CT- Prosecutors should investigate scandal-ridden Catholic group
Statement by David Clohessy, SNAP Executive Director
Today, a national Catholic newspaper is calling for police and prosecutors to investigate the scandal-ridden Legion of Christ which operates in Connecticut and across the world.
We agree.
http://ncronline.org/news/accountability/editorial-legions-record-calls-criminal-investigation
There have been multiple and credible reports and allegations of child sex crimes, adult sexual misdeeds, financial corruption, cult-like behavior, extraordinary secrecy and cover ups of all this wrongdoing in this bizarre outfit, whose founder sexually violated boys and young men while fathering at least three children despite his vow of celibacy.
Legion officials claim they're reforming. But we see no real evidence of that. They're working harder at public relations, but haven't voluntarily disclosed, much less disciplined, any of the legion officials who have ignored, hidden or enabled clergy sex crimes or helped Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado l and others hide their lavish lifestyles.
Only independent secular authorities – like prosecutors – can really investigate the Legion and find out whether any of their wrongdoing can be criminally prosecuted. We hope Connecticut’s attorney general will do this soon.
http://ncronline.org/news/accountability/judge-gives-green-light-legion-inheritance-lawsuit
Contact - David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell, [email protected]), Barbara Dorris (314-862-7688 home, 314-503-0003 cell, [email protected]), Barbara Blaine (312-399-4747, [email protected])
Winter Appeal 2023
To our friends,
2023 has been a long year with many ups and downs for us all. As we close out the year, we at SNAP hope that you are feeling like you are on your way to being healthy, fulfilled, and happy. This past year has brought both successes and challenges. Thanks to the support you have shown in the past, we’ve been able to celebrate the good days and weather the stormy ones. Now, we are once again asking for your support as we work to support survivors new and old as we ‘Move SNAP Forward.’
At SNAP we are proud to have hosted a very well-attended conference in August 2023. This event allowed us to gather friends, survivors, advocates, and allies for a weekend of camaraderie and connection. We were so happy to be able to welcome many first-time attendees to gather in person and are already looking forward to the next conference.
To strengthen our movement for justice, healing, and prevention, SNAP will be expanding our peer support and providing more volunteer opportunities in the coming year. Through this great work, we are ensuring survivor voices are represented as we work for significant change that will benefit children and survivors.
Right now, survivors worldwide are getting the help they need from SNAP, and more and more reach out to us daily, but we need your help to keep those programs going and get our volunteers the training they need to thrive.
Your tax-deductible gift to SNAP can help offset the cost of our important mission. If you are not in a position to contribute, you can still support us by sharing this letter with those who can. As we continue to fight for survivors across the globe, your donation or sharing the great work SNAP does will help us continue our work to protect the vulnerable, heal the wounded, and prevent abuse.
Your donation ensures SNAP will be there for those who need us more than ever!
Warmly,
Michael W. McDonnell, C.P.S.
Interim Executive Director
Showing 2 comments
I think that if ever the ICC at the Hague were to hear the case brought to them by SNAP and the CRC, and found those accused, guilty, that my idea of STOPPING all pedophiles currently committing these heinous crimes while being priests in the Catholic Church, might be made possible.
Please keep up your good works at the SNAP site, and include articles like this one in the added information to the ICC in effort to persuade them to revisit the case. Certainly there have been many more examples of these egregious crimes made public in these years since the original filing by SNAP and the CRC at the ICC.
And, I would truly hope that the Court was aware of and did follow the recent landmark, historic questioning of the Vatican officials at the United Nations Committee in Geneva recently?!
In my American, “baby boomer” generation mind, the recent UN hearings and the possibility of going forward with the lawsuit taken to the ICC, remind me even though I wasn’t yet alive, of the trials at Nuremburg after WWII. I think that these crimes and criminals are every bit has horrible as those of the Nazis in WWII. Truly, actually, they might be worse in that they are so insidious, global and, to date, so “protected” by the Church all these many, long, long years. The numbers of victims who died as a direct result of such cruel, criminal and heinous acts cannot even be counted because of all the secrecy maintained, heretofore.