TX--Notre Dame priest accused of abuse; SNAP responds
For immediate release: Wednesday, May 27
Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790, [email protected])
Notre Dame officials should immediately suspend a priest on their faculty who is accused of child sex crimes. They, along with San Antonio Catholic officials, should aggressively seek out others who may have seen, suspected or suffered crimes by the cleric or cover ups by his church supervisors.
A high-profile priest and professor, Fr. Virgilio Elizondo, is accused in a new civil lawsuit of sexually assaulting a child in Texas in the 1980s. We commend this brave individual who is taking action to protect others and expose those who commit and conceal heinous crimes against children.
More than a dozen years ago, US Catholic officials pledged to promptly suspend credibly accused child molesting clerics. This new suit, we believe, constitutes a credible allegation.
Fr. Elizondo should be removed from his post and sent to a remote, secure, independently-run treatment facility so that kids can be safer. And anyone with information or suspicions about clergy sex crimes or cover ups should call secular authorities, not church officials.
(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. SNAP was founded in 1988 and has more than 20,000 members. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)
Contact - David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell, [email protected]), Barbara Dorris (314-503-0003 cell, [email protected]), Barbara Blaine (312-399-4747, [email protected])
Notre Dame priest, professor named in Texas sexual assault lawsuit
Suzanne Spencer, POSTED: 09:42 PM EDT May 26, 2015 UPDATED: 10:04 AM EDT May 27, 2015
A priest and professor teaching at Notre Dame is named in a civil lawsuit in Texas. In the lawsuit, Rev. Virgilio Elizondo is one of two priests accused of sexually assaulting a minor in the 1980s.
The plaintiff, who is not named, accused Fr. Elizondo of touching the minor inappropriately. The lawsuit says Fr. Elizondo, "reached over, kissed him, and began to fondle him..."
According to the court documents, the plaintiff . . .
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