Site Menu

Don't have an account yet? Sign up as a New User
Lost your password?

Events

Site Events

Tuesday 07-Sep

White Balloon Day

Wednesday 08-Sep

2nd Annual Friends of Bravehearts Dinner

Tuesday 28-Sep

Monsignor Thomas Bevan of Cascade in Court

Friday 01-Oct

Demonstration in St Peter's Square in Rome

Wednesday 13-Oct

Support group for victims of clergy sexual abuse starts in West Virginia.

Paypal

Due to some unscrupulous individuals I have had to start monitoring my website at considerable cost to me any Donations would be greatly appreciated

Older Stories

Tuesday 31-Aug

Monday 30-Aug

Sunday 29-Aug

Saturday 28-Aug

Friday 27-Aug

Thursday 26-Aug

Wednesday 25-Aug

Tuesday 24-Aug

Monday 23-Aug

Former East Tennessee priest pleads not guilty to Va. child sex charges (0)

alertsite2

Page Rank

Welcome to The Catholic Cover Up
Saturday, September 04 2010 @ 09:43 PM EST

Belgian cardinal: I was 'naive' to meet victim

Wednesday, September 01 2010 @ 03:57 PM EST

Tag: belgium

By RAF CASERT (AP)

BRUSSELS — The former head of Belgium's Roman Catholic Church has acknowledged that he should not have held a meeting with a victim of serial sexual abuse and suggested a cover up until the offending bishop retired.

The April 8 meeting that retired Cardinal Godfried Danneels held was secretly taped by the victim and the conversation was published in two newspapers over the weekend.

Cardinal, Who Mediated in Belgian Abuse Case, Says He Was Misled

Wednesday, September 01 2010 @ 01:20 PM EST

Tag: france
flag_belgium

Tag: belgium

By DOREEN CARVAJAL and STEPHEN CASTLE

PARIS — With the recent release of tapes chronicling the private clash of a family over sexual abuse by a Belgian bishop, the retired cardinal who played a role as a mediator is now distancing himself from his longtime colleague and friend.

The cardinal, Godfried Danneels, 77, has moved to defend himself after the release of the tapes, which have provoked withering criticism of the cardinal, who was urging reconciliation in the matter.

Adam and Eve defence: school chaplain took nude photos of girl

Wednesday, September 01 2010 @ 01:10 PM EST

Tag: australia

By Bruce Mckean

Chris Firman was an assistant chaplain and teacher at the Whitsunday Anglican School when he took nude photos of a 15-year-old female student.

He befriended the troubled teenager, showed her semi-nude pictures of women in two photo albums at his home, and raised the issue of nudity with her.

Priest accused of abuse in US remains in ministry in Philippines

Monday, August 30 2010 @ 06:34 PM EST

Tag: usa

Tag: philippines

A priest credibly accused of abusing a minor in a Kansas diocese remains in active ministry in the Philippines, according to press reports.

Tulsa RCC officials “not able to substantiate” abuse; accused pastor still on job despite allegations by two men

Monday, August 30 2010 @ 06:09 PM EST

Tag: usa

The bachelor’s refrigerator rule is: When in doubt, throw it out (“Safety first; I don’t want to risk food poisoning”).

The bishop’s rule on priests accused of abuse seems to be when there’s not ironclad proof (e.g., a dozen accusers) send the priest back into ministry, especially if he’s the bishop’s buddy..

Here is this armchair analyst’s peek into a bishop’s head that provides an explanation why he sends a twice-accused priest back into ministry:

Catholic church using time limit to suppress child abuse cases, says lawyer

Friday, August 27 2010 @ 05:18 PM EST

Tag: england

Riazat Butt, religious affairs correspondent

Jesuit-run school loses appeal against a court ruling giving a former pupil the right to pursue a £5m civil action

Father Finian Egan: the church acts too slowly

Friday, August 13 2010 @ 06:10 AM EST

Tag: australia

By a Broken Rites researcher

A number of women and men have come forward, reporting about how they encountered a Sydney-based Catholic priest, Father Finian J. Egan, when they were youngsters in the 1970s and 1980s.

