Diocese of Sacramento deacon recently accused of child sexual abuse; SNAP urges public outreach

For immediate release: January 27, 2022
On January 19th, the Catholic Diocese of Sacramento quietly announced on its website that Deacon Jose Guzmanhas been accused of child sexual abuse and had his priestly faculties removed pending the outcome of an investigation. We applaud the Diocese for posting this information on their website, notifying law enforcement, and alerting parishioners at Holy Cross Parish in West Sacramento where Deacon Guzman was assigned. However, as we said last summer, we believe that the public should also be notified when new allegations are received.
The simple truth is that the majority of survivors are no longer active members of the Catholic Church, nor is Diocesan "News" a place where a victim looking for information about a perpetrator is likely to look. We again recommend that Bishop Jaime Soto make future announcements of new allegations to the media, and also include a section on his list of "credibly accused" clergy for such accusations. We believe that any prelate who truly wants to help survivors heal and to protect today’s children would do nothing less.

CONTACT: Dorothy Small, SNAP Sacramento Area Leader, ([email protected], 530-908-3676 ), Melanie Sakoda, SNAP Survivor Support Coordinator ([email protected], 925-708-6175), Mike McDonnell, SNAP Communications Manager ([email protected], 267-261-0578), Zach Hiner, SNAP Executive Director ([email protected], 517-974-9009)

(SNAP, the Survivors Network, has been providing support for victims of sexual abuse in institutional settings for more than 30 years. We have more than 25,000 survivors and supporters in our network. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)


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