News Story of the Day
Prosecutor wants new charge against Bishop Finn, diocese
Jackson County prosecutors want to add additional misdemeanor criminal charges against Bishop Robert Finn and the diocese he serves.
The passivity of the Catholic Church
BY THE CATHOLIC Church’s reckoning, it has undergone a sea change since the days when sexual predators in clerical collars sexually abused young boys with scant fear of dismissal, reprimand or even excessive concern by their supervisors. American dioceses have paid billions of dollars in compensation to victims, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has issued what amounts to a zero-tolerance policy and Pope Benedict XVI has apologized to victims of clergy sexual abuse here and in Ireland.
5 Priests May Be Defrocked After Church Investigation
PHILADELPHIA - Five priests accused of sexually abusing children have been defrocked, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced at a news conference Friday afternoon.
WSU student speaks about priest abuse as part of statewide event
She stood alone under a cloudy sky to speak for the victims and for herself.
“I am a victim of rape by a priest,” Megan Peterson said.
Former BC trustee quits boards of 3 more Jesuit schools
After resigning from the Boston College Board of Trustees last week, the Rev. Bradley M. Schaeffer has quietly stepped down from the boards of three additional Jesuit-affiliated institutions amid an uproar over the role he played in supervising a former Jesuit priest accused of molesting dozens of boys over four decades.
Ex-altar boys testify of sex assaults by priest
Two former altar boys on Wednesday described being sexually assaulted decades apart by the Rev. Edward Avery, a priest who remained in ministry for years after the Archdiocese of Philadelphia logged its first complaint about him.
Bransfield: 'I Have Never Sexually Abused Anyone'
Bishop Michael Bransfield of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston released the following statement Thursday morning after his name was mentioned Wednesday in a clergy-sex abuse trial in Philadelphia.
Stockton-area priest flees country amid sexual misconduct trial
A Catholic priest from outside Stockton has reportedly fled the country for his native Ireland after being found liable of sexual misconduct.
Stockton Diocese accused of cover-up in Michael Kelly case
Now that Father Michael Kelly has been held liable for sexual assault and removed as pastor of a Lockeford parish, his civil trial will focus on the Stockton Diocese's role in handling Kelly and other priests accused of childhood sexual abuse.
U.S. Catholic Church says child abuse cases rose in 2011
CHICAGO, April 10 (Reuters) - The number of credible allegations of sexual abuse of minors committed by Roman Catholic priests or deacons in the United States rose 15 percent last year, and the church spent $144 million to deal with the ongoing scandal, according to a church-sponsored audit released on Tuesday.