David Clohessy

ST. LOUIS -- The mail brought an apology letter for at least one man sexually abused by a priest. Tim Fischer received a letter from Archbishop Raymond Burke that had been promised under a December settlement with the Archdiocese of St. Louis. Fischer, 43, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch the letter he received Saturday was important to him because his abuser, the late Rev. Norman Christian, once told him: " 'Who are they going to believe -- you or a priest?' " More than 30 victims and parents have been waiting for apology letters from Burke.

ST. LOUIS - An advocacy group that has relentlessly pressured Roman Catholic leaders to reveal the scope of sex abuse in the church has been ordered to disclose records to one priest's defense lawyers that could include years of e-mails with victims, journalists, and others. The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests has so far failed to block the ruling by a judge, which requires the organization to produce the documents and also allows defense attorneys to depose the network's national director, David Clohessy, on Tuesday.

PROVIDENCE — The state’s Roman Catholic leader should release the names of all priests who have worked in Rhode Island and have been accused of sexual abuse, two groups that advocate for victims of clergy sexual abuse said yesterday. “It’s a moral and civic duty of the Providence bishop to disclose those names, their whereabouts, and the accusations against them,’’ said David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. His group and a second one, BishopAccountability.org, also urged Bishop Thomas Tobin to seek out victims...

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI insisted yesterday that all of society's institutions and not just the Catholic church must be held to "exacting" standards in their response to sex abuse of children and defended the church's efforts to confront the problem. Benedict acknowledged in remarks to visiting US bishops during an audience at the Vatican that pedophilia was a "scourge" for society and that decades of scandals over clergy abusing children had left Catholics in the United States bewildered.

VATICAN CITY -- Pope John Paul II urged church officials yesterday to be fair when judging priests accused of sex abuse, but said the "predominant" need was to protect the faithful. He also called for seminaries and church authorities to do a better job of training priests to be celibate. The pope's comments came in a speech to members of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican's orthodoxy watchdog which also judges cases of priests accused of sexual misconduct.

ANCHORAGE -- A recent string of lawsuits accusing Roman Catholic priests of molesting children has reinforced suspicions among some critics of the church that remote Alaska was a dumping ground for problem clergy. "I absolutely believe that church officials intentionally sent abusive priests to minor communities, transient communities, where kids may be less apt to tell and have less faith in the justice system," said David Clohessy, national director of the Chicago-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

CHICAGO -- The head of a Roman Catholic bishops' review board on sexual abuse has acknowledged a friendship with a former priest once accused of sexual misconduct, but said the relationship has not affected her work. Anne Burke, an Illinois appellate judge, defended her friendship with Thomas O'Gorman, a speechwriter for her husband, a Chicago alderman. Burke said that she only recently learned about O'Gorman's past and that it did not influence her work with the National Review Board of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.

LOS ANGELES -- The nation's largest Roman Catholic archdiocese said yesterday that it will pay $60 million to settle 45 sex abuse lawsuits, the largest payout yet by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and among the biggest resulting from the molestation scandal that has plagued the church. The cases were among the more than 500 abuse claims pending against the archdiocese. "It's a day of healing and reconciliation as we move forward with these 45 cases," Cardinal Roger M. Mahony said.

NEW YORK -- The Rev. Thomas P. Doyle, the most ardent champion of clergy sex abuse victims among America's Roman Catholic clergy, has been fired by his archbishop and is currently forbidden to lead public Masses. Doyle said yesterday that Archbishop Edwin O'Brien of the Archdiocese for the Military Services withdrew his endorsement of Doyle as a US Air Force chaplain last Sept. 17. Doyle remains a priest, but cannot celebrate sacraments until his career as an Air Force major ends this summer.

MANCHESTER, N.H. - Activists are demanding that the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester release the names of all New Hampshire priests accused of child sex abuse during the last five years, even as Attorney General Kelly Ayotte recently commended the diocese for new preventative measures. "This has been one of the most silent dioceses in terms of public information in the US," said Anne Barrett Doyle of BishopAccountability.org, a nonprofit group based in Boston. BishopAccountability held a press conference yesterday outside the diocese with the Survivors Network of those...

