WY--Records about WY predator priest released

For immediate release: Thursday, Nov. 19, 2015

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those abused by Priests (314 566 9790, [email protected])

Several pages of previously-secret records about a serial predator priest who worked and abused in Wyoming have been made public. They paint an unflattering view of the Catholic church hierarchy.

He’s Fr. Charles J. Gormly and he worked at churches in Rock Springs, Pine Bluffs, Lander and Laramie. Last December, “the Diocese of Duluth included Father Gormly on its official list of clergy members who have been credibly accused of child sexual abuse,” according to a Minnesota newspaper.

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2014/11_12/2014_12_14_Brainerd_Dispatch_Priest_at.htm

http://www.andersonadvocates.com/PriestList/231/Charles-Gormly.aspx

The newly released records show a bishop admitting that Fr. Gormly “has a sexual problem that prompts him to molest small girls” and that Fr. Gormly was sent for “treatment” to at least two facilities.

We hope that every single person who saw, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes or cover ups in Wyoming will summon the strength to speak up. Kids are safer only when victims, witnesses and whistleblowers are courageous enough to act. Silence is tempting but it only helps wrongdoers.

And victims heal best when the truth about those who committed and concealed heinous crimes are exposed. We urge every victim in Wyoming to find the courage to seek help from independent professionals, not church officials.

We call on Wyoming Bishop Paul D. Etienne to personally visit the parishes where Fr. Gormly worked, begging victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to come forward. He should also use parish bulletins, church websites and pulpit announcements across the entire diocese to seek out others who may have been assaulted and are still suffering. And he should permanently post on his diocesan website the names, photos and whereabouts of every child molesting Wyoming cleric, whether alive or dead, diocesan or religious order, or admitted, proven or credibly accused. (About 30 US bishops have done this. It’s the bare minimum a bishop should do to protect the vulnerable and heal the wounded.)

The documents are available at AndersonAdvocates.com.

A native of Ireland, he was ordained in Cheyenne WY diocese, worked at four Minnesota parishes (in the dioceses of Crookston and Duluth) and died in 1968.

(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], [email protected]), Barbara Dorris (314-503-0003 cell, [email protected]), Barbara Blaine (312-399-4747, [email protected])