By CLAUDIA LAUER, Associated Press, June 10, 2018
PHILADELPHIA — The results of a lengthy probe into the handling of sexual abuse claims by Roman Catholic dioceses throughout Pennsylvania, which victim advocates say will be the biggest and most exhaustive ever by a U.S. state, could be made public within weeks.
A statewide grand jury spent nearly two years looking into the abuse scandal, and Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro has said he plans to address the panel's findings by the end of June.
By
A former St. Anne’s Indian Residential School student says she has lost faith in Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett after learning the federal government is seeking thousands of dollars in legal fees from a lawyer representing the survivors.
Angela Shisheesh, who attended the Fort Albany, Ont. school infamous for using a homemade electric chair as punishment and entertainment, said she thinks the federal government is warning other lawyers to back down from defending Indigenous people in court.
“I don’t trust anybody anymore,” Shisheesh says.
By AFP/The Local, June 8, 2018
"The church has got away with crime for too long," said Peter Saunders, a British survivor of abuse, announcing the creation of the Ending Clerical Abuse (ECA) group at a media conference in Geneva on Thursday.
"ECA stands to compel the Roman Catholic church to end clerical abuse, especially child abuse, in order to protect children and to seek justice for victims," added Saunders, a former member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.
Howard Thompson, June 6, 2018, RochesterFirst.com
ROCHESTER, NY (WROC) - An attorney claims eight Diocese of Rochester priest are responsible for sexual abuse against children.
Of the eight priests, accusations against three of them were already public knowledge: Father Eugene Emo, Father David P. Simon, and Father Francis H. Vogt.
During a Wednesday news conference, attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who says he is representing victims in the case, named the other five priests who face accusations of sexual abuse. He says 17 victims have come forward.
By Ivey DeJesus, June 6, 2018, PennLive
A Pennsylvania judge on Tuesday denied a request from individuals named in a grand jury investigation report into child sex crimes across Catholic dioceses seeking to amend the report or bar its publication.
Unsealed court documents obtained by PennLive from the state Office of Attorney General indicate that unidentified individuals or entities named but not indicted in the investigation report sought to have evidentiary hearings prior to the release of the report. The individuals argued that "the reputation interest of the non-indicted named persons will be harmed by the release of the report."
Falicia Woody, June 4, 2018, WTRF.com
(WTRF) - It's been over a week since the Diocese of Steubenville removed retired priest, Monsignor Mark Froehlich after allegations of sexual abuse were deemed "credible".
But "Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests" or SNAP officials and alleged victims are now claiming the Diocese knew about the complaint since January.
There is a active investigation ongoing with the Belmont County Sheriffs Office regarding the issue, but according to SNAP, they want to see more being done.
Judy Jones, the SNAP Midwest Associate Leader, is standing alongside one of the alleged victims that came forward, Amanda Dutton. "The victim reported it way back in January. What took them so long?" says Jones.
By Associated Press, June 1, 2018, The New York Times
MORRISTOWN, N.J. — A Catholic order in New Jersey has settled lawsuits with five men who claim they were sexually abused by monks and a headmaster at a private school.
The Order of St. Benedict of New Jersey settled with the men who said they were abused while attending the Delbarton School in Morris Township, The Record reported Friday. Six other lawsuits are pending against the order that name faculty at Delbarton and St. Mary's Abbey, which runs the school. Details of the settlements were not disclosed.
By Jacey Fortin, May 31, 2018, New York Times
In one of the biggest settlements of its kind, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis plans to establish a $210 million trust fund for hundreds of victims of clergy sexual abuse, the archbishop announced on Thursday.
The plan is the result of a yearslong battle and arduous negotiations in one of the country’s most high-profile cases involving abuse in the Roman Catholic Church.
If approved, the settlement will be the largest ever for a sex abuse case involving an archdiocese that has filed for bankruptcy protection and the second largest over all, said Terry McKiernan, co-director and president of BishopAccountability.org, which tracks clergy sex abuse cases. (According to the website, the largest settlement, $660 million, was reached by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and 508 survivors in 2007.)
By , May 27, 2018, The Buffalo News
When a mother complained that the Rev. Norbert F. Orsolits propositioned her teenage son in a bar, the Diocese of Buffalo quietly sent him away for mental health therapy and listed him as "on leave" in its official 1979 directory.
Then, within months, the diocese reassigned him to a new parish, where he later was accused of molesting at least two boys.
Orsolits isn't the only Buffalo priest accused of sexual abusing children who had been marked as "on leave" and then put back into a parish.
By Ivey DeJesus, May 29, 2018, PennLive
In the mid-2000s, when then-Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham launched an investigation into clergy sex abuse and cover-up in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, she was assailed for waging a campaign against the Roman Catholic Church.
It was a virtual repeat of what had played out just a few years prior in 2002 in Boston. That year, officials at the Archdiocese of Boston accused The Boston Globe of mounting an anti-Catholic agenda after the paper published a series of scathing reports detailing decades of molestation of thousands of children by priests and its systemic cover up by church officials.
Winter Appeal 2023
To our friends,
2023 has been a long year with many ups and downs for us all. As we close out the year, we at SNAP hope that you are feeling like you are on your way to being healthy, fulfilled, and happy. This past year has brought both successes and challenges. Thanks to the support you have shown in the past, we’ve been able to celebrate the good days and weather the stormy ones. Now, we are once again asking for your support as we work to support survivors new and old as we ‘Move SNAP Forward.’
At SNAP we are proud to have hosted a very well-attended conference in August 2023. This event allowed us to gather friends, survivors, advocates, and allies for a weekend of camaraderie and connection. We were so happy to be able to welcome many first-time attendees to gather in person and are already looking forward to the next conference.
To strengthen our movement for justice, healing, and prevention, SNAP will be expanding our peer support and providing more volunteer opportunities in the coming year. Through this great work, we are ensuring survivor voices are represented as we work for significant change that will benefit children and survivors.
Right now, survivors worldwide are getting the help they need from SNAP, and more and more reach out to us daily, but we need your help to keep those programs going and get our volunteers the training they need to thrive.
Your tax-deductible gift to SNAP can help offset the cost of our important mission. If you are not in a position to contribute, you can still support us by sharing this letter with those who can. As we continue to fight for survivors across the globe, your donation or sharing the great work SNAP does will help us continue our work to protect the vulnerable, heal the wounded, and prevent abuse.
Your donation ensures SNAP will be there for those who need us more than ever!
Warmly,
Michael W. McDonnell, C.P.S.
Interim Executive Director