ABUSE TRACKER

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Survivor demands resignation of Archbishop over Cardinal invite

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

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

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

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

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

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English River First Nation updates graves search

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

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

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

“The experience of residential school is horrific.”

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

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

The First Nation…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Righteousness was a repeated theme of the morning. After…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But the priest, 75, resigned from the job…

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

Trois témoignages plus que troublants contre le cardinal Ouellet

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The investigation began in Nov. 2022. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But when he resigned in 2014…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Before…

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

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

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

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

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

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In brief

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

Background

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Neither side, however, backed off of their positions. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

However, abuse victims have expressed dismay at the invite.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Brisbane-based Shine Lawyers confirmed the decision in…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

According to a law…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Father Alex Crow was warned by officials in the Archdiocese of Mobile about his conduct toward a teenager, The Pillar has confirmed, and was permitted to attend a trip for teens organized by an archdiocesan official — before he absconded to Europe last month with an 18-year-old who recently graduated from a Mobile high school.

The news raises questions about how much archdiocesan officials knew about Crow’s misconduct, and about whether his departure to Europe could have been prevented.

The Mobile archdiocese made national headlines July 28, when the archdiocese reported that Fr. Alex Crow, 31, had “abandoned his assignment in the archdiocese,” adding that his “behavior is totally unbecoming of a priest,” and that “he may no longer exercise ministry as a priest, nor tell people he is a priest, nor dress as a priest.”

It emerged quickly in media reports that Crow and an 18-year-old girl, a recent graduate of…

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A federal lawsuit accusing the Vatican of covering up clergy sex abuse was dismissed this week in U.S. District Court.

The suit, filed in 2019, was filed on behalf of five men who claim they were victims of sexual abuse by priests within the  Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles between 1979 and 1984.

One of the accusers alleged Thomas Adamson abused him in 1981 while Adamson was a priest in Apple Valley.

In a 2014 deposition for a separate sex abuse lawsuit, Adamson admitted sexually abusing ten boys during his time in the priesthood between the 1960s and 1980s. He worked at churches and Catholic schools across Southeastern Minnesota and the Twin Cities including Rochester, Winona, Harmony, Caledonia, and Albert Lea.

It was cases against Adamson that exposed a sex abuse scandal involving dozens of priests in Minnesota and a historic $210 million…

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A sheriff said Tuesday that authorities have subpoenaed phone records of an Alabama priest and an 18-year-old woman — who fled to Europe together — to see if there is evidence of an illegal relationship when she was a student.

Alex Crow, a Catholic priest in south Alabama, left the country in late July with an 18-year-old woman who is a recent graduate of McGill-Toolen High School, authorities in south Alabama said. Crow did not teach at the school but visited theology classes and heard confession there, news outlets reported.

“We want to get the truth. If there has been a crime, we want to pursue it,” Mobile County Sheriff Paul Burch told The Associated Press. The sheriff said they are seeking text messages and other information contained in the phones.

Alabama law prohibits sexual contact between a school employee and a student 19 or younger. “As…

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The Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco has filed for bankruptcy protection, joining two other dioceses in the state. The moves come after legislators opened a special window for sex abuse claims.

Transcript:

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

This week the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco filed for bankruptcy protection. Here in California, it joins the Diocese of Oakland and the Diocese of Santa Rosa, which also filed for Chapter 11 protection earlier this year. And the Diocese of San Diego says it plans to file later this year. The church says these moves are because of an overwhelming number of claims of clergy sex abuse. Joining me now is NPR religion correspondent Jason DeRose. Hi, Jason.

JASON DEROSE, BYLINE: Hello.

CHANG: OK, so three bankruptcy filings here in California alone within just a few months, another one likely on the way. What is going on here?

