Media Statements
We are SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. We are the largest, oldest and most active support group for women and men wounded by religious authority figures (priests, ministers, bishops, deacons, nuns and others).
CHARGES AGAINST FOUR MEN FOR SEXUAL ABUSE WERE MEMBERS OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESS
(For Immediate Release October 27, 2022)
Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced criminal charges against four individuals in Pennsylvania, Jesse Hill, formerly of Berks County and now a resident of the state of Georgia, Jose Serrano of Lancaster County, Eric Eleam of Butler County, and Robert Ostrander, formerly of Cambria County and now a resident of New York, for the sexual assault and exploitation of children. In each case, all of the defendants’ victims were minors and members of Jehovah’s Witness congregations.
The details of these crimes are horrifying. Our hearts go out to the victims who bravely shared their truth, and we hope that they are receiving the support and professional assistance that they require. No child should ever experience the feeling of terror and fear, let alone sexual abuse.
The 49th Investigating Grand Jury in Pennsylvania determined these charges and are brought by the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office to be prosecuted by Assistant Chief Deputy Attorney General Dan Dye. The investigation found that these men sexually exploited and abused 19 minors with whom they had direct contact, which included their own children in some cases.
AG Shapiro and his team have been steadfast warriors on the side of victims. The OAG investigations of sexual abuse in Pennsylvania have been one of the most successful in the country in securing convictions. We hope AG Shapiro’s track record of arresting over 500 child predators will inspire anyone who suffered sexual abuse in any institution or religious denomination, to come forward and make a report using the AG’s confidential hotline at 888-538-8541.
We hope that today's announcement serves as another warning to anyone thinking of harming a child or covering up abuse, that they will face serious consequences. Every Jehovah's Witness official who knew about, suspected of or shielded these heinous crimes should be fired and charged with failing to report potential child sex crimes to law enforcement. That is how we will deter such callous disregard in the future as a society.
CONTACT: Shaun Dougherty, SNAP Board President, (814-341-8386, [email protected]) Mike McDonnell, SNAP Communications Manager (267-261-0578, [email protected]), Zach Hiner, SNAP Executive Director (517-974-9009, [email protected])
(SNAP, the Survivors Network, has been providing support for victims of sexual abuse in institutional settings for 30 years. We have more than 25,000 survivors and supporters in our network. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)
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Diocese of Buffalo and NY Attorney General Reach Agreement; SNAP responds
(For Immediate Release October 25, 2022)
After years of investigation, today New York’s highest law enforcement official settled a case against Catholic officials from Buffalo. We are disappointed in the lack of results from this settlement and hope that justice for survivors and accountability for enablers in Buffalo will still come.
According to statements from both A.G. Letitia James and Church officials from the Diocese of Buffalo, the settlement as agreed to does not result in any public disclosures of abusers or enablers does not involve any perpetrators facing trial and does not make any changes to the status quo that ease the effects of trauma in Buffalo survivors or make any children in Buffalo safer.
In practical terms, the settlement adds a new staffer to the hierarchy in Buffalo, a Child Protection Policy Coordinator. We are concerned that the person appointed to this role is someone who already works within the Diocese itself and would have greatly preferred to see a truly independent, non-church-related individual take over this office. Similarly, two previous bishops have been prevented from serving in roles with fiduciary responsibility, but, as pointed out by Catholic officials themselves, are not barred from serving in ministerial or pastoral roles. For two men who were accused of covering up decades of sex crimes against children, such a “punishment” does not even qualify as a slap on the wrist.
CONTACT: Judith Burns-Quinn, SNAP Leader, Buffalo NY, ( 716-826-4554 [email protected] ) Michael McDonnell, SNAP Communications Manager ([email protected], 267) 261-0578 ), Melanie Sakoda, SNAP Survivor Support Coordinator ([email protected], 925-708-6175), Zach Hiner, SNAP Executive Director ([email protected], 517-974-9009)
(SNAP, the Survivors Network, has been providing support for victims of sexual abuse in institutional settings for 30 years. We have more than 25,000 survivors and supporters in our network. Our website is www.SNAPnetwork.org)
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Archbishop Emeritus Chaput Calls Out President Biden; SNAP responds
(For Immediate Release October 24, 2022)
Who is the hypocrite and liar? Charles Chaput is part of a Capuchin province that is far from being the minority of abusive clerics in Guam. In Denver, while archbishop, Chaput wounded victims of sex abuse, note the case of Katia Birge, who was allegedly raped by a Catholic lay minister when she was 25. SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, chastised Chaput in the matter.
