Blog

By David Clohessy

Last week, in less than 24 hours, SNAP was in at least seven news outlets in three cities last week. Why? And why is this important?

The “why” is simple: we have dedicated volunteer leaders across the country (and increasingly, the world) who are:

--smart enough to recognize outreach opportunities, and

--generous enough to quickly drop their other responsibilities and seize those opportunities.

When abuse scandals surfaced in Seattle, Oakland and Kalamazoo, SNAP leaders Mary Dispenza, Bill McAlary, Tim Lennon and Melanie Sakoda dropped what they were doing, overcame their hesitation, summoned their strength and used these scandals to further expose church wrongdoing, raise the expectations bar, and beg those with knowledge or suspicions about abuse to come forward.

By David Clohessy

Bing Crosby’s niece, Sister Dolores Crosby, has just been “outed” as a child molester in Seattle.

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20160120/BLOG60/160129959

Why do we mention this?

By David Clohessy

Every single day, I try my best to read – or at least skim – every single article about clergy abuse I can find. One reason is because of guys like Fr. Anthony Daly, a Jesuit.

And I try even harder to read the smaller or more obscure new sources. One reason is because of stories like the one I recently saw in the St. Louis University News. There I found a statement by Fr. Daly that’s very telling.

By David Clohessy

Ever seen that headline in your local newspaper? Me neither.

It’s absurd, isn’t it? There’s a word for a guy who uses a pistol or rifle to get what he wants from a bank teller. That word is “robber.”

There’s also a word for an adult who uses sex or power to get what he or she wants from a child. That word is “predator.”

By David Clohessy

“Some bishops were booted out (last year) because of their records on sex abuse.” So claims a writer for Crux.

He’s wrong.

Michael O'Loughlin writes “Advocates for victims of clergy sex abuse often lament that bishops have not been held accountable for their handling of the crisis, but in 2015, a few bishops were removed from office for precisely that reason.”

Nope.

By David Clohessy

“Of all these predator priests, which one worries you the most?” That was the question a fellow survivor put to me recently.

My immediate thought was “How on earth could I pick one?” My next thought was “Geez, this is gonna keep me up tonight.” And it certainly did.

The first name that popped to mind was Fr. Ronald H. Paquin, who’s recently been released from prison. He is known to have sexually abused more than 40 boys. Once, with four boys in his car, he crashed while driving drunk. One boy died and another was badly injured. 

He’s accused of molesting a teen, impregnating an adult parishioner twice, suggested an abortion, fathering a child and ignoring that child.

Catholic officials say they’re investigating all of this alleged wrongdoing by Fr. Henry Willenborg.   

I’m grateful that so many of us whose souls were violated and whose voices were silenced by clergy sex crimes and cover ups have been able to use the arts to help ourselves heal. I’m also grateful that some who have done this share their creative, cathartic work with us at SNAP.  

By David Clohessy

I have some advice – and a request – for Jack Dunn, the Boston College PR guy who claims he’s unfairly portrayed in Spotlight. Show us the records.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/2015/11/24/jack-dunn-disagrees-with-how-was-portrayed-spotlight/VFireZZRSwAskGBodmw4kJ/story.html

I’m not unsympathetic to him. Like Dunn, I have kids. Like Dunn, I’d like them to know good things I’ve done. And like Dunn, I’m not keen on being misrepresented and misunderstood. So if a film portrayed me in a negative light, I’d certainly be upset.

But surely Dunn knows that Catholic church officials estimate more than 100,000 boys and girls in the US have been sexually violated by priests. Surely he knows that bishops have concealed and are concealing child sex crimes committed by hundreds or thousands of predatory priests, nuns, seminarians, brothers, teachers and fellow bishops.

By David Clohessy

In dioceses where the abuse and cover up crisis has been widely exposed, bishops often do a smart public relations move: they schedule “healing” masses. Bishop James Johnston is holding some of these in Kansas City. It’s worth looking at how one of his staff talks about them.

“There has always been a desire to do more outreach to try and help victims come back to the church, or at least see the church being empathetic and sorrowful,” said Kathleen Chastain, Johnston’s staffer who handles abuse.

http://www.newspressnow.com/news/local_news/article_d39d855f-a454-54d1-9711-2e86f4340da0.html

Ponder this quote for a second. I’m grateful Ms. Chastain made this comment. Two parts of it leap out at me.

First, notice Chastain is NOT saying “We care.” She’s saying “We want victims to come back to the church.”

Second, she’s saying “We want victims to see the church being empathetic and sorrowful.” See, it’s not about reality. It’s about perception.

We’ve long felt these events are more about them than about us. Ms. Chastain’s comments reinforce our skepticism.