Child & Youth Protection

Catholics have lauded the recent signing of a state law that makes it a felony to procure sex from a 16- or 17-year-old minor in the state of California.

The Archdiocese of Newark has settled two claims of sexual abuse against retired Bishop Nicholas A. DiMarzio, dating back more than 50 years — when he was a priest in Jersey City — the lawyer for the plaintiffs announced on Aug. 6.

The remains of former Bishop Eamonn Casey of Galway, who resigned from office in 1992 after it was revealed he had fathered a child in 1974, have been removed from their burial place in Galway Cathedral in the wake of a number of allegations of child abuse that came to light in 2024.

Archbishop Thibault Verny of Chambéry, France, made international headlines as he succeeded one of the most acclaimed figures of church safeguarding in the world, Cardinal Sean O’Malley — retired archbishop of Boston — in his role as president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. 

New Jersey’s top court ruled June 16 that grand juries can be empaneled to investigate clerical sex abuse allegations in that state.