Vatican--Victims question “resources” offered by papal abuse commission

For immediate release: Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2016

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 503 0003 cell, [email protected])

Among other “resources,” the new Vatican abuse website “provides links to statements by Popes John Paul II, Benedict and Francis over the past 15 years on the subject.”

http://www.americamagazine.org/content/dispatches/pope-francis-commission-protection-minors-launches-new-website

Really?

Like the one where Francis, on his one year anniversary in office, claimed "No one else has done more (on abuse) than the church. Yet the church is the only one to be attacked."

https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/francis-marks-anniversary-interview-family-women-contraception

Or the one where Francis praised the “courage” of US bishops in the crisis:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/23/pope-francis-us-catholic-church-sex-abuse-scandal-bishops

Or the one where Francis said “In my diocese it (clergy sex cases) never happened to me. . .”

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/Argentina/

Or the one where Francis ­­­­defended Chilean Bishop Juan Barros, who reportedly witnessed at least three children being assaulted by Fr. Fernando Karadima, telling Catholics "Don't let yourselves be led by the noses of all the leftists who have plotted this. . ."

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/lifestyle/2015/11/12/prominent-chilean-priest-punished-for-sex-abuse-maintains-his-innocence/

Or the one where Francis’ representative to a United Nations panel said Vatican officials have no responsibility for abusive clerics because “"priests are citizens of their own states, and they fall under the jurisdiction of their own country.”

http://articles.latimes.com/2014/feb/05/world/la-fg-un-vatican-20140206

Or the one where Pope Benedict said only one percent of priests were perpetrators.

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2011/01_02/pope-lawsuit-2011.pdf

(We could go on and on and on. . . )

And this is helpful how?

Still, perhaps the word used most often on the new website is “guidelines.” That leads us to wonder who wrote up the “guidelines” Jesus used to throw the money-changers out of the temple? Or the “guidelines” used by Francis to oust the flagrantly extravagant “Bishop of Bling” in Germany?

Most times, it seems, monarchs need no “guidelines.” That’s the advantage of being at the top of the pyramid. 

Other times, though, monarchs benefit from “guidelines.” That’s because they deflect attention from sorely-needed action that isn’t being taken.

Finally, America Magazine writes of the panel and its “process of educating bishops and church leadership worldwide, including heads of religious orders, on their respective responsibility and accountability for the protection of children, adolescents and vulnerable adults from sexual abuse and for creating a climate that ensures their protection in all institutions and structures of the Catholic Church.” 

Really? Catholic officials need to be “educated” on their “responsibility” of keeping the flock safe from predators? Give us a break.

(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 (+1 314-566-9790 cell, [email protected]), Barbara Dorris (+1 314-503-0003 cell, [email protected]) , Barbara Blaine (+1 312-399-4747 cell, ([email protected])