ABUSE TRACKER

The three-day “apostolic journey” of Pope Francis to Belgium has largely been an occasion for Belgian advocates to call on the Catholic Church to better address clergy sexual abuse, to reconsider its view of women, to integrate LGBTQ+ individuals, and to “open up to gender.”

Two days after meeting privately with 17 victims of pedophile priests, Pope Francis said he “felt their suffering” during a Mass at King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels before urging the local church “not to cover up the abusers.”

In his homily, concluding his trip to Belgium September 29, he did not spare the episcopate: “I ask everyone: do not cover up abuse! I ask the bishops: do not cover up abuse! Condemn the abusers and help them recover from this disease of abuse,” the pope declared to the numerous faithful present, estimated at 40,000 by authorities.

However, Francis said nothing about the Vatican’s responsibility. When…

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Calling on the world’s bishops not to cover up any instance or form of abuse, Pope Francis said the evil of abuse must be exposed.

“There is room for everyone in the church,” he said, and everyone will face God at the final judgment.

However, there is no room for abuse and no room for cover-ups, he said on his final day in Belgium, a country that has been shaken by shocking revelations of abuse by church members, including a Belgian bishop the pope laicized this year, 14 years after the bishop resigned after admitting he abused minors, including his own nephew.

In his homily during Mass Sept. 29 in Brussels’ open-air King Baudouin Stadium, the pope strayed from his prepared text to urge bishops to hide nothing, “condemn abuses” and assist perpetrators in getting help.

Nearly 40,000 faithful from Belgium and surrounding countries attended the Mass, which marked the…

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Speaking to a crowd of around 39,000 in the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, the pontiff wrapped up a difficult visit to Belgium by saying, “There is no place for the covering up of abuse.”

Pope Francis has urged all members of the Church to never cover up abuse, saying “Evil must not be hidden.”

Speaking to a crowd of around 39,000 in the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, the pontiff wrapped up a difficult visit to Belgium by saying, “There is no place for the covering up of abuse.”

“Let us think of what happens when little ones are scandalised, hurt, abused by those who are supposed to care for them, of the wounds of pain and helplessness, first of all in the victims, but also in their families and in the community as a whole,” he said.

“The church has not done enough. Certainly here in Belgium and…

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Aboard the papal plane to Rome on Sunday, Pope Francis responded to criticism of remarks he made about women during a Sept. 28 visit to a Catholic university in Louvain, Belgium, saying it is an “obtuse mind” that intentionally misunderstands his position.

In a meeting with students of the Université Catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain), Francis reflected at length on the role of women in the Church, saying: “What characterizes women, that which is truly feminine, is not stipulated by consensus or ideologies, just as dignity itself is ensured not by laws written on paper, but by an original law written on our hearts.”

“Womanhood speaks to us of fruitful welcome, nurturing and life-giving dedication. For this reason, a woman is more important than a man, but it is terrible when a woman wants to be a man: No, she is a woman, and this is ‘heavy’ and important,”  View Cache

 Pope Francis said on Sunday victims of Catholic clergy sexual abuse in Belgium deserved more financial compensation, calling the amounts allocated to them so far “too small”.

On the flight back to Rome from Belgium, where the pontiff was pressed by the country’s political leaders for more concrete actions to address clergy abuse, Francis also reiterated the Catholic Church’s commitment to helping survivors.

“We must take care of those who have been abused, and punish the abusers,” he said.

Francis was urged in Belgium by both King Philippe and Prime Minister Alexander De Croo to do more to help abuse survivors in unusually forceful language for a papal foreign trip, always a carefully choreographed event.

In a two-hour meeting with survivors on Friday, the pope was also asked specifically to look at the issue of financial compensation.

“We didn’t talk about amounts as such, but we are very clear on…

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UCLouvain staff and students express ‘incomprehension and disapproval’ over pope’s views on role of women

Pope Francis has been sharply criticised by one of Belgium’s Catholic universities over his stance on the role of women in society, in a strongly worded press release issued just moments after the pontiff spoke at the college.

Professors and students at UCLouvain, where the 87-year-old pontiff had made a speech on Saturday afternoon, said they wanted to express their “incomprehension and disapproval” about the pope’s views.

“UCLouvain deplores the conservative positions expressed by Pope Francis on the role of women in society,” said the statement, in extraordinary language from a Catholic university about a pope.

Francis went to the university on Saturday to celebrate its upcoming 600th anniversary as part of a weekend trip he is making to Belgium. His speech largely called for global action on climate change, but he also responded to…

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Pope Francis wrapped up a troubled visit to Belgium on Sunday by doubling down on his traditional views on women and abortion and demanding that Catholic bishops stop covering up for predator priests — a scandal that has devastated the church’s credibility around the globe.

Francis revisited the key thorny topics of his trip to Belgium during his in-flight news conference coming home, praising Belgium’s late King Baudouin as a “saint” for having abdicated for a day in 1990 rather than sign legislation legalizing abortion.

“You need a politician who wears pants to do this,” Francis said, using a Spanish expression. “You need courage,” he said, adding that Baudouin’s beatification process was moving along.

Francis drew criticism from some in Belgium for having prayed at Baudouin’s tomb and for calling the abortion law “homicidal,” given that abortion remains a political issue in Belgium, with new proposals to extend the legal…

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OSV News recently spoke with Father Michael Bechard, who alleges in a civil lawsuit filed in March with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice that he was sexually abused by Basilian Father Thomas Rosica, a Vatican media expert, founder of a prominent Canadian national Catholic television network and organizer of the 2002 Toronto World Youth Day. The suit also names Father Rosica’s order, the Basilian Fathers of Toronto.

For his part, Father Rosica has denied any improper conduct and maintained his innocence. He has urged the court to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing the allegations should play out instead in a canonical court of the Catholic Church.

Father Bechard told OSV News he has also filed a complaint under “Vos Estis Lux Mundi,” Pope Francis’ 2019 motu proprio governing the reporting of alleged sexual abuse involving clergy, religious and bishops.

This interview with Father Bechard has been edited for clarity and…

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Pope Francis meets with Belgian victims: Statement from Anne Barrett Doyle, Co-Director, BishopAccountability.org

Friday, September 27, 2024

After expressing shame and sorrow in Belgium on Thursday, Pope Francis attempted damage control again Friday evening, when he met with 17 Belgian victims of clergy sex abuse. 

Each time the Pope visits a country rocked by revelations of clergy sex abuse, he follows the same PR playbook: he meets with victims, expresses shame, and promises change.  He employed these tactics in Portugal in 2023, in Canada in 2022, in Ireland in 2018, in Chile in 2018, and in the U.S. in 2015.

We know from these past examples that the Pope’s meeting with victims in Belgium will have few meaningful consequences. While it may have provided validation to the 17 survivors in attendance, it won’t change the systemic corruption in the Belgian church, and not one child in Belgium will be…

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Little brings more heavenly bliss to the faithful or otherworldly wonder to casual visitors than ethereal hymns cascading amid the columns of Catholic cathedrals. That is, unless the composer is a known molester or someone accused of sexual abuse.

A few days before the highlight of Pope Francis’ visit to Belgium — a Mass at the biggest stadium in Brussels — the specially selected choir of 120 was rehearsing a brand-new closing hymn when it became known that the composer was a priest accused of molesting young women.

The hymn was hastily removed from the order of service and replaced with another composition but it was too late to reprint the official Magnificat booklet for the Mass because of the number of copies required. The name of the alleged abuser, who died two weeks ago, is right there at the bottom of page 52, next to a request for donations,…

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The Pope is also expected to meet with victims of sexual abuse.

In Belgium’s Laeken Castle, Pope Francis confronted the Catholic Church’s long-standing clerical abuse crisis in the country, declaring unequivocally that “the Church should be ashamed” and must seek forgiveness for its failures.

Speaking before approximately 300 dignitaries, including King Philippe and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, the pope remarked that child abuse is “a scourge that the Church is tackling resolutely and firmly, listening to and accompanying the wounded and implementing a widespread prevention program throughout the world.”

“The Church is both holy and sinful,” Francis said in the castle’s Grand Gallery on Sept. 27 in his first speech since his arrival in Belgium. “The Church lives in this perennial coexistence of holiness and sin, of light and shadow, with outcomes often of great generosity and splendid dedication, and sometimes unfortunately with the emergence of painful counter-witnesses.”

…

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Pope Francis demanded Sunday that sexually abusive clergy be judged and their bishops stop covering up their crimes as he ended a troubled visit to Belgium by responding to the outrage over the scandal here that has devastated the church’s credibility.

“Evil must not be hidden. Evil must be brought out into the open,” Francis told some 30,000 people at Belgium’s sports stadium, drawing applause repeatedly as the crowd took in what he was saying.

Francis deviated from his prepared homily to respond to the meeting he held with 17 abuse survivors on Friday night, where he heard first-hand of the trauma and suffering they endured and the tone-deaf response of the church when they reported the crimes.

Belgium has had a wretched legacy of abuse and cover-up, none more symbolic of the church’s hypocrisy than the case of Bruges Bishop Roger Vangheluwe. He was allowed to quietly retire in 2010…

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In a country still reeling from a deep clerical sexual abuse crisis, Pope Francis on Saturday bitterly acknowledged that such abuse “generates atrocious suffering and wounds,” vowing that the path of reform includes learning from survivors.

