Former Greensburg Central Catholic principal accused of abuse in Erie Diocese

Updated 2 hours ago. A former Greensburg Central Catholic principal is one of more than 50 priests and laypeople accused by the Erie Diocese of various actions involving the abuse of children. Diocese officials Friday did not divulge details of the claims against Denise Myers, 51, of Unity Township. No criminal charges have been filed against her. Myers could not be reached for comment, and a family member declined to comment.

http://triblive.com/local/regional/13507413-74/former-greensburg-central-catholic-principal-accused-of-abuse-in-erie-diocese 

Task force investigating Saginaw Diocese warns against witness intimidation

The Saginaw County Prosecutor's Office has issued a statement discouraging intimidation and derision of those coming forward in the ongoing investigation of sexual abuse within the Saginaw Catholic Diocese. "The recent verbal attacks on the victims in these cases are unfounded," reads the statement, jointly authored by the task force and prosecutors handling the investigation. "The charges (against the Rev. Robert "Father Bob" DeLand Jr.) are based, in part, on audio/visual police recordings. Any attempts to discourage other victims to come forward by letting them know that they too will be publicly attacked will also be addressed."

http://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw/index.ssf/2018/04/task_force_investigating_sagin.html 

Verona Fathers sex abuse case to be heard at the Law Courts in London

Claims of historic sexual abuse at a religious school in Kirklees dating back to the 1970s are be heard at the Royal Courts of Justice. Former pupil Peter Murray hopes the case starting on June 11 will draw a line under a seven-year battle with the Verona Fathers, a Catholic missionary religious congregation based in Rome. Mr Murray, now 59, was a pupil at St Peter Claver College at Roe Head in Mirfield for five years in the 1970s. Whilst there he says he was sexually abused by Michael Riddle, now dead, a married English master who he claims was part of a wider paedophile ring.

https://www.examiner.co.uk/news/west-yorkshire-news/mirfield-sex-abuse-verona-fathers-14497734 

Catholic Church revives the practice of exorcism to meet rising demand, despite claims of abuse

Watch out Satan's workers are out to get you...

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

In a family house in Casapesenna, a small town near Naples, a terrified 13-year-old girl is held down on the bed, wailing and kicking, while a priest orders demons to leave her body. Her parents and the priest had decided that the teenager’s physical ailments, having no obvious cause, were the result of a demonic possession.

https://inews.co.uk/news/world/catholic-church-revives-exorcism/

Six Catholic dioceses under investigation for possible child sexual abuse: The story so far

As early as May, a state grand jury is expected to release the findings of its investigation into allegations of clergy sex abuse across six Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania. Since 2016, when the grand jury was empaneled, investigators have been hearing testimony and examining documents in connection to allegations that church officials, in some cases for decades, failed to protect children from predator priests. Here is a primer of this developing story so far:

http://www.pennlive.com/expo/erry-2018/04/a62caa1c387848/six_catholic_dioceses_under_in.html 

Can justice heal scars of sexual abuse by a priest?

Nothing damages a child more than betrayal of trust. Failure by a person who is supposed to love and/or protect the child leaves lifelong scars. Knowing that, it is painful to read that a state grand jury is poised to deliver "the worst report ever" on child abuse in the Catholic Church in six dioceses, including Harrisburg. State Rep. Mark Rozzi, D-Berks, who counts himself as a survivor of clergy abuse, said the grand jury had no trouble finding witnesses to testify. His hope is that the report will prompt the Legislature to pass laws allowing victims to get justice despite the passage of time.

http://www.pennlive.com/news/2018/04/abuse_clergy_nancy_eshelman.html 

Top News: Diocese IDs monks, bishop, laypeople in abuse probe

ERIE, Pa. – The Roman Catholic Diocese of Erie, Pennsylvania, on Friday made public the names of 34 monks or different members of the clergy who confronted credible allegations of sexual abuse or misconduct over time, together with their bishop within the 1970s, who they are saying didn’t cease abuse that was reported to him. In an uncommon step, the diocese additionally recognized 17 lay women and men going through comparable claims, together with a Catholic highschool trainer who went on to grow to be a university president.

https://www.standardrepublic.com/news/top-news-diocese-ids-monks-bishop-laypeople-in-abuse-probe/ 

An empty promise on child protection

There might be other European countries with a record like ours of failure to protect vulnerable children, a record that demands they be alert to any threat of paedophilia. However, there cannot be too many where that obligation is so sharp. Likewise, there cannot be too many European countries whose history demands — screams, really — that it build robust, active agencies to offer oversight of child protection, so the horrors of our past might not be repeated.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/views/ourview/an-empty-promiseon-child-protection-836160.html 

