Victims Want Church to Name Names, WCAX, August 8, 2007

Victims Want Church to Name Names

WCAX
August 8, 2007

http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=6905884&nav=4QcS

Burlington, Vermont — Some victims of sexual abuse by priests are calling on Vermont's Roman Catholic diocese to go public. About two dozen priest sex abuse cases have been filed in Vermont — involving seven priests. Some are still being litigated, some are currently under investigation. Those are the cases we know about, but victims want the church to make public the names of ALL priests who have been accused of sexual abuse over the years.

"We believe that the bishop, at a bare minimum, should do what 15 of his colleagues across the country have done, which is to disclose and publicly disclose on the Diocese's web site the names of all proven, admitted and credibly accused abusers, current and former church employees," said David Clohessy.

Clohessy heads a national support group for victims called SNAP, the Survivors Network of Those Abused Priests. He gathered with fellow victims in front of diocesan offices Wednesday with harsh criticism of Bishop Salvatore Matano.

"We think that this is the cheapest and quickest way for the bishop to protect kids from threats by predators in the here and now," he said.

Former priest, Bill Cleary agreed.

"We produced five thousand credible priest criminals in this country. I couldn't believe the number. They're on the list alphabetically on the web site of SNAP and other places so we have a lot of work to do and this Bishop has not done well in protecting children from people he knows are abusers," he added.

60-year-old Joe Rivers of Winooski says he was one of Vermont's victims when he lived at the St. Joseph's orphanage in the 1950's and early 1960's. He's just now come forward with his story, attending his first survivors meeting Tuesday night. He and other survivors believe that the best therapy for past victims is to come forward and seek help. They believe the best protection for the future is to post the names of priests on the World Wide Web.

Bishop Matano was out of town today, but did issue a written statement. He says the Diocese is cooperating fully with the Attorney General's office and is forwarding all complaints to that office. He is reluctant to post names on the web because of ongoing litigation and the presumption of innocence until proven guilty.