Rosario, Argentina – Hours before boarding the plane towards his new post, the papal representative in Mexico called the land of Our Lady of Guadalupe a “faithful” place, but also “scourged by violence, by death.”

Archbishop Franco Coppola, Apostolic Nuncio in Mexico, expressed his gratitude for having represented Pope Francis for a little more than five years as he celebrated Mass for the World Day of Peace, commemorated by the Catholic Church every January 1st, in Latin America’s most famous shrine, dedicated to La Morenita.

The Italian diplomat stressed that Mexico is a “rich country”, because it has “many material and human resources,” but warned that peace will not be achieved here as long as there is so much inequality.

“There is a part that lives with dignity, and there is a majority that lives poorly, that lives in poverty; unable to fulfill basic needs, lacking instruction (education), and lacking decent…

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Father Lawrence Johnson held guilty for abusing a minor boy now faces canonical procedures

Indian Cardinal Oswald Gracias has recommended the Vatican to resume canonical procedures against a Catholic priest, who was convicted of sexually abusing a minor boy.

Father Lawrence Johnson, 55, a priest of the Archdiocese of Bombay (now Mumbai), was sentenced to life imprisonment by a special court dealing with sexual offenses against children on Dec. 29.

The priest was also charged with violating several sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

Cardinal Gracias, who is also the archbishop of Bombay, in a statement on Dec. 31 said that “as the case has been concluded in the courts, I am recommending to the Roman Offices that the canonical proceedings which were suspended due to the ongoing hearings be now resumed.”

Father Johnson was arrested on Dec. 2,…

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A curious trio of billboards went up across Rockford in November. They showed five men in Roman collars bracketed by angry red type: “Not one more penny! Until you reinstate our priests.”

The appeal to withhold contributions from the collection plate was the latest in-your-face gesture from the Coalition for Canceled Priests, a group that formed in the Chicago suburbs last year to advocate for clerics it says have been unfairly removed from the Roman Catholic ministry by bishops.

Its provocative tactics, which have also included a Lincoln Park rally and a viral endorsement from Mel Gibson, reflect its belief that public and financial pressure are more likely to get results than working through the church hierarchy.

“I’m not saying that all bishops are bad, far from it, but there’s a lot of corruption going on,” said co-founder the Rev. John Lovell, who has been sidelined for nine…

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There has been a “devastating” decline in religious practice among young people in Poland, says one of the country’s most senior church figures, Wojciech Polak, the archbishop of Gniezno and Primate of Poland.

He admits that the Catholic hierarchy’s failure to deal with sex abuse by clergy has been a primary cause, and has called for the church to continue the process of “purifying” itself.

However, Marek Jędraszewski, the archbishop of Kraków, has questioned his colleague’s interpretation, arguing that in fact the church has been a “victim” of the pandemic and young people’s growing use of technology.

Polak pointed to recently published data showing that less than 25% of young Poles now regularly practise religion. In the early 1990s, the figure was almost 70%.

“These are simply devastating numbers,” said Polak, in an interview with the Polish Press Agency (PAP). “A very strong re-evaluation is taking place in the young generation.”

Asked…

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An attorney who represented multiple people allegedly sexually abused by local Catholic priests is now seeking damages against another religious institution: the Guam-Micronesia Mission of Seventh-day Adventists.

According to a lawsuit filed Dec. 31, 2021, by attorney David Lujan, the new case stems from misconduct alleged to have occurred in June 2012.

At that time, the victim in the suit, a U.S. citizen identified only as a man with the initials “AA,” came to Guam from the Philippines to complete his high school education.

The man, who was 16 years old in 2012, became acquainted with Danny Dial, who was serving as the church’s director, according to court documents.

“Since Dial was from Mindanao in the Philippines where AA was also from, and both speaking the same dialect, Dial asked AA’s guardian if AA could stay with him a few days so he could take AA and show him Agana…

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A man has successfully sued the Catholic Church after a court found it had vicarious liability for sexual abuse he says he suffered from a notorious priest 50 years ago.

Key points:

• The Catholic Church has been found liable for its priest’s abuse of a five-year-old boy in 1971
• The ruling is believed to be the first of its kind in Australia
• Other victims of the priest were compensated out of court this year

The Victorian man’s lawyers believe it is the first such ruling in Australia.

Father Bryan Coffey was convicted in the Ballarat County Court in February 1999 of multiple counts of sexual assault against other children, and was given a three-year suspended sentence.

He died in 2013.

The man told the Victorian Supreme Court that Coffey had sexually abused him at his parent’s Port Fairy home on two occasions in 1971, when the assistant priest was visiting.

…

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Let’s pause for a moment and reconsider a very loaded and tricky word that shows up all the time religion-news coverage (as well as political coverage, of course).

That word is “reform.”

For really, really, loyal GetReligion readers, I will admit that I am, in part, flashing back to this 2008 GetReligion post: “Who gets to “reform” what?” Once again, let’s look at some of the language that shows up in online dictionaries when you search for that term. To “reform” an institution or a law means to:

* make changes for improvement in order to remove abuse and injustices; “reform a political system” * bring, lead, or force to abandon a wrong or evil course of life, conduct, and adopt a right one; “The Church reformed me”; “reform your conduct” … * a change for the better as a result of correcting abuses; “justice was for sale…

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HAS Christmas ended? Is the story over? Did we learn anything from the Christmas nativity story, and what values did the Church draw from it and teach us? Will we face 2022 with a new determination inspired to live out and practice the values of the Gospel?

The Christmas belen (manger scene) that depicts the baby Jesus wrapped in swaddling clothes and surrounded by adoring parents Mary and Joseph, the shepherds and animals will be dismantled and removed from churches. But will it and the story it tells be removed from our minds and hearts? That is the story of Jesus of Nazareth that brought the love of God into the world, that elevated the rights of children and women to the highest level and that has called us to respect the rights of children and women and stop child abuse.

That Jesus who was born to a life of poverty in…

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Thank you, Lisa McGinley, for your article “Money is the least of what the church has to lose” (Dec. 26). As a Catholic priest in West Virginia, I follow the “Abuse Tracker” website closely and found your article there. You have expressed many of my concerns more clearly and concisely than any other article I have seen. You have given us a very helpful perspective on our hypocrisy of failing to practice what we preach. We are seriously undermining our stated mission by destroying our credibility.

In all of the Gospels, hypocrisy by religious leaders was the ONLY situation that brought out Jesus’ anger!

I am grateful to journalists and attorneys who, whatever their motivation, have forced the church to face up to our systemic faults and grant some justice to our victims. They have also forced…

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A former Northland priest accused of child sexual abuse has died.

The Rev. David Tushar, 72, died Dec. 23 in Las Vegas, where he was living in retirement. Born in Eveleth, Tushar served as a priest in Northeastern Minnesota for nearly 35 years before he was placed on leave in 2019 pending an investigation into allegations of abuse at a previous placement.

Tushar attended Crosier Seminary in Onamia, the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, Gregorian University in Rome, and Catholic Theological Union and Loyola University in Chicago. He was ordained to the priesthood for the Congregation of the Holy Cross in 1976.

The allegations were related to his earlier service as a Holy Cross Father and Catholic School teacher in Niles, Illinois, from 1978-79. After Tushar was deemed “credibly accused” by the Diocese of Duluth in 2019, the case was sent on to the Vatican. He was also removed…

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Lawmakers in the Colorado General Assembly passed legislation in June giving new power to people who’d survived sexual abuse decades ago — and survivors and their attorneys said Thursday they’re planning to move forward with several cases once the law takes effect in the new year.

The statute of limitations had expired for these survivors, leaving them without the ability to hold abusers accountable. But Senate Bill 21-88 represented a major victory for child sexual abuse survivors and their advocates after years of advocacy and several failed attempts at passing similar state legislation.

“I faced years of sexual abuse in a high school here in Denver from Catholic clergy,” said Brian Barzee, who spoke at a Nov. 18 news conference with his lawyer, Michael Nimmo, to raise awareness about SB-88. “It’s only because of this new law that any of us are ever going to have a voice…

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The archbishop of Bombay Oswald Cardinal Gracias has “sought pardon” from the community after the conviction of a Catholic priest under the POCSO Act. He said he continued to pray for both the victim and his abuser.

