Media Statements

After too many years of discussion and assessments, the Vatican has finally revised canon law in order to recognize the abuse of adults and abuse perpetrated by lay employees. Known as Libri VI Codicis Iuris Canonici (Book VI of the Code of Canon Law), the original penal law was lacking. Previous versions had too much ambiguity and used statements like 'could be punished.' There was always too much left for the discretion of the bishop and other church officials.

As they gear up to sell off assets in order to settle debts in an impending bankruptcy, Catholic officials in Santa Fe continue to minimize and sanitize the clergy abuse that has caused their current situation. We believe that Church leaders at the Archdiocese of Santa Fe must stop equating sexual abuse with "sin” and recognize the reality: it is a serious crime, and the impact on the victim is akin to the murder of the soul.

Today the acting Secretary of State for Pennsylvania released the State Inspector General's report on an investigation into the clerical error that blocked voters from casting their ballots on an amendment to allow survivors of child sexual assault to file civil claims. While the report found no evidence that the oversight was deliberate or intentional, the mistake crushed the hopes of many survivors who had expected this referendum to be decided this past election day, May 18^th. Sadly, the Senate refused to take action to correct this clerical error.

A Catholic priest who was the prime suspect in the 1972 killing of an altar boy died as law enforcement was preparing to arrest him for the murder. We hope that the closure of the police investigation brings some measure of comfort to the boy's grieving family.

A popular Southside pastor in the Archdiocese of Chicago will be returned to his parish months after being accused of child sexual abuse. We hope that Catholic officials will provide a detailed explanation as to how the allegations of three men were deemed  “insufficient" to determine that the priest was guilty of the accusations. 

The leader of the Catholic Diocese of Knoxville recently told a reporter he wanted to "tell the whole story" behind a possible Vatican investigation into his conduct.  We are skeptical that the prelate really wants the "whole story" to become public and are particularly troubled by the continued secrecy around the identity of a seminarian who the Bishop is accused of protecting.

A priest from the Diocese of Shreveport has been arrested and charged with child pornography and sexual abuse of an animal. We hope Catholic officials will use all resources at their disposal to share this news with each community where this cleric worked and urge anyone who may have seen or suspected crimes to come forward and make a report to police.

A Catholic priest from the Diocese of Metuchen admitted to stealing $516,000 from his parish yesterday, but his Bishop still lauded this pastor's work. We feel that the Bishop's remarks show a double standard. 

Yesterday the Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) elected Archimandrite Gerasim Eliel as the new bishop of Fort Worth, Texas. Bishop-elect Eliel will work as an auxiliary to Archbishop Alexander Golitzen in the OCA's Diocese of the South (DOS). We believe that the OCA has made an extremely poor choice in elevating the Archimandrite to this position.  

At least two survivors have already welcomed Nazir Afzal's appointment to chair the Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency (CSSA). We also applaud this move to bring in an outside expert to coordinate and guide a better response to the sex abuse of children within the Catholic Church of England and Wales. Hopefully, Mr. Afzal's experience in bringing a notorious human trafficking ring to justice, as well as prosecuting English media personality Stuart Hall for child sexual offenses, will serve this agency well because  "a seismic shift in culture" is indeed needed.