ABUSE TRACKER

A retired Catholic priest, who also served as a Pennsylvania State Police chaplain, has been arrested and charged with sexual crimes that date back more than a decade.  

According to the criminal complaint provided to KDKA-TV, 84-year-old Robert Byrnes was charged with aggravated indecent assault, obstruction of administration of law or other governmental functions, and official oppression. 

The criminal complaint states that in March, a man came forward and reported to state police that while he was working at Christ Our Shepard, he had been sexually assaulted by Byrnes. According to the man’s recounting, while working in the kitchen, he was bent over at an ice machine when Byrnes put his hand down the back of his pants and began to assault him. 

The man told police he did not consent to the interaction. 

Another man, who also worked at Christ Our Shepard, came forward and reported to police…

View Cache

Underlying all the unintelligible, incomprehensible gibberish in the Synod’s recent “Final Report of Study Group Number 9” is a distinct ideological goal. And that goal is not liberation; it’s domination.

Pope Francis meets with other delegates of the Synod on Synodality at a roundtable discussion in Paul VI Hall at the Vatican on Oct. 17, 2024. (Credit: Vatican Media)

I continue to be puzzled by the language in the documents emerging from ecclesiastical bureaucrats. Who are these people talking to? Not “people of goodwill” around the world, nor the basic layman in the pew.

The jargon is so thick that the only possible audience could be other bureaucrats. And in my experience, questionable things are brewing when bureaucrats write to other bureaucrats in their own specific argot—a term I have used purposefully because it originally described the jargon, slang, or secret language used by criminals, rogues, and beggars to communicate without being understood…

View Cache

A couple dozen people stood outside Saint Cecilia Parish Church in Philadelphia’s Fox Chase neighborhood Friday morning, acknowledging deep scars.

“No prayer can erase the past,” one speaker said.

Former parishioner Paul Dickson told CBS News Philadelphia the reason behind the gathering is tragic: sexual abuse.

“These men who nobody believed for years,” he said of the victims of priest sex abuse. “It’s still painful, right?”

The parish is taking an unusual step — dedicating a memorial to those abused by priests.

“The fact this church acknowledged it, step one in healing,” Dickson said.

Father James Brzysk, one of the most notorious abusers, was stationed at Saint Cecilia in the ’80s. Investigators allege Brzyski had more than 100 victims. The disgraced ex-priest died in 2017.

Leo Argeros’ son is a survivor.

“It’s been such a long time and I think it’s high time this is recognized around the whole area,”…

View Cache

No More Victims Alliance has launched a new advocacy campaign called “Against the Clock” in response to the stalling of two statute of limitations reform bills in Missouri as part of its national effort to expand abuse survivor access to justice.

Currently, Missouri law blocks survivors of childhood sexual abuse in the state from pursuing civil claims past the age of 26 against a liable institution.

Against the Clock aims to raise awareness of how outdated statute-of-limitation laws deny survivors a path to justice, barring them from the courts before they are ready to come forward. Mamy survivors don’t even know they’re on a deadline dependent on the ZIP Code in which they were abused. In Missouri, these arbitrary deadlines create a clear and urgent barrier to truth and justice.

The campaign urges Missourians to call on their lawmakers to pass SJR-93 and/or its companion bill, HJR-130, before the end of session…

View Cache

A bill to strengthen protections for child abuse victims is currently stalled on the Senate floor, despite easily passing every other step of the legislative process this session.

House Bill 4227, also known as the Cindy Clemishire Act and Trey’s Law, has received zero no votes at the Oklahoma State Capitol.

This has led to growing confusion about why the Senate hasn’t taken the legislation up. Right now it is a race against time to get it across the finish line.

Christmas night 1982 was the first time Robert Morris sexually abused Cindy Clemishire.

She was 12 at the time, and he was a family friend.

“Also he was a traveling evangelist and we’ve now started referring to him as… a pedophile disguised as a preacher,” Clemishire said. “But he started abusing me when I was 12-years-old and that went on for about four and a half years.”

In March…

View Cache

Ohio State University is asking a federal court to dismiss dozens of cases in ongoing litigation over the sexual abuse by former university physician Richard Strauss.

Strauss sexually abused and assaulted hundreds of student athletes from 1978 to 1998. Over 200 survivors of Strauss’ abuse are involved in lawsuits against Ohio State, alleging it failed to protect students and contributed to a cover-up. Ohio State denies the allegations and said a small number of people had the authority to act.

On behalf of Ohio State, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost filed a motion Sunday asking the court to dismiss claims from former students who faced abuse before October 1986. If approved, the request would affect about 80 cases where survivors are seeking reparations for abuse that took place during Strauss’ first eight years at OSU.

The motion is based on a…

View Cache

The victim was sexually assaulted by a babysitter while living at the Namao military base near Edmonton

Alberta’s top court has confirmed a lawsuit filed over sexual abuse by an armed forces chaplain can proceed as a class action.

In a written decision released Friday, a three-member Alberta Court of Appeal panel rejected an application by the federal government to overturn the decision to certify Bobbie Bees’ claim as a class action lawsuit.

The government had challenged Calgary Court of King’s Bench Justice Robert Neufeld’s certification on the basis that Bees wasn’t a direct victim of Father Angus McRae at Canadian Forces Base Namao in Edmonton.

Neufeld defined the class of plaintiffs that could proceed with the lawsuit as either victims of sexual abuse by the armed forces captain, or “with his participation, encouragement or facilitation.”

“Canada does not dispute that the claim reveals a potentially viable cause of action…

View Cache

A former member of the school board for Aurora Christian Schools is charged with multiple counts of child sex abuse, accused of grooming and sexually abusing a teenage boy for years, and police are looking for more victims.

Michael Robert Herbert, 55, was arrested and charged Thursday with 10 felonies, including involuntary sexual servitude of a minor under 17, criminal sexual assault, involuntary sexual servitude of a minor aged 17-18, aggravated criminal sexual abuse, and possession of child sexual abuse material.

Herbert served as a board member at Aurora Christian Schools, a private religious school with grades preschool through high school.

Prosecutors said his wife is a teacher at the school, and that he was acting as a tutor and mentor when he allegedly sexually abused a teenager who trusted him.

Aurora police said that in December 2025, a man in his 20s reported that he had been the victim…

View Cache

Sri Lankan authorities arrested a senior Buddhist monk on Saturday for the alleged sexual abuse of an underage girl, police said, marking the highest-profile case involving clergy in the country.

Pallegama Hemarathana, 71, was arrested at a private hospital in the capital Colombo where he had sought treatment over the weekend amid an investigation into the alleged abuse of the 11-year-old girl in 2022.

The crime is alleged to have taken place at a highly venerated temple in Anuradhapura, around 125 miles north of Colombo, where Hemarathana is the chief priest. The ancient city is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

“We will be guided by the magistrate on further action,” a police statement said Saturday.

The monk will soon be presented before a judge.

Authorities added that the victim’s mother has also been arrested for aiding and abetting the monk.

The development comes a day…

View Cache

Robert Byrnes, 84, was arrested and charged Friday.

A retired Catholic priest and former Pennsylvania State Police chaplain is facing several charges in connection with sex crimes dating back more than 10 years.

Robert Byrnes, 84, is charged with aggravated indecent assault, obstruction of administration of law or other governmental functions and official oppression.

Following his arraignment, Byrnes was released on bail. A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for June 1, 2026.

According to the criminal complaint, back in March, a man reported to state police that he was sexually assaulted back in 2014 while he was working at Christ Our Shephard. Police said during the course of the investigation, another victim was identified who also worked there.

According to court documents, the two men confronted Byrnes about the alleged abuse during recorded phone calls as part of the investigation. Both victims asked Byrnes if they should talk to the…

View Cache

For Immediate Release:
May 15, 2026
Contact: Christian Kendzierski
Tel. 410-547-5378
christian.kendzierski@archbalt.org

As mediation in the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process continues, the Archdiocese of Baltimore has submitted a proposed Plan of Reorganization to the Court. This step is in furtherance of the Archdiocese’s pursuit of accomplishing its dual objectives in its bankruptcy proceeding, in recognition of child abuse survivors’ rightful desire for a resolution of their claims, and in response to the Court’s direction to any party who intends to file a plan to do so by May 15. At its core, the proposed plan seeks to provide equitable compensation to survivors while sustaining the Church’s mission and ministries. It reflects a commitment to transparency and a realistic assessment of available resources.

While the Archdiocese remains firmly committed to reaching an agreed-upon resolution through mediation with representatives of survivors and insurers, no final agreement has yet been achieved. The proposed plan is intended…

View Cache

Just east of the front doors of St. Cecilia’s Roman Catholic Church in Fox Chase, there sits a memorial to victims of sexual abuse — a rare sight not only in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, but at churches nationwide.

Consisting of a stone pillar embellished with a light and a blue-and-white wreath, in a parish that has reckoned with its own history of abuse, the memorial features messages of support for victims engraved into its sides.

“This light burns to honor all victims of sexual abuse by clergy and others at our parish, throughout the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, and throughout the nation,” an inscription reads. “May their light burn brightly as we protect our children and all the vulnerable.”