On December 29, Fr Lawrence Johnson, former priest of Christ The King Church in Shivaji Nagar, was sentenced to life imprisonment for sodomising a 13-year-boy inside the church in 2015.

The Cardinal on Friday said: “I was very distressed to learn that Fr Lawrence Johnson was convicted of aggravated sexual assault on a minor. I deeply sympathise with the victim and the family. I ask pardon that a representative of the Church, appointed to be in charge of the community, was responsible for this.”

He addressed the victim’s mother’s accusations that the church “abandoned and harassed” them during their struggle for justice. “Several invitations by my secretary to the victim’s parents…

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The life sentence awarded to Fr Lawrence Johnson by a POCSO court has restored the faith of the victim’s family in “justice and Jesus”.

The boy’s mother in a tearful interview said that “Jesus had answered her prayer at Christmas”. “The courts have pronounced Fr Lawrence guilty today. But I held him guilty on the very day of the assault. He even knelt before me and admitted his crime. My faith in the men that run the Church is broken but my faith in Jesus is unshakeable.”

The 13-year-old faced the latest in a series of assaults inside Christ The King Church, Shivaji Nagar, Govandi, on November 27, 2015 that left him bleeding and bruised. He is now 18 years old, and is still undergoing treatment for bodily ailments apart from suffering hallucinations and nightmares.

His mother said, “Supporters of Fr Lawrence even held a morcha against us while we…

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A special court on Wednesday convicted and sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment a Catholic priest Father Johnson Lawrence for sodomising a young teenaged boy in 2015, under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The boy was 13-year-old.

In December 2015, the priest then 52 years old was arrested by Mumbai police. He has been in prison since.

During the pronouncement of the verdict, the priest was present in court before special Judge Seema Jadhav who found him guilty of offences under section 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) and 12 (sexual harassment) of POCSO.

Special public prosecutor Veena Shelar had examined nine witnesses to prove the case against the accused.

The Priest’s defence was one of complete denial. His counsel Avinash Rasal argued that there was no evidence against him and to demonstrate he examined two defence witnesses, members of the Legion of Mary who said there were six-seven…

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A northeastern Indiana priest has agreed to plead guilty to child solicitation and sexual battery charges for allegedly sexually abusing a teenage girl and a young woman.

The Rev. David Huneck was charged in October with felony child solicitation and sexual battery and several misdemeanor charges.

If the 31-year-old priest pleads guilty to the felony charges and a judge accepts his plea at a Jan. 27 Whitley County hearing, the misdemeanor charges would be dropped.

The Journal Gazette reports that Huneck was charged after two females, ages 17 and 19, reported two incidents in which Huneck allegedly sexually assaulted them.

Huneck resigned in September from his parish and a role at a Fort Wayne Catholic high school after the Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend said it became aware of allegations of sexual misconduct.

The diocese became aware of the allegations against Huneck on Sept. 19. A statement from Bishop Kevin…

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An Athens orphanage at the centre of a probe into the alleged abuse of five boys between the ages of 7 and 11 had refused to declare the number of children in its care, Deputy Minister for Social Affairs Domna Michailidou told Kathimerini on Tuesday. 

“When we launched the [online] platform for fostering and adoption, we asked all [child care] facilities in the country to register the children they hosted, in order for them to join the system,” the minister said. “The specific facility refused to do so until the last moment. I had to call them on the phone and press them. They were the last in Greece to follow the instructions.” 

Michailidou also said that there is also a pending complaint against the orphanage from 2017 alleging illegal adoptions, which “has not yet been fully investigated.”

The facility was placed under investigation after a written complaint from a…

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Nebraska Attorney General Douglas J. Peterson did our state a service Nov. 4 when he released his detailed report on child abuse committed by Catholic Church officials in the Omaha, Lincoln and Grand Island Dioceses.

I doubt that few people — including good, faithful Catholic Nebraskans — don’t hang their heads in sorrow when reviewing the details: credible allegations of sexual abuse and/or misconduct against 51 priests, four deacons and two teachers by a total of 258 victims dating back to Jan. 1, 1978.

Our first human reaction is to cry out “Why?” Which is usually followed by thoughts of, “How are we going to get even?” Then we sober up, realize that revenge accomplishes nothing, but doing nothing demonstrates nearly a tacit approval of serious criminal behavior.

That is why I’m taking some well-thought-out next steps when the legislative session begins in January to give Nebraskans the…

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Marking the conclusion of a yearslong effort to protect survivors of child sexual abuse and hold institutions that cover up abuse accountable, the Child Sexual Abuse Accountability Act goes into effect tomorrow, January 1, 2022.

The law – sponsored by Senators Jessie Danielson (D-Wheat Ridge) and Rhonda Fields (D-Aurora) and Representatives Dafna Michaelson Jenet (D-Commerce City) and Matt Soper (R-Delta) – allows survivors of child sexual abuse to sue schools, government entities, or private institutions that cover up sexual abuse, as well as the perpetrators, and seeks to prevent future instances of sexual abuse. 

“No child should ever have to suffer sexual abuse, but for far too long our laws have failed to protect the youngest victims of these unspeakable crimes, and today we say no more,” said Sen. Danielson. “This law ensures that actions taken by abusers and institutions to harm our little ones can no longer be swept under the rug,…

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Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking conviction is being hailed by advocatesas symbolically significant for sex abuse victims, the latest example of women convincing a jury in a high-profile prosecution despite defense efforts to tear down their testimony.

Maxwell, 60, an Oxford-educated former socialite who spent years on the party circuit with some of the world’s wealthiest and most influential figures, was found guilty Wednesday of grooming and trafficking teenagers for multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein, her longtime boyfriend and employer, who died by suicide while facing his own sex trafficking indictment in 2019.

The verdict, reached after a month-long trial, may come to serve as a road map for future prosecutions against systemic sex abuse facilitators, legal analysts said. Maxwell was convicted of roping in girls as young as 14 over a roughly 10-year period between the mid-1990s and 2000s.

“This was really the first trial that we saw where a woman who…

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Lawsuit accuses Catholic priest of beating boy if he didn’t accede to sexual demands starting when accuser was 7 years old and lasting for four years

A former Aspen Catholic priest not only sexually assaulted a local altar boy approximately 300 times in the early 2000s, he beat the boy when he declined to accede to his sexual demands, according to a civil lawsuit filed last week in Denver District Court.

The Rev. Michael O’Brien allegedly began abusing Keegan Callahan at age 7, soon after he moved to Aspen in the summer of 2004 with his devout Roman Catholic family, the lawsuit states. The abuse of Callahan, now 24 and serving a 14-year prison sentence for committing sex crimes against juveniles in Aspen, allegedly continued through 2008.

“If (Callahan) chose not to comply with O’Brien’s sexual demands, O’Brien would physically punish (Callahan) by hitting him in the torso, chest, and/or…

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The Archdiocese of Santa Fe’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy efforts have plodded along for three years with no end visible in the case involving more than 400 clergy abuse victims.

Lawyers say three years is a comparatively long time for Chapter 11 proceedings but is far from unheard of. It’s in everyone’s interests — the archdiocese’s and the victims’ — to resolve it through Chapter 11, attorneys say. Therefore, an eventual settlement is still expected.

“The alternatives are so bad that it’s worth it to stay in the game,” Laura Coordes, associate professor of law at Arizona State University, said of Chapter 11.

The archdiocese seeks to raise an adequate sum, through property sales, donations and insurance, to reach settlements with the victims.

In a blog this month, Archbishop John Wester wrote: “We knew when we filed for Chapter 11 that it would not be easy. We are making progress, albeit…

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A priest in India has been convicted of abusing a teenage boy in 2015.

Father Lawrence Johnson was arrested in 2016, and the parents later accused Cardinal Oswald Gracias and auxiliary Bishop Dominic Savio Fernandes of not reporting the incident to police.

However, a court later ordered the investigation into the prelates dropped, since the boys father had reported the incident to the authorities before he met with the cardinal and had informed Gracias he had done so during the meeting.

