ABUSE TRACKER

“I think that they should be” posting lists of abusive members “because it’s been actually asked of us by the larger church,” the Rev. Gregory Polan told the Sun-Times.

The Benedictine monastery that founded Benet Academy in Lisle and the one that runs Marmion Academy in Aurora should publish complete lists of their clerics who have been deemed to have been credibly accused of child sex offenses, the top official of the Catholic religious order worldwide is urging.

“I would certainly encourage they be honest about those types of things,” the Rev. Gregory Polan, leader of the confederation of Benedictine groups around the world, told the Chicago Sun-Times.

“I think that they should be” posting such lists of abusive members “because it’s been actually asked of us by the larger church,” Polan said in an interview from Rome, where he is based. “I think we need to do what the…

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High court of Australia is considering a NSW court’s permanent stay in a case brought by a woman who alleges she was abused as a 14-year-old

The high court has pressed the Catholic church to explain why it didn’t have an adequate opportunity 50 years ago to investigate the extent of a priest’s abuse of children, given there were “red flags everywhere” about his crimes.

The court on Thursday began hearing a key case about a legal tactic now routinely being employed by the church and other institutions to permanently shield themselves from abuse survivors’ civil claims for compensation.

Institutions are now regularly seeking permanent stays, or a permanent halt to proceedings, by arguing the death of alleged perpetrators and the inability to obtain their response to a survivor’s allegations leaves them unable to receive a fair trial.

The approach has infuriated survivors and their advocates,…

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Survivors of abuse at the Mount Cashel orphanage in the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s, and by clergy from the Archdiocese of St. John’s through the years, are poised to receive a financial settlement from the archdiocese by the end of the year.

Lawyers for survivors, the Episcopal Corp. of St. John’s (RCECSJ) and court monitor Ernst & Young appeared in Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court May 30 to declare Global Resolutions Inc., a Toronto-based dispute resolution organization, has been appointed as claims officer.

Reportedly, Global Resolutions Inc. has assigned four of its most senior panel members to adjudicate this process. At the suggestion of survivors’ lawyer Geoffrey Budden, Newfoundland resident Lawrence Hatfield, also a mediation specialist, has been added as a fifth member of this team. 

“There are not a lot of mediators in Canada with the combination of general experience and specific experience assessing or mediating sexual abuse claims,”…

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What is the price of an abusive kiss by a predatory priest? How much should an unwanted fondle fetch to serve justice to the victim? Ask the class-action lawyers.

They and the legal system have developed a grid, or “meat chart” as one Ontario lawyer refers to it, that spells out the dollar value of abuse much as insurance companies codify the value of a lost thumb or the ability to walk. The chart has two distinct components. One section enumerates four levels of the sexual assault. The second section addresses the “harms and effects,” or the knock-on psychological harm or financial losses experienced by those assaulted.

The valuations will come into play now that the large class actions against Roman Catholic dioceses and religious orders in Canada have reached a settlement and damages will soon be disbursed to the claimants.

In April, the Diocese of Chicoutimi in Quebec settled…

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A $100 million class action lawsuit launched on behalf of alleged victims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy on Manitoulin Island has been abandoned after the victims reached individual settlements with the church.

All of the 29 alleged victims are from Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory and attended Holy Cross Mission, run by the Jesuit Fathers of Upper Canada.

The suit was launched in 2015 and named several defendants, including the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation of the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Sault Ste. Marie, the Estate of Father George Epoch and the Estate of Brother O’Meare.

“The action was brought on behalf of all persons who were abused as children by clergy or staff of the Holy Cross Mission in Wiikwemkoong (and) all parents, spouses, children and siblings of the abused persons,” court documents said.

Two alleged victims – one of Father George Epoch and the…

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Revelations of rampant sexual abuse by deceased Jesuit Fr. Alfonso Pedrajas have prompted dozens of people in Bolivia to come forward with similar accusations of atrocities in the South American country, where the Catholic Church confronts a reckoning over the criminal acts of pedophile priests.

An investigation by Bolivian newspaper Página Siete found more than 170 victims of clerical sexual abuse being raised since early May, when the Spanish newspaper El País published its exposé into Pedrajas — a Spanish Jesuit who kept a record of his abuse of children by writing a diary.

“What El País has achieved has been the victims connecting with each other, interacting with each other, daring to speak out. Many of the victims are more than 50 years old,” Raphael Archondo, an academic and former director of Fides, a news outlet supported by Bolivia’s Jesuits, told OSV News.

“There’s a wave of complaints and…

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LOUDON COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — A former Virginia priest was sentenced to spend eight years in prison for sexually abusing a teenager nearly four decades ago.

Scott Asalone, 66, is a former priest of St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church in Purcellville, Virginia. According to court documents, in 1985, a then-29-year-old Asalone sexually abused a 14-year-old child.

Asolone was removed from public duties in 1993 and dismissed from the Order of Capuchin Friars in 2007.

Asalone was indicted by a grand jury in March 2020 and was arrested from his home in New Jersey shortly afterward. He was then extradited to Virginia and remained on bond until his trial.

In December 2022, Asalone pled guilty using the Alford rule in a Loudon County Circuit Court to felony carnal knowledge of a minor between 13 and 15 years of age. An Alford plea allows a defendant to plead guilty…

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The Meta unit’s systems for fostering communities have guided users to child-sex content; company says it is improving internal controls

 Instagram, the popular social-media site owned by Meta Platforms, helps connect and promote a vast network of accounts openly devoted to the commission and purchase of underage-sex content, according to investigations by The Wall Street Journal and researchers at Stanford University and the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Pedophiles have long used the internet, but unlike the forums and file-transfer services that cater to people who have interest in illicit content, Instagram doesn’t merely host these activities. Its algorithms promote them. Instagram connects pedophiles and guides them to content sellers via recommendation systems that excel at linking those who share niche interests, the Journal and the academic researchers found.

Though out of sight for most on the platform, the sexualized accounts on Instagram are brazen about their interest. The researchers found that…

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Editor’s note: This story includes graphic details some readers may find offensive

PROVIDENCE – A former Providence Catholic priest pleaded guilty Thursday to a federal child pornography charge, days before his case was slated to head to trial.

James W. Jackson, 68, a former pastor at St. Mary’s Church, admitted to a felony count of receiving child pornography before U.S. District Court Judge William E. Smith.

In exchange, Assistant U.S. Attorney John P. McAdams agreed to dismiss a charge of possessing child pornography. His trial had been set to start June 20.

Background on James W. Jackson’s case

Rhode Island State Police arrested Jackson in October 2021 following an investigation into someone sharing child pornography that led to the St. Mary’s Catholic Parish and rectory at 538 Broadway. Investigators executing a search warrant there located more than 12,000 images and 1,300 video files depicting child sexual abuse, with Jackson…

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(For Immediate Release June 8, 2023) 

A recently deceased Archpriest in the Diocese of the South (DOS), Orthodox Church in America (OCA), apparently continued bear the title of “archpriest,” despite being a registered sex offender. We are absolutely shocked that Archpriest Benjamin Henderson, who was convicted of possessing child pornography, was never defrocked.

We have written to the late Fr. Henderson’s hierarch, Archbishop Alexander Golitzin, asking him to explain how such a travesty came about, despite evidence that the DOS was at least aware that the priest had been charged with this heinous crime. 

A copy of SNAP’s letter to Archbishop Golitzin is linked here.

Child pornography is NOT a victimless crime. The images of the very real boys and girls who appear in the photos and videos are traded and used indefinitely, leading to a lifetime of victimization. Moreover, studies have shown…

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Last year, Chellee Taylor, won an undisclosed settlement from a Southern Baptist megachurch in Florida, which she says silenced her and protected the campus pastor who sexually assaulted her. Now, Taylor is going public with her story, naming the church, Journey Church in Orange City, Fla.

She’s also naming Journey’s lead pastor, James Hilton, who’s also a trustee at Cedarville University—a Southern Baptist school, plagued by a recent sex abuse scandal and allegations of mishandling Title IX cases.

And Taylor is naming her alleged abuser—former Journey Orange City Campus Pastor Tom Wycuff.

Wycuff has since deleted his social media accounts and moved to his wife’s hometown in New Jersey. The Roys Report (TRR) reached out to Wycuff for comment but could not make contact.

Taylor told TRR that when she first disclosed what Wycuff had done, Journey gave her an ultimatum: resign or be fired. Then the…

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The Church of England has said that changes are being made to improve a financial support scheme for clergy abuse survivors following heavy criticism. 

A review by the Independent Safeguarding Board said that survivors using the Church of England’s Interim Support Scheme (ISS) were at risk of “repeated re-traumatisation”. 

The review highlighted the experience of one man named only as ‘Mr X’ who was left feeling suicidal after accessing the scheme. 

The ISB said that the Church needed to take a “trauma-informed approach” and act with “urgency” in his case.

In a statement, the ISB said that the Church of England had failed to implement recommendation 7 within the expected timescale.

The recommendation addressed Mr X’s situation specifically and asked that the Church of England’s National Safeguarding Team (NST) convene a meeting within four weeks of the review, dated March 2023, to address his support needs.

“This action is now significantly overdue,”…

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A Bolivian former seminarian who says he was the victim of a vast sex abuse network in the Catholic Church has told AFP of decades of “hell” meted out to children by men of the cloth.

Pedro Lima said not only minors but also adults like himself who were training to become priests were subject to abuse in the South American country, often by clergymen who arrived from Spain.

