New Orleans police open criminal investigation into defrocked deacon George Brignac

The New Orleans Police Department has opened a criminal inquiry into George F. Brignac, a former Catholic deacon accused of raping an 8-year-old altar boy nearly four decades ago. The alleged victim, now 46 and living in St. Tammany Parish, recently received a civil settlement of more than $500,000 from the Archdiocese of New Orleans after church officials determined his sexual assault claim to be "credible." He met with sex-crimes detectives on Thursday and provided a detailed statement, said the man's attorney, Roger Stetter.

https://www.theadvocate.com/new_orleans/news/courts/article_844b4e64-870c-11e8-84f0-2f2910122768.html 

‘The Devils Doorway’ Review: A little too much and way too familiar

The raw feel of found footage and the familiar iconography of religion have made both popular in the horror genre. A found footage horror movie deeply rooted in Catholicism seems like a natural fit. The Devil’s Doorway is an excellent example of something being a better idea in theory than practice. The Devil’s Doorway has an interesting premise. A former real life practice of the Catholic Church were Magdalene Laundries found in Ireland. These institutions were basically homes for prostitutes, unwed mothers, and other “fallen women.” The movie is set in 1960 and based on footage of two priests who had gone to investigate a supposed miracle.

http://www.adventuresinpoortaste.com/2018/07/14/the-devils-doorway-review-a-little-too-much-and-way-too-familiar/ 

Jalandhar diocese sex scandal: Demand to relieve bishop of pastoral duties

Members of various Christian organisations have called upon Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Giambattista Diquattro to take steps to relieve Bishop Franco Mulakkal, head of the Jalandhar diocese of the Catholic Church who is embroiled in a sex scandal, of his pastoral responsibilities. In a letter, they said the mudslinging between the bishop and his priests on the one hand and and the aggrieved nun and her family on the other had turned the Church into an object of ridicule before the people. This has caused a lot of harm to the Church and to the faith of the people.

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/jalandhar-diocese-sex-scandal-demand-to-relieve-bishop-of-pastoral-duties/article24417436.ece 

Victims of alleged clergy sexual abuse find their voices … and each other

Jim VanSickle recalls the “long walk” into the room where members of the 40th Statewide Grand Jury waited to hear him. “I was nervous, I was sweating, thinking, ‘Lord, give me the words that I need,’” recalled VanSickle, 55, of Coraopolis. He sensed an assurance from the Lord, in whom he has retained faith in spite of the betrayals he felt from its purported ministers: “Just be true to yourself and your story.” So he told his story. He testified how his trusted priest and high school English teacher mounted a humiliating, life-altering assault on his teenage body and innocence.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/clergy-sexual-abuse-pennsylvania-victims-20180714.html 

Charlie Specht on what it's like to cover the Buffalo priest abuse scandal as a Catholic

had to break the news. But first I needed to make the call. Seventy years of secrets were about to spill out in March when the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo finally relented, sending our newsroom a list of 42 priests believed to have committed the ultimate betrayal -- the sexual abuse of a child. I needed to go on TV and tell our viewers what it meant. But first I needed to call my Mom.

https://www.wkbw.com/news/i-team/charlie-specht-on-what-its-like-to-cover-the-buffalo-priest-abuse-scandal-as-a-catholic 

Catholic Church Pedophilia: Boystown in Australia

Boys victims in the catholic "model school" Boystown in Australia. Raw violence and rapes from the "brothers". "From the 1960's until 2001, hundreds of troubled boys, or those who were placed in the care system were sent to Boystown - a residential school near Beaudesert. Last night, 60 Minutes aired allegations that boys as young as 12 who were sent to Boystown were routinely subjected to strip searches and sexual and physical abuse."

https://videos.utahgunexchange.com/watch/catholic-church-pedophilia-boystown-in-australia_hEVWE4OJ1tdrGsN.html 

Catholic bishops hide seminarian sex scandal under border crisis

As the 300 Catholic Bishops of the United States met in mid-June for their annual meeting, it is hard to imagine many of them didn’t know the big reveal coming less than a week later. For decades, it appears, there was cover up of sexual abuse by one of the most prominent American churchmen of the 20th century. If some did know, they orchestrated a PR triple play that deserves to go down in the annals of American history.

https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/catholic-bishops-hide-seminarian-sex-scandal-under-border-crisis 

Duterte’s Admission That he Was Molested by a Priest Makes Him a Champion For Justice to Victims Worldwide

While many victims of priest molestation inside the Roman Catholic Church have taken decades to gain the courage to take their stories public, as someone who has never been reserved about admitting to what was done to him as a child, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has become an empowering figure for victims of Church abuse throughout the world. While the abuse of children is an abhorrent crime against nature in all circumstances, there is hardly anything more despicable than someone abusing a position of power, particularly religious power to molest the bodies and minds of the young. Not only is it difficult for children to fight back against such violations, but in the past it has been all too easy to silence children into submission before vicious men who insult the very God they pretend to believe in.

