5 things to know about the Dallas Catholic Diocese's tough year and plan to name 'credibly accused' clergy

This year brought heavy criticism of the Catholic Church over its handling of the clergy sexual abuse crisis. And in 2019, the church faces a critical challenge as it seeks to restore faith in its future while divulging the sins of its past. All 15 Catholic dioceses in Texas announced plans to, by the end of January, release the names of clergy who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse of children since 1950. The goal is to restore trust among 8.5 million Catholics in 1,320 parishes across the state.

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/news/2018/12/26/5-things-know-dallas-catholic-dioceses-tough-year-plan-name-credibly-accused-clergy 

Cardinal Cupich visits Cook County Jail on Christmas, addresses church sex abuse scandal in Midnight Mass

Cardinal Blase Cupich visited with inmates at the Cook County Jail and led a special mass there on Christmas Day. The mass and visit was meant to give inmates hope and faith during the holiday season, even as they are locked up and away from their families. The cardinal assured each inmate they are never too small or unimportant to make a difference.

https://abc7chicago.com/religion/cardinal-cupich-visits-cook-county-jail-on-christmas-day/4963872/ 

From sex abuse to money, 2018 tested Pope Francis on reform

When he was elected to the papacy in March 2013, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio knew he was chosen on a “reform” mandate. However, it’s been unclear what reform means for Pope Francis: revitalizing the public image of the Church, addressing the global clerical sexual abuse crisis, reforming the Vatican itself or leading Catholics around the world into a “pastoral conversion.” Francis was forced to address reform on multiple fronts during the past 12 months, all testing him in different ways.

https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2018/12/26/from-sex-abuse-to-money-2018-tested-pope-francis-on-reform/ 

A Comfort and Sign of Hope

Last week, when we were receiving donations and sending Bright Christmas checks to parishes and diocesan organizations, we received a remarkable letter that was published last week in the Readers’ Forum. Candy Ross wrote: “My husband died in January of cancer and I haven’t celebrated any holiday or birthdays at all this year out of respect for him and because I just can’t. To ease the pain and to turn that grief into something positive, I volunteer my time to a soup kitchen on the holidays and donate gifts for the needy for Christmas at one of the churches I’m affiliated with. Grief is love with no place to go, I’m directing my grief and love to others. It’s like a hug – you give and get at the same time. It’s a win-win.”

https://thetablet.org/a-comfort-and-sign-of-hope/ 

Letter calls for Pope Francis to resign over allegations

Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò caused a massive upheaval in the Catholic Church by accusing Pope Francis of a sexual abuse cover-up and calling for his resignation. Viganò, the former papal ambassador for the Vatican to the United States, wrote a 7,000-word letter published on Aug. 26, according to The New York Times, stating “the Vatican hierarchy was complicit in covering up accusations that Cardinal Theodore McCarrick had sexually abused seminarians and that Pope Francis knew about the abuses …. Francis did not punish the cardinal, but instead empowered him to help choose powerful American bishops.”

http://advocate.jbu.edu/2018/12/26/8572/ 

Pope says he’s ‘ashamed’ about Catholic Church’s failure to tackle clerical abuse in Ireland

The Pope has admitted he is ‘ashamed’ about the Catholic Church’s failure to tackle clerical abuse in Ireland. The 81-year-old Pontiff was met at Dublin Castle by Ireland’s Taoiseach Leo Varadkar as part of his two-day visit to Ireland, the first papal visit since 1979. On the first day of his historic visit, Pope Francis said people had a right to be outraged at the response of senior church figures to the ‘repellent crimes’ inflicted on young people.

https://osburnoracle.com/pope-says-hes-ashamed-about-catholic-churchs-failure-to-tackle-clerical-abuse-in-ireland/19421/ 

Proposed laws in Virginia and D.C. would require clergy to report sexual abuse

In response to recent Catholic Church clergy sex abuse scandals, lawmakers in the District of Columbia and Virginia say they will soon propose legislation that adds clergy to the list of people mandated by law to report child abuse or neglect. Both efforts address the hot-button intersection of child protection and religious liberty, but lawmakers are expected to give them an open reception at a time when recent sexual abuse scandals in churches and others involving athletes have prompted conversation about broadening legal responsibility to extend beyond positions such as teachers and doctors.

https://www.newsadvance.com/news/state/proposed-laws-in-virginia-and-d-c-would-require-clergy/article_f6d3d022-098f-11e9-81b5-d3d1e792eb29.html 

Pope Francis’ early blind spot on sex abuse threatens legacy

It has been a wretched year for Pope Francis, whose blind spot on clergy sex abuse conspired with events beyond his control to threaten his legacy and throw the Catholic hierarchy into a credibility crisis not seen in modern times. The latest development — a high-profile verdict in a far-away country — cements the impression that Francis simply didn’t “get it” when he first became pope in 2013 and began leading the church.

https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/popes-initial-blind-spot-on-sex-abuse-threatens-legacy/ 

Jesuits identify 33 Alaska clergy and volunteers ‘credibly accused’ of sexually abusing children

The Rev. Rene Astruc died a hero. Awarded a humanitarian prize by the governor and lionized in portraits and biographies, the French-born priest spent a lifetime celebrated as an advocate for Yup’ik culture. What Alaskans didn’t know at the time of his death in 2002 is that Astruc also sexually abused teenage girls over three decades, according to a newly published list of 33 Jesuit priests and volunteers who face “credible claims” of crimes committed in Alaska. Created by Jesuits West, the Dec. 7 report puts names, places and dates to generations of sexual abuse inflicted by ordained priests, church volunteers and employees in 35 villages and cities across the state.

https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/crime-courts/2018/12/26/jesuits-identify-33-alaska-clergy-and-volunteers-credibly-accused-of-sexually-abusing-children/ 

We Saw Nuns Kill Children: The Ghosts of St. Joseph’s Catholic Orphanage

This is the haunting story of children who survived horrors in American orphanages, and their fight to make the world believe them. Read the full investigation: …

This is the haunting story of children who survived horrors in American orphanages, and their fight to make the world believe them. Read the full investigation: … 

Banished Babies and the price of life in Ireland's Mother and Baby homes

n 1955 the Secretary of the Department of Education, TR O Raifeartaigh, visited Daingean Reformatory School in Co Offaly and reported that: "the cows are better fed than the boys". Students of the history of the Catholic Church in Ireland are not likely to be shocked at his statement. The animals were worth money, the children were not. The same is true of babies - such as myself - who were born in Mother and Baby Homes. We were worthless in the early years of independence from 1922 until 1945 - until suddenly we were worth more alive than dead.

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/banished-babies-and-the-price-of-life-in-irelands-mother-and-baby-homes-36741464.html 

This World: Ireland’s Lost Babies review – an appalling story, told with admirable restraint

There’s no point, really, in even trying to prepare yourself mentally or emotionally for a programme entitled This World: Ireland’s Lost Babies (BBC2). The bald facts, laid out by presenter Martin Sixsmith as he made his way between the emerald isle and the US, were bad enough. Between 40,000 and 60,000 babies were – by legal standards today and moral standards any time – involuntarily given up for adoption in the 1950s and 60s by Roman Catholic Irishwomen who became pregnant outside marriage. The treatment of the “fallen women” at the mother and baby homes run by fiercely unforgiving nuns was appalling. The vetting procedures for potential adoptive parents were worse. Catholic? Moneyed? You’re in. Take your pick.

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/sep/18/this-world-irelands-lost-babies-review 

Heart-breaking reality of damage caused by ‘Mother and Baby Homes’.

