ABUSE TRACKER

Joliet Diocese faces financial struggles, announces closure of Catholic institutions

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

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

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

In the…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Speaking out under…

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

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

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

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

Local police…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

As first…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ouellet’s accuser later claimed that two other women…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The church commissioned the study in 2020 and financed…

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

[See the report.]

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

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

What the report into abuse in the Protestant Church said

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

However, the number of unavailable files meant that the…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In July 2018, the National Catholic Register published a…

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Lawmakers hope a compromise will get Catholic lobbyists on board

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

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

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

…

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Backtracking in proposed legislation keeps children at risk

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

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

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

My cross to bear is Father Eleuterio Ramos.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“You want to tap…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Eric MacLeish has been one of the…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But clerical abuse…

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

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

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

Geilenfeld is expected to have a…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Martinelli, who is less than one year…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“My response…

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

KEY FACTS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rome prosecutors are…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Geilenfeld is expected to have a…

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

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

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

But clerical abuse…

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

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

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

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

Then-Attorney General Gurbir Grewal  View Cache

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Details…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Public institutions, including schools, are immune from lawsuits for the alleged incidents, preventing many from filing civil claims, despite legal reform efforts that have eliminated the statute of limitations. One man who says he was victimized calls it ‘another injustice.’

Dale Ashby says he was abused by his high school counselor in the 1970s. When Maine removed its statute of limitations for civil child sex abuse claims in 2021, Ashby thought he would be able to sue the school, but he found out there were other laws preventing him from doing so. 

When he was a teenager, Dale Ashby played the piano in his family’s garage, which was often so cold he could see his breath as he practiced. In the Wells High School yearbook, the seniors in the  of the class of 1971 were each asked to state their ambition.

“Pursue a musical career,” Ashby wrote.

He went on to study…

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A man from Ireland has been sentenced to 26 years in prison in England after being found guilty of a string of historic sexual offences against children.

Steven McNally, 67, abused five children while working as a Scout leader in Nottingham and as a housemaster at a Catholic children’s home in the city.

McNally was extradited from his home in Ireland to stand trial at Nottingham Crown Court, with a jury finding him guilty of 24 out of 29 charges.

“McNally was a manipulative sex offender who systematically targeted vulnerable boys over a period of six years,” said Detective Constable Helen Sanders following Friday’s sentencing.

‘PLAY THINGS’

McNally’s trial heard that between 1974 and 1979, he sexually abused five boys who were aged between five and 15 at the time.

The majority of the offences took place while he worked as a housemaster at Nazareth House Children’s Home in Lenton,…

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This chilling look at the lasting trauma of the St. Joseph’s Mission Residential School is haunting for what it chooses not to say.

“Sugarcane,” the documentary that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival this week, is billed as “an investigation,” but its silences speak louder than its revelations. 

The film from directors Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie is a stunning and brutal look at the lasting trauma of the St. Joseph’s Mission Residential School, a government-funded institution run by the Catholic Church where indigenous children were sent with the aim of stripping them of the connection to their culture. The abuses that took place at St. Joseph’s and the places around North America like it were innumerable — though much of the evidence of wrongdoing is, devastatingly, lost to time. But as NoiseCat and Kassie’s film shows, the legacy of harm…

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Young organist was hired despite assurances there were no children in congregation at remote Cornish chapel

The Church of England “gambled” with a teenage boy’s safety by allowing a convicted predatory paedophile to worship at the same remote Cornish chapel, the Telegraph can disclose.

In 1998, Michael Copeland, now 75, became the first paedophile in Britain to be banned from churches, all in Yorkshire, after he had been repeatedly jailed for preying on children whom he met at church choirs.

In November last year, the Telegraph reported that Copeland, the grandson of a former Tory MP whose family owned the Spode ceramics company, had been allowed from 2018 to sing in the choir at St Feock by the Diocese of Truro because “there were no children in the church”.

However, a Telegraph investigation has now established that a teenage organist was officially hired in 2021 to accompany Copeland at St Feock.

