ABUSE TRACKER

This is what government should not do: fail to offer relief, year after year, to adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse.

As Spotlight PA’s Stephen Caruso reported last week, “Survivors of childhood sexual abuse must continue waiting for their day in court after the Pennsylvania General Assembly failed to meet the deadline to get a proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot.

“This failure continues nearly two decades of idleness, intrigues, and slip-ups that have blocked a measure that would give thousands of survivors a two-year window to seek monetary damages against their abusers and the institutions that shielded the accused.”

The civil statute of limitations had expired for many of these survivors before they even knew such a statute existed.

We have repeatedly implored state lawmakers to pass a two-year litigation window so survivors can face their abusers in civil court and hold accountable those who enabled their abuse.

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Homer, N.Y. — A teen girl and her mother have accused a priest in the Syracuse Catholic Diocese of having an inappropriate relationship with the girl since she was 14, according to court documents.

Rev. Nathan Brooks, 36, of LaFayette, has been charged with third-degree sex abuse, forcible touching and endangering the welfare of a child. The incidents happened between 2019 and 2021, authorities said.

On Tuesday, Brooks was arraigned in the Homer Town Court.

Court documents obtained by Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard Tuesday reveal new details in the case.

The girl, who recently turned 18, and her mother came forward to authorities after the girl saw Brooks interacting with others and became concerned that he was treating other girls the way he had treated her, according to a deposition the girl gave to the Cortland County Sheriff’s Office.

Brooks met the…

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[Includes trailer.]

Scout’s Honor: The Secret Files of the Boy Scouts of America

Directed by Brian Knappenberger, Documentary, Crime, Not Rated, 1h 34m

Almost three years ago, ahead of a bankruptcy court deadline, more than 82,000 people came forward with sexual abuse claims against the Boy Scouts of America. The mostly male survivors were of all ages and came from every state. Some of them had kept mum for decades.

“Scouts Honor: The Secret Files of the Boy Scouts of America,” directed by Brian Knappenberger and streaming on Netflix, is essentially a walk-through of the monumental case. A solid chunk of its running time is spent with Michael Johnson, a former director at the Boy Scouts who has since become an outspoken critic of its youth protection practices. As the film tracks the organization’s history of abuse and cover-ups, Johnson recounts hitting brick walls during his efforts to reform…

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A Catholic priest in New York’s Diocese of Syracuse has been arrested on charges of sexual abuse, including that of a minor, for alleged incidents from 2019 to 2022. In response, the local bishop suspended the priest from ministry and called for prayers for everyone involved.

Father Nathan Brooks, 36, faces several misdemeanor charges filed Aug. 31 in Cortland County Court in central New York. These include endangering the welfare of a child, forcible touching, and sexual abuse in the third degree.

Brooks, who resides in the town of Lafayette, has been serving as administrator of three churches: Church of the Nativity at St. Joseph in Lafayette; Immaculate Conception in Pompey; and St. Leo, Tully and St. Patrick Mission in Otisco.

Bishop Douglas J. Lucia on Friday said that Brooks has been suspended from all ministry during the investigation.

“This is distressing news, most certainly to me, and to all…

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As a result of an investigation conducted through the Independent Review Board, Bishop Michael W. Fisher has accepted the board’s recommendation and has determined that a claim made against retired priest Father Joseph Vatter that he had abused a minor female has been substantiated.

Bishop Fisher had placed Father Vatter on administrative leave in February 2023. As a result of the substantiated claim, Father Vatter will continue to be removed from ministry and be listed on Priests with Substantiated Claims of Abuse on the diocesan website. Prior to being placed on leave, Father Vatter had occasionally celebrated Masses at various churches within the Diocese of Buffalo.

If you have any information specific to clerical sexual abuse you would like to share, please contact Jackie Joy, our victim assistance coordinator, who may be reached at 716-895-3010.

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A longtime Buffalo Diocese priest and pastor who retired in 2022 sexually abused a child, the diocese said Tuesday in a news release.

The Rev. Joseph E. Vatter, 71, who retired in 2022 as pastor of St. Paul Parish in Kenmore but continued to occasionally celebrate Mass at various churches, had been on leave since February after an abuse allegation was reported.

The diocesan review board, a group of clergy and lay Catholics appointed by Bishop Michael Fisher, determined that a claim that Vatter “had abused a minor female” had been “substantiated.” Fisher accepted that recommendation, the news release said.

Dioceses across the country have put in place review boards to help bishops handle child sex abuse allegations.

Buffalo Diocese officials did not say when the alleged incident occurred, but it appears to be separate from an allegation involving a man that was reported by The Buffalo News…

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The criminal charges involving the sexual assault and abuse of a minor were dismissed Wednesday after a judge ruled Theodore McCarrick, 93, was not mentally competent to stand trial.

A group known as BishopAccountability.org, which tracks sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, condemned a Massachusetts district judge’s Wednesday decision to dismiss criminal charges against former cardinal Theodore McCarrick.

The criminal charges involving the sexual assault and abuse of a minor were dismissed Wednesday after a judge ruled McCarrick, 93, was not mentally competent to stand trial.

Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of the bishops accountability group, told CNA that “the dismissal of the case against McCarrick is hugely disappointing” and that “our hearts go out to the courageous victim who brought this case and to all of McCarrick’s victims.”

McCarrick, the disgraced former archbishop of Washington, D.C., was facing three counts of indecent assault and battery on a person over the…

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A priest ordained by the Catholic Diocese of Syracuse has been arrested for sexual abuse allegations.

On August 31, the Cortland County Sheriff’s Office announced the arrest of Reverend Nathan Brooks, 36, of Lafayette. Brooks allegedly subjected one individual to inappropriate sexual contact on multiple occasions from 2019 to 2021 in the Town of Homer and in the City of Cortland.

Brooks was charged with endangering the welfare of a child, forcible touching, and sexual abuse in the third degree. According to a news release from the Diocese, Brooks has been suspended from all priestly ministry at this time. The investigation is ongoing.

Brooks serves as an administrator at the Church of the Nativity at Saint Joseph in LaFayette, Immaculate Conception in Pompey, Saint Leo in Tully and Saint Patrick Mission in Otisco. He was ordained in 2019.

Most Rev. Douglas Lucia, Bishop of the Diocese of Syracuse said in…

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[Includes a one hour and fifteen minute video podcast interview of Marcus Mescher by Paul Fahey.]

I first came across Dr. Marcus Mescher late last year when a friend of mine shared something he posted on Twitter about an upcoming research study he worked on titled, “Measuring & Exploring Moral Injury Caused by Clergy Sexual Abuse.”

Because of my own interest and research into spiritual abuse in the Catholic Church, I read the study as soon as it was published, and I’ve been thinking about it ever since.

Marcus’s research connected a handful threads about the relationship between abuse, trauma, conscience, and deconstruction. So I was excited when he agreed to come on the podcast and discuss his work.

First, the study defines moral injury as:

“Moral injury results from a betrayal of trust, disrupting one’s beliefs and moral compass. It comprises persistent psychological and emotional…

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A church lay leader sexually abused a child. The victim’s family says the institution protected him.

For years, Cherin Marie’s life near Big Rock, Illinois, revolved around her family and her faith. She and her husband were raising their young children in the Christ Our Light Anglican Church, a tiny but active congregation within the Diocese of the Upper Midwest of the Anglican Church in North America. Her weeks revolved around service, volunteering, and life alongside fellow parishioners. Her world came undone in 2019, when her then-9-year-old daughter told her that Mark Rivera, a prominent lay leader in the church, had sexually abused her. Cherin Marie says that when her family came forward about the sexual abuse, their congregation spurned them and diocesan leaders initially sided with Rivera.

This past March, Judge John Barsanti sentenced Rivera to 15 years in prison after finding him guilty of two counts of predatory sexual…

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The bad days aren’t as bad as they used to be for Frank Schindler.

He has a good life now. He’s married to Betsy Schindler, a woman he adores. They have a nervous orange tabby cat named Leo and live in a cozy Canton row home, a few minutes’ walk from the water. He has a job he cares about and friends who care about him.

But there are still days when the darkness creeps back in.

Dread without any discernible cause grips his chest. The urges to self-harm resurface. In his mind, he returns to his kindergarten classroom, on the second floor of a New York City convent, across the street from the church his family attended. There had to be a reason why the priest picked him out of all the other children in his classroom, he tells himself. The man must have seen something in him that…

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St. Jude Community Center, Catholic Book Store are on the list of potential real estate sales.

More than three years after filing for bankruptcy protection amid mounting claims of child sex abuse by local clergy, the Archdiocese of New Orleans is preparing to sell off seven properties — including the shuttered Sacred Heart of Jesus Church, the St. Jude Community Center and the Catholic Bookstore Uptown — as a way to generate cash that could be used to help settle those claims.

In court documents filed this week, the archdiocese is seeking court approval to hire commercial real estate broker The McEnery Company to market the properties. If sold for their proposed asking prices, the properties would generate nearly $10.4 million for the local Roman Catholic Church.

