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2013
- May
  - Virginia pastor extradited to Ft Worth on charges of sexual assault on minors; reports bring others forward
    05/28/13
    FORT WORTH -- A Virginia pastor was extradited to Texas Friday to face charges he sexually abused two Fort Worth girls under the age of 14 while he was here.
    
    Geronimo Aguilar ran a large church in Richmond, Virginia, called The Richmond Outreach Center and was arrested this week to face j
  - Minnesota house and senate pass bill allowing lawsuits against churches who covered up sexual abuse for years
    05/09/13
    ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Minnesota Senate unanimously passed a bill Wednesday that would allow lawsuits against churches, schools and other organizations that may have covered up child sexual abuse decades ago.
    
    The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 66-0. A similar bill overwhelmingly passe
  - More resignations In controversy surrounding NJ pedophile priest accused of defying order to cease ministry to children
    05/06/13
    COLTS NECK, N.J. The pastor and two youth ministers at a Catholic church where a visiting priest violated a lifetime ban on ministry to children have stepped down from their posts, the latest fallout in an escalating scandal enveloping Newark Archbishop John J. Myers.
    
    The shake-up comes a
- March
  - 7,000 documents detailing priest sexual abuse released in what victim's attorney calls 'most abusive process of discovery I've ever seen'
    03/22/13
    Chicago Tribune reported on Thursday the release of approximately 7,000 documents detailing the extent of sexual abuse by priests in the diocese of Joliet, Ill. in the suburban Chicago area. The documents state that between 1973 and 1988, more than 10 percent of the diocese's priests were credi
  - South American SNAP spokesman comments on new pope
    03/14/13
    Posted by Juan Carlos Cruz on March 13, 2013
    
    "Many bishops in Latin America have covered up and have denied having abuse in their countries. ... a secret kept by the Catholic hierarchy and that is repeated in many countries in Latin America. ...
    
    "In Chile there are 32
  - New Pope elected, SNAP responds
    03/13/13
    by David Clohessy
    13 March 2013
    
    "It is always hopeful when someone new takes office. We often assume that the new person will be better than the last person, especially in a scandal ridden institution.
    
    But that assumption is reckless. There’s no guarantee that a new p
  - Vatican censors Bishop Accountability public information about priest sexual abuse and coverup, calling it 'Hate/Racist'
    03/09/13
    The National Catholic Reporter disclosed yesterday that Vatican servers are blocking users from accessing www.bishopaccountability.org.
    
    BishopAccountability.org provides a valuable service by providing facts about clergy sex abuse. They do this without being partisan and without skewing i
  - USA Catholics in NYTimes, CBS and Pew polls see sex abuse crisis as biggest problem in church with leaders out of touch
    03/08/13
    A new survey from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life indicates that American Catholics see sex abuse by clergy as the church's biggest problem.
    In addition, Roman Catholics in the United States say that their church and bishops are out of touch according to a New York Times/CBS News
  - UK cardinal and opponent of gay rights admits sexual abuse he first denied that led to withdrawal as papal elector
    03/04/13
    Keith Patrick O'Brien, the Scottish cardinal archbishop who resigned last week following accusations of sexually abusive conduct with priests, has said that "my sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest, archbishop and cardinal."
    
    O'Brien
  - UN Committee on Rights of the Child demands answers from Vatican on its handling of epidemic sexual violence in the church
    03/01/13
    The SNAPDFW website has been reporting since 2010 about the Vatican's blatant ignoring of the United Nations General Assembly of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Convention on the Rights of the Child sets international standards for the care, treatment and protection of all indivi
  - Will the Roman church run the risk of shrinking into an increasingly irrelevant sect, asks theologian Küng
    03/01/13
    "Under the two most recent popes, John Paul II and Benedict XVI, there has been a fatal return to the church’s old monarchical habits.
    
    So writes one of only two (the other being Benedict XVI) still living Vatican II Roman Catholic theologians, Hans Küng.
    
    Writing in the Ne
- February
  - Benedict XVI named in sexual abuse lawsuit by woman whose son committed suicide after sexual abuse by a priest
    02/27/13
    SAN ANTONIO (KENS/CBS) – A woman whose son committed suicide is filing a lawsuit against the man she believes is responsible for his death – the pope.
    
    Barbara Boehland said her son killed himself after suffering sexual abuse from a priest while he was a student.
    
    Boehland is the
  - Don't call it an affair. Call it what it is - the illegal and dehumanizing abuse of professional religious power
    02/24/13
    -- Diana Garland, Dean of Baylor University School of Social Work
    
    SNAPDFW not only supports and advocates for survivors of clergy abuse occurring in childhood, but for adults abused by clergy as well.
    
    In an article published in the Waco, Texas Tribune on January 24, 2010, gue
  - Vatican seclusion for ex-pope will provide protection from prosecution in connection with sexual abuse, say Vatican sources
    02/24/13
    Vatican sources said officials have three main considerations in deciding that Benedict should live in a convent in the Vatican after he resigns on February 28. The considerations have to do with security, safety and particularly "legal protection from any attempt to prosecute him in connection
  - Reports of Vatican gay lobby influencing pope abdication strikes a nerve as spokesman responds with angry rebuke of the media
    02/24/13
    On Thursday, the popular Italian daily newspaper La Repubblic published an article alleging that Pope Benedict XVI's decision to resign this month was partly prompted by a report that accused Vatican officials of being under the influence of several internal lobbies, reportedly including a gay
  - Two US cardinals, one the head of American bishops, deposed in law suits over sexual abuse and coverups will vote for next pope
    02/24/13
    Timothy Dolan, current head of USA bishops, was deposed Wednesday by lawyers representing hundreds of people who say they were sexually molested by priests in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee while Dolan was archbishop. The lawyers want to know when Dolan learned of allegations against certain priests,
  - Renowned Zen teacher Joshu Sasaki accused of misusing his position for sexual favors from female students
    02/17/13
    Sweeping Zen, an online news outlet for the Zen community, reports that 105 year old Zen teacher Joshu Sasaki purportedly misused his position as a Zen teacher for his own sexual gratifications with many of his female Zen students.
    
    According to a report by an independent council of Zen te
  - Washington Post says LA's Mahony being prominent in election of next pope reflects 'culture of impunity' in RCC
    02/14/13
    Roger Mahony, 'emeritus' cardinal of the Los Angeles Roman Catholic archdiocese, who was appointed cardinal by soon-to-be-'emeritus'-pope, Benedict XVI, and who was stripped of his public duties for having covered up hundreds of allegations of clerical abuse in the 1980s, will vo
  - New pope must insure that era of secrecy and coverups end and make genuine amends to survivors, says SNAP leader
    02/12/13
    In a statement released yesterday, the Chicago-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a Chicago-based nonprofit that has helped victims worldwide, said that the Catholic Church must elect a new pope that protects children from clergy sexual abuse after Pope Benedict XVI resigns.
  - LA Catholic archdiocese Mahoney drained cemetery fund begun in 1890s to pay for sexual abuse stonewalling
    02/11/13
    The Los Angeles Times reports that censured LA cardinal Roger Mahoney all but drained a cemetery fund to pay sexual abuse by priests settlements. The diocese then, for 6 years, stone-walled a court order to release the 12,000 documents -- part of the settlement agreement . The documents were eventu
  - Roger Mahony ex-cardinal of LA - censured for sexual abuse coverup - and Irish cardinal Sean Brady will vote for the next pope
    02/11/13
    In a BBC opinion piece today, former Catholic Rod Dreher says Pope Benedict failed contain and correct the sexual abuse crisis the Roman church.
    
    Read the full article on the BBC News website
  - 8,000 instances of sexual abuse by mostly priests alleged in Archdiocese of Milwaukee bankruptcy hearing
    02/11/13
    Sealed documents filed in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee bankruptcy identify at least 8,000 instances of child sexual abuse and 100 alleged offenders - 75 of them priests - who have not previously been named by the archdiocese, a victims' attorney said Thursday.
    
    An Archdiocese spokeswo
  - Ratzinger Resignation - articles from the SNAPDFW archives
    02/11/13
  - International criminal court case against Ratzinger on behalf of priest sexual abuse survivors will be easier after resignation
    02/11/13
    In response to news that Pope Benedict XVI plans to resign, the Center for Constitutional Rights issued a statement saying that Pope Benedict's resignation will make international prosecution easier.
    
    The Center for Constitutional Rights filed a case with the International Criminal Co
  - Catholic theologian Hans Küng hopes Ratzinger will not influence choice of his successor
    02/11/13
    Swiss theologian and Catholic priest Hans Kung, considered one of Ratzinger's primary critics, has said that the outgoing pope deserved respect for resigning.
    
    However, Kung called the step "understandable for many reasons".
    
    Kung, who worked with Benedict in sout
  - AP, Reuters, UK Telegraph report imminent resignation of Benedict XVI
    02/11/13
    This is a breaking news story -- Associated Press, and other world news services are reporting a Vatican announcement that the pope will resign effective 28 February 2013. A conclave to elect the next pope will convene likely in March.
    
    Read the breaking story in the UK Telegraph
    Get
  - Former Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahoney Censured By Successor For Child Abuse Cover Up
    02/02/13
    
    After 5 years of legal stonewalling, engineered by the then Cardinal Archbishop of Los Angeles, Roger Mahoney and designed to prevent public release of documents incriminating the diocese, the Roman church, and Mahoney himself in the cover up of years of power and sexual abuse by priests
- January
  - Eight Common Myths about Child Sexual Abuse
    01/31/13
    Few people are aware of the true state of the science on child abuse. Instead, most people's beliefs have been shaped by common misconceptions and popular myths about this hidden crime.
    
    Societal acceptance of these myths assists sex offenders by silencing victims and encouraging pub
  - New website promotes changing state statutes of limitations which discriminate against abuse victims
    01/16/13
    SNAP has long supported changing Statute of Limitations laws as favoring the criminals and discriminating against the survivors.
    
    The new website, Statute of Limitations - Reform, lists the following chilling statistics:
    * Read more on the SOL-Reform website ...
    * Download the on
  - Venerable Brooklyn school settles over 40-year cover-up of 'predatory pedophilia' by its legendary football coach
    01/16/13
    JUST after Christmas, Poly Prep Country Day School, the venerable Brooklyn institution, settled a lawsuit alleging a more than 40-year cover-up of the predatory pedophilia of its legendary football coach, Philip Foglietta.
    
    The terms of the settlement have not been disclosed, but the laws
2012
- October
  - Houston SNAP Leader tells her story of abuse in Dallas church and the high price she paid for speaking out
    10/01/12
    The following is a blog posting our friend, and fellow SNAP Leader in Houston, Amy Smith.
    
    Her story talks about a church here in Dallas, Prestonwood Baptist Church. She has paid a high price for speaking out, but she is one of the few who “walks the walk” and we are proud to call her fri
- September
  - Bishop convicted of sexual abuse coverup walks, pope silent, court will expunge record; both church and state fail innocent victims again
    09/09/12
- August
  - Popular Roman priest-TV evangelist defends priest abusers saying they are seduced by children and should not be jailed for first offense
    08/30/12
    As we've said on this site many times, how outrageous does outrageous have to get!?
    
    A well-known Catholic priest who hosts a weekly religious television show said in an interview this week that child sex abusers are often seduced by teenage boys and should not go to jail on a first o
  - Video discussion: Should Vatican be accountable for pedophile priests? SNAP says yes; victim's attorney to appeal OR decision
    08/27/12
    Watch this 25 minute discussion hosted by Huffington Post's Josh Zepps, and joined by Barbara Blaine, SNAP's founder and president; James Marshall Crotty, writer/reporter for Forbes and the Huffington Post; and Marci Hamilton, constitutional law scholar as they discuss an OR judge's r
  - Ft. Worth diocese settles with survivor of HIV positive priest abuser
    08/22/12
  - Losing Faith: Abuse, Cover-Up and the Catholic Church - An Interview with Fr. Thomas Doyle
    08/07/12
    A Dominican priest with a doctorate in canon law and five separate master's degrees, Thomas Doyle, O.P. sacrificed a rising career at the Vatican Embassy to become an outspoken advocate for church abuse victims.
    
    Since 1984, when he became involved with the issue of sexual abuse of c
- July
  - Philadelphia Roman Catholic official imprisoned for child sexual abuse coverup
    07/24/12
    NEW YORK — The highest-ranking US Roman Catholic Church hierarch to be convicted of covering up child sex allegations, Philadelphia diocese priest and monsignor William Lynn, was sentenced to six years in prison on Tuesday.
    
