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Recent News

9/30/2006

Mexican Bishops Calls U.S. Lawsuit Against Cardinal a "Media Scandal"

The Associated Press

MEXICO CITY The Mexican Bishops' Conference on Friday criticized a Los Angeles-based lawsuit accusing Mexico's most prominent cardinal of covering up for a fugitive priest, saying it has generated an "unjust media scandal."

The conference said it supported Cardinal Norberto Rivera, the archbishop of Mexico City, who denies the charges and urged a fugitive priest wanted in the U.S. to come forward.

"In name of all the bishops of the country, we express our solidarity and fraternal support before this unjust media scandal that you have been the object of in recent days," it said in a letter to Rivera signed by Bishop Carlos Aguiar Retes, the conference's secretary-general.

A lawsuit filed last week in Los Angeles Superior Court alleges Rivera conspired with Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony to protect the Rev. Nicolas Aguilar, who has been formally charged in California with 19 felony counts of committing lewd acts on a child. Mahony also denies the charges.

In Friday's letter, the Mexican bishops also said the lawsuit was self-serving and that, "We recognize (Rivera's) bravery in confronting these illegal and amoral actions."

Similar suits have cost U.S. Catholic dioceses an estimated US$1.5 billion (€1.2 billion), alarming church leaders worldwide.

The lawsuit alleges Rivera helped cover up the abuse of 50 boys when Aguilar was parish priest in the Mexican state of Puebla, before being transferred to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Rivera was bishop of Tehuacan in Puebla at the time.

Aguilar was charged with molesting children in Los Angeles in 1988 after he had worked there for nine months.

He fled to Mexico and worked in various parishes, despite having a U.S. extradition order for him, according to Jeff Anderson, a St. Paul, Minnesota, attorney working on the lawsuit.

In the suit, 25-year-old Joaquin Aguilar Mendez alleges he was raped by Aguilar in Mexico City in 1994. Documents filed with the court say Aguilar Mendez, then 12, had gone to the priest's room at the rectory to use a restroom, when he was grabbed by the priest and sodomized. It said the priest told the boy to keep quiet or his siblings would suffer the same abuse.

Police in Puebla began searching for Aguilar this week after reports that he had conducted Mass in a parish there earlier this month.

Rivera has called on Aguilar to turn himself in.

"I ask that Father Nicolas Aguilar, wherever he may be, respond to the corresponding authorities for the terrible crimes he is accused of, for the good of his conscience and to avoid further damage to the church," Rivera said. "If anyone has been a victim of this priest, they should denounce it."

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11/19/08

Searchable and Enhanced Archbishop Weakland Deposition

from Bishop Accountability

11/19/08
Archbishop Rembert Weaklands's Deposition Part 1 and Part 2
Exhibits Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4

11/12/08
Portions of Archbishop Rembert Weakland's Deposition and Exhibits.

Video of Archbishop Rembert Weakland's Video Deposition.

11/12/08
Group outs top 10 priests accused of sex abuse
Three Catholic priests with ties to Maryland are among the nation's most dangerous sexual predators, according to a list released Tuesday by a group of clergy sex abuse victims demanding greater accountability from the Catholic Church.

11/07/08
Complaint filed Against Fr. John Powell

10/26/08
Convicted Catholic priest faces indefinite custody, Winnebago County jury to decide fate
A Winnebago County jury will decide next month whether a Catholic priest who sexually assaulted two boys in the 1980s meets the criteria to be classified as a sexually violent person and remain in custody indefinitely.

10/25/08
Jury convicts ex-Jesuit priest of sex abuse of 13-year-old boy
Donald McGuire sat hunched in his wheelchair in a federal courtroom Friday with his face locked in a frown, a shell of the charismatic priest who traveled the world to hold religious retreats and advise Mother Teresa.

10/23/08
Cardinal's dismaying lapse on sex offender
For several months, Cardinal Francis George appeared to have learned from his failures in dealing with the child sex abuse scandal afflicting the Archdiocese of Chicago.

9/25/08
Catholic order of nuns settles claim by three who say they were abused
An attorney for the Franciscan Sisters adamantly denied the allegations, saying that the $400,000 payment was agreed upon to avoid protracted litigation.

9/23/08
Lawsuit rejected in case of priest who killed two
A wrongful death lawsuit filed by Carsten and Sally Ellison of Barron against the Catholic Diocese of Superior for the murder of their son by a priest was dismissed Tuesday afternoon in a summary judgment by Eau Claire County Judge Paul Lenz.

