News Story of the Day

CHERAW  — A third former Boy Scout has joined the civil lawsuit accusing former 4th Circuit Solicitor Jay Hodge and another man of sexually abusing them while they served as scoutmasters, the lawyer for the plaintiffs said Monday.

It has never seemed the best hill to die on, but apparently Catholic League president Bill Donohue doesn’t know how to quit defending Bishop Robert Finn, who wasfound guilty this week of one misdemeanor count of failing to report suspected child abuse. (Be sure to read David Gibson’s post on the devastating Times story.) Back in November, Donohue declared that Finn was “an innocent man,” and flew all the way to Kansas City just to show how much he meant it. 

CHICAGO — Bishop Robert Finn was found guilty of failing to report suspected child abuse, becoming the highest-ranking US Catholic Church official convicted in clergy sex abuse scandals.

Ten years ago this summer, America's Catholic bishops pledged to aggressively investigate allegations of sexual predation by clerics, to show "zero tolerance" for abuse, and to be transparent about the problem. Since then, however, church officials have consistently lined up to protect themselves and their clergy in case after case.

Franciscan friar Father Benedict Groeschel has stepped down as host of EWTN’s Sunday Night Prime television show following his apology for making comments about the sexual abuse of minors.

SAGINAW, MI (WNEM) - A group of concerned citizens is pressing Saginaw Bishop Joseph Cistone about his role in covering up a case of sex abuse in Philadelphia. 

PROSECUTORS will get another opportunity to try the Rev. James J. Brennan, 49, a Roman Catholic priest charged with attempted rape of a 14-year-old boy in 1996 and related offenses.

An Iowa woman contemplating a return to the Roman Catholic Church last year agreed to meet with a priest on one condition — he remove his collar. “Roman collars still frighten me,” Kathleen Bowman, 47, told the priest.

JEFFERSON CITY • Two groups are trying to block a new state law that prohibits the disruption of worship services, claiming that the measure is too vague and will infringe on their rights to free speech.

They may have escaped criminal prosecution, but according to a memorandum of law filed Monday in Common Pleas Court, Bishops Edward P. Cullen and Joseph R. Cistone can expect to be named as defendants in an ongoing civil case against the Archdiocese of Philadelphia regarding the sexual abuse of a former 10-year-old altar boy.