The Rev. Chris Walsh, pastor of St. Cecilia’s, announced the memorial’s completion in a church newsletter late last month. A small ceremony was held at the site Friday….

View Cache

“The Legislature is poised to kick the can down the road. They want an advisory opinion from the Supreme Court … at the last minute, when they could have done this months ago,” attorney Mitchell Garabedian said

Survivors of clergy sexual abuse and a Boston attorney who represents victimssay the Rhode Island Senate is poised to thwart a landmark bill that would allow abuse victims to bring previously expired civil claims against institutions including the Roman Catholic Church.

Instead of voting on the bill amending the statute of limitations, the Senate Judiciary Committee will take up a resolution on Thursday to ask the state Supreme Court for a written opinion about whether the legislation is constitutional.

Robert Houllahan and Dr. Herbert “Hub” Brennan, who’ve testified about the abuse they suffered as children, and attorney Mitchell Garabedian decried that…

View Cache

Retired Columbus Division of Fire Chief Jeffrey Happ said he was a survivor of sexual abuse by former Ohio State University team doctor Richard Strauss when he was a minor in the 1980s.

Happ came forward with the allegations in a news release sent by former OSU athletes and students who are suing the university and seeking damages from the university, because Strauss abused them over the course of decades at OSU. Strauss died by suicide in 2005.

Happ said he was just 15 when he was sexually abused by Strauss during his sophomore and junior years at Bishop Ready High School on the west side of Columbus. At the time, he was a multi-sport athlete and part of the high school’s state championship wrestling team when the multiple athletes with the team were asked to take part in a study with OSU Athletics.

Happ said in a statement the…

View Cache

The state AG is seeking to dismiss 77 claims because the alleged abuse happened before Congress passed a law allowing sex abuse survivors to sue state-funded schools.

Ohio State University has filed a motion to dismiss about a third of the remaining claims of the former students who are suing the school for failing to protect them decades ago from being sexually abused by campus doctor Richard Strauss.

Writing on behalf of the university, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said 43 of the cases should be dismissed “in whole” because the alleged abuse happened before Oct. 21, 1986, when Congress passed a law allowing states and their educational institutions to be sued in federal court for not taking steps to prevent sex abuse of students.

“These are all of the discovery plaintiffs whose alleged violations occurred prior to October 21, 1986,” Yost wrote in a motion filed Sunday in the…

View Cache

I just read a remarkable article that helped me make sense of our times.

It’s by an investigative journalist named Robert Downen, and it appeared in Texas Monthly. It tells the tale of one of the most powerful American religious leaders of the 20th century.

And chances are, you’ve never heard of him.

His name was Paul Pressler. I wrote about him more than two years ago when the Southern Baptist Convention settled a sex abuse suit filed against him by Duane Rollins, who claimed that Pressler had repeatedly raped him, beginning when Rollins was 14 years old.

Pressler, who died in June 2024, was a former Texas judge, an influential lawyer and one of the leading architects of the so-called conservative resurgence in the Southern Baptist Convention, by far the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.

In evangelical America, the story of this conservative resurgence is the stuff of legend….

View Cache

Gov. Brian Kemp signed legislation on Monday, May 11, adding clergy to Georgia’s improper sexual contact statute, creating a pathway for prosecutors to pursue charges when ministers use positions of spiritual authority to obtain sexual contact through counseling relationships.

The legislation, authored by Sen. Randy Robertson, places clergy alongside other authority figures already covered under Georgia’s improper sexual contact statute. Advocates said the law recognizes the unique power imbalance that can exist when spiritual authority is used for exploitation.

Supporters of Senate Bill 542, which was passed unanimously in both the Senate and the House, said the measure closes a longstanding gap in Georgia law.

During debate on the House floor, House Majority Leader Chuck Efstration said the bill addresses the misuse of influence within counseling and ministry relationships.

“Spiritual authority creates an imbalance of power between clergy members and congregants,” Efstration said, explaining that the legislation is intended to…

View Cache

Seton Hall University doubled down Thursday on its yearslong battle to keep secret a 2019 report on how the school handled a priest’s sex abuse of seminarians, asking a state appellate panel to reverse a lower court’s order to disclose the report and related records.

Patrick Papalia, an attorney for the private Catholic university in South Orange, insisted the documents in question — including the report, emails between Seton Hall and various lawyers, and witness interviews — should not be released to victims’ lawyers because they’re protected by attorney-client privilege, despite Judge Avion Benjamin’s November finding that they are not.

“This would send a chilling message not only to entities and businesses in the state of New Jersey, but to lawyers, that they cannot freely speak with their clients and give them advice, give them guidance on what they may have done correct, what they may have done wrong and how…

View Cache

A new Georgia law criminalizing clergy sexual misconduct involving those under their pastoral or spiritual care is drawing praise from Catholic advocates, with one expert calling the legislation both “simply long overdue” and a potential model for other states to follow.

On May 11, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed into law SB 542, which amends the state’s legal code to define sexual abuse by clergy against victims “under their pastoral care or spiritual guidance” as a specific criminal offense.

The law covers those relationships where “a clergy member provides spiritual guidance, pastoral care, religious instruction, confession, mentoring, or emotional or spiritual support in circumstances where a reasonable person would view the clergy member as exercising influence, trust, or authority over another person’s spiritual, emotional, or personal well-being.” It does not apply to sexual relationships “between individuals lawfully married to each other.”

The law offers “the basics of…

View Cache

A religious body has reported itself to the Privacy Commissioner for a breach in which it accidentally circulated email addresses, including those of scores of survivors of sexual abuse, in a mass mailout.

The Marist Brothers made the bungle on the same day as it held a formal apology for its record of sexual abuse.

The email was sent to those planning to attend the event advising them of a delayed start time – but the email addresses of the roughly 100 recipients were visible to everyone on the mailing list.

Abuse survivor Steve Goodlass said the majority of those listed were survivors – including his own personal email address.

“It’s appalling what they’ve done, because under no circumstances should you be breaching someone’s privacy, but to go into a sensitive area like this, you should absolutely not be doing it – there is a duty of care that’s involved,” Goodlass…

View Cache

Odiong’s name reportedly coming down from church he helped fund 2 years after charges filed.

A Central Texas priest charged with 10 felony counts involving multiple sexual assault claims and a possession of child pornography accusation may be removed from a church he reportedly helped fund, according to a new report.

Prosecutors have tried to convict disgraced priest Anthony Odiong for more than two years.

Odiong’s name has officially been added to a list of priests accused of sexually abusing a minor on the Archdiocese of New Orleans website, though his charges stem from Texas, out of McLennan County, where Waco is the county seat. The list states the priests are removed from ministry pending their criminal trial or verdict.

The Guardian reports the Archdiocese of New Orleans may be planning to remove…

View Cache

A Vatican-authorized investigation is examining how the Baton Rouge bishop handled misconduct allegations against a parish priest.

The Vatican has authorized an investigation of Baton Rouge Bishop Michael Duca over the way he handled a complaint against a pastor accused of soliciting sex from an adult parishioner and reminiscing over purported past sex acts with boys, according to an official Church communication to a whistleblower.

The bishop was slow to respond to complaints about the pastor and removed him from the parish only after law enforcement was contacted more than 11 weeks after the incident, according to Luke Zumo, a volunteer with the diocese who brought the complaint against the bishop on behalf of a friend who says he was victimized by the pastor.

The priest, Father Charbel Jamhoury, a Maronite Rite priest and a native of Lebanon, left the parish in December 2025 and was formally removed as pastor…

View Cache

A Chandler man will be the first person in Arizona prosecuted under a new law that makes it a felony to create AI-generated child pornography. 

The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office on Tuesday announced that it had indicted William Powderly, 44, for possessing child sexual abuse material, including two images in which AI was used to swap the faces of a real child onto the face of another “young female” in “sexually explicit images,” according to MCAO. 

The indictment is a first of its kind after a new law went into effect in September of last year. House Bill 2678 by Rep. Julie Willoughby, R-Chandler, changed the law to make the punishment for AI generated images the same as for real depictions of child sexual abuse material, also known as CSAM. MCAO supported the legislation. 

The Chandler Police Department began investigating the case on a tip from the National…

View Cache

A former priest who sexually abused four boys at St Bede’s College more than two decades ago has been jailed for seven years and eight months.

It comes as his victims have told a court of the impact of his offending.

“It was a violation of a child – of trust, of innocence, and of dignity. It changed the course of my life in ways I’m still only discovering,” one of his victims says.

RNZ earlier revealed that former St Bede’s College priest Rowan Donoghue had admitted sexually abusing four boys at the school between 1996 and 2000.

Since then, RNZ has revealed that Donoghue admitted sexual abuse to leaders of his religious order, the Society of Mary, in 2007. However, he was unable to identify the anonymous complainant and instead of notifying police, the order sent him to Australia for a six-month programme that provided “professional risk assessment and…

View Cache

Another John Doe files abuse lawsuit against Assemblies of God.

Daniel Savala, the accused sexual abuser associated with the Chi Alpha college ministries of the Assemblies of God denomination, has pleaded guilty to one count of continuous trafficking of persons.

