Easter should be a time of renewal and hope. Yet this weekend found the Roman Catholic church mired in its deepest crisis in recent times over its handling of child abuse by paedophile priests.

How much does child abuse hurt? A five part video series astutely titled The Bomb in the Brain helps to answer this question by sharing just how damaging the effects of childhood abuse can be on people throughout their lifespan.

It can happen in your congregation, too…The crisis in the Roman Catholic Church is a stark reminder that people we love and admire may turn out to be sex offenders, capable of causing irreparable damage to young lives.

Reported cases of child sexual abuse are up 42 percent over last year, according to Deputy Director of Social Services Carolyn Hepburn.

MIAMI — One of the most infamous murder cases in U.S. history is being linked to notorious serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.

SANTA ANA — Convicted serial killer Rodney Alcala has been sentenced to death for killing a 12-year-old Huntington Beach girl and four Los Angeles County women in the 1970s.

Oklahoma is one of the thirty-five states that use the death penalty. There are various crimes in that state that can carry a punishment of death, but rape of a child is not currently one of them. Lawmakers hope to change that. Last week, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved a measure that would allow the death penalty for convicted felons who rape a child age six and under.

T. FRANCIS, Wis. — Arthur Budzinski says the first time the priest molested him, he was 12 years old, alone and away from home at a school for the deaf. He says he asked the Rev. Lawrence Murphy to hear his confession, and instead the priest took him into a closet under the stairs and sexually assaulted him.

Norman – The vehicle involved in an Amber Alert more than two months ago has been discovered in Norman and the bodies of two people have been found, officials say.
Norman – The vehicle involved in an Amber Alert more than two months ago has been discovered in Norman and the bodies of two people have been found, officials say.

IF it turns out “Hey Dad!” child actor, Sarah Monahan, was abused by her on-screen dad, it’s clear to me he wasn’t the only abuser on the set.

Senator Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is pushing for a national registry of child abusers. “Track child beaters like we do sex offenders,” blares one headline. It sounds like a righteous idea, at first glance.

Pope Benedict XVI has been accused of failing to act on complaints from two archbishops in the US about a priest who allegedly abused 200 deaf boys.

As part of their effort to slow (or even stop) passage of the bill that would make changes to the health care legislation signed into law by President Obama Tuesday, Senate Republicans have vowed to introduce hundreds of amendments.

NEWARK, N.J. — On an August night 32 years ago, authorities say, three men who believed five teenage boys had stolen their drugs herded them into an abandoned house at gunpoint, tied them up and set the building on fire, burning them alive and leaving no trace.