OK--Archbishop says he’ll remove convicted priest; Victims respond

For immediate release: Tuesday, April 26, 2016

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

We’re thrilled that caring and courageous parishioners challenged a reckless and secretive archbishop, and that a convicted predator priest will not head a parish with an elementary school.

http://newsok.com/article/5494351

http://kfor.com/2016/04/23/priest-convicted-of-sex-crime-finds-home-in-lawton-parish/

Frankly, we don’t believe Archbishop Paul Coakley’s claim to have found “new information” about Fr. Jose Alexis Davila. We believe Oklahoma City Catholic officials buckled under public and parishioner pressure. And it shouldn’t take outraged moms and dads to keep a predator priest out of the pulpit.

We renew our challenge to Coakely: disclose whether you’ve secretly welcomed other sex offender clergy into your archdiocese and hold an open public meeting to answer questions about your secretive and irresponsible decisions.

Sadly, we predict in a few months, Fr. Alexis Davila will quietly be re-assigned to a church again. Remember, since 2012, he’s been sent to Nevada, Utah and to four Oklahoma parishes. In a few years, we predict, he’ll be discovered again working around unsuspecting families and vulnerable teenagers.

We hope that anyone in any of the four states where Fr. Alexis Davila’s been who has information or suspicions about his crimes or cover ups by his supervisors will come forward now.

This case reminds us that every single person who saw, suspected or suffered child sex crimes and cover ups in Catholic churches or 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]), Barbara Blaine (312-399-4747,[email protected])