…

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In just over two decades, the reception to Terry Glavin’s 2002 book Amongst God’s Own: The Enduring Legacy of St. Mary’s Mission has shifted.

“Originally, it was well received, particularly among Indigenous people,” Glavin said of his history of the former St. Mary’s Residential School in Mission, B.C.

But as the years passed, the book’s treatment of the school’s early history has increasingly become a stumbling block for the politically motivated who want to present Canadian history as universally racist and genocidal. 

“It’s high fashion in the intelligentsia, in the universities, to tell a horrible story of Canada as an irredeemably racist colonial state,” said Glavin, an author and columnist. “(The narrative) presents Indigenous people as a monolithic block that was oppressed and robbed — it’s a cartoon.”

Glavin spoke those words during an interview about the republishing of the 2002 book, now titled St. Mary’s: The Legacy of an Indian Residential School for…

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Archbishop ruffled feathers within the Catholic Church after he said priests should be allowed to marry

Archbishop Charles Scicluna during a Times of Malta interview earlier this month. Photo: Karl Andrew Micallef

Charles Scicluna is arguably the most eloquent, smart, humanitarian and conscientious archbishop Malta has ever had.

He has no qualms in voicing publicly his views about corruption, the loss of values and the way we are constantly selling a piece of Malta to the highest bidder. In other words, he can be political (as opposed to ‘partisan’).

That means he is not dissimilar to his boss – Pope Francis – a man carrying out a silent revolution within the Catholic Church.

There is good reason why Scicluna serves as adjunct secretary of the Holy See’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. And that is why Scicluna has repeatedly been tasked by the Vatican to investigate the delicate…

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The Saint Ambrose Roman Catholic Church, one of many predominately African American churches, is located in the northwest part of Baltimore city within the heart of the Park Heights community. Despite the high number of Catholic churches in the city –27 black churches–the Saint Ambrose parish along with so many others, is losing parishioners. The Archdiocese of Baltimore is in the Seek The City To Come process of aiding Catholic churches, and their surrounding neighborhoods by 2024 to help keep some parishes thriving. Many Black churchgoers haven’t just left the Catholic church, they’ve left the faith all together.

The history of Catholicism and its relationship with African Americans is complex and dynamic. For example: sometime during the late 15th century, Catholicism was used as a tactic by the Spaniards to help enslaved Africans gain their freedom; and it was their new found freedom that created free black towns,…

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Lawyers tell court Lawrence Hecker, 92, has declined mentally and physically while incarcerated

A 92-year-old retired Catholic priest jailed in New Orleans since September on charges of child rape and kidnapping has been hospitalized, his attorneys said on Friday.

Lawrence Hecker – who admitted that he sexually molested or harassed underage boys in the 1960s and 1970s during a remarkable interview with WWL Louisiana and the Guardian in August – has experienced mental decline, disorientation and some physical ailments while being held in New Orleans’s jail, attorneys argued during a state court hearing.

They requested home confinement for Hecker should he be released from the hospital, but the judge presiding over his case, Ben Willard, said: “That’s not going to happen.”

The New Orleans state prosecutor Ned McGowan suggested a secure hospital that can provide mental health treatment in East Feliciana parish, Louisiana, about 120 miles to the north-west….

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A former priest has been sentenced for a sex crime in Winona County.

In October 2023, a jury found Ubaldo Roque Huerta, 51 of Rushmore, guilty of fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct.  Huerta was charged in August 2022 with performing a sex act on an intoxicated person but did not show up for a court hearing in September 2022 and was a fugitive until being arrested in May 2023.

Huerta has now been sentenced to 10 days in jail, four years of supervised probation, and a $900 fine.

The Diocese of Winona-Rochester says Huerta was ordained as a priest on June 28, 2008, but had not had an assignment within the Diocese since 2018.  Huerta was suspended in November of 2019 the Diocese says it was actively working toward his laicization at the time this sexual abuse happened.  Huerta lost his clerical status toward the end of 2021.

