Saturday Soapbox: Catholic church whistleblowers need protection to expose abuse.

Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, a gay man in a church that teaches homosexual behavior is sinful, has been exposed as a sexual predator who targeted males, mostly seminarians, and young boys. According to Kenneth Woodward (former religious editor for Newsweek, Commonweal -11/9/18), McCarrick, the former archbishop of Washington, D.C., was not only protected by his high office but by a network of gay clerics that had secrets to keep. Woodward writes, “By network, I mean groups of gay priests, diocesan and religious, who encourage the sexual grooming of seminarians and young priests for decades, and who themselves lead double lives – breaking their vows of chastity while ministering to the laity and staffing the various bureaucracies of the church.”

https://www.yakimaherald.com/opinion/saturday-soapbox-catholic-church-whistleblowers-need-protection-to-expose-abuse/article_7bd503d6-e929-11e8-b016-778929e01d80.html 

Paedophile priest was paid by church AFTER he was jailed for his sex abuse

The Catholic Church in Birmingham gave money for years to a priest AFTER he was released from prison for abusing children. Father Samuel Penney, who was based at St Mary and St Modwen Church, in Burton upon Trent in the 1970s, was given the cash so he could settle in another part of the country, an inquiry has heard. The shamed priest was jailed for seven-and-a-half years in 1993 for sex assaults on boys and girls.

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/paedophile-priest-paid-church-after-15460496 

15 more victims of sexual abuse in Scouting Ireland come forward

An internal review has so far identified 108 alleged abuse victims and 71 alleged abusers in the youth organization, with most cases dating between the 1960s and 1980s, TheJournal.ie reports. Safeguarding expert Ian Elliott, the former chief executive of the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland, told the Joint Committee on Children and Youth Affairs that the reports have come from a number of sources including “an increasing number of people coming forward.”

https://www.irishcentral.com/news/victims-sexual-abuse-scouting-ireland-come-forward 

'He was inside my sleeping bag... I was half asleep' - unlocked filing cabinet at Scouting HQ exposes history of child abuse

Mark was an excited six-year-old when he joined the Catholic Boy Scouts. His family was enthusiastic too. His mother joined in with other mothers baking for cake sales and jumble sales to fund scouting trips. The Scout Master became a good friend of his parents, dropping in on the family unannounced.

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/he-was-inside-my-sleeping-bag-i-was-half-asleep-unlocked-filing-cabinet-at-scouting-hq-exposes-history-of-child-abuse-37562741.html 

Convicted Archbishop 'knew about' claims on paedophile priest. NZ

A survivor of clerical sex abuse says the Archbishop of Adelaide would have known about allegations of offending by a paedophile priest who abused at least one girl in New Zealand. Archbishop of Adelaide Philip Wilson, the highest ranked Catholic in the world convicted for concealing clerical child abuse, was sentenced yesterday to a year in detention. He covered up for priest James Fletcher in New South Wales in the 1970s.

https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/361045/convicted-archbishop-knew-about-claims-on-paedophile-priest

Police investigating former Catholic priest. NZ

An ex-Catholic priest living in Asia who was nicknamed "the Phantom Feeler" by boys at a leading Wellington Catholic school is being investigated by police. A man who says he witnessed the priest groping boys in the 1970s said the Church and school must do more to uncover the extent of Father AM Donnelly's crimes. Police recently interviewed two men in their 50s who said they saw the dormitory master groping a boy under the sheets one night in a dorm at St Patrick's College, Silverstream, in 1974.

https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/368900/police-investigating-former-catholic-priest

Support group reveals more victims as Church stands silent. NZ

More survivors of clerical sex abuse are coming forward after Catholic school Old Boys formed an online support network as the Church continues stonewalling over the extent of sexual predation. As the new victims emerged, a Catholic religious order used the upcoming Royal Commission as a reason for not providing information to RNZ about known child abusers, even though a report on faith-based abuse is not due until 2023.

https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/376800/support-group-reveals-more-victims-as-church-stands-silent 

Understanding Sex Abuse: An Interview with Cyndie Randall, MA, LLPC

If we want to fight sex abuse in the church, the first step is educating ourselves. We have to understand what abuse is and how predators operate. I asked Cyndie Randall, MA, LLPC to answer some questions so we can be better equipped to fight this evil. As you read, look out for links to resources she’s provided for us so we can learn even more.

