Alleged Sex Abuse Victims Question New Bishop, WNEM, September 1, 2009

Alleged Sex Abuse Victims Question New Bishop

WNEM
September 1, 2009

http://www.wnem.com/news/20653325/detail.html

Joseph Cistone Previously Addressed Group's Demands During TV5 Interview

SAGINAW, Mich. -- A handful of alleged victims who say they were abused by Catholic priests tried to deliver a letter to Saginaw’s new bishop Monday.

The letter contained questions and a request to the office of the newly installed bishop, Joseph Cistone.

“If someone would have warned my mom, she would have kept me away from him,” said clergy abuse victim Barbara Blaine.

The group, called Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, want Cistone to talk about the findings of a Philadelphia grand jury investigation.

Specifically, SNAP wants to know the whereabouts and status of two suspended Saginaw priests who are accused of molestation.

While the bishop was not there, a nun did respond and accepted the group’s letter.

Sister Mary Judith O’Brien received the letter and spoke on the bishop’s behalf.

“The information that you’re asking for [the] organization is not giving out as a general rule,” said O'Brien.

“The diocese of Saginaw, like so many dioceses, is working with law enforcement in a variety of manners to protect the public whenever we see difficulties,” said O'Brien.

“We accept all the apologies,” said Blaine. “But our concern is for preventing even one more child from being abused and when you pretend or hide from your history -- then there is a far more likelihood that history will repeat itself.”

As a form of protection, any individual who has a sexual complaint against them involving children is removed from the ministry.

The members of SNAP have scheduled a town hall meeting on the issue for Oct. 25.

This is not the first time SNAP has protested in front of the diocese in Saginaw Township.

The protestors showed up demanding answers before the bishop arrived in town to begin his term.

In July, before Cistone’s installation, TV5’s Katie O’Mara sat down with him and talked about that incident.

“They came here looking for answers at a time when you weren’t here to give them,” said O’Mara. “So this is your time to explain to viewers, Catholics in the diocese, what happened?”

“Let me say first that time in Philadelphia, that time with the report, was a really devastating time,” said Cistone. “It was painful time for a lot of people and a lot of us – most especially for the victims – to hear these stories which they knew formatted their own experience and to see that in the light, to relive some of their experience – it was also a painful time for the church itself.”

Cistone went on to say, “I really believe it serves no purpose to go back to that report, point by point, point by counter point.”