MO - Victims write 9 local pastors
- Victims write 9 local pastors
- They by-pass local Catholic bishop
- Group seeks help about jailed priest
- Convicted once, he may soon be freed
- Cleric spent time in 3 mid-Missouri counties
- And he worked at now-closed Columbia hospital
- Self help group begs people to call police, not church officials
WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims will announce that they are writing
--nine Catholic pastors in three mid-Missouri counties about a now-jailed predator priest, urging the clerics to help them find others who he molested, and
--Jefferson City’s Catholic bishop asking him to divulge whether any other current or former church employees have legally changed their names after having been accused or proven guilty of crimes.
They will also urge law enforcement officials in Boone, Cooper and Callaway counties to do “everything possible” to seek out other victims, witnesses and whistleblowers.
WHEN
TODAY, Monday, Nov. 26 at 1 p.m.
WHERE
Outside the Columbia Police Department headquarters, 600 East Walnut, Columbia, MO (573-874-7652)
WHO:
Two-three child sex abuse victims who belong to a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org), including a Columbia man and a St. Louis man (who is the organization’s long time director)
WHY
Earlier this month, Boone County prosecutors disclosed that they are investigating a Catholic priest and former local counselor who molested kids but may soon walk out of jail. http://www.abc17news.com/news.php?id=8181
He is Fr. Jerry Howard of the Jefferson City diocese. For more than two years, he has been jailed in Cooper County, facing charges of molesting three boys there. Within weeks, a judge will decide whether the statute of limitations on Howard’s alleged crimes has expired. If so, he will be released.
SNAP wants anyone who has information or suspicions about the cleric to contact secular authorities, not church staff.
SNAP has repeatedly asked Jeff City Bishop John Gaydos to use his staff and bulletins and websites to help find others who may have been hurt by Howard, so they too can either help file charges against him or get him convicted on the pending charges. Gaydos, however, has ignored SNAP’s requests. So SNAP is now writing directly to the nine local pastors, urging them to make outreach announcements in their churches.
As a priest, Howard worked at St. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Boonville. As a counselor, he later worked at Columbia’s now-closed Charter Hospital. After that, he reportedly worked in Callaway County.
According to sworn testimony last month by three of Howard’s victims in Cooper County, Howard molested children several places, including at his Boonville home.
In 1983, Howard was convicted of abusing a New Jersey boy. (He was sentenced to five years on probation.) Less than a year later, however, Catholic officials let him legally change his name – from Fr. Carmine Sita to Fr. Jerry Howard - and quietly sent him to Boonville, without warning parishioners or telling them of Howard’s crimes. In Boonville, Howard sexually assaulted several boys from 1983-1988, eventually being ousted from the parish. SNAP believes he has never been defrocked.
SNAP is also writing to Gaydos, asking him to disclose whether there are or were other sexually troubled clerics in the diocese who have changed their names.
There are four Catholic churches in Boone County (Holy Spirit in Centralia and Our Lady of Lourdes, Sacred Heart, and St. Thomas More Newman Center, all in Columbia), three in Callaway County (St. Jude in Mokane, St. Andrew’s in Holts Summit and St. Peter’s in Fulton), and two in Cooper County (Sts. Peter and Paul in Boonville and St. Joseph in Pilot Grove).
A photo of Howard is available at BishopAccountability.org
http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2010/04/jersey_city_ex-priest_guilty_o.html
http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2012/10/30/boonville-priest/
http://www.connectmidmissouri.com/news/story.aspx?id=819881
Winter Appeal 2023
To our friends,
2023 has been a long year with many ups and downs for us all. As we close out the year, we at SNAP hope that you are feeling like you are on your way to being healthy, fulfilled, and happy. This past year has brought both successes and challenges. Thanks to the support you have shown in the past, we’ve been able to celebrate the good days and weather the stormy ones. Now, we are once again asking for your support as we work to support survivors new and old as we ‘Move SNAP Forward.’
At SNAP we are proud to have hosted a very well-attended conference in August 2023. This event allowed us to gather friends, survivors, advocates, and allies for a weekend of camaraderie and connection. We were so happy to be able to welcome many first-time attendees to gather in person and are already looking forward to the next conference.
To strengthen our movement for justice, healing, and prevention, SNAP will be expanding our peer support and providing more volunteer opportunities in the coming year. Through this great work, we are ensuring survivor voices are represented as we work for significant change that will benefit children and survivors.
Right now, survivors worldwide are getting the help they need from SNAP, and more and more reach out to us daily, but we need your help to keep those programs going and get our volunteers the training they need to thrive.
Your tax-deductible gift to SNAP can help offset the cost of our important mission. If you are not in a position to contribute, you can still support us by sharing this letter with those who can. As we continue to fight for survivors across the globe, your donation or sharing the great work SNAP does will help us continue our work to protect the vulnerable, heal the wounded, and prevent abuse.
Your donation ensures SNAP will be there for those who need us more than ever!
Warmly,
Michael W. McDonnell, C.P.S.
Interim Executive Director