ABUSE TRACKER

Father Michael Pfleger has been reinstated to ministry at St. Sabina Church following an investigation into alleged sex abuse, according to a letter from Cardinal Blase J. Cupich.

A woman claims Pfleger abused her when she was a child more than 30 years ago.

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The Archdiocese of Chicago’s Independent Review Board investigated the allegation alongside the Office of Child Protection and outside investigators, Cupich said.

Cupich’s letter to parishioners on Monday said the Review Board — established in the 1990s to advise on sexual abuse allegations against priests and other church officials — concluded that there is no reason to believe Pfleger is guilty.

SEE ALSO | Father Michael Pfleger reveals cancer diagnosis, says he is now cancer free

Pfleger has long been a high profile priest in the Catholic Church and a national figure in the fight against gun…

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After an investigation, the Archdiocese of Chicago concluded “there is no reason to believe Father Pfleger is guilty of this allegation.”

The Rev. Michael Pfleger was reinstated in his position as priest at St. Sabina Catholic Church in Auburn Gresham following an investigation into child sex abuse claims against him from decades ago, the Archdiocese of Chicago announced Monday.

In July, Pfleger was accused of sexually abusing a girl who was a student at St. Sabina between 1993 and 1995. It was the fifth similar accusation against Pfleger within five years. He staunchly denied the most recent accusation as the archdiocese’s Independent Review Board investigated.

The archdiocese said the investigation concluded, “There is no reason to believe Father Pfleger is guilty of this allegation.”

“I want to recognize the suffering you and Father Mike have endured, for I know his absence has been real and painful. But I ask you…

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A Marathon County judge set at $15,000 cash bail Aug. 24 for a former priest charged with trying to groom a child for sexual activity.

Andrew J. Showers, 38, of Madison, also faces two counts of felony bail jumping for two Waupaca County cases. The open Waupaca County cases are for two counts of child pornography possession in one and attempting to use a computer to facilitate a child sex crime, attempting to expose genitals to a child and attempted second-degree sexual assault in the other.

Showers has a Sept. 16 court appearance in the Waupaca County cases. Marathon County Circuit Judge Suzanne O’Neill set his next appearance on the Marathon County cases for Oct. 8.

Showers was a Catholic priest in Madison when he was arrested for the Waupaca County charges of attempting to use a computer to facilitate a child sex crime, attempting to expose genitals to a…

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A former Madison priest out on bond for child sex crime charges in Waupaca County was back in court Monday on new charges in Marathon County.

Andrew Showers is accused of attempted grooming of a child for sexual activity and two counts of bail jumping.

According to a Wausau Police Department report, an officer conducted an undercover investigation from late 2025 through July 2026. The officer posed as a 15-year-old girl and was communicating online with Showers, who is 38 years old.

The police officer reported Showers repeatedly acknowledged that the alleged victim was underage, that he had a legal risk when talking to a minor and he knew the consequences of what could happen if he was caught.

The officer started screenshotting and recording the conversations in March 2026, which was seven months after Showers was first arrested on charges related to child sex crimes in Waupaca County.

Based…

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New developments come about 18 months after POLITICO first reported university president Joseph Reilly mishandled allegations.

Seton Hall University’s leadership tried to move on from the negative attention on its new president after an independent investigation released in July concluded he did nothing wrong in responding to a sexual abuse allegation when he held a prior position.

But in a matter of days last week, things got worse for the esteemed Catholic school.

A new lawsuit adds fresh details and allegations against the new president, Monsignor Joseph Reilly, claiming he had a former seminarian tracked by a private investigator and tried to delay his advancement in the church. That came shortly after a high-ranking state senator asked New Jersey’s attorney general to investigate how Reilly and the university handled a sexual abuse allegation by that very seminarian more than a decade ago.

And between those two actions, Reilly’s predecessor refiled a whistleblower lawsuit against the school claiming…

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An Argentinian court has overturned the acquittal of a former nun in a notorious sex abuse case involving deaf children, authorizing a lower court to determine her punishment, according to a ruling obtained by Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Kumiko Kosaka, a Japanese national, had been acquitted in 2023 of abusing students at the Provolo Institute of Mendoza, a free boarding school for underprivileged children with hearing and speech difficulties.

The 51-year-old former nun could now face up to 50 years in prison following the reversal by the Supreme Court of Justice of Mendoza province, plaintiff’s attorney Sergio Salinas told AFP of the ruling issued on Friday.

The court decision was “historic,” he said.

“It means the children told the truth and the court acted very arbitrarily when it acquitted her.”

A sentencing date has not yet been set.

The case, with allegations first surfacing in 2016, had sent shockwaves through the…

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“All of this was preventable with a little effort.”

An expert in parish financial misconduct told The Pillar that the recent arrest of a Ukrainian Greek Catholic priest represents possibly the worst case he has encountered, and that numerous red flags were missed, which might have curtailed the priest’s alleged criminal activity well before he was caught.

The case involves a 69-year-old priest accused of stealing nearly $750,000 over five years, from various Church entities and his own elderly mother. The alleged crime was discovered during a narcotics investigation which uncovered drug-related messages and photos on the priest’s phone, the Pennsylvania attorney general said.

“This case is a cross between ‘Breaking Bad’ and the ‘Bells of St. Mary,’” said retired IRS criminal investigator Robert Warren, an associate professor of accounting at Radford University.

Warren stressed that there were years of warnings were missed in the case – and said that if they…

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Adams County jury convicted Joshua Lucero of sexual assault on a child in May

A Thornton youth pastor convicted of child sex assault may spend the rest of his life in prison, according to Adams County officials.

Joshua Lucero, 29, was sentenced Friday to 13 years to life in the Colorado Department of Corrections, according to a news release from the 17th Judicial District Attorney’s Office. An Adams County jury convicted him in May of sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust — pattern of abuse.

Lucero worked as a youth pastor at Word Alive Church in Thornton, where his father was the lead pastor, the news release stated. He mentored teens, led church events and supervised overnight youth retreats, officials with the district attorney’s office said.

Prosecutors said Lucero secretly developed a relationship with a teenage girl in the church’s youth…

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Lawsuit says pastor did nothing after woman tried to report incident

A former priest at St. John Paul II Catholic Church in Sellersburg is accused of sexually assaulting one of his adult parishioners, according to a lawsuit. The woman said she went to the church for help, and her complaint went nowhere.

The lawsuit accuses the former priest, identified as Rev. Ronald Mervil, of sexual assault. It also accuses the current head pastor of doing nothing after the woman tried to report what happened.

Before mass Sunday, a deacon read a statement to the congregation.

“The Archdiocese of Indianapolis is aware of a complaint filed on June 10, 2026, in Marion County Superior Court involving Father Ronald Mervil,” part of the statement said.

A parishioner identified as “Jane Doe” said she met Mervil after joining the church following her move to the area seeking asylum. She was looking for work,…

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Madison diocese: “The new criminal complaint is connected to an online undercover investigation.”

A former Wisconsin priest has been charged with bail jumping and new sexual offenses against minors, the Diocese of Madison has confirmed. Andrew Showers was arrested Aug. 20 for attempted grooming of a child and violation of the conditions of his bail almost exactly one year after his initial arrest.

Andrew Showers at the time of his initial arrest in 2025.

A statement from the Madison diocese, released Friday, called “the allegations of attempted grooming of a child for sexual activity and bail jumping[…] incredibly disturbing.”

“Similar to the charges filed in Waupaca County in August of 2025, the new criminal complaint is connected to an online undercover investigation conducted by a police officer posing as a 15-year-old girl,” said the statement. “A warrant was issued for Showers’ arrest, and, after turning himself in, he was taken…

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Sally-Anne Bowen, 65, faces eight charges relating to alleged abuse of boys aged 14 in 1987-88

What matters

• Sally-Anne Bowen, 65, denies eight counts of indecent assault against two former pupils, both boys aged 14 at the time of the alleged offences in 1987-88.
• One accuser told police he had sex with Bowen “20 or 30 times” during the 1988 school year, describing encounters at her flat and a local café.
• Bowen reported one of her accusers to police in 2025 after he made comments about her in a podcast interview, which she claimed threatened to rape her.
• The trial continues at Barnet Crown Court, with a second complainant’s testimony expected this week.

A former teacher at Christ’s College Finchley is standing trial at Barnet Crown Court, accused of indecently assaulting two of her pupils when they were 14 years old. Sally-Anne Bowen, now 65, taught at…

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Christopher R. Clay was credibly accused of sexual contact with a minor, prohibited from acting as a priest in 2004 and moved to Texas to continue preaching

The Vatican defrocked a former priest from the Diocese of Scranton who the church said was credibly accused of sexually abusing a minor, the diocese said this month.

Christopher R. Clay, 62, petitioned Pope Leo XIV for dispensation from the clerical state in March, which the pope granted July 24.

That means that Clay, now of Dallas, Texas, cannot celebrate Mass, confer the sacraments, wear priestly garb or assume the title of Father. 

The diocese first prohibited him from acting as a priest in 2004, a few years after he was first accused of sexual misconduct, but the church had not taken the step to formally defrock him until this summer.

Clay was ordained in 1998 and, among his assignments, served…

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Vicars won’t have to tell police about child abuse confessions under new law

Penance exempt from Labour’s ‘mandatory reporting’ legislation coming into effect next year

Vicars and priests who are told about child sex abuse during confession will be exempt from new “mandatory reporting” laws.