    Lynn, whose job it was to investigate reports of abuse in the arc
  - 'Culture of Reverence' caused 'total disregard for the safety and welfare' of children, says Penn State sexual abuse report
    07/16/12
  - 'Cover-ups in the Catholic Church' of priest sexual abuse may factor into all-time low of faith in organized religion, says Gallup poll
    07/14/12
- June
  - Roman Catholic Cardinal 'equally guilty of endangering children;' says Dallas news editorial
    06/27/12
    Calling the conviction of the Philadelphia diocese Roman Catholic hierarch for child endangerment
    "a devastating verdict against the Catholic Church," an editorial in the Dallas Morning News says that the case "involved sex abuse of minors by (a man} whose horrific crimes, to a
  - Vatican blames lack of priests on secularism and parents; hires secular PR man from Fox News as answer to worldwide priest sex abuse crisis
    06/25/12
  - Conviction of US Roman Catholic hierarch called 'Watershed Moment' in priest abuse crisis by president of Bishop Accountability
    06/23/12
    
    Read the story in ABC News ...
  - Catholic official convicted of child endangerment in covering up sexual abuse by priests in landmark trial
    06/22/12
    A Pennsylvania jury Friday convicted William J. Lynn of child endangerment for covering up sexual abuse of children by priests.
    
    Lynn is the first Roman Catholic official in the U.S. to be convicted of coverup and child endangerment on charges related to sexual abuse by priests. In the lan
  - Bishops' answer to priest sexual abuse, offensive nuns, non-party-line-toeing theologians and Girl Scouts is paying for better PR
    06/15/12
  - New Jersey Assembly votes to ease statute of limitations on childhood sexual abuse in spite of strong Catholic opposition
    06/15/12
  - Orthodox counselor in Hasidic community, on trial for sex abuse, embraced while young accuser is shunned
    06/12/12
  - Who will guard the guardians? 'US Bishops accountability at the top' a question that remains unanswered, says Wall Street Journal
    06/08/12
    Who will guard the guardians? Ten years after the Catholic hierarchy of the United States gathered in Dallas and adopted unprecedented policies to address the scourge of child sexual abuse by clergy, the question of accountability at the top remains unanswered.
    
    So writes David Gibson in t
  - Still no comment from top dog bishop who used church-goer donations in pay-offs of $20,000 plus benes to pedophile priests, says WI news
    06/02/12
- May
  - Jury finds Green Bay Catholic diocese guilty of fraud in allowing priest suspected of child abuse to continue serving
    05/22/12
    In the first trial against a Catholic diocese for sexually abusive clerics in Wisconsin state history, a jury found the diocese guilty of fraud in allowing a priest accused of inappropriate sexual behavior with children to continue in his job.
    
    In the mid 1990's a pair of controversia
  - Change statutes of limitations: Victims need 'years, even decades,' to deal with abuse before confronting abusers, says Philly editorial
    05/21/12
    Among the difficult realities of child sexual abuse is that victims might need years, even decades, to come to terms with their abuse. So says an editorial in Sunday's Philadelphia Patriot-News.
    
    It isn’t until they deal with the emotional trauma of what happened to them that they the
  - Evidence in landmark trial of Roman Catholic hierarch shows a culture of secrecy and self-interest over safety of flock
    05/21/12
    In over eight weeks of testimony in the landmark case of a Roman Catholic diocese and its administrator for child endangerment, jurors saw a parade of witnesses and close to 2,000 documents, some decades old, that detailed what bishops, pastors priests, and church officials knew and did (or didn
  - Roman Catholic priest found guilty in Dallas of murder-for-hire plot to kill his young sexual abuse accuser
    05/19/12
    The Roman priest caste, notorious for intimidating its own victims, its own charity organizations, its nuns and even the Girl Scouts of America has produced yet another heavy.
    
    A Dallas County jury has found a Roman Catholic priest, John F. Fiala, guilty of plotting the death of a young bo
  - Culture of coverup remains in discredited Roman order of priests founded by a pedophile, as leading member admits fathering children
    05/17/12
    Following an Associated Press expose confronting the defamed order of priests that pope Ratzinger (a.k.a. Benedict XVI) declined to disband, the Roman Legionnaires of Christ, a favorite priest order of the current and the former pope, has admitted once again to covering up for one of its most public
  - After attacking nuns, catholic charities and international charity groups, Roman bishops in USA go after Girl Scouts
    05/16/12
    From the outrageous, to the preposterous, to the absurd, Roman bishops are now attacking the Girl Scouts. They are shotgunning for anyone to blame for anything to take attention off of their total denial and moral bankruptcy, as evidenced in the long enduring priest sexual abuse crisis and its syste
  - 'Never admit to victims that there are other cases' said memo to Philly church official accused of child endangerment and coverup
    05/16/12
    A memo in the landmark Philadelphia trial of a Roman Catholic diocesan official was cited by the prosecution as evidence of the church’s attempt to minimize scandal and conceal clergy sex abuse. The defendant's lawyer, on the contrary, used the memo in the accused priest's "Eichmann&q
  - Trend in US Catholic dioceses: put abuse lawyers on bishop's payroll, says Missouri diocese
    05/05/12
    In a statement sent to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch late Friday afternoon, Katie Pesha, the archdiocese's executive director of communications and planning, confirmed that Archbishop Robert Carlson had hired Tom Buckley, formerly of the law firm Buckley & Buckley, as the archdiocese’s in-hou
  - New charges of failure to protect children from priest sexual abuse emerge against Irish Roman Catholic hierarch
    05/02/12
    In a BBC report broadcast yesterday the Roman cardinal in Ireland, Sean Brady, has been accused of further child endangerment and official church coverup.
    
    The BBC's This World program reports that as late as 2010 Brady had the names and addresses of those being abused by Brendan
- April
  - CA Bishops lobby against modest extension of statute of limitations and background checks for childcare
    04/19/12
    
    -- Victims advocate, attorney Marci Hamilton
    
    Read full article: 'Catholic bishops lobby against legislation to protect children new=true'
  - KC bishop becomes first Catholic hierarch to face criminal charges in decades old church sex abuse coverup scandal
    04/06/12
    The leader of Kansas City area Roman Catholics will face criminal charges for failure to report suspected child abuse to proper secular authorities. So ruled Missouri judge, John Torrence.
    
    Robert Finn, religious superior of the Kansas City - St. Joseph diocese of the Roman church, will
- March
  - Secular court supervision, and leadership of women create priest abuse prevention plan for indicted Catholic diocese
    03/25/12
    Under a deal struck with the court to avoid more criminal charges, the Roman Catholic diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph is following the leadership of two women who have created a 3 step plan that Roman bishops and their pope have refused to implement for centuries prior.
    
    In a case that r
  - Ratzinger altered Roman canon law statute of limitations on sexual abuse to favor deposed pedophile religious order founder, says new book
    03/24/12
    Victims of the deposed founder of a Roman order of priests have published a shocking account of their rape by the order's founder, and their subsequent re-victimization by the Roman Catholic Inquisition authorities who denied them justice.
    
    In the book’s most striking accusation, one
  - Internal documents show Vatican knew of deposed Legion leader's sexual abuse of seminarians for years, says ex-Legionairre
    03/22/12
    The Washington Post reports that a new book says internal Vatican documents show the Holy See knew decades ago of allegations that the Mexican founder of the disgraced Legion of Christ religious order was a drug addict and pedophile.
    
    The documentation has been compiled in a book "La
  - JP Morgan pulls plug on Vatican bank account for 'concerns about a lack of transparency' in money transfers
    03/20/12
    According to a Reuters story in the Huffington Post, JP Morgan Chase is closing the Vatican bank's account in Italy due to "concerns about a lack of transparency at the Holy See's financial institution."
    
    The bank of the Roman Catholic Church has been trying to clean u
  - Dutch Catholic Church castrates child 'to get rid of homosexuality' after he reported priests for abusing him, UK Telegraph says
    03/20/12
    In a report filed with The Telegraph yesterday, the NRC Handelsblad newspaper identified Henk Heithuis who was castrated in 1956, while a minor, after reporting priests to the police for abusing him in a Catholic boarding home.
    
    Sources for the newspaper said that the surgical removal of
  - MO court twists 1st Amendment to shield churches from liability for pedophile clergy, says NYTimes; Supreme Court to review case Friday
    03/15/12
    A NYTimes editorial yesterday says that in "an outrageous case," a Missouri appellate court dismissed a negligence case against the Archdiocese of St. Louis for failure to supervise a priest with a record of child sexual abuse.
    
    The court threw out the complaint, saying that Mis
  - SNAP is neither plaintiff nor defendant, says NY Times; yet legal authority says 'they are trying to find a way to silence SNAP'
    03/13/12
    "The group, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP, is neither a plaintiff nor a defendant in the litigation. But the group has been subpoenaed five times in recent months in Kansas City and St. Louis, and its national director, David Clohessy, was questioned by a batte
  - Vatican wants off new State Department list of potential money launderers; still 14 years delinquent with UN child safety report
    03/11/12
    According to a Reuters story of March 8, the Vatican is seeking inclusion on the European Commission's so-called "white list" of states who comply with international standards against tax fraud and money-laundering.
    
    This reaction is to having been currently listed by the US
  - Lawyers for priests accused of abusing children bully survivors' advocate and SNAP leader Clohessey, deposition transcript shows
    03/03/12
    In what National Catholic Reporter calls "a six hour ordeal," soft spoken victims' advocate David Clohessy, Director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, was grilled with some 800 questions posed by several lawyers hired to defend priests accused of abuse and the Roman
- February
  - We sanction what we believe -- A 2002 cry to 'think critically about what we believe' has yet to be realized
    02/11/12
    We sanction what we believe.
    
    In 2002, America was still reeling from 9/11. The Roman Catholic Church in the United States was beginning to reel from the news coming from Boston that priests had raped children and that their bishops had protected them and allowed them to rape again. And th
- January
  - Belgian authorities raid bishops' offices investigating possible 'high-level' clergy involvement in abuse coverup
    01/16/12
    Earlier today, Monday Jan 16, Belgian authorities raided three bishops' administrative offices nearing the end of a two-year investigation into whether church officials protected child abusers at the expense of their victims.
    
    A Belgian Catholic Church spokesman said the offices in Ha
  - Philly archdiocese member of Child and Youth Committee and Penn State alumnus speaks out on institutional coverup of abuse
    01/15/12
    Grand jury investigations into the recent child sex abuse scandals that have rocked Penn State and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia have placed the issue of child sex abuse onto the front burner here in Pennsylvania — where it belongs.
    
    I serve on the Child and Youth Committee and have list
2011
- December
  - Vatican and pope ignore global protection of 'Rights of the Child' request for 14th consecutive year
    12/22/11
    It was reported on this website one year ago that the Vatican had instantly (within a few weeks) responded with "transparency" demanded by the international banking community when 30 million dollars in Vatican bank assets were seized in a money laundering investigation; but that the same V
  - Dallas sports news anchor Dale Hansen comments on sexual abuse scandals from personal experience
    12/21/11
    
    It has been more than a month now since the sex scandal at Penn State stunned the Happy Valley and changed the lives of so many forever.
    
    Former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky has said he's innocent of the charges he faces for sexually abusing so many young kids, but
  - Tyler Perry's open letter of support to the 11-year-old who has accused Penn State's Sandusky of child abuse
    12/01/11
    In an open letter published on Newsweek’s thedailybeast.com website, filmmaker Tyler Perry addresses an 11-year-old boy involved in the Penn State sexual abuse scandal.
    
    Perry’s letter begins by saying: “I don’t know your name, but I know your face. I don’t know your journey, but I know wh
- November
  - Pope quickly accepts bishop's resignation only days before child abuse report that may implicate diocese is to be published
    11/25/11
    This is one to watch over the next few days.
    
    A Catholic bishop in Ireland stepped down yesterday just six days before child sex abuse audits into two dioceses where he served are due to published.
    
    Bishop of Derry Seamus Hegarty’s resignation on health grounds was accepted by Po
  - 'No one has suffered more' in sexual abuse crisis than Catholic church, claims head bishop; victim advocates disagree
    11/15/11
    A Reuters news service article quotes the head of US Roman Catholic bishops, Timothy Dolan, as saying that the child sex abuse scandal at Penn State University 'opens a wound' within the church. "No one has suffered more," claims the Catholic leader of priests.
    
