ABUSE TRACKER

Bayrou has accused his critics of exploiting the scandal for political reasons

France’s prime minister was under increasing pressure Friday after a former teacher at a Catholic school claimed Francois Bayrou was aware of claims of sexual abuse there in the 1990s but did not act on them.

Bayrou has in recent days faced accusations from the opposition that as education minister in the mid-1990s he knew of widespread physical and sexual abuse at the Catholic boarding school to which he sent some of his children. 

Since last year, prosecutors have been investigating more than 100 complaints of violence, assault and rape over many decades at the Notre-Dame de Betharram school near the southwestern town of Pau where Bayrou has been mayor since 2014.

View Cache

A senior Catholic Bishop has apologised to the alleged victims of a deceased parish priest.

In a statement, the Bishop of Down and Connor, Alan McGuckian, said that his diocese had received several “credible allegations of sexual abuse” against Fr Patrick O’Neill.

The statement revealed that an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor was received by the diocese in 2004 and another similar allegation was made “recently”.

In addition three allegations of sexual abuse of adults, manipulation and abuse of power were made against Fr O’Neill and received by the diocese in 2003, 2005 and 2006.

Following the allegation made in 2004, Fr O’Neill was “stepped aside” from his ministry in the Parish of Arkeen in Kirkistown, County Down.

He remained permanently out of ministry until his death in November 2009.

‘Matter of deep regret’

Bishop McGuickian has said that at the time that Fr O’Neill was asked to…

View Cache

The Flemish recognition and mediation commission for victims of historical abuse wants to declare 23 February as the Day of the Forgotten Victim, reported newspaper De Zondag. A day earlier, 22 February, is listed as the European Day for the Victims of Crime.

Following testimonies of transgressive behaviour in youth and education institutions, a temporary recognition and mediation commission was set up in Flanders in 2014. Years later, in 2018, the Flemish parliament organised hearings with testimonies of sexual abuse, first from the sports sector and then in other sectors. Afterwards, the parliament drafted a decree to make the commission permanent and expand its scope. “As a society, we underestimate how destructive violence or abuse is for a child, also in their later life”

Since 2020, victims of transgressive behaviour in all relationships of authority, peer relations and in intrafamilial contexts can be heard by the commission. It deals with…

View Cache

Decision expected this week could determine if multiple child sexual abuse lawsuits against the Roman Catholic Diocese can go to trial

A federal bankruptcy judge in Albany is weighing whether to allow multiple child sexual abuse lawsuits against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany to go to trial in order to “jump-start” what many attorneys for hundreds of alleged victims have said is a languishing attempt to reach a global settlement with the church and its insurers

“The only thing I’ve produced in the last 13 months is millions of dollars in professional fees,” Judge Robert E. Littlefield Jr. said during a conference last month. “It is getting somewhat frustrating that all I’m doing is approving fees. I’m not approving anything of substance. We’re just languishing on the sidelines. We need to jump-start the process or the case is heading to failure.”

After hearing objections from attorneys for multiple insurance…

View Cache

Catholic communities today are facing significant challenges. In addition to the clericalism that has been around for centuries, the Church is facing distrust because of the sexual abuse scandal, disappointment because of parish closures, and historic injustices such as colonization, slavery, racism, and violence against Native Americans.

The Catholic sex abuse scandal has shown the worst side of clericalism. The Church hierarchy chose to protect its clerics and the institution at all costs and at the expense of the most vulnerable. According to the 2004 John Jay Report, “The Nature and Scope of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests and Deacons in the United States 1950-2002,” sexual abuse of minors was widespread throughout the country. 

“The survey responses make it clear that the problem was indeed widespread and affected more than 95% of dioceses and approximately 60% of religious communities.”

According to the report, “approximately 4%…

View Cache

The Defendant Used the Church’s Computer to Access, View, and Download Material Depicting the Sexual Exploitation of Children

Ashley James Crouse, 53, of Granite Falls, N.C., was sentenced today to 120 months in prison and a lifetime of supervised release for possession and receipt of child sexual abuse material (CSAM), announced Lawrence J. Cameron, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Crouse was also ordered to register as a sex offender after he is released from prison.

Robert M. DeWitt, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Charlotte Division, Roger “Chip” Hawley, Director of the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI), Sheriff Alan C. Jones of the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office, and Chief Reed Baer of the Hickory Police Department, join Acting U.S. Attorney Cameron in making today’s announcement.

According to court documents and today’s sentencing hearing, in April 2023, the National Center for Missing and Exploited…

View Cache

When Chris Graham slides his tablet across the table to show lawmakers the police report detailing his rape, he sees their faces change.

That’s because in the report, there’s the account of someone who remembers seeing the perpetrator, a Catholic priest, chasing after a 14-year-old Graham and then grabbing him and trying to get him to go back into a private room at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church in Powell.

It’s a powerful corroboration of his abuse in 1997 by the late Rev. Raymond Lavelle, Graham has found — as is the fact that the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus both declared the allegation credible. 

Now, he’s using it to raise awareness about clergy sexual abuse of minors and the Ohio laws that keep people like him from seeking justice.

‘There’s no escape’:  Memories of…

View Cache

The former Southern Baptist seminary professor who has admitted to lying to the FBI about documentation of alleged sexual abuse by a student should not be imprisoned for his crime, his attorney wrote in a letter to the judge Feb. 19.

Although marked as “unredacted and to be filed under seal,” the letter was published online by the X site SBCLitigation. It was addressed to federal judge Lewis A. Kaplan, who is presiding over the case.

A sentencing hearing is scheduled for March 5 in New York. The Department of Justice has requested a $2,000 fine and one year of probation without incarceration.

Matt Queen already has suffered the consequences of his actions — which, his attorney says, were unintentional and nearly harmless — so “punishment that includes incarceration is not necessary,” attorney Sam Schmidt says in the letter.

Queen left the staff of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas,…

View Cache

A judicial investigation into charges of rape and sexual assault at the Notre-Dame de Bétharram school in southwestern France was opened against a former school employee Friday. French PM François Bayrou, whose children attended the school, has come under increasing scrutiny after a former teacher accused him and his wife of having turned a blind eye to years of abuse.

A judicial investigation was opened on Friday into charges of rape and sexual assault against one of the three men held in custody in connection with allegations of widespread physical and sexual abuse at the Notre-Dame de Bétharram school in southwestern France, the Pau public prosecutor’s office announced on Friday.

The suspect, a former monitor, was working at the school last year before being dismissed following the opening of the judicial investigation.

The other two men who were taken into custody on Wednesday were let go as the charges against them fell outside…

View Cache

Denomination revokes ministerial credentials

A former Church of God senior pastor in Tennessee has pleaded guilty and was sentenced to eight years in prison for possessing child sexual abuse images on his laptop.

Richard Lee Sentell of the defunct Cornerstone Church of God in Cleveland entered a guilty plea Friday to sexual exploitation of a minor. He received an eight-year sentence with the Tennessee Department of Corrections, according to the Tenth Judicial District Attorney General’s office. He is not eligible for parole. 

Sentell was arrested in December 2023 and subsequently suspended from all ministerial activities by the Tennessee Church of God, pending the outcome of his case. 

In a statement to The Christian Post, The Church of God Tennessee State Office stated that Sentell’s ministerial credentials have been “permanently revoked” as a result of this disposition. The denomination added that Cornerstone Church of God in Cleveland was…

View Cache

The former Tehachapi youth pastor accused of sexually assaulting a teen pleaded not guilty on Thursday.

Adrian Daugherty was confirmed to post bail a day after being arrested in January.

RELATED: Tehachapi youth pastor arrested for alleged sexual assault of teen victim: Police

Tehachapi police said Daugherty was a youth pastor at the Tehachapi Church of the Nazarene.

Daugherty appeared in a Mojave courthouse Thursday morning for his felony arraignment. He pleaded not guilty. He is scheduled to be back in court in April.

The judge said he would remain out on bail and ordered to stay away from the victim.

View Cache

The jury has been discharged in the case of a priest who was to stand trial for historic sexual abuse charges against a number of males who were pupils in the County Fermanagh school where he taught.

Canon Patrick McEntee (70) from Esker Road, Dromore, County Tyrone requested a leave of absence in 2022 while a serious safeguarding investigation was carried out.

He is charged with sexual offences against five males who attended St Michael’s College, Enniskillen.

There are four counts of indecently assaulting one complainant on dates between 1988 and 1989 and a single count of indecently assaulting another complainant between 1980 and 1981.

In addition, there are a further four counts of indecent assault against three males- two counts against one and single counts against the other two.

These matters allegedly occurred on various dates between 1978 and 1987 Canon McEntee denied all charges against him.

To date,…

View Cache

Law passed in 2023 eliminates statute of limitations; State now facing claims of as much as $3B

Thousands of sex abuse cases could leave Maryland taxpayers responsible for $3 billion in payouts after a 2023 law opened the door to claims.

