Franciscan Friars Archives

Congressman seeks investigation of church’s sex abuse deals

Feb 27, 2020

A congressman is asking the Department of Justice to investigate settlements to two men who say they were victims of clergy abuse at a Catholic school in Mississippi.

By Associated Press

Friar warns that Brazilian ecological problems can lead to food crisis

Feb 3, 2020

Franciscan friar and peasant leader Father Sérgio Görgen is warning a drought in a major food producing state in Brazil could lead to a food crisis in the country.

By Eduardo Campos Lima

Province to withdraw its Franciscans from ministry in Charleston Diocese

Jan 23, 2020

After more than seven decades of ministry by Franciscans in the Diocese of Charleston, the religious order’s Holy Name Province has told a group of its friars they are being withdrawn from South Carolina.

By Christina Lee Knauss

Lawsuit: Church pressured victims into unfair settlements

Nov 22, 2019

Two impoverished Mississippi men who say they were sexually assaulted by Franciscan missionaries filed a federal lawsuit Thursday claiming that Catholic officials pressured them into signing settlements that paid them little money and required them to remain silent about the alleged abuse.

By Michael Rezendes

Mississippi man says he still struggles after clergy abuse

Sep 3, 2019

For Joshua K. Love, recovering from beatings and sexual abuse he says he suffered at a Catholic grade school 20 years ago is a matter of day-to-day survival.

By Maye-E Wong and Michael Rezendes

Survivors demand US investigation of Mississippi abuse deals

Aug 30, 2019

Catholic sex abuse survivors in Mississippi and Wisconsin on Thursday demanded that federal authorities investigate allegations from three black Mississippi men who say they were molested by Franciscan friars during the mid-1990s, when they were as young as 9 years old.

By Michael Rezendes and Emily Wagster Pettus