166 Children Were Abused By Colorado Priests.
Just One Went to Prison
By Chuck Murphy, CPR NewsJust One Went to Prison
The Archdiocese of Denver is headquartered at the St. John Paul II Center for the New Evangelization in the Cory-Merrill neighborhood of Denver, Colo. Jim Hill/CPR News
In the last 70 years, hundreds of allegations of abuse that veteran prosecutors classify as credible have been lodged against Colorado priests.
Just one is serving time for a crime.
Several others are still alive, and living in retirement, but special investigator Bob Troyer said making a criminal case against any of them would be a challenge for local authorities.
That’s because, in his view, whether by design or coincidence, Colorado’s Catholic dioceses prevented prosecutions by failing to report abuse in a timely manner, counseling victims to keep them quiet and moving priests out of the communities where they committed abuse.
“The pattern I’m talking about (with the church) we will take reports, keep them close, transfer the priest, tell the family ‘you did the right thing,’ all is good now,” said Troyer, a former U.S. Attorney who led the investigation into 70 years of priest abuse in Colorado.
“That’s the frustrating thing. It worked.”
Church officials weren’t legally required to report alleged sex abuse claims to law enforcement in Colorado until 2002. But that law was ignored by most church leaders for almost a decade.
Of the 39 alleged cases of abuse reported to diocesan authorities in Denver after 2002, 25 weren’t reported to law enforcement. The church’s explanation: It was unclear that it had to report these abuse claims because many of the victims were then adults.
“Since 2010, the Denver Archdiocese has never failed to report during that period when mandated by Colorado law,” Denver Archdiocese Spokesman Mark Haas said. “Archbishop Samuel Aquila has been strong in his public commitment to make sure all allegations are immediately reported to local authorities for investigation and potential prosecution.”
But in the 2000s, priests went unpunished for alleged crimes and were allowed to retire, move out of state — even leave the country.
"I'm at a loss, frankly,” Troyer said. “I've received some explanations from the church that don't add up to me. They talk about exemptions, we don't have to report when the victim is an adult, but that was not the law, that was not what the statute said, that was not common practice."
Rev. Harold Robert White was among the most egregious serial abusers in Colorado’s history. Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser’s report names more than 60 victims abused by White, mostly in the 1960s and 1970s.
White died in 2006. But between 2002 and 2006, at least 18 claims of abuse were filed at the Denver Archdiocese about his abusive behavior, including alleged rape, with boys going back to the 1960s.
The police were brought in to investigate four of those complaints. The church quietly settled most of the others. Though White was laicized, he avoided prosecution and was able to travel to Mexico where he died.
“We offer absolutely no excuse or defense for the way White was protected and moved around in the 1960s - 1980s,” Haas said. “Absolutely unacceptable.”
Because of statute of limitations laws, he may still not have faced any criminal charges. Statute of limitations for child sex abuse victims changed in 1996 — abuse that occurred since then can be prosecuted at any time. Before then, abuse victims usually had 10 years to report the crime.
Troyer calls what the church did by dragging their feet on reporting to law enforcement a “run the clock out” strategy. “It worked,” he said.
Another priest, Neil Hewitt, abused a minimum of eight children in four different parishes. One victim committed suicide in 1991. His suicide letter described the abuse. The church received complaints of Hewitt’s abuse starting in 1992 — but didn’t report any of it to law enforcement.
In August, Hewitt admitted that he abused seven of eight victims to state investigators. Though the priest was laicized in 2018, he never faced any criminal charges for his abuse. He is in his 80s and retired in Arizona, where he lives with his wife.
The case of Timothy Evans shows the difference the church could have made if its leadership had chosen to consistently report abuse allegations to police.
In 1993, a victim reported that Evans had abused him more than 13 years earlier. In that case, for reasons that remain unclear, Archdiocesan officials chose to file a report with police. With a credible, contemporary report from the first victim, law enforcement was able to discover other victims and build multiple charges of sexual assault of a child by a person in a position of trust against Evans.
He was convicted — the only Colorado priest tried and convicted of sexual assault since the sex abuse scandal broke in 2002 — and is now serving 14 years to life in prison.
Earlier this year, lawmakers attempted to crack down on so-called mandatory reporters — teachers, priests, doctors — who took too long to report child abuse crimes they knew about.