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/waystationinthewilderness/2018/11/understanding-sex-abuse/ 

Monday Mix: Sex abuse probes, 'controlling' church, Mormon Jesus, sanctuary arrest, empty churches

Welcome to another edition of the Monday Mix, where we focus on headlines and insights you might have missed from the weekend and late in the week. The fine print: Just because we include a headline here doesn't mean we won't offer additional analysis in a different post, particularly if it's a major story. In fact, if you read a piece linked here and have questions or concerns that we might address, please don't hesitate to comment below or tweet us at @GetReligion. The goal here is to point at important news and say, "Hey, look at this."

https://www.getreligion.org/getreligion/2018/11/26/monday-mix-clergy-abuse-inquiries-controlling-church-lds-and-jesus-immigration-arrest-empty-churches 

‘The tongue kills like a knife’: Pope Francis equates gossiping with terrorism

In a strongly worded warning, Pope Francis decried gossip as a form of “terrorism” which ruins reputations, and said that fake news is a modern day scourge of the church faithful. During his Wednesday address to the general public in St. Peter’s Square, the Pope explored the eighth commandment, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

https://www.rt.com/news/443981-pope-francis-gossip-terrorism/ 

Head of U.S. Catholic bishops kept 2 priests accused of abuse in active ministry

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo is president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, making him one of the most powerful Catholic officials in the country. He has also been one of the most vocal critics of the church’s handling of its sex abuse scandal. But this summer, Rev. Manuel La Rosa-Lopez, a priest whom DiNardo had promoted, was arrested for allegedly molesting two children. DiNardo, the archbishop of Galveston-Houston since 2006, has vowed to release by January a list of all the priests in Houston who have been, in the church’s judgment, “credibly accused” of sexually abusing a child.

https://kpax.com/news/national-news/2018/11/21/head-of-u-s-catholic-bishops-kept-2-priests-accused-of-abuse-in-active-ministry/ 

Spring mother of church abuse accuser not too hopeful son's priest will be on clergy list

Ahead of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston publishing a list of all clergy "credibly accused' of sexual abuse, a mother of one alleged victim isn't hopeful the priest her son says abused him will be on it. Carol LaBonte, of Spring, has been frustrated with the church she loves for years. "It has been covered up and covered up and covered up," she said. "I've had it."

https://abc13.com/mom-of-church-abuse-accuser-not-too-hopeful-in-clergy-list/4737024/ 

Catholic Cardinal: LGBTQ People Are to Blame for Sex Abuse Scandal

The former doctrine chief for the Catholic Church told a conservative website the child sex abuse scandal in the church is tied to growing influence of LGBTQ ideology, which he said was based on atheism and the denial of God. Cardinal Gerhard Müller, the former Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, spoke with the far-right website LifeSite regarding the recent resignation of Cardinal Theodore McCarrick amid allegations of sexual misconduct.

https://www.advocate.com/religion/2018/11/23/catholic-cardinal-lgbtq-people-are-blame-sex-abuse-scandal 

Why Catholic bishops are terrified of investigations

The Pennsylvania Grand Jury report into clerical sex abuse in the Catholic Church and the Australian Royal Commission on child sex-abuse have an English equivalent in the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, which is currently taking evidence from witnesses, in public hearings.

https://catholiccitizens.org/views/82277/why-catholic-bishops-are-terrified-of-investigations/ 

