Man wants mom's tombstone to say she 'supported priest rapist victims,' but diocese objects

Marguerite Ridgeway was a fervent Catholic until her faith was shaken when church sex abuse scandals came to light, particularly a decades-old trauma recounted by her daughter-in-law.
Now Ridgeway’s son wants to install a marker at his late mother’s gravesite in Wheaton bearing the inscription “She supported priest rapist victims.” The Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet, which owns Assumption Cemetery, has objected to what it calls the “explicit language” of the epitaph.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-met-grave-marker-sex-abuse-20171020-story.html 

Harvey Weinstein sex abuse scandal sparks call for Catholic Church to take charge

The recent string of sexual abuse accusations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein has sparked calls from Catholics and other Christians for the Church to take charge and voice out their objections to the issue of sexual harassment.

http://www.christiandaily.com/article/harvey-weinstein-sex-abuse-scandal-sparks-call-for-catholic-church-to-take-charge/61339.htm 

'Spotlight' Lecturers Give Harvey Weinstein a Pass

Spotlight won an Oscar for best picture in 2016 for its portrayal of the clergy sexual abuse scandal in the Archdiocese of Boston. At least nine of those associated with this film have worked with Harvey Weinstein, yet eight have said nothing about his sexual abuse, and all nine refuse to indict Hollywood the way they have the Catholic Church.

https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/bill-donohue/2017/10/21/spotlight-lecturers-give-harvey-weinstein-pass 

Victim: Priest offered gifts for silence

Every time 57-year-old C.M.V. drives by the Nino Perdido y Sagrada Familia Catholic Church in Asan, he shudders at memories of his childhood when serving as an altar boy.
"Those stairs going to the second floor, I have flashbacks," he told The Guam Daily Post. C.M.V. was born in 1960 with congenital achondroplasia, a medical disorder of the bone growth development, which causes dwarfism.

https://www.postguam.com/news/local/victim-priest-offered-gifts-for-silence/article_cc37f1dc-b3e5-11e7-af29-1725bebdb81a.html 

For One Abuse Survivor, Investigation’s Door Is Sealed

Canada’s National Inquiry Into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls is an independent commission whose mandate extends beyond cases of murder and missing persons. The inquiry says it seeks to examine “the systemic causes behind the violence that Indigenous women and girls experience, and their greater vulnerability to violence, by looking for patterns and underlying factors that explain why higher levels of violence occur.” The commissioners’ areas of interest include policing and child welfare

https://www.truthdig.com/articles/one-abuse-survivor-investigations-door-sealed/ 

A Papua New Guinea bishop confirms police investigation and backs reinstatement of priest.

A PAPUA New Guinea Catholic bishop says he will reinstate an Australian Vincentian priest to a PNG high school despite a police investigation of allegations involving school students, and a church investigation confirming the priest touched students’ legs and sometimes slapped them.

http://www.theherald.com.au/story/5001790/vincentian-bishop-backs-australian-priest/ 

Women aren't attention-seeking talking about sexual assault, they're being brave

When a hashtag craze sweeps the internet, I sometimes have to keep my eyes from rolling up into my skull.
I prayed for the victims of the Las Vegas shooting, but I did not #prayforvegas. I stood with those affected by Hurricane Harvey in Texas, but couldn't see how hashtagging #standwithtexas helped any of the thousands of people with flooded homes.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/life/98069088/nadine-higgins-women-arent-attention-seeking-talking-about-sexual-assault-theyre-being-brave 

After Harvey Weinstein’s fall, Donald Trump's accusers wonder: Why not him?

Almost a year after US woman Jessica Leeds and other women stepped forward with harrowing accounts of being sexually assaulted by a powerful man, another scandal with similar elements exploded. Only this time, the punishment was swift and devastating.
"It is hard to reconcile that (Hollywood producer) Harvey Weinstein could be brought down with this, and (US President Donald) Trump just continues to be the Teflon Don," said Leeds, who claims she was groped 30 years ago on a plane by the man whose presence she cannot escape now that he sits in the Oval Office.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/98141158/after-harvey-weinsteins-fall-donald-trumps-accusers-wonder-why-not-him 

Guam's Catholic Church does not believe perpetrators remain in clergy

Guam's Catholic Church says it does not believe perpetrators remain in the clergy despite a growing number of historical sexual abuse complaints.
In the latest of more than 130 lawsuits a former altar boy alleges he was abused by a now deceased priest for five years from 1969.

http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/342154/guam-s-catholic-church-does-not-believe-perpetrators-remain-in-clergy 

Harvey Weinstein's alleged pattern of harassment echoes that of child sexual abusers

There are many striking aspects to the breathtaking fall of Harvey Weinstein — the volume of women who have come forward, the number of years his alleged behavior remained an open secret, the sheer brazenness of that alleged behavior and, now, the ripple effects it is having well beyond Hollywood.