https://www.eurasiafuture.com/2018/07/10/dutertes-admission-that-he-was-molested-by-a-priest-makes-him-a-champion-for-justice-to-victims-worldwide/ 

Release report on Catholic priest abuse allegations now | Editorial

For decades, the Roman Catholic Church has gone to extremes to ignore, cover up and downplay the widespread sexual abuse and rape of boys and some girls across the world. So it comes as no surprise that nearly two dozen current and former priests are seeking to block the release of a grand jury report detailing serial sexual abuse in Catholic dioceses across Pennsylvania. Fight, deny, and delay have been the Catholic Church’s playbook when it comes to clergy sexual abuse. When all else fails, the church quietly pays confidential settlements to sweep cases under the rug.

http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/editorials/catholic-church-priest-sexual-abuse-grand-jury-report-josh-shapiro-20180710.html 

Theology can’t be same after sex abuse crisis

Given the sexual abuse crisis in which the Church is embroiled, theologians need to rethink a faith-based response to sexual violence. Systematic theology lecturer at Good Shepherd College Dr Rocio Figueroa said theologians “are conscious that theology cannot be the same following the severe crisis of sexual abuse that has happened in our Church”. “We must rethink a lot of topics. We must rethink our Christology. We must rethink how we see power and many other issues, pastoral topics,” she said.

https://www.nzcatholic.org.nz/2018/07/12/theology-cant-be-same-after-sex-abuse-crisis/ 

Priest on the path to sainthood criticized for anti-Semitism

Pope Francis' decision to move the World War II-era head of Poland's Catholic Church a step closer to possible sainthood has hit a stumbling block, after two leading Jewish organizations and even Polish Catholic publications called him out for anti-Semitic views. It's not clear if the protests will derail the sainthood cause of Cardinal August Hlond, but in the past the Vatican has taken such protests seriously and at the very least put the cases up for closer review.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cardinal-august-hlond-priest-on-the-path-to-sainthood-criticized-for-anti-semitism/ 

Children of priests

Relationships between women and priests have always been clandestine. It’s never an easy subject to discuss. Most people prefer secrecy. But another aspect which we have never discussed is the issue of the effect of making love – children. Priests are more likely to have children as they are not experienced in birth control methods. Besides their love making is hidden and done quickly. Maybe hiding a love relationship between adults is one thing, but hiding from children is totally devastating! How can a father not see, caress, accompany, play and spend time with his child? That is why we’ve been against secrecy from day one. Once everything is covered in great secrecy, one can expect that lateral secrets will be kept under great scrutiny from the Catholic Church.

https://maltesemarriedcatholicpriest.wordpress.com/2018/07/09/children-of-priests/ 

Dr Ciara Kelly: Church must reform and atone for its many sins

Last week Australian courts convicted Archbishop Philip Wilson of concealing clerical child abuse in 1970s Australia. He's the most senior church official to be convicted of the crime anywhere. His defence tried to get the case thrown out, citing the 67-year-old's Alzheimer's disease and lack of recollection. But the court rejected this, saying victims were credible when they recounted conversations they'd had with the then younger priest. One victim described how he was told by Wilson, that he "was lying" and should go away and say some Hail Marys.

https://www.independent.ie/life/dr-ciara-kelly-church-must-reform-and-atone-for-its-many-sins-37088687.html 

Witnesses await church sex abuse report with hope for change

One after another, witnesses beat back fear of revealing details many had kept largely private and recounted to grand jurors their story of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests whom they had trusted. As they spoke, many said they felt compassion from the grand jurors in the sweeping investigation into allegations of child sexual abuse and cover-ups in six of Pennsylvania dioceses. And they felt believed.

https://www.kveo.com/news/national/witnesses-await-church-sex-abuse-report-with-hope-for-change/1288610952 

New filing: Delaying release of grand jury sexual abuse report adds to victims' trauma

By delaying release of a long-awaited grand jury report, the state Supreme Court is retraumatizing victims of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, according to a Friday court filing by a Lancaster County man who said he testified to the grand jury on being abused by a priest. Todd Frey filed a petition with the top court on Friday, seeking to intervene and urge the court to reverse its June 20 order keeping a seal on the voluminous report into decades of abuse in six Catholic dioceses.

http://www.post-gazette.com/news/faith-religion/2018/07/06/grand-jury-sexual-abuse-pennsylvania-dioceses-media-attorneys-response-clergy-responders-release-report-redacted/stories/201807060120 

Current and former clergy members behind push to block report on clergy sex abuse

Nearly two dozen current and former members of the clergy are among those seeking to block the release of a highly anticipated grand jury report outlining decades of alleged sexual abuse by clergy in Catholic dioceses across the state, according to a court document filed Thursday. The revelation that clergy members are behind the fierce secret legal battle came in response to a push by the Inquirer and Daily News, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and seven other news organizations, which have together asked the state Supreme Court to lift its stay on the report’s release.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/pennsylvania/current-and-former-catholic-clergy-behind-push-to-block-state-report-on-clergy-sex-abuse-20180705.html 

The Latest: Clergy ask to keep child sex abuse report secret.

