News & Events

Press Release

April 5, 2011

Wrongful Death Claim to Be
Filed Against Philadelphia Archdiocese Wednesday

(Philadelphia) Attorneys for the family of “Ben”, the 36 year-old
former St. Mark Parish altar boy whose

tragic story of sexual abuse,
rejection and suicide was told in the recent Philadelphia Grand Jury Report

on clergy abuse in the
Archdiocese of Philadelphia, will file a wrongful death lawsuit against the
diocese

in the Court of Common Pleas,
Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday, April 6, 2011.

The following St…

AS A Catholic priest in voluntary exile from the
Diocese of Oakland since March 15, 2005, I decided a year ago to stand in public
solidarity with those being hurt the most by my church. Every Sunday I stand
outside Christ the Light Cathedral in Oakland with a sign that reads:
“Structural reform now! Include the Excluded: Women, Abuse Survivors, Gay
Persons.”
One recent Sunday a young man approached, read my sign
and said to me: “I have a better wording for your sign: (explitive) the pope.”
Another passerby said to me, “Why reform the Catholic Church? Why not just shut
it down…

The identities of 17 monks who have faced “credible allegations of sexual
abuse” or other misconduct were made public Monday, representing a break in the
secrecy that has long surrounded most Minnesota clergy abuse cases.
The names were released by St. John’s Abbey of Collegeville as part of a
settlement of clergy abuse lawsuits announced on Monday by St. Paul attorney
Jeff Anderson.

Four men who claim they were molested by a Humboldt County priest in the 1980s have dropped their case against the Catholic Diocese of Santa Rosa. But only so they can expand their target to include “an international conspiracy” that extends to Ireland, their attorneys said.The new suit will take aim not only the local diocese, but the Archdiocese of Dublin and the Catholic order that treated the priest for pedophilia, attorney Joseph George said Wednesday.

Adults who were victims of sexual abuse as children will soon have
considerably longer to sue for damages in German court. Germany’s cabinet
approved legislation on Wednesday that extends the statute of limitations to
take legal action in civil cases from three to 30 years after a victim’s 21st
birthday.

Jesuit leaders in Chicago largely ignored or kept secret numerous reports, spanning four decades, that a prominent priest was sexually abusing teenage boys, lawyers for victims charged on Monday in a motion for punitive damages in a Chicago court. Included in the motion were more than 65 recently obtained church documents and depositions that, the lawyers said, demonstrated “a reckless disregard for the safety of others in the face of repeated reports of sexual misconduct” on the part of Chicago Jesuit leaders.

Appalling Jesuit Cover-up Top Jesuit officials endangered children for over four decades and refused to cooperate with authorities in criminal…

Calling the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal “hideous” and “nauseating,” New York’s Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan says the scandal “needs to haunt” the church for some time to come.In the wide-ranging interview, Dolan also discusses his past role as the archbishop of Milwaukee, his current mission and the state of the church in America with “60 Minutes” correspondent Morley Safer.

(CBS News) Calling the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal “hideous” and “nauseating,” New York’s Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan says the scandal “needs to haunt” the church for some time to come.In the wide-ranging interview, Dolan also discusses his past role as the archbishop of Milwaukee, his current mission and the state of the church in America with “60 Minutes” correspondent Morley Safer. The profile of the leader of New York City’s two-million-plus Roman Catholics will be broadcast Sunday, March 20 at 7 p.m. ET/PT.Asked if he feared the impact of the scandal would go on forever, Dolan repli…