ABUSE TRACKER

Bishop Rick Stika, the former Bishop of Knoxville, Tennessee, published Tuesday a text he called an “open letter” of support for him and signed, he says, by an “Anonymous Conclave of 10” cardinals.

After the letter attracted attention among Catholics Oct. 3, the bishop told The Pillar that he could not guarantee the text’s authenticity, but that he believed its contents were a fair summation of his experience in the Church.

The letter, which Stika posted on Facebook as a text without accompanying images of the document, said the former Knoxville bishop’s June resignation was a “grave loss, not only for the faithful of the diocese but for the Universal Church.” 

“The solemnity of our message cannot be overstated: Bishop Stika’s pastoral guidance and spiritual leadership in the Diocese of Knoxville have been a beacon of light and hope for countless souls,” the text said, adding praise for the bishop’s “genuine care…

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The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office has arrested a Catholic priest who previously served in La Vernia and Stockdale, and charged him with aggravated sexual assault, a felony.

Father George Mbugua Ndung’u, known as Father Wanjiru Ndung’u in the parishes where he served, was arrested Sept. 26.

This followed an investigation by the Archdiocese of San Antonio, and further investigation by the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office.

He is alleged to have sexually assaulted an elderly parishioner several times in the parish where he has most recently been serving, St. Rose of Lima in San Antonio.

The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office was alerted Sept. 9, according to Sheriff Javier Salazar, who said a church employee came forward with the allegation that the priest “did something improper with her.”

“I would like to publicly express my gratitude to the survivor for bravely coming forward and helping our Church by sharing this personal and…

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What if you learned, years later, that a dozen credibly accused abusive employees worked at the daycare where you sent your children? Or if you found out that a dozen predatory teachers taught at the elementary school, your youngsters had attended? How about if you learned that there had been a dozen child-molesting coaches on the team where your kids played? Try to put yourself in this dreadful scenario. It’s really hard to imagine, isn’t it?

Though it’s mind-blowing, it’s not theoretical. Hundreds of good parents who attended – and may still attend – St. Mark’s Catholic Church in Catonsville, Maryland, in the Baltimore Archdiocese find themselves in this frightening situation. Twelve proven, admitted, or credibly accused child molesting clerics were employed at this one parish for over a 40-year span from 1964 to 2004. Twelve. At one parish. How do we know this? It’s one of a number of startling revelations…

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A Massachusetts bill that aims to eliminate the time limit of when people can sue for sexual abuse is being met with opposition from the Archdiocese of Boston, an institution that could face numerous legal challenges if the proposed law passes.

Earlier this year, Sen. Joan Lovely, D-Essex, filed a bill to remove the Massachusetts civil statute of limitations requirement. Currently, the Bay State gives survivors up to 35 years to file a civil suit after they’ve been harmed by their abuser.

Lovely, who is a survivor of child sexual abuse, believes there can be no time limit when it comes to speaking up against sexual abuse.

“We want to make sure people have the opportunity to bring action when they are ready to do so,” she told GBH News in June.

But, the Archdiocese of Boston believes the proposal could harm the…

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Victims of clerical abuse are being asked to take part in a review of child safeguarding in the Catholic Church in Ireland.

The review, commissioned from an independent consultancy firm by two church bodies, will focus on the experience of survivors in dealing with the church after the abuse was disclosed.

In particular, information is being sought on how the church responded, what support was offered and what the experience of survivors was like going through those systems.

The review comes amid an upsurge in reports of historical child sexual abuse in the wake of revelations regarding Blackrock College and other fee-paying schools run by religious orders.

It also comes not long after the Christian Brothers were accused in the High Court of adopting a cynical legal strategy aimed at safeguarding assets from abuse victims.

The review is being conducted by accountancy and advisory firm RSM Ireland.

A statement issued…

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The Oct. 1 Metro article “New rights for child sex abuse victims in Md.” reported that Baltimore Archbishop William Lori said of his archdiocese’s Chapter 11 filing that if the archdiocese had not made this filing, the litigation for some child abuse victim settlements would have “exhausted” his church’s insurance funds. But, sir, what is the fate of the Catholic Church’s vast treasury compared with the cost of one person’s destroyed childhood and adult life? Does your institution merit a healthy bank balance after the Catholic Church hid and promoted pedophile priests, moving them from one unsuspecting parish to another, allowing them to prey on still more vulnerable children, decade upon decade?

Nicholas Penning, Arlington

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Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan has dropped criminal charges against Monsignor Francis Strahan, after his accuser declined to testify. Strahan, 90, was scheduled to go on trial on October 2nd.

Strahan was the longtime Pastor of Saint Bridget’s Parish in Framingham, serving there as Parish Priest from 1983 to 2019.

In October of 2019, only a few months after celebrating the 60th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood, an allegation of sexual molestation was made against Strahan.

The Archdiocese of Boston immediately removed Strahan as Pastor, deprived him of his faculties, placed him on administrative leave, and barred him from public ministry. It then referred the matter to the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office.

In November of 2022, a Middlesex County Grand Jury indicted Strahan on three counts of indecent assault upon a child and on one count of child rape. The purported incidents, which were said…

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As more states ease path for civil justice, institutions that harbored attackers deploy tactics to limit liability and silence survivors

He knew “luck” wasn’t the right word the moment he said it.

But Nicholas Finio was trying to describe the way everything lined up perfectly for the reckoning he’d spent decades working toward.

He filed a lawsuit in time, he worked with an experienced legal team and a good therapist. He was ready to confront the defrocked priest whose persistent sexual abuse had turned his years as a blond-haired altar boy delighted to be chosen for the solemn duties at Mass into a nightmare. The terror of the abuse lived inside him for 15 years, it followed him through high school and college, into his relationships and his marriage. It even made him think about suicide.

“It was the hardest thing I ever did in my life; it was terrifying,”…

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Derek McCarthy wants public to know that Spiritan priest with ties to two US cities was one of four men who sexually molested him at Irish boarding school

Some in the US cities of Pittsburgh and New Orleans knew Naos McCool as a Roman Catholic priest who worked with college students and first responders, and also officiated his share of weddings.

But Derek McCarthy wants the public to know that McCool, a Spiritan priest, was one of four men who sexually molested him while attending an Irish boarding school – decades before he secured a six-figure settlement from the priest’s religious order.

McCarthy has spoken openly about his abuse at Rockwell College in Tipperary before, making news headlines across Ireland. But a recent interview with the Guardian marked the first time he has publicly named his abusers, including McCool, who is still living and held relatively prominent roles at some American institutions.

“What if…

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The Archdiocese of Boston is opposing a state bill that would eliminate the time limit for filing a civil lawsuit for claims of sexual abuse of children, saying it would put its efforts to assist victims at risk. 

In 2014, the state enacted a bill that extended the statute of limitations to when the plaintiff turns 53 or seven years after the plaintiff “discovered or reasonably should have discovered that an emotional or psychological injury or condition was caused by such act.” 

The current bill being considered by the Legislature would eliminate the time limit and allow lawsuits at any time against a purported perpetrator or against a defendant that “negligently supervised a person who sexually abused a minor” or “caused or contributed to the sexual abuse of a minor by another person.” 

Supporters of the bill say it would help more traumatized victims…

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In a first of its kind gathering, the more than 350 delegates from around the world that are participating in this month’s Synod of Bishops are first meeting outside of Rome for a three-day retreat before returning to the Vatican for a high-stakes summit on the future of the Catholic Church. 

The retreat is being led by a British theologian and former leader of the global Dominican Order, Fr. Timothy Radcliffe, at the personal invitation of Pope Francis. In his first four meditations, Radcliffe, 78, immediately addressed a number of the tensions surrounding the synod, using the Gospel’s story of the transfiguration of Jesus to reflect on themes such as clericalism, the inclusion of LGBTQ Catholics, the role of women in the church and clergy sexual abuse. 

Inside the room are a mix of laypeople and bishops that includes some of the synod’s biggest critics and…

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Cardinal Joseph Zen wrote last month to bishops and cardinals attending the synod on synodality, urging them to petition Pope Francis to change the procedures for the meeting, and to challenge synodal organizers’ program for the sessions.

In a letter dated Sept. 21, a copy of which was obtained by The Pillar, the 91-year old emeritus Bishop of Hong Kong told the bishops and cardinals that he is “confounded” by what he sees as a reinvention of the Biblical concept of synodality by the event’s organizers, in a bid to promote teaching contrary to the faith.

The cardinal urged bishops to champion true “episcopal collegiality” during the synodal process.

“Because of what I am going to say, I can easily be accused of ‘conspiracy theory,’ but I see clearly a whole plan of manipulation,” the cardinal said. 

“They [the synodal organizers] begin by saying we must listen to all. Little by…

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A COMPLAINT brought by survivors of abuse against the secretary-general of the Archbishops’ Council, William Nye, over his management of church safeguarding, has stalled, a letter hosted on the House of Survivors website says.

The open letter to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, published on Tuesday, is signed anonymously by an advocate writing on behalf of a group of survivors of church-related abuse. This was their second letter, following one in June, which pointed to “an extensive catalogue of frequent failings, gross incompetence, misconduct, corruption, deception and cover-ups” in church safeguarding, before making a formal complaint against Mr Nye.