    The vic
  - SNAP National Director David Clohessy speaks about Penn State sex scandal and parallels to priest sexual abuse
    11/14/11
  - Penn State students, fans collect donations for ChildHelp, making support of victims the focus of the sex scandal
    11/14/11
    Some 400 Penn State students held canisters on Saturday at Beaver Stadium asking game day fans to make a donation.
    
    They collected money for ChildHelp -- a non-profit organization which specializes in the prevention and treatment of child abuse. "A lot of alumni (are) coming by and a
  - Penn State sex scandal parallels Catholic crisis, except PSU leaders are being held accountable, says chair of NSAC
    11/11/11
    Kristine Ward is chairperson of SNAP's sister survivors advocacy group, the National Survivors Advocacy Coalition.
    
    In the mid '60s, Ward was a student at her alma mater, Penn State when Joe Paterno became football coach. She sees direct parallels between the Penn State disclosu
  - Abuse and cover-up at Penn State are strikingly 'Catholic-like' says National Catholic Reporter
    11/11/11
    The parallels between what happened at Penn State and what has happened for decades throughout the Catholic community in the United States and in other countries are striking.
    
    The patterns outlined in the 40-count indictment charging Sandusky are familiar:
    
    -- National Catholic
  - Penn State trustees fire football coach and university president as sex scandal evokes Boston clergy crisis
    11/10/11
    Penn State trustees fired football coach Joe Paterno and university president Graham Spanier amid the growing furor over how the school handled sex abuse allegations against an assistant coach.
    
    Boston attorney Carmen Durso, who has represented numerous clergy sex abuse victims, said the B
  - President of Southern Baptist seminary says Penn State scandal holds lesson for Southern Baptists
    11/10/11
    Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., said Nov. 8:
    "When anyone reports to us the sexual abuse of a child ... it’s not a case for the kind of investigation that we might want to launch ourselves.
    
    “This is a case for calling in the
  - Ireland closes Vatican Embassy established in 1929 when Mussolini declared Vatican state sovereignty in Europe
    11/05/11
    The Irish government announced late on Thursday that it has closed its embassy to the Vatican. This has revived focus on a bitter public debate on the Catholic Church’s handling of clerical child sex abuse cases and the wider question of church-state relations.
    
    Ireland's diplomatic
  - New SNAP group helps Fargo, ND survivors of abuse cope
    11/01/11
    Megan Peterson was abused by her priest in Crookston, ND for two years at the age of 14. She's one of the few who have come forward while the abuse was ongoing. Traveling the world with SNAP for the last few months, she now wants to reach out to others by starting a group in Fargo, North Dakota
- October
  - Quotes from the crisis on evil, power and coverup
    10/20/11
    “The world is a dangerous place. Not because of the people who are evil; but because of the people who don't do anything about it.”
    -- Albert Einstein
    
    “The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse.”
    -- Edmund Burke
    
    “I assure all the faithful that there a
  - First ever US Roman Catholic bishop and diocese to face criminal charges for failure to protect children from sexually abusive priests
    10/15/11
    Bishop Robert Finn and the Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., diocese have been charged with failure to report suspected child abuse.
    
    The charges, filed Friday in a Jackson County, Mo., court and announced at a press conference this afternoon, represent the first time a U.S. bishop has faced c
- September
  - SNAP Director joins local members in protesting Episcopal School's decision to appeal $9.2 million abuse verdict against the school
    09/29/11
    SNAP Director David Clohessy joined members of the SNAPDFW group of survivors to protest the decision of the Episcopal School of Dallas to contest a $9.2 million judgement against it in a case of sexual abuse of a student by a teacher at the school.
    
    "“All that will do is drag these
  - Episcopal School of Dallas found grossly negligent in handling of teacher sexual association with underage student
    09/22/11
    Following nine weeks of testimony, the Episcopal School of Dallas was found grossly negligent in how it handled a sexual association between a teacher and a 16-year-old student, and has been ordered to pay the girl's family at least $5 million.
    
    Calling the decision of a jury "wr
  - SNAP petitions international court to investigate the pope and top Vatican officials for possible crimes against humanity
    09/13/11
    As the clergy sexual abuse scandal, once dismissed as an American problem by the Vatican, intensifies around the world, SNAP is petitioning the International Court in The Hague to investigate the pope and top Vatican cardinals for possible crimes against humanity.
    
    The Center for Constitu
  - Pope defrocks child molester priest 2 years after his conviction - "What took them so long?" asks Dallas victims advocate attorney
    09/11/11
    A Fort Worth priest as been defrocked by the Vatican more than two years after a Texas jury convicted him of molesting an 11-year-old Texas boy, and decades after his first accusers came forward.
    
    Kevin Vann, leader of the Fort Worth Roman Catholic Diocese, announced Friday that he had lea
  - Former Dallas area youth minister faces child sexual assault charges in Mississippi thanks to efforts of Houston SNAP leader
    09/07/11
    A former youth music minister at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, who recently admitted during a sermon to molesting young students in the late 1980s when he worked with youth in Plano, has been arrested in Clinton, MS and faces 8 counts of sexually assaulting children under 14 years of age.
- August
  - After 9 years of defying US courts, Vatican succumbs to 1 survivor's demand that the silence surrounding his abuse be ceased
    08/18/11
    Vatican Radio website has announced that the Vatican has released documents ordered by a United States court.
    
    For nine grueling years in court, a single survivor of clergy abuse has prevailed in a landmark, precedent setting battle against the 'immunity' that the Roman church h
  - Irish news discovers evidence of extensive abuse and coverup by already disgraced Catholic religious order
    08/16/11
    The Irish Independent has obtained hundreds of pages of documents about the dreadful living conditions of vulnerable children in the care of the Brothers of Charity at Lota residential facility in Glanmire, Co Cork.
    
    But it is understood that the documents were not made available to the C
  - Traditional church hierarchy of power, domination breaking down, says Catholic Religious women's conference keynote
    08/15/11
    Confronting the institutional domination of authoritarian cultures such as Roman Catholicism is a global indication of the presence and actvity of "Ruah" the Holy Spirit. So says Sr. Maricarmen Bracamontes during the general assembly of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, Aug. 1
- July
  - Ireland's papal nuncio recalled after prime minister blasts 'elitism, narcissism' of Roman church in sex abuse crisis
    07/26/11
    Speaking to the Irish Parliament last week, Irish prime minster Enda Kenny attacked the "dysfunction, disconnection, elitism, the narcissism" within the upper echelon of the Roman Catholic Church.
    
    In reaction, the Vatican has recalled its ambassador to Ireland (called, in Rome,
  - Irish Prime Minister says Roman hierarchy puts 'power and reputation of the church ahead of child rape victims'
    07/22/11
    In a scathing public tongue-lashing of Roman clericalism, legalism, cover-up and church-based protection of perpetrator priests, Ireland Prime Minister Enda Kenny, the highest ranking political leader in this Roman church dominated nation, made a direct allusion to the name from the pantheon of cath
  - 'Worst possible candidate' appointed by Rome to PA diocese under seige for endangering children and protecting perps
    07/20/11
    The pope has appointed Charles Chaput of Denver to head the besieged Philadelphia archdiocese, replacing a cardinal, Justin Regali on whose watch the archdiocese came under fire following 3 grand-jury reports, the latest in February of this year, accusing the Archdiocese of a widespread cover-up of
  - Bishop-secretary to 3 popes presided over child endangerment and abuse, says 'damning' Cloyne report
    07/17/11
    A report published on Wednesday faulted the Ireland Diocese of Cloyne for failing to inform police about allegations of clerical sex abuse from 1996-2009, including cases in which the alleged victims were still minors at the time of the accusations.
    
    The report also characterized the Vatic
  - Expert in Canon Law warns: Church's destructive 'dark side' evident in sexual abuse of children and adults by priests is systemic
    07/16/11
    
    Read the Tom Doyle's entire speech as he presented the Lifetime Achievement Award to Richard Sipe at the SNAP National Conference, July 10, 2011 here.
    
    [more]
    REMARKS FOR THE PRESENTATION OF THE LIFETIME ACHIEVMENT AWARD TO RICHARD SIPE
    
    SNAP CONFERENCE – JU
  - Bishop accused of allowing molester priest to escape justice in defiance of CA law resigns
    07/01/11
    The Vatican has announced that the pope has accepted the resignation of Daniel Walsh, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Santa Rosa, CA.
    
    The diocese has been hit with several lawsuits under Walsh's tenure involving alleged child sex abuse by former priests.
    
    Reports sa
- June
  - Victim 23 of serial child molester priest settles with FW diocese intent upon 'preserving secrets'
    06/29/11
    The 23rd victim to report being molested by a notorious FW predator priest has settled out of court with the Fort Worth Roman Catholic Diocese. Financial terms were not disclosed. The priest, James Reilly, died in 1999.
    The victim's attorney, Tahira Khan Merritt of Dallas, strongly critici
  - Priest accused of abusing pastoral authority to seduce a parishioner files counter suit challenging constitutionality of abuse law
    06/20/11
    A priest in Ramsey County, Minnesota is currently being accused of abusing his pastoral authority over a parishioner in order to seduce her into a sexual encounter. Now the priest is challenging the constitutionality of the law upon which the felony criminal charge against him has been brought, clai
  - Pop TV preacher and book seller falls on sword for allegations of abuse, after holding 'Ordination Anniversary Sale'
    06/18/11
    Pop Catholic televangelist and Roman Catholic priest John Corapi, who has been accused of abusing one of his followers, has decided to abort the investigation against him by quitting the priesthood.
    
    One week before announcing his departure, however, the company Corapi owns to sell his ri
  - US bishops ignore child safety, says SNAP; Bishop Accountability calls policy 'a disaster for children'
    06/17/11
    The bishops missed a real opportunity to show they really care about kids' safety. Instead, they sent a chilling message: the public relations plan we call our abuse policy is good enough, vague, weak, and unenforced though it may be.
    
    Hundreds of US bishops over the past nine years c
  - KC bishop issues 'call for change' one day, tries to get accused pedophile priest off the hook under statute of limitations the next
    06/11/11
    A day after the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph announced a plan to radically improve investigation of reports of sexual misconduct by employees, its lawyer asked a judge to throw out a lawsuit accusing a KC priest of abusing a 13-year-old boy 40 years ago because the plaintiff waited too long to
  - Vatican stalls US court order to produce records in child abuse case while pope responds immediately to release frozen bank assets
    06/08/11
    After stalling US courts for over nine years in an Oregon child abuse case, the Vatican was ordered finally to turn the records over. Now they want 60 more days.
    
    Additionally, the UN Committee on Rights of the Child reported recently that the Vatican is over 13 years delinquent in produci
  - KC bishop responds to publicity, removes second priest in two weeks while ignoring parishioners and Star editorial demanding he resign
    06/07/11
    The bishop of Kansas City - St. Joseph has removed another priest from pastoral duties because of “credible reports” of sexual misconduct with minors. This second removal followed publicity exposing the bishop as having ignored a previous threat of one year ago reporting possible pedophile behavior
  - In rare move by US newspaper, Kansas City Star calls for Catholic bishop to resign for failing to remove suspected pedophile priest
    06/05/11
    In a move rare in U.S. Catholic history, but one that indicates growing exasperation with the way the bishops of the Catholic church have handled the now decades’ long clergy abuse scandal, a local newspaper, the Kansas City Star , today has called for the resignation of Kansas City-St. Joseph Bisho
- May
  - Roman clerical cult of privilege, not American cultural history, at heart of global priest sexual abuse crisis says Twin Cities editorial
    05/29/11
    "At the heart of the crisis was clericalism, the mind-set of ecclesiastical privilege in which leaders behave as an anointed class accountable to no one except those above them in the church hierarchy." -- Editorial in the Minneapolis - St Paul StarTribune, 27 May 2011
    Read the edito
  - Diocese knew of priest who 'fit the profile of a child predator' months before removing him from access to children
    05/27/11
    KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The principal of a Catholic elementary school warned the Kansas City-St. Joseph chancery office that a local priest “fit the profile of a child predator” six months before the diocese took any action to remove him from ministries dealing with children. This week, one full year af
  - Catholic canon law expert comments on church-financed denial of bishops responsibility in abuse crisis
    05/22/11
    There have been at least 27 other reports on clergy sex abuse between 1989 and 2011. All cite cultural causes as contributory. But the only one citing any culture other than the Roman clerical culture as causative is the one that very culture bankrolled.
    
