Media Statements

(For Immediate Release September 20, 2021) 

Fr. Bryan Medlin, a priest in the Catholic Diocese of Gaylord, is under investigation by the Office of Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel. According to the Michigan State Police, they are investigating reports of a Diocese of Gaylord clergy member who is accused of sending inappropriate text messages to high school students.

We applaud the ongoing investigation in Michigan for making children and communities safer, and for forcing institutions to be honest and accountable. This disturbing news is sadly not shocking to us, but it refutes the message we often hear from Catholic officials that their sex abuse scandal is a "thing of the past."

More information was revealed yesterday in a New Orleans courtroom regarding the arrest of a former Catholic clergyman, Stephen Sauer. Jefferson Parish detectives disclosed that they had been able to identify five victims from the pictures the ex-Jesuit had taken of their driver's licenses. Sauer had nude photos of the sleeping men in sexual poses, and the victims confirmed to law enforcement that they had not consented to this activity. In addition, during the execution of the search warrant, deputies found sleeping aids, syringes, condoms, and other incriminating items. There was enough evidence to arrest Sauer on the spot. If the ex-Jesuit can post bail he will be required to be on house arrest.

Sauer worked at Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles from 2008 to 2010 and at the University of San Francisco from 2013 to 2016. In the media statement we issued on Wednesday, we listed the charges filed against Sauer and a history of where he had worked during his career, urging outreach by all the organizations and institutions that had employed the former Catholic priest to alert any potential victims. Today, we commend the no doubt shocked and disturbed victims for cooperating with the investigation and renewing our call for outreach.

A former Jesuit priest, Stephen Sauer, was arrested on December 14, 2021, and charged with five counts of video voyeurism and one count of sexual battery. A spokesperson for the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office said. “We do believe there may be more victims.” Anyone with additional information should contact JPSO’s Personal Violence Section at (504) 364-5300.

While it has not yet been disclosed whether or not the accusations arise from Sauer's work, we too fear that there may well be additional victims, either at  Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, where the former Jesuit worked from 2008-2012, or at the various other organizations with which he was associated. Sauer was the Executive Director of Arc of Greater New Orleans, which provides services to the mentally disabled of all ages until his arrest.  The former priest was apparently also a co-founder and former board chairman of Hotel Hope, a New Orleans non-profit that provides shelter for homeless families.  He also held various other positions that may have put him in contact with vulnerable populations.

Following the release of the Sauvé Report, which documented more than 300,000 cases of sexual abuse by clergy and lay workers over the last seven decades in France, the pope was supposed to meet members of the commission, including its president Jean-Marc Sauvé, on December 9th at the Vatican. 

The postponement of the meeting coincided with eight members of the prestigious "Catholic Academy of France" writing a "rebuttal" that was critical of the Sauvé Report.  The document, sent to the papal nuncio in France, questioned, among other things, the statistical methodology used to reach its staggeringly high number of victims.  It has caused consternation, disbelief, and a wave of resignations from the Academy, including that of the president of the bishops' conference - the very body that commissioned the Sauvé Report in the first place. 

Christopher Mendoza was fired by the Boy Scouts of America- Alamo Area Council (BSA-AAC) after he was arrested last week and charged with possession of child pornography and possession with intent to promote child pornography. Mendoza worked in the Council's outdoor programming department at the time of his arrest and had been employed since 2014 in various roles within the BSA-AAC. He was released on bond by the Bexar County, Texas, court.

It is baffling to us that the Boy Scouts of America claimed in response to the arrest that it has some of the “strongest protection policies" of any youth organization in the country. Mendoza apparently managed to evade the screening process and work for the BSA-AAC undetected for seven years. We find it hard to believe that this accused child pornographer was not engaging in this behavior during the entire course of his employment. This leads us to wonder if someone with knowledge of Mendoza's proclivities looked the other way, as well as how many others may have also slipped through the cracks.

Frs. James Buckley, Edward Byington, and Richard Degagne have been added to the list of clergy "credibly accused" of sexual abuse maintained by the Diocese of Fall River, Massachusetts. According to the Diocese, Fr. Degagne had been suspended since 2019, and Frs. Buckley and Byington since 2020. Although all three priests have denied the allegations against them, we know that false accusations of child sexual abuse are extremely rare. We stand with the extremely brave victims who came forward and who have now finally been vindicated.

