News Story of the Day
Years into attorney general investigation of Maryland’s Catholic Church, abuse survivors wonder where it stands
The Baltimore Sun - by Alison Knezevich
September 24, 2021
Three years after it became public that Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh was investigating child sexual abuse in the Catholic church, abuse survivors are wondering: Is he building a case, or has the probe stalled?
In September 2018, Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori told clergy the archdiocese was under investigation by the state. A few months later, church officials confirmed they had given the attorney general more than 50,000 pages of internal documents dating to 1965.
But to this day, Frosh has not provided details on the investigation, which members of his office say is ongoing.
Vatican verdict looms for Knoxville bishop
News: Vos estis lux mundi
| 16 hr ago |
A report on Knoxville’s Bishop Rick Stika is under review at the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops, months after multiple allegations of administrative and personal misconduct triggered an investigation into Stika’s leadership.
Vatican sources tell The Pillar that a Vatican-ordered investigation was conducted over the summer, and that a decision is expected soon on whether Stika will remain in ministry as diocesan bishop.
Louisville priest convicted of sex abuse to be released; victim says kids aren’t safe
Michael Norris’ life was altered by sexual abuse, dealing with the trauma for nearly 50 years.
In just days, Norris’ abuser is soon to be set free.
San Antonio SNAP Leader Letter to the Editor - San Antonio Express News
Abusers to account
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott: Since you say it is time to “make sure we eliminate all rapists from the streets of Texas,” then let us get on with this removal of all sexual predator bishops, priests, nuns, pastors, health care providers, teachers, janitors, mental health professionals, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, grandfathers, grandmothers, aunts, and uncles.
However, in most cases of sexual abuse by those whom we trust, it takes decades to report, allowing most rapists to stay not on the streets but in our parishes and homes, and in all walks of our lives.
Clearly, your plan must include the elimination of the statute of limitations, or at least a look-back window, so that all abusers and the institutions who cover for them are held accountable in the court system.
Surely, this must be a part of your plan?
Patti Koo, chapter leader,
San Antonio-New Braunfels Survivors Network of those
Abused by Priests
(Originally found here - https://www.expressnews.com/opinion/letters-editor/article/Your-turn-Sept-19-16467499.php)
Abusers to account
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott: Since you say it is time to “make sure we eliminate all rapists from the streets of Texas,” then let us get on with this removal of all sexual predator bishops, priests, nuns, pastors, health care providers, teachers, janitors, mental health professionals, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, grandfathers, grandmothers, aunts and uncles.
However, in most cases of sexual abuse by those whom we trust, it takes decades to report, allowing most rapists to stay not on the streets but in our parishes and homes, and in all walks of our lives.
Clearly, your plan must include the elimination of the statute of limitations, or at least a look-back window, so that all abusers and the institutions who cover for them are held accountable in the court system.
Surely, this must be a part of your plan?
Patti Koo, chapter leader,
San Antonio-New Braunfels Survivors Network of those
Abused by Priests
Abusers to account
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott: Since you say it is time to “make sure we eliminate all rapists from the streets of Texas,” then let us get on with this removal of all sexual predator bishops, priests, nuns, pastors, health care providers, teachers, janitors, mental health professionals, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, grandfathers, grandmothers, aunts and uncles.
However, in most cases of sexual abuse by those whom we trust, it takes decades to report, allowing most rapists to stay not on the streets but in our parishes and homes, and in all walks of our lives.
Clearly, your plan must include the elimination of the statute of limitations, or at least a look-back window, so that all abusers and the institutions who cover for them are held accountable in the court system.
Surely, this must be a part of your plan?
Patti Koo, chapter leader,
San Antonio-New Braunfels Survivors Network of those
Abused by Priests
Second woman accuses priest of sexual abuse
A second woman is accusing Fr. Bob Vaillancourt, most recently pastor of St. Brendan the Navigator parish in Camden, ME, of raping her forty years ago when she was 15 years old.
Obscenity charge filed against former priest, dominatrices for alleged Pearl River altar tryst
Obscenity charge filed against former priest, dominatrices for alleged Pearl River altar tryst
Alleged victims of Malka Leifer give evidence in Melbourne court
The alleged victims of accused child abuser Malka Leifer have started to give evidence against her in her committal hearing in a Melbourne court.
Leifer, the 55-year-old former principal of a Melbourne ultra-Orthodox Jewish girls school, is charged with 74 offences against three sisters between 2004 and 2008.