Please help me find my missing brothers An open letter to the Irish Government. I am writing this letter out of pure desperation. It is 2 am Irish time and I feel I’m at my wits end. I have done absolutely everything I can think of to find my missing brothers; I have written over 200 letters and emails and I have gotten nowhere. My kitchen has turned into an office, I am a one woman show, I have boxes and folders with every single letter copied and filed as proof of my search. This is my last-ditch attempt to try and find any shred of evidence regarding my brothers. Somebody, somewhere must know who they are and what happened to them.

http://claredaly.ie/heart-breaking-reality-of-damage-caused-by-mother-and-baby-homes/ 

Horrors of Irish Mother and Baby Homes revealed in new report

"He was wrenched from my breast by one of the nuns whilst I was breastfeeding him and taken away for adoption." Over 100 people interviewed for new report about Mother and Baby homes in Ireland A new report detailing the damage done by Irish Mother and Baby homes was published Monday morning in Ireland. ‘Ireland’s Unmarried Mothers and their Children: Gathering the Data,’ was published by The Clann Project, a joint initiative by Ireland's Adoption Rights Alliance (ARA), Justice for Magdalenes Research (JFMR), and global law firm, Hogan Lovells.

https://www.irishcentral.com/news/horrors-irish-mother-baby-homes-report 

Mother reveals how her baby 'was just left to die' in Cork mother-and-baby home

A woman has revealed how her baby boy "was just left to die" days after he was born in a mother-and-baby home in Co. Cork in 1961. Bridget, who is in her 70s and lives in England, rang RTE Radio One’s Liveline today to tell of how her son William was born in Bessborough, Cork, but died after only six weeks. She described how her baby fell ill after only three days in the institution, but was only brought to hospital nearly three weeks later despite Bessborough knowing that her baby "was desperately ill".

https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/mother-reveals-how-her-baby-was-just-left-to-die-in-cork-mother-and-baby-home-780449.html 

I gave birth to my child on a metal table at 18, alone in a room in a convent'

DEIRDRE WADDING WAS 18-years-old when she entered the Bessborough mother and baby home in Cork. It was 1981, and though Wadding said she was not a victim of “cruelty or physical abuse”, she, like the other girls at the home, suffered emotional and psychological abuse that would stay with them for the rest of their lives. “I shared a room with a girl who was only 13-years-old, she was a child. I was 18, she sobbed her heart out for her mother every night and I mean it was incredibly, incredibly traumatic,” she said.

https://www.thejournal.ie/bessborough-mother-and-baby-home-3273435-Mar2017/ 

After 44 years "I am still seeking my mother" says Mother and Baby home survivor

Ronan James O’Halloran was born on December 9, 1973 at St Patrick’s Mother and Baby Home on Dublin’s Navan Road. Now aged 43, he has spent the past two and a half decades searching for the woman forced to give him up at birth. “From a very young age I knew I was adopted,” he told IrishCentral, but it was only when he was 18 that he was allowed to begin the search for his birth family. With his legal majority freshly acquired he contacted the Catholic adoption agency, Cúnamh, but his efforts were bluntly rebuked.

https://www.irishcentral.com/news/dublin-mother-and-baby-home-survivor-s-struggle-to-find-his-birth-mom 

Over 9,000 Irish women or 'inmates' went through these doors, forced to repent

ORIGINALLY KNOWN AS Pelletstown and later as Saint Patrick’s Mother and Baby home on the Navan Road, Dublin 7, it was originally a public workhouse and probably designated a ’special institution’ exclusively for single mothers in 1904. It was converted for such usage in 1906 by George Sheridan at a cost of £11,000. Pelletstown was owned and financed by the Poor Law Guardians and the Dublin Union (i.e the state), and run on their behalf by the Sisters of the Daughters of Saint Vincent de Paul (later called the Daughters of Charity).

https://www.thejournal.ie/readme/mother-and-baby-home-st-patricks-2380868-Oct2015/ 

Mother and baby homes: a hidden history

As with the Magdalene homes, mother and baby homes have developed a strong attachment in the public mind with both Ireland and Catholicism. That is to say, these institutions seem peculiar to Irish Catholicism. This linkage in the public mind is likely to be strengthened by a new book called The Adoption Machine: The Dark History of Ireland’s Mother and Baby Homes which is currently receiving plenty of media coverage.

https://www.irishcatholic.com/mother-and-baby-homes-a-hidden-history/ 

Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation

The Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation (officially the "Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes and certain related matters") is a judicial commission of investigation, established in 2015 by an order of the Irish government. It was set up in the wake of claims that the bodies of up to 800 babies and children may have been interred in an unmarked mass grave in the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home, located in Tuam, County Galway, but its remit also covers investigation into the records of and the practices at an additional thirteen Mother and Baby Homes. The members of the three-person Commission are Judge Yvonne Murphy (chairperson), Dr William Duncan and Professor Mary E. Daly. Originally scheduled to issue its final report by February 2018, the Commission was granted a one-year extension and will now report by February 2019.[1] Contents

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_and_Baby_Homes_Commission_of_Investigation 

Invercargill man who was sexually assaulted by Marist Brother shines light on dark past

WARNING DISTRESSING CONTENT Windows covered by a psychedelic paint job concealed a dark secret in Invercargill. Now one victim of a Marist Brother who raped children is letting the sunlight in. Chris Morris reports. Simon still remembers the painted windows. He was a 12-year-old pupil at Invercargill's Marist Primary School when he first set eyes on them in 1975. A psychedelic swirl covered the glass panes on the outside, blocking any view into the classroom hidden behind the patterns.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12175619 

Over 578 kids sexually abused at US children's camps; victim describes being molested by counselor

More than 578 children have been victims of sexual abuse at children's camps in the U.S. over the past 55 years, according to a new report. A news segment on "CBS This Morning” reported that 21 cases surfaced this year, though victims’ advocates fear many other children haven't reported the abuse they suffered. One mother in Texas who wasn’t named allowed her son to speak with a psychologist about the molestation he suffered at the hands of a camp counselor in 2009.

https://www.christianpost.com/news/over-578-kids-sexually-abused-us-childrens-camps-report.html 

The long road to justice for Polish childrens' abuse at the hands of nuns

“I endured a four-year ordeal at the Special Care Centre in Zabrze run by the Sisters of Mercy of St. Borromeo. I have two scars on each of my eyebrows. One of them is the remnant of my run-in with Sister Bernadette, when she pulled me by my hair and I hit a radiator so hard that I lost consciousness. The second came after I hit a fish tank as a result of a struggle with Sister Monica. I saw how Sister Francisca beat my little brother, so I verbally insulted her. She slapped me in the face and scratched my cheek with her fingernails, which caused the third scar. None of the nuns has ever apologised to me.”

https://www.euronews.com/2018/12/12/the-long-road-to-justice-for-polish-childrens-abuse-at-the-hands-of-nuns 

Pope Francis removes Cardinal George Pell, 77, from his inner circle as he faces historic child sex offence charges

Pope Francis has removed George Pell and another prominent cardinal from his inner circle after they were tainted by scandals ahead of a Church-wide meeting on the 'protection of minors' next year. The Australian cardinal, 77, and Chilean Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz were both removed from the so-called C9 Council of Cardinals, an international advice body set up by Francis himself, the Vatican said on Wednesday.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6489149/George-Pell-Pope-removes-scandal-hit-cardinals-inner-circle.html 

Former Miss. priest blogged about sex abuse coverups. Now he’s been ‘credibly accused.’

The first principal at Mercy Cross High School in Biloxi, a Jesuit priest named Francis Landwermeyer, in later years railed against the coverup of pedophilia in the Catholic church but did not live to see himself publicly identified as a priest who abused minors. Landwermeyer’s name was on a list of 42 Jesuit priests, scholastics and brothers whom the religious order identified as having been credibly accused of abusing minors or vulnerable adults.

https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2018/12/13/former-biloxi-priest-credibly-accused-catholic-church-sex-abuse-scandal-coverup-blog-mississippi-ms/2301654002/ 

Did the Vatican just cover-up for Austrian bishop implicated in financial and moral scandal?

Monsignor Engelbert Guggenberger, the new administrator of the Diocese of Gurk-Klagenfurt, is in the process of setting straight the economic affairs of the diocese after the departure of Bishop Alois Schwarz who was transferred to the Diocese of St. Pölten, on 1 July 2018. Not only financial, but also moral problems had arisen under his leadership, and Monsignor Guggenberger had wished to publish the findings of a thorough financial audit. However, after Cardinal Schönborn's seeming intervention – he is said not to have wanted the publication of the findings – Rome itself intervened one day before the planned press conference and ordered that the findings be sent, instead, to the Vatican. Guggenberger showed himself to be “somewhat shocked” about this new turn of events.

https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/did-the-vatican-just-cover-up-for-austrian-bishop-implicated-in-financial-a 

Cardinal grilled on how he handled sex abuse cases

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, leaves after giving evidence to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) in London  Cardinal Vincent Nichols has denied allegations of "cover-up" over child sexual abuse. His actions as Archbishop of Birmingham when it came to child sexual abuse could be characterised as “see as little evil as possible, hear as little evil as possible, speak as little evil as possible” a lawyer has told the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.

https://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/11135/cardinal-grilled-on-how-he-handled-sex-abuse-cases

Lists of Priests Accused of Sexual Abuse Are Spilling Out Across the Country

It was a list Charles L. Bailey Jr. had wanted to see for years: the names of the priests in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse who had been credibly accused of sexual abuse. Mr. Bailey, 67, a longtime local advocate for survivors of abuse by priests, had heard excuses for why such a list was impossible to release. The last bishop said naming accused priests would be a violation of the Ten Commandments. The current bishop said he would not disclose the names, citing the request of unnamed victims.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/14/us/catholic-priests-sexual-abuse-lists.html 

Andrew Dickens: Justice must be done in George Pell case

Yesterday, I started the show knowing a piece of information that was ripe for discussion on many levels. It concerned a judgement in Australia on an extremely significant individual. The problem was the judgement was suppressed in Australia. But because we are in New Zealand we were not covered by that suppression and the information was freely available.

