News Story of the Day

By Alison O'Reilly, the Irish Mail, August 24, 2015

• The mothers were inmates at institution run by Bon Secours nuns, Galway
• Historian Catherine Corless says babies were buried in grave behind home
• Probe reveals 9 mothers died in home but burial records exist for only four
• The Sisters of Bon Secours say it would now be inappropriate to comment 

An arrest warrant has been issued for Father Ysrael Bien, a Sherwood priest who waited nearly a month to report a hidden camera found in a church bathroom to the police. 

A break in the case came last week when a customer query led the owners of a Texas company called SpyGuy to Google the original story about the scandal. They determined that someone named Ysrael Bien had purchased a spy camera disguised as an electrical plug, and they called Sherwood police.

Mark Mueller | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com,  e Star-Ledger August 19, 2015, NJ.com

In an extraordinary admission of wrongdoing, a priest sought by authorities in New Jersey has acknowledged engaging in a sexual encounter with a 15-year-old boy, but he deflected blame for the incident by saying the teen "wanted" it and had "evil in his mind."

By Amy Silverstein, Tuesday, August 18, 2015, Dallas Observer

In February, a missionary agency made a startling report about one of its members.  "... Mr. [Jordan] Root admitted that he has been sexually attracted to prepubescent female children for many years and that during his service with SIM [Serving in Mission] he has been viewing nude photographs of children via the Internet in order to gratify this desire," says a leaked, confidential report by Serving in Mission International, the missionary agency that Root and his then-wife had volunteered through.

Marlee Ginter, Published: August 17, 2015, 12:07 am Updated: August 17, 2015, 11:12 am

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The most traumatic moment of Bill McAlary’s life happened in 1958. Nearly 60 years later, he’s still visibly shaken just talking about it.

McAlary says a Catholic priest molested him when he was a 12-year-old altar boy in Ionia.

“I woke up. He was molesting me sexually, on his knees next to my bed,” McAlary recalled. “That’s how I woke up.”

By Joe Little on Sunday 16 August 2015 17.47, RTE News, RTE.ie

The Cardinal Archbishop of New York, Timothy Dolan, has accused opponents of quoting out of context his 2007 statement to the Vatican that he was strengthening a diocese’s protection against litigation by sex abuse victims by putting most of its assets into a Cemetery Trust Fund.

By Erik Zygmont, [email protected],  August 13, 2015

TOWSON – Two graduates of Calvert Hall College High School held a press conference Aug. 13 at the Baltimore County Courts Building to release documents pertaining to an allegation of abuse against Monsignor Joseph A. Davies, a priest of the Archdiocese of Baltimore who died in 1992.

By Rick Mills, The Morning Sun, Posted: 08/11/15, 4:19 PM EDT

A Mt. Pleasant priest suspended last month for improper behavior is not returning to the pulpit and has been replaced.

The Rev. Denis Heames, priest at St. Mary’s University Parish in Mt. Pleasant, was put on administrative leave for inappropriate behavior related to his ministry in early July.

By Dave Sutor,  [email protected]  Posted: Saturday, August 8, 2015 11:42 pm  The Tribune Democrat

HOLLIDAYSBURG – The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office executed a search warrant on the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona–Johnstown on Friday.

Officials from the AG’s office would neither confirm nor deny the information.

SBS TV, SBS.com.AU  10 Aug 2015 - 7:24pm  Source: AAP

One of the most senior members of the Jehovah's Witnesses will appear before the child abuse royal commission in Sydney this week.