By Rebecca Drake
iobserve
April 16, 2010
http://www.iobserve.org/rn0415a.html
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SPRINGFIELD – Members of the national advocacy group SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) held an afternoon press conference today in front of the Springfield Diocese’s pastoral center on Elliot Street, here, seeking the assistance of Springfield Bishop Timothy A. McDonnell in addressing the worldwide issue of clergy abuse.
William A. Nash, an Ashfield resident who has said he was molested by a former Xaverian priest, James Tully, in a Wisconsin seminary in the 1980s, stated that today’s event was organized in response to an April 14 Associated Press report about 30 Catholic priests who have been transferred to other countries after being accused of abusing minors.
At the April 15 Springfield event, Nash spoke specifically about Xaverian Father Mario Pezzotti, who was featured in the AP article. After allegedly abusing a 14-year-old student, Joe Callander, at the Xaverians’ minor seminary in Holliston, Mass., in 1959, Father Pezzotti was later transferred to a remote area of Brazil where he worked with the Kyapo Indians and continued to have access to children.
According to the AP report, Pezzotti is presently serving as a priest in Parma, Italy.
Although neither Nash’s nor Callander’s abusers have served in the Springfield Diocese, Nash told reporters that as “part of the institute of the hierarchy of this church,” Bishop McDonnell could help to present SNAP’s concerns and requests to the Vatican.
Nash recalled that when he publicized his own abuse story in 2008, Bishop McDonnell did write to Vatican officials on Nash’s behalf and also wrote to Nash twice, saying he was moved by his story and had “written to the appropriate authority in Rome” concerning Nash’s case. Tully was voluntarily laicized in February of 2009.
“I want the bishop to use his special phone to call over to the Vatican,” Nash told reporters. “I want Bishop McDonnell to help us…. This is an issue that affects all of us.”
“I’d like somebody to take this a little more seriously than they have been,” Nash said. “Nothing is being done to stop these criminals from jet-setting around the world.”
In a written statement given to reporters, Nash stated: “Again today, I am asking for accountability from the church. I am asking the Vatican to actually do something. Priests like Mario Pezzotti have been quietly moved around the globe to unsuspecting new communities. This is a global problem in the Catholic Church. The problem has been created in Rome and needs to be changed in Rome.”
Prior to the Thursday afternoon press event in Springfield, SNAP issued a press release stating that its members “want Catholic officials to 1) publicly identify predators like Pezzotti and Tully as ‘credibly accused’ and ousted from ministry/the priesthood; 2) set up a public, international, online registry of predator priests across the globe; and 3) house predator priests in professionally-run facilities so that the offenders can get treatment and kids can be safer.”
Speaking to a television reporter after the press conference, Springfield Diocese spokesman Mark E. Dupont said, “Bishop McDonnell and the people in the Springfield Diocese share the concerns of Bill Nash and the SNAP members.”
Dupont said the local church’s efforts to address the issue of clergy abuse have been successful in recent years, but that all segments of society – churches, schools, victims groups and others – “need to partner together to stop all child abuse.”
Asked about the possibility of an online registry of credibly accused priests, Dupont said that for the last 15 years the Springfield Diocese has publicized the names of all priests who were accused of abuse and removed from priestly ministry.
Dupont also said that the child protection guidelines established by the U.S. bishops in their 2002 Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People should be adopted by other groups and other countries.
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