ABUSE TRACKER

Johnny Hunt has spoken at the Southern Baptist Pastors’ Conference nearly twice as frequently as any other person in the last two decades.

The once-disgraced and now controversially “restored” pastor has spoken at the annual preach-a-thon 14 times since 2000 — substantially more than the next most-frequent preacher in that time period, Jerry Vines.

The annual cavalcade of preaching is held every June immediately prior to the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting. During the time of the so-called “conservative resurgence,” the Pastors’ Conference became a proving ground for conservative pastors who later would ascend to elected office.

That was the case for Hunt, who in 1996 was elected president of the Pastors’ Conference. The next year, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary named a chair of biblical preaching for him. Then in 2008, he was elected SBC president.

With only three exceptions, the men elected president of the SBC have preached at the Pastors’…

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St Catherine Parish Court Judge Natalie Creary-Dixon has asked for documentation on the criminal history of Kenyan Roman Catholic priest Lawrence Muvengi, who is accused of the alleged sexual abuse of a 12-year-old girl.

The request was made today when the 39-year-old made his first court appearance.

Muvengi, who is charged with rape, sexual grooming, having sexual intercourse with a person under 16, and abduction, was remanded to return to court on July 19.

He was represented by attorney-at-law Charles Williams.

Allegations are that Muvengi sexually abused the child on the compound of the church, which is located in Portmore, St Catherine, on several occasions in April.

The matter was reported to the police’s Centre for Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse (CISOCA).

An investigation was launched, which resulted in the arrest of the clergyman.

He was formally charged following a question-and-answer session.

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Those who continue to complain to The Baltimore Sun about the newspaper’s outstanding coverage of the child abuse by Catholic priests are misdirecting their anger (”It’s possible to support child sexual abuse victims and have concerns about coverage,” July 16). Instead of at The Sun, they should be directing their ire at the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

The Catholic Church could easily put an end to all of this immediately by releasing an unredacted version of the investigation and by reining in their “secret” legal team that tried to delay justice. By doing that, which is in their power to do, we would have the names of all of those identified in the report.

Until the church does what should have been the right thing long ago, it’s up to media outlets like The Sun to continue to investigate until full accountability is done and the victims feel…

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A bishop who was forced out of office because he covered up clergy sex abuse wants to minister in St. Louis. Catholic officials should not let this happen. Bishop Richard Stika just resigned, in part, because of considerable controversy over how he dealt with two recent predatory clerics in his Knoxville diocese.
Stika has publicly said that he plans to move home and do some church work in his native St. Louis (where, for years, he played a prominent role in dealing with predator priests).

If this happens, it will be a reckless and callous move. St. Louis Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski should immediately, and public prohibit Stika from working here. If he refuses, Pope Francis should do this. Here’s why: Those who commit abuse largely CANNOT be deterred. They are driven by a deeply rooted, extraordinarily strong compulsion that overpowers their capability to think…

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The Catholic Diocese of Richmond posted on its website earlier this month that retired priest Fr. Walter Lewis was accused of sexually abusing a child during his time at  St. Anne Catholic Church in Bristol. The clergyman denied the accusation, but the Diocese said that it had been reported to law enforcement.

The accusation against Fr. Lewis stems from an incident that was said to have occurred in the 1980s. The priest was ordained in 1979. He worked as a parochial vicar or pastor at several parishes, including Holy Spirit, Virginia Beach; St. Andrew, Roanoke; St. Anne, Bristol; St. Mary, Richmond; St. Bridget, Richmond; St. John Neumann, Powhatan; and Good Samaritan, Amelia. Fr. Lewis retired in May of 2023.

We know that it can take survivors decades to come forward. Delayed disclosure is quite common, and the average age of reporting is 52….

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A man who once served in St. Andrew’s Catholic Church in Roanoke has been accused of child sexual abuse, according to the Catholic Diocese of Richmond.

Officials said the report of the alleged incident took place in the 1980s while Fr. Walter Lewis was serving as pastor of St. Anne Catholic Church, in Bristol.

In the release, the Catholic Diocese of Richmond said Lewis was ordained in 1979 and served at the following parishes as either pastor or parochial vicar until his retirement in May 2023:

• Holy Spirit, Virginia Beach
• St. Andrew, Roanoke
• St. Anne, Bristol
• St. Mary, Richmond
• St. Bridget, Richmond
• St. John Neumann, Powhatan
• Good Samaritan, Amelia

According to the diocese, Lewis has denied the allegation, which has been reported to law enforcement.

As a result of the reports, officials said that Lewis is now prohibited from any public ministry in the diocese while the investigation is…

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An Omaha priest pled guilty last month to two misdemeanor charges of theft, almost two years after he was charged with stealing nearly $200,000 from an elderly priest. The priest was also accused of stealing thousands from a Nebraska parish where he was pastor.

Fr. Michael Gutgsell, 74, pled in a Douglas County courtroom June 29 to two misdemeanor counts of theft, and was sentenced to two years of probation. The priest was initially charged in December 2021 with a felony count of theft along with the abuse of a vulnerable adult — and could have faced five years in prison if convicted of those charges.

According to charging documents, Gutgsell gave the stolen money, along with hundreds of thousands from his own savings, to an Omaha homeless man whom he apparently believed would pay him back.

The Omaha archdiocese told The Pillar it cannot yet comment on whether the priest will…

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Rockville Centre Catholic Officials Can No Longer Delay Justice to Survivors in Bankruptcy Court

Today, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn ordered the Diocese of Rockville Centre to file a reorganization plan by October 31, 2023. This gives the Diocese 105 days to reach a settlement with survivors. In a hearing this morning, Judge Glenn emphasized that the Diocese is operating on borrowed time and if the case cannot be resolved, survivors are entitled to their day in court. He also noted that in order for the parishes and other third-party entities controlled by the Diocese to get released from the case, their contributions need overwhelming support from the survivors.

“Survivors have waited long enough to have the opportunity to take legal action. To continue to deprive survivors of justice and prolong the bankruptcy process is a calculated effort by the bishop to hide assets, protect offenders, and avoid accountability,” said…

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Last month in a devastating ruling, the Colorado State Supreme Court struck a massive blow to survivors of child sexual abuse when they nullified a 2021 civil window that would have allowed adult survivors to use the civil courts to expose abusers and cover-up.

Although numerous other states have enacted such laws with no issues, the Colorado justices stated that the assembly bill signed into law violates the state constitution, which prohibits any law that is “retrospective in its operation.”

If you are a survivor who was sexually abused as a child in Colorado, we want to say this: We believe you. If you have questions about the ruling, contact our office or another attorney for expert advice on your case and what rights you can still exercise.

Other Statute of Limitation Reform News

Several other states have made significant civil statute of limitation reform for adult survivors of child…

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District Attorney Warren Montgomery reports that on Wednesday, July 12, 2023, former Slidell priest, Patrick Brian Wattigny, pled guilty as charged to 2 counts of molestation of a juvenile by virtue of a position of control or supervision over the juvenile. He was sentenced by District Judge John Keller to 15 years in prison on each count, to run concurrently, with 10 of the years suspended. The Judge also sentenced Wattigny to an additional five years of probation, sex offender registration and notification, and a “no contact” order with respect to the victims.  

The D.A.’s Office did not agree to any concessions; the Court had the sole discretion in sentencing.

Wattigny, 55, a former pastor of St. Luke the Evangelist Catholic Church and chaplain at Pope John Paul II High School, both in Slidell had been charged in 2020, when a victim came forward to report that when he was…

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A former Jesuit priest has pleaded guilty to sex crimes committed in and around New Orleans, in which he was charged with drugging and raping 17 adult male victims, many of whom were visiting the popular tourist area. 

Detectives also believe that there are more than 50 victims who remain unidentified.

Stephen Sauer, who reportedly left the Jesuit order by his own request in 2020, was sentenced to 25 years in prison on July 7 in front of a Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, judge. He will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life and is barred from contacting 12 of the victims for life. 

The former priest pleaded guilty to 13 counts of sexual battery, nine counts of third-degree rape, 17 counts of video voyeurism, and 16 misdemeanor charges of possessing drugs without prescriptions and possession of drug paraphernalia, the Jefferson Parish District…

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A New Orleans priest pleaded guilty last week to two child molestation charges for incidents that took place as recently as 2013.

Father Patrick Wattigny, 55, the former pastor of St. Luke the Evangelist Catholic Church and chaplain at Pope John Paul II High School, both in Slidell, Louisiana, was sentenced to five years in prison with five years of probation. He was also required to register as a sex offender.

The Archdiocese of New Orleans, where Wattigny was a priest, announced his removal from ministry Oct. 1, 2020. 

The priest was originally arrested and charged in 2020 when a victim reported that Wattigny molested him when he was 15 years old in 2013. Another victim came forward in the fall of 2022 and claimed that Wattigny molested him when he was a 9-year-old student. The victim said the abuse occurred during the mid-1990s, according to  View Cache

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Ogdensburg in northern New York said Monday that it was filing for bankruptcy protection as it faces more than 100 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse.

The diocese, like others in the state, is dealing with lawsuits dating to when New York temporarily suspended the statute of limitations to give victims of childhood abuse the ability to pursue even decades-old allegations against clergy members, teachers, Boy Scout leaders and others.

