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).
Benedict Now Admits Being at Meeting About Priest Accused of Abuse
Mere days after issuing a categorical denial of the charges levied against him in a newly-released German report into clergy abuse, former Pope Benedict has now walked back his denials and admitted to being at a meeting at which the details of a priest’s pedophilic predilections were discussed. Given that the former Pope has already had to walk back claims he made in his own defense, we believe that his other claims are also likely to be lies and half-truths.
We find it incredibly ironic that Pope Benedict’s own personal secretary, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, issued a statement that said some of Pope Benedict’s were “objectively false.” We are not shocked that half-hearted defenses that fly in the face of researched and established facts are being called out as lies by those close to the former Pope, and based on the report released by Westpfahl Spilker Wastl, we expect the rest of Pope Benedict’s defenses to fall by the wayside, too.
Pope Benedict XVI failed to act over abuse cases when he worked as Archbishop of Munich
A new report into decades of abuse allegations by a law firm in Germany has shown that Pope Benedict XVI did not take action against abusive priests in four child abuse case while he was Archbishop (Josef Ratzinger). Benedict held that position from 1977-1982. The abuse of minors is reported to have continued during his time in Munich and the predator priests remained in active ministry.
The Catholic church tapped the firm of Westpfahl Spilker Wastl in Germany to investigate these matters. "Two of these cases concern abuses committed during his tenure and sanctioned by the state," lawyer Martin Pusch said as he announced the report.
To us, this is not shocking news, reports of Pope Benedict XVI and his knowledge of abuse cases have circulated since his election. However, to us, this is another self-inflicted wound and one that we at SNAP saw coming. In fact, back in 2011, SNAP leadership cautioned Vatican officials against rushing to beatify Pope John Paul II because of how he misled the public about the severity of clergy abuse, actively ignored it, and allowed it to continue. Sadly, we see these unsavory actions and inactions surface years later after lengthy silence by church officials and painful memories harbored by victims.
SNAP sends a letter to Sacramento Catholic Bishop Jaime Soto with five specific requests that he take regarding his list of abusers.
(For Immediate Release January 19, 2022)
Today, SNAP sent a letter to Sacramento Catholic Bishop Jaime Soto with five specific requests is asking that he take regarding his list of abusers. The Survivors’ Network also shared information regarding the excessive presence of abusive clergy and brothers at a local High School. We have included the letter below along with media contacts. The attachments mentioned in the letter can be obtained from the contacts listed.
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Dear Bishop Soto:
January 19, 2022
Dear Bishop Soto: Last month SNAP held a press conference outside your chancery, asking that you update your list of abusers. You can find our list of names attached. Should you have any questions about why these men should be included, please feel free to reach out. As a follow-up from our event, we have five specific actions we are asking you to take:
- Shortly after you published your list in 2019 you said, “The list can be amended both in terms of victims and in terms of perpetrators that we don't know about.” However, despite our event, we notice that your most recent update was in November. We are asking you again today to expand your list to include the 32 additional names we have provided.
- We also hope that you include Alfredo Beccera’s abuser. Alfredo bravely spoke out about his assault at our media event. It seems logical for you to include this perpetrator, as you already name those who abused adults under the age of 25, and Alfredo falls into this category.
- In addition, Fr. Henry Angelino was revealed as a perpetrator on the Diocese of Fresno’s list in August. We recently discovered that he also worked in the Sacramento area. As far as we can tell, he did not work in your Diocese, but we are mentioning this because you would know for certain.
- We would also assume that Fr. Renerio (Fr. Jong) Sabuga, Jr., would not be a controversial addition, since Pope Francis has expanded Vatican law regarding the abuse of adults, and since you have already acknowledged that the allegation was “credible.” Fr. Sabuga is still working as a priest in the Philippines, but adding him to your list might change this dangerous situation.