Even as the Catholic Church claims to come clean, something is not right

The only thing that can save the Roman Catholic Church in America is the truth, and the truth is going to hurt. This is the choice facing the ecclesial establishment, which must decide either to release its vast records related to clergy sexual abuse, or wait for state and federal investigations to deprive them of those documents by force of law. If the church awaits the latter, then the Pennsylvania grand jury report that sparked this summer’s blistering revisitation of the sex abuse crisis will only be the beginning.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-catholic-churchs-future-depends-on-making-a-true-confession/2018/11/23/7b20c7ca-eb42-11e8-96d4-0d23f2aaad09_story.html?utm_term=.da8b56ef5095 

Glimmer of hope for Lake Alice state abuse survivors

Warning: This story contains distressing content. From January next year the Royal Commission will begin its inquiry into historical abuse in state care and faith-based institutions. One of the facilities under its microscope will be the notorious Lake Alice Child and Adolescent Unit. Despite 41 former Lake Alice patients making complaints of both physical and sexual abuse, police have never prosecuted anyone.

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/shows/2018/11/glimmer-of-hope-for-lake-alice-state-abuse-survivors.html 

French priest and bishop convicted over sexual abuse of minors

A French priest has been sentenced to two years in prison for sexual abuse of multiple children, while his former bishop has been given a suspended sentence of eight months for failing to report the crimes. A court in the city of Orleans in central France on Thursday handed down the verdict against the priest, Pierre de Castelet, and the retired bishop, Andre Fort. A court official said the ruling forbids de Castelet from working as a priest or meeting with minors, puts him on a national list of sex offenders, and orders him to receive psychiatric treatment.

https://www.today.ng/news/world/french-priest-bishop-convicted-abuse-minors-173073 

Memory of childhood rape by priest motivates Warwick man to fight for other victims

David Silipigni says his life was ruined by what happened to him as a child at the St. Aloysius Home, an orphanage run by the Diocese of Providence. Now he’s fighing to give other victims the legal remedy that he’ll never have. For nearly his entire life, David S. Silipigni has lived in a jail cell or a room the size of one. He paces a room the way memories pace his mind, turning to what he says happened nearly 50 years ago, when he was a little boy in the care of a Catholic orphanage in Smithfield.

http://www.providencejournal.com/news/20181123/memory-of-childhood-rape-by-priest-motivates-warwick-man-to-fight-for-other-victims 

Why we need to tax the ‘costly joke’ of religion

Royal Commissions have been in the news lately. And it’s been a sad and sorry time. Last month was the National Apology following the findings of the inquiry into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse. That happened while the top end of town was reeling from revelations from the investigation into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry. Now we’ve got another starting in Adelaide looking into Aged Care Quality and Safety.

https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/lifestyle/sa-weekend/why-we-need-to-tax-the-costly-joke-of-religion/news-story/454b9fde5a236486cfb870b5cd12f9b4 

After Catholic sex abuse cover-ups, we in the pews must no longer simply pray & pay

No Instead of giving the church money each week on their plate... leave them a note about covering up child abuse and child rape... that will soon hit their pockets... you have to be one stop ahead of the priest and nuns... because they two help themselves to church Charity Funds... I have seen that in the mediation in 2003... they open their own charities within the catholic church... they just cover them up with a name... which you do not need to question the church about... just leave them a note... Like the cover up of innocent children being raped every day... they will tell the people who left them a note instead of money... they will say that you were the only one... who left them a note... don't be fooled with their twisted words... I feel that giving the church a note for about a month should do the trick... but every one needs to do it... yes Mike the best thing to do is walk away... walk right out of the church and more people need to do that as well.. Put the word around... no money to the catholic church... until she comes clean about child rape... tell your friends and relations ... hit them where it hurts... their pockets... Ann 

============================================= 

 Longer term, we should work toward transforming the church leadership. Lay experts should be involved in clergy assignments when the safety of children is at stake. We should create an office of the lay provost to perform oversight and accountability. We should evaluate how to create a priesthood for the 21st century that attracts people to a revitalized Catholic Church. We need better screening procedures for new priests.