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Warning: This article contains details that may be disturbing to some readers.

A former pastor for the Montreal West Presbyterian Church was sentenced Friday to eight months behind bars for sexually abusing the 13-year-old daughter of a member of his congregation.

Samson Afoakwah was charged in 2022 with sexual assault against a minor.

The victim’s father told police that he noticed a change in his daughter’s behaviour at home. After discussing with her, the teen admitted what was going on, and her father immediately notified police.

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“I feel betrayed by someone who I looked up to as a spiritual leader,” the father told CTV News outside the courtroom Friday.

He cannot be named…

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The International House of Prayer Kansas City (IHOPKC) has banned Bob Hartley, a self-proclaimed “prophet” with close ties to IHOPKC Founder Mike Bickle, from its prayer room due to recent allegations of sexual misconduct.

“Based on information we have been presented and verified, Mr. Hartley has been informed he will no longer be permitted access to the IHOPKC Prayer Room,” IHOPKC Spokesperson Eric Volz posted on X Monday. “We can also confirm he is not on staff at IHOPKC, nor is he a congregant of Forerunner Church.”

Though Hartley is not an IHOPKC employee, Hartley posted videos of himself as recently as last December, praying on stage at IHOPKC’s prayer room. Hartley also has close ties to IHOPKC and Bickle, dating back to the founding of the 24/7 prayer ministry in 1999.

Also, former and current IHOPKC staff, one of whom served on the board of…

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The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis announced earlier this month that a former archbishop will not be charged with canonical crimes after a lengthy Vatican-ordered investigation. But the archbishop will be subject to restrictions on his ministry as a priest.

While the announcement was meant to address long-lingering question about the status of Archbishop John Nienstedt, it may instead have opened as many questions as it resolved — both about Nienstedt, and about the Vatican’s Vos estis lux mundi process.

—

In a statement released Jan. 5, Minnesota’s Archbishop Bernard Hebda explained that Nienstedt had been under a Vatican-ordered investigation, which was looking into “certain decisions made during his tenure” in the archdiocese, and into “allegations of inappropriate conduct with both minors and adults.”

Hebda explained that Nienstedt was investigated by “officials outside of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis,” after complaints were raised about him in 2019 through the process…

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A former scout leader and care home worker has been jailed for abusing boys in Nottinghamshire in the 1970s.

Steven McNally abused five different young, vulnerable boys. He used his work and voluntary activities to groom the boys and sexually abuse them. The abuse took place on scout camps, in the care home where McNally worked and his own home when he took boys there inappropriately.

In the 1990s, McNally disclosed that he had been involved in sexual activity with young boys when interviewed by a psychologist as he applied to join the Catholic priesthood, but it was not until one of his victims came forward that the scale of his abuse was revealed.

One of his victims was triggered by a soap opera episode and disclosed what had happened to him as a child, including incidents in Ireland, to family and other leaders from his old scout group. This was reported…

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He had ‘a tyrannical regime’ of regular beatings of children at Nazareth House in Lenton

A former scout leader and children’s home care worker is likely to die in prison after he was jailed for 26 years for historical sexual abuse of young boys in Nottingham. Nottingham Crown Court heard how predatory Steven McNally targeted five separate youngsters aged between four and 15 when he worked at catholic-run Nazareth House Children’s Home, off Priory Street, Old Lenton in the 1970s.

The 67-year-old carried out what a judge called “a tyrannical regime” in which he would “relish” in meting out regular beatings and threatened the victims who stayed silent for almost half a century, until a police investigation began in 2016 and they were interviewed about their horrific experiences at his hands.

Hugely moving victim personal statements were read to the packed courtroom including by one, now a grandfather, who bravely fought back…

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Upon receiving the complaint, the police filed an FIR and booked the pastor under the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act. Raveendranath was then arrested and presented before a local court. The court has sent him to judicial custody.

On Friday (19th January), the Kerala police shared that they had arrested the pastor of a Pentecostal Church for sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy in Kattakkada. The 59-year-old pastor is booked under the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act. He was sent to judicial custody after presenting in a local court.

