ECA GLOBAL NEWS SUMMER
2023
SNAP CONFERENCE AUGUST 11-13
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SEPT. 26-OCT 4, 2023: ROME. On the eve of Pope Francis’ Synod on Synodality, which begins on October 4, Ending Clergy Abuse (ECA) will arrive in Rome with 35+ survivors of clergy sexual abuse and activists from 24 countries and 5 continents to demand Pope Francis’ make zero-tolerance a universal law of the Catholic Church
as called for by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. Join us on this Journey for Justice.
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ECA EVENTS PLANNED ON EVE OF POPE'S SYNOD
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SEPT, 21-OCT 4, 2023: ROME. ECA'S EVENTS IN ROME: 1. Between September 21 – 26, ten survivors and activists will pilgrimage/march (75 miles) to Rome from Montefiascone, along the Via Francigena, carrying an 8-foot
wooden cross with a zero-tolerance message and distributing leaflets urging residents along the way to report clergy abuse to local civil authorities and to promote our message and planned activities in Rome. We will highlight the abuse and cover-up by clergy and bishops in the dioceses we pass through 2. On September 30, Saturday, ECA will be present at St. Peter’s Square during the Pope’s
prayer service for the Synod to ‘creatively’ participate in the Pope’s gathering. 3. On Monday, Oct. 2 at 11am, ECA will hold a press conference at the Foreign Press Club, with survivors and activists from 5 continents. ECA will highlight the worldwide extent of the abuse and Pope Francis’s refusal to make zero-tolerance a universal church law and failure to include the clergy abuse issue as
part of his Synod. We will call upon newly-minted Cardinal Victor Fernandez to demonstrate his leadership of the DDF by immediately posting the list of credibly accused clergy in his Archdiocese of La Plata, Argentina.
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"SHAME - EUROPEAN STORIES" ON DISPLAY IN ROME
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SEPTEMBER 30, 2023: ROME. "SHAME - EUROPEAN STORIES" From Italy to Sweden, from Romania to Portugal: In recent months, portraits
and video interviews of nearly 100 victims of child abuse have been collected throughout Europe. Never has the dimension of the problem been captured in this way. Photos and videos from award-winning journalist Simone Padovani documenting the injustices now give the victims a voice. The exhibition entitled "Shame -
European Stories" first opened during the Biennale of Venice. The exhibition, a tool for creating awareness in citizens, is under the patronage of the Council of Europe and has been launched by Guido Fluri Foundation. It will travel around Europe in order to increase the awareness in all the european citizen and institutions with the final goal of changing the law in terms of the protection of
minors. Ending Clergy Abuse: ECA is honored to host this exhibition in Rome during our March to Zero Events. MORE INFORMATION WILL BE POSTED HERE.
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300 NEW ORLEANS PRIESTS WERE REPORTED FOR SEXUAL ABUSE
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AUGUST 9, 2023: NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA, USA. More than 300 people employed by Roman Catholic institutions in the south-eastern US city of New Orleans have been accused of sexually abusing children or other vulnerable people whom they met through their work over the last several decades, secret documents obtained
by the Guardian reveal. MORE ON THE GUARDIAN REPORT HERE
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HOW THE NEW ORLEANS ARCHBISHOP HID 'CREDIBLY ACCUSED' ABUSERS
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POPE FRANCIS MEETS WITH CLERGY SEX ABUSE VICTIMS IN PORTUGAL
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AUGUST 3, 2023: LISBON, PORTUGAL Pope Francis held a private meeting with victims of clerical sexual abuse during a five-day visit to Portugal. In a statement, the Vatican said the gathering had been held in an "atmosphere of
intense listening". At an evening service in Lisbon, the Pope said the Church must listen to "the anguished cry of the victims". A report this year by an independent commission
looking into the sexual abuse of minors in the Catholic Church said it had documented cases pointing to at least 4,815 children who had been abused in Portugal and that the Church had sought "systematically" to conceal the issue. Set up by the Portuguese Episcopal Conference to examine abuse in recent decades, the commission added this was the tip of the iceberg. MORE ON BBC NEWS REPORT HERE MORE ON STORY BY FRANCE24 NEWS
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BISHOP ACCOUNTABILITY SAYS "THE POPE'S MEETINGS WITH {PORTUGUESE} VICTIMS ARE ABOUT PUBLIC RELATIONS, NOT CHANGE"
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AUGUST 3, 2023: LISBON, PORTUGAL When Pope Francis travels to a country where the clergy sex abuse crisis has erupted, he meets with victims, expresses shame and sorrow, and promises change. He did this during his 2015 visit to the United States, his visit to Chile in January 2018, his visit to Ireland in
August 2018, and his visit to Canada in 2022. But when the Pope visits a country where the bishops are not reckoning with headlines about abuse, he does not meet with victims. He did not hold such meetings in Hungary, the Congo, Romania, or Panama, even though the church’s victims in each of those countries surely also number in the thousands. The Pope’s meetings with victims are about public relations, not change. And at this point in his papacy, the tactic is not only tired, it’s cynical. An apology without true reform is worse than meaningless. It’s disrespectful. MORE FROM BISHOPACCOUNTABILITY.ORG
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MEXICAN BISHOPS ACCUSED OF COVERING UP FOR PRIESTS IMPLICATED IN SEX ABUSE
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JULY 27, 2023: MEXICO CITY, MEXICO A U.S.-based group issued a list of 16 Mexican bishops and high-ranking clerics who allegedly covered up for priests accused of sexual abuse. Massachusetts-based