One proposed bill would have extended the statute of limitations to up to 10 years, giving police and prosecutors more time to hold a mandatory reporter accountable for concealing information from law enforcement.
The church and the teachers union fought that bill and it died in the legislature.
Good grief! With encouragement from their insurance companies, no doubt.
Indianapolis priest arrested, charged with child sex crimes
INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) — An Indianapolis priest charged with child sex crimes is in custody.
Father David Marcotte is accused of Child Solicitation, Vicarious Sexual Gratification when the victim is under 16 and Dissemination of Matter Harmful to Minors.
He was booked into the Hamilton County Jail early Tuesday morning.
The allegations against Marcotte go back to 2016. According to the Archdiocese, at that time, Marcotte was an administrator at St. Martin of Tours Parish in Martinsville.
He has worked at more than half a dozen churches across central Indiana since being ordained in 2014.
The complete list of his ministry assignments are as follows: 2014, associate pastor, SS. Francis and Clare Parish, Greenwood, and Catholic chaplain, University of Indianapolis; 2015, associate pastor, St. Malachy Parish, Brownsburg; 2016, administrator, St. Martin of Tours Parish, Martinsville; 2017, chaplain, Roncalli High School, Indianapolis, Catholic chaplain, University of Indianapolis, and sacramental assistance, SS. Francis and Clare Parish, Greenwood.
The Archdiocese of Indianapolis suspended Marcotte in February, prohibiting him from performing priestly duties during the investigation.
If you are a victim of sexual abuse or misconduct by a person ministering on behalf of the Church, or if you know of anyone who has been a victim, please contact civil authorities and the Archdiocesan Victim Assistance Coordinator Carla Hill at 317-236-1548 or 800-382-9836, ext. 1548 or email her at carlahill@archindy.org. Confidential reports can also be made on-line at www.archdioceseofindianapolis.ethicspoint.com or by calling 888-393-6810.
Lawsuits: Woman sexually abused students in
NY Catholic School before teaching in Florida
NY Catholic School before teaching in Florida
By Olivia Hitchcock, Palm Beach Post
A longtime Spanish River High School teacher is accused of sexually abusing two students in New York before she moved to Florida in the 1980s.
BOCA RATON — Civil lawsuits filed last month have raised allegations of sexual abuse involving a longtime Spanish River High School teacher, three years after Palm Beach County School District police investigated a similar, anonymous complaint.
In their complaints, the two former students claim that the sexual abuse occurred both in New York and Florida when they were between the ages of 10 and 15. Court documents do not detail where in Florida the abuse is alleged to have taken place.
Vacco, 65, who appears to live in St. Augustine after moving from Wellington, could not be reached for comment. Court records do not list an attorney representing her in the civil cases.
Mitchell Garabedian, an attorney who has represented numerous sexual abuse victims in high-profile cases, including cases against the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, is one of several attorneys representing the two women in the civil suits. Reached by telephone last week, Garabedian declined to comment.
Vacco taught at Angola’s now-defunct Most Precious Blood Catholic School between 1976 and 1984, court records show. She spent one year at another New York school before taking a job at Lake Worth’s Sacred Heart Catholic School in 1986, according to Palm Beach County School District records. She worked there until 1999, when she landed a job at Spanish River.
She taught science and theater at the Boca Raton-area high school until her retirement in 2017, school district records show.
Evaluations in Vacco’s school district personnel file characterized her as a well-liked and hardworking teacher who was instrumental in establishing the theater department at the school. The only allegation of misconduct was an anonymous email sent in October 2016 to then-principal William Latson.
In it, “Elena Noname” wrote that Vacco had “extremely inappropriate relationships” with two young girls when she was in western New York. The writer described Vacco as a “child predator” who “mentally, emotionally and sexually abused” the girls.
The email did not mention when the abuse reportedly occurred and did not specify exactly where it is said to have happened. The email writer did not respond to follow-up questions, according to police records.
The email stated that the two girls never reported the abuse in part because Vacco manipulated them, adding that “she is an expert at grooming her targets and targeting the kids who nobody is really paying attention to.”
“Please be aware of who you have in your school,” the email read. “The kids are not safe with her there.”
