Europe Archives - ECA Ending Clergy Abuse-Global Justice Project

Global group of activists and survivors of sexual abuse in France and elsewhere stand with Vignon

(Photo credit: John Leicester, File/Associated Press)

Statement by Nadia Debbache, ECA Assembly Member and Lead Counsel for La Parole Libérée.

November 4. 2018. French priest Pierre Vignon, a judge of the Officiality or Ecclesiasticel Court of Lyon (France) has just been sanctioned for publicly asking for the resignation of Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, Archbishop of Lyon.

Barbarin will be on trial at the criminal court in Lyon in January 2019 for failing to report the sexual abuse of more than 70 children by Fr Bernard Preynat in the 1980s and 1990s.

Last August Vignon launched an online petition calling for the resignation of Barbarin. The petition collected more than 105,000 signatures.

Under the pretext of a technicality in church law, and designed to punish Vigonon for his […]

SAVE100child!2018-11-04T22:22:11+00:00November 4th, 2018|0 Comments

Survivors from around the globe welcome US federal investigation of Pennsylvania dioceses but inquiry needs to be nationwide

US justice officials are well behind Australia and other countries.

October 18, 2018. Today it was learned that the US Justice Department has finally launched an investigation into the sex abuse of children and the cover up of those crimes in the dioceses of Pennsylvania. This is a long overdue and significant development. It should lead to a nationwide probe of every diocese and religious order in the US, especially where the documentation and evidence is similar, if not more damning, than Pennsylvania. This includes several states where nearly full sets of church documents have been court ordered released through civil courts and church bankruptcies. There are now over a million pages of abuse files that have been made public across the […]

SAVE100child!2018-10-19T05:09:19+00:00October 19th, 2018|0 Comments

Protest in Warsaw to demand investigation of pedophilia in Poland’s church

Warsaw protest to demand investigation of pedophilia in Poland’s church.

Reported by Donald Snyder NCR online. October 4, 2018.

Childrens’ shoes are seen Aug. 26 on the fence of the Church of Saint Florian in Krakow, Poland, for victims of pedophilia in that diocese. (Jakub Porzycki/Agenja Gazeta).

Child sexual abuse survivor and victims’ advocate Marek Lisinski is leading a march Oct. 7 in Warsaw to protest pedophilia in Poland’s Catholic Church. Lisinski, 50, is president of Don’t Be Afraid Foundation, an organization that counsels and operates a hotline for survivors of sexual abuse.

The Oct. 7 protest will demand the establishment of a government commission to evaluate the extent of pedophilia in the church and to aggressively prosecute sex offenders. […]

SAVE100child!2018-10-06T16:36:17+00:00October 6th, 2018|0 Comments

Global survivors of clergy abuse call for action against abuse in seminaries

As worldwide synod of bishops on young people and vocations begins in Rome global survivors of clergy abuse call for action against abuse in seminaries.

Group wants synod to embrace zero tolerance of sexual violence, cover up by bishops and demand Vatican compliance with UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.

Statement by Peter Isely, Founding Member, Ending Clergy Abuse (ECA).

October 2, 2018. Bishops around the world will convene on Wednesday October 3rd in Rome to begin a month-long synod on young people, faith and vocational discernment. The purpose of the synod is to discuss and make recommendations to Pope Francis. They are meeting during an unprecedented global crisis of sexual assault of youngsters by clergy and the cover up of these crimes by […]

SAVE100child!2018-10-02T03:28:24+00:00October 2nd, 2018|0 Comments

New information revealed on the serious scope of clergy sexual abuse in Italy

Italian survivors demand open investigation by the United Nations on clergy sexual abuse.

Three events are being organized by Rete L’ABUSO to demonstrate the serious scope of clergy sexual abuse in Italy.
Ending Clergy Abuse – Global Justice Project (ECA Global) is supporting these events and will be represented by three of its founding members: Matthias Katsch, spokesperson with ECKIGER TISCH (Squared Table) and member of the board of ECA Global from Germany, Marek Lisiński, President of the Foundation Nie lękajcie sie from Poland, Lieve Halsberghe, activist from Belgium.

