ABUSE TRACKER

It’s the first time a higher court in La. has ruled on the constitutionality of the so-called “lookback window,” which gave 3 years for victims to file lawsuits.

BATON ROUGE, La. — In a major victory for sexual abuse survivors, a Louisiana appeals court ruled a state law reviving decades-old claims of abuse is constitutional.

It’s the first time a higher court in Louisiana has ruled on the constitutionality of Louisiana’s so-called “lookback window,” which provided three years, starting in 2021, for victims of childhood sexual abuse to file civil lawsuits for damages, regardless of how long ago the abuse occurred.

The Diocese of Lafayette was the latest Catholic Church entity to argue the lookback window was unconstitutional, trying to bar a complaint by a man who alleged he suffered sex abuse by a priest in 1961 or 1962.

In another case that went to the Supreme Court, Holy Cross…

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The suit alleges the church covered up crimes by ex-priest Joseph Henn

A civil lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix alleging the church helped in covering up abuse is being allowed to go forward after a state appellate court reversed a dismissal by a trial court judge. 

The lawsuit, which was filed in 2020 by an unnamed man identified only as John ND Doe, was one of several lawsuits brought following legislation that extended the statue of limitations on child sexual abuse and opened a temporary two-year window for civil suits that were otherwise time-barred.This story deals with sexual abuse and assault of minors. If you or someone you know has been a victim of this crime call 800-656-HOPE for 24/7 help and support.

In a lawsuit against the diocese for how it handled abuse allegations against Joseph J. Henn, a priest…

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The bishopric of Basel has admitted that it made procedural errors in its handling of a case of alleged sexual abuse.

“This is a failure that must not be repeated,” said Bishop Felix Gmür on Friday.

The bishopric of Basel, based in Solothurn, was reacting to an article in the current affairs magazine Beobachter which said a Nigerian auxiliary priest working for the diocese of Basel had sexually abused a minor on several occasions between 1995 and 1998.

The victim reported the abuse to the Catholic Church in 2019. A commission of the bishops’ conference recognised the woman as a victim and paid her compensation of CHF15,000 ($17,000). According to Beobachter, however, the abuse had no consequences for the alleged perpetrator.

The bishopric said in a statement on Friday that the article in Beobachter was an opportunity to “recognise the mistakes that have been made, correct them immediately and avoid them in future”. The…

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WHAT

The parents of Ohioans for Child Protection and local, national survivors of SNAP Network and other concerned members of the community will be holding a press conference to publicly ask Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost to conduct a statewide investigation of the history and scope of child sexual abuse, trafficking, child sex abuse enabling and cover up in Ohio’s 6 Dioceses.

–disclose the names of 49 catholic religious, with Ohio ties, named in the Pennsylvania Attorney General Report (2018), Baltimore Attorney General Report (2023), and Illinois Attorney General Report (2023)

–highlight 2 recent Ohio priests convicted of Federal Sex Trafficking

–highlight 3 recent Ohio priests convicted of sexual assault

–National leader and abuse survivor with SNAP Network will share the importance of statewide investigations to provide validation and justice to victims, inform the state’s leaders and the public, prevent further abuse by identifying predators and enablers

–Ohio Catholic Church abuse survivor…

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CINCINNATI (WXIX) – For the second time in five years, a group of victims of sex abuse by Catholic clergy and their supporters is asking Ohio’s attorney general to investigate all six dioceses in the state.

Local and national survivors and/or their parents who make up SNAP Network (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests), Greater Cincinnati Voice of the Faithful and Ohioans for Child Protection want Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost to conduct a statewide investigation “of the history and scope of child sexual abuse, trafficking, child sex abuse enabling and cover-up in Ohio’s 6 Dioceses.”

They held a news conference Wednesday morning in the atrium of the statehouse in Columbus.

The group also provided the attorney general’s office with a spreadsheet of nearly 50 clergy with Ohio ties referenced in three recent reports of statewide investigations of church sex abuse by attorney generals in Pennsylvania, Illinois and Maryland.

…

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Dave Yost told reporters his office doesn’t have the legal authority to investigate “matters like this.”

National, state and local advocacy groups are calling on the Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost to investigate possible sex crimes within the state’s six Catholic dioceses.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), Ohioans for Child Protection, and Greater Cincinnati Voice of the Faithful, made the announcement during an Aug. 16 press conference at the Ohio Statehouse.

“No longer should they have a license to prey, P-R-E-Y, on our most vulnerable,” said Claudia Vercellotti with SNAP.

In a letter to Yost’s office, Ohioans for Child Protection points to similar investigations in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Illinois.

Investigations in three nearby states

Pennsylvania’s 2018 Grand Jury Report details 300 priests who were credibly accused of sexually abusing more than 1,000 children. In the report, jurors said victims’ fear of coming forward could…

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The Archdiocese of Mobile, Alabama made headlines last month when local media reported that a young priest, Fr. Alex Crow, had fled to Europe with an 18-year-old girl — recently graduated from a Catholic high school — ostensibly for the purpose of performing an illicit exorcism upon her.

The archdiocese announced July 28 that the priest had “abandoned his assignment in the archdiocese,” adding that his “behavior is totally unbecoming of a priest,” and that “he may no longer exercise ministry as a priest, nor tell people he is a priest, nor dress as a priest.”

The archdiocese also announced that it had informed the county prosecutor’s office of the situation, “due to the circumstances of [Crow’s] departure.”

It quickly emerged that Crow had a strong interest in spiritual warfare and exorcisms, and had appeared on several podcasts to discuss demonic possession — though sources have confirmed that Crow wasn’t…

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Earlier this week, an internet search took me to the web site of the Diocese of Albany, New York, where I happened upon an official profile of retired Bishop Howard Hubbard. The profile is formulaic, listing his various pastoral assignments and committee memberships. Still it is interesting for the facts it does not mention:

• that Bishop Hubbard is the target of several sex-abuse lawsuits;
• That last year Bishop Hubbard asked the Vatican to release him from the clerical state; and
• That this year, after the Vatican turned down his bid for laicization, he announced that he was getting married.

The bishop’s “marriage” is invalid, of course; a cleric is not free to marry. (Even if he had been laicized, the 84-year-old bishop would have needed a dispensation to marry.) So I would not have expected the archdiocese to post a cheerful wedding announcement. Still I was struck by the absence of any reference…

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Some 100 Catholic clergy sex abuse cases on Long Island have been removed from federal bankruptcy proceedings and sent back to state court. An attorney for survivors called the rulings by federal judges a victory Thursday, while the Diocese of Rockville Centre described them as “disappointing.” 

U.S. District Judge Gary R. Brown on Aug. 10 ordered 42 cases returned to New York State court because, he indicated, little progress had been made with the federal bankruptcy proceedings. On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Joan Azrack sent another 58 back. 

“This is a big step,” said Jordan Merson, a Manhattan-based attorney representing some survivors. “The diocese’s strategy of fighting survivors instead of working with them is failing right before our eyes.”

Sean Dolan, a spokesman for the diocese, said Thursday the rulings were “disappointing” and a mistake, coming as they did amid diocese attempts to reach a consensus on settling 600 cases, nearly three years into bankruptcy proceedings.

“The Diocese continues to believe that a…

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In the wake of the sexual abuse of minors scandal that broke out in April involving various members of the Society of Jesus in Bolivia, the country’s provincial superior, Father Bernardo Mercado, said that not even if he “were crazy” would he have entered the Jesuit order if he had known the real situation involving those members accused of pederasty.

The priest was interviewed recently by the special commission for the investigation of crimes of sexual abuse taking place in ecclesial environments recently created by the Bolivian Chamber of Senators, ATB Digital media reported. 

Referring to the numerous Jesuits accused of sexual abuse, Mercado said: “Personally, for me they were great missionaries.”

The Jesuit provincial made the comparison to the members of the commission: “It’s as if [growing up] I were looking at you [senators] and one day I wanted to be like you.”

“At no time did I see…

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BOSTON, Mass., Aug. 16, 2023―Voice of the Faithful joins its affiliate in Cincinnati and other Ohio groups supporting clergy abuse survivors in calling for the state attorney general to investigate Catholic clergy sexual abuse of minors and its cover up throughout the state. Overwhelming evidence of Church malfeasance in the protection of children shown in a score of states attorneys general and grand jury investigations compels VOTF and like-minded Catholics to request such an investigation.

To-date, as many as 20 states across the country have concluded or have ongoing investigations into Catholic clergy abuse. These investigations have shown the necessity of using civil authorities to investigate clergy abuse in the Church. In 2019, this fact already was evident, as several investigations had been completed and others instituted.

“It’s now clear to me that the church hierarchy is not capable of policing itself from within,” said former Illinois Supreme Court Justice…

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Advocates for survivors of clergy sexual abuse said it’s time for Ohio’s top law enforcement official to investigate the state’s six Catholic dioceses.

Members of Ohio chapters of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, Ohioans for Child Protection and the Greater Cincinnati Voice of the Faithful urged Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost in an Aug. 16 letter to follow the examples of abuse investigations that have occurred in other states in recent years.

Daniel Frondorf of SNAP’s Cincinnati chapter told NCR that reports released after investigations in Pennsylvania, Illinois and Maryland included references to 49 priests who had lived, worked or had other ties to Ohio and had been accused of sexually abusing children.

