Greg Piper wept on Wednesday for the St Pius X, Adamstown schoolmates who did not survive

LAKE Macquarie MP and former Hunter Catholic school student Greg Piper wept tears of anger and grief on Wednesday after disgraced cardinal George Pell was jailed for child sex crimes. The anger was for Pell's crimes, his influence and what he represented, and the grief for students of Mr Piper's old school, St Pius X, Adamstown, who did not live to see this day.

https://www.lakesmail.com.au/story/5957836/mps-tears-of-anger-and-grief-after-pell-sentence/ 

McGinley Taught Child Psychology at GU, Abused Children for 30 Years

Anthony McGinley, a Catholic priest from Pennsylvania, sexually abused young boys for 30 years, according to a 2018 report on clerical abuse published by a Pennsylvania grand jury. For five of those years, he taught courses in child psychology at Georgetown University. From 1977 to 1981, McGinley taught graduate classes in orthodontic statistics each fall and child psychology each spring, according to the archived schedules of classes from those years. He is also listed as a lecturer in orthodontics in telephone directories from 1977 to 1987, the year the Church prohibited him from celebrating Mass.

https://www.thehoya.com/mcginley-taught-child-psychology-gu-abused-children-30-years/ 

‘Sex mad’ Catholic priest jailed in UK for abuse of six youngsters

AFTER a jury at Aylesbury Crown Court delivered a guilty verdict against a 75-year-old priest who sexually abused children the 1970s & 80s he was handed a sentence of nine years and 11 months. Father Francis McDermott, above, a former Buckinghamshire priest, was found guilty of 18 counts of abuse. McDermott, of Bideford in Devon, abused the children in his parishes in High Wycombe and Norwich and earlier in London when he was training for the priesthood.

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/thefreethinker/2019/03/sex-mad-catholic-priest-jailed-in-uk-for-abuse-of-six-youngsters/ 

French court okays screening of film on priest’s abuse of boy scouts

A French court Monday approved cinema screenings of an award-winning director's new film about the real-life story of a priest accused of sexually abusing boy scouts, even though the case has yet to come to trial. The 73-year-old priest, Bernard Preynat, had argued that a public release of the film, "By the Grace of God", could prejudice his case. His lawyer, Emmanuel Mercinier, said the court issued its decision Monday morning

https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/434026-french-court-okays-screening-of-film-on-priest-s-abuse-of-boy-scouts 

Issue of Married Catholic Priests Gains Traction Amid Sex Abuse Scandal

As the Vatican copes with the growing clergy sex abuse scandal and declining number of priests worldwide, it is laying the groundwork to open formal debate on an issue that has long been taboo: opening up the priesthood to married men in parts of the world where clergy are scarce.

https://ktla.com/2018/10/23/issue-of-married-catholic-priests-gains-traction-amid-sex-abuse-scandal/ 

The Catholic Church’s Unholy Stain

It’s long past time for penitence and promises on clerical pedophilia. Pope Francis must act. ope Francis has summoned senior bishops from around the world for the first global gathering of Roman Catholic leaders to address the crisis of clerical pedophilia. The action is long overdue, and the outcome cannot be yet more apologies and pledges of better behavior. The unending revelations of clerical sexual abuse and cover-ups demand radical, public, convincing systemic change.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/13/opinion/pope-catholics-sexual-abuse.html 

Report Reveals Widespread Sex Abuse of ‘Mostly Male Minors’ in German Catholic Church

A leaked sexual abuse commission report documents more than 3,500 cases of “mostly male minors” who were victims of clerical sex abuse in Germany between 1946 and 2014. The commission, which was funded by the German Bishops’ Conference, stated that “3,677 mostly male minors” had been victims of sexual abuse by 1,670 members of the clergy. The report also found systemic mishandling of allegations of sexual abuse by the German Catholic hierarchy.

https://www.breitbart.com/london/2018/09/13/report-reveals-widespread-sex-abuse-of-mostly-male-minors-in-german-catholic-church/ 

Taking the Church to church: a religious institution with a sinful record of past indiscretion

