ABUSE TRACKER

About eight months ago, the Digging Deeper team told you the story about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, in Bisbee, and how they were aware of child sex abuse and did not report it to authorities.

It involved a Border Patrol agent and his wife.

This is an amended complaint to the original civil lawsuit filed in Cochise County. The original complaint detailed how three children were sexually and emotionally abused.

The amended complaint alleges various church leaders conspired to conceal the sexual abuse.

“I think that the LDS church has a cult of secrecy surrounding sex abuse. And a cult of secrecy preventing their clergy from reporting sex abuse of children,” Lynne Cadigan, the plaintiff’s attorney said.

Lynne Cadigan represents the children who claim they were physically and sexually abused by their father Paul Adams.

Authorities learned about the abuse when a video showing Adams having…

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With the approval of the government, a renowned sexologist ran a dangerous program. How could this happen?

In 2017, a German man who goes by the name Marco came across an article in a Berlin newspaper with a photograph of a professor he recognized from childhood. The first thing he noticed was the man’s lips. They were thin, almost nonexistent, a trait that Marco had always found repellent. He was surprised to read that the professor, Helmut Kentler, had been one of the most influential sexologists in Germany. The article described a new research report that had investigated what was called the “Kentler experiment.” Beginning in the late sixties, Kentler had placed neglected children in foster homes run by pedophiles. The experiment was authorized and financially supported by the Berlin Senate. In a report submitted to the Senate, in 1988, Kentler had described it as a “complete success.”

Marco had…

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Catholic Church authorities in Poland say the Vatican is punishing a retired Polish archbishop for his alleged negligent response to cases of sexual abuse of minors by clergymen under his authority.

The Archdiocese of Wroclaw said the Vatican had reviewed reports of alleged negligence by the diocese former head, the retired archbishop Marian Golebiewski. The probe covered the years from 1996 to 2004, when Golebiewski was head of the Koszalin diocese, and 2004 to 2013, when he led the Wroclaw archdiocese.

As a result, the Vatican has banned Golebiewski, 83, from appearing at any public religious or lay ceremonies and has ordered him to donate from his own pocket to a foundation preventing sexual abuse and supporting its victims. He is also to pray and repent.

The Holy See has punished around ten Polish bishops and archbishops over reported cover-ups of sexual abuse of minors by priests under their authority.

…

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Sheri A. Biasin, of Cheshire, speaks here about the culture surrounding clergy abuse in the 1960s and 1970s, her efforts to confront the abuse she endured, and growing up Catholic in the Berkshires. This conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity.

[See also diocesan correspondence about Biasin’s case.]

On her Catholic upbringing: I grew up in a really strict Catholic family. I mean, we did rosary before we went to bed — that sort of whole deal. That was very prominent in our life, and to go against it was like, “You’re going to burn in hell” and “Wait to see what’s going to happen to you.”

The people in my family basically bowed to this man, Father Daniel Gill. When I look back now, I think, “Oh, my God, good thing I’m not there now, because I wouldn’t have been able to take it.”

You asked how my…

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Father Gregory Weider served churches across the Capital Region for decades

A retired priest who served at churches across the Capital Region and beyond from the 1960s through 2010 was removed from public ministry last week by Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger over an allegation of sexual abuse, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany said Saturday.

The allegation against Father Gregory Weider is related to a Child Victims Act lawsuit, the diocese said. The 84-year-old priest had been serving as sacramental minister at Sacred Heart Church in the Delaware County village of Margaretville, as well as its mission, St. Anne’s, in the nearby town of Andes.

While on administrative leave, he will not publicly officiate at sacraments, wear clerical garb or present himself as a priest, the diocese said.
 
Since his ordination in 1963, Weider has served at the following locations: Blessed Sacrament, Mohawk; St. Anthony, Schenectady; St. Agnes, Cohoes; St. Thomas…

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Anne O’Brien of Hexham and Newcastle diocese has been appointed as Chair of a new safeguarding structure dedicated to supporting the responsibilities of religious congregations.

The ‘Religious Life Safeguarding Service’ is being set up following a review of safeguarding across the Catholic Church conducted by Dr Ian Elliott. This review recommended significant changes to the organisation and delivery of safeguarding services in the Church. The Religious Life Safeguarding Service will offer a full safeguarding service designed for Religious Congregations, including the provision of case work and training.

For three years Anne O’Brien has been the Chair of the Independent Safeguarding Commission for the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle – and has also worked at a national level for the last 20 years within the NHS and the Department of Health. She held a Company Board Director position at NHS Professionals Ltd for 11 years. Anne is a faculty member of…

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Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, who has led the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville for more than 10 years, announced on his 75th birthday Wednesday that he has submitted his resignation to Pope Francis.

“The role of an archbishop is both to lead, to listen and to serve,” Kurtz said of his legacy Wednesday. “… I hope that I’ve been empowered and inspired leaders to take on the mind and heart of Jesus Christ in serving others.”

In the past, bishops were required to resign outright when they turned 75, but Pope Francis changed that rule in 2018. Bishops are still required to submit their resignations to the pope upon their 75th birthdays, but the pope can decide not to accept.

Kurtz has submitted his letter, and he will retain the title of “archbishop” when he leaves the archdiocese, Archdiocese spokeswoman Cecelia Price said in an email Wednesday.

“Usually an Archbishop will stay in the diocese…

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A review board has substantiated a claim of sexual abuse made against a now-deceased priest who served at several churches in southern Chautauqua County spanning four decades.

Bishop Michael W. Fisher on Thursday accepted the recommendations from the board against eight priests. Among them was the Rev. Ralph P. Federico, who served at both St. James and St. John churches in Jamestown in the 1960s and ’70s and then at Our Lady of Lourdes in Bemus Point for nearly two decades.

Priests with substantiated claims against them are added to the list of those credibly accused kept by the Diocese of Buffalo.

The Dunkirk-born Federico has been named in at least three Child Victims Act lawsuits — one filed in August 2019 and two in July 2020.

he most recent lawsuits filed in state Supreme Court in Chautauqua County claim Federico abused male victims while serving at St. John’s Roman…

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Buffalo Bishop Michael W. Fisher says the diocese is following the recommendations of its independent review board on this matter.

The Diocese of Buffalo has placed a priest on permanent administrative leave after allegations of abuse were substantiated by an independent review board. 

Allegations of sexual abuse against six others who have since passed away, were also found to also be substantiated.

The diocese provided the following list of priests accused:

• Reverend Paul M. Nogaro
• Reverend Donald J. Lutz
• Reverend Daniel G. Duggan (deceased)
• Reverend Ralph P. Federico (deceased)
• Reverend Edward L. Kazmierczak (deceased)
• Reverend Leo F. Reddy (deceased)
• Reverend David V. Roche (deceased)
• Reverend George J. Brennan (deceased)

Buffalo Bishop Michael W. Fisher says the diocese is following the recommendations of the board on this matter.  

According to the diocese, the claims of abuse where substantiated against seven of the eight priests listed above. The abuse allegations were not substantiated against Reverend Paul M….

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Bishop Michael W. Fisher will let a priest accused of child sex abuse return to ministry after a review board determined that the alleged abuse was “not substantiated.”

The Rev. Paul M. Nogaro, retired pastor of St. Stephen Church on Grand Island, will be allowed to celebrate Mass publicly again and perform other priestly functions.

It is the second time a review board has found abuse claims made against him in a Child Victims Act lawsuit to be unsubstantiated.

Nogaro, 75, first was accused in a lawsuit on Aug. 14, 2019, and suspended from active ministry a few days later. He was allowed to resume ministry Jan. 17, 2020, after the review board’s first determination. Within days, however, a second CVA lawsuit alleged abuse by Nogaro in the 1990s at St. Gregory the Great Church in Amherst.

“They were completely unsubstantiated and there was no reasonable evidence of any kind…

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Congregation official says it stood by victims as Richard Daschbach betrayed their trust, the donors and his superiors

A Society of the Divine Word (SVD) official has denied allegations of “conspiracy” and “false accusations” against Richard Daschbach, who was dismissed from the priesthood for sexual abuse committed in Timor-Leste.

Father Jose Nicolas Espinosa, the congregation’s general secretary and spokesperson based in Rome, said “the investigation process against Daschbach, which included his self-denunciation, proved that the accusations of sexual abuse of minors were true.”

Supporters of the 84-year-old American have alleged that the accusations that led to his dismissal from the priesthood by the Vatican in November 2018 were “false” and that he was a “victim of a conspiracy.”

