Canada- Predator priest case settles, SNAP responds

For immediate release: Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Statement by Brenda Brunelle of Windsor , Canadian SNAP leader, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (519 903 7503 (cell), 519 800 3492 (SNAP line), [email protected])

A settlement has been reached with the Diocese of London regarding a now deceased predator priest. We are grateful to the brave victim who fought for justice despite delays and mean-spirited legal tactics and deceptive public relations tactics used by London Catholic Bishop Ronald Fabbro.

We hope the brave survivor finds some healing and peace from this settlement.

According to the London Free Press, London diocesan officials say “any damages Grenier suffered 'arose from mental or physical conditions that existed prior to the assaults or were acquired by her after the assaults.'”

That's appalling and incredibly callous. Imagine: a bishop is actually claiming – through his lawyers – that ANY harm that this brave woman has suffered stems from other sources and NONE stems from her repeated childhood assaults by a trusted Catholic priest. 

It's also deceptive for Bishop Fabbro to claim that, in the words of his lawyers, if a victim chooses to file a lawsuit, “we have to follow the legal process they adopted.” Victims sue when they've been repeatedly betrayed, not just by a priest but also by his supervisors. For a bishop to pretend to be powerless is both laughable and insulting.

(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. We’ve been around for 25 years and have 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])

 


Showing 2 comments

  • Jim and Anne Clark
    commented 2014-09-25 21:23:48 -0500
    According to the London Free Press, London diocesan officials say “any damages Grenier suffered ‘arose from mental or physical conditions that existed prior to the assaults or were acquired by her after the assaults.’”
    The church leadership and its lawyers are practicing an age old tactic of blaming the victim.
    By blaming the victim, they justify the sexual assaults in order to avoid punishment and shift blame from the perpetrator.
    The justification for their actions and the sexual abuse stems from a sense of entitlement and their desire to have power over women and children .
  • @ tweeted this page. 2014-09-24 14:18:12 -0500

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