    So says catholic canon law expert
  - Biased study blames priest pedophilia on an era, bankrolled by Catholic bishops, Catholic groups and US Taxpayers
    05/20/11
    The National Survivors Advocacy Coalition, NSAC, has published the list of stakeholders in the seriously skewed John Jay College study designed to blame the Catholic priest child abuse crisis on a troubled era in American history.
    
    The nearly 2 million dollar, 4 year study, involving 2 res
  - US Catholic bishops claim church, pedophile priests are victims of circumstance in '152 page millstone'
    05/19/11
    Referencing the gospel passage from Luke 17:2, religion scholar Joanna Brooks called the John Jay report, underwritten by the Catholic hierarchy it exonerates, "a 152 page millstone."
    "As it is, this report is evidence of a large church prioritizing the interests of powerful, la
  - Priest survivor sees little in new bishop-funded report to suggest genuine commitment to protecting victims
    05/19/11
    "This report does not get to the heart of the issue, and the heart of the issue is deceit, cover-up, silence, secrecy and an internal culture that doesn't let anybody else in."
    
    -- NPR Interview with survivor and Catholic priest Bob Hoatson
    "We need a massive over
  - NSAC editorial renews commitment of survivor advocacy in wake of church-funded report
    05/19/11
    "Our Concern Rests with the Survivors Today
    
    Our first concern today as we alert our readers to the release of the John Jay Report is for the survivors and their families and for the families of those who committed suicide as it will be a day with increased news coverage about sexual
  - Bishops blame 'woodstock,' redefine 'pedophile' and skew numbers in their favor in new church-financed report
    05/18/11
    A 2 million dollar study just released -- half of which was paid for by the Roman Catholic bishops in the United States themselves, and the balance of which was paid for mostly by other Catholic organizations -- points the blame for the Roman Catholic clergy sex abuse crisis everywhere except toward
  - Amnesty International human rights report lists Vatican for failure to protect children
    05/17/11
    Amnesty International named the Vatican in its annual report on human rights issues for failing to sufficiently comply with international mandates to protect children from abuse.
    
    This marked the first time the Vatican was named in the group's Annual Report on the state of human right
  - Vatican 'guidelines' on responsibility of bishops in sex abuse - too weak, too little, to late
    05/17/11
    WHAT THE POPE TO PROTECT CHURCH ASSETS:
    Sept 22, 2010 -- Irish Times Headline
    Vatican bank in the spotlight over money laundering claims
    Dec 30, 2010 -- Irish Times Headline:
    Vatican enacts new banking laws
    WHAT THE POPE TO PROTECT CHILDREN
    Jul 15, 2010 - Associated
  - SNAP opposes priest for Congressional chaplain
    05/12/11
    In 1986, the priest who hopes to be the next Congressional chaplain knew of likely child sex crimes but didn’t call the police. Instead, he just told an archbishop once. And he never followed up.
    
    Fr. Patrick Conway is a smart, well-educated man. He knew child molestation was a crime. He k
  - New settlement reached for survivor of Fort Worth Roman Catholic Diocese serial child molester priest
    05/10/11
    Another victim of the late Monsignor James Reilly, a serial child molester who worked in Arlington, Texas, a suburb of Fort Worth, reached a settlement Monday with the Fort Worth Roman Catholic Diocese. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
    
    Reilly, who died in 1999, was a priest at
  - Bishop ousted by Vatican for favoring women, married clergy had accepted church's legal liability in clergy abuse case
    05/03/11
    An Australian bishop, Brian Morris -- fired by the pope after suggesting the church consider ordaining women and married men -- had also accepted legal responsibility in a clergy sex abuse case in his diocese.
    
    Calling Morris' removal "profoundly disheartening," the auxilia
  - Male dominated priesthood trumps child safety in Vatican firing of bishop who supports women, married priests
    05/02/11
    In what is considered an uncharacteristically strong statement, the Vatican has fired an outspoken Australian bishop who had called on the church to consider ordaining women and married men.
    
    Yet Roman hierarch Bernard Law, who presided over the Boston sex abuse scandal of 2001, continues
- April
  - Vatican served with historic US court order to turn over records that may show shielding of pedophile priest
    04/27/11
    A federal judge in Oregon ruled Thursday that the Vatican must respond to certain requests for information from a man who says he was molested by a priest in the 1960s.
    This a historic achievement. -- SNAP Press Statement, 22 April, 2011
    
    "This a historic achievement. It is the f
  - Pope to 'beatify' predecessor who shielded pedophiles and gave ex-Boston hierarch Bernard Law immunity
    04/26/11
    "One fact to consider: On May 27, 2004, John Paul named ex-Boston Cardinal Bernard Law as head of St. Mary Major Basilica in Rome, giving him the title archpriest. That appointment came less than two years after John Paul accepted Law's resignation from his Boston post -- a move prompted b
  - Catholic NYTimes columnist questions wisdom of sainthood for pope who presided over worldwide abuse coverup
    04/24/11
    "Next Sunday, two days after the Kate and William show, another European spectacle will unfold: Pope Benedict XVI will preside over the beatification for the man he revered, the first time in a millennium that a pope has elevated his immediate predecessor and the swiftest ascension toward saint
  - News quotes opening Holy Week show priesthood insensitivity to sex abuse
    04/17/11
    "Last week former Catholic Bishop Roger Vangheluwe, who has admitted to sexually abusing two nephews, turned stomachs all over Europe by insisting his pedophilia was a harmless "little piece of intimacy." Civil authorities can't collar Vangheluwe because the crimes occurred too l
  - PBS Frontline to examine Catholic priest sex abuse of Native Americans in Alaska
    04/11/11
    FRONTLINE examines a little-known chapter of the Catholic Church sex abuse story -- decades of abuse of Native Americans by priests and other church workers in Alaska. Through candid interviews with survivors, this FRONTLINE report focuses on the abuse by a number of men who worked for the Church al
- March
  - SNAP and BishopAccountability uncover evidence that there have been 3 PA grand jury clergy abuse reports since 2001
    03/29/11
    SNAP has discovered evidence of a 3rd grand jury report, hushed by gag order until 2005, once again implicating the corrupt Philadelphia Roman Catholic diocese hierarchy in possible child endangerment.
    
    SNAP and Boston-based research group BishopAccountability.org together are disclosing
  - Hundreds of Native Americans abused by priests as children receive landmark $166.1 million settlement
    03/27/11
    Jesuit priests agreed to pay $166.1 million to hundreds of Native Americans and Alaskan Natives who were abused at its schools around the Pacific Northwest.
    
    The settlement is one of the largest in the Catholic church's sweeping sex abuse scandal.
    Read the AP Story from Mar 26 ..
  - Freelance Catholic preacher-priest cult figure John Corapi secretly suspended following accusation of sexual abuse
    03/24/11
    Pop Catholic televangelist and traveling preacher John Corapi has been placed on 'administrative leave' from priestly ministry following an accusation of sexual abuse against him.
    
    However, despite the American Catholic hierarchy's repeated pledges to be “open and transparen
  - Pope's homeland Germany extends statute of limitations on child abuse from 3 to 30 years
    03/24/11
    Prompted by last year's Roman Catholic sex abuse scandal, the homeland of the Roman pope has passed legislation that will strengthen survivors' rights by extending the statute of limitations on child abuse.
    
    Germans who were sexually abused as children will now have up to 30 year
  - Zero-Tolerance abuse policy of US bishops fails to protect children, says insider
    03/22/11
    Has the Zero-Tolerance policy been an unmitigated success in preventing perpetrators from having access to new victims? NO, mainly because secretly the church hierarchy is still completely mobilized to protect their own political power in the church – nothing else matters to them." -- James Jen
  - 4th Philadelphia lawsuit filed against Roman hierarchs for failing to protect children from sexual abuse by priests
    03/21/11
    The Archdiocese of Philadelphia was hit Monday with the fourth in a series of new lawsuits that blame church officials for failing to protect children from sexually abusive priests.
    
    The lawsuits mirror accusations made by city prosecutors in a grand jury report last month that led several
  - Nuns sue Boston Archdiocese Cardinal and trustees for stalling on lay worker pension funds for over 5 years
    03/21/11
    The Massachusetts Supreme Court is being asked to settle an unusual dispute between The Daughters of St. Paul, a Catholic order of nuns, and Boston Cardinal Sean O'Malley, trustee of a church-run pension fund.
    
    The nuns say they have tried for more than five years to withdraw from the
  - US judge allows human rights statute to be used in international sex abuse case against Catholic hierarchs
    03/02/11
    A federal judge in California has given thumbs-up to a lawsuit against two cardinals and a priest based on the Alien Tort Statute, enacted by the first US Congress in 1789."This is huge," said plaintiff attorney Jeff Anderson.
    The court said that the plaintiff sufficiently pleaded rap
- February
  - VA legislators extend statute of limitations on child abuse from 2 to 20 years; bill goes to Catholic governor for signature
    02/24/11
    The Virginia General Assembly has passed legislation extending from two to 20 years the time allowed for sexual abuse victims to sue their attackers. The measure was part of a group of uncontested bills that were passed with little debate.
    
    Despite much tearful and heart wrenching testimon
  - Reassigned Los Angeles pedophile priest fired, boss resigns after Philadelphia diocese indicted for child endangerment
    02/20/11
    Roger Mahony, head priest/cardinal in the Roman Catholic diocese of Los Angeles is retiring within a week. On Mahoney's watch his archdiocese was forced into a $660-million settlement with 508 people who alleged they were abused by priests as children.
    
    But only days before Mahoney is
  - Philadelphia Catholic hierarchs face charges of covering up abuse, protecting abusers
    02/14/11
    A former Catholic school student has sued the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Cardinal Justin Rigali and his predecessor, Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua and others claiming that clergy covered up sexual assaults by seminarians and priests perpetrated upon him.
    
    The suit also says that in 2005, t
  - 'Clueless' head US bishop Dolan, who denies abuse crisis, say's, 'Darn it,' his old archdiocese does a good job
    02/14/11
    Timothy Dolan, former Milwaukee archdiocese head for seven years -- as accusations of priestly misconduct grew -- told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel paper that charges against the archdiocese were "ludicrous." The Milwaukee archdiocese is charged with playing a financial shell game to hid
  - New Philly lawsuit reportedly will name cardinal and other hierarchs as co-conspirators in priest child abuse coverup
    02/14/11
    SNAP announced earlier that at a sidewalk news conference later today, Monday, Feb.14 at 1:00 p.m., attorneys and clergy sex abuse victims will disclose and discuss a new civil lawsuit that charges more Philadelphia Catholic church officials with “conspiring” to conceal child sex crimes by two pries
  - Right hand man of Philidelphia cardinal faces 1st ever criminal charges for hierarchy coverup of priest sexual abuse
    02/11/11
    Facing up to 14 years in prison if convicted, Monsignor William J. Lynn, the Secretary for Clergy for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia under Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, was charged by a grand jury February 10th with two counts of endangering the welfare of a child.
    "It's believed to b
  - German Catholic theologians call for women priests, gay couples, elected clergy, and ending enforced celibacy
    02/07/11
    In the pope's own fatherland, where church attendance and applicants to the Catholic priesthood are dwindling at alarming rates due to the worldwide Catholic clergy sexual abuse crisis, University theologians are calling for a return to sanity with radical church reforms.
    
    Calling th
  - Dallas resident among sexual predators whose files were ordered released in San Diego diocese settlement in October
    02/05/11
    A 176 page file of a Dallas resident convicted of child abuse was released by the diocese of San Deigo following a ruling by a Los Angeles Superior Court in October. This is the largest collection of abuse-related documents ever obtained from a California diocese.
    
    A 1997 article in the D
  - Survivor Connections - confidential database of accused sexual predators may help connect victims of same perp
    02/05/11
    Survivor Connections, Inc. maintains a confidential database of rape, incest, sexual assault, and child molestation perpetrators who have been reported to the database by former victims, or the former victim’s supportive relatives. The database is password protected and encrypted, and cannot be acce
- January
  - Brilliant 27 year old doctoral student's suicide note about darkness that haunted him since being molested and raped as a child
    01/12/11
    Below is a link to the brilliant, but heart wrenching suicide note of childhood clergy abuse victim Bill Zeller. The posting is on Christa Browns blog "Stop Baptist Predators."
    
