SNAP Media Events

Victims push for more predator priest files

And they react to action by United Nations panel

SNAP testified about Chicago abuse case in Geneva

Group wants Cardinal George to release more records

“Opening the Fr. McCormack files is crucial,” victims say

Minister abused & harassed woman, new suit says

Clergyman has now started a new church in Hazelwood

From pulpit, AME official said victim is “the devil” and “going to hell”

Church process “was degrading and  humiliating,” lawsuit charges

Suit: “Officials want to harass and deter victims of sexual assault from reporting”

SNAP deplores church figures for not calling police & retaliating against woman

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will
– disclose a new civil lawsuit charging that an African American minister sexually harassed and assaulted a female staffer and church member,
– urge officials with the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church to aggressively reach out to others who “saw, suspected or suffered” the ministers crimes, and
– prod anyone with information or suspicions of crimes or misdeeds by the minister to “come forward, get help, expose wrongdoers, protect others and start healing.

Victims focus on 3 predator priests

Two are new, “outed” for 1st time this week

Neither has attracted public attention in Chicago

One eventually went to India, the other to Las Vegas

The 3rd is the most prolific abuser: at least 35 victims

He worked mostly in African American neighborhoods

WHAT

As church-goers enter mass, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will hand out fliers highlighting three predator priests whose records were released this week.

Two of them were "outed" for the first time on Tuesday. The third is perhaps Chicago's most prolific predator priest (with at least 35 victims).

The leaflets urge Chicago Catholics to

--help them track down where other suspected or defrocked pedophile priests are living or working now, so their unsuspecting neighbors might be warned that dangerous men are nearby,

--ask their loved ones if any of them were hurt by child molesting clerics, and

--insist that archdiocesan officials punish the “enablers” - the church staffers who ignored or hid evidence or warnings of clergy sex crimes, especially those clerics whose names appear in the soon-to-be-released records.

WHEN

Sunday, Jan. 26 at 11:45 a.m. 

Victims want law enforcement to “step up”

Group urges more action by police & prosecutors

"Use bully pulpit to beg others to come forward," SNAP says

And victims want a bishop ousted from board of a boys' home

“Others who concealed abuse must be disciplined too,” they say

That's never happens & that's why cover ups continue, SNAP contends

WHAT

Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will urge Chicago law enforcement officials to

--aggressively and publicly beg those with knowledge or suspicions of clergy sex crimes to step forward,

–launch grand jury investigations into the ongoing church abuse & cover up scandal, and

--be more resourceful about bringing ANY kind of charge against complicit officials.

The group will also urge the Chicago Catholic hierarchy to

--remove a “complicit” bishop from the board of a local boys home, and

--prevent future cover ups by punishing other “enablers” - the church staffers who ignored or hid evidence or warnings of clergy sex crimes, especially those clerics whose names appear in the just-released, long-secret church abuse records.

WHEN

TODAY, Wednesday, Jan. 22 at 1:45 p.m. 

 Victims prod Polish government

They want two accused clerics to face justice

Group to secular authorities: “Insist on their return”

Leading advocate to Catholic officials: “Pressure the Vatican"

SNAP wants “aggressive outreach” to possible victims in Poland

Victims beg others to “step forward”

Pedophile priest case heads toward trial

Support group seeks other's who've been hurt

SNAP: “If you saw, suspected or suffered crimes, speak up!”

Group also wants bishop to post predators' names on church websites

It's the most important step bishops can take to protect kids now,” SNAP says

Thirty US dioceses have done this; in SC, at least 13 priests are publicly accused

Victims want to know where predator priests are now

They beg Catholics: “Help us find abusers & warn others”

30 child molesting clerics' records made public on Tuesday

Some of them live among unsuspecting neighbors, SNAP says

Victims blast Chicago Catholic officials for hiding their whereabouts

“Parishioners should read the new files & insist that “enablers” be punished

He’s never been exposed in Chicago before

Cleric worked for ten years at south side parish

And despite allegations against him, he’s still on the job in MA

SNAP also exposes nine Jesuits who shielded notorious pedophile

He’s in prison, was Mother Teresa’s confessor & molested Chicago kids

Cardinal George should denounce and discipline those who shielded him

WHAT

Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will

-- publicly expose, for the first time, a credibly accused child molesting cleric who spent six years at a Chicago parish and is still on the job today in Massachusetts,

-- make public a list of nine Jesuit priests who ignored or hid reports and warnings about a high-profile convicted serial predator priest,

They will also urge Cardinal Francis George to

--publicly denounce the nine Jesuits and urge their supervisors to discipline them, and

--take similar steps to punish any archdiocesan officials who are shown (in the soon-to-be-released 6,000 pages of church abuse records) to have protected predators or endangered kids.