WA--Yakima bishop refuses to list predators; Victims respond

For immediate release - Tuesday, April 26, 2016, 2016

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790, 314 645 5915 home, [email protected])

Yakima Catholic officials are now refusing to follow the lead of 30 other US bishop by posting names of predator priests on a church website this month. Shame on them for putting their comfort above the healing of victims and the safety of kids.

http://www.yakimaherald.com/news/local/catholic-diocese-of-yakima-won-t-list-names-of-abusers/article_1efe6920-0b70-11e6-a3d0-333fbbb8feaa.html

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AtAGlance/lists.htm

Weeks ago, Bishop Joseph Tyson’s staff suggested he might post these names. We are deeply disappointed.

Tyson’s public relations staffer, Msgr. Robert Siler, said “the diocese does not see a pressing need (to post the names) at this present time.”

How about suicide prevention? How about easing the pain of victims who were assaulted as kids by these priests and are still mired in shame, silence and self-blame?

Unacknowledged wounds are tough and slow to heal. Many victims feel better when their perpetrators are “outed.” Many feel even better when bishops – who recruited, educated, ordained, and shielded these offenders – admit they are predators and post their names.

And, more important, kids are safer when predators are “outed.”

But apparently none of this means anything to Tyson or Siler. There’s no “pressing need” to break from the hurtful, secretive patterns that have led to more than 6,400 priests assaulting more than 100,000 kids. There’s apparently no chance, in their minds, that even a single proven, admitted or credibly accused child molesting Yakima cleric will ever rape a child again, they must believe.

Again, shame on these self-serving Catholic bureaucrats.

Listing these names is long overdue. It’s the quickest, easiest way to warn parents, police, prosecutors, parishioners and the public about predator priests. It’s the very least bishops should do, since they recruited, educated, ordained, hired, trained, transferred and shielded these predators for years, often helping them evade prosecution by keeping their crimes secret until the statute of limitations expired.

In January, the Seattle Catholic archdiocese released a list of 77 child molesting clerics who worked there.

That same month, the Yakima Republic reported that Yakima church officials may do the same thing in March.

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2016/01_02/2016_01_24_Jane_Herald_Names_go.htm

Recently, the Altoona bishop promised to post predators’ names.

http://www.tribdem.com/news/bishop-apologizes-to-abuse-victims-vows-to-post-names-on/article_74377c4a-e1c4-11e5-8eb4-a7721a669135.html

North Dakota bishops, however, recently refused to do this.

http://www.inforum.com/news/3931507-lists-accused-nd-priests-still-under-wraps

But for the safety of kids and the healing of victims, every Catholic bishop should make these disclosures.

Only 13 Yakima predators have been exposed, compared with 77 in Seattle, 41 in Spokane and 50 in Montana and 11 in Idaho (according to the independent website BishopAccountability.org). It’s sad that families just across the border from North Dakota are arguably safer from predator priests than families that are in North Dakota.

Bishop Tyson is in charge of his diocese, not his hand-picked abuse panel. So we hope he will find the courage to do what he knows is right: protecting the vulnerable, healing the wounded and exposing the truth by posting predators’ names on parish and diocesan websites.

In a stunning cop-out, Yakima attorney Russell Mazzola, head of the Yakima church abuse panel, says that the names of accused local child molesting clerics have already appeared in the Yakima Herald-Republic.

So what? The fact that other organization has, over years, listed Yakima predator priests doesn’t absolve Yakima church officials of their duty to do likewise. Listing these sex offenders in two places dramatically increases the chances that parents, police, prosecutors, relatives, neighbors and potential employers will learn of their horrific crimes and safeguard kids from them.

Finally, no matter what church officials do or don’t do, we hope every single person who saw, suspected or suffered crimes by or cover ups by Catholic officials will find the strength to speak up, expose wrongdoers and protect kids. And we urge them to call secular authorities like police, prosecutors or independent sources of help like therapists and support groups, not church officials. And we call on legislators to repeal predator-friendly statutes of limitations, so victims of childhood violence can use the open, time-tested US justice system to expose predators and safeguard youngsters, again, no matter what church officials do or don’t do.

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

Catholic Diocese of Yakima won’t list names of abusers on website

By Jane Gargas -[email protected]  

YAKIMA, Wash. -- The Lay Advisory Board of the Catholic Diocese of Yakima will not be listing the names of local clergy on its website who have had credible claims of sexual abuse leveled against them.

The board last month discussed listing priests’ names on the diocesan website and took no action nor made any recommendations to Bishop Joseph Tyson.

The seven-member group, which meets quarterly, investigates any allegations of sexual misconduct in the local Catholic church.

The subject arose after the Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle published  . . . 

Read full article here