ABUSE TRACKER

Safe environment coordinators (SECs) and Virtus facilitators are on the front lines of protecting children and vulnerable adults.

“And we recognize that both of those roles, oftentimes, are very difficult and sometimes underappreciated,” said Jenifer Valenti, director of the archdiocesan office for protection and care (OPC).

“So, it’s really important to us that they know how much we appreciate their excellent work,” she added. “And hopefully, they recognize what an important part of the prevention efforts they are responsible for.

“Because it really, in almost every way, starts with those two functions.”

As they arrived inside the parish hall at St. Joseph Church in Shawnee on Nov. 9, SECs and facilitators from around the archdiocese were greeted with a red carpet and a round of cheers.

It was the second SEC and facilitator appreciation day and the first with a theme: Rolling out the red carpet for our stars.

The…

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The Catholic Church maintains a hardline attitude that “prolongs the pain” of clergy abuse victims despite developing policies to change their ways, according to prominent survivor advocates.

The behaviour of the Church has been in the spotlight in the wake of a landmark jury verdict against it on 10 November 2023.

A case before the Victorian Supreme Court saw a former alter boy awarded a record $3.3 million payout from the Wagga Diocese, which was found to have failed to protect him for the abuse he suffered at the hands of paedophile priest Vincent Kiss.

In a follow-up hearing, legal representatives for the Wagga Diocese mounted arguments to reduce the victim’s compensation payout.

Kim Price, partner at Arnold Thomas & Becker, the law firm that represented the victim, was critical of how the church conducted itself.

“This case went to trial largely because the Church refused to acknowledge…

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[Politico’s New York Playbook]

Harvey Weinstein. Bill Cosby. Donald Trump. Sean Combs.

Lawsuits accusing high-powered men of sexual misconduct were the marquee cases during the one-year window created by the state’s Adult Survivors Act.

But the legislation expiring Thursday did more than target big names: It helped people of all walks find justice, its sponsors say.

“We are changing a dynamic, the antiquated way we view statutes of limitations, and we’ve gained new knowledge through the Child Victims Act and also the #MeToo movement about how women – for the most part, women – were silenced, harassed, intimidated,” Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal told Playbook.

Both Rosenthal and state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal said they hope to extend the measure that has allowed for the filing of civil lawsuits regardless of when the alleged abuse took place.

In its final weeks, the act was used to sue Cosby for allegations including battery, assault and false…

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The window to file cases under the Adult Survivors Act closes Thursday after giving survivors of sexual assault a year to sue their alleged abusers.

The look-back window gave survivors a chance to file cases regardless of when the alleged abuse occurred, opening up the possibility of holding abusers accountable after the statute of limitations on such cases had already passed.

Anna Kull, an attorney who has filed more than 600 claims under the Adult Survivors Act, said Tuesday she was still getting calls from people interested in filing claims.

“I’m a big supporter of the windows, but I think they’re too short,” Kull said. “I don’t think we should be placing a limit on the time because there’s no limit on someone’s trauma.”

Thousands of claims filed

More than 2,600 cases had been filed as of this month, though delays in reporting suggest that number will increase.

Six hundred…

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Both lawmakers who sponsored the Adult Survivors Act, or the law that created a one-year period for adult survivors of past sexual assault to file a case against their abuser, say they support extending the lookback period an additional year next session. 

Sponsors Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal and Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, both Manhattan Democrats, say they’ll also explore a permanent change to New York’s statute of limitations for sexual assault. 

“I think it’s something we should certainly consider,” Hoylman-Sigal said.

The senator says he’s in early talks with other lawmakers about extending the Adult Survivors Act when they return to Albany in January. Attorneys expect a flurry of cases to be filed under the Adult Survivors Act before Friday’s deadline, adding to more than 2,500 cases so far.

The measure allows survivors of sexual assault to file a civil suit against a person or institution for past sexual abuse that happened after the…

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While reading about the recent 71st Red Mass at the St. Louis Cathedral in Louisiana, I noticed six of the seven Louisiana Supreme Court Justices standing in the first pew, which struck me as inappropriate, or as my parochial Latin class taught me, improprius, or improper. And then there was this, “The Louisiana Supreme Court Justices and I attend Red Mass for the divine blessing of wisdom, understanding, counsel, and discernment in decision-making relative to the administration of laws and justice for those we serve,” said Louisiana Supreme Court Chief Justice John L. Weimer.

A blessing in “decision-making.”

Unless they punt the issue again, these six justices will soon deliberate on the constitutionality of legislation passed by the Louisiana legislature in 2021. That legislation seeks to remedy the very worst type of injustice – claims by victims of child sexual abuse. And, most notably here, legislation that Archbishop Gregory Aymond—the person before whom…

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Ah, Pope Francis. There he goes again, stealing headlines over the weekend with statements that have taken us all a bit aback. This time, he voiced support for a Sicilian bishop accused of covering up sexual abuse. This news hit us like a punch to the gut and left us rummaging for answers. This account comes from The Pillar, a Catholic news source that’s been dishing the dirt on what goes behind the holy doors. Tragically, this isn’t the first incident of such nature, and, believe me, it’s a big deal.

The Problem with Pope Francis’ Remarks

Let’s dive in a bit, alright? So, Pope Francis’ comments were quite brief, yet potent enough to undercut the endeavors of the church hierarchy to claim ‘we’ve changed’ our ways when dealing with felonies like child sex crimes and cover-ups. The Pope casually mentioned, “Bishop Rosario Gisana of Piazza Armerina…

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State records show that a suspended Alabama priest recently married the 18-year-old woman he fled to Italy with this summer, and an archbishop said Wednesday that he expects the Vatican to pursue the man’s official dismissal from the priesthood.

A marriage certificate filed Monday in Mobile County shows that Alex Crow, a 30-year-old Catholic priest in south Alabama, married the 18-year-old. Crow left the country in late July with the teen who is a recent graduate of McGill-Toolen High School. Crow was not an employee at the school but sometimes visited theology classes there, news outlets reported. The marriage certificate indicates the woman turned 18 in June.

Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi announced in July that he had suspended Crow and forbidden him from acting, dressing, or presenting himself as a priest. Rodi later said he saw no way for Crow to return to the priesthood.

“The recent…

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Alexander Crow, 30, married 18-year-old high school graduate on Friday, according to license filed in Mobile county, Alabama

A Roman Catholic priest in Alabama who was investigated by law enforcement after fleeing to Europe with a recent high school graduate he met through his ministry legally married her after he returned to the US with her, a document provided to the Guardian showed.

According to a marriage license filed in Mobile county, Alabama, Alexander Crow, 30, married the 18-year-old former McGill-Toolen Catholic high school student on Friday.

In late July, Crow – an expert in the theological study of demons and exorcism – had his clerical duties removed by the Catholic archdiocese of Mobile, after going to Italy with the teen and indicating he would never return to the US.

The archdiocese told him he “abandoned his assignment” and was accused of behavior “totally unbecoming of a priest”.

Though the archdiocese…

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Lawyers for a once-powerful cardinal accused Vatican prosecutors of being “prisoner to their completely shattered theory” on Wednesday in the latest round of closing arguments of a trial that has raised fundamental questions about the rule of law in the city state.

Despite attempts to demonize Cardinal Angelo Becciu, the two-year trial hasn’t proved any of the prosecutors’ allegations of embezzlement, abuse of office or witness tampering against him, said attorneys Maria Concetta Marzo and Fabio Viglione.

“The cardinal is innocent,” they said in a statement. “Thanks to the hearings, we were able to ascertain that none of the accusations had any foundation and that prosecutors were prisoner to their completely shattered theory.”

Becciu is on trial along with nine others in a sprawling case that is focused on the Vatican’s 350 million-euro investment in a London property but also includes two other tangents. Prosecutors…

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A 53-year-old man is suing the Archdiocese of Denver and two former Catholic priests, alleging he suffered extensive sexual abuse while attending Notre Dame Catholic Parish in Denver throughout the late 1970s and ’80s, but repressed those memories for decades.

The Colorado Supreme Court struck down a law earlier this year that created a window during which child sexual abuse survivors could file lawsuits over decades-old abuse allegations. But attorneys representing Michael Stano argue their case is an exception because Stano only recently remembered the repressed sexual abuse.

“It’s certainly rare,” attorney Charles Mendez said of the legal strategy in an interview with The Denver Post on Tuesday. “It’s been argued before both in Colorado and other states, but it is rare. The repression is a trauma response to what happens to you because it gets locked in an area of your brain.”

Stano filed the lawsuit Friday in Denver District…

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The International House of Prayer Kansas City (IHOPKC) accepted a man into its internship in 2012 who admitted on his application that he had engaged in “inappropriate touch” with a 16-year-old in his youth ministry. That’s according to a 2019 investigative report by Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment (GRACE), which was recently leaked for the first time to that 16-year-old, who’s now 52, and then sent to The Roys Report (TRR).

The report claimed that IHOPKC has a culture of failing to “prioritize the wounded” and needs to investigate alleged incidents of sexual abuse by “other individuals associated with IHOP” that surfaced during GRACE’s investigation.

“(P)rioritizing the wounded means that institutional leaders engage in immediate, healthy, and transparent communications to encourage, pursue and care for those who are wounded and hurting,” the report states. “These issues must be addressed and GRACE recommends that…

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The founder of a far-right, unofficial Catholic media group has resigned for an unspecified violation of the organization’s morality clause, the group said in a statement Tuesday.

