The pope’s safeguarding commission has announced the “imminent” release of its first annual report on the Church’s worldwide efforts to protect minors and vulnerable adults.

The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors (PCPM) said Oct. 18 that the eagerly awaited document would “provide an assessment of the nature and effectiveness of safeguarding policies and procedures in the Church, and offer recommendations for continuous improvement.”

Why is the report significant? What do we know about its contents? And what should we look out for when it’s released? 

The Pillar takes a look.

Why is the report significant?

The report is notable because it marks the first time a Vatican body has published an assessment of the state of safeguarding in the worldwide Catholic Church.

If you haven’t been following the Church’s child protection efforts closely, that might not sound like much of an achievement. Perhaps it even sounds like something the Church…

View Cache

Pope Francis has expelled two more members and upheld the expulsion of one member of the controversial lay movement Sodalitium Christianae Vitae due to allegations of sexual abuse, abuse of power and financial malfeasance.

In a letter dated Oct. 21 and posted on the Peruvian bishops’ conference website, the apostolic nunciature in Peru announced that the decision was made after the pope evaluated allegations revealed during a Vatican investigation last year.

The investigation, dubbed as a “special mission,” was conducted in July 2023 by Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta and Msgr. Jordi Bertomeu, officials of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, who traveled to Peru to meet with victims of Sodalitium, the movements’ leaders and journalists who uncovered the abuses within the group.

Founder and noted journalist among those expelled

As a result of the investigation, Luis Fernando Figari, Sodalitium’s founder, was expelled from the group in August.

…

View Cache

A former Decatur pastor charged with sex crimes is set to go on trial this week after his trial was previously continued four times.

Danny Duane Pitts is charged with two counts of sodomy and pleaded not guilty in 2022. Court documents show Pitts’s trial was set to begin on Monday, October 21.

On October 18, documents were filed by the state showing their intent to use “404b evidence” at the trial. 404b evidence is used to introduce new evidence at trial to establish a motive, plan and intent.

The notice of intent to use the 404b says that the state would like to introduce “evidence and testimony relating to acts of sodomy and sexual abuse committed by [Pitts] against an additional victim who was of a similar age at the time of the abuse as the named victim in the case.”

Documents show other evidence the state wants to…

View Cache

The goal of the Annual Report, which was requested by the Holy Father in 2022, is to provide an assessment of the nature and effectiveness of safeguarding policies and procedures in the Church and offer recommendations for continuous improvement.

The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors gathered in Rome on October 7-11 for their fall Plenary Assembly. In his homily at the Assembly’s opening Mass on October 7, Commission President, Cardinal Seán Patrick O’Malley OFM Cap., said “Those who are hurting have a particular claim on our love. The Commission has an opportunity and obligation to make the Church a more Samaritan Church.”

The weeklong meeting of 30 expert members and personnel from across five continents was the first gathering under Commission Secretary, Bishop Luis Manuel Ali Herrera, and Adjunct Secretary, Teresa Kettelkamp since their appointment by the Holy Father last Spring.

The working sessions focused on…

View Cache

A Northeastern University professor says the case of Lyle and Erik Menendez, who are serving life imprisonment for the shooting deaths of their wealthy parents in 1989, indicates a major societal shift in how male victims of childhood sexual abuse are perceived — and believed.

Around the time they were convicted of first-degree murder for killing Jose and Kitty Menendez, the young men were ridiculed in newspaper columns, talk shows and even “Saturday Night Live” as being motivated by greed.

But 28 years after their sentencing, family members are calling for the brothers’ release, saying they were driven to desperation by longtime sexual abuse at the hands of their father, a well-known executive in the entertainment industry. 

Carlos Cuevas, Northeastern professor of criminology and criminal justice, says in the decades since the Menendez sentencing there has been growing recognition that childhood sexual abuse affects…

View Cache

There was ‘no effort made to deal with perpetrators’, Dermot Farrell tells US Catholic TV network

The sexual abuse of children by priests was blamed on survivors and there was “no effort made to deal with the perpetrators”, Catholic Archbishop of Dublin Dermot Farrell has said.

The archbishop made his remarks on clerical abuse in an interview with a US conservative Catholic TV network.

Of the perpetrators of the abuse, he said: “Sometimes they were left in situ, sometimes they were moved around, because there was maybe a thinking the problem was the person they were involved with rather than with the actual perpetrators,” he said.

“So if you moved them somewhere else that’ll deal with the problem. They were putting the blame on the survivor,” he said.

“We know different now but then, because there was a sexual element in it, they [church authorities] didn’t…

View Cache

A Living Word International Church pastor in Midland, charged with criminal sexual conduct crimes, could become a repeat offender if convicted.

MIDLAND, Mich. (WNEM) – A Living Word International Church pastor in Midland, charged with criminal sexual conduct crimes, could become a repeat offender if convicted.

WARNING: Details in this story may be considered graphic.

Mark Barclay Ministries’ Rev. James Randolph, 58, is currently on administrative leave from the church after an alleged victim testified in court that he would touch her at night starting in the sixth grade.

In February 2024, Randolph was charged with six criminal sexual conduct felonies after his arrest in Nov. 2023. He’s charged with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and four counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct.

A motion to amend his $5 million bond was denied.

WNEM-TV5 requested the felony complaint that resulted in Randolph’s charges from the Midland County Prosecutor’s Office….

View Cache

Former Gateway Church pastor Robert Morris is among a rising number of Dallas-Fort Worth pastors to resign this year due to sexual abuse allegations and moral failures.

A number of megachurch pastors in North Texas have resigned this year after being accused of sexual abuse and other crimes. Other religious leaders in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro have stepped down or faced significant consequences due to a series of ‘moral failures’ and unexplained transgressions. Here is a running list of the Texas clergy who’ve face public scrutiny in 2024.

May Terren Dames, North Dallas Community Bible Fellowship in Plano

Terren Dames, the former senior pastor North Dallas Community Bible Fellowship, was arrested and charged on May 2 for alleged solicitation of prostitution. Plano police accused Dames…

View Cache

Controversy deepened Saturday over a recent Vatican attempt to reinstate a former priest twice convicted of sexual abuse of minors in Argentina, after an interview with the Vatican’s top canon lawyer suggested that Pope Francis could be personally involved in the case.

As questions linger about the Vatican’s handling of the abuse case, focus will now likely shift from the Vatican’s Secretariat of State to Pope Francis himself.

In an Oct. 19 interview with official Vatican media, Archbishop Filippo Iannone of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts pointed out that officials at the Vatican’s Secretariat of State can be legitimately involved in clerical abuse cases, when they act as confidential couriers for decisions reached by other Vatican departments competent to deal with those cases.

But Iannone also pointed out that appeals by or for priests laicized for abuse crimes can only be considered by the pope personally, or by others acting…

View Cache

Aimee Torres was in disbelief as she read the email from her lawyer on Wednesday telling her that the Los Angeles Archdiocese had finally agreed to settle a sexual abuse class action lawsuit for $880 million.

A childhood survivor of sexual abuse at the hands of a local Catholic priest who had befriended her family, Torres had long hoped for some acknowledgement of the abuse and a sense of justice. But part of her never expected it would actually happen, she told National Catholic Reporter in a phone interview a day after the settlement was announced.

“It’s definitely something I never thought I’d see in this lifetime,” Torres said, as she fought back tears. “I mentioned to my husband that I hoped it would be resolved before I was 40, to move on to the next chapter of my life without something glaring over my shoulder.”

Torres…

View Cache

[See video.]

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – More than 1,350 child sexual abuse survivors will receive part of $880 million settlement with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles thanks to a California law that opened 3-year window for lawsuits exceeding the usual statute of limitations.

Lawyer Tim Hale, who is know for his work on behalf of sexual abuse survivors, said this is not the end of these cases.

“We are just scratching the surface, unfortunately even though this sounds like an incredible number of victims the terrifying thing is that there are so many more who have not been able to come forward and speak their truth and talk about what happened,” said Hale, “and the people who did come forward deserve an incredible amount of credit, but the reality is there are many, many more remaining silent unfortunately.”

Some of the abuse dates back to the 1940s.

“There have been…

View Cache

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Vatican’s safeguarding commission has “an opportunity and obligation to make the church a more Samaritan church,” Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, told commission members during its plenary assembly.

According to an Oct. 17 statement by the commission, 30 of its expert members and personnel met with officials from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to discuss safeguarding procedures during the commission’s Oct. 7-11 plenary assembly in Rome.

The commission said it met with Archbishop John Kennedy, secretary of the discipline section for the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith; Jesuit Father Robert Geisinger, the dicastery’s promoter of justice; and Father Brian Taylor, an official at the dicastery.

During the meeting the commission “addressed current procedures in confronting sexual abuse in the Church, as well as safeguarding guideline development,” it said. “The engagement during the…

View Cache

AUGUSTA TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WXYZ) — A man who is a music and youth director at a church in Washtenaw County is facing several charges in connection to sexual abuse of children.

