take action right now to at least warn the public,” said David Clohessy, a victim from St. Louis.

The group plans to hold another event Thursday afternoon.

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The Catholic Church is being criticized after a priest was stripped of his administrative duties for allowing singer and actor Sabrina Carpenter to film a music video in a Brooklyn church, with many accusing it of being a hypocritical decision.

In September Carpenter used Our Lady of Mount Carmel-Annunciation Parish—a part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn which oversees the Catholic churches in Brooklyn and Queens—as a backdrop for her “Feather” music video. The 24-year-old—who gained recognition for her leading role in the Disney Channel series Girl Meets World—was filmed dancing among pastel-colored coffins on the altar while wearing a short tulle dress and a black veil.

The day after the video was released the church issued a statement saying that proper procedures around allowing filming had not been followed and told the Catholic News Agency that it was “appalled.” A few days later Monsignor Jamie Gigantiello, the pastor who approved…

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Almost as soon as Pope Francis became the head of the Roman Catholic church in 2013, Raymond Burke, an American cardinal, emerged as his leading critic from within the church, becoming a de facto antipope for frustrated traditionalists who believed Francis was diluting doctrine.

Francis frequently demoted and stripped the American cleric of influence, but this month, the pope apparently finally had enough, according to one high-ranking Vatican official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Francis told a meeting of high-ranking Vatican officials that he intended to throw the cardinal out of his Vatican-subsidized apartment and deprive him of his salary as a retired cardinal.

The news of the possible eviction was first reported by the conservative Italian newspaper La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana, which is close to Cardinal Burke and recently sponsored a conference featuring the prelate criticizing a major meeting of bishops convened by Francis….

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A Catholic priest who gained fame for blessing an NRL team on their way to glory is facing allegations he abused a boy decades ago.

A Catholic priest with decades of service to church communities is facing allegations he abused a boy in historical sex crimes going back decades.

Queensland Police allege Father David Lancini, a priest from Townsville in the state’s north, abused a boy under the age of 14 between 1969 and 1971.

Fr Lancini now faces eight counts of indecent treatment of a boy under 14 and he will appear in Townsville Magistrates Court for the first time on December 5.

In a statement to NCA NewsWire, a Catholic Diocese of Townsville spokesman said Fr Lancini denied the allegations against him.

“Fr Dave Lancini strongly denies any involvement in the alleged offences,” the spokesman said.

“Fr Dave Lancini is currently not involved in any public ministry until…

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About five years ago, Joe Montañez sat in the parking lot of St. Peter Claver Catholic Church in Simi Valley, feeling immensely nervous and shaky over what he was about to do. Minutes later he walked into a meeting with representatives of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles to reveal “shameful abuse by my predator” – a priest who sexually abused him almost 50 years earlier.

“It’s amazing how many things an abused person goes through, but I wanted to somehow try to get well,” said Montañez, a retired teacher who taught in the San Fernando Valley for over three decades. At that first pivotal meeting, Dr. Heather Banis, coordinator of the archdiocesan office of Victims Assistance Ministry, was there to listen. “[When] I first reached out to Dr. Banis, she took my hand and I cried for about an hour – I couldn’t believe that I was telling my story.”

…

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The Diocese is offering $200 million in compensation, which includes a minimum $100,000 cash payout for survivors.

The Diocese of Rockville Centre has made its “best and final proposal” for victims of sexual abuse.

The offer announced on Tuesday totals $200 million in compensation, Diocese spokesperson Sean Dolan said, adding that the amended plan is the “most efficient and most effective means to immediately begin compensating all eligible survivors.”

The proposal from the Diocese comes after three years of legal maneuvering “allowing the Diocese to emerge from bankruptcy and continue its charitable mission,” Dolan said, while equitably compensating victims of sexual abuse by the church.

As Patch reported in Oct. 2022, hundreds of sexual abuse claims were frozen in the wake of the diocese’s declared bankruptcy.

An immediate minimum cash payment of $100,000 per claimant will be available: the Diocese said; the plan offers those without qualifying lawsuits an immediate minimum cash…

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Pope Francis met a group of abuse victims from France at his residence on Tuesday afternoon after assuring them in a written message of his commitment to eradicate abuse in the Church.