Michael Voris stepped down as president of St. Michael’s Media and Church Militant, a Michigan-based enterprise established to address what Voris’ official biography calls “the serious erosion of the Catholic faith in the last 50 years.”

“Michael Voris has been asked to resign for breaching the Church Militant morality clause,” the organization said in its statement. “The board has accepted his resignation.” More details were not provided, and the board said it “has chosen not to disclose Michael’s private matters to the public” but asked for prayers for him as he is “focusing on his personal health.”

Voris declined to specify what happened in a repetitive, nearly 14-minute video statement on X, formerly Twitter.

“There are things I have to go away and…

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Hundreds of thousands of children are raped and sexually abused every day around the world. In the Philippines and many countries like Spain, Portugal, the United States, Australia, Ireland, the UK, Germany, Switzerland and Australia, the recent history of sexual abuse of children has been widespread in the church and society. In 2015, Unicef conducted a major study involving 4,000 Filipino children to determine the extent of sexual violence against children in the Philippines and discovered that in every five children, three of them reported having been sexually abused. It occurs in every conceivable place, in the home by parents and relatives, in the school by teachers and older students, in the church by priests and laymen, in orphanages and shelters by staff, in the streets, and above all, in sex bars, brothels and hotels. In fact, it occurs in any secluded place by anyone.

There is a greater awareness…

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An advocacy group decried Ohio lawmakers and the state’s attorney general after a priest who formerly served in Findlay was sentenced to life in federal court Friday for sexually abusing young boys and adults.

Father Michael J. Zacharias wasn’t brought to justice in state court because the state isn’t serious about protecting families, Claudia Vercellotti and David Clohessy wrote in a recent op-ed.

“Ohio legislators continue to cave to lobbyists for the bishops and the insurance industry by refusing to eliminate or extend Ohio’s archaic, predator-friendly statute of limitations,” the two leaders with the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, wrote.

Busted

Zacharias, at the time the pastor of St. Michael’s parish in Findlay, was arrested by the FBI in 2020 on multiple charges of sex crimes, including human trafficking. He allegedly “manipulated and coerced drug-addicted boys and men into sex” and made a “confession video”…

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One of the most notorious predator priests in northwest Ohio has just been given a stiff sentence for his sex crimes by a federal judge after this case came to the attention of the FB, in an unrelated investigation.`

On Friday, Judge Jack Zouhary sent Fr. Michael J. Zacharias to a federal prison for a long time.

The priest, formerly the pastor of St. Michael’s parish in Findlay, was arrested by the FBI in 2020 on multiple charges of sexual crimes, including human trafficking.

He allegedly “manipulated and coerced drug-addicted boys and men into sex” and made a “confession video” in which he performed oral sex on a then-adult victim.

Zacharias admits to first meeting one of his victims when he was an aspiring Seminarian and the boy was a sixth-grader at St. Catherine’s in Toledo.

According to bishopaccountability.org, a second young man told the FBI he met Zacharias as…

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For a year, a special New York law has cleared the way for a wave of headline-grabbing lawsuits against famous men accused of sexual misconduct, including former President Donald Trump, hip hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs and the comedian and actor Russell Brand.

But when the Adult Survivors Act expires after Thanksgiving, it also will have led to a multitude of legal claims by women who say they were sexually abused while serving time in the New York’s prisons and jails.

More than 2,500 lawsuits have been filed so far under the law, which created a year-long suspension of the usual time limit to sue over an alleged sexual assault.

Some of those lawsuits have targeted employers, or institutions such as hospitals, accused of failing to do enough to stop abuse by doctors or other workers. The large majority, though, have been filed against the state, New York City and…

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A French bishop has been charged with the attempted rape of an adult man that allegedly took place more than a decade ago. 

Bishop Georges Colomb of La Rochelle and Saintes was reportedly charged on Friday with the 2013 attempted rape of an adult man. In a statement published on Monday, the French bishops’ conference said it had “learned of the indictment of [Colomb]” and his “placement under judicial control.”

“This indictment concerns facts that [Colomb] disputes,” the bishops said. “They would have occurred in 2013 as part of the Foreign Missions of Paris, of which Georges Colomb was then the superior.”

“By reaffirming its confidence in justice, the bishops’ conference expresses its concern for the person concerned and recalls the presumption of innocence to which Bishop Georges Colomb is legitimately entitled,” the statement said.

“To those who will be disturbed or injured by this information, especially within…

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A former Catholic priest stationed in Gatlinburg was found not guilty of sexual battery by a Sevier County jury Nov. 16.

Nearly two years after he was indicted, a jury found the Rev. Antony Devassey Punnackal, formerly of St. Mary’s Catholic Church, not guilty of allegations he groped a woman while he counseled her after the father of her infant died.

“My client is a terrific human being and we are glad to finally be able to show the world that he’s innocent of these accusations,” Punnackal’s attorney Travis McCarter wrote to Knox News in a text.

The woman, who is Honduran and does not speak fluent English, is seeking asylum in the United States. She alleged that while meeting with 61-year-old Punnackal for grief counseling, the priest pantomimed and made reference to her breasts. From there, he “fondled her breasts and buttocks.”

Punnackal admitted in a…

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SEVIERVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A jury has found a Catholic priest in Tennessee not guilty of sexual battery against a woman who was a church member.

Jurors handed down the verdict late last week in the case against Father Antony Punnackal, who was suspended from his role as pastor of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Gatlinburg after being indicted in January 2022 on two counts of sexual battery.

The charges centered on allegations from February 2020 regarding Punnackal’s actions toward the parishioner. A lawsuit by the woman remains active.

Punnackal has denied any allegations of assault. His attorney Travis McCarter told news outlets in a statement that the priest is a “terrific human being and we are glad to finally be able to show the world that he’s innocent of these accusations.”

An attorney for the woman pointed to her lawsuit, adding in a statement that “a…

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Sex abuse survivors say they fear hundreds of claims filed could be at risk of unraveling.

Although legislation was passed offering a window giving survivors more time to sue, they say the clock is ticking for the Louisiana Supreme Court to rule if the legislation is constitutional.Advertisement

“I was an altar boy,” Mike B. said. “Deacon George Brignac abused me in many different ways in many different places, anywhere between 50 to 80 different instances. For years, I couldn’t walk into a church without having an anxiety attack.”

Mike B. said he received a large settlement from the Archdiocese before they went bankrupt.

Mike B. says it’s not enough to pay for therapy for the rest of his life or the pain of being abused as a child. He never got his day in court. George Brignac, who was arrested for rape, died in 2020, leaving a dark and deep hole.

…

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PARIS (AP) — A French bishop has been given a preliminary charge of attempting to rape an adult man a decade ago, the Paris prosecutor’s office said Monday. It is the latest of a growing number of accusations of sexual abuse by clergy in France.

The Bishops’ Conference of France said the accused bishop, Georges Colomb, contests the charge and deserves the presumption of innocence. He has asked the Vatican to step aside from his duties as bishop of La Rochelle and Saintes in western France to prepare his defense.

French investigative website Mediapart reported that senior figures in the Catholic Church were aware of the accusations for years.

The allegations didn’t reach prosecutors until May of this year. That’s when lawyers for the Archdiocese of Paris and a Catholic group called the Foreign Missions of Paris, shortened to MEP in French, submitted a report of…

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A former pupil has received an apology and a substantial settlement from a private school after it accepted he was sexually abused by one of their priests.

KentOnline can reveal Sutton Valence School in Maidstone, which charges parents thousands of pounds per term, has settled a legal case with a man who alleged he was raped and assaulted when he was a young teenager.

Reverend David Barnes was a chaplain at the school in North Street when the allegations are said to have taken place during his time there in the 1980s.

He died in 2012, aged 75, after working as an assistant curate of Crayford, RAF chaplain and assistant curate of Minster on Sheppey.

The revelation comes just over a year after chemistry teacher Mohammed Afzal, 67, was jailed for three years for sexually assaulting a girl at the school in 1993.

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The Catholic Church and all its members must end silence about clerical sexual abuse and ensure cases are no longer covered up, Pope Francis said, adding it is “non-negotiable.”

Meeting Nov. 18 with Italian diocesan and regional representatives of safeguarding programs and listening centers, the pope said it also is essential to “pursue the ascertainment of the truth and the restoration of justice in the ecclesial community, including in those cases where certain behaviors are not considered crimes by the law of the state, but are under canon law.”

Cardinal Matteo Zuppi of Bologna, president of the Italian bishops’ conference, presented Pope Francis with the conference’s second annual report on safeguarding, covering the year 2022.

While 81 percent of calls to the listening centers were to seek information, the rest were to report cases of abuse to church authorities, said the report, compiled by researchers at the Piacenza campus of…

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Today’s sentencing of Michael Zacharias in federal court marks another step towards justice for all of those harmed by his actions. As I expressed in my May 12, 2023 statement following his conviction, “The acts of which Rev. Michael Zacharias has been found guilty are reprehensible, morally deplorable, and manifestly contrary to the dignity due to each human person and the dignity of the priesthood.”

At the conclusion of the federal trial and the conviction of Zacharias, the diocese, in accord with Canon (Church) Law, had requested the imposition of the penalty of direct dismissal of the clerical state (returning him to the lay state), transmitting the case to the Holy See who alone has the authority to make a final determination concerning his status as a priest in the Church. We are awaiting the response.

With this sentencing, and as we await a decision from the Holy See, it is…

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An Ohio priest was sentenced to life in prison Friday after he was convicted of grooming three boys and taking advantage of their opioid addictions to force them into commercial sex, according to the U.S. Justice Department.