While in Denver, Chaput never published a list of abusers of his own order. His brother Capuchin, Cardinal Sean O'Malley, is from a Capuchin province that also has never published a list of abusers and who purports to be the lead cardinal for the US response to the Catholic sex abuse crisis. How can O'Malley lead anything when his own order is hiding its abusive clerics?
When he worked in Philadelphia, he let down more victims of abuse. In one case, and with cowardice, Chaput canceled a meeting with a victim once local media learned of the planned appointment. In an address to Ohio seminarians on March 27, 2019, Chaput blamed sexual abuse in the Catholic Church on "a trend of predatory homosexuality and a failure to remove it out of church life."
In May 2016, the Pennsylvania Legislature was on track to move legislation that would eliminate civil and criminal statutes of limitations in cases of sexual abuse and provide a window of time for victims who were time-barred from civil action. As Archbishop of Philadelphia, Chaput corralled the diocesan priests to give them ‘pulpit tips’ to encourage parishioners to call their local state representatives to vote no on the proposed legislation. That bill never made it through the judiciary committee.
In our opinion, the archbishop should put down the bullhorn and the rocks until he has cleaned up his own glass house while in retirement and active on the speaking circuit. Because of Chaput's and O'Malley's hypocrisy and secrecy, President Biden and all other Catholics may be taking their sacraments from abusers.
CONTACT: Mike McDonnell, SNAP Communications Manager([email protected], 267-261-0578), Becky Ianni, Virginia SNAP Leader [email protected], 703-801-6044) Shaun Dougherty, SNAP Board President, ([email protected], 814-341-8386)
(SNAP, the Survivors Network, has been providing support for victims of sexual abuse in institutional settings for 30 years. We have more than 25,000 survivors and supporters in our network. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)
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Diocese of La Crosse Priest Abruptly Resigns With Admission
(For Immediate Release October 24, 2022)
“After many years of neglect, I am being called to face the wrong I caused someone by behavior inappropriate for a priest,” Pierce said. “Facing up to what I have done now requires that I resign as your pastor.”
To us, Pierce’s resignation achieves virtually nothing. It's incumbent on La Crosse Diocese Bishop William Patrick Callahan to quickly announce whether Pierce’s admission constitutes a credible allegation. Was this victim a child or an adult? And after that, we insist Callahan use pulpit announcements, parish bulletins, and church websites to aggressively seek out anyone who may have seen, suspected, or suffered crimes or neglect by Msgr Pierce while in the eastside parishes, previous work assignments, and seminary life. It is rare to see one allegation cited with such a quick resignation.
“After many years of neglect?” Pierce is not old in years and consciences are a lifetime. We can’t help but wonder if church officials ignored the allegations against Pierce and we hope any and all information is turned over to law enforcement. In Wisconsin, victims of child sexual assault older than 45 can’t bring criminal charges forward, and for civil cases, the ability to sue ends at age 35. For a priest who loved his weekly ‘blah, blah, blah' letter to parishioners, Pierce and church officials are silent about this disturbing news. Every parent, every parishioner, past and present, who had contact with Msgr. Pierce should be alerted.
CONTACT: Mike McDonnell, SNAP Communications Manager (267-261-0578, [email protected]), Zach Hiner, Executive Director (517-974-9009, [email protected])
(SNAP, the Survivors Network, has been providing support for victims of sexual abuse in institutional settings for more than 30 years. We have more than 25,000 survivors and supporters in our network. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)
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SNAP opines on the report into the institutional responses to child sexual abuse in England and Wales
(For Immediate Release October 20, 2022)
The final report into the institutional responses to child sexual abuse in England and Wales has been released. This report is yet another example that child sexual abuse is a scourge that affects every institution in every country and requires the full power of the government in order to intervene, prevent abuse, and protect children.
This report is the outcome of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse which aimed to examine the actions – and failures – of a broad range of institutions and organizations. Combined with the contributions of thousands of Truth Project participants, this report provided the government with more knowledge that can be used to protect future generations of children.
To us, this report is more evidence that demonstrates widespread institutional abuse across a range of religions. So far, reports from countries like England, Australia, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, and various states in the United States have demonstrated that there are common threads between nations that have allowed institutional child sexual abuse to go unchecked, including a lack of oversight and accountability to a refusal by church leaders to admit that the problem is ongoing. We have no doubt that these same problems exist in the United States today.
We believe that it is beyond time for our federal government officials to demonstrate the same care for children that the above nations have demonstrated. We desperately need a federal-level inquiry into institutional child sexual abuse in order to fully comprehend the scope and depth of child sexual abuse in our country.
We won't be able to properly avoid future abuse and cover-up unless we show the same degree of interest in learning how abuse and cover-up function in our nation. America can take the initiative and be a leader in this problem, and we urge President Biden to conduct an executive investigation.
