ABUSE TRACKER

Bishop Michael Duignan has said interment of Casey, who has been accused of child sexual abuse, in cathedral is a ‘sensitive issue’

The Diocese of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora has said that “time and space” is needed “to consider and consult” on the interment of Eamonn Casey in the crypt of Galway Cathedral following the emergence of allegations of sexual abuse against the former Bishop.

Earlier this week Bishop Michael Duignan of Galway and Kilmacduagh said he “shares” the feelings of “anger and profound distress” around the allegations of child sexual abuse made against Eamonn Casey.

Bishop Duignan, in his statement last Tuesday, expressed his commitment to “working with anybody affected, to help bring truth, healing and peace to such terribly painful situations”.

The Diocese said the interment of the remains of Bishop Casey in the crypt beneath Galway Cathedral is a very “sensitive issue” that deeply affects people in…

View Cache

The Galway Diocesan Office has said it has begun “a period of careful consideration and consultation” in relation to the interment of Bishop Eamon Casey’s remains in the crypt beneath Galway Cathedral.

It follows the documentary ‘Bishop Casey’s Secrets’, which examined the Catholic Church’s handling of allegations against him

Casey died in 2017 aged 89 and was interred in a crypt in Galway Cathedral.

The documentary revealed that the former Bishop of Galway was formally removed from public ministry in 2007 by the Vatican, following “allegations” which, RTÉ established, including his niece Patricia Donovan’s complaint of child sexual abuse.

In a statement this morning, the Galway Diocesan Office highlighted comments by the Bishop of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora, Michael Duignan earlier this week, who expressed his commitment to “working with anybody affected, to help bring truth, healing and peace to such…

View Cache

Bishop Duignan described Casey’s burial n the crypt as “a very sensitive issue”.

BISHOP OF GALWAY Michael Duignan has said the internment of former bishop Eamonn Casey in the crypt beneath the Galway Cathedral is under “careful consideration” after he was described in a recent RTÉ documentary as a sexual predator. 

Bishop Duignan described Casey’s burial in the crypt as “a very sensitive issue that deeply affects people in different ways, and which has different facets”. Casey was buried there in 2017.

“The interment of Bishop Casey in the Cathedral crypt now requires a period of careful consideration and consultation, which has already begun,” he said in a statement today. 

“Time and space are required to adequately and appropriately bring this undertaking to completion.” 

Last Tuesday, Duignan said the Church was “working with anybody affected, to help bring truth, healing and peace to such terribly painful situations.” 

The former CEO…

View Cache

At least two foster care organizations have filed for bankruptcy as they attempt to honor claims made under the Child Victims Act. Others worry they are next.

The labyrinthine rooms of the Northern Rivers foster care facility in Albany appear sterile at first glance. 

But the 24 children living full-time in the building, just a stone’s throw from the Albany Medical Center complex, have marked their surroundings with personal possessions — K-pop posters, treasured photographs, clothes and shoes spilling out of cupboards. The dorm-like bedrooms are occupied by kids who have become Northern Rivers residents for a singular reason: they need a place to stay and to get care as they churn through the Capital Region’s foster care system and await a more permanent solution. 

On a pleasant summer day in July, the grounds are bustling. Children play rowdy card games or cool off in a private pool while accompanied…

View Cache

The Archdiocese of Baltimore’s bankruptcy case moved closer to the critical mediation phase Monday, as attorneys for the Catholic church, its insurance carriers and a committee of sex abuse survivors reached a tentative agreement on the terms for upcoming negotiations.

The agreement is tentative because the lawyers still need their clients’ approval for a last-minute detail hashed out in the hallways outside of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Baltimore: Whether the archdiocese will drop its breach-of-contract lawsuit against its insurers, and what the survivors’ role would be should they choose to refile it later.

Scheduled for a contested hearing Monday, attorneys in the case settled their differences in time to avoid debating legal issues in court. After being briefed on the tentative agreement, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michelle M. Harner credited the lawyers for “creating a mediation structure that’s acceptable to all.”

During mediation, attorneys and their clients get together with…

View Cache

Monsignor Jeffrey Burrill said in a lawsuit that Grindr released his data, leading him to lose his job and suffer “significant damage” to his reputation.

When Monsignor Jeffrey Burrill began using queer dating app Grindr in 2017, there was no indication that people outside of the app could access his data, according to a new lawsuit. If there had been, the lawsuit said, he never would’ve downloaded it.

After all, Burrill’s position as the top administrator of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) required him to take a vow of celibacy, and Catholic teaching opposes sexual activity outside heterosexual marriage.

But in 2021, a Catholic media site reported that Burrill had been using the app, news that forced him to resign from his position, according to the lawsuit, which Burrill filed against Grindr last week in California Superior Court.

Burrill alleged that Grindr did not protect his data and…

View Cache

The Nebraska Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s ruling to dismiss defamation and other claims for a Catholic priest accused of sexual misconduct against the Archdiocese of Omaha on Friday.

In a 22-page ruling, the state’s high court said the District Court for Cuming County was correct when it dismissed the claims brought by Rev. Andy Syring, who accused the archdiocese of having defamed him when the archdiocese named Syring on a 2018 list.

The published list named priests who had “substantiated claims of clergy sexual abuse of or sexual misconduct with a minor” lobbed against them.

Syring served in the archdiocese from 2011 to 2018. He resigned from his clergy position at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in West Point, which is about 70 miles northwest of Omaha and where he had been since 2016, after the archdiocese’s announcement.

According to the defamation lawsuit Syring filed against the archdiocese in…

View Cache

Russian Orthodox Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev of Budapest-Hungary has been temporarily suspended following reports about an ongoing investigation of sexual misconduct with a young staff member.

According to the online news site Novaya Gazeta Europe, Georgy Suzuki, who served as the bishop’s personal assistant between Oct. 2022 and Jan. 2024, was sexually harassed on several occasions by the 58-year-old high-ranking prelate.

Alfeyev has reportedly denied all allegations made by Suzuki. 

Earlier this month, Church Times reported that 11 Russian Orthodox priests in Budapest signed a joint statement defending Alfeyev who, they believe, is innocent and a victim of a “dirty slanderous campaign.”    

Yesterday, Novaya Gazeta Europe published several photos as well as details of private messages shared between Suzuki and Alfeyev, highlighting the bishop’s sexually inappropriate behavior and materially-excessive lifestyle. Alfeyev reportedly purchased mansions in France and Hungary as well as expensive watches, and spent holidays on…

View Cache

Nebraska Supreme Court handed down decision on Friday

In a ruling issued Friday, a former associate priest in the Archdiocese of Omaha lost his appeal to the Nebraska Supreme Court.

Father Andrew Syring sued in October 2020 after he was removed from his position for what the archdiocese claimed were significant boundary violations with young adults and minors.

Syring sued for more than $2 million claiming he did nothing wrong and was denied due process.

In its conclusion on Friday, the Nebraska Supreme Court found no error in a lower court’s dismissal of all pending claims against the archdiocese and therefore dismissed all of Syring’s claims.

An allegation of wrongdoing was made against the priest in 2013. Syring described the archdiocese as following standard procedure and had the allegation thoroughly investigated by law enforcement and a retired federal agent.

No wrongdoing was identified.

Still, Syring’s complaint pointed out that he was…

View Cache

Catholic immigration and anti-trafficking advocates are expressing grave concern over alleged systemic sexual abuse of unaccompanied migrant children by staff of a private contractor for the U.S. government.

The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit July 17 against Southwest Key Programs, an Austin, Texas-based nonprofit that provides housing for unaccompanied minors, as well as services for youth, family and job seekers.

Operating 29 shelters in Texas, Arizona and California, Southwest Key is the largest housing provider for unaccompanied children in the U.S., receiving over $3 billion in grants from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement between fiscal years 2015-2023. The children remain at such shelters until they can be reunited with immediate family, a relative or a vetted sponsor amid immigration proceedings.

The DOJ’s complaint, filed in the U.S District Court for the Western District of Texas, alleges that Southwest Key violated the Fair…

View Cache

A Texas pastor turned himself in to police on Thursday after an arrest warrant was filed against him in connection with a sexual assault investigation. Ronnie Goines, lead pastor of Koinonia Christian Church in Arlington, has been charged with one count of indecent assault and one count of sexual assault.

Goines, 51, previously served on Arlington’s Unity Council, a group formed in 2020 to “promote and encourage greater equality.” 

He is also a former member of the Arlington Police Department’s clergy and police partnership program, which consists of clergy who are “called upon to pray for the police department members, build relationships with police officers and other governmental officials, and to be available for various situations involving our community.”

According to The Dallas Morning News, an investigation into allegations against Goines began after “an adult woman made an outcry that was reported to the…

View Cache

A Florida pastor and father of nine children has been arrested after being accused of raping his 15-year-old niece.

Pastor Christopher Whitehead of Mount Olive Primitive Baptist Church in Gainesville was arrested on Sunday, with the sexual assault having allegedly occurred back in April.

