Home secretary announces plans to implement key demand from Jay inquiry in England
Professionals who work with children will face criminal sanctions if they fail to report claims of child sexual abuse under a law to be introduced this year, Yvette Cooper has told MPs.
The home secretary has promised to implement a key demand from Prof Alexis Jay’s child sexual abuse inquiry after Keir Starmer turned down demands from Elon Musk and Kemi Badenoch for a new investigation into paedophile gangs.
Rep. Mikie Sherrill called POLITICO’s reporting “deeply disturbing” — and state lawmakers planned to discuss taking action.
Seton Hall is one of the oldest and most prestigious Catholic universities in the country. | Julio Cortez/AP
Lawmakers and victim advocates are calling for Seton Hall University’s president to resign after POLITICO revealed he was named in an internal report on sexual abuse allegations more than five years ago. They also want the Catholic university to release the findings as a measure of transparency and accountability.
A 2019 memo detailing the internal investigation, viewed by POLITICO, did not accuse the new president, Monsignor Joseph Reilly, of abuse. But it said he knew of sexual abuse allegations that he did not report. Investigators recommended, pursuant to a responsive action plan the school’s governing body adopted, Reilly be removed as a seminary leader and member of university boards.
January 7, 2025
By Ryan Murray and City News Service
Attorneys representing alleged victims of sexual abuse by priests in the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego Tuesday criticized Pope Francis' appointment of Cardinal Robert W. McElroy, bishop of San Diego, to become the new Archbishop of Washington, D.C.
McElroy, 70, will succeed retiring Cardinal Wilton D. Gregory in March. Until a new bishop is named, a Diocesan administrator will oversee the San Diego diocese on an interim basis, according to the Diocese of San Diego.
McElroy was named bishop of San Diego in 2015 and elevated to cardinal in 2022.
"I am grateful for the opportunity to serve the Catholic community in our nation's capital and for the confidence His Holiness has placed in me, but I have truly loved the last ten years I've spent as bishop of San Diego," McElroy said in a statement. "I have never in my life felt more welcomed, more supported or more rewarded than I felt sharing my ministry with the priests, the women religious, and the faithful parishioners of our diocese."
A pair of priests who have been accused of molestation have since disappeared from the San Francisco Archdiocese’s list of priests in good standing. Attorneys representing people accusing the clergy of sexual abuse when they were children say they believe the priests were quietly removed from ministry in response to the allegations against them.
“I think they’re feeling heat,” said Jennifer Stein, an attorney representing one of the alleged victims who filed a lawsuit in 2022 accusing Rev. Lawrence J. Finegan of sexual abuse. “They’re feeling the pressure of having perpetrators on their good standing list with known allegations that have been public, and publicly available, for years, and in this case, for decades.”
Joseph Mouser
January 2, 2025
By
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A priest who formerly worked in Louisville is facing charges of child sex abuse, and this isn't the first time he's been accused.
Joseph Irvin Mouser, 86, was removed from public ministry in 2002 and is facing new charges of child sodomy and sexual abuse. The alleged abuse happened 35 years ago.
Although the accusations against the 86-year-old are new, court records state the incidents happened between 1989 and 1991.
The victim was younger than 12.
Melanie Sakoda works as the support director for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
"Given the background of this particular priest, I don't think there's any question that he is capable of doing just this," she said.
SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) - An arrest in April sent shockwaves throughout two communities that are separated by 1,400 miles.
An employee working at a Catholic district in Dubuque, Iowa, a town of about 60,000 people that borders both Wisconsin and Illinois, reported sexual abuse allegations from former altar boys to the Dubuque Police Department in May of 2023.
“They had somebody come and report to them what was going on and they brought it to our attention, which started the investigation,” says Luke Bock from the Dubuque Police Department.
That investigation led to 5 sexual abuse charges stemming from the 1980s being filed against Father Leo Riley, a priest who worked in Iowa until transferring to Florida in the early 2000s.
MARTIN NÉMETH DECEMBER 28, 2024
The leadership of the Hungarian Catholic Church has recently presented a divided picture in its handling of internal sex scandals and child protection cases. While some bishops have taken decisive steps to investigate such cases, some church statements still avoid clear apologies.
Bishop András Veres emphasised in a coldly worded statement that collective prayer and fasting were more important than empathy for the victims. At the same time, several bishops, such as Zsolt Marton and László Varga, have called for reform of the Church, with open apologies and an emphasis on the importance of prevention.
(James Carbone)
Dec. 19, 2024 3:14 PM PT
A $3.5-million settlement announced Tuesday in the case of a man allegedly abused by a former Catholic priest at Mater Dei High School decades ago is not the only such case involving the school, according to the law firm representing the victim.
Attorneys on the case held a news conference outside of Christ Cathedral in Garden Grove on Wednesday where the lawsuit against Michael Harris, a onetime Mater Dei administrator, was presented as one piece of a predatory puzzle at the private Catholic school overseen by the Diocese of Orange.
Attorney Mike Reck said there are two more cases involving Mater Dei High School that are set to go to trial next year as “bellwether” cases that could help predict the outcome of other similar lawsuits.
An undated photo of Lawrence Hecker. Photograph: Provided photo
December 27, 2024
By Ramon Antonio Vargas and David Hammer of WWL Louisiana in New Orleans
Admitted child rapist and retired Roman Catholic priest Lawrence Hecker has died a little more than a week after he began serving a sentence of life imprisonment, officials said on Friday.
Hecker, 93, had pleaded guilty on 3 December to charges that he had kidnapped and raped a teenager at a New Orleans church in 1975. He had received a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment on 18 December and, four days later, had been transferred to a Louisiana prison known as Elayn Hunt, according to the state’s department of corrections spokesperson Ken Pastorick.
Pastorick said Hecker died at about 3am on 26 December, at Elayn Hunt, of what were described as natural causes.
Hecker’s attorney Robert Hjortsberg said Hecker was meant to eventually be sent to Louisiana’s maximum-security state penitentiary, which is nicknamed Angola, before his death.
Aleem Maqbool
The Archbishop of York, who will effectively take over as leader of the Church of England next month, has called for change in his Christmas sermon.
Stephen Cottrell delivered his remarks as the Church faces criticism over failures in its handling of various abuse scandals.
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby resigned last month after he was criticised for not doing enough to stop a prolific abuser. He will not preside over the Christmas service at Canterbury Cathedral.
Some victims directly affected by the abuse scandals have spoken about experiencing a difficult Christmas, saying they feel that they are still not being listened to.