Fr. Buckley was ordained in 1959 and was already retired at the time of his suspension. He worked at three Fall River churches, St. Mary’s Cathedral, Sacred Heart, and Immaculate Conception, as well as St. Joan of Arc in Orleans, St. Augustine in Vineyard Haven, St. Margaret in Buzzards Bay, and Holy Redeemer in Chatham.

Fr. Eckley Macklin has apparently been found to have a "credible" allegation of sexual abuse of a minor in the Diocese of Corpus Christi, according to information shared in a parish bulletin from a Catholic church in the Diocese of Cheyenne.  The priest worked in that Diocese from 2003- 2015 in the parishes of St. Ann in Saratoga, St. Joseph in Lovell, St. Stephens Mission in St. Stephens, and St. Margaret in Riverton.

However, the Diocese of Corpus Christi has yet to include this information on its list of abusers, and the religious order to which Fr. Macklin belongs, the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity (SOLT), has yet to release a list of accused members at all. SOLT is headquartered in Corpus Christi.

For immediate release: December 13, 2021

Fr. Wilbroad Mwape was preaching again at St. Anthony of Padua in Greenville, South Carolina, on December 11, 2021, just four months after he was placed on temporary leave following an accusation of sexual exploitation by one of his parishioners. A civil lawsuit was filed on August 4, 2021, and the complaint said that this priest abused his position of power beginning while he was at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Orangeburg, and continuing when he was relocated to Greenville.

SNAP is calling out the Diocese of Charleston, South Carolina, for putting this clergyman back into a position where he may again abuse those seeking help and trusting in their spiritual “leader.” It is incredulous to us that just six months after Pope Francis changed Catholic Church law to criminalize the sexual abuse of adults by priests, this accused cleric is back in the pulpit, apparently without any announcement or explanation from the Diocese.

The new Vatican law, which became effective on December 8, 2021, also removes much of the discretion that long allowed bishops and religious superiors to ignore or cover up abuse, making clear those in positions of authority will be held responsible if they fail to properly investigate or sanction perpetrators.

A Pittsburgh diocesan priest who was removed from ministry in 2003 and later publicly named as accused in a priest profile in the 2018 Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report was arrested yesterday for once again victimizing children. We are outraged at this situation and hope that he will finally be able to be held accountable for his crimes.

According to court documents, Paul Spisak, 77, was arrested yesterday after being allegedly caught taking pictures of minors using public bathrooms in a local store in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Spisak was charged with two felonies, Photograph/Film/Depict on Computer Sex Act - Knowingly or Permitting Child and SEXUAL ABUSE OF CHILDREN - POSSESSION OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY as well as a misdemeanor Invasion of Privacy - view, photograph, etc. person He is due back in court for a preliminary hearing on December 22, 2021.

For immediate release: December 7, 2021

Less than two years ago the Coptic Orthodox Church experienced its #MeToo moment after a young activist survivor exposed a child-abusing cleric on social media. The priest was removed subsequently from ministry, and the Church reportedly “vowed to eradicate inappropriate behavior.”

Yet when that same survivor, Sally Zakhari, was recently invited to speak at a Coptic parish in Toronto, Pope Tawadros II inexplicably shut down her presentation, SNAP proudly stands with Sally and we have a message for Pope Tawadros: You cannot “eradicate” clergy sexual abuse if you are afraid to even allow people to talk about it.

We hope that the Pope’s ban will backfire and that “The Road to Discipleship: Rediscovering Christ through Trauma” will ultimately be heard. The intrepid Sally reports that the action is sparking a backlash from the Coptic community and that the search for a new venue for the talk is in progress.

SNAP knows from experience that the voices of survivors can and will lead the way to true change in recalcitrant churches. We think that day of reckoning is coming to the Coptic Church. #letherspeak #copticsurvivor #copticsurvivormovement

CONTACT: Melanie Sakoda, SNAP Survivor Support Coordinator/SNAP Orthodox Leader ([email protected], 925-708-6175), Michael McDonnell, SNAP Communications Director ([email protected], 267-261-0578), Zach Hiner, SNAP Executive Director ([email protected], 517-974-9009)