The Christian Century

An Episcopal Church court has unanimously found Bishop Charles E. Bennison guilty of not responding appropriately to sexual abuse committed by his brother against a teenage girl more than three decades ago.

The Episcopal bishop of Philadelphia has been barred from ministry pending a church trial to determine his culpability in protecting his brother, a former Episcopal priest who was accused of sexually abusing a minor in the 1970s.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego has agreed to pay $198 million to 144 alleged victims of sexual abuse by clergy or other church employees—the second-largest such settlement since the abuse crisis exploded five years ago.

A retired Episcopal priest has admitted sexually abusing four adolescent boys while serving as rector of St. James Episcopal Church in Skaneateles, New York, from January 1986 to May 1993, reported the Episcopal News Service. James E. Putnam, 66, was suspended for 20 years from acting as a priest after an investigation by the Diocese of Central New York.

After more than four years of delays, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles has reached a landmark $660 million settlement with 508 alleged victims of sexual abuse, the largest such payment thus far in the Catholic clergy sex abuse scandals.

Five years after the clergy sexual abuse scandal erupted within the Catholic Church, Southern Baptists are confronting their own allegations of abuse and calls for greater steps to protect minors from predatory pastors.

The five-year-old lay Catholic reform group Voice of the Faithful awarded retired Detroit auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton its “Priest of Integrity” honor February 24 in Washington. Gumbleton was honored for his advocacy on behalf of victims of clergy sexual abuse and for promoting greater lay involvement in the church.

Anthony Mercieca, the priest at the center of the abuse scandal involving former member of Congress Mark Foley (R., Fla.), has been removed from active ministry by the Archdiocese of Miami.

Presbyterians have officially approved 11 new policies on clergy sexual abuse, marking a shift, church leaders say, from focusing on the accused to protecting innocent victims.

After a grand funeral attracting world leaders to the Vatican and crowds urging a speedy sainthood for the late Pope John Paul II, the assigning of a former U.S. cardinal to celebrate one of the masses in St. Peter’s Basilica during the mourning period reminded Americans of the scars still present in the U.S. church.