The Diocese of Arlington, Virginia’s former director for the Office of Child Protection, Father Terry Specht, was found not guilty Oct 5 of aggravated sexual battery. Specht was indicted in December 2021 on two charges related to child sexual abuse. One of those charges was dropped during court proceedings. Bishop Michael Burbidge of the Diocese Read more
The Attendance Service has investigated 16,771 new cases of serious truancy in the first half of this year. During the same period it resolved 12,726 cases – nearly half of them, because the child in question was found to be already enrolled in another school. The new cases included 9838 students who were removed from Read more
The Diocese of Steubenville, Ohio, is expected to announce to priests Monday that a process is underway that will see the diocese merge with the neighbouring see of Columbus. Senior US and Vatican sources have confirmed to The Pillar that a merger process between the dioceses is underway, and that Steubenville priests and chancery personnel Read more
Glasgow arts venue SWG3 has switched on a system that creates renewable energy from the body heat on its dancefloor. Dancers’ heat is piped via a carrier fluid to 200m (650ft) boreholes that can be charged like a thermal battery. The energy then travels back to the heat pumps, is upgraded to a suitable temperature Read more
A man toppled two ancient Roman busts in the Vatican Museums on Wednesday, causing moderate damage, before being stopped by staff and arrested, a museums source said. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to discuss an ongoing investigation, said the man was in his 50s and had “behaved Read more
Six years ago I visited a former Catholic girls’ school, in Te Horo, called Marycrest, which Drew MacKenzie and Anthony Ryan had bought. The long-abandoned dilapidated site comprised seven large buildings, which needed a lot of work done to them, as well as a lot of ecologically and historically important land. The couple wasn’t sure Read more
Amid vast public controversy surrounding the revelation of allegations against a bishop and Nobel laureate in East Timor for the sexual abuse of minors, the Vatican’s envoy to the country has urged faithful to respect the restrictions imposed by the Holy See. In an Oct 4 interview with state television network RTTL, Monsignor Marco Sprizzi, Read more
Funded by Irirangi Te Moto – New Zealand On Air and TVNZ, BEYOND CONVERSION is produced by Leanne Pooley and directed by Loren Prendiville (pictured above) and is an intimate look at the fight to ban conversion practices in Aotearoa. BEYOND CONVERSION follows a bill many thought would pass unanimously, but was in-fact highly contested, Read more
Cardinal Kurt Koch, a top Vatican official, has met with one of Germany’s leading Catholic bishops and has “apologised” to “all those who felt offended” by a parallel he recently drew between the methods used by the country’s Synodal Path and the theories of a historic pro-Nazi Lutheran group. The closed-door meeting between the Swiss Read more
Pope Francis’ upcoming trip to Bahrain blends three of his top priorities as pope: Ministering to a tiny Catholic community, promoting dialogue with the Muslim world and fostering relations with other Christian communities, according to details released Thursday by the Vatican. The Nov 3-6 visit will mark Francis’ second trip to the Gulf, his second Read more