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Milwaukee’s Roman Catholic archdiocese will ask a judge on Thursday to throw out hundreds of sexual abuse claims that have thrust it into bankruptcy, triggering a court battle and rekindling anger at the church’s mishandling of abusive clergy. The aggressive stance taken by the archdiocese reminds victims’ advocates how leaders of the U.S. church long resisted pleas to deal harshly with offenders…

A group of parents gathered across the street from an elementary school in a largely Latino neighborhood in South Los Angeles on Friday and took turns assailing its directors. Clutching a press release that had just been handed out by the school board, they were trying to process the news that a second teacher at their children’s school had been arrested on charges of sexual misconduct.

For at least the last 10 years, Catholic dioceses across the country have created lists of priests credibly accused of sexual misconduct.The lists have long been kept private by church officials. But over the last decade, dioceses in San Diego, Chicago, Boston and other cities have released such lists, largely under pressure.None of the six dioceses in Minnesota have yet published the names of the priests credibly accused. But some want that to change.Among them is St. Paul Attorney Jeff Anderson, who is well-known for representing victims and alleged victims of sexual abuse…

“We, and the many families and victims in the Diocese of Stockton, California, who have been wounded by the defrocked pedophile priest Oliver O’Grady are deeply gratified with the news today that an Ireland court has sentenced him to three years in prison for the possession of over 65,000 pornographic images of children on his laptop.    Those feelings, however, are mixed with fear that upon his release, he …

Advocates and therapists for survivors of male sex abuse say the recent scandals at Penn State and elsewhere may help men who were abused as children, and boys being abused today, step out of the shadows and get the support they deserve. They also hope society can become better educated about the issue. “The allegations have kick-started a public dialogue about sexual violence and the community’s responsibility,” says Jennifer Marsh, who directs hotlines at RAINN, the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network. “It’s a conversation we have to have and can’t shy away from.

With just weeks to go before a Feb. 1 deadline in its bankruptcy, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee is casting a wide net in search of clergy sex abuse victims who might seek to file claims, publishing ads in state and national newspapers and asking its parishes and schools to spread the word. At the same time, victims advocates say, the archdiocese is embarking on a legal strategy that could result in the vast majority of the nearly 200 sex abuse claims filed to date being thrown out of court, leaving those victims ineligible for a financial settlement from the church – and perhaps changing the…

The death of journalist and polemicist Christopher Hitchens last month gave those familiar with his work a chance to revisit one of his more controversial subjects: the Albanian nun Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, better known to the world as Mother Teresa. In his 1997 book, The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice, Hitchens argued that the “Saint of Calcutta,” who founded and headed the international Missionaries of Charity order, enjoyed undeserved esteem.Despite her humanitarian reputation and 1979 Nobel Peace Prize, Mother Teresa had set up a worldwide system of “homes for the …

Stories of child sexual abuse dominated the headlines in 2011, but because the alleged crimes happened so long ago, few of the victims in those cases were able to sue their abusers.

A local priest who was arrested on child pornography charges was allegedly traveling overseas to an area notorious for its sex industry. Sources close to the investigation told the KDKA Investigators that Fr. Bartl Sorensen travelled to Amsterdam several times. This information, along with thousands of new images found in Fr. Sorensen’s bedroom has investigators concerned he may have had sexual contact with children. According to sources, investigators are now looking through thousands of pornographic images found following a search of the rectory at St. John Fisher …

A lawsuit filed against The Citadel on Wednesday seeks a court mandate that would require the military college to report all child sexual abuse complaints or face contempt charges. Attorneys Jeff Anderson and Gregg Meyers filed suit against The Citadel on behalf of the mother of a young man who allegedly was sexually abused by Louis “Skip” ReVille after the school failed to report a complaint about the former cadet. The lawsuit alleges that The Citadel was grossly negligent in not reporting a former summer camper’s claim that ReVille showed young boys porn and masturbated with them at The Ci…