Vacco spoke in February 2017 with district police about the allegations, saying that she never had sexual contact with any children, though she added that “she did do some stupid things during that time that nowadays would be considered inappropriate,” according to the police report.
Vacco elaborated saying that when she coached girls’ basketball in New York, she would drive the children home. She said that on several occasions, she also had sleepovers with players.
Police could find “no evidence to suggest that Vacco is a sexual predator as indicated in the anonymous complaint.” Latson told officers that he never had received complaints about Vacco, and authorities closed the investigation, ruling it unfounded.
Vacco retired at the end of that school year, records show. The district declined to comment on Vacco.
The email writer mentioned that Vacco reportedly threatened the girls, “obviously ... considering her brother’s job in NY.”
Vacco’s brother is Dennis Vacco, who was the New York State Attorney General between 1994 and 1999. He currently represents a Franciscan order in a decades-old sexual abuse case in which a New York clergyman is accused of abusing a student.
Dennis Vacco has argued in court filings that the case against the Franciscan order should be thrown out because the state’s Child Victims Act, another name for the Protection Act, is unconstitutional, according to a report by The Buffalo News.
Signed into law in February, the act gives victims of childhood sexual abuse in New York one year to bring civil lawsuits against alleged abusers and their employers without being time-barred by the state’s statute of limitations.
Dianna Vacco’s prior employer, the now-defunct Most Precious Blood school, along with Most Precious Blood Catholic Church and the Diocese of Buffalo, are named in the two lawsuits as well. In filings last week, attorneys for the school, the church and the diocese questioned the legality of the Protection Act by arguing that the women waited too long to file the lawsuits.
The attorneys also argued that neither the school, nor the church nor the diocese, knew of any of Vacco’s alleged abuses.
Former prestigious boarding school housemaster sentenced for child sex offences
The historic assaults took place at Westminster Cathedral
Choir School in central London
By Mike Bedigan, PA Ruth OvensA former housemaster at a prestigious Catholic boarding school "stole the innocence" of two underage boys, a court has heard.
David Lowe, 66, abused the boys, aged eight and 10 respectively, as part of a series of attacks which he carried out in the 70s and 80s.
The first victim was abused by Lowe after he was taken to a private room at the school as punishment for being a “bad student”, and told to undress.
Lowe abused the second victim when he was around eight-years-old in the boy’s school bedroom.
In an impact statement read out by Prosecutor Gary Rutter one of the victim's said he had "poor self-worth and self-confidence" as a result of the assault and that Lowe "stole his innocence".
Lowe was jailed for 10 years in 2015 after he was found guilty of multiple counts of sexually assaulting pupils and appeared at Southwark via videolink from HMP Ashfield, near Bristol.
The attacks took place at both Westminster Cathedral Choir School and the Benedictine monk-run Ampleforth College in North Yorkshire between 1978 and 1982.
Some victims made the decision to come forward after reports of Operation Yewtree, the police investigation into historic sexual abuse in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal.
Stephen Lee, defending, said that Lowe and his family had been affected by the latest abuse allegations, which he was only charged with earlier this year. "When he received the summons to Westminster Magistrates court he describes it as a 'hammer blow'," he said. "It's caused him a lot of heartache."
It's cause your victims heartaches all their lives, so I hope you don't expect sympathy.
Lowe pleaded guilty to two further counts of indecent assault on a boy aged under fourteen, when he appeared at Westminster Magistrates in October.
Sentencing Lowe, judge Sally Cahill said: "At the time you were a teacher and also a housemaster at the Westminster Cathedral Choir School. You were in a position of responsibility in relation to young boys.
"They were away from their parents, very young and very vulnerable. Those then young boys are now grown men. They have had to live with what you did their whole lives."
Judge Cahill referred to the remarks made at Lowe's previous sentence hearing and also gave him credit for pleading guilty to the latest counts.
Lowe was sentenced to two years in prison which will run concurrent to his previous sentence of 10 years.
In other words - they are freebies! How do you think that makes his victims feel Judge Cahill? If they didn't feel worthless already, they sure as Hell will now.
 |
| Ambleforth College |
DC Shirley Lovell, of Operation Winterkey, said: "David Lowe is already in jail after being convicted of abusing young boys he taught over a period of many years, and he has now admitted to further offences. A common theme of his offending was his willingness to take advantage of the vulnerability of the boys who were away from home, and abusing the position of trust he held.
