Media Statements

Alleged victim of abusive priest speaks for 1st time
Two weeks ago, he sued pastor who's still on the job
Man challenges priest & his boss to "public discussion"
At least 3 others say cleric assaulted them at orphanage
And SNAP files formal complaint to Vatican re: archbishop
Accuses him of "concealing abuses" thru intimidation & deception

COPY OF A LETTER FROM SNAP TO CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL 

                                                                              Timothy Stier

                                                                              3298 Rossmoor Pkwy., #6     

                                                                              Walnut Creek, CA 94595

                                                                              [email protected]

Attorney General Rob Bonta

Office of the Attorney General

1300 I St.

Sacramento, CA 95814-2919

Dear Attorney General Bonta,

We are writing to request a status update on your office’s auditing of California’s Catholic dioceses, and the collection of reports your predecessor initiated in late 2018 and 2019.

We represent SNAP, the Survivors Network for Those Abused by Priests, and are in daily contact with abuse survivors from all over northern California, and periodically with survivors in southern California as well.  We met with representatives of the Attorney General in 2018 in Oakland to share our extensive knowledge and experience of the ongoing catastrophe roiling the Catholic Church.  We have not heard any report on the status of your office’s collection of reports and audits since you began your tenure as Attorney General.  Your work is very important to us and to those we serve.

Although we imagine you are probably not able to reveal details of your office’s work, we would greatly appreciate a status report particularly in light of this critical period of California being in year three of the three-year window for civil suits against clergy abuse perpetrators and their dioceses.  The sheer numbers of suits already filed, and expectations of many more to come, make us more aware than ever of how much a statewide investigation of the Catholic Church is needed and crucial for the protection of children and teens, and accountability for Catholic bishops and their collaborators.  We know how helpful similar AG’s investigations in states like Pennsylvania and Michigan have been towards greater transparency and accountability.

I have been a priest of the Oakland Diocese since 1979.  I chose to withdraw from active ministry in 2005 because the bishop of Oakland then, and all his successors since, have refused full transparency through opening their secret files, and continue to refuse to hold fully accountable themselves and their predecessors in spite of promises to the contrary.

Thank you for your consideration of our request and for any work already undertaken for this urgent matter.

Sincerely,

Timothy Stier                               Zach Hiner.                              

Priest in voluntary exile               Executive Director                   

Diocese of Oakland                      SNAP

[email protected]                  [email protected]                                 

Melanie Sakoda

Survivor Support Coordinator

[email protected]

Dan McNevin                                 Joey Piscitelli

Bay Area Leader                            SNAP Leader

SNAP Board Member                    Northern California

[email protected]                       [email protected]

Bishop Donald W. Trautman, STD, SSL, retired bishop of the Diocese of Erie, died Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022, at St. Mary Home Asbury Ridge, Erie.

In retirement, Trautman was entangled in the clergy abuse scandal that traveled with him during his work as bishop. 

Though Trautman said he dealt with all the cases properly, he never released the names of the abusive priests — as Bishop Persico, his successor, has done — and he bristled as Attorney General Shapiro, victims and others called him out for what they viewed as an unforgivable lack of diligence and transparency during the scandal.

We hope Catholic officials will show compassion to abuse victims and betrayed Catholics by avoiding a funeral service with full honors. Restraint would be appropriate unless the church hierarchy wants to deepen already deep wounds.

In our view, Trautman’s serious wrongdoing is already ignored and minimized by the church’s hierarchy. Trautman long kept silent about clergy sex crimes and subsequent cover-ups. The 2018 grand jury report, which identified nearly 300 priests in six Pennsylvania dioceses who had abused more than 1,000 children, coincided with an unraveling clergy abuse scandal in the Buffalo Diocese, where Trautman was second-in-command in the 1970s and 1980s when several priests faced molestation accusations.

According to the National Catholic Reporter, the Catholic bishops in the United States are planning a multi-year "National Eucharistic Revival" that will culminate in a  four-day National Eucharistic Congress in July of 2024. The hope is that the event will shore up flagging attendance at mass. The bishops intend to set up a nonprofit organization to raise $28 million to cover the cost of the planned downtown Indianapolis event. However, Donna Doucette from Voice of the Faithful correctly points out, "You had low Mass attendance long before COVID that coincided with finance and sex abuse scandals."