Charmaine Bocarro, the victim’s lawyer, said it was a “landmark” judgement, “as the victim got justice.”

She said Johnson had “financial might and the pressure from [his] supporters” backing him, causing “innumerable” problems for the victim’s case.

Bocarro worked the case free of charge.

“I have always worked for the poor, women, and marginalized. There are very few who stand up for them,” she said.

Catholics in India hope…

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A retired priest of the Diocese of Arlington, who for seven years oversaw the diocese’s program on protecting minors from clerical sexual abuse, was indicted shortly before Christmas on two counts of sexually abusing a minor.

A trial is scheduled next October for Father Terry Specht, 68, who now lives in Donegal, Pennsylvania.

The priest was the director of the diocese’s Office of Child Protection from 2004-2011.

The Washington Post reported that Father Specht was indicted on two felony counts related to sexual abuse of a child under age 13. The indictment said the assault took place in 2000, when Father Specht was chaplain and assistant principal at Paul VI Catholic High School in Fairfax.

Two separate allegations about Father Specht were brought to the Arlington Diocese: one in 2012 and the other in 2019. “The diocese immediately reported each allegation to law enforcement,” according to a Dec. 28 statement from the Arlington Diocese.

“In 2012, Father Specht was placed on administrative…

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Every year, certain storylines dominate news coverage of the Vatican. Some are largely positive, though many tend to be negative, such as the clerical abuse scandals that have been a strong contender for biggest Vatican story of the year for each of the last 20 years.

Reporters being basically pack animals, the inevitable effect of a few stories looking so large is that others tend to slip through the cracks. That’s not always a measure of their relative importance, but rather the judgments of news organizations about which stories are more likely to sell.

There were plenty of well-covered storylines out of the Eternal City this year, from the pope’s triumphant trip to Iraq in March to his colon surgery over the summer, as well as his highly controversial decision to largely suppress the old Latin Mass. (Given that a subsequent poll of American Catholics found two-thirds unaware Francis had…

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Terry Specht, 68, of Donegal, Pa., was indicted last week by a grand jury in Fairfax County with two felony counts related to sexual abuse of a child under 13

A retired priest who for years oversaw the safety of children in Arlington’s diocese is charged with sexually abusing a child.

Terry Specht, 68, of Donegal, Pa., was indicted last week by a grand jury in Fairfax County with two felony counts related to sexual abuse of a child under 13 years old. The assault took place in 2000, according to the indictment, when Specht was chaplain and assistant principal at the 1,000-student St. Paul VI Catholic High School in Fairfax.

Specht “maintains his innocence,” Fairfax public defender Dawn Butorac said. “He’s a retired priest, being put through this 21 years after the alleged event.”

The Virginia attorney general began investigating in 2019 when the alleged victim called a hotline set…

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A retired priest who once oversaw the safety of children in a Catholic diocese in the Washington suburbs has been charged with sexually assaulting a child, Virginia’s attorney general announced Tuesday.

A Fairfax County grand jury indicted Terry Specht, 68, of Donegal, Pennsylvania, last week on two felony counts related to sexual abuse of a child under 13, The Washington Post reported. According to the indictment, the assault took place in 2000, when Specht was chaplain and assistant principal at St. Paul VI Catholic High School.

Specht “maintains his innocence,” Fairfax public defender Dawn Butorac said. “He’s a retired priest, being put through this 21 years after the alleged event.”

Specht was the director of the Arlington Diocese Office of Child Protection and Safety between 2004 and 2011. In this role, he was responsible for policy and instruction but didn’t oversee sexual abuse investigations or assign…

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Pope Francis has dismissed from the priesthood a Cleveland man who is serving a life sentence in prison for sexually exploiting children.

The action against Robert McWilliams, 41, means he will no longer be able to serve in any role as a priest, the Diocese of Cleveland said in a statement Dec. 21.

“This dismissal is a penalty imposed directly by the pope. There is no possible appeal,” the diocese said.

McWilliams told U.S. District Judge Sara Lioi during sentencing Nov. 9 that he had sought dismissal from the priesthood. He blamed his actions on an addiction to pornography.

In July, McWilliams pleaded guilty to two counts of sex trafficking of youths younger than 18, three counts of sexual exploitation of children and three counts involving child pornography.

Lioi said she imposed the strict sentence because the public needed to be protected from McWilliams because he had preyed upon youths…

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Five people who claim Highfill abused them or their siblings say the Air Force is investigating at least two different abuse cases on Air Force bases in the 1980s.

A Catholic priest who was ordained in New Orleans is now under investigation for allegedly sexually abusing an airman and a pre-teen boy during his time as an Air Force chaplain, according to several of his alleged victims and their family members who told WWL-TV they were recently interviewed by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations.

Brian Highfill is now retired from the military and living in Las Vegas. He was removed from public ministry by the Archdiocese of New Orleans and added to a list of credibly accused clergy in August 2020, after WWL-TV and The Times-Picayune | New Orleans Advocate found nearly two decades of abuse complaints against Highfill.

But now, new details are emerging about some of…

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The Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Domna Michailidou said on Greek national television on Thursday that she has filed criminal complaints against an Athens orphanage for the sexual abuse of boys.

At this time of year when the world partakes in family-oriented celebrations, Greeks have been shocked to learn of the alleged abuse of young boys. In a place intended to be a haven from a toxic home environment, young boys were allegedly encouraged and pressured by orphanage staff members to perform sexual acts with one another, while the adults who cared for them watched them.

In this case, the deputy minister of the nation went directly to the prosecutor with the complaints and then revealed the horrific story on Greek television.

After receiving a signed letter of complaint alleging the exploitation and sexual abuse of boys, ages seven to 11, at an Athens institution, Michailidou contacted the prosecutors…

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The Department of Justice (DOJ) has received more than 2.8 million reports about online child sexual abuse this year, more than double the nearly 1.3 million reports it collated in 2020.

In its annual report, the DOJ’s Office of Cybercrime (OOC) said it launched an official investigation of 268 cases of online sexual exploitation of children this year, almost four times the 73 cases it handled in 2020.

The OOC’s findings seemed to confirm an earlier report from international group WeProtect Global Alliance, which noted that cases of child sexual abuse on the internet had worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Philippines was previously identified by the United Nations Children’s Fund as the “global epicenter of the livestream sexual abuse trade.”

But the DOJ’s anti-cybercrime unit noted that most of the 2.8 million reports it received were “not actionable” since these had been submitted multiple times or were “misleading” and…

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A ruling by the Indiana Supreme Court has expanded the limited number of people who are eligible to recover damages in lawsuits alleging negligent infliction of emotional distress.

Indiana lawsuits seeking damages for emotional distress typically can only be pursued by a person who suffers a direct physical injury, suffers an injury that also injures or kills a third-party, or witnesses a relative’s death or severe injury immediately after it occurs.

But in a 3-2 decision released Dec. 22, Indiana’s high court said it is also now allowing a parent or guardian to seek damages from a child caretaker when the parent or guardian discovers, with irrefutable certainty, that the caretaker sexually abused their child and that abuse severely impacted the parent or guardian’s emotional health, The (Northwest Indiana) Times reported.

The new rule arose from a case involving the sexual assault of a profoundly disabled child…

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In November, a report from the Nebraska attorney general’s office identified hundreds of victims who’d made “credible allegations of sexual abuse against 57 Catholic Church officials in the state going back decades,” according to The Associated Press ― including “many that high-ranking church leaders knew about and didn’t report to the authorities.”

Also in November, a lawsuit was filed against the Diocese of Charleston, South Carolina, as well as the bishop of the diocese, claiming that “a child was sexually abused by a priest at a Catholic church in Myrtle Beach between 1990 and 1994,” per the CBS affiliate WBTW.

Robert Greene, director of the Netflix documentary “Procession,” sums up the experience of being sexually abused by clergy when he says: “The thing to know about this abuse is not just being sexually abused in such a tender age, it’s being abused by an entire belief system….

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The former director of the Arlington Diocese Office of Child Protection and Safety, Terry Specht, is facing charges for allegedly sexually assaulting a minor, according to Virginia’s attorney general.