Archbishop says he was too slow in taking action against a fellow-cleric

Friday, August 13 2010 @ 06:05 AM EST

Tag: australia

By a Broken Rites researcher

In a statement issued in June 2010, an Australian Catholic archbishop confessed that he had been too slow in taking action about a senior fellow-cleric who was a danger to young males.

Church used collection-plate money to defend a criminal priest

Friday, August 13 2010 @ 05:56 AM EST

Tag: australia

By a Broken Rites researcher

A prominent Australian bishop has admitted that Christmas collection money was diverted to lawyers to defend a priest in a child-abuse court case. In addition, the priest's lawyers were paid thousands of dollars from other church sources.

The priest, Father James Patrick Fletcher, of the Maitland-Newcastle diocese in New South Wales, pleaded not guilty in 2004 to multiple counts of anal and oral sexual penetration of an altar boy, Desmond. The offences began in 1990, when Desmond was 13. A jury found Fletcher guilty on all charges.

Controversial bishops available for Confirmations

Thursday, August 12 2010 @ 03:11 AM EST

Tag: ireland

Two Irish Catholic bishops whose resignations over a child sex abuse report were rejected by the Vatican will still be able to administer Confirmation, it emerged today.

Auxiliary Bishops Eamonn Walsh and Raymond Field will be assigned revised responsibilities in Dublin despite offering to stand down on Christmas Eve in the wake of a damning state inquiry.

Resignation offers were 'for benefit of abuse victims'

Thursday, August 12 2010 @ 02:30 AM EST

Tag: ireland

By Fergus Black

THE two auxiliary bishops at the centre of the latest resignation controversy offered to step down last Christmas in the hope their action would help bring peace and reconciliation to abuse victims.

Bishops Eamon Walsh and Raymond Field had served as bishops during the period investigated by the Murphy probe into clerical child abuse in the Dublin diocese.

Irish Church relocated a known pedophile to California

Thursday, August 12 2010 @ 02:14 AM EST

Tag: usa

Tag: ireland

By CATHY HAYES IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Report shows that church knew Patrick Joseph McCabe would re-offend

The Irish Catholic Church had a full knowledge of the abuse that a priest, Patrick Joseph McCabe, had committed and what he was capable of when they sent him to a diocese in California in 1982

Double standards apply over which bishops should resign

Thursday, August 12 2010 @ 01:31 AM EST

Tag: ireland
Vatican

Tag: vatican

ANALYSIS: Why were the resignations of bishops Murray and Moriarty accepted by the Pope yet those of bishops Walsh and Field were not?, asks PATSY McGARRY

THE MURPHY report on clerical child abuse in the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin covered “far more than what individual bishops did or did not do. Fundamentally it is about how the leadership of the archdiocese failed over many decades to respond properly to criminal acts against children,” said Bishop Jim Moriarty in his resignation statement last December.

Vatican welcomes US plaintiffs' decision to end abuse lawsuit

Wednesday, August 11 2010 @ 02:31 AM EST

Tag: vatican
flag_usa

Tag: usa

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- While underlining its condemnation of "the horror" of the sexual abuse of minors by clergy, the Vatican welcomed as "good news" the imminent end of a lawsuit against the Holy See in a U.S. court.

The Vatican spokesman, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, told journalists Aug. 10 that "the Holy See is satisfied to hear the news" that a lawsuit in a U.S. court against the Vatican was being dropped by the plaintiffs.

Episcopal Church reinstates Diocese head after abuse cover-up case

Thursday, August 05 2010 @ 03:20 AM EST

Tag: usa

PHILADELPHIA _ Nearly three years after the Episcopal Church suspended him for covering up his brother's sexual abuse of a minor girl, Bishop Charles E. Bennison Jr. has been restored as head of the Diocese of Pennsylvania.

In a ruling released Thursday, a church appeals panel reversed a lower church court's 2008 order that Bennison be defrocked and permanently removed from the helm of the 55,000-member diocese, comprising Philadelphia, Montgomery, Bucks, Delaware, and Chester Counties.

