We have learned a lot about sexual abuse by Catholic clergy since The Boston Globe unveiled its investigation in 2002, writes an expert in child protection. That is bringing us closer to the goal of seeing no new cases.
Sexual Abuse
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Potentially explosive report will document handling of sex abuse in Pope Benedict’s former diocese
In mid-January, a law firm is scheduled to publish a report into the handling of clerical sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, where Pope Benedict XVI was archbishop.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Priest who led diocesan Office of Child Protection charged in abuse case
A retired priest of the Diocese of Arlington, who for seven years oversaw the diocese’s program on protecting minors from clerical sexual abuse, was indicted shortly before Christmas on two counts of sexually abusing a minor.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Vatican laicizes Ohio priest serving a life sentence for sexually exploiting children
Pope Francis has dismissed from the priesthood Robert McWilliams, a Cleveland man who is serving a life sentence in prison for sexually exploiting children.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Cardinal O’Malley discusses priest and bishop critics of Pope Francis and the polarizing role of media
Cardinal O’Malley said polarization and opposition to Pope Francis includes some prelates in the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, but he did not name anyone.
Posted inFaith, Short Take
Remembering Donald Cozzens, the priest who saw the sex abuse crisis coming—and worked to change the priesthood
Father Donald Cozzens was rightly recognized as a prophetic voice and an advocate for church reform throughout his life and priestly ministry.
Posted inFaith, Vatican Dispatch
Pope Francis: ‘I accepted the resignation of the archbishop of Paris not on the altar of truth but on the altar of hypocrisy’
Pope Francis revealed for the first time that the archbishop had given “small caresses and massages” to his secretary, which “was a sin” but “not the gravest of sins.”
Posted inDispatches, Faith
A priest ordained in 2017 is now serving a life sentence for sex abuse. How did he slip through the cracks?
The case came as an unhappy shock to Catholics all over the United States who might have hoped that years of procedural changes would have put an end to the ordination of priests like the Rev. Robert McWilliams.
Posted inFaith, News
Cardinal Pell says prison helped him understand Christ’s suffering
Cardinal George Pell, jailed for more than a year for sex abuse crimes he ultimately was cleared of, said the experience enabled him to understand suffering as a redemptive process that allows one to identify closely with Christ.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
‘My gift to the world was not being afraid to speak out’: Sex abuse whistleblower Phil Saviano dies at 69
Phil Saviano, a clergy sex abuse survivor and whistleblower who played a pivotal role in exposing decades of predatory assaults by Roman Catholic priests in the United States, has died.