Predator Priest Now Teaches

SNAP
June 16, 2014

http://www.snapnetwork.org/oh_predator_priest_now_teaches

Predator priest now teaches

And they want his defrocking status disclosed

SNAP: “Catholic officials should move faster!”

Steubenville prelate should “push harder,” they say

Accused child molesting cleric was sent to 3 treatment centers

WHAT

Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, advocates for clergy sex abuse victims will prod a college president and board to suspend a credibly accused predator priest. They will also prod Steubenville’s Catholic bishop to

-- disclose the status of the priest's defrocking,

-- push Vatican officials harder to speed up the process,

-- reveal, for the safety of kids, where the predator is now, and

-- post the names, work histories and photos of all credibly accused predators on his website and in parish bulletins.

WHEN

Monday, June 16 at 1:30 pm

WHERE

Outside the Steubenville diocese headquarters/chancery office, 422 Washington Street, Steubenville

WHO

Two-three members of a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( SNAPnetwork.org )

WHY

[]

Victims want Belmont College president Joseph E. Bukowski (740 6959500, bukowski@belmontcollege.edu) to suspend Fr. Gary Zalenski “for the safety of college students and staff,” says Judy Jones of SNAP.

“If Fr. Zanenski is too dangerous to have working in a parish, we believe he's too dangerous to be around teenagers and young adults,” she stressed.

In November 2007, Fr. Zalenski was removed from Sacred Heart parish in Neffs, Ohio after Beth Rocker reported that he had sexually abused her in 1991.

[home.catholicweb.com]

Catholic church officials find at least some of the child sex abuse reports against Fr. Zalenski credible because they have asked Vatican to permanently kick him out of the priesthood (defrocking or “laicizing” him. But the process is taking years and SNAP wants Bishop Jeffrey Monforton to work harder to speed it up.

Church records also show that Fr. Zalenski was sent to three treatment centers because in 1991, a 'second victim' reported having been sexually abused by him when she was a child.

[steubenvilletruth.org]

“Parents, parishioner and the public need and deserve to know why it's taking years to defrock this dangerous priest," says Barbara Dorris, SNAP's outreach director. "Bishops have promised again and again to be open and transparent about clergy sex crimes and again and again they remain secretive."

“Defrocking Fr. Zalenski makes it harder for him to abuse other kids,” said David Clohessy of SNAP. “It reduces the trust that many parents have had in him and makes it crystal clear that the charges against him are solid.”

“He belongs in jail or in a remote, secure, independently-run treatment center, so that kids are safer,” Dorris said.