Abuser still on payroll at college

Tuesday, August 03 2010 @ 05:21 AM EST

Tag: new_zealand

By MARIKA HILL - Manawatu Standard

Convicted sex abuser Elvis Shepherd remains employed at Hato Paora College while he goes through formal disciplinary procedures.

Shepherd has been suspended on full pay since November 2007, after being charged with sexual abuse against students at Hato Paora, as well as against boys at a school in Auckland in the early 1990s.

Catholic Church commits bankruptcy fraud

Sunday, August 01 2010 @ 12:32 AM EST

Tag: usa

Tag: vatican

‘Dan Rather Reports’ Exposes Coordinated Effort by the Catholic Church to Protect Assets From Abuse Victims

Philippine bishop says no to child sex probe

Friday, July 30 2010 @ 05:43 PM EST

Tag: philippines

By ucanews.com reporter, Manila

A Philippine bishop has decided there is no need to probe allegations of sex abuse against a priest in his diocese.

“I don’t plan to launch an investigation based on hazy and unverified reports from the internet,” said Bishop Reynaldo Evangelista of Boac.

Church blasts gay priests leading 'double life'

Sunday, July 25 2010 @ 02:41 AM EST

Tag: vatican
flag_italy

Tag: italy
flag_usa

Tag: usa

By NICOLE WINFIELD (AP) –

ROME — The Catholic Church in Italy, still reeling from the clerical sex abuse scandal, lashed out Friday at gay priests who are leading a double life, urging them to come out of the closet and leave the priesthood.

The Diocese of Rome issued the strongly worded statement after the conservative Panorama newsweekly said in a cover story and accompanying video that it had interviewed three gay priests in Rome and accompanied them to gay clubs and bars and to sexual encounters with strangers, including one in a church building.

In St. Catharines, it’s silence for the lambs

Saturday, July 24 2010 @ 02:31 AM EST

Tag: usa

By Sandro Contenta Jim Rankin

DUNNVILLE, ONT.—Two months after Bishop James Wingle abruptly resigned and disappeared, word that he had been spotted in Jerusalem swept his St. Catharines diocese.

Parishioners and priests were hungry for news of the missing bishop. But officials temporarily running the Catholic diocese quickly moved to reassert a wall of silence.

Priest allowed to say Mass despite sex abuse allegations against him

Thursday, July 22 2010 @ 03:44 AM EST

Tag: australia
flag_ireland

Tag: ireland

A SYDNEY-BASED Irish Catholic priest was allowed to say Mass two years ago in Ireland despite allegations of sexual abuse against him.

ABC television last night revealed that on at least eight occasions Fr Finian Egan was given exemptions to conduct weddings or funerals while supposedly banned from doing so and under investigation by the church.

Priest accused of sexual abuse in Kansas still working in Philippines

Wednesday, July 21 2010 @ 03:40 AM EST

Tag: usa

Tag: philippines

By Shaun Hittle

Despite having a credible allegation of sexual abuse made against him, a priest who served in the Dodge City Diocese is still in active ministry in a foreign country, according to the website for the Diocese of Boac, which is in the Philippines.

Orestes Huerta was named in a May 2010 statement released by the Dodge City Diocese as one of three priests from the diocese who had been credibly accused of sexually abusing a minor.

Sex abuse investigator worked for church

Tuesday, July 20 2010 @ 06:25 AM EST

Tag: netherlands

The committee investigating sexual abuse by officials in the Roman Catholic church in the Netherlands has been criticised for a lack of independence.

Catholic diocese seeks cash to pay Irish victims

Tuesday, July 20 2010 @ 05:29 AM EST

Tag: ireland

A Roman Catholic diocese at the center of Ireland’s child-abuse scandals appealed Tuesday to its parishioners to cover some of its more than euro10 million ($14 million) in bills to victims and lawyers.

Brennan said the diocese has already paid euro8 million to settle lawsuits from 48 abuse victims. But it has yet to settle 13 pending cases, and also has remortgaged the bishop’s residence to cover euro2 million in its own lawyers’ bills for defending the church.