Bishop of Ogdensburg Terry R. LaValley said there were 124 cases pending against the diocese, with claims dating from the 1940s through the 1990s.

Ogdensburg is the sixth of New York’s eight dioceses to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a list that also includes those based in Buffalo, Rochester and Rockville Centre on Long Island.

Ogdensburg serves a big but largely rural area, and its 81 parishes are the fewest…

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The Diocese of Ogdensburg has submitted a Chapter 11 reorganization petition following the filing of more than 100 sexual abuse lawsuits. Bishop Terry LaValley stated in a letter that the reorganization is in reaction to the 138 lawsuits brought against the diocese under the Child Victims Act of New York state.

In a move that, in our opinion, tries to prevent the public from realizing the scope of clergy sexual abuse that has occurred inside its borders. Ogdensburg makes the 6th out of the 8 Catholic Dioceses in New York to do so. 

The truth about how the abuse was tolerated, by whom, and where, as well as all other real evidence, are equally as vital to survivors and their families as reparations are; without that truth, a safe Catholic diocese in Ogdensburg will not emerge, and these crimes will be replayed.

We are calling on our…

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Father Johan Verschueren, a Jesuit official and the superior of Father Marko Rupnik, announced June 15 the expulsion of Rupnik from the Society of Jesus due to his “repeated refusal” to address the allegations of sexual abuse and to comply with the restrictions placed on him.

Rupnik had according to canonical norms until Friday, July 14, to appeal the decision. By not having done so, the priest, who was also briefly excommunicated for admittedly giving absolution to one of his accomplices in a sin against the Sixth Commandment, is officially out of the order.

Various media reported that the Slovenian priest would move to live in Croatia in the Diocese of Split-Makarska. ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, contacted his superior to confirm this information but did not receive a response by press time.

Rupnik, who allegedly physically and psychologically abused numerous women religious during his stay with the Loyola…

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Embattled pastor Stovall Weems, who was ousted last year from the Florida megachurch he founded, has sued the Association of Related Churches (ARC), claiming ARC leaders “masterminded” a takeover of his church for ARC’s benefit. The lawsuit is the latest salvo in a bitter conflict between Weems, the church he formerly pastored, Celebration Church, and ARC. Over the past 17 months, Weems has been named as either the plaintiff or defendant in five separate legal cases. 

The latest lawsuit was filed July 12 by Weems and his wife, Kerri, and several entities they co-founded, in the U.S. District Court–Middle District Court of Florida. It seeks “in excess of $75,000” in damages.

The Weemses claim leaders of prominent church planting network ARC sought to “protect and expand their church growth business interests” by “gaining control” over Celebration Church based in Jacksonville. 

The…

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A retired priest who served at two Richmond-area churches for more than a decade has been accused of child sexual abuse, the Catholic Diocese of Richmond said.

An allegation was made against the Rev. Walter Lewis. The person who made the allegation, whom the diocese did not identify, said the abuse took place in the 1980s at St. Anne Catholic Church in Bristol. Lewis denies the allegation, according to the diocese, which removed him from all public work while the investigation is ongoing. Law enforcement has been contacted, the diocese said.

Bristol is in the Diocese of Richmond, which takes up much of Virginia, south of the Diocese of Arlington in Northern Virginia.

Lewis became a priest in the diocese in 1979. During his service, he was assigned to St. Bridget Church in Richmond and St. Mary in Henrico County. Lewis worked at St. Mary from 1995…

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Three decades ago, when he was a parish priest in Argentina, the man named by Pope Francis to be the Catholic Church’s new guardian of doctrinal orthodoxy wrote a short book about kissing and the sensations it evokes.

Some conservative sectors in the church are using the reflections in “Heal Me with Your Mouth. The Art of Kissing” to criticize the designation of Archbishop Victor Manuel Fernández to lead the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, a body once known as the Holy Office that for centuries was responsible for persecuting heretics, disciplining dissidents and enforcing sexual morality.

“These are ultra-conservative sectors that deeply hate the Argentine pontiff (Francis),” Fernández, the archbishop of La Plata, a city 70 kilometers (43 miles) south of Buenos Aires, told The Associated Press.

Argentina archbishop says he made mistakes in handling abuse allegations against priest

“They take a phrase from the book…

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SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WNDU) – A South Bend priest who was killed in a hit-and-run crash last year allegedly sexually abused a minor during his time serving with the Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend.

The diocese says it was recently made aware of an allegation that Father Jan Klimczyk engaged in sexual abuse of a minor. Officials say that allegation has been found credible. It was not specified when the alleged abuse took place, but the diocese says it received the allegation after Father Klimczyk’s death.

As a result, Father Klimczyk has been placed on the diocese’s list of clergies credibly accused of sexual abuse of a minor. The full list can be found online by clicking here.

The diocese says it is extending its “heartfelt prayers to all who are affected by this news and stands firm in its commitment to investigate any…

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Last summer there was an outpouring of support for Father Jan Klimczyk and the Holy Family Parish on the southwest side of South Bend after the 67-year-old priest was hit and killed while riding his bike on Western Avenue.

On Monday, the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend announced that it added Klimczyk to its list of priests accused of sexually abusing a minor.

In a letter, the diocese said it “became aware of an allegation that Father Jan Klimczyk engaged in sexual abuse of a minor. That allegation has been found credible.”

The diocese’s statement does not outline the nature of the alleged abuse, when the alleged abuse occurred or when the diocese was notified. A spokeswoman for the diocese did not immediately respond to a request from WVPE about the allegations against Klimczyk.

Klimczyk grew up and was ordained in Poland before coming to…

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The US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Secretariat of Child and Youth Protection releases its annual report to highlight the “ongoing work of the Church in continuing the call to ensure the safety of children and vulnerable adults.”

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Secretariat of Child and Youth Protection has released the 2022 Annual Report – Findings and Recommendations on the Implementation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.

Courage and fortitude

In the document’s preface, USCCB President Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of Military Services described it as a “a milestone accounting of the continued efforts in the ministry of protection, healing, and accompaniment.”

Archbishop Broglio underlined how the drafting of the report was made possible “thanks to the courage and fortitude of our sisters and brothers who were harmed, abused, or molested by a trusted clergy member, and who made reports and shared their…

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Father Benjamin Sellier of the Archdiocese of Cambrai in France died by suicide in the early hours of July 11 after learning that he was being investigated for the alleged sexual abuse of a young woman.

According to local media France Bleu Nord, the 47-year-old priest was hit by a freight train at about 3 a.m. local time in the northern region near the border with Belgium.

The French media reported that a letter was found next to Sellier’s body in which he acknowledges the abuse but minimizes the facts.

“Our diocese is going through a tragic ordeal with the death of Father Benjamin Sellier. His death shocks us and plunges us into sorrow,” said the archbishop of Cambrai, Vincent Dollmann, in a July 13 statement.

“The investigation into the circumstances of the death confirms that he ended his life,” he said.

“In addition,” the prelate explained, “he was the…

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Parish priest facing allegations of abusing a young teenage girl takes his own life in small town in northeastern France near the Belgian border

Catholics in the archdiocese of Cambrai, located in the northeastern France, remain in shock after a priest accused of sexually abusing a young teenage girl committed suicide.

Benjamin Sellier, parish priest in a small town of Avesnes-sur-Helpe less than ten miles from the Belgian border, died at 3 a.m. on July 11 after being struck by a freight train. The 47-year-old cleric was walking in the middle of the tracks and the train’s conductor did not see him in time to stop.

He was the fifth accused French priest in as many years to take his own life.

“We were deeply saddened to learn of the death of Father Benjamin Sellier, parish priest of the Avesnois region,” said Cambrai’s Archbishop Vincent Dollmann in an initial press…

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The Catholic bishops’ conference in the West African nation of Togo affirms its commitment to combat all forms of Church-related sexual aggression

The Catholic bishops of Togo, whose national episcopal conference recently submitted protocols for dealing with sex abuse to the Vatican, are beginning to make a more concerted effort to fight the scourge that has plunged the Church into crisis in many parts of the world.

There is an “urgent need to combat sexual abuse in the Church”, said Archbishop Nicodème Barrigah-Bénissan of Lomé on July 7 as he formally closed the 2022-2023 pastoral year before the summer break. His chancellor, Father Séverin Gakpe, confirmed that “all priests in the archdiocese of Lomé have already signed the code of conduct for protection against abuse”, a process that is underway at the level of religious institutes.

As the abuse crisis continues to manifest itself, the Vatican has reaffirmed zero tolerance…

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The Ogdensburg Diocese has filed for bankruptcy, a move triggered by 124 pending lawsuits from more than 50 alleged victims who say they suffered childhood sexual abuse at the hands of clergy from the 1940s to 1990s.

The Diocese encompasses 12,036 square miles of northern New York, including Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Hamilton, Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties, as well as northern Herkimer County.“This difficult yet necessary decision was made in response to lawsuits filed against the Diocese under the Child Victims Act. 124 cases are currently pending against the Diocese following implementation of the act, which allows individuals who assert that they were the victims of childhood sexual abuse to file claims, regardless of when the alleged abuse took place. The claims filed against the Diocese date back decades (1940s through 1990s), prior to the institution of the Diocese’s safe environment policies and procedures,” spokeswoman Darcy Fargo said in…

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The Roman Catholic Diocese of Ogdensburg has filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in response to Child Victims Act lawsuits.