- Similarly, since you included a link to the Jesuit West Province list on yours, it does not seem unreasonable to ask that those 7 names be included in the section of your list for those accused of abuse elsewhere, rather than obscured in an easily overlooked link at the bottom of the page.
The importance of being completely transparent cannot be overstated. The first benefit is to survivors, who will learn that they are not alone. This may well be the first step on the road to healing for those suffering in silence.
Another plus is being able to see patterns in what happened in the past. For example, we have attached a file with information from public records about abuse at Jesuit High School in Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests Carmichael. As you can see, of the 11 known abusers who worked at the High School, only 5 are directly named on your list. You are missing more than half of the perpetrators.
SNAP urges New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy to quickly appoint an AG to conclude the state's Catholic clergy abuse investigation
In September of 2018, New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal announced the formation of a criminal task force to investigate allegations of sexual abuse by members of the clergy within the Catholic Dioceses of New Jersey. This was in the wake of the scathing Pennsylvania grand jury report, as well as renewed allegations of sexual abuse by then-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, including the first publicly reported assault on a child. However, there have been few updates on the progress of that investigation.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy was sworn in yesterday for his second term. He will be selecting a nominee to take the place of AG Grewal, who resigned in July. We urge Governor Murphy to make this appointment soon so that the new AG can report on the status of the Catholic abuse investigation, including whether or not the probe is an "impediment" to the release of records on former Cardinal McCarrick held by New Jersey Dioceses, and ultimately bring the investigation to a conclusion.
Another "Independent Commission" to investigate clergy sexual abuse in the Catholic Church
The Portuguese Episcopal Conference has set up an "Independent Commission" to document the scope of the sexual abuse of children by Catholic clergy during the period 1955 to 2022. In doing so the Portuguese follow in the footsteps of the CIASE report which uncovered the shocking extent of sexual abuse in France over the last 50 years. The commission's motto is to "Give voice to silence," which captures the painful reality that most victims will be intimidated and threatened into not reporting the crime to their parents or civil authorities.
The Portuguese interdisciplinary commission of seven is headed by Pedro Strecht, a child psychologist, and includes sociologists, judges, and psychiatrists. They will collect "testimony" and "complaints" through online surveys and by searching through legal, diocesan, and media archives. However, Strecht emphasized that the goal is to "study" what happened, not "investigate" - even though findings may be forwarded to the Attorney General's office. This leaves us worried and wondering whether this will be one more exercise in obfuscation and the minimization of crimes by which some clergy abuse their moral authority to satisfy their depraved sexual urges.
CONTACT: Marc Artzrouni, SNAP Europe, ([email protected], +33 - 6 95 73 65 92), 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] )
Children of Catholic Sexual Abuse Victim File A Lawsuit Against a California Diocese After His Death
Last week the children of Catholic abuse victim Jim Bartko took a great first step to memorialize their father’s passing, they filed a lawsuit for the harm done to Jim against the Diocese of Oakland. They were able to do this because a new law in California allows family members to recover non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering, on behalf of their deceased relative. We are grateful to Jim's children for continuing his fight for accountability from the Oakland Diocese.
While growing up in Pinole in the early 1970s, Jim said that he was abused by the serial predator priest Stephen Kiesle, then in his very first parish assignment. The college sports professional kept his secret for nearly 50 years, but finally came forward in 2017. Jim also recounted his story in his 2020 book, Boy in the Mirror, and filed a lawsuit against the Diocese of Oakland that same year. Four days after announcing his suit at a news conference, Jim collapsed and died. The cause of death was a hemorrhage due to cirrhosis, a result of excessive drinking during the more than four decades of keeping his pain hidden.
Judge rejects former Catholic priest's sentencing agreement after hearing victim impact statements
Daniel O’Brien, a Circuit court judge, rejected former Catholic priest Gary Berthiaume's plea agreement after hearing victim impact statements. The jurist sentenced Berthiaume to 20 months to 15 years in prison, instead of the 366-day sentence accepted by the prosecution, saying that the punishment did not fit the crime. The former priest subsequently exercised his right to withdraw his plea. The prosecution will proceed, and Berthiaume may now be charged with the two additional counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct and another count of gross indecency that were dropped as part of the plea deal.