The complaint primarily concerned the sudden disbandment of the Independent Safeguarding Board (ISB) by the Archbishops’ Council this year (News, 21 June), and the chaotic aftermath, including confusion and “silence” over how current and future safeguarding reviews would be handled, and by whom. An independent review of what happened…

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As the Synod on Synodality opened Oct. 4 in Rome, among the most closely watched topics under discussion is the question of whether the Catholic Church can or will extend the permanent diaconate — restored after the Second Vatican Council — to women.

The synod’s working document released June 20 notes that most continental assemblies called for a discussion on the inclusion of women in the diaconate, and asked, “Is it possible to envisage this, and in what way?”

Up to now, the answer to that question is not clear and is debated.

“The key is not whether there were women deacons,” said Deacon Dominic Cerrato, director of the Office of the Diaconate in the Diocese of Joliet, Ill., and editor of The Deacon magazine, published by OSV, which is also the parent company of OSV News.

“Of course there were women deacons. But tradition never called them part of…

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A former Marquette-area Catholic priest has been found guilty of child sexually abusive activity by a Chippewa County jury.

Aaron James Nowicki, 49, a former priest in Marquette, was arrested in 2021 after an undercover operation by the Genessee Human Oppression Strike Team, the Chippewa County Sheriff’s Office, the Sault Ste. Marie Police Department, the Sault Tribe Police Department and TRIDENT.

A press release from Chippewa County Prosecutor Robert Stratton says that the undercover operation saw law enforcement officials using the social media application Grindr to pose as a 15-year-old boy.

Nowicki, along with other several individuals were arrested when arriving at a location where they were expecting sexual intercourse.

The charges against Nowicki comes after he was removed from the Catholic priesthood in 2019 after allegations of sexual misconduct.

In a statement, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Marquette addressed Nowicki’s time in the area.

“Rev. Aaron Nowicki resigned and…

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The Society of Jesus (Jesuits) described as “senseless” a lawsuit filed on Oct. 2 by a group of former students of the John XXIII School in Bolivia against the order’s provincial, Father Bernardo Mercado.

The religious order maintained in an Oct. 3 statement that any crime “that some Jesuits may have committed are entirely their own responsibility” and assured that the Society of Jesus “will be the first to ensure that possible sanctions are applied without any kind of privilege.”

On Oct. 2, alleged victims of sexual abuse by Jesuit priests filed a complaint accusing Mercado of “omission” of responsibilities “by not having prevented these crimes from being committed that the highest authorities of the Society of Jesus of Bolivia knew about.”

In a press release shared with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, by the Association of Alumni of the John XXIII School of the Society of Jesus, it…

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The exodus of the Swiss faithful accelerated further following the sexual abuse scandal. In Fribourg alone, no less than 500 people have left the Catholic Church in the last three weeks. The institution, which depends on ecclesiastical taxes, is worried about its future.

“For personal reasons, I no longer wish to be subject to church tax.” Jérémy Stauffacher, an independent lawyer, no longer wishes to pay for the Catholic Church, which he made known last week in a letter addressed to his parish.

If the lawyer had already been thinking about it for some time, the latest cases of sexual abuse pushed him to give up the services of the institution.

“The letter had been ready for a while, I had typed it on my computer,” he told Swiss public broadcaster RTS. “And ultimately, the events that took place served as a trigger for me, without it necessarily being a vendetta against the Church.”

…

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Victims of clerical abuse have travelled to Geneva to urge the United Nations to force the Vatican to honour its international obligations.

“It’s a pandemic and it has to stop,” Adalberto Mendez, founder of Ending Clergy Abuse (ECA), told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday. “It’s a huge problem, a human rights problem, not just in Europe, but all over the world.”

In Geneva, members of ECA and victims are due to hold talks on the sidelines of the UN Human Rights Council. The aim is to have a first meeting with representatives of states on how to hold the Vatican accountable for breaches of its international obligations.

Talks are also planned with the Committees on the Rights of the Child and against Torture. ECA wants to know whether the Holy See has officially replied to a request made almost ten years ago in reports by the independent experts of these two…

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A teacher in Fishers has been fired after being preliminarily charged with crimes related to having a relationship with a teenage student at Fishers Christian Academy.

A teacher at Fishers Christian Academy is accused of having a relationship with a 15-year-old student.

The teacher is preliminarily charged with Dissemination of Matter Harmful to Minors, Child Solicitation, Child Seduction, Sexual Misconduct with a Minor, Child Sex Trafficking and Vicarious Sexual Gratification.

All six charges are felonies.

The investigation into the teacher began with an anonymous tip to Fishers PD claiming a teacher at the school had relations with an underage student.

The teacher told law enforcement about communications between he and a 13-year-old on the messaging applications Whisper and Text Now.

The teacher told police the communications were “wrong” and he did it out of “curiosity”.

Law enforcement continued to question the man and soon he admitted to having a relationship…

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Church’s attorneys sought more time, continued access to cash, keep names secret

The Archdiocese of Baltimore on Tuesday appeared in federal bankruptcy court for the first hearing since filing for Chapter 11 protection on Friday.

Baltimore Archbishop William Lori did not attend the hearing in person as the Catholic Church filed eight motions, all of which the judge granted, but only the time extension was granted permanently. Among the motions, the church’s team of private attorneys asked for more time, for continued access to cash and to keep most of the process secret. The other seven motions were granted on an interim basis.

Dozens of victim-survivors watched the proceedings unfold in a packed courtroom gallery. Their lawyers called the church filing “offensive” and its tone “insensitive.”

“They’re in bankruptcy because of what they did, not because the child victims, and that has to be made crystal, crystal clear,” said David Lorenz,…

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The plaintiffs, who suffered abuse between 1973 and 1995 in several schools run by the order, consider that these are crimes against humanity and that there is no statute of limitations on them

A pedophilia scandal is cornering the Society of Jesus in Bolivia. Half a year after the publication of the diary of the late Spanish Jesuit priest Alfonso Pedrajas, in which he admitted to having abused dozens of Bolivian children while his superiors looked the other way — and which triggered a series of accusations against a dozen priests in the Latin American country — a group of victims on Tuesday brought legal action against the Roman Catholic organization for covering up the abuse, for protecting pedophile clerics and for silencing the victims.

The plaintiffs, former students at several Jesuit-run schools who suffered sexual assaults between 1972 and 1995, had already independently brought complaints against their attackers months ago. Now,…

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Fondling, rape, other sexual assaults charged against ‘credibly accused’ clergy

The Archdiocese of Washington is the target of a class-action lawsuit accusing Roman Catholic officials of allowing clergy to sexually abuse children for decades.

The lawsuit was filed Monday in Prince George’s County Circuit Court, a day after Maryland’s Child Victims Act of 2023 took effect by lifting the statute of limitations on child sex abuse cases. The Archdiocese of Baltimore filed for bankruptcy on Friday, before the law was to take effect.

The lawsuit was brought by three survivors of alleged abuse from Maryland counties who were between 9 and 12 years old when they say the abuse occurred. Using the pseudonyms John Doe, Richard Roe and Mark Smith, the survivors say various clergy assaulted them.

Doe, born in 1985, says the Rev. Michael Mellone and Deacon Lawrence Bell abused him at St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church and its…

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Victims advocacy groups are asking participants at this month’s Synod on Synodality to enact real change.

As Catholic bishops and lay believers meet in Rome this month for a historic Vatican summit to discuss power structures in the church, sexual abuse survivors and their advocates say their topic will be on everyone’s minds but nobody’s agenda.

The Synod on Synodality, which runs Oct. 4-29, has been called to tackle questions of clergy leadership and accountability, but above all clericalism, which occurs when the ordained claim special privileges or are treated as if they are above reproach. These questions are central to the issue of sexual abuse, itself strongly tied to how power is used and where it is distributed in the church.

Sexual abuse appears 20 times in the 60-page “Instrumentum Laboris,” the working document that will guide discussions at the synod, a frequency survivors point to in voicing concerns…

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The ruling was in response to a request by the Archdiocese of Baltimore, which filed for Chapter 11 on Friday.

A federal bankruptcy court Tuesday temporarily blocked sexual abuse lawsuits against parishes, schools or other entities related to the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Child sexual assault survivors said the ruling further thwarts a new state law intended to give them greater latitude to sue institutions that harbored their abusers.

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Michelle M. Harner issued the ruling in response to a request from the archdiocese. Archbishop William Lori filed for Chapter 11 on Friday, two days before the Maryland Child Victims Act took effect. The law eliminates the civil statute of limitations that once required many child victims of sexual assault to have filed lawsuits by their early 20s. The new law affords them the right to file civil lawsuits at any time against their alleged…

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The FBI has reportedly interviewed a number of individuals who alleged they were abused by members of a Christian group that counts Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett as a member.

Barrett’s affiliation with People of Praise, a conservative religious group that elevates the role of men, drew scrutiny ahead of her appointment to the highest court in the nation.

One former member told Newsweek in 2020 that women are expected to be “absolutely obedient” to their husbands and the men in the group and those who aren’t are “shamed, shunned, humiliated.”

At least five individuals have been contacted by the FBI, a spokesperson for a group called PoP Survivors confirmed to Newsweek on Tuesday. The development was first reported by The Guardian.

Newsweek reached out to the FBI and People of Praise for comment via email. Barrett has been contacted through a Supreme Court spokesperson for comment.