The New York state law, passed in 2019, extended the statute of limitations for survivors of child sexual abuse to bring criminal charges or file civil suits against their abusers. It also opened a “lookback window” that allowed survivors to file civil suits no matter when the alleged abuse took place.

There are currently 124 cases pending against the Diocese of Ogdensburg, which date between the 1940s and 1990s, according to the diocese.

The diocese says the goal for filing Chapter 11 reorganization “is to resolve the legal cases in a fair and equitable manner while allowing the Diocese to continue its mission.” Otherwise, the organization says, civil actions would continue for many years and those who filed the first lawsuits would receive larger awards or settlements, leaving little for the remaining…

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In the wake of more than 100 sexual abuse lawsuits, the Diocese of Ogdensburg has filed for Chapter 11 reorganization.

In a letter, Bishop Terry LaValley said the reorganization is in response to the 138 lawsuits filed against the diocese under New York state’s Child Victims Act.

The act allowed victims to sue their alleged abusers for acts that were previously protected by the statute of limitations. It opened a one-year window from August 2019 to August 2020. The deadline was extended to August 2021 because of the pandemic.

The cases go back decades, from 1940 to 1990, before, the bishop says, the diocese implemented policies to keep children safe.

LaValley said the diocese faces uncertainty in how much it would have to pay in settlements and how long the process would take.

“While we have been in litigation for almost three years, the merit of…

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The Roman Catholic Diocese of Ogdensburg in northern New York said Monday that it was filing for bankruptcy protection as it faces more than 100 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse.

The diocese, like others in the state, is dealing with lawsuits dating to when New York temporarily suspended the statute of limitations to give victims of childhood abuse the ability to pursue even decades-old allegations against clergy members, teachers, Boy Scout leaders and others.

Bishop of Ogdensburg Terry R. LaValley said there were 124 cases pending against the diocese, with claims dating from the 1940s through the 1990s.

Ogdensburg is the sixth of New York’s eight dioceses to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a list that also includes those based in Buffalo, Rochester and Rockville Centre on Long Island.

Ogdensburg serves a big but largely rural area, and its 81 parishes are the fewest…

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In a major move to deal with a troubled past, the Diocese of Ogdensburg has filed for Chapter 11 reorganization.

The Diocese, and Bishop Terry R. LaValley, will hold a news conference at 4 p.m. today in Watertown to discuss the filing.

Earlier today, the Diocese issued a detailed news release explaining the move.

The Press-Republican will have more information on this story later.

Here is the Diocese news release in its entirety.

“Following extensive consultation with diocesan staff, the College of Consultors, Council of Priests, the Diocesan Finance and Pastoral Councils, priest and deacons, pastoral leaders, and a team of professional advisors, Bishop Terry R. LaValley, Bishop of Ogdensburg, authorized the filing of a Chapter 11 reorganization case by the Diocese of Ogdensburg. Bishop Terry R. LaValley was in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of New York, in Utica for today’s filing.

This difficult yet necessary decision was made…

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The Focolare movement, one of the largest lay organizations in the Catholic Church with members in countries across the world, published its first report on cases of sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable adults within its ranks on March 31.

The report, which was done internally and not by an independent firm, focuses on accounts of abuse received by the movement’s Commission for the Welfare and Safeguarding of Members from 2014 to 2022. The findings indicate that from 1969-2012, 66 members of the global movement were accused of abusing 42 minors (29 between the ages of 14 and 18, and 13 under the age of 14) and 17 vulnerable adults.

Founded in 1943 by the Italian laywoman Chiara Lubich and approved by the Vatican in 1962, the Focolare movement has its headquarters in Rocca di Papa, near Rome, and is present in 182 countries. It…

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A Daily Record investigation has revealed Lady Smith was paid the same amount as some survivors receive in compensation.

Survivors of child sexual abuse have slammed the huge sums being earned by professionals involved in the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry.

A Daily Record investigation has revealed Lady Smith – the judge who has chaired the inquiry for seven years – was paid the same amount as some survivors receive in compensation for a lifetime of suffering for just two weeks of work.

Figures obtained from the Scottish Government show she has received just short of £2million in salary and pension contributions so far.

In another example, Johnny Gwynne, who retired on a police pension after 33 years, has been able to earn £34,193 for around 12 weeks work, at £561 a day, in his first six months as chairman of Redress Scotland, the body that sets compensation levels. This
is in comparison to paltry…

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This small European country’s cardinals represent various generations and focuses within the Church.

From August 2 – 6, 2023, Pope Francis will visit Portugal for the WYD in Lisbon. This is the first time that this European country will host a World Youth Day, which may bring together as many as a million young people. Portugal, where almost 80% of the population identify themselves as Catholic, will soon have 4 cardinal electors. The Pope announced on July 9 that Bishop Alves Aguiar, auxiliary bishop of Lisbon, would be created a cardinal on September 30 alongside 20 other prelates.

The small European country, with a population of just 10 million, is thus becoming one of the best represented in the world in the College of Cardinals, which is responsible for electing the Pope.

Portugal also has two cardinals emeritus. A close friend of Pope John Paul II,  View Cache

Bankruptcy proceedings by the Catholic Church on Long Island linked to clergy sexual abuse cases have gone on for nearly three years and piled up $70 million in legal fees.

Now, a federal judge says he may intervene to bring the process to an end — and effectively give clergy abuse survivors their day in court.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn said during a court hearing in Manhattan last week that he may take the highly unusual step of ending the bankruptcy proceedings because the survivors and the Diocese of Rockville Centre can’t reach an agreement.

That would send some 600 cases back to state court for civil trials.

WHAT TO KNOW

• A federal judge says he may end bankruptcy proceedings by the Diocese of Rockville Centre because the Catholic Church and hundreds of survivors of clergy sexual abuse cannot reach a settlement.
• The proceedings have gone on for nearly three years and…

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When I transferred from public school to a private Catholic school at the age of 11, I knew next to nothing about religion. I’d previously attended a public school in the Pacific Northwest — my academic experience up to that point had no relation to religion. In Catholic school, I had to learn very quickly what Christianity expected of me. The curriculum taught us that restraint and control were vital to a healthy relationship with God. You had to control yourself, your body and your mind. Otherwise, your soul was at stake. If you did not exercise restraint, you were using your bodily power to act in a way empowering the self, not the Divine.

I have since left the Catholic Church and abandoned everything it taught me. I quickly learned that abuse sees no consequences in religious organizations. Above all else, I saw a stark contrast between what I…

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Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State for the Holy See, refuted the idea that homosexuality is linked to sexual abuse, writing in a new book that blaming the abuse crisis in the church on gay priests is a “serious and scientifically untenable association.”

The Italian prelate, one of the highest ranking officials in the Vatican, also argued:

“‘Homosexual orientation cannot be considered as either cause or aspect typical of the abuser, even more so when it is decoupled from the general arrangement of the person.’”

Parolin defended gay priests in his preface to a new book on sexual abuse in the church, Il dolore della Chiesa di fronte agli abusi (“The Pain of the Church in the Face of Abuse”). The collection includes “contributions from a number of Catholic theologians, psychologists and other experts on clergy sexual abuse,” according to the National Catholic Reporter. 

Sadly, the false association between gay priests and sexual abuse…

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Catholic Bishops in MA Are Still Hiding Names of Accused Priests, Experts Say

AG’s Commitment to Child Safety and Transparency Is at Issue

The Healing of Survivors Depends on AG Holding Bishops Accountable

Treatment Center in the Worcester Diocese Was a Haven for Sex Offenders

WHAT
Holding signs and church abuse documents at a sidewalk news conference in front of the MA Attorney General’s office, experts and survivors of the Catholic abuse crisis will call on AG Andrea Campbell to release her office’s long-delayed report on the sexual abuse of children in the Worcester, Fall River, and Springfield dioceses.

WHEN
Monday, July 17, 2023 at 11:00 am

WHERE
One Ashburton Place, Boston, Massachusetts

WHO
The two leaders of BishopAccountability.org, the Waltham MA–based international archive and watchdog group that has been tracking the Catholic abuse crisis since 2003. They are:

– Terry McKiernan, Founder, President, and Co-Director of BishopAccountability.org

– Anne Barrett Doyle, Co-Director of BishopAccountability.org

…

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Inquiry ordered following Guardian investigation into retired priest who confessed decades ago to child molestation

A high-ranking federal official has ordered an investigation after the Guardian exposed how New Orleans’s Roman Catholic archdiocese went to extreme lengths to conceal a retired priest who confessed decades ago to child molestation, is still living and has never been prosecuted.

Yet the investigation recently ordered by federal judge Jane Triche Milazzo is not designed to aid efforts to criminally charge the cleric or hold the church administrators who hid his past accountable. Instead, the inquiry is aimed at determining whether anyone violated broad confidentiality rules governing the New Orleans archdiocese’s pending bankruptcy protection filing and related litigation before the Guardian’s report on 91-year-old Lawrence Hecker was published on 20 June.

