News Story of the Day

AP Investigation: Child sex crimes in armed forces shielded by opaque military justice system

By RICHARD LARDNER and EILEEN SULLIVAN, 11/18/15, The Republic

WASHINGTON — More inmates are in U.S. military prisons for sex crimes against children than for any other offense, an Associated Press investigation has found, but an opaque justice system prevents the public from knowing the full scope of the crimes or how much time the prisoners spend behind bars.

Of the 1,233 inmates confined in the military's prison network, 61 percent were convicted of sex crimes, according to the latest available data, obtained through the federal open records law. Children were the victims in over half of those cases.


Duluth bishops were warned about sex abuse, documents show

 on Nov 16, 2015 


Long Island Family Sues Catholic Order and Diocese in Molestation Case

NOV. 16, 2015, The NY Times

In 2009, Augusto Cortez, a Roman Catholic priest, pleaded guilty to forcible touching of a 12-year-old girl in Brooklyn. He was sentenced to six years of probation but was allowed to remain a member of his religious order.


Former Navy chaplain pleads guilty to making child porn

 Jessica Masulli Reyes, The News Journal, November 16, 2015

A former U.S. Navy chaplain and Catholic priest from Millsboro has pleaded guilty to taking pornographic pictures of a teen boy and then distributing the images.

John Thomas Matthew Lee, 50, entered the plea before Judge Leonard P. Stark in U.S. District Court in Delaware on Monday morning.


Children dying roughly every second day in Irish Mother and Baby home

Frances Mulraney  November 10,2015 01:02 AM, Irish Central

The Register of Deaths from Bessborough Mother and Baby home reveals that during certain months in the 1940s the death rate among children living in the home amounted to a child dying roughly every second day.

For many years, Bessborough Mother and Baby Home, in Co. Cork, run by the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, was an institution where pregnant and unmarried women were referred to before they gave birth as, at the time, having a child outside of marriage was considered a serious sin in Ireland.

 


Childhood sex abuse victim from Ludlow wins $250,000 civil verdict in US District Court

By Stephanie Barry, [email protected], on November 06, MassLive.com

SPRINGFIELD — A jury on Thursday awarded $250,000 to a 53-year-old Ludlow woman who sued her stepfather for raping her as a child after a three-day trial in U.S. District Court.

An eight-member panel found in favor of plaintiff Kathy Picard, who was at the forefront of pushing new legislation in 2014 to extend the statute of limitations to allow victims of sexual abuse more time to sue their alleged abusers.


Review: In ‘Spotlight,’ The Boston Globe Digs Up the Catholic Church’s Dirt

NOV. 5, 2015, NY Times

“The city flourishes when its great institutions work together,” says the cardinal to the newspaper editor during a friendly chat in the rectory. The city in question is Boston. The cardinal is Bernard F. Law and the editor, newly arrived at The Boston Globe from The Miami Herald, is Martin Baron. He politely dissents from the cardinal’s vision of civic harmony, arguing that the paper should stand alone.


Remaining a Catholic in the face of tragedy

How can you spend your workdays chronicling thousands of cases of Catholic priestly sexual abuse — and still remain a Catholic?

Before the release of “Spotlight,” the movie detailing the massive abuse cover-up in Boston, I asked that of Anne Barrett Doyle and Terry McKiernan. They’re co-directors of BishopAccountability.org, which documents that abuse from an office in Waltham, Massachusetts practically overrun by floor-to-ceiling files and more than 100,000 pages of Church records, court documents, media reports, letters from mothers of victims, victims themselves, and even abusers detailing their crimes.


The Church’s sexual abuse crisis is not over

I watched the movie “Spotlight,” detailing Boston’s sex abuse crisis, in a theater filled with Boston Globe reporters I’ve known for years and survivors who understand too well the crimes the Catholic hierarchy enabled.

All the doubts and shame came flooding back.


A heroic whistleblower in the long, sad mess of clergy sexual abuse

Remember the famous line in “Jaws” when Chief Brody first sees the monster shark and says, “You’re gonna need a bigger boat”?

Phil Saviano remembers a similar line when he first told Boston Globe reporters there weren’t just one or two priests molesting a handful of children. Saviano knew of nearly 30 priests, if not more, with dozens of victims. And the Church was covering it up. He remembers how one editor took it all in, then called his boss to say: We’re gonna need more reporters. This is so much bigger than we thought.


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