I grew up in the Roman Catholic Church. I grew up being told that church was a safe space where you could strengthen your relationship with God, and that priests looked to help you achieve that goal. The image that was created in my childhood has been shattered; I never thought that these revered figures would use their power to sexually assault teenagers. The stories I’ve read over the past couple of months have made me question whether the Church will be able to truly fix the problems it faces.

https://spec.hamilton.edu/taking-the-church-to-church-a-religious-institution-with-a-sinful-record-of-past-indiscretion-bf56e8dfa645 

Chilean cardinal says bishop should resign over abuse crisis

The head of Chile’s Catholic Church said on Thursday that a Chilean bishop accused of covering up sexual abuse should resign, little more than a week after Pope Frances said he had made mistakes in handling Chile’s sexual abuse crisis. Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati told reporters that Juan Barros, a Chilean bishop who allegedly concealed abuse of minors by his mentor Father Fernando Karadima, should resign “without a doubt,” while adding he would not judge “whether or not [Barros] had covered up” the incidents.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-chile-abuse/chilean-cardinal-says-bishop-should-resign-over-abuse-crisis-idUSKBN1HQ36Q 

Catholic Church backs PM’s call for national redress scheme for child sex abuse survivors

The Catholic Church has backed Prime Minister Turnbull’s call for the states and territories to join a proposed national redress scheme for child sexual abuse survivors, saying that survivors of abuse have been waiting too long for the scheme to get up and running, and that many have died never receiving the apologies and the redress that should have been theirs.
The Catholic Church has already agreed to join a national redress scheme. The Anglicans have voted to set up a national company to make it easy for survivors to sue them. Each Anglican synod (region) is required to vote for it and it has has received a “yes” vote each time it has come up – including in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. (Some smaller places only meet once every two years – and the Northern Territory is expected to be the last to vote).

https://www.eternitynews.com.au/australia/catholic-church-backs-pms-call-for-national-redress-scheme-for-child-sex-abuse-survivors/ 

Faith no more: parishioners lose trust in the church

Half the active parishioners of the Catholic Church say their opinion of bishops and other senior religious leaders has been damaged by the scandalous revelations aired at the recent child abuse royal commission.
The figures, obtained exclusively by Fairfax Media, show the “bond of trust between the laity and their bishops has been severely impaired,” says Professor Neil Ormerod of the Australian Catholic University.

http://www.smh.com.au/national/faith-no-more-parishioners-lose-trust-in-church-20180209-p4yzuz.html 

Snowy Paris gets raves from tourists even with Eiffel closed

Snow and freezing rain pummeled parts of France on Friday, shutting down the Eiffel Tower but covering Paris in a gorgeous coat of white. The Eiffel Tower, France's most-visited monument, was closed all day Friday and was staying closed Saturday "to ensure the security of visitors," the company that manages the 19th-century landmark said.
Workers with hand shovels were carefully clearing snow from the monument's intricate ironwork and de-icing stairs and platforms. The company said they can't use salt because it could corrode the Eiffel Tower's metal and damage its heavily used elevators.

http://www.wpxi.com/news/world/eiffel-tower-shuts-down-as-snow-freezing-rain-pummel-france/697105356?utm_source=homestream&utm_medium=site_navigation&utm_campaign=homestream_click 

Sending Archbishop Scicluna is a smart move

Sending Archbishop Scicluna is a smart moveIn an online editorial Jan. 23, NCR took Pope Francis to task for the pain he caused survivors of sexual abuse by clergy.
Twice and very publicly, he dismissed the testimony of abuse victims and charging them with "calumny" against a bishop he had installed in a diocese in southern Chile over the advice of other Chilean prelates and over the loud, ardent protests of Chilean lay Catholics.

https://www.ncronline.org/news/accountability/editorial-sending-archbishop-scicluna-smart-move 

Lord Janner's family call £24m-a-year Westminster child abuse probe 'a stain on British justice' because they don't have special status - unlike woman accused of being rape fantasist

The son of the late Lord Janner has slammed an inquiry examining allegations of paedophilia in Westminster as a 'stain on British justice'. The Independent Inquiry in Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) has so far examined alleged abuse in the church, in children's homes and in private schools.