Labour has been accused of creating an “indefensible loophole” by failing to include confession in the Crime and Policing Act, which is coming into force next year.

The new law introduces a legal obligation on those working or volunteering with children to report any disclosures of sex abuse to the authorities, or face sanctions.

Last year, the Home Office wrote to Stephen Evans, the chief executive of the National Secular Society (NSS), to reassure him that the new duty would apply to “all individuals undertaking relevant activity with children, including within religious and faith-based settings”.

In a letter to Mr Evans last May, the Home…

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Japanese national Kumiko Kosaka was previously acquitted in 2023 of abusing deaf children at the Instituto Próvolo in Mendoza between 2005 and 2016.

he Supreme Court of Mendoza Province has overturned the acquittal of a former nun in a case involving the abuse of deaf children, paving the way for a court to determine her sentence, according to a ruling released on Friday night and seen by AFP.

The woman, Japanese national Kumiko Kosaka, was acquitted in 2023 of abusing deaf children at the Instituto Próvolo in Mendoza between 2005 and 2016.

The 51-year-old former nun could now face a prison sentence of up to 50 years, plaintiffs’ lawyer Sergio Salinas told the AFP news agency on Saturday.

A date has yet to be set for the court to meet and determine her sentence.

In a 2019 trial, priests Horacio Corbacho and Italian national Nicola Corradi were sentenced to 45…

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An Argentinian court has overturned the acquittal of a former nun in a notorious sex abuse case involving deaf children, authorizing a lower court to determine her punishment, a ruling showed.

Kumiko Kosaka, a Japanese national, had been acquitted in 2023 of abusing students at the Provolo Institute of Mendoza, a free boarding school for underprivileged children with hearing and speech difficulties.

The 51-year-old former nun could face up to 50 years in prison following the reversal by the Mendoza Province Supreme Court of Justice, the plaintiff’s attorney, Sergio Salinas, said of the ruling issued on Friday.

The court decision was “historic,” he said. “It means the children told the truth and the court acted very arbitrarily when it acquitted her.”

A sentencing date has not yet been set.

The case, with allegations first surfacing in 2016, had sent shock waves through the Catholic Church in the homeland of former…

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New research has found that annual baptisms have fallen by 30 percent over the last ten years in Ireland.

A briefing note from the Iona Institute, a Christian advocacy and research body, says falling births and the rise of secularism are the two driving causes of the decline, with the drop in birth rates accounting for approximately 60 percent of the decrease.

In the ten year period which the research looks at, it was also shown that births in the Republic of Ireland have fallen by 19.9 percent, and 21.3 percent in Northern Ireland. Overall, this is a decline of 18.8 percent.

The report said the “biggest part of the decline [in baptisms] is accounted for by a fall in the number of births overall.”

“However, the effect of secularisation has been very significant, as we will see. The number of people who says they belong to no religion (the…

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After a series of high-profile child sex abuse allegations involving North Texas educators, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas announced Project Safe Schools, a new initiative for fighting abuse in public schools, while announcing two North Texas educators now face federal charges.

U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould spoke at a news conference on Tuesday afternoon, along with FBI Dallas Special Agent In Charge Joseph Rothrock and other federal, state and local law enforcement officials. An official with the Texas Education Agency was also present.

Raybould said “the problem is clear and urgent”, saying educator misconduct was happening too often.

“Some districts have even engaged in what is referred to as ‘passing the trash’, quietly moving educators with known misconduct issues to new campuses or new districts, where they hurt other children,” he said. “That practice puts children at risk, it violates federal grant conditions, and it…

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Marko Rupnik’s mosaics were added to the neo-Gothic façade of the lower basilica at the Shrine of Lourdes at the end of 2007, when the priest-artist enjoyed a high profile with commissions at major sites across the world.

The bishop who oversees the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes said it will cover all its mosaics by Fr Marko Rupnik, the former Jesuits accused of abuse, ahead of the Pope’s visit next month.

Bishop Jean-Marc Micas of Tarbes and Lourdes told the French daily La Dépêche du Midi on 20 August that “all of the works on the façade” of the Basilica of the Rosary will be covered and redecorated out of respect for abuse victims, and that they will remain covered afterwards.

EWTN News confirmed the report with the press office of the shrine. Details about how the mosaics are to be covered and when were not yet available.

Bishop Micas’ decision…

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Lourdes to Cover All of Rupnik’s Mosaics, Turning a Controversial Artwork into a Test of Healing

The façade of the Basilica of the Rosary at Lourdes will soon lose one of its most recognizable artistic features. All of the mosaics created by the former Jesuit Marko Rupnik will be covered, and unlike earlier measures, this time the change is intended to be permanent.

Bishop Jean-Marc Micas of Tarbes and Lourdes has made clear that the decision is not simply a temporary adjustment for Pope Leo XIV’s visit to the French shrine on September 26 and 27. The mosaics will remain concealed after the Pope leaves, while the diocese begins a new process to determine how the façade should ultimately be redecorated. Artists and theologians are expected to join the commission already examining the future of the site.

The timing is nevertheless significant. Leo XIV will spend just over a day…

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In the past year, Holy Apostles Parish has seen its closure and, more recently, its assessment to help pay for the Diocese of Buffalo’s $150 million settlement with child sex abuse survivors overturned by the Dicastery for Clergy.

The Save Holy Apostles Parish group announced via Facebook on Wednesday that the parish had received a letter from the Vatican ruling in favor of its assessment appeal, revoking Bishop Michael Fisher’s decree and ordering the return of any money already transferred to the diocese to be returned to Holy Apostles. The Dicastery for Clergy said in its decision that the diocese didn’t follow proper processes outlined in Canon Law.

Holy Apostles was being assessed $1.3 million, or 80% of the parish’s unrestricted cash and assets, when the assessment was first announced in the summer of 2025. That rate was being used for any church scheduled for closure or merger, which was…

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Survivors of alleged child abuse by Catholic priests in Maine settle with the Roman Catholic Bishop of Portland, but want more accountability.

Survivors who say they were abused by different Catholic priests in Maine as children are speaking out following a settlement with the Roman Catholic Bishop of Portland. 

A childhood sexual abuse survivor and the wife of another survivor gathered in Portland Thursday to share several stories of sexual assault at the hands of Catholic priests across Maine.

It’s a major milestone for survivors, who could have gone to court but wanted closure and healing. Survivor Keith Amato struggled to hold back tears as he talked about painful memories he had buried until his 30s.

“It hits you when you remember, and that’s really overwhelming,” Amato said as he wiped away tears.

Amato said he was 6 years old when a priest at St. Bruno Parish in…

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Several who settled said they are still seeking an apology from the diocese.

Maine’s Catholic diocese has settled more than 100 claims brought by people who said they were sexually abused as children by clergy.

Roughly half of the claims were covered by a seven-figure payout, according to one lawyer for the plaintiffs, who were represented by four firms. They declined to share a specific amount.

“This process has brought life-changing validations after decades of institutional silence and concealment,” attorney Michael Bigos said.

Lawyers said on Thursday that, despite repeated requests, the diocese has not apologized to dozens of people who have reported past abuse by clergy.

In a statement published online last month, announcing that some settlements had been reached, Bishop James Ruggieri said they were “intended to acknowledge, in a tangible way, consistent with our resources and obligations, the seriousness of what has been reported and…

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Protestant Accountability, a survivor-led nonprofit, announced the launch and expansion of ProtestantAccountability.org, a searchable database that collects publicly available information about Protestant clergy and other spiritual leaders who have been accused of committing, enabling, or mishandling sexual abuse.

During a video press release on Wednesday (Aug. 19), Chellee Taylor, president of Protestant Accountability and a survivor of clergy sexual abuse, said the organization was created by roughly a dozen survivors to “spread awareness, inform the public, protect potential victims, and help heal those who’ve already been wounded.”

Taylor emphasized that the organization does not conduct its own investigations or determine guilt. Instead, it gathers existing public information, including news reports, police reports and court records, and places that information in one searchable location so users can review the material themselves. For example, many citations come from The Roys Report, Baptist News Global, and local news sites.

RELATED: Johnny…

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The Baeza Law Firm and a client identified as a sexual abuse survivor are calling on anyone abused by clergy within the Catholic Diocese of El Paso to come forward before a looming headline.

In March, the Diocese filed for bankruptcy due to a wave of lawsuits claiming sexual abuse when they were minors by clergy members from 1956 to 1982.

In an interview with KTSM 9 News, Attorney Jonathan Baeza from Baeza Law Firm said the federal bankruptcy court in West Texas has set a final deadline of Sept. 11 for survivors of sexual abuse to file their claims.

Ticking clock for abuse claims in El Paso Diocese bankruptcy; what’s next for both sides

“There’s a misconception out there that the bankruptcy closed the door,” Baeza said.

Baeza accompanied one of his clients, remaining anonymous, who said they carried the weight of the sexual abuse for 50 years…

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All mosaics by disgraced priest Father Marko Rupnik adorning the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary in Lourdes will be covered ahead of Pope Leo XIV’s September visit and will remain covered indefinitely, said Bishop Jean-Marc Micas of Tarbes and Lourdes.

Although mosaics covering the basilica’s entrance were covered in March 2025, Bishop Micas told the French daily La Dépêche that the mosaics on the basilica’s facade will be covered before the pope’s Sept. 25-28 visit to France.

“The Holy Father’s visit to Lourdes is an opportunity to take another step on this matter,” the bishop said. “All the works on the facade will be covered and then decorated in connection with Leo XIV’s apostolic journey.”