The incident took place on Wednesday (17th January) in the jurisdiction of the Kattakkada police station. The arrested accused pastor is identified as Raveendranath. He allegedly exploited the vulnerable 13-year-old victim boy who was abandoned by his mother.

The victim boy’s grandmother had gone to hospital and he was waiting…

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The pastor, identified as Raveendranath of a Pentecostal church, was arrested in the southern district of Kerala for allegedly sexually abusing the young boy.

A pastor of a Pentecostal church was arrested for allegedly sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy in the southern district of Kerala. The 59-year-old pastor was accused of sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy whom he lured into a trap at Kattakkada, according to the police, as quoted by PTI.

The pastor, identified as Raveendranath of a Pentecostal church, was arrested in Kerala for allegedly sexually abusing the young boy. Taking the boy to his house on Wednesday, the pastor reportedly served him a cake, showed him explicit content on a tablet and then subjected him to abuse.

The boy, abandoned by his mother, fell victim to the pastor’s enticement while waiting for his grandmother who was at the hospital, according to a report on PTI.

The police have…

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A 92-year-old former priest, Lawrence Hecker, who was arrested accused of rape and kidnapping was set to be in criminal court Friday.

Hecker didn’t show up after his attorneys said he was in the hospital and requested Hecker get out of jail to get more care.

Prosecutors said if Hecker returned home, kids would be in danger. They said Hecker should not be in front of a computer after Hecker admitted under oath he views child pornography.

This comes as another man accusing Hecker of sexual abuse in a separate case felt it was time to tell his story.

The man whom WDSU is not identifying has filed a claim against Hecker in the bankruptcy case.

He spoke about the graphic abuse he says he endured. He compared it to skin cancer.

“I put the scar tissue on and buried it,” he said. “My scar tissue I guess was my…

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In her latest role in Showtime’s “The Woman in the Wall,” Ruth Wilson plays Lorna, a woman prone to sleepwalking and night terrors.

Waking up to the repercussions of her “night behavior” can be a nightmare in itself: In the first episode, Lorna awakens to discover a dead body in her home and no idea why.

Lorna’s sleep issues are a manifestation of trauma she experienced as a pregnant teen forced to live in a church-run facility — sometimes called Catholic laundries or Magdalene laundries for unmarried and pregnant women and girls and others deemed to be trouble. In Lorna’s case, she was forced to work throughout her pregnancy and her baby was taken immediately after birth.

Lorna’s life intersects with a detective named Colman (played by Daryl McCormack ) who is investigating the murder of a local priest. Initially leery of…

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[For a PDF of Bishop Perisco’s statement as it appeared on the diocese’s website, click here.]

The announcement of updates to our Public Disclosure List understandably causes considerable dismay. The pain and sorrow of survivors of sexual abuse continues, and Catholics, who may not have even known those under investigation, wonder when this will end. Yet the reality is, past cases continue to affect us today.

Our position remains the same as when we first published the list: The public has a right to know the names of people whom we consider credibly accused of actions that disqualify and prohibit them from working or volunteering with children or youth. In addition, publishing the names of people who are deceased is one way to encourage other victims of that person to come forward.

Making these announcements illustrates that the steps we have taken are working. People know that when they…

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[To see a PDF of this news release as it appeared on the diocese’s website, click here.]

The Diocese of Erie has updated its Public Disclosure List as allegations concerning two priests and one lay person warranting further investigation have been brought forward by survivors of sexual abuse.

The list, available at https://www.ErieRCD.org/childprotection/disclosure.html, was created to publicize the names of persons who have been credibly accused of actions that, in the diocese’s judgment, disqualify each person from working with children. It also has a section for those whose allegations are under investigation. Added to the list is:

Michael O’Brien, who worked at St. Stephen School in Oil City, incarcerated as the result of a case not related to his work with the school.

