BishopAccountability.org
	NYC Archbishop Dolan Blasted over Pedophile Priest SNAP August 4, 2011 http://www.snapnetwork.org/snap_statements/2011_statements/080411_nyc_archbishop_dolan_blasted_over_pedophile_priest.htm Statement by Barbara Dorris, Outreach Director 314-862-7688 SNAPdorris@gmail.com There are two important lessons here. First, Archbishop Dolan and his brother bishops continue breaking their decade-old pledge to be “open and transparent” about clergy sex crimes and cover ups. Dolan could and should have disclosed Fr. Jaime Duenas’ arrest and warned parents, parishioners and the public about him. Instead, only through the news media did Duenas’ arrest become known. Just like Dolan did with Msgr. Wallace Harris, he’s acting secretively now in a child sex case just like Catholic officials have done for centuries. Second, there’s no magic age at which a pedophile is cured. We must stop thinking that because a man may be bald, stoop-shouldered and slow-moving, somehow he’s automatically “safe.” It’s just stupid for us to endanger kids by assuming an adult is “harmless” simply because he or she is older. Losing hair, wearing glasses, using hearing aids or walking with a cane can be signs of advancing age. They are not signs that an individual is safe around kids. Some crimes require physical strength or speed. Not pedophilia. Child molesters use their cunning, not their brute power, to abuse kids. So as child molesters get older, they often get more dangerous, not less dangerous. We call on Dolan to stop acting passively and secretly, and start acting compassionately and aggressively. We urge him to personally visit every parish where Duenas worked, begging anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered child sex crimes to contact police and prosecutors. (SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. SNAP was founded in 1988 and has more than 10,000 members. 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, SNAPclohessy@aol.com), Barbara Blaine (312-399-4747, SNAPblaine@gmail.com), Peter Isely (414-429-7259, peterisely@yahoo.com), Barbara Dorris (314-862-7688 home, 314-503-0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com).
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