Our hearts ache for the victims of Fr. Szantyr who has made a mockery of the justice system by his endless legal maneuvers and delays. More than 30 times he and his ruthless lawyers have postponed court appearances on one ruse or another.

We citizens criticize child sex abuse victims for not reporting the crimes promptly, we hope they'll remember Fr. Szantyr who shrewdly exploited legal technicalities to evade justice.

Everyone deserves due process, even child molesters. But due process needn't be so ridiculously lengthy. We call on Massachusetts lawmakers to look closely at this travesty and find reforms that will prevent child predators from successfully exploiting legal loopholes and processes in the future.

We call on anyone with information about crimes or potential crimes by Szantyr to call police, come forward, and get help.

And we call on anyone who sees Szantyr acting like a normal, competent adult will immediately contact the prosecutor so that he might still be forced to face justice for his horrific crimes.

(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the nations oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. Weve been around for 17 years and have more than 8,000 members across the country. 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, 314-645-5915 home), Peter Isely (414-429-7259) Barbara Blaine (312-399-4747), Barbara Dorris (314-862-7688), Mary Grant (626-419-2930), Mark Serrano (703-727-4940)

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2008/03_04/2008_03_04_Wedge_JudgeRules.htm

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2008/05_06/2008_05_09_Murray_PriestAccused.htm