News Story of the Day
Jesus wept: There were 12 reported incidents of Christian pastors molesting kids — in just the last month
TOM BOGGIONI, 02 APR 2016, RawStory.com
The arrest of a Christian school principal in Port Angeles, Washington for sexually assaulting two pre-teen girls brings to light, once again, what appears to be an epidemic of sexual predators in Christian churches and schools.
According to the Crimes Against Children Research Center, 1 in 5 girls and 1 in 20 boys is a victim of child sexual abuse. The exact number of actual sexual assaults is unknown since many victims never speak up or, in some cases like Florida, the sexual assault is hushed up.
French diocese offices searched in pedophile priest case: source
By AFP Staff, March 30, 2016, news.yahoo.com
Lyon (AFP) - French investigators searched the offices of the diocese of Lyon on Wednesday over the alleged cover-up of a paedophile priest, a source close to the probe said.
The diocese said in a statement that the Archbishop of Lyon, Philippe Barbarin, who is under fire over his handling of the affair, "has said repeatedly that he is prepared to cooperate openly with the investigation".
The search of the offices is linked to the prosecution of Bernard Preynat, a priest who has admitted sexually abusing scouts that he was supervising in the Lyon area of central France more than 25 years ago.
Monsters enabled by New York’s sex crime statutes of limitations
By NY Daily News Staff, March 29, 2016, Nydailynews.com
The spotlight at the moment is on a Long Island foster care house of horrors where an accused predator took in dozens of boys over the course of two decades and allegedly subjected many of them to sexual abuse.
The spotlight has shone elsewhere before — many elsewheres.
More than 20 teachers at the prestigious Horace Mann School in the Bronx sexually abused more than 60 students.
Male religious orders may not be accountable to Catholic Church
By Peter Smith, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, March 28, 2016, Virginislandsdailynews.com
PITTSBURGH — Even as the leadership of a Hollidaysburg, Pa.-based Franciscan province is called to account in criminal court for its handling of a sex offender, the case is raising a broader question:
Just how accountable are male religious orders for following the U.S. Catholic Church’s zero-tolerance policy adopted in 2002?
Such orders are typically authorized by the pope and consist of priests and brothers who make specific vows, typically to poverty, chastity and obedience, with some orders having additional vows.
'I only answer to God. Bishops don't bother me.'
by Maria Panaritis, Staff Writer, Philly.com, March 22, 2016
The three veteran investigators were speechless.
Victims tell their stories to Australia's royal commission on child sexual abuse
By Mar. 21, 2016, National Catholic Reporter
|SYDNEY -- In some respects, the story of the Australian government inquiry into institutional responses to child sexual abuse is a story that can be told in numbers.
Since its first hearing three years ago, the inquiry -- the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse -- has received 29,223 telephone calls from victims and other interested parties, as well as 16,171 letters and emails. It has conducted 4,874 sessions in private (to provide, where requested, a safe and confidential environment for those testifying) and made 961 referrals to authorities, including police, many of which have resulted in arrests and charges
PA--3 Franciscan ex-leaders charged in Pennsylvania abuse case
News 96.5 WDBO, The Associated Press, March 15, 2016
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — Three ex-leaders of a Franciscan religious order were charged Tuesday with allowing a friar who was a known sexual predator to take on jobs, including a position as a high school athletic trainer, that enabled him to molest more than 100 children.
Pope's Abuse Accountability Tribunal Going Nowhere Fast
By NICOLE WINFIELD, ASSOCIATED PRESS, VATICAN CITY — Mar 9, 2016, ABC News
Pope Francis' proposed Vatican tribunal to judge bishops who covered up for pedophile priests is going nowhere fast.
Despite fresh focus from the Oscar-winning film "Spotlight" on how Catholic bishops protected priests who raped children, Francis' most significant sex abuse-related initiative to date has stalled. It's a victim of a premature roll-out, unresolved legal and administrative questions and resistance both inside and outside of the Holy See, church officials and canon lawyers say.a