The greeting at the pope’s Santa Marta residence followed a meeting the group of 21 victims had with the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors on the morning of Nov. 28.

Francis had been scheduled to receive the group on Monday, but the appointment was canceled due to his ongoing illness, which the Vatican has said is “influenza and inflammation of the respiratory tract.”

The Vatican meetings were organized by the Commission for Recognition and Reparation, a group formed to support abuse victims following the release of the final report by the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church in France in 2021.

The people who met Pope Francis on Tuesday were victims of…

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Survivors are pushing back against a February deadline proposed by the Archdiocese of Baltimore for potential victims to provide proof of claims of child sex abuse in the Catholic Church’s bankruptcy case.

In a filing Wednesday, attorneys for the creditors committee, a group of seven abuse survivors selected to represent the interests of hundreds more in the bankruptcy proceedings, said setting Feb. 26 as a cutoff for claim submissions was unreasonable.

Known as a “claims bar date,” the deadline effectively acts as a statute of limitations for potential lawsuits against the Baltimore diocese for clergy abuse. It was one of several paramount procedural issues the survivors committee raised in the filing Wednesday in which it also signaled optimism about resolving with the church.

“Survivors have been disbelieved and shamed for decades,” attorneys for the creditors committee wrote. “Now that Survivors finally have access to the legal process,…

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The Evangelical umbrella organisation CNEF in France is taking the initiative to help Protestant churches deal with sexual abuse in their structures.

A working group has now presented the results of this initiative, CNEF writes on its website. The members of the working group created, first of all, a booklet with guidelines on how to deal with abuse in the church and above all, how to combat the criminal practice. These tips include the necessity of the churches to emphasise the concept of respect in their work.

Czechia debuts handbook on dealing with church domestic abuse19-09-2023Central Europe

In addition, churches should implement sufficient checks and balances during the activities they organise so that risky situations can be avoided. In addition, it is important for churches to set up guidelines and rules for dealing with church members, and minors in particular. Also, requiring church leaders to…

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If only this wasn’t real life—if we were talking about a fictional novel plot instead—this situation could very well be laughable. But we aren’t, and the consequences couldn’t be further from humorous—they’re frightful and terribly high stakes. Somewhere in the dusty halls of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, church officials say that in recent years, they’ve gotten abuse reports against somewhere between four and eight priests. This is not some abstract concept or a faceless, nameless collection of methods; these are individuals, human beings accused of inflicting profound harm on the most vulnerable among us. Yet, according to these officials, not a single report is deemed credible.

To put this into perspective, we’re saying that the Catholic hierarchy within this archdiocese is claiming every single one of these reports is either false or ‘not substantiated.’ Consequently, the accused clerics—accused of something as dreadful as child molestation—are under no restrictions whatsoever….

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• Summary
• Law Firms

• Judge says parishes must disclose finances or “forget it”
• Abuse claimant attorney says current plan lacks support
• Diocese offer would be largest Catholic bankruptcy settlement

The Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre, New York, proposed a revised $200 million settlement of sex abuse claims, but faced immediate pushback on Tuesday from a U.S. bankruptcy judge who demanded more detailed financial information from the bankrupt Long Island diocese.

The diocese said in a Tuesday statement that its revised bankruptcy plan filed Monday was its “best and final” offer. It would pay claimants $200 million in cash, plus the potential for additional recoveries from the diocese’s insurers.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn in Manhattan, who is overseeing the diocese’s Chapter 11, and attorneys for abuse survivors called the proposal a non-starter at a court hearing later Tuesday morning.

The diocese’s attempt to resolve about 600 sex abuse claims has been stalled…

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A Massachusetts priest charged with stealing more than $100,000 reached an agreement with prosecutors in September, admitting in court that enough evidence existed to convict him of a lesser larceny charge than he had originally faced.

But while Fr. Tomaz Gorny was sentenced to probation and ordered to pay back $12,000, the Diocese of Springfield has declined to answer questions about the allegation that he lived with a female parish employee for almost 10 years.

