(RNS) ”All are welcome” is a common phrase on many a church sign and website. But what happens when a convicted sex offender takes those words literally? Church officials and legal advocates are grappling with how — and if — people who’ve been convicted of sex crimes should be included in U.S. congregations, especially when […]

The pope and a prominent Australian archbishop recently made unprecedented statements about the clergy abuse issue that appeared to be significant breakthroughs in the church’s wall of denial. It seems, however, that the pope’s words, at least, may have been too promising to be true. The statements came after the recent spate of revelations about […]

The Men’s Project service offers helps in recovery Most people think sexually predatory priests are loners who have gone rogue, but, in fact, they often work in packs to target victims, says a forensic psychologist. ”These are actually pedophile rings made up of priests who were essentially trading children, sending them different places, taking them […]

Editor’s Note: David Clohessy is executive director of the U.S.-based international support group SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. ___________________________________________________ Let’s be brutally honest: all of us want the Catholic Church’s ongoing clergy sex abuse and cover-up crisis to end. Like the BP Gulf oil catastrophe or the never-ending Middle East conflict, […]

Reforming the Statute of Limitations for Child Sex Abuse: New York’s Child Victims Act Shouldn’t Be Political, But It Is Last week, the New York Child Victims Act was defeated in the Senate Codes Committee. For New York’s children, it was a choice that favors child predators, and therefore a bad day. However, it was […]

A Reply to Von Keetch’s Comments on Clergy Child Sex Abuse and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints On April 15, FindLaw posted my opening column on the issue of how the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (which I will call the “LDS Church” or “LDS”) handles clergy child sex abuse. […]

Marci Hamilton’s recent column entitled “How Other Religious Organizations Echo the Roman Catholic Church’s Rule Against Scandal . . .” (Thursday, April 15, 2010) contains numerous inaccuracies about how The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (“LDS Church”) handles child abuse. I have worked very closely with the LDS Church on child abuse issues […]

This is the first in a two-part series of columns regarding religious organizations’ prohibitions on scandal, and the way in which such rules block investigations of clergy child abuse. Part Two can be found here. – Ed. Recently, the world’s attention has been trained on the Vatican and the Pope, as they try to respond […]

This is Part Two in a two-part series of columns on religions, other than the Catholic Church, that possess precepts that have the effect of leaving clergy child sex abuse unpunished. Part One can be found here. In the past two weeks, there have been yet more revelations about the Catholic Church’s mishandling of child […]

Interview with Christa Brown, Author of “This Little Light: Beyond a Baptist Preacher Predator and His Gang” Christa Brown is the author of “This Little Light: Beyond a Baptist Preacher Predator and His Gang” and founder of Stop Baptist Predators. For more information, see http://stopbaptistpredators.org/index.htm JR: I loved your book, “This Little Light: Beyond a […]