Catholic Church

Catholic News Agency - The Diocese of Great Falls-Billings is awaiting the result of a vote by plaintiffs on whether to accept a $20 million settlement offered to 86 people who say they were sexually abused by 27 priests in the diocese. As a condition of the settlement, the names of those priests would be posted on the diocese’s website for at least ten years... Litigation began six years ago, and in 2017 the diocese filed for bankruptcy protection as it began negotiating the settlement...

By Marjorie Murphy Campbell, The Christian Review - The Laity must ask questions. The Laity must demand answers. The Laity must find their own path forward... Given what I have seen of the USCCB’s performance in addressing, much less handling, matters of their own personal accountability, along with the secretive management style of abuse claims by members like Cardinal Wuerl’s in his Pittsburgh assignment — where a Grand Jury report on clerical abuse is pending disclosure — I can place no confidence in the USCCB or its members like Cardinal Wuerl.

By Catholic News Agency - The Diocese of Harrisburg has released the names of 71 priests, deacons and seminarians accused of sexual misconduct involving children in the diocese during the past 70 years. At the same time, Bishop Ronald Gainer of Harrisburg issued an apology to abuse survivors... Bishop Gainer made the announcement Wednesday at a press conference in Harrisburg. More than half of the individuals named on the list have died, and none are currently in active ministry within the Diocese of Harrisburg.