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).
Bishop Robert McElroy tapped to be the newest U.S. Cardinal; SNAP reacts
(For Immediate Release May 31, 2022)
We hope that Bishop Robert McElroy’s elevation to Cardinal signals a change in the California Catholic landscape. The current archbishops of Los Angeles and San Francisco, whose seniority is now usurped by the new Cardinal, have resisted transparency on behalf of sexual abuse survivors. Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone alienates many by refusing to do the bare minimum of publishing a list of abusers from San Francisco. At least San Diego has a list and adds to it.
To be sure, Bishop McElroy has work to do to gain credibility; he ignored the advice of Richard Sipe, an esteemed clergy sexual abuse expert regarding Sipe’s warnings about Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. In the end, Sipe was right, and McElroy was mistaken. His list is short, as being proven by the lawsuits now piling up.
Now that Cardinal-elect McElroy has been given the red hat, we hope he asserts himself by resolving to do all that he can to bring transparency about the abuse crisis forward: news reports say that nearly 100 new cases have been filed against his diocese and that Southern California now is facing over 500 new cases.
McElroy was ordained in 1979, 43 years ago. It is poetic to us that the typical survivor needs about forty years to report the abuse that occurred. That means that souls damaged around his ordination, as he began his climb to power, were slowly making their way to speaking out. Those voices are just now being heard.
In 1985 Fr. Tom Doyle’s earliest warnings were made to the Vatican and ignored. McElroy himself, while in San Francisco, was the Vicar General and lived with priests who, it turned out, were abusing kids. As Vicar General under the Archbishop (and later Cardinal) William Levada, he surely was dealing with reports of sexual abuse by clergy, and doing the bidding of Levada, a renowned suppresser of the truth who eventually worked for Pope Benedict as the head of the Vatican office in charge of investigating abuse. Benedict himself is now directly implicated in covering up abuse.
Given Cardinal-elect McElroy’s direct experience, we believe and hope that as a Cardinal, a cleric empowered to vote for the next pope, he will use his enhanced power and position to fight for survivors, even if that means exposing earlier secrets, he may have guarded because of his obedience to more powerful bishops and cardinals. He now is among the most powerful voices in the worldwide Catholic church. He should use this opportunity to right some wrongs, including those which he handled. The church's central, ongoing crisis is not too many conservative or non-conservative prelates or too few prelates, it is the continuing clergy sex abuse and cover-up crisis.
CONTACT: Mike 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 SNAPnetwork.org)
Alleged Predator List released by Southern Baptists, SNAP calls on Attorneys General nationwide
(For Immediate Release May 27, 2022)
Many will applaud Southern Baptist Convention leaders for releasing this list of abusers today. We are not among them. This is the bare minimum step that SBC leadership needed to take following the most recent report that has shed light on decades of abuse and cover-up within our nation’s largest Protestant denomination. If SBC leadership wants applause, they have much, much more to do.
While the publication of these known abusers is critical to ensuring parishioners and children at SBC churches throughout the country are protected, SBC leadership has dragged their feet on taking this simple step for many years. We know that the idea of a database of abusers was suggested to convention leadership as early as 2007 and that this effort to support public safety was refused by church leadership. We can only wonder that, with today’s release, what other information has been redacted or hidden by these leaders?
There is no doubt that SBC leaders needed to act and act quickly in the wake of this week's bombshell report. While we are glad that they didn’t take additional weeks to release this initial, assuredly short, list of names, we are also not waiting for further action from the church. No institution can police itself, and regardless of what steps are taken internally by the SBC, what must happen for true prevention, healing, and justice is the involvement of outside, secular officials.
SBC establishes hotline for survivors of sexual abuse; SNAP responds
(For Immediate Release May 26, 2022)
While this may appear to be a step forward, we remain highly skeptical. It has the feel of a hastily devised public relations move designed to control the aftermath of the scathing report. We cannot stress enough the importance to survivors of having a place to share their information where they know that they will be not only be listened to but more importantly, where they will also be believed.
Many victims, witnesses, and whistleblowers fear coming forward with information about cases of abuse by clergy. There are many reasons for this fear, whether it is due to feelings of shame, or to worries of being blamed or of being singled out as a troublemaker.