The Vatican removed from the clerical state yesterday four priests who were accused of sexually molesting children during the 1970s and ’80s. Robert F. Daly, John Keane, Robert Knapp, and Benjamin McMahon were declared “no longer in the clerical state’’ by the Holy See. They have not been in active ministry since the 1980s. Daly, McMahon, and Knapp voluntarily left the ministry, while Keane was dismissed, the Archdiocese of Boston said in a statement yesterday. As a result of the actions, the men may no longer serve in any function as priests, but they are still allowed to offer...

PROVIDENCE — The state’s Roman Catholic leader should release the names of all priests who have worked in Rhode Island and have been accused of sexual abuse, two groups that advocate for victims of clergy sexual abuse said yesterday. “It’s a moral and civic duty of the Providence bishop to disclose those names, their whereabouts, and the accusations against them,’’ said David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. His group and a second one, BishopAccountability.org, also urged Bishop...

BALTIMORE — A Delaware jury has awarded $30 million in damages to a man who said he was abused by a priest — a verdict exceptional for both the dollar amount and for finding the local parish liable, not just the diocese. The lawsuit by John Vai claimed that he was abused repeatedly as a boy in the 1960s by Francis DeLuca when the former priest was a teacher at St. Elizabeth’s parish in Wilmington, Del. Advocates for victims of clergy abuse said that the amount of the compensatory damages was the largest ever awarded in such a lawsuit in...

NEW YORK - The price for failing to rein in predatory clergy keeps rising for the US Roman Catholic Church. The church has paid more than $2.6 billion in settlements and related expenses since 1950, according to an annual report released yesterday by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. The costs to dioceses and religious orders dropped in 2008 by 29 percent, to about $436 million. But 2007 was an unusually high year, when the Archdiocese of Los Angeles began paying its $660 million settlement to about 500 people.

MANCHESTER, N.H. - Activists are demanding that the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester release the names of all New Hampshire priests accused of child sex abuse during the last five years, even as Attorney General Kelly Ayotte recently commended the diocese for new preventative measures. "This has been one of the most silent dioceses in terms of public information in the US," said Anne Barrett Doyle of BishopAccountability.org, a nonprofit group based in Boston. BishopAccountability held a press conference yesterday outside the diocese with the Survivors...

LOS ANGELES -- The nation's largest Roman Catholic archdiocese said yesterday that it will pay $60 million to settle 45 sex abuse lawsuits, the largest payout yet by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and among the biggest resulting from the molestation scandal that has plagued the church. The cases were among the more than 500 abuse claims pending against the archdiocese. "It's a day of healing and reconciliation as we move forward with these 45 cases," Cardinal Roger M. Mahony said.

BALTIMORE — A Delaware jury has awarded $30 million in damages to a man who said he was abused by a priest — a verdict exceptional for both the dollar amount and for finding the local parish liable, not just the diocese. The lawsuit by John Vai claimed that he was abused repeatedly as a boy in the 1960s by Francis DeLuca when the former priest was a teacher at St. Elizabeth’s parish in Wilmington, Del. Advocates for victims of clergy abuse said that the amount of the compensatory damages was the largest ever awarded in such a lawsuit in the United States, and that a...

NEW YORK - The price for failing to rein in predatory clergy keeps rising for the US Roman Catholic Church. The church has paid more than $2.6 billion in settlements and related expenses since 1950, according to an annual report released yesterday by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. The costs to dioceses and religious orders dropped in 2008 by 29 percent, to about $436 million. But 2007 was an unusually high year, when the Archdiocese of Los Angeles began paying its $660 million settlement to about 500 people.

ANCHORAGE -- A recent string of lawsuits accusing Roman Catholic priests of molesting children has reinforced suspicions among some critics of the church that remote Alaska was a dumping ground for problem clergy. "I absolutely believe that church officials intentionally sent abusive priests to minor communities, transient communities, where kids may be less apt to tell and have less faith in the justice system," said David Clohessy, national director of the Chicago-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.