https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/andrew-dickens-afternoons/opinion/andrew-dickens-justice-must-be-done-in-george-pell-case/ 

Australian sexual abuse case raises questions about gag orders

If a judge in a different country issues an order preventing the media from discussing a trial, do media outlets in the US have a duty to abide by that order? Or is there a larger duty to keep the public informed? This isn’t a hypothetical example. An Australian court just found Cardinal George Pell, at one time the #3 official in the Vatican and a former Archbishop of Sydney, guilty of sexual abuse of two choirboys in the 1990s. But news outlets in that country couldn’t report the conviction because of what is known as a “suppression order,” which bans any mention of Pell’s name or the details of the case. The Melbourne Herald Sun ran a front page with the word “Censored!” in large type on the day after the conviction was handed down.

https://www.cjr.org/the_new_gatekeepers/australian-sexual-abuse-gag-order.php 

National Trust accused of hiding abuse history of one of its stately homes by victims' lawyers

It is promoted by the National Trust as one of its great houses, a triumph of restoration and the former home of aristocrats. But now lawyers acting for victims of child sexual abuse are asking the Trust to come clean about the dark history of Croome Court from when it was run as a boarding school by the Catholic Church. Visitors to the stately home in Worcestershire are told that the house, once lived in by the Earl of Coventry, has a varied history including the grounds being designed by Capability Brown.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/12/15/national-trust-accused-hiding-abuse-history-one-stately-homes/ 

It happened everywhere': How Pa. upended deep history of priest abuse across the nation

Marcia Hince lived with it all her life. It’s difficult to explain. It was like a malignant growth, something that resided inside her being, infecting her soul, hoping against hope that ignoring it or suppressing her thoughts about it would make it disappear. She felt alone, isolated, cut off from the rest of humanity, as if she were an alien being occupying a human body.

https://www.ydr.com/story/news/2018/12/12/catholic-church-priest-clergy-sexual-abuse-how-pennsylvania-changed-history-2018/2237161002/

The long road to justice for Polish childrens' abuse at the hands of nuns

“I endured a four-year ordeal at the Special Care Centre in Zabrze run by the Sisters of Mercy of St. Borromeo. I have two scars on each of my eyebrows. One of them is the remnant of my run-in with Sister Bernadette, when she pulled me by my hair and I hit a radiator so hard that I lost consciousness. The second came after I hit a fish tank as a result of a struggle with Sister Monica. I saw how Sister Francisca beat my little brother, so I verbally insulted her. She slapped me in the face and scratched my cheek with her fingernails, which caused the third scar. None of the nuns has ever apologised to me.”

https://www.euronews.com/2018/12/12/the-long-road-to-justice-for-polish-childrens-abuse-at-the-hands-of-nuns 

Memories of horrific abuse lives on decades later

A Mandurah man who suffered horrific abuse at a Catholic orphanage has shared his story in the hope that no one else will ever have to endure what he did. Sacha Mahboub, 77, suffered mental torment, ridicule and floggings – by the nuns entrusted with his care over 11 years at St Joseph’s orphanage in Neerkol, Queensland. In 2015, Sacha told his story of the repeated psychological, physical and sexual abuse to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

https://www.mandurahmail.com.au/story/5806864/memories-of-horrific-abuse-lives-on-decades-later/

Invercargill man who was sexually assaulted by Marist Brother shines light on dark past

WARNING DISTRESSING CONTENT Windows covered by a psychedelic paint job concealed a dark secret in Invercargill. Now one victim of a Marist Brother who raped children is letting the sunlight in. Chris Morris reports. Simon still remembers the painted windows. He was a 12-year-old pupil at Invercargill's Marist Primary School when he first set eyes on them in 1975.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12175619&fbclid=IwAR0UvgO76nnnPwp3DZa4dljxfc4YrhZNtw1Q8CJYIagtVNr-RjcJ9JMreBg 

Protesters 'disgusted' after Catholic diocese vows to file appeal in sex-abuse case

Father John Comiskey met with the protesters in the lobby of the London diocese office but said the church would proceed with its appeal of the judge's decision in the Irene Deschenes case. t was a dramatic confrontation in the lobby of London's Catholic diocese head office. A group of protesters entered the building, angry at the church's plan to appeal a judge's decision to re-open an 18-year-old settlement in a child sex-abuse case against the church.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/london-diocese-sex-abuse-1.4942750 

All Faith Groups, Evangelicals Included, Need to Reflect on #MeToo

Maya Angelou once said, “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” The reality of that agony is more real than ever as this powerful imagery speaks volumes to an important issue we face as a nation, and inside our church walls, today. The issue of sexual abuse and scandal has rocked and ravaged our front pages, our computer screens, and our congregations within the past year.

https://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2018/december/all-faith-groups-evangelicals-included-need-to-focus-on-met.html 

Sisters versus human traffickers

Here’s an interesting experiment: next time you are in a group of people – Catholic or not – ask them to name two anti-slavery organisations. Chances are that they won’t be able to think of any. But if they can, you can be pretty sure that the work of Religious Sisters won’t come up. It’s a scandal, really. Sisters (and it is overwhelmingly Sisters as opposed to male Religious or secular clergy) are doing this work in at least 80 countries – including all the areas most plagued by modern slavery. If they were united in a single NGO, they would be by far the world’s largest.

https://catholicherald.co.uk/magazine/sisters-versus-human-traffickers/ 

Lists of Priests Accused of Sexual Abuse Are Spilling Out Across the Country

It was a list Charles L. Bailey Jr. had wanted to see for years: the names of the priests in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse who had been credibly accused of sexual abuse. Mr. Bailey, 67, a longtime local advocate for survivors of abuse by priests, had heard excuses for why such a list was impossible to release. The last bishop said naming accused priests would be a violation of the Ten Commandments. The current bishop said he would not disclose the names, citing the request of unnamed victims.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/14/us/catholic-priests-sexual-abuse-lists.html 

Sisters of Mercy a dark misnomer

A Dunedin boy dumped at a Catholic orphanage by his father endured five days of violence at the hands of the Sisters of Mercy. Half a century later, he is still searching for answers. Chris Morris reports. Age is slowly catching up with the old Catholic orphanage overlooking Otago Harbour. Paint peels from doors, rust creeps across a warped iron roof and weeds sprout from cracks in a concrete courtyard, ignored by the tenants now occupying flats inside what was once St Joseph’s Boys Home.

https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/insight/sisters-mercy-dark-misnomer 

Postwar orphans were victims of German clergy abuse

Boys play with Legos at a Catholic orphanage in Bonn, Germany, during Advent in 1960. The number of German children in orphanages surged after World War II. The Diocese of Hildesheim is investigating reports that many children in these homes were victims of sexual abuse by clergy. An investigation by the Diocese of Hildesheim, Germany, is shedding new light on child sex abuse in Catholic children’s homes in the country in the 1950s. A central figure in the inquiry is an esteemed and controversial figure, Bishop Heinrich Maria Janssen, a former priest in Nazi-occupied Poland awarded Germany’s highest federal decoration in 1966 for postwar charity work.

https://cruxnow.com/church-in-europe/2018/12/14/postwar-orphans-were-victims-of-german-clergy-abuse/ 

Catholic school fires unmarried pregnant teacher for breaking the moral code

A Catholic school in Pennsylvania fired an unmarried teacher after she told the principal she was pregnant with no immediate plans to wed. Naiad Reich was fired last week from Our Lady of Lourdes Regional School in Coal Township after two years on the job, according to WNEP-TV. Reich said her excitement with her first pregnancy has been overshadowed by the loss of her job, but she said she understands the dilemma her situation presented for the principal and the Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg.


https://www.ajc.com/news/national/catholic-school-fires-unmarried-pregnant-teacher-for-breaking-the-moral-code/FTmkk7QzQs7EfkvU1TP6yO/

Re-opened sex abuse case against Catholic church 'continuation of my fight': survivor

When she accepted a civil settlement from the Roman Catholic Church 18 years ago, Irene Deschenes was defeated. “We are tired, we want closure and are hesitant to believe we can or will get justice from the court process,” she wrote in an email to her lawyer before accepting the terms in 2000. What Deschenes, the Catholic Diocese of London and disgraced ex-priest Charles Sylvestre wouldn’t know is that settlement would send Deschenes on a determined course to expose the abusive Sylvestre and hold the church accountable.

https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/local-sex-abuse-survivor-can-re-open-settled-case-against-catholic-church 

Time to Lift the Shroud of Secrecy

Survivors of sexual abuse often find it difficult to share their stories. Many in Pennsylvania were given the strength to do so a few months ago via a grand jury report, but now, the state’s Supreme Court is once again keeping them from validation. Readers may recall that the names of over 270 priests accused of sexually abusing more than 1,000 total children were made public when a Pennsylvania grand jury report was issued in August. The abuses, which church officials covered up, allegedly occurred in six of Pennsylvania’s eight dioceses.

