NY- Albany Catholic deacon sentenced; SNAP responds

For immediate release: Thursday, September 18, 2014

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

The sentencing of an Albany Catholic deacon for child sex crimes shows again that church officials continue to side with accused clerics over innocent children and, as a result, more children are hurt.

Albany Catholic officials defrocked Angel Garcia after reports that he sexually abused a minor in the early 1990s. We suspect that's all they did. We strongly doubt that they gave full information to and worked hard to help police and prosecutors. We strongly doubt that they held a news conference to announce that accusations against Garcia were founded or begged victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to call police. We strongly doubt that they aggressively warned parishioners about Garcia on parish websites, church bulletins and pulpit announcements. We strongly doubt that they put and kept Garcia's name and photo on their diocesan website so that moms and dads would know to keep their kids away from him. 

And we strongly suspect, in this case like thousands of others, Catholic officials did the bare minimum – at best – and may not have even met that very low bar.

Had they acted with courage and compassion, Garcia might have had a tough time getting access to more kids. He might have even been prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned, years ago, so that he could not have assaulted another child. 

But this didn't happen. And the result is that at least one more family has been devastated by the horror of child sexual abuse. 

The question is: what will Albany's bishop do now? Now will he be brave and caring enough to really seek out others who were hurt by Garcia and help them. Will he instruct his employees and flock – especially former church members and church staff – to ask everyone they know “Did Garcia harm you?” Will he give more information about Garcia to police and prosecutors?

Sadly, we doubt it. 

(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 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])