News & Events

14 Apr: Attorney: Lawsuit against Vatican will be long and hard battle

The Vatican has been served with court papers related to allegations in a
sexual abuse case. St. Paul attorney Jeff Anderson said this week he was
notified that the papers were successfully filed through official diplomatic
channels.
The lawsuit was filed nearly a year ago in federal court on behalf of Terry
Kohut, now of Chicago. It claims Pope Benedict and two other top Vatican
officials knew about allegations of sexual abuse at St. John’s School for the
Deaf outside Milwaukee, and called off internal punishment of the accused
priest, the late Rev. Lawrence Murphy.

13 Apr: Vatican served with court papers in Wisconsin abuse case

The Vatican has been served with court papers stemming
from decades-old allegations of sexual abuse against a now-deceased priest at a
Wisconsin school for the deaf.Jeff Anderson, an attorney for the man
making the allegations, said he had been notified the papers were filed through
official diplomatic channels.”Every time we make a step forward, as long
as that takes, we are going in the right direction,” Anderson said. “And the
direction we’re headed is a measure of accountability. We really believe that we
need to put some heat on the Vatican to bring some light.”

12 Apr: Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s questionable transfers of money leading up to bankruptcy

Yesterday the Creditors’ Committee in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee Bankruptcy
proceedings asked the Court to hire a forensic accounting firm to scrutinize the
Archdiocese and Archbishop Timothy Dolan’s transfer of millions of dollars in
the years leading up to the bankruptcy. The forensic accountants the
Creditor’s Committee is recommending are experts in reviewing financial affairs
of organizations, including transfers of money by the organization.

07 Apr: Survivors of man who alleged Philadelphia clergy abuse sue

It was one of the more searing allegations in the recent Philadelphia grand
jury report on clergy sex abuse:
A Bristol Township man killed himself after the Archdiocese of Philadelphia
refused to believe that a priest had molested him when he was an altar boy.
On Wednesday, relatives of the man, Daniel Neill, became the latest to sue
the archdiocese over its response to abuse victims. Neill shot himself in June
2009.
“It’s a wrongful death is what it is,” said Jeff Anderson, a lawyer for
Neill’s family.

The grand jury cited the handling of Neill’s complaint as one of three …

06 Apr: Wrongful Death Claim to Be Filed Against Philadelphia Archdiocese Wednesday

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…

04 Apr: Oakland Tribune Viewpoint: Crisis in Catholic Church apparent in East Bay

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…

01 Apr: St. John’s Abbey released names of accused as part of lawsuit settlement.

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.

31 Mar: Molest suit: From Santa Rosa to Dublin

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.

29 Mar: Germany opens door for more civil cases of sexual abuse

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.