“His dismissal from the congregation and the clerical state proves that the SVD acted fast and adequately to ensure the ecclesiastical penalty for Mr. Daschbach,” Father Espinosa said in an interview published…

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The Vatican must break its five-month silence and speedily clarify the situation in Hamburg, the vicar-general of the archdiocese has demanded 

Pope Francis granted Archbishop of Hamburg Stephan Hesse leave of absence at the end of March, after a report on Hesse’s previous diocese of Cologne implicated him in numerous failures in the handling of abuse cases. Vicar-general Ansgar Thim has been handling the archdiocesan administration in Hamburg, but on 12 August he stated that the situation in the archdiocese has become untenable and demanded speedy clarification from the Vatican.

The Hamburg archdiocese had earlier declared on its homepage that it sincerely hoped that “the Vatican will not delay much longer in reaching a decision”. The archdiocese expected that the Pope would accept Archbishop Hesse’s resignation, the declaration said. 

“I am not shirking responsibility, but would like to send out a clear signal to all those at home and abroad…

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Albany’s ex-bishop acknowledges a longstanding policy that enabled serial sexual abuse.

THE STAKES:
It’s time for the diocese to truly reckon with its past, for its own sake as well as victims’.

—-

In the Catholic tradition, confession is more than a virtue that is good for the soul; it is a sacrament. Whether it’s prompted by genuine contrition or the simple reality that you’ve been found out, confession is also viewed favorably within the secular legal system.

Which makes it doubly good that Albany Bishop Emeritus Howard Hubbard recently stated in straightforward manner what has been known for years by those who follow the regional diocese’s response to allegations of the sexual abuse of children by clergy and church staff: The diocese for far too long didn’t do nearly enough to protect the most vulnerable members of its flock.

The diocese’s common practice in the 1970s and 1980s for handling…

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A conservative Catholic media organization, The Pillar, has published several reports claiming the use of dating apps at several churches and the Vatican.

The reports hit the Roman Catholic Church in rapid succession: Analyses of cellphone data obtained by a conservative Catholic blog seemed to show priests at multiple levels of the Catholic hierarchy in both the United States and the Vatican using the gay hookup app Grindr.

The first report, published late last month, led to the resignation of Msgr. Jeffrey Burrill, the former general secretary of the U.S. bishops’ conference. The second, posted online days later, made claims about the use of Grindr by unnamed people in unspecified rectories in the Archdiocese of Newark. The third, published days after that, claimed that in 2018 at least 32 mobile devices emitted dating app data signals from within areas of…

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[Via GMA News]

Pope Francis accepted a Brazilian bishop’s resignation Wednesday amid a scandal over a leaked sex tape and allegations he covered up cases of sexual abuse by priests in his diocese.

The pope “accepted the resignation presented by Monsignor Tome Ferreira da Silva of the Diocese of Sao Jose do Rio Preto” in southeastern Brazil, the Vatican said in a statement.

It did not give a reason for the departure of the 60-year-old bishop, who had been in the post since 2012.

According to Brazilian media reports, Ferreira da Silva tendered his resignation after a video circulated on social media of him undressing and caressing his genitals while talking with the person filming.

The cleric was also ensnared in a scandal in 2018 when Brazilian media reported the Vatican had opened an investigation into allegations he attempted to cover up sexual abuse by priests working under him.

Brazil,…

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A former lecturer at the University of King’s College in Halifax will stand trial next June on historical sex-related charges involving two young men.

Wayne John Hankey, 76, of Halifax faces two counts each of indecent assault on a male and gross indecency.

Hankey is accused of abusing one of the complainants between May 1977 and December 1979 and the other in September 1982.

The crimes were allegedly committed on the King’s campus and at a home in Halifax and were reported to police earlier this year. Investigators laid charges of sexual assault and indecent assault in April and then amended the allegations before Hankey’s arraignment in June.

Lawyer Stan MacDonald entered not-guilty pleas on behalf of Hankey in Halifax provincial court in July and appeared in court Tuesday to set dates for a trial.

Judge Elizabeth Buckle scheduled the trial for five days beginning June 6, 2022.

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Civil claim seeks damages for alleged psychological and sexual abuse between 1991 and ’94 by the brother, who is from Newfoundland.

A former student at O’Grady Catholic High School in Prince George has filed a civil suit alleging sexual abuse in the early 1990s by a teacher who was a Christian brother.

The student, now in his mid-40s and a medical technologist in Victoria, is named only as John Doe in the suit filed Aug. 16 in B.C. Supreme Court in Prince George.

The student’s alleged abuser is named in the court filing but Postmedia News is choosing not to publish his name as there has been no response in court to the allegations.

The ex-student has not pursued a criminal complaint with police against the former teacher, according to his lawyer, Sandra Kovacs.

The civil claim seeks damages for alleged psychological and sexual abuse between 1991 and ’94 by…

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On the first day of their trip, the American tourists climbed to the top of St. Peter’s dome, admiring Michelangelo’s architectural marvel and its panoramic view.

On the second day, they met up with their tour group to visit ancient Roman aqueducts and enjoy a traditional pasta lunch. And in the afternoon, they listened to a man who had been abused by a Catholic priest talk them through his own personal hell.

“We came here for St. Peter and the Colosseum, but when they offered us this experience, I just wanted to go,” said Joseph Purdy, 72, a retiree from Rehoboth Beach, Del…

For that, the tour company flew in Francesco Zanardi, one of Italy’s most vocal advocates for survivors of clerical abuse.

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Key points:

• The victims of a paedophile priest have detailed the traumatic impact their abuse in the 1980s has had on their lives
• Anthony Caruana was convicted of abusing 12 students at Chevalier College in the NSW Southern Highlands
• Some victims told the court they were called liars when they told their parents about the crimes

The victims of a paedophile priest have told a court they were called liars when they told their parents about being abused by their teacher 30 years ago.

Last month, Anthony Peter William Caruana was convicted of sexually abusing 12 students at a Catholic college for boys in the NSW Southern Highlands in the 1980s.

A District Court jury found the 79-year-old guilty of 26 offences including 22 counts of indecent assault and four counts of sexual intercourse with a pupil.

During the seven-week trial, the court heard Caruana was a teacher at…

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The state parole board today unanimously rejected Fr. Michael Guidry’s request for early release.

Guidry, 78, who was pastor of St. Peter’s Church in Morrow, pleaded guilty to the molestation of a 16-year-old boy. He was sentenced to seven years in prison, but was released for appeals because of COVID. After his sentencing appeals were denied he was sent back to prison.

His victim was an altar server, as his brothers had been. His father was Guidry’s deacon and his mother taught catechism for the parish. His brother, his mother and his father all addressed the board prior to the vote. The victim did not attend the hearing, because, his father said, he couldn’t bear it.

“Our son can’t even bear to attend this hearing,” said Scott Peyton. “He doesn’t want to see him, hear his voice, hear his laughter. He (Guidry) does not take this seriously.”

All three members of the…

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Had I been sexually abused by Father Thomas Smith 20 miles east in New Jersey, 20 miles south in Delaware or 80 miles north in New York, I would have had the opportunity to seek justice. I could have held Catholic Church officials accountable for protecting a known pedophile instead of the children they promise to protect. I would not be writing this.

However, I was abused in Pennsylvania. Because of that geographical detail, I, and other victims of childhood sexual abuse, have had to endure nearly two decades of revictimization by church officials and Pennsylvania lawmakers who refuse to reform the state’s statute of limitations.

As for Father Smith — Tom Smith now — who knows where he is? Maybe he is reading this while scouting out his next victim. Does Republican Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward know where Smith is?

Ward has picked up where retired Sen. Joe…

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Bob Dylan is being accused of sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl in 1965, according to a new lawsuit filed Friday.

The “Like a Rolling Stone” singer/songwriter, 80, whose real name is Robert Zimmerman, allegedly groomed, sexually abused and threatened physical violence against the plaintiff, identified only as “J.C.” in the court documents. The alleged abuse occurred multiple times over a six-week period between April and May 1965, with some incidents occurring in his Chelsea Hotel apartment in New York.

The legal documents obtained by USA TODAY also claim that Dylan “exploited his status as a musician” to illegally provide drugs and alcohol to the underage girl.

A spokesperson for Dylan told USA TODAY in a statement on Monday that “the 56-year-old claim is untrue and will be vigorously defended.”

USA TODAY has reached out to Dylan’s attorney for comment.

