Cheyenne diocese finds credible third allegation of child abuse by retired bishop

A view of Baltimore’s Basilica nestled amid the city’s famed row houses / Public domain

Boston, Mass., Jul 3, 2023 / 14:35 pm (CNA).

The Archdiocese of Baltimore on June 30 added 42 names to its list of individuals accused of child sexual abuse.

The addition of the names to the “List of Priests and Brothers Accused of Child Sexual Abuse,” first published in 2002, comes following Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown’s April report on child sexual abuse in the archdiocese dating back to the 1940s. 

The attorney general’s report called the scope of the abuse “astonishing,” noting that more than 600 children were discovered to have been abused by 156 individuals listed in the report, while adding that “the number is likely far higher.”

The 42 names that were added to the archdiocese’s list consist of 39 individuals who were included in the attorney general’s report; the three other individuals added weren’t named in the report. 

One of the three named is Father Phillip Linden, a Josephite priest who is no longer in active ministry and was named in an allegation relating to his times at St. Francis Xavier Church in East Baltimore in the 1970s.

A Conventual Franciscan, Father Michael Miller, who is suspended from public ministry and pled guilty to child pornography charges in 2013, is also one of the three named.

Lastly, a retired archdiocesan priest who no longer has faculties, Joseph O’Meara, who was accused of “inappropriate touching of a minor” in the 1980s and 1990s, and committing a “boundary violation” with a different minor around the same time, was the third who was named. More can be read about all three here.

As far as the other 39 individuals in the attorney general’s report who were added to the list, at least 33 of them are deceased. The 39 individuals can be read about toward the bottom of the archdiocese’s list of accused here.

According to the archdiocese, the majority of the 39 individuals were not previously included in the list for one of three reasons: the alleged perpetrator is not a priest or brother, never had an assignment within the archdiocese, or was first accused after he died and “is the subject of a single, uncorroborated allegation,” the archdiocese said.

The archdiocese encourages anyone with knowledge of child sexual abuse to contact law enforcement, and anyone with knowledge of sexual abuse by clergy or diocesan personnel to contact the archdiocesan victim’s assistance line at 1-866-417-7469 or the Archdiocesan Office of Child and Youth Protection at 410-547-5348.

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Washington D.C., Sep 20, 2018 / 11:14 am (CNA).- Catholic Charities USA has announced a new initiative to help refugees and people seeking asylum to reunite with their family members through donated airline miles.

The national charity organization is … […]

Washington D.C., Apr 2, 2020 / 04:00 pm (CNA).- Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has disputed Planned Parenthood’s claim that the state targeted abortion clinics in an order prohibiting non-essential medical procedures during the coronavirus pandemic. 

Interview an interview that will air Thursday on EWTN Pro-Life Weekly, Paxton said that the abortion provider was itself demanding special treatment in a legal challenge to the executive issued last month by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

Abbott issued the executive order (GA 09) on March 22, halting non-essential surgeries and medical procedures during the coronavirus pandemic, in order to free up resources and medical personnel to treat COVID patients.

Abbott clarified that the order would apply to “any type of abortion that is not medically necessary to preserve the life or health of the mother.”

“What they are actually asking to be singled out,” Paxton said Thursday. “[They want] to be treated better than everybody else during this crisis, so they could be doing elective abortions, when those resources could otherwise be used to save somebody’s life.” 

Planned Parenthood and other pro-abortion groups filed litigation over the executive order, claiming Abbott singled out the procedure. A federal district court initially blocked the order, but the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay on that ruling March 31, permitting Abbott’s order to go into effect.

In a statement Tuesday, Alexis McGill Johnson, acting president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, called Abbott’s order “heartless,” adding, “No other form of health care is being targeted this way — only abortion.”

During the interview on EWTN Pro-Life Weekly, Paxton argued that the Texas order does not single out abortion clinics, but is “a ban on elective procedures which also includes abortion.”

“It includes orthopedic surgeries, it includes dental procedures, it includes dermatological procedures, it includes all kinds of elective procedures, they are not being singled out, they are just being treated like everybody else,” Paxton said.

Paxton argued that any type of nonessential medical procedure “had to be stopped” in an effort to conserve personal protective equipment for health care professionals battling the coronavirus pandemic. 

“We’re trying to conserve those because there’s a shortage of them, and conserve resources like hospital beds, and even the focus of doctors’ time,” Paxton said.

Paxton argued that through its lawsuit, Planned Parenthood is asking for special treatment.

“We didn’t want anybody treated any differently but apparently Planned Parenthood and the abortion providers felt like they should be given an exception to how other people and how other providers are being treated,” he said.

The order, Paxton said, “applies to everyone.”

The full interview with Paxton will air Thursday at 10:00 PM EST on EWTN.

Texas Attorney General @KenPaxtonTX explains how Governor Greg Abbot’s order was designed to conserve medical supplies during the #coronavirus pandemic. He also discusses the ongoing legal battle with @PPact.
Watch the full interview tonight. #prolife pic.twitter.com/lzTeao1gH3

— EWTN Pro-Life Weekly (@EWTNProLife) April 2, 2020

Kate Scanlon is a producer for EWTN Pro-Life Weekly.

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