CA- Ousted predator priest to work in San Fran?

By Tim Lennon
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
July 25, 2014

http://www.snapnetwork.org/ca_ousted_predator_priest_to_work_in_san_fran

Sex abuse victims seek help from archbishop

“Don't let pedophile priest work here,” they plead

Years ago, twice-accused cleric was ousted from LA

This week, group caught him working on Pacific island

SNAP: “Now, he's reportedly returning to the Bay Area"

Group discloses 8 other predators who have been sent here

WHAT

Holding signs and photos of themselves at the age they were abused, a support group for clergy sex abuse victims will urge the Bay Area’s Catholic archbishop to: 

-- Forbid an abusive priest who has been ousted from two dioceses from working here,
-- Reach out to all parishes where the priest worked to seek survivors, and
-- Put the cleric in a secure treatment facility, where he can have no access to children. 

The group will also make public a list of eight other proven, admitted or credibly accused child molesting clerics who have been sent to the San Francisco area from other states or regions.

WHERE

Outside of Archdiocese of San Francisco headautarters (“chancery”), One Peter Yorke Way in San Francisco

WHEN

Thursday, July 24 at 1:30 p.m.

WHO

Three-four men and women who are members of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPNetwork.org), the nation's largest and oldest support group for men and women abused in religious and institutional settings.

WHY

On Tuesday, Guam's archbishop removed Fr. John H. Wadeson from ministry when SNAP publicly exposed that he has been accused of abusing kids twice and has been banned from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. He reportedly molested two kids there in the 1970s.

According to news accounts from Guam, Fr. Wadeson is allegedly on his way to the Bay area, where he has worked in the past at the Neocatechumenal Center in San Francisco.

It is rumored that he may have “faculties,” which would enable him to keep working as a priest. A youtube video shows him in active ministry in 2011 with teens and children at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church (713 South Van Ness Ave. in San Francisco, 415-824-1700).  (he is in the video at 2:50)

After Fr. Wadeson was suspended from his position in Guam, he publicly said that the allegations against him “false” and “viciousness.’ Victims worry that Fr. Wadeson's comments show that he has no understanding of his past and is an even greater risk to children.

SNAP wants Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone to ensure that a twice accused predator priest is not allowed to present himself as a priest when he arrives in the archdiocese. They fear that people in San Francisco are unaware of the cleric's past and that he may be a threat to local children. They want to ensure that Fr. Wadeson is not allowed to act as a priest in ANY diocese and that he has no access to kids.

The San Francisco Archdiocese's provincial superior, Fr. Thomas Ascheman, has written that "the allegation was never substantiated, no formal accusation was ever made, and no settlement was offered, or made.” SNAP counters by noting that the LA archdiocese kicked Fr. Wadeson out a decade ago and posted his name as an “accused” priest on its website (where it remains today). Neither step is taken lightly by Catholic officials, SNAP maintains. Ignoring credibly child sex abuse reports and letting predator priests go elsewhere and work among unsuspecting parishes violates the US bishops' national abuse policy, SNAP contends.

According to BishopAccountability.org, an independent, Boston-based research group, Fr. Wadeson also worked in the dioceses of New York and/or Brooklyn, Trenton NJ, and Portland OR. His photo is also available on their site.