News Story of the Day
Sexual abuse of children by priests was known ‘at all levels’ in Catholic Church, says Archbishop of Dublin
There was ‘no effort made to deal with perpetrators’, Dermot Farrell tells US Catholic TV network
Archbishop Dermot Farrell: church had 'a culture of denial, a culture of covering up, a culture of silencing, ignoring'. Photograph: Alan Betson
Immanuel Little Rock is making news again
Mark Wingfield | October 20, 2024
An Arkansas church rocked by child sexual abuse scandals is preparing to adopt bylaws for the first time in its 132-year history, but the draft proposal would muzzle church members from speaking to reporters and nonmembers about the affairs of the church.
Late priest ID'd as child molester
Madden
Photo Credit: Provided Photo
October 20, 2024
By Angela LaRosa
TOLEDO — A late local priest was recently added to a list of Toledo-area clerics that the area's diocese said were "credibly accused" of child sex abuse.
It’s not known when the name was added to the list, but Sandusky native Father Michael G. Madden was added to the list, which is kept by the Toledo Catholic Diocese.
The list includes 10 other priests who were added after their deaths. There are 26 other names on the list, which include clergy who have substantiated allegations of sexual abuse of a minor or child pornography.
"This is same groceries, different bag," said Claudia Vercellotti, an advocate with the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, known also as SNAP, adding that the diocese's method of "stealthily" releasing the information was "as effective as putting a note in a bottle and throwing it out to the ocean."
...
Toledo officials did not disclose how many reports were made against Madden nor when he was accused, according to SNAP, who added that Toledo Diocese officials didn't notify any parents, parishioners or the public of Madden's addition to the list of accused clerics.
"We hope anyone who saw, suspected or suffered Fr. Madden's crimes will find some long overdue consolation in the fact that he's finally been publicly exposed as an abuser," a release from SNAP states. "We also hope that anyone who may have been hurt by Fr. Madden will find strength to tell trusted sources like friends, family, therapists or support groups like ours."
To read the entire article, go here.
Houston's Champion Forest Baptist agrees to settle child sex abuse suit
The plaintiffs sought $1 million in relief for the boy's medical bills and his "pain and suffering."
By , Religion Reporter Oct 17, 2024
Family and friends gather during a Celebration of Life service in honor of Sgt. Marty Gonzalez held at Champion Forest Baptist Church-Champions Campus, Friday, Dec. 12, 2020, in Houston. Gonzalez helped in the creation of the Veteran’s Court program in Harris County, which has since expanded.
Gustavo Huerta, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer
Champion Forest Baptist Church in far northwest Houston agreed to pay "minimal money" to settle a civil case that alleges one of its Sunday school teachers beat and sexually assaulted a 4-year-old boy in 2019, an attorney for the church confirmed this week.
Irish archbishop blocks Vatican interference in abuse case
Archbishop John Kennedy at his desk in the DDF
By Chai Brady October 17, 2024
An attempt to reinstate a priest laicised for the sexual abuse of minors by a top Vatican cleric has been decried by a leading Irish child protection campaigner Marie Collins, who warned children would have been put in danger.
Archdiocese of Los Angeles agrees to pay $880 million to victims of clergy sexual abuse
FILE - People attend a memorial service outside the Cathedral of Our Lady of Angels in Los Angeles, Jan. 19, 2021. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes,File)
Updated 10:30 PM EDT, October 16, 2024
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has agreed to pay $880 million to victims of clergy sexual abuse dating back decades, in what an attorney said was the largest single child sex abuse settlement with a Catholic archdiocese, it was announced Wednesday.
Wisconsin DOJ not filing appeal over sealed Archdiocese documents
MILWAUKEE (WI)
Wisconsin Law Journal [Milwaukee WI]
October 15, 2024
Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul announced Monday that the Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) is not filing an appeal of the decision by the United States Bankruptcy court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin denying DOJ access to sealed documents from the bankruptcy cased filed by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee in 2011 and closed in 2016.
Inola pastor found guilty of lewd acts, rape of underage girls
October 11, 2024 at 5:07 am CDT
INOLA, Okla. — A jury found an Inola pastor guilty of rape and two counts of lewd or indecent acts involving young girls Thursday morning.