    Brown says "Zeller’s note should be mandatory reading for the many religious leaders, including m
  - Stepping From The Shadows
    01/12/11
  - Vatican 2010 priorities: protect assets; ignore 'Rights of the Child'
    01/03/11
    A retrospective of 2010 shows that the Vatican instantly responded with "transparency" to the international banking community when its assets were siezed. But the same Vatican has ignored, for the 13th year in a row, a request from the UN Convention on Rights of the Child for some simple h
2010
- December
  - Moral bankruptcy of Roman hierarchy read into record of United Nations Human Rights Council
    12/29/10
    In a posting on this site in July of this year entitled Vatican 13 years delinquent in submitting legally required UN report on 'Rights of the Child' in July of this year we reported on the unconscionable ignoring by the Vatican of a UN request for a report on Vatican handling of child abu
  - In Catholic theology, paedophilia was 'in conformity with man and even with children' says pope
    12/28/10
    December 28 - Feast of the Holy Innocents
    
    In an outrageous new attempt to deflect blame that is his and his administration's alone for the continuing Roman church sex abuse crisis the Roman pope -- who has blamed everyone from Harry Potter to the Beatles for the world's problems
  - Founder of Catholic Order-funded Haitian relief mission gets maximum sentence for raping poverty striken children
    12/23/10
    On a grant from the catholic "Sovereign Military Order of Malta," a Roman Catholic religious order dating back to the middle ages, Douglas Perlitz founded the Village Pierre Toussaint as a boys school in Cap-Haitien, Haiti. Perlitz then proceeded to threaten destitute Haitian children into
  - Pope grasps at heady philosophical straws again; ignores victims' plights; blames sex abuse crisis on old societal abstractions
    12/21/10
    Finding a scorpion in your lap is not something that calls for more "reflection" and prayer. You thump it off, squash it and spray the house.
    
    Yet the news today has more disturbing stories that show once again, in no uncertain terms, that the pope, and anyone else in power in th
  - "Innocent children were violated"; "church leadership failed"; "bonds of trust" were "ruptured" says Boston archbishop
    12/20/10
    In spite of an apologetic self-indictment issued Saturday, Sean O'Malley, archbishop of the diocese of Boston gave a phone number to a violated parish, and urged new victims to call him up.
    SNAP strongly urges any and all victim survivors of clergy abuse in the Roman Catholic church, or an
  - Catholic educator who raped Haitian children and threatened prosecutors scheduled for sentencing in CT Tuesday
    12/19/10
    NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- Federal prosecutors in Connecticut say a man who sexually abused children at a school in Haiti he founded also threatened to kill a prosecutor.
    
    Authorities cited the alleged threat in court papers Thursday as they argued Douglas Perlitz of Eagle, Colo., should be sent
  - Vatican uses immunity to thwart probe of sex abuse charges; accuses Ireland of disrespect, secret communique says
    12/11/10
    In another stunning display of the pope calling the kettle black, the Vatican, in secret communiques published Saturday in the British news outlet The Guardian, tried to stiff-arm an Irish fact-finding probe into sexual exploitation and abuse by priests and subsequent bishop cover-up, and instead ac
- November
  - New 'clueless' cleric boss Dolan takes over American RC bishops; vows no changes saying, 'It's not like we're in a crisis.'
    11/22/10
    "My major priority," New York's Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan said at his election last week as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, "would be to continue with all vigor I can muster what's already in place. It's not like we're in a crisis."
  - Pope ignores diseased children in ignorant new statement on contraception; still blames spread of AIDS on male prostitutes
    11/22/10
    The utter moral bankruptcy of the Roman Catholic Church looms more ominously than ever today in the latest unimaginably ignorant statements of the pope on the use of condoms.
    
    Totally ignoring an entire generation of diseased children of infected parents -- a phenomenon for which, in 3rd w
  - Road to Recovery - 2 priests do what Roman Catholic bishops pay out huge legal fees to avoid: helping survivors
    11/21/10
    SNAP in DFW is a place of emotional and moral support for survivors of clergy sexual and power abuse, and for their supporters. We come together (if we may borrow a line from the 12 step recovery programs) to share our experience (often horrendous and debilitating), strength (at first, minimal to no
  - Catholic Child Welfare Society in England diocese liable for $12.8 million in damages to abuse victims; cannot appeal
    11/14/10
    A Catholic diocese in northeast England has been refused the right to appeal a court ruling that found it responsible for a $12.8 million compensation claim by victims of child sexual abuse, believed to be the largest award to abuse victims in English history.
    
    The diocese was found liable
  - You are not alone! 200 sexually abused men speak out on national TV; full video of the Friday's Oprah Winfrey show
    11/06/10
    Caution: This program is extremely and disturbingly explicit.
    
    However, our hope is that it encourages others abused, even years ago, to tell someone who genuinely understands and cares so that the long road toward healing this horrible rape of innocence and spirit can begin. It can and w
  - 200 Abused Men Stand Up to Be Counted on 2 Day National TV Event; Urge Anyone Ever Abused to Get Help
    11/04/10
    On Friday, Oprah Winfrey’s show will air the first part of a two part program about men who were abused, sexually and physically, when they were children.
    
    It’s estimated by professionals that one in six men were abused in their youth. Some die from suicides or deaths related to alcohol o
- October
  - Survivors Head for Reformation Day Gathering in Rome to Say 'Enough' to Sexual Abuse by Roman Catholic Priests
    10/29/10
  - 60% of Chicago parishes employed publicly accused sexual predator priests, new SNAP supported study shows
    10/13/10
    A study taking 5 years to complete by SNAP and two other survivors advocate groups has shown that nearly 60% of Roman Catholic parishes in Chicago employed priests who were publicly accused of child abuse and sexual predator behavior.
    
    The study, conducted jointly by Voice of the Faithful,
  - Belgium's highest court reverses lower court's return of seized church records on pedophilia; orders reseizure
    10/13/10
    In a reversal of a lower court's order to return truckloads of files on priest sexual abuse by Roman Catholic dioceses in Belgium, Belgium's highest court has ordered the files re-seized.
    
    The raids on June 24, conducted as a Vatican ambassador was meeting with church leaders, op
  - Can Restorative Justice work when religious sexual abuse perpetrators and their protecting leaders lack remorse?
    10/03/10
    Restorative Justice is a concept in law that stresses the idea of promoting dialogue between victims and accused as opposed to a strict adversarial relationship based on abstract interpretations of legal code violations. To work best it requires goodwill on all sides.
    
    The pope has spoken
- September
  - SNAP survivors of priest rape come to Britain for pope trip, ask action, not lip service, to protect children
    09/17/10
    Americans Therese Albrecht and SNAP president Barbara Blaine are in Britain representing fellow survivors of priest sexual abuse during the pope's current trip there. They want more openness about abuse in the Catholic Church.
    "We are asking that the Pope and the Vatican establish a w
  - Human rights jurist claims immunity protecting pope from legal action in pedophile crisis needs moral improvement
    09/13/10
    In a book set to be published in tandem with the popes visit to Britain, a leading British jurist has claimed that the diplomatic immunity model of international relations needs to be replaced by a more moral legal order, so that someday soon not even a pope will be above the law.
    
    Read th
  - Priest sexual abuse cited by independent report to be linked to 13 suicides in Belgium
    09/10/10
    According an Associate Press story filed today, an independent Belgian commission reported that hundreds of sex abuse victims have come forward in Belgium with harrowing accounts of molestation by Catholic clergy that reportedly led to at least 13 suicides and affected children as young as two.
- August
  - Belgian Cardinal pressured victim to protect bishop with secrecy until he retired, says tapes released and verified
    08/30/10
    The New York Times reported today that a Belgian cardinal, Godfried Danneels, pressed a sexual abuse victim to either accept a private apology or wait until a bishop accused of the victim's rape had retired before pressing charges, according to tapes recorded by the victim, and verified by the
  - Irish abuse survivor 'shattered' by leadership of 'clerical culture' in abuse crisis considers option 'this is not the church for me'
    08/20/10
    A survivor of clerical sexual abuse, well-known in Ireland, is considering quitting the Roman church following the pope's decision to keep two Dublin auxiliary archbishops implicated in the abuse scandal in office. Marie Collins has doggedly remained a Catholic in the hopes that the church wi
  - Sexual theology of Roman Catholic Church in deep crisis, says priest/former-editor of Irish Bishops’ magazine
    08/20/10
    The sexual theology of the Roman Catholic Church is in deep crisis. So says Kevin Hegarty, priest and former editor of the Irish Bishop's magazine Intercom.
    
    The majority of Catholic couples were ignoring its teaching on contraception, while its teaching on homosexuality had, rightly
  - Survivors respond to pope's refusal to accept resignations of Irish bishops implicated in sexual abuse by priests scandal
    08/17/10
    Andrew Madden, who was abused as an altar boy in Dublin, said he was "disappointed" by the pope's decision not to accept the auxiliary bishops' resignations. However, he said, "I am not surprised; I have long since given up hope of the Catholic Church getting its act togethe
  - SNAP confronts women religious leaders on behalf of those abused by nuns; 'come clean' as model for church
    08/11/10
    DALLAS -- Standing in a 105 degree temperature outside the Hyatt Regency hotel in downtown Dallas, four members of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) held a press conference as heads of women religious communities were checking in inside the hotel lobby at the outset of the annual g
  - Largest organization of American Nuns to hold annual meeting in Dallas; SNAP DFW urges your presence and support
    08/10/10
    Dear Friends,
    
    I am writing to ask you to support a very important and rare event taking place next week in Dallas. The largest organization of American nuns, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), is holding their annual conference next week at the Hyatt Regency on Reunion B
- July
  - Ratzinger papacy investigates again: this time, Medjugorjan Blessed Virgin 'sightings' targeted by inquisitors
    07/27/10
    Adding the mystics of Medjugorje to his potential heretic hit-list -- along with gay seminarians and "uppity" women in genuine ministries -- the German pope has cranked up the smoke and mirrors intended to further enshroud the sexual perversion crisis of the imploding Roman priesthood and
  - Vatican 13 years delinquent in submitting legally required UN report on 'Rights of the Child'
    07/24/10
    On 20 November 2009, the global community celebrated the 20th anniversary of the adoption by the United Nations General Assembly of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the unique document that sets international standards for the care, treatment and protection of all individuals below age 18.
  - Convicted Mother Teresa spiritual advisor used status to prey on unsuspecting families and children; SNAP responds
    07/21/10
    The Wisconsin Supreme Court has ruled to keep Fr. Donald McGuire behind bars. McGuire is an unrepentant, narcissistic, serial child predator who used his status as a Jesuit and Mother Teresa’s spiritual adviser to prey on unsuspecting families and kids.
    "This case should remind all sex abu
  - 'Rome fiddles, We Burn' - NYTimes Columnist Marueen Dowd comments on latest Vatican priest sex crime rules
    07/19/10
    "The church still believes in its own intrinsic holiness despite all evidence to the contrary...
    