A former Jesuit, Father Rupnik, 71, was briefly excommunicated by the church in 2020 for absolving an Italian novice with whom he had a sexual encounter. The excommunication was lifted after he repented. 

…

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Mosaic artwork decorating one of the world’s most famous healing shrines will be covered ahead of a papal visit later this month, a move long sought by abuse survivors and victim-advocates after the artist who designed the mosaics was exposed as a serial abuser. 

Disgraced former Jesuit Marko Rupnik was expelled from his former religious order for disobedience in 2023 and later incardinated in the diocese of Koper in his native Slovenia, despite numerous “highly credible” allegations of serial psychological, spiritual, and sexual abuse against numerous victims, most of them women religious.

Rupnik was a celebrity figure for decades, during which he used his status and “creative process” to abuse dozens of women. Artwork by Rupnik and his students adorns shrines and chapels around the world, including in the Vatican.

The Bishop of Tarbes and Lourdes, Jean-Marc Micas, made the announcement in an interview published Thursday with French newspaper La…

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Nathan Brooks, a former Roman Catholic priest accused of sexual misconduct in Cortland, has been officially dispensed from clerical duties.

Following the accusations and civil proceedings regarding Brooks’ involvement with a minor, Most Reverend Douglas J. Lucia, Bishop of the Diocese of Syracuse, was advised by the Diocesan Review Board that the allegations were credible. Brooks, upon canonical consultation with Bishop Lucia and the Diocese, petitioned the Vatican to be “dispensed from all obligations of the clerical state.”

Brooks was first accused and charged with four misdemeanors relating to contact with a minor in September 2023. Charges in Homer Town Court included endangering the welfare of a child, forcible touching and sexual abuse in the third degree. Brooks was also charged with forcible touching in Cortland City Court. According to original reports, the allegations stem from incidents occurring while Brooks was assigned to St. Mary’s Church and St. Anthony of…

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Geoff Drew served 7 years for the repeated rape of an altar boy, as set by his plea deal

A former priest and confessed rapist was released from prison on Monday morning after completing his 7-year sentence, and authorities are warning the public that he is still very dangerous.

Geoff Drew was released from the Noble Correctional Institution, a medium-security prison for men in rural Noble County between 8:30 and 8:45 a.m., according to an Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction spokesperson.

Now Drew is set to live in a two-story halfway house in Over-the-Rhine, Volunteers of America, a re-entry program on W. McMicken Avenue that currently houses 35 registered sex offenders, according to the Ohio sex offender locator website.

“He mastered his craft,” said retired Cincinnati police detective Dana Jones, who led the case against Drew with Green Township police detective James Conforti. “His title of being a priest…

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Two Phillips Academy alumni have reported sexual abuse by a former longtime medical director who was charged and sentenced on child pornography charges more than a decade ago.

Phillips Academy Head of School Raynard Kington and Board of Trustees President Eric Zinterhofer released a joint statement Thursday afternoon about former students reporting being sexually abused by Richard Keller, who served as the school’s medical director from 1992 to 2011. Keller was arrested in 2012 and sentenced in 2014 to 78 months in prison for receiving and possessing child pornography.

“We are thankful for their courage in coming forward and sharing this information with the Academy,” the statement read about the alumni reporting the abuse. “We recognize that people process trauma on their own terms and timelines, which is why Andover remains open to hearing from alumni, no matter how many years have passed since they were harmed.”

The school asked…

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Two Phillips Academy alumni have reported they were sexually abused as students by the boarding school’s former medical director, who was convicted more than a decade ago on federal child pornography charges, school officials disclosed Thursday.

Richard Keller served as Phillips Academy’s medical director from 1992 to 2011. He was arrested in 2012 and pleaded guilty the following year to two counts of receiving and one count of possessing child pornography.

In a letter to alumni Thursday, Head of School Raynard Kington and Board of Trustees President Eric Zinterhofer said two former students have since come forward to report that Keller sexually abused them while they attended Phillips Academy.

The school did not identify the alumni or say when the alleged abuse occurred.

One of the two alumni provided Andover News with a statement describing the lasting effects of the alleged abuse and criticizing the Academy for failing to protect…

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A former English teacher at Tabor Academy has been arraigned on 12 charges of rape after allegedly abusing a student over a three-year period.

Nannie Clough was arraigned Aug. 17 in Brockton Superior Court on the rape charges and one count of intimidating a witness.

She pleaded not guilty to all charges and was released without bail. She was ordered to have no contact with the alleged victim and to surrender her passport.

The female  victim was “sexually exploited’’ starting at age 15, according to her attorney Kristen Knuuttila. Clough “groomed our client, opening her home to her and gaining her trust,’’ the attorney said.

The abuse lasted from 1996 to 1999, Knuuttila said.

The abuse continued even after the girl left Tabor, Knuuttila said. Clough threatened to kill herself, the attorney said, if the girl ever told anyone.

“The most insidious part of the abuse was the fact that Clough took…

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A former English teacher at Tabor Academy, a private boarding and day school in Marion, was arraigned this week on multiple charges of rape.

Nannie Clough, 57, was arraigned Monday in Brockton Superior Court on 12 counts of rape and one count of intimidating a witness, court records show. A plea of not guilty was entered on all the charges, and Clough was released without bail.

Attorneys for the alleged victim told 5 Investigates that Clough was an English teacher at Tabor at the time and the alleged victim, a female, was her student.

Clough, now in Colorado, is accused of raping the alleged victim between 1996 — the girl’s sophomore year — and 1999, according to court records and her attorneys.

“The thing that made Clough’s abuse so particularly insidious is that she first groomed and manipulated our female client, welcoming her into her home and taking her on…

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A Dallas appeals court ordered a district judge to dismiss most claims against former Gateway Church Senior Pastor Robert Morris, his wife, the Southlake megachurch and three elders in a defamation lawsuit filed by Cindy Clemishire, whom Morris sexually abused as a child, and her father, Jerry Lee Clemishire.

The Fifth Court of Appeals on Wednesday conditionally granted all or part of two mandamus petitions in separate opinions involving Gateway, Elders John D. Willbanks III, Kenneth W. Fambro II and Dane Minor, and the Morris family. A companion opinion addressed Morris, Deborah Morris and the Robert Morris Evangelistic Association.

The August 19 orders give the trial judge 30 days to vacate her earlier denial and grant the covered motions. The appellate court said it would issue formal writs only if the judge fails to comply.

The court did not decide whether the disputed statements were defamatory….

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The Texas Fifth District Court of Appeals ruled Aug. 19 to dismiss all but two of sexual abuse survivor Cindy Clemishire’s defamation claims against Gateway Church and its elders.

The lawsuit, which was filed in June 2025, names as defendants Gateway Church, Robert Morris and his wife Deborah Morris, Thomas H. Miller Jr., John D. Willbanks III, Kevin Grove, Jeremy Carrasco, Kenneth W. Fambro II, Gayland Lawshe, Dane Minor, Lawrence Swicegood, Steve Dulin and the Robert Morris Evangelistic Association Inc.

Gateway is a multi-campus megachurch based in North Texas.

Clemishire was repeatedly sexually abused by Gateway Church founder Robert Morris in the 1980s beginning when she was 12 years old. In October 2025, Morris pleaded guilty to five felony counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child.

While he was given a 10-year sentence for these crimes, he served onlu six months under a plea deal. He also was ordered to register…

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Cadiz resident and former Hopkinsville youth pastor Jeremiah E. Swaw, 38, has been charged with grooming a minor after both Swaw and his wife, Hayla Swaw, as well as the minor involved walked into the Cadiz Police Department to report the circumstances that occurred over multiple days with Jeremiah Swaw.

A citation from the Cadiz Police Department notes that the Swaws have a power of attorney for guardianship of the minor, who is unnamed, as of March 13 of this year.

Information included in the citation reports that the minor, among other things, stated that Jeremiah Swaw on July 28 touched her leg and thigh area while traveling in the car during a shopping trip in Clarksville, Tennessee.

They later watched a movie together after returning back home, and Jeremiah Swaw afterward came into the minor’s room and engaged in incidents that the minor said continued about every other day…

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Hillcrest Baptist Church announced that Pastor Jeremiah Swaw has been let go after turning himself in to authorities.

Hillcrest Baptist Church, located on Skyline Drive in Hopkinsville, shared an official statement on Aug. 20 announcing the dismissal of Next Generation Pastor Jeremiah Swaw.

The statement said that on the afternoon of Aug. 17, church leadership became aware that Swaw had turned himself into authorities. The Christian Country Jail confirmed that Swaw was booked on Aug. 17 and was bailed out the next day. His charge was listed as “any misdemeanor charge not covered by these codes” before his inmate listing was taken down after his release.

“Jeremiah has been terminated effective immediately,” said the statement from Hillcrest. “He is prohibited from having any contact with the young people in our church and from participating in church-sponsored activities.”

The church additionally disclosed that any alleged offence did not occur on church property….

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Investigation into ‘16 distinct allegations’ against Phil Baniewicz over 40 years finds consistency from complainants who didn’t know one another.

The Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas announced today that based on an independent investigation into “16 distinct allegations” against former Bishop Miege President Phil Baniewicz “spanning from approximately 1985 to 2025,” he is barred from service in any capacity for the archdiocese.

That’s such a relief to at least a couple of the 16 who made those allegations that they can’t believe it.

