PA--Victims urge “whistleblowers” to step forward re Msgr. Lynn

For immediate release: Thursday, Aug. 4

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 503 0003 cell, [email protected])

A trial date has been set for the only US Catholic official to ever do jail time for hiding and enabling child sex crimes. So now it’s time for church staff to stop protecting Msgr. William Lynn like Lynn protected predator priests. It’s time for every current and former church employee – from bookkeeper to bishop – who has information or suspicions about Msgr. Lynn’s complicity to overcome their fears, do their duty and call Philly prosecutors.   

“This is excessively punitive,” some will claim. They’re wrong. This is about smart deterrence and simple justice. All of us have a duty to safeguard kids by holding those who don’t responsible for their wrongdoing.

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]), Barbara Blaine (312-399-4747, [email protected])

   


Showing 4 comments

  • Allen Sires
    commented 2016-08-06 06:23:48 -0500
    What these priests do to children is not comparable to any other institutions. Abuse accomplished with the teachings of the Christ. It has no equal in depravity. Physically killing a child has mercy in it . These crimes have no mercy.
  • Allen Sires
    commented 2016-08-06 06:16:12 -0500
    Please don’t abandon the witnesses.
  • Allen Sires
    commented 2016-08-06 06:05:42 -0500
    I’m still numb after the beating I took for reporting father Nyhan . Please don’t let Lynn get away. Some of us lost everything forced to do it alone . The community and the bishops laugh in our faces in the south. We are alone down here. I look to the north for hope and an example.my own family launched vicious character attacks that created more attacks from people I barely knew. Non- stop for years. They maintained a sense of belonging and I ended up defenseless as a plaintiff. I am heartbroken watching decent loved ones turn into brutal adversaries.
  • @ tweeted this page. 2016-08-04 10:50:54 -0500

SNAP Network is a GuideStar Gold Participant