Controversy has broken out in Australia since the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse published recommendations saying priests should break the confessional seal when child sexual abuse is confessed. The Commission wants legislation introduced to jail people who fail to report child sexual abuse, including priests. In response, Australian Catholic Bishops Conference Read more
While the Australian Catholic Church says it is “working hard to prevent child abuse from happening again”, what does this mean? One priest has adopted strategies to ensure his church is a safe place. These include, for example, ensuring young altar servers do not change into their robes without parental supervision. “Now the door to Read more
In a “very rare” ruling, the Catholic Church has found a nun guilty of sexually abusing a child in her care. Following an inquiry, the Catholic Church has ruled Mother Lucia guilty of historic sexual and physical abuse against a Christchurch schoolboy “on the balance of probabilities”. The prioress died in 1997, aged 90. Continue reading
Last Monday lawmakers in Guam unanimously approved legislation to permanently remove the statute of limitations for all sexual abuse crimes, allowing victims to file civil cases against their alleged assailant. Sen. Frank Blas Jr., R-Barrigada, introduced Bill 326-33 a few months ago, following several public accusations by former altar boys who allege that Archbishop Anthony Apuron sexually abused them Read more
A priest from Vailoa Palauli on the island of Savai’i in Samoa has left the village after an allegation of sexual misconduct. It is alleged that he was caught sleeping with a Year 13 student. Spokesperson for the Catholic Church, Father Fereti said they have no comment to make. He also refused to confirm or Read more
Peter Loy Chong, the Archbishop of Suva, Fiji, has urged church leaders to adopt strict policies and guidelines on disciplining church pastors involved in sexual offences. Chong made the comment after the Fiji’s Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions released sexual offence statistics for last month. The statistics revealed there were 46 sexual offence Read more
The National Director for the Office for Professional Standards for the Catholic Church in New Zealand, Bill Kilgallon, has made known the number of sexual abuse claims that have been made in the four years 2010 – 2014. There have been 58 child-sex abuse complaints accepted. 26 have been proven and 24 are still under Read more
The awful record of the institutional Catholic church’s leadership in dealing with the scandal of clerical sex abuse of minors has clearly, and rightly, been a trigger for the federal government’s Royal Commission into sexual abuse of children in Australia. This is a record that has already prompted other inquiries here and overseas. It would indeed be Read more