Milazzo called for the investigation in question during a telephone conference on 30 June. The conference was alongside attorneys involved in an unresolved lawsuit…

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Historical abuse emerged as a significant social issue over recent decades. However, claimants seeking compensation struggle to hold abusers accountable and receive fair compensation. Courts are reluctant to hold an organisation liable for deliberate, wrongful or criminal acts by its employees. The term for this is vicarious liability.

This meant victims of abuse have had to seek compensation directly from their abuser. However, individual abusers come from a variety of circumstances. In historical abuse matters, there are several problems:

• abusers may be difficult to locate,
• they may die before the complainant reports the matter,
• or the abuser has negligible assets.

To overcome these hurdles, survivors attempt to hold institutions vicariously liable for abuse perpetrated by their staff. This allows plaintiffs to sue institutions for fair compensation, rather than relying on an individual to pay compensation.

What is vicarious liability?

Vicarious liability allows one person or party to be held legally…

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Doe v. Roman Catholic Church of Diocese of Phoenix
Arizona Court of Appeals
June 29, 2023

In Doe v. Roman Catholic Church of Diocese of Phoenix, — Ariz. -, No. 1 CA-CV 22-0143 (June 29, 2023), the Arizona Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of the Plaintiff’s direct and vicarious liability claims against St. Mark parish and the Diocese of Phoenix (“Diocese Defendants”), based on sexual abuse committed by a priest that served at the parish.

In dismissing the direct liability claims against the Diocese Defendants, the Court applied the traditional tort rules holding an employer can be independently liable for an employee/agent’s sexual misconduct but only if the employer did something negligent, knowing or having reason to know the employee/agent was a risk of harm to others.  The Court rejected the plaintiff’s claim that the perpetrator’s sexual relationship with another consenting adult, in violation of Roman Catholic Doctrine, put the Diocese Defendants…

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Advocates for survivors of clergy abuse and legal experts are questioning a five-year sentence handed down for a Northshore priest convicted of molesting juveniles.

They argue that individuals convicted of other sexual offenses often receive much harsher penalties.

In a courtroom filled with tension, a victim of former priest Patrick Wattigny’s sexual abuse recounted his decades-long ordeal, only for his attorneys to leave the courtroom feeling frustrated and angry.

“[My client] believes five years is not enough, which is consistent with the other victim, who gave one of the most amazing victim impact statements I’ve ever heard,” said the victim’s attorney, Rick Trahant.

Covington Judge John Keller recently sentenced Father Patrick Wattigny, a longtime Catholic priest, to five years in prison for two counts of molesting juveniles. However, many believe that this sentence falls short of addressing the gravity of the crimes committed.

“It goes on and on…

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Given the emotion and pain around the subject, I fully expected that my letter about excessive Sun coverage of Catholic Church sexual abuse (”Coverage of child abuse has hit overkill level,” July 8) would be interpreted as being not properly sympathetic to victims (”It’s not ‘media overkill’ for survivors to be heard,” July 12). Thus, now is the time to add a postscript that, like too many others, victims of sexual assault and abuse can be amply counted among my family and friends.

I believe them. I support them, and I stand with them. Victims of sexual assault should pursue criminal charges, and they should hold accountable those institutions that neglected them. However, the victim’s right to speak up and to pursue justice is wholly separable from the professional ethics that govern how news is written, specifically the grave responsibility of clearly delineating legally proven truth from assumed…

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The Archdiocese of Seattle announced final settlements for two separate claims related to allegations of sexual abuse by clergy members a few decades ago. 

The claims involved Brother D.P. Ryan who served at O’Dea High School in Seattle in 1986, and Father John Forrester, who was at St. Teresa Catholic School in the early to mid-1970s. 

The settlements totaled $200,000. Both clergymen allegedly involved have since died. 

Both Ryan and Forrester are identified on the archdiocese’s List of Clergy and Religious Brothers and Sisters for Whom Allegations of Sexual Abuse of a Minor Have Been Admitted, Established or Determined to be Credible when the list was originally published in January 2016.

To report any suspicion of abuse by any Church personnel, contact local law enforcement. If anyone has knowledge of misconduct by a member of the clergy, an employee or a volunteer of the Archdiocese of Seattle, call…

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Bolivia’s attorney general’s office announced July 10 that it has now received a complete copy of the diary of deceased Jesuit Alfonso Pedrajas in which the priest discloses he sexually abused at least 85 minors in the course of his ministry.

A few weeks ago, the Bolivian attorney general’s office confirmed that on June 20 it had received a copy of the diary from the Society of Jesus in Bolivia but charged that it contained “gaps in the sequence of pages and sections crossed out and deleted.”

In response to the accusation, the religious order denied having tampered with the contents, arguing that the material it received had arrived in a sealed envelope that came from Rome via courier, sent by the general curia of the Society of Jesus, which in turn had received it from the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF). The Jesuits turned over…

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An Indianapolis megachurch is defending its pastor, after a local newspaper reported that the pastor’s “troubling patterns of abuse” and lack of financial accountability caused an exodus of members and staff from his former church.

The allegations concern CJ Johnson, pastor of Northview Church, a multi-site megachurch in Indianapolis with a weekly attendance over 8,800. According to The Current, several former staff at Johnson’s previous church, Southland City Church in Minneapolis, Minn., claim Johnson’s misconduct prompted most of Southland’s staff to quit in late 2020, and the church to close.   

Specifically, the former staff accused Johnson “of speaking dishonestly from the pulpit, lacking transparency about church finances and threatening or manipulating those who questioned his ideas or leadership,” Current reported.

The former staff also claimed that Northview Church failed to perform due diligence when hiring Johnson as their new lead pastor.

Northview hired Johnson…

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Grammy Award-winning worship leader Matt Redman has disclosed that he “experienced first-hand” the “harmful behaviours” of Soul Survivor co-founder Mike Pilavachi, who resigned Tuesday from a church near London amid allegations of decades-long abuse.

In a 500-word Facebook post, Redman, known for such worship songs as “Blessed Be Your Name” and “The Heart of Worship,” stated that “over a hundred people have reported being mistreated” by longtime Anglican youth pastor Pilavachi. He added that the allegations against Pilavachi “cover a whole spectrum of harm – physical, psychological, spiritual.” 

“I feel particularly strongly on this issue as I myself experienced first-hand the harmful behaviours that have been described,” wrote Redman. “I have spent years trying to fully heal from my time at Soul Survivor – and, painfully, I now know this to be the case for a lot of other people too.” 

In recent months, public allegations have  View Cache

Father Sibi from Jabalpur diocese was arrested for allegedly trying to convert children in central Madhya Pradesh state

The top court in a central Indian state has granted anticipatory bail to a Catholic priest who was arrested by police for allegedly attempting to convert tribal children.

The Jabalpur bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court granted anticipatory bail to Father Sibi Sebastian, manager of a Jabalpur diocese-run school in the tribal district of Mandla, on July 13.

“It is a great relief for us,” said one of the priests who has been monitoring the case.

The priest, who did not want to be named, told UCA News on July 14 that the case was “fake and an attempt to target Christians and their institutions.”

Yogesh Parashar, a member of the state-run Child Welfare Committee, in a police complaint filed on March 8 alleged the priest was attempting to convert school…

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A former Catholic priest in Louisiana was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to two state criminal charges of juvenile molestation.

Patrick Wattigny, 55, entered the plea in Covington on Wednesday, New Orleans news outlets reported. He was sentenced after a statement was presented in court from a victim describing the lifelong harm the molestation caused.

Wattigny was a priest in St. Tammany Parish when the juveniles were molested. The victim told the court that after he started at a Catholic grade school in the parish in 1996, Wattigny was a father figure and friend. But Wattigny’s behavior grew increasingly inappropriate and he eventually molested the boy.

The victim, now 36, said the abuse affected him throughout his life.

“I struggled greatly with maintaining relationships as I wasn’t sure what was constituted as sin or not. I never knew who I could trust. I…

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California Democratic legislators on Thursday hastily voted an anti-child-trafficking bill through a key committee after significant backlash to their initial scuttling of the measure. 

Legislators on the state Assembly’s Public Safety Committee had earlier this week voted down Senate Bill 14, which would elevate child trafficking to a “serious felony” in the state. The committee is controlled by six Democrats, with two Republicans also sitting on the panel. 

Committee Chair Member Reginald Jones-Sawyer said in a statement earlier this week that the committee was unwilling to “build on a deeply flawed sentencing system that unfairly punishes disadvantaged communities.” 

But the decision to vote the measure down led to bipartisan backlash, with spectators openly criticizing the committee after the vote, Republican politicians slamming the Democratic members for the decision, and Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom vowing to help get the bill passed. 

On Thursday evening the Public…

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The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Secretariat of Child and Youth Protection has released the 2022 Annual Report – Findings and Recommendations on the Implementation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.

The report is based on the audit findings of StoneBridge Business Partners, a specialty consulting firm headquartered in Rochester, New York, which provides forensic, internal, and compliance audit services to leading organizations nationwide. A survey conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University regarding allegations of abuse of minors is also included as a part of the report. 

This is the twentieth such report since 2002 when the U.S. bishops established and adopted the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, a comprehensive framework of procedures to address allegations of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy and establish protocols to protect children and young people.