SBC vows change as report reveals a Jacksonville Pastor has 44 accusations of sexual abuse
(For Immediate Release May 25, 2022)
During the Southern Baptist Convention executive meeting held yesterday, top leaders and several committee members said that they will release a secret list of hundreds of pastors and other church-affiliated personnel accused of sexual abuse. They also vowed to work toward changing the culture of the denomination and to listen more attentively to survivors’ voices and stories. The report is expected to contain new details about former Jacksonville Pastor Darrell Gilyard. He was a minister at Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church in Jacksonville in 2007.
Accusations against Pastor Gilyard have apparently been made by at least 44 women, and ranged from grooming and groping to rape and attempted rape. The leaders who were told about these crimes may also have been complicit in at least one crime: the crime of covering up. If these leaders were mandatory reporters in Florida or elsewhere, the Attorneys General of those states should be investigating them.
What has emerged from the report is a sort of Baptist Leadership Playbook that echoes the Catholic Bishops Playbook. Deny the accusations, move the perpetrators, intimidate, shame, and blame the victims. Included in this playbook is the use of minimizing, vague terminology: a pastor calls the abuse a "sin" and refers to the moving around of known abusive pastors as “sin." These actions need to be called what they really are, they are crimes.
Former Staten Island Priest Faces Fourth Accusation and New Criminal Charges Related to Child Sexual Abuse
(For Immediate Release May 24, 2022)
A former Staten Island priest who in January was arrested on charges related to child sexual abuse now faces more charges. Fr. James Garisto, who is now the subject of four allegations of sexual abuse, has previously been accused and sued of child sexual abuse and now is facing potential criminal penalties. We applaud the brave survivors in each case against Garisto who have come forward and hope that they are able to find a semblance of justice and healing through this process.
Fr. Garisto was first accused of sexual abuse in a civil suit, filed in July 2021, that was able to see a courtroom thanks to New York’s Child Victims Act. Then, in January 2022, he was arrested and charged for allegedly sexually abusing a 10-year-old boy while Garisto lived in Fishtown, PA yet was still employed by the Archdiocese of New York. Now, four months after his initial arrest in Philadelphia, Garisto has again been arrested on three charges: endangering the welfare of children, corruption of minors, and indecent assault of a person less than 13 years of age.
Diocese of Rochester Catholic clergy abuse victims allowed to proceed with their claims; SNAP applauds the court ruling.
(For Immediate Release May 24, 2022)
In a huge victory for victims of clergy abuse, a federal bankruptcy judge granted survivors permission to resume their previously paused actions against hundreds of independent Catholic corporations that did not seek bankruptcy protection. The judge's scathing ruling slammed what he perceived as the Diocese’s hardball tactics.
“Portraying itself as a victim, trying to do right by the Abuse Survivors, the Diocese predicts that if state court litigation is permitted to move forward against any of the Catholic Corporations, ‘the Diocese may be forced to pursue a non-consensual plan of reorganization,'” U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Paul R. Warren wrote in a 16-page decision and order. “That is a pretty heavy-handed threat to be leveled at the people who are the real victims here—the Abuse Survivors.”
To us, this victory shows the lengths that the Diocese of Rochester and many other Catholic dioceses throughout the country are willing to go to deny justice to victims. The tactics used by the Diocese attempted to minimize their responsibility for the injuries to survivors and to protect their assets rather than caring for those who have already suffered for decades because of unconscionable decisions made by Catholic officials: the victims of clergy sexual abuse.
We celebrate this victory with those survivors who can now have their day in court.
CONTACT: Mike McDonnell, SNAP Communications Manager ([email protected] 267-261-0578) Zach Hiner, SNAP Executive Director ([email protected], 517-974-9009) 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)
Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee is set to meet following a scathing report into abuse and cover-up, SNAP Responds
(For Immediate Release May 24, 2022)
The 288-page bombshell report into abuse and cover-up within the Southern Baptist Convention released this past Sunday may be new to many outside of our space, but for survivors and advocates, this report is really just an affirmation and validation of the truths that survivors of abuse within the SBC have been trying to bring to light for years. The reality is survivors of abuse within Baptist communities have been sounding the alarm for decades. Absent survivors like Christa Brown, Amy Smith, David Pittman, and others, we believe this issue would still be shrouded in darkness, and to that point, every parishioner in the SBC should be grateful for the efforts of survivors who have done more to protect children in these churches than the SBC's leadership themselves.
When the SBC Executive Committee meets today, they should, for the safety of children and the healing of survivors, immediately make public the list of 700+ names of ministers accused of sexual abuse the SBC has secretly kept for years, regardless of how incomplete it may be. There is no reason for this information to stay shrouded in secrecy when it could help protect children today.