Zachary Radcliff, 29, was arraigned on charges of criminal sexual conduct and possession of child sexually abusive material, among others, Michigan State Police said.

Radcliff is an employee of Oakwood Church in Augusta Township and is the son of the senior pastor.

MSP said the investigation started on Oct. 2 when it was found that Radcliff asked for sexually abusive material from a minor. Investigators say multiple victims have been identified.

Police said church leaders have been cooperating with the investigation. The church says Radcliff has been suspended with pay pending further investigation.

Oakwood Church sent out a statement:

We received some very disturbing news about our music and youth director, Zachary Radcliff who is also the son of…

View Cache

Tuesday, 22 October 2024, 4:54 pm

Press Release: Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand

Today the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand released its response to the findings of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care.

The Presbyterian Church accepts the findings of the Royal Commission, including the Presbyterian Church’s reluctance to confront abuse, its failure to remove people, and the lack of consistent policies and procedures to prevent and report abuse.

The Presbyterian Church grieves deeply for all who have been harmed by its actions and inaction. Its sorrow is deep, and it is committed to working with all in building safe places for everyone.

In its response, the Presbyterian Church has apologised as a first step in doing the work of repentance, and from which it hopes that in time restoration may come. A public apology to survivors, their whanau and support networks will…

View Cache

Four days after their senior pastor pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators, members of Friendly Avenue Baptist Church in Greensboro, N.C., heard a sermon on biblical qualifications for pastors Sunday.

Matthew Queen, who has been on administrative leave from the North Carolina church since May, entered a guilty plea last Wednesday, Oct. 16, on one count of making false statements to the United States Southern District of New York attorney’s office and the FBI in a June 2023. The charges are related to an alleged coverup of sexual abuse claims against at student at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, where Queen at the time was serving as evangelism professor and interim provost.

Queen has not resigned from the Greensboro pastorate, and church leaders reportedly are working through how to handle the odd circumstances. Church bylaws require a 75% affirmative vote to remove a pastor who won’t resign on…

View Cache

WASHTENAW COUNTY, MI – The lead pastor of an Ypsilanti-area church and father of a man accused of criminal sexual conduct against children said he was “blindsided” by the allegations.

“I have been as freaked out as everyone else has been,” said the Rev. Frank Radcliff, the lead pastor of Oakwood Church, 9074 Whittaker Road in Ypsilanti.

Zachary Joseph Radcliff, the 29-year-old son of Frank Radcliff, was arraigned on a charge of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, two charges of aggravated child sexually abusive activity, two charges of child sexually abusive activity and six charges of using the internet to communicate with another to commit a crime. He faces up to life in prison.

Zachary Radcliff served as the worship director and interim youth pastor for Oakwood Church.

Church leadership was notified of a potential incident in early October, leading them to suspend Zachary Radcliff with pay…

View Cache

George Shea of Uxbridge, who was sexually abused as a boy by Roman Catholic priests, sat down for hours in 2021 with investigators from then-attorney general Maura Healey’s office to detail what had happened to him at the hands of clergy he had trusted.

Shea, 64, said he was told that Healey was conducting a wide-ranging investigation into clergy sexual abuse in the Worcester diocese. Shea had become an outspoken advocate for survivors of such abuse, and he was heartened that the state was looking beyond the well-publicized scandals that had rocked the Archdiocese of Boston.

Three years later, Shea and other survivors from the Worcester, Fall River, and Springfield dioceses are still waiting for the results of that investigation to be made public.

“It’s frustrating,” said Shea, who recalled that he sat for a lengthy interview with the attorney general’s office, which included a state trooper, in September 2021….

View Cache

The Emmaus Federation of Switzerland has condemned the sexual abuses attributed to the late Abbé Pierre, a French Catholic priest who campaigned for the poor and homeless. The federation will no longer use his image, in a sign of solidarity with all victims, it said.

“Without denying the history of the Emmaus movement, the Federation condemns these unspeakable acts and distances itself from the figure of Abbé Pierre, its founder,” said the Emmaus Federation of Switzerland in a press release on Monday, following an extraordinary general meeting held on October 15 in Bern.

The federation stressed that it will no longer use Abbé Pierre’s image or quotes in its communication material, “as a sign of solidarity with all victims of sexist and sexual violence”. It invited its members to do the same.

The federation offered its unreserved support to the victims, noting their courage in coming forward to testify. It…

View Cache

Pope Francis urges cooperation on child abuse cases, but the Vatican’s lack of transparency contradicts this

Pope Francis has called upon Church authorities to cooperate with civil authorities in relation to child sexual abuse by Church personnel. But when it comes to the Vatican cooperating, it is a different story.

On Sept. 28, while in Belgium, Pope Francis is reported to have said: “‘There is no room for abuse in the church. I ask everyone, don’t cover up abuse! Evil must not be hidden, it must be in the open … so that the abuser is judged, whether they be a layman or a laywoman, a priest or a bishop, that they be judged. The word of God is clear.”

If the word of God is clear, Pope Francis is not listening to it. The Holy See only publishes its disciplinary decisions when the allegations are in the…

View Cache

An Arkansas church rocked by child sexual abuse scandals is preparing to adopt bylaws for the first time in its 132-year history, but the draft proposal would muzzle church members from speaking to reporters and non-members about the affairs of the church.

This unusual bylaw provision was unveiled just days before one of the church’s former ministers was formally charged with repeated sexual assault and kidnapping of a child during what he called “closet time” with her at Immanuel Baptist Church.

Patrick Stephen Miller previously served Immanuel as assistant director of children’s ministry and was sent from there to an Oklahoma church without any notice to that church of accusations made against him. Miller was charged with two counts each of kidnapping and second-degree sexual assault, which together carry a potential life sentence.

It was church members speaking out about this and other unaddressed matters of sexual abuse at the church that…

View Cache

Sitting down with a controversial felon not a good look for the church just now, critics complain

New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan is still getting scorched after he was photographed smiling and laughing it up with former President Donald Trump at a key dinner held by the Catholic Diocese of New York.

Dolan was clearly enjoying himself immensely at the annual Alfred E. Smith dinner last week as he chatted and joked with convicted felon Trump, who a jury earlier this year declared had sexually abused E. Jean Carroll in a Manhattan department store. The annual event which was held the same day the Los Angeles diocese agreed to pay $1.5 billion to hundreds of sexual abuse victims of Catholic priests, raises money for Catholic Charities.

It was insult on top of grievous injury, many are complaining.

New York Times columnist Maureen Down wrote Saturday of Dolan: “ View Cache

As the Synod on Synodality explores the issue of abuse and the Church’s efforts to combat it, Archbishop Filippo Iannone, Prefect of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts, speaks to Vatican News about the various procedures being implemented and the efficacy of existing canonical norms.

The fight against abuse remains a constant concern within the Church, especially in recent years. The topic has also surfaced in the discussions of the ongoing Synod and continues to be monitored closely by the media.

We spoke to Archbishop Filippo Iannone, Prefect of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts, to explore some of the procedures being implemented.

Q: Can you tell us where we stand in terms of the laws in force? Are they effective?

This is certainly a topic of central concern for the entire Church, as the Pope frequently emphasizes, so it naturally found its way into the interventions of the Synod members. Canon…

View Cache

A statement released on Friday, October 17, by the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors says the body looks ahead to the pilot Annual Report and to strengthening ties with the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors held its Plenary Assembly in Rome from October 7-11. In a statement released on Friday, the Commission said the gathering brought together 30 expert members from across five continents to discuss the strategic direction of the Commission under the leadership of newly appointed Secretary Bishop Luis Manuel Ali Herrera and Adjunct Secretary Teresa Kettelkamp.

Cardinal Seán Patrick O’Malley, OFM Cap., President of the Commission, celebrated Mass for the opening of the Assembly.

“Those who are hurting have a particular claim on our love,” he said in his homily, “The Commission has an opportunity and obligation to make the Church a more Samaritan Church.”

…

View Cache

Marc Jacques, who was on delayed sentencing after pleading guilty to a felony count, was arrested Friday after appearing to violate bail.

The father of a trans athlete, recently convicted on a child sexual abuse material distribution charge, has been arrested by the federal government after parents of children participating and attending Kearsarge Regional High School soccer games raised concerns about his presence.

Marc A. Jacques, 50, was arrested on Friday on unknown charges, government sources confirmed to Patch. He is scheduled to be arraigned on Monday. He was out on bail on delayed sentencing after pleading guilty to a single felony count of distribution of child sexual abuse material in March. Marc Jacques is the father of Maëlle Des Lauriers Jacques, a trans athlete and goalie on the Kearsarge girls’ soccer team, and had been attending his child’s games before his arrest.

During the past few weeks, parents wondered…

View Cache

A condemned Texas man’s execution has been halted after lawmakers subpoenaed him to appear before the state Legislature amid claims of his innocence.

