OH--Victims blast Cincy archbishop over priest theft case

For immediate release: Thursday, March 10

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790, 314 645 5915 home, [email protected])

Just as they usually do in child sex abuse and cover up cases, Catholic officials are responding callously and selfishly in a criminal case against a priest, Fr. Earl Simone, who accused of stealing $1.5 million from St. Peter’s parish in Huber Heights.

http://wdtn.com/2016/03/09/court-date-set-for-former-st-peter-priest/   

Archbishop Dennis Schnurr and his staff are not

--apologizing to those who’ve been harmed or

--urging those with information or suspicions to call police.

Instead, they are pretending

--to be powerless, and

--that the hurt is history.

They should be actively working to prod anyone with information or suspicions about the priest to call law enforcement. They should use church bulletins, parish websites and pulpit announcements to urge people to call police with any knowledge they may have of these crimes.

But it seems like church officials would rather not learn more or risk more bad publicity.

Fr. Tony Cutcher, pastor of St. Peter’s parish, said “We move forward as the church has always moved forward. We look to the future rather than to the past. It’s unfortunate that this happened but it is in our past.”

The archdiocesan website says the alleged criminal is retired.

http://www.thecatholictelegraph.com/catholic-priest-charged-with-aggravated-theft/32589

Again, no mention of sorrow for everyone who has been or may have been defrauded, Catholic or non-Catholic. No mention of helping police or prosecutors learn the full truth. No punishment for any wrongdoers. Not even a vague pledge to “do better.”

Catholics and citizens deserve church officials who take criminal matters more seriously and actively work to resolve them instead of just vaguely “moving forward.”

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