ABUSE TRACKER

A highly placed lay employee at the Diocese of Oakland’s Cathedral of Christ the Light was arrested by Walnut Creek police on January 6, 2023, on suspicion of possessing and sharing child pornography. SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is appalled that, as far as we can determine, no outreach was done in the community or with the public in the ensuing 2 months.

Jeremiah York worked as the assistant to the Rector of the Cathedral. Until he was removed from that position in January, we believe that he may have had access to children at the parish. Hundreds of boys and girls attend the Cathedral’s CCD and related programs. York is also a photographer with photo credits showing Oakland Bishop, Michael Barber, performing various rites that included children.

While we are dismayed that an accused child pornographer had a job in the…

View Cache

As victims continue to struggle with the pain of past abuse, I urge Bishop Deeley to acknowledge them in his own voice, not that of an attorney.

In this morning’s Press Herald, the headline is that the Catholic Diocese of Maine is going to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court to try to deny the ability of people who were abused decades ago from suing for damages (“Diocese asks Maine’s top court to weigh child sexual abuse law,” March 4, Page A1). In this and all other stories on the subject, the only diocesan official quoted is the lawyer. The bishop is silent. A few weeks ago, “Maine Calling” had a show on this issue, and no diocesan officials would agree to participate. I can find no reference to the legal action on the diocesan website.

As a practicing Catholic who attends Mass every Sunday, I am deeply ashamed….

View Cache

After a Delaware state representative introduced a bill to abrogate the privilege between priest and penitent relating to suspected child abuse or neglect, the Diocese of Wilmington has pushed back that the confidentiality of the sacrament is a “non-negotiable.”

“The Sacrament of Confession and its seal of confession is a fundamental aspect of the Church’s sacramental theology and practice,” the diocese said in a March 7 statement. “It is non-negotiable.”

“No Catholic priest or bishop would ever break the seal of confession under any circumstances,” it added. “To do so would incur an automatic excommunication that could only be pardoned by the pope himself.”

The proposed bill, HB 74, was proposed by state Democratic Representative Eric Morrison on March 2. If eventually passed, it would amend Title 16 of the Delaware Code relating to mandatory reporting of child abuse.

Morrison did not return a Crux request for comment on the bill.

The…

View Cache

The Roman Catholic Church in Portugal has asked for forgiveness from the victims of sexual abuse that occurred within the Church.

The Portuguese Episcopal Conference (CEP) did so during a press conference last Friday, Vatican News reports. At the end of the meeting on the topic in the city of Fatima, the Church leadership read from a press release that “with pain that once again we ask for forgiveness from all the victims of sexual assault within the Catholic Church in Portugal.”

Last month, a commission of enquiry published a report that found that at least 4,815 children had been sexually abused in the Church since 1950. The researchers concluded that the hierarchy of the Church had covered up the crimes systematically. For their study, they collected more than 500 testimonies in a year, Le Journal writes. The report caused great upheaval in Portugal, where a…

View Cache

The unity of Spain’s first-ever coalition government faced its toughest test in three years in power Tuesday, with the two ruling left-wing parties at loggerheads over reforming a pioneering sexual violence law that has inadvertently led to the reduction of sentences for over 700 offenders and caused national outrage.

Both have said the coalition will stay intact and finish the legislature this year. But the wounds from the law’s fallout are so raw they could presage the ending of a successful partnership that has produced several progressive laws but risks being divided by its flagship cause.

The fight came the day before thousands of women, and men, planned to take to the streets of Madrid, Barcelona and other cities across Spain in what is annually one of the world’s largest rallies for International Women’s Day.

The Socialist Party of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and the anti-austerity United We Can movement…

View Cache

“I have lost faith in the Catholic Church as I question how a man of God could do these things.”

A ‘larger than life, cigar smoking’ former Peterborough priest has been jailed for six and a half years after being found guilty of child abuse.

Dennis Finbow served in as a priest in Dogsthorpe in Peterborough in the 1980s – but behind his trusted persona, he was a paedophile, who preyed on a young girl. Now he is behind bars after being found guilty of three counts of indecent assault on a child.

Finbow (74) of Bealings Road, Martlesham, Suffolk, was found guilty of the offences – which date back to the 1980s when he was a priest in Peterborough – at a trial in January.

Appearing at Cambridge Crown Court today (March 8), Finbow, wearing a blue sweatshirt, sat arms crossed in the dock as he was jailed.

Charles…

View Cache

The latest attempt to force members of the clergy to report information they learn in confidential settings is taking place in Vermont, and the sole Roman Catholic bishop in the state appeared before a legislative committee to argue against that effort.

Bishop Christopher Coyne of Burlington, Vermont, and two other Catholic priests sought to assure legislators that it’s possible to both protect vulnerable children and preserve religious liberty at the same time. 

Since the Catholic clergy sexual abuse scandal started making headlines in the early 2000s, quite a few state and federal governments have tried to eliminate exemptions to mandatory reporting laws that protect the clergy-penitent exemptions.

A bill introduced by Vermont State Senator Dick Sears, a Democrat from Bennington, would repeal the Green Mountain State’s exemption for clergy. Sears’ bill would remove language such as this from the state’s mandatory reporting law:

“A member of the clergy…

View Cache

In the wake of growing controversy, evangelical Reformed parachurch group The Gospel Coalition (TGC) has retracted an article that used explicit sexual language as a metaphor for salvation. However, some say the retraction does not address underlying issues of concern. 

The article published on March 1 compared the act of sexual consummation with the spiritual work of Christ. Arizona pastor Josh Butler, excerpting from his upcoming book Beautiful Union, wrote in part that “the fusing of two bodies as one . . . is a picture of the gospel.”

One passage described when “the groom goes into his bride” in explicit terms, referring to the “sanctuary of his spouse,” where the groom “ bestows an offering, a gift.” Butler continued the metaphor, saying the wife “gladly receives the warmth of his presence . . . Similarly, the church embraces Christ in salvation. . .” 

Many evangelical observers reacted swiftly.

“They…

View Cache

Mark Rivera, a former lay pastor in a conservative Anglican denomination who was convicted in December of felony child sexual abuse and assault, was sentenced today to 15 years in the department of corrections.

Judge John Barsanti of Illinois’ 16th Judicial Circuit Court in Kane County granted Rivera the minimum sentences for his crimes. The judge earlier found Rivera guilty of two counts of predatory sexual assault of a victim under 13 years old (a Class X felony) and three counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a victim under 13 (a Class 2 felony). Rivera will get credit for time already served in jail and spent under electronic monitoring and will be eligible for parole before completing his full sentence. 

During the first half of the sentencing hearing, which occurred on Feb. 24, Cherin Marie, the mother of the child Rivera was found guilty of abusing, read victim impact…

View Cache

Father Marko Rupnik concelebrated Mass at a basilica in Rome on Sunday despite restrictions prohibiting “any public ministerial and sacramental activity.”

The Jesuit priest and artist who has been accused of sexually and psychologically abusing consecrated women stood at the altar of the Basilica of Santa Prassede, a historic church popular with pilgrims located near the Basilica of St. Mary Major, at the 9 a.m. Sunday Mass on March 5, according to the Italian newspaper Domani.

When asked about the Mass, Rupnik’s superior, Jesuit Father Johan Verscheuren, said that Rupnik is only allowed “to concelebrate Masses in the context of the Aletti Center, which is his inner circle, his community.”

In comments to ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language sister news agency, Verscheuren said that he had not been able to confirm the Italian media reports and preferred “not to make judgments about things that I am not absolutely sure about.”

Rupnik…

View Cache

As of November 24, the Adult Survivors Act (ASA) went into effect in New York State, allowing survivors of sexual offenses one year to file civil claims for cases that occurred even decades ago. The Adult Survivors Act was signed into law in May and removes the statute of limitations for certain civil claims regarding past sexual offenses between November 24, 2022, and November 24, 2023, regardless of when the alleged crime took place. If you were raped or abused, at or after age 18, anywhere in New York state, at any time, by anyone, you now have a chance to file a civil lawsuit. Yes, no matter who hurt you, or when, or how old you are now, if you were sexually assaulted, fondled, raped, or abused in any way when you were 18 years old or older by anyone in the state of New York, a dramatic change in the law…

View Cache

Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine release statement on funding process, accepting new applications

Restitution for dozens of child abuse victims from a former home for kids in Parma is starting to arrive in mailboxes. The payment is very different than what was initially spelled out by the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine for those who suffered at the Parmadale Children’s Village of St. Vincent de Paul decades ago. We have reaction to the payments, reaction to the process and how some are taking their complaints to the next level.

News 5 Investigators have been bringing you stories about children abused by some nuns at the former orphanage. Our reporting led to the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine that ran Parmadale finally admitting the abuse, apologizing for it, and creating a victims’ assistance fund to help people heal.