PoP Survivors has engaged in a years-long effort…

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When former President Donald Trump nominated Amy Coney Barrett for the U.S. Supreme Court in 2020, her critics were disturbed by her association with People of Praise — a far-right Christian group that combines Catholicism with elements of evangelical fundamentalist Protestantism.

Barrett herself is Catholic, as are most members of People of Praise. But the group’s practices are way outside the mainstream of Catholicism.

Now, according to The Guardian’s Stephanie Kirchgaessner, the FBI is interviewing ex-members of the group in response to their sexual abuse allegations.

Kirchgaessner, in a report published on October 3, explains, “The individuals were contacted following a years-long effort by a group called PoP Survivors, who have called for the South Bend-based sect to be investigated for leaders’ handling of sexual abuse allegations. The body, which has 54 members, has alleged that abuse claims were routinely…

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In addition to clergy abuse lawsuits, large numbers of claims have also been filed against Maryland juvenile services, indicating the state failed to protect incarcerated and institutionalized children from sexual predators.

This week, dozens of childhood sex abuse lawsuits have already been brought in Maryland state courts, after a new law took effect on October 1, allowing claims to be filed against sexual abusers and institutions that enabled the conduct, regardless of how long ago it occurred.

The Maryland Child Victims Act of 2023 was enacted in April, and went into effect on Sunday, removing all statute of limitations restrictions on civil claims involving sexual abuse of children in the state.

While the state courts have only been open for two days since the new measure took effect, multiple reports highlight the growing wave of complaints filed so far. Many of the lawsuits target the Baltimore Archdiocese and other churches that…

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The church has characterized its Chapter 11 bankruptcy as a matter of survival. But it comes at the expense of its survivors.

When the morning sun breaks through the restored skylights of the Baltimore Basilica, the entire ceiling glows thanks to the double-shell dome hiding those windows — a feature Thomas Jefferson suggested.

Two massive oil paintings — gifted to the basilica by France’s King Louis XVIII — hang near the marble busts and bronze tributes to archbishops and cardinals who were in charge when a little girl was raped and told she had received “holy communion,” according to a sweeping investigation released in the spring. And when a little boy was given cash and Pabst Blue Ribbon beer after being orally raped and told he would be “damned to hell” if he told anyone. And, investigators found, when a priest who had been accused of raping multiple boys over…

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When a Catholic entity runs to federal court seeking bankruptcy protection, its head often posts a ‘FAQ’ (frequently asked questions) or a ‘Q & A’ section on its website, putting the church hierarchy’s spin on the decision. Usually, these postings are dreadfully disingenuous and dishonest. The Archdiocese of San Francisco’s Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone’s latest posting is perhaps the worst. It’s hard to know where to begin.

• The archbishop claims that a new California law “allow(s) cases to be filed against the archdiocese through 2022.” That is not true. The new law allows child sex abuse and cover-up cases to be filed against ALL employers in the state. He’s trying to suggest that Catholic entities are being unfairly singled out. He’s wrong.

• The archbishop claims that in other dioceses, the Chapter 11 process has taken “between one and three years.” Cordileone conveniently neglects to mention that the  View Cache

Advocates say getting rid of the statute of limitations for victims of child sexual abuse is a matter of moral justice, but the Archdiocese of Boston says the move will hurt its own efforts to help sexual abuse victims.

The Massachusetts Legislature is considering eliminating the civil statute of limitations for adult victims of child sexual abuse. The current law allows victims to file civil lawsuits up to 35 years after the abuse.

The state lawmaker behind the effort, Democratic Sen. Joan Lovely of Salem, said victims still need more time to reckon with the trauma they suffered as children.

Lovely, who says she is a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, told WGBH’s “Greater Boston” news show that many victims are unable to come forward until well into adulthood.

“We want to make sure people have the opportunity to bring action when they are ready to do so,” Lovely told…

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As part of the investigation into alleged pedophilia committed by Jesuit priests in Bolivia, the commission of prosecutors in charge of the cases has requested reports from the Vatican.

Mauricio Nava Morales, prosecutor for the Department of Chuquisaca (administrative district), told local media that the information they are requesting are the reports that the provincials of the Society of Jesus would normally send to the Vatican about “irregularities” that occurred in their jurisdictions. 

“The Vatican has all the information from the provincials, who, in any case, were the ones who supervised each city,” the prosecutor explained.

The investigation began following a complaint filed by former Jesuit Pedro Lima with the Chuquisaca prosecutor’s office against the now-deceased priest Antonio Gausset for alleged sexual abuse and Father Ramón Alaix for alleged cover-up. Another of his complaints about incidents that took place in the city of El Alto was dismissed because it belonged…

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One civil complaint, no criminal charges in state attorney general’s investigation of New York’s Catholic dioceses

More than three years ago, the state attorney general’s office announced it was launching an investigation into the handling of child sexual abuse by New York’s Catholic dioceses. Since then, no cases have been pursued by the district attorneys who were encouraged at that time to pursue any related criminal allegations that were uncovered and fell within applicable statutes of limitations.

The lack of any apparent grand jury investigations — which could also produce reports detailing the dioceses’ handling of child sex abuse even if criminal charges were not possible — has occurred despite increasing evidence that church leaders routinely covered up the allegations to protect those priests and their institutions. That practice also led to the additional abuse of children when accused priests were later allowed to return to ministry without bishops or others…

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A man who, at age 9, was shown a gun before being forced to have sex with a priest. A woman who at age 14 was plied with drugs by teachers, sexually assaulted by them, and impregnated. A man who was sodomized by detention-center caretakers at age 15.

Before Sunday, there was little these individuals could do to hold their alleged perpetrators accountable in court in Maryland. Now they’re plaintiffs in some of the first lawsuits to be filed against accused offenders under the Child Victims Act, a new law that removes the statute of limitations on child sex abuse lawsuits.

These cases are some of the first of what is expected to be a flood of suits filed under the act.

After several failed attempts in recent years, state lawmakers passed the law in April on the heels of the release of a Maryland Attorney General’s Office report on…

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The Catholic church is in crisis worldwide. An upcoming synod — a major meeting of bishops — in Rome will feature unusually open dialogue. Could calls for reform tear the church apart?

Perhaps this small scene in Rome is symbolic of what is currently happening in the Catholic Church. A smiling Nathalie Becquart rides a bike that is too small for her toward St Peter’s Square and the Vatican. The French 54-year-old was named by Pope Francis in early 2021 as undersecretary to the Synod of Bishops and she is the first woman with voting rights at the male-dominated meetings. Becquart is perhaps the most well-known woman in the Vatican.

She warmly greets everyone she meets in these few days before this next phase of the world synod, which begins on October 4. The workshop in Rome, during which about 450 delegates will discuss reforms and new ways of working together…

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All of the sexual abuse survivors and supporters we know have been devastated by the news on Friday, Sept. 29, that the Archdiocese of Baltimore (AOB) was filing for bankruptcy protection. Even though this was not unexpected, the timing was certainly a shock. Of note: The new Child Victim’s Act had not even gone into effect. It was scheduled to officially be law Sunday, Oct. 1st. We thought they would at least wait to see how many claims might be filed by church abuse survivors before saying they could not afford to pay them. It is another retraumatizing event and another effort to hurt and gaslight survivors.

Some of us were asked by a reporter at a news conference on Thursday (related to the newly released partially unredacted Attorney General’s report chronicling decades of sexual abuse against hundreds of children) what we would like to say to…

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Clergy sexual abuse survivors have unveiled a proposed new church law calling for the permanent removal of abusive priests and superiors who covered for them

Clergy sexual abuse survivors on Monday unveiled a proposed new church law calling for the permanent removal of abusive priests and superiors who covered for them, as they stepped up their outrage over Pope Francis’ choice to head the Vatican office that investigates sex crimes.

The global advocacy group End Clergy Abuse unveiled the draft law at a press conference following days of protests around the Vatican, and before taking their complaints to the U.N. in Geneva. They are seeking to draw attention to the ongoing scandal in the Catholic Church and the failure of Francis and the hierarchy to make good on years of pledges of “zero tolerance” for abuse.

Specifically, the survivors have expressed astonishment at Francis’ nomination of an old friend and theologian,…

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The Spanish Catholic Church failed to act on allegations made against a priest who reportedly raped several women after drugging them with liquid ecstasy, his ex-girlfriend has claimed.

Francisco Javier Cuenca was detained in Málaga last month and has been remanded in custody on suspicion of raping four women.

According to police sources, the priest took advantage of parties and Church-related trips to spike women’s drinks with liquid ecstasy before performing sex acts on them.

He allegedly stole their underwear as trophies and is suspected of violating the privacy of several of his alleged victims after investigators discovered photographs and videos the priest had taken of them.

A woman who claimed to be his former girlfriend said she had reported “Father Fran”, as he was known by his parishioners, and handed over a hard disk containing some 3,000 photographs and videos of women in sexual poses or being sexually assaulted.

…

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Politicians in Columbus may not agree on much these days, but this week they were united in their desire to help victimized former Boy Scouts get the justice they deserve.

Ohio state senators unanimously passed legislation that voids the state’s civil statute of limitations in bankruptcy cases, in an effort to ensure Ohio victims of Boy Scouts abuse get more compensation. The organization filed for bankruptcy back in 2020, after thousands upon thousands of men across the country brought forth claims they had been sexually abused by their Scout leaders.