Savala, 70, entered a plea agreement for the felony charge and will be sentenced to 30 years in prison without the possibility of parole, according to NBC News reporting.

Under Texas Penal Code §20A.03, continuous trafficking of persons is a first degree felony and punishable by 25 to 99 years in prison.

In 2023, both Savala and former Baylor University Chi Alpha campus minister Chris Hundl were indicted in McLennan County, Texas, for indecency with a child and trafficking of persons.

The indictment stated that over the course of two years, from May 2021 through April 2023, Hundl and Savala engaged in…

View Cache

A California law designed to help survivors of childhood sexual abuse seek justice is now creating difficult financial and legal challenges for school districts across the state.

Survivors say the law has exposed abuse that institutions ignored for decades and finally given victims a path to accountability.

But school leaders warn the growing costs tied to those lawsuits are increasingly affecting today’s students through rising insurance premiums, staffing pressures and cuts to programs and services.

CBS News California Investigates found the costs are no longer limited to the districts where abuse allegedly occurred.

Because many school districts share insurance coverage through large risk pools, settlements tied to decades-old abuse claims can increase costs for schools across the state, including districts with no abuse claims of their own.

That means today’s students can lose teachers, programs and classroom resources because of crimes committed years before they were born, sometimes…

View Cache

Gateway Church and its founding pastor, Robert Morris, have ended their Tarrant County legal fight over a multimillion-dollar retirement package and are moving the proceedings out of court to arbitration, an attorney says.

The document filed Friday in Tarrant County comes less than two months after the former Gateway Church pastor finished a six-month sentence in the Osage County Jail on charges of child sexual abuse.

“The parties have reached agreement on an appropriate arbitration forum to resolve their dispute and will now proceed in that forum and not in state court,” said Bill Mateja, an attorney for the Morris family.  “Thus the state court proceeding was dismissed.”

CBS News Texas reached out to Gateway for a statement but did not hear back.

Oklahoma child abuse case against Morris

The Oklahoma criminal charges against Morris were filed after he was accused of…

View Cache

A former student who won $5 million in a landmark clergy sexual abuse trial against the Delbarton School has gone back to court, saying the elite Morris County private school withheld key evidence during the case.

The former student, who said he was abused in the 1970s, has asked a New Jersey judge to impose additional sanctions against the all-boys’ school and the Catholic order of monks that operates it.

They failed to disclose “highly material documents,” including interviews by a private investigator hired by Delbarton to examine allegations of abuse, according to the motion filed in state Superior Court in Morristown April 22.

The resulting damage to the plaintiff’s case was “substantial, particularly because the withheld evidence surfaced only after the jury rendered its verdict, leaving [TM] with limited avenues for relief,” according to the motion.

During that trial, which began in September, the 65-year-old former student…

View Cache

We were wrong to think the Delbarton story was over. What has emerged since the jurors left the courtroom is more disturbing than what they were ever permitted to hear. And what is now in the public record raises profound questions not only about one case, but about whether survivors in New Jersey can trust the system designed to protect them.

What the court record now shows

On April 22, 2026, the plaintiff in T.M. v. Order of St. Benedict of New Jersey, Inc., filed a motion for sanctions alleging that the order — which operates St. Mary’s Abbey and Delbarton School — withheld critical investigative reports throughout nine years of litigation. These allegations are not rumor or speculation; they are drawn from sworn testimony, discovery correspondence and documents that surfaced only because other survivors in related litigation received productions that T.M. never saw.

According to the motion,…

View Cache

New Jersey has spent years confronting the painful legacy of clergy sexual abuse. Survivors in this state fought for — and won — some of the strongest civil statute of limitations reforms in the nation.

We opened a two-year look back window. We ended charitable immunity protections that once shielded institutions instead of children. We built a system that finally gave survivors a path to justice.

But a new threat is emerging just across the Hudson River, and it has the potential to undermine everything survivors in New Jersey and across the country have fought for.

The Archdiocese of New York is not in bankruptcy. Yet it has proposed a global settlement structure that mirrors a bankruptcy plan while avoiding the judicial oversight that bankruptcy requires.

At the center of this proposal is a requirement that every single survivor must agree before the Archdiocese will pay a…

View Cache

Michal Gatchalian dared to speak out against sexual abuse by a priest in the devoutly Catholic Philippines. He’s now a lawyer helping other victims.

Sui-Lee Wee interviewed Michal Gatchalian over four days in Cebu City, the Philippines and reviewed more than 200 pages of court documents.

As an altar boy in the late 1990s, Michal Gatchalian spent almost every Sunday at a centuries-old Roman Catholic basilica in Cebu City, the Philippines. There he met a fun-loving priest who gave the boys rides on his motorcycle.

On Jan. 11, 1998, the priest, Apolinario “Jing” Mejorada, invited the then 17-year-old Mr. Gatchalian and another altar boy to the movies. At the theater, the teenagers said, he molested them. About 20 months later, Mr. Gatchalian said Father Mejorada sexually abused him again. That episode, he said, occurred at the home of the priest, who demanded oral sex from him. Mr. Gatchalian said he…

View Cache

For the first time in 20 years, the Rhode Island Senate may ask the state’s Supreme Court to give its opinion on legislation lawmakers are considering.

The Senate Committee on Judiciary on Thursday will consider a resolution asking the Rhode Island Supreme Court whether it would be constitutional to revive previously expired civil claims of sexual abuse against institutions such as the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence.

The resolution sponsored by Sen. Matthew LaMountain, a Warwick Democrat, comes as the Senate weighs legislation introduced by Sen. Mark McKenney, a Warwick Democrat, at the request of the Rhode Island Office of Attorney General. The bill would create a “revival window” allowing previously expired claims against institutions and supervisors accused of failing to protect children from sexual abuse.

“As a former prosecutor, and as a parent, I am going to do everything in my power to ensure…

View Cache

The Diocese of Providence announced changes and mergers involving several parishes.

In Warren, Saint Thomas the Apostle Parish will merge into Saint Mary of the Bay Parish.

Saint Brendan Parish and Saint Martha Parish will combine into Saints Brendan and Martha Parish in East Providence.

In Foster, Saint Kateri Tekakwitha Community will be formally dissolved.

Records will be held at Saint Bernard Parish in North Kingstown.

View Cache

One of the most consequential rulings on clergy sexual abuse in the entire history of American jurisprudence has received virtually no media attention. Its defendant? The United Methodist Church.

In a 2024 ruling in Chestnut v. United Methodist Church, the Second Department of the New York Supreme Court’s Appellate Division held that the UMC is not a “jural entity” and thus cannot be sued in a court of law.

This despite the fact that the UMC in the United States holds an estimated $60 billion in property, cash and other resources across its 51 annual conferences, supervised by 32 bishops in 38 episcopal areas. The denomination’s general agencies collectively hold an additional $589 million, including $86 million in liquid assets.

The ruling turns on a provision in the UMC’s own governing document, the Book of Discipline. Its “trust clause” states that “all real and personal, tangible and intangible property held at jurisdictional, annual, or…

View Cache

Schools say reconciliation process will come after lawsuit is settled

The Christian Brothers taught Colin Wilson a lot about accountability.

Sometimes it was the stick. Sometimes it was the strap. Sometimes it was an open hand on a bare buttocks. 

Truth was paramount for the boys of Vancouver College, but Wilson believes the administration was held to a different standard. 

He’s part of a class-action lawsuit alleging the school was complicit in a series of secret deals allowing six Christian Brothers to escape abuse and pedophilia allegations at an orphanage in Newfoundland.

These men were hired to teach Wilson and his friends at a pair of Vancouver-area Catholic schools.

“They walk around like they’re the moral authority on life, but they let full-grown men abuse children,” Wilson told CBC News in an interview last week.

Vancouver College, St. Thomas More Collegiate and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouver are nearing…

View Cache

A former Minnesota pastor will spend the rest of his life in jail for repeatedly sexually assaulting a child in Wisconsin.

According to authorities, Jeffrey Anthony Charles, 65, assaulted the victim at his cabin in the Town of Summit over five years, starting when the victim was three years old and ending when they were eight.

At the time, Charles was the pastor for Neighbors to Nations church in Princeton, Minnesota.

“This sentence sends an unmistakable message about the heinousness of this kind of criminal conduct,” Attorney General Josh Kaul said. “The victim is to be commended for the patience and bravery she demonstrated testifying about these crimes to a jury,” District Attorney Mark Fruehauf said.

In 1997 Charles was also convicted of third-degree sexual abuse in Iowa.

View Cache

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed legislation Monday criminalizing clergy sexual abuse, closing what advocates and survivors called a longstanding gap in state law.

Kemp signed Senate Bill 542 without issuing a public statement, according to his press secretary, Carter Chapman.

The new law adds clergy members to Georgia’s list of authority figures who can face criminal penalties for committing sexual misconduct in the course of their work. Teachers, therapists and law enforcement officers already were covered under similar statutes.

The legislation also removes consent as a legal defense in cases involving coercion or abuse of spiritual authority.

The bill passed unanimously in both chambers of the Georgia General Assembly. The House approved the measure 168-0 after the Senate earlier passed it 55-0.