VICTIM: NUNS NOT TAKING THIS SERIOUSLY

“Do you feel they’re taking…

View Cache

Quick Take

Efforts to stop child sex trafficking in the U.S. have been underway for decades, led by presidents including Joe Biden. But an Instagram post makes the false claims that former President Donald Trump was the first to “acknowledge that children are being sold for sex in the U.S.” and that Biden “rescinded” a Trump order addressing the problem.

Full Story

The conspiracy theory movement known as QAnon has spread the baseless claim that former President Donald Trump is battling a child sex-trafficking ring led by prominent Democrats and Hollywood stars, as we’ve previously written.

Trump’s role in the fight against sex trafficking is further distorted in a Feb. 26 Instagram post, which falsely claims Trump was the “1st President in U.S. History to acknowledge that children are being sold for sex in the U.S.”

The post also…

View Cache

You were our coaches, teachers, Boy Scout leaders, preachers, future politicians. You were neighbors, family friends, family members, always charming and trusted with our care. You took us on detours after practice on the way home, you snuck us into empty classrooms, equipment rooms, and offices on school campus. You found ways into our tents on camp outs and our bedrooms and basements at home. You cruised the malls where we spent hours shopping at The Limited and hanging out at the food court. You groomed us. You targeted us. You sexually assaulted us.

You were the exception to the many fine adults among us, but you sentenced us to a lifetime of damage.

Our parents were hard working, divorced, single, widowed, distracted. Some were alcoholic or workaholics. Others sick or dying of cancer.

We were good students and bad students. Star athletes and musicians. Geeks…

View Cache

In describing the pontificate of Pope Francis, now at its 10-year mark, cardinals, bishops and lay leaders alike are unanimous: The Holy Father has advanced a vision of the Church that reaches out to the world, with a special attentiveness to those on the peripheries of society.

“I think he has brought an awareness that we need to be mindful of those who are forgotten and are not valued: the poor, the immigrant, and those who just feel alienated from the love of God,” said Bishop James Conley of the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska, in a comment representative of this chorus. 

In a similar vein, Cardinal Marc Ouellet said that Francis has generated a new interest in the Church outside of her walls.

“That’s the sign of his missionary style,” said the Canadian cardinal, who heads the Vatican’s Dicastery for Bishops, in a Feb. 23 interview with EWTN News in…

View Cache

The head of the Roman Catholic Church in Vermont told state lawmakers Friday that the church opposes a bill that would remove clergy exemptions for reporting cases of child abuse and neglect to police.

Bishop Christopher Coyne, who has served as the bishop of the Diocese of Burlington since 2015, testified before the Vermont Senate Judiciary Committee that the church’s rite of confession must remain confidential — even when cases of child abuse are revealed.

“A priest faces excommunication if he discloses the communication made to him during confession,” Coyne said. “And the sacramental seal of confession is the worldwide law of the Catholic Church, not just the diocese of Burlington, Vermont.”

The Diocese of Burlington serves all 14 counties of the state of Vermont.

According to current state law, members of the clergy are obligated to report abuse and neglect, but it adds an exemption for when…

View Cache

For the first time since criminal court proceedings began against him, former cardinal Theodore McCarrick spoke publicly about allegations that he sexually abused a teenager at a wedding ceremony in the 1970s in Wellesley, Massachusetts.

In an interview with NorthJersey.com, McCarrick said the alleged victim’s testimony was “not true.” The telephone conversation took place one day after McCarrick filed a motion claiming he is unfit to stand trial due to dementia.

The alleged victim in the case against McCarrick was also identified by NorthJersey.com for the first time as James Grein, a 64-year-old former New Jersey resident. Grein went public in 2018 to the New York Times, which referred to him only by his first name, with allegations that the now-laicized clergyman had serially sexually abused him beginning when he was 11.

McCarrick, laicized by Pope Francis in 2019, held one of the highest offices in the Catholic…

View Cache

This commentary is by Maura Labelle of Colchester, who was a resident of St. Joseph’s Orphanage in the 1960s.

Here we go again! 

First, the local Roman Catholic Diocese wanted to demolish the former Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception to make sure the property would not be used for anything outside the teaching of the Catholic Church. This, despite the fact that no fewer than 10 priests there were on Bishop Christopher Coyne’s list of Catholic clergy credibly accused of sexual abuse. 

Now, it’s St. Stephen’s Church in Winooski that may be demolished for the same reason. At St. Stephen’s, four priests made Coyne’s list. 

Winooski was also home to the Sisters of Providence, who abused children at St. Joseph’s Orphanage, including me. According to a Feb. 16 report on WCAX, just as in Burlington, a group of Winooski citizens is trying to stop demolition of the church. 

Does anyone seriously…

View Cache

A lay official with the Diocese of Oakland has been arrested on suspicion of possessing and sharing child pornography, NBC Bay Area’s Investigative Unit has confirmed via local law enforcement.

Jeremiah York, 24, worked as the Director of Liturgical Ministries and the Executive Assistant to the Rector at the Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland, which is also known as the Oakland Cathedral.

Walnut Creek police told NBC Bay Area that they arrested York, a Walnut Creek resident, on Jan. 6.

The case remains under investigation and has not yet been referred to the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office, according to a police spokesperson.

NBC Bay Area could not reach York for comment.

The Diocese of Oakland has not publicly announced the arrest, and York’s photo and employment information remained on the Cathedral’s website until Friday. It was then taken down shortly after NBC Bay Area’s inquiry about…

View Cache

The future Pope John Paul II, while still archbishop of Kraków, knew of sexual abuse by priests subordinate to him but allowed them to continue working in the church and may even have tried to prevent the authorities from learning of their crimes, a new report by Polish broadcaster TVN claims.

The revelations come amid debate in Poland over the legacy of John Paul II – a national hero not only for his spiritual leadership but also for the role he played in inspiring opposition to the communist regime – with regard to historical abuse cases in the Catholic church.

The former pope’s defenders, led by the Polish episcopate, have often argued that John Paul II was unaware of the scale of abuse being covered up in the church and that the first signs began to reach him when he was already severely ill.

TVN – which has previously broadcast claims that John…

View Cache

Assumption University has donated more than $30,000 in contributions to the university from a retired priest named in a public 2018 Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report on clerical sexual abuse of children in the state to abuse survivors, Assumption President Gregory Weiner said in a message to the university community.

According to Weiner, the unnamed priest made a bequest commitment to Assumption University’s capital campaign in September 2021.

Weiner, who was named university president in October after serving as its interim leader since April 2022, said he learned in the fall of the gift and the priest’s appearance in the grand jury report as someone credibly accused of child sexual abuse.

Weiner said he has since directed the university administration to both review its internal processes for evaluating major gifts and to formally inform the priest that the university will not accept the bequest.

Instead, Weiner said, the university…

View Cache

Disgraced former cardinal Theodore McCarrick, whose attorneys have argued he should not stand trial due to “progressive and irreparable cognitive deficits,” recalled the name of the man he allegedly sexually abused as a child, although he denied the sexual assaults.

McCarrick, 92, was questioned by a NorthJersey.com reporter during a brief phone interview the day after his attorney filed a Feb. 27 motion in Dedham District Court in Massachusetts seeking to have the charges dismissed.

According to the report, the reporter called McCarrick at the assisted living facility where he resides in Missouri.

During the conversation, McCarrick was informed the reporter wanted to ask about the abuse. Asked how he was feeling, McCarrick told the reporter he was “feeling well, considering that I am 92 years old. It’s not like I’m 40 or 50 anymore.”

Asked if he remembered the man he is accused of abusing as a child…

View Cache

Pope St. John Paul II knew about sexual abuse of children by priests under his authority and sought to conceal it when he was an archbishop in his native Poland, according to a television news report.

In a story that aired late Monday, Polish channel TVN24 named three priests whom the future pope then known as Archbishop Karol Wojtyla had moved among parishes or sent to a cloister during the 1970s, including one who was sent to Austria, after they were accused of abusing minors.

Two of the priests, Eugeniusz Surgent and Jozef Loranc, eventually served short prison terms for the abuse, TVN24 said its investigation found. Wojtyla served as archbishop of Krakow from 1964 to 1978, when he became Pope John Paul II. He died in 2005 and was declared a saint in 2014 following a fast-tracked process.

TVN24 quoted from documents of Poland’s communist-era secret security services,…

View Cache

A priest convicted of sexually abusing four girls in Scotland has been spared jail.

Father Neil McGarrity, 58, was found guilty at Glasgow Sheriff Court in January of four sexual assaults and one charge of engaging in sexual activity.

On Friday, he was sentenced to 250 hours of unpaid work and put under supervision for three years.

Fr McGarrity was also placed on the sex offenders’ register for five years and subject to a curfew between 7pm and 7am for nine months.

BBC News reports that the charges relate to the period from December 2017 to February 2020 and occurred at two churches in Glasgow and his parish home.

The victims were aged between 10 and 16 at the time and the incidents involved touching of a sexual nature.

Some of the incidents reported by the victims included being repeated hugged by Fr McGarrity, as well as…

View Cache

[Via Inquirer]

The late Polish pope John Paul II knew about child abuse in Poland’s Catholic church years before becoming pontiff and helped cover it up, private broadcaster TVN reported Sunday.

