FL- Tampa priest caught giving hugs while falsifying community service hours

August 01, 2013

For immediate release: August 1, 2013

Statement by Barbara Dorris, Outreach Director, 314-862-7688 SNAPdorris@gmail.com

We hope every single person who saw, suspected or suffered sexual misdeeds by this priest, Charles Leigh, will come forward.

And we hope law enforcement authorities are very careful about which clergy they work with. Often, sexually troubled ministers gravitate towards positions like this in which they have access to and power over vulnerable individuals.

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Catherine Stearns commented 2013-08-02 11:08:31 -0500
This is why I love Erin’s law! She seeks to educate children. We should educate our own children. I didn’t, because I didn’t want her to fear the world, and didn’t know how to say it in the right way. And I thought it was a few odd people here and there, but now I know from reading the papers that it’s a HUGE problem in our country in general. Parents and children must be educated to know how to recognize grooming and abuse, predators, and how to talk about it, what to do about. Honestly, I still don’t know what to do when I see someone who I think is possibly grooming a child because technically they aren’t breaking the law. Right? Oh, and I so agree with Gloria Sullivan, adults who are obsessed with kids and want to be like a peer or counselor to the children, watch out for them!
Gloria Sullivan commented 2013-08-01 13:03:26 -0500
You are so right! Clever and smart. THEY ARE!!!! The minute Fr. Paul Shanley from Boston retired to the gay community in San Diego , Ca. he registered with the San Diego PD. be be a playground supervisor They were so grateful and happy to have such a respected person to watch the children……until he got caught trying to abduct an 8 yr. old boy for his “Boy Man Club”. that he had bought ( AN OLD MOTEL) in Palm Springs, with his buddies from Hillcrest, Ca.,
Always verify who this is who WANTS so much to watch your children.Even the police were taken in. No more! I was there when it happened. It was in all the papers. It made me know that all the things I had heard from the religious in our family ( that I wouldn’t believe at the time) was true! This was 2001. We immediately left the rcc. after over 60 yrs. THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS WITHIN.
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FL- Tampa priest caught giving hugs in lieu of community service hours

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Barbara Blaine, founder of SNAP, passed away on Sunday, September 24th, 2017. Her dying was sudden and completely unexpected. Words cannot express our sorrow nor are there words to express our gratitude for her relentless advocacy. She truly was a hero. There is an old saying, “well behaved women seldom make history”. Barbara made history and the world is a better place.

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50 State AG Call for Grand Jury

Write a letter to the attorney general of your state. Demand, request, and beg them to impanel a grand jury.

Any investigation must be:

independent of and separate from the church
must have subpoena powers and ability to compel testimony under oath

Anything short of these criteria is a sham and whitewash.

In addition, write letters to the editor, make phone calls to politicians as they can apply pressure to keep them responsive to our demand. We need to make efforts to ensure that they follow up on what the state is doing to investigate these crimes.

The Attorneys General of forty states have inquired about the grand jury process in Pennsylvania. Let's get statewide investigations going in fifty states.

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