We know that impact statements provide an opportunity for survivors of sexual abuse to express in their own words what they, their family, and others close to them have experienced because of the crime. Many victims also find that it helps provide some measure of closure to the ordeal the abuse caused. Judge O'Brien heard from several survivors, including two men who described how they were "too scared as kids to report the assaults, which led to shame, guilt, and problems with social interaction — some of which continue still, nearly 50 years later." The men also expressed anger, not only at Berthiaume but also at leaders of the Catholic Church who protected priests suspected of or known to have sexually abused young parishioners. One of the victims went so far as to call Berthiaume “a demon who disguised himself as a man of God.” We applaud the survivors who offered their statements and painted a clearer picture of the true depth of the harm caused by Berthiaume and the Church that protected him.
Writer for a Jesuit magazine states that the Catholic Church is safer today - SNAP emphatically disagrees
For Immediate Release: January 6, 2022
Twenty years after the passing of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, its director of implementation has written a piece for a Jesuit magazine extolling the changes in the American Catholic Church and boldly asserting that children are safer today. We here at SNAP do not agree with this rosy assessment. We believe that the reported incidents of abuse of boys and girls by Catholic clergy have gone down substantially since 2002 merely because of how and when survivors of child sex abuse report.
The simple fact is that according to our records-keeping over the past two years, every month two more Catholic clerics or staffers are arrested for contemporaneous abuse. Additionally, each month more and more priests are outed as abusers, too many of whom are still alive and in ministry. What this means is that any child around them, ever, was not safe until the arrest was made. In addition, delayed disclosure is a reality: the average age of a survivor coming forward to report child sexual abuse is 52. This means that it is far more likely that survivors who were abused in the years since the charter was implemented have not yet spoken out. It is difficult to take the author’s claims seriously about the Church being "safer" when new arrests, and new abusers being named, is a monthly occurrence.
Former NJ/MO Catholic priest and notorious serial abuser has died while incarcerated
(For Immediate Release January 4, 2021)
Gerald J. Howard, also known as Carmen Sita, passed away in prison last fall. According to an email from the Missouri Department of Corrections Constituent Services which was passed along to SNAP, the former Catholic priest died on September 19, 2021. We hope that his victims can now breathe easier knowing that he will never again be in a position to hurt children.
Carmen Sita worked as a priest in the Archdiocese of Newark from his ordination in 1976 until 1982. In 1982, he was charged with sexually assaulting a young boy and distributing drugs. The cleric pleaded guilty in 1983 and received a sentence of 5 years probation. The Church apparently then briefly sent him for psychiatric treatment at the Servants of the Paraclete in Jemez Springs, New Mexico.
Astonishingly, but not surprisingly, Sita, who had legally changed his name to Gerald Howard, was then allowed to go back to work as a clergyman in the Catholic Diocese of Jefferson City, Missouri, in 1983. In 2009, a lawsuit accusing Sita/Howard of sexually assaulting a boy in Missouri that very same year was settled for $600K.
SNAP responds as yet another priest in the Ft. Wayne-South Bend Catholic Diocese is removed
(FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE JANUARY 3, 2022)
SNAP responds as yet another priest in the Ft. Wayne-South Bend Catholic Diocese is removed
Fr. Eric Burgener, ordained in 2017 for the Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, has been removed from public ministry after the Diocese received "credible allegations" of "serious boundary violations" with an adult woman parishioner. In a letter to the faithful shared on New Year's Day, it was disclosed that the survivor came forward on December 5th. While it is unclear exactly when Fr. Burgener was forced to step down, we cannot help but wonder if the announcement was delayed until after the usually robust Christmas donations were collected.