News Story of the Day

By Aoife Kelly, May 15 2017, Independent.ie

Associated Press, May 13, 2017, BreakingNews.ie

The Vatican has a 2,000-case backlog in processing clerical sex abuse cases, and criticism of the slow pace is justified, Pope Francis has said.

But he said Saturday that more staff were being added and insisted the Vatican is "on the right path".

Francis was making his first comments about the criticism levelled at the Vatican's handling of sex abuse cases by Marie Collins, an Irish abuse survivor who resigned from Francis' sex abuse advisory commission in March.

By TAD VEZNER | [email protected] | Pioneer Press  May 11, 2017

By: Alexandra Paul, 05/11/2017, Winnipeg Free Press

A former Anglican minister and boy scouts leader convicted in dozens of sex abuse cases against young indigenous boys is now the focus of a proposed class-action lawsuit seeking more than $100 million.

The suit alleges Ralph Rowe abused hundreds of boys in northwestern Ontario and Manitoba First Nations where he worked in the 1970s and '80s.

BY CYNTHIA SEWELL, Idaho Statesman, May 11, 2017

More than 20 men have filed lawsuits in Idaho alleging they were sexually abused in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s while participating in Boy Scout activities. Recently released confidential files show that both institutions were aware of the problems.

By Rich Scinto, May 9, 2017, New Haven Patch

NEW HAVEN, CT — A prominent city rabbi and landlord has been ordered to testify after being accused of sexually abusing teenage boys in a civil case. Rabbi Daniel Greer was accused of abusing a boy more than a decade ago and it is alleged in the lawsuit that the victim wasn't the only one.

By Kyle Farris, Winona Daily News, May 9, 2017

Crookston Bishop Michael Hoeppner, who spent 42 years as a priest in the Diocese of Winona, has been accused of covering up a decades-old case of child sexual abuse, and of blackmailing the accuser into keeping the claims to himself.

CBS Philly, May 8, 2017

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — The scene of the crime, they say, was Ontario, Canada.

It was 1968.

A Philadelphia area teen and his parish priest had taken a camping trip. It’s claimed it was anything but innocent.

And 49 years later, Paul Eberz, of Freehold, New Jersey, has come out from the shadows to talk about the sexual abuse he says he endured in Canada.

By Amanda Spadaro, Times Herald-Record, May 7, 2017

HAMLET OF WALLKILL - Former priest Kevin Gallagher knows he betrayed his parishioners and violated his vows.

Was it wrong to have sex with a young man? Yes, he says.

Should that have disqualified him from remaining a priest? He doesn’t think so.

In March, Gallagher, 65, was officially laicized, or removed from the clergy. He had been suspended from serving as a priest since January 2015.

By Mary Dispenza, May 5, 2017, The Seattle Times

MY silence has been disturbing me. It’s a familiar reaction for survivors like me. But I can’t keep silent any longer. Silence keeps things in darkness and prevents us from seeing clearly in the light of day.

I don’t have the right to speak for or against Seattle Mayor Ed Murray or the man, Delvonn Heckard, who has accused the mayor of raping him as a teen. Nor do I want to.