https://farmingtonhills.legalexaminer.com/legal/sexual-abuse/time-to-lift-the-shroud-of-secrecy/ 

Empty Pews and Collection Plates

Recent surveys by the Pew Research Center and the Hartford Institute for Religious Research indicate that one in four Americans do not belong to any religion. In fact, the largest “religious” group in the United States now is made up of ex-Catholics. At last count, there were about 385,000 churches belonging to more than 60 denominations, down about 30,000 from just five years ago. Over half of these churches have only 100 worshippers on weekends. About 30 million Catholics have left the American church and about 56 million have left the Protestant denominations in the last few decades. Over 40% of Americans raised Catholic have left the Church.

 http://hpr1.com/index.php/opinion/gadfly/empty-pews-and-collection-plates/

No answer on forced adoption: 'There must be some compassion somewhere'

Women who lost children to adoption during the so-called "baby scoop" era fear their stories will be left out of an inquiry into state and church abuse. It's been seven months since Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern confirmed she was considering options to examine New Zealand's forced adoption history, including a select committee inquiry.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12171821 

Child sexual abuse survivor dies before redress approved; other terminally ill victims waiting

Child sexual abuse survivor Geoff Meyers died before seeing a cent through the National Redress Scheme, as figures reveal only 1 per cent of people have received a payout so far. Mr Meyers, who suffered as a ward of the state at Royleston Boys' Depot in Glebe, hoped redress would provide some recognition for those who suffered. It took more than seven decades for him to tell his story to the royal commission and it was "very hard on him", his son Geoff Meyers told the ABC.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-07/child-abuse-survivor-dies-before-redress-approved/10591740

Australian ex-archbishop cleared of child abuse cover-up charges

An Australian court has overturned the conviction of a former archbishop who was the world's most senior Catholic cleric held guilty of concealing child sexual abuse. The court on Thursday said the prosecutors had failed to prove their case against Philip Wilson, 68, beyond a reasonable doubt.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/12/australian-archbishop-cleared-child-abuse-cover-charges-181206094122808.html 

Reviving the ‘C9’

Pope Francis was elected five years ago with a mandate to reform the Roman Curia. He had a clear goal: to shift power and responsibility away from the Vatican and towards local bishops’ conferences. As he put it in his famous pre-conclave speech to cardinals, the Church had become “self-referential” and needed to turn its gaze outward again.

https://catholicherald.co.uk/magazine/reviving-the-c9/ 

Isolated care system ill-equipped to deal with Halifax orphanage abuse: report

A new report from an ongoing public inquiry into decades of abuse at a Halifax-area orphanage says a fragmented system of care wasn’t equipped to address the needs of children who were vulnerable. The interim report, released Friday by the Nova Scotia Home for Colored Children Restorative Inquiry, says the story of the home illustrates a social system that works in isolation.

https://globalnews.ca/news/4740222/isolated-care-system-ill-equipped-to-deal-with-halifax-orphanage-abuse-report/ 

Fractured care system ill-equipped to deal with abuse at Halifax orphanage: report

A new report from an ongoing public inquiry into decades of abuse at a Halifax-area orphanage says a fragmented system of care wasn't equipped to address the needs of children who were vulnerable. The interim report, released Friday by the Nova Scotia Home for Colored Children Restorative Inquiry, says the story of the home illustrates a social system that works in isolation.

https://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/fractured-care-system-ill-equipped-to-deal-with-abuse-at-halifax-orphanage-report-1.4209038

Pope Francis says gay priests, nuns who aren’t celibate should leave clergy

Men with deep-rooted homosexual tendencies should not be admitted to the Catholic clergy, and it would be better for priests who are actively gay to leave rather than lead a double life, Pope Francis says in a new book. While he has previously spoken of the need for better screening of candidates for the religious life, his comments suggesting that priests who cannot keep their vows of celibacy should leave are some of his clearest to date.

https://globalnews.ca/news/4722000/pope-francis-gay-priests-celibate/ 

Head of missionary run Tamil Nadu orphanage arrested on charges of sexually abusing minors

Along with Luban Kumar Paul, the director of Mercy Adaikalapuram Missionary Home for children, his wife Mercy Rani and brother Justin Manavalan were also arrested. The home, which housed 50 girls between 5 and 17, was also shut down. The girls also said Luban, who resides in the same house, used to call them to his room late night and sexually abuse them. Also the girls, as they said, were threatened to remain silent.

https://indiablooms.com/news-details/N/44536/head-of-missionary-run-tamil-nadu-orphanage-arrested-on-charges-of-sexually-abusing-minors.html

Father Kuriakose’s Death: Police Files Unnatural Death Case

The Punjab police on Tuesday, 23 October, filed a case of unnatural death, a day after Father Kuriakose Kattuthara was found dead in Hoshiarpur, reported CNN-News18. Father Kuriakose was one of the prime witnesses who had testified against rape accused Franco Mulakkal. On Monday, the priest’s family has filed a complaint with the Alappuzha Police, seeking an inquiry into his death.

https://www.thequint.com/news/india/kerala-nun-rape-case-live-updates 

Healing the soul and body: Sisters reunite as the nation says sorry to survivors of child sexual abuse

As Josephine Littlehawk stands on the forecourt outside Parliament House, a light wind blows her long, greying locks across her face. Her sister Katie Kellegher gently brushes them aside. This is all so new. These two sisters have not seen each other, touched each other, or spoken together for more than 40 years. “We don’t really know each other,” Katie says with a surprised laugh. “Don’t we?” says Jo. And her sister nods in agreement. Yes. Somehow, deep down, they do.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/healing-the-soul-and-body-sisters-reunite-as-the-nation-says-sorry-to-survivors-of-child-sexual-abuse-20181022-p50b54.html 

Sisters reunite as Australia says sorry to survivors of child sexual abuse

Australia Prime Minister Scott Morrison addresses Parliament House in Canberra to issue a national apology for the victims and survivors of child sexual abuse that was enabled by institutions. As Josephine Littlehawk stands on the forecourt outside Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, a light wind blows her long, greying locks across her face. Her sister Katie Kellegher gently brushes them aside. This is all so new. These two sisters have not seen each other, touched each other, or spoken together for more than 40 years.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/australia/108025605/sisters-reunite-as-australia-says-sorry-to-survivors-of-child-sexual-abuse 

Pat Flanagan column: Irish State has blood of 798 dead babies from Tuam Mother and Baby Home in Galway on its hands

The news that the death pit where 798 children’s bodies were dumped is to be dug up is seen as a sign this country is at last dealing with its dark and sinister past. But the disclosure the new National Maternity Hospital could be overseen by a religious order of nuns which has abused children takes us right back there.

https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/news-opinion/pat-flanagan-column-irish-state-13483169 

Woman shares stories of horrific abuse at Vermont orphanage

WCAX News has an exclusive interview with an elderly woman 70 years after she left St. Joseph's Orphanage in Burlington, where she claims nuns physically and mentally abused her and other children. Burlington's Roman Catholic Diocese is waiving all nondisclosure agreements signed with the church, opening the door for victims to come forward with their stories. Bishop Christopher Coyne says the decision comes as authorities investigate allegations of abuse-- and even murder-- at the now-shuttered orphanage.

https://www.wcax.com/content/news/Woman-shares-stories-of-horrific-abuse-at-Vermont-orphanage-498584101.html 

See names, more about 57 New Orleans-area clergy members on archdiocese's official sex abuse list

Archbishop Gregory Aymond on Friday released the names of 30 diocesan priests, 25 religious order priests and two deacons who, in the last century, were removed from ministry after accusations that they sexually abused minors were deemed credible. This is the first time in the history of the Archdiocese of New Orleans that a Catholic archbishop has attempted to provide an accounting of the identities of the alleged abusers in church ranks.

https://www.theadvocate.com/new_orleans/news/collection_0474a82a-dde7-11e8-93f0-ff504d7ae832.html 

Unspeakable evil in the name of God

There are important hearings taking place at the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. This week the inquiry has focused, as a case study, on the Archdiocese of Birmingham in the Roman Catholic Church. Although I have been unable to follow it as closely as I would like, the transcripts made grim reading. The transcript from the first day is here and the second day is here.

https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/unspeakable-evil-in-the-name-of-god/ 

National Inuit org commits itself to child sexual abuse prevention

“I pledge as ITK president to ensure that ITK does the absolute most that it can,” says Natan Obed Natan Obed, the president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, vowed yesterday that Canada’s national Inuit organization will dedicate itself to the prevention of child sexual abuse in Inuit Nunangat. “I pledge as ITK president to ensure that ITK does the absolute most that it can to respond to the truth that we know, and to build our society to what we know it can be,” Obed said at a forum on Tuesday, Nov. 21.

http://nunatsiaq.com/stories/article/65674national_inuit_org_commits_itself_to_child_sexual_abuse_prevention/ 

