ABUSE TRACKER

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre on Long Island has sold its headquarters for $5.2 million in an effort to compensate its creditors.

The property in Rockville Centre, at 50 North Park Ave., was purchased by Synergy Holding Partners, which includes a five-story office building and a parking lot, said Sean P. Dolan, director of communications for the Diocese. 

As part of the agreement, the diocese will continue to occupy the building until August 31, while it completes its transition to new facilities. 

The diocese, home to 1.4 million Catholics on Long Island, declared bankruptcy in October after it was hit with more than 200 lawsuits under the state’s Child Victim’s Act which covers victims of sexual abuse. 

Although Dolan said the monies will be used to pay creditors, he did not specify if the money would be used to pay off the many lawsuits under the Child Victim’s Act.

The…

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Senate Bill 73 is on its way to Gov. Jared Polis’ desk and would eliminate Colorado’s six-year statute of limitations for child sex abuse victims

Colorado will give recent and future sexual assault survivors, including those molested as children, unlimited time to sue their abusers. But a separate effort to give victims of historic abuse an opportunity to take legal action remains pending and uncertain.

State lawmakers on Tuesday sent Senate Bill 73, which would eliminate the civil statute of limitations for sexual assault cases, to Gov. Jared Polis, who says he will sign the measure into law.

Legislation eliminating the civil statute of limitations for sexual assault cases has repeatedly failed in the Colorado General Assembly, including at least three times in the 15 years preceding the 2021 lawmaking term. But following a 2019 report on widespread child sexual abuse by Catholic priests in Colorado, the effort gained new steam. 

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Six months before his death, the Vatican cleared a former prominent cleric on Staten Island of sex-abuse charges that previously were deemed credible in an independent review process sponsored by the Archdiocese of New York, according to reports in Catholic New York.

The Holy See restored the good name and priestly status of Monsignor Francis Boyle several months before his death on March 13 and years after his stunning fall from grace amid the Roman Catholic church’s sex-abuse scandal.

Monsignor Boyle was a priest for about 40 years when he was named a monsignor in 1995 while at Blessed Sacrament R.C. Church in West Brighton, where he assumed the pastorship in January 1991. He retired in July 2004 and transitioned to the role of pastor emeritus for the parish.

The monsignor, who held powerful positions within the archdiocese for decades, died at age 91 after residing at St. John Vianney…

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A Louisiana appellate court ruled the Diocese of Lafayette must give information to a woman’s lawyer who has filed a lawsuit against the church and a former priest. 

The Third Circuit Court of Appeal said in its ruling last week that the diocese must respond to some questions before a Lafayette Parish judge can rule whether the lawsuit was brought forward in a timely fashion. 

The questions are being asked by the lawyer of a woman, named only as TM Doe, who is suing the Diocese of Lafayette and Msgr. Robie Robichaux for damages after the woman claimed Robichaux abused her as a teen. 

Robichaux was placed on leave in October 2018 after sexual abuse claims were brought against him. At least two victims have come forward and reported sexual abuse against Robichaux. He was on the Diocese of Lafayette’s list of credibly accused priests that was released in April 2019.

What…

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Following its bankruptcy filing last year, the Diocese of Buffalo, New York has cut spending on some of its Catholic schools. 

The cuts are part of broader cost-saving measures, which include nearly $10 million in reductions in operations expenses such as pastoral costs, ministerial support, and religious development. 

The Buffalo News reported that the diocese spent $3.8 million on bankruptcy-related expenses in its first year of bankruptcy. This amount nearly rivals its budget for the diocese’s 34 Catholic elementary schools.

The subsidiaries for the diocese’s schools are funded by school assessment fees, which are taken from parishes without education systems and then redistributed to parishes with schools.

The diocese collected $1.9 million in assessment fees taken from March until August last year. It has provided about $460,000 in elementary school funding since the diocese filed for bankruptcy in February 2020. 

Charles Mendolera, executive director of financial administration for the diocese,…

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Unfortunately, a few unscrupulous boarding school operators have exploited a loophole in the law to further their sick desire to abuse children.

Missouri and South Carolina are the only two states in the nation that do not require licensing or regulation of faith-based boarding schools. As a result, sexual abuse and other types of abuse have occurred.

Rep. Rudy Veit, R-Jefferson City, is looking to close this loophole, and he’s finding support among his House colleagues.

As we recently reported, Veit is sponsoring House Bill 557 to require “child residential homes” to notify the Missouri Department of Social Services of their existence and compliance with regulations intended to protect the safety of children in the residence.

The House unanimously passed the bill. Now, we ask the Senate to also support this important bill.

Our recent story on the bill shows one example of the need: This month the Missouri attorney…

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Facility is owned by the Sisters of Mercy

St. Patrick’s Nursing Home in St. John’s is still owned by the Sisters of Mercy, but their properties are not tied to the Catholic archdiocese, which is going through a financial restructuring.

Congregational leader Sister Elizabeth Davis said Tuesday the order’s properties are separate from the Archdiocese of St. John’s.

The Sisters of Mercy own St. Patrick’s Mercy Home, and Eastern Health partners with the Catholic order to use the facility to operate its long-term care program, Eastern Health said this week.

If Eastern Health no longer required use of the property, it would go back to the Sisters of Mercy. Eastern Health has not been involved in any discussions about buying the property.

The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador owns St. Clare’s Mercy Hospital, which was originally a Catholic hospital operated by nuns.

A total of 34 public schools are still…

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Archbishop Hesse offered his resignation after a report on the handling of clergy sex abuse cases in Cologne Archdiocese

Pope Francis has granted Hamburg Archbishop Stefan Hesse a leave of absence from his duties, the Hamburg Archdiocese announced March 29. The archbishop recently offered his resignation after a report on the handling of clergy sex abuse cases in Cologne Archdiocese, where he served as director of personnel and vicar general.

In the interim, Msgr. Ansgar Thim, vicar general, will handle archdiocesan administration, reported German Catholic news agency KNA.

The question as to if or when the pope will accept Archbishop Hesse’s resignation remains open. The Vatican has so far not issued any statement on the case. Pope Francis now has time to unhurriedly decide about the resignation, KNA reported.Subscribe to your daily free newsletter from UCA News

Further information was not available, a Hamburg Archdiocese spokesman said, adding that the pope had…

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A group has accused the Catholic Diocese of Tucson of mishandling claims of abuse.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests hosted a news conference outside the diocese’s offices early Monday, March 29.

Diana Almader-Douglas said she was abused by a priest and is joining a lawsuit against the Diocese of Tucson, along with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and St. John’s Seminary in California.

“It is critical parishioners and the public are better informed about the true extent of clergy abuse in southern Arizona, and we remain concerned about enablers within the Diocese of Tucson. Without accountability, there remains a continued threat to children and vulnerable adults,” said SNAP President Tim Lennon.

The group claims the defendants covered up abuse allegations and allowed the priest to keep ministering.

KOLD News 13 is not naming the accused priest because he has not been charged with a crime.

The Diocese…

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Archbishop Sławoj Leszek Głódź and Bishop Edward Janiak were punished by the Holy See after a church investigation into cases of pedophilia among priests was conducted.

Abp Głódź and bp Janiak were ordered to live outside their former dioceses: the Gdańsk Archdiocese in northern Poland and the Kalisz Diocese in western Poland respectively. They are also forbidden to participate in any public religious celebrations or secular meetings in their dioceses.

The hierarchs must donate “from personal funds” an appropriate amount to Saint Joseph Foundation, “intended for preventive activities and assistance to victims of abuse.”

The Vatican’s decision was announced on the website of the Polish Episcopal Conference (KEP). This is the result of the conducted procedure to cover up cases of sexual abuse of minors by priests in dioceses managed at that time by abp Głódź and bp Janiak.