The Maryland Child Victims Act passed in 2023, eliminating the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse lawsuits.

Now, the way lawmakers are responding to the lawsuits is coming under fire. New legislation under consideration this year would reinstate an even more restrictive statute of limitations, but 11 News Investigates has since learned the bill will be changed.

Child sex-abuse survivor shares his story with 11 News

A child sex abuse survivor, who asked to remain anonymous, is suing the state 43 years after a state detention center employee molested him.

“I still have a trust issue for being molested at a juvenile facility where people…

View Cache

New details are coming to light in three civil lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Dubuque and former priest Leo Riley.

The plaintiffs, who filed these lawsuits in Charlotte County, Florida, where Riley now lives, allege the abuse happened in Dubuque in the 1980s. The amended complaint filed this week states that the plaintiffs did not fully recall the abuse until April 2023 due to repressed memories.

The Florida Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests Chapter says this is common in childhood sexual abuse cases, even when the abuse happened nearly 40 years ago.

The updated complaint withdrew a claim for punitive damages but still accuses Riley of three counts relating to the sexual abuse of altar boys at Resurrection Parish in Dubuque. It also alleges five counts against the Archdiocese of Dubuque, claiming they knew or should have known about the abuse and failed to disclose it. 

View Cache

The VICTIM Act seeks to alleviate strains caused by federal funding cuts, organizers say.

On Feb. 12, Rhode Island legislators and victim service organizations held a kickoff press conference at the State House Library to advocate for the passage of the Victims of Crime Trauma Informed Mobilization, or VICTIM, Act.

The act would set aside $30 million in annual state funding to fund organizations that provide services to “minor victims of child abuse, sexual assault survivors, elder abuse victims, domestic violence victims and survivors of human trafficking, community violence and gun violence,” according to the bill. The VICTIM Act was introduced in both chambers of the Rhode Island General Assembly earlier this month.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that over 40% of Rhode Island women and men have experienced domestic violence — stalking, sexual violence or physical violence by an…

View Cache

[See also Argentine diocese: Bishop resigned over abuse allegations.]

The Bishop of San Rafael, Argentina resigned last week for “personal reasons,” the latest in a string of controversial episcopal resignations in the country.

Local media have reported that Bishop Carlos María Domínguez is facing accusations of sexually misconduct involving three young adults. He has also been accused of mishandling a sexual abuse case in the diocese.

Domínguez announced his resignation Feb. 13 for “personal reasons” at just 59 years old. He has been Bishop of San Rafael for the last two years.

Domínguez said in a Feb. 13 statement that “for reasons of a personal nature, I have tendered my resignation … as diocesan bishop of San Rafael to the Holy Father, whom I thank for his confidence when he appointed me bishop of this diocese.”

He added that he “sensed the perplexity this decision might cause in all of…

View Cache

The practical consequences for the Church and religious liberty

Recently, a set of bills have moved closer to being voted on in the Washington State Legislature that will have a massive impact on the future of the Church. House Bill 1211 and Senate Bill 5375 will remove all religious privileges that serve as exemption to the mandatory reporting of child abuse.

The bills say that any “member of the clergy” will now be required to report any suspicion of child abuse to the authorities. This includes any information a priest might have heard during the sacrament of confession.

Proponents of these bills say that there should not be exemptions for anyone when it comes to child abuse. They do not want any instances of abuse to slip through the cracks. This necessity, they argue, is greater than the right to religious liberty and should therefore trump it.

If they pass,…

View Cache

Former pupils of a Catholic school in the Pyrenées have complained of sexual and physical abuse, and François Bayrou, who has ties to the school, has been accused by political opponents of dishonesty over his knowledge of the allegations.

For the past two weeks, French Prime Minister François Bayrou has been embroiled in the scandal over allegations of sexual assault and rape at a Catholic school in the Pyrenées, Notre-Dame de Bétharram, near Pau, of which he has been mayor since 2014.

Bayrou denies having any knowledge of the alleged violence and abuse against pupils spanning decades at the Notre-Dame de Bétharram school, but has been accused by opponents of misleading parliament by claiming he was unaware of the case while he was involved in local government in the area, and during his time as education minister. Here’s what we know so far about the case.

What is the Notre-Dame…

View Cache

France’s prime minister was under increasing pressure on Friday after a former teacher at a Catholic school claimed Francois Bayrou was aware of claims of sexual abuse of young boys there in the 1990s but did not act on them.

The embattled prime minister has in recent days faced accusations from the opposition that he knew of widespread physical and sexual abuse at a Catholic boarding school to which he sent several of his children.Prosecutors have been investigating around 100 complaints of alleged violence, sexual assault and rape committed at the Notre-Dame de Betharram school in southwestern France over several decades.

Bayrou, who served as the country’s education minister between 1993 and 1997, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

On Thursday, a former teacher at the boarding school told French investigative website Mediapart that Bayrou, 73, and his wife, who taught religious studies there, had ignored her warnings about the “systemic violence”…

View Cache

The proposal, which has received little opposition from lawmakers, was tacked onto a controversial bill that would reduce the amount of time people have to sue in personal injury cases

The Missouri House on Thursday approved a proposal to extend the civil statute of limitations for survivors of childhood sexual abuse.

Filed by state Rep. Brian Seitz, a Republican from Branson, the bill would extend the amount of time survivors have to file civil action against a perpetrator. Survivors would have until age 41 to file civil action, rather than age 31. 

Seitz’s bill was inspired by sexual abuse allegations at Kanakuk Kamps, in the Branson area.

The legislation that contained Seitz’s bill passed out of the House on Thursday 92 to 42, with 24 voting present. The opposition, from Democrats and Republicans alike, was due to parts of the bill unrelated to the childhood sexual abuse piece.

It now…

View Cache

The Diocese of Buffalo has said a priest who anonymously wrote to the Vatican to request an apostolic visitation to investigate the state of the diocese “illustrates a lack of courage” with his decision to pen a letter and not go to Bishop Michael Fisher directly.

“The fact that an unnamed priest has authored a letter to the pope that cannot be responded to personally illustrates a lack of courage,” the diocese said in a Jan. 21 statement, noting that Fisher has encouraged collaboration with both laity and clergy since he arrived in 2021. “It is unfortunate that the author of the letter has not accepted the ongoing invitations of Bishop Fisher to priests to meet.”

The back and forth is the latest in a years-long, oftentimes contentious, consolidation process titled Road to Renewal. At the core of the priest’s letter, sent Jan. 19, is a complaint with Fisher’s decision…

View Cache

“It’s the end of an era,” said Tiffany Thigpen following the announcement that the Southern Baptist Convention’s (SBC) Executive Committee is no longer pursuing the implementation of an abuser database.

Thigpen is one of several key abuse survivor advocates who have for years worked alongside SBC leaders and task forces to bring about reforms to address the decades-long failure of the denomination to properly respond to allegations of clergy sex abuse. 

Among the proposed reforms has been the “Ministry Check” website, an online database of pastors, church leaders, and volunteers who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse.

For a time, it appeared that advocates were making headway. At the annual meeting of the SBC in 2022, they cried tears of joy as local church delegates (called messengers) overwhelmingly voted in favor of creating the database. 

“We really thought, wow, people are really listening,” Thigpen told ChurchLeaders. “For us, rejoicing for…

View Cache

The bankrupt Roman Catholic Diocese of Norwich, Connecticut and advocates for survivors of clergy sex abuse have reached an agreement on a $31 million compensation fund.

The plan, which is subject to the approval of the bankruptcy court, seeks to provide recovery to those who have suffered abuse and allow the diocese to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The joint plan provides for the creation of independent trusts to oversee the distribution of funds to eligible survivors.

Contributions to the proposed fund would include about $5.3 million from insurer Catholic Mutual; $1.6 million from the diocese; $2.7 million from its parishes; proceeds from the sale of several diocesan school properties including $6.5 million for St. Bernard and $2.5 million from Xavier; and $7.0 million from an orphanage in Australia with ties to the Norwich diocese and its clergy.

In addition, all the estate professionals in the bankruptcy case have agreed…

View Cache

The Diocese of Norwich announced Friday it has reached an agreement culminating in the filing of a joint Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan to enable the diocese and others to “provide a meaningful recovery” to survivors of sexual abuse and for the diocese to emerge from bankruptcy and continue its mission.

The joint announcement included the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors, the Association of Parishes, and Catholic Mutual Relief Society of America.

After five days of mediation with the retired Judge Joan N. Feeney, the parties reached an agreement on a $31 million compensation fund. The joint Chapter 11 plan was filed on Feb. 10 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Hartford before Judge James J. Tancredi. The compensation fund draws from multiple sources, including contributions from the diocese, Catholic Mutual, parishes, The Oceania Province of the Congregation of Christian Brothers and Mount St. John, among others, with the goal of…

View Cache

The Diocese of Norwich, Connecticut, has announced a settlement for survivors of clergy sex abuse, part of an ongoing bankruptcy process the diocese entered into several years ago. 