That’s likely a drop in the bucket relative to the cost of the bankruptcy process and the claims an estimated 500 or so abuse…

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The Archdiocese of New Orleans is seeking bankruptcy court approval to put several New Orleans properties on the market, part of a plan to settle potentially hundreds of claims of child sex abuse as it seeks to exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The seven properties and four vacant lots, if sold at their asking prices, would generate some $10.4 million.

A hearing on Sept. 21 will determine if the archdiocese can move forward with selling the properties. If approved, the properties will be on the market in late September.

Below are the properties that are pending approval and their asking prices.

1. St. Jude Community Center – $1.95 million.
2. Catholic Bookstore – $1 million.
3. Sacred Heart of Jesus Church – $2.275 million
4. Bishop Perry Community Center – $1.95 million.

The St. Jude Community Center and the Catholic Bookstore currently house establishments.

The other properties on the market — the Sacred Heart of Jesus Church…

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No evidence of human remains has been found during the excavation of a Catholic church basement on the site of a former Manitoba residential school.

Chief Derek Nepinak of Minegoziibe Anishinabe shared the results of the search in a social media video.

He says it takes nothing away from the difficult truths experienced by those who attended the Pine Creek Residential School.

Fourteen anomalies were detected in the basement using ground-penetrating radar last year.

The First Nation, northwest of Winnipeg, hired an archeological team from the University of Brandon to do the four-week excavation earlier this summer.

Nepinak says he is aware the results will feed into a denialist narrative of what happened at residential schools and urged people to continue supporting the search for truth.

He says it does not mark the end for the community and they will engage with members to find a path forward.

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The son of an Irish teacher who blew the whistle on paedophile Jesuit priest Joseph Marmion said his father should be recognised for his role in helping to end the reign of the predator who sexually abused at least 60 boys.

Riocard Mór Ó Tiarnaigh reported Marmion to the then principal of Belvedere College in September 1977, prompted by his son’s disclosures about a school trip to Vienna. His son, also Riocard, said the teacher’s actions helped “light the fuse” that led the Jesuits to remove Marmion from teaching duties at the end of that school year.

The then Jesuit principal, Fr Noel Barber, has no memory of that meeting with Riocard Mór Ó Tiarnaigh, a report on Fr Marmion published by the Jesuits on August 23 said, although he accepted it must have happened.

Riocard Mór Ó Tiarnaigh died in 2000, but his son vividly recalls the events that…

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The former head lawyer for the Boy Scouts of America denies that the organization ever lied about or covered up sexual abuse, in a new documentary coming to Netflix.

Steve McGowan served as the Boys Scouts’ General Counsel from 2013 to 2022. In Scouts Honor: The Secret Files of the Boy Scouts of America, coming to Netflix on September 6, director Brian Knappenberger, confronts McGowan with the facts: For years, the Boy Scouts insisted sexual abuse was a “minuscule” problem in the organization, only for over 82,000 men to come forward with claims they were sexually abused as children while doing Scouts-related activities. Therefore, Knappenberger concludes to McGowan, “That was a lie. That was a cover-up, right? The Boy Scouts lied about that being a problem.”

“No, we didn’t,” McGowan responds. “No, we didn’t. 82,000… over what period time? And we don’t even know that that’s the number.” Then, as if…

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Retired Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has said there is “a huge amount of resistance among the Catholic education establishment” to pluralism in schools’ patronage. He does not believe there will be women priests in the Catholic Church in his lifetime and described as “bad theology” the banning of condoms in the fight against Aids. The clerical child sexual abuse scandals had “badly damaged the church,” he said and, in particular, “the faith of young people”.

Now living in Dublin’s Stoneybatter, Archbishop Martin (78) has also admitted finding retirement in 2020 “very difficult at the beginning because I retired right in the middle of Covid.” He remembered “one day in the Phoenix Park, I was out in an open-necked shirt and there was a man sitting on a bench. He looked up and said: ‘Are you enjoying your retirement?’ And I said: ‘Yeah.’ And he said: ‘Did they take the…

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The retired Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, has revealed that during his priestly ministry he met two people he could have imagined as “a life partner”, one of whom remains a friend and is in contact with him.

He said one of the women “lives a long way away” and she taught him how to use WhatsApp.

In the new series of The Meaning of Life, due to be broadcast on RTÉ One tomorrow evening, Dr Martin told Joe Duffy: “I would have met one, two people that I certainly could have become a life partner to.”

Discussing celibacy and priesthood, the 78-year-old said: “So you had to decide, what do you want to do with your life? Where do you want to go? Falling in love may happen but you don’t want to do it just to satisfy yourself.”

He explained that he was 17 when he joined…

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THE former Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has revealed how he invoked the ire of other priests after speaking out over child sex abuse in the Catholic Church.

Speaking to Joe Duffy for RTÉ’s ‘The Meaning of Life’ programme on Sunday night, the 78-year-old retired cleric recalled the reaction to his public condemnations following the publication of the Ryan and Murphy reports in 2009.

As Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Martin handed over 80,000 documents to the Murphy Commission.

“There were a lot of priests who were very angry with me because I began talking about this subject,” he said.

“It was only later on that many of them realised we did have a very serious problem with these habitual paedophiles.”

In 2012, Dr Martin called for an independent international commission of inquiry into the crimes of notorious paedophile priest, Brendan Smyth.

“I was angry at what happened to those poor kids,”…

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The Diocese of Lansing today welcomed the conviction of former priest, Timothy Crowley, for sexual crimes against a minor. 74-year-old Crowley pleaded guilty to two counts of Second Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct at Washtenaw County Circuit Court, Wednesday, August 22.

“Crowley’s crimes were a gross betrayal of the trust placed in him by the Catholic community within the Diocese of Lansing and, especially, of those families and young people entrusted to his pastoral care,” said David Kerr, Director of Communications for the Diocese of Lansing, August 23.

“While giving thanks that justice has been served, the primary focus of our prayer today is for the victim whose bravery led to the present conviction and also for anyone else who may have been harmed by Crowley. To them we say: ‘This should not have happened to you and we are profoundly sorry that it ever did’.”

Timothy Crowley was ordained a…

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• Diocese said it hopes to quickly revise bankruptcy settlement
• Judge said a revised plan must include more safeguards against invalid and inflated claims

The Catholic Diocese of Camden New Jersey said Wednesday that it was reworking an $87.5 million settlement with 300 sexual abuse victims after a U.S. bankruptcy judge said that the proposal could put insurers on the hook for inflated or invalid claims.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Jerrold Poslusny issued a decision late Tuesday which said that the proposed bankruptcy plan would create a settlement trust that was “biased” against insurers and could allow for payment of inflated, invalid or fraudulent claims, in addition to excessive attorneys’ fees.

The diocese, which serves 480,000 Catholics in six New Jersey counties, said Wednesday that it intended to submit a revised bankruptcy plan incorporating the judge’s feedback as quickly as possible.

“The Diocese remains hopeful that it will expeditiously exit the Chapter…

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The Diocese and the attorneys representing survivors of sexual abuse will renegotiate the terms of the agreement.

A federal judge rejected the Camden Diocese’s $87.5 million settlement to sexual-abuse survivors Tuesday, saying it would leave insurance companies on the hook for invalid claims and inflated attorneys’ fees.

The Catholic Diocese of Camden, bankrupted by sexual-abuse lawsuits, agreed last year to compensate more than 360 survivors as it navigates Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The plan called for some insurers to pay $30 million into a trust covering claims and expenses.

However, the Diocese’s insurers expressed concerns that loopholes in the proposal could leave them paying more than $30 million. In the coming weeks, the Diocese and the abuse survivors’ attorneys will renegotiate the settlement.

Attorneys representing the survivors said they respect the decision from Bankruptcy Judge Jerrold Poslusny Jr. and criticized the insurers.

“The Diocese paid its insurance companies millions of dollars…

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On August 31, the Cortland County Sheriff’s Office arrested 36-year-old Nathan Brooks of Lafayette for three misdemeanors surrounding multiple occasions of sexual abuse.

Back on August 22, Cortland County Sheriff’s received reports of allegations of sexual abuse by Brooks, a priest with the Diocese of Syracuse, that took place between 2019 and 2021.

Cortland County Sheriff’s Office says an undisclosed location in the Town of Homer and an undisclosed location in the City of Cortland are where the allegations stemmed from.

“The investigation revealed that the defendant, Nathan Brooks, had subjected one victim to inappropriate sexual contact on multiple occasions over several years. The victim was known to Mr. Brooks,” said the Cortland County Sheriff’s Office.

Brooks is due in Homer Town Court, Tuesday, September 5th and Cortland City Court September 6th.

In July, the Syracuse Roman Catholic Diocese agreed to pay $100 million to sex abuse victims, as part…

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A priest in the Syracuse Catholic Diocese has been charged with forcibly touching a minor over several years, deputies said.

Rev. Nathan Brooks, 36, of LaFayette, is accused of touching the minor between 2019 and 2021 in the town of Homer and in the city of Cortland, Cortland County Sheriff’s Office deputies said in a news release Friday.

Brooks is an administrator at the Church of the Nativity at St. Joseph in LaFayette, Immaculate Conception in Pompey, St. Leo in Tully and St. Patrick Mission in Otisco.