Child died after violent beating at orphanage, says abuse victim

A former resident of a notorious orphanage has told the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry that a child died after a teacher beat him with a belt. “Scotty” told the inquiry that other boys pleaded with the teacher to stop during the incident within the grounds of Quarrier’s Village in Bridge of Weir, Renfrewshire. The boy “died at home” of a heart condition following the assault, the inquiry heard. No further details were given on when the incident happened or how much time passed between the beating and the boy’s death.

https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/child-died-after-violent-beating-at-orphanage-says-abuse-victim-1-4819588 

Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry: I was raped and beaten - then forced to apologise to abuser

A man has told the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry how he was made to apologise to his attacker after being raped and beaten as an eight-year-old. “Troy” broke down as he told the inquiry he was raped four times by his house father at the “cottage” he shared with other boys at Quarrier’s Village, Renfrewshire, in the late 1950s. Now aged 67, he said: “I lost everything that night – my childhood, my faith, my dignity and my pride.”

https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/scottish-child-abuse-inquiry-i-was-raped-and-beaten-then-forced-to-apologise-to-abuser-1-4820102?fbclid=IwAR3JkRNqhwp8VgnNwVSXg15fJZHN0cJwBf1yAd3R-SzpRAl4otjiKIREUTU 

Unspeakable evil in the name of God

There are important hearings taking place at the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. This week the inquiry has focused, as a case study, on the Archdiocese of Birmingham in the Roman Catholic Church. Although I have been unable to follow it as closely as I would like, the transcripts made grim reading. The transcript from the first day is here and the second day is here.

https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/unspeakable-evil-in-the-name-of-god/ 

Will Britain’s beaten, betrayed migrant children find justice at last?

Thousands forcibly sent to the Commonwealth from 1945-70 still await compensation – and for many time is running out. They were sent abroad, often without their parents’ consent. Large numbers were sexually and physically abused, while hunger and neglect were familiar enemies. Their education tended to be poor and they were often forced to perform exhausting manual work.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/nov/25/britains-forced-child-migrants-last-chance-for-justice-australia-canada?CMP=share_btn_fb&fbclid=IwAR0jcktRCOtpT2KE0PmwiaEv6KVimmOC5jZIVdSSE3n30GFK3rjAa4K8VCQ 

Read personal experiences from mothers, fathers, adopted people, family members and workers.

The concept of forced adoption is not acceptable today. However, when it occurred back in the early '60's, it was acceptable as a satisfactory solution to an occurrence that happened with considerable frequency. I was involved in such an occurrence. After what was regarded as "spontaneous lovemaking" during a "sporting Easter", my "casual partner" came to me - months later - with the news that she was pregnant. Having been raised by a discerning mother, I offered two options - 1. Get married at once or 2. Pay for an abortion. Neither was acceptable and my 'friend' disappeared. I was unable to make contact, but I learned that she had moved interstate.

http://forcedadoptions.naa.gov.au/experiences?sort=alphabetical&containing_img=0&f%5B0%5D=field_experience%3A7&fbclid=IwAR3Q60rkwZVymdeZCMzfnOkP1hPWimXR7G_U7oE31TDn5a1KeKvZeWGyl2E 

Memory of childhood rape by priest motivates Warwick man to fight for other victims

David Silipigni says his life was ruined by what happened to him as a child at the St. Aloysius Home, an orphanage run by the Diocese of Providence. Now he’s fighing to give other victims the legal remedy that he’ll never have. WARWICK — For nearly his entire life, David S. Silipigni has lived in a jail cell or a room the size of one. He paces a room the way memories pace his mind, turning to what he says happened nearly 50 years ago, when he was a little boy in the care of a Catholic orphanage in Smithfield.

http://www.providencejournal.com/news/20181123/memory-of-childhood-rape-by-priest-motivates-warwick-man-to-fight-for-other-victims 

'I don't do public displays of grief' - romance writer Lesley Pearse's life has been as strange as any of her novels

Lesley Pearse is celebrating 25 years as a bestselling author. In her case, that means 26 novels, and more than 10m books sold. She is 73 - her first novel was published when she was 48 - and looks great, not just for her age but for any age: strong, vibrant, glamorous. "My editor says I've got a portrait up in the attic," she says with a laugh over tea in the Clarence Hotel, then adds "I'm very happy now."

https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/books/i-dont-do-public-displays-of-grief-romance-writer-lesley-pearses-life-has-been-as-strange-as-any-of-her-novels-37559876.html 

World AIDS Day – an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in fight against HIV

Kolkata, Nov 26 (TGS) World AIDS Day is observed every year on December One, and it is an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), show their support for people living with HIV and remember those who have died. Started in 1988, World AIDS Day was the first ever global health day. World AIDS Day is important because it reminds the public and Government that HIV has not gone away – there is still a vital need to raise money, increase awareness, fight prejudice and improve education.

http://thegoaspotlight.com/world-aids-day-an-opportunity-for-people-worldwide-to-unite-in-fight-against-hiv/ 

Ex-Priest Who Admitted Raping An Altar Boy Starts Trial For Alleged Sexual Assault Against Two Others

Trial began Monday for a 71-year-old former priest, who previously pleaded guilty to raping an altar boy, on charges of sexually assaulting two other boys. Ronald Paquin faces 31 charges related to the his alleged sexual assaults against two boys between 1985 and 1988 when they were 14 and younger in Kennebunkport, Maine. Paquin was defrocked in 2004 after pleading guilty in 2002 to repeatedly raping an altar boy in between 1989 and 1992 and was imprisoned until 2015. (RELATED: Worldwide Catholic Nuns Denounce Church’s ‘Culture Of Silence,’ Urge Abused Sisters To Report To Police)

https://dailycaller.com/2018/11/27/ex-priest-sexual-assault-trial/ 

Thriving vineyard: Diocese celebrates 175 years. Money is their god...

Irish roots were firmly planted in Arkansas when the Diocese of Little Rock was established in 1843. The first bishop, Sisters of Mercy and hundreds of parishioners hailed from Ireland and established many of the first parishes, schools and hospitals in the state. A region initially described as a “suburb of hell” was slowly transformed into a missionary field that now has more than 156,000 lay Catholics, 134 priests, 102 permanent deacons and 170 religious serving 128 parishes.

https://www.arkansas-catholic.org/news/article/5854/Thriving-vineyard-Diocese-celebrates-175-years 

Catholic religious sisters express 'deep sorrow' over abuse

The nuns still act like I saw years ago in the two orphanages... all over the priest and bishops with their happy faces... but behind closed doors they acted like demons and witches... as though they were   process with evil within... Ann

===================================

UISG will help anyone who wishes to move forward on a complaint to take it to the appropriate organisations. The organisation that represents religious sisters around the world has expressed "deep sorrow and indignation" over abuse perpetrated against men and women. In a statement that coincided with the United Nations' International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, the organisation representing more than 500,000 religious sisters condemned "the pattern of abuse that is prevalent within the church and society today".

https://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/11061/nuns-draft

International group of women's superiors urge sisters to report abuse

 And the nuns are still in-denial about the rape and abused... of children Boys and girls in their co call care... Ann

 ===============================

The International Union of Superiors General has called on women religious who have suffered abuse to come forward and report it to their congregations and church and state authorities. "If the UISG receives a report of abuse, we will be a listening presence and help the person to have the courage to bring the complaint to the appropriate organizations," it added in a statement published on its website Nov. 23.

http://www.catholicnews.com/services/englishnews/2018/international-group-of-women-s-superiors-urge-sisters-to-report-abuse.cfm 

Report names clergy accused of abusing orphans, troubled children

The grand Spanish Colonial Revival buildings of Madonna Manor and Hope Haven that stand on opposite sides of Barataria Boulevard in Marrero are largely vacant now, empty but still-imposing monuments of Catholicism in the New Orleans area. For decades, they housed orphans and children from troubled families, all placed into the care of the church. But their ornate facades concealed a grotesque pattern of physical and sexual abuse perpetrated by priests, brothers and nuns.

https://www.dailycomet.com/news/20181103/report-names-clergy-accused-of-abusing-orphans-troubled-children 

'Sinister forces at work': 8 Salesians accused of abuse at Hope Haven and Madonna Manor campus

The grand Spanish Colonial Revival buildings of Madonna Manor and Hope Haven that stand on opposite sides of Barataria Boulevard in Marrero are largely vacant now, empty but still-imposing monuments of Catholicism in the New Orleans area. For decades, they housed orphans and children from troubled families, all placed into the care of the church. But their ornate facades concealed a grotesque pattern of physical and sexual abuse perpetrated by priests, brothers and nuns.

https://www.theadvocate.com/new_orleans/news/article_edbd21d4-def4-11e8-b905-33ae5f48cef8.html 