The realities of abuse, the pontiff said, can even “undermine the path of faith.”

“There is a need for a great deal of mercy, to keep us from hardening our hearts before the suffering of victims, so that we can help them feel our closeness and offer all the help we can,” the pope said.

“We must learn from them … to be a Church at the service of all without belittling anyone,” Francis said. “Indeed, one of the roots of violence stems from the abuse of power when we use the positions we have to crush or manipulate others.”

The pontiff’s remarks came during a session with bishops, priests, deacons, consecrated persons, seminarians…

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Pope Francis promised Saturday to “offer all the help we can” to aid victims of clergy sexual abuse heal after victims told him first-hand of the trauma that had shattered their lives and left many in poverty and mental misery.

Francis’ visit to Belgium has been dominated by the abuse scandal, with King Philippe and Prime Minister Alexander De Croo both blasting the Catholic Church’s dreadful legacy of priests raping and molesting children and its decades-long cover-up of the crimes.

Francis met for more than two hours late Friday with 17 survivors who are seeking reparations from the church for the trauma they suffered and to pay for the therapy many need. They said they gave Francis a month to study their demands – a demand the Vatican said Francis was studying.

“There are so many victims. There are also so many victims who are still completely broke,” survivor Koen Van Sumere…

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Pope Francis addressed the Belgian victims of clerical sexual abuse again on Saturday, offering words of contrition in a speech at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Koekelberg.

“Abuse generates atrocious suffering and wounds, undermining even the path of faith,” the pope told the congregation gathered in the church.

“One of the roots of violence stems from the abuse of power when we use the positions we have to crush or manipulate others,” he added, vowing that the Catholic Church would learn from the victims.

The pontiff was speaking after a bruising welcome to Belgium from Prime Minister Alexander De Croo and King Philippe on Friday over sexual abuse within the church.

The Belgian king told the pope that “it has taken far too long to begin looking for ways to repair the irreparable.”

The Belgian prime minister meanwhile told the head of the Catholic Church that words are…

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• Summary

• Belgium’s king and premier demand concrete action on clerical abuse
• Francis says Church is tackling abuse with global programme
• Survivors’ groups question effectiveness of Church’s measures
• Catholic university rector also presses pope on abuse, asks for women priests

Pope Francis was pressed firmly by Belgium’s king and premier on Friday for more concrete action to address sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy, an issue once more in the spotlight as he visits.

Both King Philippe and Prime Minister Alexander De Croo raised the issue in public in unusually forceful language for a papal foreign trip, always a carefully choreographed event.

Philippe told Francis in a speech welcoming him to Belgium that it had taken the Church “far too long” to address the scandals. De Croo said it had “a long way to go” and that “words alone are not enough”.

“Concrete steps must also be taken,” the premier said.

Francis’ weekend trip…

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Pope Francis spoke in Brussels with victims of clergy sexual abuse who are demanding compensation from the Catholic Church. The Vatican said that he is looking over the requests.

Pope Francis vowed on Saturday to help the victims of sexual abuse at the hands of clergy.

He made the comments during a visit to Belgium, which has been rocked by two decades of revelations of abuse and systemic cover ups in the Catholic Church.

Pope meets with abuse survivors

“Abuse generates atrocious suffering and wounds, undermining even the path of faith,” Pope Francis told a congregation gathered at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in the Brussels suburb of Koekelberg following the meeting.

The 87-year-old pontiff promised to “offer all the help we can” for sexual abuse victims.

The comments come after Pope Francis held a two-hour meeting with victims of abuse who were seeking compensation from the church for the…

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‘Belgium’s prime minister on Friday blasted Pope Francis to his face for the Catholic Church’s horrific legacy of clerical sex abuse and cover-ups in his country, demanding “concrete steps” to come clean with the past and put victims’ interests over those of the church. Alexander De Croo’s blistering welcome speech at the start of Francis’ visit was one of the most pointed ever directed at the pope during a foreign trip, where the genteel dictates of diplomatic protocol usually keep outrage out of public remarks. But even King Philippe had strong words for Francis, demanding the church work “incessantly” to atone for the crimes and help victims heal. Their tone underscored just how raw the abuse scandal still is in Belgium, where two decades of revelations of abuse and systematic cover-ups have devastated the hierarchy’s credibility and contributed to an overall decline in Catholicism and the influence of the once-powerful…

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A pastor’s daughter was in sixth grade when he prayed over her, then started to touch her inappropriately, Oklahoma police said. Bertheophilus Maurice Bailey, of Tulsa, then sexually assaulted her and continued to do so for years, police said.

“For too long, I suffered in silence, afraid of the repercussions of speaking out against someone with such influence and power,” the daughter, Harmony Bailey Oates, said in a Sept. 17 Facebook post, coming forward about a decade of mental and sexual abuse by her father.

McClatchy News reached out to Oates but did not immediately hear back.

Tulsa police said the victim filed a report about the abuse in August 2023, but they said she was not ready to press charges until this month. On Sept. 25, 45-year-old Bailey was arrested and charged with rape, child sexual abuse, incest, forcible sodomy and burglary, according to jail records.

He’s…

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The incident took place when the accused priest, identified as Thilagar, found a few local children playing outside the temple.

In a disturbing incident, a 70-year-old priest has been arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a minor girl inside the Bhagavathi Amman temple in Tamil Nadu’s Theni district.

According to the complaint filed by the girl’s family, the incident took place on September 26 when the accused identified as Thilagar found a few local children playing outside the temple. He lured them inside with promises of sweets and then assaulted one of the girls.

The situation escalated when the victim narrated the harrowing ordeal to her parents, following which locals including relatives of the girl staged a protest outside the temple demanding action against the priest. Fearing for his safety, Thailagar locked himself inside the temple. Local police rushed to the scene and detained him.

Speaking on the case, a senior…

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“Nothing draws fire like drawing attention to sexual abuse and coverups in white evangelical churches. Nothing even comes close.”

These are the words Kristin Du Mez chose to reflect on as she prepared herself on the eve of the release of her film For Our Daughters. “Those of us who do this work know what’s coming.”

Nineteen months earlier, she posted online: “I’ve noted this pattern for two-plus years now. What sickens me is that I know this is only a mild version of what survivors face in these spaces. And they don’t have platforms and often don’t have people who have their backs.”

That’s what For our Daughters provides. It’s an opportunity for women who have been abused by powerful men within the most influential movements of modern evangelicalism to warn the rest of the women in the country about what’s ahead for them if these men expand their power beyond the…

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Megan Anderson, wife of popular worship artist Jared Anderson, has watched her former pastor lead four different churches over the span of 25 years, while she’s lived with an open secret that he sexually abused her. While the abuse lasted less than a year, she said the ongoing platforming of this “predatory” pastor has exacerbated her pain and given the pastor opportunity to abuse others.

“It’s taken me this long to make sense and to find my voice,” Anderson told The Roys Report (TRR). “I still feel like the truth needs to be told. There needs to be accountability.”

The pastor Megan Anderson accuses of abusing her is Ed Gungor, former pastor of the now-shuttered Believers Church in Marshfield, Wisconsin—a church Anderson credits for saving her life when she was a struggling teenager. Ed Gungor is also the father of the well-known musician Michael Gungor.

Due to what  View Cache

Perfect predators are ones that use their status and power as means of grooming victims. Take these five men, for example. One man won a Nobel Peace Prize. Another was a “charity icon” and “an adored figure in France.” Another “became a widely known and admired public figure, earning praise from Presidents Reagan and Bush, Sr.”

Another was “a prolific fundraiser” who was connected to prominent politicians and, even into his 80s, remained recognized on the global stage as a Washington power broker who participated in funeral masses for political luminaries like Edward M. Kennedy, the longtime Massachusetts senator, and Beau Biden, the son of former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.”

And one has been called “a change agent, advocate, and an out of the box thinker,” who was “strongly influenced by Martin Luther King,” a “community organizer of the…

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25 News is learning more about the case against the disgraced Waco priest accused of sexually assaulting at least 10 women so far.

Lauren Adams talked to the lead investigator on the case and he says four of the victims were connected to Baylor.

Anthony Odiong is behind bars facing numerous sexual assault charges.

So far 10 victims who have come forward, and seven of the women were abused in McLennan County.

Odiong was the catholic priest of St. Peters Catholic Student Center in Waco and St. Mary’s of the Assumption in West from 2007-2012.

St. Peters serves Baylor and lead detective Bradley DeLange says four of the victims were connected to Baylor.

Detective DeLange says this investigation began when one woman walked into the police station.

L“This started with one woman coming in and saying for my healing process I need to get this off my chest,”
DeLange said.

Then…

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A McLennan County grand jury indicted the Rev. Anthony Odiong, a former priest at St. Peter’s Catholic Student Center, on four additional charges of first-degree sexual assault on Thursday.

Odiong now faces a total of seven charges.

According to an email from special crimes detective Bradley DeLange of Waco Police, the new charges are based on a previously-identified survivor whose case was uncovered as evidence obtained through search warrants during the investigation.

“The evidence of a sexual relationship was/is present from 2007-2012 in emails, text messages and corroborated by repeated predatory behaviors by Anthony Odiong that have appeared amongst nearly every survivor identified (10 thus far) to date,” DeLange said.