“The victims in this case had lived with the abuse they had suffered for many years, and felt emboldened to come forward after seeing the publicity around the first trial. I hope that seeing justice served for the crimes committed against them goes some way to helping them to heal.
"The Met is committed to investigating child abuse allegations and seeking justice for victims, no matter how many years have passed."
An NSPCC spokesperson said: “Lowe horrifically abused his position of trust and was clearly a significant threat to the young people he should have been protecting.
“Talking about child sexual abuse is incredibly challenging for survivors but this case is further proof that they will be listened to – no matter how much time has passed.
And then a thoughtless judge will give the rapist a slap on the wrist. I'm glad they had their day in court, but sick that the rapist didn't get another day in prison.
Father Denis Alexander faces extradition to UK
for child sexual abuse
By Bridget Brennan on AM
An Australian priest is one step closer to being extradited to Scotland, where he's accused of sexually abusing children decades ago at a Catholic boarding school in the highlands.
He was arrested in Sydney two years ago with Scottish authorities requesting he be sent to the UK for a trial.
A judge has dismissed his attempt to fight the extradition, despite claims he's too ill to travel.
Long-time Regina pastor charged with physical and sexual abuse in Scotland (2nd story on link)
Was it a practice for the UK Catholic Church to send paedophiles to the colonies after they have been outed?
Women raped by Colorado priest call for accountability from Archdiocese of Denver
By: Tony Kovaleski, Denver7 ABCDENVER – Three sisters of the Catholic Church are breaking their silence, accusing a Colorado priest of violating their childhood, in the hope their confession will inspire others to come forward.
Their message doesn’t stop there. A significant part of their motivation is holding the Archdiocese of Denver accountable for what they say was an overt cover-up that last more than five decades.
Cate Stover, Carol Clear and Marcia Stover decided to speak about the painful memories they’ve kept inside since they were little girls, following a special investigation into Colorado’s Catholic Church that found at least 166 children were sexually abused by 43 priests since the 1950s.
Their report cards and grade school picture show memories of their days of Catholic school at St. John’s in Loveland. But behind those faces, the sisters kept secret the abuse they endured by someone they thought they could trust.
“I remember him coming to the classroom and selecting me… pulling me up,” said Clear. “I recall vividly being in a bathroom stall of the girl’s restroom at school and Father White in the stall with me... I was huddled in the corner and he forced me to have oral sex.”
Father Robert White was described in this report as “the most prolific known clergy child sex abuser in Colorado history.”
“The priest is standing… I am 10… he’s looking down at me. I am doing what I am told. He takes me up to the rectory… takes me downstairs and he rapes me,” Stover recounts.
“I know for a fact – I’m not listed in there and I should be,” said Clear, mentioning the state’s report of 63 confirmed victims of Father White. “They know about me and the abuse of Father White when I was at school.”
In fact, the special master’s recently released report, which graphically details Father White’s trail of terror – molestations that continued for 21 years at six different parishes – does not include any of the three sisters.
“They had a list of kids he had abused that the diocese knew about, and it’s documented in letters back and forth,” said Clear.
The letters provide disturbing proof of the cover-up by the Archdiocese.
One of those letters, from 1963, reads, “Father (White) must leave parish immediately because of the wide knowledge of his offenses in St. Catherine’s Parish and Holy Family School.”
Another, from 1965, reads as follows: “Because of boy troubles I felt it best to get Father Robert White out of Colorado Springs immediately.”
“He was moved at least eleven times in 33 years,” said Stover. “He would only last two or three years in a parish before they were worried that parents were going to talk or there would be a scandal.”
A letter from 1961 reads, “I questioned… as to possibility of scandal, and he is satisfied… there is no danger.”
No concern for the welfare of the children, only the threat of scandal.
Perhaps most disturbing for the three sisters is a 1968 letter about Father White at St. Anthony’s in Sterling – a letter that includes, “the parish would be better off without Father White,” and which concludes, “Father White should not be assigned to a parish where he will be involved with a school.”
It would only take eight days for another letter to inform Father White he would be transferred to St. John’s in Loveland. “That letter in Sterling warned he shouldn’t be around kids… and yet they sent him to a school where we were and he abused us… they could have stopped that, absolutely,” said Clear.
