Group predicts archbishop will retire next month

Group predicts archbishop will retire next month

SNAP begs him to release 115 accused molesters’ names

Otherwise, victims say, his legacy is “ridiculous” deposition

“At a minimum,” they want “the living predators disclosed”

They also name St. Louis’ “Dangerous Dozen” alleged abusers

And they ‘out’ eight more publicly accused priests “under the radar”

WHAT

At a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will reveal two lists of St. Louis area publicly accused predator priests:

--the 12 still-living, most dangerous alleged abusers, and

--eight recently disclosed accused abusers who are or were in St. Louis (but were mostly ‘outed’ elsewhere by church officials and have escaped virtually all scrutiny or attention here).

They will also release letter to St. Louis’s archbishop calling on him to reveal the 115 church staff who have been accused of abuse but whose names he’s still keeping secret, before he retires this summer. (Next month, he reaches the church’s mandatory retirement age of 75.)

Unless he acts, SNAP says his legacy will focus on his controversial deposition in which he said he was unsure when he learned that child sex abuse was a crime.

WHEN

Tuesday, May 7 at 1:00 p.m.

WHERE

On the sidewalk outside the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis (“new” cathedral), 4431 Lindell Blvd, (between Taylor & Newstead) in the Central West End in St. Louis

VISUALS

SNAP members will hold childhood photos and several poster boards with

---115 blank spaces, representing the names - still hidden – of St. Louis accused church predators who is still being protected by the archbishop and his colleagues and

---roughly 100 names of publicly accused St. Louis area clerics and ex-clerics whose identities have been disclosed through civil lawsuits, criminal prosecutions and Catholic officials in other dioceses and organizations

WHO

Five-six members of a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org

WHY

1-----Next month, St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson reaches 75, when bishops must submit their resignations to the Pope. SNAP predicts Pope Francis will accept his resignation quickly.

The group says that Carlson’s legacy and reputation will be one of “ridicule and criticism” because of a widely circulated videotaped deposition in which hesaid

--he didn’t know in the 1980s whether it was illegal for priests to have sex with children, and

--claimed 193 times that he did not recall abuse-related conversations from the 1980s to mid-1990s.mended

(Entering “Archbishop Robert Carlson” into a Google search, the item that pops up first is an NBC report headlined “St. Louis Archbishop didn’t know sex with children was a crime.” https://www.nbcnews.com/news/religion/st-louis-archbishop-didnt-know-sex-children-was-crime-n127291.  Entering the phrase “Archbishop Robert Carlson didn’t know” nets 139,000 entries.)

SNAP says that with one simple move, Carlson can – and should – change this.

Five years ago, a 400 page church court filing “revealed that 115 (archdiocesan) employees have been accused of abuse over the last three decades by 234 complaintants.” The names of those alleged predators remain hidden.

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/st-louis-archdiocese-reveals-that-employees-have-been-accused-of/article_e4ef285c-29b0-5194-9bad-154acc8cc89d.html

Carlson should disclose them, SNAP says, for the safety of kids and the healing of victims. If he won’t reveal the full list, he should at least release the names of the living accused abusers, SNAP argues.

More than half of the bishops in the US (and half of Missouri’s bishops) have posted on their websites the names of ‘credibly accused’ child molesting clerics. Carlson has posted none. But he claims he “is now working with the attorney general on the review process” and “the list is being screened by a former FBI agent to ensure its accuracy.”

http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/sex-abuse-crisis-bishops-press-forward-with-own-reforms

SNAP contends Carlson should release a partial list immediately, then add more names later. “Every day even one potentially dangerous person’s name is kept hidden, kids are at risk,” SNAP contends.

2-----In the mean time, SNAP has found ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­eight more proven, admitted or publicly accused child molesting clerics who hurt kids elsewhere but also spent time in the St. Louis area but have attracted virtually no attention here.

At least two were ‘outed’ through criminal prosecution (and one of them is awaiting trial). At least two others have been sued civilly. And seven of them were ‘outed’ as credibly accused child molesters on church websites and in news releases by their direct church supervisors.

Their identities, and details about them, will be provided at the news conference.

3-----SNAP’s first-ever most “Dangerous Dozen” accused abusers includes Fr. James Beine, Fr. Willaim Anthony Christensen, Fr. Juan Carlos Duran, Fr. James Gummersbach, Fr. Bryan Kuchar, Fr. Fred Lenczycki, Fr. Michael McGrath, Fr. Joseph D. Ross, Fr. Leroy Valentine, Fr. Gary Wolken, Fr. Robert Yim and Fr. Dennis Zacheis.

CONTACT

David Clohessy 314 566 9790, [email protected], Zach Hiner 517 974 9009, [email protected]