PA – Bishop Bartchak appoints new review board, SNAP responds
For immediate release, Tuesday, August 22, 2017
Statement by Melanie Sakoda of Moraga, California, Volunteer Member of the Board of Directors of SNAP, the Survivors Network (925-708-6175, [email protected])
Bishop Mark Bartchak, head of the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, recently announced the new seven members of his Diocesan Review Board. The Pennsylvania State Attorney General once described the previous Board as a tool for concealing sex abuse allegations.
SNAP, the Survivors Network, applauds Bishop Bartchak for following through on his March promise to replace the old Board. However, we wish that more information about the individual members of the Board had accompanied this announcement. In particular, SNAP would like to know if any of the seven members are themselves victims of clergy sexual abuse. It seems important to us that the Board, which includes two clergymen, also has representation from the survivor community.
We hope that additional information about the members of the Board will be forthcoming soon, and that whatever the Board’s composition, that it truly works to protect the children of the Diocese, rather than following in the footsteps of the former Board.
(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 members. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)
Contacts - Melanie Jula (925-708-6175, [email protected]), Joelle Casteix (949-322-7434, [email protected]),Barbara Dorris (314-503-0003, [email protected])
Winter Appeal 2023
To our friends,
2023 has been a long year with many ups and downs for us all. As we close out the year, we at SNAP hope that you are feeling like you are on your way to being healthy, fulfilled, and happy. This past year has brought both successes and challenges. Thanks to the support you have shown in the past, we’ve been able to celebrate the good days and weather the stormy ones. Now, we are once again asking for your support as we work to support survivors new and old as we ‘Move SNAP Forward.’
At SNAP we are proud to have hosted a very well-attended conference in August 2023. This event allowed us to gather friends, survivors, advocates, and allies for a weekend of camaraderie and connection. We were so happy to be able to welcome many first-time attendees to gather in person and are already looking forward to the next conference.
To strengthen our movement for justice, healing, and prevention, SNAP will be expanding our peer support and providing more volunteer opportunities in the coming year. Through this great work, we are ensuring survivor voices are represented as we work for significant change that will benefit children and survivors.
Right now, survivors worldwide are getting the help they need from SNAP, and more and more reach out to us daily, but we need your help to keep those programs going and get our volunteers the training they need to thrive.
Your tax-deductible gift to SNAP can help offset the cost of our important mission. If you are not in a position to contribute, you can still support us by sharing this letter with those who can. As we continue to fight for survivors across the globe, your donation or sharing the great work SNAP does will help us continue our work to protect the vulnerable, heal the wounded, and prevent abuse.
Your donation ensures SNAP will be there for those who need us more than ever!
Warmly,
Michael W. McDonnell, C.P.S.
Interim Executive Director
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The survivors were denied justice and their day in court was denied because the Roman Catholic diocese of Altoona-Johnstown rigged the system against them: by playing the priest shell-game, by having court records sealed, by outright lying to survivors and their families. Not just the system of justice in the church (which is non existent) but the secular justice system was corrupted by the Roman Catholic diocese of Altoona-Johnstown. Roman Catholic policeman, DAs, politicians and Judges all broke the law and protected criminal priests instead of innocent children. Once the SOL expired the diocese washed their hands of responsibility. Thousands of people had their childhood and innocence destroyed and lost their faith and church and Bartchak thinks that playing the review board shuffle will make up for destroyed lives. For a man of his education and intelligence this is a pathetic attempt to convince people he is doing something-reminiscent of the game playing of Bishop Adamec.
1). If the Grand Jury report said there were over 50 priests and religious brothers involved in abuse how come only about two dozen names appear on the dioceses’ list of sex molesters? The name of Brother Baker and Fr. Martin Brady do not even appear-why? Bartchak promised to publish the names.
2). What does Bartchak’s sweeping reforms do to help the hundreds and thousands of survivors that the diocese screwed through their coverups and refusal to help in the past? These people never got any help from the church and it appears that they never will.
Bartchak is church lawyer and he is playing lawyer games. He is not being a pastor and helping the sheep that his wolves in shepards’ clothing raped. His sweeping changes were proposed in Dallas by the USCCB almost fifteen years ago.