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Police watchdog examining how South Yorkshire force treated complaints of industrial-scale child sexual exploitation in the town, laid bare in Jay report. Investigators looking at how the police treated complaints of child sexual exploitation in Rotherham say they are now working to identify more than 100 officers. The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said it was continuing to examine police conduct exactly a year on from the publication of the Jay report, which exposed the scale of child rape, trafficking and grooming in the South Yorkshire town. Professor Alexis Jay’s report described how more than 1,400 children were sexually exploited...

Jeff Anderson keeps pushing this case, which he released initially in the New York Times. In the course of promoting his interests, and those of the people behind him at the ACLU, he is attempting to summon Pope Benedict to the stand where he wants to "cross examine" the Pontiff. Jeff Anderson isn't interested in the welfare of the victims, he's interested in the same agenda that two Belgian Bishops, a Viennese Cardinal, a smutty Romance Novelist, However, the case in Kentucky, naming the Pope has been dropped. Actually, in fairness to Father Greeley, the author of pornographic novels he...

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Retired Springfield Bishop Daniel L. Ryan "engaged in improper sexual conduct and used his office to conceal his activities" when he headed the diocese, said an investigative report released by the diocese Aug. 2. It said Bishop Ryan, Springfield's bishop from 1984 to 1999, fostered "a culture of secrecy ... that discouraged faithful priests from coming forward with information about misconduct" by other clergy in the diocese. The investigation did not address sexual abuse of minors by church personnel, for which the diocese has a separate process. But it found evidence of other misconduct in a few...

Cardinal Roger M. Mahony acknowledged to Los Angeles Catholics in his 2004 "Report to the People of God" that he left five priests in ministry despite complaints that they had molested children. But a Times analysis of church records released since then shows that he left 11 other priests in ministry for periods up to 13 years after parishioners raised concerns about inappropriate behavior with children. Seven of these 11 cases were not detailed in the People of God report. The other four were mentioned incompletely; the report said they were removed when complaints were lodged but did not disclose...

From here: NEW YORK Sep 30, 2005 — A federal judge Thursday ordered the release of dozens more pictures of prisoners being abused at Abu Ghraib, rejecting government arguments that the images would provoke terrorists and incite violence against U.S. troops in Iraq. U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein said that terrorists "do not need pretexts for their barbarism" and that suppressing the pictures would amount to submitting to blackmail. (emphasis added)"Our nation does not surrender to blackmail, and fear of blackmail is not a legally sufficient argument to prevent us from performing a statutory command. Indeed, the freedoms that...

CHICAGO - The nation's Roman Catholic bishops agreed Friday to a five-year extension on their unprecedented policy of permanently barring sexually abusive clergy from church work. The overwhelming vote by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops means the American church will stick with the main points of the policy it adopted in 2002 at the height of crisis brought on by molesters in the priesthood. The Vatican is expected to approve the extension. The bishops' committee overseeing a review mandated by the original policy spent months soliciting comment from fellow church leaders. The panel concluded that "many, perhaps a majority,"...

NEW YORK The Archdiocese of Portland, the first in the nation to file for bankruptcy in the face of mounting sex abuse claims, began running ads in major U.S. newspapers this week alerting priest abuse victims that their time to file a claim against the diocese is running out. The $250,000 ad campaign, required as part of the bankruptcy proceeding, asks any alleged victims who have not yet come forward to file a complaint naming their abuser by April 29. Over the next three weeks, the ads will run three times in 21 newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal and...

Two West Virginia lawmakers this week voted against historic legislation that overhauled the nation’s spy network in order to beef up the country’s counterterrorism network. The legislation passed overwhelmingly in both the U.S. House and the Senate. The vote in the Senate was 89-2, with U.S. Sens. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., and James Inhofe, R-Okla., voting against the legislation. In the House, U.S. Rep. Alan B. Mollohan, D-W.Va., voted against the bill. Mollohan, in an interview Thursday, cited four major concerns with the legislation. ... “Does it adequately address the problems that have been identified with our intelligence gathering, storage...

Church aid, legal lapses leave cleric free to roam 'That's when your hair stands on end and your blood boils' 07:24 AM CDT on Wednesday, June 23, 2004 By BROOKS EGERTON and REESE DUNKLIN / The Dallas Morning News ALBISSOLA MARINA, Italy; Inside a 16th-century Catholic church by the Mediterranean Sea, the priest dresses as a man of God and preaches about the Holy Spirit. Outside, he tells lies. "I'm not a functioning priest," he says, until he realizes a reporter has just seen him celebrate Sunday evening Mass. Then he says he only "occasionally" leads a service and...

NRB Reports on Future Plans, Audit Success, and Responsiveness by Bishops, but the Sex Abuse Crisis Is Still Far From Being Resolved 7/30/2003 3:36:00 AM By Karl Maurer Catholic Citizens of Illinois www.catholiccitizens.org Chicago (July 29) - The National Review Board (NRB) to assist the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops announced their progress and plans at a media conference today in Chicago. To date, two thirds of all dioceses have responded to the NRB's information request, and 25% have been audited as to compliance with USCCB norms for safeguarding children from sexual abuse. NRB member Bob Bennett noted that "children...