The 54-year-old, who has lived in Paraguay since 2011 where he works as a blacksmith, returned home last month to give evidence in a vast investigation into child predation at schools countrywide, including a boarding school for poor, rural kids in Cochabamba.

“The children lived through hell,” he recounted of things he said he saw. “These abusive priests were saints by day, demons by night.”

At the center of the latest scandal is a Spanish priest by the name of Alfonso…

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KINGSTON, Ont. – A defrocked Oblate priest and convicted sex offender is facing eight new criminal charges for past sexual assaults he allegedly committed while living in Nunavut.

Iqaluit RCMP said Eric Dejaeger, 76, was arrested on a Canada-wide warrant Wednesday in Kingston, Ont., where he was living. Police said he will be transported to Iqaluit to appear on the charges before the Nunavut Court of Justice.

Police gave no details about when and where the alleged assaults occurred, but said the charges stem from investigations conducted between 2011 and 2015.

Dejaeger, who was born in Belgium and became a Canadian citizen in 1977, has previously been convicted of numerous sexual offences.

He served part of a five-year sentence beginning in 1990 for sexual crimes against children in Baker Lake, Nunavut, committed between 1982 and 1989.

Following his release, he learned RCMP were investigating his activities in Igloolik, Nvt., and…

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The right man at the right time. Santa Fe Archdiocese Archbishop Emeritus Michael J. Sheehan was certainly that.

The retired archbishop’s death Saturday reminds us of one of the darkest chapters in the history of the Catholic Church, and how one man’s integrity and forthrightness helped restore faith in his archdiocese.

Sheehan presided over the Santa Fe Archdiocese for 22 years, from 1993 to 2015. It wasn’t easy from the start as a sexual abuse scandal of epic proportions was beginning to rock the archdiocese. Just three weeks before Sheehan faced a packed room of reporters at his first news conference in Albuquerque in April 1993, former Santa Fe Archbishop Robert F. Sanchez had resigned after five women alleged he sexually molested them as teenagers. Sanchez was one of at least 14 New Mexico priests accused of sexual abuse when Pope John Paul II named Sheehan as acting head of…

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KINGSTON, Ontario (AP) — A defrocked Canadian priest and convicted sex offender is facing eight new criminal charges for past sexual assaults he allegedly committed while living in northern Canada, authorities said Wednesday.

Iqaluit Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Eric Dejaeger, 76, was arrested on a Canada-wide warrant in Kingston, Ontario, where he was living. Police said he will be transported to Iqaluit, Nunavut, to appear on the charges before the Nunavut Court of Justice.

Police gave no details about when and where the alleged assaults occurred, but said the charges stem from investigations conducted between 2011 and 2015.

Dejaeger, who was born in Belgium and became a Canadian citizen in 1977, has previously been convicted of numerous sexual offences.

He served part of a five-year sentence beginning in 1990 for sexual crimes against children in Baker Lake, Nunavut, committed between 1982 and 1989.

Following his release, he learned police…

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Richard Trahant, fined $400,000 for alerting high school about priest, accuses law firm of trying to harm his reputation

An American attorney fined $400,000 for alerting a Roman Catholic high school that a priest stationed there admitted fondling and kissing a teenage girl during a previous assignment is seeking damages from church lawyers as he fights the penalty.

The lawsuit filed last week by the Louisiana-based attorney Richard Trahant accuses a law firm representing New Orleans’s archdiocese in a bankruptcy protection case – and administrators of the proceeding – of trying to harm his reputation by widely but improperly publicizing the judicial order behind the fine.

In a statement on Wednesday responding to the suit Trahant and his wife, Amy, filed five days earlier, the Jones Walker law firm said it followed the instructions of the judge who levied the fine. “Mr Trahant and his wife claim that…

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Cara Kelly is an editor at the Investigative Reporting Workshop and adjunct professor of journalism at American University.

Last month, the attorney general of Illinois released the results of a years-long investigation into child sexual abuse by Catholic clergy, revealing 348 more abusers in the state than the church had previously disclosed — and nearly 2,000 child victims.

This was the latest of more than 20 similar reports that began with a 2018 Pennsylvania grand jury statement on more than 300 abusive priests and 1,000 child victims. In April, Maryland’s investigation detailed abuse by 150 clergy members against more than 600 victims.

Alarming as they are on their own, these reports also point to another child sexual abuse case that is even bigger — and ongoing — and yet has never been as thoroughly examined.

This one…

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The Guardian, the Associated Press and state prosecutors contend that there’s legitimate public interest in documents dealing with Lawrence Hecker

Two national US media organizations and Louisiana state prosecutors have joined efforts to secure the public release of sealed information that would provide a more complete account of a retired Roman Catholic priest in New Orleans who has been previously accused of molesting several children.

In papers filed late Wednesday at New Orleans’s federal courthouse, the Guardian and the Associated Press contend that there is a legitimate public interest in the contents of the documents dealing with Lawrence Hecker despite archdiocesan claims that the information could be disparaging to the organization.

The Guardian and AP argue that the records were improperly labeled as confidential after the church filed its pending, three-year-old bankruptcy case and are seeking to remove that designation, supporting arguments first advanced by Aaron Hebert, who…

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A high sum is demanded in the Traunstein Pope trial. The person concerned is not alone with his financial claim. The beginning of a wave of lawsuits against the Catholic Church?

Two weeks before the scheduled start of the civil trial in Traunstein about sexual abuse In the Catholic Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, the amount involved has become known for the first time.

A victim of abuse demands a total of 350,000 euros from the Archdiocese and the heirs of the deceased Pope Benedict XVI This was confirmed by the man’s lawyer, Andreas Schulz, of the German Press Agency.

Previously, “Correctiv”, Bavarian radio and “Die Zeit” reported on the claim and quoted from a corresponding brief. The plaintiff is demanding 300,000 euros from the archbishopric and 50,000 euros in compensation from the heirs of the pope emeritus who died on New Year’s Eve. According to a spokeswoman, the court put the…

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It’s the first time that law enforcement has made moves to expose secret records the Archdiocese has fought to protect for decades.

Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams is urging a federal court to unseal sworn testimony by the Rev. Lawrence Hecker, as well as records held in secret by the New Orleans Archdiocese about Hecker, saying his office needs them to bring potential criminal charges against the accused child molester.

“The continued sealing of the documents in this case serves as a major impediment to a proper investigation,” Williams wrote in a motion filed Tuesday. “Sworn deposition testimony concerning the commission of a crime should not be withheld from a prosecutorial authority merely because reputations may be harmed. Evidence that a crime has been committed should be brought before the proper court.”

It’s the first time that law enforcement has made moves to expose secret records the Archdiocese has…

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Rarely do we at Horowitz Law take time out to respond to our critics. This is an exception. After we criticized what Maine Catholic officials did and did not do with one particular priest, a reader raised an interesting, legitimate question: “How SHOULD Catholic officials have handled this situation?”

Just to recap- Maine Bishop Robert Deeley ordained Fr. Anthony Cipolle in 2017, despite a troubling past that included multiple career changes, a son, a marriage, and criminal charges, including attempted murder, attempted insurance fraud, and drug possession. After just over a year on the job, he was removed as church officials’ investigated his role in the murder of a woman in 2018. The diocese determined that Fr. Cipolle abused his position as a clergy member, violated the diocesan ‘code of ethics,’ and tried to deceive investigators. More recently, Fr. Cipolle was found working as a chaplain…

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“Hay que apoyar a las víctimas de estas situaciones graves, tristes y dolorosas”, opina Jorge Alberto Cavazos por casos impunes de violación en manos del religioso

*Segunda parte 

“Hay que apoyar a las víctimas de estas situaciones graves, tristes y dolorosas”, sostuvo el arzobispo de San Luis Potosí, Jorge Alberto Cavazos Arizpe, al respecto de que ya se cumplen nueve años de la denuncia en la que se reveló que decenas de personas durante su adolescencia fueron víctimas de abuso sexual por parte del expárroco 

El máximo jerarca de la iglesia potosina manifestó que para la Diócesis no es un “caso cerrado” y se comparte la postura de las víctimas de que la justicia sólo llegará cuando las autoridades detengan a esta persona y sea juzgada por el poder civil, por lo que incluso refirió que ha hablado del tema con las autoridades correspondientes.

Añadió que tiene conocimiento que desde que…

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El sacerdote potosino sigue prófugo de la justicia, pese a que su ficha de búsqueda fue girada por la Interpol; víctimas en SLP narran los abusos y el calvario en búsqueda de justicia

*PRIMERA DE DOS PARTES

Acusado penalmente por el abuso sexual de al menos 19 menores de edad, aunque colectivos contra la pederastia le atribuyen más de 100 actos de abuso, el sacerdote potosino Eduardo Córdova ha burlado las leyes por más de 40 años. En 1983, aún sin ingresar al seminario, inició su historial como agresor sexual y aunque fue denunciado ante la cúpula católica, ésta misma le permitió consolidarse como líder religioso y con ello acumular decenas de agravios de este mismo tipo.Sponsored Links5.5% High Interest Savings AccountsStuffAnsweredLearn More

La Iglesia católica y la élite potosina se cimbró cuando se destaparon públicamente en 2014 los múltiples…

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Advocates, attorneys, and several survivors of childhood sexual abuse at the hands of clergy members are calling for action and increased transparency by the Catholic church.

