Wednesday, April 2, 2008

National victims’ group blasts Yakima bishop’s “on-going deceit”

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, National Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790 cell)

Bishop Sevilla hired a suspected criminal under police investigation. He did so knowingly He kept it secret. He never called the police. He never warned his staff. He never alerted his flock. He let the alleged criminal be around kids. He even let the alleged criminal be promoted.

Expressing remorse is not enough.

Anyone who repeatedly engages in recklessness and deceit must face consequences. This is especially true when the irresponsible behavior jeopardizes kids and when the wrong doer is a powerful official in a scandal-ridden institution with a horrific track record of concealing child sex crimes.

Sevilla’s deceit continues. He implies he didn’t know about Gonzalez’ promotion. He says he didn’t know “until recently” Gonzalez was teaching kids. We flatly do not believe him. We challenge the bishop to publicly

- explain and show proof of when and how he allegedly “learned” of Gonzalez’ teaching kids,

- discipline whoever allegedly promoted Gonzalez without notifying the bishop,

- personally visit the parishes where Gonzalez worked and beg anyone with information about Gonzalez’ alleged crimes to call the police, and

- suspend himself without pay for at least a month because of his

(Yesterday’s SNAP statement by Barbara Dorris, Outreach Director)

Sevilla knowingly hired an employee accused of child pornography, kept it secret, and never called police to follow through or check up. This is no "error" or "bad judgment" but a series of deliberate, deceitful and reckless moves that put Yakima kids at risk. Sevilla deceived his flock and his employees by keeping these alleged felonies hidden.

(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the nation's oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. We've been around for 17 years and have more than 7,000 members across the country. 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 information: David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell, 314-645-5915 home) Barbara Dorris (314-862-7688