The niece and other family members were visiting Whitehead in April in honor of the second anniversary of his being appointed pastor of Mount Olive Primitive Baptist, the Independent Florida Alligator reported.

According to authorities, the niece wanted to borrow some money and went to the master bedroom where Whitehead was lying on the bed. After saying he would not give her money, the pastor allegedly asked the niece to lay in bed with him.

She agreed to do so, but shortly after getting into the bed, Whitehead allegedly raped her, with the assault ending when another child opened the door to the bedroom…

View Cache

James Morris, who was slated to take over leadership of Dallas-area Gateway Church, has resigned in the wake of the sexual abuse scandal involving his father, Robert Morris.

In a statement released to media, Gateway said its elders met earlier this week with Associate Senior Pastor James Morris and his wife, Gateway Executive Pastor Bridgette Morris. At that meeting, “they collectively made the decision” that the couple would step down.

“We as Elders affirm and believe that God has placed a desire in both Pastors James and Bridgette’s hearts to serve as senior pastors of a church at some point in the future,” the statement said. “. . . They have faithfully and honorably served our congregation and this community through all the years that they have been part of Gateway Church.”

Gateway said pastor and best-selling author Max Lucado has agreed to serve as an interim teacher…

View Cache

Jared King and his family were active members at Gateway Church for 11 years. That changed in June, after King saw news reports that the church’s founder and senior pastor, Robert Morris, had been accused of sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl in the 1980s. 

The family appreciated the worship music and the community built with other congregants at the church, but has not attended in-person worship services since. One of King’s reasons for not returning to Gateway was that James Morris, Robert Morris’ son, was set to become senior pastor and succeed his father as leader of the church. 

“I wouldn’t be supportive of attending the church if the Morris kids are in charge, just because I think the church needs to just move on,” King said. “I think the only way to save the church is if you just bring in somebody new.”

The Morrises will no longer follow through…

View Cache

A 55-year-old priest remains in the Collier County Jail as Texas officials work on extraditing him for multiple sex crimes.

U.S. Marshals arrested Father Anthony Odiong last week for child porn charges based in Waco, Texas.

We now know Waco Police are charging Odiong with two counts of sexual assault. WPD reports eight victims have come forward so far.

One victim shared an anonymous statement following the sexual assault charges:

“I sought spiritual direction from Anthony Odiong during one of the darkest phases of my life. Rather than helping me, he exploited my vulnerability and trust. He manipulated, coerced, threatened, and assaulted me and the Austin diocese did nothing to protect me, despite having received at least one previous report about his conduct. My marriage and relationship with my children, my physical and psychological health, and, most importantly, my relationship with God have suffered badly for over a decade as…

View Cache

[See the lawsuit.]

A lawsuit filed against the Archdiocese of St. Louis this week alleges decades of sexual abuse by local priests, including now-Archbishop George Lucas of Omaha. The archbishop has denied the allegation.

Filed Wednesday in St. Louis Circuit Court, the lawsuit argues that the Archdiocese of St. Louis and its current archbishop, Mitchell Rozanski, enabled and covered up abuse of minors by archdiocesan employees.

It includes 27 anonymous plaintiffs who say they were abused by archdiocesan priests and other employees, including a couple of teachers.

The alleged abuse largely took place in the 1960s-90s, with a few allegations from earlier or later.

The lawsuit claims archdiocesan leaders knew about the abuse but allowed perpetrators to continue to have access to minors, often transferring them to a new location within the archdiocese.

“[T]he Archbishop and Archdiocese engaged in several decades of intentional misconduct in turning a blind eye…

View Cache

Omaha Archbishop George Lucas has categorically denied accusations that he sexually abused two minors several decades ago while he was dean of education at St. Louis Preparatory Seminary in Missouri.

Lucas is one of several dozen priests, nuns, and lay men and women accused of sexual abuse of minors in a series of five separate lawsuits filed by 27 anonymous plaintiffs on Wednesday.

The abuse is alleged to have occurred over the span of several decades, with some of the purported crimes allegedly having occurred as recently as 2015.

The lawsuit naming Lucas was filed in the St. Louis County District Court. It alleges that as a priest Lucas coerced a 16-year-old boy identified as “D.S.” and another student into performing sexual acts with him at the St. Louis school. 

The suit alleges that Lucas first met D.S. at the school in 1988 and that the now-archbishop of…

View Cache

A lawsuit brought by 25 former attendees of Catholic churches, schools and activities organized by the Archdiocese of St. Louis accuses leadership of knowing about the rampant sexual abuse of minors and not taking steps to prevent it.

The plaintiffs, who range in age from 21 to 83, outlined the repeated sexual abuse they faced as children by Catholic priests, nuns and brothers all associated with the archdiocese, according to the lawsuit filed July 24 in St. Louis Circuit Court.

The Archdiocese of St. Louis and the archbishop did not immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment.

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit were identified by initials to conceal their identities.

Some of these children viewed priests as “father figures,” the lawsuit said. Plaintiff D.M used the Catholic Church as an “escape” from his abusive father.

D.M. met Father William Vatterott while serving as an altar…

View Cache

Nearly one in three people in state or religious care between 1950 and 2019 experienced abuse, inquiry finds

An estimated 200,000 children and vulnerable adults in the care of state and faith-based institutions were abused or neglected between 1950 and 2019, according to the report on an independent inquiry by the New Zealand Royal Commission.

The report, which was released July 24, stated that the total number of those abused — many of whom belonged to the Indigenous Maori people — “may be higher than this estimate” due to poor record keeping and that the abuse and neglect of hundreds of thousands of children, young people, and adults was “a national disgrace.”

“These gross violations occurred at the same time as Aotearoa New Zealand was promoting itself, internationally and domestically, as a bastion of human rights and as a safe, fair country in which to grow up as a child…

View Cache

The Archdiocese of St. Louis knowingly enabled and concealed the sexual abuse of children by priests and nuns for decades, says a new lawsuit filed Wednesday on behalf of 25 unnamed individuals.

The suit filed in St. Louis Circuit Court includes dozens of pages of details concerning the accusations. The Associated Press reports several other lawsuits were filed against the archdiocese this week, bringing the total number of complainants to 60.

David Clohessy was among a group of people who gathered Thursday in front of the St. Louis Cathedral Basilica and said they have experienced abuse by church employees. He said he hopes this lawsuit inspires other survivors to open up about being abused.

“We’re rarely, rarely aware of just how burdensome it is to quietly keep this horrible secret because we’ve been doing it for decades,” Clohessy said. “But it’s a freeing and a liberating moment and…

View Cache

Sixty people allege in new lawsuits filed in Missouri that they were abused as children by dozens of Catholic priests, nuns and others, and the man who now leads the Archdiocese of Omaha, Nebraska, is among the accused.

Five separate lawsuits seeking unspecified damages were filed this week in St. Louis and neighboring counties. All told, the lawsuits name 56 alleged abusers. The suits seek unspecified damages.

Among those named is Omaha Archbishop George Lucas. A lawsuit filed Wednesday in St. Louis County Circuit Court said the unnamed accuser was 16 when he met Lucas at the now-closed St. Louis Preparatory Seminary in the late 1980s, where Lucas was a priest and dean of education. The lawsuit accused Lucas of sexually abusing the boy multiple times and offering better grades for sexual favors.

Lucas, in a statement on Thursday, strongly defended himself.

“I categorically deny the accusation made by an…

View Cache

Requests for financial compensation for victims of sexual abuse committed in the Church in Portugal will be analyzed by two commissions, one to analyze the cases and the other to determine the amounts of compensation, the Portuguese Bishops’ Conference (CEP) said in regulations published Thursday.

“Financial compensation should represent a significant benefit and be proportional to the seriousness of the damage assessed, without the pretension of paying what is unpayable or annulling what, unfortunately, cannot be annulled,” the CEP regulations say.

In February 2023, the final report of the Independent Commission for the Study of the Sexual Abuse of Children in the Catholic Church in Portugal was released. According to the document, from 1950 to 2022 there were at least 4,815 victims in the country. Following this report, the VITA Group was created to monitor situations of sexual abuse of children and vulnerable adults in the context of the Catholic…

View Cache

The bishop serving as the Belgian Church’s point man on abuse is stepping down, weeks before a papal visit that could be overshadowed by the country’s abuse crisis.

Bishop Johan Bonny confirmed July 25 that he was withdrawing from the high-profile role, citing an excessive workload that he said was taking a toll on his health.

His departure leaves the Belgian Church scrambling to find a successor before Pope Francis’ Sept. 26-29 visit, which is expected to include a private meeting with abuse survivors. 

The 69-year-old bishop decided to step back from the role after he appealed unsuccessfully to Rome for an auxiliary bishop to help him oversee his Diocese of Antwerp, which serves around 1.2 million Catholics. 

In a letter published July 1, Bonny said the Vatican had denied his request partly because it would upset the balance between French-speaking and Flemish-speaking bishops within Belgium’s bishops’ conference. 

