News Story of the Day

By Mark Freeman, December 5, 2016, Mail Tribune

A former Ashland youth pastor is facing felony sex-abuse charges for alleged contact over at least five years with a young girl he knew through his church, and a church leader said the youth pastor has confessed his crimes.

Kenneth Leo Baker, 44, of Ashland, faces four felony and two misdemeanor sex charges for alleged incidents involving a single victim between 2006 and 2011. At least four of the incidents allegedly occurred when the girl was younger than 14 years old, court records show.

1) Remain open-minded. 
The natural human instinct is to recoil from alleged horror, and to immediately assume that the allegations are false. But the overwhelming majority of abuse disclosures prove to be true.

In every case, the proper and Christian response is to remain open-minded.

2) Pray for all parties involved. 
Every person involved deserves and needs prayerful support.

Dec 2, 2016, NBC Washington 4,

A teacher and coach at Archbishop Carroll High School in Northeast D.C. has been fired after police arrested him on charges he sexually abused a student at the school.

Jimmy Augustin, 33, is accused of having "sexual contact" with a 17-year-old girl at least two separate times, once in early September and another time at the end of October. Both incidents happened at the Catholic school at 4300 Harewood Rd. NE, police said.

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, DEC. 1, 2016, 

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Advocates for clerical sex abuse victims expressed outrage Thursday that a priest accused of sexually abusing deaf children in Italy wasn't sanctioned by the Vatican and allegedly went on to abuse children in Pope Francis' native Argentina.

Argentine police arrested the priest, 82-year old Nicola Corradi, this week. Corradi, priest Horacio Corbacho, 55, and three other men are accused of abusing at least eight children at a school for youths with hearing disabilities in northwestern Mendoza province.

Associated Press, November 30, 2016, Yahoo News

A former Roman Catholic bishop of Pittsburgh who now heads the Washington archdiocese has apologized for initially voicing doubts about a seminarian's claims in 1988 that as a young boy he had been sexually abused by a priest.

Cardinal Donald Wuerl says Tim Bendig, who is now a businessman, "told the truth about a priest who was a terrible danger to children and without his action that priest might have continued in the ministry."

By Katrina Helmer, November 28, 2016, WDRB.com

Fr. Joseph Hemmerle is facing nine counts of sexual abuse and sodomy, and in court Monday, the victim explained to the jury the moment he says his life changed forever.

A victim, who is now 53 years old and lives in Texas, relived what he claims was a nightmare at camp.

By DAVID EDWARDS, November 23, 2016, Raw Story

Two Tennessee churches — both with current or former leaders connected to sexual abuse — have decided to restructure a merger in light of recent allegations.

Earlier this week, the Memphis Police Department confirmed that it was investigating a city of Memphis library employee, Christopher Carwile, after he was accused of sexually assaulting at least three children while working as a youth minister at the Church at Schilling Farms (formerly known as Immanuel Baptist Church) 18 years ago.

http://www.clevescene.com, November 21, 2016

Posted By A Survivor 

I was among one of the last generations to experience the now antiquated way newspapers were delivered, which has been portrayed as a gleeful boy riding a bike while tossing folded newspapers to the homes of appreciative customers. In my case, I did my route on foot. I worked seven days a week, in any kind of weather, delivering the Plain Dealer to customers in apartment buildings on the westside of Cleveland. 

By Jane Gargas, [email protected], November 16, 2016, Yakima Herald

Bishop Joseph Tyson of the Yakima Catholic Diocese has lost an election to chair a committee for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Instead, Bishop Timothy Doherty of Lafayette, Ind., is the new chairman-elect of the Committee on Protection of Children and Young People.

Elections were held Tuesday during the fall meeting of the national bishops’ conference in Baltimore.