“The real impact this has is, you have to look at life through a whole different lens. It’s not a fun one,” said Mike, a survivor who said he was sexually abused by a pastor of his parish in Berwyn decades ago when he was only 11.

He believes what isn’t talked about enough when it comes to sexual assault, is the way it impacts how a survivor sees the world.

“You learn to survive; you learn to thrive,” said Mike. “I’ve had a great life. It’s a perspective that’s a bit unusual.”

On Tuesday, Mike joined others at a news conference prompted by a 700-page report released nearly two weeks ago by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul. In it, 451 Catholic clergy members…

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Priest released from custody on agreed conditions after allegations of sexual assault on Manitoba First Nation

Arul Savari, a Roman Catholic priest facing accusations of sexually assaulting an 8-year-old girl in a church on a remote Manitoba First Nation, has been released from custody. The 48-year-old appeared via video in a Winnipeg court before a judicial justice of the peace on Monday, where the Crown and his defense lawyer agreed upon a set of conditions for his release.

During the court proceedings, when asked if he agreed with the conditions, Savari responded with “OK.” He is facing five charges, including sexual assault, sexual interference, and forcible confinement.

Savari had been in custody since May 27, following a complaint made by the mother of the 8-year-old girl to the Little Grand Rapids RCMP. According to the RCMP, the girl was alone with the priest when he allegedly touched her inappropriately. The…

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The remains of five children who died at a Pennsylvania boarding school for Native Americans are going to be exhumed and returned to their families who have waited for their return for more than a century, the Office of Army Cemeteries (OAC) has announced.

The children died between 1880 and 1910 while attending the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, a boarding school for Native American children known for physical and sexual abuse, the US Department of Interior detailed in a 2022 report.

They were forced to assimilate into White society, stripped of their Indigenous names and banned from speaking their languages. If they resisted, they were punished, often violently, according to the report.

The names of the children who are being repatriated to their tribes, the OAC announced May 24, are: Edward Upright…

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Michigan lawmakers introduced bipartisan legislation Tuesday that would give victims of sexual abuse more time to sue for damages as the state again looks to overhaul laws following multiple sexual abuse scandals.

The legislation, which appeared before a committee Tuesday afternoon, would expand the civil statute of limitations for sex abuse victims from age 28 to 52. If enacted, victims would also have a two-year window to sue retroactively, regardless of the time limit.

The new measures would allow victims of the late Dr. Robert Anderson at the University of Michigan and others additional time to bring lawsuits that have previously been barred by the statute of limitations. Government entities could not use the immunity defense if they knew or should have known of an accused’s prior sexual misconduct and failed to intervene.

In 2018, Michigan increased the statute of limitations to 28 years old following the conviction of Larry Nassar, who…

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The case of the Carmelite nuns in Fort Worth, Texas, has been a head-scratching one since the moment it made the papers about a week ago. It had all the elements of a sensational story – and a salacious one, to boot – even before the Vatican intervention, but very little is known for certain.

The barest bones of the story are that the Bishop of Fort Worth, Michael Olson, opened an investigation in April into at least one unspecified allegation of sexual misconduct against the superior of the Carmelite monastic community in Arlington, Tx., Mother Teresa Agnes (Gerlach) of Jesus Crucified, and last week summarily dismissed her not only from the leadership of the monastery but from the Carmelite Order.

The Diocese of Fort Worth has claimed Gerlach admitted to some sexual misconduct, but the sisters say their erstwhile superior was questioned while in a post-operative stupor.

In fact,…

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Bishop Michael F. Olson of Fort Worth was investigating nun’s ‘admitted-to violations’ of Sixth Commandment and chastity vow

A Carmelite religious sister added a defamation claim to her lawsuit against Bishop Michael F. Olson of Fort Worth, Texas, June 2, the day after he used newly granted authority from the Holy See to decree her dismissal from the Carmelite order.

Reverend Mother Teresa Agnes of Jesus Crucified Gerlach and fellow Discalced Carmelite nuns of the Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity in Arlington, Texas, claim that Bishop Olson’s public statements about the mother superior “are patently false and defamatory.” The diocese has made several public statements alleging that Mother Teresa Agnes is guilty of sexual misconduct with a priest from outside the Diocese of Fort Worth.

The statements are related to an investigation the bishop launched into the nun and her religious community in late April, during which he and…

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Child sexual abuse survivors pressed Pennsylvania lawmakers Monday to move ahead with opening a two-year window for them to file otherwise outdated lawsuits over their claims, but a partisan fight in the Legislature kept the proposal bottled up with no resolution in sight.

Amid the stalemate, survivors renewed calls for the Legislature to pass either version of the measure — one that would give voters final say on the window in the form of a constitutional amendment, the other legislation that would also need Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro’s signature.

Speaking at a rally on the Capitol’s exterior front steps, Amish, Mennonite and Plain people were among those who recounted abuse they had endured and urged passage of the window.

“Here we are again fighting for our rights as victims and survivors of childhood sexual abuse who have been waiting many, many years for the opportunity for justice, to find out…

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Pope Francis plans to meet victims of clergy sexual abuse during his five-day visit to Portugal in August to coincide with World Youth Day, Lisbon assistant bishop Americo Aguiar said on Tuesday.

Francis, who is 86, will travel to Portugal from Aug. 2-6 to attend the global gathering of young Catholics held for the first time since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

He will attend over 15 events, including a mass, a vigil, meetings with youngsters and politicians and a visit to the Fatima sanctuary.

Francis’ agenda was released on Tuesday and at the event Aguiar said the pontiff would meet victims of sexual abuse committed by members of the Portuguese Catholic Church.

A Portuguese commission investigating the issue said in February at least 4,815 children were sexually abused by clergy members in the country – mostly priests – over 70 years.

The date and location of the meeting was not…

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Daniel Savala, who’s accused of sexually abusing multiple men in the Assemblies of God’s Chi Alpha Campus Ministries, has been arrested in Houston on sex abuse charges involving minors.

On Friday morning, Savala, 67, was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Lone Star Fugitive Task Force at his residence in downtown Houston and booked at the Fort Bend County Jail in Richmond, Texas. He was charged with continuous sexual abuse of a child under age 14, a first-degree felony in Texas, in a warrant that originated from Waco Police Department. 

It’s the second arrest in an investigation started in April by Waco Police Department’s Crimes Against Children Unit. On May 23, Chris Hundl, former leader of the Chi Alpha chapter at Baylor University and pastor of Mountain Valley Fellowship in Waco, was arrested on identical charges in Waco. 

According to police records, Hundl drove two boys to Savala’s residence in Houston where…

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Rejecting a probation-only recommendation derived from the commonwealth’s sentencing guidelines, Circuit Court Judge James E. Plowman today sentenced a former priest at St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church in Purcellville to eight years in prison for the 1985 sexual assault of a teen at his parish.

Scott Asalone, 66, was 29 years old when he was a Capuchin friar working at St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church and befriended the 14-year-old victim. That their relationship included sexual conduct came to light in 1992, when the victim wrote a letter to Asalone detailing the impact that abuse had on his life, including substance abuse and a lasting distrust of others. 

After that letter, Asalone was transferred from the parish and the victim was awarded a civil settlement. According to a 2019 report of past sexual abuse allegations released by the Diocese of Arlington, Asalone was ordained in 1983, removed from public ministry…

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The top law enforcement authority in Illinois says there are 149 credibly accused child molesting clerics who are basically still being protected, even now, by Catholic bishops.

To these bishops, this is apparently some kind of minor bureaucratic squabble. To us, however, it’s an urgent public safety concern.

Bishops are essentially ignoring these 149 offending clerics. They’re essentially saying ‘We’re better at figuring out who’s dangerous than the Illinois Attorney General is.’

 Catholics should be outraged by their arrogance and recklessness. Catholics should insist that every single one of these predators be added to diocesan lists of those facing substantiated abuse reports.

 This self-serving refusal by bishops to be honest about the men who assaulted youngsters is dangerous.

 But another self-serving refusal by bishops is also dangerous. It’s their refusal to warn the public about the predator priests who walk freely – unmonitored and unsupervised – across Illinois right now.

 Catholics…

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“Way too damned little and way too damned late.”

That’s what one life-long Illinois Catholic woman I’ll call “Margaret” told me last week when the state’s attorney general released a nearly 700-page report, based on a five-year investigation, that concluded at least 2,000 kids were sexually abused by 451 priests.

But what has many both outside and inside the church so infuriated is the even-more-shocking charge being leveled by the attorney general that six Illinois bishops are refusing, even now, to post, on their diocesan websites, the names of some 149 clerics accused of sexually abusing children who are or have been in Illinois.

And why, apart from the fact that it’s obviously the right thing, should the bishops do this? Because, as the state’s top law enforcement authority stresses, each of these men is already listed on official public church websites elsewhere and is deemed “credibly” accused by official church prelates…

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Scott Asalone, a former priest of St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church was sentenced to eight years in prison for carnal knowledge of a 14 year-old child.

In addition to the prison sentence, Asalone is required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life and have no contact with the victim.

The incident occurred in 1985 when Asalone was 29 and the victim was 14. According to court documents, “Asalone was removed from public duties in 1993 and dismissed from the Order of Capuchin Friars in 2007.”

Asalone was initially arrested in New Jersey March 2020 and plead guilty after being extradited to Virginia in December 2022.

Copyright 2023 WDBJ. All rights reserved.