In May, a federal jury in Toledo found the Rev. Michael Zacharias, a Roman Catholic clergy member, guilty of five counts of sex trafficking in allegations that spanned 15 years, from July 2005 to August 2020. Prosecutors said he abused his role as a teacher and priest at a Toledo parish school to groom the three boys into adulthood, force them into sex and enable their addictions to pain medications and heroin later in life.

“Michael Zacharias used his position as a trusted spiritual leader and role model for young boys and their families to exploit them in the most insidious ways, coercing his victims from childhood and beyond to engage in…

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The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland places the safety and protection of children as a highest priority. Initiatives have been in place for decades to ensure a safe environment for youth and vulnerable adults within parishes, schools, and institutions across the state of Maine. Rigorous trainings, comprehensive employee background checks, and safe environment programming like Protecting God’s Children and Circle of Grace have proven effective through a variety of regularly conducted independent audits. There has not been a substantiated new allegation of sexual abuse of a minor by a cleric in Maine since 1993.

The diocese’s opposition to the 2021 retroactive change in the statute of limitations law, and the appeal to the Law Court, in no way reflects a desire to minimize the devastating effects of past sexual abuse by Church representatives. Before the law was changed, there were already no limitations on any claims after 1988. The diocese is committed…

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A 32-year-old mother gets four life terms in prison for sexually abusing her 6-year-old son and 1-year-old girl for profit

A court in the Philippines has sentenced a 32-year-old mother to four life terms in prison for exploiting her six-year-old son and one-year-old girl for profit in one of the strongest penalties against online sexual abuse of children.

The conviction is another “testament to the government’s relentless effort” in ending trafficking and online sexual abuse of children, said regional prosecutor Janet Grace Dalisay-Fabrero.

The court decision, dated Oct. 16, was made public on Nov. 15 by the International Justice Mission (IJM), a non-governmental organization that deals with online child abuse in the country.

Live-streaming sex content using children is reported to be prevalent in the Catholic-majority Philippines because of its active underground sex industry, robust remittance infrastructure, inexpensive internet access, and English language proficiency, reports say.

Until November…

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Soon, a federal judge will make one of the first key decisions in the Archdiocese of Baltimore bankruptcy. How much time should survivors have to file a claim of clergy sex abuse?

An earlier deadline would hasten payments to all survivors, but shorten their window to join in the case. A later deadline would delay their payments, but give them more time to reckon with their trauma and make up their minds.

It’s a balancing act for the court, and the archdiocese attorneys have staked out their starting place for negotiations. They propose a claims deadline of Feb. 26.

That’s 150 days after the Archdiocese of Baltimore filed for bankruptcy. And that’s one of the shortest windows ever for claims in a U.S. Catholic Church bankruptcy, according to an analysis by The Baltimore Banner.

The Banner reviewed the 35 other archdiocese and diocese bankruptcies in the U.S. and found 150…

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Should religious leaders be held responsible for disclosing to law enforcement knowledge that church members are committing acts of sexual abuse? On Friday, Arizona Judge Timothy Dickerson answered no.

Dickerson’s end-of-week ruling dismissed a high-profile child sexual abuse lawsuit against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on the basis of the state’s clergy-penitent privilege.

Clergy-penitent privilege is a legal privilege that protects information from being disclosed in criminal proceedings, such as in a deposition, if that information was obtained during a confidential conversation between clergy and penitent. This privilege allows those seeking clergy counsel to communicate freely with their religious leaders with the understanding that information shared in a counseling session or other private setting will not be disclosed without their express consent, even if that information contains the confession or discovery of a crime.

This privilege was relevant to Dickerson’s ruling because the case involved the disclosure to multiple…

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Annette Kurschus says she is stepping down ‘to prevent damage to my church’.

The head of the Protestant Church in Germany has resigned amid accusations she turned a blind eye to allegations of sexual assault at a church she pastored in the 1990s.

Annette Kurschus, a senior theologian who led Germany’s largest Protestant federation, said on Monday that she had no knowledge of the alleged abuse at the time but would step down to “prevent damage to my church”.

“At every moment, I acted to the best of my knowledge and my conscience,” Kurschus said at a press conference announcing her resignation. “But public trust in my person has been damaged.”

The 60-year-old theologian has been dogged by media reports that she was informed “in detail” of allegations of sexual abuse against a church colleague in the 1990s and took no action.

The colleague — who…

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I’m a survivor of sex abuse at the hands of a youth pastor. I was a teenager in a broken home. It feels trite to say abuse is traumatic. The fact is it alters a young person’s life for years. 

My own personal journey of healing led to later work as a therapist supporting victims and advocating for additional ways to protect children in religious settings. I’ve also conducted research with an eye toward identifying systems and best practices to deter abuse.

As an adult, I converted to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. While no organization operates perfectly, and there’s always room for improvements, I’ve been impressed by a range of effective systems and practices implemented to protect children in the global church.

This is why I was confused to read a recent Associated Press news report characterizing the church as having “a system” to…

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• DailyMail.com has combed through reams of court documents and spoken to around a dozen church members to expose the true scale of alleged abuse
• Victims claim abuse is ‘rampant’, with the church facing legal action over allegations it consistently hides cases from police to avoid costly lawsuits
• Their stories, which span decades, claim the church has allowed abusers to operate unchallenged, with women and children made to suffer as a result 
• Have you experienced abuse within the Mormon church? Contact miles.dilworth@mailonline.com 

By 

Mormon leaders are ‘covering up’ an ‘epidemic’ of sexual abuse that rivals scandals exposed within the Catholic church, victims have alleged to DailyMail.com.

The Utah-based religion has repeatedly protected perpetrators and punished those who speak out in a bid to protect its reputation ‘at all costs’, it is claimed.

Victims believe abuse is ‘rampant’, with Mormon families said to be suffering ‘extremely high rates of incest’. 

Young girls subjected to…

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In November, America’s Vatican correspondent, Gerard O’Connell, interviewed Cardinal Christophe Pierre, who has served as apostolic nuncio to the United States since 2016. Cardinal Pierre spoke candidly about the challenge of conveying Pope Francis’ message of synodality to the U.S. bishops, saying that they lead a church living through “a change of epoch.” The interview, published on America’s website, elicited spirited reflections from our readers.

Being a faithful Catholic to all of the teachings and blessed by the charismatic renewal in my archdiocese, I can see how the church is at a “change of epoch.” As a mother of seven and grandmother of four, I can see how much the culture has changed. My youngest children are facing a culture much more hostile to the faith than my oldest did—what will my grandchildren face as they get older? And yet, the Holy Spirit keeps me always hopeful for this next generation, and…

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The priest, Michael Zacharias, had enabled the victims’ drug addictions by paying them money in exchange for sexual acts, prosecutors said.

An Ohio priest who coerced three boys into engaging in sexual acts as children and abused their addiction to opioids as teenagers and adults, paying them money that funded their drug habits in exchange for sex, was sentenced to life in prison on Friday, the Justice Department said.

The priest, Michael Zacharias, 56, was found guilty in May of five counts of sex trafficking by a federal jury in Toledo, Ohio, in a case that prosecutors said revealed how a trusted spiritual leader had preyed on childhood piety.

During the two-week trial, prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Ohio described the pernicious actions of Mr. Zacharias, who they said had targeted financially vulnerable boys without fathers or steady lives at home, earning their trust…

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Group wants federal government to take a role in investigating complaints of abuse

A London, Ont., woman who is a survivor of childhood sexual abuse by a Roman Catholic priest is now heading a new organization aimed at delivering speedier justice for victims.

This month, Irene Deschenes helped found Outrage Canada, a national non-religious advocacy group with a mandate to hold the church accountable for sexual abuse by the clergy.

The group proposes the federal government set up a national reporting centre to gather and investigate reports of clergy abuse. Deschenes said the current system re-victimizes people who file abuse allegations with the church.

“Right now, for folks their knee-jerk reaction is to go right to the institution that harmed them,” she said. “Priests and bishops, they’re not trained to investigate crimes.”

Deschenes said the Catholic Church can’t be trusted to investigate itself, and that it has a poor record…

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The longer one looks at what did and did not happen in the Strickland case, the more starkly does it begin to appear that Pope Francis’s main concern was to send a message, pour encourager les autres.

The Catholic world is in an uproar over the ouster of a bishop with an outsized public profile that he acquired mostly through social media.

If you’re Catholic and you pay attention to these things, you’ll probably have guessed that I am talking about Bishop Joseph Strickland, olim of Tyler, Texas, a physically gargantuan diocese cobbled from parts of three other Texan jurisdictions in the mid-1980s with a Catholic head count that is a miniscule fraction of the large general population.

The very short version of a very sad story is that Strickland said or repeated lots of very nasty things about Pope Francis, which…

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QUINCY — As he prepared to sentence Isaiah Mikkelson Friday morning, Judge Tad Brenner took a moment to discuss sexual abuse occurring in church settings.

“That any religious institution does not have policies and procedures and education in place to prevent situations like this from happening is absolutely appalling,” Brenner said. “That is a situation which is beyond my jurisdiction and beyond the jurisdiction of a secular court, but it is something that I feel compelled to say in terms of Mr. Mikkelson.”

Brenner then sentenced Mikkelson, 22, a former youth leader at Hope Lutheran Church in Quincy, to 12 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections. He pled guilty to two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse with a person under the age of 18 on Sept. 26.

“What I see is grooming of these two young ladies went on for a very long period of time,” Brenner said….

