News Story of the Day
Retrial after mistrial set for accused priest
PROSECUTORS will get another opportunity to try the Rev. James J. Brennan, 49, a Roman Catholic priest charged with attempted rape of a 14-year-old boy in 1996 and related offenses.
Woman shares story of alleged abuse by priests
An Iowa woman contemplating a return to the Roman Catholic Church last year agreed to meet with a priest on one condition — he remove his collar. “Roman collars still frighten me,” Kathleen Bowman, 47, told the priest.
SNAP sues over Mo. 'House of Worship Protection Act'
JEFFERSON CITY • Two groups are trying to block a new state law that prohibits the disruption of worship services, claiming that the measure is too vague and will infringe on their rights to free speech.
Bishops Cullen and Cistone To Be Named Defendants in Ongoing Civil Case Against Archdiocese of Philadelphia
They may have escaped criminal prosecution, but according to a memorandum of law filed Monday in Common Pleas Court, Bishops Edward P. Cullen and Joseph R. Cistone can expect to be named as defendants in an ongoing civil case against the Archdiocese of Philadelphia regarding the sexual abuse of a former 10-year-old altar boy.
Editorial: Missouri high court OKs harassment of priest victims group
In the law there's something called a "Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation." They're filed by a powerful individuals or organization who want to shut up their critics by burying them in legal fees and hassles.
Earthly concerns
OF ALL the organisations that serve America’s poor, few do more good work than the Catholic church: its schools and hospitals provide a lifeline for millions. Yet even taking these virtues into account, the finances of the Catholic church in America are an unholy mess. The sins involved in its book-keeping are not as vivid or grotesque as those on display in the various sexual-abuse cases that have cost the American church more than $3 billion so far; but the financial mismanagement and questionable business practices would have seen widespread resignations at the top of any other public institution.
Sex Abuse Case Moves Forward Against Former Bell Gardens Pastor
(CNS) – A judge has cleared the way for trial of a young man’s lawsuit alleging he was sexually abused by the former pastor of a Lutheran church in Bell Gardens.
Congregation shocked by charges against former youth pastor
Free Methodist Church leaders were "in shock" and "deeply concerned" after learning a youth pastor, who recently worked in Saskatoon, is charged in Ontario with attempted aggravated sexual assault and luring a child by means of computer.
When Priests Become Predators, Profiles of Childhood Sexual Abuse Survivors: An Interview with Tom Neuberger
For nearly 40 years, Tom Neuberger has been a legal gadfly, challenging the powers that be and fighting for the “little guy” in the court system and the media. Although raised a devout Catholic and having received nearly all of his schooling in that educational system, Tom has spent the twilight of his career seeking justice on behalf of those who were betrayed by the very institution which played such a key part in his education and upbringing.
Outside LCWR meeting, victims allege abuse by sisters
ST. LOUIS -- As Catholic sisters from across the country were sequestered in meeting rooms Wednesday to discuss broad issues of the place of women and men in the church, specifically their relationships with bishops following a Vatican rebuke, five people stood outside the building.