BishopAccountability.org, a non-profit organization that keeps track of how the Catholic hierarchy deals with allegations of sexual abuse by clergy, said that the Roman Catholic Church officials, some now retired, had “covered up for” abusers. “We have now identified some leaders of the Catholic Church who appear to have covered, covered up for, abusers and discarded their victims,” said Anne
Barrett Doyle, of BishopAccountability.org. MORE FROM AP NEWS ARTICLE MORE FROM ABC NEWS
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CLERGY ABUSE 'SWEPT UNDER THE CARPET' IN INDIAN CHURCH
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Indian Christian nuns and supporters demand the arrest of Bishop Franco Mulakkal, after he was accused of raping a nun, outside the High Court in Kochi in the southern Indian state of Kerala on Sept. 13, 2018. Rape charges were officially filed against him in April 2019. (Photo: AFP) JULY 26, 2023. INDIA A UCA: Union of Catholic Asian News Report: On June 1, the Vatican accepted the resignation of Indian Bishop Franco Mulakkal, almost five years after police arrested him on charges of raping a nun. The Vatican “requested” his resignation, said a statement from the
apostolic nunciature in India, adding that this action should not be seen as a “disciplinary measure imposed upon” the bishop. The Mulakkal case has once again revived the demand for speedy and transparent action into allegations of clerical abuse in India as delays can lead to embarrassment for Christians, who make up 2.3 percent in the Hindu majority nation of 1.4 billion
people. The Vatican's move in the Mulakkal case came 18 months after a lower court acquitted him, and when an appeal against the acquittal is pending in a higher court. Mulakkal is the fourth Catholic bishop to resign over allegations of sexual abuse in India — all in the past 15
years. In all four cases, the hierarchy failed to act on its own against the accused but moved only after public outrage and police complaints. Even when acted upon, the hierarchy made no public report of its investigation on the allegations nor explained reasons for removing the person. MORE ON THE UCA REPORT HERE
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VATICAN'S TOP ABUSE INVESTIGATORS BEGIN PROBE OF SCANDAL-PLAGUED PERU GROUP
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JULY 25, 2023: LIMA, PERU (AP) Two key Vatican investigators have begun an audit in Peru’s capital of a secretive Roman Catholic society with chapters across South America and in the U.S. following allegations that its founder sexually molested young recruits. Maltese Archbishop Charles Scicluna and Monsignor Jordi Bertomeu, from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, questioned the society’s spokespeople along with alleged abuse victims and journalists who have written on the case. Journalist Pedro Salinas, ECA Member in Peru, was a part of Tuesday’s questioning which took place in the Apostolic Nunciature in Lima. The scandal at the Peru-based Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, or Sodalitium of Christian Life, has
close parallels to other cases of charismatic Catholic leaders in Latin America being accused of sex abuse — as well as the church dragging its feet on investigating claims and trying to keep scandals quiet. MORE ON AP NEWS REPORT HERE MORE ON CRUX NEWS
STORY HERE
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MANUFACTURING THE CLERICAL PREDATOR: HOW THE CATHOLIC HIERARCHY CREATES AND MAINTAINS A CULTURE OF ABUSE
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MARCH 20, 2023: WISCONSIN, USA. The Catholic Church has overseen the world’s longest lasting and most widespread campaign of institutional sexual abuse. Why is it that after sixteen centuries of documented evidence and decades of continuous international public exposure, new revelations of the scope and
magnitude of the abuse crisis continue to shock the public? Sarah Peterson, Deputy Director of Nate’s Mission, which is a Wisconsin-based initiative of Ending Clergy Abuse -
USA, created a documentary film featuring former and current priests who reveal how clerical pedophilia is not a phenomenon that occurs as the result of an external perversion of the Catholic hierarchy, but rather, a distinct form of sexual violence that is produced, manufactured, and reproduced within the
clerical system. SEE FULL DOCUMENTARY HERE. Once you've viewed the film, please don't keep it to yourself. Share the link with family, friends, and
your social media audience to spread the word about the work survivors and advocates around the world are doing to combat sexual violence in the Catholic Church.
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JANET AGUTI AND TOTYA PLATFORM PART OF SAGE
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UGANDA. SAGE (Survivor Advocates Globally Empowered) is a selected group of 15 brave and powerful survivors of sexual violence in childhood from around the globe with the purpose of using the collective voice to speak out when there is silence and advocating for transformational
change. The goal is to create a world where children and adolescents can grow up free from harm (especially from sexual violence). We are excited to see Janet Aguti, the founder of our SINA enterprise “Totya Platform” among SAGE. The Totya Platform (TP), a non-profit started in
2018, is unique to Africa in its multifaceted approach to challenging sexual violence. Totya means ‘don’t be afraid’ in Luganda and was inspired by Janet’s brave journey as a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. Totya Platform is helping to change a culture where open discussion about sex is still a taboo topic and the group have made speaking out loud about sexual violence their
trademark.
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ABUSE IN ITALY'S CHURCHES TOO
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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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