MoD admits over 350 sexual abuse complaints have been made by cadets

More than 350 complaints of sexual abuse perpetrated against members of Britain’s cadet forces have been made in the past five years, the Ministry of Defence has said, as reports emerged that some cases were covered up by the authorities.
Figures released by the MoD show that, of the 363 claims lodged between 2012 and 2017, 282 were referred to the police. The allegations also led to the dismissal of 99 instructors across the three cadet branches: army, air and sea, as Whitehall paid out more than £2m in compensation to the survivors.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jul/04/mod-admits-over-350-sexual-abuse-complaints-have-been-made-by-cadets 

Sex abuse was covered up at cadet forces, Panorama finds

BBC Panorama has uncovered evidence of repeated cover-ups of historical sex abuse in Britain's cadet forces.

Victims have spoken for the first time of senior cadet leaders covering up complaints, and pressurising families against going to the police. Overseen by the Ministry of Defence, the cadets is one of the UK's largest youth bodies with 130,000 members.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-40457123# 

Jersey care abuse inquiry: Children 'still at risk'

Children may still be at risk in Jersey's care system, a report into seven decades of child abuse has found. Live electrical wires were applied to children's legs, one survivor told the The Independent Jersey Care Inquiry.
Victims also reported being beaten with nettles, having their heads dunked in cold water and being sexually abused. The States of Jersey had "proved to be an ineffectual and neglectful substitute parent", the report said.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-40485015 

Lawsuit accuses O.C. priest of sexually assaulting his assistant at Irvine church

A senior Roman Catholic priest in the Diocese of Orange sexually assaulted and harassed a female church employee last year at a prominent Irvine parish where he was placed despite a similar prior accusation, according to a lawsuit filed by the woman.
Father Alex Kim is accused by his former assistant of sexually assaulting her several times at St. John Neumann Catholic Church. She alleged in the suit that she felt compelled to take a leave of absence to avoid his attacks.

http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-ln-priest-sexual-assault-lawsuit-20170719-story.html 

German commissioner urges Cardinal Müller to apologise over Regensburg choir scandal

An investigation found at least 547 former members of the Regensburg Domspatzen boys choir were subjected to some form of abuse

Cardinal Gerhard Müller has been strongly criticised by an investigation into abuse at the Regensburg choir school.
More than 500 boys suffered abuse at the hands of dozens of teachers and priests at the school that trains the prestigious boys’ choir of the Regensburg Cathedral in Germany, said an independent investigator.

http://catholicherald.co.uk/news/2017/07/20/german-commissioner-urges-cardinal-muller-to-apologise-over-regensburg-choir-scandal/ 

Brendan Smyth's evil deeds can never be forgotten

On the 20th anniversary of the serial abuser's admission of his crimes, Liam Collins retraces the scandal that shook Ireland to the top. 

It is high summer in Kilnacrott, Co Cavan. Not even the ominous evergreen trees that surround the one-time Norbertine house and its small graveyard can darken this glorious summer's day. 

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/brendan-smyths-evil-deeds-can-never-be-forgotten-35958053.html 

Catholic parishes to pay higher fees

To help Guam's Catholic Church correct past financial mismanagement, pay debts and properly fund chancery operations, village parishes will see an average of 186-percent increases in assessment fees.

This means up to a 1,146-percent hike for the Maina parish, for example, which used to pay only $107.82, church data shows. The Dededo parish, the biggest, will be assessed $10,763.45 instead of the $5,481.26 imposed six years ago, or an increase of 96 percent.

http://www.guampdn.com/story/news/2017/07/23/catholic-parishes-pay-higher-fees/486945001/ 

How the domestic violence research can help the church

You might have got totally different impressions of how the church responds to domestic violence depending on your media choices this week.
On the ABC, journalist Julia Baird presented a number of reports (here, here and here), that emphasised a statistic – that US research shows that “sporadic” attenders of churches are more likely to engage in domestic violence than the general community. Then News Corp’s Andrew Bolt in the Herald Sun and on Sky News pointed to a key finding from the same research which shows that regular attenders at church are much less likely to be involved in domestic violence. (Karl Faase in Eternity had reported that good news story back in 2015.) To be fair, Baird also reported that statistic but much less prominently.

https://www.eternitynews.com.au/in-depth/how-the-domestic-violence-research-can-help-the-church/ 

Church has learned very little in the 20 years since evil Fr Brendan Smyth died, says victim

Smyth was jailed for more than 140 offences in 1994, dying of a heart attack behind bars on August 22, 1997.
Brendan Boland was abused by the twisted cleric for two years, starting from when he was an 11-year-old altar boy serving in his home parish in Dundalk, Co Louth.
In 1975, when Mr Boland was 14, he reported Smyth's abuse of him and other children but was forced to sign a confidentiality agreement that prevented him from speaking about it to anyone.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/church-has-learned-very-little-in-the-20-years-since-evil-fr-brendan-smyth-died-says-victim-35959692.html 

Pope's treasurer faces sex abuse charges in Australia, a grim reminder for his home

By Byron Kaye BALLARAT, Australia (Reuters) - One of the pope's top advisers, Cardinal George Pell, makes his first court appearance in Australia this week on charges of historic sex crimes, a bitter reminder for his home town reeling from more than a dozen abuse cases.
 Pell, the Vatican's economy minister, last month became the most senior Catholic to be charged with sex crimes. He has vowed to fight the still-unspecified charges, calling them false and the result of a "relentless character assassination". He declined to respond to interview requests for this story. He is expected to appear before Melbourne Magistrates' Court on Wednesday. Police have not released details of the charges, but the start of Pell's court battle in Melbourne revisits a troubled past for Ballarat, the former gold town of 100,000 people 75 miles (120 km) to the west where Pell grew up and cut his teeth as a priest in the 1970s and 1980s.

http://www.euronews.com/2017/07/24/popes-treasurer-faces-sex-abuse-charges-in-australia-a-grim-reminder-for-his-home-town 

Westmoreland priest abuse case: 5 things we know now

A former Westmoreland County priest is charged with involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child from an incident more than 25 years ago.

John Thomas Sweeney, 74, was arraigned Monday afternoon at the magistrate’s office in Allegheny Township.

This is what we know from a criminal affidavit:

 

http://www.wpxi.com/news/top-stories/westmoreland-priest-abuse-case-5-things-we-know-now/570179937 

Pope Francis remains too tolerant of abuse

Pope Francis, who pledged a policy of “zero tolerance” for sexually abusive clergy in the Catholic Church, has turned out to be all too tolerant. On Thursday, Australian police brought criminal charges against Cardinal George Pell, a top Vatican official and kitchen-cabinet adviser to the pope, for multiple alleged incidents of sexual assault.

http://www.centralmaine.com/2017/07/04/popes-toleration-of-abuse/ 

Jersey's care homes decades of abuse examined in report

Decades of slavery, bullying and abuse have been revealed in a report into the care system in Jersey. Victims reported hundreds of alleged offences of physical, emotional or sexual abuse.
The police investigation began in 2006 but the apparent discovery in 2008 of part of a child's skull at a care home made headlines around the world.  It was later found to be coconut shell, but hundreds of victims had by then come forward.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-jersey-40325373