ECA GLOBAL NEWS
SPRING 2022
POPE APOLOGIZES TO THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE OF CANADA
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APRIL 1, 2022. Pope Francis has made a historic apology to Indigenous peoples for the “deplorable” abuses they suffered in Canada’s Catholic-run residential schools. About 150,000 children were taken from their homes. Many were subjected to abuse, rape and malnutrition in what the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2015 called
“cultural genocide”. CNN REPORT
Evelyn Korkmaz, one of ECA's Founding Members and a St. Anne's residential school survivor said "I am disappointed in his apology. There was no mention of the lost souls who were recovered on the residential school grounds across Canada. There was no mention of releasing the documents, so we can identify those that never made it home. There was no mention of reparations for the harm the Church has caused and done everything they
could to annihilate and destroy our indigenous people. There was no mention of releasing monies promised in the IRSSA signed in 2006.. it is very difficult."
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THE TIME IS RIPE FOR A CLERGY ABUSE INQUIRY IN LATIN AMERICA
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MARCH 29, 2022. Adalberto Méndez López, one of the Founding/Board Members and Legal Coordinator of Ending Clergy Abuse (ECA) Global Justice Project, said "there are growing hopes that, like many in Europe, Latin American nations will soon launch independent inquiries into historical cases of clerical sexual
abuse."
"While this current wave of inquiries in Europe follows in the footsteps of those previously held in countries like Canada, Ireland, Belgium and Australia, there are regions in the world where the political will to expose the truth and deliver justice to survivors remains largely stagnant or non-existent. This is particularly the case in Latin America, home to the world’s largest Catholic population, where no
government has yet announced a national inquiry into the issue. This is despite several estimates pointing to the scale of clergy abuse in Latin America being similar to that in Europe, and the region’s impressive history of conducting effective truth commissions in response to large-scale human rights abuses. READ MORE HERE
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VATICAN REFORMS BRINGS TOGETHER THE PONTIFICAL COMMISSION FOR THE PROTECTION OF MINORS WITH THE CDF
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MARCH 19, 2022. New Vatican reform brings the pope's advisory commission on preventing sexual abuse into the Vatican's powerful doctrine office which oversees the canonical investigations of abuse cases. Previously, the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors existed as an ad hoc commission that reported to the pope but had no real institutional weight or power. It often found itself at odds with the more powerful Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which reviews all cases of abuse.
Now the advisory commission is part of the newly named Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, where presumably its members who include abuse survivors can exert influence on the decisions taken by the prelates who weigh whether predator priests are sanctioned and how. READ MORE
HERE.
However Irish Abuse Survivor, Marie Collins, says the Curia reform undermines the independence of the Commission. Marie Collins, whose advocacy led to an Irish government inquiry into the handling of abuse allegations in the Dublin Archdiocese, was one of the founding members of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors in 2014. Collins told The Irish Catholic newspaper that the Curia reorganization
unveiled by Pope Francis March 19, which will see the commission become part of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, will further undermine the work of the body she was once part of. READ MORE HERE.
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INDEPENDENT COMMISSION ON CLERGY SEX ABUSE TO BE CREATED IN SPAIN
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MARCH 11, 2022. Spain's parliament has voted to create an independent commission of experts to conduct an official investigation into pedocriminality in the Spanish Catholic Church.The move on Thursday marks a major step in the fight against Church-related abuse in Spain and effectively by-passes the country's bishops who
have long been accused of trying to hide the phenomenon.The new and unprecedented initiative, which was spearheaded by the ruling Socialists and the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), was approved by a wide majority... READ MORE HERE.
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MARCH 10, 2022. The Brave Movement is a new powerful and global survivor-centered and advocacy movement to end sexual violence against
children.
As a first step, the Brave Movement has mobilized survivor advocates and allies in advance of the G7 Summit in Germany in June 2022 with a call for a G7 survivors council, domestic resource mobilization in G7 nations and a $1bn commitment to scale prevention, healing and justice in low- and middle-income countries through a transformed End Violence
Fund.
In addition, the movement has launched a Global Challenge to develop survivor-centered national calls to action leading up to a Global Survivors Action Summit on 27 April 2022 to endorse a global call to action to end childhood sexual violence.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO.
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ABUSE IN ITALY'S CHURCHES TOO
NEWFOUNDLAND SURVIVORS RECEIVE SETTLEMENT
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FEB. 28, 2022. A settlement has been reached involving millions of dollars raised in a Chase the Ace fundraiser for a St. John's-area parish nearly five years ago.
The cash got tangled up in ongoing insolvency proceedings involving the Roman Catholic church in eastern Newfoundland (Canada) and efforts to compensate victims of historic abuse at the Mount Cashel orphanage.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO.
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SENATOR AGARD BACKS BILL REQUIRING CLERGY TO REPORT CHILD ABUSE & NEGLECT
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FEB. 24, 2022. Senators Melissa Agard (D-Madison) and Lena Taylor (D-Milwaukee), joined by Rep. Kristina Shelton (D-Green Bay), on Thursday, Feb. 24 released LRB-6112.
The bill requires members of clergy, like other professionals interacting with children, to report all instances of child abuse and neglect, including sexual abuse, of which they become aware in their professional capacity.
Peter Isley, Program Director of Nate’s Mission, joined Agard in support of the bill. Nate’s Mission is committed to “dismantling the structural mechanisms that allow abuse” within churches.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO.
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ACCUSED BISHOP HAD PORN ON HIS PHONE
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FEB. 23, 2022. Argentine court hears testimony of porn on accused bishop’s phone with requests for ‘massages’.
On the second day of the trial against Argentine Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta over sexual abuse, a priest testified that he had porn on his phone, while a psychologist of one of the alleged victims testified that the bishops’ behavior “scared and intimidated him.”
As the trial began Monday, Zanchetta, bishop emeritus of Orán, in northern Argentina, denied all charges of alleged sexual abuse.
MORE INFO HERE.
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CARDINAL PIRONIO, NOW ON SAINTHOOD PATH, RECEIVED MONEY FROM NOTORIOUS SEXUAL ABUSER MACIEL
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FEB. 18, 2022. Pope Francis declared the late Cardinal Eduardo Pironio to be "venerable," advancing his case on the path for sainthood.
Pironio, who died in 1998 at age 77, was an Argentine well known in his 23 years at the Vatican for organizing the early World Youth Day events, a major initiative of Pope John Paul II.
Pironio had a lesser-known distinction that should challenge investigators at the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints, if they are serious about determining his fitness for the track to canonization.
CLICK FOR MORE INFO HERE.
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RELIGIOUS NUNS ABUSED TOO
30% of religious nuns have experienced sexual abuse at the hands of priests
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BE AN ECA SOCIAL MEDIA AMBASSADOR
ECA’s Social Media Ambassadors Program is an exciting and easy way FOR YOU to get involved with ECA and to encourage existing members who know and love the mission of ECA to spread the word about ECA globally.
ECA will utilize Social Media Ambassadors to direct strong social media campaigns and ECA messages to target specific regions and issues relating to the sexual abuse of children by clergy.
ECA has a number of campaigns in the pipeline and we need you to get involved. Together we will #EnditNOW!
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