News Story of the Day

By Sean Emery, Bay Area News Group, 03/17/17, Lake County Record Bee

LOS ANGELES >> A widow has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the Orange and Los Angeles dioceses, alleging that her husband killed himself in 2015 because of depression over having been molested by a “notorious pedophile” priest years before while attending St. Joseph’s Parish in Placentia.

Attorneys for the wife filed the lawsuit this week in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleging that her husband was haunted by the abuse he allegedly suffered at the hands of the Rev. Eleuterio Ramos from 1975 through 1978.

By HUEY FREEMAN, Herald & Review, March 17, 2017

March 15, 2017, Associated Press

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- An Anglican bishop who says he was warned by churchgoers that he was not safe in his own Australian diocese over his work to address decades of child sexual abuse has announced his resignation.

Newcastle Bishop Greg Thompson, who was sexually molested as a teenager by bishop who died in 1988, said in a statement Thursday he was quitting to focus on his health.

The 60-year-old said he had witnessed firsthand the culture and conduct from some sections of the church, both as an abuse victim and in his work to address the diocese's abuse legacy.

By Nate Brown, March 14, 2017, Christian Truther

Pope Francis, the first Jesuit pope, has rescinded his policies regarding the crack down on pedophilia, Catholic officials claim. In fact, the last abuse survivor of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors recently left the commission, citing resistance coming from Vatican offices against implementing recommendations.

It is not clear exactly where the opposition is coming from within the Catholic Church, claimed the last abuse survivor Marie Collins, on the Pontifical Commission. However, she resigned as a direct result of the Catholic Church’s inability to implement recommendations that could curb sexual abuse within the Catholic Church.

Which is why one passage in the Bible is a Get Out of Jail Free card for offenders, particularly when adhered to so strictly by those within religious organisations.

Timothy 5:19: demands followers “do not entertain an accusation against an elder unless it is brought by two or three witnesses”.

By Jonathan Flynn, March 13, 2017, ABC.net.au

Each one is different, a unique voice speaking out, usually after decades of painful, secretive silence. But there is a terrible consistency in the effect the abuse had on these people's lives:

"I feel pain and self-hatred. I tried to obliterate it with alcohol."

"I've lost my right to a normal life."

"I can no longer trust anyone, I always wonder whether they will betray my trust the way my abuser did."

"I didn't know who to trust, so I trusted no one."

"It made my life the living embodiment of hell."

By Beth Hundsdorfer, March 8, 2017, BND

SPRINGFIELD--St. Clair County State’s Attorney Brendan Kelly went before a Senate Committee on Tuesday to urge senators to pass legislation to eliminate the statute of limitations for felony sex crimes against children.

By GBFM News, March 7, 2017

Galway Bay fm newsroom – An Taoiseach has described the mass grave at the site of the former mother and baby home in Tuam as a ‘chamber of horrors.’

In a powerful Dail speech this afternoon, Enda Kenny said the men of the time are not blameless.

By Daniel Hamburg, March 6, 2017, WJAC

JOHNSTOWN – On Monday, Bishop Mark Bartchak of the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown announced sweeping changes in the Catholic church to protect victims of child sex abuse.

BY MITCH WEISS, ASSOCIATED PRESS, March 6, 2017

SPINDALE, N.C. (AP) -- At least a half-dozen times over two decades, authorities investigated reports that members of a secretive evangelical church were being beaten. And every time, according to former congregants, the orders came down from church leaders: They must lie to protect the sect.

Among the members of the Word of Faith Fellowship who coached congregants and their children on what to say to investigators were two assistant district attorneys and a veteran social worker, the ex-followers told The Associated Press.