A powerful new force has emerged in the fight against child sexual abuse and the protection of predator priests in the Catholic Church. This week, as profiled by Laurie Goodstein, in the New York Times, a group of Catholic Whistleblowers composed of nuns and priests have come together to provide an alternative viewpoint from inside the Church hierarchy concerning the state of child protection within the Catholic Church. Despite assertions to the contrary, the Catholic Church still suffers from poor decision-making and the failure to prioritize children over the priesthood. A…
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A judge has ordered a New Jersey priest wait behind bars while a grand jury considers whether he violated a legal agreement to stay away from children. Bail for Michael Fugee remains at $25,000 following his brief court appearance Tuesday in Bergen County, where he’s charged with seven counts of judicial contempt. Fugee did not have an attorney with him at his appearance Tuesday. He resigned from the Archdiocese of Newark on May 2, saying in a letter that he did not inform the archdiocese that he had a youth ministry and was working with children. “My failure to request the required permissi…
Jesuit officials in Chicago will pay $19.6 million to settle a civil lawsuit brought by six men who claim they were molested by a former priest and onetime spiritual adviser to Mother Teresa, an attorney for the plaintiffs said Monday. Donald McGuire, formerly of Oak Lawn, is serving a 25-year prison term after being convicted in Chicago in 2008 of federal charges that he brought a minor across state lines to engage in sex. He also was convicted in 2006 of molesting two boys in Wisconsin during the 1960s. “The amount of the settlement is reflective of the magnitude of misconduct by the top J…
Media AdvisoryMay 20, 2013 Chicago News Conference Tuesday Attorneys to announce record $19.6 Million settlement of lawsuit of six sexual abuse victims of prominent former Jesuit Donald McGuire Survivors and Attorneys to present newly obtained details and photos What: At a news conference on Tuesday in Chicago prominent clergy abuse attorneys Jeff Anderson and Marc Pearlman will: • Announce the settlement of a lawsuit against the Jesuit’s Chicago Province of the Society of Jesus involving sexual abuse of six men sexually abused as youth by former Jesuit Donald McGuire.• I…
On Tuesday, May 14, 2013, our clients, Jane Doe 173 and her parents, settled a historic lawsuit against the Diocese of Kansas City – St. Joseph and its Bishop, Robert Finn. Their case was significant for two reasons. First, through the lawsuit, Jane Doe 173, with the brave support of her family, sought justice for the damages caused by Bishop Finn’s actions in supporting Father Shawn Ratigan, a child pornographer, at the expense of numerous children from the Diocese, including Jane Doe. Second, Jane Doe 173 brought her claim under Masha’s Law, a federal statute which allows survivo…
On Tuesday, May 14, 2013, our clients, Jane Doe 173 and her parents, settled a historic lawsuit against the Diocese of Kansas City – St. Joseph and its Bishop, Robert Finn. Their case was significant for two reasons. First, through the lawsuit, Jane Doe 173, with the brave support of her family, sought justice for the damages caused by Bishop Finn’s actions in supporting Father Shawn Ratigan, a child pornographer, at the expense of numerous children from the Diocese, including Jane Doe. Second, Jane Doe 173 brought her claim under Masha’s Law, a federal statute which allows survivo…
The Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese has settled a civil lawsuit involving a priest convicted last year of producing child pornography.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court against the diocese, Bishop Robert Finn and the Rev. Shawn Ratigan by the parents of a young northern Missouri girl, was settled Tuesday for $600,000, attorneys for the girl’s family said.
It is the diocese’s largest settlement in a single priest sex abuse case, they said.