    "The casuistic document
    "There is no moral awakening here. The cruelty and indecency of child abuse once more inspires tactical contrition. All the penitence of the church
  - Canonist and survivors' advocate Thomas Doyle speaks out on new Roman rules for handling sex abuse by priests
    07/19/10
    "The main problem with the Vatican's latest attempt at damage control is that they continue to deny the fundamental issue: the nature of the clericalized monarchical structure of the institutional church and its role in the systematic dismantling of the reality of church as People of God.&
  - Catholic news outlet calls Vatican refusal to implicate bishops in sexual crime coverup 'the elephant in the sanctuary'
    07/18/10
    "Lacking in both the Dallas Norms governing the American church and Cardinal Levada’s announcement of changes in the church’s universal laws was any mention of the fate of bishops who, by ignoring the reported sexual abuse of children by their priests, allow them to victimize yet other children
  - Mega-church elder pleads guilty to rape of church member, and to pending charge of spreading HIV ...
    07/17/10
    [Dallas, TX] Nathaniel Tumbwe, a self-proclaimed "reverend, doctor and prince" pleaded guilty Friday to raping a church member while still an elder in the Dallas mega-church Potter's House. Tumbwe also pleaded guilty to a pending charge of transmitting HIV to another women. A third vi
  - Vatican reduces protection for 23.7% of potential victims of priest child rape; claims 'major contribution'
    07/16/10
    Although the recently released rewording of Vatican status quo on the priest rape crisis extends the Vatican's self-authored statute of limitations to 20 years, the Ratzinger administration has, in essence, increased the dangerous vulnerability of children between ages 14 and 18 by removing the
  - Vatican tweaks statute; defines "child" as under 14; groups women priests, priest rapists; remains unaccountable
    07/16/10
    In yet another grossly insensitive attempt to manipulate public opinion in its favor and against its own victims, the Vatican has produced a woefully inadequate rewrite of its long standing status quo in regards to the protection of child victims of priest and priesthood rape. SNAP's response i
  - Roman Catholic theologian says Vatican intends to equate women’s ordination with priest pedophilia
    07/14/10
    A "magisterial" document (i.e. a divinely sanctioned, self-proclaimed "infallible" teaching by the Roman hierarchy) to be released later this summer by the Vatican is reported to include the ordination of women in the same category as sexual abuse by priests.
    "Mixing th
  - Roman church, Roman Polanski use similar tactics to evade justice for sexual abuse of minors, says SNAP leader
    07/13/10
    Many in SNAP are victims of perpetrators who, even when convicted or who admit guilt, escape justice anyway by what SNAP President Barbara Blaine calls, "political clout, shrewd maneuvering or by 'running out the clock' on the statute of limitations.'
    
    This points out
  - Levada, Ratzinger never intended acting on US abuse crisis, says former chair of SF Review Board
    07/08/10
    "Levada (then archbishop of San Francisco, now Vatican chief inquisitor) reported to us on the SF Review Board that it was the opinion of the Inquisition (now the Vatican's CDF, then run by Ratzinger) that canon law should always supersede American law.
    
    "Ratzinger and his a
  - Vatican office headed by Ratzinger successor ignores case of still active pedophile priest from 2005 to the present
    07/04/10
    Follow the trail of official documents and letters from 2005 to the present in this telling case of a priest pedophile transferred to the US where he molested young girls, and then was transferred to India where he still, to this day, heads an "Education" office which gives him full access
  - Pope praises predecessor who quit the papacy for not being equal to the job
    07/04/10
    Addressing citizens of a central Italian town earlier today, the pope praised one of his 13th century predecessor popes, Celestine V, saying the lifestyle of this man, one of the several Catholic pontiffs who resigned the papacy, can serve as an example for modern men and women.
    
    Celestine
  - Ratzinger's office of inquisition, responsible since 1922, failed to act on abuse scandal says NYTimes
    07/02/10
    The office which Joseph Ratzinger, aka Benedict XVI, headed at the Vatican for years (formerly the "Holy Office of the Inquisition") has been shown by recent review of official Vatican documents by canon lawyers, to have been responsible all along for hearing cases of sexual abuse by prie
  - Supreme Court decision to refuse immunity of Vatican for priest sexual abusers could be far-reaching
    07/02/10
    This week the US supreme court issued a decision against the Vatican the importance of which has been compared by one lawyer to the fall of the Berlin Wall.
    
    That may sound like an exaggeration, but the court's decision that the Vatican does not have legal immunity in a claim of sexua
- June
  - Vatican diplomatic immunity ploy to evade prosecution in child abuse blocked by US Supreme Court
    06/28/10
    The United States Supreme Court has denied a Vatican petition to hear an Oregon clergy sexual abuse case. The decision to deny allows a civil lawsuit against the Holy See to proceed despite the Vatican’s claim of Foreign Sovereign Immunity.
    “Today’s action by the Justices is an answer to the pr
  - Catholic group urges disenfranchised laity to send bishops a strong message by withholding Peter's Pence
    06/17/10
    A group of distinguished Catholics, among whom are Fr. Thomas Doyle, and SNAPDFW's group facilitator, Lisa Kendzior, are calling on Catholics to send a strong message to their bishops in the only place it will be felt -- the collection basket.
    "Catholics have no elections, recall pro
  - Testimony archdiocese sought to repress shows cardinal protected admitted pedophile priest from police
    06/16/10
    Claiming that church policy at the time was to withold church knowledge of pedophile priests from the law, and that the victims, being "illegal aliens," (direct quote from the deposition) had already left the country anyway, the head of the archdiocese of Los Angeles, Roger Mahony, comment
  - 'Why I can't accept the pope's latest apology' - SNAP's Director comments on pope's year of priest speech
    06/15/10
    "No entity can effectively police itself, least of all an ancient, rigid, secretive, all-male monarchy with a widely-documented track record with predatory employees and complicit supervisors." -- SNAP Executive Director David Clohessy
    
    Read Clohessy's complete article in Mo
  - Law Remains Above the Law - Pedophile Protector Remains ArchPriest Under Vatican Diplomatic Immunity
    06/14/10
    Dozens of protesters took to the sidewalks outside the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston Sunday morning to voice their opinions on Cardinal Bernard Law.
    
    Law resigned as Boston’s archbishop in 2003 following the clergy sex abuse crisis. Area Catholics said he knew of sexual misconduct
  - Pope's apology to victims: The Devil made us do it, as thousands of priests gather in Rome to celebrate themselves
    06/11/10
    Implying that a world without priests is a world without God, the pope punctuated his long-awaited "apology" to the victims of priest rape and child abuse by blaming it on 'the enemy,' catholic jargon for the devil.
    “It was to be expected that this new radiance of the pries
  - Decades of Victims attend "Year of the Priest" in Rome, say lip servant pope must do more than "apologize"
    06/10/10
    Victim of sexual abuse by a priest, Joelle Casteix , member of U.S.-based Survivor Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), holds a banner during a news conference in downtown Rome June 8, 2010. -- Credit: Reuters/Tony Gentile
    (Reuters) - Victims of sexual abuse by priests Tuesday demanded Po
  - SNAP director says focus of cardinal's trip to Ireland obscures real problem: a secretive, self-serving hierarchy
    06/08/10
    "Focusing on the laity, especially regarding mass attendance and confession, more than "misses the boat." The problem has been and remains a rigid, secretive, self-serving all-male monarchy that consistently puts its own comfort and reputation above the safety and well-being of its fl
  - Clerical abuse shows Catholic church needs nothing less than total reform, says Australian Catholic bishop
    06/06/10
    Calling the current crisis facing the Catholic Church arising out of sexual abuse "arguably the most serious challenge the Church has faced since the Reformation in the 16th century," an Australian bishop insists that a total systemic reform of Church structures is needed.
    "An e
  - Church pressure contributes to defeat of NY Child Victims Act for 5th consecutive year; SNAP director responds
    06/03/10
    On Wednesday, all seven Republicans on the Codes Committee and two of the nine Democrats voted no on the state's proposed Child Victims Act, which would have allowed greater flexibility to victims of childhood sexual abuse in civil suits against their abusers.
    
    Senator Jeffrey D. Klei
  - Catholic officials oppose NY Child Victims Act to prevent child abuse, expose sex abusers; Senate votes today
    06/02/10
    Later today, the NY Senate Codes Committee is expected to vote on a bill that would help prevent child sex crimes, expose child sex abusers and help those who have already been molested get justice, healing and closure.
    
    The proposal, called the Child Victims Act, would open a one year ‘wi
  - Innocent nun excommunicated as bishops continue to deny cover up of child abuse by priests
    06/01/10
    As Roman priests worldwide scramble to evade prosecution for rape and the abuse of innocent children, and the Vatican's well-paid American lawyer prepares the pope's defense against charges of global complicity in these horrible crimes against humanity, an innocent catholic sister is rejec
- May
  - Why being pope means never having to say you're sorry: Time Magazine cover story Trial of Benedict XVI
    05/30/10
    "The crisis facing the church is deeply complicated by the fact that in 1980, as Archbishop of Munich, the future Benedict XVI appears to have mismanaged the assignment of an accused pedophile priest under his charge." -- Time Magazine cover story May 2010
    Read more in the current Tim
  - Fact Sheet and Action Guide: Sexual Abuse of Women by Clergy
    05/28/10
    "Sexual relations between clergy and congregation members is an abuse of power." So says the Fact Sheet and Action Guide: Sexual Abuse of Women by Clergy published by the National Organization for Women (NOW).
    
    Moreover, the fact sheet reports that sexual abuse of female parishio
  - For Someone Awakening to the Trauma of His or Her Past
    05/27/10
    Dear Friends,
    
    A fellow DFW SNAP member sent this to me today and I thought it was beautiful and worth sharing. It may touch you in some way as it touched me. I warn you, it may be a tear-jerker though.
    
    Blessings,
    Lisa Kendzior
    SNAP DFW
    For Someone Awakening to th
  - This Week in Quotes: Catholic priest, canon lawyer, survivors advocate makes poignant, personal statement
    05/21/10
    My serious questioning started when I found myself on the inside looking out as the clergy sex abuse scandal started to unfold back in 1984 ... I saw first-hand the duplicity and institutionalized lying of the self-proclaimed “successors of the Apostles”... Thomas P. Doyle, priest, Catholic canon la
  - This Week in Quotes: Medieval monarchy model of church allows no accountability, says catholic theologian
    05/19/10
    "As elite members of the last feudal system in the West and one of the last absolute monarchies in the world, we shouldn't be surprised if bishops, as princes of the realm, are answerable only to their sovereign, the bishop of Rome.
    
    "If the hierarchy's royal accruement
  - This Week in Quotes: Boston Globe columnist says clergy abuse directly tied to "inhuman asexuality" of priests
    05/17/10
    "Catholic scandal has laid bare an essential pathology that is unique to the culture of clericalism, and mandatory celibacy is essential to it. Immaturity, narcissism, misogyny, incapacity for intimacy, illusions about sexual morality — such all-too-common characteristics of today’s Catholic cl
  - This Week in Quotes: Boston Herald columnist says Roman hierarchy responsive to its victims only if forced
    05/17/10
    "For the Catholic hierarchy, again, has made it abundantly clear: They won’t stand up for children anywhere until somebody makes them." -- Boston Herald Columnist Margery Eagan -- Sunday, May 16, 2010
  - Pope's defense: Official documents are no proof; bishops not on Vatican payroll; motives too complicated for courts
    05/17/10
    The Vatican is detailing its defense against the first U.S. case to reach the stage of determining whether victims actually have a claim against the Vatican itself for negligence for the failure of bishops to alert police or the public about Roman Catholic priests who molested children.
    
    A
  - Narrow culture of clericalism in the church must be eliminated, says Ireland archbishop
    05/14/10
    Diarmuid Martin, Ireland's archbishop, seems to have reassured some abuse victims by lashing out at the clerical caste system in the Roman church in Ireland this week.
    
    Irish Times reports that in many meetings with abuse victims and their supporters, mostly in private, Martin has ear
  - Pope calls kettle black again, blaming Portugal's financial crisis on the country's need for "moral responsibility"
    05/11/10
    In yet another mind-boggling display of the pope calling the kettle black, pope Ratzinger, quoting himself, blamed the people of Portugal -- who, as all papal hosts countries are required to do, are underwriting his current trip there to the tune of millions of dollars -- saying that the current fis
  - Austrian cardinal attacks former Vatican No. 2; Roman hierarchy needs reform urgently: "days of coverup are over"
    05/08/10
    Austria's Roman cardinal has said the former second-highest Vatican official blocked a probe into a sex abuse scandal that rocked the country's Catholic church 15 years ago.
    
    Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn also accused Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the retired Vatican secretary of stat
  - Untold story of Roman Catholic hierarchy reassigning known pedophile priests to 3rd world, poverty striken nations
    05/08/10
    There is a huge story, yet to be told, of the Roman Catholic Church's track record for reassigning known priest rapists and sexually abusive clerics to 3rd world, Catholic dominated nations, where victims have minimal to no resources for defending themselves.
    
    A specific instance is t
  - New sex abuse charges force pope to finally boot German bishop who admitted to assault of children last month
    05/08/10
    A German bishop, who admitted assaulting children, and who offered to resign last month, was finally taken off line by the pope when new charges against him of sexually abusing children emerged.
    Read the story in today's Washington Post ...
  - Vatican top cop on abuse admitted failing to notify police, parishioners; follows party line
    05/06/10
    Vatican chief inquisitor, William Levada admitted to authorities in 2006 that he had failed to notify police of allegations of abuse by priests in his charge. But records reported today in the New York Times show he followed Vatican policy to protect suspected priest abusers, and to obfuscate, delay
  - Vatican's chief of cardinals one of Maciel's "powerful protectors in the Roman Curia," says NY Times and NCR
    05/03/10
    According to an article in today's NY Times, Vatican scapegoat, and priest-rapist Marcial Maciel had powerful protectors in the Roman Curia.
    