In a joint statement, the diocese — along with a committee of abuse survivors and the Catholic Mutual Relief Society of America — said they had reached “an agreement on a $31 million compensation fund,” one that will allow “meaningful recovery to survivors of sexual abuse and for the diocese to emerge from bankruptcy and continue its mission.”

The Norwich Diocese filed for bankruptcy in 2021, with then-Bishop Michael Côté stating that the bankruptcy would “centralize all litigation and oversee a settlement that ensures that all survivors are included and treated fairly.”

Hartford Archbishop Christopher Coyne, who has been serving as the Norwich apostolic administrator since Côté’s retirement in September, acknowledged last week that the…

View Cache

Every time Pope Francis catches a cold, I get anxious. When he goes to the hospital, I panic.

I love Francis and hope he can continue as pope forever, but I know I’m not being realistic. We are all mortal, as those of us in our 80s need no reminding.

Unlike former President Joe Biden, who gave the impression of a man mentally unfit for his job in his last appearances, Francis appears to be mentally up to the job, but failing physically. Anyone in his condition, especially a pope, needs to prepare for the inevitable.

Here are three things the pope needs to do to prepare for his inevitable decline and death. Frankly, I wish he had done them already.

First, the pope needs public documents describing what should be done if he becomes incapacitated.

Like everyone else, he should sign a power of attorney for health…

View Cache

Last week, we published a major story by Searchlight investigative reporter Joshua Bowling, who examined the legacy of sexual abuse of children by priests in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. In a companion story, I wrote about an important new archive at the University of New Mexico’s special collections library, which will house thousands of pages of clergy abuse records that were generated as part of the archdiocese’s 2018 bankruptcy. This week, I added one more: a brief essay about the importance of archival collections that preserve unvarnished material from painful parts of American history. They’re especially vital now, when there’s a political counterreaction — with teeth — against sharing information that presents the darker aspects of our shared past.

During our research, Bowling and I benefited from the deep knowledge of a group of people in Waltham, Massachusetts, who know the subject of clergy abuse as well as anyone in the…

View Cache

New details are coming to light in three civil lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Dubuque and former priest Leo Riley.

The plaintiffs, who filed these lawsuits in Charlotte County, Florida, where Riley now lives, allege the abuse happened in Dubuque in the 1980s. 

The Florida Chapter of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) is sharing insight on why these victims are coming forward decades later.

Florida SNAP leader Sally Zakhari said, “Maybe you don’t even see the trauma, but decades later, it hits you.” 

The amended complaint filed this week states that the plaintiffs did not fully recall the abuse until April 2023 due to repressed memories. The Florida SNAP Chapter says this is common in childhood sexual abuse cases, even when the abuse happened nearly 40 years ago.

Zakhari added, “It takes decades of us living with this trauma not knowing where its coming from. I…

View Cache

Bishop Emeritus Willie Walsh has died at the age of 90.

He was widely viewed as a progressive figure within the Catholic Church and the current Bishop of Killaloe said there is a “profound sadness” at his passing.

Walsh died last night and funeral arrangements will follow later.

He served as the Bishop of the Killaloe Diocese for 16 years, before submitting his resignation to Pope Benedict XVI upon reaching the retirement age of 75 in 2010.

Walsh was ordained a priest in 1959 and also taught in St Flannan’s in Ennis.

Walsh made headlines in 1999 when he embarked on a three-week “Pilgrimage of Reconciliation” which involved him walking to each church in his diocese to apologise for child sexual abuse scandals within the Church.

The Killaloe Diocese said Walsh “undertook to walk across the Diocese from Loop Head to Kinnity as a sign of solidarity and repentance to…

View Cache

A former Catholic priest in P.E.I. sentenced to five years in federal prison in 2023 for historic sexual exploitation offences involving a teenage boy has been granted day parole.

The Parole Board of Canada made the decision regarding the offender, Maurice Joseph Praught, on Feb. 6 to grant day parole for six months. The parole board denied full parole.

Sentence

Praught was 70 years old on Dec. 5, 2023, when he was sentenced in P.E.I. Supreme Court to the five-year prison term and placed on the Sexual Offender Information Registry for 10 years. Praught pleaded guilty to four counts of sexual interference. The sentence was a joint recommendation from Crown attorney Chris White and defence lawyer Gary Demeulenaere and accepted by Justice Gregory Cann.

The sentence was comprised of five years in prison concurrent for each offence. A publication ban is in place preventing the release of information that could…

View Cache

Southern Baptist leaders said they will focus on training churches to use already available databases.

A proposed online database that would list the names of abusive Southern Baptist pastors is now on hold, with no names likely to be added to the website by the denomination’s annual meeting this summer.

Instead, Southern Baptist leaders working to address abuse in the nation’s largest Protestant denomination say they will focus on helping churches access other databases of abusers and training churches to do better background checks. However, the so-called Ministry Check database, which was a centerpiece of reforms approved by Southern Baptist messengers — or local church representatives — is now on the back burner.

“At this point, it’s not a focus for us,” Jeff Iorg, head of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee, told reporters at a news conference Tuesday (Feb. 18) during the committee’s annual meeting in Nashville, Tennessee. 

The…

View Cache

Child protection group Bravehearts says some may see his death as ‘the end of a dark chapter’ but for survivors, the trauma remains

A paedophile priest, convicted of abusing more than 70 children over three decades, has died, but advocate groups for survivors of sex abuse says it “doesn’t erase the misery” and the “immense suffering” he caused.

Gerald Ridsdale died on Tuesday morning in prison where he had been held since 1994. He was 90.

Ridsdale’s history of child abuse began in 1961 – the year he was ordained as a priest.

He spent the next three decades abusing dozens of children across regional Victoria, often using his privileged status as a priest to earn the trust of his victims and their families.

He was also accused of abusing children in New South Wales and the US, where he underwent church-connected sex offender treatment.

He was later charged with other…

View Cache

Today, His Holiness Pope Francis accepted the resignation of the Most Reverend Jean-Pierre Blais, Bishop of Baie-Comeau, and has appointed as his successor the Reverend Father Pierre Charland, O.F.M., currently Minister Provincial of the Franciscan Province of the Holy Spirit in Canada. In accordance with the Code of Canon Law, a Diocesan Bishop who has completed the seventy-fifth year of age is requested to present his resignation from office to the Supreme Pontiff, who will make provision after he has examined all the circumstances.

Born on 20 December 1962, in North Bay, Ontario, Bishop-designate Charland made his first profession of vows within the Order of Friars Minor (Franciscan Friars) in 1991, in Lachute, Quebec, and his perpetual profession on 12 May 1996. On 7 October 2011, he was ordained to the diaconate at Saint Francis of Assisi Parish in Montreal. On 22 June 2012, he was ordained to the priesthood…

View Cache

Pope Francis on Tuesday said he had accepted the resignation of a Canadian bishop who has been named in a class-action lawsuit against the church that alleges sexual assault.

The pope did not give a reason for replacing Jean-Pierre Blais, the 75-year-old bishop of Baie-Comeau in the predominantly French-speaking province of Quebec, and the diocese said the resignation was not linked to the allegations. He also named a replacement: Reverend Pierre Charland, 62, currently a leading member of Canada’s Roman Catholic Franciscan order.

In a statement, the pope noted that any bishop who turns 75 is automatically requested to offer his resignation. The pope makes a decision on whether to accept the offer “after he has examined all the circumstances”, the statement said.

Blais is mentioned in a list of sexual predators filed as part of a victims’ class action against the Archdiocese of Quebec. He has denied any wrongdoing.

…

View Cache

Bishops satisfied with court decision – victims’ representatives disappointed

“Operation Chalice” was the name of a spectacular police raid against Belgium’s bishops in 2010, followed by years of investigations into abuse scandals. Now it is clear: There will be no further trial in the matter.

The years of investigations into sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in Belgium will not lead to a major trial. This decision was announced by the Council Chamber in Brussels on Monday. As part of the so-called“Operation Chalice“, 68 clergymen, including the former Bishop of Bruges, Roger Vangheluwe (88), have been under investigation since 2010. They are alleged to have abused minors in the past, in some cases for years. The church was satisfied with the court’s decision, but representatives of the victims expressed their disappointment.

According to Belgian media reports, 37 of the suspects had already died and 4 had already been convicted; in the…

View Cache

Victims of abuse in the Catholic Church are suing the Belgian State – following the example of the Julie Van Espen case – after the Brussels pre-trial chamber declared the criminal case in ‘Operation Chalice’ void on Monday.

The victims’ complaint is a reaction to the Council Chamber’s decision, De Standaard reports. The latter decided not to prosecute anyone in ‘Operation Chalice‘, the investigation into sexual abuse and guilty negligence in the church.

