Media Statements

A new federal lawsuit alleges discrimination and racial disparity in the treatment of Raphael Love, a Black clergy sexual abuse victim. We are pleased to learn about this action against the Franciscans of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who operated under the authority of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee in Wisconsin and the Diocese of Jackson in Mississippi. Just last week the Archdiocese of Milwaukee announced that it would refuse to cooperate with the Wisconsin Attorney General's investigation into abuse by Catholic clergy and other Church leaders.  

Fr. Brent Shelton has admitted that he was targeted as a seminarian by Fr.Jose Saldana. Fr. Saldana, who was acknowledged as an abuser by the Catholic Diocese of Dallas in 2019, was reportedly removed from active ministry in 1998. The now deceased perpetrator had multiple allegations of sexually abusing other teens.

According to reports, a credibly-accused clergyman who worked for more than ten years as a lecturer at Smith College was reported to the college's senior leadership as an abuser in 2001, yet no action was taken. This story demonstrates to us how far Big Education still needs to go to make universities and colleges safe.

Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Germany submitted his resignation to Pope Francis in May of this year; on June 4^th, 2021, the details of his resignation letter were made public. In his letter, Marx stated, “ it was important to share the responsibility for the catastrophe of the sexual abuse by church officials over the past decades.”

Marx was elevated to Cardinal in 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI and certainly was aware of the findings of a report issued by the Universities of Giessen, Heidelberg, and Mannheim. In the statement, Germany’s Catholic Church admitted to ‘at least' 3,677 cases of child sex abuse by the clergy between 1946-2014. We believe this number is much higher.

Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki’s recent blog post attempting to justify his refusal to cooperate with the Wisconsin Attorney General’s investigation into Catholic abuse is both disturbing and disingenuous. When the Archbishop writes that the scandal “was the fault of criminals who used the sanctity of the priesthood to commit crimes,” it seems to us that he is willfully ignoring the truths uncovered by earlier probes around the country and the world, such as the report issued in 2018 in Pennsylvania.

According to new church video, two Massachusetts Catholic clerics with troubling records on child sex abuse have been put in charge of contacting families of deceased victims.

The Diocese of Albany removed Fr. Jeffrey L’Arche from his parish assignments after learning that the priest was on the list of clergy offenders for the Diocese of Springfield, Massachusetts.  Fr. L'Arche is a member of the Missionaries of La Salette religious order. The priest is accused of abusing a minor from 1976-1981 when he worked at Immaculate Conception Parish in Holyoke.

In a move that surprises no one in the clergy abuse prevention and support community, Wisconsin’s largest diocese has publicly announced that it will fight the independent investigation into cases of Catholic clergy abuse and cover-up in their state. Given this Archdiocese’s history of deceptive behavior, we are not surprised by their announcement and consider it proof-positive that secular oversight is sorely needed.

We are thrilled to learn that one of the most aggressive and effective attorneys general in the US in terms of going after institutions that enable and perpetrate abuse against children is widening her sights and expanding her probe. Investigation and intervention from secular authorities is the best way to root out ongoing abuse, discover historical cases, and bring healing and prevention to communities.

In a development reminiscent of the mass grave found at a Catholic care home in Ireland,  the bodies of over 200 children were found buried on the property that once housed the Kamloops Indian Residential School in Western Canada. The school was opened by the Catholic Church in the late 19^th century and run by it until the government took over in the late 1960s. We are grief-stricken to learn about this tragic discovery.