Leaders of Roman Catholic religious orders in the US adopted a policy this weekend that allows priests guilty of child sexual abuse to remain in the priesthood. The leaders, who met in Philadelphia at the Conference of Major Superiors of Men, approved six proposals regarding sexual abuse by the clergy. The proposals will be forwarded […]
Testimony continued this week regarding the legitimacy of a $30 million settlement between the Boston archdiocese and 86 sexual abuse victims of defrocked priest John Geoghan. The archdiocese’s newspaper The Pilot, of which Cardinal Bernard Law is publisher, stated in March, “This settlement is an important step in reaching closure.” In addition, a March 15 […]
In a departure from the position adopted by Catholic bishops regarding abusive priests last month, Roman Catholic religious orders may allow sexually abusive priests to remain within the religious community. The leaders of the 125 religious orders in the United States will meet in Philadelphia next month to discuss the growing scandal involving numerous alleged […]
As sexual abuse cases against the Catholic Church continue to pile up, insurance companies are increasingly denying coverage that would shield the Church from millions of dollars in civil judgments. “The insurance companies have taken a very hard line in court in terms of the types of proof needed to prove coverage. In a lot […]
In Chile, a country with a Roman Catholic majority, the Catholic hierarchy extends its reach deep into the political sphere, blocking attempts to liberalize laws that would promote women’s rights as well as attempts to educate the public on reproductive health. Rev. Enrique Opaso led efforts to squash a government-sponsored AIDS prevention program that would […]
Amidst a widening sexual abuse scandal, a former seminarian in Hannibal, Missouri is suing the entire US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), originally intended to be used in cases involving organized crime rings. A 1980s student at St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary is suing former West […]
The Roman Catholic hierarchy in the U.S. claims that it does not collect data or keep records of cases of sexual abuse by priests or other clergy members. Bishop Wilton D. Gregory, President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops explained that the conference “has not attempted to gather this kind of data because each […]
Rev. Jeffrey Windy of the Catholic Diocese of Peoria, Illinois was charged last month with helping to make and distribute gamma hydroxybutyrate (GHB), the “date rape” drug. A spokesperson for the Catholic Diocese announced that Windy, who has been released to his parents and is awaiting trial, has been suspended from his duties. Windy allegedly […]
Eighteen Catholic religious orders in Ireland offered Wednesday to pay $110 million to children who were physically and sexually abused by nuns and priests while they lived in the Church’s schools and child care centers. Victims of the abuse, however, criticized the offer as too low. More than 3, 500 now-adults have filed for hearings […]
John J. Geoghan, a former Catholic Priest, was convicted last week of indecent assault on a minor. According to the suit, while he was a priest in the Boston Archdiocese, Geoghan molested a 10-year old boy in 1991 at a local swimming pool. Geoghan is scheduled to be sentenced February 21 after undergoing a 30-day […]
In conjunction with World AIDS Day 2001, Catholics for a Free Choice (CFFC) launched a new public education campaign, Condoms4Life, to urge Catholic bishops to end their ban on the use of condoms. According to CFFC, the Catholic hierarchy lobbies governments worldwide as well as the United Nations to severely limit the availability and accessibility […]
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (UCCB) released its second revision of the Pastoral Plan for Pro-Life Activities, first adopted in 1975, only two years after the Supreme Court legalized abortion in Roe v. Wade. Called the “Campaign in Support of Life,” the revision reiterates the bishops’ anti-abortion stance and widens the scope of […]
A recent poll shows 61 percent of American Catholics support stem cell research. The poll is a significant finding in the wake of President Bush’s visit with Pope John Paul II, whose absolute opposition to the research goes against Catholic opinion. According to political scientist David Leege, Catholics can instead make a strong “compassionate conservative” […]
A California appellate court ruled yesterday that Catholic Charities, an affiliated social services organization of the church, must provide contraceptive coverage for its female employees if it offers other prescriptive coverage. This judgment upholds the constitutionality of a 1999 state law mandating employers with prescription plans to provide contraception. The presiding justice of the Court […]
After a vote by the National Convention of Catholic Bishops last Friday, sterilization will now be officially prohibited at all Catholic and affiliated hospitals. In the United States 620 Ñ- 11 percent of all hospitals nationwide — will be affected by this decision. In their declaration, the bishops compare sterilization to abortion and euthanasia, calling […]
Women in the Philippines are trapped in an unbearable dilemma: the Catholic Church, whose influence over the country is strong, prohibits all forms of contraception, but extreme poverty prohibits large families. As a result, the Philippines has a very high abortion rate: 20-30 out of every 1,000 women of childbearing age have had an abortion, […]
A report by Catholics for a Free Choice released this week exposes the connection between the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute (CAFHRI), a conservative anti-reproductive rights group that lobbies the United Nations, and the anti-abortion group Human Life International, and reveals “shocking remarks” about Hillary Clinton made by its president Austin Ruse. The report […]
Yesterday, 110 members of a gay and lesbian rights group called Soulforce, Inc. were arrested during a protest outside the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in DC where 300 U.S. Catholic bishops held their annual meeting. The group was protesting the Church’s condemnatory stance on homosexuality, and had staged similar peaceful protests in the […]
Women’s rights and gay rights activists interrupted the annual meeting of U.S. Catholic bishops over the weekend, demanding a change to the Church’s stance on women ordination and gay Christians. According to the Washington Post, Janice Sevre-Duszynska of the Women’s Ordination Conference cut short the meeting, asking the bishops to address “the wrong done to […]
A recent Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation revealed that only one-third of funds given to Atlanta Catholic Social Services for the resettlement of refugees in Atlanta are actually used to assist the refugees with housing, food, and other services. For each refugee, the US government provides the agency with $740. According to the Journal, the national office […]
