San Jose clergyman opens up about being sexually abused by priest

Santa Clara University leaders are shedding light on the Catholic Church's sexual abuse crisis. "Today, I come before you, not only speaking for victims, but I speak to you as a victim myself," said Fr. Brendan McGuire with the San Jose Diocese. In front of hundreds, Father McGuire shared his survival story of sexual abuse at the hands of a priest when he was younger.

https://abc7news.com/san-jose-priest-opens-up-about-being-a-sexually-abused/4450136/ 

Abuse inquiry a chance to confront NZ's history - Ardern

What about us babies who were stolen from our mother's arms at birth... by the catholic church nuns... and the government paid for our keep???...  Ann

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Minister for Children Tracy Martin said the draft terms of reference approved by Cabinet task the Royal Commission with looking into what abuse happened in state care, why it happened and what the impacts were, particularly for Māori.
The establishment of the Royal Commission into Historical Abuse in State Care meets an election commitment from Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who took power in October. "If they experienced abuse and we as the caregiver of that child didn't know, didn't act, didn't make sure that we had checks in place to ensure the child was safe", said Ardern.

http://newburghgazette.com/2018/02/01/abuse-inquiry-a-chance-to-confront-nzs-history-ardern/ 

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Assault released a scathing report on Wednesday, which condemned the church’s Ballarat diocese leaders, who were responsible for parishes across the region. “That harm could have been avoided if the church had acted in the interests of children rather than in its own interests,” the report said. “It was only when there was a possibility that the sexual abuse of children by a priest would become widely known that any action was taken. “Invariably, that action was to remove the priest from the community for a short period and then place him in another, more distant parish.

Cardinal Pell to ordain 10 transitional deacons for the ordinariate

The 10 men are expected to be ordained as priests next year Cardinal George Pell is to ordain 10 men as deacons for the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham next month.

The group includes two men who are in their fifth year of studies for the priesthood and are on course to become the first clergy who have undertaken their entire formation within the ordinariate.

http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2017/05/26/cardinal-pell-to-ordain-10-transitional-deacons-for-the-ordinariate/ 

Catholic church claims 'seismic shift' after child sexual abuse scandals

The Catholic church says it has made a seismic shift in holding its leaders accountable for protecting Australian children after decades of abuse by hundreds of pedophiles. The church says its new national professional standards body will ensure consistency across its autonomous dioceses and orders.
Each bishop and religious leader will sign a contract agreeing to abide by the standards and be monitored, audited and subject to public reporting, the church’s Truth Justice and Healing Council chief executive, Francis Sullivan, said. “It is quite a seismic shift for the Catholic church in holdings leaders to account,” Sullivan said. “It is necessary in order to achieve consistency for survivors.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/feb/19/catholic-church-claims-seismic-shift-after-child-sexual-abuse-scandals 

Irish Times struggles with non-Catholic abuse

n 2001 Irish Times reporter Carol Coulter wrote a short article outlining allegations of abuse affecting Smyly’s Church of Ireland Children’s Home. The report referred to preparation of a report by the health board. What the report said and indeed whether it was written were never reported.
The paper did not investigate further. On 16 January 2003 Coulter commented on: “…the stereotypical treatment of our longest-standing minority, the Protestant community, which has been presented as a homogenous group whose minority status somehow puts it beyond any criticism or analytical discussion”.

https://villagemagazine.ie/index.php/2017/02/irish-times-struggles-with-non-catholic-abuse/ 

Clergy abuse cases won't be dismissed from local courts

Superior Court Judge Arthur R. Barcinas this week granted the Archdiocese of Agana’s request for more time to respond to lawsuits which accuse Catholic clergy of sexually abusing and raping former altar boys.

