Report: Hong Kong Catholics Won’t Hand Pedophile Priest Confessions to Police
Church officials will not hand over any written confessions Although Hong Kong's Roman Catholic Church has said it will cooperate with police investigating allegations of sexual abuse of children, church officials will not hand over any written confessions by priests, a newspaper reported Thursday. The South China Morning Post … [Read more...]
Sex-Abuse Cases Show Gaps In Church Response
Allowed some priests to molest hundreds of children It started in January when news coverage revealed that the Archdiocese of Boston allowed some priests to molest hundreds of children over the decades. Four months later, in the other corner of the nation, the ouster of a popular Seattle priest has revealed gaps in pioneering efforts … [Read more...]
Bishop Deposed in Sex Abuse Case
Ignored requests to tell Boston parishes A lawyer says a memo shows Bishop John B. McCormack ignored requests to tell Boston parishes that their priests had been removed because of sex abuse allegations. The lawyer for three men who claim they were molested spoke before McCormack answered questions Monday during a closed … [Read more...]
16 Area Priests Removed Over Abuse Allegations Since 1980s
16 Priests Removed Over Abuse Allegations. At least 16 Roman Catholic priests in the Washington area have been removed from ministry since the mid-1980s after credible accusations of child sexual abuse, including two this year, according to church officials. Ten of the priests were from the Washington archdiocese, which comprises … [Read more...]
Five Priests Retiring With Abuse Accusations
Priests With Abuse Accusations. Five of the 10 priests listed as retiring this year from the Diocese of Rockville Centre had their priestly faculties removed recently because of allegations of sexual misconduct. The priests were listed in an article about new priest assignments, including retirements, in the Long Island Catholic, … [Read more...]
Victims Of Priests Urge Lifting Of Time Limit On Prosecutions
Survivors of abuse by priests urged the state Legislature to speed up its consideration of a bill that would allow prosecution in child sexual-abuse cases long after the alleged abuse takes place. "The goal of all of us is to pursue changes in the law so technicalities wouldn't prevent criminals from being prosecuted," Steve Palo … [Read more...]
Activists To Put Database of Accused Priests Online
Database Of Accused Priests. Roman Catholic activists have compiled an Internet database listing at least 600 U.S. priests who have faced public accusations of child sex abuse since 1996. The list, assembled by 10 Boston-area Catholics operating as a group called Survivors First, is drawn from U.S. newspaper articles and, in some … [Read more...]
NH Diocese Will Pay $5 Million To 62 Victims
NH Diocese Pay Victims. The Catholic Diocese of Manchester will pay more than $5 million to 62 people who claimed they were abused by priests and other church workers as minors, church officials announced yesterday. The incidents took place as long ago as the 1950s and as recently as the 1980s and involved 28 priests, two lay … [Read more...]
Law Visits Rome As Scandal Grows
Cardinal Law Travelled To Rome As Scandal Grows. The sudden arrival today of Cardinal Bernard F. Law in Rome generated intense speculation here after a week of new revelations in the clergy sexual abuse scandal and renewed calls for his resignation from priests and parishioners. Donna Morrissey, spokeswoman for the Boston … [Read more...]
Church’s Year of Turmoil
Rome Church Cover-Ups Of Abuse. The revelations began erupting in early January, alleging cover-ups of abuse by priests in Boston. By summer, it was clear that the Archdiocese of Louisville and the Diocese of Lexington would be hit particularly hard in what one Catholic commentator called ''the long Lent of 2002.'' Since The … [Read more...]
Sex Abuse Panel Submits Report To Head of Philadelphia Archdiocese
Philadelphia Archdiocese Accepted A Reform Proposal. The leader of Philadelphia's Roman Catholic archdiocese accepted a reform proposal from a lay panel studying priest sex abuse, but alleged victims said the group's recommendations didn't go far enough. The report presented Wednesday to Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua from the … [Read more...]
Abusive Ex-Priest Gets Year In Prison
A former priest pleading no contest An eight-month investigation by Wayne County prosecutors into complaints of sexual misconduct by priests in the Archdiocese of Detroit ended Tuesday with a former priest pleading no contest to molesting a 14-year-old boy nearly two decades ago. Harry Benjamin, 61, who was defrocked in 1989 after … [Read more...]