And while the diocese told The Pillar that Gorny is facing a “canonical process,” the priest’s probation agreement indicated that he would petition for a voluntary laicization, leaving questions unanswered, both about Gorny’s unusual history in the Springfield diocese, and about his future.

While Gorny was charged last year with stealing more than $100,000 from Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish, the priest made in September a plea agreement, admitting in court that the prosecutor’s evidence could…

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Inter-denominational body in Mumbai has launched online petition seeking an end to land scams involving church officials

A Christian body has launched an online campaign to mobilize support for enactment of a law to protect properties of the Indian Church, which is said to own the second-largest land bank after the nation’s government.

“We launched this online signature campaign after Church leaders of different established denominations continued to alienate Church properties illegally for their personal greed,” said Cyril Samuel Dara, a lawyer from Mumbai who is instrumental behind the move.

Dara is secretary of the inter-denominational Christian Reform United People Association (CRUPA) which launched the online petition on Nov. 24. It has so far generated more than 1,300 signatories.

He told UCA News on Nov. 28, that “our goal is to protect Church properties as a treasure for our future generations.”

CRUPA has members from the Catholic Church, the Church of North…

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Disgraced Catholic priest Alex Crow has married a young woman he met at McGill-Toolen Catholic High School and flew to Italy with, according to a public record that WKRG News 5 has obtained.

Alexander Matthew Carter Crow, 30, has married the 18-year-old Mobile woman, according to an Alabama Marriage Certificate from the Judge of Probate’s office. (WKRG News 5 has decided not to include his wife’s name in our reporting.)

Crow and the woman signed the notarized marriage certificate on Nov. 17, 2023, and the probate court received it on Monday, according to the document.

The marriage license seems to counter Crow’s own words about his intentions.

When Crow and his then-girlfriend left the country, he wrote a letter to the Archdiocese of Mobile saying he would never return to America.

In July, the Archdiocese of Mobile, the church’s regional administrative division, formally punished Crow for that action along…

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A simmering dispute between the chairman of the German bishops’ conference and his Polish counterpart heated up dramatically Sunday.

Poland’s Rzeczpospolita newspaper published Nov. 26 what it said was the full text of a letter from Bishop Georg Bätzing and Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki.

In the Nov. 21 letter, Bätzing sharply criticized Gądecki for writing a letter to the pope about Germany’s contentious “synodal way” without consulting him, describing it as “very unsynodal and unfraternal behavior.”

Who are these two Church leaders? Why are they at odds? Does it really matter? And what’s likely to happen next? 

The Pillar takes a look.

Who are they?

Bätzing, the 62-year-old Bishop of Limburg, has served as chairman of Germany’s mighty bishops’ conference since March 2020, when he was elected to a six-year term.

Gądecki, the 74-year-old Archbishop of Poznań, is due to finish his second five-year term as president of Poland’s bishops’ conference in spring 2024.

…

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As more than 200 delegates participating in the first-ever synod for the Australian Diocese of Parramatta filed out of their opening Mass, they were discreetly given flyers by those questioning both the meeting and the bishop who had called it.

Since his installation as the head of the diocese in the western suburbs of Sydney in 2016, Bishop Vincent Long has ruffled more than a few feathers for his support of LGBTQ Catholics, his advocacy in support of the country’s recent referendum on Indigenous representation, and his own personal testimony of being a victim of clergy sexual abuse.

For taking those stances, Long is unapologetic.

“I try to follow Pope Francis’ lead by focusing on pastoral priorities such as a church that is more inclusive, participatory, open to the gifts of all members, especially women,” he told NCR on Nov. 8. “More…

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[Video report]

The first in a three-part series looking into the Diocese of Buffalo’s recent offer to settle hundreds of childhood sexual abuse cases. Some devout Catholics are concerned about a lack of transparency with the Diocese’s bankruptcy process, where the offer first appeared.

This is the first installment of a three-part series looking into the Diocese of Buffalo’s recent offer to settle hundreds of childhood sexual abuse cases, how some devout Catholics responded to the news, and what the future might look like once the bankruptcy case in completed.