Michal Gutowski, the investigator behind the broadcast, said that Karol Wojtyla, as he then was, knew of cases of pedophile priests within the church while still a cardinal in Krakow.

He transferred the priests to other dioceses — one as far away as Austria — to ensure no scandal ensued, he said.

Wojtyla, who was pope for 27 years from 1978 until his death in 2005, wrote a letter of recommendation for a priest accused of abuse to Vienna cardinal Franz Koenig, without mentioning the accusations, says Gutowski.

During his investigation, Gutowski says he spoke to victims of pedophile priests, their families and former church diocese employees.

He cites documents from the former Communist-era SB secret police and rare…

View Cache

The insurance carrier for the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego filed a lawsuit Friday contending that because the diocese violated the terms of its insurance policies, the company should not have to pay out any money to settle claims from hundreds of people alleging they were victims of sexual abuse by clergy over the last several decades.

The lawsuit was filed in San Diego federal court by Catholic Mutual Relief Society of America, the insurance provider for San Diego and other Catholic dioceses. The company wants a judge to order that it has no duty to “defend or indemnify” the diocese or any parish against claims of sexual abuse by clergy from 1958 through 1990.

It is not clear why the lawsuit gives that time frame. The lawyer for Catholic Mutual did not respond to messages seeking comment Friday.

However, many of the 400 claims that are currently pending…

View Cache

Bishops conference to outline measures falls dismally short

The long awaited press conference tipped to outline measures the Portuguese Catholic Church will be taking in the wake of the findings of the Independent Commission into child sex abuse within the institution fell dismally short of expectations yesterday evening.

Victims associations – particularly Quebrar o Silêncio, which has specificially petitioned the Church to come up with immediate solutions for the 106 priests still in active service against whom allegations of abuse have been made – reacted with dismay, saying the message given was ‘ambiguous’ at best.

On another level “ethical, moral questions” seemed to have been completely buried. There were myriad references to the fact that pedophilia is not confined to the Church. Victims’ associations points are that the Church cannot be likened to lay society, by dint of its values – and that therefore betrayal of such values is a…

View Cache

Despite being in a sacred and very holy position, some church officials and priests have been prosecuted because of sexually abusing some of the church members, leaving their integrity in a bad state.

The bishops of Portugal have started taking action in response to a report that exposed the extent of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church in the country. The report estimated that more than 4,000 children had been abuse victims since the 1950s.

Bishops of Portugal Drives Measures to Put an End to Sexual Abuse in Religious Institutions

According to the Catholic News Agency, the bishops held a plenary assembly in Fátima, announcing the creation of all-lay diocesan commissions and a memorial to the victims. These measures will be unveiled during World Youth Day in Lisbon from August 1 to 6. Father Manuel Barbosa, a spokesman for the bishops’ conference, expressed gratitude to the victims…

View Cache

Priests charged or convicted of child sexual abuse are still active in dioceses under the protection of bishops

Some of the best and well written-child protection laws are in the Philippines. However, it is enforcement that is lacking. There are few convictions of child abusers. Without the rule of law being enforced, there will never be an end to child sexual abuse. Right now, the Philippines is like “a fun house of sexual abuse” with international connections through online abuse.

At a recent meeting with five judges in Cebu, the Preda Foundation’s president, Francis Bermido Jr., and Executive Director Emmanuel Drewery were earnestly requested to open a therapeutic healing center/home for girl victims of sexual abuse and exploitation in the city.

The Preda Foundation with German partner Aktionsgruppe already manages a successful home for boys in Liloan, Cebu. That project rescues teenagers from horrible subhuman conditions in government detention cells…

View Cache

A report on the handling of abuse cases in the Diocese of Mainz heavily criticized the late Cardinal Karl Lehmann.

An influential German cardinal failed for decades to respond effectively to sexual abuse in his diocese, according to a study released Friday.

Cardinal Karl Lehmann, considered one of Germany’s leading churchmen until his death in 2018, was heavily criticized in the report on the handling of abuse cases in the Diocese of Mainz issued March 3.

Lehmann, who served as president of the German bishops’ conference for 20 years, led the diocese in west-central Germany, which serves around 667,000 Catholics, from 1983 to 2016.

The more than 1,000-page report, known as the EVV study, also highlighted the failures of Lehmann’s predecessors, Bishop Albert Stohr (who oversaw the diocese from 1935 to 1961) and Cardinal Hermann Volk (1962-1982).

The study’s authors said they initially identified 657 possible victims and 392 suspected perpetrators…

View Cache

Clergy abuse survivors and advocates featured in heart-wrenching remembrances

Dr. Frank Schindler, a Maryland-based clinical psychologist, vividly recalls – more than 60 years later – the threat from his priest/school counselor/molester, who had his way with him for months when he was a five-year-old: “I was taught he was God on earth, that he could do no wrong, and these were secrets between the two of us and God; to break that seal would be a mortal sin and you’d go straight to hell.” Dr. Schindler joins a group of other survivors and advocates in the new online series, Survivors Stories, launching today/yesterday ahead of the start next week of Maryland legislative hearings on the long awaited child abuse victims reform measures aimed at providing a path to justice for all survivors, regardless when the abuse occurred. Link to this opening episode and hear more about his fight…

View Cache

Donna Von Den Bosch will never forget the time in seventh grade Fr. Joseph Maskell, her school’s notorious, serial predator-priest, just before one of the numerous times he sexually abused her in his counseling office, said, “I’ll teach you a father’s love.” Her repeated pleas for help – including to teachers and the school nurse – were all ignored. And survivor Kurt Rupprecht, who recalled his abusive priest at St. Frances de Sales Catholic Church, Salisbury, telling him, at ages 8 and 9, that submission “would make God happy,” and threatening, “If you ever tell anyone, God will kill you.”

Ms. Von Den Bosch and Mr. Rupprecht courageously share their harrowing accounts of repeated childhood sexual abuse in the latest episode of Survivors Stories, a series of short videos presented as a public service by sexual abuse attorneys/advocates from Jenner Law and Grant &…

View Cache

One of Pope Francis’ key advisors on clergy sexual abuse admitted that the pontiff’s signature effort to confront abuse and cover-up is “very often” not working, as part of a virtual conversation with Catholic abuse survivors on March 2.

Jesuit Fr. Hans Zollner spoke about Vos estis lux mundi, a sweeping set of laws issued by Francis in 2019, as part of a question-and-answer session with survivors of clergy sexual abuse sponsored by Awake Milwaukee, a Catholic group focused on sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

Zollner, a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, responded to a variety of questions from survivors Esther Harber and Mike Koplinka-Loehr and then took questions from anonymous survivors in the audience.

When he was asked whether there was recourse for survivors who feel their cases have not been properly handled, Zollner explained that there are theoretically a variety of…

View Cache

Portugal’s Catholic Church announced a handful of steps on Friday to tackle child sexual abuse within the Church – but it said suspected priests still in active roles would not be suspended unless the facts against them were clearly established.

The head of Portugal’s Bishops’ Conference (CEP), Jose Ornelas, also said that the Church would not pay reparations to victims.

The CEP met on Friday to discuss ways to tackle the issue after a report last month said at least 4,815 children were sexually abused by members of the Roman Catholic Church in Portugal – mostly priests – over 70 years.

That report by a Church-funded, one-year commission added that its findings were the “tip of the iceberg”, and commission head Pedro Strecht said more than 100 priests suspected of child sexual abuse remained active in Church roles.

Ornelas – who is himself being investigated by public prosecutors for covering up sex…

View Cache

The bishops of Portugal on Friday began taking concrete steps to respond to a damning investigative report last month that estimated well over 4,000 children have been victims of sexual abuse within the country’s Catholic Church since the 1950s.

Meeting in a plenary assembly in Fátima, the Portuguese Episcopal Conference announced the creation of all-lay diocesan commissions and a memorial to victims that will be unveiled during World Youth Day, taking place in Lisbon Aug. 1–6, among other measures.

“We reiterate our deep gratitude to all the victims who have given their testimony over the last year. Without you, it would not have been possible to reach today. Thank you,” said Father Manuel Barbosa, a spokesman for the bishops’ conference.

“We also want to leave a word of courage to all the victims who still harbor the pain in the depths of their hearts,” he added, announcing that…

View Cache

Pope Francis’s prayer intention for the month of March is for victims of abuse.

“In response to the cases of abuse, especially to those committed by members of the Church, it’s not enough to ask for forgiveness. Asking for forgiveness is necessary but it is not enough,” the Holy Father said in a video released by the Vatican March 2.

“Asking for forgiveness is good for the victims, but they are the ones who have to be at the center of everything,” Pope Francis said.