Supporters said the law addresses situations in which clergy members allegedly manipulate adults through religious authority, pastoral counseling relationships or spiritual influence.

The…

View Cache

A federal court judge has granted a request to push back the trial date for Lindsey Whiteside, a former youth pastor and coach accused of sexually abusing a teen.

On April 22, Whiteside’s attorney filed a motion to move the original June 1 trial date, citing health issues, including a recent hospitalization for heart-condition complications. The attorney also said he needs more time to speak with prosecutors and determine whether a trial is necessary.

The judge granted the motion, rescheduling Whiteside’s trial for August 3, 2026, and extending the plea and motions deadlines.

Before the federal charges were filed, Whiteside pleaded guilty to state charges of sexual battery of a minor.

View Cache

In New Jersey and California, the Catholic university is seeking depositions and upwards of $110,000 for legal costs.

One of the country’s top Catholic universities won a big victory earlier this year when a judge dismissed a whistleblower lawsuit brought by its former president. But for Seton Hall, the legal battle is far from over.

The university is best known for its acclaimed basketball program and its law school, whose alumni include federal judges, state lawmakers and two former governors. But lately, attention has focused on how the university’s new president, Monsignor Joseph Reilly, was elevated to the role despite a 2019 investigation that found he failed to properly report sexual abuse allegations when serving as a seminary leader at the school.

The university is now waging a campaign in New Jersey and California courts to extract information — and money — from the former president and a person the school…

View Cache

Cardinal Blase Cupich has removed a priest from ministry at Little Italy’s St. Francis of Assisi after the Archdiocese of Chicago received allegations that he engaged in improper and inappropriate conversations and communications with minors and adult women. Rev. Jose Molina, identified by church officials, had been serving at the parish since August 2025 as a temporary minister. The archdiocese said it has reported the allegations to civil authorities and has offered support services to anyone affected.

In a letter to the St. Francis community, Cupich told parishioners that Molina, a member of the Institute of the Incarnate Word, will return to his religious order and that the Archdiocese will cooperate with the order’s investigation, as reported by the Chicago Sun-Times. The letter also revoked Molina’s faculties to minister in the Archdiocese of Chicago and reminded parishioners that support services had been offered to anyone who may…

View Cache

A 58-year-old Pensacola man was sentenced to seven years in prison on Thursday in a child sexual abuse case.

Bryan Anthony Parker pleaded no contest to these charges:

• lewd lascivious molestation against a victim ages 12-16
• promote sexual activity of victim less than 16 years old

His sexual assault charge was dropped.

Parker received nine days credit for time served. He also received two years of sex offender probation upon his prison release.

Deputies initially arrested Parker in August of 2024 on allegations that he sexually abused a boy.

According to the arrest report, an incident happened on July 3, 2024, as the victim was sleeping over at Parker’s home. The report states the victim awoke to Parker sexually abusing him.

The victim then secretly recorded video of Parker talking to him about the incident, according to the report.

The report states that on the…

View Cache

A coach at a Louisiana Baptist school is accused of sending sexually explicit messages to an underage student.

According to an arrest warrant, Patrick Ryan Yomtob, 46, has been charged with indecent behavior with juveniles.

Yomtob, a coach at Parkview Baptist School, allegedly sent sexually explicit text messages to a 14-year-old student.

Investigators with the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office said the investigation began last month after allegations surfaced involving the 14 -year-old female student and a 16-year-old male student at a high school.

According to court documents, the female told investigators she had confided in a teacher she identified as “Coach Y.” Detectives identified that teacher as Yomtob.

Investigators said they reviewed digital evidence taken from the girl’s cell phone and found multiple text message exchanges between Yomtob and the girl dating back to March.

An affidavit stated the conversations contained “lewd and lascivious language,” including discussions about…

View Cache

Reporting Highlights

• Massages in Class: A California teacher was deemed “unfit to teach” after students reported him for touching them in ways that made them uncomfortable, including massaging their shoulders. 
• License to Teach: Jason Agan is one of 67 teachers whose credentials were not revoked by California after their schools determined they had committed sexual harassment or misconduct. 
• A Red Flag: The only visible sign that a teacher has been disciplined is a red flag icon next to their name on the state website of credentialed educators. It does not specify why.

These highlights were written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story.

Jason Agan was impossible to miss at Angelo Rodriguez High School. The San Francisco Bay Area teacher was loud and gregarious, a fixture on campus since the Fairfield school opened in 2001. He ran the student government and called himself the man behind the…

View Cache

Investigation into Bishop Miege’s former president ongoing nearly a year later

It has been nine months since Phil Baniewicz was fired from Bishop Miege High School after allegations of inappropriate behavior with minors and concerns regarding his leadership abilities arose.

A couple of months prior, he had been put on leave and restricted from all ministry within the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas.

This happened amid concerns about a 2005 lawsuit accusing Baniewicz of sexually abusing a teen at a church in Arizona in the 1980s, which settled before going to trial.

KSHB 41’s Sarah Plake first reported on his controversial hiring in 2023 and has reported every update since.  

Bishop Miege now has a new president, Mike Riley, who was hired in February after a nationwide search.  

While Baniewicz isn’t facing any criminal charges, he is still facing an investigation within the Catholic Church, set to end “soon,” according to an Archdiocese spokesperson.

…

View Cache

A California woman will spend three years in federal prison for plotting to have her estranged son kidnapped and taken to the now-shuttered Agape Boarding School in southwest Missouri.

Despite her son’s restraining order against her, Shana Gaviola arranged in 2021 for her son to be taken against his will from a Fresno, California, ice-skating rink to the Christian reform school for troubled boys. Two people acting on Gaviola’s behalf abducted her son, then 16, and drove him 27 hours in handcuffs to Stockton, Missouri, according to federal prosecutors.

The teenager was “detained” at the school — which closed in 2023 amid findings of abuse — for about eight days until he was released to his father, prosecutors said.

Gaviola, 39, of Fresno County, was convicted in December of interstate violation of a protection order and sentenced last week. She was charged along with  View Cache

The CEO of Kanakuk Kamps, a Christian summer camp in southwest Missouri plagued by a history of sexual abuse, is said to be retiring later this year.

In a letter to camp families, Joe White, 77, reportedly said he would retire Aug. 31 after decades of overseeing the camp that has brought thousands of children to Branson. He cited medical treatments that followed his leukemia diagnosis in 2000.

“Thirty-five anesthetized surgeries later, it is time to pass the baton to the next very capable generation,” White wrote in the letter, which was posted online by D Magazine in Dallas, Texas.

Kanakuk and White did not respond to requests for comment by The Midwest Newsroom.

White’s announcement comes almost a year after Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe signed a bill — named after a former Kanakuk camper — into law that voids non-disclosure…

View Cache

His appointments of bishops have focused on pastoral care and reflect the changing composition of Catholic pews and priests.

Pope Leo XIV’s moral voice has resounded in global politics during the first year of his papacy, on war, immigration and artificial intelligence.

But in quieter, more personal ways, the first pope from the United States has also been shaping the future of the Roman Catholic Church in his home country — one bishop at a time.

So far, Leo has made roughly 30 announcements involving new bishops, elevated bishops or retiring bishops in the United States, offering an early look at what the American church hierarchy will become under his leadership.

He appears to be naming bishops not primarily as political statements, but rather as leaders who, like him, have focused on pastoral care and local management, and who reflect the changing composition of Catholic pews and priests.

Last week,…

View Cache

Pallegama Hemarathana arrested from hospital for allegedly abusing a minor in 2022

Sri Lankan police have arrested one of the country’s highest-ranking Buddhist monks for allegedly sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl.

Pallegama Hemarathana Thero, the 71-year-old custodian of eight sacred sites in Sri Lanka, was arrested on Saturday at a private hospital in the capital Colombo.

He was remanded to prison on charges of repeated rape and sexual assault of a minor in 2022 in a temple in Anuradhapura. He is the chief priest of Anuradhapura – a Unesco world heritage site located around 200km north of Colombo.

The mother of the survivor, now aged 15, has also been arrested for allegedly abetting the abuse, according to Daily News Sri Lanka.

“We will be guided by the magistrate on further action,” a police statement said. Anuradhapura chief magistrate Siyapath Sasidu Wickramaratne said the monk would be transferred to the Colombo prison hospital.

…

View Cache

Pallegama Hemarathana, 71, is the most senior monk in the country to be accused of such a crime. The child’s mother has also been arrested

Sri Lankan authorities arrested a senior Buddhist monk on Saturday for the alleged sexual abuse of an underage girl, police said, marking the highest-profile case involving clergy in the country.

Pallegama Hemarathana, 71, was arrested at a private hospital in the capital Colombo where he had sought treatment over the weekend amid an investigation into the alleged abuse of the 11-year-old girl in 2022.

The crime is alleged to have taken place at a highly venerated temple in Anuradhapura, around 200km (125 miles) north of Colombo, where Hemarathana is the chief priest.

Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses…

View Cache

Tony Paniccia, 49, of North York, was the head of the special education department, prior to his arrest in September 2024

A longtime high school teacher, who worked for five years with the York Catholic District School Board, has been sentenced to three years in prison for the sexual exploitation of a student.

