clergy sex abuse News

New York Sexual Abuse Claimants Want Courts to End Case Backlog

A group representing claimants alleging childhood sexual abuse want New York courts to take steps to alleviate the backlog of lawsuits brought under the state’s Child Victims Act (CVA), including possibly setting up dedicated courts or dockets to handle only …

Brooklyn Diocese Settles with New York AG for Mishandling Clergy Sex Abuse Cases

New York Attorney General Letitia James announced an agreement with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn to address years of reported mismanaging clergy sexual abuse cases. According to the Office of the Attorney General, its investigation found the diocese failed …

Bankruptcy Court Approves Camden Diocese’s $87.5M Plan for Abuse Victims

Almost three-and-one-half years after the Catholic Diocese of Camden, New Jersey filed for bankruptcy citing financial effects from the pandemic and sexual abuse settlements, its Chapter 11 reorganization plan has been approved. The final plan, the ninth amended proposal, establishes …

Judge Blocks Chubb Exit From New York Diocese’s Thousands of Child Sex Abuse Suits

A New York judge has ruled that the “plain language” of Chubb Insurance policies dictates that the insurer must cover the Archdiocese of New York parishes and schools as they contend with thousands of sex abuse lawsuits. Chubb has balked …

Rochester Diocese Claims Fund Reaches $126M as 2 More Insurers Settle, 1 Holds Out

The Catholic Diocese of Rochester and sexual abuse survivors have reached settlements with additional insurers on amounts available to cover abuse claims, bringing the total fund now available to survivor claimants to $126.35 million. The latest settlements are with insurers …

Catholic Church Settles Suit by Man Who Alleged Bishop Raped Him

A lawsuit brought by a former altar boy who said he was raped as a child in the 1960s by a now-deceased Roman Catholic bishop in Massachusetts has been settled, the sides announced Friday. The plaintiff identified in court papers …

Illinois Catholic Clergy Abuse Report Could Prompt Lawsuits, Changes to State Law

CHICAGO (AP) – Illinois’ attorney general has ended a five-year investigation into sexual abuse of children by Catholic clergy in the state, releasing a nearly 700-page report that revealed the problem was far worse than the church acknowledged in 2018 …

Sin or Crime? Inquiry Targets Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Handling of Child Sex Abuse

A Pennsylvania grand jury in recent months accused nine men with connections to the Jehovah’s Witnesses of child sexual abuse in what some consider the nation’s most comprehensive investigation yet into abuse within the faith. The sets of charges filed …

Maryland AG Report Chronicles Decades of Child Sex Abuse and Church Cover-Up

Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown has released his agency’s report documenting a long history of widespread child sex abuse and systemic cover-up by clergy and others associated with the Archdiocese of Baltimore. The redacted Report on Child Sexual Abuse …

Bishop Testifies Against Bill to End Child Abuse Reporting Exemption for Clergy

The Roman Catholic Church’s rite of confession must remain confidential, even if someone tells a priest that a child has been abused, the bishop who leads Vermont’s diocese testified Friday. Bishop Christopher Coyne told the state Senate Judiciary Committee that …