Victims blast NOLA archbishop
Victims blast NOLA archbishop
They will hand fliers to church-goers
SNAP: His ‘accused priests’ list is incomplete
Group will ‘out’ threemore alleged local predators
And it wants a new ‘victims assistance coordinator’
Archbishop uses a cleric; That’s wrong, SNAP says
WHAT
As passers-by and church-goers walk along, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will hand them fliers urging
--Louisiana’s attorney general to do more about the church’s abuse and cover up crisis,
--Louisiana’s bishops to add more names and info to their ‘credibly accused clergy’ lists, and
--New Orleans’ archbishop to replace the cleric who is his ‘victims assistance coordinator.’
WHEN
Saturday, Aug. 10 at 1:00 p.m.
WHERE
On the sidewalk outside the Cathedral of St. Louis, 615 Pere Antoine Alley, New Orleans
WHO
Two-four members of a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org)
WHY
---1) Victims want Catholics and citizens to help them prod Louisiana’s Attorney General Jeff Landry to set up a statewide hotline to report clergy sex crimes, as AGs are doing in other states. (Pennsylvania AG hotline got almost 2,000 calls last year.)
https://6abc.com/pa-clergy-abuse-hotline-fielded-1900-calls-in-first-year/5447708/
Landry claims he is unable to open a full-fledged investigation into the abuse and cover up crisis in the church. But SNAP believes “where there’s a will, there’s a way” and that Landry can do more than he’s doing now (possibly teaming up with local prosecutors, using his ‘bully pulpit’ more to prod victims, witnesses and others to step forward, seeking more authority from lawmakers, etc.)
https://www.katc.com/the-list/2019/04/12/the-list-accusations-of-abuse-in-the-diocese-of-lafayette/
---2) According to the archdiocesan website, New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond’s Victims Assistance Coordinator is a cleric, Brother Stephen Synan (504 522 5019,[email protected]). SNAP believes the position should be filled with a qualified lay therapist because many who have been sexually violated by clergy find it very tough to trust another clergy. “If Aymond genuinely wants victims to come forward, he should be sensitive and caring enough to hire an appropriate person for this post,” SNAP maintains.
---3) SNAP is upset that proven, admitted and credibly accused child molesting clerics are being left off the official ‘credibly accused’ clerics list put forward by Archbishop Aymond last year.
https://www.nola.com/news/article_adaf34ce-b964-11e9-8c34-c72732b96ef9.html
Some of those “missing” priests include:
--Fr. Francis M. Landwermeyer who was listed by the Jesuits as a ‘credibly accused’ cleric in 2018. He worked in Tampa FL, Milwaukee WI, Biloxi MS, Charleston Heights SC, Saginaw MI, Columbia SC, San Antonio TX, Dallas TX, and two Louisiana cities (Shreveport and New Orleans). He reportedly molested in the 1960s and 1970s, was removed from ministry in 2010 and died last year.
https://www.missionparks.com/obituaries/Father-Francis-Landwermeyer/#!/Obituary
--Fr. Freddy Washington was ordained a priest of the Congregation of the Holy Ghost. In 2017, he was arrested for allegedly sexually abusing two boys while he was at a Charleston, SCCatholic church between approximately 1982 and 1984. As recently as 2017, he was listed as an associate professor of pastoral theology at Xavier University in New Orleans. (He also worked in Chicago, Cincinnati, Los Angeles and two New York communities: Harlem and Long Island.)
http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2017/05_06/2017_06_01_Yee_NewYork.htm
--Msgr. Henry Bezou, whom Aymond announced would NOT be added to his ‘credibly accused’ list despite the fact that one of Bezou’s accusers was just paid a “large” settlement (according to news accounts and the alleged victim’s attorney)
Msgr. Bezou, now deceased, also worked in Houma and Metarie and was superintendent of the archdiocesan schools.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/84696205/henry-charles-bezou
CONTACT
Richard Windmann 682-710-1965, [email protected], Garnett Bedenbaugh, 985-345-1566, David Clohessy 314-566-9790, [email protected]
