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17 September 2019

Cardinal Pell v The Queen v Jesus v sex abuse victims — what's not to hate?

The Jesus v Rome case was dragged before the highest court in the land — and Governor Pontius Pilate washed his hands of it, inviting the blood-lusting crowd to decide between pardoning Barabbas or "the king of the Jews". The rest is biblical history. Jesus seemingly lucked out, but he was a godman with a plan.

https://independentaustralia.net/life/life-display/cardinals-pell-v-the-queen-v-jesus-v-sex-abuse-victims---whats-not-to-hate,13102 

12 September 2019

‘The silence is suffocating’: family abuse ‘epidemic’ uncovered in Samoa

The beautiful Polynesian island is home to a fiercely traditional society rife with domestic violence Blood on the walls. Bruises like smashed plums. As long as Sefina* can remember, family violence has been part of her life. She watched her mother routinely attacked by her stepfather. “Sorry,” her mother would whisper afterwards to the children.

https://en.brinkwire.com/canada/the-silence-is-suffocating-family-abuse-epidemic-uncovered-in-samoa/

Lawsuits against diocese allege horrific abuse at Rochester homes for needy kids

New lawsuits allege that a boy was repeatedly molested by a priest in the chapel at St. Joseph's Villa in the 1970s and that same victim was then repeatedly abused as a teenager by a staff member while living in a DePaul group home during the 1980s. The incidents at the DePaul home in Rochester and St. Joseph's Villa, a residential facility for troubled young people in Greece, were connected only by the fact that the victim was the same — a boy orphaned at age 5 in a constant search for a new home.

https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2019/08/29/catholic-priest-abuse-lawsuits-rochester-child-victims-act-new-york-dan-charcholla-depaul/2149920001/ 

Victims of child sexual abuse heartened by widening of Royal Commission

News that a Royal Commission will be expanded into faith-based institutions – and confirmation it will include day schools – is being cautiously hailed as a "game changer". The Government on Monday announced the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State Care would be expanded to include faith-based institutions. The move followed extensive lobbying from child sexual abuse survivors and their advocates.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/108553225/victims-of-child-sexual-abuse-heartened-by-widening-of-royal-commission?rm=a

Child sexual abuse inquiry scope clarified

Priests who abused children in their own homes will be included in a Royal Commission into historical sexual abuse. The move is being described as a change-in-scope by advocates but the Royal Commission says it is only a clarification of the exiting scope. After the Government bowed to pressure and added abuse in faith-based institutions to the Royal Commission, victims and survivors were concerned the scope was too narrow, because it only looked at abuse in bricks-and-mortar institutions.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/111025706/child-sexual-abuse-inquiry-scope-widens?rm=a 

Sisters who say they were abused at Catholic orphanage lose faith in Royal Commission

It's a four-hour drive for Alexandra Murray from her home in Perth to the Western Australian costal settlement of Albany. It's a windy city, just like Wellington, where Alexandra was born and raised. The 59-year-old regularly visits Albany because it's the one place in Australia that reminds her of home.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/115033531/sisters-who-say-they-were-abused-at-catholic-orphanage-lose-faith-in-royal-commission