Holding the holy accountable

Imagine a multinational corporation, Apple, if you will. A global entity, one that can reach far and wide with a strong following. It has a language that only its followers can truly understand, a public face who is the gateway between the higher-ups and the public, and an image that has made it both highly adored and loathed.

https://www.thetriangle.org/opinion/holding-the-holy-accountable/ 

Communities respond to abuse: Dunedin opted for ‘prayer and penance’

There are no immediate plans for the Catholic Diocese of Dunedin to follow in Wellington’s footsteps by asking priests to fast to atone for historic sexual abuse by clergy. It was reported yesterday priests in the Wellington region were spending the day praying and fasting to atone for clerical sexual abuse.

https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/insight/communities-respond-abuse-dunedin-opted-%E2%80%98prayer-and-penance%E2%80%99 

This week a ‘best of times, worst of times’ montage on abuse crisis

ROME - Charles Dickens famously described the French Revolution as the “best of times, the worst of times.” Catholicism too seems to be experiencing a revolutionary moment fueled by the clerical sexual abuse scandals, and the opening week of this month’s Synod of Bishops in Rome has, in that sense, seemed a highly Dickensian experience.

https://cruxnow.com/news-analysis/2018/10/06/this-week-a-best-of-times-worst-of-times-montage-on-abuse-crisis/ 

Cardinal Nichols to Face Questions About British Abuse Case Involving Predecessor

Amid a British investigation into sexual abuse, Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster is expected to face questions regarding the way his archdiocese handled allegations of misconduct made against his predecessor, Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor. Cardinal Nichols is scheduled to testify in November before the Independent Inquiry in Child Sexual Abuse, a panel established by the British government in 2014 and charged with reviewing sexual abuse and institutional response in the country’s Catholic dioceses, the Anglican Church and other British institutions.

http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/cardinal-nichols-to-face-questions-about-british-abuse-case-involving-prede 

Wyoming Reopens Catholic Sex Abuse Case

The Catholic Church, already beaten by blasts of sexual abuse allegations from around the world, will get another one. The Diocese of Cheyenne and Diocese of Green Bay have contacted local law enforcement authorities to reopen an old sexual abuse case involving a former priest, Bishop Emeritus Joseph Hart. Among the many cases against him, the police have zeroed upon one particular instance of a 14-year-old male allegedly abused by the priest in 1977.

https://www.worldreligionnews.com/religion-news/wyoming-reopens-catholic-sex-abuse-case

The Case against Pope Francis

He has elevated immoral men in order to change the Catholic faith Just over five years ago, the Argentine cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio came out onto the loggia of St. Peter’s as Pope Francis. It is useful to recall the situation of the Church that he inherited. The sex-abuse scandals that had rocked the Church in America and some European countries at the turn of the millennium were subsiding, or so it seemed. But the dysfunction at the Vatican under Pope Benedict XVI had overwhelmed the scholarly pontiff.

https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2018/10/29/case-against-pope-francis-catholic-church/ 

Pa. Catholic churches offer fund for victims of priest sex abuse, but there's a catch

This could be a big help for people who can't wait for a lengthy court case or cannot emotionally endure that. But it restricts access to information that could help prevent more abuse. People who were sexually abused by priests as children have a new avenue for justice in settlement funds being set up by Roman Catholic Dioceses in Pennsylvania, but taking the money now means they can never sue the church in court.

https://www.ydr.com/story/news/2018/11/08/pa-priest-abuse-catholic-dioceses-start-fund-pay-victims/1932383002/ 

Spanish Church abuse victim: “He didn’t stop until he saw that we were on the verge of tears”