Brooks was ordained in 2019 at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Syracuse. He graduated from Bishop Grimes High School in 2005 before attending St. Mary’s Seminary & University in Baltimore, according to The Catholic Sun.

Brooks has been suspended from all priest duties as the criminal investigation plays out, the diocese said in…

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Dissident Russian artist Andrei Molodkin has created a sculpture he plans to fill with blood donated by victims of abuse in the Catholic Church, which he says he will project on to the gates of the historic city – the home of the Pope.

Human blood is set to “soak” the Vatican in a protest inspired by the late singer Sinead O’Connor.

Dissident Russian artist Andrei Molodkin has created a sculpture he plans to fill with blood donated by victims of abuse in the Catholic Church, which he says he will project on to the gates of the historic city – the home of the Pope.

Molodkin – who made headlines after selling blood-soaked copies of Prince Harry’s memoir earlier this year – says he expects Catholics to be offended by his latest stunt but insists: “It doesn’t bother me.”

He believes there will be outrage similar to that caused…

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The Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force (ARITF) held an in-person meeting on Monday in Dallas, TX. This was our first in-person meeting since President Bart Barber announced changes to the ARITF on August 11. The ARITF wishes to express our gratitude to the messengers to the 2023 SBC Annual Meeting in New Orleans for granting us an additional year to fulfill our assignment and for once again demonstrating overwhelming support for the work of abuse reform.

Protecting the vulnerable and caring for the abused is at the heart of every gospel-centered ministry. Collectively, we recognize the significance and the urgency of the task entrusted to us. We are grateful to President Barber for the confidence he has placed in this task force and for his unwavering support for this cause. We also wish to thank Send Relief for its generous financial support and ongoing partnership with the ARITF.

…

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Dozens of Chicago-area residents are speaking out against a city plan to sell public land to Plymouth Brethren Christian Church (PBCC) to build a local church. Some claim the religious group will benefit from the deal at taxpayers’ expense, while others allege a pattern of abuse in the denomination.

On Wednesday, at a South Barrington Park District board meeting, residents objected to the proposed $1.7 million purchase of public land by PBCC, a Protestant denomination headquartered in Australia. The group had planned to construct a church and school on a 34-acre site in the wealthy northwest Chicago suburb.

An attorney for the park district, Scott Puma, announced at the public meeting that “The real estate closing is on hold,” according to a report in the Daily Herald. 

Several residents spoke up against the proposed land sale in the meeting and later to media. Resident Sage Fattahian  View Cache

Today a judge in Massachusetts dismissed the criminal case against former Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, saying that he was incompetent to stand trial.  The disgraced and defrocked McCarrick was being prosecuted for sexually assaulting a child decades ago. His attorneys claimed that the once-powerful 93-year-old American prelate suffered from dementia and lacked the mental capacity to stand trial.

Our hearts go out to McCarrick’s accuser. We stand in solidarity with him and commend him for his pursuit of justice. We believe a verdict of guilty would have been rendered had the case been allowed to proceed. 

There is another case on behalf of the same survivor being prosecuted in Wisconsin. We hope that the courts in that state will reach a different decision, and finally allow this brave survivor his day in court.

McCarrick is the first Catholic cardinal in the United States to face criminal…

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The former home of a notorious paedophile priest has been set alight in Co Down.

Police spotted the blaze at the vacant parochial house in Hilltown where Fr Malachy Finegan had lived early on Thursday morning.

Extensive damage was caused to the building during the blaze, which police believe was started deliberately.

Finegan, who died in 2002, was parish priest for Clonduff parish in Hilltown in the 1990s.

He has been accused of sexually abusing numerous children over several decades. He was never prosecuted.

Finegan, who also taught and worked at St Colman’s College in Newry from 1967 to 1987, is alleged to have carried out some of his abuse at the parochial house.

In 2019, the Clonduff Parish with which the building is connected launched a consultation among parishioners on the future of the building. It has lain vacant for a number of years.

A PSNI spokeswoman said: “A passing…

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Sir, — I read Canon Judith Maltby’s letter on the breaking of the seal of the confessional for confession of sexual abuse (25 August) with interest, because I consider this debate has far wider implications for the seal generally, which have either not been recognised or, if recognised, have not been articulated by either side in the debate, so far as I have seen.

This has been carried on entirely, it seems, in the context of sexual abuse by clerics and others, which is understandable, given the gravity of the offence and the Church of England’s lamentable past failure to deal with it and seeming continued inability to do so. It is consequently also understandable that there should be calls to require any confessor who receives a confession from an abuser, confessing to what they have done, to be required to break the seal and report the abuser. The…

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Sir, — In no way do I wish to minimise the ethical complexities surrounding breaking the seal of confession to those of us in the Catholic tradition of the Church of England. Any discussion, however, must take place in full acknowledgement of the catastrophic safeguarding failures of the Church and its chronic poor performance in incorporating learning from external reviews or inquiries.

I had hoped for a more substantial defence of the seal from The Society’s submission to the IICSA response unit at the Home Office (News, 16 August). Disappointingly, the submission is thin on evidence.

The Society bishops state: “[It is a] a remote contingency, and unproven concern, that perpetrators will abuse the Seal. . . We are not aware of examples of penitents in the Church of England alleging that the ‘process’ of Confession has been in some way misused by priests to cover up instances of…

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[Includes timeline.]

Former mayor calls for psychiatrist’s contract to be terminated, wants to know what policies are in place to protect patients

Former Mountain View Mayor Sally Lieber is asking the El Camino Healthcare District to terminate a psychiatrist’s contract and explain what actions it took after the hospital learned in 1988 that the doctor, who has practiced at El Camino Hospital since 1980, was accused of sexual misconduct while a priest in Southern California.

In a July 11 email to the five elected board members of the El Camino Healthcare District, Lieber asked for details on what policy changes, if any, were made as a result of the accusations against Dr. Thomas Havel. The allegations were first brought to light in a 1988 civil suit that accused Havel of repeatedly touching, caressing and attempting intercourse with a girl he was counseling beginning in 1968 when she was 13 and he…

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Fr Joseph Marmion SJ’s abuse of more than 60 pupils in Ireland throughout the 1960s and 1970s is detailed in a newly published report.

The newly published report “A Restorative Response to the Abuse of Children Perpetrated by Joseph Marmion SJ” interviewed 62 past pupils of the Irish priest who was a teacher in three schools in Ireland throughout the 1960s and 1970s.

The report, written by Catherine O’Connell and Barbara Walshe, cautions readers of “explicit examples of abuse” perpetrated by Marmion that can make for “difficult reading and may cause upset.”

Fr. Marmion, who died in 2000, taught at Clongowes Wood College in Kildare, Crescent College in Limerick, and Belvedere College in Dublin throughout the 1960s and ’70s.

The Irish priest was removed from school teaching in 1978 following disclosures of sexual abuse during a school trip to Vienna in 1977. He was…

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Survivors’ group say Archbishop questioned why survivor did not return to police with claims a second time

The leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland has this week denied an accusation of “victim blaming” following a meeting with a clerical sex abuse survivors group.

Primate of all-Ireland Archbishop Eamon Martin met with a group of child sex abuse survivors in the Dromore diocese earlier this year.

The Dromore Survivors group say the Archbishop questioned a man who was abused as child by the pedophile priest Fr Malachy Finegan about his failure to take his case to police for a second time, after an initial report was not followed up.

Survivor Sean Faloon, who says he was raped “at least 350 times” by the late Fr Finegan, told Belfast Live he had first reported his abuse to police in the 1990s at the age of 17.

He told Belfast Live that,…

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Ron Hunter was repeatedly assaulted and sex-trafficked as a child. At 63, he’s telling his story – to protect others and heal himself

Ron Hunter is taking us on a trip down memory lane – or more precisely, 42nd Street in Manhattan. He is showing us the spots where, half a century ago, he was repeatedly molested, sexually assaulted and raped from the age of 13.

All because of the Boy Scouts.

He leads us to the block that for four years in the early 1970s was his patch. It was here that he was brought by the Boy Scout leader who groomed him, then sex-trafficked under his street name “Angel” for five bucks a trick.

Hunter stands beneath the awning of the former Selwyn Theatre, which in 1972 was a movie house showing pornographic films like Deep Throat and The Devil in Miss Jones. That’s where in the winter…

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Faced with more than 500 lawsuits stemming from clergy sexual abuse, the San Francisco Catholic diocese last week said it had no choice but to seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone wrote, “the bankruptcy process is the best way to provide a compassionate and equitable solution” for abuse survivors. But victims say the bankruptcy is just a ploy to deprive them of justice and their day in court. San Francisco’s move to seek bankruptcy relief follows similar filings by the Oakland and Santa Rosa dioceses, following multiple clergy abuse lawsuits. Across the country, more than 30 dioceses have have sought bankruptcy protection. We’ll talk with experts about what it all means for the church, its faithful, and abuse survivors.

Guests:

Sophia Bollag, reporter, San Francisco Chronicle

Michael O’Loughlin, national correspnodent and associate editor, America: The Jesuit Review – O’Loughlin has covered the Catholic church for both the Boston…

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 A federal bankruptcy judge has denied a motion to proceed with victims’ settlements related to clergy abuse within the Diocese of Camden.