These weren’t old accusations that had been long ignored but reports that had never been taken because previous vetting of someone known to have been accused of sexual assault 40 years ago had been so slapdash; the independent investigation ordered by the archdiocese a year ago started with two complaints, and the last two came in just recently.

“Two other girls reached out to me just in…

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Keith Amato says he was 6 years old when he was sexually abused by a priest in Van Buren, Maine.

He says he suffered injuries and years of psychological trauma from what happened decades ago.

Amato is one of seven survivors claiming childhood sexual abuse by seven different Catholic priests. All of them are receiving a settlement from the Roman Catholic Bishop of Portland.

“It’s not about the money. It never was,” Amato said. “I just want somebody to say sorry.”

Casey Guidry, the wife of another survivor, Timothy Guidry, says her husband’s memories of abuse led him to addiction, rehab, homelessness and pain.

“It is difficult to explain how it feels to hold your best friend in your arms so, so tightly as he remembers and screams a scream you can never unhear,” Guidry said in a statement.

Berman & Simmons Attorney Timothy Kenlan says the settlement was years…

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A settlement agreement has been reached between seven survivors of childhood sexual abuse, Catholic priests and the Maine Diocese. For more on this story, visit: https://bit.ly/4ztrJxT

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It happened with little fanfare. But a single lawsuit recently transferred from Alameda County to Sonoma County Superior Court represents an important moment for hundreds of people from California’s North Coast who came forward in recent years with claims they were sexually abused by Catholic clergy.

It also carries major ramifications for the financial standing of the church’s Santa Rosa Diocese, which stretches from San Pablo Bay to the Oregon border.

Known as a bellwether case, the lawsuit is meant to serve as a guidepost for the roughly 260 claims filed against the diocese after the state of California opened a three-year litigation window through 2019 legislation for people whose allegations fell outside the statute of limitations.

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A couple allegedly caught a priest and a registered sex offender engaging in sexual activity in a park in Ohio.

According to WFMJ, 75-year-old Monsignor Anthony Spinosa, the rector of the Basilica and National Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon in North Jackson, was taken into custody last Thursday after he was allegedly caught engaging in sexual activity with a registered sex offender in Perkins Park in Warren, Ohio.

Per the report, Spinosa has been rector at Our Lady of Lebanon since 2002 and is Chorbishop with the Maronite Catholic Church.

The station reported that Spinosa was charged days after a couple who had been walking their dog in Perkins Park went to law enforcement on July 31 after they allegedly noticed 54-year-old Kenneth Kopp down on his knees as he was performing a sex act on Spinosa. The couple reportedly noted that Spinosa was smoking a…

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The Vatican defrocked a former priest in the Diocese of Scranton for sexually abusing a child, a move that permanently ends his time as a priest.

Christopher R. Clay, 62, was dispensed from the clerical state effective July 24 following credible accusations of sexual abuse of a minor, diocese officials announced this month.

The diocese removed him as chaplain and theology teacher at Bishop Hafey High School in Hazle Twp. in 2002, amid a criminal investigation in Monroe County of alleged sexual misconduct involving a teenage boy. At the time of the alleged incident in 1998, the priest was associated with the Newman House oratory in Mount Pocono.

The accusation arose from a federal lawsuit filed by a man who said he was sexually abused as a high school student by two other priests, Carlos Urrutigoity and Eric Ensey, who were members of the Society of St. John. The society,…

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Lithuania’s prime minister and parliamentary speaker have both pushed back against calls for a large-scale independent investigation into sexual abuse within the Catholic Church, even as two priests face criminal charges over alleged offences against children, though the two men have framed their caution differently.

Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius said on Friday that the decision was not one for politicians to make at all.

“Church leaders can decide on the necessity of such an investigation. State governance is separate from Church governance; these are entirely separate areas,” he told reporters, adding that Lithuania’s rule-of-law principles meant politicians should not interfere in decisions by Church hierarchs.

Meanwhile, Parliamentary Speaker Juozas Olekas took a different line, saying the priority was to let the courts do their work first and then consider if additional probes are necessary.

“I would not say that it is needed now. We need to wait for the court…

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A group of survivors launched a searchable database of more than 2,700 people publicly accused of abuse in Protestant churches Wednesday, at an online press conference organized by the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP. Florida survivors and a veteran archivist run ProtestantAccountability.org, modeled directly on BishopAccountability.org, the 20-year-old Catholic database that has spent two decades collecting the same kind of records.

The database draws entries from court records, state attorney general reports, news accounts and existing survivor-run archives. The site sorts them by tradition: Episcopal, Presbyterian, Pentecostal and charismatic, non-denominational and other categories. Protestantism has no central authority that keeps a list like this on its own, no single office that holds personnel files across denominations.

The names aren’t only lead pastors. The database covers church workers broadly, including youth leaders, worship leaders, associate pastors and staff who never held a pulpit.

Founding member Chellee…

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The video in the player above is the latest coverage by 22News of the arraignment of former school head Jeannie Norris. See original article for video.

A former teacher at Miss Hall’s School in Pittsfield was indicted on three assault charges.

According to the Berkshire District Attorney’s Office, 70-year-old Matthew Johnson of Norfolk, Connecticut, was indicted on Thursday by a grand jury in Berkshire Superior Court on assault with intent to rape and two counts of indecent assault and battery over the age of 14.

Former head of Pittsfield all-girls school arraigned in sexual abuse probe

Johnson was a science teacher at Miss Hall’s School from 1993 to 1994. The charges stem from his tenure at the school, and an arraignment date has not yet been scheduled. Johnson is the third former staff member of Miss Hall’s School indicted in connection with the abuse case.

The DA’s Office has…

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Prosecutors say she knew about inappropriate conduct between a teacher and students

A former science teacher at Miss Hall’s School, an elite boarding school in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, was indicted Thursday on three criminal charges in connection with a growing teacher abuse scandal.

Matthew Johnson, 70, of Connecticut, was indicted on charges of assault with intent to rape and two counts of indecent assault and battery on a victim over age 14.

“The Defendant served as a science teacher at Miss. Hall’s School from 1993 to 1994. Evidence gathered during the investigation shows that the Defendant was dismissed from the school in 1994, prior to the end of the school year. The criminal charges all stem from the Defendant’s tenure at the school,” according to a statement from the Berkshire County District Attorney’s Office.

This comes two days after the arraignment of Jeannie Norris, 80, of North Carolina, who faces one…

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The former Catholic Bishop of Broome, Christopher Saunders, has finally been convicted of sexually abusing young Aboriginal men. But the most damning fact in this case may be that the system had years to protect those vulnerable men—and failed.

Saunders was not an obscure priest operating in the shadows. He was a bishop for 25 years. Ordained a priest in 1976, he became Bishop of Broome in 1996. He had status, money, institutional authority, access to remote Aboriginal communities and the credibility that comes with wearing a mitre and representing the Catholic Church.

The young men who accused him had none of that.

Read More: The downfall of sexual predator Bishop Christopher Saunders – ABC News

On 13 August 2026, a Western Australian jury found Saunders guilty of 13 sexual offences against two young Indigenous men. The offences occurred between 2008 and 2019. He was acquitted of…

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Statement from the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas

Based on the recommendation of the Independent Review Board of the Archdiocese after an independent investigation into the allegations regarding Mr. Phil Baniewicz, former president of Bishop Miege High School (Miege), concerning his ability to oversee a safe environment for minors and vulnerable adults, Archbishop Shawn McKnight has determined that Mr. Baniewicz is not suitable for ecclesiastical employment, appointment, volunteer service, or ministry involving minors or other vulnerable persons within the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas.

“The protection of minors and persons in vulnerable situations is fundamental to the mission of our church, ” Archbishop Shawn McKnight said. “As believers and followers of Jesus Christ, we have a sacred responsibility to safeguard the innate human dignity of every person and to hold one another, especially those who exercise authority and power in the Church, to the high moral standards of…

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Reporting Highlights

• “Permanently Ineligible”: An oversight group found that Texas girls’ volleyball coach Ryan Richardson engaged in sexual misconduct with a minor, among other allegations, and banned him.
• An Inappropriate Relationship: One mother alleged that Richardson began having sex with her daughter, one of his players, when she was 16 and he was 36.  
• Still Coaching: Despite the ban, major sports organizations failed to keep him from interacting with children even as allegations of inappropriate behavior and abuse piled up.

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

The first time Ryan Richardson was suspended from coaching volleyball, in early 2024, he gathered the parents of his teenage players in the back room of his gym in the border city of Pharr, Texas. It was a dark, cool space, one wall lined with shelves of trophies and dangling medals. The tinted windows looked out…

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A maintenance worker at Cross Church Pinnacle Hills in Rogers was arrested and charged with second degree sexual assault after an incident on church property.

According to court documents, Jason Barrowman, 57, was clearing equipment from a Conex container. Helping him was a minor, who was volunteering at the church over the summer.

The minor said while the two were alone in the container, Barrowman groped them in their private areas over their clothing. The minor immediately walked out and reported the incident to an adult, who called authorities.

The minor later told officers the incident was not the first of its kind. About two weeks prior, Barrowman had grabbed their buttocks and later that same week, had groped their thigh. The minor thought the earlier incidents could have been accidents or jokes. Upon the third encounter, however, the minor said, “That’s enough,” and made the report.

Barrowman denied all…

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Maine’s Catholic Diocese has reached a settlement with several dozen survivors of childhood sexual abuse by Catholic priests from Portland to Van Buren between 1961 and the 2000s.

Forty-two claimants were represented by attorneys from Berman & Simmons law firm. On Thursday, two of the attorneys and their clients held a press conference to discuss the outcome.