4 years ago, Inola pastor Roy Shoop was arrested.
“I felt I was looking the devil right in the eye,” said Sheriff Scott Walton from the Rogers County Sheriff’s Office as he explained the moment he handcuffed Roy Shoop, “and I believe he was, and we put him right where he needs to be.”
Memphis Catholic Diocese, Humboldt church sued by man alleging childhood sexual assault
Lucas Finton
October 9, 2024
[Editor’s note: This story contains details of child sexual abuse. If you or someone you know is a victim of sexual assault, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-HOPE (4673).]
A man who has said he was sexually assaulted by a priest from Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Humboldt has filed a lawsuit against the church and the Catholic Diocese of Memphis, alleging that the church and diocese actively covered up the priest’s abuse.
The lawsuit comes nearly a year after The Commercial Appeal identified Joel Wiggs as a priest with multiple complaints lodged against him. Despite The CA confirming three of those complaints — one from 2002, 2013 and 2019 — Wiggs was not part of the diocese’s list of “credibly accused” priests as of 2020.
According to the lawsuit, Wiggs was ordained as a priest in 1949 and worked at Sacred Heart in Humboldt between 1967 and 1995. During that time, the lawsuit alleges Wiggs would be sexually abusive towards minors.
Wiggs died in 2001 at the age of 78. Online, as recently as 2016, people have praised Wiggs as an outstanding member of the Humboldt community. He was a volunteer fireman and fire chaplain, was on the National Catholic Disaster Relief Service Committee and, according to an article in the Jackson Sun, was “very active” with the Boy Scouts.
“From 1967 to 1995, Sacred Heart employed Wiggs as a priest and provided him with opportunities to come into frequent contact with children,” the lawsuit alleges. “Wiggs would use these frequent opportunities involving contact with children to get naked with boys in a hot tub, massage them with baby oil, show them pornographic movies, sexually touch them, anally penetrate them and engage in other sexually abusive misconduct.”
One of those victims, and the person who filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee in mid-September, was Turner Casey. The CA spoke with Casey about his experiences with Wiggs in late 2023
To read the entire article, go here. A copy is also cached on Bishop-Accountability.org.
Louisiana diocese prepares to file for bankruptcy over clergy abuse claims
Alexandria diocese plans to file ‘prearranged chapter 11’ after settlement with victims to avoid ‘lengthy delays’
Ramon Antonio Vargas
Thu 10 Oct 2024
A Roman Catholic diocese in north-west Louisiana appears ready to join 40 other organizations of its kind in the US by filing for federal bankruptcy protection as the church’s worldwide clergy molestation scandal continues reverberating, according to a letter obtained by the Guardian.
But the diocese in question – that of Alexandria, Louisiana – is first aiming to reach a global settlement with those who already have pending clergy abuse claims demanding damages from the institution before it then files what it called a “prearranged chapter 11” financial reorganization. As the letter authored by local attorneys for the Alexandria church put it, the purpose of the strategy is to avoid “the lengthy delays and huge professional fees” incurred by the May 2020 bankruptcy filed by Louisiana’s archdiocese of New Orleans.
....
The Alexandria diocese in 2019 released a list of 27 clergymen who were faced with substantial allegations of sexual abuse of children or misconduct dating back to the 1940s. A few more names have since been added to the roster, bringing the number of clergymen identified to more than 30.
Yet the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (Snap) said in a statement Monday, in part, that the updated list omits at least two late clergymen who have been publicly labeled as “credibly accused” by Catholic officials elsewhere: Joseph Pellettieri (New Orleans and Baton Rouge) and Brian Highfill (New Orleans and Las Vegas).
Snap’s statement said that two other late clergymen who were criminally investigated for alleged child sexual abuse are not on any church credibly accused lists but merit being named in Alexandria’s roster. The investigation into one of those clergymen – Jaime Medina-Cruz – ended without action after he was found dead in a hotel room in 2013, and the case involving the other – Donald McCarthy – was dismissed when authorities determined too much time had passed to file charges against him, Snap said.
....
To read the complete article, go here.