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Rep. Gregory and I came together again to work out a dual path for victims: Offering a standalone statutory bill and a constitutional amendment.

The short, brutal truth is Pennsylvania has failed its children.

Years after the attorney general’s grand jury report detailed the systemic cover-up of childhood sexual abuse by the Catholic Church in Pennsylvania, victims in our state are still waiting for justice.

That’s about to change.

You don’t ever stop being the victim of childhood sexual abuse. You don’t ever stop looking for justice.

I would know, because I am a victim of childhood sexual abuse.

My good friend and colleague Rep. Jim Gregory has worked by my side for years to deliver justice, and he, too, is the victim of childhood sexual abuse.

He is a Republican; I am a Democrat. We come from different parts of the state, yet this partnership works because…

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The Diocese of Tucson is being accused of a sexual abuse cover-up.

Forester Haynie Law Firm says it has filed a racketeering lawsuit against the Diocese of Tucson and others for allegedly producing and funneling a disproportionate number of sexual predators to Tucson.

An alleged victim of Father Charles Knapp has joined a lawsuit that claims childhood sexual abuse and a cover-up by the Diocese of Tucson, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and Saint John’s Seminary.

Survivors and supporters gathered Monday morning outside of the church to show support for the clergy abuse victims.

The victims are joined by the group called the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

According to SNAP, Father Knapp remains a priest in the Diocese of Tucson despite church officials having acknowledged his abuse.

“We want to speak up and get the message out that it’s not okay for the church to just be moving…

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 A state appeals court has decided that discovery will proceed in a lawsuit filed by an Acadiana native over former Msgr. Robie Robichaux.

The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal ruled that the Diocese of Lafayette must answer some of the interrogatories, or questions, and produce some of the documents requested by the plaintiff in the lawsuit filed almost a year ago. The appeals judges’ ruling mirrored what the trial judge said during the hearing, which was that the Diocese must produce the evidence related to the issue of prescription. However the appeals court ruled that the lower court “abused its discretion” in rendering a blanket denial of the plaintiff’s motion to compel the defendants to respond to interrogatories and discovery.

In Louisiana, lawsuits generally must be filed within a year of the day the alleged injury occurred, but there are different rules for victims of sexual abuse. In this case,…

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A Forrest County judge erred when he dismissed a case of alleged sexual abuse by a Catholic priest, one attorney argued Tuesday before a three-judge panel of the Mississippi Supreme Court.

Attorney John Hawkins said state law provides for a case to proceed if it was brought within three years of the discovery of an injury even if the statute of limitations for when the crime occurred had already expired.

Hawkins is representing Robert McGowen, who claims he was sexually abused by former Sacred Heart Catholic Church priest Father John Scanlon in 1984 and 1985, when McGowen was 12 and 13 years old.

McGowen is the administrator of public safety for Benton County, Arkansas, and previously served in law enforcement. He is an Army veteran who served in Operation Desert Storm, Hawkins told the court.

Scanlon, a Jackson native, was ordained as a Catholic priest in 1951 and served the church…

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When I heard that the Vatican made a decision to punish the gentlemen who concealed pedophilia in the Church, I thought it was a good gesture. Unfortunately, it turned out to be symbolic – said the leader of the Poland Initiative Barbara Nowacka (KO) in “Kropka nad i”.

Deputy Minister of Justice and Deputy President of Solidarity Poland, Michał Woś, assessed that “from the perspective of church law, this is a severe punishment.”

Politicians commented on the Pope’s decision to punish Archbishop Sławoj Leszek Głodzie and Bishop Edward Janiak, who, among other things, were forbidden to participate in public celebrations in their diocese.

The Apostolic Nunciature reported on Monday that the Holy See punished two Polish bishops, who, for covering up cases of pedophilia, have been ordered to reside outside their dioceses and have not been allowed to participate in any public religious celebrations or lay meetings in their dioceses. In…

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The German Journalists’ Association (DJV) and the Association of German Catholic Publicists (GKP) have sharply criticised the Cologne archdiocese’s stipulations for journalists who want to read the first abuse report. 

On 25 March, under strict stipulations, the archdiocese allowed a first select group of ten journalists to inspect the Munich law firm’s report, which Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki commissioned but refused to publish.

The journalists had to sign a document which forbade them to take photos. make copies of the text or to cite from it. 

“These prohibitions violate the basic right of free information and, completely unnecessarily, set up legal risks for media coverage. The desire to influence the nature and extent of journalists’ personal notes is an unacceptable violation of freedom of the press,” the GKP underlined. 

“The Cologne archdiocese has once again given the impression that it wants to restrict critical reporting of the handling of abuse…

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The COVID-19 pandemic is once again casting a big dark shadow over Easter festivities. For so long at the heart of German society, the churches now fear they might lose their influence.

Easter is the most important festival in the Christian calendar. Traditionally, churches across Germany and in many other countries around the world would be full of worshippers, many of whom might only otherwise set foot in a church once or twice a year.

Easter in the time of COVID-19 and nothing is the same as usual in Germany’s 14,000 Protestant and almost 10,000 Catholic parishes.

In a “normal year” nearly all of them would celebrate Easter Night, marking the resurrection of Jesus. There would be Easter fires in front of churches. And inside, worshippers would gather in hearty song.

For now, though, the fires are not permitted and only a small number of the usual congregation are allowed…

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Pope Francis has granted a “time out” to a German archbishop who offered his resignation after being faulted for his handling of allegations of sexual abuse in his previous diocese, church authorities said Monday.

Hamburg Archbishop Stefan Hesse’s offer on March 18 followed the release of a report commissioned by his counterpart in Cologne which found 75 cases in which high-ranking officials neglected their duties in such cases. They were criticized, for example, for failing to follow up on or report cases of abuse, not sanctioning perpetrators or not caring for victims.

Hesse, previously a senior official in the Cologne archdiocese, was faulted for 11 cases of neglecting his duty. He conceded that he had made “mistakes” in the past, and said he very much regretted if he caused new suffering to victims or their relatives “through my action or omission.”

“I never participated in cover-ups,” he said. “I am…

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At the end of the plenary assembly for the bishops of France, long-awaited decisions were taken to fight against pedocriminality

The Catholic bishops of France have adopted an 11-point, long-term strategy to fight sex abuse of minors or “pedocriminality” in the Church.

The strategy, which was ratified on the penultimate day of the March 23-26 spring assembly of the French Episcopal Conference (CEF), is aimed at investigating historic cases of abuse, supporting victims and enacting measures to prevent abuse in the future.

“We must take the word of the victims seriously,” said Archbishop Eric de Moulins-Beaufort of Reims, the CEF president.

Speaking at a March 26 press conference from the Marian Shrine of Lourdes, where the bishops usually hold their plenary assemblies, the archbishop said his meetings with victims had strengthened his resolve to fight abuse.

The 59-year-old conference president gave a sober account of the work that lies ahead,…

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Analysis – Sorry seemed to be a rather easy word at the Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry over the past fortnight.

The inquiry has just wrapped up its latest round of public hearings, with various faith-based redress processes in the spotlight as representatives from three church groups fronted up to the commissioners. The sessions allowed leaders to respond to testimonies given late last year in which former residents of faith-based institutions talked about their experiences of abuse and the often nettlesome problems they encountered seeking recognition and redress.

The latest round also served as something of a curtain-raiser to what almost certainly will be a centrepiece of the inquiry overall, an examination of abuse in state care, which starts in early May.

