News Story of the Day
New WA child abuse-reporting law is not ‘anti-Catholic’
All of us are mandated reporters when it comes to crimes against children, writes the author, Mary Dispenza, pictured speaking in front of St. James Cathedral in Seattle. (Catalina Gaitán / The Seattle Times, 2024)
The Seattle Times
May 16, 2025
By Mary Dispenza,
The U.S. Department of Justice has opened an inquiry into a new Washington law, signed by Gov. Bob Ferguson on May 2, that adds clergy to the list of professionals required to report child abuse or neglect to law enforcement. It does not protect what is said in Confession. “It is anti-Catholic,” the administration says.
I say the law is not anti-Catholic. Anti-Catholic behavior would be allowing actions that harm children. Reporting crimes against children is the best of Catholic behavior. The Catholic Church is not being singled out or persecuted — the law includes all faiths and spiritual institutions that argue they do not have a duty to report sexual abuse against children.
The fact that the DOJ is investigating the validity of our constitutional right to put forward a bill and pass it strikes me as ludicrous.
As a survivor of clergy abuse at age 7, who shared her abuse and the perpetrator’s name in the confessional at age 18, I know the fallout from such secrecy. Confession protected my abuser, the Rev. George Neville Rucker, who went on to rape and abuse dozens of girls over the next four decades. The seal of confession should not hold when we are talking about crimes against children. A priest’s calling is to intervene on behalf of the vulnerable, especially children, who are powerless.
It is important to remember that every time sexual assault against a child is confessed and kept secret, a perpetrator is free to abuse that child, and others, again and again. The Los Angeles archdiocese eventually agreed to pay $60 million to 44 of Rucker’s victims. He died in 2014.
Can an American pope do a better job addressing the clergy sex abuse crisis?
VATICAN CITY (VATICAN CITY)
Boston Globe
May 8, 2025
By Joan Vennochi
How much the experiences of the US Catholic Church will influence the new pope on this issue is unknown.
An American pope was considered a longshot to be selected as a successor to Pope Francis. But now that it has happened, Pope Leo XIV could be the best hope survivors and their advocates have when it comes to getting the Catholic Church to finally address the long-running clergy sexual abuse scandal in a meaningful way.
Spokane and Seattle bishops say they won’t comply with new mandatory reporting for child abuse if information obtained in confessions
Seen from the Spokane Transit Authority Plaza, the smoky-red sun sets near Our Lady of Lourdes cathedral on Sept. 8, 2017. (JESSE TINSLEY/The Spokesman-Review)
The Spokesman-Review
May 7, 2025
By Mitchell Roland
The Catholic bishops in Spokane and Seattle have told parishioners they will not fully comply with a new Washington law that requires clergy to report sexual abuse to police, similar to teachers, police officers and other professionals.
Catholic leaders say that priests who hear confessions are obligated to keep those confessions secret, but that they are supportive of the rule outside of the Catholic sacrament of confession.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced this week that it has opened an investigation into the law, alleging that it “appears on its face to violate the First Amendment.”
In separate statements, Thomas Daly, bishop of Spokane, said “shepherds, bishops and priests, are committed to keeping the seal of confession – even to the point of going to jail,” and Archbishop Paul Etienne of Seattle said those who break the seal of confession face excommunication from the church.
“All Catholics must know and be assured that their confessions remain sacred, secure, confidential, and protected by the law of the Church,” Etienne wrote.
New Jersey Catholic bishop says diocese will no longer oppose investigation into abuse allegations
The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Camden, N.J., Wednesday, April 20, 2022. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
AP
May 6, 2025
By Mike Catalini
The Catholic bishop of a New Jersey diocese said he would no longer oppose a state grand jury investigation of clergy sexual abuse that the church has been fighting behind closed doors in court for years.
It’s not clear, however, that the grand jury investigation will go forward because the state Supreme Court is already considering the diocese’s earlier argument against seating one.
In a letter Monday to the state Supreme Court, an attorney for the diocese said Camden Bishop Joseph Williams wished to inform the seven justices that “the Diocese of Camden will not object to the empanelment of a grand jury for the purpose of considering a presentment.”
Williams took over the diocese in March and first said in an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer on Monday that the diocese no longer wished to prevent the attorney general’s office from seating a grand jury to investigate allegations of sexual assault by priests and other religious officials.
Williams told the newspaper it was important to help those harmed by the church and that he doesn’t want to stop their voices from being heard.
In a letter to parishioners posted on Tuesday, Williams said he met with stakeholders in the diocese and there was unanimous consent to end the church’s opposition to the grand jury. The next day he went to the state attorney general’s office and informed them of the decision, Williams wrote.
“We expressed our desire to be partners with them in this public service,” Williams wrote.
Williams told the Inquirer: “Our people need to hear this, the clergy needs to hear this, so that it never happens again, first of all.”
Christian organization long plagued by allegations of child sex abuse faces another lawsuit
A missionary is accused of abusing a girl for years while serving in Indonesia for Ethnos360, a religious nonprofit group.
Kayla McClain, in a current photo and one from her time growing up in Indonesia, alleges Ethnos360 failed to protect her. Courtesy Kayla McClain
NBC News
April 30, 2025
By Elizabeth Chuck
A Florida-based Christian organization with a history of child sex abuse allegations against it has been hit with a lawsuit claiming one of its missionaries sexually assaulted a minor overseas 15 years ago.
Ethnos360, a nonprofit formerly known as New Tribes Mission, sends missionaries and their families throughout the globe. In 2019, multiple women told NBC News that they had been sexually abused decades earlier by their “dorm dads” — missionaries who were supposed to care for children at the mission’s boarding schools while their parents served in foreign countries.