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Legal experts say a record $3.3 million payout awarded by a Victorian jury to the victim of a paedophile priest this month could change the way victims of sexual abuse in the church are compensated.

The Supreme Court case was the first time a civil trial against the Catholic Church had been tested before a jury, and the $3.3 million figure was the largest payout of its kind from the church to an abuse survivor.

Four men brought a case against the Diocese of Wagga Wagga in 2022 for abuse perpetrated by convicted paedophile Vincent Kiss.

Three settled out of court on the eve of the recent trial, while TJ, whose real name cannot be used for legal reasons, continued to court in the civil case in Victoria’s Supreme Court, eventually being awarded the life-changing sum.

Lawyer Judy Courtin, who specialises in representing victims of institutional child sexual and physical abuse,…

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Because of his lifetime of progressive activism, Bishop Thomas John Gumbleton, auxiliary bishop emeritus of the Archdiocese of Detroit, is often listed among what might be termed the “advance guard” of interpreting church ideals and goals. A meticulous new study of his life and accomplishments by Frank Fromherz and Suzanne Sattler, I.H.M., No Guilty Bystander,follows a more concise, journalistic explication from 2019 by the America contributor and National Catholic Reporter mainstay Peter Feuerherd.

No Guilty Bystander

by Frank Fromherz, Ph.D. and Suzanne Sattler, I.H.M.

Orbis Books
336p $30

The term “advance guard” is more suitable than avant-garde for the Detroit-born Gumbleton, a down-to-earth, no-frills personality who celebrated his 93rd birthday in January 2023. On subjects from pacifism to capital punishment to inclusive church outreach for gender minorities, Gumbleton may have prefigured current Vatican policy by a generation or more.

We learn early on in the book that Gumbleton has had…

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A French commission examining sexual violence against children called Friday for removing all time limits on the prosecution of people suspected of raping or sexually assaulting minors.

The Independent Commission on Incest and Sexual Violence against Children, which is known by its French acronym CIIVISE, also recommended defining sexual abuse of children as a separate offense under the law when it happens within families.

France’s statute of limitation for sexual crimes against children is 30 years from the time the victim legally becomes an adult at age 18. The commission said in a report issued Friday that removing the time limit is necessary because it can take decades for victims to be able to speak out.

The commission of independent experts was established two years ago after child abuse accusations involving a prominent French political expert unleashed a massive social media campaign in which hundreds of people shared accounts of…

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Father Antony Punnackal was found not guilty on sexual battery charges in the criminal case against him

Father Antony Punnackal was acquitted Thursday of two sexual battery charges, according to District Attorney General Jimmy Dunn.

Punnackal was indicted by a Sevier County Grand Jury in January of 2022 on one count of sexual battery by an authority figure and one count of sexual battery and was found not guilty on those charges Thursday.

In February 2020, the father of anonymous Jane Doe’s youngest child was killed. Her primary language was Spanish so she reached out to a bilingual assistant at St. Mary’s Catholic Church to set up a meeting for emotional support and spiritual guidance.

Punnackal was chosen to meet with Doe even though he did not speak Spanish. On Feb. 17, 2020, Doe went to St. Mary’s to meet with Punnackal. The bilingual assistant led her to a room…

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The International House of Prayer Kansas City (IHOPKC) has just released a report on initial findings, discounting some of the recent clergy sexual abuse allegations made against its founder Mike Bickle. The report also questions the “true objectives” of the “Complaint Group,” which presented the allegations to IHOPKC leadership in October.

This group, comprised of former IHOPKC leaders, published a statement Oct. 28, saying it had become aware of numerous allegations of sexual abuse against Bickle from “credible” women, “spanning several decades.”

However, IHOPKC said in its report that it has identified five of the eight women the group claimed are Bickle’s victims. Three of the women have publicly called the allegations “lies,” the report stated. A fourth has reportedly refused to communicate with IHOPKC’s lawyer. One of the women’s allegations predate IHOPKC’s founding, the report said. And four of the women did not give consent to be…

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Three weeks after the Southern Baptist Convention and three of its entities were discovered to have signed an amicus brief in Kentucky arguing against the rights of sexual abuse survivors seeking justice, nothing has changed on the legal front.

Neither the SBC, the SBC Executive Committee, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary nor Lifeway Christian Resources has renounced the brief, withdrawn from it or apologized for standing against a victim facing her abuser and those who knew of her abuse and did not act.

The one exception is SBC President Bart Barber, who apologized that what he had done upset some friends in the SBC. Southern Seminary President Al Mohler said he simply did what the lawyers told him to do, and Lifeway has said nothing at all for three weeks.

On Thursday, Nov. 16, trustees of the Executive Committee gathered in executive session to discuss the matter and reported no action to reverse or rescind their participation in…

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The Catholic Church in Scotland has criticized the Scottish government’s new guidance on sex education, arguing that the latest proposals threaten the right of Catholic schools to protect their religious ethos.

Following the release of a draft government document called “Guidance on Relationships, Sexual Health, and Parenthood (RSHP) Education,” Scotland’s bishops issued a forthright statement on Nov. 8 in response, highlighting that previous religious protections had been scrubbed out.

“The Bishops’ Conference of Scotland is both disappointed and confused at the decision by the Scottish government to delete all reference to Catholic schools in its ‘Guidance on the Delivery of Relationships, Sexual Health, and Parenthood (RSHP) Education in Scottish Schools’ document,” the bishops said.

“We strongly request the reinsertion of the paragraphs relating to denominational education from the previous iteration of the guidance, which would reflect both the legal protection for schools with a religious character and the previously supportive…

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A Roman Catholic priest received a life sentence Friday for his convictions on five counts related to sex-trafficking charges in the molestation of three boys who prosecutors say he met at an Ohio preschool and coerced to continue sexual activity as adults.

Rev. Michael Zacharias, 56, received concurrent life sentences for counts of sex trafficking a minor and sex trafficking of a minor by force, fraud, or coercion. He received concurrent 20-year sentences for two counts of sex trafficking of an adult by force, fraud, or coercion and one of similarly trafficking a minor.

Prosecutors have said Zacharias “paid the victims to engage in sex acts with him using the victims’ fear of serious harm to compel their compliance.” They also said the three victims were developing serious drug addictions and the priest “waited to propose commercial sex” until they were heavily involved in drug abuse.

Zacharias has maintained his…

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A Catholic religious order has agreed to pay $2.9 million to settle claims of child sexual assault by a Catholic brother and former teacher that allegedly continued occurring after the student brought the claims to the attention of upper administration at Mount Carmel High School.

The settlement with the Order of the Carmelites, filed in September, alleges that Brother Robert Murphy, a former teacher at Mount Carmel High School, sexually assaulted a boy more than a dozen times while he was a student at the school from 1982 to 1986. The settlement claims the student made a school disciplinarian aware of the abuse but that no action was taken against Murphy.

The student met Murphy in the summer of 1982 prior to the start of the school year when Murphy supervised activities sponsored by the school, the settlement says. The suit alleges Murphy “paid an inappropriate amount of attention” to…

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Father Juan Huerta Ibarra flees trial in Venezuela, accused of repeated child sexual abuse by José Leonardo Araujo, who was 13 at the time

Bogotá — The more time passed, the harder it became temper the deep sorrow gnawing at his soul. For almost twenty years, José Leonardo Araujo Araque had kept silent about the sexual abuse he suffered as a child. At times, he could hardly put his own thoughts straight — he felt like a hook was stuck in his throat. He decided to study law, driven by a desire for justice. During his criminal law classes, he would get distracted counting the months he had left to file a complaint before the statute of limitations would expire, then the professor’s voice would jolt him out of his disturbing memories.

At the age of 13, José Leonardo dreamed of becoming a priest. He was in the eighth grade…

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“The world has a right to know”.

The 7 News I-Team joined an amici curiae brief Tuesday in the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo’s lawsuit against the State Attorney General’s Office.

The brief was filed in support of the AG’s office determination to release 25,000 pages of documents subpoenaed during its investigation into the diocese’s handling of child sexual abuse. It was filed jointly with The Buffalo News and its reporter Jay Tokasz.

Tokasz and 7 News I-Team Reporter Sean Mickey submitted affidavits accompanying the brief. Both news organizations are represented by Finnerty Osterreicher & Abdulla.

The I-Team and Tokasz each submitted Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests to the AG’s office for the subpoenaed documents. The diocese’s lawyers filed an Article 78 petition in New York County State Supreme Court last month in an attempt to block the release.

As surrogates for the public, both news organizations rely on FOIL to gather…

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The Archdiocese of Washington D.C. is using an arcane legal maneuver to challenge the constitutionality of the Maryland Child Victims Act.

The tactic uses a 2017 law that may have granted some immunity to churches for sexual abuse cases after victims turned 38.

If the court accepts the statute, it could cause issues for future lawsuits brought by survivors.

The Washington Archdiocese is facing a class action suit in Prince George’s County claiming that three boys were abused by clergy and employees.

The Child Victims Act went into effect October 1st and abolished the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse survivors to sue their alleged abusers.

Other organizations like the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services are also facing cases.

The Archdiocese of Baltimore was expected to see more than a thousand lawsuits, however, the organization filed for bankruptcy right before the law went into effect.

Victims and advocates for…

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KALAMAZOO, Mich. (WOOD) — A woman who accused a visiting Catholic priest of sexually assaulting her in Southwest Michigan when she was a teenager was hoping someday to face him in court, even though he had moved back to his native India.

Just last week, the Michigan Attorney General’s Office, which had filed rape charges against Father Jacob Vellian, said it was still working to extradite him.