The Supreme Court of Texas said in a post on X late Thursday that it had “granted a Texas House of Representatives’ emergency motion” and “effectively [halted] the execution of Robert Roberson,” which was scheduled to take place on Thursday night.

Roberson was convicted in 2003 of the murder of his infant daughter, Nikki, whom he had brought to a local hospital with severe injuries. Roberson claimed the baby had fallen from her bed, but medical experts argued that her injuries were consistent with child abuse.

Testimony at his trial included the claim that Nikki’s injuries were consistent with “shaken baby syndrome.” Since his conviction, Roberson has attempted to establish his innocence by invoking Texas’s “junk science” law, which allows defendants to argue that scientific evidence used…

View Cache

After years of bankruptcy litigation, my diocese has just agreed to a record $330 million payout to victims of sexual abuse by clergy. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles made even that hefty sum look small with an $880 million settlement. In these and many other cases, all of the diocese’s parishes will be forced to contribute to the debt. Which means parishioners will be paying for the sins of their priests.

Not a few Catholics are as angry as our Lord was when He chased the money changers from the temple. Why should the innocent pay from their wages to cover the sins of the guilty?

This conundrum reformulates an old question that cries out with the blood of Abel and continues until today: Why does a good God allow the innocent to suffer?

Sin destroys the innocent far more rapidly than the sinner. The drunk driver kills…

View Cache

With nearly 1,000 people filing sexual abuse claims against the Archdiocese of Baltimore to which the Roman Catholic Church admits, I will continue to ask an important question (“Attorney: 900 to 1,000 filed sex abuse claims in Archdiocese of Baltimore bankruptcy case,” Oct. 15).

Where is the Catholic Church’s deep dive into the root-cause analysis of this horrendous behavior?

Certainly, the public deserves to know.

— Christy Bergland, Baltimore

View Cache

An annual weeklong camp in Gilmanton for people with special needs will no longer be offered, the Diocese of Manchester announced on Friday.

For 60 years, Exceptional Citizens’ Week at Camp Fatima in Gilmanton offered people ages 9 and older with intellectual or physical challenges a week of traditional camp activities such as horseback riding, swimming, boating, arts and crafts, and more at no cost to the camper.Advertisement

In a statement, Bishop Peter Libasci of Manchester said all programs at Camp Fatima and its sister facility, Camp Bernadette, must “create a strong and healthy Catholic culture, remain faithful to Church teaching and, very importantly, reinforce the Camps’ values. These imperatives supersede any one program of the organization and is why E.C. Week will not continue at Camp Fatima.”

When News 9 reached out to the diocese for clarification, a spokesperson provided a statement that said, “Code of conduct violations occurred…

View Cache

A leading U.K. bishop has vowed to make the Church a place of “safety and sanctuary for all” after a report showed a third of Mass-goers reduced their Mass attendance because of concerns about the child sexual abuse crisis.

Last week, the Centre for Catholic Studies at Durham University published a study titled “Attitudes of Catholics in England and Wales to Child Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church.”

The study showed that a third of Catholics who previously went to Mass have reduced their attendance or stopped going altogether as a result of the child sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church.

Responding to the report, Bishop Paul Mason, lead bishop for safeguarding at the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, said: “I would like to assure Catholics, and indeed anyone who has concerns, that safeguarding is integral to a bishop’s work and ministry and that…

View Cache

Los Angeles Archdiocese agrees to $880M settlement in sex-abuse cases. The $880 million settlement is in addition to $740 million paid previously to Southern California victims of sex abuse.

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has agreed to pay $880 million to hundreds of victims of clergy sexual abuse dating back decades.

The settlement with 1,353 people who allege that they were abused by local Catholic priests is the largest single child sex abuse settlement with a Catholic archdiocese, according to experts. The accusers were able to sue after California approved a law that opened a three-year window in 2020 for cases that exceeded the statute of limitations.

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has previously paid $740 million to victims. With the settlement announced Wednesday, the total payout will be more than $1.5 billion.

Attorneys still need to get approval for the settlement from all plaintiffs to finalize it, the Plaintiffs’…

View Cache

Clergy sex abuse scandals have rocked Catholic churches across the world, but few places have seen the financial toll of the Los Angeles Archdiocese.

With a record $880-million settlement with victims announced this week, the Los Angeles Archdiocese has now paid out more than $1.5 billion.

The bill reflects its rank as the largest archdiocese in the nation, with more than 4 million members, and a California law that gave accusers more time to file suit.

But attorneys and others who have been involved in more than two decades of litigation say it also is an indication of the failures of church leaders to identify molesting priests and prevent them from committing more crimes.

Some of those priests, after undergoing treatment at residential centers, were shuffled to new parishes, frequently in immigrant neighborhoods where the abuse would continue.

With the latest settlements, the number of people alleging abuse now stands…

View Cache

The plaintiffs sought $1 million in relief for the boy’s medical bills and his “pain and suffering.”

Champion Forest Baptist Church in far northwest Houston agreed to pay “minimal money” to settle a civil case that alleges one of its Sunday school teachers beat and sexually assaulted a 4-year-old boy in 2019, an attorney for the church confirmed this week.

“The case, like many lawsuits in North America, was settled by the church’s insurance company,” Marc Sheiness, a Houston-based attorney representing Champion Forest, said in an email Wednesday. “The insurance company paid minimal money to eliminate the expense of ongoing litigation.” In response to additional questions via email, Sheiness declined to disclose the cost of the proposed settlement. He said the amount “was not determined by the church and had nothing to do with the allegations or injuries being…

View Cache

A late local priest was recently added to a list of Toledo-area clerics that the area’s diocese said were “credibly accused” of child sex abuse.

It’s not known when the name was added to the list, but Sandusky native Father Michael G. Madden was added to the list, which is kept by the Toledo Catholic Diocese.

The list includes 10 other priests who were added after their deaths. There are 26 other names on the list, which include clergy who have substantiated allegations of sexual abuse of a minor or child pornography.

“This is same groceries, different bag,” said Claudia Vercellotti, an advocate with the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, known also as SNAP, adding that the diocese’s method of “stealthily” releasing the information was “as effective as putting a note in a bottle and throwing it out to the ocean.”

Madden, who passed away in 2007, is…

View Cache

A pastor from Delight, Arkansas, has been arrested for possessing and distributing child sexual abuse materials. James Vincent Henry, 43, faces 100 counts related to these crimes.

Investigation and Arrest of Pastor on Charges Including Distribution of Child Sexual Abuse Material

On September 25, 2024, Arkansas State Police executed a search warrant following two cyber tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. These tips originated from the social media platforms Snapchat and Kik.

After examining digital evidence, authorities obtained an arrest warrant for Henry. He was taken into custody on October 14 and charged with 100 counts of possession, viewing, and distribution of child sexual abuse material.

Pastor’s Background Working With Children

Henry served as the pastor of Crossroads Assembly of God Church in Delight. His past roles included working as a youth pastor at various churches, notably Newsong Church in Centerton, where he was also part…

View Cache

An Arkansas Baptist church, under fire for alleged cover-up of sexual abuse, has devised a new way to control negative publicity—forbid members from speaking anything with “(negative) intent” in public.

The church, Immanuel Baptist Church (IBC) in Little Rock, Arkansas, has faced intense public scrutiny since December, when former IBC deacons alleged that church leaders failed to disclose sexual abuse of minors.

On February 4, longtime IBC Senior Pastor Steven Smith told the church’s board of deacons, “I can’t have trust restored if people inside the church are talking to the newspaper,” according to sources reported by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.  

Two months later, Smith stepped down. 

Now, Immanuel is revising its bylaws to include a restriction on free speech.

“Church members are expected to avoid making statements to the general public, media, or via the Internet with intent to breach Church business confidentialities, injure the reputation of the Church,…

View Cache

James Vincent Henry, pastor of Crossroads Assembly of God in Delight, Arkansas, has been charged with 100 counts of possessing, viewing, and distributing child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

Editor’s note: This article refers to reports of child sex abuse that some readers might find triggering and/or disturbing.

According to the church’s website, the 43-year-old pastor has been married to his wife Brittney for 12 years, and the couple has three children.

Henry’s wife is also listed as a pastor of Crossroads Assembly of God.

Before becoming pastor of Crossroads Assembly of God, Henry served as a youth pastor at four different churches: Lacey Assembly of God, McGehee First Assembly of God, Mountain Pine First Assembly of God, and Newsong Church in Centerton, Arkansas.

RELATED: Christian Ethics Professor Arrested for Alleged Possession of Child Sex Abuse Material

“An Arkansas State Police (ASP) Internet Crimes Against…

View Cache

A North Carolina pastor has been arrested and charged with sexual exploitation of a minor following a two-month investigation. Timothy Charles Rupard, 44, believed that he was communicating online with a 16-year-old girl. 

Editor’s note: This article refers to reports of child sex abuse that some readers might find triggering and/or disturbing.

Rupard is pastor of Temple Baptist Church, an independent KJV-only Baptist congregation in Newland, North Carolina.