Added to the list in the under investigation category are:

The late Father Michael Allison, who held positions at Mercyhurst Preparatory School in Erie and with the…

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

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

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

Eric MacLeish has been one of the…

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An Argentine see fell vacant again Wednesday after a second bishop in a row resigned before he was installed as head of the diocese.

Pope Francis accepted the resignation Jan. 17 of 62-year-old Bishop Gustavo Larrazábal, 35 days after he appointed him as Bishop of Mar del Plata, in eastern Argentina, and just three days before Larrazábal’s installation.

The pope had nominated Larrazábal on the day that he accepted the resignation of 65-year-old Bishop José María Baliña, 22 days after he had named him as the head of the diocese serving around 774,000 Catholics.

The Vatican did not provide reasons for the resignations of either bishop. But Baliña said in a Dec. 5 letter to Catholics in Mar del Plata that he had struggled following surgery for a retinal detachment and had decided to resign “after further discernment and consultation with the Holy See.”

In a Jan. 17 letter to members of the diocese, Larrazábal wrote:…

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The three women, all in their 70s, have been sentenced to three years each for subjecting children to terrifying ordeals at Smyllum Park in Lanark. They denied any wrongdoing.

Two nuns and a care worker who abused vulnerable youngsters at a notorious Scottish orphanage have been jailed for three years each.

Sister Sarah McDermott, 79, Sister Eileen Igoe, 79, and carer Margaret Hughes, 76, subjected children to terrifying ordeals at Smyllum Park in Lanark. The three women denied any wrongdoing between 1969 and 1981 and went on trial at Airdrie Sheriff Court.

A jury took three days to find them guilty of a number of ‘cruel and unnatural’ incidents while children were in the care of the Order of the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul.

Sheriff Scott Pattison said there was no alternative to prison for the three women as he jailed them for a total of nine years.

…

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Diocese puts Monsignor John Hagerty, headmaster at Cathedral Prep in 1984-89, on list of those “under investigation.” Hagerty died at 83 in 2013.

• Under the leadership of Bishop Lawrence T. Persico, Catholic Diocese of Erie created its Public Disclosure List in 2018
• Document includes clergy and laypeople found to have been “credibly accused” of sexual abuse or under investigation for claims of abuse
• Diocese updates list regularly, and late Cathedral Prep headmaster, late Mercyhurst Prep faculty member are newly categorized as “under investigation”

The Catholic Diocese of Erie is investigating allegations of sexual abuse made against the late Monsignor John Hagerty, who was the headmaster of Cathedral Preparatory School in Erie from 1984-89 and held other positions in the diocese before he died at 83 in April 2013.

The diocese announced on Thursday that it has placed Hagerty’s name on its publicly disclosed list of priests and laypeople who…

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A PSYCHOLOGIST has suggested that survivors of church-based abuse suffered “significant harm” as a result of the decision to discontinue the Independent Safeguarding Board (ISB), and the manner in which it was disbanded.

The clinical psychologist David Glasgow published a report this week based on interviews with some of the victims of abuse who had been awaiting a review of their case when two members of the ISB were sacked, last June (News, 23 June 2023).

Mr Glasgow’s report follows the publication last month of a review by a barrister, Sarah Wilkinson, which said that a “complex matrix of reasons” contributed to the Archbishops’ Council’s decision (News, 15 December 2023).

Ms Wilkinson’s report includes a section on the “impact” of the decision, reporting complaints from survivors that it amounted to a “re-traumatisation or a re-abuse” — views which were aired at the time and in the months after the…

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In October, news broke that the Rev. Marko Rupnik, a former Jesuit who was credibly and publicly accused of abuse of adult women over a 40-year period, was incardinated into his home diocese in Slovenia. In December, Delaney Coyne, one of America’s O’Hare fellows, reflected on why she stays in a scandal-ridden church as a young woman and feminist and laid out her hopes for reform. “Not only should victims be heard,” she wrote, but “as a church, we should aim to be transformed by their testimonies and the spirit of truth working within us.” Her piece elicited reflective comments from other Catholics grappling with their faith in light of the sex abuse crisis.

