Understanding sexual abuse is hard. And who wants to try? Sexual abuse is not a subject anyone wants to think about, let alone read about and study. But our clients live with the sexual abuse they went through when they were kids, or sexual assault as adults, so Ashley and I try to learn as […]
Catholic Priests in Montreal Banned from Being Alone with Children: More Needed
June 30, 2016 By
Montreal priests must now team up around kids. The Catholic Archdiocese of Montreal will ban any priest or church worker from being alone with children. The policy covers anyone “in the orbit of the church” to create a “safety net” for children. The new policy will launch with twelve pilot parishes in September and later […]
Pennsylvania Grand Jury Finds Catholic Bishops Hid Hundreds of Abuse Cases
March 4, 2016 By
Another Pennsylvania grand jury issued a scathing report on the sexual abuse of children in the Catholic Church. Unlike the previous grand jury reports in Philadelphia, this report investigated child sex abuse and exploitation, and the negligence of bishops, in the small diocese of Altoona-Johnstown. Altoona-Johnstown serves approximately 100,000 Catholics in 89 parishes. Its small […]
Catholic Church Faces Another Scandal
December 15, 2015 By
There is a storm brewing in New York and it has nothing to do with the weather. The Catholic Archdiocese of New York has been sued (nothing new there) concerning a Throgs Neck priest accused of financing his alternative lifestyle with parish funds. The controversy began earlier this year with an email sent to Cardinal […]
For Pope Francis, Words Speak Louder than Actions on Sex Abuse Cover Up
September 29, 2015 By
After commending US bishops for their courage in dealing with the scandal of child sexual abuse by priests, Pope Francis finally spent a portion of his last day in the US meeting with the victims of sexual abuse. “God weeps” at the sexual abuse of children, he said, in a translation from Spanish of his […]
Pope Slammed For Calling Bishops Courageous
September 24, 2015 By
During Pope Francis’ meeting with US bishops at Washington’s St. Matthew’s Cathedral in Washington, the Pope referred to the nation’s bishops as courageous in their stance on clergy sexual abuse. The remarks drew immediate fire from advocates for survivors of sex abuse who sought to remind the Latin American pontiff of the injustices and cover-ups […]
Cardinals’ Email Exchange Details Efforts to Silence a Sex Abuse Survivor
September 16, 2015 By
We have another email scandal on our hands. This time it doesn’t come from Washington. It involves a cardinal of the Catholic Church in Chile and his predecessor. In the email exchanges, the two princes of the church discuss ways to prevent an outspoken survivor of sexual abuse from joining the Pope’s commission on sex […]
Judge Orders Verdict of $400,000 in Catholic Church Abuse Case
September 10, 2015 By
Connecticut Superior Court Judge Cynthia Swienton has issued a verdict in favor of a survivor of child sexual abuse involving a Catholic youth choir director. The defendant, Shawn Pahl, was a part-time youth choir director for St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in New Britain, Connecticut. The victim was 12 years old when he first […]
Catholic Church in Louisville Sued For Sex Abuse
May 5, 2015 By
Two men have filed a sexual abuse lawsuit against an incarcerated priest, a nun, and the Archdiocese of Louisville for alleged sexual abuse they suffered in the 1970’s. The priest, 67-year-old Rev. James Schook, is serving a 15 year prison sentence for sexually molesting one of the two men. According to the Associated Press, “The […]
New Boss Same as the Old Boss
December 9, 2014 By
Since Pope Francis’ election as head of the Catholic Church, many observers have been pleased by the new Pope’s efforts at reforming the Church. So when Pope Francis named fellow Jesuit Rev. Robert Geisinger the Vatican’s “promoter of justice” for U.S. abuse cases in September, a position roughly analogous to chief prosecutor, some abuse advocates […]