Posts Tagged ‘clerical abuse’

Fiji’s Archbishop offers an apology for abuse

Thursday, July 16th, 2020
apology

The head of the Fiji Catholic Church has made an apology for the behaviour of  Catholic priests, religious and teachers who allegedly abused Fijian children. Archbishop Peter Loy Chong was responding to a news report on TVNZ by pacific correspondent, Barbara Dreaver. For the last year, 1 NEWS has been investigating claims of historic sexual Read more

Polish priests defy bishop amid pedophilia scandal

Thursday, June 4th, 2020

Priests in the Polish diocese of Kalisz have refused to sign letters of loyalty to their bishop after a child abuse cover-up. More and more Catholics in Poland are calling on the Church to properly investigate crimes. The documentary “Hide and Seek” by Marek and Tomasz Sekielski, which was watched by almost 7 million people Read more

Paternalistic attitude is worse than clericalism

Monday, March 16th, 2020

A paternalistic attitude within the Church that devalues laypeople and puts clergy on a pedestal is worse than clericalism says German Jesuit priest Hans Zollner. Zollner is one of the Church’s leading experts in child protection. There are two sides to this problem, Zollner says. One is with “the hierarchy not involving the gifts of Read more

Ireland’s former president threatens Pope

Monday, March 9th, 2020

Ireland’s former president Mary McAleese has written to the Pope saying she’ll leave the the Catholic Church if it is found the Vatican “failed to act to protect members of the L’Arche community” from the community’s founder Jean Vanier. In her letter to the pope (which she published on her personal website on 26 February) Read more

Clergy abuse survivors mark summit anniversary with protest at Vatican

Thursday, February 27th, 2020

A group of clergy abuse survivors gathered in Rome on Feb. 21, one year after the Vatican summit of bishops on clerical sex abuse, to accuse Pope Francis of knowing about the abuse of Argentine deaf children by an Italian priest but not acting to stop it. The group, who included some of the Argentinian Read more

Indian bishop charged with rape faces allegation from second nun

Thursday, February 27th, 2020

It has emerged that a second nun of the Missionaries of Jesus has accused Bishop Franco Mulakkal of Jullundur of sexual harassment. The bishop has been charged with raping a nun repeatedly over the course of two years, allegations he denies. The first nun, who is a member of the Missionaries of Jesus, has said Read more

Plan for halting mass exodus from church underway

Thursday, December 5th, 2019

German bishops are looking for ways to halt the massive exodus from the Church in Germany caused by the clerical abuse crisis. The bishops’ conference launched a two-year “synodal procedure” for church reform last weekend, on the first Sunday of Advent. Working together with the lay Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), special synodal candles Read more

Archdiocese fully compliant with safeguarding policies

Thursday, October 3rd, 2019

A new report says the archdiocese of New York is fully compliant with the U.S. bishops’ safeguarding policies. The U.S. bishops have a zero tolerance policy in relation to abuse. They aim to have no priests or deacons in active ministry that have had claims of abuse substantiated. The report was prepared by Judge Barbara Read more

Clericalism’s day coming to an end

Thursday, September 19th, 2019

Clericalism is coming to an end, says Marie Collins, who is a clergy sexual abuse survivor from Ireland. However, Vatican officials needed “a safeguarding policy” in place ages ago to prevent abuse and address it when it occurs. Collins says a policy of this sort was promised at the Vatican summit on child protection in Read more

Paris archdiocese agrees to report abuse allegations

Thursday, September 12th, 2019

The archdiocese of Paris has agreed to report all credible cases of sexual abuse by clerics or lay Church employees. This rule will apply even if the victims do not file a complaint. Archbishop Michel Aupetit has signed a protocol with agreed with Paris’s judicial authorities as an experiment for a year. The agreement mirrors Read more