Boston Archdiocese settles with 7 alleged victims of clergy abuse, Globe’s Spotlight team on clergy sex abuse, “Kots Kaal Pato” ritual of animal murdering is banned

Boston Archdiocese settles with 7 alleged victims of clergy abuse
By Brian MacQuarrie Globe Staff  March 28, 2016

The Archdiocese of Boston has agreed to settlements involving cash and counseling with seven people who say they were sexually abused by priests, including one case that stretches back to the 1930s, according to the attorney for the alleged victims.

Two other settlements with religious orders have been reached in cases involving priests who allegedly abused victims while they worked in the archdiocese, according to the attorney, Mitchell Garabedian.

Another, separate settlement with the Carmelite Order involved a brother who had been accused of abuse in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles before being assigned to a chapel at the Northshore Mall in Peabody.

In all, the 10 settlements paid $778,500 and involved allegations of sexual abuse in every decade from the 1930s through the 1980s, Garabedian said. The attorney said he also reached agreements in six other cases across the country, including four in New Jersey.

The agreements carried no admission of liability.
Recent priest abuse settlements

The settlements are the latest reminders of the breadth of the crisis that rocked the archdiocese after the Globe reported in 2002 that abuse had occurred over decades, and that church officials transferred abusive priests to other parishes and routinely hid cases from the public and parishioners.

The Globe’s investigation into the abuse was chronicled in the movie “Spotlight” and earned the newspaper a Pulitzer Prize in 2003.....
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/03/28/boston-archdiocese-settles-with-victims-clergy-abuse-attorney-says/wlGixSXHESrNKuznIEwHkI/story.html 


Key reports from Globe’s Spotlight team on clergy sex abuse
March 11, 2016

The Boston Globe’s 2001-2002 investigation into sexual abuses by clergy in the Catholic Church resulted in more than 600 stories, with eight Globe reporters playing key roles. The first history-changing report was the work of Spotlight editor Walter V. Robinson, and reporters Sacha Pfeiffer, Michael Rezendes, and Matt Carroll. As the scope of the story widened, four other reporters joined the effort: Stephen Kurkjian, Thomas Farragher, Michael Paulson, and Kevin Cullen.

Here is a sampling of their work:

1. This Globe column by Eileen McNamara got the investigation rolling when new Globe editor Martin Baron read it in July 2001 and asked the Spotlight Team to pursue a wider look at abusive priests and what the church leadership knew.

2. The story that changed everything: The Spotlight Team’s first major report, published Jan. 6, 2002.

3. A few weeks later, the Spotlight Team widened the horrifying picture to include scores of priests.

2002: Church allowed abuse by priest for years
Why did it take a succession of three cardinals and many bishops 34 years to place children out of John J. Geoghan’s reach?
    2002: Scores of priests involved in sex abuse cases
    More on the story behind the ‘Spotlight’ movie
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/03/11/key-reports-from-globe-spotlight-team-clergy-sex-abuse/s7qc7M3W2nmLs5ULN8ILHJ/story.html 


“Kots Kaal Pato” ritual of animal murdering is finally banned
By Yucatan Times
Wed, Mar 23rd, 2016

Almost one year after the online magazine Vice published an article about an unknown tradition practiced in a small town in Yucatan: “Kots Kaal Pato”, this barbaric practice has been finally prohibited by the local and state authorities.

This ritual that takes place in the town of Citilcum involved filling up piñatas with small animals, like iguanas, birds, kittens and possums, and beating them to dead....

Local animal shelters and pro animal defense groups took notice immediately and began to collect signatures through the Change.org website in order to ban this barbaric tradition. The online petition reached more than 750,000 signatures from around the world and even Mexican celebrities, like Eugenio Derbez and Sasha Sokol, helped gathered signatures through twitter. However, the government kept silent and it seemed there was no finding a solution.

Finally, with the help of the Humane Society International (HSI), local church members, pro animal defense groups, animal shelters, and the Municipality of Izamal, Kots Kaal Pato will be officially banned on April 23, almost a year after the article was published in Vice (May, 2015). As part of the agreement with HIS, authorities will only promote the organization of traditions in which no animals will be injured or killed....
http://www.theyucatantimes.com/2016/03/kots-kaal-pato-ritual-of-animal-murdering-is-finally-banned/