For Immediate Release:
Monday, April 28, 2008

For More Information:
Daniel Frondorf of Cincinnati, OH (513 706 7403)
David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell)
Barbara Blaine (312 399 4747)
Barbara Dorris (314-862-7688)

Clergy sex abuse victim urges disclosure of predator priest's whereabouts

He's been sued twice for child molestation & lives now in Jacksonville

WHAT
At a sidewalk news conference, a clergy sex abuse victim will urge any victims of a former Catholic priest currently living in the Jacksonville area to come forward to receive support and counseling, and to help prevent future abuse of others.

He'll also urge church officials to use their considerable resources - the diocesan website, the dioesan newspaper, church bulletins, and pulpit anouncements, to alert unsuspecting families about the predator's presence.

WHEN
TODAY, Monday, April 28, 1:15 p.m.

WHERE
Outside the Duval County Courthouse, 330 East Bay Street, in Jacksonville, Florida 32202

WHO
An Ohio man who was molested as a child by a prest and who is a leader in a nationwide support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org)

WHY
Orlando Bishop Thomas Wenski has just been served with a civil child sex abuse lawsuit stemming from crimes perpetrated by Fr. Jose Mena against a boy in the mid-1970s at Resurrection parish in Winter Garden, FL.

Mena is believed to be living at 501 N. Ocean (Apt. 1703) in Jacksonville. Previously, he apparently lived at 720 12th Street in Clermont.

According to the lawsuit, Mena repeatedly fondled, sodomized and forced the boy to perform oral sex. (See Orlando Sentinel story from Saturday, 4/26)

The lawsuit was filed on 2/25/08 but not served until about two weeks ago. However, church officials became aware of the suit around the time it was filed and discussed it with the victim’s attorneys, Jeff Herman and Adam Horowitz (305 931 2200) of Miami.

Six years ago, America’s bishops pledged to be ‘open and transparent’ about clergy sex cases. SNAP believes Wenski should have publicized the latest allegations against Mena back in February and that Jacksonville area Catholic officials should likewise now publicize Mena's presence in the area. (SNAP believes he moved to Jacksonville five or six years ago.)

In March 2005, James Woods of Tampa also filed a child sex abuse lawsuit against Mena and two Catholic dioceses (St. Augustine and St. Petersburg). Woods charged that Mena molested him when he was a fifth grader in 1965-66 at Incarnation Catholic School in Hillsborough County.

Mena was born in 1928 and was ordained in 1961. The latest victim, now 46, lives in the Orlando area
http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2005_01_06/2005_03_02_Dymond_TampaMan.htm

SNAP is a confidential, independent Chicago-based support group dedicated to protecting the vulnerable and healing the wounded.

CONTACT
Daniel Frondorf of Cincinnati, OH (513 706 7403), David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell), Barbara Blaine (312 399 4747), Barbara Dorris (314-862-7688)