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-mones-harvey-weinstein-sexual-assault-20171022-story.html 

Canadian bishops are wise to take their time

Despite several invitations and considerable speculation, a papal visit to Canada seems no closer today than it was 2 1/2 years ago when the topic first surfaced. There is no doubt Pope Francis would be joyously welcomed in Canada. We may live in an age of doubt when it comes to religion and faith, but people are certain about Pope Francis. Poll after poll confirms his universal popularity.
Yet Canada’s bishops, who can extend the only invitation the Pope might accept, are clearly undecided and perhaps divided on how to proceed. Without their support and official invitation, Pope Francis won’t come to Canada, regardless of how many requests he gets from politicians and First Nations leaders. Protocol dictates the invitation come from the bishops.

https://www.catholicregister.org/opinion/itemlist/user/102-catholicregisterstaff

Harvey Weinstein Is a Product of the Left's Rebellion Against God

Producer Harvey Weinstein arrives for the opening ceremony and screening of Moonrise Kingdom at the 65th international film festival, in Cannes, southern France, Wednesday, May 16, 2012.

Referencing Harvey Weinstein's sex abuse scandal, a friend asked me if I thought this was going to end up being Hollywood's version of the Roman Catholic Church sex abuse scandal. I immediately replied, "Nope. It's going to be much worse."

https://pjmedia.com/faith/2017/10/12/harvey-weinstein-product-lefts-rebellion-god/ 

State Care Abuse inquiry pressure grows

Pressure on the Government to hold an independent inquiry into the systemic abuse of children and disabled adults held in state institutions has continued to grow, with a UN Human Rights Committee joining the calls for the true story to be told.
Late last month, the Commission welcomed the recommendations made by the United Nation Committee on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination, which included that the Government hold an independent inquiry into the systemic abuse of children and disabled adults held in state institutions.

https://www.hrc.co.nz/news/state-care-abuse-inquiry-pressure-grows/ 

Liberal Hollywood destroys any credibility it had left

In the immortal words of the great prophet Dave Chappelle, “You played yourself.”

From this time forward, when any insipidly sanctimonious Hollywood star comes forward to lecture us on Marxist agitprop masquerading as do-gooderism, the rest of America that does most of the living and dying around here can simply dismiss such virtue signaling with the following two words: “Harvey Weinstein.”

https://www.conservativereview.com/articles/liberal-hollywood-destroys-any-credibility-it-had-left 

23 Women Accuse Former Queens Priest of Abusing Them as Children

A former teacher at a Catholic school in Queens who said she had reported the sexual abuse of seven female students by a priest in 1991 now claims that the Diocese of Brooklyn covered it up for more than a decade, allowing more girls to be abused.

The teacher, Linda Porcaro, said on Wednesday that she is coming forward now because the victims, on whose behalf she was speaking, are ready to seek justice. Over the last two months, 23 women who said they were abused by the former priest, Adam Prochaski, have become clients of the lawyer, Mitchell Garabedian, who was portrayed in the Oscar-winning film “Spotlight,” about clergy sex abuse. Most of the women’s claims have been referred to the police

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/11/nyregion/adam-prochaski-accused-of-sex-abuse-queens.html 

Head of Catholic Church body, set up to respond to Royal Commission into child sexual abuse, talks candidly to Jon Faine

"The Catholic Church has been the single largest institutional grouping to have perpetrated sexual abuse on children over the past half century," says Francis Sullivan, CEO of the Truth Justice Healing Council.
The Council was set up to coordinate the Catholic Church's response to the Royal Commission Into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

http://www.abc.net.au/radio/melbourne/programs/mornings/francis-sullivan/9041986 

Indonesia bishop resigns in finance, mistress scandal

A Roman Catholic bishop in Indonesia has resigned following reports that he had a mistress and siphoned off more than $100,000 in church funds.

Pope Francis on Wednesday accepted the resignation of Bishop Hubertus Leteng of Indonesia's Ruteng diocese. The Denpasar bishop, Monsignor Sylvester San, will run the diocese until a permanent replacement is found, the Vatican said.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/indonesia-bishop-resigns-finance-mistress-scandal-50411522 

Hollywood Actor Says Weinstein Sex Harassment Allegations Are 'Tip of Iceberg'

More Hollywood actors are coming out after the Harvey Weinstein accusations, saying he is just the tip of the iceberg and claiming there are predators in powerful studio roles.