The diocese, in April 2022, agreed to pay $87.5 million to settle claims for roughly 300 victims of clergy sexual abuse. The money was slated to go to a trust fund set up over a four-year period from the diocese and related Catholic entities. The settlement also included maintaining or enhancing protocols to protect children.

However, Judge Jerrold Poslusny, Jr. said the court needs to hear more on the merits of the settlement reached between the diocese and a committee representing victims.

The judge also denied a motion from insurance companies to enforce a previous settlement with the church, saying it was intended to be part of a plan which ultimately never came to a vote and wasn’t approved by victims.

In a statement, the diocese said…

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An Illinois megachurch pastor, who resigned after being accused of mishandling alleged sexual misconduct by his son, a former pastor, is starting a new church.

“It is obvious that God is doing something amazing and miraculous in Song and Sword,” said Mike Baker, previous pastor of Eastview Christian Church (ECC). “Same old pastor, same old town, but a brand-new work that God is going to do in us and through us.”

Baker made the announcement during a Vision Sunday online sermon on Aug. 20 for Song and Sword, the online ministry Baker launched in April. Song and Sword also seems to be the name of the church that Baker said he will launch at the Chateau Hotel and Conference Center in Bloomington, Ill., on Sept. 10. Baker said he has signed a one-year contract with the Chateau.

Baker’s son, Caleb Baker, resigned from a pastoral position at ECC…

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Maureen Sullivan spent almost five years of her childhood in the notorious Irish institution. Now, at 71, she is speaking out, despite some defenders of the Catholic Church still wanting her to stay silent

Just after her 12th birthday in 1964, Maureen Sullivan’s teacher, Sister Cecilia, sat her down and told her to be honest about what was going on at home. Hopeful that perhaps she might be allowed to go and live with her beloved granny if she dared tell the truth, Sullivan admitted to Sister Cecilia what her stepfather had been doing to her for years.

Sullivan’s father had died suddenly when her mother was 19 and, faced with the terrible fate of being a destitute widow, her mother married a new man who she hoped would save the family from starvation. Instead, that man went on to make her children’s lives a living hell. Sullivan detailed the…

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Victims push for new abuse probe They ask DC AG to open investigation SNAP: ‘Dozens of abusers are/were here but remain hidden’ And they prod DC’s archbishop to reveal more predators

WHAT

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

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

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Congregation ought to be renamed the Cheapskate Bullies for its persistent torment of abuse survivors via the legal system

The autumn sunshine was sweltering in St Peter’s Square when Pope John Paul II beatified Edmund Rice in October 1996, but it was still not as hot as the celebrations which included an al fresco holy hooley called “the Rice rave”. This, the penultimate step to canonisation, was the answer to generations of schoolboys’ daily prayer all over Ireland since 1961 that the founder of the Christian Brothers would be declared a saint by Rome.

RTÉ beamed the ceremony live from the Vatican. It featured a procession of 23 of Ireland’s most senior Catholic churchmen and 12 Oireachtas members, led by the ministers for education and defence in the Fine Gael-Labour Party government and the deputy leader of Fianna Fáil.

None of the dignitaries raised as much as…

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The Rape Crisis organisation in Louth has been criticised by clerical sex abuse survivors campaigning to strip a former leader of the Christian Brothers of a Freedom of Drogheda award.

Local councillors awarded the honour to Brother Edmund Garvey, a Drogheda native, in 1997.

Survivors of sexual abuse by Christian Brothers want local councillors to rescind the honour because of a widely criticised legal strategy adopted under Brother Garvey’s stewardship that has frustrated victim’s attempts to claim redress in the courts.

The Louth-based Rape Crisis North East said last weekend that the decision to rescind the Freedom of Drogheda from Br Garvey was a matter for local councillors.

In contrast, the national umbrella organisation, Rape Crisis Network Ireland, has rowed in behind the survivors’ campaign, saying the issue was about holding the Christian Brothers to account for an “obstructionist” legal strategy.

The chairperson of Rape Crisis North East is a…

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McCarrick Is Believed to Be the Highest Ranked Catholic Official Accused of Child Sexual Abuse and Facing Civil Lawsuits

(Saint Paul, MN) – Today in Dedham District Court, Judge Paul J. McCallum ruled that defrocked Cardinal Theodore McCarrick cannot stand trial due to dementia. McCarrick was facing trial for allegedly abusing a minor in the 1970s during a wedding reception at Wellesley College in Massachusetts. At the time of the alleged abuse, McCarrick was assigned to and living in the rectory at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City.

“Cardinal McCarrick not being able to stand trial comes as no surprise. What is shocking is that he was given permission by the pope, cardinals, and clerical culture for so many decades and allowed to do so much harm to so many for so long,” said attorney Jeff Anderson.

Jeff Anderson & Associates represents approximately 7 survivors who were abused by McCarrick while he…

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A Massachusetts judge on Wednesday dismissed a criminal charge against former high-ranking Catholic cleric Theodore McCarrick, ruling that the 93-year-old former archbishop of Washington is incompetent to stand trial for alleged child sexual abuse.

The decision underscores the fast-closing window for potential accountability for McCarrick, who once was one of the U.S. Catholic Church’s most visible and connected leaders and now is one of its most notorious figures.

McCarrick had been charged with assaulting a 16-year-old boy at a wedding in 1974, the first criminal charge since a slew of sexual misconduct accusations surfaced in 2018 and he was removed from public ministry. He still faces a second criminal sexual abuse case, involving the same alleged victim, in Wisconsin.

Judge Paul McCallum, of the Dedham District Court in Massachusetts, dismissed the case in a morning hearing, after experts for the defense and the prosecution agreed…

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The 93-year-old former prelate is the most senior cleric to face charges in the Catholic Church’s abuse crisis.

Theodore McCarrick, the highest-ranking Catholic cleric in the United States to face charges in the church’s ongoing sexual abuse crisis, is not competent to stand trial, a judge in Massachusetts ruled.

The disgraced former cardinal, who is 93, was declared unfit by a Dedham District Court judge on Wednesday.

Mr. McCarrick faced three counts of indecent assault and battery in Massachusetts, based on an accusation that he repeatedly sexually assaulted a teenage boy at a family wedding reception in 1974.

The charges in Massachusetts were seen as a milestone in victims’ efforts to hold abusers in Catholic settings accountable. Thousands of clergy members in the United States have been accused of crimes in the sprawling reckoning with sexual abuse, secrecy and cover-ups in the Catholic Church. But because most of the…

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Defrocked cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the highest-ranking Roman Catholic official in the United States to face criminal charges in the clergy sexual abuse scandal, was found not competent to stand trial Wednesday in a case alleging he had sexually assaulted a 16-year-old boy in Wellesley in the 1970s.

Dedham District Judge Paul McCallum ruled that 93-year-old McCarrick was incompetent after two medical experts found he suffered from dementia, then granted the state’s motion to drop all charges.

McCarrick, who appeared remotely via Zoom, showed no emotion when a court clerk told him the case was dismissed. Dressed in a gray sweater vest over a white shirt, he sat hunched over a table in a room at his residence, an assisted living facility in Missouri for clerics accused of molesting children.

His accuser did not attend the hearing, but sent a two-page victim impact statement to the judge…

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A Boston judge ruled Wednesday that former top US Catholic official Theodore McCarrick was cognitively unable to stand trial for sexually assaulting a teenage boy five decades ago.

Based on the testimony of a forensic psychologist that the 93-year-old has dementia, “Mr. McCarrick is not competent to stand trial,” ruled Massachusetts state judge Paul McCallum.

With that ruling, the state prosecutor withdrew the case against the former cardinal, the highest US Catholic official to face charges in the sweeping scandal over the systemic sexual abuse of minors in the Church.

“The commonwealth does not have a good-faith basis to proceed any longer with the prosecution given the testimony and the opinion of the psychologist that Mr. McCarrick is not restorable to competency,” the prosecutor said.

McCarrick, who was silent as he followed the hearing by video conference, was charged in 2021 with three counts of indecent assault and battery against…

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DEDHAM, Mass. (AP) — The once-powerful Roman Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick will not stand trial on charges he sexually assaulted a teenage boy decades ago, as a Massachusetts judge dismissed the case against the 93-year-old on Wednesday because both prosecutors and defense attorneys agree he is experiencing dementia.

McCarrick, the ex-archbishop of Washington, D.C., was defrocked by Pope Francis in 2019 after an internal Vatican investigation determined he sexually molested adults as well as children. The McCarrick scandal created a crisis of credibility for the church, primarily because there was evidence Vatican and U.S. church leaders knew he slept with seminarians but turned a blind eye as McCarrick rose to the top of the U.S. church as an adept fundraiser who advised three popes.

During Wednesday’s hearing, Dr. Kerry Nelligan, a psychologist hired by the prosecution, said she found significant deficits in…

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The Bolivian Bishops’ Conference criticized the “excesses” that were committed during the successive raids carried out Aug. 28 at the offices of the provincial curia of the Society of Jesus in the city of La Paz.

