Priest targeted in new suit vs. Vatican lives here

Child molesting cleric was sent to 13 sites on 3 continents

He’s now believed to be living in Stockton, despite having hurt 20+ kids

Victims want him moved to a treatment center so that children will be safer

Group also wants Stockton bishop to post names of all predators on his website

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims will disclose that a serial predator priest (just sued yesterday for child abuse), now apparently lives in the Stockton area.

They will prod Catholic officials – in Stockton and elsewhere – to
---- disclose the pedophile’s exact whereabouts and warn their flock about him,
---- put him in a remote, secure treatment center so that kids will be safer, and
---- aggressively reach out to anyone with information about him and his alleged crimes and urge them to call police.

Finally, the victims will also ask Stockton’s bishop to permanently post on his website the names, whereabouts and status of all child molesting clerics.

WHEN
TODAY- Thursday, July 1, 2:00 p.m.

WHERE
Outside the diocesan headquarters (chancery office), 1125 North L incoln Street St. in Stockton CA

WHO
Two members of a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org), including a Bay Area man who was abused by a cleric in the same religious order

WHY
1) Yesterday, an unusual new civil child sex abuse and cover up lawsuit was filed against the Vatican because of a serial child molesting Catholic priest believed to be living in the Stockton area.

According to the AP, “The lawsuit filed in LA Superior Court claims the Rev. Titian "Jim" Miani abused children in Italy, Canada and California, including at least 12 alleged victims at a Catholic high school in Bellflower, a suburb of Los Angeles.”

A confidential source has told SNAP that Miani lives at in an apartment complex at 3700 N Sutter Street, Apt 207 in Stockton (209-463-8200). http://www.manta.com/c/mmjw50s/casa-manana-inn SNAP believes he has not been defrocked. He’s still listed as a priest on the Stockton Catholic diocese’s web page: http://www.stocktondiocese.org/english/diocese/priests.asp

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jXQFKbTaIQxa28coeF3Vz9tqYvswD9GLQDV00

SNAP wants Stockton’s Catholic bishop to insist that Miani’s supervisors put him in a remote, secure treatment center so that kids will be safer. They also want Stockton church officials to use their websites and parish bulletins to warn their flock about Miani’s presence here and his crimes.

Here’s Miani’s work history: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Zpa5zDM3TBMJ:www.bishopaccountability.org/assign/Miani_Titian_SDB.htm+jim+miani+stockton&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

According to BishopAccountability.org, he was sent to the following locations, in chronological order: Italy, Brazil, Edmonton Canada, Watsonville, Bellflower, Los Angeles, Richmond, Belleflower, Richmond, San Francisco, Linden, Angel’s Camp, Murphy, Arnold, and Stockton. (The last ten are all in California.) His last parish assignment was at St. Luke’s in Stockton in 1993.

Miani’s victims are represented by St. Paul MN attorney Jeff Anderson (651 227 9990) and Los Angeles attorney Anthony Demarco (310 927 9277, 310 854 4444). Miani belongs to a Catholic religious order called the Salesians.

2) SNAP is also asking Stockton’s Catholic bishops to do what 24 other bishops have done, and post on his website, for the sake of public safety, the names, whereabouts and priestly status of child molesting clerics who are or have been in the area. Over the past eight years, some two dozen US Catholic prelates have taken this step, which SNAP considers a simple, inexpensive, common sense way to safeguard kids.

According to a Boston-based independent research group called BishopAccoutnabilty.org, there are 9 publicly accused Stockton diocesan child molesting clerics. SNAP notes that the actual number of Stockton area pedophile priests is likely much higher because BishopAccountability.org lists only those clerics against whom allegations have been lodge in the public domain – in civil lawsuits, criminal prosecution or news accounts.

In 2002, Baltimore became the first US diocese to disclose names. A good current example is the Philadelphia archdiocese: http://archphila.org/protection/Updates/update_main.htm. Here is a list of all the dioceses that have disclosed names: http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AtAGlance/lists.htm

CONTACT
Joey Piscatelli 925 262 3699, caljoey1@aol.com, Melanie Sokoda 925 708 6175, melanie@pokrov.org
David Clohessy 314 566 9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com