One actor told NBC4 he has experienced it and wants the industry to be proactive to protect actors who are desperately following their dreams.

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Hollywood-Actor-Says-Weinstein-Sex-Harassment-Allegations-Are-Tip-of-Iceberg-450510843.html 

Catholic Church 'hiding behind the law' over historic abuse compensation claims

A man who was raped and beaten by priests and brothers as a 12-year-old says he felt like a beggar when he asked the Catholic Church for money to pay for medical bills for treatment of the mental and physical illness he suffered as a result of his abuse.

Russell Clark is just one of many survivors of abuse who signed deeds of release, which prevent them from taking further legal action or requesting more compensation. He was repeatedly raped and knocked unconscious as a schoolboy by priests and brothers at Salesian College in Adelaide in the 1960s.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-12/catholic-church-hiding-behind-law-on-abuse-compensation/9044660 

'Is he making light of this issue?'

Chris Hemsworth takes a swipe at Tony Abbott for shocking gaffe where former PM described himself as being not 'good-looking enough' to be a victim of child abuse.

Despite a busy schedule jam-packed with Hollywood films, big budget ad campaigns and family commitments, Chris Hemsworth has always ensured he makes time to lend a hand to charity organisations. Among a number of causes he's involved with, the Australian heartthrob is deeply proud of his role as a patron of the Australian Childhood Foundation. 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-4964572/Chris-Hemsworth-slams-Tony-Abbott-child-abuse-gaffe.html 

Catholic Church Releases List of Pedophile Priests — 74 in One Diocese

If you think the Catholic Church doesn’t have a massive problem with priests molesting children, take a look at this document from the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, New Mexico listing 74 who have been convicted of raping children either by the church, the state or both.

The letter expresses great sadness and sorrow, of course, but that is of little comfort to the hundreds of children who were raped. And it turns out that one reason this diocese had so many was because they were the ones who treated and counseled priests that were known child rapists.

 

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/dispatches/2017/09/19/catholic-church-releases-list-pedophile-priests-74-one-diocese/

Philippe Barbarin: French cardinal to face trial for not reporting child abuse

A senior French cardinal, Philippe Barbarin, is to be tried on charges of not reporting historical child abuse, according to reports.
The clergyman, who is also the Archbishop of Lyon, was once tipped as a successor to Pope Francis.
But he and six other priests have been ordered to appear in court for allegedly not speaking out against abuse said to be committed by another clergyman, Bernard Preynat, in the 1980s.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/philippe-barbarin-child-sex-abuse-not-report-trial-court-france-cardinal-catholic-church-a7955521.html

San Leandro teen: Catholic school, church diocese failed to prevent sex abuse by counselor

A San Leandro teen sued the Roman Catholic Diocese of Santa Rosa and an embattled school for traumatized boys Tuesday, claiming employees failed to prevent his sexual abuse by a counselor who took advantage of his troubled past.
Last fall, school officials discovered 22-year-old school counselor Angelica Malinski hiding inside the boy’s Sonoma dorm room. Malinski was arrested a short time later and charged with misdemeanor unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, as the boy was 17 at the time. Weeks earlier, Hanna Boys Center officials were put “on notice” about the pair meeting at night but did little about it, the lawsuit alleges.

http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/09/19/san-leandro-teen-catholic-school-church-diocese-failed-to-prevent-sex-abuse-by-counselor/ 

New penalties for cybersex trafficking

 Criminal: The rapid rise of cybersex trafficking – the live streaming of sexual exploitation of children – has galvanised international action by police, lawyers and politicians to act quickly to shut down the insidious crime.
THE rapid rise of cybersex trafficking – the live streaming of sexual exploitation of children – has galvanised international action by police, lawyers and politicians to act quickly to shut down the insidious crime.

http://catholicleader.com.au/news/new-penalties-for-cybersex-trafficking 

Expect the Inquisition

In the Catholic Church of Pope Francis, it is dangerous to be too conservative. Professor Josef Seifert, a distinguished Catholic philosopher from Austria, discovered this recently, when he was dismissed from his position at the University of Granada in Spain by the local archbishop.

