Victims’ Group Blasts Archbishop on Abuse

SNAP Australia
December 1, 2012

http://www.snapaustralia.org/SNAP_PressRelease_2December2012_Sydney.html

WHAT:

Holding signs and childhood photos, clergy sex abuse survivors and their supporters will hand out fliers to church members as they leave Mass. The leaflets urge Sydney’s Cardinal George Pell to

-- personally visit every parish where a predator priest has worked and beg anyone who has seen, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes to come forward, and

--post the names of all credibly accused child molesting clerics on diocesan and parish websites and bulletin boards and in newsletters.

The victims will also encourage anyone who many have seen, suspected or suffered child sex crimes or cover ups - at this parish or others - to come forward, get help, call police, expose wrongdoing, protect others and start healing.

WHEN:

Sunday, December 2 at 11:15 am

WHERE

Outside St Mary's Cathedral on St. Mary’s Road (between Riley Street and College Street) in Sydney

WHO

Two to four members of an international victims’ support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, including a Chicago woman who is the organisation’s long-time president

WHY

SNAP is also calling on Cardinal Pell to permanently post the names of all proven, admitted and credibly accused Sydney area predator priests on his website, in his archdiocesan newspaper, and in parish bulletins. SNAP says that is “one of the simplest, quickest and cheapest ways to keep kids safe.”

Roughly 30 US bishops have posted the names of their predator priests, usually after considerable public pressure. SNAP believes it is the “bare minimum” church officials should do to help protect kids and help victims heal, especially given that bishops recruit, educate, ordain, train and often transfer and protect child molesting clerics. At least some of the predators would be in jail had not their crimes been concealed for years and years by church officials, SNAP maintains.

In 2002, Tucson and Baltimore became the first US dioceses to disclose predators’ names. More recently, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia has created a database on its website which includes priests with credible child sex abuse accusations against them. (A full list of all the dioceses that have disclosed names is available

[here]

(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 12,000 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 and increasingly, victims who were assaulted in a wide range of institutional settings like summer camps, athletic programs, Boy Scouts, etc. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)

CONTACT

Barbara Blaine, SNAP President and Founder (0449 018 594 or +1 312 399 4747, bblaine@snapnetwork.org)

Nicky Davis, SNAP Australia Leader ( 0422 538 440, nicky@nickydavis.com.au)

Mark Fabbro, SNAP Australia Leader ( 0411 390 850, survivorsclergy@gmail.com)