In our view, Church officials are buying $28 million worth of lottery tickets in an attempt to win back a thinning herd. We wholeheartedly agree with Terence McKiernan, co-founder of BishopAccountability.org, who told NCR that he believes the $28 million expense will be "galling" for clergy sex abuse survivors. It is indeed galling to us. 

(For Immediate Release February 24, 2020) 

A disclosure by the Diocese of Bridgeport about Fr. George Maslar has us infuriated, but not surprised. A brave survivor, identified only as "Jane Doe,’" has stepped up and shared publicly about the abuse she suffered as a child at the hands of Fr. Maslar. The woman received a settlement from the Diocese last year, after notifying Church officials in Bridgeport in 2017 that she was assaulted by the priest in 1971 when she was just 15 years of age. She met the cleric when both attended prayer meetings at the Cathedral of Saint Augustine in Bridgeport.

The Diocese of Bridgeport said in response to the woman's public disclosure of the abuse, “It is important to note that when the Diocese first became aware of the allegations in November 2017, it immediately reported them to the Connecticut State Department of Children and Family, Child Abuse and Neglect Careline, consistent with state law and diocesan policies. At that time, the Diocese also alerted the Franciscan order.”

To us, it is just as important to notify parishioners at the churches where Fr. Maslar was assigned that the clergyman had been accused. As far as we can tell, those notifications were never made. The priest worked at St. Francis of Assisi in Athol Springs, New York in 2020, as well as St. Michael the Archangel and the Bridgeport Health Center in 2016.  The Diocese and religious order should both be aware that more survivors and information will be revealed when such allegations become widely known. By keeping this accusation close to the vest, an opportunity was missed to do outreach to those who may have been suffering in silence, believing that they were the only victim.

We stand in awe of this brave survivor, who has herself provided the missing information in a public forum. We hope others who experienced, saw, or suspected Fr. Maslar of crimes will come forward, seek help, expose wrongdoers, deter cover-ups, and start healing.

Those who prey on children rarely have just one victim. We strongly suspect that "Jane Doe" is not alone. The Diocese of Bridgeport and the Franciscans need to fully disclose the work history of Fr. Maslar immediately, as well as notify all of the affected communities of the allegations.

It is a sad state of affairs and strong evidence that the Catholic abuse scandal is still not a thing of the past, to know that the Diocese and the Order were made aware of the accusations in 2017, yet apparently chose not to share with those who may have needed this information. Church officials like to boast that abuse cover-ups no longer occur, but clearly, that is not the case.

CONTACT: 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 more than 30 years. We have more than 25,000 survivors and supporters in our network. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)

For Immediate Release: February 24, 2022

Today, SNAP sent a letter to the Very Reverend Fr. James McCurry, OFM Conv., Minister Provincial of the Our Lady of the Angels Province of the Franciscans. In that letter, SNAP made two very specific requests of the Provincial:

1. To provide a report on the probe into Father Justin Ross, OFM Conv., who was removed from ministry in December of 2020 pending an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct involving a young adult. Since he was removed from ministry, the order has provided no public updates and have failed to alert parishioners and the public of the outcome of the investigation into Fr. Ross. We firmly believe that the Province owes their flock more information about the accusations and the current whereabouts of Fr Ross; and
2. To release a list of those members of the Province who have sexually abused children and adults. Only one Franciscan province has provided such information. The importance of being completely transparent cannot be overstated. When abuse survivors learn that they are not alone, this is usually the first step on the road to healing for those victims suffering in silence.

(FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FEBRUARY 24, 2022)

A federal judge found sufficient claims of fraud allegations exist against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg and ruled that attorneys representing sexual abuse survivors can seek a judgment to have an estimated $95 million in assets the Diocese transferred behind two different trusts moved to its bankruptcy estate.

Sources close to the bankruptcy proceedings explained that the Judge’s ruling essentially is telling plaintiff attorneys that the gate is now open to explore what is believed to be alleged fraud.

We applaud Chief Bankruptcy Judge Henry W. Van Eck for this ruling and hope that continued pressure will mount on the Diocese of Harrisburg to do what is right for victims of clergy abuse, transparency, accountability, and reparation.