The Salesian religious order has stood by Father López Luna, who is under investigation for abusing a 13-year-old. The following testimony is one of several making up an EL PAÍS series exposing decades of offenses by the clergy. The Salesian religious order still has a priest within its ranks who is under investigation for abusing a 13-year-old child in 2013. As confirmed by EL PAÍS, Father Francisco Javier López Luna maintains an office at the National Center for Youth Pastoral Care on Calle Alcalá, in Madrid.

https://elpais.com/elpais/2018/11/02/inenglish/1541175258_782462.html 

How A Sex Abuser Rose To Become Cardinal

Newark, New Jersey, is the home of one of the largest dioceses in the country, an estimated one million Catholics. The archbishop of that diocese works from a basilica, the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart, that rivals the most beautiful in the world. It stands out as a beacon sandwiched between Branch Brook Park and neighborhoods still blighted by the Newark riots of the 60s. It’s the fifth biggest cathedral in North America, houses the largest pipe organ ever built by Schantz Organ Company, and has been a routine stop for popes visiting the United States.

https://abovethelaw.com/2018/11/how-a-sex-abuser-rose-to-become-cardinal/ 

All Revved Up: Can The Catholic Church Redeem Itself?

Despite repeated sex abuse scandals and promises from church elders that change would come, a Boston Globe and Philadelphia Inquirer investigation revealed that more than 130 U.S. Catholic bishops — roughly one third of those still living — have been accused of failing to adequately respond to sexual misconduct. Reverends Irene Monroe and Emmett G. Price III joined Jim Braude and Margery Eagan on Boston Public Radio for their weekly All Revved Up segment to look at the institution that continues despite decades-long mishandling of abuse.

https://www.wgbh.org/news/national-news/2018/11/05/all-revved-up-can-the-catholic-church-redeem-itself 

OKC Archdiocese Confirms Reopening Investigation Into Priest Abuse Allegations

The Catholic Church is reopening an investigation into an Oklahoma priest accused of sexually abusing a child. The Archdiocese of Oklahoma City says Father James Mickus has been removed from ministry and is not serving during this investigation. It all stems from an investigation years ago. Court documents show in 2002 an Oklahoma man accused Father James Mickus of abusing him in the 1980s.

http://www.news9.com/story/39421589/okc-archdiocese-confirms-reopening-investigation-into-priest-abuse-allegations 

Catholic priests react to clergy sex abuse meeting with Bishop Malone

Bishop Richard Malone gathered all the priests in the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo for a meeting to discuss the clergy sex abuse scandal Monday afternoon. This, is the wake of explosive reporting by the 7 Eyewitness News I-Team in recent months that has shed light on the extent of Bishop Malone's involvement in the crisis.

https://www.wkbw.com/news/catholic-priests-react-to-clergy-sex-abuse-meeting-with-bishop-malone 

Eight Catholic priests with Memphis assignments on list of abuse allegations

Three of eight former Roman Catholic priests connected to the Catholic Diocese of Nashville accused of child sexual abuse and dismissed from the priesthood had church assignments in Memphis. They are included in a longer list released Friday in Nashville of 13 priests accused of child sexual abuse. Until the establishment of the separate Diocese of Memphis in 1971, the Nashville Diocese covered the entire state of Tennessee.

https://www.dailymemphian.com/article/1077/Eight-Catholic-priests-with-Memphis-assignments-on-list-of-abuse-allegations 

Buffalo bishop revises priest abuse list, fends off critics

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Buffalo, New York, has added 36 names to its public list of priests with substantiated claims of sexual abuse of a child, bringing the total to 78.Officials say they will not name. Bishop Malone opening remarks The Catholic Diocese of Buffalo has released a new list of 36 priests accused of sexual abuse of a minor. This is in addition to the original list of 42 priests that the Diocese released earlier this year.

https://www.onenewspage.com/video/20181106/11009238/Bishop-Malone-opening-remarks.htm 