“Dylan’s predatory, sexual and unlawful acts against Plaintiff amounted…

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A slew of new Child Victims Act lawsuits were filed locally as the extended “look back” window for victims of childhood sexual abuse to file claims against their alleged abuser closed Saturday.

The bulk of cases just recently filed in state Supreme Court in Chautauqua County name the Allegheny Highlands Council as a defendant. According to online records, 14 lawsuits were filed in the last week permitted under the law: two on Friday, Aug. 6; three on Monday; one on Tuesday; four on Wednesday; and four on Thursday.

More filings may show up on the state’s Unified Court System website after they are uploaded.

The 2019 Child Victims Act originally suspended the statute of limitations for a year to allow victims to pursue even decades-old allegations of abuse against priests, teachers, Boy Scout leaders and other adults. Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the pandemic had limited survivors’ ability to file claims and effectively…

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[Includes video]

An altercation occurred at Our Lady Queen of Poland Catholic Church in Edmonton Sunday morning as a group of people attempted to enter and listen to a public apology for remarks a priest previously made.

Taz Augustine, an Indigenous elder, told CTV News Edmonton that she was part of a group of six people who wanted to go and listen to the public apology that the Archdiocese of Edmonton was offering.

That apology [with links to the OMI and Mironiuk apologies] comes in the wake of comments a priest from the Polish parish made regarding Indigenous communities and residential schools, and the Jewish community.

Rev. Marcin Mironiuk, a priest with the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI), was placed on “indefinite administrative leave” from ministry within the Archdiocese of Edmonton after denying that there were unmarked graves at the sites of former residential…

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First Nations leaders condemn Catholic priest who called reports of unmarked graves a ‘huge lie’

First Nations leaders are condemning a Catholic priest from Alberta accused of referring to the reports of an unmarked graveyard at the Kamloops residential school as a “huge lie.”

Rev. Marcin Mironiuk is also accused of travelling to Kamloops, failing to disclose his status as a Catholic priest and attempting to gain access to the grave site.

On May 27, the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc band announced it had located 215 unmarked graves near the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. The announcement sparked a national dialogue and led to a number of similar statements from First Nations across Canada.

In a joint statement from Tk’emlups te Secwepemc and the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, Mironiuk’s actions were described as racist.

“Rev. Mironiuk delivered false, derogatory, racist and severely re-traumatizing statements to his congregation and public followers,”…

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Key points:

• At least 14 abuse survivors and victims are pursuing compensation over abuse by now-deceased paedophile priest Bryan Coffey
• The Catholic Diocese of Ballarat and the Trustees of the Sisters of Saint Joseph have admitted liability in the first of the civil cases related to Coffey
• Coffey, who died in 2013, was found guilty of abusing children in 1999

Two Catholic organisations have admitted liability in the Supreme Court related to the actions of a now-deceased paedophile priest.

An expert says the admission removes a massive legal hurdle for abuse survivors and victims of Father Bryan Coffey who are now seeking compensation.

Coffey, who died in 2013, was found guilty in 1999 of 14 charges relating to indecent assaults on seven boys and one girl that took place across four Victorian parishes between 1960 and 1975.

Two civil cases are underway in the Supreme Court from abuse survivors seeking compensation for…

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Jordan Soffer could not begin opening up about the alleged sexual abuse he endured at the hands of his United Synagogue Youth counselor some 15 years ago without first making clear how unsettled he feels about tarring the Conservative movement’s youth branch.

“I’m just so torn because I loved USY and still do. It was my life,” he began, speaking by phone with The Times of Israel on Monday. “I was regional president, international general board member — the whole nine yards. I would never want to do anything to hurt it.”

“It’s why I contacted them quietly for years,” he continued. “But when it became clear that they were sweeping it under the rug, just like all of those horror stories you hear about in the [Catholic] Church or [certain parts of the] Haredi world, I felt like I was being morally irresponsible by not speaking out.”

So now,…

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A Vatican trial began on July 27. Ten defendants were charged with a various financial crimes including fraud and embezzlement. The accusations show an organization where corruption usually goes unnoticed in a city/state whose leaders consider themselves to be so superior in religious training and practice that they are the sole legitimate interpreters of what is sin for the rest of us.

Most of the defendants were involved in purchasing a commercial building in London.

Suppose you or I wanted to invest in commercial real estate. We would seek out honest and reputable brokers, bankers or other experts to help us locate and finance the best deals. We might even decide to incorporate for sound business reasons and not to hide our identity.

This is how the Vatican invested in the building at 60 Sloane Ave. according to the Financial Times.

In 2012, private bankers at Credit Suisse arranged a meeting in…

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The Vatican trial that began on July 27 with the naming of 10 defendants for various financial crimes is going to take a very long time due to the “complexity” involved with having so many defendants, cruxnow.com noted. Most were involved in the Vatican’s purchase of a London commercial building.

The trial will be lengthy also because of the numerous objections brought by the defense attorneys. Some “were raised against the constitution of the court itself and the Vatican’s sovereign legal system,” pillarcatholic.com stated.

 “The defendants had not been fully informed that Pope Francis signed four laws to help the procedures that preceded the trial … Also highlighted were some situations that would be considered irregular in Italy or any foreign country. The possibility for the Holy See to celebrate a fair trial was questioned in the light of the fact that not only was a special jurisdiction made but also that the defendants were not given time…

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Evidence of Christian belief in Ireland today “has for all intents and purposes vanished,” Catholic Archbishop of Dublin Dermot Farrell has said. This “underlying crisis of faith” was “particularly acute among the younger generations,” he said.

“Public commentary in the media in Ireland has not been positive in its understanding of the Church and its need for vocations, and for public support of those trying to preach the Gospel,” he said.

Archbishop Farrell made the comments in an interview with the 2021 edition of ‘Síolta’, the annual journal of the national seminary at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth.

“The challenges facing me are pretty clear. We have an ageing clergy and very few vocations to the diocesan priesthood or religious life. There is a major decline in the number of people who actively practice and live their faith.

“Faith needs ritual, embodiment. One must see in people how faith is lived. Today…

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A WINDOW CLOSED. AN ISLAND CHANGED. This story is the first in a four-part series examining the impact of the Child Victims Act.

August 14, 2019, sent shockwaves across Staten Island and around New York state.

On that day, hundreds of lawsuits were filed in courts here and throughout the state accusing priests, nuns, Boy Scout leaders and other trusted adults of sexually abusing children under their tutelage.

The suits were commenced under the landmark Child Victims Act.

The disturbing incidents occurred decades ago, the plaintiffs alleged. On church grounds, in orphanages, Scout camps and even in the back seats of private cars.

Some cases dated as far back as the 1940s.

On Staten Island, the primary defendants in many suits were the Archdiocese of New York, the Mission of the Immaculate Virgin at Mount Loretto and the Boy Scouts.

A respected sports coach…

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The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry has found that Benedictine monks at Fort August Abbey School in Invernessshire and at Carlekemp Priory School in North Berwick, East Lothian ran “sadistic” regimes.

Lady Smith’s fifth interim report declared that the schools were a “haven for paedophiles”. 

Her report confirmed: “Children were sexually abused at both schools. A number of monks were serial sexual predators and, because of the movement of monks between Fort August and Carlekemp, they were able to target victims at both schools.”

The report states that cruel beatings were commonplace, but that some of these had “sexual overtones”.

The report, which describes the monks’ behaviour as “a desecration of their vows”, says that offences were compounded by the children’s inability to seek proper redress.

“Knowing that they would not be believed, other children refrained from complaining about abuse. Complaints made to devout Catholic parents were rejected because they would…

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The boy was 6 years old when his family began attending church at St. Vincent de Paul in 1980.

That’s where he met Fr. Robert Ours, who served at the parish during a four-year stretch of his two-decades-long career in the priesthood. 

Inside a confessional booth at the Vestal church, Ours allegedly fondled the boy multiple times over the course of a year, until 1983. Ours, who in 2014 was sentenced in an unrelated child porn case, has since been removed from the ministry.

The nearly 40-year-old sex abuse accusations were revealed for the first time in an Aug. 2 lawsuit against Ours and the Vestal church, part of a wave of lawsuits that flowed into Broome County’s Supreme Court during the final months of New York state’s Child Victims Act.

After Saturday, nearly two years since it was signed, the window created by the Child Victims…

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On August 14, 2021, New York and Pennsylvania will show their true colors when it comes to taking child protection seriously. New York is striding into the future of child protection while Pennsylvania is mired in toxic politics that endanger children.

