Former Whanganui quiz-maker hopes to talk to Pope about sexual abuse

A man who once wrote quizzes for the Wanganui Chronicle is heading for Rome next month, hoping to talk to Pope Francis about his years of abuse in Catholic institutions. Darryl Smith lived in Castlecliff, Whanganui, for about five years in the 1990s. During that time Chronicle editor Jim McLees allowed him to write fortnightly quizzes, published on Saturdays.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/child-abuse/news/article.cfm?c_id=146&objectid=12189572 

INVESTIGATION: Church files reveal Scots Catholic priests have been accused of abuse 126 times but never reported

ALLEGATIONS of abuse have been made 126 times against Catholic priests in Scotland over the last 70 years, according to church documents. However, the vast majority were not reported to police for years and only a fraction of those cases have ever been prosecuted. Now campaigners are calling on Catholic Church leaders to publicly name all those who have had allegations made against them following the lead of the church leaders in the United States.

https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/investigation-scale-of-allegations-against-churchmen-is-exposed-as-campaigners-call-for-scotland-to-follow-america-and-name-themsuffer-the-little-children-church-files-reveal-scot/ 

Church envoy begs McCarrick to repent as abuse verdict nears

The retired Vatican diplomat who accused Pope Francis of turning a blind eye to the alleged sexual misconduct of former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick is begging the American to publicly repent for his crimes for the good of the Catholic Church. Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano wrote a letter to McCarrick that was published Monday on an Italian blog, Vigano's way of communicating after he went into hiding following his bombshell accusations against the pope in August.

https://www.dailyfreeman.com/news/national/church-envoy-begs-mccarrick-to-repent-as-abuse-verdict-nears/article_b97da977-f257-5b97-b9e4-fa04f5d127c4.html 

Raped and impregnated by Canisius Jesuit priest, ab

The woman still remembers the staircase leading to the Rev. Vincent P. Mooney’s office at Canisius High School. She first climbed those stairs nearly 60 years ago when she was a young schoolgirl at the old Mount St. Joseph’s Academy. “It was after my father’s death and I wasn’t handling it very well, and a nun at the school was sympathetic and she wanted to help me,” the woman said. “So she hooked me up with this Jesuit priest at Canisius High School.”

https://www.wkbw.com/news/special-section/fall-from-grace/raped-and-impregnated-by-canisius-jesuit-priest-abuse-survivor-rebuilds-her-life 

Santa Rosa bishop has ‘raging anger’ over sex abuse, defends priests as ‘suspects’

Santa Rosa Bishop Robert F. Vasa expressed “raging anger” about pervasive child sex abuse that has occurred in the Catholic Church during a Monday news conference to discuss the recent publication of a list of convicted or credibly accused clergy members in his diocese.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Santa-Rosa-bishop-has-raging-anger-over-sex-13533185.php 

Cdl. Burke: Pope Francis’ response to abuse crisis is ‘more confusing than anything’

Cardinal Raymond Burke told German TV in a January 8 interview that Pope Francis’ response to the abuse crisis is “confusing.” Cardinal Burke stated that Pope Benedict was “very clear on this [matter of abuse],” while “it is difficult now to say what exactly the approach” to the current abuse crisis is under Pope Francis. “It is more confusing than anything.”

https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/cdl.-burke-pope-francis-response-to-abuse-crisis-is-more-confusing-than-any 

Baltimore church leaders handing over files amid abuse probe

BALTIMORE The Catholic archdiocese in Baltimore has delivered over 50,000 pages of internal files to Maryland's top law enforcement official amid an investigation into child sex abuse and is in the process of handing over more, church leaders announced Tuesday.  Archbishop William Lori described the clergy sex abuse scourge that's been rocking the church as a "genuine crisis" and said Baltimore's archdiocese is "working very hard to cooperate" with Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh's investigation.

https://www.thestate.com/news/nation-world/national/article224563330.html

Read more here: https://www.thestate.com/news/nation-world/national/article224563330.html#storylink=cpy

50 Jesuits Are Named as Abusers, Including Some From Top-Ranked N.Y. Catholic Schools

The schools are among the most recognizable Catholic institutions in New York, with reputations extending far beyond the church’s followers and the city’s borders: Xavier, Regis, Brooklyn Prep, Fordham Prep. They educated many in the city’s Catholic elite, producing politicians, authors, academics and at least one Supreme Court justice. They regularly appear on lists of New York’s best Catholic schools.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/15/nyregion/catholic-church-sex-abuse-jesuits.html 

