Media Statements

We are not surprised to see that Catholic officials have found a way to quietly rob the American people of up to $3.5 billion of our tax dollars given their decades of success robbing children of their childhoods and communities of their safety. This story paints a clear need for a fundamental shift in the way our government views the institutional church. Elected officials should be more willing to step in and investigate wrongdoing by religious entities.

A former clergyman who was been listed as “credibly accused” of child sex abuse by the Archdiocese of St. Louis is also a member of two local Halls of Fame. We believe these honors should be reexamined and removed in light of his history.

In a move that seems to have been lifted directly from the “circle of secrecy” that was exposed in Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s 2018 grand jury investigation into clergy abuse, Charlotte Catholic Bishop Peter Jugis minimized and sanitized the allegations against a local priest in a letter explaining his removal to parishioners.

A retired Catholic cleric who has just been sued for sexually abusing a boy is verbally attacking his accuser.

Two more mid-MO predator priests are exposed

Church officials elsewhere say they’re “credibly accused”

But Jeff City’s bishop ‘stays silent’ about them, SNAP charges

Neither are on his official diocesan child molesting clerics list

A third abusive priest was just added, but was also ‘outed’ elsewhere

The 3 were at 10 mid-MO towns: Jeff City, Moberly, Boonville & Fayette

SNAP: “What other dangerous predators are local Catholic staffers hiding?”

A former Catholic priest and serial child abuser from Levittown, Francis (Frank) X. Trauger, will plead guilty to charges he sexually assaulted two boys. We are grateful to the police and prosecutors who pursued this case and secured some measure of justice for Trauger’s victims. We are confident that without their involvement, children would still be at risk.

A New York Catholic diocese appears to have waited until after a priest died to find allegations against him “credible,” despite the fact that reports against the priest spanned the previous three decades. We suspect this delay was purposeful in an attempt to wait out New York’s Child Victims Act and call for the attorney general to investigate.

A Minnesota diocese that is currently going through Chapter 11 Bankruptcy has set a deadline of October 21, 2020, for survivors of sexual abuse to come forward and file a claim. We call on Catholic officials to share this information widely, advertise the time limit in local newspapers, and make every effort to ensure survivors throughout the state are aware of this deadline.

(Survivors who wish to take advantage of this compensation program can find the announcement here and the information on how to to file a claim here.)

A Catholic diocese in Georgia is getting a new bishop. We hope that this incoming prelate will make the protection of children and the vulnerable his highest priority and we suggest two immediate steps he can take when he is formally installed as bishop.

The names of two abusive clerics that were revealed late last month by the Marianist order must be added to the rosters of abusive priests in the Diocese of Fort Worth. Catholic officials there must also explain why these names were omitted in the first place.