“For me, it’s not about the money. It never was,” said Keith Amato, who was just six years old when he says a priest in Van Buren abused him, leaving him with injuries that required surgery.

He said he turned to opioids as a result of the surgical pain and was addicted to drugs for 30 years.

“I just wanted someone to say sorry. I never got that. The church needs to take accountability. They promised me a letter of acknowledgement. I still haven’t gotten that. That was the only thing I really…

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Seven survivors of childhood sexual abuse by seven different Catholic priests have reached a settlement with the Roman Catholic Bishop of Portland.

The law firm Berman & Simmons represents the seven survivors. Attorneys say the settlements represent a significant milestone for survivors who have spent decades carrying the physical, emotional, and psychological consequences of abuse that occurred during their childhoods.

Seven survivors of childhood sexual abuse by seven different Catholic priests have reached a settlement with the Roman Catholic Bishop of Portland.

The law firm Berman & Simmons represents the seven survivors. Attorneys say the settlements represent a significant milestone for survivors who have spent decades carrying the physical, emotional, and psychological consequences of abuse that occurred during their childhoods.

“For far too long, survivors were ignored, doubted, or left to carry these burdens on our own. My hope is that this moment sends a message to every survivor that their voice matters, that…

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If you or someone you know needs resources or support related to sexual violence, contact the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault’s 24/7 hotline at 800-871-7741.

More than 100 people who say they experienced sexual abuse by Catholic priests in Maine have reached a settlement with the Roman Catholic Bishop of Maine.

About half the settlements were reached in the fall, with the remaining reached in the spring, attorney Michael Bigos said. The terms were recently settled and the process is coming to a close as payments start, Bigos said.

The settlement is seven figures, Bigos said.

“We were able to get the settlement for all survivors who waited decades for change to see and accomplish compensation for the harm that was caused to them,” he said.

The settlements come more than a year after Maine’s highest court struck down a 2021 state law that retroactively removed the statute of limitations for lawsuits…

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Attorneys representing seven people sexually assaulted by Maine Catholic priests over a span of decades held a news conference Thursday after reaching a settlement.

A childhood sexual abuse survivor and the wife of another survivor gathered in Portland Thursday to share several stories of sexual assault at the hands of Catholic priests across Maine.

Many survivors filed civil lawsuits against the Roman Catholic Bishop of Portland after a law in 2021 removed the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse.

Despite the Maine Supreme Court ruling in Dupuis v. the Roman Catholic Bishop of Portland last year that the law is unconstitutional, the survivors unaffected by the ruling reached a settlement with the diocese. However, the financial terms and other details are confidential.

Timothy Kenlan and Kristin Murray-James with Berman & Simmons, who are also speaking at Thursday’s news conference, represent seven survivors whom they said…

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A 39-year-old man, who previously worked in the Syracuse Catholic Diocese and was convicted of inappropriately messaging an underage girl, has officially left the priesthood.

Nathan W. Brooks, 39, was accused in 2024 of grooming, touching and messaging an underage girl since she was 14 years old. The incidents happened between 2019 and 2021, authorities said.

At the time, Brooks was a priest in the Syracuse Catholic Diocese and working as an administrator at the Church of the Nativity at St. Joseph in LaFayette, Immaculate Conception in Pompey, St. Leo in Tully and St. Patrick Mission in Otisco.

When the allegations came out, he was placed on administrative leave and removed him from all public priestly duties pending the outcomes of the criminal and internal investigations.

In a news release Thursday, the Syracuse Diocese announced Brooks is no longer a…

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Murfreesboro police say the abuse of a 5-year-old spanned several years, with two additional victims later identified

A Tennessee pastor who spent years traveling the country for his ministry will spend the rest of his life behind bars after a jury convicted him of raping a child, while his wife was found guilty of facilitating the abuse, authorities said.

Benjamin Garlick, 35, was found guilty Monday of seven counts of aggravated rape of a child, six counts of aggravated sexual battery, one count of solicitation of sexual exploitation of a minor and two violations of Tennessee’s Child Protection Act after a two-week trial in Rutherford County.

Circuit Court Judge Barry Tidwell sentenced Garlick to life in prison without the possibility of parole on the aggravated rape convictions, according to the Murfreesboro Police Department. He still faces sentencing on the remaining convictions on Nov. 10.

Garlick’s wife, 32-year-old Shaantal Garlick, was…

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Vilnius Archbishop Gintaras Grušas said Wednesday that the time was not yet right for an independent, large-scale investigation into the extent of sexual abuse in Lithuania’s Catholic Church over recent decades. His comments follow two high-profile cases against catholic priests suspected of sexual child abuse.

Grušas said the church’s priority should instead be establishing systems to prevent abuse, protect potential victims and help those who have been harmed.

“I do not think the time is right. And I still do not think we have grown into that,” Grušas told the 15min.lt news portal. “The focus now must be on a system to prevent potential crimes. This must be the priority – to be able to help victims and stop crimes.”

He was responding to a proposal made three years ago by a group of lay Catholics to establish an independent commission to investigate sexual abuse in the Lithuanian Catholic Church.

…

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The “priestly faculties” of a Catholic minister have been restored after an allegation of sexual assault was dropped, but the pastor won’t be returning to his old post in Oakville, an Ontario diocese says.

Back in March, the Halton Regional Police Service announced that Ranjan D’Sa, 53, of Oakville, had been charged with one count of sexual assault.

A member of the clergy since 2010, the Diocese of Hamilton said Friar D’Sa “was immediately removed” from his duties at St. Dominic Parish in Oakville after the charge was made public.

But the diocese now says D’Sa can return to his “priestly ministry” after the allegation was dropped late last month.

The case was withdrawn at the request of the Crown Attorney’s Office in July, and D’Sa “has no outstanding criminal charges,” the diocese says in a statement to INsauga.com.

Halton police also confirmed in a statement to INsauga.com that the case…

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After a year-long investigation into 16 allegations, the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas determined former Bishop Miege President Phil Baniewicz is unsuitable for “ecclesiastical employment” within the Archdiocese.

Baniewicz will no longer be able to work, volunteer, or take on any ministerial role within the Archdiocese following an independent investigation.

According to the Archdiocese announcement on Thursday, “The investigation disclosed concerns regarding Mr. Baniewicz’s conduct and determined a consistent pattern of imprudent professional conduct, repeated failures to maintain appropriate ministerial and professional boundaries with minors, deficient safeguarding practices, and conduct incompatible with the standards expected of those entrusted with ecclesiastical service involving children and vulnerable people.”

The Archdiocese investigated 16 different, “distinct” allegations against Baniewicz spanning the last 40 years.

KSHB 41’s Sarah Plake was the first to report on Baniewicz when he was hired at Miege in 2023, including allegations that…

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The Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas has barred former Bishop Miege president Phil Baniewicz from ministry after an investigation into 16 allegations of misconduct involving minors and vulnerable adults.

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The Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas has barred a former Bishop Miege High School president from any work involving minors following an independent investigation.

The Church said Archbishop Shawn McKnight signed the formal canonical decree, acting on a recommendation from the Archdiocese’s Independent Review Board.

Leaders indicated that the board’s recommendation followed an outside investigation into allegations concerning Phil Baniewicz’s ability to oversee a safe environment for minors and vulnerable adults.

What McKnight Said

“The protection of minors and persons in vulnerable situations is fundamental to the mission of our church,” Archbishop Shawn McKnight said. “As believers and followers of Jesus Christ, we have a sacred responsibility to safeguard the innate human dignity of every person and to hold one another, especially those who exercise authority and power in the Church, to the high moral standards of our faith.”

Timeline of Events

The Church indicated the following:

…

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A former seminary student at Seton Hall University says he was subjected to hostile treatment and a delay in ordination after he reported that he was sexually harassed by another seminary student in 2012.

The plaintiff, who is identified only by initials, named the university, the Immaculate Conception Seminary and the Rev. Msgr. Joseph Reilly in a lawsuit, which was filed in state Superior Court in Essex County. Reilly currently serves as Seton Hall’s president.

Andrew Misura, the director of media and marketing strategy at Seton Hall University, did not respond to a request for comment.

The plaintiff said he was a graduate seminarian when he experienced repeated and unwanted sexual advances and touching, including having his genital area grabbed by another seminarian. The lawsuit says the plaintiff reported the actions to Reilly, who was the rector and dean of the seminary, and to the vice rector in September 2012.

The complaint…

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A new group called ProtestantAccountability.org will unveil the first-ever list of alleged Protestant sexual abusers in an online news conference Wednesday, August 19, at 11:00 am, EST. 

The list contains thousands of names of convicted, admitted, suspended, defrocked and/or publicly accused Protestant pastors and other church workers who have allegedly ‘violated, molested or sexually exploited vulnerable adults and children.’ In addition, the new database also includes those who suspected, or knew of, abuse and kept silent.

ProtestantAccountability.org was founded by several survivors of Protestant clergy abuse and a veteran archivist and expert in clergy abuse. 

“We started this group to “protect the vulnerable, expose the wrongdoers, deter coverups and heal the wounded,” says founding member Chellee Taylor. 

The inaugural effort involved hundreds of hours of research conducted by volunteers combing through court records, news accounts, articles and government records to compile the list that details 2,700+ clergy in 100+ denominations with…

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When the Archdiocese of San Francisco announced in late June that it would pay $395 million to hundreds of people who were sexually abused as children by Bay Area priests, archdiocesan leaders also quietly sent word to local parishes, schools and other church-run facilities: The cost of the archdiocese’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy settlement would be theirs to bear, too.

