News Story of the Day

Chris Churchill, Published 8:52 pm, Wednesday, June 17, 2015, Times Union

Retired Archbishop Harry Flynn was supposed to be sunshine amid the dark clouds of the pedophile priest scandal.

THOMAS FARRAGHER, Boston Globe, June 16, 2015

Even for an institution that measures its history in centuries, not decades, the Vatican’s move toward sanctions against bishops who cover up for pedophile priests seems glacial.

Sandra Jordan, Monday 15 June 2015 02.30 EDT, The Observer

A year on and there is still no sign of the authorities finding the bodies of 794 children. But one historian thinks she knows where they are, writes Sandra Jordan.

Kevin Killeen (@KMOXKilleen), June 10, 2015 4:46 PM, KMOX

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) – U.S. Catholic Bishops meeting in St. Louis are accused by a survivors group of failing to live up to the promises made to protect children at the Dallas Conference of Bishops in 2002.

By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO and LAURIE GOODSTEINJUNE 10, 2015, NY Times

ROME — Roman Catholic bishops accused of covering up or failing to prevent the sexual abuse of children by priests will now be subject to judgment and discipline by a new Vatican tribunal, according to a plan approved on Wednesday by Pope Francis.

By Janell Ross, June 8 at 11:56 AM, Washington Post

Two days after former House speaker Dennis Hastert’s (R-Ill.) indictment became public, a small group of sexual abuse survivors gathered at Federal Plaza in downtown Chicago. The group, made up of members of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP), was there say thank you to prosecutors for exposing Hastert’s alleged crimes.

Grant Gallicho, June 7, 2015, Commonweal

On Friday, a Minnesota county attorney filed criminal charges against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, alleging that for years church leaders—including Archbishop John Nienstedt—failed to protect children from a priest who would eventually plead guilty to molesting children and possessing child pornography.

By Joel J. Miller, May 26, 2015, Washington Post

After doing wrong, we usually want everything to be all right. If we can patch things up with minimal cost and personal discomfort, so much the better.

by Tracy Connor, NBC News, Jun 4 2015, 12:10 pm ET

A sex-abuse survivors group is calling on Congress to take down a portrait of former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, an ex-teacher accused of paying off a one-time student to keep allegations of sexual misconduct under wraps.

By Conall Ó Fátharta, Irish Examiner, Wednesday, June 03, 2015

Concerns that up to 1,000 children may have been “trafficked” to the US from the Tuam mother and baby home in “a scandal that dwarfs other, more recent issues with the Church and State” were raised by the HSE in 2012.