I’m glad you stay, Delaney. As a 68-year-old Catholic woman, I find hope in your ability to see the realities of the systemic problems and at the same time hear the voice of God in our church. I…

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Three additional names have been added to the Erie Roman Catholic Diocese’s public disclosure list as allegations regarding two priests and one lay person warrant investigation following allegations by survivors of sexual abuse.

Under Bishop Lawrence Persico, the Erie Diocese has made a list of names publicly available since 2018.

The Erie Diocese’s public disclosure list came about in the wake of a two-year statewide grand jury investigation by the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General. The grand jury found evidence that at least 301 priests molested more than 1,000 children in dioceses across the state. A report on the grand jury’s findings was made public by the Office of Attorney General in August 2018.

The Erie Diocese created the list in 2018 to publicize the names of persons who have been credibly accused of actions that, in the diocese’s judgment, disqualify each person from working with children. The list also…

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MARTINEZ, Calif. (KGO) — A Richmond pastor accused of sexual abuse and kidnapping involving four young victims pleaded not guilty in Contra Costa County court on Wednesday,

Victor Hernandez-Pineda, 53, remains in jail on $10 million bail. His next hearing is set for March.

Hernandez-Pineda faces 16 charges and investigators say there are at least four victims, and at least one is from his congregation.

This is an update. Previous report follows.

The pastor of an East Bay church for Central American immigrants had his first court appearance Wednesday afternoon, facing 16 charges involving the sexual abuse of four victims.

The hearing was very quick, with the attorney for the pastor saying he needed more time to consider the evidence and speak with his client.

Pastor Victor Hernandez-Pineda appeared before a Contra Costa County judge for the first time, in the child sexual assault case against him.

An East Bay pastor…

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Former Together Church pastor Micahn Carter will find out in the next month if his defamation suit against a woman who said he raped her can proceed.

At a Jan. 9 hearing on motions from both Carter and the former church employee, Yakima County Superior Court Judge Kevin Naught said he would issue a ruling on whether the suit can be dismissed under a state law that protects people from frivolous defamation suits.

Naught also let stand an order sealing declarations that delved into the woman’s prior sexual history.

The Yakima Herald-Republic typically does not publish the name of sexual assault victims without their consent. While the woman has not sought criminal charges, she has said that Carter raped her in an office at the North Fourth Street megachurch. The building now houses the Champions Centre church.

Fall from grace

Carter and his wife, April, were lead pastors at Together…

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Faith Hakesley, author of Glimmers of Grace: Moments of Peace and Healing Following Sexual Abuse (Our Sunday Visitor 2020) as well as the Ruth Institute blog, Advice from a Survivor, reacted to Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández’s recently resurfaced book, The Mystical Passion.

“I found it nauseating,” Hakesley said. “It’s sexually graphic, blasphemous, and completely inappropriate on so many levels. That a Catholic priest would write so graphically is despicable.”

“The book would likely be triggering for any survivor of sexual abuse. It certainly was for me. I only got through a few portions before I felt physically ill and had to stop.”  

“Even more concerning than this book’s graphic descriptions is that it was inspired by a 16-year-old girl’s ‘spiritual’ but sensual encounter with Jesus, which is included in the book. I sincerely hope the girl got the help she needed.”

“I’m not saying Fernández abused anyone;…

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Last month, we delved into the unsettling pattern of predator priests being transferred in and out of rural Louisiana, primarily focusing on the Lafayette Diocese. Since then, our scrutiny has turned to other predominantly rural dioceses in Louisiana, namely Lake Charles, Shreveport, and Alexandria. The troubling trends continue in these areas as we unearth more disturbing findings.

LAKE CHARLES

In April 2019, Lake Charles Bishop Glen Provost put forward a list of credibly accused clergy, appending two additional names: Fr. Edward Normanmtowicz and Fr. Valerie Pullman. The Diocese of Lake Charles encompasses the southwestern Louisiana parishes of Allen, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Cameron, and Jefferson Davis.