From 2007 to 2012, Odiong was the priest at St. Peter’s Catholic Student Center and since 2006, he had served as an associate priest in West at St. Mary’s Church of the Assumption. During this time, many students…

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The Peruvian Episcopal Conference announced that on Sept. 25 Pope Francis ordered the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (Sodality of Christian Life) to expel 10 of its members. The measure caused surprise in the Archdiocese of Denver, which has pastoral ties to several of those who were sanctioned.

Peru’s bishops published on their website a press release from the country’s apostolic nunciature, stating that the pontiff, “after assessing the defenses corresponding to the allegations that emerged during the special mission” — sent to Lima in July 2023 — approved the expulsion of 10 members of the organization.

The expelled members are the Sodality’s former superior general, Eduardo Antonio Regal Villa; the archbishop emeritus of Piura, José Antonio Eguren Anselmi; as well as former regional superiors Father Rafael Alberto Ismodes Cascón and Father Erwin Augusto Scheuch Pool; former formators Humberto Carlos Del Castillo Drago, Oscar Adolfo Tokomura, and Father Daniel Alfonso…

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The Diocese of Rockville Centre in New York this week announced it has reached a massive settlement of more than $300 million for victims of clerical sex abuse there, bringing an end to a four-year-long process that included an earlier offer that the abuse survivors had rejected. 

The diocese said in a press release on Thursday that the total proposed settlement amount “is just over $323 million, which includes insurance contributions, diocesan assets, and sale proceeds from diocesan property, and contributions from parishes and other related entities.” 

The amount represents the largest settlement in U.S. diocesan bankruptcy history. It will be distributed to about 600 abuse survivors.

“The diocese, parishes, and other related entities will contribute a total of $234.8 million,” the statement said. “Insurance companies will contribute a total of just over $85 million. Counsel for the creditor’s committee will contribute $3 million.” 

The contributors to the…

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[See image of original statement here.]

Re: Hearing in Bankruptcy Court (2:00 PM on September 26, 2024)

From: Spokesperson for the Diocese of Rockville Centre

The Diocese of Rockville Centre and its related ministries are grateful that preliminary terms have been agreed upon for the settlement of our bankruptcy case. For the sake of survivors and the Church’s mission on Long Island, we pray that the plan is approved and completed as quickly as possible.

The total proposed settlement amount is just over $323 million, which includes insurance contributions, Diocesan assets and sale proceeds from Diocesan property, and contributions from parishes and other related entities. The Diocese, Parishes and other related entities will contribute a total of $234.8 million. Insurance companies will contribute a total of just over $85 million. Counsel for the Creditor’s Committee will contribute $3 million. All participated in order to help offer equitable compensation to…

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BRUSSELS – After Pope Francis met a group of survivors of clerical sexual abuse in Belgium Friday, one advocacy organization has said such gestures are not enough, but the church must pursue real reform.

On Friday evening, after being scolded by Belgium’s Prime Minister Alexander De Croo over the country’s clerical abuse scandals earlier that morning, the Pope met with a group of 17 abuse survivors at the Vatican’s nunciature in Brussels.

A Sept. 27 Vatican statement said the meeting lasted for over two hours, and allowed victims to “bring to the Pope their own story and their own pain to the Pope, and to express their expectations regarding the church’s commitment against abuse”.

Pope Francis, the statement said, was able to “listen and draw close to their suffering” and he thanked them for having the courage to tell their stories.

He also expressed his own “feeling of shame” for…

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BRUSSELS (AP) — Pope Francis promised Saturday to “offer all the help we can” to aid clergy sexual abuse victims, after a group of Belgian survivors told him first-hand of the trauma that had shattered their lives and left many in poverty and mental misery.

Francis’ visit to Belgium has been dominated by the abuse scandal, with King Philippe and Prime Minister Alexander De Croo both blasting the Catholic Church’s dreadful legacy of priests raping and molesting children and its decades-long cover-up of the crimes.

Francis met for more than two hours late Friday with 17 survivors who are seeking reparations from the church for the trauma they suffered and to pay for the therapy many need. They said they gave Francis a month to consider their requests, which the Vatican said Francis was studying.

“There are so many victims. There are also so many victims who are still completely broke,” survivor…

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(OSV News) — The Diocese of Rockville Centre, New York, has reached a preliminary settlement in what it called the “difficult ordeal” of its long-running — and at points contentious — bankruptcy case, while assuring the faithful that “no parishes are closing as a result of this process.”

In a Sept. 26 statement, the diocese announced the total proposed settlement is just over $323 million, an amount that includes “insurance contributions, Diocesan assets and sale proceeds from Diocesan property, and contributions from parishes and other related entities.”

The diocese said that it — along with parishes and other related entities — will pay the bulk of that amount, contributing $234.8 million. Insurance companies (several of which have in recent years become increasingly reluctant to cover diocesan sex abuse lawsuits) will pay “just over $85 million” and counsel for the creditors’ committee $3 million.

The diocese also said that “part of…

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PARIS (OSV News) — As the Emmaus Community for the poor investigates accusations of sexual abuse against its once-iconic, now disgraced, founder Abbé Pierre, the case made international headlines as Pope Francis commented on it while on his return voyage to Rome from Asia last week. A few days later, the French national daily Le Monde published an editorial by the president of the French bishops’ conference, which urged the Vatican to cooperate in an investigation.

As the pope’s September 2024 trip to Asia began, the Emmaus Community announced that new accusations of sexual abuse of women and children had been made against the priest, and French media reported that church officials and leaders of the community had tried to cover up allegations as far back as the 1950s.

“We must speak clearly on these things and not hide them,” Pope Francis said. “Abuse, in my judgment, is something diabolical”…

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Pope Francis said Saturday the Catholic Church must learn from victims of child sexual abuse, as he was pressed on the issue on the second day of his Belgium visit partially overshadowed by past scandals.

Replying at a meeting in Brussels to a scripted question by a representative of an organisation helping abuse victims, the pontiff acknowledged the “atrocious suffering and wounds” caused by the Church.

“There is a need for a great deal of mercy to keep us from hardening our hearts before the suffering of victims, so that we can help them feel our closeness,” Francis said at the meeting with clergy and pastoral workers, a day after meeting with a group of Belgian abuse victims.

“We must learn from them, as you said, to be a Church at the service of all without belittling anyone,” the 87-year-old pope told the gathering at the vast Basilica of the…

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BRUSSELS, Sept 28 (Reuters) – The Catholic Church’s failures in responding to sexual abuse by clergy have been in focus again during Pope Francis’ visit this weekend to Belgium, with the pontiff facing calls from high-profile figures and survivors for more concrete action.

The country’s king, prime minister and a Catholic university rector led the calls, and in a two-hour meeting on Friday with more than a dozen abuse survivors, Francis heard requests in particular to provide better financial compensation for victims.

“We didn’t talk about amounts as such, but we are very clear on the fact … that what has been achieved and obtained so far is totally insufficient,” said Annesophie Cardinal, one of the survivors in the meeting at the Vatican’s embassy in Brussels.

Cardinal, who was abused as a child, spoke emotionally about the encounter, calling it “very challenging”. She said the survivors felt a responsibility “also to…

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Pope Francis has pledged to root out the “scourge” of clerical sexual abuse after Belgium’s prime minster urged him in unusually frank terms to take concrete action.

Francis was addressing political leaders on Friday at the official residence of the King of Belgium, a country where devastating clerical abuse scandals have erupted in recent years.

Before he spoke, both the Belgian king and Prime Minister Alexander de Croo raised the issue in their speeches, the latter speaking directly to the pope, in remarks that underline how the abuse crisis has come to dominate Belgian national attention.

“You are committed to a fair and equitable approach. But the road is still long,” the prime minister told Francis. “If something goes wrong, we can’t accept cover-ups. It harms the precious work done by everyone. And that’s why words are not enough today. Concrete steps are needed. The victims must be heard. They…

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After his arrival to Belgium in the rain on Thursday night, Pope Francis told civil authorities the next day to make peacemaking a priority, and voiced regret over recent scandals in the Belgian Church, including the crises of clerical sexual abuse and forced adoptions.

Speaking to national civil authorities Sept. 27, the pope highlighted the Church’s contribution to society through its charitable works, but acknowledged that the church must also reckon with “the fragility and shortcomings of her members, who are never fully up to the task entrusted to them since it is always beyond their capacity.”

Though often a force for good, the Church, he said, “lives in a specific culture, within the thinking of a given age that she sometimes helps to shape and to which at other times she is subjected; and her members do not always understand and live the message of the Gospel in all…

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BRUSSELS (AP) — On a brutal day for the frail and aging Pope Francis, the king of Belgium, its prime minister and the rector of the Catholic university that invited him here all ripped into the institution he heads for a spectrum of sins: for covering up cases of clergy sex abuse and being far behind the times on embracing women and the LGBTQ+ community in the church.

And that was all before Francis met with the people most harmed by the Catholic Church in Belgium — the men and women who were raped and molested by priests as children. Seventeen abuse survivors spent two hours with Francis on Friday evening, telling him of their trauma, shame and pain and demanding reparations from the church.

Through it all, Francis expressed his remorse, begged forgiveness and promised to do everything possible to make sure such abuses never occur again. “This is…

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Pope Francis said Friday the Catholic Church had to “seek forgiveness” for the “scourge” of child sexual abuse, during a visit to Belgium where the clergy’s dark past looms large.

