priest sex abuse

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Priest, 93, Gets Life for Raping Teen Decades Ago

Lawrence Hecker's victim reported the attack decades ago, but he wasn't believed

(Newser) - A judge sentenced a 93-year-old former Catholic priest Wednesday to spend the rest of his life behind bars for raping a teenage boy decades ago. Lawrence Hecker had pleaded guilty to charges including first-degree rape and aggravated kidnapping moments before jury selection was scheduled to begin in his trial this...

'Vindictive' Judge Delays Rape Trial of Priest, 93
Disgraced Priest, 93,
Pleads Guilty to Rape
UPDATED
Dec 3, 2024 6:27 PM CST

Disgraced Priest, 93, Pleads Guilty to Rape

New Orleans priest Lawrence Hecker faces life in prison

(Newser) - A disgraced 93-year-old New Orleans priest pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges involving the sexual assault of a teenage boy in 1975. Lawrence Hecker, who left the ministry in 2002, had been scheduled to stand trial Tuesday, the AP reports. Hecker entered his plea to aggravated kidnapping, aggravated crime against nature,...

LA Archbishop: 'I Am Sorry for Every One of These Incidents'

Archdiocese of Los Angeles agrees to pay whopping $880M to victims of clergy sex abuse

(Newser) - The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has agreed to pay $880 million to victims of clergy sexual abuse dating back decades, in what an attorney said was the largest single settlement with a Catholic archdiocese over child sex abuse. After the Wednesday announcement of the agreement in principle, Archbishop Jose H....

Confederate Statues Aren't the Only Ones Coming Down

Homage to late German cardinal comes down days after new sex-abuse allegations

(Newser) - Confederate statues aren't the only ones being taken down: A statue of a deceased German cardinal was removed from its perch outside Essen Cathedral in western Germany on Monday, reports the AP , days after allegations of sexual abuse decades ago became public. The accusations against Cardinal Franz Hengsbach,...

Priest Charged 24 Years After Admitting to Child Sex Acts

Lawrence Hecker indicted on rape, kidnapping charges in Louisiana

(Newser) - A 91-year-old retired Catholic priest, previously named by the Archdiocese of New Orleans as being "credibly accused" of sexual abuse, is now facing charges over the alleged sexual assault of a teenage boy in 1975. A Louisiana state grand jury has indicted Lawrence Hecker on felony charges including aggravated...

Philadelphia Archdiocese Settles Priest Sex Abuse Case

Victim of now-deceased priest will get $3.5M

(Newser) - The Archdiocese of Philadelphia will pay $3.5 million to settle a civil case alleging a now-deceased priest sexually assaulted a teenage boy nearly two decades ago, and church officials knew of similar reports about the priest dating back to the 1970s, attorneys for the victim announced Wednesday. The plaintiff...

State AG Releases Stunning Report on Church Sex Abuse

Report alleges 451 Catholic clergy in Illinois abused nearly 2K children from 1950 to 2019

(Newser) - In 2018, a grand jury report was released in Pennsylvania naming 300-plus "predator priests" in the state accused of sexually abusing more than 1,000 children over a period of seven decades. Partly inspired by those revelations, then-Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan started a probe in her own state,...

A Catholic First: Cardinal Admits Abusing Minor

78-year-old Jean-Pierre Ricard says he abused 14-year-old girl in 1980s, steps down

(Newser) - Jean-Pierre Ricard has become the first Catholic cardinal to publicly admit to abusing a minor, according to reports. The French cardinal said Monday that he "behaved in a reprehensible way with a young girl aged 14" as a priest in the archdiocese of Marseille in the 1980s and "...

After Telling School of Accused Priest on Payroll, a Giant Fine

New Orleans attorney Richard Trahant says he'll appeal the $400K payment to archdiocese

(Newser) - A lawyer who alerted a Catholic high school to past sexual misconduct by its chaplain has been fined $400,000 for violating confidentiality rules by speaking out. Attorney Richard Trahant says he'll appeal the decision handed down Tuesday, which gives him 30 days to pay the Archdiocese of New...

Pope: I Actually Was at Meeting on Priest Accused of Abuse

Benedict had originally said he hadn't attended, blames discrepancy on 'editing' mistake

(Newser) - Update: Pope Benedict XVI has repeatedly denied wrongdoing in the Catholic Church's sex abuse scandal, but there's been a shift in at least one story. Per the Catholic News Agency and CNN , the pontiff had originally told investigators he hadn't attended a January 1980 meeting of archdiocesan...