According to WCYB, an investigator received a message in August from Rupard on an undercover social media account. In the message, Rupard, who reportedly utilized the fake username “David Eller,” allegedly solicited sex from a 16-year-old girl. 

RELATED: Florida Pastor, Previously Convicted in Sex Abuse Case, Under Investigation as Authorities Seek To Identify Other Victims

The account received more messages of a similar nature through September. In October, the investigator obtained a search warrant and determined that the account…

View Cache

The Office of the Bishop Diocese of Laredo announced the official dismissal of Rev. Michael (Juan Antonio) De Leon, pastor of Divine Mercy Catholic Church, after the Vatican rejected his appeal in June.

On June 30, 2023, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith dismissed De Leon from the clerical state for reasons unstated, with him unable to perform mass in public.

The Vatican rejected De Leon’s recourse a year later, stripping his title as a priest. Bishop James A. Tamayo received news of this on Oct. 6, 2024.

“He can no longer present himself as a priest or celebrate the sacraments,” Tamayo said in an official statement.

During the process of his appeal undergoing review with the Vatican, the Diocese provided his full salary, health insurance and housing, benefits he now loses after leaving the priesthood. De Leon will continue to acquire benefits for the next six months…

View Cache

After accusing a priest of sexually abusing minors, Émilienne Sibomana has been imprisoned in Burundi for false accusations. Despite being acquitted in July, she remains in prison, in violation of her country’s legal procedures, according to her lawyers.

Acquitted but still imprisoned—that is the fate of Émilienne Sibomana, a Burundian woman who has been behind bars for nearly two years for false accusations after she accused a priest, who was also a school principal, of sexually abusing minors in the Archdiocese of Gitega, located in Burundi’s second-largest city with the same name.

The case began in January 2023. According to the appeal decision, which La Croix International obtained, Émilienne Sibomana, a secretary at a high school, accused the school’s principal during a public meeting of sexually assaulting some female students in his office. The day after the meeting, she was arrested and imprisoned for making false accusations.

La Croix International has confirmed that on…

View Cache

Topline The Archdiocese of Los Angeles on Wednesday said it has agreed to pay $880 million to settle claims of clergy sexual abuse dating back several decades, which the victims’ attorneys say is the largest such settlement with a Catholic archdiocese.

Key Facts

• The settlement covers 1,353 child sexual abuse claims dating back to the 1940s and filed after California’s Assembly Bill 218 was enacted in 2019, which allowed civil claims of older sexual abuse cases involving minors to be reopened.

• In a letter to the city’s Catholic residents, LA Archbishop José H. Gomez wrote: “I am sorry for every one of these incidents, from the bottom of my heart,” adding that he hoped the settlement “will provide some measure of healing for what these men and women have suffered.”

• Gomez said the church would fund the settlement by drawing from its “reserves, investments, and loans, along with…

View Cache

Clerical celibacy is an issue that the ongoing final sessions of the Synod on Synodality should have discussed. However, the hierarchy continues to peripheralize it, despite its deleterious impacts on witnessing Christ and evangelizing.

Historically, the androcentric Roman Catholic Church has been mired in an endless crisis over clerical celibacy and chastity with pernicious implications, especially for its lay and religious women and children.

Apart from explicit violence against them by the celibate clerics, the hierarchy’s double standards of male sexual morality have placed the burden of blame, shame, guilt and sin on women survivors — the proverbial Eves, and have treated women in relationships with clerics as moral pariahs.

The abusive clerics have almost always emerged relatively unscathed as gentlemen of the cloth. Despite its claim of being the custodian of morality, the Church has reneged on accountability behind the smokescreen of theological and legal semantics.

In the Church’s…

View Cache

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

I want to inform you that we have reached a settlement with men and women who survived childhood sexual abuse at the hands of priests and other clergy and individuals serving in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

I am sorry for every one of these incidents, from the bottom of my heart. My hope is that this settlement will provide some measure of healing for what these men and women have suffered.

Most of the alleged acts of abuse covered in this settlement took place more than fifty years ago, with a number of the cases dating back to the 1940s. Some of these acts are alleged to have been committed by Archdiocesan clergy, some by lay people, and some by religious order priests and clergy from other dioceses who were serving here.

As you know, for many years now the Archdiocese has…

View Cache

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles announced a massive $880 million clergy abuse settlement on Wednesday, a record payout that Archbishop José Gomez expressed hope would “provide some measure of healing” for abuse victims.

Lawyers for both victims and the archdiocese said in a joint press release that the near-$1 billion settlement would address 1,353 childhood sexual abuse claims filed against the California archbishopric.

The mediation process, conducted under retired California Judge Daniel Buckley, took roughly a year.

Abuse survivors filed the claims against the archdiocese following the state’s enactment of Assembly Bill 218, which offered victims a three-year window to file civil abuse claims that had otherwise gone beyond the statute of limitations. 

Gomez in a statement on Wednesday said the settlement — the largest ever for a U.S. diocese or archdiocese — would “provide just compensation to the survivor-victims of these past abuses.”

It would also allow…

View Cache

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has agreed to pay $880 million to hundreds of victims of clergy sexual abuse dating back decades.

The settlement with 1,353 people who allege that they were abused by local Catholic priests is the largest single child sex abuse settlement with a Catholic archdiocese, according to experts. The accusers were able to sue after California approved a law that opened a three-year window in 2020 for cases that exceeded the statute of limitations.

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has previously paid $740 million to victims. With the settlement announced Wednesday, the total payout will be more than $1.5 billion.

Attorneys still need to get approval for the settlement from all plaintiffs to finalize it, the Plaintiffs’ Liaison Committee said.

The agreement brings to an end most sexual abuse litigation against the largest archdiocese in the United States, though a few lawsuits against the church are still…

View Cache

An attempt to reinstate a priest laicised for the sexual abuse of minors by a top Vatican cleric has been decried by a leading Irish child protection campaigner Marie Collins, who warned children would have been put in danger.

The Vatican Secretariat of State tried to undo the laicisation of Ariel Alberto Príncipi, a former diocesan priest convicted of child sexual abuse while in Argentina, but was thwarted by Irishman Archbishop John Joseph Kennedy, head of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith disciplinary section.

Archbishop Kennedy declared void the September order from the Secretariat of State to rescind the laicisation in one of the most controversial public clashes between Vatican departments in recent times.

Speaking to The Irish Catholic, Marie Collins said within the Vatican “there is a great emphasis on authority and power and obviously somebody thought that they had enough authority to overturn something that the…

View Cache

This month I want to share three distinct reflections with a common thread. 

1. The recent scoping enquiry into abuse perpetrated in schools run by Catholic religious orders revealed another very sad chapter in our Irish social history. The media follow up inevitably led to an avalanche of personal stories detailing the physical, emotional and sexual abuse suffered by many people during their school days, often in the distant past.

The state authorities and in particular The Department of Education now must decide where the enquiry process goes from here. There is an ongoing debate about the shape of any such enquiry. I can understand why some would want to limit the perimeters to ensure a more efficient outcome. However, any enquiry which does not include schools beyond those operated by Catholic leadership would be woefully unbalanced and unfair.

Such a limited scope could be open to the charge of being…

View Cache

Attorneys representing the Plaintiff’s Liaison Committee and Kirk Dillman, Counsel for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles announced today that a settlement agreement in principle has been reached for the payment of $880 million to settle 1353 childhood sexual abuse claims filed against the Archdiocese after the enactment of California Assembly Bill 218 (AB 218) that provided a three-year window for the revival of civil claims of past sexual abuse involving minors.

“While there is no amount of money that can replace what was taken from these 1353 brave individuals who have suffered in silence for decades, there is justice in accountability,” said Plaintiffs’ Liaison Counsel in a joint statement. “We are grateful to the brave survivors who came forward to hold those responsible accountable and to protect the children of the future. We appreciate the Archdiocese of Los Angeles for acknowledging its failures that enabled and perpetuated the harm that came to these children and remain hopeful that the Archdiocese will be vigilant…

View Cache

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles has agreed to pay $880 million to 1,353 people who alleged that they were sexually abused as children by Catholic priests, in the largest settlement by a U.S. diocese over decades-old abuse claims.

Archbishop Jose H. Gomez expressed sorrow for the abuse in announcing the settlement on Wednesday.“

I am sorry for every one of these incidents, from the bottom of my heart,” Gomez said in a statement. “My hope is that this settlement will provide some measure of healing for what these men and women have suffered.”

The Archdiocese began mediating the abuse claims after California enacted a law that allowed new lawsuits to be based on past instances of sexual abuse involving minors.

The California law and similar laws in other states have driven many large Catholic organizations to seek bankruptcy protection around the U.S. In California, the Archdiocese of San…

View Cache

The Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles has agreed to pay $880 million to settle sex abuse claims made by more than 1,300 alleged victims dating back to the 1940s. 

“I am sorry for everyone one of these incidents, from the bottom of my heart,” said Archbishop José H. Gomez in a statement. “My hope is that this settlement will provide some measure of healing for what these men and women have suffered.”