New York Opens a Window and Learns About Perpetrators and Institutions Previously Off the Radar

Two years ago, to the day, the New York Child Victims Act window opened. Within days, over 4,000 cases had been filed. Then, when the pandemic shut courthouses, New York added a second year to the window, and by the time it closed nearly 10,000 complaints had been filed. These laws have a lot to offer the victims and their families: they validate survivors, create access to justice, and make it possible to shift the cost of abuse from the victim to the ones who caused it. But they also serve the interests of…

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The outing of a top administrator of the nation’s conference of Catholic bishops as a regular Grindr user was clearly a story. But what kind?

About the author: Peter Steinfels, a former editor of Commonweal and religion writer for the New York Times, is a professor emeritus at Fordham University and author of A People Adrift: The Crisis of the Roman Catholic Church in America.

Once, it was said that the eyes were the windows to the soul. Now the cellphone is. Consider Jeffrey Burrill, a man who regularly logged in to the gay dating app Grindr and whose cellphone emitted signals marking his visits to gay bars and a Las Vegas gay bathhouse. Hardly a story there, you might say.

Except Jeffrey Burrill was Monsignor Jeffrey Burrill, the secretary-general of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. And his July 20 resignation was forced by a newly founded Catholic online newsletter using commercially available data…

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In a fairly unusual move, Diocese of Albany Bishop Howard Hubbard has taken to the news media recently to try and rehab his image.

His latest missive comes in an op ed for the Albany Times Union. Before looking in detail at some of his claims, let’s note a glaring omission by the now-retired prelate.

He devotes more than 900 words to defending how he and his colleagues handled child sex crimes. But he doesn’t once mention that he himself is accused, in civil lawsuits, of molesting at least five kids.

https://www.bishop-accountability.org/assign/Hubbard_Howard_J.htm

Now when someone won’t admit that he’s an accused sex offender, it’s kinda hard to believe him when he says he didn’t protect other sex offenders.

So let’s dive into the claims made by Diocese of Albany Bishop Howard Hubbard.

In the 1970s and 1980s, when an allegation of sexual misconduct against a priest was received, the common…

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If you or someone you know needs resources or support related to sexual violence, contact the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault’s 24/7 hotline at 800-871-7741.

Robert Dupuis was part of a group of five boys who did chores around St. Joseph Catholic Church in Old Town in 1961, when he was 12.

The boys mowed the lawn, shoveled snow and helped out at church banquets and suppers, working under the supervision of the Rev. John J. Curran. But when Dupuis was alone with Curran, the priest sexually abused him, he said. It began with hugs, then progressed to fondling.

Dupuis went public with the abuse he experienced in 2008 when he urged the Augusta City Council to support removing Curran’s name from a downtown bridge, which the Legislature did the following year. Richard Malone, then bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, acknowledged the priest’s abuse and endorsed removing…

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A Rotterdam pastor is voluntarily stepping back from public ministry as he is investigated for allegations of child sexual abuse.

“In light of a single allegation of sexual abuse that was first reported in a Child Victims Act case, Father Vincent Ciotoli, pastor of Our Lady Queen of Peace in Schenectady and St. Margaret of Cortona in Rotterdam, has voluntarily withdrawn from public ministry while the independent Diocesan Review Board investigates the claim,” states a Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany release issued Saturday. 

Ciotoli is maintaining his innocence, according to the release. 

Diocesan director of communications Mary DeTurris Poust said the claim was brought via litigation.

Father James Belogi, pastor of St. Madeline Sophie in Guilderland and St. Gabriel the Archangel in Rotterdam, celebrated the 4 p.m. Mass at Our Lady Queen of Peace Saturday in Ciotoli’s absence. After Mass, Belogi read a letter from Bishop Edward Scharfenberger to the congregation addressing…

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‘Follow Your Conscience’

“Conscience” has a suggestive but also enigmatic etymology. It is “knowledge with”—but with whom? One answer is just: with ourselves. In conscience, we know inwardly, secretly, of wrongs we have done. But another answer is: with others. In conscience, knowledge that we share with others in our moral community, or perhaps with all moral agents, is brought to bear on our actions or prospective actions. A third answer is: with God. In conscience, we know God’s law, or God’s will for us in our circumstances, or, more ominously, God’s judgment of us as sinners. As that answer hints, just what we know in conscience is open to question—a second enigma suggested by its etymology. Maybe what we know in conscience is, more modestly, how an action or prospective action of ours squares with our values. In that case, a bad conscience is merely a personal sanction, rather…

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Diocese panel will review case of Father Ciotoli, who maintains innocence

ROTTERDAM – A priest has withdrawn from public ministry after being accused in “a single allegation of sexual abuse that was first reported in a Child Victims Act case,” according to a statement Saturday by the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese.

Father Vincent Ciotoli has served at 14 churches and was most recently pastor of two churches in Rotterdam. He voluntarily withdrew in response to the claim and will not publicly officiate at sacraments, wear clerical garb or present himself as a priest, the diocese said. He may return to the ministry if an investigation by the independent Diocesan Review Board exonerates him.

“Out of an abundance of caution and sensitivity to all concerned, Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger has accepted Father Ciotoli’s decision, and asks for prayers for all involved. Father Ciotoli maintains his innocence,” the diocese stated.

The allegation…

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‘The most important step is to ensure that the special interlocutor gets truth and justice for residential school survivors’

Nunavut MP Mumilaaq Qaqqaq said the federal government’s recent appointment of a new liaison to work with Indigenous groups on residential school healing is “a major climb down” from the NDP’s call for a criminal probe.

In July, the federal New Democrats asked Ottawa to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate potential crimes committed against Indigenous people at residential schools, and their alleged perpetrators.

The demand came after weeks of revelations about unmarked graves at residential school sites throughout the country.

On Aug. 10, Lametti announced the government’s plan to appoint a “special interlocutor,” whose job it would be to work with Indigenous communities and governments “to identify needed measures and make recommendations relating to federal laws, regulations, policies and practices surrounding unmarked and undocumented graves and burial sites at residential schools.”

…

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For the first time in history, one in five victims of child sexual abuse victims in the U.S. have a chance to file civil lawsuits to seek justice and publicly expose those who committed or concealed the crimes against them.

“Never before have so many suffering survivors had an opportunity to protect others by naming child molesters and uncovering cover ups of these horrors in court,” said survivor and advocate Joelle Casteix of Orange County, Calif. 

For decades, what advocates call ‘archaic, arbitrary and predator-friendly’ statutes of limitations have prevented such litigation, because victims have been required to step forward usually in their 20s—far sooner than most are capable of, according to most research. 

But in recent years, two dozen state legislatures have reformed or repealed these statutes, opening one- or two-year ‘windows’ during which any victim can sue any person who molested them in childhood and any institution that ignored or hid the abuse, regardless of when the abuse took…

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‘The public is overwhelmingly opposed’

NORTH AVONDALE — A permit that would have enabled a group of priests, religious brothers and Catholic missionaries to live at a residence in North Avondale was rejected today.

A Cincinnati hearing examiner rejected the conditional-use permit that would have enabled up to 10 members of the Legionaries of Christ to live at 3980 Rose Hill Ave.

“The Applicant failed to meet their burden to demonstrate by a preponderance of the evidence that the proposed use is compatible with the neighborhood and in the public interest,” wrote David Sturkey, a hearing officer for the city of Cincinnati.

A spokesman for the Legionaries indicated the group would not appeal Sturkey’s decision.

“The Legionaries of Christ are grateful to the City of Cincinnati for considering our petition and we are examining other housing options,” Brother Ryan Carlin wrote in an email to the I-Team.

Dozens of residents…

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Analysis: there are around 400 women across the island of Ireland ministering in Christian churches as their main life choice

The decline of the Catholic Church in Ireland has included a steep drop in vocations to the priesthood. While Ireland once exported its surplus of priests across the world just 13 men began training for the priesthood here last year. Added to that, the average age of priests is 70. Many parishes are staffed by elderly men who would be enjoying retirement in other professions.

Priestly vocations have often been described as a ‘calling’. Is there something about this secularising island, including the impact of clerical abuse scandals, that makes God’s voice hard to hear? Research points to a counter-narrative, one in which some people believe that God still speaks. Anne Francis’s study of women in ministry in Ireland was simply titled Called to emphasize women’s deep conviction that they were responding to a supernatural…

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It’s the latest example of a Catholic priest downplaying or denying residential schools. Rev. Marcin Mironiuk apologized after VICE World News reached out for this story.

A Catholic priest in Canada has repeatedly called news of unmarked graves at former residential schools “lies” and said that Indigenous children who were forced to attend residential schools died of “natural causes.”