This month, all-purpose expressions of regret abounded throughout much of the process – confected with genuine emotion, to be sure, but too often not heavily seasoned with…

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Two retired prelates ordered to live outside their former dioceses and forbidden to participate in religious celebrations

The Vatican has imposed sanctions on two Polish Catholic bishops, who resigned in 2020 after being accused of ignoring sexual abuse by their clergy.

In simultaneous statements March 29, the apostolic nunciature in Warsaw said action had been taken against Archbishop Slawoj Glodz of Gdansk and Bishop Edward Janiak of Kalisz on the basis of canon law and Pope Francis’ May 2019 motu proprio, “Vos estis lux mundi.” The statement said the decisions were made after investigations into their handling of “abuse committed by some clergy against minors,” as well as “other issues” related to their time in office.

It ordered both retired prelates to live outside their former dioceses and said they were forbidden to participate in public religious celebrations or lay meetings. They would be required to pay an “appropriate amount…

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The Vatican said Monday that it is punishing a retired Polish archbishop and a bishop for their alleged roles in covering up sexual abuse committed by other clergymen.

Former Gdansk Archbishop Slawoj Leszek Glodz and former Bishop Edward Janiak of Kalisz have also been forbidden from living in their former dioceses or participating in any public religious celebrations there.

The Vatican Embassy in predominantly Roman Catholic Poland also said each of the two is being required to contribute personal money into a fund helping victims of clerical abuse.

The embassy cited “omissions” by Glodz “in cases of sexual abuse committed by some clergy against minors, and other issues related to the administration of the archdiocese.”

In a separate statement, the embassy said the Holy See was acting on the basis of “reported negligence of Bishop Edward Janiak in cases of sexual abuse committed by some clergy against minors, and other…

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Proposed legislation would eliminate the statute of limitations in Vermont for a victim of childhood physical abuse to bring a civil action against those responsible. 

The bill, S.99, which was presented Friday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, follows legislation enacted two years ago that repealed the statute of limitations for victims of sexual abuse to bring civil lawsuits.

Both pieces of legislation also come in light of claims of physical and sexual abuse decades ago at the Vermont Catholic Diocese’s former St. Joseph’s Orphanage in Burlington.

A two-year investigation ended late last year with the Vermont Attorney General’s Office concluding history of child abuse at the orphanage, but no charges were filed mainly as a result of criminal statute of limitations.  

In addition, an investigation last fall by VTDigger revealed allegations of decades of abuse at the New England Kurn Hattin Homes for Children, a private residential school in Westminster. 

“It’s actually…

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Programme director speaking ahead online events to help survivors contribute to inquiry

An investigation into mother and baby homes and Magdalene laundries in Northern Ireland “must not repeat the mistakes of past inquiries”, Amnesty International has warned.

The human rights body’s programme director in the North, Patrick Corrigan, was speaking ahead of the launch later today (Monday) of a series of online events by Amnesty and Ulster University to help survivors contribute to the design of a forthcoming inquiry.

They will include speakers with experience of inquiries into institutional abuse in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Australia and Canada.

In January Northern Ireland’s First Minister, Arlene Foster, announced there would be an “independent, victim-centred” investigation into eight mother and baby homes and four Magdalen laundries run by Catholic and Protestant churches and local authorities between 1922 and 1990.

It followed the publication of research by academics from Queen’s University, Belfast and Ulster University which…

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Fr. Norbert Orsolits, the priest who may have sparked the clergy sexual abuse scandal in the Buffalo Catholic Diocese, has died.

Orsolits, of Springville, died March 25 at age 81 reportedly at the Buffalo Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation. W.S. Davis Funeral Home in Arcade announced no calling hours and a private service for family.

Ordained in 1965, Orsolits began ministering in Bliss, NY and frequently moved among parishes every 1-4 years throughout his career.

Accused of child molestation in at least 16 Child Victims Act lawsuits, Orsolits admitted to the Buffalo News that he had sexually abused several boys.

Among his accusers is Michael Whalen, whose revelation of sexual abuse as a minor unleashed what former Buffalo Catholic Diocese Bishop Richard Malone called a “tsunami” of similar complaints.

“When I was telling my story, he also admitted to abusing to a couple of dozen boys that same day,” Whalen…

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A priest from a prestigious Auckland school in New Zealand is accused of sexually assaulting a boy inside the school’s Chapel.

The Priest later instilled fear in the mind of the boy by saying that God would punish him if he told anyone else about the abuse.

Father John Goodwin, who is now at the King’s School, has been ‘sent on leave’ by the school authorities after allegations of sexual abuse surfaced and now faces a police enquiry into the matter.

The school, which has a majority of religiously ordained top staff, has indicated that it will fully co-operate with the police and all court hearings and revealed that Fr. Goodwin “emphatically denies” the allegations pinned up against him.

The incident had occurred during the early 2000s and the former student, an alumni of the school, came forward revealing the horrors he had to endure under the hands of the…

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The Buffalo Diocese dramatically cut spending after filing for bankruptcy, eliminating most of its funding of Catholic elementary schools while paying lawyers millions of dollars over the past year.

Court records show the diocese spent $3.8 million on lawyer fees and other bankruptcy-related expenses in the first year of bankruptcy – an amount nearly equal to the subsidies it used to provide to 34 Catholic elementary schools.

Most of the schools ended up being able to absorb the loss of the diocese aid in large part because of the Covid-19 pandemic, which led to an enrollment boom and a windfall of taxpayer-funded Paycheck Protection Program loans and grants for parishes and schools.

“It’s the irony of the Covid,” said the Rev. Paul W. Steller, pastor of St. Mary of the Assumption Church in Lancaster. “We actually kind of came out all right this past year. You hate to say that…

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The Rev. Norbert F. Orsolits, a Catholic priest whose 2018 admission that he had molested “probably dozens” of boys decades earlier led to a reckoning within the Buffalo Diocese over its coverup of child sex abuse cases, has died at the age of 81.

A brief death notice published Sunday in The Buffalo News indicated that Orsolits died March 25. An obituary published on the website of W.S. Davis Funeral Home said Orsolits died in the Buffalo Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation. Orsolits said in a 2018 interview with The News that he had leukemia, but his cause of death was not known.

Orsolits admitted that he had sexually abused children in the 1970s and 1980s when he was contacted by The News at his home in the Town of Ashford about allegations by Michael F. Whalen Jr., 55, who accused the priest of molesting him in 1979 or 1980…

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In one picture a rat is preserved on a windowsill in one of the bedroom quarters of a student

These haunting pictures offer a glimpse inside an abandoned Catholic seminary which has been shrouded by shocking allegations of abuse.

St Joseph’s Seminary, in Upholland near Skelmersdale, was opened in 1883 and was open for more than 100 years.

However it has now been over 30 years since it closed its doors to the last pupils in 1992.

In recent years shocking allegations have come to light regarding the abuse of boys who were preyed upon by perverted priests.

And at least three Catholic priests have been accused of abusing children at the facility, with several pupils having reported horrifying mistreatment at the hands of clergy who they should have been able to trust.

Former Darlington parish priest Michael Higginbottom was one of those who was jailed for 18 years for…

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Pope Francis is struggling to manage powerful bishops in the U.S. and Germany, two groups at opposite ends of the ideological spectrum, as he tries to advance his progressive agenda without jeopardizing the unity of the Catholic Church.

The election of President Biden, a progressive Catholic whom some U.S. bishops want to censure for his support of abortion rights, has exacerbated longstanding tensions between the pope and the largely conservative American episcopate. U.S. church leaders have resisted promoting the pope’s priorities of social and economic justice and care for the environment over opposition to abortion and defense of religious freedom.