“Their pain and their psychological wounds can begin to heal if they find answers — if there are concrete actions to repair the horrors they have suffered and to prevent them from happening again. The Church cannot try to hide the tragedy of abuse of any kind. Nor when the abuse takes place in families, in clubs, or in other types of institutions,” the Holy Father…

View Cache

A former Utah city mayor and one-time bishop of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will likely spend the rest of his life in prison on child sexual abuse charges

A former Utah city mayor and one-time bishop of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will likely spend the rest of his life in prison after being sentenced Thursday for child sexual abuse at a hearing in which his victims wept while detailing the torment they endured.

Four women, now adults, cried as they detailed how painful it was to watch Carl Matthew Johnson, now 78, live a joyful life while they kept abuse that happened when they were little girls secret for decades. He was arrested last year on charges of abuse dating to the 1980s and 1990s, some of it while he was mayor of West Bountiful, a city just outside of Salt Lake…

View Cache

A SHAMED priest who sexually abused four girls walked free from court today.

Father Neil McGarrity, 58, preyed on his victims at two churches in Glasgow as well as his parish home in the city.

McGarrity played “footsie” under the table with one of the girls and was caught in a “prolonged embrace” with another.

The priest of 33 years, from the city’s Maryhill, also touched and rubbed the girls with one victim claiming he hugged her while sat on a couch.

A girl even contacted Childline due to her concerns over his behaviour.

McGarrity was found guilty at Glasgow Sheriff Court of four sexual assaults and one charge of engaging in sexual activity.

The charges span from December 2017 and February 2020 with the girls’ ages ranging between 10 to 16.

Sheriff Vincent Lunny ordered McGarrity to do 250 hours of unpaid work and put him under supervision for…

View Cache

A former Wausau Roman Catholic priest convicted of molesting and exposing himself to teenage boys under his care was returned to prison after police allegedly discovered graphic images of children on his computer.

The Rev. Timothy E. Svea was 39 when he was convicted of second-degree sexual assault of a child younger than 16 and several counts of exposing himself to a child. He also pleaded guilty to false imprisonment. Svea, who was suspended of his duties in 2001 by the Institute of Christ the King after allegations surfaced was living in Mosinee when new allegations surfaced.

Svea, now 59, is facing charges of possessing child pornography after a technician reported finding the images on a computer in for repair. With the new charge, filed Dec. 22 in Marathon County Circuit Court but investigated several months prior, prosecutors will seek to place Svea on lifetime supervision due to the serious…

View Cache

A former Holy Cross Catholic School teacher charged with multiple child sex crimes for allegedly abusing a 13-year-old student was released from jail on March 3 and placed on GPS ankle monitoring, court records show. 

First Judicial District Court Judge T. Glen Ellington ordered the release of Calvin Robinson, 41, of Española into a pretrial services monitoring program, the records show. Robinson, arrested Feb. 14, is charged with criminal sexual penetration of a child at least 13 years of age, enticement of a child and multiple counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor at the Santa Cruz school, according to records filed by New Mexico State Police. 

Ellington’s decision came after prosecutors with the First Judicial District Attorney’s Office filed a motion for pretrial detention intended to keep Robinson jailed at the Santa Fe County Adult Detention Facility, where he’d been held without bail until March 3, according to…

View Cache

The abuse case against Ann Arbor Priest Timothy Crowley has been bound over to circuit court for further proceedings, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced.

A pre-trial hearing in the case has been scheduled for March 29, when dates for motions and a jury trial date will be set.

“It is thanks to the victim-centered, trauma-informed investigation by the Michigan State Police and the staff in the Department of Attorney General that this predator was tracked down and brought back to Michigan to face his crimes,” Nessel said. “I also want to thank the survivors who have come forward to share their stories and bring attention to the abuse that has been endured by too many children for too long.”

Crowley, who was a priest at St. Thomas Rectory in Ann Arbor, was charged in May 2019 with four felony counts of first-degree Criminal Sexual Conduct and four felony counts…

View Cache

A former Ann Arbor and Jackson-area priest facing multiple sexual assault charges is one step closer to standing before a jury.

The sexual abuse case against defrocked Catholic Priest Timothy Crowley has been bound over to circuit court following a preliminary examination Thursday, according to court records.

Crowley, 73, faces two counts each of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and second-degree criminal sexual conduct stemming from incidents alleged to have taken place between 1986 and 1990 at Jackson’s St. Mary Star of the Sea Catholic Church, Hillsdale’s St. Anthony Catholic Church and Ann Arbor’s St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church.

Related: Criminal charges reinstated against ex-Ann Arbor priest accused of molesting altar boy

A pretrial hearing in the case has been scheduled for March 29, officials from the Michigan Attorney General’s Office stated in a news release.

“It is thanks to the…

View Cache

From 1950s to 2010s, 12 priests and volunteers are said to have abused 40 people

WARNING: This article contains graphic content and may affect those who have experienced​ ​​​sexual violence or know someone affected by it. 

A Catholic diocese in Northern Ontario protected priests who faced allegations of sexual misconduct for decades, an investigation by Radio-Canada’s Enquête has found. 

From the 1950s to the 2010s, 12 priests and volunteers are said to have abused some 40 people; almost all were minors at the time. Rather than being punished, some priests were transferred to other parishes, with these transfers happening well into the 2010s. 

The diocese, now known as Hearst-Moosonee, is about 11 hours north of Toronto and comprises about two dozen parishes, many along the northern edge of Highway 11, deep in the boreal forest. 

Hearst-Moosonee is one of Ontario’s most isolated dioceses, and the church remains an important institution there. It…

View Cache

The Diocese of Amarillo assigned Frank Pavone to sexual harassment training after women alleged grooming, unwanted touching, and other misconduct. Those women say the response was not enough.

The Diocese of Amarillo assigned Frank Pavone and other Priests for Life employees to sexual harassment and “safe environment” training in 2010, after it received reports accusing the priest of misconduct toward young female subordinates.

Two women who filed such reports say the training was not enough, and the diocese should have done more to look into their allegations against Pavone, who was at that time a cleric incardinated in the Amarillo diocese.

For his part, a spokesperson for Priests for Life told The Pillar this week that “false accusations” against Pavone are “unfortunate,” and that Priests for Life remains committed to its pro-life work.

Mary Worthington is a former employee of Priests for Life, who told The Pillar last month that she was frequently…

View Cache

The investigation of a Catholic priest who was accused of sexual abuse of a minor while serving in South Dakota has ended; and while the allegation couldn’t be proven, the Church stated the priest will “remain out of public ministry.”

Rev. Michel Mulloy was removed from public ministry in August 2020 following the allegation presented to the Diocese of Rapid City that a minor was abused in the early 1980s. Mulloy had served in the dioceses of Sioux Falls and Rapid City, where he was vicar general.

The allegation came around the time Mulloy was named bishop-elect of the Diocese of Duluth. He resigned from that post the next month, September 2020.

Bishop Peter M. Muhich, Diocese of Rapid City, issued a statement Friday about Mulloy.

In that statement, Muhich said a canonical proceeding was conducted by people who were not connected with the Diocese of…

View Cache

The Roman Catholic Church’s rite of confession must remain confidential, even if someone tells a priest that a child has been abused, the bishop who leads Vermont’s diocese testified Friday.

Bishop Christopher Coyne told the state Senate Judiciary Committee that the church is opposed to a bill that would remove an exemption from Vermont’s child abuse and neglect reporting laws. Clergy are currently not required to report potential evidence of such crimes if they learn of it in confidence while acting as a spiritual advisor.

“A priest faces excommunication if he discloses the communication made to him during confession,” Coyne said. “And the sacramental seal of confession is the worldwide law of the Catholic Church, not just the diocese of Burlington, Vermont,” which covers the whole state.

The bill “crosses a Constitutional protective element of our religious faith: the right to worship as we see fit,” Coyne said.

But information…

View Cache

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland is asking the Maine Supreme Judicial Court to weigh in on whether a 2021 that allows Mainers with previously expired claims of sexual abuse to sue organizations, like the diocese, is constitutional.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland is asking a superior court judge to send its challenge of a 2021 law allowing Mainers with previously expired claims of childhood sexual abuse to sue to Maine’s highest court.

The diocese’s attorney, Gerald Petruccelli, submitted the request Thursday, writing that a ruling by the Maine Supreme Judicial Court would have an impact far beyond the outcome of the 70 open cases currently pending against the church.

“There is substantial public interest in decision of these issues in these cases,” Petruccelli wrote. “Not only will the Law Court’s decision determine the retroactivity of this enactment in many cases, but it will also be important controlling precedent…

View Cache

The students say faculty didn’t respond properly to complaints about groping and other inappropriate behavior by older students. 

Two recent St. Thomas Academy graduates are suing the all-male military Catholic school in Mendota Heights, alleging that they were subjected to groping and other inappropriate behavior during hazing incidents by other students.

The plaintiffs say their experience is one example of an alleged “frat-like” culture at the school. The lawsuits also allege that the school did not follow up properly after reports that senior students asked the plaintiff students sexual questions in award interviews.

Headmaster Kelby Woodard emailed the St. Thomas community Wednesday evening after inquiries from the Star Tribune regarding the lawsuits, saying the allegations are “unfounded and without merit.”