With this decision, the chambers followed the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office and the victims’ lawyers, both of whom were of the opinion that no trial was possible on the basis of the criminal file before them.

The Federal Prosecutor’s Office did not want to prosecute anyone “because the facts are time-barred, or because they cannot be proven, or because they have already been judged by a court, or because the suspects…

View Cache

Cardinal Joseph Tobin is a powerful figure who long ago pledged “a new level of transparency” on abuse. Now he’s making the same promises amid a new scandal.

Six years ago, New Jersey’s highest-ranking Catholic Church leader promised “a new level of transparency” following one of the worst abuse scandals in the church’s history.

Cardinal Joseph Tobin had just published a list of clergy members who were credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors in the Archdiocese of Newark — the largest in the state, with more than 1 million Catholics. That list of clergy members was “not an endpoint in our process,” Tobin said, but “an expression of our commitment to protecting our children.”

Since then, however, the archdiocese under Tobin’s leadership has shielded the public from details of alleged abuse within its ranks and at Seton Hall related to one of his predecessors, former…

View Cache

The Archdiocese of Chicago has removed a priest from ministry following allegations that he sexually abused a minor several decades ago. 

In two letters — one to parishioners of Sts. Joseph and Francis Xavier Parish in Wilmette, Illinois, and one to those at St. Francis Borgia in Chicago — archbishop Cardinal Blase Cupich said the archdiocese had received allegations of sex abuse against Monsignor Daniel Mayall. 

The priest had served several roles at St. Joseph and then at the combined parishes from 2016 to 2021. He led St. Francis Borgia from 1993 to 2002. 

The alleged abuse occurred at St. Francis Borgia “approximately 30 years ago,” Cupich said in his letter to parishioners. 

“In keeping with our child protection policies, I have directed Monsignor Mayall to remain out of ministry and refrain from all parish and school activities,” the prelate said. 

Mayall “strenuously denies this allegation,” Cupich…

View Cache

The impacts of Ridsdale’s crimes will echo long after his death, child advocates say. (AAP PHOTOS)Story by Adrian Black and Melissa Meehan

The death of Australia’s worst pedophile priest could contribute to trauma for victim-survivors, advocates say, with concerns a recent court decision may further deny them justice.

Gerald Ridsdale, convicted of abusing at least 72 children over three decades, died aged 90 on Tuesday morning in Port Phillip Prison’s medical unit.

He was one of multiple convicted pedophile priests and Christian Bothers who operated in the Diocese of Ballarat in western Victoria, along with Robert Best, Edward Dowlan, Gerald Leo Fitzgerald and Bryan Desmond Coffey.

Judy Courtin, a lawyer whose firm represented many of Ridsdale’s victims in court, said a landmark 2024 High Court judgement not to recognise the vicarious liability of the Diocese “twisted a knife” into abuse victims and survivors.

“These people can no longer sue…

View Cache

Msgr Jean-Pierre Blais accused of being sex predator in Quebec

Pope Francis on Tuesday removed a Canadian bishop accused of sexual abuse of children in Quebec.

Despite being hospitalized at Rome’s Policlinico Agostino Gemelli Hospital and having his therapy changed due to a complex clinical picture, Francis is continuing to carry out his duties of governing the Church.

The Pontiff has accepted the resignation from the pastoral governance of the Diocese of Baie-Comeau, in Canada, presented by Monsignor Jean-Pierre Blais, Vatican sources said.

Blais, 75, is mentioned in a list of sexual predators filed as part of a victims’ class action against the Archdiocese of Quebec.

Francis has therefore appointed as bishop of Baie-Comeau Father Pierre Charland, until now provincial minister of the Franciscans of Canada.

View Cache

A retired priest who worked in multiple churches in the Chicago area has been accused of sexual abuse against a minor, the Archdiocese of Chicago announced on Saturday.

In a letter sent Saturday to the St. Francis Borgia Parish, the archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, wrote that Monsignor Daniel Mayall was accused of sexually abusing a minor about 30 years ago while serving at the church located in the Dunning neighborhood. Mayall served at the St. Francis Borgia Parish from July 1993 to January 2002. He “strenuously denies” the allegations against him, Cupich said.

Mayall has been ordered by the church to remain out of the ministry and away from all parish and school activities while civil authorities investigate, according to the letter. The church will also conduct its own investigation into Mayall.

“The Archdiocese of Chicago takes all allegations of sexual misconduct seriously and encourages anyone who…

View Cache

One of Australia’s most notorious paedophiles, Gerald Ridsdale, has died.

The 90-year-old disgraced Catholic priest had been in prison since 1994 for the sexual abuse of more than 70 children, which occurred during his three decades as a parish priest in western Victoria.

Ridsdale died after being unresponsive for days.

His death was met with relief by one of his many victims, Paul Levey, who told this masthead: “I have been waiting for this day for a long time.”

Levey was raped daily while living with Ridsdale at a presbytery in Mortlake, near Warrnambool, after being sent to live there at age 14 following his parents’ separation in 1982.

“He robbed me and so many others of our childhoods,” Levey said of Ridsdale.

“The abuse has affected every part of my life. He has caused so much pain to so many people, so I am glad he is gone, and…

View Cache

[Includes a two-minute video in English.]

French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou on Wednesday battled to contain a new controversy after lawmakers urged him to explain whether he was aware of widespread claims of sexual abuse of minors at a Catholic school. Prosecutors in France have been investigating around a hundred complaints concerning alleged violence, sexual assault and rape committed at the Notre-Dame de Betharram school, which Bayrou’s own children attended, in the country’s southwest between the 1970s and 1990s.

View Cache

The death of Australia’s worst pedophile priest could contribute to trauma for victim-survivors, advocates say, with concerns a recent court decision may further deny them justice.

Gerald Ridsdale, convicted of abusing at least 72 children over three decades, died aged 90 on Tuesday morning in Port Phillip Prison’s medical unit.

He was one of multiple convicted pedophile priests and Christian Bothers who operated in the Diocese of Ballarat in western Victoria, along with Robert Best, Edward Dowlan, Gerald Leo Fitzgerald and Bryan Desmond Coffey.

Judy Courtin, a lawyer whose firm represented many of Ridsdale’s victims in court, said a landmark 2024 High Court judgement not to recognise the vicarious liability of the Diocese “twisted a knife” into abuse victims and survivors.

“These people can no longer sue the Diocese of Ballarat for any of Ridsdale’s horrific sex crimes if the Diocese establishes it had no prior knowledge of…

View Cache

French Prime Minister François Bayrou has vowed to support an investigation into decades of alleged abuse at a Catholic school, following accusations from the left that he misled parliament by claiming he was unaware of the case while he was a local official and education minister. Pressure on Bayrou increased on Monday after a lawyer in his home town of Pau called for an investigation into alleged “obstruction of justice”. 

Bayrou has survived several votes of no-confidence since taking office in mid-December. But he now faces scrutiny over allegations of physical and sexual abuse at Notre-Dame de Bétharram – a Catholic boarding school in the Pyrenees where he sent several of his children.

In 1996, when Bayrou was education minister, a student lost hearing in one ear after being slapped by a school monitor, who was later convicted.

In 1998, a former headmaster was detained for allegedly raping a 10-year-old boy in the…

View Cache

I am a survivor of childhood clergy sexual abuse from two priests in New Jersey. In 2002, I attended the bishops’ conference in Dallas, Texas at which hundreds of Catholic officials — facing massive public and parishioner pressure due to a flood of abuse and cover-up cases — grudgingly adopted some “reforms.”

They enacted the so-called Dallas Charter, which pledged to dramatically change how the church handled these widespread and devastating crimes. 

The document, affirmed by virtually every U.S. bishop, is chock full of encouraging phrases and sweeping promises, like “disciplining offenders,” “cooperating with civil authorities,” “creating a safe environment for children and young people,” “providing for accountability” and more.

My initial reaction was hopeful. I recall thinking, “Now at last we have some guidelines and bylaws to hold those in authority accountable.” 

Unfortunately, my optimism was soon shattered, as New Jersey bishops Ted McCarrick, Frank Rodimer, John Myers, Joseph Tobin,…

View Cache

The Archdiocese of Chicago has sent notification letters to two parishes about sexual abuse allegations made against a retired priest.

The letter is about  the retired Monsignor Daniel Mayall. The allegations of sexual abuse of a minor date back 30 years ago while he served at  St. Francis Borgia Parish on the Northwest Side.

The notification letter was also sent to worshipers at Saints Joseph and Francis Xavier Parish in Wilmette, where Mayall served more recently and where he now lives in retirement.

Mayall has been instructed to remain out of ministry and refrain from all parish and school activities.

The letter said the monsignor denies the allegation and has agreed to cooperate with the instructions and the investigation.

View Cache

Philip Shenon’s “Jesus Wept” looks at the church since World War II, with particular focus on the clerical abuse crisis and the ideological battles that followed the Second Vatican Council.