“I think there’s enough compelling evidence in the news media the last 15, 20 years that a larger…

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[VIDEO]

Ohioans for Child Protection and SNAP have made a formal request to Attorney General Dave Yost asking him to conduct a statewide investigation of the history and scope of child sexual abuse and its covering up by the state’s Catholic dioceses.

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Several groups that advocate for survivors of sexual abuse on Wednesday called for Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost to investigate the state’s six Catholic dioceses.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), a national nonprofit, as well as two local groups, Ohioans for Child Protection and Greater Cincinnati Voice of the Faithful, announced their demand during a news conference at the Statehouse. The groups are calling on the attorney general to investigate “the history and scope of child sexual abuse, trafficking, child sex abuse enabling and cover up” in the dioceses.  

Teresa Dinwiddie-Herrmann, co-chair of Ohioans for Child Protection, said she is aware of credible cases of abuse in Ohio that have not been investigated.

“We know of other cases where allegations have come forward, with evidence, and there has not been a criminal investigation or for whatever reason, nothing goes beyond a criminal investigation. And…

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49 accused clergy members named; many have ties to Northeast Ohio

Advocates against child sex abuse have filed a letter to the Ohio attorney general, asking the state to hold accused predators in the Catholic church accountable.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Advocates against child sex abuse have filed a letter to the Ohio attorney general, asking the state to hold accused predators in the Catholic church accountable.

“We are asking Attorney General Yost to simply step up and get on the train of accountability and justice for victims,” said Claudia Vercellotti with the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).

Ohioans for Child Protection SNAP have made a formal request to Attorney General Dave Yost. They are asking him to conduct a statewide investigation of the history and scope of child sexual abuse and its covering up by the state’s Catholic dioceses.

Vercellotti brought forward reports from other states, where…

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Church claims it cannot get fair trial over alleged abuse by the notorious David Joseph Perrett in legal tactic that has drawn widespread criticism

The Catholic church is seeking to use using the death of a “prolific paedophile” priest to permanently prevent a dying Indigenous man from seeking justice for alleged abuse suffered on camping trips in rural New South Wales.

Two survivors are suing the church’s Armidale diocese for the alleged abuse by notorious priest David Joseph Perrett during camping trips from an Aboriginal mission in the mid-1970s.

Perrett died in 2020 while awaiting criminal trial for more than 100 offences relating to the abuse of almost 40 young children – including the two plaintiffs now suing the church – in areas spanning Armidale, Walcha, Guyra and the broader New England region from the 1960s to the mid-1990s.

At the time the then bishop…

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THE traditionalist group Forward in Faith, and the Society of which it is part, have formally asked that mandatory reporting of child abuse does not apply to confidentiality given under the seal of confession.

The seal is the priest’s obligation under canon law to hear a person’s confession of sin, or imagined sin, in complete confidence, so that nothing that the priest is told in that context will be repeated or disclosed under any circumstances. This is also the rule of the Roman Catholic Church.

Mandatory reporting — without religious exception — was one of the key recommendations in the final report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) last year (News, 21 October 2022). The recommendation specifies that this would not apply to situations in which a child is aged between 13 and 16 years old and it is reasonably believed that the relationship is consensual and not…

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Officials with the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office released a Valentine’s letter from Alex Crow to the former McGill-Toolen High School Student he is with in Italy, in which he claims they are married.

There is an investigation into what type of relationship Crow had with the woman before the two left for Italy. Mobile County Sheriff Paul Burch says the relationship did appear to be inappropriate and he believes Crow groomed the young woman. She recently graduated from McGill-Toolen. The school posted to Facebook saying Crow sat in on classes and took confessions there in 2021.

MCSO has redacted the woman’s name.

“Dear ***,
As I write this I’m still experiencing eye dilation, so I apologize if this is hard to
read. I can barely read what I’m writing as I do this. Ha!
First things first: I love you, and I thank Jesus for you every day. You have made
my life both astronomically…

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A pedophile ex-priest and former Labor party official who preyed on young boys in Asian countries has been barred from practising law in Australia.

Peter Andrew Hansen was jailed in June 2021 for at least 14 years on 31 charges of producing child pornography in Vietnam and the Philippines, distributing child exploitation material and engaging in sexual activity with nine boys.

The chief clerk of the NSW Supreme Court applied in April to have Hansen struck off the law register and barred from practising due to his crimes.

In a joint judgment handed down on Tuesday, Justices Fabian Gleeson, Jeremy Kirk and John Basten declared Hansen was not a fit and proper person to remain on the roll of Australian lawyers and ordered his name be removed.

“It is not appropriate that a practitioner remain on the roll whilst in custody,” they said.

The judges considered Hansen’s physical and mental…

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A former Catholic priest who served in Laurens and Newberry counties pleaded guilty Friday in federal court to Transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.

According to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Columbia, Jamie Adolfo Gonzalez-Farias, 68, who was known to parishioners as “Father Gonzalez,” admitted to transporting the victim from South Carolina to Florida with the intent to “commit lewd and lascivious exhibition and lewd and lascivious molestation in violation of Florida state law.

Gonzalez-Farias was arrested at the Miami International Airport by the FBI and U.S. Marshal’s Service in January and initially entered a plea of not-guilty.

U.S. District Judge Mary Geiger Lewis accepted the guilty plea Friday and will sentence Gonzalez-Farias after receiving and reviewing a sentencing report prepared by the U.S. Probation Office.  Transportation of a Minor with Intent to Engage in Criminal Sexual Activity carries a mandatory minimum…

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Teenagers plied with alcohol before being touched and fondled, court told

A Hove church leader abused four boys at his home in Hangleton, a court was told today (Tuesday 15 August).

On separate occasions, Daniel Reed, 57, plied the teenagers with drink at his home in Stonecroft Close, before indecently assaulting them.

Jason Sugarman, prosecuting, told a jury that Reed showed them pornographic films and persuaded them to put on silk shorts or boxers before taking advantage of them.

Some he touched and fondled. Reed, known as Danny, persuaded one boy to lie face down on a mattress while he was grinding against him.

Mr Sugarman said: “This case is one of historic sexual child abuse on boys.

“The defendant, who is now 57 years of age, at that time in the late 1980s early 1990s, was a church youth leader in his early twenties at Clarendon Church, in Hove.

…

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The North Coast diocese emerged early on as a hot spot in the nationwide clergy abuse scandal that rocked the Catholic Church in the early 2000s.

How to file a claim

Those who want to maintain or preserve the right to seek a settlement in the bankruptcy case for the Santa Rosa Roman Catholic Diocese must submit proofs of claim so they are received by Oct. 20 by Brooklyn-based Donlin, Recano & Company, Inc., which is coordinating the case.

All orders, forms and other claims are available at donlinrecano.com/Clients/rcbsr/Static/SurvivorClaims.

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Survivors of clergy abuse involving the Santa Rosa Roman Catholic Diocese have one final chance this fall to come forward to seek a settlement from the church.

A federal bankruptcy judge has set an Oct. 20 deadline for all claims against the embattled diocese — both from those who have lodged lawsuits against the church already and from those who…

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An Assemblies of God church in Texas is demanding the creator of an online forum exposing alleged abuse within Chi Alpha Student Ministries to retract “defamatory” statements made by commenters at his site. A lawyer representing the creator of the forum is rejecting the demand, citing free speech laws. 

On August 3, an attorney representing North Central Church in Spring, Texas, sent a 52-page cease and desist letter to the creator of the online forum XA & The Lions Den, Ron Bloomingkemper. The letter demanded the forum “remove all the defamatory and disparaging posts about North Central and its leaders” and threatened that a “defamation lawsuit” may be filed. 

The demand letter cited 10 forum posts from anonymous users, which reported or analyzed alleged incidents at North Central Church’s young adult ministry, Kairos. The posts also named two North Central Church leaders who allegedly…

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Northern District of Ohio | Northeast Ohio Priest Sentenced to Life in Prison for Sex Trafficking Minors, Exploitation and Child Pornography | United States Department of Justice

Office of Public Affairs | Jury Convicts Priest of Sex Trafficking Three Victims in Northern Ohio | United States Department of Justice

Rev. David Morrier sentenced to probation for sexual battery | News, Sports, Jobs – The Herald Star (heraldstaronline.com)

Cincinnati priest pleads guilty to raping altar boy, gets 7 years in deal with prosecutors (fox19.com)

Glouster priest sentenced to 12 years in prison for unlawful sex with minor parishioner | Local News | athensnews.com

WHAT

The parents of Ohioans for Child Protection and local, national survivors of SNAP Network and other concerned members of the community will be holding a press conference…

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Paintings by Louis Ribes were removed from numerous churches last year after his victims protested to the Lyon archdiocese.

French churches around Lyon have begun removing stained-glass windows created by the late Fr Louis Ribes, who was posthumously declared a sexual abuser of minors.  

The two dismantled windows, the first of six planned withdrawals, took place in Dième in the Beaujolais region and further will follow in the autumn as masons become available to do the work.

Paintings by Ribes, who died in 1994 as the reputed “Picasso of churches”, were removed from numerous churches last year after 49 victims protested to the Archdiocese of Lyon.

The victims’ activism came as they saw the extent of his abuse while registering individual complaints following the 2021 Sauvé report. The archdiocese says it has “no doubt about their testimonies”.  

The windows, many in churches owned by the state under France’s policy of laïcité,…

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Two priests from separate parishes in the area were removed from duties following allegations of sexual misconduct. A survivor of abuse is urging parishes to show grace to those brave enough to come forward.