The special master’s report strongly criticized Denver’s Archdiocese for its handling of Father White, stating the Archdiocese, “never did a thorough and independent investigation… never voluntarily reported him to police… was frequently dishonest with his victims…” and concludes Father White’s file, “reveals that broad, deep and permanent harm to children was the consequence.”
The Archdiocese of Denver finally removed Father White in 1993 after he terrorized children for more than three decades. He died in 2006.
In 2015, after mediation, Clear and the diocese agreed on a financial settlement. The Stover sisters have recently filed claims against the church. All three say any money will never heal the lifelong pain caused by Father White.
The archdiocese released this statement last month following the release of the report from U.S. Attorney Robert Troyer:
“Sexual abuse is a societal problem and there is no single answer or single action to eliminate all sexual abuse, but we will not rest in our efforts to protect children. We will use our resources and community partnerships to be a leader in this area, and we will strive to improve. For a full list of my promises to you, and for additional information about the report, please visit archden.org/promise,” Aquila said in the statement. “Please join me in praying for all survivors, their families, and our communities, and for our ongoing efforts to bring healing and reconciliation to the survivors of sexual abuse.”
Retired priest, 88, convicted of abusing boy at
Munhall, Pa., church in 2001
WTAE, Bob MayoPITTSBURGH —
The Rev. Hugh Lang has been found guilty on six of eight charges he sexually abused a then-11-year-old boy in the basement of Saint Therese Church in Munhall in 2001.
Lang remains free on bail. Sentencing is set for Feb. 6.
Lang was on the witness stand for nearly an hour Friday, testifying in his own defense. The retired priest insisted he does not know the victim and never abused him.
Lang said he played no part in the June 2001 server camp at Saint Therese, his church at the time, during which the victim claims Lang took him to the basement, forced him to strip naked, photographed him and sexually abused him.
Lang said that, during his 63 years as a priest, including as superintendent of Pittsburgh Catholic schools for most of the 1980s, he had contact with 10,000 children and never faced allegations of abusing anyone.
Lang denied knowing anything about the state grand jury report on child sex abuse by priests and denied he may be one of the eight priests whose names have been redacted from that report.
The prosecution questioned Lang about his iPad search history within days of the release of the grand jury report, searching for criminal defense attorneys, attorney general report and the word "pedophile." Lang insisted it had nothing to do with any concern that he could face charges.
In his closing argument, defense attorney Kerrington Lewis called the allegations "absolutely preposterous." He attacked the credibility of the alleged victim and noted that the man has filed a $1 million lawsuit against the diocese.
Assistant District Attorney Greg Stein said the victim first told a friend about the assault when he was 14 and has been consistent since he came forward last year. Stein argued this was a crime of opportunity by someone who used his authority to intimidate his victim by threatening to show others the naked photo if he talked.
Lewis, in his closing statement, noted that Tranquilli worked for years in the District Attorney's Office, and said he told Lang that "Mark Tranquilli is a hell of a prosecutor." Lewis then insisted he wasn't saying that Tranquilli was biased and was not questioning the judge's integrity. Lewis said twice that Lang wanted a non-jury trial.
Before announcing his verdict, Tranquilli spoke at length from the bench about how he weighed the strengths and weaknesses of the prosecution and defense evidence and testimony. But his conclusion was firm -- that Lang did take the victim to the church basement and commit the sex crimes against him.
A spokesman for the DA's office said Lang was found guilty of:
Felony unlawful contact with a minor
Misdemeanor indecent assault (three counts)
Misdemeanor indecent exposure
Misdemeanor corruption of minors
Lang was found not guilty of two felonies: aggravated indecent assault, and sexual abuse of children - photographing, videotaping, depicting on computer or filming sexual acts.
Tranquilli explained that the evidence showed Lang took the photograph, not for sexual purposes, but to blackmail the victim not to tell anyone what had happened.
Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouver aware of 36 cases of clergy sex abuse since 1950s
Rest assured - that's the tip of the iceberg
No Canadian Catholic diocese has ever released list
of clergy credibly accused of sexual abuse
Clergy sexual abuse survivor Leona Huggins is fighting to make sure that the Catholic Church
in Canada comes clean about what happened to her and others. (Doug Husby/CBC)
The Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouver was aware of 36 cases of abuse by clergy under its jurisdiction, including 26 involving children, results of an internal review of cases of clergy sexual abuse obtained by CBC's The Fifth Estate show.