This is a…

View Cache

The Bolivia province of the Society of Jesus failed to follow instructions from the Jesuit curia in Rome by allegedly not publicly disclosing the findings of an investigation into a pedophile priest, deepening a series of clerical sexual abuse scandals engulfing the order in the South American country.

In 2019, the Bolivia province investigated Father Luis María Roma — who documented in a diary his sexual abuse at least 70 girls — and sent its report to Rome. The curia told the Bolivian province in an email to offer reparations to the victims and publicize details of the case, including the perpetrator’s name, according to an investigation by the Spanish newspaper El País. The curia also allegedly counseled keeping the diary confidential, El País reported July 22.

The Bolivia province ignored all advice from the Jesuit curia except one — to keep the diary confidential. El País reported its existence in June 2024,…

View Cache

[See also the text of the lawsuit.]

A new lawsuit filed in Missouri accuses Omaha Archbishop George Lucas of sexually abusing a teenaged seminarian in St. Louis in the late 1980s, an allegation that

Lucas “categorically” denies.

The person, who is identified only by the initials D.S. in the civil lawsuit, accuses Lucas of abuse while Lucas was his teacher at the now-closed St. Louis Preparatory Seminary School in St. Louis. Lucas was a St. Louis archdiocesan priest.

D.S. is one of 27 adult plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed in St. Louis County Circuit Court against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis and Archbishop Mitchell T. Rozanski. The plaintiffs allege that they were sexually abused as minors by priests or others of the St. Louis Archdiocese and that the archbishop and other archdiocesan officials failed to protect them and abetted the abuse by covering it up. The suit does…

View Cache

[See also the text of the lawsuit.]

Omaha’s Archbishop is among the clergy members named in a lawsuit filed against the Archdiocese of St. Louis and Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski alleging the sexual abuse of minors for decades.

The lawsuit said the Archdiocese has “known of the sexual abuse perpetrated upon its young parishioners and children in the community” by employees, priests, reverends, nuns, teachers, and other staff members.

The lawsuit was brought forth by 27 anonymous plaintiffs.

It accuses the defendants of often transferring the perpetrators to different locations within the Archdiocese or Catholic Church or sending them away for treatment before returning them to unsupervised access to children.

“Our clients have courageously stepped forward to file these cases. They are entitled to full justice and accountability. By bringing these actions the hope is that justice will serve as some sense of closure,” said Todd Matthews and Bailey Glasser who…

View Cache

The head of a six-year investigation into mistreatment in orphanages, mental health institutions and elsewhere said it found an “unthinkable national catastrophe” unfolding over decades.

Auckland, New Zealand – More than 200,000 people are estimated to have been abused by state and religious organizations in New Zealand that had been entrusted with their care, according to the final report from a landmark independent inquiry released on Wednesday.

The abuse included sexual assault, electric shocks, chemical restraints, medical experimentation, sterilization, starvation and beatings, said the report from the Royal Commission of Inquiry Into Abuse in Care. Many of the victims were children who had been removed from their families and placed in state, religious or foster care.

“For some people this meant years or even decades of frequent abuse and neglect,” the report said. “For some it was a lifetime; for others it led to an unmarked grave.”

In a statement…

View Cache

As part of a six-year investigation into decades of abuse and neglect in the country, New Zealand pointed to the Catholic Church among other institutions for what it said was the Church’s role in perpetuating abuse.

New Zealand’s abuse commission, Abuse in Care: Royal Commission of Inquiry, focused on uncovering abuse and neglect in state and faith-based care institutions from 1950 to 1999 in a final report released on Wednesday. 

The report found abuse and neglect of 200,000 survivors in New Zealand state and faith-based institutions, and pointed to the Catholic Church and Catholic institutions in particular for enabling abusers.

“If this injustice is not addressed, it will remain as a stain on our national character forever,” Arrun Soma, chief adviser of the commission, said in a video statement.

The New Zealand commission said the Catholic Church and Catholic entities responded inadequately to complaints of abuse…

View Cache

[See also the text of the lawsuit.]

Twenty-five men and women, in a lawsuit filed late Wednesday in St. Louis Circuit Court, say Roman Catholic priests and nuns sexually abused them and that church officials failed to do anything to prevent it.

The plaintiffs mention more than 30 clergy in their arguments, while naming just the Archdiocese of St. Louis, Archbishop Mitchell T. Rozanski and John Doe I as defendants.

“This shameless cover-up spanned decades and allowed various clergy and other employees to access and sexually abuse numerous children,” the lawsuit alleges, adding: “Defendants knew or should have known that Abusers were unsuitable for the positions they held.”

Todd Mathews, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said by telephone that he was in the process of filing similar lawsuits on behalf of about 35 additional plaintiffs who say they were abused in St. Louis, Jefferson, St. Charles and Franklin counties. Those…

View Cache

[See also the text of the lawsuit.]

Twenty-five plaintiffs are demanding a jury trial, alleging the Archdiocese failed to protect them and covered up sexual abuse they endured as children.

A lawsuit filed Wednesday in St. Louis Circuit Court accuses the Archdiocese of St. Louis of knowingly enabling and covering up the sexual abuse of minors by its clergy members for decades.

The lawsuit lists 25 plaintiffs, identified by initials only, and names as defendants the Archdiocese, Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski and an unnamed priest identified as “John Doe I.” The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys Bailey & Glasser LLC, Levy Konisberg LLP, and Randles Mata LLC.

Todd Mathews, an attorney with Bailey & Glasser, said in an email that he was in the process of filing similar lawsuits on behalf of about 35 more plaintiffs for alleged abuse that occurred in St. Louis, Jefferson, Franklin and St. Charles counties.

…

View Cache

[Below is a transcript of the video introduction to the final report, spoken by the chair and commissioners of the inquiry, followed by the executive summary of the voluminous final report. This Abuse Tracker entry links to the main webpage of the final report. There you will find the video introduction (with the transcript) by the chair, the commissioners, and an advisor to the commission, who reads the executive summary aloud. The executive summary is also available on a separate page.

The main page also provides links to the parts of the final report, including narratives of Survivor Experiences and five case studies. Note that a case study about the Catholic Brothers of St. John had been released earlier.]

[Coral Shaw – Chair]: Poa ki te rangi, poa ki te whenua, tenei te rahuia o te aroha e tore nei, tihei mauri ora. We present to you our…

View Cache

When the chair of the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care first delivered her recommendations to the Government two months ago, it came with an appeal to the public.

“The whole country must pay attention when our final report is released and take responsibility to ensure that it never happens again,” Judge Coral Shaw said at the time.

On Wednesday, that report, “Whanaketia – Through pain and trauma, from darkness to light” was released to the public for the first time.

We must all heed Judge Shaw’s advice. We can no longer look away.

The report is a harrowing read. Detailing the biggest, broadest inquiry ever undertaken in Aotearoa New Zealand, spread over 16 volumes and about 3000 pages, it offers a devastating critique of abuses in state and faith-based care in the period from 1950 to 1999.

Judge Shaw has described the scale of abuse as “beyond what anyone…

View Cache

An inquiry in New Zealand found 200,000 people were abused in state and faith-based institutions over several decades. The Catholic Church pledged to improve safeguarding and support to victims, while the government plans to formally apologize to survivors in November.

After an independent inquiry found that 200,000 people were abused in New Zealand state and faith-based institutions over seven decades, Catholic Church leaders in the country  reiterated their commitment to responding to abuse, safeguarding, and ensuring church spaces are safe.

“There is work for the government to do and work to be undertaken by many other people. We understand that within the community, some of us — including leaders in the Catholic Church — have a special role to play to ensure that the findings and recommendations of this significant Inquiry are not lost or confined to words in a report. We commit to that role,” said a message issued jointly by…

View Cache

New Zealand’s independent inquiry into decades of abuse of children and vulnerable adults released a blistering final report Wednesday finding the country’s state agencies and churches failed to prevent, stop or admit to the mistreatment of those in their care.

The scale of abuse was “unimaginable” with an estimated 200,000 people abused over seven decades, many of them Māori, New Zealand’s Indigenous people, the report said.

In response to the findings, New Zealand’s government agreed for the first time that historical treatment of some children in a notorious state-run hospital amounted to torture, and pledged an apology to all those abused in state, foster and religious care since 1950.

But Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said it was too soon to say how much the government expected to pay in compensation — a bill the inquiry said would run to billions of dollars — or to promise that officials involved in denying and…

View Cache

Abuse survivors have overwhelmingly approved the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester’s plan of reorganization and just as overwhelmingly rejected the Continental Insurance Co.’s rival plan.

Adoption of a single plan could be a precursor to a resolution of the now nearly five-year-old case. But obstacles could still stand in the way.

In a final tabulation of the vote, 439 claimants in the bankruptcy voted to approve the diocese plan, which was jointly filed with an official committee representing survivors in the Chapter 11 case. Seventy-four claimants voted for the Continental plan.