Zac Zepeda is a deacon with a San Antonio area church and a member of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. The network provides emotional support to victims wounded by religious and institutional authorities.

News of two local priests involved in sexual misconduct is disheartening, yet Zepeda applauded the archdiocese’s quick action to remove the priests from duties until the investigations are complete.

“Just because there’s an investigation doesn’t mean these allegations are true or are proven. But the church has previously only done a canonical investigation and not a civil investigation. So I applaud the archbishop for engaging with the civil authorities,” Zepeda said.

He urges parishioners to show grace and comfort to…

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“I don’t care if I bring the whole temple down,” one interviewee ominously declares in the trailer for the upcoming Netflix documentary Scouts Honor: The Secret Files of the Boy Scouts of America. That comment is a reference to a horrifying child sex abuse scandal at the heart of the streamer’s new documentary feature, from director Brian Knappenberger and coming on September 6. “This is an abomination,” the insider adds about what we come to learn are thousands upon thousands of documented claims of abuse.

This latest Netflix documentary looks set to be one of the most shocking and talked about of the year, more so even than recent titles like Waco: American Apocalypse and Take Care of Maya — the latter of which will utterly wreck you and make you never look at the health care industry the same way again.

As for Knappenberger’s forthcoming 94-minute documentary, here’s what Netflix…

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A friend likes to remind me about the one time I attended an Ashes test in Melbourne, Boxing Day, 1974. The crowd was waiting, excited, to watch the English team, and Dennis Amiss particularly, front up to the wicket. On he came, bravely facing just eight balls. Then he was caught out, having scored a paltry four runs. I cried. How humiliating and soul-shrivelling for him, I thought. But my Australian (male) friends couldn’t understand at all. Crying? For an Englishman!

Review: The Empty Honour Board: a school memoir – Martin Flanagan (Viking)

Then there were all those years growing up with a father who insisted on watching Wide World of Sports every Sunday at lunchtime. The kitchen table would be carried in to the TV and we were made to sit in religious silence, eating our roast, watching grown men hand-balling through a hole in the wall, and rehashing the…

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• “Disobedient Women,” a new book by journalist Sarah Stankorb centers the voices of women who sounded the alarm on church abuse.
• Book looks at abuse in Christian homeschooling movement, the Southern Baptist Convention, Sovereign Grace Ministries and features the stories of local Nashville figures.

Stories about the exposure of church abuse scandals that are now the subjects of popular Hulu and Amazon Prime docuseries haven’t always centered on the women behind the effort to expose wrongdoing.

First with the help of blogs and now with social media, mostly women sounded the alarm on spiritual and sexual abuse happening within denominations and parachurch organizations.

“I got very irritated that a major piece of this was being ignored,” journalist and author Sarah Stankorb said.

Stankorb has been following these women-led movements for more than a decade through pieces for The Washington Post, The New York Times, Vogue, Marie Claire and others. She’s now…

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Earlier this week, San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone revealed that it’s “very likely” that the archdiocese would be filing for bankruptcy due to the hundreds of clerical abuse lawsuits filed against it. If, as expected, the San Francisco Archdiocese soon files for Chapter 11 protection (bankruptcy), almost 1 in 5 of the nation’s largest 50 Catholic dioceses will have taken this route. Rockville Centre is the largest (#8 with 1,428,563 Catholics). Then, San Diego (#13 with 930,379 Catholics), Milwaukee (#21 with 731,516 Catholics), St. Paul-Minneapolis (#22 with 730,989 Catholics), and Buffalo (#23 with 707,981 Catholics). Rounding out the list: New Orleans (#40 with 488,004 Catholics), Camden (#41 with 458,044 Catholics), and Albany (#48 with 400,000 Catholics). By comparison, the San Francisco Archdiocese is the 42nd largest, with 425,210 Catholics.

It should also be noted that at least three Catholic religious orders have also filed for Chapter 11 protection:…

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$1.5 million dollars in Louisiana tax dollars is going to redevelop Hope Haven in Marrero.

The property is owned by the New Orleans Archdiocese and shut down after sex abuse scandals.

WDSU Investigates uncovered a portion of the $1.5 million could be going back into pockets of the archdiocese. That money could be used to buy property from the embattled and bankrupt nonprofit.

Senator Patrick Connick said this is a chance to bring life back into the property. He is pushing for the archdiocese to use the money to help sex abuse victims find closure.

One alleged sex abuse survivor could not believe it when WDSU told him his tax dollars could be going into the organization that he says destroyed his life.

“It’s a slap in the face,” he said.

The man WDSU is not identifying is one of the hundreds that have filed suit against the Archdiocese of…

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Survivors of priest sexual abuse honored The Baltimore Banner on Sunday for a series of investigative news stories that identified seven church figures accused of abusing children.

The names of these seven people had been hidden under a court order. Banner reporters used court documents, archdiocesan records, church directories, school yearbooks, census and property records to name the six men and one woman in a series of articles published in May and June.

These people are among more than a dozen whose names are redacted in the Maryland Attorney General’s Report on the history of child sexual abuse within the Archdiocese of Baltimore. More than 600 victims suffered sexual abuse or physical torture at the hands of church figures in the past 80 years, according to the report.

The nonprofit Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, SNAP, the largest survivor organization, honored The…

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Paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale sentenced to eighth jail term over historic abuse

One of Australia’s most notorious paedophiles, Gerald Ridsdale, has been sentenced for the eighth time over historical sex offences.

Key points:

• Ridsdale will now be eligible for parole in 2028, four years ahead of the expiry of his total prison term
• The court heard that the victim-survivor felt the abuse cost him years of his life
• Ridsdale has been in custody since 1994 and the court was told he may not have long to live

This morning’s sentencing over the 192nd charge faced by Ridsdale related to the former priest’s 72nd known victim-survivor.

In June this year the 89-year-old pleaded guilty to one count of indecent assault of a minor in the 1980s.

Today Ballarat Magistrates’ Court heard Ridsdale had attempted to soothe the 13-year-old boy by saying, “It’s alright”, before molesting him.

Ridsdale was acting as a counsellor for the teenager…

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The current Bishop of Albany, Edward Scharfenberger, said that the Church does not recognise the marriage as valid.

The retired Bishop of Albany, New York has been married in a civil ceremony after the Vatican refused his request for laicisation.

Bishop Emeritus Howard Hubbard, 84, was removed from active ministry in 2019 after a man alleged he had been abuse while still a boy by Hubbard, an allegation Hubbard vigorously denies.

“With full and complete confidence, I can say this allegation is false,” Hubbard said at the time. “I have never sexually abused anyone in my life. I have trust in the canonical and civil legal processes and believe my name will be cleared in due course.”

Facing a lengthy investigative process, however, Hubbard decided not to wait.

“I could be 91 or 92 before these legal matters are concluded,” Hubbard said. “In the meantime, I have fallen in love…

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An Australian ex-priest convicted of sexually abusing children had another 12 months added to his 39-year prison sentence on Tuesday for molesting a 72nd victim.

Gerald Ridsdale, 89, has been in prison since 1994 for a series of convictions for abusing children between 1961 and 1988 while he worked as a Roman Catholic priest in churches and schools across his home state of Victoria.

He was sentenced in the Ballarat Magistrates Court to an additional year after he pleaded guilty in June to indecently assaulting a 13-year-old boy while he worked at a Catholic school in Horsham in 1987.

It was his 193rd conviction for child abuse.

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The Archdiocese of New Orleans and Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond are pushing back against a newspaper’s investigative report claiming they mishandled several claims of clerical abuse.

The Guardian published an Aug. 8 investigative feature concluding that “the archbishop on six different occasions disregarded findings of credibility” for accused priests, allegedly overriding the archdiocesan review board, a consultative body required for each diocese or eparchy by the U.S. bishops’ “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People,” also known as the Dallas Charter.

“We adamantly deny the assertions made in The Guardian that allegations of sexual abuse were mishandled by Archbishop Aymond and the Archdiocese of New Orleans,” Sarah Comiskey McDonald, archdiocesan communications director, told OSV News in an Aug. 8 email.

“Each allegation is complex and unique. A finding of credibility by the Internal Review Board is not a determination of guilt in either canon law or civil law,”…

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This essay is a Cover Story selection, a weekly feature highlighting the top picks from the editors of America Media.

Philadelphia is a “very Catholic city,” Barbara Daly will tell you. When you meet people in Philadelphia, “they don’t ask you what you do for a living.” Instead, she says, they ask what parish you belong to or what Catholic high school you attended.

This very Catholic city has been hammered in recent years by stories of the abuse of children by Catholic priests recounted in a series of grand jury reports, which culminated in a statewide grand jury investigation and a report released by the attorney general of Pennsylvania in August 2018. These events returned national attention to the church’s abuse scandal and inspired a flurry of similar investigations across the country.

Ms. Daly is the pastoral associate at St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Ambler, Pa., outside Philadelphia. Lots of folks…

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Plaintiffs Robert Rossignol and Glen Witham spoke at a press conference on Monday, August 14 with representing law firm Berman & Simmons.

Monday morning was marked by a sense of heaviness at Berman & Simmons law firm in Portland, as attorneys filed six new lawsuits against the Roman Catholic Bishop of Portland, alleging childhood sexual abuse. That brings the total number of complaints against the Portland diocese by Berman & Simmons to 30.

These six new cases involve five men and one woman. Most of the plaintiffs chose to remain anonymous Monday, except for two: Robert Rossignol, who currently lives in Apollo Beach, Florida, and Glen Witham, who now lives in Augusta. Both of these men overcame the hesitations survivors often experience and spoke to the news media Monday. 

