News Story of the Day
New Orleans Archdiocese agrees to release church abuse files as part of court settlement
NEW ORLEANS (LA)
Times-Picayune [New Orleans LA]
July 21, 2024
By Stephanie Riegel
Archbishop Gregory Aymond said he has agreed to release old files controlled by the Archdiocese of New Orleans detailing decades of child sex abuse by local clergy and make the documents publicly accessible once the church’s long-running bankruptcy case is resolved.
Washington AG will appeal court decision rejecting subpoena of Seattle Archdiocese
Vatican admits sexual abuse undermines the Church’s credibility
An official document for the Synod in October of this year explicitly accepts a loss of credibility due to the clergy sexual abuse crisis.
Although credibility has been at stake since the sexual abuse crisis exploded, this is the first time a Vatican document officially admits its pervasive effects.
In Spain, the Catholic bishops announced a plan to offer reparations to victims of clergy sexual abuse, but it is not clear how they will do so.
By Rodolfo Soriano-Núñez
This week the issue of clergy sexual abuse in the Catholic Church became a priority at the global scale and even more in Spain.
Judge rejects effort by Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson to get records from Catholic church
FILE - Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson arrives for a bill signing on April 27, 2023, at the University of Washington’s Hans Rosling Center for Population Health in Seattle. A Washington state judge said Friday, July 12, 2024 that Ferguson is not entitled to enforce a subpoena seeking decades of records from the Seattle Archdiocese, despite his assertion that the records are needed to learn whether the Catholic church used charitable trust funds to cover up sexual abuse by priests. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson, File)
How the Fresno Catholic Diocese bankruptcy filing in August will impact abuse survivors
Spain’s church to compensate victims whose abusers have died. Victims say the plan lacks guarantees
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Spain’s Catholic bishops approved Tuesday a plan to compensate the victims of sexual abuse inside the Church whose alleged aggressors have died or whose possible crimes have been proscribed, an initiative the government and victims’ associations called lacking in real guarantees.
Massachusetts lawmakers seek to expand scope of certain sexual offenses
BOSTON (AP) — A bill that would expand the scope of certain sexual offenses under Massachusetts law perpetrated by a health care provider or a member of the clergy is making its way through Beacon Hill.
Archbishop Etienne of Seattle Equates AG Ferguson’s Clergy Abuse Investigation to Oversight on “Refill[Ing] Toilet Paper Dispensers”
SEATTLE (WA)
Catholic Accountability Project (CAP) [Seattle WA]
July 2, 2024
By Catholic Accountability Project
Archbishop Etienne argues in court brief that the state has no right to investigate sexual abuse or financial mismanagement
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: JULY 1, 2024
Earlier this afternoon, Archbishop Paul D. Etienne of Seattle submitted his opposition to Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s petition to compel the archdiocese to cooperate with the AGO’s subpoenas demanding abuse-related documents from Washington State’s three Catholic dioceses.
Ex-Missionaries of Charity allege culture of abuse and neglect
ROME – Almost three decades after her death, Saint Teresa of Kolkata, commonly and affectionately referred to as “Mother Teresa,” remains an international icon of charity and among the most beloved figures in the world, probably the Catholic Church’s most celebrated 20th century personality who wasn’t a pope.
Named Time’s “Person of the Year” in 1975, Mother Teresa also founded a religious order, the Missionaries of Charity, which has become one of the Catholic Church’s most celebrated institutions, almost universally hailed for its service to the “poorest of the poor.”
