News Story of the Day

YDR Editorial Board, August 10, 2016, York Daily Record

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane was on trial this week, defending herself against charges she says were trumped up by the old boys’ network in our state’s judicial system. So she might have been too distracted to read YDR’s story about priests accused of sexual abuse in the Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg, which includes York County.

By Jack Jenkins, ThinkProgress.org, August 8, 2016

It was 2008, and Rebecca Mayeux was living a nightmare.

Just 14 years old at the time, she was being sexually harassed and abused by a member of her church, 64-year-old George Charlet Jr.  According to Mayeux, Charlet bombarded her with emails “laced with seductive nuances” over the course of a summer, slowly escalating his inappropriate advances before ultimately kissing and fondling her.

By Morgan Zalot, NBC News 10, August 4, 2016 

Two days after he walked free from a northeastern Pennsylvania prison on bail, Monsignor William Lynn, accused of shielding pedophile priests, learned when he'll face a new trial.

Lynn served nearly three years in prison before a judge granted him bail earlier this week after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed a lower court's decision to overturn his conviction, granting him a new trial. At a hearing Thursday morning, a Philadelphia judge set Lynn's new trial for May 2017.

WCVB, August 3, 2016

Woman files suit against Marian High School, Archdiocese of Boston

BOSTON —A woman is filing a lawsuit claiming a former teacher sexually assaulted her for years, and claims school administrators knew it was happening and did nothing to stop it.

According to the lawsuit, the unidentified victim claims former Marian High School physical education teacher and sports coach Diane Ryszewski sexually abused the then 14-year-old girl between 1975-1977.

By Kevin Cullen GLOBE COLUMNIST  AUGUST 02, 2016

Pope Francis made a powerful statement last week without saying a word. His silent visit to Auschwitz allowed the stilled voices of all those murdered there to be heard.

The pope’s respectful silence showed that moral authority does not have to be shouted, that sometimes it’s what you don’t say that speaks louder.

Daily Advertiser Editorial, July 30, 2016

In the wake of child pornography charges lodged against a Breaux Bridge parish priest this week, the Diocese of Lafayette has expressed its commitment to transparency in such cases.

Laura Yuen · Jul 29, 2016 MPR News 

A Twin Cities priest's summer trip with John Nienstedt was about to get excruciatingly uncomfortable.

The priest had joined the then-bishop of New Ulm, Minn., on a visit to Nienstedt's second home, not far from Lake Huron in Michigan. It was July 2004. At the time, the 37-year-old man considered Nienstedt, 20 years his senior, a close platonic friend.

By Jonathan Pearlman, Sydney  The Telegraph 28 JULY 2016 • 2:09PM

Cardinal George Pell, one of the most powerful figures in the Vatican and Australia's most senior Catholic cleric, is facing a police investigation over an alleged series of child sexual assaults, including claims he inappropriately “grabbed” boys at a swimming pool in the state of Victoria.

In a statement issued by his office in Rome, Cardinal Pell, the Vatican’s finance chief, emphatically denied the allegations, accusing police and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation of “conspiring” to destroy his reputation.

By Mark Mueller, NJ Advance Media for NJ.com , July 24, 2016

After a 15-year run as spiritual leader to more than a million Roman Catholics in New Jersey, Newark Archbishop John J. Myers is expected to submit a letter to Pope Francis this week seeking the pontiff's permission to retire.

On Tuesday, Myers turns 75, the mandatory retirement age set by canon law. It remains to be seen how swiftly Francis will move to replace him. Some bishops continue to work a year or more after they reach 75.

Molly Parker, July 24, 2016, The Southern Illinoisan