DEROSE: Well, the short answer…

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Hearing dates:14-16 August 2023Date of orders:23 August 2023Decision date:23 August 2023Jurisdiction:Common LawBefore:Cavanagh JDecision:

The proceedings be permanently stayed pursuant to s 67 of the Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW).Catchwords:

CIVIL PROCEDURE — Stay of proceedings – historical child sexual abuse – claims of negligence and vicarious liability on two different bases – delay – absence of critical witnesses and documents – whether the defendant’s own conduct caused prejudice – whether the defendant can have a fair trialLegislation Cited:

Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW), s 67

Evidence Act 1995 (NSW), s 63

Limitation Amendment (Child Abuse) Act 2016 (NSW), ss 6A(1), 6A(6)

Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005, rr 13.4(1)(c), 14.28Cases Cited:

Abdulla v Birmingham City Council [2012] UKSC 47; [2013] 1 All ER 649

Connellan v Murphy [2017] VSCA 116

Council of Trinity Grammar School v Anderson (2019) 101 NSWLR 762; [2019] NSWCA 292

DP (a pseudonym) v Bird [2021] VSC 850

…

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I knew telling my story would be costly. I didn’t know that it would be this costly.

I published my story in Anabaptist World because I saw institutions related to the Mennonite Church USA ignore and minimize abusive behavior again and again. I wanted to share my first-hand experience with one of those institutions–Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS)–and acknowledge the ways that AMBS employees both helped me and pushed me toward danger. Through the process of my separation and divorce, I received many gestures of care from the AMBS community, along with harmful admonitions about forgiveness and reconciliation. Both happened. I thought, and still think, that I wrote a piece that exposed the damaging patterns at AMBS while also expressing gratitude for tremendous support and generosity.

A few weeks after the publication of my Anabaptist World piece, I had a…

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The Magdalene Laundries were back in the spotlight recently following the death of Irish singer Sinead O’Connor, who spent time in one of the former asylums as a teenager. A new BBC drama examines the impact of the abuse which took place at some of these notorious institutions.

Many of the obituaries published following O’Connor’s death last month noted the time she spent as a young woman in Dublin’s An Grianan Training Centre, a Catholic-run institution which used to be the High Park Magdalene Laundry, where children and teenagers were routinely treated badly.

The laundries had been theoretically set up to house “fallen women” – a blanket term which included unmarried mothers, women deemed to have been badly behaved, promiscuous or sexually abused, or who were considered uncooperative or burdens on their families.

Shoplifting and truancy led to O’Connor being placed in the institution for 18 months in her teens.  View Cache

Police in California are calling on victims to come forward to assist a child pornography investigation into a San Jose Christian school system facility worker arrested for allegedly giving students money to send him explicit images and videos.   

Todd Baldwin, a 43-year-old employee at the Valley Christian Schools, was arrested last week and charged with felony possession and distribution of child sexual material.

On Aug. 16, the Silicon Valley Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force’s Child Exploit Detail was notified that a member of the facilities department at Valley Christian Schools was “in possession of explicit digital media of juveniles,” according to a public notice from the San Jose Police Department. 

Investigators identified Baldwin as the staff member who “allegedly paid students for providing the explicit images and video.” The task force arrested Baldwin the next day and served a search warrant for his campus office and San…

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Timothy Crowley, a former priest at St. Thomas Rectory in Ann Arbor, has pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct. Crowley was arrested in 2019 in Tempe, Arizona, and his case was dismissed after a preliminary examination. However, the Attorney General’s office prevailed in an appeal to the Court of Appeals, and criminal charges were reinstated in 2022.

Crowley pleaded guilty in Washtenaw County Circuit Court to four felony counts of first-degree Criminal Sexual Conduct and four felony counts of second-degree Criminal Sexual Conduct related to his abuse three decades ago of a minor. This marks the ninth conviction secured by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and her team of investigators since the inquiries began in 2018. It is important to note that criminal charges have been levied in 11 cases, and two defendants remain in India awaiting extradition.

We are glad that Crowley is facing consequences…

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A Native-led coalition plans to digitize and share thousands of archival pages about schools that forcibly enrolled Native children and erased their culture.