In a grand jury report unsealed in 2018, 45 officials with the Harrisburg Diocese were identified as alleged abusers. Many were included in a church-issued report released two weeks prior naming 71 priests and seminarians accused in church records of sexual misconduct with children dating to the 1940s. The Harrisburg Diocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Feb. 19, 2020. It opened the trusts on Nov. 13, 2009, as allegations mounted around widespread sex abuse nationwide within the Catholic Church, court records show.

In our view, an entity that is claiming poverty and applying for bankruptcy protection should not be able to also hide its possessions and financial records from the public. If an organization, institution, or business is truly indigent and unable to pay its creditors, that should be easy enough to prove to the community.

CONTACT: Michael McDonnell, SNAP Communications Manager ([email protected], 267) 261-0578 ), Shaun Dougherty, SNAP Board President L ([email protected], 814-341-8386 ), 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)

(FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FEBRUARY 23, 2022)

In a shocking lawsuit filed in the Knox County Circuit Court of Knoxville Tennessee on February 22, 2022, the Catholic Diocese of Knoxville and Bishop Richard Stika face six counts including defamation, negligence in supervision, and retention as well as negligence in the training of a diocesan seminarian. Also, in the list of counts is intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress.

The lawsuit describes the outrageous behavior of one of its seminarians, culminating in the rape of an employee of the diocese named John Doe for the purposes of this lawsuit. ‘The Pillar’ reported on the unrest in the diocese among both priests and the laity over many issues, including the retention of Sobczuk as a seminarian even after he was expelled from St. Meinrad Seminary, Rockport, Indiana, where three seminarians accused Sobczuk of sexual harassment and sexual misconduct. Stika came under direct criticism for replacing his retiring executive secretary with Sobczuk.

Susan Vance, a leader of SNAP of Tennessee said, "This courageous victim has chosen to risk the criticism that too often accompanies recognition as a survivor of clergy sexual abuse. We applaud his actions to let the truth be told and justice be done."

We echo the words of our SNAP Leader in Tennessee, Susan Vance. The heroism of the brave victim, in this case, is simply remarkable. It takes a ton of courage to fight against such a large institution such as the church, we stand in full support of the truth.

 Under yet another dark cloud for the church’s hierarchy, this lawsuit and the events described have set into motion a mind-boggling series of revelations. And yet, church hierarchy still contends they are not at fault. We are disappointed that Knoxville Catholic officials put their reputations before the needs of victims. We hope Pope Francis will demand an immediate resignation from Bishop Stika for his deceitful, careless, and irresponsible behavior.

CONTACT:  Mike McDonnell, SNAP Communications Manager (267-261-0578, [email protected]), Zach Hiner, SNAP Executive Director (517-974-9009, [email protected]) Susan Vance, SNAP Leader Tennessee, (865-748-3518, [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)

For Immediate Release: February 18, 2022

We applaud Senator Morgan McGarvey and Representative Lisa Willner for their sponsorship, support, and shepherding of SB 153 and HB 464. We believe these bills are much-needed reform that would remove archaic barriers that have been placed in front of survivors of childhood sexual abuse and will allow them the opportunity to expose abusers and enablers in court. We know that giving survivors the opportunity to bring cases against their abusers helps create safer communities and hope that SB 153 and HB464 quickly move forward so that children in Kentucky are safer.

SB 153 and HB464 would remove the statute of limitations for civil actions arising from childhood sexual assault or abuse, giving those survivors who were abused as children the opportunity to receive justice for the crimes they experienced. Because the average age of a survivor of sexual abuse coming forward is 52, too often, those who were victimized as children find courtroom doors closed to them when they finally can confront their trauma and make a report. SB 153 and HB464 would remedy that problem.

Another case of child sexual abuse has hit the Archdiocese of Philadelphia Catholic community. We call on Church officials from the Archdiocese and the school administrators at Mercy Career and Technical High School to be completely transparent with the public in this most recent case of accusations of sexual assault against a child.

Barbara Corbo was hired to teach English and Social Studies at the school in August 2021. Mercy is under the administration of the Sisters of Mercy and an institution of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Corbo is accused of sexual assault, contact with a minor, and other offenses. The accusations stem from December of 2021. School administrators and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia apparently were made aware of the allegations on January 18, 2022, and Corbo was terminated immediately. Our concern is that it appears that Mercy and Church officials would have continued in secrecy about these accusations if it was not for the charges making news headlines this week.