Media Statements

For Immediate Release, December 6, 2023

An insightful article, published in The Guardian and authored by Louisiana journalist Jason Berry, points out that in bankruptcy court, religious institutions get all the relief the process affords, but have advantages other debtors do not enjoy. Sadly, in the bankruptcies filed by entities like the Catholic Church, the law is being used to protect institutions that covered up child sex abuse. 

SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, believes that in the interest of safeguarding today’s boys and girls, the United States government must close this loophole. As SNAP Board Member Dan McNevin pointed out in The Guardian piece, “These bankruptcies are saving dioceses from ever coming clean.” Dan wants the Church to list the names of all of the accused, as a form of “contrition.” The bankruptcy process does not lend itself to those disclosures.

While the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, New Mexico, agreed to release its clergy abuse files publicly as part of that bankruptcy settlement, Santa Fe is the exception rather than the rule. Documents in the Milwaukee bankruptcy were sealed in 2016. A request from the state attorney general to release those records in 2018 is still being litigated.

The New Orleans bankruptcy is perhaps the worst-case scenario. The judge in that proceeding has not only kept the information sealed, she chose a “nuclear option” in 2022, when a local Catholic school was warned about an accused priest who was working there. In response, the judge removed three plaintiff attorneys from the creditor committee, as well as their four clients/survivors. She also fined the lawyer who had issued the warning to the school's principal $400,000. The fine is currently under appeal. The FBI has been investigating Catholic cases in Louisiana for more than a year, though how much information it has actually obtained from the Church is unclear.

Child predators rarely, if ever stop, without outside intervention. The Catholic Church is a prime example of a religious institution that has protected its perpetrators from criminal prosecution for decades. Unfortunately, SCOTUS ruled in the Stogner case that criminal statutes of limitations cannot be changed retroactively. Yet the Catholic Church has impeded current criminal investigations in Wisconsin, and perhaps in Louisiana as well.

As a work-around to the US Supreme Court ruling on criminal law, states have expanded or removed their civil statutes of limitation. Some, like Louisiana, California, and New York, have open civil windows to help protect children by allowing victims to pursue lawsuits, despite fierce opposition from the Catholic Church. Even today, dioceses in Louisiana are challenging that state’s look-back legislation.

When legal challenges to civil windows fail, as they did in California, Catholic dioceses have fled to the protection of the bankruptcy court, thwarting the legislative intent of those states to learn the names of the abusers. In their efforts to protect their secrets they have even become unlikely bedfellows with a company that contributed to the US' current opioid crisis.

We do not think it is in the public interest for information about child predators, regardless of where they hunted, to remain hidden. It seems to us long past time for the federal government to reconsider this unintended consequence of the bankruptcy law.

CONTACT: Mike McDonnell, SNAP Interim Executive Director ([email protected], 267-261-0578), Melanie Sakoda, SNAP Survivor Support Director ([email protected]), Dan McNevin, SNAP Board of Directors Treasurer ([email protected], 415-341-6417), Shaun Dougherty, SNAP Board of Directors President ([email protected], 814- 341-8386)

(SNAP, the Survivors Network, has been providing support for victims of sexual abuse in institutional settings for 35 years. We have more than 25,000 survivors and supporters in our network. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)

Oct. 19, 2023
His Eminence Christophe Cardinal Pierre
Papal Nuncio
3339 Massachusetts Ave NW
Washington, DC 20008

Dear Cardinal Pierre:

"The Diocese of Springfield’s handling of child sex abuse allegations is a story of failed leadership—leadership that allowed clerics to sexually abuse children in the diocese for decades. Through it all, men leading the diocese for 50 years chose to protect the reputation of the church and its clerics, rather than attempt to ensure the physical and mental well-being of its children.”
“As a result, children of the diocese suffered through decades of child sex abuse, the impact of which continues to this day."
So wrote Illinois’ highest ranking law enforcement professional, Attorney General Kwame Raoul, following a nearly five-year investigation into clergy sex crimes and cover ups across the state.
Into this horrific situation stepped Bishop Thomas Paprocki twelve years ago. He knew Springfield had been a troubled diocese. (In fact, one of his predecessors, Bishop Daniel Ryan, was a child molester himself, as Paprocki himself was aware.)
So one would reasonably have expected Paprocki to be especially diligent, sensitive and proactive about abuse.
His experience should have also enabled him to better deal with abuse.