Seifert’s sin was to have raised questions about “Amoris Laetitia,” the controversial papal exhortation on marriage, whose ambiguous statements on divorce and remarriage the philosopher described as a potential “theological atom bomb” for Catholic moral teaching. Such stark criticism of a sitting pope “damages the communion of the church,” Granada’s archbishop wrote, while retiring the professor from his academic post.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/20/opinion/catholic-church-pope-francis.html?emc=edit_tnt_20170920&nlid=63876270&tntemail0=y 

The Pills Are Everywhere’: How the Opioid Crisis Claims Its Youngest Victims

When Penny Mae Cormani died in Utah, her family sang Mormon hymns — “Be Still My Soul” — and lowered her small coffin into the earth. The latest victim of a drug epidemic that is now taking 60,000 lives a year, Penny was just 1.

Increasingly, parents and the police are encountering toddlers and young children unconscious or dead after consuming an adult’s opioids.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/20/us/opioid-deaths-children.html?emc=edit_tnt_20170920&nlid=63876270&tntemail0=y 

Rochdale abuse victims fear they will die before inquiry ends

Two victims of child sexual abuse in Rochdale fear they will not live to see the outcome of a national inquiry.

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) will look at abuse allegations in the area relating to the late MP Cyril Smith.  Evidence about Rochdale will be heard next month but a date for alleged abuse by him in Westminster is yet to be set.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-manchester-41335288# 

Australian marriage vote leads to business owner getting abuse and ‘rape’ threats to her child

The owner of a children’s party business in Canberra has received online abuse after she let go one of her contractors.
The 18-year-old contractor had posted a message on Facebook publicizing her decision to vote ‘no’ in the country’s plebiscite on same-sex marriage. The teenager, identified only as Madeline, posted a photo on her Facebook page with a filter over it saying, ‘It’s OK to vote No.’

https://www.gaystarnews.com/article/australia-marriage-madelin-sims/#gs.kx3H_f0 

Immersive 3D technology takes you inside the historic and horrific Parramatta Girls Home

It’s impossible for the vast majority of us to begin to understand the experiences of the young ‘children at risk’ who were held at the Parramatta Girls Home up until the early 1980s. Many of those girls were subjected to horrific punishments and sexual abuse during their time living at the facility, which was in operation as a girls home for almost a century.

https://dailyreview.com.au/parra-girls/65771/ 

Victims must come before studies of causes

Julie Robinson argues the years spent studying the causes for child abuse in the Catholic church would have been better spent supporting the victims of that abuse.

Former Catholic priests Peter Wilkinson and Des Cahill spent five years studying the reasons why there has been rampant child sex abuse in the Catholic church (“Melbourne study reveals how a global child sexual abuse tragedy occurred”, Herald 14/9).

http://www.theherald.com.au/story/4933124/victims-must-come-before-studies-of-causes/

Expert says Vatican botched response to child porn suspicions about envoy

German Jesuit Father Hans Zollner, who leads a child protection center at a Roman university and serves on a papal commission advising Francis on reform, says the Vatican should have been more transparent about recent reports that an envoy at the papal embassy in Washington, D.C., is part of an investigation for possible involvement in child pornography, seeing it as part of an going struggle to be more "up-front."

https://cruxnow.com/interviews/2017/09/28/expert-says-vatican-botched-response-child-porn-suspicions-envoy/ 

Several priests in prison for child sex abuse still being paid by Louisville Catholic church

They stand convicted of committing terrible sins, but pedophile priests are still being paid by the Catholic church in Louisville. "I think it's absurd," Michael Norris said. "I just don't understand it."
Norris is one of Fr. Joseph Hemmerle's victims, molested at age 11 at camp Tall Trees in Meade County in the 1970's.
"This man is who I was thought is an extension of God," Norris said. "That's what the Catholic church taught me. And here's God doing this to me. It really messes with your spirituality."

http://www.wdrb.com/story/36468424/catholic-church-in-louisville-continues-to-pay-pedophile-priests 

Judge Manibusan agrees with sex abuse plaintiffs; recommends denial of Apuron’s motion

For the alleged victims of dethroned Archbishop Anthony Apuron, they are one step closer to a potential victory. U.S. Magistrate Judge Joaquin Manibusan has recommended the denial of Apuron’s motion to dismiss the civil sex abuse lawsuits filed against him, which could set the tone for the remaining lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Agana.