“It was good for the family and I’m sure it was good for the diocese to get this resolved,” said Gregg Meyers of Jeff Anderson & Associates in…
LOS ANGELES – A judge refused Tuesday to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that a fugitive Mexican priest molested a boy 25 years ago in Los Angeles and instead combined claims by 11 alleged victims into one trial. Superior Court Judge Emilie Elias postponed trial in the lawsuit involving the Rev. Nicolas Aguilar Rivera and, for now, denied a request by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles for a change of venue. The lawsuit claims Aguilar Rivera molested the plaintiff in 1987 while in Los Angeles, where he was working for one year after being severely beaten in his home parish in the Dioce…
BENNINGTON — The Legislature agreed Tuesday to extend the statute of limitations on crimes committed against children after a local prosecutor sought changes following the trial of former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. 40-year statute of limitations Sexual crimes committed against a child will now have a 40-year statute of limitations. Current law only allows for prosecution of sexual assault, lewd and lascivious conduct, sexual exploitation of a minor within 10 years after it is reported or until a child turns 24. Bennington County Chief Deputy State’s Attorney Christ…
KAMPALA, Uganda — He is a celebrity across eastern and central Africa, a gospel-music star known to many as the “Dancing Priest.” But for years he also was a keeper of painful secrets — his own and many others’. In going public, Anthony Musaala has forced the Roman Catholic Church in Uganda to confront a problem it had insisted didn’t exist. And he may stir a debate far beyond Africa’s most Catholic of countries. The Ugandan priest has been suspended indefinitely by the archbishop of Kampala for exposing what he calls an open secret: that sex abuse in the Catholic Church is a problem…
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Federal authorities in Puerto Rico have arrested an executive at Pfizer Pharmaceutical for allegedly producing child pornography. Officials say 48-year-old Reinaldo Diaz Camacho was charged after Puerto Rico police received information that he was having sexually explicit conversations with a 16-year-old boy on Facebook. U.S. Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodriguez said Thursday that the boy’s mother told authorities she had seen the conversations on her son’s cellphone. Rodriguez says Diaz had sent the boy sexually explicit images via Facebook and text messages. She says a f…
The criminal trial for Eau Claire pediatrician David Van de Loo, accused of sexually assaulting 16 former male patients, won’t be held in Eau Claire County. But the dates of the trial and its location are still up in the air. Eau Claire County Judge Michael Schumacher granted Van de Loo’s motion for a change of venue on Thursday. “There’s a reasonable likelihood a fair trial cannot be had in Eau Claire County,” Schumacher said. Schumacher cited media coverage and Van de Loo’s prominent status in the Eau Claire area as factors leading to changing the location of the trial. Van de Lo…
The Roman Catholic priest at the center of a public furor enveloping Newark Archbishop John J. Myers has resigned from ministry, a spokesman for the archdiocese said tonight. The Rev. Michael Fugee, who attended youth retreats and heard confessions from minors in defiance of a lifetime ban on such behavior, submitted his request to leave ministry this afternoon, said the spokesman, Jim Goodness. Myers promptly accepted the resignation, Goodness said. Fugee, 52, remains a priest but no longer has authority to say Mass, perform sacramental work or represent himself as an active priest, Goodnes…
A San Antonio appeals court on Wednesday denied the Boy Scouts of America’s appeal of an order requiring the group to disclose years of so-called perversion files in a child abuse lawsuit. The 4th Texas Court of Appeals’ brief order Wednesday rejects the Scouts’ request for a reversal of a lower-court order on internal “ineligible volunteer” files of abuse complaints within the organization. Files from 1959 to 1985 were publicly revealed in an Oregon case and showed a decadeslong cover-up of sexual abuse allegations by Scout officials. Since then, courts in California and Minnesota have orde…
Rumors that the Roman Catholic church’s clergy sex abuse crisis is a problem of the past have been greatly exaggerated. “The bishops’ public relations machine has persuaded the people that it is a problem that was, not that is,” Jeff Anderson says, “and that is a living lie. There have been superficial changes, but not fundamental changes.” Anderson, one of the most well-known lawyers to bring a lawsuit against the Roman Catholic church, was part of a panel to promote the publication of Mortal Sins: Sex, Crime, and the Era of Catholic Scandal, a new book by journalist Michael D’Antonio. The…