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The High Court in the United Kingdom ruled yesterday that the Catholic Church can be liable for sexual abuse committed by its priests. This ruling, for which we are very grateful, will give great hope to survivors of sexual abuse by clergy in the United Kingdom. The High Court’s decision allows the case against the Diocese of Portsmouth that we wrote about this summer to move to trial. The case involves a woman known as “Miss E” who says she was sexually abused by Father Wilfred Baldwin at The Firs, a children’s home in Waterlooville.

The parallels between the cover-up of an authority figure sexually abusing children at Penn State University and the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church are clear and disturbing.This weekend, Jerry Sandusky, former defensive coordinator of Penn State’s storied and successful football team, was arrested following a grand jury investigation into Sandusky’s sexual abuse of young boys. The grand jury indictment includes over 40 criminal counts involving the sexual abuse of eight boys between 1994 and 2009. According to the grand jury report, the University’s athletic director, Tim Curl...

Today a young survivor takes a courageous stand for herself and on behalf of other kids as she again confronts her abuser and holds him accountable in court. Jane Doe 134’s case, which was originally filed in Federal Court, was re-filed today in Minnesota State Court in Becker County in order to add a new defendant. Jane Doe 134 was 11 years old in 2007 when Gerald Derstine groomed and began to sexually abuse her when she was a camper at a retreat center in Northern Minnesota. Derstine continued to abuse her every summer in his office on the retreat property until 2009. The camp, Strawberry La...