Yet Another Catholic Staffer Arrested in Steubenville on Child Abuse Charges
Mere weeks after a local priest was arrested for rape and sexual battery, another Catholic staffer from within the Diocese of Steubenville has been arrested on charges related to child sexual abuse. We call on diocesan officials to use every resource at their disposal to do outreach to potential victims and witnesses and to update their list to include the name of this teacher and every other accused lay employee that has worked within the diocese’s borders.
Corissa McCalister worked as a Spanish teacher and running coach at Central Catholic High School in Steubenville, Ohio. She was arrested on charges that she assaulted a 15-year-old boy on the way home from a track meet. By our count, this is the 8th arrest this year of a current Catholic priest or staffer, occurring at a rate of nearly two per month nationally. This month, those two arrests have both come from within the Diocese of Steubenville.
Catholic officials should use all the resources at their disposal to ensure that parents, students, and alumni at Central Catholic are made aware of the allegations and that anyone who may have seen or suspected abuse is encouraged to come forward and make a report to the police. We also believe that Bishop Jeffrey Monforton should add the name of this woman and all lay employees – teachers, coaches, and other staffers – who have been accused of abuse to his list of the perpetrators within his diocese.
We believe the goal of these lists should not be to name just clergy but to identify every abuser within a Catholic diocese so that parents and parishioners can be vigilant and better informed. Informed communities are safer communities, and we hope that diocesan officials in Steubenville will be transparent with their flock in order to prevent future cases of sexual abuse.
CONTACT: Judy Jones, SNAP Steubenville ([email protected], 636-433-2511), Michael McDonnell, SNAP Communications Manager (267-261-0578, [email protected]), Zach Hiner, SNAP Executive Director ([email protected], 517-974-9009)
(SNAP, the Survivors Network, has been providing support for victims of sexual abuse in institutional settings for 30 years. We have more than 25,000 survivors and supporters in our network. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)
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