It’s no secret that the church played a major role in imposing colonial rule in North America. But if you grew up under the American education system like me, you might’ve never learned about the Christian-run boarding schools that forcibly enrolled Native American children and then attempted to wipe out their culture. In the past few years, thankfully, the ugly truth about these schools has been coming to light — mostly in Canada, but now in the U.S., too.

Recently, the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, or NABS, said it will digitize 20,000 archival pages related to Quaker-run boarding schools, according to The Associated Press. Much like Canada’s now-infamous residential schools, the Quakers — or members of the Religious Society of Friends — separated Native American children from their families to…

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Joseph Hart’s accusers grieve lack of accountability despite church officials substantiating their allegations.

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

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

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

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

Hart, who…

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The Rev. Stanley Begnaud’s more than two-decade career as an ordained priest in the Diocese of Lafayette is proving problematic for those he left behind.

Begnaud, born in Lafayette in 1921, ordained in 1958, retired in 1982 and deceased three years later, is a key though largely missing figure in a continuing lawsuit against the Diocese of Lafayette filed by a plaintiff, known in court only as “Sam Doe,” who says the priest sexually abused him more than 60 years ago. The plaintiff would be in his late 70s now.

Sam Doe charges that he was a parishioner at St. Stephen Catholic Church in Berwick, near Morgan City, in the early 1960s when Begnaud, then a parish priest who was giving the 16-year-old a ride home from a social event, attempted to molest him — first in the moving vehicle and then by the side of the road. St. Stephen’s was…

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When a city judge called for “more transparency, not less,” it was in reference to his decision to reveal 43 blacked-out names in a Maryland attorney general’s report on the history of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore.

But it also applies to the inclusion in his opinion of some of the arguments those individuals made against being named publicly. Their contentions provide for the first time, in some cases, their comments on the allegations made against them.

The nearly four dozen names still concealed in the public version of the report include those of five high-ranking clerics who had a central role in handling abuse allegations over nearly half a century, as well as 10 of the people accused of abusing children.

While their names were redacted in the report released in April, The…

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[See also the report.]

Former pupils at three Jesuit schools in Ireland who were abused by the late Fr Joseph Marmion have described the devastating impact on them and their families of “the extreme physical punishment, sexual grooming, wrongful accusation, and expulsion or threat of expulsion” they suffered at his hands.

In testimony to a restorative justice process, the men spoke of ongoing “feelings of panic, disgust, anger and upset” as well as “self criticism and self-loathing that they didn’t challenge him at the time”.

They recalled being “shocked and traumatised on witnessing the violence, and emotional and psychological abuse being inflicted on others in their class and in their presence” by the priest, while several men recalled “incidents of severe violence being inflicted on certain students that impacts them to this day”.

These were among recollections of 62 Jesuit past pupils alleging abuse by Fr…

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Joseph Hart, a former Kansas City priest and retired Wyoming bishop whose tenure was clouded by a string of sexual abuse allegations deemed credible by two U.S. bishops but dismissed by the Vatican, died Wednesday. He was 91.

His death was confirmed late Wednesday afternoon by the Diocese of Cheyenne. Hart had been dealing with health issues for years and had recently entered hospice care.

Hart had been the subject of abuse allegations spanning more than three decades and was the target of two criminal investigations in Wyoming that both ended without charges being filed. He also was one of several priests featured in “Procession,” a highly acclaimed 2021 Netflix documentary about clergy sexual abuse.

News of Hart’s death evoked a strong reaction from sexual abuse survivors and their families.

“May his victims know that they are believed,” said Ed Gavagan, of New York City, who grew up in Cheyenne…

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Key points:

• A Supreme Court decision has left Christopher Moran without any legal avenue to seek compensation for abuse he allegedly suffered as a child
• The court ruled that the church would be subject to an unfair trial because the alleged perpetrator – a paedophile priest – is dead, as are others linked to the diocese
• Lawyers say the legal tactic used in Mr Moran’s case is increasingly common and “devastating” for victims

Christopher Moran has been waiting a lifetime to have his day in court.