Within this context, alarming evidence emerges of numerous clerics involved in child molestation. They occupy different locations, translating to rapid relocations. Take Fr. Charles Soileau, for instance. He was active in Houston, Texas, and several…

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Taking point position on Pope Francis’ insistence on opening the church to those who transgress traditional sexual morality, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández has been bushwhacked by critics who point to his own writings on sexuality.

In his first few months as the head of the Vatican’s department in charge of Catholic doctrine, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández had already drawn criticism from conservative and liberal Catholics alike. And since the issuance of a papal decision to allow priests to give blessings to same-sex couples, the cardinal’s own past and writings are now being called into question.

Pope Francis appointed Fernández to lead the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in October, over the complaints of those who said Fernández, an Argentine like Francis, lacked the experience or credentials for the role. Francis, however, signaled his confidence in his new doctrine chief by handing him the red hat of a cardinal.

…

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A Church report described Christopher Saunders as a “sexual predator” who sought to “prey upon vulnerable Aboriginal men and boys”.

Police in Western Australia have raided the home of a former bishop who was at the centre of an investigation ordered by Pope Francis.

On Sunday 14 January, detectives searched the home of Christopher Saunders, the former Bishop of Broome who resigned his see in 2021 after an initial police investigation was made public.

According to the 7News network, Bishop Saunders was also interviewed by police in Perth on Monday.

The Diocese of Broome covers a vast area of Western Australia’s tropical north, including a large number of Aboriginal communities.

An investigation ordered by the Pope into Bishop Saunders under the terms of his motu proprio Vos Estis Lux Mundi – the first of its kind in Australian history – levelled a number of sexual misconduct allegations against him.

A 200-page Church-commissioned…

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ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — A Canadian advocate is delivering a lecture today on a proposed zero-tolerance law for clergy abuse at a 473-year-old Jesuit university in Rome that has taught some of the highest figures in the Roman Catholic Church.

Gemma Hickey, who uses the pronouns they and them, will be presenting to scholars at the Pontifical Gregorian University about the importance of the law and the impacts of clergy abuse in their home province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

The school’s curriculum is accredited by the Holy See, the government of the Roman Catholic Church led by Pope Francis, and its graduates include canonized saints and more than a dozen popes.

Hickey, board president of the Washington-based group Ending Clergy Abuse, says they were invited to give the lecture by Rev. Hans Zollner, who leads a university institute that is dedicated in part to preventing clergy abuse.

Hickey says the…

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She’s running to replace Katie Porter in Congress, touting social justice issues. But is she funding her campaign with money tainted by the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal?

EXCLUSIVE

Democratic House candidate Joanna Weiss has credited her legal experience for imbuing her with a “deep commitment to ethics.” The source of her personal campaign loans, however, is rife with controversy.

Weiss, a Democratic newcomer vying to replace Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) as she runs for Senate, has contributed a total $231,600 to her political operation as of the end of September, according to publicly available campaign filings. Of that amount, $225,000 has come in the form of loans from the “personal funds of the candidate,” the filings show.

But Weiss’ personal financial disclosure, submitted in August, reports hardly any income over the prior 18 months, only listing $2,500 in royalties from an independent music publishing company she launched in 2021….

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‘After taking literal millions of steps, I’m one step closer to this goal,’ said Gemma Hickey

WARNING: This story contains details of child physical and sexual abuse.

A St. John’s activist and survivor of sexual abuse by clergy is set to deliver a lecture to one of the Catholic Church’s most prestigious universities, with a message of demanding justice for other survivors.

Gemma Hickey, president of advocacy group Ending Clergy Abuse, will speak at the Pontifical Gregorian University this week. The school has deep ties to the Vatican and trains Catholic clergy from around the world.

Hickey’s lecture, which they’ve titled Zero Tolerance: Safeguarding Children and Vulnerable Adults, will provide a Newfoundland and Labrador focus on themes of clericalism, colonialism and the aspects of a zero-tolerance policy for abuse by clergy.