Boston Archdiocese Turns Over Abuse Files
Boston Archdiocese Turned Over Sex Abuse Files. Boston Archdiocese officials turned over to lawyers newly discovered files showing 24 more priests were accused of abusing children. The archdiocese turned over the files Friday after attorneys found allegations of child sex abuse among files on 41 priests the archdiocese had … [Read more...]
Sex Abuse Allegation Leads To Removal of Cairo Priest
Among two priests removed from ministry The associate pastor for Sacred Heart Parish in Cairo was among two priests removed from ministry last week in the Roman Catholic Albany Diocese because of allegations of sexual abuse of minors during the 1970s. The congregations at five churches in the Diocese were told of the action during … [Read more...]
Three Priests Accused of Abuse
Three Priests Accused Of Sex Abuse. Three Albany Diocese priests still in active ministry were accused in a lawsuit Wednesday of sexual misconduct, marking the first time during the clergy abuse scandal that working priests have been named in local court papers. The suit alleges a pattern of intimidation to prevent a 43-year-old … [Read more...]
Albany Roman Catholic Diocese Accused of More Sexual Abuse
Priests Accused Of Sexual Abuse. Four more Catholic priests are being accused of sexual abuse in a civil lawsuit being filed by Attorney John Aretakis against the Roman Catholic Diocese today. In the lawsuit, the plaintiff, a 42-year-old Schenectady man identified only as "John Doe number four," claims that he was sexually abused … [Read more...]
Lawsuits Claim Abuse By San Bernardino County Priests
Altar Boys Abuse By Priests. Two former altar boys sued the Diocese of San Diego for failing to protect them from a priest who sexually assaulted them in a church rectory. The two brothers, now 34 and 38, attended St. George School in Ontario between 1971 and 1982, the period they claim they were molested by former priest Edward … [Read more...]
Diocese Releases Report On Past Sexual Abuse of Minors
Diocese Sexual Abuse of Minors. Since 1950, the Catholic Diocese of Springfield in Illinois has received 43 credible allegations of sexual abuse of a minor against 14 diocesan priests, according to a report released by Bishop George J. Lucas. None of the priests involved remain in public ministry; the majority are deceased. The … [Read more...]
Evansville’s Catholic Bishop Reports 22 Abuse Cases In 59 Years
Priests Accused Of Abuse Cases. Fifteen Roman Catholic priests of the Evansville diocese have been accused of sexually abusing 22 minors over nearly 60 years, Bishop Gerald A. Gettelfinger reported Thursday. Three of the 15 priests were found innocent of accusations against them, and four admitted the allegations and were removed … [Read more...]
Another Lawsuit Filed Against Davenport Diocese
Davenport Diocese Is Facing Another Sexual Abuse Lawsuit. Another lawsuit has been filed against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport over alleged sexual abuse by priests. The lawsuit was filed yesterday in Clinton County District Court by a Wisconsin man. It names the diocese and the Reverend Francis Bass. The Diocese … [Read more...]
Lawsuits Filed Against Davenport Diocese
Davenport Diocese Pay To Settle Sex Abuse cases. Three of the four dioceses in Iowa say they have paid out more than $2 million to settle sex abuse cases. Des Moines, Sioux City, and Dubuque say over the past 50 years, they have received complaints against 47 priests. Those numbers, however, don't include the Diocese of Davenport. … [Read more...]
Catholic order In Aurora To Pay $2.1 Million In Priest’s Abuse
Aurora Agreed To Pay For Priest’s Abuse. A Roman Catholic religious order based in Aurora has agreed to pay two California brothers $2.1 million to settle their claims that a priest from the order sexually molested them thousands of times in the 1980s when they were children. The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, the religious … [Read more...]
Archdiocese Sued Over Abuse
Archdiocese Is The Target Of A Lawsuit. The Archdiocese of Detroit, which has scrambled for two years to remove priests accused of sexually abusing minors, is the target of a lawsuit filed Wednesday on behalf of people who claim to have been abused as children. The legal strategy is an attempt to get around statutes of limitation … [Read more...]
