News Story of the Day
In God we trust? Priests in New Hampshire made that hard to do
By RAY DUCKLER, Monitor staff, Tuesday, December 29, 2015
David Ouellette, 53, had one correction to make.
Yes, Catholic priests were more than merely respected figures in his community when he was growing up in Rochester. They were placed on a pedestal, revered, almost God-like, right?
“You got most of that right,” Ouellette told me. “The only thing you have wrong is that they weren’t looked at as God-like. In my family, they were God.”
Alaska can learn from new movie 'Spotlight' how to bring abuse out of the shadows
Trevor Storrs, December 27, 2015, Alaska Dispatch News
The new Star Wars movie has grabbed everyone’s attention. However, there is another must-see movie – "Spotlight." This new movie, directed by Thomas McCarthy, stars Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo and Rachel McAdams as the real-life Spotlight investigative journalist team for The Boston Globe. In 2001, they uncovered a pattern of sex abuse by Catholic priests in Boston and how the Catholic Church covered it up.
Convicted Somerset County priest seeks public relations help
By Liz Zemba Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2015, Trib Live News
A Somerset County priest awaiting sentencing on charges he traveled overseas to molest orphaned boys maintains his innocence and is soliciting public relations firms to tell his story, drawing the ire of a national support group for clergy-abuse survivors.
Child Molesting Priest Seeks To Hire A PR Agency
2015-12-22 by Everything PR
Everything-PR has exclusively learned that Father Joseph D. Maurizio, a priest in Federal Prison for child sexual abuse charges has contacted a number of public relations firms seeking an agency willing to work the media to assist him in getting out of jail, or receiving a lenient sentence.
Abuse Survivors Group Asks Superior Bishop To Revisit Investigation Of Priest
An advocacy group for those abused by priests is calling on the new leader of Superior's Catholic Diocese to look into the case of an Ashland priest suspended by the district six years ago.
The previous leader of the diocese, Bishop Peter Christensen, suspended Father Henry Willenborg from parish duties at Our Lady of the Lake in Ashland over accusations that he had sex with a minor. David Clohessy, the director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said the newly appointed Bishop James Powers should release information on the Franciscans' investigation into Father Willenborg.
Rockland priest abuse: Dolan sends rep to Mass
PEARL RIVER - Parishioners at St. Margaret of Antioch Church will notice something missing at Mass Sunday morning: their pastor.
Rockland County authorities are prepared to probe Msgr. John O'Keefe, who has been accused of sexually abusing a child more than 30 years ago.
Port Arthur priest placed on leave pending investigation by police and Child Protective Services
Dec 16, 2015, 12NewsNow.com
Father David Placette, who's the pastor of St. Catherine Church, is being investigated by Port Arthur police and Child Protective Services, following an allegation made against him.
The Diocese of Beaumont confirmed this in a statement.
How Jehovah’s Witness leaders are responding to child abuse scrutiny
By Trey Bundy / December 14, 2015, Reveal, the Center for Investigative Reporting
Besieged by reports that Jehovah’s Witnesses shield child sexual abusers from prosecution, the religion’s top leadership appears to have settled on a strategy: “Let the story die.”
A Portuguese news documentary released in October was yet another report from across the globe to detail the Witnesses’ policy of not reporting child abusers to law enforcement. As in other media reports, top officials refused to speak to the journalists who produced it.
NJ a safe haven for sexual predators until legislation passes
By Jersey Journal Guest Columnist, on December 11, 2015, NJ.com
The critically acclaimed movie "Spotlight," currently in theaters, is a compelling real life look at the cover up of heinous acts by priests against children in Massachusetts that was unearthed by the Boston Globe. It is a powerful story about the active efforts to hide the truth as well as the harm done to innocent victims. It is time that the spotlight be put on New Jersey.