Soon after, the bills — called assessments — began arriving, with news of each parish’s obligation spelled out in letters from pastors and meetings with parish officers across an archdiocese that is home to 442,000 Catholics in San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin counties. In a letter, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone wrote that the archdiocese could not shoulder the settlements alone. 

“For the past decades, the chancery has handled these claims and shouldered the financial burden for any settlements with the goal of shielding our parishes and…

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Forty-four Catholic dioceses and religious orders across the country have sought bankruptcy protection since clergy sexual abuse claims began forcing the issue two decades ago. Two of them are in Louisiana, and a third may be next. 

The Archdiocese of New Orleans filed for Chapter 11 in May 2020. The Diocese of Alexandria followed on Oct. 31, 2025, becoming the 41st U.S. diocese to take that route. Now the Diocese of Lafayette, already facing dozens of clergy abuse lawsuits, has enrolled a bankruptcy attorney in one of its pending cases, a move that often precedes a filing of its own. Whether or not Lafayette ultimately files, the pattern across the state is unmistakable: when survivors gain ground in court, dioceses reach for bankruptcy. 

It is worth being precise about what that means for survivors. A Chapter 11 filing does not simply reorganize a diocese’s finances. It freezes…

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Supporters of Father Michael Pfleger rallied outside the Chicago Archdiocese on Wednesday.

Last month, a letter was sent to the archdiocese describing an allegation against Pfleger. It accuses him of the sexual abuse of a minor female that occurred more than 30 years ago.

The archdiocese and its independent review board began an investigation and said that, because of the allegation, Father Pfleger will step aside from ministry and live away from the parish during this process.

Pfleger faced similar allegations over the last five years. In all of those cases, the Church cleared him of any wrongdoing or deemed the claims unfounded.

 Father Michael Pfleger, longtime pastor of St. Sabina Church, accused of sexually abusing minor over 30 years ago 

In a statement, the archdiocese said:

“We are committed to following the same thorough and impartial process. No one in the church should…

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A 41-year-old pastor in the Coachella and Palo Verde valleys accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting a girl pleaded not guilty today to felony charges.  

Lino Hernandez of Mesa Verde was arrested last Wednesday following a Riverside County Sheriff’s Department investigation that began in June. 

Hernandez is charged with four counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child, two counts of lewd acts on a minor and one count of forcible penetration.

He was arraigned Tuesday before Superior Court Judge Randolph Rogers, who scheduled a felony settlement conference for Sept. 22 at the Blythe Courthouse.

The defendant was being held without bail at the Benoit Detention Center.

According to sheriff’s Sgt. Bryan Berryman, after detectives received the initial report in June of an alleged assault, they began gathering evidence that ultimately pointed to Hernandez as the alleged perpetrator, confirming that he “served as pastor at churches in the Blythe…

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*WARNING: Details in this story are disturbing. Viewer discretion advised.*

A Rutherford County jury has found a traveling pastor and his wife guilty of child sex crimes after a two-week trial.

Benjamin Garlick, 35, was convicted on seven counts of aggravated rape of a child, six counts of aggravated sexual battery, one count of solicitation of sexual exploitation of a minor and two counts of violating the Child Protection Act. The jury also found Shaantal Garlick, 32, guilty of two counts of facilitating aggravated rape of a child and two counts of aggravated child neglect.

CRIME NEWS | Lawsuit alleges older student repeatedly sexually abused 6-year-old on Kentucky school bus

Circuit Court Judge Barry Tidwell sentenced Benjamin Garlick to life in prison without parole for the aggravated rape charges. He will find out his punishment on the other charges Nov. 10, which is also the day Shaantal…

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David Oakley, 70, appears in court accused of offences against teenager in early 2000s

The Bishop of Northampton has appeared in court over allegations that he raped a teenage girl after they went on a pilgrimage to Lourdes.

The Rt Rev David Oakley, 70, is accused of twice having sex with the girl, who was 15 at the time, in the early 2000s when he was in his mid-40s and working as a Catholic priest.

The bishop was charged in June with two counts of rape of a girl under the age of 16, following an investigation by Staffordshire Police’s rape and serious sexual offences team.

He appeared at Westminster magistrates’ court on Thursday via video link from his lawyer’s office to face the charges for the first time.

Sarah Madden, prosecuting, told the court that the incidents involving the girl began “after going on a pilgrimage to Lourdes”.

“She…

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Bishop David Oakley of Northampton appeared in court on Thursday, his first appearance since being charged in June with two counts of rape involving a girl under the age of 16.

Oakley, who withdrew from public ministry in 2025 after police received a report alleging sexual misconduct, appeared via video conference. Oakley was arrested in September 2025.

Additional details of the accusation were given on Thursday by prosecutor Sarah Madden. The alleged incidents happened following a pilgrimage to Lourdes, France, in the early 2000s, when the accuser was 15 years old. Oakley would have been in his mid-40s.

“She recalls sex with the defendant on at least two occasions,” said Madden.

Oakley did not enter a plea on Thursday and the case was sent to the Central Criminal Court.

In the United Kingdom, the age of consent for sexual activity is 16. Those in a position of trust cannot engage in…

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See original article for video.

After five years in prison, former Cincinnati priest Geoff Drew is out following a 2021 rape conviction. On Monday, Geoff Drew was released after he pleaded guilty to repeated sexual assault of a boy in the late 1980s and early ’90s.

Shortly after Drew’s crimes came to light, Rebecca Surendorf made it her mission to fight for children impacted by sexual abuse. She co-founded Ohioans for Child Protection.

“We are alarmed to realize someone with such a troubling history with children had such a position of authority at our kids’ school,” Surendorf said.

Police say the 10-year-old boy was assaulted in Drew’s office at St. Jude Church. During the trial, the now 41-year-old survivor delivered emotional statements in court.

Ohioans for Child Protection wants to give those survivors even more legal avenues for justice. Surendorf says the group helped in the passage of  View Cache

In 2021, Geoff Drew was sentenced to seven years in prison for raping a young boy when he worked under the Archdiocese of Cincinnati — and now, he’s a free man once again.

Drew pleaded guilty to repeatedly raping an altar boy who was 9 and 10 years old in the late 1980s and early 1990s at St. Jude in Bridgetown, where Drew was a music director.

Drew was freshly released from prison on Monday, August 17 after serving his full sentence.

We’re releasing a new podcast looking at the entire investigation, the impacts the case had on Cincinnati, and how the Archdiocese of Cincinnati said it made mistakes along the way.

The third episode of What They Knew: Inside the Father Geoff Drew Investigation looks at what the Archdiocese of Cincinnati knew of the allegations against Drew, what they did — and did not — do about it, and…

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The class action suit was brought against the Canadian archdiocese in 2020.

The Archdiocese of Quebec in Canada will pay out an eight-figure sum as part of a major class action lawsuit that has played out there over the last several years.

The archdiocese said in a press release that the agreement was ratified on Aug. 12 by Quebec Superior Court Judge Danye Daigle. The law firm Dufresne Wee, which had originally brought the lawsuit in 2020, also confirmed the settlement on its own website.

An Aug. 12 filing in the superior court said the agreement would consist of $31.5 million “to compensate the class members covered by [the] class action.”

The agreement also stipulated that a “letter of apology” would be delivered to abuse victims.

In its press release the archdiocese said its leaders “welcome this news.” The archdiocese said Church…

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What’s changed since then and what hasn’t

Think back twenty years to August 2006.

George W. Bush was president, iPhones didn’t exist yet, and Twitter was just a month old.

That was when I wrote a letter to then Southern Baptist Convention president Frank Page, describing how the Southern Baptist pastor who sexually abused me as a kid – repeatedly and severely – had been allowed to continue in ministry even though other church leaders knew at the time, even though his name was on a secret list of “known offenders” kept by the Baptist General Convention of Texas, and even though I had notified eighteen Southern Baptist leaders in four states about my corroborated report.

David Clohessy – the guy who has seen it all in the clergy abuse arena – dropped me a line the other day, pointing out that this month was the twenty-year anniversary of that letter….

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“For children are innocent and love justice, while most of us are wicked and naturally prefer mercy.” ― G.K. Chesterton.

Scenario:

Bob was convicted of molesting a 13-year-old girl. The judge sentenced him to 5 years in prison, and he was released after 2 years. He is on the sex offender registry. He was a model prisoner, participated in Bible studies in prison, and even led one group toward the end of his incarceration.

He comes to Country Club Baptist Church and meets with the pastor. He says all the right things.

• I found Jesus in prison.
• I’ve repented.
• I led prison Bible studies.
• I’m ready to lead a Christian life.

The pastor is excited. This is a redemption story he loves to hear. He baptizes the guy and introduces him to his church as “Saved.” Everyone likes Bob. Sure, he doesn’t teach the teens Sunday school…

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Australia has had a long history of human trafficking, beginning with “blackbirding” or the kidnapping of islanders to work on sugar plantations in Queensland, and the plight of the Stolen Generation of Indigenous Australians. 

The death of Puangthong Simaplee at the Villawood Detention Centre in 2001 and the subsequent coroner’s inquest highlighted the existence of human trafficking here in Australia.

In 2004, I heard about the plight of Thai women who had been trafficked into Australia to be sex workers. Having just returned from Thailand, I felt a strong call to do something about the issue. This is very much in keeping with our Josephite charism as expressed in the words of our founder, St. Mary of the Cross MacKillop: “Never see a need without doing something about it.”

