Lawsuit: ‘Spotlight’ Heroes Made Money Off Priests' Victims

For over 20 years, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) has operated with a mission to expose clergy sexual abuse and its coverup—work that was highlighted by last year’s Oscar-award winning film Spotlight. But a new lawsuit alleges that the St. Louis-based charity actually exploits abuse survivors in a kickback scheme involving attorneys who file lawsuits against the Catholic Church. In the lawsuit against SNAP, a former employee named Gretchen Rachel Hammond charges she was wrongfully fired as SNAP’s development director in 2013 after she confronted SNAP president Barbara Blaine with evidence the group had been “routinely accepting financial kickbacks from attorneys in the form of donations.” 

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/02/05/lawsuit-spotlight-heroes-made-money-off-priests-victims.html 

I was raped by priest in orphanage

A DISABLED mother-of-two has claimed she was raped by a priest and sexually abused by a female care worker when she was a young child in a Scottish orphanage.

Joanne Peacher said the appalling attacks took place in the late 1970s in a Nazareth House children's home, which have been at the centre of several previous abuse scandals. The Sisters of Nazareth, the Roman Catholic order of nuns which operated dozens of orphanages across Britain, recently apologised to children who suffered in their institutions in Northern Ireland. 

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/457478/I-was-raped-by-priest-in-orphanage

Minister for Justice needs to explain to the Dáil administration of Magdalene Scheme

Sinn Féin TD for Cork South Central Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire has called on the Justice Minister to address the Dáil to explain the manner in which the Magdalene Redress scheme is being administered.
Deputy Ó Laoghaire made the call following the revelation that the Department of Justice is to be probed by the Ombudsman after evidence suggesting maladministration surfaced.

https://thecork.ie/2017/01/29/minister-for-justice-needs-to-explain-to-the-dail-administration-of-magdalene-scheme/ 

Sex abuse inquiry to hold final hearing into Australian Catholic Church

The Royal Commission into Institutional Response to Child Sexual Abuse will examine the current policies and procedures of Catholic Church authorities in Australia in its final public hearing into the church.
The public hearing will be held on Monday inside the royal commission’s hearing rooms at the Governor Macquarie Tower in Sydney. The hearing will probe existing child protection and child-safe standards within the Catholic Church, including responding to allegations of child sexual abuse.

http://www.thecourier.com.au/story/4436950/final-hearing-into-church/ 

Magdalene redress scheme to be probed

The ombudsman has launched an investigation into possible “evidence of maladministration” of the
The investigation was revealed in the High Court on Thursday where two women are challenging the department’s decision not to include them in the redress scheme.
The ombudsman, Peter Tyndall, notified the department of its intention to launch an investigation on December 20. Magdalene redress scheme by the Department of Justice and Equality.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/magdaleneredress-scheme-to-be-probed-441219.html

The Human Zoo: Documentary sheds light on stolen Aboriginal people 'treated as animals'

The Indigenous community on Palm Island in far north Queensland will feature in an historical documentary about a relatively unknown aspect of colonisation.

Up to 20 Aboriginal people were taken from northern Australia in the 19th and 20th centuries to be exhibited alongside animals in what was called The Human Zoo. Along with tens of thousands of other people, they were put on display across Europe and North America until at least 1940.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-01-28/the-human-zoo-documentary-aboriginal-people-forced-exhibits/8219116 

Complaint to gardaí over Bessborough file alterations

A participant in the Bessborough Mother and Baby Home vaccine trial has made a formal Garda complaint after it emerged files relating to the trial were altered in 2002.
n November, the Irish Examiner revealed the files of mothers and children used in the 1960/61 4-in-1 vaccine trial were altered in 2002 — just weeks after the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse sought discovery of records from the religious order running the home.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/complaint-to-gardai-over-bessborough-file-alterations-441354.html 

Minister for Justice needs to explain to the Dáil administration of Magdalene Scheme

Sinn Féin TD for Cork South Central Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire has called on the Justice Minister to address the Dáil to explain the manner in which the Magdalene Redress scheme is being administered.
Deputy Ó Laoghaire made the call following the revelation that the Department of Justice is to be probed by the Ombudsman after evidence suggesting maladministration surfaced.

https://thecork.ie/2017/01/29/minister-for-justice-needs-to-explain-to-the-dail-administration-of-magdalene-scheme/ 

Former sports coach questioned over fresh abuse claims

Gardaí have arrested the imprisoned former Waterford sports coach, Bill Kenneally for questioning after three more men have come forward with allegations that he had abused them when they were teenagers in Waterford in the 1980s.

Detectives arrested Kenneally (66) at the Midlands Prison on January 17th and conveyed him to Portlaoise Garda station where they questioned him for over six hours about the latest allegations against him before he was returned to the Midlands Prison.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/former-sports-coach-questioned-over-fresh-abuse-claims-1.2956043 

Priest, nuns and scoutmaster ‘abused boys’ at children’s home - court hears

Three nuns, a priest and a scoutmaster were complicit in “brutalising” boys at a Catholic home in the grip of a “cruel and vindictive regime”, a court has heard.
Details of the alleged goings on at St Francis children’s home in Shefford, Bedfordshire, were aired publicly in the trial of former carer James McCann. McCann, 80, is accused of 52 charges of violent and sexual assault on 26 boys aged between eight and 12 in the 1960s and 70s.

http://www.scotsman.com/news/priest-nuns-and-scoutmaster-abused-boys-at-children-s-home-1-4228162

DISGRACE; 2000; Lawyer helps child abuser nun to dodge prison; 2003; Catholic Church set to give him Papal Knighthood.

A LAWYER who helped a nun guilty of child cruelty walk free from court has been nominated for a top award by the Catholic Church. Gerald Cunningham has been put forward by Scotland's top Catholic, Archbishop Mario Conti, to pick up the Papal Knighthood for his legal services to the Church.
The devout Catholic aided lawyers who represented Sister Alphonso at her trial three years ago. Alphonso, a nun at children's home Nazareth House, Aberdeen, was accused of cruel and unnatural treatment of girls at homes over 15 years.

https://www.thefreelibrary.com/DISGRACE%3b+2000%3b+Lawyer+helps+child+abuser+nun+to+dodge+prison%3b+2003%3b...-a099370198

Nazareth nuns abused us all

THEY should have been safe - yet they were innocents who became victims through no fault of their own. Their mother was dead, their father unable to look after them, and the family turned to nuns for help.
The McGuigans - three brothers and three sisters - spoke yesterday of their trust in the Poor Sisters of Nazareth.  But they claim that trust was exploited in the most wicked way when they were systematically abused by nuns and sexually molested by other carers. Sadly, their harrowing story isn't unique.

https://www.thefreelibrary.com/NAZARETH+NUNS+ABUSED+US+ALL%3B+Family+to+sue+the+Poor+Sisters+who+are...-a060691760