In a speech to political and civil society leaders beginning his three-day visit, Francis denounced the “tragic instances of child abuse” as a stain on the Church’s legacy.

“It is our shame and our humiliation,” Francis told the gathering at the Laeken Palace royal residency.

“The Church must be ashamed and must seek forgiveness,” he said. 

The 87-year-old pontiff later met 17 clerical sexual assault victims in Brussels as part of his stay in the European nation rocked by decades of scandals and cover-ups.

“The participants were able to tell their story and their pain and express their expectations” to Francis, who “took note” of their requests, the Vatican said in a statement.

It was arranged after a hard-hitting…

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The pope thanked them for their courage in coming forward and expressed his feelings of shame for what they experienced

The Catholic Church must plead for forgiveness for the crime of the abuse of minors by its members and everything must be done to prevent such “a disgrace” from ever happening again, Pope Francis said.

He also called for clarity about the church’s role from the 1940s to 1980s in coercing unwed mothers to give up their newborns.

“Today, in the church, there is this crime” of abuse against minors, which the pope compared to King Herod’s massacre of the innocents, during a speech to Belgian authorities and local representatives at the Castle of Laeken in Brussels Sept. 27.

“The church must be ashamed, ask for forgiveness, try to resolve this situation with Christian humility” and do everything possible so “this will not happen again,” the pope said at the…

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After a four-year court battle, the Diocese of Rockville Centre has reached an agreement with hundreds of survivors of clergy sexual abuse that calls for the church to pay a total of just over $323 million, officials said in federal bankruptcy court Thursday.

While some steps remain to finalize the deal, the lead attorney for the diocese indicated that an agreement had been reached.

“After nearly four years … we do have a global resolution,” Corrine Ball told U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Martin Glenn in Manhattan.

The agreement would benefit more than 500 people who have filed lawsuits against the diocese contending they were sexually abused by clergy when they were children.

    WHAT TO KNOW

• The Diocese of Rockville Centre has reached an agreement with hundreds of survivors of clergy sexual abuse that calls for the church to pay just over $323 million.
• Some steps remain to finalize the deal,…

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The Diocese previously offered the survivors a $200 million settlement, which was rejected.

The Diocese of Rockville Centre has reached a more than $320 million settlement with hundreds of alleged sex abuse survivors.

A law firm for the survivors says the preliminary settlement was reached Thursday in federal bankruptcy court, and includes about 600 survivors.

Richard Tollner is one of the 600 survivors and is the chairman of the Diocese of Rockville Centre Unsecured Creditors Committee.

“Today is the first victory, but it’s a victory that took a long time,” he said.

Adam Slater is an attorney who represents roughly 100 survivors.

“This is the largest diocese settlement in the history of New York state,” he said. “Hopefully, it enables the survivors to put it behind them and gives them some measure of closure.”

According to a spokesperson for the Diocese, $234.8 million will come from the diocese, parishes and…

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(Long Island, NY)— Under the New York Child Victims Act, hundreds of survivors in New York were given the chance to bring legal action and expose offenders and the truth through the legal system. Hundreds of previously unknown and unidentified offenders were exposed, along with the dangerous practices of the officials in charge.

The financial contours of the $320 million settlement were made public in today’s hearing. What was not mentioned and is the most important aspect of this case: Because of the courage, perseverance, and truth-telling of the survivors, the Diocese of Rockville Centre, the bishop, the parishes, and the schools are all required to have rigorous child protection protocols in place as part of this settlement.

“The credit for having saved so many kids in the future from the horrors inflicted on so many in the past goes to the courageous survivors for having fought, suffered, endured, and stood strong against darkness…

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Rockville Centre diocese in New York settles with more than 530 victims after proposed deal comes close to failure

A Roman Catholic diocese in Long Island, New York, announced a new bankruptcy settlement on Thursday that would pay more than $323m to about 530 sex abuse survivors who alleged they were abused by priests when they were children.

The diocese of Rockville Centre, which serves about 1.2 million Catholics in Nassau and Suffolk counties, said earlier this year that it did not think a bankruptcy settlement would be possible after abuse survivors rejected the diocese’s previous $200m settlement offer.

US bankruptcy judge Martin Glenn in Manhattan, who is overseeing the case, said the deal represented “enormous progress” after the bankruptcy came “within a hair’s breadth” of failure.

Rockville Centre will contribute $234.8m to a settlement fund, with four insurers contributing $85.3m. The settlement will also receive funding from another insurer that…

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Summary

• Belgium’s king and premier demand concrete action on clerical abuse
• Francis says Church is tackling abuse with global programme
• Survivors’ groups question effectiveness of Church’s measures

BRUSSELS, Sept 27 (Reuters) – Pope Francis was pressed firmly by Belgium’s king and premier on Friday for more concrete action to address sexual abuse by Catholic clergy, an issue once more in the spotlight as he visits.

Both King Philippe and Prime Minister Alexander De Croo raised the issue in public in unusually forceful language for a papal foreign trip, always a carefully choreographed event.

Philippe told Francis in a speech welcoming him to Belgium that it had taken the Church “far too long” to address the scandals. De Croo said it had “a long way to go” and that “words alone are not enough”.

“Concrete steps must also be taken,” the premier said.

Francis’ weekend trip to Belgium is meant to focus on…

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Belgium’s authorities rather directly called on Francis to “hear the cry” of the victims of pedocriminality, as well as of “forced adoptions.” The pope, who spoke of the Church’s “shame,” is expected to meet 15.

The Belgian downpour that had greeted Francis the previous day on the tarmac of a military airport, accompanied by a warm, multicultural choir from Molenbeek, had dissipated. But at the Château of Laeken (Brussels), the royal residence where the pope addressed Belgian authorities on Friday, September 27, the atmosphere was somewhat tense, matching the gravity of the morning’s topics, during which Francis was politely questioned.

“What a joy to welcome you here among us, nearly 30 years after the visit of Pope John Paul II,” King Philippe cordially began, before quickly addressing the issue that has been stirring the Belgian press and the entire society since the airing of a Flemish television documentary featuring victims…

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Pope Francis expressed shame over the abuse of minors in Belgium, calling for the church to seek forgiveness and prevent future abuse. He also called for clarity on the church’s role in the forced adoption of babies from unwed mothers from the 1940s to 1980s.

BRUSSELS (CNS) — The Catholic Church must plead for forgiveness for the crime of the abuse of minors by its members and everything must be done to prevent such “a disgrace” from ever happening again, Pope Francis said.

He also called for clarity about the church’s role from the 1940s to 1980s in coercing unwed mothers to give up their newborns.

“Today, in the church, there is this crime” of abuse against minors, which the pope compared to King Herod’s massacre of the innocents, during a speech to Belgian authorities and local representatives at the Castle of Laeken in Brussels Sept. 27. 

“The church must…

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Pope Francis says the Church must face the “shame” of child sexual abuse, which he described once again as a “scourge”, with Christian humility and make every effort to ensure it never happens again.

The sexual abuse of children is “our shame and humiliation”, Pope Francis said on Friday, insisting that the Church “must be ashamed and try to resolve the situation with Christian humility and make every effort so this doesn’t happen again”.

In remarks to civil leaders in Belgium, Pope Francis once again described clerical sexual abuse as a scourge, comparing it to the slaughter of the Holy Innocents by King Herod when Jesus was born.

Clerical sexual abuse is “our shame”, the Pope repeated, “the shame that today we must confront and beg forgiveness and resolve the problem, the shame of abuse, of the abuse of minors”.

The Pope insisted that the Church cannot make excuses, even…

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“Concrete steps must also be taken,” Alexander De Croo told the pontiff.

BRUSSELS — Belgium Prime Minister Alexander De Croo on Friday told the Pope that the Catholic Church needs to do more to make amends for decades of clerical sexual abuse against children.

“Today, therefore, words alone are not enough, concrete steps must also be taken,” De Croo said during his meeting with Pope Francis and Belgium’s King Philippe at the Castle of Laeken in Brussels on Friday.

De Croo’s unusually blunt remarks were directed at the Pope as political and public tensions over sexual abuse overshadow the papal visit to Belgium. Several top Flemish politicians have boycotted a meeting Friday with the Pope, saying that the Church isn’t doing enough to deal with the problem.

“The victims must be heard. They should be central. They have a right to the truth. The wrongdoings must be acknowledged. And justice must…

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BRUSSELS (AP) — Belgium’s prime minister on Friday blasted Pope Francis for the Catholic Church’s horrific legacy of clerical sex abuse and cover-ups in his country, demanding “concrete steps” to come clean with the past and put victims’ interests first.

Alexander De Croo’s blistering welcome speech at the start of Francis’ visit was one of the most pointed ever directed at the pope during a foreign trip, where the genteel dictates of diplomatic protocol usually keep outrage out of public remarks. But even King Philippe had strong words for Francis, demanding the church work “incessantly” to atone for the crimes and help victims heal.

Their tone underscored just how raw the abuse scandal still is in Belgium, where two decades of revelations of abuse and systematic cover-ups have devastated the hierarchy’s credibility and contributed to an overall decline in Catholicism and the influence of the once-powerful church.

Francis applauded at the end…

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Pope Francis on Sept. 27 kicked off a three-day trip to Belgium by asking forgiveness for the church’s shameful record on clergy abuse, but was met with a challenge by the country’s prime minister that “words alone do not suffice.”

