Australia’s royal commission looking at institutional responses to child sex abuse has backed the way sacked Toowoomba Bishop William Morris handled a case. Fr Frank Brennan, SJ, writing for the ABC, noted how this is in stark contrast to how the commission lambasted Cardinal George Pell’s handling of the case of abuse victim John Ellis. This Read more
The Catholic Church of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands launched its first child protection policy on February 24. The policy outlines clear steps for investigating abuse within the Church and encourages members of report abuse. Br Frank Hough, who helped formulate the new policy, said he hoped Church members would find reporting abuse less Read more
Several Chilean priests have demanded the resignation of a newly-appointed bishop whom they accuse of covering up for a cleric who abused altar servers. A group of priests and deacons in Osorno have complained to the apostolic nuncio for Chile about Bishop Juan Barros Madrid. The priests and deacons allege the bishop covered up for Read more
The head of a papal commission to protect minors has warned Catholics not to behave as if the clergy sex abuse crisis is over. Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston told a press conference in Rome that some prelates were still reluctant to deal with the problem openly. “It would be perilous for us, as leaders Read more
Reports released by an Australian royal commission have condemned the way the Catholic Church acted towards sexual abuse victims in several cases. On February 11, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse released reports on the John Ellis case and on the Church’s Towards Healing protocol. The four cases dealt with in Read more
New mechanisms could soon be proposed to remove prelates who don’t follow Church guidelines on preventing and reporting abuse of children. A member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, Marie Collins, said accountability of bishops is her main priority in this role. The 17 member commission met in Rome over the weekend. Read more
A judge in Granada in Spain has charged 10 priests and two Catholic lay workers with child sexual abuse. The 12 are suspected of abusing four teenage boys between 2004 and 2007. The most serious offences are alleged to have occurred in a house used by the priests. Pope Francis telephoned one of the alleged Read more
Anthony Fisher, the new Archbishop of Sydney, is at odds with the Church’s Truth Justice and Healing Council. In an opinion piece in the Australian newspaper, Monday, Archbishop Fisher seemed to distance himself from the Council’s view that “Obligatory celibacy may also have contributed to abuse in some circumstances”. The Truth Justice and Healing Council Read more
When Tim Gunn, Lady Gaga, Sir Isaac Newton or Leonardo da Vinci declares themselves celibate, no-one fears that will make them a danger to the public. History tells us and research shows that many people live perfectly happy, healthy lives, relating well to people of both sexes and all ages, without having sex for many Read more
A High Court judge has rejected the bid by former Catholic brother Bernard Kevin McGrath to overturn the Minister of Justice’s decision to grant his extradition to Australia to face sex charges. Justice Cameron Mander’s decision was issued at the Christchurch High Court today, two weeks after he spent half a day hearing submissions on Read more