Richard Tollner knows firsthand what the people who have sex abuse claims against the Buffalo Catholic Diocese are going through as the diocese’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy case plods unresolved toward its fifth year.
News Story of the Day
New Cincinnati archbishop faced past child abuse claim that authorities deemed 'unfounded'
New Archbishop of Cincinnati Bishop Robert G. Casey speaks at a press conference, Wednesday at Cathedral Basilica of St. Peter in Chains in downtown Cincinnati. Frank Bowen IV/The Enquirer
February 12, 2025
By Dan Horn
A few hours after his introduction as Cincinnati's new archbishop, Robert G. Casey answered a question about his past that he said he knew was coming.
He confirmed that in 2008 he faced an allegation of misconduct with a child, which authorities later determined to be "unfounded." The accusation, made while he was a parish priest in Chicago, was investigated by both local authorities and church officials.
In response to a question from The Enquirer, Casey said in a statement that the claim was a false accusation, but he said he recognized that concerns about it may follow him to his new post in Cincinnati, where he will lead more than 400,000 Catholics.
Catholic Diocese and school in B.C. settle abuse lawsuit for $3.4M
A sexual abuse case that was about to get underway with a 23-day trial in B.C. Supreme Court was settled this week, as the Roman Catholic Diocese of Prince George and Burnaby's St. Thomas More Collegiate agreed to pay the unnamed plaintiff $3.4 million, according to the plaintiff's lawyer. (Peter Scobie/CBC)
February 11, 2025
By
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Prince George, B.C., says it hopes a $3.4 million settlement gives an alleged victim of sexual abuse by a school teacher "some degree of restitution for the harm that was so unjustly inflicted upon him by his abuser."
The settlement by the diocese and St. Thomas More Collegiate, a Catholic school in Burnaby, B.C., was announced in a statement released by lawyer Sandra Kovacs, who represented the anonymous man in the lawsuit.
Also named in the lawsuit was former teacher Alfred Patrick Quigley, who the anonymous plaintiff said sexually abused him in the 1990s.
Quigley taught at O'Grady Catholic High School in Prince George, and one of the alleged assaults was said to have occurred at St. Thomas More Collegiate.
Arkansas Court of Appeals overturns extended statute of limitations law for child sexual abuse victims
Posted: Feb 5, 2025 / 04:16 PM CST
Updated: Feb 5, 2025 / 04:17 PM CST
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A ruling by the Arkansas Court of Appeals overturned a 2021 law on Wednesday intended to aid child sexual abuse victims.
The court’s majority opinion stated the Justice for Vulnerable Victims of Sexual Abuse Act was not legal due to a long-standing legal precedent that prohibited extending the statute of limitations. The act intended to allow child sexual abuse victims under 55 years old to sue their abuser.
Previously, the law only allowed victims to sue for three years after the victim turned 18 as a statute of limitations. A revision to the act in 2023 removed the 55-year-old requirement and allowed all victims, regardless of age, to file for two years after the revision became law.
What survivors, advocates know about Mass. AG's inquiry into child sexual abuse at Catholic dioceses
A photograph of Phil Saviano in the room where he met with investigators from the Massachusetts attorney general's office, when he was in hospice in 2021. The office was investigating child sexual abuse at the Worcester Diocese, where Saviano had been abused. The results of the investigation have not been made public. Nancy Eve Cohen/NEPM
February 5, 2025
By Nancy Eve Cohen
This is part two of a series. Read part one here.
It’s been about five years years since the Massachusetts attorney general’s office launched an investigation into child sexual abuse by priests at three Catholic dioceses in the state.
Back then, Gov. Maura Healey was the attorney general. The state's current top prosecutor, Andrea Campbell, said her office is still seeking court approval to release the results of the investigation.
"I inherited a report that was completed, sitting there. And now I'm doing what I can to see what we can do in terms of releasing it," Campbell said on GBH Radio.
But survivors and advocates aren't waiting. They're revealing what they know about the attorney general's inquiry.
The investigation started as early as 2019 and continued at least until November 2021. Early that month, Assistant Attorney General Helle Sachse interviewed Phil Saviano. Matthew Stone, a state trooper, was also at the meeting.
Saviano was a survivor of child sexual abuse at the Worcester Diocese and an outspoken advocate for justice for those who were abused by priests. At the time of the meeting, he was in hospice at his brother's house, dying of cancer.
Maryland’s highest court upholds ending statute of limitations on child sex abuse lawsuits
David Lorenz, the Maryland director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, talks to journalists Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, outside of the Supreme Court of Maryland in Annapolis, Md. (AP Photo/Brian Witte, File)
NJ Catholic diocese used secret court hearing to block investigation of clergy sex abuse
A statue of the Virgin Mary adorns the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Camden. A challenge filed by the Camden diocese led to a court ruling that short-circuited New Jersey's plans to investigate the Catholic church and sexual abuse. Courier-Post Photo by Jim Walsh
February 5, 2025
By Deena Yellin
When New Jersey's attorney general announced an investigation into decades of alleged sexual abuse by Catholic clergy, survivors in the state hoped they would finally see the public reckoning they had long sought.
