| The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests SNAP Press Release Clergy sex victims blast RI bishop He refuses to warn parents about 2 predators One of his pedophile priests just found near kids Admitted predator worked just feet from "play area" And another proven pedophile priest was just sentenced Church officials should reach out to others he has hurt, SNAP says Group also wants Tobin to list child molesting clerics on his website WHAT The group will also WHEN WHERE WHO WHY Yesterday, a Boston TV station reported that a priest (Fr. Roland M. Lepire) worked until very recently just feet away from a children’s play area at a car dealership in the Boston suburb of Norwood. Also yesterday, a Maryland judge sentenced a predator priest (Fr. A. J. Cote) to ten years of probation. http://www.gazette.net/stories/11232009/montnew162902_32558.shtml Cote worked here from 2003-2005 and Lepire worked here from 1975 to 1996. SNAP believes that Providence Bishop Thomas Tobin should aggressively reach out to anyone who has knowledge of either predator’s crimes, especially because they are known offenders who walk free. For the sake of public safety, Tobin should also post on his website the names of proven, admitted and credibly accused child molesting clerics. (More than 15 bishops, a small minority, have taken this simple, inexpensive, proven method of alerting parents about and protecting kids from dangerous predators. Tobin, however, has repeatedly refused to do so, even though his diocese has one of the highest rates of accused pedophile priests in the US.) According to church records and media accounts, for at least 34 years, Catholic officials have known Lepire was a credibly accused child molester. For 13 years, they’ve known he is an admitted child molester. But other than suspending him from his job (which church insurers and defense lawyers no doubt insisted on), SNAP believes they’ve done virtually nothing to safeguard those around Lepire. And Providence diocesan employees have done little to explain how and why they let Cote work in youth ministry here even though he was under criminal investigation for molesting a Maryland boy when he came to Rhode Island. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/16/AR2005111602414.html Nor has Tobin adequately explained why, in January 2007, his lawyers admitted in court that some 125 Rhode Island priests have been accused of molesting kids, but only 29 of them have been publicly identified. http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2007/09_10/2007_10_20_Paulson_NewRI.htm SNAP believes there are thousands of admitted, proven and credibly accused pedophile priests like Lepire out there, getting little or no help or supervision or monitoring from or by the bishops who essentially helped them rape and sodomized kids by ignoring or hiding their crimes. Even today, by their continued silence and inaction, these bishops continue to help these pedophiles find and hurt and endanger children, SNAP feels. Detailed assignment histories for both predator priests are available at BishopAccountability.org CONTACT | |
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