The separate complaints filed by the families of 2022 graduates Joe Kolar and Tucker Bakko both allege abuse during an interview process for the Cadet of…

View Cache

The committee that represents the 143 people who say they were sexually assaulted by priests and staff of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Norwich filed a bankruptcy plan Tuesday that calls for the diocese, its 51 parishes and insurer to contribute millions of dollars more to compensate the victims.

The Official Committee of the Unsecured Creditors submitted its own plan in federal bankruptcy court after it called the diocese’s $29 million bankruptcy plan to compensate the victims as “woefully inadequate.” It said the diocese has substantial assets and other potential sources of funding, including significant amounts owed to it from certain parishes and affiliates.

“After listening for more than a year and a half to the Diocese, its Parishes and its insurer, Catholic Mutual, telling the Creditors’ Committee what they can’t do for the survivors, the Creditors’ Committee has been allowed through its own Plan of Reorganization to say what…

View Cache

Tuguegarao City, Cagayan – A warrant of arrest has been issued on March 1 for a priest accused of molesting a young student in Solana, Cagayan.

The arrest warrant for Fr Karole Reward Israel, assistant parish priest of St Vincent Ferrer in the said town was issued from Regional Trial Court Branch 4 by Judge Dennis Mendoza.

Among the charges for the suspect are rape, voyeurism, 20 counts of acts of lasciviousness on a young female student from a local private school in Solana.

Last year, the victim told the National Bureau of Investigation the sexual abuse she had allegedly undergone from the priest.

According to the NBI’s report, the suspect previously threatened to release a sex video of his crimes if the victim went to the authorities.

Fr Israel was nabbed back in October 2022 in a rescue operation in Barangay Iraga of the said town.

The suspect also…

View Cache

We at Horowitz Law have looked at over 100 church-produced lists of credibly accused child molesting Catholic clerics. The New Orleans Archdiocese is the worst we’ve seen. It does include some helpful details, such as the accused’s date of birth, ordination date, an estimated timeframe of abuse, the date the allegation was received, the date of removal from ministry, and assignments. But the number of proven and alleged predators who don’t appear but should appear on New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond’s list is stunning. 

A quick example: the authoritative online archive of the Catholic church’s abuse lists seven reportedly abusive nuns in the New Orleans Archdiocese. But Aymond doesn’t list any of them on his website. These include:

• Sr. Alvin Marie Hagan
• Sr. Gertrude Marie Hagan
• Sister Ladet
• Sister Marie Claudine
• Sister Martin Marie
• Sister Mary Omer Obermark 
• Sister Stephen Rose.

We’ll address more of this in future blogs, but let’s just start…

View Cache

Former Roman Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who was defrocked after years of sexual abuse allegations, said in an exclusive interview that he did not assault a New Jersey man he is charged with abusing, though he did acknowledge knowing his accuser.

Once one of the most high-profile Catholic leaders in America, McCarrick, the former archbishop of Newark and bishop of Metuchen, has been reclusive in the four years since he was expelled from the clergy by Pope Francis. As of 2021, he was living in a Missouri rehabilitation center for troubled priests, court documents say.

McCarrick, also the former archbishop of Washington, D.C., was a prominent voice and prodigious fundraiser for the Vatican for decades. But he fell from grace amid multiple sexual abuse allegations, including one from a Bergen County native, James Grein, that has prompted a criminal prosecution in Massachusetts.

Grein, who now lives in Virginia, has filed a…

View Cache

Hodász András néhány napja egy cikkben jelentette be, hogy kamaszkorában többször szexuálisan zaklatta egy pap. Ezek után készítettünk vele videós interjút, amely során Hodász beszélt az őt ért abúzus körülményeiről, az árulkodó jelekről, az egyház és a zaklatások viszonyáról, valamint hogy milyen okok miatt hagy fel a papi hivatással.

Az interjú tartalmi összefoglalója:

Úgy érzi, a magyar társadalomnak meg kell tanulnia, hogyan kell kezelni egy olyan helyzetet, mint amilyen a szexuális zaklatások feldolgozása és az áldozatokhoz való viszonyulás.

A szülőknek azt üzeni, hogy figyeljék a jeleket. Jó, ha egy gyerek jóban van a tanárával, edzőjével, papjával, de „amikor azt vesszük észre, hogy felhívja magához”, amikor az már nem egy sima tanár-diák viszony, akkor kezdjenek el beszélgetni a gyerekkel.

Az áldozatok nem azért állnak elő, hogy magukat mutogassák, vagy mert figyelmet akarnak. „Irgalmatlanul nehéz egy ilyet kimondani, és nem jókedvemben csinálom, de ha tudunk arról beszélni”, hogy a társadalom kezdje el…

View Cache

In run-up to Pope Francis’ visit to Budapest next month, revelations by Father András Hodászd have some asking if an influencer can have any “real” influence on Church

Father András Hodászd, a popular online media personality in Hungary, has told the Telex.hu news portal that a Catholic priest sexually abused him when he was a child. He is the first Hungarian cleric to say publicly that he is a survivor of sexual abuse.

His disclosure on February 14 also caught the nation’s attention because Hodász’s popular YouTube and Instagram channels and social media ministry have earned him the title of “Hungary’s Catholic influencer“. Hodász singled out the Catholic hierarchy for resisting survivors’ demands for an independent investigation of sexual abuse claims and called the Church’s inaction “inexcusable” and “indefensible”.

Before Hodász’s disclosure, his online videos, in which he discussed topics like the joy of faith and…

View Cache

State lawmakers are settling on the terms of a proposal to give more survivors of child sexual abuse the opportunity to sue the Catholic Church and other institutions complicit in the crimes.

The House Judiciary Committee heard Thursday from survivors and their advocates for two hours about the need to give adults the authority to sue. For many survivors, the years pass but their trauma remains.

“You realize really soon it’s only those who are closest to you who can cause you pain. So you keep them at arm’s distance,” Del. C.T. Wilson told the committee.

The Southern Maryland Democrat sponsored the House bill and grew emotional telling lawmakers that the trauma of his own boyhood abuse won’t relent. Now, he said, it has cost him his marriage.

“It [the bill] wouldn’t undo what’s happened,” Wilson said. “It allows victims of child sexual abuse to have a voice and face…

View Cache

A priest of the Archdiocese of Detroit has been sentenced for the rape of an elementary student at the Catholic school attached to the parish he served as pastor in the mid-2000s.

“We trust the judgment of the court. We pray for everybody involved,” Ned McGrath, director of public affairs at the Archdiocese of Detroit, told CNA March 2. “Our priority in all of these cases is always the victim-survivors.”

Father Joseph “Jack” Baker, 61, was sentenced to three to 15 years in prison on March 1 in Wayne County’s 3rd Circuit Court in Detroit. In October 2022 he was convicted of first-degree criminal conduct–sexual penetration with a person under age 13.

Baker’s attorney said he planned to appeal the verdict, Fox News reported.

The charge dated back to 2004, when the victim was a second-grader at St. Mary Catholic School in Wayne, Michigan, and Baker was pastor of St….

View Cache

Hundreds of recently filed sexual abuse lawsuits could lead to the bankruptcy of the Catholic Diocese of Sacramento, the diocese’s bishop said this week in a letter to the congregation.

The diocese’s financial predicament stems from a law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2019 that temporarily lifted the statute of limitations regarding child sexual abuse lawsuits. The law extended the age at which victims could file civil lawsuits over abuse to 40. It had been 26.

The law also opened a three-year window in which victims of any age could file lawsuits. The window closed on Dec. 31, 2022.

More than 200 lawsuits alleging child sexual abuse were filed against the diocese as a result of the law, 80% of which stem from abuse that occurred in the 1980s or earlier.

By late 2022, more than 2,000 lawsuits had been filed against the Catholic Church statewide.

“To learn of this staggering…

View Cache

It is not enough to ask people who have suffered abuse for their forgiveness, Pope Francis said.

They also must be offered “concrete actions to repair the horrors they have suffered and to prevent them from happening again” as well as the truth, transparency, safe spaces, psychological support and protection, the pope said in a video message released by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network March 2.

“The church must serve as a model to help solve the issue and bring it to light in society and in families,” he said.

At the start of each month, the network posts a short video of the pope offering his specific prayer intention. For the month of March, the pope dedicated his prayer intention for the victims of abuse. Child Abuse Prevention Month is observed in April in the United States.

In his video message, the pope said, “In response to cases of…

View Cache

In his latest prayer video, Pope Francis dedicated the month of march to praying for victims of abuse, saying simply asking forgiveness is not enough, but the church must put victims first and avoid coverup.

In his video, released March 2, Pope Francis said that in response to abuse cases, specifically abuse committed by members and representatives of the church, “it’s not enough to ask for forgiveness.”

“Asking for forgiveness is necessary, but it is not enough. Asking for forgiveness is good for the victims, but they are the ones who have to be ‘at the center’ of everything,” he said, saying victims’ pain and psychological trauma can only heal “if they find answers – if there are concrete actions to repair the horrors they have suffered and to prevent them from happening again.”

