Cardinal George Pell still has a lot of questions to answer before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. On medical advice he has decided not to risk the long plane flight home from Rome. This makes things much harder for victims seeking closure. It makes things harder for others, including members Read more
How can you spend your workdays chronicling thousands of cases of Catholic priestly sexual abuse — and still remain a Catholic? Before the release of “Spotlight,” the movie detailing the massive abuse cover-up in Boston, I asked that of Anne Barrett Doyle and Terry McKiernan. They’re co-directors of BishopAccountability.org, which documents that abuse from an Read more
The former principal of a Feilding Maori boys’ school jailed for sexual offending against boys at another Maori school will leave prison in November, despite the Parole Board having concerns. Elvis Shepherd will be released on parole on November 9, having served more than half of his eight-year, four-month prison term. The 54-year-old was imprisoned Read more
Pope Francis has hailed the “courage” shown by United States bishops in facing up to the clergy sex abuse crisis. Speaking to about 400 bishops in Washington, DC, on September 23, the Pope said the bishops had regained the authority and trust which was demanded of them. He also praised the bishops for being ready Read more
Two Chilean prelates conspired to block a well-known sex abuse survivor from being named to the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. Leaked emails from 2013 and 2014 between Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati of Santiago and his predecessor Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz showtheir efforts to block the appointment of Juan Carlos Cruz. The cardinals feared Read more
A former Catholic priest, now living in Nelson, has pleaded not guilty to historic sex charges. Peter Joseph Hercock, 71, a former chaplain at Sacred Heart College in Lower Hutt and administrator at a Nelson school, entered the not guilty pleas through his lawyer in the Nelson District Court on Tuesday. He is charged with Read more
Cardinal George Pell has said he’ll return to Australia to give evidence at the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse, if he is required to do so. The recent revelations from Ballarat are so horrifying as to beggar belief and I expect he will honour the commission’s request for him to appear Read more
Archbishop Philip Wilson of Adelaide has been charged by police with concealing a child abuse allegation. Archbishop Wilson, who is vice-president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, faces one count of concealing a child sex allegation made against the late Hunter priest Fr Jim Fletcher in the 1970s. In May, 2014, a New South Wales Read more