Vatican--Pope “snubs” ex-Denver archbishop; Victims respond

For immediate release: Thursday, Nov. 10, 2016

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790, 314 645 5915 home, [email protected])

This week, Pope Francis “snubbed” Colorado’s former top Catholic official (who now heads the Philadelphia Archdiocese). While we may disagree with the pontiff’s reasons, we are grateful that Philly Archbishop Charles Chaput has been given no further honors or recognition or power in the church hierarchy.

Widely respected Catholic journalist David Gibson of Religion News Service writes that Pope Francis’ decision to promote an Indiana archbishop to become a cardinal and head the much-larger Newark archdiocese “was also viewed by church observers as something of a snub to Chaput. Philadelphia’s five previous archbishops, going back nearly a century, had all been made cardinals.

http://religionnews.com/2016/11/07/pope-francis-gives-n-j-its-first-cardinal-and-ups-the-ante-on-church-reform/

“Chaput is seen as a culture warrior out of step with Francis’ more pastoral and welcoming vision of the church,” Gibson writes.

We’d rather see Chaput ousted by the pope because of his horrific track record on children’s safety. But at least Chaput is being passed by, and we hope that brings some comfort to those who have been hurt by predator priests’ on Chaput’s watch or by callous or hostile actions by Chaput himself.

No matter what church officials do or don’t do, we urge every single person who saw, suspected or suffered child sex crimes and cover ups in Catholic churches or institutions – especially in Philadelphia – to protect kids by calling police, get help by calling therapists, expose wrongdoers by calling attorneys, and be comforted by calling support groups like ours. This is how kids will be safer, adults will recover, criminals will be prosecuted, cover ups will be deterred and the truth will surface.

(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])

Pope Francis’ gives N.J. its first cardinal – and ups the ante on church reform

By David Gibson  | Religion News Service

(RNS) Pope Francis had already delivered the Catholic Church’s version of an October surprise when he included Indianapolis Archbishop Joseph Tobin in the batch of new cardinals he announced last month – promising a red hat to the leader of a relatively small Midwestern diocese of 230,000 Catholics that had never before had a cardinal, nor would ever expect one.

Then on Monday (Nov. 7) the pontiff doubled down with  . . . 

Read full article here