    For years, Maciel had cultivated these powerful allies among the cardinals, through gifts and cash donations. This is according to reporting b
  - Pope opts for a few "carefully orchestrated" words over safety of children, says SNAP's Clohessy
    05/03/10
    "With just two or three carefully orchestrated sentences over a few days, Benedict leaves the impression that he's doing something about an intractable, decades-old crisis. ...
    
    Keep in mind that the pope is the CEO of a global monarchy with a very troubling track record when it
  - NCR Editorial spotlights abuse of power, ignoring of victims by Roman hierarchy
    05/02/10
    In an editorial published Friday, the National Catholic Reporter calls attention to "ongoing problem that, at its core, has to do with power and authority and how it is used in the church."
    "A central, sad truth runs through the story that has been unraveling for the past 25 year
  - Vatican verbally assaults, scapegoats one of its own in words that ring of self-indictment; SNAP responds
    05/02/10
    A seemingly indignant pope vitiated the former czar of the Legionaries of Christ, priest Marcial Maciel, using words that could be applied to the Vatican itself.
    
    The pope appointed a personal delegate to run the neo-conservative band of Roman priests, refusing to disband Maciel's gro
- April
  - Norwegian bishop and child abuser sent to Rome, is "sheltered by nuns;" superior threatens to shred evidence
    04/29/10
    A Norwegian bishop, Georg Müller, who resigned last summer after confessing to having sexually molested an underage boy, has been transferred to Rome where Norwegian news outlet The Foreigner reports that he "is being sheltered by nuns."
    
    Bernt Eidsvig, Müller's successor, i
  - Vatican chief inquisitor ignored pleas from victim's family of child abuse while archbishop of San Francisco
    04/29/10
    The Vatican's high-powered American lawyer says Vatican Inquisitor/boss William Levada handled a case of child molestation "properly by the era's norms."
    
    In 1995 the victim's aunt reported the molestation of her 13 year old nephew by a priest under Leveda's
  - Papal monarchy has outlived its service to evangelization, say advocates of sexual abuse survivors
    04/29/10
    Pope Benedict XVI is a good man. He has served the Church long and well. It takes nothing away from his goodness to suggest that he should resign his office. Nine of his predecessors have resigned, most for the good of the Church.[1] The clerical sex abuse crisis that now exposes a corrupt pattern a
  - Florida legislature passes bill to eliminate statute of limitations
    04/27/10
    The Florida legislature has sent a bill for the governor's signature that would lift statutes of limitations for pursuing criminal or civil sexual abuse cases in which victims are younger than 16 at the time of the abuse.
    Read the AP story in the Miami Herald ...Read SNAP response ...
  - "How do some of us stay in the Church?" Huffington Post commentator hopes "for the return of miracle"
    04/26/10
    "How do some of us stay in the Church? In grief, in sadness, with a resolve not to be shut out by those who say they are speaking in the name of the Father. We just don't believe them. The Church is not an institution; it is the people, people who are now wounded and scandalized, not only
  - One in four German Catholics expected to leave the church due to sex abuse by priests
    04/26/10
    British news outlet The Tablet reports today that a survey conducted in Germany shows a huge increase in the number of Catholics registering their decision to formally leave the Church due to what analysts are calling the worst scandal to hit the Roman hierarchy in history.
    "One in four Ge
  - Deaf survivor of Milwaukee priest sexual abuse joins SNAP in news conference
    04/26/10
    Arthur Budzinski, a deaf man who said he was sexually assaulted and raped by convicted Milwaukee priest Lawrence Murphy, stood with SNAP Midwest director Peter Isley at a news conference Thursday.
    "Fr. Murphey may have stolen our bodies, but the archbishops, the cardinals and the popes sto
  - Forbes portrays Vatican sex abuse crisis as worst in church history
    04/24/10
    An article published Saturday in Forbes quotes the National Catholic Reporter as having characterized the Roman Church as suffering its "largest institutional crisis in centuries."
    "The Catholic Church's sex abuse scandal has passed a media tipping point. Over the past three
  - Ex-priest says he reported Belgian bishop's sex abuse to church authorities "years ago"
    04/24/10
    In an Associated Press story filed this morning, a retired priest says he told church authorities years ago about allegations that Belgium's longest-serving bishop abused a boy. But bishop he was "stonewalled." The Belgian bishop was forced to resign Friday.
    
    An earlier stor
  - Belgian bishop quits over sex abuse
    04/23/10
    In a statement issued by the Vatican on Friday, Roger Vangheluwe, 73, the bishop of Bruges in Belgium since 1984, admitted to sexually abusing a young person in his "close entourage."
    
    In the prepared statement Vangheluwe said that he abused “a young man in my close entourage ...
  - Deaf victim's letter instrumental in federal lawsuit targeting top Vatican command for engineering coverup
    04/23/10
    Pamela Meyer (pictured) stands with members of SNAP outside the federal courthouse in Milwaukee yesterday where a federal law suit was filed accusing Pope Benedict XVI and senior Vatican officials of failing to defrock Rev. Lawrence Murphy, despite allegations he molested at least 200 deaf children
  - German bishop resigns due to charges that he personally abused minors and robbed orphanages
    04/22/10
    Embattled German Bishop Walter Mixa submitted an offer of resignation to the Vatican on Wednesday amid allegations that he physically abused children and misappropriated Church funds. German commentators welcome the move, saying it sparks hopes of greater transparency in the Catholic Church's a
  - Vatican accepts resignation of 3rd Irish bishop implicated in pedophile cover-up
    04/22/10
    The Irish Times, citing Vatican sources, confirmed yesterday that Benedict XVI is this morning expected to formally accept the resignation of Bishop Jim Moriarty of Kildare and Leighlin.Read the story in today's Irish Times ...
    Read the story of the resignations in the Washington Post toda
  - Following protests by SNAP, Cardinal who praised cover-up bows out of 1st Latin Rite mass in DC in half a century
    04/22/10
    The former high-up Vatican official, Dario Castrillon-Hoyos, who officially praised a convicted bishop for protecting a rapist priest -- and claimed he was directed by the former pope to do so -- has canceled plans to celebrate a latin mass in Washington, DC after sharp pressure on the archbishop of
  - SNAP urges archbishop of Washington to forbid Vatican official who endorsed coverup from leading mass in DC
    04/21/10
    Dear Archbishop Wuerl:
    
    We urge you to forbid a controversial church official who clearly endorses law-breaking and irresponsible behavior from leading a mass in your archdiocese this weekend.
    
    You know all of the disturbing facts about Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, a former V
  - Vatican official who praised felon bishop for obstructing justice for rapist-priest to lead US high mass honoring pope; SNAP protests
    04/20/10
    "I congratulate you for not denouncing (a convicted, rapist priest) to the civil administration." -- Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos
    According to a SNAP national press release issued earlier this morning, on April 24, at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception
  - European press reports priest who "took the fall" for Ratzinger was pressured; SNAP President responds
    04/19/10
    In a letter to a friend, seen by German weekly magazine Der Spiegel, Gerhard Gruber wrote that he was “begged” in numerous phone calls and after receiving a prepared statement by fax for him to sign. The magazine said Gruber expresses unhappiness in the letter at being given the sole blame in public
  - Church in "worst credibility crisis since the Reformation" says theologian Hans Küng in open letter to all RCC bishops
    04/18/10
    Legendary catholic theologian Hans Küng, in an open letter to the Roman bishops of the world published Friday, strongly indicts Benedict XVI for making worse just about everything that is wrong with the Roman Catholic Church.
    
    In Küng's open letter to the bishops of the world, he cla
  - German news reports that Ratzinger's German fall guy may be ready to reverse on taking blame for reassigning predator priest
    04/17/10
    In a report from Malta today, John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter, citing German news outlet Der Speigel, reports that Gerhard Gruber, the cleric who took blame away from then Munich Archbishop Joseph Ratzinger for reassigning a predator priest, may be ready to change his story.
    "
  - Cardinal claims John Paul II approved praising felon bishop for witholding rapist priest information from police
    04/17/10
    Cardinal Dario Hoyos, retired head of the Vatican Congregation for the Clergy - the office in charge of priests and bishops in the Roman Catholic Church -- has claimed that Pope John Paul II approved a letter signed by Hoyos praising a French bishop convicted of shielding a convicted pedophile-rapis
  - Vatican confirms Congregation for Clergy official's letter praising bishop convicted for shielding priest rapist from justice
    04/17/10
    An Associated Press and Reuters story published yesterday reports that four days after a bishop was convicted for shielding a priest-rapist, the bishop was praised by a high ranking Vatican official in charge of priests and bishops.
    
    Priest Rene Bissey was sentenced to 18 years in prison
  - Abused people, animals find healing in each other at Gentle Barn Foundation
    04/16/10
    Ellie Laks, a lifelong lover of animals, founded the Gentle Barn Foundation a decade ago and has given a permanent home to over 14 species of animals that were rescued from abuse or neglect.
    
    After rehabilitating the animals, the Gentle Barn brings them together with abused and troubl
  - Pope speaks up on sex abuse: since church is "under attack from the world ... it is necessary to repent"; SNAP responds
    04/15/10
    An AP article in today's Washington Post reports that the pope, in an apparantly impromptu sermon, broke his silence on the worldwide outcry concerning sexual abuse by priests.
    "But now under attack from the world, which has been telling us about our sins ... we realize that it's
  - All 32 UK Catholic bishops denounce Vatican's Bertone for statement linking paedophilia to homosexuality
    04/15/10
    A statement from Marcus Stock, general secretary to the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, said there was no empirical data to conclude that paedophilia had anything to do with homosexuality. His statement bears the authority and approval of all 32 Catholic bishops in England an
  - AP investigation finds 30 more convicted or credibly accused priest molesters, transfered and still working for the church
    04/15/10
    Late yesterday, a shocking new Associated Press investigation found that 30 child molesting Catholic clerics are now working in new countries for the church, often near kids, despite having been convicted or having faced credible child sex allegations in a previous country.
    "A priest who
  - "Holy" See forgives "satanic" Beatles, "degenerate" homosexual Oscar Wilde, and "dangerous" heretic Galileo; maintains icey silence on Harry Potter
    04/15/10
    In the midst of global outrage at the true depth and breadth of the horrendous sexual abuse of children by priests, subsequent diabolical coverup by pope and bishops, and the violent verbal abuse of society and "the press" by the deeply corrupt Roman Catholic hierarchy under Joseph Ratzing
  - Government of France condemns Vatican for blaming sexual abuse by priests on homosexuality
    04/14/10
    According to AP and Reuters stories today, the French government has condemned remarks by a top Vatican official linking the pedophile scandal in the Catholic Church to homosexuality.
    
    French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero Wednesday said the remarks linking the abuse to homosexu
  - Connecticut Bishops aggessively oppose legislation to help victims of sexual abuse by priests
    04/13/10
    Connecticut Public Broadcasting has reported that Catholic Bishops sent a letter to parishioners statewide this weekend voicing their opposition to pending legislation that would help victims of sexual abuse by priests. "The passage of this legislation could potentially have a devastating finan
  - Atlantic columnist calls Ratzinger letter protecting pedophile priest instead of victims "The Third Strike"
    04/13/10
    "But it's clear that the age of the priest is of far more importance to Ratzinger than the age of the minors he raped. All the sympathy and concern is with the rapist, not the raped. This is a document about protecting the powerful even when they rape the powerless." -- The Atlantic,
  - Former priest, and author James Carroll calls for church rescue from Vatican "fundamentalist-in-chief" Joseph Ratzinger
    04/13/10
    "Vatican II was a step toward the democratizing of the Catholic Church, which is why Catholic fundamentalists have been seeking to undo it ever since. Fundamentalist-in-chief has been Joseph Ratzinger. ...
    
    An example of what must happen now came from the American nuns who recently d
  - Boston priest calls from pulpit for pope to resign; parishioners supportive
    04/13/10
    The Boston Globe reports today that priest James J. Scahill says the reaction to his Sunday sermon, in which he called for the pope to resign over his handling of clergy sexual abuse, has been "overwhelmingly supportive."
    