While the report lays bare critical facts that show how church officials protected and prevented prosecution it leads to a common theme we have seen globally, “depravity, abuse, and criminal conduct” was allowed to continue. We hope that others in the U.S. are as concerned as we are about this theme playing out across our nation and will join our call for oversight and accountability from the federal government.
CONTACT: Mike McDonnell, SNAP Communications Manager (267-261-0578, [email protected]) Zach Hiner, SNAP Executive Director (517-974-9009, [email protected]), Shaun Dougherty, SNAP Board President (814-341-8386 [email protected])
(SNAP, the Survivors Network, has been providing support for victims of sexual abuse in institutional settings for 30 years. We have more than 25,000 survivors and supporters in our network. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)
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SNAP stands in solidarity with Ohioans for Child Protection
(For Immediate Release October 20, 2022)
We stand in solidarity with advocates who gathered today in the atrium of the state capitol in Columbus. Ohio has almost 2.5 million children. At this rate of abuse, there are roughly 330,000 victims or potential victims among the state's youth.
Lawmakers can adopt common sense legislation to prevent abuse (HB105) and bring healing and justice to survivors (HB266). Beginning this week, Ohioans for Child Protection ask the public to devote one minute every day to protect children from sexual assault by calling their district representatives to support these bills.
This Hidden Predator Act (HB266) would allow victims to bring their abusers into Ohio’s courtrooms, and out of our neighborhoods where they could continue abuse into their geriatric years” said Teresa Dinwiddie Herrmann, Ohioans for Child Protection co-chair.
To us it is clear and simple, the protection of children is always the right thing to do, thus it is a positive step that advocates demonstrate the need for reform. Passing these bills so that those who enabled and covered up sex crimes can be exposed and held accountable makes for safer communities.
CONTACT: Mike McDonnell, SNAP Communications Manager (267-261-0578, [email protected]), Zach Hiner, Executive Director (517-974-9009, [email protected])
(SNAP, the Survivors Network, has been providing support for victims of sexual abuse in institutional settings for more than 30 years. We have more than 25,000 survivors and supporters in our network. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)
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Victim Awarded 30M In Abuse Case In Nassau County New York
(For Immediate Release October 18, 2022)
We applaud Michael Malvin, the victim who bravely shared his truth for justice. We hope this result brings him some sorely needed and long-overdue comfort and closure. There is no doubt he has inspired others. We also hope this encourages other victims seeking justice to stay the course and hold those responsible, accountable for their grievous actions.
During the trial, Mr. Malvin told the jury that David Savage molested him three times beginning in 1979 when he was ten years old. It lasted until 1983, according to Malvin. Malvin agreed to be recognized by his lawyer.
To us, the resolve, in this case, shows how victims' voices can stand up against the odds. This case would not be possible if were not for the incredible work of survivors, advocates, and organizations who helped push the Child Victims Act across the finish line in New York.
We hope this verdict sends a clear message to those violators who escaped criminal justice and the organizations who enabled them, to be aware that the cost of abuse will be placed back on those who committed the act and to those who turned a blind eye.
CONTACT: Janet Klinger, SNAP Long Island ([email protected]), Mike McDonnell, SNAP Communications Manager ([email protected], 267-261-0578)
(SNAP, the Survivors Network, has been providing support for victims of sexual abuse in institutional settings for 30 years. We have more than 25,000 survivors and supporters in our network. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)
Supporters of Chicago Priest rally after another allegation of sex abuse; SNAP urges Cardinal Cupich to visit parishioners
(For Immediate Release October 17, 2022)
The Rev. Michael Pfleger was missed from Sunday Mass at St. Sabina Church just one day after he was accused of child sex abuse for the second time. However, he was the centerpiece of the service.
It astounds us that a devout congregation, much alone a service celebrant, would defend Pfleger, who is facing yet another allegation of child sex abuse, bringing the total to five courageous individuals that have come forward. Even more startling, no prayers were held for the most recent alleged victim or those who found the strength to share their story before.
In obligation, Fr. Walsh read a letter to the parish from Cardinal Blase Cupich, tossing it like trash as the parishioners applauded. Arrogantly, Fr. Walsh said, ‘Oops, sorry.’ To us, this is a reminder of how church officials are quick to dismiss allegations of abuse against one of their own. It is also a sad reminder of how unwilling many churchgoers are to learn the statistics of when a survivor may come forward.
According to our figures over the last two years, two new Catholic clergy or personnel have been charged for sexual abuse per month. Nevertheless, each month, more priests are identified as abusers, and far too many of them are still alive and in employment. This implies that any youngster in their vicinity was never safe until the arrest was made. Furthermore, delayed disclosure is common: the average age of a victim who comes forward to disclose child sexual abuse is 52.