The settlement brings the overall amount the Archdiocese of Los Angeles has paid out to settle sex abuse lawsuits to nearly $1.5 billion, following a $660 million settlement with about 500 alleged victims in 2007.

Officials say the agreement in principle was reached to settle the remaining claims filed under Assembly Bill 218, which temporarily waived the statute of limitations for alleged victims to seek damages in sex abuse claims, allowing a three-year window for old cases to…

View Cache

The agreement, believed to be the largest single settlement of its kind by a Catholic archdiocese, will settle 1,353 claims of childhood sexual abuse.

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has agreed to pay $880 million to settle more than 1,300 claims of childhood sexual abuse. The sprawling agreement is believed to be the largest single child sexual abuse settlement with a Catholic archdiocese and comes after a state law provided a three-year window to revive past civil claims of sexual abuse involving minors.

Some of the claims date to the 1940s, and the acts are alleged to have been perpetrated byarchdiocesan clergy, lay people and religious order priests and clergy from other dioceses who were serving in Los Angeles, a letter from Archbishop José H. Gomez said. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles is the largest Catholic diocese in the United States.

“I am sorry for every one…

View Cache

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has agreed to pay $880 million to victims of clergy sexual abuse dating back decades, in what an attorney said was the largest single child sex abuse settlement with a Catholic archdiocese, it was announced Wednesday.

After the announcement of the agreement in principle, Archbishop José H. Gomez said in a statement, “I am sorry for every one of these incidents, from the bottom of my heart.”

“My hope is that this settlement will provide some measure of healing for what these men and women have suffered,” the archbishop added. “I believe that we have come to a resolution of these claims that will provide just compensation to the survivor-victims of these past abuses.”

Attorneys for 1,353 people who allege that they suffered horrific abuse at the hands of local Catholic priests reached the settlement after months of negotiations with the archdiocese, the Los Angeles  View Cache

The settlement is the highest single payout by an archdiocese, experts said, and brings Los Angeles’s cumulative payout in sex abuse lawsuits to more than $1.5 billion.

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the nation’s largest, has agreed to pay $880 million to 1,353 people who say they were sexually abused as children by Catholic clergy. The settlement, which experts said was the highest single payout by a diocese, brings Los Angeles’s cumulative total in sex abuse lawsuits to more than $1.5 billion.

The settlement was announced on Wednesday in a joint statement by lawyers for the plaintiffs and the archdiocese.

“I am sorry for every one of these incidents, from the bottom of my heart,” Archbishop José H. Gomez said in a statement. “My hope is that this settlement will provide some measure of healing for what these men and women have suffered.”

The settlement tops the previous high for…

View Cache

Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell said her office is still waiting for court approval to release the results of an investigation into child sexual abuse at the Fall River, Springfield and Worcester Catholic dioceses.

Campbell told GBH News on Tuesday that she “inherited a report that was completed, sitting there. And now I’m doing what I can to see what we can do in terms of releasing it.”

The investigation began when Gov. Maura Healey was attorney general, but its findings have never been made public.

Campbell, who took office in 2023, said court approval is needed because the investigation relies, in part, on grand jury proceedings.

“In order to then get it out in the public view, you have to get permission, if all parties don’t agree to release it,” she said on Boston Public Radio.

Campbell would not say who objected to its…

View Cache

• The Archdiocese of Los Angeles had previously paid $740 million to victims in various settlements, bringing the total payout to over $1.5 billion.
• Archdiocesan officials have said the church has made great strides to prevent abuse.
• More than 300 priests who worked in the archdiocese in Los Angeles have been accused in public records of sexually abusing minors.

In what could be the closing chapter in a landmark legal battle, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles has agreed to pay $880 million to victims of clergy sexual abuse dating back decades in the largest settlement involving the Catholic Church.

Attorneys for 1,353 people who allege that they suffered horrific abuse at the hands of local Catholic priests reached the settlement after months of negotiations with the archdiocese. The agreement caps a quarter-century of litigation against the most populous archdiocese in the United States.

The settlement leaves only a few lawsuits pending against the…

View Cache

Two federal civil lawsuits, each seeking $75 million, accuse the Missouri dioceses of Springfield-Cape Girardeau and Jefferson City of covering up clergy sexual abuse in the 1980s and 1990s and also of enabling the priests who allegedly committed the abuse.

“We are treating this matter with the utmost seriousness and investigating the allegations,” Jefferson City Bishop W. Shawn McKnight said in a statement about the suit against his diocese that, he noted, concern “five allegations of misconduct that reportedly occurred decades ago.”

Lawsuits against Missouri dioceses

“None of the five priests named in the lawsuit are currently active in ministry in the Diocese of Jefferson City,” he said. “As always, our goals are to support healing and peace for any survivor of abuse, to bring abusers to justice and to implement safeguards to prevent harm.”

“These are all new allegations to us, including two that are leveraged…

View Cache

The Diocese of Scranton has permanently removed Martin M. Boylan from the clerical state following a lengthy canonical process that found him guilty of sexually assaulting minors. The decision, announced Tuesday, October 8, 2024, by diocesan officials, marks the end of an eight-year investigation into allegations against the former priest.

Canonical Conviction Following Allegations of Child Sex Abuse

Boylan, 76, was found guilty under canon law of sexually assaulting two children. However, the diocese received credible accusations from five individuals. The Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith reviewed the case and authorized Boylan’s removal from the clerical state, which is the most severe penalty the Catholic Church can impose on a cleric.

Implications of Defrocking Amid Child Sexual Abuse Investigation

As a result of this decision, Boylan’s official relationship with the Diocese of Scranton has been permanently terminated. He is now prohibited from celebrating Mass, hearing confessions, or…

View Cache

A report into clergy abuse across multiple dioceses in Massachusetts, based on investigations that took place years ago under then-Attorney General Maura Healey, is still not available to the public. Andrea Campbell, who’s been the state’s attorney general since January 2023, said Tuesday that it’s out of her hands when or whether to release the findings.

Appearing on Boston Public Radio, Campbell fielded questions around why the office she’s led since January 2023 has yet to make the document public. Survivors and advocates told New England Public Media last year that investigators from the state attorney general’s office interviewed them 2021 about abuse within the Worcester, Fall River and Springfield dioceses.

Campbell asked the public to be patient with her, but did not put a timeline on when the report might become available.

“I take sexual abuse allegations — you know, I’m a mom of two boys — very…

View Cache

A Riviera Beach pastor accused of sexual assault emerged from the criminal justice system relatively unscathed. Deputies continue to investigate him.

When the pastor knocked, his parishioner answered. She welcomed Pheguel Pierre Louis into her home, unsettled by the disturbing dream he said he had about her the night before.

She was in trouble, Pierre Louis said, and he needed to pray over her.

The pastor, 40, and the woman, 23, gave the same accounting to Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputies during separate interviews later. Their stories differed once they described what happened next, inside the house.

Pierre Louis said he “laid hands” on the woman’s forehead, something he told deputies he does often when praying over his congregants at New Jerusalem Church in Riviera Beach. The woman told investigators he ordered her to take off her dress, then rubbed oil on her body and…

View Cache

Police focus on the son of top Islamic cleric for assault on 18 girls

Police are investigating allegations that the son of Cambodia’s top Islamic cleric had raped and sexually assaulted 18 girls in a school dormitory after complaints were lodged online by students which prompted NGOs to reach out.

At least one girl is reportedly pregnant, while others have refused to attend the An-Nikmah Al-Islamiyah Institute in Phnom Penh, where the dormitory manager and son of Sos Kamri allegedly physically abused six female students and sexually harassed 12 others.

Sok Kamri, director of the Supreme Islamic Centre, defended his son, Sos Haimi, saying he had denied any wrongdoing and claimed rumors of such behavior were false. 

But he supported the investigation into the allegations in pursuit of ensuring justice for the victims.

“I have seen rumors and distribution on social media about the case of girl students being abused at Anniek Mak View Cache

Over the last few years there have been up to four “investigations” into the sexual abuse of minors in Spain. None of them has had sufficient credibility and thoroughness, but they are sufficient to assess the extent of this phenomenon in the country.

Related Priestly celibacy and sexual abuse

On the Ombudsman’s report

“We are all called to know the impact of abuse,” pope says

This morning the Ombudsman, Ángel Gabilondo, appeared in the Congress of Deputies before the Joint Committee on Relations with the Ombudsman to present in Parliament the “.Report on sexual abuse within the Catholic Church“. 

Almost everyone has been taken by surprise by this meeting, since it was a year ago, specifically on October 27, 2023 when Gabilondo and Francina Armengol, president of the Congress of Deputies, staged the delivery of the report with a staging in style. 

The political and ideological…

View Cache

If you’ve been sexually victimized by anyone at any time, please pay attention to today’s news about Bill Cosby.

“What’s new about Cosby? He’s been in prison for months and will stay there for years, right?”