Creditors’ approval of a plan of reorganization often opens the door to a final settlement in Chapter 11 cases. But where this vote leaves the Rochester diocese’s bankruptcy is not clear.

The case dates to September 2019 when the diocese, facing a virtually certain likelihood of being sued by hundreds of sexual assault survivors, asked for court protection.

The filing…

View Cache

A joint investigation by the Irish national broadcaster RTÉ and the Irish Mail on Sunday has revealed that the Vatican and Irish bishops did not notify the public that the reasons for the suspension from ministry of the late Bishop Eamonn Casey related to child sexual abuse allegations in both England and Ireland.

The public have long believed that the bishop’s suspension related to his relationship with American divorcée Annie Murphy, mother to his son Peter. The bishop, who spent much of his early priesthood in English parishes, resigned as Bishop of Galway and Kilmacduagh and as Apostolic Administrator of Kilfenora in 1992, after the media became aware of the relationship with Murphy.

So while the Vatican could be said to have acted responsibly in regard to child safeguarding, its failure to explain the reasons for Casey’s suspension has resulted in another public relations disaster, as well as giving the Church’s critics fresh ammunition…

View Cache

The Bishop of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora has said he shares the feelings of “anger and profound distress” of many people, following recent media coverage concerning the life and legacy of Bishop Eamonn Casey.

In a statement, Bishop Michael Duignan said his priority is that anyone “betrayed or harmed by Bishop Casey is heard and that their experiences are appropriately acknowledged and recognised”.

Bishop Duignan said the diocese adheres to all current procedures for responding to allegations concerning the safeguarding of children as governed by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland.

All safeguarding allegations are reported to An Garda Síochána and the child and family agency Tusla for investigation, he added.

Bishop Duignan said that diocesan safeguarding personnel, along with the bishop, are available to provide pastoral care and support while counselling is also available through the independent professional support organisation Towards Healing.

Read…

View Cache

Television: Searing documentary about sex abuse allegations may forever cast Eamonn Casey in a damning light

With the exception of Gay Byrne, it’s hard to think of a figure more present on the Irish airwaves through the 1980s and early 1990s than bishop Eamonn Casey. The chummy, irreverent face of Ireland’s cold, cruel strain of Catholicism, he was everywhere. Until suddenly, he wasn’t.

The reason he disappeared was, of course, the scandal over his relationship with Annie Murphy. It is difficult to overstate the damage caused by the revelations of an affair in the early 1970s with an American divorcee 20 years his junior – and of the child he had shunned. A hypocrite in a mitre, he made the whole country feel as if they had been treated like fools by the Catholic Church. We’d always known the hierarchy was…

View Cache

Bishop Michael Duignan said he is ‘committed to working with anybody affected to help bring truth, healing and peace’.

THE BISHOP OF Galway and Kilmacduagh has said he “shares” the feelings of “anger and profound distress” around the multiple child sexual abuse allegations made against former bishop Eamonn Casey.

Bishop Michael Duignan also said he is “committed to working with anybody affected to help bring truth, healing and peace to such terribly painful situations”.

Eamon Casey was the Bishop of Galway and Kilmacduagh from 1976 until 1992, when he resigned after it was revealed that he fathered a child with an American woman, Annie Murphy, in 1974. 

Murphy wrote a book about their relationship and appeared on The Late Late Show for a famous interview with host Gay Byrne.

In an RTÉ documentary in association with the Irish Mail on Sunday, Casey was described as a “sexual predator” by the…

View Cache

Bishop Casey’s Buried Secrets aired on Monday night, drawing a strong reaction from the public

Viewers were “appalled” by an “eye-opening” Irish documentary detailing the church’s handling of horrific sexual abuse allegations against former Co Galway Bishop Eamonn Casey.

Bishop Casey’s Buried Secrets aired on Monday night, delving into the shocking and tragic allegations of child sexual abuse against Bishop Casey, who died in 2017 aged 89.

The eye-opening documentary detailed four separate complaints of childhood sexual abuse against Bishop Casey and one further ‘child safeguarding concern’. The programme also featured an interview with one of Bishop Casey’s accusers, his niece, Patricia Donovan.

Speaking for the first time on camera, she claimed that he first raped her at the age of five and that the sexual abuse continued for years. “Some of the things he did to me, and where he did them,” Patricia said in the documentary.

“The horror of being…

View Cache

Mississippi state officials have enlarged their sexual abuse investigation into a Baptist church to include a second juvenile.

As first reported by WLBT 3 in Jackson, Mississippi, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation (MBI) is investigating two sexual abuse cases connected to Broadmoor Baptist Church in Madison, Mississippi.

One of the allegations of abuse involves David Ingram, who served as Broadmoor’s youth pastor from 1982 to 1988.

The second allegation of abuse involves a girl who attended Broadmoor’s youth ministry decades ago. Though the abuse involved two people unrelated to Broadmoor, the victim says the church mishandled her abuse and eventually kicked her out of Broadmoor’s youth group because of it.

According to a survivor’s statement published online, the abuse involving Ingram was first reported to Broadmoor’s former senior pastor decades ago, but the pastor failed to act on the information.

However, in 2022, that…

View Cache

A former Islamorada pastor serving as senior pastor of Palm View Baptist Church in Manatee County has been charged with 18 counts relating to child sexual abuse and child pornography.

Jonathan Elwing, 43, was charged earlier this month with two counts of capital sexual battery, six counts of production of child sexual abuse material and six counts of possession of child sexual abuse material, according to the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office. He was previously charged in June with four counts of possession of child sexual abuse images, the Sheriff’s Office stated.

The alleged criminal activity happened while Elwing was pastor of the Palmetto-based church on Florida’s west coast. He resigned from his job before his arrest, according to authorities.

Elwing was pastor at First Baptist Church of Islamorada from 2012 to 2019. An email sent to The Keys Citizen’s sister newspaper, the Florida Keys Free Press, by a self-described concerned…

View Cache

The recently opened archives of Pope Pius XII have shed new light on claims the World War II-era pope didn’t speak out about the Holocaust. But they’re also providing details about another contentious chapter in Vatican history: the scandal over the founder of the Legionaries of Christ.

Entire books have already been written about the copious documentation that arrived in the Holy See in the 1940s and 1950s proving its officials had evidence of the Rev. Marcial Maciel’s dubious morals, drug use, financial recklessness and sexual abuse of his young seminarians.

Yet it took the Holy See more than a half-century to sanction Maciel, and even more for it to acknowledge he was a religious fraud and con artist who molested his seminarians, fathered three children and built a secretive, cult-like religious order to hide his double life.

The newly opened archives of the Pius papacy, which spanned 1939-1958, are adding…

View Cache

Irish Bishop Michael Duignan said he was committed to “working with anybody affected to help bring truth, healing and peace to such terribly painful situations” after news reports on the legacy of Bishop Eamonn Casey appeared in newspapers and television on Sunday.

Casey, who died in 2017, was accused of sexual impropriety in the 1990s, and in 2019 it was reported the bishop had faced at least three accusations of sexual abuse before his death.

Ian Elliott, he former chief safeguarding officer for the Catholic Church in Ireland, told the RTÉ radio station, in association with the Irish Mail on Sunday newspaper, that Casey was “a sexual predator.”

The RTÉ documentary, called Bishop Casey’s Buried Secrets, said the Diocese of Limerick paid over €100,000 in settlement to one of his accusers after the bishop’s death.

The documentary noted that despite his resignation as Bishop of Galway in 1992, Casey remained an official bishop until…

View Cache

The Knights of Columbus used a paper cover to temporarily cloak artwork created by Father Marko Rupnik at the St. John Paul II National Shrine in Washington, D.C., pending the outcome of a Vatican investigation into sexual abuse allegations against the Slovenian artist and priest.

Rupnik’s mosaics line the walls of the Luminous Mysteries Chapel, which contains a first-class relic of St. John Paul II’s blood at the front of the altar, and the larger Redemptor Hominis Chapel, both of which sit inside the shrine near the entrance. The shrine is sponsored and managed by the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal organization.

The paper cover will eventually be replaced with a fabric canvas while the Vatican continues to investigate allegations that Rupnik spiritually, psychologically, and sexually abused between 20 and 40 adult women, including religious sisters.

Rupnik’s artwork was fully covered on Tuesday, July 23, less than…

View Cache

Cardinal Gérald C. Lacroix is resuming his duties as Quebec’s archbishop, six months after stepping aside when he was accused of sexual misconduct for which a Vatican-mandated investigation found no evidence to support.

Cardinal Lacroix announced he would step back into his role as archbishop of Quebec and primate of Canada in a July 22 news release posted to the Archdiocese of Quebec’s website. He is to preside over Mass July 26 at the Sanctuary of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré for the feast of St. Anne.

The cardinal’s voluntary absence began in late January when abuse allegations surfaced as part of a class action lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Quebec surrounding alleged historical abuse cases. Cardinal Lacroix has denied any wrongdoing, but the Vatican hired retired Quebec judge André Denis to investigate the claims made against Cardinal Lacroix.

