News & Events

May 01, 2014: Attorney: More Van de Loo Victims

An attorney representing a number of people who have filed medical malpractice lawsuits against a former Eau Claire pediatrician said Wednesday that at least two more civil suits can be expected.Michael Finnegan, during a motion hearing in Eau Claire County Court, told Judge Michael Schumacher that two more claims would soon be filed against David A. Van de Loo, Mayo Clinic Health System and their insurers.Finnegan made the statement during a hearing to postpone depositions today of a total of four current or former Mayo employees.Finnegan said his St. Paul law firm, which represents a number …

Apr 23, 2014: News Release: Former Honolulu Vicar General Named in Lawsuit

News ReleaseApril 23, 2014Former Honolulu Vicar General Marc Alexander Named in Lawsuit Alexander is accused of sexually abusing a girl whileworking as a priest at St. John Vianney in Kailua (Honolulu, HI) – With less than 48 hours left to take legal action, a courageous sexual abuse survivor has filed a civil lawsuit in Hawaii today, naming former Vicar General Marc Alexander and the Diocese of Honolulu as defendants and claiming the Diocese was grossly negligent in allowing Alexander to work with children. The courageous survivor, Jane Roe 42, was a minor and attended St. John…

Apr 16, 2014: News Release: Fr. Kevin McDonough Deposed in Civil Lawsuit Today

Today, the deposition of the Archdiocese’s former Vicar General, Father Kevin McDonough, was taken in a civil lawsuit as ordered by Ramsey County Judge John Van de North.The testimony today concluded with attorney Jeff Anderson asking Father McDonough if he,  Jeff Anderson, had exaggerated the risk posed to the public by the practices employed by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Apr 16, 2014: News Release: Documentary Details Abuse of Foster Kids in Hawaii, California

 Documentary exposes Hawaii predator foster parentThe system failed his “sons”Now Hawaii civil window gives them best chance at justiceLawyers Gallagher, Anderson took case on “moral imperative”(Hawaii) – In an explosive new documentary, a former Big Island rancher now residing in Tampa, FL, has been exposed as a serial child predator, who used Hawaii Social Services to gain new victims.  Now, those victims are using a powerful new law to get justice. But after April 24,the law expires and other, older victims may lose their rights in the courts.LOVE SERVE SURRENDER, a 29-minute…

Apr 15, 2014: Charges: Minister sexually abused young ‘Maidens’ kept in camp for years

A 52-year-old man who ruled “like a rock star” over a camp of “Maidens” in east-central Minnesota has been charged with sexually abusing at least two among several teenage girls while they lived for years apart from their families, authorities said Tuesday.Victor A. Barnard, who has yet to be apprehended but is believed to be in Washington state, was charged in Pine County last week with 59 counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct after a Sheriff’s Office investigation that spanned years. His last known address was in Finlayson, Minn.Barnard abused the girls starting in 2000 while in a C…

Apr 15, 2014: Task Force Faults Twin Cities Archdiocese For ‘Dreadful’ Abuses

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis suffers from “serious shortcomings” in its handling of child sex-abuse complaints that have allowed priests to continue abusing victims, sometimes for years, a task force reported Monday.The solution, according to the church-ordered study, is to foster a culture that “places victims first” and creates more accountability by involving ordinary church members in the oversight and discipline of wayward clergy.“The Archdiocese concentrated too much power in one or two individuals to make decisions regarding allegations of clergy sexual abuse of minors,” …

Apr 14, 2014: Police: Singing Boys Founder Had Two Suitcases With 1,101 Child Porn Images Inside

K. Bernard Schade, the founder of the Singing Boys of Pennsylvania choir facing rape charges, had more than 1,100 pictures of child pornography stashed in two suitcases at his home and asked a neighbor to hide them knowing police would come looking for them, according to court records.Schade, 74, was awaiting a hearing on charges he allegedly raped a boy in 1996 and called his neighbor from Monroe County Correctional Facility, asking her to remove the two locked suitcases from his Middle Smithfield Township home and keep them in a safe place, according to court records.Schade told the neighbor…

Apr 14, 2014: U.N. to question Vatican again on clergy sex abuse

NEW YORK (AP) — A second U.N. committee plans to question Vatican officials on failures to stop clergy sex abuse.The hearing scheduled for May 5-6 in Geneva will look at whether the Vatican’s record on child protection violates the U.N. Convention Against Torture. The Holy See ratified the treaty in 2002.Vatican spokesmen said Monday they could not immediately comment.Last January, Vatican officials testified for eight hours before an obscure human rights committee on the scale of clergy sex abuse globally.The Vatican was compelled to appear as a signatory to the U.N. Convention for the Rights…

Apr 14, 2014: U.N. to Question Vatican Again on Clergy Sex Abuse

NEW YORK (AP) — A second U.N. committee plans to question Vatican officials on failures to stop clergy sex abuse.The hearing scheduled for May 5-6 in Geneva will look at whether the Vatican’s record on child protection violates the U.N. Convention Against Torture. The Holy See ratified the treaty in 2002.Vatican spokesmen said Monday they could not immediately comment.Last January, Vatican officials testified for eight hours before an obscure human rights committee on the scale of clergy sex abuse globally.The Vatican was compelled to appear as a signatory to the U.N. Convention for the Rights…

Apr 11, 2014: Pope Francis Asks Forgiveness For Priests Who Sexually Abused Children

(CNN) — Pope Francis made his strongest condemnation yet of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy on Friday, asking for forgiveness and pledging to impose penalties on “men of the church” who harm children.”I feel compelled to personally take on all the evil which some priests — quite a few in number, obviously not compared to the number of all the priests — to personally ask for forgiveness for the damage they have done for having sexually abused children,” the Pope said in remarks quoted by Vatican Radio.”The church is aware of this damage, it is personal, moral damage carried out by men of the…

Apr 07, 2014: News Release: Former Hawaii Bp. Joseph Ferrario Named in 5th Lawsuit

(Honolulu, HI) – Less than three weeks before a legal deadline, a Honolulu man has come forward and filed a lawsuit charging that he was sexually abused by Catholic priests and a former Catholic bishop.The lawsuit, filed Friday, says that the victim, John Roe 27, was sexually abused at St. Stephen’s Seminary and Damien Memorial School. The boy was a 14-year-old student at St. Stephen’s in 1968 when Fr. William Queenan began …

Apr 07, 2014: News Release: Former Hawaii Bp. Joseph Ferrario Named

News ReleaseApril 7, 2014

Sex
abuse lawsuit filed against diocese, former bishopNew Hawaii predator priest exposed

Deadline
to come forward, use courts is April 24 

(Honolulu, HI) – Less than three weeks before a legal
deadline, a Honolulu man has come forward and filed a lawsuit charging that he
was sexually abused by Catholic priests and a former Catholic bishop.

The lawsuit, filed Friday, says that the victim, John Roe 27, was sexually
abused at St. Stephen’s Seminary and Damien Memorial School. The boy was a
14-year-old student at St. Stephen’s in 1968 when …