More than 60 victims of sexual assault by clergy in the Archdiocese of Montreal, and their lawyers, will be poised June 9 to divide up a collective settlement approaching $15 million.
Mount Cashel victims soon to receive settlements
Dozens of survivors of abuse at the Mount Cashel Orphanage in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s will receive compensation from the Archdiocese of St. John’s beginning in the fall.
Abuse survivors build bridges to reconciliation
The Pope’s prayer intention for March 2023 was that victims of abuse find within the Church herself a concrete response to their pain and suffering. One organization already responding to such pain by building spiritual bridges between victims/survivors of clergy sexual abuse and the general Church community is Awake Milwaukee (Awake).
Pope Francis has updated the procedures for investigating allegations of sexual abuse or the cover up of abuse, specifying that the leaders of Vatican-recognized international Catholic lay associations and movements have the same responsibilities over their members that a bishop has over the priests of his diocese.
Dealing with abuse a work in progress
Publishing the names of credibly accused child sex abusers, as Canada’s Jesuit Fathers did March 12, is one small step toward creating a better Church, but it’s not enough for abuse survivor John Swales.
Updated: Jesuits of Canada name abusers among its ranks
Canada’s Jesuit Fathers have published the names of 27 of their own men who, over a span of 70 years, have been credibly accused of sexually abusing children and young people under 18.
Disgraced former cardinal Theodore McCarrick, whose attorneys have argued he should not stand trial due to "progressive and irreparable cognitive deficits," recalled the name of the man he allegedly sexually abused as a child, although he denied the sexual assaults.
4,800+ children abused in Portuguese Church: report
A final report on abuse of children in Portugal’s Catholic Church has revealed more than 4,800 children had been victims of clergy sexual abuse in the country from 1950 to 2022.
McCarrick’s lawyers seek to prove disgraced former cardinal not competent to stand tria
As Theodore McCarrick faces criminal charges for alleged sexual abuse of a 16-year-old boy, the disgraced former cardinal's legal defense team is now claiming he is in steep mental and physical decline and therefore not able to stand trial.
Former doctrinal enforcer used pontificate to crack down on sex abuse
The late Pope Benedict XVI's disgust over the abuse scandals marring the church was made evident even before his election as pope.
Guest Editorial: Pastoral resolution
This week The Catholic Register publishes a rare guest editorial written by Lea Karen Kivi, author of Abuse in the Church: Healing the Body of Christ, who articulates concerns that we agree must be engaged regarding the effect of the adversarial legal system on clerical abuse cases.
Montreal system to oust abusers still on track
Montreal’s archdiocesan ombudsman is categorical that the new system to identify and oust clerical sexual abusers remains sound despite recent jarring events indicating the contrary.
Retired Toronto priest facing sexual assault charges
Peel Regional Police have charged a retired Toronto priest for sexually assaulting a minor in the early 1980s.
The retired judge who has co-chaired the Montreal Archdiocese's committee to implement abuse procedures has resigned, saying serious problems remain in the application of "regulations, policies and procedures approved by the archbishop."
Two more bishops named in class action against Quebec Archdiocese
Two more bishops, including one still serving, have been named in a new list of offenders filed in the class action against the Quebec Archdiocese.