PA--Victims blast “reckless secrecy” of Harrisburg bishop

For immediate release: Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2016

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])

Harrisburg Bishop Ronald Gainer and his staff are putting kids in harm’s way by continuing to hide the names and whereabouts of predator priests. Shame on them.

After decades of pledges by Catholic officials to be “open” about clergy sex abuse and cover up cases, they still being secretive. As a result, who knows how many unsuspecting families live near or individuals work with predator priests?

About 30 US dioceses post names of proven, admitted and credibly accused predator priests on their websites. Gainer, however, refuses to take this simple, inexpensive, practical step to protect the vulnerable, heal the wounded and expose the truth. Shame on his employees who are complicit in this reckless secrecy: Joseph Aponick, Msgr. William King and other current and former church staff.

We urge Harrisburg Catholics to donate elsewhere until their church officials stop hiding child molesting clerics.

(Gainer’s track record on abuse has long been troubling: http://www.snapnetwork.org/ky_bishop_promoted_to_pa_post)

Finally, shame on Mark Totaro of Catholic Charities for the Harrisburg area. He claims the church is now the safest place for children. That’s of course absurd. The underlying factors that caused more than 100,000 US kids to be sexually assaulted by more than 6,300 priests remain intact – the rigid, all-male, allegedly celibate and obsessively secretive hierarchy which lacks any system of “checks and balances” and in which monarchs (a.k.a. bishops) are virtually never held responsible for their wrongdoing, no matter how severe or hurtful or repeated it may be.

It’s irresponsible to make such outlandish, self-serving claims that lead to dangerous complacency, and Totaro knows it.

No matter what church officials do or don’t do, we urge every single person who saw, suspected or suffered child sex crimes and cover ups in Catholic churches or institutions to protect kids by calling police, get help by calling therapists, expose wrongdoers by calling law enforcement, get justice by calling attorneys, and be comforted by calling support groups like ours. This is how kids will be safer, adults will recover, criminals will be prosecuted, cover ups will be deterred and the truth will surface.

(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])

15 priests accused of abuse had ties to Harrisburg diocese

FOR THE FIRST TIME, DETAILS EMERGE ABOUT 15 PRIESTS WITH TIES TO THE HARRISBURG DIOCESE WHO HAVE BEEN ACCUSED OF SEXUALLY ABUSING CHILDREN.

Brandie Kessler, [email protected]

The Diocese of Harrisburg has acknowledged by name 15 priests who have been accused of sexually abusing children and who at one time worked in the diocese -- including one who served in Dallastown in 1989-90.

The Rev. Raymond Prybis was accused of abuse during his time at a Boston-area parish before he was transferred to York County, according to a personnel file released by the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis in January 2015. The Harrisburg diocese said he did not have a credible allegation of abuse while at St. Joseph's in Dallastown.

A list of 15 priests, compiled by the York Daily Record, was provided to the diocese on June 14. On July 21, after multiple requests by the Daily Record, the diocese responded  . . . 

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