“It just needs to change. It just needs to change. I will not set foot in a Catholic church ever again in…

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The word complacency may not sound like a bad thing, but when you are complacent, you are content and do not strive to better yourself or take action. You may as well just bury your head in the sand. Regarding child sexual abuse in the church, Catholic bishops talk a great game about the evils of being complacent. In case any of them are sincere about this, we at Horowitz Law have two simple suggestions: 1- stop using the word ‘historic’ when discussing child sex crimes, and 2- make your employees read the Abuse Tracker every day. Here is why:

1: “Historic: Often, the Catholic hierarchy uses the phrase’ historic abuse’ for all incidents that happened in the past. That could even mean last year. For example, if you search the phrase on BishopAccountability.org, you will get numerous articles, especially by European church officials. In a technical sense, that’s…

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Ex-parishioners shared their pain and called for accountability Monday, claiming they were sexually abused as children by Roman Catholic clergy stationed throughout Maine.

Attorneys with the law firm Berman and Simmons, along with two childhood abuse survivors, sat down in front of cameras Monday.

“He knew I liked cars, and he had a Trans Am, and you can probably get the gist of what happened,” plaintiff Glen Witham said. “He kind of had that over my head.”

At 14 years old, Witham lived at a boys home in Rumford across the street from the St. Athanasius and St. John Parish.

There, he says he suffered abuse at the hands of Fr. John Harris, starting in 1984.

“I just put everything behind me,” Witham said. “Like 40 years, until I saw this on the news.”

The news was that Maine lifted the statute of limitations in 2021, allowing anyone with a…

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It is 20 years since the Boston Globe exposed the abuse scandal that rocked the Catholic church world wide.

Two weeks ago The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry’s released its interim report into Marylands School for disabled boys in Christchurch, finding widespread sexual and physical abuse of students between 1955 and 1984.

The Press newspaper in Christchurch began reporting on the horrors at Marylands School in 2002.

Martin Baron was the editor of the Boston Globe, and its award winning Spotlight investigative team which tenaciously uncovered widespread sexual abuse by priests, hushed up by the church paying private settlements to claimants.

The story was adapted for the big screen – Spotlight winning two academy awards.

He joins Susie Ferguson to talk about the impact of the Spotlight team’s work, two decades on.

[AUDIO]

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The lawsuit by the estate of Isabella Kalua says the state advocated her adoption by her foster parents despite multiple reports of suspicious injuries by doctors and others.

The estate of a 6-year-old Waimanalo girl who died from alleged abuse in perhaps the most notorious child welfare cases in recent Hawaii history is suing her adoptive parents and the state for gross negligence.

The civil lawsuit claims both the Department of Human Services and Catholic Charities Hawaii — a nonprofit that periodically reviews foster homes — failed to investigate and intervene in child abuse allegations that caused Isabella Kalua’s wrongful death.

Her adoptive parents, Isaac and Lehua Kalua, have been charged with murder. They are alleged to have kept Isabella in a dog cage to keep her from seeking food at night because they didn’t feed her enough and covering her mouth with duct tape.

DHS…

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Two San Antonio-area priests have been stripped of their duties after they were accused of sexually abusing minors, and the allegations against them have been reported to law enforcement, the Archdiocese of San Antonio said.

The congregations at both churches were notified Sunday via letters from Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller that were read aloud.

Father Jesus Eduardo Martinez-Soliz of St. Joseph Church-Honey Creek in Spring Branch is accused of sexual misconduct and grooming a minor, García-Siller said. Grooming refers to the process by which sexual predators build a relationship of trust with children in order to exploit them.

The allegation was reported to a misconduct hotline on July 25, and the archdiocese notified the Comal County Sheriff’s Office.

At St. Monica Catholic Church in Converse, a teenager said that Father Alejandro Ortega had touched them inappropriately, the archbishop said. The minor reported the incident at a Catholic youth retreat…

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A celebratory profile of Bishop Emeritus Howard Hubbard on the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany’s website concludes by noting that Hubbard’s 37 years as bishop made him the longest serving bishop in the history of the diocese.

But now, Hubbard wants to sever formal ties to the Catholic Church. 

He’s in love with a “wonderful woman.” 

In an Aug. 1 statement, Hubbard declared that in July he was married in a civil ceremony, and now the 84-year-old is really, really hoping the church will come to recognize that marriage and grant his laicization request, which would effectively free him from his priestly obligations.

But in March the Vatican denied that laicization request until seven civil lawsuits against Hubbard alleging sexual misconduct have been resolved, according to Hubbard’s statement. And this month, current Bishop Edward Scharfenberger said Hubbard is still beholden to the rules against marriage, even though the retired bishop cannot…

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The two men sat side by side, staring at their folded hands, while their attorney introduced them to a room of reporters. It took them years to come forward as victims of childhood sexual abuse.

Robert Rossignol was 12 years old when he said the Rev. John Audibert abused him at St. Catherine Church in Washburn. Now 67, he said his family was so devout, he didn’t feel comfortable discussing the abuse with his parents.

“The sun rose with the priest, in my mother and father’s eyes,” Rossignol said. “So I never said anything to them.”

Glen Witham was 14 when he said the Rev. John Harris began abusing him while he lived at the Rumford Boys’ Home across the street from Harris’ church. Witham, now 52, said Harris was counseling him after his mother died.

Growing up, the men said the Catholic Church was upheld as a resource for…

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Case of Zhi Alan Cheng, accused of sexual abuse and rape, one of many that speak to institutional failures, advocates say

When prosecutors last week announced a litany of sexual crime charges against the New York City doctor Zhi Alan Cheng, their allegations presented a shocking description of apparent serial predation.

Cheng, a gastroenterologist at New York-Presbyterian-Queens hospital, stands accused of sexually abusing three patients at the medical center – and raping three other women in his apartment.

After that woman came forward, authorities searched his apartment, finding a trove of videos purportedly depicting alleged assaults, prosecutors claim. They also allegedly seized recreational drugs; fentanyl, ketamine, cocaine, LSD and MDMA, in addition to powerful medical sedatives, such as propofol and sevoflurane.

What is even more shocking about Cheng’s arrest is that the charges come in the wake of numerous prosecutions of other prominent doctors in New York…

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A priest from the St. Monica’s Catholic church was removed from the Parish after sexual abuse allegations with a minor.

According to their Facebook Livestream, it was announced that there were substantiated allegations of sexually inappropriate physical contact with a minor by former father Alejandro Ortega.

The child reported the inappropriate contact on June 24, 2023, during a Teen ACTS Retreat at another Parish at the Archdiocese of San Antonio.

The Parish reported it to the parents and to the Archdiocese.

They informed the Bexar County District Attorney’s Special Crime Division of the allegation on June 29th.

On the recommendation of the Archdiocese and Review Board, they conducted a preliminary investigation. They asked Father Ortega to refrain from all ministries.

The investigation was conducted by a private investigator. They concluded the investigation on July 27th. Following the review of conclusions, there was enough evidence of inappropriate contact with the minor…

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Father Alejandro Ortega removed from St. Monica’s Church; congregation informed during Sunday Mass

CONVERSE, Texas – A priest has been removed from St. Monica’s Church in Converse following allegations of sexual abuse of a child, according to San Antonio Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller.

A letter written by García-Siller was read to the congregation during a mass service on Sunday at St. Monica’s Church, which was also livestreamed on Facebook, to announce the allegations against Father Alejandro Ortega and his removal.

“It is with a heavy heart and great sadness that I inform you of substantiated allegations of sexually inappropriate physical contact with a minor by Father Alejandro Ortega. The child reported this inappropriate contact during a teen ACTS retreat,” García-Siller said in the letter. “The parish notified the parents of the teen and reported the matter to the archdiocese, who also informed the Bexar County District Attorney’s Special Crimes Division of the…

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A local Priest was not leading Mass Sunday following allegations that he abused a child.

KSAT-12 reports, parishioners at St. Monica’s Catholic Church in Converse were informed of the charges against Father Alejandro Ortega when a letter written by San Antonio Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller was read aloud.

The letter states Ortega has been accused of having inappropriate physical contact with a minor.

Garcia-Siller says the teen’s parents reported the abuse to the archdiocese in June. The Bexar County D.A’s office was then notified.

After a preliminary canonical investigation, it was determined there was “sufficient evidence” of sexual abuse allegations and Ortega was removed from the parish.

The investigation was conducted by a private investigator and the archdiocese received the results June 27.

Garcia-Siller states in his letter:

“I have removed Father Ortega’s faculties and have prohibited him from exercising any priestly ministry and from using clerical clothes…

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Four years ago, Arizona lawmakers opened a temporary window for child sex abuse victims over age 30 to sue for damages.

Now, the state Court of Appeals has revived a case against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix brought by an anonymous plaintiff who was 11 years old in 1979.   

The reversal on appeal may open the door for the plaintiff’s lawyers to scour church records for information on when clergy learned that former priest Joseph Henn was a danger to children.

Henn pleaded guilty to sex crimes in 2021 after local prosecutors extradited him from Italy.

The plaintiff filed a negligence lawsuit against the diocese, St. Mark parish and the order of catholic priests Henn was a member of, the Salvatorians.

The suit claims the defendants knew or should have known of sex abuse accusations against their employees yet still let them be around children.