That’s half right. He’s been incarcerated for sexual assault. But he and his lawyers were just in front of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

Their claim: his conviction should be overturned.

And – brace yourself – they might win.

“But my situation is nothing like the Cosby case. Why should I care about this?”

Because the sordid Cosby saga reminds all of us who want to stop sexual violence that WE CAN TAKE NOTHING FOR GRANTED and WE CAN’T ASSUME SOMEONE ELSE HAS OR WILL ‘FIX’ THINGS FOR US.

And because the actions of judges, predators and defense lawyers remind us that

—predators are often incredibly determined

—they often pick and can afford smart lawyers

…

View Cache

Abusers come in all shapes and sizes. If you’ve ever heard someone say, “He’s in a wheelchair. He couldn’t hurt anybody.” or “The guy is old and frail. If ever he was a threat to kids, he’s surely not now.” How about, “He’s a bald, slow-moving, stoop-shouldered old man who can barely hear anymore. You seriously think kids are at risk around him?”

We at Horowitz Law hear these kinds of comments about elderly men accused of molesting kids. It’s always depressing when we do because remarks like this show a fundamental ignorance about how and by whom child sex crimes are committed. To rob a bank, you need a gun and a ski mask. To snatch a purse, you need to be strong and fast. To steal a car, you need some tools and some skills. But to molest a girl or boy, all you really need is cunning. In other words, your real weapon is nothing physical or material….

View Cache

A Catholic priest who ordered the destruction of evidence police later said could have aided a child pornography investigation started a new job with the church Monday.

The Rev. Barry Stechschulte, who resigned in July as pastor of St. Susanna parish in Mason, now is the parochial vicar for a group of seven parishes north of Dayton, Ohio. He will join at least three other priests in leading the parishes in Coldwater, Philothea, Fort Recovery and Sharpsburg.

Archdiocese of Cincinnati spokesman Mike Schafer confirmed Stechschulte’s reassignment, which was effective Monday. Stechschulte did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

Stechschulte admitted in a letter to St. Susanna parishioners in July that he’d ordered the destruction of a computer hard drive containing pornographic images while serving as pastor in 2012 at Holy Rosary Church in St. Marys, Ohio. He said he discovered the material on a computer that had been used…

View Cache

A priest in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati has been reassigned to a parochial vicarship months after resigning from another parish after it became known he had destroyed possible child sex abuse material without notifying police. 

Father Barry Stechschulte was appointed parochial vicar of a family of parishes in the western part of Ohio, near the border with Indiana. That appointment went into effect on Monday, according to the archdiocesan website.

In July, Stechschulte announced his departure from St. Susanna Catholic Parish in Mason, Ohio, weeks after a bombshell media report revealed that in 2012 he ordered the destruction of a hard drive reportedly containing inappropriate pictures of children — and potentially child pornography — and then delayed reporting the incident to police. 

The pastor did not report the incident to law enforcement until 2018. In an apology to parishioners prior to his departure…

View Cache

Between 900 and 1,000 people have filed claims in the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s bankruptcy case, alleging they were sexually abused as children by people employed by the Catholic Church’s, a lawyer for a committee of abuse survivors, said during a hearing Tuesday.

The figure adds scope to the scourge of clergy sexual abuse in Maryland. Last year, the state attorney general’s office released a report documenting the torment of more than 600 children by 156 clergy and other church officials dating to the 1940s and spanning Baltimore and nine other counties. Officials maintained there likely were more victims than investigators had identified.

“Wow. Woah,” said David Lorenz, Maryland director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, after being informed of the estimate. “My heart sinks. There’s that many people that got hurt. It’s a stab in the heart. I wouldn’t have guessed it was that many.”

can get some help.””]

…

View Cache

Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul announced Monday that the Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) is not filing an appeal of the decision by the United States Bankruptcy court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin denying DOJ access to sealed documents from the bankruptcy cased filed by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee in 2011 and closed in 2016.

According to Kaul, the Clergy and Faith Leader Abuse Initiative continues, and DOJ encourages anyone with information about clergy and faith leader abuse to make a report.

Attorney General Kaul issued the following statement:

“I am deeply disappointed that DOJ has not been authorized to access sealed documents from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s bankruptcy case that relate to allegations of abuse. As explained in our motion for access to certain sealed records, access to those records could have furthered the goals of the Clergy and Faith Leader Abuse Initiative, including the goal of…

View Cache

“If you take one thing away from today, I want you to know that I am a man with Down syndrome, and my life is worth living.”– John Franklin “Frank” Stephens, Athlete.

Note: Much of this post is historical, and past quotes represent viewpoints from that time. I believe today, the term “intellectual difference” is more acceptable. Please feel free to add your understanding of the correct terminology.

Warning: Descriptor of clergy abuse

It’s not the theology; it’s the sexual preference/propensity of the offender.

Recently, I have been asked to articulate what it is about the theology that leads a clergy member to abuse. Maybe the right question is not being asked. The former Boy Scouts of America had over 82,000 victims of abuse. Do we ask, “What was it about learning to tie knots that leads a man to abuse a Scout?” The same thing goes for K-12 educators….

View Cache

District Attorney Erik Nasarenko announced Thursday that Rodolfo Martinez-Guevara (DOB 07/11/85), a priest in the Archdioceses of Los Angeles during the time of his crimes, pled no contest to one felony count of possession of child sexual abuse material. He also admitted all the charged special allegations, including that he possessed over 600 images of child sexual abuse material, including images and videos of prepubescent minors under the age of 12.

A member of the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit, Martinez-Guevara was associated with several churches, including Our Lady of Guadalupe in Oxnard.

“The defendant betrayed the law and the trust placed in him as a religious leader,” said District Attorney Erik Nasarenko. “Child sexual abuse material preys on the most vulnerable members of our society, and we will continue to ensure that anyone who engages in such heinous crimes is held accountable, no matter their position or title.”

Martinez-Guevara…

View Cache

Father Daniel L. George, a priest at Christ the King Catholic Church, has been arrested in connection with allegations of raping a 16-year-old girl. The arrest followed the issuance of a writ by the Monrovia City Court, prompted by a complaint from the victim’s parents.

According to court documents, the alleged abuse occurred repeatedly between April and October 8, 2024. Father George is accused of luring the minor to various locations, including Invincible Park and the church compound, where the assaults allegedly took place on multiple occasions, including at the girl’s own residence.

The complaint asserts that Father George not only sexually abused the girl but also threatened to kill her and her mother if she disclosed the incidents. This has reportedly left the survivor in “severe distress, pain, and trauma.”

The allegations violate Section 14.70 of Liberia’s Rape Law, which condemns sexual violence against minors. 

The arrest order, issued…

View Cache

A Catholic priest who previously stepped down from his position at a Mason church for his self-described actions in quietly destroying a computer that contained what a police report called “inappropriate content, possibly child porn” is being reassigned.

The Rev. Barry Stechschulte, formerly the pastor of St. Susanna Parish, is being reassigned to be the parochial vicar of seven churches in Mercer County, which is a rural county bordering Indiana and is north of Dayton.

The Archdiocese of Cincinnati said that the appointment will go forward on Oct. 14.

Stechschulte stepped down in July after public outcry from parishioners about his involvement in an incident from 2012, when Stechschulte says he found the content on the computer of another priest.

This is described by a police report obtained by WLWT to have happened while Stechschulte was a priest at Holy Rosary in St. Mary’s, Ohio.

…

View Cache

During his pontificate, Francis has taken a series of actions to combat sexual abuse in the Church — as well as recognizing his own mistakes.

“This is a shame that all of us must take in hand today, [we must] ask forgiveness and solve the problem,” Pope Francis declared. It was his first speech in Belgium, on September 27, 2024, before the country’s authorities. Indeed, sexual abuse emerged as a major theme of Pope Francis’ trip. The Argentine pontiff met with 15 victims on the evening of that same day, and addressed the topic on various other occasions, including the press conference on the return flight.

For over 10 years, furthering efforts begun during the pontificate of Benedict XVI, Pope Francis has sought to wage an “all-out battle” against sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable people in the Church.

Here’s a recap of the actions…

View Cache

Kenosha pastor accused of new crimes

A Kenosha pastor, already accused of sending himself revealing photos of a parishioner, is now charged with new counts involving a different victim.

The Brief

• A Kenosha pastor is charged with 10 new counts of capturing an intimate representation without consent.
• He was previously charged with two counts of the same crime involving a parishioner.
• After his arrest, police issued an alert that there may be more victims. The new victim then came forward.

KENOSHA, Wis. – A Kenosha pastor, already accused of sending himself revealing photos of a parishioner, is now charged with 10 new counts of the same crime involving a different victim.

Journey Church fired 41-year-old Gabriel Mills in light of the first set of allegations he faced. Now, prosecutors say he sent himself intimate photos of a different woman some time between October 2023 and September 2024.

Mills was arrested on Sept. 30 in…

View Cache

The Vatican Secretariat of State’s “extraordinary procedure” to reinstate a laicized priest, blocked this week by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, may prove to be the most significant Vatican story of the year.