“We are now also in the unfolding of lies, big lies. There are those mass graves being uncovered at residential schools,” Rev. Marcin Mironiuk told his congregation during a mass on July 18 at Our Lady Queen of Poland Parish, a Polish-language church in Edmonton, Alberta. A YouTube stream from July 18 was posted online, but has since been taken down. 

The Archdiocese of Edmonton confirmed in a statement to VICE World News that it is now aware of Mironiuk’s remarks. “As soon as the Archdiocese was made aware of these…

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More than 100 people walked about 6 miles from the Onondaga Nation to Columbus Circle in downtown Syracuse to honor victims and survivors of residential schools for Indigenous children.

Many marchers, including Onondaga leaders, wore orange shirts declaring “They Were Children” and “Every Child Matters.” Participants also carried signs, flowers, stuffed animals, and children’s shoes, which they placed around the base of the Columbus Monument across from the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.

A child-sized wooden coffin, marked with painted handprints and filled with orange flowers, stood in front of the speaker’s platform. Nearby, a sign marked E. Onondaga Street, a reminder that the city of Syracuse and the cathedral stand on the ancestral lands of the Onondaga Nation.

“I have personally been suffering great sorrow for many years, hearing these tales that were told by the people that are survivors. Very sad, heart-wrenching stories,” said Jeanne Shenandoah, a member of the Onondaga Nation,…

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[VIDEO]

A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for victims of childhood sexual abuse is about to run out. New York’s Child Victims Act expires Friday night.

The Child Victims Act has enabled thousands of adults to sue the people they claim abused them as children, an action that would have otherwise been barred by a statute of limitations.

They are predators who, the victims say, robbed them of their childhood.

More than 1,100 lawsuits have been filed under the Child Victims Act in Erie County alone, with most of them aimed at the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo.

“But in the past, people who were abused as children did not have a way to come forward. They were afraid to tell their parents, they were afraid to report this to anybody,” said Attorney for abuse victims Steve Boyd.

Steve Boyd’s law firm has filed more than 600 lawsuits on behalf of victims of childhood…

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[VIDEO]

Saturday marks the third anniversary of a landmark grand jury report that found Catholic church leaders in Pennsylvania covered up rampant sexual abuse involving hundreds of priests and at least 1,000 victims.

Thirteen states and Washington D.C. have since made it easier for victims to file civil suits.

But in Pennsylvania, many are still waiting for their day in court.

The emotion felt by Mary McHale, Juliann Bortz and Shaun Dougherty over being sexually abused by priests as children is still raw.

“They murdered something in me. Something died,” Juliann said in a 2018 interview.

Judy Deaven said her son’s accidental overdose can be traced to being raped by a priest when he was 15.

“His soul was just sucked out of him,” Judy said. “It was — it was just taken away from him. And he tried so hard to live with it.”

“I think a…

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ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — For two years, New York temporarily set aside its usual time limit on civil lawsuits in order to allow victims of childhood sexual abuse to sue churches, hospitals, schools, camps, scout groups and other institutions and people they hold responsible for enabling pedophiles or turning a blind eye to wrongdoing.

That window closes Saturday, after more than 9,000 lawsuits were filed, a deluge whose impact may be felt for many years.

Four of the state’s Roman Catholic dioceses have filed for bankruptcy partly as a result of litigation unleashed by the state’s Child Victims Act. Thousands of new allegations against priests, teachers, scout leaders and other authorities have intensified the already harsh light on institutions entrusted with caring for children.

And survivors of abuse have been given an outlet for their trauma and a chance at accountability once thought long lost.

“This has, ironically, been a…

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The citizens of Ohio must once and for all rip the legislative duct tape off the mouths of countless child sexual abuse victims. As a concerned parent, it just seems that we Ohioans should finally hold our lawmakers to task and insist that they remove “Statutes of Limitations” for prosecution of sexual abuse for three very important reasons.

First, so we can finally allow all sexual abuse victims to have an opportunity for justice by being able to report their abuse on whatever timeline feels safe and right for them.  Secondly, so we can finally allow law enforcement to find and publicly expose the hidden predators that lurk among us in plain sight. Lastly, so we can finally know that our children have better and more updated protection from sexual abuse under Ohio law. 

Two years ago, this very week, a local Catholic priest was removed from St. Ignatius Catholic Church for…

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A woman who says she was molested by her pastor when she was a teen has filed a federal lawsuit against the central Pennsylvania church where he served.

Lodging of the U.S. Middle District Court complaint comes more than seven years after state police arrested the Rev. Jeffrey Winstead, formerly of the Cedar Crest Independent Baptist Church of Mount Union.

Huntingdon County Court records show Winstead, now 65, was sentenced to 8 to 16 years in prison after pleading guilty in February 2014 to charges of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a person under 16 and unlawful contact with a minor.

He is listed on the state’s Megan’s Law website as a sex offender who must register with police for life. Police said Winstead admitted to molesting the girl.

A phone call placed with the church Thursday morning seeking comment on the suit was not immediately…

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The Brooklyn Diocese is facing new legal action after two priests currently assigned to Queens were accused of sexually abusing young parishioners in suits filed earlier this summer.

Monsignor Ralph J. Maresca and Father Vincent M. Daly were named in separate lawsuits alleging that they engaged in sexual contact with parishioners under their tutelage from the time they were seven and eight years old, respectively.

The suit claims that the Diocese was aware of the incidents, or should have been.

“We call on Bishop DiMarzio to come clean and inform the public about what he knows about these perpetrators,” said attorney Jeff Anderson, whose firm is representing the plaintiffs. “DiMarzio is harboring some of these perpetrators right under the publics’ nose where they still have access to children, and he must remove them from ministry to protect children in the Diocese of Brooklyn.”

A spokesperson for the Diocese told the…

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More than 9,000 lawsuits in New York were filed after the state temporarily set aside the usual time limits on civil lawsuits for two years to allow victims of childhood sex abuse to sue their abusers, The Associated Press reported Friday.

Victims sued churches, camps, scout groups, schools, hospitals and other institutions. The window for filing a lawsuit closes Saturday. 

“This has, ironically, been a very healing experience for me on a personal level,” Carol DuPre, 74, told the AP. DuPre said she was molested by a priest as a young teen in the 1960s and sued the Roman Catholic diocese in Rochester.

She said the events are “in a storehouse in her mind,” but the abuse still impacted her for decades. However, filing for a lawsuit allowed her to release the hold it still has on her.

“The idea of confronting it, talking about it and dealing with it is internally…

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The Times Union recently published a story that said I had acknowledged that the Albany Diocese covered up sexual abuse by priests by sending them to nationally accredited treatment facilities rather than reporting the allegations to local law enforcement authorities. The truth, as always, is more complicated.

In the 1970s and 1980s, when an allegation of sexual misconduct against a priest was received, the common practice in the Albany Diocese and elsewhere was to remove the priest from ministry and send him for counseling and treatment. Only when a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist determined the priest was capable of returning to ministry without reoffending did we consider placing him back in ministry. While most priests who were so treated did not reoffend, it did not always work. We as a society now better understand the compulsive, addictive nature of sexual abuse of minors.

Our failure to notify the parish and…

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PITTSFIELD — This is the story of a girl’s courage and a parishioner’s resolve. The details all came back to Russell G. Powell last weekend, 44 years after his confrontation with a priest in a Pittsfield basement.

It happened on a summer evening in Pittsfield in 1977. Powell called the Rev. Daniel L. Gill, the assistant pastor of St. Charles Parish, and asked him to come to Powell’s house, a few blocks away on Lenox Avenue.

“I told him that something important had come up and we needed to talk,” Powell said.

What happened next helps explain Gill’s abrupt departure from St. Charles Borromeo Church and offers a rare inside account of how members of a Catholic parish reacted to a report of clergy sexual abuse, decades before the issue blew up around the world.

Powell says he was moved to speak out after learning of a Cheshire woman’s 19-year battle…

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In the worst months of the pandemic in California, as we all stayed locked up tight in our homes listening to the ambulances and praying for things to get better, I found the one thing you could count on was New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. While California Governor Gavin Newsom basically vanished from the scene after being caught attending a party for a lobbyist in a fancy restaurant while much of the state was in lockdown, each day Mr. Cuomo was on television encouraging people, making sensible decisions—in and of itself a precious commodity the last two years—and providing comfort simply by his willingness to be present every day. From the outside he seemed like New York’s Dad, and I think a lot of us wished we had someone like him running our state.