Click here to…

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• ‘Heartthrob priest’ Alex Crow, 30, is being pursued by Alabama cops after he allegedly groomed a high schooler and fled to Italy with her 
• Crow once claimed to have been the subject of a ‘minor exorcism’ 
• Police say they found a love letter between the defrocked priest and the teen from Valentine’s Day when the girl was still a high school student  

A heartthrob priest is being hunted by cops over claims he groomed an 18 year-old girl while working at the school where she studied, before fleeing to Italy with her. 

Father Alex Crow, who has been hailed for his good looks online, and who once claimed he was the subject of a ‘minor exorcism’ – is on the lam with a former student at McGill-Toolen High School in Mobile, Alabama.

During an initial investigation, cops discovered a love letter between 30 year-old Crow and the teen from Valentine’s Day when she…

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In a video shot before the now-defrocked priest allegedly took a teen girl that he is accused of grooming and fled to Italy, he’s caught giving a creepy sermon that talks about ‘tyrant’ parents and offers helpful tips on ‘qualities to look for in a man’

A video has surfaced in the hunt for a 30-year-old priest that authorities allege groomed an 18-year-old woman before fleeing to Italy with her, where he talks about the travesty of having a ‘tyrant father’ and offers advice to the ‘young unmarried women’ listening.

Defrocked Father Alex Crow is alleged to have fled to Italy with an unidentified teen, 18, with the family and investigators afraid the young woman is in danger.

In the video posted on YouTube, the priest, who was only ordained two years prior, talks about how having a ‘tyrant for a father’…

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Over the years, when members of the congregation went on trial in the criminal courts for forcing sex on children, it sought judicial reviews and frequently secured orders that the trials be abandoned due to the lapse of time since the alleged incidents of abuse. When survivors turned to the civil courts in pursuit of compensatory justice, the Brothers bare-facedly denied the allegations, compounding the victims’ suffering.

The commission recorded a particularly despicable example of this unchristian strategy following the grotesque abuse by a Brother of a child in Artane industrial school. “A witness to the commission told how he was ordered to lick faeces off the shoe of a Brother who thrashed him when he had done so,” the report states. “The man identified as the perpetrator by the witness verified the account and admitted his guilt. Despite this, his congregation continued to insist the incident never happened.”

Plus…

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There is a half-crumbling church, covered in red dust, at Radium Hill, a former uranium mine deep in the South Australian desert. It was built by Father Vincent Shiel, with his own hands, in 1956. Six years later, his son Brendan was born in Melbourne to a former nun — a secret the priest kept until he died 37 years later.

Brendan was one of the lucky ones. Both he and his brother Damien were adopted by Roy and Bet Watkins, in Richmond, Melbourne. As Damien, who was adopted two years before Brendan, recalls: “One day a clergyman was talking to Roy and said, ‘Uh, how come you don’t have children yet?’ And Roy said, ‘Well, we haven’t been blessed’. And he said, ‘Maybe that’s something we can help you with’.”

Brendan and Damien had an idyllic life with Roy and Bet, who were huge Richmond Tigers fans. They told the…

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When we hear the term “abuse” in relation to the Catholic Church, we immediately think of crimes of a sexual nature committed against children by the clergy.

But there is another form of abuse taking place in the Church and it’s just as real. It’s called emotional abuse, and is most evident in the attitude of the Church hierarchy towards women.

It is characterised by such things as patronising language, silencing of voices, refusal to engage and failure to empower.

It can be subtle and may even go unnoticed. That’s because it is structural in nature, camouflaged within the rules and guidelines of the institution.

An example of this structural abuse is the Church’s exclusion of women from ministry, particularly ordained ministry, and the silence that surrounds it. There is no dialogue, no come back. Women are simply told that the Pope has spoken. The case is closed. No discussion…

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These are proven, admitted &/or credibly accused child molesting Catholic clerics who are or were in the Washington DC archdiocese but are NOT on its ‘credibly accused’ list (as of 8/11/23).

1) Fr. Carlton Parker Jones only became publicly accused in 2019 when a child sex abuse lawsuit was filed against him in New York. According to the New York Times, he has since reportedly ‘disappeared.’

Fr. Jones was raised Unitarian and Congregationalist in New Hampshire, graduated from Yale, became an Episcopal priest, joined an Anglican religious community known as the Cowley Fathers, converted to Catholicism and became a Dominican priest.

Fr. Jones also worked in Columbus OH, New Haven CT, Baltimore MD and Washington DC.

Potentially dangerous because: He’s clearly well-educated, his whereabouts are unknown and he wasn’t publicly outed until very recently. A Dominican official, Fr. Kenneth Letoile, purportedly ‘cleared’ Fr. Jones of the charges, but…

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Victims push for new abuse probe

They ask DC AG to open investigation

SNAP: ‘Dozens of abusers are/were here but remain hidden’

And they prod DC’s archbishop to reveal more predators

WHAT

Holding signs and childhood photos, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will hold a sidewalk news conference revealing the names of the “DC’s Most Dangerous Dozen Child Molesting Clerics” – 12 proven, admitted &/or credibly accused predator priests who

• are still alive and presumably a threat to children now,
• are or were working and or living in the District of Columbia BUT
• are NOT on the official DC Catholic archdiocesan ‘credibly accused’ list.They will also release copies of two letters they’re sending:
• one to DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb, urging him to launch a ‘thorough, full-scale investigation, like 25 other AGs across the US have done, into Catholic clergy sex crimes and cover ups in the Washington DC archdiocese,’ and
• one…

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As he lay in a Calgary hospital bed in late July, retired Bishop Fred Henry summoned the energy to publicly break the silence around what he considers the prevailing “lie” about missing Indian residential school children.

“Why is the Catholic Church not asking the federal government for proof that even one residential child is actually missing in the sense that his (or) her parents didn’t know what happened to their child at the time of the child’s death?” he demanded in an e-mail.

The query itself was posed to both The Catholic Register and a former Register columnist who has challenged political accounts of Indian residential school history. Bishop Emeritus Henry apparently went to Catholic media because he has not yet received  a response to an initial group e-mail he sent to his brother bishops six weeks ago.

On June 26, using the subject line “Lockjaw,” Henry asked the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops…

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K.S. Ph.D., author of “Escape the Gods,” writes about contradictions and hypocrisy in organized religion. On tour in Philadelphia, the silencing of victims of religious abuse is discussed.

In August 2023, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia reached an agreement to provide a settlement of $3.5 million in response to allegations that Reverend Monsignor John A. Close, who is now deceased, sexually assaulted a 14-year-old boy in 2006. It is alleged that Close took the boy’s confession and proceeded to engage in non-consensual activity. Close then stated that this sexual assault was deemed necessary to absolve the boy of his sins. Additionally, it is alleged that Close threatened the victim with potential eternal consequences should he disclose this incident to anyone. According to attorneys David Inscho and Lorraine Donnelly, the individual in question, who is now 30 years old, was reportedly attending religious classes at St. Katherine’s of Sienna in Wayne during…

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A youth pastor at a Fowler church is headed to jail for just under two months after pleading guilty to lesser charges connected to the sexual assault of a child.

An investigation into 46-year-old Gabe Geringer began in 2018 when a victim came forward. According to the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office, Geringer was originally charged with felony sexual assault on a child and a pattern of sexual assault on a child in connection to a sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl that began in 2010.

Investigators said Geringer was the girls’ youth pastor at Fowler Christian Church.

In April, Geringer ended up taking a plea deal after his jury trial ended in a mistrial, pleading guilty to unlawful sexual contact without consent, a misdemeanor.

He received a maximum of 60 days in the Pueblo County Jail. He was also sentenced to five years of probation and must register as a…

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A teacher at St. Francis Xavier High School in Ottawa’s south end is facing sexual assault charges following allegations involving one of her high school students, according to police.

Ottawa police say an investigation was launched in July into alleged incidents involving a teacher and a student between March and May 2023.

On Thursday, police charged Shannon Marie Quinn, 40, of Ottawa with five counts of sexual assault and sexual exploitation. Police say she is also known as Shannon Greffe.

Quinn is a teacher with the Ottawa Catholic School Board.

Police say investigators with the Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Unit are concerned there may be other student victims. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Ottawa Police Service’s Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Unit at 613-236-1222, ext. 5944.

The Ottawa Catholic School Board confirms Shannon Marie Quinn is a teacher at St. Francis Xavier High School in Gloucester,…

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State attorney general wants to view records from bankruptcy case that resulted in a settlement with hundreds of sexual abuse survivors

Wisconsin’s Department of Justice is asking to see sealed records from the Milwaukee branch of the Catholic Church as part of the attorney general’s investigation into sexual abuse by faith leaders.

Those records were shielded from public view after the Milwaukee Archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in 2011.

In 2015, that bankruptcy case resulted in a $21 million settlement between the archdiocese and hundreds of sexual abuse survivors.

In a motion field this week, DOJ attorneys asked to confidentially review sealed claims and documents related to those claims that were filed as part of the case in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. 

Access to those documents could help the DOJ file charges against additional perpetrators, Attorney General Josh Kaul said.

In situations where criminal prosecution is no…

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Age verification laws written to protect minors from adult content have driven pornography hotbed Pornhub and other websites out of service in at least four states.

Rather than comply with laws that carry penalties for violators, Pornhub and other websites owned by its parent company MindGeek have discontinued service in Arkansas, Mississippi, Utah and Virginia, according to several news reports. Under the new laws, users must be at least 18.

Southern Baptist ethicist Jason Thacker said the developments are evidence that Pornhub is not concerned with the welfare of minors.