In the Buckeye State alone, 2,000 claims have been filed. The bill voids the existing cutoff of 12 years for claims, ensuring any victim filing a claim receives all of the money owed through a settlement.

“Nearly 2,000 survivors of childhood sexual abuse are one step closer to justice today,” said Rep. Jessica Miranda, D-28th Dist. “I see this as…

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 The Rev. Msgr. Francis Strahan, who served more than 60 years as a priest and was pastor at St. Bridget’s Parish in Framingham for 36 years, is no longer facing trial on charges he raped a young boy nearly two decades ago.

An Archdiocese of Boston investigation into the charges, which was put on hold in favor of the criminal investigation, will now resume.

Prosecutors last week filed a nolle prosqui in Middlesex Superior Court in the case against Strahan, 90, meaning they would not prosecute the case. The trial had been scheduled for Oct. 2.

Because of the motion, the case was dismissed.

In court documents, prosecutor Courtney Linnehan said the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office, along with Framingham police, had “thoroughly” investigated the rape allegations and were set for trial.

Prosecutors say alleged victim declined to testify

But during a trial preparedness meeting on Sept. 19 with the alleged victim,…

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A former Michigan priest arrested by authorities who posed as a 15-year-old boy on the dating app Grindr has been convicted.

Aaron Nowicki, 49, was convicted of child sexually abusive activity on Thursday, according to a news release from Chippewa County Prosecutor Robert L. Stratton.

A sentencing date for Nowicki has not yet been scheduled.

Nowicki resigned from priestly ministry in Jan. 2019 after it was alleged he had an “improper, but not criminal, relationship with a vulnerable adult,” the Roman Catholic Diocese of Marquette said in a statement.

During a 2021 operation, the Genesee Human Oppression Strike Team, or GHOST, collaborated with Upper Peninsula law enforcement agencies in an undercover operation posing as a 15-year-old boy on the dating app Grindr.

During the operation, multiple individuals were arrested after arriving at a location to have sexual intercourse with the 15-year-old.

Prosecutor Stratton said in…

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Rev. Aaron Nowicki resigned and was removed from priestly ministry on Jan. 25, 2019 due to allegations of an improper, but not criminal, relationship with a vulnerable adult. The allegations did not involve misconduct with a minor or a criminal offense. Following his resignation, a canonical (Church law) process regarding these allegations was begun. The allegations were also reported by the Diocese of Marquette to the Michigan Attorney General.

On Aug. 16, 2021, the Chippewa County Sheriff’s Department announced that Nowicki was arrested in connection with a “Ghost” operation conducted at that time concerning child trafficking. The Diocese of Marquette is not providing legal representation nor paying for Nowicki’s defense concerning this alleged offense. Following Nowicki’s arrest, the canonical process concerning the earlier 2019 allegations of misconduct was suspended pending the civil trial.

The diocese respects the Sept. 28, 2023 decision of the civil court.

To those who have been…

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Father Hans Zollner, a German priest and an expert in the fight against sexual abuse in the Church, said in a Sept. 26 interview with Infovaticana that celibacy is not a direct cause of this evil.

The psychologist, who also holds a doctorate in theology, said that “celibacy is not a direct cause of abuse; what can become a risk factor is a ministry poorly lived and not fully accepted.”

“All scientific reports, including those commissioned by non-Church institutions, conclude that celibacy in itself does not lead to abuse. Therefore, it is wrong to say that with the abolition of celibacy there would no longer be cases of abuse in the Catholic Church,” he emphasized.

The former member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, from which he resigned in March, said that “sexual abuse arises above all from an abuse of power that someone…

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The independent ‘lessons learnt’ review into the Church of England’s handling of allegations against the late Revd. Trevor Devamanikkam has been published.

Trevor Devamanikkam was due to appear in court in June 2017, charged with six counts of sexual abuse in the 1980s, against a 16-year-old. However, he did not arrive for the hearing and was found dead at his home later that day. An inquest found that he had died by suicide. In 2012 and 2013, the survivor, himself a member of clergy at the time, alleged he made a number of disclosures of non-recent abuse to senior clergy, and they failed to act on them.

The review was commissioned by the National Safeguarding Team, NST, and carried out by Jane Humphreys, a Senior Social Care Consultant, and previous Director of Children’s and Adult’s Services with a career spanning more than 30 years.

Its purpose is to identify both…

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Erin Foerstel was accused of grooming her victim for months

A former school nurse at St. John Vianney High today admitted she performed oral sex on a student in April.

Erin Foerstel, 42, pled guilty to statutory sodomy and sexual contact with a student who was younger than 17. Both charges are felonies. Foerstel was the school nurse at the Catholic high school for boys, and her victim was a student at the time of her crime.

In court today, a family member of the student claimed Foerstel “groomed” the boy for months through texts and FaceTime calls.

“The safety and security of our family was shattered by a predator who preyed on a 16-year-old boy,” the family member said.

To Foerstel, they said, “As a family we are stronger than you and your actions. Your insecurity has damaged our family. This plea brings closure but not peace.”

Foerstel was…

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Wave of lawsuits from victims of child sex abuse expected to hit courthouses Monday as a new law allowing for civil suits from long-ago attacks takes effect

A wave of civil lawsuits is expected to hit Maryland courthouses Monday, as a law takes effect that gives child sex abuse victims expanded rights to sue institutions that harbored their attackers.

Under Maryland’s Child Victims Act, which eliminates previous time constraints on the filing of civil lawsuits, victims may seek up to $1.5 million from private institutions or individuals, and $890,000 from public institutions.

Already, lawyers representing victims brutalized decades ago by Catholic clergy or staff at an Annapolis private school had pledged to digitally file their complaints the moment the law takes effect Sunday.

The act takes effect Oct. 1 along with several others across the region, including tougher gun laws in Maryland and a ban on cashless businesses in the…

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TACLOBAN CITY — Bishop Crispin Varquez of the Borongan Diocese said he did nothing wrong by informing the public about Pope Francis’ decision to dismiss a priest due to alleged sexual abuse of minors.

Through his attorney, Collen Calleja, Varquez responded to Fr. Pio Aclon’s threat to file charges against him for disclosing the dismissal.

Varquez stated that as the chief shepherd of Borongan, he was simply performing his duty when he authorized the posting of “Informationis Causa” on the Diocese of Borongan’s social media on Sept. 17, which announced Aclon’s removal as a priest.

Calleja noted that Varquez never aimed to humiliate Aclon.

“On the matter of the Informationis Causa, there is nothing libelous or slanderous about the notice. It is information to the public on a matter of fact, that the priest in question has been laicized,” Calleja said in a Sept. 25 letter addressed to Aclon.

“Our…

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ROME – On Friday the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) and Ending Clergy Abuse (ECA) advocacy groups issued a joint statement calling on Pope Francis to remove Archbishop Victor Manuel Fernández as head of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), and to rescind his elevation as cardinal, over past mishandling of abuse allegations.

Fernández is due to receive his red hat from Pope Francis later today. In their statement SNAP and ECA said that in their view, by tapping Fernández to lead the DDF, “Pope Francis demonstrates not only poor judgment, but also gross disrespect to Catholic victims around the world.”

“Among the responsibilities of the DDF is the handling of sexual abuse accusations brought against clergy. In fact, this responsibility constitutes 80 percent of its work. Yet earlier this year, Archbishop Fernández admitted that he made ‘mistakes’ in handling a 2019 case of…

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The Archdiocese of Baltimore filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization Sept. 29, in response to the new law that goes into effect on Oct. 1. The new law allows civil suits for child sexual abuse against public entities and private institutions and individuals, no matter when the abuse occurred.

The Child Victims Act, passed by the Maryland General Assembly in the spring of 2023, permanently and retroactively eliminates time limits on civil claims for historic cases of child sexual abuse.

The new law pertains to suits for monetary damages; there is no statute of limitations for criminal prosecution of such crimes in Maryland.

In an interview with Catholic Review Media, Archbishop William E. Lori explained that reorganization would help provide equitable settlements to all those who may have been harmed.

“I don’t think we can begin without recognizing the harm that was done to so many victim-survivors and the ongoing…

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The Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a move a lawyer representing dozens of child sexual abuse survivors says is an attempt “to evade accountability.”

The filing comes as a new law is set to take effect in Maryland October 1, lifting the statute of limitations to allow new civil lawsuits over older acts of child sexual abuse.

In April, the Maryland Attorney General released a report alleging 156 Catholic clergy members and others abused at least 600 children over the course of more than six decades.

Because of the new law, “the Archdiocese of Baltimore faces a great number of lawsuits of historic cases of child sexual abuse previously barred by Maryland law,” Archbishop William E. Lori said in a statement Friday.

“After consulting with numerous lay leaders and the clergy of the Archdiocese, I have made the decision I…

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Happy Friday friends,

And a happy feast of the Archangels. 

This weekend is the consistory at which Pope Francis will formally create the slate of new cardinals which he announced back in July. It promises to be a weekend of pomp and pageantry in Rome.

However much it’s now en vogue for cardinals to play down the trappings of their status, it’s my experience that they get pretty into it for their big weekend. A friend of mine in Rome tells me that Gammarelli, the papal tailoring house, has had to put ordinary business on pause for weeks as it tries to fill all the custom-fitted orders in scarlet watered silk.

Good for them, I say. 