…

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Many dioceses and eparchies ‘have taken certain measures that go beyond the specific requirements,’ says report

Abuse allegations against Catholic clergy and religious in the U.S. declined last year, but challenges remain regarding protecting vulnerable adults and ensuring online safety, according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

On July 14, the USCCB’s Secretariat of Child and Youth Protection released the “2022 Annual Report – Findings and Recommendations on the Implementation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.”

USCCB President Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of Military Services said in his preface the report was “a milestone accounting of the continued efforts in the ministry of protection, healing, and accompaniment.”

The document — covering the period July 1, 2021, to June 30, 2022 — consists of a progress report from the secretariat; an audit report conducted by the Rochester, New York-based consultants StoneBridge Business Partners; and a…

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The Sauvé report in 2021 estimated 330,000 cases of sexual abuse in the French Church since 1950.

Almost three-quarters of France’s active bishops have attended special Vatican sessions on recognising and reporting sexual abuse of minors, prompted by the shocking 2021 report on abuse in the French Church.

The bishops travelled to Rome in three groups – in February, May and July — for two days of discussions with the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Dicastery for Bishops on their responsibility when confronted with clerical abuse of minors.

This apparently the first time that so large a proportion of a country’s hierarchy has received this instruction.

The Vatican has strict policies on abuse but has struggled to enforce them, with bishops in many countries unsure what to do when confronted with such cases.

The training was suggested by a working group led by retired judge Jean-Marc Sauvé,…

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A survivor of the Baltimore Catholic Church sex ring has spoken out about the similarities between her abuse and that of another alleged victim whose family is now suing the archdiocese.

Francis X Gallagher Jr. came forward as a sex abuse victim in his adulthood after he was allegedly molested by a clergy member when he was a boy.

When Gallagher pushed to have his alleged abuser’s name on its list of priests and seminarians credibly accused of abuse, he was threatened by the archdiocese, a lawsuit filed against the Archdiocese of Baltimore in late June has claimed.

The wrongful death suit was filed by Gallagher’s children, Flannery and Liam.

It claims Gallagher’s alleged abuse and the mishandling of his allegations drove the 62-year-old to die from a fatal overdose in August 2022.

A cause of death was not available at the time his obituary was released, the  View Cache

The Diocese of Mallorca in Spain has sentenced Father Julià Cifre Vandrell to three years of not celebrating Mass “in any place other than at his home” and to leading “a secluded life of retirement, prayer, and penance.”

The priest was also ordered to “write a letter to the victim apologizing for all the pain he has caused” and refrain for life “from coming into contact with the victim or her relatives.”

The penalty was imposed “once the criminal administrative canonical procedure against the priest was completed,” according to a statement from the diocese.

The decree stresses “the extraordinary gravity of the behavior that he has acknowledged having maintained for years.”

The victim, who was also reportedly abused by her father in childhood, suffers from a mental disorder. In 2021, she reported to the diocese that she had been abused by three priests over 36 years.

Cifre is a diocesan…

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Named as defendant in seven lawsuits filed since September 2021 with four of them in last three months

A Vancouver law firm has targeted the Roman Catholic Diocese of Prince George with four lawsuits over the past three months on behalf of clients alleging they were the victims of physical and sexual abuse while attending churches or schools under its jurisdiction.

Christopher McDougall of Preszler Injury Lawyers filed notices of claim in which the diocese is named as a defendant on April 19, June 27, July 7 and July 10, all at the B.C. Supreme Court’s Vancouver registry.

Details of the allegations claimed in the notices vary but all the allegations date back to the late 1960s and early 1970s when the plaintiffs were youths variously attending schools or churches in Prince George, Vanderhoof, Fort St. John and Kelly Lake, just east of Tumbler Ridge. Priests, nuns…

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Cardinal-designate Víctor Manuel Fernández, the new prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, “worked quickly” to “interfere in the judicial investigation” into abuse allegations against Father Eduardo Lorenzo, the attorney for Lorenzo’s alleged victims charged.

The Associated Press reported on attorney Juan Pablo Gallego’s remarks about the canonical investigation in a Spanish-language article. The attorney’s remarks did not appear in the AP’s companion English-language article.

Gallego asserted that “the Interdiocesan Ecclesiastical Tribunal of La Plata under the mandate of Fernández provided elements that sought to protect” Father Lorenzo, according to the AP’s paraphrase of his remarks.

Archbishop Fernández recently admitted mistakes in handling the allegations, telling the Associated Press on July 9 that he “did not act in the best way”—even as he offered excuses for his decisions.

In July 2019, Archbishop Fernández learned of two new abuse allegations against Father Lorenzo, a parish priest and prison chaplain who had…

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[Via Detroit Catholic]

Shortly after the announcement of new cardinals by Pope Francis July 9 during the Angelus prayer in the Vatican, the Polish internet was flooded by pictures of the lynx with a red cardinal’s hat. It’s because the last name of the newly named cardinal, Polish Archbishop Grzegorz Rys of Lódz, means precisely that — “lynx.”

“The new cardinal would be the last one offended by sending him such a meme,” Pauline Father Michal Legan told OSV News. Cardinal-designate Rys is known in his native Poland not only for the dozens of books he has written but also for a “human approach” in the church and a “keen sense of humor,” Father Legan said.

Asked about the moment he learned he was named a cardinal, the Polish prelate said that “it was quite a shocking experience,” like “lightning.”

In a YouTube video posted July 10 by the Archdiocese…

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[This is a significantly different version of an article blogged in Abuse Tracker yesterday.]

The Bishop of Victoria and the Roman Catholic Military Ordinariate of Canada have been named as defendants.

A B.C. man is alleging he was sexually abused in Victoria by an unnamed priest under the supervision of Canadian Catholic military officials and the Diocese of Victoria.

The allegations come in Kevin Shawn Palmer’s July 7 notice of civil claim filed in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver. It names as defendants the Bishop of Victoria and the Roman Catholic Military Ordinariate of Canada.

The claim said the bishop was responsible for governance of Chapel Our Lady Star of the Sea premises and who had access to children there.

The claim said the ordinariate was responsible for governance of the chapel and who had access to children there.

The claim cites a John Doe as allegedly preying on Palmer…

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I am so glad to see the great job The Baltimore Sun is doing investigating the Catholic Church abuse scandal (”Coverage of child abuse has hit overkill level,” July 8). The Catholic Church still refuses to have full transparency and release the redacted parts of the investigation, instead constantly hiding behind false assertions that Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown won’t allow it (even as AG Brown has stated on many occasions that church leaders can come clean anytime the mood strikes them).

You are shining a light on the cases and abusers that the church hoped would go away. This is not “overkill,” as some letter writers claim. It is exposing the uncomfortable and horrible truth of abuse and cover up that continues to this day. Bravo for such fine journalism in righting a decades old wrong that the church refuses to do.

— Dave Henderson, Parkville

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Child abuse survivors say they’ve been led on for years by Pennsylvania’s top officials, including Gov. Josh Shapiro. But advocates still hope stalled efforts will move forward.

In the nearly five years since a bombshell grand jury report found thousands of children were sexually abused at the hands of Roman Catholic clergy in Pennsylvania, more than 20 states have passed legislation making it easier for victims to pursue civil action against their abusers and the institutions that protected them.

In Pennsylvania, however, efforts to create a two-year window for victims to file civil lawsuits based on decades-old allegations have repeatedly failed.

“How embarrassing is this building,” said Rep. Mark Rozzi (D., Berks), a childhood clergy abuse survivor, from his Capitol office last month. “We can’t even pass a bill that would give victims their day in court and expose perpetrators who are out there raping children.”

…

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Patrick Wattigny, former high school chaplain who resigned in 2020, pleads guilty to molesting two minors at school

The former chaplain of a Roman Catholic high school in Louisiana has pleaded guilty to molesting two minors whom he met through his work and was ordered to spend five years in prison.

Patrick Wattigny’s plea and sentence on Wednesday came after both of his victims strongly advocated for a harsher punishment. One victim, who was present, described how Wattigny spent time grooming him in the mid-1990s. The victim said Wattigny told him he could help him gain entry to heaven, then took him to a rectory to fondle his genitals. Wattigny also used his fingers to rape the victim while masturbating.

“You sir are not God,” that victim said. “You never were. You never will be.”

In a written statement released to reporters after the guilty plea, the other victim called the sentence given…

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A 39-year-old Kenyan priest was arrested on Tuesday afternoon, July 11,  by Jamaican police officers who accused him of four criminal counts.

The priest, a parishioner at the Roman Catholic Church in Portmore, St Catherine, faced defilement charges in the report first published by Jamaica Gleaner. 

According to Jamaican authorities, the charges were filed against the priest after a complainant positively identified him during an identification parade. 

His identity was also confirmed during a question-and-answer interview with his attorney, the police added.

The police revealed that the alleged offences were committed on the afternoon of Sunday, March 19, 2023, but were reported to authorities on June 23, 2023.

Victims who spoke with the police further accused the deacons of kidnapping them. It was yet to be established whether the priest was arraigned or had taken plea in the case. 

While withholding the name of the priest to respect his privacy, the police…

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Vancouver archbishop responsible for the governance of Hope Catholic Church and priest, lawsuit says.

A B.C. man alleges a Roman Catholic priest gained his trust and that of his family to sexually assault him while growing up in Hope.