What the AG’s office didn’t know, until learning it from the victim, was that Vellian died almost a year ago, nearly 8,000 miles away.

“They’re honoring him, they’re kissing his casket, they’re laying flowers at his feet, they’re wearing badges with his picture,” Ann Phillips Browning said while watching a video posted to YouTube of Vellian’s funeral service in India.

The video is clearly labeled as Vellian’s funeral service. His photograph is in a corner of the video. His face is…

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After three-and-a-half years of courtroom squabbles, the Archdiocese of New Orleans and attorneys representing hundreds of victims of child sexual abuse are far from a deal that would allow the local Roman Catholic church to emerge from federal bankruptcy protection.

Two days of hearings in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, where Judge Meredith Grabill is overseeing the church’s Chapter 11 reorganization, covered a host of issues related to property sales, insurance claims and whether survivors of clergy sexual abuse should be permitted to file suit against individual parishes in addition to the archdiocese.

They yielded no rulings and largely demonstrated to parishioners, the public and Grabill how a process Archbishop Gregory Aymond hoped would allow the church to put the abuse crisis behind it had descended into bitter and drawn out legal disputes.

Attorneys representing abuse survivors are frustrated by the lack of progress, they said during the hearings. Meanwhile, attorneys for…

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The victim alleged that the congregation’s investigation into her allegations against the priest was ‘inadequate’

A Catholic woman in Japan has alleged the officials of the Divine Word religious congregation covered up the crimes of a priest, who sexually abused her for five years.

The unnamed woman in her 60s living in Tokyo said she will sue the Society of the Divine Word (SVD) for allegedly helping the abuser, Japan’s Asahi Shimbun reported on Nov. 16.

The woman said a Divine Word priest abused her between 2012 and 2017 at a church where she sought help, according to the report.

She plans to file a lawsuit at the Tokyo District Court against the SVD congregation for 30 million Japanese Yen (around US$198,300) in compensation.

Reportedly, the abuse began in 2012 at a church in Nagasaki.

According to the woman, she told the priest about the sexual violence…

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Many victims of clergy abuse do not report and do not seek help.

KEY POINTS

• Clergy-perpetrated sexual abuse has devastating psychological effects on its victims.
• Victims tend to blame themselves because they hold their abuser in such high esteem.
• Church leaders tend to silence victims to avoid scandal.

We haven’t heard much about child sexual abuse by religious leaders lately but this doesn’t mean it isn’t still happening. And it doesn’t mean that those who suffered from this type of abuse aren’t still suffering. Clergy sex abuse involves the violation of trust and the exploitation of vulnerable individuals by religious leaders, including inappropriate and unwanted sexual contact, inappropriate touching, fondling, and sexual acts.

Determining the prevalence of child sexual abuse within faith-based environments is difficult because these environments vary from small, independent congregations to massive organizations such as the Roman Catholic Church. The well-known John Jay study found that there were 4,392 Catholic…

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Soon after U.S. bishops inside a Baltimore hotel approved materials on how Catholics should vote in 2024 elections, their recently ousted colleague and dozens of his supporters rallied outside the annual fall business meeting.

Bishop Joseph Strickland, a conservative cleric recently removed by Pope Francis as head of the diocese of Tyler, Texas, following his increasingly severe criticisms of the pontiff, prayed the rosary with dozens of supporters along the waterfront.

Inside their conference room, the bishops approved a document that didn’t say who Catholics should vote for, but rather how they should rely on the church’s teachings, like its anti-abortion and pro-immigrant stances, when making their ballot choices.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the top Catholic clergy body in America, approved supplements on Wednesday to its voter guide, which is known as “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship.”

The materials, which include…

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The International House of Prayer Kansas City (IHOPKC) has just released a report on initial findings, discounting some of the recent clergy sexual abuse allegations made against its founder Mike Bickle. The report also questions the “true objectives” of the “Complaint Group,” which presented the allegations to IHOPKC leadership in October.

This group, comprised of former IHOPKC leaders, published a statement Oct. 28, saying it had become aware of numerous allegations of sexual abuse against Bickle from “credible” women, “spanning several decades.”

However, IHOPKC said in its report that it has identified five of the eight women the group claimed are Bickle’s victims. Three of the women have publicly called the allegations “lies,” the report stated. A fourth has reportedly refused to communicate with IHOPKC’s lawyer. One of the women’s allegations predate IHOPKC’s founding, the report said. And four of the women did not give consent to be…

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El sacerdote Juan Huerta Ibarra huye del juicio en Venezuela por las acusaciones de José Leonardo Araujo, que lo denunció por abusos cuando tenía 13 años

Bogotá – Cuánto más pasaba el tiempo, más difícil era atemperar la gran pena que le carcomía. Durante casi veinte años había callado los abusos sexuales que sufrió cuando era niño. Por momentos no lograba hilar sus ideas, sentía como un anzuelo atravesado en la garganta. Decidió estudiar derecho impulsado por la necesidad de justicia. En las clases de derecho penal, José Leonardo Araujo Araque hacía cuentas del plazo que le quedaba para denunciar antes de que el delito prescribiera, y entonces, la voz del profesor se entremezclaba con sus recuerdos perturbadores.

A los 13 años, José Leonardo soñaba ser sacerdote. Estudiaba octavo grado en un colegio regentado por las hermanas dominicas en La Azulita, Venezuela. Un día, viajó a la ciudad de Mérida,…

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A former priest from Colombia accused of molesting a 15-year-old girl suffering from cancer was arraigned Wednesday in a Cleveland court.

Luis Jesus Barajas, 76, was indicted in Cuyahoga County last week on six counts of gross sexual imposition, accused of inappropriately touching the girl while performing a “blessing” in Westlake.

Court records show Barajas’ bond was set at $50,000 at his Wednesday arraignment, where he pleaded not guilty.

That’s down from $250,000 set during his initial appearance in the county court and down from $500,000 set during his initial arraignment in Rocky River Municipal Court.

He’ll be under court-supervised release and home detention with electronic monitoring and ordered against having contact with the victim. He’s also not allowed to leave the state. A temporary protection order has also been issued.

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After Mark Russell Sr. stole his grandmother’s car to go joyriding, his family hoped a stint in juvenile detention would straighten him out.

Russell was a wild Baltimore teenager in the mid-1990s, reeling from the death of his father, a disabled alcoholic he had spent his early life both caring for and fearing, he said in an interview with The Baltimore Sun this week.When he was about 13 years old, he landed at Cheltenham Youth Detention Center for the first of three stays between about1995 and 1997.

During his confinement, a guard sexually abused him, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday. His grandmother, his caretaker, died during the same period, he said. Instead of turning his life around, juvenile detention left him with lasting scars that he said helped fuel years of drug addiction.

Now 41, Russell is part of a group of more than two dozen men and women…

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The president of the Polish bishops’ conference has bitterly criticized demands for liberal change by the church in neighboring Germany and urged the pope not to allow them to dominate the Rome Synod on Synodality.

“Awareness of the power of truth sustains my hope for the ongoing synod — that it won’t be in any way manipulated or used to authorize German theses which openly contradict Catholic Church teaching,” Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki of Poznan said in a letter to Pope Francis released Nov. 14.

“There’s a risk the scientific claims being cited are wrong, as happened with another once-popular theory about racism. If doctrinal competence were granted to bishops’ conferences or continental assemblies, then such theses would be considered Catholic — and perhaps imposed on other conferences, despite their obviously non-Catholic character,” the archbishop said.

The 1,000-word letter was published ahead of the Polish bishops’ Nov. 20-21 fall plenary, which…

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Five years ago, Soledad Gallego-Diaz challenged Spain’s last great taboo: sexual abuse inside the Roman Catholic Church.

The newly appointed editor of the left-leaning daily El Pais launched an investigation into allegations of abuse by clergy and lay people against children.

Unlike in the United States, Ireland and France, the Spanish Church had not sought to address this issue.

Echoing The Boston Globe’s 2002 investigation of child abuse in the Catholic Church, El Pais’ probe sought justice for survivors of abuse.

“I realized that the church was not going to do anything, unlike in the U.S. and Ireland. It had no intention to do anything. It was going to carry on covering up those cases that it knew about. It was the moment to find out the truth,” Gallego told VOA.

Five years after the paper launched its investigation, Spain’s ombudsman published a report estimating that more than 200,000 children suffered sexual abuse from some…

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Inside a windowless hotel ballroom on the Baltimore waterfront on Wednesday, more than 250 American bishops were trying to pilot through the choppy waters of the increasingly contentious relationship between Pope Francis and conservative American Catholics, many of them in their own ranks.

But the most visible sign of that struggle was outside on the street, as a small crowd gathered to show support for Bishop Joseph Strickland, the bellicose Texas bishop fired by Francis over the weekend. Bishop Strickland has accused the pope of undermining the Catholic faith and represents an outspoken cohort in the church who view Francis as dangerously liberal.

Just steps from the hotel, Bishop Strickland’s supporters sang and knelt to pray with the deposed cleric. Most held rosaries, and some hoisted signs reading, “We stand with Bishop Strickland.”

Josiah Reffo, who converted to Catholicism less than a year ago, read about this week’s event on the right-wing…

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Legal motions filed by the Archdiocese of Washington could ultimately impact hundreds of victims of child sex abuse seeking damages from long ago abuse

The Archdiocese of Washington sought to overturn Maryland’s new landmark Child Victims Actin court this week in an effort to dismiss a handful of decades-old allegations of child sex abuse.

