Georgia priest ousted due to abuse allegations

• Georgia priest ousted due to abuse allegations
• He’s accused for the second time in three years 
• Victims blast 2 GA Catholic officials about cleric 
• Group wants alleged predator put in treatment center
• And they ask “Why was he put back in parishes in 2010?”
• Self help group begs archbishop: "Reach out to other victims"

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims will prod Atlanta and Savannah Catholic officials to

-- Widely publicize the latest child sex abuse allegations against a just-ousted priest,

-- Insist that he’s put in a secure treatment center, so that kids will be safer,

-- Personally visit each place where he worked and reach out to any other victims, and

-- Beg anyone who has been abused, or seen or suspected abuse, to report the abuse to law enforcement.


WHEN
Tuesday, Feb. 21 at 11:30-AM

WHERE
Outside the Christ the King Cathedral, 2699 Peachtree Road Northeast (corner of Peachtree WayNE) in Atlanta

WHO
A Missouri couple. who are leaders in a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPNetwork.org),

WHY
Last week, for the second time in three years, Fr Robert F. Poandl was suspended from Georgia Catholic parishes because of alleged child sex crimes. http://www.glenmary.org/site/epage/130601_919.htm

His most recent assignments were in Claxton, Pembroke, and Sandhill in the Savannah diocese. But Poandl also worked in two towns in the Atlanta archdiocese (Blairsville from 1982-88 and Dahlonega from 1980-81).

He’s being sent back from Georgia to the Cincinnati area where he worked once - by his direct supervisor, Father Chet Artysiewicz, who heads the Fairfield, OH-based Glenmary Home Missioners. In 2010, Poandl was accused of molesting a Cincinnati boy in West Virginia in 1991. A criminal case involving those allegations was dropped after a judge questioned some of the evidence. http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2010/07_08/2010_08_30_Clevenger_RoaneJudge.htm

SNAP wants Atlanta Archbishop Wilton Gregory and Savannah Bishop Gregory Hartmayer to insist that Poandl be put in a secure treatment center away from kids and aggressively seek out others who may have seen, suspected or suffered his alleged crimes.

In March, 2010, the group sent a letter to Archbishop Gregory (and several other bishops) urging them to use the archdiocesan website, newspaper, and parish bulletins to urge other victims and witnesses to contact law enforcement. Had Gregory and Glenmary officials done this, SNAP suspects, other Poandl victims might have stepped forward sooner and the alleged child molesting cleric would likely have been kept away from children sooner.(Only the Tyler TX bishop honored SNAP’s request.)

A similar press event is being held in Cincinnati on Tuesday, Feb. 21 at 10 a.m. because Poandl worked there and his religious order is head quartered there.

Besides Ohio and Georgia, Poandl worked in Kentucky (Franklin), Louisiana (New Orleans), Pennsylvania (Mifflintown and Doylesburg), Mississippi (Aberdeen), Oklahoma (Hugo) and Texas (Pittsburgh and Mount Vernon). He is originally from Metuchen, N.J. and studied in Ohio, Indiana and Mexico.


CONTACT
Judy Block Jones, SNAP Midwest Associate Director, 636-433-2511, [email protected], Dan Frondorf, SNAP Leader Cincinnati, 513-706-7403, [email protected] ,Barb Dorris of St. Louis, SNAP Outreach Director, 314-503-0003, [email protected]