National Inuit org commits itself to child sexual abuse prevention

Natan Obed, the president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, vowed yesterday that Canada’s national Inuit organization will dedicate itself to the prevention of child sexual abuse in Inuit Nunangat. “I pledge as ITK president to ensure that ITK does the absolute most that it can to respond to the truth that we know, and to build our society to what we know it can be,” Obed said at a forum on Tuesday, Nov. 21.

http://nunatsiaq.com/stories/article/65674national_inuit_org_commits_itself_to_child_sexual_abuse_prevention/ 

Northern Ireland victims recall the impact of child abuse

Margaret McGuckin has been the public face of the campaign for victims of historical institutional child sex abuse. But, privately there is a reason for her involvement - her brother Kevin. The 62-year-old still lives in care. He has a learning difficulty, which Ms McGuckin believes is directly related to what he suffered as a child. Their mother left home when they were children, leaving their father to look after them.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-38682537 

HIA report set to bring painful chapter in NI's history to a close

The Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) Inquiry exposed deep wounds in the hearts and lives of hundreds of people who went through the childcare system in Northern Ireland in the last century. Its investigations focused on residential homes and institutions operated by the state, churches, and the charity Barnardo's. There were many reasons why children of that era found themselves in residential care in Northern Ireland.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-38679562 

Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry: 'Widespread abuse' in children's homes

Children's homes run by some churches, charities and state institutions in Northern Ireland were the scene of widespread abuse and mistreatment of young residents, a report has found. The Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry (HIA) studied allegations of abuse in 22 homes and other residential institutions between 1922 to 1995. These were facilities run by the state, local authorities, the Catholic Church, the Church of Ireland and the children's charity Barnardo's.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-38685157 

Nazareth House: Forgotten orphan girl in an unmarked grave

There are few people who remember the death of a six-year-old girl from an orphanage in Belfast in 1963. Susan McCann was a resident in Nazareth House and had been allowed out to spend time with a family in west Belfast. Many of the secrets of what happened inside Nazareth House have emerged in the past 20 years. The Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry (HIA) severely criticised the Sisters of Nazareth for cruel and degrading treatment of children.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-46266590 

Deceased priests, including Midlander, accused of abuse of minors

The names of deceased priests accused of sexual abuse of a minor, including one who served a Midland parish, were announced late Wednesday morning on the Diocese of Saginaw website. The list was made public by the Most Rev. Walter A. Hurley, apostolic administrator for the diocese. The Rev. Thomas William Ryan, pastor of St. Brigid in Midland from May 1958 to October 1970, is on the list of deceased clergy of the Saginaw diocese against whom a credible allegation of child sexual abuse was presented. Ryan, who died Jan. 25, 1975, also was assistant priest of Holy Family Parish, Saginaw, from April 1936 to July 1942.

https://www.ourmidland.com/news/article/Diocese-Deceased-priests-including-Midlander-13411768.php 

Robin Hood

Someone behind "Robin Hood" (Summit) -- presumably one or both of the screenwriters, Ben Chandler and David James Kelly -- has mommy issues with Holy Mother Church. As a result, vicious anti-Catholicism permeates this otherwise merely dopey take on the classic legend. We know we're not in for an especially sophisticated retelling when, early on, Taron Egerton as the titular outlaw is drafted into the Third Crusade. Apparently, the pope of the time hasn't been picking birthdays out of a fishbowl while blindfolded. Rather, Robin's conscription is the work of his perennial nemesis, the Sheriff of Nottingham (Ben Mendelsohn, much given to howling).

http://www.catholicnews.com/services/englishnews/2018/robin-hood.cfm 

Catholic Diocese of Saginaw names all priests credibly accused of sex abuse

The Catholic Diocese of Saginaw has released a list of all deceased priests accused of sexually abusing minors dating back to the late 1800s. The allegations against each of the priests were deemed credible by a diocesan review board, which is comprised of experts in the field of child welfare who are not employed by the Catholic church. Most of the clergy included on the list never had their cases definitive proven in a court of law and the diocese is not 100 percent certain the allegations against them are true -- only that the claims are serious and haven't been discredited.

https://www.abc12.com/content/news/Catholic-Diocese-of-Saginaw-names-all-priests-credibly-accused-of-sex-abuse-501015031.html 

Children were abused for decades in Catholic homes, Scottish inquiry finds since 1864

A public inquiry has found that nuns, priests and staff at two Scottish children’s homes subjected children to regimes of fear, physical and sexual abuse for many decades.
In its first interim report, published on Thursday, the Scottish child abuse inquiry (SCAI) found that boys and girls housed in two Catholic residential homes in Lanarkshire were systematically starved of love, dignity and compassion.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/oct/11/children-were-abused-for-decades-in-catholic-homes-scottish-inquiry-finds 

Kids sexually abused, assaulted and beaten with crucifixes in Catholic orphanage and care home

The first interim report by the probe concluded that Smyllum Park orphanage in Lanark and Bellevue House in Rutherglen were places of fear and emotional, physical and sexual abuse for many children. A PROBE has found that kids DID suffer sickening sexual, physical and emotional abuse at two homes run by a Catholic religious order. The first interim report by the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry has found that Smyllum Park orphanage in Lanark and Bellevue House in Rutherglen were houses of horror for many children.

https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/3333684/scottish-child-abuse-inquiry-kids-abused-lady-smith-catholic/ 

California Attorney General looking into priest sexual abuse

The ABC7 News I-Team has learned the California Attorney General's Office is looking into the issue of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. Since Pennsylvania announced the results of its massive grand jury investigation in August, the question's been -- when will California take action? We contacted the AG's Office back in August, to find out if they are investigating clergy sexual abuse. Their answer? "We can't comment on, even to confirm or deny, a potential or ongoing investigation." But now, we have details on some steps they're taking to tackle the issue.

https://abc7news.com/i-team-exclusive-california-attorney-general-looking-into-priest-sexual-abuse/4533091/ 

Child sex abuse apology: The hardest word heals but action matters most

Words can hurt and words can heal. Chrissie Foster knows that better than most. When she and her late husband Anthony first sought justice for their daughter Emma, who was abused as a child by Father Kevin O’Donnell and killed herself after years of mental anguish, they were airily dismissed by then Sydney bishop — now Archbishop — Anthony Fisher of “dwelling crankily … on old wounds”. When Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart was questioned at the Victorian inquiry into clerical sex abuse about the two-decade delay in dealing with notorious paedophile Father Des Gannon — the priest had been convicted of sex attacks in 1995, 1997, 2000 and 2003 — Melbourne’s most senior priest smirked: “Well, better late than never.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/child-sex-abuse-apology-the-hardest-word-heals-but-action-matters-most/news-story/701565b75c82923350bd1d6ce8d3d3db 

Why some sexual abuse survivors shunned Australia's apology

Australia has just delivered a national apology to tens of thousands of victims of child sexual abuse. Hundreds of survivors gathered in Canberra on Monday to hear Prime Minister Scott Morrison deliver the apology in parliament. It follows a harrowing five-year inquiry which found children had been abused in schools, churches, orphanages and other institutions over decades.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-45819080 

Australian Prime Minister Apologizes To Victims Of Institutional Child Sex Abuse

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison issued a national apology Monday on behalf of the government to survivors of institutional child sexual abuse — the first such official statement since a major report last year showed the problem was rampant in Australia. "Today, as a nation, we confront our failure to listen, to believe, and to provide justice," he said to an audience of hundreds of survivors in Canberra. "We say sorry. To the children we failed, sorry. To the parents whose trust was betrayed and who have struggled to pick up the pieces, sorry."

https://www.npr.org/2018/10/22/659400452/australian-prime-minister-apologizes-to-victims-of-institutional-child-sex-abuse 

Diocese outlines latest policy reactions to sexual abuse allegations

Bishop W. Shawn McKnight of the Catholic Diocese of Jefferson City addresses members of the media, chancery staff and area priests Friday, Aug. 24, 2018, to make a statement regarding clergy sexual abuse and his plans to bring transparency to the Catholic Church. The Diocese of Jefferson City is demanding increased transparency from the religious communities operating within it, and would like increased accountability over clergy in its care who have been removed from ministry over credible allegations of sexual abuse or concern for children's safety.

http://www.newstribune.com/news/local/story/2018/nov/11/diocese-outlines-latest-policy-reactions-to-sexual-abuse-allegations/751991/ 

Sex abuse crisis tops agenda as US Catholic bishops convene

As U.S. Catholic bishops gather for their national assembly next week, the clergy sex abuse crisis dominates their agenda amid calls from critics that church leaders finally bring about meaningful reforms to root out misbehaving priests. The three-day assembly that starts Monday in Baltimore comes after a series of abuse scandals this year that have been stunning in their magnitude and number.

https://wsvn.com/news/us-world/sex-abuse-crisis-tops-agenda-as-us-catholic-bishops-convene/ 