The Diocese of Buffalo sent shock waves through the Catholic community last month, when it offered $100 million to settle hundreds of childhood sexual abuse cases.

The offer, which is exclusive of any insurance proceeds, would “need to be funded by monetary contributions sourced from across our Catholic community, including from the Diocese, parishes, and other affiliated Catholic…

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• Survivors receive immediate cash payout under ‘best and final’ offer
• Filing details procedures for approval of record $200 million settlement
• Funds from insurance proceeds to fund additional substantial payouts to survivors

The Diocese of Rockville Centre (www.drvc.org) (the “Diocese”) filed its Amended Plan and Disclosure Statement today, offering a total of $200 million in compensation as its best and final proposal for settling with survivors of abuse. This First Amended Plan is the best, most efficient and most effective means to immediately begin compensating all eligible survivors equitably while allowing the Diocese to emerge from bankruptcy and continue its charitable mission. 

The Diocese filed this Plan, which includes a record setting settlement offer in the amount of $200 million from the Diocese, parishes, and related parties to compensate survivors and bring this case to a fair and final resolution. The Diocese agrees with Bankruptcy Court Judge Martin Glenn, who is overseeing the case, that survivors have…

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A play that opens Thursday at CitySpace in Easthampton, Massachusetts, tells the story of a man who was abused by a priest when he was a boy.

“Unreconciled” is based on the experience of western Massachusetts actor and playwright Jay Sefton, who co-wrote it with another survivor, Mark Basquill. James Barry directs the play.

Sefton and others said the priest allegedly abused boys who played the part of Jesus in school plays.

Sefton has been practicing his performance working out on a treadmill and while walking around town. But about two weeks before the show, he was “running lines,” as it’s called, with his friend Yago Colás in Sefton’s dining room.

“I thought, to try to just get it into the body, today,” Sefton said. “We just start at the beginning and then if I missed words, maybe just mark them. If I miss chunks, we’ll stop.”

“I’ll pause you,”…

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Since the Adult Survivors Act was passed, more than 3,000 civil suits have been filed, some aimed at politicians and others at institutions including hospitals and jails.

In the year since a one-time window opened in New York State allowing people to file sex-abuse lawsuits even after the statute of limitations had expired, more than 3,000 civil suits have been filed.

Before the deadline on Thanksgiving, a flurry of attention-grabbing suits were filed against politicians — like former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Eric Adams, the mayor of New York — and celebrities, like Sean Combs, the producer and music mogul, who had just settled a separate suit filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan accusing him of rape.

But hundreds of people have also — collectively and separately — sued institutions, including the state’s prisons, jails and prominent hospitals, for abuses they said were systematically ignored and hidden for decades. At least…

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In what was one of Europe’s most religious countries, mass attendance has dropped severely, Irish priests find themselves working far past retirement age, and only a small number of apprentices are committing themselves to the church.

In Ireland, where religion has played such a big place in its past, for better or for worse, fewer and fewer people are attending mass on Sunday, and even less are willing to commit themselves to the sanctified life of a priest.

This, among other reasons, is leading these men of God to work well past retirement age while still trying to cover the work of churches all over the country.

According to a survey conducted by the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) last year, 15% of priests are over 75 and still working, over 25% are aged between 60–75, and just 2.5% of serving Catholic priests in Ireland, meanwhile, are under 40.

“What we…

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While Catholicism may be universal, as a sociological matter the Vatican definitely isn’t. Although its personnel may come from all over the world, its internal culture, psychology and business models are all quintessentially Italian.

Until a pope takes up the suggestion of newly minted Coadjutor Archbishop Christopher Coyne of Hartford, Ct., and moves the Vatican out of Rome, Italian realities therefore will continue to exercise a disproportionate impact on shaping the outlook and perceived priorities of Vatican officials.