Tony Paniccia, 49, of North York, was the head of a special education department prior to his arrest in September 2024 and eventual guilty plea in Newmarket court.

He met the student via the school’s vice-principal after she’d been struggling with anxiety, resulting in her skipping classes. Paniccia is 31 years older than the student.

Although the relationship began professionally, the pair would eventually begin communicating on Telegram, a chat app that has an option where communication is automatically deleted at the end of the conversation.

They met three times in his vehicle late at night in…

View Cache

The Diocese of Baton Rouge has removed Catholic Priest Father Charbel Jamhoury from ministry.

According to the Diocese, it has also revoked his Safe Environment credentials and forbade him from further public ministry after allegations surfaced of inappropriate sexual behavior between the priest and an adult male.

On Feb. 8, Bishop Michael Duca removed Jamhoury from St. Isidore the Farmer Catholic Church in Baker, four months after the complaint was initially filed with the Diocese.

In a letter by the whistleblower and alleged victim sent to the parishioners, they urged parents to talk to their kids.

“Due to the serious nature of the allegations and our Bishop’s proportionate response, it would be prudent to have an informed conversation with your children (or any vulnerable person under your care) to learn if they ever experienced an uncomfortable or inappropriate interaction with Fr. Charbel, or if they witnessed anything inappropriate between Fr….

View Cache

Church leaders say a case at an Islamic boarding school highlights need for stronger child protection measures

A recent child abuse scandal that led to the closure of an Islamic boarding school and the arrest of its head cleric is a wake-up call for Christians to tighten monitoring and introduce reforms in their schools, Church leaders say.

The Catholic Church has been closely following the child sexual abuse scandal at the Ndholo Kusumo Islamic boarding school in Central Java province, which came to light last week, said Father A. Kurdo Irianto, vicar general of Surabaya diocese, which covers Indonesia’s second-largest city.

“The Church is tightening management and strengthening Catholic values and child-friendly school regulations without ignoring students’ personal issues,” the priest told UCA News on May 8.

He was responding to the arrest of Ashari, the head of the Islamic school, who is accused of sexually abusing…

View Cache

An $800 million proposal from the Archdiocese of New York to settle more than 1,000 claims of clergy sex abuse is a step towards accountability but an imperfect resolution for the church’s victims, said one accuser and several plaintiff advocates. 

The archdiocesan settlement, which the recently appointed Archbishop Ronald Hicks described as the culmination of “several months” of negotiations between the church and plaintiff representatives, comes amid a bitter, yearslong legal dispute pitting the archdiocese against its longtime insurer Chubb, which has refused to pay compensation to accusers and accused church leaders of intentionally enabling and concealing sexual abuse for decades. 

Mike Finnegan, an attorney whose firm represents 300 of the 1,300 accusers seeking redress from the archdiocese, said the $800 million settlement provides claimants with the choice to receive $250,000 outright as “quick pay option” or to enter into an allocation process to…

View Cache

The Board of Honor put on hold an ordinance that would remove a Toledo street sign as it investigates potential ties to a decades old murder case.

The board faced something it has never had to do — consider removing someone’s name from a street sign, this one near Fifth Third Field.

The sign in question is “Monsignor Jerome Schmit Way.”

The board delayed the vote on for 30 days as it investigates Schmit’s potential connection to the investigation into the 1980 murder of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl.

One of Pahl’s family members claims Schmit obstructed the murder investigation. Legal counsel for the diocese attended the meeting on Thursday and read a statement claiming there’s no evidence to back up the claims.

The board will reconvene to discuss further.

View Cache

This was supposed to be a festive year at St. Stephen Catholic Church. After weathering pandemic-spurred periods of financial strain and declining attendance, this small parish nestled along a residential hillside just south of downtown Walnut Creek had plenty to celebrate: a milestone anniversary, a fruitful partnership with a nearby church, a steadily growing congregation. 

Yet, there associate pastor Lee Chompoochan was toward the end of Sunday morning Mass, encouraging churchgoers to pick up a copy of a recent letter detailing the once-unthinkable: St. Stephen will soon shutter. As the Diocese of Oakland tries to climb out of a fiscal crisis hastened by costly sexual abuse lawsuits, even its more profitable parishes are at risk of closure.

St. Stephen, which sits in an affluent neighborhood where homes often sell in the seven figures, now finds itself among the 13 East Bay churches slated to cease operations. Making matters worse:…

View Cache

Declining attendance was also a major factor in the decision to close churches including Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Paschal Baylon.

The Oakland Diocese of the Catholic Church will close 13 churches — 7 in Oakland — due to declining participation and an ongoing financial crisis linked to sexual abuse cases dating between 1960 and 1990, some of which resulted in lawsuits and multi-million dollar jury verdicts. 

In a letter dated April 28, released to its parishioners and the media, Oakland Bishop Michael C. Barber wrote that attendance at masses across the diocese’s region — Alameda and Contra Costa counties — has fallen since the early 2010s, meaning less participation in the sacraments and lower Catholic school enrollment. “We are also at an all-time low of priests assigned to our 80 parishes, and the average age of our priests continues to climb,” he wrote.

The list of closures includes churches…

View Cache

Michael J. Bransfield, who served as bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston from 2005 until 2018, died Thursday at age 82.

Pope Francis had accepted Bransfield’s resignation following allegations that the West Virginia bishop had diverted large sums of diocesan funds to his personal use.

A report directed by Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore, released in 2019, found that Bransfield had used diocesan funds to pay for $4.6 million worth of renovations to his Wheeling home and nearly $2.5
million for private jet flights, limousine services and hotel stays. The report also determined that Bransfield used church funds to pay an average $1,000 a month for liquor for himself and his subordinates, and to distribute $350,000 in gifts to priests, bishops and cardinals across the country and in the Vatican, during his tenure as bishop.

Additionally, the report identified “credible” allegations of sexual harassment involving seminarians and priests under his authority,…

View Cache

Victim is sharing her story after state law forced prosecutors to drop her case

It was a night of terror more than 20 years ago.

“He kept stabbing me. And as I’m trying to hold my neck and get out of the car, he stabbed me all down my back,” she said. “And that’s when I started praying.”

In an interview, the Massachusetts woman recalled her harrowing escape from a rapist in 2005.

5 Investigates is not revealing her identity because she’s a survivor of sexual assault. Two decades later, she still has scars, both emotional and physical.

She met the man who caused the scars while trying to get a ride from Boston to Malden.

“When he said, sure, I’ll give you a ride, I was like, all right, get in? Yeah, get in. So I got in,” she said.

On the drive, she says they discussed sex and…

View Cache

Ohio is among a handful of states that maintain criminal statute of limitations for child rape.

View Cache

Ohio is among a handful of states that maintain criminal statute of limitations for child rape

Rebecca Surendorff has been fighting to change Ohio’s statute of limitations since 2019, when a priest with a pattern of abuse was assigned to her children’s school.

That prompted her to start Ohioans for Child Protection, a group that has spent years pushing lawmakers to act. She said most Ohioans don’t realize where their state stands.

“We are amongst a handful of states that have created a legal sanctuary for the criminal statute of limitations. Most of the country has eliminated their statute of limitations criminally for child rape. And most people don’t realize that we have a bit of a legal sanctuary here in Ohio — that we provide that benefit to offenders,” Surendorff said.

Ohio lags behind most states

According to a 2013 report from the U.S. Department of Justice, 25 states…

View Cache

Two state lawmakers pushing for an overhaul of Ohio’s child protection laws said if their bill had already been enacted, it might have saved the life of seven-year-old Hershall Creachbaum.

Creachbaum was killed in Dayton last July; his mother and her boyfriend are now facing criminal charges related to his death.

The Child Protection Reform Act, sponsored by Ohio Reps. Phil Plummer (R-Dayton) and Tom Young (R-Washington Twp.), would address the breakdowns in communication between social services, county agencies and law enforcement that, according to the sponsors, led, in part, to Creachbaum’s death. 

“If there’s a continual domestic violence situation at that house, police departments will have to share that report with children’s services,” Plummer said. “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire and if somebody’s going to be beating on their spouse or their loved one, good chance the kids are going to get beat on also, so those are the…

View Cache

The school has been embroiled in the fallout surrounding a former team doctor since 2018, and this is the latest flare in the damage. 

Thirty former Ohio State football players announced that they will join a lawsuit against the university over sexual abuse by former athletic department physician Richard Strauss. The group includes former NFL players Ray Ellis, Al Washington and Keith Ferguson. This is the latest flare in a damaging scandal first revealed eight years ago.

In 2020, Sports Illustrated senior writer Jon Wertheim wrote a lengthy story, “Why Aren’t More People Talking About the Ohio State Sex Abuse Scandal?,” which was turned into the award-winning HBO documentary Surviving Ohio State. We checked in with him after this latest development.

What does this mean?

Most important, it means there were still more victims of a serial predator who was allowed to work on campus—and had virtually free…

View Cache

It’s a question I’ve fielded my whole adult life. “How can you remain part of a religion when you disagree with so much of it?” my secular friends ask. “How can you stay in an institution that doesn’t let women participate fully? A church that has covered for child abusers?”