On the left, the pope is trying to rein in German bishops who—encouraged by the pope’s liberalizing gestures on topics including sexuality, ecumenism and the role of women—are pressing for changes that go further than Pope Francis is comfortable with, and that conservatives warn could…

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On today’s Liveline, we spoke to Luke about his experiences at Belvedere College and being sexually abused by Fr. Joseph Marmion. We heard from Tom Doorley and Mark Harrold who spoke of their time there and not of the sexual abuse but of the bullying and violence meted out by Marmion. Barry talked about another teacher who nicknamed him ‘Princess.’

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Today Bishop Robert Gruss, Bishop of the Diocese of Saginaw, removed the name of Reverend Dennis Kucharczyk from the diocesan website’s list of clergy with an allegation of child sexual abuse.  Following consultation with Father Kucharczyk, Bishop Gruss has released the following statement.  

On March 17, 2019, Bishop Walter A. Hurley, Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Saginaw, received information from law enforcement that an allegation of sexual abuse involving a minor had been made against Reverend Dennis H. Kucharczyk, Pastor of Saint John XXIII Parish of Hemlock. The allegation dated back to Father Kucharczyk’s early years in ministry.  Following consultation with the Office of the Attorney General in Michigan, and in accordance with diocesan policy, Father Kucharczyk was placed on administrative leave pending further investigation. 

The Office of the Attorney General chose not to file criminal charges. At this point, the Diocese continued its internal investigation in February…

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[Via mLive]

The Catholic Diocese of Saginaw is no longer featuring the name of a local priest on its website’s list of clergy who have been credibly accused of sexually abusing a minor.

Bishop Robert D. Gruss on Friday, March 26, announced he had removed the Rev. Dennis H. Kucharczyk’s name from subsection of the diocesan website titled “Names of Clergy Accused of Sexual Abuse of a Minor.” The page lists 26 other names.

The Saginaw Diocese placed Kucharczyk on administrative leave from priestly duties on May 21, 2019, after it had received information from law enforcement regarding an allegation of misconduct involving a minor that occurred “many years ago.” The church prohibited Kucharczyk from having contact with anyone younger than 21. As such, he was banned from visiting school properties or participate in school and parish activities and functions, wearing clerical garb, the exercise of…

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Former Archbishop of Armagh Cardinal Sean Brady has expressed his “sadness” and “pain” over his role in an internal Church inquiry into paedophile priest Brendan Smyth, which involved swearing a 14-year-old victim to secrecy.

Cardinal Brady said he was “too focused” on getting a statement from the boy and acknowledged it was a “horrendous” situation for the child.

In a new book about Catholicism in Ireland Cardinal Brady told author Derek Scally: “Hauled into a room with three fellows there, his father wasn’t there, it was horrendous, really. That is only dawning on me now, really… his double victimisation.”

In his first interview on the Smyth controversy since he apologised at the Historical Abuse Inquiry in Northern Ireland in 2015, he says it was “strange” it did not cross his mind at the time that he had a moral obligation to report Smyth to the gardaí.

Scally’s book The Best…

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[With thanks to Tom Doyle for providing the full text of his submission, including document exhibits.]

On January 3, 1988, an American bishop wrote to Archbishop Pio Laghi, Papal Nuncio to the United States. The purpose of his letter was to complain that a colleague and I had been speaking to the secular media about the clergy sexual abuse issue that was rapidly developing at that time. His closing remarks are reflective of the attitude then
and still apparent among some clergy and lay people in the Catholic Church:

“I am afraid that such articles [referring to one in which I was quoted] will continue to flow from time to time. The Church has weathered worse attacks, thanks to the strength and guidance of the Holy Spirit. So too will the pedophile
annoyance eventually abate.” (Letter of Bishop A. J. Quinn to Archbishop Pio Laghi, January 3, 1988; emphasis added.)

Two years…

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A former priest says the apology by the Catholic Church to abuse survivors in New Zealand has come too late.

On Friday, Cardinal John Dew made the apology at the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care, on behalf of the bishops and congregational leaders in New Zealand.

A non-practising priest, Dr Tom Doyle this week gave evidence to the Royal Commission of Inquiry hearing in Auckland.

Since 1982, he has been involved in the issue of clergy sexual abuse, beginning with his work as the staff canon lawyer at the Vatican Embassy in Washington DC.

His involvement includes pastoral care of victims and their families, canonical defence advocate for accused clerics, consultant to dioceses and religious communities and as an expert witness and consultant in civil and criminal cases throughout the United States and other countries.

He believes victims will see through the apology made by Cardinal Dew.

“I think…

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[Via CatholicPhilly.com]

Pope Francis has named Juan Carlos Cruz, a survivor of sexual abuse by a notorious Chilean priest, to be a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

Cruz, James Hamilton and José Andrés Murillo, all victims of then-Father Fernando Karadima, met with Pope Francis in 2018, several weeks after the pope wrote a letter in which he said he had been mistaken in his initial assessment of the situation in Chile and asking forgiveness of the survivors and others he offended.

In a tweet after the appointment was announced, Cruz thanked the pope and said the assignment “renews my commitment to continue working to end the scourge of abuse and for so many survivors who still do not have justice.”

The Vatican announced the appointment March 24 and said Pope Francis also had extended by one year the three-year terms of 15 commission members but…

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The Diocese of Providence is opposing a bill that would allow survivors of child sex abuse to sue institutions which they claim enabled their abuse. 

In 2019, Rhode Island passed “Annie’s Law,” which extended the statute of limitations in child sex abuse cases up to 35 years after the survivor’s 18th birthday. The law also allowed for adults to sue up to seven years after they re-discovered childhood sexual abuse, such as through therapy sessions. 

Judge Netti Vogel ruled in October 2020 that the law did not include institutions as responsible for abuse. Thus, after three men who claimed abuse by priests sued the Diocese of Providence, Judge Vogel threw out the lawsuits. 

The sponsor of “Annie’s Law” has now proposed an amendment allowing survivors to sue not only the perpetrators of their abuse, but also the institutions they believe enabled the abuse. Bill H5725 was introduced by Rep. Carol…

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This is part two of a two part series looking into Germany’s Synodal Path, a process launched by the bishops’ conference in 2019 in an attempt to respond to the clerical sexual abuse crisis. Part one can be found here.

ROME – In 2019, the German Catholic Church envisioned a “Synodal Path” to try to address the institutional clerical sexual abuse scandal. Bishops, laity, priests, religious and experts were all summoned to find solutions and set forth a reform path that has expanded its scope to question Catholic Church teaching on areas of sexuality.

Schism?

Now some are warning that what was envisioned as an effort to restore the confidence lost by the abuse scandals and to promote internal church debate could lead many Germans into schism.

Jesuit Father Bernd Hagenkord, a longtime worker at Vatican Radio who currently serves as a spiritual director of the Synodal Path, recently said…

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[Via The Tablet]

Two years ago, the German church embarked on its most ambitious effort yet to fight clerical sexual abuse and to stop the hemorrhaging of faithful that followed. As the program took shape, it seemed to adopt a much more sweeping agenda, touching on virtually every aspect of Catholic life.

As what’s come to be called the German “Synodal Path” begins forwarding its mid-term conclusions to Rome, many lay activists and bishops are describing the process as a historic and inspiring moment, a potential springtime of sweeping reform and renewal in Catholic life.

The need for a comprehensive initiative that would help address the clerical sexual abuse crisis in Germany, that has seen hundreds of new allegations in recent years, is not called into question, even by the path’s most critical members.

Many of those taking part in the process believe it will bring reform and help restore…

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A former student at the St. Pius X Pre-Seminary in the Vatican said he witnessed “dozens” of instances of abuse at the minor seminary.

