Alleged Sex Offender Priest Challenges Law; SNAP Responds

SNAP
August 18, 2014

http://www.snapnetwork.org/oh_alleged_sex_offender_priest_challenges_law_snap_responds

A Cleveland Catholic priest is challenging an Ohio law that requires HIV positive adults to disclose their condition to sexual partners.

It seems that no group of sex offenders try harder to overturn sex-related laws more than Catholic priests. We've seen accused Catholic clerics challenge indecent exposure, sex offender registry, statutes of limitations and other similar laws. (Next month, for instance, Catholic officials in Hartford Connecticut are seeking to overturn a good statute of limitations law there and replace it with a more predator-friendly one.)

In dozens of cases, we've urged Catholic bishops to disclose whether or not they're paying for lawyers for alleged sex offender priests. Almost always, bishops ignore our requests, even though they have pledged, for at least a dozen years, to be “open” about clergy sex cases.

According to the Plain Dealer, “Fr. James McGonegal is charged with soliciting sex from an undercover ranger at Edgewater Park last October.” We hope Catholic officials are keeping him in treatment, and hope they'll send him to a credible, independent center for men with sexual difficulties, run by experienced professionals, instead of a discredited church facility run by Catholic clerics.