“There’s a lot riding on this lecture, but what I’m hoping and what my colleagues and I are hoping is that we go back…

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In February 2023, 16 plaintiffs made the LA Times, alleging that Kid’s Kingdom “served as a demented playground for sexual abuse.” That lawsuit claims that leadership covered up the incident because reporting would hurt “God’s Modern-Day Movement.” This failure to act allowed David Saracino, now a known child rapist featured on “America’s Most Wanted,” to operate in the church until 2012 after he was finally arrested for raping a 4-year-old child.

There is no way to mince words. The allegations are horrifying. And David Saracino attended the International Church of Christ for many years before being caught. This underscores the reality that there are those in our community who look like “one of us,” but are not. They give lip service to morality but do Satan’s unclean work. This should come as no surprise since even the 12 disciples had a Judas among them. And while Judas’ betrayal…

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Embattled International House of Prayer-Kansas City (IHOPKC) admitted it likely mishandled some past reports of misconduct and promised to make structural changes during an announcement Sunday at IHOPKC’s Forerunner Church.

IHOPKC Spokesman Eric Volz told the Forerunner congregation that IHOPKC’s initial “historic review of reported misconduct” revealed that “a few” reported incidents “likely were not handled properly.”

But Volz said that “most of those incidents happened under the watch of leaders who are no longer here.” He also claimed that the “number of known incidents” is “low,” given the size of IHOPKC, its 25 years in operation, and more than 20,000 staff who have served at IHOPKC.

Two recent high-level IHOPKC leaders—Executive Director Stuart Greaves and David Sliker—resigned last month, following allegations they had mishandled past allegations of misconduct.

TRR reached out to IHOPKC’s press office, asking for clarity about who mishandled the prior reports of misconduct. IHOPKC’s Executive Leadership Team…

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Arson attacks against churches in Canada are on the rise, according to a Canadian news outlet, which reported that since May 2021, 33 churches in Canada have been burned down to the ground. 

The outlet, CBC News, reported that 24 of those devastating fires were intentionally set, while two were determined to be accidental. The rest were ruled to be suspicious or are currently under investigation. 

That number represents a marked increase in the number of churches destroyed by fire. Between Jan. 1, 2019, and May 2021, 14 churches in Canada burned down, according to the outlet’s review of police and court records along with media reports.

Unsubstantiated reports of ‘mass graves’ 

The new data comes on the heels of dozens of attacks on Catholic churches in Canada over the past few years following several unsubstantiated reports in early 2021 of “mass graves”…

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Deacon cites response to sex abuse

A member of the Immanuel Baptist Church board of deacons told his fellow deacons Thursday that Lead Pastor Steven Smith lacks integrity and needs to depart for the good of the Little Rock congregation.

In a nine-page letter addressed to his “Deacon Brothers,” David Choate accused Smith of repeatedly mishandling accusations of child sexual abuse and of intentionally misleading Immanuel’s members.

Staff members aware of Smith’s dishonesty, Choate said, have been threatened with loss of employment if they speak out.

“[S]adly Dr. Steven Smith has proven himself to be untruthful and untrustworthy. He has failed to take appropriate action to protect Immanuel children, he has knowingly lied to and misled the Immanuel congregation, and he has concealed key information from them that concerned the safety of their children and families. For all of these reasons, he is unfit to serve as lead pastor of…

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Divided control of the Pennsylvania legislature has raised the bar for advancing proposed constitutional amendments, as Democrats and Republicans must find common ground to send a measure to voters for consideration.

Such amendments do not require approval from the governor, and good-government experts had previously expressed concerns that they were being fast-tracked under sole GOP legislative control without enough consideration of the impact.

But deep partisan differences are now keeping proposals with bipartisan support from voters, including one that would give survivors of childhood sexual abuse a chance to sue their abusers.

Legislative leaders say they remain at loggerheads over what form that measure should take.

Democrats who control the state House want to send to voters a single question about opening the lawsuit window, while Republican leaders are holding firm to their insistence that the abuse amendment be logrolled with other GOP priorities, including a voter ID requirement.

Should the…

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