Charlotte bishops call reports of Pennsylvania priests molesting thousands of kids 'shameful'

The report came two months after Pope Francis ordered disgraced ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick removed from public ministry amid allegations the 88-year-old retired archbishop sexually abused a teenage altar boy and engaged in sexual misconduct with adult seminarians decades ago. Last month, Francis accepted McCarrick's resignation as cardinal and ordered him to a "life of prayer and penance." David Hains, spokesman for the Charlotte Diocese, said the report found huge problems that need to be fixed. “It's a betrayal when the leaders are literally preaching one thing and then acting in another way,” Hains said. “It's just wrong.”

https://www.wsoctv.com/news/local/charlotte-bishops-call-reports-of-pennsylvania-priests-molesting-thousands-of-kids-shameful-/816381191 

Camden Bishop Sullivan: I am 'ashamed and disgusted' by clergy sex abuse in grand jury report

Days after a searing grand jury report revealed widespread sexual abuse and cover-up by Catholic clergy members in six Pennsylvania dioceses, Camden Bishop Dennis J. Sullivan on Sunday called the report “painful” and an “important reminder of shameful past failings in the church — including in our own diocese.” “I am ashamed and disgusted by the past actions of some bishops and priests,” Sullivan said in a letter issued Sunday, which was scheduled to be read in all Camden parishes over the weekend at vigil and Sunday Masses. “… Of all the places that we expect that our children would be safe, it is within our churches, schools and institutions. The fact that the church, in the past, failed in this most fundamental obligation is heartbreaking.”

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/camden-bishop-sullivan-i-am-ashamed-and-disgusted-by-clergy-sex-abuse-in-grand-jury-report-20180819.html 

Excerpts from the grand jury report on child sex abuse in 6 Pennsylvania Roman Catholic dioceses

We heard the testimony of dozens of witnesses concerning clergy sex abuse. We subpoenaed, and reviewed, half a million pages of internal diocesan documents. They contained credible allegations against over three hundred predator priests. Over one thousand child victims were identifiable, from the church’s own records. We believe that the real number — of children whose records were lost, or who were afraid ever to come forward — is in the thousands. Most of the victims were boys; but there were girls too. Some were teens; many were prepubescent. ... All of them were brushed aside, in every part of the state, by church leaders who preferred to protect the abusers and their institution above all.

https://lancasteronline.com/news/local/excerpts-from-the-grand-jury-report-on-child-sex-abuse/article_372db51a-a253-11e8-87fb-1fefdd01c495.html 

Victims recount sexual abuse horrors in Chilean seminary

ROME - “We need for the Church to understand that those of us who come forth are not the enemy. We want to help the Church clean itself, so there are no other Mauricios drugged and raped in the seminary, so there are no other Sebastians forced to massage a bishop so he feels pleasure, so there’re no other Marcelos forced to receive oral sex, and so there’re no other Johns raped by their spiritual directors.”

https://cruxnow.com/global-church/2018/08/07/victims-recount-sexual-abuse-horrors-in-chilean-seminary/ 

Survey: Crisis of Gay Men Plagues Priesthood, Seminaries

Faithful Catholics recognize that the decades-long sex abuse crisis (the McCarrick scandal being just the latest chapter) of minors, seminarians and young priests is rooted in homosexuality. This understanding is backed by evidence: Multiple studies confirm clerical sex abuse is a crisis not of pedophilia but of homosexuality. In a 2017 report on the clerical sex abuse crisis, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) found that "Eighty-one percent of the victims were male," and when the age of the victim was determined, only "one in ten were under age ten." The report further confirmed that these findings were "similar to those reported for year 2015."

https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/survey-crisis-of-homosexual-men-plagues-priesthood-seminaries 

Investigation into clergy sexual abuse of children in six dioceses in Pennsylvania

Investigation into clergy sexual abuse of children in six dioceses in Pennsylvania includes Fort Wayne bishop’s time as leader of Diocese of Harrisburg. Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of the Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend said he has always done everything he was supposed to do to protect children and young adults from sexual abuse by predatory priests, both in this diocese and during his time from 2004-2010 as bishop of the Diocese of Harrisburg in Pennsylvania.

http://www.news-sentinel.com/news/local-news/2018/08/07/investigation-into-clergy-sexual-abuse-of-children-in-six-diocese-in-pennsylvania-includes-fort-wayne-bishops-time-as-leader-of-diocese-of-harrisburg/ 