The group settled several suits related to those allegations and issued a public apology to the abuse survivors following the 2019 NBC News report. It also said it had “incorporated significant child safety training” after an independent party commissioned by New Tribes Mission shared recommendations in 2010 amid the abuse allegations.
But Wednesday's lawsuit, filed in Circuit Court in Seminole County, Florida, says the group “failed to offer any care or professional assistance” to the family of an American child who came forward to report inappropriate sexual conduct in 2012, two years after those recommendations were issued.
The girl, Kayla McClain, is now 24, lives in Michigan and recently graduated from nursing school. NBC News does not normally identify alleged victims of sexual assault, but McClain opted to be identified by her full name in the legal filing.
“I’m tired of being quiet and tired of being invisible,” McClain said in her first public remarks about the case. “I just want people to know what really happened and that there’s actually a face and a name behind what’s going on.”
David Doyle, an attorney for Ethnos360, said the group “takes allegations of this nature very seriously” and “categorically denies any merit to allegations made against it.”
New law requires clergy in Washington to report child abuse
Gov. Bob Ferguson, at podium, goes to shake hands with state Sen. Noel Frame, D-Seattle, at the signing of a bill to make clergy mandatory reporters of child abuse and neglect, on May 2, 2025 in Olympia. At center is Mary Dispenza, a founding member of the Catholic Accountability Project. (Photo by Jerry Cornfield/Washington State Standard)
Washington State Standard
May 2, 2025
By Jerry Cornfield
Religious leaders in Washington will be required to report child abuse or neglect, even when it is disclosed in confession, under a new law signed by Gov. Bob Ferguson on Friday.
“Protecting our kids, first, is the most important thing. This bill protects Washingtonians from abuse and harm,” Ferguson said, noting Washington is one of five states in which clergy are not currently mandated reporters.
It took Sen. Noel Frame, D-Seattle, three years to get the bill to the governor’s desk. Making sure disclosures during confidential conversations between a penitent and religious leader were not exempt was critical, she said.
“You never put somebody’s conscience above the protection of a child,” she said.
Senate Bill 5375 passed by margins of 64-31 in the House and 28-20 in the Senate. It takes effect July 27.
It adds clergy members to the state’s list of individuals legally required to report suspected child abuse to law enforcement or the Department of Children, Youth and Families.
$4B settlement in sex abuse claims at juvenile facilities approved by LA County supervisors
More than a dozen detention services officers at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey pleaded not guilty Friday to charges of child endangerment and abuse, conspiracy, and battery.
ABC 7
April 29, 2025
LOS ANGELES (CNS) -- The county Board of Supervisors Tuesday unanimously approved a $4 billion settlement of more than 6,800 claims of sexual abuse allegedly perpetrated in juvenile facilities or foster care as far back as the 1980s, billed as the "costliest" such payout in county history.
The payout is expected to have implications on the county budget "for years to come," county officials said when announcing the proposed settlement earlier this month. The impact is already being felt in the proposed 2025-26 budget, which includes 3% cuts for many county departments.
"On behalf of the county, I apologize wholeheartedly to everyone who was harmed by these reprehensible acts," county CEO Fesia Davenport said in a statement announcing the proposed settlement. "The historic scope of this settlement makes clear that we are committed to helping the survivors recover and rebuild their lives -- and to making and enforcing the systemic changes needed to keep young people safe."
The majority of claims included in the settlement involve alleged abuse that occurred in county Probation Department juvenile facilities, most notably the MacLaren Children's Center in El Monte, which was closed in 2003.
Global Updates from SNAP: Conference Registration, Advocacy in Rome, and More
Dear SNAP Community,
Hello from Rome!
The SNAP community has been active around the globe, and we have a lot to share.
Conference News:
We’re excited to announce that registration is now open for the SNAP 2025 Conference in Harrisburg! This milestone is thanks to the incredible work of Eduardo Lopez de Casas, Amber Perez, and the entire SNAP Conference Working Group.
NJ Supreme Court hears Catholic clergy sex abuse challenge
Catholic Camden Diocese continues fight in legal battle over abuse allegations
NJ Spotlight News
April 29, 2025
, Anchor
The New Jersey Supreme Court on Monday heard arguments in the seven-year battle over allegations of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy. The court heard arguments from attorneys for the Catholic Diocese of Camden, which filed for bankruptcy in 2020, and the New Jersey attorney general’s office.
“The goal here is obviously to condemn the Catholic Church and priests and bishops,” said Lloyd Levenson, attorney for the diocese.
Both sides debated the laws concerning when and how a grand jury can be used and if it has the right to look into private entities like a church, or is limited to government officials or agencies.
Abuse survivors sound alarm as cardinals prepare to pick next pope
Faithful pay their respects to Pope Francis lying in state inside St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Thursday, April 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
The Washington Times
April 24, 2025
By Emma Ayers
American survivors of clergy sex abuse are issuing a clear warning as cardinals prepare to gather in Rome to elect the next pope: Don’t repeat the past.
The advocacy group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests is demanding that the upcoming conclave choose a pontiff who has not covered up abuse and who will commit, on his first day, to a binding zero-tolerance law.
“The conclave can’t be another smoke-filled room where survivors get ignored,” SNAP spokeswoman Sarah Pearson told the Daily Mail. “If they pick another pope who plays defense for abusers, the damage will be permanent.”
When he received the role of pontiff, Pope Francis inherited a church mired in scandal. In response, he repeatedly made clear his intent to instigate change.
Abuse victim groups say he didn’t do nearly enough.
