Media Statements

Former Archbishop Carroll High School theater director, Christopher Serpentine, was sentenced to three years of sex offender probation last week after pleading guilty to one count of intercourse or sexual contact with a female student, a third-degree felony. He entered the guilty plea prior to the start of his trial. Serpentine was charged in June 2019 with four counts of engaging in a sexual relationship with a student during the victim’s senior year in 2017. He had been employed at the Catholic school since 2014 and was previously an adjunct professor of theater at Delaware County Community College. Serpentine will be a registered sex offender under Megan’s Law for 25 years.

A Cincinnati priest who was facing nine counts of rape for his abuse of a boy between the years 1988 and 1991 today pleaded guilty to the charges against him. We are grateful to the police and prosecutors who shepherded this case forward and we are especially grateful to the brave survivors who came forward and shared their stories so that this dangerous man could be put in jail and kept away from children.

Fr. Urbano Vasquez was convicted on Monday, November 29, 2021, of sexually assaulting an adult female parishioner during confession in April of 2017. The Catholic priest is currently serving a 15-year prison sentence for child sexual abuse. He was convicted in 2019 for sexually abusing two girls, one thirteen and the other nine. All three assaults occurred between 2015 and 2017, while the clergyman was working at the Shrine of the Sacred Heart in Washington D.C.

We applaud the courage of the woman who found the strength to come forward after she experienced horror during a sacred rite. SNAP knows from its work with adult survivors that they – like children -- suffer greatly from such betrayals by trusted clergymen. We even offer support specifically tailored to men and women who have been victimized by clergy. After all, in the Catholic tradition, all parishioners address the priest as “Father,” and he is in a position of authority over their spiritual lives.

We are heartbroken at the loss of our dear friend, Phil Saviano, who passed away Sunday, November 28, 2021, at the home of his brother and caretaker Jim. A clergy sex abuse survivor and whistleblower who played an integral part in exposing sexual assaults against children by Roman Catholic priests in the Archdiocese of Boston, Phil was 69. There are not enough words to describe this terrible loss for both our movement and the world.

Phil’s story figured prominently in the 2015 film “Spotlight.” He was a key figure in bringing attention to the systemic abuse that led to the resignation of Boston’s Cardinal Bernard Law and forever changed the public perception of the Catholic clergy sex abuse scandal. With Phil's help, the Boston Globe’s 2002 series on cover-ups in the Archdiocese of Boston earned it the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2003. The movie based on the Globe's work, "Spotlight," won Academy Awards for best picture and best original screenplay in 2016. Actor Neal Huff played Phil in the movie.

The Catholic Diocese of Charlotte and a Jesuit priest have been named in a lawsuit filed under the Safe Child Act. The complaint accuses Fr. Francis P. Gillespie of sexually abusing a boy at an elementary school over the course of four years.

According to the lawsuit filed by Attorney Richard Serbin, the “plaintiff kept the abuse to himself initially because of Gillespie’s warning and feelings of helplessness and thereafter due to ongoing feelings of guilt, shame, and embarrassment.” We understand only too well how painful it is to confront the harm suffered as a young child and we are grateful to this young man for pursuing accountability and justice through the Safe Child Act. We hope that this lawsuit will lead others who may have been victimized by clergy, brothers, nuns, and church staffers to come forward, report their claim to law enforcement, and begin healing. 

More than a year after a New York City Catholic priest was accused of sexually abusing a child, the Brooklyn Diocese has finally removed the 86-year-old from ministry. According to a statement released by the Diocese, its panel of independent investigators found the allegations against Fr. Peter Mahoney to be "credible."  Church officials also said that his name will now be included on the Diocese's list of accused clerics, although this update does not appear to be a priority for the Diocese as Fr. Mahoney was still missing at the time of this statement.

We loudly applaud the brave survivor who reported the abuse in October 2020, as well as the second victim who filed a lawsuit in April of 2021 under the Child Victims Act. The 2020 accusation took place between 1975 and 1978, while Rev. Mahoney was working at St. Martin of Tours in Brooklyn. We know that the average age for a child sex abuse victim to come forward is 52, so it is not surprising that this survivor is just speaking out now. We would expect many of the civil suits being filed as a result of New York's window legislation to include victims from the 1970s and 1980s.

In late October a parish priest from the Archdiocese of San Francisco was quietly put on leave by Catholic officials after they received an allegation of abuse. While we are grateful that Fr. David Ghiorso was immediately put on leave, as best we can tell, the information about this accusation was not shared with the wider community. We are now calling on Church leaders from San Francisco to be more transparent and forthcoming with parents and parishioners.

Fr. Ghiorso was accused of sexual abuse in a lawsuit filed in California thanks to the state's open civil window. In the letter sent to parishioners at St. Charles and St. Matthias churches, Catholic officials attempted to downplay the allegations against the cleric, saying that they dated back “30-40 years,” and that Fr. Ghiroso has had “39 years of faithful priestly ministry.” To us, this attempt at minimization only makes us more worried; if Fr. Ghiorso abused a child so early in his career, then there should be extra scrutiny given to every place he has worked. Those who abuse children seldom have just one victim.

A lawsuit has been filed in New Jersey against the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, accusing Fr. Peter Foley of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old boy during a trip to the New Jersey shore in 1981. Fr. Foley, now 83, provided a statement to an Inquirer reporter from a Church-run retirement facility in Upper Darby. The cleric denied the allegations but said, "I did give the kid alcohol, but that’s as far as it went." Asked why he would serve alcohol to a minor, Fr. Foley replied, “We were at the Shore.”

Fr. Foley was on the faculty at Cardinal Dougherty High School in Philadelphia in the 1980s. According to the news report and court filing, the priest sexually abused the boy in Pennsylvania and then took him on a trip to New Jersey. SNAP stands with the victim in this case and we applaud his strength and courage in seeking truth and justice.

According to reports, the Archdiocese of New Orleans is being forced to pay the U.S. government $1 million in order to resolve allegations that they defrauded the government of emergency funds in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. This is yet another sad story that shows Catholic officials care more about money than they do about being moral leaders.

It is worth noting that the Archdiocese of New Orleans is supported by one of New Orleans's richest families, the Bensons, who also own the New Orleans Saints. The family has given tens of millions of dollars to the Archdiocese and also provided in-kind donations, such as supplying their PR team to help advise Church leaders regarding their strategy to defeat claims made by sexual abuse survivors.

The Catholic Church in Portugal is setting up a national committee to coordinate the work of local church groups looking into possible cases of child sex abuse by members of the clergy. This action comes after a devasting report revealed the depth of child sex abuse within the French Catholic Church. That study, released by an independent commission, estimated that some 330,000 children and adults were sexually abused over 70 years by priests or other Church-related figures.

We applaud this development, although a truly independent investigation by secular officials would be ideal. Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland all launched their own nationwide probes into crimes committed against their children and the vulnerable by Catholic clergy. It is long past time for other countries around the world to do the same, including the United States.

Just two years ago, Portuguese Church officials said authorities had investigated only about a dozen allegations of sexual abuse involving Portuguese priests since 2001. More than half of those cases were dropped because Church investigators decided there was not enough evidence to pursue them.

While we hope that this new development will shine a light through the dark clouds of sexual abuse in the Portuguese Catholic Church, we cannot forget the far-reaching efforts Church officials have taken to minimize this ongoing problem. 

CONTACT: Michael McDonnell, Communication 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)