Little is known, as yet, about why sostituto Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra issued an order trying to reinstate a man convicted of child sexual abuse by two interdiocesan tribunals in Argentina.

But his decision to do so, and the DDF’s move to publicly void the attempt, raises real questions about the role of Pope Francis, the rule of law, and the exercise of power in the Vatican.

—

According to canon law, Ariel Alberto Príncipi’s case was clear — convicted on multiple counts of abuse of minors by two local courts and laicized, his line of appeal was to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, and ultimately to the pope personally, but…

View Cache

In more than 40 years of covering news of the Catholic Church, I have never encountered a Vatican story as wild as this one, nor one that is potentially—I stress, potentially—as revealing about the way the Vatican actually works.

First bear in mind that this story involves the sex-abuse scandal: an issue on which any sensible Catholic prelate by now recognizes the importance of getting things right; an issue on which Pope Francis has repeatedly promised transparency and accountability. And yet:

• A powerful Vatican dicastery overturned the sentence imposed by two ecclesiastical tribunals on a priest accused of abuse.
• But that dicastery had no authority to overturn the sentence, no role at all in the Church’s judicial process.
• Yet the diocese in which the priest had worked accepted that statement as authoritative. Until…
• Another powerful Vatican dicastery—the one that is responsible for disciplinary handling of sex-abuse cases—announced that the previous Vatican statement was…

View Cache

Father Bruno Thévenin is the subject of extrajudicial criminal proceedings for abuse of persons and offenses against the sacraments of penance and the Eucharist. He has been banned from any ministry since Friday.

The bishop of Bayeux and Lisieux (Calvados), Jacques Habert, announced the news on Friday October 11 in a press release. Father Bruno Thévenin, priest of the diocese until 1975, made theobject “of an extrajudicial criminal procedure at the request of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.” In other words, it is an internal trial within the Church since it was judged at the officiality of Paris, which is the ecclesiastical tribunal responsible for dispensing justice.

Ordained in 1973, the accused was for a long time in ministry in the Paris region to carry out his missions within the Mission Thérèse association, which he himself founded. Several accusations have now been brought against him: abuse of people and offenses…

View Cache

Many Catholics on Long Island say they are relieved the long battle over compensating survivors of clergy sexual abuse is near its end, but they diverge on whether the ordeal has shattered their trust in the church.

For some, the scandal has left them deeply skeptical and disgusted by a church that covered up the abuse for years, and then — in their opinion — dragged its feet in reaching a settlement. After four years of negotiations in federal bankruptcy court, the Diocese of Rockville Centre agreed on Sept. 26 to pay $323 million to about 600 survivors of abuse that in some cases dated back decades.

Other Catholics on Long Island say that while the abuse scandal was horrific, it did not destroy their devotion to the church, which they still see as an institution doing much good.

Whatever their view, most Catholics interviewed by Newsday said they hope the…

View Cache

FLOODLIT.org has learned of a new wave of 91 child sex abuse lawsuits filed against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in California.

Starting on Aug. 26, the Slater Slater Schulman LLP law firm filed 91 civil suits in 26 California counties, each on behalf of a different abuse survivor who says a Latter-day Saint official, employee or other leader sexually assaulted them, and that the church failed to protect them from harm.

In all, the lawsuits accuse 97 former Mormon leaders and church members of child sexual abuse, including:

• 20 bishops
• 20 elders
• 8 missionaries
• 5 high priests
• 6 teachers
• 4 counselors
• 3 youth leaders
• 1 stake president
• 30 other leaders/members

On Sep. 6, the law firm submitted a petition for coordination to the Riverside County Superior Court, requesting that it consider the 91 separate lawsuits as coordinated actions.

The petition said more lawsuits may be included in the future.

On Oct. 8, the Mormon Church…

View Cache

In “Fox Chase Boy,” a film based on his one-man show, Gerad Argeros speaks his truth for himself, for his friends who can no longer can speak for themselves, for anyone who needs to hear it.

It’s a hometown Philly crowd, and Gerad Argeros has them. The audience of his one-man show “Fox Chase Boy”is laughing, they’re shaking their heads. Regaling them in the cadence of Northeast Philadelphia, he’s speaking their language — the Phillies, the Eagles, cheesesteaks. Big, tight families, working-class childhoods, and funny stories. Argeros knows how to tell a funny story, f-bombs and all.

But he’s got another story, and it’s also what much of the audience has come to hear: “The last thing I want to talk to you about.”

About how, as a boy, he was sexually assaulted by a pedophile priest called “one of the Archdiocese’s most brutal…

View Cache

The lawyer representing some 200 survivors of abuse at the hands of Roman Catholic priests within the Archdiocese of St. John’s, is confident that they’ll get to the $105 million dollar settlement reached, even if the money currently isn’t there to meet that amount.

A substantial gap remains between the $105 million settlement, and the approximately $43-44 million currently available.

The Archdiocese has sold off properties to meet its legal obligation and the court process has also determined that that money can be accessed through general insurance policies carried by the church.

Geoff Budden, lawyer for the claimants, told VOCM Open Line with Paddy Daly, how they get to the $105 million settlement has yet to be worked out.

“There are a number of other defendants that could be responsible. There are religious orders that had some involvement within the Archdiocese, and the province certainly had some responsibility for Mount…

View Cache

Nearly 25% of members have left the North Texas church since its former senior pastor Robert Morris resigned after being accused of child sexual abuse.

Lawrence Swicegood, the lead spokesman for the Gateway Church in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro, said this week that Texas-based law firm Haynes and Boone is wrapping up its investigation into abuse allegations made public in June against former senior pastor Robert Morris.

“The inquiry by Haynes Boone will not be concluded until mid October early November,” Swicegood told me in response to questions via email. 

His remarks came as current and former Gateway members accuse the church’s leaders of being non-transparent when it comes to the investigation and financial responsibilities. Despite rumors to the contrary, Haynes and Boone spokesman Jacob Bourne on Thursday confirmed the firm is “still conducting its independent investigation, which the firm…

View Cache

A former volunteer at a church in Santa Rosa has been sentenced to 12 years and eight months in prison for sexually abusing a boy, starting when the victim was 12-years-old. Fifty-nine-year-old Drue Mordecai, who was convicted in early August, was sentenced on Wednesday. The crimes were committed between 2016 and 2020. Mordecai was initially charged with 28 counts but took a plea deal to plead no contest to fewer charges. Mordecai was recently featured in a Max documentary series called “The Truth About Jim,” which is about his father, Jim Mordecai, who graduated from Montgomery High School in 1960. The older Mordecai was accused of abusing and sexually assaulting several young women.

View Cache

As a child, Cindy Clemishire says she was abused in her family’s home. Decades later, her story led to the resignation of one of America’s most popular pastors.

Four months after Cindy Clemishire first offered damning details about sexual abuse she faced decades ago at the hands of former Gateway senior pastor Robert Morris, reverbations are still being felt across the North Texas religious community. Morris has stepped down in disgrace, many elders were removed from their positions, and thousands of members have left the Gateway family. 

This week, Clemishire opened up to Dallas Morning News about her childhood in Oklahoma, describing the years she was abused by Morris, a family friend who her parents welcomed into their home and treated like another cousin, allowing him to crash there while leading…

View Cache

A former Catholic priest, who was with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles at the time of his crimes, has pleaded no contest to the possession of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and several special allegations he was charged with, authorities announced Thursday.  

Rodolfo Martinez-Guevara, 39, a member of the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit who was associated with numerous churches, including Our Lady of Guadalupe in Oxnard, admitted to possessing more than 600 images of CSAM, including images and videos of prepubescent minors under the age of 12, a news release from the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office stated.  

He has since been removed from the ministry by the Archdiocese and his order, a spokesperson for the Archdiocese told KTLA shortly after his arrest last year.  

Prosecutors say the 39-year-old became the target of an investigation after dozens of reports were made to…

View Cache

A jury found an Inola pastor guilty of rape and two counts of lewd or indecent acts involving young girls Thursday morning.

4 years ago, Inola pastor Roy Shoop was arrested.

“I felt I was looking the devil right in the eye,” said Sheriff Scott Walton from the Rogers County Sheriff’s Office as he explained the moment he handcuffed Roy Shoop, “and I believe he was, and we put him right where he needs to be.”

Shoop was the pastor of the Cowboy Gatherin’ Church in Inola. The DA’s office said he and his wife have trained children to compete in rodeo events such as barrel racing and roping.

Walton said, “A situation came to an end last night that was four years in the making…and here’s my opinion, he was successful at playing courthouse lawyer games and buying himself 4 years of freedom, and last night it came to…

View Cache

Gabriel “Gabe” Mills, a former pastor at a megachurch in Kenosha, Wisconsin, was arrested for a new charge seconds after his preliminary hearing for previous charges.

Mills is now facing three counts of the Class 1 Felony capturing an intimate representation without consent, the Kenosha Police Department said in a statement.