The 69-year-old former priest of Donegal, Pennsylvania, served as the director of the Arlington Diocese Office of Child Protection and Safety between 2004 and 2011.

A Fairfax County grand jury indicted Specht on a pair of felony charges: aggravated sexual battery of a child under the age of 13 and sexual abuse of a child whom a custodial or supervisory relationship existed.

The abuse allegedly occurred between March and September in 2000.

“Children should always feel comfortable around religious leaders in their life, without fear that they could somehow hurt them,” Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring said in a news release.

“I want to encourage any Virginian who may have information about this or any other instance of clergy abuse…

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The Diocese of Gaylord confirmed that Father Bryan Medlin is the priest at the center of an investigation by the Michigan State Police and the Michigan Attorney General.

In a Dec. 22 press release, the Diocese of Gaylord confirmed that Medlin is the priest under investigation by the Michigan State Police and the Michigan Attorney General after he was accused of sending inappropriate text messages to high school students. The diocese also confirmed that Medlin is not engaging in parish, diocesan or ministerial activities during the investigation.

“The safety and security of our students — and all those within our schools and parishes — could not be more important and we are thankful for the continued work of civil authorities in safeguarding our young people,” said Mackenzie Ritchie, Diocese of Gaylord communications director, in a written statement. “The diocese continues to fully cooperate with law enforcement and civil authorities and…

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Lawyers have filed a change of plea agreement for former Fort Wayne priest Father David Huneck. He is scheduled to be in court Tuesday.

Huneck faces charges of Child Seduction, Sexual Battery, Battery, Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor, and Furnishing Alcohol to a Minor. He was arraigned in Whitley Superior Court and a special judge was appointed.

At the time of the alleged crimes, Huneck was the pastor at Saint Paul of the Cross Catholic Church in Columbia City. Huneck also served as chaplain of Bishop Dwenger High School in Fort Wayne. Huneck resigned from his posts after the allegations surfaced, and the diocese suspended him from pastoral duties.

According to a probable cause affidavit filed in Whitley Superior Court, the charges stem from two incidents that allegedly took place at the home in Columbia City provided to Huneck as part of his being the pastor at a…

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A plea agreement has been filed in the case against a local priest who is facing several sex crime charges after documents say he assaulted two teens earlier this year.

ABC21 reported that David Huneck had served as a pastor in Columbia City and as a chaplain at Bishop Dwenger High School in Fort Wayne before stepping down. He was then charged with child seduction, sexual battery, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, furnishing alcohol to a minor, and two counts of battery.

Court documents released in the case accuse Huneck of inviting two victims, then aged 17 and 19, to his home and giving them alcohol before assaulting them on two different occasions.

Online court records show that a plea agreement was filed in the case last week. Prosecutors were not able to disclose the details of the agreement. A hearing in the case…

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According to a Haaretz investigation in November, Chaim Walder allegedly sexually exploited women, girls and boys for years

Ultra-Orthodox author and therapist Chaim Walder, who has been accused of sexually assaulting women, girls and boys, died by suicide on Monday.

Walder’s body was found in a cemetery in central Israel after a passerby reported of gunshots. He left his house Sunday after days of self-seclusion and his family later reported him missing. 

Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, head of the rabbinical court in Safed that heard testimony against Walder, said it was unfortunate that the author had chosen to kill himself. “We suggested to him that he repair what he ruined,” he said. “To ask forgiveness of the victims. To change his ways.” 

According to a Haaretz investigation in November, Walder, 52, allegedly sexually exploited girls and women for years. One of them was slightly older than twelve when the exploitation began,…

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A 2019 law intended to help victims of child sex abuse sue the people who abused them — and the organizations that allowed it to happen — is unconstitutional, a North Carolina court ruled on Monday.

The law passed the legislature unanimously. It sailed through the Republican-controlled General Assembly with support from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle as well as Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein, who later publicly pushed for victims to use the new law to go to court.

A major change in the law temporarily lifted the statute of limitations for people who were sexually abused as children to be able to sue in civil court. It allowed any sex abuse victim to file a lawsuit in 2020 or 2021, even if they would normally have been barred because the statute of limitations already expired.

That’s the piece that a three-judge panel of Superior Court judges…

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A North Carolina law cannot temporarily lift the statute of limitations to allow people who were sexually abused as children decades ago to be able to sue in civil court, a three-judge panel ruled on Monday.

The measure, which had passed the state legislature unanimously in 2019, was designed to help child sex abuse victims sue the people who abused them and the groups who let it happen, The News & Observer of Raleigh reported.

Among other aspects, the law allowed any sex abuse victim to file a lawsuit in 2020 or 2021, even if they would normally have been barred because the statute of limitations already expired.

But the judges ruled 2-1 that that change was unconstitutional.

The two judges in the majority, Gregory Horne and Imelda Pate, wrote that previous case law says the state constitution bars the legislature from reopening the statute of limitations,…

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The number of Pacific survivors and witnesses registered with the Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry has increased 14 percent since its Pacific-focused hearing in July this year.

However, the Royal Commission is encouraging more to come forward.

The fortnight-long hearing, which was the first of its kind, looked at abuse of Pacific people in state and faith-based institutions between 1950 and 1999.

Eighteen Pacific people had registered in the months since then.

But Tania Sharkey, who was the lead counsel assisting the hearing, said the Royal Commission “needs to hear from more”, because Pacific survivors were over-represented in abuse in care, but under-represented in the data.

In total, there were 121 registered Pacific survivors and witnesses, which accounted for less than four percent of all registrations.

Sharkey said there were survivors who had come forward but “will choose not to register”.

“So we are engaged with them and…

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A court in East Timor has jailed a defrocked American priest for 12 years after he was charged with sexually abusing several orphaned and disadvantaged girls in his care.

The sentencing of Richard Daschbach took place on Tuesday.

The case against the 84-year-old marked the first time that allegations of sexual abuse perpetrated by a priest have gone to trial in the staunchly Catholic country.

Daschbach, who founded in the early 1990s a shelter for orphans and vulnerable children, was accused of 14 counts of sexual abuse of children younger than 14, as well as one charge of child pornography and domestic violence.

The trial began in February in the district of Oecusse, 200 km (125 miles) west of the capital, Dili, and near his Topu Honis shelter. Court proceedings were closed to the public, and the trial was postponed several times before concluding last month.

Responding to Tuesday’s ruling, Daschbach’s lawyer,…

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A defrocked American priest was found guilty in East Timor on Tuesday of sexually abusing young girls under his care at the remote orphanage he founded.

Richard Daschbach, 84, was sentenced to 12 years in prison after being charged with child sexual abuse, child pornography and domestic violence.

More than a dozen females came forward alleging they had been abused by Daschbach at his Topu Honis orphanage in the Southeast Asian country’s remote enclave of Oecusse.

Only nine ended up being included in the sex abuse case due to legal technicalities.

Five accusers detailed the abuse in interviews with the Associated Press, saying Daschbach would keep a list of young girls on his bedroom door and choose one to sit on his lap every night as the orphanage held prayers before bed.

The girl sitting on Daschbach’s lap would sleep with him that night and be subjected…

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The Michigan Attorney General’s office and Michigan State Police are currently investigating a clergyman who is serving as pastor of the Cross in the Woods National Shrine in Indian River.

“At this time, we are only confirming our investigation involving Fr. (Bryan) Medlin,” said Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s Press Secretary Lynsey Mukomel in an email. “I have nothing more to add given it’s an active investigation.”

The Michigan Attorney General’s office contacted the Michigan State Police earlier this month, requesting law enforcement investigate the clergyman.

“We are investigating a clergy member that falls under the Diocese of Gaylord,” said Michigan State Police Seventh District Public Information Officer Spl. Lt. Derrick Carroll in an email.

Carroll said the Diocese of Gaylord had contacted the Michigan Attorney General, and then the Michigan State Police were requested to investigate the incident on Dec. 10.

“The investigation continues and there is no further…

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This was the year that the Diocese of Norwich filed for bankruptcy because church officials and lawyers recognized that dozens of alleged victims of clergy sexual abuse are in a position to make their claims in civil court. If they win their individual cases, they could be awarded compensation for injury inflicted years ago by priests who were allowed to get away with it.