I get it that these days they are more or less obliged to drop the “Your Eminence” business and tell people to “just call me cardinal.” But I think if the pope has called you up…

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Pope Francis has elected 21 new cardinals to help reform the Catholic Church, leaning heavily on diversity just days ahead of a meeting where he will outline plans for its future and discuss controversial issues such as LGBTQ+ followers, women’s roles in the church and celibacy.

The new “princes of the church,” including Chicago-born Robert Prevost — were inducted Saturday by the 86-year-old pontiff in St. Peter’s Square.

In his instructions to the new cardinals, Pope Francis said their variety and geographic diversity would serve the church like musicians in an orchestra, who sometimes play solos while performing as part of an ensemble other times.

“Diversity is necessary; it is indispensable. However, each sound must contribute to the common design,” he said.

“This is why mutual listening is essential: each musician must listen to the others.”

Each new cardinal took an oath to obey the pope, remain faithful to Christ…

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Pope Francis on Saturday further cemented his legacy, elevating 21 prelates to the high rank of cardinal and significantly raising the percentage of electors chosen by him who will have the right to vote for his successor.

At a ceremony in St. Peter’s Square known as a consistory, Francis “created” 21 new cardinals, the red-hatted “princes of the Church” who are his closest advisers at the Vatican and around the world.

There are now 137 cardinal electors, about 73 percent of them chosen by Francis. This increases – but does not guarantee – the possibility that the next pope will share his vision of a more progressive, inclusive Church.

Eighteen of the 21 are under the age of 80 and thus eligible under Church law to enter a secret conclave to elect the next pope after Francis’ death or resignation. They are known as cardinal electors. The three 80 or…

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For the first time in Maryland, survivors of childhood sexual abuse can now sue perpetrators and the institutions that protected them without concern for how long ago the abuse happened.

Maryland’s Child Victims Act, which eliminated the statute of limitations for civil sexual abuse claims, officially goes into effect Sunday, Oct. 1, though courthouses are closed until Monday.

The victory for survivors was dampened, however, when the Archdiocese of Baltimore filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Friday afternoon. Though the Roman Catholic Archdiocese was expected to face a flood of lawsuits over clergy sexual abuse, the bankruptcy will put all litigation on hold and force survivors to pursue compensation in bankruptcy court, rather than through a lawsuit.

Other survivors, however, will still have the chance to file lawsuits under the CVA. People who were victimized at schools or other institutions not connected to the archdiocese are unaffected by…

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Bernard Sonney, the deputy bishop of Lausanne, Geneva and Fribourg, has temporarily vacated his office after two weeks in the job following allegations of abuse. An investigation is underway against him.

Sonney had decided to take this step “following a report”, journalists were told at a media conference in Fribourg on Friday. The report was taken from a letter sent to the bishop, Charles Morerod, by an alleged victim.

Morerod was not present at the media conference. He is currently recovering from an emergency operation in mid-September after reportedly having a bicycle accident. Morerod’s emergency hospitalisation came a day after the publication of a study by the University of Zurich into sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in Switzerland. This documented more than 1,000 cases of abuse in the Catholic Church in Switzerland since the middle of the 20th century.

Morerod had been accused in the Sonntagsblick newspaper of having failed to intervene…

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Deanna Hampton wants justice for her son.

She wants the priest accused of sexually abusing her little boy to be brought back to the United States. She wants him to stand trial. She wants her son’s bravery – exemplified when he testified openly before a grand jury in 2014 – to mean something. Trevor died in a tragic accident two years later.

But Deanna Hampton also wants something else. She wants those she believes have played a role in denying her son justice – most notably the Calaveras County District Attorney and the Catholic Church – to be held accountable. She also has questions for the FBI.

The church acknowledges that Father Michael Kelly sexually abused Hampton’s son, Trevor Martin, then an altar boy, and at least two other young boys during his time in the Diocese of Stockton. “The diocese accepts full responsibility for the abuse of…

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Multiple Assemblies of God (AG) pastors are calling for the resignation of denominational leaders for what the pastors say has been a “shameful” response to a sex abuse scandal within the AG’s college ministry.

The scandal involves Daniel Savala, a longtime volunteer teacher and mentor with Chi Alpha Campus Ministries, the official college ministry of the AG. Savala is accused of raping or sexually assaulting at least 13 men connected to Chi Alpha over more than two decades.

He also was indicted this month, along with his former protégé Chris Hundl, for sexual abuse of two minors. Hundl, an ordained AG minister, had led Baylor University’s Chi Alpha chapter.

Several other leaders within the Chi Alpha ministry have been removed from leadership over their alleged involvement in sexual misconduct or cover-up. Will Robinson, former Chi Alpha chapter leader at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, was arrested last…

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The pastor charged in the 1975 murder of 8-year-old Gretchen Harrington today will be extradited to Delaware County, Pa. Arrested earlier this year, David Zandstra was charged with first-degree murder in the more than 40-year-old cold case.

The 83-year-old was still working as a pastor in Marietta, Georgia, when he was arrested by Cobb County Sheriff’s Office on July 17, The Roys Report (TRR) previously reported.

“The Office of the District Attorney has been working with the Pennsylvania State Police and authorities in Marietta, Georgia to arrange for the defendant’s successful extradition to Pennsylvania,” the Delaware County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement Wednesday.

Along with first-degree murder, Zandstra also faces charges of criminal homicide, second- and third-degree murder, kidnapping of a minor, and the possession of an instrument of crime. He confessed to his crime this summer.

His decades-old crime forever changed the community, officials said.  

“The murder of…

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Pope Francis created 21 new cardinals at a ritual-filled ceremony Saturday, including key figures at the Vatican and in the field who will help enact his reforms and cement his legacy as he enters a crucial new phase in running the Catholic Church.

On a crisp sunny day filled with cheers from St. Peter’s Square, Francis further expanded his influence on the College of Cardinals who will one day elect his successor: With Saturday’s additions, nearly three-quarters of the voting-age “princes of the church” owe their red hats to the Argentine Jesuit.

In his instructions to the new cardinals at the start of the service, Francis said their variety and geographic diversity would serve the church like musicians in an orchestra, where sometimes they play solos, sometimes as an ensemble.

“Diversity is necessary; it is indispensable. However, each sound must contribute to the common design,” Francis told…

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Lawyers for the Institute for Works of Religion asked judges Wednesday to fine defendants in the Vatican finance trial nearly one million euros, for damages to the bank’s reputation.

The IOR, Vatican City’s only commercial bank, is a civil party to the case, pressing a lawsuit alongside Vatican City criminal prosecutors in the trial in which 10 former officials and investment advisors to the Secretariat of State are charged with financial crimes including extortion, fraud, embezzlement, and money laundering.

Lawyers for the bank argued in court Sept. 27 that investments made and authorized by Cardinal Angelo Becciu, formerly sostituto at the Secretariat of State, were illegal, a misappropriation of Church funds, and had damaged both the IOR and Pope Francis.

Identifying hundreds of millions of euros in Church funds managed by the Secretariat of State on behalf of the Holy See and the pope personally, lawyers for the bank said…

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About six months after Canadian bishops wrote pastoral letters to indigenous communities outlining plans for reconciliation in the wake of revelations of historical abuse at church-run institutions, the bishops have set in motion a reorganization of their Catholic Canadian Indigenous Council to “help move things along.”

Among the changes are the addition of an “indigenous consultant” to help guide future plans, and a reconfiguration of the Indigenous Council to make the ratio of members three indigenous representatives to one bishop. To this point, council representation has been split 50/50.

The changes were discussed as part of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops’ 2023 plenary assembly taking place this week. Bishop Mark Hagemoen of Saskatoon, chair of the Ad Hoc Committee on the CCCB’s Structure of Engagement with Indigenous Peoples, told Crux that while there’s no timeline on listening and healing, which are paramount to the bishop’s reconciliation efforts, there is a need…

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Father Hans Zollner, a German priest and an expert in the fight against sexual abuse in the Church, said in a Sept. 26 interview with Infovaticana that celibacy is not a direct cause of this evil.

Celibacy and homosexuality

The psychologist, who also holds a doctorate in theology, said that “celibacy is not a direct cause of abuse; what can become a risk factor is a ministry poorly lived and not fully accepted.” 

“All scientific reports, including those commissioned by non-Church institutions, conclude that celibacy in itself does not lead to abuse. Therefore, it is wrong to say that with the abolition of celibacy there would no longer be cases of abuse in the Catholic Church,” he emphasized.

The former member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, from which he resigned in March, said that “sexual abuse arises above all from an abuse of power that someone…

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The Archdiocese of Baltimore declared bankruptcy on Friday several weeks after warning it might do so in response to a looming wave of sex-abuse-related lawsuits.

Archbishop William Lori said in a statement on Friday that ”after consulting with numerous lay leaders and the clergy of the archdiocese,” he had made the decision for the archdiocese to file “for Chapter 11 reorganization.”

“With an approved plan under Chapter 11, the archdiocese will be reorganized, victim-survivors will be equitably compensated, and the Church will continue its mission and ministries,” the archbishop said.

The process will “involve several steps over the next two to three years,” Lori said, including “accept[ing] claims from victim-survivors for a specified period of time” and then “enter[ing] negotiations” with those individuals.