We call on Cardinal Blase Cupich to make a personal visit to the parishioners of St. Sabina and relay the gravity of the allegations against Pfleger. He should also publicly reprimand Fr. Tom Walsh and hold a prayer service for all victims of abuse by the clergy, religious, and laity.
CONTACT: Mike McDonnell, SNAP Communications Manager (267-261-0578, [email protected]), Zach Hiner, Executive Director (517-974-9009, [email protected]) Larry Antonsen, SNAP Leader Chicago, (773-255-3382, [email protected])
(SNAP, the Survivors Network, has been providing support for victims of sexual abuse in institutional settings for more than 30 years. We have more than 25,000 survivors and supporters in our network. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)
Another Allegation Against Archdiocese of Chicago Priest Michael Pfleger
(For Immediate Release October 16, 2022)
Another victim has stepped forward with a claim against Fr. Michael Pfleger. And again, allegations against Pfleger are heightened, especially when the accused abuser is adorned and well-known. Our hearts go out to the victim who shared their truth, and we hope that they and their families are receiving the support and professional assistance that they require.
It's hardly surprising that Fr. Plefger has returned to the spotlight. This is the fourth public accusation, according to our count. Because relatively few claims are proven untrue, as the accusations mount up, everyone should assume that they are real. This circumstance is like that of defrocked priest Craig Harrison of the Fresno, California Catholic diocese, whose victims' trail began in the 1990s. He had a cheering section until the very end when he was laicized. To prove his innocence, he burnt the soil. It required the bravery of an adult whistleblower who saw some of Harrison's activities before the bishop of Fresno began to stand with the half dozen victims or their advocates who had come forward over three decades.
Fame frequently shields predators. For years, Theodore McCarrick was discussed in Catholic circles before being sidelined. We repeat our plea for individuals concerned about Fr. Pfleger to express their feelings quietly. Cardinal Blase Cupich must do more and get to the truth about allegations against Pfleger whether the assault occurred yesterday or 50 years ago. The Archdiocese of Chicago is in a difficult position: it does not want to be sued and lose money; therefore, it has a solid motive to utilize its internal review board to attempt to resolve the issue. Perhaps, after four allegations, it is time to sit Plefger down and support these brave victims, as well as the others who may still be sitting in silence.
CONTACT: Mike McDonnell, SNAP Communications Manager (267-261-0578, [email protected]) Zach Hiner, SNAP Executive Director (517-974-9009, [email protected]), Larry Antonsen, SNAP Chicago (773-255-3382, [email protected])
(SNAP, the Survivors Network, has been providing support for victims of sexual abuse in institutional settings for 30 years. We have more than 25,000 survivors and supporters in our network. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)
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Lawsuit accuses Santa Fe priest of sexual assault
(For Immediate Release October 14, 2022)
A newly filed lawsuit against a priest from the Archdiocese of Santa Fe is the latest reminder that the scourge of clergy sexual abuse is not a thing of the past but a problem in the present. We applaud the brave survivor for coming forward and we hope that this lawsuit will not only bring them some semblance of justice and healing but will also encourage other still-silent survivors to come forward and seek help.
According to the lawsuit, Fr. Daniel Balizan allegedly abused a then-15-year-old boy for months while working at Santa Maria de la Paz Catholic Community. Fr. Balizan has worked at Santa Maria since 2012 and given the nature of this allegation, we can only worry that others may have been abused during his tenure there. Especially given the concerning nature of how the victim was allegedly singled out and groomed, we worry that other children in similarly vulnerable circumstances could have also been hurt.
Church officials from the Archdiocese of Santa Fe chose to downplay the allegations rather than offer support to survivors and parishioners, a tone-deaf response that is all too typical in cases of clergy sexual abuse. Instead of equivocating in the media about church-specific terms like “substantiated,” church officials should be doing outreach to parish communities where Fr. Balizan worked and encouraging survivors or witnesses to come forward. We also call on church officials to explain whether they have or have not forwarded information on to local law enforcement.
This case is a reminder that cases of sexual abuse by a priest, nun, or other church staffer are not uncommon and certainly not a vestige of the past like church officials so desperately claim. We hope that this lawsuit will bring the truth and transparency that Sante Fe parents and parishioners deserve but have yet to receive from their church leaders.
CONTACT: Mike McDonnell, SNAP Communications Manager ([email protected] 267-261-0578) Zach Hiner, SNAP Executive Director ([email protected], 517-974-9009)
(SNAP, the Survivors Network, has been providing support for victims of sexual abuse in institutional settings for 30 years. We have more than 25,000 survivors and supporters in our network. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)
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