Grassroots Influences the Mainstream In Fight Against Child Sex Abuse

When a notable anti-domestic violence activist asked her father, the founder of a Baltimore yeshiva, how rabbis had dealt with child sexual abuse in prewar Europe, he told her, “We closed the shutters.”
Up until a few years ago, this selective blindness was the de facto rabbinic therapy for addressing child sexual abuse in the Jewish community. If you couldn’t see the problem, you couldn’t name it, and if you couldn’t name it, it didn’t exist.

http://forward.com/yiddish/370640/little-by-little-the-grassroots-challenges-the-mainstream-to-rethink-child/ 

New abuse complaint against church, Boy Scouts

A new complaint of child sexual abuse has been filed in federal court against former Guam priest Rev. Louis Brouillard, the Archdiocese of Agana and the Guam chapter of the Boy Scouts of America.
In the latest case of abuse wrought by clergy against young boys held under their care, a plaintiff with the initials J.Q. is alleging that Brouillard sexually molested and abused him in the 1970s when he was between the ages of 13 and 15 and an altar boy at the Santa Teresita Catholic Church in Mangilao as well as a member of the Mangilao Boy Scout Troop 14, where Brouillard served as priest and scoutmaster.

https://www.postguam.com/news/local/new-abuse-complaint-against-church-boy-scouts/article_6d11a480-2fd5-11e7-888a-f31fd4c31619.html 

Reveal event aims to pry loose documents in Jehovah’s Witnesses cover-up

There’s no question whether Jehovah’s Witnesses policies direct elders to keep child abuse secret from police. They do.
And there’s no question whether the religion’s headquarters maintains a database of alleged child sexual abusers going back decades. Or that Jehovah’s Witnesses leaders have violated court orders to hand it over.

https://www.revealnews.org/blog/reveal-event-aims-to-pry-lose-documents-in-jehovahs-witness-cover-up/ 

I fell pregnant to my teacher's husband, but a faceless public servant helped save my life

The last thing my teacher asked of me, before I severed all ties, was that I respect her and her husband’s confidence as they’d respected mine. My teacher and her husband had sexualised their pastoral relationship with me when I was at school. I was 15 when the relationship started, in my 20s before I was free of them.
When I’m asked to describe the relationship now, I find it difficult to make others understand. It was a bit like joining a cult. My teacher was a key mentor. I was thrilled to be invited to her house one weekend. Soon I was spending all my time with her and her husband. They were like parents – it felt like they were better than my real parents because they were so interested in me. Over time, I lost contact with friends my own age. There was only my teacher and her husband. And then the sexual contact started – first initiated by him, and then both of them.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/apr/26/she-might-not-know-it-but-a-faceless-public-servant-helped-save-my-life 

Santa Fe archdiocese faces new suit as it seeks to conceal documents in separate abuse case

A new lawsuit filed against the Archdiocese of Santa Fe says a 2015 film about widespread child sexual abuse by Catholic clergy in the Boston area triggered a New Mexico’s man’s childhood memories of being sexually abused by two priests at an Albuquerque church.
Attorneys representing the man, identified as John Doe 66, filed the suit Thursday in the 2nd Judicial District Court in Albuquerque. It also names the Church of Ascension Parish in Albuquerque’s South Valley as a defendant.

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/santa-fe-archdiocese-faces-new-suit-as-it-seeks-to/article_7525785c-62ef-55af-aa37-422cf7274b3e.html 

Second Old-Catholic priest suspended on child sex abuse charges

The Old Catholic Bishop of Haarlem Dirk-Jan Schoon suspended another priest on child sex abuse charges. This priest has been retired for 13 years, but is still involved in celebrations in the Amsterdam parish and was used in emergencies, NOS reports.
Last week the Old Catholic Church suspended another priest, Nico S., after he was arrested in Cambodia. The Cambodian authorities found a large number of nude photos of boys under the age of 15 in his possession. It is believed he paid the boys to pose naked for him. After his arrest the Church admitted that they knew about S.'s sexual preferences for young boys.

http://nltimes.nl/2017/04/28/second-old-catholic-priest-suspended-child-sex-abuse-charges 

