Homer Donald Lindholm - SWNews4U swnews4u.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from swnews4u.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Bransfield
NEW CUMBERLAND – A circuit judge has consolidated eight cases in two Northern Panhandle counties regarding sexual abuse claims against the Catholic Church.
In a February 23 order, First Circuit Judge Michael Olejasz issued an order consolidating the cases against the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston before First Circuit Judge David Sims.
Four of the cases – all filed in Hancock County – involve allegations a former priest sexually abused men in the 1980s when he worked at St. Paul’s Catholic School in Weirton. One involves allegations a man was sexually assaulted by Father James J. Chetock when he attended Weirton Madonna High School in the late 1970s. Another involves allegations a man was sexually assaulted by Reverend Richard J. Schaefer while he was assigned to St. Philomena Catholic Church in Rowlesburg.
North Dakota clergy sex abuse survivors say Catholic reforms too little, too late
An 18-month-long investigation led to no new charges against Catholic clergy in North Dakota. In the wake of that announcement, three sexual abuse survivors tell their stories of pain and healing. Written By: C.S. Hagen | April Baumgarten | 5:17 am, Jan. 16, 2021 ×
Ted Becker shares his story of being abused by a priest as a boy in Selfridge, N.D. Sarah Mearhoff / Forum News Service
SELFRIDGE, N.D. For decades, Ted Becker frequently woke up in the dead of night gagging. Sometimes a pungent, familiar smell would force him from bed to search the house for a repressed memory that took him years to find.