Survivors again urge expanded list of abusers for the Catholic Diocese of Charlotte, NC
For Immediate Release: June 2, 2025
On May 29, 2025, Bishop Michael Martin of the Catholic Diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina, announced that the Vatican had affirmed his predecessor’s removal of Fr. Patrick Hoare from ministry for “boundary violations with minors.” Fr. Hoare was placed on administrative leave from his position at St. Matthew Parish by Bishop Peter Joseph Jugis in December of 2019. Bishop Martin wrote that he can now appoint a new administrator for the church.
SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, applauds the Diocese’s decision to remove Fr. Hoare from St. Matthew's while his appeal to Rome was pending. However, we are puzzled why his name still does not appear on Charlotte’s list of “Credibly Accused Clergy.”
We first asked this question back in 2021. It is especially concerning to us that Fr. Hoare continues to post “Daily Reflections with Fr. Pat," featuring a picture of him in clerical garb. We are afraid that this apparent representation of Fr. Hoare as a priest in good standing, rather than one who was removed for “boundary violations with minors,” may endanger other children.
In fact, as far as SNAP can tell, the four accused named in that 2021 media advisory as missing from the Charlotte list, Fr. Hoare, Seminarian John Brian Kaup, Fr. Vincent A. Zollo, and Fr. Albert J. Gondek, are all still missing more than four years later. We know that Catholic bishops sometimes try to shorten their lists of abusers by excluding those “credibly accused" in other dioceses, or those who belong to religious orders or are on loan from other dioceses, or various other excuses.
However, these lists are important to those victims suffering alone and in silence, and wondering if they were the only one. They are important to family members agonizing over why a child lost their way, succumbing to suicide or substance abuse.
We hope that the faithful and the public will put pressure on Bishop Martin to publish a complete list of those “credibly accused.” The Catholic abuse scandal is not solely that there were abusers in ministry. The scandal is intensified when Church officials attempt to hide the identities of those perpetrators, denying survivors and the families of victims the opportunity to heal.
CONTACT: Carol Yeager, North Carolina SNAP ([email protected]), Sue Bailey, North Carolina SNAP ([email protected], 315-657-3446), Charles Bailey, North Carolina SNAP ([email protected], 315-657-5073), Melanie Sakoda, Survivor Support Director ([email protected], 925-708-6175), Shaun Dougherty, SNAP Board President ([email protected], 814-341-8386)
(SNAP, the Survivors Network, has been providing support for victims of sexual abuse in institutional settings for more than 35 years. We have more than 25,000 survivors and supporters in our network. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)