Vatican defends revised abuse rules

Saturday, July 17 2010 @ 06:35 PM EST

Tag: vatican

By ALESSANDRA RIZZO (AP)

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican spokesman defended on Saturday a revised set of rules on clerical sex abuse as an essential and lasting response to abuse cases, but acknowledged the church will need to show long-term commitment if it wants to eradicate the crime.

The Vatican issued its revised in-house rules this week, as it confronts one of the worst scandals in its recent history. Revelations of rape or other sexual abuse of minors by priests, and of cover-ups by bishops, have been piling up for months.

Female priesthood equal to pedophilia

Friday, July 16 2010 @ 06:32 PM EST

Tag: vatican

The Vatican has stiffened its disciplinary measures on sexual abuse in a decree that considers the ordination of women to priesthood a grave crime tantamount to pedophilia.

In a move that has drawn harsh criticism from women's ordination groups, the Roman Catholic Church on Thursday issued revisions to its internal laws including a controversial provision that labeled the designation of women as priests a crime "against the faith", which should be dealt with in the same way as child sexual abuse, AFP reported.

The Vatican's new norms

Friday, July 16 2010 @ 06:03 PM EST

Tag: vatican

The latest attempt by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to stem the continuous onslaught of revelations of sex abuse and cover-up in Europe and elsewhere has some good and some bad aspects.

Melbourne Archdiocese to adjust letters sent to abuse victims

Thursday, July 15 2010 @ 11:39 AM EST

Tag: australia

The Melbourne Archdiocese says it will adjust future letters sent to sexual abuse victims about legal settlements after being informed that the original contained mistakes.

The standard letter sent by the Church in Melbourne with legal offers of compensation stated that signing the offer would release the Archbishop from further claims of abuse, according to a report in The Age.

Clergy sex abuse victims challenge WV Jesuit University

Wednesday, July 14 2010 @ 12:50 PM EST

Tag: usa

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, SNAP director, 314 566 9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com

Shame on Wheeling Jesuit University President Sister Francis Marie Thrailkill and other top staff at the school for the shamelessly self-serving spin they’re trying to put on the arrest of a priest and teacher there. The Catholic hierarchy is essentially trying to pretend they barely know this alleged predator.

Catholic abbot returns to office despite abuse scandal

Tuesday, July 13 2010 @ 01:40 PM EST

Tag: germany

A German Benedictine Abbot who resigned in February amid the Catholic child abuse scandal for failing to properly report abuse accusations is already set to return to his former post, media reported Tuesday.

Abuse appeal started by Catholic Middlesbrough Diocese

Monday, July 12 2010 @ 02:04 AM EST

Tag: england

A Catholic diocese has launched an appeal after being found liable for running a boys' school where 150 former pupils are suing for abuse.

Middlesbrough Diocese is facing the £8m compensation claim.

The alleged abuse took place between 1960 and 1992 at St William's in Market Weighton, East Yorkshire.

Protecting its assets rather than children

Friday, July 09 2010 @ 10:13 PM EST

Tag: usa

Skip Johnson’s comparison of the pope selection process to the Bibb County school superintendent selection process was instructive and relevant. Sharon Patterson was investigated by the Georgia Professional Standards Commission because she was accused of failing to report actions by a middle school principal and a high school principal.

Priest reinstated after abuse conviction

Thursday, July 08 2010 @ 02:02 PM EST

Tag: italy

Rome - An Italian priest who was convicted of sexually abusing a girl has been restored to his post after being deemed innocent by the Vatican and his diocese, a bishop announced on Wednesday.

Primate leaves bishop to talk about sex abuse

Monday, July 05 2010 @ 11:24 AM EST

Tag: ireland

Catholic all-Ireland Primate Sean Brady left it to a bishop to talk about the issue of child sex abuse at a special mass to celebrate St Oliver Plunkett's Day.

Cardinal Brady led a procession of around 2,000 people through Drogheda, Co Louth, yesterday to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the beatification of the saint.

Dioceses oust abusers they had pledged to monitor

Monday, July 05 2010 @ 11:21 AM EST

Tag: usa

By RACHEL ZOLL (AP)

NEW YORK — At the peak of the Roman Catholic clergy sex abuse crisis, the discipline plan American bishops adopted prompted dioceses to remove nearly all accused clergy from the priesthood.