Dark secret: Kiwi priest's victims tell of ruined lives

A paedophile priest who left a trail of victims in his wake was allowed to continue as a man of the cloth for nearly two decades after his offending was revealed to the Bishop of Dunedin. Survivors say it shows why the Catholic Church should be part of a Royal Commission into historic abuse. Chris Morris investigates. Forgiveness is a hard word to say, even now, for one of the innocent boys abused by a Catholic priest in Dunedin.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12099220 

Calls mount to defrock 91-year-old New Zealand priest

Magnus Murray has served jail time for sexually abusing young boys but scholars say church too lenient on exposed pedophiles. A theology lecturer at the Catholic theological college that educates New Zealand seminarians is calling to defrock 91-year-old priest Magnus Murray, reports the Otago Daily Times. Dr Rocio Figueroa (pictured) of Good Shepherd College, Te Hepara Pai, says the Church’s response needs to be “centred on the victims, not covering up the perpetrators or trying to protect the institution.”

https://cathnews.co.nz/2018/08/02/defrock-91-year-old-priest/ 

NZ Catholic Church withholds findings on sex abuse claims

The Catholic Church has withheld its findings about a child sex abuse accusation for months from the man who laid the complaint. The man said he was “re-traumatised” and it proved the church’s pledge to put victims first were empty. This comes at the same time as the church hired a Wellington public relations consultant in the run-up to the Royal Commission into state abuse.

https://malesurvivor.nz/nz-catholic-church-withholds-findings-on-sex-abuse-claims/ 

Victims’ advocate loses faith in an ‘incapable’ Church body

A sexual abuse survivors’ advocate says she can no longer refer people to the Catholic Church’s body for dealing with complaints, saying it is dangerously incapable of dealing with victims. Annie Hill said the National Office for Professional Standards (NOPS), which manages the Church’s complaints procedure, had been chronically slow responding to emails, was not transparent and had demonstrated a dangerous lack of empathy with very vulnerable people.

https://malesurvivor.nz/victims-advocate-loses-faith-in-an-incapable-church-body/ 

‘You try to forget’: Man remembers alleged abuse at St. Joseph’s Oratory

A week before the Supreme Court of Canada is set to hear arguments over whether Montreal’s St. Joseph’s Oratory should be included in a sexual assault class action suit, one alleged victim is speaking out for the first time about the abuse he remembers suffering at the iconic institution. Pierre-Yves Asselin, now 68, says he was repeatedly sexually abused — between the ages of 8 and 17 — at the hands of oratory staff and members of the Congregation of Holy Cross.

https://montrealgazette.com/news/it-always-comes-back-to-you-man-speaks-out-about-alleged-sexual-abuse-at-st-josephs-oratory 

Whistleblower says Buffalo bishop left names off list of allegedly abusive priests

That was just appalling to me that they were creating this list that was woefully inaccurate, but it was also, it was a lie. We were lying to the people," the former worker said. The crisis in the Roman Catholic Church over its handling of allegations of sexual abuse by its clergy is engulfing the diocese in Buffalo, New York, where a former executive assistant to the bishop says she has talked to the FBI and turned over documents about an alleged cover-up of sexual abuse by priests.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/whistleblower-says-buffalo-bishop-left-names-list-allegedly-abusive-priests-n929576 

Abuse cover-up over, priest leaves home next to Iowa school

This Oct. 26, 2018 photo shows Marian Home and Village in Fort Dodge, Iowa. A bishop is vowing to relocate a priest who had been placed in the Iowa retirement home next to a Catholic school, despite a history of sexually abusing boys. The move comes in response to an Associated Press story exposing the church's three-decade cover-up of abuse committed by the Rev. Jerome Coyle. Coyle admitted in 1986 that he had sexually abused approximately 50 boys over the prior 20 years while serving at several parishes in Iowa.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/abuse-cover-up-over-priest-leaves-home-next-to-iowa-school 

