News Story of the Day
Judge to decide if ex-priest who molested boys can be committed indefinitely
By Megan Crepeau, September 5, 2017, Chicago Tribune
Court records show more than two dozen boys and young men have alleged Daniel McCormack molested them in their youth, most notably at St. Agatha Parish on Chicago's Southwest Side, where the young Roman Catholic priest coached basketball, taught algebra and delivered eloquent sermons.
Victoria Police launches new podcast to tackle sexual crime
By David Sparkes, ABC.net.au, September 4, 2017
Victoria Police has launched a new podcast about sexual violence, aiming to convince more victims to report their assault.
The six-part series, called Unspeakable: Understanding Sexual Crime, is part of National Child Protection Week and tells true stories, featuring interviews with investigators, victims and their families.
Inspector Everett Moutsidis from Family Violence Command told ABC Radio Melbourne each episode would provide a glimpse into the work done by Victoria Police's Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Investigation Teams (SOCIT).
Active lawsuits accusing Guam priests of sex abuse now top 100
By Steve Limtiaco, Pacific Daily News, September 1, 2017, USA Today
AGÅTÑA, Guam — Two more lawsuits filed Friday in U.S. District Court here bring the number of active suits accusing clergy members and others affiliated with this island’s Catholic Church of sexually abusing children to more than 100.
The two priests named in the lawsuits — the Rev. Louis Brouillard, 96, and Antonio Cruz, now dead — have been named in other suits: Brouillard is accused in 58 cases, Cruz in seven cases although the plaintiff requested an additional one that was filed Monday in federal court be voluntarily dismissedThursday.
Cambodian court imprisons Korean in sexual abuse of children
The Associated Press, The Seattle Times, August 31, 2017
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — A Cambodian court has found a 63-year-old Korean man guilty of child sex offenses and sentenced him to 14 years in prison.
A spokesman for the Siem Reap provincial court said Park Youl was found guilty on Thursday of child prostitution and sexual intercourse with girls under 15 years of age.
Cambodian newspapers, citing anti-human trafficking police, said at the time of Park’s arrest last October that he was a pastor of a Christian church in Siem Reap in northwestern Cambodia.
Former NY priest Francis Stinner dies, but sex abuse controversy lives on
By Jorge Fitz-Gibbon, August 30, 2017, USA Today
Francis Stinner, a defrocked priest with ties to Somers, Bronxville, Chappaqua and Goshen in New York, died earlier this month at the age of 76.
Archdiocese bankruptcy plans face off in court
By Jean Hopfensperer, August 29, 2017, Star Tribune
Judge hears competing plans to settle the claims, assigns the archdiocese some homework.
Ex-Savannah Catholic priest indicted for sexual battery of minors
By Jan Skutch and DeAnn Komanecky, Savannah Morning News, August 28, 2017
Former Savannah Roman Catholic priest — and convicted child sex offender — Wayland Yoder Brown has been indicted in Jasper County, S.C., on nine counts of criminal misconduct with a minor — sexual battery — involving two male victims, South Carolina Fourteenth Circuit Solicitor Duffie Stone III announced Monday.
Brown, 74, is in custody in Maryland, Stone said. He will be extradited to South Carolina. It’s not known how long that process will take.
Restraining order, but no charges for New Ulm priest
By: Tom Lyden, August 27, 2017, FOX 9
NEW ULM, Minn. (KMSP) - A New Ulm area Catholic priest will not face criminal charges after a six-month long criminal investigation into allegations he had an inappropriate relationship with a teenage girl.
The girl’s mother, however, has taken matters into her own hands, taking out a restraining order against the priest--Father Sam Wagner, age 33.
In a statement, the Diocese of New Ulm said Fr. Wagner remains on leave from the ministry pending a decision by its Clergy Review Board.
Irish priest in Argentine sex abuse scandal
By
August 27 2017, The Sunday TimesAn Irish priest is at the centre of a sexual abuse scandal engulfing Latin America. Finnlugh Mac Conastair, who died in 1997, has been accused of abusing a 12-year-old boy at a prestigious school in Argentina.
Two other Irishmen are reported to have known of the abuse. The allegations are making headlines across South America and have been reported by English-language news outlets elsewhere.