News Story of the Day

Frances Mulraney  November 10,2015 01:02 AM, Irish Central

The Register of Deaths from Bessborough Mother and Baby home reveals that during certain months in the 1940s the death rate among children living in the home amounted to a child dying roughly every second day.

For many years, Bessborough Mother and Baby Home, in Co. Cork, run by the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, was an institution where pregnant and unmarried women were referred to before they gave birth as, at the time, having a child outside of marriage was considered a serious sin in Ireland.

By Stephanie Barry, [email protected], on November 06, MassLive.com

SPRINGFIELD — A jury on Thursday awarded $250,000 to a 53-year-old Ludlow woman who sued her stepfather for raping her as a child after a three-day trial in U.S. District Court.

An eight-member panel found in favor of plaintiff Kathy Picard, who was at the forefront of pushing new legislation in 2014 to extend the statute of limitations to allow victims of sexual abuse more time to sue their alleged abusers.

By A. O. SCOTT, NOV. 5, 2015, NY Times

“The city flourishes when its great institutions work together,” says the cardinal to the newspaper editor during a friendly chat in the rectory. The city in question is Boston. The cardinal is Bernard F. Law and the editor, newly arrived at The Boston Globe from The Miami Herald, is Martin Baron. He politely dissents from the cardinal’s vision of civic harmony, arguing that the paper should stand alone.

By Margery Eagan, On Spirituality columnist,  November 3, 2015, Crux

How can you spend your workdays chronicling thousands of cases of Catholic priestly sexual abuse — and still remain a Catholic?

Before the release of “Spotlight,” the movie detailing the massive abuse cover-up in Boston, I asked that of Anne Barrett Doyle and Terry McKiernan. They’re co-directors of BishopAccountability.org, which documents that abuse from an office in Waltham, Massachusetts practically overrun by floor-to-ceiling files and more than 100,000 pages of Church records, court documents, media reports, letters from mothers of victims, victims themselves, and even abusers detailing their crimes.

By Margery Eagan, On Spirituality columnist,  November 3, 2015, Crux

I watched the movie “Spotlight,” detailing Boston’s sex abuse crisis, in a theater filled with Boston Globe reporters I’ve known for years and survivors who understand too well the crimes the Catholic hierarchy enabled.

All the doubts and shame came flooding back.

By Margery Eagan, On Spirituality columnist October 28, 2015, Crux

Remember the famous line in “Jaws” when Chief Brody first sees the monster shark and says, “You’re gonna need a bigger boat”?

Phil Saviano remembers a similar line when he first told Boston Globe reporters there weren’t just one or two priests molesting a handful of children. Saviano knew of nearly 30 priests, if not more, with dozens of victims. And the Church was covering it up. He remembers how one editor took it all in, then called his boss to say: We’re gonna need more reporters. This is so much bigger than we thought.

BOSTON — It was a scandal that shook the Roman Catholic Church to its core: Hundreds of priests molested children for decades and got away with it because church leaders covered it up.

By Elizabeth Mohr, [email protected], TwinCities.com, Pioneer Press, October 21, 2015

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis said Tuesday that it is temporarily removing from ministry a priest who was acquitted last year of sexual misconduct with a female parishioner.

The archdiocese launched its investigation into the Rev. Mark Huberty after the criminal case ended and determined the priest might have violated canon law, according to a statement from Archbishop Bernard Hebda.

Op-Ed, Los Angeles Times, October 19, 2015, Joelle Casteix

Actor-comedian Bill Cosby poses for a portrait in New York. Cosby has been accused of sexual assault by dozens of women over a period of decades. Some of the women who accused Cosby of sexual assault have run up against the time limit and have turned to defamation suits as an alternative way to obtain some modicum of justice.

Will Carless on Oct 16, 2015 @ 8:30 AM

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — One month ago, GlobalPost published a lengthy investigation into Catholic clergy who have been accused of sexual abuse in the United States or Europe, yet continue to work as priests in remote South American dioceses.