In a statement issued Aug. 29 titled “For a justice system that respects the rights of all,” the Bolivian bishops questioned the excessiveness of the procedures carried out by the public prosecutor’s office “under the rationale that they sought to collect evidence” in the cases of alleged sexual abuse of minors that occurred in past decades.

In this context, the bishops noted that the legislation in force in Bolivia recognizes rights such as due process, the presumption of innocence, and that any actions taken must be legal.

The prelates therefore deplored the violation of these rights while demanding that any actions taken be “transparent and within the framework of due process” and “not exceed…

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A Christchurch man who suffered sexual abuse as a child at the hands of the Brothers of St John of God has criticised the Catholic Church for publicly offering help to survivors and then turning down his request for financial aid.

Darryl Smith was one of dozens of boys who suffered “extreme abuse and neglect” at Marylands School in Halswell between 1955 and the late 1980s.

On his first night at the school, in 1971, he was woken from his sleep, taken to an office and raped. He was 6 years old.

Now 59, Smith is raising money to go to an international summit for sexual assault survivors in Rome next month.

A beneficiary, he said he is so determined to get there that he’s been skipping meals and doctor’s appointments to save every cent possible. He said he is also trying to raise at…

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Richard Rorex Losch, an Episcopal priest canonically resident in the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama, has been indicted by a grand jury in Grafton County, New Hampshire, of a Class A Felony Aggravated Felonious Sexual Assault involving a minor under the age of 13. 

The case is State v. Richard Losch Docket: 215-2023-CR-0609 and has its genesis in conduct dating from the mid-1970s.

Glenda Curry, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama, has known of the issue for more than two years. Similarly, various church officials have known of the allegations for extended periods, including:

• Rob Morpeth, the now retired intake officer for the Diocese of Alabama.
• Todd Ousley, who resolutely refused to get involved.
• Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, who ignored myriad emails from the victim and is Ousley’s supervisor.

Anglican Watch’s investigation revealed that, in every instance, the Episcopal Church made up imaginary Title IV requirements, ignored the victim’s pleas for help, refused…

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A federal judge has dismissed an explosive lawsuit filed by several young women who accused a prominent private high school in Oklahoma City of fostering a culture of sexual abuse and harassment.

In Oklahoma City federal court, U.S. District Judge David L. Russell threw out the case against Mount St. Mary High School, which was brought by more than a dozen Jane Does who claimed breach of contract, negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, public nuisance and violations of Title IX.

In his ruling Russell agreed with defense attorneys that the statute of limitations had run out to file a Title IX case.

Title IX, the federal law prohibiting sex discrimination in schools — including sexual harassment and sexual assault — mandates that schools receiving federal funding have in place personnel and procedures to ensure a thorough and fair hearing for both the accuser and the accused.

Federal…

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A Georgia megachurch is facing allegations it failed to warn congregants about a former youth volunteer who’s been charged with trying to traffic a 16-year-old on the dark web.

Records obtained by The Roys Report (TRR) show that on June 30, authorities arrested Kelly Garrett Ivey—a former youth volunteer at Rock Springs Church in Milner, Ga.—and charged him with child cruelty and kidnapping. And last Monday, a grand jury indicted Ivey, 41, on first and second-degree charges of cruelty to children, trafficking, and three counts of criminal attempt to commit a felony, including kidnapping.

Yet, members of Rock Springs said they just learned of the charges against Ivey last week, when a local newspaper, The Monroe County Reporter, published a story. They added that the multi-site Rock Springs Church and its affiliated school, View Cache

A Virginia megachurch pastor appeared on stage Sunday after reports that his arrest during a prostitution sting nearly two years ago will be expunged.

John D. Blanchard, pastor of Rock Church International in Virginia Beach, was arrested in October 2021 during a sting in which an officer posed online as a teenage girl offering sex at a motel.

Authorities alleged Blanchard and 16 other men had been “soliciting sex from minors.” Blanchard has denied accusations against him.

The Chesterfield County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office dropped the charges and agreed to expunge them about a year after Blanchard’s arrest. (Certain court records pertaining to Blanchard’s case can be viewed online.) But after uproar over that decision, the office appointed a special prosecutor in January this year to consider refiling charges.

That special prosecutor declared the evidence against Blanchard was “sound,” the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot reported in…

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It is no longer a secret that thousands of boys have suffered sexual abuse during their time spent within the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), an organization congressionally chartered in 1916. In 2020, the repercussions of the sexual abuse forced the BSA to seek bankruptcy protection, and filings against the organization topped 80,000 sexual abuse claims.

Three years later, the BSA has emerged from its Chapter 11 status. While officials overseeing the settlement process have begun directing claimants on how to receive their payout, questions remain.

While many are not clear on how much compensation they will receive and have been directed to follow up on an online portal instead of a courtroom, for others, there are concerns that those who should be held accountable for the abuse will not be. On top of all of this, a recent decision by the Supreme Court concerning another much-watched bankruptcy brings to…

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Tara Yellen graduated from Brighton High School in 1990. She said it took her decades to process the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of a former teacher.

In 2020, Yellen filed a lawsuit against the district under the Child Victims Act (CVA), which extended the statute of limitations for survivors of child sexual abuse, resulting in more than 10,000 cases filed in New York State.

Yellen was awarded what is believed to be the single biggest CVA settlement in Monroe County history.

MORE | Former Rochester priest ordered to pay $95 million to sexual abuse victim | Rochester’s Catholic diocese sex abuse settlement includes $20.6 million from insurers

“It’s not just about the money, but money does have a lot of power in our society, and it sends a major message about what is OK, not OK, and what is…

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At Marylands School, sexual and physical abuse by Catholic brothers was brutal, prevalent and normalised. Survivors were so traumatised that, after they left, they found it difficult to understand the boundaries between right and wrong. 

This article is part of The Quarter Million, exploring the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State Care. Read the introduction here and the rest of the series here.

Content warning: This feature describes physical, sexual and emotional violence, child abuse and neglect. If this is difficult for you and you would like some help, these services offer support and information: Auckland specialist service Help, 0800 623 1700; specialist men’s service Male Survivors Aotearoa, 0800 044 334; and Snap (Survivors network of those abused by priests). Please take care.

At the frayed edge of Christchurch, the city dissolving into large fields…

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Survivor demands resignation of Archbishop over Cardinal invite

A clerical child sex abuse survivor has called for the leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland to resign.

Several survivors of child sex abuse at the hands of Catholic clergy have spoken out against the Archbishop Eamon Martin, primate of All Ireland, after he invited a top American Cardinal – criticised for his handling of child sex abuse allegations – to celebrate a special anniversary Mass in Armagh at the weekend.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan was invited to celebrate the Mass at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Armagh on Sunday, to commemorate 150 years since the cathedral’s dedication.

Also present at the special Mass on Sunday was Archbishop Martin’s predecessor as primate of all-Ireland, Cardinal Sean Brady, who has faced significant criticism over his handling of child sex abuse allegations.

In 2010, Cardinal Brady denied accusations of a “cover up” when it…

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English River First Nation updates graves search

A chief in Saskatchewan says her heart is broken after ground-penetrating radar located 93 areas of interest at the site of a former residential school.

English River First Nation Chief Jenny Wolverine said it’s believed 79 of the areas of interest at the Beauval Indian Residential School could be the size of possible children’s graves and 14 could be the size of ones for infants.

“It breaks my heart that there’s likely more, or even that there’s even one,” Wolverine said Tuesday in Saskatoon.

“The experience of residential school is horrific.”

Earlier this month, 83 areas of interest were located at the site and the additional 10 were confirmed as archeological flags were being placed in the area.

Wolverine said the community is saddened at the discovery of more possible graves and it’s clear their work is not over yet.

The First Nation…

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Lawmakers say they will explore reopening a lookback window for survivors of childhood sexual assault to file civil suits when they return to Albany next session.

Friday’s funeral services for Albany Bishop Emeritus Howard Hubbard, who admitted to covering up sex abuse allegations within the diocese and faced multiple allegations himself, spurred strong emotions from survivors and conversation about future legislative action.

Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal sponsored both the Child Victims and Adult Survivors acts that waived the statute of limitations to allow survivors of sexual assault to file lawsuits against their abusers. Survivors can continue to file under the Adult Survivors Act until Nov. 23, but the senator said Friday the Legislature’s work isn’t finished.

“My heart goes out to all survivors, adults, who were abused as children and those who are covered by the Adult Survivors Act,” Hoylman-Sigal said. “In both instances, the state Legislature saw the wisdom of opening…

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NEW YORK – At the funeral Mass for Bishop Emeritus Howard Hubbard, Bishop Edward Scharfenberger of Albany said that there is “much to be celebrated,” from Hubbard’s life, while also acknowledging that his predecessor “was not an uncontroversial figure at times.”

Scharfenberger made the comments during his homily at the funeral Mass, held at the parish of St. Pius X in the diocese on Aug. 25. Throughout his approximately 17-minute address, Scharfenberger kept his mentions of Hubbard brief, instead highlighting the pure intentions priests have to serve, including those who fall victim to “their own sinfulness and brokenness.”