Let us #PrayTogether for those who have suffered because of the wrongs done to them by members…

View Cache

In his prayer intention for March 2023, Pope Francis prays for victims of abuse, and says the Church must serve as a model of safeguarding and must offer safe spaces for victims.

“In response to cases of abuse, especially those committed by members of the Church, it is not enough to ask for forgiveness,” says Pope Francis in his video-message announcing his prayer intention for March 2023.

The Pope this month is praying in a special way for victims of abuse.

In his message, he insists that victims must be the protagonists of a response to abuse, saying that “their pain and psychological wounds can begin to heal if they find answers – if there are concrete actions to repair the horrors they have suffered and to prevent them from happening again.”

Pope Francis insists, too, that the Church cannot hide abuse, no matter where it occurs, but instead must…

View Cache

(For Immediate Release March 2, 2023) 

The Maryland General Assembly House Judiciary committee heard testimony from survivors of child sexual abuse in support of HB0001 – sponsored by Delegate C. T. Wilson –altering the definition of “sexual abuse” for purposes relating to civil actions for child sexual abuse to include any act that involves an adult allowing or encouraging a child to engage in certain activities; repealing the statute of limitations in certain civil actions relating to child sexual abuse; repealing a statute of repose for certain civil actions relating to child sexual abuse; providing for the retroactive application of the Act under certain circumstances; etc. This bill gives those who were previously barred by these archaic laws an opportunity to seek justice.

27 U.S. jurisdictions have window or revival laws now in place. We hope, with this hearing today, Maryland becomes that much closer to becoming…

View Cache

• In 2021 11 priests sent a letter to the highest reaches of the U.S. Catholic Church regarding the leadership of Bishop Richard Stika.
• “We do not wish, in hindsight, to be accused on remaining silent, or of not having done enough in the interests of justice and charity,” they wrote.
• Priests are known to speak mostly behind closed doors about church issues. This group, however, felt Stika was not responding to their requests and complaints. They felt they had no other recourse.

Long before the Catholic Diocese of Knoxville received an investigative visit from high-ranking church leaders, a group of priests sent a blistering letter about Bishop Richard Stika’s leadership to the highest levels of the Roman Catholic Church in America, Knox News has learned.

The priests listed a series of concerns, including his handling of the allegations involving a church seminarian who has been accused of raping an…

View Cache

A Southeast Michigan priest is sentenced to at least three years in prison in connection with a clergy abuse investigation, Michigan Attorney General’s Office announced.

In October 2022, the Rev. Joseph “Jack” Baker, 61, was convicted of first-degree criminal sexual conduct – sexual penetration with a person under 13. On Wednesday, he was sentenced to three to 15 years.

Baker, who had been a pastor at St. Perpetua Parish in Waterford since 2008, previously was a pastor at St. Mary Parish in Wayne, as well as an associate pastor at Sacred Heart Parish in Dearborn and at St. Hugo of the Hills Parish in Bloomfield Hills.

Officials say the Archdiocese of Detroit received a report and sent it to the lead prosecutor on Attorney General Dana Nessel’s clergy abuse team.

The AG’s office seized 1.5 million paper documents and 3.5 million electronic documents through search warrants in October 2018,…

View Cache

A man who filed a 2019 lawsuit alleging he was sexually abused at a Downtown Albuquerque church has admitted that he misidentified a Jesuit priest he named as his abuser, resulting in the case’s dismissal, court records show.

A district judge tossed the suit in February after the plaintiff — identified as John Doe 124 — admitted last year he had misidentified the Rev. J. Patrick Hough as his abuser.

John Doe 124 made the admission in a claim he submitted in September to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for New Mexico in connection with the Archdiocese of Santa Fe bankruptcy case, 2nd Judicial District Judge Nancy Franchini wrote in the Feb. 21 order.

Abuse survivors in December approved a $121.5 million plan that called for payments to nearly 400 abuse claimants to settle the 4-year-old bankruptcy.

Franchini’s order clears the way for Hough to return to active ministry “as…

View Cache

Two states are currently considering legislation that amends mandatory reporter laws to force Catholic priests and other religious clergy to divulge information about sexual abuse, even when the priest learned of the abuse while hearing a confession.

Bills currently under consideration in the Washington and Vermont legislatures would make all clergy in the state mandatory reporters of sexual abuse and would remove so-called clergy-penitent privilege, which otherwise exempts religious ministers from reporting anything that is heard in confession.

The legislation, if passed, would most notably affect Catholic priests, who are prohibited from divulging anything they hear in confession. Catholic canon law stipulates that any priest who violates the “seal of confession” automatically incurs the penalty of excommunication.

Bishop Thomas Daly of the Diocese of Spokane, Washington, told the Washington Examiner in an interview that if the bill were enacted, priests and…

View Cache

Blowing the whistle on a cover-up of sexual abuse in the Diocese of Buffalo cost them not only their jobs, but their careers working for the church they loved.

But five years later, Siobhan M. O’Connor and the Rev. Ryszard S. Biernat have no regrets about providing a television reporter documents and audio recordings implicating then-Bishop Richard J. Malone in the mishandling of clergy sexual abuse allegations.

“It wasn’t easy to face the whole machine of church administration,” Biernat said in an interview last week. “I don’t like making people hate me but some people did after that. I didn’t take it lightly that I was going to make some enemies doing that.”

O’Connor, Malone’s former executive assistant, knew it would be hard to secure a new office job after she went on CBS News’ “60 Minutes” and acknowledged that she was the key source for three WKBW-TV reports that led to protests…

View Cache

Case is latest in series where church seeks to capitalise on landmark ruling that a priest’s death meant church could not receive a fair trial

The Catholic church is attempting to use the death of a paedophile, who had been jailed for the abuse of 17 children, to shield itself from further civil claims from his survivors.

In recent months, the church has adopted an increasingly aggressive approach to survivors in cases where paedophile clergy have died. It has sought to capitalise on a recent decision in New South Wales’s highest court that ruled a priest’s death meant the church could not receive a fair trial in a claim brought by a woman known as GLJ.

The landmark ruling, which is being appealed in the high court, has prompted the church to seek permanent stays in a string of cases where clergy have died.

The latest involves a claim brought by…

View Cache

Legislation has advanced through the Washington state Senate to make members of the clergy mandatory reporters of child abuse or neglect — passing on a unanimous vote.

SB 5280, sponsored by Sen. Noel Frame (D-Seattle), would require clergy to report sexual abuse allegations to authorities. The lone exception is if the information was received amid clergy-penitent privilege, a nationally-recognized form of privileged communication that protects conversations between religious advisers and an advisee, which has sparked a statewide debate.

As the bill continues to move through the legislative process, legislators will argue whether to continue that exemption or amend the bill to close it.

“We’re going to have some tough conversations about the issue of clergy-penitent privilege here in the Legislature and find what’s possible for us to pass,” said Frame in a prepared statement. “This bill is already a major step forward for protecting children, and…

View Cache

Baker is former pastor of St. Perpetua in Waterford, crime happened years earlier at Wayne County church

A Catholic priest and former pastor found guilty last fall of raping a young boy nearly 20 years ago was sentenced to prison Wednesday —  while his attorney said he maintains his innocence and will appeal his conviction.

At his sentencing hearing in Wayne County’s 3rd Judicial Circuit Court, Joseph “Father Jack” Baker was ordered to spend 3-15 years in prison, with jail credit of 140 days, for first-degree criminal sexual conduct-sexual penetration of a person less than 13 years old.

Baker was pastor at St. Mary Catholic School in Wayne and his victim was a second-grader there when he was raped in the church sacristy in 2004. Both the victim and Baker were among those who testified at the trial last October, with Baker denying the allegation.

The Oakland Press is not…

View Cache

Bishop Jaime Soto says the diocese is committed to resolving the more than 200 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse and warns it could cause the diocese to go bankrupt.

Catholic Diocese of Sacramento Bishop Jaime Soto is warning the diocese’s finances may be overwhelmed by the number of sexual abuse lawsuits it’s facing.

Soto posted the announcement Sunday with a video message ahead of an article in the March/April issue of Catholic Herald magazine about how the diocese is working to create safe spaces and atone for clergy sexual abuse.

In his announcement, Soto says there are more than 200 lawsuits against the diocese alleging sexual abuse of minors due to California law extending the statute of limitations (AB 218).

A judge of the Alameda County Court is overseeing a special proceeding regarding the claims in Sacramento and other dioceses in the region. Soto says he’s committing to…

View Cache

‘Because pastors do not report abuse, it allows abusers to keep on preying on vulnerable individuals,’ said advocate Abbi Nye.

If a member of the clergy suspects a child in the congregation has been abused, is the clergyperson legally required to report it?

In New York state, the answer is no. But some advocates, clergy and lawmakers think that should change.