“Pornhub and other leading adult sites that choose not to comply with these state measures are revealing that they are not as interested in ways of protecting children as they are their own bottom line,” said Thacker, a research fellow and director of the Research Institute at the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, and assistant professor of philosophy and ethics…

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Nivedhan and Eklan Singh shared allegations of physical abuse, alcoholism and emotional abuse against their father, Prince Singh, an Episcopal bishop in Michigan.

As a Dalit woman on the lowest rung of India’s traditional caste system, Roja Suganthy-Singh grew up viewing the church as a haven where grace was extended to all, regardless of caste differences.

Today, the institution no longer represents safety for Suganthy-Singh. “I don’t know when I will be able to sit in a church and feel normal again,” she told Religion News Service. “That was robbed of me.” 

In June, Suganthy-Singh’s two adult sons, Nivedhan and Eklan Singh, made allegations on social media that their father, the Rev. Prince Singh, the Episcopal Church’s provisional bishop of the dioceses of Eastern and Western Michigan, was guilty of physical abuse, alcoholism and emotional abuse.

Suganthy-Singh and her sons are calling for Prince Singh, who they say is unfit to serve…

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WARNING: This story contains information about child sexual abuse.

A class action lawsuit by victims of a former Anglican priest who was also a Scouts Canada leader has been settled for $13.25 million.

Ralph Rowe abused hundreds of mainly Indigenous victims between 1975 and 1987 when he was a priest working in the Anglican Diocese of Keewatin. At the time, the diocese included northwestern Ontario and parts of Manitoba.

Rowe was a former Royal Canadian Air Force pilot who served with the Ontario Provincial Police on Manitoulin Island. He was ordained into the Anglican Church in 1975.

RELATED STORIES

• Hot Docs 2015: An interview with ‘Survivors Rowe’ director Daniel Roher
• Church leaders apologize to Indigenous youth, elders for residential schools
• For clergy abuse survivors, Sinead O’Connor’s protest that offended so many was brave and prophetic
• Supreme Court won’t hear appeal over $2.5M awarded to Sudbury victim of Catholic priest

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Eighty-three areas of interest have been found using ground-penetrating radar during a search for possible unmarked graves at a former residential school in northern Saskatchewan.

English River First Nation Chief Jenny Wolverine says in a news release that many of the sites located at the Beauval Indian Residential School were labelled as “child-sized” or “subadult.”

Twelve were a size consistent with the burial of infants, and Ms. Wolverine says that is in line with several survivor stories about babies being born and dying at the school.

The First Nation began searching the site two years ago and now that possible unmarked graves have been found, a special council of community members, elders and survivors are providing guidance on the next steps.

Additional sites identified by survivors are to be searched with ground-penetrating radar over the next year.

The residential school near La la…

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Parties involved in the lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Agana over clergy sex abuse appeared for the first time in court since the diocese’s bankruptcy plan was approved.

On Wednesday morning, Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood held a status conference in the District Court of Guam for the more than 200 survivors of clergy sex abuse to discuss when matters can be set for trial.

Many of the lawsuits were filed against the Archdiocese of Agana, which was approved for bankruptcy and has a plan to compensate victims. Some survivors named other entities in their suits, including the Boy Scouts of America.

According to Post files, the Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan was approved and victims are expected to be paid between $34 million and $45 million in total, which will be drawn from a number of sources, including cash contributions from Catholic schools and parishes, property sales and money received from insurance…

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Two years after opening an investigation into sexual abuse committed by faith leaders in Wisconsin, Attorney General Josh Kaul is seeking access to court documents sealed nearly a decade ago in a bankruptcy filing by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.

Kaul says the Archdiocese of Milwaukee has not voluntarily provided records sought as part of an ongoing investigation into abuse committed by faith leaders, including Catholic clergy.

In a motion filed Wednesday with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, Kaul requested a confidential review of “sealed claims by survivors, objections to those claims, briefing on such objections, and rulings on the objections.”

Under the request, information from the documents would be used to further an investigation into the scope of faith leader abuse in Wisconsin by the Department of Justice, but no documents would be released publicly.

“Given the decades of secrecy and…

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New court filings name the Diocese of Winona-Rochester as a defendant, as well as schools and parishes in Rochester, Winona and Mankato.

They stem from a $28 million settlement reached between the Diocese, the victims and insurance companies in 2021.

For more than 30 years attorney Jeff Anderson has worked for victims of clergy sex abuse.

In 2014 he deposed Father Thomas Adamson, a former priest in Rochester and the Diocese of Winona. Adamson admitted in that deposition to abusing several children on several occasions. He is one of 19 priests within the Diocese who’ve been accused of sexual abuse dating back to the 1970s.

“There is one insurance company, one very large insurance company that refused to participate and or pay,” said Anderson. So now he’s working with victims who haven’t been compensated.

According to the lawsuits, the alleged victims were between 10-16 years old at the time of…

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A former visiting priest with the Catholic church who had ties to the Columbia area has pleaded guilty to a child sex abuse charge in federal court.

Jaime Adolfo Gonzalez-Farias, 68, known as “Father Gonzalez,” pleaded guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court in Columbia to one count of Transportation of a Minor With Intent to Engage in Criminal Sexual Activity. Gonzalez-Farias was accused of sexually abusing an 11-year-old while serving as a priest at a Columbia church in November 2020. Gonzalez-Farias is also a former visiting priest with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston.

In May 2020, Gonzalez-Farias met the victim and his family through his service as a priest, according to evidence presented in court.

He then began giving gifts and increasing amounts of attention to the victim, according to evidence in court.

In November 2020, the victim’s family reported to Catholic authorities their concern that the priest’s relationship…

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A former Catholic priest who served in the Charleston Diocese pleaded guilty to the sexual exploitation of a child he met during his time as a visiting priest in South Carolina.

On Aug. 10, Jaime Adolfo Gonzalez-Farias, known as Father Gonzalez, admitted in federal court in Columbia that he traveled with an 11-year-old child out of state with the intent to engage in sexual activity.

He is awaiting sentencing and faces 10 years to life in prison.

The 68-year-old Chilean national moved to South Carolina in 2015 and served in various roles with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston during his five-year stint. Through the diocese, he served in Greer, Newberry, Laurens and Joanna.

In early 2020, Gonzalez-Farias met an 11-year-old child through this work as a visiting priest in South Carolina, Assistant U.S. Attorney Elliott Daniels said following the plea hearing.

Daniels said the priest groomed the…

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Authorities are looking for a Georgia man they allege posed as a missionary and squandered at least half of the $33 million in funding he promised to use to produce and distribute Bibles and Christian literature in China.

According to a federal indictment, authorities accuse Jason Shenk, 45, originally from Dublin, Georgia, of misusing millions of dollars in donations for personal use. A grand jury recently indicted him on 37 counts. The charges include money laundering, wire fraud, and failing to report a foreign bank account.

The indictment says Shenk invested about $1 million of the donations in precious metals and diamonds, contributed $7 million to his family farm, purchased $4 million in 16 life insurance policies under different names, $850,000 in shares of a private U.S. nuclear company, $820,000 in credit card purchases, $320,000 in Chilean real estate, and $1 million in an online sports betting…

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The Anointed Liquidator, a virtual store on eBay, has a 100% approval rating and has registered more than 35,000 items sold over the past decade, according to its page on the online retailer’s website.

But for all its great customer service, the Anointed Liquidator appears to have broken the biblical commandment against stealing.

An organized crime ring in Florida has allegedly stolen more than $1.4 million in merchandise from Home Depot and resold the haul through Robert Dell, former pastor of the Rock Church in St. Petersburg, according to Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody. Dell allegedly fenced the items through the Anointed Liquidator eBay store, which has been active since 2011.

“This pastor clearly skipped over the commandment—thou shall not steal,” Moody said in a statement. “Our FORCE taskforce shut down his criminal operation stealing millions of dollars worth of merchandise from Home Depot…

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A South Carolina Catholic priest who plied an 11-year-old boy with gifts and took him on a trip to Florida before sexually assaulting him has pleaded guilty in federal court.

Father Jaime Adolfo Gonzalez-Farias, 68, pleaded guilty in Columbia, South Carolina, Thursday morning to one count of transporting a minor across state lines for the purposes of engaging in criminal sexual conduct. Federal sentencing guidelines means that he now faces between 10 years and life in prison. There is no parole in the federal system.

Gonzalez-Farias was charged with sexually abusing the 11-year-old younger brother of a seminarian in his parish in Laurens County. At the time, Gonzalez-Farias was a visiting priest from Chile employed by the Catholic Diocese of Charleston who held positions in Newberry and Laurens counties.

The victim came from an “immigrant family of limited means,” prosecutors told the court.

“When a victim is…

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Victims’ advocates detailed church’s neglect in following oversight recommendations when transferring accused clergy

• Read the full story: how the New Orleans archbishop hid ‘credibly accused’ abusers

After the US’s second-oldest Roman Catholic archdiocese filed for bankruptcy protection in 2020, attorneys for people claiming sexual abuse at the hands of the organization’s clergymen reviewed thousands of records outlining how the church managed the careers of priests and deacons faced with substantial allegations.

Glaringly missing from those documents is any plan by which the archdiocese of New Orleans could reliably protect children from contact with clerics who had been suspended from public ministry following molestation allegations – but who for years stayed in close proximity to and were financially supported by the church.