The judge also stated that the cases will not be dismissed in the Superior Court of Guam, even though 12 of the 15 clergy abuse lawsuits filed in local court had also been filed in the U.S. District Court of Guam as of Thursday afternoon. Attorneys representing the former altar boys have said they started filing the cases in federal court because eight Superior Court judges recused themselves. The judges cited conflicts of interest or potential conflicts of interest.

http://www.guampdn.com/story/news/2017/02/03/clergy-abuse-cases-wont-dismissed-local-courts/97435424/ 

Australian priest confesses to child abuse

An Australian priest used the confessional box to admit abusing altar boys, believing he was reconciling his continued offending with God. Another laughed after getting absolution, knowing the priest could not break the seal of confession.
Whether what is heard in the confessional should continue to stay in the confessional is one of the matters being considered by the child sex abuse royal commission as it again turns its focus to widespread offending in the Catholic Church in Australia.

http://www.skynews.com.au/news/world/asiapacific/2017/02/05/australian-priest-confesses-to-child-abuse.html 

Victims tell of abuse by notorious Stannies paedophile priest Brian Spillane

Victims of the notorious paedophile priest Brian Joseph Spillane have told of devastating and lifelong effects suffered due to the sexual abuse experienced at a prestigious Catholic country boarding school between the 1970s and 1990s.
Spillane, 73, sat with his back to the public gallery and refused to look at the victims during the harrowing accounts given to the Downing Centre District Court on Friday.

http://www.northerndailyleader.com.au/story/4445332/victims-tell-of-abuse-by-notorious-stannies-paedophile-priest-brian-spillane/?cs=4141 

St Stanislaus College paedophile priest turned children's lives into 'indescribable hell'

Victims of the notorious paedophile priest Brian Joseph Spillane have told a Sydney court about the "indescribable hell" their lives became after being abused as children at St Stanislaus College at Bathurst.

Spillane is being sentenced on 18 offences including buggery and sexual assault after being found guilty after two separate trials last year.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-03/st-stanislaus-college-paedophile-priest-sentence/8238090 

Royal Commission into sexual abuse: Senior Catholic leaders called to give evidence

Every Catholic archbishop in the country except for Hobart is being called to give evidence at a royal commission hearing starting next week in Sydney.
Key points:

•  Most of the Australia’s senior Catholic leaders will front the commission in its final weeks
• Catholic leaders warn parishioners about grim data on child sexual abuse by clergy that will be produced
•  First time the Catholic Church has been so open about this information, victim advocates say.

http://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2017/02/04/sex-abuse-royal-commission-senior-catholic-leaders-called-give-evidence-next-week/ 

The Jesuits covered up for an abusive Brother and merely moved him to another school

Jesuit priests and brothers operate some of Australia's most prominent schools, with famous ex-students such as former prime minister Tony Abbott. After Brother Victor Higgs committed sexual offences against boys at one of these schools (St Ignatius College, Adelaide), the Jesuits kept Brother Higgs as a member of the Jesuit Order and moved him to their famous Sydney school (St Ignatius College Riverview). One of the Adelaide victims finally reported Brother Higgs to the South Australian police and, in 2016, Higgs was jailed for some of his Adelaide offences. Now, in 2017, Higgs is being prosecuted by New South Wales police regarding alleged offences by Brother Higgs while he was at the Sydney school.

http://www.brokenrites.org.au/drupal/node/392 

Gov't to aid family of 15-y-o girl at centre of sex abuse case with Moravian pastor

Government has taken steps to assist the St Elizabeth family at the centre of the sexual abuse case involving 64-year-old Moravian minister, Rupert Clarke.
Clarke was arrested and charged for allegedly having sex with a 15-year-old member of the family. Two weeks after the arrest, the then president of the Moravian Church in Jamaica, Rev Dr Paul Gardener along with his deputy, the Rev Jermaine Gibson, resigned their positions amid damning allegations in an email that was made public.

