For immediate release: Monday, June 2, 2014

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com)

Our hearts ache for Chris Naples, Patrick Newcombe, Bob Markulic and the other victims of Fr. Terence McAlinden. And our stomachs churn at Trenton Bishop David O'Connell's disgusting legal maneuvers in this case.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2014/06/when_is_a_priest_not_a_priest_when_hes_molesting_a_child_diocese_says_in_defense_of_lawsuit.html

The bishop professes to be a caring shepherd. But he's acting like a callous CEO, exploiting every hair-splitting technicality his expensive lawyers can dream up to evade responsibility for the heinous crimes of this predator priest.

Trenton Catholics must ask themselves “Will we do nothing while our alleged spiritual leader inflicts more pain on an already suffering man who was sexually assaulted perhaps hundreds of times as a child?” 

And New Jersey bishops must ask themselves the same question.

(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. We’ve been around for 25 years and have more than 15,000 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, SNAPclohessy@aol.com), Barbara Dorris (314-503-0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com), Mark Crawford (732-632-7687, mecrawf@comcast.net)