Mills, a former guest experiences pastor at Journey Church, was at the preliminary hearing for accusations made in a criminal complaint filed last week.

The complaint accused Mills of sending nude photos of a woman from the phone of her husband to Mills’ phone, The Roys Report (TRR) previously reported. Mills allegedly searched for the intimate photos on the husband’s phone during a church life group meeting at Mills’ home. He then sent them to himself via AirDrop.

Now a second victim has come forward with similar allegations, police reported. Detectives said they found evidence on Mills’ phone that substantiated the second victim’s…

View Cache

A new report says Catholics in England and Wales have been deeply affected by the clergy sexual abuse crisis, with a third of Mass goers saying they reduced attendance to church or even stopped going altogether because of the issue.

Attitudes of Catholics in England and Wales to Child Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church was published by Durham University’s Center for Catholic Studies on Thursday.

The Catholic population in England and Wales makes up about 8 percent of the country, or just over 3 million people.

In 2016, the British Government set up an independent statutory inquiry known as IICSA: The Independent inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. When looking at the Catholic Church, the inquiry records over 3,000 instances of child sexual abuse connected to the Church between1970 and 2015. It also said abuse is not a “historical problem” since there have been more than 100 further allegations each year…

View Cache

BATON ROUGE — A national support group for victims of clergy abuse says the Diocese of Baton Rouge failed to disclose the names of all priests credibly accused of sexual abuse by victims.

The Survivors’ Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) identified the three as Henry Groover, who worked in Tickfaw and Hammond; Kevin Tripp, who worked at a Baton Rouge hospital; and Anthony Kiel, who worked at St. Francis Xavier.

SNAP says three abusive priests from other dioceses passed through the capital area and should be on the Baton Rouge list.

Groover committed suicide after being sued in 2017; the other two are listed by other dioceses as credibly accused.

“For many victims, if you can seek justice in court and you can expose the man who molested you even years later it is very very healing and validating and it brings closure and it brings justice,” David Clohessy,…

View Cache

LAFAYETTE, LA (KLFY) — A new lawsuit has been filed against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lafayette following an alleged victim of the infamous former priest, Father Gilbert Gauthe, coming forward, accusing the dioceses of negligence.

“We want to applaud this brave man for once again putting father gross’s name in the limelight. He, too, like these other priests, he too, is still alive and could still be a threat to kids,” said David Clohessy with Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. (SNAP)

The accusations against the diocese state they were or should have been aware of the risk in allowing Father Gauthe to remain a priest in the church and having access to children. The plaintiffs claim the Diocese and St. Mary Magdalen church in Abbeville pressured the victim’s family to remain silent about the abuse. Members of SNAP agree the diocese has a history of covering up…

View Cache

A priest in California has pleaded no contest to charges of possessing hundreds of images of child sexual abuse material, with his conviction coming just over a year after his arrest. 

The Ventura County district attorney’s office said in a press release on Thursday that Father Rodolfo Martinez-Guevara “pled no contest to one felony count of possession of child sexual abuse material.” He had been associated with several churches, including Our Lady of Guadalupe in Oxnard, California. 

As part of that plea, the 39-year-old priest also admitted that he possessed “over 600 images of child sexual abuse material, including images and videos of prepubescent minors under the age of 12.”

Martinez-Guevara was arrested in September 2023. In announcing the priest’s plea this week, District Attorney Erik Nasarenko said Martinez-Guevara “betrayed the law and the trust placed in him as a religious leader.”

“Child sexual abuse material…

View Cache

Nearly 300 victims — or their surviving loved ones — who suffered abuse at Mount Cashel Orphanage in St. John’s, N.L., during the 1940s, ‘50s and ‘60s, or by Archdiocese of St. John’s clergy, will receive the initial disbursement of their long-awaited monetary restitution before the end of this month.

On Oct. 8, Justice Garrett Handrigan of the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador granted an interim distribution of $20.9 million to claimants whose applications were approved by Global Resolutions, Inc., the Toronto-headquartered dispute mediation company that served as claims officer.

A further $1.7 million will be awarded once the estates of 38 deceased claimants submit the required testamentary documentation (notarized copies of last wills and testaments, death certificates).

Geoff Budden, the lead lawyer for the plaintiffs, told The Catholic Register that his clients view this development “as an excellent first step,” but they “wish us to do everything we…

View Cache

The government is to establish a statutory inquiry into historic abuse at day and boarding schools run by religious orders in Ireland.

The Irish bishops paid tribute to survivors of child sexual abuse who gave their testimony to Justice Mary O’Toole for the report of the Scoping Inquiry into Historical Sexual Abuse in Day and Boarding Schools Run by Religious Orders.

At their annual autumn meeting in Maynooth, the bishops said the publication of the report was a further step “in shining the light of truth into our collective past”. 

The report, they said, exposed once again the “widespread abuse of our most vulnerable by those in whom parents had placed so much trust”.

Addressing the traumas of the past, the bishops underlined is “an indispensable part of the renewal of the life of the Church in Ireland”.

The government is to establish a statutory inquiry into historic abuse at day…

View Cache

Mohsin Meghji’s conduct in a separate case raised ethics questions as ex-judge he was linked to faces investigation

A nationally renowned business-turnaround expert hired to help resolve the Roman Catholic archdiocese of New Orleans’ contentious and costly bankruptcy – which has ensnared hundreds of clergy molestation survivors – is now facing scrutiny from the FBI after his conduct in a separate case raised ethics-related questions.

The Wall Street Journal published reporting on Mohsin “Mo” Meghji on Wednesday, the day he was due to complete an assessment on the viability of two competing archdiocesan restructuring plans drafted by the church as well as those to whom it is indebted, among them hundreds of victims of sexually abusive clergymen.

Church bankruptcy attorneys are proposing to settle the case – filed in 2020 – by paying about $125,000 to each of more than 500 molestation claimants, who in turn are demanding $2m per claim.

Meghji’s report,  View Cache

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Vatican’s doctrine office has mandated the laicization of an Argentine priest accused of sexually abusing minors, overturning a surprise ruling from the Vatican Secretariat of State that imposed limitations on the priest’s activities.

In an Oct. 8 communiqué published via the news service of the Argentine bishops’ conference, Archbishop John Kennedy, head of the disciplinary section of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, said that the information regarding the restrictions placed on a priest specified by the Secretariat of State were “voided” and confirmed previous rulings for his laicization.

The case involves former Argentine priest Ariel Alberto Príncipi, who was accused in 2021 of sexually abusing minors while performing “healing prayers” associated with a Catholic charismatic movement. In June 2023, a local interdiocesan court found Príncipi guilty of sexually abusing minors and ruled for his removal from the priesthood. This decision was upheld…

View Cache

In an Oct. 7, 2024, decision and order, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Paul R. Warren dismissed on its merits the Continental Insurance Company’s adversary proceeding against the Diocese of Rochester for breach of contract and denied the insurer’s application for an administrative expense claim.

Warren also ordered further in-person mediation among representatives of Continental, which also is known as CNA; members of the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors, which represents abuse claimants; the committee’s counsel; and state court attorneys representing multiple abuse clients.

In a bench trial before Warren July 29-30, CNA argued that the diocese was legally bound by an unsigned proposal for a settlement agreement with CNA that the diocese had presented for court approval in May 2021, and that the diocese breached that agreement when it agreed to an alternative settlement with survivors that is incompatible with certain terms of the proposed CNA settlement.

Warren’s decision outlined numerous…

View Cache

Last June, I invited some young adult Catholics to my residence one evening for a discussion about the future of our parishes, our diocese and our church. They were in their 20s and 30s. Some were married, some still single. A few had young children at their homes here in Jefferson City, Mo., where they belonged to our cathedral parish.

At the time, we were beginning a small group discernment process created by our chancery staff. The process was designed to work across four sessions, guiding the faithful of our diocese to explore how the structures of our church can support their parishes as they seek to become thriving centers of charity and mercy—as revealed by Jesus in his teaching on the Beatitudes.Advertisement

The group gathered at my home was a sort of test; I wanted to see for myself how these discussions might go before we rolled out this…

View Cache

Many of the defendants who worked at Vancouver College, a private school for boys, had transferred from the infamous Mount Cashel orphanage in Newfoundland

A former student at Vancouver College is alleging “organized and protracted psychological, physical, spiritual and sexualized abuse” while he was at the Roman Catholic private boys school in the 1980s.

The 58-year-old plaintiff — anonymized as V.C.A.B. in a lawsuit filed this week in B.C. Supreme Court — names the college, the Vancouver archdiocese, several employees of the college, and the Education Ministry as defendants.Article content

Many of the defendants were members of the Christian Brothers order and some were found guilty of sexual and physical abuses at the infamous Mount Cashel orphanage in Newfoundland. They were transferred to Vancouver College and another Catholic school in B.C. before many of their offences at the orphanage came to light.

V.C.A.B.’s mother enrolled him in Grade 9 at…

View Cache