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La Conferencia Episcopal sigue perdiendo tiempo con el escándalo de la pederastia. Su primer informe es opaco e insuficiente, y hace equilibrios para contar afectados declarando al mismo tiempo que eso no implica que les crea

EL PAÍS puso en marcha en 2018 una investigación de la pederastia en la Iglesia española y tiene una base de datos actualizada con todos los casos conocidos. Si conoce algún caso que no haya visto la luz, nos puede escribir a: abusos@elpais.es. Si es un caso en América Latina, la dirección es: abusosamerica@elpais.es.

La Iglesia española sigue perdiendo tiempo con el escándalo de la pederastia en el clero. Al menos ya se mueve, pero tarde y lentamente. En dos años ha dado un giro notable, de la negación a la admisión. Este jueves la Conferencia Episcopal (CEE) ha presentado por primera vez un informe: reconoce 728 acusados y casi…

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(OPINION) Though I’m no longer a believer, in the wake of yet another jaw-dropping Catholic scandal, two Biblical passages have coursed through my mind recently. 

The first verse is John 8:32: “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Illinois’ six bishops are no doubt familiar with it. Like many profound bits of wisdom, it’s short and sweet, with absolutely no qualifiers, exceptions or excuses.

Why then do these well-educated prelates apparently think the actual wording is “Some of the truth shall set you free, but you get to determine how much and when and how to reveal it?”

That’s the only rational conclusion that explains why, after decades of horrific, widespread, well-documented child sex crimes and cover-ups, these bishops still refuse to come clean about child-molesting clergy.

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul impressively documented this continuing duplicitousness in his 696-page, just-released report on…

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Former Maryland state Sen. Robert “Bobby” Zirkin, a personal injury lawyer, has joined the growing and pervasive number of law firms advertising services to abuse survivors under the Child Victims Act.

Zirkin once testified in opposition to the law on behalf of the Catholic Church, but now finds himself in a position to bring in business because of it.

“The law had been determined by The Attorney General for many years to violate the Maryland Constitution and Declaration of Rights. Nevertheless, the General Assembly passed the legislation,” read an email from his law firm, Zirkin & Schmerling Law.

After four hard-fought legislative sessions, the Maryland General Assembly in 2023 passed the Child Victims Act, which eliminates the statute of limitations for survivors of childhood sexual abuse, allowing them to sue their perpetrators and the institutions that their abusers worked for.

According to CHILD USA, a national think tank…

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It is that terrible time again for devout Catholics and Christians everywhere when the evil of clerical child sex abuse is revealed once again on the international stage.

An investigative report on clerical child abuse released May 23 by the US Attorney General named six Catholic dioceses in Illinois and declared that clerical child abuse is as rife today as in the past.

The sacred trust that the people of God, followers of Jesus have in the clergy is challenged by the truth about clerical abuse of children.

If they have true faith in Jesus of Nazareth and his teaching that goodness, truth, justice, and love of neighbor and children will one day overcome and defeat evil, their faith will not be shaken. They will stand firm and welcome the truth that is cleansing the institutional Church.

In the Philippines, the cleansing has not yet happened. Child abuse cases involving…

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More than three dozen Buffalo Diocese properties could soon be appraised for current values that ultimately may factor heavily into a settlement with sexual abuse claimants in the diocese’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy case.

Lawyers for the diocese are asking a federal judge to approve a request to hire KLW Appraisal Group to come up with valuations for 37 properties spread across six counties.

The properties vary from 15 acres of vacant land in the Town of Hamburg near the Erie County Fairgrounds to a historically significant four-story office building in the heart of Buffalo’s medical corridor. They also include six school buildings, two retirement homes for priests, St. Joseph Cathedral, and the former Christ the King Seminary in Aurora.

They were estimated collectively to be worth $16 million in 2020 when the diocese first sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in response to more than 200 Child Victims Act lawsuits alleging…

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Carmelite nuns of the Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity in Arlington, Texas, filed new theft and defamation charges Friday against Bishop Michael Olson of Fort Worth.

The nuns’ new charges were filed in a district court for Tarrant County, Texas, the day after Olson dismissed the monastery’s prioress, Reverend Mother Teresa Agnes Gerlach, from religious life on the grounds that she had a sexual affair with an unnamed priest.

In a Thursday decree, Olson announced he had found Gerlach, prioress of the Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity in Arlington, “guilty of having violated the sixth commandment of the Decalogue and her vow of chastity with a priest from outside the Diocese of Fort Worth.”

The new charges levied by the monastery are in addition to a lawsuit filed on May 3 that seeks $1 million in civil damages and asks the court to block the…

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OVERLAND PARK, Kansas — When Joe Eldred was a child, he was sexually abused by three Catholic priests while attending Nativity of Mary Catholic Church and the accompanying elementary school in Independence, Missouri.

Eldred told his story in “Procession,” a documentary directed by Robert Greene that tells the story of six men who were abused by priests in the Catholic church. The documentary starts in Kansas City, Missouri, where much of the abuse occurred, and follows the survivors as they face their trauma and work to heal together.

Most of the abuse Eldred discussed in the film occurred at Lake Viking, a private, man-made lake in northwest Missouri. There, a priest introduced him to Thomas Reardon.

“I remember Father Reardon saying, ‘Come on, let’s show them how much fun this can be.’ And that’s when he raped me,” Eldred said in the documentary.

Through the filming process, Eldred was able…

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The Vatican did not indicate whether it carried out its own investigation into the accusations against Mulakkal.

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of an Indian bishop who was cleared last year of charges of raping a religious sister in his diocese.

The resignation of the 59-year-old Bishop of Jalandhar, Franco Mulakkal, comes 16 months after his acquittal by a court in India’s Kerala state in January 2022.

The judge in the case found that “the prosecution failed to prove all the charges against the accused”.

The Vatican did not indicate whether it carried out its own investigation into the accusations against Mulakkal, who has denied the claims and contends he was falsely accused after he questioned alleged financial irregularities at his accuser’s convent.

A religious sister with the Missionaries of Jesus accused the bishop of raping her in May 2014, during a visit to her convent in Kuravilangad, Kerala….

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The sentence is one of the most severe penalties for clerical sexual abuse handed down in France.

A priest of the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) has been sentenced by a French court to 20 years in prison for the rape and sexual assault of 27 minors – 16 boys and 11 girls between 12 and 15 years old at the time.

Some of Fr Pierre de Maillard’s victims were from the same family, sometimes abused in their parents’ homes, the jury trial in La Roche sur Yon, capital of the Vendée department of western France, was told.

Before the jury retired to consider its decision, the 55-year-old priest said: “Excuse me, I’m sorry, excuse me, I’m sorry.”

The sentence on 2 June was one of the most severe penalties for clerical sexual abuse handed down in France, where the Catholic Church has been haunted by the scandal for…

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Jorge Ordoñez es un padre que por tres años ha estado en busca de justicia para su hija, quien fue víctima de abuso sexual por parte de un sacerdote en Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. Sin embargo, a lo largo de este tiempo, se ha encontrado con obstáculos, negación y presunto encubrimiento por parte de la Iglesia.

Ciudad de México, 31 de mayo (SinEmbargo). – Jorge Ordoñez emprende desde hace tres años una de las batallas más complicadas: buscar justicia para su hija, quien cuando tenía 10 años fue víctima de abuso sexual por parte de un sacerdote en Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua.

Jorge Ordoñez, el padre de la menor, denunció en entrevista con SinEmbargo, que luego de acusar formalmente a un sacerdote que abusó de la pequeña en una reunión a la que acudió con su madre en el año 2020, hasta la fecha no solo ha encontrado falta de justicia, sino obstáculos, negación por parte de…

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The Catholic Church in Spain on June 1 presented the report “To shed light,” which tallies 927 complaints of alleged sexual abuse of minors under 18 years of age or vulnerable people that occurred from 1945 to 2022.

The report does not include situations involving the abuse of conscience and power or committed against adults.

The report was “prepared from the testimonies that have been collected in the offices [of the protection of minors and abuse prevention], without assuming or proving innocence or guilt.”

The Spanish Bishops’ Conference (CEE) also acknowledged that in the account it presented “it’s possible that there are some duplications of testimonies.”

The complaints indicate 728 alleged perpetrators including 170 diocesan priests and 208 ordained religious, 234 non-ordained men and women religious, one deacon, 92 laypeople, and 23 people whose state is unknown.

Most abuse was of homosexual nature

According to the data provided by the…

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An Illinois megachurch pastor likely misused his position in 2016 to cover up credible sexual misconduct allegations concerning his son, a former pastor at the church, an independent investigation has found.

Mike Baker, former senior pastor at Eastview Christian Church (ECC), “more likely than not” withheld information from staff and church elders about sexual misconduct allegations made about his son, Caleb Baker, in 2016, the report by Wagenmaker and Oberly found. The report also found that Caleb Baker likely used his pastoral role at ECC to “persuade women to engage in sexual activity,” confirming prior reporting by The Roys Report (TRR).  

The report also determined that Mike Baker likely didn’t share the extent of the allegations against his son with the pastor who hired Caleb subsequent to his firing at ECC—Pastor Cal Jernigan of Central Christian Church in Arizona. Jernigan said last February that Mike Baker had told…

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HAMDEN, Conn. (WTNH) — A priest that served in Waterbury, Torrington and Hamden in the last five years is now the center of a sexual assault lawsuit.