The filing, Lori said, is “the best path forward to compensate equitably all victim-survivors, given the archdiocese’s limited financial resources, which would have otherwise been…

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Less than a month after former cardinal Theodore McCarrick was ruled incompetent to stand trial on child sexual abuse charges in Massachusetts, he has again been ordered to undergo a mental health exam to determine whether he is competent to stand trial on similar charges in Wisconsin. 

The misdemeanor fourth-degree sexual assault charges in Wisconsin relate to an incident that allegedly occurred in April 1977, in which McCarrick is accused of “fondling of the victim’s genitals” at a “Geneva Lake residence,” an April press release from the Wisconsin Department of Justice said. 

Geneva Lake, which is located in Walworth County, is in southern Wisconsin, about an hour-and-20-minute drive south of Madison.

James Grein, 65, told CNA on Thursday that he brought the allegations in the Wisconsin case, saying that the abuse occurred when he was 18 years old. Grein, of Sterling, Virginia, was also the victim named in…

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The move blocks lawsuits allowed under a new state law that takes effect Sunday. Child sexual abuse survivors seeking damages will now have to file a claim through the bankruptcy case.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore filed for bankruptcy protection Friday, less than two days before a new state law takes effect allowing victims of child sexual abuse to sue institutions, no matter how long ago the abuse took place.

Federal bankruptcy law halts all lawsuits against an entity that files for bankruptcy. Instead, the legal action will shift to a bankruptcy court, where the process — if successful — will set a permanent end date when alleged victims of abuse related to the church can file claims, rather than opening a permanent window as the law intended.

Each diocesan bankruptcy is distinct, experts say,and outcomes depend on the court, insurance arrangements and the legal setup of the diocese. Some…

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Vatican bans Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard from public ministry for five years, except in his diocese of residence, after civil court dismisses “aggravated sexual assault” charges due to statute of limitations

The Dicastery for Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) has permanently banned retired Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard from all public ministry because of sex abuse for a renewable period of five years. But the sentence, which was handed down sometime in late spring allows the 79-year-old former archbishop of Bordeaux to minister in the French Diocese of Digne where he currently resides. 

Two sources confirmed to La Croix that Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline in Marseille, the archdiocese where Ricard was born and ordained to the priesthood, was the one who informed Ricard of the sanctions. The sources confirmed that the DDF initiated a canonical trial against Ricard after he confessed in November 2022 to inappropriate sexual behavior with a teenage girl decades ago. 

“Intelligent…

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Pope Francis has promised zero tolerance for abusers, whoever they are, whenever and wherever they committed their abuse, but has shown greater-than-zero tolerance for Ricard’s confessed malfeasance.

Historians will not want for points from which to date the breakdown of Pope Francis’s reign. Whether it was the appalling rehabilitation of disgraced Cardinal Godfried Danneels – who was on the loggia when Francis first greeted the faithful and was a papal appointee to the synod on the family, of all things – or the 2017 resignation of Marie Collins from the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, or the Barros crisis in Chile, or l’Affaire Zanchetta, or the pope’s disastrous intervention in behalf of then-Fr. Mauro Inzoli, or some other act or omission, there is no dearth of options.

They may well point to the week of September 24, 2023, as the one…

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A sexual abuse survivor “relentless in his quest for justice” has embarked on his second journey to Rome.

Dunedin man Darryl Smith was sexually abused as a child at institutions in both New Zealand and Australia, including Marylands School in Christchurch.

Marylands was run by the Hospitaller Order of the Brothers of St John of God, one of the oldest orders of the Catholic Church.

Mr Smith first visited Rome in 2019, with the intention of meeting Pope Francis, but was denied entry to the Vatican.

Cardinal John Dew, of Wellington, also declined to meet him, despite Mr Smith being the only New Zealand survivor in Rome at the time.

Mr Smith was dismayed by the outcome of his first trip and hoped this time his concerns would be heard.

“By the time I went there the first time, I had high hopes that the Vatican would actually do something…

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(A new Maryland law reopening the chance to sue for damages over sexual abuse will take effect on Oct. 1. Washington Cardinal Wilton Gregory wrote the following letter to people in The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington on Sept. 29, 2023.)

My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, 

With the passage of the Maryland Child Victims Act, I anticipate that our Archdiocese of Washington will receive claims involving past allegations of abuse by members of its clergy. Of course, I cannot speculate on how many cases may be filed. What I can and must do is express again how profoundly sorry I am for past acts of abuse that occurred within our cherished Church.

Our Archdiocese remains steadfastly committed to providing a safe environment for all young people entrusted to our care. The comprehensive child protection policy we first published in 1986 has been reviewed and updated regularly to reflect…

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Bishop Ronald Hicks might consolidate 16 Joliet-area congregations and eventually close other parishes and schools, with “budgetary issues” a factor. His aides won’t say how much has been spent on fallout from the sex abuse crisis.

In a report earlier this year by the Illinois attorney general, the Diocese of Joliet was criticized for continued secrecy over the extent of child sex abuse by priests and religious brothers who served in the ecclesiastical jurisdiction.

“The diocese has demonstrated slavish adherence to off-the-books, unwritten policies that derail justice for abuse survivors and much-needed institutional transparency,” Attorney General Kwame Raoul said in the May report, adding that the diocese’s “current approach to abuse allegations against a religious order priest who ministered in the diocese are particularly opaque and ill formed.”

That lack of transparency also extends to church finances, a Chicago Sun-Times examination has…

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Hierarchical power without hierarchical accountability won’t fly.

In court documents, the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee responded that it was currently involved in fifteen different lawsuits “relating to allegations of sexual misconduct.” That’s in addition to the case involving Paul Pressler and the investigation by the Department of Justice.

Fifteen. Hallelujah. I wish it were 100. But fifteen is a good start.

Most clergy sex abuse cases never make it to a lawsuit at all—often for no reason other than that they’re barred by short time limitations—and the few that do make it to a lawsuit have typically sued the local church and not the Southern Baptist Convention. This is what’s changing.

These fifteen cases are suing the SBC itself and thereby challenging the SBC’s longstanding (but still mostly untested) argument that it has no control over local churches—the argument it…

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America’s oldest Catholic archdiocese filed for bankruptcy Friday, a move designed to limit its liability against potential damages and conserve its assets, ahead of a mountain of soon-to-be filed lawsuits connected to its history of child sex abuse.

The filing came two days before Maryland’s newly passed Child Victims Act is set to go into effect. The law, which the legislature passed in April over the objection of the church and other organizations, will remove a statute of limitations on when childhood sexual abuse victims may sue perpetrators.

The bankruptcy declaration, filed in Baltimore’s federal bankruptcy court, was not unexpected. Archbishop William E. Lori, the highest-ranking Catholic cleric in Maryland, sent a letter Sept. 5 to the more than 500,000 Archdiocese of Baltimore parishioners saying the church was considering such a step. In a new message to Catholics released Friday, Lori emphasized the decision was made to stanch…

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St. Rita’s parishioner Carling Dinkler grew up in a Catholic New Orleans family and regularly brings his daughter to the church’s standing-room-only, 5 p.m. Sunday Mass. He’s troubled by the recent request, from Archbishop Gregory Aymond, that parishes contribute to clergy abuse settlements. But he thinks individual Catholics have an obligation to help the local church put the scandal behind it.

For Jennifer Molina, it’s more complicated. She’s a lifelong Catholic who advocates for social justice causes, but has become frustrated in recent years with church teachings on women’s ordination and gay marriage. Her faith in God is steadfast, but the unfolding abuse crisis is pushing her faith in the church over the edge.

“There have been many things with the church that are painful,” she said. “This is different. I feel like it’s a tipping point.”

There are half a million Roman Catholics in the Archdiocese of New Orleans,…

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The Archdiocese of Baltimore announced Friday it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization days before a new state law goes into effect removing the statute of limitations on child sex abuse claims and allowing victims to sue their abusers decades after the fact.

The step will allow the oldest diocese in the United States “to equitably compensate victim-survivors of child sexual abuse” while the local Catholic church continues its mission and ministries, Archbishop William E. Lori said in a statement posted on the archdiocese website.

But attorneys and advocates said the church is simply trying to protect its assets and silence abuse victims by shifting the legal proceedings to bankruptcy court.

Jeff Anderson, an attorney specializing in child sex abuse cases whose firm has offices across the country, said the bankruptcy filing is “a calculated decision in hopes to silence and suppress survivors of abuse.”

“Little does the Archdiocese of…

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The Archdiocese of Baltimore filed for U.S. bankruptcy protection on Friday, saying it intends to seek a settlement of sex abuse claims by people who allege they were abused as children by Catholic priests.

The bankruptcy filing was spurred by a Maryland state law set to take effect on Oct. 1, which would allow survivors of sexual abuse to file new lawsuits regardless of how long ago the abuse occurred, according to the Archdiocese’s court filings.

Maryland’s attorney general has said that there are more than six hundred known survivors of clergy abuse in the state, numbers that the Archdiocese said it could not verify.

The bankruptcy filing will help the Archdiocese compensate victims equitably while allowing to Church to continue operations and preserve its “limited resources,” Archbishop William Lori said in a statement.

“I acknowledge that no apology, compensation, or knowledge of our present-day accountability measures will necessarily lead…

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Clergy Sexual Abuse Survivors Can Take Legal Action in Maryland Starting October 1

(St. Paul, MN) – Today, the Archdiocese of Baltimore filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. This decision by the bishop to conceal assets and hide the truth from the survivors who were sexually abused by clergy members assigned to the Archdiocese of Baltimore is unfortunate and predictable.

