News Story of the Day

Brett Ligon has not been to Mass since the Sept. 11 arrest of Father Manuel La Rosa-Lopez. A longtime Catholic, he was married at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Conroe in 1993 and moved in recent years to St. Matthias the Apostle in Magnolia.

Now the district attorney of Montgomery County, he can’t bring himself to go back.

Over the past few decades, sexual abuse survivors, whistleblowers, and journalists have exposed a horrific pattern of sex abuse and cover up in the Roman Catholic Church. As a Catholic millennial, I have never known a church unmarked by the abuse crisis. In the bathrooms at my Catholic high school and my small Midwestern parish, I distinctly remember posters detailing who I should call if I was abused or assaulted by an authority figure. Last year, the Pennsylvania grand jury report and Cardinal Theodore McCarrick revelations made my generation aware of this crisis in a renewed way. Too often, in responses, the voices of survivors themselves are lost.

In response to the Archdiocese of Hartford publishing the names of clergy accused of the sexual abuse of minors since 1953, SNAP Connecticut issued a statement Tuesday calling for the archdiocese to release more information about the men, including their current locations.

Mark Belenchia remembers the first time he saw his would-be abuser.

Belenchia was playing third base, wearing a white, wool baseball uniform with green socks pulled up to his knees. A matching green hat covered his mop of dark brown hair. He was 12 years old.

by Fr. Peter Daly

Nothing.

That is what I am expecting from the bishops in Rome in February.

Nothing.

Maybe that seems a bit pessimistic, but I think it is realistic. I've been disappointed at their lack of courage and leadership before. So, this time, it is best to expect nothing.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Newly inaugurated state attorneys general said they plan to continue investigations of clergy abuse in the Roman Catholic church as thousands of victims reach out to state hotlines and online systems to report past abuse.

Dallas police have issued a warrant for a priest accused of sexual abuse who hasn't been seen for months, the Dallas County Sheriff's Department confirmed Tuesday.

NEW YORK (AP) — The governing body for the Jesuit order in the northeastern United States released a list Tuesday of 50 priests under its jurisdiction who have been credibly accused of sexual misconduct with minors.

Fifteen years after acknowledging it exists, and months after promising its release, the Diocese of Lafayette still has not released a list of priests who have faced credible accusations of sexual abuse involving children. KATC Investigates is breaking that silence, and releasing its own list.