“When we see a priest or anybody working for the diocese transferred quickly over a short period of time that’s concerning and that’s a red flag for us,” said Mike McDonnell with the Survivor’s Network of Those Abused by Priests. “Out of sight, out of mind. Let the dust settle.”

Reverend Mauricio Galvis joined Saint John Paul Roman Catholic Church in Torrington in 2019. A year later, the alleged victim says she developed trust, respect and reliance for the Reverend, which then led to manipulation and various sexual acts without her consent.

The alleged incident happened in Torrington in September 2020.

According to court documents the victim allegedly continues to suffer from physical injuries and emotional distress.

News 8 did reach out to…

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The parish priest of St. Jerome’s in Troy is named in the state’s recent sex abuse in the Catholic Church report, which alleges he lied to help a pedophile cohort get a teaching job years ago at a community college in Florida. 

Rev. Kevin Laughery during weekend mass acknowledged giving a job reference in the early 1990s for Walter Weerts, a known pedophile priest with 22 victims who served in several Metro East parishes, but said he “did not lie” in doing so.

The Office of the Illinois Attorney General’s “Report on Catholic Clergy Child Sex Abuse in Illinois,” issued last week lists 451 Catholic religious figures who over a span of about 70 years abused at least 1,997 children across dioceses in Illinois. 

Included in the report is Weerts, who following his ordination in 1960, served in Edwardsville, Granite City and Highland and befriended parishioners in an effort to gain access to their children. In 1986,…

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Videomessaggio di Papa Francesco

L’autore del mosaico, p. Rupnik, è stato scomunicato per gravi reati canonici. Poi lo stesso Papa cancellò questa scomunica come ha detto la Compagnia di Gesù. Intanto da mesi si discute cosa fare con oltre 200 opere del gesuita in decine di luoghi importanti in giro per il mondo.

(L. B., R. C. – a cura Redazione “Il sismografo”) In un breve 

video (al minuto 1, 20), girato con il telefonino, inviato giorni fa da Papa Francesco al santuario dell’Aparecida in Brasile, lo stesso Pontefice si avvicina ad una riproduzione di un mosaico mariano del gesuita p. M. I. Rupnik – che si trova in uno dei saloni di Santa Marta – e illustra nel dettaglio il significato dell’opera. (Vatican News) A dir poco sorprendente perché nella vicenda ripugnante del gesuita mosaicista. il Santo…

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There’s a power in the ordinary church.

The first two episodes of the recent FX documentary, “The Secrets of Hillsong,” detail the downfall of the church in New York City and around the globe. First, we watch Hillsong NYC and its pastor, Carl Lentz, rise to power and influence. Over the course of a decade, tens of thousands of people, including young people from diverse backgrounds who had abandoned or never attended church before, arrived en masse to hear Lentz preach. Justin Bieber got baptized. Selena Gomez showed up. Hillsong NYC was a cultural phenomenon. It looked like a rock concert, with a buff, tattooed and yet emotional pastor pacing the stage amidst crescendoing worship songs and powerful words of prayer. All the cool kids lined up outside in their ripped jeans and leather jackets, waiting to attend one of the seven regular weekend services.

But soon we learn what…

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New pedophile priests are exposed

All are ‘credibly accused’ elsewhere

But 5 are not on Rockford’s ‘accused’ list

One was in the diocese for nine years & was sued

Group urges whistleblowers & victims to ‘keep coming forward’

WHAT

Holding signs and childhood photos, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will

• disclose the names of five proven, admitted or credibly accused abusive clerics who were in the Rockford area but are NOT on the official Rockford diocese ‘accused’ list, and
• blast local Catholic officials for their “continued secrecy and deceit.”

They will also urge

• Rockford’s bishop to post the five names on his website as soon as possible, and
• anyone who “saw, suspected or suffered” clergy sex crimes to “keep coming forward to police and prosecutors, not to church figures.”

WHEN

Monday, May 29 at 2:30 p.m.

WHERE

On the sidewalk outside the Cathedral of St. Peter, 1243 N….

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Arcybiskup Sławoj Leszek Głódź ma przebywać w ciężkim stanie w szpitalu – podaje RadioZET.pl, powołując się na kilka źródeł.

Jak dowiedział się dziennikarz Radia ZET Radosław Gruca, arcybiskup Sławoj Leszek Głódź przebywa obecnie w szpitalu. Duchowny ma być w ciężkim stanie. Informacja ta miała zostać potwierdzona w kilku źródłach.

Abp Sławoj Leszek Głódź jest w szpitalu

Sławoj Leszek Głódź przez lata był jednym z najbardziej wpływowych biskupów w polskim Kościele, pełnił także między innymi funkcję biskupa polowego Wojska Polskiego. Później awansowano go do stopnia generała dywizji. 

W marcu 2021 roku arcybiskup Sławoj Leszek Głódź wraz z abp Edwardem Janiakiem został ukarany przez Watykan w związku z tuszowaniem przez nich nadużyć seksualnych na terenie podległych im diecezji.

Nuncjatura apostolska poinformowała wówczas, że “na podstawie przepisów Kodeksu Prawa Kanonicznego i motu proprio Papieża Franciszka Vos estis lux mundi” Watykan przeprowadził postępowanie dotyczące obu arcybiskupów “dotyczące sygnalizowanych zaniedbań (…)…

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It is well and good that op-ed writer Mike Hoffman has “received restorative justice from the Catholic Church after surviving clergy abuse” (May 30). The fact is that clergy abuse of minors has been the norm in the Catholic Church for centuries — from the Council of Trent (1545-1563) and prior to Vatican II (1962-65) and after. It has been as much a part of Catholicism as the Stations of the Cross or Ash Wednesday.

Ireland, Australia, Mexico, the United States (every country, every decade, every parish — you name it). Bishops, archbishops, cardinals and popes, when not themselves perpetrators, have aided and abetted, covering up, prevaricating, moving abusers from parish to parish and playing Russian roulette with the lives of children.

— Joe English, Oak Park

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Two weeks ago, a new, horrific chapter on sexual abuse by the Catholic religious began. By laying bare the magnitude of the tragedy, the Illinois attorney general heightened the consciousness of everyone to this issue. Once again, Catholics and others read a report wondering if they will recognize a name.

Catholics cowered at the thought of having to answer questions from friends or simply wondered what those too polite to ask were thinking. However, another set of victims gets scant press: the vast majority of priests and religious who have committed their lives to the service of others, the holy ones who have been steadfast in their faith and devoted to those they serve.

Every time one of these priests hesitates to wear his clerical collar in public, every time he approaches the altar wondering what his congregation might be thinking of him, every time he hesitates to linger after…

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The Illinois Attorney General’s Office released a sweeping report last month which detailed sexual abuse claims against 450 clerics within the state’s Catholic churches victimizing almost 2,000 children.

The Catholic Diocese of Peoria had a litany of transgressions cited by the attorney general’s office, including covering up instances of sexual abuse, mishandling cases and mistreating survivors.

Here’s what we found about the Peoria diocese’s connections to the investigation.

51 clerics cited in investigation

There were 51 former clerics who were linked to abuse of children over the past 70 years, according to the attorney general’s office. Those clerics in the Catholic Diocese of Peoria encompassed 26 counties, stretching from Rock Island in northwest Illinois to Vermillion County on the Indiana border.

Former bishop lambasted by attorney general in report

Archbishop John Myers, the former…

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Las oficinas para la protección de menores y prevención de abusos contabilizan 927 víctimas de abusos sexuales a menores desde mediados de los años cuarenta hasta 2022

EL PAÍS puso en marcha en 2018 una investigación de la pederastia en la Iglesia española y tiene una base de datos actualizada con todos los casos conocidos. Si conoce algún caso que no haya visto la luz, nos puede escribir a: abusos@elpais.es. Si es un caso en América Latina, la dirección es: abusosamerica@elpais.es.

Los obispos españoles admiten que al menos 728 miembros de la Iglesia católica están acusados de abusar de menores desde 1945 hasta finales de 2022. Este es el último avance de datos de la Conferencia Episcopal Española (CEE), aportado este jueves en Madrid en la presentación del informe Para dar luz de la CEE, el primer documento que presenta la Iglesia en España sobre la pederastia. También ha informado por primera vez…

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A Catholic priest accused in a lawsuit of sexual misconduct while serving at a Torrington church nearly three years ago has been assigned to “non-parish duties” at the Hamden parish where he now serves, officials said Saturday. 

The priest, the Rev. Mauricio Galvis, is a parochial vicar at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Hamden, according to the church’s website. The lawsuit alleges Galvis exposed himself to a woman in his office while serving at St. John Paul the Great Parish in Torrington.

“In order to allay any concerns that parishioners may have about Fr. Galvis, he is being assigned to non-parish duties while his civil case alleging sexual misconduct with an adult awaits adjudication,” according to a statement released Saturday by officials with the Archdiocese of Hartford, which oversees both churches. 

It is unclear when or why Galvis moved from the church in Torrington to the Hamden congregation. 

A lawyer representing Galvis…

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The arrest of Fr. Arul Savari, a 48-year-old priest accused of sexually assaulting an eight-year-old girl at a Roman Catholic church on the Little Grand Rapids Indian Reserve 265 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg on May 27 has provoked a local demand that the church leave the community.

The child was alone with the priest, who was charged with sexual assault, sexual interference, sexual exploitation of a young person, luring a child and forcible confinement on May 30.