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news/20170122/govt-aid-family-15-y-o-girl-centre-sex-abuse-case-moravian-pastor 

Victims advocacy group announces leader's resignation in wake of lawsuit

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests announced Tuesday that its longtime national director, accused by a former SNAP employee of referring potential clients to attorneys in return for financial kickbacks to the group, resigned at the end of last year.
The announcement that David Clohessy, of St. Louis, left the Chicago-based organization comes a week after he and other leaders were named in a lawsuit filed by a former employee who said she was fired shortly after asking superiors whether SNAP was referring victims to attorneys in exchange for donations to the organization.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-snap-director-resigns-met-20170124-story.html 

What the church can learn from the young

Here is an unsigned editorial titled “What the church can learn from the young” from the Jan. 19 issue of The Tablet, a London-based international Catholic weekly.
Nothing troubles Catholic parents more than the wholesale flight of young people from the weekly practice of the faith. Yet these also are their years of adventure and idealism, when authenticity is at a premium and the world is a mess.

http://superiorcatholicherald.org/blog/guest-columns/church-can-learn-young/ 

Church lawyers to challenge law lifting statute of limitations on child sex abuse suits

U.S. District Court of Guam Magistrate Judge Joaquin Manibusan granted on Monday separate requests of three California-based lawyers from two law firms to represent the Archdiocese of Agana in clergy abuse cases, along with local counsel John C. Terlaje.
They are Attorney Paul E. Gaspari, shareholder at the San Francisco-based law firm of Weintraub Tobin Chediak Coleman Grodin; Attorney Mary McNamara, a partner at the San Francisco-based law firm of Swanson & McNamara; and Attorney Britt Evangelist, an associate also at Swanson & McNamara.

http://www.guampdn.com/story/news/2017/01/31/church-lawyers-challenge-law-lifting-statute-limitations-child-sex-abuse/97271044/ 

After pastor's sex abuse charges, his wife and congregation gather

The arrest of Dallas Center Church of the Brethren's 14-year pastor on child molestation charges tinged Sunday school and a worship service at the church Sunday, although it wasn't explicitly referenced.
About 40 people gathered in the wooden pews for worship, four days after Randy August Johnson, 52, was accused of repeatedly sexually abusing a girl from 2013 to 2014 while she was 12 and 13 years old.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/crime-and-courts/2017/01/29/dallas-center-church-pastor-randy-johnson-sexual-abuse-charges-response/97215904/ 

Former Aurora priest fighting expert testimony in sex abuse case

A 50-year-old former Aurora priest accused of sexual abuse plans to fight prosecutors' attempts to have child abuse experts testify at a future trial that "inconclusive exams and/or cultures do not disprove abuse."

Alfredo Pedraza-Arias of Rockford was arrested in early 2016 on charges he sexually abused two girls younger than 13 -- one at her Aurora home and another in an office at Sacred Heart Church in Aurora -- between January 2009 and November 2014.

http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20170124/news/170129392/ 

Why the Grand Jury Probe Should Be Welcomed, Not Criticized

The Federal Investigation into the Catholic Church's Los Angeles Archdiocese Based on Allegations of a Coverup of Child Sex Abuse: Why the Grand Jury Probe Should Be Welcomed, Not Criticized.

Recently, it was announced that Los Angeles United States Attorney Thomas P. O'Brien was starting a grand jury investigation into allegations of a child sex abuse coverup by the Catholic Church's Los Angeles Archdiocese. The announcement was met with consternation and defensive cries from various Catholic quarters. Before they drown out the larger public good, however it is worthwhile to spend some time with the facts – which, I will argue, show that a grand jury investigation is exactly what should be occurring now.

http://supreme.findlaw.com/legal-commentary/marci-a-hamilton-archive.html 

Six cases where the sexual abuse scandal touches Pope Francis

Recent revelations concerning Pope Francis and negligence over sexual abuse of minors are calling into question his strong words condemning the cover-up of sexual abuse.
In March 2014, in an announcement that received massive publicity, Pope Francis promised a new, more improved Vatican response to the clerical abuse of minors. He reaffirmed that the Vatican would institute zero tolerance for pedophile priests. He announced the creation of a new papal commission on child protection made up of Cardinals, experts, and victims of clergy abuse. This past May, Pope Francis spoke of the scandal again by saying, "This is a tragedy, we must not tolerate the abuse of minors. We must defend minors. And we must severely punish the abusers." Yet, there appears to be a gulf between his words on reform and the reality.

https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/six-cases-where-the-sexual-abuse-scandal-touches-pope-francis