To discover that at the same time he was having his fireside chats he was trying…

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Our leadership has become aware of information involving credible allegations of serious sexual misconduct and abuse of a female adult from former Greenhouse Movement staff member Joel Girard during his time serving on the Cornerstone Anglican Church staff. We understand that on 7/28/21 a police report was filed regarding this matter. – ACNA, Diocese of the Upper Midwest

Another former catechist in the Anglican Church in North America, Joel Girard, faces allegations of sexual misconduct and abuse of a female victim. The allegations are in the same diocese where at least ten victims have made allegations against another former catechist. In that case, that diocese, the Diocese of the Upper Midwest, the bishop is on leave while allegations of mishandling of that case are investigated.

The latest allegation was announced here by the Diocese of the Upper Midwest. The victim asked the advocacy group, #ACNAtoo to repost that announcement on its…

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They served at Sacred Heart and the Mission San Juan Bautista churches.

Two former priests that operated in San Benito County are named in the Catholic Diocese of Fresno’s list of clergy credibly accused of sexual misconduct that was released on Aug. 6. 

According to the list, Rev. Fred Crowley was an assistant at Sacred Heart in 1942 and Rev. Edward Haskins served in San Juan Bautista in 1947. The list notes that Haskins was included in the Diocese of Monterey list, which states he was at Mission San Juan Bautista from 1947-50. 

Crowley died in 1972; Haskins died in 1981. 

In a statement released with the list, Bishop Joseph Brennan of the Diocese of Fresno said “some members of the family—priests, deacons, and religious in positions of trust and leadership—have behaved badly. That is putting it mildly. Let’s face it, acts of abuse upon the innocent and vulnerable are truly…

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La Iglesia echó al cura Agustín Rosa Torino, condenado por tres casos de abuso sexual en Salta

La Congregación para la Doctrina de la Fe decretó la pérdida del estado clerical del ahora exsacerdote Agustín Rosa Torino, quien fue condenado el 8 de julio por la justicia salteña a la pena de 12 años de prisión por abuso sexual de tres víctimas.

Un comunicado emitido por el Arzobispado de Salta detalló que Rosa Torino, de 67 años, fue “declarado culpable de los cargos de los que se lo acusaba en el foro eclesiástico”.

“Por ello, el delegado de la Congregación para la Doctrina de la Fe, monseñor José Luis Mollaghan ha decretado la pena máxima de la pérdida del estado clerical“, explica el documento, que detalla que este Decreto “puede ser apelado en los términos establecidos por el derecho”.

El ahora exsacerdote fue condenado el 8 de julio pasado, por los miembros de la…

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Recibió la pena de 12 años de prisión por abusar de dos exnovicios y una exmonja integrantes de la congregación que él dirigía.

El mes pasado, el sacerdote Agustín Rosa Torino fue condenado a 12 años de prisión efectiva luego de que el Tribunal lo encontrara culpable de abusar sexualmente de dos exnovicios y una exmonja integrantes de la congregación que él dirigía.

En este contexto, en las últimas horas, el Arzobispado de Salta informó que el Delegado de la Congregación para la Doctrina de la Fe, monseñor José Luis Mollaghan, decretó la “pena máxima de la pérdida del estado clerical” para Rosa Torino. De esta manera, el condenado fue expulsado de la iglesia.

Por otro lado, se indicó que en relación al juicio penal contra el presbítero José Carlos Aguilera, se aceptó el traslado “a otra sede la realización de la apelación” por lo que se le ha encargado “al Tribunal Eclesiástico Bonaerense…

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I returned yesterday from a beautiful weekend retreat with a group of five dear friends who are survivors of clergy sexual abuse. We talked, laughed, cried, prayed, and experienced so much love and healing together. Thank you to all who covered us in prayer over these last few days – We certainly felt God’s grace surrounding us.

As I get back to work today, I am happy to share a follow-up to last week’s post: Survivors’ Voices: What Has Helped Me Heal, with a few more responses from other survivors who have wisdom to share.

If you have experienced sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, I would be honored to include your perspective in this “Survivors’ Voices” series. You can find more information and express your interest here.

What is one thing that you have found helpful in your healing journey?

• It took me a very long time to…

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Recent news articles about the burial of hundreds of indigenous children neglect to mention a major player in this story: nuns. Why are they missing from this unsettling story? Nuns were also abusers, or accomplices as puppets at the hands of Bishops and priests in carrying out devastating acts.

Often their actions were covert, complicit and complacent.

Two-thirds of Canada’s 139 Indian residential schools were run by the Catholic Church.

The Kamloops Indian Reservation School in Canada, where 215 remains have been discovered is one example. In another recent example, the remains of 751 persons were found in Saskatchewan. (1)

Many of the schools were under the direction of the Oblate Fathers of Mary. The Sisters of St. Ann were the teachers and everyday managers of the schools. They were responsible for the day-to-day operation of these schools, guilty of initiating and carrying out some of the physical, emotional, sexual,…

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The head of the Jesuits in Ireland has said the order must take full responsibility for the wrongdoing of Fr Joseph Marmion, whom a number of former students say sexually, physically and psychologically abused them in the 1970s when he taught at Belvedere College in Dublin.

In a 50-page report, Joseph Marmion – The Jesuit Response, Fr Leonard Moloney SJ says that while Marmion’s actions inflicted severe trauma on individual pupils, this was “magnified by the failure of the Jesuits to recognise the danger he posed to schoolboys in our care and in later ministries or to understand and respond to your needs as his victims”. He said that the Jesuits did not grasp the destructive effects of his abuse.

The report was compiled following a request from a past pupil who alleged the priest, who died in 2000, was physically violent and sexually abused students prior to his removal from…

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DOVER, Del. (AP) — Attorneys for the Boy Scouts of America are asking a Delaware judge to approve an $850 million agreement that is the foundation of the group’s plan to emerge from bankruptcy.

The judge was to begin a hearing Thursday on whether to approve the agreement, which involves the national Boy Scouts organization, the roughly 250 local Boy Scout councils, and law firms representing some 70,000 men who claim they were molested as youngsters by Scoutmasters and others.

The Irving, Texas-based Boy Scouts sought bankruptcy protection in February 2020 amid an onslaught of lawsuits by men who said they were sexually abused as children. The filing was part of an attempt to reach a global resolution of abuse claims and create a compensation fund for victims.

The Boy Scouts have proposed contributing up to $250 million in cash and property to a fund for abuse victims. Local councils,…

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A Catholic boarding school in the Highlands was a “haven for paedophiles”, a report from the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry has said.

It said that sexual abuse by monks at Fort Augustus Abbey, which closed in 1993, was a “desecration of their vows”.

The report came after the inquiry heard evidence of physical, emotional and sexual abuse over many years.

It praised the BBC for bringing the issue into the public domain.

It was a BBC Scotland documentary in 2013 that first raised the issues of abuse perpetrated by Benedictine monks in Scotland.

The inquiry report said a number of the former pupils who provided evidence spoke positively about their involvement with the “Sins of Our Fathers” documentary by Mark Daly.

In June of this year, one former monk at the school – Fr Denis “Chrysostom” Alexander, who is now 85 – admitted two charges of lewd, indecent and libidinous practices…

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CHILD USA has created a report detailing the filings in New York under the Child Victim’s Act, which closes August 14, 2021. This report provides data on how many victims came forward, the types of institutions suits were brought against, and more.

The Child Victims Act has empowered New York’s victims and educated the public. In the last twenty years, brave individuals and reporters have exposed the worldwide epidemic of child sexual abuse. We now know that 1 in 5 girls and 1 in 13 boys are sexually abused before they turn 18 years-old. Sexual abuse has life-long, traumatic impacts on victims, and it often takes decades for victims to realize or understand they were abused and to take action. Many victims never come forward, and when they do, it has been too late to access justice because of the statutes of limitations. In fact, the average age of disclosure…

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The Diocese of Fresno has released a list of priests who have faced credible accusations of sexual abuse of a minor.

Listed were several who served in Porterville and Lindsay. All served in this area for a short time and at least nearly 40 years ago.

The Diocese released a list of 37 clergy who it determined had faced credible accusations of sexual abuse of abusing a minor while serving in the Diocese of Fresno. The list included 37 priests, deacons or members of religious orders in which 24 were incardinated priests for the Diocese of Fresno, seven were extern priests and six were members from a religions order.

