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A Roman Catholic diocese based in California has announced that it is filing for bankruptcy due to the expenses related to numerous lawsuits centered on priest abuse. The Diocese of Sacramento released a statement on Monday confirming that Bishop Jaime Soto had “filed for reorganization of the Diocese of Sacramento’s debts in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.” The filing comes as the diocese faced over 250 lawsuits related to sex abuse of minors by clergy and lay employees, stemming from incidents that go as far back as the 1950s. “This wave of new claims followed a 2019 law allowing victim-survivors to file...

ATMORE, Ala. (WAFF) - The State of Alabama executed death row inmate Kenneth Smith on Thursday at the Holman Correctional Facility. The 58-year-old Smith was put to death with nitrogen gas, the first time that method was used in the United States. Smith is one of two men convicted in the 1988 murder-for-hire slaying of Elizabeth Sennett. Prosecutors said he and the other man were each paid $1,000 to kill Sennett on behalf of her pastor husband, who was deeply in debt and wanted to collect on insurance. Sennett, 45, was found dead March 18, 1988, in her home with...

Catholic persecution is still rising around the world, especially in Africa. Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) found that 132 of those in the Catholic clergy and nuns were arrested, kidnapped, and murdered in 2023. All of the stats are likely higher. ACN only counts arrests related to persecution. We all know places will trump up charges to avoid persecution accusations. The stats do not include members of the Catholic Church. Terrorists slaughtered almost 200 Catholics across Nigeria and destroyed villages, leaving tens of thousands homeless from December 23-26. Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has intensified his war on the...

Warren Buffett is a philanthropist whose billions have been funneled to pro-abortion organizations for decades, including many behind the expansion of the abortion pill. While some of this is well-known among pro-lifers, what is less known is that Buffett was also instrumental in creating a “church” as a front for referring women for illegal abortions prior to Roe v. Wade — a “church” that eventually merged into Planned Parenthood Los Angeles. Warren Buffett’s abortion pill philanthropy Warren Buffett’s Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation was among the original investors in Danco Laboratories, the U.S. abortion pill manufacturer. In addition, the Washington Post...

Clergy, lay officers struggling with the cost-of-living crisis have submitted their first demand for a pay rise since 1534The blessing of the Lord may bring spiritual wealth, but eternal riches are no consolation for Church of England priests facing an earthly cost-of-living crisis. On Monday, clergy and lay officers of the church headed by King Charles III submitted their first demand for a pay rise since the church was founded in 1534. Their union, Unite, said they want a 9.5-percent increase in the annual stipend that priests receive from next year. "Like all workers, Church of England clergy are struggling...

While for years Democratic politicians and Catholic bishops both quietly took cover behind nine black robes, the situation has now changed.For years, Supreme Court rulings like Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey allowed our leaders to hide. Republicans could campaign against it, rallying their base and decrying its injustice, then once in power make the excuse that, like it or not, Roe was “the law of the land.”Democrats alike could claim they were personally against abortion, but believed it was up to the woman. Moreover, they didn’t need to vote much on the issue — it was already...

A group of Canadian clergy sent an open letter to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau earlier this week rebuking him for invoking the Emergencies Act to quell the Freedom Convoy and for other actions they described as "tyrannical." "We are writing to you as representative pastors of Christian congregations from across the nation and as law-abiding citizens who respect the God-defined role of civil government and uphold the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the highest law of our land, which recognizes the supremacy of God over all human legislation," read the letter, which was signed by 29 clergymen and...

As a graduate of Oral Roberts University, I was blessed to spend a lot of time with Oral Roberts himself. Roberts repeatedly told me, “Go into every man’s world and meet them at the point of their need.” He was referring to Christians evangelizing throughout the world. We Christians cannot wait for people seeking God to stumble into our churches. Rather, Christians must go to them and invite them to join our movement. In a similar manner, conservatives must go! They must go to black entrepreneurs. They must go to black parents. They must go to black preachers. No more...

DES MOINES — Citing “overwhelming” incidents of abuse and "extensive" cover-up that spanned decades, Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller issued a report Wednesday detailing 50 complaints his office received about allegations of sexual impropriety by Catholic clergy, non-clergy or spiritual leaders — including 17 victims who had not previously come forward to report abuse to authorities.

Most bishops now less resemble the apostles and more the Pharisees and Sadducees, trading moral and spiritual authority for worldly prestige and wealth.As many Christians can attest, and as Carina Benton details here, priests across the country are kicking out parishioners for not complying with their mask mandates. Sometimes, as Father Milton Ryan did with pregnant mother Deidre Hairston after she received communion at Holy Trinity Catholic Parish in Dallas, Texas, they will even resort to having law enforcement escort them out of the building during Mass. What’s more, many bishops fully support their priests taking such actions. In a...