Former Kennedy Catholic coach on list of those banned by Erie Diocese

The Diocese that oversees Catholic churches and schools in Mercer and 12 other counties in northwestern Pennsylvania has released a list naming 51 priests and laypersons who have violated policies designed to protect children. The Diocese of Erie announced on Friday that some of the names are being revealed for the first time as part of new policy measures designed to protect children.

http://www.wfmj.com/story/37900022/former-kennedy-catholic-coach-on-list-of-those-banned-by-erie-diocese 

NZ's underbelly of forced sex trade involves Kiwis as young as 12, researcher says

Academic and forced prostitution researcher Natalie Thorburn says sex trafficking is more common in NZ than people think after speaking with dozens of teenaged sex workers. Girls aged 12 or under are being forced into sex work in New Zealand, according to a Wellington-based researcher. Natalie Thorburn spoken to dozens of teenaged sex workers for her masters degree in social work at the University of Auckland, and said they told her of their lives on the streets selling sex when they were aged between 12 and 16.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/96775581

Mexican diocese apologizes for failing to stop abusive priest

A Mexican diocese has apologized and asked for forgiveness for failing to stop a priest from sexually abusing Catholic school children. At the time, the priest had been banned from his priestly duties in a neighboring archdiocese. “As a church, we ask for forgiveness from the victims. … We manifest our commitment to always act truthfully and with justice and, as an institution, take preventive measures so that nothing similar ever happens again,” the Diocese of Irapuato, in the western state of Guanajuato, said April 3 in a short statement. “The Diocese of Irapuato expresses its solidarity with the victims and their families and deplores what happened. This atrocious behavior, in which persons are abused, is inadmissible and condemnable.”

https://cruxnow.com/global-church/2018/04/05/mexican-diocese-apologizes-for-failing-to-stop-abusive-priest/ 

Sydney archbishop says priests will suffer martyrdom before divulging confessions

But premier of New South Wales says "question of the seal of confession" will be addressed at national level. The government of the Australian state of New South Wales is seeking to implement a range of laws targeting child abuse, in response to the final report of a broad investigation into abuse perpetrated by institutions, including members of the Church, which was released last year. Among the proposals being considered are those which would apply to priests, including regulation or negation of the seal of confession.

https://aleteia.org/2018/04/05/sydney-archbishop-says-priests-will-suffer-martyrdom-before-divulging-confessions/

Forgive me Father, but you need to confess to being a pedophile before you die

Forgive me Father, for I have sinned, my last confession was Tuesday ... I was here in 2002 when Father Donald Becker disappeared from St. Mary’s Church, now part of Resurrection Parish. He just left. Gone. No goodbyes. The Diocese of Buffalo, when pressed, had only this to say: He was on leave for medical reasons. This was 2002, the same year The Boston Globe detailed the vast coverup by the Catholic Church when it came to pedophile priests.

http://www.thedailynewsonline.com/bdn06/forgive-me-father-but-you-need-to-confess-to-being-a-pedophile-before-you-die-20180324 

Police raid bishop’s house, offices as part of sex-abuse investigation

Police raided the home of Bishop Joseph Cistone, his diocesan offices, and his cathedral rectory today, saying Cistone and the Diocese of Saginaw are not fully cooperating with law enforcement’s clerical sex-abuse investigation. A priest in Cistone’s diocese was charged with sexually assaulting a 17-year-old male last month, and since then law enforcement has formed a special task force to “look into complaints” related to the case.

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/breaking-police-raid-bishops-house-rectory-offices-as-part-of-sex-abuse-inv 

Inhumanity in the Name of Jesus: Catholic Dogma Which Led to the Holocaust also Led to the Cover-Up of Clergy Sex Abuse

New book argues that it is the history and magisterium of the Catholic Church which made the Holocaust possible and the cover-up of clergy sex abuse inevitable. The DNA of the Catholic Church and its belief in its own infallibility didn't just make the cover-up of clergy abuse possible. It made it inevitable. Victims were regarded as collateral damage.”— G.R. Pafumi has released the first of two volumes about sex abuse in the Catholic Church, Inhumanity in the Name of Jesus. Volume I: Pain and Suffering, Aftermath of the Catholic Church’s Belief in its Own Infallibility. With sex abuse accusations against major celebrities and public figures, such as Harvey Weinstein, Charlie Rose and Matt Lauer, Pafumi focused on victims abused by Catholic clergy. They paved the way for the #MeToo movement. Victims of Catholic clergy are no longer willing to remain silent about the abuse they suffered, sometimes decades ago. Pope Francis is currently dealing with the fallout from his trip to Chile, where he defended a bishop who covered for a clergy sex offender.

https://www.einnews.com/pr_news/435601362/inhumanity-in-the-name-of-jesus-catholic-dogma-which-led-to-the-holocaust-also-led-to-the-cover-up-of-clergy-sex-abuse