This issue is at the heart the Child Abuse Reporting Expansion Act, a bill making its way through New York state Legislature that, if passed, would make clergy mandated reporters.

“CFCtoo is calling for CARE Act to be passed because we see it as a necessary first step toward making our communities and children safer,” said anti-abuse advocate Abbi Nye.

Nye is part of the advocacy group CFCtoo, a collective of former Christian Fellowship Center members. The CFC has five locations in New York’s North Country and has been  View Cache

As a pediatrician-turned-pastor, I believe reporting suspected child harm is our civic and Christian duty.

After entering the exam room to greet a 4-year-old patient, I couldn’t help but notice bruises on her arms. Black, blue, green, and yellow—each was in a different stage of healing. Injuries on the arms and legs are typical for young children as they run, grow, and play. But her bruising pattern resembled the imprint of a wire hanger.

While looking through her medical chart, I asked what had happened. The little girl sheepishly explained that she fell while playing hopscotch with her friends. Her stepfather nodded in approval, but red flags erupted in my mind. I continued with her well-child check as if not overly concerned. But as I examined her frail body, more bruising was evident on her torso, back, and thighs—where children do not typically get hurt.

“How did you get so…

View Cache

A bill that would require clergy members to report child abuse or neglect in Washington state has cleared the Senate.

The state Senate passed Senate Bill 5280 unanimously Tuesday.

Sponsored by Sen. Noel Frame, D-Seattle, the measure would require clergy to report sexual abuse allegations to authorities unless the information was received in a context protected by clergy-penitent privilege, such as a confessional setting.

Washington is one of only a handful of states in the U.S. that do not list clergy as mandatory reporters of child abuse or neglect.

Frame has been open about being a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. She said the abuse ended only after she told a teacher who was a mandatory reporter. The Associated Press does not publish the names of sexual abuse survivors without their consent.

“This subject is personally very important for me,” Frame said. “Mandatory reporters play an important role in protecting children,…

View Cache

Editor’s note: Today we revisit a post from November 2021 about efforts by a Jesuit priest and researcher to help the Catholic Church heal by making stories from abuse survivors a regular part of Church life.

Gerard McGlone, SJ, a Jesuit priest and researcher, believes all Catholics should regularly hear the stories of people who have experienced sexual abuse in the Church. 

He envisions a day when seminarians read, see, or hear the accounts of sexual abuse victim-survivors as part of their initial and ongoing formation. When leadership training for bishops and major superiors includes honest descriptions of survivors’ experiences. When parish bulletins feature a survivor story each week. And when pastoral council meetings and RCIA classes involve listening to short recordings from survivors, followed by brief reflection and prayer.

Trained as a clinical psychologist and now serving as a senior research fellow at the  View Cache

Lawyers for former Roman Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick filed a motion on Monday to dismiss the criminal charges against him.  McCarrick is accused of sexually assaulting a boy decades ago. His attorneys claim that the 92-year-old once-powerful American prelate has dementia and is not competent to stand trial.

McCarrick is the first current or former U.S. Catholic cardinal to face criminal charges for child sex offenses. He entered a not-guilty plea in the case in September 2021.

Our hearts ache for McCarrick’s victim and we stand in solidarity with him as this case drags on. We are glad that the prosecution is hiring its own expert to conduct a second opinion on competency. Like the lawyer representing this survivor, Mitchell Garabedian, we are suspicious of the incompetency claim. Regardless of the final decision in this case, we will always believe the testimony of…

View Cache

We are incredibly appreciative that Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Robert Taylor Jr. has decided to allow the public to see a redacted copy of the Maryland Attorney General’s Office report on the history of child sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore. While this is a victory for transparency, we hope that at some point in the future, the entire report will become available.

Judge Taylor ordered that the names of those who had not been previously identified publicly and who were accused of abusing children, covering up abuse, silencing victims, or otherwise helping to hide and enable abuse, were to be redacted from the public report. The judge said that those 208 people were entitled to be notified they were in the report and given a chance to review the portion of the report that addresses their involvement.

As frustrating as it may be…

View Cache

The SEC fined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints for failing to disclose its investments

A fund operated by the Mormon Church used a series of shell companies to hide billions of dollars of investments from the public over more than two decades, the US Securities and Exchange Commission said today.

Ensign Peak Advisors, a non-profit that manages investments for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, was required to disclose its ownership of publicly-traded securities because its portfolio exceeded $100 million. Instead, to hide the scale of the Church’s holdings, Ensign Peak created shell companies around the United States and reported them as the real owners of those securities.

The SEC fined Ensign Peak $4 million and the Church $1 million in order to settle the charges. The total assets the organizations failed to disclose amounted to nearly $38 billion by…

View Cache

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a nonprofit entity that it controlled have been fined $5 million by the Securities and Exchange Commission over accusations that the religious institution failed to properly disclose its investment holdings.

In an order released Tuesday, the SEC alleged that the church illicitly hid its investments and their management behind multiple shell companies from 1997 to 2019. In doing so, it failed to disclose the size of the church’s equity portfolio to the SEC and the public.

The church was concerned that disclosure of the assets in the name of the nonprofit entity, called Ensign Peak Advisors, which manages the church’s investments, would lead to negative consequences in light of the size of the church’s portfolio, the SEC said.

The allegations of the illicit shell company structure first emerged in 2018, when a group formerly called MormonLeaks —…

View Cache

The Diocese of San Diego has rejected a lawsuit’s allegations that it restructured diocesan properties to hide assets from sexual abuse victims. The diocese said its restructuring was part of a 10-year effort to establish parishes as separate legal entities.

Irwin Zalkin, a San Diego lawyer who represents about 120 people who have filed sex abuse claims against the diocese, has alleged otherwise. He contends the property transfers were fraudulent and aimed to shield assets that could be used to compensate his clients and other sex abuse victims.

The 2019 legislation known as Assembly Bill 218 significantly extended the statute of limitations for sex abuse lawsuits. It also allowed a three-year retrospective legal window for legal claims that previously fell beyond the legal time limit.

The diocese faces 400 sexual abuse claims dating as far back as the 1940s. The diocese has said if it agreed to settle all the…

View Cache

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento is facing insolvency following more than 200 lawsuits alleging the sexual abuse of minors.

Bishop Jaime Soto said in a letter Sunday night addressing the civil claims and acknowledging the possible financial impact. The majority of the lawsuits predate the 1990s as state law extends the statute of limitations on these cases.

“A vital aspect of owning and atoning for the sins of the past is resolving claims brought forward by victim-survivors in a fair and responsible manner,” Soto wrote. “I have committed to this principle and attempt to live it in every case.”

The bishop admitted that in the face of a “staggering number” of claims, the “financial challenge is unlike anything we have faced before.

“I must consider what options are available to us, should the diocese become insolvent,” Soto said.

The civil claims are being managed by an…

View Cache

Lindsay Lundholm looked out over hundreds of people at the Utah State Capitol last year and felt a deep sense of healing. Abuse survivors, religious leaders and major party politicians were all gathered to rally for an end to a legal loophole that exempts religious clergy from being required to report child sexual abuse once it comes to their attention.

Lundholm, one of the rally’s organizers, recalled telling the crowd how, growing up as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Idaho, she told her bishop about her painful abuse only to see it go unreported.

Unearthing the trauma wasn’t easy, but back in August she hoped reforms could be forthcoming so others would not face what she did.

“There was really a lot of momentum,” said Lundholm, now a teacher in northern Utah. “Everyone we were talking to was like, ‘This is a no brainer….

View Cache

Lawmakers have proposed several bills this session that would end the clergy exception for reporting child abuse, but with less than a week before the Utah Legislature adjourns, none have been granted a public hearing.

When asked why the bills — all of which were publicly released before the legislative session began in January — have yet to come up for discussion, Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, said he doesn’t want to force clergy to choose between breaking a tenet of their faith or breaking state law.

“I think they have the First Amendment right of religious protections, and I don’t think I want to put clergy in a spot where they have to be excommunicated or thrown in jail. Those are the options and I don’t think that’s right,” he said.RELATED

• Should a member of the clergy be required to report sex abuse? A…

View Cache

It is not a group anyone wants to join. The Survivor’s Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) is made up of people who have experienced clergy sexual abuse during their childhoods. The group was first introduced to me as a support for my husband, who is a survivor of sexual abuse by a priest that occurred when he was 5-years-old. My husband participates in a peer group, and we have attended two national SNAP conferences.

People would stand up and say what happened to them — how old they were, how long the abuse continued, whether they were believed if they told others. They were tearful, they were angry, but they were not silent. I was just astonished. I also am a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, though the crimes against me were not committed by a clergy member, and it never occurred to me that I could be…

View Cache

Eastview Christian Church Senior Pastor Mike Baker resigned Saturday amid a review of allegations of an “abusive power dynamic and coverup by church leadership in 2016.”

The senior pastor of one of Bloomington-Normal’s largest churches has resigned amid allegations of an “abusive power dynamic and coverup by church leadership,” church officials said. The pastor, Mike Baker, said the allegations are “completely not true.”