“We don’t want the church here,” Oliver Owen, the reserve’s chief announced to media.

“I brought that up to the band meeting about our priest and the community right away said, ‘you know what, we don’t want that person here in the community, we don’t want him to come back and we don’t want the church here,’” Owen said in a phone interview with the CBC.

“It’s hard to imagine. I’m kind of lost…

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Survivors were outraged last fall when they learned that a retired Wyoming bishop and former Kansas City priest facing numerous sexual abuse allegations would be moving back to the Kansas City area.

And now, The Star has learned, Bishop Joseph Hart did not move back to the metro area after all — bringing more outrage to the survivors who were never informed of the change.

“I don’t even know what to say,” said Michael Sandridge, a victim of another credibly accused priest in the Kansas City area. “I feel deceived. They should have at least let people know. It’s called transparency.”

Hart, whose abuse allegations were deemed credible by two U.S. bishops but dismissed by the Vatican in 2021, was to move to Kansas City in October and reside in a senior living facility. Now 91, Hart had left Kansas City more than four decades ago to become bishop of…

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Advocate for human rights led Santa Fe Archdiocese for 22 years

Michael Jarboe Sheehan, who retired in 2015 as Archbishop of Santa Fe, died Saturday at age 83, a news release from the Santa Fe Archdiocese said.

Born in Wichita Kansas, Sheehan was ordained as a priest in 1964. He served as First Bishop of Lubbock, Texas, and Apostolic Administrator of Santa Fe before being named Archbishop in 1993.

The release said that Sheehan “was deeply committed to social justice, evangelization, and worked tirelessly to abolish the death penalty in New Mexico. He championed initiatives aimed at eradicating poverty, promoting equality, and ensuring the well-being of the most vulnerable members of society.”

As reported by Reginia Ruiz for KOAT in 2014, Sheehan “inherited a diocese rocked with scandal.” In a 2015 interview with KOAT, he said Sheehan said there were many problems when he first joined the archdiocese. In a…

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A Fort Worth Bishop has dismissed the nun accused of breaking her vow of chastity with a priest.

In a statement, the Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth said Reverend Mother Teresa Agnes Gerlach of the Most Holy Trinity Monastery in Arlington violated the Sixth Commandment with a priest from outside the city.

Agnes’ attorney Matthew Bobo has repeatedly denied the accusations that his client admitted the allegations were true.

“I can tell you categorically that did not happen,” he said.

The Diocese said Agnes has thirty days to appeal her dismissal with the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of the Apostolic Life.

Bobo said he and his client plan on doing just that.

“Mother Superior will be appealing this immoral and unjust decision that is not subject to canonical action. In addition, the civil lawsuit will continue full speed ahead.” he said in a statement.

The lawsuit…

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Upon conclusion of an investigation initiated on April 24, 2023, the Most Reverend Michael F. Olson, Bishop of the Diocese of Fort Worth and Pontifical Commissary of the Monastery in Arlington, Texas, found the Reverend Mother Teresa Agnes (Gerlach) of Jesus Crucified, O.C.D. (née Lisa Marie Gerlach), Prioress of the Monastery, guilty of having violated the sixth commandment of the Decalogue and her vow of chastity with a priest from outside the Diocese of Fort Worth. Therefore, as Pontifical Commissary of the Monastery in Arlington, Texas, and as the Bishop of the Diocese of Fort Worth, Bishop Olson dismissed Mother Teresa Agnes from the Order of Discalced Carmelites in accord with cann. 695 §1 and 699 §2 CIC. She has thirty days to appeal this decision to the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of the Apostolic Life.

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The Jehovah’s Witness church has filed legal action to be exempted from the state-wide investigation into sexual and other abuse.

It is seeking a judicial review and High Court declaration that the church does not assume responsibility for the care of children, young people, or vulnerable people.

The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse said the church was arguing there were no instances of abuse within it that fall within the scope of the inquiry.

The commission has emailed abuse survivors from the church to say it is treating this as a priority.

It said it acknowledged the news may distress them and they had its support.

Shayne Mechen of survivor group JW for Justice said the move was immoral and would not work.

“They don’t care about the ones that have been abused, they only care about their name,” he said.

The argument was based on the JW’s lack…

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It is that terrible time again for devout Catholics and Christians everywhere when the evil of clerical child sex abuse is revealed once again on the international stage. An investigative report on clerical child abuse released on May 23, 2023 by the attorney general said six Catholic dioceses in Illinois had declared that clerical child abuse is rife today as in the past.

The sacred trust that the people of God, followers of Jesus have in the clergy, is challenged by the truth about clerical abuse of children. If they have true faith in Jesus of Nazareth and his teaching that goodness, truth, justice, and love of neighbor and children will one day overcome and defeat evil their faith will not be shaken. They will stand firm and welcome the truth that is cleansing the Institutional Church.

In the Philippines, the cleansing has not yet happened. Child abuse cases by…

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Catholic devotees in Bolivia prepared for one of the country’s biggest religious celebrations this weekend at a time when the church in this Andean country has been rocked by an increasing number of sex abuse scandals.

The faithful who were gearing up for the Jesus of the Great Power festival Saturday insisted that cases of abuse that have come to light in recent weeks would not affect the folk-religious festival in La Paz, which fuses together Catholic and local Indigenous traditions.

Tens of thousands of people will descend on the capital Saturday wearing colorful garb to dance to the beat of thousands of musicians playing traditional Indigenous music in a demonstration of their faith.

What started out as a small celebration in the Great Power neighborhood a century ago now takes over much of the capital.

Leaders of the Catholic Church acknowledged this week that the church had been “deaf”…

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An unprecedented new compendium of child abuse cases in the Brazilian Catholic Church has found that 108 members of the clergy victimized 148 children and teenagers since 2000. The authors, however, claim those totals are only the tip of the iceberg, and that many other cases are still to come to light.

Sixty of the clerics identified in the study have been convicted of sex crimes and sentenced to prison terms, while dozens are still waiting for trial.

Released in Portuguese earlier this week, the book Pedofilia na Igreja (“Pedophilia in the Church”) is based on an analysis of thousands of legal documents held in courts and police branches, international data banks on child sex abuse, news stories, and archives.

The authors, journalists Fábio Gusmão and Giampaolo Morgado Braga, also interviewed dozens of victims and their relatives, priests, prosecutors, and police agents, in an effort to describe and catalogue their stories.

“Brazil…

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It’s time for Catholic Archdiocese to provide answers

Where is my church?

For the past several weeks after release of the Maryland attorney general report on clergy abuse in the Catholic Church, we have been inundated with an average of two newspaper articles and two to three nightly news reports per week, plus numerous TV ads for lawyers soliciting abuse victims to sue the church.

My parish has said one prayer of the faithful for abuse victims. The only thing the diocese has said publicly is that the media is not covering the story fairly. So where is my church in response to the onslaught of bad press it is receiving? Does leadership they still have their heads in the sand and hope it all blows over? If so, I think they need a new public relations person.

Calls to Archbishop Lori have yielded no results in getting his audio…

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John D. Murphy, a former Augustinian priest, isn’t on any public list of abusers. The attorney general’s investigation didn’t name him. The Archdiocese of Chicago settled claims over Murphy but doesn’t include him on its list. And his Catholic religious order hasn’t named abusers — but said Saturday it hopes to “in the near future.”

John D. Murphy, a formerCatholic priest and member of the Augustinian religious order in the Chicago area, was accused in lawsuits two decades ago of sexually assaulting numerous children.

More than a dozen accusers ended up settling legal claims with the Augustinians — who oversee St. Rita High School on the Southwest Side and Providence Catholic High School in New Lenox — and the Archdiocese of Chicago over accusations against Murphy, according to interviews and records.

So why isn’t Murphy included among the 451 Catholic priests and brothers named a week and a half ago…

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A Catholic priest accused in a lawsuit of sexual misconduct while serving at a Torrington church nearly three years ago has been assigned to “non-parish duties” at the Hamden parish where he now serves, officials said Saturday. 

The priest, the Rev. Mauricio Galvis, is a parochial vicar at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Hamden, according to the church’s website. The lawsuit alleges Galvis exposed himself to a woman in his office while serving at St. John Paul the Great Parish in Torrington.

“In order to allay any concerns that parishioners may have about Fr. Galvis, he is being assigned to non-parish duties while his civil case alleging sexual misconduct with an adult awaits adjudication,” according to a statement released Saturday by officials with the Archdiocese of Hartford, which oversees both churches. 

It is unclear when or why Galvis moved from the church in Torrington to the Hamden congregation. 

A lawyer representing Galvis…

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The firestorm of accusations against priests of the sexual abuse of minors has created the suspicion, often fueled by the media, that any priest against whom allegations are made is guilty. The tremendous damage that has been perpetrated against the many victims in the sexual abuse crisis cannot be underestimated, nor can we underestimate what the church needs to do to make whole those who have been so horrendously hurt by members of the clergy. But it is important that safeguards for due process for those accused of abuse be honored, even as we work toward guaranteeing the safety of all members of the church.

A disturbing statistic from the recent National Study of Catholic Priests, undertaken by the Catholic Project of the Catholic University of America, shows the lack of trust in due process protections for priests accused of sexual abuse. In that survey, 82 percent of all priests said…

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Knoxville Catholic Bishop Richard Stika is facing increasing criticism and scrutiny over his leadership, including how he’s handled accusations that a former seminarian raped a church musician, newly gathered documents show.

