News Story of the Day

By Joel Currier, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 27, 2017

TROY, MO. • Jury selection is set for Monday in a civil trial in which a Lincoln County teenager and her family have accused St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson of knowing a priest was a danger to children before the cleric was charged with molesting the teen in 2012.

Jurors will be selected Monday from a pool of about 110 Lincoln County residents, with opening statements set to follow in the trial presided over by St. Louis Circuit Judge Steven Ohmer.

By KALEB H. SMITH, March 23, 2017, The Legislative Gazette

Sponsors and supporters of the Child Victims Act hope this is the year for justice

Longtime sponsor out of office, but governor is now calling to extend statutes of limitation for child victims of sexual abuse

Advocates for the Child Victims Act are once again calling on state legislators to reform the statutes of limitation on justice sought by child sex abuse victims.

Outspoken reformers such as Bridie Farrell, an Olympic speedskater and advocate for sexually assaulted children in New York, shared her own story of abuse, which shocked the sports world a few years ago.

By Linh Ta , [email protected], Des Moines Register, March 21, 2017

A former Boone pastor was arrested after allegedly sexually exploiting a teenage girl at Grace Community Church and "grooming" her for several years, according to court documents.

Joel Waltz, 47, of Boone, was charged with sexual exploitation by counselor or therapist on March 13. He was booked into Story County Jail and posted bail on March 20.

March 20, 2017, Live 5 News

WEST ASHLEY, SC (WCSC) - The Salvation Army is facing a lawsuit after two girls claim they were sexually abused for years while attending Sunday School at the Salvation Army's West Ashley location on Highway 61.

According to the McLeod Law Group, the Salvation Army hired a known sexual predator. 

The lawsuit names Armando Gonzalez, who according to jail records, was arrested in December 2015 for criminal sexual conduct with a minor under 11 in connection to the assaults.

By AAP, March 20, 2017, 9News.com.au

Cardinal George Pell has come out swinging against a Senate call for him to return to Australia to assist with police investigations.

A Greens Party motion, agreed to by the upper house in February, called on the senior ranking Catholic clergyman to return to Australia to face allegations of misconduct. 

By Gordon Robinson, March 19, 2017, The Gleaner

As usual, when Jamaicans have a conversation about sex, it all goes sideways.

The current debate on the definition of 'rape' and age of 'consent' has majored in the minor (pun intended). The word 'rape' has its roots (Latin 'rapere') in 15th-century England and is related to the Latin verb 'stuprare', which means 'to defile, ravish, violate,' and the noun 'stuprum' (literally 'disgrace'), meaning 'to abduct (a woman), ravish'; also 'seduce (a man)'.

By Sean Emery, Bay Area News Group, 03/17/17, Lake County Record Bee

LOS ANGELES >> A widow has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the Orange and Los Angeles dioceses, alleging that her husband killed himself in 2015 because of depression over having been molested by a “notorious pedophile” priest years before while attending St. Joseph’s Parish in Placentia.

Attorneys for the wife filed the lawsuit this week in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleging that her husband was haunted by the abuse he allegedly suffered at the hands of the Rev. Eleuterio Ramos from 1975 through 1978.

By HUEY FREEMAN, Herald & Review, March 17, 2017

March 15, 2017, Associated Press

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- An Anglican bishop who says he was warned by churchgoers that he was not safe in his own Australian diocese over his work to address decades of child sexual abuse has announced his resignation.

Newcastle Bishop Greg Thompson, who was sexually molested as a teenager by bishop who died in 1988, said in a statement Thursday he was quitting to focus on his health.

The 60-year-old said he had witnessed firsthand the culture and conduct from some sections of the church, both as an abuse victim and in his work to address the diocese's abuse legacy.

By Nate Brown, March 14, 2017, Christian Truther

Pope Francis, the first Jesuit pope, has rescinded his policies regarding the crack down on pedophilia, Catholic officials claim. In fact, the last abuse survivor of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors recently left the commission, citing resistance coming from Vatican offices against implementing recommendations.

It is not clear exactly where the opposition is coming from within the Catholic Church, claimed the last abuse survivor Marie Collins, on the Pontifical Commission. However, she resigned as a direct result of the Catholic Church’s inability to implement recommendations that could curb sexual abuse within the Catholic Church.