Denis’ investigation concluded when in May he said he failed to find any evidence to…

View Cache

New Zealand’s wide-ranging independent inquiry into the abuse of children and vulnerable adults in care over the span of five decades released a blistering final report Wednesday that found the country’s state agencies and churches failed to prevent, stop or admit to the abuse of those they were supposed to look after — even when they knew about it.

The scale of the abuse was “unimaginable” with an estimated 200,000 people abused in seven decades, the report said. Scrutiny of state and faith-run institutions was lax and predators rarely faced repercussions.

In response to the findings, New Zealand’s government agreed for the first time that historical treatment of some children in a notorious state-run hospital amounted to torture, and pledged an apology to all those abused in state, foster and religious care since 1950. But Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said it was too soon to divulge how much the government expected to…

View Cache

On Wednesday, a commission in New Zealand singled out religious communities — and in particular, the Catholic Church — for failing to address or prevent abuse children and vulnerable adults in care facilities.

The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care spent six years holding hearings and investigating events from 1950 until the present day.

The final report said abuse was “unimaginable” in state and faith-run institutions, explaining at least 200,000 people have been abused in these care facilities over the decades.

Starting early in the year 2018 with a consultation process, the Inquiry was required to make various reports and provide a final report with findings and recommendations and presented the report to New Zealand’s Governor General on June 25, and then to Parliament on Wednesday.

“Abuse and neglect in care has had lifelong impacts on survivors. Many survivors died while they were in care or by suicide…

View Cache

Faith-based care institutions had higher rates of sexual abuse than state care, the landmark Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care has found.

The inquiry found that Catholic institutions reported the highest levels of sexual abuse, alongside Dilworth School in Auckland and Marylands School in Christchurch.

Additionally, it highlighted how the moral authority of religious leaders had allowed abusers in faith-based institutions to commit offences with impunity.

The landmark Abuse in Care inquiry released its findings today, revealing more than a third of people in state and faith-based institutions between 1950 and 2019 were abused — described as a “disgrace” and a “stain” on the national character.

The commission’s report said that would remain so if the “gross violations” and injustice are not addressed.

Findings on faith-based care have also shed light on the far-reaching consequences, including the breakdown of families when survivors’ experiences weren’t believed.

…

View Cache

[See also the documentary.]

A niece of Eamonn Casey, who claims she was raped and sexually abused by the former Bishop of Galway, said her fear that another young girl would be his next victim was what prompted her to report her allegations to gardaí.

Patricia Donovan, from Limerick, first reported Bishop Casey for alleged abuse in 2005, which allegedly took place from the late 1960s, starting when she was just five years old and continuing for more than a decade.

Ms Donovan spoke out for the first time in 2019 to the Irish Mail on Sunday, which extensively reported details of her allegations, along with separate abuse claims made by other women.

Now, more than 50 years after the alleged abuse, Ms Donovan’s own voice will be heard for the first time as she reveals her efforts to hold Catholic Church authorities to account in an RTÉ documentary made…

View Cache

[See also the documentary.]

The Vatican banned Bishop Eamonn Casey from public ministry for life after receiving multiple child sexual abuse allegations against him, the Irish Mail on Sunday can reveal.

The Vatican banned Bishop Eamonn Casey from public ministry for life after receiving multiple child sexual abuse allegations against him, the Irish Mail on Sunday can reveal.

A major RTÉ documentary in association with the MoS, which airs tomorrow, investigates how the Catholic Church handled at least five child sexual abuse allegations against the former Bishop of Galway.

It comes after this newspaper previously revealed how four women complained of alleged child sexual abuse against Bishop Casey, including his niece.

Now it has emerged the Vatican reaffirmed the ban on the disgraced Irish cleric’s ministry after his niece, Patricia Donovan, made a complaint of child sex abuse against him in 2005.

In a rare statement,…

View Cache

[See also the documentary.]

The first known child sex abuse allegation against disgraced Irish Bishop Eamonn Casey went ‘missing’ after it was reported from an Irish diocese to one in England, the Mail can reveal.

The allegation was sent from the Diocese of Limerick in Ireland to the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton in England in June 2001, where he was then working, and also to the Vatican.

The receipt of that complaint and the potential child safeguarding risks that it posed should have seen him suspended from his ministry in England, pending further investigation. The complaint should also have been reported to the police in the UK.

However, neither of those actions were taken and Fr Casey, as he was then known, remained active in ministry in the Diocese of Arundel & Brighton for another four years.

He was only suspended from his position four years later when his own…

View Cache

[See also the documentary.]

Multiple allegations of child sexual abuse have been made against the former Bishop of Galway Eamonn Casey.

Casey, who died in 2017, made headlines in 1992 when it emerged he had fathered a child with an American woman, Annie Murphy, in 1974.

He served as bishop of Galway from 1976 to 1992.

Now, RTÉ and The Mail on Sunday’s joint investigation for their documentary Bishop Casey’s Buried Secrets includes an interview with his niece Patricia Donovan, who has waived her right to anonymity.

Ms Donovan claims that Casey began raping her at the age of five and the sexual abuse continued for years.

‘A sexual predator’

Speaking on camera, Ms Donovan tells the investigation: “Some of the things he did to me, and where he did them… the horror of being raped by him when I was five, the violence. And it just carried on in…

View Cache

[See also the documentary.]

– Church received four separate complaints of childhood sexual abuse against Bishop Casey and one further ‘child safeguarding concern’ 

– Allegations relate to every Irish diocese in which Bishop Casey served   

– Six-figure settlement paid by Catholic Church to one complainant after Bishop Casey’s death in 2017 

– Vatican confirms Bishop Casey secretly banned from public ministry in 2007 

– Investigation conducted by RTÉ in association with the Irish Mail on Sunday into Church’s handling of complaints against Bishop Eamonn Casey  

– Feature length documentary Bishop Casey’s Buried Secrets to be broadcast tonight, Monday on RTÉ One and worldwide on RTÉ Player 

The former CEO of The National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland, Ian Elliott, has described Bishop Eamonn Casey as “a sexual predator” in a new documentary to be broadcast tonight on RTÉ One and RTE Player.

In an investigation conducted by RTÉ, in association…

View Cache

The former bishop of Galway Eamonn Casey was a serial paedophile who abused his five-year-old niece, a new RTÉ documentary has claimed.

The feature-length documentary, Bishop Casey’s Buried Secrets, alleges that there were multiple complaints of child abuse against Casey, who died in 2017 aged 89.

In 1992 The Irish Times revealed that Casey had fathered a child, Peter, with an American woman, Annie Murphy, and paid her IR£70,000 out of the Diocese of Galway’s funds.

It was the first major sexual scandal to affect the Catholic Church in Ireland, but the charges of child abuse that have been made against Casey are far more serious than those that led to his resignation.

He was removed from public ministry in 2007 by the Vatican after allegations of child abuse had been made against him.

The documentary, to be broadcast on RTÉ One on Monday night, was made…

View Cache

Speaking on camera for the first time, Casey’s niece, Patricia Donovan, claims that he first raped her at the age of five and that the abuse continued for years.

THE FORMER CEO of The National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland has described the former Catholic Bishop of Galway Eamonn Casey as “a sexual predator”.

Ian Elliott makes the comments in a new RTÉ documentary, Bishop Casey’s Buried Secrets, in association with the Irish Mail on Sunday. The documentary will air tonight.

The programme examines the Catholic Church’s handling of allegations against Casey, who died in 2017 aged 89.

It includes an interview with Casey’s niece, Patricia Donovan, who claims that he first raped her at the age of five and that the sexual abuse continued for years. 

It also reveals how a six-figure settlement was paid by the Catholic Church to one complainant after Casey’s death, and…

View Cache

Pope Francis is scheduled to meet with sexual abuse victims of the Catholic Church during his visit to Belgium in September, but no victims interviewed in the explosive Godvergeten documentary received an invite to the official session.

In an agenda published by the Vatican on Friday, the Pope will attend a “pastoral meeting with victims of sexual abuse” during his Belgian trip from 26 to 29 September. However, none of the victims who testified in VRT’s Godvergeten (‘Godforsaken’ in English) were invited, according to De Morgen. The documentary brought deep-rooted abuse at the heart of the Catholic order to light and prompted calls for the upcoming encounter between abuse victims and the Pope.

Nevertheless, “none of our people were invited,” said priest Rik Devillé, founder of the Working Group on Human Rights in the Church (WMK). “We wrote to the bishops and made concrete proposals and there was…

View Cache

The photograph hangs near the main staircase in the entrance hall of the private residence of the archbishop of New Orleans.

Inside the thin gold frame, standing shoulder to shoulder with a smiling Archbishop Gregory Aymond, are his predecessors: archbishops Philip Hannan, Francis Schulte and Alfred Hughes. Revered in the local church, the legacies of the former archbishops are also now defined by the heinous sexual abuse of children committed by clergy under their watch, and their unwillingness to fully account for it.

