News & Events

The safety of our children must come first.It’s a simple, direct, crystal clear statement. It’s one that we’ve put to clergy members in the form of a question in clergy child sex abuse cases many times over the years: “Father, wouldn’t you agree that the safety of our children must come first?” They’ve almost always answered in the affirmative. How could they not? Distilled this simply, the statement is an absolute no-brainer.Yet, the Catholic Church hierarchy ignores this truth to protect itself, making excuses, convoluted arguments and specious assertions of blame for sexual abuse of child…

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month and Sexual Assault Awareness Month. As we recognize the importance of protecting children and helping survivors heal and thrive, we urge everyone to join the child protection movement and do the same – this month and beyond.You can do this in many ways. Simply talking about child abuse and sexual violence is one way. Having thoughtful, open and trauma-informed conversations about abuse helps break the often-present stigma around it. It is often very difficult for survivors to disclose their abuse. Being open and present for survivors – and telling them you…

One of the eastern seaboard’s most notorious predator priests, Father Romano Ferraro, is up for parole on a life sentence. For decades Ferraro was moved from parish to parish under the protection of Roman Catholic hierarchs, all the while sexually abusing countless children in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Missouri. This man is as dangerous today as he was back when he first admitted his sexual desires for young boys as a seminarian in 1955.His parole hearing is Tuesday, April 9, 2019 at 10:00 a.m. at the Massachusetts Parole Board’s Central Office at 12 Mercer Road, Natick, MA…

In response to the bombshell 2018 Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report on clergy sexual abuse, six of Pennsylvania’s eight dioceses are offering compensation programs for survivors. The best response would be for Pennsylvania lawmakers to enact a Child Victims Act giving survivors more time to bring civil lawsuits against pedophiles and their enabling institutions, and opening a window for bringing claims currently barred by the statute of limitations. The Pennsylvania bishops won’t give up their secrets and stop protecting abusive clergy until that happens.But the compensation programs no doubt…

The Vatican summit on Catholic clergy child sex abuse ended as these things usually do, with a lot of defensive and cynical lip service from the pope that has no apparent purpose other than public relations shell games. This time, it included a lot of papal talk about the devil.On the eve of the summit with 180 of his bishops last week, Pope Francis proclaimed that critics of the Church are “friends, cousins and relatives of the devil.”, an assertion so stunningly ridiculous and tone deaf that it is hard to believe a pope uttered it with a straight face. As the summit ended, Pope Francis state…

Pope Francis to host “unprecedented” summit on child sexual abuseNew York’s history-making Child Victims Act is a victory for sexual abuse survivors in the face of – and in response to – decades of cover-up and inactivity by powerful institutions. The new law allows sexual abuse survivors more time to seek justice and healing while holding enabling institutions accountable and pressuring them to finally be transparent and safe. The New York Child Victims Act comes in the midst of a head-spinning era of sexual abuse prevention activity, public pressure and publicity in which we read about…