Canada’s Catholic Church was shaken by the resignation of a Nova Scotia bishop on Wednesday after child pornography was discovered on his computer.
Raymond Lahey, 69, resigned from his post as bishop of the diocese of Antigonish, Nova Scotia this weekend before news of his arrest became public, telling his flock on Saturday that he needed time for “personal renewal.”
Canadian customs officials at the Ottawa airport found the child pornography images during a random search of Lahey’s laptop computer in mid-September as he returned from the US.
The computer was seized and Ottawa police arrested and charged Lahey following an investigation with importing and possessing child pornography.
Father Paul Abbas, spokesman for the diocese where Lahey has held his post since 2003, said he could not “underestimate the pain and sorrow” this scandal would cause the congregation.
Lahey is best known for having brokered a landmark settlement worth C$13 million (US$12 million) with more than a dozen people who claimed to have been sexually abused by priests in the diocese dating back to 1950.
He was widely praised for his efforts.
In August, he offered the victims and their families apologies on behalf of the Church and said he “hoped to never again have to deal with such reprehensible behavior.”
POPULAR OFFENDER
In Louisville, Kentucky, a convicted sex offender has been ordained as the minister of a tiny church. He is a gifted music leader and popular among the church’s three dozen members.
Almost a decade ago, long before Mark Hourigan joined the flock at the City of Refuge Worship Center, he was convicted of sexually abusing an 11-year-old boy in central Kentucky. Hourigan served a five-year sentence and the 41-year-old was placed on Kentucky’s sex offender registry for the rest of his life.
A former leader at the church along with an abuse victims advocacy group say Hourigan is a risk to hurt another child and he should not have been placed in a position of authority.
“He’s still a threat” to children, said Cal Pfeiffer, who was abused by a Catholic priest as a young student in Louisville in the late 1950s and early 60s.
Pfeiffer and experts on religion and sexual abuse believe it could be the first time a convicted sex offender has been knowingly ordained as a minister in a Christian church.
The church’s pastor, the Reverend Randy Meadows, ordained Hourigan during a service on Sept. 13.
The self-described Pentecostal church, started by Meadows and a handful of other members six years ago, welcomes anyone “regardless of race, religion, culture [or] sexual orientation,” according to its Web site. It also has a Sunday school for children.
Hourigan said in an interview with CNN last month that wants to minister to others like him “who have been rejected.”
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
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