OH, KY - Catholic coach arrested; SNAP responds
For immediate release: Monday, August 26, 2013
Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 862 7688 home, 314 503 0003 cell, [email protected])
A Catholic coach has been arrested on child sex charges. We hope this news prompts others who have seen, suspected or suffered by Catholic employees’ child sex crimes to step forward.
When men like Thomas Hansman are charged, often others stay silent. “It’s all being taken care of now,” they assume. But that’s wrong.
Child predators often get good lawyers. They often exploit legal technicalities. They often get light sentences or go unpunished because of some loophole. And their victims struggle while others with helpful information do nothing.
So we beg anyone with suspicions or knowledge of Hansman’s crimes to call police officials, not church officials. We beg them to not let one victim carry the burden of prosecuting Hansman alone.
Contact - David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell, [email protected]), Barbara Dorris (314-862-7688 home, 314-503-0003 cell, [email protected]), Barbara Blaine (312-399-4747, [email protected])
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“Many abused children cling to the hope that growing up will bring escape and freedom.
But the personality formed in the environment of coercive control is not well adapted to adult life. The survivor is left with fundamental problems in basic trust, autonomy, and initiative. She approaches the task of early adulthood――establishing independence and intimacy――burdened by major impairments in self-care, in cognition and in memory, in identity, and in the capacity to form stable relationships.
She is still a prisoner of her childhood; attempting to create a new life, she reencounters the trauma.”
Not only is child sexual abuse and act of violent assault on a child, but it is criminal. By creating a hostile environment towards reporting this crimes…Catholic Parishes become accomplices before and after the fact to sexual predators. Christ said that the angels of little children constantly behold the Face of God in heaven. There is absolutely no excuse to withold information you may have about child sexual abuse. Consider facing your furious God on the day of judgement. Because witness silence provides more time for abusers to abuse other little kids.