News

This page is for us to bring you any news or developments within our churches. If you have news of clergy or minister abusers, or of what churches or advocacy groups are doing, please let us know - keeping informed is half the battle.

Press Releases

MACSAS conference: We speak, you listen. 11th September 2010, London.
Survivors speak and offer messages to Pope Benedict - their stories, hopes and dreams will be compiled and made into a book for presentation to his Holiness. Read the full Press Release [PDF, new window will open]

2nd March 2010: MACSAS comments on the Church of England’s completed independent child protection survey across dioceses and calls for an open and transparent inquiry into Child Abuse within the Church of England.
Read the full Press Release [PDF, new window will open]

MACSAS calls for full publication of the Church of England’s past cases review of all reports of child abuse by clergy in all Dioceses in England & Wales in 2008 – 2009.
Read the full Press Release [PDF, new window will open]

Newsletter - OUT LOUD

We have re-launched the MACSAS Newsletter with its new title OUT LOUD.
Read the Spring 2010 issue of OUT LOUD [PDF, new window will open]

Read our Summer 2009 Newsletter [PDF, new window will open]

More news...

We want to find out the experiences of survivors - what happened, if and when they reported allegations or complained to church authorities or other agencies, and what, if any, support was offered to them.

There are two ways to take part in the survey:
Fill out the Survey online and it will be sent directly to us
or
Download the MACSAS Survey 2010 [Word doc. New window will open] and send it to us by email or post

The now familiar narrative of systematic abuse of children by priests has scandalised Germans, but campaigners fear the church’s perceived lack of will to change will deny victims justice...
Read more abuse at Germany's top Jesuit school on p8 of OUTLOUD

A prominent Catholic blogger speculates that he may tack on a stop in Ireland because of the on-going clergy sex abuse and cover-up crisis in that country. We in SNAP repeat our earlier plea that the Pope should NOT visit Ireland ...
Read more of SNAP's statements on the Pope and Ireland on p16 of OUTLOUD

MACSAS Conference 2009 - Augustine United Church, Edinburgh
Our conference, on 17th October, was a unique opportunity for survivors and professionals to network from across the globe. Recent developments were outlined and new research revealed insights into the dynamics of abuse while discussions centred on methods of counteracting the apathy of church authorities, and most importantly supporting survivors.
Read more about keynote speaches at the MACSAS 2009 Conference on our Resources page

Clergy sexual misconduct study - USA
A new study, conducted by Baylor University, USA, reveals that one in every 33 women who attend worship services regularly has been the target of sexual advances by a religious leader. The study found approximately one in 10 male and female respondents reported having known about clergy sexual misconduct occurring in a congregation they had attended, and that this problem is spread across a wide variety of denominations, traditions, and leaders.

Clergy sexual misconduct is currently illegal only in Texas and Minnesota, but at the 2009 NOW annual conference, a resolution was passed calling for National Organization for Women (NOW) to advocate that all states criminalise sexual exploitation of adult women by clergy.
View the Baylor Universitey study on clergy sexual misconduct [new window will open]
View NOW's resolution to criminalise sexual exploitation of women by clergy [new window will open]

Publications

Breaking the Silence
Martin Ridge and Gerard Cunningham, April 2008. Gill & Macmillan
Martin Ridge was approaching retirement after a long career with An Garda Síochána. Posted to a quiet corner of Co. Donegal, he found himself investigating one of the most horrific series of child sex abuse cases in Ireland.

The Greene and McGinley cases both involved the Catholic Church. Greene was a priest, and McGinley a teacher in a Catholic school answerable to religious managers. As Ridge investigated, he discovered that the Church knew about the abuse, but ignored the problem. Breaking the Silence is a brilliantly written account of the Garda investigation that brought two serial and unrepentant abusers to justice.
Visit Gillmacmillan for more on Breaking the Silence

Anglican Church
Promoting a safe church: Policy for safeguarding adults in the Church of England. Published in 2006.
“Promoting a safe church” can be obtained from chpublishing

DVD on Child Safety
This is a training video. For information contact: Dean Juster, The Salvation army, 101 Newingington Causeway, London SE1 6BN.

“Quote”

"Christian women are 7 times more likely to seek assistance with marriage and family problems from clergy (86%) than mental health professionals (12.5%)"
Gengler and Lee, 2001, p44

From Margaret Kennedy's PhD on The sexual Exploitation of Women by Clergy.