Abuse report’s claim of cover-up, mishandling of cases called ‘misleading’

WASHINGTON – The conclusion reached by a Pennsylvania grand jury that six of the state’s Catholic dioceses acted “in virtual lockstep” to cover up abuse allegations and dismiss alleged victims over a 70-year period starting in 1947 is “inaccurate,” “unfair” and “misleading,” said a veteran journalist in an in-depth article for Commonweal magazine.

https://www.catholic-sf.org/news/abuse-reports-claim-of-cover-up-mishandling-of-cases-called-misleading 

Buckhead attorney sues Catholic archdiocese for alleged sexual abuse, claims cover-up

A Buckhead attorney is suing Atlanta’s Roman Catholic archdiocese on behalf of an anonymous client allegedly sexually assaulted by a priest in the 1970s, in a case that claims church officials are continuing to cover up abuse cases. The archdiocese recently released a list of clergy members it says were credibly accused of abuse — including the late Rev. John Douglas Edwards, who is the alleged abuser in the lawsuit.

https://www.reporternewspapers.net/2019/01/15/buckhead-attorney-sues-catholic-archdiocese-for-alleged-sexual-abuse-claims-cover-up/ 

Reckoning is underway in US Catholic Church

Over the past four months, Roman Catholic dioceses across the U.S. have released the names of more than 1,000 priests and others accused of sexually abusing children in an unprecedented public reckoning spurred at least in part by a shocking grand jury investigation in Pennsylvania, an Associated Press review has found. Nearly 50 dioceses and religious orders have publicly identified child-molesting priests in the wake of the Pennsylvania report issued in mid-August, and 55 more have announced plans to do the same over the next few months, the AP found. Together they account for more than half of the nation’s 187 dioceses.

https://www.wkbn.com/news/national-world/reckoning-is-underway-in-us-catholic-church/1684794876 

Former Crystal Lake church deacon supporters call 'very faithful Christian' gets 5 years for sexual abuse of girl

A former church deacon whom supporters described as a “role model” was sentenced Thursday to five years in prison for the sexual assault of an underage church choir member. David Tapley, 54, of Crystal Lake, was found guilty by a jury in September of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. The conviction followed testimony from the girl who, with her service dog nearby in the courtroom, said Tapley began touching her inappropriately in the car on rides home from choir practice at SS. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Cary.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/ct-met-church-choir-sexual-abuse-20190103-story.html 

US clergy abuse survivors demand inclusion in Vatican reforms

Patricia Gallagher Marchant was first abused by a priest who befriended her family when she was seven or eight years old. More than five decades later, the 61-year-old stood Wednesday (Jan 2) in front of a throng of news cameras outside the downtown Chicago headquarters of the Catholic archdiocese in this sprawling American city, and demanded the church listen to survivors. "They've counted on our silence," Marchant said. "The horror of what happened to each of us needs to be out and spoken."

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/us-clergy-abuse-survivors-demand-inclusion-in-vatican-reforms-11081878

Pacific bishops want to rid Catholic church of predator priests

Predator priests will face the full force of the law, Catholic bishops in the Pacific say. In Papua New Guinea, Fr Giorgio Licini said any cases of priests abusing children would be dealt with severely. Fr Giorgio said an office had been established to deal with the matter. Meanwhile, the head of the church in Fiji, Archbishop Peter Loy Chong, said his church had policy and protocols in place for suspected sexual offending amoung priests.

https://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/379377/pacific-bishops-want-to-rid-catholic-church-of-predator-priests 

Abuse Survivors Rally at Archdiocese as Bishops Meet in Mundelein

For more than six months, the Catholic Church has been dealing with priest sex abuse crisis -- with attorney generals weighing in from Pennsylvannia to in Illinois. On Wednesday, survivors of abuse had their say. Signs of arrivals at the week-long Catholic bishops retreat at the seminary in Mundelein, as well as evidence of tight security, with police on bicycles patrolling the grounds, were visible. Pope Francis requested the week long solitude. Leading the retreat will be Rev. Raniero Cantalamessa, who has preached to three popes.

 https://www.nbcchicago.com/blogs/ward-room/mundelein-bishop-meeting-priest-abuse-503823231.html

