Leslie C. Griffin* Do you remember Roman Polanski? Polanski, now 91 years old, is a famous movie director and actor, known, especially, for directing the films Rosemary’s Baby and Chinatown. He left the United States for France in 1978, after he pled guilty to having...
CHILD USA
Settling Sex Abuse Cases Against Catholic California Clergymen
Leslie C. Griffin* Roman Polanski is a famous movie director and actor, known for directing the films Rosemary’s Baby and Chinatown. He left the United States for France in 1978, after he pled guilty to having sex with a 13-year-old girl, Samantha Geimer. He worried...
Has Maine Fought Catholic Sex Abuse?
by Leslie C. Griffin* I am waiting for the Maine Supreme Court to decide a case about sexual abuse and the statute of limitations [SOL].1 Statutes of limitations are rules that explain when the courts are open or closed to victims of abuse. I am particularly...
The History of Catholic Abuse in Maine
by Leslie C. Griffin* The abuse of children by Catholic clergy has a long history in the State of Maine. The Beginning Some initial news about Catholic Maine abuse was released when the Maine Supreme Court ordered it. In Blethen Maine Newspapers v. Maine, 871 A.2d 523...
The Maryland Supreme Court Should Find The Maryland Child Victims Act of 2023 Constitutional
by Rob Jenner Jenner Law, P.C. Baltimore, Maryland Last month a dedicated team of lawyers presented oral argument before the Maryland Supreme Court in support of the Maryland Child Victims Act (CVA) of 2023. The heart of the legal battle concerned the statutory...
Do you know your Catholic abusers in New Hampshire?
by Leslie C. Griffin* This post will tell you about them. New Hampshire has one Catholic Diocese of Manchester, which includes many schools and parishes. New Hampshire has changed its statute of limitations [SOL] for sexual abuse several times. The SOL determines when...
Vermont: Stalling the Catholic Abuse Through Bankruptcy
by Leslie C. Griffin* There is one Roman Catholic diocese in Vermont, the Diocese of Burlington.1 On September 30, 2024, Kevin O’Connor reported that the diocese had gone into bankruptcy, becoming the fortieth Catholic organization to do so.2 In the bankruptcy papers,...
Future, Present and Past
by Leslie C. Griffin* You have probably read more about abuse and abusers in my last four blog posts than you believed was even possible. It is an exhausting list. Yet there are still many more cases before us, even now, in 2024. As the statutes of limitations change,...
New Lawsuit Filed Against WWE and McMahon Family Over Ring Boys’ Sexual Abuse Claims
Wrestling News Source
A new lawsuit has been filed against WWE, Vince McMahon, Linda McMahon, and TKO Group Holdings related to the “Ring Boys” who survived sexual abuse.
“These survivors are profiles in courage. One third of child sex abuse victims never come forward due to shame, humiliation, trauma, and physical and psychological injuries,” remarked Professor Marci Hamilton, founder and CEO of CHILD USA.
“Sadly, we know that 1 in 5 girls and 1 in 13 boys will be sexually abused before the age of 18. CHILD USA is advocating for statute of limitations reform to hold perpetrators accountable in cases of delayed disclosure. Thanks to the Maryland window we fought for, these brave survivors can seek justice.”
Secrets and lies: The bishop in the black Cadillac
National Catholic Reporter
In a 2018 grand jury report on the cover-up of child sex abuse by Catholic clergy in Pennsylvania, more than 300 priests and bishops were accused of committing or ignoring a litany of abuses, including pedophilia, sodomy, rape and sadomasochistic acts. Named in the report were three Scranton bishops, including my great uncle.
“Priests were raping little boys and girls,” the report stated, “and the men of God who were responsible for them not only did nothing: they hid it all.”
The cover-up was described as one of the worst scandals in church history.
“They knew exactly how it was handled,” attorney Marci Hamilton, founder and CEO of child advocacy nonprofit CHILD USA, told me. “They thought they were not accountable to the law.” (Hamilton had consulted on a similar 2005 report in Philadelphia.)