Sexual Assault Prevention Programming. For the first time, Minnesota has approved state funding for Sexual Assault prevention programming. As part of the Public Safety budget, $300,000 will be allotted to address risks, policies and practices with the goal of reducing the likelihood of sexual abuse.
News & Events
In what has become a tragically routine turn of events, another credibly accused priest has been sheltered from justice by Catholic hierarchs. Indeed, an accused priest, Father Carlos Urrutigoity, was promoted to vicar general of the Diocese of Eastern Paraguay’s Ciudad del Este following accusations of sex abuse in three other locations. One of these was the Diocese of Winona in Minnesota.Urrutigoity was ordained as a member of the rigidly traditionalist Society of St. Pius X in the Diocese of Winona in 1989. But far from having a promising start to his career as a priest…
The issue of clergy sexual abuse was addressed on an international scale last Friday when the United Nations Committee on the Convention Against Torture issued a seething review of the Holy See’s yearly report. The Committee found that Vatican officials failed to properly report child sex abuse charges, shuffled priests to different dioceses rather than disciplining them, and failed to pay adequate compensation to survivors of child sex abuse.As a party to the Convention Against Torture (CAT) since 2002, the Holy See has a legal obligation to take international responsibility for its…
The need for vigilance in protecting children from sexual abuse was again underscored by reports of abuse at Linwood Monroe Arts Plus school. St. Paul Public Schools…
Today, Vice News released the documentary Love Serve Surrender, a powerful film about the struggle of five boys in Hawaii to expose Jay Ram, the foster father who sexually abused them and more than two dozen more.If ever there were a case where moral value and public imperative are tantamount, this case is it.Throughout their adult lives, Jay’s adopted and foster sons climbed a mountain of adversity. They struggled with the shame and trauma of their abuse and their life with Jay on his Big Island farm. Then, when they were strong enough to try and protect other children, they were turned back …
Some have referred to it as “pass the trash”. Some have referred to it more diplomatically as the “geographic solution”. No matter what you call it, the practice is the same. When a cleric abuses a child, the cleric is simply relocated away from the problem to another location. In some cases the cleric is relocated to a neighboring parish and in some cases the cleric re-appears far away in another state or country.Recent information emerging from the Diocese of Scranton, Pennsylvania highlights the immense geographic barriers utilized by the Church worldwide to obscure …
Recent reports that a Twin Cities youth pastor was charged with trying to solicit nude photos from girls ages 13 to 15 via social media sites serve as a reminder that churches and other organizations that work with youth have a long way to go regarding protecting minors from adult predators.Matthew T. Boos, 24, of St. Louis Park, Minn., a youth pastor at River Valley Church in Savage, Minn., was charged Monday with two felonies related to soliciting sexual conduct with a minor via electronic communications. He allegedly posed as a 15-year-old girl on Facebook and other sites and solicited girls..
Talk is cheap. In the case of Archbishop of Philadelphia Charles J. Chaput, talk is also cynical, misleading and hurtful.Chaput apologized to survivors of clergy sex abuse during a homily at a “Mass for Healing for Victims of Clergy Sexual Abuse” Saturday in Philadelphia. Chaput also acknowledged the negligence of the “church’s pastors” in allowing the abuse to occur. What Chaput didn’t do – and hasn’t done – is take action to help sexual abuse survivors. In fact, he’s taken actions that hurt them. Let’s take a look at what Chaput hasn’t done. He hasn’t supported extending the Penns…
With the arrest of Chaska’s World Learner’s School substitute teacher Matthew VanHecke in December, 2013 and his subsequent admission to “touching three juvenile girls” at the school where he worked in 2012 and 2013, it is imperative that lessons be learned from these horrific events.Schools and other institutions that provide services to children must understand that conducting a background check on a potential employee does not relieve them of their responsibilities associated with ensuring the safety of children under their care. According to officials from two of his employers, District…
Today the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child’s Report to the Vatican confirms what we have known for decades, top officials in the Catholic Church:1) have not acknowledged the extent of the crimes committed;2) have not taken the necessary measures to address cases of child sexual abuse and to protect children; and3) have adopted policies and practices which have continued to put children in danger While this report made international news today, it is not news to us. Just in the last few months we’ve revealed extensive cover-up through the release of documents and lists of…
Last month the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Diocese of Winona took an undeniably positive first step toward transparency when they released their lists of accused priests. This was the first public disclosure of the two lists, which together name 46 priests accused of sexual abuse of minors, since these lists were compiled in 2004. Following suit were St. John’s Abbey, the Diocese of Duluth, and the Diocese of St. Cloud, which each released their list of accused priests in the last month. While the need for transparency has been stressed by leaders from dioceses s…
Pope Francis as the “person of the year”? Time Magazine thinks so.While Pope Francis has certainly distinguished himself from his predecessors by shedding the extravagant robes, choosing the guest house instead of the official papal apartment, and refusing standard Vatican security measures such as riding in the popemobile, what is less certain is whether the current Pope will set himself apart when it comes to the continuing child sex abuse scandal facing the Catholic Church. As a recent commentary in the Huffington Post points out, Pope Francis has yet to devote much, if any, attention …
It is tragic, unspeakable, and unacceptable for any child to be a victim of sexual abuse. However, one pattern we see far too often is a serial perpetrator like Chad Michael Geyen seeking out vulnerable children as victims. Criminals like Geyen know what kids they’re looking for, and they know where to find them. Chad Geyen found some of his vulnerable victims in the Big Brothers and Big Sisters program, and others through foster care programs, where he feigned concern for the well-being and future of numerous children in order to gain access to them. The Big Brothers and Big Sisters…
What a better place to find evidence of concealing clerical child abuse but in a newly opened secret archive. Karen Liebreich began digging in a previously closed archive and recounts her findings in “Fallen Order”. Liebreich tells the sordid story of the Piarist Fathers origins and things not remembered.One of those things not remembered is how a child abuser rose to become the General Superior of the Order. This sounds like foder for the Darknet but the story illustrates how the cover up of child sexual abuse occurs in roman circles.Father Stefano Cherubini Sch.P. was a rich roma…
An important lesson plan: our schools need to be safe for our children, not a safe haven for child predators. Bemidji School District was named in two lawsuits filed yesterday in Beltrami County on behalf of two more survivors who were sexually abused by former hockey coach and physical education teacher, John Wangberg, at Central Elementary School. We now represent five children who have filed lawsuits claiming the school was negligent in allowing Wangberg continued access to children despite receiving reports of inappropriate behavior with minors as early as 2008. Wangberg taught …