Victims of clergy sexual abuse will leaflet the Santa Fe Cathedral urging the Archbishop to update abusive clergy list
Group calls for the release of documents for the list
SNAP fears some credibly accused members of the clergy still have access to kids
WHAT
Clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will hand out flyers to parishioners asking them to urge Santa Fe Archbishop John Wester to update the list of all those in his archdiocese who have been accused of abusing children on his website and to post all the documents concerning these cases. The leaflets ask church-goers to join the advocates in pressing the archbishop to take this important step.
WHEN
Sunday, February 4, at 12:30 PM
WHERE
Outside the Cathedral of Saint Francis Assisi in Santa Fe, 131 Cathedral Place, Santa Fe, NM 87501
WHO
Victims of clergy sexual abuse and their supporters who are members of a support group called SNAP (SNAPnetwork.org), including the group’s Executive Director
WHY
The Catholic bishops in the United States have reported receiving allegations of abuse by 6,528 priests alone from 1950 to 2015. However, Bishop Accountability, the watchdog group independently documenting the abuse crisis, has found public records for only 4,220 clergy, nuns, brothers and seminarians.
http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AtAGlance/data.htm
The more than 2,000 “hidden predators” who have not yet been publicly revealed pose a potential danger to not only Catholic children, but to all young people. SNAP believes those responsible for children should know who all the accused are in order to better protect them.
Survivors and their supporters will be leafletting outside the Santa Fe Cathedral today to enlist the support of parishioners in urging Archbishop John Wester to update the list of credibly accused clergy and to make public all the documents concerning these clerics.
Since the Archdiocese of Santa Fe entered the ranks of those who list the accused on diocesan websites, SNAP has found at least two more names that should be added.
Father Christopher Kerr, a Franciscan priest, who was accused of sexually molesting a student at St. Catherine Indian School in the 1980s.
Father Jonas Romea who worked at Our Lady Of Belen Parish. Fr. Romea had his priestly faculties removed in NM but is currently working as a priest in the Philippines.
When the list was published it was discovered that at least one cleric was working with access to children, a Dennis Hull, former Franciscan Brother who had been accused of abusing students at an Indian school 40 years earlier. There are no known complaints against the man other than the two from his tenure as a Franciscan Brother. However, he apparently had access to members of a vulnerable population until the employer learned of the allegations and the former brother tendered his resignation.
(SNAP, the Survivors Network, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for victims of sexual abuse in institutional settings. SNAP was founded in 1988 and has more than 25,000 members. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)
CONTACT
Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, SNAP Executive Director (314-503-0003, [email protected]), Diana Abeyta 505-469-8768 [email protected]
Winter Appeal 2023
To our friends,
2023 has been a long year with many ups and downs for us all. As we close out the year, we at SNAP hope that you are feeling like you are on your way to being healthy, fulfilled, and happy. This past year has brought both successes and challenges. Thanks to the support you have shown in the past, we’ve been able to celebrate the good days and weather the stormy ones. Now, we are once again asking for your support as we work to support survivors new and old as we ‘Move SNAP Forward.’
At SNAP we are proud to have hosted a very well-attended conference in August 2023. This event allowed us to gather friends, survivors, advocates, and allies for a weekend of camaraderie and connection. We were so happy to be able to welcome many first-time attendees to gather in person and are already looking forward to the next conference.
To strengthen our movement for justice, healing, and prevention, SNAP will be expanding our peer support and providing more volunteer opportunities in the coming year. Through this great work, we are ensuring survivor voices are represented as we work for significant change that will benefit children and survivors.
Right now, survivors worldwide are getting the help they need from SNAP, and more and more reach out to us daily, but we need your help to keep those programs going and get our volunteers the training they need to thrive.
Your tax-deductible gift to SNAP can help offset the cost of our important mission. If you are not in a position to contribute, you can still support us by sharing this letter with those who can. As we continue to fight for survivors across the globe, your donation or sharing the great work SNAP does will help us continue our work to protect the vulnerable, heal the wounded, and prevent abuse.
Your donation ensures SNAP will be there for those who need us more than ever!
Warmly,
Michael W. McDonnell, C.P.S.
Interim Executive Director