Media Statements

Jeremy Hylka spent 20 years working at Joliet Catholic Academy. In June of 2020, a group called Alumni Coalition for Change at Joliet Catholic Academy reported that Hylka endorsed violence against BLM. It comes as no surprise to us that Hylka did not return to the JCA teaching faculty for the 2020-2021 school year. Instead, he reappeared as a teacher at St. Joseph's Catholic School in Lockport and also worked at Saint Paul the Apostle Catholic Church and Cathedral of Saint Raymond Nonnatus in Joliet.

We commend the efforts of the Rhode Island Fugitive Task Force, who took Christopher John Cunningham, 58, into custody. Cunningham is a former priest from Los Angeles County, California, who, according to the L.A. District Attorney, abused four boys from two parishes between 1995 and 2001. He was removed from active ministry in 2006 and faced civil suits in 2015.  But sadly that did not prevent Cunningham from becoming a Clinical Psychologist in Newport, R.I., in 2013. The actions of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in just releasing what appears to be a predator known to them prove once again that the Catholic Church is more concerned about protecting themselves, the abusive Shepard, instead of the sheep.

For years, Catholic bishops have said to anyone who will listen that the clergy abuse scandal is "in the past" and that lawsuits and headlines today deal with "historic" cases. The actions of prelates like Knoxville’s bishop are proof positive that those claims are wrong and that the abuse scandal will continue because of the arrogance and lack of care shown by diocesan leaders today.

The resignations of  Bishop Julio Parrilla Diaz, who turned 75 last month, and his deputy, Monsignor Gerardo Miguel Nieves Loja, 53, were accepted by Pope Francis this week in Rome. We are glad to learn of these resignations but hope more action comes from the Vatican.

We also applaud the Spanish missionary in Riobamba, Julia Serrano, for raising awareness and fearlessly calling out the poor leadership of Bishop Parrilla. More importantly, she shed light on the suitability of the Bishop's potential successor, Msgr. Nieves, who has also resigned. Serrano wrote in a Catholic blog, "Redes Cristianas," about a culture of homosexuality among diocesan clerics as well as “a number of priests with children in the diocese, some recognized and others not.”

The leader of Tennessee’s youngest diocese is likely facing an investigation by Catholic officials from the Vatican due to allegations that the bishop worked to impede investigations into cases of sexual misconduct. While we are glad that these allegations are being investigated, we hope that secular officials will be looking into the situation as well to determine if any criminal charges should be filed.

The Legion of Christ, a Catholic religious order that was taken over by the Vatican in 2010, is again facing lawsuits for child sexual abuse. Six new victims filed complaints against the Legionaries this month in a Connecticut Federal Court. These survivors allege that they fell prey to abusers while attending Legion schools in New Hampshire and Rhode Island in the 1990s.

In 2019, The Legion of Christ released a report identifying 33 priests and 71 seminarians who sexually abused minors over the previous eight decades. The Legion tallied 175 victims of abusive clerics but failed to indicate how many survivors there were from the abusive seminarians.

The order's founder, Rev. Marcial Maciel, died in 2008. He may be the Roman Catholic Church's most egregious perpetrator, abusing seminarians and even the children he had fathered secretly with at least two women. So it should come as no surprise that his followers, both clergy and lay were also abusers.

Mere weeks after a local priest was arrested for rape and sexual battery, another Catholic staffer from within the Diocese of Steubenville has been arrested on charges related to child sexual abuse. We call on diocesan officials to use every resource at their disposal to do outreach to potential victims and witnesses and to update their list to include the name of this teacher and every other accused lay employee that has worked within the diocese’s borders.

Eight of the ‘credibly accused’ priests or other religious listed on the website of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe worked at St. Therese in Albuquerque. Now, this poor parish, devastated by the effects of these unconscionable assignments over which it had no control, is being asked to contribute to the Archdiocese's universal settlement in its Chapter 13 bankruptcy reorganization. We hope that the faithful who attend this church begin to speak up and ask questions about what the Archdiocese has done to prevent this from happening again.

Catholic Church officials in Spain have publicly admitted to 220 cases of abuse over the past two decades. We believe that these cherry-picked numbers barely scratch the surface of abuse in Spain. We are confident that, if the Spanish federal government would mandate a no holds barred investigation into abuse – similar to inquiries that have taken place in Australia or New Zealand – the numbers provided by the Spanish Church would be shown to be only the tip of the iceberg.

According to a letter obtained by USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin, the attorney general of that state will launch an investigation into Catholic dioceses and religious orders to determine how many clergy members have sexually assaulted children over the years. SNAP is delighted in this important development.