2nd October, at 10.30 am, the Press conference organized by Rete L’ABUSO and by ECA Global will be held at the Foreign Press conference room in Italy, in Via dell’Umiltà 83C. All […]

SAVE100child!2018-10-01T18:55:01+00:00October 1st, 2018|0 Comments

Global survivors respond to official release of German church abuse study

Matthias Katsch (Photo by Simone Padovani)

September 25, 2018. The official release today by the German bishops of their self-authorized study of the sexual abuse of children in the German church, already widely reported on last week from leaked sources, is significant not only for what it says but for what it doesn’t say. As the authors of the report concede, as shocking and alarming as their conclusions are, the true extent of the abuse is likely much greater and the actual number of victims much higher.

In fact, although claiming to be a National report on the problem of clerical abuse, it clearly is not. No examination of religious order abusers is included in the findings. Male religious orders account for approximately a […]

SAVE100child!2018-09-25T15:35:48+00:00September 25th, 2018|0 Comments

Figures published today on the extent of sexual abuse by priests in Germany

Figures published today on the extent of sexual abuse by priests in Germany.

Statement by Matthias Katsch, speaker and chairman of ECKIGER TISCH and ECA Founding Member.

September 12, 2018. It is good that we finally have figures available that prove what we already suspected: Like its sister churches in the USA, Australia, Ireland and many other countries of the world in which the Catholic Church is represented, the Church in Germany is entangled in a system of abuse and cover-up, and has been able to deceive the public about it for decades.

The study shows us only a part of reality: Files were destroyed, many cases were not properly documented, and there was confusion in the file keeping. Above all, the religious communities were […]

SAVE100child!2018-09-12T19:21:07+00:00September 12th, 2018|0 Comments

Global groups call on Pope to release church files

Global groups call on Pope to release church files on former cardinal McCarrick and others.

Groups condemn false conflation of sexual orientation and sexual violence in former Vatican ambassador’s letter as “wrong and dangerous”.

Washington D.C. — AUG. 30. 2018. Clergy sex abuse survivors and human rights attorneys today are calling upon Pope Francis to order the release of all church files related to all allegations of sexual violence, including by former cardinal Theodore McCarrick. They are also demanding the Vatican condemn any suggestion by any church official that links the sexual abuse of children and vulnerable adults with the sexual orientation of either the victim or the offender.

“There is absolutely no link between sexual violence against children, minors […]

SAVE100child!2018-08-30T16:48:25+00:00August 30th, 2018|0 Comments

TODAY, News Conf, Dublin – Abuse experts & survivors: Did Pope meet expectations?

U.S. research group adds more offenders to database of abusive Irish priests.

Irish response to list in last week has been ‘stunning’.

Global survivors & abuse experts will join news conference: ‘Did Pope’s visit meet expectations?’

WHEN

Monday, August 27, 10:30am

WHERE

Site of old Magdalene Laundry on Sean McDermott Street, Dublin

WHO

– A U.S. abuse expert who co-leads the research and abuse-tracking group BishopAccountability.org

– Five prominent clergy sex abuse survivors and experts, all of whom belong to ECA – Ending Clergy Abuse. Details below.

WHAT

The morning after Pope Francis’s visit, two groups that examine the Catholic abuse crisis will hold a news conference to assess what the papal visit meant.

The U.S.-based research group, BishopAccountability.org, will announce significant additions to its database of convicted Irish clergy.

Launched a week ago in Dublin, the database “struck a chord,” said co-director Anne Barrett Doyle.

“We […]

SAVE100child!2018-08-27T03:10:48+00:00August 27th, 2018|0 Comments

Three Actions to #EnditNow

According to Ending Clergy Abuse (ECA), any plan by the Pope must include these 3 actions:

1. Enact global zero tolerance for any abusive cleric and superior’s complicity. Even one substantiated act of child sexual abuse or cover-up, no matter when it occurred, will result in their permanent removal from ministry or office.

2. Create a global public registry of all clergy with substantiated allegations of sexual abuse. This would begin with the immediate publication of the 3,400 clergy found guilty by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF). This will protect our children and communities.

3. Declare the obligation to report child sexual abuse allegations current and past to civil authorities. Not reporting it should mean immediate excommunication.

These three measures are crucial if the Pope is going to “spare […]

SAVE100child!2018-08-26T19:22:53+00:00August 26th, 2018|0 Comments