Some of the men, however, were considered too old or sick to be kicked out. Instead, bishops barred those clerics from functioning as priests and promised to keep watch over them in supervisory programs that would keep the men far from children.

But interviews with canon lawyers, church child protection officials and experts who advise them found that, eight years after the plan was approved, few of those diocesan programs exist. Church leaders are more likely to oust a cleric from the priesthood than monitor him.

Child abuse witnesses get death threats

Sunday, July 04 2010 @ 05:45 PM EST

Tag: belgium

Police investigating claims of child abuse by Belgian clergy say they are probing death threats against witnesses and magistrates.

The threats have been made to witnesses who gave information to the police and to the magistrates who may end up judging the case.

Belgian child sex abuse police probe death threats

Sunday, July 04 2010 @ 11:26 AM EST

Tag: germany

Police investigating claims of child abuse by Belgian clergy have told the BBC they are probing death threats against witnesses and magistrates.

Last month police raided a meeting of Belgium's Catholic bishops as part of their investigation, seizing computers and documents.

They even searched the tomb of at least one cardinal, prompting an angry response from the Vatican.

The Bishop of Bayeux went to jail rather than give authorities information about a priest who had raped a minor

Friday, July 02 2010 @ 01:23 AM EST

Tag: france
Vatican

Tag: vatican

"I congratulate you for not turning in a priest to the civil administration..."

Joseph Ratzinger is having a terrible year. But as the Catholic Church faces yet another scandal, blame is
Mass appeal: Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger greets Pope John Paul II in December 2004

There is a cruel paradox in the career of the man who, in September, will become only the second pope in history to visit Britain. When Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected pope in April 2005, he set about purifying the Catholic Church and returning it to its core values. He also pledged to get his charismatic predecessor, John Paul II, canonised as quickly as possible.

Dan Rather Reports on Catholic Church hiding sssets to avoid paying damages to abuse victims

Friday, July 02 2010 @ 01:03 AM EST

Tag: usa

In the report, attorney John Manly and victim advocate Patrick Wall provide Dan and viewers some eye-opening information about how the RCC handled diocesan bankruptcies in San Diego, CA; Davenport, IA; and Wilmington, DE.

Cardinal Praised Bishop for his Willingness To Go To Jail Rather Than Reveal Information On Priest Rapist

Thursday, July 01 2010 @ 01:15 AM EST

Tag: vatican
flag_france

Tag: france

The Pope continues to face allegations of his prior knowledge of abuse by clergy. However, the most striking story in the article below is how Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos allegedly heralded a bishop for his willingness to go to jail rather than reveal information about a priest accused of raping a child.

Catholic Church evades abuse scandals

Wednesday, June 30 2010 @ 05:55 AM EST

Tag: usa

Tag: vatican

Senior analyst of Foreign Policy in Focus Ian Williams believes that Vatican tries to escape its child abuse scandals by misusing the principle of Separation of Church and State.

The US Supreme Court has rejected Vatican's appeal for legal immunity from pedophile priests' sexual abuse of minors in the United States.

Pedophile ex-priest tried to bribe way out of jail

Wednesday, June 30 2010 @ 05:34 AM EST

Tag: australia
flag_indonesia

Tag: indonesia

A former Catholic priest who sexually abused teenage boys in South Australia paid a $US25,000 “downpayment” to be released from an Indonesian prison, an Adelaide court has heard.

Charles Alfred Barnett, 69, was in the court for sentencing submissions over sexual and indecent assaults on four occasions between 1977 and 1994, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Vatican Power Struggle Comes Amid Priestly Removal And Dioceses Declaring Bankruptcy

Tuesday, June 29 2010 @ 05:43 AM EST

Tag: vatican
flag_austria

Tag: austria

With Catholic diocese declaring bankruptcy in order to avoid having to sell their assets or have them seized by the government in order to pay the victims of pedophile priests, the Vatican decided that they were more than willing to attack a cardinal who is critical of the Vatican’s handling of the child sex abuse scandal.