In a notice of civil claim filed in B.C. Supreme Court July 6, Harold Lock names the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Vancouver as the defendant, naming his alleged abuser only as Father Guymand.

The claim said the archbishop of Vancouver as a religious institution was at all material times responsible for the governance of Hope Catholic Church.

Court documents allege starting in or about 1954-1956, Guymand used his position of power granted by the defendant to prey upon and sexually assault the plaintiff.

“In order to facilitate abuses, the perpetrator engaged in a pattern of behaviour which was intended to make the plaintiff feel that it was unsafe to report the…

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No one is less deserving of a saintly title than the Rev. David Holley, who from the grave remains a terrifying figure.

Holley was one of the country’s most notorious Catholic priests, a pedophile who left a trail of shattered lives from Massachusetts to Texas to New Mexico.

A scene in the 2015 Academy Award-winning movie Spotlight centers on one of Holley’s countless crimes. Rape survivor Phil Saviano meets with investigative reporters of the Boston Globe and recounts Holley’s time in the Diocese of Worcester, Mass.

“I was 11, and I was preyed upon by Father David Holley,” says the actor who portrayed Saviano. “And I don’t mean prayed for. I mean preyed upon.”

What the movie didn’t mention was the Diocese of Worcester shipped Holley to Servants of the Paraclete, a Catholic order that provided “treatment” in New Mexico for pedophiles and addicts.

Holley arrived in 1971. Soon he was updating the church…

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I’ve noted before that theoretical physics and conspiracy theories have at least one thing in common, which is that in both arenas the ultimate prize goes to the so-called “Theory of Everything,” meaning the identification of a single framework that ties together all aspects of the universe.

In Italy this past week, a new twist emerged in the quest for a “Theory of Everything” behind two of the country’s most notorious sources of conspiracy theories: The “Vatican girl” case and the assassination of Prime Minister Aldo Moro, both of which remain open scars decades after the facts.

The purported new link between the two cases runs through a third: The 1984 strangulation of a teenage girl in Rome named Katy Skerl, whose fate has often been linked to that of the “Vatican girl,” Emanuela Orlandi, the 15-year-old daughter of a minor employee in the Prefecture of the Papal Household when…

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 In response to suggestions in the Italian media that sexual advances by an uncle might be at the root of the infamous “Vatican Girl” mystery, the family of Emanuela Orlandi shot back angrily in a Monday news conference, charging that the Vatican is trying to duck its own responsibility in the case.

“It’s a disgrace,” said Pietro Orlandi, the brother of Emanuela, who’s dedicated his life to the search for the truth about his sister. “The Vatican wants to offload responsibility on my family.”

The 1983 disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi, who was 15 at the time and the daughter of a minor employee of the Prefecture of the Papal Household, has become a national obsession in Italy. Over the 40 years she’s been missing, her fate has generated speculation and conspiracy theories of every sort, much of it focusing on alleged Vatican involvement and cover-ups.

Momentum generated in part by…

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Payton (Frye) Jones remembers being in the dorm room of her friend, Zachary Jacquith, and Jacquith getting “touchy feely” with her on the night of February 22, 2019.

“That’s the last thing I remember,” Jones wrote in a statement included in a police report filed with the Kirkland Police Department in Kirkland, Wash. “The next morning, I woke up in my car with his comforter on top of me and my pants unbuttoned. I was so confused on how I got there. I also felt so ‘drunk’ and messed up.”

Over the next few days, Jones became convinced there was a drug in the drink Jacquith had given her the night before, her statement said. Jones added that she “only remembered drinking one small cup of whatever (Jacquith) made for me”—not enough alcohol to make her black out.

Jones also became convinced that Jacquith, a former intern at the West…

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A Pensacola man and his mother recently came forward with claims that longtime Pensacola priest, Monsignor James Flaherty, molested him when he was a boy, more than a decade ago. Even though the statute of limitations has passed for possible criminal charges, they reported it to law enforcement anyway.

“Considering the statutes have already passed, he’s not going to prison,” the Pensacola man explained. “I just hope that with my police report and hopefully this article some more people will come forward and maybe a kid who’s experiencing this now will be able to come forward to put the (expletive) behind bars.”

The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office is looking into the complaint, but deputies aren’t commenting yet on the newly opened investigation. However, they say it is important for victims to report crimes, no matter how much time has passed.

Priest accused of abuse:Mother, son allege prominent…

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Shapiro can get justice for Pa. survivors of child sex abuse. Here’s how.

Five years ago this month, a Pennsylvania grand jury issued a scathing report detailing decades of child sexual abuse by Catholic priests and a cover-up by the church hierarchy. The grand jury included several recommendations for reform of the criminal and civil justice systems, including the creation of a two-year window allowing adults to sue for damages for abuse that occurred when they were minors and the statute of limitations has passed.

This year, on May 22, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed a proposed constitutional amendment to establish the two-year window. The state Senate had already passed the constitutional change in January. Both chambers of the General Assembly also voted in favor of the civil justice window during the prior session of 2021-2022.

The next step in the amendment process…

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• Summary
• Law Firms

• Rockville Centre diocese seeks to resolve 600 sexual abuse claims in bankruptcy
• Talks broke down over how much parishes should pay in settlement

July 11 (Reuters) – A U.S. judge said Tuesday that he would consider dismissing the bankruptcy of a New York Roman Catholic diocese if the church cannot build more support among sexual abuse victims who have sued the church and its parishes.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn said during a court hearing in Manhattan that he was not eager to be the first judge to kick a Catholic diocese out of bankruptcy. But if the Diocese of Rockville Centre cannot make progress toward a comprehensive settlement of sexual abuse claims, it would be unfair to prevent abuse survivors from resuming their lawsuits in other courts, Glenn said.

“The survivors deserve an opportunity to be heard by a jury of their peers,” Glenn said. “They’ve…

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A former South Carolina youth pastor Daniel Kellan Mayfield, 35, has been charged with voyeurism after he set up secret cameras to spy on bridal parties getting dressed, according to a report. He has since been fired.

Mayfield is accused of setting up cameras at the Gowensville First Baptist Church and recording a bride and her party using changing rooms, Fox Carolina reported.

Mayfield was already facing other charges, including one that followed an arrest in May in which police were called to a woman’s home after she spotted someone outside her bathroom window. When she went outside, the woman said he saw Mayfield standing in her backyard.

The filing says Mayfield admitted to recording the woman. According to Fox Carolina, he handed over the video and allowed the woman to view it.

The woman also showed police security video of…

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An allegation of abuse has been levied against a retired priest in the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee. According to a news report- Around 2011, the family of a Pensacola middle-school student, who was struggling with bullying, moved the boy to a new school hoping the change would help.

The boy’s mother enrolled him at St. John the Evangelist, a private Catholic school in Pensacola. She shared with the pastor there, then prominent Pensacola priest Monsignor James Flaherty, how much her son had suffered and how he needed support.

It can take survivors a long time to come forward and report abuse, and we believe this claim should be taken seriously and investigated fully. We stand in applause for the brave victim and his family for stepping forward. We want them to know we believe in them and support them in any way possible.

The details…

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There is one place – one and only one place – to consistently get accurate and detailed information and perspective on the continuing clergy abuse and cover up crisis both here and across the globe.

It’s BishopAccountability.org

And this month, it celebrates 20 years of outstanding work in this crucial arena.

It’s been my honor, privilege, and joy to know and work with this small but amazing handful of paid (poorly paid to be honest) staffers and dedicated volunteers. Their hard, accurate and thorough work over these two decades has been instrumental in helping all of us in SNAP, literally every day, as we protect kids, comfort victims, expose secrets and deter cover ups.

The BA.org team has also been extraordinarily helpful to journalists, police, prosecutors, legislators, Catholics, researchers, authors, attorneys general and of course survivors and their loved ones.

They often also disclose and denounce disturbing developments in…

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Ordenado en 1994. En 2019 los padres de una menor presentaron una denuncia penal en la que acusaban a Herrera de agredir sexualmente a su hija entre 2011 y abril de 2019.  Herrera fue detenido el 29 de junio de 2020 en Morelia, Michoacán, por orden de la Fiscalía General del estado de Michoacán (FGE) en colaboración con la Procuraduría de Guanajuato. Fue acusado de violación en agravio de una menor. No fue hasta después de conocerse la noticia de la detención de Herrera que el obispo de la diócesis de Irapuato, Enrique Díaz Díaz, admitió públicamente haber tenido conocimiento de las acusaciones. El obispo emitió un comunicado en el que expresó que había tenido conocimiento de las acusaciones desde febrero de 2020, momento en el que separó a Herrera de su cargo parroquial en San Felipe de Jesús, Morelia, y lo denunció ante…

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“One June day in 2021, priests of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Knoxville convened in a Gatlinburg, Tennessee, hotel conference room. One of them, perceiving tension in the room, raised his hand.

“I’ve been on vacation for two weeks,” the priest said.

“You’re a lucky man,” responded the bishop of Knoxville, Richard Stika.

“Can you explain to me,” the priest asked, “what in the world is going on here?”

The room erupted in laughter. Stika took a go.

An activist had created a story that got bounced around the diocese, Stika said. Somebody, unhappy with the bishop’s leadership, he said, had anonymously fed false information to a news website.

Friendships were questioned, Stika said, and reputations unjustly tarnished.