Taking the stand at the Vatican City State criminal court March 26, Kamil Jarzembowski, the former student, said he saw Fr. Gabriele Martinelli, who at the time was a student at the seminary, enter the dormitory room he shared with L.G., the student Martinelli is accused of abusing.

The abuse was said to have occurred between 2007 and 2012. Although both were under the age of 18 when the abuse apparently began, the court accused the priest of continuing to abuse the younger student when Martinelli, not yet a priest, was already 20.

In a 2017 television interview, Jarzembowski was the first former student to speak publicly of abuse at the seminary.

During the trial, Jarzembowski repeated the claims he made on the television program, telling…

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The former pastor of St. John the XXIII Parish in Hemlock has been removed from a diocesan list of clergy on administrative leave due to the allegation of child sexual abuse. The Catholic Diocese of Saginaw said the allegation of sexual abuse involving a minor against Rev. Dennis Kucharczyk first came to light in March 2019. He was placed on administrative leave pending further investigation at that time.

The Michigan Office of Attorney General later chose not to file criminal charges, and the Diocese continued its internal investigation in February 2020. A retired police officer was appointed an independent investigator and presented a report to Bishop Robert Gruss and the Independent Diocesan Review Board. The Diocese said the report included evidence of boundary violations involving Father Kucharczyk, but after consulting the Holy See and following the canonical process, it was determined that there was insufficient evidence to proceed further.

The…

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It’s because the Passionists order has ignored Cardinal Blase Cupich’s calls for Catholic religious orders to create such lists. And Cupich’s list omits order priests.

The Rev. John Baptist Ormechea lives in one of the most picturesque parts of Rome in a centuries-old monastery buffered by gardens and overlooking the ancient Colosseum.

A member of a Catholic religious order the Passionists, Ormechea was moved into the Rome complex in 2003 not for its contemplative setting but, according to the order’s province that includes Chicago, “because all the residences in the province had youth programs or were in a parish setting.”

From the late 1970s to the late 1980s, Ormechea served at Immaculate Conception parish on the Far Northwest Side.

Then, in the early 2000s, several men came forward, saying that, as boys at Immaculate Conception, they were sexually abused there by Ormechea.

The accusations were…

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A former priest and Labor Party branch president’s sentence for the sick exploitation of children in southeast Asia has been delayed due to a prison strike.

Peter Andrew Hansen has pleaded guilty to 31 offences, including one of sexual intercourse with a child under 18, and 15 counts of producing child abuse material after being caught with the vile videos in 2018.

Hansen admitted to filming sexual videos of young boys in Vietnam and the Philippines while living overseas, with the earliest offences coming in 2014.

The depraved cache of meticulously filed material was discovered by Border Force officers on a hard drive after Hansen was stopped on arrival at Sydney Airport on October 6, 2018.

On Friday Judge James Bennett was preparing to begin his judgment at Parramatta District Court when proceedings hit an unforeseen snag.

The court was told prison staff at Goulburn jail, where Hansen is being…

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Four men have filed lawsuits over the past year alleging they were sexually abused decades ago at Bergen Catholic High School, with several more civil complaints expected in the coming months — the result of what legal experts say may have been a miscalculation when school officials didn’t contribute to a settlement made eight years ago by the religious order that runs the school.

Participating in that settlement would have barred future claims against the school, according to experts, who said school officials may have believed they would be protected against such claims because of restrictions on sex abuse lawsuits that were in place at the time — but that have since been removed.

Mitchell Garabedian, the attorney who filed the recent lawsuits, including two last week, said he plans to file an additional seven complaints against the school under a New Jersey law that has suspended the civil statute of limitations in such cases for…

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A former resident of a Catholic-run foster home for girls on Staten Island claims she was sexually assaulted and abused on several occasions by a man assigned to oversee the home.

Details of the abuse — which allegedly occurred over the course of 1978 at a home operated by Our Lady of Good Counsel R.C. Church in Tompkinsville — are laid out in a March 15 lawsuit filed in state Supreme Court in Manhattan.

Attorneys for the complainant— a New York state resident whose identity is kept anonymous to avoid risk of “further humiliation, trauma and psychological damage” — named the Archdiocese of New York, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York and Our Lady of Good Counsel as defendants in the civil complaint.

The suit is among several filed recently by former and current New Yorkers under the state’s Childs Victims…

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A British judge has blasted Vatican prosecutors for making “appalling” misrepresentations to the court about their investigation into the Holy See’s investment in a London real estate deal, determining they don’t have much of a case against their key suspect.

In a remarkable ruling made public this week, Judge Tony Baumgartner of Southwark Crown Court reversed another judge’s decision to seize the British-based bank accounts of broker Gianluigi Torzi and awarded Torzi legal fees.

The Vatican had requested the seizure as part of its corruption investigation into Torzi and other suspects whom prosecutors accuse of fleecing the Holy See of millions in fees stemming from its 350 million-euro investment in a luxury building in London’s Chelsea neighborhood.

But Baumgartner ruled that the Vatican’s seizure request was so full of omissions and misrepresentations that it likely affected the original judge’s decision, which he ordered reversed. In examining whether the Vatican’s allegations…

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This story deals with sexual abuse and assault of minors. If you or someone you know has been a victim of this crime call 800-656-HOPE for 24/7 help and support.

An effort to eliminate clergy privilege and force religious leaders to report child abuse to legal authorities was unable to get enough votes to make it out of committee Tuesday after days of backroom drama. 

Currently, only Guam, New Hampshire and West Virginia consider clergy mandated reporters and clergy-penitent privilege is waived in cases of suspected child abuse or neglect in those states. 

In Arizona (and everywhere else), clergy are not mandated reporters and suspected child abuse or neglect isn’t exempted from that, even if it is ongoing. And religious leaders cannot be forced to testify in court about abuse a parishoner confessed to committing. 

The effort has been spearheaded by Sen. Victoria Steele, D-Tucson, who introduced Senate Bill 1008 earlier this year…

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An anonymous plaintiff last week filed a lawsuit against former Albany bishop Howard Hubbard, alleging that Hubbard molested him in 1977, soon after his installation as bishop. 

The diocese of Albany confirmed to CNA on Wednesday that Hubbard will be investigated according to Vos estis lux mundi, the procedure for investigating abuse accusations against bishops that Pope Francis promulgated in May 2019. 

Also named in the suit are the diocese of Albany and St. Edward the Confessor Catholic Church in Clifton Park, New York, north of the city. 

Bishop Hubbard led the diocese from March 1977 until 2014, and was succeeded by current bishop Edward Scharfenberger. 

The suit alleges that “in or about the summer of 1977,” when the alleged victim was 11 years old, Hubbard approached him in a storage room during a carnival being held at St. Edward parish, and sexually assaulted him. 

Under Vos estis, bishops accused of sexual…

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[Via Crux]

Pennsylvania lawmakers on Wednesday finished a new first round of approvals for a constitutional amendment giving victims of child sexual abuse the power to file what would otherwise be outdated claims, but it will be 2023 at the earliest before it takes effect.

The House voted 188 to 13 to approve the proposed constitutional amendment, which must pass both chambers in two consecutive two-year legislative sessions before going before voters as a referendum.

Rep. Mark Rozzi, D-Berks, said he was hopeful that lawmakers will also pass the window as regular legislation, as a state law would take effect more quickly while the slower constitutional amendment process continues.

He called it the first step in what he hopes will be a dual track process.

Supporters say a two-year “window” to file lawsuits over older claims of abuse is needed to give victims a path to justice, taking into account…

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A Fort Lauderdale police officer — a security officer at two Catholic schools — has been arrested on charges that he engaged in sexual chats online with an undercover detective who he believed was an underage girl.