“There will be many, many times, as we say, to celebrate the life of the decedent, and [there] is much to be celebrated, and much to be contemplated on, even as we recognize by no stretch of the imagination was Bishop Hubbard … not an uncontroversial figure at times,” Scharfenberger said. “But…

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Bishop Edward Scharfenberger of Albany praised his late predecessor, Bishop Howard Hubbard, in a funeral homily Friday. 

Scharfenberger focused his homily on Christian hope and the blessing of priests, though he also  acknowledged that controversy surrounded the retired bishop, who announced a few weeks ago that he had civilly married a woman, prompting a correction from Scharfenberger.

“God wants all of us to be saved, without exception,” he said.

Scharfenberger delivered the homily Friday at a funeral Mass for Albany’s retired Bishop Hubbard, who died Aug. 19, a few days after suffering a stroke. 

“The theme of our reflection today is not so much the past but the present and the future,” Scharfenberger said in his homily for Hubbard, whose tenure was marred by numerous allegations of sexual abuse and an acknowledgement that he knowingly reassigned abusive priests.

Hubbard’s life “is much to be celebrated,” Scharfenberger said, while acknowledging that…

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With very little pomp and circumstance, Albany Bishop Emeritus Howard Hubbard was laid to rest on Friday.

“Where by life and not death have the final say, where that even when our days are over on this earth, our eternity is only beginning, and it is that eternity that we accompany our brother Howard towards, as we pray for him today, not only remembering, but hoping,” said Albany Bishop Edward Sharfenberger, who celebrated the Mass of Christian burial at St. Pius X in Loudonville.

Many of the funeral details had been kept private since Hubbard’s passing following a stroke last weekend at the age of 84.

Hubbard had asked the Vatican to be returned to the lay state before his death, but that was denied due to outstanding lawsuits against him regarding sexual abuse cases.

Hubbard made headlines again recently, when he announced he had married a woman in a civil…

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LOUDONVILLE — A collection of memories on poster boards greeted those arriving for Bishop Emeritus Howard J. Hubbard’s funeral on Friday, held at St. Pius X Church in Loudonville.

Sepia-tinged 1940s family photographs featuring the retired bishop alongside his sister Joan and recent snaps with friends dotted the boards outside of the chapel. Some cried, some took in all 84 years represented by the photos.

The pews at the church in Loudonville were packed with community members there to pay their respects.

“It was just wonderful,” said Randall Patterson, Senior Priest at St. Clement’s Roman Catholic Church in Saratoga Springs. “He was a simple man, he’d probably be a bit embarrassed by it.” he joked.

Patterson worked with Hubbard as chancellor of the diocese, calling their friendship a “tremendous gift.”

“He was for me, the most righteous man you ever wanted to meet,” Patterson said.

Righteousness was a repeated theme of the morning. After…

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Karen Bergman reported allegations of abuse to church leader in Manitoba in early 1990s; charges weren’t laid until 1998

One of the first people to inform the Roman Catholic Church of allegations of sexual abuse by Rev. Johannes Rivoire has spoken to a safeguarding commission looking into the church’s handling of those complaints.

Karen Bergman spoke to retired Quebec Superior Court judge André Denis in Winnipeg on Aug. 24. Denis was appointed by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate to lead the commission.

Rivoire worked as a parish priest in Rankin Inlet, Igloolik and Arviat as a member of the Oblates, a religious order in the Roman Catholic Church. He remains a member today.

Bergman lives in eastern British Columbia, so the commission flew her to Winnipeg to speak to Denis.

In an interview with Nunatsiaq News, Bergman said she first heard allegations against Rivoire while living in Arviat sometime in the early…

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COLUMBUS – A young Athens County woman who is suing her parents, her uncle and her uncle’s church, over sexual abuse she suffered as a minor, has asked a federal court to grant default judgment against the church on the issue of its liability for money damages.

In an opinion and order filed on Tuesday, Aug. 22, U.S. District Judge Edmund Sargus denied that request from plaintiff Serah Bellar – despite the fact that the Waverly, Ohio-based Dove Outreach Church has already been found in default by the court’s clerk for failing to properly answer Bellar’s lawsuit, and is no longer allowed to take part in court proceedings in the case. (Bellar, who has changed her name, is suing under the pseudonym Jane Doe to keep her new name out of the public eye.)

In April 2020 Serah Bellar, then 16 years old, ran away from her home in Amesville….

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An Episcopal priest whose name was blacked out in the Maryland attorney general’s report on sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore has resigned his position as priest-in-charge of a parish in Western Maryland.

The Rev. Thomas Hudson, onetime spiritual leader of St. George’s Episcopal Church in Allegany County, left the position between May 26, when the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland ordered him to take a leave of absence, and July 31, according to Carrie Graves, a spokeswoman for the diocese.

The bishop, the Right Rev. Eugene Taylor Sutton, was to meet with Hudson in July and issue a pastoral directive — a formal written ruling — about the alleged act of sexual abuse by Hudson described in the report that came out in April. The directive could have restricted or terminated Hudson’s ministry.

But the priest, 75, resigned from the job…

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Paix Liturgique consacre une nouvelle lettre au cardinal Ouellet, assigné en justice à Lorient, mais aussi mis en cause par un nombre croissant de personnes au Canada. Comme pour ses agissements à Pontcallec – notamment son rôle dans le renvoi de l’état clérical de mère Marie Ferréol, la justice canonique a été dévoyée afin de couvrir le cardinal…

Trois témoignages plus que troublants contre le cardinal Ouellet

Après « Mme F », qui est sortie de l’anonymat début 2023 en accusant le cardinal d’inconduite sexuelle entre fin 2008 et 2010, et a rendu public son nom (Pamela Groleau) lorsqu’elle a été attaquée en diffamation par le cardinal Ouellet, deux autres victimes, que le cardinal Ouellet s’est bien gardé d’attaquer, l’accusent aussi de comportements inappropriés… voire plus grave.

Comme le rappelle début 2023 Radio Canada, « Paméla Groleau était stagiaire au sein du diocèse de Québec entre 2008 et 2010 au moment où…

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Instalação dos grupos foi determinada pelo Papa Francisco em 2019. Nas últimas duas décadas, pelo menos 108 sacerdotes foram acusados ou condenados por crimes sexuais

Dioceses em pelo menos três estados brasileiros instalaram ou preveem a instalação, este ano, de comissões para receber denúncias sobre casos de abuso sexual praticados por membros do clero contra crianças e adolescentes. A criação desses departamentos, em todas as dioceses do mundo, está prevista no decreto “Vos estis lux mundi” (“Vós sois a luz do mundo”, em latim), assinado pelo Papa Francisco em maio de 2019 e marco nas mudanças da legislação interna da Igreja Católica sobre os crimes sexuais contra pessoas vulneráveis. Pelo menos uma dessas dioceses teve padres denunciados por molestar menores — nas últimas duas décadas, pelo menos 108 sacerdotes foram acusados ou condenados por esse tipo de delito.

O caso mais recente é o da Diocese de Rondonópolis-Guiratinga, em…

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For the past 22 years, Ed Gavagan has been in what he calls a race against time.

Seeking justice for the sexual abuse he suffered as a teenager and later disclosed as an adult, Gavagan watched the man he accused — a Catholic priest — grow old while evading repeated efforts to hold him accountable. He even wrote to Pope Francis asking for his help.

When he heard Joseph Hart, the former bishop for Wyoming, died Wednesday, Gavagan was left feeling like he should have done more to pursue justice, he said. At 60 years old, with decades between him and the abuse, he had to remind himself that what happened was not his fault.

When justice feels unattainable, “it’s just awful,” Gavagan said. “It’s layers of misery on top of injury on top of distrust.”

Hart, who faced multiple sexual abuse allegations found credible by the Diocese of Cheyenne,…

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Though it is mind-boggling anyone would still have to ask, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests filed a letter last week to Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, asking the state to hold accountable those in the Catholic church who have been accused of being predators. The letter is a formal request by the organization for a statewide investigation into the history and scope of child sexual abuse it says is being covered up across the state, according to a report by the Ohio Capital Journal.

“Information developed on 49 credibly accused clerics from other attorneys general’s reports with ties to Ohio,” said Claudia Vercellotti with the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. “It makes you wonder what would Attorney General Yost uncover if he merely investigated?”

According to the Capital Journal, the Catholic Conference of Ohio declined to answer whether it would support such an investigation. Rather, a spokesperson…

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After an NBC Bay Area investigation, the president of St. Ignatius College Preparatory School in San Francisco released a letter to parents and staff

St. Ignatius College Preparatory School in San Francisco is explaining how it handled the situation involving a former drama director accused of kissing a freshman student years ago.

The prestigious Catholic prep school is being sued by an alum, who claims former teacher Peter Devine kissed him more than two decades ago in the school theatre. St. Ignatius in an email sent Monday to its community said it took quick action when it received the report last year, but not everyone agrees.

Edward Reese, the school president, said in the email the former student reported the incident to the campus’ current principal in 2022. Reese said that principal “immediately filed a report with the [San Francisco…

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BETHLEHEM, Pa. – A former teacher at the Holy Infancy School has been charged with inappropriately touching a child, court paperwork confirms. 