“The Archdiocese of Baltimore’s decision to declare bankruptcy is a calculated decision in hopes to silence and suppress survivors of abuse,” said attorney Jeff Anderson. “Little does the Archdiocese of Baltimore know the strength and resilience of the survivors who have come forward – we will continue to stand by them and vigorously advocate for them in the bankruptcy process.”

The Archdiocese of Baltimore is the first diocese to file for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in anticipation of the statute of limitations reform in Maryland. Starting on October 1, survivors of clergy abuse…

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BRAINTREE — The Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office has dropped the charges of rape and sexual assault against Msgr. Francis Strahan, but the Archdiocese of Boston plans to continue its own investigation into Msgr. Strahan’s alleged misconduct with a minor.

The District Attorney’s Office’s filing, dated Sept. 20 and received by The Pilot on Sept. 27, states that the charges of forcible child rape and indecent assault and battery were dropped because the alleged victim declined to testify in court.

In 2019, a former altar boy at St. Bridget Parish in Framingham, where Msgr. Strahan was pastor, alleged that Msgr. Strahan assaulted him on two occasions between 2004 and 2008. Msgr. Strahan allegedly raped and sexually assaulted the boy while the two were alone in the church. On a separate occasion, also at the church, Msgr. Strahan allegedly pressed his body against the boy’s. At the time, the alleged victim was between…

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An Anglican bishop of the diocese of the Diocese of the Highveld, the Right Reverend May, has been accused of protecting a priest in his pastoral jurisdiction allegedly involved in child grooming and exposing minors who were his altar servers to pornographic material.

The alleged grooming took place several years ago, and since then the bishop had turned a deaf ear to calls for action by members of the parish in the East Rand, Ekurhuleni.

As a result of the allegation, several senior members of the diocese Sunday World interviewed said it would be better if the bishop were to be removed or resign as “he did not fit the bill to be the bishop of the church of God”.

The allegation comes a few weeks after the diocese was accused by some members of the diocese of the Highveld of protecting one of his priests who was accused of…

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Ohio victims of child sexual abuse while in the Boy Scouts of America could see more compensation for the crimes committed against them under legislation passed by the state Senate Wednesday in a unanimous vote and is expected to be approved in the House.

The bill’s passage comes amid the organization’s bankruptcy settlement, first filed in 2020 after tens of thousands of men nationwide brought forth claims they had been sexually abused by their Scout leaders. The organization filed bankruptcy in an attempt to continue operating while still partially compensating victims after an onslaught of lawsuits against them.

Nearly 2,000 abuse claims have been filed in Ohio.

Currently, the amount victims receive from the organization’s settlement depends on the length of the statute of limitations for civil claims in the state that they live in, as well as the length and severity of their abuse.

The…

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(For Immediate Release September 27, 2023) 

As survivors from across the world converge on Italy to push for widespread reform in how the Catholic hierarchy deals with abuse and cover-up, we are humbled and grateful to be a part of this potentially historic effort. SNAP Board President, Shaun Dougherty will be among those ‘Voices of Justice’ joining our allies at ECA (End Clergy Abuse) in the week-long events.

It is alarming to us that this papal synod will evidently not address the church’s most serious ongoing crisis: child-molesting clergy and their enabling superiors. Every time Catholic officials convene without addressing this ongoing crisis explicitly, they embolden clergy who deny, minimize, neglect, and conceal this devastating scandal. Too frequently, church officials miss out on crucial chances to make the church and society safer and healthier. In doing so, they perpetuate the harmful myth that most of the wrongdoing has occurred in…

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A law making it easier for victims of childhood sexual abuse to file lawsuits goes into effect Sunday, and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore is already preparing for how to pay survivors.

The Child Victims Act, passed in April on the heels of a state attorney general’s report that details the history of how Catholic clergy and lay people abused children and how the church covered it up, will likely result in dozens, if not hundreds, of lawsuits against the diocese. With civil suits looming, Archbishop William E. Lori is openly suggesting that America’s oldest Catholic diocese will consider filing for bankruptcy as a means to protect itself and limit liability.

Should that happen, the diocese’s assets — its cash, investments and, most importantly, its property — will be used to pay off the victims turned creditors. But…

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A prominent Belgian bishop on Wednesday criticized the Vatican for failing to defrock a former bishop who admitted sexually abusing children, saying it had led to massive frustration with the highest Roman Catholic authorities.

Disgraced bishop Roger Vangheluwe, who was brought down by a sexual abuse scandal 13 years ago, became a symbol in Belgium of the Roman Catholic church’s hypocrisy in dealing with abuse in its own ranks.

“We, the (Belgian) bishops, have been asking for years for a reaction. The letters are there, the discussions. All noted down in lists. When will we have a reaction? And why don’t we get one?” Johan Bonny, the bishop of Antwerp, said on broadcaster VRT’s website.

Vangheluwe shot to international infamy amid disclosures he had sexually abused his young nephew for over a dozen years when he was a priest and later a bishop. He later admitted he also abused a…

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Most of the facts were already known, but the raw and frank testimonies of mutilated genitalia and priests brutally pounding children’s bodies hit viewers like a hammer blow.

It remains unclear what issue the parliamentary investigation committee should look into. For example, there is still a judicial investigation into the abuse of minors by Catholic clergy: Operation Kilk. This began in June 2010 with searches in, among other places, the Diocese of Mechelen and the private home of Cardinal Godfried Daniels, who is said to have been aware of dozens of cases of abuse.

Although this investigation is not yet complete, it is already painfully clear that Operation Kilk will not matter much. Many of the priests and fathers mentioned have already died, and in many other cases the facts have come to an end. “The last thing you want is for the House of Representatives to interfere in the…

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Prime Minister Alexander De Croo and Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne will meet representatives of victims of sexual abuse by priests on Thursday.

They will also hold talks with the Bishop of Antwerp, Johan Bonny, the Prime Minister’s entourage said on Wednesday.

The broadcast of the VRT documentary ‘Godvergeten,’ in which victims of sex abuse by clerics along with their relatives gave testimonies, sent shockwaves through Flanders, and a broad consensus is emerging in favour of a parliamentary committee of enquiry.

The subject will be on the agenda of the Chamber’s Justice Committee next Wednesday.

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Flanders is looking into cutting subsidies from municipal authorities to religious communities such as the Catholic Church, after large-scale indignation over the recent Godvergeten documentary about sexual abuse in the institution.

The broadcast of the VRT documentary Godvergeten (which roughly translates to ‘Godforsaken’) in which victims of sex abuse by clerics gave testimonies along with their relatives, sent shockwaves through Flanders. It is now provoking ministers to rethink how the Catholic Church and other religious institutions are funded in Belgium.

“In total, local authorities contribute €60 million per year to cover the shortages of the Flemish religious communities,” Flemish Minister for Coexistence Bart Somers said on Flemish radio on Thursday. This mainly concerns maintenance costs and energy bills to maintain the buildings, he explained. The majority goes to the Catholic communities.

Municipalities are obliged to step in if the local religious community cannot afford the maintenance of the buildings, following the 2004 Worship Services…

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The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has barred Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard from public ministry outside of his diocese of residence for five years as punishment for sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl in 1987, La Croix reports.

The dicastery’s ruling, according to La Croix, permits the 79-year-old retired archbishop of Bourdeaux to vote in a conclave and to minister publicly in the diocese in which he currently resides, if the local bishop permits. Cardinal Ricard remains a member of the College of Cardinals and of the Dicastery for the Promotion of Christian Unity.

The dicastery’s ruling, according to the report, came in late spring, when Cardinal Luis Ladaria Ferrer, SJ, was the dicastery’s prefect. The five-year ban on public ministry outside of his diocese of residence is renewable.

“Cardinal Ricard lives in total seclusion and is intelligent enough to understand that he needs to keep a low profile,” said Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline of Marseille….

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Bernard Sonney, the deputy bishop of Lausanne, Geneva and Fribourg, has temporarily vacated his office after two weeks in the job following allegations of abuse. An investigation is underway against him.

Sonney had decided to take this step “following a report”, journalists were told at a media conference in Fribourg on Friday. The report was taken from a letter sent to the bishop, Charles Morerod, by an alleged victim.

Morerod was not present at the media conference. He is currently recovering from an emergency operation in mid-September after reportedly having a bicycle accident. Morerod’s emergency hospitalisation came a day after the publication of a study by the University of Zurich into sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in Switzerland. This documented more than 1,000 cases of abuse in the Catholic Church in Switzerland since the middle of the 20th century.

Morerod had been accused in the Sonntagsblick newspaper of having failed to…

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Victims’ advocates urged adult survivors of sexual abuse by members of the clergy to come forward Thursday ahead of a landmark Maryland law going into effect Sunday.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP, held a news conference outside of the Baltimore Basilica on Cathedral Street to discuss the Child Victims Act, the possibility of the Baltimore archdiocese declaring bankruptcy and the still-redacted names in the attorney general’s report on child sexual abuse within the archdiocese.

“I want to reach out and urge anyone who is a survivor, who is a victim, who thinks of themselves as a victim, to please come forward,” Maryland Director of SNAP David Lorenz said. “You don’t necessarily have to file a lawsuit to come forward and begin the healing.”