In 2005, I established the Josephite Counter-Trafficking Project to look at the issue of human trafficking here in Australia and to…

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Parishioners at Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church learned that over $9 million earmarked for a new building will go toward a sexual abuse settlement.

Members of the Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in the Fresno diocese learned over the weekend that money they contributed for a new church building will instead be used in an ongoing bankruptcy settlement.

The fallout stems from a July 2025 bankruptcy filing by the Catholic Diocese of Fresno in response to a surge of sexual abuse claims. The resulting settlement will require the diocese to liquidate assets like unused property and use money on hand to pay victims who were sexually abused by clergy.

During a Sunday Mass livestreamed on Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church’s YouTube page, Monsignor Perry Kavookjian told parishioners that despite money contributed by them being earmarked by the church for a separate fund to help pay for a…

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Justice and Truth Win Freedom – The fight against women and child sex slavery – ISBN: 9789403928876

A powerful story of one man’s life-long fight for justice and freedom for thousands of sexually abused and trafficked women and children in the Philippine sex trade.

Father Shay Cullen, 83, is an Irish missionary priest and a member of the Missionary Society of St Columban who founded the PREDA Foundation in 1974. Since his assignment to the Philippines in 1969, where he was initially posted to St Joseph’s parish in Olongapo City, he has worked to protect women and children from sex slavery and to promote human rights, peace, and non-violence.

Born in Dublin on March 27, 1943, he was educated at Presentation College in Glasthule and completed his college education at St Columban’s in Dalgan Park, Navan, before being ordained in April 1969.

Through his ecumenical mission for justice and peace,…

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A Lincoln County youth pastor and funeral director faces four criminal charges after he contacted Kentucky State Police to confess to crimes involving a 17-year-old member of his youth group.

Jason Coulter, a youth pastor at Green River Pentecostal Church in Lincoln County, was charged on Aug. 17, 2026, with third degree sodomy, possession of matter showing a sexual performance by a minor, promoting a sexual performance by a minor, and procuring or promoting the use of a minor by electronic means.

According to court records, Coulter reached out to Kentucky State Police on Aug. 14 and told investigators he wanted to confess to crimes. He told troopers he met the 17-year-old through his youth group at church and that the two began exchanging nude photographs through Snapchat. He also told investigators he shared sexual fantasies with her through the app.

Coulter told investigators the two met in person on…

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Until this month, Andrew Buzzell was a role model to fellow members of Green Mountain Baptist Church in Rutland Town. They’d elected the 34-year-old married man as a church elder and pitched in financially to the statewide nonprofit he directed, Child Evangelism Fellowship of Vermont, that organized Christian programs and camps for kids.

Then church pastor Stephen Burch got called to meet with Federal Bureau of Investigation agents. Burch listened as investigators explained that they’d just arrested Buzzell on a charge of distributing images of child sexual abuse. Their evidence showed that over the last two years, Buzzell had shared and received the material in online chatrooms, according to court documents. In an online conversation with an undercover agent, Buzzell also discussed the prospect of meeting a 9-year-old girl for sex, prosecutors allege in court documents.

The pastor struggled to make sense of it. Buzzell had been part of the…

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A Vermont church elder and child evangelist has been charged with distribution of child sex abuse material (CSAM). Andrew Buzzell had been serving as an elder at Green Mountain Baptist Church in Rutland and as state director for Child Evangelism Fellowship of Vermont. 

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

Buzzell has been removed from all leadership roles at Mountain Baptist Church, and his membership with the church has been revoked. 

According the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Vermont, Buzzell, 34, was arrested after an investigation revealed that he allegedly “distributed materials containing child pornography, also known as Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), through a free instant messaging mobile application.”

RELATED: Former Southern California Pastor Arrested on Sexual Assault Charges Involving Minor

Authorities said that the investigation was triggered by a…

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More than a dozen people allege they experienced either sexual misconduct or financial manipulation at Miracle Arena For All Nations church

Jodi says she remembers her hands shaking as her married pastor — the man she had for months been told to call “dad” — pulled her onto his lap on a cream-coloured couch in his ministry office.

Just 16 years old at the time, Jodi says she froze as Kofi Danso, a self-described “Man of God,” prophet and the leader of Miracle Arena church, then located in North York, Ont., began to unbutton her pants.

“He was like, ‘Just know that I’m here … I’m your dad.’ He’s whispering these things to me while he’s kissing my neck and fingering me,” the woman, now in her 20s, said in an interview with the Investigative Journalism Bureau (IJB).

“I just became numb.”

Jodi, whose identity is being protected because she…

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Editor’s Note: The following article includes graphic elements that some may find disturbing.

A Valley priest has pleaded not guilty to charges filed after he was allegedly seen engaging in a sexual act with a registered sex offender in Warren’s Perkins Park.

Seventy-five-year-old Monsignor Anthony Spinosa, who has been the rector of the Basilica and National Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon in North Jackson since 2002, was booked into the Trumbull County Jail on August 13 and arraigned the following day in Warren Municipal Court on charges of public indecency and procuring.

Spinosa is a Chorbishop with the Maronite Catholic Church, which, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, is a senior priest elevated to a rank just below a full diocesan bishop.

Monsignor Spinosa, was charged several days after a couple walking their dog in Perkins Park on July 31 told police that they spotted 54-year-old Kenneth Kopp of Southington…

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After five years in prison, former Cincinnati priest Geoff Drew is out following a 2021 rape conviction. On Monday, Geoff Drew was released after he pleaded guilty to repeated sexual assault of a boy in the late 1980s and early ’90s.

Shortly after Drew’s crimes came to light, Rebecca Surendorf made it her mission to fight for children impacted by sexual abuse. She co-founded Ohioans for Child Protection.

“We are alarmed to realize someone with such a troubling history with children had such a position of authority at our kids’ school,” Surendorf said.

Police say the 10-year-old boy was assaulted in Drew’s office at St. Jude Church. During the trial, the now 41-year-old survivor delivered emotional statements in court.

Ohioans for Child Protection wants to give those survivors even more legal avenues for justice. Surendorf says the group helped in the passage of Erin’s Law,…

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Geoff Drew, the former Catholic priest convicted of raping a student more than three decades ago, is returning home to Cincinnati after five years in prison.

Drew, 64, is scheduled to be released Monday and will live for now at the Volunteers of America halfway house in Cincinnati, where he’s expected to participate in treatment and re-entry programs alongside other men and women recently released from prison.

Drew’s case inspired the creation of a child advocacy group by Catholic parents and a movement to change Ohio law regarding the statute of limitations for sex crimes against children.

The former priest’s arrest in 2019 also brought renewed scrutiny to the Catholic church’s handling of abuse allegations involving clergy. An Enquirer investigation three years ago found multiple instances throughout Drew’s career when children, colleagues, parishioners and church employees raised concerns about his behavior, but he was not suspended and ordered to stay away from kids…

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Date: Monday, Aug. 24
Start Time: 6:30 p.m.
End Time: 8 p.m.
Location: Virtual
Register here

A Webinar for Survivors and Those Who Care for Them

A 2014 study found that 75% of adult Christians reported experiencing harm in their religious communities due to spiritual coercion and abuse of spiritual authority, however, the existence of spiritual abuse and the harm it causes is largely unrecognized and unaddressed in the Church. Drawing from psychological research and the Church’s teaching on human dignity, this presentation with Paul Fahey and Thomas Berg will help you define, recognize, and respond to spiritual abuse and religious trauma.

Paul Fahey is a professional counselor, retreat leader, and the host of the Third Space podcast. He provides counseling for those who have been spiritually abused and creates resources for Church leaders to better safeguard their communities against abuse. Paul Fahey lives in Michigan with his wife, Kristina, and five kids.

…

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Press Release 08/17/2026

New group posts first-ever list of alleged Protestant sexual abusers

It’s based on court records, news accounts, articles & government records

More than 2,700 clergy, in 100+ denominations, with photos, are put online

Database also includes ‘those who suspected or knew of abuse & kept silent’

Victims seek to ‘protect the vulnerable, expose the wrongdoers & deter coverups’

WHAT

In an online news conference, to prevent sexual misdeeds, clergy sex abuse survivors and an expert will announce the posting of thousands of names of convicted, admitted, suspended, defrocked &/or publicly accused Protestant pastors and other church workers who have allegedly ‘violated, molested or sexually exploited vulnerable adults and children’

WHEN/WHERE

Wednesday, Aug. 19 at 11:00 a.m. Eastern

WHO

Two women who were exploited and abused as adults by separate Protestant clergymen and a man who is a veteran archivist & expert in clergy abuse:

–a Florida woman, who was…

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Prosecutors say she knew about inappropriate conduct between a teacher and students

The former head of Miss Hall’s School was arraigned on one count of reckless endangerment of a child in court on Monday for her alleged role in the teacher abuse scandal that has already seen a former teacher indicted for rape.

Jeannie Norris, who is 80 and now lives in North Carolina, appeared for the arraignment via Zoom in Berkshire Superior Court. She hardly spoke during the proceedings.

Prosecutors allege Norris received multiple reports of inappropriate conduct between a teacher, Matthew Rutledge, and his students.

Rutledge was indicted earlier this year on three counts of rape involving two former students.

Prosecutors say Norris’s lack of action created a substantial risk of harm to children in her care.