JESUS WEPT: Seven Popes and the Battle for the Soul of the Catholic Church, by Philip Shenon

The Roman Catholic Church defines itself as the “people of God,” a community of all the baptized — lay women and men, the clergy, prelates — and not as a monarchical line of popes.

Yet with sharp portrayals of the last seven men who have served as supreme pontiffs, Philip Shenon’s “Jesus Wept” delivers a compelling recent history of the 2,000-year-old institution whose leaders reach for heaven but often fall spectacularly, sadly, into the morass of mortal fallibility.

Popes grapple with heinous waves of clerical sex abuse. Bishops and laity grapple for control of papal agendas, and all grapple with the watershed reforms of…

View Cache

A Brussels court has ruled that prosecution in the long-running investigation into sexual abuse within the Catholic Church is no longer possible. Victims’ groups have strongly condemned the decision and are considering an appeal.

A Brussels court ruled on Monday that the prosecution in the major investigation into sexual abuse and cover-ups within the Catholic Church is no longer valid. The court, citing procedural issues, followed the position of the federal prosecutor. The ruling can still be appealed by civil parties.

Legal battles

The investigation began in June 2010 with high-profile raids at the Mechelen-Brussels Archdiocese, St. Rumbold’s Cathedral, the private residence of cardinal Godfried Danneels, and the offices of a commission handling abuse cases. The operation aimed to uncover evidence of abuse and cover-ups within the Church.

However, legal battles over the validity of these searches led to key evidence being excluded. By 2016, the federal prosecutor had already…

View Cache

The Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Little Rock is headed to West Memphis after a pastor was arrested and suspended earlier this week.

Father Charles Thessing is charged with animal cruelty. He was the lead pastor at St. Michael Church.

Bishop Anthony B. Taylor was appointed by the Pope and is the Catholic Church’s leader for the entire state of Arkansas.

The Bishop announced Thessing’s suspension Wednesday in a letter to members of multiple Mid-South parishes saying in part quote:

I plan to celebrate the Masses for you this weekend in West Memphis and Crawfordsville. I look forward to being present with and accompanying you during this difficult time. And I am actively working on plans for the future leadership of both of your parishes. –Bishop Anthony B. Taylor

View Cache

Msgr. Daniel Mayall “strenuously denies” the allegation, Cardinal Blase Cupich said in a letter to the parish’s communities.

A retired Chicago-area priest who once served as rector of Holy Name Cathedral is being investigated for an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor, the Archdiocese of Chicago said Saturday.

Msgr. Daniel Mayall, who has resided at Saints Joseph and Francis Xavier Parish in Wilmette following his retirement in 2021, allegedly sexually abused a minor while assigned to Saint Francis Borgia Parish in Dunning approximately 30 years ago, the Archdiocese said.

Mayall “strenuously denies” the allegation but has agreed to cooperate with the Archdiocese’s direction, Cardinal Blase Cupich said in a letter to the parish communities.

In line with the Archdiocese’s policies, Cupich has directed Mayall to remain out of ministry and refrain from all parish and school activities.

Mayall served as senior…

View Cache

Retired priest Monsignor Daniel Mayall is accused of sexual abuse of a minor at St. Francis Borgia Parish in Dunning, the Archdiocese of Chicago said.Retired priest Monsignor Daniel Mayall is accused of sexual abuse of a minor at St. Francis Borgia Parish in Dunning, the Archdiocese of Chicago said.

A retired priest who served at multiple Chicago-area churches is facing an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor, the Archdiocese of Chicago said Saturday.

Monsignor Daniel Mayall, the accused former priest, will remain out of ministry and school activities during an investigation, Cardinal Blase J. Cupich announced in letters to families of two local parishes.

Mayall is accused of sexual abuse against a minor while he was assigned to St. Francis Borgia Parish approximately 30 years ago, the Archdiocese said. He served as the parish’s pastor from July 1993 to January 2002, a letter to the parish read.

Another letter…

View Cache

Outgoing Archbishop of Washington Cardinal Wilton Gregory was investigated under the norms of Vos estis lux mundi last year, with Vatican-appointed bishops exonerating the cardinal after allegations were made by a local priest who was himself facing a canonical process for sexual abuse.

Sources close to the Diacastery for Bishops in Rome told The Pillar Feb. 15 that a complaint of sexual harassment was received against Cardinal Gregory in early 2024 but that an independent investigation returned an exoneration of Gregory.

The news of Gregory’s having faced a Vatican investigation comes amid widespread rumors among the Washington presbyterate that the cardinal’s retirement, announced by the Holy See last month, was linked to a Vos estis report concerning Gregory.

An official close to the investigation told The Pillar that the complaint was made by a Washington priest, ordained within the last ten years, who was himself under a canonical disciplinary process, after he allegedly “groomed” a minor female before…

View Cache

French Prime Minister François Bayrou vowed to investigate allegations of child sexual abuse at a Catholic school near the city of Pau after a meeting with victims on Saturday. Bayrou has been accused of lying to parliament for denying he knew of the long-running accusations, including while he was a local official and as education minister.

France‘s prime minister Saturday vowed to help investigate allegations of decades of sexual abuse at a Catholic school, after the left accused him of lying to parliament earlier this week when he said he was unaware of the case.

François Bayrou, a veteran centrist named premier in December to end months of political crisis, does not have a parliamentary majority.

He has come under scrutiny in recent days in relation to allegations of repeated physical and sexual abuse at a Catholic boarding school in the Pyrenees to which he sent several of his…

View Cache

The Diocese of Norwich has reached a $31 million settlement with survivors of sexual abuse, according to a joint statement issued Friday from those involved in the agreement. 

The agreement came after five days of mediation. It includes a “Plan of Reorganization to enable the Diocese and others to provide a meaningful recovery to survivors of sexual abuse and for the Diocese to emerge from bankruptcy and continue its mission,” the joint statement reads. 

The plan was filed Monday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Hartford, according to the joint statement. If approved, the plan would create independent trusts that would oversee the distribution of funds to eligible survivors. 

The joint statement was issued by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Norwich; the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors, which represents the sexual abuse victims; the Association of Parishes of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Norwich; and Catholic Mutual Relief Society of…

View Cache

Joint Statement from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Norwich, Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors, the Association of Parishes of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Norwich, and Catholic Mutual Relief Society of America

The Diocese of Norwich, the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors, the Association of Parishes, and Catholic Mutual Relief Society of America are pleased to announce jointly that they reached an agreement culminating in the filing of a Joint Chapter 11 Plan of Reorganization to enable the Diocese and others to provide a meaningful recovery to survivors of sexual abuse and for the Diocese to emerge from bankruptcy and continue its mission.

After five full days of mediation with the Honorable Joan N. Feeney (Ret.), the parties reached an agreement on a $31 million compensation fund. The Joint Chapter 11 Plan was filed on Monday, February 10th, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Hartford before the Honorable James J….

View Cache

The prime minister, who served as education minister in the 1990s in addition to holding local posts in Béarn, told the National Assembly on Wednesday that “at no time” was he warned of the alleged incidents, slamming what he described as “artificial controversies”. 

His defence, however, has been undercut by a flurry of allegations by investigative website Mediapart, which claimed to have evidence that Bayrou was repeatedly informed of abuse at the school, failed to act on those reports and subsequently lied in parliament.  

Warnings unheeded, letters unanswered 

French prosecutors are investigating more than a hundred complaints concerning alleged violence, sexual assault and rape committed at the boarding school, located at the foot of the Pyrénées, a short drive from Béarn’s capital city of Pau, where Bayrou still serves as mayor.  

In October 2023, several former pupils formed a group to share stories about the abuse they say they…

View Cache

Re: “Step up, lawmakers, and pass bill to make clergy report abuse” (Feb. 4, Opinion):

State Sen. Noel Frame is right — no more compromise when it comes to crimes against children shared in confession.

I’m one of thousands of children who were failed by the seal of confession. How ludicrous that priests would call this secrecy a “privilege.” The seal of confession protects abusers, not children. If priests reported crimes against children and the perpetrator who committed the crime, the Catholic Church would be saving children. It is not.

I was sexually abused by the parish priest. I told a priest in confession about it. The crime was not reported. The perpetrator went on to sexually abuse dozens more little girls. He never spent a day in prison. The “priest privilege” to not report crimes does not protect children. Priests must be mandated reporters held to the same…

View Cache

Maryland’s highest court, in a 4-3 decision on February 3, narrowly upheld the Child Victims Act of 2023, a law that retroactively and prospectively repeals the civil statute of limitations for survivors of child sexual abuse. The Act also increases the statutory amount of recoverable noneconomic damages in claims against private entities from $890,000 to $1.5 million.

With the addition of Maryland, 19 states, two US territories, and the federal government have eliminated the civil statute of limitations for child sexual abuse cases, part of a growing national trend led by state legislatures enabling near-permanent access to the civil justice system.

