The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
SNAP Press Release
Abuse victims to leaflet outside parish
They blast bishops for “ignoring" predator priests
Group wants church officials to “house pedophiles”
It’s irresponsible, they say, to let child molesting clerics live alone
Victims also try to find others who were hurt by a twice-convicted DC priest
He was discovered this week living in government-funded housing in Maine
WHAT
As parishioners leave mass, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will hand out fliers to Catholics. The leaflets urge church-goers to prod their bishops to
-- put predator priests in independent treatment facilities,
-- hire trained professionals to oversee and monitor them (until they’re centrally housed), and
-- reach out to victims of a twice-convicted ex-DC priest just found living in Maine.
The victims will also beg
--anyone who has information about pedophile priests to call secular officials, not church officials, and
--every Catholic to ask his/her loved ones if they were abused by priests, nuns, brothers, seminarians or bishops.
WHEN
Sunday, Dec. 5, at 12:15 p.m.
WHERE
Outside the Cathedral of Saint Matthew the Apostle, 1725 Rhode Island Ave., NW (near the corner of Connecticut Ave. & M Street in northwest Washington)
WHO
Three-four victims of sexual abuse by clerics and their supporters, including the regional leader from a support group called SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org) and several members of a Catholic reform group called Voice of the Faithful
WHY
In Sunday’s print edition, the Washington Post is running a 3,400 word story about DC area child molesting clerics. It essentially shows that most of them live alone and/or with little/no supervision. (SNAP believes most are still on the church payroll.) And on Friday, a newspaper disclosed that a twice-convicted former DC predator priest now lives in publicly-funded housing in Maine and served, until last week, on a governmental panel.
SNAP believes Catholic officials can and should do more to supervise the pedophile priests they recruit, educate, ordain, hire, and often protect and quietly transfer. When clergy sex crimes and cover ups are uncovered, it’s immoral, SNAP believes, for bishops to suddenly ‘cut and run,’ and feign powerlessness.
For the safety of kids, SNAP wants DC area bishops to put their predator priests together in a secure, remote, independently-run treatment center where their movements can be restricted and monitored. )Since priests have pledged to obey their bishops and bishops provide most predator priests with salaries, health insurance and other benefits, bishops can order pedophile priests to live in supervised settings.)
Until this happens, the victims want bishops to hire trained professionals who will make unannounced home visits to pedophile priests and monitor them. And SNAP wants bishops to permanently post the names of proven, admitted and credibly accused predator priests on church websites.
(Roughly 24 US bishops have posted on church websites pedophile priests’ names. Parents, parishioners and the public need easy access to that information, SNAP says, so they can safeguard their children.)
Finally, SNAP also feels bishops can and should also do much more to urge victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to call police and prosecutors. Bishops should personally go to each parish where pedophile priests have worked, SNAP says, and emphatically beg anyone with information about the crimes to contact law enforcement.
The recently-discovered former DC predator priest living in Maine is Fr. Walter Dayton Salisbury.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/02/AR2010120206646.html
CONTACT
Becky Ianni, 703-801-6044, SNAPVirginia@cox.net, Bill Casey, 703-568-3438, b13909@comcast.net , Barbara Blaine, 312 399 4747, SNAPblaine@gmail.com, David Clohessy, 314 566 9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
www.snapnetwork.org