Fifteen Years After Dallas, Part One: The Altoona-Johnstown Grand Jury Report

Read the Introduction to this series here. In 2016, the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General announced that “a statewide investigating grand jury has determined that hundreds of children were sexually abused over a period of at least 40 years by priests or religious leaders assigned to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-­Johnstown.” The two-year investigation…Continue reading Fifteen Years After Dallas, Part One: The Altoona-Johnstown Grand Jury Report

Fifteen Years After Dallas, A Seven-Part Series: Introduction

The 2002 Dallas Bishops’ Conference was a barn-burner. On the heels of the Spotlight series and scandals in dioceses across the nation, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) got together at their annual June meeting to put together “massive reforms.” Those reforms became the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People and…Continue reading Fifteen Years After Dallas, A Seven-Part Series: Introduction

Banned priest and admitted abuser slated for San Gabriel Mission award

Not fake news. They’re really doing it. And Edward James Olmos is gonna be there, too. Bruce Wellems is a problematic guy, to say the least. He’s been banned from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. He’s been removed from ministry in the Archdiocese of Chicago and by the Claretian order. Last year, he was sued…Continue reading Banned priest and admitted abuser slated for San Gabriel Mission award

New lawsuit rocks Orange, LA dioceses – sex abuse, wrongful death

The problem with child sex abuse is that for the victims and their families, the pain never goes away. This month, the family of one of the alleged victims of one of Orange County’s most notorious predator priests filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Diocese of Orange and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. The…Continue reading New lawsuit rocks Orange, LA dioceses – sex abuse, wrongful death

The All-American Boys Chorus and the Cycle of Abuse

The recent lawsuit against Fr. Richard T. Coughlin, The All-American Boys Chorus, and the Diocese of Orange has sparked a flurry of conversation and controversy online. Why? A whole generation of kids was destroyed by Coughlin. And of course, a lot of people were quick to defend the chorus and say, “Things are different now.”…Continue reading The All-American Boys Chorus and the Cycle of Abuse