News

The child sex abuse scandal surrounding the Catholic Church has hit close to home, with fingers of accusation pointing at a priest revered in the local community.Father George DeCosta, who for almost three decades was the parish priest at Malia Puka O Kalani Catholic Church in Keaukaha, has been accused of abuse by two Hawaii men. The two were students at Damien Memorial High School in the 1960s when DeCosta was the chaplain there.The school is operated by Christian Brothers of Ireland, and the allegations have been made in claims filed against The Christian Brothers Institute and The…

The head football coach at Minnesota State University, Mankato, was arrested and jailed Tuesday afternoon on allegations that he had possessed and produced child pornography.Todd Hoffner, 46, of Eagle Lake, was arrested at his home. According to the university, Hoffner has been on leave from his coaching position since Friday and a school investigation is pending.He remained jailed Tuesday night on suspicion of “use of minors in a sexual performance” and possession of child pornography while authorities considered formal charges, according to the Blue Earth County Sheriff’s Office.

“We are saddened and disappointed that after ten
years in the federal courts, United States District of Oregon Judge Michael W.
Mosman dismissed the historic lawsuit (John V. Doe v. Holy See) brought by
clergy abuse victim John V. Doe against the Vatican for its role in the
cover-up and secrecy of the clergy abuse crisis in America.

Breck School wants to dismiss a lawsuit by a former student who claims that he was sexually abused by a former teacher there — and that school officials knew about it.Rich Covin, 52, a retired retina surgeon now living in Rhinelander, Wis., says he was abused by former teacher William Jacobs when Covin was a student at the Golden Valley school in the early 1970s.Covin came forward after Jacobs was charged in another case, 35 years after the Breck incident.He has sued and settled with the imprisoned Jacobs, but he also sued Breck in Hennepin County District Court in Minneapolis. 

In response to Plaintiff Richard Covin’s
lawsuit against Breck School for allowing him to be sexually abused by a known
sex offender, the school has moved to throw out Plaintiff’s lawsuit on the
grounds that his case is beyond the statute of limitations.

The Boy Scouts of America’s “perversion files” are stored in locked cabinets at the organization’s headquarters in Texas, accessible to only a few people.The documents detail allegations of sexual abuse against expelled Scout leaders, ostensibly to prevent them from participating in Scouting again.”It is a fact that Scouts are safer because the barrier created by these files is real,” Boy Scouts Chief Executive Robert Mazzuca said in June.But a review of the files by the Los Angeles Times found that more than 125 men on the blacklist were able to access – and allegedly continue to prey on – Bo…

As a priest, he absolved others of their sins in the anonymity of the confessional.Thursday afternoon, the Rev. Shawn Ratigan stood in the very public forum of a federal courtroom and confessed to some of his own.Ratigan, 46, pleaded guilty to using five girls to produce or attempt to produce child pornography over several years while serving as pastor to congregations in the Northland and St. Joseph.Each count carries a maximum sentence of up to 30 years in federal prison.“When a defendant who wears a religious collar, who has the trust of the community, engages in conduct of this nature, his…

Minneapolis, Minn. —The Minnesota Supreme Court on Wednesday tossed out a clergy abuse lawsuit by a man whose case rested on a repressed memory claim, siding with a lower court’s ruling that repressed memory is an unproven theory.James Keenan sued the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis and the Diocese of Winona, claiming that as a teenager he was sexually abused four times in 1980 or 1981 by Thomas Adamson, a priest who has since been defrocked.Keenan brought his claim in 2006, well outside the state’s six-year statute of limitations, but argued that it should be allowed because he repressed …

 News ReleaseJuly 25, 2012New clergy sex abuse case filed against Archdiocese of PhiladelphiaSt. Augustine religious order and prominent school Malvern Prep also cited as defendants(Philadelphia) A new lawsuit was filed today in Philadelphia County Court on behalf of a Delaware County man against the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, the Order of St. Augustine, a/k/a Augustinian, the prominent Philadelphia area Malvern Preparatory School and the alleged offender, John R. Liggio–a priest assigned to the school under the authority of both the Archdiocese and the religious order of Augustinians….

 July 25, 2012Statement of Jeff Anderson re: Minnesota Supreme Court decision – John Doe 76C v. Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and Diocese of Winona“We are deeply disappointed and shocked by the decision of the Minnesota Supreme Court to deny access to justice for this victim of childhood sexual abuse who repressed the memory of his abuse because it was so traumatic.  In its decision the court determined that science concerning repression of memory is unsettled enough that it can’t be used in the court and thus denies  Jim Keenan access to a trial–for this we are deepl…