This was not exactly an objective account of the tumult of the previous weeks, a controversy that stemmed from the bishop’s intervention in the investigation of a favored seminarian who’d been accused…

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A study of adults who were mistreated in childhood found that those who did not recall it showed fewer psychological aftereffects.

For generations, our society has vacillated about how best to heal people who experienced terrible things in childhood.

Should these memories be unearthed, allowing their destructive power to dissipate? Should they be gently molded into something less painful? Or should they be left untouched?

Researchers from King’s College London and the City University of New York examined this conundrum by conducting an unusual experiment.

Researchers interviewed a group of 1,196 American adults repeatedly over 15 years about their levels of anxiety and depression. Unbeknown to the subjects, 665 of them had been selected because court records showed they had suffered mistreatment such as physical abuse, sexual abuse or neglect before age 12.

Not all of them told researchers that they had been abused, though — and that was linked…

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Cardinal-designate Víctor Manuel Fernández, the new prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, told the Associated Press on July 9 that he “did not act in the best way” in addressing abuse allegations against a diocesan priest in 2019—even as the prelate sought to offer excuses for his decisions.

In July 2019, Archbishop Fernández learned of two new abuse allegations against Father Eduardo Lorenzo, a parish priest and prison chaplain who had been previously investigated for an abuse allegation. Archbishop Fernández permitted Father Lorenzo to remain as pastor of his parish until November 2019, when the priest took a leave of absence, according to a timeline of the case published by BishopAccountability.org, which hosts the largest public collection of information on the clergy abuse crisis. In December 2019, Father Lorenzo committed suicide.

“With everything I say it is clear that I did not act in the best way,” Archbishop Fernández…

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The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kingston has confirmed that a priest was detained by the police on July 5 following an allegation of sexual abuse.

It says it will be cooperating fully with the relevant authorities on the matter.

“Acknowledging the implications and seriousness of this case, the Archbishop immediately removed the priest from all active pastoral ministry in the diocese,” it said in a media release on Monday evening.

The Archdiocese of Kingston also said it “wishes to express publicly its deep concern for all parties involved in this reported incident.”

It’s understood that the priest is accused of committing several sexual offences against a 12-year-old girl in Portmore, St Catherine.

The police are reportedly expected to charge him later this week.

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[In the Patheos blog Mudblood Catholic]

The Image of Gog

The Vatican reached a new low the other day. (Well, a new low to my knowledge.) I speak of a recent pronouncement made on the subject of Slovenian priest Fr. Marko Rupnik. You may have heard of him. In addition to being a Jesuit priest and author of several books, he is also a liturgical artist of considerable repute, whose mosaics grace the shrines of Our Lady at Fátima and Lourdes as well as the Apostolic Palace in Rome, and a psychological abuser and rapist. Wait, sorry, that was careless of me: Fr. Rupnik is a former Jesuit; he was expelled from the Society of Jesus for disobedience about a month ago.

If that seems like a weird way to arrange and emphasize that information, I’m going to guess that you’re not on the Dicastery for Communication; maybe check and see if they have…

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After months of doubt, it is now all but certain that the vast majority of Maine’s local news outlets will live to see another day.

The nonprofit National Trust for Local News has entered into a purchase agreement to take over the lion’s share of Maine’s media ecosystem in a sweeping deal covering five daily newspapers and 17 weeklies.

The deal is expected to close later this month, according to Reade Brower, the current owner of the Masthead Maine media group, and Elizabeth Hansen Shapiro, the CEO of the National Trust for Local News.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The news was first reported by the Portland Press Herald, one of the daily newspapers that will be included in the sale. The deal also involves the Lewiston Sun Journal, the Kennebec Journal in Augusta, the Morning Sentinel in Waterville, and the Times Record in…

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In Ryan’s freshman year at Creighton Preparatory School, an all-boys Jesuit high school in Omaha, Nebraska, he was called into private confession with Fr. Daniel Kenney, beloved throughout Omaha as “the Monkey Priest.” Kenney told him to lock the door and show him his penis, just so he could tell Ryan whether he was developing “adequately.” 

That is as much of the story as Ryan ever told his friends, but there was more. Kenney moved from grooming behaviors to stalking. Misusing his access to Ryan’s class schedule, Kenney would lurk in classrooms, club meetings and student social spaces, Ryan said. Although Ryan felt it was bizarre and inappropriate, it never occurred to him to classify this as abuse. 

On the last day of school, when Ryan refused to be harangued into confession again, Kenney snapped. He attempted to forcibly impose absolution on Ryan…

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An Argentine bishop tapped by Pope Francis this month to lead one of the Vatican‘s most powerful departments admitted to making mistakes in responding to accusations that a priest in his diocese had sexually abused children.

Archbishop Victor Manuel Fernandez, the archbishop of La Plata, Argentina, told the Associated Press that he would have handled the case of Eduardo Lorenzo very differently today than he did in 2019. Lorenzo was accused of sexual abuse by several children and was found dead of an apparent suicide after an Argentine judge ordered his arrest in December 2019. Critics have accused Fernandez of not believing the allegations against Lorenzo.

“Today I would certainly act very differently and certainly my performance was insufficient,” Fernandez told the outlet about his handling of the accusations against Lorenzo.

Fernandez’s handling of the case has drawn renewed scrutiny since…

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In explaining the decision of the Archdiocese of Baltimore to add 42 names to the list of persons accused of sexual abuse, a spokesperson for the archdiocese stated that the decision builds on the commitment to “transparency, healing and to ridding the Church of the scourge of sexual abuse” (”Baltimore’s Catholic archdiocese adds 42 names to list of staff credibly accused of sexual abuse,” June 30).

Words alone will not rid the Catholic Church of the scourge of sexual abuse. Childhood sexual abuse often ruins lives well into adulthood. In response to this fact the Maryland General Assembly enacted and Gov. Wes Moore signed the Child Victims Act of 2023, waiving the statute of limitations which for many years had prevented abuse cases from being heard in court. The act passed the General Assembly with overwhelming votes (45-2 in the Senate and 132-2 in the House of…

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Former Catholic Diocese of Knoxville Staff members, Marcy Meldahl and Dave Wells, joined Hallerin to discuss Bishop Stika’s tenure and resignation.

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[A slightly more expansive version of the Associated Press article blogged yesterday in Abuse Tracker.]

El arzobispo argentino Víctor Manuel Fernández, elegido por el papa Francisco para dirigir una poderosa oficina del Vaticano, admitió el domingo que cometió errores en la forma en que manejó en 2019 el caso de un sacerdote denunciado por abusos sexuales a menores, lo que todavía le acarrea críticas por supuestamente haber protegido al clérigo.

“Hoy ciertamente yo actuaría muy distinto y ciertamente mi actuación fue insuficiente… Lo tengo absolutamente claro; hoy tengo más experiencia y tengo otros procedimientos”, dijo Fernández a The Associated Press durante una entrevista realizada luego de celebrar una misa en la ciudad de La Plata, a unos 70 kilómetros al sur de Buenos Aires.

El papa Francisco nombró el 1 de julio a Fernández para dirigir a partir de septiembre el Dicasterio de la Santa Sede para la Doctrina de…

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Around 2011, the family of a Pensacola middle-school student, who was struggling with bullying, moved the boy to a new school hoping the change would help.

The boy’s mother enrolled him at St. John the Evangelist, a private Catholic school in Pensacola. She shared with the pastor there, then prominent Pensacola priest Monsignor James Flaherty, how much her son had suffered and how he needed support.

“He grew up attending other Catholic schools and was just horrifically bullied,” the boy’s mother told the News Journal. “I brought him to St. John and thought I was ‘saving his life,’ only to find out I had shared the bullying he went through, and I think that put a target on him from the beginning.”

Twelve years later, the family is ready to talk, and to share their allegations against the man they thought was their protector with the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office.

…

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• Exclusive: Father Reginald Dunkling, 63, was seen as an idol by 17-year-old
• But the Roman Catholic priest betrayed him and escape justice for over 30 years 

A priest who escaped justice for three decades is facing jail after being convicted of abusing a theatre star, 17, who idolised him during a sleepover in his presbytery.

Father Reginald Dunkling, 63, struck after inviting the teenager to stay overnight at Our Lady of Muswell in north London in the early nineties.

Dunkling – known as Father Reg – was so trusted he had already been allowed to take the boy to Tenerife with another male friend.

But Wood Green Crown Court was told this week that sometime between April 1992 and April 1993 he indecently assaulted him.

During a sleepover after taking him to a concert in Wembley, Dunkling lay on the bedroom floor in his home and forced his hand under his covers, molesting…

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Dioceses faced with abuse allegations are declaring bankruptcy

When Joey Piscitelli was 14, he was sent to Silesian High School in Richmond, California. A self-described “runt”, he weighed 70 pounds and looked about 10. “I think that’s why I was picked,” he told me. He was befriended by the school’s vice principal, Father Stephen Wheelan, before being subjected to years of abuse. It began with priests masturbating in front of him and ended in violent rape. He is aware of at least four other victims of the paedophile ring at his school who have since committed suicide.