“We also need concrete steps,” said Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo. “Victims need to be heard. They need to be at the center. They have a right to truth. Misdeeds need to be recognized.”

The prime minister’s unusually sharp remarks spotlighted an issue that has loomed large over the pope’s visit here ever since it was first announced and where the local church is reeling from the fallout of a damning 2023 documentary on clergy abuse.

The documentary has prompted the Belgian Federal Parliament and the regional Flemish assembly to launch investigations into the church’s handling of cases and to revisit how the…

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LUXEMBOURG (AP) — Pope Francis called for Europe to be a beacon of peace in war and a welcome home for migrants and refugees as he arrived in the heart of the continent on Thursday to encourage the dwindling Catholic flock in a onetime bastion of Christianity.

Francis received a warm welcome as he landed in blustery weather that turned to rain in Luxembourg, the European Union’s second-smallest country and its richest per capita. The visit came after the 87-year-old pope canceled his audiences in recent days because of a slight flu.

Francis seemed in good form, though he skipped his traditional walk down the plane aisle to greet journalists during the trip from Rome. His spokesman said it was because of the short flight time and single aisle of the ITA aircraft, not for any health problems.

Francis was in Luxembourg for just a few hours before flying onto Belgium,…

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New indictment leaves Anthony Odiong facing seven sexual assault charges – all in connection with three women

A grand jury in Texas has handed up more felony sexual assault charges against a Roman Catholic priest accused of preying on women whom he met while ministering to them in that state as well as in south-east Louisiana, officials said.

Anthony Odiong is now facing a total of five charges of sexual assault in the first degree and two more such counts in the second degree – all in connection with three separate women – after a new indictment was handed up against him on Thursday in the McLennan county, Texas, state courthouse.

An earlier indictment against Odiong, 55, secured by the McLennan county district attorney’s office on 12 September had initially charged him in the cases of two women: with one count of first-degree sexual assault and two of second-degree sexual assault. Put another…

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One of the expelled members of the Sodalitium is emeritus archbishop Jose Antonio Eguren Anselmi, three are priests, and the other six are non-ordained males.

With them, the number of expelled members is eleven, after the decision to expel Luis Fernando Figari, the founder of the Sodalitium.

The Sodalitium is an organization with several branches, a religious holding of sorts, active in Pennsylvania and Colorado in the United States, and in several countries in Latin America.

On Wednesday, around midday, the Apostolic Nunciature in Lima, Peru, issued a statement regarding the ongoing crises in the Sodalitium of Christian Life, a religious organization resembling in some respects a religious “order” in the Roman Catholic Church, integrated by several organizations resembling a religious holding.

The statement informs about the decision of Pope Francis to definitely expel ten members of that organization. It is relevant, because all of them had denied any…

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Summary

Pontiff says ‘wealth includes responsibility’ Rare European tour includes visit to Belgium Will meet with victims of clergy abuse

LUXEMBOURG, Sept 26 (Reuters) – Pope Francis on Thursday called on leaders in Luxembourg – a small nation with a thriving economy and the highest density of millionaires per capita in the world – to devote resources to help improve conditions in developing countries.

The 87-year-old pontiff, in the landlocked state for a day visit, suggested that an increase in foreign aid could help stem the flow of refugees and migrants seeking to enter Europe.

“Let us not forget that having wealth includes responsibility,” the pontiff told a gathering of political and civil leaders at Luxembourg’s Cercle Cite, a neo-baroque palace.

“I ask for constant vigilance so that the most disadvantaged nations … may be helped to rise from their impoverished conditions.”

It is a rare European visit for Francis,…

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• Greek Orthodox priest showed no remorse 
• Mario ‘George’ Fayjloun used his church position 

A Greek Orthodox priest remains unremorseful for sexually abusing a mother and her two children, viewing repentance as something reserved for others, a magistrate said.

Mario ‘George’ Fayjloun used his church position to abuse the trust of the family and then sexually touched the three victims on six occasions during confession and at dinner.

On two instances, the 36-year-old touched the mother on her groin and breasts and forced her to touch his penis.

He also touched the eldest daughter on her inner thigh twice and kissed her on the lips, and separately placed his hand down the shirt of the younger daughter, touching her on the breast and back.

His crimes occurred at the Greek Orthodox Church in Central Mangrove, north of Sydney, and at the family’s home in the city’s south-west between August 2019 and February…

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After easing his schedule at the start of the week, Pope Francis will begin his second trip of the month September 26 to Luxembourg and Belgium; a change of scenery after Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Singapore.

A tired Pope Francis is expected to arrive in Luxembourg September 26. On Monday, many of his appointments were canceled due to a “slight flu,” and the following day’s appointments were limited to a single official meeting with the bishops of Mozambique.

However, at his weekly general audience September 25, Francis appeared smiling in St. Peter’s Square. The 87-year-old pope, who returned 12 days ago from the longest trip of his pontificate in Southeast Asia and Oceania, will honor the invitation extended to him one year ago by the King and Queen of Belgium. But why this choice when Francis recently urged the Catholic Church to shift its focus away from Europe?

…

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It was recommended the government and faith-based institutions should publish responses to the inquiry’s reports and its findings within two months of the final report. Photo: RNZ

• Government and most faith-based institutions have missed a deadline to respond to the Abuse in Care report
• Only the Salvation Army, Anglican Church and Presbyterian Support Southland met the recommended deadline
• The government says it will provide an update at November’s public apology

The government and a vast majority of faith-based institutions have missed a key deadline recommended by the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care.

The commissioner’s first time-sensitive recommendation was that the government and faith-based institutions should publish responses to the inquiry’s reports and its findings within two months of the final report being tabled in Parliament in July.

That deadline passed yesterday with the government and 11 of the 14 faith-based organisations failing to meet it.

• Government: Yet to respond
• Catholic Church: Response…

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Pope Francis will visit Luxembourg and Belgium, two of Europe’s traditionally Catholic countries, from Sept. 26 to 29, where he is expected to speak about war and peace, the migrant crisis, ecology and secularization. He is also likely to speak about the sexual abuse of minors by clergy, a scandal that damaged the Catholic church’s standing in Belgium in 2010, and to a lesser extent in Luxembourg that same year.

It will be Francis’ 46th foreign journey since becoming pope in March 2013, and the second this month after his 12-day visit to Indonesia, Timor-Leste, Singapore and Papua New Guinea.

He will be accompanied by two cardinals, Robert Prevost, the prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, and Marcello Semeraro, the prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints. Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, substitute for the Secretariat of State, and Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Secretary for Relations with States, will…

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[See notice posted by Peruvian Episcopal Conference]

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis took the unusual decision Wednesday to expel 10 people – a bishop, priests and laypeople — from a troubled Catholic movement in Peru after a Vatican investigation uncovered “sadistic” abuses of power, authority and spirituality.

The move against the leadership of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, or Sodalitium of Christian Life, followed Francis’ decision last month to expel the group’s founder, Luis Figari, after he was found to have sodomized his recruits.

It was announced by the Peruvian Bishops Conference, which posted a statement from the Vatican embassy on its website that attributed the expulsions to a “special” decision taken by Francis.

The statement was astonishing because it listed abuses uncovered by the Vatican investigation that have rarely if ever been punished canonically — such as hacking someone’s communications — and cited the people the pope held responsible.

…

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ROME – Ten key members of a controversial lay movement in Peru have been expelled from the group as part of an ongoing Vatican investigation of charges of abuse and misconduct, including alleged financial irregularities.

Among those expelled from the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV) on Wednesday are several members with ties to a Denver parish, and one who is apparently the first Catholic to face Vatican sanction for alleged journalistic malpractice.

The announcement comes after over a year of inquiry by the Vatican’s top investigating duo, Maltese Archbishop Charles Scicluna, an adjunct secretary to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, and Spanish Monsignor Jordi Bertomeu, an official in the same department.

The expelled members include Eduardo Regal, superior of the SCV’s Denver-based community; Father Daniel Cardó, pastor of the SCV-run Holy Name parish in Denver; and Alejandro Bermúdez, a journalist and former head of the EWTN-owned ACI Group, an international media…

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A law firm claims religious archivists destroyed documents related to abuse to avoid lawsuits. Legal advice from a canon lawyer led to reducing sensitive records. Investigations later uncovered widespread document destruction, raising serious concerns about transparency and accountability within the Church.

There is no mention in the archives of the Archdiocese of Montreal “of any aggression towards women or any malicious act by once-renowned French Capuchin priest Abbé Pierre — accused of committing sexual assaults in his lifetime — during his visits to Montreal,” concluded retired judge André Denis this summer. There is also no such mention in the archives of the Archdiocese of Quebec, confirmed Auxiliary Bishop Marc Pelchat to Présence. Are documents missing or destroyed? Several observers are now asking this question.

In 1991, a specialist in canon law, now deceased, wrote an advisory to religious archivists in Quebec. This globally renowned expert recommended, among other things, “destroying certain documents”…

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Lawrence Hecker’s trial delay calls to mind other ill-fated attempts to prosecute allegedly abusive Catholic clergymen

Ajudge’s decision to remove himself from handling the child rape and kidnapping trial of a retired Roman Catholic priest in New Orleans left the victim in the case devastated, and that kind of disappointment “is why these victims don’t come forward”, said Richard Trahant, an attorney for the star witness in the case.

