Free Republic

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Roman Catholic leaders said Friday they received 1,092 new abuse claims against American priests and deacons last year, even after they had already paid more than $800 million in settlements during the long-running crisis over predatory clergy. Bishops said, however, that the flood of fresh allegations was not a sign abuse was rampant in parishes today. Most of the alleged incidents occurred decades ago and nearly three-quarters of the 756 accused clerics had died, been defrocked or been removed from public ministry before the claims were made in 2004, church leaders said. Still, the financial fallout continues....

Vatican Revisits Abuse Charges Accused Priest Is Close To The Pope January 3, 2005 By GERALD RENNER The Vatican has reopened an investigation into charges first reported nearly eight years ago that a powerful Mexican priest close to the pope sexually abused seminarians. The allegations focus on the actions of the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado, now 84 and based in Rome. He leads a religious order known as the Legionaries of Christ, which claims 600 priests in 18 countries. Its U.S. headquarters is in Orange and it has a seminary in Cheshire. The allegations surfaced in a Courant report in...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Prosecutors formally dropped an accuser from the criminal case against defrocked priest Paul Shanley (search), leaving just one alleged victim to testify in the trial that began Tuesday for one of the most notorious figures in the clergy sex abuse scandal.

This has been a pretty bad week for the Roman Catholic Church as two more priests charged with sex abuse crimes and child rape were convicted. We Catholics are used to the drill by now. They walk in with their hands at their sides and they walk out in handcuffs. We’re used to the muffled weeping of the people in the cheap seats. We’re used to the victim’s gut-wrenching sobs on the stand. The priestly “perp walk” is just another day at the office. Trying to put the pieces together of the worst scandal in the history of the modern...

This has been a pretty bad week for the Roman Catholic Church as two more priests charged with sex abuse crimes and child rape were convicted. We Catholics are used to the drill by now. They walk in with their hands at their sides and they walk out in handcuffs. We’re used to the muffled weeping of the people in the cheap seats. We’re used to the victim’s gut-wrenching sobs on the stand. The priestly “perp walk” is just another day at the office. Trying to put the pieces together of the worst scandal in the history of the modern...