If successful, the motion arguing that the law violates the Maryland Constitution could also dissolve a legal avenue for hundreds of other victims trying to sue any institution that harbored their attackers.

The Child Victims Act took effect Oct. 1 and eliminates all statutes of limitations for civil lawsuits regarding child sex abuse in Maryland, part of what lawmakers called a long-overdue public reckoning.

The Archdiocese of Baltimore preemptively filed for bankruptcy protection two days prior, anticipating a wave of lawsuits that it couldn’t afford to defend or pay off. The…

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A federal judge on Wednesday approved Buffalo developer Carl Paladino’s winning bid of $200,000 to buy the former Archbishop Walsh Academy buildings and campus owned by the bankrupt Catholic Diocese of Buffalo.

The Buffalo News reported that Olean 2020 LLC, a limited liability corporation owned by Paladino, outbid three other bidders at an auction Tuesday for the property.

Proceeds from the sale will likely be used toward a negotiated settlement with more than 850 child sex abuse claimants in the diocese’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy case.

The building at 208 N. 24th St. has been Walsh’s home since its construction in 1959. The school, as it was announced in 1957, was to be named after Archbishop Thomas J. Walsh, who had died five years earlier. He had deep roots in the Southern Tier after studying at nearby St. Bonaventure University.

In early January, Walsh officials had spoken with a potential buyer,…

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Police on Indonesia’s Flores Island have arrested a man on the charge of raping his daughter for three years, in what is considered the latest in increasing cases of child abuse in the Catholic-majority island.

Paulus Sadu, 42, a Catholic and resident of Golo Wuas village in South Elar Subdistrict was arrested on Nov. 15 after his wife lodged a police complaint, said Jeffry Silaban, head of the East Manggarai Regency’s Police Crime and Investigation Unit.

Silaban said Sadu’s wife complained that he raped their 13-year-old daughter for the last three years beginning in 2020 and the latest on Sept. 28.

“He raped her in the garden, then threatened violence if she told anyone about his actions,” the police officer said adding that the father threatened to kill her with a machete when she tried to fight back.

However, on Nov. 11, the victim gathered courage to speak to her mother,…

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Calling violence against women a “poisonous weed” that must be eradicated, Pope Francis also told the media that their campaigns to stop the violence often are offset by the way they glorify a person’s ability “to attract and dominate the other.”

“In too many places and too many situations, women are put in the background, they are considered ‘inferior,’ objects; and when a person is reduced to a thing, then one no longer sees her dignity, she is considered just property that can be used in any way and even killed,” the pope said in a message read on Italy’s RAI 1 radio station Nov. 9.

The radio and a shelter for abused women in Milan planned a full day of broadcasts to educate the public about the ongoing problem of violence against women.

To combat the violence, the pope said, one must go to the roots, which “are cultural…

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A woman says she endured years of sexual abuse at a southeastern Massachusetts school starting when she was just 11 years old.

“I don’t even want to think about the hours I’ve spent in therapy and medications I’ve taken and tried,” she said. “And just to try to have a normal life.”

25 Investigates agreed to protect her identity as a survivor of sexual abuse.

“One of the administrators at the school started paying a lot of attention to me,” she said.

“It felt nice. It felt special.”

“It was picking me out of the hallway to tell me I looked nice or telling me I did really well on an exam or at a game.”

She says the administrator started pulling her out of the cafeteria at lunchtime to have lunch in his office with him.

“And that seemed a little weird, but it wasn’t weird enough for me…

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One survivor of years of sexual abuse in a southeastern Massachusetts public school said her harrowing experience has proved particularly distressing to process – in large part, because of how preventable it all was.

She recounted how a school administrator would take her out of classes to abuse her – with the unknowing acquiescence of teachers who allowed her removal without questioning it.

She said the abuse only ended three years later, when a new physical education teacher asked her: “‘Are you okay?’”

“I’d come back and I’d be all upset and just spaced out,” the survivor said. “My abuser was smart enough to know which teachers were going to notice less and pull me from those classes more often. I think the teachers – they didn’t have the training. They were in a culture that allowed this administrator to do whatever he wanted. There was no culture that supported…

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The largest, loudest and longest demonstration outside the meeting of Catholic bishops in Baltimore came Wednesday, led by a Texas bishop who was removed from his post by the pope four days ago.

The annual fall meeting of U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Baltimore hasn’t come without controversy. Three days of meetings at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront in Harbor East drew a variety of protest groups.

Bishop Joseph Strickland, 65, has become known for criticism of Pope Francis. The action came after the pope moved to make the church more welcoming to LGBTQIA+ Catholics.

Strickland and others in an ultra-conservative crowd are calling on the bishops attending the conference to go backward.

“I think it’s a huge arrogance of our time to think we’re the only generation that’s ‘woke.’ We need to awaken,” Strickland said. “That’s our faith that I’m willing to die for.”

When asked why not go…

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A Catholic woman will seek 30 million yen ($198,300) in a compensation lawsuit filed against the Nagoya-based Society of the Divine Word, saying she was sexually abused by a foreign priest in the congregation.

The woman, a nurse in her 60s living in Tokyo, said the religious congregation failed to take appropriate action against the priest, who has since left Japan, despite her complaints.

The lawsuit will be filed at the Tokyo District Court.

According to the woman and her lawyer, during “confession” at a church in Nagasaki in 2012, she told the priest about the sexual violence she had suffered as a child.

The priest told her that she would “have to start over,” and forced her to have sex with him repeatedly as “spiritual guidance” until around the end of 2017, she said.

She reported the priest’s actions to the counseling office and the head of the congregation’s…

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A new national, non-religious coalition called Outrage Canada seeks a federal investigation to hold the Catholic Church  accountable both for historic and current sexual abuse crimes against children.

Irene Deschenes is on Outrage Canada’s board of directors, which launched a new website (outragecanada.ca) Nov. 2. She was one of the victims of Fr. Charles Sylvestre, convicted in 2006 for sexually abusing 47 young girls between the 1950s and 1980s. Deschenes endured two years of abuse while she attended St. Ursula Catholic School in Chatham, Ont., in the early 1970s.

For parts of three decades, Deschenes has litigated against the Diocese of London after first reporting her abuse at the hands of Sylvestre in 1992, and in 1996 filing a civil suit settled in 2000. It was reopened after police reports about Sylvestre dating back to 1962 were uncovered in a diocese filing cabinet.

“That litigation was over my shoulder for…

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Warning: This story contains descriptions of sexual abuse and may be disturbing to some readers.

A San Mateo priest accused of molestation in a lawsuit is one of two accused clergy who remain in active ministry with the Archdiocese of San Francisco as the church faces renewed questions over how it responds to sexual abuse allegations.

The lawsuit, filed in Alameda County in November 2022, alleges Father Linh Tien Nguyen sexually abused a former altar boy and student of St. Pius Catholic Church and School in Redwood City between approximately 2005 and 2008.

The plaintiff in the case, identified as “M.S.,” alleges he was between 10 and 13 years old. He is now in his late 20s.

“This young person has got a lot of courage,” said Dan McNevin, Oakland leader of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP. “If there’s any good news in this, it’s that…

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During its plenary assembly, the Bolivian Bishops’ Conference expressed its solidarity and closeness to the bishop of San Ignacio de Velasco, Robert Flock, saying he “was a victim of excesses” by prosecutors who interrogated him as witness in a case against a priest.

The bishop was summoned to testify as a witness in the case of a priest of the diocese who is under investigation for alleged rape, “and he found himself in an irregular interrogation of more than five hours, by other prosecutors, as if he were supposedly guilty,” the bishops said in a statement.

The statement was read Nov. 13 by the secretary general of the conference, Bishop Giovani Arana, and the deputy secretary general, Father Diego Pla, at Cardenal Maurer House in Cochabamba, where the 113th Assembly of Bishops is taking place.

The case involves Father Erick Palomino Fuentes, who was suspended from priestly ministry at his…

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On the morning of September 10, 2023, the following news appeared on the website of the Swiss Bishops’ Conference: “Canonical Investigations into Suspected Concealment of Sexual Abuse by Members of the Swiss Bishops’ Conference.”[1] This news was a prelude to the publication, two days later, of the Report on the Pilot Project for the History of Sexual Abuse in the Context of the Roman Catholic Church in Switzerland since the Mid-20th Century.[2] What consequences will result from these investigations and when these investigations will be continued cannot yet be predicted.

The problem of the credibility of the Church

Such a situation, with so much of the background and details still unknown, is all too familiar to those who deal with the issue of abuse and its cover-up in the Catholic Church. It is almost predictable that much remains obscure; that because of the complexity of the issue, multiple responsibilities and historical…

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Opinion: A bishop stays silent for seven years while a little girl is being raped. Arizona law allowed him to say nothing and here’s the real stunner, a key legislator wants to keep it that way.

A creeper confesses to his bishop. He’s raping his 5-year-old daughter.

For seven years, the bishop tells no one outside his church — remaining silent, as a church lawyer advises him to do — and the abuse continues. Then the creeper starts raping another daughter, just 6 weeks old.

Last week, a Cochise County judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by several of the creeper’s children against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

It’s galling, though not surprising, that a judge would decline to hold the church responsible. While Arizona has a mandatory reporting law for teachers and doctors and such, members of the clergy are not required to report a confession…

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Since its publication in September, a report has been shaking up the secrecy that has surrounded sexual abuse in the Swiss Church since the mid-20th century. The report is still preliminary, but could pave the way towards a more systemic commission, like the one in France.