The controversy spilled into public view Sunday, when Eastview’s elders – a group of seven church leaders – addressed church members and shared a lengthy statement on the church’s website. They acknowledged allegations of unspecified abuse dating back to 2016 when Mike Baker’s adult son left his position at Eastview. Mike Baker resigned Saturday after reaching an “impasse” with the elders about how to deal with the situation, the elders said.

Barton Shaw, chairman of the elder board, told church members Sunday…

View Cache

Two megachurches—one in Arizona and one in Illinois—are being rocked by allegations they allowed a pastor guilty of clergy sexual abuse to re-enter the ministry—and offend again.

The Arizona megachurch—Central Christian Church (CCC), which has five locations in the Phoenix area— announced the termination of Lead Student Pastor and Associate Preaching Pastor Caleb Baker at a church service posted on Feb. 13. According to CCC Lead Pastor Cal Jernigan, Baker had been involved in a six-month-long “extramarital relationship” with a church employee, and the church had fired both Baker and the employee.

“It did not come out by confession; they were discovered,” Jernigan told his congregation.  “I, and the other leaders of this church, cannot turn a blind eye to this and act as if this didn’t happen or that somehow we didn’t know, we didn’t find out.”

However, both CCC and Baker’s former megachurch in Illinois— View Cache

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento is facing insolvency following more than 200 lawsuits alleging the sexual abuse of minors, Bishop Jaime Soto said in a letter Sunday night addressing the civil claims and acknowledging the possible financial impact.

The majority of the lawsuits predate the 1990s as state law extends the statute of limitations on these cases.

“A vital aspect of owning and atoning for the sins of the past is resolving claims brought forward by victim-survivors in a fair and responsible manner,” Soto wrote. “I have committed to this principle and attempt to live it in every case.”

The bishop admitted that in the face of a “staggering number” of claims, the “financial challenge is unlike anything we have faced before.

“I must consider what options are available to us, should the diocese become insolvent,” Soto said.

The civil claims are being managed…

View Cache

Senate President Stuart Adams told reporters religious organizations “do a great job” in handling abuse confessions.

In the wake of an Associated Press investigation into a case of child sex abuse by a Latter-day Saint father in Arizona, three Utah lawmakers put forward bills that would, in some capacity, require clergy — or give them permission — to report abuse to law enforcement. Why have none of them been debated by the Legislature?

“I think they have a First Amendment right, I believe there’s protections, and I don’t think I want to put a clergy in a spot where they have to be excommunicated or go to jail,” Senate President Stuart Adams told reporters Monday. “And those are the options and I don’t think that’s right.”

While two bills to address clergy reporting have been put forward by Democrats in the House and remain in its Rules Committee,  View Cache

Le cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard avait reconnu dans un courrier s’être “conduit de façon répréhensible avec une jeune fille de 14 ans”. Le parquet de Marseille avait ouvert en novembre une enquête préliminaire pour “agression sexuelle aggravée”.

L’enquête pour “agression sexuelle aggravée” visant Jean-Pierre Ricard, l’ancien archevêque de Bordeaux et ancien président de la Conférence des évêques de France, a été classée sans suite vendredi 24 février pour prescription, a appris franceinfo auprès du parquet de Marseille.

Le 7 novembre 2022, trois ans après avoir démissionné de sa charge pastorale d’archevêque de Bordeaux pour raison d’âge et avoir commencé une retraite dans un presbytère des Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Jean-Pierre Ricard avait annoncé dans une lettre à la hiérarchie catholique “se mettre à la disposition de la justice” en reconnaissant avoir “commis des actes répréhensibles” sur une adolescente de 14 ans il y a 35 ans.

Le parquet de Marseille avait alors ordonné une enquête préliminaire pour “agression sexuelle…

View Cache

BOSTON (AP) — Lawyers for former Roman Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick filed a motion Monday to dismiss a case charging him with sexually assaulting a boy decades ago, saying the 92-year-old once-powerful American prelate has dementia and is not competent to stand trial.

McCarrick pleaded not guilty in September 2021 in the Massachusetts case that alleges the priest sexually abused the boy at a wedding reception at Wellesley College in June 1974. He is the only U.S. Catholic cardinal, current or former, ever to be criminally charged with child sex crimes.

His attorneys said in their motion to dismiss that McCarrick was examined by a professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, who concluded the former cardinal suffers from dementia, likely due to Alzheimer’s disease.

“While he has a limited understanding of the criminal proceedings against him, his progressive and irreparable cognitive deficits render…

View Cache

Prosecutors are challenging the medical report claiming former cardinal Theodore McCarrick is not competent to stand trial on charges he sexually abused a teen in the 1970s.

McCarrick’s legal team filed the report Feb. 27 in Massachusetts’ Dedham District Court based on a medical evaluation that found McCarrick, 92, is suffering from impaired cognition. That report is now impounded by the court.

Assistant Norfolk District Attorney Lisa Beatty said the state will now bring in its own expert to evaluate McCarrick to determine if he can go to trial. The schedule for the state’s evaluation is not currently set, but both sides will be back in court in April for a status conference. Any eventual ruling on McCarrick’s motion to be declared incompetent is not likely for months.

McCarrick was not in court for the hearing. It was reported last year he lives in a Missouri treatment center for priests.

…

View Cache

The Diocese of Toledo recently added three names to its list of diocesan clergy members who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse. All three were deceased prior to the allegations. 

The new additions are priests Richard Miller and Frank Nieset and deacon Bernabe Romo.

Father Miller was ordained in 1950 and served at nine diocesan parishes before retiring in 1997. He died in 2009.

Father Nieset was ordained in 1956 and served at 13 parishes, schools, and other institutions before retiring in 1995. He took sick leave in 1982 and a leave of absence in 1994. He died in 2015.

Deacon Romo was assigned to St. James Parish in Toledo’s Old South End from 1980 to 2005, before moving to the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. He retired in 2006 and died in 2019. The Archdiocese of Indianapolis’ list of credibly accused clergy does not list any accused deacons.

St. James merged…

View Cache

Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Robert Taylor Jr. ruled Feb. 24 that a redacted version of the Maryland Attorney General Office’s report on child sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Baltimore must be released publicly.

The judge ordered the attorney general’s office to redact more than 200 names from the report and submit it to the court by mid-March.

“Ever-aware of the pain endured by survivors of child sexual abuse, the archdiocese once again offers its sincere apologies to the victim-survivors who were harmed by a minister of the church and who were harmed by those who failed to protect them and who failed to respond to them with care and compassion,” said Christian Kendzierski, archdiocesan spokesman.

He made the remarks in a written Feb. 24 statement issued in response to Taylor’s ruling.

“As we said publicly last year,” Kendzierski continued, “we respect the court’s decisions in this matter and will…

View Cache

The Sacramento Diocese is facing possible bankruptcy after a staggering number of lawsuits were filed alleging sexual abuse by Catholic priests. The alleged events go back decades.

Dorothy Small is a survivor, an advocate, and, through it all, still an ardent practicing Catholic.

“The most important asset in the institution are its people,” Small says. “I’m for God and I am for what it stands for. But even God is being abused. Because they represent God himself. And that doesn’t work.”

Small, who herself is a survivor of abuse at the hands of a clergy member, now volunteers her time as an advocate with the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, to help those who are just finding the courage to come forward. 

“If they have to liquidate assets, so be it,” says Small of the various Dioceses being hit with multiple lawsuits. “But provide immediate protection…

View Cache

Attorneys representing former Roman Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick are seeking the dismissal of the case of child abuse against him, saying the 92-year-old isn’t competent to face trial because he suffers from dementia.

McCarrick, who was the archbishop of Newark from 1986 to 2000 and the bishop of Metuchen earlier in the 1980s, has pleaded not guilty in the 2021 Massachusetts case against him that alleges he abused a teenage boy at a 1974 wedding at Wellesley College in Massachusetts.

McCarrick is the only Catholic cardinal in the United States ever to face child sex abuse charges.

His lawyers filed a motion to dismiss the criminal case, asserting that although McCarrick remains “intelligent and articulate,” his dementia and the resulting decline in his memory make him incapable of “assisting in his defense,” they wrote in their motion.

They cited an examination by a professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at…

View Cache

Former cardinal Theodore McCarrick, 92, filed a motion in a Massachusetts court claiming he is “legally incompetent” to stand trial for sex abuse charges, citing “significant, worsening, and irreversible dementia.”

McCarrick is charged with three counts of indecent assault and battery on a person over the age of 14 relating to allegations that he sexually abused the teenager who was a family friend at a wedding ceremony in the 1970s at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts. 

McCarrick, laicized by Pope Francis in 2019, held one of the highest offices in the Catholic Church and has been accused of serially abusing his priestly authority by sexually abusing minors and seminarians.

The state of Massachusetts told CNA that it wants an opportunity to examine McCarrick’s competency to stand trial.

McCarrick’s motion to dismiss the charges comes about a month after his legal team said a neurological exam of him was…

View Cache