MS--New bishop named; Victims are skeptical

For immediate release: Friday, Dec. 16, 2016

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790cell, 314 645 5915 home, [email protected])

A new bishop is coming to the Biloxi Catholic diocese. Though we know little about him, we’re skeptical that Louis Kihneman will make Mississippi’s kids any safer.

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/new-biloxi-bishop-humbled-joyed-by-his-appointment-73524/

We’re troubled by his involvement in a Corpus Christi child sex abuse and cover up case. He’s accused of essentially ignoring or white-washing a so-called church “investigation” into allegedly improper sexual advances on a child by a deacon who became a priest named Fr. John Feminelli. Kihneman also reportedly swore the alleged victim and his mother to secrecy.

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news3/1992_09_29_Moore_PredatorsOf_John_Feminelli_1.htm

He also comes from Texas, a state with particularly predator-friendly laws that make it very hard for victims to file lawsuits to expose those who commit or conceal child sex crimes. So we know far less about the church’s abuse and cover up scandal in Texas than in many states.

When new bishops take office, many Catholics bend over backwards to give them the benefit of every doubt. We hope that doesn’t happen here. Complacency protects no one. Only vigilance protects the vulnerable. So we hope Mississippians will make Kihneman earn their trust. We hope they’ll be just as cautious with their kids around clergy as they were under Bishop Roger Morin.

One way Kihneman could – and should – quickly earn the trust of police, prosecutors, parents, parishioners and the public: posting on church websites the names of every child molesting cleric who has worked in Mississippi. About 30 bishops have taken this simple step to protect the vulnerable and heal the wounded. Kihneman should do so too.

(According to BishopAccountability.org, there are seven publicly accused Mississippi predator priests: Fr. Thomas Boyce, Fr. George Broussard, Fr. Bernard Haddican, Fr. James Kircher, Br. William Leimbach, Fr. Paul Madden and Fr. Robert Olivier.)

No matter what church officials do or don’t do, we urge every single person who saw, suspected or suffered child sex crimes and cover ups in Catholic churches, schools or other institutions to protect kids by calling police, get help by calling therapists, expose wrongdoers by calling law enforcement, get justice by calling attorneys, and be comforted by calling support groups like ours. This is how kids will be safer, adults will recover, criminals will be prosecuted, cover ups will be deterred and the truth will surface.

 (SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. SNAP was founded in 1988 and has more than 20,000 members. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)

Contact - David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell, [email protected]), Barbara Dorris (314-503-0003 cell,[email protected])