NY - Albany predator priest case moves forward; SNAP responds
For immediate release: Monday, September 8, 2013
Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 862 7688 home, 314 503 0003 cell, [email protected])
A clergy sex abuse and cover up case involving an Albany Catholic priest will proceed, despite a pathetic effort by Albany’s bishop to exploit legal technicalities to keep the cover up covered up.
http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Judge-rejects-diocese-appeal-4797573.php
Bishop Howard Hubbard should accept the court’s ruling, stop further delays, and let this brave victim seek justice.
Hubbard’s splitting hairs over which court has jurisdiction rather than showing leadership and helping out resolve this case.
It’s clear he’s dreadfully afraid that long-secret church records about Fr. Mercure will surface. Hubbard also fears that he’ll have to face tough questions under oath in open court about what he and his top staff did to ignore, conceal or enable Fr. Mercure’s crimes.
Over 11 years ago, America’s Catholic bishops pledged to be “open and transparent” in clergy sex abuse and cover up cases. Yet Hubbard is saying here “We want our records to be kept secret” and “Even if we have to disclose our records, we don’t want them being made public.” What does he have to hide?
In public, Hubbard claims to be a compassionate shepherd. But in court, he fights like a cold-hearted CEO, even in cases involving a predator priest whose guilt has been clearly proven.
We hope every single individual who saw, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes and cover ups in Albany – whether by Mercure or any church employee – will speak up, get help, call police, expose wrongdoers, protect kids and start healing.
Contact - David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell, [email protected]), Barbara Dorris (314-862-7688 home, 314-503-0003 cell, [email protected]), Barbara Blaine (312-399-4747, [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
Showing 3 comments
—BIGGER AND WORST THEN PENN STATE -—-SICK SICK SICK BISHOP HUBBARDAttention Carnegie Mellon students and faculty:
If you are drugged, raped or sodomized.
by a catholic priest from the Pittsburgh Diocese.
DO NOT CALL.
911.
Here’s why.
How do you cover-up crimes committed by Catholic priests in the Pittsburgh Diocese?
It’s simple – Just Call 911.
By Mike Ference.
Sometime in the first quarter of 1987, former Catholic priest Father John Wellinger, pastor of Holy Spirit Church in West Mifflin, PA, part of the Pittsburgh Diocese, allegedly drugged a student/teenager attending the University of Pittsburgh. The crime allegedly took place in the student’s apartment that he shared with his brother, also a student at Pitt. The drug knocked the youth out for hours, when he awoke, he intuitively called 911. Sadly, that’s when his real nightmare began.
Running down the stairs and into the street to meet the paramedics, the Pitt would be whisked away to Presbyterian University Hospital emergency room (now University of Pittsburgh Medical Center). He would be admitted, but never examined by a doctor. Keep in mind this young man was given some sort of drug, administered by a lay person, with very bad intentions, according to the student, he also consumed some alcohol, yet, no doctor wanted to be bothered by this type of case, allegedly.
Why?
Could it be that the call to 911, answered by Pittsburgh paramedics, was the first step in alerting the Pittsburgh Diocese that one of their own had harmed another? Would diocesan officials then alert hospital officials to avoid contact with the patient?
Or, is it more reasonable to assume that medical personnel, sworn to care for and help others in need would just say we can’t help this guy? I don’t think so. An emergency room doctor, spending so much money on med school and with so much to lose, would never make that call.
Then why did the student leave Presbyterian University Hospital that day and receive no medical attention? Who paid the bill? These are all questions that I have asked of Paul Woods, Vice President & Chief Communications Officer at UPMC. To verify my story, Mr. Woods can be contacted at 412-647-6647, his cell phone number is 412-352-2058.
To verify my story with another person feel free to contact former city of Clairton Public Safety Director William Scully. Scully gave me hand-written notes and plenty of information that was almost identical to the information given to me by the student/victim who was drugged and probably assaulted by Father John Wellinger. I still have the original notes Scully gave to me in the presence of another witness. These notes can be tested, I’m told, to determine the actual age of the paper and writing instruments.
That’s a story for another day. To contact Bill Scully call ALCOSAN, one of the most corrupt government agencies in Pittsburgh, 412-766-4810. Scully is the director of security. Which means; he guards poop.
If Paul Woods and Bill Scully refuse to answer your questions, I’ll send you a copy of the notes Bill Scully gave to me, and a transcript of an interview I have with a woman from Holy Spirit Church who went to the Pittsburgh Diocese to warn them about Father John Wellinger. She was turned away and labeled a gossip-hound.
I’ve used the term allegation throughout this article; sadly, it appears the story was common knowledge among many Allegheny County residents.
As an alumni of the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work, 1970; I assure you I have no ax to grind with the school. I’m searching for the truth and justice. I trust these are sacred issues to current students and faculty at the University of Pittsburgh, maybe not.
One more thing, there’s a paper trail form the Pittsburgh Diocese to the victim’s father. This will help to verify my story as well.
After 25 years of investigating clergy abuse and corruption in the Pittsburgh Diocese and PA Government it seems the time is ripe to reopen an investigation into the attempted murder of my son.
Since January of 2013 colleagues and I have forced the Pittsburgh Diocese to send out warning letters concerning three clerics that served within the jurisdiction of the Pittsburgh Diocese, Father Michael LeDoux, former headmaster at Serra Catholic High School, Brother Kenneth Ghastin, former monk and teacher at Serra Catholic High School and Father John Wellinger, former assistant at St. James Parish in Wilkinsburg.