Priests in Ireland who with-hold information about alleged child abuse, even when told to them in the Sacrament of Confession, will soon be liable for up to five years prison. The new laws are an unprecedented display of tough action against the Catholic Church, in what was traditionally a Catholic country. “The law of the land should Read more
Ireland’s Religious Orders have so far failed to pay their share of the compensation for their part in the institutional child abuse settlements for victims. In 2002 the Irish Government brokered a deal which saw the Orders involved awarded indemnity against all legal claims by institutional abuse victims if they paid 120 million euros (NZ$208m) Read more
American Catholicism should be preparing for 2020 when a large increase in the Catholic population, mostly Hispanic, will present Church leaders with the challenge to open rather than close new churches and schools. Instead of preparing for the future, bishops and priests now in key administrative and pastoral positions, led by Pope Benedict XVI, are Read more
A Vatican e-learning centre is being developed to help shield victims of molestation. The Centre, available in English, German, French, Spanish and Italian, will provide information for victims and guidance to those who are in the position to respond to abuse cases. “We want people to know that we are serious about this and that we think Read more
The first time the Rev. Charles Murphy was cleared of accusations that he improperly touched a minor, a girl 25 years earlier, everyone who ever met him said they had never doubted his innocence. It was 2006 and priests were all over the news for every awful reason, most of them deservedly so. But Father Read more
The coming five years will be among the most critical in the history of recent Irish Catholicism according to Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin. Martin was commenting on the time it was going to take to release the findings of the Visitation of the Catholic Church in Ireland. “I can say that I am impatient Read more
The head of the Dutch Salesian order, Father Herman Spronck, has been placed on “administrative leave” for his part in a Dutch Catholic pedophile scandal. Over the weekend, Spronck, known as the Delegate, said that sexual relationships between children and adults were not always damaging. “Formally I always say that everyone must obey the law. But Read more
Release of the John Jay College study on the causes of sexual abuse by Catholic priests signals the end of the U.S. bishops’ five-year, $1.8 million inquiry into the institution they govern and the priests in their charge. But the new study hardly quiets the fundamental questions that have dogged the church and its leaders Read more
Herman Poronck, head of the Dutch Salesian order of priests, confirmed on Saturday that a Salesian priest served on the board of an organisation that promotes pedophilia. Widely reviled, but not outlawed, the “Martijn” association advocates the acceptance of pedophilia and the legalisation of sexual relationships between adults and children. According to RTL Nieuws, which broke the Read more
The study by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice of the City University of New York, which concluded there was no single cause or predictor of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy, is not likely to put to rest questions about the cases of sexual abuse by priests and the cover-up by bishops. Some victims Read more