“I don’t think any of those men on the wall intentionally tried to hurt people,” said Aymond on a recent afternoon, shortly after passing by the picture.

They did, however. They also handed Aymond the profound challenge of trying to move the diocese past its decades-long abuse scandal and atone for its failures.

In 2018, Aymond took what he believed was the crucial step in that reckoning,…

View Cache

Gregory Aymond blames three predecessors as memo says he socialized or lived with 48 allegedly abusive clergymen

The Roman Catholic archbishop of New Orleans has said the allegations at the heart of a child-sex trafficking investigation being conducted by state police against his archdiocese are a “sin”, “evil” and a crime – but he has insisted he was oblivious to them when they unfolded during a bygone era earlier in his career.

Gregory Aymond’s comments, in an interview published on Sunday by New Orleans’ Times-Picayune newspaper, were his first about an investigation which erupted into public view in April as Louisiana state troopers served the archdiocese’s headquarters with a search warrant that accused the institution of potentially having run a child-sex trafficking ring responsible for “widespread sexual abuse of minors dating back decades”.

A sworn statement attached to the warrant added that the institution – which filed for bankruptcy protection in 2020…

View Cache

Archbishop Gregory Aymond said he has agreed to release old files controlled by the Archdiocese of New Orleans detailing decades of child sex abuse by local clergy and make the documents publicly accessible once the church’s long-running bankruptcy case is resolved.

As part of a settlement in the Archdiocese of New Orleans’ ongoing bankruptcy case, Aymond also said he is also willing to meet with small groups of abuse survivors in a neutral “safe space” and allow them to tell their stories, though he said he would keep the meeting closed to the public and the media.

“I am very open to that,” Aymond said.

Aymond’s comments, which represent his first public vows to release the documents, came during three days of interviews on a wide range of issues related to the church’s financial issues, the clergy sex abuse crisis and the spiritual health of the nation’s second-oldest…

View Cache

Archbishop Gregory Aymond says he will release files related to sexual abuse committed by priests in the Archdiocese of New Orleans.

According to our partners at NOLA.com, Aymond says the document release is part of the archdiocese’s long-running bankruptcy case, which now is in its fifth year. The documents, Aymond said, will be available once the case is resolved.

Aymond also said he’s willing to meet with small groups of abuse survivors and hear their stories. According to Aymond, those meetings would take place in a neutral “safe space” and be closed to the public and the media..

Aymond told the newspaper that the archdiocese continues to scan thousands of church documents dating back to the 19th Century in order to comply with a Louisiana State Police search warrant served on the archdiocese in April related to criminal investigations of sexual abuse committed by priests.

View Cache

Pope Francis will meet victims of sexual violence during his visit to Belgium at the end of September, according to a statement from the Interdiocesan Press and Information Service (SIPI) released on Friday.

The schedule for the Pope’s visit to Belgium was disclosed by the Vatican on Friday. It will take place from the evening of Thursday 26 September to Sunday 29 September and will commemorate the 600th anniversary of KU Leuven and UCLouvain

Upon landing at Melsbroek on Thursday evening, Pope Francis will be officially welcomed by King Philippe and Queen Mathilde, Belgian bishops, and the rectors of both universities, amongst others from the ecclesiastical and civil sectors.

On Friday morning, the King and Queen will receive the Pope at Laeken Castle, where he will address various constitutional representatives and Belgian civil society. The Pope is then expected to visit Louvain, where he will speak to professors and students, focusing…

View Cache

A new documentary focuses on the worst of Casey: child abuse. But it also strips away the last remnants of a once-golden reputation

He was the first — and mercifully the only — populist Irish Bishop. A legend in his own lavish lunchtime, protected against naysayers by his blustering man-of-the people persona. Uniquely loved, he was, for his come-all-ye-singing accessibility. Fans told eye-rolling stories of his dangerous, liquor-infused driving: sure wasn’t he a terrible man, all the same? One of our own. Authentic.

As a teenager in Catholic Ireland, I was aware that my parents viewed Eamonn Casey as an intellectual waste of space, but aware, too, that – in common with the small number of critics at the time — they viewed him as no worse than that.

An exclusive in the Mail on Sunday establishes that he was considerably worse than that. Anne Sheridan’s lead story states: “The…

View Cache

Former Luling priest Rev. Anthony Odiong has been charged with two counts of sexual assault after his arrest in Florida on counts of possessing child pornography, according to authorities.

A total of eight victims have been identified, Waco Police Department announced late Thursday evening, and authorities are continuing to search for additional victims.

In March of 2023, an unidentified victim reported Odiong to Waco, Texas, police for an alleged sexual assault that took place in 2012.

After further investigation, detectives were given permission by a judge to search through Odiong’s iCloud storage data, where they found images depicting sexual abuse of a child, according to The Guardian. The case of possession of child pornography led to the Tuesday arrest on a Texas warrant in Ave Maria, Florida.

Odiong was booked in Collier County Jail while he awaits extradition.

Authorities believe that there could…

View Cache

The Catholic Church already knew by 2021 of claims of sexual abuse against a beloved humanitarian French priest, the late Abbe Pierre, members of an independent commission said Saturday.

Abbe Pierre, or Henri Groues, was a Capuchin monk and an ordained Catholic clergyman who died in 2007 aged 94. He left a legacy as a friend to the poverty-stricken and founder of the charities Emmaus and the Abbe Pierre Foundation.

Revered for his uncompromising position defending the homeless and other people on the margins of life in France, he regularly topped polls as the most popular public figure in the country.

On Wednesday, however, it was revealed that seven women had made allegations of sexual assault or harassment by the elderly cleric dating back to between 1970 and 2005.

And on Saturday, four researchers for an independent commission into sexual abuse in the French Catholic Church said that they had…

View Cache

Pope Francis on Saturday accepted the resignation of a Colombian bishop who was mentioned in a book about members of Colombia’s clergy who have allegedly committed acts of sexual abuse.

The Vatican said in its daily news bulletin that the pope approved the resignation of Bishop Óscar Augusto Múnera from the apostolic vicariate of Tierra Adentro in southwest Colombia. The Vatican’s brief statement didn’t explain why the bishop had resigned from his post.

Múnera was accused of abusing of a young man in a book published last year by investigative journalists Juan Pablo Barrientos and Miguel Estupiñán, which also includes a list of more than 500 members of Colombia’s Roman Catholic clergy who have allegedly committed acts of sexual abuse. However, Colombian authorities haven’t filed any charges against Múnera.

In an article published in May on the news site Religion Digital, Estupiñán says that Múnera abused a young man in…

View Cache

“Mary said she felt she could not revoke consent or say no to [Father] Odiong due to his authority as a Catholic priest,” the lead investigator on the case wrote.

Two women let Roman Catholic priest Anthony Odiong become close to them because they believed he would provide them with spiritual advice they could use to confront difficult times in their lives.

Odiong previously ran into similar issues as a popular priest at a Catholic church in Luling, Louisiana and was dismissed from his pastoral duties here. 

But rather than simply minister to them, Odiong abused his position to have sexual intercourse with one of the women, police now allege. And he allegedly managed to pressure the other woman into letting her husband sodomize her despite her faith-based objections to that kind of encounter – while also successfully urging her to relay her experience to him.

Those graphic details were revealed…

View Cache

A church in South Carolina just fired their pastor after finding out some disturbing information about him regarding an assault on a 14-year-old girl. 

Pastor Donald Logan has been fired from his position at Eternal Church in Fort Mill, SC, in the U.S.A. It was recently revealed that Logan is a registered sex offender convicted of sexual misconduct with a 14-year-old girl, an incident that took place 27 years ago.

“Effective immediately, we have made the decision to release Pastor Don Logan from his call as Pastor of Eternal Church,” reads an email church elders sent to the congregation on July 10, a copy of which was published by The Fort Mill Sun. “Our decision to release Don was made with much prayer and discernment around the biblical qualifications for overseers of the church. Retaining Don as our pastor is not consistent with the truth, wisdom, and practicality in this text.”

In 1997 Logan…

View Cache

A pastor of a Brunswick County church faces multiple counts in a child sexual offense case.

On July 8, Jonathan Ballard, pastor of Straightway Ministries Wilmington and Church of the Living God in Leland and Whiteville, was indicted with 12 counts of taking indecent liberties with children, six counts of statutory sex offense, and one count of first-degree sexual exploitation of a minor, according to a first appearance in New Hanover County Court Friday morning.

Four victims, including one who has since deceased, have come forward, Jason Smith, assistant district attorney representing the state in the case at Friday’s first appearance, said. The alleged abuse occurred between 1995 and 2019 across multiple counties.

Previous Coverage:Preacher’s sex charges are dropped

Previous Coverage:Pastor charged with multiple misdemeanor counts of assault on a female

One victim had joined Ballard’s church for bible study in 1996,…

View Cache

There was a bond hearing in Lenawee County District Court Thursday morning for the Adrian pastor charged with two counts of 2nd Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct.