The Act, introduced to the Maryland legislature in 2007, repeatedly failed to advance out of committee until 2017. The 2017 iteration of the Act referred in its preamble to a statute of repose, which would have granted institutions facing claims of sexual abuse statutory immunity after a certain length…

View Cache

Fifteen states have proposed legislation to extend the statute of limitations, among other measures.

Currently, 15 states are considering legislation that would extend or eliminate the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse crimes and civil lawsuits.

The reform movement to change the statute of limitations for those experiencing this childhood trauma has been growing.

According to CHILDUSA, 44 states have no criminal statute of limitations for some or all child sexual abuse, 22 states have no civil statute of limitations for some or all child sexual abuse, and 30 states have revival or “look back” window laws that allow for claims that would otherwise be expired under a statute of limitations.

“Look back” or revival windows can be important because sexual abuse survivors often delay reporting the conduct for years due to trauma. In the case of child sex abuse, the average age at the…

View Cache

View Cache

When Msgr. Joseph Reilly was invested as president of Seton Hall University last November, Newark Cardinal Joseph Tobin hung from the priest’s neck a medallion bearing the symbol of the university: Mary, the Mother of God, holding a cross, and standing a scroll inscribed with the Latin motto of the bishop who founded Seton Hall: “Per fidem non per speciem.”

“By faith, not by sight.”

After the medal was hung around his neck, Reilly gave a stirring and humble oration, declaring three things about himself — “the Joe Reilly trifecta,” he called it.

“The first thing is that I love Jesus Christ,” he said. “The second thing is that I love being a priest. The final thing is that I love Seton Hall.”

In his remarks, Reilly emphasized that Christ is the center of his life, and that he is humbled to “make a gift of myself to the Lord…

View Cache

Ashley James Crouse, 53, also reportedly kept a book on his computer that detailed how to sexually abuse children.

Editor’s Note: This story discusses sexual abuse against children. While no acts are described specifically, reader discretion is advised. 

WCNC Charlotte has chosen to use this mugshot because of the severity of the crime and the nature of the suspect’s previous occupation.

A North Carolina pastor who was arrested on child sex abuse material charges in 2023 has learned he will spend the next decade behind bars.

The U.S. District Attorney’s Office in Western North Carolina announced Thursday that 53-year-old Ashley James Crouse of Granite Falls was sentenced to 120 months (10 years) in prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release for possession and receipt of child sex abuse material. He will also have to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison.

View Cache

The contents of a former Catholic bishop’s home in Newry have been auctioned by the Diocese of Dromore, which will use some of the proceeds to compensate clerical abuse victims.

In recent years the diocese was sued by a number of people who were sexually abused as children by Dromore clergymen, including the late Fr Malachy Finegan.

The Bishop’s House, set in grounds off Newry’s Armagh Road, was earmarked in 2023 as being among the diocesan assets that could be sold to meet its liabilities.

In a statement, the diocese said it was also selling the contents of the house to fund “various safeguarding matters, including redress for victims and survivors of abuse”.

Finegan, who died in 2002, was headmaster of the neighbouring St Colman’s College boys’ school and also served as parish priest in Clonduff, County Down.

Some of his victims received six-figure sums in compensation after initiating legal…

View Cache

The Verbum Spei Fraternity was entrusted with a parish and a university chaplaincy in the archdiocese in 2016.

The Archdiocese of Luxembourg ended its nine-year collaboration with the Mexico-based Verbum Spei Fraternity after learning that Pope Francis had laicised a member priest who had fathered two children with a woman follower.

In a statement, the archdiocese reported that after inquiries it found that the fraternity had split from the Brothers of Saint John and still supported the “harmful” teachings of the order’s sexually abusive founder, the late Fr Marie-Dominique Philippe, it said in a statement.

Philippe formed the Brothers of St John in France in 1975. He died in 2006 and was renounced by the order in 2019 amid a wider scandal which also implicated his brother Fr Thomas Philippe and the founder of L’Arche Jean Vanier, both also dead.

“The pastoral collaboration between the archdiocese and the Verbum Spei…

View Cache

A prominent Croatian archbishop is at the center of a growing storm over his handling of a clerical abuse case.

Archbishop Zdenko Križić, the Archbishop of Split-Makarska since September 2023, is facing intense criticism over his decision to appoint a priest who was previously jailed for abusing a minor to oversee two parishes in his previous Diocese of Gospić-Senj.

The 72-year-old Carmelite archbishop further inflamed the controversy when he accused media outlets of seeking “to create scandals out of thin air when it comes to the Church, with a very clear goal.”

One commentator described the chain of events as “the greatest scandal in the history of the Church in Croatia.”

How exactly did Križić handle the case? How has he responded to the criticisms? And what’s likely to happen next?

A little background

Before we tackle that, it might be helpful to consider the broader context.

Croatia is a Balkan nation…

View Cache

PARIS — French Prime Minister François Bayrou said he plans to sue investigative media outlet Mediapart after it reported that he “lied” to defend a Catholic school where a priest had been accused of raping a student in the late 1990s.

Mediapart last week published witness statements and documents that purported to show that Bayrou “could not have been unaware of the accusations” at the Notre-Dame de Bétharram school, which his own children attended.

Addressing lawmakers’ questions in the National Assembly on Tuesday, Bayrou shot back at the allegations.

“I assure you that I have never been informed of any incidents of violence, let alone sexual violence,” Bayrou said. “A libel suit will obviously be filed.”

A representative for the prime minister did not immediately to POLITICO’s response for comment. Mediapart reporters David Perrotin and Antton Rouget, who wrote the report, said they “stand ready to defend [their]…

View Cache

[Click here to see brief video.]

Hi, I’m David Clohessy with SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, with some good news and some bad news. The good news is that finally, after years and years of prodding, most Catholic bishops in the US have posted on their websites the names of admitted and proven and credibly accused child molesting clerics.

Most bishops do that. The bad news is none of those lists are accurate or complete. So there are still thousands and thousands of priests who are still essentially under the radar.

This is something that our group is working hard to try and do: make sure that the police, the prosecutors, the public, the parents, and the parishioners know about every single priest, deacon, nun, bishop, or seminarian who was in a diocese who has molested kids.

So if you’re concerned about this problem, contact…

View Cache

A collection of documents about clergy abuse in this state — housed at UNM’s special collections library — is a major step forward for victims, but there’s more to be done.

If you have experienced sexual assault, sexual violence or unwanted sexual contact, you can contact the Rape Crisis Center of Central New Mexico at (505) 266-7711

Links in this story contain graphic descriptions of sexual abuse of minors.

The Archdiocese of Santa Fe Institutional Abuse Collection is an important new archive for documents that were generated, in large part, by victim lawsuits brought during the long, terrible history of sexual abuse of minors by priests in New Mexico. It will be housed at the University of New Mexico’s Center for Southwest Research and Special Collections, and it is set to open to the public sometime in the spring of this year.

“The first time I saw one…

View Cache

As sex abuse scandals continue to haunt the Catholic Church, many dioceses are turning to Chapter 11 as a way to settle hundreds of claims at once.

Across the U.S., 40 dioceses and religious orders have declared bankruptcy. The first was the Archdiocese of Portland, Oregon, in 2004. The most recent was the Diocese of Burlington, Vermont, in late September 2024. The cases vary, but they have one thing in common: The day the diocese filed its petition for bankruptcy is a new benchmark — no one is allowed to file claims against the church for abuses that happened before that date, even if a given state retroactively extends the statute of limitations.

“It divides the universe, the world of time, into the pre-petition period and the post-petition period,” said Marie Reilly, a law professor at Penn State who specializes in bankruptcy law and has published extensive…

View Cache

For Immediate Release: February 13, 2025 

Cardinal Joseph Tobin of the Archdiocese of Newark said on Monday that he had hired a law firm to conduct a “comprehensive third-party review” of a 2019 investigation into sexual abuse at Seton Hall University. SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, calls the new investigation unnecessary. The group believes that it is nothing more than a tactic to delay the resolution of the issue of Monsignor Joseph Reilly’s appointment as President of Seton Hall. SNAP spoke out against the Monsignor’s appointment at the time, and asked for complete transparency. We still believe that this is the best way to resolve the controversy.

Although Monsignor Reilly was not himself accused of abuse, the 2019 investigation found that he knew about accusations of abuse on campus and did not report them as required….

View Cache

The Archdiocese of New Orleans is looking to part ways with several independent living apartments amid its ongoing bankruptcy case involving clergy sex abuse.

Archbishop Gregory Aymond issued a statement Thursday saying that the archdiocese is having conversations to formally separate from many agencies, specifically mentioning Christopher Homes.

Christopher Homes is a property management company that oversees the independent living apartments like Annunciation Inn, Christopher Inn, St. Bernard Manor, and six other centers.

The separation is likely signaling a sale of these apartments to help with the settlement of the bankruptcy case.