No one is charging that the current leadership of the diocese has any personal connection to what happened decades back, but as successors to those who were in charge at the time, they represent the institution.

For a pastoral institution that preaches justice, mercy and repentance to be defending itself against any legitimate claim by any former young Catholic shows how internally conflicted the church can be. On the one hand, the church preaches the need to own up to one’s sins. On the other, it lawyers up, because each individual diocese and parish is a corporation that…

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The Diocese of Gaylord has released a statement in regards to the investigation into a northern Michigan priest.

On December 17, The Office of Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel confirmed to UpNorthLive News there was an investigation into Father Bryan Medlin from Indian River.

The Diocese of Gaylord’s website said Father Medlin was appointed pastor of the National Shrine of the Cross in the Woods in September 2021.

According to Michigan State Police, Medlin is accused of sending inappropriate text messages to high school students at a Leelanau County school.

In the statement, from December 22, about the investigation, the Diocese said Father Medlin “is not engaging in any ministerial activities at this time, and parish responsibilities are being overseen by Rev. James Gardiner.”

The Diocese encourages everyone to report any allegation of abuse, harassment, or inappropriate conduct by someone in the Church to the Michigan…

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The Diocese of Gaylord became aware some days ago of an apparent violation of diocesan Protocols for Ministry to Minors involving electronic messages sent to a small number of students. The diocese immediately referred the concerns to the Michigan Department of Attorney General and Michigan State Police, who are investigating the matter. Any investigation of the matter by Church authorities will be undertaken after the civil investigation concludes.

This investigation involves Rev. Bryan Medlin, pastor of the National Shrine of the Cross in the Woods in Indian River. Fr. Medlin has stepped aside from all parish and diocesan responsibilities (i.e., pastor of Cross in the Woods Parish and assistant director of vocations of the Diocese of Gaylord) while this civil investigation is underway. He is not engaging in any ministerial activities at this time, and parish responsibilities are being overseen by Rev. James Gardiner.

Mackenzie Ritchie, Director of Communications for…

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The Archdiocese of Santa Fe’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy efforts have plodded along for three years with no end visible in the case involving more than 400 clergy abuse victims. Lawyers say three years is a comparatively long time for Chapter 11 proceedings but is far from unheard of. It’s in everyone’s interests — the archdiocese’s and the victims’ — to resolve it through Chapter 11, attorneys say. Therefore, an eventual settlement is still expected.

“The alternatives are so bad that it’s worth it to stay in the game,” Laura Coordes, associate professor of law at Arizona State University, said of Chapter 11.

The archdiocese seeks to raise an adequate sum, through property sales, donations and insurance, to reach settlements with the victims.

In a blog this month, Archbishop John Wester wrote: “We knew when we filed for Chapter 11 that it would not be easy. We are making…

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In a rare move, the Supreme Judicial Court is inviting debate over questions arising from a lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield. How the state’s highest court rules will be pivotal to a former altar boy’s wish to be compensated for rapes he endured by a bishop who long led Catholic life in the Berkshires.

Francis V. Kenneally, the SJC’s clerk, notified attorneys Wednesday that justices have decided to consider legal issues relating to whether the church is protected from a claim that the unnamed plaintiff suffered not only brutal sexual assaults by former Bishop Christopher J. Weldon and other priests, but that diocesan officials bungled his 2014 report of that abuse.

Though the lawsuit was filed in Hampden Superior Court, a judge’s ruling at that level earlier this year was appealed by the diocese’s legal team to the Massachusetts Appeals Court….

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Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) joined Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) to urge the Biden administration to take action to ensure a whole-of-government strategy to dismantle the scourge of commercial sexual exploitation of children.

Despite cases of commercial sexual exploitation of children skyrocketing, the federal government’s strategy for years has been a patchwork of efforts – some statutorily required, some not. As part of this, the federal government operates numerous programs and initiatives to address human trafficking, with few focused solely on commercial sexual exploitation of children and addressing this pressing issue here at home.

The senators in their letter also highlighted that the attorney general is statutorily required to file a “National Strategy for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction” annually, in accordance with the Providing Resources, Officers, and Technology To Eradicate Cyber Threats to Our Children Act (PROTECT Our Children Act). Yet, the Trump administration failed to ever provide a report to Congress and did not prioritize efforts…

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Pope Francis demanded Friday that priests who have raped and molested children turn themselves in and vowed that the Catholic Church will “never again” cover up clergy sex abuse.

Francis dedicated his annual Christmas speech to Vatican bureaucrats to abuse, evidence that a year of devastating revelations of sexual misconduct and cover-up around the globe has shaken his papacy and caused a crisis of confidence in the Catholic hierarchy.

Francis acknowledged that the church in the past had failed to treat the problem seriously, blaming leaders who out of inexperience or short-sightedness acted “irresponsibly” by refusing to believe victims. But he vowed that going forward the church would “never again” cover up or dismiss cases.“Let it be clear that before these abominations the church will spare no effort to do all that is necessary to bring to justice whosoever has committed such crimes.”

“Let it be clear that before these…

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The Ukrainian Catholic Diocese of Stamford has settled allegations of sexual abuse by a former priest for $450,000.

The Rev. Joseph Shaloka, who died in 1990, was pastor at St. Michael Ukrainian Catholic Church in the Terryville section of Plymouth when the abuse occurred, attorney Nate Baber of Aeton Law Partners said Thursday.

A representative of the diocese could not be reached.

His client was 12 years old when Shaloka started sexually abusing him in the rectory next to the church on Allen Street, and the abuse continued for about five years, Baber said.

The alleged victim, now age 51, did not complain about the abuse at the time because he considered Shaloka a father figure and did not see the abuse as abnormal, Baber said. He said his client was not a member of St. Michael, but had been introduced to Shaloka by a friend who thought the priest…

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I should probably have a hot take on the recent controversy over the restrictions to the Extraordinary Form of the Latin Rite.

I never pretended to be a theologian or a liturgist. I don’t care for the Extraordinary Form myself; I prefer the Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom which is much older and prettier than the Extraordinary Form of the Latin Rite. I’ve done my share of poking fun at Traditionalists, and they often deserve it. But not everyone who likes the Extraordinary Form of the Latin Rite is a traditionalist bully. Some people like it because they like old-fashioned things, or because it’s quiet, or because they think Latin is a cool language. And they’re not wrong.

Bullies are the loudest voices we hear, of course. And the Traditionalist bullies have done a lot of damage. They’re always attacking people in the most spiritually abusive ways, claiming we’re…

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Singapore – Richard Daschbach, the defrocked American priest whose child sex abuse trial has shaken deeply Catholic East Timor, has been found guilty and sentenced to 12 years in prison.

The 84-year-old learnt his fate on Tuesday in the District Court of Oecusse, the western Timorese enclave where he abused children at a remote shelter he ran for girls and boys for more than two decades.

Revered to such an extent that his followers believed he had special powers, Daschbach was suspected of abusing at least a dozen young girls at the Topu Honis orphanage.

On Tuesday, he was found guilty of the sexual abuse of four female children there.

Jurídico Social, the human rights law firm that represented the nine victims in the case, said it would “go down as a historical day in the development of the Timor-Leste judicial sector”.

“The history written today is a bitter history…

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Spain’s Catholic Church is under pressure to investigate allegations of child sex abuse by its clergy following revelations of a barrage of previously undisclosed cases.

El País newspaper has reported 251 alleged cases of abuse by members of the Catholic Church, from between 1943 and 2018. The newspaper says there were at least 1,237 victims affected.

El País said it handed the findings directly to Pope Francis during a flight on December 2nd. According to the newspaper, the pope “acted fast” on his return from the trip, giving the document to the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, the body charged with investigating abuse claims.

Although cases of abuse have come to light in Spain previously, the numbers have been much lower than in countries such as Ireland, France or the United States and the Spanish church has never carried out a major investigation.

Antonio Carpallo, who is 81, told of how he…

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Today the Archdiocese of St. John’s announced that it has filed a Notice of Intention to make a Proposal pursuant to the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act.