When he was nine his father suddenly died and he went to stay on an Aboriginal mission in northern New South Wales.

The Taungurung man alleges it was during this vulnerable time that he was sexually abused by Catholic priest David Perrett while on a camping trip to Georges Creek in 1976.

The convicted paedophile died in 2020, but Mr Moran’s trauma lives on.

“I carried this,…

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As the United Kingdom considers implementing a mandatory reporting law for child sexual abuse, the Church of England’s eight traditionalist Anglo-Catholic bishops have publicly urged that an exemption be granted for disclosures made during sacramental confession, a proposal considered but formally rejected last year by the government-sponsored Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA).

In a four-page statement filed August 14 as part of a formal consultation, the Council of Bishops of the Society emphasizes the seal of the confessional’s healing role and suggests that disclosures of abuse in the confessional are very rare, while warning that an abrogation of the seal by law would be a violation of religious freedom.

“The loss of the Seal would take away from survivors a safe space for disclosure and would be doing so against the incredibly remote contingency, and unproven concern, that perpetrators will abuse the Seal. This will not make us a safer church. Rather…

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For the first time ever, one of the New Orleans Catholic church’s most notorious clergy abusers has publicly admitted that he sexually molested or harassed several teenagers during his career, describing himself as remorseful yet unsure if he’s deserving of any criminal consequences.

Lawrence Hecker gave the rare admission when reporters for WWL-TV and the British newspaper the Guardian asked him to discuss a statement he gave to New Orleans church leaders in 1999. In the statement, he acknowledged committing “overtly sexual acts” with at least three underage boys in the late 1960s and 1970s and revealed his close relationships with four others stretching into the 1980s.

In recent years, Hecker has given various interviews and repeatedly denied touching children inappropriately. But the Guardian obtained a copy of the 24-year-old statement Hecker gave to church leaders, which prompted the questions posed to Hecker in this latest interview.

Asked if he…

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A redacted report that detailed child sexual abuse claims within the Archdiocese of Baltimore will be re-released in September following a recent court order to remove most of its redactions, according to an official statement from the Maryland Office of the Attorney General.

In a sealed order from the Circuit Court for Baltimore City back on August 16, state leaders have been approved to release a revised, and “substantially unredacted” report on child sexual abuse cases from within the Archdiocese, revealing more information from the April 2023 report.

ALSO READ | 100+ abusers in the Archdiocese of Baltimore named by Maryland AG in new report

As part of the order, 43 names and the details related to them will be unredacted, according to the Maryland Crime Victim’s Resource Center in a statement. Officials say many of these names were redacted to shield their identities…

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Maryland’s attorney general can disclose additional names of Catholic clergy accused of child sexual abuse in the Baltimore Archdiocese, a state judge in Baltimore has ruled.

The ruling by Baltimore City Circuit Court Associate Judge Robert K. Taylor Jr. also affects clergy who have held prominent positions in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and allegedly helped enable abusers or covered up abuse claims, and other people whose names surfaced in the investigation but were not accused of abuse.

Under the ruling — which was issued Aug. 16 and unsealed Tuesday — all but three names can be revealed next month when Attorney General Anthony G. Brown (D) is scheduled to make public a revised version of its report on decades of sexual abuses in the archdiocese.

“It’s good news that the judge has sided with survivors and understands the significance of releasing all the names of the predators but…

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A ruling by a judge in Baltimore will allow a version of the Maryland Attorney General’s report detailing decades of sexual abuse in the Baltimore Archdiocese to be released with most of the names revealed.

The report can be released after September 26, according to the ruling.

“The court has already stated, but will state again, that the inclusion of a person’s name in the Report is not any sort of judicial determination that this person did anything wrong,” said Judge Robert Taylor in today’s ruling. “It is, rather, simply a finding that the secrecy that ordinarily attends grand jury proceedings should be set aside upon a showing of particularized need – a showing that has been made here.”

The 463-page report was originally released in April. The identities of 46 people were redacted because they were still living and had not been publicly identified by the Archdiocese.

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