    Read the entire story in today's Boston Globe ...
  - SNAP President says "long secretive, convoluted policy" for defocking priests will change nothing by merely posting the already public document
    04/13/10
    "History and commonsense tell us that ancient, rigid, secretive cultures change very slowly, especially when the basic structure causing and sanctioning hurtful behaviors doesn’t change at all. A dictator abuses power because he can. He can promise reform, but if he remains a dictator, it’s naï
  - Italian bishop says Jews are Roman church's "natural enemies" and are behind public outcry against pope
    04/12/10
    According to a reporter for the Italian Roman Catholic website Pontifex who interviewed Italian Bishop Giacomo Babini, the bishop said during the interview that Jews “do not want the Church, they are its natural enemies”. He added: “Deep down, historically speaking, the Jews are deicides [God killer
  - Vatican's "belligerent, resentful, paranoid response" to sex abuse by priests calls for radical change, say three Catholic authors
    04/11/10
    Three Catholic authors speak out on the urgent necessity of radically changing a Catholic Church government that has taken its moral codes and orthodoxy to hideous extremes, and with impunity.
    "The Vatican must realize that the church’s belligerent, resentful and paranoid response to the g
  - Vatican letter shows Ratzinger protecting the church, the pedophile and the hierarchy, while ignoring victims
    04/10/10
    Vatican spokesperson Ciro Benedettini, said a letter published in the NYTimes, signed by Ratzinger, and which clearly shows that Ratzinger delayed the defrocking of a pedophile priest for 2-6 years, showed no attempt at a cover-up, but merely showed "the need to study the case with more attenti
  - Vatican spins Ratzinger's protection of pedophile priest as not understanding "the context in which it was written"; Times publishes "the context"
    04/10/10
    Vatican spin specialist, Federico Lombardi, commenting on the report yesterday that documents confirm Ratzinger was directly involved in protecting a convicted pedophile priest, said it was wrong to draw conclusions based on one letter, without carefully understanding the context in which it was wri
  - Ratzinger delays defrocking of convicted pedophile priest for 2 years in signed letter; for" the good of the Universal Church"
    04/10/10
    In a signed 1985 letter received by the NY Times, Joseph Ratzinger, later Benedict XVI, ordered delaying the defrocking of an Oakland, California priest convicted of pedophilia in 1978. The priest was finally defrocked in 1987. "Bishop Cummins had first petitioned the doctrinal office to defroc
  - Guardian commentator claims pope has no diplomatic immunity from prosecution for "crime against humanity"
    04/09/10
    A British news commentator, writing in the Guardian this week, claims that the Vatican, and the pope can no longer ignore international law, which now counts the widespread or systematic sexual abuse of children as a crime against humanity. Therefore, the claim of the Vatican to be a state – and of
  - German news publication details "Failed Papacy of Benedict XVI" in part 1 of 7
    04/08/10
    "The pope’s reluctance to take a firm stance on sexual abuse by priests is expanding into a crisis for the Catholic Church and fueling outrage over his papacy. Some Catholics are now even calling on Benedict, who has committed a series of gaffes since becoming pope in 2005, to resign." --
  - Priest given immunity in Rome following credible accusation of abuse of a minor
    04/07/10
    A theology teacher at St. Mary's University in San Antonio, TX has been sent to Rome following a "credible" accusation of sexual molestation of a minor woman.
    
    Read the whole story in the San Antonio Express-News.
  - Abuse victim who met with pope in 2008 re-examines the meaning of the meeting, calls it "a PR move"
    04/06/10
    Pope Benedict and the Vatican have come under growing criticism as allegations of clergy sex abuse have spread across Europe. Some of the cases have raised questions about whether Pope Benedict did enough to root out pedophile priests under his watch before he became pope.
    
    The renewed scr
  - Senior British lawyers question pope's immunity to prosecution; protests grow over $22 million cost to British taxpayers of pope's upcoming trip
    04/05/10
    Senior British lawyers are now examining whether the pope should have immunity as a head of state and whether he could be prosecuted under the principle of universal jurisdiction for an alleged systematic cover-up of sexual abuses by priests.
    
    Read the full story in today's Washington
  - Break ranks with corrupt, pope-centered clerical system, says Catholic author James Carroll
    04/04/10
    The Huffington Post reports today that in an Easter Sunday interview with Ian Masters on KPFK Los Angeles earlier today, Catholic author and former Paulist priest James Carroll (Practicing Catholic; Constantine's Sword; Toward A New Catholic Church) calls for all Catholics begin acting as if th
  - The pope, the church and sexual abuse: a perspective by Catholic canon lawyer Tom Doyle
    04/03/10
    by Thomas P. Doyle, J.C.D., C.A.D.C.
    Holy Thursday, April 1, 2010
    
    The reports that Pope Benedict had mishandled a clergy sex abuse case when he was archbishop of Munich have sharpened the focus of international attention on the Pope, the Vatican and the seemingly perpetual problem of
- March
  - A day to honor survivors
    03/29/10
    Dear Friends,
    
    I’m excited to report that we have a great turnout for our Day of Rest and Relaxation this Saturday. I assure you that you will be glad you signed up.
    
    This professionally-facilitated day has been developed to honor YOU and meet you where you are in your healing. I
  - Adding insult to injury, defensive pope trivializes outcry over pedophile priests as "petty" in Palm Sunday sermon; SNAP responds
    03/29/10
    "Contrary to what a few in Rome are saying, we are not "ignoble," "despicable" or engaging in "petty gossip." We are men, women and children who are in deep pain, having been raped, sodomized and assaulted by Catholic clergy and often betrayed by Catholic officials
  - SNAP director Clohessy says Levada sat on abuse reports until pressured by media
    03/27/10
    Former San Francisco archbishop William Levada, who now heads Ratzinger's former Vatican office once know as the Inquisition, is accused of sitting on clergy sex abuse reports by 67 deaf men and women for months until pressured by news media. The Italian case has eerie echoes of the investigati
  - Should the pope resign? BBC raises questions about pope's resignation
    03/27/10
    The BBC has raised the question of whether Pope Benedict XVI/Joseph Ratzinger should resign over the snowballing paedophile priest scandal in the Catholic Church.
    
    In theory, there is nothing to stop Benedict from simply drafting a letter of resignation to hand to the College of Cardinals
  - Ratzinger's Responsibility: Legendary theologian Hans Küng speaks out on church sex abuse crisis
    03/27/10
    In a March 18 article in NCROnline, one which has been somewhat lost in the shuffle of media events of the last few days concerning the global Catholic sex abuse crisis, theologian Hans Küng adds his significant perspective.
    "Is it not time for Pope Benedict XVI himself to acknowledge his
  - Pope's credibility plummets; Vatican cites papal mishandling "of the media" as cause
    03/26/10
    In a note read on Vatican radio on Saturday, Vatican spokesman/priest Federico Lombardi, said:
    “The nature of the question is such as to attract the attention of the media, and the way in which the church deals with (the attention of the media) is crucial for her moral credibility.”
    Victim
  - Vatican, NYTimes exchange volleys on Ratzinger's involvement in pedophile transfer; victim concerns marginalized
    03/26/10
    Once again, the Vatican seems oblivious to victims of Roman Catholic priest predators, opting instead to save face and insulate the pope from the controversy, as evidenced in this latest front page fencing between the Vatican spin doctors and the New York Times.
    
    Read both sides on today&
  - Internal church documents show that Ratzinger was copied on memo that transfered German pedophile priest
    03/26/10
    -- NYTimes Mar 26, 2010
    
    Read the entire story in today's NYTimes.
  - SNAP President and others detained by Rome police during news conference at Vatican
    03/25/10
    SNAP President Barbara Blaine, SNAP Midwest director Peter Isely and 2 others were detained in Rome by police during a news conference in front of the Vatican today. Similar conferences were scheduled for several other cities for today.
    
    "We've spent more time in the police stati
  - US pedophile priest reportedly abused between 150-200 deaf kids, Ratzinger ignores US bishops
    03/25/10
    According to a new New York Times story, a US pedophile priest reportedly abused between 150-200 deaf kids at a school over 24 years, often during confessions. Yet for years, a small Vatican bureaucracy headed by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now the Pope) fought three US bishops’ efforts to oust
  - Accepting bishop's resignation preventive, not punitive says SNAP Outreach director Dorris
    03/24/10
    SNAP Outreach director Barbara Dorris issued a statement for the survivors' advocacy group today commenting on the resignation of Irish bishop John Magee accused of covering up sexual abuse by priests.
    
    "We hope that Magee's resignation will provide some relief and consolat
  - Bishops who conceal, then are forced to reveal are inherently suspect, says SNAP director
    03/24/10
    We must keep in mind two facts. First, these numbers come from most of the same bishops who concealed and enabled clergy child sex crimes for decades. They are inherently suspect, to say the least.
    
    Second, very few child victims are able to disclose the crimes as they happen, so there alw
  - Catholic officials are the culprits, not the victims says SNAP's Clohessy
    03/23/10
    Italy Prelate Sees Campaign Against Church Over Abuse
    Published: March 22, 2010 - 12:58 p.m. ET -- NYTimes
    
    VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Catholic Church is being unfairly singled out for criticism of sexual abuse of children by priests and will not tolerate campaigns to discredit it,
  - SNAP leaders, and sex abuse survivors, extend SNAP support to German survivors of church abuse
    03/23/10
    Barbara Blaine and Barbara Dorris of SNAP, are in Munich for the day before heading to Vienna and Berlin. They placed several dozen photographs of children abused by priests at the front gate of the office of Archbishop Reinhard Marx, who heads the archdiocese of Munich and Freising.
    
    “No
  - US clergy sex abuse victims head to Europe
    03/22/10
    Two US women who head the world’s largest & most highly visible support group for clergy sex abuse victims are going to Europe today to offer help to adults who were sexually assaulted by Catholic priests, nuns, seminarians, brothers and bishops.
    
    Two US men who were molested as kids b
  - Survivor advocates group on papal letter to Ireland: "Read it and weep."
    03/22/10
    The National Survivor Advocates Coalition (NSAC) issued a response Saturday March 20, 2010 to the pope's "pastoral" letter to the people of Ireland saying simply and directly “ read it and weep.”
    
    “Simply writing the words ‘criminal activity’ does not mean and should not be
  - "There is a broad and deep layer of corruption in the institution." -- Thomas Doyle, OP in NCR article
    03/22/10
    In an article dated March 12, 2010 on the National Catholic Reporter Website, survivor advocate and Dominican canon lawyer Thomas Doyle says of the priest sex abuse scandal sweeping the globe:
    
    "The crisis has made it very clear that the system we have had for centuries is incapable o
  - Pope ignores German abuse cases
    03/22/10
    The Pope Saturday issued a letter to the church in Ireland, acknowledging failures of Irish clerics in handling priest sex abuse cases.
    
    But in Ratzinger's own fatherland there were expressions of disappointment that the letter made no reference to the German sex abuse issues, which h
  - Voice of the Papacy?- where is it? Pope fails to address the extent of the coverup again
    03/21/10
    Pope Benedict once again failed to acknowledge the systemic failures that have led to cover-ups and official silence, and once again failed to hold accountable the bishops who allowed institutional secrecy to override pastoral needs. -- VOTF Website March 22, 2010.
    
    The US Roman Catholic g
  - SNAP reponds to Pope's Letter to Ireland
    03/20/10
    Statement by Barbara Dorris
    Barbara Dorris is SNAP's National Outreach Director
    Saturday, March 20, 2010
    
    The most powerful religious figure on the planet speaks of "decisive action." But he refuses to take any.
    
    In just one nation, tens of thousands of c
  - SNAP National Director comments in NYTimes on priest sex abuse in Europe
    03/19/10
    Simply ‘Incapable’
    David Clohessy
    NYTimes - March 19, 2010
    
    David Clohessy is the national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
    
    Lord Acton’s observation that “absolute power corrupts absolutely” is the sad and simple lesson from the Catholic abu
  - Call to Action, SNAP urge European governments to uncover priest sexual abuse hushed for decades
    03/15/10
    "Call To Action joins SNAP, the Survivor's Network of those Abused by Priests, in calling on European governments to initiate investigations into the allegations in order to uncover the abuse that has remained hushed for decades and may have been known by the highest level of officials in