“Over the past year since the legal decision became final that the Archdiocese was vicariously liable for the claims of abuse at the Mount Cashel Orphanage in the 1940s, 50s and 60s, we have been working hard to determine how best to resolve these claims while also ensuring the ongoing practise and celebration of our Catholic faith.” said Archbishop Peter Hundt.

The Archbishop went on to say, “As a next step in the process of resolving these claims, the Archdiocese has filed for creditor protection. In effect, we will be requesting additional time to complete the evaluation of our assets, formally call for claims against the Archdiocese, and develop a proposal for our creditors to settle victims’ claims and creditor liabilities. This process will…

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[Via Toronto Star]

The Roman Catholic archdiocese of St. John’s, N.L., says it has filed for creditor protection as it evaluates its assets in anticipation of paying settlements to victims of abuse at the former Mount Cashel orphanage.

Archbishop Peter Hundt said in a news release Tuesday that the church is requesting more time to take stock of its assets, to formally call for claims against it and to develop a proposal to settle the claims.

He has previously said the basilica in St. John’s is among the properties being considered for sale in order to pay the settlements.

A Supreme Court of Canada ruling in January found the church liable for physical and sexual abuse committed at the St. John’s orphanage between the 1940s and 1960s.

St. John’s lawyer Geoff Budden was involved in the case and said Tuesday he represents at least 75 men now entitled to settlements,…

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A woman who was sexually abused by a Catholic priest says the church is now trying to subpoena deeply personal medical records, including of an unrelated abortion, as part of her lawsuit against the archbishop.

The woman, a former teacher now aged 60, is suing the Melbourne archiocese over allegations the abuse her parish priest subjected her to from the age of 13 caused psychiatric injury, including post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.

The survivor and her lawyers say, while the church accepted she was sexually assaulted by Preston assistant priest Father Francis Thorp in the 1970s, its legal team intends to subpoena sensitive medical records as part of the claim.

The records flagged for subpoena include information about a termination she had when she was in her late 20s, a decade after the abuse ceased, a contraceptive device she had implanted and her obstetric records.

The woman, who cannot be…

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POPE Francis has also instructed that such crimes are known to the church authorities to be reported to the civil anchorites and must not be withheld under the guise of “confidentiality” stipulated in Canon Law to protect the name of those involved. This has been used in the past to stifle all action against pedophile priests and to protect them. Now it is a crime to do so.

The Instruction specifically states that church authorities must cooperate with the civil authorities and share evidence with them in any investigation. Also, the victims must never be bound to silence about the abusive act by anybody or impeded by anybody. So, the traditional out-of-court settlement is morally wrong and forbidden.

Child sex abuse committed a heinous crime and must be held accountable before the law. This is justice for the victims and a strong deterrent to other would-be child abusers. Remember that…

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THERE are serious and profound changes taking place in the Catholic Church to acknowledge and prevent child sexual abuse by clerics and laypeople. The number of priests convicted in the Philippines is zero.  Clerical child abuse has become a crisis for the Church as an institution.

We celebrate this December Pope Francis’s historic decree that approved a new law, Motu Proprio Vos estis lux mundi, to protect child victims and prosecute any clergy accused of child abuse.  It covers bishops that covered up acts of abuse by priests or laypeople. Every complaint of child abuse must be reported and investigated immediately and reported to the Church and the civil authorities. 

The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has its guidelines in dealing with child abuse by priests but they are outdated and do not include any cooperation with civil authorities in bringing a cleric child rapist or abuser to justice….

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Sometimes the Vatican can appear so obsessed with papal bulls and encyclicals, and its frequent rounds of damage control, and managing people’s naughty bits, and tabulating the number of angels shaking their booty on the heads of pins, that it forgets the gospel according to Robert Fulghum.

“Don’t take things that aren’t yours.”

“Put things back where you found them.”

As most who have ever cracked the spine on a bestseller know, that was part of Fulghum’s formula for virtuous living as contained in his book All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.

It turns out that popes over the decades – especially the apparently avid artifact collector Pius XI — have amassed hundreds of items from Indigenous peoples in Canada, including an antique seal-skin kayak from the Western Arctic.

When news of this broke, Inuvialuit leaders in the region issued a statement demanding the return of the…

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Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller says he’s “absolutely open” to an independent review of the residential school compensation deal reached between the federal government and Catholic Church.

“I would say we’re absolutely open to the idea; we have to get to the bottom of what we’ve done,” Miller said in a phone interview Monday. “The job I’ve been given is to get to the bottom of these things.… This is not the end of the story.”

Advocates say while that’s encouraging news, Miller could show good faith by immediately releasing key government documents related to the deal he admits are already in his possession.

“We expect the federal government to release everything. This is a necessary step for many survivors in their own healing journey,” Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations Chief Bobby Cameron said.

In recent months, a CBC News investigation has revealed new details of the Catholic Church’s three key promises to compensate survivors under the landmark Indian…

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Pope Francis’ meeting with representatives of Canadian Indigenous communities at the Vatican, spurred after unmarked graves were discovered at residential schools earlier this year, has been delayed. America spoke via email with Archbishop Terrence Prendergast, S.J., archbishop emeritus of Ottawa-Cornwall and current apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Hearst–Moosonee—which includes a number of people belonging to First Nations—about the situation in Canada. Responses have been edited for length and clarity.

At an ordination Mass in August 2021, you spoke movingly of the church’s response to the residential boarding schools revelations. Would you mind sharing with us what you said there?

Here are excerpts from that homily:

We Jesuits of the world are celebrating a special jubilee year in 2021, the 500th anniversary of a Spanish soldier named Ignacio de Loyola being gravely wounded by a cannonball in the siege of Pamplona—not so much that battle as by an inner struggle that followed….

I would…

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Congregations affiliated with the United Methodist Church have agreed to contribute $30 million to a fund for victims who say they were molested as youngsters in the Boy Scouts of America, an attorney said Tuesday.

A committee representing United Methodist churches that sponsored Scouting activities also agreed to help raise an additional $100 million for the fund.

Jessica Lauria, an attorney for the BSA, told Judge Laurie Selber Silverstein about the planned agreement during an online hearing Tuesday in federal bankruptcy court in Delaware. Lauria said the United Methodist-affiliated churches would receive protected party status, which means they would be released from further liability for abuse claims.

The proposed trust is expected to grow to more than $2.6 billion and would be the largest sexual abuse settlement in U.S. history.

More than 82,000 sexual abuse claims have been filed in the bankruptcy case. Victims who say they were abused must…

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A Dec. 21 motion for transcript, audio and video recordings of depositions related to the criminal charges against ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick was an important step for the prosecution, according to one of his alleged victims present in the courtroom.

The motion was a part of a brief second pre-trial hearing in the case at Dedham District Court in Massachusetts. In addition to the motion, the case was continued to March 3 for a status update.

McCarrick wasn’t present in the courtroom. His attorney Barry Coburn stated he had no objection to the commonwealth’s motion before exiting the courtroom without further comment. Crux couldn’t reach Coburn for comment after the hearing.

James Grein, a Virginia man who came forward in 2018 with two decades of abuse allegations against McCarrick, was present in the courtroom on Dec. 21 and told Crux that he had “high emotions” ahead of the hearing. Grein said it was “important” for…

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Six months after the Vatican announced criminal charges in connection with a London property deal that cost millions, the Vatican City State court is still dealing with preliminary, procedural arguments.

But in an editorial for Vatican News Dec. 20, Andrea Tornielli, an official at the Dicastery for Communication, argued that was to be expected due to complications arising from the Vatican’s penal code, which is older than and different from Italy’s.

“This has created objective problems for all parties to the proceedings, who are asked to apply that code to factual situations that the legislator of a century ago could certainly not foresee,” he wrote.

The Vatican court originally had brought to trial 10 individuals, including Cardinal Angelo Becciu, former prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes, and four companies on charges involving financial malfeasance and corruption in relation to a multimillion-dollar property deal in London.

But in October, the court ordered the prosecution to redo its investigations of four of the defendants and…

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 On Dec. 2, a Rome-based Spanish journalist handed Pope Francis a journalistic inquiry of abuse allegations against 251 priests, arguably the largest investigation into clerical sexual abuse conducted in Spain to date.