Piscitelli is now an advocate for other victims, having won $600,000 in compensation from a 2006 jury trial against the Diocese of Oakland — which last month declared bankruptcy, after receiving more than 330 legal claims of sexual abuse. It’s part of a growing trend in the Catholic Church of the United States, which…

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LA PLATA, Argentina (AP) — Archbishop Victor Manuel Fernández, chosen by Pope Francis to head the Vatican office that ensures doctrinal orthodoxy, conceded Sunday he made mistakes in handling a 2019 case of a priest accused of sexual abuse of minors.

The case has drawn allegations by critics that Fernández tried to protect the priest, a charge that he has denied.

“Today I would certainly act very differently and certainly my performance was insufficient,” he told The Associated Press during an interview after celebrating Mass in La Plata, about 70 kilometers (40 miles) south of Buenos Aires.

Pope Francis appointed Fernández on July 1 to head the Holy See’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, which guarantees doctrinal orthodoxy and one of whose areas involves handling sexual abuse allegations brought against clergy. He was also named a cardinal Sunday…

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[Please note: Since published in early July 2023, this timeline has been updated and lightly revised. To see the updated version, click here.]

On July 1, 2023, the Vatican announced that Pope Francis has chosen Archbishop Victor Fernández, the head of the Argentine archdiocese of La Plata since 2018, to lead the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF). As DDF prefect, Fernández will have authority over the office that processes allegations of child sexual abuse by Catholic clergy worldwide.

The archbishop’s own handling of clergy sex abuse allegations is therefore highly relevant. The best known case during his five-year tenure in La Plata was against an influential priest named Eduardo Lorenzo.

We present the following timeline as a resource for those seeking a factual understanding of the archbishop’s handling of those allegations. See also our statement of 7/1/2023: Pope chooses archbishop with troubling record on abuse…

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Dioceses faced with abuse allegations are declaring bankruptcy

When Joey Piscitelli was 14, he was sent to Silesian High School in Richmond, California. A self-described “runt”, he weighed 70 pounds and looked about 10. “I think that’s why I was picked,” he told me. He was befriended by the school’s vice principal, Father Stephen Wheelan, before being subjected to years of abuse. It began with priests masturbating in front of him and ended in violent rape. He is aware of at least four other victims of the paedophile ring at his school who have since committed suicide.

Piscitelli is now an advocate for other victims, having won $600,000 in compensation from a 2006 jury trial against the Diocese of Oakland — which last month declared bankruptcy, after receiving more than 330 legal claims of sexual abuse. It’s part of a growing trend in the Catholic Church of the United States,…

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• Establishment of the Independent Safeguarding Board (ISB) had ‘gone wrong’
• ISB was intended to hold the church to account following a series of scandals 

The Archbishop of York last night admitted the Church of England had failed in its attempt to set up a clergy abuse watchdog.

The Most Rev Stephen Cottrell said the establishment of the Independent Safeguarding Board (ISB), intended to hold the church to account following a series of scandals, had ‘gone wrong’.

And he revealed the church has had to refer the debacle to the Charity Commission. It came after the church sacked the three members of the ISB following claims it had tried to obstruct their work, including refusing to share data with them.

The archbishop told a meeting of its governing body, the General Synod, yesterday: ‘We can no longer think that we can deliver these things ourselves. 

‘Not only do we need independent…

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The founder of Peru’s Pro-Family Pro-Life Movement has been accused of systematically abusing his daughter. She gave birth in 2003, when she was only 13-years-old

Since 1989 – when he founded the Pro-Family and Pro-Life Movement, at the young age of 22 – José Linares Cerón has claimed to lead an exemplary life. This evangelical pastor – a self-proclaimed defender of children – used to look forward to Peruvian Family Day, which is celebrated every second Sunday in September, to give advice on how to guide children with love and wisdom. “The child begins to understand who they are through the relationship with their parents,” he said.

Recently, one of his daughters – now 33-years-old – denounced what she had kept silent for years: that Linares Cerón systematically raped her and, as a result of that abuse, she gave birth at the age of 13, back in 2003.

“I…

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It was hard to breathe in southern New England this past weekend – again – after smoke from the ongoing wildfires in northern Quebec wended their way to us here. There are fires burning all across Canada this summer, in fact, making this already the worst season for them on record.

Early in June, when the smoke first blew down from the great north, it got so bad that one couldn’t see the waters of the Hudson from the George Washington Bridge, let alone New York or Fort Lee in New Jersey on either side of the span.

I heard on the radio as I waited with my family to get out of the municipal beach parking lot on Saturday night after the local fireworks display that the air quality in our neck of the woods was worse than in New York this time. There’s been lots of talk about…

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The one-hundred Catholic bishops forced to resign, a measure of how hard is for the victims to get justice from the Catholic Church. English Edition One hint of sexual abuse are the “early” resignations of Catholic bishops, since a Dutch serving in Zambia did it in 1958.

Religion and public life: Lack of official information regarding the resignation of Catholic bishops feeds a perverse “guessing game” eroding the trust in the Church.

Countries with better performing systems of justice and more independent media, such as Canada, the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, and France provide a better context for victims to achieve a measure of relief, a measure of justice.

It has been a long process. Major changes in key principles of civil law have happened in such countries. We have witnessed the reports coming from Grand Juries in Pennsylvania and reports from the General Attorney…

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Since April 4, The Baltimore Sun has continued its hyper-focus on Catholic Church abuses in the Archdiocese of Baltimore (”Gallagher family lawsuit against Baltimore archdiocese aims to shift burden from abuse onto Catholic Church,” July 5). The Sun clearly doesn’t know many active Roman Catholics. If it did, it would know that their own disgust with the abuses has driven many to the point of leaving the church entirely.

The Sun would know that the scandal has made Catholic youth retreats or children’s gospel readings ancient history virtually overnight. The Sun would know about priest shortages, shrinking congregations and church closures. Worst of all, The Sun would know about the gathering schism in the church — that arch-conservative Catholics (and certainly non-Catholic evangelical Christians) are using the child abuses to bolster their more generalized homophobia and taking it straight to the voting booth.

Let us not be…

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Pope Francis on July 9 named 21 new cardinals, including the Vatican’s ambassador to the U.S., Archbishop Christophe Pierre; American-born Archbishop Robert Prevost, who oversees the appointments of Catholic bishops worldwide; and the new head of the Vatican’s doctrinal office, Archbishop Victor Manuel Fernández. 

The pope made the announcement at the end of his weekly Sunday Angelus prayer from a window in the Apostolic Palace overlooking St. Peter’s Square. Francis said he would install the new cardinals during a consistory at the Vatican on Sept. 30, saying these new cardinals represent the universality of the global church and the “inseparable link” between the pope and dioceses around the world. 

Of the 21 new cardinals, 18 are under the age of 80 and would be eligible to vote in a papal conclave. As of Sept. 30, with the new additions, the total number of eligible cardinal electors will be 137.

Among…

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El caso tiene dos denuncias en la Arquidiócesis de Medellín y una en Fiscalía, pero el sacerdote continuaría oficiando misas y confesando personas.

Después de casi 20 años y tras la poca gestión, que según denuncia ha recibido su caso por parte de las autoridades, Natalia Restrepo decidió hacer una denuncia pública de su caso de abuso sexual por parte de un sacerdote reconocido en Envigado, al que la mujer habría denunciado tanto en la Arquidiócesis de Medellín como en la Fiscalía.

Sin embargo, según su relato, el caso no ha avanzado, debido a la cantidad de años que han pasado desde que ocurrieron los hechos. Ella quiso hacer ahora una denuncia pública para contar su historia.

Los hechos sucedieron, según lo que ha narrado, en el 2004, cuando ella vivía en Envigado y asistía, junto a su abuela, a la iglesia Santa Gertrudis, la principal de este municipio de Antioquia.

Natalia contó su testimonio…

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Natalia Restrepo denunció haber sido víctima de abuso sexual por parte de un sacerdote, cuando ella era monaguilla y menor de edad en Envigado. BBC Mundo cuenta su historia

Me llamo Natalia, tengo 32 años y acabo de emprender el viaje más importante de mi vida.

Volví a Medellín con mi pequeña hija, dos maletas y el firme propósito de romper mi silencio, de denunciar, de nuevo y por todos los medios posibles, al sacerdote que me violó y me obligó a abortar en 2004, cuando yo tenía 14 años.

Este es un viaje a mi pasado, a la historia más dolorosa que he vivido y que ni siquiera mi familia conoce a profundidad.

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El 25 de agosto de 2022 estalló el mayor escándalo de abuso sexual a menores de edad en la Iglesia católica que haya golpeado a Medellín, y uno de los más recientes que se ha…

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Child consultation centers identified 65 cases of child abuse related to religious faith from fiscal 2017 to fiscal 2022, a recent survey by The Yomiuri Shimbun has discovered.

Problems regarding the children of religious followers, or shukyo nisei (second-generation followers), surfaced following the fatal shooting of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in July last year. The cases identified by child consultation centers may only be the tip of the iceberg — there has been at least one private-sector survey in which about 1,000 people said they were forced to engage in religious activities during childhood.

One expert stressed the need to build a framework to help people around such children be aware when something unusual is happening.

The Yomiuri Shimbun conducted the survey in May and June on 78 local governments that have child consultation centers, including those of prefectures, ordinance-designated cities and special areas. It tallied the reports and…

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