Investigators say Louis James Walsh, 29, sent a photo of himself online and exposed his private parts, unaware that he was chatting with an undercover detective in Minnesota.

Broward sheriff’s detectives arrested Walsh at the Fort Lauderdale Police Department on Wednesday in conjunction with the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, a national law enforcement network that targets child abuse and exploitation.

Walsh also works special security details at Cardinal Gibbons High School and St. Anthony Elementary School in Fort Lauderdale. He is an assistant wrestling coach at Cardinal Gibbons.

Walsh — accused of sending one photo of his private parts on Monday and another on Tuesday — faces two counts of transmission…

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Rome – In a bid to curb the Vatican’s financial deficit amid coronavirus losses and an impending pension crisis, Pope Francis has ordered several pay cuts targeting clergy and higher-ups, but which appear to leave most regular lay employees largely unaffected.

In a March 24 motu proprio, meaning a piece of legislation issued on the pope’s own authority, Francis announced that in order to maintain “an economically sustainable future,” as of April 1, 2021, cardinals paid by the Holy See will receive a 10 percent pay cut. Other department superiors will be cut eight percent, and the salaries of clergy and religious will be cut by three percent.

In general, Vatican cardinals reportedly receive a monthly stipend in the neighborhood of $4,700 to $6,000, so the pay cut implies a reduction of $470 to $600.

According to the new law, these reductions do not apply if a person can demonstrate that…

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This has come up in a thread again, so I thought I would regale you with a piece I wrote now three years ago on the subject, but now with some updated tweaks.

This is a question that has been kicking around ever since the child sex abuse scandal involving the Catholic church came to the fore. In around 2010, loads of articles came out, citing some data, that the priesthood was broadly in line with national averages, some people claimed it was actually worse in Protestant churches/organisations, and many claiming (as a result) that this was not a Catholic problem per se, and that other denominations rate the same.

The reality could be, as Andrew Brown surmised, that the notoriety of the scandal and public perception might be skewed because of the institutional cover-up of the Catholic church. Or it could be…

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The Rhode Island Catholic church and the state’s insurance lobby are once again leading the charge against legislative efforts to extend the deadline for  lawsuits by victims of childhood sex abuse.

This year, the effort focuses on “time-barred” lawsuits against people and institutions who enabled and protected abusers by looking the other way or concealing their crimes. 

In written testimony, the chief lobbyist for the Providence Diocese, the Rev. Bernard Healey, voiced these “serious concerns” about the legislation headed for a House hearing on Wednesday night:

“It complicates and impedes the administration of justice … does little to protect victims, and subjects an institution that has made tremendous and demonstrable strides on the issues surrounding child sexual abuse to liability stemming from activity that occurred literally decades ago.”

“Guess what?” responded state Rep. Carol McEntee responded during a telephone interview on Wednesday. “These victims are still alive and they are still suffering and the church still lawyers up, like David and Goliath.” 

…

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Pope Francis has named a gay man to a commission that advises him on protecting children from pedophile priests.

Juan Carlos Cruz — a survivor of clerical sex abuse in Chile — was named to the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. The Associated Press on Wednesday reported nuns, laypeople, a bishop and a priest are among the commission’s other members.

Cruz on Wednesday told the Washington Blade during a telephone interview from Chile that Francis “decided he wanted me on the commission.”

“I’m very honored,” said Cruz. “I’m a survivor. I’m gay. I’m a lay person. I’m Catholic.”

Cruz is among the hundreds of people who a now-defrocked priest sexually abused in his parish in El Bosque, a wealthy neighborhood in the Chilean capital of Santiago over more than three decades.

Cruz and two other men — José Murillo and James Hamilton — in 2010 went public with their…

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[Includes two English-language videos: Germany’s Catholic Church: Too white and too eurocentric? (a profile and interview with Fr. Regamy Thillainathan of the Cologne archdiocese); and Report on abuse by Cologne Catholic clergymen released, an interview with correspondent Martin Gak.]

A system of “silence, secrecy and lack of oversight” led to a lack of compassion for the victims of sexual abuse by the clergy, a German cardinal has announced.

Archbishop of Cologne Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki said he bore some responsibility for the sexual abuse scandal that has rocked the German Catholic Church and that there was an effort in the Cologne diocese to cover up cases of sexual abuse. He did not, however, offer to resign, saying such a move would be a short-lived symbolic step. He instead vowed to do “everything humanly possible” to prevent sexual abuse in the Church.

An independent report released last week showed 314 people…

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Juan Carlos Cruz first to denounce predator priest Karadima

Pope Francis on Wednesday named a victim of clerical sex abuse in Chile to the Vatican’s panel for the protection of minors.

Juan Carlos Cruz, the first victim of notorious predator priest Fernanda Karadima to come forward, was appointed a member of the Pontifical Commission for Safeguarding Minors.

 In March 2019 a Santiago appeals court on ordered the Chilean Catholic Church to pay damages of 150,000 dollars each to three of Karadima’s victims including Cruz.

The other two were James Hamilton and and Jose’ Andres Murillo.

On September 28 2018 Pope Francis defrocked Karadima.

In February 2011, after several years of a Catholic canonical investigation, the Vatican found Karadima guilty of sexually abusing minors and psychological abuse in Chile.

The case sparked a wider child-sex-abuse scandal that the Chilean Church has yet to fully recover from.

Many of the local faithful…

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A theologian has pointed the blame directly at the hierarchy and structure of the Catholic Church for abuse by priests.

Dr Tom Doyle, who is a priest, canon lawyer and addictions therapist, has given evidence to the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care in Auckland.

He said the so-called mystic aura of a priest had given him super human status.

Dr Doyle, who beamed in via an audio visual link from the United States, told the inquiry priests suffered from what he called clerical narcissism.

”It goes with the clerical faith, the clerical culture, because you are taught in the seminary that you are going to be above others who are lower people that have sex. You are going to be above them.”

Dr Doyle said rather than there being a few bad apples, the problem was the barrel itself – the church structure.

He said the reputation of the…

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When he was 17-year-old, Elissandro Nazare de Siqueira was trying to make a living for himself in São Paulo when he met Father Bartolomeu da Silva Paz, a priest known for his lively Masses and his charitable enterprises.

Siqueira is from Manaus, in Brazil’s Amazon region, and never finished school. He describes himself as shy, and at the time he met the priest was working in a cafeteria.

At first, he saw Paz as a savior, since the priest found him a small room in the house of one of his parishioners, and he became the handyman of the parish of Nossa Senhora de Monte Serrat.

Yet soon Siqueira claims an abusive relationship began: He said that in a secluded house owned by the parish, the priest got him drunk and raped him.

The alleged abuse would continue for three years, between 2014 and 2017. Siqueira claimed he continued to…

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A move to use an emergency provision to change the state Constitution to allow adult survivors of childhood sex abuse to sue their perpetrators and organizations that covered up for the predators seems to be stalled after Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward announced Monday there’s not enough support in her caucus for the move.

Ward, a Republican from Westmoreland County, said the effort to change the Constitution despite the bungling of a public notice requirement by the Department of State doesn’t amount to an emergency that would justify changing the Constitution immediately.

“After careful consideration, it has been determined by the majority that this matter does not meet the emergency status criteria and does not correct the failure by the Wolf administration,” she said.

The Senate on Monday began teeing up legislation that would rely on the normal process for amending the Constitution to open the window for lawsuits –…

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An advocacy group is calling on Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, to remove from ministry a pastor and parochial vicar at Our Lady Star of the Sea R.C. Church in Huguenot amid sex-abuse allegations.

The Rev. Thomas Devery, pastor of the large parish on the South Shore, acknowledged in a letter to parishioners dated March 18 that sex-abuse claims are pending against both him and the Rev. Basil Akut, a parochial vicar.

