Media Statements

Reuters is reporting that a top Vatican official has kept silent for months about a high profile Catholic priest’s fathering a child. 

Camnong Boa-Ubol, a Buddhist monk who raped a girl at a southwest-side monastery was arrested yesterday in Alaska. We're grateful that this credibly accused child molester is in custody. It's crucial that law enforcement aggressively pursue likely sex offenders who flee to other cities, states or countries.

Our hearts go out to this woman and her child, and to everyone who has been hurt by the reckless, callous, secretive and cult-like Legion of Christ. We know that there are many other cases like this, in which a powerful priest has manipulated a vulnerable parishioner. (see Fr. Henry Willenborg on BishopAccountability.org)

This is a disturbing show of insensitivity and apathy towards the victim of this alleged predator. Child sex abuse is a heinous crime with long-lasting effects, and it is incredibly callous for these “supporters” of Nechemya Weberman to so publicly champion this alleged abuser. Shame on everyone involved.

An India court has postponed the extradition trial of a priest who abused a girl in Minnesota and then fled back to his native India. The trial is set for later this month.

A lawyer for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia testified yesterday that he was lied to about child sex abuse when he questioned aides to former Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua. One of those aides was Rev. Joseph Cistone, who today is the Bishop of Saginaw.

On Friday, in the National Catholic Reporter, Springfield Bishop James V. Johnston made this callous comment about a recently deceased Jeff City cleric who was an admitted molester:

For months or years, Catholic officials have put kids at risk by staying silent about these credible allegations of heinous crimes. Each of them should have been publicly announced the moment they were deemed credible. And in each case, high ranking church officials should have publicly begged anyone who saw, suspected or suffered these clerics' crimes to call police and get help.

The bar for criminal prosecution in child sex cases is pretty high. Still, we are disappointed that a grand jury feels that there is not enough evidence now to prosecute Msgr. Thomas Brady. We hope that others who may have seen, suspected, or suffered Brady’s crimes will come forward and make a report to the DA’s office. Only this way will the case be able to proceed.

A Roeland Park priest has been accused of molesting a boy at a youth outing in the 1980s.