Keep fighting clergy abuse, say Irish church leaders

Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin warned there was "a danger of complacency or inertia or of slippage into false confidence" in the church's fight against clerical abuse. We need you! Support independent Catholic journalism. Addressing the annual National Child Safeguarding Conference in Kilkenny in late October, the Dublin archbishop told safeguarding delegates from dioceses, parishes and religious orders across Ireland that, with renewed focus on worldwide abuse this summer, people with whom the church had been in contact years ago got back in touch.

https://www.ncronline.org/news/accountability/keep-fighting-clergy-abuse-say-irish-church-leaders 

Ribbons tied to Wellington church by child sexual abuse survivors removed

Ribbons put on a Wellington church by child sexual abuse survivors and their supporters have been promptly taken down by the parish priest. The ribbons were tied to the fence of the St Mary of the Angels Catholic church in Boulcott St on Thursday, but by Friday morning, they had been removed. They were put up to acknowledge historic sexual abuse of children in the Wellington Diocese, particularly at St Patrick's College in Silverstream and Wellington City, and St Bernard's College in Lower Hutt.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/108302448/ribbons-tied-to-wellington-church-by-child-sexual-abuse-survivors-removed 

Sexual abuse allegation against bishop involving teen boy deemed ‘credible and substantiated’

An auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of New York City has been removed from public ministry after having been credibly accused of sexual abuse with a 13-year-old male. In a sober address to the archdiocese posted on Facebook, Cardinal Timothy Dolan said, “I’ve got some sad news to tell you, and I want you to hear it from me before it goes public, because I owe it to you.” Dolan then went on to explain why Auxiliary Bishop John Jenik is stepping aside.

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/sexual-abuse-allegation-against-bishop-involving-teen-boy-deemed-credible-a 

Three dozen priests and clergy accused of sexual abuse in Northeast Ohio

The Youngstown Catholic Diocese has released more details about priests and clergy members accused of sexual abuse. Cleveland 19 looked at the list of parishes these priests and clergy members served at while here in Northeast Ohio. There are 31 accused abusers in churches from Massillon to Youngstown. We found eight churches and one high school in Canton, three parishes in Massillon, three in Ashtabula and two each in Alliance, Conneaut and Louisville.

https://www.cleveland19.com/2018/11/02/three-dozen-priests-clergy-accused-sexual-abuse-northeast-ohio/ 

'What did we do?': Anger, shock from parents who unwittingly housed sexually abusive Iowa priest

Reuben and Tania Ortiz were remorseful and wondering: Did we really invite a sexual predator to sleep under the same roof as our children? Reuben said he had to patrol his own house, installing locks on bedroom doors and sleeping in his living room to keep watch on his 13-, 15- and 17-year-olds. Now, he worries that his efforts weren't enough to protect his kids from admitted pedophile the Rev. Jerome Coyle.

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/crime-and-courts/2018/11/02/iowa-priest-sex-sexual-abuse-jerome-coyle-ortiz-family-diocese-sioux-city-reuben-ortiz-tania-ortiz/1849583002/ 

Law professors demand Germany investigate sex abuse in its 27 dioceses

Based on the German bishops’ recently published sex abuse report, six law experts have now brought charges against all 27 German dioceses to the responsible attorneys general throughout the country. Pointing to the U.S. and other countries, they think that a thorough investigation of sex abuse crimes in the Church is also needed in Germany. The law professors see enough evidence and legal grounds for a state investigation

https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/law-professors-demand-germany-investigate-sex-abuse-in-its-27-dioceses 

Prosecutors investigating if church covered up case of Catholic priest impregnating a teenage altar girl

Authorities are investigating whether a Roman Catholic diocese in Ohio responded appropriately last November when it learned that a priest for two of its parishes had taken a now-pregnant altar girl to a wedding reception last November, Athens County Prosecutor Keller Blackburn said.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6346979/Prosecutor-Altar-girl-relationship-priest-pregnant.html