TX--Houston predator priest ordered to pay $5 million

For immediate release: Tuesday, Aug. 25

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

A judge has awarded $5 million to a brave victim of a Houston predator priest. We hope this victim’s courage will inspire others who are in pain because of child molesting clerics to step forward, seek justice, expose predators and protect kids. And we hope it will prod Catholics in Beaumont and Yakima to urge their bishops to do more to supervise the serial pedophile.

http://www.kimatv.com/news/crime-and-justice/322723751.html

http://www.kapptv.com/article/2015/aug/24/multi-million-dollar-award-issued-yakima-sexual-ab/

Catholic officials should now aggressively reach out to others who may have seen, suspected or suffered Fr. Calhoun’s crimes and beg them to call law enforcement.

Fr. Calhoun was ordained by the Beaumont Diocese and he faced his first child sex abuse lawsuit in 1988.

According to BishopAccountability.org, Fr. Calhoun's personnel file “shows he should never have been ordained.” In 1969, he raped a 15 year old and was transferred to the Yakima Diocese where he continued to abuse.

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/member/psearch.jsp

Fr. Calhoun is a serial predator. He was recruited, educated, ordained, trained, transferred and shielded by Catholic officials. So whether he's still in a church or not, it's the duty of Catholic officials to warn families about him and protect kids from him.

All three prelates – Houston’s Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, Beaumont’s Bishop Curtis Guillory and Yakima’s Bishop Joseph Tyson - should use their vast resources – church bulletins, parish websites and pulpit announcements - to seek out others with knowledge and suspicions about Fr. Calhoun - and beg them to call police so he might be prosecuted and kept away from children.

(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], [email protected]), Barbara Dorris (314-503-0003 cell, [email protected]), Barbara Blaine (312-399-4747, [email protected])