Nearly two dozen current and former Roman Catholic clergy members say a grand jury report into child sexual abuse and attempts to cover it up is replete with errors and "improper assertions," and they argue Pennsylvania's Supreme Court shouldn't grant a request to make it public. The clergy members provided new details about their position Thursday in their lawyers' response to news organizations' effort to have the investigative grand jury report unsealed. They say making it public without revisions will irreparably harm their reputations and deny them the due process the law guarantees.

https://www.wral.com/the-latest-clergy-ask-to-keep-child-sex-abuse-report-secret/17677704/ 

Chile prosecutors widen probe into clerical sex abuse

The clergy sex abuse crisis for the Roman Catholic Church in Chile is widening beyond a Vatican investigation. On June 13, Chilean police and prosecutors raided Church offices in two Chilean cities for documents related to the Church's probe into the crisis carried out by Vatican investigator Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta. On June 19, Chilean prosecutors questioned Sciciuna at the airport as he was preparing to depart, according to Reuters, about abuse cases involving 25 Marist brothers and 30 alleged victims that Sciciuna has been investigating during his recent visits.

https://www.masslive.com/living/index.ssf/2018/07/chile_prosecutors_widen_probe_into_clerical_sex_abuse.html 

Survivor group alleges Govt breached human rights with state abuse Royal Commission

A child abuse survivor group has called for United Nations intervention over the Government's possible exclusion of churches from its state abuse inquiry. Occulo​ New Zealand, a group set up with the goal of ending abuse by clergy, believes the New Zealand Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State Care does not comply with the 1989 United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child. The group submitted an urgent "letter of allegation" to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Sunday. It said the New Zealand Government was "in breach of this fundamental and internationally important" treaty, which it ratified in 1993.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/105158507/survivor-group-alleges-govt-breached-human-rights-with-state-abuse-royal-commission 

Pope must sack Archbishop Philip Wilson, abuse survivors demand

Pope Francis should demand the resignation of Adelaide Archbishop Philip Wilson or sack him, say three people who played key roles in his conviction for concealing the child sex offences of priest Jim Fletcher. Australia's bishops should also call for his resignation, said survivor advocates Peter Gogarty and Bob O'Toole outside Newcastle Courthouse on Tuesday after Wilson's 12-month jail sentence, pending an assessment whether it can be served as home detention, made headlines around the world.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/australia/105213395/pope-must-sack-archbishop-philip-wilson-abuse-survivors-demand 

National Courts Pope must sack Archbishop Philip Wilson, demand abuse survivoers.

Pope Francis should demand the resignation of Adelaide Archbishop Philip Wilson or sack him, say three people who played key roles in his conviction for concealing the child sex offences of priest Jim Fletcher. Australia’s bishops should also call for his resignation, said survivor advocates Peter Gogarty and Bob O’Toole outside Newcastle Courthouse on Tuesday after Wilson’s 12-month jail sentence, pending an assessment whether it can be served as home detention, made headlines around the world.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/pope-must-sack-archbishop-philip-wilson-demand-abuse-survivors-20180703-p4zp9z.html 

The Forgotten Child Sex Abuse Survivors In Rural Australia

The Forgotten Child Sex Abuse Survivors IThe national child sex abuse scandal has been dominated by headlines about Ballarat, Newcastle and allegations of historic sexual offences against Cardinal George Pell. Lucie Morris-Marr speaks to the survivors in lesser-known cases across the country. The tiny regional town of Elliminyt (population 2645) located just outside Colac in rural Victoria, is surrounded by pretty volcanic plains and sprawling rural properties. It’s in an area best known for its agriculture and light industry. Yet for Debora Wooby, this seemingly ordinary Australian town, 150km southwest of Melbourne, is forever ingrained in her memory as the location where she is brutally betrayed by a man entrusted with her care. Debra, 55, is not sure she’ll ever see justice for the care worker who raped her, stealing her virginity and her innocence as a vulnerable 13-year-old child at Elliminyt’s St Cutherbert’s orphanage in the mid 1970’s.