The archdiocese’s failure to implement a meaningful oversight plan for suspected, still-living predator priests and deacons – as was repeatedly recommended to the organization – is…

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The Archdiocese of Philadelphia agreed to a $3.5 million settlement with a man who accused a now-deceased priest of raping him about 17 years ago and alleged that the archdiocese failed to take action when previously informed of separately alleged abuse.

The lawsuit alleged that Monsignor John Close, who was ordained in 1969, sexually assaulted a 14-year-old boy in 2006 when he took classes at St. Katherine of Siena Parish in Wayne, which is within the archdiocese. The lawyers claimed that Close sexually abused the teenager after hearing his confession and warned him not to report the abuse.

Although the man, who is now 30 years old, first opened up about the alleged abuse in 2018, his lawyers argued that the archdiocese failed to take proper action in response to previous allegations, which could have prevented his assault. In the 1990s, a different man accused the priest of sexual abuse…

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Assault allegedly took place in 2006 by Pastor John Close

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia has agreed to pay $3.5 million to settle a case alleging one of its priests, the late Reverend Monsignor John A. Close, sexually assaulted a 14-year-old boy in 2006.

Close allegedly took the boy’s confession, then raped him and told him the sexual assault was necessary to absolve him of his sins. Close also allegedly threatened the victim with eternal damnation if he told anyone.

The alleged victim, now 30, was attending religious classes at St. Katherine’s of Sienna in Wayne at the time, attorneys David Inscho and Lorraine Donnelly said in a release. He did not report the assault until 2018, but continues to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, the release states.

The case settled just before going to trial in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court, according to the release.

Kenneth Gavin, chief communications officer for…

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A Catholic priest in Rodeo remains the active head of a church and parochial school while he faces accusations of molesting a child parishioner decades ago, KQED has learned.

A lawsuit filed in Alameda County in September alleges ongoing abuse in the mid-1980s, including that the priest secluded the unnamed plaintiff in an office and groped his genitals underneath his clothing when he was a parishioner at St. Raymond Catholic Church in Dublin. The plaintiff was around 6 and 7 years old at the time.

The priest is not named in the lawsuit. But documents filed in federal bankruptcy court and records from a special proceeding in state court reveal who the priest is: Father Larry Young.Sponsored

Young was parochial vicar at St. Raymond’s from September 1984 to June 1987, according to the Oakland diocese.

He is the current pastor of St. Patrick Catholic Church in Rodeo.

Reached by phone…

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The Archdiocese of Philadelphia will pay $3.5 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that one of its priests sexually assaulted a 14-year-old boy in Delaware County nearly two decades ago.

Filed in 2020, the lawsuit alleges that Pastor John Close raped the boy at St. Katherine’s of Siena in Wayne in 2006. The plaintiff, whose name was withheld in court filings, was attending a Confraternity of Christian Doctrine program there, and Close was the head of the parish.

During a class, the boy became upset, fearing eternal damnation. He was sent to Close’s office, the pastor took his confession, and then raped him, according to the lawsuit. Afterward, the lawsuit says, Close told the boy that he was absolved of his sins, but he would be eternally damned if he told anyone about the assault.

Close, who was ordained in 1969, worked at several parishes and Catholic schools in the…

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The Archdiocese of Philadelphia will pay $3.5 million to settle a civil case alleging a now-deceased priest sexually assaulted a teenage boy nearly two decades ago, and church officials knew of similar reports about the priest dating back to the 1970s, attorneys for the victim announced Wednesday.

The plaintiff was a 14-year-old student in religious classes at St. Katherine of Siena Parish in Wayne when the sexual assault occurred in 2006, his attorneys said. They said Monsignor John Close assaulted the boy after hearing his confession. The plaintiff, now 30, reported the episode in 2018. Many survivors of child sexual abuse do not report the abuse until years later.

Close died in 2018. Attorneys for the plaintiff say the archdiocese knew Close was a danger to children in the 1970s, after a priest reported teenage boys were sleeping overnight in Close’s room. Close was reassigned. Other alleged victims…

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The number of accused – 310, spanning several decades – has been kept from public as archdiocese undergoes bankruptcy proceedings

More than 300 people employed by Roman Catholic institutions in the south-eastern US city of New Orleans have been accused of sexually abusing children or other vulnerable people whom they met through their work over the last several decades, secret documents obtained by the Guardian reveal.

Though New Orleans’s 230-year-old archdiocese has spent a significant portion of its recent history managing the fallout from its association with the worldwide Catholic church’s clerical molestation scandal, the organization has generally sought to keep hidden the exact number of priests, deacons, nuns, religious brothers and lay staffers – such as parochial school teachers – under its supervision who have been named in abuse claims.

A memorandum that attorneys for victims of clerical sexual abuse prepared and handed to law enforcement in the latter part…

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One of Florida’s most prolific Catholic clergy abusers has been released from prison and is living in a residential neighborhood. A national support group for clergy sex abuse victims is asking two bishops to warn local parents, parishioners, and the public about him.

 Fr. Neil Augustine (Gus) Doherty is now living in Orlando, according to the Florida sex offender registry. SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is sending a letter to Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski and Orlando Bishop John Noonan, urging them to use their “vast resources” to alert the local community that a potentially dangerous serial predator now walks free in their streets.

More than two dozen men have come forward to date, accusing Fr. Doherty of molesting them as children, sometimes after drugging them. In 2013, the priest pleaded no contest to lewd assault/sexual battery of a victim…

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After a five-day trip to Portugal, which recently came to terms with its own clerical sex abuse crisis, Pope Francis said the Catholic Church must abandon its practice of covering up abuse and instead be “very open” about how it is confronting the crime.

During a news conference on the pope’s return flight to Rome from Lisbon, Portugal, Aug. 6, the pope said bishops who have not adopted a “zero tolerance” policy toward abuse need to “take charge of that irresponsibility.”

Pope Francis had met privately with abuse survivors for more than an hour Aug. 2 during his stay in Lisbon for World Youth Day; he told reporters they “dialogued about this plague” of abuse.

“The church used to follow the conduct that is followed in families and neighborhoods: it covers up,” he said, adding that addressing abuse must take in those places, too.

Speaking directly with abuse survivors, as…

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A group of Black Brazilians who attended the Aug. 1-6 World Youth Day in Lisbon, Portugal, in order to hand in a letter to the pope about racism in Brazil and in the Church, now say they suffered racist attacks on more than one occasion during the event itself last week.

One such alleged act of aggression was recorded by a member of the Brazilian delegation. The video, made Aug. 4, shows a number of young Catholics, all of them white, appearing to make monkey sounds as they passed by Marcolino Vinícius Vieira, a Black Brazilian who was carrying the country’s flag.

“I got lost after the Via Sacra and could not find my group. I suddenly saw myself among those people. They were laughing at me and imitating the sound of monkeys,” Vieira told Crux.

He said that some of youth in the group shouted the names of Vini Jr….

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Vatican investigators looking into sexual abuse allegations at a Roman Catholic society in Peru have completed the first stage of their audit and will issue a report in the coming months, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni told CNN Friday.

“The first stage, gathering information, was concluded last Saturday. Now they will be working on the documentation they have, in order to present a report in the coming months,” Bruni said.

Asked last Wednesday about the investigation, Pope Francis said: “We are working on this. We are trying to bring the situation to light.”

Pope Francis’s special envoys, Archbishop Charles Scicluna and Monsignor Jordi Bertomeu, arrived in Peru’s capital Lima at the end of July to investigate sexual abuse allegations at Sodalicio de Vida Cristiana, or Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV). The visit was announced by Peru’s Episcopal Conference on July 22.

SCV said its members, who were summoned…

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Close to 100 people have been arrested in Australia and the United States in connection with a global online child abuse network uncovered in the aftermath of a high-profile murder of two FBI agents, authorities announced this week. 

The myriad charges for alleged child abuse stem from the killings of two FBI special agents, Daniel Alfin and Laura Schwartzenberger, who were fatally shot in 2021 while serving a warrant in Sunrise, Florida, to search the apartment of a suspect allegedly tied to a case involving violent crimes against children. 

The deaths of Alfin and Schwartzenberger, who both specialized in investigating crimes against children, spurred a wider international probe into an illicit online platform whose members are accused of sharing child abuse material on the dark web, according to the Australian Federal Police. 

Nineteen Australians, whose ages range from 32 to 81 years old, were…

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A former youth pastor accused of child sexual abuse is facing a slew of felony charges.

31-year-old Dakota Kennemer was a youth pastor at Grace Baptist Church in Twin Falls.

He is being investigated for an inappropriate relationship with a minor between the years of 2019 and 2022.

According to court documents, the pastor and three deacons met with Kennemer to address the allegations in December 2022 and he admitted to sexually touching the victim.

He subsequently was fired.

In early January, a Twin Falls Police officer met with the pastor to learn about these alleged acts.

Police obtained a search warrant on March 29, 2023 and seized some of Kennemer’s possessions and found explicit photos of the victim.

The officer wrote in her report because of the nature of the crimes, she was concerned there would be more juvenile victims. She recovered more than 13,000 text messages he had…

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The installation of the new bishop of Hexham and Newcastle in the northeast of England was very different from the usual ceremonies to inaugurate bishops. It included a moment, without obvious precedent, that points to how a synodal, listening church can respond to the clerical sexual abuse scandal.

Thirty minutes into the liturgy, Bishop Stephen Wright, the new leader of the diocese, came down the sanctuary steps to greet three abuse survivors who presented him with prayer ribbons representing victims of abuse. These ribbons were then tied to the bishop’s episcopal chair. 