Glenn Morgan, 61, of Easton is accused of inappropriately touching a juvenile female who was under the age of 13 at the time of the alleged incidents. 

The investigation began in Nov. 2022. 

The student accuses Morgan of touching her while helping with work during math class. The accusations include touching her legs and private parts while she was wearing a skirt. 

The juvenile accuses Morgan of continuing to inappropriately touch her over a period of months from January 2022 – June 2022. 

The court paperwork continues to say that during an interview with police in July 2023, Morgan admitted to touching the student, but blamed the touching on his nearsightedness. 

Authorities say they questioned Morgan, asking if he believed the victim was lying. Morgan told police he…

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The youngest American to be made a bishop, he died while still defending himself against allegations of sexual abuse.

Howard J. Hubbard, a once lionized “street priest” who became the nation’s youngest bishop at 38 and presided over the Albany, N.Y., diocese longer than any of his predecessors, then acknowledged covering up sex abuse scandals and was himself sued for sexually abusing children, died on Saturday in Albany. He was 84.

His death, in a hospital, was caused by a stroke, his spokesman, Mark Behan, said.

Bishop Hubbard, whose upstate New York diocese encompassed more than 300,000 Roman Catholics in 125 parishes in 14 counties, was widely regarded as a progressive voice in the church on social issues like the death penalty and the ordination of women, though he unsuccessfully sued the state in 1984 to block the approval of two abortion clinics in the diocese.

But when he resigned in 2014…

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The bishop – who has now been banned from the priory – threatened the nuns with excommunication in a saga that has rumbled on for months and sparked an intervention from the Vatican.

Catholic nuns in Texas have mutinied against their bishop and banned him from their monastery for “spiritual safety” in the latest salvo in a religious feud.

They say they have been subjected to “aggression, humiliation and spiritual manipulation” as a result of the “attitudes and ambitions” of Bishop Michael Olson.

It comes after Bishop Olson, the bishop of Fort Worth, claimed the head of the priory had broken her vow of chastity with a priest from outside the area.

In a statement this week, the Discalced Carmelite Nuns of Arlington denied the claims about their Mother Prioress.

The last few months have seen a battle between the nuns and Bishop Olson inside and outside court, featuring claims…

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ROCHESTER, Minn. – A partial settlement has been reached in a lawsuit claiming sex abuse at Lourdes High School in the 1970s.

A plaintiff, identified only as Doe 222, claims Father Joseph Cashman had unpermitted sexual contact with him while Doe 222 attended Lourdes High School from 1972 to 1974.  The sexual contact allegedly happened when the plaintiff was between 14 and 16 years old.

Doe 222 filed a lawsuit against Lourdes High School, Rochester Catholic Schools, and the Diocese of Winona, claiming they should have known Cashman was a danger to children and did not provide a reasonable level of safety and care.

However, Lourdes High School and Rochester Catholic Schools have now been dismissed as defendants after reaching a settlement with Doe 222.  The terms of the settlement have not been released.  The lawsuit against the Diocese of Winona is continuing and a trial has been scheduled to…

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U.S. District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo ruled that a deposition given in 2020 by Father Lawrence Hecker should remain under seal.

A federal judge on Monday denied a motion to unseal sworn testimony given by a retired Catholic priest who recently admitted on camera to WWL-TV that he sexually abused several teens in the 1960s and 1970s.

U.S. District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo ruled that a deposition given in 2020 by Father Lawrence Hecker should remain under seal. She said attorneys did not follow the proper procedure to get the documents unsealed.

Aaron Hebert, who says he was 13 when Hecker fondled his and other middle school boys’ genitals in a Gretna church in 1968, was able to get Hecker, now 91, to testify because of his advanced age, even after his case had been stopped by the Archdiocese of New Orleans’ bankruptcy.

Hebert’s attorney, Richard Trahant, says Hecker admitted…

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A former U.S. bishop cleared by the Vatican of multiple allegations he sexually abused minors and teenagers, after a review board under his diocese in Wyoming found that allegations against him were credible, has died.

Retired Wyoming Bishop Joseph Hart, of Cheyenne, died Wednesday, according to the Diocese of Cheyenne. He was 91.

Hart long maintained his innocence, denying all allegations of misconduct. In 2021, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith cleared him of seven accusations of abuse and determined that five others couldn’t be proven with certainty.

Two other cases involving boys who were 16 and 17 couldn’t be prosecuted because the Catholic Church didn’t consider them minors at the time of the alleged abuse. The Vatican decree didn’t address another alleged victim.

Hart’s attorney, Thomas Jubin, at the time called some of the allegations “specious,” based on second- and third-hand information and some accusers emphasizing…

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The passing of Joseph Hart reflects a time of sorrow. Undoubtedly his death elicits painful memories for
many, especially those who sought accountability and justice.

The Scripture readings and the liturgy itself proclaim the mystery of God’s love and the mystery of Jesus’
victorious death and resurrection – mysteries that apply to the deceased and to our lives. At death, we
remember that final healing, reconciliation, and judgment rests in the hands of God. We entrust the
brokenness of humanity to the Lord, who alone has the power to restore us.

So, during this time of anguish, my message to those survivors remains, I support and believe you and will
continue to work and pray for healing for all involved in this profoundly painful time.

I also want to express my condolences to the family members of Joseph Hart and assure them of my prayers.
The funeral liturgies remind us of the compassionate love of God…

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A new lawsuit alleges local public school, private school and Catholic Church officials turned a blind eye for years to predatory behavior by former school health aide Robert Apodaca, who is accused in several child sex crimes cases and has pleaded guilty to three counts of molestation in one of them.

The 70-page complaint filed Tuesday in state District Court seeks an unspecified amount of damages from multiple defendants, including Santa Fe Public Schools, the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and Santo Niño Regional Catholic School.

It was filed by attorney Paul Linnenburger on behalf of a teen who alleges he was groomed and sexually assaulted by Apodaca in the 2018-19 school year, when he attended Gonzales Community School. The boy was one of four children Apodaca is accused sexually assaulting.

“Apodaca’s outward behavior was textbook sexual grooming,” the lawsuit alleges. “Administrators in the schools where he worked were warned of…

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The Victorian Court of Appeal has allowed a lawsuit against the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne to proceed.

The Victorian Court of Appeal has ruled that the Catholic Church can be sued by the father of a choirboy allegedly sexually abused by Cardinal George Pell, who was acquitted of child sexual assault charges by the High Court in 2020.

The father of one of the alleged victims, referred to under the pseudonym ‘RWQ,’ sought damages, or compensation, for the mental harm and psychiatric shock he suffered as a result of his son overdosing on heroin as a result of the alleged sexual assault and from learning about the alleged sexual assault of his son.

The father brought the case against the Archdiocese of Melbourne, a branch of the Catholic Church, and Cardinal George Pell, and the case has continued despite the death of Cardinal Pell.

Before…

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The Catholic Church has lost a bid to restrict the family members of victims of child abuse by clergy from bringing civil cases against the institution.

The Court of Appeal on Friday rejected the church’s attempt to overturn a decision made by the Supreme Court in August last year that the father of a former choirboy who prosecutors had alleged was sexually abused by George Pell is entitled to sue the church.

The decision paves the way for affected family members of other victims to sue the church over the impact of their abuse.

The father alleged he had endured harm and suffering as a result of his son’s death, which he attributes to the actions of Pell.

Shine Lawyers senior associate Gabrielle Verhagen said the Catholic Church had sought to limit those who could bring actions against it to only those who had experienced the abuse themselves. She encouraged…

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In brief

The NSW Supreme Court has granted a permanent stay of proceedings in CM v Trustees of the Roman Catholic Church for the Diocese of Armidale; EM v Trustees for the Roman Catholic Church for the Diocese of Armidale [2023] NSWSC 1000 (23 August 2023).

Background

The plaintiffs are brothers who commenced proceedings against the Diocese claiming damages arising from sexual abuse perpetrated by Father Perrett in December 1976. Father Perrett, who died in July 2020, was the parish priest in Armidale and the alleged abuse took place on a camping trip he organised for children living on the Armidale Mission. 

The plaintiffs asserted that the Diocese was directly liable (in negligence) and vicariously liable for the conduct of Father Perrett. The plaintiffs also claimed that the Diocese was vicariously liable for the negligence of Sister Rita, a nun who died in 2003 and may have attended the camp and allegedly failed to…

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American prelate, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, ignored calls from Irish survivors of clerical abuse to step back from a mass yesterday to mark the 150th anniversary of St Patrick’s Cathedral in Armagh.

Cardinal Dolan, who is the Catholic archbishop of New York, was the chief celebrant at the mass in Armagh.

However, survivors of clerical abuse in the diocese of Dromore, including victims of Fr Malachy Finegan, wrote to Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh ahead of the liturgy, describing themselves as “appalled” by the decision to invite the 73-year-old American prelate to the mass and “the role afforded to him as chief celebrant”.