The review, commissioned in 2018 by Archbishop Michael Miller, examined church files dating back to the 1950s. No Catholic entity in this country has ever made this kind of information public before.
The Vancouver review also found three of their priests had fathered children.
I think that the church has an ethical and moral responsibility
to reveal those names.
- Leona Huggins, clergy sexual abuse survivor
The information was uncovered in a Fifth Estate investigation into how the Catholic Church has dealt with abuse allegations over the years.
Vancouver's archbishop has not released the results of the case review committee's work, but in February he promised transparency. In a letter posted to the archdiocese website, Miller committed "to correcting any systemic flaws that contributed to abuse or cover-up."
In 2018, Vancouver Archbishop Michael Miller commissioned the case review committee to
examine church files relating to sexual abuse dating back to the 1950s. (Archdiocese of Vancouver )
The Fifth Estate investigation also reveals details about how the archdiocese handled allegations of abuse.
Watch The List: Unravelling Church Secrets on
The Fifth Estate on CBC-TV Sunday at 9 p.m. ET
In some cases, victims were paid money and had to sign confidentiality agreements. The information shows that church officials often knew of credibly accused perpetrators and yet did not share that information with the community at large.
Being "credibly accused" does not require that someone be convicted of abuse, only that the church believes there is enough evidence to believe an incident took place.
In addition to reviewing the cases, the committee produced 31 recommendations, including that the names of clergy deemed credibly accused be released publicly.
"I think that the church has an ethical and moral responsibility to reveal those names," said Leona Huggins, an abuse survivor Miller asked to join the case review committee.
'I was just horrified'
The committee was made up of church-appointed individuals from different professions, including clergy, lawyers and laypeople. Four members are described as victim-survivors of clergy abuse.
As an elementary school teacher, Huggins said her highest priority is the safety of children, and that's one of the reasons she felt compelled to take part in the review.
Huggins was living in New Westminster, B.C., in the 1970s when her parish priest, John "Jack" McCann, started sexually abusing her. She was 14.
Growing up in a Catholic household of 12 children, Huggins and her family welcomed the attention McCann paid to them, especially when Huggins and one of her sisters were asked to work in the rectory.
Huggins said the abuse started subtly, when McCann would wrap his arm around her or put his hand on her leg. It then advanced to shoulder massages. Huggins said "it was gradually more and more," and eventually led to sex.
It wasn't until 1991, two decades later, that she revealed the abuse to police. McCann pleaded guilty to sexual offences involving Huggins and another teenaged girl and spent 10 months in jail.
Huggins believed that was the end of McCann's career as a priest. But in 2011, she discovered the priest who sexually abused her was working in a church in Ottawa.
"I was beside myself. I was just horrified. I was pacing up and down in my kitchen and just going … like, this is not okay," said Huggins, who volunteers with the Vancouver chapter of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).
When SNAP revealed McCann's criminal past, the Archdiocese of Ottawa revoked McCann's duties. He died in August 2018.
Victims Relive Trauma as Wisconsin Clergy
Sexual Abuse Grows
By Associated PressU.S. News & World Report
BY ERICA JONES OF Wisconsin Watch.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — When she was 7, Patty Gallagher was chosen to bring the priest who served her parish and school in Monona, Wisconsin, his daily milk.
The Rev. Lawrence Trainor was practically a member of the family. He came over for dinner and visited the family cottage. Trainor, a priest at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, ingratiated himself with her parents. And then, Gallagher said, he “raped me in every way possible.”
“I had to make my first confession with this man and say the words, ‘Bless me, Father, for I have sinned,’ to the man who raped me in the most horrific ways,” said Gallagher, of Milwaukee, whose last name is now Gallagher Marchant.
Gallagher Marchant, a psychotherapist, said she repressed these traumatic memories for decades.
When Gallagher Marchant was 35 and her daughter turned 7 — the same age she was in 1965 at the time of her own abuse — the memories flooded back.
She notified the Catholic Diocese of Madison in 1991, eventually receiving a “six-figure” settlement in 1992. Ever since, Gallagher Marchant has been speaking out “because I can’t not talk about what’s so blatantly wrong.”