9/15/08
Archdioces may seek out priest's abuse victims
As an advocacy group blasted the church's handling of the allegations, an outreach effort was contemplated.

9/10/08
Archdiocese accused of helping sex abuser flee
The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is accused of helping a priest flee to his native Ecuador after he was accused of molesting a child while working in Minnesota, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Ramsey County District Court.

9/10/08
Montero Press Conference

9/10/08
Suburban church is hit with abuse suit
A 46-year-old Streamwood man has accused his former priest of sexually abusing him more than 30 years ago and Greek Orthodox church officials of attempting to cover it up, according to a lawsuit that marks the fifth allegation against the defrocked priest

9/10/08
Complaint against Greek Orthodox Church and Fr. Nicholas Katinas

9/3/08
Family of Priest-Abuse Victim Reacts to Supreme Court Ruling
He is serving a 32-year prison sentence following his conviction for fondling David Schauer in 1988 when Schauer was only ten years old and a student at St. Peter & Paul Catholic School in Green Bay.

8/22/08
Exhibit A Non-Monetary Commitments by the Diocese

8/22/08
Bishop Signs Priest Abuse Settlement
A settlement is now official for 47 victims who suffered sexual abuse at the hands of their own priests

8/22/08
Mom wants cardinal to quit
Reading her Sun-Times last week, Diane Houston lingered over a prison photo of the Rev. Norbert Maday, his mug shot showing the convicted sex abuser with a black eye and a swollen lip.

8/19/08
Tentative settlement reached in KC priest abuse cases
The Catholic Diocese in Kansas City and more than 40 victims of clergy sexual abuse tentatively agreed late Tuesday to settle lawsuits against the church for about $10 million.

8/14/08
Last known contact info for offenders in Chicago Settlement

8/14/08
Victim, cop slam archdiocese's efforts to get priest out of prison early
A victim of sex-abusing priest Norbert Maday and the detective who helped put the clergyman behind bars said Wednesday they were appalled and disheartened by efforts by the Archdiocese of Chicago to spring Maday from prison.

8/13/08
Victim was 7 when abused by priest
Less than a year ago, Therese Albrecht wanted to kill herself.

8/13/08
Cardinal tried to spring sex abuser, then changed view
Cardinal Francis George acknowledged Tuesday that he and other Archdiocese of Chicago officials had worked to reduce the prison sentencef sex-abusing priest Norbert Maday, who is believed to have molested children dozens of times.

8/13/08
Cardinal lifts the veil on abuses
George announces $12.7 million payout to victims of priest attacks, discloses his sworn deposition and says: 'I have to accept the blame'

8/12/08
Archdiocese Announces $12.6M Sex Abuse Settlement
The Archdiocese of Chicago said Tuesday it will to pay more than $12.6 million to settle lawsuits by 16 victims of sexual abuse by priests

8/12/08
depo transcript of Cardinal George

8/12/08
Cardinal George Exhibits Part 1 of 2

8/12/08
Cardinal George Exhibits Part 2 of 2

7/30/08
Attorney Jeff Anderson Sues the Hell Out of Clerical Sex Abusers
St. Paul, MN: Attorney Jeff Anderson is a genuine firebrand. He has handled not hundreds, but thousands of cases on behalf of sexual abuse survivors across the US, and even outside the US over the last 25 years.

7/21/08
New Sex Abuse Lawsuit for Denver Archdiocese
Another man filed a lawsuit Monday against the Archdiocese of Denver alleging he was abused by a priest at a church in Loveland about 40 years ago.

7/3/2008
Former Somerset priest indicted
Cote faces sexual abuse charges in Maryland

7/2/2008
Denver Archdiocese to Pay $5.5 Million in Abuse Suits
After nearly three years of litigation, the Archdiocese of Denver said Tuesday that it would pay $5.5 million to settle more than a dozen lawsuits over sexual abuse by priests.

7/2/2008
Time line Regarding Harold White and the Archdiocese of Denver

7/2/2008
Denver settlement - all documents on White

7/2/2008
Archdiocese of Denver settlement - hot documents

7/2/2008
Denver Archdiocese Settles Priest Sex-abuse Lawsuits
The archdiocese of Denver has agreed to pay $5.5 million to settle 18 claims of sexual abuse against its priests in incidents that happened between 1954 and 1981.