Vatican - Vatican releases defrocking stats on predator priests; SNAP responds

January 17, 2014

For immediate release: Friday, Jan. 17, 2014

Statement by Joelle Casteix of Newport Beach CA, western regional director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (949 322 7434, [email protected])

The Vatican has released statistics on defrocking priests over a two year period. This is not progress.

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2014/01/17/22340073-pope-benedict-defrocked-400-priests-n-2-years-report?lite

Numbers don't protect kids. Decisive action protects kids. Parents, police, prosecutors and parishioners need the names and whereabouts of every child molesting Catholic cleric. That's the information that the Vatican should be making public.

Just yesterday, our group publicly exposed a Catholic cleric, Brother Damien Chong, who molested in California, was sent to Chicago and now works in Massachusetts as a chaplain in a mall. Not a single Catholic official in any of those three states has done anything to warn a single family about this potentially dangerous man. And there are thousands of proven, admitted and credibly predator priests out there like Chong, living and working among unsuspecting families and employers – and sometimes still in church jobs – because of the continuing secrecy of top Catholic officials.

The Vatican's focus should be on prevention, not on damage control on the tail end after a priest, nun, seminarian, brother or bishop has already assaulted dozens of boys or girls.

We strongly suspect that these numbers are being made available now because of the grilling Vatican officials took yesterday in Geneva. It seems that once again, only external pressure is prompting church officials to belatedly and grudgingly make a tiny gesture to mollify outraged parishioners and victims and secular authorities

Contact - David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell,[email protected]), Barbara Dorris (314-862-7688 home, 314-503-0003 cell, [email protected]), Barbara Blaine (312-399-4747, [email protected]), Peter Isely (414-429-7259,[email protected]), Judy Jones 636-433-2511,[email protected]) Joelle Casteix (949-322-7434,[email protected])

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Showing 1 comment

Lani Halter commented 2014-01-17 17:25:52 -0600
Ms. Casteix, I completely agree with your assessment of the situation today (the day after the UN hearings). I do think that because the victims often are so very young; and we know the all the victims, no matter what age, are threatened and intimidated from reporting or telling anyone of the abuse, so the responsibility for ending this scourge is left to the sane adults who care enough to not give up in the fight! Don’t give up Joelle, all of these children and each of the survivors still alive, need us all to STOP the pediphiles who do in fact, currently lurk in every “nook and cranny” of the catholic church. If external pressure is what it takes, then we must keep it coming!!!

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