Many U.S. institutions have been rocked by sexual abuse scandals in recent years, including the Southern Baptist Convention, the Boy Scouts of America and USA Gymnastics.
But it is the scandal within the Catholic Church that continues to garner the most attention, prompting Pope Francis in May to issue the first worldwide mandate that all child sex abuse allegations be reported to church authorities — a measure that critics say still falls short.
“Abuse can happen everywhere and it does,” said Brent King, communications director for the Diocese of Madison. “The scandal in the church is different because these men were supposed to represent God and his church.”
More than 11,000 accusations of childhood sexual abuse by Catholic priests and brothers have been made across the United States since the 1970s, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, a nonprofit that conducts social science research on the Catholic Church.
The Catholic Church has paid tens of millions of dollars in settlements in Wisconsin, including an estimated $21 million from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee to compensate 330 sexual assault survivors.
In Wisconsin, the number of credibly accused priests reported by dioceses, religious orders and law firms now stands at roughly 170, a Wisconsin Watch investigation shows. And it could rise.
Wisconsin Watch found wide variations in the approach of Wisconsin’s five dioceses and dozens of religious orders to publicly report alleged abuse. Critics say the Catholic Church must do a better job of reaching out to survivors to help them heal. A survivors’ group is pushing for independent investigations, including criminal probes, to root out allegations of abuse.
There is much more on this story at USNews and World Report.
Altar boys say they were abused by priests at the Vatican
Victims describe purported assaults at college located
steps away from residence of Pope Francis
Andy GregoryIndependent
Pope Francis receives audience participants of the World Congress of the International Association of Penal Law on Friday 15 November 2019 ( EPA/Vatican media handout )
Former altar boys have claimed they were molested by priests inside the Vatican, as a lingering scandal surrounding widespread abuse in the Catholic Church erupts at its headquarters once again.
Several anonymous former altar boys at the Vatican’s youth seminary alleged at least two priests kissed and fondled three of them in the Nineties.
The claims will be aired on Sunday on Le Iene (“The Hyenas”), an Italian investigative TV programme, which first broke allegations in 2017 that the senior seminarian, now a priest, had sexually abused teenagers who served as altar boys at papal masses in St Peter’s Basilica.
In one of the new cases, an alleged victim said a priest sat him on his lap and fondled his penis. In another case, an alleged victim marvelled how Le Iene had heard about things he had only told his confessor.
In conjunction with previous testimony gathered by Le Iene, an impression emerges of a closed, religious atmosphere in which sexualised touching was normalised for boys as young as 11.
The 2017 testimony suggested a series of priests, bishops and even a cardinal had covered up the alleged sins for years.
In a statement issued ahead of the programme, the Vatican press office said a decision on whether to issue indictments in the original case was “imminent”. The statement said any new elements or evidence of other crimes that emerge would be considered by Vatican prosecutors in a new investigation.
The case concerns the opaque world of the St Pius X youth seminary, located inside a palazzo just a few steps from the residence of Pope Francis. The seminary houses about a dozen boys aged 11 to 18, who serve as altar boys at papal masses.
A small Italian religious order called the Opera Don Folchi runs the seminary. The group has described the allegations as “mud”, a “violent attack on the church” and nothing more than “calumny and falsifications”.
One of the victims in Sunday’s programme claims that a priest who was managing the school’s communal showers attempted to take his dressing gown off, according to The Guardian.
“He wanted to undress me, I tried to wriggle away,” the victim says. “I was 13 years old. I fell to the ground and asked him: ‘What are you doing?’. I then got up and ran away.”
The Catholic Church has been rocked by thousands of reported incidences of sexual abuse across the globe. In response, Pope Francis issued a law earlier this year that requires all Catholic priests and nuns to report sexual abuse and cover-ups by their superiors.
But in October, the lead counsel of an independent inquiry into child sex abuse in the UK criticised the Catholic Church’s lack of cooperation with the investigation. Brian Altman QC described the church’s “refusal to provide the inquiry with all the evidence it has sought” as “very disappointing”.
The most senior cleric implicated so far in the global scandal, Cardinal George Pell, was on Wednesday granted the chance to appeal his convictions for molesting two 13-year-old choirboys, by Australia’s highest court.
Pell was previously the Vatican’s finance minister.
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