NC -- Victims ‘out’ five ‘credibly accused clerics’

Victims ‘out’ five ‘credibly accused clerics’

They allegedly abuse elsewhere but were in NC too

None have attracted attention in the Charlotte area

Group says Charlotte’s bishop is “reckless & secretive’

He ‘puts kids at risk;’ won’t reveal names of predator priests

WHAT

Holding signs at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will disclose the names of five publicly accused child molesting clerics who are or were in the Charlotte area but have received virtually no public or media attention in North Carolina. They will also

--blast Charlotte Catholic officials for not revealing predator priests’ names,

--prod them to do join most other dioceses by doing so “immediately,”and

--beg anyone ‘who saw, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes or cover ups’ to call law enforcement and their support group

WHEN

Tuesday, April 2 at 1:00 p.m

WHERE

Outside the Charlotte diocese headquarters (“chancery office”), 1123 S. Church St. (corner of W. Palmer St., 704 370 6299) in Charlotte NC

WHO

Two-three members of a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org) including a man who is the group’s volunteer North Carolina leader and a Charlotte attorney who represents victims of sexual violence

WHY

1---More than half of the nearly 200 US bishops have released names of what they call ‘sustantiated’ or ‘credibly accused’ child molesting clerics.

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AtAGlance/diocesan_and_order_lists.htm

However, Charlotte Bishop Peter Jugis refuses to do so. https://www.charlotteobserver.com/living/religion/article226523900.html

The first diocese did it in 2002. In February, every bishop in Virginia, Texas, Louisiana and New Jersey did so too. Others have pledged to make such disclosures soon.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/catholic-priests-accused-list-priests-church-workers-revealed-accused-of-abuse-today-2019-02-21-live-stream-updates/

For the protection of kids and the healing of victims, SNAP wants Judis to post the names of proven, admitted and credibly accused priests, nuns, seminarians, brothers, monks and other church staff. The group says it’s “the best, quickest way to help kids be safer and help victims feel vindicated.”

SNAP also wants Judis to include photos, whereabouts and work histories of the accused clerics.

2) SNAP has discovered and is disclosing the names of five publicly accused abusive priests who spent time in the Charlotte area but are “under the radar.” For the most part, these three ‘new’ alleged predators were ‘outed’ in news accounts, through litigation and/or by Catholic officials elsewhere. But each was in the Charlotte diocese at one point and so, SNAP says, the public and parishioners should be warned about them by Bishop Peter Jugis. The clerics are:

--Fr. Timothy Kelly was at Mary Help of Christians Abbey in Belmont, North Carolina.

In 2011, a man filed a civil lawsuit alleging that Kelly sexually abused him in 1966 at St. Anselm's Church in the Bronx. The alleged victim was represented by the nation’s most experienced clergy sex abuse attorney, Jeff Anderson of St. Paul Minnesota (651 227 9990). Noted author and researcher Richard Sipe says other accusers also exist.

Kelly, a Benedictine, headed St. John's Abbey in the St. Cloud Diocese from 1992-2000. He is deceased.

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2011/05_06/2011_06_10_StJohnsAbbey_AStatement.htm

https://andersonadvocates.com/Files/449/John-Doe-174-V-The-Order-of-St-Benedict-and-St-Johns-Abbeypdf

--Fr. Raymond Mehlville has been accused of sexually abusing at least three boys. One accuser told Catholic officials that Melville molested him from 1980-1985, beginning when he was 14 years old and Melville was a seminarian in Maryland. Melville was sent briefly to treatment and then returned to active ministry.

He was accused in a 2001 lawsuit of sexually abusing a 13 year old Augusta ME boy from 1985-1992. In a 2007 lawsuit, a Maine man accused Melville of sexually abusing him for three years, beginning when he was 12 years old in 1986.

Ordained a priest of the Portland, ME diocese, Melville left the priesthood in 1997 and is last known to be living in Oklahoma. In 2013, he was in Elkin North Carolina.

http://www.snapnetwork.org/ok_alleged_predator_priest_who_lived_in_ok_gets_off_the_hook

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2007/01_02/2007_01_29_Harrison_BishopNames.htm

https://www.andersonadvocates.com/Posts/News-or-Event/1454/Banger-Daily-News-Supreme-Court-justices-consider-what-bishop-knew-when-he-knew-it-in-priest-abuse-case.aspx

--Fr. Eugene Blazek is believed to have sexually molested a young boy for more than a year between 1979 and 1982. In 2008, a man filed a civil lawsuit against Fr. Blazek, alleging child sexual abuse. Fr. Blazek would ply the boy with alcohol and then sexually assault him. The priest also lived in Houston, TX and North Carolina. It is believed that Fr. Blazek remains a priest of the Diocese of Honolulu.

https://andersonadvocates.com/PriestList/1074/Father-Eugene-Blazek.aspx

--Fr. William G. Ward was at St. Leo’s parish in Winston-Salem in 1951, followed by 12 assignments in New York before passing away in 2008 in Buffalo.

Last year, the Buffalo Diocese included Fr. Ward on its list of priests who have been accused of child sexual abuse, which only includes clerics who faced at least two allegations.

https://www.andersonadvocates.com/PriestList/563/Father-William-G.-Ward.aspx

--Fr. John Gordon Pillon (a.k.a. Gordon J. Pillon) was a Peoria Illinois diocesan pastor when he was asked to step down following allegations of sexual abuse. A lawsuit filed in 2009 accuses Fr. Pillon of repeatedly sexually abusing a boy approximately 25 years earlier, when the boy was 15 to 18 years old. According to the lawsuit, at the time of abuse, Fr. Pillon was assigned to a church in La Habra, California in the Orange County diocese. He also faced one accuser in Peoria Illinois.

Fr. Pillon worked in Charlotte from 1996 until 1999 at St. Vincent de Paul Church. He was last reported to be working at the University of North Virginia campus in Prague, Czech Republic.

https://www.andersonadvocates.com/Documents/posts/Clerical%20Sexual%20Abuse%20in%20the%20Diocese%20of%20Orange.pdf

3) SNAP is also urging all victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to “protect kids, expose wrongdoers, deter cover ups and get healing by seeking help from independent sources like police, therapists and support groups like ours.”

CONTACT: 

Rene Anctil, 401-440-4542, [email protected], David Clohessy 314 443 5915, 314-566-9790, [email protected], Zach Hiner 517-974-9009, [email protected]