Predator Jeff City priest is arrested

Three of his victims testified to grand jury

Cleric was convicted of molesting in NJ in 1982

Bishops the let him change his name & transferred him

SNAP appeals to his former-Columbia hospital colleagues

And SNAP wants Catholic officials to speed up defrocking him

Self help group also wants ex-Jeff City priest/bishop defrocked too

And it urges others who saw, suspected or suffered clergy crimes to speak up

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims will
-- discuss the arrest of a former mid-Missouri predator priest,
-- urge the cleric’s former patients and colleagues at a Columbia hospital to speak up, and
-- prod Jeff City’s bishop to speed up defrocking the predator and another predator priest who went on to become a bishop and who admitted that he molested a boy.

The victims will also
--plead with current and former church members and employees to call police if they have any information about accusations against the clerics, and
--beg victims and witnesses to step forward, get help, and help protect others by contacting law enforcement.

WHEN
TODAY, Thursday, April 29 ---- 11:15 a.m. in Columbia and 1:00 p.m. in Jeff City

WHERE
In Columbia- Outside the city police station headquarters downtown , 600 Walnut
In Jeff City- Outside the Jefferson City Catholic Diocese headquarters, 2207 W. Main St. (near Forest Hill Ave.)

WHO
Two leaders of a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org)

WHY
Yesterday, New Jersey officials took into custody a serial pedophile priest who worked in mid-Missouri.

Last August, SNAP disclosed that Fr. Carmine Sita pled guilty to molesting a New Jersey boy in 1983. (He got 5 years probation.) Less than a year later, however, Catholic officials let him legally change his name to Fr. Jerry Howard and quietly sent him to Boonville, without warning parishioners. There, Howard sexually assaulted several boys from 1983-1988. He’s now being prosecuted by Cooper County authorities.

After being ousted from his Boonville parish, Howard went on to work at the now-closed Charter Hospital in Columbia. SNAP has heard from at least one boy who was abused by Howard there. SNAP wants former staff and patients at the facility to spread the word about Howard’s arrest and urge others who may have information about his crimes to contact police and prosecutors.

SNAP also wants Gaydos to prod the Vatican to defrock a former Missouri priest who headed a Hannibal seminary and molested kids there. The cleric, Bishop Anthony O’Connell, went on to become the bishop of Knoxville TN and Palm Beach FL. He’s now believed to be living in South Carolina. Recent news accounts have proven that high ranking church officials, including Pope Benedict, have deliberately delayed permanently ousting predator priests. Because it’s such a lengthy process, SNAP wants Gaydos to work harder to get Howard and O’Connell defrocked.

A photo of Sita/Howard is avail able at BishopAccountability.org

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2010/04/jersey_city_ex-priest_guilty_o.html

CONTACT
Judy Jones 314 974 5003, Barbara Dorris 314 503 0003, David Clohessy 314 566 9790