Media Statements

A new lawsuit has been filed with the Tokyo District Court alleging that a woman was sexually abused while under the care of St. Luke’s Hospital at 10-1 Akashi-cho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo.

New York’s governor today announced that survivors of sexual abuse in New York will have an additional five months to bring cases forward under the state’s Child Victims Act. This is a good move that we hope will be emulated in other states around the country that currently have open windows.

We hope that an agreement between a Catholic diocese and law enforcement professionals in Western Massachusetts will set a nationwide precedent for how church leaders handle sexual abuse reporting going forward. The pact that requires the diocese to report first to law enforcement and initially refrain from internal investigation is the best way to protect children and stop sexual abuse, We urge other district attorneys around the country to broker similar deals with local church officials within their jurisdictions.

Once again, Catholic officials show they care more about their reputations than the protection of the vulnerable with their decision to suspend a priest who was publicly critical of the church’s effort to curb cases of sexual abuse. We once again applaud the bravery of this priest and hope that his mistreatment by diocesan leaders will resonate with parishioners across the country.

According to reports from Australia’s royal commission into child sexual abuse, what has been suspected by many has been confirmed to be true – Australia’s highest ranking Catholic official was aware of cases of sexual abuse happening within the country and took no action to stop the crimes from occurring. This is yet another disturbing example of the Australian church’s inability to take action to protect children and we hope it will lead to immediate and drastic change.

A monsignor from the Archdiocese of San Antonio was removed due to multiple allegations that he abused both children and adult parishioners. We applaud the brave survivors for coming forward and exposing this man’s behavior and call on local church officials to pull out the stops in spreading the information and encouraging other survivors to come forward and make a report to police.

SNAP leadership in North Carolina has sent a letter to church officials today, demanding updates be made to their list of accused priests that will better inform the community and help survivors.

A deacon from New Jersey who was convicted and jailed in 2017 for sexually abusing a minor was released on May 5th , perhaps because of COVID-19. Now that this dangerous man is back on the streets we call on the Catholic officials who educated, trained, and ordained him to take extra steps to warn the community about him.

A high ranking church official in Cincinnati has resigned his post following public outrage over the archdiocese’s handling of a sexually abusive priest. We are glad that this bishop has stepped down but are concerned that this resignation will do little to address systemic issues within the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.

A federal judge in Louisiana has recused herself from a case involving sex abuse and the local Archdiocese due to her previous ties to the institution. This is the correct move and we praise the judge for her integrity. Now it is time for Catholic officials to display similar values.