News Story of the Day

SNAP Program helps survivors of abuse cope

Sexual abuse of a child by clergymen is a horrific crime, a crime that takes place all over the world, including here in Fargo. And it can take survivors years to come forward, but one national group is doing everything they can to change that.


The Full Story on Bishop Finn

"Let's step outside and settle this thing like men," she said, and she was a lady. "You're spewing anti-Catholic rhetoric!" he insisted. "How can you criticize a bishop when you're an actor and everyone knows actors are perverts and nitwits," she screamed. (That last gal had a point).

These are all reactions to my post last week about Rod Dreher's article on Bishop Finn's Indictment.


CBC piece on Boy Scout Abuse

Tim Kosnoff was intereviewed extensively for this newspiece by the CBC regarding sexual abuse in the Boy Scouts. Below is a link to the CBC page where you can view the entire video yourself (the "geo-fence" around the site has been taken down temporarily to allow American viewers access.)


Spain's stolen babies and the families who lived a lie

Spanish society has been shaken by allegations of the theft and trafficking of thousands of babies by nuns, priests and doctors, which started under Franco and continued up to the 1990s.

I first met Manoli Pagador in Getafe, in a working-class suburb of Madrid. She was attending a meeting for people affected by the scandal Spaniards call "ninos robados" - stolen children.


Father Laurence Soper of Ealing wanted over sex abuse

Police are hunting a former abbot from London over a string of sex offences dating back 20 years.

Father Laurence Soper, 80, abbot of the Catholic Ealing Abbey from 1991 to 2000, is wanted over child abuse. The crimes date back to when he taught at St Benedict's School, a private Catholic school at the west London institution.


Group to help victims of sexual abuse

SAINT JOHN - A man who says he was sexually abused as a child is setting up a support group to help abuse survivors.

Dave Mantin is working to set up a local chapter of SNAP, which stands for Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. It would be the first SNAP group in the Maritimes.


Advocacy for alleged abuse victims brought retaliation from diocese, lawsuit claims

After a worker raised questions about a priest sexual abuse case, the Kansas City diocese disabled her email, took away her laptop and confiscated her business cards, a lawsuit claims.

That eventually made it impossible for her to do her job, forcing her to resign, the former worker claims in the lawsuit filed Friday in Jackson County Circuit Court.


Msgr. Lynn got standing ovation at Chaput dinner, say those at event

Msgr. William J. Lynn, the former church official awaiting trial for allegedly protecting sexually abusive priests, drew words of encouragement from Philadelphia's new archbishop and a standing ovation from scores of priests at a private gathering last month, according to people familiar with the event.

During the invitation-only dinner for Archbishop Charles J. Chaput at a parish hall in Montgomery County, Chaput singled out Lynn in the crowd and noted how difficult the ordeal has been for him, according to one priest who attended and two people briefed by others at the gala.


Series of failures delayed sex abuse case at kids' shelter

The two-story, beige-brick shelter in north Houston was supposed to be a haven for immigrant children and teenagers, a place with teddy bears and bins of toys that they could temporarily call home while they were stranded in a foreign country, separated from their families.


Still Going On: Catholic Charities in Houston under Federal Investigation for Failure to Report Sexual Abuse of Minor

And just when I think I can't read anything more stomach-churning about the cover-up of sexual abuse of minors in Catholic institutions, this story comes along:  the Houston Chronicle reported this past week that Catholic Charities of Houston-Galveston is under investigation by the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) for filing false reports about a case in which a boy at St. Michael's Home for Children was allegedly sexually assaulted repeatedly while under the home's care.  The assaults are said to have involved the sexual abuse of this resident by other minors in the home's care.


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