Nearly seven years have passed since then, but there's been little sign the Attorney General's Office is close to finishing the probe. The agency has been tight-lipped about its progress, if any, despite receiving hundreds of tips from alleged victims.
Court documents obtained by The Record and NorthJersey.com offer one explanation for the delay: One of New Jersey's five Catholic dioceses succeeded in quashing a key part of the investigation at a secret hearing almost two years ago.
At a May 25, 2023, court session attended by representatives of all five dioceses, state Superior Court Judge Peter Warshaw sided with Camden. He ruled that the state judiciary, which oversees grand juries, would "not take any action which enables the process of preparing such a presentment to move forward."
The ruling at the Mercer County Courthouse was ordered sealed at the request of the diocese. It was upheld a year later by a state appeals court, though that court also denied a motion to keep the decision private. Until recently, however, the legal maneuverings were not widely known outside the circle of lawyers involved.
Long Island diocese's exit from bankruptcy may signal future path for Buffalo Diocese
Feb 1, 2025
Buffalo News
Tollner filed a Child Victims Act lawsuit in 2019 accusing the Rev. Alan Placa of sexually assaulting him in 1975 when he was a 16-year-old student at St. Pius X Preparatory Seminary in Uniondale, which is part of the Town of Hempstead, Long Island. After the Diocese of Rockville filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2020, Tollner was appointed chairman of the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors, helping represent more than 600 people with sex abuse claims against priests and other employees of that diocese.
Tollner said he couldn’t discuss the committee’s deliberations, but he believes one of the lynchpins to the Long Island diocese’s recent exit from bankruptcy was the threat of some abuse lawsuits reaching a trial in state court.
North Carolina Supreme Court upholds law that allowed 2 more years for child sex abuse suits
North Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul Newby addresses the audience at the North Carolina Medal of Valor Ceremony at the Legislative Building in Raleigh, N.C., on Wednesday, July 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Makiya Seminera, File)
January 31, 2025
By Gary D. Robertson
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina’s highest court upheld on Friday a law that gave adult victims of child sexual abuse two additional years to seek civil damages, rejecting arguments that the temporary window violated constitutional protections for those facing claims that otherwise could no longer be pursued in court.
In a case involving a local school board sued by three former students years after an ex-high school coach was convicted of crimes against team members, the state Supreme Court ruled the General Assembly was able to enact a key provision within the 2019 SAFE Child Act that was also signed by then-Gov. Roy Cooper.
Before the law, victims of sexual abuse before age 18 effectively had until turning 21 to file such civil claims against perpetrators. Now such victims have until they’re age 28. But the issue before the court in the Gaston County case was the provision that gave other child sex abuse victims whose time period to sue ended the ability to file valid lawsuits for damages from January 2020 through December 2021.
Supporters of the provision said it allowed victims to ensure their abusers and institutions that allowed abuse to happen pay for the damage, and that abusers are called out publicly. At least 250 child sex abuse lawsuits were filed in North Carolina under that one-time lookback period, according to a board legal brief.
Toledo abuse case in Spain further illustrates snags in seeking justice
Primatial Cathedral of Saint Mary of Toledo, Spain. (Credit: Wikimedia.)
By Elise Ann Allen
Jan 31, 2025|Senior Correspondent
ROME – Nearly 15 years after “Carlos” was allegedly abused while in minor seminary and after countless complaints both locally and in Rome, a canonical process has finally been ordered against his apparent abuser, but with a few snags.
Among other things, “Carlos,” a false name, said that it took 15 years for a canonical procedure to be opened last spring, and even then, he was not informed that this step had been taken.
Filipino priests accused of sex abuse
‘Philippine bishops feel entitled to their silence,’ says Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org
January 29, 2025
By Paterno R. Esmaquel II
MANILA, Philippines – A US-based watchdog launched a database on Wednesday, January 29, exposing dozens of Filipino clergymen accused of sex abuse.
The database by BishopAccountability.org lists “82 priests and brothers with ties to the Philippines who have been publicly accused of sexually abusing minors.”
BishopAccountability.org is a research group founded in 2003 that maintains the largest online library of sex abuse cases involving Catholic priests. The database launched on Wednesday is the first publicly known list of Philippine-related cases. It is now available and accessible to the public.
The new database includes the following:
- “Filipino priests accused of sexually abusing minors in the Philippines”
- “Filipino priests who served part of their priesthood in the Philippines but who are accused of sexually abusing minors while working in the US”
- “Accused clergy from other countries – specifically, the United States, Ireland, and Australia – who served part of their priesthood in the Philippines”
“The theme today really is about the deep sense of entitlement by Philippine bishops to withhold information from the public,” said BishopAccountability.org co-director Anne Barrett Doyle in a press conference at the University Hotel of the University of the Philippines Diliman in Quezon City.