On Monday, she appeared before the Melbourne magistrates court via video link from custody for the first day of her committal hearing. The hearing will determine whether there is enough evidence against her for a trial to occur in a higher court.
Israeli minister orders extradition of Malka Leifer to Australia
Read more
The court was closed for most of the day while the first of her three alleged victims gave evidence. The alleged victims, Dassi Erlich, Elly Saper and Nicole Meyer, have given permission to be identified, but the court will still be closed during their evidence.
In the short period before the court was closed, Leifer only spoke to confirm she could hear the proceedings. She sat with her head bowed, with only her white head covering, worn as a sign of modesty, and blue jumper visible on screen.
Leifer faces multiple counts of rape, indecent assault and other serious sexual offences relating to her time as principal of the Adass Israel ultra-Orthodox Jewish girls school, in the Melbourne suburb of Elsternwick. The offences are alleged to have occurred in the same suburb at the school and in three regional settings.
Leifer moved to Israel in 2008 after allegations of the abuse surfaced. She was charged with criminal offences in 2012, but a long battle for her extradition only ended earlier this year when she returned to Melbourne.
The other witnesses due to give evidence during her committal are Dr Vicki Gordon, a clinical psychologist who has described herself as a “whistleblower” in regard to the sexual abuse allegations, Esther Spiegelmen and Sharon Bromberg, who were teachers at the school at the time of the alleged abuse, and Chana Rabinowitz, a former counsellor at the school, who will give evidence from Israel.
Ian Hill QC, for Leifer, was granted permission for her to not attend the hearing on Thursday, which marks the sacred day of Yom Kippur. Other Jewish witnesses will also be excused from giving evidence.
The court also heard that Leifer’s accusers would not request to give evidence without being able to see her. Alleged victims of sexual abuse can request not to see the accused during their evidence in Victorian court hearings.
The committal is expected to last a week.
Former North Adams priest added to list of those credibly accused of sexual abuse
The late Rev. James Paul Menge has been added to the list of priests associated with the Springfield Diocese against whom a credible accusation of sexual abuse of a minor has been made. He was added to the list Sept. 1.
NORTH ADAMS — A priest who began his career in North Adams is the first to join the list of those “credibly accused” of sexual abuse since that roster expanded in June to include clergy who died before a survivor came forward.
An official with the Springfield Diocese said Wednesday that the Rev. James Paul Menge, who died in 2010, was added to the roster Sept. 1. More than one person provided a credible report that he engaged in the sexual abuse of a minor.
'There's no escape': Memories of being raped by Catholic priest haunt Columbus man
The room coming in and out of focus.
The pressure with which the older man pinned him to the floor.
These are a few of the memories that come back to Chris Graham in snapshots from years ago, when he was raped by a Catholic priest at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church in Powell.
He was 14 years old.
'I'm going to change these laws': How Chris Graham is seeking legal reform in Ohio
Graham was a dedicated altar server at the time who looked up to priests at the parish so much that he considered becoming one.
COURTNEY HERGESHEIMER/COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Today, the 39-year-old podcaster and business coach from Westerville is working through flashbacks and post-traumatic stress disorder brought on by the childhood trauma he blocked out for more than two decades.
Psychotherapy, which he began last year and is ongoing, helped him remember the March 1997 rape at the hands of the late Rev. Raymond Lavelle, a priest named in 2019 by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus as being credibly accused of sexually abusing multiple minors. Lavelle died in late 2015.
Graham reported what happened to the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office and the Diocese of Columbus earlier this year. Both entities declared the allegation to be credible.
But that alone didn't fix anything.
"Those wounds were so deep ... I was broken," Graham said. "Trauma echoes throughout your life until you begin to heal."
Read the full story here - https://www.dispatch.com/in-depth/news/2021/09/08/columbus-man-raped-catholic-priest-child-haunted-memories/7504888002/
Why the Catholic Church can’t put the clergy sex abuse scandal behind it It probably never will, at least under the current generation of church leaders.
By Globe Columnist,Updated September 7, 2021, 3:00 a.m.
A day of reckoning for a once powerful prince of the Roman Catholic Church had finally come.
Frail and 91, former cardinal Theodore McCarrick was arraigned last week on charges that he sexually assaulted a 16-year-old boy at Wellesley College in the 1970s.
As startling and historic as that event may be, it’s years too late for those he’s accused of having abused — and for a church that still struggles to put the clergy sex abuse scandal behind it. It probably never will, at least under the current generation of church leaders — not until there are no more victims, and no more clerics to hold accountable.