Celibacy isn’t the cause of the church sex-abuse crisis; the priesthood is

Year after year, we seem to reach new depths of priestly depravity in the Catholic church’s “ministry” to children in its charge. After 16 years of bad news on that front, a Pennsylvania grand jury reported last August that more than 1,000 children had been molested by more than 300 priests in that state. And now the attorney general of Illinois, Lisa Madigan, has revealed that 500 cases of alleged molestation were kept hidden by Catholic authorities.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2019/01/03/celibacy-isn-cause-church-sex-abuse-crisis-priesthood/cinI3OcoEqyg7l51YHD72K/story.html 

Catholic Church sex abuse scandal’s next phase underway: Public naming of abusers

Over the past four months, Roman Catholic dioceses across the U.S. have released the names of more than 1,000 priests and others accused of sexually abusing children in an unprecedented public reckoning spurred at least in part by a shocking grand jury investigation in Pennsylvania, an Associated Press review has found.

https://globalnews.ca/news/4811103/catholic-church-sex-abuse-reckoning/ 

Pope blasts US bishops on sex abuse crisis, saying church's credibility has been 'undercut'

Pope Francis bluntly criticized Catholic bishops in the US for their approach to the church's sexual abuse crisis, saying that their finger-pointing, abuses of power and "playing the victim or the scold" have undermined the church's credibility. "The church's credibility has been seriously undercut and diminished by these sins and crimes," the Pope said of the abuse of children by Catholic clergy, "but even more by the efforts made to deny or conceal them."

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/01/03/europe/pope-bishops-letter/index.html 

Fight for 500’ to uncover priests accused of sexual abuse in Illinois

It is one is the largest initiatives yet to find and expose the identities of hundreds of Illinois priests, bishops and other clergy members accused of sexual abuse. Last month, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan accused the Catholic Church of dramatically underreporting the allegations of clergy sex abuse in the state. Her investigators say they found at least 500 accusations against priests and clergy, compared to the 185 cases the church says it knows about.

https://wgntv.com/2019/01/03/initiative-launched-to-uncover-priests-accused-of-sexual-abuse-in-illinois/ 

Pope Francis takes US bishops to task for cover-up, conflict, division

In a strongly worded, eight-page letter to U.S. bishops, Pope Francis has rebuked the prelates not only for covering up sexual abuse but for unhealthy conflicts and divisions among themselves, which have "gravely" and "seriously" undercut the church's credibility. "God's faithful people and the Church's mission continue to suffer greatly as a result of abuses of power and conscience and sexual abuse, and the poor way that they were handled, as well as the pain of seeing an episcopate lacking in unity and concentrated more on pointing fingers than on seeking paths of reconciliation," the pope wrote.

https://www.ncronline.org/news/accountability/pope-francis-takes-us-bishops-task-cover-conflict-division 

New Zealand: Abuse expert: Catholic bishops risk losing all credibility

Not again... we have no hope in hell for justice now... There will be NO HOPE FOR JUSTICE in New Zealand... for child rape and child abuse now... within the catholic church... the church is setting it's self up to bring us survivors down... like it always has... we have no voice now... the church will look after it's own... NOT the victims / survivors...
Shame on the Catholic Church... only looks after their own... just you watch their fight against the victims / survivors... the cover up will be worst than before.. The church should stand aside for once... and leave The Royal Commission Inquiry Into Child Abuse... do their work as it is meant to be done..

This is going to turn out like the Path to Healing... Just like the 2 mediation in New Zealand... and the counseling all picked be the catholic church Bishops... nuns and priest... we had no say right from the very start... and it is happening again...
The catholic church has already lost her credibility... when she first turned her back on us victims/survivors worldwide... and sent her rapist from country to country... to rape innocent children again and again...
Survivor of the Catholic Church abuse Ann Free Spirit... Ann Thompson

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

The Catholic Church has set up a new body to liaise with the Royal Commission's abuse inquiry, but its make-up has raised questions over its capacity to deliver truth. A leading world expert on clerical child sex abuse told RNZ that if Te Rōpū Tautoko remained top-heavy with Church officials it would "only do the bidding of the bishops" and would have no credibility. Dr Peter Wilkinson, a former priest who acted as adviser to the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, made his comments after the group was formed last month to provide a co-ordinated response to the commission from all its dioceses, religious orders and institutions in New Zealand.

https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/379299/abuse-expert-catholic-bishops-risk-losing-all-credibility 

Edward McKeown, former Nashville priest convicted of rape, dies in prison

Former Nashville Catholic priest Edward McKeown, convicted in 1999 of the rape of a teenage boy a decade after he was forced from the priesthood, died Sunday while serving a 25-year sentence. He was 74. McKeown, who was incarcerated at South Central Correctional Facility in Clifton, Tennessee, died at a local hospital of natural causes, a prison spokeswoman confirmed. McKeown pleaded guilty to abusing a 12-year-old boy in his neighborhood over a three-year period. He was due to be released May 1, 2020.

