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The
Survivors Network of
those Abused by Priests
SNAP
Press Release
Giving Voice to Victims
For immediate release:
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
CHILD PROTECTION ALERT
Two of Maine's Catholic parishes publish names
and telephone numbers of altar servers on church web site
Personal information about minor children is available
to sex predators
"Over and over again, Bishop Malone tells Catholics that the protection
of children is his "first priority." Yet, earlier this year,
the bishop announced that mandatory background checks on hundreds of church
workers and volunteers not been completed in a timely manner. Now it's
discovered that the names and phone numbers of innocent minor children
are posted on a parish web site. Bishop Malone won't allow his own home
telephone number to be published anywhere, yet, it's ok with him that
private information about children is posted on a website. With this information,
a sexual predator could easily locate the child's home address."
Marie Tupper, Maine Coordinator, Survivors Network of those Abused
by Priests
"Two years ago, I alerted officials of the Roman Catholic Diocese
of Portland that names, photos and/or email addresses of Catholic school
children were being published on Catholic school web sites. Now, I have
discovered that the names and telephone numbers of more children (altar
servers) are posted on at least two parish web sites. When children's
names and phone numbers are posted on web sites, the children are exposed
to sexual predators, both within and outside the Church. It's ironic,
though, that at the same time that Bishop Malone is refusing to allow
SNAP to place an ad in the diocesan news magazine, one that is intended
to help protect children and reach out to victims of clergy sexual abuse,
further evidence arises that the bishop is not paying attention and doing
everything he can to protect innocent children from child sex abuse."
Michael Sweatt, Maine VOTF leader
"This is more proof that the church hierarchy has fixated on damage
control, rather than on simple, proven steps to keep kids safe. There's
still a long, long way to go before kids are truly protected in the Catholic
community. The fault here lies squarely with the bishop, who clearly should
be providing effective training for Catholics, instead of providing expensive
contracts for def David Clohessy, Executive Director, Survivors Network
of those Abused by Priestsense lawyers and public relations professionals."
St. Denis Parish
http://www.webmedleysb.com/media/media-135445.pdf
Holy Rosary Parish:
http://www.webmedleysb.com/media/media-144061.pdf
For more information:
David Clohessy of St. Louis, SNAP Executive Director, 314 566 9790
Marie Tupper, Maine SNAP Coordinator, 207 633 4608
Michael Sweatt, VOTF Maine, 207 831 3791
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Survivors Network
of those Abused by Priests
www.snapnetwork.org
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