Missionary Revered in Catholic Nation Is Headed to Prison

American ex-priest Richard Daschbach, 84, found guilty in East Timor of sexually abusing young girls

(Newser) - A defrocked American priest accused of sexually abusing orphaned and disadvantaged young girls under his care in East Timor was found guilty Tuesday and sentenced to 12 years in prison, in the first case of its kind in the staunchly Catholic nation. Richard Daschbach, 84, who spent decades as a...

Report: French Catholic Church Showed 'Cruel Indifference'

Commission finds 330K children may have been sexually abused by clergy, laypeople since 1950

(Newser) - A new report slams the Catholic Church for "cruel indifference," with clergy in France accused of sexually abusing an estimated 216,000 children since 1950. Jean-Marc Sauve, head of the inquiry commissioned by the French Catholic Church, says most of the victims over the past seven decades were...

On Punishments for Church Sex Abuse, a 'Significant Rewrite'

Pope Francis signs off on first major update to penal sanctions since 1980s

(Newser) - A slew of new rules on how to handle sexual abuse within the Catholic Church has received the official green light from Pope Francis, updating a penal system that's been in place for 40 years. The Washington Post calls it "the most significant rewrite of canon law" since...

DA: Priest Who Died Friday Killed Altar Boy in 1972

Richard Lavigne was about to be arrested for murder of 13-year-old Danny Croteau

(Newser) - Defrocked Catholic priest Richard Lavigne died before he could face justice for the murder of 13-year-old altar boy Danny Croteau almost 50 years ago—but the victim's older brother believes Lavigne is now facing a higher power. Danny was found dead in a Springfield, Massachusetts, river on April 14,...

Minnesota Bishop Resigns at Pope's Request

Bishop Michael Hoeppner accused of pressuring victim to recant claim against a priest

(Newser) - A Minnesota bishop resigned Tuesday at the request of the pope after an investigation determined he'd covered up a sex abuse allegation involving a priest. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Crookston, which is made up of some 35,000 Catholics, said an investigation was launched at the Vatican's...

Highest-Ranking Catholic Convicted of Sex Abuse Is a Free Man

Cardinal George Pell cleared of child sex abuse, released from prison Tuesday

(Newser) - Australia's highest court on Tuesday dismissed the convictions of the most senior Catholic found guilty of child sex crimes, the AP reports. Cardinal George Pell welcomed the news and said his trial had not been a referendum on the Catholic Church’s handling of the clergy sex abuse crisis....

Suit: Famed Jesuit Sexually Abused Me on Worldwide Trips

Robert Goldberg says he endured almost daily abuse as child valet for the late Donald McGuire

(Newser) - One day in May 1970, an 11-year-old boy and his sister waited outside a Chicago tavern for their mom to come out. When a priest happened by and offered the family a ride home, they took him up on it. The boy, Robert Goldberg, would pay dearly for the favor,...

Inside This Michigan Building, Group Helped Accused Priests
Why Accused Priests Came
to This Michigan Building
the rundown
Jul 29, 2019 10:20 AM CDT

Why Accused Priests Came to This Michigan Building

AP looks at under-the-radar group Opus Bono Sacerdotii

(Newser) - The visiting priests arrived discreetly, day and night. Stripped of their collars and cassocks, they went unnoticed in the tiny Midwestern town of Dryden, Mich., as they were escorted into a dingy warehouse across from an elementary school playground. They had been brought to town by a small nonprofit group...

In Significant Move, Pope Defines the Term 'Vulnerable Adults'

As part of new law requiring Vatican personnel, Holy See diplomats report abuse allegations

(Newser) - Pope Francis on Friday issued sweeping new sex abuse legislation for Vatican personnel and Holy See diplomats that requires the immediate reporting of abuse allegations to Vatican prosecutors, a policy shift aimed at being a model for the Catholic Church worldwide. The mandatory reporting provision, while limited in scope, marks...

Accused Pedophile Priest Now a Homicide Victim

Dozens in New Jersey alleged John Capparelli had sexually abused them when they were boys

(Newser) - John Capparelli traveled across the US three years ago, hoping to leave the sexual abuse allegations about him behind on the East Coast, and many in the defrocked priest's Henderson, Nev., neighborhood may have had no clue about his past. That history came to light this week after Capparelli,...

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