A criminal investigation into the Archdiocese of New Orleans is based on a suspicion that it may be linked to child sex trafficking, according to allegations presented in a search warrant granted to Louisiana State Police. The affidavit requesting the search warrant, first obtained by the New Orleans-based WWL Radio, alleges that multiple sex abuse victims provided statements that claim they were transported to other parishes and outside of Louisiana, where they were sexually abused. It further alleges a scheme within the archdiocese in which abused ..read more

Authorities have expanded an investigation of clergy sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church in New Orleans to include senior church officials suspected of shielding predatory priests for decades and failing to report their crimes to law enforcement. Louisiana State Police carried out a sweeping search warrant last week at the Archdiocese of New Orleans, seeking a long-secreted cache of church records and communications between local church leaders and the Vatican about the church’s handling of clergy sexual abuse. The search signaled a new phase of the investigation that will seek to determ ..read more

The Catholic bishop of Monterey, whose district includes San Luis Obispo County, said his diocese could go bankrupt amid of flood of lawsuits alleging childhood sexual abuse. In a letter to parishioners April 18, the Most Rev. Daniel E. Garcia said after the state reopened the statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse in 2020, the Diocese of Monterey “received approximately 100 lawsuits alleging childhood sexual abuse” between the 1950s and 2002. “The issue of sexual abuse of minors has been one that deeply saddens and disturbs all of us,” Garcia wrote in the letter. “It is an on-going ..read more

For the first time, Louisiana law enforcement officials are digging deeply into allegations that former New Orleans archbishops, the highest-ranking officials in the state’s Catholic hierarchy, knew about child sex abuse by priests and deacons and tried to cover it up. The claims are contained in an extraordinary 11-page affidavit supporting a search warrant that was served by State Police on the Archdiocese of New Orleans last week. In it, investigators say that, while looking into clergy sex abuse in a joint probe with the FBI, they uncovered documents that “back the claim that previous ..read more

LSP obtained new search warrant for documents from Archdiocese of New Orleans WDSU Investigates has obtained a copy of a search warrant from the Louisiana State Police in connection with the Archdiocese of New Orleans sex abuse scandal. The warrant was signed last week when WDSU was there when State Police met with the Archdiocese over the warrant. The search warrant is requesting all documents, letters, emails, transfers, and assignment records linked to the New Orleans Archdiocese sexual abuse investigation. The warrant specifically asked for any and all complaints of sexual abuse received b ..read more

I’m not going to copy the full article but suggest you read the whole thing. I will highlight some of the takeaways from the report. Guardian’s New Orleans Archdiocese Story. Louisiana state troopers are investigating child sex trafficking at the New Orleans Catholic Archdiocese. Yep, not just child sexual abuse but actual trafficking. Here’s a few quotes from the article. But like I said it’s worth reading the whole thing. The clerk at the state criminal courthouse where the warrant was signed released the 11-page document on Tuesday. It makes clear that troopers involved in a pend ..read more

A New York state appeals court has given an insurer for the Archdiocese of New York the go-ahead to pursue a lawsuit contending it should not have to indemnify the archdiocese in hundreds of lawsuits over sex abuse the insurer claims was “expected or intended” — a ruling the archdiocese has called “extremely disappointing” and “wrongly decided.” On April 23, five justices of the First Judicial Department of the New York Supreme Court’s Appellate Division unanimously overturned a December 2023 order from a lower court that had dismissed the lawsuit brought forward by a group of Chubb insurance ..read more

Students were told to use confession to report abuse “to cloak the abuse in sacramental secrecy,” a notice of civil claim alleges. A B.C. man is suing a seminary, abbey and the Vancouver Roman Catholic archdiocese for priest sexual abuse he alleges took place. The man, now 56, and known as SCK#4 in court documents, said in a B.C. Supreme Court notice of civil claim filed April 19 he attended Grade 8 at the Seminary of Christ the King in Mission between September 1981 and June 1982. Named as defendants are the Seminary of Christ the King; Westminster Abbey Ltd.; the Roman Catholic Archdiocese o ..read more

The report paints a picture of a damaged community which has yet to come to terms with the scandals that have beset the Church in the past 30 years. The culture, habits and practices of the Catholic Church have played their part in the sexual abuse crisis and so need to change, according to a new study from the University of Durham. A fear of scandal, a tradition of silence and secrecy, together with a culture of clericalism and a lack of accountability are all highlighted in the report as helping to cause abuse remaining hidden for generations and exacerbating the trauma felt by victims. It u ..read more

Florida’s bishops are welcoming a new law that allows public schools in the state to have volunteer chaplains. The Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops, which represents bishops in the state’s seven dioceses on public policy matters, did not take a position on the bill while legislators debated it earlier this year. “However, we recognize the good that chaplains can do in schools by helping students to address their spiritual and emotional needs. We are pleased that parents will determine the services their children will receive in districts that choose to establish chaplaincy programs,” sai ..read more