I usually come back to the same answer: I love Jesus and want to follow him, and the best way for me to do so is to remain in the church that raised me, flawed as it is. In Struck Down, Not Destroyed, America’s Vatican correspondent Colleen Dulle offers a powerful testament to her own commitment to the church—a commitment where scrutiny and critique go hand in hand with reverence. 

“It’s impossible to be a Catholic these days without experiencing some cognitive dissonance,” Dulle states. Recalling the Genesis story of Jacob wrestling with God, she goes on: “We wrestle with the teachings…

View Cache

Lawyers for a woman who says she was raped at least 100 times as a teenager while living in a group home in Deerfield in the early 1990s are prepared to present evidence to a jury that the state “knew or should have known” of the danger the girl was placed in.

Kristy Gesse, who filed a lawsuit against the state under the pseudonym Jane Doe #73, was placed at the Saddleback Mountain Retreat group home when she was 15 years old. She has since decided she would like to be named.

One of her lawyers, David Vicinanzo of Nixon Peabody, has said the state claims it is unable to locate key records, including the licensing for the group home. Saddleback was owned by Peter Tsetsilas and his wife, Beverly. The requests have included a motion to compel.

Merrimack County Superior Court Judge John Kissinger ruled that the state has…

View Cache

A family pastor in Georgia pretended to be a child online, enticing young boys to send sexually graphic images and videos of themselves, police said.

John Taylor Moreland, a student and family pastor at the Mount Zion Baptist Church in Macon, GA, was caught when a parent found concerning photos of their child in a message thread, according to Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Josiah Reiner.

The parent called the photos “concerning” before reaching out to state police. The witness claimed comments on a video the boy posted on Tiktok prompted her to take the child’s phone, which she then discovered pornography on, Reiner said.

A chain of messages with sexually graphic images of the child and others were exchanged with the handle “Jamesq6815.” A parent of the victim attempted to contact the account, which quickly blocked the child and removed photos and videos from the chat, according to Reiner.

The…

View Cache

A Jefferson Parish jury found a Terrytown pastor guilty of sexual abusing two teenagers, District Attorney Paul Connick Jr. announced.

In less than an hour on Wednesday, May 6, 66-year-old Terry Reed was found guilty as charged of two counts of third-degree rape and two counts of molestation of a juvenile.

According to court documents, Reed ministered from his residence on North Marlin Court and was said to mentor the victims who had troubled home lives.

Reed allowed the teens to move in with him and “used bible verses and scripture to manipulate, normalize and justify” his sexual behavior toward them, court documents reported.

Slidell sexual assault case ends with 25-year sentence

“He is the worst kind of predator in this community that we can have,” Assistant District Attorney Eric Cusimano said.

Prior to Reed’s arrest for these crimes, he was already a convicted sex offender. Court documents stated…

View Cache

Animated meeting ends with a 30-day pause on any vote on memorial near Fifth Third Field for church leader accused of interfering in 1980 murder investigation.

The Board of Honor voted Thursday to delay a decision on the removal of a local honorary street sign after members noted they have never previously rescinded an honor.

The board will now meet in about 30 days to consider the request to remove the “Monsignor Jerome Schmit Way” sign located near Fifth Third Field in downtown Toledo.

The delay follows testimony from Lee Pahl, the nephew of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl, and Claudia Vercellotti of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. 

Pahl and Vercellotti argue the sign should be removed because Monsignor Schmit allegedly helped the Catholic Church obstruct the 1980 investigation into Sister Margaret Ann’s murder.

According to the 11 Investigates documentary, “ View Cache

For more than a decade, Thomas Hicks has played Santa Claus in the Lakeland, Florida, Christmas parade. However, Hicks, a retired pastor, will likely spend this Christmas behind bars after being arrested in a sting operation targeting men seeking to pay to sexually abuse children.

Editor’s note: This article refers to disturbing reports of child sex abuse, which some readers might find triggering.

Hicks, 68, is accused of corresponding online with someone he believed to be the father of a 13-year-old girl and agreeing to pay $200 to have sex with the child. Hicks was arrested when he arrived at the agreed-upon location. 

He allegedly had two $100 bills in his wallet. 

RELATED: Former Pastor Gets 120 Years in Prison, Plus Additional Life Sentence for Numerous Child Sex Crimes

Hicks retired from First Alliance Church in Lakeland in 2022, the church said in a social media statement after Hicks…

View Cache

VOTF, a Catholic Lay Apostolate committed to promoting transparency in Church operations, has published its 2025 diocesan financial transparency report. Before being released publicly, the reports were sent to each diocesan bishop and to CFOs of each of the 176 geographical dioceses in the USCCB. The average overall 2025 transparency score dropped 6 points from 71% to 66%. In 2025, the number of dioceses posting current audited financial reports of their central operations decreased from 114 to 112 (64%). The all-time high for posting current audited reports was 116 dioceses in 2023. More details for the 2025 results may be found here.

The downward trend in reporting observed in 2025 is due primarily to dioceses failing to post the information in a timely fashion. Our hope is that dioceses will make progress toward more consistent financial reporting going forward. Despite lower scores the overall financial transparency picture is still positive,…

View Cache

An archdiocesan investigation in 2018 claimed Bishop Michael Bransfield engaged in multiple instances of sexual harassment and financial malfeasance of diocesan funds.

Bishop Michael Bransfield, who was accused of a pattern of sexual harassment and financial impropriety while leading the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia, died on May 7 at 82 years old. 

The Wheeling-Charleston Diocese said in a statement that Bishop Bransfield “passed away peacefully.” It urged the faithful to pray for his family and friends. 

“As it is the tradition in our Church to pray for the dead as well as for the living, we pray for the repose of his soul, asking God’s mercy upon him,” the diocese said. 

A native of Philadelphia, Bransfield was ordained in that archdiocese in 1971. He served as the first rector at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., after it was named a basilica in 1990. 

Pope John…

View Cache

A man who is known for his involvement with the local go-go music scene was sentenced Thursday to 165 years in prison after being convicted in January of child sexual abuse and rape charges in a Prince George’s County courtroom.

Cleophus Canton, 60, was convicted on nine counts with charges ranging from sexual abuse of a minor, rape, and second-degree sex offense.

Canton abused four victims spanning over a decade, from the late 1990s to approximately 2008. Court documents reveal one victim was abused from the ages of 8 to 16.

All four victims testified against Canton during trial.

For victims like Brittany Simms, Canton’s lengthy prison sentence allowed her to breathe a sigh of relief after decades of dealing with the emotional fallout from her abuse.

“I never thought I would have justice or anything. Excuse these raw emotions, but it just took 25 years…

View Cache

A man who was convicted of child sexual abuse and rape charges faces sentencing Thursday in a Prince George’s County courtroom.

View Cache

Trauma doesn’t follow a legal timeline, and neither should the opportunity to seek accountability.

John J. Lawn Jr. of Watertown represents the 10th Middlesex District in the Massachusetts House of Representatives and is House chairman of the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing.

Massachusetts law sets a statute of limitations for survivors of child sexual abuse. The law is outdated and needs to be changed. For many, these restrictive timelines perpetuate silence and deny the right to be heard.

I know because it happened to me.

For most of my life, I kept a secret: I’m a survivor of child sexual abuse. Today I’m speaking out. I’m doing so to help prevent children from experiencing what so many of us have endured and because no survivor should feel alone.

I was abused by two men — one Edward Darragh, a trusted leader at my…

View Cache

Thirty former Ohio State football players announced Thursday that they will join a lawsuit against the university over sexual abuse by former team physician Richard Strauss.

The university is already involved in litigation with over 100 survivors of Strauss’ abuse and has reached settlements with over 300. All 30 said they are survivors of Strauss, and many are among the earliest reports of his sexual abuse.

Attorney Rocky Ratliff, a Strauss survivor himself, is a part of one group of survivors suing Ohio State, and is representing another group in court. Many of the survivors who have come forward have been former wrestlers or swimmers. Ratliff said it was difficult for any survivors to come forward, but football players faced particular pressure to stay quiet.

Strauss survivor says Ohio State leaders making ‘excuses’ in abuse case

“The shame factor is…

View Cache

Thirty former Ohio State football players, including some former NFL players, have agreed to join a federal lawsuit against the university over the sexual abuse of student athletes decades ago by a team doctor, a lawyer in the case said Thursday.

The lawyer, Rocky Ratliff, said in an interview that the men came forward some eight years after the first lawsuit was filed because they needed to overcome the shame of revealing that they’d been sexually abused by another man and the fear of taking on the university publicly.

They are “tearful and living with it,” Ratliff said. “But as this case progresses on, they see how Ohio State’s treating athletes from the university and I think they want people to know it’s OK, even if it is male to male (sexual abuse), to come forward.”

Ohio State has fought lawsuits in federal court since 2018 brought by former student athletes against…

View Cache

Thirty former Ohio State football players have joined legal action in the Richard Strauss abuse case, each alleging the late team doctor sexually abused them during their time at the university.

The 30 Buckeyes are the first football players to come forward publicly. The group includes three prominent members of Ohio State’s 1980 Rose Bowl team — Al Washington Sr., Ray Ellis and Keith Ferguson — who are seeking accountability from the university.

