PA--New federal indictment of Philly priest on child porn

For immediate release: Friday, Feb. 27

Statement by Karen Polesir, Philly SNAP leader, 267 992 9463, [email protected]

A new federal indictment says a Philly priest tried to lure a child into sex and distributed and possessed child pornography.

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/mc-c-feds-indict-west-chester-priest-20150227-story.html   

He’s the 135th Philly priest to be publicly accused of child sex crimes. (See BishopAccountability.org)

Archbishop Charles Chaput should get busy. Starting this weekend, he should go to every parish where Fr. Mark. D. Haynes worked, begging victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to step forward and call police.

Why?

Because that’s what will help ensure Fr. Haynes is kept away from kids the longest.

Because that’s what Chaput owes his flock.

Because that’s how Chaput will find others who have been hurt and are still suffering.

Because that’s how Catholic officials will begin to reverse centuries of secrecy, deceit, recklessness, callousness and inaction about child sex crimes and cover ups.

Because that’s how Chaput will begin to earn the trust he says he wants to restore among parishioners.

Because with Pope Francis heading to Philadelphia in a few months, Chaput has a tremendous opportunity, through this kind of courageous and compassionate outreach, to show bishops across the globe the proper and effective way to respond when allegations of child sex crimes surface.

What a refreshing and reassuring move this would be. Imagine how thrilled and grateful Philly Catholics would be to see their spiritual leader forging a new path and going beyond the bare minimum.

Sending a terse, carefully-crafted, lawyer-vetted four or five sentence media statement sends a weak and depressing signal to the Philly flock. Sending the archbishop himself to parishes, in person, to beg anyone with information or suspicions about Fr. Haynes to call 911, would send a strong and encouraging signal to the Philly flock, especially to the hundreds (perhaps thousands) who have been sexually violated by priests, nuns, seminarians, brothers and other Catholic employees.

(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. We were founded in 1988 and have 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, [email protected], Barbara Dorris 314-503-0003, [email protected], Barbara Blaine 312-399-4747, [email protected]   


Showing 2 comments

  • Iain Pattison
    commented 2015-02-28 16:47:24 -0600
    I agree with what SNAP’s Karen Polesir says.
    These suggestions which SNAP always ask bishops/archbishops to carry out are not complex, you don’t have to be particularly righteous to carry them out and they aren’t expensive. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist, a saint or a millionaire to implement these simple, practical and inexpensive suggestions. Archbishop Charles Chaput should not forget that he was once a vulnerable child as well.
  • @ tweeted this page. 2015-02-27 08:13:38 -0600

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