Australian archbishop faces jail time for covering up child sex abuse

An Australian archbishop was on Tuesday found guilty of covering up child sex abuse in the 1970s - one of the highest-ranked church officials globally to be successfully prosecuted for such offences. Adelaide Archbishop Philip Wilson, 67, was accused of concealing abuse by notorious paedophile priest Jim Fletcher in the Hunter region of New South Wales state by failing to report the allegations.

http://www.enca.com/world/australian-archbishop-faces-jail-time-for-covering-up-child-sex-abuse 

Argentine priest sentenced to 25 years for child molestation

An Argentine court has sentenced a Catholic priest to 25 years in prison for sexually abusing seven seminary students who were 10 to 14 years old at the time. Judge Alicia Vivian on Monday announced the decision by a panel of judges. It can be appealed. Justo Jose Ilarraz abused the boys in the 1980s and 90s when he was prefect of discipline and spiritual guide at a seminary in Parana, capital of Entre Rios province.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/argentine-priest-sentenced-25-years-child-molestation-194646795.html 

All 34 Catholic bishops resign over Chile child abuse scandal

All of Chile’s 34 Roman Catholic bishops announced their resignation Friday in the wake of a child sex scandal and cover-up in Chile. “We, all the bishops present in Rome, have tendered our resignation to the Holy Father so that he may decide freely for each of us,” the bishops said in a statement after three days of intense meetings with Pope Francis at the Vatican. “We want to ask forgiveness for the pain caused to the victims, to the Pope, to God’s people and to our country for the grave errors and omissions we have committed,” the statement continued.

http://santiagotimes.cl/2018/05/18/34-catholic-bishops-resign-over-chile-child-abuse-scandal/ 

Abuse complaints against Sisters of Nazareth Homes hits 300

MORE than 300 complaints have been made to police in Scotland about alleged abuses at children's homes run by a Catholic order, an inquiry has heard. The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry was told that officers have received 308 complaints about 194 people associated with institutions run by the Sisters of Nazareth over a 50-year period.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/16180836.Abuse_complaints_against_Sisters_of_Nazareth_Homes_hits_300/ 

Sexual abuse 'whitewashed' by children's home staff, inquiry told

A man has told an inquiry how the sexual abuse he suffered as a child was "whitewashed" during his time at a children's home. A witness told the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry (SCAI) he was abused by older boys, priests and care assistants over two years when he stayed at Nazareth House in Lasswade, Midlothian, in the 1960s. When he tried to report the abuse to the nuns at the home, or another priest, he was beaten or told to "stop telling lies", the hearing was told.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/16242251.Sexual_abuse__whitewashed__by_children_s_home_staff__inquiry_told/ 

'Whitewash' over Nazareth House children's home abuse

A man has told the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry (SCAI) the sexual abuse he suffered as a child in the 1960s was ''whitewashed and hidden". He told the inquiry he was abused by priests, care assistants and older boys over two years when he stayed at Nazareth House in Lasswade, Midlothian. The hearing heard that when he tried to report abuse he was beaten or told to "stop telling lies". The man told the inquiry the abuse started when he was aged seven.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-44210914 

Sexual abuse victims dying before national redress scheme set up, survivor warns

Tasmanian victims of child sexual abuse in institutional settings will die before they receive redress, authorities have been warned. A national redress scheme, which was recommended by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, is expected to be up and running next year, but the Tasmanian Government has not set aside any money. Tasmanian victim Tony Rayner said it was important for the Government to take action.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-05/call-for-sexual-abuse-redress-money-in-tasmania/8588034 

Survivors call on Tasmanian Government to back redress scheme

As a child growing up in Tasmania, Pamela was raped by her father and sold by him for sex with other men in exchange for alcohol. Finally, she was removed from his care by police and put into the Mt Saint Canice residential institution and industrial laundry in Sandy Bay, only to suffer further abuse. It was the 1950s and Mt Saint Canice was run by nuns of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-22/forgotten-people-state-ward-tasmania-abuse-survivors-redress/9784370 

Former inmates of Good Shepherd homes want compensation for forced labour

A Magdalene laundry in England. Photo: Wikimedia CommonsIn the Netherlands at least 15,000 young girls and women were forced to work in the laundries and sewing rooms of the Catholic order of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd between 1860 and 1973, according to research by the NRC.Five of the women now want the abuse they suffered to be recognised and the money they were denied to be paid to them.The sisters of the Good Shepherd had homes all over Europe, Canada and Australia where girls were forced to work, with some of the most notorious abuse taking place in the Magdalene laundries in Ireland.

https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2018/05/former-inmates-of-good-shepherd-homes-want-compensation-for-forced-labour/ 

Irish Nuns Maligned In Maine Newspaper – OpEd

On the front page of the May 13 edition of the Portland Press Herald, there was a story about a young boy who was placed for adoption by nuns at the Sean Ross Abbey in Roscrea, Ireland. In the course of the article, there is a remark made by a genealogist at the Maine Irish Heritage Center in Portland, that is scurrilous. Deb Sullivan Gellerson is quoted as saying the following about pregnant young women in Ireland who were in the care of nuns at the Abbey: “These young women became pregnant out-of-wedlock and due to the families being ‘strict Catholics’ they had to send them away to give birth. Then, the very same religious order abuses, sells or even kills these children, yet these abbeys and orphanages continued to operate for generations.” (My italics.) All of this is inaccurate. Few children were abused. None were sold. And none were killed.

https://www.eurasiareview.com/24052018-irish-nuns-maligned-in-maine-newspaper-oped/#.WwbB9sPc4C8.facebook

The Nuns Did Steal Us Babies From Our Mothers.

Up close with Pope Francis in Wim Wenders' film at Cannes

The famous German director didn't want to make a film about Pope Francis — he wanted to make a film with him. Wenders' documentary "Pope Francis: A Man of His Word" is an intimate portrayal of a "unique human." No film has ever captured a Pope so intimately — until now. German film director Wim Wenders' documentary "Pope Francis: A Man of His Word" is a journey to and with the current the head of the Catholic Church, an encounter and meditation with this unusual man in the filmmaker's best style. The 96-minute film, which the director has been laboring away on since 2013, was screened Sunday evening at the Cannes Film Festival as an out-of-competition offering. It opens in the US on May 15 and in Germany on June 14.

http://www.dw.com/en/up-close-with-pope-francis-in-wim-wenders-film-at-cannes/a-43775927 

Going home at night didn’t stop the abuse

Angel Sampson recalls being called “heathen,” “savage,” and “evil.” She also remembers the fear of attending school, where she experienced not only emotional abuse, but physical harm at the hands of the people entrusted with her education and care. From 1964 to ‘67, and starting when she was six years old, Sampson attended the Tsartlip Indian Day School in Brentwood Bay. It wasn’t what people might recognize as a residential school — the site of pain and suffering by many of Canada’s Indigenous people — but the conditions Sampson says she faced were not any different.

https://www.saanichnews.com/news/going-home-at-night-didnt-stop-the-abuse/