https://www.marieclaire.com.au/child-sex-abuse-survivors-rural-australia 

Journalist Joanne McCarthy attends Archbishop's sentencing

Joanne McCarthy is the Newcastle Herald journalist who's reporting helped spark Australia's Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. She was in court today for the sentencing of Archbishop Philip Wilson for his role in covering up child sex abuse.

http://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/pm/the-journalist-whos-reporting-helped-spark-a-royal-commission/9936428 

Australian Catholic bishop sentenced to year’s detention for covering up child sex abuse

The most senior Roman Catholic cleric to be convicted of covering up child sex abuse was sentenced to 12 months in detention by an Australian court Tuesday in a landmark case welcomed by some abuse survivors as a strong warning to institutions that fail to protect children. Newcastle Magistrate Robert Stone ordered Adelaide Archbishop Philip Wilson to serve at least 6 months before he is eligible for parole.

https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2018/07/03/australian-catholic-bishop-sentenced-to-years-detention-for-covering-up-child-sex-abuse.html 

Mom accuses pope of cover-up of son's sex abuse

A Brazilian mother is accusing Pope Francis of directly covering up the sex abuse of her son by a pedophile priest 16 years ago when the pope, then known as Jorge Bergoglio, was the archbishop of Buenos Aires. Beatriz Varela was employed in a diocesan school when the abuse of her son, Gabriel Ferrini, then 14, took place Aug. 15, 2002 – turning to Bishop Luis Stöcker. “Initially, he showed consternation, but, as the time went by, he did not take any action,” Varela said. “Instead,” she said, he “tried to minimize the case, saying that I had to be merciful with persons who chose celibacy as a vocation because they have moments of weakness. Bergoglio was aware of this situation [the sex-abuse of her son] because no one can be installed in the Vicar’s House without the authorization of the archbishop. This is Bergoglio’s compromise: He speaks against cases of pedophilia in the Church, but uses hypocrisy, lies and complicity to cover them.”

http://www.wnd.com/2018/07/mom-accuses-pope-of-cover-up-of-sons-sex-abuse/

Catholic diocese slashing funding for priest abuse victims: Lawyer

The Roman Catholic diocese in Southwestern Ontario has slashed funds to pay for counselling of those abused by priests and adopted American-style tactics by using a top-dollar legal team to go after those who support victims, a London lawyer says. The change in tactics by the Diocese of London came suddenly and left victims vulnerable, said lawyer Rob Talach of London, who has represented many victims and complainants since becoming a lawyer in 2002.

http://www.thesudburystar.com/2018/06/30/catholic-diocese-slashing-funding-for-priest-abuse-victims-lawyer 

Pennsylvania attorney general to challenge court order halting priest sex abuse grand jury report

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said Friday he will challenge the state Supreme Court's order postponing publication of a grand jury report about child sex abuse and cover-ups in six Catholic dioceses, including Allentown. Shapiro plans to file an appeal Monday of the order forbidding him to release the report, which also covers the Erie, Greensburg, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh and Scranton dioceses.

http://www.mcall.com/news/nationworld/pennsylvania/mc-nws-catholic-priest-grand-jury-report-20180629-story.html 

Paedophile priest investigation turns to regional Western Australia to reveal full extent of child abuse

The horrific crimes of paedophile priest, Denis McAlinden, are being investigated in regional Western Australia by lawyers committed to revealing the full extent of his abuse of young children. McAlinden died in 2005 before he could be charged over five decades of sexual abuse that spanned Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, the Philippines and Papua New Guinea. Now, Canberra-based law firm, Ken Cush and Associates, is turning its attention to the Diocese of Geraldton, where McAlinden was sent in the 1980s.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-30/paedophile-priest-investigation-in-regional-wa/9923986 

Pope replaces Australian prelate who opposes sex abuse norm

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Melbourne's archbishop, who said he'd prefer jail to telling civil authorities about any sex abuse of children that might be revealed to him in the confessional. The Vatican said Friday that the pontiff has appointed Monsignor Peter Comensoli, 54, to head the archdiocese, replacing Archbishop Denis Hart. At 77, Hart is two years older than the age at which all bishops must offer the pope their resignation.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12080543 

Paedophile priest investigation turns to regional Western Australia to reveal full extent of child abuse

McAlinden died in 2005 before he could be charged over five decades of sexual abuse that spanned Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, the Philippines and Papua New Guinea. Now, Canberra-based law firm, Ken Cush and Associates, is turning its attention to the Diocese of Geraldton, where McAlinden was sent in the 1980s.The prolific paedophile priest spent time at the Diocese of Geraldton in the 1980s and the Diocese of Bunbury in the 1990s. It wants to hear from witnesses and victims from the Diocese of Geraldton, Bunbury and the parish of Wickham and Kojonup.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-30/paedophile-priest-investigation-in-regional-wa/9923986