Judge Benedict Willard’s decision on Tuesday to remove himself from handling the trial of 93-year-old Lawrence Hecker, who has previously admitted to child molestation, stunned observers. Willard had presided over the case for more than a year after it was first filed in early September 2023, and his decision occurred on the morning jury selection was scheduled to begin.

Willard cited “disrespect” from one of the assistant district attorneys prosecuting the aging Hecker, who on Tuesday morning also happened to be hospitalized apparently with…

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Jury selection was set to begin Tuesday in the trial of a retired Roman Catholic priest facing charges of child rape and kidnapping.

NEW ORLEANS — Pedophile priest Lawrence Hecker is in the hospital as his rape and kidnapping trial was supposed to begin, and Judge Ben Willard recused himself from the case Tuesday morning. 

Hecker was transferred from a long-term care facility to UMC because of a urinary tract infection.

The judge’s clerk said Judge Willard recused himself because of conflicts between him and the prosecutor.

Williard held prosecutor Ned McGowan in contempt in another recent case

Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams was frustrated with the decision. WWL Louisiana Chief Investigator David Hammer reports that Williams was almost in tears as he talked about having to call nearly a dozen alleged Hecker victims to tell them the trial didn’t happen. 

“I can’t begin to explain the level of…

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VATICAN CITY (AP) — Fresh off a four-nation tour of Asia, where he saw record-setting crowds and vibrant church communities, Pope Francis travels to Belgium this week as the once-staunchly Catholic country again confronts its appalling legacy of clergy sex abuse and institutional cover-up.

He will receive a sobering welcome: Abuse survivors have penned an open letter to Francis, asking him to launch a universal system of church reparations and assume responsibility for the wreckage that abuse has wrought on their lives.

The open letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, will be hand delivered to Francis when he meets with 15 survivors during his four-day visit starting Thursday, according to the Rev. Rik Deville, who has been advocating on behalf of abuse survivors for over a quarter-century.

Another unpleasant welcome has come from Belgium’s parliament, which spent the past year hearing victims recount harrowing stories of predator…

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HUBBARD — An independent review board has found the Rev. Michael Swierz, former pastor of St. Patrick Church, to be “unsuitable for ministry,” according to a letter sent by Bishop David Bonnar to parishioners and staff, and a news release sent by the Diocese on Thursday.

Swierz was placed on administrative leave in June following concerns presented to the Diocese that date back to his time as associate pastor of St Rose Parish in Girard in the 1980s, where he served until 1992.

The concerns were presented immediately to Swierz, and a preliminary investigation began. The Diocese sought independent counsel to conduct a thorough investigation, according to Bonnar’s letter.

According to the bishop, Swierz made some admissions during the investigation that established violations of diocesan policy, which resulted in his resignation and eventual placement on administrative leave. Swierz hasn’t been in ministry since June 17, Bonnar said.

Findings from the…

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Investigation from the Diocese revealed a ‘disturbing’ pattern of behavior including serious boundary violations with minors, manipulation and abuse of power from Father Michael Swierz.

The Catholic Diocese of Youngstown has revealed the results of its investigation into a former pastor at Saint Patrick Church in Hubbard.

[See video]

According to a press release, an investigation from The Diocese revealed a “disturbing pattern of behavior including serious boundary violations with minors, manipulation and abuse of power” by Father Michael Swierz.

Allegations against Swierz date back to the late 1980s to early 1990s during his time as an associate pastor at Saint Rose Parish in Girard. He resigned as pastor and was placed on administrative leave in June of 2024 after the investigation began in March with a phone call to The Diocese from someone at Saint Rose.

Once the investigation was completed, the information was presented to the…

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YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) — An independent review board has found Reverend Michael Swierz “unsuitable” for ministry, according to a Thursday release from the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown.

Earlier in the year, the Diocese announced Swierz was placed on administrative leave pending an investigation referencing an incident that occurred in the 1980s during his time at Saint Rose Parish in Girard. Swierz then resigned in June.

Following the Diocese’s investigation, the findings were presented to an independent review board, whose task was to review the information and to present to Bishop David Bonnar a recommendation concerning suitability for ministry of Father Swierz.

The Independent Review Board is comprised of mostly lay people, with one experienced and
respected pastor of the Diocese, according to the release. Board members have expertise in the protection of children, young people and vulnerable adults, the release adds.

The board determined the…

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NEWS RELEASE
September 19, 2024

Contact: Victor Geraci, Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs, LLC, VGeraci@bdblaw.com, (216) 736-4227

YOUNGSTOWN, OH – Earlier this year, the Diocese of Youngstown reported that it was presented with concerns about the priestly ministry of Reverend Michael A. Swierz dating back to his time as a parochial vicar (associate pastor) in the 1980’s at Saint Rose Parish, Girard. Father Swierz was informed of these concerns and immediately and per the policy of the Diocese of Youngstown, a preliminary investigation began. Based on the information and additional contemporaneous evidence discovered by an independent outside investigation team, Father Swierz made some admission which established violations of Diocesan policy resulting in him resigning his pastorate and being placed on Administrative Leave.

Following the completion of the investigation, the findings were presented to the Independent Review Board whose task was to review the information and to present to Bishop David Bonnar a recommendation…

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Dublin Archbishop Dermot Farrell called on the Church of Ireland to move out of “denial” and open its eyes to the crisis of sexual violence within its ranks. Three weeks earlier, a government report revealed systemic abuse in the country’s Catholic schools since the 1970s.

“The faithful across the dioceses of Ireland named the toll of physical, sexual and emotional abuse, along with its concealment as the most urgent issue to be addressed. The ordinary faithful of our land named it for what it is: an open wound.” Three weeks after the publication of a government report on sexual violence perpetrated in Irish Catholic schools, Irish Archbishop Dermot Farrell of Dublin delivered a homily calling for real awareness in a church entangled in scandals and struggling to reform.

During the September 21 Safeguarding Sunday Mass, Archbishop Farrell openly condemned a “culture of denial” that is eating away at Irish Catholicism….

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Pope Francis’ two-week trip in Asia and Oceania showed how he continues to surprise many while also keeping the door open for constructive criticism.

A move forward

First, the papal trip signified a move forward. Despite all the news about the pope’s health, this trip has shown to the world, and most importantly to the church, that Francis is alive and sharp. He is able to push forward and to lead “into the wild.”

Throughout this trip of about 20,000 miles, the pope demonstrated his physical and mental capacities to engage with extremely diverse people and local situations. In each context, he carefully adjusted his tone and message in order to respect the intricate dynamics of each country. Diplomatic and bold, Francis invited peoples of Southeast Asia — and their powerful partners — to search for the common good and move forward.

As this long march across Asia was physically…

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A trial for a former New Orleans priest accused of molesting children will not move forward after the judge in the case recused himself.

Judge Ben Willard announced in court Tuesday that the trial against Lawrence Hecker would not move forward and recused himself.

Willard cited disrespect from the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office as his reason for recusal.

This comes after months of delays in the trial following multiple mental competency evaluations.

A doctor confirmed that Hecker does have Alzheimer’s and dementia, but a ruling was never made on whether or not he was fully competent to stand trial.

WDSU obtained records in the case. Prosecutors said Hecker is a serial child abuser, rapist, and a diagnosed pedophile who continues to possess child pornography.

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After five years of shocking evidence emerging from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, people could be forgiven for thinking that there is nothing more to say or new to learn about the problem of child sexual abuse in church communities. But Anne Manne’s important book Crimes of the Cross, concerning the extensive and profoundly damaging sexual abuse of minors in the Australian Anglican Diocese of Newcastle, does raise some issues concerning the role that a rejection of traditional Christian sexual ethics may have played in that sordid history. It is a conversation we need to have, however uncomfortable that conversation might be.

By “traditional Christian sexual ethics”, I mean the moral teaching that sexual relations should only occur in the context of a marital relationship between a man and a woman. It is not an ethic that church leaders have always lived by. Any close…

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A new plaque outside the Pastoral Center at St. Pius X High School in Albuquerque is meant to serve as an acknowledgment and remembrance of all victims of clergy sexual abuse, both living and deceased, within the Archdiocese of Santa Fe.

Santa Fe Archbishop John C. Wester speaks Monday at the dedication of a plaque dedicated to victims of clergy sexual abuse outside the Pastoral Center on the campus of St. Pius X High School in Albuquerque. “All of us in the archdiocese are keenly aware of the importance and the need to continue to be vigilant,” Wester said. “This is something we can never think, ‘Well, we’ve accomplished that.’ … We have to constantly be looking at our policies.”

Statues of St. Francis of Assisi, St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Joseph look out from under the arches of the entrance of the Pastoral Center on the…

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A former New Orleans priest accused of rape, kidnapping, and other sex crimes is set to begin trial Tuesday (Sept. 24) morning.

It’s a high profile sex abuse case with allegations against Lawrence Hecker dating back to 1966 when he took over the archdiocese’s scouting program.

Lawrence Hecker is expected to be in the courtroom today with lawyers beginning the jury selection process in about three hours.

That’s if the judge feels confident in Hecker’s medical ability to be tried.

This case has seen months of delays because of competency. Defense lawyers have argued that Hecker is 92 years old and suffering from a mild case of dementia and short-term memory loss.

But earlier this month, court records show two expert doctors disagree, finding Hecker competent daily.