It’s a recommendation that could change the course for the scores of sex abuse lawsuits filed agains the Archdiocese of Agana. Manibusan issued his report and recommendation on a motion to dismiss filed by Archbishop Anthony Apuron’s attorney, Jacque Terlaje. 

http://pacificnewscenter.com/judge-manibusan-agrees-with-sex-abuse-plaintiffs-recommends-denial-of-apurons-motion/ 

Diocese Of Brooklyn Accused Of Covering Up Ex-Priest's Sexual Abuse

More than a dozen women have come forward in recent weeks to accuse a former Queens-based Catholic priest of sexual abuse, and to allege that both Maspeth's Holy Cross Church and the Diocese of Brooklyn worked to cover up decades of his predatory behavior.
According to attorney Mitchell Garabedian, fifteen women now say they were sexually abused by Father Adam Prochaski, who was assigned to the Holy Cross parish from 1969 to 1994. The alleged victims, now between the ages of 37 and 50, claim the abuse started when they were as young as 5 years old, and lasted well into their teenage years. Prochaski is believed to still be living in Queens.

http://gothamist.com/2017/09/28/church_priest_sex_abuse_brooklyn.php 

Sixties Scoop organization aims to bring adoptees home

A newly formed Sixties Scoop organization wants to bring adoptees who were sent abroad home. The Indigenous Survivors of Child Welfare Network held a news conference Tuesday in Ottawa to ask the federal government for an apology and reparations.

“All of us were trafficked all over Canada and the world,” said Colleen Cardinal, co-founder of the network. “So how do you apologize for that? How do you make reparations? 

http://aptnnews.ca/2017/09/26/sixties-scoop-organization-aims-to-bring-adoptees-home/

The Latin Mass, Thriving in Southeastern Nigeria

In August, under a bright blue sky and in front of 2,500 worshipers, Bishop Gregory Ochiagha performed the first traditional Latin ordination in Nigeria since the vernacular liturgy was introduced after Vatican II. Near the end of the Mass, the 86-year-old bishop nearly fainted. “I am so happy, I am so happy,” he whispered as he was led to a chair.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/30/opinion/sunday/catholics-nigeria-traditional-mass.html?emc=edit_tnt_20170930&nlid=63876270&tntemail0=y

Sexual harm service update - progress on helpline, new services, evaluation

The Ministry of Social Development's (MSD) latest update on "sexual harm" service development provides a brief summary of progress on the national helpline, services that were out for tender, and service evaluation plans.
The national sexual harm helpline will be called “Safe to Talk.” The helpline is expected to go live on 1 December 2017 MSD organised eight roadshows around the country where people could ask questions and talk to Homecare Medical, who will deliver the helpline. The questions and answers from the roadshows are available on the MSD website.

https://nzfvc.org.nz/news/sexual-harm-service-update-progress-helpline-new-services-evaluation 

Barnardo’s black history in the words and pictures of long-forgotten children

To celebrate the start of Black History Month, the charity is sharing its archive of photographs and poignant testimonials with the Observer, at last giving a voice to the orphans it welcomed into its homes 120 years ago
A hidden store of remarkable personal testimonies, told by a selection of black children and teenagers given shelter by the Barnardo’s organisation up to 120 years ago, has been shared with the Observer this weekend, along with a series of original admission photographs.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/01/barnardos-black-history-victorian-archive-children-photos-testimonials 

Attacks on the credibility of abuse survivors are not justified by research

For a quarter of a century, the concept of “false memories” has provided a scientific fig leaf for sceptics of child sexual abuse allegations.
The “false memory” argument is deceptively simple: children and adults are prone to invent false memories of child sexual abuse that never occurred, particularly if encouraged by a therapist or some other authority figure. So-called “recovered memories”, in which adults recall sexual abuse in childhood after a period of amnesia, have been a particular focus of disbelief.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/oct/02/attacks-on-the-credibility-of-abuse-survivors-are-not-justified-by-research 

Australia and New Zealand Association of Psychotherapy Conference

Sydney, New South Wales Saturday 30 September 2017

The Hon. Justice Peter McClellan AM
Chair, Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse
The sexual abuse of a child is a terrible crime. It is perpetrated against the most innocent in our community. It is the gravest of personal violations.
Countless thousands of children have been abused in many institutions in Australia. Many institutions have had multiple abusers who sexually abuse children. We must accept that it has been occurring in every generation. We know that the risk to children remains today. Although as our institutional structures evolve, and our means of social interaction change, the circumstances of risk may vary, it is a mistake to assume that abuse in institutions will not occur. There is a need for continuing development of effective government regulation, improvement in institutional governance and increasing community awareness of the problem. There is a need for the education of the community with respect to the risks to children. We must also develop our understanding of the needs of those who have been abused and be prepared to respond to those needs.

http://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/media-centre/speeches/australia-and-new-zealand-association-of-psychothe