Category Archive for : ‘General’

Ernie Lorch, the 69 year old former director of the Riverside Church hoops program, is charged with sexually abusing a former player and later gave him $2 million.  Coaches and former players rallied behind the basketball benefactor yesterday saying they can’t believe the charges.  Lorch is a multimillionaire lawyer who ran the program for 41 years, sending more than 60 players to the NBA and big-time colleges.  He stepped down Monday after the church learned the Manhattan district attorney is probing the charges.  Former Riverside Hawks player Robert Holmes, who

A nationwide review of Roman Catholic dioceses by The Associated Press found that at least 177 priests suspected of molesting minors have either resigned or been taken off duty in 28 states and the District of Columbia since the clerical sex scandal erupted in January.  The review also showed that in 18 other states, where priests have not been taken off the job, dioceses have responded to the crisis in various ways.  They include turning over allegations to prosecutors, scouring personnel records to see whether old claims were properly handled,

Cardinal Bernard Law told worshipers here yesterday that a national policy about clerical sexual abuse will not be established before a U.S. bishops meeting in June.  He said, The focus of that meeting will be the whole question of sexual abuse of minors by clergy, and how the church can respond to that issue.

(Boston, Massachusetts)

All priests in the Archdiocese of New York have been ordered to attend a meeting Monday where Edward Cardinal Egan will discuss the historic two-day Vatican summit and the proposed changes to priest sex-abuse allegations.

(New York)

Luis Monard, 25, was cleared by a Queens jury of forcible rape charges yesterday after a prosecutor was forced to produce a witness he had kept hidden from the defense.  Monard was found guilty of statutory rape and endangering the welfare of a child, affirming the defense’s argument that he had consensual sex with a 14 year old girl on the roof of her Elmhurst building on May 17, 2001.  He faces 3 1/2 to 7 years in prison for statutory rape.

(Queens, New York)

Members of Long Island’s gay community gathered last night in Deer Park to discuss how best to combat leaders who they say are unfairly blaming them in the wake of strong words by several church and community officials linking homosexuality to pedophilia.  Meeting organizer Tom Hroncich and other activists say they are angered by a series of statements by church and community leaders linking homosexuality to pedophile priests.  Hroncich, who is publisher of the local gay and lesbian magazine Outlook Long Island, said, I find it ironic that leaders of