On Sunday, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni sent out a statement to a group of journalists saying that the report had been sent to “the competent authorities” so that it can proceed according to the “canonical norms in force, opportunely updated in recent years.” 

“The Holy Father has always insisted on his attention and closeness to the victims of abuse, with words, prayer and many gestures,” the head of the Vatican press office stressed in his message.

The Vatican has not specified to which “instances” it has forwarded the document documenting the abuses, but in virtually every case, sexual abuse against minors committed by a Catholic priest are investigated and tried by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the…

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Ballarat’s Catholic diocese has been found liable for the sexual abuse of a young boy by one of its priests.

The decision, believed to be an Australian first, was handed down by Victoria’s Supreme Court on Wednesday.

The diocese and its current bishop, Paul Bird, were sued by a man who said he was sexually assaulted by Father Bryan Coffey at his parents’ home in Port Fairy in 1971.

He was five years old.

Coffey received a three-year suspended sentence in 1999 after being convicted of charges including indecent assaults of males and females under 16 and false imprisonment.

The man, known as DP in court documents, didn’t tell anyone except for his partner about the assault until 2018.

He made a claim for more than $1.5 million for loss of earnings as a result of the assaults, a figure described by Justice Jack Forrest as “bold”.

The judge instead…

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Cheboygan County Mich. – The Office of Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is investigating a priest from northern Michigan.

According to Nessel’s press secretary, there is an investigation involving Father Bryan Medlin from Indian River.

The Diocese of Gaylord’s website said Father Medlin was appointed pastor of the National Shrine of the Cross in the Woods in September 2021.

Previously, he served as the pastor of St. Mary of the Assumption Parish in Lake Leelanau.

Michigan State Police Public Information Officer Lt. Derrick Carroll said state police are investigating reports of a Diocese of Gaylord clergy member who allegedly sent inappropriate text messages to high school students.

He said MSP is investigating reports stemming from an incident involving students from a school in Leelanau County.

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The Attorney General’s Office is investigating a priest in northern Michigan.

Bryan Medlin was appointed to be the pastor of the National Shrine of the Cross In The Woods in Indian River in September.

When contacted by 9&10 News for comment, the Diocese sent this statement:

The Diocese of Gaylord recently became aware of concerns regarding electronic messages sent to a small number of high school students. In accordance with its policies, the diocese immediately referred the concerns to civil authorities who are investigating the matter.

To maintain the integrity of the investigation, at this time, the Diocese of Gaylord will not make any further comments. Any questions should be directed to local law enforcement or the Michigan Department of Attorney General.

The Diocese of Gaylord encourages that any allegation of abuse, harassment, or inappropriate conduct by someone in the Church be reported to the Michigan Department of Attorney General at 844-324-…

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A court in East Timor jailed a defrocked American priest for 12 years on Tuesday, his lawyer said, after he was charged with sexually abusing more than a dozen girls over decades.

The case was the first time that allegations of sexual abuse perpetrated by a priest have gone to trial in the staunchly Catholic country.

Richard Daschbach, 84, founded a shelter in the early 1990s for orphans, vulnerable children and victims of abuse.

His lawyer, Miguel Faria, in comments broadcast by online news portal SMnewstimor, said his legal team did not accept the sentence and would coordinate with the defendant and his family to prepare an appeal.

Faria said the verdict was based on the testimony of four victims but had not taken into account the testimony of other witnesses.

Daschbach, who had faced 14 counts of sexual abuse of children younger than 14, as well as one charge…

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St. Joseph High School and the Diocese of Fort. Wayne-South Bend want a lawsuit brought by three former volleyball players accusing their volleyball coach of sexual misconduct dismissed, saying the alleged misconduct does not fall under Indiana’s statute of limitations.  

The school and diocese are also seeking to identify the three women — who graduated in 2018 and 2019 — in court documents. The women are currently filing the suit anonymously as Jane Doe plaintiffs.  

In a civil lawsuit filed in October, the former players alleged Justin Cochran “groomed” girls on the volleyball team with inappropriate sexual conversation and images, including sending nude pictures of himself, and that he retaliated against girls who complained about his behavior. 

The lawsuit also claims administrators at the high school — including principal John Kennedy and former athletic director Debra Brown — brushed aside parents’ concerns about Cochran’s behavior and failed to follow…

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The Archdiocese of Santa Fe’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy efforts have plodded along for three years with no end visible in the case involving more than 400 clergy abuse victims.

Lawyers say three years is a comparatively long time for Chapter 11 proceedings but is far from unheard of. It’s in everyone’s interests — the archdiocese’s and the victims’ — to resolve it through Chapter 11, attorneys say. Therefore, an eventual settlement is still expected.

“The alternatives are so bad that it’s worth it to stay in the game,” Laura Coordes, associate professor of law at Arizona State University, said of Chapter 11.

The archdiocese seeks to raise an adequate sum, through property sales, donations and insurance, to reach settlements with the victims.

In a blog this month, Archbishop John Wester wrote: “We knew when we filed for Chapter 11 that it would not be easy. We are making progress, albeit…

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The name Robert Anderson meant little two years ago outside of Ann Arbor and inner circles of the University of Michigan athletic department.

But Anderson’s name gained infamy in February 2020 when former UM wrestler Tad DeLuca went public in a letter to UM Athletic Director Warde Manuel about how Anderson sexually abused him in 1975. That first accusation grew from dozens to hundreds to more than a thousand former students and athletes over the next 22 months who claim Anderson digitally penetrated them in unnecessary rectal exams during physicals….

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Pope Francis has condemned domestic violence against women as “almost satanic”, in some of his strongest language yet on the issue.

The head of the Catholic Church made the remark during a programme broadcast on Italy’s TG5 network on Sunday.

He spoke to a panel of four people from difficult backgrounds, including a survivor of domestic abuse.

He lamented the “very, very high” number of women “who are beaten and abused in their homes.”

“The problem is that, for me, it is almost satanic because it is taking advantage of a person who cannot defend herself, who can only [try to] block the blows,” said Pope Francis. “It is humiliating. Very humiliating.”

He spoke with a woman named Giovanna who said she had escaped from a violent home with her four children.

The Pope added that women who suffered abuse had not lost their dignity.

“I see dignity in you…

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The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. John’s says it may have to file for bankruptcy protection as it grapples with settling sex abuse claims linked to Mount Cashel Orphanage in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s.

In a message to all parishioners on Sunday, Archbishop Peter Hundt said the move would buy the Church more time to finish assessing the value of all its assets “as we develop a proposal for our creditors to settle victims’ claims and creditor liabilities.”

Several months ago, the Church announced that a team of advisors was working on a “major restructuring” plan to resolve the claims, estimated to be in the millions of dollars.

In July, Hundt said that would involve downsizing and consolidation at both the diocese and parish levels, including the potential sale of the flagship Basilica of St. John the Baptist. The Archbishop’s residence in Outer Cove and the Mount St. Francis…

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Accusations that the Dallas priest, who died in 2006, sexually abused boys are credible, the Jesuits USA Central and Southern Province said.

The Jesuits USA Central and Southern Province added the Rev. Patrick Koch — a former Jesuit College Preparatory School president who died in 2006 — to its list of “credibly accused” religious leaders. Koch already had been listed as credibly accused by the Dallas and Corpus Christi dioceses.

The publication comes weeks after Brendan Higgins, a former Dallas-area TV anchor, revealed himself as one of nine former students who are suing the Jesuit order and others over sexual abuse they said they suffered at the hands of priests in the school.

“There’s been a big change in leadership in the Southern Province that has come with a new level of respect, cooperation and empathy for the victims. This feels really good,” Higgins said Saturday in an…

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[VIDEO]

The Diocese of Fresno failed to name at least five priests who have been publicly accused of sexual misconduct when it released its delayed list of credibly accused clergy in early August, according to records provided by a law firm representing victims of sexual abuse.

The Fresno Bee previously reported that three of the five clergy members were missing from the list. The additional two — Rev. Orlando Alberto Battagliola and Father Edgardo Arrunataegui Jimenez — were identified by Jeff Anderson & Associates, which represents victims of sexual abuse, the vast majority of whom have cases involving clergy.