Sources tell WDSU that an offer has already been made for Christopher Homes, and that it is likely one of the archdiocese’s larger assets.

This comes amid the archdiocese uploading a list of apostolates to its bankruptcy case. The list does not mean all the apostolates are for sale; however, two organizations that the archdiocese has announced possibly…

View Cache

Pope Francis accepted the resignation of a 59-year-old bishop in the pope’s native Argentina on Thursday, after just under two years in the leadership of an already troubled diocese.

Bishop Carlos María Domínguez of San Rafael in Argentina said his resignation was “for reasons of a personal nature,” but did not offer any further description.

“I want to ask for forgiveness for what I did wrong, for what I didn’t do and for what I didn’t know how to do,” Domínguez said in a communiqué, though he offered no specifics.

In an interview with ACI Prensa, the spokesman for San Rafael, Father José Álvarez, explained the request for forgiveness as something “anyone who leaves his place” would offer as a matter of course.

Domínguez, however, acknowledged he “can sense the perplexity that this news may cause,” among the faithful of the diocese. “[B]elieve me,” he wrote, “this decision causes me deep…

View Cache

Since his election in 2013, Pope Francis has publicly claimed eight times that the Catholic Church practises “zero tolerance” towards child sexual abuse by clergy. At worst, this is simply untrue, and at best, like Humpty Dumpty in Alice in Wonderland, he makes the expression mean whatever he wants it to mean.

The term “zero tolerance” was first used in the United States in 1972 by politicians pushing for tougher criminal laws. Merriam Webster defines it as “a policy of giving the most severe punishment possible to every person who commits a crime.” It has its critics because it does not take into account that offences may vary in their seriousness, and the circumstances of the offender might justify a lesser sentence. Despite civil law jurisdictions adopting this principle of proportionality, there is often zero tolerance in practice for certain kinds of crimes. Drink-driving causing death will attract a jail…

View Cache

Critics say that the Archdiocese of Santa Fe’s roster of “credibly accused” priests should be longer — by 59 names — but the church currently has no intention of adding them.

If you have experienced sexual assault, sexual violence or unwanted sexual contact, you can contact the Rape Crisis Center of Central New Mexico at (505) 266-7711

When the Archdiocese of Santa Fe filed for bankruptcy on Dec. 3, 2018, church officials said they were dangerously close to burning through their financial reserves after settling lawsuits with nearly 300 survivors of sexual abuse that occurred in this huge religious district, which encompasses 19 counties in central and northeastern New Mexico and the cities of Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Los Alamos and Taos.

As part of the proceedings at the federal bankruptcy court in Albuquerque, any “creditor” — the legal term used for abuse survivors — who had a financial claim against the…

View Cache

A few hours after his introduction as Cincinnati’s new archbishop, Robert G. Casey answered a question about his past that he said he knew was coming.

He confirmed that in 2008 he faced an allegation of misconduct with a child, which authorities later determined to be “unfounded.” The accusation, made while he was a parish priest in Chicago, was investigated by both local authorities and church officials.

In response to a question from The Enquirer, Casey said in a statement that the claim was a false accusation, but he said he recognized that concerns about it may follow him to his new post in Cincinnati, where he will lead more than 400,000 Catholics.

“As a consequence of this false allegation, I realize that I will have an asterisk next to my name for the rest of my life,” Casey said. “There will be those that judge me because of this….

View Cache

LICKING COUNTY, Ohio (WSYX) — A former staff member of Faith Life Church has come forward to describe what she called “questionable behavior” she said she witnessed during her time at the church, as an investigation into alleged abuse by a former church leader is underway.

On Monday, the Licking County Sheriff’s Office said it had taken over an investigation regarding the allegations.

Reports ABC6 obtained through a public records request from BCI and the Knox County Sheriff’s Office revealed one woman’s allegations of sexual abuse when she was a juvenile. No charges have been filed.

The case had initially belonged to the Knox County Sheriff’s Office, but due to a conflict of interest, it had to recuse itself from investigating.

Knox County Sheriff Daniel Weckesser said it handed the case over to the state’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation at the State Attorney General’s Office. A…

View Cache

Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark commissioned this week an independent review into the results of an independent investigation he previously ordered into the fallout of the 2018 scandals surrounding Theodore McCarrick.

In a statement issued by the Archdiocese of Newark on Monday, Tobin said he had retained the law firm Ropes & Gray LLP “to conduct a comprehensive third-party review of the facts regarding the investigation and report by the Latham & Watkins law firm on behalf of Seton Hall in 2019 regarding the former Archbishop, Theodore McCarrick.”

The new independent review follows the appointment of Monsignor Joseph Reilly as president of Seton Hall University, which is an apostolate of the Newark archdiocese, last year, despite a 2019 task force of the university Board of Regents telling the priest in that it had recommended to Cardinal Tobin that he be excluded from university leadership positions.

Reilly was named the…

View Cache

Members of the General Synod of the Anglican Church rejected a fully independent system for handling sexual abuse complaints, a decision Archbishop Stephen Cottrell, the interim leader, called disappointing.

Members of the General Synod, which meets two or three times a year to decide on matters of doctrine and institutional policy, had to choose between two options February 11 to revamp its complaint system. While one of the options proposed outsourcing the entire process—from receiving the complaint to its review—the other approach was ultimately chosen.

The selected option provided for the creation of a central independent body to handle complaints, but they will still be collected locally by Church representatives already responsible for these issues, PA reported.

A decision deemed disappointing by some Anglican leaders

“We missed the opportunity today to tell victims and survivors, unequivocally, that we hear their concerns about trust in the church,” lamented reformist Bishop Joanne…

View Cache

Anglican synod revives practice of stripping holy orders from clergy for life – similar to Catholic Church system

Vicars who are found guilty of sex abuse will be defrocked under new Church of England rules.

The General Synod, the Church’s governing body, voted to revive the stripping of holy orders following a string of abuse scandals. The practice was abolished more than 20 years ago. 

Those who are defrocked are banned from the clergy for life. The move is likely to cover offences including child abuse or sexual assault.

Previously, the harshest punishment available to Church authorities was to impose a lifetime ban on a priest being able to officiate ceremonies such as weddings and funerals, but they remained priests.

The Synod overwhelmingly backed reintroducing the measure on Wednesday.

The new tiered system, known as the clergy conduct measure (CCM) will replace the current clergy discipline measure – a system that has…

View Cache

A former teacher at the Elim Gaithersburg church in Derwood, Maryland, is facing up to 55 years in prison after pleading guilty to sexually molesting four girls at the church. Two of the victims, according to charging documents, were abused in a classroom as other students prayed.

The former teacher, Ervin Alfaro-Lopez, 34, of Germantown, pleaded guilty to one count of sex abuse of a minor and three counts of third-degree sex offense, the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office in Maryland announced in a press release.

The victims were between the ages of 6 and 12 when they were abused between 2016 and 2018.

Charging documents cited by Bethesda said police began an investigation into Alfaro-Lopez after they received a report in May 2023 that he had sexually abused a child. The then 14-year-old survivor told investigators that Alfaro-Lopez sexually abused her when she was…

View Cache

Ohio’s Licking County Sheriff’s Office is investigating child sexual abuse allegations against a “former leader” at Gary and Drenda Keesee’s megachurch in New Albany, following an online petition launched two weeks ago.

The petition called for an investigation of sex abuse allegations against the Keesees’ son, Tom Keesee, who formerly served as chief media officer at his parents’ Faith Life Church—a megachurch with more than 3,000 members. The Keesees also have a financial show on embattled Daystar TV called, “Fixing the Money Thing.” 

According to a press release by the Licking County Sheriff’s Office, the sheriff’s office in adjacent Knox County officially requested that the Licking County sheriff take over a sexual abuse investigation on Feb. 7.

The Licking County Sheriff’s Office “accepted the request and assigned Detectives to investigate,” the release stated.

One alleged victim reported to police that she was assaulted…

View Cache

VANCOUVER – The Roman Catholic Diocese of Prince George, B.C., says it hopes a $3.4 million settlement gives an alleged victim of sexual abuse by a school teacher “some degree of restitution for the harm that was so unjustly inflicted upon him by his abuser.”

The settlement by the diocese and St. Thomas More Collegiate, a Catholic school in Burnaby, B.C., was announced in a statement released by lawyer Sandra Kovacs, who represented the anonymous man in the lawsuit.

Also named in the lawsuit was former teacher Alfred Patrick Quigley, who the anonymous plaintiff said sexually abused him in the 1990s.

Quigley taught at O’Grady Catholic High School in Prince George and one of the alleged assaults was said to have occurred at St. Thomas More Collegiate.

The lawsuit accused Quigley of “grooming” the plaintiff before sexually assaulting him in 1993 and 1994. 