Lorenz also asked parents to check in with their children, saying that he himself only came forward about his experience with child sexual…

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A group of Catholic Church abuse victims and their advocates on Wednesday called on Pope Francis to enforce “zero tolerance” against clerical sex abuse, after completing a six-day pilgrimage to Rome carrying a large wooden cross.

The 10 men and women walked 130 kilometres (81 miles) along the last stretch of the Via Francigena, a medieval trail that connects Canterbury, England, to Rome, ahead of a major Vatican summit on the future of the Church, starting next week.Advertisement · Scroll to continueReport this ad

The pilgrimage “shows the determination of survivors to come to deliver their message to Pope Francis … that there must be a universal law of the church of zero tolerance,” said U.S. attorney Timothy Law, co-founder of Ending Clergy Abuse (ECA).

“Anything less than that is not adequate”, he added.

[PHOTO: Peter Isely, survivor of sexual abuse, and founder of ECA (Ending Clergy Abuse) Tim Law attend…

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Ahead of the upcoming Synod on Synodality this October in the Vatican, the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors appeals for safeguarding children to be seriously and frequently deliberated throughout the Synod’s discussions.

Ahead of the upcoming Synod on Synodality, the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors has made an appeal for child protection to be seriously deliberated during Synod discussions.

In a statement, published in English and Italian, and titled ‘A Call to Action on the Occasion of the Consistory for the Creation of New Cardinals and the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops,’ the Commission calls for action.

Pope Francis has entrusted and encouraged the Commission, which is within the Roman Curia’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, but maintains its independence, to speak forth with what needs to be done, and not let others impede their efforts.

In the text, the…

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• Commission urges solidarity with victims and survivors in light of ongoing revelations of abuse.
• Commission calls on Church leaders to increase commitment and resources to promote safeguarding everywhere.
• Commission asks that safeguarding be given a priority in the Synod on Synodality.

SOLIDARITY WITH THOSE WHO HUNGER AND THIRST FOR JUSTICE.

As the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, we express our deep sorrow and unwavering solidarity first and foremost to the victims and survivors of so many despicable crimes committed in the Church. Every day seems to bring forth new evidence of abuse, as well as cover up and mishandling by Church leadership around the world. While some cases are subject to intense reporting in the media, others are hardly known–if at all–leaving many countless people to suffer in silence. All abuse involves the anguish and pain of a terrible betrayal, not only by the abuser, but by a Church…

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Statement of the Archdiocese of San Antonio regarding Father Wanjiru Ndung’u

Late this afternoon – Tuesday, September 26 – Father Wanjiru Ndung’u was arrested by the Bexar County Sheriff’s Department on aggravated sexual assault charges.

During his time in the archdiocese, Father Wanjiru ministered at Our Lady of Good Counsel, St. Martin de Porres, and St. Gabriel parishes in San Antonio, all in 2017. In 2018 he served at St. Ann in La Vernia and St. Mary’s in Stockdale. In 2019 Father Wanjiru ministered at St. Peter and Paul Parish in New Braunfels, and in 2020 was assigned to St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Canyon Lake. Lastly, from 2021 to 2023, he served at St. Rose of Lima Church in San Antonio.

The Archdiocese of San Antonio takes seriously any allegation of sexual misconduct. The safety and well-being of all people are very important, and the church’s safe-environment policies seek…

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The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office arrested George Ndungu, a Catholic priest within the San Antonio Archdiocese, on Aggravated Sexual Assault charges.

According to investigators, Ndungu served at several churches in and around the San Antonio area since 2017. He was most recently at Saint Rose of Lima Catholic Church.

Sheriff Javier Salazar says they received information from the archdiocese, who were working with a private investigator.

An active member of the church spoke out about the allegations, Sheriff Salazar shared.

An elderly lady did come forward, a member of that parish came forward and indicated that on three separate occasions, beginning on November of 2022, this suspect did attempt to sexually assault and was successful in sexually assaulting her on three separate occasions, said Sheriff Salazar.

Sheriff Salazar says if you or anyone had any inappropriate encounters with Ndungu, call the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office.

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A Texas Catholic priest was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly sexually assaulting a parishioner in her 70s, police say.

Rev. George Mbugua Ndungu, 42, was charged with aggravated sexual assault, according to FOX 29 San Antonio.

A native of Kenya, Ndungu had served at multiple churches in the San Antonio area since 2017. Authorities say he most recently worked at Saint Rose of Lima Catholic Church.

According to KSAT, an employee first told the archdiocese that Ndungu had said inappropriate things to her. Another victim — a woman in her 70s — alleged that Ndungu sexually assaulted her three different times.

The victim was reportedly a parishioner who turned to Ndungu for spiritual guidance. The archdiocese hired their own private investigator to review the matter.

“An elderly lady did come forward, a member of that parish came forward and indicated that on three…

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Representatives lied about its existence, Tim Ballard walked out of an interview with FOX 13 News when asked about the case

DAVIS COUNTY, Utah — FOX 13 News was the first to report in 2020 the Davis County Attorney’s Office opened a criminal investigation into Tim Ballard and the non-profit organization he founded, Operation Underground Railroad (OUR).

Now that at least a portion of that investigation has concluded, there’s still a lot of uncertainty surrounding the focus of that case.

An article from VICE News published Friday morning gives a small snapshot, citing information about Ballard receiving “psychic readings” and communicating with the prophet Nephi.

Records show President M. Russell Ballard, acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, was at least peripherally involved in the criminal investigation.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints released a statement to FOX 13 News on Friday, citing betrayal and “morally unacceptable”…

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ROME – In a bold new statement, the Vatican’s Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, an advisory body created by Pope Francis in 2014, has condemned what they described as a failure on the part of Church authorities in abuse prevention, saying they will push leaders to do more.

“Every day seems to bring forth new evidence of abuse, as well as cover up and mishandling by Church leadership around the world,” a Sept. 27 statement from the commission said, issued ahead of a Sept. 30 consistory for the creation of new cardinals and a Synod of Bishops beginning Oct. 4.

Some abuse cases are covered in the media and some are not, meaning many victims suffer in silence, the commission said, saying all abuse “involves the anguish and pain of a terrible betrayal, not only by the abuser, but by a Church unable or even unwilling to reckon…

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Steubenville’s Bishop Jeffrey Montforton was appointed an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Detroit Thursday, less than one year after the bishop announced an eventually stalled merger between the Steubenville diocese and its neighboring Diocese of Columbus.

The bishop has reportedly been the subject of two Vatican-ordered Vos estis lux mundi investigations, but the results in neither case have been publicly released.

The Holy See press office made Monforton’s move to Detroit public in its Sept. 28 daily bulletin. It said that the bishop had been assigned the titular see of Centuria.

A Sept. 28 USCCB statement said that the Holy See had appointed Kalamazoo Bishop Emeritus Paul Bradley as the apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Steubenville.

The move for Monforton, 60, comes after a tumultuous year in the Diocese of Steubenville, which began when Monforton announced last October that a process was underway to see the eastern Ohio diocese merged with…

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But Skeptics Say It’s Not Likely

At 93 and apparently suffering from dementia, former cardinal Theodore McCarrick is unlikely to be tried on criminal charges of sexual abuse. It’s likewise doubtful he’ll ever testify in court in pending civil lawsuits against him. And the Vatican seems to have moved on, having issued a long report about him almost three years ago, more than a year and a half after Pope Francis dismissed him from the clerical state. 

But some Catholics remain frustrated with what they see as unanswered questions. Among them:

· Who helped McCarrick rise in the Church hierarchy?

· Which bishop candidates did he champion, and why?

· Who in the hierarchy knew about McCarrick’s behavior with teenagers and young men, when did they know it, and why didn’t they stop it? 

In November 2020, the Vatican released a 449-page report on McCarrick that describes how the…

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The Anglican Church in North America, formed in 2009 after splitting from the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada, will soon begin a high-profile church trial against a beloved bishop who is accused of welcoming men with histories of predatory behavior into church leadership. One of those men, a former lay minister, has been sentenced to 21 years in prison for felony sexual assault.

Bishop Stewart Ruch, head of ACNA’s Upper Midwest Diocese, is also facing separate church charges brought by three other bishops. Meanwhile, the diocese’s churches have suffered through years of controversy and power struggles.

Given the number of accusations and crimes involved, the increasing awareness of abuse and ACNA’s relatively short existence as a denomination, some have asked whether ACNA or Ruch lacked infrastructure of accountability or safeguards against abuse. How, in other words, could things…

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An itinerant minister based in Middle Tennessee has been charged with multiple counts of child rape and sexual battery. His wife has been charged with facilitation of the alleged crimes and related abuse and neglect. 

This morning at Rutherford County Circuit Criminal Court in Murfreesboro, Tenn., Benjamin Garlick, 32, and his wife, Shaantal Garlick, 29, appeared for an initial arraignment hearing.

Benjamin Garlick faces five counts of aggravated rape of a child, five counts of aggravated sexual battery, and one count each of soliciting sexual exploitation of a child under age 13 and continuous sexual abuse of a child.

Shaantal Garlick faces one count each of facilitation of aggravated rape of a child and aggravated abuse/neglect/endangerment of a child age 8 or under.

According to multiple reports, the couple has ministered as itinerant Christian evangelists with their six children. In recent years, the Garlicks…

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