One lawyer for an alleged victim says he does not want this trial delayed any further.

The archdiocese says they’ve reported Hecker to…

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More than 200 men and women were sexually abused as children while in custody at juvenile detention centers in Illinois, according to lawsuits filed Monday, the latest in a string of complaints alleging decades of systemic child sex abuse.

Three lawsuits filed Monday detail abuse from 1996 to 2021, including rape, forced oral sex and beatings by corrections officers, nurses, kitchen staff, chaplains and others.

“The State of Illinois has caused and permitted a culture of sexual abuse to flourish unabated in its Illinois Youth Center facilities,” one lawsuit said, adding that Illinois has “overwhelmingly failed to investigate complaints, report abusive staff, and protect youth inmates.”

Overall, 667 people have alleged they were sexually abused as children at youth facilities run by the state and Cook County in lawsuits filed since May.

They’re part of a wave of complaints with disturbing allegations at juvenile facilities across the U.S., including in…

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The congregation at the Don Bosco church solemnly took the holy host after it was blessed during a Sunday service by Nancy Speeckaert — a woman. Only a week earlier, to equal excitement, she had also blessed a wedding.

On both occasions, the humble neighborhood church was filled to near capacity with generations of joyous faithful. And if a key tenet of Catholic doctrine was breached by a woman celebrating the sacrament, it was all covered by a coat of religious love.

Two miles southwest, in the center of the same town of 44,000 near Brussels, less than half of Halle’s big Saint Martin’s Basilica was filled for Sunday’s main Mass, where within minutes of the liturgy starting, words about guilt and calls of “go away, Satan” echoed among the stone pillars.

Pope Francis will be visiting Belgium from Thursday to Sunday, facing a flock ravaged by countless scandals of…

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There is likely to be another parliamentary committee of enquiry into sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy. The committee will concentrate on investigating whether there are any irregularities in Operation Chalice, the criminal investigation into sexual abuse in the Church. With all the parties currently involved in the federal coalition talks having agreed to the setting up of a commission of enquiry, it seems almost certain that one will be set up. 

Following the broadcast of ‘Godvergeten’ (Forgotten by God), a VRT documentary series about sexual abuse committed by clergy here in Belgium, 2 parliamentary committees, 1 federal and 1 Flemish, were set up. Now it seems a near-certainty that a third will follow.

The committee of enquiry will look specifically into irregularities in the Operation Chalice invesigation. Operation Chalice is a major criminal investigation into child abuse in the Roman Catholic Church in Belgium.

Critical report

The setting up…

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Lawrence Hecker would serve mandatory life imprisonment if convicted as charged.

Jury selection is set to begin Tuesday in the trial of a retired Roman Catholic priest facing charges of child rape and kidnapping.

Lawrence Hecker’s trial centers on allegations dating back decades that the local Catholic church took steps to cover up. But for the long-awaited trial to proceed as scheduled, Hecker must first clear the latest in a series of mental health evaluations.

A court-appointed doctor on Sept. 5 found Hecker, who turned 93 on Sept. 14, competent to stand trial. But the judge presiding over the case, Benedict Willard, has said he wants the physician to re-evaluate the defendant’s competence Tuesday before beginning jury selection.

Hecker has pleaded not guilty to aggravated rape, kidnapping and other charges filed against him in September 2023 in New Orleans’ criminal court.

The…

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Lawyers for people seeking compensation from the Norwich Roman Catholic Diocese for sexual abuse they say they suffered as children are accusing the diocese of taking advantage of a change required by a U.S. Supreme Court decision to reduce the compensation it previously agreed to offer.

Lawyer Kelly E. Reardon, who represents 32 of those making claims, said the diocese had previously agreed to pledge assets, which included real estate and other items, estimated to be worth a total of $29 million to $30 million to compensate the roughly 150 claimants. She said at least half the claimants allege that were abused at the Mt. St. John School for troubled boys in Deep River.

Reardon said the latest plan submitted by the diocese and other parties to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Connecticut reduces the amount of cash contributed to the settlement fund by $3.2 million, without increasing contributions of…

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Pope Francis is pressing ahead with a four-day visit to Luxembourg and Belgium despite coming down with a mild flu, in a trip expected to highlight the needs of migrants and to feature a meeting with survivors of abuse by Catholic clergy.

The Vatican said the 87-year-old pope planned to make the trip, which starts on Thursday, after cancelling some meetings on Monday because of flu-like symptoms.

The Sept. 26-29 tour is a rare European visit for Francis, who prefers going to places never visited by a pope, or where Catholics are a small minority. It comes less than two weeks after the pontiff returned from a demanding 12-day, four-country tour across Southeast Asia and Oceania.

Belgium, like many countries, has uncovered cases of clerical sexual abuse. In March, the pope expelled from the priesthood a former Belgian bishop who admitted to sexually abusing two nephews. More than 700 complaints…

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From Mexico, to Argentina, and then to Germany: clergy sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church links these three, different countries. In Mexico and Brazil, predator priests with less than ten years of service, dominate the scene; in Mexico, the U.N. calls for a national commission to address clergy sexual abuse. In Argentina, a key week for survivors of clergy sexual abuse starts today as two cases go to the courts, while in Germany a women’s group seek major changes at the incoming Synod at Rome.

Last week, media in Mexico City told once again the story of a young priest accused of clergy sexual abuse by one of his victims.

Below this paragraph, a short story broadcast by a local news channel in Mexico City provides some details about the allegations.

A story from a Mexican newscast. Audio available only in Spanish.

At this point it is impossible…

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This priest was accused of sexually abusing a boy.

His immediate church supervisors put him on leave.

They investigated the allegation.

They found that the allegations against him were ‘credible.’

They permanently removed him from ministry.

A second abuse report, by another person, was made.

The head of a different diocese put him on his ‘credibly accused’ abusers list.

Then, a third church official, the head of a different archdiocese, put him on HIS ‘credibly accused’ abusers list.

Finally, last year, he was included in a lengthy, widely-praised attorney general’s report on clergy sex crimes and cover up.

So it seems that few – if any – officials in the church or secular world doubt his guilt.

Yet in a recent – and perhaps one of the clearest – example of the Vatican’s hubris, callousness and recklessness, high ranking Catholic bureaucrats in Rome claim the evidence against this priest is…

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On a beautiful Sunday morning in early September, dozens of young men in Waco, Texas, started their day at Grace Church.

Men greeted visitors at the door, manned the information table and handed out bulletins. Four of the five musicians onstage were men. So was the pastor who delivered the sermon and most of the college students packing the first few rows.

“I’m so grateful for this church,” Ryan Amodei, 28, told the congregation before a second pastor, Buck Rogers, baptized him in a tank of water at the sanctuary.

Grace Church, a Southern Baptist congregation, has not made a conscious effort to attract young men. It is an unremarkable size, and is in many ways an ordinary evangelical church. Yet its leaders have noticed for several years now that young men outnumber young women in their pews. When the church opened a small outpost in the nearby town of…

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Francis, 87, is scheduled to visit Belgium and Luxembourg soon, trips that come within weeks of his returning from a grueling Asia-Pacific tour.

Pope Francis canceled appointments on Monday because of a mild flu, according to the Vatican, which said the move was a precautionary step as the pontiff prepares to travel to Belgium and Luxembourg this week.

The news of Francis’ illness came 10 days after the pope returned from a long trip to the Asia-Pacific region, a tour that was seen as a test of his health and endurance. During those travels, which included dozens of hours in the air and visits to humid, polluted cities, Francis, 87, often appeared lively and energetic, but the cancellation of his audiences on Monday revived concerns about his health.

Francis, who has been using a wheelchair and who lost part of a lung when he was young, canceled some commitments…

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Fifteen Catholic Church abuse victims met in Brussels on Saturday with representatives of the bishops to discuss the details of their upcoming meeting with the Pope.

The hour-long meeting is set to take place on Friday afternoon “with complete discretion”. The exact location remains undisclosed.

Father Rik Devillé, founder of the Church’s human rights working group, criticised the meeting’s organisation, comparing it to the abuse system itself.

“Victims are once again being placed in the role where nothing could be revealed,” said Father Devillé, whose work inspired the award-winning VRT documentary series ‘Godvergeten’ (God’s Forgotten). “For some, this is a painful matter, while others look forward to shaking the Pope’s hand.”

There will be no room for improvisation during the meeting, Father Devillé asserted. Clear agreements have been made about how the victims will convey their messages to the Church leader.

Each victim, comprising nine Dutch speakers and six French…

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Source: Irish Catholic Media Office

Archbishop Dermot Farrell gave the following homily during the Safeguarding Sunday Vigil Mass Vigil Mass in Saint Mary’s Pro-Cathedral in Dublin, on Saturday 21 September 2024.

On this weekend, in which the Archdiocese of Dublin brings to the attention of all the faithful the safeguarding children and vulnerable adults, we see Jesus put the welcome of the child to the forefront, not just of his ministry, but of God’s way of giving his life to us. ‘Anyone who welcomes one of these little children in my name, welcomes me; and anyone who welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me’ (Mark 9:37). In the ancient world, the child had no ‘rights;’ children were even more vulnerable than in our world. For Christ, it is our welcome, and our protection, of these little ones that is the threshold of our welcome of God. Here…

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David Clohessy spoke more about what his group, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests or SNAP, are doing.

