Fr. Justin Wachs was hiding out. After getting caught sexually harassing a parishioner in 2014—touching her without permission and leaving her suggestive notes— he quit his job as pastor in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Church officials thought the “geographic solution” would be best: get him as far away from Sioux Falls as possible. They even…Continue reading Apuron’s victims: Locked in a room with a priest on a run
This week, a lawyer for the Claretian Missionaries announced that Bruce Wellems was forced to petition the Vatican to give up his collar. That’s right. He can’t be a priest. For those of you who have been following this blog, that’s huge news. But for this person, it’s vindication: That’s Eric Johnson. Bruce Wellems was…Continue reading Some Good News in the Saga of Bruce Wellems
To register, or not to register? That is the question. For those of you just catching up, the IRCPs, or the Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Programs, are programs for certain survivors of sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of New York and the Diocese of Brooklyn. If victims qualify, they may get financial compensation. But the…Continue reading The Ins and Outs of the IRCP Part 4: Hamlet’s Dilemma
Sorry for the gap since Part 2. I was on vacation. Then I ended up on the news. He’s been called The Master of Disasters, a brand unto himself, and the Compensation Czar. Kenneth Feinberg (pictured above), the man who, with his assistant Camille Biros (read this recent New York Times article about her),…Continue reading The Ins and Outs of the IRCP Part 3: Who is Kenneth Feinberg?
Part two of this series was originally going to be a little about IRCP plan administrator Ken Feinberg, but since the Diocese of Brooklyn has posted its official IRCP website (full of legalese), I thought I would go over some of the details here. * Brooklyn IRCP Bishop DiMarzio and the Diocese of Brooklyn…Continue reading The Ins and Outs of the IRCP Part 2: Phases and Deadlines
