OH--Victims blast Steubenville church officials

Bishop needs to explain delay in removing accused priest

All church documents related to accused priest need to be turned over to police

Others who may have been harmed urged to report to law enforcement

SNAP to hold support meeting same day of press event
 

WHAT

Holding signs and childhood photos, clergy sex abuse survivors and their supporters will: 
--demand that Steubenville Bishop Jeffrey Monforton explain his delay in revealing accused priest
--urge the Bishop to turn over to law enforcement all secret archive documents related to accused priest
--encourage others who may have knowledge or may have been harmed by accused priest to come forward and report any information to police
--hold a support meeting 

They will also urge the bishop to:
--move quickly in posting all accused predators’ names on his diocesan and church websites,
--include the photos, whereabouts and work histories of accused predator priests 

And the group will urge any who saw, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes or cover ups in the Steubenville Diocese to come forward now to secular authorities, not church officials.

WHEN:

Monday, June 4 at 11:00 am  .

WHERE:

On the sidewalk outside Steubenville Diocese headquarters, 422 Washington Street, Steubenville, OH 

WHO: 

Two-three members of a support group called SNAP (the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests), including the St Louis woman who is the organization’s local volunteer leader

WHY:

- Last week, the Steubenville diocese removed Msgr Mark Froehlich for an accusation of sexual abuse of a minor that the Diocese considered credible. The diocese church officials received the complaint way back in January of 2018. The group asks why did it take the church officials so long to make this information public? And did they report it to police? Were other children and minors threatened during the interval?

 - SNAP wants Bishop Monforton to voluntarily help Belmont county sheriff’s office with this case while it is still within the statute of limitations by turning over all documents pertaining to this priest in a timely manner. 

- They also want Monforton to post all the names of all accused predator priests on the diocese web site, which 30 other diocese have already done.

- SNAP will announce that they are holding a Support Meeting at the Bellaire County Library on Monday June 4th, 5:30 to 7:00 pm.  Survivors and supporters are welcome to attend this meeting.

Contact -   Judy Jones, (636-433-2511, [email protected]), Tim Lennon (415-312-5820, [email protected]), Becky Ianni (703-801-6044, [email protected])

(SNAP, the Survivors Network, is the world's oldest and largest support group for victims of sexual abuse in institutional settings. SNAP was founded in 1988 and has more than 25,000 survivors and supporters. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org )