The pastor’s letter came days after the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), a support group for victims of alleged abuse, issued a news release on March 15 claiming that Cardinal Dolan did not inform Sea parishioners about the allegations.

SNAP alleged that Fathers Devery and Akut were allowed to continue in ministry after claims were made against them.

“It seems to us that in the interest of…

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The Roman Catholic archbishop of the German city of Cologne said Tuesday that he made mistakes in past cases involving sexual abuse allegations against priests, although a report has cleared him of wrongdoing, but made clear he has no intention of resigning.

Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki was speaking after the release last week of a report he commissioned on church officials’ response to past abuse allegations. The findings have prompted the current archbishop of Hamburg to offer his resignation to Pope Francis, while three Cologne church officials, including two auxiliary bishops, were suspended.

The report found 75 cases in which eight high-ranking officials — including Woelki’s predecessor — neglected their duties to either follow up on, report or sanction cases of alleged abuse by clergy and lay church employees, and failed to take care of the victims.

It absolved Woelki himself of any neglect of his legal duty with respect…

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[Via Angelus of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.]

On Monday, the scandal-plagued Legionaries of Christ religious order published its latest report detailing what they have done and what they still need to do to repair the damage done and guarantee safe spaces for minors, from third-party investigations to mandatory formation seminars and revealing the names of priests found guilty of abuse.

The religious congregation continues to claim it is cleaning house, after a report released last year showed that the late Father Marcial Maciel Degolaldo, founder of the Legionaries, was far from being the only abusive priest in the movement.

Titled “Truth, Justice and Healing 2020 Annual Report,” the document looks into the implementation of two documents produced at last year’s annual chapter for the order: “Protect and heal” and “Conversion and reparation in relation to the sexual abuse of minors and safe environments.”

According to the Legion, in releasing…

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Four days before Michael Tierney died, the Vatican confirmed a decision to defrock the former Kansas City-area priest after finding him guilty of sexually abusing minors.

Bishop James V. Johnston Jr. has been notified that an appeal by Tierney to reverse the penalty of dismissal from the priesthood was resolved on Dec. 11, the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph announced on its website this month. Tierney died on Dec. 15 at age 76.

“A cover letter dated February 4, 2021, from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) arrived in the Office of the Bishop on February 22, 2021, notifying him of the decision,” the diocese said.

Tierney, who had repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, appealed the CDF’s first decision.

“The second CDF tribunal met December 11, 2020, and upon review of Michael Tierney’s appeal, confirmed the decision of the first CDF tribunal court on both the determination of guilt as…

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The church opened its evidence on its handling of complaints at the Inquiry into abuse in care on Monday.

It said its response to redress has at times been ahead of Vatican guidelines.

The number of cases of abuse within the Catholic Church in New Zealand is in excess of 1100, but the Royal Commission said that is just a preliminary figure.

Counsel for the Commission Katherine Anderson said failure in record keeping from the 1950s impacts on the accuracy of the figures.

Cardinal John Dew told the Commission the church was saddened and ashamed by what has happened.

”Our hope is that this Commission will lead us and help us to be a better church and that is a church that this disgrace of abuse will be addressed, will cease and that our church will always be a church that gives life and hope. That is our mission as…

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[Via the Pantagraph.]

The Rev. Michael Pfleger intends to find other ways to work in the Auburn Gresham community as the Chicago Archdiocese continues to investigate allegations that he molested two brothers in the 1970s, Pfleger wrote in a recent letter to the community.

“I know that I cannot emotionally or spiritually continue to remain isolated in an apartment waiting for this board to do its job,” Pfleger, the pastor at St. Sabina Church, wrote. “While I hope and pray that the Review Board will work a little harder and more promptly to conclude their investigation, I will no longer wait in silence.

“Over the next days, I will seek other ways and opportunities to minister in the Auburn Gresham community and continue outreach while this process seemingly drags on.”

Cardinal Blase Cupich is requiring Pfleger, 71, to live away from the parish during an investigation into allegations that he…

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A man accused of setting a Florida church on fire last year is facing a federal hate crime charge, prosecutors announced Thursday.

A federal grand jury in Orlando returned an indictment Wednesday against Steven Shields, 24, of Dunnellon, according to court records. He’s charged with using fire to commit a felony and intentionally damaging religious property, a hate crime charge that falls under the Church Arson Prevention Act.

He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted of the hate crime and a mandatory minimum of 10 years if convicted of the fire charge. He also faces state arson and burglary charges.

According to the indictment, Shields intentionally set fire last July to the Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Ocala, about 80 miles (about 130 kilometers) north of Orlando.

The Marion County Sheriff’s Office said last year that Shields plowed a minivan through the church’s front door, doused…

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The canonization of Pope John Paul II in 2014 was unprecedented for its rapidity and the context in which it occurred.  At his funeral in April 2005, there were banners and shouts proclaiming Santo Subito! (Saint now).  Even before his death, Wall St. Journal columnist Peggy Noonan called him John Paul the Great.

The last years of John Paul’s life were characterized by declining health and fewer public appearances.  He was ailing as the international sexual abuse crisis was continuing to gain momentum and threaten his papacy.

Almost a decade prior to his death, the Marcial Maciel was gaining momentum and notoriety.  Maciel, a priest with prolific fundraising capacity and a personal favorite of the Polish pope had been dogged by rumors of liaisons with women, abuse of boys, and questionable financial dealings.  In 1997, a group of nine men went public with accusations that they had been abused as youths and…

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A court in Timor-Leste has been forced to postpone resuming the sexual abuse trial of an American former priest due to the imposition of a lockdown following a surge in Covid-19 infections in the tiny predominantly Catholic country.

The trial of Richard Daschbach, 84, was originally scheduled to resume on March 22.

“With the lockdown, the court has had to postpone further hearings because there is no means of transportation either by air or sea,” said Julio Nunes, secretary of the District Court in Oecusse, a small coastal enclave of Timor-Leste surrounded on three sides by Indonesia and located 200 kilometers west of the capital Dili.

As a result, not everyone can get to the court in Oecusse as many of those involved in the trial, including the defendant, are in Dili, he told UCA News on March 21.

Timor-Leste government has imposed lockdowns in the cities of Dili, Baucau and Viqueque…

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[Includes a brief video report, “Catholic Church denied appeal in Mount Cashel orphanage abuse case,” dated January 14, 2021, which shows rare footage of the orphanage, including its demolition, and short interviews with two survivors.]

Roman Catholic parishes in the St. John’s area will be undergoing significant restructuring in the months ahead as the archdiocese works to resolve the harm caused to victims of abuse at Mount Cashel orphanage, parishioners learned on the weekend.

“Over the coming weeks you may expect to see some properties listed on the real estate market,” read an email update from St. John’s Archbishop Peter Hundt.

“There may also be discussions at the parish level around potential changes that may come…We are still very much in an information gathering stage and when decisions are made we will communicate those directly.”

The letter was read both in live masses on Saturday and Sunday, as well as…

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The former bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany has been accused of sexually abusing a child decades ago in a lawsuit filed last week, the seventh time the retired bishop has been named as an abuser in a lawsuit filed under New York’s Child Victims Act.

The lawsuit filed anonymously by a man who is now in his 50s alleges that retired bishop Howard Hubbard abused the plaintiff in 1977 when he was 11, the Times Union of Albany reports.

The complaint claims Hubbard approached the 11-year-old at a church carnival, told the boy to accompany him to the rectory and molested him there.

“At that age, you just don’t know. You don’t know how to deal with it. And I’ve done a lot of reflecting over the years trying to understand — was this my fault?” the plaintiff said in an interview with…

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nce again, Maryland lawmakers are ready to turn aside calls to eliminate the statute of limitations for child sex abuse in the state.

