A former Catholic priest has been charged with sexually assaulting four children in Los Angeles County while serving at churches in Palmdale and Redondo Beach in the late 1990s and early 2000s, prosecutors said Wednesday. Christopher John Cunningham, 58, was charged with 12 counts of committing lewd acts upon a minor, according to a news release issued by the L.A. County district attorney’s office.
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Buffalo’s Catholic Church Diocese Accused Of Covering Up Sexual Abuse For Years
A recent New York Times story details how Buffalo’s Catholic Church diocese covered up sexual abuse happening within the church for years. In a lawsuit, New York’s attorney general accused the diocese, along with three bishops, of allowing sexual abuse to continue in violation of church rules and state law. New York’s lawsuit against the…
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Grooming and Sexual Abuse In The Catholic Church
The Catholic Church has a sordid and unfortunate history of child sexual abuse that goes back decades but has only come to light relatively recently. In the vast majority of Catholic Church abuse cases, the priest, nun, or other predator doesn’t just start abusing a minor one day. The abuse takes time and patience, using…
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Catholic Diocese Previously Sued by Attorney Paul Mones Files for Bankruptcy After Additional Sexual Abuse Victims Come Forward
On October 1st, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre in New York became the latest and largest Roman Catholic Diocese in the nation to protect itself from sexual abuse lawsuits by filing for bankruptcy. “At this point, the bankruptcy process takes over and people will never get their day in court,” Attorney Paul Mones…
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How Come We Didn’t Know?
Why has sexual abuse in the Catholic church become such a hot topic in recent years when the abuse dates back decades? How come the public didn’t know about this sooner? Why didn’t the church make an effort to stop abuse years ago? As we learn more about the horrific sexual abuse endured by countless…
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Second alleged sex crimes victim sues Fresno Catholic Diocese over decades-old claims
The Diocese of Fresno faces a second lawsuit in less than a month filed under the state’s New Child Victims Act. The suit accuses Father Miguel Flores of sexual abuse claims of which he was acquitted after a criminal trial in 2002. The lawsuit filed Tuesday in Fresno County Superior Court also names as defendants…
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Pennsylvania Was A Start. Now We Need Grand Juries For The Catholic Church In Every State
Read Paul’s Buzzed Op-Ed on why district attorneys and attorneys general should follow in the footsteps of the Pennsylvania Grand Jury and conduct a child abuse investigation of every diocese and archdiocese in the nation.
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New Laws In 15 States Could Cost Church More Than $4 Billion
New child sex abuse laws in fifteen states might cost the Catholic Church in the United States more than $4 billion as lawyers and dioceses engage in legal battles. Seven states have raised the age limit for individuals alleging they were sexually abused as minors to sue.
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Surge of new abuse claims threatens church like never before
At the end of another long day trying to sign up new clients accusing the Roman Catholic Church of sexual abuse, lawyer Adam Slater gazes out the window of his high-rise Manhattan office at one of the great symbols of the church, St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
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Legal Reckoning: New Abuse Suits Could Cost Catholic Church Over $4B
Said Los Angeles lawyer Paul Mones, who has won tens of millions in sex abuse cases against the church going back to the 1980s: “The zeitgeist is completely unfavorable to the Catholic Church.”
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