A Catholic priest told a church official he was attracted to teens. They told him not to 'worry about it'
BALTIMORE — In the 1980s, Father Brian Cox told an official with the Catholic church he had a problem — he was attracted to teenage boys.
The official, according to court papers, brushed him off, telling the Westminster priest not to “worry about it.” Cox, in a taped conversation with one of his victims, said a bishop once told him he was a priest, and priests don’t need help.
It later would be revealed, through court records and newspaper reporting, that Cox had molested children at St. John Catholic School — an extension of the St. John Westminster parish where Cox was a pastor — from 1978 to 1989. He stayed on as an assistant at St. John, but his post formally ended in 1995 when an unnamed “third party” came forward to church officials and accused Cox of sexual abuse.
Cox is one of more than 150 Catholic clergy assigned to the Archdiocese of Baltimore who sexually abused children over the decades, according to a report prepared by Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh’s office.
https://www.starbeacon.com/region/a-cath...15bc7.html
Maryland Finds That for Hundreds of Clergy Abuse Victims, ‘No Parish Was Safe’
The attorney general of Maryland has identified more than 600 young victims of clergy sexual abuse over the course of 80 years in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, according to a court document filed Thursday.
The filing, which broadly outlines the attorney general’s findings, requests that a judge allow the release of the full report: a 456-page document detailing decades of clergy sex abuse in Maryland.
The new report marks a symbolic milestone in the long-running international abuse scandal that has shaken faith in the Catholic Church and led to some reforms and billions of dollars in settlements.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/18/us/ba...abuse.html
Superior Diocese releases names of clergy with credible claims of child sex abuse
The Catholic Diocese of Superior has released names of almost two dozen clergy that it says have had credible claims of sexually abusing minors made against them, including one placed on leave from the ministry as recently as September.
Nate’s Mission, an advocacy group seeking to end clergy abuse, questioned the legitimacy of the list released by the Superior Diocese. Peter Isley, the nonprofit’s program director, said such a list is only as truthful as the people compiling it. He criticized the timing of the list’s release after 5 p.m. on a Tuesday before a holiday weekend.
Last year, Kaul launched a statewide independent review of reported abuse by clergy and leaders of faith organizations. In April of this year, Kaul said officials had received 204 reports that led to criminal charges in one case. The list of names from the Catholic Diocese of Superior brings the total number of individuals accused statewide to nearly 180. The Wisconsin Department of Justice didn’t return a request for comment.
Last year, Kaul said not all of the state’s five Catholic dioceses were cooperating with the statewide inquiry.
Nate’s Mission claims that dioceses are still withholding names of alleged abusers, including 69 names in addition to 48 that have already been published by the Diocese of Green Bay. The group turned over whistleblower documents to the Wisconsin Department of Justice this year that Isely alleges demonstrate a systematic cover-up of abuse at each of the state’s five dioceses.
https://www.wpr.org/superior-diocese-rel...-sex-abuse
BALTIMORE — In the 1980s, Father Brian Cox told an official with the Catholic church he had a problem — he was attracted to teenage boys.
The official, according to court papers, brushed him off, telling the Westminster priest not to “worry about it.” Cox, in a taped conversation with one of his victims, said a bishop once told him he was a priest, and priests don’t need help.
It later would be revealed, through court records and newspaper reporting, that Cox had molested children at St. John Catholic School — an extension of the St. John Westminster parish where Cox was a pastor — from 1978 to 1989. He stayed on as an assistant at St. John, but his post formally ended in 1995 when an unnamed “third party” came forward to church officials and accused Cox of sexual abuse.
Cox is one of more than 150 Catholic clergy assigned to the Archdiocese of Baltimore who sexually abused children over the decades, according to a report prepared by Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh’s office.
https://www.starbeacon.com/region/a-cath...15bc7.html
Maryland Finds That for Hundreds of Clergy Abuse Victims, ‘No Parish Was Safe’
The attorney general of Maryland has identified more than 600 young victims of clergy sexual abuse over the course of 80 years in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, according to a court document filed Thursday.
The filing, which broadly outlines the attorney general’s findings, requests that a judge allow the release of the full report: a 456-page document detailing decades of clergy sex abuse in Maryland.
The new report marks a symbolic milestone in the long-running international abuse scandal that has shaken faith in the Catholic Church and led to some reforms and billions of dollars in settlements.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/18/us/ba...abuse.html
Superior Diocese releases names of clergy with credible claims of child sex abuse
The Catholic Diocese of Superior has released names of almost two dozen clergy that it says have had credible claims of sexually abusing minors made against them, including one placed on leave from the ministry as recently as September.
Nate’s Mission, an advocacy group seeking to end clergy abuse, questioned the legitimacy of the list released by the Superior Diocese. Peter Isley, the nonprofit’s program director, said such a list is only as truthful as the people compiling it. He criticized the timing of the list’s release after 5 p.m. on a Tuesday before a holiday weekend.
Last year, Kaul launched a statewide independent review of reported abuse by clergy and leaders of faith organizations. In April of this year, Kaul said officials had received 204 reports that led to criminal charges in one case. The list of names from the Catholic Diocese of Superior brings the total number of individuals accused statewide to nearly 180. The Wisconsin Department of Justice didn’t return a request for comment.
Last year, Kaul said not all of the state’s five Catholic dioceses were cooperating with the statewide inquiry.
Nate’s Mission claims that dioceses are still withholding names of alleged abusers, including 69 names in addition to 48 that have already been published by the Diocese of Green Bay. The group turned over whistleblower documents to the Wisconsin Department of Justice this year that Isely alleges demonstrate a systematic cover-up of abuse at each of the state’s five dioceses.
https://www.wpr.org/superior-diocese-rel...-sex-abuse
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