DAN RATHER REPORTS EXPOSES COORDINATED EFFORT BY THE CATHOLIC CHURCH TO PROTECT ASSETS FROM ABUSE VICTIMS

Tuesday, June 29 2010 @ 04:09 AM EST

Tag: usa

Are local dioceses declaring bankruptcy in order to avoid paying settlements to victims of priest sexual abuse? Tuesday, June 29 at 8:00 p.m. ET

"Dan Rather Reports" investigates how the Roman Catholic Church has been hiding and shielding assets from victims of priest abuse. Some say the Church is behaving more like a big corporation than a sacred institution.

Belgian church mulls legal action after paedophilia raids

Saturday, June 26 2010 @ 11:56 PM EST

Tag: germany

BRUSSELS — A Catholic archdiocese could sue the Belgian state over police raids on church property carried out as part of a paedophilia investigation, a lawyer said Saturday, amid Vatican indignation.

Fernand Keuleneer, lawyer for the Mechelen-Brussels archdiocese, said he had his "doubts" over whether the authorities' actions on Thursday were legal.

Facts are not “anti-Catholic”

Saturday, June 26 2010 @ 11:33 PM EST

Tag: usa

William McMurry, an attorney from Louisville, Kentucky, wants to subpoena the Pope and other Vatican officials in order to determine what the Vatican knew about both his specific case (involving three Kentucky men who allege that they were sexually abused by priests) and about the many other institutionally-sanctioned coverups of clergy sexual abuse in the United States.

The information obtained from these depositions would most likely reveal the extent of the Vatican’s culpability in these matters.

Vatican: Ky. abuse lawsuit lacks link to Rome

Saturday, June 26 2010 @ 01:29 AM EST

Tag: usa

By DYLAN LOVAN (AP)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Vatican is asking a federal judge to reject an attempt to question Pope Benedict XVI under oath in a Kentucky sex abuse lawsuit on the grounds that there has been no evidence of a link to church officials in Rome.

The arguments filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Louisville also say that forcing Benedict, a head of state, to give a deposition would violate international law. The U.S. considers the Vatican to be a sovereign nation.

Church fights lifting of sex abuse suit limits

Friday, June 25 2010 @ 03:09 PM EST

Tag: usa

Ron French / The Detroit News

Lansing -- The abuse David Collins suffered as a teen from a Catholic priest in the archdiocese of Detroit confused him for decades.

He spiraled into alcohol abuse. He suffered years of depression and post-traumatic stress. His relationships suffered because he had trouble trusting others.

Catholic church fights lifting of sex abuse suit limits

Friday, June 25 2010 @ 01:30 AM EST

Accused priest given victim’s file

Friday, June 25 2010 @ 12:35 AM EST

Tag: ireland

By Claire O’Sullivan

CLAIMS that the child protection delegate in the diocese of Cloyne handed over a confidential file containing allegations of abuse to the priest at the centre of the allegations are being investigated by the Catholic Church.

What's New

Stories

77 new Stories in the last 7 days

Comments last 7 days

No new comments

Pages last 2 weeks

No new pages

Links last 2 weeks

MEDIA GALLERY Last 14 Days

No new media items

REVIEWS last 2 weeks

No recent new reviews

Flag Counter since 16 January 2010

Translate To:

ultimate web translator with flagsgreat free widgetsWidgetboxMore info

Poll

The Pope

Other polls | 15 votes

Raids on the Catholic Church?

Other polls | 30 votes | 0 comments

Tag Menu

Site Menu

Events

Paypal

Older Stories

Tuesday 31-Aug

Monday 30-Aug

Sunday 29-Aug

Saturday 28-Aug

Friday 27-Aug

Thursday 26-Aug

Wednesday 25-Aug

Tuesday 24-Aug

Monday 23-Aug

alertsite2

Page Rank

Who's Online

Popular tags at this site

What's New

Stories

Comments last 7 days

Pages last 2 weeks

Links last 2 weeks

MEDIA GALLERY Last 14 Days

REVIEWS last 2 weeks

Flag Counter since 16 January 2010

Translate To:

Poll

Beware of religious cults and secret societies

Predatory Priests, Silenced Victims