The musician is suing Stika and the Catholic Diocese of Knoxville in Knox County Circuit Court. Judge Jerome Melson is expected to hold a hearing Friday for the musician’s lawyers and diocesan attorneys.

The hearing comes as local and national attention grows about the diocese, the boundaries of which stretch from Chattanooga to Knoxville and on up to the Tri Cities. An online publication called The Pillar has published numerous stories critical of Stika’s leadership since 2021.

Complaints against him gained even greater prominence May 11 when the National Catholic Reporter published a lengthy story about the bishop and his leadership.

WBIR previously has reported about the ex-organist’s February 2022 lawsuit as well as a federal complaint filed in…

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Spanish bishops release report on child sex abuse by priests and others over eight decades

An investigation by Spain’s Catholic Church found that priests and other church personnel there sexually abused almost a thousand victims over eight decades.

A report by the Spanish Catholic bishops conference, released Thursday, said that at least 927 victims reported abuse by church personnel since the 1940s. The count will be updated as new data is collected, the conference said.

More than 99% of the abusers were male as were 83% of their victims. About half of the abusers were clergy. The largest numbers of cases occurred between 1960 and 1990.

The report was released at the same time as a compendium of the bishops’ child-protection policies, which mandate cooperation with police and prosecutors, including the obligation to report criminal abuse.

The Spanish bishops’ report is the latest of a series of local and national investigations…

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Franco Mulakkal has resigned as Bishop of Jalandhar at the behest of the Vatican. His arrest in 2018 on the complaint of a nun and acquittal last year by a trial court triggered debate and discussions.

Franco Mulakkal, the Catholic priest who was acquitted last year of charges of raping a nun, has resigned as Bishop of Jalandhar on Thursday (June 1).

Communication from the Apostolic Nunciature to India, which is the Vatican mission in the country, said the Holy See requested the resignation from Mulakkal not as a disciplinary measure imposed upon him, but as pro bono Ecclesiae, especially for the good of the diocese which needs a new bishop. There would not be any canonical restrictions on his ministry, said the release.

After the announcement from the Vatican, Mulakkal in a video thanked all those who stood with him during his troubled days. “The Pope on Thursday accepted my…

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The case is related to the rape of a nun belonging to the Missionaries of Jesus – a Catholic congregation for women under the Jalandhar diocese.

Franco Mulakkal, who was acquitted by a court in Kerala last year in connection with the rape of a nun, has resigned as bishop of the Jalandhar diocese, the Vatican’s mission in India said on Thursday.

The Apostolic Nunciature to India — the Vatican’s mission in the country — said in a release that Pope Francis accepted the resignation.

The communication from the Nunciature in Delhi said the Holy See respected the verdict of the Additional Sessions Court in Kottayam that acquitted the bishop, as well as the appeal against the acquittal that has been admitted by the Kerala High Court.

According to the Vatican’s representative, the resignation was requested of Mulakkal for the good of the diocese, which needs a new bishop, and not…

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Pope Francis requested the resignation of an Indian bishop acquitted of raping a nun because his case has divided the diocese, the apostolic nunciature in India said Thursday.

The Vatican announced June 1 that Pope Francis had accepted Bishop Franco Mulakkal’s resignation as bishop of Jullundur (Jalandhar) in the Indian state of Punjab, but gave no reason for the 59-year-old’s resignation well before the typical retirement age of 75. 

But a June 1 statement from the apostolic nunciature in New Delhi explained that Mulakkal was asked to step down for the good of the Church.

The nunciature said that it respected a civil court’s decision to acquit Mulakkal of all charges on Jan. 14, 2022, as well as an appeal against the acquittal admitted by the high court in Kerala State.

“Given the still divisive situation about the aforesaid matter in the Diocese of Jullundur, the resignation has been requested from the…

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Spain’s Catholic bishops’ conference says it has found evidence of 728 sexual abusers within the church since 1945, through the testimony of 927 victims, in its first public report on the issue.

The church said 83% of the victims and 99% of the abusers were male and that more than 60% of the offenders were dead.

In a report presented Thursday, more than 50% of offenders were said to be priests. The rest were other church officials.

The church said that most cases occurred in the last century, 75% of them before 1990.

The conference said the collection of testimonies was continuing and the figure would be updated periodically. The data was collected in some 200 offices for the protection of minors, set up by the church around Spain in 2019.

Leading daily El País, which has been reporting constantly on cases in Spain and abroad, said Friday the real…

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An investigation by the Spanish Catholic Church into child sexual abuse by members of the clergy and non-clerical staff has so far identified 728 alleged abusers and 927 victims since the 1940s, according to its first report.

“We acknowledge the harm caused,” said Jose Gabriel Vera, the spokesman for the Spanish Bishops’ Conference. “We want to help all victims…to accompany them in their healing.”

The issue came under a spotlight in Spain in 2021 after El Pais newspaper reported more than 1,200 alleged cases, years after sexual abuse scandals had rocked the Church in countries such as the U.S., Ireland and France.

Several inquiries have been launched, including one led by the country’s ombudsman, and the Church’s own internal investigation.

“We want to know what went wrong in the selection of candidates for the priesthood, what went wrong during their training…what has led a person who decided to give himself…

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JUANA SUMMERS, HOST: Multiple U.S. states are rethinking how long victims should have to seek damages from sex abusers in civil court. Maryland is the latest state to abolish its civil statute of limitations, as hundreds of people are preparing to sue the Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore for damages. WYPR’s Scott Maucione has more.

SCOTT MAUCIONE, BYLINE: All over Maryland, billboards, TV commercials and social media ads are popping up, informing people they have the right to sue the Catholic Church. The Maryland General Assembly passed a law this year abolishing the statute of limitations on civil suits for sex crimes. It coincided with the report that more than 600 children were abused by members of the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Sixty-four-year-old Kit Bateman was one of those victims. He says he was abused at a Catholic high school in Baltimore when he was a teenager. Going to church was his…

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Father John C. Anderson, a priest at Saint Edward Catholic Church in Chillicothe, abused at least seven children starting in the late 1970s. Two of his victims participated in the Illinois Attorney General’s investigation of abusive priests, and were given the pseudonyms, “Adam” and “Paul.” 

Adam was just 8 years old when his family moved to Chillicothe and enrolled him in the third grade at St. Edward school. Adam was one of a number of children Anderson asked to mow the church lawn and do yard work for his mother. For at least two of those children, lawn work turned into sleepovers and repeated sexual abuse, according to the Attorney General’s report.  

Adam said Anderson fondled him and masturbated while lying naked in the bed beside him. The abuse happened 30 to 45 times over the course of three or four years, and left lingering effects on Adam. 

“He…

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Documents in a searing lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Knoxville cannot be kept secret, a Knox County judge has ruled.

The Catholic Diocese of Knoxville asked a judge to hide court documents from the public as it defends itself against a man who says he was raped by a seminarian and who is calling into question the leadership of Bishop Richard Stika.

The diocese cited Knox News’ ongoing investigative reports when it asked the judge to protect documents related to the church’s sexual abuse review board and from “private meetings of priests of the diocese.”

A spokesperson previously said the diocese was only seeking to protect a small percentage of documents.

“This motion is not well-taken,” Circuit Court Judge E. Jerome Melson said before ruling to keep the documents open.

In particular, Melson found the diocese’s attorney had not presented enough evidence to put in place a protective order, but noted…

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About 20 state attorneys general have mounted investigations that have cataloged decades of abuse but yielded few criminal prosecutions.

The nearly 900-page report landed like a grenade when Josh Shapiro, then the attorney general of Pennsylvania, delivered it on a stage in Harrisburg, Pa., five years ago. It detailed widespread sexual abuse of children in the Catholic Church throughout Pennsylvania, and a “sophisticated” cover-up by senior church officials. Victims of abuse and their families, sometimes visibly weeping, joined Mr. Shapiro on the stage.

More than 300 priests were found to have abused children, at least 1,000 of them, over the course of seven decades. The report reverberated at the highest levels of the church, with the Vatican expressing “shame and sorrow” over the findings. And it reached the pews, too: A Gallup poll the next year found that more than one-third of Catholics in the United States…

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A priest with the Diocese of Dallas, Texas, Kenneth J. Roberts came in contact with children from Illinois through his role as a retreat leader for the Diocese of Peoria.

Three people from Illinois have come forward to allege abuse at the hands of Roberts in the 1980s, according to a report on abusive priests compiled by the office of the Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul.

Roberts was a minor celebrity for penning a biography, “Playboy to Priest,” in 1975. He claimed to have left behind a life as a jet-setting playboy when he was ordained in 1966. 

A victim given the pseudonym “William” related a tale of abuse not only at the hands of Roberts, but also by the Diocese of Peoria after it was made aware of the abuse. 

William was in fifth or sixth grade in the 1980s when he attended a retreat called Emmaus Days…

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Even after Samuel D. Pusateri pleaded guilty to criminal sexual assault of a 17-year-old student at Saint Bede Academy in Peru, the Catholic church did not publicly name him as a child sex abuser.

A month after Pusateri was sentenced in 1991, Diocese of Peoria Bishop John Myers wrote to the prison chaplain asking for special favors for Pusateri, according to a report on abusive priests compiled by the Illinois Attorney General. Even when Myers finally revoked Pusateri’s permission to minister in the Diocese of Peoria in 1993, he didn’t rule out the possibility that Pusateri might be allowed to return to his duties in the future.  

