SNAP sends a letter to Sacramento Catholic Bishop Jaime Soto with five specific requests that he take regarding his list of abusers.

(For Immediate Release January 19, 2022) 

Today, SNAP sent a letter to Sacramento Catholic Bishop Jaime Soto with five specific requests is asking that he take regarding his list of abusers. The Survivors’ Network also shared information regarding the excessive presence of abusive clergy and brothers at a local High School. We have included the letter below along with media contacts. The attachments mentioned in the letter can be obtained from the contacts listed.

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Dear Bishop Soto:

January 19, 2022

Dear Bishop Soto: Last month SNAP held a press conference outside your chancery, asking that you update your list of abusers. You can find our list of names attached. Should you have any questions about why these men should be included, please feel free to reach out. As a follow-up from our event, we have five specific actions we are asking you to take:

1. Shortly after you published your list in 2019 you said, “The list can be amended both in terms of victims and in terms of perpetrators that we don't know about.” However, despite our event, we notice that your most recent update was in November. We are asking you again today to expand your list to include the 32 additional names we have provided.
2. We also hope that you include Alfredo Beccera’s abuser. Alfredo bravely spoke out about his assault at our media event. It seems logical for you to include this perpetrator, as you already name those who abused adults under the age of 25, and Alfredo falls into this category.
3. In addition, Fr. Henry Angelino was revealed as a perpetrator on the Diocese of Fresno’s list in August. We recently discovered that he also worked in the Sacramento area. As far as we can tell, he did not work in your Diocese, but we are mentioning this because you would know for certain.
4. We would also assume that Fr. Renerio (Fr. Jong) Sabuga, Jr., would not be a controversial addition, since Pope Francis has expanded Vatican law regarding the abuse of adults, and since you have already acknowledged that the allegation was “credible.” Fr. Sabuga is still working as a priest in the Philippines, but adding him to your list might change this dangerous situation.
5. Similarly, since you included a link to the Jesuit West Province list on yours, it does not seem unreasonable to ask that those 7 names be included in the section of your list for those accused of abuse elsewhere, rather than obscured in an easily overlooked link at the bottom of the page.

The importance of being completely transparent cannot be overstated. The first benefit is to survivors, who will learn that they are not alone. This may well be the first step on the road to healing for those suffering in silence.

Another plus is being able to see patterns in what happened in the past. For example, we have attached a file with information from public records about abuse at Jesuit High School in Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests Carmichael. As you can see, of the 11 known abusers who worked at the High School, only 5 are directly named on your list. You are missing more than half of the perpetrators.

Moreover, the information shows that for all but 4 of the 40 years between 1963-2003, the High School employed between 1-5 priests and brothers who are known to have abused, either at Jesuit or someplace else. This includes the school’s one-time President, Fr. James Kuntz, who was convicted in 2008 of possessing child pornography. He worked at Jesuit from 2000-2003.

The pattern is still disturbing, but less so, without the names from our list. Tracking only those perpetrators directly named by you, in 12 of the 40 years there were no known abusers at Jesuit, and never more than 3 in any given year. The convicted Fr. Kuntz is not listed at all.

Lastly, we have included some speculation about the number of Jesuit students exposed to known abusers. We have assumed each class runs a full year, with each teacher covering 6 classes of the usual 7 classes per day. If the class size has been consistent over those decades, there would likely be 17 students in each class. Potentially, each abuser taught 102 children every year. In the years where there were 5 perpetrators on campus, as many as 510 young lives may have exposed to abusers, although not all may have been hurt. Even more students were at risk if the teachers also acted as coaches, club advisors, or administrators.

We know from experts that many victims take years to report. The average age for a survivor to come forward is 52. We track that time lag on our Jesuit High chronology. You may be seeing new reports of abuse, even new perpetrators, up to 2043 and beyond. You should be proactive in reaching out to alumni of Jesuit High so they are informed about abuse at the school. We believe that this would encourage more victims to report.

Sincerely,

Melanie Sakoda Survivor Support Coordinator, SNAP [email protected] 925-708-6175

Dorothy Small Sacramento Leader, SNAP [email protected] 530-908-3676

Zach Hiner Executive Director, SNAP [email protected] 517-974-9009

Dan McNevin Oakland Leader, SNAP [email protected] 415-341-6417

(SNAP, the Survivors Network, has been providing support for victims of sexual abuse in institutional settings for more than 30 years. We have more than 25,000 survivors and supporters in our network. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)