SAN DIEGO (CA)
North County Times
By: North County Times wire services
SAN DIEGO -- A support group for clergy abuse victims sent a letter Thursday to Bishop Robert Brom, demanding that a priest who pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography be removed from a San Diego neighborhood.
"We are writing Thursday because of recent actions at the diocese that are posing a large and dangerous risk to the children of San Diego," the group's letter begins.
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests contends the Catholic Diocese of San Diego should have notified neighbors that the Rev. Gary Holtey was living unsupervised across the street from St. John's Catholic parish in University Heights.
SNAP also alleges the diocese failed to remove the 59-year-old Holtey from the priesthood, a move the group contends Chancellor Rodrigo Valdivia pledged following the priest's sentencing earlier this year.
"He poses an immediate risk, but church officials apparently don't think that it is important to warn the neighbors or remove Holtey from ministry," said Joelle Casteix, SNAP's southwest regional director.