New Zealand child abuse inquiry widened to include religious institutions

A royal commission into abuse in state care in New Zealand has been expanded to include those abused by faith-based institutions such as churches and religious schools, after campaigning by survivors. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said there had been overwhelming appeals from those abused by religious institutions since the initial inquiry – the largest in New Zealand’s history – was announced in February.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/12/new-zealand-child-abuse-inquiry-widened-to-include-religious-institutions 

Government expands abuse inquiry to churches and 'faith-based institutions'

Tears of joy are streaming down my face... Thank you all for your voice... Now I can fight for our family home to be given back to us... oh my god this is the best news... I can not stop crying... I might yet be able to call our family home... my safe HOME... once again... Our fight has just past the first leg of it's joinery... we must all stand as one now... this is just the beginning... now let our voices be heard for all... We Stand As ONE NATION and ONE PEOPLE... we are all KIWIs so hear us ROAR... Ann

 ============================================ 

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced that the historical inquiry will include churches and faith-based organisations. The Government has bowed to public pressure and announced it will include churches in its historical abuse inquiry. It comes after months of resistance to investigate any faith-based organisations.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/108539993/government-expands-abuse-inquiry-to-churches-and-faithbased-insitutions?fbclid=IwAR39NQlD5GG3BJInfENi4n9GKMHJXB-a-zbjagsV_nYKyXsoMK09xvuYmpw 

Contemplating my faith; being Catholic after the church abuse scandal Crucifix. Rosary. Prayer. Tradition.

I was raised Catholic and attended a strict parochial school, St. Peter’s, in Sacramento with nuns as teachers where we wore knee-length uniforms, prayed every morning before class started, before lunch and even before heading home. We had to wear our hair in a “proper manner”—we had to put our curly hair up in a ponytail—and went to mass every Friday. I disliked the rigorous schedule, but I knew deep inside that it was the right thing to do for God.

http://saccityexpress.com/opinion_catholic-church/

Over 360 people 'physically and sexually abused at orphanages' since 1930s

The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry findings revealed the extent of the incidents at children's homes dating back over 80 years. More than 360 people have complained of physical and sexual abuse against people at orphanages run by three voluntary organisations in Scotland, police have said. The announcement was made during the opening statements in phase three of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry (SCAI) in Edinburgh yesterday. It is now looking into care given to those living in non-religious and voluntary institutions run by Quarriers, Barnardo’s and Aberlour.

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/over-360-people-physically-sexually-13469031 

Pat Flanagan column: Irish State has blood of 798 dead babies from Tuam Mother and Baby Home in Galway on its hands

While the Government might like to portray the country as an outward-looking secular egalitarian society, this week the world got a glimpse of real Ireland. The news that the death pit where 798 children’s bodies were dumped is to be dug up is seen as a sign this country is at last dealing with its dark and sinister past. But the disclosure the new National Maternity Hospital could be overseen by a religious order of nuns which has abused children takes us right back there.

https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/news-opinion/pat-flanagan-column-irish-state-13483169 

Woman shares stories of horrific abuse at Vermont orphanage

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) WCAX News has an exclusive interview with an elderly woman 70 years after she left St. Joseph's Orphanage in Burlington, where she claims nuns physically and mentally abused her and other children. Burlington's Roman Catholic Diocese is waiving all nondisclosure agreements signed with the church, opening the door for victims to come forward with their stories. Bishop Christopher Coyne says the decision comes as authorities investigate allegations of abuse-- and even murder-- at the now-shuttered orphanage

https://www.wcax.com/content/news/Woman-shares-stories-of-horrific-abuse-at-Vermont-orphanage-498584101.html 

Scottish inquiry: Children endured abuse at sister-run orphanages

As scandals over sexual abuse and bullying in the Catholic Church spread globally in recent years, women religious orders seemed to have been spared the worst accusations. Yet the tidy image was jolted this October, when a congregation of nuns in Scotland faced charges in an official report of showing "no love, no compassion, no dignity and no comfort" to children in its care.

https://www.globalsistersreport.org/news/trends/scottish-inquiry-children-endured-abuse-sister-run-orphanages-55557

Vermont Catholic Church probe moves quietly while feds make noise

As the U.S. Department of Justice contacts dioceses nationwide about clergy misconduct records, Vermont authorities aren’t saying much about their own investigation into allegations of past child abuse by Catholic Church personnel. A local and state task force of police and prosecutors announced its probe last month in response to a recent BuzzFeed News story recounting “unrelenting physical and psychological abuse of captive children” at Burlington’s St. Joseph’s Orphanage, which operated from 1854 to 1974.

https://vtdigger.org/2018/10/30/vermont-catholic-church-probe-moves-quietly-feds-make-noise/ 

Report names clergy accused of abusing orphans, troubled children

The grand Spanish Colonial Revival buildings of Madonna Manor and Hope Haven that stand on opposite sides of Barataria Boulevard in Marrero are largely vacant now, empty but still-imposing monuments of Catholicism in the New Orleans area. For decades, they housed orphans and children from troubled families, all placed into the care of the church. But their ornate facades concealed a grotesque pattern of physical and sexual abuse perpetrated by priests, brothers and nuns.

http://www.dailycomet.com/news/20181103/report-names-clergy-accused-of-abusing-orphans-troubled-children 

In tough-on-crime Bennington, a bitter race for state’s attorney

BENNINGTON — For almost a decade Christine Rainville was Erica Marthage’s deputy at the state’s attorney’s office here. Now the two are locked in a fierce contest to be county’s top prosecutor. Both were part of a criminal justice system in Bennington that is responsible for the highest incarceration rate in the state — about 1 percent of the county population is in prison — and reputation for being too tough on crime.

https://vtdigger.org/2018/11/05/tough-crime-bennington-bitter-race-states-attorney/ 

Dan Fagan: Why each of us should demand the church expose and remove sexual predators

My paternal grandmother was born in 1903 in Swinford, Ireland, into a family of 11. At 16, her parents, because of poverty, put her on a ship to America to live with her older sister, knowing they'd probably never see her again. My grandmother's impoverished beginnings and living through the Great Depression caused her to be singularly frugal. I'm convinced she had the same ketchup bottle for years. Each time she'd add just a little more water to it. While frugal with material things, she was richly generous with her love.

https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/opinion/article_77c3bc4e-e1e3-11e8-b49a-8fe11f96e02e.html 

Buffalo Diocese sex abuse scandal spreads to non-clergy

News 4 obtains internal list of more priests, employees accused of abuse. An agenda from the Diocese of Buffalo Review Board shows that the sex abuse scandal transcends priests and nuns. News 4 Investigates obtained the agenda of the September meeting of the Review Board, which includes unreported names of priests and former employees with sexual abuse allegations made against them. The Review Board is a panel that consults Bishop Richard Malone on sex abuse cases.

https://www.wivb.com/news/local-news/buffalo-diocese-sex-abuse-scandal-spreads-to-non-clergy/1574907748 

Tackling child sexual abuse in the Five Towns

Young Israel of Woodmere hosts the launching of the Safeguarding Children campaign. Sacred Spaces founder and CEO Shira Berkovits discussed child abuse to help kick off Aleinu: A Safeguarding Children Campaign at Young Israel of Woodmere on Oct. 30. A resident of the Squirrel Hill neighborhood in Pittsburgh, where 11 people were killed and six others injured at the Tree of Life Congregation synagogue on Oct. 27, came to the Five Towns last week to speak on another painful topic

http://liherald.com/fivetowns/stories/tackling-child-sexual-abuse-in-the-five-towns,108981 

Vatican reorganization would be 'decisive shift,' says Cardinal Gracias

New document outlining Vatican bureaucracy said to call for service to local churches. Pope Francis' advisory Council of Cardinals has suggested that the pontiff reorganize the Vatican to make a "decisive shift" toward putting the city-state at the service of local Catholic dioceses around the world, said one of the council's nine members. Indian Cardinal Oswald Gracias said "the thrust" of a new document outlining the shape of the Vatican bureaucracy, which the council is finishing after five years of work, will be a "service to the local churches."

https://www.ncronline.org/news/vatican/vatican-reorganization-would-be-decisive-shift-says-cardinal-gracias 

Gran breaks 65 year silence on horrifying abuse by nuns in Rutherglen kids' home

A grandmother has spoken out for the first time about the shocking child abuse she suffered at a Rutherglen orphanage 65 years ago. Theresa Ralston says the physical and emotional abuse she endured at Bellevue House in the early 1950s devastated her life. Recalling her loss of innocence, the 69-year-old told the Reformer:“Those nuns were ruthless. “One in particular terrorised me and I was so scared that I continued wetting the bed for many years after I left Bellevue.