In addition the diocese released 29 clergy and members of religious orders with no allegations while they served in the Diocese of Fresno but had allegations against them in other dioceses. No one on the list is still serving in the…

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Catholic Diocese of Fresno releases its list of 37 priests accused of molesting minors in the Valley, 29 others who allegedly molested children elsewhere

FRESNO – For the first time ever, the Catholic Church in Fresno revealed serious allegations of priests molesting minors going back for a century.

On Aug. 6, the Catholic Diocese of Fresno released a list of more than 60 clergy with ties to the Valley “credibly accused” of sexual abuse involving a minor. In all of these cases, the victim was a minor at the time of the abuse, the alleged perpetrator was or is a bishop, priest, deacon, or religious brother or religious sister at the time of the alleged sexual abuse, and the allegations have been determined to be “more likely than not to have occurred.” No one on the list is currently serving in the Diocese of Fresno.

Most Rev. Joseph V. Brennan,…

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When institutions like the Catholic Church try to reckon with histories of systemic abuse, survivors often relate how the difficult but necessary process of unearthing the truth is deeply retraumatizing for them. They must relive horrors no one should endure. Their most vulnerable personal history is exposed. Character, motives, credibility are questioned — all of this not because they’ve done something, but because a powerful person did something to them when they were powerless.

Truly reckoning with the clergy sexual abuse scandal demands that dioceses acknowledge and repair the grievous harm done over the years to the communities they serve. They also have a moral duty to conduct this process in a way that minimizes how much abuse victims are retraumatized for having the bravery to share their painful experiences. A Cheshire woman’s heartrending story shows that the Springfield Diocese has utterly failed to live up to that…

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Organizations are turning to bankruptcy protection to manage liabilities from mass torts arising from allegations of sexual misconduct involving children. Lowenstein Sandler attorneys assert that insurers increasingly are inserting intrusive questions in proof of claim forms to deter claimants in these cases.

In recent years, a growing number of entities, such as the Boy Scouts of America and Catholic dioceses, have sought bankruptcy protection to address liabilities arising from mass torts, the most egregious of which relate to sexual misconduct involving children. Debtors facing these claims have used the bankruptcy system to bring all the key stakeholders to the table in order to reach a global resolution.

Insurers play a critical role in these cases, as debtors look to insurance companies to fulfill their obligations and contribute meaningful amounts to survivor trusts. Insurers, however, have used (or misused) the bankruptcy system to avoid or substantially…

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Inquiry chairwoman Lady Smith found children suffered sexual and emotional abuse and noted some monks were “serial sexual predators”.

Lady Smith examined practices at both the former Fort Augusus Abbey School and Carlekemp Priory School, North Berwick, both run by the Fort Augustus order.

Witnesses gave evidence about children having been abused at both.

The inquiry also examined the systems, policies, and procedures in place, how these were applied, and whether systemic failures enabled abuse to happen.

Lady Smith said: “Children were sexually abused at both schools. A number of monks were serial sexual predators and, because of the movement of monks between Fort Augustus and Carlekemp, they were able to target victims at both schools.

“Children were cruelly beaten by sadistic monks at both schools, and some beatings had sexual overtones. Children were humiliated and punished inappropriately and excessively.

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Cape Town – Reverend June Dolley-Major and her alleged rapist were cross-examined on Tuesday at the Anglican Church Diocese of Cape Town Tribunal about her alleged rape nearly 20 years ago.

Dolley-Major recalled moments leading up to and after the incident at the Grahamstown Seminary 19 years ago by an Anglican priest during a three-day visit.

The tribunal reconvened yesterday for Day 5 of the tribunal hearing, which commenced on June 28.

Advocate for the accused Lynette Myburgh asked Dolley-Major why she had not pushed the accused off, due to his smaller size.

“I was trying to push him off and I eventually pushed him off before he ejaculated inside of me,” said Dolley-Major.

Myburgh questioned why Dolley-Major did not call out for help while staying at the home of a priest and his wife. Dolley-Major said she was unable to utter words and had gone completely numb at the…

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Rev. Eric Swearingen, a Tulare County native, rose through the church’s hierarchy to lead Visalia’s Catholics despite an allegation of sexual abuse.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno on Friday posted a list of priests who it says have faced “a credible accusation of sexual abuse.”

The list included Rev. Eric Swearingen, a Tulare County native who rose through the church’s hierarchy to lead Visalia’s Catholics despite an allegation of sexual abuse. He died in 2020 after a long illness. 

The list also includes 65 other names of San Joaquin Valley clergy who have been accused of sexual misconduct against minors and young adults. The other Tulare County area priests were credibly accused of sexual misconduct stretching back to before World War II. All have since died. 

In a statement posted by Bishop Joseph Brennan on the Diocese of Fresno’s website, the Catholic leader said the church family “is far from perfect” and “can…

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REVEREND June Major told a tribunal set up by the Anglican church to hear sexual assault allegations against one of its priests that on the night of the alleged rape, she felt that something in her died.

The tribunal which started last week came a few days before the Western Cape High Court was scheduled to finalise the application by the alleged perpetrator to interdict the Major from publicly naming him.

However, his name was made public in the tribunal, held under the church’s canon law.

The accused faces charges including sexual assault, sexual harassment, sexual immorality and violation of the Church’s Constitution.

He pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

Major told the tribunal that in 2002 she, the accused whom she regarded as a family friend and another priest, Mark Andrews drove to Grahamstown.

The trip was to find a school for her son as she was to…

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Voluntary lifelong detention in church-run houses could be the best way of dealing with priest abusers, according to Fr Hans Zollner SJ, president of the Centre for Child Protection (CCP) at the Gregorian University.

It was all-important to control and guide sex abusers and “to define exactly what they may and may not do, whom they may and may not meet and how they use the internet”, Zollner explained in an interview with ORF religion, the religious affairs programme of the Austrian state broadcasting corporation on 31 July.

The Church should therefore proffer such houses to abuser priests on a comprehensive basis. “This kind of establishment should be particularly applicable in western, highly specialised societies. In other parts of the world, where communal responsibility is more paramount, parish or spiritual communities could possibly find a way of controlling priest abusers and making it impossible for them to abuse again,” Zollner said. 

The…

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Warning: This story contains explicit details of childhood sexual assault that may be disturbing to some. Discretion is advised.

GREEN BAY – Four months into an independent investigation launched by the state’s top attorney, two cases of alleged clergy abuse have been reported and turned over to the Brown County district attorney’s office. 

The two cases are among more than 100 reports statewide alleging abuse by faith leaders made possible by Attorney General Josh Kaul’s independent review, which began in April. 

One of the Brown County cases is “current,” said Holli Fisher, program manager of the Sexual Assault Center of Family Services of Northeast Wisconsin, who was unable to disclose further details. The other one was from decades ago. 

Fisher said one of the cases already is being investigated by the Brown County DA’s office. District Attorney David Lasee said both cases are potentially prosecutable in Brown County. 

“I’ve been encouraged by the number of people…

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SUMMARY

• St. Paul’s Indian Residential School operated between 1899 to 1958, was run by the Roman Catholic Church
• No details are available about the announcement, it comes amid confirmation of unmarked graves at residential schools

NORTH VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — The Squamish Nation will be making an announcement Tuesday morning at the site of a former residential school in North Vancouver.

The chiefs of the Musqueam and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations, as well as a representative from the Archdiocese of Vancouver, will join members of the Squamish Nation at St. Thomas Aquinas Regional Secondary School. The Keith Road school is the site of a memorial to children who were taken from their families to the St. Paul’s Indian Residential School, which operated between 1899 to 1958. The Roman Catholic School was operated by the federal government and the Order of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate.

“In 1931, the local Indian Agent…

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The state Supreme Court ruled in July that an accuser’s claim was too late under the state’s statute of limitations.

With each passing day, Pennsylvania kids become more at risk of abuse while just across the state line, kids in New Jersey and New York are becoming dramatically safer. This may sound like hyperbole, but it’s not. A recent state Supreme Court ruling illustrates the problem and shows why.

In July, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court threw out a lawsuit from a woman seeking to recover damages from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown for allegedly facilitating sexual abuse she said she experienced at the hands of a priest in the late 1970s. The court’s ruling that her claim was too late under the state’s statute of limitations illustrates the problem with Pennsylvania law.

Kids are safest, of course, when child molesters are…

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• Scale of church’s assets revealed in string of investigations
• Discovery of unmarked graves prompts fresh reparations calls

From the 19th century until the 1990s, more than 150,000 Indigenous children were obliged to attend state-funded schools in a campaign to forcibly assimilate them into Canadian society. More than half were run by the Catholic church. Disease and hunger were rife at the schools, and survivors have described physical and sexual abuse, often at the hands of priests and Catholic laypeople.