Quigley denied “each and every allegation” in…

View Cache

LIMA, Peru (AP) — Pope Francis on Tuesday accepted the resignation of an influential Peruvian bishop, who has come under criticism for not doing enough to stop abuses committed by a conservative Catholic movement that was recently disbanded by the Vatican.

Peru’s Bishops Conference said Archbishop Miguel Cabrejos from the diocese of Trujillo, will be replaced by the Jesuit bishop Gilberto Vizcarra. A reason for the Pope’s decision was not provided.

Cabrejos, 76, was the president of Peru’s Bishops Conference until January, and had held that position for 12 years.

In a statement published last year, the archbishop said that he had presented his resignation letter to the Vatican in 2023, in accordance with Catholic Church laws that call on bishops to prepare for retirement at age 75.

During the time that Archbishop Cabrejos led the bishop’s conference, the Peruvian-based Catholic movement, Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, was accused of sexually abusing its recruits,…

View Cache

A recent article published by the Spanish newspaper El País reported an accusation of alleged sexual abuse against Peruvian Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani that supposedly occurred in 1983 when he was a priest incardinated in Opus Dei. The cardinal has denied the accusation.

Born in Lima in 1943, Cipriani was ordained a priest of Opus Dei in August 1977. He was incardinated in the prelature until May 1988, when he was named by St. John Paul II as auxiliary bishop of Ayacucho, a diocese that was then at the epicenter of terrorism by the Shining Path maoist guerilla group.

In May 1995, he was named archbishop of that ecclesiastical see and in January 1999 he was named archbishop of Lima. In February 2001 he was created a cardinal, becoming the first cardinal formed in the Opus Dei apostolate.

In January 2019, Pope Francis accepted his resignation as archbishop of Lima…

View Cache

In Montgomery County, Maryland, Ervin J. Alfaro-Lopez, 34, faces up to 25 years in prison and deportation.

A former teacher at a small church in Montgomery County, Maryland, pleaded guilty Monday in four sexual assault cases amid allegations he abused four girls ages 6 through 12, including two he fondled while their eyes were shut during prayers, authorities said in court.Get concise answers to your questions. Try Ask The Post AI.

Ervin J. Alfaro-Lopez, 34, faces up to 25 years in state prison at his sentencing in August. Federal immigration authorities, who have said Alfaro-Lopez unlawfully entered the United States three times and has been the subject of two removal proceedings, indicated they will seek his deportation after he serves his Maryland sentence.

Alfaro-Lopez, who recently lived in Germantown, said little in court Monday besides answering standard plea-hearing questions on whether he understood his decision and…

View Cache

“The nation of Israel was born because Joseph went to prison,” former IHOPKC pastor Mike Bickle told the congregation in what would become his final sermon in October,2023. “He’s thrown in prison because of the betrayal of his brothers.” Then he concluded, “The nation of Israel was born in the context of a man responding right in a family betrayal that put him in prison for a while.”

IHOPKC is an abbreviation for International House of Prayer Kansas City, a charismatic church and prayer movement.

Just days later, accusations of sexual abuse were made public and Bickle had to step aside. While the pastor admitted to sexual misconduct, he claimed everything happened more than 20 years earlier and was consensual. But as I asked in the piece I wrote last January, “If he is guilty merely of consensual sex more than 20 years ago, why did he mention possibly going to prison?”

…

View Cache

NEW ALBANY, Ohio — A megachurch located in a Columbus suburb is under investigation after a former faith leader was accused of sexual abuse, reports say.

Licking County Sheriff Randy Thorp said in a post on social media that his office is investigating the allegations connected to Faith Life Church in New Albany. The Columbus Dispatch reports the sheriff’s office took over the investigation after Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost recused himself because he is friends with leaders of the church.

The Knox County Sheriff’s Office is assisting in the investigation, reports say. No charges have been filed so far.

WCMH Channel 4 reports that records show the accusations of abuse could go back decades and that there possibly dozens of victims. The Christian Post reports one of the people accused is a family member of church leaders….

View Cache

The Bishop of Blackburn said it has been “an incredibly difficult period” for the Church of England after allegations of sexual assault and poor handling of abuse cases within the wider church.

The Right Reverend Philip North said Bishops “need to act quickly” to restore trust within the church, which will begin at the Synod (a gathering of church officials to address issues of administration, doctrine, or discipline) this week.

The Synod has met for the first time since the resignation of the archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, after safeguarding failures.

He quit after pressure following a review which found Christian camp leader and prolific serial abuser John Smyth might have been brought to justice had Mr Welby formally reported him to police five years before the barrister’s death.

In standing down, Mr Welby also noted his “long felt and profound sense of shame at the historic safeguarding failures of the Church of England”.

…

View Cache

Tony Gribben describes “cowering like a dog”, as he was “beaten down” by his abuser at his boarding school.

“The violence meted out on me was both physical and sexual,” Mr Gribben said.

Many survivors want an independent public inquiry into the abuse they suffered by clergy and other religious leaders in Northern Ireland.

The devolved Northern Ireland government is now considering how to deal with the issue and has commissioned a study, which Mr Gribben describes as a “critical step forward”.

Warning: This page contains distressing details

The research is gathering the stories of survivors of abuse in what are termed “faith settings” – which can include churches, schools and other places where clergy and leaders in religious organisations abused children.

Mr Gribben said the abuses he suffered began during his first year in boarding school.

“It started with beatings around the head. On reflection, I understand this was…

View Cache

Representatives of survivors said the outcome was a ‘punch in the gut’.

The Church of England cannot hide behind the complexities of moving to fully independent safeguarding and must realise the “nation is watching”, a leading bishop has said.

Bishop Joanne Grenfell, the Church’s safeguarding lead, had put forward a motion to the General Synod for a new model which would have seen all Church-employed safeguarding officers transferred to a new independent body.

But members instead voted overwhelmingly for a less independent option, which will see diocesan and cathedral officers remaining with their current Church employers while most national staff move to a new outside body.

I’m really disappointed, as were many, that Synod missed the opportunity to send an unequivocal message to victims and survivors and the wider nation that we hear their pain and concerns

Representatives of survivors branded the outcome a “punch in the gut” for victims of…

View Cache

The inquiry follows POLITICO reporting that the Catholic school’s new president was named, but not accused, in a sexual abuse investigation in 2019.

New Jersey’s highest-ranking Catholic Church leader on Monday said he had hired a law firm to conduct a “comprehensive third-party review” of a 2019 investigation into sexual abuse at Seton Hall University that implicated its new president.

The announcement by Cardinal Joseph Tobin, the archbishop of the Diocese of Newark, follows reporting by POLITICO that the university promoted Monsignor Joseph Reilly to the presidency despite recommendations, which the university adopted, that he be removed from school boards and the leadership position he held at the time.

Reilly, then the leader of one of the school’s seminaries that trains students for priesthood, was not accused of abuse, but investigators found in 2019 that he knew of sexual abuse allegations and did not properly…

View Cache

[To watch this program, click here.]

Priests accused of sexual abuse in Germany went to work overseas as missionaries. Did the Catholic Church help them? A research team spent months investigating.

https://p.dw.com/p/4qHXG

After two teenagers accused Catholic priest Dieter Scholz of abuse in 1963, he disappeared overseas. He went to work in Bolivia as a missionary with the approval of his archdiocese. After his return to Germany, he went on to abuse many others. Even though church authorities were aware of the accusations against him, he was allowed to continue in his post. Priest Josef Zottmann was also able to vanish abroad. In his case, he was trying to escape a warrant for…

View Cache

The Paris prosecutor’s office told the French bishops’ conference it would not conduct an official inquiry into the 33 sexual abuse allegations against Abbé Pierre, because he died in 2007. Possible charges for the failure to report his crimes had passed the statute of limitations.

“Public action was ruled out by the death of the accused in 2007 … and prescribed … concerned non-reporting of facts,” said the prosecutor’s letter to the bishops.

A statement from the conference, whose president Archbishop Éric de Moulins-Beaufort of Reims publicly requested an inquiry last month, said it regretted the decision and repeated its “determination to uncover as much as possible about the acts committed by Abbé Pierre”.

Abbé Pierre was voted most popular Frenchman 16 times during his life and was awarded the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour – France’s highest decoration – in 2001 for his campaigning work for the poor and…

View Cache

This was the first time the General Synod met since the resignation of the previous Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, over safeguarding failures.

The Church of England is “broken” according to the lead bishop for safeguarding.

Bishop of Stepney Joanne Grenfell said that “we need to soberly acknowledge the place we are in” during a debate at the General Synod of the Church of England on the Makin Review on Monday as victims of abuser John Smyth looked on.

The independent review, released last November, revealed that dozens of victims were “subjected to traumatic physical, sexual, psychological and spiritual attacks” at the hands of the late barrister which were covered up with a conspiracy of silence.

This was the first time the Synod, the church’s governing body, had met since the resignation of the previous Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, over safeguarding failures.

In her address to the Synod, Bishop…

View Cache