The leading advocate for this change has been Del. C.T. Wilson, a survivor himself who introduced the bill for the third time this year. Early in March, though, he withdrew the House proposal, citing the bill’s chances in the Senate and attacks from opponents on survivors’ stories.

“To my fellow survivors, I am not abandoning you,” he said in a statement released by his office. “Know that I see you, I hear you and I continue to stand with you. You will never be alone in this fight.”

So the focus in Annapolis for the session turned to the Senate, where Sen. Sarah Elfreth, D-Annapolis, co-sponsored legislation from Sen. Shelly Hettleman, D-Baltimore County. It’s the first time there’s been a companion bill to Wilson’s measure in the…

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A priest at a Brighton-area church has been placed on leave pending the outcome of an investigation by the Michigan Office of the Attorney General.

In an email to parishioners Friday, it was announced that Bishop Earl Boyea of Lansing had placed the Reverend Shaun Lowery, Pastor of St. Mary Magdalen Church in Brighton Township, on ministerial leave. The Diocese of Lansing says they are fully cooperating with the Attorney General’s investigation. 

The Diocese of Lansing told church members that they expect all diocesan employees, clergy, and volunteers to, “exemplify the moral teachings of Jesus Christ and His Holy Catholic Church in their personal and professional life” and then referenced the Diocesan Code of Conduct. The communication then provided anyone wishing to report misconduct an opportunity to do so. 

While the nature of the investigation has not been disclosed, the church email did state that if anyone had a reason to suspect physical, sexual or emotional…

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Patrick Wattigny, a former priest at a Slidell church, has been formally charged with molestation of juvenile, District Attorney Warren Montgomery announced on Thursday, March 18.

Wattigny, 63, the former pastor of St. Luke the Evangelist Catholic Church and chaplain at Pope John Paul II High School, both in Slidell, is accused of molesting a teenager, then 15, between June 1, 2013, and August 31, 2014.

Wattigny was arrested in October of 2020.

Investigators say Wattigny started grooming the victim, who was 15 at the time, through general conversation, which led to telephone and text message conversations and eventually in-person visits, at which time the acts of molestation occurred on at least four different occasions. investigators said.

Some of those instances occurred in the church rectory.

The Archdiocese of New Orleans released a statement saying,

“We acknowledge the charges filed against Travis Clark and Patrick Wattigny by the St. Tammany…

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The school’s president, a friend of President Biden, has been placed on leave

Victim advocates Friday called on Santa Clara University to release more details of the allegations of impropriety against Santa Clara University President Rev. Kevin O’Brien, who was placed on leave Thursday pending an investigation.

The Catholic university’s board Thursday said only that it was informed that the Jesuit Provincial Office “recently received accounts that Father O’Brien exhibited behaviors in adult settings, consisting primarily of conversations, which may be inconsistent with established Jesuit protocols and boundaries.”

Tracey Primrose, spokeswoman for the Jesuits West Province, which along with the university is overseeing the investigation, said Thursday that confidentiality practices prevent her from saying more, including whether the allegations involved sex abuse.

But that lack of information, while intended to protect O’Brien during the inquiry, was also fueling speculation. SNAP, the Survivors Network, said Friday the university…

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The morning of March 18, the chair of Santa Clara University’s Board of Trustees, John M. Sobrato ’83, sent the following message to the campus community. 

Dear Santa Clara University Community,

I write to you with an important update. I have been informed by the Provincial of the USA West Province that the Jesuit Provincial Office recently received accounts that Father O’Brien exhibited behaviors in adult settings, consisting primarily of conversations, which may be inconsistent with established Jesuit protocols and boundaries. An independent investigation into these accounts is being conducted on behalf of the USA West Province and the conclusions of the Province’s process will be shared with the Santa Clara University Board of Trustees. Father O’Brien was placed on leave from his position as University President for the duration of the investigation by the USA West Province consistent with its protocols. He has agreed to cooperate fully with the investigation…

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The president of a Jesuit university in the Bay Area is under investigation for “alleged misconduct and comments.” We call on university officials to be more transparent regarding the allegations so as to encourage others who may have experienced similar misconduct to come forward.

Father Kevin O’Brien, the president of Santa Clara University, has been placed on leave while an investigation into his alleged misconduct is underway. While we appreciate that action has been taken by the Santa Clara board of trustees, we think that the vague statement released by the university does no favors to either the university community or the alleged victims. In January, Fr. O’Brien presided over the inauguration of President Joe Biden.

This is not the first time that a high-ranking Jesuit official has been accused of misconduct. Notable examples include Bishop Gordon Bennet, who resigned as…

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TO THE QUESTION PROPOSED: 
Does the Church have the power to give the blessing to unions of persons of the same sex?

RESPONSE:
Negative.

Explanatory Note

In some ecclesial contexts, plans and proposals for blessings of unions of persons of the same sex are being advanced. Such projects are not infrequently motivated by a sincere desire to welcome and accompany homosexual persons, to whom are proposed paths of growth in faith, “so that those who manifest a homosexual orientation can receive the assistance they need to understand and fully carry out God’s will in their lives”[1].

On such paths, listening to the word of God, prayer, participation in ecclesial liturgical actions and the exercise of charity can play an important role in sustaining the commitment to read one’s own history and to adhere with freedom and responsibility to one’s baptismal call, because “God loves every person and the Church does the same”[2],…

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Former president of Ireland, Mary McAleese, has written to the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland appealing to him to “acknowledge the hurt” caused by the recent CDF document on blessing same sex unions.

In her correspondence to Archbishop Eamon Martin, seen by The Tablet, the former head of state describes the language in the two-page Responsum on the blessing of the unions of persons of the same sex as “gratuitously cruel in the extreme”.

Her correspondence to Archbishop Martin is accompanied by a letter she has written to The Tablet criticising the contents of the CDF’s document and Pope Francis.

Admitting that she did not expect the answer to the dubium to be positive, “I am not that naïve”, Professor McAleese adds that she did not, however, anticipate the “unbearably vicious language which can only have brought more heartache to our gay children and to us their families”.

“Heartache and hurt…

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Document on same-sex blessings shows that Pope Francis ‘toes the old hard line’

Former president Mary McAleese has criticised Pope Francis as a populist who raises expectations only to dash them, following a Vatican document published on Monday which sustained a ban on same-sex blessings.

She described the document, approved by the pope, as “withering”.

About Francis himself, Ms McAleese said his “chummy words to the press often quite reasonably raise hopes of church reform which are subsequently almost invariably dashed by firm restatements of unchanged church teaching”.

While raising hopes, “he is the pope who toes the old hard line”, she said.

She has also written to Ireland’s Catholic bishops asking that they challenge language used about gay people in the document, published by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF). She asked “if there is even one among you willing to acknowledge publicly that the language used in…

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A former Catholic bishop in Albany has been accused of molesting an 11-year-old boy at a carnival more than 40 years ago, according to new court papers.

It’s the seventh such lawsuit leveling allegations against retired Bishop Howard Hubbard.

Hubbard’s latest accuser — now an adult who filed suit anonymously — was volunteering at a carnival fundraiser for the Clifton Park church St. Edward’s in the summer of 1977 when he was sexually abused, says the Albany Supreme Court lawsuit filed last week.

The accuser — who came from a devout Catholic family — went to get cups from a storage room when Hubbard told him to join him in the rectory, the court papers allege.

Hubbard, who was wearing his priestly garb, then “sexually assaulted and abused” the boy, the documents say.

Hubbard, in a statement issued to The Post through a spokeswoman Friday, denied the allegation.

“I pray for…

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