Maine’s highest court on Tuesday ruled against a law that removed the statute of limitations for civil claims about child sexual abuse. Lawmakers in the state approved the law in 2021, and it was later challenged by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland. The diocese has received many lawsuits alleging long-ago abuse by priests. Lawyers for the diocese told the Maine Supreme Judicial Court during arguments that they felt the removal of time limits was unconstitutional. An attorney representing plaintiffs defended the law as a way to prevent past abuses from being swept away.

Multiple survivors pressed Cordileone for more transparency from the church and a speedy resolution to the bankruptcy case, which the archbishop responded to in his statement. “Several survivors in these listening sessions asked that we do everything in our power to accelerate the Chapter 11 process to help them achieve some level of closure,” Cordileone wrote. “I agree with their perspective. We have worked diligently toward transparency and a timely resolution in collaboration with the other parties involved in this bankruptcy process, and I hope that by doing so we will be able to fulfill this desire of theirs.”...

Thomas Finnerty is suing St. Mary’s Seminary and the Associated Sulpicians who run it, alleging child sexual abuse over years by a seminarian at St. Mary’s. Attorneys Michael Belsky and Catherine Dickinson, of Schlachman, Belsky, Weiner & Davey, P.A., are representing Finnerty. His alleged abuser, who is now dead, went on to be convicted in New Jersey as a priest for sexual offenses against minors.

Monsignor Joseph P. Kelly is guilty under canon law of the sexual abuse of two minors.  The Diocese of Scranton announced the findings on Tuesday, ending a four-year disciplinary process.  Seven individuals alleged that Kelly had sexually abused them as children prior to October of 2020, the Diocese said. Kelly was placed on administrative leave at that time.  By January 2023, the diocese received an additional allegation against Kelly.  The Diocese found five of the eight allegations credible, and Bishop of Scranton Joseph C. Bambera was authorized to begin a trial process found in canon law. ...

Advocates for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) gathered on the sidewalk outside the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in downtown San Diego to protest the Catholic Diocese of San Diego’s decision to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. “By speaking out we have the voice that was taken away from us when we were kids,” said Joelle Casteix, survivor & advocate. “Today’s a sad day. To be out in front of this courthouse is a sad day for all of the victims in San Diego,” said Paul Livingston, San Diego SNAP Director. The Diocese says...

Ryan Clemens, 41, an assistant principal of St. Patrick Interparish School, was arrested on charges of child neglect and tampering with evidence. Clemens had reportedly received a report of inappropriate behavior by the school's PE teacher, Christopher Chell, toward a female student.  Clemens held a closed-door meeting between himself, the victim, and Chell, police said.  The investigation revealed that Clemens sided with Chells and disregarded the victim's report.  The assistant principal closed the incident, but days later reported it to the Florida Department of Child and Families (DCF) - minimizing it, police said.  Days later, a teacher...

The connection  between the Boy Scouts of America and the Catholic parishes and schools in the Diocese of Honolulu officially came to an end Jan 1. The decision was made at the start of 2023 when Bishop Larry Silva announced the diocese would be parting ways with the Boy Scouts of America on the first day of the year 2024 due to sexual abuse allegations. In a letter released on Jan. 31, 2023, the bishop wrote, “Unfortunately, given the liability issues and our dissatisfaction with the BSA’s cooperation on the issue, we will no longer allow parishes and...

Walter Denton wanted to grow up to be just like Father Tony Apuron, until the night he says the parish priest raped him in a church rectory. The pastor sent the sobbing 13-year-old altar boy away with a warning: “If you say anything to anybody, no one will believe you.” Denton told his mother, but says she accused him of making it up. He told another priest, but that man did nothing and later turned out to be an abuser himself. And Denton watched helplessly as Pope John Paul II named his alleged rapist Archbishop of Agaña, the voice...

Luis Jesus Barajas, 76, a former priest accused of “inappropriately touching” a 15-year-old Westlake girl sick with cancer while giving her a blessing, was indicted on six counts of gross sexual imposition by a grand jury. Witnesses told police Barajas used blankets and clothing to to hide his actions and his movements during the blessing were “unconventional.” Another Catholic priest learned of the incident and reported it to police on Oct. 20. Barajas was accused of sexual misconduct involving juveniles in the Diocese of Harrisburg, PA around 1989 and sent back to Columbia, said Westlake police.

Lawmakers around the United States have tried to grant justice to victims of decades-old incidents of child sexual abuse by giving them extra time to file lawsuits. Now some of the defendants in these cases, including church and youth organizations, are finding a safe haven: America’s bankruptcy courts.