KY -- Support group feels: “As head of US bishops, Kurtz must do more”

Victims prod Catholic officials on abuse

They want archbishop’s help with predator nuns

In Louisville, there have been 17 of them, SNAP says

Group also wants prelate to push to extend abuse deadline

He should also post predators’ names on his website, they say

Support group feels: “As head of US bishops, Kurtz must do more”

WHAT

As church-goers enter mass, clergy sex abuse and their supporters will hand them leaflets. The fliers urge Louisville’s Catholic archbishop to

--lobby for a bill extending the statute of limitations on child sex crimes,

--post on church websites the names of all Louisville area child molesting clerics, and

--push national nuns’ groups to disclose names of child molesting sisters.

They will also

--release a list of 17 “credibly” and publicly accused child molesting nuns who have worked in Louisville, and

--prod anyone who “saw, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes to come forward and start healing.”

WHEN

Sunday, March 15 at 5:00 p.m.

WHERE

On the sidewalk outside the Cathedral of the Assumption, 433 S. 5th St (between Liberty & Ali Blvd.) in Louisville

WHO

Three-four members of a self-help group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org), including a Missouri man who is the organization’s long-time executive director

WHY

Because Louisville Archbishop Joseph Kurtz heads the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), SNAP believes he has an obligation to do more to “protect the vulnerable, heal the wounded and prevent future cover ups.” Specifically, the group is urging Kurtz to 1) lobby for pending legislation to extend the civil statute of limitations for child sex crimes, 2) list child molesting clerics on his church websites, and 3) prod America’s nuns to do the same.

1) Senator Tom Buford (R-District 22) of Nicholasville has introduced a bill which would extend by a decade the deadline that often stops child sex abuse victims from exposing predators in civil courts. The measure, SB 25, is in the Judiciary Committee but the legislative session ends late this month.

The bill is important, SNAP says, because it usually takes decades for child sex victims to understand they’ve been hurt, the harm is severe and on-going, the crimes are apt to be repeated, and they have both the strength and the duty to take legal action so other kids won’t be assaulted.

Catholic officials have grudgingly and belated taken tiny internal steps’ on abuse, SNAP says. But the real key to preventing abuses and cover ups, the group says, is to better enable secular courts to expose and punish those who commit and conceal child sex crimes. No reform, SNAP says, will better safeguard kids than eliminating or extending the civil statute of limitations.

2) Roughly 30 US bishops have posted names of proven, admitted and credibly accused child molesting clerics on their websites. This is the “absolute bare minimum prevention steps” every bishop should take, SNAP says. As USCCB president, Kurtz should be “leading the pack on transparency and prevention” by doing this.

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AtAGlance/lists.htm

3) Abuse by nuns is more common than most people realize, SNAP says, and there’s a disproportionately high number of accused child molesting nuns in Louisville. But often, abuse by women has gotten little attention and victims of women get little compassion.

For at least eight years, SNAP has prodded the largest group of US nuns, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), to expose the truth about child sex crimes and cover ups by women religious. But the LCWR continues to essentially rebuff SNAP and act “recklessly, callously and deceitfully” in clergy sex cases.  http://www.snapnetwork.org/nun_abuse

The group wants Kurtz to intervene, insist that the nuns invite abuse victims to speak at their next national gathering, and disclose names of nuns who have committed and concealed child sex crimes.

CONTACT

David Clohessy 314 566 9790,  [email protected], Cal Pfeiffer 502 396 7178, Barbara Dorris 314 503 0003, [email protected]