MI--Admitted Mississippi predator still works in parish

For immediate release: Thursday, Sept. 17

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790, [email protected])

An admitted predator priest from the US is now on the job in Peru, a new investigation has found. We beg Catholic officials in Mississippi and Chimbote to do everything possible to warn unsuspecting families about him and help law enforcement pursue him. And we beg Pope Francis to denounce and stop this long-standing stunningly-irresponsible church practice of sending predator priests abroad to work among even more vulnerable parishioners.

(Almost two years ago, we prodded newly-named Jackson Bishop Joseph R. Kopacz to publicize Fr. Madden’s crimes and alert Catholics in Chimbote to his presence there. Kopacz ignored our pleas.)

http://www.snapnetwork.org/ms_new_jackson_catholic_bishop_named_snap_responds

In the 1970s, Fr. Paul Madden was a priest in Jackson. He repeatedly raped and sexually assaulted a 13-year-old boy from his parish on a trip to Ireland.

In 2002, that victim filed a lawsuit.

In 1994, “an earlier lawsuit ended with a $50,000 payout from the diocese and an apology letter to the victim’s parents, signed by Madden,” according to GlobalPost.

“Since 1973 I have been plagued with remorse and guilt for my molestation of your son,” reads the letter.

In 2003, Fr. Madden joined the Diocese of Chimbote, Peru.

For decades, bishops and popes have engaged in this same dangerous and disingenuous pattern – sending proven, admitted or credibly accused priests abroad to more vulnerable communities – and continue to do so now, despite persistent pledges of reform.

Every single Catholic employee in the dioceses where these predator priests have been or are now should be shouting from the rooftops to secular and church authorities to take immediate action to safeguard children from these child molesting clerics.

And Pope Francis should promptly fire their supervisors and every other Catholic staffer, high or low, who has enabled or is enabling this horror to continue.

(NOTE - Bishop Kopacz has also been named as a defendant in clergy sex abuse suits or been accused of concealing crimes  involving Father Albert M. Liberatore Jr., Father Carlos Urrutigoity, and Father Eric Ensey. See BishopAccountability.org)

(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. SNAP was founded in 1988 and has more than 20,000 members. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)

Contact 

David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell, [email protected], [email protected]), Barbara Dorris (314-503-0003 cell, [email protected]), Barbara Blaine (312-399-4747,[email protected])