Washington ranks eighth all-time at Ohio State with 345 tackles and went on to play eight professional seasons in the NFL and CFL. Ellis played seven NFL seasons as a defensive back with the Philadelphia Eagles and Cleveland Browns, while Ferguson spent 10 years as a defensive end for the San Diego Chargers and Detroit Lions.

In a press release distributed Thursday, Washington Sr. said he did not initially come forward because of the shame associated with male-on-male…

View Cache

Key Points

• Former Ohio State University football players have joined lawsuits against the university over alleged sexual abuse by former team doctor Richard Strauss.
• The new plaintiffs include several former team captains and NFL veterans, including Al Washington, Ray Ellis, and Keith Ferguson.
• An independent investigation found Strauss abused at least hundreds of male students between 1978 and 1998, with university officials aware of misconduct as early as 1979.

This story has been updated to correct information about one of the plaintiffs.

Thirty former Ohio State University football players, including ex-team captains and NFL veterans, have come forward to join legal efforts against the university over sexual abuse by former OSU doctor Richard Strauss.

The former players, who each said they were a survivor of abuse by Strauss, have committed to joining the class action lawsuit, according to attorney Rocky Ratliff.

The new group of plaintiffs includes…

View Cache

Daniel Savala, who preached for decades in an Assemblies of God-run college ministry, was sentenced to 30 years in prison without the possibility of parole.

This article is part of “Pastors and Prey,” a series investigating sex abuse allegations in the Assemblies of God.

Daniel Savala, a former missionary whose influence inside an Assemblies of God-run college ministry persisted for years despite repeated warnings about his predatory behavior, pleaded guilty Thursday to charges that he sexually abused two boys.

Appearing by video from jail, Savala, 70, entered the plea before Judge Susan Kelly, admitting to one count of continuous trafficking of persons, a felony charge for offenders who engage in a pattern of sexual exploitation involving multiple victims over time. Under a negotiated plea agreement, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison without the possibility of parole.

Savala, dressed in gray jail scrubs, showed no emotion as…

View Cache

Watertown State Rep. John Lawn revealed that he was sexually abused by adults when he was a child in an Op-Ed he wrote for the Boston Globe, in which he also called for the end of statute of limitations in Massachusetts for child sexual abuse cases.

Lawn wrote that he was abused by a “trusted leader” at a local pool and skating rink and a Catholic priest, both of whom are now dead. He went on to say that he remained silent even when revelations of abuse in the Catholic church arose, and even when asked by his mother after one of his abusers was arrested for abusing others.

Massachusetts’ current child sexual abuse gives abuse victims can file suits up to age 53, and in cases of repressed memory, adults have seven years after realizing they were abused as children to file claims against abusers.

“Trauma does not operate on…

View Cache

The current system of dealing with child sexual abuse cases breaches fundamental principles of coherent legal systems

The Second Vatican Council said that bishops should deal with their priests as “beloved sons.” In his 1992 Apostolic Exhortation, Pastores Dabo Vobis, Pope John Paul II said that priests owe their bishop “filial respect and obedience.”

The Catholic Catechism says that there is “an intimate sacramental brotherhood” between priests and their bishop. Cardinal Castrillón, former Prefect of the Congregation for Clergy, said in 2010 that the bishop should not be expected to report a pedophile priest to the police because of their father/son relationship.

In a 2010 interview with The Tablet, the Vatican Prosecutor, Monsignor, now Archbishop Scicluna, said that the duty of a bishop to report one of his priests to the civil authorities for child sexual abuse was onerous because…

View Cache

Ursuline Academy’s now-former varsity lacrosse coach possessed more than 5,000 images and videos of children being sexually abused while he was coaching at the school, prosecutors said.

Dominic Bellissemo was indicted May 6 by a Hamilton County grand jury on 27 counts involving child sexual abuse material.

Investigators said Bellissemo, 31, admitted paying for the images and videos, which were stored on his cellphone and laptop. At least some of the videos involved girls between the ages of 2 and 8, according to court documents.

Start the day smarter. Get all the news you need in your inbox each morning.

One of the videos, which was saved to his cellphone photo app, showed a 2-year-old girl being sexually assaulted by an adult male, according to the documents. The video was labeled Jan. 2, 2020. Other videos were labeled as 2015 and 2017.

Bellissemo…

View Cache

With the dismissal of an Ursuline High School student/football player and his mother April 28, all of the students and most of the parents in a hazing lawsuit reached a settlement in the case.

An April 28 entry states that “pending probate court proceedings,” the lawyers for the victim of the hazing reached a settlement with the Ursuline student defendants and their families.

Not yet dismissed from the suit are Ursuline High School; its former head football coach, Dan Reardon; its principal, Matthew Sammartino; its assistant principal, Margaret Damore; assistant football coaches Timothy McGlynn and Christian Syrianoudis; Athletic Director and Assistant Football Coach John DeSantis; and the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown.

The 10 other students resolved their part of the lawsuit March 18 in a similar way as the dismissal of the student and parent April 28. Those defendants’ part in the lawsuit is also dismissed pending probate court proceedings,…

View Cache

Lamb and her first husband, Marcus, founded Daystar in the 1990s and grew it into one of the largest Christian networks in the country. The ministry experienced a series of controversies after Marcus Lamb’s death from COVID-19.

Joni Lamb, the co-founder of Daystar Television Network, a prominent Christian television ministry, died Thursday (May 7). She was 65.

“Joni’s love for the Lord and for the people we serve shaped this ministry from the beginning,” the Daystar board of directors said in a statement. “We grieve her loss. We are grateful for the legacy of faith she leaves behind.”

Last month, Doug Weiss, Lamb’s husband, announced that Lamb had suffered a back injury and would be off the air for a while.

“Prior to her recent back injury, Lamb had been dealing with serious health matters that she chose to face head-on and in private,” said the statement from Daystar about Lamb’s…

View Cache

Michael J. Bransfield, the former bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, died Thursday. He was 82.

Diocesan officials in Wheeling announced Bransfield’s death via email, with the following statement attached: “As it is the tradition in our Church to pray for the dead as well as for the living, we pray for the repose of his soul, asking God’s mercy upon him. His funeral and burial will not take place in West Virginia, but we invite all the faithful to pray at this time for his family, friends, and caregivers.”

Bransfield, a Philadelphia native who moved back to his family property after resigning from the church in West Virginia, served as bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston from 2005-18. Among the projects completed during his watch was the addition of Tower 5 at Wheeling Hospital, which at that time was Diocesan property.

The former bishop had a sordid…

View Cache

‘He used his position of authority to gain her trust, then he exploited that trust,’ said Justice in ruling

Editor’s Note: This article contains graphic descriptions of sexual abuse. Reader discretion is advised.

The Ontario Court of Justice has sentenced a former York Region teacher to three years of imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual exploitation.

Tony Paniccia, 49, who formerly worked at the York Catholic District School Board as the head of a special education department, faced the sentence April 30 after pleading guilty in January. Justice Joseph F. Kenkel passed down the sentence in the Newmarket courthouse.

The charges stem from inappropriate contact and sexual acts committed against a student, which saw the teacher of 22 years charged in 2024.

According to an agreed statement of facts, Paniccia began meeting with a troubled teen in a professional capacity, trying to address her skipping class. At Paniccia’s behest, they began to contact…

View Cache

More serious charge dismissed

Sentencing for a sex crime was handed down Thursday morning to a long-time pastor of a Pontiac church.

At the hearing in Oakland County Circuit Court, Judge Mary Ellen Brennan sentenced Reverend Douglas Jones, 83, to one day in jail with credit for one day served and two years probation for attempted fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct. Jones, of West Bloomfield,  pleaded no contest to the charge in March. The crime he was initially charged with, fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct, was dismissed.

As previously reported, Jones’ attorney, Cyril Hall, told The Oakland Press that the plea was  “the easiest way to resolve the controversy” and not cause more “injury to all people involved.”

Hall said the charge stemmed from the alleged victim reporting that Jones “had touched her back and that his hand may have accidentally touched her buttocks.”

Jones, senior pastor of Welcome Missionary Baptist Church…

View Cache

A group of abuse survivors is boycotting an apology by the Marist Brothers in Auckland, while another is set to protest outside.

They say survivors have been blocked from speaking at the event and that the “so-called apology” is immoral and fraudulent.

But there are others who want to hear the “long overdue” apology and hope the organisation will finally properly acknowledge what happened – and the cover up that followed.

Marist Star, the brothers’ organisation, was set to make a formal apology in Auckland on Saturday to survivors of abuse at the hands of brothers in New Zealand.

The group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests is holding an counterevent in Hawke’s Bay – tying ribbons to remember and honour survivors.

A spokesperson and survivor Christopher Longhurst said he was denied the chance to speak for two minutes at the apology.

That was despite Marist saying survivors could…

View Cache

Survivors and campaigners say a Marist Brothers event planned for Saturday is a “PR exercise” that fails to provide fair compensation for those harmed. Steve Kilgallon reports

A public apology on Saturday by the Marist Brothers will be boycotted by some survivors of abuse by members of the religious order, who are calling it a “hollow” and “insulting” ceremony.