In 2006, the landmark Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement was approved by all parties – including survivors, the federal government and religious institutions.

A recent report by the Independent Assessment Process found that nearly C$3bn had been paid out by the federal government as part of settlement, including direct compensation to survivors and funding for healing programs.

The Anglican, United and Presbyterian churches have all fully paid the agreed upon amount.

The…

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With the deadline for the New York’s Child Victims Act coming up Friday, one local man has said the ability to file a lawsuit has changed his life for the better.

Brian Delafranier filed his lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Rochester two years ago claiming he was sexually abused for over a year by his parish priest, Reverend Robert Gaudio.

Delafranier even inspired another person struggling with the abuse from the same priest to step forward and file a claim before the deadline.

Delafranier’s attorney, Leander James, urges anyone who wants to file a claim to come forward before the deadline is up. He also states that the deadlines are not helpful for some victims who aren’t ready yet.

James is representing 120 clients in the city of Rochester who have filed claims under the Child Victims Act.

639 people have filed within the 9 counties that make up the…

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SUMMARY

• An indigenous-led investigation into the site of a former residential school in North Vancouver has been launched
• First Nations say at least 12 children died while attending St. Paul’s residential school
• Investigation will include formal interviews with survivors

Emotional support or assistance for those who are affected by the residential school system can be found at Indian Residential School Survivors Society toll-free 1 (800) 721-0066 or 24-hr Crisis Line 1 (866) 925-4419.

NORTH VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Three B.C. First Nations are coming together to launch an investigation into the disappearance of several children at the site of a former residential school in North Vancouver.

The Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation), as well as the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) and səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, say they have begun the initiative at the former St. Paul’s residential school to find answers about children who went there, but never made it home. They say over 2,000…

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The Archdiocese of Santa Fe is set to auction off hundreds of plots of land all over the area. The Catholic church is being forced to liquidate its properties, as part of a bankruptcy settlement following a run of child sex abuse lawsuits. The auction is broken up into different phases. This first phase includes about 138 pieces of land in Bernalillo, Sandoval and Valencia counties. 

“Most of these are vacant parcels of land, whether they are a recorded lot in a subdivision or some of these lots I’ll be honest with you are in locations where there are no existing infrastructure presently,” explains Louis B. Fisher III, the National Director of SVN Auction Services, LLC. “But they are plotted lots and there are some that you know are sizable acreage.”

Some will be sold individually — while others will be packaged into several…

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Next year will mark the 50th anniversary of a then-secret crime: Fr. Gilbert Gauthe molested a boy in Louisiana in 1972.

Over a decade later, that crime — and dozens of others Gauthe committed — became national news. (Thanks, in part, to NCR). Thus began an unprecedented and at times overwhelming deluge of abuse and cover up reports which eventually led to over 7,000 U.S. priests being publicly accused of sexually violating children.

If you’re a Catholic, chances are you’re tired of this seemingly endless stream of allegations of clerical corruption (though the flow of abuse reports has slowed in recent years). And at least a few times over the past two decades, you have likely worried, “I wonder if kids in my parish are safe?”

I hope you’ve also asked yourself, several times, “What might I do to help prevent abuse in the church?”

Well, if…

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The window to file lawsuits under New York State’s Child Victims Act will come to a close later this month, but until a few weeks ago, David Ferrick didn’t know that the law enabling victims of sexual assault to sue even existed.

Ferrick, 52, learned about it last month in Fresno, California — thousands of miles away from his childhood home in Brooklyn, where he attended St. Cecilia’s Roman Catholic Church in Greenpoint and where he says in a newly filed lawsuit that a priest there molested him when he was just a 10-year-old altar boy.

The priest, Father Patrick Sexton, was already the subject of another victim’s accusations when Ferrick was contacted by a private eye working for the law firm handling those claims.

“I was shocked,” Ferrick said of the moment he learned he could still seek justice. “I thought the statute of limitations had come to a…

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Argentine Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta is set to stand trial this October on charges of sexual abuse against two unnamed former seminarians, aggrevated by his status as a religious minister. 

The former executive head of the Argentine bishops’ conference and bishop of the Diocese of Oran, Zanchetta has spent the last several years living in Rome, working in a Vatican post created for him by the pope. 

Because Zanchetta is known to be a close friend of Pope Francis, his trial, set to begin October 12, will likely capture media attention across Argentina as well from the Vatican. So, to catch you up on the case, here’s what we know so far:

Who is Bishop Zanchetta?

Born in 1964, Zanchetta was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Quilmes in 1991. He later served as executive undersecretary of the Argentine bishops’ conference, and in that role he worked closely with then-Cardinal…

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Former cardinal Theodore McCarrick was charged in Massachusetts Wednesday with three counts of indecent assault and battery on a person over 14. McCarrick, 91, is summoned to appear in a Massachusetts courtroom Aug. 26. 

The story was first reported Thursday by the Boston Globe.

Here’s what you need to know:

What is McCarrick alleged to have done?

According to court filings obtained by the Boston Globe, McCarrick is alleged to have sexually molested a 16-year-old-boy during a 1974 wedding reception at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts.

The alleged molestation was not reported as a singular occurrence. Rather, the alleged victim, who has not been named, says McCarrick was a family friend, and that McCarrick had molested him frequently, on family trips to several states. The alleged abuse in Massachusetts reportedly took place at the victim’s brother’s wedding reception.

The alleged victim claims that McCarrick molested him subsequently at hotels in…

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FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — The Fresno Catholic Diocese has released a list of those who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors and young people in the Diocese of Fresno.

It’s something the Diocese has promised to do for several years.

There are 66 names on the list with details on all of the places the individual worked within the Diocese of Fresno.

Victim advocates say they are grateful the list was released, but say it’s not as comprehensive as it should be and it took far too long for it to be completed.

“What the list and the release of it. it does is give us a little peak into the dark closet, the dark corner,” said Attorney Jeff Anderson ,who represents abuse victims.

According to the Fresno Catholic Diocese website, the list includes those who were accused while working within the Diocese…

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Fr. Anthony Atter facing multiple allegations from single complainant

A provincial court judge in Humboldt, Sask., will hear the evidence today against a local Catholic priest charged with sexual assault.

The preliminary hearing will determine whether Father Anthony Atter will stand trial on the allegations. The 45-year-old faces charges of sexual assault, sexual exploitation and sexual interference.

The assaults allegedly took place from September to November 2020 and involved one complainant.

“I can tell you that Father Atter is is very interested in being able to testify and be able to give his version of the events,” said Atter’s lawyer, Brian Pfefferle.

“He feels very confident that when the light gets shone on this unfortunate allegation, that he will be exonerated because he completely denies any thing other than completely appropriate behaviour with anyone he has contact with in that community.” 

Sexual interference is a charge laid when the alleged victim…

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Rampant child sex abuse and cover-up. The crusades. The Inquisitions. Convincing children they will go to hell or purgatory if they don’t follow instructions. Teaching that condoms are worse than AIDS. Castrating boys for choir singing. The Index of Forbidden Books. The pope’s ridiculous hat. The Catholic Church has a rich history (literally — the Vatican has hoarded vast wealth since its inception) of giving its adherents reasons to quit. For those hanging on, the past few days have delivered yet another.

It turns out that 10 individuals within the church, including a cardinal, have allegedly (https:/ www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-57981508) defrauded the Vatican in several ways. In one scheme, almost half a billion dollars worth of church assets, largely consisting of worshippers’ tithes and donations, were reportedly used to buy property that was supposed to be turned into luxury apartments in an affiuent part of London. In another double-dealing project, the cardinal…

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‘On Aug. 14, the New York Child Victims Act’s two-year civil sexual abuse statute of limitations “window” will close, and older victims whose claims had previously been time-barred will be foreclosed from seeking justice.’

The opportunity to hold child sexual abuse perpetrators—and the institutions that enabled them—accountable is about to expire for many suffering survivors who were assaulted in New York. On Aug. 14, the New York Child Victims Act’s two-year civil sexual abuse statute of limitations “window” will close, and older victims whose claims had previously been time-barred will be foreclosed from seeking justice. This legislation also extends the statute of limitations to age 55 for child sex abuse survivors whose claims have not previously been time-barred. We urge our leaders to take immediate action to reform the current law to ensure that victims, no matter their age, have continuing access to the courts.   

Statute of limitations reform must acknowledge…

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