News Story of the Day

NEW LONDON – The anger has hardly subsided. Nearly 10 years ago, a wooden board ticked off John “Timothy” McGuire – an object entirely too big to take the brunt of his resentment. He tried to throw it, and broke his back.

The window is now closed for survivors of alleged sexual abuse by New Mexico's Roman Catholic clergy to seek a financial settlement against the Archdiocese of Santa Fe.

After decades of broken promises to clean up the Roman Catholic Church’s sexual-abuse scandal, American bishops made another attempt at reform last week. Unfortunately, the new measures adopted by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops once again reinforce the idea that the church can investigate itself. These are not the reforms that survivors and advocates wanted.https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/outlook/article/The-Catholic-hierarchy-still-doesn-t-get-it-14020579.php

The Survivors Network of Victims Abused by Priests (SNAP) held a press conference in Owensboro on Friday to reveal the details of a formal complaint against Diocese of Owensboro Bishop William Medley. The 10-page complaint argues Medley covered up the abuse of children by assigning at least one priest with credible allegations of sexual abuse to a parish where children were expected to be less present.

BALTIMORE (RNS) — The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has passed a slate of long-awaited measures designed to combat sex abuse and hold church leadership accountable for mishandling cases, including creating a national hotline operated by an outside group for reporting incidents of abuse or their cover-up.

Advocates for victims of clergy sexual abuse are taking heart from a Pennsylvania Superior Court decision that says, in view of alleged cover-ups, it's possible for a jury to decide whether the statute of limitations should apply in lawsuits alleging abuse by predator priests.

BALTIMORE - As has been the case for years now, a small group of protesters dismissive of the U.S. bishops’ efforts to enact reforms in their handling of sexual abuse cases gather outside the Baltimore hotel where they conduct their general meeting.

Southern Baptists, who in 1995 apologized for their past defense of slavery and in 2017 denounced white supremacy, are resolved once again to show their sensitivity to a pressing social concern. The 2019 convention in Birmingham, Ala., is focusing heavily on the problem of sexual abuse by church leaders.

A child abuse inquiry witness has told how he was raped by priests during "satanic" drink-fuelled sex parties. Dave Sharp also described a catalogue of sexual, physical and emotional violence at St Ninian's in Falkland, Fife, between 1971 and 1975.

As the U.S. bishops prepare to meet next week for their general assembly in Baltimore, they must be hoping it won’t be a repeat of this one.