The Church of England may institute a quota on black and minority ethnic clergy within its ranks as well as institute anti-racism training, according to a report leaked Saturday. The Spectator obtained a copy of a report set to be turned into the Archbishops’ Council next week by the Church of England’s anti-racism task force, which was established after Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby apologized for the denomination’s racist past last year. The British magazine reports that the title of the document, slated to be released to the public on April 22, is “From Lament to Action: Report of the...

On January 21st, 1776, Pastor Peter Muhlenberg of Virginia chose his Sunday sermon text from Ecclesiastes 3: "In the language of the Holy Writ, there is a time for all things. There is a time to preach and a time to fight. And now is the time to fight." Throwing off his black cassock, he revealed his Continental Army uniform complete with saber and flintlock and challenged his congregation: "Who among you is with me?" As drums beat a military tattoo, three hundred men of Pastor Muhlenberg's flock rose to their feet, kissed their wives and children goodbye and marched...

On Wednesday, lawyers representing more than 1,200 California clergy sent a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.), declaring religious services essential during the coronavirus pandemic and announcing that churches will start meeting in person on May 31 — the Day of Pentecost referred to as the birthday of the Christian church — with or without the governor’s permission. “The Day of Pentecost is also known as the birthday of the Christian church. May 31, 2020 is the 1,990th anniversary of the original Day of Pentecost that occurred in the year A.D. 30. We declare that on May 31, 2020, we...

KEY WEST, Florida - A new survey from the Pew Research Center has found that not only do most Americans believe religion and politics shouldn’t mingle, but Catholics are less likely than members of other Christian denominations to trust their clergy on hot-button issues. According to the study results, American Catholics were found to be “less likely than all the other major Christian groups to have a lot of confidence in their clergy to give advice on almost all of the religious and personal topics asked about in the survey.” Those topics include one’s relationship with God, the interpretation of...

[Catholic Caucus] Pope Francis Phones Prominent Gay Theologian and Priest James Alison, Restores Him to Ministry Fr. James AlisonPope Francis made a phone call to a leading gay theologian and priest who was suspended from active ministry in part over his LGBTQ-affirming work, and gave the theologian “the power of the keys,” a phrase indicating his restoration to active priesthood.Francis placed the call two years ago to Fr. James Alison who only yesterday shared in The Tablet his account of the experience, which was first reported about anonymously in Frédéric Martel’s In the Closet of the Vatican published earlier this...

My pastor recently told me that 25 years ago, the first person that people would contact when they faced a marriage crisis was their pastor. Ten years ago, he continued, it was their counselor or psychiatrist. Today, it’s their lawyers. A recent study conducted by the Associated Press and the University of Chicago concurs. “Doctors, teachers, members of the military,” and scientists are, according to the survey, esteemed “more positively than clergy.” Among infrequent churchgoers, clergy are viewed as negatively as lawyers. (For the record, that last line came from a member of our editorial team who’s been admitted to...

"Get your hand off me!" I wanted to yell. But I didn't. More than a month after the Southern Baptist Convention's annual meeting in Birmingham, I am still processing something that happened there. After the For Such a Time as This Rally, abuse survivors and advocates gathered at a coffee house to decompress. It was a warm-hearted event, filled with a sense of "beloved community," and I felt gratitude to everyone who was there. There was even a lovely candle-lighting ceremony honoring me for my years of advocacy work against sexual abuse and cover-ups in the SBC. Then, as the...

Attorney Brad Hall, in the firm's conference room with iPhone photos he has taken. (Greg Sorber/Albuquerque Journal) Editor's note: Albuquerque attorney Brad Hall has represented more than 200 victims of priest sex abuse in New Mexico. As his years-long legal battle nears its conclusion in federal bankruptcy proceedings, Hall talked about the legal and emotional journey that began with an unlikely visit. Brad Hall was thinking about hanging it up after more than two decades as a successful plaintiff's lawyer specializing in civil rights cases. Maybe travel. Visit his kids living in exotic locations. Maybe do some writing. That all...

SAGINAW, MI – When police executed search warrants at three Catholic Diocese of Saginaw properties last year during an investigation into claims of sexual abuse of minors, documents show they seized nearly 60 items of evidence. Among them, located in the bottom drawer of a filing cabinet at diocese headquarters, was a file labeled “victim list.” That information is contained in search warrant paperwork detailing what police seized during the March 2018 raid. The paperwork was recently unsealed and copies were obtained by MLive and The Saginaw News. The list of confiscated property shows investigators took 57 items during the...

Hardly any of the more than 100 Buffalo area priests implicated as child molesters spent so much as one day in jail. For years, most of their victims were too scared or embarrassed to make complaints. But Buffalo Police had marching orders not to arrest Catholic priests, according to former vice squad Detective Martin Harrington and other retired officers. Instead they alerted the bishop's office to any illegal activities. "The department's unwritten policy was that Catholic priests did not get arrested," said Harrington, who investigated vice crimes for 17 years and retired in 1995. "I never had any experience with...