Catholic Church in NZ 'failed in a very serious way' over paedophile priest: call for royal commission

The Catholic Church's handling of a paedophile priest from Dunedin amounts to ''negligence'', and a royal commission could reveal a cover-up, the head of the University of Otago's theology and public issues centre says. And an international expert on clerical sex abuse now believes Father Magnus Murray may have been offending for 50 years, and "almost certainly has dozens of victims". The comments came after ODT Insight yesterday revealed how Murray was allowed to continue as a priest after his offending in Dunedin was revealed to Bishop John Kavanagh in 1972.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12099600 

Allentown Diocese plans to release list of accused priests

The Allentown Diocese says it plans to release a list of priests accused of sexual abuse, after the Harrisburg Diocese did the same Wednesday. The release of the names comes amid a heated court and public relations battle over a massive statewide grand jury report examining decades of child sex abuse claims and alleged cover-ups in six Catholic dioceses: Allentown, Harrisburg, Scranton, Erie, Greensburg and Pittsburgh.

http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-nws-allentown-diocese-accused-priests-release-20180801-story.html 

Medieval reform, doctor of the Church, can help current sex abuse crisis, historian says

VATICAN – A radical program of reform addressing the widespread problem of abusive clergy and negligent superiors in the 11th century holds some essential insights and lessons for the church today, a church historian has said. St. Peter Damian – honoured by Pope Leo XII in 1828 as a doctor of the church for his reform efforts – came up with an effective strategy that emphasized the need for public accountability, strict penalties for offenders and their superiors, and the obligation of laypeople to step in when church leaders fail to reform themselves, said C. Colt Anderson, a theologian and expert in church reformers.

https://www.catholicregister.org/home/international/item/27760-medieval-reform-doctor-of-the-church-can-help-current-sex-abuse-crisis-historian-says 

Harrisburg Catholic diocese names 71 priests, clergy accused of sexual abuse

The Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg has released a list of more than 70 of its clergy members accused of sexually abusing or having inappropriate contact with children in cases dating back decades. Bishop Ronald Gainer also announced sweeping changes to confidentiality policies and said the names of any men accused of such crimes would be removed from any place of honor in the diocese. These changes pertain only to the Harrisburg diocese, which covers much of central Pennsylvania.

https://www.ydr.com/story/news/2018/08/01/pa-priest-clergy-abuse-harrisburg-catholic-diocese-makes-sweeping-changes-names-accused-sexual-abuse/876529002/ 

The fallen father: Church sex abuse in NZ 'still not exposed' - expert

An internationally-renowned expert on clerical sex abuse believes its extent in New Zealand has not yet been exposed. Emeritus Professor Desmond Cahill, of RMIT University in Melbourne, also criticised the Government for not extending the terms of reference of its historical inquiry into abuse in state care homes to include religious institutions. Cahill was a senior consultant on clerical sex abuse in the Catholic Church for the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, which referred 2575 abuse cases to the authorities. It released its final report in December last year.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12094496 

Opinion: Massena woman says do not be silent through fear

I attended the Survivors Network of Abuse by Priests conference In Chicago July 5 to 8.

I have been a contributing member of SNAP the last two years. It was wonderful to see so many courageous survivors sharing what they had suffered at the hands of the Catholic Church hierarchy and priests. Those at the conference are dedicated to saving other children and adults from the same fate. The Catholic Hierarchy have for centuries lust let the abused suffer with no compassion or help. In fact they have lied and because of those lies, millions of lives have been destroyed, many by suicide, drugs, alcohol or other self-inflicted wounds. Those abusers were often transferred to other parishes or left for years to repeat the abuse. The victims, children or adults, had to stay quiet because of threats against them or their families, or because the trauma was too much for them to handle. Many abusers were sent to therapy and we parishioners paid millions to help something that couldn’t be cured, while families struggled to help their loved ones.

http://northcountrynow.com/letters/opinion-massena-man-says-do-not-be-silent-through-fear-0239163 

Renewed calls for church to be part of Royal Commission

A paedophile priest who left a trail of victims in his wake was allowed to continue as a man of the cloth for nearly two decades after his offending was revealed to the Bishop of Dunedin. Survivors say it shows why the Catholic Church should be part of a Royal Commission into historic abuse. Chris Morris investigates. Victims of a paedophile priest in Dunedin are renewing calls for a Royal Commission into historic abuse to include churches, amid suggestions their abuser's eventual prosecution revealed only the tip of an iceberg.

https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/renewed-calls-church-be-part-royal-commission