For Immediate Release November 13, 2023

When all US Catholic bishops meet in Baltimore, we urge them to discuss the church's ongoing clergy sex abuse and cover-up crisis. Ignoring this still-widespread and deeply hurtful criminal scandal leads to further complacency which enables more predators to assault more kids.
While the Catholic hierarchy's internal panels, procedures, policies and protocols on abuse are inherently flawed and rarely effective, not talking about this crisis is the wrong approach.

Specifically, at a bare minimum, we urge the bishops to at least discuss the possibility of:
---establishing a whistleblowers fund to help church employees who experience retaliation after reporting known or suspected child sex crimes to church officials, and
---fighting for, not against, reforms of secular abuse laws to give victims of childhood sexual violence more time to expose those who commit or conceal child sex crimes in court.

We also urge them to vote AGAINST elevating San Francisco's archbishop to a committee chairmanship.
San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone remains one of only about a dozen prelates who stubbornly, recklessly and callously refuse to disclose and post on their website the names of credibly accused child molesting clerics. On that basis alone, he should be denied any more positions of respect or responsibility in the church.
(He's one of two candidates to become head of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities. Bishop Daniel E. Thomas of the Diocese of Toledo is running against him.)
https://www.usccb.org/news/2023/us-bishops-meet-nov-13-16-baltimore-assembly-be-live-streamed

CONTACT: David Lorenz, SNAP Maryland ([email protected], 301-906-9161), Teresa Lancaster, SNAP Member ([email protected], 410- 703- 9122),  Mike McDonnell, SNAP Interim Executive Director ([email protected], 267-261-0578

(SNAP, the Survivors Network, has been providing support for victims of sexual abuse in institutional settings for 35 years. We have more than 25,000 survivors and supporters in our network. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is once again tone deaf to the cry of the poor: they have ignored survivors’ cries for justice

The Bishops' Conference ignores two primary findings of the recent Synod which concluded on October 28th

The USCCB sits on their hands while Archbishop William Lori re-victimizes survivors by filing for bankruptcy, not to protect Church assets, but to avoid the scandal of civil litigation

WHAT: At a sidewalk news conference, abuse survivors and advocates who are part of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, will demand that the USCCB follow the findings of the recent Synod which recommends a new approach to the child abuse crisis and also to have “regular reviews of the bishop’s performance with reference to …safeguarding against all possible kinds of abuse.” They will call on the USCCB to take these recommendations seriously, as well as to review the conduct of Archbishop Lori. Specifically, to look into how the Archbishop has handled the abuses newly revealed by the Maryland Attorney General and how he has revictimized survivors by filing for bankruptcy. The Archdiocese of Baltimore (AOB) has not shown any financial insolvency due to child abuse cases being filed.  SNAP will also call, once again, for the Archbishop to attend each of the bankruptcy hearings where survivors are given a chance to tell their stories in an atmosphere where they feel protected by the court, rather than in the Archbishop’s inner sanctum where survivors feel intimidated by the trappings of ecclesiastical power.

WHEN: Tuesday 11/14/23 at 1:30 PM

WHERE:  Baltimore Marriott Waterfront, 700 Aliceanna St, Baltimore, MD 21202

WHO: Abuse survivors and advocates, including Maryland SNAP Leader David Lorenz and Maryland SNAP member Teresa Lancaster

For Immediate Release, November 8, 2023

SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the oldest and largest support group for victims of abuse in religious settings. We are 100% in support of any legislation that extends or eliminates the criminal or civil SOL for child sex crimes. Science shows that delayed disclosure of abuse is normal, and allowing survivors more time to come forward not only helps them to heal, it can also help protect today's children by exposing hidden predators.

