NY--Archdiocese says abuse in the past, yet refuses to open secret files
For immediate release Thursday, December 14, 2017
Statement by Joelle Casteix, SNAP Volunteer Western Regional Director (949) 322-7434 cell, [email protected]
The New York Archdiocese has known about the extent of child sex abuse in its boundaries for decades. It’s a shame that it’s taken until now for church officials to finally reach out to a small portion of victims who have suffered childhood sexual assault by members of the clergy.
Any step that helps victims on the path to healing should be applauded. We hope that the Archbishop Dolan will expand the program in 2018 to help those abused in the New York Archdiocese by religious order priests, nuns, brothers and lay employees. These groups also worked with NY children under the supervision of the Archbishop.
In a statement released yesterday the archdiocese claims “Fortunately, for the Catholic Church, such horrors are now mostly confined to the past.” We cannot know if this is true, because Cardinal Dolan will not release evidence of abuse contained in his secret sex abuse and cover-up files. Those files can only be accessed through the tried-and-true civil justice system and by changing the statutes of limitations of child sex abuse in Albany.
(SNAP, the Survivors Network, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for victims of sexual abuse in institutional settings. SNAP was founded in 1988 and has more than 25,000 members. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who were molested in all institutional settings, including churches, schools, clubs, and homes. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)
Contact – Joelle Casteix (949-322-7434, [email protected]), Barbara Dorris (314-503-0003, [email protected]), Melanie Sakoda, (925-708-6175, [email protected])
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
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“At a time when nearly every institution that involves minors has had to face allegations of abuse, the Church is now a model in how to respond to this horror,” the Archdiocese of New York said Dec. 7.
I pray that the Roman Catholic Church never becomes the model of how an institution should respond to sexual abuse.
The archdiocese will never open its secret files because that is not allowed by Church Law.
Yes, boys and girls the same church laws requiring secrecy punishable by excommunication are still in place. Roman Catholic Church law says that leaders and clergymen should keep sexual abuse secret or else they will get booted out of the church. There are still secrecy church laws in place that require bishops to cover up for accused priests. The list could go on and on. The same laws, processes and penalties that made this priest sex abuse scandal possible are still in place and have not been changed one bit. This is a deep dark secret that Church officials don’t want the public to know. The abuse remains hidden in secret files and the church still deals with the sexual abuse of children by priests in secret.
For the sake of justice and to prevent future recurrences Church Law and Processes must be changed. For example: how about a church law excommunicating priests who molest children and excommunicating bishops who coverup or fail to turn in accused priest to law enforcement?