Michael Goble, 75, appeared in court before Lenawee County District Court Judge Laura J. Schaedler. Goble’s defense attorney, with the Public Defenders Office, presented a case to have his bond lowered, and that the court could accommodate something other that jail…such as house arrest or a GPS tether. Defense council told the Judge that Goble is 75 years old, a long-term resident of the county, and has no prior criminal history. He said that Goble is retired, a recent widower, and has three adult children in the area. Council also said that Goble has medical issues that he meets with a doctor on a regular basis, and is not a flight risk. The defense wanted Judge Schaedler to consider a $25,000 bond per count…a…

View Cache

Alleged victims of Father Marko Rupnik welcomed the decisions of the Knights of Columbus and Lourdes sanctuary regarding the ex-Jesuit’s mosaics, saying they are “grateful.” “Words are not enough to show solidarity with the victims; actions are needed,” one of the women told OSV News.

The Knights of Columbus announced July 11 the Catholic fraternal organization will cover mosaics by Father Rupnik at the St. John Paul II National Shrine in Washington and the Holy Family Chapel at the Knights’ headquarters in New Haven, Connecticut.

The Knights said the decision came at “the conclusion of a careful and thorough process.”
The mosaics will be obscured by fabric “which will remain in place at least until the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) issues its decision on the pending sexual abuse cases against artist Father Marko Rupnik.”

In Lourdes, where Father Rupnik’s mosaics cover the facade of the Basilica…

View Cache

When The Chapel, a multi-site non-denominational megachurch with campuses clustered near the Illinois-Wisconsin state line, fired its associate pastor, Steven Ostrander, it didn’t tell church members why. At the time of Ostrander’s firing in October 2022, most congregants didn’t even know that he’d been let go, numerous former congregants and staff told The Roys Report (TRR).

The church certainly didn’t reveal that Ostrander, then 30, had reportedly admitted that he had a sexual interaction with a 19-year-old man who had previously been in Ostrander’s youth ministry. The church also didn’t mention allegations that Ostrander had made unwanted sexual advances toward several 20-something men under his pastoral care.

Not until 18 months had passed did church leaders – via a March 20, 2024, email – let the 4,500-member congregation know what was up. The missive described the allegations against Ostrander as “misuse of power to manipulate personal and professional relationships and/or…

View Cache

Ten years ago, Sharon Clements’ world turned upside down. The pastor she trusted abused that trust and lured her into a sexual relationship. But when everything became public, her abuse was labeled an affair. And instead of receiving help, she received shame and rejection.

In this edition of The Roys Report, Sharon speaks out—not just about the abuse, but about her road to recovery.

The church where her abuse occurred—LexCity Church (formerly Quest Community Church) in Lexington, Kentucky—recently made headlines for another sex abuse scandal. And in the wake of that scandal, LexCity has closed.

It’s not often we see such a dramatic consequence to news like this. But then again, this is the second time LexCity has been rocked by scandal.

The first time was in 2014 when then-Pastor Pete Hise admitted to an “affair” with Sharon Clements. This not only rocked the church but led to years of confusion and…

View Cache

A priest in Ohio has issued an apology to parishioners after a media report revealed that he had destroyed a hard drive reportedly containing inappropriate pictures of children — and potentially child pornography — and then delayed reporting the incident to police. 

In a July 12 letter to parishioners at St. Susanna Catholic Church in Mason, Ohio, Father Barry Stechschulte said he wanted to “address” and “apologize for” his involvement in a controversy surrounding a priest accused of sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. 

Local Cincinnati ABC affiliate WCPO reported earlier this month on a yearslong controversy involving a Dayton-area priest, Father Tony Cutcher, who left ministry in 2021 amid a scandal involving “hundreds of text messages he exchanged with a 14-year-old boy.”

Some of the text messages included implied sexual overtones. Cutcher ultimately resigned from active priestly duties after an evaluation recommended a “restriction…

View Cache

Two charges of sexual assault have been filed against Anthony Odiong, with eight survivors identified thus far, according to the Waco Police Department.

The Waco Police Department is actively searching for additional survivors who may have been victimized by Odiong. Additional charges are pending. “Respect for your experience is our highest priority. You will not be required to go to court if you don’t prefer, nor will your name be made public,” stated the department.

In March of this year, credible information was reported to the Waco Police Department regarding a sexual assault that occurred in 2012. The individual who allegedly committed this sexual assault is a Catholic priest by the name of Fr. Anthony Odiong. During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered, which led to the arrest of Anthony Odiong on July 16, 2024, in Ave Maria, Florida, by the Florida Caribbean Regional…

View Cache

• Services at St. Thomas in Delmar on Friday for Rev. Gregory Weider who accused in three sexual abuse cases
• Diocese grants family’s request to hold funeral at parish

DELMAR – A priest removed from public ministry by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany is scheduled to have a wake and funeral at one of the parishes he served before allegations of child sexual abuse were made against him decades later.

According to the St. Thomas the Apostle parish calendar, a wake for Rev. Gregory Weider is scheduled for Friday, July 19, in its chapel from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., with a funeral mass to follow in the church.

Spotlight News specifically asked the Albany Diocese if any of the abuse allegations took place at St. Thomas, but the diocese declined to answer, citing the privacy of the victims.

Weider was added to the diocese’s “List of Credibly Accused”…

View Cache

The French-based Catholic solidarity movement founded by late Abbé Pierre releases the findings of an independent investigation, revealing alleged sexual abuses committed by its charismatic founder.

He is one of the most popular and iconic figures of the Church in France, known for his commitment to the French Resistance, for protecting Jews during World War II, and for his lifelong advocacy for the homeless and the destitute.

A report released on Wednesday by the Emmaus community, the now-international organization he founded 1949 in France to support the poorest and most vulnerable, has tarnished this image, revealing that Abbé Pierre committed acts amounting to sexual assault or sexual harassment.

A year-long investigation

The report is the result of an investigation the Catholic foundation entrusted in 2023 to an expert firm that specializes in abuse prevention, after a woman reported a sexual assault by the late priest and humanitarian…

View Cache

Boyd Householder died in June, before the beginning of his trial on 78 felony charges involving allegations of statutory rape, physical abuse and child neglect. On Wednesday, activists gathered in Jefferson City to ask that his wife, Stephanie Householder, not receive a plea deal.

“Stephanie Householder is perhaps the most notorious and prolific female perpetrator in Missouri,” said David Clohessy, Missouri volunteer director of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP).

Stephanie Householder faces 22 felony charges related to abuse and neglect that allegedly happened at Circle of Hope Girls Ranch, the Christian reform school in Humansville, Missouri, that was operated by her and her husband.

Young adults involved with the school spoke at Wednesday’s news conference while activists held up signs outside the Attorney General’s Office of Missouri. One sign read “No plea for Stephanie.”

Maggie Drew was a student at the boarding school from 2007-13. At the…

View Cache

BEING SENT TO SHERIFFS & PROSECUTORS IN THESE COUNTIES: JOHNSON, GRUNDY, MORGAN, LAFAYETTE, PETTIS, STONE, JACKSON, SHELBY, TANEY, OREGON, AUDRAIN, DADE, LAFAYETTE, SCOTT, COLE, JASPER, CAPE GIRARDEAU AND GREENE.

July 17, 2024

Dear AG Bailey:

Our message to you is simple: No plea for Stephanie.

We have suffered immeasurably, and many of us continue to suffer severely, because of the heinous crimes at Christian boarding schools committed and concealed by both Boyd and Stephanie Householder.

Over decades, the two of them no doubt sexually, physically and emotionally abused countless other innocent kids.

Now, Boyd will not face justice. But Stephanie MUST face justice.

Boyd has evaded earthly justice. Stephanie, however, has not.

In the strongest possible terms, we beg you to take the criminal case against Stephanie to trial without delay. We beg you to give us the only real opportunity we likely will ever have to face and expose an…

View Cache

OLYMPIA, Wash. – After a Washington Attorney General’s Office investigation alleging that the Dioceses of Seattle, Spokane and Yakima used charitable funds to cover-up sex abuse was halted by a superior court judge on Friday, clergy abuse advocates are still demanding accountability. 

Abuse survivors and reform advocates from the Catholic Accountability Project (CAP) traveled from Seattle to Spokane and Yakima on Tuesday promising that the AG investigation into alleged abuse cover-ups would be appealed to Washington’s Supreme Court. 

“It was a very sad day last week for survivors in court to have that kind of a setback, but we’re very hopeful about what the attorney general has committed to do in appealing this case,” CAP advocate Sarah Pearson said. 

Pearson helped to organize thousands of pages of abuse documentation ahead of the AG’s office filing investigating subpoenas against the three dioceses. She asserted that Bishop Thomas Daly’s office was actively avoiding addressing…

View Cache

WACO, Texas — Two charges of sexual assault have been filed against Anthony Odiong, with eight survivors identified thus far, according to the Waco Police Department.