READ MORE: https://krcgtv.com/news/local/victims…

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Event Details

Wed, Oct 2, 2024 at 5:00 PM
Fairfield University, 1073 N Benson Rd, Fairfield, CT, 06824

As the Catholic Church faces significant challenges, including the clergy sexual abuse crisis and parish closures, new theological perspectives on local belonging are increasingly needed. Susan Bigelow Reynolds, PhD, an award-winning Catholic theologian at Emory University, will address these issues when she presents “Theologizing the Local After Clergy Abuse and Parish Closure,” the 24th Annual Anne Drummey O’Callaghan Lecture, on Wednesday, October 2, 2024, at 5 p.m. at Alumni House. The lecture will invite attendees to rethink local belonging through feminist and postcolonial lenses.

Dr. Reynolds, a Catholic theologian and ethnographer, specializes in the intersection of ecclesiology and lived Catholicism. Her recent monograph, People Get Ready: Ritual, Solidarity, and Lived Ecclesiology in Catholic Roxbury(Fordham University Press, 2023), provides an in-depth examination of community within a diverse church in Boston, advocating for solidarity…

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John Patrick Shanley’s superb 2005 drama “Doubt: A Parable” explored the scandal of abuse within the Catholic priesthood through the lens of a suspicious and determined sister in charge of a Catholic school in the Bronx in New York. The supremely concise play took place entirely through the lens of what for children are authority figures: a principal, a priest, a parent, a teacher. Kids were neither seen nor heard. Just discussed.

The new play by Omer Abbas Salem, “Happy Days are Here (Again),” which is set at a Catholic elementary school in Chicago in about 1980 and had its world premiere Friday night from Chicago’s ever-courageous Steep Theatre at Steppenwolf’s 1700 Theatre, pays homage to that precursor, not least in its portrayal of how abusers can be careful to groom their victims and to cover up their tracks with charm. But the big difference here is that…

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*Warning – This story contains details of sexual abuse

A Fijian survivor of abuse by New Zealand Marist brothers wants the Pope to apologise to Pacific victims as well as those in New Zealand.

The New Zealand Catholic Church will not say whether it is urging Pope Francis to make a public apology following recommendations by the Royal Commission.

Felix Fremlin was 7 years old when abuse began by a New Zealand Marist brother, Bertrand Hodgkins, who taught at the Marist Brothers Primary School in Suva in 1979.

Another brother, Terence Payne, started teaching there shortly after and the abuse continued.

Fremlin said Payne offered lollies and chocolates to him and his brother John to get them into his room.

“Those are luxuries, coming from a poor family background, so usually they tempt us with it and tell us you come in and don’t tell any other guys otherwise you…

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Church has not ‘come to terms with what was done to thousands upon thousands of innocent and vulnerable people’, says Dermot Farrell

A “culture of denial” in the Catholic Church about child sexual abuse has been challenged by Archbishop of Dublin Dermot Farrell.

The Church in Ireland “has yet fully to come to terms with what was done to the thousands upon thousands of innocent and vulnerable people over such a long period of time,” he said. “Until the abuse crisis is fully addressed, there will be no authentic, enduring renewal and reform of our Church.”

Referring to the recent report of the scoping inquiry into historical sexual abuse in schools run by religious orders, in a sermon at the Pro Cathedral to mark Safeguarding Sunday, he said that “listening to the stark and distressing testimony of this, and other reports over the last 20 years is as painful and…

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There will be no reform or renewal of the Catholic Church in Ireland until the abuse crisis has been fully addressed, Archbishop of Dublin Dermot Farrell has said.

Archbishop Farrell said there was a “culture of denial” in the Catholic Church when it came to the issue of child sexual abuse.

He was making reference to the scoping inquiry into allegations of abuse at schools run by religious orders, which earlier this month found that there were 2,395 allegations of sexual abuse in respect of 308 schools recorded by the religious orders that ran those schools.

During a sermon at St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral last night, he said: “Listening to the stark and distressing testimony of this, and other reports over the last 20 years is as painful and difficult, as the content of those reports is outrageous and scandalous.

“While some are filled with anger, others close…

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Belgium’s secular community has criticised plans for the Pope to visit the official residence of the royal family and deliver a message “to the nation” later this month, calling it an “unprecedented” erosion of the separation of Church and State.

The Central Secular Council (CAL), which represents both French and Dutch speaking non-denominational communities across Belgium, has sharply criticised the invitation extended to Pope Francis by the Belgian monarchy.

The Pope is scheduled to visit Belgium from 26 to 29 September, at the invite of KU Leuven and UCLouvain as the universities mark their 600th anniversaries.

‘Flouting’ principle of separation

Whilst the visit will be historic for Belgian Catholics (as the first papal visit in almost 30 years), CAL has emphasised that the event “does not justify flouting the principles of separation of Church and State and of neutrality”.

Specifically, CAL is critical of an invitation extended by King…

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Boys from Joplin and Carthage and a boy and a girl from Neosho are among 11 alleged victims of past sexual abuse by Catholic Church officials cited in a lawsuit filed last week against the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau.

The diocese and Bishop Edward Rice are listed as defendants in the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Springfield regarding purported abuse of children dating back as far as the late 1960s by six named and three unnamed priests, a monsignor, an unnamed youth pastor and an unnamed deacon.

The lawsuit states that the victims — all adults today — were children at the time of the abuse and suffered “shame, guilt, self-blame and depression” as a consequence. The plaintiffs are eight boys and three girls identified only by initials in the court petition.

Rice is being sued solely in his capacity as the chief executive officer and director of…

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The Child Victims Act of 2023 and its provisions were tested during a three-hour Maryland Supreme Court hearing to determine whether a past legislature could prohibit the actions of future lawmakers. 

The Maryland Supreme Court heard arguments related to the Child Victims Act last Tuesday. As previously covered on Conduit Street, the question of constitutionality was anticipated to come up following the passage of the original legislation in 2023. The arguments went on for over three hours, well longer than usual according to court administrators.

From a Maryland Matters article:

During more than three hours of oral arguments, the justices repeatedly asked about the ability of the General Assembly to pass a law that allowed for lawsuits on older allegations. They also asked if a 2017 law that preceded the Child Victims Act barred future legislatures from revisiting the issue.

Opponents of the law argued…

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A judge Thursday postponed a hearing on settlement negotiations between the Catholic Church on Long Island and hundreds of clergy sex abuse survivors, though attorneys indicated a resolution, after years of court battles and delays, could finally be near.

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Martin Glenn in Manhattan put the hearing off until next week at the request of attorneys for the Diocese of Rockville Centre and more than 500 clergy sex abuse survivors.

Attorneys for both sides indicated in court last week they were close to a settlement, with issues regarding one insurance company — Interstate — being the only remaining obstacle.

Glenn last week expressed irritation with Interstate and ordered a lawyer representing the company to get its leaders to New York this week to resolve the issue.

On Wednesday, the attorneys suggested in a letter to Glenn that the issue was nearly resolved, but the postponement would give them time to wrap up the…

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The indefatigable Pope Francis willbe on the road again Sept. 26-29, less than two weeks after finishing a marathon voyage to Asia and Oceania. His destination this time is closer to home: the northern European countries of Luxembourg and Belgium.  

Western Europe has hardly been the focus of attention for Pope Francis, the first pope from the Global South, who has preferred to reach out to developing countries and the non-Catholic world. Yet this trip will qualify, in another sense, as a visit to the “peripheries” that he has always identified as his mission field.  

Once a bastion of Catholic culture, Belgium, where the Pope will spend most of his time, increasingly exemplifies the post-Christian, secular West. Fifty percent of Belgians identified as Catholic in 2022, a drop of 16% from a decade earlier, according to the country’s bishops’ conference. Only 8.9% of those attend Mass even once a month. 

…

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Lawmakers ask Department of Financial Services to act

New York lawmakers are urging the state Department of Financial Services (DFS) to investigate allegations that insurers are neglecting claims tied to the Child Victims Act (CVA).

Assemblymember Linda B. Rosenthal and Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal have formally requested DFS to address concerns that survivors of child sexual abuse are being denied compensation by insurance companies.

In a letter to DFS Superintendent Adrienne Harris, the two cited the ongoing complaints from abuse survivors who allege that insurers are failing to process their claims.

Separately, it was pointed out that despite the grievances being raised with DFS for months, the agency has yet to take meaningful action.

Rosenthal and Hoylman-Sigal wrote: “As authors of the Child Victims Act law of 2019, we are writing regarding disturbing reports we have received from survivors who say their claims are not being properly processed by insurers regulated…

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A pair of recent lawsuits filed under the state’s “Lookback Window” law accuse the Catholic Church of turning a blind eye decades ago when two ex- Baton Rouge priests sexually abused underage parishioners.

Both lawsuits, filed in the 19th Judicial District Court, name the Society of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge as the chief defendant. The two civil claims were filed separately by two plaintiffs who kept their respective identities confidential under a state law that shields sexually abused minors from revealing themselves publicly.

In 2021, the Louisiana Legislature created a “lookback window” that gave such victims three years to sue their perpetrators no matter when the abuse occurred. Before that, survivors had until their 28th birthday to sue.

Lawmakers revived causes of action for decades-old claims of sex abuse that previously would have been time-barred in court. In doing so, Louisiana joined 27 other states and…

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