Media Statements

--Fr. Joseph Fertal was involved in at least one civil suit and was criminally investigated in connection with allegations of child sexual abuse. He was purportedly sent to St. Michael’s Institute, an institution known for treating priests accused of child sexual abuse, multiple times beginning in the 1980s. According to San Bernardino church officials, Fr. Fertal was permanently banned from ministry in that diocese and was included in its list of clergy credibly accused of child sexual abuse. In 2003, he was believed to be living in Jemez Springs, New Mexico, the site of another church priest treatment center, but his current whereabouts are unknown. Fr. Fertal was at LoyolaUniversity and in the Philippines twice: in Manila and at the University of San Carlos in Cebu City.

--Fr. Bernard "Barney" McMeel, who was ordained a Jesuit priest in 1954. He also worked in 24 assignments in two Alaska dioceses (1955-1978), nine in Montana (1978 until his death 1994) and one in California (1954-1955).

Today, one of the world’s most senior Catholic officials was sentenced to six years in prison for sexually abusing children.

--Fr. Arthur Cooney, who was identified in 2013 in a Capuchin report as a current friar with confirmed reports of sexual abuse of minors. Cooney's name is included on this list without any additional information on claims against him except that he was removed from public ministry and living under supervision.

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/reports/2013_06_18_Burnett_Doyle_and_Freiburger_Capuchin_Report.pdf

1--Fr. Gregory H. Poser was ordained for the Crosiers, a religious order, in 1975. He spent time in the archdioceses of St. Paul-Minneapolis MN and Chicago IL and the dioceses of Kalamazoo MI and St. Cloud MN. In 1991 he was transferred to Indonesia, where he lived and worked as a missionary for many years. In 2003 he returned to MN, where he worked at three parishes and a mission church. Fr. Poser was suspended from those assignments in May 2016, when the diocese received a report that he had sexually abused a minor when he was working at a Shoreview MN parish in the 1970s.

The investigation against the former bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston has concluded, diocesan officials have confirmed. Now, as the results of the diocesan investigation are sent to the Holy See for review, SNAP is urging another investigation into the claims, this time by West Virginia law enforcement officials.

Today, New Jersey advances the safety of victims of sexual abuse with the expected approval of reform bills in NJ house and senate.

Below is an additional list of Jesuit priests who have been publicly accused of abuse and also spent time in St. Louis, MO.

Today, a French Cardinal has been sentenced to a six-month suspended prison sentence for ignoring allegations of sexual abuse against a priest in his diocese. 

Today in New Jersey, survivors of sexual violence will have their chance to tell their stories and affect change. We applaud the sponsors of Senate Bill S477 and look forward to this much-needed reform being adopted in law.