The Waco Police Department is actively searching for additional survivors who may have been victimized by Odiong. Additional charges are pending. “Respect for your experience is our highest priority. You will not be required to go to court if you don’t prefer, nor will your name be made public,” stated the department.

In March of this year, credible information was reported to the Waco Police Department regarding a sexual assault that occurred in 2012. The individual who allegedly committed this sexual assault is a Catholic priest by the name of Fr. Anthony Odiong. During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered, which led to the arrest of Anthony Odiong on July 16, 2024, in Ave Maria, Florida, by the Florida Caribbean Regional…

View Cache

[Play Video]

SPOKANE, Wash. – Survivors and advocates are calling on the three Washington State Catholic diocese to release alleged documents they have that contain evidence of clergy abuse and cover-up.

This comes after a Washington State judge rejected Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s request to enforce a subpoena against the Seattle Archdiocese over its handling of sexual abuse cases. The Diocese of Spokane was also subpoenaed by Ferguson in May. 

Clergy abuse survivors and advocates met at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Lourdes on Tuesday to advocate for victims here in Spokane. 

“I am a survivor of priest and young nun abuse,” said clergy abuse survivor Mary Dispenza.

Dispenza said she was 7-years-old when she suffered abuse by the Catholic church in Los Angeles. Now, she stands strong advocating for others in Washington.

“I’m also here to ask and demand that the files be…

View Cache

New charges filed against Anthony Odiong after eight accusers came forward alleging unwelcome sexual conduct

Days after being jailed in Florida on counts of possessing child abuse imagery, a Roman Catholic priest with ties to south-east Louisiana and Texas has been charged with two counts of sexual assault.

Police in Waco, Texas, announced the new charges against Anthony Odiong late on Thursday in a statement. It said a total of eight victims had come forward alleging Odiong, 55, tried to use his influence as a priest to pursue sexual contact they either did not welcome or to which they could not consent.

Texas is one of about a dozen states with a law that criminalizes sexual activity between clergymen and adults who emotionally depend on their spiritual advice. Furthermore, Texas deems statutes of limitation – or filing deadlines – irrelevant if a “defendant has committed the same or similar sex offense…

View Cache

New Vision Baptist Church in Murfreesboro has used background checks in its ministry for more than 10 years.

“It gives us peace of mind,” said Kellie Clem, financial assistant at New Vision. “Also, there are occasions where it becomes a chance to talk with volunteers about their faith walk due to results that have come back.”

According to the 2023 Annual Church Profile (ACP), most Southern Baptist congregations, like New Vision, use background checks for volunteers. Fewer, however, say they have been trained in reporting sexual abuse or caring for sexual abuse survivors.

Almost 3 in 5 congregations affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention (58%) use background checks. More than a third (36%) are trained in reporting sexual abuse, while 16% are trained in caring for survivors.

“Many within the Southern Baptist Convention and other denominations have been expressing a desire to do more to prevent sexual abuse,”…

View Cache

A priest regularly voted France’s most popular personality has been posthumously accused of sexual assault and harassment by at least seven women, including one who was a minor when the first incident allegedly occurre

An investigative report, published July 17, said that at least five other possible victims were identified during a probe into allegations against Abbé Pierre, the founder of Emmaus, a charity serving the poor and homeless.

Abbé Pierre — who was a member of the French World War II Resistance and made a celebrated appeal for an “uprising of kindness” during the harsh winter of 1954 — is the latest prominent figure within French Catholicism to face posthumous accusations of sexual misconduct.

Others include Fr. Georges Finet, co-founder of the Foyers de Charité, Fr. Marie-Dominique Philippe, founder of the Community of St. John, and Jean Vanier, a Canadian who founded the L’Arche community in France.

The French bishops’…

View Cache

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Employees of the largest housing provider for unaccompanied migrant children in the U.S. repeatedly sexually abused and harassed children in their care for at least eight years, the Justice Department said Thursday, alleging a shocking litany of offenses that took place as the company amassed billions of dollars in government contracts.

Southwest Key Programs Inc. employees, including supervisors, raped, touched or solicited sex and nude images of children beginning in 2015 and possibly earlier, the Justice Department said in a lawsuit filed this week. At least two employees have been indicted on criminal charges related to the allegations since 2020.

It was not immediately clear how many children are currently in Southwest Key’s vast network of shelters across three states, which have room for more than 6,300 children. A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment beyond the lawsuit announcement when asked whether the department recommended that…

View Cache

St. Susanna’s pastor says he made ‘terrible mistake’ by failing to report priest for alleged child porn for six years, and ordering hard drive destroyed.

MASON, Ohio — Some local Catholics want a Mason pastor to resign, after the WCPO 9 I-Team reported last week that he ordered evidence of alleged child pornography be destroyed, and waited six years to report it to police while pastor of a different church.

“I understand that the information in this report is distressing for many of you and may impact your trust in me as your pastor… I instructed the hard drive be destroyed. I realize that not reporting it was a terrible mistake, which I regret,” Fr. Barry Stechschulte wrote in a July 12 letter to the St. Susanna community, where he is pastor and oversees a large school.

While the I-Team report focused on former priest Tony Cutcher, it also revealed Father…

View Cache

Vatican City – A legendary French priest and a lifelong advocate of the homeless has been accused of committing acts that would amount to “sexual assault or sexual harassment,” his foundation said Wednesday, in the latest instance of a Catholic spiritual leader facing allegations of abusing his power to harm women.

Abbé Pierre, who died in 2007, was one of France’s most beloved public figures. The founder of the international Emmaus Community for the poor, Abbé Pierre had served as part of France’s conscience since the 1950s, when he persuaded Parliament to pass a law — still on the books — forbidding landlords to evict tenants during winter.

Several women have accused the late priest of sexual assault or harassment between the end of the 1970s and 2005, his foundation said in a statement. It explained that it is making public the allegations of seven women, including one who was…

View Cache

Stephanie Householder, who ran Circle of Hope Girls Ranch with her husband Boyd Householder, faces 21 charges of child abuse and neglect alleged by former students. Her husband, who died last month, had nearly 80 charges that include allegations of sexual abuse.

Survivors of abuse are asking Missouri’s attorney general to proceed with the trial of the co-owner of Circle of Hope Girls Ranch, a now-shuttered boarding school for troubled girls in Cedar County.

Stephanie Householder, who ran the school with her husband Boyd Householder, faces 21 charges of child abuse and neglect alleged by former Circle of Hope students. Her husband had nearly 80 charges, including allegations of sexual abuse.

But he died of a “cardiac incident,” according to his attorney’s statement published by KSMU.

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey offered Householder a plea deal in 2023 if she would testify against her husband. She rejected…

View Cache

Father Marko Ivan Rupnik is a former Jesuit priest whose artwork decorates Catholic churches, chapels, and shrines around the world, including the Redemptoris Mater chapel in the Vatican and the major seminary of Rome. He is accused of having committed serious sexual, spiritual, and psychological abuse of women for decades and his case is currently being investigated by the Vatican.

Rupnik’s career

Rupnik, 69, was born in 1954 in Zadlog, Slovenia. During his youth he studied at the School of Fine Arts in Rome and at the Pontifical Gregorian University, where he earned a doctorate with a thesis on the theological significance of modern art in the light of Russian theology.

In the 1980s in his native country with the nun Ivanka Hosta he founded the Loyola Community, where he allegedly abused nuns.

He is also the founder of the Centro Aletti spiritual art workshop in Rome, from where many…

View Cache

A former McLennan County priest is accused of serial sexual assault and has been charged for having child pornography.

UPDATE (6 p.m.)

According to a statement from the Diocese of Austin, they are ready to fully cooperate with law enforcement regarding this case.

The Diocese of Austin says it remains committed to its Safe Environment Program, and is encouraging anyone with additional information regarding Odiong, to report it directly to the Waco Police Department.

According to officials, since Odiong’s conclusion of service in the Diocese of Austin in 2012, he has not had authorization to minister as a priest within the twenty-five county area comprising the Diocese of Austin, and his bishop recalled him back to the Diocese of Uyo in writing in March 2024.

“In 2019, the Diocese of Austin sent written communication to Fr. Odiong confirming that he did not have authorization to engage in priestly ministry in…

View Cache

LULING, La. — A former Louisiana priest who has been credibly accused of sex crimes in several states is under investigation in Texas, where police believe he may have more victims.

Anthony Odiong,55, who was a priest in Luling from 2015 to 2023, is accused of sexual assault and most recently possession of child pornography, according to a news release issued by the Waco Police Department.

Waco police say they were made aware of a sexual assault that happened in 2013 involving Odiong.

Odiong was arrested on Tuesday in Ave Maria, Fla. He is awaiting extradition.

According to Waco police, multiple women have come forward to share similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation.

Police say those experiences ranged from sexual assault to groping and indecent assault.

Officers believe there are potentially more victims across the country.

Odiong served as a Catholic priest at St….

View Cache