One of the survivors, Maggie Mathews, who had experienced abuse in the diocese as an 18-year-old, then addressed the packed cathedral in the city of Newcastle. Among those listening to her speak was the hierarchy of England and Wales, the Vatican ambassador and Cardinal Vincent Nichols, who, as the archbishop of Westminster, is…

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Catholic Church pushes back, denies allegations were ‘mishandled’

On at least six occasions, New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond decided against adding Roman Catholic priests to the church’s list of clergymen accused of abuse, despite a church advisory board’s conclusions that the the victims’ statements were credible, The Guardian reported Tuesday.

The Guardian’s article cites a memo that was prepared by attorneys representing abuse survivors. The memo is based on documents the lawyers received through the Archdiocese of New Orleans’ bankruptcy case, in which abuse victims are among the many creditors.

After initially balking, Aymond in 2020 eventually added one of the priests flagged in the article to the list of credibly accused clergy, The Guardian reported. But it’s unclear why the archbishop did not do so in the other cases, in keeping with public pledges of transparency made by the church…

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Forced by the federal government to attend the schools, Native American children were sexually assaulted, beaten and emotionally abused

They were stripped of their clothes and scrubbed with lye soap. Matrons cut their long hair. Speaking their tribal language could lead to a beating.

Taken from their homes on reservations, Native American children — some as young as 5 — were forced to attend Indian boarding schools as part of an effort by the federal government to wipe out their languages and culture and assimilate them into White society.

For nearly 100 years, from the late 1870s until 1969, the U.S. government, often in partnership with churches, religious orders and missionary groups, operated and supported more than 400 Indian boarding schools in 37 states, according to the first investigation into the schools by the U.S. Interior Department. Government officials and experts estimate that tens of thousands of Native…

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For immediate release: August 8, 2023

In an explosive report from The Guardian, it was revealed that in six cases the Catholic Archbishop of New Orleans, Gregory Aymond, ignored the findings of his own review board. In each of those six cases, the review board found the clergymen to be “credibly accused,” but Archbishop Aymond not only disregarded this finding, he also concealed this information from parishioners and the public, despite pledges of “transparency.”

We wish we could say that we are surprised at this revelation, but we are not. All too often Catholic hierarchs wax eloquently on how clergy crimes and cover-ups are a thing of the past, only to have outside investigations reveal something entirely different. We applaud The Guardian for exposing this ugly truth in New Orleans. As long as bishops continue to conceal the crimes of clerics, no one should feel complacent…

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Exclusive: memo reveals Gregory Aymond disregarded recommendations from board advisers to publicly label certain accused clerics as credibly suspected molesters

hen he took over leadership of New Orleans’s Roman Catholic archdiocese in 2009, one of the administrative tools that archbishop Gregory Aymond inherited was a board of advisers which was set up to help determine the credibility of sexual abuse allegations made against clerics under his command.

But, multiple times, Aymond has demonstrated his comfort with disregarding recommendations from those advisers to publicly label certain accused clerics as credibly suspected molesters.

The archbishop on six different occasions disregarded findings of credibility that would have led to accused priests being outed as abusers to a region with about 500,000 Catholics, essentially going against the advice of his board.

Puzzling to some, Aymond’s handling of the half-dozen cases in question as the head of the US’s second-oldest Catholic archdiocese are outlined in…

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Gregory Aymond promised ‘to be transparent’ – but a Guardian investigation found that he hid allegations, and an expert questions whether it was against Vatican policy

A board which helps the Roman Catholic archbishop of New Orleans, Gregory Aymond, evaluate abuse allegations against priests and deacons in six cases found clergymen to be credibly accused only for Aymond to ignore the findings and conceal them from the public, a Guardian investigation has found.

Aymond’s management of the cases in question as the leader of the US’s second-oldest archdiocese is outlined in a memorandum which attorneys for victims of clerical sexual abuse prepared and handed to law enforcement in the latter part of last year.

It exposes the latest damaging revelations in a decades-long scandal at the 230-year-old archdiocese, which has been shown to have gone to extreme lengths to cover up for a confessed child abuser….

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The Church’s ongoing failure to acknowledge fully the harm caused by sexual abuse continues to overshadow everything

Since Sinéad O’Connor’s tragic death, attention has been focused again on the moment when she ripped up a picture of Pope John Paul II on Saturday Night Live in 1992. According to her autobiography, Rememberings, the background was reading a brief article in an Irish newspaper hinting that children had been abused by priests. Their stories had not been believed by the police or the bishops to whom their parents reported the abuse.

Notice the language – hints and brief references. Although the media later did sterling work in revealing criminal abuse of children, initially it was timid and cautious.

The year 1992 was still two years before Fr Brendan Smyth was jailed in Northern Ireland for a horrendous trail of abuse. It was  View Cache

Melbourne archdiocese challenges legal ruling that would allow father of a choirboy to sue for damages

The Catholic church is seeking to challenge a legal ruling in Victoria that would allow the father of a choirboy to sue for damages over allegations of child sexual abuse by Cardinal George Pell.

The father, who cannot be named for legal reasons, filed a claim against the Catholic archdiocese of Melbourne and Pell. He claims to have suffered nervous shock after learning of allegations that Pell sexually abused his now deceased son in the mid-1990s.

Pell, who died in January, had five convictions for abusing the man’s son and another boy overturned by the high court in 2020. He always maintained his innocence.

The Catholic church tried to be excused from proceedings by relying on the Ellis defence, arguing the father could not sue because he was not the…

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Church of England look into allegation Bishop Graham Cray did not act on safeguarding concerns over Mike Pilavachi’s behaviour

A bishop and former chair of Soul Survivor is being investigated by Church of England officials amid allegations that he failed to act on reports of abuse, The Telegraph understands.

The Soul Survivor Watford Church was founded by Rev Canon Mike Pilavachi, a charismatic 65-year-old evangelical Christian with global influence. His Soul Survivor annual summer festivals attracted tens-of-thousands of teenagers until they ended in 2019.

In May, this newspaper published details for the first time revealing that he had emotionally abused his alleged victims, encouraging them to receive full-body oil massages on his bed and engage in vigorous wrestling matches.

The Church of England’s National Safeguarding Team (NST) and the Diocese of St Albans are currently carrying out a joint investigation into allegations surrounding Soul Survivor and Pilavachi – who has since been…

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Howard Hubbard and woman married in July at civil ceremony which may trigger a second chance at laicization

In an open letter on Tuesday, Aug 1 the retired Bishop of the Roman Catholic Dioceses of Albany announced his request to be laicized, or relieved of his obligations as priest and bishop, was denied by the Vatican in March,and he married a woman in July despite still being a Bishop. 

As Spotlight News reported in November, Bishop Howard J. Hubbard requested to return to the “lay state,” in a letter to Rome so he could marry, but the answer was unknown until his release.  

“In March, I received notice from the Vatican that my request had been denied. I was encouraged to wait patiently and prayerfully and to continue to abstain from public ministry until seven civil lawsuits against me alleging sexual misconduct had been adjudicated,” Hubbard wrote.

Spotlight News reviewed…

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Mandatory reporting laws “must apply to all religious settings” including the ‘seal of confession’, says NSS

There must be no religious exemptions to laws requiring child sexual abuse to be reported, the National Secular Society has warned.

The NSS has told the Home Office it must resist religious lobbying for sacramental confession to be exempted from new mandatory reporting laws.

The NSS’s warning came in response to a Home Office consultation on implementing a recommendation from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA). IICSA recommended that people who work with children be legally obliged to report incidents of sexual abuse.

The NSS said mandatory reporting laws “must apply to all religious settings”, including the ‘seal of confession’.

During sacramental confession, which is held by the Catholic Church and other Christian denominations, an individual reports their ‘sins’ privately to a priest and asks for forgiveness.

In countries including Ireland…

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ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT FROM PORTUGAL (CNS) — After a five-day trip to Portugal, which recently came to terms with its own clerical sex abuse crisis, Pope Francis said the Catholic Church must abandon its practice of covering up abuse and instead be “very open” about how it is confronting the crime.

During a news conference on the pope’s return flight to Rome from Lisbon, Portugal, Aug. 6, the pope said bishops who have not adopted a “zero tolerance” policy toward abuse need to “take charge of that irresponsibility.”

Pope Francis had met privately with abuse survivors for more than an hour Aug. 2 during his stay in Lisbon for World Youth Day; he told reporters they “dialogued about this plague” of abuse.

“The church used to follow the conduct that is followed in families and neighborhoods: it covers up,” he said, adding that addressing abuse must take in those…

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Convocar: Healing demands justice, restitution

Millions in cash contributions from the Archdiocese of Agana and its insurers have reached about 280 survivors of childhood sexual assaults by Guam priests and others associated with the Catholic Church, bringing a measure of “justice” and “healing” to those who have suffered from the abuses, some dating as far back as the 1950s.

Each abuse survivor reportedly received anywhere from about $40,000 to $100,000.

This is only the first of multiple rounds of payouts under a bankruptcy court-approved settlement plan that the archdiocese and its creditors worked on for years.

Lawyers representing the survivor-claimants got a certain percentage of each survivor’s settlement payment.

The amount of settlement payment depends, among other things, on the severity, length and frequency of the claimed sexual assault, according to survivors and those representing them.

Among the survivor-claimants were raped by priests once or multiple times, sometimes for a…

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