News Story of the Day

By Haidee V Eugenio, April 9, 2017, Pacific Daily News

The world’s largest network of priest abuse survivors says Guam’s clergy sex abuse cases could reach into the hundreds over the next couple of years, from 46 at present.

Guam children were allegedly abused by Catholic clergy between 1956 and 1988, based on lawsuits filed in local and federal courts between Nov. 1 and April 6.

Patsy McGarry, April 8, 2017, The Irish Times

The last public Mass by a Norbertine priest in Ireland was celebrated on Sunday September 25th, 2016. As of that date all public ministry by the Norbertines on the island ceased.

This is referred to, almost in passing, in the review of child protection practices at the Norbertines published last Wednesday by the church’s child protection watchdog, the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland (NBSCCCI).

By Craig R. McCoy, April 7, 2017, The Inquirer

By his own account, Bill Kershaw’s “greatest joy and accomplishment in life was in improving the lives of young boys.”

When not teaching fifth graders, Kershaw took boys camping, canoeing, and on ski trips. He “loved introducing boys to the wonders of nature.” 

After a long career at Philadelphia’s elite Chestnut Hill Academy and three other local private schools, Kershaw died a satisfied man, according to an obituary he drafted himself.

By Eric Luttrell, April 06, 2017, yourcentralvalley.com

Fresno State Athletic director Jim Bartko is sharing his own story of childhood sexual abuse. Bartko is speaking at a "sexual assault awareness month" event. It's his first public appearance since he spoke with the media back in january.

Bartko sat down with Eyewitness News before he took the stage. He told us he'll be talking about his guilt, and what suppressing those feelings did to him. Bartko did seek help, something he says, he'll be urging the students to do.Bartko's own story has already resonated with many. He says, he still gets letters from around the country. 

By Krystal Paco, April 05, 2017, Kuam News

It was almost a year ago the first survivors of clergy sex abuse went public. They are former Agat altar boys Roy Quintanilla, Walter Denton, Roland Sondia, and Joseph "Sonny" Quinata who reportedly told his mother on his death bed he was sexually abused by beloved priest Archbishop Anthony Apuron.

Their stories sparked a change in local law that provided an avenue for other survivors to sue their predators. The same law is under fire by Apuron's legal counsel who this week filed her motion for dismissal in the federal court.

Tommy Simmons, Greeley Tribune, April 1, 2017

Even though the 19-year-old Greeley woman did everything she could to report the rape correctly, two men police believe sexually assaulted her will never be convicted of that crime under Colorado's current laws.

Hours after the men left her in a dark alleyway in the 1500 block of 8th Avenue in the early morning hours of July 31, 1984, she was speaking with a Greeley police detective. Not long after that, she underwent a medical exam, and a nurse collected the DNA evidence. In the days that followed, she walked police through the alleys and side streets, where the two men had threatened to kill her if she didn't submit to them.

By Chip Minemyer, April 2, 2017, The Tribune-Democrat

Penn State’s former leaders have been found guilty of endangering children, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown has been forced to adopt new policies and the Pennsylvania Legislature is wrestling over the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse.

As we enter April’s Child Abuse Prevention Month, major institutions are in turmoil because of past sins – while the quest for justice for those who suffered at the hands of priests, coaches and other trusted adults remains a struggle.

If only someone in power had showed the courage and compassion years ago to say: “This stops now.”

By SADHBH WALSHEMARCH 30, 2017, NY Times Opinion

TUAM, Ireland — Last year, during the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising that led to Irish independence, the writer Colm Toibin pointed to the fatal mistake the British made when putting down the rebellion. It was not just the swift execution of the movement’s leaders, which historians often point to as a defining moment, but the burial of their bodies in quicklime without coffins.

“Anyone Irish will understand that whatever you do, don’t do that,” he said, adding that it “mattered in Ireland in a way that it might not have mattered in some other country.”

A survivor whose voice will be one of the last to be heard in the child abuse royal commission has urged political leaders to cast aside religious loyalties and urgently introduce strong child protection measures.

On Friday, the public hearings of the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse will come to an end.

By Jessica Miller, March 28, 2017, The Salt Lake Tribune

Moments after a jury found him guilty of nearly a dozen sex abuse-related crimes, Keith Robert Vallejo walked out of the Provo courthouse last month a free man.

Despite requests from a prosecutor to have him jailed until his April sentencing date, a Utah County judge instead allowed the former Mormon bishop to remain free on bail, and to go home to his wife and eight children.