The list released by the diocese is “incomplete and inaccurate,” said Mike Reck, an attorney with Jeff Anderson & Associates.

He said the Fresno Diocese has misled the public about the dangers posed by the priests left off the list.

“Time and time again, this diocese has shown that it cannot…

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As the window begins to close for North Carolina sexual assault victims to take their attackers to court, two new lawsuits pull back the curtains on allegations of more than a half century of Boy Scout abuse in Charlotte.

In one complaint, 29 former Scouts have sued the Mecklenburg Council of the Boy Scouts of America over assault allegations dating back as far as 1950 and as recent as 2007. At least one of the former Scouts is now in his 80s.

In a second lawsuit, a New York City man claims that as a 13- and 14-year-old, he was abused by his Scoutmaster in Charlotte for more than a year in the early 1980s, triggering a lifetime of emotional and physical problems. He, too, is calling on the Mecklenburg courts to hold the Boy Scouts council responsible for abusers it should have been aware of and crimes…

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The fourth report from the Catholic Church to the National Office for Child Safety outlines initiatives across dozens of Catholic entities as they continue to strengthen their efforts to keep all people safe in Church settings.

The Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference (ACBC) and Catholic Religious Australia (CRA) on Thursday published their Annual Progress Report on initiatives implemented at national and local level to fight abuse in the Church . The report has been issued yearly since 2018 on recommendation of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. It summarizes reports provided by more than 50 Catholic entities across the country to give an account to the Australian government of the progress made in the field of child protection.

Acknowledgment of past failures

In the preface, Bishops’ Conference president Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane and CRA president Br Peter Carroll FMS acknowledge the “shameful past” that…

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Spain’s Catholic Church is to open an investigation into alleged sex abuse of hundreds of children by members of the clergy dating back 80 years that the newspaper El Pais has uncovered, the daily said on Sunday.

The investigation will look into allegations of abuse against 251 priests and some lay people from religious institutions that the paper has uncovered, El Pais said.

The paper has not published in full its findings from a three-year investigation it conducted into the issue, but said its correspondent gave a 385-page dossier to Pope Francis on Dec. 2 while the papal entourage and journalists were flying from Rome to Cyprus.

The number of victims is at least 1,237 but could rise into the thousands, the paper said. The allegations concern 31 religious orders and 31 of the country’s some 70 dioceses. The oldest case dates back to 1942 and the most recent to…

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THERE are serious and profound changes taking place in the Catholic Church to acknowledge and prevent child sexual abuse by clerics and lay people. The number of priests convicted in the Philippines is zero. Clerical child abuse has become a crisis for the Church as an institution.

We celebrate this December Pope Francis‘s historic decree that approved a new law, Motu Proprio Vos estis lux mundi, to protect child victims and prosecute any clergy accused of child abuse. It covers bishops who covered up acts of abuse by priests or lay people. Every complaint of child abuse must be reported and investigated immediately and reported to the Church and the civil authorities.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines has its guidelines in dealing with child abuse by priests, but they are outdated and do not include any cooperation with civil authorities in bringing a cleric child rapist or abuser to justice. That…

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A pastor at one of Canada’s largest churches has been accused of sexual misconduct and has been placed on leave while the church undertakes an external investigation.

Bruxy Cavey, who grew The Meeting House into a megachurch with some 5,000 people attending 19 campuses in the larger Toronto metropolitan area, was accused of sexual misconduct by a woman who reported it to the church’s board of directors last week.

Cavey taught at Fresno Pacific University Biblical Seminary as a lecturer for about 2 years before being removed from his position in a program shakeup in August 2018.

A news release from FPU at the time said the dismissal of Cavey and two other pastors resulted from concerns over the direction of the seminary and “some teaching positions of visiting lecturers.”

The chair of the Meeting House board, Maggie John, issued a statement on Thursday regarding the allegations.

“Bruxy…

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A pastor at one of Canada’s largest churches has been accused of sexual misconduct and has been placed on leave while the church undertakes an external investigation.

Bruxy Cavey, who grew The Meeting House into a megachurch with some 5,000 people attending 19 campuses in the larger Toronto metropolitan area, was accused of sexual misconduct by a woman who reported it to the church’s Overseers Board, or board of directors, last week.

In a brief statement, Maggie John, chair of the Meeting House board, wrote: “Bruxy has now been placed on a leave of absence while an external investigation takes place. We take these allegations very seriously and are committed to a thorough and transparent process. We are praying through this situation.”

Church leaders moved quickly to hire a third-party investigator — less than a week after they were notified of the accusations. They would not comment further. 

Cavey, 56, is…

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A bond hearing was held Thursday for the former director of Arc of Greater New Orleans.Advertisement

Stephen Sauer is facing sex crime charges, and investigators say there could be more victims. He attended his hearing via Zoom.

His bond was set at $75,000.

Sauer was ordered to stay away from the victims, and if he didn’t, would be subject to arrest.

He also will be on house arrest if he posts bail.

According to court documents, on July 23 JPSO was contacted by the New York District Attorney’s Office.

Documents show Sauer had sent a hard drive to a company based in New York for repairs.

The company found a couple of hundred images of sexual assaults that happened in the Metairie area on the hard drive and turned it over to the district attorney’s office in New York, according to court documents.

Documents state the adult men pictured were…

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The executive director of Arc of Greater New Orleans has been arrested on five counts of video voyeurism and one count of sexual battery, according to court records.

Stephen Sauer, 59, remains behind bars in the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center, pending a court hearing Thursday. 

ArcGNO, with headquarters in Metairie, provides services to mentally disabled people in Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard and St. Tammany parishes. Sauer’s LinkedIn profile says he has been at the helm of the nonprofit since January 2017.

Records also show Sauer was a Jesuit priest, listing him as pastor of Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church in New Orleans from 2008 to 2012. A spokesperson for the Society of Jesus said Sauer left the order “at his own request in 2020.”

Sauer, who lives in Metairie, posted on LinkedIn that he has served on a number of local boards, including…

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Boston Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley, in a Dec. 17 interview with a newspaper from Argentina, spoke about how some church factions in the U.S. drive views opposing Pope Francis via polarizing media messages.

The cardinal, head of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, also spoke of how the sex abuse crisis has impacted evangelization.

In the interview with La Nación on the occasion of Pope Francis’ 85th birthday, Cardinal O’Malley said polarization and opposition to Pope Francis includes some conservative prelates in the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, but he did not name anyone.

“Yes, the episcopal conference is polarized, but it is difficult to put a (figure on the) percentage of the opponents. There are also some bishops who are linked to a more conservative policy, and the Holy Father himself has commented on the situation of EWTN television, where, many times, the commentators are very critical…

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Perhaps 2021 will be remembered as the year that we got used to living with a pandemic as the “new normal.” Sadly, it may also be the year that U.S. Catholics got used to a “new normal” of near-constant culture war battles in our church.

The year opened with the shameful storming of the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to overturn the results of a valid presidential election. The next day, we editorialized that Catholics needed to confess their complicity in what was, in effect, a failed coup.

“Catholic apologists for [former President Donald] Trump have blood on their hands,” we wrote, calling out “some bishops, priests, a few sisters, right-wing Catholic media and too many people in the pro-life movement,” as well as the more than 50% of Catholics who voted for Trump “after four years of incompetence, racist dog whistles and assaults on democratic norms.”

Just…

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The National Catholic Reporter (NCR), the independent Catholic news organization, named Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez as its Newsmaker of the Year in an editorial published Dec. 17, 2021.

NCR cites Gomez’s inability to unite the church, his support for efforts to deny Communion to pro-life politicians including President Joe Biden and his dismissive comments toward social justice movements for fanning the flames of culture war.

“As head of the bishops’ conference for the past two years, Gomez has squandered his presidency fighting dead-end culture wars,” NCR writes. “The year was bookended by Gomez’s moves to attack Biden and a year-end speech denigrating social and racial justice movements that do the work of the gospel. In an organization whose history is peppered with failed leaders, it is hard to find one less accomplished.”

In a separate editorial, NCR held up the example of Catholic social and racial justice advocates as  View Cache