That point comes to mind amid what organizers are describing as a budding “revolution” in Italy around the issue of violence against women, driven by national outrage over the brutal murder of a 22-year-old young woman named Giulia Cecchettin by her ex-boyfriend. Her gruesome death, which has dominated the Italian media for a fortnight, represents merely the latest instance of what Italians are now calling an epidemic of femicide.

According to data…

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Lawsuits provide alternative recourse, but can retraumatize victims

When John Cody decided to sue his former Ottawa high school teacher and the institutions that allegedly failed to stop his sexual abuse, the 60-year-old braced himself to face his perpetrator again.

But the treatment he said he received during mediation was worse.

At one point, Cody, diagnosed with a terminal illness, recalled the mediator relaying a haunting message from the opposing side that implied he wouldn’t live long enough to see a resolution.

“This was the most traumatizing thing I’ve ever experienced,” Cody told CBC in a recent interview from his Montreal apartment. “This was inhumane treatment, and I can’t level any reasonable or logical explanation.”

Cody is one of several abuse survivors across Canada who describe feeling revictimized through the civil process. 

Their stories provide a rare glimpse into what can happen in civil litigation involving large institutions such as school boards,…

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As Thanksgiving Day ended, so did a one-year window allowing adult survivors of alleged sexual abuse to file lawsuits seeking monetary damages, regardless of when the abuse occurred.

The Adult Survivors Act, passed by Albany lawmakers in 2022, has spurred thousands of lawsuits, a majority of which alleged sexual abuse had been committed by male prison or jail guards against female inmates. There were a number of lawsuits, including in Erie County, alleging that abuse had been committed by Catholic priests. And there were lawsuits against high-profile figures, including a recent legal summons alleging that New York City Mayor Eric Adams committed sexual assault against a woman in 1993. Adams denied the allegation and said he could not recall ever meeting the accuser.

On Wednesday, a former aide filed a lawsuit against ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, his former counsel, and New York State, in…

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At the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, when up to 12 million people were infected across sub-Saharan Africa, Nyumbani Children’s Home offered a refuge to Kenya’s dying children. Later, the institute, run by a Catholic charity, fought for the first batches of retroviral drugs for its sick toddlers.

Contributions poured in from American politicians, media personalities and celebrities. Former vice president Mike Pence praised the nun who ran it by name on World Aids Day in 2018 and hosted her at the White House. Congressional tours were frequent.

But behind the smiles and promotional tours, the privately funded orphanage allegedly concealed terrible secrets. In previously unreported claims, six former residents told The Washington Post there were multiple incidents of rape and other abuses of children by volunteers, caregivers and even other children. The U.S. Agency for International Development’s own previous investigation, following a whistleblower’s complaint, found abuse claims at the…

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The Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Dromore, Archbishop Eamon Martin has written a letter to the people of the Diocese apologising unreservedly for the hurt and damage caused to victims and survivors of abuse by “any priest or church representative acting under its authority” and detailing steps the Diocese is taking to meet its financial and other responsibilities.

The Archbishop has announced that the Diocese plans to sell lands they own at Armagh Road, Newry to finance their liabilities.

Explaining the move Archbishop Martin said “It is vitally important that the Diocese has the necessary human and financial resources going forward for safeguarding best practice and for responding, via counselling, support and just compensation and redress to those who have been abused. I also wish to ensure that the Diocese of Dromore contributes its share to supporting the national safeguarding structures which ensure that our standards remain up to date. 

…

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• Group seeks investigation of insurer resistance to cover suits
• Chubb says it doesn’t owe coverage for diocese negligence

A child sex abuse survivors advocacy group wants New York’s financial regulator to investigate insurer Chubb Ltd. for allegedly not complying with its mandate to cooperate with the state’s Child Victims Act.

The Coalition for Just and Compassionate Compensation asked the New York State Department of Financial Services to probe Chubb and its policies over what the group said is the insurer’s resistance to cover damages related to the CVA. The request, made in a letter Friday, comes as Chubb subsidiaries battle the Archdiocese of New York in state court over the extent of their coverage obligations with respect to abuse claims.

“It is a cynical but tried and true practice of some in the insurance industry to delay, deny, and defend,” the letter said. “Chubb knows that every month that is spent…

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