A survivors body, the Network of Survivors of Religious Abuse and their Supporters, is encouraging its members to protest outside the venue over what it believes is the failure of the order to provide substantial settlements with Fijian survivors of abuse by New Zealand Marist Brothers who were sent there as primary school teachers.

The Network also argues the Marists have failed to properly compensate domestic survivors, with some receiving $10,000 for their abuse. The Marists’ have vast wealth and property holdings in New Zealand.

Another group, SNAP (Survivors Network of…

View Cache

After reports of a delayed response, the Vatican has ordered a ‘Vos estis’ probe

The Vatican has ordered an investigation in the Diocese of Baton Rouge, over allegations that the Bishop Michael Duca discouraged a whistleblower from calling the police, after a local priest allegedly admitted to sexual contact with minors.

The priest denies the allegation against him, while the Baton Rouge diocese has not responded to questions about the case.

News of the Vos estis investigation comes after The Pillar reported last week that the Vatican had not yet responded to a whistleblower report filed more than two months ago, despite canonical norms requiring Vatican action within 30 days of receiving a complaint.

—

Baton Rogue Catholic Luke Zumo told The Pillar that he was informed this week that the Vatican’s Dicastery for Bishops has authorized New Orleans’ Archbishop James Checchio to conduct an investigation into a report Zumo filed in mid-February with the Catholic Bishop…

View Cache

The man who reshaped white evangelical politics also helped create a culture where victims of abuse never stood a chance

In 2015, when Sen. Ted Cruz was running for president (and before Donald Trump was seen as a viable candidate), he ran an ad featuring an endorsement from Paul Pressler.

Pressler said he had known Cruz since he was a teenager and “observed personally” Cruz’s integrity and principle. He went on to say, “I’ve dedicated my life to the conservative principles on which our country was founded, and I know Ted Cruz has done the same thing and that he will stand firm.”

That’s downright wild to watch in hindsight because, in the decade since, Cruz has proven to be nothing but a MAGA cultist who doesn’t give a damn about the Constitution. He’s a right-wing zealot who’s never seriously been considered a model for integrity. You knew that back in 2015. I knew that…

View Cache

“Compared to most other bishops in communist Poland and likely much of the world at the time, Wojtyła’s response to sexual abuse was exemplary,” says journalist and canon lawyer Tomasz Krzyżak.

Over the years, recurring accusations have been made in the media in Poland and elsewhere that Cardinal Karol Wojtyła, the future Pope John Paul II, had covered up cases of clerical sexual abuse and had even transferred accused priests from parish to parish.

But Tomasz Krzyżak, an expert in canon law and journalist who has conducted research in Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance and the newly opened archives of the Archdiocese of Kraków, disagrees with those claims. He says that the future Pope St. John Paul II, “dealt with sexual abuse seriously, applied the provisions of canon law, and never covered anything up.”

Krzyżak is pursuing a PhD in canon law at the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw….

View Cache

The new general director of the Legionaries of Christ said in an interview that he wishes “to help the Church with my priesthood to move this congregation forward, because the congregation can also contribute and give much to the Church in evangelization.”

Father Carlos Gutiérrez López, L.C., also discussed the scandal involving the institute’s founder.

Founded in 1941, the institute has 113 religious houses and 1,309 members, 1,036 of whom are priests, according to the Annuario Pontificio. In 2006, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith consigned its founder, Father Marcial Maciel, L.C. (1920-2008), to a life of prayer and penance following numerous allegations of sexual abuse.

“Since we began facing this reality, although it was very painful, it also opened our eyes: there was a lot of work to do,” said Father Gutiérrez López. “In recent years we have been working hard to meet standards, following the documents issued by the Church,…

View Cache

During the Conservative Resurgence, I thought we were fighting for the Bible. Instead, we were also political pawns for an abuser.

There’s a brilliant scene in the film “The Devil Wears Prada” in which a villainous high fashion editor berates her new, plainly dressed assistant for thinking she is above the dictates of the fashion world when the fact is that even the discount items she buys have trickled down from the upper echelons of a ruthless and rabid fashion industry.

In the movies, the devil may wear Prada, but in the Southern Baptist Convention, the devil came cloaked in its so-called Conservative Resurgence.

The Conservative Resurgence within America’s largest Protestant denomination was co-engineered by the late Paul Pressler — a Texas judge and a mover and shaker in the Republican Party and the SBC — along with former SBC seminary and convention president Paige Patterson.

Armed with evidence that liberals…

View Cache

An Amish man in Missouri is facing a slew of charges after being accused in a baby’s death, as well as other of allegations, including sexual abuse, kidnapping and even pulling out a young boy’s teeth.

Sam Shetler, 42, was arrested in March after a multi-year investigation into his Mercy and Truth-Amish and Mennonite Retreat in Cooper County, Missouri, the sheriff’s office said.

“The retreat was under the control of one individual who took advantage of his position in the Amish Community to control, manipulate, coerce, and force vulnerable people for his own profit in different forms,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.

Shetler was initially charged with two counts of trafficking and one count of sodomy, with his bond set at $100,000. But on April 21, his bond was revoked and more charges were filed against him, including four counts of kidnapping, one count of…

View Cache

Editor’s Note: This story contains discussions of rape or sexual assault that may be disturbing. Reader discretion is advised. If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, you can find help and discreet resources on the National Sexual Assault Hotline website or by calling 1-800-656-4673.

A Missouri Amish retreat leader is facing multiple charges including sexual abuse, forced labor, kidnapping and giving unauthorized medical advice that allegedly led to a baby’s death.

Officials say Sam Shetler, 42, led the Mercy and Truth-Amish and Mennonite Retreat in Cooper County, Missouri, and allegedly carried out several crimes against residents. 

Authorities initially charged Shetler in March with two counts of trafficking and one count of sodomy, with bond set at $100,000. Weeks later, his bond was revoked, and additional charges were filed, including four counts of kidnapping, one count of sexual abuse, one count of involuntary manslaughter…

View Cache

To mark the first year of Pope Leo XIV’s pontificate, Theologians’ Corner convenes four sister theologians from around the world to reflect on his efforts to address abuse, strengthen accountability, and advance reform in the church.

Julia D.E. Prinz is a German Verbum Dei sister, working in theSan Francisco Bay Area and the San Joaquin Valley with migrant populations. She teaches as an adjunct professor at the Jesuit School of Theology at Santa Clara University and the Graduate Theological Union. She is in leadership for the Institute of Catholic Spirituality and Spiritual Direction program educating spiritual directors in English and Spanish for the Central Valley. Under an Interfaith America grant, she teaches spirituality in healthcare and healing to healthcare professionals and students. She formerly directed the Women of Wisdom and Action Initiative across Asia from 2002 to 2019, empowering women religious to study theology, and she worked with…

View Cache

Rapid Relief Team (RRT), the charitable arm of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church (PBCC), has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit in the Northern District of California against Cheryl Bawtinheimer, a former church member turned vocal critic. The alleged offense: her YouTube channels “Get a Life Podcast – Ex-Cult Conversations” and “Rapid Relief Team – Exposed” showed footage of RRT’s own website and marketing materials, which happened to include the charity’s “Cookie Kookaburra Bird” logo.

Bawtinheimer wasn’t selling the logo on t-shirts or reproducing it for sale. She was using it as a backdrop while she and other ex-PBCC members talked about their experiences with the church. The logo was simply… there, as she and her guests criticized the text around it. Here’s one example of how Bawtinheimer’s videos “reproduced” RRT’s logo: see logo in original article

Bawtinheimer is a former member and prominent critic of PBCC (f/k/a Exclusive Brethren)….

View Cache

A woman at the centre of explosive child sexual abuse allegations against the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church claims their copyright case is an attempt to silence her, but now she says more survivors are coming forward.

View Cache

The case highlights lack of child protection in religious education institutes and deeper systematic flaws, activists say

Indonesian authorities have shut down an Islamic boarding school in Central Java province after its head was named a suspect in an alleged sexual abuse case involving dozens of female students.

“We have temporarily halted new admissions, removed the suspect from his role as caretaker, and recommended revoking the school’s operating license,” said Basnang Said, director of Islamic boarding schools at the Ministry of Religious Affairs, on May 5.

Police in Pati district said Ashari, head of the Ndholo Kusumo Islamic boarding school, has been named a suspect in a mass sex abuse case.

“The number of victims is estimated at 30 to 50, based on testimonies. One case opened up many others,” said Ali Yusron, a lawyer representing the victims.

Most of the victims are teenage girls from low-income families who were…

View Cache

Can a religious congregation survive after its founder turns out to have been a sexual abuser and a liar who lived a double life for years? The Legionaries of Christ have spent 20 years answering that question with actions.

They were pioneers in publishing the cases of their abusive priests — an unprecedented step in consecrated life — and in submitting 80 years of a dark history to public scrutiny. Today, they are an ecclesial reference point for transparency. Now, Father Carlos Gutiérrez López, 51, the new general director elected in February, speaks with ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, about the road that still lies ahead.

It is a path of expiation that began in 2006 but reached a turning point in 2019 with the publication of the “1941–2019 Report,” the first of its kind to include all cases from the congregation’s founding to the present…

View Cache