In our view, naming potentially dangerous predators beats naming none and encourages others who may have suffered similar harm to come forward and begin their healing journey and help to hold those responsible, accountable. Every individual that is disclosed may prevent one more girl or boy or adult from being sexually violated and traumatized for life.
Adult Survivors Act Passes in New York; SNAP praises the strength of survivors
(For Immediate Release May 24, 2022)
Adult Survivors Act Passes in New York; SNAP praises the strength of survivors
The Adult Survivors Act has passed in the NY State Assembly, 148-3, and is now headed for Governor Hochul’s signature today. This legislation is a window of time to allow individuals who were 18 or older when they were sexually assaulted in New York State to file a lawsuit against the person who harmed them and/or the negligent institution.
SNAP was honored to be part of an incredible coalition led by Safe Horizon and thrilled to be with survivors and advocates to celebrate the news from New York’s State Assembly. The announcement that the Assembly passed the Adult Survivors Act is a huge victory for survivors’ rights in New York.
To us, there can be no justice without truth. And unless someone rises to tell you the truth, justice will be hard to reach, survivors deserve every ounce of credit for making this possible for adult victims in New York, they are the ones who rose.
We believe all survivors deserve to have their day in court and hope that other states will follow in New York’s footsteps and work on their own version of this important legislation. We hope that the passage of the ASA will encourage victims of sexual violence, no matter their age or where their abuse occurred, to come forward and seek the justice they deserve. And we hope that those who may have reported in the past but were ignored or fell victim to archaic, predator-friendly laws will find the strength to go through the process one more time to find healing.
CONTACT: Mike McDonnell, SNAP Communications Manager ([email protected] 267-261-0578) Zach Hiner, SNAP Executive Director ([email protected], 517-974-9009) 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)
Archbishop bans Speaker Pelosi from communion; SNAP responds
(For Immediate Release May 21, 2022)
The Archbishop of San Francisco, Salvatore Cordileone, announced Friday that the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, has been barred from receiving communion in his Archdiocese due to her pro-choice stance. This is certainly not the first time that the Archbishop has spoken out publicly against politicians who support abortion rights, yet we cannot help but note that he has yet to publish a list of the clerics who molested boys and girls in his Archdiocese, unlike the majority of his peers.
In banning Speaker Pelosi from the receiving communion, the archbishop opined, "A Catholic legislator who supports procured abortion, after knowing the teaching of the Church, commits a manifestly grave sin which is a cause of most serious scandal to others." We believe the same can be said about Catholic clergy who sexually abuse children, and we wonder if all of them were similarly banned from receiving communion in the Archdiocese? Were the dozen clerics associated with San Francisco who were arrested, charged, indicted, or convicted of child sexual abuse allowed to continue approaching the cup?
In fact, priests accused of serious crimes against children are not only not usually banned from communion, but they also sometimes remain empowered to administer sacraments as well. Is raping a boy or girl not also a "grave sin?" Should Fr. David Ghiorso have been returned to active ministry while the lawsuit against him is still pending? Should Fr. Daniel Carter have been left in ministry despite having a criminal complaint and a lawsuit filed against him? Do Catholic prelates who have been complicit in transferring known perpetrators continue to give and take communion?
We find Archbishop Cordileone's position the epitome of hypocrisy. We ask that he refrain from public moralizing until he has done all that he can to make the children who attend his parishes, schools, and other facilities safe and to help those victimized in his Archdiocese heal. This grandstanding on one issue while refusing to come clean about the extent of abuse in his Archdiocese gets us further from that goal, not closer to it.
CONTACT: Mike 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)
Another Abuse and Cover-up Lawsuit Filed Against a Catholic School, this time in Oklahoma City
For Immediate Release: May 20, 2022
A lawsuit against a prominent Catholic high school in Oklahoma City that was filed by ten current and former students alleges that the school fostered a “rape culture” that has persisted since at least 2011. We applaud these brave students and their parents for coming forward and using their experiences and voices to force a change and create a safer school for future students.
According to the lawsuit, administrators and officials at Mount St. Mary’s Catholic High School have known for more than a decade that rape and sexual assault was rampant at the school, but rather than take action to protect students, those same employees instead worked to keep these incidences hidden to protect the reputation of the school. It is notable to us that the school’s president, vice president, and school counselor all resigned last year when the allegations started to surface. We believe this is a clear sign that there is merit to these allegations and call on police and prosecutors will look deeply into this case to see if any crimes were committed and to mete out justice.