Countersuit filed in sex abuse case against Charlotte Catholic diocese

There are new developments involving a sex-abuse lawsuit against the Charlotte Catholic diocese and a former church youth leader. In February, Channel 9 reported that a local family filed a civil suit claiming the youth leader targeted their teenage daughter, and assaulted her.
[Lawsuit against church youth leader, Charlotte Catholic Diocese alleges sexual assault, negligence] Anchor Allison Latos revealed that former leader is now firing back with a suit of his own.

http://www.wsoctv.com/news/local/countersuit-filed-in-sex-abuse-case-against-charlotte-catholic-diocese/517296550 

Pakistani archbishop: ‘Catholic schools are now like prisons’

Children attending Catholic schools in Pakistan must walk through a gate with two armed guards, the bishop said

Children attending Catholic schools in Pakistan must walk through a gate with two armed guards and into a compound surrounded by 8-foot walls.
“It looks like schools are becoming a prison,” Archbishop Sebastian Shaw of Lahore, Pakistan, told Catholic News Service.

http://www.cathnewsusa.com/2017/04/pakistani-archbishop-catholic-schools-now-like-prisons/?newsletter=1 

2 Choate Life Trustees Resign Amid Sexual Abuse Investigation

Two former headmasters who were life trustees at Choate Rosemary Hall stepped down this week, forced aside by allegations that teachers at the school had sexually abused students for decades and that administrators had not responded appropriately.

The two trustees were Charles Dey, who served as headmaster at the elite Connecticut boarding school from 1973 to 1991, and Edward Shanahan, who held that position from 1991 to 2011.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/28/nyregion/choate-life-trustees-resign-sex-abuse.html?emc=edit_tnt_20170428&nlid=63876270&tntemail0=y&_r=0 

Pesch: Litigation needed to expose abuse

As I near the end of my series on family-related laws passed by the 33rd Guam Legislature, I turn my attention to statute that’s received tremendous public attention since its passage in September 2016 — Public Law 33-187. This law removed the statute of limitations for acts of sexual assault and allowed long ago sexual assault victims to sue both the abuser and those institutions that failed to stop the abuse.
Since the law passed, more than 50 people have filed lawsuits against the Catholic Church. A few cases have also been filed against the Boy Scouts of America. There is a strong probability more lawsuits will follow.

http://www.guampdn.com/story/opinion/columnists/2017/04/30/pesch-litigation-needed-expose-abuse/101086742/ 

Mary-Rose MacColl memoir about sexual abuse

A DECADE or so ago, misery memoirs were all the rage. The worse your childhood, the better your book sold. Sometimes – such as in the case of American James Frey’s 2003 fake life story, A Million Little Pieces – you even made bad stuff up in order to get more readers. But Mary-Rose MacColl’s extraordinary new book ­rewrites the misery memoir. You couldn’t make it up – being groomed by your (female) high-school teacher so you could end up three-in-a-bed with her husband, eventually ending up pregnant – but nor could you write so beautifully and powerfully and heartbreak­ingly unless you were a writer prepared to put everything on the line.

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/maryrose-maccoll-memoir-about-sexual-abuse/news-story/7317de481e4eb2fe9377718904a2448e 

11th priest accused in latest clergy sex abuse suit

An 11th priest has been added to the list of Guam clergy accused of sexually abusing children decades ago. Monsignor Zoilo L.G. Camacho, who died about a decade ago, is named in a lawsuit filed Monday in federal court. Camacho is the brother of another accused priest, Juan Camacho.
Defrocked priest Raymond Cepeda also sexually abused the same boy, according to the complaint, filed by a man identified in court documents as H.J.C.

http://www.guampdn.com/story/news/2017/05/01/11th-priest-accused-latest-clergy-sex-abuse-suit/101144542/ 

Central Catholic sex abuse demonstration will unveil new allegations from 1960s incidents

LAWRENCE — An international group that supports sexual abuse survivors will be on the public sidewalk in front of Central Catholic High School in Lawrence late Monday morning.
The group, Road to Recovery, is coming to the city after Central Catholic administrator Andrew Nikonchuk was fired last Tuesday due to allegations that he drugged and raped a student in 2006.

http://www.eagletribune.com/news/central-catholic-sex-abuse-demonstration-will-unveil-new-allegations-from/article_49a76874-2e70-11e7-bd74-8b5e2cd8d4d9.html