For Immediate Release, November 8, 2023

Survivors and advocates have written to Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, responding to recent Archdiocesan comments about the bankruptcy letter we sent to the Archbishop last week. SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, has supplied additional supporting documentation for our November 1, 2023, letter to the Archbishop.

A copy of the letter sent earlier today by email can be found here.

For Immediate Release, November 1, 2023

Survivors and advocates have written to Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, asking him to reconsider bankruptcy. SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, has researched the real estate portfolio of the Archdiocese, and believes that it has ample non-essential assets to care for those survivors who filed lawsuits in the recently closed civil window without resorting to this extreme measure. 

A copy of the letter sent earlier today by email is linked below, as are the attachments to the letter.

CONTACT: Dan McNevin, SNAP Board of Directors Treasurer ([email protected], 415-341-6417), Melanie Sakoda, SNAP Survivor Support Director ([email protected], 925-708-6175),   Joey Piscitelli, SNAP Northern California ([email protected], 925-262-3699), Mike McDonnell, SNAP Interim Executive Director ([email protected], 267-261-0578), Shaun Dougherty, SNAP Board of Directors President ([email protected], 814- 341-8386)

(SNAP, the Survivors Network, has been providing support for victims of sexual abuse in institutional settings for 35 years. We have more than 25,000 survivors and supporters in our network. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)

Letter to Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone 11-1-2023

SFAD Real Estate Schedule of Values - Unaudited

SFAD Parishes with More than 7 Accused

SFAD & Offshoots Compared to PA Grand Jury Report

He also accuses one of the hierarchs of financial improprieties

For immediate release: November 1, 2023

John Metsopoulos is coming forward to report sexual harassment, as well as physical and psychological abuse, by Metropolitan Athenagoras Aneste (George Angelo Aneste), Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Mexico and Central America. John also accuses Metropolitan Athenagoras of financial improprieties. In addition, John accuses the now deceased Metropolitan of Chicago, Iakovos Garmatis (Michael Garmatis) of sexually assaulting him when he was a child in Connecticut. The accusations against Metropolitan Athenagoras occurred from 2017-2019, and the abuse by Metropolitan Garmatis in 1970. Parts of this outcry have been up on the SNAP website for almost a year.

For Immediate Release: October 27, 2023

In March 2022, Spain's parliament overwhelmingly approved the creation of an independent commission to investigate accusations of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. At a news conference called today to present the findings of that report, the country's national ombudsman estimated that more than 400,000 children have been sexually assaulted in the Catholic Church in Spain since 1940, more than 200,000 by clergy. The commission was also critical of the Church, calling its response to cases of child abuse involving the clergy “insufficient,” and recommended the creation of a state fund to pay reparations to survivors. 

Once again, an independent investigation has examined the response of the Catholic Church to accusations of child sex abuse and found that response woefully inadequate. We believe that this again illustrates that the Catholic abuse scandal, the result of unconscionable decisions made by those in positions of leadership, cannot be resolved within the Church. The Spanish government must step in and not only manage any reparations but also begin regulating the Catholic Church. In fact, every nation in the world should start to assess how it can supervise a religion that has failed to monitor itself, and that apparently values their clergy, its secrets, and its assets over the lives of innocent children. We applaud the brave victims who came forward to share their tragic experiences with the commission. They join a huge network of survivors who are trying to protect others from similar atrocities.

Every week more Catholic priests are arrested or outed as perpetrators. And it seems like every week, we learn that clergy accused of child sexual abuse are allowed to remain in ministry. As investigation after investigation piles up, we see more and more the failure of Church leadership - cardinals, bishops, high-level chancery members -- to protect defenseless boys and girls. The rot appears to go all the way to the top in every diocese and religious order in the world. 

It is long past time for "God's house" to be washed clean.

 

CONTACT: Marc Artzrouni, SNAP Europe, ([email protected], +33 - 6 95 73 65 92), Mike McDonnell, SNAP Interim Executive Director (267-261-0578 [email protected]), Shaun Dougherty, SNAP Board President  (814-341-8386, [email protected])