Pusateri did not return to the Diocese of Peoria, but instead served as a chaplain to the Franciscan Sisters in Wheaton until 2004, when he departed for Rome where he was in active ministry until about 2018, when the Attorney General of Illinois…

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George Hiland was a priest at Saint Stephens Church in Streator in the mid 1960s when he started showing special attention to a seventh grader. Because the boy’s father died when the boy was 10 years old, the boy’s mother and grandmother were delighted when Father Hiland started spending time with the child.  

Hiland took him to a bonfire, then for a drive where the boy got to steer while sitting in the priest’s lap. Then Hiland began fondling the boy. Later he performed oral sex on him and asked him to reciprocate, according to a report by the Illinois Attorney General. 

“I hated it, but I didn’t know who to talk to,” said the boy, who was given the pseudonym “Peter” in the attorney general’s report. 

Hiland instigated sex “everywhere,” said Peter – the church choir, the school cafeteria, an underground tunnel between the school…

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Norman D. Goodman had risen in the ranks of the Catholic Church to the status of monsignor, a title bestowed by the pope. As such, he was protected by his employer when allegations of abuse arose – there were a total of 19 confirmed cases, according to the Illinois Attorney General’s report on abusive priests.

“Jacob,” a pseudonym given to one of the victims in the report, was in 6th grade and an altar boy at Holy Family Church in Lincoln when Goodman began fondling him. The priest approached the boy from behind, pressing him against a counter or sink. Sometimes Goodman put money down Jacob’s pants pocket as an excuse to touch his genitals. The abuse continued for three years, ending around 1983. 

Jacob told his family of the abuse in the late 1990s. Initially he wanted to keep the news quiet, but changed his mind after speaking to diocesan…

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A yearslong investigation into child sex abuse by members of the Catholic clergy in Illinois has found at least 1,997 children in the state’s six dioceses were sexually abused between 1950 and 2019.

The Peoria Catholic Diocese, which covers 26 counties spanning from Rock Island in northwest Illinois to Vermillion County on the Indiana border, was part of that investigation.

Attorney General Kwame Raoul on May 23, 2023, released a comprehensive report, which included 51 clergy members in the Catholic Diocese of Peoria. Here is a list of their names, their Illinois parish assignments and the diocese’s claim of first report.

• John Anderson: Saint Mary, Aledo; Saint Mary, Canton; Saint Rose, Rushville; Saint Edward, Chillicothe; Saint Philomena, Peoria; Saint Joseph Home, Peoria; King’s House Retreat Center, Henry; 1993.

• Michael “Miguel” Baca: Assignments not reported by archdiocese/diocese/religious order; diocese…

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A boy was abused by two priests when he was a freshman at Trinity High School in Bloomington in 1964. He chose to share his experiences with Illinois Attorney General’s Office investigators even though talking about it prompts him to have nightmares. 

“Every time I have to tell my story, I don’t sleep well for several nights,” said “Nathan,” a pseudonym given to him for the report. “I just feel so much shame and guilt.” 

William Harbert, who taught sex education to the freshman boys, was known for grabbing children by the groin as they walked through the halls of the school. 

“We thought it was grab-assing, but he would do it often. I remember times walking down the hallway, going to the bathroom, and he would grab you by the groin and say, ‘Gotcha!’ said Nathan. Harbert once accompanied Nathan and a few other boys to a dentist’s appointment after…

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Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Bishop Franco Mulakkal of India’s Jalandhar diocese more than a year after a lower court acquitted him of all charges of raping a nun.

“The letter of resignation I have written after prayerful reflection and consultation with my superiors was accepted by our dear Pope Francis today,” Mulakkal announced in a social media message on June 1.

The Vatican removed Mulakkal from the administrative responsibilities of the diocese based in northern Punjab state just before police arrested him in 2018 on charges of raping a nun.

The nun, a member of the Missionaries of Jesus congregation,  under the patronage of the bishop, accused him of raping her more than 13 times between 2014 and 2016 inside her convent in Kerala’s Kottayam district.

A district court in southern Kerala state, where the complainant nun lived, acquitted Mulakkal. The court on Jan. 14,…

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Critics say the seeking of permanent stays in cases where perpetrators have died amount to ‘another layer of abuse’ for survivors and a failure of moral leadership

The Australian Lawyers Alliance is preparing to meet with the New South Wales attorney general to lobby for reform against the “disgraceful” tactics employed by churches and other institutions to prevent abuse survivors from pursuing justice.

A Guardian investigation – based on interviews with 13 lawyers, analysis of court records, and discussions with survivors and their advocates – found earlier this year that churches and other institutions are now routinely seeking permanent stays in cases where perpetrators have died, arguing they cannot possibly receive a fair trial.

Where successful, the tactic permanently halts a survivor’s claim without any compensation. The mere threat of a stay is also being used to lowball survivors during settlement negotiations.

The tactic effectively relies on the passing of time to…

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[Via Daily Mail]

• Archbishop loses bid to reduce payout to altar boy
• Victoria man to receive almost $2 million in damages
• He was abused by former priest Desmond Gannon

A Catholic archbishop has lost a bid to reduce an almost $2million court-ordered payout to an altar boy subjected to horrific sexual abuse by a pedophile priest.

Archbishop of Melbourne Peter Comensoli launched an appeal of a Supreme Court decision to award $1.9million in damages to one of former priest Desmond Gannon’s victims, after being found vicariously liable for the abuse.

Gannon sexually assaulted the man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, three times between 1968 and 1970 while he was an altar boy and pupil at a Catholic primary school in regional Victoria.

The priest drove the 11-year-old boy out to a remote bush area where he molested and raped him. He was terrified Gannon would get a shovel, kill…

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At the Joliet Diocese Wednesday, fallout from the release of last week’s damning 700-page report on the Catholic Church continued as members of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, spoke out against what they believe is a continued lack of transparency.

“The Joliet bishop continues to protect predators for the same reason that most of his brother bishops continue to protect predators and that is because he can get by with it,” said David Clohessy of SNAP.

The report, issued by Attorney General Kwame Raoul, identified 69 “credibly accused” Joliet area priests or brothers, eight more than what the diocese lists on its website. But could there be even more?

“We in SNAP have found several men who we believe should be on the Bishop’s list and are not on his list,” Clohessy said.

Speaking from his home in Florida, Mark Wethersbee described the abuse he suffered…

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The former monastery on a quiet residential street in Rome once sheltered Jews fearing deportation during World War II. Purchased by the Vatican in 2021 as a dormitory for foreign nuns studying at Rome’s pontifical universities, the building now stands empty, a collateral victim of the latest financial scandal to hit the Holy See.

Pope Francis has asked aides to get to the bottom of how at least $17 million, including money to refurbish the dorm, was transferred from the Vatican’s U.S.-based missionary fundraising coffers into an impact investing vehicle run by a priest, The Associated Press has learned. Two years later, the U.S. fundraiser says the money is gone, and the monastery is shuttered. Its renovation is tied up in bureaucratic red tape, while the nuns studying in Rome are still housed at a convent a 90-minute commute away.

The story of what happened to the money is one that…

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After Pennsylvania authorities issued a bombshell report in 2018 detailing widespread sexual abuse of children and coverup in the Roman Catholic church, California’s attorney general invited victims here to share their stories. The next year, the state subpoenaed half of California’s Roman Catholic dioceses.

What California authorities have learned since remains a mystery.

And for victims of long-ago abuse seeking justice in the courts while the state’s dioceses increasingly seek bankruptcy protection, the silence is a growing aggravation — especially as other states, notably Illinois and Maryland, recently issued their own reports, revealing a devastating past of abuse by hundreds of clergy of thousands of children.

“The public deserves to know what you have already uncovered,” SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said in a letter Wednesday to California Attorney General Rob Bonta. “We urge you to release a report, or at least a preliminary report, about…

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This commentary is by Maura Labelle of Colchester, who lived at St. Joseph’s Orphanage in Burlington in the 1960s.

n January 2015, Bishop Christopher Coyne was installed with much fanfare as 10th Bishop of the Diocese of Burlington. He was new. He was modern and open. Coyne was heralded for his work as a blogging priest who would become the first “blogging bishop.” 

Victims of clergy abuse hoped he could be their champion.

Let’s fast forward to 2023. Coyne no longer has a blog. He rarely posts messages on Twitter. His Facebook page says that he can’t respond to Facebook messages due to “time constraints.” 

Most disappointing was that clergy abuse victims had not found their champion. Rather, they found a company man of the Catholic church who goes along to get along.

Clearly, something has changed. My guess is that Coyne is feeling the heat from multiple clergy sex abuse…

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The story of six nuns and former nuns paints a heartbreaking picture of a repressive and damaging regime which emphasised self-sacrifice and unquestioning obedience, writes Karen Hanrahan

“Any thoughts of escaping to a more natural life was regarded as being sinful. The idea of being unfaithful to your vocation was a step on the way to hell. It would be a mortal sin.”

These are the words of Mary, my mother. She was just 15 when she entered a convent in Ireland in 1950 and 34 by the time she finally managed to leave. She had been expressing doubts to her superiors since her early 20s but years of “brainwashing” and the very real fear of her and her family facing eternal damnation made breaking her vows seem impossible.

Speaking to my mother, as well as to five other nuns and former nuns for my PhD research, gave me a…

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