Berkshire County District Attorney Timothy J. Shugrue previously told 5 Investigates that an investigation is ongoing, and he expects…

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Geoff Drew served 7 years for the repeated rape of an altar boy, as set by his plea deal

CINCINNATI — A former priest and confessed rapist was released from prison on Monday morning after completing his 7-year sentence, and authorities are warning the public that he is still very dangerous.

Geoff Drew was released from the Noble Correctional Institution, a medium-security prison for men in rural Noble County between 8:30 and 8:45 a.m., according to an Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction spokesperson.

Now Drew is set to live in a two-story halfway house in Over-the-Rhine, Volunteers of America, a re-entry program on W. McMicken Avenue that currently houses 35 registered sex offenders, according to the Ohio sex offender locator website.

“He mastered his craft,” said retired Cincinnati police detective Dana Jones, who led the case against Drew with Green Township police detective James Conforti. “His title of being…

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Most of the bishops’ early resignations are blurred by the Catholic Church’s characteristic opacity when dealing with clergy sexual abuse.

In his last two years in office, Pope Francis forced out 36 bishops. Overall, Francis forced out a total of at least 87 bishops, including other similar disciplinary measures.

In his first 15 months in office, Leo XIV outpaced his predecessor’s rate of early bishops resignations, a proxy to gauge the scale of sexual abuse and other issues in Catholicism.

The early resignation of bishops remains one of the few relatively easy-to-spot “symptoms” of structural trouble in any given Catholic diocese, as the adage goes. “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.”

Even if up until now a bishop in the Catholic Church still holds an almost unchecked power in his diocese, its patrimony, and symbolic capital, before 1966, episcopal appointments were virtually for life. Following the Second Vatican…

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• Former Cincinnati priest Geoff Drew is returning to the city after serving a prison sentence for rape.
• He pleaded guilty in 2021 and served 2 years in jail and another 5 in prison to complete his 7-year sentence.
• His case inspired the creation of a child advocacy group and a movement to toughen the state’s child abuse laws.

Geoff Drew, the former Catholic priest convicted of raping a student more than three decades ago, is returning home to Cincinnati after five years in prison.

Drew, 64, is scheduled to be released Monday and will live for now at the Volunteers of America halfway house in Cincinnati, where he’s expected to participate in treatment and re-entry programs alongside other men and women recently released from prison.

Drew’s case inspired the creation of a child advocacy group by Catholic parents and a movement to change Ohio law regarding the statute…

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VICARS and priests who hear about child sex abuse dur­ing Con­fes­sion will not have a duty to report it under new laws com­ing into force next year.

The Crime and Poli­cing Act intro­duces a man­dat­ory report­ing oblig­a­tion to those work­ing or volun­teer­ing with chil­dren in faith set­tings.

While the Home Office said “there will be no excep­tions based on reli­gious prac­tices”, the seal of Con­fes­sion will not be covered.

The seal is the priest’s oblig­a­tion under canon law to hear a per­son’s Con­fes­sion in com­plete con­fid­ence.they can­not repeat or dis­close what is said.

Tra­di­tion­al­ists called for this to be main­tained, while man­dat­ory report­ing without reli­gious excep­tion was one of the key recom­mend­a­tions in the final report of the Inde­pend­ent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in 2022.

Bishop Robert Sprin­gett, lead for safe­guard­ing, told the Gen­eral Synod last month it was “clear that Con­fes­sion is not a ‘reg­u­lated activ­ity’ as defined…

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A statement from President of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB, regarding the Christopher Saunders case.

The crimes of abuse of which the former bishop of Broome, Christopher Saunders, has been found guilty following a jury verdict in the District Court of Western Australia represent a betrayal of everything the gospel and the Catholic Church stand for.

They are a violation of the human dignity of victims and survivors and a complete betrayal of their trust: these crimes deserve the strongest condemnation.

As Bishop Tim Norton, the current bishop of Broome, has said in his pastoral letter, those whose bravery enabled them to come forward to expose these crimes – the victims, the survivors and other witnesses – have shown great courage, commitment and resilience through a long and difficult process. The Catholic community in Broome, and more widely in Western Australia and the rest of our…

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Bishop Christopher Saunders was convicted on 13 counts of sex abuse crimes, including against a canonical minor.

Bishop Christopher Saunders was convicted of sexual abuse on Thursday, after jurours took just seven hours to consider the evidence against the former head of the Diocese of Broome, Australia.

The Western Australia district court found Saunders guilty on 12 counts of indecent assault and one count of sexual penetration against young Aboriginal men. The court found the bishop not guilty of six other charges.

Most of the charges reportedly concerned one victim, who was 16 when the sexual contact began and 19 when it ended. In canon law, persons below the age of 18 are considered minors. According to the prosecutor, the young man “felt shame” at what had occurred but “felt like he could not say no.” Saunders was also accused of committing offenses against a 24-year-old man and another man…

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Christopher Saunders has spent weeks fighting historical allegations.

Broome Bishop Christopher Saunders found guilty of abusing Indigenous men

What charges was Christopher Saunders convicted of?

What role did Christopher Saunders hold in the Catholic Church?

Why did the trial against Saunders last three weeks?

A retired Catholic bishop known for hosting boozy parties is now a convicted predator after he was found guilty of sexually abusing two young Aboriginal men.

A jury found Christopher Alan Saunders, 76, guilty of one count of sexual penetration without consent and 12 counts of unlawful and indecent assault following a trial in the West Australian District Court that lasted more than three weeks.

The former Bishop of Broome was found not guilty of six other charges.

There was no reaction from Saunders in the dock as the verdicts were read out.

Saunders had fought allegations he groomed…

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It’s an all too familiar trajectory, but no less shocking for its appalling frequency.

Catholic priest sexually abuses teenage boys.

The sort of headline you’ve seen countless times before.

But this time, the priest in question was one of the highest-ranking Catholics in Western Australia, and his victims were young, trusting Aboriginal boys and men he plied with alcohol.

On Thursday, Bishop Christopher Saunders, once in charge of the vast Kimberley diocese of Broome, which spans thousands of square kilometres across Western Australia’s remote north, was found guilty of multiple counts of sexually abusing two young men, including one count of rape.

Still a bishop

Saunders, who is still listed on official church websites as “Bishop Emeritus of Broome” and as the “most Rev Christopher Saunders”, having never been stripped of his titles, protested his innocence throughout.

The jury, however, thought otherwise, and convicted him of 13 charges.

He originally…

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PERTH, Australia (AP) — An Australian jury on Thursday convicted a former Catholic bishop renowned for hosting alcohol-fueled house parties of sexually abusing two young Indigenous men.

The District Court of Western Australia jury convicted Christopher Saunders, 76, of 13 out of 19 charges of sexual abuse that allegedly occurred between 2008 and 2019 in his sprawling diocese on the country’s tropical northwest coast.

Prosecutors alleged he lured young Indigenous men to his church-owned house in the tourist town of Broome with free alcohol and cigarettes paid for with church funds. House rules included that the male-only guests had to remove their shirts.

“The accused had a sexual interest in young Aboriginal men and a tendency to act on that interest when the opportunity presented itself,” Prosecutor Adam Ebell had told the court.

The convictions included one count of sexual penetration without consent and a dozen indecent assaults.

He was acquitted…

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A court found Christopher Alan Saunders, the former bishop of Broome, guilty of sexually abusing two men, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.

An Australian jury on Thursday found a former Catholic bishop guilty of sexually abusing two men, according to media reports.

The former bishop, Christopher Alan Saunders, 76, was found guilty of 13 sex offenses, including one count of sexual penetration without consent and 12 charges of indecent assault, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported. He was acquitted of six other charges. Mr. Saunders, who was the bishop of the diocese of Broome, had pleaded not guilty to the charges, local media reported.

The current bishop of Broome, Tim Norton, released a statement after the verdict acknowledging “the courage of victims, survivors and other witnesses who came forward to express their truth.”

“We are deeply sorry for the hurt they have experienced. We are sorry for…

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Lawsuit covers people who say they were sexually abused by staff dating back to 1940

A Quebec Superior Court judge has approved a historic $31.5-million settlement in a class-action lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Quebec.

The deal ends years of legal action for claimants who said they were sexually assaulted by members of the Archdiocese since 1940.

Quebec Superior Court Justice Danye Daigle approved the settlement earlier this week, led by representative plaintiffs Gaétan Bégin and Pierre Bolduc.

Both men have said they were sexually assaulted by parish priests starting in the 1950s and 1960s when they were aged 14 and 12 respectively.

Daigle heard emotional testimony from victims during a public hearing in July, to determine whether the out-of-court agreement and the requested fees, were in the best interests of the class members.

After the hearing, Bégin described it as a historic day. Now 86, Bégin said the boy…

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Johnny Hunt’s defamation case against the Southern Baptist Convention and its Executive Committee is dead, with a federal judge throwing out the remainder of the case Aug. 12.

Hunt, a former SBC president and former executive vice president of the SBC North American Mission Board, filed suit in March 2023, alleging former SBC President Bart Barber and the denomination defamed him and invaded his privacy by making public the story of his “brief, inappropriate, extramarital encounter with a married woman” in 2010.

That information was part of the blockbuster Guidepost Solutions report released in 2022 that documented a pattern of covering up and ignoring reports of clergy sexual abuse in the denomination. Hunt was unexpectedly snared in the investigation.

At first, Hunt denied the allegations leveled against him by first-person testimony of the woman involved, then he admitted the encounter had, in fact, occurred but insisted it was not abusive in nature. The woman…

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