MO- SNAP: Carlson keeps hurting Fr. Jiang's victims

By David Clohessy
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
July 21, 2014

http://www.snapnetwork.org/mo_snap_carlson_keeps_hurting_fr_jiang_s_victims

Archbishop Robert Carlson keeps playing “good cop” in the Fr. Joseph Jiang case while letting (or perhaps encouraging) a few misguided parishioners play “bad cop” by publicly professing the priest's alleged innocence despite two accusers, two criminal indictments and a pending civil abuse and cover up lawsuit. 

This is immoral and cruel.

Today, five or six Fr. Jiang backers publicly rallied around Fr. Jiang, picketing the courthouse claiming the priest didn't sexually assault either of the youngsters he's accused of sexually assaulting. Carlson is tolerating – or maybe prodding – them to do so. And that scares others who were hurt and keeps them silence. And it discourages others who saw or suspected abuse into giving up and doing nothing.

As adults, we can either make it harder or easier for kids and teens to report molesters. The moral choice is to make it easier. Carlson is making it harder.

Carlson knows how to respond when allegations of clergy sex crimes surface. But when his close pal Fr. Joseph Jiang was arrested on a second set of criminal child sex charges in April, Carlson chose to publicly cast doubt on and violate the privacy of the second alleged victim's family. Shame on him and on every person on his staff who played a role in this callous, self-serving statement.

Carlson himself publicly cast doubt on this courageous family when, weeks ago, he issued a statement claiming that the second victim's family supposedly didn't mention child sex abuse until recently. http://archstl.org/commoffice/press-release/2014/statement-regarding-new-allegation

Everyone knows that the overwhelming majority of child sex abuse victims can't understand and disclose their trauma until decades later. So delays in reporting child sex crimes are not unusual or relevant at all.

But by mentioning the alleged delay, Carlson is deliberately casting doubt on the victim's family.

(What's ironic here is that in many cases, Carlson and other Catholic officials question and criticize victims who step forward decades after their abuse. Now, a victim reports promptly, while he is still a child, and Carlson attacks him too for his timing. When exactly does Carlson feel it's appropriate for those who are raped, sodomized or fondled by priests to speak up?)

Carlson publicly violated the privacy of this courageous family when, in the same statement, he claimed this family raised concerns about bullying in their parochial school. 

Because parishes and parochial schools are usually “tightly-knit,” by publicly disclosing that the alleged bullying, Carlson is basically “outing” the victim's identity to perhaps dozens and dozens of people with whom the victim and his family goes to church and school.

Neither of Carlson’s claims – even if they are true - have any bearing whatsoever on whether these new criminal charges are valid. And Carlson knows that by making both of these claims public, he may well be able to scare or discourage others with information about predator priests from stepping forward. 

To protect his reputation and his friend Fr. Jiang, Carlson continues to deliberately play mean-spirited legal and public relations hardball by impugning the honesty and motives of the second alleged victim's family. Again, he should be ashamed of himself.

Carlson now let’s Fr. Jiang live among unsuspecting neighbors just six minutes away from the parish where he allegedly molested two children. 

Carlson keeps dodging a key question: Did Fr. Jiang admit to Carlson that he molested the girl? That's what the girl's parents say in their civil lawsuit.

It's a very simple question with a simple answer: yes or no. But Carlson, despite his repeated pledges to be honest and open in clergy sex cases, refuses to answer.

Carlson also refuses to admit that, in the girl's case, police and prosecutors have phone messages, text messages, and a $20,000 check from Fr. Jiang to the girl's parents. By refusing to admit this, Carlson helps a few believe that Fr. Jiang is innocent. That, in turn, enables Fr. Jiang to be around more children.

Carlson also refuses to disclose

–where Fr. Jiang has lived for the last two years,

–why he kept Fr. Jiang's whereabouts secret,

–why Fr. Jiang moves from city to city with Carlson,

– why Fr. Jiang had living/sleeping quarters in both his parish rectory and archbishop's home,

– whether or not, as the civil lawsuit against Carlson asserts, Fr. Jiang admitted to Carlson --whether church officials paid Fr. Jiang's bail the second time (as they did the first time)

And Carlson's being cruel by letting a twice-accused predator priest live near unsuspected families with little or no supervision minutes away from Cathedral parish. It's cruel to the families of his victims, and rubs salt into their already-deep and still-fresh wounds. And it's cruel to other Cathedral parents who must worry about whether Fr. Jiang is still hanging around the church or the school or other families who believe he's innocent.

Until recently, no one in St. Louis knew that child molesting clerics live at the Dominican center at 3047 Lafayette. (There is at least one other predator priest here: Fr. Vincent Bryce who admitted molesting a boy.) 

Carlson's reckless decision to let Fr. Jiang live on Lafayette may have enabled the priest to molest a boy a second time.

Fr. Jiang was suspended in June 2012 for allegedly molesting a girl between 2011 and 2012. 

Fr. Jiang, according to city prosecutors, molested a boy at the Cathedral as late as August 2012.

So it's possible that Fr. Jiang molested the boy in August 2012, AFTER his June 2012 suspension for molesting the girl. If so, Archbishop Carlson could have prevented at least some of the second victim’s abuse. Carlson’s woeful disregard for the safety of children is appalling. 

And even if somehow this timeline is wrong, it's clear that having a credibly accused predator priest secretly living with other priests just five or six minutes away from the parish where he allegedly molested two kids is dangerous. Fr. Jiang's presence nearby could intimidate witnesses, whistleblowers and victims. It could enable him to potentially destroy evidence, threaten witnesses, and discredit whistleblowers. And it could easily enable him to visit other Cathedral parishioners with kids.

As we've said repeatedly for the past two years, Fr. Jiang should be put in a remote and secure treatment facility far from St. Louis. (That way, even if he's unsupervised again, he would have to start all over winning the trust of parents to gain access to their kids.)

Finally, our hearts go out to anyone who has been sexually violated in any way at any age by St. Louis Catholic clerics. Our hearts especially go out to these two brave families who are doing their civic and moral duties.

And our hearts go out to the neighbors of this Dominican center and other neighbors who have proven, admitted or credibly accused child molesting clerics secretly living nearby.

Let’s hope that every person who saw, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes and cover ups in St. Louis – by Fr. Jiang or others - will find the courage and strength to speak up, call police, expose wrongdoing, protect kids and start healing. 

It's reckless to assume that Fr. Jiang will be convicted and imprisoned. He got off last time on a technicality and he'll certainly try that again. Predator priests almost always get top-notch lawyers (often paid by the archdiocese).

And it's reckless to assume that Catholic officials will now really keep Fr. Jiang away from kids. (Fr. Alex Anderson has been accused by three different people of molesting them as kids yet he remains in a parish today.)

So it's crucial that those who could help police and prosecutors effectively pursue this case do their moral and civic duty and step forward now.