Tag Archives: molestation

Law & Crime reports: A 2017 federal lawsuit filed by four of the Duggar sisters against Arkansas law enforcement was dismissed on Wednesday, ending the sisters’ battle over the alleged improper sharing of official reports detailing their molestation by their brother, Josh Duggar. Jill Duggar Dillard, Jessa Duggar Seewald, Jinger Duggar Vuolo, and Joy Duggar Forsythe sued various city and …

The Associated Press reports: Retired Pope Benedict XVI asked forgiveness Tuesday for any “grievous faults” in his handling of clergy sex abuse cases, but admitted to no personal or specific wrongdoing after an independent report criticized his actions in four cases while he was archbishop of Munich, Germany. “I have had great responsibilities in the Catholic Church. All the greater …

Kansas City’s ABC News affiliate reports: A Gladstone man, who recently spoke in support of banning books from North Kansas City School District libraries that depicted sexual acts, is facing a felony charge of second-degree child molestation and a misdemeanor charge of fourth-degree domestic assault. Ryan Utterback, 29, is also facing a misdemeanor charge of furnishing pornographic material or attempting …

The BBC reports: Former Pope Benedict XVI failed to act over four child abuse cases when he was archbishop of Munich, a German probe into the Catholic Church has alleged. Pope Benedict, then called Josef Ratzinger, held the position from 1977 to 1982. He has denied the accusations. But a new report into historical abuse allegations carried out by a …

ABC News reports: A Catholic diocese in Poland apologized today for having asked a court to determine whether a man who was sexually abused as a child by a priest is gay, and whether the sexual contact may have consequently been pleasurable for him. Following wide criticism, the Bielsko-Zywiec diocese said that its letter to the court should not have …

The Christian Post reports: A former youth pastor in Indiana has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for molesting several boys aged 11 to 13 for several years. An Elkhart County judge sentenced the 46-year-old man, Scott Christner, formerly a youth group leader for First Baptist Church in Goshen, to three nine-year sentences for Level 4 felonies and 20 …

The BBC reports: A Russian court has jailed for 21 years a former Orthodox priest, said to have adopted 70 children, for a string of child abuse offences. Nikolai Stremsky was convicted of raping several children and other violent acts in his parish in the Urals in south-west Russia. Stremsky was reputed to have Russia’s largest family and was decorated …

The Guardian reports: Catholic priests must report all child sexual abuse allegations to police, including if they hear about it in the secrecy of the confession box, the French interior minister has said after reprimanding France’s top bishop for claiming that the secrecy of the Catholic confessional was “above the laws of the Republic”. France is reeling from the publication …

Euronews reports: The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Cologne will take a “spiritual time-out” from his duties after committing grave errors in a crisis over clerical sexual abuse, but will retain his post, the Vatican said on Friday. Archbishop Rainer Maria Woelki, 65, had faced criticism for his handling of allegations of past child sex abuse, in particular for shelving a …

The Associated Press reports: Pope Francis urged European bishops on Saturday to listen to survivors of clergy sexual abuse and consider them partners in reform, warning that their failure to do so risks the very future of the Catholic Church. Francis issued a video message to Central and Eastern European bishops who are gathering in Poland starting on Sunday for …

The Associated Press reports: A Catholic priest that led parishes in Massachusetts has been found guilty of sexually abusing a child in the 1960s by a church panel and barred from public ministry, the Archdiocese of Boston said Friday. Paul J. McLaughlin, a former pastor of St. Peter Parish in Lowell and Immaculate Conception Parish in Marlboro, will not be …

The Associated Press reports: Former Roman Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the once-powerful American prelate who was expelled from the priesthood for sexual abuse, pleaded not guilty Friday to sexually assaulting a 16-year-old boy during a wedding reception in Massachusetts nearly 50 years ago. McCarrick, 91, wore a mask and entered suburban Boston’s Dedham District Court hunched over a walker. “Shame …

The Associated Press release: For two years, New York temporarily set aside its usual time limit on civil lawsuits in order to allow victims of childhood sexual abuse to sue churches, hospitals, schools, camps, scout groups and other institutions and people they hold responsible for enabling pedophiles or turning a blind eye to wrongdoing. That window closes Saturday, after more …

The Albany Times-Union reports: The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany engaged in a decades-long cover-up of chronic child sexual abuse committed by its priests by employing practices described in a recent statement from former Bishop Howard J. Hubbard, who ran the diocese from 1977 to 2014. Hubbard’s statement, issued through his attorney in response to a series of questions from …

Wichita Falls’ NBC News affiliate reports: A Vernon minister has been arrested after a 15-year-old girl told police she had sexual intercourse with him multiple times, according to an arrest affidavit. On July 1, an officer reportedly talked with the girl’s mother, who was searching for her at a motel. While at the motel, the officer spoke with Brian Pounds, …

The Christian Post reports: Chets Creek Church, a multi-campus Southern Baptist megachurch in Florida, was “shocked and devastated” to learn that former Southside campus pastor Jeff Bedwell was recently arrested for allegedly grooming and sexually molesting a young girl from the age of 12 until she turned 17. “Chets Creek was shocked and devastated to learn of the charges made …

Reuters reports: One of Roman Catholicism’s most influential liberal figures, Germany’s Cardinal Reinhard Marx, has offered to resign as archbishop of Munich, saying he had to share responsibility for the “catastrophe” of sexual abuse by clerics over past decades. His offer, which Pope Francis has yet to accept, follows an uproar among the German faithful over abuse. Last week, the …

The Associated Press reports: An archbishop of Newark groomed a 5-year-old girl by delivering food to her struggling family and regularly babysitting her, then sexually abusing her on multiple occasions in the 1970s, a lawsuit alleges. The suit filed in March is believed to be the first to level sexual abuse charges against the late Peter Gerety, who died in …

The Denver Post reports: For decades, survivors of childhood sexual abuse and their advocates have urged states to let them hold abusers accountable in civil court, no matter how long it’s been since the abuse. A bipartisan bill in the Colorado Legislature to do just that so far appears to have widespread approval, but it’s not without opposition from the …

From the head of the US Conference Of Catholic Bishops: I must point out that our new President has pledged to pursue certain policies that would advance moral evils and threaten human life and dignity, most seriously in the areas of abortion, contraception, marriage, and gender. Of deep concern is the liberty of the Church and the freedom of believers …