SNAP Applauds as Judge Bars Rochester Catholic Officials from Hiding Names of Abusers
In a win for transparency, a federal judge has refused to allow a New York Catholic diocese to hide the names of abusers identified in its bankruptcy proceeding. We are grateful for this ruling and hope that other bankruptcies around the nation are handled similarly.
This ruling rebuffs a self-serving attempt by Church officials from the Diocese of Rochester to keep the name of abusers hidden. Catholic leaders have often used bankruptcy court as an opportunity to keep secrets hidden, and we believe that this bankruptcy filing in Rochester was yet another cynical effort by the Diocese to hide records.
We find it beyond the pale that Rochester Catholic officials would even ask the judge to keep these names hidden. All this does is keep parents and parishioners in the dark about the realities of clergy abuse in Rochester and flies in the face of US bishops’ decades old promise to be “open and transparent.” We applaud the leadership of the Democrat and Chronicle for standing up to Catholic officials in court and for their efforts to hold them to their promises of transparency. Once again, it is due to secular professionals in media and law enforcement, not those from the Church, that the public will learn more about clergy sexual abuse.
CONTACT: 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 30 years. We have more than 25,000 survivors and supporters in our network. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)
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