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/local-news/gran-breaks-65-year-silence-13510529

See names, more about 57 New Orleans-area clergy members on archdiocese's official sex abuse list

Archbishop Gregory Aymond on Friday released the names of 30 diocesan priests, 25 religious order priests and two deacons who, in the last century, were removed from ministry after accusations that they sexually abused minors were deemed credible. This is the first time in the history of the Archdiocese of New Orleans that a Catholic archbishop has attempted to provide an accounting of the identities of the alleged abusers in church ranks.

https://www.theadvocate.com/new_orleans/news/collection_0474a82a-dde7-11e8-93f0-ff504d7ae832.html 

8 Catholic priests accused of sexually abusing children worked at Marrero orphanage

Eight Roman Catholic priests whom the Archdiocese of New Orleans identified Friday (Nov. 2) as being credibly accused of sexually abusing children decades ago had been assigned to Hope Haven, a church-run All eight were members of the Salesians of Don Bosco order, said the archdiocese, which released a list of 57 accused priests and deacons who had served in its jurisdiction. The archdiocese said it learned of allegations against the eight between 2006 and 2011, and identified them as Paul Avallone, Stanislaus Ceglar, Paul Csik -- who was in charge of Hope Haven for six years -- Anthony Esposito, Ernest Fagione, August Kita, Joseph Pankowski and Alfred Sokol.orphanage in Marrero. Six of the accused are now dead.

https://www.nola.com/news/2018/11/eight-catholic-priests-accused-of-sexually-abusing-children-worked-at-marrero-orphanage.html 

Reveal of 57 New Orleans clergy credibly accused of sexual abuse a major step for Catholic officials

New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond on Friday released the names of 57 former clergy members credibly accused of sexually abusing minors — the first such disclosure in the history of the Catholic Church in Louisiana. The list, released amid pressure from local Catholics and widespread demands for church transparency across the U.S., includes 34 clergy whose alleged abuses do not appear to have been previously exposed. According to Aymond, all 57 clergy were either removed from ministry as a result of the allegations or were already dead when the allegations arose.

https://www.theadvocate.com/new_orleans/news/article_6be2a18a-de21-11e8-ac53-a73c7242cd5d.html 

Priests linked to Hope Haven orphanage, Shaw, Jesuit, Loyola on list of credibly accused

Priests from the Salesian and Jesuit orders make up more than half of the Catholic order clergy that the Archdiocese of New Orleans believes sexually abused minors within the last 50 years, according to information released by the church Friday. Twenty-five clergy belonging to religious orders were on the 57-name list released by Archbishop Gregory Aymond.

https://www.theadvocate.com/new_orleans/news/article_10a7b104-debf-11e8-9eb1-131198cb4849.html 

The Deeper Dig: Under new scrutiny, the church pledges change

The Deeper Dig is a weekly podcast from the VTDigger newsroom. Listen below, and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify or anywhere you listen to podcasts. When a Pennsylvania grand jury report this August detailed startling patterns of child sex abuse in the Catholic Church, dioceses around the country found themselves under new scrutiny. In Vermont, the effect was compounded by a major Buzzfeed News investigation into child abuse at the long-shuttered St. Joseph’s Orphanage in Burlington.

https://vtdigger.org/2018/11/02/deeper-dig-new-scrutiny-church-pledges-change/ 

Former leaders at Jesuit, Shaw and Loyola University among shockers on archbishop's list of alleged sex abusers

As the bombshell list of suspected clergy sex abusers in the New Orleans archdiocese began circulating on Friday, thousands of Catholics were shocked to learn that priests who led some of the city's most well-known Catholic schools were among those accused. Names that went public for the first time include former Jesuit High School president Donald Pearce, who led the all-boys school in Mid-City in the 1960s, and Paul Avallone, who was tapped to serve as principal of Archbishop Shaw High School when it opened its doors in Marrero in 1962.

https://www.theadvocate.com/new_orleans/news/article_46b49b04-def1-11e8-93fa-4f75673be178.html 

'They killed my children and raped me': sexual violence remains rife in Congo

Continuing violence in southern areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has led to thousands of violent sexual assaults, accompanied by widespread killing and torture, aid agencies have said. International attention has focused on the east of the sprawling central African country in recent months, where there is an ongoing insurgency and a lethal outbreak of Ebola.

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/nov/02/they-killed-my-children-and-raped-me-horrific-violence-remains-rife-in-democratic-republic-of-the-congo 

'Sinister forces at work': 8 Salesians accused of abuse at Hope Haven and Madonna Manor campus

The grand Spanish Colonial Revival buildings of Madonna Manor and Hope Haven that stand on opposite sides of Barataria Boulevard in Marrero are largely vacant now, empty but still-imposing monuments of Catholicism in the New Orleans area. For decades, they housed orphans and children from troubled families, all placed into the care of the church. But their ornate facades concealed a grotesque pattern of physical and sexual abuse perpetrated by priests, brothers and nuns.

https://www.theadvocate.com/new_orleans/news/article_edbd21d4-def4-11e8-b905-33ae5f48cef8.html 

How A SoCal Priest Preyed On Two Brothers And Destroyed An Immigrant Family

As federal prosecutors begin a first-ever investigation into child sexual abuse by Catholic priests in Pennsylvania, there's pressure mounting in Southern California to dig deeper into the local church's handling of abusive clergy. Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice sent subpoenas to several Pennsylvania dioceses, requesting internal church documents. The federal probe comes months after a state grand jury report detailed credible allegations by more than 1,000 victims against over 300 priests.

http://www.laist.com/2018/10/26/survivor_of_catholic_churchs_child_sex_abuse_scandal_calls_for_accountability_in_la.php 

Woman shares stories of horrific abuse at Vermont orphanage

News has an exclusive interview with an elderly woman 70 years after she left St. Joseph's Orphanage in Burlington, where she claims nuns physically and mentally abused her and other children. Burlington's Roman Catholic Diocese is waiving all nondisclosure agreements signed with the church, opening the door for victims to come forward with their stories. Bishop Christopher Coyne says the decision comes as authorities investigate allegations of abuse-- and even murder-- at the now-shuttered orphanage.

https://www.wcax.com/content/news/Woman-shares-stories-of-horrific-abuse-at-Vermont-orphanage-498584101.html 

Quarriers Village orphanage ‘like children’s prison’

A former orphanage resident has told how children were not aware of the world’s beauty because they were prisoners of an authoritarian system that let them down. The witness said that children who stayed at Quarriers Village in Renfrewshire had been left living as “charity cases”. She also claimed that records from her time at the establishment, where she lived from the late 1950s until the late 1960s, had been hidden from her by Quarriers.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/quarriers-village-orphanage-like-children-s-prison-czxjqr9gr 

Being Catholic among the chaos

It seems to me that an obvious question would be, if one was outside looking in on this awful and seemingly endless reporting of scandal within the Catholic Church in Vermont, and other parts of the world: So, what is it like being Catholic in all this chaos? Just when one thought that the awakening that started with the Boston revelations of sexual abuse of children by clergy years ago with it's shocking investigations, indictments and confessions were behind us; just when system-wide changes in education, updated safeguards and transparency have been taking hold; the horrific stories emerge from the shocking scandals in Pennsylvania.

https://www.benningtonbanner.com/stories/being-catholic-among-the-chaos,554539 

Wave of state attorneys general take on Catholic Church sex abuse

The Attorney General of Virginia Mark Herring announced Wednesday that his office was launching an "ongoing investigation" into possible sexual abuse and coverups by the Catholic dioceses in the state, the Washington Post reports. The big picture: Herring is not alone. Since the Pennsylvania grand jury's bombshell August report of egregious child sex abuse at the hands of Catholic priests, several other allegations of sexual abuse and ignorance on behalf of the Church have come to light. As a result, several other state investigations have followed.

https://www.axios.com/wave-of-state-attorneys-general-take-on-catholic-church-sex-abuse-2be8c5a7-83d0-4f9a-bed6-968789e43a44.html 

Preserve child sex abuse files, U.S. tells Catholics

The Justice Department has sent a sweeping request to every Roman Catholic diocese in the United States not to destroy documents related to the handling of child sexual abuse, a sign that the federal investigation into the church could grow far more extensive. Catholic bishops have been asked by the federal government to retain their files on a broad array of internal matters, including sexual abuse investigations, and the transfer of priests across state or international borders, or to treatment centers. The request includes documents contained in "secret archives" -- the confidential files that are kept by each diocese.

http://www.nwaonline.com/news/2018/oct/28/preserve-child-sex-abuse-files-u-s-tell/ 

How Curious: A Haunted Children's Home?

One night when Caleb Germany was in high school, he and some friends drove from Oklahoma City to Guthrie to see an abandoned building they had heard was a haunted orphanage. Germany asked How Curious: What’s the history of the building? Is it haunted? When Germany visited the building for the first time with five or six friends, he said it was huge, dilapidated and illuminated by one eerie yellow light that made every shadow seem menacing.

http://www.kgou.org/post/how-curious-haunted-childrens-home