Today, it began examining claims that MPs and civil servants may have been involved in or turned a blind eye to sex attacks on children.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5335007/Inquiry-opens-Westminster-paedophilia-claims.html 

Why is the Catholic Church obsessed with women and abortion?

When I was 12 years old, I sang in the choir at Saint Anthony's Catholic Church every Sunday. And despite being the only one in my household who regularly attended Mass, I wanted to become a nun. But I grew older, and as other interests chipped away at my devotion to Jesus, a life of celibacy became less appealing.
Still, I remained devout, and even after I abandoned that plan in favor of a more conventional lifestyle — one I hoped would include motherhood — I've fed my spirituality attending Mass regularly.

https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2018/01/31/catholic-church-obsessed-women-abortion 

German police break up Kurds' protest of Turkish military op

German police broke up a protest rally of more than 20,000 Kurdish immigrants after participants refused to take down flags and symbols of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party, German news agency dpa reported Saturday. The demonstrators had come to the western city of Cologne from all over Germany to protest Turkey's recent military operation in a Kurdish enclave in northern Syria.
"The protest march has been stopped in order to remove all forbidden banners," police of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia tweeted Saturday afternoon.

http://www.wpxi.com/news/world/german-police-break-up-kurds-protest-of-turkish-military-op/690177682 

Faces of Innocents: 12 added to Child Victim Toll

In a major breakthrough, police have acknowledged the public interest in the project and provided information on 12 victims missing from the database.
The toll now stands at 223. The updated information - requested under the Official Information Act - was obtained in September last year after the Ombudsman intervened. It covers the period between 2004 and 2017. Police records are incomplete before that.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/faces-of-innocents/99317527/faces-of-innocents-12-added-to-child-victim-toll 

Letter: Until victims went public, sexual assaults were ignored

The recent letter excoriating witnesses for moral culpability and objecting to the revelation of sexual abuse of women under the power of men who may be innocent or may have atoned may be addressed by what happened with the revelation of sexual abuse of children by the Catholic Church. Until victims went public, the assaults were ignored. Women who complained to human resource departments of workplace sexual abuse were ignored, demoted, humiliated by co-workers or let go. Parents of children abused by priests found their complaints covered up by the church and abusive priests moved to the next parish. Not until the complaints went public was action taken.

http://buffalonews.com/2018/01/12/letter-until-victims-went-public-sexual-assaults-were-ignored/

Former Haverhill priest settles allegations of sexual assault

A priest who retired to a rectory at All Saints Roman Catholic Church in Haverhill and then to a Lawrence nursing home has reached a five-figure settlement with a man who said the priest sexually assaulted him at a Jamaica Plain parish over a three-year period, beginning when the boy was 10 years old in 1973. The man, William Brown, who now lives in Abington, reached the settlement with Father Arnold Kelley 20 months after suing Kelley in Essex County Superior Court. His complaint accused Kelley of fondling, sodomizing and performing oral sex on him at St. Thomas Aquinas parish in Dorchester where Brown was then a parishioner and where Kelley was assigned. Brown's suit also said Kelley misrepresented “the wrongful nature of the explicit sexual behavior” so that Brown – now 54 – only recently realized he had been assaulted.

http://www.eagletribune.com/news/haverhill/former-haverhill-priest-settles-allegations-of-sexual-assault/article_070f7b25-9e82-51cb-917d-d09cbee92429.html

Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse the toughest test for the Catholic Church.

A FORMER trainee Catholic priest whose evidence to the child abuse royal commission exposed the secret 20th century Vatican decisions behind a global child sex scandal said the church can heal if Pope Francis is up to the challenge. While royal commission final report recommendations in December on celibacy and the secrecy of the confessional attracted the headlines, less publicised recommendations presented more significant and fundamental challenges that the church had to grapple with, lawyer, author and former trainee priest Kieran Tapsell said.

http://www.theherald.com.au/story/5161337/former-trainee-priest-exposes-vatican-secrets-and-pope-francis-challenge/#slide=1