It draws up a provisional inventory of 1,002 victims of sexual abuse committed by Catholic priests and members of the Swiss Church since 1950. Released on September 12 in Zurich, the “pilot project report on sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church in Switzerland since the mid-20th century” has triggered a series of reactions with as yet unknown consequences.

“Switzerland has done things in a different order from France: reparations commissions for victims already existed,” explains Astrid Kaptijn, professor of canon law at the University of Fribourg. “Various ecclesiastical bodies finally agreed to fund this study.” The study was entrusted to the  View Cache

When all US Catholic bishops meet in Baltimore, we urge them to discuss the church’s ongoing clergy sex abuse and cover-up crisis. Ignoring this still-widespread and deeply hurtful criminal scandal leads to further complacency which enables more predators to assault more kids.
While the Catholic hierarchy’s internal panels, procedures, policies and protocols on abuse are inherently flawed and rarely effective, not talking about this crisis is the wrong approach.

Specifically, at a bare minimum, we urge the bishops to at least discuss the possibility of:
—establishing a whistleblowers fund to help church employees who experience retaliation after reporting known or suspected child sex crimes to church officials, and
—fighting for, not against, reforms of secular abuse laws to give victims of childhood sexual violence more time to expose those who commit or conceal child sex crimes in court.

We also urge them to vote AGAINST elevating San Francisco’s archbishop to a committee chairmanship.
San…

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Current and former Jehovah’s Witnesses reported 159 cases of sexual abuse by followers, many at the hands of those in positions of authority, according to a survey conducted by an apostate group.

The group of former second-generation followers, called “JW child abuse damage archive,” released the findings to relevant government ministries and agencies on Nov. 7.

It plans to hold a news conference on Nov. 28. 

Members of the group said they hope that the problem will be investigated as a social issue and serve as a wake-up call for human rights violations that can occur in other religions as well.

In the survey, the group solicited responses online in July and received 159 valid responses.

Thirty-five respondents said they had been sexually abused by followers when they were minors.

The sexual abuse they suffered included 24 cases of “being touched on the body over clothing or directly,” 11 of “being viewed…

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In the realm of sexual crimes, a stark contrast exists in the level of media attention and public awareness when the perpetrators wear different hats, specifically, the robes of the Catholic Church versus the more secular attire of public school teachers or individuals from diverse spiritual beliefs.

When allegations of sexual misconduct arise within the Catholic Church, the media responds with a resounding uproar that reverberates globally. Cases involving Catholic priests make headlines, sparking international outrage, and prompting discussions about accountability and reform.

Furthermore, authors exploring themes of scandal and controversy within the Catholic Church frequently experience an unexpected surge in international fame. Books that point fingers at the Church, delving into alleged misconduct or institutional shortcomings, often become sensationalized and receive extensive media coverage.

The allure of such narratives, coupled with the controversial nature of the subject matter, seems to propel these authors into the spotlight, contributing to their…

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Key points:

• The civil case was brought against the diocese of Wagga Wagga, over abuse by convicted paedophile Vincent Kiss
• The victim, TJ, was award a $3.3 million payout, while three other plaintiffs settled outside court
• It is first time a civil jury has recorded a verdict against the Catholic Church

An abuse survivor who will potentially receive one of Australia’s largest-ever compensation payouts from the Catholic Church says it is a “mind-blowing” victory he hopes will give other survivors a “sense of hope”. 

The civil case verdict in Victoria’s Supreme Court last Friday related to child sex abuse committed by convicted paedophile priest Vincent Kiss in the 1960s and 70s.

The case was originally brought against the diocese of Wagga Wagga by four men who suffered abuse at the hands of Kiss, who at the time was its director of youth.

Three of the men settled out of court, with TJ, whose real name cannot be used for legal…

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The Synod of Bishops on synodality just completed the first of two major assemblies. The synodal process has the potential to impact the entire church, including women religious. For the final question to this panel, Global Sisters Report asked: How has the synodal process affected you, your parish, or your community? What hopes do you have for the synod?

Responses have been edited for clarity. We will debut a new crop of panelists later this month.

Gifty Atampoka Abane is a member of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus from Ghana. She is a teacher in a Catholic girls’ high school in Ghana and serves their province in leadership.

The synodal process awakens in me a new consciousness of a journey in which the perfect, the imperfect, the seekers, the prophets, the weak and frail, the strong, the wise and foolish, the patient and enlightened, young people,…

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The phones are ringing in the church office, and the volunteers can hardly keep up.

St. Benedict has celebrated Mass in Southwest Baltimore for 130 years, but the parish faces the end. There are grief and anger — and questions. Lots of questions.

What about the gifts in the sanctuary from all the old families? What about the annual sale of “Baltimore’s best coddies.” Isn’t there something, anything, the people on the phone can do?

“Call or write the archdiocese,” Verdell “V” Kelsaw tells them. “We don’t know what else.”

Parishioners are reeling from the abrupt dismissal of their longtime pastor. The Archdiocese of Baltimore dismissed him after The Baltimore Banner found he had paid a settlement over an allegation of fraud and sexual assault. Then, the archdiocese cited a shortage of priests for a decision to end St. Benedict’s worship services.

Some church…

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Call it gut instinct or a dash of healthy cynicism, but we can’t help but raise an eyebrow at the recent surprise move by Baltimore’s Catholic Archbishop, William Lori. Nope, we’re not referring to his quicksilver push for a ludicrously narrow deadline for the survivors of child sex abuse to step forward and seek compensation through the bankruptcy process. That maneuver is a conversation unto itself; frankly, it leaves a pretty sour taste in our mouths. But, let’s park that topic for the time being and delve into this astonishing other decision that has us scratching our heads: the abrupt closure of a parish following a sex scandal.

Closing Down the Parish, Really?

Okay, let’s set the scene. Almost a month after a priest was caught in a sticky web of sexual and financial allegations, out of the blue, the parish doors are slammed shut. Predictably, this raised…

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Brother Brendan Brennan of the Marist Brothers has been accused of sexually abusing a student, 16, at Central Catholic High School in 1980.

Lawrence MA – A Boston lawyer is calling for justice for his client, who says he was sexually abused by the late Brother Brendan Brennan of the Marist Brothers congregation while he was a 16-year-old student at Central Catholic High School in Lawrence in 1980.

Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who has represented clergy sexual abuse victims and survivors for decades, said in an interview with Patch Monday that his hope is that the Archdiocese of Boston Cardinal Seán Patrick O’Malley and the Marist Brothers acknowledge the alleged abuse and settle his client’s claim.

Garabedian’s client, Francis G. Kearney III, attended Central Catholic High School from 1978 to 1982. Speaking with Patch Monday, Kearney III, who played football, hockey, and golf in high school, said Brennan was his religion…

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Yesterday, former Ann Arbor Catholic priest Timothy Crowley, 74, was sentenced to one year of incarceration at the Washtenaw County Jail and five years’ probation, on two counts of Second-Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct (CSC), announced Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel. Crowley, who pled guilty in August, was additionally sentenced by Judge Patrick Conklin in the 22nd Circuit Court in Washtenaw County to receive sex offender treatment and register as a sex offender for the remainder of his life.   

Crowley, who had been a priest at St. Thomas Rectory in Ann Arbor, was arrested in 2019 in Tempe, Arizona. His case was initially dismissed after a preliminary examination, but the Attorney General’s office prevailed in the Court of Appeals. He was originally charged by the State with four felony counts of First-Degree CSC and four felony counts of Second-Degree CSC, for alleged crimes against one victim.  

Crowley is the…

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A closer look at the largest survey of U.S. Catholic priests in 50 years has revealed “a major shift in how priests view themselves and their priesthood,” said researchers.

Compared to their older peers, younger priests are far more likely to describe themselves as theologically orthodox or conservative, politically conservative or moderate, and prepared to be “first responders” to the abuse victims they encounter in their ministry. Furthermore, researchers noted “a significant proportion of American priests say that they had ‘personally experienced sexual harassment or abuse or suffered sexual misconduct’ during their formation or time in seminary.”

The findings were detailed in “Polarization, Generational Dynamics, and the Ongoing Impact of the Abuse Crisis: Further Insights from the National Study of Catholic Priests,” a November 2023 report released by The Catholic Project, an initiative from The Catholic University of America designed to foster effective collaboration between the church’s clergy and laity…

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The 2024 presidential election, and considerationof a recent Vatican conclaveto shape the future of the Catholic Church, are expected to be among the key elements that propel the agenda when America’s Catholic bishops gather in Baltimore for their annual fall meeting this week.

About 300 bishops from across the United States are set to converge Monday morning for the conference at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront, where they’ll kick off three days of meetings, discussions and voting that will help establish priorities for the American church for the coming year.

One item that looms large in the background is not listed on the published agenda: the scourge of clergy sexual abuse. The topic has dominated the news in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, the first and oldest Catholic diocese in the U.S., since the bishops last met in their customary host city nearly a year ago.

It was shortly after the prelates…

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Extrapolating figures to suggest 440,000 victims is deceitful, says Cardinal Omella.

A Spanish government report about sexual abuse within the Catholic Church found that 0.6% of adults interviewed reported having been abused by a Catholic priest or religious. Even when abuse was perpetrated by lay Catholics employed by Church institutions, the figure went up only to 1.13%. 

The 779-page report, commissioned by Spain’s Parliament, interviewed 8,013 adults. Some media outlets have suggested that its findings would mean that 440,000 people in Spain have suffered sexual abuse at the hands of the Catholic Church.

