This month marks the 15th anniversary of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People (often referred to as the “Dallas Charter”), a document in which U.S. bishops pledged to protect children and address the staggering problem of Catholic clergy child sexual abuse by adopting policies with “a firm determination to resolve the crisis.” The milepost is another reminder that, by and large, institutions continue to say they strive for accountability with initiatives like the Charter but in reality they often need to be forced kicking and screaming to do the right things to…
News & Events
If “The Keepers” is not a reason to change the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse, then what is? The multi-dimensional Netflix documentary, directed by Ryan White, is an opportunity for everyone to know, feel, and understand the depths of chronic, institutional failure in real time. “The Keepers’ brings heightened awareness to the fact that we, as a culture, are still in crisis. It also provides a deeper understanding into the hearts and souls of survivors of child sexual abuse. Jean Wehner and the survivors featured in “The Keepers” were given a voice to share their truths and end…
Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges has bravely revealed that she was sexually abused for many years when she was a child, beginning when she was 8. We salute the courage it took for her to come forward.We also applaud the courage it takes for every survivor to come forward. Every survivor’s voice is important, no matter how famous or powerful. But, as April is Child Abuse Prevention Month and Sexual Assault Awareness Month, Mayor Hodge’s revelation is a timely reminder that abuse can affect anyone in our society and it provides powerful public leadership on abuse awareness.Mayor Hodges addressed…
Male survivors of child sexual abuse delay disclosure for 20 years on average. People often ask, why wouldn’t you tell someone you are being sexually abused when you instinctually know it is wrong and it makes you feel gross, dirty, tainted, scared, uncomfortable, and disgusted? The answer? For some, it’s an overwhelming sense of fear. This sense of fear often prevents a survivor from coming forward and telling someone about the sexual abuse they are suffering or have suffered. The reality is, many survivors have tried telling someone many times. He or she may have…
A recent article in The Atlantic examined the connection between trauma and overworking. While every survivor of childhood sexual abuse is impacted differently, the effects are often long-lasting. Over the years, research has determined that survivors of childhood sexual abuse are at an increased risk for emotional, behavioral, and physical problems as adults. More recently, researchers have shown a potential connection between childhood abuse and overworking in adulthood. Some survivors have expressed using work as a coping mechanism. Being engrossed in work leaves little time to think about …
Sad and unspeakable cases of child abuse come to our attention almost every day. It’s hard to avoid news such as former Penn State president Graham Spanier’s role in covering up the Jerry Sandusky scandal, child abuse in USA Gymnastics, and the dozens of clergy abuse victims in Guam. Here in Minnesota, we’ve just learned of charges against an Eagan daycare provider for allegedly assaulting a 13-month-old, and local news has brought stories of child sex abuse by teachers, bus drivers, clergy and Boy Scout leaders, among others over the past several months.The stories seem sadly inevitable and i…
The Archdiocese of New York announced that it will continue to voluntarily compensate some survivors of clerical sexual abuse – EVEN SURVIVORS WHO HAVE NOT COME FORWARD PREVIOUSLY.
In October of 2016, the Archdiocese of New York instituted a confidential compensation program. The program was initially available to only sexual abuse survivors who had previously reported the abuse they suffered to the Archdiocese. Now, the program has been extended to include sexual abuse survivors who have not previously reported to the Archdiocese. In other words, survivors who have been…
Yesterday, it was announced that for the first time ever known, a Catholic clergyman has been convicted of child sexual abuse in Mexico. Father Gerardo Silvestre Hernandez, a priest in the Archdiocese of Antequera Oaxaca, was sentenced to 16 years and 6 months in prison for plying child victims with alcohol, showing them pornographic films and then sexually abusing them. The National Catholic Reporter, reported Hernandez was arrested in 2013 and had been detained since then. According to World Religion News, 81% of Mexican adults are Catholic and Mexico has the second highest number of Catholi…
Recently, the Woodbury Police Department received a disturbing report of child sexual abuse involving a school bus aide from the South Washington County School District. Harvey Kneifl was charged with six (6) counts of Second Degree Sexual Assault involving the inappropriate touching of six (6) pre-school aged students after he was observed on video abusing the children on a school bus. As the Washington County Attorney stated, “What this defendant is alleged to have done is totally abhorrent to society.” Kneif’s actions are in stark contrast with what he was supposed to be doing and that’s pr…
Every morning as we prepare our children for another school day, we want to believe that the institution and teachers that work with our children have their best interests at heart. Unfortunately for several children at Lincoln Center Elementary in South St. Paul, this was not the case. Former teacher and trusted mentor, Aric Babbitt, preyed on the innocence and vulnerability of several students in the South St. Paul school district. Ten survivors have now come forward alleging sexual abuse by Babbitt and his husband Matthew Deyo. When a brave, young 16 year-old boy reported Babbitt and Deyo t…
In 2013 the Minnesota legislature passed the Child Victims Act. Since then, hundreds of sexual abuse survivors have stepped out of the shadows of secrecy, silence and shame, to seek justice for the abuse they suffered as children. Because of the Child Victims Act, at least 200 sexual predators were exposed to the public, making our communities safer for our children. In July 2013, The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis released a list of 33 priests credibly accused of child sexual abuse. That list has more than doubled and now stands at 69 with more names to come. The Diocese of Duluth…
Today the Attorney General charged 3 priests of the Franciscan, Catholic Religious Order in connection with their role regarding notorious predator Fr. Stephen Baker. Religious Order Priests are associated with a particular Catholic Order (i.e. Franciscans) and can move more freely from Diocese to Diocese and Jurisdiction to Jurisdiction. This jurisdictional mobility allows Religious Order priests to likely be the most unreported group of clerical sexual abusers in existence. Often a particular Diocese claims to not have authority or information regarding a Religious Order..
A letter arrived at my house last week that, right away, caught my attention. Now I don’t know about you, but there’s something about an attorney’s return address on an envelope addressed to me that makes finding out what’s inside a lot more important than the latest missive from Publisher’s Clearinghouse. So I stood there, barely in the door, coat still on and read, “We are sending this letter to anyone who may have attended a parish or school in the Diocese of Winona …”The letter was from Jeff Anderson & Associates…
A letter arrived at my house last week that, right away, caught my attention. Now I don’t know about you, but there’s something about an attorney’s return address on an envelope addressed to me that makes finding out what’s inside a lot more important than the latest missive from Publisher’s Clearinghouse. So I stood there, barely in the door, coat still on and read, “We are sending this letter to anyone who may have attended a parish or school in the Diocese of Winona …”
The letter was from Jeff Anderson & Assoc…
The impact Spotlight has made on the child protection movement became
even more apparent yesterday when the movie won Best Original Screenplay
and Best Picture at the Academy Awards. This is in addition to several
other awards claimed by the movie this year. Based on a true story,
Spotlight portrays the Boston Globe’s uncovering of the clergy abuse
scandal in the early 2000s. It is a powerful film exposing the global
concealment and cover-up of sexual abuse by Catholic officials for
decades at the expense of children.