The American cardinal has been criticised for his role in transferring $57m into a special trust, when he was Archbishop of Milwaukee, in order to protect it from legal claims by clerical abuse victims. Other criticisms centre on a leaked 2017 transcript which suggested he sought to block…

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“This isn’t a prison,” a nun in the new BBC drama The Woman in the Wall says. “You can leave anytime you want. But where would you go? Who would have you? No one wants you. You’re a sinner.”

Set in the fictional town of Kilkinure in 20th-century Ireland, the show captures the story of Lorna Brady (Ruth Wilson), an unmarried mother who was formerly detained in a Magdalene Laundry. Established in the 18th century, the laundries catered for so-called “fallen women” who had engaged in sex work or had a child outside of wedlock. Ten of these institutions operated in post-independence Ireland between 1922 and 1996 and at least 10,000 women spent time in them.

Laundries were just one of many mechanisms by which the Catholic Church and the Irish state regulated behaviour that was perceived as deviant. The official investigation into Mother and Baby Homes (institutions similar to laundries where women…

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Bishop Michael Olson of Fort Worth, Texas, says the nun at the center of a dispute over allegedly broken vows may be excommunicated, along with the rest of the nuns in Arlington, Texas, where she is mother superior.

On Aug. 18, the Discalced Carmelite nuns of the Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity posted a statement on their website stating that due to the bishop’s alleged treatment of them, they “no longer recognize the authority of, and can have no further relations with, the current Bishop of Fort Worth or his officials, and forbid him or any of his officials or representatives to enter our monastery property or to have any contact or relations with the monastery or any of its nuns or novices.”

“No one who abuses us as has the current Bishop of Fort Worth, has any right to our cooperation or…

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I don’t know how to heal religious trauma. How do you begin to piece through decades of devotion? When the house of your belief is burned to the ground, the work of turning over the rubble, looking for valuables is tedious and painful. You might find treasures intact in the ash, but some things you felt were sacred have been caught in the fire and will never be what they once were. I turned to religion for an answer to my own pain, looking for a novena or a portrait of Our Lady that would heal the deep wounds inflicted by Christians, but while religion claims it can save you from anything it has a hard time saving you from itself.

I first heard about Hayden Anhedönia — better known by her alter ego, Ethel Cain – on TikTok from raving teens spellbound by the artist. They testified that her…

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Bishop Joseph Hart, who led the Diocese of Cheyenne, Wyoming, from 1978 until his 70th birthday in 2001, died Wednesday at age 91.

Hart was accused on multiple occasions of sexual abuse of minors, charges that he fervently denied. The Vatican’s doctrinal dicastery cleared him of several of the charges in 2021 while ruling that five other accusations “could not be proven with moral certitude” one way or another.

The Diocese of Cheyenne — which encompasses the entire state of Wyoming — said in a statement to CNA that Hart’s funeral services and burial will be held at the convenience of the family. The diocesan communications director told CNA on Friday that a formal statement on Hart from the diocese is pending.

Hart was accused of sexually abusing children in the mid-1970s, and numerous accusations were levied against him in 1989, 1992, 2002, and 2004. Hart was additionally accused of…

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A civil trial scheduled in December for a priest accused of molesting an altar boy at St. Mary Catholic Church in Aspen was canceled last month after parties agreed to dismiss the case, according to court records.

Father Michael O’Brien was set to stand a five-day jury trial in Denver County District Court beginning Dec. 4. District Court Judge David Goldberg approved the dismissal of the lawsuit on July 14. O’Brien, who was ordained in 2000, was the pastor at St. Mary from 2002-11.

Both sides agreed to pay their legal costs and attorneys’ fees, according to filings in the lawsuit. They also agreed to dismiss the case with prejudice, which means the plaintiff cannot refile the same claims against O’Brien. 

Neither side, however, backed off of their positions. 

The plaintiff’s lawyers said they agreed to the dismissal because of a recent Colorado Supreme Court opinion issued in an unrelated…

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An independent non-profit organisation has been employed by the scoping inquiry to assist it in interviewing survivors of abuse at private fee-paying schools about their experiences

The inquiry was set up last March following extensive revelations over previous months of historical clerical child sex abuse at private fee-paying schools run by religious congregations.

It is to make recommendations to the Government by November as to what form of inquiry might be set up to investigate such abuse.

In a letter to survivors, the inquiry said it had brought in Quality Matters, “a not-for-profit organisation with extensive experience of facilitating interviews with people who have experienced trauma and with survivors of institutional abuse,” to assist them in interviewing survivors. Those interviews have been taking place in recent weeks and will continue until September 30th.

Survivors who have agreed to take part in the process have been sent two booklets:…

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A group representing victims of clerical abuse has criticised the decision to invite a prominent US cardinal to Northern Ireland.

Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York, is visiting Armagh on Sunday.

He will celebrate Mass at St Patrick’s Cathedral to mark 150 years since its dedication in August 1873.

However, abuse victims have expressed dismay at the invite.

Previously Cardinal Dolan has been criticised for authorising payments to abuser priests in exchange for their departure.

In the US, survivors of clerical sexual abuse have also raised concerns over Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s cover up of sexual abuse of children by Catholic clergy.

The Dromore Group said it was “appalled” at the decision.

It comprises survivors of Ireland’s most predatory paedophile priest, Fr Malachy Finegan, and their families.

The group has written to Archbishop Eamon Martin criticising the invite.

Its letter states: “The Dromore Group sees Dolan’s participation and role in…

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The Catholic Church on Friday suffered a loss in an Australian appeals court after a panel of judges said an abuse case brought by the father of an alleged victim of Cardinal George Pell could proceed. 

The cardinal allegedly abused the boy in the 1990s; his father brought suit against the Catholic Church and Pell in 2022, shortly before Pell’s death in January of this year. The alleged victim himself died of a heroin overdose in 2014. 

Church officials responded to the filing by arguing that the father was not the direct victim of the alleged abuse and therefore lacked standing to sue. 

The Victoria Supreme Court ruled last year that the lawsuit could proceed. On Aug. 25 the Court of Appeal agreed with the Supreme Court’s ruling from last year, ordering that the father could continue with his suit. 

Brisbane-based Shine Lawyers confirmed the decision in…

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An Australian court on Friday allowed a civil case to proceed against a Catholic archdiocese involving child sex abuse allegations against late Cardinal George Pell.

The Victoria state Court of Appeal in Melbourne refused to hear the church’s challenge to a judge’s ruling that a father, identified in court documents as RWQ, was entitled to sue for damages for the nervous shock he suffered when he learned of allegations his son had been abused.

Pell was the third highest-ranking cleric in the Vatican when he was convicted in 2018 of sexually abusing two 13-year-old choirboys in a Melbourne cathedral in 1996 when Pell was an archbishop.

Pell spent 13 months in prison before the convictions were overturned on appeal. He maintained his innocence until his death in Rome in January.

Victoria law prohibits media from identifying alleged victims of sexual offenses or any reporting that could identify…

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The children’s pastor of a church in rural North Carolina, who also taught elementary-age children at a local charter school, has been arrested and charged with child sex crimes. 

On Tuesday, Aaron Mirtsching, 41, of Morganton, N.C., was arrested “without incident” according to a statement from Burke County Sheriff’s Office. He was charged with three felony counts of third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor. Mirtsching bonded out the same day, paying $20,000 in fees. 

Mirtsching had served on staff as children’s director at Thrive Church in Morganton. According to a church statement, he was “immediately relieved of his duties.” (The church also referred to Mirtsching as “children’s pastor” in a now-deleted social post.)

The investigation was prompted by a cyber-tip from the state’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, a collaboration of more than 200 law enforcement agencies. 

According to a law…

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The second-in-command of an historic community of U.S. Catholic priests that operates popular ministries across the country has resigned after he confirmed a woman’s report in early August that he made an unwelcome sexual advance toward her.

Fr. Frank Desiderio, vice president of the Paulist Fathers, corroborated the woman’s description of the incident to Paulist President Fr. René Constanza, whom the victim contacted on Aug. 10. The victim told Constanza that the sexual misconduct, which included inappropriate touching, had occurred a few days prior.

Desiderio —- a former parish priest, campus minister and seminary rector — has also been suspended from priestly ministry.

In a letter Constanza wrote to the Paulist communities where Desiderio served, which NCR obtained, Constanza said Desiderio “expressed his great remorse at his lapse in judgment.” 

“Fr. Frank profoundly regrets the harm he has caused the victim as well as…

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In 2018, “Sarah” was a 20-year-old college student and aspiring singer-songwriter—and “Andre” was a popular worship artist whose song had recently gone viral.

But that year, Sarah says Andre sexually assaulted her. And when she reported the alleged assault to the church where they both served on the worship team, the church kicked Sarah off the worship team, while Andre remained, she said.

The church where Sarah and Andre served is Churchome—a West Coast megachurch led by pastors Judah and Chelsea Smith and attended by celebrities Justin Bieber and Kourtney Kardashian. We’re not using Sarah’s real name because The Roys Report (TRR) does not report the names of alleged sexual assault victims unless they request it. Andre is a pseudonym, as well. We’re using it because Andre was never charged with a crime.

However, Phillip Ferrell, who served as the music curator at Churchome from 2016-2020, confirmed to TRR that Sarah…

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