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2018/12/31/edward-mckeown-nashville-priest-rape-dies-prison/2450605002/ 

What’s coming for religion in 2019? Here’s what the experts predict.

This year saw wave after wave of new revelations about the extent of the Catholic Church’s sex abuse crisis. It saw deadly hate crimes, the explosion of state-sponsored persecution against China’s Uighur Muslims, major #MeToo moments in a slew of congregations and faith communities, critical milestones for religious minorities on Capital Hill, and the specter of schism among United Methodists and other Christian denominations.

https://religionnews.com/2018/12/31/religion-2019-predictions/

Roadblock to justice for survivors is 'condemned to the scrapheap' from today

A LEGAL roadblock stopping child sexual abuse survivors from suing churches and other powerful institutions has been “condemned to the scrapheap” from today, said NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman. NSW Government legislation abolishing the so-called “Ellis defence” takes effect from today after more than a decade where it blocked many survivors from seeking justice against the institutions that failed them.

https://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/5831830/a-good-day-finally-arrives-for-child-abuse-survivors/?cs=7 

Dioceses rocked by grand jury report

4 More than a decade after The Boston Globe’s bombshell reporting on sexual abuse within the Catholic Chury, a statewide grand jury report stated 1,000 children — and possibly many more — were molested by hundreds of predator Roman Catholic priests in six Pennsylvania dioceses. The grand jury report, released in August, found evidence that at least 301 predator priests abused the children, but were protected from prosecution by a “sophisticated” cover-up effort by senior church officials in Pennsylvania.

https://www.dailyitem.com/news/dioceses-rocked-by-grand-jury-report/article_a4f7b85b-d3d2-51ba-825b-5c28fcd048dc.html 

DC lawmakers consider requiring priests to report child abuse revealed in confessional

Move would raise religious liberty issues Washington, D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine is considering a proposal which would require Catholic priests to reveal suspected child abuse revealed in the confessional, according to a Washington Post report. The proposal could be part of draft legislation designed to address the recent sexual abuse scandals in churches and among athletes, which is expected to be introduced early this month.

https://aleteia.org/2018/12/31/dc-lawmakers-consider-requiring-priests-to-report-child-abuse-revealed-in-confessional/ 

Man Who Says McCarrick Abused Him for Years Speaks After Vatican Testimony

A Virginia man who says ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick abused him for years starting when he was an 11-year-old boy is showing his face for the first time since testifying to the Vatican. “There were times when McCarrick always wanted to get me alone for his own ability to prey on me,” James Grein said. Grein said McCarrick began abusing him decades ago at his family's New Jersey home. He says McCarrick groped him several times and the abuse got worse as he got older.

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Only-on-4-Man-Who-Says-McCarrick-Abused-Him-for-Years-Shows-Face-for-First-Time-503731561.html 

Sex abuse victims can finally sue churches in NSW as 'Ellis defence' abolished

create a fairer civil litigation system for all child abuse survivors. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP Victims of sexual abuse can finally sue the Catholic church in New South Wales after the state government abolished the infamous “Ellis defence”. In October the NSW parliament passed laws to allow survivors to seek justice and sue unincorporated organisations, including churches, following recommendations by the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jan/01/sex-abuse-victims-can-finally-sue-churches-in-nsw-as-ellis-defence-abolished

Illinois priest accused of child sex abuse has gone missing

A church official says an Illinois priest under criminal investigation for sexual abuse has gone “absent without leave” from his Augustinian order. Sister Mary Ann Hamer is assistant treasurer for the Province of Our Mother of Good Counsel. She said Friday that the Rev. Richard McGrath moved out of the St. John Stone Friary in Chicago sometime in the last couple of months on his own accord.

https://fox2now.com/2018/12/31/illinois-priest-accused-of-child-sex-abuse-has-gone-missing/ 

Vatican spokesman, deputy resign suddenly

The director and deputy director of the Vatican press office resigned abruptly on Monday, offering no specific reason for their departure. Vatican spokesman Greg Burke announced on Twitter that he and his deputy, Paloma Garcia Ovejero, would leave their posts effective Jan. 1. "At this time of transition in Vatican communications, we think it’s best the Holy Father is completely free to assemble a new team," Burke tweeted.

https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/423288-vatican-spokesman-deputy-resign-suddenly