Victims: Top US Catholic official should be ousted as President

Victims: Top US Catholic official should be ousted as President

Cardinal DiNardo's track record on abuse is "abysmal," survivor groups say

They also seek help from US ambassador to Vatican

Pope "must make sure bishops keep abuse records"

Victims & advocates file FOIA request for State Dept. & Vatican documents

WHAT

Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, victims and advocates will call on:
--US bishops to oust their top elected official next week, and
--the US ambassador to the Vatican to help make sure church abuse records aren't destroyed.
They will also discuss:
--their filing of a Freedom of Information (FOIA) request for all US and Vatican records about clergy sex crimes and cover ups, and
--their request for a meeting with Callista Gingrich, US ambassador to the Vatican.

WHEN

Friday, November 9, 1:00 p.m.

WHERE

Outside the Headquarters of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), 3211 Fourth Street NE Washington D.C.

WHO

US survivors of clergy sexual abuse, including a Virginia woman who is SNAP's Washington D.C. leader and who is on SNAP's board of directors, and a man who is the US spokesperson for Ending Clergy Abuse (ECA)  

WHY

Two leading organizations of survivors of sexual abuse by clergy are calling upon Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, the president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), to step down from his post.  

The groups say that DiNardo is “unfit” to lead the USCCB national gathering of bishops next week in Baltimore.  The bishops will be addressing the deepening sexual abuse crisis in the church. According to a recent media investigation, at least 130 living US bishops have covered up abuse, and and some have even been accused of committing acts of sexual abuse, including former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington D.C.   

Recent reports document that DiNardo covered up sex crimes cases in his current archdiocese of Galveston-Houston as well as his previous one in Sioux City  In the Texas case, DiNardo violated the US bishops’ own “charter” on sex abuse by not removing Fr. Manual La Rosa-Lopez from ministry until after an arrest warrant was issued for him in August.             

The two groups are also alarmed at a recent statement by the USCCB that it lacks the authority to order bishops to honor a recent Justice Department order not to destroy any records or documents about clergy abuse. So the victims’ groups want the Vatican itself to ensure compliance.

Earlier this year, Pope Francis acknowledged that Chilean bishops, now under scrutiny by that nation's justice officials, had shredded criminal evidence of child sex abuse.

Survivors this week have asked US Ambassador to the Vatican, Callista Gingrich, to warn Pope Francis that all Vatican actions about the crisis in the US must follow US child protection and justice laws.  

They have also filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for all Vatican and US State Department correspondence concerning clergy sexual abuse.

CONTACT

Becky Ianni, SNAP National Board, Washington D.C. (703.801.6044 /[email protected])

Peter Isely, US Spokesperson, Ending Clergy Abuse (414.429.7259/[email protected])