Cardinal Juan José Omella, president of the Spanish bishops conference, said that such a calculation “is a lie and is intended to deceive.”

Reuters reported that an internal Church investigation published in June identified 728 alleged sexual abusers among Spain’s clergy and 927 victims since the 1940s. That followed a 2021 report in El Pais newspaper…

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The insolvency of California dioceses has caused some cases be put on hold, even as a $175m cathedral has risen over Oakland

In Oakland, California, the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Christ the Light is difficult to miss. Towering over Lake Merritt in the heart of the city, its modernist glass dome reflects the East Bay sun in all directions.

The building, which was completed in 2008 and financed by the Roman Catholic diocese of Oakland, cost $175m. But that price tag confounds Joseph Piscitelli.

In the 1970s, Piscitelli attended a Catholic high school in nearby Richmond, where, from the age of 14, he experienced repeated sexual abuse at the hands of his vice-principal, an ordained priest. For decades, Piscitelli experienced nightmares and panic attacks. Friends who had also been abused turned to drugs and alcohol, and several took their own lives.

In 2003, Piscitelli sued the Salesian College Preparatory high…

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ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — A former Michigan priest has been sentenced to a year in jail after pleading guilty to sexually abusing an altar boy more than three decades ago.

A Washtenaw County judge sentenced Timothy Crowley, who must also serve five years of probation, on Wednesday, The Ann Arbor News reported.

Crowley, 74, pleaded guilty in August to two felony counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct under a plea agreement that dismissed two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct.

He was charged for sexual conduct with a youth alleged to have taken place between 1986 and 1990 at Jackson’s St. Mary Star of the Sea Catholic Church, Hillsdale’s St. Anthony Catholic Church and Ann Arbor’s St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church.

The victim testified that he was a 10-year-old altar boy for Crowley in 1982 at St. Mary’s in Jackson when his family encouraged him to…

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WESTLAKE, Ohio (WJW) – A man accused of molesting a 15-year-old cancer patient during a “blessing” last month was indicted by a grand jury on Thursday.

The grand jury indicted 76-year-old Luis Jesus Barajas, a Columbian national, on six counts of gross sexual imposition.

The investigation began when a local priest reported the situation to police. Investigators say Barajas had been staying with Lorain County families for months, “performing spiritual ceremonies to the nearby Spanish-speaking population.”

According to a press release, Barajas was taken to Westlake on Oct. 20 to pray with a 15-year-old girl who was diagnosed with cancer.

The suspect, who later claimed to be a retired Catholic priest, is accused of inappropriately touching the teen during the blessing.

Barajas was arrested on Oct. 23.

Investigators believe the suspect was ordained in 1982, but was sent back to Colombia after being accused…

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Bill Maledon, the church’s attorney who handled the case, stated ‘the abuse of a child or any other individual is inexcusable’

An Arizona judge has granted a motion by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for summary judgment and dismissed a negligence complaint against the church in a child sex abuse case.

The lawsuit, filed in 2021, accused the church and local church leaders of negligence and civil conspiracy in relation to a child sexual abuse case involving a father abusing his two daughters over several years.

In the ruling issued Friday, the Cochise County Superior Court found that “Church Defendants were not required under the Mandatory Reporting Statue to report the abuse of Jane Doe I by her father because their knowledge of the abuse came from confidential communications which fall within the clergy-penitent exception in the Mandatory Reporting Statute.”Report ad

In Arizona law, as…

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The Vatican announced Nov. 11 that Pope Francis had effectively fired Texas Bishop Joseph Strickland, a firebrand prelate who in recent years questioned the safety of the coronavirus vaccines, called synodality “garbage,” and endorsed a video that attacked Francis himself as a “diabolically disoriented clown.”

In a short note in the daily press bulletin, the Vatican said Strickland, who had served as the leader of the Diocese of Tyler, Texas, since 2012, had been “relieved” of his post by Francis. That language, not typical in Vatican diplomatic speak, appeared to indicate that Strickland, age 65, had refused requests to resign. The prelate had been subject to an official Vatican investigation into his leadership.

“The shocking part for me was not that [Strickland] was going against Pope Francis, but seeing a Catholic bishop behaving like a fundamentalist Protestant in being so dismissive…

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Pope Francis on Saturday forcibly removed from office the bishop of Tyler, Texas, a conservative active on social media who has been a fierce critic of the pontiff and some of his priorities.

A one-line statement from the Vatican said Francis had “relieved” Bishop Joseph Strickland of the pastoral governance of Tyler and appointed the bishop of Austin as the temporary administrator.

Strickland, 65, has emerged as a critic of Francis, accusing him in a tweet earlier this year of “undermining the deposit of faith.” He has been particularly critical of Francis’ recent meeting on the future of the Catholic Church during which hot-button issues were discussed, including ways to better welcome LGBTQ+ Catholics.

The Vatican earlier this year sent in investigators to look into his governance of the diocese, amid reports he was making doctrinally unorthodox claims.

The Vatican has not released the findings of the investigation, and Strickland…

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Archbishop Leo Cushley of St. Andrews and Edinburgh has said that a proposal to end voting privileges for religious appointees in a governing council that oversees local education is “another step in a process to remove faith education from schools in Scotland.”

The National Secular Society (NSS) is calling on the council to end the religious appointees, calling the system “undemocratic, unrepresentative and unjustified.”

The majority of schools in Scotland are non-denominational and include Protestant schools. There are also over 360 state-schools affiliated with the Catholic Church.

The vote on religious representatives on the East Lothian council will be held on Friday. Several councils in Scotland have already removed non-elected members, including in Edinburgh, Orkney, Highland, Fife and Stirling.

“No one should be granted a privileged place in local democracy just because of their religion. If Scotland is to be a country where all citizens irrespective of background have an…

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Hundreds of thousands of Spanish men and women have been abused as children, a new report claims. The Roman Catholic Church may fear for its existence, Jorge Ruiz Ortiz writes.

On October 27, a piece of news came to light that, given its magnitude, could generate an earthquake of incalculable consequences for the history of Spain. However, it could also, for various reasons, on both sides, very well come to nothing.

The Ombudsman presented a report of almost 800 pages, in which he stated that 1.13% of the adult population had suffered sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church when they were minors; that is, 400,000 people, practically all of whom would have been at the hands of priests and religious leaders.

Personal testimony

The report comes after a request from the Congress of Deputies (March 10 2022) and will have to be presented to Congress on a date yet…

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The Italian Senate voted nearly unanimously on Thursday to launch a new parliamentary inquiry into the 40-year-old cold case of the disappearance of 15-year-old Emanuela Orlandi, who lived in Vatican City, as well as another girl who went missing in Rome the month prior.

The four-year parliamentary commission will have “full investigative powers” and a budget of 50,000 euros per year to shed light on the 1983 disappearance of the two girls. 

The Italian government inquiry comes after a separate Vatican investigation into the Orlandi case opened in January and shared its findings six months later with Rome prosecutors, who have been further investigating the cold case.

Emanuela Orlandi was the teenage daughter of Ercole Orlandi, an envoy of the Prefecture of the Papal Household and a citizen of Vatican City State. Her disappearance on June 22, 1983, after leaving for a music lesson in Rome has dominated headlines in…

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After months of delays related to controversial comments by a relative perceived as offensive to the late Pope John Paul II, the Italian senate finally approved a measure Thursday to create a parliamentary inquiry into the 1983 disappearance of 15-year-old Emanuela Orlandi, known as the “Vatican Girl” due to a popular Netflix documentary on her case.

The inquiry will also investigate the disappearance of another 15-year-old girl at roughly the same time, Mirella Gregori, whose case long has been linked to that of Orlandi.

Thursday’s Senate decision followed a similar vote by Italy’s lower house in March, meaning the measure now becomes law. The new commission will be composed of 20 members from the House of Deputies and 20 from the Senate, and will have the investigatory authority, including subpoena powers, of a judicial magistrate.

Members of the commission are expected to be named by the end of the year….

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A new offering from the University of Notre Dame’s McGrath Institute for Church Life aims to help seminaries and dioceses strengthen formation programs, particularly in pastoral ministry to victim-survivors of sexual abuse.

“Fully Equipped for Every Good Work: A Proposal of Twelve Core Competencies in Ministering to Survivors of Sexual Abuse for Seminary,” outlines twelve competencies for seminaries to adopt for seminarians to demonstrate before they’re ordained.

“The present whitepaper is very much a work in progress; it can serve as the basis for an ongoing and very important conversation about how to best prepare clergy for this delicate ministry, and especially how to best incorporate trauma-informed pastoral care into seminary formation programs and programs of ongoing priestly formation,” Father Thomas Berg, a visiting scholar at the McGrath Institute and a co-author of the proposal, said in a statement.

In the 40-page proposal, the competencies are divided between two sections.

…

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A lawyer for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland told supreme court justices Thursday that Maine’s elimination of time limits on child sex abuse lawsuits is unconstitutional and imposes new liabilities, a reference to costly lawsuits that have driven some dioceses into bankruptcy.

But an attorney whose law firm represents about 100 plaintiffs characterized the law as the “will of the people” versus the diocese’s expectation of brushing past conduct under a rug.

“There’s never been a right to enabling child sex abuse. The diocese wants you to create a vested right in getting away with it,” attorney Michael Bigos told the court.

The Supreme Judicial Court heard highly technical arguments at the Penobscot Judicial Center in Bangor during a packed hearing that underscored the stakes of its ultimate decision.

Roman Catholic dioceses in Baltimore; Buffalo, New York; and elsewhere have filed for bankruptcy…

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