BishopAccountability.org
	Vatican Defrocks Wrong Bishop? SNAP Asks SNAP December 17, 2009 http://www.snapnetwork.org/snap_statements/2009_statements/121709_vatican_defrocks_wrong_bishop_snap_asks.htm Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 862 7688 home, 314 503 0003 cell) Today one Catholic bishop was forcibly ousted and another voluntarily resigned. The Vatican gave the most severe consequence to the one who allegedly "caused scandal" by "disobeying" the church hierarchy. The less severe consequence went to the one who basically enabled a child molester to keep molesting kids. An Irish prelate hasn't been excommunicated or defrocked and probably won't be. He chose to step down after a government report disclosed that he ignored and hid credible child sex abuse reports against a priest who went on to sexually assault more kids. A Zambian prelate, however, was ex-communicated years ago and has now also been defrocked. He advocated clergy being allowed to marry. We don't know of a single case of a predator priest anywhere ever being excommunicated, nor a case of a complicit bishop anywhere ever being defrocked or excommunicated. It seems clear that the church hierarchy's most harsh penalties are virtually never applied to those who molest kids or who enable others to molest kids. (SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the nation's oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. We've been around for 21 years and have more than 9,000 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), Barbara Blaine (312-399-4747), Peter Isely (414-429-7259), Barbara Dorris (314-862-7688 home, 314-503-0003 cell) Zambian bishop http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/17/AR2009121701147.html Irish bishop http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gAGvRsSatBq21l_Obll2vacmiAQQD9CL5M5O0
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.